The Nation March 05, 2013

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Nigeria’s external debt hits $6.6b

BUSINESS

Page 11

•DMO lists N6.5tr domestic debt

Outrage over killing of Kwara police chief NEWS Page 5

•Chime offers N10m for information

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VOL. 8, NO. 2419 TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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‘I saw Boko Haram kill my husband, snatch my kids’ Dangote, Adenuga on list of the rich

Tears as victim relives how she lost all to sect

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WO Nigerian billionaires have made the Forbes’ list of the world’s richest.

Dangote Group of Companies President Aliko Dangote is number 43, moving up from 76 last year, on the list of about 1,500 billionaires.

His net worth is $16.1 billion.

Globacom chief Mike Adenuga Jnr. is number 267 on the list, with a net worth of $4.7 billion.

Mexican telecoms giant Carlos Slim is, once again, the world’s richest person, followed by Bill Gates. Amancio Ortega of Spanish retailer Zara moves up to No. 3 for the

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

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T was a heart-rending session yesterday in Abuja.

Many were in tears as victims of the Boko Haram sect relived how their loved ones were killed, leaving them with shattered lives.

It was at an event where funds were raised to support survivors of the fundamentalists’ bloodletting.

In a shaky and emotional voice, Mrs Deborah Shettima from Borno State recounted how Boko Haram insurgents killed her husband in her presence, snatched away her two children and returned a few days later to kill her only surviving child. All she has left are photographs of her loved ones, which she displayed.

Pastor Serana Chinda of the All Saints Protestant Church, Hauran Wanki, Barracks in Kano spoke of how 17 members of his congregation were killed for refusing to divorce Jesus Christ.

Former Minister of Education Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and others wept as the victims told their chilling stories – at a joint news conference by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Christian Association of NigeriaAmericans (CANAN).

The President of CANAN, Dr. James Fadele, its Executive Director, Laolu Akande and CAN Secretary General Dr. Musa Asaki addressed the conference where N8million ($50,000) was donated to the relief fund set up by CAN for the victims of Boko Haram attacks.

Mrs. Shetima (45), who lost her husband and three children, said: “On April 25, 2012, after work, I went home and discovered that everywhere was quiet. I met my husband sitting on a table. He was preparing to preach to the children at a prayer meeting. He asked me to get him water to bathe. So, I went outside and saw a tricycle approaching with five persons inside it. Four of them came down and went into our Continued on page 2

Continued on page 2

Baby ‘functionally cured’ of HIV

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•Mrs Shettima displaying a photograph taken with her husband...yesterday

PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

‘

When my two daughters, nine and seven years old, heard me, they started crying, saying ‘they have killed our father, they will soon kill our mother and as they were crying, they reached out to them and took them away. Up till now, I have not seen them

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MAJOR breakthrough in the antiHIV/AIDS battle has been announced.

A baby born with the deadly Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) may have been cured of the condition, AFP reported yesterday.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

The development could help improve treatment of babies infected with the virus at birth.

There is an important Continued on page 60

•PROPERTY P17 •SPORTS P23 •POLITICS P43 •ENERGY P51 •CITYBEATS P58

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

NEWS •From left: Sen. Dahiru Kuta, Chairman, Joint Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs and Employment, Labour and Productivity; Co-chairman, Sen. Wilson Ake and Sen. Oluremi Tinubu during the committee’s public hearing in Abuja …yesterday PHOTO: NAN

Aliko Dangote, Adenuga on Forbes’ rich list Continued from page 1

first time. He is the year’s biggest gainer, adding $19.5 billion to his fortune in one year. He moves ahead of Warren Buffett, despite the fact that the U.S. investing legend added $9.5 billion to his fortune. This is the first year since 2000 that Buffett has not been among the top three.

Forbes said the ranks of the world’s billionaires reached all-time highs. The 2013 Forbes Billionaires list now boasts 1,426 names, with an aggregate net worth of $5.4 trillion, up from $4.6 trillion. The U.S., once again, leads the list with 442 billionaires, followed by Asia-Pacific (386), Europe (366), the Americas (129) and the Middle East & Africa (103).

Resurgent asset prices are the driving force behind the rising wealth of the superrich around the globe. While last year almost as many fortunes fell as rose, this year gainers outnumbered losers by four-to-one. Many new names made the list, thanks to free-spending consumers. To name but a

few: Diesel jeans mogul Renzo Rosso at $3 billion, retailer Bruce Nordstrom at $1.2 billion and designer Tory Burch at $1 billion.

Dangote retains his position as Africa’s richest man for the third year in a row.

The past year has been eventful for 55-year-old Dangote. In October, he sold off a controlling stake in his flour milling company to Tiger Brands of South Africa.

He pocketed $190 million in cash. In February, his Dangote Sugar Refineries acquired a 95% stake in Nigerian sugar producer Savannah Sugar, in a bid to maintain its dominant posi-

tion in the Nigerian sugar industry.

Dangote stepped up his philanthropy in the past year, giving over $100 million to causes ranging from education to health, flood relief, poverty alleviation and the arts. He also acquired a yacht, which he named after his mother, Amiya. Dangote started building his fortune more than three decades ago when he began trading in commodities, such as cement, flour and sugar, with a loan he received from his maternal uncle. He delved into full production of these items in the early 2000s and

•Dangote

•Adenuga Jnr.

went on to build the Dangote Group, West Africa’s largest publicly-listed conglomerate, which now owns sugar refineries, salt processing facilities and Dangote Cement, the continent’s largest cement producer. A fitness buff, Dangote jogs every day.

Adenuga built a fortune in mobile telecom and oil production. He founded Globacom, Nigeria’s second largest mobile phone network, in 2006. It has 24 million customers in Nigeria, operates in the Republic of Benin and recently acquired licences to roll out in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. His Conoil Producing is one of Nigeria’s largest independent exploration companies, with a production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day. Adenuga made his first fortune at 26 in the 1970s by distributing lace and other materials.

Other Africans who made the list include Mohammed Al-Fayed, Isabel dos Santos and Desmond Sacco.

More women have joined the ranks of the world’s wealthiest. Of the 1,426 peoContinued on page 60

Jonathan, Mark, Tambuwal to meet over budget row

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HE row over Budget 2013 persisted yesterday.

Worried by the four conditions given to the Executive by the National Assembly, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday invited principal officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives for talks.

The session might also touch on the proposed amendments to the 1999 Constitution for which the executive is finalising its proposals, it was learnt.

In readiness for the talks, the principal officers of the House met for two hours yesterday in Abuja.

As the National Assembly leaders were getting set for the meeting, there was tension following alleged plans

by Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to speak on the budget row on Thursday.

The Assembly leaders vowed to “retaliate”, if Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala attacks them at the proposed briefing.

After persuasion by Senate President David Mark, the President had last week as-

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

sented to the 2013 budget with a caveat.

The budget comprises N2.3 trillion recurrent non-debt expenditure; N1.6 trillion for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure; N387.9 billion statutory transfers; N591.7 billion for debt service; and a $79 a barrel benchmark.

In spite of the signing of the instrument, the Executive and the National Assembly have not agreed on four key areas.

The areas of disagreement are: •no-access by the Executive to the budgetary allocations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) until its Director-General, Ms Arunma Oteh, is removed; •extension of the lifespan of the 2012 Capital Budget to April; •2013 budget benchmark to remain at $79 per barrel; and •mandatory quarterly briefing of the National Assembly by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala on the budget’s implementation.

Jonathan signed agreement on serving one term, says Junaid

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ID President Goodluck Jonathan sign a secret agreement to serve a single tenure? The controversy continues yesterday, with a leading Northern voice, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, saying that such a document exists.

Mohammed, who spoke on Sunrise Daily, a breakfast programme on Channels Television, said he had seen the document, which he said was signed by the President, some governors and two deputy governors prior to the 2011 elections.

Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu, in a radio programme in Kaduna last month, sparked the controversy. The Presidency debunked the claim, daring anyone in possession of such an agreement to release it to the public.

Mohammed said: “I am persuaded to say that such an agreement exists and it was signed by some governors, and I think, two deputy governors

From Yomi Odunuga, Abuja

at the time. I have sighted the document and I got to know this from people whom I have known from 40-50 years that the agreement exists.

“People are prepared to deny the existence of the paper because of our culture of double talk. We do not need a lower ranked aide of the President to deny it. As far as I am concerned, something of that magnitude should have been cleared by a very senior person at the highest possible level —someone at the Presidency. Dr. Doyin Okupe is my friend and he did the same thing for Obasanjo until he was fired.”

The public affairs analyst and former lawmaker, accused Jonathan of lacking the political will to reshuffle the cabinet because of the activities of powerful forces hanging around the corridors of powContinued on page 60

‘I saw Boko Haram kill my husband, snatch my kids’ Continued from page 1

house. I started running but one of them blocked me while another said they should allow me in and asked me to lie down.

“When I got in, my husband was praying and I heard him say, ‘Lord, today I’m going to visit you. I ask you to please receive my spirit. One of them said, ‘have you finished praying and you think your prayer is going to save you?’ And after that, I heard four shots of gun. I said, ‘I will be the next target and started praying, Lord they are finished with my husband, here I am, receive my spirit, but they opened the door. When my two daughters, nine and seven years old, heard me, they started crying, saying ‘they have killed our father, they will soon kill our mother and as they were crying, they reached out to them and took them away. Up till now, I have not seen them.

They have not been declared

dead or been seen. One of assailants hit my eye with the gun. I cannot see with the eye.

“After three months, while marking the death of Yusuf Mohammed, their leader, they returned to my house and killed my last son. Someone came and told me to leave the house.”

A young man held his own photograph, taken when Boko Haram assailants attempted to cut his throats. There is a gory gashes on his neck. He survived miraculously.

Mrs. Ezekwesili, in tears, said Nigeria does not place value on human lives.

She said: “Whatever happens to one of us happens to every one of us. So, if we have become a nation that does not put value to human lives, then we really are in a bad place.

Listening to these women particularly and seeing what these women have to carry alone, you almost feel a sense of abandonment for them.

“We must get ourselves

back to a drawing table and figure what we really are; what are we and what we have become as a people and as a nation. Is it right that a mother would watch her husband killed and her two children taken away and does not know where they are up till now and nobody is concerned about it? Three months after, they came and killed her son.

I know a nation where this thing happened before. It’s called Rwanda and it didn’t end well.”

Akande urged President Goodluck Jonathan to become aggressive in fighting the Boko Haram sect.

He said: “I think government itself has expressed hopelessness, including President Jonathan who has said on several occasions that this problem is big. We believe that Nigerian government cannot handle this problem anymore.

There are instances of lack of political will on the part of the Federal Government. The cas-

es of some supporters of Boko Haram like those senators who have been accused should be pursued.

“Government can become more aggressive in going after members of Boko Haram and those supporting this sect.

Government is not proactive.

It must seek support from other countries, like the United States, to deal with Boko Haram. This is an international problem. I wish government could do more in protecting the lives of Nigerians. Some of the cases are not even reported. How can somebody be going to another person’s house to kill. If government cannot provide law and order it then becomes worrisome.”

Fadele urged Nigerians and people of goodwill to “rise up and come to the financial and material aid of the victims of Boko Haram attacks in northern Nigeria”.

According to him, Nigerian Christians in America have taken notice of the impact of

the actions of Boko Haram.

“We are concerned about the widows and are touched by the plight of the orphans. We reckon that many of these individuals are left without a source of livelihood.”

He said: “We have heard that CAN is setting up a Relief Fund where Nigerians can donate money and relief materials to support the victims. For instance, victims’ children can benefit from scholarships taken out from such a fund. Towards such fund, CANAN is making an initial widow’s mite contribution of $50,000.

“If backers of terrorists are raising the money to perpetrate acts of terror, supporters of and advocates for peace can no longer look the other way. We want to join with CAN today to call on Nigerian philanthropists, businesses, and captains of industry, well-to-do individuals and all people of goodwill to consider the financial plight of Boko Haram victims and lend a helping hand.

“CANAN does not conceive itself as a political group. We are an advocate for innocent and helpless people being slaughtered in their places of worship. Christians are being killed, churches are being attacked and destroyed, health workers and doctors are being assassinated, markets are being ravaged, police precincts are being vanquished, and neighbourhoods are being tormented. This wickedness must stop. We commend the bold leadership of CAN for speaking up in a categorical, courageous and consistent manner on the Boko Haram issue.”

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

NEWS ASUU worried over ‘lawlesness in varsities’ From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

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IGERIAN varsities are gradually turning into havens of lawlessness and the authorities are not bothered, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) alerted yesterday The union’s National President, Dr. Nasir F. Isa, raised the alarm in a chat with reporters at the ASUU secretariat in Bayero University Kano (BUK), in Kano State.

He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently intervene in the crisis-ridden varsities to protect the future of the youth.

Among the issues raised by the ASUU leader include: killing of students at Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK); leadership crisis at Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST); disregard for court orders at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN); release of a White Paper on President Jonathan’s special visitation to University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) and the need for reconstitution of Governing Councils for federal varsities.

The ASUU leadership called for a full-scale investigation on the killing of two students at NSUK with a bid to bringing culprits to justice.

According to Isa, besides the death of the two students , more than 20 others received varying degrees of injuries.

He pointed out that experience over the years has shown that recourse to military intervention in civil matters like students’ unrest had never yielded the desired result.

His words: “The questions begging for answers, however, are: why would the authorities of NSUK refuse to provide basic boreholes that can sufficiently meet the water needs of their students?

“Why would they refuse to respond to the entreaties and eventual warnings of the students before February 25? Why did the authorities of NSUK ignore the students’ lecture boycott of February 25? Who invited the military to quell students’ peaceful protest? Who ordered the shootings and killings of varsity students?

“We are requesting the visitor to NSUK to institute an inquiry into the killings of our students. We are warning that unless the immediate and remote causes of the killings are identified and appropriate punitive measures taken against the killers of our innocent students. Our union will leave no stone unturned in our pursuance of justice to all the victims of this madness.

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Passenger detained with $1.1m demands apology from Customs

PASSENGER, Prof Charles Ofoegbu, who was detained at the airport by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) with $1.1million cash, has demanded an apology from the Comptroller-General.

He was arrested on February 20 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on his way to Kenya.

Customs Area Comptroller Charles Edike had alleged that Ofoegbu, Executive Director of A-Z Petroleum Products Limited, was attempting to smuggle the currency out of the country in contravention of extant regulations.

But Ofoegbu, through his lawyer, Chief Chibuzo N. Ziggy Azike, said the Customs officer raised the false alarm which damaged his client’s reputation following media reports of the incident.

He said the Economic and

By Joseph Jibueze

Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) promptly released his client and the entire sum immediately they were satisfied that Customs’ alarm was false and unwarranted.

“We hereby demand on behalf of our clients express apology in writing to be received in our Lagos Chambers within 14 days after the service of this letter.

“Please take notice that if we do not receive your letter of apology which must also be copied and endorsed to the various media houses where you scandalised our clients, we shall take other legal action without further notice. Take notice!!”

Azike wrote in the letter dated February 25.

The lawyer said Ofoegbu, a renowned geologist, scientist and former Vice-Chancellor of a university, made full disclo-

sure and declaration of the amount he was carrying and completed forms CDFIA and CDFIB in line with the law.

Yet, he was unlawfully stopped from boarding the Kenya Airways flight number QR542, thereby disrupting his appointment and commitment to international partners and associates in Kenya, Azike said.

According to the lawyer, Ofoegbu was stopped because he “refused to play ball” when he insisted he could not part with any money or settle anybody as the cash he was carrying was official and no provision was made for “PR” or “settlement”.

Azike added that the professor informed the Customs officers that the money was intended for expenses involved in the development of an Oil Block allotted to A-Z Petroleum in Kenya.

“The NCS detained Professor Ofoegbu for no just cause, made

him to miss the flight, handed him over to the EFCC and sensationally scandalised the names of our clients …

“All the newspapers named and profusely described our clients as smugglers, law breakers and currency traffickers.

“Section 13 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act clearly states: ‘Any foreign currency purchased from the Market may be repatriated from Nigeria and shall not be subject to any further approval.’

“In compliance with law, Professor Ofoegbu disclosed and showed the receipt for the purchase of the currency. His detention and malicious prosecution was done in absolute mala fides.

“The publication of this abuse by your officers is evidence of express malice. By these aforesaid actions, you have caused our clients damage to their reputation and business.”

Internet service providers oppose sale of 2.3GHz band

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NTERNET Service Providers (ISPs) yesterday kicked against the sale of the remaining spectrum in the 2.3 gigahertz (GHz) band. They insisted that it will compound the misfortune of operators within the band.

Atel Ajha, chief operating officer (COO) of Spectranet spoke on behalf of two other operators, Mobitel and DOPC, at a forum organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on the ‘Best Option for Licensing the Remaining Slots in the 2.3Ghz Band’. He claimed that instead of selling the remaining slots to fresh operators, they (currently operating within the band) should be given the opprotunity to buy it.

According to him, the standard practice all over the world is that operators in the band range are given 30 MHz, suggesting that guardband of between 2.3Ghz and 2.4Ghz should also be provided to take care of interference.

According to him, the request is predicated on the need to extend service deployement to other states of the federation with superior technology and new customers’ experience.

He warned that “Today’s planning must provide for future technology requirment,” arguing that the proposal of the NCC to open bid for the 30 MHz will unleash an era of “unfair competition”on the industry.

Ajha lamented that there is no significant wireless operators in the country when in fact, globally, they are the ones that provide the primary network operations.

He said international bandwidth rate is the country is one f the highest in the world, adding that when the country is compared with the rest of the world, its national long distance and metro network is also too exorbitant so is also the rental cost too.

He fears that if another operator is licensed and that operator has infrastructure like

By Lucas Ajanaku

interantional carrier licence as well as metro and national long distance fibre ownership may lead to cross-subsidy on ISP creating an “unfair competition” in the industry.

In his opening remarks, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, Eugen Juwah, said convening the forum in line with the NCC’s participatory regulatroy approach. “The objective of this forum, in line with the Commission’s policy of participatory regulation amongst other things is to provide an avenue for stakeholders and users of the 2.3 GHz band to discuss, technically criticise, exchange ideas and proffer options that will help the Commission in arriving at a decision on the licensing of the remaining 40 MHz bandwidth in the band for the benefit of all Nigerians.

“This forum is very remarkable as we have in our midst highly respected presenters with decades of practical experience at their disposal to deliberate on options and challenges as it relates to further licensing of the band,” Juwah said.

•Nollywood actor Ejike Asiegbu(middle) presenting a prize to Mr Ishola, one of the winners of The Nation/ SportingLife promo at the Vintage Press Limited’s corporate head office in Lagos... last Thursday.With them is National Lottery Commission’s official Mr Jude Ughujabo.

List of winners of the “Buy The Nation and Sporting Life and Win Brand New Cars” promotion CARS Daramola Adeola Samuel -(Starprize-Car Sporting Life) Ganiyu Adeleke - (Star Prize- Car The Nation) LCD Olaniyi Rasheed Olawale-(LCD) Festus Olajide Ayodele-(LCD) Bamidele Idowu Ade- (LCD) HOME THEATRE Bakare Saheed Abolore- (Home Theatre) Barrister S. A. Bamidele- (Home Theatre) Agberayi Solomon – (Home Theatre) MICRO-WAVE Lawal Mohhamed Abuja- (Micro-Wave) Chidi Nwachukwu-(Micro-Wave)

Yusuf Ahmed Audu-(Micro-Wave) Erinfolami Sunday-(Micro-Wave) Agbo Chinonso Emeka-(Micro-Wave)

Godfrey Gabriel-(Radio) Agbomoniyi Olajide Kehinde-(Radio) Anayo Akabogu-(Radio)

FRIDGE Oladele Ajayi- (Fridge) Peter. Y. Shok (Fridge) Allwellowabie-(Fridge) Omoniyi Akintunde-(Fridge)

IRON Adinoyi Ozgis- (Iron) Olabode Samuel- (Iron) Linus Eze- (Iron) Ezekiel Elochukwu- (Iron) Onabanjo Fehintola-(Iron) Mr Micheal Adelakun- ((Iron) Kehinde Oboh- (Iron) Okafor Uzondu Nelson- (Iron) Oluwole Omotola-(Iron) Odulami Oludare-(Iron) Sunday Olaitan -(Iron) Abusomwan .E . Kingsley-(Iron) Musibau Adisa Gbadamiyu-(Iron) Knazu Abdullahi-(Iron) Comfort Omowunmi Fabayo

RADIO Ini Rapheal Willie (Radio); Manmud Ahmed Gazaul –(4th Radio) Tewogboye Amao Jayeola-(Radio) Ibrahim Abdullahi-(Radio) Ishola David Abiola-(Radio) Mahmud Ahmed Gazali-(Radio) Akinkunmi Farinto-(Radio) Chi Martins Akpeji-(Radio)

Why APC can’t fail, by Ogbeh

By Augustine Avwode, Assistant Editor

•Ogbeh

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CHIEFTAIN of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Audu Ogbeh has explained why promoters of the proposed All Progressives Congress ( APC) cannot afford to fail in their bid

to give Nigerians who yearn for an alternative in the 2015 general election an opportunity.

Speaking to The Nation yzesterday in an exclusive interview, Ogbeh said the promoters owe it a duty both to Nigerians, democracy and indeed Africa, a duty to ensure that the move is successful.

Three major opposition parties, the ACN, the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA ) recently announced

the plan to coalesce into the APC. “We owe it a duty to Nigerians and democracy and Africa to ensure that it is successful. It will even be good for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) itself and good for what we are trying to do in Nigeria, which is to build two very strong ideological blocs and then Nigerians should be the deciding factor, to decide whether they want what we are offering or prefer to be where they are.

“And in that case, we would have done our duty by saying to them, you now have an alternative if you don’t like where you are. And we are saying to them also, we are making new

commitments and promises, if we are unable to perform, kick us out, if we perform, stay with us. But from now, politics is set to be politics of issues and programmes, not politics of election manipulation or the distortion of facts just to remain in office”, he said.

On his part, Ogbeh said he has very high hopes that the APC would be a reality. He said his optimism was borne out of the fact that the PDP of today was formed at inception from an amalgam of 16 political associations or groups.

“As for me, I have very high hopes because, at inception, the PDP that we see today came from an amalgamation of 16

different political associations, so, if they were able to found theirs, and they think it is impossible for us, I find it quite funny”, Ogbeh said.

Giving an appraisal of the progress so far made, he said the plan has exceeded the expectation of even the most optimistic among the promoters.

“We are making very good progress, we have made more progress than even our biggest optimists expected us to make and the opposition thought it could never happen.”

He said the APC is looking forward to forming the next government and controlling the majority of the states of the federation.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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NEWS OUTRAGE OVER MURDER OF POLICE COMMISSIONER Kinsmen yet to recover from shock

ACN, ANPP condemn insecurity

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) yesterday expressed shock at the killing of Kwara State Commissioner of Police Chinwike Asadu.

In seperate reactions by their spokesmen, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Emma Eneukwu respectively, the parties accused the Federal Government of not doing enough to protect lives and properties.

The ACN described the death of the police chief as a reinforcement of its belief that ‘Nigeria is fast becoming a failed state.’

In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said if such a high ranking security officer can be so cheaply gunned down, no one is safe.

It called on the police high

By Precious Igbonwelundu

command to ensure that the killers are apprehended and brought to justice to prevent a recurrence.

Stating why it is imperative to arrest the perpetrators and bring the full weight of the law to bear on them, the ACN said nothing portrays a nation as a failed state more than when security agents, on whose shoulders lie the responsibility of protecting lives and property, themselves become easy targets for criminals.

The party said: ‘’Because of their onerous tasks, the police personnel and other security agents deserve a reinforced level of security.

“They need to be alive and well before they can protect the lives and property of others. That is why one of the indices of a failed state is anarchy, which starts when security agents become targets of

attacks and criminal elements overwhelm state security apparatus ‘’Attacks on police and military formations; killing of security agents; out-of-control armed robbery and pervasive kidnapping just to mention a few of the security challenges facing our nation are pointers to the fact that our country is fast becoming a failed state, irrespective of what government apologists may say or the spin they may put on things. ‘’No one is happy to have his/her country labelled a failed state. But the truth of the matter is that Nigeria of today is exhibiting all the indices of a failed state, whether it is group grievance, economic decline or worsening public services.

“That is why Nigeria has consistently been in the top 20, since 2009, of the failed states rankings - in the same

class as Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Chad, just to name a few. ‘’Much as we have all concentrated on the Boko Haram insurgence, the truth is that the spike in violent crimes, the ease with which kidnappers operate at the time and place of their choosing and rising cases of unresolved assassinations are equally, if not more, terrible, and will push us up the rankings among failed states if nothing is done urgently to check the developments.’’

The party urged the Federal Government to utilise the energy, which it has allegedly been wasting on dismissing those calling Nigeria a failed state, to improve the security and welfare of the citizenry, and address age-long injustices and absence of governance in many parts of the country.

Chime promises N10m reward for information on killers •Governor visits family

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LL necessary assistance to unmask the killers of Kwara State Police Commissioner Mr Chinwike Asadu and bring them to justice would be provided to security agencies, Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime promised yesterday.

He announced a N10 million reward for anybody who volunteers information of the killers.

Chime made the promise when he paid a condolence visit to the Amorji-Nike home of the slain commissioner. He lamented recent surge in the assassination of security operatives.

The governor, who was accompanied by his aides and the Enugu State Police Commissioner Tonye Ebitibituwa, charged the police to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.

He said his administration would beef up security with the provision of more patrol vehicles, communication gadgets and other logis-

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From Chris Oji, Enugu

Frank Asogwa described Asadu’s death as a serious blow on the people.

Asogwa stated that it was more painful that “my brother was killed right in his own state.”

He expressed regrets that Asadu had left behind rare virtues which he exhibited throughout his service years in the force.

Asogwa said: “His death is a big blow and great loss not only to Nsukka people but Enugu State at large. I think he is presently the only serving police commissioner from Enugu State. So, it is a hard loss to us.

“He is a refined lawyer who was committed to his profession, full of integrity, humility and gentleness. In fact I used to tease him that he was not supposed to be in the police because he is not ‘a force man’.

“When he was promoted as a commissioner, I received him in my house; we were so close and that’s why I’m finding it hard to believe that he is just gone. Even the officers and men that worked with him when he was at the Enugu state Police Command can attest to his great personality.”

The professor of Law urged law enforcement agents to unravel the mystery surrounding the killing.

Asadu was a rare man, says Kwara police command •Groups: murder of CP a setback to national security

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•Chime consoling Asadu’s widow and son, Osinachi at the family house in Enugu.........yesterday

tics.

Chime urged the family to take heart and prayed God to grant them the fortitude to bear the loss.

He said no effort will be spared to fish out the culprits.

The governor expressed regret that the late Asadu, who was an indigene of Enugu State, suffered such a cruel fate after many years of dedicated service to the nation.

The late Asadu’s son,

Osinachi, who received the governor with his mother Francisca, thanked him and his entourage for the visit and the words of encouragement.

He brought the family’s cooperation to unmask the killers.

Mark mourns as TUC seeks declaration of state of emergency

ENATE President David Mark yesterday lamented the gruesome murder of the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Asadu in Enugu last weekend.

Mark, in a message of condolence to the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, bemoaned Asadu’s assassination and said the late police chief served the nation meritoriously.

He decried the renewed violence in some parts of the country and called on security operatives to rise up to the challenge.

In the statement by his media aide Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, Mark said: “The continued loss of lives to violence crimes attracts the condemnation of all right thinking members of the so-

K

INSMEN of the slain Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Chinwike Asadau have appealed to law enforcement agencies to unravel the mystery surrounding the brutal murder of the police officer.

The kinsnmen said they were yet to recover from the shock of the news on the demise of their brother whom they described as caring and humble.

Their spokesman, Rev. Dr. Chris Asadu, Senior Special Adviser to Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime on Inter Party Affairs and Conflict Resolutions, who hails from the same community with the slain commissioner of police, recounted yesterday how family members watched to know if the news was true or not.

He stated that they were still hoping that the police would tell them exactly what happened, adding that the entire Nsukka town had been thrown into serious mourning.

Asadu, who shared the same surname with the late commissioner, disclosed that he and the late police chief were members of an association formed to alleviate povertyin Nsukka, adding that the late police officer was very helpful.

The immediate past Commissioner for Local Government in Enugu State, Prof.

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Sanni Onogu, Abuja and Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

ciety.

“The assassination of Kwara State Commissioner of Police is to say the least regrettable and an affront.

“We suddenly find ourselves in a society where life has become so cheap and almost meaningless. We must do all we can within the ambits of the law to halt these menace.

“That is the only way we can guarantee that the late police commissioner did not die in vain.”

He sympathised with the Nigerian Police and the immediate family of the deceased, praying God to give them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Also yesterday, the Rivers State Chapter of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) said the assassination called for the declaration of a state of emergency on security by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Union Chairman Chika Onuegbu who spoke in Port Harcourt, described as unfortunate, the assassination of Asadu in Enugu, his home state, He also said it was very sad that the police boss’ orderly and driver were severely shot.

He noted that the assassination of the police chief, at a time Boko Haram suicide bombers and other fundamentalists were killing innocent people and destroying valuable property, called for serious concern.

Onuegbu said: “It will not be out of place for President Jonathan to declare a state of emergency on security in Nigeria. Imagine the assassination of a commissioner of police by hoodlums, who were bold enough to make away with his injured orderly’s rifle!

“Innocent people are being wasted in Nigeria on a daily basis. Kidnappers, armed robbers, cultists, sea pirates, suicide bombers and other criminals have been let loose. Those at the helm of affairs should not appear helpless and clueless.

“The protection of lives and property is the essence of governance. Criminals should not be allowed to continue to have a field day and make it to appear as if nobody is in charge. It is quite pathetic. Urgent action must be taken, to stop the dastardly acts forthwith.”

HE Kwara State Police Command yesterday described its late Commissioner; Chinwike Asadu as a rare and compassionate boss.

Deputy Commissioner Mr. Abdul Bube, who spoke in Ilorin, the state capital, the news threw the command into mourning.

Condolence registers were opened at both the state police headquarters and officers mess in Ilorin.

Bube said: “The officer and men of this command were shocked when we heard of his death. Somebody that left here in the name of going for the police games and he said since I am passing through my village, let me stop over so that the following morning I can take off. “That very night, somebody visited and after that he escorted him and returning a vehicle blocked him and they shot him dead.

“We have been mourning and weeping since this incident. Even some civilians who had opportunities to come close to him shed tears that he is a good man. You see people crying like women as if one of their relations died.

“That showed how cordial the man was to the people. Here he was our leader. He was a very gentle and compassionate man.

Whatever he tells you to do, he was always ready to correct you if you did not do it well. We miss him. He is a rare man.

“If any police officer tried to play some pranks, he will say ‘my son, I have passed

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

all these stages you are now, you can not deceive me.

If what I said is not right, come and tell me. I am ready to listen to your own side provide you advise is in order.

“All security agencies, the army, The State Security Service (SSS) and even a general from Sobi Barracks have been here this morning to condole with us.”

The Afonja Descendants Union in Kwara State also described the murder as the height of insecurity the country has descended into.

Leader of the union, Alhaji Abdulkareem Olola-Kasum said: “Insecurity of life has descended so low in our society to the extent that dogs are now killing lions with impunity. A society where lions are at the mercy of wild dogs cannot be said to be safe abode for lambs.

“The murder of the commissioner offers a big challenge to the Inspector-General of Police as well as the entire police formation in the country. They should therefore leave no stone unturned in search of the perpetrators of the heinous crime.”

The correspondents’ chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kwara described the death of the police boss as astonishing and shocking.

Council , Chairman and Acting Secretary of the chapel, Layi Olanrewaju and Akinlolu Abayomi urged the Federal Government to take necessary action in ensuring the safety of lives and property of Nigerians.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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NEWS FORBES BILLIONAIRE LIST •President Goodluck Jonathan and Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalegh Sharma during the secretarygeneral’s visit to the State House, Abuja... yesterday.

PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN.

Billionaires’ There are 1,426 billionaires in the world this year. They are the wealthiest of the wealthy. But only 23 members of this elite list are under 40 years old, with that exciting combination of money and youth, reports Forbes-

T

•Anambra State Governor Peter Obi (middle) discussing with some investors from Spain who visited Awka, the state capital...yesterday.

• Minister of State for Education Ezenwo Nyesom Wike (right),Acting Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Prof. Charles Onocha (left) and Vice-Principal, Federal Government College (FGC) Otobi, Mr. Fakeye Samuel during the minister's inspection of Federal Government Library Projects at the Federal Govt College Otobi, Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State...yesterday.

•Chairman, Arik Air Sir Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide (right), President, Bombardier Aerospace of Canada, Mr. Pierre Beaudion and Vice- President, Flight Operations, Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi (left)during Beaudion's visit to Arik Air facilities in Lagos... yesterday.

HE ranks of the world’s billionaires have yet again reached all-time high. The 2013 Forbes Billionaires list now boasts 1,426 names, with an aggregate net worth of $5.4 trillion, up from $4.6 trillion. It found 210 new ten-figure fortunes. Once again, the U.S. leads the list with 442 billionaires, followed by Asia-Pacific (386), Europe (366), the Americas (129) and the Middle East & Africa (103).

Resurgent asset prices are the driving force behind the rising wealth of the super-rich aroud the globe. While last year almost as many fortunes fell as rose, this year gainers outnumbered losers by 4-to-1. Many new names made the list thanks to free-spending consumers. To name a few: Diesel jeans mogul Renzo Rosso at $3 billion, retailer Bruce Nordstrom at $1.2 billion and designer Tory Burch at $1 billion.

Carlos Slim is once again the world’s richest person, followed by Bill Gates.

Amancio Ortega of Spanish retailer Zara moves up to No. 3 for the first time. He is the year’s biggest gainer, adding $19.5 billion to his fortune in one year. He moves ahead of Warren Buffett, despite the fact that the U.S. investing legend added $9.5 billion to his fortune. This is the first year since 2000 that Buffett has not been among the top 3.

Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga made the list. Dangote is on number 43. Adenuga is on number 267.

The cement tycoon retains his position as Africa's richest man for the third year in a row. The past year has been eventful for 55-year-old Dangote. In October, he sold off a controlling stake in his flour milling company to Tiger Brands of South Africa. He pocketed $190 million in cash. In February, his Dangote Sugar Refineries acquired a 95% stake in Nigerian sugar producer Savannah Sugar in a bid to maintain its dominant position in the Nigerian sugar industry.

Dangote stepped up his philanthropy in the past year, giving over $100 million to causes ranging from education to health, flood relief, poverty alleviation and the arts. He also acquired a yacht, which he named after his mother, Amiya.

Dangote started building his fortune more than three decades ago when he began trading in commodities like cement, flour and sugar with a loan he received from his maternal uncle. He delved into full production of these items in the early 2000s and went on to build the Dangote Group, West Africa's largest publicly-listed conglomerate, which now owns sugar refineries, salt processing facilities and Dangote Cement, the continent's largest cement producer.

Adenuga built a fortune in mobile telecom and oil production. He founded Globacom, Nigeria's second largest mobile phone network, in 2006. It has 24 million customers in Nigeria, operates in the Republic of Benin and recently acquired licences to start businesses in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. His Conoil Pro-

• Gates

•Ortega

ducing is one of Nigeria's largest independent exploration companies, with a production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day. Adenuga made his first fortune at age 26 in the 1970s by distributing lace and other materials, but he hit it big during the military regime of former military President Ibrahim Babangida.

There are 1,426 billionaires in the world this year. They are the wealthiest of the wealthy. But only 23 members of this elite list are under 40 years old, with that exciting combination of money and youth.

Those 23 have a total of $68 billion between them. Eight come from the technology sector, including four from social networking giant Facebook. Nine come from the United States, the rest from countries abroad. Three are newcomers to the billionaire ranks.

No. 1: Dustin Moskovitz

Age: 28 Net Worth: $3.8 billion Moskovitz, Mark Zuckerberg‘s former roommate, no longer works at Facebook, the social networking giant that he co-founded. A signee of Bill Gates‘ and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, Moskovitz bikes to work, flies commercial, and pitches his own tent at Burning Man.

No. 2: Mark Zuckerberg

Age: 28 Net Worth: $13.3 billion Few CEOs of any age are under more media scrutiny than Zuckerberg (who’s only 8 days older than Moskovitz). Since taking Facebook public in May 2012, and getting married days later, the hoodiewearing founder has seen his net worth rise and fall with every fluctuation of the stock price.

No. 3: Albert von Thurn und Taxis

Age: 29 Net Worth: $1.5 billion Albert von Thurn und Taxis first appeared in Forbes’ billionaire rankings at age 8 but officially inherited his fortune in 2001 on his 18th birthday. The eligible bachelor is also a race car driver and tours with a German auto-racing league.

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NEWS FORBES BILLIONAIRE LIST

ranks reach all-time high More women join rich’s list

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•Buffet

• Elisson

No. 5: Eduardo Saverin

Age: 30 Net Worth: $2.2 billion Facebook co-founder Saverin renounced his United States citizenship in 2011, news of which broke days before the company’s IPO and drew accusations of tax evasion. Saverin, immortalized in The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg’s onetime best friend, settled a lengthy legal battle with Facebook, apparently receiving a 5% stake. A Brazilian citizen, he now resides in Singapore and invests in startups.

No. 6: Huiyan Yang

Age: 31 Net Worth: $5.7 billion Yang, the daughter of the founder of real estate developer Country Garden Holdings, is once again China’s richest woman. Her father transferred his stake to the Ohio State grad before the company’s IPO in 2007.

No. 7: Fahd Hariri

Age: 32 Net Worth: $1.35 billion Hariri is the youngest son of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He graduated from the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture de Paris in 2004. While still a student, he ran an interior design studio on the outskirts of the city, and sold furniture to clients in Saudi Arabia.

No. 8: Marie Besnier Beauvalot

•Carlu

•Zuckerberg

No. 4: Scott Duncan Age: 30 Net Worth: $5.1 billion Duncan is the youngest of the four children who inherited the massive fortune of late energy pipeline entrepreneur Dan Duncan, founder of Enterprise Products Partners. Today the company owns more than 50,000 miles of natural gas, oil, and petrochemical pipelines.

•Adenuga

•Dangote

How the list was decided

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HIS is our 27th year publishing the Forbes Billionaires list. Though we’ve been at it a long time, it is never an easy task. Our reporters dig deep and travel far. To compile net worths, we value individuals’ assets–including stakes in public and private companies, real estate, yachts, art and cash–and account for debt. We attempt to vet these numbers with all billionaires. Some cooperate; others don’t. We also consult an array of outside experts in various fields.

The Forbes Billionaires ranks individuals rather than large, multi-generational families who share large fortunes. So Maja Oeri, who has a disclosed stake in pharmaceutical firm Roche, makes the list, but her eight relatives who, with a nonprofit foundation, share a $16 billion fortune do not. In some cases we list siblings together if the ownership breakdown among them isn’t clear, but here, too, they must be worth a minimum of $2 billion together, or equivalent to $1 billion apiece, to make the cut. We split up these fortunes when we get better information, as we did with the Matte and Rausing families this year. Children are listed with their parents when one person is the founder and in control. Those fortunes are identified as “& family.” Our estimates are a snapshot of wealth on Feb. 14, when we locked in stock prices and exchange rates from around the world. If a stock market wasn’t open on that day–as was the case with Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Shanghai and Shenzhen–the stock price is from the previous trading day.

Net Worth: $2 billion Parker is revamping his much hyped start-up, Airtime, with the hopes that the video chat site will have the impact of his other Web companies. At 19, Parker skipped college to disrupt the recording industry with music swapping site Napster. He served as Facebook’s first president at age 24.

No. 10: Ayman Hariri

Age: 34 Net Worth: $1.35 billion Hariri is the son of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He’s involved in running Saudi Oger, one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest construction companies, and the source of the Hariri family fortune.

Age: 32 No. 11: Yvonne Bauer Net Worth: $1.5 billion Age: 35 Marie, along with siblings Emmanuel, Net Worth: $2.4 billion 42, and Jean-Michel, 45, inherited French Bauer owns 85% of her family’s dairy giant Lactalis, producers of popu- publishing empire. She is the fifth genlar Président brie among hundreds of eration of the family to run the Bauer other cheese, milk and yogurt brands.

Media Group, which was founded in No. 9: Sean Parker 1875. It publishes 570 magazines in 16 Age: 33

countries.

No. 12: Yoshikazu Tanaka

Age: 36 Net Worth: $1.8 billion Founder and CEO of social-network game site operator Gree, Tanaka has faced stiff competition this year from archrival DeNA and a game initiative by NTT DoCoMo, the giant cellphone carrier. To get back on track, Tanaka moved to partner with Yahoo Japan and went on a buying spree.

No. 13: Maxim Nogotkov

Age: 36 Net Worth: $1.3 billion Nogotkov got his start selling computer programs while in school and later began selling cordless phones. He dropped out of college in order to have more time to focus on building his business. He later founded cell phone retailer Svyaznoy.

No. 14: Alejandro Santo Domingo Davila Age: 36

ORE women have joined the ranks of the world’s wealthiest, but as a group females still hold a small sliver of total 10-figure fortunes. Of the 1,426 people on the new 2013 Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires, just 138 are women. That’s up from 104 women last year. New women billionaires include fashion designer Tory Burch and Hong Kong finance executive Pollyanna Chu. The world’s richest woman is Liliane Bettencourt, the 90-year-old heiress to a 30% stake in cosmetics group L’Oreal. With a fortune that Forbes pegs at $30 billion –up $6 billion from last year, she ranks 9th wealthiest overall. A surge in the value of L’Oreal shares over the past year helped put her back among the top ten richest for the first time since 1999. Bettencourt, a widow who suffers from dementia, was replaced on the L’Oreal board in February 2012 by her grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers. In 2011, her fortune was put under the guardianship of her daughter, Francoise BettencourtMeyers, after three-year legal battle.

The second richest woman is Christy Walton of the U.S., who inherited her husband John Walton’s stake in Wal-Mart when he died in a plane crash in 2005. She clocks in at $28.2 billion — up nearly $3 billion from a year ago due to an increase in the price of Wal-Mart stock.

The third richest woman is yet another Walton family member — Alice Walton, daughter of visionary Net Worth: $11.7 billion A Harvard history grad, Domingo Davila is the eldest son from his jetsetting beer magnate father’s second marriage. Now a managing director at a New York-based investment advisory firm, Alejandro sits on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

No. 15: Jack Dorsey

Age: 36 Net Worth: $1.1 billion Dorsey made a name for himself as a cofounder and leader of 160character microblogging company Twitter, but most of his fortune is derived from his stake in mobile payment company Square. The New York University dropout is a certified masseur known for his eclectic interests, which include, among other things, punk music and clothes.

No. 16: Serra Sabanci

Age: 37 Net Worth: $1.3 billion Sabanci is the daughter of Ozdemir Sabanci who was assassinated in 1996, and a board member of the large conglomerate Sabanci Holding.

No. 17: Nicholas Woodman

Age: 37 Net Worth: $1.3 billion GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman built the first camera prototypes in his bedroom with his mom’s sewing machine and a drill.

GoPro came out with its first camera, a 35-millimeter waterproof film version, in 2004. Today, the camera shoots full video in cinema quality HD, allowing anyone from professional surfer Kelly Slater to amateur snowboarders to capture their adventures.

No. 18: Chase Coleman

Age: 37 Net Worth: $1.4 billion The hottest young money manager on the planet, Coleman cooled off a touch in 2012, but his Tiger Global hedge fund extended its impressive winning streak, finishing a third

‘

The world’s richest woman is Liliane Bettencourt, the 90year-old heiress to a 30 per cent stake in cosmetics group L’Oreal. With a fortune that Forbes pegs at $30 billion –up $6 billion from last year, she ranks 9th wealthiest overall

‘

retailer Sam Walton, who founded Wal-Mart with his brother in 1962.

Alice Walton, ranked number 16, has a net worth Forbes estimates $26.3 billion, up several billion from the previous year. Walton opened her Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas in 2011. It features works from her personal collection. straight year with a net return in excess of 20%.

No. 19: Ryan Kavanaugh

Age: 38 Net Worth: $1 billion Ryan Kavanaugh joins the billionaire ranks for the first time this year thanks to his movie studio, Relativity. Kavanaugh is making money by hitting singles and doubles like the recent Safe Haven, which cost $25 million to make and has grossed more than $50 million at the box office.

No. 20: Andrey Verevskiy

Age: 38 Net Worth: $1 billion Verevskiy started trading in grain when he was 19 and founded Kernel Holding a decade later, growing it into Ukraine’s largest sunflower oil producer. Last year, Verevskiy was elected to Ukraine’s Parliament.

No. 21: John Arnold

Age: 38 Net Worth: $2.8 billion Arnold shocked the hedge fund world in May 2012 when he announced he was calling it a career at age 38. Arnold and his wife Laura, who are signatories of the Giving Pledge, plan to devote much of their time to philanthropy. The couple have already given away more than $1.2 billion.

No. 22: Kostyantin Zhevago

Age: 39 Net Worth: $1.5 billion Son of a mining engineer, Zhevago took over Poltava Iron Ore, the largest exporter of pellets in CIS, at the age of twenty two, and in 2007 he took his mining company Ferrexpo public. An avid soccer fan, Zhevago owns FC Vorska football.

No. 23: Fang Wei

Age: 39 Net Worth: $1.5 billion Wei is best known for buying turnaround situations, especially those in the steel industry. Fangda Group now has more than 30,000 employees across more than 10 provinces in China.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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NEWS Teachers hail Ajimobi on pension payment

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RIMARY School headteachers in Oyo State, under the aegis of the Association of Primary School Headteachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON), have hailed Governor Abiola Ajimobi on the payment of pension to retired primary school teachers.

In a statement by its Chairman, Alhaji Bolaji Adeleke, and Secretary Mr. I. Akanni, AOPSHON said the payment has put smiles on the faces of pensioners and pledged its support to the governor.

A fraud was discovered at the Local Government Pension Board and it prevented teachers, who retired from July, 2011, upwards from being placed on monthly pension.

The fraud also hampered the payment of their gratuities and this led to a series

of meetings between the retirees and the state government.

The governor recently approved the pension payment with effect from January, this year.

Also yesterday, a sociocultural organisation, the Ibadan Foundation, has hailed the urban renewal programme of the Ajimobi administration.

In a statement by its President, Mr. Lere Adigun, and Secretary Alamu Muda-Ayeni, the group said: “Though it entails massive dislocation of people and inconveniences, the urban renewal initiative of your administration have long-term benefits to the people.

“We salute your courage in the endeavour and wish you more successes in other sectors in the overall interest of the state.”

Funmi Aragbaye’s case: Court fixes April 10 for hearing

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MAGISTRATE’S Court sitting in Iyaganku, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, yesterday fixed April 10 for the hearing of a suit filed by gospel singer Evangelist Funmi Aragbaye.

Aragbaye accused Olubunmi Bankole, the daughter of a prominent Ibadan businesswoman, popularly called Mama Ke, of threatening her life through text messages.

She alleged that between

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

January 10 and 16, this year, Bankole sent her a message from an MTN line threatening her life.

Aragbaye alleged that on January 28, Bankole sent her another message from a Glo line threatening her life.

Bankole was arraigned on February 7 and was granted N200,000 bail with two sureties, one of whom must be a blood relation with three years’ tax clearance.

•Vatican Ambassador to Nigeria Most Rev. Augustine Kasujja flanked by Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun (right) and hi dseputy, Prince Segun Adesegun, during the cleric’s visit to the governor in Abeokuta, the state capital...yesterday.

ACN, group accuse Ladoja of playing dirty politics T HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State yesterday said the inaction of some former governors gave Oyo the image of the dirtiest state in Nigeria.

It accused former Governor Rashidi Ladoja of playing “dirty politics” with the urban renewal programme of the Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration.

Ladoja had accused the government of insensitivity in the demolition of shops, adding that it should have provided alternative mar-

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

kets before the demolition.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, ACN condemned Ladoja’s criticism.

It said: “The example of the Bola Ige administration given by Ladoja was self-serving and inappropriate because the late Cicero relocated an entire market to Gbagi.

“What the Ajimobi admiinistration is combating is street trading and erection of shops by the roadside, which have had grievous effects on our people. Often times, vehicles veer off and kill them.

The shops are often built on drains and canals and these lead to flood.

“If Ladoja is comfortable with our people trading under the Molete Bridge with its attendant dangers to their lives, we are not. Ajimobi moved them to the Scout Camp where about 2,000 decent markets are available for them. Those trading by the

roadside in Challenge, Oke Ado, Bode and Idi Arere also benefited from the Scout Camp market.

“Ajimobo has provided an auto mart at NITEL in Molete for those selling cars indiscriminately at Oke Ado. For those displaced at Gate, Loyola, Sawmill, Onipepeye and Iwo Road, he provided a market on the NITEL/Old Ife road. He provided the Plank Market at Ajoda for those relocated from the Saw Mill area.

“For those formerly at Sango/UI, Oremeji, Poly Road, the Trade Fair Complex was provided to take care of them. For those at Agbeni/ Ogunpa, Labaowo and Akilapa, the government has provided the Olorunsogo (SAWIA) alternative.

“We challenge Ladoja to name the market he built during his inglorious term.

What alternative did he provide for the church and construction company he demolished on Ring Road?

“What alternative did he

provide when he demolished shops at Orita AperinAdesola, Orita Aperin-Elekuro, Orita Aperin-Adekile and Academy Under-Bridge?

“Oyo State has gone beyond the dirty politics that threw up Ladoja and his cohorts. Our people remember his administration as laidback with zero initiative.”

Also yesterday, a group, the Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation (AGF), condemned Ladoja’s “statement” that the Ajimobi administration should not attempt to rig the forthcoming council election.

AGF Coordinator Alhaji Bello Folawiyo said the statement should not have come from a man whose party (Accord) enjoys “largesse” from the Ajimobi administration.

He wondered why somebody the governor holds in high esteem would utter such “a reckless statement”, which he said is capable of disturbing the peace in the state.

Folawiyo urged Ladoja to desist from “cheap blackmail” and face the numerous challenges facing him and his party.

Alaafin blames Yoruba neglect on Obasanjo

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HE Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, yesterday blamed the alleged marginalisation of the Yoruba by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan on former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He spoke in his palace while hosting former Senate Leader Teslim Folarin.

Oba Adeyemi said Obasanjo’s eight-year tenure was a disservice to the Yoruba.

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

He said Obasanjo paid lip service to issues that could promote the cause of the Yoruba.

The monarch urged Yoruba politicians to protect Yoruba cultural values.

He said Yoruba language and culture faces the threat of extinction, following the refusal of parents to teach their children the local language and culture.

The Alaafin called for the inclusion of Yoruba history in the school curriculum, stressing that the Yoruba have distinguished themselves in several areas of endeavour which have become strategic for national development today.

Folarin sympathised with the Alaafin on the fire that razed a part of the palace.

He thanked God that no life was lost.

Ekiti partners World Bank on job creation

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HE Ekiti State Government and the World Bank have partnered to create 40,000 jobs in the next five years.

Governor Kayode Fayemi announced this yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, while inaugurating the 18Community Development Plans (CDPs) of the State Community and Social Development Agency (EKCSDA).

Fayemi said the jobs would be created in phases under the Youth Empowerment Strategy (YES). He said they would

reduce poverty in the state.

Fayemi said although the Community and Social Development Programme (CSDP) agreement between the state, the Federal Government and the World Bank will expire at the end of the year, the World Bank is willing to extend the programme in Ekiti because of its effective implementation.

The governor said EKCSDA is a key component in his drive to develop the state, adding that his administration would continue to part-

ner relevant organisations to realise its goals.

He congratulated the 18 benefiting communities and urged them to make judicious use of the fund given to them.

Fayemi urged traditional rulers and political leaders of the communities to ensure that the projects are implemented.

He urged councils to ensure that the projects, particularly health centres, are adequately staffed and equipped to achieve the expected outcome.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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NEWS ‘There was no shooting in Kalu’s house’

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HE Abia State Government has said there was no shooting at the country home of former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu.

Speaking in Umuahia, the Commissioner for Information, Eze Chikamnayo, said the office of governor, which Kalu had earlier occupied, must be respected and that the administration has no plans to denigrate it.

Chikamnayo said the former governor is trying to make the state ungovernable.

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

The commissioner said Kalu is only trying to whip up sentiments by saying there was shooting at the gate of his Igbere home.

Unknown gunmen at the weekend stormed Kalu’s home, shooting the bus in which one of his aides was travelling in.

Police spokesman Geoffrey Ogbonna said the police headquarters is yet to be briefed on the incident.

Police: no clue on couple’s death From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

T •Anambra State Governor Peter Obi (third right); Deputy Governor Emeka Sibudu (third left);Speaker of the House of Assembly ChinweNwebili ( second left);Amb Bianca Ojukwu (right); Obi’s wife (second right) and a guest at the rally in honour of the late Biafran leader Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu in Awka, Anambra State.

Job racketeering: Mark, FCC boss blame MDAs, others S

ENATE President David Mark yesterday blamed the Head of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), military and paramilitary organisations for the menace of jobsfor-sale-to-the-highest-bidder in the country.

He said the heads of the MDAs and their military and paramilitary counterparts were “guilty” of the scam.

The Chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Prof.

Oba Abdulraman, said the trend, which is being aided by the MDAs, is a major source of insecurity in the country.

Mark and Abdulraman spoke at the opening of a two-day public hearing on ‘Employment irregularities in federal establishments in Nigeria’, organised by the

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

Senate Joint Committees on Federal Character and InterGovernmental Affairs and Employment, Labour and Productivity.

The Senate President lamented a situation where those who find themselves in positions of authority think first about their immediate families and relations when it comes to job placements.

He said the Senate was concerned about job insecurity in the MDAs and other organisations.

Mark said: “Similarly, we are concerned that people who have found themselves in position of authority think

first about their immediate relations, other extended family members and not the best and the most competent.

“Most heads of federal establishments secure for their relations unwarranted advantage or favour, which they are not ordinarily legally or morally entitled to.

“This is a manifestation of a corrupt society where there is no equity or fairness.

“Head of Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Military and Paramilitary organisations are all guilty of this.”

He noted that that the practice has killed patriotism and ignited anger from the citizens, who have been denied their rightful place on account of their ethnic back-

grounds.

He said: “This has led to frustration, declining productivity and corruption, because since putting their best is not recognised, they exploit the slightest available means to fulfil their desire.

“What is also more worrisome is that employment into federal establishments is for the highest bidder.

“Our newspapers are awash with allegations that there are agents in and outside these establishments, who facilitate the sale of job slots.

“The desperate applicants sell their property to buy these slots. For our leaders of tomorrow to buy job portends a dangerous signal for the future generation.”

HE police in Anambra State have said there is no clue on the cause of the death of Mr. and Mrs. Boniface Ndubuisi of No 2 Arinze Lane, Off Okolo Street, American Quarters, Onitsha, Anambra State.

Police spokesman Emeka Chukwuemeka said yesterday that the police are still investigating what killed the couple, who died in an early morning fire on Sunday.

The couple, who just returned from abroad, clung together in the bathroom after desperate efforts to save themselves from the inferno, which engulfed their home.

A source said: “People really tried to climb and bring them down but the heat was too much.

“People are running away from the house because they won’t like the police to arrest them. Even if you say you are a journalist, nobody would talk to you.”

Welfare package for Bayelsa workers

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HE Bayelsa State Government has acquired 100 hectares of land to build low-cost houses for civil servants as part of its welfare package.

Governor Seriake Dickson announced this at the opening of a three-day retreat on Strategic Management for Permanent Secretaries in the civil service.

It was organised by the government in collaboration with the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON).

The governor said the foundation stone for the structures would be laid in the next two months at Agbura; that of top officials would be located opposite

Enugu govt debunks Chime’s travel report

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HE Enugu State Government has refuted claims that Governor Sullivan Chime has travelled again.

A national newspaper on Sunday published a story, alleging that Chime has left the country for an undisclosed location.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Chukwudi Achife, said contrary to the report, the governor is in Enugu attending to official duties.

Achife expressed dismay at the ease with which such report was published without any verification.

He said the governor hosted his Bauchi State counterpart, Isa Yuguda and Senator Jim Nwobodo and his wife in Udi on Saturday, whereas the report claimed

‘This story is another ample show of disregard for such values and I don’t think it speaks well for those who published it.’ that he travelled on Thursday.

Achife said the government would not have reacted to such a mischievous report, if not for the need to douse the anxiety that it may cause among the people.

He said: “It’s really disheartening that such an untrue report could be published without regard to the

the five-star hotel in Yenagoa, the state capital.

In addition to the existing fleet of six vehicles, the government has promised to acquire four more buses for its mass transit transportation system, which is expected to take off at the end of the month.

The mass transit transport system, Dickson said, would greatly alleviate the plight of workers in the state.

“The reforms being undertaken in the civil service are geared towards enhancing the productivity and professionalism of the workforce.”

Akeredolu nominated as Ogun Justice Commissioner

By Eric Ikhilae

G •Chime

fundamentals of ethics and professionalism.

“One would have thought that after all that happened when the governor was away, our colleagues would have learnt some hard lessons about checking the veracity of their stories before publishing.

“This story is another ample show of disregard for such values and I don’t think it speaks well for those who published it.”

OVERNOR Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State has sent the name of Mrs Abimbola Akeredolu to the House of Assembly for clearance for the post of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.

She is to replace Mr Oluwemimo Ogunde (SAN), who resigned his appointment.

Mrs Akeredolu is a partner in a Lagos-based firm: Messrs Banwo and Ighodalo, which she joined in September 2007.

She is in charge of the firm’s Litigation, Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Practice Group. The nominee is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) Nigeria,Nigerian Bar Association ( NBA) and Organisation of the Harmonisation of African Laws.

Ogbodo’s death: Ekweremadu visits The Guardian, family

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EPUTY Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday, joined sympathisers, who thronged the Abuja Bureau of The Guardian newspapers, over the death of its Assistant Political Editor, Mr. John Abba-Ogbodo.

Ekweremadu, who also visited the family of Ogbodo, described the late journalist as a consummate professional,

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor

who showed “patriotism and friendship in the discharge of his duties.”

The Deputy Senate President who acclaimed the virtues of the late reporter, noted that Ogbodo maintained a good personal relationship without comprising his principles.

He said: “Something very

important I need to say about him is that he was very professional as he maintained a good personal relationship with people without compromising his principles. I also understand he was just promoted as Assistant Political Editor of The Guardian newspapers and it is a testimony to his competence and values.

“I can imagine the bright

future that was ahead of him, but which has come to such an abrupt end and I deeply understand what it means to lose a person of such great value”.

He described the late Ogbodo as a member of the larger Senate family, who would be missed, not just by The Guardian and his family but also by the Senate and the nation in general.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

We want a SONCAP programme that would serve its purpose; a programme that would be dynamic, where all the identified loopholes would be effectively plugged thereby making it difficult for the plaque of substandard products to continue to dominate the Nigerian business space.

-Dr Joseph Odumodu, DG, SON

Naira strengthens on oil supply

Fed Govt targets five million jobs

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HE naira gained for a second day, advancing to its strongest in a week as oil firms sold dollars to meet month-end local expenses.

The currency appreciated by 0.4 per cent to N157.35 per dollar, the strongest intraday level since February 25.

Oil-producing companies, which sell dollars to meet local expenses around the month-end, are the secondbiggest source of foreign currency after the Central Bank of Nigeria, which sells dollars at auctions on Mondays and Wednesdays to help manage the exchange rate.

The appreciation of the naira is “due to end-ofmonth dollar sales by international oil companies which increased the supply of the greenback at the interbank market,” analysts at Lagos-based Greenwich Trust Group Limited, led by Oladipupo Adekanmbi wrote in an e-mail to clients.

The CBN held the benchmark interest rate at a record high 12 per cent for an eighth straight time on January 21 to control inflation and stabilise the naira. The nation’s inflation rate fell to nine per cent in January from 12 per cent in December, the Statistics Bureau said on February 18.

The yield on the country’s 16.39 per cent domestic bonds due January, 2022 rose two basis points to 10.62 per cent, according to March one data compiled on the Financial Markets Dealers Association website.

Yields on Nigeria’s $500 million of Eurobonds due January, 2021 fell seven basis points to 4.266 per cent yesterday.

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

-N6.503 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES

Inflation -11.7% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending -22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $43.5b FOREX CFA -0.2958 EUR -206.9 £ -242.1 $ -156 ¥ -1.9179 SDR -238 RIYAL -40.472

By Ayodele Aminu, Group Business Editor

A

• From left: Chairman/Managing Director, ExxonMobil Companies in Nigeria, Mark Ward; Board Member, CWC Group Limited, Dr Alirio Parra; and former Under Secretary for Hydrocarbons, Republic of Mexico, Mario Gabriel Budebo, at the Leading Light Session at the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibitions in Abuja.

Nigeria’s external debt hits $6.5b, domestic N6.5t T HE Debt Management Office (DMO) has put Nigeria’s external debt at $6.5billion and domestic at N6.5trillion – as at the end of December, last year.

Its Director-General, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, who stated this yesterday, said the DMO has succeeded in creating Debt Management Departments (DMD) in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He spoke at the sub-national debt sustainability analysis/ portfolio review training for staff of the DMDs in Abuja.

He said with the new structure,it is possible to accurately tell the world what the Federal and state governments’ foreign and domestic debts are.

He said after five years, the DMO “ can boast of a comprehensive debt data and an accurate state and federal for-

• Debt Management Depts now in states, FCT

From Nduka Chiejina, Asst.

Editor (Abuja)

eign debts and state and federal domestic debts.”

Nigeria has a comprehensive public debt data, which is good for economic transformation, he added.

“However, having completed the first phase of creating DMDs in all the states and the FCT, the next stage will be “moving to the second phase of introducing sophisticated technology in managing the sub-national debts,” he added.

The Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) exercise, Nwankwo said, he said “is

one of the many tasks required to ensure that the collective achievement of creating DMDs will be internalised.”

He said it is important to establish base line data which must be updated. The DMDs will have to contribute to the economy by ensuring sustainable domestic debts at the state level.

He implored the managers of the DMDs to make the governors understand the importance of their jobs so that more funds and cooperation would be extended to the departments by the governors.

On Nigeria’s debt profile, Nwankwo said the DMO has been reporting the country’s debt. “As at the end of December, 2012, the external debt of the country was $6.5 billion and domestic debt was N6.5 trillion. In terms of debt to GDP ratio, our debt continues to remain very sustainable and debt to GDP ratio as at that time was about 19.4 per cent, which is far much below the 40 per cent threshold for countries in our peer group,” he said.

The DMO boss emphasised that the “government is not just only laying emphasis on the statistics, it is laying emphasis on value for money, ensuring that whatever is borrowed is used in such a way that it will help to maximise growth, money generation and poverty reduction,” he added.

T

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

mation regarding budgets.

“Compared to the 2010 Open Budget Survey, Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso and Mozambique had the highest rise in scores, while Zambia and Egypt declined significantly.”

An analysis of the rating was also done by Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC).

In a statement the Executive Secretary of CIRDDOC, Ms. Oby Nwankwo and Consultant, Prince Ralph Ndigwe, said: “The transformation agenda of the Federal Government and its effort at improving Nigeria’s economy and image before international investors and credit rating agencies have suffered a major setback, as the International Budget Partnership (IBP) in Washington D.C released its 2012 Open Budget Index, scoring Nigeria, a paltry 16 per cent.

According to the International Budget Partnership,

the biennial survey, which started in 2006, assesses whether the central government in each country surveyed makes eight key budget documents available to the public, as well as whether the data contained in these documents are comprehensive, timely and useful.

The survey uses internationally accepted criteria to assess each country’s budget transparency developed by multilateral organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).

The scores on 95 of the 125 Open Budget Survey questions are used to calculate objective scores and rankings of each surveyed country’s relative transparency.These composite scores constitute the Open Budget Index (OBI).

The International Budget

Workers kick against NPA privatisation From John Ofikhenua,

Nigeria’s budget process ‘not transparent’ HE International Budget Partnership (IBP) has scored Nigeria low in Open Budget Index.

The nation was scored 16.16 per cent in terms of budget transparency, which covers “full disclosure of all relevant fiscal information in a timely and systematic manner.”

Nigeria’s rating is contained in the 2012 Open Budget Index of IBP. The IBP report reads in part: “South Africa ranks second in the global Open Budget Index with a score of 90 out of 100, while Uganda is also in the next top category with 65 marks out of 100.

“These bright examples demonstrate that highest levels of budget transparency are possible on the African continent.”

The report indicated that “19 out of 30 African countries surveyed in the 2012 report scored below 40 marks, telling that African countries provided scant or little infor-

N initiative to create a minimum of five million jobs within the next two years through the empowerment of micro enterprises and reduction of unemployment via the establishment of the National Enterprise Development Programme (NEPED) was unveiled in Abuja yesterday.

The Federal Government’s project, which is spearheaded by the Ministry of Trade and Investment, is to be coordinated by the Bank of Industry (BoI), Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) and Industrial Training Fund (ITF).

President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to launch the Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Council soon.

Besides, the Office of Chief Economic Adviser and National Bureau of Statistics are working on credible data on economic indices - especially those that have to do with job creation, to keep Nigerians abreast regularly of the progress made.

Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga , said at the stakeholders meeting that out of the over 17 million enterprises in the country, 25,000 top enterprises with sellable products have been picked and would be assisted with funding.

Abuja

T • Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Partnership is the world’s only independent and comparative measure of budget transparency. Nigeria’s score of 16 per cent is a show of consistent descent in the transparent process expected of governments in the management of public resources, the body stated.

It said this score is below the 18 per cent Nigeria notched in 2010, 19 per cent in 2008 and 20 per cent the country attained in 2006. “It is a very poor performance when compared with the average score of 43 per cent for all the 100 countries surveyed,” it said.

HE Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria yes terday decried the plan to further privatise the remaining functions of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), saying that it is wrong and wicked.

In his address at the Third Quadrennial National Delegates Conference in Abuja, the President-General, Comrade Anthony Emmanuel, recalled that 10 years ago, the operational services of the NPA were concessioned.

According to him, “the exercise rendered over 5,000 direct employees jobless; about 3,000 employees of shipping companies who had their operational base in the concessioned areas were declared redundant.”

He added that over 12,000 Nigerians lost their jobs, adding that many of them died from the attendant hardship while others were still fighting for the settlement of their terminal benefits in the courts.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

12

NEWS

Fayemi, INEC urge Supreme Court to ignore Oni

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KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday urged the Supreme Court to dismiss an appeal filed by ousted “Governor” Segun Oni. Oni is praying the court to set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal Ado-Ekiti, which refused to hear his application seeking to set aside the October 15, 2010 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin.

The appellate court in which sat on the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Appeal, removed Oni and declared Fayemi the Governor.

About seven months after the judgment, Oni and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filed a motion on March 14, 2011, urging the Court of Appeal, Ado- Ekiti Division, to set aside the judgment that ousted Oni.

•Judgment slated for May 31 From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

On February 27, the court dismissed the application and the appellants went to the apex court.

Oni is challenging his removal on the grounds that the suspended President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Ayo Salami, who constituted and presided over the panel that sacked him, had close affinity with the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

At the hearing yesterday, the seven-man panel, led by Justice Tanko Muhammad, granted the the applications by the appellants and the respondents to regularise their processes.

It also fixed May 31 for judgment after parties adopted their

briefs of argument.

The respondents are Fayemi, ACN, Ekiti Resident Electoral Commissioner, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Police Commissioner and the Inspector-General of Police.

The appellants’ counsel, JoeKyari Gadzama (SAN), said the issue in contention is the “likelihood of bias” against Oni by the Ilorin Appeal Court, which he said renders the judgment a nullity.

Gadzama argued that the court did not go into the merit of the case before throwing out the motion, averring that Oni was denied a fair hearing.

Fayemi’s counsel John Bayeshea (SAN), who appeared with Femi Falana (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the appeal

for lack of jurisdiction.

Bayeshea argued that Justice Salami and other Justices that sat on the Election Petition Appeal have been exonerated by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

He said two members of the panel-Justices Olukayode Ariwoola and Clara Bata-Ogunbiyi-have been elevated to the Supreme Court based on their excellent performances at the lower court, so the allegations of bias have failed.

Citing a Supreme Court judgment, Bayeshea insisted that final courts shall have final say even in interlocutory applications.

He said: “This court has no jurisdiction to entertain this appeal, being an appeal emanating from the decision of the court below in the governorship election petition of Ekiti State, arising from the governorship election of 2007 to

which Section 246 (3) of the 1999 Constitution is applicable.

“This application is not only frivolous and an abuse of court process, it is in fact a subterfuge for an appeal in the Ekiti governorship election petition from which no appeal lies to this court under the constitutional provision that was then applicable.

“Furthermore, the issues formulated on the purported notice of appeal in the brief of argument of the appellants do not relate to the grounds of appeal, in that they are completely at variance with the purported grounds of appeal.

“These are multiple errors and or blunders, which in our humble opinion, with due respect, have rendered this appeal incurably bad, grossly incompetent and liable to be dismissed.”

INEC’s counsel Ibrahim Bawa urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold Fayemi’s election.

•Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola (left) laying the foundation of the of Al-Ummah College of Education (UMCOED) at Iwo... at the weekend.

Lagos Assembly seeks reversal of Egbin power station sale

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HE Lagos State House of Assembly has frowned at the sale of the Egbin Power Station in Ikorodu to a foreign firm.

The House empowered Governor Babatunde Fashola to do everything possible to reverse the sale and ensure that Lagos is given the first right of offer.

It made the resolution at plenary yesterday when the member representing the host community (Ikorodu Constituency II), Mrs. Adebimpe Akinsola, decried the sale of the power station without consideration for the host community and state.

Mrs. Akinsola, who said she read about the sale in a newspaper, was bitter that the Federal Government could sell such an important infrastructure without giving Lagos State the right of refusal.

Deputy Speaker Kolawole Taiwo said Lagos State initiated the independent power generation project, which he said was frustrated by the Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration, and should be given the first offer now that the Federal Government has bought into the idea, more so when Egbin is in Lagos.

Taiwo said: “The activity of the station will affect the host community. The people’s interest was not taken into consideration in the sale of the station and this is wrong.”

The Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, condemned the way the sale, was handled by the Federal Government and insisted that the sale should be reversed.

The Assembly set up a four-man ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged inhuman treatment meted out to a female pupil of Kadara Junior Grammar School, Ebute Metta, by the headteacher for using hijab.

The MSSN alleged that the headteacher gave the 16-yearold pupil, Aisha Alabi, 43 strokes of cane for using hijab.

Mr. Suuru Avoseh (Badagry Constituency II) said: “It is an unfortunate event and we do not expect such to happen here in Lagos. There is no law that prohibits religious dressing in our schools.

“We need to be careful in handling religious matters of this nature. I will suggest that the concerned school and the Ministry of Education be invited to the House .

By Miriam Ndikanwu

L

AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday urged the management of the Nigerian Tribune to build on the legacy of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the founder of the newspaper.

Fashola spoke in his office at Ikeja, Alausa, while hosting a delegation from the newspaper, led by the Managing Director, Mr. Edward Dickson.

Hailing the role of the media in facilitating national development, he said such responsibilities should be carried out based on the purpose for which the media organisation was established.

Fashola said: “Anyone privileged to manage such a glorious legacy must remember the purpose for which the media organisation was born. You must remember the principle of the founder on issues.”

He urged the media to reconsider the frequent use of gory pictures on the pages of newspapers, stressing that such pictures could lead to violence and other antisocial behaviour.

The governor urged the media to always verify information before publishing them.

He said: “We will not have the type of democracy we have without a free press, but a free press is not a press without restraint. Newspapers must understand that how violent our society becomes will be a function of the graphic images of death, blood and violence they publish.

“The media cannot continue to attract big money with crazy headlines about everyday robberies, dead bodies and their photographs. No one is denying that those things are happening, but the stories can be reported without their pictures. This would not make them less true.”

Fashola regretted that the Nigerian media is usually the first to publish negative stories about the country.

Dickson said the organisation was on a “turn-around tour” and described Fashola as “a leading light in entrenching good governance in Nigeria”.

He said as a result of the governor’s record of excellence, the company’s new management resolved to partner him to develop the state.

Dickson conveyed the goodwill message of the matriarch of the Awolowo family; Mrs. H.I.D Awolowo to the governor.

NGF: Ekiti has best website From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

T

•Panel to probe abuse of pupil

By Oziegbe Okoeki

Fashola urges Tribune to keep Awolowo’s legacy

•Ikuforiji

The Chief Whip, Razaq Balogun, said: “We have only heard a side of the story. I do not want to believe the child was beaten for wearing hijab.

We should investigate the matter and not jump to conclusion.”

The panel members are Balogun, Chairman; Mr. Wahab Alawiye-King; Mrs. Muhibat Rufai Adeyemi and Mrs. Bimpe Akinsola.

HE Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has ranked Ekiti State’s website, www.ekitistate.gov.ng, the best in the country this year.

At its last meeting, the forum said Ekiti’s webpage clinched the first position for “its effectiveness and management”.

The state’s 3.0 six-channel website, which came second in last year’s assessment, was applauded for its “rich content, superb visual resolution, cross compatibility with mac and windows, as well as its accessibility by major browsers”.

Governor Kayode Fayemi hailed the state’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) team for their efforts, noting that ICT has helped the government become more accountable.

Fayemi said: “There is nothing the state government does today in terms of social/infrastructural development, which the public do not have access to and cannot appraise. This supports our claims on participatory government and e-governance.”

According to the ranking, Ekiti is followed by Cross River State and Kano is third.

Other states in the top 10 include Ogun (fourth); Oyo (fifth); Bauchi (sixth); Bayelsa (seventh); Adamawa (eighth); Abia (ninth) and Nassarawa (10th).

The NGF’s panel of experts scored the 36 states’ websites in the following areas: technical, design, navigation, content and engagement.

Other key points were social media, feedback mechanism, FAQ, sitemaps, links, graphics, logo, language, load time, visual and validation.

Ekiti State’s website was scored 268; Cross Rivers 264 and Kano 252.

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16

MARITIME

Trawler owners condemn terminal concessioning T

HE Nigerian Fish Trawlers Owners As sociation (NITOA) has condemned the Federal Government’s plan to concession the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) in Lagos. It appealed to Nigerians to prevail on the government to stop the move.

The plan, NITOA said, was unhealthy to fishing.

Speaking with The Nation, its President, Mr Joseph Overo, said it was improper to import bulk and general cargoes to the same port where edible goods are being handled.

The KLT, he said, was built

Stories by Oluwakemi Dauda Maritime Correspondent

for handling of fishing and other lighter commodities and not for bulk and general cargoes.

“Our association is having a lot of issues; one with NPA on the privatisation or concessioning of the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal.

KLT was declared as a fishing terminal that is KLT 1 and 2, which was earmarked as fishing terminals, but NPA wants to enter into a concession agreement with some private firms.

“They said they want to develop the place, which is

solely for fishing terminal.

They said they want to bring in other kind of business which I must say, is not proper,” he said.

He said fishing terminals were run by the government, adding that it is improper to bring goods and chemicals to such terminal.

According to him, it is contrary to the laws that guide fishing operations.

“We are regulated by international laws, which are the European Union (EU) and the United States (US). We don’t do the kind of business in an environment where contaminated items are and

contaminated goods are a major factor. When creating a fishing terminal with tank farms and cement and wheat silos all over the place, then you are creating problems for the fishing business in the country,” he warned “We told them that terminals of such are government properties and they should be run as government properties.

“They called us for a stakeholders’meeting on the development on February 4, when we told them that such things are not done that way, but they said they would come back to us,” he said.

ANLCA kicks against extension of service providers’ contracts T HE Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) is mobilising its members against the extension of service providers’ contracts at the seaports, it has emerged.

Sources close to the group told The Nation that the association’s leadership has directed its members at the seaports and borders to withdraw their services, if the Federal Government extends the firms’ contracts beyond June.

The group, a source said, took the decision when it learnt that the six-month extension is the first step towards renewing the service providers’ contracts either “as Destination Inspection or Pre-Shipment Inspection agents.”

ANLCA, the source said, is

worried about the amount of money the service providers are making compared to their services.

The operation took the position after a four-man delegation from the World Bank visited the terminal operators and shipping companies and got an impression that the Customs is a haven of corruption.

It was, however, gathered that the freight forwarders supported the Customs to take over the scheme because the inspection agents have not lived up to the terms of their contracts.

“The delegates were like advisers to the Federal Government. They asked probing questions on if Customs can take

over because obviously they have some information at their dispossal, but we have told them that if the Federal Government refuses to terminate the contract, we will shut the port by July 1,” the source said.

Also, ANLCA, it was learnt, has vowed that it would not negotiate with the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN until the case with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC) is excluded.

ANLCA National President Prince Olayiwola Shittu told The Nation that ANLCA is appreciative of moves to resolve the face-off, but is in-

sisting on ICPC clearing the association’s leaders before any reconciliation.

The Acting Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Mr Hassan Bello, had appealed to ANLCA to work towards the early resolution of the crisis. He made the appeal when he received Shittu and other leaders who ANLCA visited him at the Council’s corporate head office in Apapa, Lagos.

But, Shittu insisted that since CRFFN took ANLCA to ICPC, there cannot be any discussion until the issues raised are sorted out.

“They reported us to ICPC, but there cannot be any further discussion until the ICPC issues are resolved.

We didn’t go there. They did.” Shittu said.

ICPC to deploy 69 officers in ports THE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission (ICPC) will soon deploy about 69 corruption risk assessors in the seaports to checkmate fraudsters and those evading duty, its Chairman, Mr Ekpo Nta, has said.

Nta spoke in Abuja when the leadership of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) led by its DirectorGeneral, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, visited him.

“The assessors had recently concluded a course on prevention of all kinds of abuse and irregularities in the conduct of official business. When fully operational, they have the mandate of tackling the menace of unbridled importation of sub-standard products into the country.

The commission’s Director of Education will be leading that team that has been set up for that purpose,” Nta said.

The chairman urged SON to set manufacturing standards for foreign companies who intend to produce goods in the country, saying such standards would make it an offence for any firm, which compromise on its quality and standards.

“What we cannot export to other countries, we keep our shops wide open. The concern being raised by SON actually comes to us,” he said.

Firms sign MoU with agents COTECNA Destination Inspection and Globalscan System have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will ensure the acceptance of Globalscan’s Risk Assessment Reports (RAR) by Customs.

They signed the deal three months after freight forwarders objected to the issuance of RARS at the Ports and Terminal Multiservice Limited (PTML).

The PTML Terminal was among those given to Globalscan to issue RARs and to scan containers, but freight forwarders abandoned the company, alleging inefficiency. They opted for Cotecna’s RARs. The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the PTML command of the Customs, Mr Steve Okonma, said the matter has been resolved, adding that Globalscan has agreed to honour the RAR issued by Cotecna.

The agreement, he said, was signed last week, adding that scanning of containers has resumed.

Association issues new ID to members THE Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association has introduced a new identification card to seafarers in the country.

The body said the move is aimed at revamping seafarers’ status and preventing them from harassment by security agents.

The President of the association, Matthew Alalade, said: “Any seafarer who refuses to upgrade his or her identity card will regret it whenever the need arises. ‘’It is our own way of making sure that things change for the better with our outfit, that is why we are coming up with this method.’’

He acknowledged that many individuals parade themselves as Merchant Navy personnel, adding that there would be proper scrutiny before a new identity card is given out.

Cargo throughput drops at Lagos Port

• From right: Representative of the Chairman, Oshodi/Isolo Local Government, Mr Saheed Animasahun; Akinderu-Fatai and PHOTO: OLUWAKEMI DAUDA Mr Wale Adelaja at the event.

Lawmaker seeks seafaring training for Lagos youths

T

HE Presidential Amnesty Office and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have been urged to involve more youths from Lagos State in the agency’s seafarers’ training to prepare them for the future.

The Chairman, House Committee on Legislative Compliance, representing Oshodi/Isolo Constituency1, Area of the state, Mr Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, said there were many job oppor-

tunities in the maritime sector, lamenting that they are not open to some youths in the state because they lack the training.

He was speaking at the empowerment programme he organised for over 2,000 youths in the area.

The call, he said, became necessary considering the “army of jobless youths roaming the streets of Lagos,” urging the Federal Government and NIMASA to reverse the trend.

The lawmaker said Lagos

has the highest jobless youths in the country and urged NIMASA to help alleviate the problem by involving the youth in its seafarers’ training.

NIMASA, he said, approved the National Assembly to train youths to become qualified seafarers in various universities across the world, so as to fill in the existing knowledge gap in the maritime sector.

He bemoaned a situation where the youths from the state were neglected in the

overseas raining programme embarked by NIMASA at the expense of their colleagues from the Niger Delta region under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).

He said one way Nigeria could bridge the gap in the requirement of indigenous professionals in the maritime sector is for the government to develop capacity in the field by sending youth across the 36 states abroad for training.

THE Port Manager, Lagos Port Complex (LPC), Mr Nasir Mohammed, has expressed concern over the drop in cargo throughput (imports and exports) at the port since last year.

Mohammed spoke during a visit to the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) Secretariat in Lagos.

He explained that the decrease had become a source of concern because the port gets its main revenue from the cargo throughput.

“The drop started last year. The terminal operators are also concerned about the drop in cargo throughput, especially container traffic and we will do everything possible to avert the negative trend,’’ Mohammed said.

He said the rehabilitation being carried out on the access road in the Lagos ports was ongoing and would end by this September.

The Port manager said as the ports now use an electronic gate system and other gadgets, the issue of port pass, which was abandoned some years ago, would be revisited.

Mohammed added that the management of the port has a vision, which is to operate in a safe and secured environment and to be efficient and effective in business.

He appealed for the cooperation and understanding of stakeholders in the industry as well as the media.

“We are open to suggestions and criticisms. I know the maritime industry fairly well and I know the contributions MARAN can make in the industry.

“I have gone around the terminals, met with the Area Controllers of Customs, Immigration, Police and other stakeholders.

“I want to believe that we can work together with stakeholders as well as the media for the progress of the Lagos Port Complex and Nigerian Ports in particular,’’ he said.

17

PROPERTY

Tuesday, MARCH 5, 2013

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.com

* The Environment * Mortgage * Apartments * Security * Homes * Real Estate

email:- property@thenationonlineng.net

With 250,000 residents, Makoko, a Lagos slum community, lacks some basic necessities of life. There are no good schools, hospitals, roads and potable water. This, among other reasons, was why the government demolished illegal structures there in July, last year.

To make the people live a decent life, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and some other foreign agencies have unveiled a model floating structure to serve as school for the community. OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports.

•Makoko residents at the launch of the floating school. Inset: Model of the school.

PHOTO:OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE

A floating school for Makoko •UN agency, others team up to reshape slum community •‘Gender not barrier to women builders’ success’ - PAGE 18

M

AKOKO community, a riverine slum on the Adekunle-Yaba axis in Lagos, is about to breath a new lease of life.

The state of the environment of the community, which has been in existence for almost 400 years, is anything but human. It lacks everything that makes for human existence and habitation.

Water, which is considered a basic necessity of life, is absent; there’s no health centre, nor toilet facilities. The inhabitants dump faeces

indiscriminately around their living quarters. The only school in the community holds only 187 pupils. The majority of the other children of school age, engage in other menial commercial activities, such as fishing, hawking and trading of all sorts.

But, a firm of architects and builders -NLE, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), African Adap•CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

•Lagos gives squatters 30-day quit notice

- PAGE 47

18

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

A floating school for Makoko

•CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

tation programme, a UN agency and Hencrich Boll, thought of building a school to uplift the standard of living of the inhabitants. The ‘floating school’ building can withstand the vagaries of nature in the locality and is suitable for human habitation.

The founder of NLE’ and promoter of the project, Mr Kunle Adeyemi, an architect and developer of cities, told The Nation that he got his inspiration from the Makoko community itself after observing that the community can be self-sufficient if it is supported and assisted. He said the

building, designed in triangular form, floats on water, scalable to soothe different purposes and is also made to adapt to weather conditions and different types of wind.

He said all materials are made in local technology to soothe the life style of the people. On the challenge of solid waste management and drinkable water, Adeyemi said, they will employ rain water harvesting, recycle organic waste, while solid

waste will be collected at a central point and disposed. Currently, no toilet exists anywhere in the community, the sea acts as the waste collector. He encouraged the state government to support the initiative, adding that it is cheaper to build on water. He said the project will improve the livelihood and sustain the people’sexistence in the area.

The Country Director, UNDP, Ms. Ade Mamonyane Lekoetje, noted

•L-R: Haruna Jalo-Waziri, Executive Director, Business Development, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Hakeem Ogunniran, Managing Director, UACN Property Development Company Plc (UPDC) and Folashade Ogunde, Finance Director, UPDC during the presentation of facts behind the offer of UPDC REIT at NSE.

they gave their support in terms of technical know-how and funding due to the importance of the project to what UNDP stands for globally.

She said: “It is the dream of every child to go to school and this will provide the opportunity. The community that has lived on water for generations also wants to be left alone in their ancestral waters to keep their ways of life, but in a much more improved way.”

She explained that the school is able to float and so can confront flooding and mitigate the effects of climate change on the people so their style of living is greatly preserved. “We are funding managers with experience in technology,” she added.

Lekoetje also said the school will be provided with solar panels and every other thing needed to make it functional.

On whether the project could stand the test of time, escaping the demolition throes of the state government, she said, UNDP is looking forward to working with government in this noble venture, noting that the attendance of the members of the community proves that they wholly welcome the project.

Programme Officer, UN-Habitat, Mr Paul Okunlano, commended the project and rallied support for it. He said: “A community of 250,000, whose children have attributes of a sustainable existence with a good school, hospitals and homes should be encouraged. If the government decides to relocate them, they should also provide for them technologically stable and a mobile life style which is attune with their culture.

The community leader, Chief Francis Adoion, said they wholly welcome the project as it will greatly impact positively on them, especially the children who will have opportunity of going to school. He expressed fears that the state government may come back with their bulldozers as they did last year, but pleaded with them to rethink as they have lived there for generations. But he said his hopes were raised with the presence of international agencies, such as UNDP and UN-Habitat that are concerned with human settlement and habitation all over the world.He praised his people for coming out enmasse to support the project.

The Head teacher of Whanyinna Nursery and Primary school,the only one in the communityof over 250,000 people,Mr Shemede Noah, said the school has a population of 187 students with nine teachers. He commended the idea of the floating school, staying it will help attract a lot of children to school.

He said living on water is part of their culture and existence, adding that was also born and bred on water. Noah pleaded with the government to encourage the project and forget the idea of demolishing the community. According to him, they have more of volunteer teachers and he in particular teaches mathematics, economics and home economics to the children.

A representative from the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change Department, Mr Maximus Ugwoke, commended the project, assuring that the ministry will study the scenario and respond as time progress.

Housing Scheme: Firm slashes price in Easter promo

C

ORNERSTONE Real Estate Limited has reduced the price of its Oregun-Ikeja, Lagos Housing Scheme.

This is part of the firm’s efforts to enable families and corporate bodies own their homes during Easter, its Chairman, Mr Lanre Okupe, said.

Tagged: Easter promotional sales, Okupe said his firm would slash N12.5million from the original price of N50million for the first five patrons in Phase II of the project.

Any allottee that makes an outright payment on any of the units, he said, would enjoy the discount; those that pay 30 per cent deposit and complete the balance within 180 days will qualify for N10m savings.

Okupe emphasised that individual allottee or corporate organisation that buys four units at the advertised price would get the fifth unit free if they pay 30 per cent deposit and balance within 180 days. ‘’All these offer last between yesterday and April 4, this year. It is important to mention that this offer is on a first come, first served basis,’’ Okupe said.

He added: ‘’Having completed the Phase One of the five-acre Housing Estate Project in Oregun, which comprises 26 units duplexes, terraces and detached houses for outright sale for residential purposes; the Phase II of the construction project at the Oregun site in which the promotional offer encompasses has commenced.’’

According to him, two units of duplexes are still available for either sale or re-allocation in the Phase One at N85 million each.

He said: “The duplexes sit on an approximate land area of 350m2400m2 each, with four bedrooms, all en-suite, while the ground floor space area includes the entrance lobby, foyer, main living room, dinning, kitchen, visitors’ toilet, guest room en-suite.’’

The first floor space area, Okupe said, include the family lounge with balcony; two bedrooms and the master’s bedroom; all en-suite; spa-

Stories by Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie Asst Editor

cious living and dining areas with exquisite wood work; well-finished wardrobes and kitchen cabinet; P.O.P. ceiling and stainless steel aluminum railings among others. ‘’The on-going Phase II comprises 14-unit houses; two three-bedroom detached house with one room Boys’ Quarters at N90 million each; six four- bedroom semi-detached house with one room Boys’ Quarters at N85 million each and six three-bedroom terrace house at N75 million,” Okupe said.

Each of these houses, Okupe said, has infrastructure, such as road; drainage; perimeter fence; borehole water and Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) 500KVA transformer, including internal reticulation.

He said his company has been delivering houses to Nigerians for over 25 years with over 10 housing estates and other major projects to its credit.

“We are recipients of Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) Annual Best Construction Company Award (2005); Honours Award for Valuable Contribution to the Building Industry in Nigeria by Lagos State Branch of the Nigerian Institute of Estate

•Cornerstone duplexes on sale.

Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), 2003 and Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce Award presented at the Business Forum Seminar (2002).

Other awards include recognition

for outstanding contribution by a corporate body in urban project execution presented by Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Physical Planning on World Habi-

tat Day 2001 and winner of the Most Admired Estate Developers of the Year Award 2000 presented by the Chartered Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (CIMN),” Okupe said.

‘Gender not barrier to women builders’ success’

G

ENDER is not an impediment for women in the building profession to attain success, the President of the Association of Professional Women Builders in Nigeria (APWBN), Mrs. Lami Kawu Mohammed, has said.

She spoke at the Second General Meeting/Lecture of the association, held in Ikeja, Lagos.

Mrs Mohammed charged female builders to face the challenges of the profession. She said gender is not a barrier to excellence, adding the goal of APWBN is to project the image and ameliorate the status of women builders by getting involved in nation building.

By Temitayo Ayetoto

“We want to ensure that female builders are engaged in construction planning, project management, facility management and feasibility studies because we have the skill and manpower,” she said.

She said the association scheduled the meeting to Lagos to rally support from their senior colleagues and to encourage the younger ones.

President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) Mr Chuks Omeife praised women builders’ courage to subdue obstacles, which had prevented them from competing favourably with their male coun-

terparts.

Omeife said: “The coming on board of APWBN is a welcome development, a plus for the institute and a veritable vehicle for creating additional awareness and especially changing the public perception of the building profession as a profession only for the men folks, though some of us feel it is a bit belated.”

He maintained that the importance of a builder cannot be overemphasised and urged the government to provide compelling laws to penalise offenders.

Mrs. Zainab Bolarinwa in her presentation tagged: Professional women and national development; women builders as reference, urged everyone to

take the bull by the horn and be ready for the task ahead.

Laying emphasis on women as home builders saddled with more responsibilities than men, she encouraged members to work harder in order to surpass their male counterparts in the profession. She urged them not to be intimidated by gender factor, but show their competence when it comes to service delivery.

Some members of the associations challenged their leaders to organise career seminars, which can attract females, especially university and polytechnic undergraduates, to venture into the profession as there are several opportunities in the field.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

19

COMMENTARY FROM OTHER LANDS

EDITORIALS

Kenya’s choice

Profile in courage

The prize of a peaceful political transition is considerable

• Some governors recently stole the thunder from the Presidency and visited crisis-torn Borno State

HE omens for Monday’s elections in Kenya are far from reassuring.

The main political alliances have formed, once again, around ethnic faultlines. Politicians have channelled debate on sensitive issues – about the distribution of land and wealth – through their ethnic constituencies and there is evidence that armed gangs are anticipating clashes. An additional factor ratcheting up the tension is that Uhuru Kenyatta, a leading candidate to become head of state, is facing trial at the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in organising violence after the 2007 polls.

The scale of that conflagration, claiming more than 1,100 lives and bringing east Africa’s pivotal economy to a halt, was unexpected. This time no one can claim a lack of foresight. World leaders have pleaded for peace. Police have been deployed to flashpoints, and the voting system has been reshaped to reduce the scope for fraud. Provided the technology works, and voters are patient with new procedures, this should help prevent the kind of discrepancies that prompted public fury last time.

Neither leading presidential candidate is ideal. Raila Odinga, a fiery orator and long-time operator, has been showing his 68 years. Mr Kenyatta styles himself, at 51, as representative of a younger generation and plays the common man – despite family landholdings estimated

by Forbes magazine to be worth $500m.

His candidacy poses a dilemma for the international community and Kenyans, given the charges hanging over him and the chance he may win.

No doubt there will be rigging as well as some violence. But politicians who encourage either are playing with fire, and know that they are under scrutiny. Moreover, the prize of pulling off a peaceful transition is considerable. Kenya’s economy is among Africa’s most promising, its entrepreneurs among the most innovative and its stock exchange among the continent’s top recent performers.

There is investor money waiting in the wings if all goes well. The next government needs to marry economic growth with job creation, which becomes ever more urgent as the young population grows. There could be no better way to build confidence than by starting with a peaceful election that confounds the world’s worst fears.

- Financial Times

W

HAT would the president do now? That is the loaded question many would be asking as nine governors seem to have taken the wind off his sail by sallying into the crisisridden city of Maiduguri with such fanfare, accomplishing what Nigeria’s commander-in-chief has shied away from for over two years.

Borno, the northeast state of Nigeria, has been the epicentre of Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency since 2009. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in the last three years, a daily carnage of suicide bombings, grenade attacks and gun duels have been the fare in the city of Maiduguri. Not even the drafting of a Joint Task Force (JTF) of Nigeria’s military and security agencies quelled the rage of the Hoko Haram terrorists.

With unrelenting fury, they continue to attack federal and state government establishments, especially military and security-related ones.

Numerous police stations have been sacked, if not razed; State Security Service facilities have been breached and the JTF camps have been particular targets, not exempting banks, schools, markets and of course, churches and mosques. The JTF on its part has weighed in with all the federal might it can muster so far. In fact, it has been accused of using excessive and unbridled force against a non-military opponent. In other words, an undeclared war has been raging in Borno State for a while.

But Borno, adjoining and equally troubled Yobe State and indeed, several other states in the north of Nigeria, remain a part of the Federal Republic.

This swathe of land remains under one

flag and under the authority of the president and commander-in-chief. And the question is: why has the president ducked from visiting this troubled part of his ‘kingdom’? We have seen American presidents, British and French prime ministers visit the soldiers in war-torn zones of Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa even in a time of fighting. Such visits are usually huge morale boosters for the troops and a rekindling of hope for the civilians.

It is often a simple re-affirmation that all is not lost; that even though we are in the thick of strife and grieving, the government is still in control and that shortly, wrongs would be righted and the pieces picked. These are the reasons leaders endeavour, against all odds and indeed at the risk of their personal safety, they seek opportunities to show up in crisis zones as many times as possible.

Though Vice-President Namadi Sambo visited Maiduguri for the first time since the crisis started early this year, it is not the same as a presidential visit. It must be this gap that informed the storming of Maiduguri last week by nine governors.

The governors under the aegis of the fledgling All Progressives Congress (APC) had landed the city to the utter joy of the long-suffering people.

The roll call includes Governors Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Tanko Almakura (Nasarawa) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun). Others are Rauf Argbesola (Osun) and Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe), who was represented by his deputy, Abubakar Danlami Ali. The host governor is Kashim Shettima.

These gallant governors visited the city’s major market, they walked the violence- weary streets of Maiduguri and announced a donation of N200 million as relief for the victims of Boko Haram in Borno and Yobe states. To drive home the point of their visit, they said in a statement that there should never be a ‘no-go’ area for any leader that means well for his people.

Sadly, the presidency tried to stop these gallant men of courage using state’s security apparatus, but they would not be deterred. They are statesmen one and all. They have not only shown President Jonathan the way, they have also shown him how it can be done with style and so much valour. We hope that when Jonathan eventually finds the courage to venture into Maiduguri and indeed other troubled northern cities, he would deploy equal aplomb and panache.

These gallant governors visited the city’s major market, they walked the violence- weary streets of Maiduguri and announced a donation of N200 million as relief for the victims of Boko Haram in Borno and Yobe states. To drive home the point of their visit, they said in a statement that there should never be a ‘no-go’ area for any leader that means well for his people’

Who is safe?

• This is the poser following the murder of Kwara State police boss

J

UST who is safe in Nigeria? That is the question on the lips of many people with the report of the assassination of Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Asadu on March 2. He was shot dead at about 9.50 p.m. by yet unknown gunmen while on a private visit to Enugu, his home state. The police commissioner was driving into his private residence at Amorji-Nike, near the densely populated Abakpa Enugu, with his driver and an orderly posted to guard his residence from the Abakoppa Police Division, after escorting a visitor when they noticed a bus trailing them. The gunmen in the bus fired at their vehicle from the rear.

His orderly Aloha Olaniyi, and driver, Oliver Omeh, who were with him at the time

‘Sadly, those who should be concerned about this state of things do not appear to be worried. Their main concern now is how to win or rig the 2015 elections. These are the same people who have failed to measure up in terms of delivering democratic dividends now plotting for 2015 when they are yet to be halfway into their tenure. They are the same people largely responsible for the growing insecurity in the country. They probably think that they are safe. But recent developments have shown that no one is’

sustained serious bullet wounds and are being treated at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu. Mr Asadu however did not make it as he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

As usual, the police have promised to fish out the killers. But this is a catchphrase Nigerians are used to. The only difference perhaps is that this time around, one of their own is involved. So, in a sense, this is not just any other high-profile murder because, in terms of such killings, we have a long list, with none resolved. Here, we are talking about the murder of Chief Bola Ige, former attorney-general and minister of justice; Harry Marshall; Jerry Agbeyegbe; Sunday Ugwu; Odunayo Olagbaju and Janet Oladapo; Ahmed Pategi; Victor Nwankwo; Funsho Williams; Chimere Ikoku; Ayodeji Daramola; Dele Arojo; Isyaku Muhammadu; Udo Marcus Akpan; Ogbonnaya Uche. And then there was Abigail and Barnabas Igwe, among many others.

The country has become one huge jungle where only the fittest survive. Life does not seem to have meaning as it can be snuffed out for nothing or for peanuts.

Unfortunately, the government that should provide security has abdicated that responsibility, preferring instead, to master delivering of graveside orations. Yet, a cardinal role of government is protection of lives and property. As a matter of fact, that is the raison detre of any government properly so-called. But the reality today is that hardly can Nigerians sleep with their two eyes closed.

With the assassination of a police commissioner, and previous attacks on otherwise sacred institutions in the country,

armed bandits are sending the message that no place is inviolable and no one is invincible. This does not speak well of the country. No investor wants to risk his life and investment in an unsafe clime like ours. Yet, we need investments to jumpstart our economy.

Sadly, those who should be concerned about this state of things do not appear to be worried. Their main concern now is how to win or rig the 2015 elections. These are the same people who have failed to measure up in terms of delivering democratic dividends now plotting for 2015 when they are yet to be half-way into their tenure. They are the same people largely responsible for the growing insecurity in the country. They probably think that they are safe. But recent developments have shown that no one is.

This is enough reason for the government to take more drastic measures about insecurity in the country.

We must do something about the security agencies, particularly the police. This newspaper would not be tired of restating the need for them to be properly trained, kitted and motivated. Perhaps the place to start is their training colleges that are in a shambles. The Inspector-General of Police has given orders that the killers of the late commissioner of police must be found.

We look forward to the day they would be found so that we can at least break the jinx of unresolved high-profile murders. It is sad that a man who was only months away from his retirement could be so wickedly snatched away by bandits of whatever hue.

T

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

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

•Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon

•Advert Manager Robinson Osirike

•Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina •Deputy Editor (Nation’s Capital) Yomi Odunuga •Group Political Editor Emmanuel Oladesu •Group Business Editor Ayodele Aminu •Sport Editor Ade Ojeikere •Editorial Page Editor Sanya Oni

• Gen. Manager (Training and Development) Soji Omotunde •Chief Internal Auditor Toke Folorunsho •Senior Manager (sales) Akeem Shoge

•IT Manager Bolarinwa Meekness •Press Manager Udensi Chikaodi •Manager, Corporate Marketing Hameed Odejayi • Manager (Admin) Folake Adeoye

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

20

CARTOON & LETTERS

S

IR: Nasarawa State University, Keffi, has over the years earned an enviable reputation as one of the few universities in the country where industrial and academic harmony reign supreme.

This record is particularly significant against the backdrop of the sundry strikes, students’unrest and disruption of academic activities that have characterized the life of a typical higher institution of learning in recent times.

It therefore came as a cude shock to not a few persons across the land, when Nasarawa State University (NSU) was closed indefinitely a few days ago, in the heat of the students’ protest over water scarcity.

No less surprising was the circumstances that led to the protest in the first place, and the eventual closure of the school that is otherwise universally acknowledged as a model in serenity and stability.

It all started some three weeks ago when water scarcity became prevalent throughout Keffi and, by

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

That unfortunate crisis at Nasarawa varsity extension, NSU. Hopes had been raised that whatever was responsible for the scarcity would be dealt with sooner than later. But, alas, one week stretched into another without any respite. Not unexpectedly, the residents of Keffi in general and the university community in particular, started to lose patience as the scarcity stretched on for what, to some, appeared like eternity.

The university management, led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. S.O. Amali, swung into action. Following a series of meetings and consultation on the best ways to deal

with the nagging problem. Water was to be made available to all and sundry through the boreholes and water tankers. It was hoped the effect of the prevailing scarcity on the university would, at worse, be minimal.

One could, therefore, imagine the management’s utter dismay, even as plans were being fine-tuned to implement these and other farreaching measures, a group of students commandeered their colleagues into a supposedly peaceful and orderly protest. Sadly, this particular protest wasn’t all that orderly. Tempers began to flare

when, in the course of the protest, the ever-busy Akwanga-KeffiAbuja highway was blocked for some hours, with thousands of innocent travelers stranded against their will. In other words, the students’ freedom of assembly/association eventually became a hinderance to other innocent citizens’ freedom of movement along the veritably busy expressway.

Although the students were expressing their grievances by protesting, they were however misled by miscreants who eventually took over the crisis, using the moment to rob residents of their phones and

Judiciary and Jonathan’s 2015 ambition

S

IR: President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 presidential ambition appeared to have received a judicial endorsement when the Federal Capital Territory High Court, presided over by Hon. Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi, held that he could still aspire for another term in office come 2015, notwithstanding the previous two Oaths of Allegiance and Oaths of Office already taken by him. The judgement itself appears to have created more confusions than it tended to solve.

One Cyriacus Njoku, a memeber of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had dragged thePresident to court, sometimes last year, seeking for the judicial declaration that he (Jonathan) is presently serving out his second term in office and thereby will not be qualified for another term in office in 2015, having taken both the Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office twice, as required by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

The Plaintiff supported his argument on the ground that he took

his first Oath of Office and Oath of Allegiance in 2010, following the death of President Umaru Musa Ya’ Adua and again in 2011 after winning the presidential election. The Plaintiff also relied on Sections 135 and 137 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

As reported on the media, the Judge refused this argument in his judgement.

The judge went ahead to hold that the 2010 Oaths taken by Dr Jonathan were as a result of the principle of Doctrine of Necessity, propounded by the Senate in the heat of the crisis, created by the long absence of late President Yar’ Adua, which eventually paved way for him to become President, and therefore, could not disqualify him from seeking another term in office, if he so desires. His Lordship was equally of the view that the provisions of Section 135 of the 1999 Constitution are only applicable to an “elected” president and not to someone who assumed office as President Goodluck Jonathan did in 2010.

With greatest respect, the Judge failed to answer the question on the number of times the Oaths should be taken by a president, which by an extension, is a yardstick used to measure the tenure of office of a President. If His Lordship had done so, he would have found out that, with the combined effects of Section 135 (2) and Section 137 (1) (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the drafters of the Constitution never intended to allow one individual take the Oath beyond two times, however the circumstance.

It is a trite law that the Vice President, under our law, has a joint ticket with the president in any election and by extension they both hold a joint term. This best explains why the Supreme Court, in AGF &Ors v Atiku & Ors (2007) 4 SC (Pt II) 62, refused to allow the purported removal of the then Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Their Eminent Lordships maintained that both the VP and the President “swim and sink” together by the virtue of their

joint election and joint term of office.

Thus, it cannot be said that Jonathan’s emergence after the demise of Umaru Yar’Adua as the president was completely out of election, given the above Supreme Court decision.

The court also said that the plaintiff did not have locus standi and yet it went ahead to give judgement on the substantive suit. It is trite that once the issue of locus could not be established, the court is automatically stripped off of any form of jurisdiction to delve into the suit.

It is submitted here that the interest of justice is better served when the laws are not interpreted in such a way as to give an individual(s) undue advantage above the interest of the larger citizenry. It cannot be sustained, by any stretch of argument, that the I999 Constitution (as amended) provides for the tenure of the office of the President beyond eight years.

• Barrister Okoro Gabriel, Lagos

cash, even inciting the wrath of the soldiers.

From the foregoing, it is clear that some elements within and outside the university decided, for reasons best known to them, to turn this unfortunate and unforeseen situation (water scarcity) into an opportunity to indulge in mischief and mayhem. That notwithstanding, it is our hope and belief that this unfortunate chapter shall not only pass as soon as possible, management will put in place some measures with a view to ensuring that never again shall this type of bitter pill be forced down the throat of our students.

• Akum Pamilu Keffi, Nasarawa State

PDP’s imminent demise

S

IR: After a long spell of brutal and excessively corrupt military dictatorships, Nigerians peacefully drove the soldiers back to the barracks in 1999 but not until the military ruling class, in collaboration with their civilian counterpart programmed and arranged pseudo electoral contests in which the retreating soldiers formed and financed a party that produced one of them whom could protect their interests.

And since May 1999, PDP hijacked the political space of Nigeria and it has dished out to Nigerians more than enough of toxic of m a l a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , misgovernance, mismanagement and directionlessness in terms of leadership.

For the past 14 years, Nigeria has been groping in the dark and it is on the verge of collapse. Except the PDP and its current lords are clinically entombed, Nigeria risks violent implosion.

Jonathan happens to be the worst President in Nigeria so far in terms of cluelessness, colourlessness, ineptitude and incompetence.

• Akinrolabu Tunde, lkeji-lle.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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COMMENTS

A

FTER last week’s duel between President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigeria Governors Forum, it seems unlikely that anyone would ever again dare to underrate the capacity of the President to take on his opponents or even doubt that he has come to his own. Not with the serial victories of the last fortnight starting with the one over his nemesis, Olusegun Obasanjo. Like a good learner, such has been the unaccustomed dexterity of the erstwhile godson that the structure inelegantly put together by his Baba has been taken down with barely audible whimpers. Like the Biblical quest, Jona’s lines are at the moment falling onto their right places!

Now, the anointing of Anthony Anenih as the chair of PDP Board of Trustees was supposed to be the icing on the presidential cake. The president obviously got a double in the long-awaited onslaught against the Nigerian Governors Forum – and by extension, the spat with the irrepressible Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi – which came within micro-seconds of the former.

Thanks to President Jonathan and his PDP Governors Forum, the nation has a lot to learn from the power arithmetic in which a part is deemed to be more than the sum of the whole. A PDP Governors Forum is after all, some steps to decapitation of the bigger body. The President may not have had the head of the chair of the NGF on a platter – John the Baptist-style, the journey to its internment is well on course. The trophy of the PDP governors’ forum is after, all as good any.

If we add last week’s judicial victory clearing the coast for candidate Jonathan in 2015, the momentum of unchallenged and unchallengeable power would seem infinite.

We expect more of such victories – either procured or earned – even as the premature countdown to the 2015 polls begins in earnest. And as Governor Godswill Akpabio, the President’s Man Friday cared to remind last week, part of the sideshow is to fix the Judases and the traitors in the party. By then, the move to carve the PDP in the image of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would have been near perfect – completed.

Not even for most part of the imperial Presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, did we see him herd the club of governors to the Villa with the sole aim of choosing their leader for them. Of course we know why the Presidency would pay so much attention to a body it once charitably (?) described as an extra-constitutional body. One Presidential minion – Ahmed Gulak – actually described the body as a trade union. Earlier, Presidential godfather Edwin Clark had described it as an opposition movement perpetually in breaches of both the 1999 Constitution and the constitution of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The story goes all the way back to a minor incident in the

T

HE decision by major opposition parties of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a part of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to transform to Action Progressives Congress (APC) has elicited a lot of variegated reactions bordering on euphoria in some quarters and outright disdain or condemnation especially by the ruling Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It is instructive to state that the PDP has been the dominant and ruling party, at the centre since the inception of democratic rule in 1999 when the military handed power over to the civilians.

It trite and apt to state that the PDP’s hegemony and strangle hold on power since 1999 has not relatively impacted positively on the lives of an average Nigerian. Instead of their lives improving, it is rather getting worse.

Ironically, the PDP has been winning elections, despite the fact that they have not delivered dividends of democracy. The opposition parties attributed this to the fact that the party is a very efficient rigging machine with the sole aim of appropriating our collective patrimony for the promoters of the party. The PDP, being the beneficiary of the electoral heist, always stand logic on its head, by claiming that the victories are attributable to the fact that the party has a national spread and presence.

Discernible Nigerians have been clamouring for the disparate but relatively parties to bury their differences and band together to form a formidable alternative to the proven rudderless PDP. It was discovered that, not to come together and form a formidable opposition to the PDP, the shining lights of the parties in opposition should rather be regarded as the stumbling blocks to chasing away the PDP from power through the instrumentality of election.

It is now obvious that the ruling party is jittery with the realisation of the fact that the seemingly impossible merger of these parties is coming to fruition, after all.

Efforts are now aboard to give the proposed merger a bad name, in order to hang it or make it dead on delivery.

‘It needs repeating that one of the marks of a genuine democracy is the existence of a vigorous, legal, alternative government in- waiting that subjects the activities of the men in power to searching public scrutiny’

Policy Sanya Oni sanyaoni@yahoo.co.uk 08051101841

Jonathan bares his fangs Okrika waterfront in 2010. Nigerians would recall how a visiting Dame Patience Goodluck chided the elected governor of her home state over the latter’s use of “must” to convey his administration’s resolve to demolish and upgrade the blighted Okrika waterfront. The spectacle of the President’s spouse snatching the microphone from Amaechi and the equally dramatic putdown of the former with undisguised venom is one Nigerians are unlikely to forget: “I want you to get me clear.

I am from here (Okrika). I know the problems of my people.

So, I know what I am talking. I do not want us to go into crises....But what I am telling you is that you always say you must demolish. That word ‘must, you use is not good. It is by pleading. You appeal to the owners of the compound, because they will not go into exile. Land is a serious issue.”

Of course, Amaechi’s sins have since grown in leaps and bounds. His leadership of the NGF has been uncompromis-

‘Just like in Sylva’s case in which an alleged insubordination would become the subject of a thriller at the Villa, Amaechi story is already being promoted in Jonathan’s court as a block buster in gubernatorial insolence! How about something to excite the bored presidency?’

ing in its opposition to the Federal Government’s expropriation of funds belonging to the states and local government to establish the Sovereign Wealth Fund. There is also the lingering matter of the excess crude account which the federal government sought to disburse as it pleased but which his leadership of the NGF would insist on contesting in court.

The dispute between Bayelsa and Rivers over the status of some oil wells and which the Rivers Governor had openly accused the President of meddling in favour of his home state of Bayelsa merely added salt on a gaping wound.

Governance is however not the only area of disagreement.

If the raging battle in Adamawa is a revelation of the extent to which the governors club is locked in combat with the President and the national chairman on just about every and any issue, the tension between the National Working Committee of the party and its executive council are as equally revealing of a party in turmoil.

However, just as much has been written about the struggle for the soul of the PDP as the 2015 race hots up as the driver of the animosities, there is another factor often glossed over.

Psychoanalysing the President is certainly far from my mind.

However, one only needs to go back to the travails of former Governor Timipre Sylva for an inkling into the character flaws of the number one citizen. I refer here to his intolerance of those perceived as remotely challenging his authority, plus his inability to overlook a hurt or forgive an injury.

To these add his penchant to elevate personal issues to state matters and his lack of restraint in the use of state instruments to push a personal agenda.

Now, where do these lead? I make some guesses. Already, with two fixers in office, there shouldn’t be shortage of enemies to find and fix in the run down to 2015. It is futile to ask a man riding the crest of victory to slow down or dismount.

Not unexpectedly, the developments have come with interesting side shows. Just like in Sylva’s case in which an alleged insubordination would become the subject of a thriller at the Villa, Amaechi story is already being promoted in Jonathan’s court as a block buster in gubernatorial insolence! How about something to excite the bored presidency?

The point is – this presidency knows a bit or two about the use of power - in a perverse way. Gone are the days when presidents drew from the well-spring of moral authority to get things going. With President Jonathan, the seduction to raw power has become so irresistible as to constitute the barometer to measure the decline of the moral authority.

Sure enough, everyone is guaranteed to learn the unknown equation in power relations: the rule of unanticipated or unexpected behaviour. It’s something for the gloaters to ponder over.

Thoughts on opposition parties’ merger

By Mallam Ahmed Jaji That is why clichés like “gang up”; strange bed-fellows are now being deployed to describe the effort. What is an opposition party and why is it necessary, in the scheme of things in a society? Is opposition necessary or anathema to the sustenance of representative government or not?

Ideally, many parties will partake in an election but only one will emerge victorious. Depending on the kind of arrangement that subsists in a given clime, commentators have voiced a demand for uncluttered channels of protest for extra-parliamentary opposition, for effective and legal dissent. This arises from and includes two different characteristics. One is simple political frustration, a feeling that the wrong policies are being pursued and the right people going unheard. Two, is the belief that there is some positive benefit to be derived from having a form of communal opposition, of whatever hue, to the acts and policies of government, of whatever kind, coupled with a fear that this necessary opposition has become moribund or stifled, and its benefits emasculated or destroyed. The desire to secure effective means of communication for one’s beliefs and implementation for one’s policies is hardly a recent phenomenon.

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the crises-prone national chairman of the PDP, who initially derisively waved away the perceived or actual threat the merger can constitute to his party that he described the PDP as the “Political Messi” must have realised that even the original Messi can be rendered ineffective during a football match. All the opponent need to do is to engage in a SWOT analysis and implement the result to the letter. A credible opposition is an ever vigilant critic and unapologetically of the government, searching out the weaknesses of its hold on the public and forever compelling it to defend and justify its policies before the court of public opinion.

“A party, according to Edmund Burke, is a body of men united, for promoting by their joint endeavours, the national interest in a particular principle in which they are all agreed”.

It needs repeating that one of the marks of a genuine democracy is the existence of a vigorous, legal, alternative government in- waiting that subjects the activities of the men in power to searching public scrutiny. That is why one views with wry amusement when some commentators were harping on the fact that the new party should not be formed with the primary aim of dislodging the PDP from power. I had cause to posit on a TV program recently that, it is only the APC that can prevent APC from forming the next post 2015 government at the federal level if egocentric considerations and ambitions are not

relegated to the background. The credo and mantra of the promoters should be like the late President of Ghana stated over 50 years ago that “independence of Ghana first and all other things shall follow”. From empirical evidence, the merging parties do not have to exhume the corpse of the late Cicero of Esa-Oke, Chief Bola Ige to craft a manifesto because, by default, PDP had already done that for them. Highlight all those things they have not been able to deliver like good road network, effective health care delivery system, revamped educational sector, electrical power, vigorous and unbiased fight against corruption, free education to a level the finances of the country can sustain etc.

In concluding this, we aver that (a) the merging parties must not allow themselves to be pigeon-holed into shying away from stating categorically that they have better and alternative policies in contra-distinction to those of the PDP that that had been all motion but no movement (b) the difference between all the political parties in Nigeria is like that between six and half a dozen, so nobody should sell the bogey of strange bedfellows to them in order to distract and sow seeds of discord in their midst. Their coming together has given Nigerians hope that, yes we can be dragged back from the precipice.

• Mallam Jaji is executive secretary, Never Again Group, Lagos

‘The merging parties do not have to exhume the corpse of the late Cicero of Esa-Oke, Chief Bola Ige to craft a manifesto because, by default, PDP had already done that for them. Highlight all those things they have not been able to deliver like good road network, effective health care delivery system, revamped educational sector, electrical power, vigorous and unbiased fight against corruption, free education to a level the finances of the country can sustain etc’

By

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

22

COMMENTS

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HEN the dust finally settles on the on going face off between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s led Nigeria Governors Forum, the wind would have blown and the fowl’s backside would have been revealed.

If you don’t know what I am talking about then ask your neighbour as you are probably the only one around still in the dark about how the president’s rabid ambition to run a second term is tearing apart almost every known political structure and power blocs in the country including the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Jonathan in case you don’t know is hell bent on running for the presidency again in 2015 and an Abuja court last week cleared the way for him to do so if he so desires, and there is no denying that’s exactly what the man wants. And there is nothing wrong in that if his party believes so much in his ability to win the next presidential election and hands him the PDP ticket. But he will still need to contend with the opposition, now growing in strength and confidence, and the electorate who are more than disappointed with his performance.

But the man doesn’t seem to care about what the electorate think of him and his administration, all that matters to him is winning the PDP’s ticket by hook or crook and once again rigging his way to the presidency, and he appears to be well on the way to achieving that. Rightly or wrongly, he has identified the seeming obstacles to achieving this and has set about destroying them, but how far he can go remains to be seen.

The first major obstacle it seems is the PDP and the man has succeeded, or so it seems, in hijacking the party’s leadership with the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and the Board of Trustees (BoT) firmly in his pocket and gunning for the soul of its National Executive Committee (NEC), the highest decision making body in the party. NEC comprises of all the national leaders of the party including the powerful state governors and their chairmen. And he seems to be facing difficulty here.

While he has pocketed Bamanga Tukur’s NWC with the sacking via the court of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s men, and succeeded in installing his Yes man, Tony Aninih as BoT chairman, getting the PDP governors and their state chairmen on

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HOMAS Kanza insists that revolution in Africa must be a revolution in thinking. Revolution is not always about gun-wielding militants and fire-spitting ideological demagogues. There are men and women who changed the course of history by making their environments a better place to live in. Others simply showed the light for others to follow. According to Machiavelli’s two lessons in policy and strategy, first, a ruler can always learn and be more effective; second, a ruler can learn to be more effective in the use of resources. It takes only those rulers who understand the nature of policies and master the principle of strategy to truly appreciate that strategic management demands both effectiveness and efficiency in the use of scarce resources.

A quiet revolution started in Osun State on November 27, 2010 with the inauguration of Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola as fifth democratically elected governor and the eighth chief executive since creation. It was Max Depree who once said, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.”

There is no gainsaying that Aregbesola has done this with deep commitment and selflessness. Since he came on the saddle 27 months ago, he has sufficiently demonstrated that he has the resolve and determination of a work-horse. And this is the attitude he is deploying to take the state of Osun to greater heights. This perhaps, informed

‘Under the Aregbesolaled administration, the state of Osun is undergoing manifest social and infrastructural transformation that has never been witnessed in the state since its creation’

Governors Forum: Why Jonathan is mistaken his side has been an uphill task, and this is where Rotimi Amaechi and the Nigeria Governors Forum come in.

For lack of understanding of what the NGF is really is or absolute ignorance or both, President Goodluck Jonathan believes Governor Amaechi should be able to goad the NGF to do his (Jonathan’s) bidding, irrespective of the feelings of other governors, simply because Amaechi, as Governor of Rivers State is from the same south/south geopolitical zone as Jonathan, in essence, a paddypaddy affair. Rubbish.

Those who know Governor Amaechi very well would tell you the man is made of better stuff. He would not do a thing unless he is convinced it is in the best interest of the people, your closeness to him or otherwise notwithstanding. Moreover, leading a team of equals as the NGF is, Amaechi knows that he has to say and do what his brother governors want lest he loses their confidence and gets thrown out.

Blaming Amaechi or trying to punish him for the president’s inability to get the governors behind his second term project is missing the point. Jonathan’s failure to rally the governors behind him is down to his lack lustre performance as President and Commander In Chief and has got nothing to do with Amaechi’s alleged refusal or reluctance to back him. And as just been revealed by the governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, Jonathan refusal or failure to honour the agreement he made with PDP governors in the run up to the last presidential election to serve just one term, is also at the root of

his problems with the governors. So, bringing Amaechi into the picture is akin to hiding behind one finger.

The NGF as we have been made to believe and as shown by the utterances of its members is just a club of state governors and a forum for them to rub minds on issues of mutual interest. More often than not the Forum had been criticized for being too selfish, but that was exactly what it was supposed to do; selfish on the side of the states.

And no state or state governor has come out to deny or back off what the Forum has been doing.

Because more often than not the issues that cut across the states’ interests have been against or in sharp contrast to Federal Government’s position, the governors are seen as being antagonistic to not just the federal government but also President Goodluck Jonathan, and because Governor Amaechi as their leader often speaks for them and rightly so, he is erroneously perceived as an enemy of President Jonathan.

This is wrong. Amaechi as those who know him well will say is a man of strong character who will never let his people down, hence he continues to enjoy their support and confidence. He may disagree with them and make his point or position known to them, but once a decision was taken and he was part of it, as the leader, he is bound by it and he goes out to vent and defend it. So, if speaking the minds of the governors is his offence, then all the governors are guilty.

But is it not even stupid and unrealistic for the President and his men to think Gover-

nor Amaechi could swing the minds of all the 36 state governors from six different parties when the issues that bring them together are as diverse as Nigeria? I am sure the governors will be united and probably think one way as long as the issues at hand concern them equally, as we have seen with the issue of sovereign wealth fund, excess crude revenue and local government autonomy. When the Forum attempted to speak with one voice on the issue of state police we all saw what happened.

But I am sure if the issue of a second term for Jonathan were to come up for discussion whether within the newly formed PDP Governors Forum or the more respected Nigeria Governors Forum today, the answer would be NO. So, Jonathan, Amaechi is not your problem neither is it the NGF. Look at the mirror and you’ll see your problem It is convenient for the federal government and the PDP to see the NGF as a trade union or pressure group that must be destroyed now simply because they can’t have their way with the governors. When the Forum intervened in the face off between Labour and Government to save the neck of the president and also sided with Federal government on fuel subsidy removal, it was a good body and Amaechi a good boy. But now that they can not pocket the group, NGF is a trade union and Amaechi an enemy. Ehn Mr. President? Time will tell whether what you are doing now is right or wrong but Nigerians surely know who their leaders are. They know who to trust and they will deliver their verdict at the right time. Chikena.

‘Blaming Amaechi or trying to punish him for the president’s inability to get the governors behind his second term project is missing the point. Jonathan’s failure to rally the governors behind him is down to his lack lustre performance as President and Commander In Chief’

Aregbesola’s quiet revolution in Osun

By Lanre Aminu his foreign trips to attract foreign investors, which have started yielding desired results.

To state that his administration has substantially institutionalized a vibrant economic roadmap to lift the people of the state of Osun out of poverty and build a society which embodies peace, social harmony and economic empowerment is merely underscoring the obvious. The essence of good governance is to institute policies and programmes that would seek to fast track the socio-economic development of the society and thereby ensure the welfare and economic well-being of the people. According to one time U.S Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, the task of a leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. Also to former U.S President, Thomas Jefferson, “The overall objective of any government is to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of its citizens”.

The good and long- suffering people of the state of Osun can now compare two eras: The era of Oyinlola led PDP government when people are pauperized, as compared to the era of Aregbesola led ACN government when they are empowered. Under the Aregbesola-led administration, the state of Osun is undergoing manifest social and infrastructural transformation that has never been witnessed in the state since its creation.

One refers here to construction of roads, urban-renewal, and provision of electricity and water supply, effective housing and healthcare delivery, agricultural and industrial development, grass roots development and above all, educational empowerment, a major plank on which the success or failure of any well-meaning administration will be measured in the new knowledge-based world economy.

Today, the rank of the unemployed has been decimated through Aregbesola’s ingenious job creation initiative which has re-

ceived both national and international accolades. The state has also latched on to the Information and Communication Technology revolution. A new crop of competent farmers is emerging through various farm institutes and settlements that have been resuscitated. Tourism is also featuring prominently in the scheme of things. My admiration for Aregbesola is informed by my conviction that he is a man of destiny, who has excellently acquitted himself as a visionary leader and statesman. Even some objective key members of the opposition like former President Obasanjo and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, had during their visits to the state of Osun agreed that the success story of the state under Aregbesola’s watch will soon become a reference point in developmental strategy.

Nigeria that has failed over the years because it has been saddled with leaders that can at best be described as accidents in our political firmament. Arguably, the paucity of qualitative political leadership in our country, Nigeria tended to be a consequence of our collective inability to celebrate quality leadership, due to myopic and parochial considerations. The question that has been agitating the minds of right-thinking persons and every neutral political- observers is: why is quality leadership a virtue that is not much in abundant supply amongst members of the PDP as demonstrated by the lacklustre performance of its ambassadors in states controlled by it and the centre but virtually abounds amongst members of the ACN as demonstrated by the sterling performance of its ambassadors in states controlled by it since the inception of this democratic dispensation 14 years ago?

Not a few will agree with this writer that the only legacies PDP can claim to have bequeathed to Nigerians are profligacy and ineptitude. The foregoing explains the present socio-political and economic woes

of the nation, despite the stupendous amount of petrol-dollars it has made in the last 14 years of its administration. In our own country, PDP has turned us to hewers of wood and fetchers of water. As the race to 2015 inches closer, is it not about time we, the Nigerian electorates take our destinies in our own hands by pitching our political tents with coalition of progressive political parties that has merged to challenge PDP dominance? It is in our own interest and that of our children to embrace the All Progressive Congress (APC) that parades the likes of Adebisi Akande, Muhammadu Buhari, Nuhu Ribadu, Bola Tinubu, Segun Osoba, Raji Fashola, Adams Oshiomhole, Rauf Aregbesola, Kayode Fayemi, Abiola Ajimobi, Ibikunle Amosun, Rochas Okorocha, Nasir El-Rufai and others too numerous to mention as members. If we all believe that we are not comfortable with the status quo in our country. A word, they say, is enough for the wise.

• Aminu is Head, Media and Public Relations, Awo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo

‘The paucity of qualitative political leadership in our country, Nigeria tended to be a consequence of our collective inability to celebrate quality leadership, due to myopic and parochial considerations’

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INSIDE

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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Website: http://www.thenationonlineng.com

Ndigbo strategise for FCT elections - Page 26

1, 000 get free medical treatment

Land-Swap: FCTA begins compensation process

- Page 27

• Trees, farms, houses for enumeration

I

‘Don’t abuse Abuja master plan’

- Page 28

N ITS resolve to make Abuja become one of the best capital cities of the world, the Federal Capital Territory Administration has d e v i se d some i n i t i a t i v e s t o realise this dream. One of the initiatives is land-swap through which investors are allowed to invest in the capital city development. The initiative entails using land as resource for investors to bring in the capital to provide the much-needed basic infrastructure and recoup their investments from the sale of the land.

Under the policy, the g o v e r n m e n t w i l l n o t fund infrastructure as the investors are expected to source for over N300billion to finance the projects. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Senator Bala Mohammed had assured land

From Gbenga Omokhunu

owners that any square metre of land taken from them for developing Abuja would be compensated in line with best global practices; insisting that no investor would be allowed to begin work without adequately compensating the land owners.

In fulfilment of this promise

t h e FCTA has c o n c l u d e d plans to enumerate economic trees, farmlands and households to be affected by the Abuja Land-Swap Initiative in Phase IV of the southern part of the Federal Capital City.

Mohammed said: “In fulfilment of the promise to the Abuja natives, I have already directed that the officials of the Resettlement and Compensation Depart-

Adequate compensation would be paid by the Land-Swap investors for economic trees as well as farmlands before the commencement of infrastructural development

ment under the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), in conjunction with the LandSwap investors commence the enumeration of farmlands, economic trees and members of households to enable us to have a full and concise data that will be used for compensation and resettlement of the local inhabitants.”

He added that h e h a d instructed FCTA officials and representatives of the investors participating in the initiative to visit all the villages in the affected districts of the phase IV of the Federal Capital City, as the event is expected to take place this month.

T h e m i n i s t e r said t h e Continued on page 26

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

26

ABUJA REVIEW

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HE Igbo in Abuja are making frantic efforts to ensure that their members who are vying for elective positions in the forthcoming chairmanship and councillorship elections slated for March 16, are victorious.

Igbo political leaders have perfected strategies to ensure that their candidates win .

A strategy adopted was the consensus principle and it is said to be yielding positive results. Following the arrangement, 10 consensus candidates have emerged out of the 12 councils in Abuja Municipal Area Council.

Speaking at a meeting convened by the paramount traditional ruler of Igbo Community in Abuja, Eze Nwosu Ibe, (Igbo 1), chairman of the Igbo Political Committee, Chief Iroha Iroha said that they were able to attain such achievement because of the concerted efforts of very prominent and highly placed Igbo in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Iroha, who commended all Igbo for the successful emergence of the consensus counsellorship candidates, urged them to ensure their successes in the March 16 polls irrespective of party affiliations.

He gave the names of the consensus counsellorship candidates as Eze Patrick Iroanya who is contesting councillorship position in Kabusa Ward on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN); Godwin Maduka Obi, Gwagwa Ward on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); Samuel Iloh, Wuse Ward who is contesting on the platform

•Voters waiting to vote

Ndigbo strategise for FCT elections of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP); Chinedu Otuonye, Gwarimpa Ward, on the platform of ANPP; Victor Uche Echeta, Nyanya Ward also on the platform of the ANPP.

Others are Prince Patrick Udeh Garki Ward, ANPP; Titan Ndubuisi Ezeorah, Karu Ward, on the platform of ANPP; Luke Chielozor Aniche, Karshi Ward on the platform of the ANPP; and

Victor Ifeanyi Okafor, Orozo Ward also on the platform of the ANPP. Iroha assured that efforts were being made to ensure that, out of the two remaining chairmanship

candidates in the AMAC election, one of Igbo extraction will emerge as the flag bearer.

He further said that efforts were •Continued on Page 27

Monarch, residents praise minister

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HE Sa-peyi of Garki, His Royal Highness Alhaji Usman Nga-Kupi and his Council of Chiefs have commended the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide for her commitment towards resolving the problems associated with the Apo Resettlement Scheme.

The commendation was contained in a letter signed by the Sakin Pada Garki, Jacob Garki, who is District Head of Garki; Magajin Garki/President of Garki Youth Association, Joel Yezegbe; Youth Leader Garki Hausa, Abdulwahab Musa; Daniel Vundabo representing Apo Community and Yohanna Gade representing Akpanjenya Community.

According to the letter, the Council of Chiefs and Garki citizens have agreed to be part of the Ministerial Committee on

Stories from Gbenga Omokhunu

Implementation of Apo Resettlement Scheme which was inaugurated by the FCT Minister of State on February 14, 2013.

In the letter to the minister, they acknowledged receipt of the report of the committee set up by Akinjide to resolve all challenges affecting the Apo Resettlement Scheme.

“The Garki Gbagyi, Garki Hausa, Akpanjenya and Apo communities congratulate the minister on a job well done. The minister inaugurated a committee to resolve all issues plaguing the Apo Resettlement scheme which did an excellent job and submitted its report in December, 2012.

“After we have gone through the report, we are convinced that the Minister of State for the FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide,

because of her outstanding qualities in handling the resettlement and compensation matter, is one minister among many who have taken bold steps to correct all the wrongs done by the desk officers of the Department of Resettlement and Compensation since its inception,” the indigenes said.

They assured the minister of the support and cooperation of the four communities in the development of the FCT and the area councils in line with the administration’s Master Plan for Abuja.

“The communities and stakeholders are currently studying the report to enable us to come up with summary of our input,” they added.

Akinjide had, on February 14, 2013, reiterated the commitment of the FCT Administration in proffering a lasting solution to

FCTA begins compensation •Continued from Page 25

villages visited for sensitisation and community engagement were Waru; Wasa; Takushara; Burum; Sauka (Chikpowu) Kuje Area Council; Kabusa; Sheratti; Ketti and Gbawukuchi (Kuje Area Council).

Mohammed said he was pleased with the report he got from the site tours that all the communities visited pledged to cooperate and support the government.

The minister said the rights and privileges of the Abuja natives would be protected in consonance with best global

practices, justice, fairness and equity as well as the transformation agenda of President

Jonathan’s administration.

This, he said, would ensure that there is harmony among all the stakeholders when the new initiative kicks off.

All rights and privileges of the Abuja natives would be adequately protected in consonance with best global practices, principles of justice, fairness and equity as well as the transformation agenda of Jonathan’s administration

the problems that have hindered the success of this scheme.

“The setting up of the implementation committee has become imperative for the FCT Administration to realise its dream of a functional and befitting cityscape in line with the Master Plan provisions of Abuja,” she noted.

The Implementation Committee on Apo Resettlement Scheme is headed by the Director of Admin and Finance, Area Council Services Secretariat, Alhaji Yusuf Tsaiyabu, with the Special Assistant to the Minister of State on Resettlement, Mr. Benedict Ogenyi as secretary to the committee.

Appointed as members of the implementation committee were the Director of Urban and Regional Planning, Alhaji Suleiman Abubakar (ViceChairman); Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council, Hon. Micah Jiba; Director of Security in the FCT, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed; Director of Inspectorate, Planning and Management, Area Council Services Secretariat, Architect J.S. Kaura; Director of Satellite Towns Development Agency, Alhaji Tukur Ibrahim Bakori; Director of Development Control, Mr. Yahaya Yusuf, and Director of Resettlement and Compensation, Mr. Francis Okechukwu.

Other members include Director of Lands in the FCT, Alhaji Mainasara Babayo; Special Adviser (Lands) to the Permanent Secretary, Chief Steven Awoniyi; Special Assistant (Lands) to the Minister of the FCT, Alhaji Hussaini Badeggi; Special Assistant (Legal) to the Minister of State for the FCT, Mr. Festus Tsavsar; representative of Public Building, Mr. Momoh Jimoh

•Oloye Akinjide

Ibrahim; representative of Department of State Service, Mr. Adebowale Sanusi; Deputy Director of Monitoring and Control, Resettlement Department, Alhaji Baba Kura Umar, and Chairman of the FCT Press Corps, Mr. Sam Ogbeifun.

The terms of reference for the committee included implementing the recommendations contained in the Report of the Ministerial Committee on Facts Finding and the Way Forward on Apo Resettlement Scheme.

Other terms of reference of the committee were: *to liaise with the Urban and Regional Planning Department and ensure that the final design of Garki Village is prepared for implementation in order to determine the exact number of houses to be left within the integrated area; *to consider complaints or omissions on allocations and other related issues that might have been outstanding and * to effect immediate movement of the three communities namely Garki, Apo and Akpajenya to the Apo Resettlement site.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

27

ABUJA REVIEW

1,000 get free medical treatment

A

BOUT 1, 000 residents of Kuchicko in Tungan Shanu, Suleja have received free medical treatments offered by Ahmadiyya Muslim Jammat. They smiled home joyfully.

Most of the beneficiaries praised the organisers of the initiative, especially the broad-based approach it adopted. Those who needed medical attention were attended to irrespetive of their social, cultural, political or religious backgrounds.

The free medical initiative was jointly organised by Humanity First Canada and Humanity First Nigeria in partnership with the Abuja chapter of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jammat.

Speaking on the event, Circuit Head of the society, Abuja chapter, Alhaji Kolawole Atanda described the programme as part of the society’s corporate social responsibilities to humanity irrespective of their religious or cultural backgrounds.

He said: “We believe that for anybody to be useful in the society or to serve God, such person must be healthy. We also know that health is one of the social services we lack in our country.”

He noted that the Islamic society is present in over 200 countries across the globe and is committed to helping the people.

The Supervising Councillor, Primary Healthcare, Suleja Local Government Area, Hon. Yusuf Galadima said he was not impressed by the low turnout of residents for medical services offered •Continued from Page 26

being made to ensure that the process of selecting a consensus chairmanship candidate among the two would be rancour-free.

He said: “I want to assure you that at the end of the day and by the special grace of God, just as we have succeeded in getting consensus counsellorship candidates, Ndigbo will present consensus chairmanship candidates for the AMAC election.”

He added that very highly

•Some members of Ndigbo in Abuja

Many of these people are illiterate and they are ignorant of the nature of illness they suffer from. Until government comes to our aid by supporting non-governmental organisations in providing healthcare for the people, access to medical services may still be a challenge From Gbenga Omokhunu

by the Federal Government, particularly on polio vaccination.

He further said men often prevent their wives from bringing their children for vaccination.

Describing the free medical exercise as commendable, Galadima praised the level of turnout by the residents, stressing that if such population participates in the free polio vaccination exercises, the rate of polio infection would have reduced drastically.

•Medical personnel attending to residents during the event

“Our problem is in administering the polio vaccination. We have challenges of over population in the area, as some people come from Niger. People refused to present their children for immunisation. But when they come here, we have to force them. It is always difficult for us but we were able to achieve results.

“We have to use all our resources, including our traditional rulers, to achieve some results. Nigeria is the only place where people reject immunisation. It is

worse in Niger State where there are religious differences. Again, fear of insecurity is contributory to the problem,” he said.

The traditional ruler of the area, Alhaji Adamu Danjuma described the free medical camp as commendable, stressing that the organisers never discriminated against any one based on social, political, or religious backgrounds.

He urged the Federal Government to support the initiative so that adequate healthcare would

be provided for people at the grassroots.

“Many of these people are illiterate and they are ignorant of the nature of illness they suffer from.

Until government comes to our aid by supporting non-governmental organisations in providing healthcare for the people, access to medical services may still be a challenge,” Danjuma said.

He, however, called on men in the area to embrace the immunisation programme of the Federal Government by presenting their children for immunisation.

Ndigbo strategise for elections placed Igbo political leaders within the FCT have aligned themselves with this effort to give Ndigbo a common voice in the struggle for political identity in the FCT. Speaking earlier, convener of the meeting, Eze Nwosu Ibe pleaded with all Igbo in the FCT to take the forthcoming council

elections in the FCT as very serious business which will determine their relevance in the Federal Capital Territory.

The Igbo leader appealed to Ndigbo to accord priority to the elections, even as he urged them to abandon whatever business that they may be engaged in on the election day and come out en

masse to vote for their consensus candidates.

He passionately appealed to Igbo traders and market women to put aside their commercial interest on March 16 and troop out to make a political statement by voting for these candidates chosen by their leaders.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, an executive member of the Igbo Political Committee and founder of the Solid Women Initiative for Development, Mrs. Queen Ezike said that they have started mobilising Igbo women within AMAC for the task ahead.

“As you can see from all the meeting we have been holding in the last three weeks, this is a task we have chosen to accomplish; and by God’s special grace, I know we shall be victorious at the end of the day.

“We have been mobilising all Igbo women within AMAC and the entire FCT to turn out massively on the election day to vote for the consensus candidates of Ndigbo.

“Failure is not in our dictionary for this election. We are doing everything humanly possible to make a resounding victory possible so that those who have been mocking us will realise that we are a force to reckon with in the politics of the FCT,” she said.

Also speaking on the occasion, secretary of the group’s mobilisation committee Mazi Chinedu Erondu assured that the committee would not fail those who gave it this noble assignment.

“This is an assignment given to us by our people. It is a battle cry against marginalisation of the

Igbo Community in spite of its numerical strength. We are doing everything possible to ensure that those who wish to relegate us to the background do not triumph over us.

“This struggle is our life and we will not relent until success becomes ours in few weeks from today,” he said.

The resolve to resort to consensus candidate arrangement resulted from alleged refusal by major political parties in the FCT; especially the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to allow Ndigbo to contest for positions in the forthcoming elections.

Political watchers in the FCT have described the move by the Igbo in Abuja as a rebellion against the PDP. It was revealed that almost all Igbo political leaders in the FCT, including former governor of Anambra State Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former Speaker of House of Representatives Hon. Agunwa Anekwe, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Chief China Nwanyanwu and a host of others are in support of this move.

It was gathered that the consensus chairmanship candidate would emerge after their meeting slated for this week. The race is between Hon. Chambers Okorie of the United Peoples Party (UPP) and Peter Chukwuemeka Diogwu of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

Hon. Philip Okorie of APGA, who was originally in the race had stepped down. He promised to work hard for whoever emerges as the consensus candidate for the chairmanship election on March 16.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

28

ABUJA REVIEW

‘Don’t abuse Abuja master plan’ P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has warned that the Federal Government will not condone the abuse of the Abuja Master Plan in whatever guise.

He gave the warning while inaugurating the board of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) in Abuja.

The President, who was represented on the occasion by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim reiterated that the new board must ensure transparency and value for money in its operations.

He said: “There are two things of equal importance that must be uppermost in your minds. First, the

From Gbenga Omokhunu

Federal Government will not condone any abuse of the Abuja Master Plan. Next, you must ensure transparency and value for money in your operations.”

He further warned that his administration has zero tolerance for corruption, a phenomenon that must be sustained and indeed, given greater impetus.

According to him, the ongoing prosecution of officials who were found wanting in their dealings with public funds is proof that we reject the notion of governance as business as usual.

In particular, we are committed to attracting private sector investments for the development of the Centenary City as the initiative will brand Abuja as an international destination of choice with distinctly Nigerian flavour of culture, recreation and leisure; a green city, a business hub and a model for our continent

A

N Abuja-based estate developer, El-Salem Nigeria Limited has faulted recent raid of its corporate office by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC).

Describing the action as illegal, Managing Director of the firm, Mr. Ben Gbade alleged that the council whose action he said was based on ignorance acted on inaccurate information it received from four of his subscribers.

He spoke during a press conference in Abuja. He added that the concerned clients were yet to complete payment for their

President Jonathan restated that his administration is firmly committed to the development of the Federal Capital Territory and will welcome new initiatives to accelerate the transformation of Abuja into a world-class capital.

“In particular, we are committed to attracting private sector investments for the development of the Centenary City as the initiative will brand Abuja as an international destination of choice with distinctly Nigerian flavour of culture, recreation and leisure; a green city, a business hub and a model for our continent,” he added.

He said that his administration constituted the new board as part of comprehensive plans to sustain the tempo of development in the Federal Capital Territory and enhance the results already achieved by this crop of leadership of the FCT Administration in the pursuit of its mandate.

President Jonathan used the opportunity to pay tribute to the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed as well as the FCT Minister of State, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide.

He said: “You are steadfast agents of this administration’s transforma-

tional commitment in the provision of infrastructure in the Federal Capital Territory.

“We have all witnessed the great dedication and passion that now pervade FCT Administration which is focused on hard work and team work while shunning unnecessary drama. This is yielding tremendous results.

“New and rapid developments in the City Centre, the area councils and satellite towns testify to the great strides of the incumbent FCT administration. We are proud of these great achievements.”

The President announced the FCT Minister Senator Bala Mohammed as the chairman of the new board.

Members of the board are Alhaja Salimot Badru; Mr. Ayekeme Whisky; Alhaji Kashim Bukar Shettima; Mr. Aliyu Musa Dagoggo; Dr. Uche Uzochukwu; Mrs. Martha Onwuzurumba and Col. Edward Mark.

Responding on behalf of members of the board, the chairman, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed appreciated the recognition accorded them by President Jonathan, even as he promised that the members of the board would

•President Jonathan do everything possible to add impetus to the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.

While assuring that the Abuja Master Plan will remain sacrosanct, Senator Mohammed also promised to open new frontiers by continuous invitation to investors to play leading roles in the provision of basic infrastructure.

Firm slams CPC over alleged illegal raid From Olugbenga Adanikin

houses but wanted the apartments to be handed over to them.

The CPC had, on February 25, 2013, ceased the operating license of the firm, even as it took away other valuables for alleged failure to appear before the council to answer questions bordering on consumer complaints.

But the developer said: “On

receiving the invitation from CPC, El-Salem responded in writing and the CPC received and acknowledged our letters.

“We also physically visited the CPC headquarters and made our position known to its officials. We are worried at the invasion of our office.”

While he debunked the allegations of fraud by some of its customers, Ben further stated that “there is no subscriber who has fully paid for a house that

has not been given the house.”

He, however described the action as “irresponsible act of attempting to gain cheap popularity” from the public.

He alleged that the council that had hurriedly acted wrongly, has never bothered to visit the said estate it is talking about, believing that CPC does not have knowledge of what is truly on ground at the estate.

“We assure subscribers to our Cooperative City Garden who

have paid their equity contributions and are yet to take possesion of their houses that the houses are available and will be delivered to them as soon as full payment are made.

“We unequivocally reiterate our commitment to ensuring that Nigerians have access to quality and affordable housing.

We also assure all subscribers to our estates that high quality homes are guaranteed and at affordable prices,” he said.

Minister urges value re-orientation

M

INISTER of Information, Labarun Maku has stressed the need for ethics and value re-orientation among Nigerians as catalyst for national development.

Maku, who stated this while speaking at the third anniversary celebration of the Initiative for Ethics and Values Orientation, a nongovernmental organisation (NGO), maintained that no country can succeed if its citizens have lost traditional values that form them.

Maku, who was represented by Mr. Charles Ojugbana, said the time has come for all Nigerians to rise against corruption, tribalism and all other social vices. He also advised the youth to embrace ethics, even as he urged parents to inculcate values in their children.

The minister also emphasised the need for stakeholders, including parents and other corporate organisations, to take up the challenge as government alone cannot do everything.

The chairman, Board of Trustees of the NGO, Sir Peter Aliu said what the country needs at this time is a national rebirth that will boost our personal and societal ethos.

•From left, Gambia High Commissioner to Nigeria, Angela Colley and Chief Executive, Institute for Government Research and Leadership Technology, Ambassador Moses Essien at the Gambia 48th National Day

From Gbenga Omokhunu

“Ennobling attitudes do not come fortuitously; it is imbibed through conscious efforts. No doubt, Nigeria is blessed with huge human and natural resources, but without ethics, these blessings can never be converted to assets,” he added.

In a lecture entitled “The Quest for Genuine Transformation in Nigeria and the Challenge of Ethics in Leadership,” Dr. Adeyeye Adewole observed that there was a gradual descent to anarchy and disorder in the country as a result of insecurity and corruption, saying that if the issue of corruption is not genuinely addresed by Nigerians, it may result to a worst case scenary.

Senior Special Adviser to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory on Information Management Systems, Hajiya Jamila Tangaza, in a goodwill message said while leaders had a share of the blame for the country’s woes, the followers also have a crucial role to play in national development, adding that ethics and values form the building blocks of a great society.

No doubt, Nigeria is blessed with huge human and natural resources, but without ethics, these blessings can never be converted to assets

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TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

is a problem that has permeated our lives and this we ‘ Corruption all could see in the regrettable inability to fix anything in our

E-mail:- law@thenationonlineng.net

country, in the face of huge annual votes running into several billions of Naira. Power outage has become a permanent feature of our everyday life. There is no water, travelling on our bad roads is a great risk, coupled with the menace of armed bandits See page 32 on the highways

’

• President Jonathan

• Senate President David Mark

President Goodluck Jonathan has signed the 2013 Appropriation Bill into law. Will the budget be implemented ‘fully’ this year? Lawyers are of the view that any Act of the National Assembly should not be toyed with. They argue that failure to achieve a reasonable implementation percentage should attract severe sanctions. Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU sought their views

Lawyers: it’s illegal not to implement budget ‘fully’ T

HE importance of a budget – a quanti fied financial plan for a forthcoming accounting period – cannot be overstated. A government’s budget is a summary or plan of the intended revenues and expenditures.

Budgets have an economic, technical and political basis wherein various interests push and pull in an attempt to obtain benefits and avoid burdens.

The signing of this years’ budget into law

by President Goodluck Jonathan was not without its attendant delays and politicking. It brought the bickering between the National Assembly and the executive to an end.

However, to many Nigerians, the budget makes little or no positive impact on their lives due to poor implementation at the end of each year.

While Jonathan presented N4.92 trillion last October 10 for approval, the legislature on December 20 last year passed N4.987 trillion, an increase of about N63 billion.

Jonathan, it was said, had to sign the budget at a closed door session with the leadership of the National Assembly without the usual ceremony including media coverage and short speeches after securing the understanding of the lawmakers that further consultation and negotiations would still continue for the budget to be implementable.

In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President reassured Nigerians that the consultations with the National Assembly were in the country’s best interest, and in pursuit of understanding and mutual cooperation between both arms of government.

Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were directed to ensure that all the projects contained in the budget are successfully delivered on schedule.

Now that the budget has been signed, will it be fully implemented? Being an Act of the National Assembly, how best can it be en-

Inside: How to draft commercial agreements P.31

forced?

A former President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Dr. Samuel Nzekwe, urged the National Assembly to properly perform its oversight functions regarding implementation of the 2013 budget.

“No matter how well-prepared and presented a budget is, if not properly implemented, it becomes a bad budget,” he said.

Lawyers speak Lawyers have spoken on the need to fully implement this year’s budget.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Sebastin Hon said the reluctance to sign the budget was uncalled for.

“Let me first of all state that the reluctance of the Executive to sign the budget, which dragged on for too long, was unnecessary.

Prudence and nationalistic zeal would have made the Presidency and the leadership of the National Assembly to have reached an agreement on the grey areas earlier than

when it was sealed.

“As the saying goes, when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers; hence in this case, the needless ego fight between the Presidency and the National Assembly has thrust unnecessary social and economic difficulties on hapless Nigerians.

“Another important point I want to stress is that under our presidential system of governance, the Legislature is not expected to play a passive role in the day-to-day running of the government.

“Indeed, sections 4, 5 and 6 of the constitution have established the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary, each imbued with powers that have clearly been defined.

This is what is called separation of powers, the hallmark of presidentialism, as opposed to unitarism or fusion of powers under paliamentarism.

“It, therefore, flies in the face of logic and basic presidential constitutionalism for •Contined on page 30

‘We need to strengthen institutions for democracy’ P.37

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

30

LAW COVER CONT’D

Lawyers: it’s illegal not to implement budget ‘fully’ the legislature by way of supplementary budget proposal or an ammendment of the Appropriation Act . Anything outside that amounts to executive rascality and could have dire consequences. Fortunately, the Jonathan adminisration is not known for this kind of behaviour.

“The legislature must, however, step up her over sight function to ensure there is substantial compliance by the government of the Appropriation Act as passed. This is because prevention is better than cure.”

• Continued from page 29

anybody to think that once budgetary proposals have been sent by the Executive to the Legislature, the latter must pass them without making inputs.

“If that were the case, the constitution would not require the Executive to submit such proposals to the Legislature for passage into law.”

Hon added that the success or failure of any government under the Presidential system rests primarily with the executive.

Any tinkering with budgetary proposals by lawmakers, therefore, ought to be moderate and reasonable, so as not to unduly becloud the executive’s vision on the way the country should move, he said.

“Where, however, the executive feels the legislature has exceeded reasonable limits of its tinkering powers, the head of the executive, qua the President, should immediately meet with the leadership of the National Assembly with a view to resolving the impasse before avoidable damage is done to the nation.

“Indeed, the head of the Judiciary should also be involved. This is what we call balancing of powers under the presidential system.

“Having said all these, I hereby submit that once passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President, a budget becomes law, which must be obeyed by all and sundry, unless amended subsequently by way of a supplementary budget or otherwise.

“In other words, all Nigerians, including the three arms of government, must obey and strictly apply the provisions and contents of such law.”

According to Hon, since a budget is a yearly affair, all persons, powers, institutions and even principalities functioning within the municipality concerned must ensure each year’s budget is implemented to the hilt.

His words: “The reason is plain enough: unlike other laws, a budget is just for a limited period, normally one year only; hence its implementation cannot be delayed under any guise.

“The expectations of Nigerians, therefore, are that the 2013 Budget should be scrupulously implemented and on time too.

“It is common knowledge that most ministries and parastatals refuse implementing the national budgets on time, only to rush and award dubious contracts in the twilight of each financial year in the name of budgetary implementation.

“Because of the shortness of time and the fraudulent intention that precedes the award of such contracts, no such fictitiously awarded contracts are executed and the same projects end up forming the subsequent year’s national budget! And the vicious, criminal circle goes on for years!

“Nigerians expect a complete, drastic change from this national shame. They demand full implementation of the 2013 budget.

“Finally, as stated above, once any budget has been passed and assented to, it becomes an enforceable Act of the National Assembly, requiring all and sundry to obey its contents.

“If it is the President that fails, refuses or neglects to enforce or implement the contents of any budget, he could face impeachment.

“If it is the National Assembly members or those that are directly involved, they could face recall by their constituents. Again, these are the checks and balances instituted by the constitution, to avoid tyranny and abuse of power. The 2013 budget should, be strictly implemented.”

Research professor at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Paul Idornigie is of the view that budget defence has become a meaningless ritual. He also want more from the National Assembly on implementation.

He said: “In my view, a proper understanding of this issue should start from what are the constitutional provisions on the presentation of the budget.

“Section 81(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, provides that the President shall cause to be prepared and laid before each House of the National Assembly at any time in each financial year estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Federation for the next following financial year.

“Thus anybody conversant with the budgeting process will know that during the budget hearing by the National Assembly, the senators and members usually inquire from revenue generating ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) how much they hope to generate in the next financial year.

“For all intents and purposes, therefore, what the President presents to the National Assem-

‘The President is bound by Act’

• Hon

• Prof Idornigie

bly are estimates of the revenues and expenditures for the next following financial year and not the actual revenues and expenditure.

“I am aware that in the course of implementing a budget, the National Assembly carries out an oversight function or conducts budget defence. This is done by actually visiting the MDAs to inquire actual releases made by the executive to the MDAs and budget hearing. It should be noted that actual releases made by the executive are based on the revenues actually received and not projected or expected. In my view, budget defence has become a meaningless ritual and waste of resources to the extent that the MDAs cannot request for more than the President has presented. In any case, can one give what one does not have?”

national Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands, said he expects this year’s budget to address the real challenges facing the country with a view to solving them.

It should also to reposition the country on the path of growth and development, he said.

“The budget should address the hydraheaded problem of mass unemployment that is now a feature of our economy. It should encourage and protect the productive sector of the economy. This is the sector that directly employs human resources like the manufacturing sector.

“Everything must be done to ensure that the manufacturing sector is protected. Over the years, the manufacturing sector has been neglected and the trade and distributive sector encouraged. We have been a country of mass importers of things that can be conveniently produced locally.

“This must change to protect our local industries that directly employ our human resources.

The budget should also encourage entrepreneurship by putting in place structures and funds for this. Banks and other financial institutions should be made to financially support small and medium scale enterprises through easily obtainable loans.

“Also, all appropriation for infrastructural development must be implemented to the letter. Appropriation for roads, power supply, communication, water etc must be fully utilised and the approppriate oversight must be carried out by the National Assembly. Another critical area is that of abject poverty and inequitable wealth distribution.

“The Millennium Development Goals target is less than three years to expiration and Nigerians are still wallowing in abject poverty, especially at the rural level. It is my expectation that the budget would be implemented with a view to reducing poverty in the land.

“The truth is that the average Nigerian is poor and this has seriously affected our value system as a people that we now glorify corruption and crime over honesty and hard work. It also has the effect of causing serious security challenges. As it is said, “a hungry man is an angry man, an angry man is a dangerous man, and a dangerous man can kill.

“This is the Nigerian experience today.

The educational sector should also be addressed to ensure that we produce skilled man power and not certificated but unskilled human resource. Monies appropriated for education should be released and utilised judiciously to change the current trend where many of our schools are producing largely unemployable graduates.

“The Appropriation Act is a law duly passed by both arms of the National Assembly and signed into law by the President. Laws are meant to be obeyed in full and not in part. The executive arm of government has a constitutional duty to implement laws passed by the legislature.

“Willful disobedience to a valid and subsisting law is unlawful and amounts to gross misconduct. Strictly, it is an impeachable offence. The government cannot utilise the nation’s financial resources outside the provisions of the Appropriation Act. “If it has any need to, it must go back to

‘Revisit constituency projects’ Idornigie added: “I think there is an element of mischief in the argument about lack of implementation of the budget. The National Assembly knows that what it appropriates and forms the Appropriation Act is the estimate of the revenues and not the actual revenues and yet the executive is accused of non-releases.

“Why is it that there is no such complaint about the Constituency Projects that , throw arm-twisting, is released at the beginning of each quarter. Some times lack of the release of funds for the Constituency Projects is usually the ground for harassing the executive or embarking on oversight functions.

“How one wishes that the energy expended in pursuing the Constituency Projects is the same expended in carrying out the legislative functions. I think that the time has come for Nigerians to know what happens to the funds for constituency projects. How are they disbursed and who are the contractors that execute the projects? Are we getting value for money? Or it is just a sub-head for corruption?

“There is the secondary issue of the roles of the executive and legislature in the budgeting process. When the President, who is the head of the executive, places before the National Assembly an estimate of revenues and expenditure for the following financial year, can the National Assembly increase the estimates?

“If the National Assembly does, where is the executive expected to find the shortfall from? Perhaps a judicial pronouncement on the roles of the executive and legislative in the budgetary process is imperative.”

On the need for effective monitoring, Idornigie said: “When the National Assembly purports to represent the people and therefore can appropriate any sum they deem fit to their Constituency Projects in addition to the estimates presented by the President, are they carrying out legislative or executive functions?

“Where are the checks and balances as envisaged by the Constitution when the members of the National Assembly purport to supervise the disbursement of the funds for constituency project?”

A Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Lagos State University (LASU) Ekene Odum, who was recently enlisted as Counsel of the Inter-

‘Thus anybody conversant with the budgeting process will know that during the budget hearing by the National Assembly, the senators and members usually inquire from revenue generating ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) how much they hope to generate in the next financial year’

An Ikeja-based legal practitioner and a council member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Chukwuemeka Eze, said the President and the executive are constitutionally bound to ensure full implementation.

He said: “A peep into the Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office of President in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution shows that President Jonathan has since May 29, 2011 undertaken an oath to abide by the laws of the National Assembly vis-à-vis the Constitution.

“In his oath of allegiance, the President swore to be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. In his oath of office, the President beyond pleading his allegiance to Nigeria undertook to his best ability to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

“Since the Appropriation Act is an act of the National Assembly which the president is under a constitutional duty to execute, prima facie it will be unconstitutional for the President not to implement the provisions of the Appropriation Act. By the very nature of a budget, however, it is not just impracticable but impossible to fully implement it.”

‘Why 100 per cent implementation may not be possible’ Eze said figures contained in an Appropriation Act are subject to many variables, which make its implementation “subject to mutatis mutandis”.

“For instance, a budget is predicated on many essential indicators or economic platforms such as the percentage growth rate, the ratio of the local currency to the dollar, the benchmark for the product(s) forming the basis of the anticipated income, etc.

“These variables by their nature are not static hence substantial implementation, and not full implementation, of the budget is usually the focus or the vision.

“High percentage implementation of a budget is an economic as a well as a political score card and much more than a legal fait accompli. Perhaps, this may be the basis why the National Assembly has never relied on a legal plank whenever it complains of poor implementation of the yearly budgets.

“Furthermore, it is a legal truism that lex ad cogit non impossiblia (that is, the law does not compel the impossible). It is obviously impossible for the executive to perfectly predict (even by the instinct of Nostradamus) estimates of incomes and expenditures contained in a budget.

In Chrislieb PLC v. Olagbaju (2004) 4 NWLR (Pt. 863) 342 at 365, the Court of Appeal stated that an impossible act is an act, which cannot be done, as it is beyond applying average human strength and dexterity.

“The National Assembly tries as much as possible to insert clauses that can reduce the elasticity of action by the executive such as, ‘All amounts appropriated under this Act shall be released from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation only for the purposes specified in the Schedule to this Act. “The same National Assembly in another breath provides for waiver not to incur expenditure: ‘Where, due to revenue shortfall, amounts appropriated under this Act cannot be funded, the Minister of Finance shall seek from the National Assembly a waiver not to incur such expenditure.’

“These paradoxical provisions constitute an admission by the legislature that the executive may not completely implement the budget. This may be why neither the Constitution nor the Appropriation Act provides for a resultant effect of partial implementation. In reality, non-implementation of the budget does not exist at all because there is no way the executive will avoid all the provisions of the budget and refuse to implement even part of it.

“Where the Appropriation Act has been so poorly implemented, the only remedy available to the National Assembly is to impeach the President or flex muscles through resolutions, motions and amendment of the Appropriation Act. “One hopes that there will be judicial pronouncement on this issue one day so that the controversy on the legality of partial implementation of the budget will be laid to rest.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

31

LAW & SOCIETY

How to draft commercial agreements The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) has held its 28th course in drafting commercial agreements and banking documentations, reports JOSEPH JIBUEZE.

W

HAT is involved in draft ing good commercial agreements? According to Professor of Law, Animi Awah, an effective business contract should always be clear, specific and focused.

Sentences should be short to avoid unnecessary complexity and ambiguity. Names of all parties must be accurate, and the contract must be consistent in its tone, grammar, word usage and abbreviations.

A well-drafted agreement, Awah said, must be clear and concise, readable and understandable, internally consistent with certainty of meaning and well-organised.

Its paragraphs should be logically numbered and must accurately reflect the agreement parties have reached.

Awah was one of the speakers at the “28th Course in Drafting Commercial Agreements and Banking Documentations” organised by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) in Lagos last week.

Participants included lawyers from various ministries of justice, staff of banks and other financial institutions and government agencies, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The professor said a person drafting an agreement must answer the following questions: What does the drafter hope to achieve? Who are the parties? What is the subjectmatter and nature of the agreement?

When will it take effect? What does the other party reasonably hope to have included in the agreement?

What are issues and concerns of the parties?

Basic parts of an agreement, Prof Awah said, include the title, date, parties, recital, valuable considerations, definitions, body of the agreement, interpretations, boiler plate clauses, schedules, testimonials/attestations and signatures/ seals.

She said for a contract to be valid, there must be a meeting of the minds (mutual consent), offer and acceptance, mutual consideration (mutual exchange of something of value), performance or delivery (of subject-matter/terms), good faith, non-violation of public policy and intention to be legally-bound.

According to Awah, clarity is crucial because an ambiguous contract is interpreted again the party that drafted it.

Where two interpretations are reasonably possible, the contract will be interpreted in favour of the person who did not draft it. An instance is insurance contracts, she said.

There must be an honest good faith to satisfy the conditions of the contract by parties, who are bound by it even if it proves to be a bad bargain, Awah stated.

However, she said should a dispute arise, a court would interpret a contract in a way as to avoid hardship on a weaker party.

“Proper interpretation of legal instruments would require knowledge of substantive and case law on the subject.

“An experienced and motivated practitioner must therefore take an active role in initiation and negotiation leading to the drafting of the instrument.”

NIALS Director-General, Prof Epiphany Azinge (SAN), said those drafting agreements must make provisions for ways of resolving disputes should they arise.

“Agreements are not entered into unless issues are negotiated. It is

at the end of negotiations that you can say that an agreement has been reached.

“But it is foolhardy for anyone to imagine that you can come to an agreement and there will never be any dispute arising from any issue.

“To that extent, provisions are usually made, not to go to court, but firstly to exhaust all the internal remedies.

“Secondly in the event that it’s inevitable, then you have to resort to dispute resolution maybe through arbitration or any other form of alternative dispute resolution.

“I believe that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with arbitration clauses. First we must make sure that all the issues that are relevant and necessary are incorporated in the agreement, including provisions of clauses for dispute resolution.

“If that is done and properly handled, I believe it would save the time and energy that we normally waste going to ordinary courts for litigation.

“Arbitration and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) are deemed to be better options, especially where it involves commercial agreements.”

A Research Professor at NIALS, Paul Idornigie, said disputes, unlike wine, do not improve by age.

Delay in settlement or disposal of conflicting claims over an agreement, he added, is a primary enemy of justice and peace in a business relationship.

He said problems of delays arising from long adjournments, cost, corruption, technicalities, formalities, publicity and the “win/lose “ syndrome association with litigation have made ADR increasingly ideal for resolving contractual disputes.

Idornigie identified some ADR mechanisms: arbitration, mediation/conciliation, negotiation, private judging, expert determination/appraisal, neutral fact-finding expert, evaluation, early neutral evaluation, mini-trial (executive tribunal), court-annexed arbitration and dispute resolution/review board, He said a problem in drafting dispute resolution clauses is the drafter not knowing what types of disputes that could arise in future.

Still, a clause referring future disputes to arbitration must be included, he noted.

“Care should be taken in drafting the clauses. There are various types of arbitration clauses that can be inserted or included in commercial agreements.

“Where it is necessary to draft the clause, especially in ad hoc arbitration or submission agreements, great care is required to ensure that the indispensable elements are present.

“If the arbitration agreement is defective or ambiguous, recourse will be had to litigation to stay proceedings or enforcement refused.

“This will mean adopting a process that the parties tried to avoid.

In drafting the clauses, expert advice should be sought,” Idornigie said.

Speaking on the course, Azinge said: “The programme has been running for 28 years. It is our own contribution to the training and retraining of staff of the banks and those in various ministries of justice who are interested in drafting commercial agreements and banking documentations for clients and customers.

“There are so many things that

• Director of Research Prof Olanrewaju Fagbohun and Prof Azinge

• Prof Animi Awah and Mrs Sena Jerry-Imaghiagbe

• Maxwell Asowata and Adediran Oluwabukola at the conference

can be achieved through proper skill acquisition in the area of banking documentation and commercial agreements.

“Indeed, in the area of corporate governance, it would appear that not much has been achieved.

“We feel that regardless of what is happening at the CBN or at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that this programme consistently tries to bring to the fore issues that should be internalised by all those who are charting the path of commercial agreements and banking documentations.

“To that extent, it is very, very critical that skills relevant and necessary are acquired by those who are going to drive the process.

“This programme is an opportunity for people to imbibe all the necessary skills and acquire the rudiments necessary for them to do so.

“Secondly, and more critically, the nation also engages in drafting a lot of commercial agreements with foreign partners who are interested in investing in various sec-

tors, particularly at this point in time of the transformation agenda of Mr President. There are so many commercial agreements being entered into by all spheres of government.

“This programme also would equip those who are at the forefront of such agreements to know exactly what to include in the agreements, all the necessary clauses that should be there, and what should not be there to make sure that in the fullness of time, the position of Nigeria is well-protected.”

On the new requirement that lawyers must register with the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) to ensure compliance with the Money Laundering Act 2011 as part of the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, Azinge said it should not be applicable to all lawyers.

His words: “There are so many segments coming up in the legal profession. There are solicitors who

are interested in securities and investments. There are so many segments coming up within the NBA. “If somebody decides that he wants to specialise in a particular area, and wants to lead advocacy in that area, that person should register, because such a person is supposed to make money and lead advocacy in that area.

“But to ask all lawyers to pay fees in respect of areas they may not ultimately lead advocacy in is going too far.

“So, what we’re trying to say is that maybe you don’t need to straightjacket it and make it an allcomers affair.

“Find out those who are truly practicing in that area and make it mandatory that for you to receive any brief, you must show evidence that you have registered - one, that you are a member of the body that is interested in that aspect of law, and secondly that you have so registered to practice law in that area.

“If that is done, then it means that there will be no problem and there will be no conflict.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

32

NATIONAL BAR Former Judge of the World Court, Judge Bola Ajibola (SAN), in this lecture delivered at the Metropolitan Club, Lagos, proffers solution to corruption and examines the judiciary’s role

Corruption: Are we progressing backward?

C

ORRUPTION is a global phenomenon.

It is not an exclusive problem of any nation or society; neither has it just surfaced in Nigeria. What bugs my mind is the sheer magnitude which corruption has assumed in present day Nigeria, and appallingly so under our democratic dispensation, a situation which calls for more drastic actions than rhetorics. Indeed, as some people are wont to say, “corruption has been democratised in Nigeria”.

That corruption has permeated all levels of our national life is an understatement. One is sad to see us carrying on as a nation that is bereft of any sense of shame. Indeed, what we are currently experiencing is corruption in absolute terms, and by that I mean the glaring deficit in enviable national character and general moral rectitude. It is a problem that runs through our social strata and most unfortunately, our youths have caught the bug. This is the more reason why the problem is putting the future of the country at stake.

One thing that should be of immediate concern is the negative reckoning this has put us in development ratings among the nations of the world. For years on end, we remain a net importer of petroleum products despite huge deposits of crude oil, of which we are incapable of producing what is barely required for local consumption. The result of the turn-around-maintenance in our refineries and the huge financial votes which accompanied them remain a pathetic mystery.

Today, despite our huge reserves of oil and gas, despite our huge deposits of tin and bauxite, iron and gold, and a plethora of other solid minerals, our nation is still ranked among the countries with Low Human Development in the world, hence my allusion to the word backwardness. Specifically placed in number 156 in a serial ranking of 187 countries, Nigeria is ways behind Libya, Mauritius and Tunisia which are ranked 64, 77 and 94 respectively and are among the High Human Development countries; we are behind Algeria, Egypt, Botswana, South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Congo, which are all placed in that order among the Medium Human Development countries; and even among the Low Human Development countries where our country is placed, we are still behind Kenya, Sao Tome and Principe, Angola, Cameroon, Madagascar and Senegal! Those are just the African countries.

You cannot imagine how many nations of lesser human and material endowments across the continents of the world are ranked ahead of Nigeria, and who by implication are running the affairs of their countries in much better ways than ours. Such is the level of degradation we have thrown ourselves as a people. Never mind that there is always a paid official of the government whose job it is to dismiss such statistics as mere rub-

bish.

The common belief today is that security challenges pose the greatest threat to our existence as a nation. Of course armed insurgency and threats to national peace by Boko Haram, militants in the Niger Delta and kidnappers are fallouts of a festering tradition of greed, galloping corruption with reckless impunity in high places. As Socrates stated, “the unexamined life is not worth living”, it is high time we began as a people to excoriate and excommunicate people found guilty of corruption, particularly in our professional and social gatherings, if any serious and meaningful progress will be made in tackling the scourge.

Permit me to say that the brand of corruption in Nigeria today transcends the stealing of public funds, the stashing away of which has earned us the 7th place in the world, according to a recent survey. It is also embalmed in the kinds of wages our leaders allot to themselves, thus appropriating as we were once told by one who should know, and that is the Governor of the Central Bank, that some 25% of budgeted recurrent expenditure goes to the political class and their appendages.

Of course they would retort that that is what the law says they should earn, but who made those laws? It beats my imagination to think that this is the same country where I served as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice for more than six years without taking any salary and even employed two Legal Practitioners to work for the Government in my office as Minister and paid them from my pocket.

The story of political office holders, whether in the executive or legislature is a sorry departure from the glorious order of old. Today, you are confronted with an exhaustive list of advisers and special advisers; assistants, special assistants and senior special assistants alike. We have surely created ingenious ways and outlets of draining resources out of our petro-dollar dependent and monolithic economy. Our pains as a nation are without doubt, self-inflicted.

The story is not radically different in the judicial arm, which unfortunately is relied upon as the bastion of hope. Beginning with a period of horrendous “plea bargaining”, it needed no soothsayer to realise that those acts practically open a Pandora’s Box in terms of the massive public funds pilfering that followed.

Some members of judiciary condoned through technicalities with the sole aim of truncating justice, and that in essence bolstered a high degree of criminality, particularly in public service. The most recent evidence of judicial malfeasance was exhibited in the case of John Yakubu, who was alleged to have stolen N32 Billion of police pension funds.

According to reports, he claimed that the prosecutors lied; all that he stole was N20

• Ajibola (SAN)

Billion. He was found guilty and sentenced to a disgusting two years in prison. Confusion worse confounded, he was given an option of fine - to pay a paltry sum of N750,000. That was the height of making a mockery of not only the Criminal Procedure in our courts, it also cast a serious aspersion on the judicial system as a whole.

As Jean Rousseau observed, “it is not the criminal things which are hardest to confess, but the ridiculous and shameful”. I am still seriously perturbed about how one can rationalise this one case of John Yakubu.

How many people have died in this country without having received a penny of their pensions after many years of waiting? How many have collapsed and died while waiting on long and endless queues to collect peanuts as pensions?

A more disturbing ugly story of corruption is that of Abdul Rasheed Maina who had conveniently fled the country and may soon be back to steal more.

In fairness, the judiciary is quick to remedy its own obvious and perceived shortcomings, more than the other two arms of government. It was a welcome relief therefore, when the National Judicial Council recommended the retirement of two judges who were found not to be above board.

Nonfeasance, malfeasance or even misfeasance should have no place in our courts or in our lives as a decent nation, if we are going to earn the respect of the global community again.

Corruption is a problem that has permeated our lives and this we all could see in the regrettable inability to fix anything in our country, in the face of huge annual votes running into several billions of Naira. Power outage has become a permanent feature of our everyday life. There is no water, travelling on our bad roads is a great risk, coupled with the menace of armed bandits on the highways. Air travel, to say the least, is erratic. Sometimes one is forced to wonder how much better we have fared than countries in a state of war.

The greatest danger of all this however lies with our largely idle youths. The sophisti-

cation of crime perpetrated by them, including cybercrime, cultism, murder, cheating and stealing are attestation to this. The youths are now formed into armies of kidnappers, mass killers and oil bunkerers.

Those who engage in internet crime are said to be glued to the computer all day, all night.

I am told they are called Yahoo Yahoo. And talking about cybercrime, my email which I had used for many years was hacked recently.

To my utter dismay, these hackers sent fraudulent messages to my friends, associates, acquaintances and relations all over the world. I was deeply saddened by the incident but the report I had from the security operative who was briefed of the incident was a most instructive pointer to how bad things have gone with us as a people and a nation: he empathised with me and felt sorry that people like us lived to witness this sad turn in our national life.

The problem of the youths is not helped at all by our dysfunctional educational system.

A system that produces graduates who are not employable. How could they be, when parents are today in the forefront of aiding and abetting as in pare delicto to examination malpractices? Educational curricula are changed according to whims and caprices and today, we are told that students will no longer learn history in our secondary schools. What an unthinkable policy! I used to think that there is a Nigerian Historical Society, and if there are historians here amongst us today, I should say that I have not heard any protest or condemnation of this anti-history policy from your association or any of its members.

I should like to conclude now by appealing to the government to take bold steps towards bringing corruption to its barest minimum in this country. It was John Locke who said that “the freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by; common to everyone in that society... and not to be subject to inconstant, unknown, arbitrary will of another man”.

That aptly applies to our current condition and what we are required to do. Government should provide for all and be fair to all. Our educational system ought to be made more functional and guided to address our national needs and aspirations. Government must necessarily diversify the economy to widen its revenue base. And all accruing revenues must be judiciously spent and meticulously accounted for.

We should be done with impunity and governmental arrogance. No section of the populace should be made to enjoy undue advantage over the others; no part of the federation, no part of any state or local governments should enjoy excessive patronage to the detriment of others. There should be no double standard. The nation must entrench the rule of law. It is extremely imperative. As our late elder statesman, Chief Obafemi Awolowo once stated, “the government is like the sun, it must shine on everybody”.

However, in conclusion, permit me to end with the euphemistic statement once made

by Winston Churchill when Britain was facing the adverse effect of Second World War that: “gentlemen, we are progressing backwards”.

Army officer gets justice, 15 years after dismissal

H

E heaved a sigh of relief as his long years of misery came to an end following the pronouncement by a Court of Appeal, Lagos, that his trial and conviction by a General Court Martial (GCM) in 1998 was a travesty of justice.

To Lt. Col. Kingsley S. Iberi, the pronouncement was justice at last, especially because his imprisonment for two years without an option of fine and subsequent dismissal from the army after about 27 years of service was devastating.

Iberi was on June 22, 1997, arrested by a team of military personnel led by Lieutenant Colonel Frank Omenka then of the Directorate, Military Intelligence, Apapa, Lagos on the allegation of plotting a coup with unknown persons to overthrow the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

He was kept incommunicado for six months before a purported Military Court Martial convened by the late General Patrick Azazi, in compliance with Decree 105 of 1993, changed his alleged offence from coup plotting after it could not be established against him, to a case of advance fee fraud and criminal impersonation.

By Precious Igbonwelundu

Iberi was accused of defrauding some civilians and with neither proper investigation nor fair hearing, court martialed and dismissed alongside three other persons.

In the course of his travails, his wife left after he could no longer provide food and shelter for his household. The education of his children also suffered greatly since he could not afford their fees.

The officer wrote several letters to the army chiefs praying for a revisit to the issue or at least, that his dismissal be turned to voluntary retirement since no wrongdoing has been established against him but he got no replies.

After several efforts to seek redress from the army proved abortive, Iberi through his counsel, Fred Agbaje, filed an appeal against the Attorney-General of the Federation in 2009, before Justices Ibrahim Saulawa, Joseph Ikyegh and Rita Pemu.

In its brief of argument, the respondent urged the court to determine if a person that is convicted by a court martial can file a competent appeal without complying with the

provisions of Section 183 and 184 of the Armed Forces Act, which says an appeal must be made within 40 days of the court’s pronouncement.

The respondent argued that the appellant was in total abeyance of the provisions of the Armed Forces Act which regulates the practice and procedure in respect of appeals emanating from the court martial; adding that compliance with statutory provisions is what makes an appeal valid.

It also asked whether Iberi’s appeal is valid in the absence of a competent notice of appeal. The respondent noted that after Iberi had served his terms of imprisonment imposed by the court martial, he filed an appeal in 2000, before the Court of Appeal, which ordered him on March 18, 2001, to file a notice of appeal but he did not comply with the order, leading to the striking out of his appeal on July 31, 2008.

“In the same vein, on May 31, 2011, counsel to the appealant moved a motion for extension of time within which to file notice of appeal. This honourable court granted the application and ordered that the notice of appeal be filed within seven days. The ap-

pellant did not comply with this order and there is no notice of appeal from the record of this appeal.

“It is our humble submission that the appellant’s brief of argument cannot stand on its own without a competent notice of appeal,” the respondent held.

After due considerations of the arguments put forward by both the appellant and respondent in the issue, the court in its verdict read by Pemu, ordered that Iberi be reinstated into the Nigerian Army without losts of promotion and other entitlements.

It said: The judgment of the court martial delivered on May 26, 1998, being perverse, is hereby set aside and the conviction and sentence of the appellant to a term of imprisonment for two years without option of fine is hereby quashed. The appellant is discharged and acquitted. The proceeding was never alive and same is declared null and void for want of jurisdiction.

Consequently, it is hereby further ordered that the appellant, Lt. Col. Kingsley S. Iberi (rtd) be reinstated into the Nigerian Army with immediate effect.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

33

LEGAL OPINION

Court awards damages against airline over passenger’s missed flight

A

FEDERAL High Court in Abuja has ordered IRS Airline to pay a passenger, Ahmed Mustapha, N2 million as damages for preventing him from embarking on his flight.

He was told the plane was filled up after his luggage was checked in.

The airline is also to refund N18,000, being the cost of the air ticket.

It will pay 10 per cent interest per annum on the N2million until it is liquidated.

Justice D. U. Okorowo ordered the airline to pay N200,000 as cost of prosecuting the case.

The plaintiff, who is Yobe State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, said he bought an IRS flight ticket for his flight from the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja to Maiduguri International Airport.

He paid for the ticket on December 15, 2010 and secured a booking, numbered A053Y2 for flight 1553314. Departure date was December 16 by 14:15 hours.

Mustapha said he went to the airport as early as 10am and waited for four hours so as not to miss his flight. His luggage was checked in.

When boarding announcement was made, he went to the boarding terminal with other passengers and queued up.

But surprisingly, when it got to his turn to board the plane, an airline official told him the aircraft was filled up.

Before he could protest, the plane’s staircase folded up right before him.

The plaintiff said he spent additional eight hours at the airport trying to sort himself out, besides missing important official and private appointments which harmed his reputation.

He instructed his lawyer to write the airline. In response, IRS offered him a one-way Economy Class Ticket on any of its routes.

Mustapha rejected the offer and sued, demanding N5million damages, among others.

In its defence during trial, the airline said before the aircraft took off, it made an announcement for all checked-in passengers to proceed for boarding.

According to IRS, the plaintiff, for inexplicable reasons, failed to heed the announcer’s repeated calls on the public address system to proceed to board.

By the time he heeded the call, boarding had been completed and the staircase removed, the airline said.

In his verdict, Justice Okorowo disagreed with the airline’s sub-

By Joseph Jibueze

missions. He said: “The plaintiff was not allowed to board the aircraft because he was informed that it was full.

“The defendant on the other hand did not categorically deny the fact that the aircraft was full throughout the pleadings and evidence before the court.

“The question is, can it be said that the plaintiff who arrived the airport at about 10am, waited for about five hours before boarding, checked in his luggage and obtained a boarding pass with seat No. 21, was late to board the aircraft at the terminal and could not hear three boarding announcements calling for the boarding of the aircraft?

“I don’t think any right thinking person will believe the contention of the defence that the plaintiff did not board the aircraft due to default and negligence to head the boarding announcement.”

According to the judge, the implication of the plaintiff’s assertion that the aircraft was full was that he could not enter because the airline knew his seat was taken up.

He said it was only the flight manifest that could have shown whether the aircraft was full or not and whether the plaintiff’s seat was taken up by another person.

But the manifest, the judge said, was never tendered by the airline.

Justice Okorowo recalled that during cross-examination, the airline’s witness stated that he could not lay his hands on the manifest.

“Yet, this is the defendant’s document,” said the judge. “It is my summation that the defendant could not tender the flight manifest because it would have weighed against them.”

The court noted that the airline

‘As can be gleaned from the totality of evidence and pleadings of the parties, there was no justification for the breach of the carriage contract between the plaintiff and the defendant’

had apologised to Mustapha after he missed the flight.

“The apology expressed in Exhibit D1 is an admission of the incident narrated by the plaintiff.

“There was no explanation on why the defendant failed to carry the plaintiff despite the performance of his own part of the contract.”

The judge described IRS’ defence that Mustapha did not hear the boarding announcement as an after-thought.

He said: “The defence by the defendant stated in the pleading, therefore, is in my summation an after-thought, namely, that the plaintiff defaulted and neglected to heed the announcement for boarding, that the plaintiff was late and that the aircraft had already taxied and to stop would violate the aviation regulation, etc.

“It is, therefore, my finding that the plaintiff discharged the burden of proving that the airline breached the contract of carriage with the plaintiff.

“The plaintiff did not contribute to the breach and has led credible evidence in support of his case.”

On whether Mustapha was entitled to damages, Justice Okorowo said the plaintiff, his state’s Attorney-General, missed his flight, failed to attend official engagements, missed appointments with associates and was left stranded at the airport for about eight hours.

Besides, he said the plaintiff claimed to have been mentally traumatised and put under stress by the airline’s action.

By virtue of his standing in the society, he has a very busy schedule with official and private engagements to grapple with, said the judge.

“The plaintiff, no doubt, deserves to be compensated in damages…As can be gleaned from the totality of evidence and pleadings of the parties, there was no justification for the breach of the carriage contract between the plaintiff and the defendant.

“I, therefore, hold that damages will be awarded against the defendant…to compensate for the plaintiff’s loss.”

Justice Okorowo said since the airline did not transport Mustapha to the agreed destination, he is entitled to the refund of the ticket’s value.

“On the whole, judgment is hereby entered for the plaintiff,” the judge said.

• Prof Kofi Duncan, Alhaji Femi Okunnu (SAN), Omoba Subomi Balogun and Dr Bimbola Ogunkelu during a luncheon organised by the Metropolitan Club in Lagos.

LAW AND PUBLIC POWER

with gabriel AMALU email:gabrielamalu1@yahoo.com

PDP and national challenges

I

F Nigeria were to be a registered company, there is the likelihood that majority of its shareholders would have voted for a voluntary winding up of the company. Indeed, those apprehensive of the possible opposition to a voluntary winding-up by the self-serving management team may out rightly seek the order of court, to forcefully wind-up this tottering behemoth. The perennial internal crisis and fatigue within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) management team continuously threatens the wellbeing of the country, and there is need for a change. While the PDP has been successful at retaining power since 1999, they have failed woefully as a vehicle for national development and governance.

The result is that the number of shareholders that will be amenable to a voluntary winding-up continues to increase by the day. Like a badly run company, the management team, made up mainly of the executives and legislatures at various levels, continuously fighting over management’s welfare, while paying scant attention to the company’s welfare.

Within the management, stealing, embezzlement and sundry criminality is the order of the day. As the shareholders put in more money into the company, so does the management fritter it away on their wellbeing.

Even when the shareholders’ funds are depleted, the management recklessly borrows with impunity, to continue to leave in luxury. Today while Nigerian shareholders are worried about their very basic existence, the political managers are as ever, concerned about positions, privileges and benefits.

In the past week, all the grandiose noise has been about a conclave of mainly failed managers, called the governors forum. Of course the turf war is all about who becomes what, between an incompetent president and the mainly misguided PDP governors. As usual, the internal war of who will fly the PDP flag in 2015 has been elevated to an all important national discuss. Instead of damning the bumbling PDP leadership across the country, commentators are wasting public space to elevate distractions as governance. Instead of holding many of the characters who govern their states as personal kingdoms to account, templates for success and failure has been shifted to a shifty context over the so called Governors forum.

The President who long ago lost interest in the affairs of state save those that will enhance his political survival, is at home with Governor Amaechi and his co-distracted companions, in the fight for 2015. But who will blame the political leadership in Nigeria; their responsibility is primarily is to share the resources accruing from the Niger Delta oil fields, in the name of governance. With no rigour required to raise the necessary resources to govern, many of them fritter the available resources gallivanting across the country and the globe in the name of imaginary responsibilities. Unfortunately with high media visibility, many of these failed officials parade themselves as the next best thing to happen to the country.

With politics and its patronage as the main business in the country, I am deeply worried that not much may change in 2015. President Jonathan appears to understand this national ethos, and is deploying it to his political advantage. That perhaps explains his alleged threat to resort to an abuse of his privileges to whip the PDP state governors to kowtow to his whims and caprices. Unfortunately the legislators and state governors, because they are myopic, ignore the fundamental need to make the security agencies only accountable to the laws of the land, instead of the President and the governors, until it affects them personally. Except perhaps Lagos and Abia states, how many states in the federation since 1999 have taken the political risk to seek the court’s enforcement of the principles of federalism under the 1999 Constitution, for the sake of rule of law?

The state governors since 1999 know that the President of the country has too many powers, and that he can also appropriate unlawfully even more powers than the constitution granted him, and yet very few have fought for the necessary changes. The governors themselves also pretend to be monarchs in their state, while wishing that the President will be pliable in the exercise and abuse of his own powers. They treat the state assemblies as an irritant; the local council chairmen as their errand boys, but hope they can exude the confidence of a democrat in dealing with others outside the state. Instead of jointly fighting to strengthen, equip and decentralize the police, many prefer to speak tongue-in-cheek, while relying on the same weakened police to act as state emperors.

Last week in Gombe state, the students of the state university were murdered allegedly by some soldiers, seeking to forcefully stop their demonstration for lack of water in their school. As correctly argued by Femi Falana (SAN), under what laws did the governor of the state deploy soldiers to quell an internal crisis? Unfortunately many of the Governors pretending to be democratic have been accused of ordering the abuse of the fundamental rights of their citizens, believing that since they may not be forced to account because of the weak institutions of state, that it dose not matter. Many government officials also act arbitrarily, without realizing that like the termite, they are contributing to eat up the democratic edifice.

Since the PDP leadership has successfully elevated their fundamental worries over who heads the various political forums as the essentials of good governance, there is the need for those hoping to upstage them to offer Nigerians better template for national development. One of the major challenges facing our country is the lack of infrastructure. Roads, water, electricity, transportation, independent and equipped security agencies, gainful employment and other needs of a modern society are the only templates for judging good governance, not sagacious politicking.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

FROM THE COURT

FAAN, AIC dispute: Judge transfers case to CJ

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USTICE Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos has ceased to preside over the case filed by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) against businessman-politician, Chief Harry Akande and his company, AIC Nigeria Limited.

FAAN’s suit marked: FHC/L/CS/90/2013 is in relation to the dispute between them over a piece of land measuring about 11.654 hectares located within the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos earlier given to AIC by virtue of a leased agreement between them, dated February 17, 1998.

FAAN had upon the 1998 agreement, leased the land to AIC for 50 years to be utilised for a hotel project. FAAN later changed its mind and sought to repossess the land, citing sundry reasons including security concern.

Last Friday, Justice Idris elected to return the case file to the court’s Chief Judge (CJ) following an application by FAAN, requesting that the case remitted to the CJ for reassignment to a new judge.

Lawyer to Akande and AIC, Professor Alfred Kasumu did not object to FAAN’s request, but noted that it was becoming a pattern with FAAN “to engage in forum shopping” since the beginning of the dispute between parties.

FAAN had in its application noted that Justice Idris was once a counsel in the chambers of the late Rotimi Williams, who was once a lawyer to Akande and AIC. FAAN had in its suit, sought among others, to perpetually restrain Akande, AIC and their agents from tampering with its (FAAN’s) possession of the land, which it said forms the subject matter of the “invalidated leased agreement” between them, dated February 17, 1998.

It accused Akande and his company of trespass and urged the court to award N150million in damages against them. It also seeks N50 million as cost of the suit.

FAAN, in its statement of claim, conceded

By Eric Ikhilae

to earlier leasing the land to AIC in 1998 for the purpose of constructing a hotel at the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport.

It added that upon re-evaluation of the lease agreement between them, it realised that the project posed security and other risks.

FAAN stated that “security concerns over the close proximity of the land to the runway and the airport main building,” informed its decision to stop AIC from proceeding with its construction on the land, and later offered it (AIC) a substitute, but which the company allegedly rejected.

The plaintiff admitted being party to the arbitration, but contended that the arbitrator, on allegedly realising that AIC had ceased to occupy the land, “specifically refused those claims as would give or restore possession to the defendants.”

FAAN argued that by the award, the arbitrator did not only recognise its legal title over the land, but also its possession of the disputed piece of land. it accused the defendants of resorting to self-help by allegedly utilising thugs in their effort to possess the land.

It contended that national security and security of individual lawful users and dozens of the airport are in grave jeopardy by the defendants’ purported invasion and presence at the airport. It prayed the court to grant its prayers.

Akande and AIC raised a preliminary objection and urged the court to strike out the suit for lack of jurisdiction. They argued that the suit amounted to an abuse of court process because they had filed a similar suit in relation to the same dispute between them same land.

AIC and Akande argued that since the plaintiff’s principal claim is trespass, the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain a suit on such issue.

They further argued that it would amount to

•FAAN MD George Uriesi

an abuse of court process should the court entertain plaintiff’s suit despite the pendency of their earlier suit marked: FHC/L/CS/ 1058/ 2010 and in which they seek among others, an order of specific performance against FAAN in respect of the same land.

The defendants averred that the land in dispute in the suit by FAAN is the same with that on which they were currently before an arbitrator. They stated that the land was leased by FAAN to AIC for 50 years, starting from February 17, 2008.

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

Forum advocates criminalising torture of disabled people

Legal Dairy

Institute to hold Founders Day Lecture

T F T

HE Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) will hold her Founders Day Lecture. Date: March 18. Venue: NICON LUXURY Hotel, Abuja. Time: 11 am. Guest Lecturer, Justice Mary Peter- Odili (JSC)

Obi to bury brother

ORMER chairman of Kaduna branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Mr Anozie Obi will bury his younger brother, Enyinnaya on Friday. A statement from the family says the burial ceremony will take place in Chief Obi’s compound Umuegwu, Afugiri.

Hajiya Kwaku loses cousins

HE Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Women’s Forum, Hajiya Fatima Kwaku, penultimate week Wednesday lost her two cousins to unknown gunmen in Azir, about 65 kilometres to Maidugri, the Bornu State Capital.

They were gunned down while waiting to take their dinner in the family house between 9 and 10 pm on Tuesday night, February 19 and were buried the following day accord-

ing Muslim rites. The two men are Wakil Lawan Shettima, 65, who until his death, was the village head of Azir, Damboa Local Government Area of Boronu State and Buji Lawan Shettima, 45, who was a District head in Azir, Damboa Local Government Area of the State.

According to sources, the gun men who were about 17 arrived the village on motorcycles and snuffed lives out of the deceased, leaving their helpless wives and children behind.

NBA sets committee on Nasarawa varsity killings

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HE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has directed the Keffi branch of the association to investigate the causes of the death of four students of Nasarawa State University and report to it for prompt action. NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN) said the association was pained by the death of the hapless students and,

therefore, decided to get to the root cause of their death.

Wali said: “We have directed our local branch to investigate the matter and report back to us.

When we get their report, we will take it up from there. We cannot fold our hands and watch Nigerians die like fowls, that is unacceptable to us as an association.”

NBA holds valedictory court session Thursday

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HE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) will hold a valedictory court session for the former Chairman of NBA, Lagos branch, Mr Akin Akinbote who passed on to

eternal glory last week. The valedictory court session will hold at the Lagos High Court foyer, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos on Thursday, March 7, 2013. Time 9am prompt

PALU mourns Sec-Gen

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HE President and members of the Executive Committee of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) have announced the death of their SecretaryGeneral, Akintola Anthony Akinbote.

Mr Akinbote lost his battle against a kidney dysfunction on Tuesday, February 19.

In a statement, the group said: “Although we were aware of the severity of his illness, his death has come as a great shock to us.

“Throughout his career, Mr Akinbote, a dedicated Pan Africanist, was at the forefront of the

fight for the independence of Bar associations and the rights of advocates on the continent and beyond. He held many positions that testify his dedication and commitment and to the advancement of the legal profession.

“He was, among other things, the Chairman of the Lagos Chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association, president of the OHADA Club Nigeria, co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the Law and Democracy Initiative of Books for Africa and most recently, the Secretary-General of PALU.

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

AIC and Akande averred that the arbitrator, the late Justice Kayode Eso gave a final ward on June 1, 2010 and found in favour of AIC on all issues of fact and law submitted for determination by parties (FAAN and AIC).

They stated that the arbitrator awarded damages of $48,124,000 in favour of AIC, but refused to grant an order of specific performance against FAAN on the ground that he (the arbitrator) lacks the machinery for enforcing such an order.

AIC and Akande added that the arbitrator also refused to grant AIC’s prayer for an award for additional costs it would have incurred if it had completed the hotel project. They stated that the arbitrator’s refusal to grant both prayers formed the subject of their pending suit.

They are, in the suit, praying the court to hold that the arbitrator was wrong and to remit the June 1, 2010 award back to the arbitrator to formally make an award for specific performance and award for damages claimed by AIC. AIC and Akande contended that if the main issues in their pending suit, which are whether or not AIC was entitled to specific performance to remain on the land and an award for damages, were resolved in their favour, there will be difficult for FAAN to maintain its suit of trespass against them.

“It is certainly an abuse of court process for FAAN to institute this present action for trespass against AIC, the determination of which is likely to lead to conflicting decision of this case vis a vis the pending originating summons,” they said.

They stated that they have been in peaceful possession of the land until FAAN allegedly invaded the land, which they had fenced and began construction, on January 5 this year, using uniformed men.

E

XPERTS at a roundtable discussion organised last Friday scrutinised the findings of a study on torture and inhuman treatment against people with disabilities.

The research was carried out by two nongovernment organisations – Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) and London –based Equal Rights Trust (ERT).

As participants rose from the session held in Lagos, there was a consensus on, among others, the need for deliberate efforts at all levels of government to give more attention to the protection of people with disabilities against torture and all other forms of inhuman treatments.

They called for enhanced scrutiny of the conduct of police and prison officials as a way of curbing torture and inhuman treatment of people with disabilities Among participants were Deputy Comptroller of Prisons, representatives from the National Human Rights Commission, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Justice.

They agreed that torture should be made a criminal offence in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Torture, which the country has ratified. They contended that perpetrators, including law enforcement agents such as the police, need to be prosecuted to curb such acts.

Participants also agreed that the Ministry of Health should introduce proper regulation of traditional healers and ensure that they do not carry out treatments constituting inhuman and degrading treatment.

They suggested that specific wording should be introduced into the rules regulating prisons, to ensure that government responsibilities extends to identifying prisoners with disabilities, and providing reasonable adjustment to accommodate their peculiar conditions.

Participants recommended changes in the training of police and prison officers and the regulation of their conduct.

“First, there is a need for an independent police complaints mechanism. Second, training on disability and prevention of ill-treatment should be mandatory for all police and prison officers,” they said.

At a session with the media, shortly after, LEDAP’s National Coordinator said the

By Eric Ikhilae

project started in 2010. He added that in the course of the study, 450 individuals living with disabilities were interviewed across the country.

He said part of their findings included that people with disabilities were exposed to all forms of torture in police detention facilities, on the streets and in prisons.

“People with disabilities are particularly at higher risk of torture, including flogging with whips, suspension from the ceiling and beatings with machetes in police custody than other suspects.

“These abuses are carried out with impunity, because there is no independent monitoring of these facilities and no accountability of staff.

“We found that prisons do not provide special assistance to disablec prisoners. This means that people with disabilities in prisons are suffering more than other prisoners.

“For example, mobility devices such as crutches are not permitted, meaning that disabled people are left unable to walk to the toilet facilities,” Obiagwu said.

The President, Joint National Association of People with Disabilities, Danlami Basharu lamented the plight of the disable in cities like Lagos.

He faulted the law in Lagos that prohibits street begging. He alleged that state officials have subjected disabled people to unwarranted inhuman treatment on the pretext of applying the law.

“How law is applied more against the disabled people. How can you say you are banning street begging, arrest and detain people and yet you are not providing them with any means of earning income?

“The same state that said it has passed law to cater for disable people is providing a transportation system that made no provision for people with disabilities. The BRT buses are not disabled people friendly, the bus stops cannot also be accessed on wheel chairs,” he said.

Miss Joanna Whiteman of the ERT suggested that governments at all levels should ensure that special budgetary allocations were made available to cater for the needs of the disabled people.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

35

LAW & SOCIETY

Badagry land judgment: Family denies reports of unrest

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HE Oshuku-Iyombu family of Araromi-Ale Kingdom, Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State has reiterated its ownership of some hectares of land in the community. It said a high court verdict, which dismissed a group’s claim to some portions, gave it authority over the land.

The group, the Lagos Flying Club, suing through its registered trustees, had sought among others to be declared the owner of the land. They listed Mrs Abigail Ajose and some unnamed persons as defendants.

Mrs. Ajose counter-claimed. She sought a declaration that she is entitled to the Right of Occupancy in respect of the land; an order giving her immediate possession; N550,000 as damages and an order of perpetual injection restraining the club, its servants, agents and privies from committing further acts of trespass on the disputed land.

Following the claimants’ reluctance to proceed to trial, the court, on September 26, 2007 invoked the provision of Order 30 Rule 3 of the court’s Civil Procedure Rule 2004 and the Lagos Flying Club’s claim.

Trial was conducted on the counter-claim, during which Chief Ibikunle Ajose (who later took Mrs Ajose’s place following her demise) testified for the counterclaimant. Engr. Adetokunbo Coker

Stories by Eric Ikhilae

who identified himself as a member of the Lagos Flying Club testified for the club.

In his evidence in chief, Ajose gave the history of how the ownership of the land became vested in his family. He said the first Oshuku founded the kingdom in 1830 and that he (Ajose) is the ninth and present Oshuku (traditional head of the community) appointed on August 14, 2003.

He said the family obtained a judgment of the Supreme Court of the Colony dated 29 August, 1904 when the land was first encroached upon and tendered a certified true copy of the judgment.

Ajose stated that one of the grand children of Oshuku-Iyonbu, the original founder gave oral licence to two white men to build an airstrip for light aircraft without taking a penny from them and that one of the two white men handed back the land to the late Madam Abigail Ajose in 2001 when all the goods on the airstrip including light aircraft were taken away.

He stated that some people claiming to be Registered Trustees of Lagos Flying Club later demarcated the land into plots and started selling the land to individuals for residential purposes. He tendered receipts made out to several persons.

Ajose said he commissioned a

Rights violation: Court strikes out suit against Olugbo

search at the Corporate Affairs Commission which revealed that the last trustee on Record were James Hamilton and Stanley Phillips as at 1 April, 1964 and that presently there is no registered trustee of the club.

Coker gave evidence to the effect that the land was allocated to his club by the state government.

Under crossed-examination, Coker stated that one Ola Rosiji is presently the Chairman of the club elected by members. He had forgotten the names of the trustees of the club, saying they are no longer in the country.

istrar of the Corporate Affairs Commission.

“From the foregoing, the court hereby declares that the counterclaimant, Chief Ibikunle Ajose is entitled to the Right of Occupancy in respect of the parcel of land situate, lying and being at Magbon, AraromiAle, which is particularly shown and deleanated in survey plan No. LA/ 1080/92/63.

Justice Adebajo ordered Ajose to take immediate possession of the land and restrained the claimant – registered trustees of Lagos Flying Club and its agents from trespassing on the land.

Reacting to reports that there was still a persisting dispute and unrest over the land, Ajose urged the state government and the general public to ignore such publications and announcements in some media.

Ajose said: “Following the judgment which ordered our opponents to vacate the land immediately and equally ordered us to take possession forthwith. We took immediate possession peacefully without any violence and the place had remained peaceful ever since.

“So, we wonder where our opponents see the imaginary violence they have been shouting about in the media”.

Ajose said the announcements were deliberate attempts to misinform the state government, security agencies and general public of a non-existing violence.

Groups move to enhance citizens’ participation in anti-corruption drive

I

A

FEDERAL High Court sitting in Akure, Ondo State, has dismissed a suit brought by a former Clerk of the National Assembly, Chief Olufemi Ogunyomi, and one other, accusing the Olugbo of Ugboland, Oba Fredrick Akinruntan, of hindering his movement in Ode-Ugbo.

Justice Ishiaq Sani, in his judgment, said Ogunyomi was unable to establish any breach or violation of his fundamental rights against the first class monarch.

The judge ruled that “the application is devoid of merit and that, that being the case, the applicant’s action must fail and it is accordingly struck out” Ogunyomi in company with one Dr. Banji Ajaka had filed a suit FHC/ AK/CS/4/2013 through their counsel, Mr. Idowu Mafimisebi, before the court alleging that Oba Akinruntan double-crossed them with his convoy of vehicles at OdeUgbo on December 20, 2012.

They also alleged that the monarch threatened to deal with them and would disrupt the burial ceremony of their late father, Pa. Reuben Ogunyemi, which was slated for February 15 and 16 at Ode-Ugbo.

They had claimed that they were in the riverside community to supervise a building project and to ensure that the community generator was well serviced in preparation for the burial ceremony.

They had argued that the alleged action of the Olugbo was illegal, unlawful and contrary to their right to freedom of movement guaranteed in the nation’s constitution.

The plaintiffs through a 12 paragraph affidavit, therefore, sought the declaration of the court that the alleged action of the monarch was unlawful, unconstitutional and a violation of the constitution.

They also sought the order of the court restraining the respondent from harassing, embarrassing, threatening or carrying out any act that could infringe their movement or disrupt the burial ceremony of their late father.

• Justice Ayotunde Phillips, Chief Judge, Lagos High Court

He admitted that part of the objectives of the club presupposes taking-off and landing of light-aircraft, which activities are no longer going on. He admitted that the objective of the club does not include sale of the residential building.

Coker admitted that the club had no certificate of occupancy and that the club is selling the land to third parties with the aim of raising funds to relocate.

In his judgment, Justice Adebajo held that “It is my opinion that in relying on traditional history as well as acts of prossession, the defendant has led cogent and cohesive evidence which I fully accept.

“He led me in no doubt as to the founding of the land by his ancestors and the successive possessors of the land to the initial defendants in the suit and to himself.

“I also believe the evidence given as to the licence to the two expartriates for the operation of a flying club. Based on the argument set out by the defendant (Ajose), it has been shown that there are no trustees of the flying club.

Coker, who claimed to be a representative of the trustees, did not even attempt to say he has a power of attorney from the trustees. Suffice it to say that there is no trustee in existence and this should be brought to the notice of the Reg-

• Justice Ibrahim Auta, Chief Judge, Federal High Court

However, in his response through a 31 paragraph counter-affidavit deposed to by High Chief Adeboye Omoderun, the Olugbo said his convoy of vehicles did not block any car on that particular day.

Rather, he said, it was the Navy pilot Hilux pick-up van loaded with heavily armed naval personnel that parked very close to his construction site on that day.

Counsel to the monarch, Mr. Olusesan Dada, described his client as a peace loving king, whose reign had brought unprecedented peace to Ugboland since he was enthroned.

He also told the court that Oba Akinruntan has no thugs and did not mobilise anybody with the intention of frustrating or disrupting of the burial ceremony of the plaintiffs’ father.

While delivering judgment on the suit, Justice Sani, said the plaintiffs were unable to show adequate proofs that the monarch ‘doublecrossed’ their vehicle on that day.

The judge also maintained that there was no evidence that the monarch threatened to disrupt the burial ceremony of the plaintiff’s father because the applicant relied on hearsay from a member of his family.

The judge said, “I have decided not to sacrifice justice on the altar of technicalities.

“On the whole, I found as a fact that based on the surrounding circumstances of the case, the applicants have not established any breach or violation of their fundamental rights.

“The application is devoid of merits and that being the case, the applicant’s action must fail and it is accordingly struck out,” Justice Sani held.

N a move aimed at assisting citi zens in effectively performing the responsibility imposed by the provision in Section 24 of the Constitution, agencies have evolved an initiative to ease the report of cases of corruption to the relevant agencies.

Section 24 (e) imposes a duty on every citizen to “render assistance to appropriate and lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order”.

The initiative is in the form of a book - Citizens’ Guide to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) – jointly produced by the SocioEconomic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

They said the initiative is intended to encourage Nigerians to report to the commission any case of corruption whether or not they (the citizens) are directly affected.

It also seeks focus on corruption at the level of closer to the people – the local government.

The book, written by Professor Oyelowo Oyewo, former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos (UNILAG), contains practical information, including important points such as examples of typical incidences of corruption by local government officials, and how a citizen can lodge a complaint be-

fore the ICPC. The book made public in Lagos last Friday, contains information to the effect that the ICPC Act in section 6(f) imposes a duty on the Commission to enlist and foster public support in combating corruption.

As a result, a citizen is empowered to make a report or write a petition about corrupt practices and submit it at any of the offices of the ICPC, to enable any of its officers to investigate such report/ petition as provided by the ICPC Act. It is argued in the book that the combined effect of sections 22 and 39 of the Constitution provide the right to freedom of expression to the citizen to expose corruption, by publicizing such through the media.

Such exposure, it is contended, will be aimed at triggering the selfinitiated investigative powers of the Commission that can be initiated by the Chairman under section 36(1) of the ICPC Act.” Executive Director, SERAP, Adetokunbo Mumuni said the book seeks to increase citizens’ awareness about the ICPC and its operations.

He said the book primarily focuses on local government level corruption in order to address the high level official corruption at that

level. He said it could also be used by the citizens to lodge complaints before the ICPC on allegations of corruption generally.

“Several allegations of corruption among local government officials are not adequately reported; and actions are rarely taken to redress the problem or to achieve accountability.

“Yet, local-level corruption is assessed to be much more widespread that corruption at the federal and state levels, probably because of the direct and personal contacts local government officials have with citizens in providing the most ordinary and most sought after public services.

“This simplified document aims to increase citizens’ awareness about the ICPC, and contains practical information, including the very important points such as examples of typical incidences of corruption by local government officials, and how a citizen can lodge a complaint before the ICPC.” ”The report also encourages citizens to take on the role of ‘whistleblowers’ that can trigger investigations into corrupt practices that will lead to prosecution and conviction of corrupt public officials, in particular at the local government level.

“It perfectly complements the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, which confers on the citizens the right to access public records under section 1,” Mumuni said.

NDLEA may face contempt charges

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HE National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and some officials of the United States (US) Embassy have been accused of forcibly transporting an American citizen, Mr. Olayinka Johnson back to the US to face a criminal indictment. They were said to have deported him, despite a pending case at the Court of Appeal in which hearing will come up on Friday.

Johnson’s counsel, Mr. George Oguntade (SAN) said his travail started when a request was made to the Attorney-General of the Federation by a diplomatic representative of the US Embassy in Nigeria for the surrender of Mr Johnson to

face a criminal indictment in the United States.

Pursuant to the request, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) filed an application before the Federal High Court, Lagos on January 20, 2013 and February 1, 2013, Justice Buba granted the extradition orders and also ordered his remand in prison custody pending his transportation.

Oguntade (SAN) immediately filed a notice of appeal and motion for stay of execution of the judgment and in view of the urgency involved, the Court of Appeal fixed hearing of the motion for stay along with a motion for bail pending determination of the

appeal.

When the AGF’s office failed to file any processes, the Court of Appeal adjourned hearing of the motions for stay and bail to March 8.

But at about 3pm on February 28, operatives of the NDLEA along with some officials of the US Embassy on the orders of the Chairman of the NDLEA allegedly proceeded to Ikoyi Prisons where they forcibly removed Mr Johnson and took him to their office on Shaw Road, Ikoyi and thereafter transported him back to the US. One question now being asked is whether the US government will treat their own citizens the same way the NDLEA is treating a Nigerian citizen?

36

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

LEGAL OPINION

Tribute to my most eminent client, Kayode Eso, JSC

’I

’I am going to my Father’s, and though with great difficulty I got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been to arrive where I am.

My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it.

My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me, that I have fought his battle, who now will be “my rewarder”’.

-John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress.

As the nation and legal profession in particular mourn the recent death of Honourable Justice Kayode Eso, I recall the privilege I had of representing him as counsel and the mild drama it engendered in the courtroom. My late boss and stellar litigator if ever there was one, Bankole Aluko, was primarily responsible for a case his law firm of Ajumogobia, Okeke, Oyebode and Aluko, where I worked in the early 1990s, was handling for Justice Eso who had just retired from the Supreme Court. A hearing notice to the law firm for an appeal in the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court for which Mr. Aluko was also primarily responsible showed that it was fixed on the same date as Justice Eso’s case in the Ikeja Division of the Lagos State High Court presided over by Justice A.L.A.L. Balogun.

Mr. Aluko in the circumstances asked me to go for Justice Eso’s case in view of his engagement in the superior court. Given that the firm, as a rule, was averse to requesting adjournment of its cases especially for reason of absence of a particular counsel it meant that I had to be prepared for the serious motion scheduled for that day. Mr. Aluko went about his cases with obsessive detail and frightening tenacity and his giving you charge, even for a day, of any of those cases he was primarily responsible for meant that you passed muster in his extremely demanding eyes; this was the best exemplar of inhouse approval regarding courtroom competence.

As an enthusiastic counsel of less than five years post-call experience my excitement was boundless. The fact of Justice Eso being the client multiplied further my excitement.

Even after I had finished studying the file late at night I lay awake in bed going through all conceivable angles to the argument until shortly before dawn. Chauffer driven straight from his Ibadan home that morning, Justice Eso arrived at the courtroom shortly before 8:30am and I went straight to introduce my self to him as his counsel for the day. One could not help but be awe struck by his mien and carriage of sober aristocracy; against the backdrop of his towering reputation he seemed to be a coalescence of wisdom and greatness in flesh and blood.

He listened with rapt attention as I quickly explained to him my proposed argument on the motion for interlocutory injunction and perspectives on the case in general.

I paused and Justice Eso used the opportunity to ever so respectfully tell me that I did not have to convince him of anything and that he had total belief in my ability to handle his case and which was why he remained, for that day at least, my client. I proceeded to take my seat within the Bar and Justice Balogun soon made his appearance, apologising in advance that he would only take Justice Eso’s case in the first instance. And after which he would retire back into his chambers to complete a judgment or ruling he would deliver later that morning before hearing the rest of the cases scheduled for that day.

Upon the court rising after hearing argument on Justice Eso’s mo-

By Chijioke Okoli

tion, the lawyers in the courtroom gravitated towards the legal luminary to pay him homage. He took the adulation in his stride as he made for his car for the trip back to Ibadan, but not before graciously thanking me. I could see the curiosity which beset most of the lawyers, especially those of Yoruba nationality, as to how an Okoli, and a very young one at that, was representing one of O’odua’s finest legal minds. I delighted in their puzzlement whilst silently blessing Mr Aluko for the opportunity.

It is nonetheless noteworthy that the sense one got from even the briefest of personal interactions with him was that Justice Eso was far too urbane and huge minded a personality to be bothered about the ancestral village or hometown of his counsel or for that matter any person with whom he interacted.

At any rate, the qualities of an urbane, sophisticated and self assured intellect would invariably strike any discerning reader of Justice Eso’s judgments. Perhaps more than these, even, is the very obvious relentless pursuit of justice as the holy grail. The sanctity of substantial justice in disregard for obstructive technicalities as an article of faith is encapsulated in his following statement in the case of Chinwendu v Mbamali [1980] 3-4 SC 31: “Care should be taken by the court always not to sacrifice justice on the altar of technicalities. The time is no more when disputes are dealt with rather on technicalities and not on the merit….Indeed, abandonment of technicalities of this nature is in consonance with our rules of pleadings which require facts and not law to be pleaded. To be otherwise would set in motion a system that would encourage technicalities to take over the rules of court. This will be going back to the Middle Ages. It will be a retrogressive step. It will end in travesty of justice.”

He would go on to postulate in his Valedictory Speech [1990] SCNJ, p. 9 at p.12 that “without justice, law labours in vain.”

Eso’s notion of justice is however not a vacuous one divorced from law, rather it is informed by a kaleidoscopic breadth borne out of a deep appreciation of social realities and human nature, steeped in law but calibrated by common sense and overall wisdom. This much could be gleaned from his consideration of even an otherwise mundane issue of the consequences of mistake or inadvertence of counsel as occurred in the case of Akanbi v Alao [1989] 3 NWLR (Pt. 108)p.

143 in which he stated thus: “I think it would be extending Ibodo v Enarofia beyond reason if every considered or assumed considered professional decision of a counsel which has gone wrong should qualify as a ground of appeal. We did say once, and I am still of the firm view, that the conduct of a case lies wholly with counsel. The rule should be “caveat client.” If you chose a counsel you should permit him or her once seised of the case, to conduct the case in the manner of his (or her) professional ability. Indeed that is part of the independence of the Bar. If there is a lapse in his (or her) office, his (or her) clerk forgetting to file some papers, he, forgetting the date of hearing or such procedural errors, of course the client should not be made to suffer….If however, he takes a deliberate decision and loses thereby, it is his privilege to lose and that will not constitute a right for the client for utilization as a ground of appeal.

For, if it were so the profession would be in jeopardy.”

The major reason why Nigeria’s current attempt at democratic gov-

ernance is looking more and more as, late Dele Giwa famously said, God’s experiment on the impossible, with too many people in positions of authority and their associates celebrating impunity, is because we have chosen to ignore the lodestars provided by our ‘heroes past’ like Justice Eso. Very few events, at least as concerns the administration of justice, could exemplify this more than the attempt to get the Supreme Court to sit on appeal against its decision that the tenure of Anambra State Governor Peter Obi started from the time he took his oath of office and therefore nullifying the 2007 gubernatorial election in the state held whilst his term of office was still extant.

As some of the leading actors in that tragicomedy went about pretending they were unto a lawful and noble cause, and until Justice Kutigi’s Supreme Court said nay “in thunder”, not a few practitioners of law wondered if they had never heard of the leading case of Adigun v A.G., Oyo State [1987] All NLR 328. And in which Justice Eso in words redolent with magisterial splendour made it crystal clear that “….the decision of the Supreme Court is final .Final in the sense of real finality in so far as the particular case before that court is concerned. It is final for ever, except there is legislation to the contrary, and it has to be legislation ad hominen. The Supreme Court, and it is only the Supreme Court, may depart from the principles laid down in their decision in future cases but that does not alter the rights, privileges or detriment to the parties concerned, arising from the original case .Such is the constitutional power of the Supreme Court, that learned counsel, probably rightly, wondered if the Justices of the Supreme Court were supermen. Let me answer the question. The Supreme Court is, under the Constitution, a super Court, deliberately meant and made to be so, by the organic law, and the Justices of that Court, now only to that extent of their decision are super men, meant to be so and so made by the Constitution.”

We are given further insight into Eso the jurist and the man when he continued thus in the same judgment: “Of course, neither the Court nor the Justices are meant to, or could even be infallible. But the price paid for finality in litigation is that the notion or the dread of infallibility has been sacrificed by the Constitution on the altar of finality. The society can never be stable if there is no such finality in litigation…It is such dread powers, therefore, that must necessitate and warrant great care in the calibre of the Court and such dread that must necessitate pungent and constructive analytical criticism of every judgment of the Court in law journals and similar fora. The judgments of a Court should not be treated with sacred sanctity once it gets to the right critical forum.”

It was written by a historian of the American Civil War concerning the Confederate overall commander, Robert Lee, that the greatest spiritual asset of an army is the belief of the foot soldiers in the infallibility of their supreme commander. In the same vein, it is axiomatic that the greatest asset or

• Justice Eso

attribute of a judicial system is the moral authority of the individual judges. Essays and doctoral theses could be, as they indeed have been, written on this notion of moral authority but it can be summed up briefly thus: it is founded upon the belief of the court users-lawyers and their clients alike-and indeed society at large in the unimpeachable character and learning of the Judge.

Moral authority is almost always self evident in the persons who posses it and an encounter with Justice Eso would leave one in no doubt about its presence. In inviting unrelenting critical scrutiny of the judgments of the Supreme Court of his time, and indeed all other courts, as he does in the Adigun case, he plays the role of the standard bearer of not only that court but the Nigerian judiciary in general. In so doing, he is undoubtedly secure in the knowledge that the intellectual and philosophical foundations of the court judgments would almost invariably pass muster, although without necessarily always being correct, one may add. And, of course, the integrity of the judge handing out the judgment being taken for granted from onset. In all of these, however, he makes the case for eternal vigilance of all to ensure that the calibre of the court remains high.

In the foregoing vein, it was not a coincidence that he was appointed by the Federal Government in 1994 to head the Judicial Panel on the Reform/Reorganisation of the Judiciary. It was at this duty post that Eso deployed his fertile mind in striking a direct and impactful blow for judicial integrity in his single minded attack on judicial corruption. He came up with his theory of ‘widespread and persistent perception of corruption’ as a basis for retirement of some judges. He explained that given that public confidence is the foundation of judicial authority the system should not allow the continuation in service of any judge with a sure reputation for corruption amongst practicing lawyers in the

different geographical locations that judge has had to exercise judicial power.

Central to Nigeria’s current crises is unquestionably the crisis of law and order. This crisis simultaneously feeds on and sustains the hobbled nature of administration of justice in the country. The desperation with which Nigerian litigants who could afford it (rather like the powerful politicians and the wealthy going overseas for their medical treatments) are embarking on forum shopping overseas rather than having their cases determined in the country casts our courts in the image of Charles Dickens’ Court of Chancery, of which any honourable practitioner would advise one to suffer any wrong done to him rather than approach it for redress. The situation, however, is certainly not beyond repair. And one way of helping the repair process is placing greater emphasis on merit in judicial appointments which would help us get more of the Eso-type judges.

Finally, it is fitting in a tribute to a legal colossus like Eso to point out an irritating peculiarity of current Nigerian legal literature, especially law reports, in pretending that judges, particularly great ones, are not immortal. It is only in judgments of Nigerian courts of contemporary times that one could find citation of a judge being qualified with such an expression like ‘of blessed memory’. You would not find in the judgments of English courts, and rightly so, suggestions that judges whose views are cited as authorities are dead even when they had lived and passed on several hundreds of years ago.

They are very much alive as long as their judgments remain in existence, and which is forever. So too, it is with Justice Kayode Eso whose erudition and eminence on the Bench remain compelling advocates for his name against oblivion.

•Chijioke Okoli is immediate past Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association-Lagos Branch

Funmi Falana, others walk against rape

A

LAGOS lawyer Mrs. Funmi Falana will on Friday lead other women to protest against rape.

The women, under the aegis of Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA) will stage a walk titled "Walk Against Rape".

By Adebisi Onanuga

The protest is part of activities to mark the 2013 International Women’s Day. According to the schedule of the programme, the women will take off from the premises of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja at 9 a,m. to selected places around

Lagos.

The WELA is a non-governmental non-profit organisation, which is committed to the empowerment of women, provision of legal aids and protection of women’s rights. It also offers free legal services to vulnerable children in our society.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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LAW & SOCIETY Umar Malik Kuliya is the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Kano State. In this interview, he speaks on the efforts by the Special Control Unit on Money Laundering (SCUML) to make lawyers disclose certain financial transactions between them and their clients, the problems with the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) and sundry issues. Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU spoke with him.

‘We need to strengthen institutions for democracy’

Y

OU have been the AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice in the state for the past 18 months, what have been your challenges so far?

The most important challenge is to change the way people work.

Civil service is about service, but people take civil service as a place where you can just go, sit down and gossip without doing any work. People should do public service the way it should be done, they should come regularly and perform their functions efficiently, particularly when your work will impact on the life of the people, so that we don’t allow people to languish in prison longer than necessary.

The SCUML pursuant to the implementation of the provisions of Anti- Money Laundering Act 2011, is asking lawyers to disclose suspicious financial transactions of their clients to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further action, what is your reaction to this?

I will not support this because in our profession, there is absolute privilege between a client and his lawyer, just as you cannot tell a doctor to come and disclose the illness of his patient. How can you tell a lawyer to come and disclose what he has discussed with his client?

Certainly no lawyer will do that and it is not done anywhere in the world, so it cannot happen in Nigeria. Whatever communications a lawyer receives from his client is privileged, not even a court of law can force a lawyer to disclose it, so it is illegal for the EFCC to do it, let them go and concentrate on the investigation and prosecution of crime and leave lawyers alone.

What was the physical condition of the court rooms in Kano State when you came into office?

Our structures were so woeful and they were built many decades ago, so we had to make them fit for judicial functions. Many of our courts, particularly the Area Court one , was operating from a garage – very small and unsuitable for courts to operate from. So when we came, we decided to put a stop to that. We have constructed 27 new magistrates courts across the state and 28 other courts. Under one and a half years we have 53 new courts fully furnished and quite conducive to be used as courts. We have renovated other courts across the state.

Up till June 2011, when we came into office, some of our courts were still using manual typewriters. But now, we have put a stop to that, we now use computers, each fitted with printers. Also the welfare of judicial officers is being taken care of .

Has the state government finally resolved the billboard crisis which it has with the Outdoor Adverting Association of Nigeria (OAAN)?

We are in the process of resolving the crisis and we are happy that parties are now planning out of court settlement. What brought all this is perhaps our desire to force sanity on the environment because when we came in, we found billboards all over the place. Another reason is revenue drive and thirdly, the quality of the billboards, some are ramshackled billboards, which turned into an eyesore because they are unfriendly to the eyes.

Billboards should improve the beauty of the place. You would have noticed that we are expanding major Kano roads, so some of

the billboards would have to go.

The 1999 Constitution is being amended and this has generated a lot of disagreements, . Some argued that the problem is not about our Constitution but implementation, some others say we need a brand new constitution and not amendment. What is your reaction to this?

Our constitution is okay, we don’t need to do any amendment.

Kano State’s position has always been that nothing needs to be amended. The constitution amendment ab initio was used to pursue other interests starting from the National Assembly, for example, who needs a new state now? Who needs new local governments now? Who even needs State Police? We are saying that we are not ripe for that.

Most of the key things that are being proposed for amendment are simply outside our concern. What we need to improve our society is good governance, transparency, accountability and war against corruption but all these additional structures are unnecessary burdens on the treasury. So, we should concentrate on strengthening the institutions that make for good governance.

Why is it that we find it difficult to fight corruption in this country?

That is because people are not punished for corruption. Look at the high profile cases all over our courts, tell me a single governor who has been convicted out of those that are being investigated, not even a single one. For everybody, it is business as usual and people steal so much money from the system. From the inception of the EFCC to date what have they done? Most of the people

• Kuliya

that are being punished are perceived political enemies, if you look closely you will find some political undertones in their actions. It’s a shame, people steal in Nigeria they are not punished but they are arrested abroad and they are punished.

So, how can we say that we are fighting corruption, so we should sit up and punish corrupt leaders.

In view of the recent conviction of John Yakubu Yusuf of the Police Pension Board, people have condemned our laws and called for the harmonisation of the Penal and Criminal Codes in Nigeria?

In crimes, you cannot harmonise

the laws. There are some crimes that are peculiar to some states and regions in the country. Take the Criminal code for example, you have the offence of bigamy for southern parts of the country, the law says you cannot marry more than one wife at a time. But if you bring such law here in the North, almost everyone of us will be liable. That is the beauty of a federal system of government, you are free to look at your peculiar circumstances to tackle peculiar problems of your area. If you are in a place where there is so much armed robbery for example what you do is to take care of that no more no less.

NBA decries delay in release of judiciary’s funds

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HE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has condemned the alleged delay in the release of the Judiciary’s votes by the federal and state governments.

It said what is due the judiciary is progressively in decline, while in some states what has been appropriated is not released on time.

It urged the two levels of government to reverse the situation.

NBA said reports made available to it show that in the year 2000 alone over 200,000 to 300,000 barrels of crude oil were stolen per day and between 2003 and 2008 approximately N14 trillion worth of crude oil was stolen.

In 2011 and last year, it said Nigeria reportedly lost $7 billion and $9 billion Dollars respectively to oil theft.

“NEC condemns this vice and calls on the government to put appropriate measures in place to check these incidents of oil theft in Nigeria as it is a serious drain in the economy.

“In the interim NEC has referred the matter to the NBA anti-corruption commission for full investigation after which the Commission is to report back to NEC for further action,” NBA said.

This is contained in a communiqué issued by the NBA after its NEC meeting in Benue State University, Makurdi from February 21 22.

NBA observed that security of lives and property should be of paramount importance to government. It called on the Federal Government to take the issue of security more seriously and to make

• Passes vote of confidence on Justice Talba

By John Austin Unachukwu

every effort to address the menace of terrorism, kidnappings and assassinations.

“NEC calls on the government and security agencies to act on the report of the NBA, Peace and Security Summit submitted to them,” NBA said.

On the issue of local government reforms, the association viewed the practice in some states where caretaker committees are set up to pilot the affairs of local governments as a flagrant breach of the relevant provisions of the Constitution.

It took the position that all the chairmen in the 774 local government areas in the country should be democratically elected and given financial autonomy as envisaged by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

NBA endorsed the action taken by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloma Mukhtar with regard to sanitising the judiciary and pledged its support to her.

In a related development, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abuja Branch, has passed a vote of confidence on Justice Abubakar Talba of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja , saying it still has confidence in him and in the FCT judiciary.

The judge came under fire after he sentenced a former pension fund chief John Yusufu to two years in prison with an option of N250,000 fine after he pleaded guilty in a N39billion pension fund

scam.

NBA, in a resolution reached after its general meeting in Abuja , said the judges in the FCT judiciary are not only diligent, upright and dedicated to their duties, but rank amongst the best in the country.

“The NBA Abuja has absolute confidence in the FCT judiciary in general and Justice Abubakar M. Talba in particular based on his track record,” the association said in the resolution signed by its chairman U. M. Yamah and Secretary Afam Okeke.

NBA said Justice Talba acted within the provisions of Section 309 of the Penal Code Act, Cap. 532,

Laws of the Federal Capital Territory , Abuja , Nigeria , 2007 when sentencing Yusufu.

“The records of the court revealed that the parties had only a charge bargain, to wit: charges 18,19 and 20 and not a sentence bargain, as sentencing is within the absolute discretion of the presiding judge.

“The Unity Bar as vanguard in the pursuit of the enthronement of the Rule of Law will not in any way allow any person or group of persons in glaring politically motivated circumstances trample on the sanctity of the FCT Judiciary in particular and the nation’s judiciary in general.

“We certify that the above are true and accurate extracts from the

• Yamah

minutes of the general meeting of NBA Abuja Branch dated the 8th day February, 2013,” the association said

Uwalaka: Case assigned to new magistrate

T

HE case file of the suit filed by a senior photojournalist with LEADERSHIP, Mr Benedict Uwalaka against a Director at TOS Funerals, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Bayo Ogunsola has been reassigned to another magistrate.

The new magistrate, Mrs B.O. Osunsanmi took over the case from the former magistrate, Mr E.O. Ogunkanmi who adjourned the matter abruptly at the last hearing on the ground that he has an important meeting to attend.

He had then asked all litigants in the matters before him to take other dates for the hearing of their suits and adjourned them for hearing.

By Adebisi Onanuga

At the resumed hearing of the matter last week, the new magistrate, Mrs B.O. Osunsanmi also adjourned the matter to April 21, 2013, after it had been called for mention.

Ogunshola and other officials of the mortuary allegedly assaulted Uwalaka on August 9, 2012 when he and his colleagues went to cover the release of the remains of the victims of the June 3, 2012 Dana Air crash to their relatives.

Ogunshola is facing a two-count charge bordering on assault and willful destruction of a professional camera worth N715, 000 belonging to Uwalaka.

Ogunsola, however, pleaded not

guilty to the two- count charge preferred against him.

The court subsequently granted him bail in the sum N100 000 with one surety with substantial evidence of tax payment.

The trial magistrate also ordered that the surety must have property within the jurisdiction of the court and must produce evidence of means and residence must be verified.

Meanwhile, counsel to Uwalaka, Bernard Oloyo said a civil action would still be files against Ogunshola at the Lagos High.

He said that the matter before the Magistrate’s Court is a criminal one and that the prosecution is being done by the police.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

38

LAW REPORT

Striking out a suit does not retrospectively affect orders effected while the suit lasted

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA HOLDEN AT ABUJA ON FRIDAY THE 1ST JUNE, 2012 BEFORE THEIR LORDSHIPS Date: 25th October 2012 Suit No. SC.369/2012 2012(10) LEDLR-1

WALTER SAMUEL NKANU ONNOGHEN ….JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT CHRISTOPER MITCHEL CHUKWUMA-ENEH ….JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT BODE RHODES-VIVOUR ….JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT MUSA DATTIJO MUHAMMAD ….JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT CLARA BATA OGUNBIYI ….JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT BETWEEN 1. DR. IMORO KUBOR

PETITIONERS / APPELLANTS

2. CHANGE ADVOCACY PARTY AND 1. HON SERIAKE HENRY DICKSON 2. PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY

RESPONDENTS

3. INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISION

Issues:

W

HETHER the striking out of a suit means that whatever it effected while it was pending such as the restoration of the name of the 1st respondent should be considered as having never existed in the eyes of the law.

Facts: The appellants presented a petition before the Governorship Election Tribunal, holden at Yenagoa against the respondents praying inter alia for a declaration that 1st respondent was not qualified to contest the election into the office of the governor of Bayelsa state and accordingly the return of the 1st respondent as the elected governor of Bayelsa state is null and void. The tribunal in its judgement found no merit in the petition and dismissed same.

Aggrieved by the tribunal’s judgement, the appellants appealed to the Court of Appeal who resolved the issue against the appellants and consequently dismissed the appeal.

Dissatisfied, the appellants further appealed to the Supreme Court.

Ratio: 1. I do not think that the coming to an end of an interim order adversely affects whatever that order was meant to achieve or achieved.

2. It is settled law that issues for trial are joined in the pleadings and the parties and indeed the court are bound by the pleadings of the parties.

3. It is settled law that an injunction is a

judicial process or mandate operating in personam by which upon certain established principles of equity, a party is required to do or refrain from doing a particular thing.

4. When a respondent is dissatisfied with an holding by the lower court, the proper thing to do in law is not to raise the same preliminary objection before an appellate court but to appeal by way of cross-appeal against such holding by that court as it is the only acceptable way to challenge any decision of a court of law or tribunal.

5. On whether the court has power to expunge from its record evidence or documents earlier admitted without objection by counsel, it is settled law that the courts can do that has been doing that over the years. See NIPC Ltd v. Thompson Organisation (1966) 1NMLR 99 at 104 6. The admissibility of computer generated documents or e-documents downloaded from the internet is governed by Section 84 Evidence Act Judgment: Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, JSC(Lead judgment):-This appeal is against the judgment of the Court of Appeal Holden at Port Harcourt in appeal no. CA/PH/EPT/ 10/2012 delivered on the 31st day of August, 2012 in which the court affirmed the decision of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Holden at Yenagoa in petition No.EPT/BYS//GOV./01/2012, delivered on the 11th July, 2012.

In paragraph 7 of the petition, the petitioners listed what they considered to be the facts in support of the grounds upon which the

election of the 1st respondent is being questioned as follows:“a. Your petitioners state that the 1st petitioner was the candidate and contested the above election into the Office of Governor of Bayelsa State on the platform of the 2nd petitioner, having been duly nominated, screened, and cleared for the said election in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2012 as amended and the Regulations and Guidelines issued by the 3rd respondent for the conduct of the said election. Your 1st petitioner is also a registered voter in Ward 16, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State and was qualified to vote and be voted for in the said election. The Certificate of Return issued to the first petitioner by the second petitioner for the said election is hereby pleaded. b.Your petitioners plead that Chief Timipre Sylva, the immediate past Governor of Bayelsa State had sued the 2nd and 3rd respondents before the Federal High Court Abuja in Suit NO. FHC/ABJ/CS/931/ 2011 contending that he is the person qualified to contest under the platform of the 2nd respondent in the election into the Office of Governor of Bayelsa State to be conducted by third respondent to fill the said office at the expiration of the 2007/2011 Tenure of Office of Governor Timipre Sylva. c. Your petitioners plead that the Federal High Court Abuja made an Order in the said Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/931/2011 restraining the second respondent from conducting any fresh primaries to choose a candidate for the said election, whereof the second respondent appealed to the Court of Appeal Abuja in Appeal No. CA/A/599/ 2011. While the restraining Order of the Federal High Court was still subsisting, the second respondent conductedfresh primaries where it purported to choose 1st respondent as its candidate at the said election . d. Your petitioners plead that the Court of Appeal, in its judgment delivered on 7/1/ 2012 in Appeal No. CA/A/599/2011, set aside the said Order of Federal High Court and directed the Parties in the matter to go and conclude the case at the Federal High Court.

The said judgment is hereby pleaded. e. Your petitioners plead that the 2nd respondent and Chief Timipre Sylva appealed and/or cross-appealed to the Supreme Court of Nigeria against the decision of the Court of Appeal and the Appeals are still pending.

The Notice of Appeal and Cross-Appeal are hereby pleaded. f. Your petitioners plead that the thord respondent published the list of qualified candidates for the said election in the media, including the internet. The name of 1st respondent was not on the list and second respondent had no candidate on the said list.

A copy of the list printed from the internet on 12th January, 2012 and the list obtained from the office of the third respondent are hereby pleaded. g.Your petitioners plead that the second respondent did not obtain any Order from the Supreme Court of Nigeria suspending the said election until its Appeal to the Supreme Court is decided or giving direc-

tions as to who should stand as the candidate of the second respondent in the election into the Office of Governor of Bayelsa State held on 11th February, 2012.

Instead, the 1st respondent obtained an Order Ex parte at the Federal High Court Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/3 /2012 to include the name of 1st respondent as the candidate of the second respondent at the said election.

The case, as made out supra is simply that the first respondent was not qualified to contest the election into the Office of Governor of Bayelsa State which was held on 11th February, 2012 because prior to and up to the date of the election there was a pending litigation in court over the question of who is/was the candidate of the 2nd respondent from the election.

In reaction to the facts pleaded in the petition, the third respondent filed a reply in which it pleaded; inter alia as follows:“14. Paragraph 7(4) of the petition is false and vehemently denied by the third respondent. In further reply to that paragraph the third respondent avers as follows:i. The name of the 1st respondent was sent to the 3rd respondent by the 2nd respondent as its candidate for the February 11, 2012 governorship election in Bayelsa State. ii. Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the first respondent’s personal particulars Forms CF001 were published for public scrutiny. Certified copy of the Form CF001 and nomination Form of the first respondent is hereby pleaded. iii. No complaint was received from anybody by the third respondent against the candidature of the 1st respondent. iv. When the final list of candidates was published, the name of the firts respondent was missing as candidacy of the party was said to be “subject of litigation.” v. The 1st respondent sued the third respondent for the restoration of his name as the second respondent’s candidate for the election in Suit No. FHC /CS /3/ 2012. vi. On the 1st of January, 2012, the Federal High Court, Abuja ordered the third respondent to restore the name of the 1st respondent as the second respondent’s candidate for the Governorship Election of Bayelsa State, which order was complied with by the third respondent.

In answer to paragraph 7(g) and (h), the 3rd respondent avers that there was no order of any court, stopping the candidature of the 1 st respondent for the election.

Pendency of a suit in court is not a ground of qualification or disqualification for an election” .

The Tribunal, at the prehearing session in which all preliminary issues were resolved, isolated three issues for the trial of the petition to wit. ‘(a)Whether the first respondent was /is qualified to contest the Bayelsa State Governorship Election held on 11th February, 2012.

• To be continued next week

• Adopted Tiv sons and daughters: Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam (centre), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Okey Wali (SAN) with the association’s national officers after their decoration and adoption as sons and daughters of Tiv land during the NBA National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Makurdi.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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ABUJA REVIEW NEWS

•From left: Chairman, Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina; President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Chief Kola Jamodu; Managing Director, Access Bank, Aig Imokhuede and Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi during the Economic Management Team’s meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa

•From left: Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu; FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed and Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro at the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa

•From left: Buba Kija; Richard Dauda; Kola Bakare and Samuel Mamman. They were newly •From left: Mrs Bunmi Aina-Craig; Mrs Rosemary Ofuani and Mrs Lola Adedokun promoted from Assistant Superintendent of Police to Deputy Superintendent of Police at the during the burial of the late Mother Christiana Oluwaremilekun Egunjobi Presidential Villa PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN

•From left: Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Chris Oboh in a hand shake with the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio. With them are Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Senator James Manager (middle) during the committee’s oversight function on NDDC projects in Akwa Ibom State.

PHOTO: OMOYE AMINU

•From left: Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Muraina Ajibola; Chairman, House Committee on Downstream, Dakuku Peterside; Hon. Sunday Adepoju and Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dieziani Allison-Madueke during a public hearing on the proposed NNPC’s $1.56b loan at the National Assembly, Abuja

•Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (right), decorating his ADC, Jafar Yakubu who was recently promoted to the rank of Deputy Superitendent of Police. He is being assisted by the Commanding Officer 24 Police Mobile Force, State House, CSP Mila Dantawaye at the National Assembly Complex

•From left: Director MTN Foundation. Mrs Aishatu Sadauki; Secretary for Education, FCT, Mallam Kabir Usman and secretary, MTN Foundation, Nonny Ugboma during the inauguration and handover ceremony of the MTN Science and Technology laboratories at Government Secondary School, Kwali, Abuja PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

40

COUNTRY CROSSWORD

With ekpoita :funtreatsvilla@yahoo.com / 08138168825

ACROSS 1.German City (6) 3.South American Country (4) 5. Top European City (6) 8. Republic, formerly of Denmark (7) 10. Country, SE of Europe (7) 13. World Power, abbrv.(3) 14. W/A Country (6) 15. Sovereign Entity (5) 16. First Capital of Nigeria (7) 17. Eastern Nigerian City (3)

DOWN 1.Western Nigerian City (5) 2.Where Julius Caesar Reigned (4) 4.Nigerian State (3) 5.Nigeria’s Commercial Capital (5) 6. Central American Country (9) 7. Fmr. US Colony (6) 9. Coca Growing Country (8) 10. Fmr. Unit of USSR (6) 11. Spanish City (6) 12. French W/A Territory (5)

WORDWHEEL Form as many words as you can with the letters in the wheel below.Proper nouns and 2-letter words are not allowed. Every word must use the letter ‘E’.There is a 9-letter word with an ‘orbicular’ meaning hidden in the grid. This is the star word.

SANDS OF TIME DiCaprio kisses co-star Robbie, with bikini-clad babes for ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ reshoots

poetry Smile If you're feeling down, turn your frown upside down.

Put a smile on your face, take the world in your embrace.

Ask for a little help from the man up above.

And remember you have your best friends love.

JUMBLE WORD

-Jessica R. Dillinger

Success The road to success is not straight There is a curve called Failure, a loop called confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Enemies, and caution lights called Family But if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, and a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called Success!!

Niderah It takes a whole boatload of blonds to keep up with Leonardo DiCaprio.The “Django Unchained” star, 38, was spotted on a yacht with a crew of bikini-clad ladies on Monday, working on reshooting scenes for his upcoming film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”He even stole a kiss from co-star Margot Robbie, who was clad in a racy gold swimsuit. Rumors swirled last year that DiCaprio and Robbie, 22, have been getting cozy off-screen as well.DiCaprio seemed relaxed in a breezy blue buttondown shirt and white slacks, sporting sunglasses and slicked back hair.“The Wolf of Wall Street,” directed by Martin Scorsese, is a crime drama based on the story of New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort, played by DiCaprio.Belfort was indicted for fraud and money laundering, and led a hard-partying lifestyle before his arrest. The boat that DiCaprio was filming on may have been the movie’s version of Belfort’s ship Nadine, which was originally constructed for Coco Chanel.

Earlier this year, DiCaprio was spotted smooching Miss Universe Kosovo finalist Aferdita Dreshaj, who partied with the “Titanic” heart-throb in Miami.DiCaprio told German newspaper Bild in January that he would like to take a break from acting after he completes “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “The Great Gatsby.”“I would like to improve the world a bit,” the actor said. “I will fly around the world doing good for the environment.”

UNSCRAMBLE THE WORD JUMBLED UP IN THE GRID BELOWTO REVEAL A 10-LETTER WORD MEANING “INVIGORATE”

E T E N HS G N R T

HUMOUR Sense of Responsibility.

A man goes into library and asks for a book on suicide.

Librarian looks him and says, Who will return the book back!

MINI-SUDOKU

Fill in the missing numbers in the grid to ensure that every row, column and 2 by 3 box contains the numbers 1 - 6.

2

1

3

Real Estate Salesman “This house,” said the real estate salesman, “has both its good points and its bad points. To show you I’m honest, I’m going to tell you about both.

“The disadvantages are that there is a chemical plant one block south and a slaughterhouse a block north.”

“What are the advantages?” inquired the prospective buyer.

“The advantage is that you can always tell which way the wind is blowing.”

Chess Playing Dog A man went to visit a friend and was amazed to find him playing chess with his dog. He watched the game in astonishment for a while. “I can hardly believe my eyes!” he exclaimed. “That’s the smartest dog I’ve ever seen.”

“Nah, he’s not so smart,” the friend replied. “I’ve beaten him three games out of five.”

3 5

4 2

1 2

1

4

6

3

2

4

BRAIN TEASER How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn't bounce off anything? There is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back to you.

To conquer oneself is the best and noblest victory; to be vanquished by one’s own Pep Talk nature is the worst and most ignoble defeat. Plato

43

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner Mr Mike Igini spoke with MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE on the proposed centenary celebration, threat by the Boko Haram sect, corruption and other national issues.

‘Corruption is fuelled by judiciary’ H

OW are you able to combine human rights activism with your current role as a public officer?

First, in my current capacity, I am a political appointee, not a career civil servant, I am not angling for the plateau of a career ladder, furthermore, the mandate for this job under Section 2 of the Electoral Act includes the education of Nigerians on sound knowledge of good democratic practices, this is a statutory obligation, and so, I will be failing in my obligation if I hide behind a transient public office that would come to an end shortly and fail to point out those wrong actions that are making life difficult for us all. Since these issues align with public interest matters and advocacy within the framework of civil society, I see no reason to change my disposition or convictions that we can do far better than we have done and achieve more if we can be honest enough and tell ourselves inconvenient truths of the reality of our situation.

If I sense that I may be required to undermine my convictions, I will respectfully go back to my Law practice.

How can Nigeria get rid of corruption?

What worries me the most about corruption in public office are three very disturbing observations; one is the level of lack of remorse on the part of a number of public office holders or what seems to have engulfed the conscience of public officers who are trustees of public good and interest. I don’t understand how for instance someone can go to sleep, come to work every day and watch innocent retired policemen struggling for their retirement benefits, when you know you have kept billions of such funds in your own private account. Or how someone can drive to work to a dirty office sweating under poorly furnished and poky working environment when he knows he has kept the funds to refurbish such office to himself, or how someone can drive through very terrible roads knowing he has kept the funds to repair or maintain such roads in a private account. The second observation is the impunity from a sense of a lack of consequences, and in this I attribute most of the blame to law enforcement and judicial administration. The reason democracy is always qualified with the phrase “ the rule of law” is that without the law, democracy is a futile exercise. Corruption in Nigeria has been fueled largely by the shinanigns in our court rooms when it comes to high profile corruption cases where frivolous applications are filed and pursued up to the supreme court just to stall trial, hence, what we have now is democracy without the rule of law, that ingredient must be in place if we want to mitigate corruption.

The third observation is that whenever we talk about corruption in public office we often single out a few visible actors. This is a very wrong approach because we have never seen a governor who goes to the bank to collect state funds from the bank manager. We demonize the main leaders, yes we cannot excuse the leaders because they should be value exemplars regarding accountability and corruption, but before any of the ex- Governors or any executive head in any public organization can collect public funds, it has to pass through processes involving a lot of paper work. So how do we keep demonizing chief executives and we leave out the motley crowd of chief officials in the entire bureaucratic systems who were involved in the paperwork

•Igini

required to safeguard such funds. Our problem is that of a systemic failure; therefore, it must be given a systemic solution. How, for instance, do we hope to tame corruption, when there are no administrative triggers that can immediately raise multiple control alarms when a pension fund manager moves N37 billion to the wrong place, is there any bank in Nigeria which will close for work, if it cannot account for N5 billion at the end of a working day?

You have maintained that the system that allows corruption to thrive should be held responsible for pervasive corruption. What about the individuals who run these systems?

The individuals are components of a system, the system is far more important than the individuals and must be stronger than the individuals. Management controls in any system should embody the whole system; that is why you have in any management system both bureaucratic and normative controls. Bureaucratic control includes financial controls, quality controls and so forth, while normative control includes the codes of good practices expected of any member of an organization, all control mechanisms should have consequences for avoiding variance from expectations. We can see from the degree of variance from the expected performance in our public services that the control mechanisms are either anaemic, absent or defective. The important question is what are we doing about it, or what do we plan to do about it? Because as the doctors say, accurate diagnosis is 70 per cent of treatment. Now that we know the disease, how do we plan to cure it and rehabilitate our system?

Is that the reason why you have consistently declared that, without the rule of law, Nigeria would not make any meaningful progress?

Absolutely yes! The rule of law through consequences for wrong doing with negative impact on society or variance from expected conduct. If you give six months imprisonment for embezzlement of N30 billion and you allow the convict to spend that six months in the executive annex of a high class hospital, or restrict the con-

vict to a government guest house, what message or consequence has been sent to the empirical world of those who undermine the sources of the collective wellbeing of the people in a society?

How can Nigeria overcome its security challenge, particularly the unending killings by the Boko Haram sect?

We must take a hard look at our security structure in order to meet the challenges of our time.

There is no country which can secure every part of its border and every single spot, hence the current trend is for community policing, where we have a ‘whole of society’ approach to securing the community with everyone playing a role in the welfare of the community. But it is the responsibility of government to create an ambiance in which everyone must feel a sense of belonging and an obligation to contribute. It is true that we cannot expect everyone in any society to conform, but we have to find a way to attain a consensus of the majority in order to manage pockets of deviation.

The Boko Haram phenomenon is not a novelty in state development; we have a situation in which non-state actors take up an anarchic strategy and try to impose their ideology upon the state. This is not the first time people have made such attempts in human history, on social, religious or economic motivations. However, what we must find out is, what is sustaining such efforts and what impels people to be captive of this motivation? Because we can repress the acts of Boko Haram, but if we do not try to understand the idea behind it, we cannot extinguish it, because the best weapon against an idea is a superior idea, when you present the superior evidence of an idea to contest other ideas, in the end humans will tend towards what suits them best, this is why I find the methods of Boko Haram very suspicious, particularly because it purports to be a religious group, how do you bring people to God by killing innocent people, the best persuasion for any religious principle should start with the relationship of its adherents to other people and its respect for the life of others..once you start any argument by taking the life of innocent people, in my view you have nothing to say that is worth listening to, and when you propagate ideas by compulsion and not persuasion, It has no place in the modern world because conviction to any idea must be voluntary to be sustainable.

What is your reaction to the Federal High Court ruling that N37 billion should be paid as compensation for the destruction of Odi communities in Bayelsa tate?

The massacre and total destruction that took place in Odi was reminiscent of the civil war.

The action in a supposed ‘civil rule’ reflected the lowest point of discredit of our democracy. The action was uncivil, crude and savage to say the least. The court of law has just added its voice and seal to what has been well condemned and has moved beyond mere condemnation to a deservable award of monetary compensation. It is a confirmation of the views some of us held then, that the wanton killings and total destruction of a whole community by soldiers ordered by the government of former President Obasanjo was a retaliation for the unfortunate and extremely condemnable killing of a number of policemen by militants and not an action to restore law and order nor taken in search for

and arrest of those who killed those policemen in the course of serving the fatherland, because no militant was arrested or killed in that unfortunate incident. Instead, government soldiers led action on rather innocent able-bodied young men and women law abiding village people, mainly old men and women who were unable to run and escape the shooting of the ravaging soldiers who set houses ablaze, as recalled and graphically shown a few days ago on AIT news bulletin. The judgment could not have come at a better time than now when former President Obasanjo has been in the news recommending this same approach over the Boko Haram challenge that would have led to wiping out communities in the northern part of the country, if adopted by the current government because of the action of a minority extremists group, that do not represent the values of the majority of our brothers and sisters in the North. Just imagine what would happen in the northern part of the country, if this method had been adopted.

One hopes such judgment would be extended to the victims of the Zaki Biam massacre where similar killings and destruction took place.

What is your reaction to the federal government’s plan to appeal against the judgment?

To appeal against the judgment is to justify the ‘Assad type’ method that was used in an attempt to solve a militancy problem that led to mass killings and total destruction of a whole community, a method which turned the protective weapons of the state against the people it should protect. That method has not found attraction to the current government with respect to the Boko Haram challenge; and more importantly a court of law has condemned it and has awarded compensation. What government should do now is to simply comply and ensure payment of the compensation ordered by the court because the court judgment also portends a moral judgment which seeks to ask the question of how much we value the lives of innocent citizens, to negate the court judgment would be to belie the constitutional claims made on the welfare of citizens in section II of the constitution.

By next year, Nigeria will be 100 years as a country on account of the 1914 amalgamation.

What are your thoughts about this milestone?

My thoughts are questions like why are we still grappling with the problems of nationhood?

Why are we just a country and not a nation? And why are we not at peace with ourselves as a people with common goals? People from every part of the country are talking about the urgent need for development. In fact, the challenges, either of militancy, kidnapping or the current Boko Haram’s murderous campaign, that is religious in content, have all been attributed to lack of development.

Yet, we have refused to address those factors that have undermined development. We abandoned the federal template and its fiscal features, which those who fought for our independence settled for as the best arrangement that would accommodate our diversities and at the same time promote rapid development and competition as witnessed in the First Republic. The key issues that create such centrifugal forces that tear us apart are known; yet, they remain unaddressed. Now is the time to come together in a forum and address issues that have undermined the smooth runing of this country.

Nigeria needs budget law, says legislator

H •Bamidele

OUSE of Representatives member Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele has reflected on the budget delay and poor implementation, saying that the country needs a budget law.

He said plans were underway by the House Committee on Legislative Research to propose the budget law, which would specify the timeframe for the drafting, passage and signing of the budget into law by the President.

The legislator revisited the budget

row involving the federal legislature and Presidency, emphasising that “no democracy can grow where the executive is allergic to parliamentary oversight functions”.

Bamidele, who spoke in Lagos, on his activities in the Lower Chamber, lamented the double tragedy of budget delay and defective implementation, stressing that the trend had persisted because of lack of the budget law.

He said: “The absence of budget law has led to the delay in the passing of

the budget. The President should present the budget three months to the end of the year. We will need to amend the constitution to ensure that this is done so that the implementation and monitoring of the process would become easier”.

The legislator from Ekiti State justified the inclusion of the federal constituency projects in the budget, submitting that it is helpful to development. He explained that, following the preparation of the budget by the Ministry of Finance and Budget Office,

there are usually omissions in the proposals.

Bamidele said the N100b zonal intervention fund has been set aside to provide social amenities for the neglected rural areas, clarifying that the funds are not handled by the legislators.

He stressed: “This year, N155m came to my federal constituency for constituency projects. The projects are for the benefit of the people. The legislator does not handle the fund directly. But that is one of the ways to bridge the gap in the budget proposal”.

44

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

POLITICS

‘How to avert ethnic crisis inTaraba’

A

FOOTBALL pitch argument between two local players degenerated into violence in Wukari, Taraba State at the weekend, leaving no fewer than 300 people dead. Properties estimated at billions of naira were also destroyed.

Wukari is now a ghost town, since the incident occurred. The football field is in Wapan Nghaku area of the state.

The acting governor, Alhaji Garba Umar, said the unfortunate incident had taken Taraba State several steps backward.

He said he has met with traditional and religious rulers, council chairmen, security chiefs and top government officers on how to track down those fomenting the trouble.

It was revealed that the two players –a Jukun and a Hausa , who are Muslims, were said to have disagreed over a football issue during play. The Hausa felt too aggrieved. He dashed home and returned with a gun with which he shot the Jukun.

Hell was let loose, following the death of the Junkun. Over 300 Hausa residents in Wukari were massacred and their properties destroyed. Some of the properties were looted by those who took advantage of the riot.

People from other tribes who were not the target were also affected.

The hostilities lasted for two hours.

Police said they were tired of evacuating the corpses..

A source said the riot a fallout of

• Umar From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo

the plot to annihilate the Hausa community in Wukari. “It is not a Christian versus Muslim crisis. Did you see any church burnt?”.

Among the properties destroyed were mosques, cars, food, drugs, and commercial and residential buildings. The famous Yam Market in the area was also destroyed.

“I am saddened. Everybody is saddened with what has happened”, said the acting governor in a state broadcast in Jalingo.

Umar noted that the level of vio-

lence in the state required, “not only the attention and action of government alone, but of all of us as patriotic citizens”.

Umar said: “I have just returned from the area where I went to see things for myself. I must say I am shocked by the magnitude of destruction and the high death toll caused by the crisis.

“The breach of peace last Saturday in Wukari, in which several lives were lost and property of colossal value destroyed, is another unfortunate incident that has taken us several steps backward in our quest for progress and development.

“It is another sad reminder of what happens when citizens fail to show love and tolerance for one another; when they fail to embrace dialogue in reconciling differences.

“In the last couple of months, we saw this happened in Ibi and now it is in Wukari. It must stop at this point.

We cannot afford to lose any more life or property anywhere in the state.

Umar blamed the crisis largely on unemployment.

The acting governor added: “The lack of job opportunities witnessed all over the country is a contributory factor to the escalation of violent conflicts in our state. As a solution, the administration is creating thousands of job openings this year to engage our youths. I have directed local government chairmen to key into the initiative, to curb youth restiveness.”

Group lauds Buhari, Tinubu on merger

By Jeremiah Oke

• Balogun

A

GROUP, the ‘Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Total Loyalty,’ has described the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the greatest step taken by the opposition in the last 53 years.

The group lauded the ACN, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC),All progressive Grand Alliance(APGA) and All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) for forming the new party.

The leader of the group, Alhaji Toyin

Balogun, said the merger will dislodge the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and instal a credible administration at the centre.

He noted the public enthusiasm that greeted the birth of APC, adding that it underscored the peoples’ yearning for power shift to the progressives.

Balogun wondered why Nigerians have continued to wallow in poverty, despite the abundant of human and natural resources in the country. He described 2015 as the year of mass liberation from the misery, urging Nigerians to support the new party.

He added: “The coming together of our major political parties- ACN, CPC, ANPP and APGA- to form a single front to bring to an end the dishonorable reign of the antipeople party is laudable.

“It is long overdue. We thank God. It is timely. With the merger, we can be assured of a brighter future for Nigeria. The merger will not just bring about good governanc, it will also deepen democracy.

“Nigeria has many people living below poverty level. When democracy was restored in 1999, there were a lot of expectation.

“But 14 years after, the PDP has aggravated the problem. The party has no programme for Nigeria. PDP has been a national burden to the country. This must not continue. 2015 is our year of liberation.

“We commend the effort of our leaders, most especially our indefatigable leader, a true nationalist, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He has made sacrifice and put Nigeria first. He is on a rescue mission. His name is already in the book of history”.

Balogun also praised Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) for his commitment, adding that the former military Head of State has lived up to expectation.

He urged the APC leaders to forge ahead in unity in the national interest.

Balogun said the leaders should put to shame the detractors plotting the collapse of the merger.

He said: “ For those that are forever locked in yesterday, hoping to see the merger derail, the tears of thousands that died as result of bad road, millions that died of hunger, hundreds that died as a result of insecurity and those that fell to the bullet of trigger happy policemen are daily crying for vengeance and God has listened by making the merger work”.

PDP urged to nominate Jonathan for second term From Sunny Nwankwo, Aba

T

HE, concerned Advocates for Good Governance (CAGG) has said that it is in the interest of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to support President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term.

Its leader, Olusegun Bamgbose, a lawyer, said the PDP can only retain power in 2015, if it remains a united house.

However, a polytechnic teacher, Okechukwu Okereke, said that PDP would lose power, if the President inisists on a second term ambition.

Okereke, who teaches Public Administration at the Abia State Polytechnic, urged the ruling party to put its house in order.

Bamgbose said the party will suffer from the heat of the succession battle, if Dr. Jonathan is not made the presidential candidate.

He described President Jonathan as the best candidate who can retain presidential power for the party because he has the power of incumbency.

Bamgboye added: “It is obvious that PDP is in crisis and this can be traced to the fact that some governors in the PDP have their eyes on the Presidency in 2015. This is a lawful ambition, but this should not be done in a manner capable of destroying the foundation of the party.

“The earlier PDP understands that Jonathan holds the ace to the Presidency for them in 2015, the better. Anything short of that is failure. Jonathan remains the man to beat. The merger is not a threat to PDP. 22 rats cannot confront one cat” Okereke, who holds a contrary view, said that power should shift to the North, adding that five years are enough for President Jonathan to serve the country.

He said the nation has given President Jonathan to serve, noting that, apart from completing his predecessor’s term, he was also elected as President in 2011.

Okereke said: “Given the way we run politics in Nigeria, anything could happen. But under normal circumstances, I would believe that Jonathan would not want to run because, though I am an Ibo man, I do appreciate that the Northerners, if we are to say the truth, need to be given that chance and this is based the fact that Yar’ Adua governed for twoyears and died.

“But if the President runs, I think it might bring great crisis to PDP and the possibility is that many big wigs in the PDP may move to the All Progressive Congress (APC). That will weaken the PDP. I do not see how Jonathan would win under that circumstance.”

Give us more commissioners, Akoko-Edo tells Oshiomhole From Osemwengie Ogbemudia, Benin

A

GROUP, Akoko Edo Renaissance’ has appealed to Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole to appoint the indigenes of Akoko-Edo as commissioners. The group said Akoko-Edo council is the oldest and largest local government in the state, adding that it deserves more that a slot in the ca binet.

In a letter to the governor signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Jude Obasanmi, National Secretary Peter Ogunubi and Publicity Secretary Damisa Ojegbai, the association also reminded the governor about his promise to make the council a centre of development.

The group noted that, since it was created in 1956, Akoko-Edo Council has remained one local government, adding that the indigenes have also been contributing to the growth and development of the state.

It added: “We use this opportunity to make a special appeal to you to use your good office and discretion in favour of Akoko Edo by appointing two commissioners from the local government. We have suffered marginalisation for decades. Akoko Edo is too vast a local government area to be represented by a single commissioner.

“Since the Midwestern Region was carved out of the Western Region of Nigeria by plebiscite in 1956, Akoko Edo area has remained a virtual desert outpost; a hilly landscape without the attention it deserves. In the 52 years of preaching federalism and three decade of minority rights activism, our local government area has remained stagnant while other councils have been divided into three or more councils.

“In actualizing your second term vision, you need a team of committed and dynamic people to complement your mass appeal, popularity and doggedness. Akoko Edo is blessed with many intelligent men and women who can adequately rep• Oshiomhole resent our interest in your cabinet”.

2015: NNPP denies alliance with APGA

T

• His Royal Highness, Eze George Nwosu (left) and Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha during the inspection of rural electrification project facilitated by the Deputy Speaker in Imo State... weekend.

HE New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has said that it has no plan to form an alliance with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the purpose of 2015 presidential elections.

The party’s national chairman, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, dissociated NNPP from the purported agreement reached by 20 mushroom parties with APGA, stressing that the party has no pact with APGA. He said:“Agbo Major, our National Secretary, who attended the gathering was not representing the party. He attended as a personal friend of Maxi Okwu. So, it is wrong to say that the NNPP was part of the alliance with APGA”.

Aniebonam however, did not rule out an aaliance with like-minded political parties. He said: “We are not in a hurry to form an alliance with any party. The fact that we were not de-register by INEC shows we are moving in the right direction. But, even if we are to align with parties who same ideology with us, there is a process to follow. The parties which are forming alliance or merging have the right to do so. But if the alliance you are forming is to pull the government down, we are not going to be party to that. If it is for the good of the country, we would be part of it”.

The chairman announced the adoption of the oil magnate, Ifeanyi Uba, as the NNPP governorship candidate in Anambra State.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

45

HEALTH THE NATION

E-mail:- health@thenationonlineng.net

Thirty-four- year old Chikodi Onuegbu had an accident and went to bone setters.

Include renal This was a mistake on his part. Today, he requires N750,000 for a surgery to replacement in correct the damage done to his leg by the herbalists. WALE ADEPOJU reports. NHIS, govt urged

This man needs only N750,000 to walk again E needs only N750,000 to regain the use of his leg.

Since he had an accident on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway on April 22 last year he has been bedridden. He was a commercial bus driver before the accident. He can no longer drive.

The accident left him with a knee fracture and an ankle injury. His bus was damaged.

This is the lot of Chikodi Onuegbu, 34, who needs surgery to stop his leg from being amputated.

His aged mother, Madam Mary Onuegbu, described him as a focused and hard working young man.

Onuegbu, who lives at 1, Obadeyi Street, Off Jejelaiye, Ajangbadi, Ojo, Lagos, is still single.

Before the accident he was warm and gentle, but the accident has turned him to a sad person.

For Chikodi, who hails from Amigbo in Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State, life after the accident has been difficult and it has brought his source of livelihood to an abrupt end.

He said his left leg is decaying and at the risk of amputation. His limb is also decaying because of infection from prolonged bandage.

Onuegbu alleged that it was an Ijaw bone setter that caused the decay on his body, which has become a sore.

He said the sore started from the ankle but has spread to his knee.

This has left his fibula open, with a smelly liquid oozing out of the decaying leg.

His brother, Uchenna said the family was ill-advised by sympathisers to take him to the bonesetter, who they said, had been practicing for years.

“So, we took him to the bone setter’s home for treatment.

Consequently, the healer admitted him and promised he can handle •Onue it.”

He said the bonesetter bandaged the ankle where he only sustained an injury and left it unattended for a long time.

“This, made my brother’s left leg, to be infected, and within

H

T

By Wale Adepoju

days, it was full of offensive odor.

“So my brother spent five weeks in the traditional healing home.

It baffles me because I don’t know why the bonesetter bandaged the ankle. I thought he would administer some remedies for the wound to heal,” he said.

Uchenna said he objected to the mode of treatment the bonesetter was giving his brother. “I told him that ordinarily, it’s if there was a fracture on the ankle or that maybe the joint around that area was dislocated that it would be necessary to tie the leg. But he objected. We deposited N500, 000 before he commenced treatment,” he added.

He said it was the amount the bonesetter asked that scared us, and probably led to the late detection of the infected limb.

He said: “My mother and I told the bone setter to untie the leg. But he refused. When he realised that the bandage has done harm to Chikodi’s leg, he sent him home.

He said my brother should look for a hospital to treat it.

“That was how he was taken to a specialist hospital. But, then the damage had been done. So, the doctor said the option left would be to amputate the leg. My brother’s condition has worsened since he left the bonesetter’s clinic.

“My mother and the rest of the family have expended all we have yet the leg gets worse by the day.”

He said a Victory Health for All Foundation has promised to assist.

“Its Founder and President, Mr Victory Akpaka gave the assurance,” he said.

Mrs Onuegbu described her son as a very hardworking man, adding that her son has been depressed, since he was consigned to one spot.

“You only need to see Chikodi groan in agony to understand what he is passing through. I really don’t know how to describe it,” she said.

Nigerians and well-meaning people can help him through Mr Onuegbu Chinonso John, with Access Bank, 004 - 008 – 4325 or 08137735358 and 08036939292.

•Onuegbu

T

HE Nigerian Association of Nephrology (NAN) has called on the Federal Government to review the enabling laws of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cover renal replacement therapy and other services.

It also called for a waiver of the import duty on the medical equipment and medication needed in renal care services to curb extra cost of treatment incurred through importation.

These were contained in the resolution reached by the association at the end of its 25th Commemoration and Congress anniversary issued in Lagos.

The communiqué, jointly signed by the President of the association, Prof.

Evelyn Unuigbe, and its SecretaryGeneral, Dr Istifanus Bosan, said the NHIS did not cover the cost of kidney transplant.

The theme of the conference was Nephrology practice, training and research in Nigeria: The journey so far. It was attended by 332 members.

“Although, the country has had success in kidney transplant in over 10 years, the improvement has been slow because of the expensive cost of the treatment.

“The association has observed that the NHIS does not cover renal replacement therapy, treatment for chronic kidney disease which is very expensive and unaffordable to most Nigerians.

“It also observes that all hardware and consumables needed in renal care are imported and the imposition of import charges further increase costs.”

“The association, therefore, calls for import duty waiver on such goods in the short term and creation of an enabling environment for the manufacture of same in the country in the medium and long-term.

“We need Federal Government to encourage sustained development in renal care through the establishment of a renal care institute to facilitate training, research and improved clinical practice,” the communiqué said.

It further called on the Federal Government for the provision of cheap and effective generic medications for the control of diseases that were common causes of chronic kidney diseases.

“Cheap and effective generic medications for diseases like hypertension and diabetes mellitus which are common causes of chronic kidney disease should be made available.

“Duties on such medications should be waivered, while creating an enabling environment for the manufacture of such medications in the longterm,” it added.

It said to minimise the scourge of chronic kidney disease (CKD), screening programmes and preventive initiatives should be vigorously pursued by the governments with the support of non-governmental organisations.

Fed Govt introduces new yellow cards

HE Federal Government has introduced new yellow cards following the diplomatic row last year with South Africa over the genuineness of the International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis (ICVP) which was hitherto in use.

The old card faced the problem of acceptability because of the existence of fake copies in circulation, according to the Minister

•From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

of Health, Prof Onyenbuchi Chukwu, will be phased out by September.

Besides, the minister also announced a general vaccination of Nigerians, specifically against yellow fever.

The exercise, which he said will come up in May, is to protect Nigerians against the relapse of Yellow fever.

Chukwu spoke at the opening of the Pre-56th National Council on Health (NCH) meeting in Abuja.

He noted that the idea to introduce the new yellow card was muted last year at the 55th NCH meeting after South African officials refused some Nigerians entrance into their country on the excuse of incomplete entry documents, specifically the yellow cards.

The introduction of the new yellow card, according to the minister, will put an end to the embarrassment received by Nigerians as a result of fake “yellow cards.”

He said: “I have the pleasure to present the new International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis and formerly launch the card.

As you are aware, one of the key resolutions approved for implementation by the Council at the

55th NCH was for the Federal Ministry of Health to proceed with the introduction of the new International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis (yellow card).

“This I believe will put an end to the issue of fake “yellow cards” issued from multiple sources.”

He further added that “a transition period of six months was to be allowed to withdraw the old cards after introduction of the new card.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

46

HEALTH Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) afflicts the rich and the poor. It does not discriminate. A teacher and kidney patient, Mrs Olufunke Oladeji, relives her post-transplant experience. WALE ADEPOJU writes.

Rescued from brink of death S

HE has virtually been to the grave and back. Many had written her off, thinking it was all over. But she held tenaciously to her belief that all will be well.

Everything eventually turned out well for Mrs Olufunke Oladeji, 40, and her family. About two years ago, she was down with renal problem, following the impairment of one of her kidneys.

She was placed on dialysis which she went for regularly, but the ultimate solution to her ailment was a transplant. There was a willing and ready donor: her husband, Akinwunmi. But there was a snag: cash. Again, luck smiled on her. The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) wrote off her bill. The hospital did so because Mrs Oladeji is its first kidney transplant patient.

LUTH waived all expenses for the surgery. History was made when on July 26, 2011, the surgery was successfully carried out. Mrs Oladeji, a teacher, has been recuperating well since then and she is grateful to the hospital and others that rallied to her support in her hour of need.

Reliving her experience, she said the support from Itesiwaju Local Government Area of Oyo State, where her husband hails from, was the turning point for her.

The local government made her a

beneficiary of its free/subsidised drugs supply.

The local government has been subsidising the cost of her drugs since the surgery. “If not for this gesture, it won’t be easy obtaining the drugs because of its high cost. Indeed, the governor is aware of my case, likewise the Chairman, Mr Adisa Adeniji.”

Mrs Oladeji said the post-transplant period could be terrible because it is when more money is required.

“Some patients may need between N200, 000 and N300, 000 monthly for the purchase of drugs and examination”,she said.

This amount is huge and beyond the reach of the common man, she added.

LUTH has been amazing too in helping us. “I was their first kidney transplant patient and they’ve given every support and always want to help,” she said.

“The thought that I have them behind me is a kind of assurance and I am happy and I always pray for them.”

Mrs Oladeji said coming down with a condition such as kidney failure is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone.

This, she said, could consume somebody’s life, because every process and procedure takes time and consumes finance.

She said the government must help

•Mr Oladeji

•Mrs Oladeji

people who have kidney problems with funds the same way they support people living with HIV and AIDS because of the huge resources needed to manage the condition.

“Mrs Oladeji said: After transplant, a patient needs about 22 different drugs within the first six months. The patient is required to take at least six different drugs at various times daily.

Also, tests are run daily.

“This is because there is an artificial organ that has been introduced into the body and it must not be infected.

“The immune system of the patient is also low because of these drugs, which are to help the artificial organ or new kidney pick up fast. At that stage the patient can get infected easily. This is why the patient has to

use the drugs but that has reduced now.

“I used to take tacrolimus, a drug which costs about N48,000. It’s a pack of 50 tablets and I use four tablets daily. Before the dosage can be reviewed I must have a test carried out on me in South Africa for tacrolimus level.

“I can’t even take water anyhow. I now take bottled water. Before I was discharged from the hospital, our home was inspected to ensure that it was conducive because I must not have any infection.”

Mrs Oladeji said she used to go for check-up once a week but this has changed as she now visits the hospital once a month.

On people living with kidney prob-

‘After transplant, a patient needs about 22 drugs within the first six months.

The patient is required to take at least six drugs at various times daily.

Also, tests are run daily. This is because there is an artificial organ that has been introduced into the body and it must not be infected’ lem, she advised that their relatives should not write them off because they can live through it.

“All they need is the support materially and spiritually,” she said.

Her husband, Akinwunmi whose kidney matched hers, said he too has been going for check-up twice yearly.

He said people were helpful and sympathetic but there was a limit to what they could do.

Mr Oladeji said the condition should not be seen as a big man’s problem because nowadays it is common among the downtrodden.

Ogun gets support to eliminate tetanus

T

HE National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has reiterated its commitment towards the elimination of tetanus infection in Ogun State.

Its head of non-polio supplementary immunisation activities in the agency, Dr. Nneka Onwu said necessary steps are being taken to scale up activities that would eliminate tetanus in the state.

Speaking at the sensitisation on the Train the Trainers (TT) for the concerned health personnel in Abeokuta, Mrs Onwu described tetanus/lockjaw as bacteria infection caused by the germ “clostridium Tetanus” that grows in damaged tissues of wound or in a baby’s umbilical cords.

She said efforts are in top gear to reduce the disease burden to less than one case of the infec•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola flanked by Commissioner for Health Dr Jide Idris (left) and Coordinator, Eko Free Health Mission, Dr. Dolapo Fasawe; during the inauguration of National Immunisation plus days PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN in Lagos.

Foundation urges awareness on disease

T

HE Funmi Fashina Foundation (FFF), a non-for-profit organisation has called for more awareness on Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), a degenerative neurological disorder.

A Board of Trustees member, Kemi Onabanjo said it is a rare disease, which experts across the world are finding hard to get research grant for.

Onabanjo, who briefed reporters in Lagos on the foundation’s activities to mark the Fourth World Annual MSA awareness month, said the causes of the disorder, which is associated with degenerated nerve cells in the brain, are unknown.

She said: “The initial symptoms may include loss of balance, fainting due to severely low blood pressure, bladder and bowel issues, speech and swallowing difficulties. Others are sleep disturbance, breathing problems, rigidity and tremors.

By Wale Adepoju

“MSA results in the degeneration of nerve cells in several regions of the brain that affect the abilities most people take for granted. Six in 100, 000 people across the world are living with the disease. In the United States, there are about 15, 000 patients of MSA” Onabanjo said many people became aware of the ailment two years ago when the late Mrs Funmilayo Fashina was diagnosed of the ailment, stressing that since then they have been looking for a solution to prevent or manage the disease. “Funmi gradually lost her motor skills, unable to walk unaided, talk properly and needed help with most of her body functions. We found out there are no medications available to stop its relentless progression,” she added.

As part of strategy to raise aware-

ness, she said the foundation has put together a five minutes talk show on radio to create awareness. This, she said, will run every Wednesday this month.

“FFF has also established a link with specialists at the Movement Disorders Clinic of the Neurology Unit of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, to provide social support for patients, their relatives and caregivers.

Consultant, Obstetric and Gynaecology, Dr Ayodeji Oluwole, said the ailment can progress slowly or fast.

He identified inaccessibility to medical care as the major challenges in managing the ailment.

“Another problem is lack of medical experts to treat patients. Nigeria is short of neurologists, who are trained to diagnose brain disorders.

It has about 20. With most working in urban areas,” he added.

By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha

tion by 2015.

“Tetanus infections contribute to maternal and neonatal deaths in the country and certain strategies have been mapped out to address the menace for a total elimination of the disease,” she added.

Mrs Onwu maintained that attention would be concentrated in the area of strengthening Routine Immunization (RI) for improved coverage of tetanus immunisation performance.

This, she added would be achieved by conducting three rounds of Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE) campaign in high risk local government, Ante-natal care through fixed, outreach and mobile strategies and strengthening of school Based Tetanus Toxoid campaigns.

Firm partners with doctors

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RADUATING medical and dental doctors from Nigerian universities will receive basic practice tools free from May & Baker Nigeria Plc. This, the company said, would enable them start off smoothly in their profession.

This was through a partnership between the premier pharmaceutical manufacturing company and leading Nigerian Colleges of Medicine The project, which is designed to run in 11 Colleges of Medicine this year, kicked off with the graduating medical and dental doctors of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

It said 150 graduating doctors of LUTH received their first stethoscopes and ward coats from the company.

In addition, the best graduating students of medicine and dentistry also received cash prizes and plaques from the company as a form of encouragement for academic excellence among these group of professionals.

Head, Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing Division of the company,

By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha

Mr Chukuka Chukutem, who represented the company’s managing director, said the project is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) undertakien by M&B. He said the idea is to support the students with the basic take-off tools to give them a good start.

He said the company intends to run this project in phases. Phase one comprises of 11 Colleges of Medicine with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital as the pilot roll out. Other institutions in the first phase include Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Awka, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto and University of Jos Teaching Hospital. Others are University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Benin.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

47

PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

Can Lagos climate summit mitigate global warming effects?

W

HEN on July 10, 2011, a 16hour rain fell in Lagos, lives and properties were lost.

This was followed by the storm of February 13, last year that also destroyed properties. The destructive wind, with a speed hovering around 75km and 100 km, destroyed homes; 49 public schools; one administrative building and killed nine pupils when a boat conveying them to school capsized. Curiously, the rainstorm occurred in the middle of February, a month not usually associated with such an extreme weather condition. It was an ominous sign of climate change.

February, in this part of the world is usually a period of harmattan, when the cold northeastern wind blows across sub-Saharan Africa.

When Lagos State held its maiden climate change summit in 2009, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola said: “Gone are the days when we could succinctly draw a line between the rainy and dry seasons; gone are the days when harvest was predictable

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie and Seyi Odewale

and bountiful; gone are the days when select species of certain fish were readily available on the menu table.”

Last year, the country was virtually overran by flood, but Lagos was sparedperhaps because of the year–round, state-wide anti-flooding programme embarked upon by the government.

With the stage set for the Fifth Lagos Climate Change Summit, holding from March 13 to 15 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, stakeholders and experts will rub minds on how to tackle’s, the adverse effect of climate change and flooding.

The theme of the summit is: Vulnerability and adaptability to Climate Change in Nigeria: Lagos State transportation, housing and infrastructure in focus.

The previous ones were held between March 24 and 26, 2009; May 4 and 7, 2010; February 8 and 10, 2011

and April 12 and 14, 2012.

While the 2009 edition’s theme was: “Reclaiming the Environment: Challenges and Consequences of Climate Change” the 2010 edition discussed: “Trans-boundary Effects of Climate Change.” The 2011 summit focused on: “Charting a Road Map for Combating Climate Change in Nigeria,” while last year’s event had as its theme: “Vulnerability and Adaptability to Climate Change in Nigeria: Lagos State Agriculture, Industry and Health Sectors in Focus.”

Like last year’s, the event organisers say the forthcoming edition will examine vulnerability and adaptability, which are crucial to global warming.

Emphasis, however, may be on transportation, housing and infrastructural development; aspects considered high priority for Lagos to attain its much desired megacity status.

From past events have emerged rec-

ommendations, which upon implementation, helped to advance the state’s adaptation and mitigation capabilities to the impact of climate change. For instance, a couple of years ago, the government declared July 14 of every year as Tree Planting Day. It came under a programme aimed at planting millions of trees to beautify Lagos and provide a carbon sink.

Five million trees have been reportedly planted, while the state has established the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK) to beautify and regenerate the environment from the effect of climate change, in the light of the intensity of global warming that is threatening the entire ecosystem.

The agency’s effort at establishing gardens and parks all over Lagos has placed it among the notable green cities in the world. All the local government councils and local development areas have been mandated to create parks and gardens.

To address the problem of flooding

arising from the increasingly high rainfall pattern, the state has committed to grow the scope and capacity of existing drainage channels in the city and construct new ones. Such channels are also being lined with concrete.

Described as a climate change adaptation strategy, the Eko Atlantic City project has also been embarked upon by the state to protect the Bar Beach shoreline from the periodic ocean surges and coastal erosion. “Eko Atlantic City’s Great Wall’ has brought back the coastline of Victoria Island to where it was a century ago before coastal erosion washed it away,” said the Environment Commissioner, Tunji Bello.

He added: “As a pro-active government, Lagos State Government has devotedly implemented its resolution at these summits in the areas of intensive advocacy, annual massive tree planting exercises, and construction of effective drainage channels to contain flood, improved waste management, recycling programmes, and exploration of renewable energy sources, among others.”

Mimiko hails architects for Ondo’s urban OVERNOR Olusegun renewal efforts He explained that his adminMimiko has said he deistration made it a duty to pay

G

liberately engaged architects in his efforts to beautify Akure, the Ondo State capital, because of their eyes for aesthetics and to correct the metropolis’disorderliness.

He spoke during the Institute of Architects’ quarterly dinner and investiture at the Government House Ground, Akure.

The governor said his administration’s urban renewal strategy was based on his experience as a minister while working with renowned architects at the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

He said: “Architects are wonderful and special people. They are the best visioners, while other professionals just actualise

•A squatting camp at Babs Animashaun, Surulere, Lagos.

Lagos gives squatters 30-day quit notice

I

N pursuit of its megacity status, Lagos State Government is clearing slums, especially those on the drainage channels and right of way.

Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, has visited a colony of illegal squatters in Babs Animashaun occupants, Surulere, Lagos Mainland and given them 30 days to quit as they “constituted a nuisance”.

But their leader, Seriki Hausa wa of Surulere, Mallam Isa Muhammed, said they have lived in the area for over 40 years, though in contravention, and pleaded for leniency because “we have nowhere else to go.”

Salisu Dahiru (not real name) had lived in Ijora, precisely the area demolished late last month for over 30 years.

He was brought by his uncle from Kano to Lagos. And since then he had not lived elsewhere, but the expansive slum of Ijora. And when the bulldozers of the Task Force of the Ministry of the Environment came to destroy everything in sight, Dahiru lost all he had as he had nowhere to move his belongings to. His wife and three kids had to take refuge elsewhere, leaving their bread winner to salvage all he could from the ruins of the raging machine.

So many others like him suffered a similar fate. They had lived as illegal ‘aliens’ in their fatherland. Not that they were not welcome in Lagos, but where they chose to settle constitute a serious threat to lives

Stories by Okwy IroegbuChikezie Asst Editor

of so many residents of the state. They live in colonies, as it were, plying their trade oblivious of the havocs their presence brings to the environment and the drainage system in the state.

Illegal ‘colonies’ seem to exist almost everywhere in Lagos State making its government to step up its urban renewal and channellisation programme to rejuvenate it. The Otumara village in Constain and Ijora Badia has also been asked to leave to make way for the ongoing rebranding,renewal and channellisation programmes to complement the beautification of the Constain and Iganmu areas, which have landmarks such as the National Theatre and the Nigeria Brewery Plc. Mr Bello said the Otto creek shanties and its dwellers would be expelled to make room for the ongoing construction connecting the drain between Ilu –Eri and the Brewery. He said the channels would have to be cleared to bring relief to residents of Tejuosho, Apapa, Iponri and Olaleye areas.

At Adelabu area in Surulere, behind an elitist school, Fountain Heights Secondary School, the Commissioner scolded the community of over 2,000 inhabitants including women and children, on why they warded off and fought the government officials sent to give them eviction notice to

allow for the construction of channels and drainage to check flooding in Surulere, which has been a yearly occurrence due to the activities of these people.

Speaking to The Nation on the consequences of their actions to the state and Surulere residents in particular, Bello said he has issued the 30-day eviction notice for them to find alternative and decent accommodation to live before the rains.

He said: “ The canal is silted due to the actions of these illegal squatters in the colony, we cannot go to the PHCN pylon because it is very dangerous.

That is why we need to divert the construction of our channels to ease the movement of storm water and also accommodate heavy flooding, which usually comes with heavy rain.”

He decried the unwholesome activities of these illegal settlers who claim to have lived there for over 40 years and had to build on drainage channels causing havoc to residents of Adelabu and Femi Oyetunga areas.

Bello threatened to demolish their shanties at the end of the month. Irked by their affront to constituted authority, he said he is seriously disturbed at their temerity to flaunt the government’s directives when officials of his ministry earlier visited to serve them notice they threatened and chased them away.

But their leader, Seriki Hausa

wa Surulere, Mallam Isa Muhammed, pleaded with the government to give them more time to relocate, insisting that they have always known Adelabu, Surulere location as their home. He said he was not aware of the havoc their continued stay in the area caused the neigbourhood before now.

At the Ansar-Udeen Grammar School, Surulere, the school’s principal, Mr Badru Habeeb, revealed that his students have not been able to use the field in the last four years.

Bello said to de-flood the school, 300m length of 1.5 metre x 1.5 metre retaining wall would be constructed with 300 metres length high sand-crete blocks.

Talking about the socio-economic importance of the deflooding, Bello said it would arrest erosive threats of storm water to building structures and also ensure conducive learning environment in the school when the rains fully come.

He said the dredging and improvement of drainage all over the state is to improve economic and social status of residents and improve their economic well-being.He warned traders to improve on the sanitation of their markets, insisting that the closed Ladipo market in Mushin Local Government of the state would not be opened until the traders comply with government regulations.

their visions. Architects conceptualise something, which is hitherto not in existence, and create it in physical form that will be admired by all.

“They are not only scientists, but artists, whose contributions have made very significant contributions to the modest achievements of our administration in the last four years.”

Mimiko said his urban renewal programme centred on the majority of the people because they desired a cleaner environment to live and do business to avoid any form of disease.

He said he is determined to touch and add values to the lives of the people with his programmes and policies aimed at fighting generational poverty.

To simplify access to land and building approvals, the governor said his administration had created a bureau comprising professionals, who are major stakeholders in real estate development.

The team, according to him, will carry out one-stop processing of all papers relating to approval for Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).

The governor said residents were pleased with his urban renewal programme even when some of their houses had to be demolished in the process.

adequate compensation to owners and occupants of buildings marked for demolition whether they had approved plans or not, before rolling out the bulldozers.

He said occupants of houses marked for demolition were happy with the efforts of his government to create a dual-carriage way within Akure town aimed at decongesting Oba Adesida and Oyemekun roads.

He said: “This was so because owners of the affected buildings were carried along in the entire project from conception and they were adequately compensated, while their tenants and shop owners were also paid to relocate.”

The completion of the project, he said, had improved of Akure’s aesthetics and increased the values of buildings in the area.

The Dome project, the governor said, would be completed before the end of the year. The project, according to him, would be the biggest in-door capacity hall in Nigeria, Earlier, the National President, Nigeria Institute of Architects (NIA), Mr Ibrahim Haruna, said the urban renewal efforts of the governor had turned Akure into wonderful scenery, beautiful and constantly eliciting smiles from happy residents.

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48

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

DISCOURSE

The developmental challenge in Nigeria

of the population; militarisation of the polity; and perpetuation of divisions in society, are some of the damages inflicted by military rule on the country. In his ‘A Radical View of Nigeria’s Political Development’, Julius Ihonvbere came up with this damning verdict. For him, ‘military rule closes existing democratic spaces, promotes sycophancy and mediocrity, encourages waste and corruption, and more importantly, encourages political arrogance, intolerance and general undemocratic attitudes. The advent of the military in Nigerian politics has done a major disservice to the nation’s political development’.

It is this sort of performance record that made Chief Obafemi Awolowo to conclude that the worst civilian regime was better than the best military government.

Text of the a speech delivered by the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, at the monthly seminar of Weatherhead Centre for International Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, February 20.

I

AM most pleased to be in this worldrenowned institution, Harvard Univer sity, and to stand before these highly esteemed academics. I am particularly grateful to the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and Prof Jacob Olupona for the privilege of this invitation. Every modern society is a reflection of the modernity of its intellectual institutions. With its endless production of world-class scholars who have brought their sterling expertise to bear on governance and policy formulation, this great university has been at the frontier and cutting edge of the political, economic and technological modernisation of American society. The gown is truly in tandem with the town.

I am conscious of the wisdom shared with you by my illustrious compatriots who preceded me on this same podium, particularly His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, Niger State Governor, Aliyu Babangida, Ambassador Walter Carrington and John Campbell, Prof Adefuye and others.

As political leaders and politicians, our own task is to seek to govern; therefore my task is fairly simple because I am here to address you on the challenge of development in my country, Nigeria. Happily, this happens to be an area within our purview, as the task of engendering development in a society falls squarely on the shoulders of its leaders.

Development is one subject that has engaged the attention of scholars, statesmen, international organisations and political leaders. I do not wish to detain this august gathering on the proper definition of this subject. I will however take it as given that Nigeria is a developing country in so far as the extant parameters of income per capita, life expectancy, the rate of literacy and so on are low, compared to countries designated as developed.

According to the 2010 World Bank data on Nigeria, the GNI per capita is $1,280 while life expectancy is 52 years. And only 43 per cent of the population has access to safe water.

United States, in contrast, as a developed country, has a GNI per capita of $48,650, life expectancy of 78 years and 94 per cent access to water.

These figures however are tools of analysis by economists. The real fruits of development are the strength of state institutions for law enforcement, transportation, economic production, defence, knowledge production, arts and entertainment and cultural (and national power) projection.

I think the term ‘developing’ as applied to some countries, is a euphemism because the appropriate term should have been ‘underdeveloped’. Developing suggests that a nation is in transition, in a kind of metamorphosis, with visible and undisputable signs.

However, on the contrary, some of these countries are in reverse development and the only visible growth about them is the human population. Developing then should translate to at least visible signs that certain measures are in place that are making parameters like GNI and life expectancy to be rising.

The challenge of development therefore is how a nation strengthens its institutions and mobilises its human resources to produce the fruits, not necessarily on the scale of United States, but on that which will guarantee the good life for its citizens.

The challenge of development in Nigeria has varied dimensions, which have been copiously written and widely talked about.

Hence, I will only be adding my voice to an already large body of materials, but with a perspective that derives from my own experience as a public policy maker in Nigeria’s State of Osun.

For us to be able to get out of our present predicament we must understand where we came from and how we got here. In order to do this we must begin from the beginning.

Hence, it is well worth repeating the ‘overemphasised’ point that the foundation for

Nigeria’s underdevelopment was laid in its colonial history. Nigeria was a cultural, linguistic and religious congery of diverse peoples. It was amalgamated, ruled and administered for the convenience and in the interest of the colonial overlords, with little consideration for the good of the peoples therein.

It was therefore the case that, at independence, what was handed over as a country was such a political and administrative liability that its consequences soon began to hunt and hurt its human constituents. These consequences were such that they operated to hamper the country’s capacity to leverage it’s widely acclaimed ‘huge potential’ for development. The numerous dimensions of our development challenge have been amply articulated. But for my purpose here, I will identify the following.

Ethnicity Nigeria from the start has been a heterogeneous mix in terms of its cultural, linguistic and ethnic makeup; a reality that necessitated the need to create unity out of the diversity. However, the cruel realities of colonial rule fostered the politicisation of ethnicity. The internal disarticulations engendered by colonial rule among the country’s inheritance elite, and the manner of granting independence, ensured a preference for the political mobilisation of ethnicity to secure political power.

It was, for instance, never in doubt that the British favoured a section of the country and its elite as successor and did everything possible to ensure that the reins of power were handed to this group at independence. This served to entrench antagonism and suspicion among the different ethnic groups in the country, and created an atmosphere where the spectre of ethnic domination became a national obsession. This has worked to focus governance efforts, not on development, but on how to achieve or preserve advantageous power positions for the ethnic groups. This has been the case to date.

Federalism The attendant issues and inherent problems of a multi-ethnic society are supposed to be settled or at least mitigated through the institutional mechanism of federalism. However, the ways and manner in which our federal practice has played out has compounded the problems of our diversity, rather than resolve them. The unwieldy federal structure handed over by the British and retained by our inheritance elite, made for an unbearable political burden under which the First Republic eventually collapsed. As Rotimi Suberu and Larry Diamond pointed out: ‘The First Republic labored under immense structural strains largely induced by the British colonial legacy’. Instead of having ‘coordinate’ units working together, Nigeria has been run as a federation of unequal units with inbuilt potential for instability.

In the days of regionalism, one of the regions – the North – was configured to swallow the two others put together, thereby making Nigeria a morbid federalism from the start. According to the law of federal stability advanced by J. S. Mill in his ‘Consid-

Religion

• Ogbeni Aregbesola

erations of a Representative Government’, one part of the federating units must not be so powerful as to be able to vie in strength with the others combined. And when the regions were broken up into states, the latter were little more than appendages of the centre. They still are.

In essence, Nigeria’s federalism has moved from what was described as ‘the regional dogs wagging the federal tail’ to a situation where the federal dog has been wagging the states’ tails. The problematic imbalances in the country’s federalism have made a federalism scholar, John Ayoade, to ponder whether ‘the Nigerian federation was a design error or … an error by design’. The peculiar type of federal system we run continue to pose serious challenges to our capacity as a country to make meaningful development impact in the lives of our people through the other federating units that are closer to the people than the centre.

Military rule When the military first came to power, it raised a false hope that it would serve as a bridging force and a force for stability for society, given its imperative of centralised command and control, organisational discipline and internal cohesion. But it soon became clear that the Nigerian military was much less united than assumed. The military in fact came to reflect and reproduce the ethnic cracks and fissures within the society such that, among its personnel, in the words of A.R. Luckham, ‘[i]nterpersonal trust was lacking and the situation became increasingly defined in primordial categories of interaction, like tribe and region’. The eventual breakdown of the army along ethnoregional lines culminated in the Civil War of 1967-1970. It is still in doubt whether that institution has recovered from that affliction.

The military supposedly intervened in the nation’s politics in order to correct the problems confronting the polity which the civilian rulers could not manage. However, the military proved to be more of a compounding factor in the country’s development woes. Indeed, it was the military that effectively changed our federal practice into de facto unitarism. They progressively strengthened the Federal Government, starting with the breakup of the fairly strong regions into weakling states that have little more than the capacity to pay the salaries of their workers.

Worst still, military rule in Nigeria has enthroned and embodied everything that was antithetical to the development of the country. Destructive dictatorship; repression of opposing but qualitative inputs into the political process; institutionalisation of pervasive corruption; devastation of the economy; spread of mass poverty; alienation

Apart from language, culture, history and geography, faith is an inherent feature of our diversity as a nation.

The three major religions in the country are Christianity, Islam and traditional religion. As a very strong element of our diversity, faith permeates the archetypes of our people and exerts a powerful influence on their existence and outlook on life. However, faith on its own is not so problematic; but when it is mixed with politics, it can be a very lethal combination.

Apart from language, culture, history and geography, faith is an inherent feature of our diversity as a nation. The three major religions in the country are Christianity, Islam and traditional religion. As a very strong element of our diversity, faith permeates the archetypes of our people and exerts a powerful influence on their existence and outlook on life. However, faith on its own is not so problematic; but when it is mixed with politics, it can be a very lethal combination.

The report of the murderous activities of a religious group in the North, Boko Haram, has been disturbing, fuelling pessimism on the fate of the country. What has been projected about the group is its religious face.

This regrettably is a misreading of the situation. It is essentially the manipulation of religion to achieve certain political ends.

Unfortunately, the politicisation of religion has been a persistent characteristic of our national existence, with its attendant challenge to our development effort. Years of misrule has made religion a handy tool for the manipulation of the people by the ruling elite. I should like to dwell a bit on the effect of this on the Northern part of the country where it has been most potent. The orgy of mindless violence that we have been witnessing in recent times in the North is a culmination of this sort of manipulation and it has far less to do with Islam, and far more to do with the deplorable material condition of existence of the people. It is therefore no accident that those parts of the North where the raging campaign of terror has originated, and festered, have also been the worst hit by chronic unemployment, gruelling poverty and hideous lack of education. And these are the incendiary materials for the kind of explosion that has been happening.

Available statistics clearly show these parts of the country to be the ‘lowest of the lows’ in terms of human development indices. For far too long the northern ruling elite has employed religion to enthrone and foster a regime of privation, penury and destitution among the masses of the people. When you subject a people to a combined assault of poverty and unemployment, and deny them the mitigating factor of education (in the sense of carefully nurtured and cultivated intellect that can be rationally applied to deal and cope with existential challenges), what you are doing is to systematically breed monsters that will constitute menace to society.

Religion without education is a very potent way to disempower people. It is to deprive them of hope and aspiration to make something meaningful out of their lives.

Used only as an instrument of subjection and subjugation, without helping to address the material needs and aspirations of the people, religion will ultimately lose its relevance.

The prevailing economic disempowerment of women in this part of the country in the name of religion can only lead to unpleasant social consequences. For, to deprive a society of half of its productive forces is to economically cripple that society and stymie its prospects for development.

It is absolutely inconceivable that a society will make its female constituents unproductive and be economically viable for the long haul. If, as history furnishes us, women were allowed to participate in the wars to expand the frontiers of the Islamic faith, it is only logical that women be allowed to partake in the drive to expand the frontiers of economic production. To do otherwise as it presently obtains in the North is unarguably un-Islamic. The survival of the faith – no less so the survival of the society and the country at large – is tied to its capacity to generate wealth.

• To be Continued

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NEWS

•STANDING: Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (middle), his wife, Bola (second left); Chairman, Centre for Human Security, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Professor Akin Mabogunje (second right), Director of the Centre, Prof Peter Okebukola and Dr. Saheed Ahmad Rufai (left) with some of the finalists at the grand finale of the Africa Regional Inter-Collegiate and Inter-University PHOTO: ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA Debate on Human Security held at the Obasanjo Presidential Library at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta...at the weekend.

•The Sultan of Sokoto, Dr. Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar (left) receiving a gift from the Managing Director/CEO, Bank of Agriculture (BoA), Dr. Mohammed Santuraki when the bank’s management visited the Sultan in Sokoto.

•Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima (left) interacting with one of the youths engaged by the government to produce interlock blocks in Magumeri, headquarters of Magumeri Local Government Area...at the weekend

•Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State (left) administering oral polio vaccine to a child at the beginning of the second round of vaccination at Kanya-Babba Village in Babura Local Government... at the weekend. With him is his Deputy, Alhaji Ahmad Muhammed.

•From left: Bauchi State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Sagir Saleh (left), presenting an award to the Chairman, Northern States Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NSCCIMA), Alhaji Sanusi Maijama, at the reception for Alhaji Maijama’a in Bauchi.

•Executive Director, Foundation for Value Transformation, Mr. Seun Caulcrick (right), speaking when members of the Foundation visited the corporate office of Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation. With him are members of Trustee, Mr. Rex Ntekim (second right); Mr. Olusegun George and Mr. Aramide Tola Noibi PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN

•From right: General Overseer, Living Water Ecclesiastical Gospel Mission, Lagos, Rev. Mike Adeyemo; Rev. Ayorinde Aina; Pastor Segun Alabi, his wife Ifeoluwa and Rev. Ukoha Orji at the ordination of Alabi as Pastor in Lagos.

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ENERGY THE NATION

E-mail:- energy@thenationonlineng.net

Construction of LADOL’s floating vessel, technology institute underway

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FTER due technical and commercial examination, the management of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) is set to start the construction of the company’s planned floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).

The firm’s technology institute is also billed for take-off in Lagos.

Its Executive Chairman, Oladipo Jadesimi, told The Nation on the sideline of the Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja, that the company has begun to invest in requisite facilities for the integration of the FSPO, while the construction of the technology institute would start very soon.

He said LADOL is partnering Samsung Heavy Industries for the development of the FPSO and the construction of the technology institute, to be called Samsung Nigeria Technology Academy (SaNTA). The institute is expected to impart the requisit technology and skills in various aspects of the oil and gas operations on Nigerians.

Jadesimi said: “On the construction of the FPSO. We have gone far. We are now preparing to invest in the facilities that will be required for the integration of the FPSO.” He also dismissed fears over the draft of the

By Emeka Ugwuanyi Assistant Editor Energy

LADOL free zone considering the massive size of an FPSO. He said the water depth of zone is deep enough.

“As you know, the FPSO is a very large vessel and the channel is deep enough to accommodate the safe inward and outward passage. Before you embark on any project, you will do thorough investigation into all technical aspects that have to do with safe operation.”

He said the projects have a lot of prospects, contrary to what some stakeholders believe. He explained that when the promoters of LADOL embarked on the project some 10 years ago, their target market was not just Nigerian waters. It is clear that the whole of the West African sub-region was and still highly prospective in oil and gas, which means that there is very high likelihood of discoveries, he said, adding that the assumed prospects have been proved right with the discoveries in Ghana, Sierra-Leone and Liberia.

“These are all offshore discoveries and all of them will require facilities that we are preparing to execute for the whole region because the discoveries are all offshore and as you know, our specialty and focus is solely on the offshore.

“Expenses on the onshore are all taken care of and our focus is in the offshore part of the project,” he added.

Jadesimi said Nigeria still has dearth of technical capability, especially for complex technology based oil and gas infrastructure, such as FPSO. “It is not just in oil and gas. We are not there yet. We need to build capacity in all sectors and in all industries, but with respect to the deep offshore, I agree that it is very complex, however, we need to make a start. Making a start initially means combining with world class operators that will feature in the venture, but the most important factor is to commence immediately on training Nigerians and increasing capacity and capability.

“One of the things that we are starting very soon is the construction of technology institute in LADOL, in conjunction with Samsung that will train Nigerians in various aspects in deep offshore operations. That is the way to do it. We have to build indigenous capacity by training and giving opportunity of workplace experience, among others.

“This hasn’t happened before, but it is happening now. For that we have to thank our President for the

Local Content Act, because this Act now mandates increasing percentage of contracts to locals, which is essential because it means increase in investments, not just from sale of oil and gas, but from investment in the assets that will produce this oil and gas.

“We have trained Nigerians and many of them are active all over the world, but they didn’t have the opportunity in Nigeria. So this will create the opportunity.

“Whether it is FPSO or any other technology, the critical factor is clearly the extent to which we have indigenous capability. If we have institute of technology to train people, it doesn’t have to be any particular technology.

“When Norway first discovered deep offshore oil and gas, at that time they didn’t have any experience or technology in deep offshore, but because they are highly industrialised economically with highly experienced populace, within a space of 20 years, they had developed indigenous technology of the highest order in deep water oil and exploration and production.

So the key is to acquire the technol-

ogy.

“I am sure that we will find brilliant Nigerian scientists that would themselves evolve new technologies and that is the only way to go.

People are the most important resource anywhere.

“Another example is Singapore that doesn’t produce a barrel of oil or gas and yet, they probably have the largest refining capacity in the world, which means they are adding tremendous value locally to oil and gas industry.

“We need to invest in people, technology acquisition and once we have these, we have everything. The only way is conscious effort in the direction of training people and increasing local capacity,” he stated.

How to stop gas flaring, by NLNG

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•From left: Group Deputy Managing Director, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe; Group Chief Executive Oando PLC, Wale Tinubu; and Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) Osten Olorunsola at the just concluded Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja.

•Jadesimi

OR Nigeria to eliminate gas flaring and harness meaningful growth in the sector, the government must put in place adequate security for assets and personnel. It must also enforce operational best practices.

The Senior Business Strategy and Performance Analyst, Nigeria Liquefied and Natural Gas Limited, Ezekiel Adesina, stated this in Lagos.

He said there was also need for new partnerships in gas flaring reduction initiatives and commitment by the government to investment.

He noted that technology is a vital tool in monetising stranded gas and reducing flaring.

The country he said would require partnership from foreign investors and also employ public private partnership (PPP) initiative to achieve both technical capability and financial support for zero flaring.

He said that in the year 2000, gas flaring was 38 per cent in terms of volume while in 2012, it was 11 per cent, which showed that Nigeria has

By Ambrose Nnaji

taken off 27 per cent of stranded gas that had been put into utilisation. He said that within the period, a lot of improvement had been made in reducing gas flaring in the country.

He also noted that if the right regulatory framework and fiscal policies are put in place, Nigeria would have zero flaring in the next couple of years.

Other factors to be considered, he said, include the issue of viability and commerciality of the gas as well as unbundling the value chain in the sector. This, he said would give room for many players to come into the sector. It would also help to ensure that the stranded gas can be captured and commercialised, he added.

“I don’t need to own a gas firm to do gas business. If we unbundle the gas sector it would give room for more people to come in the value chain,” he said, adding that a lot of gas related projects are underway both for domestic and export.

NAPE to govt: Execute policies to boost oil and gas

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HE Federal Government has been urged to implement meaningful policies that would boost oil and gas operations in the country Speaking during the monthly technical meeting of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), in Lagos, the Managing Director, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited, Austin Avuru, said the biggest problem facing the industry is that the government had treated policies as events, when policy formulation should rather be a process.

He said if industry policies are effectively implemented, the oil and gas industry would remain active and useful to the entire economy, harness infrastructural development, open up

By Ambrose Nnaji

avenues for job creation as well as streamline sources of revenue for the government.

Some industry players noted that there are good policies in place but blamed the government for not doing enough to ensure effective implementation of these policies.

Avuru, who delivered a lecture entitled: Policy and activity in the Nigerian petroleum sector, said: “We treat policies as an event, where as there are departments of the government whose jobs everyday is to look at these policies and their application on a continuous basis and their relevance. Any one that is not relevant it is their daily job to look at how

changes would be made to those ones.

“It is not how much complicated the policies are, it is the fact that we are not engaging policies with the attendant result of those policies and then the application of those policies when changes ought to occur. These are the things that should be a continuous business of the government and policy makers.”

Avuru said that the government has not done a good job of managing the nature-given wealth over the past 50 years. “We have laboured to share rather than create, and even in sharing we have been found wanting. The parlous state of our economy today only summarises the fact that we have, so far squandered our riches,”

he added.

He said efficient management of a rent economy such as Nigeria requires a consistency of disciplined and visionary leaderships, capable of applying the ample rent so collected to fund a long-term programme of massive education of the citizenry, provision of quality healthcare and a solid infrastructure backbone as well as guaranteeing security of lives and property.

He noted that a healthy, well educated citizenry operating under a conducive environment would re-generate a secondary economy that would gainfully engage the rest of the population.

The President of NAPE, George Osahon agreed that policy drives the

oil and gas industry. He said without laws, there would be no operations.

“It is the law that drives what we are doing, so it is very technical,” he said.

He however, said there was nothing wrong with what the government has done. The government, he said, had good intentions but some of the policies that were put in place had not advanced the course they had set for themselves.

He recalled that the government had established the indigenous proprietorship programme and had also changed some aspects of the laws with the policy of the current time. Moreso, the government had given out marginal fields to some companies as independent operators in the industry many years ago.

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ENERGY

Govt frustrates private refineries take-off, says APRON

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HE Federal Government has been accused of frustrating the take-off of private refineries by introducing policies that are not favourable to the project.

Chairman of the Association of Private Refinery Owners of Nigeria (APRON), Justice Samuel Ilori, who made this known in an interview with our correspondent, said the government keeps putting obstacles in the ways of private refiners to ensure none of them takes off.

Ilori, a retired Chief Judge of Lagos State, said those in power are keen in ensuring that no new refinery springs up in the country because they are benefitting from fuel subsidy.

He said: “For the past five years, the association has been lobbying the Federal Government to guarantee the investment of our foreign partners as demanded by them but to no avail.

“Each licensee has gone abroad to look for creditors and are spent a lot of money in searching for foreign partners, which we eventually found. But they are not willing to release money to us because we failed to obtain government’s guarantee as a condition for investing.”

Eight years ago, the government granted licences to 18 private firms to build and operate refineries.

By Leke Salaudeen

They paid $18 million to the government being the mandatory $1 million deposit each as stipulated in the guidelines. Besides, each of them had spent between two to three million dollars on site development. Their licensees have been revoked by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) for failing to meet the 18-month deadline to build the refineries.

Ilori described the fiscal incentives rolled out by the DPR as half measures. For instance, the DPR stated that international market price shall be maintained for Nigerian crude that may be procured by a refiner - meaning that crude oil price discount shall not apply to the local refiners. The APRON leader considers this policy as discriminatory because, according to him, those who buy crude oil in Nigeria get discount, therefore, why must local refiners buy at international price, he asked.

He also criticised the crude oil allocation formula, which stipulates that “government will guarantee crude oil requirement of refineries up to the maximum turn down ratio, that is, 60 per cent processing capacity of the plant to the extent that crude is available.” He argued that it should be 100 per cent to serve as incentive to private refiners. To ask them to source

for 40 per cent of their crude needs may be problematic, he said.

The APRON Chairman said because of the state of insecurity in the country, the foreign investors are asking for sovereign guarantee from the government and a guarantee that their investments would not be nationalised.

Ilori, who is also the chairman of Atlantic Petroleum Limited, one of the licensed private refineries, disclosed that his company has spent $3.8 million on the project. In spite of the obstacles in the ways of private refineries, he assured Atlantic is still pursuing the project.

He said: “We have foreign investors who are prepared to give us $500-600 million. But the state of insecurity in Nigeria is drawing them back. The last time they (investors) came to Nigeria, they were worried about the problem of kidnapping. One of them told me his wife warned him against travelling to Nigeria for security reasons. Unfortunately, after two days of their arrival, there was a news break on television that two foreign oil workers were kidnapped in the East. On hearing this, they immediately packed their things and left the country. All pleas that kidnapping is alien in Lagos could not persuade them to stay on.

“Our refinery, which is to be located in Badagry will on completion have capacity to refine 100,000

barrels per day. We have attained the kick off stage. The report on preliminaries before the building starts is ready. What we are waiting for is offshore survey of the ocean to know the behaviour of the ocean. It is quite expensive but we have got a company to do it for us.

“Because guarantee from government is not forthcoming that is why the investors are not willing to release their money. We have arranged for a bridging loan of about $130 million to kick-start the project hoping that would encourage the foreign investors to come and participate.”

On frustration by the government, he said: “Government does its own thing without really considering our association or taking cognisance of the individuals involved. Recently, a government panel invited us to Abuja, which we honoured. We were in Abuja a day before the meeting. We were responsible for our transportation, accommodation and feeding. On the day of the meeting we waited for the panel at the venue for more than five hours only for one young man to come and tell us that the panel cannot attend to us again.

“The panel wrote us again for a meeting in Lagos. It seems to me that members of the panel did not understand the nature of their assignment. They asked if we have renewed our licences. I told them we will do so when we are ready to take off. The panel just dismissed us without asking what we have on ground. The panel displayed arrogance of power. Nevertheless, I dropped our files with them so as to let them know the progress we have made on the project. That is

almost four months and we are yet to hear from them. People in government and civil servants in the country have created a culture of impunity, which is not good for the nation.

“In the past eight years, the government has announced to the whole world that it was going to build three Greenfield refineries in different locations and not a single one has taken off. Is it that the government lacks fund or technical facility?

“To build Greenfield refinery of 100,000 barrel per day, you need at least $3 billion. How many Nigerian entrepreneurs can stick out their necks and go into it without foreign partners. Once the government agrees to guarantee foreign investment, foreign investors will come.”

•Ilori

SON endorses Conoil’s lubricants

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•From left: Vice President, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE),Mr. Lere Olopade; President NAPE, Mr. George Osahon, and guest speaker and Managing Director, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited at the February NAPE monthly technical/business meeting in Lagos, which was sponsored by Seplat

HE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has certified four of Conoil’s lubricant brands as high performance engine oils that provide maximum benefits to the users of modern vehicles and machinery.

A statement from Conoil said the correct use of these lubricants ensures prolonged and trouble-free vehicle and machine operation.

The lubricants - Golden Super Motor Oil SAE 40, Tro Tro Golden Super Motor Oil SAE 40, Golden Super Diesel SAE 40 and Quatro Heavy Duty Generator Oil 15W40 - met the specific requirement of relevant Nigerian industrial standards after se-

Addax empowers Niger Delta youths with N514m

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O fewer than 71 youths of the Niger Delta region have been empowered by Addax Petroleum Development Nigeria Limited through the Technical Skills Acquisition Programme (TSAP), put at a cost of over N514 million.

The youths from Addax’s host communities in Rivers and Imo states, were urged by the Managing Director of Addax Petroleum, Chief Cornelis Zegelaar, during their graduation from the TSAP, at the Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, not only to be self employed, but to be employers of labour and be focused, hardworking, dedicated and result-oriented.

Speaking during the graduation of the youth held at the Federal College of Education (Technical) in Rivers State, Chief Zegelaar urged the youth not only to be self- employed, but to be employers.

He said they should be focused, hardworking, dedicated and resultoriented.

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

The Addax boss noted that the programme was introduced in 2001, with the objective of training talented youths in their chosen vocation and providing the necessary support for them to set up their own businesses and create employment opportunities in their communities.

Zegelaar, who was represented by the oil firm’s Deputy Managing Director, Legal, Supply Chain Management and Regulatory Affairs, Tunji Mayaki, stated that after the training, the youth were empowered with basic tools/starter packs and a takeoff grant of N150,000 each. He said 460 youths had so far been trained.

At the graduation for the 2011/2012 batch of trainees in the one year skills’ acquisition in welding/fabrication, computer studies, catering, electrical installation/automobile mechanics and fashion design, the managing director noted that the youth were fully equipped.

He said: “Addax Petroleum is investing in youths’ empowerment and manpower development, because of

the conviction that the future of our society can only be guaranteed, if we all make the necessary sacrifice to properly equip the youths to face the challenges of today and prepare them for leadership roles in future.

“The empowerment of our host communities remains a top priority business goal. It will remain so, if our business is to succeed. As we grow our business and pursue our vision, we take time to plan and implement sustainable development programmes in our host communities, in partnership with the relevant stakeholders.

“In addition to TSAP, Addax Petroleum awards 291 university scholarships annually, out of which 175 awards go to students from our host communities. The remaining 116 awards are spread across the country, under the national merit programme. 165 scholarships are awarded yearly to secondary school students from our host communities.”

Zegelaar also said during the training, the oil firm took responsibility for all costs, including tu-

ition fees, accommodation, personal protective equipment and monthly stipend of N15,000 per trainee.

The Provost of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, Dr. Nkasiobi Oguzor, in his address, noted that the trainees underwent rigorous academic works, in terms of theory and practice, while displaying good behaviour.

Oguzor also disabused the minds of some persons, whom he said felt that crude oil exploration and development companies embark on skills acquisition programmes for the youths, simply to stem the tide of unrest and disruption of their operations.

Speaking on behalf of the graduands, Comfort Taribo, urged Addax Petroleum to extend the training to two years, with six months out of it to be used for industrial attachment and also increase the number of beneficiaries. She urged other oil firms to emulate Addax.

ries of rigorous and extensive tests of their content and production procedures.

Golden Super Motor Oil gives adequate engine protection to older petrol engines, with good detergent and adequate viscosity retention with temperature. Golden Super Diesel engine oil is top quality diesel engine oil specially formulated to give reliable all-yearround service in light and medium duty, naturally aspirated engines.

Infused with a comprehensive additive package and good antiwear properties, Quatro Heavy Duty Generator Oil is the ideal choice for generating sets.

Tro-Tro Golden Super Motor Oil is a quality multi-grade lubricant suitable for major light and medium duty vehicles that are fuelled by petrol or Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).

Conoil described the latest SON certification as an attestation to its relentless effort to adhere to global best practices, produce high quality lubricants comparable to international standards and to provide excellent service that meet consumer satisfaction, in line with its objective of becoming the preferred marketer of lubricants in Nigeria and the West Coast.

SON had previously certified Conoil’s lubricants, Quatro HDX, Okada Golden Super 20w50w and Quatro Ultra 20w50, confirming their status as world-class quality lubricant brands.

Conoil boasts of highly skilled and experienced engineers capable of developing high quality lubricant products, innovatively, using modern technology.

The company’s major lubricant plant in Apapa, Lagos is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for testing lubricants, greases as well as upgrading existing products on continuous basis.

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•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (middle) and members of his exco after receiving the management team of Tribune Newspapers at Alausa, Ikeja...yesterday. PHOTO: OMOSEIN MOSES

Rivers lawmakers back Amaechi

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HE Rivers State Caucus in the House of Representatives has pledged its solidarity and support for Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

Its leader, Asita O. Asita, the lawmaker representing Ahoada-West and Ogba/ Egbema/Ndoni Federal Constituency, spoke yesterday during a visit to the Government House, Port Harcourt.

Other members of the del-

egation include: Sokonte Davies (Bonny/Degema); Betty Apiafi (Abua/AhoadaEast); Andrew Uchendu (Ikwerre/Emohua);; Hon. Dakuku Peterside (Andoni/ Opobo-Nkoro); Ogbonna Nwuke (Etche/Omuma); Pronem Morris (Khana/ Gokana); Blessing Nsiegbe (Port Harcourt II); Ken Chikere (Port Harcourt I); Gogo Bright (Okrika/Ogu-

Bolo); Dawari George (AkukuToru/Asari-Toru) and Barry Mpigi (Eleme/Tai/Oyigbo).

The caucus congratulated Amaechi for his courage in giving the state its face-lift and speedy development.

“We are here to declare our support and appreciation to you on how you have successfully managed the affairs of the state.

“In the past five years and

four months, we are satisfied with the level of implementation and vision that you have shown.

“We are indeed thankful to God for giving you to our state at such a time as this.

“We wish to congratulate you for the show of uncommon courage and statesmanship in the face of uncovered hostilities towards your person,” Asita said.

• Asita presenting a solidarity speech to Amaechi in Port Harcourt... yesterday.

Frm Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

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HE youths of Ofe in Omuma Local Government Area of Rivers State have threatened a showdown over the alleged murder of two brothers.

Ndubusi and Ndubueze Nwafor were declared missing last year after they “disappeared” from their home at Akujiagu Street, Trans-Amadi, Port Harcourt.

The youths said they had evidence that the brothers have been murdered.

The Secretary-General of Ofe Youths Congress (OYC), Victor Njokwu, said: “There is evidence that the brothers have been murdered. In fact, we are no longer talking about them missing.

“During the search, we found Ndubuisi’s trousers inside the bush close to a river, yet we wonder why the police have not done anything to arrest the perpetrators.

“There will be trouble because we are not going to allow them die like that. These brothers were declared missing last year; till now, nothing has been done on their matter.

“We are calling on the government and the commissioner of police to act fast on the issue.”

The Investigation Police Officer, Sylvester Nnna, said: “As of now, we are doing our best; of course, investigation is still on.”

Houses sink in Bayelsa community

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Edo Assembly confirms 18 as commissioners

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HE Edo State House of Assembly yesterday confirmed 18 commissioners cleared by the Standing Committee on Rules, Business and Government House.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole had on February 20 sent the names of 19 nominees to the lawmakers for screening and confirmation.

The yet-to-be confirmed nominee is Anena Elizabeth Jemitola, from Akoko- Edo Local Government.

She was absent from the screening because of ill-

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

health.

Those cleared were Louis Odion, Abdul Oroh, Clem Agba, Chris Ebare, Francis Evbomwan, John Osagie Inegbedion, Lucky James, Ekpenisi Omorotionmwan and Donald Osikhena.

Others were Patrick Agwinede, Henry Idahagbon, Blessing Maigida, Macdonald Obasuke, Osarodion Ogie, Omo Ojo Orobosa, Osifo Omerede Osemede, Lawrence Aghedo and Isimeme Iriogbe.

The Chairman of the screening committee, Phillip Shaibu, who presented the committee report before the confirmation, said 11 petitions were written against three nominees.

Shaibu said one petition was written against Clem Agba, by the monarch of Weppa Wanno, George Egabor, who alleged that Agba is not from the locality.

He said three petitions were received against Ekpenesi Omorotionmwan but that only one of the petitions was

treated because it was signed by the petitioner.

The chairman said the petitioner alleged that Omorotionmwan took away a plasma TV and tyres after serving as Commissioner for Education.

He added that the committee discovered that the petitioner was not a staff of the ministry.

Shaibu said seven petitions were received against Ms Jemitola, the former Commissioner of Arts and Culture.

Uduaghan signs budget into law

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Youths protest murder of brothers

ELTA State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan yesterday signed into law the 2013 Appropriation budget of N472 billion.

The budget is made up of about N316 billion Capital Expenditure and about N156 billion Recurrent Expenditure.

Uduaghan promised to prudently fund projects to accelerate the execution of policies and programmes to improve the standard of living of the people.

He also promised to place more emphasis on Capital Ex-

From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

penditure to consolidate the massive infrastructure development drive in the state.

His words: “We want to do more of capital projects and spend less on recurrent expenditure. This is a big challenge; we are setting up structures that will weed out all ghost workers.

“Indeed, we reduced recurrent to 37 percent and increased capital to 67 percent.”

The governor announced that the state would work hard

to increase its Internally Generated Revenue.

He said the goal was to ensure that Internally Generated Revenue would take care of salaries and emoluments while the state’s share from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) would take care of capital expenditure.

Other Bills signed into law were the State Multi-Door Court House Bill and the State Engineering Project Monitoring and Control Board Bill

According to Uduaghan, the Multi Door Count House Bill would promote alternative dispute resolution in the state, quicken the dispensation of justice and provide alternative mechanism for the resolution of disputes.

He also said that the Delta State Engineering Project Monitoring and Control Board Bill would ensure that standards are maintained in the design and execution of engineering projects in the state.

ANY houses sank in a riverside community in Okoloba, Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State at the weekend.

The buried structures were located on the bank of the Nun River.

Although no life was lost, sources said this was the second of such occurrence in less than five years.

The worse hit areas, it was learnt, are Abadani and Isedam compounds.

An indigene said it was providence that averted what could have led to the death of occupants of the destroyed houses.

“We thank God the incident did not happen when the occupants had gone to bed, it could PUBLIC NOTICE have been disastrous.

OWONLE “Sadly, this part that was hit I formerly known and Addressed as by landslide some years ago MISS ABIOLA FATIMAT OWONLE, now wish to be known and was seriously affected by the addressed as MRS. ATILOLA latest incident.

ABIOLA FAT IMAT. All former “People are apprehensive documents remain valid. NYSC and that the area may witness a general public take note. repeat of the incident,” he said.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

54

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 4-3-13

Equities open in low mood

T

HE Nigerian equity market reopened yesterday with a tinge of bearishness as cautious investors paused to gauge market direction.

Total market value of all quoted equities shrank by N75 billion in a market dominated by sale market orders and profit-taking transactions, especially on the handful of highly capitalised stocks that largely determine overall market direction.

With 23 advancers to 33 decliners, losses by highly capitalised manufacturing and banking companies exacerbated the downtrend.

Losses by Guinness Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and PZ Cussons Nigeria weighed in on the overall market situation.

Aggregate market capitalisation of all equities dropped from its opening

By Taofik Salako

value of N10.618 trillion to close at N10.543 trillion.

The All Share Index (ASI), the main index that tracks all share prices on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), declined by 0.71 per cent to 32,947.13 points as against its opening index of 33,183.20 points. The decline depressed average year-to-date return at the equity market to 17.34 per cent.

Guinness Nigeria led the decliners with a loss of N6.50 to close at N270 per share.

Dangote Cement followed with a loss of N2.99 to close at N145. PZ Cussons Nigeria lost N2.65 to close at N37.75.

Mobil Oil Nigeria dropped

by N2.50 to N126. Access Bank lost 50 kobo to close at N11.20.

Airline Services and Logistics lost 46 kobo to close at N4.23.

Zenith Bank dwindled by 20 kobo to N20.90 while

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) dropped by 118 kobo to close at N13.82.

Turnover was on the average with the exchange of 393.21 million shares valued at N4.30 billion in 5,339 deals.

Banking subgroup topped the activity chart with a turnover of 240.48 million shares valued at N2.39 billion in 2,419 deals.

Zenith Bank was the most active stock with a turnover of 53.66 million shares valued at N1.12 billion in 304 deals.

Unity Bank trailed with a turnover of 49.7 million shares valued at N44.94 million in 271 deals. United Bank for Africa (UBA) placed third with a turnover of 36.03 million shares worth N288.43 million in 336 deals.

However, Nestle Nigeria topped the gainers’ list with addition of N14 to close at N900. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria followed with a gain of N2.04 to close at N50.

Nigerian Breweries rose by 25 kobo to close at N161.75.

RT Briscoe increased by 17 kobo to close at N2.37 while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria added 14 kobo to close at N1.61 per share.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 4-3-13

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

55

MONEY LINK

Stakeholders seek U improved adoption of IFRS T

HE International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) adoption can only be made possible when there are changes in tax legislations and increase in knowledge of operators.

These were the submissions of Chief Executive Officers of companies, among other participants at the executive briefing organised on IFRS by the Financial Reporting Council(FRC).

The Executive Secretary, FRC Mr Jim Obazee, said companies need to invest in capacity building before they can implement IFRS procedures. Obazee said the Council has established an academy to help in bridging the knowledge gap on IFRS, and enable the country comply with its provisions.

He said the briefing became necessary to enable participants under-

By Akinola Ajibade

stand the impact of the adoption of IFRS on their organisations; appreciate the challenges and issues involved in implementing IFRS as stated in the Roadmap for the implementation of IFRS in Nigeria, as well as understand the strategies of the Council, among others.

He said the need to ensure transparency, improved corporate governance and sanitising the business environment informed the adoption of IFRS in the country.

Obazee said Nigeria cannot be isolated from the happenings in the global market, of which IFRS implementation is one.

He said: “Nigeria is indeed part of this globalisation. In recent times, a number of Nigerian companies have raised capital from in-

NITED Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has introduced a reloadable prepaid card that offers customers financial control, convenience and security.

In a statement, the bank said the prepaid card which is available in Nigeria and 18 African countries where the bank operates is accepted at all VISA acceptance points, on over one million Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), 30 million Point of Sale (PoS) /merchant terminals in over 179 countries across the world.

It said the card gives users full control over personal finances as it is not linked to any bank account and therefore attracts no minimum balance.

Head, e-Banking, UBA Plc, Dr. Adeyinka Adedeji said the product helps customers control spending and be in control of their funds making it ideal for budgeting and travel. He said the card is also ideal for students and even employees or casual workers who may not have a

ternational stock markets, while others have established significant presence in other jurisdictions. Also a good number of Nigerian entities hold the securities of non-Nigerian issuers. Therefore, for a better understanding and appreciation of the risks and consequently making decisions about the flow of economic capital, it makes sense that financial statements prepared in Nigeria use these global financial reporting benchmarks.”

The FRC helmsman also called for a review of accounting syllabus in schools to enable graduates study IFRS and further maintain competition.

Another participant, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, advocated for changes in the tax laws to encourage the adoption of the global financial standards.

UBA introduces reloadable prepaid card bank account.

Head of Prepaid Cards, UBA Plc, Esaie Diei said: “Prepaid cards are a fast-growing form of providing financial services, facilitating payments. Consumers see the value and convenience of using these cards for a variety of financial needs.

It may be used as an alternative to having a bank account for unbanked, as a budgeting tool or way to segment spending, and to make secure online purchases by under-banked and banked customers”.

According to him, UBA Prepaid cards come with a low issuance fee adding “there is no charge to load money to the card and customers may do so at UBA branches or via U-Direct and UMobile.”

Access Bank integrates Accesstrade into e-form ‘M’ portal

A

CCESS Bank Plc has concluded the integration of its on-line trading platform, AccessTrade with e-Form ‘M’ Portal introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ebenezer Olufowose, Executive Director, Financial Markets Division, has said.

He said the integration is in conjunction with Nigerian Customs Service and Messrs Webb Fontaine Consortium. He spoke at the Access Bank Customer Engagement Forum on e-Form ‘M,’ held in Lagos.

He said this is in line with the lender’s strategic initiative to sup-

By Collins Nweze

port the growth and development of the Nigerian economy and its customers.

He said: “We have integrated our AccessTrade platform with the eform ‘M’ portal so that transactions initiated by customers on AccessTrade are fed into the e-form M portal. Access Bank had launched its AccessTrade platform and had trained its customers on usage and benefit of this online trading platform to ensure that customers leverage on the possibilities of hitch-free foreign trade

transactions available for users of the platform.

The Bank’s AccessTrade platform enables customers to initiate and execute online trade transactions across the globe anytime of the day, irrespective of time zone differences. It is a unique “first” in the Nigerian Banking Industry which has transformed trade finance business in Nigeria. Access Bank customers can also view, download or print copies of documents for any transaction.

Ebenezer revealed that this is part of Bank’s strategic efforts to ensure smooth implementation of the elec-

tronic form-M document earlier introduced, by the CBN in conjunction with the Nigerian Customs Services.

Commending the Access Bank gesture to its customers, Mr Batari Musa, CBN’s Director of Trade and Exchange, at the event, said, “This is a welcome development and other Bank’s should take a cue from what Access Bank has done today.

This is to ensure that the project enjoys a seamless transition with little or no challenges.”

“The initiative has so far shown remarkable results with the pilot scheme, as its use of tax identifica-

FGN BONDS

DATA BANK

Tenor

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 350m 150m 350m 138m

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

NIDF NESF

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

350m

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

GAINERS AS AT 4-3-13

SYMBOL TRANSCORP WEMABANK PRESTIGE RTBRISCOE JOHNHOLT LIVESTOCK CUTIX CILEASING GLAXOSMITH FTNCOCOA

O/PRICE 1.47 1.18 0.78 2.20 2.00 2.20 1.90 0.66 47.96 0.55

C/PRICE 1.61 1.29 0.85 2.37 2.10 2.31 1.99 0.69 50.00 0.57

CHANGE 0.14 0.11 0.07 0.17 0.10 0.11 0.09 0.03 2.04 0.02

AIRSERVICE PZ AFRIPRUP AGLEVENT WAPIC IPWA ACCESS ABCTRANS CORNERST JAPAULOIL

O/PRICE 4.69 40.40 1.90 1.90 1.28 0.93 11.70 0.53 0.53 0.85

C/PRICE 4.23 37.75 1.81 1.81 1.22 0.89 11.20 0.51 0.51 0.82

Current Before

2-7-12 27-6-12

113m

155.7

22-6-12

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change (S/N)

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

Parallel Market

153.0000

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 11.8%

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

Date

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

CHANGE 0.46 2.65 0.09 0.09 0.06 0.04 0.50 0.02 0.02 0.03

Exchange Rate (N) 155.2 155.8

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Year Start Offer

LOSERS AS AT 4-3-13

SYMBOL

113m

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

OBB Rate Call Rate

tion number makes the process fool-proof. Form M is the most significant document in foreign exchange transactions for importers.

Before now, it is done manually, with attendant time wastages, while some had to duplicate the form or travel to Abuja to obtain it,” Musa explained.

The CBN official further explained that the e-form ‘M’ includes the automation of international trade transactions and reduction of turnaround time from importation to the clearing stage of all international trade transactions.

Offer Price

Bid Price

ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH 9.17 KAKAWA GUARANTEED 1.00 STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE 137.30 AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 147.01 LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL 0.80 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.13 BGL NUBIAN FUND 1.02 FBN MONEY MARKET FUND 100.00 FBN FIXED INCOME FUND 1,000.00 NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. 1,756.93 PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND 14.66 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST 1.87 STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY 10,616.45 • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

9.08 1.00 136.89 146.64 0.78 1.13 1.00 100.00 1,000.00 1,753.94 13.95 1.33 1.80 10,305.95

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

56

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

57

NEWS UNILORIN ASUU accuses varsity of using security to harass members

T

HE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) chapter, has accused the authorities of using security personnel to disrupt its national congress.

The union decried the use of the police and the university security personnel to harass academics from other public universities and prevent them from entering the campus.

ASUU, in a resolution after its congress, berated the odious, anti-intellectual and retrogressive conduct of a few UNILORIN academics and the security operatives of the university, who allegedly disrupted the peaceful meeting of the ASUU UNILORIN Congress held in one of the vacant lecture rooms in the Faculty of Law. The resolution was signed by Dr. Kola Babarinde, the convener of the NEC Visitation, Dr. Taiwo Oloruntoba-Oju, ASUU Chairman, UNILORIN branch, Dr. A.B. Makanjuola and Dr. K.N. Afolayan of the Departments of Behavioural Sciences and English.

The congress “observes that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the right of association and assembly and the absence of such in the university is a sign of bondage, which is unacceptable to the union.

“It condemns all forms of lawlessness and requests NEC to adopt efforts to address the unending violation of court orders by the UNILORIN authorities and some individuals in the university.

“Congress, however, remains undeterred and resolves to meet frequently towards ensuring that the branch reclaims its revered position in the union and addresses welfare issues.”

Reacting to the allegation, the Deputy Director, Corporate

Pension convict Yusuf slumps in court

•Varsity: ‘It’s not true’ From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun, said the accusation was baseless and lacking in truth.

Said he: “There is no iota of truth in the allegation that the university harassed anybody with its security personnel let alone men of the Nigeria Police. What happened on February 27 was a case of a group bent on holding illegal meeting at a venue where postgraduate students were writing their examinations.

“The group that claimed to be representatives of the ASUU national body had earlier phoned to seek permission to visit the Vice-Chancellor for an undisclosed mission. But the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Felix Oladele, told them that the VC was not around and that they should be patient until he returned.

“Despite this explanation, ASUU members still came to the university. Their visit coincided with the meeting of a group of academic workers of the university that goes by the name, ‘Concerned Academics’.

This raised some curiosity.

“It should be emphasised that every member of the university community is aware that

meetings are held in lecture halls/theatres after formal permissions to use such halls have been sought and given.

But these ‘Concerned Academics’ neither sought nor got permission to use any hall for their proposed meeting.

“Despite this, nobody interrupted their clandestine plan until they got to the proposed venue, the Faculty of Arts Lecture Theatre, where they saw that exams were ongoing. They then moved to the Faculty of Law Theatre but the Dean politely told them that a postgraduate exam was about to take place there.

“They then met under a tree and resolved to go to Henry George Hotel to hold the meeting. There was no argument whatsoever, let alone harassment or intimidation.

“It should be emphasised that the University of Ilorin recognises academic freedom, which the institution is doing everything to promote. We are aware that this is the key to industrial harmony, which has yielded dividends to the university these past few years as evidenced in its unrivalled academic excellence and feats in all areas of learning, research and community development.”

From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

•Yusuf

P

ENSION convict, John Yakubu Yusuf; an Assistant Director in Police Pension Office, slumped in court yesterday at the hearing of his bail application.

This forced Justice Adamu Bello to adjourn till April 22 to enable him get medical attention.

Yusuf is being remanded in Kuje Prison.

Earlier, his lawyer, Theodore Mayaki, applied for bail, pending the hearing and determination of the charge against him.

But Prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), urged the court to refuse the application, fearing that he will interfere with investigation.

In a counter affidavit, Jacobs asked the court to take judicial notice that the accused

Almakura appoints SSG

G

OVERNOR Umaru Tanko Almakura of Nasarawa State has appointed Hajiya Zainab Abdulmumini as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

She is the first woman SSG since the state was created in 1996.

A statement by the perma-

From Johnny Danjuma, Lafia

nent secretary in the state’s general administration reads: “Umaru Tanko Almakura, the Governor of Nasarawa State, has approved the appointment of Hajiya Zainab Abdulmumini as the Secretary to the Nasarawa State

Government (SSG).

“The new appointee will be sworn in by the governor at a later date.”

The appointment of Hajiya Abdulmumini followed Governor Almakura’s dissolution of his executive council.

As at yesterday, it was not known when new commissioners would be appointed.

had been convicted previously for criminal breach of trust and it will be in his interest to be kept in custody to prevent the possibility of him being mobbed by aggrieved members of the public.

According to the prosecutor, Yusuf is most likely to jump bail considering that he will no longer be in the employment of the Federal Ministry of Works after the conclusion of the procedure to relieve him of his appointment.

The court has fixed March 11 for ruling on the bail application.

The accused sentenced to two year-jail by an Abuja High Court on January 28 for conspiring to steal about N23.3 billion.

He was, however, re-arrested and re-arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for false declaration of asset after he was given an option of fine by the court.

Yusuf was rearraigned for willfully “failing to disclose his interest in a private company known as SY-A Global Services Limited, a company owned by him and immediate members of his family.

The offence is punishable under Section 27(3) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, CAP E1 2004.

He was also accused of not declaring about N289 million in his fixed deposit accounts.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and was remanded in Kuje Prison by Justice Adamu Bello pending hearing and determination of his bail application.

In count one: Yusuf was

accused of willfully “failing to disclose his interest in a private company known as SY-A Global Services Limited, a company owned by him and immediate members of his family.

The offence is punishable under section 27(3) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, CAP E1 2004.

Count two: “That you John Yakubu Yusufu on or about 14th February 2012 at Abuja, in the Abuja Judicial Division knowingly failed to make full disclosure of your assets and liability in the Declaration of Assets Form filled by you, by not declaring your interest in the N250 million you lodged in a fixed deposit account with the Zenith Bank in the name of SY-A Global Services Limited, a company in which you are the sole signatory to its account and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 27(3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, CAP E1 2004".

Count three: “That you John Yakubu Yusufu on or about 14th February 2012 at Abuja, in the Abuja Judicial Division knowingly failed to make full disclosure of your assets and liability in the Declaration of Assets Form filled by you, by not declaring your interest in the sum of N10 million you lodged in a fixed deposit account with the First Bank of Nigeria Plc in the name of SY-A Global Services Limited, a company in which you are the sole signatory to its account and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 27(3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, CAP E1 2004".

Your Sexual Health & You: Novelty Tips, Questions & Answers

G

ood day Uche, eight weeks into taking the ReproAid supplement you advised, my wife finally got pregnant.

We have been trying to have a baby for years. Thank you so much – Moses Thank God and congratulations. There is always hope and I am glad you never gave up – Uche Hello Uche, I love your products. Kudos to you guys for helping people solve their problems with these products. I am not in support of pornographic items but I am interested in your vibrators and lubricants. Regards – Linda Dear Linda, I know you mean well but let’s discuss this pornography issue you just raised before talking about the vibrators you want. You say you have a problem with pornographic items? I don’t think so. I think you like it just like everyone else. Let me tell you why. Pornography by definition refers to sexual imagery of any kind, whether graphic or suggestive. I am sure you are a responsible and hard working woman. But you are also a sexually active woman who masturbates a few times a week just like everyone else. If you have ever fantasised about sex, engaged in sexual activity or masturbated in any shape or form, then you DEFINITELY rely on sexual imagery to feed your sexual fantasies and activities.

Guess what? Sexual imagery is pornography. So I am sorry to bust your bubble but you are just like everyone else and you do like pornography. Your sex life feeds on pornography.

Everybody’s sex life benefits from pornography. I know that accepting this is embarrassing for you but it is a fact. You cannot like sex and hate sexual imagery. It makes no sense. That is just something we say to make ourselves feel better.

People shy away from the word ‘Pornography’ only because society has made it a dirty word, but they don’t realise pornography is and has always been a part of their lives.

Pornography is sexual imagery. Human sexual activity is powered by sexual imagery. So the debate shouldn’t be about the legitimacy of sexual imagery. That is hypocritical. We should invest that energy into ensuring that children don’t have access

to sex or sex related products. That is the main worry when it comes to sex. It is the possibility of children having access to sex and sex related items that scares society into contradicting itself.

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Use the Mega Stretch Penis Extension and the Keep it up Delay Cream together – Uche Hello Uche, I had the best sex ever last weekend and I am 58 years. Just how did you find this Sex Voltz? My wife can’t stop talking about it and my friends are interested – Ofodile My brother, it is my job to find these things. I am happy your erection is back. Take care – Uche That’s it for today. The names of the people featured here have been changed for their privacy. Adults in need of these treatments/ novelties can call 08027901621 or 08051924159 or any other number here to order or they can order online at www.zeevirtualmedia.com. Zee Virtual Media delivers to you wherever you are in Nigeria. For enquiries, send your emails to custserv@zeevirtualmedia.com - Uche Edochie, MD, Zee Virtual Media.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

58

CITYBEATS

Atiku's N1.5m for ailing reporter

From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has donated N1.5million to Mr. Anslem Odo, a journalist with the Voice of Nigeria (VON), who is suffering from kidney failure. Odo needs about N7million for surgery.

Atiku, who made the donation through the Head of his Media Office, Mallam Garba Shehu, said he was moved by Odo's plight based on the appeal by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), FCT Council.

He used the opportunity to condole with the NUJ FCT Council and the entire media family over the death of Mr. John-Abba Ogbodo of The Guardian Newspapers.

Speaking at the presentation, Comrade Chuks Ehirim, chairman of NUJ FCT Council, commended the former Vice President for the gesture and said the Council was not surprised, given Atiku's love for humanity.

Lagos assures on flood-free year LAGOS assures on flood-free year Following last night's rain which left many streets flooded, Lagos State government has enjoined residents not to panic.

The downpour lasted for about an hour raising fear among the residents but the government said there was no cause for alarm as the flood would disappear.

The Special Adviser on media to Governor Babatunde Fashola, Mr. Hakeem Bello said most parts of Lagos could only experience "flash flood" considering government's investment in flood control.

According to him, whatever "storm water" is noticed would always recede within a few hours.

"Due to its topography, Lagos would always have heavy rains and the streets could be overrun with rainwater but we would agree that we have a problem of flood if by tomorrow (this) morning the roads are still flooded but I am sure that won't be the case."

He said "a lot of efforts" have been made to clear the drains and maintain the canals to give Lagos residents a flood-free year.

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

Family grieves over soldier's 30-year disappearance • No information on him yet, says Army

“W

HERE is Fredrick Uwerhiavwe?" This is the question that his family has been asking in the past 30 years following his disappearance.

It was first asked in March 1983 by his wife, Agnes, who had gone looking for him at the headquarters of the 1 Infantry Division of the Nigerian Army in Kaduna.

She embarked on the search three months after he left home, telling her he was going for a course.

Uwerhiavwe, an Army Lance Corporal, had left home in January 1983 for the said course. After waiting for three months without hearing from her husband, Agnes went to ask for him from the army. She got no positive response.

The army, she claimed, detailed someone to follow her home and eject her from their apartment.

She was ejected from their Block 44, Kotoko Barracks, Kaduna home, without any information about her husband.

It was tough for the family of five young children, coping with the trauma of a missing father and the pressing need for shelter.

Uwerhiavwe, born on March 6, 1948, was 35 when he disappeared.

Having no means to challenge the army, the family accepted its fate.

Thirty years after, Uwerhiavwe's third son, Charles, who was only seven when the family was ejected from the barracks, has revived the question of his father's whereabouts, after stumbling on some documents which could be useful in unravelling the mystery.

He is not only asking the army the same question his mother asked in

By Segun Balogun

1983; he is demanding, through legal means, his father's whereabouts.

"We were young and our mother could not tell us much, being an illiterate," Charles said, adding: "But after stumbling on those documents, I decided to ask questions about what has troubled my mind for decades."

On February 20, he wrote to the Chief of Army Staff, through his lawyer, Terfa Mark Anata of Festus Keyamo Chambers. From the documents attached to the letter, there was a request on August 3, 1973, signed

by Captain D.A Omolaja, the then Divisional Chaplain of 1 Infantry Division, Nigerian Army, Kaduna, for "authority to recruit troops who are qualified as church leaders to the Divisional chaplain protestant's office, not later than August 30, 1973."

The request was granted and a letter requesting application from suitable officers was sent to all army divisions on August 11, 1973 by Captain A. Olanipekun.

Uwerhiavwe, who was then at the 1 Provost Battalion, Nigerian Military Police, Enugu, applied for the position and his application was forwarded to the Chaplain Protestant Office in Kaduna on August 14, 1973

by Captain J. Hama Kim, the Deputy Assistant Provost Marshal.

In his application, he had claimed: "The Lord started using me in preaching His Word of Life in 1971 and as an Ordained Evangelist, I have the experience of church work."

He attached a recommendation letter dated August 13, 1973 and signed

by Rev. H.C Igwe of First Baptist Church, Enugu, to his application.

•Fredrick and his wife, Agnes ... in the beginning Igwe said Uwerhiavwe was transferred from Okigwe to Enugu two years earlier and had since been one of his lay-preachers.

In a letter dated August 18, 1973, Omojola invited Uwerhiavwe for interview and that was how he was transferred to Kaduna.

The family is holding on to facts presented in a document, a Nigerian Army Message Form dated May 1979, as a clue to solving the riddle around Uwerhiavwe's disappearance.

In the form, which originated from HQ 3 INF DIV and was sent to AHQ 'G' INT, it was stated that "Fredrick Uwerhiavwe of Admin Coy Provost

BN Kaduna with residential address, KK 17 Yoruba Road, Kaduna, is now on nationwide tour sponsored by NPN (National Party of Nigeria) to canvass for votes from religious denominations throughout the country. "(He) declared that God revealed to him that Alhaji Shehu Shagari would be President of Nigeria coming October '79. He then urged the crowd to cast their votes for NPN." Uwerhiavwe's ‘prophecy’ came to pass as Shagari won the presidential election.

But a few months after, Uwerhiavwe claimed to have another message from God for Shagari concerning the people’s needs.

Suspect hides cocaine in sandals

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•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola

LASAA partners MOAN on vehicles

The Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) has entered into partnership with the Mobile Advert Agency of Nigeria (MOAN) for the enforcement of laws relating to branded vehicles.

Under the agreement, LASAA will be able to apprehend defaulters of mobile advertisement registration platform.

The agreement was signed by the parties at LASAA head office in Alausa, Ikeja. The agreement will see MOAN officials wear LASAA's reflective enforcement gear with serial number for the purpose of identification.

According to LASAA's Managing Director, Mr. George Kayode Noah, "this partnership with assist us in capturing all branded motor vehicle as fleets for mobile advertisement while also establishing an efficient mobile advertisement management system".

26-YEAR-OLD of man, Igwe Williams Ogbonna, has been caught with substance suspected to be cocaine inside his sandals and luggage at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

He was arrested by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) with the 630 grammes of powdery substance that tested positive to cocaine while attempting to board

•Ogbonna

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

a Kenyan Airways flight to India.

The NDLEA Airport Commander, Mr Hamza Umar, said: "The suspect was arrested following the discovery of the drug during routine search. Officers first found some cocaine inside sandals he wore at the screening area.

“During the search, some quantities of cocaine were equally found in another pair of sandals and inside his luggage. In all, he was found with 630 grammes of cocaine hidden inside two pairs of sandals and in his luggage."

The suspect, in his statement, said: "They told me that I should go to India to further my studies because I have an uncle there.

They gave me only $700; I was excited because I have always wanted to further my education.

They directed me to Lagos from the East after preparing my travel documents. I was given the bag and pairs of sandals. They also instructed me to wear one of the sandals. I felt bad when the drug was detected."

Igwe hails from Mpu town in Aniri Local Government Area of Enugu State. NDLEA’s Chairman/Chief Executive, Ahmadu Giade said efforts were on to arrest other suspects.

•The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Motor Vehicle Administration Agency (MVAA), Mr Akin Hanson (left) and Senior Special Assistant to the President/National Co-ordinator, Sevicom, Mr Sylboiks G. Obiriki during the presentation of an award to MVAA as the 2012 Most Reengineered for Service Agency in Abuja

NPC targets 1,920 in survey

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OT LESS than 1, 920 households are to be interviewed in 14 of the 18 local government areas of Ondo State for this year’s ongoing edition of the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).

Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Mr. Festus Odimegwu, said in Akure, the state capital, yesterday that the interview would be conducted randomly in selected 24 clusters, each comprising 80 households.

Represented by Dr. Oluremi Akinbobola, Odimegwu said that only men and women aged between 15 and 49 years would be interviewed, Odimegwu appealed to residents to cooperate with the interviewers to ensure successful conduct of the programme.

He said: "The survey is designed to generate information on a wide range of health indices and expectedly, the interviewers will ask wide range of questions. I therefore urge the respondents to be patient with the interviewers and provide truthful answers to the questions asked."

The NPC chair described the NDHS as a national representative survey designed to provide information on the demographic and health status of the population.

According to him, it provides detailed information on the levels and trends of fertility, family planning, maternal and child health and sexually transmitted diseases/HIV/AIDS in the country. He said arrangements had been concluded to ensure hitch-free conduct of the NDHS for an accurate and reliable data.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

Kogi council chief's aide, one other held for ‘murder’

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HE police have arrested Sadiq Ibrahim, Special Assistant on Security to chairman of Okene Local Government in Kogi State, and Farouk Mohammed, over the alleged assassination of Grace Abata.

Abata was killed early last month by yet unidentified gunmen at her Hajiya Juwa residence.

The suspects were reportedly arrested while launching another attack on "a political enemy" in Okene.

Kogi State Command Police Public Relation Officer, Amadi Nwaneri, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), said the suspects were giving useful information to the

From Muhammad Bashir, Lokoja

detectives.

According to him, the suspects, after investigation, would be paraded and prosecuted.

The Nation learnt that the suspects had fingered a serving army Captain who was said to have led the attack on Abata.

The suspects were said to have fingered the Liason Officer 1 of Okene Local Government Area, Mr. Saliu Ogembe, as their sponsor, but that the late Abata was not their target.

The main target of the killers was said to be the former chairman of the council, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar Karaku, whom they believed, was in Hajiya Juwa's home.

The suspects were said to have been sent to kill Karaku for being too “politically powerful”in Ebira land.

Ogembe denied the allegation, insisting that he had never met the late Abata.

He said: "It is just a frameup to rubbish my career because of the coming local government election. I never met or knew the Grace they are even talking about. As a council boss, I am the chief security officer of the area; by implication, security of lives and property of every one in Okene is under my care. So, how on earth will I plan to take someone's life? No amount of blackmail will push me away politically in Ebira land.”

Another LASU student killed in reprisal attack •Uwerhiavwe in his army uniform

•Charles donning his father’s Shagari prototype cap

‘We did not grow up the way a normal child should because of that incident. I was on the streets as early as 12. This kind of thing pushes people into crimes and I have had my share of that’ This fact was contained in a letter written to Uwerhiavwe on April 17, 1980 by Rev. S.O. Fagunloye, the coordinator of Revival Explosive Ministry, founded by Rev. Emmanuel O. Omoobajesu.

In the letter, Fagunloye said: "Your letter dated 10th March, requesting us to be praying for you in regards to the message you said 'the Lord had sent you to President Shehu Shagari and the need of the people' was received. We have been praying for you…"

He, however, advised Uwerhiavwe to "stable" his mind and "make sure your call and vision are from God." Since he disappeared when political campaigns were ongoing for Shagari, who he allegedly canvassed votes for in 1979,

Uwerhiavwe's family believes that the content of his March 10 letter may provide a clue to their breadwinner’s disappearance.

The Nation's effort to speak with Fagunloye on the content of Uwerhiavwe's letter of March 10, 1980 failed. Omoobajesu, now a Bishop, said he left the ministry about 20 years ago for the Anglican Church in Igbotako, Ondo State.

Charles said he found a prototype of Shagari's trademark cap in the same suitcase where he saw the documents and this tells him his father "was a disciple of Shagari."

"This is my country and I am not fighting the authorities; but they owe us an explanation.

Whatever they tell me, I will take. When I went to Kaduna,

one Colonel Audu of the protestant office told me to pray about it, give glory to God, and move on with my life," he said.

He added: "We did not grow up the way a normal child should because of that incident.

I was on the streets as early as 12. This kind of thing pushes people into crimes and I have had my share of that. My grandmother died in 2011. She was sad that her first son would not be around to bury her, having waited for decades to hear news about him.

"Our mother is now a cancer patient and the family must know what happened to their son. He was a man a whole generation was looking up to."

When contacted, the Army spokesperson, Brigadier-General Ibrahim Attahiru, said he could not respond to The Nation's request because his office had not been properly briefed.

"It is difficult to give you any information because I do not yet have the man's service number and unit he served," he said yesterday.

House developer held for alleged fraud

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O fewer than 70 prospective tenants yesterday besieged the Lagos State Police Command at Ikeja to demand a refund of their money from a developer, Alhaji Azeez Latif Akeem, who allegedly duped them of N16million.

The victims, who at different times, paid for either mini flats or two-bedroom flats in house 23, Opeloreyu Street, off IleIwe Bus Stop, Ikotun, on the outskirts of Lagos, got payment receipts from the suspect. He reportedly told them to later come for their keys, only for them to discover that the house, on completion, had been allotted to other occupants.

Akeem is currently being detained at the Command's Special Investigation Bureau (SIB).

But the victims alleged that the police were conniving with the suspect to deny them of justice by trying to persuade them to give the man some time to refund their money.

The Nation gathered that the suspect was arrested on Thursday, after one of the victims, Sarafa Yusuf, accosted him at a liquor joint in Dopemu.

Yusuf said that after he learnt that many people had paid for the same house, he went in

By Precious Igbonwelundu

search of Akeem. Hewas "beaten mercilessly by the landlord's thugs".

He said: "I paid about N550, 000 for two-bedroom flat. The building, being a new one, looked very attractive that no one would hesitate to pay; that was how I fell for the scam.

Another victim, a hotelier, Emmanuel Izuaba, said he invested N3million in the building. He had hoped to use it as a guest house only to discover that the building, on completion, had been rented out.

Tina Akijimi, a trader, recounted her ordeal too: "I paid him N170, 000 for a mini flat. When I called the developer on February 20, he said the house was about to be painted, assuring that once that was done, he would invite me to come for my keys.

"Surprisingly, someone called me on February 28, that there was trouble in that house; that I should go and see for myself. So, I hurriedly went there but to my surprise, more than 70 people were on ground

dragging for keys and apartments.

"I was just confused and stranded. I did not even know what to do again. I did not see the Alhaji who took money from me. Then I realised that he had collected money from over 70 people for eight apartments.

When contacted, state Police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the story, saying: "It is true he was arrested and he is currently being interrogated at the SIB. The man collected money from so many people. For instance, he would collect money from about 15 people for a particular apartment only for the people to realise it on Thursday.

"At the moment, the matter is being investigated and appropriate actions will be taken at the end of the investigation. It is not true that the police are conniving with the man. No officer will do such a thing. They were only asked to go out while a few of the victims were picked to represent them because the crowd was too much. So, they should not be afraid because we are here to do justice."

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student of the Lagos State University (LASU) has been killed by gunmen suspected to be cultists, in a likely reprisal for the death of Damino Damoche, a budding artiste.

After Damoche's death last Thursday, the fear of reprisals was rife but the institution's Student Union Government executives dismissed such fears.

The Lagos Police Command spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superin-

By Jude Isiguzo and Ebele Boniface

tendent of Police, however confirmed that a student was shot dead at the weekend.

The Nation learnt that the killed student, simply identified as Kabiru, lived on Abeokuta Street. His killers reportedly stormed his home on Sunday night and shot him.

Braide said the 70 suspects arrested on Sunday were still being screened to ascertain each suspect's complic-

ity or otherwise in the incidents. It was also learnt that detectives were working on some leads generated from scrutiny of Damoche's mobile phone.

The arrest was made at a hotel where the suspects were “celebrating” their successful murder of Damoche.

A police source told The Nation that a policeman reportedly protecting the suspects was "allowed to escape when the suspects were being arrested."

Anger over 'murder' of two brothers

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HE youth of Ofe, Umuakiripo community in Omuma Local Government Area of Rivers State have threatened civil disobedience, if the killers of their kinsmen are not caught.

Messrs Ndub u s i a n d Ndubueze Nwafor were declared missing last year after their mysterious disappearance from their home on Akujiagu Street, Tras-Amadi, Port Harcourt.

During a protest in Port Harcourt yesterday, the youths said that they had found evidence that the two brothers had been murdered.

Comrade Victor Njokwu, Secretary-General of Ofeh Youths Congress (OYC), who led the

From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

protest, said: "There is evidence that the two brothers have been murdered; in fact, we are no longer talking about the issue of their missing.

"During the search, we found the trousers of Ndubuisi inside the bush close to a river; yet, we wonder why police have not done anything to bring the perpetrators to book."

He said the youths were unhappy over the delay in the investigation of the murder case, saying that the youths had resolved to take over the matter in their own way.

"There will be trouble because we are not going to allow our brothers to be

murdered just like that without the police telling us how they were killed.

These two brothers were declared missing last year; till now nothing has been done on their matter.

"We are calling on Rivers State Government and the Commissioner of Police to act fast over the issue. We want to hear that some persons have been arrested in connection with the murder; if not, we will take the law into our hands, which will lead to more crises in the state."

When contacted, the Investigation Police Officer, (IPO), Mr. Sylvester Nnna, said: "As for now, as far as the matter is concerned, we are doing our best. Of course, the investigation is still on."

•From left: Wife of the chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Princess Zainab Adewale; Chairman, Comrade Ayodele Adewale; Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Taiwo Giwa; Supervisor of Health, Mr Murisiq Danmole and little Somtochukwu during flagoff of the first round of Polio Immunisation exercise at Local Government Secretariat on Saturday

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

NEWS Baby ‘functionally cured’ of HIV Continued from page 1

technical nuance: researchers insist on calling it a “functional cure” rather than a complete cure.

That is because the virus is not totally eradicated. Still, its presence is reduced to such a low level that a body can control it without the need for standard drug treatment.

The only fully cured AIDS patient recognised worldwide is the so-called “Berlin patient”, American Timothy Brown. He is considered cured of HIV and leukemia five years after receiving bone marrow transplants from a rare donor naturally resistant to HIV. The marrow transplant was aimed at treating his leukemia.

But in the new case, the baby girl received nothing more invasive or complex than commonly available antiretroviral drugs. The difference, however, was the dosage and the timing: starting less than 30 hours after her birth.

It is that kind of aggressive treatment that likely yielded the “functional cure”, researchers reported on Sunday at the 20th Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Atlanta, Georgia.

What researchers call dormant HIV-infected cells often re-start infections in HIV-in-

fected patients within a few weeks after antiretroviral treatment stops, forcing most people who have tested HIV-positive to stay on the drugs for life or risk the illness progressing.

“Prompt antiviral therapy in newborns that begins within days of exposure may help infants clear the virus and achieve long-term remission without life-long treatment by preventing such viral hideouts from forming in the first place,” said lead researcher Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

It appears to be the first time this was achieved in a baby, she said.

The baby was infected by her HIV-positive mother, and her treatment with therapeutic doses of antiretroviral drugs began even before her own positive blood test came back.

The typical protocol for highrisk newborns is to give them smaller doses of the drugs until results from an HIV blood test is available at six weeks old.

Tests showed the baby’s viral count steadily declined until it could no longer be detected 29 days after her birth.

The child was given followup treatment with antiretroviral drugs until 18 months, at

which point doctors lost contact with her for 10 months.

During that period, she was not taking the drugs.

Researchers then were able to do a series of blood tests — and none gave an HIV-positive result.

Natural viral suppression without treatment is an exceedingly rare occurrence, seen in fewer than half a per cent of HIV-infected adults, known as “elite controllers”, whose immune systems are able to rein in viral replication and keep the virus at clinically undetectable levels.

Experts on HIV have long wanted to help all HIV patients achieve elite-controller status.

Researchers say this new case offers hope as a gamechanger, because it suggests prompt antiretroviral therapy in newborns indeed can do that.

Still, they said, their first priority is learning how to stop transmission of the virus from mother to newborn. ARV treatments of mothers currently stop transmission to newborns in 98 per cent of cases, they say.

“Our next step is to find out if this is a highly unusual response to very early antiretroviral therapy or something we can actually replicate in other high-risk newborns,” Persaud pointed out.

Jonathan signed agreement on serving one term, says Junaid Continued from page 4

er.

“There are clearly many powerful forces that are stopping the President from reshuffling the cabinet because there are two women ministers who think they cannot be removed from their posts.

“The discourse on the 2015 election is premature but it was started by Jonathan. All we’ve had from 2011 to date was slogan. Promises were made and they have not been kept. The promises have been kept aside.

You have to blame the President on early talk of 2015 and he is unleashing his attack dogs on the nation.

“Nobody would believe the tale that the President would not run in 2015. The man is behind it and his body language says a lot. The body language indicates that he would

be running. They have started preparing the war chest for 2015. They are pulling money for election through deliberate, half-hearted implementation of annual budgets. They leave no room for anybody to trust them and I, for one, do not trust them.”

Asked to clarify where he belonged on the political radar, Mohammed said: “I am not and will not be a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party because the party is fixated to the primordial sentiments of zoning and rotation.

“I don’t believe that I speak for the North because the leaders of the North who claim to speak for the region are not sincere. That is why they would enter into an agreement with people who cannot keep to the terms of that agreement.

Tough luck to them!”

Dangote is 43 on rich’s list Continued from page 4

ple on the new 2013 Forbes list of the world’s billionaires, 138 are women. That’s up from 104 women last year. New women billionaires include fashion designer Tory Burch and Hong Kong finance executive Pollyanna Chu. The world’s richest woman is Liliane Bettencourt, the 90-year-old heiress to a 30% stake in cosmetics group L’Oreal. With a fortune that Forbes pegs at $30 billion – up $6 billion from last year - she ranks ninth wealthiest overall. A surge in the value of L’Oreal shares over the past year helped put her back among the top ten richest for the first time since 1999. Bettencourt, a widow who suffers from dementia, was replaced on the L’Oreal board in February 2012 by her grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers. In 2011, her fortune was put under the guardianship of her daughter,

Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, after a three-year legal battle.

The second richest woman is Christy Walton of the U.S., who inherited her husband John Walton’s stake in Wal-Mart when he died in a plane crash in 2005. She clocks in at $28.2 billion — up nearly $3 billion from a year ago due to an increase in the price of Wal-Mart stock.

The third richest woman is yet another Walton family member — Alice Walton, daughter of visionary retailer Sam Walton, who founded Wal-Mart with his brother in 1962. Alice Walton, ranked number 16, has a net worth Forbes estimates $26.3 billion, up several billions from the previous year. Walton opened her Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas in 2011. It features works from her personal collection.

•Dr. Jonathan

•Aliyu

Air France plane landing delayed N Air France flight into the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos hovered for about two hours before landing last night.

A passenger on board told our correspondent that the delayed landing was as a result of poor lighting on the runway.

Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) officials were last night battling with the generating set serving the E-wing of the airport.

This roof of the generator house was blown off by the wind that accompanied last night’s rainfall in Lagos.

“They are cleaning the generating set after water entered it. Everything will be okay”, said FAAN spokesman Yakubu Datti last night.

Datti said he was not aware that the Air France plane did not land on schedule.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

61

FOREIGN NEWS

19 killed as Kenyans vote

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T least 19 people were killed in attacks by machete-wielding gangs on Monday as Kenyans queued to vote in a presidential election they hope will rebuild the nation’s image after a disputed 2007 poll unleashed weeks of tribal bloodshed.

Just hours before the start of voting and with long queues across the east African country, at least nine security officers in Kenya’s restive coastal region were hacked to death, and six attackers were also killed, regional police chief Aggrey Adoli said.

There were two separate attacks which senior police officers blamed on a separatist movement - which, if confirmed, would suggest different motives to those that caused the post-2007 vote ethnic killings and could limit their impact.

Officials and candidates have made impassioned appeals to avoid a repeat of the tribal rampages that erupted five years ago when disputes over the poll result fuelled clashes between tribal loyalists of rival candidates.

More than 1,200 people were killed, shattering Kenya’s reputation as one of Africa’s most stable democracies and bringing its economy to a standstill.

As in 2007, the race has come down to a high-stakes duel between two candidates,

this time between Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the loser in 2007 to outgoing President Mwai Kibaki. Both contenders will depend heavily on votes from tribal loyalists.

The United States and Western donors are worried about the stability of a nation that is an ally in the fight against militant Islam in the region but are also fretting what to do if the victor is Kenyatta, who faces charges by the International Criminal Court of orchestrating violence five years ago.

One of the attacks on Monday took place outside Mombasa and another in Kilifi about 50 km (80 miles) to the north. Senior police officers blamed them on a separatist movement, the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), which wanted the national vote scrapped and a referendum on secession instead.

Even before the violence, many Kenyans were wary, notably in flashpoints last time. Some shopkeepers ran down stocks and some people in mixed tribal areas returned to their homelands.

Kenya’s neighbors are watching nervously, after their economies felt the shockwaves when violence five years ago shut down trade routes running

LENTEN TALK Rev. Henry O. Adelegan

It is not over!

Text: Job 14:7-9

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HEN we take a cursory look at what is happening with our economy and security as individuals, family, organization or nation, we are prone to harbor the thoughts of fear, dejection and hopelessness. We might actually begin to look at ourselves as failures or consider our nation as a failed state.

Beloved in Christ, there is no bad case with God. There is no failed life or state with God! Whenever you call on God, He is able and willing to turn things around for you. He said that with men ( family, leaders, security officers etc) some things are impossible, but with Him all things are possible ( Matt. 19:26; Mk. 9:23).

From our passage, He promised that there is no hopeless case with him. In fact, He said even a dead tree that had been cut down has hope of springing back to life. He said that even if the root of a tree has waxed old in the earth and the stock has died, at the scent of water, it will come up again.

The Almighty God is God of all flesh with whom nothing is impossible (Jer. 32:27). He was the One who created the heaven and earth (John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17).

From His glorious antecedents, there is nothing He cannot do. When the Israelites had no food and water to drink in the wilderness, He made ways where there was none - they had quails from heaven and water from the Rock.

When the Egyptians continued to harass the Israelites on their way to the Promised land, the Almighty God intervened and fought for them. The Red Sea that opened for them to pass through was the burial ground of their pursuers.

The Almighty God is a man of war ( Exodus 15:3).

Whenever you call upon Him, He would intervene in your case, provide for you, change your story, restore your lost grounds and fight your battles for you ( Joel 2:25). He has promised that even when people or institutions saddled with the responsibility of care, provision and security fail, He will never leave nor forsake us ( Is. 49:15-16; Hebrews 13:5).

It does not matter what you may be passing through at this time, God is able! When you call upon Him during this time of lent and pray for your family and nation, He would hear you, wipe away your tears, make you happy and minister life to your health, marriage, family, business, places of interest and nation in Jesus’ name.

Prayer: Oh Lord, let the scent of water touch every aspect of my life and restore all my lost grounds in Jesus’ name.

•Voters at a polling station in Nairobi

through east Africa’s biggest economy. Some landlocked states have stockpiled fuel and other materials.

Kibaki, barred from seeking a third five-year term, made what he described as a “passionate plea” for a peaceful vote. All the candidates have vowed to accept the result.

Although the two leaders

are well ahead of the other six contenders, polls suggest they will struggle to secure an outright win, which could make for a tense run-off. A narrow first-round victory for either could spark legal challenges.

To try to prevent a repeat of the contested outcome that sparked the violence after the December 2007 vote, a new,

PHOTO: REUTERS

broadly respected election commission is using more technology to prevent fraud, speed up counting and increase transparency.

To build confidence, Kenya has passed a new constitution since 2007, police chiefs have deployed extra forces to maintain security and there is a more independent judiciary which com-

mands greater respect. Officials have appealed to candidates to raise any challenges in the courts and not on the streets.

Alongside the presidential race, there are hotly contested elections for senators, county governors, members of parliament, women representatives in county assemblies and civic leaders.

Cardinals begin pre-conclave meetings

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OMAN Catholic cardi nals filed into the Vatican on Monday for preliminary meetings to sketch a profile for the next pope and ponder who among them might be best to lead a church beset by crises.

They arrived by private car, taxi and minibus at the gates of the Vatican for gatherings known as general congregations, closed-door meetings in which they will get to know each other and decide when to start a conclave to choose a man to lead the 1.2 billion member Church.

The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected next week and officially installed several days later so he can preside over the Holy Week ceremonies starting with Palm Sunday on March 24 and culminating in Easter the following Sunday.

Pope Benedict left the Church in a state of shock when he announced last month that he would be the first pontiff in 600 years to resign instead of ruling for life. He formally stepped down last Thursday, leaving the papacy vacant.

High on the agenda at the general congregations will be the daunting challenges that will face the next pontiff, including the sexual abuse crisis that has rocked the Church and last year’s “Vatileaks” scandal which exposed corruption and rivalries in the Vatican’s bureaucracy.

“We need a man of governance, by that I mean a man who is able with the people he chooses to help him in an intimate way to govern the Church,” Cardi-

nal Cormac MurphyO’Connor, the former Archbishop of Westminster in London, told BBC radio.

“Among the things we will be talking about out here are precisely the need in looking for a new pope

for these failings that have happened again to be treated, to be faced strongly.”

The cardinals, numbering about 150, are expected to hold one or two meetings a day. The Vatican seems

keen to have only a week of preliminary talks so the 115 “cardinal electors” aged under 80 can enter the Sistine Chapel for the conclave next week. The exact date for its start has not been decided.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

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NEWS Soldiers’ deployment: Court strikes out Jonathan’s name in N100m suit

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LAGOS State High Court, Igbosere, yesterday struck out the name of President Goodluck Jonathan in a suit filed by the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) Lagos State branch, over the deployment of soldiers in the state.

Justice Samuel CandideJohnson struck out the name following an application by the claimants to discontinue their claims against the President.

The court asked them to file an amended Motion on Notice within seven days.

However, the claimants said they would prosecute their claims against the remaining five defendants in the action.

They are the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence

By Joseph Jibueze

Staff, the Inspector-General of Police, the Nigeria Police and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) The claimants’ counsel, Bayo Phillips, said his Notice of Discontinuance was brought pursuant to Order 23, Rule 1 of the High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2004.

The withdrawal of claims against Jonathan was said to have arisen foolowing complications in a bid to serve him with the court processes.

The suit was jointly filed by NBA Lagos Branch Chairman, Mr. Taiwo Taiwo, its Secretary, Mr. Alex Muoka and human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa.

They are demanding N100million as damages

against the respondents, jointly and severally for alleged violation of their fundamental rights.

The soldiers were deployed in January last year to prevent the mass protests and peaceful demonstrations that followed the removal of fuel subsidy, which led to a hike in petroleum products’ prices.

The applicants sought an injunction restraining the respondents from preventing the lawful gathering of the applicants and other citizens at Falomo roundabout, Gani Fawehinmi Park, Yaba, Ojota, Ketu, Ikorodu, Lekki, Alimosho and other public places in Lagos State in exercise of their fundamental rights.

Justice Candide-Johnson adjourned further proceedings till April 22.

Osoba: Nigeria ‘ll fare better as two party state

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FORMER Ogun State governor and chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Segun Osoba, yesterday said Nigeria would fare better as a two-party state.

Osoba, who spoke in a telephone interview in Lagos, said the best for the nation’s democracy was to have two strong structures “as is practised in some climes.”

Said he: “We had the experience of a two-party system before- with the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social

Democratic Party (SDP), and Nigeria was better for it.

“The NRC/SDP experience grouped politicians above religious and ethnic considerations.”

According to Chief Osoba, while those in NRC were republicans/conservatives, those in SDP were progressives/democrats.

“At that time, I cannot remember anyone defecting to the other party because the ideologies were clearly defined,” he added.

On the proposal for local government autonomy, Chief Osoba said the Na-

tional Assembly had no business tinkering with the law “as is currently.”

“The Supreme Court judgment on local governments said states are in charge of local governments, but that the National Assembly can only legislate on the mode of election for the councils.

“Local governments are state creations and should be left as such,” he said.

Reacting to the call by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu for state police, Osoba said it was the way out of the insecurity in the country.

Commonwealth plans visa waiver for member-countries

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OLLOWING attacks on the continued relevance of Commonwealth, the union has set in motion plans to review restrictions on free movement among member-nations.

Commonwealth is tinkering with the idea of waivering visa requirements for some categories

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

of citizens of its memberstates to facilitate easier movement among membercountries.

This is aimed at boosting people-to-people contact and relationship among membernations.

The union is a voluntary

Wada sacks council bosses

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organisation of mainly countries with a shared history of British colonisation Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru, announced the plan after a meeting with the Commonwealth Secretary- General, Sir. Kamalesh Sharma, in Abuja.

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OGI State Governor, Captain Idris Wada, yesterday sacked liaison officers in the 21 local governments.

Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ndamodu Ali, a lawyer, announced the dissolution at a news conference after a closed door meeting between the governor, the leadership of

From Muhammad Bashir Lokoja

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the sacked liaison officers.

He said the liaison officers were not appointed to stay long in office, but to avoid leadership vacuum in the local governments.

Ali added: “The state government wishes them success in their future endeavours.”

Obasanjo: why I didn’t know my father had tribal marks

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ORMER President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday broke his silence on his late father, saying for many years he could neither tell how the man looked nor did he know that his father had the Owu “tribal marks” on both cheeks.

Obasanjo, who attributed the phenomenon to some of the inhibiting African cultural practices, which present the youth as people that should be seen and not heard, said he could not look at his father in the face when growing

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

up because African culture made him to turn his face downward whenever his father was talking.

The Balogun of Owu Kingdom, who spoke at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during a Regional Summit on ‘Women and Youth in the Promotion of Cultural Security and Development in Africa’, added that he “suffered” for many years on account of the restrictive cultural practices.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013

63

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL. 8

NO.2,419

TODAY IN THE NATION ‘Just like in Sylva’s case in which an alleged insubordination would become the subject of a thriller at the Villa, Amaechi story is already being promoted in Jonathan’s court as a block buster in gubernatorial insolence! How about something to excite the bored presidency?’’

SANYA ONI

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

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RONY rarely comes in a more profound form.

It is Black History month, and in the rotunda of the Capitol, in Washington, DC., President Barack Obama is unveiling a statue of Rosa Parks, the demure black seamstress who refused to give up her seat at the back of the city bus to a white passenger, in Montgomery, Alabama, in the American Deep South, where racial segregation was official policy.

That singular act of defiance led to her arrest, and to a boycott of the bus service coordinated by a little-known local pastor who ultimately became the acknowledged leader of the civil rights movement in the United States, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and is acknowledged as one of history’s great men.

Across from where the unveiling is taking place, the Supreme Court of the United States is hearing oral arguments in a petition urging it to strike down a law that bars states from changing their voting laws in ways that could disenfranchise residents without the approval of the Department of Justice.

The law, revalidated by a unanimous decision in 2006, was enacted as part of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965, which made it possible for generations of African Americans to register to vote for the first time, without having to pass stultifying literacy tests and without having to show that they owned property.

The tests were so brazenly manipulated that very few even among educated and propertied African Americans could pass them, leading a frustrated Dr Martin Luther King to complain that, at the rate at which it was being carried out, voter registration of the black residents of the state of Alabama would take about 150 years.

Today, the right to vote continues to be circumscribed, especially in states controlled by the Republicans, in ways that on their face seem to apply to the general population but are designed to suppress the vote of African Americans and Latinos who tend to go with the Democrats.

It is well known, for example, that African Americans generally flock to voting centres to cast early ballots after Sunday worship. To prevent that, some states outlawed Sunday voting. In a variation of that theme, they also cut early voting so drastically that, as happened last November, it took eight hours for some voters to cast their ballots. This measure was calculated to make the cost of voting almost prohibitive for persons at the lower end of the economic scale.

In yet another variation of that theme, the Republican majority in many states redrew electoral districts in such a way as to dilute the black vote and make the election of African Americans or a Democrat virtually impossible. So that, today, although Republican candidates polled at least a million votes fewer than Democratic candidates, they hold a commanding majority in the U. S. House of Representatives.

It took spirited legal challenge mounted by disaffected citizens, with the backing of the Justice Department, to block the enforcement of the more brazen of these voter suppression laws.

Now, scarcely four months later, a county in

RIPPLES POLICE MOST VIOLATOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS–Activist

Yes, espeially if you don’t ‘SETTLE’

OLATUNJI DARE

AT HOME ABROAD olatunji.dare@thenationonlineng.net

In the shadow of Rosa Parks

•The late Rosa Parks

one of the states with the most odious record of discrimination – a county in which an election was cancelled because it was going to be won by an African American despite all the mago mago –is asking the Supreme Court to void the federal law mandating District of Justice to vet changes of that kind to the state electoral laws.

And despite this recent history, despite the cumulative evidence of continuing disenfranchisement and voter suppression, a majority of the justices of the Supreme Court, an institution now widely regarded as the Republican Party in black robes, seems inclined to hold that the federal law at issue has run its

course and should go.

Chief Justice John Roberts says the United States had changed to the point where the law was no longer necessary. Then, he went on to cite Massachusetts. which is not subject to the law being challenged, as a state with a poorer record of American African American voting than Mississippi – the same Massachusetts which has as its elected governor Deval Patrick, Jr. This, as has been pointed out, is a distortion of the Massachusetts record. In any case, the issue is voter suppression and disenfranchisement, not the quantum of minority voting.

The Court’s resident bully, a perfect refutation of the perception of judges as the epitome of sobriety, and the leading exponent of a soulless judicial doctrine which holds that statutes are only to be construed the way the framers understood them – they call it “originalism” — said that continuing enforcement of the federal law at issue would amount to “perpetuation of a racial entitlement.”

Now, few words evoke greater resentment in American experience than “entitlement.”

When an issue is framed as a “racial entitlement” from which only the usual suspects stand to profit, the mooching, freeloading 47 percent, that cause is doomed. That is race baiting at its most unsubtle. But then, Antonin Scalia is about as subtle as a kick to the groin.

As is his habit, the only black associate justice in the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, sat impassively through the 79 minutes the oral arguments lasted, seeking no clarification and offering none. He has probably made up his mind to vote for striking out the law.

He is as predictable as an automaton.

HARDBALL

Though a beneficiary of affirmative action, he automatically votes to void any measure aimed at redressing or on-going discrimination, claiming that such considerations have no place in the supposedly race-neutral society he claims to inhabit.

He even voted to strike down the Affordable Health Care Act, the law designed to make health insurance available to more than 30 million Americans, the majority of them blacks, who had none previously. For good measure, his Caucasian wife had campaigned vigorously against the law, on the platform of the now exhausted Tea Party.

Planting Clarence Thomas in the Court was a masterstroke by President George W. Bush and the Conservative Establishment to slow down, if not reverse, the march of civil rights and indeed the progressive agenda in America.

If a case with the contours of Brown v. Board of Education were to come before the Court today, there is little doubt that Thomas would cast his lot with the proposition that having separate schools for whites and blacks is not inherently unequal.

His appointment to the Court is an insult to the legacy and the memory of Thurgood Marshall, his black predecessor, whom The New York Times described as “a model and a monument.”

The first President Bush probably spoke a greater truth than he realised or intended when he claimed that Thomas, who had no judicial experience whatsoever, was the best man for the job, their job.

In the African American community, there were dozens far more qualified than Thomas on every score. But none could be counted upon, like Thomas, to be a scourge to his own people.

The Supreme Court will hand down its opinion in Shelby County, Alabama v Eric Holder in the summer. It would be irony most profound if, during Black History Month and under the shadow of Rosa Parks, it laid the ground for overturning a crucial element in the most important civil rights law even as the substantive evils it was designed to prevent are still so brazenly practised.

Whatever the outcome, one impression will stay with me: the consummate skill, the erudition, and the calm self-assurance, with which our distinguished compatriot Debo Adegbile, attorney for one of the respondents in the case, marshaled facts and figures to score telling forensic points, as splendidly reflected in the Court’s transcript.

•For comments, send SMS to 08054503104

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

Boko Haram’s Shekau confirms cyber war N case anyone still thinks the Federal Government is not already warring against its enemies and opponents in cyberspace, that person had better think twice. Thanks to the recent video released by Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, we now have a confirmation that the Nigerian government is very active in the so-called fifth domain of warfare, the cyberspace. If in 2009, the United States could declare its digital infrastructure a strategic national asset, and the Pentagon could one year later also set up its U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) to defend American military networks and attack other countries’ systems, surely it is no big deal for the Nigerian government to hack into Boko Haram’s cyber operations network and undermine it.

The Shekau confirmation of cyberwarfare comes after he tried to explain why he took so long in refuting the claim of one Abu Abdulazeez who claimed to have had the mandate of the Boko Haram leader to declare ceasefire and request for dialogue with the Federal Government based on some tentative agreements with the Borno State Government. According to Shekau, he made several attempts to upload a video message denouncing the call for dialogue or announcement of a truce. Every time an attempt was made, he moaned, the Nigerian government

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either summarily removed the message from the internet or blocked it altogether. Shekau did not say whether the sect has finally got the software to override the government’s interference.

Hardball intends no insinuation, but it is significant to note that al-Qaeda is fairly adept at cyber war and would not mind pursuing its nihilist intentions by generously distributing to agents and affiliates the skills to conduct their own successful operations in cyberspace. So, too, is Iran, which seems to be giving both Israel and US a run for their money in cyberwarfare. Who can forget that in December 2011, Iran claimed to have hacked into a US spy drone called RQ-170, compromised it, and brought it down safely in Iranian territory? Naturally, the US denied losing any drone through cyber war, insisting, however, that the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed after handlers lost control of it.

But more spectacularly, there was the recent combined US/Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear programme, particularly its uranium enrichment program, which is at the centre of its nuclear militarisation process. In 2009 and 2010, the US and Israel deployed the socalled Stuxnet computer virus to sabotage the enrichment process. After Iran recovered from that attack, the two countries deployed an

even more virulent cyber weapon identified as W32.Flame said to be “capable of penetrating a system, stealing sensitive data and turning on cameras and computer microphones to obtain additional data or change settings on computer systems.” The war continues, with all manner of footloose cyber warriors, some of them young and independent, causing havoc and gloating with satisfaction.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram commanders will be bracing up for more attacks. Let us, however, hope that they are not quite stable or smart enough to be on the offensive in the fifth domain of warfare. For if the Americans and their Israeli partners are having headaches coping with Iranian cyberspace affront, imagine what migraine the lowly placed Nigerian government cyberspace managers could have from motivated cyber militants. More importantly, while it may be in the national security interest for Nigeria’s cyberspace warriors to subvert extremist groups like Boko Haram, we must hope that the government ninjas would not be tempted to expand the frontiers of cyberspace war to undermine civil liberties and invade the privacy of citizens. To this extent, therefore, it may not be inappropriate to ask whether the National Assembly Intelligence Committees (House and Senate) are really carrying out their oversight functions in these delicate areas.

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