The Nation March 25, 2013

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper NEWS

$10b coming from gas, says NNPC

‘The story of Things Fall Apart’ Pages 2,3&10

NEWS

Page 5

•Oil giant sure of foreign investment

•More Nigerians eulogise Achebe

www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 8, NO. 2438 MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

Nigeria, UK review Boko Haram battle

N150.00

ALL FOR PALM SUNDAY

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

A

PLOT to weaken national security, sabotage the anti-terrorism war and cause disaffection among military chiefs may have been uncovered, The Nation learnt yesterday.

Also, Nigeria plans to collaborate with Britain to battle the Boko Haram insurgency.

There has been a rumour in military circles that Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Admiral Ibrahim Ola Sa’ad has thrown in the towel.

But Admiral Sa’ad, fresh from a trip to Britain, has dismissed the rumour as the handiwork of “fifth columnists” planning to cause disaffection in the system —according to sources, who did not name such people.

A source quoted the CDS as saying: “I did not know where this came from but I have not tendered any notice of voluntary retirement and I am also not sick to have warranted such an action.

“I am not frustrated on this job. I am not suffering from any terminal ailment and I am putting in my best to address security challenges facing the nation.”

The CDS went to the UK for bilateral talks with his counterpart.

The source added: “I think we are securing the understanding and cooperation of world powers on how to fight terrorism.

“The UK CDS visited Nigeria and Admiral Sa’ad decided to reciprocate by going to London to compare notes with his counterpart.”

Upon his return, the CDS told anxious aides and relatives that he was not going on voluntary retirement as being speculated.

He said neither contemplated voluntary Continued on page 4

•Assistant Parish Priest, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Gwagwalada, Abuja, Rev.Fr. Dominic Uduak (right) blessing palm fronds at the Palm Sunday celebration in Abuja…yesterday.

SEE ALSO PAGE 5 PHOTO: NAN

Pope blames world’s conflicts on greed

P

OPE Francis yesterday blamed he various conflicts around the world on greed as Christians marked Palm Sunday — the start of the Holy Week that concludes with Easter.

Crowds of faithful gathered at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

Many waved palm fronds to symbolise how

worshippers greeted Jesus over 2,000 years ago as he triumphantly returned to Jerusalem.

Mostly Palestinian worshippers gathered in the Nativity Church in Bethlehem, traditional site of Jesus’ birth, clutching olive branches and bouquets as they sang in praise. The Biblical city of Bethlehem is in the West Bank, a territory east of Israel that

Palestinians seek for their future state. Israel retains military control there but Palestinians have a measure of self-rule over their own communities, including Bethlehem.

There are some 50,000 Palestinian Christians, a tiny minority among a mostly Muslim society. They must obtain military perContinued on page 4

16 governors shun PDP’s Abuja peace meeting 2015: Tukur under fire over ‘heavy war ahead’ speech

G

•Tukur

OVERNORS elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were yesterday absent at the grand finale of the ruling party’s reconciliation meetings.

Yesterday’s meeting in Abuja was the climax of the parleys held in the six geo-political zones.

The zonal meetings were equally

From Gbade Ogunwale and Faith Yahaya, Abuja

boycotted by governors in most of the zones. The governors are party leaders in their states, just like the President is the overall party leader, according to the PDP’s constitution.

President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, also

did not attend. It was not immediately clear if they sent apologies.

Senate President David Mark and House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal were, also, not there.

Mark is away in Ecuador for the inter-parliamentary union meeting.

Tambuwal is in the country.

Of the 23 governors elected on the

platform of the PDP, only two – Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio and Kogi State Governor Idris Wada — attended. Five sent their deputies.

Organisers of the event offered no explanations for the absence of the party big wigs at the function, even though they were all listed in the Continued on page 4

•SPORTS P23 •CEO P27 •JOBS P37 •POLITICS P43 •MOTORING P45

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

2

NEWS ALBERT CHINUALUMOGU ACHEBE (1930 -2013) Prologue

The story of Things

There was an Achebe

By Olukorede Yishau, Asst. Editor

I

N the beginning was the story; but the story was without form and the world knew not of it until a son of Ogidiland was annoyed enough to give it form.

A white man had written the story of his people and portrayed them in ways he felt were bare-faced lies.

For him, the rule was: if you do not like someone’s story, write your own.

But his efforts almost never saw the light of the day. The manuscript almost got lost in London, where he had sent it for typing so as to make it presentable. It was found after some months and typed out. A publisher saw sense in it. Thanks to a seven-word report from a then professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Don Macrae. His report read: “The best first novel since the war.” Thus was born Things Fall Apart, a response to Joyce Cary’s Mr. Johnson. The year was 1958.

Albert Chinua Achebe, who wrote it, was only 27 at the time. He died in Boston, United States last Friday at 82.

After Things Fall Apart, the late Achebe wrote other books, fiction and non-fiction. But for many, it was as though he wrote only Things Fall Apart. This first novel of his defined his life and to it he owed his fame.

Chinese are reading it. Indians are reading it. Americans are reading it.

Britons are reading it.

At the last count, it has been translated into no less than 50 languages, the bulk of which the author himself could not vouch if the translators did justice or injustice to the original work.

Till this day, not a few still believe that Things Fall Apart was a matter of writing at the right time! For those who share this belief, this first novel was not the best of his works. Some will bet his best was A Man of the People. Not a few will queue behind No Longer At Ease. Others will ever doff their hats for his last work of fiction Anthills of the Savannah. But to the world, it is Things Fall Apart that they most remember the late Achebe for. Nothing more. Nothing less.

On account of Things Fall Apart and other works, the late Achebe was not a beggar. His death has proved that.

Comets have been seen after his death.

The global media have been awash with tributes on this man of the people who was never tired of telling whoever cared to listen that the trouble with Nigeria was leadership.

And when it appeared the leaders were men without ears, he twice rejected offers of national honours. Not even the offer of the third highest honour in the country could sway him.

Love him or hate, the late Achebe made his mark, through poetry, short stories, novels and essays.

If people meet when they die, he and Joseph Conrad should perhaps still be quarelling over his essay dressing him in the garb of a bloody racist for his portrayal of Africans as savages in Heart of Darkness.

His foresight in A Man of the People —which Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has just commissioned to be made into a film— almost got him into trouble. In it, he predicted so many things, including a coup and they all came to pass.

Some still believe he was privy to the coup, a charge he denied. It was just a case of art reading the trend correctly!

Believe what you want, one thing all can testify to is that: there was an Achebe! Plain and simple!

He wrote several books, but his first—Things Fall Apart— remains the most-talked about.

In this interview he granted The Paris Review years ago, the late Prof. Chinua Achebe spoke about how the manuscript of the novel was almost lost, among other issues.

W

OULD you tell us something about the Achebe family and growing up in an Igbo village, your early education, and whether there was anything there that pointed you that early in the direction of writing?

I think the thing that clearly pointed me there was my interest in stories. Not necessarily writing stories, because at that point, writing stories was not really viable. So you didn’t think of it. But I knew I loved stories, stories told in our home, first by my mother, then by my elder sister—such as the story of the tortoise—whatever scraps of stories I could gather from conversations, just from hanging around, sitting around when my father had visitors. When I began going to school, I loved the stories I read. They were different, but I loved them too. My parents were early converts to Christianity in my part of Nigeria. They were not just converts; my father was an evangelist, a religious teacher. He and my mother traveled for thirty-five years to different parts of Igboland, spreading the gospel. I was the fifth of their six children. By the time I was growing up, my father had retired, and had returned with his family to his ancestral village.

When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands. In one of my essays, I remember the kind of things that fascinated me.

Weird things, even, about a wizard who lived in Africa and went to China to find a lamp . . . Fascinating to me because they were about things remote, and almost ethereal.

Then I grew older and began to read about adventures in which I didn’t know that I was supposed to be on the side of those savages who were encountered by the good white man. I instinctively took sides with the white people. They were fine!

They were excellent. They were intelligent. The others were not . . . they were stupid and ugly. That was the way I was introduced to the danger of not having your own stories. There is that great proverb—that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. That did not come to me until much later. Once I realised that, I had to be a writer. I had to be that historian. It’s not one man’s job.

It’s not one person’s job. But it is something we have to do, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail—the bravery, even, of the lions.

You were among the first graduates of the great University of Ibadan. What was it like in the early years of that university, and what did you study there? Has it stuck with you in your writing?

Ibadan was, in retrospect, a great institution. In a way, it revealed the paradox of the colonial situation, because this university college was founded towards the end of British colonial rule in Nigeria. If they did any good things, Ibadan was one of them. It began as a college of London University, because under the British, you don’t rush into doing any of those things like universities just like that. You start off as an appendage of somebody else. You go through a period of tutelage. We were

‘

Foolishly, from Nigeria, I parceled my manuscript—handwritten, by the way and the only copy in the whole world—wrapped it up and posted it to this typing agency that advertised in The Spectator...

Weeks passed, and months. I wrote and wrote and wrote.

No answer. Not a word

‘

the University College of Ibadan of London. So, I took a degree from London University. That was the way it was organised in those days.

One of the signs of independence, when it came, was for Ibadan to become a full-fledged university.

I began with science, then English, history, and religion. I found these subjects exciting and very useful. ..The English department was a very good example of what I mean. The people there would have laughed at the idea that any of us would become a writer. That didn’t really cross their minds. I remember on one occasion a departmental prize was offered.

They put up a notice—write a short story over the long vacation for the departmental prize. I’d never written a short story before, but when I got home, I thought, ‘Well, why not’.

So I wrote one and submitted it.

Months passed; then finally one day there was a notice on the board announcing the result. It said that no prize was awarded because no entry was up to the standard. They named me, said that my story deserved mention. Ibadan in those days was not a dance you danced with snuff in one palm. It was a dance you danced with all your body. So when Ibadan said you deserved mention, that was very high praise.

I went to the lecturer who had organised the prize and said, ‘You said my story wasn’t really good enough but it was interesting’. Now what was wrong with it? She said, ‘Well, it’s the form. It’s the wrong form’. So I said, ‘Ah, can you tell me about this?’ She said, ‘Yes, but not now. I’m going to play tennis; we’ll talk about it. Remind me later, and I’ll tell you’. This went on for a whole

•The late Achebe

His overlooked novels

C

HINUA Achebe, the Nigerian writer and statesman who changed African literature forever, has died at the age of 82. You know him as the writer of Things Fall Apart, his debut novel of 1958, about the decline and fall of the proud Okonkwo, leader of a collection of villages among the Ibo people of Nigeria who are besieged by changes wrought by British colonisation. As Ruth Franklin wrote in The New Yorker, Achebe practically invented the Great African Novel. There were famous Nigerian writers before Achebe, like Amos Tutuola, who based his novels on folk tales, and Cyprian Ekwensi, who wrote memorable children’s stories. But, as Howard French wrote on the 50th anniversary of the publication, “among the greatest qualities of Things Fall Apart is the vigour of its revolt against the everyday amalgamations and condescension that treat Africa as an unterm. Every day when I saw her, I’d say, ‘Can we talk about form?’ She’d say, ‘No, not now. We’ll talk about it later’. Then at the very end she saw me and said, ‘You know, I looked at your story again and actually there’s nothing wrong with it’. So that was it! That was all I learned from the English department about writing short stories. You really have to go out on your own and do it.

I once heard your English publisher, Alan Hill, talk about how you sent the manuscript of Things Fall Apart to him.

That was a long story. The first part of it was how the manuscript was

differentiated wasteland.” Things Fall Apart stood up and stood strong, as Achebe did throughout his career.

The overlooked novels Things Fall Apart lives on in Achebe’s second novel, 1960’s No Longer at Ease, which follows the story of Okonkwo’s grandson, Obi. Whereas Okonkwo’s downward spiral was Sophoclean, Obi’s path was supposed to be up, up, and up.

He leaves his village, receives a British education, and takes a job as a civil servant in Lagos. But, in the end, he is “no longer at ease,” and things fall apart just as tragically.

Achebe was not only a chronicler— he’s even been considered an oracle. A Man of the People, his 1966 fourth novel, nearly lost. In 1957 I was given a scholarship to go to London and study for some months at the BBC. I had a draft of Things Fall Apart with me, so I took it along to finish it. When I got to the BBC, one of my friends—there were two of us from Nigeria—said, ‘Why don’t you show this to Mr. Phelps?’ Gilbert Phelps, one of the instructors of the BBC school, was a novelist. I said, ‘What? No!’ This went on for some time. Eventually, I was pushed to do it and I took the manuscript and handed it to Mr. Phelps. He said, ‘Well . . . all right, the way I would today if anyone brought me a manuscript’. He was not really enthusiastic. Why should he be? He took it anyway, very politely. He

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

3

NEWS ALBERT CHINUALUMOGU ACHEBE (1930-2013)

Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe

The Biafran War waged from 1967 to 1970, and is the subject of Achebe’s final book, the memoir There Was a Country.

The accuracy of A Man of the People’s events was such that the Nigerian government that took over after the countercoup thought that Achebe must have been a conspirator, and he was forced to flee to Britain. He fully supported the Biafran secession, and took a break from fiction, thinking that politics was more

important. (He would not write another novel until his final one, 1987’s Anthills of the Savannah.) When the civil war ended in 1970 with the Nigerian government crushing the Biafra republic, Achebe increasingly took refuge in Britain and the United States. He moved to the U.S. for good when he was forced to undergo overseas medical treatment after a car accident in Nigeria that left him paralysed from the waist down in 1990.

At the center of Achebe’s legacy is his clear analysis of Africa, which the world sees as a homogenous continent of malfunction and despair. Achebe attacks the use of Africa as an empty metaphor, which he voiced in a now-legendary Chancellor’s Lecture he gave at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, on Joseph Conrad’s racism. The classic essay “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” is included in Hopes and Impediments, a collection that commemorates one of the most brilliant minds of our time.

was the first person, outside of myself, to say, ‘I think this is interesting’. In fact, he felt so strongly that one Saturday he was compelled to look for me and tell me. I had traveled out of London; he found out where I was, phoned the hotel, and asked me to call him back. When I was given this message, I was completely floored. I said, ‘Maybe he doesn’t like it’. But then why would he call me if he doesn’t like it. So, it must be he likes it. Anyway, I was very excited. When I got back to London, he said, ‘This is wonderful. Do you want me to show it to my publishers? I said, ‘Yes, but not yet, because I had decided that the form wasn’t right’. Attempting to do a saga of three families, I

was covering too much ground in this first draft. So, I realised that I needed to do something drastic, really give it more body. So I said to Mr. Phelps, ‘Ok, I am very grateful but I’d like to take this back to Nigeria and look at it again’. Which is what I did.

When I was in England, I had seen advertisements about typing agencies; I had learned that if you really want to make a good impression, you should have your manuscript well-typed. So, foolishly, from Nigeria I parceled my manuscript—handwritten, by the way, and the only copy in the whole world—wrapped

is about the conflicts of a young and educated school teacher, Odili, and his former teacher, Chief Nanga, now a corrupt minister of culture. The story ends with a coup, which anticipated a bloody one on January 15, 1966, the day the book was published. After a counter-coup and genocide, the Ibo people, of which Achebe is a member, seceded from Nigeria and formed the Republic of Biafra, leading to the civil conflict known as the Biafran War—which led to even more genocide. An estimated one million to three million people, mostly Ibo, were killed or starved when the Nigerian government blockaded the Biafran border.

The essential nonfictions

it up and posted it to this typing agency that advertised in the Spectator. They wrote back and said, ‘Thank you for your manuscript.

We’ll charge thirty-two pounds’.

That was what they wanted for two copies and which they had to receive before they started. So I sent thirtytwo pounds in British postal order to these people and then I heard no more. Weeks passed, and months. I wrote and wrote and wrote. No answer. Not a word. I was getting thinner and thinner and thinner. Finally, I was very lucky. My boss at the broadcasting house was going home to London on leave. A very stubborn Englishwoman. I told her about this.

She said, ‘Give me their name and address’. When she got to London she went there! She said, ‘What’s this nonsense?’ They must have been shocked, because I think their notion was that a manuscript sent from Africa—well, there’s really nobody to follow it up. The British don’t normally behave like that. It’s not done, you see. But something from Africa was treated differently. So when this woman, Mrs. Beattie, turned up in their office and said, ‘What’s going on?’ They were confused. They said, ‘The manuscript was sent but customs returned it’. Mrs. Beattie said, ‘Can I see your dispatch book?’ They had no dispatch book. So she said, ‘Well, send this thing, typed up, back to him in the next week, or otherwise you’ll hear about it’. So, soon after that, I received the typed manuscript of Things Fall Apart. One copy, not two. No letter at all to say what happened. My publisher, Alan Hill, rather believed that the thing was simply neglected, left in a corner gathering dust. That’s not what happened. These people did not want to return it to me and had no intention of doing so. Anyway, when I got it, I sent it back up to Heinemann. They had never seen an African novel.

They didn’t know what to do with it. Someone told them, ‘Oh, there’s a professor of Economics at London School of Economics and Political Science who just came back from those places. He might be able to advise you’. Fortunately, Don Macrae was a very literate professor, a wonderful man. I got to know him later. He wrote what they said was the shortest report they ever had on any novel—seven words: “The best first novel since the war.” So that’s how I got launched.

Heinemann was also perplexed as to how many copies should be printed . . .

Oh yes. They printed very, very few. It was a risk. Not something they’d ever done before. They had no idea if anybody would want to read it. It went out of print very quickly. It would have stayed that way if Alan Hill hadn’t decided that he was going to gamble even more and launch a paperback edition of this book. Other publishers thought it was mad, that this was crazy. But that was how the African Writers Series came in to existence. In the end, Alan Hill was made a Commander of the British Empire for bringing into existence a body of literature they said was among the biggest developments in British literature of this century. So, it was a very small beginning, but it caught fire.

Do you write with a pen, a typewriter, or have you been seduced by computers?

No! No, no—I’m very primitive; I write with a pen. A pen on paper is the ideal way for me. I am not really very comfortable with machines; I never learned to type very well.

Whenever I try to do anything on a typewriter, it’s like having this machine between me and the words.

Colonialism and masculinity

“I

F you don’t like someone’s story,” Chinua Achebe told The Paris Review in 1994, “write your own.”

In his first novel and masterpiece, “Things Fall Apart” (1958), Mr. Achebe, who died on Thursday at 82, did exactly that. In calm and exacting prose, he examined a tribal society fracturing under the abuses of colonialism. The novel has been assigned to generations of American high school and college students my college dispatched a copy to me before my freshman year.

In many respects “Things Fall Apart” is the “To Kill A Mockingbird” of African literature: accessible but stinging, its layers peeling over the course of multiple readings.

“Things Fall Apart,” its title taken from William Butler Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming,” has sold more than 10 million copies and been translated into some 45 languages.

Time magazine placed it on its list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.

The novel tells the story of Okonkwo, a stoic clan leader and former wrestling hero who returns to his village after seven years in exile. (He’d been sent away after his role in an accidental death.) The changes that Christian missionaries and other white men have brought are intolerable to him. “Things Fall Apart” rolls toward a bleak denouement.

What sticks with you about the novel is its sensitive investigation, often through folk tales, of how culture functions and what it means.

Mr. Achebe (his name is pronounced CHIN-you-ah Ah-CHAY-bay) had plenty to say about notions of traditional masculinity, as well, not to mention his braided observations about nature, religion, myth, gender and history.

The novelist grabbed the subject of colonialism “so firmly and fairly,” John Updike wrote in The New Yorker in the 1970s, “that the book’s tragedy, like Greek tragedy, felt tonic; a space had been cleared, an understanding had been achieved, a new beginning was implied.”

Growing up in Nigeria, Mr. Achebe attended schools that were modeled upon British public schools.

In his recent book of essays, “The Education of a British-Protected Child” (2009), he was eloquent about what it felt like as a young man to read classic English novels. They provided a cognitive dissonance he had to work through.

“I did not see myself as an African in those books,” he wrote. “I took sides with the white men against the savages.” He continued: “The white man was good and reasonable and smart and courageous. The savages arrayed against him were sinister and stupid, never anything higher than cunning. I hated their guts.”

Mr. Achebe grew up, and grew wiser: “These writers had pulled a fast one on me! I was not on Marlowe’s boat steaming up the Congo in ‘Heart of Darkness’; rather, I was one of those unattractive beings jumping up and down on the riverbank, making horrid faces.”

Mr. Achebe was a poet, professor, short-story writer and critic in addition to being a novelist. His more than 30 other books include the novels “No Longer At Ease” (1960) and “Anthills of the Savannah” (1987).

He published several children’s books. He was also the author, con-

‘

Children are born deformed. What crime did they commit? I’ve been very lucky. I walked for 60 years. So what does it matter that I can’t for my last few years? There are people who never walked at all

‘

troversially, of an essay called “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness.’ “ While many critics defended Conrad, Mr. Achebe didn’t back down from his assertion that the racism in Conrad was not merely the norm for its time. In a book of essays he quoted earlier writers who, he said, were less backward.

Mr. Achebe was a mentor and role model to a generation of African writers - he’s often referred to as the father of modern African writing. But like many novelists who find success with an early book, Mr. Achebe found himself almost solely defined by “Things Fall Apart.” He spent the last two decades in the United States, teaching at Bard College and then Brown University.

It’s been more than 50 years since the publication of Mr. Achebe’s pioneering and canonical novel; it no longer seems to stand, to a Western audience at any rate, for African writing as a whole. His talent and success have helped spawn an array of postcolonial writing from across the continent. Among the talented young Nigerian writers alone who cite him as an influence are Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani and Lola Shoneyin.

In 1990 Mr. Achebe was paralysed from the waist down in a car accident in Nigeria. The following year he gave an interview to Bradford Morrow in Conjunctions magazine.

Mr. Morrow asked him about the accident, and Mr. Achebe spoke about it with stoicism and good humour. “Children are born deformed,” he said. “What crime did they commit? I’ve been very lucky. I walked for 60 years. So what does it matter that I can’t for my last few years? There are people who never walked at all.”

“Things Fall Apart” is, at base, about the strength that human beings find in community. His car accident offered him similar lessons. “It is an opportunity,” Mr. Achebe told Mr. Morrow. “It’s a lesson. It’s so much.

It is an enrichment. I’ve learned so much. I’ve learned how much we depend on each other.”

4

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

NEWS Boko Haram burns down three schools in Borno

T

•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (second right); Deputy Chief of Staff Ms Moji Rhodes (second left); with members of the Lagos State Government Nollywood Upgrade Project, (from left) Mr Kunle Afolayan, Nina Lath Gupta and Mr. Tunde Kelani during a visit to the Indian National Film Development Corporation in Mumbai, India.

Nigeria, UK review Boko Haram battle Continued from page 1

retirement nor sent a notice to the President.

Worried by the resurgence of Boko Haram insurgency, the Federal Government may overhaul security in six flashpoints.

The isolated states are Kano, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Plateau and Bauchi.

Also, preliminary investigation into the luxury bus bomb explosion in Kano revealed that it is a 59-seater vehicle which was already steaming to take off before the suicide bomber struck.

As part of steps to curtail terrorism in the sub-region, Admiral Sa’ad, will today in Cotonou meet with other security chiefs in West Africa.

A source, who pleaded not to be named because of the security implications, said: “Since the bomb blast occurred in Kano, President Jonathan has been meeting with the CDS, service chiefs and other members of the National Security Council.

“The President believes that a decisive action must be taken to protect lives and

‘All those in the bus were trapped and burnt to death. Some of the victims in hospitals were mostly those within the vicinity of the bus. A few other buses awaiting loading were also torched’ property in all parts of the country, especially the flashpoints. No one was happy with the death of innocent Nigerians.

“The government has mandated security agencies to overhaul security in the flashpoints. So, we are likely to witness sweeping changes in Kano, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Plateau and Bauchi.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “There will be more intra and inter networking, scaling up of intelligence gathering and 24-hour surveillance in these flashpoints.

“The security overhaul will go beyond the state capital; it will be extended to all local government areas in the affected states.”

The CDS will meet with other security chiefs in West Africa on the situation in Mali, the Boko Haram and Ansaru threats, and the AlQaeda in the Maghreb.

The source added: “The meeting in Cotonou on Monday (today) will focus on enhanced collaboration because of the likely spillover of the insurgency in Mali to other states in the sub-region. You must have read of the alleged discovery of terrorist cells in Lagos.

“Once Nigeria is under terrorist siege, other West African countries may not be spared. It is also sad that some nationals of some countries in the sub-region have been implicated in the

suicide missions in Nigeria.

“So, the era of a country standing aloof is gone. We need far-reaching collaboration to tackle terrorism in the sub-region.”

Preliminary probe into the luxury bus bomb explosion in Kano has confirmed that it was a 59-seater vehicle.

There are fears that there could be some other occuppants numbering 15 to 30.

A security source in Abuja said: “The fully-loaded bus was already steaming to take off before the suicide bomber struck. There were a few attaches said to be between 15 and 30 inside the bus.

“All those in the bus were trapped and burnt to death.

Some of the victims in hospitals were mostly those within the vicinity of the bus. A few other buses awaiting loading were also torched.

“We are still trying to work on the manifest of those on board. Investigation is ongoing. The forensic analysis of the carcass of the bombed vehicle has started.”

HREE schools were burnt down in Biu, a Borno State town, yesterday, as soldiers and gunmen believed to be members of the Boko Haram were locked in a gun battle.

It was gathered that the series of bomb blasts and gunfire started just after midnight on Saturday and lasted for about four hours.

Residents of the town could not sleep throughout the night as the terrorists set the schools ablaze. They also could not come out while the schools were in flame.

A source in Biu, a town 185kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital, told reporters on the telephone that the three schools attacked were privately owned.

They are Godiya Primary school, Lajada Private school and Standard Private school.

The resident expressed shock at the attack despite

Joseph Abiodun, Maiduguri

the imposition of an unofficial curfew on the town.

“We were shocked by last night’s attack on the schools because Biu town closes down at 5:30pm to observe the curfew imposed on the town since last Wednesday robbery attack at Coca Cola mini depot that led to the death of a soldier and three others.

“We cannot but ask the soldiers to explain to us how three schools could be burnt down during the curfew hours and none of the culprits was arrested. “ A top security officer in Maiduguri who declined to be quoted since he is not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed the attacks.

Spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF) Lt. Col Sagir Musa, could not be reached for comment last night.

Pope blames world’s conflicts on greed Continued from page 1

mission to enter Jerusalem to participate in religious ceremonies.

At the Vatican, the Pope announced in his Palm Sunday homily that he will visit Brazil in July.

The Pope spoke at the St Peter’s Square .

Thousands of people waved olive branches and palm fronds in the crowd.

The gesture commemorates palm branches which, according to the Bible, were laid in the path of Jesus Christ when he made his entry on a donkey into Jerusalem before his crucifixion.

Tens of thousands of people flock to the Vatican to celebrate Palm Sunday.

Waving fronds and offering prayers.

Leading his first major service since his election, Pope Francis addressed the vast crowd in St. Peter’s Square.

He said greed was the root cause of many conflicts around the world - and urged people to avoid mate-

rialism saying “Ours is not a joy that comes from having many possessions, but from having encountered a person: Jesus.” The pontiff later toured the square, kissing babies and greeting worshippers. That seemed to be part of an effort to establish a new-look papacy - one that aims to bring the Church closer to the people. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ solemn entry into Jerusalem before his arrest and crucifixion.

Pope Francis departed frequently from the prepared text of his homily. He decided to modify some traditional Vatican Holy Week observances.

On Thursday, for example, he will visit a prison for young offenders in a Roman suburb where he will symbolically wash the feet of 12 young prisoners.

In previous years, the ceremony was performed by the pope in Rome’s Cathedral of Saint John Lateran, with priests symbolising the 12 apostles.

Jonathan, governors, Anenih absent at PDP parley Continued from page 1

programme of events.

Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Abdulafatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe)sent their deputies.

A speech by PDP national chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, obviously did not envisage the low turnout.

Tukur expressed profound appreciation to the President and “so many of our party members at occasion”.

He said: “Let me begin by first expressing my sincere appreciation to His Excellency the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, and the Vice President, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, GCON, for finding time to grace this historic occasion...

“I must admit that I am

overjoyed and greatly overwhelmed by the presence of so many of our party members at this occasion. This is how it should be, given that PDP is the only real political party in Nigeria. No wonder that PDP is called the greatest party in Africa” Tukur identified the problems plaguing the party to include lack of respect for one another, respect for the party’s constitution and rules, funding and federalism.

He also listed openness, inclusivity, fairness, fair-play and internal democracy in the party’s processes; and transparent and sanitised membership, as well as enlargement of membership.

The party chair warned that unless these and other issues are properly addressed, the party would continue to face daunting challenges.

He added: “Unless we ef-

fectively address these issues and challenges and as well modernise our operations as an enlightened organisation, we cannot reposition our party and prime it for the tasks ahead.

“In addition, we must strive to restore the integrity of our programmes and policies as enunciated in our manifesto. We also need to urgently bring our ideas and policies as a party in line with the realities of a fast changing world” Tukur said the PDP acknowledges the right and entitlement of all political parties to exist and compete for political power. He also recognised the right of the Nigerian people to vote out a non performing party in government.

“We want it to be on record, that our party acknowledges the right and entitlement of all political parties to exist and compete

for political power.

“We acknowledge and respect the rule of electoral practices and recognise that a party that does not perform well can be voted out of power as easily as it was voted into power.

“In a democracy, political parties are not anti-system and anti-constitution in their mode of operation. National interest mediates all their engagements and actions.

“Let us, however, leave no shadow of doubt, that we are prepared to bear any burden, shoulder any hardship, support any friend, oppose any opponent in order to assure the survival and success of democracy in Nigeria”.

Tukur appealed for cooperation of governors and leaders of the party at all levels in the party’s quest for reconciliation, reform and rebuilding processes, based on equity and justice.

Sambo, who also spoke at the event only re-read the same speech he delivered at the party’s reconciliation meeting in Kaduna on Saturday.

The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday warned Tukur to stop planning for war ahead the 2015 election.

National Publicity Secretary of the CNPP Osita Okechukwu in a ststement yesterday said: “Conference of Nigerian Political Parties {CNPP} is outraged with PDP’s drum of war as we approach the 2015 elections.

The chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur was quoted thus, ‘There is a heavy war ahead in 2015, a group has come up and wants to sweep the mat off our feet.

“We cannot allow that to happen,……what I’m saying here is what I told our supporters in the SouthContinued on page 57

•Chief Anenih

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

THE NATION MONDAY MARCH 25, 2013

5

NEWS

Cleric preaches love, sacrifice as Christians celebrate Palm Sunday

C

ATHOLIC faithful in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday joined millions of their counterparts across the world to celebrate Palm Sunday.

In some of the churches visited by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), worshippers moved in procession while chanting songs of praise to mark the event.

Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter, when the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem is celebrated in many Christian churches by processions.

In the Catholic Church, the event is marked by processions and distribution of palm leaves to worshippers.

It thus marks the beginning of the Holy Week, which is the final week of Lent.

It is the week in which Christians celebrate the mystery of their salvation through Christ’s Death and His Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

At the Holy Trinity Catho-

Osu urges Christians to emulate Christ CATHOLIC cleric, Monsignor Gabriel Osu, yesterday urged Christians to live peaceful and humble lives as depicted by Jesus Christ’s symbolic entry into Jerusalem.

Osu, the Director of Social Communications of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, made the appeal in a sermon at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Obalende, Lagos to commemorate “Palm Sunday’’.

Osu said that Christ entered Jerusalem as the Prince of Peace and not a war-waging king.

He urged Christians to always conduct themselves peacefully as Christ’s followers.

“Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey is depicted on an early 1900’s Bible card illustration.

“Entering the city on a donkey symbolises arrival in peace, rather than as a war-waging king arriving on a horse,” he said.

Osu said that the church celebrated Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem as an accomplishment of Christ’s Paschal Mystery.

“Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem was recorded in the four gospels. Palm Sunday is marked by the distribution of palm leaves, often tied into crosses, to the assembled worshippers.

“Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem. The celebrating people spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from palm trees and spread them on the road,’’ Osu stated.

A

lic Church in Maitama, the congregation was reminded of the essence of the celebration.

In his sermon to mark the day, Auxiliary Bishop of

Abuja Archdiocese, Most Rev. Anslem Umoren, urged Christians to imbibe Christ’s life and teachings about love and sacrifice.

He said Jesus Christ gave up his heavenly glory to live

among men and later died for their salvation.

“No love for man can be greater than what Christ did for mankind’s salvation,’’ the priest said.

Rev. Umoren said the story was a typical story of God’s sacrificial love for mankind and urged Christians to reciprocate same by keeping steadfast to God’s teachings.

“It is easier for us to join the Lord in the celebration of his triumphal entry but difficult to join in his passion.

“Everyone of us is today reminded to stand apart from the immoral aspects of our world. We are called, in today’s celebration, by the Lord to be holy people.

“We are called to focus on him, imbibe his life, the love that he showed for us, sacrifice and the message that he is passing on to us,’’ he said.

Rev. Umoren added that the life exhibited by Christ’s suffering and death on the cross was not one of pain and misery but one of freedom and fellowship with God Almighty.

•Pope Francis waves to the crowd after a mass on St Peter’s square to mark the Palm Sunday celebration...yesterday PHOTO: AFP

Global economic crises reversible, says Mark •Seeks redistribution of resources between poor and rich nations From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

S

ENATE President David Mark has said that the global economic crisis rocking nations is reversible if “we go back to the drawing board to formulate alternative and more sustainable and equitable development models.”

Mark said the current model of development has been overhyped by its over-emphasis on the economy, at the expense of other local variables of human development.

The Senate President spoke at the 128th Assembly of the InterParliamentary Union (IPU), with the theme: “From unrelenting growth to purposeful development, new approaches, new solutions” in Quito, Ecuador.

He told the world parliamentarians that “it is our sincere and humble suggestion that local factors must be injected into the model to make the development meaningful and realistic.”

He said: “This new model must be all inclusive and not just about economics of advanced democracies.

“It must include social factors that are important aspects of our culture.

“I have never heard of bail-out for any emerging or young democracy.

“Yet, what we need to bail out all developing countries is less than 50 per cent of what is given to one nation today.”

Mark, who led the Nigerian delegation to the Assembly in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, noted that development should be about increasing life expectancy, improving health care, providing education for all, poverty reduction, improved nutrition, peace, healthy life styles and diets, clean drinking water and sanitation as well as protecting the environment.

Nigeria to rake in $10b from gas, says NNPC IGERIA will rake in

N

about $10billion as Foreign Direct Investment from gas-based industries, Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Andrew Yakubu said yesterday.

Nigeria is transiting from an essentially oil based country to an integrated Oil and Gas one.

The corporation’s Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Ms Tumini Green, in a statement quoted Yakubu as telling investors at an Offshore West Africa conference (OWA) in Accra, Ghana.

The statement said: “In clear terms, the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has outlined three aspirations for gas, which are: Gas to power, Gas-Based Industrialisation and High Value Gas Export, which will undoubtedly generate as much revenue and other economic benefits as oil.”

According to Yakubu, Nigeria has a total gas reserve of 187 Trillion Cubic Feet

Planned increase in petrol price illegal, says Falana

A

CTIVIST-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday said it would be immoral and illegal for the Federal Government to increase the price of petrol under any guise.

He described as “provocative” an announcement by President Goodluck Jonathan about a planned full deregulation of the downstream of the petroleum sector.

Falana, in a statement, said another hike in the pump price of petrol under the pretext of deregulation would inflict harsh economic hardship on hapless Nigerians.

He said doing so would also be illegal, as a court last week declared deregulation illegal.

Falana warned that should Federal Government go ahead with the plan, it should be ready to face the wrath of Nigerians who would be ready to make the country “completely ungovernable.”

He said: “The provocative announcement has been

By Joseph Jibueze

made at a time that Nigerians are paying more for epileptic electricity supply and other deteriorating social services.

“While the masses are asked to tighten their belts, the pampered members of the ruling class are granted duty waivers, oil blocks, huge loans from intervention funds etc.

“Others are allowed to collect double or multiple salaries through ghost workers or direct theft of pension funds.

“The Banks which became distressed as a result of mismanagement and the failure of the so called ‘captains of industry’ to pay back huge loans have been bailed from public funds to the tune of N3 trillion.

“To facilitate uncontrolled capital flight from the country by corrupt public officers, importers and traders, the National Assembly has legal-

ised currency trafficking.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) promotes such capital flight by selling millions of dollars to all manners of forex dealers on a weekly basis.

“Owing to such unprecedented diversion of public funds by plutocratic ruling elite, the Federal Government is unable to fund the national budget. Hence, the resort to the callous decision to increase the pump price of petrol.”

According to the former West African Bar Association President, it would be illegal for the government to deregulate the sector.

He cited the case of Bamidele Aturu v Attorney-General of the Federation in which a Federal High Court, Abuja, presided over by Justice Adamu Bello declared illegal and unconstitutional the deregulation policy of the Federal Government.

Falana said the import of the judicial decision is that

since the proposed increase of price of petrol is anchored on deregulation, it is illegal in every material particular.

Therefore, as the judgment is valid and subsisting, the Federal Government would be engaging in executive lawlessness if it goes ahead to announce any increase in the price of petrol, the lawyer said.

“In the interest of the Rule of Law President Jonathan is advised to jettison the insensitive, immoral, contemptuous and illegal policy forthwith.

“However, if the Federal Government has decided to increase the pump price of petrol, it should be prepared to sign its death warrant as Nigerians will be mobilised to make the country completely ungovernable,” Falana said.

He said: “A few weeks ago, President Jonathan paid glowing tributes to the late President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela for channelling

the oil wealth of his country to improve the lives of his people.

“President Jonathan should emulate Chavez, who never increased the price of any petroleum product while he was in power for 14 years.

“But it requires courage and commitment on the part of the state to nationalise the major sectors of the economy.”

Falana said instead of engaging in incessant increase in the price of petrol, Jonathan should collaborate with the National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

Doing so, he added, would be in line with Article 21 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights which has imposed an obligation on all African States to ‘eliminate all forms of foreign economic exploitation by international monopolies so as to enable their people to fully benefit from the advantage derived from their natural resources.’

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

(TCF) with potential to grow to as high as 600 TCF, and this ranks the country as seventh among countries with natural gas reserves.

The GMD noted that between now and 2015, over 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas would be deployed in the country to triple the existing power generation of 4.5 GW to 13.5 GW. He said government’s focus on gas development and ensuring its availability for power generation was based on the belief that the spin-off effects of reliable power supply would provide a solid base for industrialisation as well as attract Foreign Direct Investment into the country.

The GMD said Nigeria would continue to maintain its presence in High Value Gas Export by pursuing two additional Greenfield Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects at Brass (10 million metric tons per annum) and Olokola LNG (10 MTPA) in addition to the existing 22 MTPA NLNG in Bonny, Rivers State.

Yakubu said in a bid to earn more revenue from gas, the nation also supplies 130 million cubic feet of gas to Togo, Benin Republic and Ghana and that given the envisaged growth of the gas sector, government had begun reforms geared towards attracting more investment and enhancing and ensuring bankability of projects.

“The combined impact of Developing Commercial Frameworks for Gas Pricing, Domestic Supply Obligation and Gas Infrastructure Blueprint will stimulate rapid transition of the Nigerian Gas sector,’’ Yakubu, who was represented by the NNPC Group General Manager, Corporate Audit, Mr. Isa Inuwa said.

The GMD said the main policy initiative of government in the downstream sector was full deregulation and implored investors from Africa and around the world to come and participate in the Nigerian oil and gas sector given the huge potentials there-in.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

6

CITYBEATS 'How police rescued kidnapped Army General' D

ELTA State Police chief Ikechukwu Aduba, yesterday relived how his command rescued a retired army general from kidnappers four days after his abduction.

He said his men trailed the kidnappers to their hideout under the guise of paying them ransom.

Aduba told The Nation: "When last Wednesday, March 20, it was reported that Major Gen. Peter Unode (rtd) had been kidnapped along Ughelli/Warri Expressway, Ughelli, by four gunmen, we immediately moved into action and started monitoring the abductors' movement."

He said the kidnappers called one of the general’s sons to demand N50million ransom, adding: "We started monitoring the call with the service provider and other intelligence reports. We traced them to a building in Akiwe village, Ozoro in Isoko North Local Government Area, where the retired General was bound, chained to a chair and blindfolded by his captors."

"The abductors later reduced the ransom to N450, 000 and described a place in Ekiugbo where they would receive the ransom. I told the General's son to play along and he gave them the impression that he was bringing the money in the morning on Saturday. They were waiting for the money when my officers led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ozoro stormed the building.

"When my men got to the hideout, the kidnappers sighted them and opened fire on them but the hoodlums could not match the superior fire power of the police operatives who killed one of them and arrested two others. The suspects are currently being interrogated and they have made useful

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

By Jude Isiguzo

statements. Police have also declared a manhunt for the suspects who escaped."

Aduba said detectives were combing the area in search of the suspects who escaped with bullet wounds, adding that the police had also advised hospitals to report to the police, if anybody with bullet wounds is brought in for treatment or risk prosecution. He added that the command would rid the state of kidnappers and other criminals.

He said the building, which residents said, is basically used by kidnappers to detain their victims would be demolished.

Narrating his ordeal, Unode said: "I went with one S.O Oyibo who deals in bamboo sticks, along the Ughelli/Port-Harcourt Expressway to see his stock. On getting there, we saw one Toyota Sienna parked near a Caravan car where the bamboos were kept. Then we saw the owner of the Sienna space bus defecating close to the Caravan and we expressed concern. We asked him why he was doing that there, because we were in company of another man who wanted to buy 200 pieces of bamboo from Oyibo. After a while, we saw Oyibo discussing with the man and as I moved closer, they stopped the conversation and the man zoomed off in his Sienna bus.

“After a few minutes, the Sienna bus resurfaced and two boys emerged from it with pump actions guns, saying, "Na you say make our oga pack shit." They were three in the car, but only two came out and that was how I was bundled away through Amekpa.

"I was blindfolded. They demanded N50 million, saying that otherwise, they would waste me.

•Aduba

also spoke Isoko. I was hearing the sound of vehicles and motorcycles; the place was close to a busy road.

And from that Wednesday until I was rescued by the police, I re-

fused food. I lived on water all through.

"Later, they reduced the ransom to N20 million; later, they settled for N5 million, but they felt insulted when my son called to offer to pay N450,000.

Hence, they seriously tortured me. The mosquitoes dealt with me where I was chained to a chair. My knees, hands and mouth were tied and I was still subjected to all forms of inhuman treatment."

The command, he said, arrested 12 suspected cultists with the assistance of the Army in Ughelli. One of them is said to be a student of Delta State University, Abraka who went for the initiation of the others at Afisere Primary School, Ughelli.

The arrested are: Balogun Nena, Harry Adanike, Onoriode Ekewene, Goru Oyobuwi, Ufuoma Whisky, Orukeme Onori, Ayobwe Winners, Ernest Akeware, Ezuwu Simon, Faith Ogigba, Ojokoro Felix and Tamara Pius.

Aduba said the combined team also recovered three vehicles, two locally made short guns cut to size, three live cartridges, two black berets suspected to belong to police officers, one laptop, two sledge hammer, one chisel, one nail pincher and 30 mobile telephone handsets.

He said efforts to arrest the fleeing suspects were on, adding that those arrested would face the law after investigation.

Aduba urged Deltans to go about their businesses as the command is determined to reduce crime.

all manners of communicable diseases. It was shared among all at the festival A big gong was beaten and the worshippers went jubilant with hearty songs of praises for the Elegba.

The sacrifices over, a gallon of palm oil was poured on the shrine, signalling the successful appeasement of Esu with promises of diverse goodies for the people. Then, merriment kicked off.

Excitedly, Oba Elegushi and his chiefs moved into an inner chamber within the premises to wait for the masquerades that came much later to celebrate with the people.

The Elegba festival is celebrated to usher in a new year and to ensure peace in the community.

Prince Anofi Olanrewaju Elegushi, the Chairman of Eti-Osa Local Government, refuted the notion that Elegba is a cult group or secret society, saying that it is a royal festival in hosted only by Olofin's children and not an all comers' affair.

"It is a reminder of the genuineness and beauty of Lagos ancestral heritage," he said, adding that the festival had, over the years, bonded all settlements created by Olofin together, thereby bringing peace and unity.

Erelu Lola Ladoja, the Erelu of Ikate Elegushi said women from the kingdom where Elegba Festival is held usually play very prominent roles in making it a success.

Oba Saheed Elegushi expressed satisfaction at the success of the event, saying: "As it happened last year, I'm delighted at this year's outing and more importantly, we are sure of another blissful and prosperous year for all in my kingdom.”

"From our experience over the years, it goes without saying that tradition, if faithfully observed, plays a major role in ensuring a peaceful and largely prosperous society and its people. We are expecting another good year," the monarch added.

•Unode ... in chains before his rescue.

And I said I did not have that kind of money as a retired Army General. They took me to their hideout. People in the area were speaking Isoko; the boys guarding me

Joy as Elegba festival holds in Lagos

T

HE week-long celebration of the annual Elegba festival by the Elegushi royal family Lagos ended on colourful note last weekend.

The Elegushi of Ikateland, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi and his subjects spared nothing was spared to make the outing memorable. It was indeed, a renewal of an ancient pact with their source.

The festival attracted the sons and daughters of the community from far and near. It is dedicated to Elegba, the deity that ensures peace, tranquility and prosperity among members of the community.

The Elegba shrine, called Agbo Elegba, is where elaborate sacrifices are performed to appease the deity. As early as 9 am last Friday, the ceremony kicked off. Only the O lofin of Ikateland, the coordinator of the festival, wore a ceremonial white attire in line with tradition.

Other worshippers left the upper parts of their bodies bare.

Men tied white loin clothes around their waists; women covered their chests.

•Oba Elegushi and his chiefs at the event.

Dada Aladelokun, Assistant Editor

Beaming with satisfaction, Elegushi, with his white-cap walked to the Agbo Elegba, to perform the traditional rites.

Shortly after the monarch and the chiefs were ushered in amid traditional praise songs, they were at the shrine to pay homage to the gods. The traditional breaking of kolanuts, Ikunlepabi, followed after Oba

Elegushi and his chiefs returned from the shrine. The exercise determines the mood of the gods.

The divination session followed. Kolanuts were shared among all, irrespective of class, age or status. Animals including snail, cock, goat, dog and pig were slaughtered to appease the gods.

It is believed that the water from snail, if robbed all over the devotees' bodies would ward off

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

7

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

Succour for the disabled in Ogun Commissioner inspects projects

W

ITH 22 wheel chairs, seven crutshes, one mobile wheel chairs with food items worth N1million among other items, Focus on Disability (FDF), a non-governmental organisation has given a new lease of life to 200 physically-challenged people.

The items were presented to the beneficiaries at the Wesco Pool and Lottery office, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, under the programme tagged, Campaigning to give the disabled a better life, Dignitaries at the event included Ogun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bashorun Muyiwa Oladipo; General Manager, Chairman, Ijebu-Ode Local Government, Mr. Dada Rasaq and the founder, Welcome Home Disability, United Kingdom, Elder Kehinde Sunmola.

Speaking with The Nation, Rasaq said the gesture was a timely intervention in the plight of the beneficiaries. He sought more technical support from the private sector and other civil society groups to address the growing needs of the physically-challenged lot in the country.

The council boss further emphasised the need for strategy partnership between government and other private sector operators in providing succour for the dis-

By Adeola Ogunlade

abled.

Rasaq, who was represented by the Secretary to the council, Lawrence Adegaye, said the development of any society does not rest in the shoulders of the government alone, but that it is a shared responsibility by all stakeholders in making the society a better place to live in.

"We appreciate and identify with this initiative, which we believe, will assist the government in ameliorating the challenges of the physically-challenged, not only in Ijebu-Ode, but across the country where this is being replicated", he said.

In his opening address, FDF's patron, Otunba Moses Adewale Osinubi said the initiative was aimed at supporting the physically-challenged people and engage the community to improve their socioeconomic situations.

Osinubi added: "The physically challenged need our empathy and it will be a disservice to God and humanity if we close our eyes to their plight when we can help in our own little ways."

On how the beneficiaries

were mobilised, FDF's founder, Abbey Paseda said the foundation works with groups in Nigeria to identify the individual needs of the physically challenged in order to meet them.

Paseda, who is based in the United Kingdom, said the foundation was working hard to build a vocational centre that would train and empower the physically-challenged individuals with grants.

One of the beneficiaries who got a wheel chair, Adekomola Taiwo, said: "I am happy for this kind gesture which has helped in rekindling my hope that we are not alone in the struggle to lead a better life in the midst of the numerous challenges facing us."

Taiwo, who got crippled after a fire accident in 1990 in Ogun State, said it had been challenging to travel thousands of miles crawling on major streets and roads. “I am grateful to this foundation for coming to our rescue,” he said, adding: "Although, I am physically challenged, I have my brain and hands to work with. I daily hope that the society will give us the platform to express our innate abilities with the conviction that we will perform excellently."

T

HE Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, in continuation of his tour of projects, has inspected drainage channels in Lagos Island Local Government area.

While conducting reporters round the project site, Bello said the tour was aimed at determining the extent of work done and to examine where clearing, cleaning and expansion of drainage would be needed before the rain starts.

He assured that the state government was fully prepared for the rainy season, stressing that most of the drainage channels would be completed in due course.

He emphasised that drainage channels construction was ongoing in all the 57 local government area and council development areas in the state, adding that the present administration would continue to embark on plans and programmes that would bring succour to the citizenry.

According to him, "In preparation for the rainy season following the call made

by Nigerian Institute of Meteorology (NIMET) to the state government and indi-

•Lagos seeks stakeholders' input in policy

•Tunji Bello viduals to take proactive steps towards the rainy season, we have adopted palliative measures of clearing all the drains across the state to allow easy flow of storm water."

Allaying the fear of flooding, Bello explained that "flash flooding maybe experienced in the state, but would disappear within a short period."

He, therefore, urged Lagosians to be on the alert and continue to clear drains.

Some of the drainage projects site inspected included: The proposed construction of LAWMA yard/

Ebute Elefun Collector Drain; Patey/Zapas Collector Channel; Epe/Adeniji Adele Channel and Omidun/Adeniji Adele Channels.

Meanwhile, the state government has engaged stakeholders in the Lagos East Senatorial District to obtain their input with a view to enriching and validating the draft policy on water and sanitation for the state.

The Ministerial Technical Committee chaired by Bello, is to review and develop a sustainable policy on water supply and sanitation.

He told stakeholders in Ikorodu that a policy on water and sanitation would address the issue of increasing demand for the supply of qualitative water in the state.

The policy is to address the following areas: Water demand and supply, preservation and enhancement of quality water towards improved sanitation and promotion of regulations that would result in qualitative, available, affordable and sustainable water and waste-water services.

Adebiyi holds last Synod

T

HE Bishop of The Diocese of Lagos West, Anglican Communion, The Rt. Revd Peter Adebiyi will preside over the 2nd Session of the 5th Synod of the Diocese starting from April 3-7, even as preparations are ongoing for his retirement.

The Synod, tagged: "Occupy Till I Come", will hold

•Members of the foundation and the beneficiaries

Slain driver’s family seeks justice

T

HIRTEEN months after a policeman allegedly stabbed him to death in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the remains of Anthony Obisike, 55, a Coastal bus driver, were buried on Saturday.

His remains, which were conveyed from the Military Hospital, Port Harcourt, were laid to rest at his Oruku, Nkanu East Local Government area, Enugu State home. Relations and sympathisers poured invectives on his killer, urging the police to bring him to book.

Since Obisike's death, relatives have been trying to get the Corporal prosecuted, but the

O

PPONENTS of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio were yesterday challenged to judge him based on what he has done for his people and desist from baseless attacks on his person.

The Centre for Media and Development (CMD), an Abuja-based organisation, which made the call through its director, Magnus Eze, stated: "The recent personal criticisms against Chief Akpabio are laughable and saddening. People, sponsored by enemies of progress, are making issues out the governor's acts of benevolence instead of his unparalleled developmental strides and world-class achievements in Akwa Ibom State.

Nigerians should not criticise public office holders for criticism's sake; rather, they should put them on their toes for failure to deliver, a sin that Akpabio is not guilty of."

According to the centre, at the

From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

police released him after his arrest because "he was not on official duty" the day he allegedly stabbed the late Obisike.

Higher King, a rights activist and counsel to the widow, Nkechi, told the family that all hope was not lost in getting justice. "We have been to the State Criminal Investigation Bureau (SCIB) and the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) severally on the matter. It is not in dispute that a policeman came out of a

police vehicle to kill Obisike. We are saying if the killer was not Corporal Victor, the police have a duty to fish out the culprit, not to bury the injustice," King said.

Mrs. Obisike said the untimely death of her husband had brought untold hardship on her and their nine children.

The widow called on the police and the Rivers State Government to intervene to let justice prevail. They also demanded compensation for the bereaved family to ensure adequate care for the widow and her children.

Advice for Akpabio's opponents bottom of the recent spate of structured but baseless mudslinging of Akpabio were political machinations targeted to pull him down. It added that two meetings were held by some forces opposed to the governor's progress - one in Lagos and the other in one of the South-South states - where "media undertakers were conscripted to rubbish the governor."

Eze urged the mass media and, indeed, Nigerians not to allow themselves to be used for smear campaigns aimed at discrediting worthy public office holders such as Akpabio, saying: "In the country today, Akpabio remains one of the

worthy examples of good governance. His administration is an exemplar of how government should be made to work for the people. Why is he now being demonised for his benevolence when such has not slowed down the pace of development in Akwa Ibom State?"

Eze charged those disturbed

by Akpabio's towering profile to prove themselves through hard work and commitment to common good rather than engaging and sponsoring attacks on him, adding that he "has been variously commended for his outstanding performance in Akwa Ibom State and his selfless contributions to the growth and stability of the state.

at the Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral Church, Oba Akinjobi Way, GRA Ikeja, with an opening service at 4pm, while on April 4, Bishop Adebiyi will do the formal launching and presentation of his address.

Dignitaries expected at the Synod include the governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola,

SAN; his deputy, Mrs. Joke Orelope-Adefulire; captains of industry, traditional rulers as well as dignitaries from both the House of Bishop and House of Laity across Nigeria.

On April 5 and 6, the Synod breaks into Plenary Sessions, while the Closing Service holds on April 7 at 10am.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

8

NEWS

Fayemi criticises centenary city project •Governor advocates value reorientation E KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi has described the Federal Government’s Centenary City project as “another wasted opportunity”.

He called for a value reorientation to build an enduring brand for the country.

Fayemi spoke at the Sixth Verdant Zeal Innovation Lecture, entitled: “Beyond branding: Building lasting values for Nigeria’s growth”.

He said the 100 years anniversary of the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates calls for sober reflection on the values we want to promote as a nation.

Fayemi said all attempts at rebranding the country had failed because the nation has been “sloganeering”. He said it is this failure of values that needs to be addressed urgently.

The governor cited an example of South Africa, which changed from an apartheid

successive administrations to articulate a strategic national country to a multi-racial de- vision and calibrate institutional realities to match this mocracy within a decade.

He said the country has to vision.

“In broader terms, this repstop celebrating fraudsters and resents not just the failure of a ex-convicts.

At the event were the Chair- particular administration, but man of The Nation Editorial also our failure as elites to genBoard, Mr. Sam Omatseye; erate a consensus about what rights activist Femi Falana sort of place we want our (SAN); a lawmaker, Mr. country to be.

“We cannot convincingly Ahmed Omisore; and marketing communications experts answer the question: What is Bola Akingbade, Udeme Ufot, this entity called Nigeria?

Tunji Olugbodi and Idorenyen What does it mean to be a Nigerian? Are we citizens or are Enang, among others.

Fayemi said: “The architec- we subjects? We have not adture of a national brand con- equately and firmly framed nects values, service-delivery, the values that we want to quality control, ideals and stan- drive our institutions. At an dard operating procedures in a administrative level, even seamless garment of national when certain ideas have been articulated, such as the Service identity.

“Our nation’s branding fail- Compact or charters aimed at ures can be summed up as val- enhancing service delivery in ues’ deficit. It is the failure of the public sector, they have failed to elicit sufficient buyin.

“Institutional transformation of the scale that Nigeria needs will not be achieved by HE Oyo State Government has handed over a portion just rhetoric. It requires a willof land at the Technical University, Ibadan, to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the building of a library and lecture theatre by the bank.

While handing over the land to the bank at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway site of the university, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Akin Olajide, assured the people that CBN would start work on the project immediately.

He said the university would commence the 2013-2014 academic session in October.

CBN’s Branch Controller Bashir Adebayo, who received the land on behalf of the bank, said: “We have seen the various developments in Oyo State and it is our pleasure to contribute to it. We have seen the projects being executed by the government, those already in fruition and those to be in fruition. Once the project kicks off, we will deliver on time.”

Adebayo said the project would be completed in 18 months.

By Precious Igbonwelundu

CBN to build lecture theatre, library for Oyo Varsity

T

ingness to restore values to the front burner of the discourse on transformation. It requires a willingness to lead by example, to incarnate the values of the society that we want.

“In the words of Gandhi, we must become the change we want to see. Transformation cannot be imposed from above. It can only be generated by exemplary leadership, which not only elicits emulation but inspires the conviction that the proposed path of change is the right road.

“The unruliness and incivility that we bemoan in our public spaces closely reflect the level of discourtesy and uncouthness demonstrated by public functionaries. The long history of intimate association between power and impunity on our shores is why many Nigerians once placed in positions of authority begin to manifest previously unrealised authoritarian traits.

“It is both a result of the institutional ethos that we have constructed around authority and a manifestation of the

power of example. If we are to change the character, tone and content of leadership and enhance the appeal of Brand Nigeria, we will need to join the corps of leaders and elites exemplifying the wave of the future. We will need to see ourselves as exemplars of a certain way of doing things.

“A national brand is shaped to a large extent by a country’s conception of heroes; by the character of those that it bestows iconic status upon. For us, certain questions are relevant in this regard. What sort of people are we celebrating in Nigeria? Is hard work a reliable pathway to reward and recognition? What is the nature of our reward system?

These are all salient question.

“When we serenade fraudsters, ex-despots, ex-convicts and other assorted persons of dubious reputations with national honours and appointments, we are sending a terribly unedifying message to the world.

“No kind of public relations blitz can undo the damage done to the national image by the sort of people that have become our symbols. We are

•Dr. Fayemi

also sending a dangerous signal to the young about the relationship between competence and honesty on one hand and promotion and recognition on the other. Nothing destroys the work ethic like the idea that hard work is futile.

Nothing subverts public ethics like the idea that honesty does not pay.

“It is said that we perpetuate what we permit and we receive what we reward. Mediocrity thrives because it is permitted and rewarded. Excellence will flourish and proliferate when it is not merely permitted but celebrated, encouraged and rewarded.”

Osun opens mediation centre today

O

SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola will today inaugurate the Citizens’ Mediation Centre.

The Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Ajibola Basiru, said the centre would ensure a quick resolution of civil matters and promote peace.

Explaining that mediation is a system of settling disputes among people without recourse to litigation, Basiru said: “It is adjudged all over the world as a speedy and cost-effective mode of dispute resolution without undue re-

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

course to the courts.

“This model of dispute resolution is similar to the traditional values of the Yoruba, who would rather settle disputes through mediation than resort to litigation.”

He said the judiciary system across the world is moving away from the traditional adversarial system to an outof-the-court method of dispute resolution.

The commissioner urged residents to take advantage of the centre’s citizens.

Aregbesola to unveil group

By Precious Igbonwelundu

O

SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola will on Wednesday unveil a volunteer group called De Raufs.

The event will hold at the Leisure Spring Hotel on Iwo Road, Osogbo, by 10am.

The theme of the event is: Servant leadership: Model best practice for sustainable democracy.

Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi; Lagos State Deputy Governor Mrs. Adejoke Adefulire and her Osun counterpart, Grace Laoyr-Tomori, are expected at the event.

Lectures will be delivered by Professors Adeleke LawalOki and Labo Popoola, Dr. Osagie Obayuwana, Mrs. Toyin Eweje and Mr. Yinka Muyiwa.

•From left: General Manager, Osun Water Corporation, Mr Gbenga Awojuyigbe; Special Adviser to the Governor on Water Resources, Mrs. Tawakalitu Williams; Deputy General Manager, Commercial Services, Elder Abayomi Olufemi and Deputy General Manager, Design and Construction, Mr. Apara Olusegun, during the World Water Day Press Conference at Governor’s Office in Osogbo, the Osun State capital ... at the weekend.

Oyo ACN: We’re too decent for Ladoja’s crude politicking

T

HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State has said membership of the party is not a requisite for employing teachers into the state Civil Service.

The party was reacting to an allegation by the Accord that the government was demanding ACN membership card before recruiting teachers.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, ACN said: “Former Governor Rashidi Ladoja and his Accord should tell the people what party card the government demanded from Ladoja’s

brother, who is a commissioner in the present administration, before he came on board and the card we demanded from his party’s national officer, who is also a commissioner in our administration.

“What party card did we demand from his Special Adviser nominees in our government and the board members and local government chairmen, who are Accord members? The allegation is the Ladoja and Accord hypocrisy at play, which cannot escape the attention of any rightful thinker.

Ajimobi mourns Adegbite, Obadare and Akinnola

O

YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has described the deaths of Chief Samuel Adegbite, Chief Bayo Akinnola and Prophet Timothy Obadare as a shock to the nation.

He said Nigeria needs the business acumen, philanthropy and spiritual abilities of the three men.

In a statement by his media aide, Dr. Festus Adedayo,

Ajimobi said the late Adegbite was “a banker and philanthropist of note, who was well-loved by his people”.

He said: “We will sorely miss Chief Adegbite in Oyo State. He was an elder statesman, who was preoccupied with the progress of our state and the promotion of good governance. On a personal note, I have known Chief Adegbite for decades and he has contributed significantly to the

good governance and development of our state.”

Ajimobi said the late Akinnola was one of Nigeria’s foremost entrepreneurs.

He said: “As the Lisa of Ondo Kingdom, Chief Akinnola was a man of culture, who recognised the pride of place that the people’s past should occupy. We have lost a generous man, who was a humanist to the core.”

Ajimobi said the late Obadare was one of the earliest televangelists, and described his death as the exit of one of the greatest foot-soldiers of Christ.

He said Obadare laid a spiritual foundation in the Southwest through his spiritual teachings, crusades and televangelism and would be missed by all.

Ajimobi urged the families of the three men to celebrate their lives.

“In the history of politics and governance in Oyo, no administration has demonstrated the level of political tolerance the Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration has demonstrated, which is a pointer to the fact that it can never engage in such a mundane and self-serving exercise.

“The people know the antecedent of these politicians, for whom politics is a mix of falsehood and propaganda.

Our people know that ACN is too decent a party and its runners are too polished to engage in such base politics.

“Ajimobi is teaching Ladoja and others a great lesson in political tolerance by still accommodating Ladoja’s men in this administration, even when the former governor has made it a daily sport to attack a government in which his sibling and nominees are part of and get their daily bread from.”

Kaadi Igbe-Ayo a sham, says Oke

T

HE candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the October 20, last year governorship election in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, yesterday slammed the state government for what he called the “deceitful advertisement of a non-existent Kaadi Igbe-Ayo scheme”.

Oke said the “lavish government paid advertorials in virtually every newspaper in the nation exposes the hypocrisy and desperation of Governor Olusegun Mimiko to

give life to a non-existing social security programme”.

In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Kunle Adebayo, Oye said: “It is curious that for four years, the government expended unusual fanfare and propaganda to play up the Kaadi Igbe-Ayo scheme without success, only to wake up in another frenzy of publicity, seeking to name a baby that was never born. Just as the name inscribed on the advertised demo is fake, so also is the entirety of the programme.”

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

9

NEWS LAUTECH opens unit for critical illnesses

T

HE Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, has opened a multi-million naira unit to care for patients suffering from life threatening illnesses.

Speaking with reporters in Osogbo, the hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Prof. Femi Fadiora, said the palliative care would improve the quality of life of people suffering from critical ailments.

Fadiora said the unit would focus on the vulnerable population, particularly children and the elderly suffering from cancer, Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Kidney Failure,

Osogbo

Alzheimer and HIV/AIDS. He said: “It is a holistic care which provides solution to the physical, emotional, social, cultural and spiritual problems of a patient and his or her family. Emphasis is placed on pain and symptom management, communication and coordinate care.

“Palliative care is appropriate from the time of diagnosis and can be provided along with curative treatment. Usually, a team of experts, including palliative care doctors, oncologists, nurses and social workers provide this specialised care. Chaplains, massage therapists, pharmacists, nutritionists and others may also be part of palliative care.”

•Woman kidnapped

A

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

Kehinde is the daughter of the late Chief Josiah Olusanya, the former Asamo of Akure.

She lives with her twin sister, Taiwo, and they run a boutique and beauty parlour.

Taiwo is married to a former Secretary to the Ondo State Government, Mr. Fioye Bajowa.

It was learnt that four gunmen forced their way into the twins’ home and abducted Kehinde.

Her kidnappers are yet to contact the family.

‘No pressure to replace Ekiti deputy governor’

•Mrs. Olayinka

E

KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said he is not under pressure to replace his deputy, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka, who is on a sick leave.

In a statement yesterday, the governor’s media aide, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, said: “The attention of the governor has been drawn to false and misleading reports in

some newspapers regarding the health of the deputy governor, as well as the misrepresentation of the meeting between the governor and Mrs. Olayinka’s elder brother, Chief Olusegun Famuagun, the Sasere of Ado-Ekiti.

“While it is true that the governor and Famuagun met, the governor did not tell the chief that he was under pressure to replace his deputy; neither did he allege that some politicians had started lobbying for the position that is not vacant.

“The widely reported falsehood is a figment of the writers’ imagination. We urge journalists to be guided by the ethics of the noble profession and stay away from fictitious writing.”

Apostolic Church President to mark 80th birthday

By Joseph Jibueze

T

‘

We have reversed the trend with the installation of two new intake pumps, 1.5 MVA generating set, two (2MVA) transformers and seven dozing pumps. This interim intervention stabilised the water supply

From Adesoji Adeniyi,

Abducted Ondo journalist freed JOURNALIST with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Akure, the Ondo State capital, Mrs. Olubunmi Oke, who was kidnapped on Thursday, has been freed.

Mrs. Oke was released last night and has been re-united with her family.

The state chapter of the Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ) thanked everyone who helped in securing her release.

A woman, Ms Kehinde Olusanya, was abducted from her Ayedun home in Akure around 1am on Saturday.

Osun to repair Ede Water Works with N2b

HE National President of The Apostolic Church of Nigeria (TACN), Pastor Gabriel Olutola, will mark his 80th birthday on April 6 with a thanksgiving service.

The service will hold at the TACN National Temple on the Oworonsoki Expressway, Olorunda, Ketu, Lagos.

It will be followed by a reception at the same venue.

A statement by the Planning Committee said Pastor Olutola would dedicate/hand over The Apostolic Church Mission House, Oke-Ibode, on April 1.

On April 2 and 3, he will visit the Motherless Baby’s Home and widows at Oke Ibode, as well as the Ikoyi Prisons.

On April 4, Olutola’s biography and the OladeleOlanrewaju Foundation will be launched.

On April 5, a lecture will be delivered by former Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, by 11 am.

It is entitled: Bridging the gap between our spiritual life and our secular behaviour: A tool for good governance.

•Aregbesola

T

HE Osun State Government is to spend N2 billion for the rehabilitation of Ede Water Works, which supplies 70

per cent of the water needs of the state.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Water Resources, Mrs. Tawa Williams, announced this at a press conference marking this year’s World Water Day in Osogbo, the state capital.

Mrs. Williams said the government sourced funds to repair the waterworks. The repair is to be completed in 12 months.

Mrs. Williams said: “We are discussing with the contractor, who handled the work initially, to come and rehabilitate the dam. When we conclude the rehabilita-

’

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

tion of Ede Water Works, which provides 70 per cent of the water requirement of our people, we will strive to bring the remaining 30 per cent up in good time.

“The state government has embarked on the rehabilitation and modernisation of both the new and old Ede Water Works to raise the output of water to 730,000 litres per day. It is instructive to note the extent of past neglect.

“Ede Water Works was established almost 60 years ago and serviced 12 local govern-

ments with 160 towns and villages. Seventy per cent of water supply in the state is from here. At the inception of the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration, however, its capacity had dwindled to 15 per cent, with major equipment completely broken down.

“We have reversed the trend with the installation of two new intake pumps, 1.5 MVA generating set, two (2MVA) transformers and seven dozing pumps. This interim intervention stabilised the water supply.”

Mrs. Williams said the administration has committed huge resources to eliminate water-borne diseases.

She said the government has approved the repair of all water works to ensure the flow of pipe-borne water in all parts.

10

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

NEWS ALBERT CHINUA ACHEBE (1930 - 2013) He was my hero, says Akunyili

ACN: Achebe is global icon of all time

A

FORMER Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili, yesterday in Abuja joined other prominent Nigerians to pay tribute to the late literary icon, Prof. Chinua Achebe.

The former minister described the late Achebe as her hero, adding that his death was a great loss to the nation.

In a statement by her Special Assistant (Media), Mr Isaac Umunna, the former minister said: “Chinua Achebe was not only from my state, Anambra, he was also one of my heroes and role models right from my days at the University of Nigeria Nsukka where he taught.

“I, therefore, feel a deep sense of personal loss by his death. It is like losing a part of me.

“Prof. Achebe’s death leaves a void not only in Nigeria and Africa but globally because he is one of the best novelist the world has ever produced.”

Akunyili said Achebe would be greatly missed, adding that Nigerians and the rest of the world should take solace in the rich legacies the late writer left behind.

Achebe, described by his admirers as the Eagle on Iroko, is best known for his novel, Things Fall Apart.

Until his death, he was a professor at Brown University in the United States. He died on March 21, at 82.

‘Immortalise him with 26% of budgets to education’ From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

E

KITI State House of Assembly Speaker Adewale Omirin has urged the Federal Government to assign 26 per cent of its budgets to the education sector.

The Speaker noted that this is the best way to immortalise the late world-acclaimed writer, Prof Chinua Achebe, who died last week in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.

He was 82.

Omirin canvassed an overhaul of the education sector, especially the nation’s universities.

He said: “Nigeria’s universities have lived long enough to be changed.”

In a statement in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, by his Special Adviser (Media), Mr Wole Olujobi, the Speaker said it is necessary to accord the late Achebe “commendations and recognition for his selfless service to the nation and the international community at a time when material acquisition was the order of the day”.

He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to “go beyond christening a national monument after the late eminent Nigerian by striving hard to rescue the education sector from collapse”.

Omirin added: “Naming a national monument after him by the Federal or state government may be considered a way to immortalise this man, but I want to point out that the government must take a step further by repositioning the education sector, which was the main fight of Prof Achebe before his death.

“Our education sector is appalling. Prof Achebe pointed this out several times when he was alive and called for a redress. But little was done in this direction.”

By Precious Igbonwelundu

•The late Achebe

T

HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has paid a glowing tribute to renowned Nigerian writer and nationalist, Prof Chinua Achebe.

The literary giant died last Thursday in the United States.

ACN described him as a global icon of all time and an out-

standing Nigerian brand.

In a statement yesterday in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party described Achebe’s death as a monumental loss, “not only to Nigeria but also to the entire world, judging by the tributes that have been pouring in from around the world since his de-

mise”.

It noted that besides his rarefied achievements in the literary field and his scholarly excellence, the late Achebe was a nationalist, “not minding the controversy generated by his last book, There Was a Country”.

The statement added: “Prof.

Achebe’s nationalist and democratic credentials were unassailable. He loved Nigeria with a passion and used the platform offered by his global exposure to call attention, time and again, to the years of misrule in his homeland, which must have left a gaping hole in his heart till he breathed his last.

“Among his most poignant acts, he twice turned down the national honours bestowed on him by the Federal Government to show his disapproval for the brigandage and antidemocratic antics of the government of the day, especially as it concerns his home state of Anambra, where a sitting governor was abducted in the full glare of the police by scoundrels who also pillaged and plundered state institutions.

“By that singular act, he gave hope and voice to Nigerians who have been tormented endlessly by those who hold power but lack the responsibility at-

tached to it; those who substituted national interests with their personal, parochial interests; and those who have turned Nigeria into a laughing stock in the comity of nations with their endless looting of the national treasury.”

ACN noted that with his outstanding works of literature, especially his all-time great novel, Things Fall Apart, the late Prof Achebe was – and remains even in death - one of Nigeria’s best brands that needed no government patronage to market all over the world.

It said: “Unfortunately, the same Federal Government, that is now writing glowingly about this great son of Nigeria, lambasted him for daring to turn down its poisoned chalice tagged, national honour, which it had hoped to use to get a quiet seal of approval from him for its poor governance and anti-democratic ways. A man they should have used to sell Nigeria to the world without squirreling away millions of dollars was pilloried to no end by those who are not fit to lace his shoes. Now, he’s gone! What a missed opportunity for a nation without a soul!”

ACN said another lesson that Nigerians should learn from Prof. Achebe is that one

Things have fallen apart with his demise, says Orji

A

BIA State Governor Theodore Orji has said the death of Prof Chinua Achebe taught him that life is ephemeral and people need to live an exemplary life.

The governor told The Nation that he would borrow a leaf from the life of the late literary icon and leave a legacy for coming generations.

He noted that with Achebe’s death, “things have fallen apart; the centre cannot hold and we are no longer at ease”.

Orji spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Ugochukwu Emezue.

The governor said the late writer is a hero and legend of our time, adding that the news of his death was a shock.

He said Achebe was a great intellectual from the Southeast, adding: “He was a leading light as far as the Igbo race is con-

cerned, having touched and taught most people through his write-ups in Nigeria and outside the country.”

The governor said the late Achebe stood for the cause of the Igbo race and defended it passionately.

He noted that despite the acclaimed writer’s physical incapacity, following an accident, he did not give up his struggles.

“He rose beyond that challenge and proved that he could still do what he knew how to do best, even beyond the shores of the country. The literary world will miss him in so many ways,” Orji said.

Dickson consoles Anambra, family

The governor said he Southeast governors would meet to arrange a befitting honour for the late literary icon.

He commiserated with Achebe’s family, his relatives and Anambra State, his home state.

Orji prayed God to grant Achebe’s family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

The headteacher of Government College, Umuahia, where Achebe had his secondary education, Jerry Okezie Onyemaechi, said the school is mourning the passage of one of its best.

Onyemaechi said Nigeria and the world have lost a literary genius, whose replacement

S

•Orji

would be difficult to find now or in the future.

The headteacher recalled that Achebe’s first novel, Things Fall Apart, was the first book he read when he started his secondary education.

He said records showed that Achebe had been a prolific writer during his secondary school days, adding that his works are filled with words of wisdom.

Ashafa urges Nigerians to emulate Achebe

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

A

CTION Congress of Nigeria (ACN) senator representing Lagos East, Gbenga Ashafa, has said the death of Prof Chinua Achebe is a big loss to Nigeria and the rest of the

B

AYELSA State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson has commiserated with the government and people of Anambra State as well as the family of the late Prof Chinua Achebe.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, the governor eulogised the late Achebe for his towering legacies and accomplishments as a worldacclaimed writer, activist as well as an unblemished advocate of a better Nigeria.

He noted that these virtues, which have endeared him to Nigerians and other nationals, would remain indelible in the minds of several people.

Dickson said through the late

Akume condoles with family, Nigerians

•Headteacher, others mourn From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

•Dickson

Achebe’s creative and intellectual disposition, as epitomised in his many literary presentations, many people around the world have recognised the reputation of Nigeria as a nation of giants in many fields.

He said: “As a government, as a state and as a people, we will continue to draw inspiration from your wonderful legacies, accomplishments and deeprooted conviction and vision for an egalitarian Nigeria.”

can excel doing whatever he does best even when disability comes one’s way in life.

“Prof. Achebe stuck to his calling all through his life, and yet achieved a global acclaim.

Lesser beings would have leveraged their achievements to join the fat cats on the boards of huge companies, smiling to the bank all the way. Lesser beings would have curried favour from the government of the day, irrespective of its record.

“Even after he was involved in a road crash, itself a result of years of misrule and corruption that have turned our roads into death traps and hospitals into mortuaries, he refused to be silenced. From his wheelchair, his voice rang out loud and clear to the world, on behalf of the poor, the deprived and the oppressed in his homeland. This is the Achebe we remember, and we are sure the one whom most Nigerians revere,” the party said.

ACN said the best tribute that can be paid to Prof. Achebe is not just in naming monuments after him or tarring the road that passed through his hometown, adding: “He can best be honoured and remembered by those who hold power using it for the common good of the greatest number of people, and by making Nigeria a country that every black man on earth will be proud of. There can be no greater honour.”

world.

In a condolence message to the family of the renowned writer, the senator urged Nigerians to immortalise him by imbibing his virtues.

He said: “Achebe was an embodiment of the great values most Nigerians crave for; he was an exemplary character. Let us celebrate him. The best way to immortalise him is to imbibe his virtues and what he stood for.

“Achebe was a great patriotic Nigerian, an intellectual asset. He denied himself riches most Nigerians would have taken advantage to make for themselves, despite his international fame and influence. He died when he was most needed in fortifying the Nigerian project.

“Achebe could be put in the class of William Shakespeare, former US President John F. Kennedy, among other great men of the world.”

Ashafa condoled with the Achebe family and prayed for the repose of the soul of the deceased.

The senator urged Prof Achebe’s widow and other members of his family, the people of Anambra State and Nigerians, to take solace in the integrity, dignity and honour which the late writer bequeathed to Nigeria, the African continent and the international community through his literary accomplishments.

ENATE Minority Leader George Akume has condoled with the family of Prof Chinua Achebe, the Igbo nation and Nigerians.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Orpin Beckie, the senator noted that the Achebe distinguished himself as a world-class writer, who influenced several generations of Africans.

The statement reads: “I am greatly saddened by the news of the death of our illustrious son, a literary icon and one of Nigeria’s foremost novelist, Prof Chinua Achebe.

“I, therefore, wish to sympathise with his family, the Igbo nation and Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora.

“Achebe was a nationalist, a social critic and reformer, who distinguished himself as a world-class scholar. He highlighted the strength of African traditional institutions in his numerous literary works, which are acclaimed to have been read across the world. He was without doubt one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, whose influence on succeeding generations is too great to qualify.

“His departure leaves a yawning gap in all spheres of our lives. However, we are consoled by the unparalleled legacies he bequeathed to us.

Achebe was truly a man of impeccable character and sound mind who, in his quest to better the lives of Nigerians, was never swayed by intimidation or material inducement.”

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

11

NEWS Police arrest prime suspect in Okonjo-Iweala’s mum’s kidnap

Obi visits water schemes

A

NAMBRA State Governor Peter Obi has said the first phase of the resuscitation of the Greater Onitsha Water Scheme would be completed this year.

Obi said the completion of the first phase would make the scheme functional before December.

The governor said the project was well-funded and that the contractor has been given a deadline.

The Commissioner for Public Utility and Water Resources, Emeka Nwankwu, said the scheme was built in 1998 and has been abandoned since 2001, until the intervention of the present administration.

Nwankwu said the project will include rehabilitation and expansion of tank from 45,000 cubic metre to 60,000, as well as building another intake structure at Nkpor.

At Ogidi water supply scheme, Obi said much improvement had been recorded in the rehabilitation of the abandoned scheme.

He said when completed, the government would partner with the community for the management of the facility.

•Obi (second left), Nwankwu (left), Commissioner for Local Government Mrs Azuka Enemuo, President-General of Ogidi Eric Obiakor (second right) and Commissioner for Works Callistus Ilozumba during the inspection of Ogidi Town Water scheme... at the weekend

Jonathan must tackle corruption, insecurity, F says Ribadu

ORMER Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has said unless things are done properly, Nigerians may lose the country to another civil war.

Ribadu, who spoke on a Liberty Radio programme, Guest of the Week, monitored in Kaduna, said with the way things are going, care must be taken not to lose the country.

He accused his successor, Mrs Farida Waziri and former Delta State Governor James Ibori of destroying the Commission and truncating all efforts to fight corruption in the country.

He described the state pardon granted to former Bayelsa State Governor Deprieye Alamieyeseigha and

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

former Managing Director of Bank of the North, Shettima Bulama as a tragic development and unfair to the fight against corruption.

He said: “The way things are going, if something is not done soon, Nigerians will lose Nigeria to a civil war. The management of the country today is in a worst form which is gradually pushing us towards failure.

“Nigeria is one of the unsafe places to live in the world today, poverty is at its highest level, a terrible division that is crippling our society, intolerance and lack of trust and respect for one another which government cannot run away from and if we are not careful, we will lose Nigeria.

“This government has failed

•Blasts Waziri

to address the challenges and problems we are confronted with, it failed to address insecurity; it has failed to protect Nigerians, especially the vulnerable.

“We can save it by coming together and forgetting about sentiments, about differences and work towards unity and saving the resources of this country because it is only way that we can achieve peace.

“Jonathan was wrong to have said he will not grant amnesty to Boko Haram members.

He should not fail to protect people and when people are

saying we are tried, we are down; even if it means to dialogue and have a solution, he should opt for such.

“You cannot say they are faceless because faceless people do not do things like this, faceless people cannot be responsible and daily you see them on Facebook, faceless people cannot be in your custody, ghosts cannot be people who are in the communities, people who at a point wanted to dialogue.

“People like Farida Waziri, James Ibori and a couple of others who are still alive and they took over the EFCC and brought it to

its knees.

“They literally destroyed the cases that were already in existence with the intention of wiping out the war against corruption.

“The intention was to reverse it and take us back to where we started and they did a lot of damage to the Commission and the war against corruption.

“But as God will have it, the EFCC survived because today, it is still doing the work probably not like it did before, but somehow it has been given the chance to bounce back again.

“The pardon granted to Alamiesegha and Shettima is a tragic development, a very unfair action against Nigerians because corruption is our biggest problem and any step taken against the direction of reversing it is a negative development.”

Orubebe: SURE-P gave N21.7b for East-West Road

T

HE Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, has said the East-West road was awarded without design and financial plan.

The minister spoke at the weekend during an interactive session with the House of Representatives’ Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Finance and State and Local Government investigating the mandate and implementation of Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

Orubebe decried insinua-

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

tions that the Federal Government is playing politics with the road.

He said the ministry inherited the project with much technical and financial flaws, but said the project would be completed next year.

While he declared that paucity of funds may be a factor, Orubebe explained that the intervention of SURE-P has provided a leeway.

According to him, the ministry quickly did a design and

a financial plan that have significantly improved work on the road.

He said: “So far, SURE-P has released N21.7billion to the ministry and these funds have been deployed towards quick completion of the project.

“At the moment, 37 of the estimated 42 bridges have been completed while 756 of the 786 culverts have also been completed”.

Lead Chairman of the Committee Dakuku Peterside described the entire process as ill-conceived.

He said it was doubtful if

the Federal Government intended to execute and complete the project in the first place.

“The East-West Road is the most important road in the but unfortunately, the government chose a poor response to the urgent infrastructural need of the people of the Southsouth.

“The road has, therefore, not made progress because is not properly funded,” he said.

The joint committee, promised to look into the issues to ensure that the project was delivered on time.

•Orubebe

‘House will not be stampeded to swear in candidate’

T

HE House of Representatives has said it would not be stampeded into swearing in Comrade Tony Nwoye as the Representative for Anambra East/West Federal Constituency.

It said Nwoye should wait until the case is fully dispensed with in the court.

The Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Zakari Mohammed, said

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

the House does not have anything against Nwoye but that it was better to let the judicial process be concluded in order not to undermine the institution with a hasty action.

Chriscato Ameke, who occupies the seat, is being challenged by Tony Nwoye to vacate because he is not the au-

thentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2011 National Assembly elections.

Nwoye is requesting that Ameke vacates the seat and has been asking the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, to swear him in as the member representing the constituency.

But Mohammed said there was need for patience on the issue.

His words: “We do not have anything personal against Nwoye, all we are saying is that the full course of the law must be followed to its logical conclusion.

“This is hinged on the fact that we do not want this institution undermined by repeated swearing in of members who have cases.”

According to the spokesman, Tambuwal would not

bow to pressure to swear in Nwoye but would rather wait until the court case, which he said is in the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal, is concluded.

Speaking further on the issue, Mohammed said there was no intention of denying Ameke his legal rights, but the Speaker will swear in Nwoye any day the Supreme Court rules in his favour.”

THE POLICE have arrested a 36-year-old palace guard and suspected kidnap kingpin, simply known as Chiejene, who was alleged to have facilitated the abduction of Prof Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Minister for Finance. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

She was abducted last December in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State.

Commissioner of Police Ikechukwu Aduba, who confirmed the arrest, said: “While the police in Delta was after him, the Lagos State Police were also after him for some other crimes, so we have handed him over to them.”

He said the police did not know he had a hand in the kidnap until he was arrested by the police, last week, after a shootout in Edo State in connection with the death of 71-year-old Mrs. Regina Obi, after collecting N2 million from her family.

Police shot dead one of the suspected kidnappers and arrested four others in separate operations in Benin City and Ogwashi-Uku. Aduba said the suspect confessed he was the one that brought the kidnappers to the palace to kidnap Prof Okonjo.

He said Chiejene’s house in Ogbe-Ofu quarters, Ogwashi-Uku, was demolished when it was “confirmed to be a kidnapper.”

“This is the problem we have now, for practically every kidnap, there is an inside factor. Chiejine is very close to the victim.”

NDDC to re-award road contract From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo

THE Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is to re-award the contract for the construction of the Eket/Ibeno Road.

The commissioner representing Akwa Ibom State in the commission, Imaobong Inyang, said this yesterday.

Inyang also explained the delay in the construction of the road.

He said the contract for the road was revoked and another contractor brought in to do the work after the contractor could not meet up the deadline for the completion of the project.

The NDDC Commissioner said work on the project was supposed to be completed within 16 months but due to delay in the mobilisation of the contractor, work was also delayed and the contractor dropped for another one.

His words: “Contract for that road was awarded in 2009 and the contractor was only mobilised to site in March 2010. The road was to be dualised, but there was delay in the payment of mobilisation.

“The contractor at that time was dropped and another was brought in. At a time, we had to seek a partnership with the state on the construction of that road.

This is the time when things have to be done properly.”

He assured road users that the project would soon be completed for use soon.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

12

NEWS Navy parades four suspects From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

T

HE Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Naval Ship (NNS), Pathfinder, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Commodore Emmanuel Effedua, has paraded four suspects for alleged involvement in illegal bunkering. Two fuel tankers were impounded.

The commanding officer handed over the suspects and the tankers to an officer of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Suleiman Paiko Mohammed, for investigation and prosecution.

Mohammed said the NSCDC was committed to tackling oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

“Our resolve on anti-vandalism is total and complete. We shall take the suspects to court. The court will decide if they are guilty or not.

“We appreciate the synergy we have developed with the Navy in tackling this menace.”

‘Cult members’ arrested in Delta From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

T

HE Joint Military Task Force (JTF), police and vigilance group at the weekend in Afiesere, Ughelli North Local Government of Delta State apprehended 12 members of a ‘secret

•The Lagos State Commandant, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Nsebong Akpabio receiving an RLG Mgsone Netbook from the Country Director, RLG Communications Nigeria Ltd, Tosin Ilesanmi, at a charity event “A smile on their Faces” sponsored by the firm in Lagos. With them is the Chief Operating Officer, Latilo Taiwo.

Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar (left) presenting an award of Distribution Partner with highest Sim Activations from Lagos North to General Manager, Stanqueen Investment Ltd., Mr. Obhiye Gideon at the Etisalat Heroes Award “Celebrating Excellence in Partnership” at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Health centre renovated in Edo

A

Monarch to Shell: don’t reduce royalties to communities

T

HE Amayanabo of Kalabari Kingdom has condemned the move by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) to reduce royalties to the area, because of crude oil theft.

Princewill said there was the need to continue to give peace a chance.

The monarch was answering questions from reporters at the weekend after a special service at the African Church, Buguma City in Asari-Toru Local Government, to mark his 11th coronation anniversary.

cult’.

It was learnt that the suspects were holding a meeting at a school in Afiesere in preparation for a football competition when they were arrested.

One of the suspects said they were members of the NEO Black Movement of Africa (NBM), a registered non-governmental organisation in Nigeria.

He said they were holding a meeting ahead of the Easter celebration, when they were arrested.

“We were planning to visit orphanages and old peoples’ homes.

Since we are not engaging in any unlawful act, we did not anticipate any invasion from security agents.

“So when we saw them entering the venue of the meeting we did not attempt to run away and we did not resist them.”

The Area Commander in Ughelli, Awosola Awotinde, said the operation was jointly carried out by the police, JTF and the local vigilance group.

He said there was no exchange of gun fire between the suspects and security agents.

“We got a call that cult members were meeting somewhere; so my men, in conjunction with the JTF and our local vigilance group, stormed the venue and the suspects were brought to the station.”

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

He said the royalties were part of the extant agreements between SPDC and the kingdom, to assist in the development of three local governments, Asari-Toru, AkukuToru and Degema.

Princewill said the chiefs and people of Kalabari kingdom have vowed to resist plans by the oil firm to reduce the royalties, which he said would amount to a breach of the agreement signed with the people.

Shell’s spokesman Precious

Okolobo recently said the oil firm might be compelled to slash funds to the host communities, if crude oil theft continued unchecked.

Princewill also reminded Shell of its promise to increase the mandate annually by 10 per cent.

He said the planned reduction of royalties would be collectively resisted by Kalabari people.

The monarch said: “Kalabari people will not agree. If what Shell intends to do is to make us suffer, we ask the company to pack and go.

“We will not beg the oil

firm. There are other oil companies that will come. For many years in Ogoniland, Shell has not been operating, yet Nigeria still exists.

“If we stop Shell from operating in our territory, Nigeria will not die. That is our position.

“The company said it is going to close down its operations. We say not only closing down, it should pack its things and go.”

The monarch said if youths of the area were discovered to be involved in crude oil theft, the Council of Chiefs would call them to order.

GROUP, Women’s Health and Action Research Centre, (WHARC) ,with funding support from T.Y Danjuma Foundation, has renovated a healthcare centre in Edo State.

The centre is the Oligie-Ottah Primary Health Centre in Orhionmwon Local Government. It also serves the four communities of Oligie, Ottah, Idumodim and Wire-Ake. WHARC’s Chairman, Board of Trustees, Lady Winifred Onyeonwu, said the commitment to renovate the health centre is part of efforts to complement the government in the health sector.

“It is no wonder that this has greatly increased patronage of the facility as women, who had hitherto refused to patronise the facility because of the fear of it collapsing can now come to the health centre to receive medical services,” she said.

The Foundation’s Officer, Oluwatomi Ajayi, assured members of the community that more attention would be given in terms of efficient rural healthcare delivery through provision of well-equipped primary health centres.

Edo PDP expels members

A

College graduates 2,800

Boko Haram: TUC urges dialogue

T

HE Trade Union Congress (TUC) has advocated the use of carrotand-stick approach by President Goodluck Jonathan in tackling insecurity.

It said there are people who could track down ghosts and called on the President to employ ‘ghost-trackers’ to fish out Boko Haram members.

TUC President Peter Esele spoke in Benin City at the weekend after receiving the African Role Model Award TV Show from the African Child Foundation.

Esele said the President should consider granting am-

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

nesty to Boko Haram members, if that would solve the security challenges.

“I think the carrot-andstick approach will work. I believe that the Federal Government should also reach out to these people although he has said they are ghosts.

“But I think that there are people who can track ghosts and make them aware of what is happening.

“The matter stops at his table. The President must do everything possible to bring this under control.

“If he doesn’t, that will not speak well of his presidency; he must find a way and if need be, he must find a ghost tracker and find a way to get these guys to come for dialogue.

On statements credited to Information Minister Labaran Maku that nothing will stop the removal of fuel subsidy, the TUC President said: “You and I know how Maku is.

“Maku was not elected, the person who was elected by Nigerians is the President; so, if we are going to take anybody serious, it is the President.

“The President said he is consulting and if he gets a no

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

S the April 20 local government elections in Edo State draw near, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it has expelled some of its members for alleged antiparty activities.

It said the expulsion was subject to the provision of Article 21 (1c) of the party’s constitution.

The party’s Publicity Secretary in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government named Amos Isoken Omoregie as the leader of those expelled from the party.

The statement urged the public not to have any dealings with Omoregie and his group.

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

T •Esele

and decides to go ahead, then what ever happens is his own business.”

WO thousand, eight hundred students were conferred with the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) and Professional Diploma in Education (PDE) at the 15th joint convocation ceremony of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze, Anambra State.

The Provost, Prof Josephat Ogbuagu, appealed to the Minister of Education, Prof Ruquayyatu Ahmed Ruf’ai, to facilitate the release of the take-off grant of the College, which has, not been released 15 years after its establishment.

“It is pertinent to inform the minister that the College was not provided with any take-off grant and this has hindered the provision of the necessary infrastructure needed for a conducive learning environment.

“The management is appealing for a special grant to quicken the rate of development in the college.”

Prof Ruf’ai reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to advance technical and vocational education to improve skilled manpower to sustain the nation’s economic activities.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

13

14

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

15

16

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

17

18

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

19

COMMENTARY FROM OTHER LANDS

EDITORIALS

Incurable fixation •We wonder why the Jonathan govt cannot think beyond subsidy removal

M

ARCH 19, President Goodluck Jonathan would again remind Nigerians of his administration’s fixation with removing the subsidy on petrol. Speaking at the Nigerian Summit 2013 organised by The Economic Conference in Lagos, the President again restated his administration’s plan to remove the entire subsidy, after consultation with the people.

He rehashed the same old, boring but nonetheless familiar arguments; that further subsidy constitutes a waste of resources that would otherwise have been channelled elsewhere; the main beneficiaries of the subsidy are the wealthy, “leaving the majority to bear the consumptive excesses of the well-heeled middle class”.

It is unfortunate that the Federal Government continues to betray an appalling inability to educate itself on, or even come to terms with Nigerians’ resolve to get the government to do what is right on the matter.

Whether the issue is the monster of corruption in the fuel marketing and distribution chain, and the perennial hiccups in the supply of refined products to which it gives birth, or even the phantom subsidy which the government has remained fixated on, Nigerians have long resolved that these are no more than the different sides of the same problem of failure of the resource-endowed nation to refine its crude locally. Why is it so difficult for government to bear this self-evident truth?

Between January 2012 when Labour and other civil society groups took to the streets to protest the last fuel price hike and now, the question is, what has the administration done to justify the latest

plan to inflict Nigerians with another round of hardship? We dare to say that we cannot find any positive development that Nigerians can point at aside the broken promises and bad faith.

We start with the President’s promise to clean up the fraud-ridden downstream petroleum sector. Other than the fanfare of innumerable probe panels, very little has been achieved in terms of determining how much refined crude the nation consumes. Instructively, the Aigboje AigImoukhuede-led Presidential Verification Committee on Subsidy Payments found transactions worth N232,192,575,214.20 involving 50 companies fraudulent. Yet, no progress has been recorded in bringing the affected companies or individuals to book.

Today, citizens cannot make informed judgement on fuel import volumes – the basis of the subsidy payout – any more than they could last year or the year before, in spite of the so-called audit exercise.

The story of the refineries is just as unflattering. In October last year, petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke told the Senate Committee on Downstream Sector that a whopping N251.2bn was earmarked for the repair of three refineries. The amount may well have gone down the drain, given that the refineries still operate sub-optimally.

Nowhere is the government’s appalling bad faith so demonstrated than its much hyped plan to build three Greenfield refineries. The report in the media of the three sites being overgrown with weeds – would be latest evidence of government’s lack of seriousness.

As it is, the Jonathan administration

may be forgiven for running out of ideas on the domestic fuel supply conundrum.

What is less forgivable however is the bad faith, its refusal to address the roots of the subsidy conundrum, which is the current preference for fuel importation.

If it amounts to anything, we take seriously the President’s pledge to consult with Nigerians before removing the subsidy. However, without prejudice to the possible outcome of the ‘parley’, we must put on record that the Nigeria Labour Congress and other stakeholder groups have again restated their opposition to the so-called removal of the subsidy.

On our part, we do not even consider it wise for the government to toy with the idea of removing the subsidy; not at this time when the security situation is particularly grave; and certainly not when government seems so unwilling to deliver on its promise of new refineries.

‘Between January 2012 when Labour and other civil society groups took to the streets to protest the last fuel price hike and now, the question is, what has the administration done to justify the latest plan to inflict Nigerians with another round of hardship? We dare to say that we cannot find any positive development that Nigerians can point at aside the broken promises and bad faith’

Augean stable •Auditor’s report on NNPC and its subsidiaries shows that not even Hercules can clean the filth IGERIA must have reached that point of no return where it either puts down its evil mogul, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, or the corporation deals a mortal blow to the country. Such is the magnitude of financial malfeasance revealed in the audit report on NNPC in 2007. The ‘errant figures’ are so numerous and large that they would simply damage the mind of even the best number cruncher.

But more troubling is the fact that those managing the NNPC seem so inured to their ‘filthy’ ways that they don’t seem to smell it: they do not respond to audit queries; they yield not to the National Assembly probes and surely don’t give a damn about the press.

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee, PAC was so full of umbrage that it had to direct the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, to physically bring to its presence, the chief executives of NNPC and

N

‘But more troublous is the fact that those managing the NNPC seem so inured to their ‘filth’ ways that they don’t seem to smell it: they do not respond to audit queries; they yield not to the National Assembly probes and surely don’t give a damn about the press’

her subsidiaries, to answer queries raised by the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation in the audit of their financial records. The subsidiaries are: the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency, PPPRA. In just one accounting year, 2007, the audit captured over two dozen mind-boggling financial infractions which the management of the NNPC has no answers to. A few examples will suffice: 1) “Audit examination of the mandate letters from the NNPC to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in January and February 2007 revealed that the benchmark amount of the Domestic Crude Oil Sales proceeds was not fully paid

by N38,816 billion to the Federation Account…”; 2) “Of the total withdrawals made from the Account of the Excess Crude Oil in the year 2007, $1,604 billion could not be traced to the records of FAAC (Federation Accounts Allocation Committee) on Excess Crude Oil for the year…”

It is most curious that for a long time, Nigerians have been harvesting only tales of brigandage such as these from a corporation that would have provided the fulcrum for the country’s modern development.

NNPC is required by law to present annual reports of financial accounts for public consumption. The last such report was rendered about 15 years ago, and as usual, it could not stand any auditing scrutiny. Currently, there are about half a dozen enquiries on the activities of the NNPC in the National Assembly (NASS). The most notable being the probe by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance headed

by Abdulmumin Jibrin, which is probing NNPC’s non-remittance of its internally generated revenue between 2009 and July last year, totaling about N6 trillion.

Nigeria is therefore faced with a scenario in which her number one corporation does not render accounts; exhibits extreme fiscal irresponsibility; is highly corrupt and utterly unproductive. Unlike what obtains in other climes, the NNPC has long proved incapable of delivering any value to Nigeria: it cannot refine crude oil, it cannot manage the importation of refined products from other lands; it cannot manage its Joint Venture partners, neither can it secure its oil pipelines, quantify production or mitigate the volume of oil theft.

The situation is so, so sad upon the realisation that NNPC’s counterparts in Algeria and Angola, SONATRACH and SONANGOL, are running refineries and petrochemical complexes and they are reporting annual profits in billions of dollars. SONATRACH reported a 2012 profit of over $9 billion on a turnover of $72 billion.

But we are not about the profit as much as the matter of accountability, transparency, the ability of the state to sustainably manage her strategic and sovereign assets for the growth and edification of her people. NNPC relentlessly showcases Nigeria as a mere laughing stock in the international community; it cannot even boast of having nary a nuisance value to Nigerians. Government must introduce an entirely new template in Nigeria’s oil management and do away with the NNPC now.

The limits of copyright law The Supreme Court has forcefully declared that copyright law does not extend to prohibiting the resale of books bought overseas.

S

UPAP Kirtsaeng was a Thai student in the United States who helped finance his education (and then some) by reselling textbooks that family members bought for a low price in Thailand. Textbook publisher John Wiley & Sons sued Kirtsaeng for copyright infringement in 2008, citing a federal ban on importing copyrighted goods without the copyright holder’s permission. Lower courts agreed with Wiley, opining that the “first sale” doctrine — a buyer’s right to sell, lend, rent or give away a lawfully purchased copy of a copyrighted work — did not apply to foreign-made products even if they’d been manufactured under contract with the copyright holder.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court overturned those decisions in a forceful declaration of the limits of copyright law. The justices ruled, 6 to 3, that the first-sale doctrine applies no matter where a copy is made, as long as it’s done in accordance with U.S. law. The decision in Kirtsaeng vs. John Wiley & Sons provides a welcome clarification that Americans are free to redistribute the copies they own that were legally made and sold overseas, just as they are with the copies they buy in the United States.

Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Breyer noted that the lower courts’ interpretation would cause nightmares for libraries and museums, whose ability to collect, lend and display works would be threatened if there were no first-sale rights to books and artwork made overseas. EBay, Goodwill Industries and other markets for used goods would be exposed to huge liabilities, as would sellers of new software-powered products that were assembled overseas — a category that’s expanding rapidly, thanks to globalization and the ubiquitous use of computer chips. Limiting first-sale rights to products made domestically also would give publishers such as Wiley an incentive to print overseas, because doing so would allow them to prohibit used copies of those books from being traded by students in the United States.

Lawyers for the entertainment industry, software makers and other copyright holders argued that extending first-sale rights to copies made outside the border would make it all but impossible for them to set higher or lower prices in countries depending on the local economy. Breyer conceded that it would be more difficult to segment markets geographically, but added that “we can find no basic principle of copyright law that suggests that publishers are especially entitled to such rights.”

That’s a key point. Courts shouldn’t assume that copyright law was designed to protect copyright holders’ slowly evolving business models. If Congress wants to outlaw the kind of “gray market” importing that Kirtsaeng practiced, it can do so explicitly.

But there are many other industries that have found ways to deter those practices without the aid of copyright law — for example, by using contracts to keep tight control over foreign retailers. Courts have to balance copyright holders’ interests against the public’s ability to access those works and exercise the rights of ownership. In the Kirtsaeng ruling, the justices restored that balance.

- Los Angeles Times

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

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

•Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon

•Advert Manager Robinson Osirike

•Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina

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

•IT Manager Bolarinwa Meekness

•Deputy Editor (Nation’s Capital) Yomi Odunuga •Press Manager Udensi Chikaodi •Group Political Editor Emmanuel Oladesu •Manager, Corporate •Group Business Editor Marketing Ayodele Aminu Hameed Odejayi •Sport Editor • Manager (Admin) Ade Ojeikere •Editorial Page Editor

20

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

CARTOON & LETTERS

S

IR: He was arguably the doyen of fiction and prose writing in the Nigerian literary world; his name rang like a bell even to the ears of the deaf.

Professor Chinua Achebe of blessed memory was no doubt an icon and a figure to be reckoned with in the African literary world of giants.

From a bright career in the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) to a prosperous endeavour in the world of literature, Achebe unarguably saw and conquered.

In his widely read ‘Things Fall Apart’, Chinua Achebe eruditely depicted his full grasp of the Igbo culture; his sonorous exposition of the Igbo oral tradition in that book was exceptional and pictorial. The book has continued to generate global acceptability and increased market value after over five decades of publication. Since publication of ‘Things fall Apart’ by Heinemann Publishers on June 17, 1958, the book has been reputed to sell over eight million copies and had been translated into over 45 languages. All these lend credence to the fact that the late professor and novelist transcended the limitations of geographical and generational constraints in his literary career.

Achebe’s literary dexterity was further brought to bear on his subsequent works, some of which included No longer at Ease, Arrow of God, Man of the People and Chike at the River. The admirable thing about a good number of Achebe’s writings was that they tended to conceptualise the Igbo traditional culture in the midst of emerging modern life realities. Most of his works published in the fifties and sixties were directed to a picto-

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

Achebe: There was a man rial appreciation of the cultural conflict that pervaded the Igbo society in the wake of the emerging religion of Christianity. No doubt, Achebe brought reality into fiction.

With a combination of memoir, historical analysis and poetry, the foremost literary icon in ‘There was a Country’ relayed his personal experiences of the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970 which nearly saw the

secession of the Igbo ethnic group of Nigeria under the leadership of Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Achebe lived for his people; he was an epitome of a true Igbo par excellence, despite his great learn-

S

• Vincent Adodo, Esq. Legal Aid Council Ilorin, Kwara State.

Still on Alamieyeseigha pardon

S

IR: I write in response to the issues raised by critics of the presidential pardon granted former Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Solomon Peter (DSP) Alamieyeseigha and others. While many drilled the issue mostly on sentiments, they failed to see the bigger picture.

Presidential pardon is a constitutional provision, a prerogative of the President and Governors- in some cases, judicial officers. According to section 175 of the Nigerian Constitution “the President may grant any person concerned with or convicted of any offence created by an Act of the National Assembly a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions”.

Pardon could also be seen in parole (for prisoners), plea bargain (for the accused), and amnesty (for insurgents). These are legal instruments used to either aid prosecution or reward offenders for good behavior. Pardons have been used all over the world as a political

tool of unification or assimilation.

This can be said of the pardon granted former Biafran warlord, Emeka Ojukwu, as well as other Biafran soldiers decades later. Pardons could also be used as conflict resolution tool through the use of amnesty for militants and being proposed for the Boko Haram sect.

Contrary to the fear of critics, it is hardly ever an enabler of bad behavior no matter who grants it.

No one commits a crime on a probability that he would be pardoned.

Critics have condemned the pardon on the premonition that it will encourage others to engage in acts of corruption. This argument is misleading and cannot be proven by fact. An example is the case of former Speaker of the House of Representatives Salisu Buhari who was granted pardon by President Obasanjo after he forged certificates.

Going by the reasoning of critics, this should have caused others to act similarly, but the reverse is the case. As a matter of fact, people are

even more mindful of such acts.

Buhari, I should point out, was later appointed chairman of the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council by President Obasanjo.

Also adding to the debate was the US State Dept. which expressed concern over the pardon of Alamieyeseigha pointing out the issue of future fight on corruption.

The position of the US Government can only be shocking, not to mention hypocritical. Will the US Government buy into the premise that by granting pardon to President Nixon, the US has seen a decline in presidential decency with regards to wiretapping, perjury or obstruction of justice by subsequent presidents? By granting pardon for drugs offence to his younger brother, Roger, has President Bill Clinton encouraged such actions on a broader scale?

It is okay for citizens to be vigilante on fighting corruption, holding their leaders to account and

Kudos to Ogun State NYSC IR: I read the report of the expulsion of a youth corps member from Ogun State NYSC orientation camp in The Nation newspaper of Wednesday March 13, with much satisfaction on the action taken by the brave and exemplary state coordinator Barrister Theresa Anosike and the camp director Mrs Franca Ifon.

There are age-old stipulated guidelines for the NYSC camping programme that prospective corps members are made to append their signatures to without compulsion

ing, he never despised his culture, despite his long sojourn, he never sacrificed his Igbo originality on the altar of exposure.

Professor Chinua Achebe may have succumbed to the cold hands of mortality; however, he lives on.

His works are indelible, they outlive him. Achebe has gone to the land of the mortals but his works forever immortalise him. You live in our hearts. Adieu ‘Eagle on the Iroko’.

before the commencement of the orientation camp. Any prospective corps member who felt that he or she could not abide by the rules and regulations of the programme due to any reason should have quietly taken the easy option of applying for exemption from the service, thus saving some tax payers money than going to the camp to constitute a cog in the wheel of the smooth running of the camping programme.

It is most unfortunate that some dubious and recalcitrant Nigerians hide under the banner of one faith

or the other to manifest severe unpatriotic and questionable primitive tendencies to subvert laid down rules and regulations. Discerning Nigerians weep for our dear country when you see funny pictures of masquerade-like and other manner of attires coming from corps members that have been condoned by unserious and lily- livered NYSC state coordinators and camp directors on flimsy grounds that dressing in official NYSC garbs is against their faith! Some of these religious bigots neither sing the national an-

them nor recite the pledge.

The NYSC should as a matter of policy exempt from service any Nigerian who feels that his/her faith should come before the Nigerian nation. These are the same people who will later metamorphose into dissidents or their sponsors, mired in religious fundamentalism that has continued to take our dear country to retrogression.

•Kingsley Ike Okeke-Agulu (Ph.D) Federal College of Forestry, Jos.

standard, but to continually prosecute a man for a crime which he has been sentenced is ludicrous amounts to double jeopardy. Critics who condemn the pardon as immoral are failing to see where indeed morality lies. It lies in a justice system that doesn’t seek to condemn but correct; doesn’t destroy or direct; and doesn’t eliminate but elevates second chances.

One thing is sure, no matter what Alamieyeseigha does now or in the future, the nation will always be reminded of the sad episode that characterized his public service. He will forever contend with his weakness and his actions, but that is for his pondering. He has been tried, he served in prison, he forfeited properties, and his reputation beaten. This pardon doesn’t return his properties, or undo his jail time already spent. It assures him and others to come that our nation is capable of forgiveness upon repentance.

We need to shift the discussion to the fundamentals of how pardons are handed. And what standards should be met in handing out such. But to castigate the President for this action is missing the point.

We need to ask questions of transparency. How the decision was reached, what statutes and government instruments were deployed, are questions deserving of advancement for constitutional gains. But to ask that the pardon be revoked in other not to compromise the fight against corruption creates a conundrum for a nation that seeks to discourage corruption and encourage repentance.

• Teinye Akobo Queen Mary, University of London.

21

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

COMMENTS

Alams’ pardon and ‘sophisticated ignorance’

T

HE once-friendly international community is frowning at Nigeria. Even the faithful members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party are not convinced to defend the decision of the National Council of State to pardon some convicted personalities of corruption and other offences.

More of the anger has been on the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Dipreye Alamieyeseigha (popularly dubbed Alams to save pronunciation or spelling error) who was among the beneficiaries of an ill-timed presidential pardon. He was convicted of corruption after undergoing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission under of its former chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

President Goodluck Jonathan was Alams’ deputy when the latter was governor of Bayelsa State. Apart from the former governor, other people who were listed as beneficiaries of the pardon were Gen. Oladipo Diya, who was the Chief of General Staff during the reign of military dictator, Gen Sani Abacha, former Managing Director of the Bank of the North, Shettima Bulama, who was also found guilty of fraud and former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, the late Gen Musa Yar’Adua. Also said to have received the pardon was the former Works Minister, the late Maj.-Gen Abdulkareem Adisa, who was found blameworthy in the alleged coup d’état that landed Diya in prison.

The rationale used by Jonathan in presenting the list of the convicts to the council for pardon is being queried beyond the land. Alams jumped bail in Britain, such that if he goes there today, he might be arrested and prosecuted for the corruption he perpetrated in Bayelsa State.

Opposition political parties, civil rights groups, lawyers and the organised labour essentially condemned the pardon granted to Alams and also frown on the defensive statements credited to the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Dr. Reuben Abati and Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe. While Abati described those criticizing Jonathan over Alams as suffering from “sophisticated ignorance,” Okupe was quoted as saying the President had “no apologies” for exercising his constitutional powers of granting the pardon. Both positions are not helpful to our politically beleaguered President.

Other defenders however had argued more sensibly by saying that it is not a question of whether the presidential pardon is proper or not; it is a matter of whether the President had exercised his powers in a lawful manner in granting pardon, not just to Alams, but to the other persons concerned. Some even contented that since granting pardon to a convicted criminal is a constitutional right of the president, he has discretion to use it as he likes.

The pardon to Alams was another proof of one of the contradictions of the present administration. The decision was a

G

OVERNOR Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State will go down in history as one of the very few public officers in contemporary Nigeria who excels in not just building mortars and bricks but also in farsightedness.

Fashola thinks profoundly and has the courage of his convictions. He could have chosen the path of populism by continuing the tradition of making tuition at Lagos State University practically free—without minding if the graduates would ever be employable because of the poor quality of instruction and the awful lack of critical facilities arising out of scarce financial resources —but he opted for the trajectory of sustainable development through a review of tuition fees. When a large army of political actors in the Southwest were playing to the gallery by denouncing Chinua Achebe’s There Was A Country, a personal account of the Nigerian civil war, Fashola attended an Achebe event in the United States where he positively reviewed the novelist’s oeuvre, declaring that his (Fashola’s) generation of Nigerians is not held hostage by the error of the past. The governor once again displayed the courage of his convictions when at the 80th birthday anniversary of former Works Minister Femi Okunnu held on February 4, he eloquently argued that the concept of constitutionally guaranteed autonomy for local governments in the country is fundamentally flawed.

It has become fashionable since 1989 when Sam Orji was removed by the Federal Military Government as chairman of the Enugu Local Government for the media, activist groups and even academics to demand a constitutional provision for LG autonomy. After all, argue the protagonists, there are three tiers of government in Nigeria and the constitution has ensured that states are independent of the central government and vice versa. Indeed, it amounts to extravagant use of language to declare LGs the third tier of government. A federal system everywhere is composed of only two government tiers, namely, the federal government and state governments (which are called provincial governments in Canada and regional governments in Nigeria until 1967).

The United Kingdom has a local government system all right, but the country runs a unitary system of government. LGs are more of administrative units than political entities. This is why LGs do not have the judiciary, a vital arm of government. Fashola appropriately calls them development centres.

It is a supreme irony that socio-political activists who spearhead the campaign for constitutionally provided autonomy for LGs are the very elements campaigning against the inclusion of LGs in the constitution on the ground that it should be the prerogative of states to decide whether to have LGs in their territories and the number as well as the structure, based on peculiarities of the states and their development

setback to the nation’s battle against corruption. Granting state pardon to convicted felons who committed crimes against the state could not be in the interest of this administration and the country. In this kind of climate of cluelessness, such pardon would make sense if only given for political offenders - and not criminality.

The decision to pardon a condemned corrupt leader has cast doubt over the sincerity and earnestness of the government’s purported anti-corruption campaign. It contradicted the spirit of the war against fraud. If presidential power is implemented in a rationale lawful manner that will renovate the nation’s unproductive awkward attitude, not many would question it.

It remains the responsibility of the President to disclose the sequence he relied upon to grant presidential pardon to a man who was caught red-handed, not even in Nigeria but in UK and admitted to the charges. The issue of whether former President Olusegun Obasanjo used Ribadu to witch-hunt Alams is trivial and inconsequential. If he was witch-hunted, wasn’t he found guilty of the charges of corruption? Yes, he was and then he of his own accord pleaded guilty. Or are we now saying he never committed the offence? Are we also saying that the foreign security officers that met huge amount of money in his personal house in London were not saying the truth? It will become fruitless attempting to take the people on a ride on the platform of grammatical “sophisticated ignorance.”

It’s factual Alams was a victim of Obasanjo’s political butchery; but he was a convict. It is also true that the problem with Nigeria is that virtually every politician is a thief, but the only difference between the likes of Alams and others is conviction. Alams deprived his people to enrich himself. If the much money found on him was spent on the state, he will be honoured by the people.

Not that any Nigerian leader - from the military era down to the present crop - is better than Alams. Alams stole oil money from his backyard; others far and wide stole - and are still stealing the same oil money and continue to walk the terrain free. But was he repentant of what he did? Where has he openly admitted and confessed to the sins he committed?

Although it’s God who can only judge, pardoning an unrepentant criminal will only send out wrong signal to wouldbe criminals.

If Mr. President is granting pardon to the likes of Alams as part of his strategic plans to contest for second term, he might just be making things worse for himself. He cannot afford to be a motivator of corruption and expect people to honour him with their valuable votes. He should be more concerned with what history will say about his tenure when administrative mock-ups finish.

Nigerians won’t forget that the N6 billion donated to build a church in the president’s Otuoke village was not because of the donors’ love for the work of God but just to please him so that they can take from him. Such colossal donations are with

expectations of being rewarded with bigger contracts on which money will be obtained but the project will either not be executed or will be poorly implemented.

At a time we want investors to come and help grow our devastating economy, we are discouraging them by propelling corruption in the same territory being pummeled by kidnappers and terrorists. To protract this poignant trend show we are still far behind as a country with viable potential to be great, but today is where there are no jobs, where graduates are roaming the streets selling pure water and where valuable lives are being wasted.

This might be why there is wisdom in Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka’s response that he wouldn’t mind keying to the bandwagon of the ignorant persons as tagged by Abati. And like the global literary guru, I also will happily love to be counted among such Abati’s “sophisticated ignorant” whose supplication is to clean the nation of the filthiness that is not allowing it to move forward.

Feedback Re-APC: Really, what’s in a name? The controversy generated over the registration of APC by INEC should not be a surprise to any right thinking man. The PDP-led Federal Government is composed of men/women of doubtful characters.

The PDP has never won and will never win any good election in this country; hence it is jittery over the registration of the formidable opposition parties called APC. INEC and other agencies are under the control of PDP and this is why this country can not witness any good election. Only good political revolution will solve Nigeria’s political problems. To grant a convicted thief state pardon is the height of corruption and dishonesty in governance. What a shame?

- Pastor Odunmbaku As It is Omotunde, what have those other parties coming together against PDP done differently in their states? After all, were (or are) they not part and parcel of PDP? Some of them are worse!

- Owuna Coe, Akwanga.

Dear Soji, the controversy beclouding the APC shouldn’t warrant the merger parties to seek for a new bearing, but rather than to ensure that the satanic arrangements of the sponsors of the proxies APCs die off, especially as PDP/INEC have a hidden agenda to hijack and manipulate the electorate again in 2015. Thus, it is the right time the progressives seek for the best. Without cynicism, the country’s masses are for APC being the alternative towards change and seemingly the mandamus mandate is on the side of APC. And it must prevail!

- Comrade Sylvester Ukusare, Warri.

Please tell leaders of APC that it is only a pair of Adams Oshiomhole and former Kano State Governor Shekarau as Vice President that can send PDP/Jonathan out of Aso Rock power.

Okon Edet, Oron, AKS.

Fashola’s thoughts on LG autonomy

By C. Don Adinuba needs. The present national uniform LG structure, a concomitant of the 1976 LG Reforms carried out by the General Obasanjo military government, is counterproductive. The current structure does not recognize differences between LGs in cities and those in rural communities. Hence, it provides, for instance, for a supervisor of agriculture in Lagos Island Local Government Area which does not have one single farm!

Much as LGs are in theory development centres, the development quotient in their creation has been abysmal; rather, the overriding consideration has been politics. Lagos has the highest population of all states in Nigeria. Yet, it has a mere 20 constitutionally recognized LGAs, in sharp contrast to Kano, which has 44 LGAs. The reason is not difficult to understand: the last LGs were created by the central government during the Sani Abacha military regime. Abacha, a Kano indigene, made sure that the number of LGs in Kano and Jigawa (which was carved out of Kano in 1996) is about all LGAs in the South-east geopolitical zone combined!

When it is considered that LGs are allocated huge revenues monthly from the federation account, the political economy of Abacha’s LG creation exercise becomes clearer.

To address some of the far-reaching implications of the imbalance in local governments across the country, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as Lagos governor, created additional 37 LGs in one fell swoop which he called local development centres, bringing the total number of LGAs in the state to 57. In a swift reaction, the Kano State government increased the number of its LGAs astronomically to overwhelm the new number in Lagos. In other words, the nation is in a rat race with itself because of the inclusion of LGAs in the present constitution and the consequent allocation of resources from the federation account. The removal of LGAs from the constitution will end this debilitating brand of politics.

The 774 constitutionally recognized LGAs are too unwieldy for the nation. They are, at best, cost centres and, at worst, cesspools of graft and duty dereliction. I have been to a number of local government offices in recent years, and for some reason never met the legislators who are called councillors. The councillors go to the office only at month end to

collect salary and share whatever remains of public resources with other senior officials. Most Nigerians do not know that every LG has, among other key officers, a secretary to the government, a head of service called head of personnel management and supervisors who are like commissioners or ministers. Each appointee is on a heavy pay and has a retinue of aides. Worse, some states have gone ahead to create local development centres (which are LGs in disguise), and they share the monthly resources from the federation account on an equal basis with constitutionally recognized LGs. Instead of having one chairman in a given LGA, there are now about four. This has great implications for the public treasury. Far from these centres being catalysts or vehicles for development, they are avenues for partisan mobilization and provision of jobs for politicians and hangers on.

How long can we continue to toy with the destiny of an otherwise great nation?

Gov Fashola has provided us all with food for thought as regards the place of local governments in our constitution and our federal nexus. He presents his arguments with so much thoughtfulness and admirable courage. He is a thoroughbred developmentalist, in the mould of South-east Asian modernizers like Mahathir Mohammed of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Developmentalists are, according to new social science theorists, political leaders who genuinely regard the well-being and future of their people as inviolable and place the radical enhancement of the living standards of the citizens above politics and all personal and primordial considerations. With people like Fashola and immediate past Central Bank of Nigeria governor Chukwuma Soludo in Nigerian politics, there is still a ray of hope for our people.

• Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.

‘The 774 constitutionally recognized LGAs are too unwieldy for the nation. They are, at best, cost centres and, at worst, cesspools of graft and duty dereliction’

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

22

COMMENTS

F

ROM all indications, the 2015 elections are bound to have serious implications for the survival of this country. Already, events have been taking place in quick succession in so many fronts that should forewarn the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) it is not going to be business as usual.

Before the 2011 elections, public confidence in the electoral process had waned very considerably. Voter apathy was at an all time high as the electorate found no reason to continue participating in elections when the outcome had already been predetermined. This negative disposition towards elections was as a result of the brazen rigging and manipulation of election results that had been our fate with previous exercises.

Confidence in the electoral process was so shaken that it took copious assurance from President Jonathan that he was committed to free and fair elections and the appointment of Attahiru Jega as INEC boss before the people opted to give that election a chance. Given his antecedents then, Jega was given the benefit of doubt since he was considered a credible person. To be fair, the outcome of that election was an improvement on previous elections though it had its flaws largely at the presidential level.

But events thereafter have thrown up very complicated challenges such that a measure of doubt has crept in regarding the continued impartiality of INEC in managing electoral matters. This suspicion has been such that a presidential candidate in the last election, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari had to accuse the electoral body of having merged with the PDP-led government.

Expectedly, Buhari’s scathing remarks attracted criticisms from the government in power. But certain events in the nation’s political chessboard have continued to evoke doubts on whether the

‘The strength of the merging parties has nothing to do with any particular name. It lies in the broad national alliances and consensus they have been able to build-alliances that have made them a very credible alternative to the PDP’

L

Emeka OMEIHE 08121971199 email: EmekaOmeihe@yahoo.com

INEC, APC and 2015 body can still be counted upon to conduct free and fair elections.

There is the much speculated interest of President Jonathan to run in 2015 despite widespread opposition to that ambition from even within his own party, the PDP. This has so polarized the PDP that if it embarks on a general election as presently constituted, it is bound to suffer serious reverses. Do not mind its claims following last week’s elections into the Abuja municipality. Can INEC still hold on to its claim to impartiality if Jonathan decides to run despite the welter of opposition from within his party especially in the north? What of the formidable opposition posed by the merger of four political parties? Can Jonathan really make a headway given the armada of opposition against him both from within his party and without if the election is free and fair? From where does he derive the confidence that he can destroy extant structures of the party, hurting sections of the country and still have the comfort of mind that he will win if he eventually decides to run? Can he really make it in a free and fair election after bulldozing his way to capture unconventionally, PDP party structures in the fashion of Obasanjo without reenacting the hi-tech rigging and falsification of results that marred that era? These are the issues that come to mind following the turn of events in the country. And they pose serious challenges to the electoral body.

As if that was not enough, events since the merger plans of the four political parties ACN, CPC, ANPP and a faction of APGA were unfolded have also raised further stakes on the neutrality of the electoral body.

Since the unveiling of the name, manifesto and logo of the emerging party, there have

AST month, from February 25-28, the whole of the global mobile telecommunications community, to wit, operators, techies, equipment manufacturers, enthusiasts, regulators and investors emptied into the historical city of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. The event was the 2013 edition of the Mobile World Congress (also known as GSMA 2013). It is the Holy Grail of telecommunications as it pertains to mobile market. About 1,700 companies, over 72,000 people from 200 countries attended the event, the highest attendance ever, according to the organisers.

The yearly event is itself a demonstration of the global acceptance of the mobile genre of telecom service. Besides, the congress offered opportunity to both emerging markets and the developed markets to share ideas, compare notes and build synergies towards the enhancement of the global mobile value chain. Nigeria was at the event. The nation’s telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) made a strong showing at the global summit.

This is to be expected. In matters of mobile telecom, Nigeria ranks among the global top ten in growth and market size.

For five years in a row, Nigeria was the fastest growing mobile market in the world, a record it still shares with no one.

It follows, therefore, that in a global meeting of who is who in mobile telecom, Africa’s largest market should not be a passive participant. Dr. Eugene Juwah, the spunky engineer and head of the nation’s regulatory commission who has manifested a tendency to restore sanity in the sector seized the moment. At a session tagged: The Broader Way 2013 Forum – Make it Possible, organized by China’s communications equipment manufacturer, Huawei, Juwah unveiled the limitless milieu of possibilities in the nation’s telecom sector.

He took the cosmopolitan audience made up of equipment manufacturers, service providers, investors and an amalgam of enthusiasts through the contours and crucible of Nigeria’s telecom industry. If there was ever anyone in the crowd who was doubtful about the safety of his investment in Nigeria, that doubt quickly dissolved when Juwah gave a granular detail of the efforts of the Nigerian government to guarantee the safety and sustainability of investments in the country. He also graphically illustrated the growth pathway of the early investors in the nation’s telecom market as well as the outlay of incentives available to those who would be willing to board the next flight to invest in Nigeria. Juwah seized the opportunity to pitch Nigeria’s Broadband potentials. The ovation that greeted his submission spoke volume of the connection he made with the audience. It was also manifest that some key players in the global telecom market had a wrong perception of Nigeria as an investment destination. It was, in a sense, a moment of glory for the country as Juwah won many global converts for the nation’s

arisen some doubt on the neutrality of the electoral body. Here, one has in mind the unnecessary controversy over the acronym of the merging parties- All Progressives Congress APC. It is a matter of public knowledge that the merging parties had since announced APC as the name under which they intend to fly the flag of their new political party. It is also very well known that the merger took the country by storm given skepticisms that the attempt was going to fail.

Though the ruling PDP rushed to congratulate its promoters, indications are that that party felt very uncomfortable with the turn of events. This is to be expected given that any gains recorded in the merger process would automatically pose serious challenge to it. It was not surprising therefore that as the merging parties were busy perfecting their papers to regularize the process, a phantom group, African Peoples Congress parading similar acronym, rushed to file papers with INEC to frustrate the merger process. Accusing fingers have been pointed at some INEC staff working in collision with the PDP-government to frustrate the merging parties from using that name. Some other groups have been at work, searching for other names with similar acronym just to frustrate the new visionary initiative.

Why the abbreviation APC has become the beautiful bride just suddenly is a matter of conjecture. Why nobody discovered that ellipsis in the last 14 years of our democracy until the merging parties adopted it is also another issue. And what is there in a name? This poser has been raised to underscore most poignantly that there is more

to the mad rush for the acronym than ordinarily meets the eyes. The PDP has been accused of high level desperation to scuttle the registration of the new mega party. And in this subterfuge, INEC has been fingered as a willing ally. The indecent speed with which the phantom APC claims to have met all registration processes and the certainty they seem to have on their party being registered are issues the give cause for concern. INEC is therefore on trial on this singular issue.

As if this was not enough, the promoters of the phantom APC have gone ahead to further accuse INEC of colluding with the merging parties. They have even boasted they have the capacity to do this and that including challenging INEC up to the Supreme Court if they are not registered. And when one recalls that the promoters of the so-called party are very obscure persons who have been in similar roles before either by self or through proxy, their intentions become clearer. So from both sides INEC is being accused. The group has been likened to the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) of the Babangida era and there is merit in it. Their intention is clear and it is to create confusion and distract the opposition from the daunting task of providing a credible alternative political platform for the electorate.

Consider the name African Peoples Congress. What is really African about this mushroom group? Can we possibly have an African Peoples Congress as a party in Nigeria at this stage of our political history? So what they intend to register is not a Nigerian political party but an African one with tentacles across our shores. Can we really register such a party in Nigeria today?

The merging parties must take seriously the threat of this group to institute a protracted legal action against the INEC if it fails to register them. It shows they are out to play a spoilers’ game with zero interest in seeking people’s votes. They know that even if they are registered with that acronym, they remain just in name.

But the strength of the merging parties has nothing to do with any particular name. It lies in the broad national alliances and consensus they have been able to build-alliances that have made them a very credible alternative to the PDP. That is the real issue to worry about and not a name that can be changed anytime. The progressives can as well leave them with that name, douse the noise and move on. It is not the name that makes a popular political party but the vision and people behind it.

Nigeria’s telecom glory in Barcelona

By Malcom Ugbechie telecom sector.

No doubt, Nigeria has since the mobile explosion attended many international summits but this year’s mobile world congress was a clincher. Juwah made the most of it by holding strategic meetings with several global brands and organisations, namely the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), on how to strengthen existing synergies with Nigeria. He did not pass off the opportunity to meet with Kamar Abass, managing director, Ericsson and other top management of Global Ericsson. One of the positive outcomes of the meetings was the announcement by the Secretary General of the ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, of the consensus of the global community to make Nigeria a Cyber-security regional hub. The implication of this is that Nigeria would have a cyber-security testing centre. Making Nigeria a regional hub has a direct bearing on the massive investment in submarine fibre cable within the country and offshore. It is also a fitting endorsement of the continentwide leadership of the country in telecom. Toure, a man who has never hidden his admiration of the progress made by the NCC as a flagship regulator within the ITU family, accentuated Juwah’s submission that now is the best time to invest in Africa, especially in Nigeria.

For Nigerians at the congress, it was no surprise that the country ranks so high on the market-performance index of the ITU. At home, there is a growing tendency to vilify the NCC and dismiss the sector as under-achieving but the world sees Nigeria differently. The nation’s telecom regulator is ranked among the best in the world and it has in recent years become the most realistic tool to benchmark the regulatory authorities in other emerging markets. Juwah sees these attributes translating to good times for the nation in the coming years. He projects that by 2015 the contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP would have shot up from the present 5.6 percent to between 13 and 15 percent. This is not an overstatement. It is a realistic forecast given the strategic interventions of the NCC and the bouquet of incentives which the Nigerian government has outlined for investors.

This year’s mobile congress in Barcelona simply served notice to the world that Africa is rising and can no longer be

ignored. More gratifying is the global perception that Nigeria ideally defines the African market. Selling Africa, nay Nigeria, to the world is usually a tough job especially in the face of the stereotype that Africa is nothing but a spot on the global map where the most ludicrous and the downright ridiculous coexist; where famine, hunger, crime and corruption stomp the streets and marketplace. Such sordid profiling is worse for Nigeria but telecom has come to add a veneer of gloss to the nation’s grubby image.

Back home, Juwah has promised to move service delivery in the sector to the next level with the expansion of broadband service and the introduction of mobile number portability. He has rallied the private sector to invest more in infrastructure and network expansion even as he has sharpened the regulatory instincts of the NCC. A mix of this and the enthusiasm he stirred among the global players in Barcelona would precipitate yet another telecom revolution in the country; this time, in data penetration and access. The auguries point to a bright and beautiful telecom future.

Selling Africa, nay Nigeria, to the world is usually a tough job especially in the face of the stereotype that Africa is nothing but a spot on the global map where the most ludicrous and the downright ridiculous coexist; where famine, hunger, crime and corruption stomp the streets and marketplace. Such sordid profiling is worse for Nigeria but telecom has come to add a veneer of gloss to the nation’s grubby image.

25

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 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

JOBS

THE CEO

1.2 million jobs coming for skilful youths - P. 37

‘Nigeria must monitor its domestic debts closely’ - P. 27

News Briefing

Govt may lose $141.8m as Shell plans to shut pipeline

UACN acquires 51% stake in Livestock Feeds UAC of Nigeria Plc (UACN) has completed acquisition of 51 per cent majority shareholding in Livestock Feeds Plc, entrenching the conglomerate further as Nigeria’s most diversified business group.

- Page 26

Labour mobilises for April protest THE stage is set for a showdown with the Federal Government over its planned increase in the prices of petroleum products, as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and civil society groups have started mobilising for protest.

- Page 29

Erring insurance firms to be sanctioned THE Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has warned of severe sanctions against insurance firms that fail to report currency transactions of their customers.

- Page 40 DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$107/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,800/troy ounce Rubber -¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

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

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

• Shell MD, Mutiu Sunmonu

T

HE Federal Govern ment may lose $15.75 million daily for weeks in April as the Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) plans to shut the 150,000 barrel per day Nembe Creek Trunk Line next month.

If the pipeline is shut, the government would be losing revenues in excess of $15.75 million daily at the current crude price of $105.65 per barrel.

The spokesman of SPDC, Precious Okolobo who con-

firmed this, however, noted that a final decision on this has not been made, but the fundamental reason is to check crude theft points.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Nigerian joint-venture plans to shut the 150,000-barrel-aday Nembe Creek oil pipeline temporarily in April to clear illegal oil tappings.

The shut down, which illustrates the deepening impact of oil theft on the industry, is Shell’s response to increasing numbers of illegal connections designed to steal oil from the pipeline, said Jurgen Janzen, a Pipelines Asset Manager at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at a briefing with reporters in Port Harcourt.

“In April, we will shut down the entire Nembe Creek Trunk Line to remove

Bureaucracy stalls finance houses’ reforms

T

HE implementation of reforms in finance houses is being hindered by bureaucracy, among which is the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor’s assent, The Nation has learnt.

An insider at the Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN) said stakeholders’approvals have been secured in critical areas, especially in raising the sector’s capital base from N20 million to N100 million.

This, he said, would ensure that only serious-minded operators were allowed to do business.

The source also said stakeholders were expecting the new reforms, which are expected to be unfolded by the CBN before the end of second quarter of the year.

It is also expected that the reforms would expand the funding structure of the subsector to allow new investors to come in.

Findings showed that the CBN Board of Governors would release new prudential guidelines for the subsector that includes raising the capital base. Also, other policy issues, such as the appointment of helmsmen would form part of the reforms.

He said the apex bank might develop a framework that would govern finance lease practice, institutionalise a “funding pool” to stimulate lending and structured programme to address the reputation and poor vis-

By Collins Nweze

ibility challenges of the subsector.

He said other pending issues, such as withdrawal of licences of 47 finance houses whose liquidity were called to question last May and funding for the subsector are also being looked into. He said progress was being made at the moment, unlike before.

President of the association, Samuel Durojaye, said the reforms would reposition the sub-sector to enable it to play more important roles.

He acknowledged the apex bank’s support to the project. He called on FHAN members to support the bank’s efforts at strengthening the regulatory environment by timely rendering of statutory returns and reports, as well as the renewal of their licences yearly.

Durojaye enjoined operators to note that the apex bank is taking the issue of corporate governance practices seriously and, therefore, counselled members to identify structural weaknesses in their organisations and take steps to rectify them.

Unlike banks, finance firms are not allowed to accept deposits. Shareholders, private equity firms, development finance institutions and other institutional investors are some of the sources from which they could raise funds.

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

tapping points, for an estimated nine days,” he said.

The pipeline, located in the Eastern part of the Niger Delta, ferries 150,000 barrels of crude oil owned by SPDC, but a spokesman said it is also used by third parties.

SPDC is a joint venture between Shell, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., France’s Total SA (TOT) and Italy’s Eni SpA (E).

Janzen said the jointventure is losing 60,000 barrels daily to oil theft, an increase from 50,000 barrels daily previously. “Since the beginning of this year, it’s going up again. There are at least 90 illegal tappings still

in the system now that we are aware of,” he added.

The increased illegal trade has triggered fears of a new environmental disaster in the Delta. During a flyover of parts of the Nembe pipeline provided by Shell for reporters last week, a large cluster of illegal refineries processing stolen oil could be seen.

Neighbouring soil and waterways were dark from the oil residue produced by the makeshift facilities.

Janzen said the illegal refineries are so inefficient that 70 per cent of their oil is wasted and ends up contaminatingthe environment.

Also, Shell lifted Force Majeure on Nigerian Bonny

Crude Exports Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) ended curbs on crude exports from its Bonny oil terminal in Nigeria after repairs were completed following a leak on its Nembe Creek pipeline, a company spokesman said.

Force Majeure, a legal step that protects a company from liability when it can’t fulfill a contract for reasons beyond its control, was lifted from 4 p.m. on March 19, Precious Okolobo, a Shell spokesman said by phone from the southern oil hub of Port Harcourt.

“Investigation showed that the leak was caused by a failed theft point on the pipeline,” he said.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

26

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

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

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

1.

2.

3.

4.

Arik Aero Arik Aero

1. Arik 2. Aero 1.

2.

3.

4.

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

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

By Taofik Salako

ary reported exclusively the conclusive phase of the acquisition process. UACN had in July 2012 announced that it had signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Livestock Feeds. The conclusion of the deal followed final approvals of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

With two subsisting quoted subsidiaries, there is strong indication that UACN will allow Livestock Feeds to continue to operate as a stand-alone quoted company while the conglomerate provides managerial and logistics supports to leverage the performance of the agro-allied company.

Group Managing Director, UAC of Nigeria (UACN) Plc, Mr Larry Ettah,

described the acquisition as a move that would redefine the agriculture industry.

According to him, the acquisition underscores the conglomerate’s strategy to position itself as a portfolio of companies with exposure to the growth segments of the economy.

He noted that the addition of Livestock Feeds consolidated the conglomerate’s industry position and provided it with immediate opportunity to diversify its manufacturing and sales locations.

“Further benefits will accrue from the attractive synergies in the supply chain as well as in distribution. We are delighted by the prospect of these outcomes and the value they will add for shareholders of UAC and Livestock Feeds,” Ettah said.

08.50 12.40 14.10 17.20 12.15 12.45 09.10 11.00 11.10 16.20

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

1.

2.

3.

4.

Arik Aero Arik Aero

LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

09.1 12.50 12.55 15.55

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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

08.50 09.45 14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

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

AC of Nigeria Plc (UACN) has completed acquisition of 51 per cent majority shareholding in Livestock Feeds Plc, entrenching the conglomerate further as Nigeria’s most diversified business group.

Quoted in the agriculture sector, Livestock Feeds is one of the leading animal feeds producers in the country. The acquisition gives UACN Group one third of the animal feeds industry.

UACN adopted a two-way secondary and primary market approach to acquire the controlling stake. It acquired some 11 per cent shares of Livestock Feeds through the secondary market and sealed the 51 per cent stake with additional shares purchased through special placement.

The conglomerate at the weekend confirmed the completion of the deal. The Nation had in Febru-

08.30 09.10 11.50 12.45 13.40 15.20 16.30 16.40

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

1. Arik 2. Arik 3. Arik

UACN acquires 51% stake in Livestock Feeds U

08.00 18.00

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

• Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Bank Limited, Mallam Ahmed Kuru (middle) with the bank’s Executive Directors, Mr Niyi Adebayo and Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, at a meeting of the bank in Lagos.

IT firm to build assembly plant in Nigeria

T

O boost employment, espe cially for people with dis abilities, an information communications technology (ICT) firm, RLG Communications Nigeria, said it would build an assembly plant and a training centre that would cater to the employment needs of special people in the society.

Chief Operation Officer (COO) of the firm, Taiwo Latilo, stated this this at a forum by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Put a smile on their faces, at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

He said the firm would establish a training centre to train people with disabilities in the society, adding that disability is not inability.

Latilo said the initiative had started in Ghana where it partnered with the government, adding that the success achieved in that country would be replicated in Nigeria.

“RLG is planning to establish an

By Lucas Ajanaku

assembly plant that will soon be up and running. The plant will assemble unique products that will be tailored to the needs of Nigerians. It will create job opportunities for Nigerians and enable domestication of technological knowhow,” he said.

“RLG Communications is at the forefront of training people with disabilities in ICT not just to communicate but also to learn and thereby have more access to opportunities open to the rest of us. In Ghana, we launched an information technology training programme initiated by the government and RLG for persons with disabilities.

“The initiative is worth N2.1billion and it is to train 5,000 people living with disabilities in phones and computer repairs. Under this scheme, we use assertive technologies to increase and im-

prove the functional capabilities of these individuals making them better able to communicate, gain access to educational services and become gainfully employed.

“RLG Nigeria is prepared to work with government at various levels in Nigeria to replicate this initiative and bring hope to the people living with disabilities and make their dreams a reality,” he said.

According to him, graduates of the initiative will not only be employed as instructors at various resource centres of the firm, they will also be assisted to set up shops where RLG products such as phones, desktop and laptop computers, tablets and general electronics products will be sold.

“Some others will work as engineers and technicians in our assembly plants across Africa and make their dreams a reality. We are irrevocably committed to this,” he said.

Govt earmarks N3.5b subsidy scheme for farmers

T

HE Federal Government is set to introduce a new scheme to provide subsidy for farmers to hire tractors for their farms.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina disclosed this while commissioning equipment and projects at the National Centre for Agric Mechanisation, Ilorin.

He said the government is setting aside N3.5 billion to support the establishment of 60 tractor servicing centres, which will be established in 18 states of the federation.

The minister said farmers will be able to hire tractors from the subsidy, which will be provided through their phones.

He said private tractors regis-

tered with the government will be given maintenance assistance but they have to register with the ministry.

Adesina said the government has evolved a well-knitted plan for the promotion of agriculture sector.

He said the government is taking adequate steps to facilitate the rural youth engaged with the agriculture sector.

Naira rises as CBN sells dollars

N

AIRA climbed last week af ter the Central Bank of Ni geria (CBN) sold the most dollars at its twice-weekly sales in eight months.

The currency gained 0.2 per cent to N158.25 per dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, bringing the weekly rise to the same level.

The apex bank sold $580 million to lenders last week at two regular foreign-currency auctions, the most since the week through July 4, 2012. The CBN uses the sales to stabilise the naira as the cost of importing refined fuel, which accounts for 70 per cent of the local gasoline market, boosts dollar demand and puts pressure on the currency. The CBN cut total sales by six per cent last week to $360 million.

“On the back of the increased foreign-exchange sales from the bank, the naira stabilised last week,” Ridle Markus and Dumisani Ngwenya, Africa strategists at Absa Capital in Johannesburg, wrote in a note to clients. “The increased supply was amid visible pressures on the naira.”

The apex bank can sell more dollars to ensure the stability of the naira, CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, said after the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting on March 19, where it kept its benchmark interest rate at a record high of 12 per cent for a ninth consecutive meeting.

The yield on the country’s 16.39 per cent domestic bonds due January 2022 were unchanged at 11.24 per cent in the secondary market, according to Friday’s data compiled on the Financial Markets Dealers Association website.

Yields on the $500 million of Eurobonds due January 2021 declined 6.5 basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 4.239 per cent last week.

Disincentives, poor infrastructure threaten food security

By Daniel Essiet

P

OOR infrastructure and lack of government’s incentives are threatening food securty in the country, the Farmers Development Union (FADU) has warned.

The Programme Co-ordinator, FADU, Victor Olowe, who gave the warning, said unless an urgent step is taken to halt the trend, food security in the country would continue to be a mirage.

Olowe said there is a growing gap between retiring farmers and the next generation of planters, adding that the government needs to promote policies and programmes that result in real improvements in the quality of agricultural jobs, especially through the adoption of modern technology.

He said increasing food production nationwide requires expanding infrastructure to match the resulting demands placed on the agriculture sector and this requires careful planning, proper co-ordination across all stakeholders and optimal timing of investments.

Olowe said there was the need to undertake an examination of food demand and supply, as well as critical decision points relevant to improving infrastructure across the major farming belts.

He said focusing on improving the ability of these regional communities and ensuring they share in the benefits of the economic growth, will be critical to the agricultural transformation programme.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

27

THE CEO

‘Nigeria must monitor its domestic debts closely’

• Ameobi

Dr. Ifediora Ameobi, a policy economist, is the Executive Director of the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE). He was Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on National Development Matters between 2007 and 2011. In this interview with TOBA AGBOOLA, Ameobi seeks the governments’ support for the Organised Private Sector (OPS), which he describes as the engine of growth. He speaks on job creation, domestic debts and diversification of the economy.

Very positive impacts have been recorded. economic transformation process in colcies can operate effectively at the geo-poHAT is your advice to the govern-

W

ment on economic management strategy for the masses?

In the past, I had said employment generation is what is needed at all levels to ensure both increased productivity and security. But this obviously depends on a number of factors – the first being electricity. Substantial improvement in power supply would not only generate employment, but it would create considerable wealth for many. Second, our debt has to be watched closely, especially our domestic debt. Finally, Nigeria needs more structural decentralisation and economic diversification.

Too much is dependent on the centre that taking a lot of government time and space.

The federal structure as constituted is bloated, too heavy and it is weighing down on delivering services effectively to the people. I believe that more than half of the federal ministries, departments and agen-

litical level.

In what ways have AIAE research output and policy dialogue efforts contributed to the advancement of the economy?

I will tell you about a couple of them. When President Goodluck Jonathan presented his Transformation Agenda, our institute was the first to organise a roundtable on the

‘Nigeria needs more structural decentralisation and economic diversification. Too much is dependent on the centre that its taken a lot of government’s time and space. The federal structure as constituted is bloated, too heavy and is weighing down on delivering services effectively to the people. I believe that more than half of the federal ministries, departments and agencies can operate effectively at the geo-political level’

laboration with the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Project Monitoring and Evaluation. From this event, the government agreed and implemented the signing of a performance contract between Mr President and ministers. Also, before now there was no known indigenous research mechanism through which the business environment was measured across the states in Nigeria. Between 2003 and 2005, we conducted the Better Business Initiative research study. This received national acclaim and led to the introduction of the Business Environment and Competitiveness Across Nigerian States, what is known as BECANS. Today, BECANS is nationally accepted as a research-based mechanism for benchmarking, peer review and advocacy on business environment across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

•Continued on page 28

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

28

THE CEO

‘Nigeria must monitor its domestic debts closely’ •Continued from page 27

What are the challenges facing research efforts in Nigeria?

The key challenges to research efforts in Nigeria include access to available, verifiable and accurate data; funding – particularly non-existing research grants from the government, analytical skills, and the environment to conduct research.

In most cases, data exist, however, having access to it could come at a price. Also, confirming the accuracy or validity of that data is another thing. Students and other researchers can attest to this.

International institutions provide most of our data from abroad, and our government relies more on these figures than the data figures generated by local research institutions, such as ours. Another challenge we face is the dearth of analytical skills. Data means nothing if it cannot be properly analysed.

And finally, research can only be conducted in a conducive environment devoid of the distractions seen in a lot of our academic institutions.

How is your institute collaborating with other stakeholders to boost the impact of research in the country?

Research work is not what a single institution can do alone; that is why we need to collaborate with other stakeholders. We have been working with Nigerian universities and other thinktanks on various topical research areas. For instance, we worked with some state and federal universities on a project named Linking University

Research In Industry. The project addressed gaps in the provision of scientific and research products and innovations to industry due to the under utilisation of research in policymaking. We also collaborated with the Organised Private Sector and the media. Very soon, the dissemination would be done and you will see how the impact of that study would be felt not only in Nigeria, but also across sub-Saharan Africa.

What is the institute’s relationship with the state governments, especially the host geo-political zone (Southeast)?

From inception we have had a very good relationship with the state chief executives, not only in the Southeast, but also across the federation. For the Southeast in particular, our institution has been part of the development programmes in various ways. You will recall that the Southeast Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) was the brainchild of our Institute. The initiative is a product of the recommendations of the stakeholders’ forum on industrial clusters held in September 2006 in Enugu. SENEC serves to facilitate investments in the Southeast zone, as well as develop large physical infrastructural schemes, among others. AfriHeritage demonstrates a high level of corporate social responsibility that impacts our immediate economic environment.

We also partner with the Southeast Economic Summit Group in organising the yearly Southeast Economic Summit.

Can you shed more light on

‘The key challenges to research efforts in Nigeria include access to available, verifiable and accurate data; funding – particularly non-existing research grants from the government, analytical skills, and the environment to conduct research’

• Ameobi

BECANS? How will it impact on the economy?

BECANS is the flagship of the institute. Its objective is simply to systematically assess, update and report the business environment and level of competitiveness among the states. We had observed that there was no way of analysing the business environment and investment climate among states, as the data was aggregated for Nigeria. Rather, all the assessments were cross-country comparisons, which rightly treated Nigeria as a homogenous entity.

This thinking, basically, formed the rationale to disaggregate national data across the states of the federation.

In 2007, the institute launched the first BECANS study, BECANS I, which was widely received by the government and the business community in Nigeria. The BECANS Report was used by some states as an instrument for planning, while the private sector and civil society used BECANS to advocate and dialogue with the government. Based on the lessons from BECANS I, the second cycle, BECANS II, was successfully launched in 2010 and represented a vital update on the state of business environment across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. BECANS II revealed that businesses needed to have more access to energy and transportation infrastructure if they are to expand and create jobs, and job creation is fundamental to poverty reduction. Infrastructure is also critical to help meet the Millennium Development Goals and, ultimately, attain Nigeria’s vision 20:2020. The prospects for BECANS as an independent evidence-based monitor and accountability platform for business environment are ever increasing as the country’s democratic space widens. In all fronts, state governments try to as much as possible to improve their ratings on the different benchmarks of BECANS - infrastructure and utilities; regulatory services; business development support and investment promotion; and security in order to create a more friendly business environment, especially for potential investors.

What is your view about the Organised Private Sector (OPS)?

The Organised Private Sector (OPS), through the respective Chambers of Commerce, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), the Nigeria Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), and so on, has been very dynamic, vibrant and forward-looking. I think they have also been very assertive and vocal, particularly in those aspects of the economy that directly affect their business, such as excessive tariff, multiple taxes, reforming the regulatory environment, and even the state of road infrastructure, amongst others. The private sector is the engine of growth, therefore a very strong understanding, co-operation and support from the government is required for them to confront the challenges to economic growth and industrial development. However, to make a more lasting impact, they have to expand beyond manufacturers and include importers, dealers and merchants, since these groups also contribute substantially to Nigeria’s revenue base.

You have spent six months as the Executive Director of AIAE. What has been your experience?

The experience has been extremely positive. Coming back to Enugu from Abuja after four years in government was a great homecoming for me, primarily because I had done quite a lot of work as an Associate Fellow of the institution prior to my appointment.

• Ameobi

‘The private sector is the engine of growth, therefore, a very strong understanding, cooperation and support from the government is required for them to confront the challenges to economic growth and industrial development in the country’ Also, I was the Managing Consultant of Skoup and Company here in Enugu, as well as a lecturer at ESUT Business School.

The past six months have been very fulfilling. The institution has grown both in prominence and in its operations. With a new strategic direction and a pool of dedicated staff, we are re-positioning the organisation, deepening research, attracting new skills and now being reckoned with continentally as an African think tank.

Our ultimate objective is to be part of the global ranking of research institutions and think tanks in the not too distant future.

What new things or ideas are you bringing into the institute? What are your objectives and how do you want to achieve them?

Working very closely with the Board of Directors, the institution is on a trajectory. Our first objective is to operate beyond the hob of our traditional applied economics space and explore new areas such as governance, the political economy, foreign relations, and so on. The thinking, basically, is to enrich our output to our public and private sector clients as well as our numerous global audiences.

This has necessitated the need for us to rebrand. We have officially been approved to operate under our new name African Heritage Institution or AfriHeritage for short, and we have commenced the full rebranding process. Our new identity will position us better to deliver value and give us the much-desired platform to showcase more of our offerings and capabilities as an evidenced-based

research institution. Other things we have started doing in the last six months is renewing our policy dialogue seminar series – the Enugu Forum, enhancing our technological capabilities to deepen research, upgrading our library facilities, and expanding our network of partners and our reach beyond Nigeria.

What is your plan with the media? How do you plan to carry them along in BECANS III? There is no gainsaying the fact that media as a communicator of policy reforms needs to be properly carried along in the process of policy formulation of which economic research is fundamental. We also believe that working with the media is one of the best ways to carry out advocacy. Even more than before, our institute is committed to working with you to bring about the needed change in the nations quest for socio economic development.

As an integral partner, we are committed to building the capacity of the press especially those whom we have been working with on this project. Ours is not just briefing the press, but carrying them along on how research output are communicated to the man on the street. On BECANS III, we are already putting our strategies together to work with the press as we begin the fieldwork across Nigeria. This will continue from time to time till we are set to commence our dissemination seminars, which will make it easier for proper communication and greater impact.

29

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

LABOUR

Fuel price hike: Labour mobilises for April protest T HE stage is set for a showdown with the Federal Government over its planned increase in the prices of petroleum products, as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and civil society groups have started mobilising for protest.

Oil workers and civil servants have also vowed to join the organised labour.

The NLC and TUC have set aside Wednesday, April 10 for a nationwide mass protest. The Labour centres claimed to be alarmed by the government’s uncaring attitude to pensioners.

They lamented that even after it had been established that the custodian of pension funds stole huge amount of the money, he was given a light punishment and option of meagre fine.

TUC President-General, Peter Esele, said the decision for mass protest was taken at the Congress’ National Executive Council meeting.

In separate telephone conversations with The Nation, oil workers under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) called for the Finance Minister’s resignation, saying that is the only way out of the subsidy crisis.

NUPENG President, Comrade Igwe Achese, said the Minister has failed the nation as she has told Nigerians contradicting stories on subsidy. She should, therefore, resign if things must be done properly, he stressed.

He recalled that the Finance Minister last year claimed that N1.2 trillion had fraudulently gone into subsidy, stressing that the government will continue to

•From left:Comrade Muhammed Sheikh, General Secretary, National Union Banks, insurance and Other Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE); Mr Segun Famoriyo, Head, Internal Control, Mainstreet Bank; Comrade Danjuma Musa, National President NUBIFIE; Mr Anogwi Anyanwu, ED, Mainstreet Bank; John Nyamali,an official of the Federal Ministry of Labour & Productivity; Oyinkan Olasonye, 1st National Deputy President, ASSBIFI and Comrade Friday Inigbedion, Senior Asst. Secretary Gen. ASSBIFI, at the stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja after the signing of agreement to pay 100 per cent gratuity to former staff of the defunct Afribank Nigeria Plc. Stories by Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu

pay subsidy until all the nation’s refineries are repaired and made to work at optimal capacity, and all the depots rehabilitated.

The senior civil servants under the umbrella of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Ni-

geria (ASCSN) said they would resist a new increase in petroleum products prices with “everything humanly possible” The Secretary-General, Comrade Bashir Alade Lawal, said: “We are preparing to meet the government for upward review of salaries, now that they are proposing fuel price increase,

‘Pay policy for workers coming’

T

HE National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission has promised that the commission will come out with a pay policy for the public service.

Chairman of the commission, Dr Richard Egbule, spoke with The Nation at the end of a two-day national workshop in Abuja on the development of a pay policy guide for the public service.

He said the workshop was organised due to recent quests by government workers to improve

on their remunerations in form of pay reforms and emolument.

The chairman said that the report from the forum by stakeholders would assist the commission to work on the pay policy.

He said the commission needs to get a draft that will be presentable to the Federal Government to ensure that the pay policy is enacted as a law.

He added that another policy the commission was working on was a comprehensive job evaluation and grading in the public service.

Egbule said: “Recent improvements in the area of workers’ welfare in the form of pay reforms and emolument review generated numerous enquiries.

“The workshop was planned to provide a forum for stakeholders to brainstorm on the subject matter and generate input for developing such a document.

“We will look at the areas the participants have mentioned in order to come out with probably a draft, because the ultimate thing now is the draft.”

Fed Govt floats committee to pay electricity workers

T

HE lingering crisis between the Federal Government and electricity workers may soon come to an end, as the government has set up a committee to pay members of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) their terminal benefits.

Workers of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) under the aegis of NUEE have been quarrelling with the government over their severance package following the privatisation of the company.

The Minister of State for Power, Hajia Zainab Kuchi, said at the inauguration of the committee, that the team would be headed by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Mr Godknows Igali.

The Minister told The Nation that the committee is to determine the correct number of workers affected and obtain their bio-data. It is also saddled with the responsibility of determining components of staff entitlements, including gratuity, pension, and repatriation.

It is also to conduct verification of affected staff with bio-metrics to ensure

that authentic beneficiaries obtained 10 digits Nigerian Uniform Bank Account Number for each worker.

Representatives of the ministries of Finance, Labour and Bureau of Public Enterprise are members of the committee.

Others are representatives of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Auditor-General of the Federation, Pension Commission, PHCN, NUEE, Electricity and Allied Companies, Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company, and Alexander Forbes Consulting.

The terms of reference also include computations of audit by a team from the Auditor-General’s Office and payments to be made to the verified beneficiaries by the Accountant-General’s Office.

The committee is expected to present progress report and status of the payments to the vice-president through the Ministry of Power as well as address other related concerns of the government and the union to ensure amicable conclusion of the exercise.

Kuchi said the committee was

expected to complete its assignment within three weeks.

She said that because of the importance of the committee, members must not be below the level of deputy director.

According to her, negotiations carried out by the government, labour and other stakeholders led to the signing of the December 11, 2012, agreement.

Kuchi said the agreement outlined the benefits to be paid to the union and also envisaged vital requirements for efficient workforce that would make the sector perform optimally.

The dispute between the government and union lingered for two years before the signing of the agreement.

The Minister of Labour and Productivity Chief Emeka Wogu, told The Nation that the agreement was the final progress made by the government and the labour union.

Wogu promised that the government would not short-change the union, adding that President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was concerned about the workers’ plight.

it’s like they are telling the workers to go and commit suicide.

We are not going to accept that.”

Senior oil workers under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) also condemned the proposed increase in fuel price.

PENGASSAN President, Com-

rade Babatunde Ogun, said: “It is not possible for government to increase fuel price now. There are many unanswered questions, ranging from subsidy claims, refineries, Petroleum Industry Bill and other conditions in our laws. Government need further engagement of all stakeholders on the project.”

NLC seeks car loans revival for Niger workers

T

HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Niger State, is seeking revival of car loan grant for workers in the state.

The Chairman, Malam Yahaya Ndako, said this would enable the workers to give their best.

Ndako made the call during a visit to Alhaji Saidu Idris, the Secretary to the State Government. He sought the revival of the labour transport service as an affordable means of transportation to the people.

He said there was need for the government to involve the organised labour in matters that affect

civil servants.

Ndako commended the state government for its efforts in repositioning the state for the advancement of the citizenry and assured the government of organised labour’s support at all times.

Alhaji Idris said the state government had put necessary measures in place for stronger collaboration with the organised labour.

He urged the workers to continue to support the government programmes and policies which, he said, were designed to put the state on the path of growth.

Institute’s strike: TUC appeals to Jonathan

C

HAIRMAN, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Kwara State, Mr Israel Adebisi, has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to wade into the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by Research Institutes’ workers..

Adebisi told The Nation that the action involved research institutes, including those in the health, agriculture and education sectors.

“The development would have adverse effect on Nigeria’s quest to research breakthroughs. At present, we have all these research institutes scattered in many ministries and as such our demands include merger of all the institutes

under a commission, the National Research Institutes Commission (NARICOM).

“We are also calling for adequate funding of the institutes and to give us the same privileges like universities and skipping of one grade level as is done in government employment,’’ he said.

He said various member unions of the institutes had negotiated with their ministries since last year on their demands.

Adebisi said the research institutes started the strike on February 4, after the Federal Government failed to look into their demands, adding that Nigeria has more than 30 research institutes.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

30

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 22-3-13

Investors mop up banks’ shares

N

EARLY two-thirds of funds staked on equities last week were committed on banking stocks as investors continued to wait for earnings reports and dividend recommendations of the banking subsector.

Banking stocks dominated the activities’ chart although the subsector traded largely with a tinge of bearishness. Banking subsector’s index indicated a weekly return of -1.31 per cent as against average market’s return of 1.69 per cent.

Financial services sector, largely driven by banks and bank-holding companies, accounted for 1.21 billion shares valued at N11.31 billion through 15,414 deals out of total turnover of 1.56 billion shares worth N16.64 billion traded in 25,255 deals.

Quoted commercial banks alone accounted for 921.900 million shares worth N9.47 billion through 10,723 deals. Turnover in the banking subsector was largely driven by trading in the shares of the trio of Access Bank

Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. The three banks accounted for 453.380 million shares, representing 49.18 per cent of the turnover volume recorded by the subsector.

Market pundits said the market was anxious about earnings reports.

Analysts at FSDH Merchant Bank said they expected the performance of the stock market to be influenced by the expectations of full-year earnings and dividend recommendations in the coming weeks.

They noted that some stocks may release their full-year 2012 earnings to the market this week and investors’ perception on these earnings will dictate the direction of the market.

The market closed on a bullish note as the main index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the All Share Index appreciated by 556.80 points or 1.69 per cent to close at 33.506.88 points as against

its opening index of 32,950.08 points.

Aggregate market value of equities rose by N178 billion from value-on-board of N10.544 trillion to close at N10.722 trillion.

With 45 decliners against 22 gainers, the market position was propped up by gains by highly capitalised manufacturing stocks, especially Dangote Cement Plc; the most capitalised stock at the NSE. While the NSE 30 Index appreciated by 1.20 per cent, the NSE Consumer Goods Index, NSE Banking Index, NSE Insurance Index and NSE Oil and Gas Index depreciated by 0.94 per cent, 1.32 per cent, 0.86 per cent and 1.36 per cent respectively.

Guinness Nigeria Plc led the losers’ list with a drop of N10.50 to close at N265. It was followed

by Nigerian Breweries with a drop of N3.73 to close at N163.07. MRS Oil and Gas dropped by N2.67 to close at N24.88 while UAC of Nigeria lost N1.95 to close at N53.05 per share.

On the gainers’ table, Nestle Nigeria led with an increase of N17 to close at N860. It was followed by Dangote Cement with a gain of N13.50 to close at N155. Okomu Oil Palm added N6 to close at N61 while Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria rose by N4.12 to close at N76 per share.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 22-3-13

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

31

MONEY LINK

DMO targets N410b bonds in Q2

B

IDDERS for Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds are expected to demand N410 billion bonds by the end of the second quarter of the year, FBN Capital, an investment and research firm, has said.

In a report obtained by The Nation, the firm said this calendar, unlike that for the first quarter, has been prepared with an approved 2013 federal budget in place. The budget statistics shows an expenditure of N4.99 trillion, a deficit of N887 billion and domestic borrowing (net) of N578 billion.

It said once the proposed $1 billion Eurobond was excluded, and the $100 million Diaspora bond, too, there would be a deficit financing gap of about N140 billion.

Stories by Collins Nweze

The deficit, it said, could be covered by asset sales and signature bonuses although the government’s recent track record for the first is poor and prospects for the second are undermined by the continuing impasse over the petroleum industry bill in the National Assembly.

“We accept that best practice requires a range for issuance and favours front-loading in the calendar year. Yet the low point in the range for second quarter still looks high in the context of the DMO’s sales of bonds totalling N285 billion (gross) in first quarter and of the projection for domestic borrowing (net) in the budget,” it said.

It said the DMO reopened

the bond in February and found that it attracted the highest bid at auction (N79 billion). This vindicated the its thinking that the reopening would be well-received, given the increasing role of the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and other institutional investors at auction.

It said the total monthly bid has averaged N161 billion over the past 12 months, except for September last year when (N83 billion) auction was recorded.

“We expect the DMO to meet the calendar comfortably. We detect a certain cooling of offshore interest in the market, and cite the sharp increase in sales at the CBN’s forex auction. We feel that the good inflation story as well as Nigeria’s inclusion in the

• DMO D-G, Abraham Nwankwo

government bond indices of JP Morgan and Barclays will underpin strong demand for domestic and some offshore investors,” it said.

Fidelity Bank wins African Oil & Gas Deal award

T

HE Project Finance Magazine, a publication of the Euromoney Plc, United Kingdom has adjudged Fidelity Bank Plc the winner of The African Oil & Gas Deal of the Year 2012.

In a statement, the bank said the award recognises achievement and excellence in getting projects built, bought or refinanced.

Fidelity, GTBank, Diamond Bank, Zenith Bank, and other international lenders and legal firms won the award with the $1.5 billion Syndicated Financing for last year’s Drilling Programme of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/ ExxonMobil Joint Venture via their Special Purpose Vehicle RDP Funding Limited.

This, the organisers said, was the most interesting financing to emerge not only from Nigeria but also from the African upstream sector. “The $1.5 billion deal builds on the JVs earlier receivables-based deals, including the $600 million satellite field financing, which closed in 2005 and backed the development of live specified fields, and the $1.42 NGLII refinancing which closed in January 2011”.

Whereas the satellite and NGLII financings related to discrete assets and will be ringfenced from the latest deal, the 2012 drilling programme financing is designed to back a more general programme of drilling at all the four oil mining leases that it owns. “All of these deals demonstrated that there was healthy bank appetite for uncovered commitments to the joint venture given the operational history,” Project Finance said.

Skye Bank marks Global Finance Week

‘CBN reforms improved corporate governance’

O

NGOING reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the banking system have assisted lenders to improve corporate governance practices in the sector, Director, Nigeria Development and Finance Forum (NDFF), Jide Akintunde has said.

He said this during a media briefing on the forthcoming NDFF conference holding in Washington DC, United States from June 4 to 5. He said Nigeria banks should leverage on their improved rating on the global stage to attract foreign investors into the economy.

He said a section of the forum will focus on plenary sessions on Nigeria’s finance and investment climate, and targeted market policy briefings.

“I think we have made a lot of progress with respect to corporate governance in the banks, especially with the elimination of the indeterminable long tenure of bank Chief Executive Officers (CEOs),” he said.

Akintunde said that starting from the banking industry recapitalisation and consolidation programme of the banking wachdog during the tenure of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo as governor, and now

Mallam Lamido Sanusi, the “family bank” phenomenon has also been weakened or eliminated.

He said that the tenure of CEOs, complicated by the owner/founder factor, and family ownership of banks had compromised sound corporate governance in the banks, but they have been substantially addressed now.

“We have seen further measures on the constitution of the boards of the banks, the limited tenure of board members and the requirement that they have certain minimum professional qualification and experience.

The boards of directors of banks are also required to play more oversight functions in the running of the banks, while there is a limit to the credit exposure of a bank to any of its directors. These measures are driven by specific rules by the CBN. Therefore, it is necessary that the rules are enforced consistently and persistently. The enforcement must be institutionalized and not left to the whims of a sitting CBN governor,” he said.

He said that going forward, the CBN should ensure the success of the cashless policy, as such would reduce banks’ cost of operation significantly.

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

NIDF NESF

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

O/PRICE

C/PRICE

WEMABANK AIRSERVICE BERGER LIVESTOCK ETERNA WAPIC STERLNBANK OKOMUOIL DANGCEM UBCAP

1.34 4.61 9.96 2.11 3.47 1.34 2.62 59.00 150.00 1.33

1.47 5.00 10.45 2.21 3.63 1.40 2.73 61.00 155.00 1.37

CHANGE 9.70 8.46 4.92 4.74 4.61 4.48 4.20 3.39 3.33 3.01

Current Before

DNMEYER ABCTRANS UBA MRS UNITYBNK CUTIX IPWA IKEJAHOTEL NEIMETH FTNCOCOA

O/PRICE 2.16 0.59 8.53 26.18 0.84 1.90 0.85 0.90 0.90 0.55

C/PRICE 1.95 0.55 8.01 24.88 0.80 1.81 0.81 0.86 0.86 0.53

Rate (N)

Date

350m

150m

150m

155.2

2-7-12

350m

138m

138m

155.8

27-6-12

350m

113m

113m

155.7

22-6-12

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD

147.6000

149.7100

150.7100

-2.11

NGN GBP NGN EUR

239.4810 212.4997

244.0123 207.9023

245.6422 209.2910

-2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

Bureau de Change 152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N)

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

Parallel Market

153.0000

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%

LOSERS AS AT 22-3-13

SYMBOL

Exchange

Sold ($)

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Year Start Offer

(S/N)

GAINERS AS AT 22-3-13

SYMBOL

Amount

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

OBB Rate Call Rate

Amount

Offered ($) Demanded ($)

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

S

KYE Bank Plc has lined up activities to mark the ‘Global Money Week’ aimed at providing financial educa tion to children to help them save and spend money responsibly.

The bank explained in a statement the exercise is aimed at boosting financial inclusion and literacy amongst the youth in the society.

During the week-long celebrations, which commenced on March 15, the bank officials visited over 15 schools and reached out to over 8000 students in both public and private schools in Lagos and Rivers states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Officials of the bank are also expected to educate the students on financial matters during the period.

Similarly, students of select international schools in Lagos have been visiting the bank’s Head Office for financial literacy education and lessons on financial inclusion.

The bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, said financial inclusion and Literacy was aimed at educating the Nigerian populace to improve their understanding of financial products, develop their skills and confidence to become more aware of financial risks and opportunities.

ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY • ARM AGGRESSIVE

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 137.90 146.54 0.80 1.14 1.11 100.00 1,000.00 1,780.91 14.66 1.39 1.87 10,695.04

9.08 1.00 137.47 146.06 0.78 1.14 1.09 100.00 1,000.00 1,777.05 13.95 1.33 1.80 10,397.87

• KAKAWA GUARANTEED

CHANGE -9.72 -6.78 -6.10 -4.97 -4.76 -4.74 -4.71 -4.44 4-.44 -3.64

• STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

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%

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

32

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

33

34

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

35

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

36

DUE DILIGENCE

Greif Nigeria: On the balance G REIF Nigeria Plc struggled with declining sales in 2012 and its cost-cutting strategy could not contain the negative impact on the bottomline. Considerable decline in sales impinged on actual and underlying profitability, leaving the company with marginal declines in distributable earnings and returns. Audited report and accounts for the year ended October 31, 2012 showed that sales dropped by 15 per cent, which magnified to about 22 per cent dip in pre-tax profit. However, with lower tax provisions, profit after tax ended with marginal decline of 5.2 per cent. These also reflected in underlying profitability indices, which all through slipped to lower levels.

However, the packaging company emerged with stronger balance sheet with more congruent financing structure and higher liquidity providing supports and cushions against the challenges in market operations.

With zero financial leverage and current ratio of 6.02 times, Greif Nigeria’s balance sheet obviously curtailed extraneous variables that could have worsened the overall performance during the year. The board remained conservative in its dividend policy, opting to distribute a little above one-third of net earnings to shareholders. The result was a modest dividend yield of about 2.4 per cent.

Financing structure Greif Nigeria’s paid up capital remained unchanged at N21.3 million, consisting of 42.64 million ordinary shares of 5 kobo each. Shareholders’ funds inched up by 6.4 per cent from N367 million to N390.6 million. Total assets increased slightly by 2.4 per cent to N713.8 million in 2012 as against N696.9 million in 2011. Fixed assets declined marginally from N246.9 million to N237 million

By Taofik Salako

while current assets had increased by 5.9 per cent from N450.1 million to N476.8 million.

Total liabilities stood at N323.3 million in 2012, a slight decrease of 2.0 per cent from N330 million recorded in 2011. While longterm liabilities grew by 7.0 per cent from N228 million to N244 million, current liabilities dropped considerably by 22 per cent from N101.9 million to N79.2 million.

The underlying financing structure was stronger in 2012 with zero gearing ratio and more equity funds. The proportion of equity funds to total assets improved from 52.7 per cent to 54.7 per cent. Long-term liabilities/ total assets ratio increased from 32.7 per cent to 34.2 per cent while the proportion of current liabilities to total balance sheet size improved from 14.6 per cent to 11.1 per cent.

Efficiency The company’s cost slightly outpaced output, impinging on margins. Although there were no available data to determine actual unit decline in productivity and cost efficiency, the overall outlook suggested marginal declines in productivity and efficiency. Total cost of business inched up to 92.1 per cent of total incomes in 2012 as against 91.7 per cent recorded in 2011.

Profitability Greif Nigeria struggled with sluggish top-line, which reverberated all through the bottomline. Total turnover dropped by about 15 per cent from N879.5 million in 2011 to N748.7 million in 2012. Cost of sales declined by 14 per cent to N619.1 million as against N719.1 million in previous year. Gross profit consequently shrank by 19.3 per cent from N160.5 million to N129.6 million. Distribution and admin-

2008

istrative expenses totalled N70.5 million in 2012 as against N87.6 million in 2011, representing a drop of about 20 per cent. With marginal non-core business incomes and zero financing charges, profit before tax shrank by about 22 per cent from N71.6 million in 2011 to N56.1 million in 2012. After taxes, net profit slipped by 5.2 per cent from N38.4 million to N36.4 million.

Underlying profitability ratios were generally negative. Gross profit margin declined from 18.2 per cent to 17.3 per cent. Pre-tax profit margin also dwindled from 8.1 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

Return on total assets slipped from 10.3 per cent to 7.9 per cent while return on equity shifted downward to 9.3 per cent as against 10.5 per cent in previous year.

Further analysis showed earnings per share of 85 kobo in 2012 compared with 90 kobo in 2011.

However, net assets per share improved by 6.4 per cent to N9.16 compared with N8.61 recorded in previous year. The company would be distributing 35.2 per cent of net earnings to shareholders as dividends, totalling N12.8 million. This rep-

Fiscal Year Ended October 31 Nmillion

2012 12 months

% change

2011 12 months

Profit and Loss Statement Main Business Segment Total turnover Cost of sales Gross profit Operating expenses Interest and other incomes Finance expenses Pre-tax profit(loss) Post-tax profit (loss) Basic earnings per share(kobo) Gross dividend (Nm) Cash dividend per share (kobo) Net Assets per share (kobo)

748.7 748.7 619.1 129.6 70.5 0.6 0.0 56.1 36.4 85.0 12.8 30.0 916.0

-14.9 -14.9 -13.9 -19.3 -19.6 648.7 -100.0 -21.7 -5.2 -5.6 0.0 0.0 6.4

879.5 879.5 719.1 160.5 87.6 0.1 1.6 71.6 38.4 90.0 0.0 0.0 861.0

Balance Sheet Assets: Fixed assets Total long term assets Trade debtors Current assets Total assets Liabilities: Trade creditors Bank loans Current liabilities Long-term liabilities Total liabilities Equity Funds Share capital Total Equity Funds

237.0 237.0 215.1 476.8 713.8

-4.0 -4.0 -4.7 5.9 2.4

246.9 246.9 225.8 450.1 696.9

50.9 0.0 79.2 244.1 323.3

-36.0 #DIV/0!

-22.3 7.0 -2.0

79.4 0.0 101.9 228.0 330.0

21.3 390.6

0.0 6.4

21.3 367.0

2009

2010

resented a dividend per share of 30 kobo. Dividend cover stood at 2.83 times. At current market price, the dividend implies a yield of 2.37 per cent.

Liquidity The liquidity position of the company improved considerably during the period. Current ratio, which underlines financial readiness of the company and serves as measure of solvency, closed 2012 better at 6.02 times as against 4.42 times in 2011.

Working capital/turnover ratio improved from 39.6 per cent to 53.1 per cent. Debtors/creditors ratio stood at 422.9 per cent as against 284.2 per cent.

Governance and structures Formerly known as Van Leer Containers Plc, Greif Nigeria Plc was incorporated in January 1940. It became a publicly quoted company in May 1979. The highest-priced stock in the packaging and containers subsector, Greif Nigeria is into manufacturing and marketing of metal drums and plastic containers. A member of global packaging group with net sales of $4.27 billion in October 2012 and more than 200 operating locations in more than 50 countries, Greif Nigeria is owned mainly by Greif International Holdings B.V, which holds 51 per cent equity stake. The Van Leer Nigerian Education Trust holds 23 per cent while other Nigerian individuals and institutions

2011

2012

hold 26 per cent. Greif Nigeria is a socially responsible corporate citizen with nearly a quarter of its net earnings dedicated to education of Nigerians through The Van Leer Nigerian Education Trust. The board and management of the company have remained stable.

The company has complied largely with code of corporate governance and extant laws. It however, was in breach of the submission of accounts deadline.

Analyst’s opinion The performance of Greif Nigeria reflected the general slowdown in manufacturing activities. Although sustained Gross Domestic Products (GDP) growth over the years has reckoned Nigeria as one of the resilient economies, the lopsided economic structure and dominance of the few hardcore sectors imply that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth does not usually translate into general economic growth and development.

With the crunchy reform in the banking sector, the prolonged recession at the primary capital market and generally tough operating environment, service-based companies such as Greif Nigeria, which rely on the industrial and manufacturing activities, are more susceptible to the slowdown. The company needs to rework its topline growth strategy t create headroom to energise profit and returns.

There is also the need to align operations with costs, to ensure that shareholders derive optimal value from operations.

Fiscal Year Ended October 31

2012 %

2011 %

Financing structure Equity funds/Total assets Long-term liabilities/Total assets Current liabilities/Total assets Debt/Equity ratio

54.7 34.2 11.1 0.0

52.7 32.7 14.6 0.0

Profitability Gross profit margin Pre-tax profit margin Return on total assets Return on equity Dividend cover (times)

17.3 7.5 7.9 9.3 2.83

18.2 8.1 10.3 10.5 0.00

Efficiency Pre-tax profit per employee (Nm) Staff cost per employee (Nm) Cost of sales, operating exp/Turnover

NA NA 92.1

NA NA 91.7

Liquidity Current ratio Working capital/Turnover Debtors/Creditors

6.02 53.1 422.9

4.42 39.6 284.2

JOBS THE NATION

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

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

37

• ITF trainees

1.2 million jobs coming for skilful youths With the coming of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), the Federal Government is set to tackle youth unemployment. Under the scheme, the Ministry of Trade and Investment in partnership with the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) is to open and equip 46 skills centres to tackle unemployment, reports TOBA AGBOOLA.

T

HE National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) is a scheme designed to empower youths with resources to help them set up their businesses upon graduation.

Under the initiative, no fewer than 29,875 trainees graduates will graduate yearly.

Upon their graduation, they are expected to be employable.

The Director-General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Prof. Longmas Wapmuk, said the NISDP has taken off in 10 of the 36 states. No fewer than 10,000 youths are being trained in those states, 30,000 others are expected to be trained in diverse economic sectors.

When the government launched the NISDP last year, it was intended that the

scheme would provide over 1.2 million jobs for youths in order to boost the economy.

The Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Mr Samuel Ortom, who inaugurated the scheme in Apapa, Lagos, described the NISDP, which is to be driven by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), as key to the success of the government’s transformation agenda.

He said: “As you are aware, capacity building is a critical requirement for economic growth and development.The NISDP, driven by the ITF and SMEDAN, is key to the success of government’s transformation agenda.

“Under the NISDP, which is being driven by the ITF and SMEDAN, over 1.2 million people, particularly youths, will be trained

yearly, with hope of securing jobs thereafter. I, therefore, congratulate the ITF for putting up this magnificent edifice which, I believe, will be a veritable outlet for the much needed skills acquisition services of the ITF”.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga said the ministry, in collaboration with ITF, has put structures in place to ensure that trainees from the NISDP are empowered to be either gainfully employed, or are able to set up their own businesses.

He said: “We are already on the path to addressing the problem of skills gap and unemployment through the introduction and implementation of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme. The idea

is that we want to turn our quantity advantage as a nation into a productive advantage. And the only way to do it is through skills acquisition and education after which we can provide opportunities for those that have acquired the skills to set up their own businesses or to be gainfully employed.

“Therefore, the strategy of the Ministry of Trade and Investment, working together with the ITF, is to identify the critical sectors of the economy where we have comparative and competitive advantage.

The second thing is to link those sectors or industries that we have identified to innovation, Research and Development.

•Continued on page 38

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

38

JOBS

1.2 million jobs coming for skilful youths •Continued from page 37 Then, the third thing is to link those sectors to industrial skills development. That is where the NISDP comes in.”

Wapmuk said the NISDP was primarily designed to empower its trainees with resources to help them set up their businesses upon graduation.

“This plan envisages that we will have industrial skills training centres in the 36 states of the federation and Abuja. And in each of these centres, we will have provision for training people in 24 trade areas. We have also made provision in this plan for Centres for Advanced Skills Training for Employment (CASTE) and these are bigger centres that have provision for about 45 trade areas which will be located in the six geo-political zones of the country,” he said.

Wapmuk said the implementation of these initiatives is expected to generate 29,875 readily employable graduates yearly, which will go a long way in reducing unemployment, creating wealth and enhancing national security.

Wapmuk said: “Our focus is to establish 37 Industrial Skills Training Centres, one in each state and the Federal Capital Territory, with six Centres of Advanced Skills Training for Employment for skills broadening and upgrading in addition to Sector-Specific Skills Training Centres to cater for the skills needed

for manufacturing, agric-agro allied, construction and other critical sectors of the Nigerian economy.

“In each of the 46 centres, training will be offered in 25 trade areas. Each of the 25 trade areas will enrol 25 trainees in line with international best practice for effective hands-on learning.”

Wapmuk called for support from the stakeholders, saying ITF cannot do it alone.

He said six centres of advanced skills training for employment and three specialised centres for culinary skills to develop skilled personnel for the hospitality and tourism sector would be established.

“We need the support and encouragement of all stakeholders.

This desire for partnership to enhance national growth and development led us to commence the Technical Skills Development Programme (TSDP) with NECA and the successes recorded by this scheme and the experiences we gathered through collaborations with local and international human resource development agencies contributed to our initiation

• Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga

and eventual partnership with the ministry for the launch of the NISDP. “We will continue to remain focused and work towards contrib-

• Wapmuk

uting our quota to the realisation of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda,” he said.

On the modality and cost of establishing each centre, Wapmuk

‘This plan envisages that we will have industrial skills training centres in the 36 states and Abuja. And in each of these centres, we will have provision for training people in 24 trade areas. We have also made provision in this plan for Centres for Advanced Skills Training for Employment (CASTE) and these are bigger centres that have provision for about 45 trade areas which will be located in the six geo-political zones of the country’

admitted that the skill centers are very costly to establish, because some equipment can cost up to N15 million.

“We have estimated that the industrial skills centres in the 36 states and Abuja will have provision for 24 trades and will cost about N3.5 billion, while the bigger ones, the advanced skills centres in the six geo-political zones, will cost about N5.5 billion.”

The cost notwithstanding, Wapmuk said ITF will be able to generate the required money over time to help establish the centres.

CAREER MANAGEMENT

Politics in the work-place: Are you an owl or a fox?

T

O be effective and to survive, managers require leadership competencies which include envisioning, mental energy and stamina, a sense of purpose, ability to continue learning, ability to handle organisational politics, understanding and managing teams, facilitative in approach, being intuitive, change management, communication, stress management, balancing ambition and integrity, etc.

Countless hours of training, books upon books, academic and non-academic papers and vital units of business education curriculum have been devoted to one of the above competencies/skills or the other.

However, little has been written about organisational politics, either because many find the subject distasteful or perhaps because it is deemed to be worthy of study. Neither is it found in the syllabus of any management programme of MBA course that I have come across. What a waste! It is possible that more people’s careers flounder on the rocks of organisational politics than for many other reasons.

Yet it is an area of great interest to practising managers. An exceedingly high proportion of the extra-curricular questions (i.e. those asked in the bar at the end of the day) in most out-of-site training programmes centre on this thorny area.

Whether we want to admit it or not, the stark reality is that there is heavy, sometimes dangerous politicks, is going on in our establishments and corporations.

While it may not be surprising to find it in government institutions and corporations, the academia is not left out. Even the socalled blue chip companies are not left out, including the local subsidiaries of transnational corporations. In our environment, the basis of the politicking is a little more complex and the instrument of practice can be scary. Organisation politics here is complicated by unbridled nepotism, ethnicity and corruption. It is not unusual for promotions, appointments and postings to be

By Olu Oyeniran

done on one or more of the above considerations rather than merit and competence.

And the instrument ranges from the absurd to the macabre-juju, assault, arson and, even, assassination!

So, how can politics be defined and, more importantly, how can it be survived?

If company politics can be described as ‘the way we do things around here’, then surely it can also be described as ‘the way that we do things to people around here’.

It is sad truism that whatever people gather to tackle a task, there will be tension, rivalries, jealousies, hidden agendas and plain old-fashion mischief. Not only do people want to achieve the task their own way, they also want the way that the task is approached to reflect glory in certain specific directions and to help the careers of specific individuals or groups. It may not be pleasant, but, whether your place of work is a merchant bank or a monastery, it is unavoidable. Indeed, there is evidence to show that the more senior and better educated the participants, the more prevalent and unpleasant will be the politics. At Marks & Spencer’s Head Office in London in the 70s, a number of highly qualified, talented individuals played fast and furious political games. The reasons?

The awesome organisation in its retail stores did not extend to Head Office, where many senior professionals were somewhat under-employed. As the saying goes, ‘the devil makes work for idle hands’, and the spare hours were filled with all sorts of intrigue.

The concept of political animals is a popular one, and the University of Birmingham has conducted intriguing studies on the nature of these beasts in organisations. Researchers identified two axes behaviour:

• That of being ‘well-read’ in what was going on politically within the organisation: having an interest in the different factions’ power camps and power plays. The degree to which one was well-read could be high or low • That of having an interest in self and the promotion of one’s own aims versus that of having a prime interest in the fortunes and welfare of the organisation.

With these axes in mind, it then became possible to identify four discrete orientations and to label each with the name of the animal most representative.

Orientation 1: Here the individual was politically well-read and had a high interest in the fortunes of the organisation rather than self. This individual they labelled the Wise Owl. Owls are both liked and respected; furthermore, they are seldom hunted and usually survive. There is one downside, however: they do not often get to the head of the forest.

Orientation 2: In this box the individual was well-read and took an active interest in the politics; moreover, the individual promoted him- or herself actively within the organisation. Here we have the Crafty Fox. The fox is not always popular, for it hunts and it can create mayhem, but usually it is a survivor. Occasionally, it oversteps the mark and is hunted down, but even fox hunt in the area of southern England where I live are anything to go by, I’m glad to say!)

Orientation 3: In the first of the lower boxes is found the person who is politically ill-read, but who on the other hand has a high degree of self-interest.

The researchers contemptuously label this individual as the Donkey – both stubborn and stupid. The donkey is used as a beast of burden, resents it and is seldom thanked. It never reached the top.

Orientation 4: The final box contains those who are badly read politically, who have no interest in improving their knowledge or skills and yet who continually put the organisation before self, Loyalty, blind loyalty, is the name of the game, and these people are labelled Sheep, unquestioning naive. It is often happens that the sheep end up in the slaughterhouse.

So, where is the best position to be politically? Having put this question to a wide variety of executives from different countries and cultures, the answer is invariably ‘just to the right of the Fox/Owl divide (i.e. a combination of both, but being slightly more of a Fox). In other words, they were saying that you have to know the political forces at work and have to keep up to date with the trends and development here. In addition, you have to know how to play the game in order to appreciate the games was not worth the sacrifice or one’s own personal integrity and self-respect. So, to survive, the effective leader must be ‘aware’ and must learn to apply this awareness in ethical ways that reinforce the leader’s credibility rather than detract from it. All the essential skills of questioning, listening and above all intuition must be used to the full. Having the antennae out of all times is not being manipulative and does not sacrifice integrity. It is simply being smart.

Acknowledgement: we have relied heavily on John Maurik, Management Consultant and author, Discovering The Leader in You (McGraw-Hill, 1994) and The Portable Leader (McGraw-Hill, 1997).

•Oyeniran is the Lead Consultant, EkiniConsult & Associates & author.

Jobsearchguru’s Job-Hunting Manual. He can be reached on Jobsearchhow.com.ng Tel 08083843230 (SMS Only).

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

39

MONEY MARKET REPORT

Naira upbeat on $850m WDAS sales I

T took the intervention of $850 million bi-weekly transactions at the Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS) to save the naira from losses recorded at the beginning of last week. The naira gained 0.2 per cent to 158.25 per dollar, according to data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) website.

The naira had last Wednesday, fell 0.2 per cent to 158.95 per dollar, culminating into a decline of 1.8 per cent this year.

The dollar sales were the highest in eight months. Dollar sales are mostly deployed into stabilizing the naira as the cost of importing fuel, which accounts for 70 per cent of the local petrol market, boosts dollar demand and puts pressure on the currency.

"On the back of the increased foreign-exchange sales from the bank, the naira stabilised this week," Ridle Markus and Dumisani Ngwenya, Africa strategists at Absa Capital in Johannesburg, told Bloomberg.

The yield on Nigeria's 16.39 per cent domestic bonds due January 2022 was unchanged at 11.24 per cent in the secondary market, according to data compiled on the Financial Markets Dealers Association website. Yields on the $500 million of Eurobonds due January 2021 declined 6.5 basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 4.239 per cent last Friday.

Credit bureaux The CBN last week unveiled guidelines for licensing, operations and regulation of credit bureaux and related transactions in the country.

A circular to all credit bureaux and other stakeholders, signed by A.O Idris on behalf of Director, Banking Supervision, Mrs Agnes Martins said individuals/entities are at liberty to invest in a credit bureau subject to CBN approval. However, investment by a bank and its subsidiaries would not exceed 10 per cent of the total paid-up capital of the credit bureau and the lender is not expected to invest in more than one firm.

The guideline, also stipulates that maximum number of directors (including executive directors) on the Board of a Credit Bureau would be 11, one of which must be an independent director, while the minimum is five. The non-executive directors, it said, should comprise the majority of the members of the board at any point in time. It added that no individual is allowed to be a director in more than one credit bureau adding that the appointment/upgrade of a new director/ management staff shall be approved by the banking watchdog.

Single currency Irregular cash flow among the six African countries working on achieving single currency for the region has prompted member countries to shift take-off date from this year to 2015.

In an emailed report obtained from FBN Capital, the firm said the West Africa currency union (the Eco), is faltering in difficult circumstances. It said a technical meeting of the six member states of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) in Abuja indicated that none of them met the four primary macro-convergence criteria as at June 2012.

Rather, the performance of the zone on its convergence scale had deteriorated sharply from 79.2 in June 2011 to 62.5. Inflation, one of four primary criteria, averaged 12.6 per cent in June 2012, compared with 11.6 per cent one year earlier and the objective of no more than five per cent.

It said the latest deadline for the launch of the single currency in WAMZ is 2015, 12 years behind initial target. Also a second stage would see the inclusion of the nine other members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Micro-refinance company The CBN approved the Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for the Operations of a Mortgage Re-finance Company (MRC) as an exposure draft.

CBN Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, Olufemi Fabamwo said the framework is drawn based on provisions of the CBN Act 2007, Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) CAP B3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004, other relevant Laws.

The CBN also set a minimum capital base

•Dollar Notes

By Collins Nweze

for the subsector at N5 billion, but intending operators will have to pay non-refundable application fee of N100,000 and nonrefundable licencing fee of N200,000.

He said the framework provides for the licensing and establishment of a MRCs as specialized second-tier institution which would provide short-term liquidity, longterm funding and/or guarantees to mortgage originators and housing finance lenders.

He said the establishment of MRC is primarily aimed at increasing the liquidity within the mortgage sub-sector and availability of mortgage credit in the country. It will also reduce mortgage and related costs, and make residential housing more affordable.

RenCap Growth in the Nigerian banking sector will be driven by competition and improved corporate governance structure, Chief Executive Officer, West Africa, Renaissance Capital (RenCap), Mrs Yvonne Ike has said.

Speaking during an interview in Lagos, she said growth in the sector will be largely-driven by competition, which could spur new round of mergers and acquisitions taking some lenders to mega bank status.

She equally identified the growing interest of foreign investors in the Nigerian banking sector as a factor that would propel growth in the sector.

She said: "I think we would see a bit more consolidation in the banking sector. The banking sector is a very strong sector and it is going to continue to be very competitive. We see a bank like Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) that has a cost to income ratio of 41 per cent and has return on equity of over 20 per cent. So we would see people struggling to compete and banks that have the platform and align their strategy with the growth sectors of the economy would outstrip others. We are gradually seeing more international banks looking at the market. This is something that is taking longer than we anticipated."

CBN Governor An emerging-markets strategist at Standard Bank Group, Samir Gadio has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to name successor to the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido whose tenure ends next year.

Gadio who spoke o Bloomberg said the government should name his replacement soon to help ease investors' concerns and manage the transition. He regretted that in 2009, former President Umaru Yar'Adua didn't name Sanusi as a replacement to Chukwuma Soludo until two days before his term ended.

"He has a strong personality and a lot of people invested in the country just because of the personal relationship and the trust in Sanusi, and the confidence that Sanusi inspires," Gadio said.

Yvonne Mhango, an economist at Renaissance Capital, said the next governor will probably have a different outlook or perspective. She said Sanusi came into office when there was a banking crisis, the currency was depreciating and he had midteen inflation. "He's turned that all around," she said.

"That quality of character, that boldness is a quality that will be difficult to find amongst policy makers in Nigeria," Bismarck Rewane chief executive officer of Financial Derivatives Co also told Bloomberg.

Speaking to CNBC Africa, Sanusi, who assumed leadership of the apex bank since June 2009, said he will not renew his contract when it expires in 2014. He said it was never his intention to stay longer than one term.

FMDA’s new President Financial Markets Dealers Association (FMDA) in Nigeria has elected Sola Adegbesan, Head of Global Markets at Stanbic IBTC Bank, as its new President.

FMDA is a self-regulatory financial services body established to help develop financial market infrastructure, human capital and promote professional as well as ethical standards in treasury activities in Nigeria.

In a statement after the election, he body said Adegbesan was elected for a two-year term at the 21st delegates conference/annual general meeting of the association which held in Lagos recently.

Other members of the seven-man governing council are Mrs. Sumbo Adigun as vice president; Mr. Ayo Babatunde and Mr. Zeal Akaraiwe as members while Mr. Akin Dawodu, Mrs Femi Owopetu, and Mr. Ini Ebong are ex-officios.

Remittances The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has applauded the CBN for its timely contributions to the revenues of the Federal Government. The legislators said the banking watchdog has also shown dedication to duty and commitment to growth and development of the economy.

Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, Chairman of the Committee, noted that although strictly speaking the CBN was not a revenue centre, this singular act of the apex bank was " the mark of a responsible public institution and should be commended by all".

In a ceremony, the first of its kind in the history of the National Assembly, Hon.

‘The naira gained 0.2 per cent to 158.25 per dollar, according to data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) website. The naira had last Wednesday, fell 0.2 per cent to 158.95 per dollar, culminating into a decline of 1.8 per cent this year’

•CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido

Jibrin explained that the Committee decided to recognise the commendable efforts of the CBN in order to show the world that in the exercise of its oversight functions the National Assembly will not hesitate to give commendations to performing public institutions and reprimand nonperforming ones.

Bank to bank report Union Bank of Nigeria Plc is at 2013 edition of Enugu International Trade Fair with full range of services to delight customers. The bank said in a statement that it targets mainly young entrepreneurs whose dreams it has vowed to transform into reality.

Coming at the heels of the recent Kaduna fair where it won most of the prized bank award, the lender said it is increasingly raising the bar in delivering world class services to its teeming customers.

The bank said it is parading an impressive array of e-products using Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, internal transfers -account to account; card transactions for bills payments and Union Mobile for commerce as well as Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) services. Others include corporate pay, internet banking, Pay direct, Pay4me and pay outlets for cashless transactions.

United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Limited has posted a profit before tax (PBT) of GH¢62.9 million during the financial year ended December 31, 2012. This is an improvement and 108 per cent higher than GH¢30.1 million earned in 2011.

In a statement, the bank said it has made steady and significant strides in the growth of its profits and total assets. UBA drastically reduced its Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio during the period under review, the financial year-ending December 31, 2012. The bank's PAT grew by 112 per cent from GH¢22.4 million in 2011 to GH¢47.5 million last year.

Nigeria remains an investor's delight and the next economic giant of Africa, Ecobank Group Chairman, Kolapo Lawson has said.

Speaking at a 'CEOs Brainstorming Session' organised by Ecobank and the World Economic Forum on Africa, 2013, he said opening of trade activities and continuous privatisation of government assets that will result in increased economic efficiency for the country.

Keystone Bank Limited has partnered School of Media and Communication (SMC), Pan-African University on the development of Advanced Writing and Reporting Skills course. The course, the bank said in a statement, would improve writing skills and also facilitate proficiency in research as well as critical skills.

"Seeing the need to help Nigerians make progress in this critical skill area, Keystone Bank Limited is partnering with SMC to promote writing skills among Nigerians.

The support by Keystone Bank in 2013 has helped to bring the fee for the course down by 50 per cent so as to make the programme affordable to many more Nigerians," it said.

40

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

INSURANCE

Currency transactions: Erring firms to be sanctioned

Mutual to launch 50 micro products

T

M

HE Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has warned of severe sanctions against insurance firms that fail to report currency transactions of their customers.

Its Director, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku, made this known at the National InsuranceCommission (NAICOM)Sensitisation Programme on Anti-Money Laundering and Combat of Financing of Terrorism Control Measures for Insurance Companies in Lagos.

She noted that the NFIU’s endof- year reports showed that only 3,871 Currency Transactions Reports (CTRs) were submitted by insurance companies last year.

Stories by Uyoatta Eshiet

She added that the Unit would not hesitate to sanction some firms.

Mrs. Ibekaku said failure to file currency transaction reports and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) is a criminal offence.

She said: “The NFIU would like to reiterate that failure to file CTRs and STRs is a criminal offence which the NFIU will enforce working closely with its counterpart in the law enforcement agencies and NAICOM. “The responsibility to take specific and timely action to prevent the financial system from reputational and legal risks rests

mainly with the insurance companies in the first instance because of the nature of the services and products they offer to their customers and because of the type of clientele they serve.”

She said the NFIU and NAICOM intends to issue further guidance on some of the emerging issues that have been observed, adding that the antimoney laundering law, mandates financial institutions to report transactions, lodgments or transfer of funds over N5 million or N1 million by an individual and N10 million or N5 million by a corporate entity to the NFIU.

Deputy Director, Inspectorate, NAICOM, Emmanuel Farinu, said efforts were being made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to review jurisdictions globally to identify areas that pose risk to international financial system and determe the extent of compliance with antimoney laundering and combating financing of terrorism requirements.

Assistant Director, Inspectorate NAICOM, Sam Onyeka, said the Commission has put in place measures that would enable operators to have a harmonised CTRs and STRs reporting system.

UTUAL Benefits Assurance PLC is set to roll out 50 micro-insurance products as part of efforts to boost the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI).

Its Group Managing Director, Akin Ogunbiyi, who made this known in a media parley in Lagos, said the first batch would be introduced in April, adding that the products were developed along social, demographic, trade groups and risks peculiar to each segment of the nation.

He said the firm has taken time and expertise to develop the different products for the different groups and needs, as there are no more ‘Off the shelf ‘products for everybody.

Speaking on means to get the products across to Nigerians, Ogunbiyi said the firm would open 200 offices by 2015, adding that 32 offices were opened last year and that the number would reach 70 by December this year. He said the effort would bring existing and new offices of the firm nationwide to 96 by the end of this year, adding that Lagos, Oyo, Osun and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were used as the pilot states.

He said the firm would create 22,000 new jobs by 2015 in line with the man-power need of the industry under the MDRI.

New chair, ED for Leadway

T

• From left: Executive Director, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Lanre Adesaya; Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Yemi Odubiyi and Head, Internal Audit, Mr.Cajetan Awuja, at the presentation of Certificate of Compliance to the bank by Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, at Sterling Bank Head Office in Lagos.

Oasis pays N494.5m claims

O

ASIS Insurance Plc has said it settled N494.5 million claims last year.

According to the Managing Director, Mr Babatunde Oshadiya, the company incurred claims worth N494,576,954.95 in motor, fire, marine, engineering and general accident insurance last year. He said the company would continue to discharge its duties to the public.

While giving a breakdown of the claims settled last year, the Managing Director said the company paid N110,486,729.20 in motor insurance while general ac-

cident cost N154,135,016.79.

Under the fire class, he said N135,706,209.22 was paid, and N29,228,965.47 and N23,747,134.41 were paid in Engineering and marine insurance.

The company also paid N41, 272,899.86 under aviation and oil and gas.

Mr Oshadiya said Oasis would continue to match excellent service with prompt claims settlement to meet the expectations of the insuring public and as well gain total acceptance for all the company’s products.

In a related development, the

Marketing Director of the company, Mr. Olatunde Balogun, said the company has set in motion strategies to move the company forward and record extra-ordinary success in terms of profit in the coming years.

He further averred that necessary resources would be devoted to the marketing function in its pursuit of premium growth, while not neglecting the business operations in the delivery of effective underwriting and claims management.

Balogun said in the last 20 years, Oasis Insurance has successfully met up with its contractual obliga-

tions to its teeming customers and the insuring public. He added that the company is poised to remain focused on its distribution channels to meet customers’ needs innovatively and efficiently. He, therefore, assured all stakeholders of openness, fairness, diligence and excellence service delivery at all times.

“We are determined to satisfy the needs of our customers across all segments of the economy and we will continue to ensure that insurance products and services are available and affordable to everyone.

Standard Alliance girl wins Miss Insurance pageant

A

STAFF member of Standard Alliance General Insurance, Miss Sadiq Sefiya, has won this year’s Miss Insurance pageant organised by the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN).

The pageant, which held in Lagos, was keenly contested by 12 ladies from different underwriting firms.

Miss Cole Oluwayemisi of Anchor Insurance emerged the First Runner-Up and Ogunkoya Tolulope of AIICO Insurance was the Second Runner-Up. Miss Sefiya, who was excited, said she never gave the contest a thought when it was announced, adding that she made up her mind to participate at the last minutes.

She said her boss and family members encouraged her to participate in the contest.

The insurance Queen went home with the Star Prize is a Kia Picanto Car sponsored by Unity Kapital assurance Plc, while the First Runner-up and Second runner-up took prizes sponsored by Standard Alliance Life and African Alliance Insurance

Plc. The President CIIN, Dr. Wole Adetimehin, said the pageant is organised to harness the potential of young ladies in the industry and by extension deepen insurance awareness.

He urged the Queen to live up to the expectations, adding that the standard set by former queens has to be sustained.

HE Board of Leadway Assurance has appointed Mr. Umar Yahaya as its Chairman. He replaces its founding Chairman, the late Alhaji Hassan HadejiaShettiman Hadejia.

According to a statement, Mr Yahaya is a former director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc and New Africa Merchant Bank Limited, among others.

He is also a director of Fidelity Bank Plc, First Pension Custodians and a Trustee of PZ Cussons.

Also, Ms. Adetola Adegbayi, has been named Executive Director, General Business. She joined Leadway Assurance 18 years ago as an Assistant Manager, and rose to the position of General Manager (Business Services and Special Risks) in 2009. She is a lawyer with varied experience in legal research, corporate legal practice, insurance and financial services.

According to Hassan-Odukale, the appointments of Mr Yahaya and Ms. Adegbayi, reflect the dynamism within Leadway Assurance and its robust governance structure.

The Life Business, General Manager is Mr Shadrack Sivhugwana, an actuary and Fellow of the South African Institute of Actuaries.

Cornerstone is FRSC’s partner

C

ORNESTONE Insurance Plc has been appointed as the official partner of Federal Road Safety Commission’s (FRSC’s) Decade of Action Project in Zone 2 Command, covering Lagos and Ogun states. The appointment was in recognition of the firm’s strategic thrust of supporting projects capable of bringing enduring benefits to the people.

The ‘Decade of Action’ 2011-2020 is a global programme launched by the United Nations in over 100 countries including Nigeria to reduce road deaths and injuries across the world.

In a statement, Head, Brand and Corporate Communication, Zonal Command, Lagos, Mr Ademola Mafikuyomi, acknowledged the command’s challenges in its quest to make the highways safe for motorists and other road users in the state.

'I haven't changed. I've matured, I'm growing. I'm not 17 anymore, with experience you grow,' he told reporters. I'm not one of the best in the world and I'm not one of the worst in the world. I'm only myself, like always. Many people like me, but not everybody. After Euro 2012 I noted that my popularity increased.Thanks to the Nazionale fans of other teams like me as well now. The Nazionale is something special, I can't explain it, it's above all else.’

AC Milan player, Mario Balotelli, explaining he has transformed into a matured player.

Monday, March 25, 2013

42

MOURINHO hints at Chelsea return

•Mourinho

Balotelli: I haven't changed,

I'M MATURE

•Messi

Messi closes in on Maradona’s Argentina goal record

L

IONEL MESSI moved to within two goals of Diego Maradona in Argentina's all-time scoring list with his 32nd for his country as they beat Venezuela 3-0 in World Cup qualifying.

Messi, who stated his World Cup goal once again in midweek, is at the fulcrum of everything that is good about a dynamic team coached by Alejandro Sabella in which midfielders Javier Mascherano, Fernando Gago and Walter Montillo also shone.

Messi, who converted a penalty, is two goals short of the 34 Diego Maradona scored for Argentina, while Gonzalo Higuain's brace put him top of the South American scorers chart. 'Our forward line are among the best in the world,' said coach Alejandro Sabella.

Messi will play against Bolivia on Tuesday in La Paz, where visiting teams suffer the effects of the high altitude.

Argentina lost 6-1 on their last visit.

The Barcelona forward has revealed his growing understanding with Gonzalo Higuain, after the pair combined to inspire the victory against Venezuela.

"Higuain is a great player because he scores a lot of goals," Messi told reporters after the match. "Every time we play, our understanding together increases.

Playing together is a great joy shared amongst the members of the Argentina squad. The most important thing is to win, no matter who makes the assists or gets the goals.

"We knew they [Venezuela] would try to hit us on the break, but we had the ball, and scored the first goal. Space opened up for us after that. We were patient."

M

ARIO BALOTELLI says he has been maturing during the past few years and loves playing for his country.

The Italy striker was noted while at Manchester City for a string of remarkable and often ridiculous incidents.

But the 22-year-old, who moved to AC Milan in the summer, spoke ahead of Italy's

World Cup qualifier in Malta and said he is growing up.

'I haven't changed. I've matured, I'm growing. I'm not 17 anymore, with experience you grow,' he told reporters.

'I'm not one of the best in the world and I'm not one of the worst in the world. I'm only myself, like always.'

Balotelli adores playing for Italy and is glad that his

countrymen like him more when he plays well.

'Many people like me, but not everybody. After Euro 2012 I noted that my popularity increased,' he explained.

'Thanks to the Nazionale fans of other teams like me as well now. The Nazionale is something special, I can't explain it, it's above all else.'

Balotelli was praised by Milan

Ribery: Benzema lacks confidence

F

•Balotelli

RANCK RIBERY has revealed that Karim Benzema's confidence is low as France prepare to face Spain on Tuesday.

The form of the Real Madrid striker has come under intense scrutiny in his homeland, with his goal drought in internationals stretching back to a friendly against Estonia last June, in which he scored twice.

Speaking on Sunday to the football programme Telefoot, Ribery admitted that his international team-mate is

experiencing some doubts over his contribution but is still putting effort in for the team.

"He doubts a little right now but he also works a lot for the team," the 29-year-old stated.

"He tries and he needs our supports and the support of the fans."

Ribery also spoke with relish at the prospect of facing la Roja, reminiscing about the 2006 World Cup clash between the sides, which saw the winger score and France go on to win 31.

OTHER SPORT...OTHER SPORT

and Italy team-mate Stephan El Shaarawy.

'I'm happy he's growing up, as a player and as a man. We are together practically all the time, I see him a lot more mature,' said the 20-year-old.

Ferguson ´like a father´ to De Gea

M

ANCHESTER UNITED goalkeeper David de Gea says Sir Alex Ferguson has acted 'like a father' to him at Old Trafford.

The 22-year-old, who arrived from Atletico Madrid in June 2011, has faced criticism over some of his performances this season, while the United manager has consistently backed the Spaniard in the media.

When asked about the comparisons between Ferguson and Spain coach Vicente del Bosque, de Gea told AS: "They are two great coaches and everyone has their own things but yes, the two are very paternalistic.

"I know Ferguson a little more and he is like a father, especially for young people."

De Gea said he was baffled by the criticism he has faced this term but insists he is happy to remain at Old Trafford.

Serena beats traffic by cycling to match SERENA WILLIAMS is still in the Sony Open in Miami after beating a traffic jam by cycling to her third match.

The road to the stadium in Key Biscayne was snarled up so Williams borrowed a bike at her hotel and peddled her way to the venue.

Her match was scheduled to start at 8pm and she discovered about the traffic gridlock while she was in reception at her base.

The extra exertion did not cause

the 15-time grand slam winner any problems as she beat Japan's

•Serena

Ayumi Morita 6-3, 6-3.

'The traffic was crazy and everyone was like, ”I have been here for an hour, and I'm staying like eight minutes away”,' Williams said. 'I'm like, ”OK, I'm not going to make my match.”.

'So I asked for a golf cart, and the hotel didn't have a golf cart. Then they were like, ”We have a motor bike.”. 'I'm like, ”I don't do motor bikes.” They said, ”We have a bicycle.”. 'I said, 'I really don't do bicycles, but I will today.'

•De Gea

MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

43

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

ASIWAJU’S 61ST BIRTHDAY As Asiwaju Bola Tinubu celebrates his 61st birthday this week, Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the views of the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on the contentious national issues germane to the unity and stability of the country.

Tinubu and the national question S

INCE the Third Republic, when Senator Bola Tinubu entered politics, he has not relented in raising the fundamental questions.

As a detribalised Nigerian, his belief in the unity, stability and progress of Nigeria has reflected in his passionate appeal for their resolution. To the former Lagos State governor, the resolution of these critical issues is germane to nation-building, unity and survival of the fledgling federal country. Although the position of many politicians has fueled the subsisting tension between theoretical federalism and regional selfishness, Tinubu has never compromised national interest on the alter of regional chauvinism.

Central to the preservation of the unity and corporate existence of Nigeria are certain unresolved issues. These include the secularity of the state, restructuring of Nigerian Federation, return to true federalism as embodied in 1960 Independence Constitution, devolution of powers, local government system, marginalisation and rotation of the Presidency. Others are the role of the traditional rulers and stability of the nation, ethnicity and need for mutual existence, resource control and revenue allocation, electoral reforms, and inconsistencies in the 1999 Constitution.

Others are the Land Use Act, repeal and abolition of Petroleum Act, inclusion of the powers of the National Judicial Council, adoption of six zone structure, reforms of the electoral laws and the civil service, fiscal federalism, definition of true democracy and its implications, the challenge of globalisation and technology, and national conference.

True federalism In 1914, Nigeria became an amalgam of incompatible social formations lumped together by the British colonial sasters for easy administration. In his book, “Path to Nigeria’s Freedom”, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo identified federalism as the form of government suitable for the geographical expression. At independence in 1960, Nigeria was a truly federal state hoping to build on its delicate ethnic balance. The military intervention aborted the dream through the imposition of the unitary system, which subsequent constitutions have failed to properly address. To Tinubu and his co-federalists, unity in diversity is given an expression when there is a division or sharing of powers in a federation between the central and regional or state governments without creating a lopsided arrangement that permits the usurpation of state powers by the federal authorities. At a lecture in Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State, Tinubu said the country would remain a fragile federal country, “unless we re-adopt the federal attributes embedded in the 1960 and 1963 constitutions”. He added: “ A true federal state consolidates the rights and powers of the component units. It does not reduce them. It does not trample on them. It does not negate them.”

Restructuring of the polity Despite the collapse of the regions into states, there is the retention of loyalty to the regional arrangements that formed the federal union at independence. The clamour for regional economic integration by contiguous states sharing common identities, cultural values and aspirations is a fall out of the internalisation of regionalism without compromising the federal health

of the heterogeneous entity. Tinubu is one of the advocates of regional integrating. Two options, which are focal points of federalist persuassion in contemporary Nigeria, have been canvassed.

It has been argued that, since the geo-political zones are different, they can seize the opportunity for growth, which in turn, enhances regional competition. Regional approach to development does not invalidate the commitment to national integration. To Tinubu, states in a federal arrangement have the prospects of developing at their respective pace without hinderance, and without stalling the development of any component unit because another unit is moving at a snail speed.

Devolution of power Over time, the call for the devolution of more powers from the centre to the federating units has preoccupied the advocates of true federalism, including Tinubu. One of the questions begging for answer is whether the distant federal government, the sole distributor of national revenue, should continue to exercise direct powers over the local governments, including the power of creation and funding. Why should the Land Use Act, which violates the customs of many communities, still be in operation? Many Nigerians are of the opinion that the power-loaded federal government should shed its weight. The former Lagos State governor shares this view.

Besides, Tinubu has advocated for the need for the federal government to conceed some powers to the constituents units, especially on matters of local concern. He also believes that certain functions, which are in the Exclusive List, especially electricity, railway, and police, can also be legislated upon by states to advance their progress.

Revenue allocation and resource control Currently, there is no just procedure for sharing the national cake derivable from the coastal region. The founding fathers of Nigerian subscribed to a revenue allocation formula based on the principles of “derivation” (50 percent), “need” and “national interest”. It was turned upside down by successive regimes, which reduced it, right from the period of the civil war.

The protracted crisis in the Niger Delta, which was triggered by the desecration, pollution and environmental hazards due to exploration and mining activities, is a direct consequence of this unfair, unjustifiable and unexplained reduction.

Tinubu queried: “Considering the implication of the property right to the mobilisation of income for development, why would the federal organ take a preponderant of share of what it does not own legitimately, while giving the real owners 13 percent? Why should it collect so much Value Added Tax from Lagos State only to give us a pittance? Why would it collect education fund from most of the companies, which operate in Lagos State and give us miserly percentage?.”

State Police There is no agreement on this vexed issue because of the abuse of the institution. But many Nigerians agree that the maintenance of public order and public safety in a federal country is a huge task that has made the decentralisation of

• Asiwaju Tinubu

security more compelling. In countries like Australia, Canada, United States of America, and India, policing is decentralised, with functions allocated to the tiers of government. Adducing reason for state police, ACN National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande said :”We ought to have even moved from the state police to community police by recruiting policemen from the ethnic groups to be served so that they live in the community, speak the language of the people and understand their culture and environment for effective policing”. Tinubu agreed with this view.

He said: “Governors are chief security officers of their state in name. If there is a problem at the state level, the commissioner of police must take order from the Inspector-General of Police before rising to the occasion. Not only do we need state police, we need community police. It is the panacea to insecirity.”

Local Government In Nigeria, the states are at liberty to create and dissolve the local government, but the National Assembly reserves the right to list the newly created councils in the constitution. In Tinubu’s opinion, this is another assault on democracy, maintaining that local governments are creations of the state Houses of Assembly.

Many tongues wagged when President Obasan jo stopped the allocations due to the local councils in Lagos State for three years. The move crippled effective grassroots administration because local councils are the closest tier of government to the people. In Tinubu’s view, the power of financial control being exercised by the federal government over the councils is an affront on the states. This view clearly reveals that there are only two tiers in federalism-federal and states-and local government is a creation of the state.

Electoral Reforms Perhaps, there is no other politician in Nige-

ria that has championed the protection of the sanctity of the ballot box more than Tinubu, whose activities prepared the ground for the setting up of the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER). The tendency of some electoral officers to subvert the good intention of the electoral commission in postObasanjo era was worrisome. Many Nigerians have called for the complete overhauling of the electoral system, with a view to flushing out the bad eggs. Electoral reform is an unfinished business in Nigeria. In particular, Tinubu is worried that the good recommendations by the Uwais Panel were not adopted by the government.

Status of Lagos Lagos has been playing a central role in the political and economic development of Nigeria since 1861. It was the political capital of the country between 1960 and 1990. Like former federal capitals in other countries, there is the agitation for a special status for Lagos so that the funding of developmental and projects and maintenance of the city state can be the joint responsibility of the federal and state governments. It is the view of Tinubu that the city state of Lagos should be accorded a special status because of its huge population, potentials and contributions as the former federal capital and economic nerve centre of the country.

National Conference There is an intense clamour for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) by ethnic nationalities who want to discuss the basis for peaceful co-existence in the country. Tinubu, who has persistently supported this call, observed that a better, united and stable country would emerge after the conference, which would kick-start the resolution of the fundamental questions critical to peaceful existence among the ethnic nationalities.

44

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

POLITICS ACN flays Accord chieftain over attack on Ajimobi

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi spoke with reporters in Port Harcourt on the challenges confronting his administration and his priorities for the next two years. AUGUSTINE AVWODE was there.

By Jeremiah Oke

A

‘My achievement has rattled opposition’

H

OW are you coping with the challenges of the office?

It’s been challenging because I don’t like using the word difficult. I see governance as an engineering work. Engineers proffer solutions; you really have problems to tackle and so you need solutions. So, as a governor, I have met with a lot of challenges and I think we are trying as much as we can to proffer solutions. I have always said that I don’t want to be assessed or judged now. I want to be judged by the time I leave office. There are people who are dancing to the music for constructing three or four flyovers. We have done five and I have promised the state that we will construct fifteen by the time we are leaving office because that is one of the bases for which our government will be assessed.

All these projects have financial implications. How much have you borrowed?

In December 2011, we borrowed N120 billion and we have paid down to less than N32 billion. Don’t forget, it is a three-year loan because we are in a hurry. When I tell people we are going to pay before 2015, they don’t believe me. The agreement is for me to pay N2.3 billion per month, but in February, I paid N6.5 billion and in March, I paid 8.2 billion, but the actual agreement I am to pay per month is N2.3 billion.

This year, we borrowed N120 billion, even though we have not spent all because of the fact that the rains are suddenly coming in early.I call it breach financing. This is to enable us complete some of those projects we actually started. Again, they are collecting the money according to agreement. Our plan is that by the time we clear the whole debts completely, then, we will start repaying the second loan too because we have promised not to leave any debt without repaying.

You were particular about the mono rail project and some people are doubtful about its feasibility.

How far have you gone with it?

The way Nigerians taunt and pursue their leaders worries me a bit. It takes five years to design a mono rail.

It takes five years to build, but what we are doing there is design and building. To make sure it is not an elephant project, we design and we build. And if you are designing and working, you make some mistakes, but what is actually delaying it is not designing and building. But the South Africans building it advised

that a mono rail should be able attract employment. So, they converted our small bench, which we call stations, to full- fledged stations with shops, eateries and all that. That is what is delaying it. They have done the alignment; it is just to do the columns. If I want to be political, I will just hurriedly complete it and the commissioning will be the first in Africa. It is a huge station that we are building at Hospital Road. So, be rest assured that we will complete it. This year, we will commission the first part of the mono rail, but if we don’t, then, it will be in January 2014 because we delayed in payment. Everything you need to complete the first phase is on ground. The coaches are on ground, the parts are on top.

You must do something that brings you satisfaction because, at times, I feel satisfied when I drive around, when I see what our administration has done. We are looking at the possibility of doing an impact assessment of all the projects we have done so that we can know the value of our expenditures.

How have you been tackling insecurity?

I am a bit religious. We need quite a lot when it comes to the issue of security. But the army, police, navy and the SSS have been quite wonderful. If we fund them, we may not need state police because the problem there is that the Federal Government is not funding the police.

The little funds you put in security here yields the results you’re looking for. By the grace of God, we will not only stop at prayers as Christians because they say faith without work is dead. While we believe that God is working for us, we will also add our human capacity to assist in security.

What about employment generation?

That is one question we respond to when we go for town hall meetings.

Nobody believes that we are creating employment; there is nothing called creating employment. And so, what creates employment is infrastructure and we have carried out massive infrastructural development. We are building 750 primary schools. But as at now, we are building 500. You can imagine the number of workers that would have been employed. Imagine the number of roads we have done both rural and township roads. I am just telling you now that we have completed five flyovers and our target is to do 15.

•Amaechi

You can imagine the number of workers that brought those things to reality.

Our power plants have a total of 545 megawatts of power. When we needed the federal government to allow us distribute and they refused, we went ahead. The Commissioner for Power had a discussion with us at the cabinet meeting and promised us that very soon, we will be 80 per cent near 24 hours of power supply to Rivers State. The reason why we don’t make noise is because it is our responsibility; we are hired by the people to work.

The only reason you see me commissioning projects is when the politicians become mischievous. Like the first time we commissioned, we wanted to rubbish the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, then, because they were saying there were too many projects that were not being completed. So, we said 60 health centres in 60 days in 60 communities.

The indication was that these health centres were already in existence. We are about to start 250 primary schools in 250 days and in 250 communities and they are well furnished and equipped. The promise that I made when I came into office was that, I am paid to do all these things. So, why should I beat drums for people to praise me that I have done well? It is not something you make noise about.

I will continue to say that as governors, we must watch what we say because it is beyond what we claim is in public. Let what you have on ground speak for you. It is difficult for a governor to be popular while in office. We are doing all these in honesty because we believe that our people in Rivers State deserve more.

What are the major projects you are targeting as you approach the last lap?

I’ve finished. I am coasting home. I have finished a university, which is N59 billion. I have to finish the mono rail at N52 billion, the Trans Amadi road is N49 billion and so, I am not looking for anything new to do again.

The only thing I want to do is complete all the projects that I have started.

So, we are pushing on and all these things we are doing, we will complete.

CHIEFTAIN of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State, Alhaji Abass Oloko, has castigated an aide of former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, Alhaji Lanre Lantinwo for criticising Governor Senator Abiola Ajimobi. Latinwo had criticised Governor Ajimobi’s developmental programmes by alleging that he was causing hardship for the people by demolishing their houses. Oloko wondered why Senator Ladoja's aide was chasing shadows, stressing that many structures were also pulled down during the administration of Senator Ladoja in the state.

The ACN chieftain warned the opposition against inciting members of the public against the government. He urged the people of the state to ignore the pronouncement, which he described as “emanating for a jaundiced and biased mind”.

He also condemned the purported return of money to the coffers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Oloko described the defence put up by the former governor's aide as a fluke since he aslo confirmed that in an unspecified amount of money was returned to the EFCC by another aide of the former governor, Mr Adewale Atanda.

According to Oloko, the return of the money to the anti-graft agency clearly demonstrated the high level of corruption prevalent during the administration of Ladoja.

He said: "I am happy to note that the former governor's aide also testified to the fact that another of his principal's aide, Mr Adewale Atanda really returned the money to the coffers of the EFCC. It contradicts logic, if the said aide can engage in any government business on behalf of the state without the approval of his boss. The theory of collective responsibility should hold sway in this case."

Oloko argued that if in actual fact Senator Ladoja did not know of the transaction, it shows the level of aloofness and lack of attention to details the former governor exhibited in conduct of the business and affairs of the state during his tenure.

He added: "Senator Ladoja was the governor of the state and the bucks stop on his table. So, if he is now claiming ignorant of the deals, he should tell that to the marines. How can an official of the state involve the state in such huge investment without the knowledge and approval of his boss? Anyway, there is no ignorance in law."

Oloko urged the ex-governor's aide to wait for the judgement, adding that he should avoid any comment on a case that is before the court of law.

• Oloko

‘I can’t be deputy governor’ From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

A

NAMBRA State governorship aspirant Mr Afam Onwuanyi has said that he will not serve as the deputy governor in the next dispensa tion.

He told party supporters at Nkwelle Ezunaka that his ancestors are behind him, urging them not to despair.

Onwuanyi said that he is not in the race to bargain for the deputy governorship, adding that he will contest at the primaries.

The aspirant commended Governor Peter Obi for his developmental programmes, which he noted, have transformed the state. He also praised the governor for supporting power shift to the North Senatorial District.

Onwuanyi assured that he would continue with the good work of the governor, if elected. He said the northern zone has suffered marginalisation for a long time, promissing to alleviate their suffering.

He added: “My mission is to systematically improve on the social, political and business disposition of the governor in Anambra State through a practical change in the mindset of Anambrarians. This is how to effectively achieve sustainable, uninterrupted industrial, infrastructural, agricultural and rural development of the state”.

‘Deltans are yearning for change’

By Jeremiah Oke

A

• Senator Gbenga Ashafa flanked by Onibeju of Ibeju land, Oba Rafiu Olusegun Salami (left) and the Onitedo of Itedo, Oba Tajudeen Afolabi Elemoro at the fifth coronation anniversary of the Onibeju of Ibeju and the opening of the Onibeju Palace ... at the weekend.

GOVERNORSHIP aspirant on the platform of the Action Con gress of Nigeria (ACN) in Delta State, Navy Commander Onabu Uche (rtd) has said that the people in the state are yearning for change.

Onabu, who visited the Lagos office of The Nation, said that the people were tired of the inept Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government.

He said: “Our people are fed up with the rudderless way the state has been governed in the past 14 years by the PDP. They are yearning for change. The ACN is the only party that has what it takes to turn the condition of the people around.

“All you just have to do is look at what is happening in our neighbouring state of Edo. You move a little towards the Southwest and you will be able to prove what I am talking about. This is what you can see with your eyes, not hear say.”

On the call for power shift to the North Senatorial District, Onabu , who was the ACN House of Representatives candidate in the 2011 general elections for Aniocha/Oshimili Constituency, said that, since the creation of the state, no indigene of the North Senatorial District has ruled the state.

He added: “There is a general trend now that the governorship in the state has been zoned to Delta North, regardless of the party affiliation because, since the state was created 22 years ago, no body from Delta North has been a governor. Although we have been deputy governor twice; one under Ibru Administration and another one under former Governor James Ibori; they both tried their best. But as we all know, they were just political stooges.”

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

45

MOTORING

Govt tasked on FERMA Amendment Act

T

HE Federal Government has been urged to expedite action on the implementation of the 2007 Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Amendment Act. Part of the Act makes provision for the five per cent fuel users’ charge, 40 per cent of which accrues to FERMA and the remaining 60 per cent to established state road maintenance agencies.

Governing Board member representing North Central Geo-Political Zone, Mr. Samuel Gwomna, said FERMA has demonstrated that with the little funding available to it, the agency can effectively maintain Federal roads, with the right policy and political support and a well-structured and effective maintenance strategy and programme.

Arguing that the agency’s Rapid Road Recovery programme needs to be sustained and adequately funded, Gwomna said, it makes little economic sense if only Federal roads are well maintained and state ones are in poor condition, hence the need for adequate and dedicated funding as envisaged in the FERMA Amendment Act of 2007.

He said the agency has delivered on President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda on roads by salvag-

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

ing the nation’s critical economic routes and bridges from disrepair.

Gwomna made the remarks on the Abuja – Kaduna dual carriageway in Zuba, FCT, during his weeklong tour of the agency’s ongoing road maintenance projects in the North Central zone.

According to him, most of FERMA’s ongoing and completed projects include bridges, embankments and shoulder washouts, as well as major potholes and cracks which the Agency has successfully tackled through direct labour and contracts.

Among such major projects are the complete washouts of two bridges along the Langtang – Shendam – Ibi road in Plateau State, as well as the ‘Total Bridge’ in Shendam, which cut the town into two with residents unable to access either side. A bridge along the Kabba – Egbe – Ilorin road in Kogi State was also reinstated.

The Board members also listed several roads in the zone where major potholes patching and pavement overlay have been completed. These include the Keffi – Akwanga road, Akwanga – Lafia – Makurdi road, Makurdi – Gboko, Makurdi – Aliade – Otukpo road, Anyigba – Ejule – Idah, Lokoja –

•Gwomna inspecting one of the projects in Dakwa, Abuja

Okene road, Dei-Dei – Dakwa – Kaduna road junction, Suleja – Dam Site – Bwari road, etc.

He said the monitoring exercise is a deliberate policy of the FERMA Board that members should routinely moni-

tor all FERMA works to ensure they meet specification and add value to the economy.

He urged Nigerians, especially road users, to make proper use of our roads by desisting from all

road abuses, especially overloading of articulated trucks, dumping of refuse on roads and drains, as well as wrong and dangerous parking of trucks and tankers on the highway.

FRSC to prosecute defaulters on licences, number plates From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

•LASTMA officials during training

LASTMA undergoes reform for improved service

S

INCE the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and Kick against Indiscipline (KAI) were born, they have swum in allegations of highhandedness and extortion among other excesses. But these may soon become history as a wave of change is sweeping through both establishments.

Bothered by such a negative image, Senior Special Assistant to the state governor on Transport Education, Dr Mariam Masha, pledged government’s readiness to look into the development. Today, the men are undergoing training for improved performance, institutional character and community relations.

To Masha, the agenda is to build a team of enforcement officers, who will discharge their core responsibilities with regard to the relevant legal instruments.

Involving the LASTMA, KAI and the Neighbourhood Watch, about 7, 916 law-enforcement officers are undergoing what is tagged “evaluation programme,” which Governor Babatunde Fashola said, was “to inculcate in the participants, the core values of integrity, courage, commitment, pride professionalism, teamwork spirit, self-respect and respect for every citizens”. He said the law enforcement officers “do not have to infringe on people’s rights to get their jobs done.”

Dada Aladelokun, Assistant Editor

Fashola said applying the core values “will ensure they are worthy not only to themselves, but to their employers and the citizens they serve on daily basis. This evaluation programme has been particularly designed for the law enforcement officers. It will be as successful as you allow it to be. You are the one that will need to take what you learn during the training and put it to good use in the field”.

Masha said 2,200 operatives and KAI’s officers had undergone the evaluation training programme designed to enhance the capacity of about 2,749 traffic operatives, 1,011 KAI’s officers and 4,156 neighbourhood watchers.

The state government, Masha added, was also responding to the inherent challenges of cities with mega-city status across the world.

She said the ideal of selfless service, community service relations and the thrust of inter-agency relationships, were being inculcated in the operatives of the agencies to improve service delivery to the people of the state.

She explained: “The participants were grouped and assigned specific areas with various traffic and environmental challenges that need to be addressed. They developed plans to address these and work with the

community to effect positive change and promote law and order. This project will form a significant part of their assessment. The key objective of the programme was to equip participants with a better approach to law enforcement.

“The focus places premium on the need to change people’s behaviour and demands that we train our law enforcement agents to respond to challenges in line with global standard, the state government will continue to invest in training of its law enforcement officials by building their capacity to achieve their statutory responsibilities. It is to empower the participants on how best to do their job and relate with the public through advocacy.”

“We will continue to invest in manpower and build capacity of our officials. We will always found one or two infractions but there are channels now for people to raise issues, either to complain or commend. We will continue to train them, build their capacity. The emphasis of the law enforcement agents should be on advocacy and enlightenment.

“If people have observed very well, through the community service the participants rendered, our approach leans towards advocacy and enlightenment. It goes a long way in effecting positive attitude change and not forcing people to

ensure compliance. Our emphasis on advocacy and enlightenment, if properly applied, will reinforce a culture of voluntary compliance to law and order in the state,” Masha further explained.

Mrs Marsha specifically linked the notion to why community service is included in the career evaluation programme. She said: “That is why it was mandatory for the participants to visit such places as orphanage homes, hospitals, major motor parks and other areas to other sides of life.”

The reform has got international approval. During an assessment visit to the state last year, a United States Homeland Security Coordinator, Mr. James Russel Sharpe rated the state’s on-going law enforcement reforms high, which he described as the classic approach to traffic control and environmental management in Africa’s biggest metropolis.

With the continued training of the law enforcement agents in the state, he explained, traffic control, environmental management and security governance will be a reference point for other states. The participants have been exposed to modern approaches and for this, residents of the state should be ready for a new LASTMA and KAI when they get back to their field operations.

THE Federal Roads Safety Commission (FRSC) has said the Commission may have to prosecute defaulters regarding new number plates and vehicle licences to enforce compliance after the lapse of the September 30 ultimatum.

The FRSC Zonal Commander representing Kwara, Ekiti and Kogi states, Assistant Corps Marshal, Kehinde Adeleye spoke in Efon Alaaye-Ekiti while sensitising the community on procedures and processes involved in obtaining/renewing vehicle licences and changing old number plates.

Adeleye warned that vehicle owners should carry out renewal before September 30, noting that by October 1, full enforcement and consequent prosecution of defaulters of both new licences and number plates would be implemented.

According to him, vehicle owners anywhere in the state should approach the commission’s office in Ado-Ekiti, capital of the state, to process and obtain the new documents.

Adeleye said: “The Commission has nothing to gain by punishing any driver, especially commercial operators, for failing to obtain the new license and number plates. What we are here for is to explain all that is involved and for us to go and do it before the time lapses.

“We know that for those who would play the wise game, the period between now and September is enough to effect the changes,” he said.

Adeleye noted that the latest move was based on findings that high rate of carnage on the roads in the country was as a result of “remote factors like training and licensing of drivers and enforcement of general road traffic regulations.”

Ekiti State Sector Commander, Mr Rindom Kumven noted that the Command was committed to ensuring that vehicle owners in Efon Alaye and its environs “do not fall victims of contravening the law as a matter of ignorance.”

Kumven stated that the command had a duty to educate and inform the citizens beforehand about what it entailed to either obtain a new driver’s license or renew an old one and also change their vehicles’ old registration numbers.

46

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

47

48

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

49

50

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

51

EKITI STATE

ANAMBRA STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD

PRIZE

1

ORJI Ernestina Chinwe

MEDICINE

5

N500, 000

2

AZOM Esther Adaobi

MEDICINE

5

N500, 000

3 4

OBINAJU Raymond Amauche UBAH,Paul

ICT ECONS

4.87 4.86

N85, 000 N85, 000

5

ANYAMUTAKU ADAOLISA

LAW

4.78

N85, 000

6

EBUZOME,P.C

ICT

4.76

N85, 000

7

ONYEKWELU Robert Okwudili

MEDICINE

4.73

N75, 000

8

ANYADIEGWU,.N.L

ECONS

4.73

N75, 000

9

UDOJI Chimobi Gregory

MEDICINE

4.62

N75, 000

10

JISIEIKE IFUNANYA CHIAMAKA

CHEM. ENG.

4.54

N75, 000

11 12

ILONDU Chiemezuelum Nnamdi RAPHAEL Odikpo Okeke

ELECT. ELECT. PET. ENG.

4.54 4.54

N75, 000 N75, 000

13

AJULUCHUKWU Joy Onyinyechi

LAW

4.52

N75, 000

BENUE STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD

PRIZE

1

ACHUKWU M. ADAH

ECONOMICS

4.81

N85, 000

2

ONOV Keziah Ahemen

LAW

4.79

N85, 000

3

ADAGUUSU Vershima Solomon

LAW

4.62

N75, 000

4

ONAH PATIENCE ONYECHE

LAW

4.61

N75, 000

5 6

ABAH Enuwa Blessing ADAMU Benjamin Okpe

ACCOUNTING BUS. ADMIN

4.54 4.51

N75, 000 N75, 000

7

AGBO ENE JOY IHUOMA

ACCUNTING

Indigent Student

N400, 000

CROSS RIVER STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD

PRIZE

1

ABU Margaret Eyo

BIOCHEMISTRY

4.56

N75, 000

2

Ita Essien Ekpenyong

ECONOMICS

Sports Man of the Year

N50, 000

DEPT.

OGUNBUSOLA OLUWATOSIN J.‘

ECONOMICS

5

N500, 000

4 5

ADESINA ADERONKE A. AKINSEESIN D. DAMILOLA

INTER. REL. INTER. REL.

4.98 4.9

N85, 000 N85, 000

6

ADEWALE Titilope.T

ACCT

4.85

N85, 000

7

OPEYEMI Funke Oluwaseun

INTEL & SEC.

4.76

N85, 000

8

AROSO Bidemi Blessing

MEDICINE

4.96

N85, 000

9

EBE ABIGALI. TEMITAYO

ACCT.

4.96

N85, 000

10

ADEOJO O .H

LAW

4.91

N85, 000

11

AFOLABI Oluwatoyosi Tolulope

MEDICINE

4.91

N85, 000

12 13

BODUNDE IKEOLA J. AKOMOLAFE, Adesola

MEDIA ACCT

4.91 4.91

N85, 000 N85, 000

14

FABUNMI Temitayo Emmanuel

ELECT ELECT

4.83

N85, 000

15

AJAYI Oluwatomiwa Charles

MEDICINE

4.82

N85, 000

16

ALUKO Olugbenga E.

ELECT ELECT

4.81

N85, 000

17

OLADUNJOYE Oluwadamilola

PET. ENG.

4.81

N85, 000

18

AGBEDE Oluwabukola Justinah

LAW

4.79

N85, 000

19 20

ADELUGBA Ayomide Oluwaseun AWOJANA Oluwafemi Stephen

MEDICINE ELECT ELECT

4.76 4.75

N85, 000 N85, 000

21

OLAOYE OYINDAMOLA A.

BCH

4.74

N75, 000

22

ADU AGATHA O.

MEDIA

4.72

N75, 000

23

AROGUNDADE Babajide

ACCT

4.72

N75, 000

24

OLUWAFEMI Ifeoluwa O.

TOURISM

4.7

N75, 000

25

ADEGBOLA OLUWAFUNMILAYO D. MCB

4.68

N75, 000

26

ASHAOLU Emmanuel Oluwatobi

COMP. ENG.

4.67

N75, 000

27 28 29

KOLA ADEFEMI I. TENIOLA OLOWOYO Ibukunoluwa Mary ILESANMI Mogbonjubola Margaret

LAW MEDICINE

4.67 4.67

N75, 000 N75, 000

MEDICINE

4.67

N75, 000

30

OGUNMOLA JOHN DAMILARE

COMP. ENG.

4.65

N75, 000

ALO Oluwatobiloba Esther

PET. ENG.

4.6

N75, 000

OGUNTOYE Timilehin Deborah BABAFEMI TOMILEHIN F.

MEDICINE LAW

4.6 4.57

N75, 000 N75, 000

36

FALASINU,O.E

ICT

4.53

N75, 000

37

OLUWATUYI,F.A

ACCT

4.52

N75, 000

PRIZE

38

OLADIMEJI ESTHER

INTER. REL.

4.74

N75, 000

39

Ogundele Oluwaseun Stephen

ICT

Most Industrious

40

Ogundele Oluwalolola Joy

LAW

Most Disciplined Student

N50, 000

41

Akomolafe Adesola

ACCOUNTING

Neatest Student

N50, 000 N400, 000

3

ODJIGHORO OGHENETEJIRI

ELECT. ELECT.

4.92

N85, 000

4

MONEY

ACCOUNTING

4.9

N85, 000

5

NWAMBUONWO SAMSON C.

CHEM. ENG.

4.89

N85, 000

6

AKPORIAYE Ese Elliot

MEDICINE

4.87

N85, 000

7

CHIMA Rupert Ndubuisi

MEDICINE

4.73

N75, 000

8

ASHIEDU BENEDICT

ELECT. ELECT.

4.68

N75, 000

9

OROVWIRORO DANIELA

ELECT. ELECT.

4.54

N75, 000

10

INEH-DUMBI Michael Ikechukwu

INTER. REL.

4.54

N75, 000

11

OPHROTE O PERPETUAL

ACCT.

4.53

N75, 000

12

Nwakalo Dapo

ECONOMICS

Most Responsible

Student

42

Olowofela Adebayo

LAW

Indigent Student

Mr. Dapo Babalola

SMS

Best Dressed

44

Mr. Adeosun E.O

ENGINEERING

Most Persevering

45

Mr. D.O. Ogunojemite

REGISTRY

Most Outstanding Non-Teaching Staff N50,000

46

Mr. Dada Samuel

BURSARY

Most diligent Non-

47

Mr. Adeniyi Filani

HEALTH

Most persevering

48

Mr. Tosin Osekita

B.O.T.

Most Supportive

Mrs. Ogunkorode Doris

REGISTRY

Staff Secretary of

N50,000

49

the Year

N50,000

50

Mr. Alex Ajayi

WORKS

Driver of

51

Mrs. Olamiti Joy

PORTER

Porter of

52

Mr. Abayomi Thomas

VENTURE

Most performing

Lecturer Lecturer

Teaching Staff Health Personnel

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD

PRIZE

5

N500, 000

EDO STATE

the Year CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD

PRIZE

1

OMO-IRABOR Imuetiyan E.

MECH. ENG.

4.98

N85, 000

2

ARIGBE EGHOSA SOPHIA

ACCT.

4.88

N85, 000

3

UWAIFO OSAMUEDE J

ECONOMICS

4.86

N85, 000

4

ENOHUEAN Mary-Nancy

CIVIL ENG.

4.83

N85, 000

5

ODIA Iriagbonse Isabella

MEDICINE

4.82

N85, 000

6

IJEBOR COLIN

INTER. REL.

4.8

N85, 000

7

USEN Osakpamwan J.

MECH. ENG.

4.79

N85, 000

8

ABU Moses Fortune

MEDICINE

4.76

9

DAN-UGBOMOIKO Ohiochioya Samuel

MEDICINE

10

IRUMEKHAI Suleiman Oshobugie

11

EL-OSEMWINGIE ISRAEL R.

12

OGBEBOR Isoken Oluwatosin

MEDICINE

4.64

N75, 000

13

ABUMERE,E.S

ECONS

4.64

N75, 000

14

ABULU Ehiremen I.

CIVIL ENG.

4.54

N75, 000

15

EBHOHIMEN A. OBEHI

ECONOMICS

4.6

N75, 000

16

OSAGIE, Ayodeji

COM.SCI

4.51

N75, 000

17

Ukaria Michael Samson

BUS. ADMIN.

Responsible

N50, 000

43

N50, 000

EBONYI STATE

DEPT.

N500, 000

3

34 35

N85, 000

NAME

5

33

N85, 000

S/N

MEDICINE

N75, 000

4.93

MEDICINE

OJELABI Modupe Victoria

N75, 000

4.93

OTU Chichetaram Ruth

N500, 000

2

4.64

BIOCHEMISTRY

1

5

4.63

COMP.SCI.

DEPT.

MEDICINE

PET. ENG.

NWEDOZIE Onyeka Fumnaenya

NAME

PRIZE

ADEFOLAJU Boluwatife Aderemi

ELECT ELECT

EBOH KESIENA KELVIN

S/N

OF AWARD 1

FAKOREDE OLUWASEUN

1

Student

CGPA/TYPE

AWOGBAMI Ayodeji Oluwaseun

2

Oghenekowho

DEPT.

31

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD

NAME

32

DELTA STATE S/N N A M E

S/N

the year Venture Staff of the year

N100,000 N100,000

N50,000 N50,000

N50,000 N50,000

N50,000

ENUGU STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

OF AWARD

PRIZE

N85, 000

1

ONUIGWE Gideon Kelechi

LAW

4.67

N75, 000

4.76

N85, 000

2

Onuigwe Gideon

LAW

Best Dressed Student

N50, 000

LAW

4.74

N75, 000

MECH. ENG.

4.73

N75, 000

Student

N50, 000

CGPA/TYPE

FCT - ABUJA STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD

PRIZE

1

JONATHAN Damilola Elizabeth

INTER. REL.

4.83

N85, 000

2

FARUK Amira Arome

LAW

4.57

N75, 000

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

52

IMO STATE S/N

NAME

ONDO STATE

DEPT.

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD

PRIZE

1

IGBOKWE Chisom Elsie

MEDICINE

5

N500, 000

2

IBE Blessing Chiamaka

MEDICINE

4.82

N85, 000

3

ANENE Refiner Chikere

CHEM. ENG.

4.81

N85, 000

4

ETEAMA Chizomam Thelma

LAW

4.74

N75, 000

5

ODUKWU Mildred Chika Odinaka

MEDICINE

4.71

N75, 000

6

IHEAKANWA NWAMAKA

ELECT. ELECT.

4.67

N75, 000

7

NWAOZOR Ogonna Chika

LAW

4.62

N75, 000

8

NNABARA Mary U

LAW

4.6

N75, 000

9

UGORJI Onyinye Devinia

BIOCHEMISTRY

4.6

N75, 000

10

ONYEDEBELU Chimdimma Ugonna

LAW

4.57

N75, 000

11

DURUIKE Princess.U

LAW

4.56

N75, 000

12

OJIJE GRACE C.

ECONOMICS

4.55

N75, 000

13

MODESTUS QUEEN ADA

INTER. REL.

4.55

N75, 000

KADUNA STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD

PRIZE

1

LAWAL,Mohammed

ICT

4.73

N75, 000

2

ELISHA Abednego

ECONOMICS

Indigent Student

N400, 000

KANO STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

CGPA/TYPE

1

SALEH Musa Omar

ELECT/ELECT

OF AWARD

PRIZE

Indigent Student

N400, 000

KOGI STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

OF AWARD

PRIZE

1

APATA MODUPE VICTORIA

MEDICINE

5

N500, 000

2

OHIKERE ONIZE FELICIA

MEDIA

4.84

N85, 000

3

OBAWEDE OLUWABUKOLA T.

INTER REL.

4.85

N85, 000

4

FANIYI DAMILOLA FLORENCE

MEDIA

4.77

N85, 000

5

OLOYE ANNOINTING FEYISAYO

LAW

4.71

N75, 000

6

MOLU AGNES EYITAYO

ICT

4.71

N75, 000

7

OLAYEMI OLUWASEUN

PET. ENG.

4.7

N75, 000

8

MRS. AJARAT JIMOH

REGISTRY

MOST OUTST

KWARA STATE NAME

DEPT.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

ADEYEMI FUNMILAYO ADEYEMI ADEJOKE CATHERINE OLAJIDE Oluwapelumi Eliza AFOLABI Olamide Aishat ADIMULA Ayodeji Abiola AYINDE,Hammed B. BUKOYE Joseph Adeolu DADA Samuel Olusola DUROTOYE SHAKIRAH Y. ALABI,Maryam ABDULKADIR Nafeesat Ajibola Dr. Adeyinka Adeoye

INTER. REL. ECONOMICS LAW ICT LAW ACCT MEDICINE ELECT ELECT ACCT. COM.SCI MEDICINE ENGINEERING

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD 4.98 4.89 4.88 4.87 4.83 4.79 4.78 4.77 4.76 4.66 4.6 Most Engaged Lecturer

PRIZE N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N100,000

LAGOS STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

ADENIJI RAHMON O. RANDLE Enitan Akinsoji ABANIWONDA Oluwagbemileke Mayowa AFOLABI PIUS TOSIN AINAH Doreen Olamide OLAYIDE,Isreal Idowu ADEYEMI S. ABRAHAM Chris Taiwo Samuel

CHEM. ENG. LAW ECONOMICS COMP. ENG. MECH. ENG. BIO.CHM INTER. REL. MECH. ENG.

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD 4.91 4.69 4.56 4.53 4.5 4.57 4.6 Most Outstanding Student of Integrity

PRIZE N85, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N50, 000

OGUN STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

ODUNSI EUNICE OLUSOLA ADEKUNLE Moremi Kehinde AKINDELE Oyindamola Omowunmi FASINA Omolola A OKUWOGA Temitope Olukorede OLADIPO Morayo Christianah ODUBIYI Olusolape Odunayo ODUKOYA OPEYEMI ABIOLA Falilatu Olawunmi OGUNPITAN Yejide Chikenum BALOGUN AYOOLUWA MOYO MAYUNGBE Oluwatomiwa E. ADEYANJU ANTONIA A. ADEJUMO GBADEBO NAFIU OGUNBA OLAIDE TOLUWALOGO LAMINA Olugbenga Paul ADEYEMI Gbemisola Adekitan SHOTUMINU OLADIPUPO YISA OMOLAOLU Victor Abiola Dairo Funmbi

LAW LAW ACCOUNTING LAW MEDICINE INTER. REL. MEDICINE ECONOMICS LAW LAW LAW MECH. ENG. LAW PET. ENG. LAW LAW ACCOUNTING LAW MEDICINE LAW

21 22

GBELEKALE AHMED BOLAJI Mr. Oluwole Peters

SCIENCES BURSARY

NAME

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

AKINSEYE AYO CLINTON AFOLABI Oluwateniola Ajoke AKINPELUMI BUNMI ADEYEMO Adebayo Adeniran ADEBAYO ADEOLA FAMIBUYAN Abimbola Seun OLESENI Mayowa Patmarie OLAYORIJU Olubusola Mary OSUNYIKANMI KEHINDE V. JOHNSON Kayode Peter BALOGUN Damilola Busayo AJIBOLA Temitope Deborah AKINRO Oluwatosin Gloria ADEJALA Isaac Titiloye ALADENIKA ABIMBOLA B FAWEHINMI ADEOLUWA FALAYI DAMILOLA AKINDUTIRE YETUNDE T. OLADIMEJI Omotola Ifedayo OSUNYIKANMI OLADELE M. AKINTOYE Olusoga Opeyemi OMOLOJA Oluwole Oyindamola ALEGBE Mary Olwagbemisola OBAGAYE,O OMOLEYE OLUWASEUN Dr. Pius Okiki Mr. Akomolafe John Mr. Fasae Joseph Kehinde

CGPA/TYPE

ANDING CLEANER N50,000

S/N

S/N

CGPA/TYPE O F AWARD 4.92 4.88 4.85 4.84 4.82 4.79 4.78 4.71 4.67 4.67 4.67 4.65 4.63 4.61 4.58 4.55 4.54 4.53 4.53 Student using the Cleanest Toilet Indigent Student Most Dutiful NonTeaching Staff

PRIZE N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N50, 000 N400, 000 N50,000

DEPT. OF AWARD PET. ENG. MEDICINE ECONOMICS ELECT ELECT ELECT. ELECT. MEDICINE MEDICINE ECONOMICS LAW MECHATRONICS MICROBIOLOGY ACCOUNTING MEDICINE MEDICINE INTER. REL. INTER. REL. ACCT. ACCT. CHEM. ENG. ECONOMICS MEDICINE MEDICINE MCB MIC.BIO MICRO. BIOLOGY SCIENCES SMS LIBRARY

CGPA/TYPE PRIZE 5 5 4.94 4.92 4.91 4.91 4.87 4.87 4.86 4.85 4.85 4.85 4.84 4.78 4.91 4.65 4.7 4.69 4.73 4.65 4.64 4.64 4.6 4.53 Indigent Student Most Disciplined Lecturer ABUAD Lecturer of the Year Most Diligent Library Staff

N500, 000 N500, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N400, 000 N100,000 N100,000 N50,000

OSUN STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

OPASINA Eniola O FABUNMI TIMILEYIN AJEIGBE Moyosore Ayokunnu ODEBUNMI IFEOLUWA OLAWALE James Abimbola AMIOLA Racheal Oluwadamilola ILORI Adebobola Deborah BABALOLA TOLU ROTIMI OYELEYE Abolade O. OLOKE I. OLAPOSI ASIMOLOWO.J.A OMOLAYO Oyindamola Abidemi ABIMBOLA Akinlolu Gbenga OLADIPUPO Pamela Teuch IDOWU Abidemi Ruth LAOYE,B.J OLUNLADE Moses Ayodeji OYETUNDE Tolulope David AKANBI Kafilat Jadesola OMISOLA Folakemi Adebimpe ADEJUMO OLUWAPELUMI DAVIS Samuel Olawale OJOGE-DANIEL TOMMY OJOGE DANIEL Mr. Tayo Okunlola Mr. Oyebode Oluwadare Joshua

LAW ELECT. ELECT. CHEM. ENG. ECONOMICS COMP. ENG. MEDICINE LAW COMP. ENG. PET. ENG. INTER. REL. ACCT INTER. REL. INTER. REL. LAW MICROBIOLOGY HUM.BIO LAW MEDICINE NURSING NURSING LAW MEDICINE LAW LAW SCIENCES ENGINEERING

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD 4.96 4.93 4.88 4.86 4.85 4.8 4.79 4.77 4.75 4.82 4.71 4.58 4.5 4.67 4.66 4.63 4.55 4.53 4.52 4.52 4.51 4.51 4.58 Indigent Student Most Selfless Lecturer Most Punctual Lecturer

PRIZE N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N400, 000 N100, 000 N100, 000

OYO STATE S/N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

NAME JIMOH Halimah Omobolade MUHAMMAD ABDALLAH OLORI-AJE Hammedah ADEWUYI Adeola Crystal ADEJUMO Mofetoluwa Adaora AWOLADE Blessing Oluwatosin AKIN-ALADE IYIN-OLUWA AKINTOLA Olusina Olutope OGUNNIRAN Paul .O POPOOLA Rukiyat Adetayo OJO Taiwo O. Mr. S.O Opakunle Mr. kazeem Musiliu

DEPT. ICT MCB ACCT. MECH. ENG. INTER. REL. MEDICINE LAW PET. ENG. MECHATRONICS MEDICINE PET. ENG. REGISTRY SCIENCES

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD 4.85 4.82 4.8 4.75 4.79 4.62 4.61 4.56 4.52 4.51 4.5 Non- Teaching Staff of the Year Technologist of the Year

PRIZE N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N50,000 N50,000

PLATEAU STATE S/N 1

NAME SHENI RAMYA

DEPT. PEACE & CONF.

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD 4.59

PRIZE N75, 000

RIVER STATE S/N

NAME

DEPT.

1 2 3 4 5 6

IKEGWURU Chioma OKUJAGU Diepiriye Deinma EKPENYOUNG KESIAH Y DON-PEDRO Kizito-Tammy ITAMUNOALA Saral Itamunola Sarah

MEDICINE ELECT ELECT ECONOMICS ELECT ELECT LAW LAW

Awardees Total No Prize Total

CGPA/TYPE OF AWARD 5 4.88 4.78 4.71 4.63 Sports Woman of the Year

= 262 = N28,500,000.00

PRIZE N500, 000 N85, 000 N85, 000 N75, 000 N75, 000 N50, 000

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

53

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

54

80th KANO STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING

G

overnor Engr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE presided over the ninetieth (90th) Kano State Executive Council Sitting held today Wednesday 20th March, 2013 (7th Jumada Auwal, 1434AH). Six (6) MDAs submitted fifty two (52) memoranda for deliberation by the Council among which thirty three (33) were approved for execution with twenty two (22) of them having financial implications to the tune

of the sum of Four Hundred and Eighty One Million, Six Hundred and Seventy Six Thousand, Three Hundred and One Naira Seventy Kobo (N481,676,301.70). The remaining eleven (11) approved memoranda were on policy issues. Thus: 1. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT This Office submitted thirty-six (36) memoranda on behalf of some MDAs for deliberation by the Council of which twenty six (26) were approved for execution as follows: i. Presentation on sales of houses at Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo Cities:This administration believed that of all the problems facing urban dwellers none is more serious than finding adequate and affordable housing. Kano metropolis, like other urban centers in Nigeria is coping with population explosion over the years and the private-sector housing cannot provide enough to meet the demand of the citizenry. Lack of investment in housing development by the immediate past administration led to the rise of shanty towns, slums springing everywhere and homelessness around the metropolitan center. This development is particularly problematic. In fact, two years ago, the sites of the three cities of Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo were fallow. Therefore, for someone who was out of the State for the last two years he will be surprised to see new cities springing up from nowhere. This is the reality on the ground now. Kano is working and changing for the best. The three cities are being constructed to provide accommodation aesthetically pleasing to the citizenry and to decongest the old city. This is unlike other modern cities designed and constructed to eradicate urban blight through the demolishing of shanty towns.

This explains the content of this memorandum submitted by the Office of the Secretary to the State Government intimated Council of the fact that the developmental projects currently in progress at each of the respective three (3) cities would soon be completed. Therefore, it is pertinent to determine mode of sales of the houses, which entails criteria for allocation, type/sale of application forms, modalities of payment, etc. Council deliberated on the submission and approved the following: o There shall be a uniform (one-type) application form for the three cities. o The cost of the application form should be N10, 000.00. o Payment for the houses will be 100% for those who could afford. o An initial deposit of 20% by successful applicants is to be paid while the remaining 80% to be paid within six (6) months after allocation. ii. Request for funds to enable the settlement of liability by Hanovia Medical:The Ministry of Health alerted the Council of having received a letter from a Consultancy Company called Hanovia Medical, which claimed to have been contracted to serve as the project implementation facilitator on monitoring and evaluation of the State Malaria Control Booster Project (World Bank Assisted) by the previous administration. This program, however, is suspended and the State is currently processing exit route so that it could shoulder the program without recourse to loan. This is in line with the policy of this Government of not contracting loan to execute project(s). In fact, unlike the previous administration, this Government prefers to place high value on healthcare of its citizenry through the provision of quality health facilities using its human, material and financial resources.

This memorandum informed Council that Hanovia Medical in a letter sought the continuation of its consultancy services in the implementation of the Malaria Control program being executed by the State and the settlement of the sum of N5, 288,278.28 outstanding payment for the consultancy done to the State before the suspension of the program. Council approved the settlement of the outstanding payment and decided to collaborate with other consultants and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) that are ready to provide their services free towards the eradication of mosquito in the State. iii. Request for funds to effect payment for additional works executed at Kano Geographic Information System (KANGIS) Office Complex:This administration came with a vision and mission of transforming the land system in the State especially in the aspect of land allocation, registration and planning in order to eliminate the increase in illegal structures. To achieve this laudable objective, the administration set up an Agency, Kano Geographic Information System to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks in the process for land acquisition and ownership. A contract of the sum of over N600 million was awarded for the construction of a befitting office complex close to the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning. This explains the reason for the submission of this memorandum. The Honorable Commissioner for Planning and Budget notified Council for the need to execute some modification works at the office complex based upon the report submitted by the Ministry's visitation panel. These modifications necessitated the execution of additional works by the Contractors to the tune of N15, 991,821.18, which was evaluated and assessed by the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning.

Office of the Secretary to the State Government presented the entire case for Council's consideration, which it did and approved for the release of the requested sum of N15, 991,821.18 to the contractor for the additional works executed at the KANGIS project site. iv. Submission on monies recovered from the beneficiaries of the Farm Mechanization Training Institute:The Office of the Secretary to the State Government presented highlights of the compliance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to an instruction from the Office of the Accountant General, that monies recovered from the beneficiaries of the Farm Mechanization Training Institute be lodged in an account with the Dala Building Society (DBS), which had been duly adhered to.

Council was notified that a total sum of N2,609,600.00 was realized as at 21st January, 2013.

Appreciation was expressed by the Council on the presentation. v. Presentation of interim report from the Committee on the regulation of indiscriminate discharge of Industrial Waste in the State and request for the release of operational funds:Since inception, this administration is so concerned about environmental problems, and believes that concrete measures are required to control its pollution and degradation by human and industrial products. To achieve that a Committee was set up by the Government to determine the extent to which industrial wastes should be managed, contained and controlled by the State. Wastes from leather industries are dumped into rivers thereby reducing the value of the its services to other users such as the farmers and fishermen close to its tributaries.

This explains the background of this memorandum. The Interim Report of the Committee appointed to regulate the indiscriminate discharge of Industrial Waste in the State was presented to the Council by the Office of the Secretary to the State Government. The Committee under the Chairmanship of Alhaji Hassan Mahmoud adopted six (6) modalities for effective discharge of its assignment; viz: o Formation of Sub-Committee with a view to inspect all manufacturing Industries within Kano in good time. o Publication of the Committee's activities to the Public and Communicate to all relevant Industries its existence with a view to carrying out its assignments effectively. o Co-option of other members from relevant Industries such as Coca-Cola, Angle Spinners and Gongoni Nig. Ltd, among others. o Adoption of program activities in print and electronic media. o Seek for possible contributions from the public within and outside the State on ways of tackling the Industrial Waste problem. o Engage professional services of Environmental Specialists for the success of the Committee's assignment.

Council deliberated on the recommendations submitted by the Committee for the review of the Kano State Environmental Pollution Monitoring Law to match that of the National Environmental Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA). Council agreed with the recommendation and at the same time approved the sum of N500, 000.00 for the committee as operational fund. vi. Request for funds to pay for additional project on the general renovation works at Kwankwaso Child Friendly Initiative Primary School, Madobi:The State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) requested for the release of the sum of N13, 146,320.40 by the Council through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government. This was to cover for additional project executed in the general renovation works at Kwankwaso Child Friendly Primary School, Madobi. The request was submitted as an addendum to an earlier approval granted by the Council for the laying of garden interlock tiles and supply of furniture at the School.

Approval was granted as requested since the entire project was initially approved for execution by the Council. vii.

Presentation of letters of appreciation from Yan Alewa Youths Development Association and NDLEA, Kano Sector Command:This administration has been receiving appreciation/commendation letters from the citizenry for the execution of development projects. This memorandum delivered the commendation of Yan Alewa Youths Development Association. The association profusely applauded the positive and responsive stand of the present administration under the leadership of Governor Engr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE on environmental issues. The specific issue cited was the re-opening of water drainage system and demolishing of illegal structures at Gabari Quarters, Kano Municipal Local Government Council Area.

The Association expressed its gratitude to the Government for granting approval for the re-opening of the drainage system that was a menace to the Community in causing perennial floods and the incidence of diseases.

In the same vein, the State Commander NDLEA submitted a letter of appreciation and profound gratitude to the Kano State Government for the allocation of One brand Toyota Hiace and the sponsoring of members of Askarawan Kwankwasiyya, KAROTA, Vigilante and Hisbah groups to attend a conference organized by the sector on Drug Abuse. viii.

Presentation of report on Kano Medical Mission 2012:The Ministry of Health forwarded the report on Kano Medical Mission 2012 to the Council through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government.

Specifically, the report informed Council of the fact that the Medical Mission was carried out between 2nd to 14th December, 2012 in Kano as Rabi’u Musa Kwankawaso collaboration between the Kano State Government and SIMMS of USA headed by Dr. Emeka Onyewu.

The Mission was aimed at providing healthcare to at least 5,000 beneficiaries within two weeks. The collaboration was budgeted to consume the sum of N141, 992,000.00. The State was to contribute N51, 722,088.00 while SIMMS of USA will balance the sum of N90, 269,920.00.

Council was conclusively notified of the following: o The Missionaries conducted 35 Surgeries, 2,355 Medical Consultations and distributed 1,500 eyeglasses. o Our local team conducted 602 surgeries, 7,235 Medical Consultations and distributed left over of 1,697 eyeglasses. o Consumables worth the sum of N758, 964.00 were left behind by the Missionaries.

Council with appreciation acknowledged the presentation with appreciation. ix. Request for funds to fulfil a pledge to run the Support Programs Extended to Sickle-Cell Patients by the State Government on quarterly basis:Health is wealth and considered reason enough for the present administration to accord it priority consideration generally. Numerous required provisions have been and will continue to be put in place in order to ensure qualitative healthcare delivery in the State by the present administration. Examples abound everywhere as heralded by the following: o General renovation of Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital. o General renovation of Hasiya Bayero Pediatric Hospital. o General renovation of Dental Center, Kano. o Renovation of Gaya General Hospital. o Renovation of Gezawa General Hospital. o Purchase and allocation of Hospital bedding materials to 34 Government Hospitals in the State. o Purchase and Installation of X-Ray Machines along with Lead Lining Machines. o Renovation of Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH).

The Ministry of Health requested for the release of the sum of N5, 514,019.00 by the Council, through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, to facilitate the purchase and distribution of Anti-Sickling drugs/items to patients for the first quarter of the year 2013 as part of the support program pledged by the Government. The money will be expended as follows: i. Pneumococcal Vaccine (N6, 250.17x30) =N1, 875,005.10 ii. Folic Acid (N542.15x2000) =N1, 084,030.00 iii. Poludrin (N755.013x150) =N1, 132,519.00 iv. Penicillin B Tablets (N521.01x2000) =N1, 042,024.00 v. Public, Media Coverage and Launching =N 380,440.90 Total =N5, 514,019.00 Council noted, considered and approved the release of the sum of N5,175,579.00 on quarterly-basis to the Ministry of Health to facilitate the purchase and distribution of Anti-Sickling drug/items to patients (free of charge) beginning from the first quarter of the year 2013. This is only part of the support initiative pledged by the Government to the Sickle-Cell patients in order to alleviate their sufferings.

Again, Council directed all the 44 LGCAs to replicate the gesture by initiating similar Support Programs for the under privileged sufferers of the ailment(s) within their respective domains. x. Presentation for the commencement of the implementation of MDGs Support Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT):The struggle against poverty and the efforts to alleviate it have been part of human existence. Governments in the developed and developing Nations have formulated various policies in their effort to contain and alleviate poverty. It is true to say that it is not easy to provide for all because of the limited resources. However, efforts are being made in putting the available resources to use through the provision of conducive condition for growth, improvement of the quality of labor force, enhancement of capital accumulation, raising the level of literacy and technology, increasing efficiency and agricultural production. This explains this administration's massive investment in the educational sector and in the setting up of 21 entrepreneurs-training institutions. These institutions are established to train youths skills that are relevant to their economic and social development. This is based on the belief that the productivity of the employable poor can be increased through accessible education system, adult training and education programs, and job placement. Through this, individuals may start earning income and sustaining their lives. This is necessary if a government is serious in its struggle to alleviate poverty.

Thus, this administration is ready to collaborate with both national and international organizations in the formulation and execution of befitting policies on the development of the productive forces of the State. The Honorable Commissioner for Planning and Budget submitted this memorandum to the Council on the 2012 MDGs-Conditional Grants Scheme Component. The Scheme was for five selected Local Government Councils; Dawakin Tofa, Madobi, Makoda, Tarauni and Doguwa. The objectives of the Scheme are reducing poverty and providing incentives for families to utilize MDG enhancing activities such as School enrolment, Infant Immunization and Antenatal care for pregnant women.

Council was also informed of the development on the issue; that the State Government had paid its share of the Conditional Grant Scheme to the tune of N187, 500,000.00 Counterpart funding while the OSSAP-MDGs had also credited the program account at the designated Bank (Eco Bank) with an equal amount of money making the available sum of N375, 000,000.00.

Meanwhile, the OSSAP-MDGs has already sent a letter that each of the 24 participating States should submit names of the selected Communities (LGCAs) and beneficiaries before the end of March, 2013. The State has already submitted the names of the selected Local Government Areas.

So, the currently available sum of N375,000,000.00 will be disbursed to the selected five (5) LGCAs with the objective of reducing poverty and providing incentives for families to utilize MDG enhancing activities such as School enrolment, Infant Immunization and Ante Natal Care for pregnant women.

Council noted, considered and granted permission for the continuation of selection of communities and beneficiaries in accordance with the existing guidelines.

In a related memorandum tabled at the same meeting another scheme under the same arrangement is concluded covering education, health and water and sanitation sectors to be implemented in six LGAs of Bagwai, Bunkure, Kunchi, Minjibir, Sumaila and Warawa. The Office of Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs (OSSAPMDGs) has already paid its matching grants for State Track-N418, 000,000.00 and LGAs Track-N600, 000,000.00.

The State has already paid its counterpart funding for the execution of the development projects in the selected Local Governments.

The third memorandum submitted by the same Ministry is again on 2012 MDGs-State Track Conditional Grant Scheme Projects for the construction and improvement of Bichi, Danbatta and Rano General Hospitals. The sum of N836, 000,000.00 was the budgeted amount estimated for the execution of the projects, which will be shouldered by the State and OSSAP-MDGs. Council noted that the previous Government was unable to access funds meant for meaningful projects for the State due to non-payment of Counterpart Contribution (ESP) in the year 2009.

This administration through the joint Contributory MDGs Grant in 2011 and 2012 expended N1.2billion and N836million respectively. The funds were utilized for the construction of over 40 Primary Healthcare centers, supply of equipment and drugs, tube well-based water supply, etc. Under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) arrangement, five Local Governments would benefit from the Scheme with the provision of over N50million and over. In fact, since inception the State has never failed to release its counterpart funding to execute development projects.

The State Government is open to any collaborative venture and is ready to pay counterpart funds for any development projects for the benefit of the citizenry. xi. Presentation on confirmation of receipt and utilization of 199,311 liters of diesel by the Taskforce Committee for the Repairs and Rehabilitation of Street and Traffic Lights from 1st to 31st January 2013 and request for funds to effect payment for same:The attention of the Council was drawn, by the contents of this memorandum, to the fact that the Taskforce Committee for the Repairs and Rehabilitation of Street and Traffic Lights received and utilized a quantity of 199,311 Liters of Diesel from 1stto 31st January, 2013 in its effort to provide regular illumination within the

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

55

metropolis. Evidences submitted by the supplier were presented for Council's consideration as confirmed.

Mandatorily, the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport requested, through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, for the release of the sum of N43, 848,420.00 by the Council to enable payment for 199,311 Liters of Diesel received and utilized by the Task Force Committee on Repairs Rehabilitation of Street and Traffic Lights from 1stto 31st January, 2013.

Approval was granted by the Council as requested for the release of the sum of N43, 848,420.00 to the contractor. xii. Request for funds for the setting up of a Pilot Vegetable Support Center at Bunkure town in Bunkure LGCA:Office of the Secretary to the State Government intimated Council, on behalf of the Office of the Senior Special Assistant on Agriculture (SSAA), through the contents of this memorandum, on the proposal of the setting up of a Pilot Vegetable Support Center at Bunkure Town in Bunkure LGCA. The aim of the project is to bridge the existing gap between Agricultural Research Communication and Practical Application to assist Smallholder farmers transform from subsistence to commercial system.

Actually, the Pilot Program is proposed for the establishment of a Vegetable Support Center to be called Bunkure Vegetable Support Center (BVC) in Bunkure Town with initial financial support from Government to help provide the required vital operational infrastructure while the Local Operators (beneficiaries) employ/pay the required personnel to manage/operate the Center.

The financial support requested from the Government is to the tune of N1, 795,000.00to enable provision of the following;

S/N i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii.

Purpose

Recommended Amount (N)

Office rent for 3 years

250,000.00

Furniture/Fittings/Appliance

200,000.00

Computer/Printer

150,000.00

Electricity Generator

45,000.00

Kwankwasiyya Crop Dryer (6 units)

150,000.00

Kwankwasiyya Vegetable Crates (200 units)

700,000.00

Launching Ceremony

450,000.00

Total

1,795,000.00

Considering the significance of the Center in empowering small scale farmers in the pinpointed area and the State generally, Council approved the release of the requested of N1, 795,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government for onward payment to the Office of the Senior Special Assistant Agriculture (SSAA) to execute the stated purpose as it is in line with the empowerment policy of the present administration. xiii.

Request for funds to settle fees in respect of 25 sponsored maritime students studying overseas:The Kano State Scholarship Board submitted a request for the settlement of expenses accrued in respect of 25 Kano State indigenous students studying in India under the NIMASA program. The students were selected to study a four (4) split program in Maritime with the first (1st) year spent in India while the concluding three (3) years will be in New Castle, United Kingdom (UK) at an estimated cost of $80,000 per student totaling $2,000,000 for the 25 Students.

Essentially, the program drew credence from a Bilateral Agreement entered into between the Kano State Government and NIMASA in which the State Government was required to settle 60% of the costs for the 4-year program while NIMASA pays 40%. The State Government released $500,000 for the training in India.

With the Indian training over the students are now preparing their schooling in the U.K., which will commence in April, 2013 for which the remaining financial commitment amount to only $88,817.89.

As such, the Kano State Scholarship Board requested for the release of the sum of $88,817.89 (equivalent to N14, 210,862.40) through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, which was approved by the Council. xiv.

Request for Funds to Sustain the Training of 220 Trainees at the Corporate Security Institute Gabasawa:The Corporate Security Institute Gabasawa is one of the 21 skills acquisition institutes established by the present administration to train unemployed youths for self-sustenance. Contents of this memorandum reminded Council of its approval for the release of the sum of N51, 179,125.00 to facilitate the purchase of two (2) vehicles, uniforms, supply and installation of CCTV Cameras, purchase of kitchen equipment, printing of files and documents as well as supply of four (4) weeks foodstuff to the Institute. Training commenced in earnest at the Institute since 2nd February, 2013 with 220 Students registered. So, the Office of the Secretary to the State Government requested for approval by the Council for the release of funds on a quarterly basis (every three months) to sustain the training exercise.

Council noted, considered and approved the release of N13, 620,000.00 on a quarterly basis (every three months) to enable sustenance of the training program, which is in agreement with the policy of the present administration on providing employable skills acquisition opportunities for the teeming unemployed/unskilled Youths in the State. xv. Request for funds to facilitate the procurement of five (5) official vehicles to Sa'adatu Rimi College of Education, Kumbotso:Office of the Secretary to the State Government notified Council, through the contents of this memorandum, of a correspondence from Sa'adatu Rimi College of Education requesting for the provision of five (5) vehicles for its Official engagements especially routine monitoring and inspection. Details were presented as follows; o One (1) Ambulance for use in the Clinic. o Two (2) Toyota Hilux Double Cabin for use in monitoring and supervision of students on Teaching Practice o Two (2) 60-Capacity/Seater TATA buses for conveying students.

Council favorably considered the request and approved the release of the sum of N37,650,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to purchase one each of the specified vehicles for allocation to Sa'adatu Rimi College of Education at the following prices: o One (1)Ambulance N7,500,000.00 o One (1) Toyota Hilux Double Cabin N6, 950,000.00 o One (1) 60-Capacity TATA bus N23, 200,000.00 Total N37, 650,000.00 xvi.

Presentation on an appeal for intervention by Nigerian Law School, Kano Campus:Office of the Attorney General/Hon. Commissioner for Justice presented a letter dated 19th November, 2012 from the Nigerian Law School, Kano Campus, through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, which appealed for Government intervention in the following ways: o Construction of a Legal Clinic Complex within the Campus at the Cost of N28, 637,158.51. o Provision of two (2) vehicles (Toyota Hilux and Toyota Hiace 18-Seater bus).

The appeal was favorably considered by the Council but approval was only granted for the release of the sum of N7, 500,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to purchase and allocate one (1) Toyota Hiace 18-Seater bus to the Nigerian Law School, Kano Campus. xvii.

Request for funds to undertake sensitization tour and inspection of Community Development Projects in Local Government Council Areas:The Ministry of Rural and Community Development submitted a request, through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, for approval by the Council for the release of funds to the tune of N1, 200,000.00to facilitate the following: o Sensitization Tour of the newly elected Local Government Coordinating Committees on Development Associations and; o Inspection of Community Development projects in the Local Government Council Areas.

Council considered the credibility of the request and approved the release of N1, 000,000.00to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government for onward payment to the Ministry of Rural and Community Development to undertake the stated purposes. xviii.

Request for funds to facilitate the purchase and allocation of four (4) buses in respect of Nigerian Prison Service, Kano:The Office of the Secretary to the State Government submitted a request on behalf of the Nigerian Prison Service, Kano for the allocation of four (4) buses to help facilitate routine conveyance of 1,884 Prison Inmates to and from Courts for Trial.

The buses were proposed for allocation to the Central Prison at GWAURAN Dutse for effective service delivery.

Approval was granted for the release of the sum of N15, 000,000.00 to the Office Secretary to the State Government to purchase and allocate two (2) Toyota Hiace 18-Seater buses to the Central Prison at Goron Dutse to smoothen the transportation problem there. xix.

Request for funds to procure six (6) additional vehicles for the Management of the Northwest University, Kano:The Office of the Secretary to the State Government submitted a request from the Northwest University to the Council seeking approval for the release of funds to purchase six (6) additional number of vehicles to the Institution as follows: a. One (1) Toyota Hilux Double Cabin for Office use at V. C's Office. b. One (1) additional Corolla for Registrar's Office. c. Four (4) Toyota Corolla Vehicles for the Offices of Pioneer Deans of Faculties.

The request was deliberated upon at length before approval was granted by Council for the release of the sum of N35, 300,000.00 to purchase and allocate the requested number of six (6) vehicles at the respective cost of: o One (1) Toyota Hilux Double Cabin N6, 950,000.00 o Five (5) Toyota Corolla N5, 670,000.00x 5 = N28,350,000.00 Total N35, 300,000.00 2. MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, INTERNAL AFFAIRS, YOUTHS, SPORTS AND CULTURE Request for Funds to sponsor the First (1st) Kwankwasiyya National Peace and Under-18 Male Football Tournament:The Ministry of Information, Internal Affairs, Youths, Sports and Culture alerted Council, through the contents of this memorandum, of the efforts and contributions of the African Youths Sports Federation (AYSOF) in organizing and executing the Kwankwasiyya National Peace and Under-18 Male Football Tournament. Government assistance was solicited to enable completion of the tournament which has reached advanced stages. Details were presented for Council's consideration.

Approval for the release of the sum of N2,200,000.00 to the Ministry of Information, Internal Affairs, Youths, Sports and Culture was granted by the Council as Government's contribution for the successful conduct of the stated tournament.

3. MINISTRY OF WORKS, HOUSING AND TRANSPORT Three (3) memoranda were submitted for deliberation by the Council from the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport.

All of them were approved for execution. Thus: a. Request for funds to facilitate the construction of eight (8) Guard's Cubicles (houses) at Government House, Kano:-

The attention of the Council was drawn to the developmental work in progress in and around the Government House, by the contents of this memorandum which substantiated that, a series of works outside the original scope were identified. Need to provide eight (8) Guard's Cubicles/houses was among such.

So, the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport requested for the release of the negotiated lower sum of N16, 091,188.61 by the Council to enable the required construction of the eight (8) identified Guard's Cubicles/houses at the Government House, Kano.

Cognizant of the credibility of the request, Council approved the release of the requested sum of N16, 091,188.61 to enable the immediate execution of the stated project. b. Request for funds to facilitate the construction of a Cafeteria Hall at the Permanent Site of Northwest University, Kano:Decision to locate the Permanent Site of Northwest University, Kano at its present position is a foregone issue but the need to construct a befitting Cafeteria Hall at the site is paramount. Council was requested to approve the release of the sum of N52, 468,325.98 by the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport to enable the execution of a befitting Cafeteria Hall at the Permanent Site of the Northwest University, Kano.

Council noted, Considered and approved the release of the requested sum of N52,468,325.98 to the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport to enable the execution of the project. c. Request for funds to facilitate the renovation of three (3) Storey Block of Flats and Three (3) Bungalows at the Northwest University, Kano, Permanent Site:Suitable and befitting accommodation is among the aspirations of every person including serving Senior Staff in a University. As such, the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport identified some residential/houses that require urgent renovation to suit the caliber of their occupants. N19,765,181.04 was requested for release by the Council to enable the execution of the renovation works on the residential facilities identified at the Permanent Site of the Northwest University, Kano.

The request was considered credible by the Council and approval was granted as requested so as to expedite action on the execution of the stated renovation works in order to make the identified houses better places to reside in.

4. MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES Request for funds to facilitate the 7th Batch of training at the Poultry Institute Tukwui in Makoda LGCA:The Poultry Institute, Tukwui is among the twenty-one (21) Skills Acquisition/Empowerment Institutes established by the present administration under the 2nd incumbency of Governor Engr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE. Six (6) batches of trainees have successfully completed their training in the period March, 2012 to Saturday 16th March, 2013.

Meanwhile, the Institute is prepared to receive the 7thbatch of trainees to be selected from yet another set of six (6) Local Government Council Areas (LGCAs). Details of the requirements for the exercise were presented for Council's Consideration by the Institute through the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources which forwarded the request for the release of the sum of N30, 951,925.00by the Council for the purpose.

Considering the priority position occupied by such Institutes and the need to ensure their Laudable performances, Council approved the release of the sum of N29,326,925.00 to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to enable the Poultry Institute, Tukwui conduct the 7thbatch of training at the Institute.

5. MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION Request for funds to facilitate the construction of Second Phase Perimeter Wall Fencing of Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST) Wudil:The sum of N48, 047,695.25 was approved for release by the Council, as requested to enable the construction of the second phase perimeter wall fencing of Kano University of Science and Technology.

The project was started for which the first phase has already been executed. So, the approval was granted to ensure completion of the work which is in agreement with the policy of the present administration to fortify all Government properties.

6. MINISTRY OF LAND AND PHYSICAL PLANNING Laying of interlock tiling within Kano metropolis Urban/Metropolitan beautification is among the priority considerations of the present administration. General transformation and beautification of the network of roads, in order to ease the movement of people, is among the cardinal resolutions.

Government presently considers that people move on roads not only using vehicles but also walk on the sides of roads or walkways referred to as pedestrian walkways which have to be improved. Garden Interlock tiles are laid on walkways along major roads in order to beautify and make them easier to walk on.

Reflectively, the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning cited, through the contents of this memorandum that, KNUPDA embarked on interlock tile laying work as per Council's approval conveyed in its extract with reference number SSCA/CA/ EX/7/1/39 dated 12th December, 2011 covering a total of forty five (45) selected roads.

So far, six (6) payments have been remitted to KNUPDA totalling N360, 056,090.71 which cannot cover the current executed work measured on the roads from start to date and found to cost N418, 227,680.74 according to the details presented for Council's consideration. Again, Council was notified of the need to provide for the same work on nine (9) additional roads selected at the additional cost of N192, 676,351.36.

Nevertheless, Council was requested to approve the release of the sum of N100, 000,000.00 to enable the settlement of outstanding payments of N58, 171,590.03 and continuation of the work.

Approval was granted by the Council as requested for the release of the sum of N100, 000,000.00 to the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning to enable KNUPDA execute the stated purposes.

Meanwhile, 54 roads have been selected for the execution of interlock tile laying projects at the sum of N610, 904,032.10 of which Government has released the sum of N460, 056,090.71. Some of the selected roads have been completed while work is in progress on others.

UPDATE ON ACTIVITIES OF THE 90TH STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL SITTING 1. CONDUCT OF TRAINING WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS AND HISBAH OFFICIALS FROM THE 44 LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF THE STATE Council acknowledged the conduct of the training workshop organized by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in conjunction with Paths3 for Women Development officers and Hisbah officials from all the 44 Local Government areas of the state on the ''Emergency Transport Scheme,'' which was launched by Governor Engr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE in November last year. Under the scheme, volunteer drivers of NURTW transport pregnant women to the hospitals and medical centers free of charge and so far over 600 women have benefitted from this service.

2. SEND OFF FOR 100 KANO STATE INDIGENOUS CANDIDATES TO STUDY PILOTING IN JORDAN Council acknowledged the send-off ceremony held by the Governor for the 100 Kano State Indigenous candidates that were selected and sponsored by the government to undergo piloting program in Jordan. Council calls on the students to use the opportunity given to them to excel in the profession and bring glory to Kano State and the country in general.

3. GRADUATION OF 600 WOMEN FROM POULTRY INSTITUTE, TUKWUI Council acknowledged and appreciated the graduation ceremony of 600 women from the Poultry Institute, Tukwui, held on Saturday 16-03-2013. Council wishes them success in their future endeavors.

4. RECEPTION OF DELEGATION FROM CCECC, CHINA Council received a delegation from CCECC Company from China and is working on the modalities with them to construct and operate a (metro line) light rail system in Kano State to improve commuting in and out of the metropolis.

5. CONDOLENCE MESSAGE OVER THE UNFORTUNATE INCIDENCE OF BOMB BLAST AT NEW ROAD MOTOR PARK Council sympathizes and commiserates with the victims and bereaved families of those who lost their lives and those who were injured during the unfortunate bomb blast at the Sabon Gari New Road Motor Park. Similarly, Government has directed all the three (3) hospitals where the victims are receiving treatment to give them special care and attention as government will shoulder responsibility for the settlement of their medical bills.

6. KIRU REFORMATORY INSTITUTE Council acknowledged with appreciation the recent meeting held between the Hon. Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development and the Program Coordinators of Combat and General Services (CGS) on the Kiru Reformatory Institute. The meeting became necessary in view of the fact that since the signing of the MOU on the leasing of the Reformatory Institute between the Government and CGS, there was no further development. Nevertheless, CGS has reassured Council on their state of preparedness and assured that they will be moving in to start their program in April.

7. VICTORY OF KANO PILLARS FOOTBALL CLUB MATCHES Council congratulated the Kano Pillars Football Club for defeating FC Congolese Football Club 4-1 during CAF match competition. Again, Council congratulated Kano Pillars FC for defeating Bayelsa State Football Club 1-0 at the ongoing National Premier League championship.

8. PRESENTATION OF TROPHIES AND AWARDS TO THE GOVERNOR ENGR. RABI'U MUSA KWANKWASO, FNSE Council appreciated the presentation of trophies and awards won by the State History and Culture Bureau at the Arewa Festival of Arts and Culture. Similarly, Council witnessed the presentation of an award to the Governor by the National Muslim Students Society, School of Health Technology branch for his Giant stride towards the improvement of Education in the state.

USEFUL PHONE NUMBERS ON ANY EMERGENCY Council endorsed the useful phone numbers submitted by the security agents for easy access in case of any emergency on the metropolitan Roads. Accordingly, the general public may easily contact KAROTA on 08091626747 for: Breakdown of Vehicle(s), Traffic Congestion, Accidents, Illegal / Wrong Parking. Similarly, the State Police Command could be contacted on - 08032419754, 08123821575. In addition, the State Fire Service can also be contacted on - 07051246833, 08191778888.

For update on the activities of Kano State Government click to www.kano.gov.ng/new

Signed: Hon. Commissioner, Ministry of Information, Internal Affairs, Youth, Sports andCulture

56

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

57

NEWS

E

Masari blasts INEC, PDP over APC

X-speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Masari, at the weekend said the furore over the All Progressives Congress (APC) registration was a symptomatic of the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The former speaker told reporters in Ilorin that the proponents of the merger are not in crisis.

Said he: “APC is not in a crisis. INEC and PDP are in

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

a crisis and those who don’t want the merger are in a crisis. We, who are proponents of the merger are not in a crisis.

“As far as we are concerned, we have legitimate right over the name. We have submitted our papers to INEC. You know, if you look at the Electoral Act, it says you can send your proposal with three protem officers, which we did.

“In fact, when you come out and make a public state-

ment that ‘I am going to send item A, I have produced it, it is going to be named KYK’, nobody can lay claim to it.

“Since we made the first announcement, a public announcement, we addressed the nation through the media, we have the domain right of the name of APC. If INEC, PDP agents and others are trying to manipulate the whole thing, APC must be registered, there is no option B, APC must be registered.”

Masari cited illiteracy, poverty and hunger as some

of the factors aiding insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa.

He said “If you are looking for peace without justice, you will never get peace.

There should be justice. For us, the foundation is to make sure that there is a credible election. People should be vigilant on who to vote for.

It is important because leaders should be more accountable if they know at the end of their tenure they would be voted out. I think there is a basket of issues in addressing this problem of insecurity.”

ASUU boss berates Fed Govt for failing to tackle insecurity T HE Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UI) chapter, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, has berated the Federal Government for failing to tackle insecurity.

Ajiboye, who challenged the government to tackle insecurity, poverty, hunger and youth unemployment, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to forget the centenary celebration.

He spoke during a private radio station programme, tagged: Voices.

Dr. Ajiboye described the celebration as unnecessary, saying it was another avenue by public officials to loot public treasury.

The ASUU boss said it was senseless for the gov-

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

ernment to set up committees for the centenary celebration when many Nigerians were mourning over the Boko Haram insurgency.

He faulted Prof Tekena Tamuna’s call for the change of Nigeria’s name to Commonwealth of Nigeria, saying it was diversionary and uncalled for.

Said Ajiboye: ”The nation is facing fundamental

challenges that require urgent attention by the government. Nigerians are living under excruciating conditions and many are killed daily due to the Boko Haram insurgency.

“This is not the time to be making frivolous calls for a needless change of name.”

NANS threatens showdown with Fed Govt over oil HE National Associa- subsidy removal warning of mass resistance

T

tion of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened a showdown with the Federal Government should President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposed final removal of fuel subsidy lead to increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol).

The association’s threat

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

followed President Jonathan’s recent pronouncement that government would soon withdraw subsidy on fuel.

The NANS National President, Comrade Yinka Gbadebo, handed down the

by Nigerian students at the weekend at the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State.

Gbadebo, who spoke with reporters after the institution’s matriculation, said although government had the right to remove oil subsidy, the action should not affect the pump price of petroleum products.

Adesina’s election as NGE president hailed From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo.

T

HE Ipetumodu Progressive Union (IPU), an umbrella body of Ipetumodu indigenes, has hailed the election of Mr. Femi Adesina as the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE).

Describing him as a good ambassador of Ipetumodu town, the people , in a congratulatory letter by the IPU President, Dr. S. O. Oyebowale, said the new NGE boss has contributed to the development of his fatherland.

They said his election was well deserved, assuring that Adesina would use his knowledge and experience to face the challenges of the new office.

The Ipetumodu people also lauded the lofty achievements of Mr. Adesina in journalism.

NAFDAC solicits NOA’s support to fight fake drugs From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

T

HE Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, has solicited the support of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the fight against fake drugs.

He noted that attitudinal change is essential in the fight against fake drugs.

According to him, a change in attitude by Nigerians would sanitise the country.

Orhii spoke when he received the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Mike Omeri, who visited him in his office.

He said ‘Do the Right Thing’ campaign by NOA would sanitise the country.

Besides, Dr. Orhii said attitudinal change would help improve the country’s image in the international community.

“Nigeria is blessed with human and material resources.

Unfortunately, Nigerians don’t do the right things. I believe the campaign by NOA on this project will educate the people on the dangers of fake and counterfeit drugs,” he added.

The Director-General of NOA said counterfeit drugs are smuggled into the country through the borders.

He assured that the agency was prepared to partner the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to device ways of discouraging the importation of fake and counterfeit drugs into the country.

He noted that the agency is equipped to mobilise Nigerians for the desired change.

NEWS Govt pledges greater support for local manufacturers

T

HE Federal Government will continue to support local manufacturing initiatives, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, he said.

He spoke in Lagos when he led a delegation of the committee on mass transportation for Nigerians on a visit to the assembly plant of Volkswagen of Nigeria (VON) Automobiles Nigeria.

VON Automobiles manufactures Ashok Leyland buses, light commercial vehicles and trucks at its Lagos manufacturing plants.

A statement quoted the minister as saying this would lead to an increase in the patronage of locally-assembled vehicles and enhance mass transportation.

Ortom said the Federal Executive Council would soon pass the National Automotive Policy a document he said would among oth-

By Yinka Aderibigbe

ers spell out how financial institutions would help stakeholders access the products of local assembly plants.

The minister who expressed satisfaction about the state of affairs at the VON Automobile plant however assured that worries over local patronage would soon be a thing of the past.

He said: “I have inspected and seen what VON Automobile Nigeria is doing and I am quite impressed with the quality of work here as well as the capacity of the plant.

“Nigerians must rise up to the challenge. It is the responsibility of Nigerians to be patriotic and patronise made-in-Nigeria goods.

Government would continue to put in place enabling environment to ensure that all operators in the econo-

my continue to thrive.”

The minister said government is prepared to partner with VON Automobiles as such would further reduce the level of unemployment in the economy.

“The private sector will be supported with friendly policies for the operators to be in business and to have a healthy impact on the level of unemployment and even the vibrancy of the economy,” Ortom said.

Describing mass transit as a major part of economic development worldwide, the minister said since Nigeria cannot be an exception, he decided to “come and see your capacity, quality and quantity of mass transit vehicles you can supply to the Nigerian market.

“What I found here is of international standard. We can encourage people from other African countries to import from Nigeria. The

products are of the best quality and can be used in any part of the world.”

The minister also praised the plant for transforming the defunct Volkswagen of Nigeria plant.

He assured VON Automobiles of the President’s commitment to local manufacturing.

The minister inspected the Ashok Leyland bus lines, VON Automobiles’ prototype medium capacity bus, brake test bay, shower test bay, spray booths, CKD stores and the refectory, among others.

VON Automobiles Managing Director Mr. Tokunbo Aromolaran, told the team that the plant had an installed capacity of 4,000 buses per annum and planned to take delivery soon of equipment that could enable it produce 36,000 units of light duty trucks per year.

Alleged oil fraud: NIPC deputy director on suspension

T

HE Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) said it has suspended a Deputy Director, Mr. Vincent Usiahon, for his alleged oil fraud.

The commission said he has been under interdiction to allow the law to take its course since he was charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Usiahon is facing a 29-

From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

count charge of intent to defraud and obtaining about N15.8 million under false pretences from the complainant, Mr. Sonny Atumah.

He allegedly collected the monies in installments over 16 months by deceiving Atumah, his friend of over 25 years’ that he would invest them in oil allocation

business.

The alleged offence is contrary to Section 1(1)(a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.

A statement by the NIPC Head, Media and Publicity, Mr. Joel Attah, said the clarification became necessary due to zero tolerance of the agency for corruption and to prove its Chief Executive

Officer had no link to the allegations.

“The alleged fraud was committed outside the activities of the commission and no other member of staff is an accomplice. The commission therefore wishes to distant itself from the criminal activities of the said staff and had placed the staff on suspension since June 2012, to allow the law to take its course”.

Jonathan, governors, Anenih absent at PDP parley

•Akpabio Continued from page 4

west.’

“We are outraged because PDP is at it again, we are yet to recover from the drum of war earlier dished out by the desperate political party.

We regrettably recall the post-electoral-violence which trailed Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s declaration of 2007 elections as a do-or-diebattle. Since then it has been violence, violence and violence after each election; which renders families hopeless, fouls our democracy, breeds electoral apathy and impugns on the character of politicians.

“We call on the security agencies as a matter of urgent national importance, to query Alhaji Bamanga Tukur for his unpatriotic, undemocratic and inciting statement; for

the least we expect from an elder statesman at this critical junction of unmitigated national insurgency is peace, peace and nothing but peace.

“We challenge the PDP to release the Shiekh Lemu Report which gave vivid account of the PDP-stimulated post-2011 electoral violence.

“Alhaji Tukur must be reminded that the 2015 election will be a referendum on the performance of the PDPFederal Government. Also in the history of elections in liberal democracy, no electorate ever rewards an inept, corrupt and clueless government with votes and the Nigerian electorate cannot be an exception.

Otherwise, can Nigerian voters be expected to reward PDP for squandering N48.40 trillion which accrued from oil revenue between 2000 and 2011? The outcome of which is dilapidated infrastructure, darkness and rickety social services.

“Can Nigerians vote for a regime that wants to impose Petroleum Tax without recovering looted Fuel Subsidy Funds.

“Alhaji Tukur should stop beating the drum of war and rather accept the inevitability of regime change.”

THE NATION MONDAY MARCH 25, 2013

58

FOREIGN NEWS Israel fires back into Syria

I

SRAEL said it fired into Syria on Sunday and destroyed a machinegun position in the Golan Heights from where shots had been fired at Israeli soldiers in a further spillover of the Syrian civil war along a tense front, Reuters news has reported.

It was not immediately clear whether Israel held Syrian troops or rebels responsible for what a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said had been a deliberate attack on Israeli patrols in the occupied territory.

Israeli forces “destroyed a Syrian machine gun nest that fired twice in the last 24 hours on Israeli patrols operating to safeguard the border,” the spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, said on his Twitter page.

Syria’s southern provinces bordering Jordan and Israel have become an increasingly significant battleground as the capital Damascus - in Syria’s south - comes into play and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces fight hard to prevent rebel advances.

The Israeli military said one of its vehicles was hit late on Saturday by shooting from across the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire line on the Golan Heights, but no one was hurt.

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lern-

er, said, “Our understanding is that it wasn’t stray fire.”

After a second incident on Sunday, Israeli soldiers “responded with accurate fire toward the Syrian post from which they were fired on”, the military said.

Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement that Israel viewed shooting from Syria “with severity” and would not allow “the Syrian army or any other element to violate Israeli sovereignty by firing at our territory”.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the strategic plateau in 1981 in a move that has not won international recognition.

“Israel should not be the target of any attack, whether intentional or unintentional - because after all, if you accept something that was unintentional, that could lead to something intentional in the end,” Gilad said.

Israel has said for months that it expects Assad’s government to fall and has voiced concern that its chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas and al Qaeda.

Israeli President Shimon Peres has called for Assad to step down.

Kerry presses Iraq on Iran weapons’ flights to Syria

U

S Secretary of State John Kerry has told Iraq’s PM that allowing Iranian planes to use Iraqi air space to carry weapons to Syria was “problematic”.

Mr Kerry, on an unannounced trip to Iraq, held talks with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in a bid to boost co-operation over the Syria conflict.

He said Iranian arms were sustaining Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The US has accused Iraq of turning a blind eye to the flights, which Iran claims transport only humanitarian aid.

It is 10 years since the USled invasion of Iraq that toppled former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The trip is Mr Kerry’s first to Iraq since taking office earlier this year, and the first by an American secretary of state since 2009.

“I made very clear to the prime minister that the overflights from Iran are in fact helping to sustain President Assad and his regime,” Mr Kerry told reporters.

“I made it very clear that for those of us who are engaged in an effort to see President Assad step down... anything that supports President Assad

is problematic.”

An unnamed US official earlier told the AP news agency that Iranian planes were flying over Iraq into Syria almost every day.

The official said Iraq had promised to inspect the flights, but only two planes had been checked since last year.

The state department said Mr Kerry would also discuss democratic reforms in Iraq.

He was expected to suggest that Iraq’s government reconsider a recent decision to delay provincial elections in Anbar and Nineveh provinces.

•Kerry

And he was also expected speak by phone to Massoud Barzani, president of the oilrich autonomous region of Kurdistan, to stress the importance of maintaining Iraq’s unity.

Anti-Gay protests in Paris

T

ENS of thousands of people have gathered in central Paris for a final mass protest against a bill to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption.

Demonstrators gathered along the Grande-Armee avenue, from the Arc de la Defense to the Arc de Triomphe.

There were scuffles as police, reportedly firing tear gas, stopped some protesters trying to push forward.

France’s Senate is due to debate the bill next month after it was passed by the lower house of parliament.

President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party and its allies dominate both houses.

Opinion polls suggest a majority of French people still support gay marriage but their numbers have fallen in recent weeks.

A similar rally in January officially drew about 340,000 people but police said they expected numbers at Sunday’s rally to be lower.

Banners unfurled along the march route included “Hands off my filiation” and “We want work, not gay marriage”.

LENTEN TALK

Theme: God’s power at work

By Rev. Henry Adelegan

Text: Mark 11:5 IT does not matter how long the reign of darkness lasts, when light comes, its tenure ends immediately. That was the situation with the ass that was tied and the colt alongside her until Jesus Christ intervened, He used the authority of creation ( John 1:5; Colossians 1:17) to cancel the reign of oppression and terror in their lives, gave them a new lease of life and rode on them triumphantly into Jerusalem.

In John 11: 1-44, Lazarus, a friend of Jesus Christ, was also a victim of human wickedness. The conspiracy against his existence and living was so great that even after his ‘death’, his corpse was still bound before being put inside a grave and then a large stone was placed over the grave. The question is “why go through all that trouble for a corpse?”. It is very likely that they placed huge setbacks on his path perhaps for fear that he might rise and that even if he rose up, he would have the ropes to battle with and peradventure he succeeded in untying himself, he would have the grave and the heavy stone to also battle with.

When the Resurrection and Life arrived at the scene, He commanded that the stone be rolled away and called the dead to come out of the grave. Immediately, the grave yielded her captive and he became a living soul.

Brethren, Jesus Christ has absolute power over the grave.

There is nothing He cannot do ( Psalm 62:11). Power to get wealth is His ( Deut. 8:18), He exalts in His power ( Job 36:22; Psalm 75:6), He restores the faint and weak ( Isaiah 40:29) and He is the only One that can help ( 2 Chro. 25:8; 2 Kings 6:27).

What is the grave in your life? Is it a dead business, dead brain, dying family relationship, marriage at verge of divorce, a destiny going awry, a place of weeping, is it barreness of many years, hopelessness or no one to lift up? You can be assured that “When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger man than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he takes from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divides his spoils” (Luke 11:21-22).

PRAYERS: Father, in this season when you triumphantly entered Jerusalem by releasing the ass through your mighty power, manifest same power in my life O Lord and let my life move forward in Jesus’ name.

Supporters of Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf shout pro-Musharraf slogans on his homecoming outside the airport in Karachi yesterday. The former military ruler returned home after more than four years in exile, defying a Taliban death threat to contest historic general elections.

AFP PHOTO/ ASIF HASSAN

Egyptians clash at Muslim Brotherhood offices

T

HOUSANDS of Egyptian protesters clashed with riot police and backers of the president’s Muslim Brotherhood on Friday. They looted over several offices nationwide as anger over allegations of beatings and power-grabbing boiled over into the largest and most violent demonstrations yet on the doorstep of the powerful group.

As night fell, streets surrounding the Brotherhood headquarters were littered with shattered glass, charred vehicles, stones and gloves stained with blood. The number of injured reached nearly 100 from the two sides.

Anger erupted a week ago when Brotherhood members beat journalists and liberal and secular activists during a protest outside the group’s Cairo headquarters. Protesters demand an apology, but the fundamentalist move-

ment said its guards were provoked and acted in self-defence.

Three Brotherhood offices were ransacked by mobs in another Cairo neighbourhood, in the second-largest city of Alexandria and in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla.

After smaller demonstrations since last weekend outside the headquarters, thousands of activists thronged to the building and battled Brotherhood supporters with birdshot, rocks, knives, sticks and fists on Friday. Gunshots were heard ringing in the neighbourhood.

Thousands of policemen, meanwhile, have gone on strike, refusing to confront protesters, and in some provinces, Egyptians have taken to vigilante violence and killings to fight crime. The unrest has badly hurt the economy, with foreign investors and tourists largely staying

away, and a diesel crisis that has crippled the life for millions.

Egypt has faced near-constant turmoil in more than two years, authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in a revolt. His successor Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected leader, has faced increasing frustration over what many see as attempts by his group to monopolize power and the slow pace of his efforts to reform the state and fulfil the revolution’s promises of better living standards and justice.

Morsi’s opponents led by many of the activists who were at the forefront of the mass protests leading to Mubarak’s ouster charge that he has done little to improve the country, accuse the Brotherhood, which rose in power after years of repression.

This under the former secu-

lar regime, of seeking to monopolize power, a charge the group denies. The anti-Brotherhood protesters demand the resignation of the attorney general and the interior minister, both presidential appointees. They also accuse the interior minister of authorizing security forces to use excessive force against protesters. More than 70 people have been killed in protests with police since Mohammed Ibrahim was appointed in January.

Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Yasser Mehres blamed opposition parties for calling Friday’s protest outside the group’s headquarters. He said it gave way for “thugs” to infiltrate and attack Brotherhood offices.

Young men threw stones and wielded tree branches and broken bottles as they chanted against Morsi near the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo.

Osuntokun advocates UNSC’s permanent seat for Nigeria

F

ORMER Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Prof Babajide Osuntokun, has called for a permanent seat for the country in a reformed and representative United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The country, he argued, deserves the UNSC’s seat because of its leadership role in both the continent and in the global body, and its huge contribution to peace-keeping operations globally.

Osuntokun said current global political and econom-

By Eric Ikhilae

ic realities dictate that nations like the United States, Germany and China are hegemons in their respective continents, just as Nigeria is a pre-eminent black African country in the world, as the largest population, with its enormous political powers in West Africa.

The diplomat delivered a lecture titled: “A Hegemon in a Peripheral Region of the World: The Future of Nigeria’s Foreign Policy” at the annual Nigerian Society of

International Affairs (NSIA), lecture in Lagos.

He argued that though he did not expect Nigeria’s candidacy to go unchallenged, the country eminently qualifies for a permanent seat when the restructuring takes place.

“The current population of Nigeria is estimated at 170,123,747 and the population of the remaining fourteen ECOWAS countries put together is 144,589,549. The nominal GDP of Nigeria is currently put at 238.920 billion dollars; whilst the total

nominal GDP of the other fourteen countries put together is 133.222 billion dollars.

“The closest to Nigeria in population and GDP is the Republic of Ghana with an estimated current population of 24,200,000 and a nominal GDP of 46.7 billion dollars.

This means that Nigerian economy is over five times that of Ghana, while its population is about seven times that of Ghana. There is a remarkable decline in the GDP of Côte d’Ivoire, obviously because of the war and instability in that country.”

THE NATION MONDAY MARCH 25, 2013

59

FOREIGN NEWS CAR: Rebels take palace as Bozize flees

R

•President Barack Obama lays a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance during his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.

PHOTO: REUTERS/JASON REED

T

Syrian rebel leader quits

HE leader of the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC), Ahmed Moaz alKhatib, has resigned.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Mr Khatib said he was leaving the job as he wanted to work with more freedom than an official institution allowed.

He had promised the Syrian people he would resign if what he called certain red lines were reached, he said.

He appeared to criticise the world community for not doing enough to stop two years of bloodshed in Syria.

His resignation comes a day after European Union foreign ministers failed to resolve their differences over whether to exempt Syrian rebels from an arms embargo.

Mr Khatib, who was elected head of the SNC in November 2012, is seen as a respected and unifying figure

in Syria.

Irrespective of his reasons for doing it, which he did not spell out, Moaz al-Khatib’s surprise resignation further enhances the impression of a Syrian opposition divided, in disarray, pushed and pulled by conflicting cross-currents of support and external pressures, and out of touch with realities inside the country.

The respected former Damascus preacher had been in office barely four months before giving up.

The issues hinted at in his resignation announcement mainly the absence of tangible international backing to enable the rebels to tilt the balance against the regime - were extant throughout his brief reign.

What seems to have brought matters to a head was the election last week of formerly US-based IT expert Ghassan Hitto as prime minister of a yet-to-be-

formed interim opposition government.

Mr al-Khatib was in principle against the idea of such an entity - which would further dim any hope for the surprise offer he launched at the end of January of dialogue with representatives of the regime. He may have feared that Mr Hitto’s election would further distance the outside opposition leadership from what is going on inside Syria.

But he caused controversy by offering talks with Syrian President Bashar alAssad, on condition that 160,000 prisoners were freed.

The opposition had previously insisted President Assad step down before any talks begin.

Mr Khatib’s resignation comes days after Ghassan Hitto was chosen as prime minister in rebel-held areas, an appointment that he is thought to have objected to.

But he said he would continue to work with colleagues who were seeking the freedom of the Syrian people.

BBC Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher says a key reason for the international community’s concern is anxiety over divisions within the Syrian opposition itself, and Mr Khatib’s action may only intensify those concerns.

In a separate development, the rebel Free Syrian Army announced that it was refusing to recognise Mr Hitto, saying he had been forced on the opposition coalition and not adopted by consensus.

In last Monday’s vote in Istanbul, Turkey, Mr Hitto won with 35 out of 48 votes, in what coalition leaders described as a “transparent, democratic” election.

But some senior coalition leaders are reported to have withdrawn from the vote in protest over Mr Hitto’s lack of military experience.

EBELS in the Central African Republic say they have seized the presidential palace after President Francois Bozize fled the capital.

The Seleka rebels were said to be in control of Bangui, where witnesses said there was looting and sporadic gunfire.

Reports suggested the president had gone to a neighbouring state. France’s foreign minister confirmed his exit.

The rebels, involved in an on-off rebellion since December, say Mr Bozize failed to honour a peace deal.

One of the rebel leaders on the ground, Colonel Djouma Narkoyo, was quoted by AFP as saying: “We have taken the presidential palace. Bozize was not there.”

He said the rebels were planning to move on to the national radio station in Bangui where rebel leader Michel Djotodia planned to make a speech.

Intense gunfire was reported as rebels advanced through Bangui.

A Paris-based rebel spokesman said the rebel leadership was telling its fighters to restrain from “looting or scoresettling”.

But Amy Martin of the UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, told the BBC World Service that residents in the capital had begun looting.

South African peacekeepers suffered some casualties and have retreated to their barracks where they are seeking safe passage to the airport, Ms Martin said.

She added that Bangui has been without power and water since Saturday.

She also said the situation in the interior thought to be worse than in the capital, more than 170,000 estimated to have been displaced within the country with people fleeing to Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

An unnamed presidential advisor told Reuters news agency that Mr Bozize had crossed the Oubangi River into DR Congo on Sunday morning.

Former colonial power France has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, and reportedly sent troops to secure the airport.

On Saturday, French officials warned their nationals in the country to stay at home.

France has some 1,250 troops in CAR. The rebels joined a powersharing government in January after talks brokered by regional leaders to end a rebellion they launched last year.

But the deal quickly collapsed, with the rebels saying their demands, including the release of political prisoners, had not been met.

He came to power himself in a military coup in 2003.

CAR, which has a population of about 4.5 million, has been hit by a series of rebellions since independence from France in 1960.

It is one of the poorest countries in Africa, despite its considerable mineral resources.

Lebanese cabinet resigns

L

EBANESE Prime Minister Najib Mikati has announced the resignation of his entire government.

The move comes after the deeply divided cabinet failed to approve a commission to oversee elections planned for June.

It was also unable to agree on the extension of the term of office of the internal security chief, who is otherwise obliged to retire next month.

Lebanon has been gripped by a political crisis linked to the unrest in neighbouring Syria.

Mr Mikati said he hoped his departure would be “an impetus for leaders to shoulder their responsibilities”.

He also urged political parties to “come together to bring Lebanon out of the unknown”.

Mr Mikati had been pushing for the extension of the mandate of the internal security chief, Ashraf Rifi, to avoid what he described as “a dangerous vacuum”.

But that was opposed by the Shia Islamist movement Hezbollah and its allies - who dominate the government.

Mr Mikati warned that internal divisions among the Lebanese had created deep wounds which only a dialogue could heal.

Was Iraq worth it?

T

EN years ago today, United State air, sea and land forces attacked Iraq. And the great goals of Operation Iraqi Freedom? Destroy the chemical and biological weapons Saddam Hussein had amassed to use on us or transfer to alQaida for use against the U.S. homeland.

Exact retribution for Saddam’s complicity in 9/11 after we learned his agents had met secretly in Prague with Mohamed Atta.

Create a flourishing democracy in Baghdad that would serve as a catalyst for a miraculous transformation of the Middle East from a land of despots into a region of democracies that looked West.

Not all agreed on the wisdom of this war. Gen. Bill Odom, former director of the National Security Agency, thought George W. Bush & Co. had lost their minds: “The Iraq War may turn out to be the greatest strategic

By Patrick Buchanan

disaster in American history.”

Yet, a few weeks of “shock and awe,” and U.S. forces had taken Baghdad and dethroned Saddam, who had fled but was soon found in a rat hole and prosecuted and hanged, as were his associates, “the deck of cards,” some of whom met the same fate.

And so, it was a famous victory. Mission accomplished!

Soon, however, America found herself in a new, unanticipated war, and by 2006, we were, astonishingly, on the precipice of defeat, caught in a Sunni-Shia sectarian conflict produced by our having disbanded the Iraqi army and presided over the empowerment of the first Shia regime in the nation’s history.

Only a “surge” of U.S. troops led by Gen. David Petraeus rescued the United

States from a strategic debacle to rival the fall of Saigon.

But the surge could not rescue the Republican Party, which had lusted for this war, from repudiation by a nation that believed itself to have been misled, deceived and lied into war. In 2006, the party lost both houses of Congress, and the Pentagon architect of the war, Don Rumsfeld, was cashiered by the commander in chief.

Two years later, disillusionment with Iraq would contribute to the rout of Republican uber-hawk John McCain by a freshman senator from Illinois who had opposed the war.

So, how now does the ledger read, 10 years on? What is history’s present verdict on what history has come to call Bush’s war?

Of the three goals of the war, none was achieved. No weapon of mass destruction was found. While Saddam and his sons paid for their sins, they had had nothing at all to do with 9/11. Nothing. That had all been mendacious propa-

ganda.

Where there had been no alQaida in Iraq while Saddam ruled, al-Qaida is crawling all over Iraq now. Where Iraq had been an Arab Sunni bulwark confronting Iran in 2003, a decade later, Iraq is tilting away from the Sunni camp toward the Shia crescent of Iran and Hezbollah.

What was the cost in blood and treasure of our Mesopotamian misadventure? Four thousand five hundred U.S. dead, 35,000 wounded and this summary of war costs from Friday’s Wall Street Journal: “The decade-long (Iraq) effort cost $1.7 trillion, according to a study ... by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. Fighting over the past 10 years has killed 134,000 Iraqi civilians ... . Meanwhile, the nearly $500 billion in unpaid benefits to U.S. veterans of the Iraq war could balloon to $6 trillion” over the next 40 years.

Iraq made a major contri-

bution to the bankrupting of America.

As for those 134,000 Iraqi civilian dead, that translates into 500,000 Iraqi widows and orphans. What must they think of us?

According to the latest Gallup poll, by 2-to-1, Iraqis believe they are more secure — now that the Americans are gone from their country.

Left behind, however, is our once-sterling reputation.

Never before has America been held in lower esteem by the Arab peoples or the Islamic world. As for the reputation of the U.S. military, how many years will it be before our armed forces are no longer automatically associated with such terms as Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, renditions and waterboarding?

As for the Chaldean and Assyrian Christian communities of Iraq who looked to America, they have been ravaged and abandoned, with many having fled their ancient homes forever.

We are not known as a reflective people. But a question has to weigh upon us. If Saddam had no WMD, had no role in 9/11, did not attack us, did not threaten us, and did not want war with us, was our unprovoked attack on that country a truly just and moral war?

What makes the question more than academic is that the tub-thumpers for war on Iraq a decade ago are now clamoring for war on Iran. Goal: Strip Iran of weapons of mass destruction all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies say Iran does not have and has no program to build.

This generation is eyewitness to how a Great Power declines and falls. And to borrow from old King Pyrrhus, one more such victory as Iraq, and we are undone.

Buchanan is the author of “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025”.

Culled from www.creators.com

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25 , 2013

60

NEWS

Herdsmen ‘kill’ DSP, Kano registers tricycles to tackle insecurity two others in Benue K •Sergeant abducted

T

HREE people have been allegedly killed and one adducted by herdsmen at Anguhar Village, Mbaikyoondu District, Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State.

Among those killed were a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), a Police Sergeant and the Chief Security Officer in the local government.

Also a police sergeant was reportedly abducted by the herdsmen.

Police spokesman Daniel Ezeala said the policemen were ambushed by the herdsmen, who shot them dead when they were retuning from Anguhar where they had gone to supply food to a police station.

He said a DSP and a sergeant were killed, adding that the chief security of-

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

ficer of the local government was also killed and a sergeant was abducted.

Ezeala said policemen have been deployed in the area to fish out the perpetrators and rescue the abducted policeman.

Gwer West Council has been under attacks by herdsmen since 2011.

A traditional ruler in the local government, Chief Daniel Abomtse, alleged that the herdsmen have killed more than 50 people.

Property and farmlands worth N5billion were destroyed, Abomtse said.

He urged the Federal Government to save the people from the herdsmen, who he alleged are bent on wiping them out.

ANO State Government has embarked on the registration of commercial tricycles in Kano city to tackle insecurity.

A source close to the government said the step has resulted in the reduction of the operators whose activities are suspicious.

The registration, according to investigation, is meant to tackle insecurity in the state after the ban on commercial motorcycles, known in local parlance as achaba.

A few weeks after the in-

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

troduction of tricycles for commercial purpose in the state capital, all manners of operators invaded Kano.

To regulate their activities, government introduced the registration exercise to monitor their operations, which have been a source of worry to the authorities.

The measure taken by the government, among others, is to arrest those that use their tricycles to attack people.

Besides, the criteria adopted for the registration mandate tricycle operators to go to their local governments to register, and they are expected to produce sureties; for example, the district heads, their parents and neighbours, who can guarantee their characters.

Following the development, over 50 per cent of the former tricycle operators, most of who are foreigners, have withdrawn their services for fear that the district heads will not recognise

them as residents of the local governments.

As a pre-condition for registration, potential tricycle operators are mandated to obtain forms from the district heads at a cost of N100. Registration costs N900 at the local government level.

Some of the tricycle operators supported the new measure. They said it is a right step in the right direction, adding that it would tighten security in the state and fish out questionable characters.

Ahmed signs 2013 appropriation bill into law

K

WARA State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has signed the 2013 appropriation bill of N96.4billion into law.

He assured of a full implementation of the budget and speedy service delivery.

Governor Ahmed described the quick passage of the appropriation bill by the lawmakers and his assent as a major step towards service delivery to Kwara indigenes.

He said: “Everything that has been captured in the appropriation bill will be followed to the letter.”

The governor stressed that his administration would review the implementation of the budget to determine when and if there would be the need for a supplementary budget.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT This is to notify the general public that I, Grace Noah Emeka of PLO 84 AMVE, Apo Abuja, lost my Original Market Land Document with Shop No, G3/47, Ref. FCDA/ DRC/GEN/05/30 with name Kolawole Sanura. All efforts made to trace the said document proved abortive.

If found kindly return to the nearest police station.

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

He hailed the Assembly for its oversight functions, which he said served as an impetus to the executive on service delivery.

The Speaker, Rasak Atunwa, hailed the government for its implementation of the 2012 budget.

He said the projected budgetary figure was increased from N94.4billion to N96.4billion because the legislature was confident that the current drive in the Internally-Generated Revenue and other sources of revenue would generate the extra amount needed to run the budget.

Atunwa said the lawmakers carried out oversight functions on 2012 projects, particularly the five general hospitals being rehabilitated, construction of Patigi to Kpada road, renovation of classrooms in schools and building of a new main waterworks in Share, among others.

He lauded the government for its aggressive infrastructural development, adding that the bulk of the extra expenditure was placed on capital projects with the potential of delivering the dividends to the indigenes.

PUBLIC NOTICE THE BELIEVERS CHURCH OF CHRIST FOR THE WHOLE NATION The General public is hereby notified that the above named church with its headquarters, in Lagos has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under part C of the company and Allied matters Act 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Dr. ALEXANDER IFEANYI CHIKE {PRESIDENT} 2. VINCENT .A.ADETURINWO {SECRETARY} 3. UZOMA KENNETH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE MINISTRY 1. To spread the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind, thereby winning souls for the kingdom of God. 2. To educate members to the full knowledge of the Christian truth and as enunciated in the scripture and as manifested from time to time by God Almighty.

3. To prepare disciples for the Rapture through undiluted scriptural messages, teaching and counseling.

4. To establish branches all over the world 5. To establish within and outside the country, schools for the training of all ministers of our Glorious God and church workers.

Any objection should be forwarded to the Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 565 Ndola Square, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja within 28days of this publication.

Signed: DR. ALEXANDER IFEANYI CHIKE (08091623282)

•From left: Chief of Staff, Government House, Minna, Dr. Joshua Bawa; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Mahmud Enagi; Deputy Governor, Ahmed Musa Ibeto; groom and Niger State Governor ADC, DSP Timothy Jamberlang, bride, Maryann Zara Omameh; and father of the bride, Mr. Emmanuel Omameh, during the traditional wedding of Jamberlang in Abuja... at the weekend.

INEC to issue new voter cards soon

T

HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would print permanent voter cards to replace the temporary ones issued in 2011.

It assured that the location of polling booths at the palaces of traditional rulers would soon be stopped.

INEC National Commissioner in charge of Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states, Mohammed Hammanga, spoke at Doho village during Saturday’s by-election at Kwami East Constituency in Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State.

He said: “We are working on delineation because according to the law, when a polling station is located in a place, you can’t change it until the new delineation. Hence we are using the old one. We are in the process of bringing out the new one.”

From Vincent Ohonbamu, Gombe

He acknowledged voters’ willingness to exercise their franchise, but regretted the inability to present their temporary cards, hence the not too impressive turnout of voters.

The Chairman of Kwami

Local Government, Alhaji Ali Jiji Gadam, urged INEC to find time to revalidate the voter cards before any election due to the high rate of disenfranchisement arising from defacement and misplacement of cards.

He attributed the peaceful conduct of the exercise

to the advocacy for peace and the developmental activities of the government.

Kwami East Constituency seat became vacant following the death of Abdulhameed Doho of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), who was shot dead in his home on January 16.

ACN is intact in Irepodun council, says chieftain

T

HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State has reaffirmed its unity and strength.

It dismissed reports allegedly sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of the defection of some ACN members in the local government.

The party described the reports as unfounded and mischievous, adding that it should be disregarded.

The ACN Chairman in

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

the council, Prince Oyeyipo Tunde, said in a statement: “We wish to inform the public and supporters of our great party in Irepodun Local Government that there is no iota of truth in the reports that our members have defected to the PDP. “The story was fabricated by the PDP leaders in the local government.

Such a thing can never

happen in Oro where ACN has taken control.

The party is intact and its unity is strengthened by the mass defection of people from the PDP to its fold.

“The question one is tempted to ask is, what is attractive in PDP in Irepodun Local Government that will make people defect to it? Lovers of development should shun the political chicanery going on in the PDP in the council.

Foreigner kidnapped in Lagos, says US consulate

T

HROUGH its Consulate in Lagos, the United States (U.S.) yesterday claimed that a foreigner has been kidnapped in the country’s business capital.

A source simply identified as “a US consulate spokeswoman”

by Sunday Nation, a Kenyan newspaper, gave only few

•Police: we’re not aware details of the alleged abduction.

She was also silent on the nationality of the victim, who was allegedly kidnapped on Victoria Island, at about 11pm on Saturday.

It was the first time an expatriate would be kidnapped in Lagos.

“The US Consulate General in Lagos received a report that an expatriate was kidnapped on Victoria Island on Saturday, March 23 at approximately 11pm,” the consulate said in a message to US citizens, referring to an upscale

area of Lagos.

“Local Nigerian law enforcement confirmed this incident.” the newspaper reported.

The Police Command in Lagos could not confirm the repot last night.

Mr Frank Mba, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), also said he had not received reports of the abduction.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

61

DISCOURSE

Dankwambo’s efforts at providing potable water in Gombe

By Abubakar A. Dahiru

W

ATER and the environment are of great importance to mankind. No wonder it is said that water breeds life. For this reason, any effort at achieving the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) without providing water and protecting the environment is a waste.

The understanding of this, vis-àvis the urgency of time in meeting the MDGs targets of 2015, explains why the administration of Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo in Gombe State has given attention to both issues since assuming office on May 29, 2011. The administration has, therefore, sunk billion of naira into water and environmental projects that are of world standard.

As at the time Dankwambo assumed office, only a few could drink from the N8 billion Gombe Regional Water Supply Scheme. But the story is no longer the same as the supply of water has not only been properly addressed, but extended beyond the Gombe metropolis.

Even in the metropolis, water supply was a serious problem before Dankwambo assumed office. Places, such as Barunde, Bagadaza, Riyal, among others, which suffered water shortage, are now beneficiaries.

The water expansion scheme, therefore, covers Gadam, Garin Kwami, Bojude,Tappi and Komfulata in Kwami Local Government Area.

Work in these areas has reached advanced stage and the perennial water scarcity in the areas will soon be a thing of the past.

The Commissioner of Water Resources and the Environment Mallam Idris Mahdi said the Dankwambo administration embarked on various projects to ensure that all parts of the state are covered by water supply, latest in 2014. This, no doubt, will be timely, as the dateline for the attainment of MDGs is 2015.

“We have the Gombe North water scheme extension and rehabilitation, which comprises extending water to the suburbs of Gombe.

“Prior to the coming of the Dankwambo administration, not more than a third of Gombe was covered by water scheme. So, there was need for places that were entitled to get water but not connected to water

supply in Gombe water supply to be connected, though we call it Gombe North Water Scheme.

“The areas include BCGA, Bogo, Nasarawo, Malam Inna, London Maidorowa, Bagadaza, Riyal, Tumfure, which were not connected to a water scheme.

“But the new water scheme, that is the rehabilitation and expansion of Gombe water scheme, which came on stream in 2012, covers these areas. It is extended to other places outside Gombe, such as Kwami, Gadam, Tapi and Bojude towns and environs of Kwami Local Government Area of the state,” he said.

Apart from that project, the government, in this year’s budget, plans to begin the expansion of the water treatment plant at Gombe North. It will spend about N1.3 billion on it.

The project will be an extension of water from Tumfure to the airport.

Thus, for the first time, residents of Tumfure and all the settlements along the route to the airport will have potable water.

A place known for its notorious water scarcity is Dukku with its environs.

The Dankwambo administration finished the documentation last year for the Dukku Water Scheme and the project will begin soon. The water source from Gombe Abba will be utilised, with a mini-plant, pumping facility and a reservoir for the distribution of water to Dukku and its environs.

In Nafada Local Government Area, the infiltration gallery is being maintained by the government for steady supply of water in the town and its environs.

Though there is no big water scheme in Funakaye Local GovernmentArea, many hand pumps, solarpowered boreholes and manual boreholes have been drilled in towns and villages of the council to ensure constant water supply.

It would sound ironical that many towns and villages in Yamaltu Deba Local Government Area are facing problems of water supply, despite their location in the same area with Dadin Kowa Dam, the source of Gombe Greater Water Supply.

There are, therefore, plans by the government to provide towns and villages in the area, such as Shinga,

•Governor Dankwambo

Wade, Kinafa, Gwani, Lubo and other settlements, with potable water to address the problem.

Similarly, as part of efforts to address water scarcity in the Southern part of the state, the government has initiated the Gombe South Regional Water Scheme, which will have its source from the Balanga Dam in Balanga Local Government Area.

The project is envisaged to draw water from Balanga Dam; it will cover Balanga, Billiri, Kaltungo, Shongom local governments and parts of Akko.

Though still at consultancy and documentation stage, the project is expected to gulp about N18 billion.

By the time it is completed, communities in Gombe South and part of Akko Local Government Area will no longer experience water scarcity. Farmers will also use the facilities to irrigate their farms, as the area has an estimated capacity of 172 million cubic metres of water.

Other values to be derived from the dam include generation of a mini power project, estimated at 1.5 megawatts, to power the water supply scheme and surrounding villages, irrigation and fishing projects.

Before the execution of the Gombe South regional water scheme, the government felt that, as a matter of urgency and as temporary solution, water should be supplied to Tula, a historic community with water problems.

In fact, for several years, the community, with a large population, had relied on one borehole which was provided through communal effort.

Therefore, to fulfil its campaign promises, the Dankwambo administration has embarked on the Tula interim water supply project, where six boreholes were drilled to solve the age-long water problem in the area pending the execution of Gombe South water scheme.

Pleased with the availability of water in the town during the drilling of the six boreholes, Governor Dankwambo directed that additional three boreholes be drilled in the town.

The governor’s strong desire to diversify the income base, especially with regards to agriculture, gave impetus to the ‘desilting’ of the 42 kilometres of irrigation trench constructed along with the multipurpose dam.

At the moment, about 24 kilometres is already ‘desilted’ and being put to use by farmers in the area.

The state Water Board as well the State Water and Sanitation Agency have been active in drilling boreholes and hand pumps, water schemes where greater water schemes do not reach the residents. This complementary effort can be seen in several towns and villages across the state.

Another area in which the present administration has made tremendous impact is tree planting. This is to mitigate the effects of desert encroachment. The government has embarked on massive planting of trees seedlings for free distribution to interested individuals, organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“Last year, over one million seedlings were distributed and our main objectives is to have the trees planted because they cannot be used for any other purpose,” Mahdi said.

Besides distribution of seedlings, the government has been also been at the forefront of cultivating trees by planting them along the roadsides and other public places. But the bigger demonstration is the creation of woodlots across the state. So far, six woodlots spread across 30 hectares have been developed and arrangements have been concluded to continue in subsequent rainy seasons.

To sustain the trend, government is embarking on aggressive tree planting campaigns while systematically fashioning punitive measures against those directly or indirectly involved in flagrant deforestation, especially in prohibited areas.

For instance, a village head was recently deposed for selling off a government-owned forest reserve located in his domain on the GombeBauchi highway. The forest was retrieved from the buyer without any compensation. This is to underscore the importance of afforestation in the state.

Battling with the problem of de-

forestation on one hand, the Gombe State Government, despite its lean resources, is tackling erosion and flooding on the other hand. It is true that no life ought to be lost due to certain action or inaction of man. But the four residents, livestock, arable lands and farms lost in last year’s flood in the state are minimal compared to the 17 deaths and other losses recorded during the August 20, 2004 flooding in the state.

This is due to the proactive steps taken by the Dankwambo-led administration before the rains set in. The government plans to spend over N500million on erosion control project.

Presently, proper channeling and redirection of flood has gulped huge sums of money.

Before these projects, the government had embarked on clearing of drains and waterways in parts of the Gombe metropolis. This has become a continuous exercise; it has been observed that blocked waterways accounted for the unfortunate incidents in the past, even as it is in tandem with the saying that “cleanliness is next to godliness”.

As an experiment, 400 plastic waste bins were initially provided for sanitation in Gombe township. But due to the challenges the residents faced, the bins are being changed to bigger metal incinerators to avoid being stolen, rundown by vehicles or burnt through careless deposition of fire into them.

Four heavy duty waste disposal vehicles and a number of tractors were procured to dispose off the waste bins on a daily basis. Also, a firm has been contracted to daily clean the major roads and streets as well as the drains, even as the Gombe State Environmental Protection Agency (GOSEPA) is being reorganised to make it more proficient and effective in handling its responsibilities.

Gombe is practically the least on the Federation Account’s chart and one of those generating the poorest internal revenue. Therefore, to imagine that this giant stride is made in barely two years amidst other urgent competing demands is awesome. No wonder the Speaker House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, during a recent visit to the state, praised Governor Dankwambo for the giant strides his administration has made in all sectors, despite the fact that the state gets one of the smallest federal allocations.

The government, has no doubt, proved that it is determined to solve one of the nagging problems of the state - water scarcity - as can be seen from the various projects it has been executing.

• Dahiru writes from Gombe

NEWS ALBERT CHINUA ACHEBE (1930-2103)

Group commiserates with writer’s family

A

•Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris (middle); Governor’s wife, Mrs Abimbola Fashola (right) and House of Assembly member, Mrs. Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, at the Lagos West I Senatorial District Town Hall meeting on Maternal and Child Mortality Reduction, at Oshodi Isolo Local Government Area...yesterday.

PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN

GROUP of eminent Nigerians, under the aegis of Project Nigeria, has expressed grief over the death of one of its associates and supporters, Prof Chinua Achebe.

The late literary icon and writer of several novels died last week in a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, the United States.

Project Nigeria commiserated with the late writer’s family and Nigerians over the demise.

In a statement in Lagos by its National Secretary, Olawale Okunniyi, the group noted that Achebe would be remembered for his consistent loyalty towards the cause and welfare of the downtrodden across the world.

The statement said: “We wish to state, as we mourn this irreparable loss to the people’s movement, that Achebe at different times demonstrated ex-

emplary courage as a general of the people’s army and a literary icon of the progressive movement. His interventions were dreaded by oppressive governments.

“He is also respected, the world over, for playing a seminal role in the founding and development of African literature.

“Achebe’s global significance lies not only in his talent and recognition as a writer, but also as a critical thinker and essayist who has written extensively on questions of the role of culture in Africa and the critique of the post-colonial state in Africa.

“His masterpiece, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, is considered the most widely read book in modern African literature. The book sold over 12 million copies and has been translated to over 50 languages worldwide.”

Project Nigeria also noted that the late Achebe played a major role during the Civil War, where he joined the Biafran government as an ambassador and on which he wrote a book, There Was a Country.

The group said the book is an autobiography on the late writer’s experiences and views on the war.

“We also wish to celebrate Achebe for his consistent criticism of various military dictators that ruled Nigeria and for his loud voice in denouncing the failure of governance in the country. This made him to reject twice offers by the Nigerian government to confer on him a national honour; citing the deplorable political situations in the country and the non-committal of the powersthat-be to restructure the country via a national conference of Nigerian people,” the statement added.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

62

SPORT EXTRA Coaches confirm for Greensprings Kanu Football Camp

Y

OUTH coaches from the English Premier League as well as experts from the Dutch league will be attending this year’s Greensprings Kanu Football Camp.

With the camp scheduled to hold on April 7 to 13 at the Lekki campus of Greensprings Schools, while the EPL coaches have been drawn from Liverpool and West Brom Albion.

Gary Judge is a youth coach with Liverpool Football Club was at the camp during the maiden edition last year and he will be making a return to be part of the exercise this year.

From West Bromwich Albion, David Lawrence and Liam Wall will also attend the camp.

Lawrence is West Bromwich Albion’s Football Development Officer and the Albion Ladies first team coach with a B-licence working towards his A-licence.

Wall is West Bromwich Albion’s community coach and Girls’ Centre of Excellence U-15 coach, pursuing his B-licence at present.

Also David Shepherd, a sports agent and UEFA Licensed agent will be part of the team coming to Nigeria for the clinic.

The Dutch coaches are Mark Von Zon, Carlo Danny Rietduk, and Jerino Lekatompeessy, who are expected to impart on the participants during the camp.

According to Greensprings’ Director of Education, Professor George Hickman, this year’s camp would witness blend of English and Dutch expertise.

“We are very pleased that at this year's camp, we will have six professional coaches to offer their expertise in coaching the participants. Three of the coaches will be from the English Premier League - one from Liverpool and two from West Brom Albion; the other three will be from the First Division League in the Netherlands.

2013 NNPC/SHELL CUP

Enugu boys to represent Nigeria in UK P

URPLE Crown College, Enugu State, has emerged the winner of the 2013 edition of the NNPC/ Shell Cup. The lads from Enugu secured the ticket yesterday after defeating their counterparts from Government Secondary School, Wuse, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja1-0 in a thrilling match played at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

For their efforts, the Enugu team got a monetary reward of N2.5m for the development of sports facilities in their school from the sponsors of the grassroots tournament.

In the same vein, each member of the team got a a cash prize of fifty thousand naira, while they were also picked to represent

By Stella Bamawo and Paul Oluwakoya the country at the at the schools tournament (Kings Cup) slated for October in the United Kingdom.

In a chat with the Nationsports, the Minister of Sport, Hon Bolaji Abdullahi stated that he was impressed with the match between the schools just as he described it as the best grassroots game he had watched in a long time.

He said: “After today’s game (Sunday), I really can’t understand why people are saying there are no more talents in Nigeria. I really enjoyed the game although there is always room for improvement, but the officiating is fair enough I must

say. I must commend the referees for their efforts too,” he said.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Engr. Andrew Yakubu who was represented

by Engr. Ben Akankar was also of the opinion that the organisation’s involvement in grassroots football tournament has achieved its aim of improving the game of soccer in the country. ”In its 15th year, the NNPC/ Shell Cup has become a household name and a reference point for grassroots football development and a permanent fixture in the national academic calendar. Participation in the championship has soared tremendously among secondary schools in the last

fifteen years, from about 2,000 secondary schools and 60,000 students when it started fifteen years ago, to about 2,500 schools and over 75,000 students across Nigeria this year. In fact, one of the numerous products of the NNPC/Shell Cup, Ejike Uzoenyi was in the Super Eagles team that won this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa,” he said.

The runners-up, Government College, Wuse, Abuja also smiled home with N1.4m for the development of sport facilities in their school, while each player in the team got a cash reward of N45, 000 and an invitation for international school competition coming up later this year in Dubai.

Government Arabic College,

Kano got the bronze medal in the competition after defeating Government College, Ibadan by 4-0 in the third leg match played on Saturday. They also won an official invitation to South Africa to participate in an international school tourney later the year.

According to the President of the Nigeria School Sports Federation, Ibraheem Muhammad, who awarded some dignitaries for their efforts in the age-long competition, said the bar of school’s sport in Nigeria has been raised stating that “With lots of invitation for international competitions government have been able to rekindle interest in football development at the school levels.

COUNTDOWN TO 1ST AFRICAN JUNIOR ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIP (MARCH 27-30)

AYAC WARRI 2013: Oduduru is emerging star

T

HE Local Organising Committee for the Africa Youth Athletics Championships has planned a five-star reception for the Nigerian team that will arrive Warri today (Monday) for the continental event. ‘’The Nigerian Supporters’ band will be among the groups that will receive the team at the DSC Junction in Warri and with their drums and horns we will herald the entry of the team into Warri,’’ Amaju Pinnick, Chairman of the LOC said.

LOC members and top officials of the Warri South Local Government will be among those who will receive the Nigerian team who will be arriving from the IAAF High Performance Centre in Porthacourt where they have been camping for a month now.

In the team are two veteran Nigerian coaches, Seigha Porbeni and Brown Ebewele who are optimistic that Nigeria will present a solid squad for the championships.

Up to 15 coaches trained the

Stories by Stella Bamawo 59 athletes.

The Nigerian team will stay at Excel Hotel, one of the best hotels in Warri. ‘’We have a crack team. We

have trained well and I’m sure that most of the athletes we have in this team will turn to stars in the near future,’’ Porbeni said.

Prominent among the emerging stars is Divine

Oduduru, a 15-year SS 3 student who has run 10.5 in camp. ‘’When a 15-year old runs 10.5 you can imagine what he will do with good training in a year or two ,’’ Porbeni said.

Athletics Federation of Nigeria Technical Director, Omatseye Nesiama said that some of athletes in the Nigerian team may mature before the Rio Olympics in 1016.

Team Kenya storms Warri with reigning World Junior Champions

R

EIGNING IAAF world junior 3000m and 3000m steeplechase champions,Mercy Chebwogen and Daisy Jepkorir will lead a strong Kenyan squad of five boys and five girls to Nigeria today for the inaugural edition of the African Youth Championships in Athletics starting this Wednesday in Warri,Delta state.

Chebwogen ran a new 9:08.88 personal best to win the IAAF World Junior crown last year ahead of Ethiopia's Hiwot Gebrekidan (9:09.27) and Great Britain's Emelia Gorecka (9:09.43) who both ran personal bests but had to settle for silver and medal

respectively.She will be the favourite to add the African Youth Championships to her collection.Jepkemei,who picked the steeplechase title in Barcelona with a the 9:47.22 World Junior Lead is also expected to emerge champions in Warri with Stella Jepkosgei Rutto,who won a bronze medal in Barcelona expected to be her fiercest rival for the gold medal. Meanwhile,the Team Nigeria contingent for the Championships made up of 59 athletes and 15 officials will arrive Warri today from their training camp in Port Harcourt.The team will be lead by Ese Brume,the jumper who picked a pair of gold at the trials for the

championships two weeks ago in Lagos.Brume won the long jump (6m40) and high jump (1m70) gold at the competition to lay a serious claim to the inaugural gold medals that will be awarded at the championships.As many as 15 countries have arrived for the championships.The Local Organising Committee reveals that Botswana, Namibia, Gabon, Burkina Faso,Mozambique, Djibouti, Guinea, Uganda, Benin Republic,Zimbabwe, Central Africa Republic, Liberia, Zambia, Mali and Egypt are in town with the remaining of the 35 countries led by Kenya expected to jet in today.Over 430 athletes are

expected to compete in the youth event''It's a championship that is expected to throw up talents that may become the stars of tomorrow and we have to thank the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan for hosting such a huge event that will benefit Nigeria tremendously,” Mary Onyali said of the event that kicks off on March 27 and will end on Easter Sunday

CAA top shot praises

H

EAD of the Marketing of Confederation of Africa Athletics CAA, Aminata Gueye is impressed with what she has seen on the ground in Warri for Africa Youth Athletics Championships otherwise known as AYAC Warri 2013. ‘’I saw the media Tribune at the stadium. In most junior events in Africa there are no media tribunes. The LOC has also done well with accommodation and transportation plans,’’ she said.

She is impressed with what Maria Whophill has been able to put down in terms of organisation. The AFN scribe is also the secretary of the LOC whose office in Warri was also commended. ‘’What I’m not sure of now is the attendance. I hope there will be enough fans at the stadium to watch the athletes compete. I just hope the ambience will be good,’’ Aminata said.

Amaju Pinnick, head of the LOC, said that students and sports fans will be at the stadium to watch the events that billed for 27 to 31 March.

Competitions will roll off on 28, the day the opening ceremony will also take place.

THE NATION MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013

63

SPORT EXTRA

Akpabio gives N36.5m Super Eagles

A

KWA IBOM Governor Godswill Akpabio yesterday continued his spending spree, giving out N36.5 million to the Super Eagles team for winning 2013 African Cup of Nation (AFCON).

Akpabio, who announced the donation at the House Banquet Hall, Government House, Uyo Akwa Ibom state, raged over criticisms in the media over his donations to groups and individuals , saying the press is still suffering from “colonial mentality”.

Each of the 23 players got N1 million, chief coach Stephen Keshi got N2 million, three assistant coaches received N1 million each and 17 back room officials got N500,000 each.

Akpabio also donated one three-bedroom flat to Akwa Ibom-born and Super Eagles’ Captain Vincent Enyeama for doing the state and the nation proud during the football championship.

The governor congratulated the Super Eagles’ coaches and footballers for winning the cup, saying ''We celebrate you. To you the players, you are the icons. For the coaches, we were praying collectively for you. You are the future of this country.”

He, however, condemned people who criticise his administration for making donations to individuals, organisations and the less privileged when such are captured as grants in the yearly budgets as approved by the House of Assembly, Akpabio lamented media criticisms on his alleged ‘fiscal recklessness’, saying the press are still living with colonial mentality.

He said: ''At this point of our existence, what should be important to Nigerians is development, unity and security challenges and not frivolous things."

According to him “Nigeria is a

• Governor lashes media From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo place where bad news is good news. Nigerian press has not yet learnt. From the West African Pilot, the press was set up in Nigeria to fight the colonial masters and to fight for independence’, adding, ‘many years after the colonial masters left, the Nigerian press is still fighting government and up till now they still don’t know that the colonial masters have gone.”

He maintained, any money he spends on donations or grants are captured in the budget as passed by the house of assembly. “If I donate to the church and you get angry with me should I donate to Satan?

Akpabio said.

The governor recently gave songster Tuface Idibia a Prado

SUV as a wedding gift and promised to send 28 people to the wedding in Dubai.

Beside, he gave N1m to each of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairmen in the Southsouth for lunch at a meeting in Port Harcourt, the River State capital. There were other donation.

The Governor, who praised Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Stephen Keshi and other officials for visiting Akwa Ibom, applauded the Eagles for doing the country proud, remarking ''We hardly see anything to celebrate about. That's why when you did the miracle you did in South Africa, you brought back the Nigerian spirit. You gave even a three-year Nigerian child something to celebrate by winning the cup''.

Abdullahi visits Jossy Lad

M

INISTER of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission Bolaji Abdullahi yesterday visited the ailing former Falcons’ coach Joseph Oladipo who is lying ill at the University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan.

The Minister who felt bad over the condition he met the former Shooting Stars’ player and Coach, donated N500,000 to the children of Jossy Lad towards his treatment.

He reassured the family of the government's continuous support to ensure he gets back his feet, saying “government is conscious of its responsibilities to all its sports icons, either active or

•Family gets N500,000 retired”.

“Our prayer is to see Jossy Lad getback on his feet, he’s part of first generation of footballers in this country and has greatly contributed to the development of the game in Nigeria. We shall always be supportive to any of our heroes especially in their trying times”.

Former Super Eagles’ Striker Dominic Iorfa who led Lobi Stars FC to Ibadan to play 3SC in week 3 match of the on-going Nigerian Premier Football League, visited Jossy Lad and gave =N=100,000 to Wale, son of the ailing Coach to support his treatment.

WHO SAID WHAT

MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

‘We can save it by coming together and forgetting about sentiments, about differences and work towards unity and saving the resources of this country because it is only through that, that we will be able to achieve peace’ VOL 8 NO 2,438

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

H

E entered the hall at Brown University without drama. Maybe there was drama, but the sort that jolted with its silences. Everywhere suddenly froze. Lips froze. Moving hands seized. Tongues retracted and retreated. Eyes stopped to stare except at a particular spot. Inanimate objects bowed to the petrified logic of the moment: pens, pads, doors. All wrapped in awe.

The man, the object of both affection and curiosity, did not seem to stir either. Chinua Achebe, who came in on a wheelchair, looked forward, as though contemplating. What was he contemplating: his next controversy? His next essay, next plot in a novel, or the prospect of an intellectual brouhaha in his colloquium organised yearly at one of the world’s top centres of learning: Brown University? Remember, he was a man of storms.

Throughout the two-day event, Achebe’s lips never creased into a word. His voice, known for its soft but arresting register, was a dramatic silence at his own event. It was an indicator that health was no longer at ease for the legend, a man who had written himself into literary grandeur, who had engrafted the African narrative on a cold and cocky Western world, who glided into controversies like a crocodile into a stormy water. He was lacking in the vim and fire of the author of A Man of The People.

Some of us at the colloquium on Africa last December wondered what would happen to the annual event once the man passed. He was all of 82, and he was wheeled around by one of his sons. He did not even stir much when Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), the governor of example, squared up to his then raging book, There Was A Country. The governor had pitched a battle against the effete logic of a book that preyed on the divisive struggles of Achebe’s generation. Fashola asserted that succeeding generations had transcended his book.

It turned out to be his last book, and his only stir at the colloquium was when he clapped at the performance of the willowy Nigerian artiste Nneka who thrilled everyone with the acoustic sweetness of her guitar and the didactic, if plaintive melody of her voice.

But as the news came last week of Achebe’s death, I thought to myself that the man had lived a full life, a life of the writer, the life of the warrior of the word, the life of exile. It is the concept of exile that seized me the most. If you read any of his works, whether it was Things Fall Apart, or No Longer At Ease, or his non- fiction The Education of British-Protected Child, he was preoccupied with the inability of the Nigerian self, especially Achebe, to locate home. His was a life of the perpetual search for a fitting shelter. Things Fall Apart was a novel as rejoinder, a piece in reaction to Joyce Cary’s Mister Johnson and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Both works denigrated the African past and cast a slur on a continent’s dignity, and Achebe fumed. He fumed with his counter-narrative.

The novel pits one of Africa’s most memorable characters, Okonkwo, against the crudities of a civilising Europe. Okonkwo dies a suicide, a loner in a place where he struts like a cock. Achebe felt such a sense of alienation when

RIPPLES PHCN workers to get severance pay soon–News

...and that will be GOOD RIDDANCE TO VERY BAD RUBBISH

SAM OMATSEYE

IN TOUCH

intouchsam@yahoo.com 08054501081(sms only) •NMMA Columnist of the Year

Self from self

•The late Achebe he fled Lagos in the tumult of the Nigerian crisis of the 1960’s. When he went to the East, which was home, he and his family lacked root, as bombs, bullets and the bloody chaos of war pulled them from place to place. He too became an ambassador, and moved around the continent, Europe and North America, a secular, nationalistic pilgrim evangelising the virtues of Biafra.

After the war, he still could not accommodate the idea of Nigeria, and he elucidated this point in The Guardian Lecture Series when he noted that he had a tough time reconciling his Igbo identity with the Nigerian after the disappointment of the 1960s. This lacerated his soul and,

by his own admission, froze his creative faculties as he did not produce any novel for 20 years. So he also suffered literary alienation.

He left Nigeria for Europe and returned. He found out that he had to leave again, for the United States. How could he reconcile with a people who uprooted him from his beloved Lagos, killed his kinsmen in the North, bombed his home in Enugu, razed the East from city to hamlet. These were the same people his people pointed guns at, killed as well and harassed with the primitive ingenuity of the Ogbunigwe.

He was not going to return for a while, and when he did, he taught at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, but he had to leave again. He did not visit for a long time, and when he did, he almost lost his life in a motor accident. But for the rest of his life, the warrior launched his battles from within the confines of a wheelchair.

The alienation was probably complete: alienation from his Igbo home, from Nigeria, from the West, from his art, from a healthy body. It was possible that Achebe was perpetually angry with his country. A man who drew people from around the world to the dignity and magnificence of his culture did not savour the society he so doggedly and elegantly evangelised.

He was a contrast to his leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu- Ojukwu, who rekindled an exemplary Nigerianness after the war without quenching his Biafran fire.

Even when he visited Igboland a few years back at the invitation of former Imo State Governor Ikedi Ohakim, he panned his people for their

HARDBALL

T

HESE are desperate times for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The schisms in the party have not only proved difficult to heal, top party leaders and sundry apparatchiks are even threatening to bolt out of the party. The Southwest zone of the party is riven by factionalism, with the domineering Olusegun Obasanjo faction permanently at daggers drawn with the intransigent Buruji Kashamu faction. So far, the Kashamu faction has managed to nationalise the conflict, get the PDP hierarchy to support its side of the argument, and unhorse Obasanjo’s loyalists within the party. A sulking Obasanjo is responding fitfully by seizing every opportunity to indirectly denounce both the party and the Jonathan government. On another side, there is the convoluted battle with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum led by Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi. Unable to outdo Amaechi or get rid of him in the NGF, PDP tacticians raised a splinter group from the NGF headed by Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, to destroy the forum’s unity.

But while the factional and NGF battles were yet to be won or lost, two other momentous events occurred. First was the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a merger of some three or four major political parties determined to unseat the ruling party from its perch. And second was the rumour that eight or 10 PDP governors might be planning to defect to the APC at

NUHU RIBADU

fealty to materialistic glory rather than the higher reaches of knowledge. He asserted that the progress of any society was not possible without those exalted ideals of knowledge and character. His fidelity to Igbo roots was sometimes so irredentist that he forgot that the acclaimed father of African literature had transcended insular claims of a public kind. He described Awolowo as a tribalist when the sage died. In his last book, he asserted the Igbo as the superior race. The irony is that he could not live even in Igboland. That was perhaps his most potent alienation.

When he wrote a book of nonfiction, it was aptly titled, The Trouble with Nigeria. His alienation with Nigeria took on another colour.

He said the problem with Nigeria was leadership. That clarified a new righteous rage signposted by rejections of two national awards, one from Obasanjo and the second from Jonathan. He was not at peace with the Nigerian state.

In spite of this, he was a writer in whom many around the world were well pleased. His Things fall Apart sold at least 8 million copies around the world, won him the Booker Prize for his lifetime work, earned doctorates in many upscale schools, was sought after for speeches everywhere. For a man who was so loved, it must have been painful to be Chinua Achebe. He agonised over a world of disconnections. Yet, if you read Things Fall Apart, the character that critics see as embodying Achebe’s views was Obierika. That character, unlike Okonkwo, urges accommodation.

But Achebe’s life reads more like Okonkwo in terms of an insistence of principle and absence of accommodation. His was a Joycean island.

His narrative style was also not audacious.

He was a cagy genius, a follower of a path of familiar perfections. That is the contradiction in a man who urged change but abided tested tropes. Yet he was a literary pathfinder by introducing a subject that kindled a new generation of literature. He did not win the Nobel Prize, a thing of personal frustration to him.

He demonstrated this in his attack on Wole Soyinka’s triumph. He said that he won the European prize did not make Soyinka the Asiwaju of African literature. Soyinka replied, with dramatic irony, that it was not his intention to be an Ogbuefi of African literature. The Nobel alienation was perhaps felt the most by those who felt he deserved it.

No one can deny that Achebe was a jewel in the African narrative. He brought African letters out of the shadows in the modern era. That alone places him, for all the imperfections of his poetics, as a genius for the ages.

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

Cooking a stone the PDP-Tukur way the appropriate time to help the opposition destroy the myth and invincibility of the ruling party. It is not clear what incentives the apparently inflexible President Goodluck Jonathan can offer the aggrieved PDP members to placate them. Nor is it clear how easy it is to reconcile the implacable Kashamu and Obasanjo factions in the Southwest zone of the party. Worse, even the PDP chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, seems to be at his wits’ end in resolving the conflicts without engendering a worse labyrinth.

However, at a meeting of the Northwest zone of the PDP in Kaduna on Saturday, Tukur chose a puzzling style to respond to the threats his party is facing. He acknowledged there were fratricidal tendencies in the party strong enough to make the opposition pull the rug from under the feet of the PDP. But as a sign of desperation, he offered a most bewildering and unethical incentive to reunify the party and defeat the opposition. Said he: “PDP is all about patronage.

We are going to dole out our patronage to all our members who remain in the party. I am here to tell all our supporters about the virtue of patience. Patience is such a priceless thing, that the Hausa people say, ‘A patient man can cook a stone and drink its sauce.’ I want to plead with our members in this zone to imbibe this teaching. This is because without patience, we will all be in

disarray. And we cannot afford to be. There is a heavy war ahead in 2015. A group has come up and wants to sweep the mat off our feet (pull the rug from under our feet). We cannot allow that to happen…Let me inform you, we are going to give patronage to all our members who have contested elections and lost. There is enough in the party to go round everyone. There is no need to leave the party.”

Even if you ignore his symbolisms, and feel convinced that there is no conceivable way his idiomatic stone could be cooked with prolonged steaming, your ethical sensibility would not allow you to ignore his tendentious offer of unlimited patronage to disaffected party members. For it seems clear to everyone now that the PDP style of governance is to dispense patronage at the expense of good governance. In addition to styling disagreements within the PDP as a family affair to which family unscrupulousness was the best solution, it is also evident that neither common sense nor the law, nor yet sensible economics, could mitigate the fanaticism of the PDP to apply public funds and resources to settle its internal quarrels.

Tukur has served notice there would be no scruples strong enough to deter the ruling party from turning the country into a bazaar. It is time to also serve the ruling party notice that the country is not game.

Published and printed by Vintage Press Limited. Corporate Office: 27B Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Lagos. P.M.B. 1025,Oshodi, Lagos.

Telephone: Switch Board: 01-8168361. Editor Daily:01-8962807, Marketing: 01-8155547 . Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja. Tel: 07028105302. Port Harcourt Office: 12/14, Njemanze Street, Mile 1, Diobu, PH. 08023595790 WEBSITE: www.thenationonlineng.net E-mail: info@thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 Editor: GBENGA OMOTOSO