The Nation May 09, 2012

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

News Jubilation as Oyo Accord, PDP lawmakers join ACN P7 Sports No gang-up against Yekini, says Victor Ikpeba P24 Business Agric firm Vegefresh begins N4.8b tomato revolution P12 www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 7, NO. 2118 WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

•From left: Mr Atedo Peterside, Anambra Governor Peter Obi, Adamawa Governor Murtala Nyako, Mr Femi Otedola, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chief Kolade PHOTO: NAN Jamodu and Mr Jim Ovia - all members of the Economic Management Team - during its meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja ... yesterday.

Okereke-Onyiuke: we’ve right to spend as we like SEC acted illegally, says ex-DG

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The SEC has no busiHE Lagos State ness over government yesterday defended its how a pridecision to lay off striking 788 doctors.

It said the decision, vate comthough painful, was and taken for pany spends necessary the public good. The government also ruled its money. out any further negotiawith the sacked We did not tion doctors, saying those interested in abiding by the rules could appeal for collect money from Governor anybody and we have evicted a right to AMFARA State Governor spend our Abdulaziz Yari has been thrown out of his money the Abuja home.

A High Court in the way we Federal Capital Territory declared that he had been want. occupying the house

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

F

ORMER Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) boss Prof. Ndi OkerekeOnyiuke defended her integrity yesterday.

She said the intervention of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the affairs of the NSE was illegal. Besides, she dismissed allegations of financial recklessness hurled at her administration by the SEC. She said the regulatory body had no power to dictate how a private company, which the NSE is, spends its money. She also laid to rest the controversy generated by the dinner she organised in support of the election of United States President Barack Obama in 2008.

Mrs Okereke-Onyiuke alleged that the “unguided pronouncements” by regulatory authorities and their action contributed to the eventual crash of the capital market.

She also faulted the nationalisation of Afribank, Bank PHB and Springbank.

Speaking before the Ibrahim El-Sudi-led House of Representatives ad hoc Committee investigating the near collapse of the Continued on page 4

‘Why doctors were fired’

By Miriam Ndikanwu and Wale Adepoju

T

Continued on page 4

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

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•Mrs Okereke-Onyiuke ... yesterday

PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

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Continued on page 4

•CITYBEATS P8 •SPORTS P23 •POLITICS P43 •INSURANCE P45 •EQUITIES P50

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

2

NEWS

Nigerians N

• Chairman, Gubernatorial Advisory Committee to Lagos State Government Prof. Adebayo Williams, presenting an award from the Osun State Descendants in Canada to Governor Rauf Aregbesola(right) at the Governor's Office in Osogbo ... on Monday . With them is Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.

•U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Amb. Terence McCulley(middle), President Emeritus, Family Health International , Dr Peter Lamptey and Director, of Public Health, Ministry of Health Dr Mansur Kabir during the Launch of Strengthening Intergrated delivery of HIV/AIDS Services in Abuja... yesterday.

PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

IGERIAN businessman Godwin Patrick took a three-week holiday to the U.K. this month to visit his Britishbased cousins. It wasn’t the only reason for his trip.

“I’m here to shop,” the 38-yearold said on London’s Oxford Street, clutching bags from Marks & Spencer Group Plc (MKS) and Associated British Foods Plc’s (ABF) Primark containing underwear and trousers for himself, and dresses for his family in Lagos.

Patrick is a regular visitor to London, where retailers are fully accustomed to Nigerian shoppers.

The African country was the fourth-biggest contributor to overseas tax-free shopping in the U.K. last year, behind only China, Russia and the Middle East, according to tourism services provider Global Blue U.K. A growing Nigerian population in the U.K. and more-frequent direct flights between the countries has led to an influx of visitors who have more to spend because of a booming oil-driven economy.

“Nigerian travelers are very particular to the U.K.; you’d never see them as a top-10 nationality in other markets,” said Richard Brown, vice-president of Global Blue U.K., which runs a network that enables foreign shoppers to claim back value-added tax. In total, Nigerians “spend more as a total business than Americans do,” he said.

Visitors from the U.S. are the sixth- biggest shopping group. Retailers in London are particularly

dependent on overseas shoppers.

Foreigners account for a third of spending in the English capital’s shopping district of Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street and will spend more than 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) this year, according to the New West End Co., which represents 600 retailers in the area. Spending by Nigerians in U.K. shops rose 32 percent last year, according to Global Blue, which declined to disclose their expenditure. Visitors from the West African country accounted for 6 percent of the U.K.’s foreign retail spending in March, the researcher said.

Union-Jack Teapot Unlike mostly luxury-seeking Russian and Middle Eastern tourists, Nigerian visitors also want to spend their money at mass-market chains such as Marks & Spencer and Debenhams Plc, (DEB) where they can obtain better quality products than at home.

“There is a misconception that they just come here for middle- or lower-value items, but they shop across all brands from mass-market high street right up to department-store and luxury brands as well,” said Global Blue’s Brown.

Nigerian visitors spend an average of about 450 pounds per individual transaction, compared with more than 1,000 pounds by Middle Eastern customers, Global Blue said.

At Debenhams’ store on London’s Oxford Street, Nigerians provide the biggest source of overseas spending as they seek out perfume and moisturizer gift sets, Brit-

Subsidy probe: Mobil, eight others to submit bank statements today From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

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•Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Hon . Betty Apiafi (left), Chairman,Nigerian Community in Ireland Mr. Emeka Ikebuasi, Chairman House Committee on Diaspora Hon. Abike Dabiri Erewa and Hon. Joseph Akinlaja during the meeting with Nigerian Community in Ireland held at the National Assembly in Abuja... yesterday PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

•From left: Mr Emman Ajayi, President, Nigerian Danish Chamber of Commerce Prince Ben Adako and former NBA President Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) at a breakfast meeting in Lagos...yesterday

HE second leg of the investigations into the fuel subsidy regime by the House of Representatives’ Ad hoc Committee began yesterday with nine of the 17 ‘indicted’ oil companies appearing before the panel.

Eight other oil marketers, which were absent from the public hearing held by the House, are scheduled to appear before the committee today.

The panel requested Mobil Nigeria Ltd and seven other oil firms to make available their bank statements today to determine if or not they were involved in the irregularities.

In the importation of PMS and other petroleum products , N23.1bn was earned by Mobil, which became part of the subsidy scheme in 2007.

Chairman of the Commitee Hon. Farouk Lawan said the request on Mobil and the other oil companies is to ascertain whether or not they genuinely participated in the scheme as claimed.

The highest fund collected by Mobil in the scheme is N7 billion in 2011 for five transactions.

Lawan said the documents would allow the committee to identify all those who made deposits to Mobil’s accounts.

The American oil giant, through its Nigeria Managing Director and Chairman Tunji Oyebanjo, admitted that Mobil at a time was overpaid with N209 million.

The company was mandated to produce a list of its truck-out and documents showing delivery by its over 300 trucks to all its retail outlets.

Companies, which appeared before the committee are: Mobil, Dattrade Energy Ltd, AX Energy Ltd, Nepal Oil and Gas,Crust Energy Ltd, CAH Resources Association Ltd, Oilbath Nigeria Ltd, Mut-Hass Petroleum Ltd and Oakfield Synergy Network Ltd. The Mobil boss apologised to the Committee for not appearing during the first leg of the probe. He said it was because there was no letter of invitation.

He said the company secured 32 million metric tons in 2007.

Oyebanjo denied allegations of business transactions with Vitol Oil, another importer through a product delivered by a vessel named MT Millera in 2007.

Nepal Oil and Gas, which was represented by its Managing Director, Mrs Ngozi Ekoma, failed to provide answer on the actual capacity of the only storage facility it claimed it has in Enugu.

The firm, which got allocation of 10,000 metric tons in second quarter of 2011 from PPPRA, was confirmed to have received N2.353.911 in subsidy payment.While adjourning till today, the panel said any importer that fails to furnish it with all documents would be blacklisted.

Lawan said the companies were being given a second chance to defend themselves.

He stated: “My hope is that the exercise we have conducted this time around should be a wake-up call for all regulatory agencies, not only to those ones in the Petroleum Industry but all regulatory agencies in this country, so that can guarantee international best practices.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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NEWS

spend huge in UK shops ‘ The country’s gross domestic product grew 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter year over year, according to the Abujabased National Bureau of Statistics, compared with the prior quarter’s 7.4 percent gain. While the African nation may be better off than before it gained its independence from Britain in 1960, its shopping facilities aren’t of a standard to compare with the U.K.

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ish-themed products like a 20pound union-jack printed teapot, clothing and shoes, according to spokeswoman Ruth Attridge.

Multilingual signs advertising discounts at the store are printed

•One of the stores in London patronised by Nigerians

not only in Chinese and Arabic, but also Hausa, a Nigerian language. Living in Britain The popularity of the U.K. as a shopping destination for Nigerians partly reflects the growth in the number

of people from the country living in Britain. About two-thirds of shoppers are on holiday or visiting family and friends, while a third are traveling for business, according to Global Blue.

The U.K. Office for National Statistics estimates that 174,000 Nigerians lived in the U.K. between July 2010 and June 2011, the ninth-largest nationality. That’s an increase of 34,000 compared with three

NJC meets over Salami, others T

HE National Judicial Council (NJC) will meet today and tomorrow to take decisions on some issues affecting the judiciary.

Top on this is the recommended reinstatement of the suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami.

He was suspended by the NJC on August 18, last year, following his refusal to apologise to the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Aloysius Katsina-Alu, for allegedly lying on oath against him.

Justice Salami accused the former CJN of asking him to compromise the Sokoto Court of Appeal hearing in favourt of Governor Aliyu Wamakko.

A 29-member stakeholders’ Judicial Reform Committee raised by CJN Justice Dahiru Musdapher, on October 14, to review crises in the judiciary, recommended Justice Salami’s reinstatement.

The committee was headed by a former CJN, Justice Muhammadu Uwais.

A sub-committee of the panel, including Justice Mamman Nasir, Justice U. Kalgo and Justice Bola Ajibola, asked the CJN and the NJC to reinstate Justice Salami to his position.

The Committee upheld the decisions of the sub-committee and recommended Justice Salami’s reinstatement.

Another five-member Negotiation Committee raised to review the recommendation is headed by the

•Source: Bloomberg

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A 29-member stakeholders’ Judicial Reform Committee raised by CJN Justice Dahiru Musdapher, on October 14, to review crises in the judiciary, recommended Justice Salami’s reinstatement.

The committee was headed by a former CJN, Justice Muhammadu Uwais

From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

incoming CJN, Justice Maryam Aloma-Mukhtar. The committee is saddled with the responsibility of reconciling Justice Katsina-Alu and Justice Salami.

It could not be confirmed yesterday, if the committee will also look into the appointment of a new CJN. The 29-member Stakeholders Judicial Reform Committee had recommended that Justice Salami’s return to office and the reconciliation of the suspended President of the Court of Appeal with the immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu. The committee advised Justice Salami to withdraw all the cases he has instituted in court as part of the reconciliation being sought in the judiciary.

Justice Musdapher is believed to have been consulting with President Goodluck Jonathan in the last few weeks on the committee’s recommendations.

Other recommendations of the Uwais panel, which may be considered by the NJC, are: •that the appointment of CJN from outside the rank of Justice of Supreme Court should be considered by the Federal Judicial Service Commission; •the need to reform the system of appointment of judges by giving preference to court room experience and decision in legal practice; •that the number of years for which a legal practitioner needs to

years earlier. Daily flights from Lagos by airlines such as British Airways Plc are also fueling shopper journeys.

The London-based carrier allows Nigerian passengers an additional 23-kilogram suitcase compared with the majority of its flights. Air Nigeria plans to start flights to London’s Gatwick airport this month.

Economic Expansion Wealth among Nigeria’s elite has increased since the turn of the century as the former British colony has become Africa’s top oil producer, spurring economic expansion.

The country’s gross domestic product grew 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter year over year, according to the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics, compared with the prior quarter’s 7.4 percent gain. While the African nation may be better off than before it gained its independence from Britain in 1960, its shopping facilities aren’t of a standard to compare with the U.K. “In Nigeria, there is very little formal retail,” said Siemon Scamell-Katz, global consulting director at researcher TNS. “So in terms of retail, Primark and Marks & Spencer is quite something if you haven’t come across much retail before.” That’s true of Patrick, who said it’s “the quality and the pricing” of London’s stores that keep him coming back. “We don’t have the same standard of retailing,” he said.

•Justice Katsina-Alu

•Justice Salami

be qualified prior to consideration for appointment as a Judge of the High Court should be increased from 10 years to minimum of 15 years post-call experience, 20 years post-call experience for the Court of Appeal and 25 years post call experience for the Supreme Court.

•NJC should sanction Judges who, from available record of NJC, have been found not to be performing. Such sanction should include removal where applicable. The need for sanction to be imposed for contempt ex-satiae curiae: •to reduce the backlog of criminal cases, retired Judges and senior member of the Bar should be appointed for a limited period of time to act as recorders (adhoc Judges) to adjudicate on criminal cases;

•the criminal procedure laws are outdated and should be modernised and amended; and that •the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Attorneys-General of states should cease to be members of the Federal Judicial Service Commission or committee, as the case may be.

Members of the committee include: former CJNs S.M.A. Belgore, Idris L. Kutigi and A.I. Katsina-Alu, Mamman Nasir (former PCA), A.G. Karibi-Whyte, Mustapha Akanbi, Umaru Abdullahi (former PCA), Kayode Eso (rtd. JSC), Umaru A. Kalgo (rtd. JSC) and Rose N. Ukeje (former CJ, Federal High Court).

Others are: Justice R.P.I. Bozimo (former Chief Judge, Delta State), Justice Lawal Hassan Gummi (Chief

Judge, FCT), Joseph Daudu, SAN (NBA President), Chief Richard O. Akinjide SAN (former A-GF), Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim (SAN), (former A-GF), Dr. A.G.F. AbdulRazak (SAN) and Anthony O. Mogboh SAN. There are also former NBA Presidents T.J.O. Okpoko, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), O.C.J. Okocha (SAN), Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu (SAN) and Prince Lanke Odogiyan.

Other members are Hajiya Hairat Balogun, Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN), (Director-General, National Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, NIALS), Dr. Mamman Tahir (Director-General, Nigerian Law School) and Mr. A.B. Mahmud (SAN).

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

NEWS Zamfara Governor evicted from Abuja house Continued from page 1

•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) responding to cheers from excited students during the fourth anniversary of PHOTOS: NAN Climate Club for Schools ... yesterday. Commissioner for the Environment Tunji Bello at the ceremony Continued from page 1

consideration.

Commissioner for Health Dr. Jide Idris who spoke yesterday denied that hospitals in the state were totally grounded by the doctors’ strike, saying 746 doctors were at work providing qualitative medical service and saving lives. Those ones are to be joined by the newly employed 373 medics, he added.

Dr. Idris, who spoke at the secretariat in Alausa said: “though every employee has a right to down tools to call attention of his employer to his plight, that shouldn’t be at the expense of the laiddown rules and at the expense of innocent people’s lives,” adding, “we must restore health services back to our facilities and prevent deaths.”

He said the government bent over backwards to accommodate the excesses of the striking doctors while exploring all avenues for dialogue. He regretted that the striking doctors remained adamant.

The Commissioner said as part of the avenues that was employed to resolve the differences, the leadership of the House of Assembly held a meeting with both parties, noting that the striking doc-

illegally. The property, a five- bedroom duplex with two- room boys’ quarter, is located on Number 1, Fatai Williams Street, Asokoro, Abuja.

The eviction order, signed

by Justice Jude Okeke, also ordered Governor Yari to pay N8, 162, 028. 00, representing profit on two years’ rent; N10, 000 cost; and N10, 000 warrant fees.

The judgment, which was given on June 11, 2010, had ordered the governor to yield possession of the house to the owner of the property, Sir Ernest Elochukwu, but the order was not complied with.

Consequently, Justice Okeke approved Yari’s eviction on April 26. Officials of

Why striking doctors were fired, by Lagos Falana, JAF seek reinstatement

T

HE sacked doctors got the backing yesterday of Lagos lawyer Femi Falana and the Joint Action Front (JAF). They called their reinstatement.

Falana said: “Under the Trade Dispute Act, an employer has no powers to sack workers who embark on strike.”

He said since the doctors had a case at the National Industrial Court (NIC), Governor Babatunde Fashola “should reinstate them immediately and direct the Attorney General to file a suit at the NIC without delay.

“When there was a strike by doctors last year, I led a team of civil society leaders to meet both sides which contributed to the resolution of the crisis. Once again, we met on Sunday and constituted a team to meet with officials of the government and the

tors insulted members of the panel and the meeting ended abruptly.

He said newly employed doctors would blend with the others to provide qualitative and efficient service.

Idris said government was open to dialogue but noted that preserving the lives of Lagosians was paramount.

Dr. Idris said the government would not be intimidated by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) with its utterances and threats of legal action against the government.

striking doctors on May 9.

“To our utter chagrin, the doctors were dismissed from service on Monday. In view of the far-reaching implication, we urge Governor Fashola to reverse the decision and file a complaint before the NIC for urgent judicial determination of the industrial dispute,” he added.

The JAF also said the action of the “state government constitutes a grave violation of labour laws and international conventions on the freedom of association. The sack of doctors clearly contravenes the decisions and principle of freedom of association committee of the governing body of the international Labour Organisation (ILO). The statement was signed by JAF chair Dr. Oladipo Fashina and secretary Comrade Abiodun Aremu.

He said having taken a bold step to employ new doctors to take over the vacant positions, there are presently about 1,059 doctors to attend to patients in need of medical attention.

Dr. Idris described the threat by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to revoke the licences of the newly recruited doctors as mere intimidation; saying only the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has the power to decide on discipline in the the medical profession. . “The NMA does not grant

Medical licences; it is the MDCN that grants medical licensces. And granting of the Medical licences is subject to your qualification in the medical school”, he said.

He added that the NMA ought to be an association of medical professionals who should uphold the dignity of the profession.

Head of Service (HOS) Adesegun Ogunlewe said officers dismissed from service have no place for negotiation.

He said they could only appeal to the governor for reconsideration.

Ogunlewe said it was “cruel and callous” of the doctors to neglect their patients and embark on an illegal strike. He said government had met some of the issues they raised.

The HOS said the doctors by their action, violated rules and regulations, leaving the government with no option but to salvage the situation. He said: “If you go on an illegal strike, it is as good as someone who absented himself from work without permission and there are laid down rules for that.

“I released a circular to bring the attention of all workers to the Trade Dispute Act and it was clear that government intended to henceforth enforce the content of that Trade Dispute Act, the consequence of the illegalities of their actions is what they are reaping now.

“The state government holds all health workers in very high esteem including doctors. However, in a democracy, the rule of law must always prevail , particularly in a public service where we have age-long rules and regulations that have been guiding the performance of every member irrespective of their performance within the service”.

the Judgment Enforcement Unit of the Federal Capital Territory stormed the premises at about 11 am yesterday with about eight armed policemen to carry out the eviction.

The Governor’s personal effects were taken out of the house. They would be moved to the court.

Copies of the eviction order pasted on the walls of the building reads: “Whereas as at a court holden on 11thJune 2010, it was adjudged that the plaintiff was entitled to possession of the premises mentioned in the particulars annexed to the affidavit.”

On the personal effects being taken away, the document stated: “The goods and chattles are not to be sold until after the end of five days next, following the day of which they were seized, unless they are of a perishable nature or at the request of the defendant.”

The implication of the above is that the Governor’s personal effects may be sold after five days of eviction.

The owner of the property has been in a running battle with Yari over the said property since 2010. The Governor was said to have rented the property in 2008 when he was a member of the House of Representatives.

But he claimed to have bought the property from Obinna Kanu in 2010 without the knowledge of the owner.

Kanu is on the run and the police have declared him wanted.

•Governor Yari

Okereke-Onyiuke: we’ve right to spend as we like

•Ms Oteh Continued from page 1

Nigerian capital market, Mrs Okereke-Onyuike dismissed her alleged mismanagement of about N2.7bilion as revealed by SEC Director General Ms. Arumah Oteh.

While testifying on Monday on why the capital market collapsed, Ms Oteh alleged that Mrs OkerekeOnyiuke spent N37m on a yacht and spent N1.3billion on business travels. She also alleged that NSE Council members shared N1.7b surplus among other expenditure.

But Mrs Okereke-Onyuike

insisted yesterday: “The SEC has no business over how a private company spends its money. We did not collect money from anybody and we have a right to spend our money the way we want. It is not investors’ money or shareholders’ money; it is money that was made legally.

NSE is a private company”.

She said the NSE is not a profit-making entity but makes its money from the fees it charges for its services from stock brokers which was 0.6 percent before it was reviewed downwards in 2006 to 0.3 percent following the boom in the capital market.

“As at 2006 when the market was booming, I implored the Council to review the fees to 0.3 because we were making too much money and we had nowhere to put the surplus. So before I was forced out, the Nigerian Stock Exchange market was healthy and vibrant,” she said.

Besides, the former NSE DG pointed out that her ouster was to prevent her

from overseeing the demutualisation and to edge her out of the Council of the Exchange.

“SEC had no problem with our succession plan but all they were saying was to cover up their illegality of taking over the NSE. For instance, in 2008, the SEC gave us a clean bill of health after the inspection of our books and operations.

“I want to say that there is no law backing the decision of SEC to take over NSE, it was all orchestrated. On the excuse that the transition programme put in place by the Council was not transparent. I want to say that we informed the SEC about it and they gave no objection. What they said was that they would have preferred that it was thrown open.

“However, what we did was in line with what our founding fathers did by grooming insiders that have the experience to take over.”

She gave more insight into her forced exit, saying:

“There was no such thing as public interest and why they had to force me out was because even if I retired at the end of 2009, I would still be on Council for the next three years.

“Being there, it means that I would still be able to oversee the demutualisation process. I introduced the demutualisation process but unfortunately it was the same demutualisation that got me out”.

Mrs Okereke-Onyuike said she never raised money for the election of the United States President, Barack Obama.

“I did not raise money for Obama. I knew Obama since 2005 before he became the President. I lived in the US for 14 years and I am not dumb, I am very smart and I know the law. What I did was to create awareness for our brothers in the US to vote for him because he has 50 percent black in him. I called friends to a dinner, which was later termed concert

where some musical artistes attended.

“As a matter of fact, I funded the concert myself and it was a friend of mine, Olulade, a stock broker, that insisted that I should not go it alone and he contributed. Nobody, except the two of us, funded the dinner. I did not collect money from anybody because I know the laws of the United States and I know that it is illegal to donate to Obama’s campaign in that manner.

“Even when I was invited by the EFCC, I was allowed to go because I had not done anything wrong.”

The former NSE boss also castigated the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) over the capital market crisis, adding: “Regulatory pronouncements and actions were the major factors that led to the crash of the market because those pronouncements hurt.

“Yes, there were some banks that did some things wrong, but there are certain

aspects of the business that if something was found to have gone wrong, that should not be for public consumption, until it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt and you now want to punish the culprit.

“So the regulator does not just make wild pronouncements and accusations because it hurts the system. If you say all the banks are criminals, how would anyone want to go and put their money there just as nobody would want to go to the stock market when you say the engine room of the Stock Exchange is about to collapse.

“We in the Stock Exchange punish stock brokers when we judge stock brokers and clients by sending them on suspension, by not trading for specified days, depending on the magnitude of their offence’ but we don’t make public pronouncement of that unless it is an infraction that borders on the serious, that can impact on the market.

Continued on page 56

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

NEWS

Why govt agencies are non performing, by Senate

S

ENATE President David Mark yesterday blamed non performing Federal Government agencies on lack of political will.

Mark spoke following a debate at plenary on a Bill entitled : “A Bill for an Act to repeal the Centre for Automotive Design and Development Act 1992, the National Automotive 1993 to provide for establishment of the National Automotive Design and Development Council and other matters connected therewith 2012.”

Mark said the agencies set up be-

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

tween 1992 and 1994 have nothing to show for their existence.

He said the agencies have become a drain on the nation’s scarce resources.

Mark said: “I think it is lack of political will power to make things function. If these two agencies have existed and up till now we cannot evaluate their performance then there is a genuine problem.

“Whether merging them is even

going to do anything at all is a problem on its own. But for whatever it is worth, let us take that first step.

“I believe we got quite a number of problems when we put up all these organisations.

“We don’t make the right people to head them; then we don’t fund them properly and then at the end of the day, the agencies or these commissions just sit down and do nothing else but consume government money on overheads.”

He added that one of the areas that the Senate needs to look at critically

is whether the agencies would achieve their objectives.

He added: “The second issue is that I remember that DICON, which is the Defence Industry of Nigeria, was set up about the same time the one in Brazil.

“Today, they are building aircrafts, ships and armoured cars for Brazil. DICON is making chairs and dining tables for us.

“I think as a nation we need to look inward, tighten our belts and then begin to take decisions that will ensure that Nigeria will also grow.”

Senators, who spoke on the issue, bemoaned the lot of the nation, which has continued to rely on imported vehicles whereas agencies have been set up for this purpose.

They queried the rationale behind the proposed merger, instead of scrapping them outrightly.

They argued that it was not the duty of the Federal Government to go into the manufacturing of automobiles, but should rather have policies that would assist the private investors to succeed in their endeavours.

Fed Govt to develop girl-child education

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INISTER of State for Education Ezenwo Nyesom Wike yesterday promised that the Federal Government would improve enrollment of the girl-child in schools.

Wike, who spoke at the 12th Girls’ Child National Steering Committee Meeting in Abuja, noted that the country is committed to achieving universal primary and junior secondary education to eliminate gender disparity.

He said the education of the girlchild is critical to national development because of its effect on the nation.

According to him: “The Federal Government is determined to ensure parity in our education system, equity and access has been cho-

sen as one of the priority areas in the Ministry of Education’s fouryear plan.

He said: “For the country to achieve all its targets in education and social sector development, there is need for collaboration of all stakeholders.”

He said the second phase of the Girl-Child Education Project has been successful.

Wike said: “The drop-out syndrome of girls/boys from schools is being seriously addressed through the rehabilitation of our schools and advocacy visits to states to sensitise planners and ensure adequate community participation, especially the women.”

He urged state governments and non governmental organisations to step up their sensitisation and advo-

• From left: Ozumba, Wike and Technical Assistant to Minister of State for Education, Dr Olu Ayewoh...yesterday

cacy on girl-child education.

Director of Basic and Secondary Education Mrs Mabel Ozumba said

girl-child education has witnessed improvement.

The meeting attracted commis-

sioners and chairmen of the State Universal Basic Education Boards from the six geo-political zones.

Gold mining kills 400 children in Zamfara

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ORE than 400 children have died from lead poisoning related to artisanal gold mining in the past two years in the northern Nigerian state, Zamfara. Human Rights Watch says it is “the worst outbreak in modern history.” The rights group says thousands more sick children may be permanently disabled or die if immediate action is not taken.

Amina tells aid workers in Nigeria that she used to have six children. Three of her children, like hundreds of other victims in Zamfara State, have died from lead poisoning.

The lead killing children comes from the same place as the village’s

primary means of survival: gold mines.

To extract the gold, local miners crush rock ore, releasing lead dust into the air, onto their clothes, and sometimes all over children who assist in the process. This dust is dangerous for adults, but for children in can be fatal or lead to severe lifelong disabilities.

Human Rights Watch says some household yards have almost 60 times the amount of lead considered safe is in the sand than is considered safe.

Jane Cohen, who works as an environmental researcher for Human Rights Watch, says thousands of children are in need of emergency treatment, miners need to

be given the means to adopt safe mining practices and contaminated homes and buildings need to be cleaned up.

“It is really the worse lead poisoning outbreak in modern history,” she said. “Even though this is a complex problem, we do know basically what we need to do to solve it and the issue at this point is there is just a lack of funding.”

Cohen says it will $4 to $5 million to clean up and implement safer mining practices in Zamfara and her organisation is lobbying the Nigerian federal government to foot the bill.

Aid groups are ready to provide emergency medical treatment for children. But Cohen says that treat-

USAID approves $224m for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis

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HE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday approved $224,000,000 for a project to combat HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

United States Ambassador to Nigeria Terence McCulley disclosed in Abuja that the project involves the provision of integrated, high quality and comprehensive services that are sustainable in the long-term.

He said: “This project is building on the achievements of predecessor Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria (GHAIN) project to increase access and coverage of high-quality, comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment and improve efficiencies in service delivery. Between 2004 and 2010.”

The USAID Country Director Dana Mansuri said: “HIV services were integrated into Tuberculosis and Reproductive Health treatments nationwide. By 2011, USAID provided assistance to over 160,000 HIV positive persons in 124 sites.”

She said the ‘Strengthening Integrated Delivery of HIV/AIDS Ser-

ment will only harm the children if the lead is not cleaned up first.

The World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders, donor agencies, representatives of the Nigerian government and advocates like Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental organizations are meeting this week in Abuja to try to address the problem.

Cohen says introducing lowtech safe mining practices like grinding rock inside tanks to contain the lead and making sure workers have a change of clothes or showers so they don’t go home and contaminate their babies could save lives.

She says an even simpler start is

to keep the children away from the gold mining processing.

“If you’re up at the industrial processing site you see young children who are just covered in mud and dust and you see small girlsmaybe 3, 4 years old walking around at this processing site breathing in the dust,” said Cohen. “It’s still quite a difficult situation.”

The U.S. National Institute of Health says lead poisoning is most dangerous for the youngest of children, especially unborn babies. In addition to death, it can lead to kidney damage, loss of developmental skills, lowered IQs, seizures, comas and a host of other problems.

Oyebode advocates compensation for road accident victims

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

By Adebisi Onanuga

vices’ project upgrades the capacity of institutions to provide services.

She said: “Over the five year period (2011 – 2015), the project will assist the Government to reach the following key beneficiaries: 252,000 men, women and children to receive anti-retroviral therapy; 1.7 million pregnant women to receive counseling and testing for the prevention of mother to child transmission of the HIV virus while 41,220 pregnant women will complete.”

A statement by USAID said: "This project is building on the achievements of predecessor Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria (GHAIN) project to increase access and coverage of high-quality, comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment and improve efficiencies in service delivery. Between 2004 and 2010, the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria project provided training for health workers, refurbished facilities and improved laboratory.”

Crusade for Justice at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja.

He said: “Without a proper scheme of compensation for victims of road accidents, it would be most difficult, if not impossible to safeguard the rights of travellers in commercial vehicles.

“The fact of the situation is that violations of rights occur on land on which roads are constructed.

Therefore, ignoring the pivotal nature of roads in relation to protection of human rights is not only untenable but amounts to sleeping under a burning roof, in particular constitutes a categorical imperative of any government desirous of being seen as a respectable and law-abiding member of the international community.

"Indeed, protection of human rights on roads should be seen as a good index of the application of the people's right to democracy

•Prof. Oyebode

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ROFESSOR of International Law Akin Oyebode has advocated the payment of compensation to accident victims.

Prof. Oyebode called for the setting up of a scheme for this purpose.

Prof. Oyebode spoke at the 10th anniversary/annual lecture of a Non-Governmental Organisation,

and good governance, especially in light of the fact that where and when the right to freedom of movement and dignity of the human person is impeded, it is impossible to characterize such a country as a fit and proper member of the family of nations" Governor Babatunde Fashola, who was represented by the Special Adviser Regional Integration, Reverend Tunji Adebiyi, said government was committed to the safety of life and property.

The government, he said, would continue to collaborate with the civil society groups in their efforts to save people on the roads .

The president, Crusade for Justice, Mr. Richard Nwankwo, observed that the highways are in a bad shape, adding that this was why the theme of this year’s lecture centered on the road and gross and dehumanising violations that are experienced daily on the roads.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

NEWS

Awo Institute to collaborate with LASU

By Medinat Kanabe

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HE Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy (OAIGPP) will collaborate with the Lagos State University (LASU) and other institutions for research and global networking, its Director-General Prof.

Adigun Agbaje said yesterday.

Prof. Agbaje spoke in Lagos during a visit to LASU ViceChancellor, Prof. John Oladapo Obafunwa. He was accompanied by a board member of OAIGPP, Mr Ibukun Akintayo Fakeye.

The DG said collaboration with varsities would lead to a meaningful relationship in addition to bringing about tremendous advantage to the society.

The former DVC Academics, University of Ibadan (UI) said Professor Emeritus Sandra Barans, an American who studied Nigeria, will in June give a lecture on behalf of the institute on politics, economy, history and society. The lecutre, which is in colaboration with LASU, will focus on Mushin, Lagos.

The institute was established by Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola as a monument in honour of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Prof Adigun said: “The institute basically researches into all aspects of public life. We also do a lot of global networking, bringing people together to offer innovative training. We want to impact on governance in a way that has never being done before.”

The LASU VC said the institute means a lot to the country adding that the University is privileged and opportune to be part of it. He promised to take advantage of the collaboration.

He said: “if at any time you decide to use any of our halls or space for the lecture, you are welcome. You don’t need to spend money renting a place. We have space that can accommodate 250 to 300 people.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Prof Omolara Bamgboye, led other LASU officials to the meeting.

Also in attendance were: Acting Bursar, Mr Jamiu Lasisi; Deputy Registrar, Non-Academic Staff Establishment, Mrs. Adenike Temitope Fatogun; Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences, Prof Baiyi Fajonyomi; Acting Dean, Social Sciences, Dr Ayo Omotayo; Acting Chairman, Ceremonies Committee, Dr Adebola Ademeso; Librarian, Dr Adetoun Idowu; and Acting Director, Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations, Dr Sola Fosudo.

NOA flags off campaign for attitudinal change THE National Orientation Agency (NOA) yesterday called for a new attitude among Nigerians during the “Do the Right Thing: Transform Nigeria” campaign.

Thousands of Nigerians joined NOA workers in Abuja on the walk for the transformation of values.

The campaign and its logo were inaugurated on Monday by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The campaign is aimed at creating a deliberate consciousness in Nigerians to do what is right at all times, irrespective of the circumstances.

The road show was organised simultaneously across the 36 states.

In Abuja, NOA DirectorGeneral Mike Omeri led workers at the agency’s headquarters round the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The carnival was attended by musical groups; movie artists, including Saint Obi; representatives of other government organizations; market women; the Nigeria Civil Defence Service Corps (NCDSC); the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC); motorcyclists and commercial vehicle driver, among others.

At the end of the walk at Utako Market junction, Omeri thanked Nigerians for supporting the campaign.

He said transformation begins with the individual and urged Nigerians to contribute to nation building by imbibing the right attitudes.

•Prof Obafunwa (right), presenting a gift to Prof Agbaje (left). With them is a board member of the institute, Mr Ibukun Akintayo when they visited the Vice-Chancellor...yesterday

Senator offers to be shot if found guilty in N2b pension fund ‘bribe’

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HE Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee probing the management of pension funds, Senator Aloysius Etok, yesterday said he would offer himself to be shot if the N2 billion bribery allegation levelled against members of the committee is found to be true.

Etok told reporters in Abuja that it is not true that members of the investigative panel sought N2 billion from the Pension Reform Task Team.

He said the allegation is an attempt by the Task Team Chairman, Abdulrasheed Maina, to divert attention from the mismanagement of pension funds by his team.

The senator said the panel members’ attention was drawn to a statement by Maina, alleging that the joint committee demanded bribe from him and his task team.

The lawmaker said Maina

•Challenges Maina to prove case From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

also claimed that the committee was biased against him because of his (Maina’s) refusal to give the alleged bribe.

According to him, the committee could not disregard the “foul alarm and cheap blackmail as a mere ranting… since such is orchestrated to divert attention from the bare facts and incontrovertible evidences of fraud, misapplication, mismanagement and outright stealing of pension funds by the Pension Reform Task Team”.

Etok said his committee was constrained to issue a statement informing the public of “offers of bribe to this joint committee by the Maina-led pension task team and the unbearable pressures being mounted on the committee by

the task team, using various highly placed persons requesting for the tilting of this joint committee’s proceedings and final recommendation in favour of the task team, to which this committee vehemently rejected”.

He said: “The pension task team which, through its spokesman, has stated categorically, while reacting to the above statement that this committee has never requested or demanded anything from the task team, has intensified media campaign of calumny and blackmail against this joint Committee such as this belated false alarm of bribe demand.

“The committee may wish to ask: why did the task team not make such allegations since but waited until the committee first issued a state-

ment on their offers of bribe to members of the joint committee?

“Why did the task team, in reacting to the committee’s statement, state, through its spokesman, that the committee has never demanded for any bribe or gratification from it?

“Why is the task team just waking up now to say the committee demanded for bribe? This committee challenges the task team to prove its allegation.”

The senator added that the “joint committee was constrained to issue a warrant to compel the attendance of Abdulrasheed, the Chairman of the Task Team, who has refused to appear and also failed to cooperate with the committee on this pension investigation...”

I’ll mobilise youths against electricity tariff hike, says Melaye

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FORMER Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Information, Dino Melaiye, yesterday threatened to mobilise youths to protest Federal Government’s planned hike in electricity tariff.

Addressing reporters in Lagos, Melaye said President Goodluck Jonathan’s announcement on Monday that his government will increase electricity tariff, with effect from June 1, shows that the President is insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor

According to him, the nation is “yet to recover from the satanic increase in the pump price of the premium motor spirit (PMS)”.

Melaiye said: “”Why will you increase the tariff on a commodity that is not available? How do you increase tariff on a commodity that is sick? We will do everything possible to vehemently resist it. We will make this country ungovernable within the confines of the law. We will support increase in tariff when

there is uninterrupted power supply. We will support increase when we have 10,000 mega watts.”

The former lawmaker said it is highly offensive that the President could talk about price increase when over $32 billion spent on independent power project (IPP) has not resulted in any improvement in power supply.

He added that it is irksome that the Federal Government has not attempted to prosecute any of those indicted in the power scam.

“Is the president now say-

ing that the masses should service the profligacy of the bourgeoisie of this country? How do you increase the tariff on a commodity that is not available? It shows that the president in insensitive. It shows the president has lost control.

I will lead Nigerian youth from across the country to protest the increase of electricity tariff.

“We want those who wasted $32 billion dollars to be jailed and the money returned to the treasury. It is going to be a battle of no retreat, no surrender,” Melaiye said.

National Assembly to Fed Govt: merge fire service, others From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

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HE Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Interior, Gumar Bature, yesterday said it would be better for the Federal Government to merge the Federal Fire Service, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

He said this would help the government to cut the cost of governance.

The lawmaker spoke in Abuja when members of the House Committee on Interior visited the NSCDC, as part of their oversight functions.

Bature noted that though the merger might be hard, it would be to the government’s advantage in the long run.

The lawmaker urged the corps to work harder and the government to ensure proper funding of the agency.

He said: “We are here to perform our constitutional role, to see how much you have spent.

The NSCDC is a formidable and respectable organization. I can say this because over the years, when you started as a volunteer force, nobody thought you could get to this level. I can attest to the fact that the NSCDC has performed well over the years.

“But I want to urge the government to look at a review of the founding mission of this organisation because we have challenges that have multiplier effects on the primary role that you are having. So, if you are not well armed how will you be able to fight the vandals?”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

7

NEWS Oyo PDP, Accord lawmakers defect to ACN •Accord: His defection not due to inducement •PDP: He joined distressed ship •ACN now has 17 members From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

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•One of the vandalised campaign buses

Ondo ACN governorship aspirant petitions IGP over alleged threat to life

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N Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship aspirant in Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Abraham, yesterday petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, over alleged threat to his life.

He urged the police chief to call the ruling Labour Party (LP) government, under Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, for allegedly planning to disrupt the peace in the state.

Abraham told reporters in Akure, the state capital, that the ruling LP has allegedly been sponsoring thugs to attack him and his supporters.

According to him, he has received text messages and phone calls which confirm that some top government officials have resolved to kill him.

The ACN chieftain said on two occasions, “sponsored political thugs” attacked his convoy in Akure and Ikare Akoko.

He added that many of his supporters were been injured and hospitalised.

Abraham said: “On one of the occasions, my convoy was attacked at the Federal University of Technology (FUTA) junction in Akure penultimate weekend on my way to attend the late Governor Adebayo Adefarati’s fifth memorial lecture.

“Two of my campaign buses were destroyed by the hood-

Group decries increasing political violence From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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NON-PARTISAN group, the Committee for Good Governance (CGG), yesterday decried the spate of political violence by some politicians in Ondo State.

In a communiqué issued after its emergency meeting in Akure, the state capital, by its chairman, Otunba Oyemakin Adeniyi, the group said what should be the major concern of all stakeholders is the abject poverty in the midst of plenty and mass unemployment of youths in the state.

It noted that politicians are using youths as “cannon fodders” for nefarious activities and shenanigans, while their children are studying in the best schools abroad.

The group said: “We urge politicians to play the game by the rules. We cannot afford the repetition of 1983 political inferno.

Ondo State should not be turned into a battle field again.”

It said politics should be played through discourse and debates on policies and peaceful democratic process, not by killings and buying people’s conscience with stolen money.

The group said: “It is a pity that politicians in the Executive and Legislature have failed the people and deprived them of the dividends of democracy because of the brazen stealing and looting of public fund by officials entrusted with the funds.

“We have seen this odorous practice, where governance has reduced to mere rhetorics, propaganda, orange paint, deceit and family business empire.

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

lums, who also injured six persons on my entourage.”

He said it was the timely intervention of the security agents attached to Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi that prevented the hoodlums from attacking him, when they got to the spot on the governor’s way to the

same event.

The politician cited several sections in the Electoral Act 2010, where it is stipulated that a political party should not torment another one, while a party in power should not use its incumbency advantage to intimidate others.

The governorship aspirant

•Dr. Abraham

alleged that Mimiko has ordered the management of the state-owned Radio Vision Corporation (OSRC) to black him out of its news and advertorial coverage through an “order from above”.

Abraham described the development as outright intolerance by the Mimiko administration. He added that OSRC is being funded through tax payers’ money for the benefit of all residents, irrespective of their political affiliations.

He said: “Mimiko sees me as a serious threat to his second term ambition, even though we don’t belong to the same party.

He is desperate to get me out by all means. Some thugs have attacked me and my supporters, for no reason. The thugs are paid to either kill me or frustrate me out of the race.

“They removed my posters from the streets and pulled down my billboards across the state, despite paying the necessary levy to the signage agency controlled by Mimiko’s kinsman, Kolawole Olabisi.

EMBERSHIP of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the Oyo State House of Assembly yesterday increased from 15 to 17 as two members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Accord Party (A) defected to the ruling party.

ACN now has majority of the lawmakers.

The PDP and Accord have 10 and six members in the House.

The two lawmakers, Matthew Abioye (Ogo Oluwa/Surulere Constituency) and Temitope Olatoye (Lagelu Constituency), announced their defection on the floor of the Assembly yesterday.

Their defection was greeted with jubilation.

Abioye is a two-term member of the Assembly and Olatoye became a member last year.

The lawmakers, who were followed by hundreds of their supporters waving brooms, the insignia of the ACN, declared their loyalty to Governor Abiola Ajimobi at the Governor's Office.

Wearing uniform Ankara, which had been chosen for the event, the defectors and their supporters sang and danced to express their joy with their new party.

The singers hailed the defectors, saying they have returned "to where they naturally belong".

Ajimobi praised the two lawmakers for joining the ruling party, saying this has put the ACN in a vantage position at the Assembly.

He said: "It's a very happy thing for us to have very notable members from the PDP and Accord joining the ACN in the Assembly. What does this mean? One: we are now in the majority in the Assembly. Two: these are foundation and senior members of the House.

"For them to have joined us is a reflection of their wisdom and foresight. It is also a confirmation of the fact that the ACN is now doing well in Oyo State. No other parties, no matter their machinations, will change the progress that we have already started in Oyo State."

The Speaker, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu, expressed optimism that more of the lawmakers in the opposition parties would soon join ACN. Abioye said he joined the ACN because the PDP has become a divided house. He noted that it produced parallel executives in two different congresses.

"The PDP is a divided house. I decided to leave the divided house to join a united house, which is the progressive party, the ACN," he said. He added that he took the decision to complement the efforts of Ajimobi "who has been doing very well through massive infrastructural development to change the face of Oyo State".

Olatoye said he joined the ACN in the interest of his people, whom he said have embraced the ruling party.

Accord Party Chairman, Bashiru Lawal, described the development as "politics".

He said the ACN has been itching to get majority lawmakers in the Assembly, adding that Sugar's defection would not affect the fortune of the party in his constituency.

Lawal said: "Politics is a game. All I know is that all along, the ACN wanted a majority in the House. They could not get it in the ballot, but they now got it through the back door. I just hope the government will offer good governance.

"Secondly, one would expect that with the mix of three political parties in the House, debate on bills presented by the Executive would be robust. But that has not been the case. So the defection would not affect the fortune of the House because they have been working together as one.

"Thirdly, Accord Party is synonymous with Rashidi Ladoja. None of our candidates can claim that he was elected on the basis of his personal popularity. So, Sugar's defection will have no effect on Accord in Lagelu. As far as Accord is concerned, Ladoja is the factor, not any other individual…"

The spokesman to former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and the PDP Synergy League, Prince Dotun Oyelade, said: "Politics is very fluid and we must learn to tolerate our individual political bent at all times. We have no harsh words for the gentleman. But we wonder at the undue haste in joining a ship in distress."

MDG releases N100m for pilot projects in three Ekiti councils

No plan to impeach Speaker, say Ekiti lawmakers

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KITI State lawmakers yesterday said there was no truth in the rumour that they were planning to impeach the Speaker, Adewale Omirin.

The Chairman, House Committee on Information, Omowumi Ogunlola addressed reporters in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, on the alleged plan.

He said: “It is unthinkable to imagine the possibility of impeaching the Speaker.”

The media briefing followed an alleged meeting among some lawmakers at a hotel in Ado-Ekiti, where they reportedly concluded the plan to impeach the Speaker.

The allegations against the Speaker include greed, ineptitude and inability to make Governor Kayode Fayemi approve constituency allowances for the lawmakers.

At the briefing with Ogunlola were Omirin and Deputy Speaker Adetunji Orisalade.

Ogunlola noted that apart from the fact that 24 of the 26 lawmakers belong to the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Speaker has been above board in probity, focus, transparency and accountability.

She said: “The ACN is and has been one

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

indivisible house. We have remained one house since we came in nearly a year ago. I am not saying there have never been occasions when we disagreed on issues. We do, as we all are human beings. But the leadership of the Assembly has ensured that all manner of disagreements are always contained and resolved.

“The issue of constituency allowances for lawmakers has again been long settled. I remember telling my people while campaigning that there would not be constituency allowance, if they voted for me.

“It was on that basis and with that assurance that we all came into office. It was a known fact that constituency allowance is an aberration as our Constitution clearly states that it is the function of the Executive arm to execute projects.”

Orisalade said constituency allowance has not been canceled but was merely adjusted to allow for more transparency in execution pattern.

He said: “The constituency allowance has never really been cancelled, as being rumoured. Only the mode of execution was

adjusted to allow the lawmakers to state their preferences, but not to be directly involved in the financial transactions of the allowance’s execution.

According to him, allowing the lawmakers to collect the money would give the lawmakers unlimited access to public till.

He added: “The work done with the money was not commensurate with the amount released to each lawmaker.”

Omirin described the allegations “as mere figment of the imagination of the opposition figures”.

He noted that there was no reason for other 25 of the 26-member Assembly to begrudge him on his conducts.

Omirin said: “All the Assembly members here today are accomplished professionals, who have made it at their personal levels before coming to the Assembly. So, none of them can fight over money or other material things.

“I have practised on my own and established a thriving hospital as the Chief Medical Director and the hospital is still functioning and making money for me. So, I want to place it on records that my members never planned to impeach me or fight for the restoration of the constituency allowance.

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

•Fayemi

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KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Abuja has released N100million of the N200million for last year’s MDG projects in three local government areas of the state.

The governor spoke in AdoEkiti, the state capital, at the opening ceremony of a training workshop on: Effective Implementation of MDGs Projects, for officers in charge of MDGrelated sectors at council level.

Fayemi, who spoke through his Chief of Staff, Mr. Yemi Adaramodu, said his administration has paid its N60million counterpart fund, representing 30 per cent of the fund, while each of the pilot local governments has paid N40million matching fund. This represents 20per cent of the total fund.

Dr. Fayemi said his administration would focus on combating poverty and hunger, improving school enrolment and facilitating access to health care and fostering gender equality, among others.

The governor noted that the programme would be extended to the remaining 661 local government areas across the country, including the remaining 13 councils, which are yet to benefit from the scheme in the state.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

8

CITYBEATS Man charged with attempted robbery

By Precious Igbonwelundu

A 21-year-old man, Kehinde Oladipupo, yesterday pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of conspiracy and attempted robbery before a Yaba Magistrate’s Court.

Prosecuting Inspector Rita Momoh said Oladipupo had at about 1:45pm, on March 2, on Ijora Olopa Bridge, conspired with another person still at large to commit the said offence.

She said the accused also attempted to rob one Lanre Iyanda of a motorcycle with registration number BGD1530A, valued at N107,000.

The offences, she said, contravened Sections 409 and 404 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.

Magistrate M.O. Tanimola adjourned the case to May 11.

One-chance bus operators arraigned

By Precious Igbonwelundu

THE Police yesterday arraigned two men for allegedly robbing and pushing one Miss Titilayo from a moving vehicle around Yaba, Lagos.

Ajayi Odutola, 33, and Shakiru Bodunrin, 35, are standing trial before a Yaba Magistrate’s Court on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

Odutola, the bus conductor, resides at 20, Abiodun Street, Somolu, while the driver, Bodunrin, resides at 3, Odunlami Street, Somolu. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Prosecuting Inspector Godwin Anyanw, said the accused at 9pm on May 1, around Yabatech allegedly conspired to rob Titilayo.

He said they stole one Blackberry phone valued at N65,000, a Sonny Ericson phone, valued at N35,000, one Starcom phone, worth N3,500 and a black bag worth N2,500.

Anyanwu said the offences were punishable under Sections 409, 278 and 285 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

It was learnt that Titilayo, boarded the accused’s bus from Sabo and on reaching a dark and lonely spot, around Yabatech, they parked, pretending as if the vehicle had a fault.

Titilayo, who asked for her balance, was tossed out of the moving bus after her bag containing the said stolen items was snatched from her.

But unknown to the accused, one of them resides in the same street with their victim, who recognised him and reported the matter to the Police.

Magistrate Patrick Adekomaya, who adjourned the case to June 11, granted the accused N50,000 bail with two separate sureties in the like sum.

The sureties, he said, must be working in a reputable company, show evidence of tax payment and must reside within the Yaba Magisterial district.

08033054340, 08034699757 E-mail:- ynotcitybeats@gmail.com

Doctors’ sack divides Lagos lawmakers

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EMBERS of the Lagos State House of Assembly were divided at plenary yesterday over the sack of 788 doctors.

Some members felt aggrieved that the executive took the action when it knew that the House was trying to resolve the issue.

The lawmakers were about debating the report of its ad-hoc committee on the strike when it got news of the doctors’ sack.

They raised the committee last week when protesters stormed the House.

Tempers rose when Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji informed his colleagues that he heard the doctors had been sacked.

Though Ikuforiji said he was yet to confirm if the doctors had been sacked and the government’s reason for the action the information polarised the House.

While some members felt slighted by the action, others said the doctors had become gods whose wings must be clipped.

Bayo Oshinowo (Kosofe 1) , took a swipe at his colleagues, ac-

By Oziegbe Okoeki

cusing them of trying to support the executive.

He urged his colleagues to demand an explanation from the government or reprimand it for taking the action without recourse to the House.

Others disagreed with him, saying the executive must have taken so many things into consideration before taking the action.

Deputy Speaker Taiwo Kolawole, who headed the Committee set up to resolve the crisis, said it took the panel several hours to pacify the doctors, last weekend, though their demands for going on the strike was weak.

He said the doctors failed to recognise that they were employees and were not to dictate the terms and conditions of work to their employer.

According to him, through out the deliberation, which was attended by a government delegation, the doctors showed disrespect in their speech and behav-

iour.

He said the committee was able to secure a promise from the government that once the doctors agreed to resume work, they would not be reprimanded, punished or even victimised for going on strike.

“This was part of the conditions given by the doctors, but after the executive agreed, the doctors refused to give us a promise that they would return to work,” Kolawole said.

He said the committee found that the government had started implementing the agreement reached with the doctors before now.

Kolawole alleged that there was communication gap between the parties, adding that the Medical Guild has taken the issue to the Arbitration Court.

He said the Guild demanded that fresh doctors just employed should be moved from Grade Level 15 step one to 15 step four, adding that the committee could not convince the doctors that it is the employer who determines

how much to pay an entrant into the workforce and that there are procedures to follow on the issue.

The Speaker said the doctors had an opportunity to sort things out but failed to utilise it.

According to him, the House decided to intervene following last Friday’s protest. He said the doctors’ attitude was appalling.

A medical doctor and Chief Whip of the House, Razak Balogun, said though government’s action may be rash, it was necessary to put the doctors where they belonged. He wondered if the doctors were more powerful than their employers.

He urged the public not to panic as the government has means of keeping the hospitals running.

Oshinowo later stormed out of the chamber after protesting loudly on top of his voice.

Ikuforiji, however, brought the situation under control, suspending further debate on the issue until the House gets details of the matter from government.

•From left: Special Adviser to the governor on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina, Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, Chief Medical Director, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Prof Adewale Oke, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Ibirogba and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Health Service Commission (HSC), Dr Funmilayo Olatunji at a press briefing...yesterday PHOTO: WALE ADEPOJU

Police arrest corporal who shot lady in the mouth

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POLICE Corporal, who absconded after he allegedly shot a lady and kidnapped her younger sister, has been arrested in Lagos.

Emmanuel Okujo, who has been on the run since February 10, gave himself up at the State Investigation Bureau (SIB), at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, on Monday evening, with Patience Isanbor the lady he abducted.

Okujo had allegedly shot the elder sister, Blessing (23), and absconded with the younger sister, Patience.

Okujo attached to the Ifako Police Division was reported to have fled after the incident.

He allegedly shot Blessing in the mouth with an AK 47 rifle at their mother’s house at 12, Ifateyindo

By Jude Isiguzo

Street, Ifako, Lagos, and locked the victim inside the house before allegedly abducting Patience whom was believed to be his girlfriend.

Okujo’s arrest is coming three months after he was declared wanted by the police for alleged attempted murder and kidnapping of Patience, but police investigations revealed that Patience was not abducted but willingly followed Okujo.

According to police reports, a few days after the incident, he reportedly dropped his gun at a nearby location and told his colleagues at the station to go and recover the gun and since then, nothing was heard from him.

On why he shot his victim, Okujo said it was the devil’s handiwork.

He added that he did not mean to shoot Blessing, describing what happened as accidental discharge.

Patience, who is heavily pregnant, corroborated the story, adding that they only showed up in order to clear their names.

Earlier, Blessing told The Nation that she was shot by Okujo on purpose after confronting him.

“We had just finished eating when Okujo brought out a gun and said ‘say your last prayers.’ I thought he was joking until he shot me in the mouth. Neighbours even tried to rescue me, but Okujo pointed the gun towards them before fleeing with my sister,” she

LAGOS EMERGENCY LINES STATE AGENCIES 1. Fire and Safety Services Control Room Phone Nos: 01-7944929; 080-33235892; 4. KAI Brigade Phone Nos: 080-33235890; 080-23321770; 080-56374036.

080-23036632; 0805-5284914 Head office Phone Nos: 3. LASTMA Emergency Numbers: 2. Federal Road Safety Corps 01-4703325; 01-7743026 080-75005411; 080-60152462 (FRSC) 5.

Rapid Response Squad (RRS) 080-23111742; 080-29728371 Lagos Zonal Command Phone Phone Nos: 070-55350249; 080-23909364; 080-77551000 No:080-33706639; 01-7742771 070-35068242 01-7904983 Sector Commander Phone No: 080-79279349; 080-63299264 080-34346168; 01-2881304

070-55462708; 080-65154338 767 or email: rapidresponsesquad@yahoo.com •

6. Health Services – LASAMBUS Ambulance Services Phone Nos: 01-4979844; 01-4979866; 01-4979899; 01-4979888; 01-2637853-4; 080-33057916; 080-33051918-9; 080-29000003-5.

said.

Blessing is still at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, where she is responding to treatment.

Confirming the arest, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Joseph Jaiyeoba, said both policeman and the deceased’s sister would be charged to court.

NBA holds election today

By Adebisi Onanuga

MEMBERS of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja, will today, elect a new executive.

The election earlier scheduled to hold last Monday, was postponed to enable the elders of the Bar reconcile all warring factions.

Aggrieved members of the branch had gone to court to protest their exclusion from the voters list compiled for the election and being disallowed from paying membership and practice fees.

Though the election was scheduled to go ahead despite the suit, the electoral committee decided to get the claimants to withdraw the case from court before the poll.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

OSUN STATE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ILESA

VACANCY FOR THE POST OF PROVOST The Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola has approved that processes that would facilitate the appointment of a substantive provost for the Osun State College of Education, Ilesa should commence in earnest.

THE INSTITUTION: The College is an Institution set up to produce middle level teaching personnel in humanities, science, technical and vocational subjects. As a tertiary institution, the College is rooted in the practice of the best traditions, principles and conduct of higher education with emphasis on teaching and research. To this end, the College runs NCE Programmes on regular and part time basis.

The College, in affiliation with the University of Ibadan, offers three and four year full-time Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) courses in a number of disciplines. The College also runs the Bachelor of Education (B.Sc./B.A. Ed) Programme of the Lagos State University on sandwich basis.

THE PROVOST DUTIES: The Provost is the Chief Executive and Academic Officer of the College, a member of the Governing Council (When put in place) and the Chairman of the Academic Board. The successful candidate would be expected to provide requisite academic, administrative and professional leadership, initiative and creativity in policy formulation, good human relations and positive managerial attributes in executing broad policies laid down by State Government/Governing Council, for the achievement of the objective for which the institution was established.

He/She shall establish rapport with the relevant organs of the State Ministry of Education, National Commission for Colleges of Education and other Professional bodies that could lead to the College attaining the status of a centre of excellence.

QUALITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS: (I) Candidate should possess at least Masters degree in a field relevant to at least one programme in the College, from a recognized University plus a teaching qualification not below NCE or PDGE. Possession of a higher degree such as Ph.D and membership of professional bodies would be an added advantage. (ii) Candidate must have had a minimum of 15 years post-qualification cognate experience in teaching and research in an institution of higher learning. He/She must not be below the rank of Senior Principal Lecturer/Chief Lecturer in a College of Education, Polytechnic or Reader in a University or an equivalent institution. (iii) Candidate must show evidence of result-oriented researches and teaching of high national and international status. (iv) Candidate must be of good conduct; possess sense of discipline, dedication and drive; resourceful and be able to command the respect and loyalty of the members of staff and students of the College. He/She must be somebody who is not likely to foster personal, ethnic, political, religious and other social interests.

TERMS OF APPOINTMENT: (i) The appointment is for a period of four (4) years. He/She, may be eligible for re-appointment for a second term of four (4) years only. (ii) The conditions of service for the post will be as approved by the government.

METHOD OF APPLICATION: Candidates are expected to submit twenty (20) copies of their Curriculum Vitae plus three (3) recent passport photographs and photocopies of their educational/ professional credentials, giving the following information in the order shown below: i.

Full name with Surname in Capital letters ii.

Post Desired iii.

Date of Birth iv.

Permanent Home Address v.

Current Postal Address vi.

Telephone Numbers/GSM Numbers/e-mail address vii.

Nationality viii. Marital Status ix.

Number and Ages of Children x.

Educational Institutions attended with dates xi.

Academic/Professional qualifications obtained with dates. xii.

Names and Addresses of previous employers, status, position(s) held with date and salary. xiii. Name and Address of present Employer, Status and salary xiv. Research and Publications xv.

Academic Distinctions/Special Awards xvi. Administrative Exposure. xvii. Co-curricula Activities xviii. Names and Addresses of three referees (one of the referees must be in the position to supply Academic/Professional reference).

Candidates are advised to request their referees to forward their letters of reference directly and under confidential cover to the Registrar, Osun State College of Education, P.M.B. 5089, Ilesa.

CLOSING DATE: All applications must be submitted not later than four (4) weeks from the date of publication of this advertisement to: THE REGISTRAR, Osun State College of Education, P.M.B. 5089, Ilesa.

(SIGNED) J. B. AJAYI REGISTRAR

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Naira little changed as oil firms supply market HE naira was little changed as foreign currency demand remained subdued, with oil companies continuing to supply the market with dollars.

The Naira, according to Bloomberg news, strengthened less than 0.1 per cent to N157.26 in Lagos, having declined less than 0.1 per cent in each of the past three days.

Demand is “seemingly muted” at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s biweekly foreigncurrency auctions to lenders, Absa Capital strategists led by Ridle Markus in Johannesburg, wrote in a note to clients yesterday. The apex bank has been selling between $120 million to $150 million at auctions, which it uses to manage the naira, since the end of March. The bank was selling as much as $500 million at auctions last year.

Outside the auctions, “foreign currency supply appears to be relatively strong with oil firms continuing to supplement” the bank supply, Absa Capital said.

Oil companies are the second-biggest suppliers to the market after the central bank.

Nigeria depends on crude exports for more than 95 per cent of its foreign income. Nigeria’s foreign currency reserves grew by 12 per cent this year to $36.8 billion as of May 4.

Demand for foreign currency has declined compared with last year as fuel imports fell after a parliamentary probe into gasoline subsidy discrepancies started in January, according to Samir Gadio, an emerging-markets strategist at Standard Bank Group Ltd. in London.

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The Bureau for Public Enterprises must follow up on the privatisation issue strictly. We do not want to hear any story again. They must follow issues to the letter and strictly with the dates.

- President Goodluck Jonathan

CBN Deputy Governor, Oteh lied , says ex-Afribank GMD

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HE Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability, Kingsley Moghalu, lied under oath, the former Group Managing Director of Afribank, Sebastian Adigwe, has alleged.

Adigwe, who made a presentation before the Ibrahim El-Sudi-headed House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on the near collapse of the capital market, picked holes in the allegations that Afribank gave money to three firms to buy its shares during its 2007 Public Offer.

He said this was not true, adding that Afribank did not give money to Falcon Securities Ltd, Fidelity Finance Company Limited and Spring Capital Markets Ltd. to buy its shares in the Public Offer.

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

He said contrary to the assertions, the companies mention sourced the funds through loans secured from Union Bank Plc. Moghalu had made the allegation in his presentation before the committee last week.

Ms Oteh made the same allegations on Monday.

She had during her presentation accused Afribank, Afribank Trustees, Afribank Registrars and their directors, of committing various grave market infractions in share buyback schemes and of making misrepresentations in the returns to the SEC to prevent detection.

She claimed that the Afribank funded its public offer, violating Section 106 (4), and Section 110 of the ISA 2007 as well as Rule 109B of SEC Rules.

Oteh alleged that shares owned by 1,258 entities (some of which she said were fictitious) and individuals were merged into 14 accounts of nine companies some of which were allegedly owned by Afribank and its directors.

“These transactions were done outside the floor of the Exchange. Falcon Securities, Fidelity Finance and Spring Capital were some of the entities used,” Oteh had said.

But the former Afribank boss presented documents before the committee yesterday that showed that Fidelity Finance borrowed N17billion from Union Bank to purchase over 680 million units of Afribank shares, Spring Capital Market borrowed N17.15billion to buy 686 units of same and Falcon Securities borrowed a total of N16billion to do same.

All the loans were sourced from Union Bank, he said.

Adigwe while shedding light on the Afribank case said the bank was stable, solvent and “was meeting all its deposits and debt obligations before the CBN intervention.

“In order to improve liquidity, the bank applied to regulators to issue N4 billion shares at N25 per share, the offer which opened November 2007 was fully subscribed and the proceeds of N100 billion received in June 2008,” he said.

The former Afribank boss said shareholders’benefits were truncated by the CBN intervention in 2009 before the publication of the accounts.

Adigwe said CBN conducted special investigation in July 2009, “the result of their investigation was never presented to management and Board contrary to the standard practice of CBN.”

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$123.6/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 -N6.503 trillion JSE -Z5.112trillion NYSE -$10.84 trillion LSE -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -12.6% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -14.18% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $34.6b FOREX CFA 0.2958 EUR 206.9 £ 245 $ 156.4 ¥ 1.9179 SDR 241 RIYAL 40.472

•Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Bank Limited (EBL), Mr Ahmed Kuru (middle), exchanging pleasantries with Mr Zahee Khan, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, COTEA International Nigeria Limited (left) and Mr Chem Ming King, a customer of the bank at the bank’s Customers Forum, at the New Chelsea Hotel, Abuja.

PHCN owes gas suppliers N24b, says Minister From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

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HE Power Holding Company Limited (PHCN) is owing gas suppliers N24 billion, the Minister of Power, Prof Barth Nnaji, said yesterday.

He put the total liabilities owed by the PHCN, which the Nigerian Electricity Liabilities Company Limited (NELCOM) has been mandated to defray at N400billion.

Nnaji, who spoke at the ministerial platform in Abuja, said the revenue generated by the PHCN was not enough to pay the gas companies.

He explained that privatisation of the power sector is the sure way of attracting investors into the sector. He recalled that prior to the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, there was no commercial system in the power sector that could attract investors, The minister, however, reiterated that there is no going back on the privatisation of the power sector, which has been scheduled to take effect in October, adding that the government is determined to ensure adequate power supply as many foreign investors have signed different power pacts with the government since this administration came in.

He said power generation and supply at the inception of this government was 2,500megawatts but supply leaped to 4,500MW in January this year before the emergence of water and gas challenges.

Nnaji said following the recent emergency, which the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Alison Diezani-Madueke, declared on gas supply, the country could record at least additional 1,500MW in June, stating that before this administration, there was no coherent power plan and alignment among the ministries relevant to power generation.

ConocoPhillips plans sale of assets in Nigeria

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HE United States oil giant, ConocoPhillips, has reportedly hired BNP Paribas to help sell its Nigerian assets including onshore and offshore oil and gas fields and its stake in LNG Brass facility.

According to Reuters, the assets were expected to attract interests from indigenous companies including Conoil and Oando as well as China’s Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) of India and Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC).

Reuters said the companies that are likely to buy the assets would help ConocoPhillips raise about $2.5 billion and possibly more if the assets were sold

By Emeka Ugwuanyi with agency reports

separately, adding that the option is the most likely ConocoPhillips would choose.

The onshore assets are functional and are seen as the most valuable part of the operations, while the Brass LNG project, which is still at its early stage, could prove more difficult to value. Besides, the Nigerian Content Act passed is likely to complicate any transaction as foreign suitors need to partner with a local indigenous player before they would be able to buy any of the assets.

The Local Content Law was intended to give local firms priority when assets are being sold and in tenders for

new projects, and it is likely to push for local ownership of Conoco’s assets.

The state-oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is the majority shareholder in Conoco’s onshore and LNG assets and is seen as less likely to be among the interested parties, the sources said.

The spokesman of the NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, couldn’t immediately confirm the deal as he needed to get details about the transaction.

Shell has in the last two years divested about seven of its onshore fields in Nigeria, which attracted interests from local firms, some in partnerships with established foreign companies.

ConocoPhillips recently

completed the spin off of its refining into Phillips 66, a newly created independent U.S. company.

Meanwhile, Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited has said it found two fresh oil leaks in its Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP) at Akpajo and K-Dere in Ogoniland after similar leaks, which the company said were caused by hacksaw cuts, were repaired at the weekend,” Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo said yesterday.

Shell last week declared force majeure on exports of Bonny Light crude due to outages caused by oil theft.

Okolobo said: “Two new leaks were reported on May 7 on the Trans-Niger Pipeline at Akpajo and K-Dere in

Ogoniland after a similar number of leaks caused by hacksaw cuts were repaired at the weekend.

“A joint investigation team will determine the cause and extent of the leaks preparatory to repair work.”

Federal Government’s amnesty sharply reduced militancy in the onshore and swamp assets but Shell said large scale organised oil theft still remains a major challenge.

Traders, according to Reuters, said the loadings of Bonny Light have been delayed by about eight days following the force majeure declared on 60,000 barrels per day of Bonny Light and most of its loading cargoes for this month had been affected.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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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 5. Dana 07.02 08.22 6. Arik 07.15 08.15 7. Chanchangi 07.15 8. Air Nigeria 08.15 09.35 9. Dana 08.10 09.20 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. Dana 12.06 12.26 15. Aero 12.20 13.30 16. Air Nigeria 13.25 14.45 17. Chanchangi 13.30 14.30 18. Arik 13.45 14.45 19. IRS 14.00 15.20 20. Aero 14.10 15.30 21. Air Nigeria 14.50 16.10 22. Dana 15.30 16.50 23. Chanchangi 15.30 16.30 24. Arik 15.50 16.50 25. Aero 16.00 17.20 26. IRS 16.30 17.50 27. Arik 16.50 17.50 28. Dana 17.10 18.30 29. Chanchangi 17.30 18.30 30. Air Nigeria 17.35 18.55 31. Air Nigeria (T/TH) 18.30 19.50 32. Arik 18.45 19.45 33. Aero 19.20 20.40 1.

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LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

to get to a certain minimal level of compliance. Some banks’ first quarter results for this year have shown full compliance with IFRS in line with regulatory requirements. Banks and quoted companies were required to migrate to IFRS reporting from January 1, 2012.

The IFRS, are a set of internationally applicable accounting standards, designed to make financial statements from different jurisdictions uniform and comparable.

Before now, Nigeria’s minimum reporting standards only demand the quarterly publication of gross earnings, pre-tax profit and net profit, leaving analysts with little on which to gauge future trends for the business, or make international comparison.

The Committee also reiterated the sector’s commitment to commit more funds to power sector projects, provided the privatisation process is done transparently. It said the volume of loans needed to get the banking sec-

tor to its feet will run into trillions of naira, adding that the banking sector is well-prepared to advance the loans to the sector provided the projects meet required standards.

“We are confident that if the reform programme in the banking sector is carried out transparently, Nigerian banks will provide the needed funding,” it said.

The committee said there are discussions with international lenders, on the possibility of securing foreign funding for the projects.

On the cash-less policy, the banking sector handled N3.9 billion transactions. The committee said to date, 60,000 Point of Sale (PoS) have been accomplished, against the 40,000 projected, adding that 100,000 merchants were included in the network. It said banks have also designed a framework that will help improve customers’ complaints, adding that 55 cases of customer-complaints were handled within the first quarter. The committee said banks were ready to roll out outside Lagos State.

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

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LAGOS – UYO 10.35

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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

By Collins Nweze

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks, have earmarked N500 million to bring banks to minimal compliance level with the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS).

The fund, which was approved at the 307 Bankers’ Committee meeting in Lagos, yesterday, is part of a strategic move by the parties, to ensure a more transparent banking sector, as well as guarantee that banks make their results this year, IFRS compliant.

The CBN Director, Banking Supervision, Mrs Tokunbo Martins, who stated this at a briefing, said an IFRS Academy has been established by the parties, and a consultant, Ernst & Young, appointed to get banks to minimal compliance level, including capacity building for their staff.

Also in the offing, is a competency framework for bank staff, to ensure that the staff driving the IFRS projects are competent to get the desired result. She said some banks have already complied with IFRS reporting, but stated that the entire sector needs

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. Dana 09.27 10.40 5. Aero 10.50 12.30 6. Arik 11.40 13.00 7. Air Nigeria 12.00 13.10 8. IRS 13.30 15.00 9. Arik 14.00 15.20 10. Dana 15.03 16.20 11. Air Nigeria 16.00 17.10 12. Arik 16.10 17.30 13. Aero 16.15 17.30 14. Arik 17.10 18.30

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CBN, banks vote N500m for IFRS

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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

•From left: Chief Owolabani; Prince Lawal; Samuel Samuel and Baale of Iyafin, Chief Abiodun Patinvoh at the PHOTO: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL inauguration ... yesterday.

Firm to invest N4.8b in tomato production

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HE nation’s quest for food security received a boost yesterday, with the pledge by an indigenous firm to invest N4.8 billion in the sector.

The company, Vegefresh, said it would deploy the funds on research, cultivation, processing, packaging and marketing of different species of tomatoes.

Its Managing Director, Prince Samuel J Samuel, who spoke at the launch of the project in Lagos, yesterday, assured that the project would revolutionise tomato production in the country. He called on the Federal Government to support homegrown initiatives, saying private investors deserve special incentives to boost the nation’s quest for food security. He said only Nigerians can solve its problems.

Samuel said the national yield of 25 tonnes per hectares was shameful considering the comparative advantages Nigeria has over other nations

By Sunday Oguntola

in tomato production. He stressed that no effort would be spared to raise the national yield to 70-75 tonnes per hectre.

“We believe it is achievable and attainable,’’ he stated, adding that the whole idea is to cause serious revolution in tomato production by leveraging on the support of key stakeholders.

The tomato plantation, sitting on a 15-hectres land space, was flagged off at Iyaafin Badagry, Lagos. Apart from the Lagos plantation, the firm also owns farms in Ibadan, Bauchi, Abuja, Kano and Gombe for cultivation and production of different species of tomatoes in pursuit of its National Integrated Tomato Development Programme.

Stakeholders, including local farmers and community leaders, expressed delight over the take-off of the project. They said it would not

only boost economic empowerment, but also attract infrastructural development to the agrarian community.

Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture and Co-operatives, Hon. Gbolahan Lawal, said the initiative is in tandem with the state’s drive to meet local needs of crops with comparative advantages.

He pledged government’s support for the project, saying it would improve the production base of the state and meet local needs.

Lawal said: ‘’Our dream is to produce crops where we have comparative advantages for the local market, up to at least 60 per cent, ’’adding that the state would support private investors in the agriculture sector, especially Vegefresh with whatever is needed to succeed.

The Baale of Ajara Topa, Chief Owolabani, commended the firm on the project, expressing optimism that it would change the face of the community for the better.

Export Grant: Senate summons Okonjo-Iweala, could invite them for meetings.

HE Senate yesterday sum- Aganga, Dikko “There is no reason the minismoned the Minister of Fi-

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nance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, her Trade and Investment counterpart, Mr Olusegun Aganga and Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko over a multi-billion naira Export Expansion Grant for cotton growers.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Industries, Senator Nenadi Usman, issued the summon following the aborted meeting with the top government officials.

Members of the committee were furious that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, Aganga and Dikko had been invited on three previous occasions

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor

to discuss the Export Expansion for cotton growers without success.

A member of the committee, Senator Chris Ngige, noted that government officials, especially ministers should be made to purge themselves of the erroneous belief that they owe allegiance to only certain committees of the Senate.

Ngige said some ministers believed that only the Senate Committees on Appropriation, Finance

ters should not be here. The Chairman of this committee, Senator Nenadi Usman has been a finance minister before. She has occupied the position of Finance Minister before some of these people. Two of us here are former governors of this country. I am in total support that we must take extra-ordinary measures to hold the meeting. We have called two to three meetings without success because the ministers failed to attend. We must ensure that they appear before us,” Ngige insisted.

Fed Govt may cede Ajaokuta to Russian firm From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

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HERE are indications that President Goodluck Jonathan may announce the reopening of Ajaokuta Steel Company next month, should the ruling on the case at the arbitration comes in Nigeria’s favour.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development , Musa Sada, who gave an update on the steel company during the ministerial platform in Abuja, said the case would come up for hearing by the end of this month.

He condemned the operations of the Indian firm, Global Holding Investment (GHI), to which Ajaokuta was concessioned before its revocation in 2007. He revealed that the Russian company, TPE Limited, that built the steel plant, has indicated interest in revitalising and running it.

He said: “ We have all our plans, including modernising and digitalising it and improving on it.

The plan was submitted and reviewed with us by the people that built the plants from the beginning, they are still interested in coming back to revitalise it and run the place themselves.”

He however added that the arbitration is the major snag hindering the Federal Government from reopening the plant since the country does not want to negate a global law.

“If we get the ruling of the arbitration tomorrow, I assure you that before the end of one week, Mr President is going to come up with a decision on Ajaokuta. The thing is that we are very good global citizens, we don’t want to put ourselves on the risk of being looked at as billets,” he said.

Telcos decry multiple taxations

By Adline Atili

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ELECOMMUNICATIONS operators in the country have warned that if the spate of multiple taxations and regulations in the nation’s sector is not halted, they may be forced to stall further investments in the sector.

According to them, spurious, unjustifiable and inappropriate levies imposed by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at federal, state and local government levels on telecoms operations, as well as conflicting regulatory prescriptions by same entities, if not urgently checked, were capable of eroding the gains in the sector and re-directing further investments elsewhere.

In a keynote speech at the Fourth West African Information and Communications Technology (WAFICT) congress in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Mr Rajan Swaroop, described multiple taxations and regulations as the greatest challenge plaguing telecoms operators in the country, adding that it is gradually affectingoperators’ revenue, which is being challenged by saturation of the voice market.

Swaroop, represented at the event

by Airtel’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, Mr Osondu Nwokoro, said enabling broadband access, which is the next phase of growth opportunity for Telcos and is capable of boosting the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was greatly challenged by multiple taxations and regulations.

Quoting a telecoms industry research firm, Pyramid Research, he said within 10 years of its existence, the telecoms sector has had positive economic impact on the economy by generating substantial investments in infrastructure to the tune of $16billion and creating over three million telecoms-related jobs in the country.

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MONEY corporate Withholding tax: Erring firms ‘Standardise governance codes’ to pay interest on infractions T C

By Akinola Ajibade

OMPANIES that fail to remit or deduct withholding tax, would henceforth, pay interest in line with the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as penalty for committing such offence.

MPR, which is the anchor rate at which the CBN determines the lending rates, has been raised by 275 basis points from 9.25 per cent to 12.0 per cent.

According to the new amendments to Personal Income Tax Allowance (PITA) Act released, companies that fail to remit withholding tax as and when due will pay interest, based on the monetary policy rate. The Act said the development negates the old Act that allows companies to pay infractions based on the market or commercial rates adopted by banks.

It states that any person or corporate body that is obliged to deduct tax under Section 69, 70, 71 or 72, but has failed to remit such deductions to the relevant tax authority within 30 days from the date the amount was deducted would, in

By Akinola Ajibade

addition, pay a penalty of 10 per cent.

The 10 per cent penalty, the Act stated is fixed for all companies or individuals that flout the rules on tax remissions.

The Act said: “The interest payable for failure to remit withholding tax is no longer at the prevailing commercial rate, but at the prevailing monetary policy rate of the CBN. Unlike before, the fine for this offence is payable on conviction but this amendment has made the penalty possible without a recourse to the court of law which has always been the case. The amendment has provided a legal backing to the practice of tax authorities.”

Speaking on the issue, a partner, Ijiwere & Co, Mr Olatunde Odunowo, said whatever the law says on the issue of infractions must be followed. Odunowo said the penalties for infractions as contained in the new amendment would not have any serious impact

on the affected companies.

“There is no way the development would badly affect the errant companies. It is just a way of telling them to do the right thing at the right time. I do not foresee any serious implications whatsoever,” he said.

Also, an executive member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Mr Ayodele Otitoju, said the new Act supersedes that of the old in terms of provision and structure. He added that there are minor adjustments on some critical issues that border on payment, and remission of taxes He said withholding tax goes into the government’s purse, arguing that any company that fails to remit the tax to the designated authority has violated the law. He said the amendments have removed the option of fine hitherto given to companies that have defaulted. He said the institute has been making efforts to provide good skills in the area of taxation, arguing that such efforts would help in improving tax practice in Nigeria.

HE Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Mr Jim Obazee, has advised financial regulators to help in standardising the codes of corporate governance are under their supervision.

Obazee, in a statement, said the roles of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) are crucial to the implementation of sound corporate governance policies.

He said the achievements of a sound corporate governance policy are dependent on the activities of the regulators and other agencies assigned with such responsibilities.

Obazee said the council, in line with FRC Act No 6, has been maintaining a register of professionals who render services in public entities, adding that the development would help in complimenting the efforts of the CBN, SEC and other stakeholders in putting in place sound corporate governance policies.

He said the enforcement of accounting standards would instill investors’ confidence in the economy, adding that there is the need for collaboration among the various stakeholders to foster growth of the public entities and the economy in particular.

• Sanusi According to him, collaboration among various entities would help in providing the best practices of corporate governance.

Obazee said the council has been empowered to register professionals, set accounting standards, auditing, actuarial, and valuation standards and further enforce rules of corporate governance .

In a related development, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr Emeka Ezeh, urged the council to bring other regulators on board in the efforts to harmonise corporate governance rules.

Unified Payments recognised

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• From left: Former Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Chairman, Open Media Group, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, presenting e-Payment Service Provider Award to the Managing Director Unified Payments, Mr Agada Apochi, during the Beacon of ICT awards organised by Communication Week Media in Lagos.

NUBAN: Banks set to beat deadline

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ANKS that are yet to comply with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive on the Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN) are preparing to beat the May 31, deadline set by the regulator.

The Nation’s findings show that almost all the banks have complied with the directive, and a few others are taking steps that will enable them beat the deadline.

Already, several banks had written their customers informing them of expected changes in the numbering of their accounts. They said the proposed change will not affect customers’ transaction with the bank and that other payment instruments, such as cheque leaves, debit cards remain valid.

Banks are also going to print new cheque books to tally with the new numbers, which customers will claim when they exhaust their copies.

The CBN had earlier given banks a maximum period of nine months to implement the NUBAN scheme.

According to the regulator, the

By Collins Nweze move was to promote best practice in the account number scheme and eliminate many of the problems associated with the Automated Clearing House (ACH) as well as the electronic payment system generally.

It said the proposed NUBAN was a 10-digit Bank Account Number format, with A Check Digit built to help a modulus check, which enables the presenting bank to perform checks. The Check Digit, according to the apex bank, was derived from an algorithm that operates on a combination of the three-digit CBN-assigned Bank Code and the nine-digit Account Serial Number.

In a circular addressed to all banks, and signed by CBN Director, Banking and Payment System, T. O Fatokun, said all banks must fully comply with the NUBAN directive by that date. Also, it said that effective June 1, any payment that is not NUBAN compliant will not be allowed to pass through the

Automated Clearing System.

The CBN equally warned that any bank that violates the rule will be sanctioned accordingly.

By this development, only instruments, paper and electronic, that carry NUBAN codes and pass the NUBAN validation test would be allowed in the automated clearing system as from this date. The CBN said NUBAN has great potentials to resolve the observed problems with electronic payments, as many of such cases are related to specification of wrong beneficiary account numbers.

The Nation gathered that going forward, the account number field in the cheque Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) code line will feature only NUBAN numbers.

Accordingly, all cheques issued to customers will carry the new codes.

With this transition method, the account numbers and NUBAN codes will co-exist in the electronic payment and cheque clearing systems from January 2011 to June 2011.

NIFIED Payments has emerged winner of E-payment Service Provider for 2011 award in the just-concluded Beacon of ICT Awards by Communication Media Limited. The event, held at the weekend in Lagos, was chaired by former Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission and Chairman, Open Media Group, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe. Keynote lecture was by Chief Executive Officer, OR Systems, Jean-Luc Fort.

According to the organisers, “The Beacon of ICT award winners are chosen by Nigerians who recognise and appreciate the guiding lights of the organisations and individuals as well as the symbols of hope they raise. Since the ICT revolution in Nigeria, there have been great changes in economic and social development, these changes would have been impossible without the diligence and commitment of some individuals and organisations. That is why we instituted the Beacon of ICT Awards since 2010, as an annual industry-wide celebration to reward deserving talents, contributions and commitments to the growth of the industry.”

The firm got the award for its contributions and exceptional valueadded innovations to the growth of electronic payments landscape in Nigeria. These contributions include but not limited to Unified Payments pioneering the issuance and acceptance of EMV Chip+PIN cards in Nigeria which led to the reduction of ATM fraud related issues by over 90 per cent enabling Nigerian banks to issue payment cards to Naira account holders to be used for the first time ever globally; enabling Nigerian banks for first ever acceptance of foreign cards at their ATMs. Agada Apochi, Chief Executive Officer, Unified Payments said the firm will continue to provide quality services to its customers.

Banks implement roadmap on cheque truncation

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ANKS are already keying into the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) policy on cheque truncation.

The Acting Managing Director, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), Niyi Ajao said banks are already implementing a roadmap on cheque truncation. He disclosed this in a chat with journalists during a stakeholders’ forum on cheque truncation organised by the CBN in Lagos.

Cheque truncation means paper cheques will be cleared electronically and will no longer be moved physically. Ajao said it will bring about the best clearing system CBN Director, Banking and Payments System Department, Dipo Fatokun said part of the benefits of the policy would be less clearing days. Instead of T+2 before one gets value for transactions, the value is received on T+1, thereby reducing the clearing cycle by one day. “You know when you talk of money, time is very important. So, that one-day reduction in the clear-

ing cycle makes a lot of difference,” he said.

Fatokun said there are alternative payment channels, which the CBN is encouraging instead of using cash, which the cheque truncation policy is going to facilitate.

“So instead of you carrying cheque around, you pay in cheque into your account. And if you want to make payment, you use cheque, but based on the limit which is N10 million. So, cheque truncation is an integral part of the cashless policy,” he said.

He said the cheque truncation plan will require hardware and also called for enlightenment on the part of those that are to participate in the exercise. According to him, these challenges have been identified and are being addressed by the CBN. He said the regulator would be visiting the banks with the Working Group and NIBSS to ensure everything is in place and to mitigate the risks that could arise from the implementation of the policy.

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EDITORIAL/OPINION EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND

COMMENT

The cost of terror • The Boko Haram menace continues to take its toll

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ROM being an obscure movement confined to north-eastern Nigeria, the Boko Haram movement has emerged as the most palpable threat to the country’s continued peace and development.

Not only do the persistent attacks of the sect create widespread insecurity and fear, the prevalent dread of the militant group has stifled normal processes of trade and investment, as well as the performance of routine security functions.

Two examples will suffice. In Kaduna State, the 33rd Kaduna International Trade Fair witnessed what is perhaps its worst opening day ever. Row after row of booths and stands supposed to be occupied by exhibitors lay empty as businesses, large and small, decided to keep away for fear

‘The empty stands at the Kaduna Trade Fair are a worrying signal that the country is enhancing its notoriety as a very risky country to do business in. The unmanned borders in places like Banki only serve to make the country’s already-porous borders even easier to penetrate, and further facilitate the entry of the undesirable elements and weapons that are fuelling insurgency’

that they could become victims of the bombings that have continued to plague the state. Ironically, the fair had been previously postponed due to security concerns.

In Borno State, officials of the Nigeria Immigrations and Customs Service have virtually deserted their posts in the border town of Banki due to threats from the Boko Haram franchise in the area. The officials have resorted to going about in mufti in order to make themselves less vulnerable to attack.

What is happening in Kaduna and Banki can be replicated across northern Nigeria and, to a lesser extent, across the country.

Public and private businesses are becoming much more wary of when, where and how they conduct their affairs. Some parts of the country have become ‘no-go’ areas because they are perceived to be high-risk locations. Hotels, guest houses and other tourist locations are being given a wide berth by a clientele that has suddenly realised that discretion is the better part of valour.

The negative effects of such fear-induced caution are obvious. Nigeria is badly in need of increased trade and investment, and the increasing reluctance of business organisations to carry out their activities is a significant blow to this laudable aim. No commercial activity can be undertaken when security cannot be guaranteed; the empty stands at the Kaduna Trade Fair are a worrying signal that the country is enhancing its notoriety as a very risky country to do business in. The unmanned

borders in places like Banki only serve to make the country’s already-porous borders even easier to penetrate, and further facilitate the entry of the undesirable elements and weapons that are fuelling insurgency.

What is perhaps most worrying is the apparent inability of the Federal Government to fashion out workable strategies to combat these challenges. Apart from depressingly similar assurances that it is “on top” of the situation and that the crisis will soon be “a thing of the past,” there is really nothing that can be identified as a definitive attempt to confront the issues. The incredibly incautious utterances from top government officials like General Owoye Azazi, the National Security Adviser, only strengthen the impression that the Jonathan administration appears to be overwhelmed by the challenges facing it.

Strategic stupor and tactical indolence are luxuries the government cannot afford.

Any coherent response to the crisis of insecurity confronting the country must be based on a clear-eyed appreciation of the issues and a pragmatic preparedness to do what it takes to resolve them.

In this regard, more must be done to ensure that the populace is better able to help the authorities fight the menace. The heavyhanded tactics of the various taskforces stationed in various parts of northern Nigeria are of limited effectiveness and often alienate local populations. If the battle against terror is to be won, the citizenry must see it as their fight. For this to happen, government has to demonstrate competence and sincerity of purpose.

Commercialising cassava • Time will tell if this is good for the Nigerian palate

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HE official razzmatazz about making cassava an agricultural cash crop for the nation has seemingly reached a crescendo with President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent launch of commercial cassava bread. Through this policy, his administration is planning the injection of 40 per cent cassava into the production of bread and other confectionaries; wheat flour will thus be reduced to 60 per cent.

Laudable as this idea appears, we do not think it is the business of the president to handle such matters. This, for instance, is better left in the hands of the minister of agriculture. The president has too many important issues of state to tackle, especially at this point in time, such that launching cassava bread appears an avoidable distraction.

Nonetheless, to show government’s determination in this regard, a new tax spur is being planned by government for cassava flour millers and processors. If this initiative is successful, the nation would reportedly save N250 billion foreign exchange from reduction in the import of wheat and wheat flour. Also, not less than 1.3million jobs are expected to be created in the next four years under the cassava bread policy.

The president, at the unveiling of the cassava bread promised bakers, confectioners and cassava processors as stakeholders in the policy that the government will grant them zero per cent duty on all agricultural and cassava processing equipment brought into the country. The government is also reportedly facilitating the manufacture and importation of 18 large-scale cassava processing plants that will be located in

areas of high cassava production across the country.

This initiative, if well pursued, is a right step in the right direction. It’s high time better steps were taken by government to encourage the harnessing of other resources as a means of generating revenue for the country. Agriculture perfectly fits in this direction; which is why the commercialisation of cassava is something that, on paper, is commendable if well implemented.

We recollect however that the commercialisation of cassava became a state policy under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, even though not much of breakthrough (if any) was recorded in his touted cassava exportation policy. But under this regime, the idea was first mooted last November 30 during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting when, apart from presenting a sample of cassava bread, the president promised to always be eating cassava bread in Aso Rock Villa. The bread was developed by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State.

However, UTC, since February reportedly claimed to have achieved sustainable commercial technique for white bread and wheat grain bread with 20 per cent high quality cassava flour after over 90 trials. The products from this experiment, when fully operational, include different types of bread and jam doughnut, apple, chicken and meat-pie, sausage and beef rolls, cake and croissant.

Nevertheless, the fears regarding whether the high bread consumption targets of Nigerians can be met with cassava inputs in bread production may soon be a thing of the past as the two leading

commercial cassava flour bread producers, UTC and Food Concepts have for a start reportedly claimed to have the capacity to produce not less than six million cassava loaves every month. The government on its part is reportedly working with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and the National Root Crop Research Institute to swiftly multiply and share out improvised cassava cuttings and to ensure increase in the supply of cassava tubers for millions of Nigerian farmers.

All said, this policy should be prevented from suffering the ugly fate of ex-President Obasanjo’s cassava exportation policy. While enjoining Nigerians, irrespective of class, to eat cassava bread and its other products so that this policy can succeed, we hope that the government has done sufficient research to know that such bread and other confectioneries made from cassava will not be harmful or injurious to human health.

‘This initiative, if well pursued, is a right step in the right direction. It’s high time better steps were taken by government to encourage the harnessing of other resources as a means of generating revenue for the country. Agriculture perfectly fits in this direction; which is why the commercialisation of cassava is something that, on paper, is commendable if well implemented’

No Longer Just ‘Adult-Onset’

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STUDY of diabetes in overweight and obese youngsters bears an ominous warning about future health care trends in this country. It found that Type 2 diabetes, a new scourge among young people, progresses faster and is harder to treat in youngsters than in adults. The toll on their health as they grow older could be devastating.

These findings provide more evidence of why the country must get the obesity epidemic under control — to improve health and to curb soaring health care costs.

Only two decades ago Type 2 diabetes was called “adult-onset diabetes” because it was seldom found in young people, who suffered primarily from Type 1, in which the patient’s immune system destroys cells that make insulin, a hormone needed to control blood sugar levels. Type 2 — thought to be brought on by obesity and inactivity in many people — has increased alarmingly and accounts for almost a fifth of newly diagnosed cases in young people.

Obesity increases the risk of many chronic diseases. And some 17 percent of American children from age 2 to 19 are now considered obese, roughly half the rate of obesity among adults.

The new study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, tested three ways to attain durable control of blood sugar in youngsters between the ages of 10 and 17. None worked very well. Almost half of the 699 youngsters had to add daily shots of insulin within a few years to lower their blood sugar. Metformin, the standard drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes in children, failed to control blood sugar in more than half of the children. When lifestyle changes, including one-on-one counseling on how to lead a healthy life, were added to metformin, the results were only marginally better.

When a second drug was added, the results were significantly better. But the two-drug treatment still failed in 39 percent of the recipients, and the added drug, Avandia, has been linked to heart attacks and strokes in adults.

The findings are especially ominous because poorly controlled diabetes can lead to heart disease, stroke, blindness, amputations and kidney failure.

The longer one has the disease, the greater the risk, so the fact that children are starting so young bodes ill for their futures.

Some experts suggest that young patients at risk of diabetes need to be detected earlier and treated more aggressively. But the long-term goal should be prevention of obesity and of diabetes.

Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, are bent on dismantling health care reforms that could greatly assist in curbing the obesity epidemic. The Republican-dominated House last month narrowly passed a bill that would eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund, established under the reform law, in part to pay for lowering the interest rate on subsidized student loans for a year.

The fund is already providing grants to state and local governments to help pay for programs to fight obesity and prevent chronic diseases, including diabetes, in the community, the workplace and among minority groups that have high rates of both obesity and diabetes. Killing off this program would be hugely costly to Americans’ health, and future health care costs. There is no explanation for this move, except for the usual anti-health care reform demagogy.

- New York Times

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh • Editor Gbenga Omotoso

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EDITORIAL/OPINION

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IR: It was disgusting to hear on May 3, that a certain Adamu Abubakar who was arrested on March 19, at Darazo market in Bauchi state while trying to spend a fake N500 Nigerian currency with an orange seller in the market was sentenced by Justice M. T. Salihu of the Federal High Court on May 2. From the news report, Adamu 18, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He was found guilty on all four count charge for dealing, altering and being in possession of fake Nigerian currency notes; charges which were brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Also recently, another Nigerian, Sani Ahmed was remanded in prison custody by Justice B.O. Quadri of the Federal High Court Gombe, on a two- count charge of counterfeiting and being in possession of counterfeit N1000 naira note.

Ahmed was apprehended at a business centre in Gombe metropolis where he was found to be using a computer printer to scan the N1000 note which he would print out with the aid of a computer printer then cut and trim to size.

As commendable as the judiciary, represented by Justices Salihu and Quadri seems, in discharging these laudable assignments in the fight against economic and financial crimes, it is disheartening that the EFCC’s prosecutorial efforts in ensuring that the smaller thieves

EDITOR’S MAIL BAG SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 1000 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS. E-mail: views@thenationonlineng.com

Burden of prosecuting high profile corruption cases are sent to jail, is not replicated in the ways and manner high profile cases, where no fewer than two dozen former governors are in various courts in Nigeria, are prosecuted. Some of the cases involving former governors, span over six years, yet, some have not progressed beyond the plea stage.

Unlike the smaller corrupt public and private officials who have not stolen enough to secure the services of Senior Advocate of

Nigeria, as defence counsels, the high profile corrupt officials hire as many SANs as possible, pay them millions of naira to bamboozle the judges with legal technicalities and continue to prolong their trial, even when they are convinced that they are on the path of national perdition.

There is no doubt that the process of bringing high profile corrupt officers to book is not as

straightforward as many Nigerians assume it should be. The EFCC is understandably, at its best in the prosecution of high profile cases in Nigeria, in view of circumstantial and environmental challenges being faced. There is congestion of cases or made to be so, particularly criminal cases, in the regular courts at various levels. As it stands, the much talk about special courts for corruption cases, as being discussed by the leadership of the apex court,

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• Tony Orilade, Abuja

Now’s time to diversify Nigeria’s economy IR: Over-dependence on oil is creating crisis in Nigeria. Insecurity, unemployment, poverty, bombing, killings, massive corruption, bad leadership among other vices are some of its manifest symptoms. It is time for Nigeria to derive great benefits from diversifying its economy.

Nigeria must be ready to attract investment through the implementation of structural reforms that will ensure accountable and transparent investment environment to ensure access and equity for small

and medium enterprises (SMES) to compete in the local as well global economy.

She must adopt adequate policy strategies within the context of its domestic potentials and external relations, to embrace the promises of globalization for sustainable democracy … the experiences of India, South-Korea, Brazil, Malaysia and Singapore are prime examples.

Our political leaders must fear and trust in God and be politically willing, and committed. Corrup-

roads which were once repaired but are now in deplorable state. They include Akanran-Kajola Road in Ona Ara local government.

Similarly we earnestly seek your excellency’s prompt intervention in the annexation of Odeyale – Ajia road with Egbeda junction in Egbeda local government. If this is done, the present gridlock occasioned by heavy traffic congestion along Amuloko-Jegede-Olunloyo road will be a thing of the past. We also want Ajumose governor to consider seriously annexing Amuloko area

with Ayegun in Oluyole local government. Sir, it is on record that the former administration of elderstateman, Alhaji Lamidi Onaolapo Adesina fixed the Odeyaje-Ajia road up to Egbeda. At present, the once motorable link road is unmotorable. Please do something on this.

There is yet another economically important road that requires urgent rehabilitation. By this, we mean the Akanran-Kajola road. If this road is rehabilitated, it will greatly ease the transportation of foodstuff and other agro products from the farms

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tion must be checked; poverty reduction programmes must be made to work. Nigerians must learn to adhere strictly to the rules of democracy. The international community should appreciate our efforts and extend good gestures, in improving the economic well-being of all Nigerians.

The bane of the nation’s development is that we lack the of fear of God. Greed, unrighteousness, callousness and covetousness are the order of the day. Ministers of God should not keep quiet to burning

to the urban centres. If this is done, post harvest losses will be drastically curtailed thus increasing supply and guaranteeing meaningful return on investment which will in turn impact positively on food security.

While we pledge our continued loyalty to your purpose driven administration, we pray for outstanding success and divine guiadance during your tenure.

issues in the country. We should contribute and help build Nigeria.

We have no business talking about scarcity of food. The only reason we are complaining is that we are not doing the right things. Before the discovery of oil, agriculture had always been the height of economic growth and development because farmers were encouraged by the government,. The reverse is the case now.

The low employment level in the country and poverty could be solved through agriculture investments by all tiers of government and other stakeholders. As a matter of fact, the only thing any government can do to make people happy is to provide food for them. Agriculture sector is the engine room.

The public service should not be an end in itself. It is held in trust for the common good and not to terrorise or kill innocent citizens. Violence is not what we should celebrate. Violence is the refuge of the individual who has run out of logic.

Politics should be about dialogue, issues, campaigns and not violence.

• Chief Emmanuel FolorunsoOgunnaike (MFR) Ibadan.

• Prophet Oladipupo Funmilade – Joel Lagos

Open letter to Governor Abiola Ajimobi IR: On behalf of thousands of citizens residing in Ona Ara, Egbeda, Oluyole local government areas of the state and other adjoining settlements, we want to put on record the positive impact of developmental projects being put in place by the Senator Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi administration. We commend His Excellency and members of his team. Like the proverbial Oliver Twist, we are now making a passionate appeal to the Governor in the area of road construction.

The roads in question are existing

remain the only way out as the benefits are self evident.

The initiative, no doubt a novelty, is meant to enhance the war against corruption by facilitating speedy conclusion of corruption cases within reasonable period. Second, it will restore public confidence in the anti-corruption war and the judicial system under which it is being prosecuted. However, like all public policies and programmes, the success of the initiative will depend on the implementation and Nigerians are waiting and sooner than later, all the former governors who have cases to answer like the Ogidigboigboi, the former governor of Delta state, James Onanefe Ibori, will be brought to book.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

EDITORIAL/OPINION

Blood Cow Meat; Boycotts & Cow Corridors; Ethical Cow Meat; National Cow Conference?

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HE plot thickens in Mali with new a t t a c k s .

ECOWAS is threatened by rogue militias spawned in Libya and Timbuktu.

Already Tony refugees are on the Marinho move. Nigeria’s political incompetence and insincerity is all consuming and evident today. In 1970 Nigeria won the Biafra War. Nigeria has lost the 1970-2012 peace. We have 1-2 million internally displaced refugees from conflicts. Conflict causes include Boko Haram’s attacks, most recently on the media and the mindless murder of young optimistic fellow Nigerians in university. MEND factions are starting again. Let NISER and university Social Science faculties calculate the losses in MDGs and growth caused by embezzlement by Ibori’s and 1000 other politicians and civil servants. The mass stealing of pension funds is a violent ‘armed robbery’ attack –economic and physical- also causing ‘GBMH- Grievous Bodily and Mental Harm’. In addition the Middle Belt/ Fulani conflict leaves terror, destruction. Add to that the Fulani herdsmen/ farmers deadly disputes on the North-South cattle corridor over ‘The Right and the Wrong of Way’. These result in violence as ‘protected’ cattle are used to destroy farmers’ farms from social arrogance, hidden political agenda and even frank armed robbery motivation.

‘Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome’ should become a Nigerian psychiatrists’ study area.

There is talk of a backlash among populations to reduce meat demand by stopping the eating of cattle and reverting to local goat meat and fish to impose peace by ‘Economic Meat Sanctions’. The unsold cattle herds would go back up North with severe social and economic consequences. Those with power on both sides of the cattle- farm violence need to explain simple economics of cooperation to their people.

Nigeria’s North-South Cattle Run could use large articulated

trailers or exploit the new found northern love of the train for speed, safety and security. Of course, some cattle/farmer conflict has a hidden origin and agenda. The cost of peace and the fight against violence is eternal vigilance.

Remember ‘Blood Diamonds’ and ‘Blood Oil’, ‘Conflict Diamonds’ and ‘Conflict Oil’. Our ‘Meat Conflict’ can be treated just like that. What is the cost of the meat on your family table in human blood? Is it destruction of other families? Then the cost is too high! Remember the boycotts of beans that forced military governors to eat beans to prove they were safe. It takes two hands to clap – a cow owner’s hand and the hand of the person who will buy, cook and eat the cow. The cow herder is just an employee armed with weapons who may be a thug and take the law into his hands or be tele-guided. Is he taught respect for others or to be arrogant? The responsibility for peace rests not only with the farmer, herdsman and area head herdsmen. It also lies with the instructions and the funding given by the herd owner who controls remotely through the cell phones. It is time that Ladi Kwali Hall in Abuja be used for a ‘National Cow Corridor Conference’ to curb further violence. Food issues are even more important than political issues. A country that does not get food sources right is in trouble. The trouble is already here whether you only see blood from the cow or not even that -just meat. The victims’ blood is there, on a farm with the sweat and tears. If not subjected to intense security surveillance and monitoring that cattle corridor and the local ‘cattle-lords’ could be a time bomb to disseminate nationwide violence.

Should we have ‘Cattle Corridors’? Do local farmers prepare cattle feed for herders to buy? Do cattle herders steal or come prepared to buy cattle feed? In desperation sometimes farmers would burn their fields rather than let farm produce be requisitioned by the enemy unwilling to pay. This is the scorched earth policy of war. As individuals we have all faced encroachment, or unwelcome visitors. Ask if the cattle herders and cattle owners allow the farmers to drive their farm produce through their own cattle and homesteads on the way to market?

As we eat meat, there is now ‘Blood Meat’ brought to our table through misery, injury and death of farmers, their wives and children with destruction of family livelihood. This violence and displacement from ancestral homes creates more refugees and loses Nigeria more of a dwindling economic resource – our dedicated farmers fearing for their lives and abandoning their tradition of feeding the nation. Is this not worse than Asian ‘Sweat shop factories’ using child labourers?

We must solve this before we have retaliatory ‘Cow Meat Boycotts’. Emirs, Obis, Obas and LGAs need to talk. We need an ‘Ethical Meat Movement’. No one should bleed, die or be injured, mentally or physically, because we want meat to eat!

Is a cow more valuable than a Nigerian’s life or livelihood?

Are Nigerians second class citizens to cows! What is the cost of ‘Mutual Respect and Co-existence’? Both sides should think economics. Nobody will win a ‘Cow Meat War’! Potholes kill Nigerians, cow meat should not! By all means, legal and just, transport and sell cow meat. But, like Shakespeare’s Shylock taking ‘a pound of flesh’ from Antonio, we also must spill not one drop of blood- human blood!

Dr Wale Okediran tackled this in ‘Tenants of the House’. The current ‘tenants of the NASS’ must be aware of ‘The Cow Corridor’ problem as they read the papers to monitor stories and pictures of themselves.

‘Is a cow more valuable than a Nigerian’s life or livelihood? Are Nigerians second class citizens to cows! What is the cost of ‘Mutual Respect and Co-existence’? Both sides should think economics.

Nobody will win a ‘Cow Meat War’!

Potholes kill Nigerians, cow meat should not!’

Thank You Azazi !

T

HE setting was such that nobody expected any serious disruption to occur. Some people might call it a jamboree.

Others might yet term it as something else. Designed to be an annual ritual, it was the second edition of a ‘dedicated’ forum where people all over the South-south geopolitical zone gather together to talk about mutual issues bordering on the economy, security, politics and all that.

This year’s event was staged in Asaba, capital of Delta State. In terms of attendance and highfalutin speeches, the event was a success as speaker after speaker mounted the rostrum to make their contributions.

One of them was Ngozi OkonjoIweala, the Harvard-trained economist who recently narrowly missed being the World Bank president when politics and America-induced international conspiracy fought merit hands down.

And if people had expected Okonjo-Iweala to open the Pandora’s box on the monumental corruption that is threatening to bring the nation to its knees, they were mistaken. The lady who is eternally in love with the homemade fabric, Ankara or Abada, as it is widely called in her part of the country, exuded her trademark confidence when she took her turn.

Perhaps, to the chagrin of those who had expected something else, Okonjo-Iweala dwelt more on how climatic change could affect the economic fortune of the country and

the world in general.

But if Okonjo-Iweala failed to impress part of the audience who might not have been very conversant with her topic, another opportunity was yet to come. That opportunity finally came when Andrew Owoye Azazi, a retired four-star general and the National Security Adviser, NSA, took his turn.

As he moved briskly towards the podium, there was pin-drop silence.

The reason could not be far-fetched.

Here was a man regarded as the best material ever to be appointed NSA. An intelligence officer who rose through the ranks to command the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps, Azazi became general officer commanding, GOC, 1 Division of the Army in Kaduna. From there, he became chief of army staff, COAS, the highest office many an army officer will crave for. But Azazi was not done yet. He was appointed chief of defence staff, CDS, after which he took a bow. He was enjoying his retirement when the call to serve his fatherland once more beckoned, and was made the NSA. Azazi became NSA at a time the country was slipping gradually into terrorism and chaos. Except if there is a change of heart by the elements that are bent on taking this nation to the brink, Azazi might well end up as the first NSA to have presided over the security of the nation at a time of great turmoil, turbulence and tempest. The reason is simple.

When he took over, the country had no structures on ground to counter

‘It is apparent that those who are aggrieved over Azazi’s disclosures are the real enemies of Nigeria. Otherwise, what he said should have been accepted as a food for thought instead of raising unnecessary dust over an obvious truth’

any terrorists’ attacks. This is because we had never been in this type of desperate and near hopeless situation in our country’s history.

Previous governments never expected these attacks and so no preparations were made for the type of situation that we presently find ourselves. So, it has been tough for Azazi and the nation.

For a man who is reputed to be very straight-forward and who believes strongly in the Nigerian system, the South-south Economic Summit, therefore, presented him an opportunity to rub minds with his brothers and sisters from the zone as well as Nigerians in the Diaspora. As least, those who have come across him easily attest to the fact that he is one man who strongly believes in due process and good quality of work. A highly intelligent gentleman officer who does not compromise his integrity, Azazi says it as it is because he believes that the system can work only if the required and necessary inputs are fed into it.

Perhaps, that was what influenced him in his speech on that auspicious occasion. He must have held his audience spell-bound as he did not mince words when he dropped the bombshell that the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was partly responsible for the escalation of the menace being visited on Nigeria and Nigerians by the Boko Haram sect. PDP’s brand of politics, especially the way it picks its candidates for elections, he said, was a critical factor in the Boko Haram’s unending violent campaign and destruction of lives and property.

Said he: “A situation where a political party insists on fielding a particular candidate over another to get a massive win, and that if they get that massive win the party has arrived, is the source of the problem.”

There is no doubt that ever since

Azazi made these remarks, he had unwittingly unsettled certain characters and interests in the polity.

It is like hitting the nail on the head or better still, calling a spade a spade even when you are not referring to agricultural instrument. In a country overflowing with sycophants, charlatans and pretenders, it is not surprising that Azazi has stirred the hornet’s nest. This is evident from the avalanche of criticisms and condemnations that trailed his honest and sincere comments.

The nation’s political landscape has been awash with many people calling for his head. All manner of people have been up in arms against this patriotic Nigerian who is ready to sacrifice anything to make the system work. One thing is clear though: those who are aggrieved over Azazi’s disclosures are the real enemies of Nigeria. Otherwise, what he said should have been accepted as a food for thought instead of raising unnecessary dust over an obvious truth. I doff my hat for a man who could summon courage to haul such a ballistic missile into the midst of the country’s wolves.

In case there is any need to go down memory lane, long before he made his now famous remarks, Azazi had often come under severe attacks from those who thought that the position of NSA should be permanently zoned to them or should be reserved for them for keep. Permit me to say that since he became the first Christian and maybe, the first southerner to be appointed NSA, he had become an object of vitriolic attack either overtly or covertly. Yet, going by his track records, President Goodluck Jonathan may have made the best choice for the job, given the situation at the outset of his Presidency. Perhaps, to do otherwise would have exposed him to the vagaries and evil of his sworn enemies. The pogrom that attended

Dele Agekameh the declaration of the result of the 2011 Presidential election in certain parts of the country may have provided a good justification for his choice.

If a man who turned 60 years old in February this year had the guts and temerity to say what he said, he has unwittingly thrown a big challenge to the people in his age bracket and above. Unfortunately, these are the people at the frontline of politics in Nigeria today but who are masters of deceit and all that is abominable all over the place, and they are many. It is time for them to turn a new leaf by opting for the path of truth and honesty as exemplified by Azazi in order to rescue this nation from the present abyss into which it seems to be destined. Nigerians should embrace the truth at all times and stop playing hide and seek with national security or the destiny of this nation.

After all, this country is bigger than any person or groups put together.

That is why people should refrain from prosecuting their ambitions or primordial interests at the detriment of the peace and comfort of their fellow beings. So, thank you Azazi!

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

EDITORIAL/OPINION Dr. Dare, thanks for your usually incisive and intellectual writings. That Nigeria and her incompetent leaders thought that Mrs OkonjoIweala lost the World Bank job on account of other considerations apart from merit is not only silly but opportunistic. For her 25years there, what specifics can be attributed to her? We are used to all manner of puerile excuses when we fail so, it was cheap and handy to parrot a lack of merit! Let Mr. Jonathan show us the practice of merit here! Since no one came to serve, how much of the service have we seen a la Fuel Subsidy and our Foreign Reserve? From Dokun Adedeji

•Goodluck Jonathan

For Gbenga Omotoso What Azazi was trying to say was that the sooner the PDP shelves the zoning arrangement and follows what the constitution says about the right to vote and be voted for at a time of your choosing, the easier it will be for his boss to contest in 2015. Anonymous Dear Sir, Your robust write-up is appreciated. In a just society, somebody like Gen. Azazi should be praised for saying the home truth. The solution to the Boko Haram insurgence is within PDP reach. A situation where election is “do or die” as most election results are falsified at collating centres does not augur well for a healthy society. Our leaders should be fair and just. From Omamerhi Peter, Warri Good day Mr. Gbenga. Your friend has a lot to read in his library and I love to read some but please ask him if he has a book on how to manage pension fund scram. From Ikpoman, Calabar The way out to Boko Haram issue is to give out geniue information to assist security agencies. Anonymous Gbenga, I read “How to enjoy constant electricity” by. P. H. C. N. Your article on “Azazi’s prognosis” is thought, provoking. Honestly, Azazi is flying a kite. Jonathan is desperate for a second term in office and Azazi is being used to test political waters. His statement is weighty enough to warrant his sack but nothing may happen to him after all. There is no doubt that P. D. P is the cause of political problem in Nigeria. Nothing practicable is working, judiciary is the worst culprit which is always a willing tool to cause confusion in Nigeria. From Chief Okeke, Amasiri Gbenga, your piece on ‘Azazi’s prognosis’ can best be described as a masterpiece! The issues raised in this write-up can be described as both fundamental and factual. The rider ‘what do you read?’ is like a tonic for our hope for ourselves in Nigeria. Our history about PDP in government comprises of drama and comedy...when you add it up, you will get this answer: CHOPPING ARANGEMENT. From Adebisi Adesina esq, a legal practional in Lagos State Re: Azazi’s progronis. No amount of Azazi’s prognosis could justify the killing of innocient people by a group of cowards in Islamic tonga a.k.a. Boko Haram. We shall continue to experience more wickedness, killing and destruction in Nigerian by bloody gouts and cult groups, unless we train our minds in genuinely and purely in Bible precepts. The evil geniuses of this wicked generation who live and work in government, police and military past or present had found ready tools in the hands of these gullibles to contineously advance their wickedness, greed and selfishness at the expense of majority of other helpless and vulnerable citizens. God helps Nigeria. From P. Owowo “‘Azazi’s prognosis’/’What do you read?’”. Dear Gbenga, I just want to say thank you. I salute the “author(s)” of those fantastic but terrific, fictional but factual ‘books .’ From Akintola N. O., Abuja

I enjoy your books please tell your friends to lend me: “How to live in peace by Boko Haram” and “How to enjoy constant power” by PHCN. Anonymous Gbenga, Maitatsine and Makaniki sectarian riots in the North that perhaps claimed more lives surely preceeded the present democratic dispensation. Do we still ascribe this to PDP undemocratic selection process? Anonymous Mr. Gbenga, sincerely many factors may be responsible for the unfortunate state of affairs in the country, PDP is a great factor.

When you have a ruling party whose leaders are bereft of lucrative ìdeas but rich in their crave for lucre and rapacity, then the country is doomed. God save Nigeria.

I just pray the Boko Haram identify the looters and leave the churches, the media and the ivory towers alone. Azazi is right in his empirical submission. From Bolaji Agoro Editor sir, I read through your “Azazi’s prognosis”. It was vintage Omotoso. At the risk of patronising you, the style of presentation and plausible arguments, l dare say, are spoton. Besides, the short witty piece adds a touch of humour to the article. May the god of Muse never desert you. Good job! Anonymous Have they ever listened, my Editor? Have the gluttons ever stopped eating until they ‘chop and quench’? Take a look at the people in this ‘Poverty Delivery Party’ and show Nigerians where quality lies. Look at their crowd of ‘rejects’ in the Southwest or the ‘Tenders Board’ they call FEC in Abuja and you want to vomit. All they do is chorus ‘transformation agenda’ like babes. May be they are right. They are transforming Nigeria into oblivion.

Regards. From Olu. For Olatunji Dare The Periodic sectarian and ethnic explosions being witnessed in the polity is a clear indication of failure of political leadership.The President has shown that he lost focus in tackling the challenges confronting Nigerians. From Laide Owadusi Esq Re: A nation in ferment. I do not know whether it is the north that is tired of Nigeria : it is President Jonathan that is fed up with his position. Things could not have degenerated to this extent in the 60s, 70s, 80s and very early 90s. It seems there is nobody or Institution to fear again, by the Presidency, worse still the AssembliesNational, States and even the Judiciary, all in the name of our false democracy! Can you pack of death by some people without a stern and stick solutions. Tie them to stakes and gun them down like armed robbers of 70s and 80s and show them in the TVs. That, will stop. From Lanre Prof., you seem to have forgotten that the cassava craze was started by his ‘father’, the chiken farmer. It is straight logic: after our breakfast of cassava bread, we eat ‘garri’ for lunch, then eat ‘eba’ or ‘fufu’ at dinner. So, by the time majority of us, the poor, for whom this diet is designed, become diabetic, we will be too busy worrying about our insulin jabs than bother about those stealing our national wealth in billions!

That is ‘Transformation!’ Have a good day, Prof.

From Olu. Sir, here is my reaction to your piece “A nation in ferment”. There is nothing to say about Nigeria again, since we can not sit and sort our differences or jaw-jaw

because a tilt in the status quo will not suit some assholes who have held this country by the throat since the unfortunate amalgamation of 1914. Our new rhyme shall be ‘to thy tent oh arewa’ these Boko Haram people say they do not want to go to school, so be it. If this country must remain one, we must practise true federalism where the muslim man is allowed to practise sharia, and my Bayelsa State will make laws that suit my people.

That is democracy, simple and short. From Tarrie Dawudu, Warri Dr. Dare, thanks for your usually incisive and intellectual writings. That Nigeria and her incompetent leaders thought that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala lost the World Bank job on account of other considerations apart from merit is not only silly but opportunistic. For her 25years there, what specifics can be attributed to her? We are used to all manner of puerile excuses when we fail so, it was cheap and handy to parrot a lack of merit! Let Mr. Jonathan show us the practice of merit here! Since no one came to serve, how much of the service have we seen a la Fuel Subsidy and our Foreign Reserve? From Dokun Adedeji I do not agree with your input that Okonjo- Iweala should not have bothered to run for the headship if the world bank knowing she would loose to the US candidate. Most commentators and even insiders at the world bank agreed she was eminently qualified for the job. It was a thing of pride for every citizen of the developing world to see her run. History will record that she lost not because she was not the best candidate. Okonjo-Iweala once more laid bare to the world the hypocricy that is the Western world. From Elu Ejimofor, Enugu Thank you for the job weldone. I am not sure Jonathan is reading all these messages from you. But history will vindicate you when the times comes. Keep it up. Good night. Anonymous Re: “A nation in ferment.” President Goodluck Jonathan, Boko Haramists, MENDers and all right thinking Nigerians must accept the Aburi Accord or continue with this FAILED nation, and be perished together under the status quo. We are simply pretenders and postponing the doomsday. From Franz Macndulue For Segun Gbadegesin Segun, your write-up is captivating and a challenge to the new generation of our political class who see politics as business and profit making. Politics in the era of our founding fathers was service delivery.

That is why Awolowo and the rest of them did not convert our commonwealth to personal heritage. Paradoxically, politics today is business as usual and the cabal in the PDP are plundering the resources for selfish motives. No wonder PDP is a family affair. The present political class is provoking the takalawas for violence changes which will make this democratic process a failure. From Tope Omobulejo It is true that the PDP is leading the country to perdition. The problem is that the path to free and fair elections does not exist under the present social order that has made history inaccessible to the masses. From Amos Ejimonye, Kaduna Re: PDP and the burden of history: An update. In our struggle for power, we will stir up rivalries and create enemies. This the party has done through the method

• Azazi

adopted in running the affairs of the state.

The party has created enemies for itself due to incompetence and inefficiency. We must also admit that nothing positive had been achieved since 1999. It had been a complete failure and all of us can attest to this failure, if we are not biased and partisan. Before, PDP was in power in the entire Southwest Region, except Lagos State, and there was nothing to write home about in terms of good administration but, today, through dint of hardwork and political dexterity, the ACN is now in control and we can see positive results in Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Ekiti States. At the centre, where PDP is in control, there is break down of law and order. Poverty and disease abound everywhere. Insecurity, mass unemployment and flagrant abuse of rule of law plus the menace of Boko Haram reign supreme in the country. Can we call all these positive developments in a nation where there are abondant natural resources and the citizens are not freely allowed to exercise their electoral power to choose their leaders but through manipulations. Despite the hulla-balloo about allegations of corruption against public office holders, and in the private sectors, corruption still persists without sign of being abated. To me, the PDP administration is not fully committed to fighting corruption otherwise, Justice Uwais Report on electoral reforms would have been fully implemented before being vandalised and doctored by the PDP governors. Today, we are at a cross road and the nation is waiting to see what will happen to those that were indicted in the oil subsidy probe report. God save Nigeria.

From Prince Adewumi Agunloye.

PDP is never a sign of victory for Nigeria and Nigerians. Nigerian youths should not forget that our elders area threat to all the youths. For all the good things of life they enjoy they never want the youths to taste any. Instead, they ensure we live uselessly till the day of judgement. And most of these old creations are in PDP than any other party. No mater the nature of their posture, may the good Lord remove them and give us the like of Oshiomole to see if the youths can actually see front. For now, we are nowhere! Anonymous Good morning, columnist of “PDP and burden of history: An update”. I used to fault your columns but this one is just the caption. PDP is riding us to the storm.

Cheers. Anonymous Sir, before another Tuesday be informed that the suicide bomber at Kano Sun office did not die, so where now? From Harris Your friend’s collection of bestsellers lacks the best of all bestsellers - The blueprint of governance, by PDP. It is a must read. Grab your copy while stock lasts. From Toritseju Yalaju, Warri Sir. Azazi was definately flying a kite, the opposition has to work hard to remove ‘People Destroying Party’. With recent events, is Oshiomole wrong in his assertion of the ‘final solution’? From Ibrahim, Kano.

PROJECT

PROGRAMME

APPEAL

Varsity community relocates

Council begins weekly immunisation

Group urges Foundation to do more

Sokoto

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Bauchi

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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Taraba

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Email: news_extra@yahoo.com

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FTER a tortuous search spanning centuries, Gumshi, a community in Yobe State, has found the most precious liquid in life: water. And they have the administration of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam to thank for it.

The development threw Gumshi residents into wild jubilation. A spontaneous chant and dance broke out. The village girls donned their most colourful gear to celebrate the coming of water.

The elderly went down memory lane. Everyone hailed Gaidam and his Commissioner of Water Resources Yakubu Sidi Karasuwa whose dogged effort put the community out of its nightmare.

“We praise Governor Ibrahim Gaidam,” the villagers said.

Gumshi is a settlement of about 2000 inhabitants located on the Niger Republic border. It was once a thriving community but the number of its residents and even its size continued to dwindle due to the extreme weather conditions occasioned by desertification, sand dunes and a chronic water scarcity lasting over 300 years.

According to Lawan Zanna Ari, Village Head of Gumshi, what is today a desolate land used to be very fertile 1000 years ago when their great grandfathers migrated from Ngazargamu, the former headquarters of the famous Kanem Borno Empire.

“From the beginning, things were not as bad as they are today.

This place used to be a very fertile land with enough water from the Machina rocks. Many people came to settle here. Our great grandfathers came to this place over 1000 years ago. They were hunters and warriors. But today our community has become a shadow of itself. Nobody can settle here except us the original settlers because of the devastating effect that water scarcity has on us,” Ari explained.

He stated further: “We have been suffering in this community.

Nobody comes here and stays. The only school we have has no teacher, so is our health facility (pointing at an abandoned school and a desolate dispensary), no policeman around. All have come and left because there is no water

•Gumshi residents queue up for water

Joy as community finds water, 300 years after Yobe sinks borehole From Duku Joel, Damaturu

in this place. Lack of water has denied us so many things”.

Their pain is over. The state government has provided pipe-borne

Residents hail Gaidam

water in the village.

Investigation revealed that because of the low economic strength of the people, trade by barter in still in vogue in Gumshi village. Firewood is readily exchanged for water, thus causing deforestation and

aggravating desert encroachment.

Newsextra met 47-year-old Idris, a water vendor in the community whose business will soon crash with the coming of water in the locality.

As I approached his truck loaded with firewood and water kegs, he thought

I needed water and quickly said, “You can deposit your money for tomorrow because the one left (water) is for people who have not come to claim but they have already paid”.

The middle aged water vendor, however, praised the Yobe State government for carrying out such a project, though he noted that his business will be threatened with the coming of water in the community.

“I sell every 20litres for N100,” Idris. “I make good money everyday because I can make about three trips in a day from Nguru town.

Getting the firewood is another sure way of making my money •Continued on Page 26

Group seeks protection for Northern Christians HE International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in English- and Portuguese-speaking Africa (IFESEPSA) has condemned the attacks on Christian worshippers at the Bayero University Kano (BUK). The group said this new dimension of targeting Christian students in higher institutions is very alarming.

IFES-EPSA appealed to government at all levels to protect Christians and their worship places, especially in the North where they are being killed al-

T

From Marie-Therese Nanlong, Jos

most daily and their property destroyed without any compensation.

In a statement signed by the Regional Secretary of IFES-EPSA, Rev Gideon Para-Mallam, the group asked what the government is doing to protect Christians and their worship places, both targets of attacks especially in the North.

Para-Mallum said: “At a Sunday morning service attended by students, university staff and others,

at the Bayero University Kano (BUK) unidentified persons unleashed terror with nihilistic venom on campus worshipers.

Catholic worshippers of St. Stephen’s Church and their Protestant counterparts at Chapel of Victory were visited with vicious and

At a Sunday morning service attended by students, university staff and others at the Bayero University Kano (BUK), unidentified persons unleashed terror with nihilistic venom on campus worshippers

barbaric terrorist attacks. As worshippers were taken by surprise, confused and scampered for safety, the attackers opened fire with the guns they came with, blocking the doors, shooting and killing as many as they could and wounding so many defenceless Christians in the process.

“Bombs were detonated killing many people; several other people fell by bullets. Professors Andrew Leo Ogbonyomi (Li•Continued on Page 26

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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Joy as community finds water •Continued from Page 25 because the demand for it is also high.

Any time I gather enough of it, I use my truck to move it to Nguru where I sell. I am happy that water has come to this place but it’s going to affect my business now. I must start thinking of the next thing to do, Idris disclosed.

The coordinator of Gumshi Water Project, Mohammed, an engineer, explained that “all geological surveys to sink a borehole in Gumshi failed because there are heavy underground rocks that make drilling difficult. But with the determination of the Yobe State government through the dogged commitment of the Commissioner of Water Resources, Yakubu Sidi Karasuwa, and the Ministry, water has come to the village.

Mohammed said: “We discovered that Dumar, a village in Nguru Local Government Area is the only village closer to Gumshi, so we sank a borehole there; we also constructed an overhead tank of 20,000 capacity gallons of water. We have laid a pipe from Dumar village to Gumshi to lift water here and send it to that village about 23km away. This is the highest reticulation ever embarked upon by the Yobe State Ministry of Water Resources. There is a reservoir at Gumshi of 19,000 capacity gallons and an overhead tank which lifts water and distributes it to the entire village.

Mohammed recounted the people’s excitement when they saw water for the first time.

“It was like a carnival,” he said.

“The entire village was thrown into wild jubilation when water was first released to them. Their joy made me to feel so satisfied. From the beginning we thought it will never work but with determination and commitment, we have done it successfully.

We give Allah the glory.”

Commissioner Karasuwa was relieved. “Right from the time I was working at NEAZDP [the North East Arid Zone Development Programme], we tried all we could to provide water to this community but we couldn’t just find the solution,” he said. “Today, I am relieved and much happier because this burden is off my mind.”

He described the project as one of the most people-oriented of the Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam administration, adding that rural communities are now feeling the impact of government through laudable projects like this.

Karasuwa said the state govern•Continued from Page 25 brary Science), Prof. J. T. Ayodele (Chemistry) and Dr. Mrs C.O Olulolobor, a senior lecturer and former Head of Department Social Studies of the Federal College of Education and an estimated 17 others–doctors and mostly students were among the initial casualties.

Many of the wounded are on danger list due to close range shootings, with possibilities of death more likely than surviving for some.

“Eyewitness accounts from those who survived the attack stated that they were left without any help from either the campus security or other security personnel in Kano for at least 40 minutes while the attackers went

ment is committed to the project, stressing that Gaidam has promised to personally commission it.

He said: “As you can see, it is one thing to provide a project and another for that project to be sustained. We have taken far-reaching measures to ensure that the impact of this project is felt not just in the short term but in the long term. Gone are the days when projects like this don’t last beyond their day of commissioning. It is going to be a different story all together.

“Governor Ibrahim Gaidam has pledged his full support to ensuring that everything required for the sustainability of this project is put in place and we are committed to doing just that.”

Expressing his joy and gratitude, the Village Head, Lawan Zanna Ari noted that it is only Allah that revealed to Sidi Karasuwa to get the solution to their generational problem. He praised the Yobe State government for making the project a reality.

“We have lived with this problem from generation to generation today.

Go round the village, you will see all kinds of Cement wells dug by IFAD but within a short time they dry off.

We have given up on the issue of water in this community but Allah in His infinite knowledge revealed to Sidi Karasuwa the solution to our water problem. Today, the story is different. We praise Governor Ibrahim Gaidam for this project and we pray that Allah will protect him all the days of his life,” Zanna Ari said.

•A water vendor’s truck loaded with firewood and water sold to Gumshi residents

It was like a carnival. The entire village was thrown into wild jubilation when water was first released to them. From the beginning we thought it will never work but with determination and commitment, we have done it successfully •Now, Gumshi girls no longer have to draw water from this well

Group seeks protection for Northern Christians on their deadly spree. The security forces, it seemed, arrived after the attackers had fled. It was also reported that at least four bombs were detonated.

“What happened to the advance warnings earlier issued by Boko Haram on targeting educational institutions for attacks? What did the University authority in BUK do to forestall this knowing that Kano has been under unrelenting attacks since February 20th, 2012? Where were the University security personnel when hundreds of Christians were attacked and brutally murdered with no help whatsoever coming to them even

Eyewitness accounts stated that the victims were left without any help from either the campus security or other security personnel in Kano for at least 40 minutes while the attackers went on their deadly spree

when it was alleged that the attacks lasted for 40 minutes? What happened to the security agencies in Kano- the JTF, Police, SSS and others – where did the attackers “disappear” to on the campus?

“How did these attackers gain easy access in broad daylight without any resistance from the University security or are there possibilities that the attackers are from within the campus who could have been students turning on their lecturers and fellow students? Is there any rapid response unit in place knowing that such well planned and coordinated attacks have become commonplace in our nation especially in the northern parts of Nigeria?

“How come when such attacks take place our security always appear unprepared and provide late responses and usually only after much damage has been inflicted to lives and properties? Does the government of Nigeria want to wait until (Christians) are all killed before they come up with a strategic response to guarantee safety of lives in such highly volatile and dangerous season of life in Nigeria? Do the lives of Christians count any more in this country, to-

day? Why does the government keep saying they are on top of the situation but sadly the reality always points to the contrary?”

IFES-EPSA urged more action if the war against terror must be won.

“It is a known fact that the war on terror is no easy battle but the Nigerian government must do more to show that it means business and able to guarantee safety of lives and property. There is a limit to which innocent lives will continue to be wasted.

Much appeal for restraint and forgiveness has gone out in Christian circles. The Church needs to be en-

couraged to tread this path as every attack raises more questions of what exactly the government is doing to protect Christians who have particularly become the primary targets of attacks today in Nigeria.

“While Christians were still mourning the heartless killings at the Kano University, gun men invaded a Church in Maiduguri, Borno State on the same day, shot and killed the pastor and two members of his church while the Pastor was administering Holy Communion. Where is the justice of State protection of lives and property?”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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Sokoto relocates varsity community

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OKOTO State has started relocating residents of a community located on the permanent site of the state university.

The old campus of the university is prone to devastating flooding, which not only disrupts academic activities but also destroys homesteads and farmlands.

The administration of Aliyu Wamakko took the decision to move the university to a permanent site where flooding would not be an issue.

The government wants the community on the permanent site to move to another location in order to pave way for the massive building work.

To achieve this plan, the state government has been persuading the residents of Kasarawa village

T

HE National Emergency Disaster Management Agency (NEMA) has held a two-day workshop with the Defence Headquarters on disaster management.

Two seminar was to avail the participants and their staff with veritable knowledge in containing dsasters as they occur.

The event took place at the Giginya Army Barracks, Sokoto.

Commanders of the Armed Forces Disaster Response Unit (DRU) from the Northwest of the country attended the workshop to update their knowledge in managing violence.

The theme of the workshop was “Draft Guidelines and Procedure for the use of Military Assets and Personnel during Emergencies.”

From Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto

to relocate to Mudarawa.

As an incentive, the government has been distributing assorted food items and cash worth millions of naira to the residents.

No fewer than 100 households

who relocated to the Mudarawa new settlement have got the incentives.

Various sums of money have been paid to people affected by the building project.

Governor Wamakko who was represented at the brief presentation ceremony of the items and

The exercise was a continuous one while urging those yet to relocate to the new settlement to endeavour to do so in order to enable the timely completion of the project and take-off of academic activities in the University

cash donations at Mudarawa by the Chairman, Resettlement Committee on the proposed University, Alhaji Ahmed Aminu, explained that each household was given two bags of rice and the sum of N40,000 for relocating.

Alhaji Aminu said the exercise was a continuous one while urging those yet to relocate to the new settlement to endeavour to do so in order to enable the timely completion of the project and take-off of academic activities in the University.

“I am urging those yet to relocate to cooperate with the university authorities and relocate in order to create an avenue for lasting relationship with the institution for the development of the state,” he said.

•Wamakko

NEMA, Defence Hqtrs hold disaster management workshop

From Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto

The DRUs are special military formations set up for emergency intervention during disasters.

Group Captain Adebola Onitiju, who represented the Chief of Defence Staff, said the military has a duty to protect the nation as an entity, adding that it also a stakeholder in fashioning out improved methods, procedure and guidelines for managing disasters.

Onitiju pointed out that disaster management is not the primary role of the military but said “as citizens, we owe the country the duty to preserve its entity.”

Speaking further, he said:

It will help to have organised response activities and justify actions with confidence and make stakeholders more responsive to emergencies

“When the guidelines are spelt out, they will ease the chain of bureaucracy experienced in the past before actions or intervention measures were taken. Previously, the military had to get directive form the authorities for example when flood disasters occurred at the university leading to the collapse of its bridge two years ago; we never thought that the army will be directed to build a temporary bridge as an interim measure.

“It will help to have organised response activities and justify actions with confidence and make stakeholders more responsive to emergencies.”

He maintained that, the step taken would further ensure orderliness, reduce confusion in handling emergencies as well mitigate human sufferings occasioned by disaster.

MEMA’s Deputy Director, Training and Simulation, Mr. Daniel Balarabe Gambo, an engineer, who represented the Direc-

tor General, Alhaji Sani Sidi, said the objective of the workshop was to bring disaster response units (DRUs) in the Northwest to interact and review the 2004 documents in order to better prepare DRU commanders for dis-

College honours monarch

By Emmanuel Udodinma

•Oba Olugbenle

A

TRADITIONAL ruler, the Olu of Ilaro, Ogun State, Kehinde Gbadewole Adeboye Olugbenle has been commended by the Estate Management Department of the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos State, from which he graduated.

Adegbenle who is also Paramount Ruler of Yewa land newly ascended the throne, an elevation his alma mater considered well deserved.

The Head of Department Estate Management (HOD), Mr Victor Philip Okorie Okoh said the traditional ruler is a man of unimpeachable character.

The HOD who spoke at a press briefing in Lagos, described Oba Olugbenle as intelligent, obedient, humble and straigth-forward.

•President, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management, Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu flanked by Oba Adedeji Michael Gbadebo of Oke-Imesi-Ekiti (left) and Commander, Nigeria Army College of Logistics (NACR), Maj-Gen. Thompson Oliomogbe. Behind them are other Fellows at the institute’s induction cerPHOTO: DAYO ADEWUNMI emony in Lagos

aster management without delay.

He pointed out that NEMA was not an independent operational body but a coordinating organ which uses services of other agencies to carry out disaster management activities.

“His elevation is a great source of pride to us in Estate Department in view of his superlative performance in Estate Management,” Okoh said.

Okoh said the new Oba has all it takes to move his domain and Ogun State forward for the development of the nation.

The new Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewa Land was born in 1966 and started his education career at the Methodist Primary School. He had his secondary school education at Oshodi and Eko Boys High School , both in Lagos.

In 1985, he got admission into the Yaba College of Technology, to study Estate Management, graduating in 1990. He also had his MSc in Housing Development and Management and another M.Sc in Managerial Psychology from the University of Ibadan.

He joined an estate management firm, rising to a management position.

Prince Kehinde Olugbenle is a member of many professional bodies and has held several posts such as; Fellow Nigerian Institute of Estate and Valuers (FNIVS) Registered Estate Surveyors and Valuers (RSV), among others.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY MAY 9, 2012

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•From left: Chairman, Kosofe Local Goverment Area, Hon. Afolabi Sofola; Supervisor for Agric, Hon Olumide Contry and Supervisor for Environment, Hon. Olalekan Akala during the last environmental sanitation exercise at Ifako Gbagada, Lagos State .

HE Gamawa Local Government Council in Bauchi State, in conjunction with donor agencies, has introduced weekly immunisation to stem the upsurge of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV), discovered recently in the area.

Mr Emmanuel Katuga, a World Health Organisation Consultant in charge of Gamawa, Zaki and Itas Gadau local government areas, made this known in a cell-phone interview with journalists.

He said three WPV cases were detected in Gamawa Local Government Area in April, which he attributed to neglect on the part of immunisation officials.

Katuga said the weekly immunisation was in addition to the national monthly routine immunisation, following the discovery of some WPV cases in the area.

He explained that the measure was to enable immunisation officials to reach out to villages, including Kari-Kacaf, as such communities have not been immunised in the last three years.

The WHO consultant said that the weekly immunisation would be funded by both

Fed Govt to spend N4b on Dadin Kowa dam

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ICE President Namadi Sambo says the Federal Government will spend N4 billion to upgrade the Dadin Kowa Dam in Gombe State for agricultural purposes.

Sambo disclosed this at the project site for the construction of the N4.1 billion Gombe Regional Water Reticulation Project at Kwami village of Kwami Local Government Area of the state recently.

He said that the project would be executed through a scheme in the Ministry of Water Resources to increase the utility of the dam.

Sambo also said that the Federal Government had awarded a contract for the rehabilitation of the railway line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri which would run through Gombe State.

On electricity, Sambo said that the government had entered into an agreement

Gombe under the public private partnership with a German firm to construct a 350 megawatts coal power plant in the state.

According to him, the Federal Government has approved a 132 kva electricity sub-station to improve power supply in the state.

He added that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were making efforts to explore hydro-carbons in Gombe and Bauchi States.

Sambo called on the people of the state to support the Federal Government’s transformation agenda to ensure the development of the country.

The vice president praised Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo for the water project and other numerous projects in education, agriculture and healthcare delivery, aimed at the development of the state.

“Water is life, water is one of the cardinal requirements of human beings.

“Your Excellency, I congratulate you. I can see the roads, I am aware of the improvement in education, healthcare delivery, agriculture technology.

“I will, therefore, thank you very much and assure you that we shall cooperate with you and support you in this water project you have for the people of the state.”

A

Kano •Governor Yuguda

ICE-President Namadi Sambo says the integration of the more than 9.5 million “Almajirai’’ into Nigeria’s education system will aid the country’s educational development.

He said this when he inaugurated Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Almajirai Bi-lingual (Model Boarding) Primary School at Maraban Gwanda in the SabonGarin neighbourhood of Zaria, Kaduna State.

Sambo said that the integration of the “Almajirai’’ would not only foster the country’s educational development but would also curtail drug addiction and other criminal tendencies.

He said that President Goodluck Jonathan had approved the establishment of similar Almajirai Model Schools across the northern part of the country.

He, nonetheless, called for a change of attitude by parents in the region toward the education of their children.

Kaduna

Besides, Sambo appealed to all Nigerians to live in peace with one another so as to foster the country’s growth and development.

In his speech, Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State described education as a veritable tool for personal, societal and national growth.

He praised Sambo for initiating the Almajirai Model School in Kaduna State when he was the governor and for selling the idea to the Federal Government.

Yakowa said that there were currently six Almajirai Model Schools in the state, adding, however, that the state government had identified 35 Arabic/Qur’anic schools for the pilot scheme.

He, nonetheless, urged parents and teachers to support the state government’s efforts aimed at restoring the lost glory of education in the state.

Also speaking, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, said that the essence of the “Almajirai’’ schools was to make the pupils to become self-sufficient later in life.

Abubakar, who was represented by the Emir of Zazzaua, Alhaji Shehu Idris, solicited the construction of more of “Almajirai’’ schools to enable more “Almajirai’’ benefit from the programme.

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HE Kano State government said it generated about N1 billion revenue internally in the last 12 months.

Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso disclosed this while celebrating “Kano Day” at the ongoing 33rd edition of the Kaduna International Trade Fair, last week in Kaduna.

Kwankwaso, who was represented by the Commissioner for Commerce, Industry, C o o p e r a t i v e s a n d Tourism,DanburamNuhu, said the revenue was 100 per cent higher than that of 2010.

Kwankwaso said the state would surpass the present revenue next year.

He said that about N440 million was distributed to women across the 44 local government areas to reduce the rate of poverty among women.

He said that a committee had been set up to ensure that taxes were harmonised to encourage investors in the state.

“Multiple taxation were no doubt discouraging business in Kano, but the government has resolved to introduce what it called shared taxes, where local, state and federal governments will take part of the responsibility,” he said.

He urged the Federal Government to improve on power supply because poor power supply had almost ruined industries in the state.

Kwankwaso said the state government had taken measures to woo more investors to the state by providing renewable energy to revive industries.

The President, Kano State Chamber of Commerce, Alhaji Ahmad Rabiu, said the Kaduna International Trade fair had affected the economy of the state positively.

Accountants predict increasing government spending •From left: Mr Victor Okwuosa, National Secretary Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Mr Olumide Akintayo, P.S.N. Presidential Hope during the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria Lagos State Branch 2012 Annual Luncheon and conferment of merit award at the Lagos PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAMS Sheraton Hotel and Towers Ikeja

‘Prisons should be correctional institutions ’

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•Austin Okere,Group CEO-CWG receiving the ICT Personality Award from Senator Gbenga Obadara,Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation during the 2012 Titans of Tech Awards recently held in Lagos

Kano generates N1b IGR

Sambo urges integration of 9.5m Almajiris V

Abuja the religion, saying that in spite of the hatred and hostility shown by the Arabs, Prophet Muhammed never fought back.

“During the time of Prophet Muhammad, there was a time when the Arabians were against the religion and were killing Muslims, the Prophet did not allow his followers to fight back, until he received a revelation from Almighty Allah to fight back.

“Many Arabians converted to Islam when there was peace in the country; so the only way to call people to Islam is through peace and not violence,” Uthman said.

He added that nobody should regard Islam as a personal religion as nothing is personal in Islam, adding that it is an open religion for interested persons.

The exhibition was organised by ‘De Minaret’, an Islamic organisation, whose aim is improving the reading culture in order to understand Islam.

HE Gombe State government has approved N900.8 million as compensation to people affected by the expansion of four township roads in the metropolis.

The Deputy Governor, Mr Tha’anda Rubainu, disclosed this while flagging off the payment of the money to the

Bauchi

‘Islam forbids forceful conversion’ MUSLIM cleric, Dr Ibrahim Uthman, says Islam does not convert people by force as religion should be a thing of the mind. Uthman said this in Abuja at the Islamic book exhibition.

He said that the religion needed to be properly understood to avoid violating its norms and standards, adding that any violation could lead to punishment from Almighty Allah.

“Islam is a religion of total submission to Almighty Allah.

“The basic sources of understanding Islam is in the Holy Quran and ways and behaviour of Prophet Muhammad which is unchangeable, as it is according to the prescription of Almighty Allah.

“Once a Muslim can understand Quran, he has understood Islam; so, nobody should be forced to be a Muslim.

“It should be willingly, with determination to worship Almighty Allah wholeheartedly.”

Uthman referred to the advent of Islam, when there were few people that accepted

Gombe compensates property owners T

Council begins weekly immunisation the state and local government areas, as it was being intensified to ensure that communities were not only immunised against polio but other diseases.

Katuga said the exercise was being supervised by 18 Ward Focal Persons and other officials, including vaccinators, enumerators, mobilisers and others.

He gave the assurance that the affected areas would be evenly covered, considering the pace at which the immunisation was being carried out.

37

RENOWNED Islamic scholar and National Missioner of Ansaru-UdDeen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdul Rahman Ahmad, has stated that Nigerian prisons are supposed to be correctional institutions and not punitive .

The Islamic scholar stated this at a graduation ceremony on Quran for the Ikoyi prison inmates.

The Walimotu Quran graduation is organised by the Muharam Sister, a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) as a means of educating the inmates on the tenets of Islam.

“Incarceration of the prison inmates should not be to punish or condemn but to correct them,” he said.

He also said speedy trials should be carried out for those awaiting trials in order to decongest the prisons .

He urged the society to stop discriminating against the ex-convicts.

‘It is a two-way thing, that is why I talked about taking another look at the whole concept of the prison conditions. The most suitable way or form of correction, is to reform the whole prison system. Besides,it is how you treat the ex-convicts and as that will help them to be properly reintegrated into the society after they might have been corrected.

Speaking at the event, the Secretary to the

By Amidu Arije State Government, Mrs Oluranti Adebule, said the government is set to help expedite action on the prison inmates who are either awaiting trials or yet to be taken to court to help them get justice through the Ministry of Justice.

She called on NGOs to help prison inmates against discrimination most especially on the right to vote and be voted for during elections.

She said those graduating in the Quran ceremony will not have problem reintegrating themselves in the society.

According to the Amirah (President) of the group, Alhaja Sekinat Yusuf, the move is to give succour and hope to the inmates.

She stated that the prison is meant for rehabilitation and reformation of the inmates and not a centre of condemnation as erroneously believed in some quarters.

Alhaja Sekinat said her group’s move was premised on the fact that the inmates have suffered neglect and condemnation from different quarters of the society.

Aside the Quranic training for the inmates, the group also gives food and build mosque for their use.

The Walimotu Quran graduation for the prison inmates was anchored by Sheikh Sulaiman Adangba and urged all the inmates to be of good conduct in order to facilitate their easy integration into the society.

OVERNMENT spending in Africa is expected to increase substantially in the next five years owing to rising inflationary trend in the continent.

This forms part of the findings contained in the latest edition of the “Global economic conditions survey”, conducted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA ) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

The survey also suggested that global economy recovered substantially in early 2012 and regained some of the dynamism it had lost over the last year.

According to the survey, findings for the first quarter of this year revealed that accountants in Africa are the most confident and optimistic of the regions in the first months of 2012, although other regions around the world have caught up significantly.

The survey findings represent the views of about 2,200 professional accountants around the world, who are members of both bodies.

The report quoted Jamil Ampomah, Director Sub-Saharan Africa, at ACCA as saying that: “Africa has traditionally been the most confident of the major ACCA/IMA regions and one of, if not the most, optimistic regions when it comes to the global economy and its prospects. “ It is pleasing to see that this remains the case with 39percent of respondents reporting confidence gains in early 2012, up from 27 percent in late 2011.And most respondents in Africa believe the global economy is recovering or about to do so, with 54percent saying this is the case, up from 31percent in late 2011.”

The report observed that despite these developments, the outlook for investment and capital spending in Africa is still subdued, infact more so than in any other region except Western Europe.

G

By Eric Ikhilae

It added that input inflation is the most commonly cited business challenge in Africa and has remained very high since the Global Economic Conditions survey began.

Briefly

Mango business booms

THE sale of mango in Bauchi has increased in the last few months due to high demand by customers who prefer taking natural fruits.

A check reveals that the mangoes come into Bauchi from different parts of the country, including Adamawa, Nasarawa, Benue and Taraba states.

Malam Abubakar Bichi, a vendor at Muda Lawal Market, told journalists that large quantity of mangoes were brought in everyday by farmers and traders and that everybody made profit at the end of the day. ‘’Everybody you see here today came to sell mangoes. We buy from those that bring from the rural areas and sell to our people here. ‘’Some profits are made at the end of the day, but on other days, we make do with what we get.’’

On the viability of adding value to the mangoes, Bichi said that the idea would greatly reduce the loss incurred by middlemen from their purchases. ‘’If we get assistance from our leaders in the market and those in government, we will add value to it and also reduce our losses.

Gombe

beneficiaries in Gombe.

Rubainu said that the money might not be enough to compensate for the social and psychological sacrifices that would be borne by the affected persons.

He, however, enjoined them to consider it as their personal contribution to the development of the state.

Also speaking, Mr. Shehu Hadi, the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, said that the decision by the government to convert the roads into dual carriageways would decongest traffic within the metropolis.

Alhaji Adamu Jibrin, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, thanked the government and

•Governor Dankwambo urged all affected persons to support the government toward the development of the state.

•Mr. Umeokeke Bonaventure (middle), winner of a brand new generator in the on-going Legend Real Deal Consumer Promo, flanked by Mr. Arogundade Rotimi, District Manager, Lagos North (left), and Mr. Idowu Adeshina Chike, Regional Trade Marketing Manager , Lagos, both of Nigerian Breweries Plc, during the prize presentation at the premises of Nigerian Breweries Plc.

‘Tree planting is panacea to climate change’

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HE Acting Director, Forestry Department, Federal Ministry of Environment,Mr John Auta, has said that tree planting was the primary solution to climate change.

Auta, who made this known in an interview with reporters in Abuja, said tree planting was the major strategy to addressing climate change in Nigeria.

He said: “Carbon trading is one of the major products of afforestation’’, noting that Nigeria had not met the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) recommendation of 26 per cent forest cover to nations.

Auta said that environmental problems such as desertification and erosion could best be controlled by afforestation.

He attributed the continuous effect of climate change to massive deforestation, stressing that human-induced global deforestation was responsible for 18 to 25 percent of global climate change.

“Tree planting, be it economic or ornamental, can reduce the effect of climate change to its barest minimum, due to carbon trading.”

The acting director decried the attitude of the public toward afforestation, pointing out that the recent distribution of trees to states for afforestation did not yield the desired goal.

“We have distributed millions of trees to states for people to plant but the people are demanding for money before they plant.

“It appears some of these people do not appreciate the importance of afforestation and I believe that they are the same people that will benefit from the programme. ’’ He cautioned against indiscriminate felling of trees for timber, stressing that the continuous deforestation would lead to loss of some of the forest species.

“The essence of giving large portion of land for vegetation is to produce good environment that is healthy for human habitation. ’’

•From left: Council Manager, Iba Local Council Development Area, Mr Victor Layeni; Director Local Government Monitoring Unit, Alhaji Mr Gbenro Adetona and the Chairman, Hon. Princess Ramota Adeyeri-Oseni during a project inspection in the council.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

Life

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The Midweek Magazine

Northern women scholars in pre-colonial Nigeria – Page 31

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

Text only: 08023058761

Fighting violence with cartoons – Page 35

'The pen iiss a writer's machine gun' •Onumah

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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

•A cyclist passes an ad for the African Photography Biennial, one of the continent's oldest survey exhibitions in Mali.

PHOTO: DAMON WINTER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

An art critic in Africa: Out of adversity, visions of life

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ALIF DIABAGATÉ, an artist here in this nation's financial capital, stands by a pile of sodden debris outside his bungalow studio. He reaches for a bit of sticking-out cloth, gives it a tug, then pulls until he frees some canvas painted with symbols and words. He spreads it out, creased and dirty, on the ground.

“I made this to look like a traditional hunter's shirt with amulets and talismans,” he says, pointing to small pouches sewn on the painting's surface. “The soldiers must have thought it was dangerous. Bad magic.”

The soldiers were government troops who, a year earlier, had broken into the studio and bivouacked there when violence gripped Abidjan during the climax of a decade of civil war. Mr. Diabagaté, now in his early 40s, was in Berlin for a show when "the crisis," as it is called, erupted. He couldn't get back until it was over. By then the damage was done. The soldiers had burned his sculptures and dumped his paintings in the rain.

Could this one be salvaged? Probably not. He'd have to focus on making new work, though no one was buying.

“Art is what you give up,” he says, “if you're trying to hold on to cash.”

Even in stable times life can be hard for artists in West Africa. Not that art ever stops being made. Cities like Abidjan, Dakar in Senegal, and Bamako in Mali are saturated in it. Murals cover public walls and the sides of trucks and buses. Pottery, metalwork and weaving, in styles new and old, fill open-air markets. Portraits of jazzy beauties, Sufi saints and culture heroes (Che, Mandela, Obama, Madonna) are for sale everywhere.

But the elements that in the West make a healthy contemporary scene - galleries, museums, collectors, journals, critics and a steady, responsive audience - are in short supply. And the degree of isolation of individual artists from others across the continent and from art developments worldwide is almost inconceivable to an urban Westerner who takes instant global communication for granted.

Both despite and because of such isolation, local artist networks coalesce occasionally into tight and efficient collectives like Huit Facettes in Dakar, more often as loose affinity groups of fellow art students and friends. For a

By Holland Cotter, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

ARTS visitor, like this art critic on a monthlong trip in Africa, such groups can be difficult to find in cities that have nothing resembling art neighborhoods. But they're there.

So are a few alternative spaces, conceived on a Western model, often with Western backing, like Raw Material Company in Dakar; Appartement 22 in Rabat, Morocco; and Zoma Contemporary Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Raw Material, run by Kuoho Koyo, a curator from Cameroon, encompasses a gallery, a library stocked with foreign catalogs and magazines, and a cafe-bar. It's more than just an urbane hangout. You could practically live there.

And there is one large-scale mechanism for artists in West Africa to show their work: the broad, typically biennial surveys of new art. Bankrolled by government money - much of this comes from France, which still wields powerful cultural influence over its former colonies - these showcases are designed to grab global attention and bring in the larger art world.

Yet even in these ostensibly international forums Africa and its artists remain oddly set apart. The two oldest still-functioning events of this kind in Africa, Dak'Art in Senegal and the Photography Biennial in Bamako, are restricted to exhibiting primarily artists from this continent (or, rarely, foreign artists of African descent).

Partly for that reason attendance stays small. From outside, these shows are seen as provincial; at home, they're viewed as events for foreigners.

And whether they're strong or weak - the 2011 Bamako biennial, in late fall, was strong, visually ambitious and cosmopolitan in its thinking - they suggest some basic questions about contemporary art here and across the continent.

What, for example, does the "African" in African contemporary art mean, if anything? Is African, as a brand, an asset or a liability? Must art signal its Africanness - make reference, say, to traditional forms or African subjects - to succeed in an exotica-loving global market?

Likewise, can updated versions of traditional African

forms - ceramics, for example, or performance - be presented as contemporary, without forfeiting, to Western eyes, an aura of authenticity?

In the end these questions fold into a more general one: How can 21st-century Africa, on its own terms, join the larger world? AT LEAST AT ONE TIME AND IN ONE PLACE African contemporary art meant something positive and functionally specific: in Senegal during the immediate postcolonial era, the arts were a cornerstone of a national developmental strategy.

Under the label Negritude, Léopold Sédar Senghor, the Paris-educated poet who became his country's first president in 1960, promoted an aesthetic that blended African culture, black racial consciousness and European Modernism. Artists who adhered to his racial philosophy and his approved painting style - semiabstraction incorporating tribal motifs - got lots of exposure. Senghor pushed their careers hard at home and abroad.

After he left office in 1980, however, the state support ended. Resistant art trends had sprung up, and Negritude fell into disesteem. Critics were calling it a tool of power politics designed to aggrandize a leader. They viewed its celebration of blackness, simultaneously ingratiating and isolating, as neo-colonialist in its effect, calculated to keep African art from integrating internationally.

More than half a century later Negritude's uneasy ghost lingers. But many younger artists born during the Senghor years are fed up with its latter-day incarnation, Afrocentricity, which they find constricting and retrograde.

The Senegalese painter Soly Cisse, who was born in 1969, exhibits internationally and divides his time between Dakar and Europe, points to an art education system that has Negritude veterans as its high-ranking teachers. "Art is a way of looking at the world, whether you're black or white," he says. "Identity in Africa is a prison."

Walk through the streets of Dakar, Abidjan or Bamako and the first impression is of wide-open vitality: of unrushed, everyday busyness, constant but rarely chaotic. Ask a question, and you're likely to find yourself in a fast-moving conversation, which will often touch, volubly, on local and national politics.

•Continued on page 33

ge 33

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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The Midweek Magazine

•Palace gate of the Sultan of Sokoto

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

•Palace gate of the Emir of Zaria

Northern women scholars in pre-colonial Nigeria

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ANY Nigerian women contributed to the socio-political and economic development of the country. Sadly, oftentimes, while celebrating achievers, these women are scarcely mentioned, women rights advocates have said.

They argue that historians and scholars must start exposing women contributions in our historical milieu.

One good way to go about it, according to them, is to bring to the fore the contributions of women, especially those from the north. A major northern women’s advocate is Mallam Futuhu. He urged historians to celebrate the achievement of women scholars in precolonial northern Nigeria.

His view on the issue, published online, are currently igniting debates at intellectual circles within and outside the country. According to him, evidences abound of great women scholars who have made historical strides.

Historians, he said, have not done justice to women from the northern part of the country, adding that they have been relegated in historical works.

Futuhu said: “Northern women’s contribution in scholarship is usually relegated, neglected and, oftentimes, reduced to footnote in most intellectual history I have come across. ADH Vibar and Mervin Hiskett, whose works in the 60s was on Northern Nigerian intellectual history, did not mention any great woman scholar, either in Yandoto, Gobarau, Danranko or Madabo schools, despite the fact that, there are many.

“It was only John Hunwick’s and Hamid Bobboyi’s work: Arabic literary tradition in Northern Nigeria, that gave us a little glimpse of some great female scholars.”

To further explain his point, he named 10 great women scholars of pre-colonial Northern Nigeria whose works are notable among the northern scholars. However, he said, the list may not mean his list is absolute. “Anyone can come up with his own list,” he said.

First on his list is Fatima Dukku. According to him, "She was among the entourage of Wangarawa who arrived in Kano, during the reign of Muhammad Rumfa in 15th Century circa.”

Dukku (sometime Tukku) was said to be a great scholar.

Some sources said she was a saint (waliyya). For more on her vide, there are some notes on Wangarawa coming to Kano, by Love and Joy. Asl al Wangariyun, by M A Alhaj, Hausawa da Makwabtansu, by Dokaji Abubakar, and I'ilan bi Tarikh Kano, by Malam Adamu na Ma'aji," he wrote.

Next is Ruqayya Fallatiya. "Hunwick made mention of her as the author of the famous song; Ummul Yatim (aka; Alkarimun Yaqbal). Some historians also said she was the author of famous Qawa'idi. She was the wife of

By Evelyn Osagie

SCHOLARSHIP Muhammad Fodio al Akbar (not the father of Usman Danfodio, probably the great grandfather, and teacher of Alkashnawi and Muhammad Na wali). She may have lived in 16th Century and died in the early 17th Century,” according to him.

Raliya, whose surname was not mentioned, is next on the list. According to him, “She is one of the few women who thrive in Yandoto School. She is said to have authored some poems and a book on epistemology. Her works are not extent; this might be as a result of conquest of Yandoto,

by Muhammad Bello (Sultan), in the early 19th century.”

Nana Asma'u bint Fodio, he noted, is the most famous scholar among all the female scholars of central Sudan.

“She authored 38 works in her life time. Her works include poetry and prose, on grammar, syntax, spiritualism, wa'az, medicine, among others. Her outstanding contribution was on her Yantaru School initiative, where less privilege and slave women were educated. Many illiterate women, benefited from her mass literacy programme. Vide; One Woman Jihad by B Mark and Jean boyd. See also Some collected works of Nana Asma'u, by B Marks,” he stated.

Amina Bint Adeh, according to him, is a great scholar and Sufist. “She was said to be the liaison officer of Usman Danfodio in the spiritual palace of Sidi Abdulqadir Jelani.

Nana Asma'u made mention of her in her Tawassali ga mata masu albarka. Hunwick also, in Arabic literary tradition.

Goggo Zaituna is next. He noted that she was born in Adamawa at the time of Lamido Zubayr. “She was said to be a great islamic jurist. In her time, she trained many reknown Qadhis in Adamawa.”

Maimunatu Binta Qadhi Bazarin, according to him, was a jurist, grammarian and sufist. Born in Jibiya, Katsina State, she died in 1906, at the age of 80. “She authored some books, both in prose and poetry. She was the founder of famous

‘Northern women’s contribution in scholarship is usually relegated, neglected and, oftentimes, reduced to footnote in most intellectual history I have come across’

•Queen Amina of Zaria

Jibiya Islamiyya School, which is noted for teaching the children and women.”

Sheikh al Qariyya, he observed, was an Algerian, who resided in Kano, at the end of the 19th Century. “Qariyya's original name was Rakiyya, she was called Qarriyya, because it was believed there is no door of the degree of Suffism that she did not knock and open. She was the teacher and initiator of many Kano Sufi scholars, including: al Qalansuwi (Shehu mai hula), Malam Ibrahim Na tsugunne, the father of Sheikh Nasiru Kabara, Malam Bako Sufi, and Malam Tijjani Zangon bare-bari. She later went to Medina and died there.”

Fatuhu also named Hajiya Hassana Sufi, an educationist and Arabicist of her own right, who died last year, “she was the headmistress of Hassana sufi women Islamiyya School in Kankarofi quarters, Kano. Hajiya Hassana was the author of many books.”

Miriam bint al Sheikh is last on the list. She is popularly known as Shekara, according to some historians. “She was the originator of Gidan Sarki Islamiyya School. A daughter of Usman Danfodio and wife of Ibrahim Dabo (second Fulani Emir of Kano). Her famous works, which is still Wasiqa ila Amir Kano, Min amr Mahdi. She seems to outlive most of her sisters. Waziri Bukhari made mention of her in his famous poem Wakar Buhari, as a Saint.

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'The pen is a writer's machine gun' Chido Onumah is a soldier, fighter and writer. For the widely-travelled journalist and activist, his pen is the 'AK 47'with which he sues for change. For decades, he has used his weapon to seek change in the polity within and outside the country. This struggle gave birth to the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) which he coordinates. His book: Time to Reclaim Nigeria is now on sale.

He shares his experience as an activist and journalist in this chat with EVELYN OSAGIE.

C

ONGRATULATIONS on the launch of your book! What’s its thrust?

The book is a collection of essays entitled: Time to reclaim Nigeria. It draws attention to some happenings in the country in the past 10 to 12 years, especially events in the political arena. The essays were published in newspapers within and outside Nigeria.

Aside political, some of them address social issues such as violence, gay marriage, abuse of human rights and collapse of infrastructure, among others. Fifty-two years after independence and in the 21st Century, why have we found ourselves in this situation are some of what it examines alongside proffering solutions.

How long did it take to put it together?

If you see the book and the amount of work that went into it, you would probably think that I must have spent the last one year working on it. But no! From the time the idea first came to me, on October 31, last year, till when we got the first copies of the book from the printers, it was just about five weeks.

It came to me while I was lying down on the bed and there was no light: and I was beside myself with anger. I called a few of my friends in Abuja that we should organise ourselves to join the Global Occupy Movement that was taking shape in the US in solidarity with struggles of the masses of the world. They declined.

Amid the frustration, it dawned on me that I have written a couple of essays about Nigeria and had even put them together; they were to be published but, unfortunately, they were not. I mentioned it to a colleague and friend of mine, Chiedu Ezeanah, a literary person, and he volunteered to edit the book.

Under two weeks we had finished editing and made contact with some senior colleagues who wrote the blurb.

My former editor at The Insight Newspaper, Accra, Ghana, volunteered to do the introduction; and Prof Harry Garuba, in South Africa, agreed to write the foreword. By the third week, the blurbs were in; and by the end of the month, the book's layout was ready. The following week it was sent to the printers.

The challenge wasn't so much in putting it together but in writing the essays. Once, they were there all we needed to do was to put them together.

On reclaiming Nigeria, is Nigeria lost?

At the public presentation of the book in Abuja, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the guest speaker, said you can't reclaim what you didn't own, adding that Nigerians haven't really owned this country. While I subscribe to his view, it is one half of the problem. The other is: Do we even have a country called Nigeria? Some of the essays touch on the issue.

In the true sense of the word, Nigeria is just a country in name. There is no indication in the way the people feel. The definition of a country goes beyond having international recognition or geo-political boundary. It is a collection of people who share certain things in common: it doesn't necessarily have to be religion, language or culture; but as members of a country there must be something that we can extrapolate from our diversities.

Many years ago, we were told stories about how the

•Onumah

INTERVIEW Europeans came and took away our great grandparents and turned them into plantation slaves. Then, they were forced, brutalised, killed and dehumanised. Today, if you put a ship as big as the Titanic at Apapa Port and inscribe on it Slave Ship, Nigerians (young and even old) will struggle to get into that ship. Some people will even drown while struggling to get in.

So, what is your opinion about 'true federalism'?

Nigeria is supposed to be a federal state, but of course, it doesn't practice what some would refer to as 'true federalism'.

It still works as a unitary state. The Federal Government controls everything. We really need to go back to what the constitution used to be in the 60s when the regions were quite strong and powerful. While I advocate for zones to control whatever they produce, I am aware that people focus too much on the issue because of cheap money.

Is Sovereign National Conference a way out?

I think the Sovereign National Conference (SNC) is the minimum requirement to save this country. The alternatives are wars: and they are too grim for anybody to ignore. SNC occurs where the country has reached a stage where the internal contradictions have become so sharp that those that are ruling and trying to solve the problems do not have the capacity or are not in a position to solve it. You now go to a higher platform which is SNC to attempt to resolve them.

As it is now, no group within the political class can solve the problems of this country. If they could, they would have so that they can continue looting and stealing but they can't done. It is clear with the way things are going; the characters that form the leadership of this state are not in the position to resolve the problems of the country. So, we need a new platform that would be all-encompassing that can address these issues.

What role do writers have in the reclamation process?

A very important one! Prof. Chinua Achebe has repeatedly talked about it in his book There was a country. Also, Prof.

Wole Soyinka, and so many others have shown that the writer, firstly, ought to be the mirror of the society he/she lives in, in order to tell truth to power and reflect. This he does in an amusing or harsh way, while reflecting the realities of his/her society in a way that is beneficial to all. Any writing that doesn't do that is a pure waste of time. I see a lot of time wasting when people just write because they have many degrees or to impress; but are not communicating to their audience. For me, writing is political. It is politics by other means. Being a journalist, for me, was not to earn a living. Writers have a responsibility to reflect in their

‘The Sovereign National Conference (SNC) is the minimum requirement to save this country.

The alternatives are wars: and they are too grim for anybody to ignore’

writing, what is going on in the society in order to bring about change. It is like a soldier going to war; the pen is our AK-47 (machine gun). If it doesn't serve that purpose then it is useless.

How has it been practising journalism within and outside?

It has been a varied experience; but I have enjoyed it all. I am a very restless soul. I started off writing on campus at the University of Calabar (UNICAL). I remember those days of 'campus journalism' in 1987. I rose to become the Editor-InChief of our campus press. While we were there we were all struggling amongst ourselves to get national attention writing as students for national papers like The Guardian, Punch and papers that were in existence then.

Even though I wanted to be a journalist, I wanted to do more of essay writing. I felt the journalist ought to go beyond reporting to proper analysis of the events they report. I worked at The Sentinel, The News, travelled outside the country: worked in Ghana with African Global Magazine, became the Associate Editor for The Insight Newspaper. From there, I went to Canada where I did my graduate studies in journalism. And while a student there, and after graduation, I reported and wrote columns for the London Free Press; and newspapers in Canada, Europe, America and Nigeria such as Tempo, Punch, and others.

You must have been greatly engaged then, so, how was the experience?

In the process, I did a lot of travels to the Caribbean: Haiti, Dominican Republic; worked in India with India Express Newspaper and so on. It has been exciting and given me the opportunity to experience various journalistic cultures across the globe. I spent almost three years as a journalist in Ghana.

It was a different climate from what I was used to in Nigeria.

I saw how robust the media is in Nigeria compared to Ghana.

The experience I gained working for different media came in handy. Coming to India, you'd wonder how people manage with a situation like this where there are thousands of voices and opinions every day. There are a million media (print newspapers, magazines) with superb production quality, and books everywhere. And you'd go to other places like in the US where there are loads of newspapers owned by every community, city and states with free papers. In terms of how the media has affected politics in the US, UK and Asia, my experience has helped me, coming back home, to put into perspective the role of the media in nationbuilding. The Nigerian media has always been in the forefront of the fight for the betterment of the society.

Journalism is a very noble profession but the situation in the country has taken its toll on journalists. You have a situation where many newspaper houses do not pay salaries.

So, the journalists are dependent on trying to survive in their own way. Consequently, the structure of the society has also affected the performance of journalists. They are not isolated from the problems of the society. They are no longer accorded the kind of respect that they deserve. They owe themselves a responsibility to continue the struggle because if this society becomes better, ultimately, they would be the better for it.

•Continued on page 34

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Fighting violence with cartoons

T

HE recent wave of killings has raised concern in many quarters, especially among the literati.

This heartrending trend inspired Mr Wilson Akwaowo’s book entitled: End of Violence. The accountant-turned cartoonist is set to fight violence through cartoons.

The cartoon book, he said, canvasses measures against violence, while suing for peace and unity. It is meant to re-orientate children, particularly those that are 10 years and above.

According to the cartoonist, who is popularly known by his pen name, Koko, the reason for the book is that "we must tell Nigerians that we must live peacefully."

During a briefing in Abuja, Koko said the book could educate and touch lives, especially as it emphasises that Nigerians should stop killing one another.

He said: "The best way to live is not to be enemies but to be brothers and sisters."

The author also has to his credit another book, The Monster Called Corruption, which he described as a piece that has attracted overwhelming response from different individuals and agencies.

According to him, the Universal Basic Education (UBE) has since procured the book and distributed it to schools and other public places.

He added that his concern is mostly for the children who should be intimated with information on burning global issues such as Global Warming, HIV/AIDs, environmental protection and the danger of corruption.

The children, Koko said, need orientation to dissuade them from indulging in vices, such as examination malpractices, cyber crime and looting of public treasury.

He, however, explained that cartoons can be used as a veritable tool for social change in a country, where there is moral debacle.

Koko said children should be encouraged to grow with

•Some of Koko’s cartoons

By John Ofikhenua, Abuja

CARTOON cartooning since it expands their reasoning.

According to him, cartoon and animation are the best tools to reach out to children, stressing that the cartoons have to be localised to be relevant culturally.

While expressing worry that cartoonists are not encouraged in Nigeria, Koko called on agencies to support products like his to release them to children.

He said: “Children need to grow with cartoons. Cartoon expands their scope of reasoning. In Nigeria, cartoonists are not really encouraged. If you go elsewhere in the world, cartoonists' impact lives. The cartoons here should

be culturally relevant. Agencies should partner with things like this so that we can get them across to children."

On his partnership with some non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the orientation, he said he ceased working for NGOs because much of their funds go into overhead cost while little is channelled towards intervention.

He said: "Over time I consulted for a couple of NGOs, a couple of them have been enhanced but right now, I decided not to consult with most of these agencies because some of them are trying but others don't know what they are doing. The truth is that when you look at most of those projects, the intervention is very little, most of the money probably goes for overhead."

An art critic in Africa: Out of adversity, visions of life •Continued from page 30

That vitality came through in the recent Bamako photography biennial, which took place well before the recent military coup and rebel separatist incursions that have thrown the country into turmoil. Subtitled “For a Sustainable World,” it was an intensely, topically African show. Many of the most vivid images were of ecological nightmares in progress throughout West Africa. A separate North African section documented the inebriating first days of the Arab Spring. The photographs made clear that no one is more alert to Africa's problems and promise than Africans themselves.

Photography has an interesting history on the continent. It arrived in the mid-19th century and was soon being used by Africans and Europeans alike, interchangeably, often for commercial purposes. So it doesn't come, as oil painting does, with cultural baggage. Photography is equally Western and African, always modern, and in the digital age easy to distribute and market.

For those reasons, among others, it was the medium that finally put contemporary African art on the market radar a few decades ago. The specific images that caught on were portraits of urban Africans taken from the 1940s through the 1960s by two Malian photographers, Seydou Keita (1921-2001) and Malick Sidibé, now in his 70s. Both men worked out of cramped storefront shops in Bamako - Mr. Sidibé's studio is still in operation - making the city a natural site for the biennial.

Yet the show itself demonstrates a basic bind that a lot of African artists find themselves in. The biennial started in 1994 as an informal collaboration among several French and Malian photographers who, working in teams, took Mali as their subject and exhibited the results in Bamako, then in Paris. The Paris show was a hit, and the French government agreed to finance the project as a biannual event. But with sponsorship came guidelines: The biennial would be all, or at least mostly, African.

The decision raised protests. Why must African art continue to be corralled off into an ethnographic corner, pigeonholed by place of origin, particularly when the medium being used is culturally neutral? Isn't an allAfrican show yet another example of how the global that is, Western - market espouses diversity but insists on separation, imposes isolation in the form of acceptance? (These questions were not lost on some of the show's organisers, who a few years back changed the official exhibition title from Biennial of African Photography to African Photography Biennial.)

But there were solid counterarguments too - for

example, that opportunities for African artists to show their work are so few that the biennial should be devoted to providing them. Even more important, an all-African show would, ideally, allow Africans to control their own image, to replace the Afro-pessimism commonly seen in the international media with a nuanced vision of the continent. By projecting such a view African artists could both affirm their origins and claim their place in a global society.

And nuanced the 2011 biennial was, as it took you from cyber-revolutionaries in Tunis to e-waste dumps in Accra and on to fantasy Africas, future and past. The show would have looked striking anywhere. In Bamako - a huge, impoverished, low-rise village of a city on the Niger River - it looked both on target and strikingly anomalous, spread over a half-dozen locations and out into the streets in the form of bannerlike enlargements.

The artists, flown in for the opening, huddled and buzzed, connecting up with at least a few curators and collectors, and with African colleagues they otherwise would never have met. The biennial itself wasn't getting much traffic, though: early reports of terrorist attacks in northern Mali were starting to keep travelers away. But with a spinoff exhibition due to open in Paris, Africa's boundaries seem to be expanding. The mood was upbeat. ABIDJAN HAS BEEN UPBEAT TOO. In December its skyscraper skyline was ablaze with Christmas lights. Worrisome parliamentary elections went smoothly. People talked about a country in recovery, speculating that the city would soon again be the French-style metropolis, with galleries and boutiques, it was before the crisis.

But signs of damage lingered in burned-out buildings and bullet-pocked walls. And there is evidence that African art's worst enemy can be Africa itself. The Museum of Civilisations of Ivory Coast near the center of town was closed, ostensibly for inventory taking after it was looted of millions in art during the crisis. At one point recently its main exhibition hall was completely bare except for a few carved masks in

‘Even in stable times life can be hard for artists in West Africa. Not that art ever stops being made.

Cities like Abidjan, Dakar in Senegal, and Bamako in Mali are saturated in it’

storage boxes and a jumble of Christian Lattier sculptures on the floor.

Lattier was Ivory Coast's greatest 20th-century artist. Born in 1925, he studied in Paris, where he broke with the French academic practice of modeling in plaster and began weaving figures from copper wire, a technique used in traditional African art.

After independence he settled in Abidjan and taught here until his death in 1978. Unattached to any Western movement or style, and undervalued in his home country in his time, he was a man of conflicts, cultural and personal. You sense this in his sculptures, made from rice-sack hemp handtwisted into cords wrapped around armatures, of freakish animals, crucifixions and sardonic riffs on traditional African masks - or rather on Picasso's riffs on such masks. Talk about international networking: Lattier was an African and a Modernist quoting Picasso quoting Africa.

Lattier also turned out public sculptures, the best known being an giant relief called “The Three Ages of the Côte d'Ivoire” for Abidjan's international airport. When the airport was renovated in 2000, the relief was taken down and carted away. For years it lay, a tangle of frayed cord and rusting metal, on a patch of grass outside a government building, the Palace of Culture. (It was recently moved to the National Library.) Periodically Salif Diabagaté will bring interested visitors to see it.

On one fall visit he surveyed the wreck, checking for termites and sweeping away a pair of discarded trousers left draped over the framework. Lattier, a star of a high, half-forgotten cultural moment in Africa, is his hero. He remembered seeing “The Three Ages of the Côte d'Ivoire” at the airport as a child: “I was blown away by it. Someone told me that there was nobody left who could do that kind of thing. So I decided I wanted to be an artist.”

For years he has planned to restore the piece, though no one asked him to until the government started to show interest some months ago. His Abidjian dealer tells him he's crazy, tells him to make his own art. But saving the Lattier is a personal matter. It's about preserving African art history, which is also his own history, and assuring the future of both.

The project will require huge amounts of time, money, labor. With luck the government will come through with its promised support. Before the crisis, when he was selling art here and abroad, doing the job out of love seemed possible. Now it is beyond his means.

•Culled from The New York Times

34

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•Tomb where the late colonialists were buried in Zungeru

Zungeru: From colonial settlement to national monument

T

HE status of the former capital of the defunct northern protectorate, Zungeru in Niger State, may soon change. The National Commission for Museums and Monuments is proposing to make the Colonial Administrative Settlement in the town a national monument.

The proposal is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a workshop on Utilising Current Trends in Heritage Management organised by the Department of Monuments, Heritage and Sites of the Commission.

According to the Niger State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Garba, who declared the workshop open, the government is committed to promoting the cultural values of its people. He called on key-players in the sector to partner with the government to preserve of heritage and monumental materials of the state.

Garba, represented by the Executive Director, Niger State Arts Council, Mallam Mohammed Dan-Asabe, said the government has identified about 500 tourists' sites, some of which he said could attain the United Nations designated the heritage sites, such as Zungeru.

The Director-General, the NCMM, Mallam Yusuf Abdullahi Usman has raised alarm over the increasing disappearance of the nation's rich heritage due to ignorance, neglect and destruction and cautioned that if attention is not paid to the preservation of the nation's heritage, Nigeria will not have any heritage to boast of.

Usman, who was represented by the Director, Administration and supplies, Alhaji Abdulsalami Alhassan, said heritage man-

By Jide Orintunsin, Minna

MONUMENT agement has not been given recognition considering its role in human development, a step which is pushing the nation's heritage to extinction adding that more efforts need to be put in place for the conservation and preservation of Nigeria's rich heritage.

"Heritage management is the collective responsibility of the people but it is not given due recognition, considering its role in human development. As a result, much of our heritage has disappeared and others endangered due to ignorance, neglect and destruction. In order to ensure that our collective heritage as a people is preserved and made accessible for all to benefit, including generations to come, all of us must be proactive in our efforts", Usman said.

The Museum chief urged stakeholders to mobilise and take positive action towards the protection, preservation and conservation of heritage resources in the country while calling on the staff of the department of Monuments, Heritage and Sites who are involved in managing heritage sites to build their capacity and develop skills needed to carry their duties effectively.

According to the three page communiqué signed by Okonigene Godwin and Uche Joy Chizoma, chairman and secretary of the workshop, participants urged the Federal and Niger State governments to rehabilitate the site and Zungeru town in view of its significance to Nigerian history.

'The pen is a writer's machine gun' •Continued from page 32 At what point in your journalism career did you delve into activism?

I was actually an activist before I became a journalist. Journalism became an extension of my activism. And I owe a lot of it to my dad because he wanted me to be a lawyer, well-read and a popular person in society. By the time I started

reading my father's books, newspapers, and listening to what was going on globally, my world views started opening up. It was at that stage that I became politically conscious and paid serious attention to what was happening around me. By the time I got into the university, I just looked for political movement on campus. So, it was a good platform for me to groom myself and cut my teeth as a radical

•A model on the runway

Miss Safety Pageant kicks off PAGEANT

By Evelyn Osagie

RAFTMAN Production and Matrix Marketing has unveiled the maiden edition of Miss Safety Pageant, designed to address the issue of safety across a broad spectrum. It is using beauty as a campaign tool for safety.

Like all other pageants, it will have beautiful young damsels competing for the crown. The beauty queen, according to its founder, filmmaker Madu Chikwendu will become a rallying point and spokesperson for all issues relating to safety including road safety, environmental, air, workplace and indeed all aspects of safety.

In creating the pageant, MCM Group/ Kraftman Production are concerned about raising the stakes in the pageant business, according to the organisers.

"For years we have been the market leaders in training and managing models. So, for us it is a natural progression to move into beauty pageants bringing along the skills we honed over the years," Country Director Matrix Marketing, Ms Evelyn Igbe said.

On its choice of pageantry as a campaign tool, its Project Director, Daisy Madu-Chikwendu, noted that: "Our vision is to raise a beauty queen that will lend a strong voice and a beautiful face to the issues of safety in Nigeria."

According to the organisers, the first Miss Safety zonal finals will hold in Lagos on Saturday by the end of next month. And after going round other geopolitical zones, it will climax in a grand finale in Abuja by October.

The registration forms, they said, is available for download from www.mcmng.org.

student/activist.

We hear of the effect of Western influence on African children, how have you dealt with that?

With regards to values, it may be a bit difficult because of the society they find themselves. But parents owe themselves and their children a duty in that regard. So, for us, it is a conscious effort. We made a conscious effort that nobody has an English name in the family but Nigerian names. And the kids like it. No matter how their foreign friends try to distort their names, they are proud of and know the meaning of their

names, even though they don't speak any Nigerian language except the oldest that understands a bit of Yoruba but can't speak a word of it.

Were there people who influenced you along the way?

Three major people influenced me while I was growing up and all alive today. Firstly, Soyinka, the mathematician, historian and more, Prof. Chiweizu, and Dr Madunagu, who used to be on the Editorial Board of The Guardian. Dr Madunagu has been the greatest influence in my life.

K

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Not a few tales of miracles

W

HAT comes across as a footnote in this book is usually the highlight of most administrations. The footnotes speak of some of the grand accomplishments of former governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, like the statistics about houses, the revolutionary transformation of the revenue base of the state from a paltry N600 million to about N9 billion when he took his bow, the infrastructure work, the jobs created, the business district and the flowering of commerce, etcetera, etcetera. They brandish statistics and try to match the dialectics and vocabulary of the annual development indices so beloved of the world's mammoth institutions like the World Bank and UNICEF. But statistics do not heal the sick. Statistics do not put food on the table. Statistics are for the elite. The people do not wallow in the intellectual abstractions. They live in the real world. That is the idea behind the book, Many Little Miracles, authored by Sam Omatseye.

It is a book of testimonials. It is the people who are speaking, not the journalist, the government public relations officers, not the ivory tower dreamer, not the bureaucrat. It is the people telling the story of how the government has touched their lives.

They are the best people to tell the story. A man whose standard of living rises in the regime of a governor would not wait for the statistics to know that he lives in a better house, his children can now eat three square meals and the environment is cleaner.

This is a grassroots book. It is the ordinary people telling the story of government from the ordinary person's point of view. This book is a tour de force in development narrative in Nigeria. This is the first of such book, and it is fitting that it should be written about the stewardship of a man known for the common touch, the man Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

This book is also a book about Lagos, with its multiplicity of ethnic groups. It is about compassion in a world where government alienation is commonplace. It covers various aspects of government business. So, it shows how the Tinubu regime was an illusion of government gimmickry.

So if Asiwaju boasts that during his tenure he improved housing, he can point out Fatai Olagunju, also known as Fatai Rolling Dollar, who at the age of 80 was rescued from the torment of tenancy. "Asiwaju," he exhaled, "changed the end of my life for the better." We all know him as the author of Won keresi number wa, An octogenarian burst of lyricism and celebration of life. His testimony about housing is shared by many.

If Asiwaju boasts about helping the needy, we can look at the story of the conjoined twins, Faith and Favour Davies, whose miracle continues to haunt the city of Lagos. We recall that Asiwaju personally directed and monitored them from Lagos where the children were delivered to the United States where the operation was successfully executed. Everything was funded by his government, and it turned out to be one of the highest points of compassion in the history of governance in Nigeria.

This was not only a medical story. It was a story of the vulnerable coming under the shelter of a compassionate big man, a paradox in this world of insensitivity in which the rich understand only the rich. Nothing tells the story of Asiwaju as a governor of the common man than stories like this.

It is not only about housing that we have these testimonials, but about every aspect about the government of Tinubu. Whether it was about the office of the public defender, on the enjoyment of educational scholarships, or the jobless who secured employment, or those whose neighbourhoods improved and business flourished after the reconstruction of their roads.

Let us hear a few other examples. Olufemi Afolayan's 64-year-old mother had travelled to visit him from the village of Okemesi. She was involved in an accident at the old toll gate and the Lagos State Emergency Ambulance Service rushed her to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital where she received treatment. She, however, died, and was kept in the mortuary. All this while, the son did not know that the mother had left home while his father thought she had met the son. Later, they unleashed a search party for her until they found her in the mortuary.

"My mom was given the best treatment at the Emergency Ward of the Ikeja General Hospital, though she was dead," narrated Afolayan. "At the lying-in-state, people marveled knowing that she was not discovered until after 10 days of her death…I thank Almighty God and Governor Bola Tinubu for saving me the embarrassment and trauma without spending a kobo other than the mortuary fees. He gave the honour of seeing my mom's body the way I will always want to remember her."

What of the story of Hakeem Isola, a yam seller at Mile 12 market who was arrested by police after random raid

BOOK REVIEW Titles:

Many Little Miracles

Author:

Sam Omatseye

Reviewer:

Dele Alake

Publisher:

Sunshot Associates

ADVOCACY

Group sues for peace

Year of Publication: 2008 Pagination:

208

By Evelyn Osagie

W

at the market. He was picked up and asked to pay a certain sum of money that he could not afford. He was charged with armed robbery and detained for seven years. It was the office of the public defender that came to his rescue.

What of the story of Olugbenga Kuye who had limb deformity. He has gone to hospitals where some doctors had condemned him to live that way forever. He even went for a miracle crusade in Ondo State without relief and visited herbalist until he learnt of the limb deformity screening by the Tinubu administration. Everything was done free including the crutches he used after the operation.

"Now I can walk better with the aid of free calipers and shoe raise. I can hold my folder in my left hand and put my right hand in my pocket," he said.

The book chronicles stories not only of Lagosians but nonindigenes who benefited like Augustine Ede from Delta State or Mrs. Mary Ugo from the southeast.

For these people, what Governor Tinubu did were miracles because it was not supposed to happen to them because they were ordinary poor people. Those who had Jigi Bola or had cleft lips restored did not imagine those happen. Omatseye quotes Dostoyevsky who wrote that "in a realist, it is not faith that is born out of miracles but miracles out of faith." It is soothing that these people have faith and miracles. That is the value of leadership.

The format of the people is also riveting. While most of the confessions were delivered in first person narratives, there a few third person. The interview format of question and answers was also featured. A few showed their voices through letters.

Pictures are an important tool. Some of the pages about limb deformity and cleft lips are graphic. So the narrative is sometimes as much about narrative as about pictures.

This is not a boring book, and the author deploys various techniques, pictorial and written, to show the voices of the people. It is an easy read but also a cautionary tale to all in public life that the people always assess those who have power over them.

The book does not lose sight of the statistics but they exist to give all the narratives of development a human spin. It shows that one will do with the other.

In his forward, Babatunde Raji Fashola, wrote: "The leader complement the formal and impersonal implementation of policies through formal government structures with the direct human contact that demystifies governance and strengthen the bonds between the governors and governed."

That is the spirit of the book, Many little miracles.

HAT kind of leadership does Nigeria need? According to the founder of the Real Initiative for Societal Elevation (RISE), Mr Kenneth Edet, it is the leadership that would bring about change. The organisation, whose inauguration is billed for this month, believes in nation building.

Since the Occupy Nigeria protests that rocked the country early in the year, many Nigerians have realised that solving the Nigeria question is not a duty that should be left to government alone. Edet is among the citizens seeking to make a difference that would bring a change in the country.

He is inspired by the challenges militating against the country’s nascent democracy.

"Our country has been plagued with so many problems. And as visionaries, we want to get involved in helping to build a new Nigeria - a Nigeria where human rights protection, peace and security would be our watchwords. These have inspired the setting up of Real Initiative for Societal Elevation (RISE); which is a child of necessity. We are set to sensitise the populace and government in ways that would close the gap between government and the public," he said.

He went on to explain that RISE intends to bring together think-tanks of various civil societies and groups to analyse the policies and systems that government in order to chart a way forward.

He said: "For example, on the fuel subsidy issue: many Nigerians do not really understand its implications and what it is about. It may not be a bad idea but the way it was presented has made it look or sound like a wrong step. These are some of the things we will be looking at: to explain to Nigerians and also take home the worries and complaints of the people to those in government. We will be looking at different problems, challenges and hurdles in the Nigeria system and consult with experts in those areas to offer solutions that we will then be made available to the government."

Edet said RISE would be a movement of sort, seeking partnership with people interested in the development.

"It is a sort of movement that is seeking for a common goal and partners with a mind of making building Nigeria and Nigerians. We are looking for members who are truly concerned about the polity, and who want to make a change, and affect the country with their professionalism," he said.

Citing funding as a major challenge, Edet is optimistic that RISE will overcome the challenge with the crop of prospective personalities behind the project.

"I have not worked in government; but I interacted and have prominent Nigerians who are interested into our vision for nation-building. They will be part of RISE," he said.

•Edet

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

36

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

Sweating it out before the fire

Young women turning yam flour in preparation for a wedding in Lagos

PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAMS

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

38

Lawmaker urges action against insecurity, hunger

A

MEMBER of the House of Representatives, Dr. Ifeoluwa Arowosoge has, in a motion, stressed the urgent need for the House to address the wave of attacks and threats by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) before it gets out of hand.

In another motion, Arowosoge, an Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) representative of Ekiti State, is alarmed that the same calamity that befell cash crop has befallen food crops as well since Nigeria can no longer feed itself, spending over N1 trillion in foreign exchange annually on importation of food.

He is worried that unemployment in Nigeria is at a scandalous level and that the youth are worse hit with unemployment rate standing at over 60%.

The lawmaker is equally bothered that agriculture is essentially practised by illiterate old people since no Nigerian youth is ready to go into peasant farming.

He therefore urged that urgent steps be taken so that unemployment, hunger, inflation, poverty and crime will be reduced.

Regretting that the 2012 budget estimate submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture had made no provision at all for mechanisation and youth engagement notwithstanding the transformation policy of the Federal Government, in his “request for support for a motion to urge government to focus on agriculture as a way of creating

L

ANDLORDS and residents of Olokuta community in Idi-Aba area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, have accused the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) of nonchalance towards their two-year power outage challenges.

“It is on record that the community with thousands of residents had made several attempts with various complaints on this ugly development to your office, with the hope that you will come to our aid, but contrary to this, we have continued to meet a brick-wall in getting a lasting solution to the problem,” the protesters told the power electricity firm in a letter.

Signed by the Community Devel-

By Dada Aladelokun

massive employment for young school leavers,” the lawmaker said: “Agriculture was the mainstay of the nation’s economy before the discovery of oil. With the discovery of oil, agriculture has become a profession regarded as inferior and as such, a Nation that once fed itself and was leading in export produce such as cotton, cocoa, oil palm and groundnut has now been relegated to the background both in the world and in Africa, in both food and cash crop production.

“In 2011 alone, about 1.3 trillion naira was expended on importation of wheat, rice, sugar and fish.

Nigeria no longer export cotton, groundnut and oil palm as it once used to do. Only 250,000MT of cocoa is exported annually. Nigeria, was an agro-based economy before the civil war. It prosecuted the war without borrowing any money. It is now clear that reliance on oil to the total neglect of the Agricultural sector has created serious unemployment problem, leading to food insecurity, criminality and general disorder in the country.

“Although, it has been stated that the economy is growing due to the fact that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reached 7.6 but this has not translated in any way into poverty reduction. For instance the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS) has declared that while poverty level in 2004 was 54.7%, the pov-

•A bomb blast scene erty situation has worsened to 60.9% in 2010, meaning that 112 million Nigerians are, as at 2010, living below poverty level.

This motion seeks to encourage the executive at all levels of governance to see the need to engage the youth, with relevant educational background, in modern farming practices. It seeks to advice the Federal Government to take the lead in encouraging the young ones to go back into farming by:1. Reviving school farm scheme to imbibe the culture of agricultural practices into the students 2. Re-introducing the Graduate

Farmers Scheme 3. Rehabilitating the old farm settlements and plantations 4. Creating new farm settlements with the state of the act infrastructure 5. Re-introducing the commodity Boards to mob up excess production & set regulations for farmers 6. Introducing farm settlements to the NYSC Programme 7. Encouraging banks to grant loan to young Graduates using their certificate as collateral security, and 8. Partnering with private entrepreneurs to start mechanised farming and agro-processing industries at the farm settlements.

•Tambuwal

Community protests two-year power outage opment Association’s chairman, I. A. Sotinwa and M. A. Salisu (Acting Secretary), the letter emphasised: “Ironically, in view of the fact that we lack

satisfactory electricity supply in the community, your office is alive to the responsibilities of bringing electricity bills to our homes and sub-

Ironically, in view of the fact that we lack satisfactory electricity supply in the community, your office is alive to the responsibilities of bringing electricity bills to our homes and subsequently we paid monthly for service not forthcoming

sequently we paid monthly for service not forthcoming.”

The aggrieved residents they “are no more interested in your services, except you rise up to the challenges of solving the problem and make life better for us”.

The protest letter forwarded to the Business District Manager of the company, concluded thus: “Following your failure and inability to find a lasting solution to the issue, we call

on you to henceforth stop bringing bills to the community. In addition, you are advised to come and remove all deceitful wires installed in the community. The bitter truth is that we are fed up and tired of your establishment’s nonchalance towards our better living conditions, as we have been left in total and perpetual darkness due to your nonchalant attitude towards the community’s plight.”

Council to automate IGR

T

HE Transition Committee Chairman of Oredo Local Council of Edo State, Prince Ekpen Erediauwa has said his administration is planning to make more money available for development at his grassroots constituency through the automation of internally generated revenue (IGR).

Prince Erediauwa said he hoped to block leakages in the council accessing tax income available to it and help to reduce its dependence on statutory allocations for survival.

He noted that the automation will bring in greater efficiency and due diligence in the allocation of local government revenues.

Prince Erediauwa in a chat with Newsextra said his administration succeeded in boosting existing revenue through an intensive drive for the payment of tenement rates in collaboration with the state government.

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

According to him, “Oredo under previous chairmen was referred to as the council with zero allocations as the council was often broke after paying teachers’ salaries and that today the IGR has improved by over 50 per cent under his administration.

“We have deployed the added income to the rehabilitation of some primary schools with the provision of toilets and boreholes and three-seater desks for pupils in places like Ogbe, Ezomo, Ukhegie, Obaghavbaye and Ore-Oghene, among others.”

On the problem of refuse disposal in the locality, the council boss blamed the activities of private refuse collectors who he said usually dump waste in the markets at night rather than the approved dumpsite.

We have deployed the added income to the rehabilitation of some primary schools with the provision of toilets and boreholes and three-seater desks for pupils in places like Ogbe, Ezomo, Ukhegie, Obaghavbaye and Ore-Oghene, among others •Outgoing Permanent Secretary, Bauchi State Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Sambo Jumbari (left), receiving a gift from the Commissioner for Fiance, Alhaji Mahmjud Maijama’A, during the send-forth party in Bauchi

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

39

Okorocha advocates spiritual HE Imo State Governor, rejuvenation Owelle Rochas Okorocha has called for stronger spiritual re-

Yuguda’s wife honoured

T

awakening and rejuvenation among Christians as a panacea to rid society of all forms of vices.

Governor Okorocha who made the call while declaring open the divine service and formal opening of the 2012 National Board meeting organized by the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) in Owerri said that it is imperative for the Christendom to read and recite the Holy Bible daily for proper guidance and counseling.

Assuring that there is power in reading the Bible, Owelle Rochas Okorocha warned that Christians might become a rolling stone that gathers no moss if they neglect the Bible.

He commended a former Head of state and patron of the BSN – General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd) GCFR for his consistent contribution and support towards the sustenance of the organization (BSN) and pledged to bring the aims and objectives of the society to the South East governors’ forum .

Archbishop of Owerri ecclesiastical

T

HE wife of Bauchi State Governor, Hajiya Hauwa Abiodun Yuguda, has been honoured for her leadership role in advocating for the welfare of people with disabilities, women and youth development.

Honoured along her were other African women leaders, presidents and vice-presidents on the continent. The award was given at the just concluded International Conference on African Women Development held at the Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Speaking at the conference, the Executive Director of the Centre, Mrs Furo Giami said the conference was organised to appreciate African women who have excelled in their different fields of endeavour or contributed to nation building.

Mrs Furo noted that modernday African women have are now committed to effecting change, hence the need to honour them.

According to the Executive Director, the Conference was also to build the capacity of African women leaders to prepare them for their roles as catalysts of the African economy in the emerging decade.

She stressed the need to support women to contribute to the growth and development of Africa.

The conference had the theme ‘’Women as catalysts for economic development in Africa” and was attended by women from all walks of life across the

A

REVENUE management committee has been set up in Ojo Local Government Area, Lagos to help streamline its cash generation processes.

The council chairman Yinka Murisq Durosinmi inaugurated the committee, urging its members to prioritise the job and “begin full implementation and enforcement” of the council’s bye laws.

The Durosinmi administration is aiming at harnessing all its re-

From Emma Mgbeahurike, Owerri

province and Bishop of Orlu diocese (Anglican Communion) the most Rev. Dr. Bennet C.I. Okoro in a sermon described the Holy Bible as the only source of redemption, reconciliation and communication for mankind adding that protection could only be obtained in God who is the Alpha and the Omega.

The Prelate recalled the genesis of the BSN and paid glowing tributes to those who translated the Bible into Hebrew, Yoruba Igbo and English.

While calling for action participation in the activities of the organization by the entire Igbos, the man of God praised Okorocha for his result-oriented Rescue Mission programmes and war against corruption and urged him to sustain the spirit.

The ceremony featured dedication of the National officers of the BSN, special prayers, benediction and choir ministration.

Army gives NSCDC antiterrorism tips T •Vice-President of Zimbabwe, Mrs Joyce Mujuru (left) presenting the award to Mrs Yuguda

continent.

The Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Mrs Joyce Mujuru expressed gratitude to the organisers of the award, adding that the honour will motivate them to contribute more meaningfully to their respective countries.

Mrs Abiodun Yuguda received the Most Impactful First Lady Award. The wife of Adamawa State governor, Mrs Halima Murtala Nyako was also honoured, as was Mrs Judith Amaechi, wife of Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi.

HE Nigerian Army has completed the training of about 58 personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in anti-terrorism, even as the corps pledged not to misuse the firearms which they are now allowed to carry.

The Commandant-General of the NSCDC, Dr. Ade Abolurin said his officers will not disappoint President Goodluck Jonathan in the use of the weapons. Abolurin said this when he officially welcomed the trained officers.

The NSCDC chief told reporters that the Army for the first time was training the NSCDC and officers of the Nigeria Police following the in-

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

security in the country, adding that the training is in batches.

He warned the trained officers not to misuse their weapons and that there must be no case accidental discharge.

His words: “We appreciate President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Assembly and the Minister of Interior Comrade, Abba Moro, for making it possible for the NSCDC to start carrying arms. We promised the President that we will not disappoint him. We will not abuse the use of arms.

Council inaugurates revenue committee

By Emmanuel Udodinma

sources in order to meet the yearnings of the people through good governance.

“The committee is going to place our rates and levies in strategic places within our local government area,” he said.

The committee will also play a good part in mobilising the residents to pay their rates and levies promptly as this will help the council leadership in fulfilling its obligations to the people.

“We all want good things,” Durosinmi said, “and for these good things to come we must all contribute our own quote to make

the dream a reality by paying our levies and rates at the appropriate time.”

The council chief stressed the imperatives of success at the grassroots level.

“The local government is an agent of development and we must all mobilise our people and communities to be partners in this regard,” he said. “We are more under pressure than any other tier of government because of our proximity to the people at the grassroots. To whom much is given, much is expected. Our attention is needed almost everywhere at the same time.”

Prince Durosinmi expressed full confidence in the committee members, noting that the council was sure to succeed in shoring up its revenue as they get to work.

He warned that rates and levies defaulters will be prosecuted.

The council boss reiterated his passion for distinction, honesty and excellence, noting that the administration of his dream was that of excellence in all ramifications.

The occasion was graced by council staff and residents, members of community development associations, market leaders, among others.

We all want good things and for these good things to come we must all contribute our own quote to make the dream a reality by paying our levies and rates at the appropriate time

•Members of the committee: Hon. Sakiru Olaiya, Mr. Kolawole Hundeyin and Mrs Lamilisa Tinuola

40

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

We want to appeal to our Fulani brothers who are known for herding their cattle across our area that our people are peace loving and their peaceful gestures should be reciprocated

F

ROM kith and kin at home comes a charge to the frontline the T. Y. Danjuma Foundation to help address the many developmental challenges facing the Jukun in general and the entire people of Taraba State.

The President of the Jukun Development Association (JDA), Mr Benjamin Danborno, dropped the charge in a statement made available to Newsextra. He said the Foundation which has been receiving much accolades outside the shores of the country has little to show at home in Jukunland.

He said the passion of the founder, General T. Y. Danjuma, who is the lone star in Jukun firmament in the past 40 years, for his beloved Jukun people, has not translated into positive affirmative action by the management of the foundation, a development he said has not gone down well with the people of the area.

Danborno said: “We watch with sadness the way the Foundation has been garnering accolades across the globe, yet the people closest to its promoters are dyeing daily of poverty, unemployment and other dehumanising conditions.”

He called on General Danjuma to reposition the Foundation and make it more relevant to “issues at home,” a development he said would be applauded by the people of the area.

“Our concern is that the Foundation has not addressed the problems facing the Jukuns at home. Many of our youths are still jobless, many are being ravaged by diseases yet we have a Foundation that we could look up to that is receiving global accolade, giving very scant attention to our issues. Charity begins at home, it is time the Foundation begins to look inwards as the task of repositioning Jukuns is a collective responsibility.

“Our people are dying of malaria daily, the Foundation should come to the aid of our people, we are tired of hearing of the intervention of the Foundation all over the globe, let the management of the group also intervene in the many problems besetting our people. That is the only way we would be able to associate with the achievements and the successes of the Foundation,” Danborno said.

The JDA leader who recently got a second term ticket to lead the group for another two years also had a word for the Fulanis threatening peace in the Tiv region and across the North East. He urged the

•Jukun young men at an event

Group urges Foundation to do more for Jukun people

By Yinka Aderibigbe

herdsmen to sheathe their sword in the interest of peace. He said a peace committee has been set up by the group to mediate in all areas of conflict between the Fulani guests and Jukuns.

He said the Jukuns will continue to beat the drums of peaceful coexistence in the area in order not to aggravate the delicate security situation in the country, occasioned by the terrorism threats by the Boko Haram sect.

Danborno said: “We want to appeal to our Fulani brothers who are known for herding their cattle across our area that our people are peace loving and their peaceful gestures should be reciprocated. We

have set up a committee to look into all gray areas involving our people with the Fulanis grazing their cattle in our area, with a view to avoiding any skirmishes. We would want to appeal to them to embrace this peaceful option.”

Listing some of JDA’s achievements under his watch, Danborno said the association introduced an awards of excellence for new set of Jukun leaders across several professions, who are willing to replace the older leaders who have been taking up the gauntlet in the past.

Danborno listed other achievements of the team under his leadership to include redressing the long years of neglect by the Federal Government to the region, especially the Jukun area which has seen

hordes of road projects, bridges and other abandoned in the past.

He said through the strong protest of the association even up to the presidency, many of such projects whose contractors have abandoned sites have returned and work has resumed to the relief of the people.

He said the JDA has also taken up the challenge to defend the honour and integrity of any of its sons and daughters molested or assaulted anywhere in the country.

Danborno said the group also put together a scholarship scheme and job consulting agency to ameliorate the suffering of brilliant but indigent students.

Other achievements according to him are the launching of a transport scheme from Taraba to Lagos, and the commencement of a courier service which has made things easier for itinerant business men operating in the area.

•Danborno He said the group has also been listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as an election observer, a sttus he said they would maximise to the full during the next general elections across the country.

Danborno said under his watch, the Jukuns cause have been elevated and they have suddenly found their voice in the midst of other ethnic nationalities and groupings.

Suswam disburses N1b loans

B

•From left: Chairman, Orile Agege Local Council Development Area, Hon. Taofeek Adaranijo presenting utility vehicle key to Chief Consultant, Surgeon, Dr Segun Oshinyinka. With them are Director, Clinical Services, Dr (Mrs) Tijani and Head, Admin./Personnel of the hospital, Mrs Kehinde Etti at the hospital.

ENUE State Governor Gabriel Suswam has flagged off the disbursement of N1billion commercial agricultural credit loans scheme, with the disclosure that additional N2 billion is on the way.

At the ceremony, which took place at the Ibrahim Babangida Square in Makurdi, organisations and individuals were given cheques ranging from N25 million to N500,000. There were 206 beneficiaries.

They included four large-scale farmers and 10 cooperatives.

This was after the governor had received a cheque of N1 billion from officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria and GT Bank.

Suswam disclosed that the CBN had given provisional approval for additional N2 billion to Benue State,

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

maintaining that those who do well with the first loan would get more while defaulters would be penalised.

He disclosed that the selection of beneficiaries was based on merit, pointing out that they possessed the potentials and ability to promote agricultural development in the state.

“The loan is neither a national cake for distribution to the governor’s favourites nor a largess to be dispensed for political patronage,” he stressed, saying non-repayment of the loans would not be tolerated.

“Government has mandated the commercial bank handling the disbursement to put in place adequate monitoring measures to ensure loan recovery,” he stated.

OTHER SPORT...OTHER SPORT...OTHER SPORT...OTHER SPORT...OTHER SPORT...

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

43

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

• Obasanjo

• Daniel

• Oni

• Olurin

The crisis rocking the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is still lingering, 13 months after the April 2011 election. Correspondent ERNEST NWOKOLO reviews the contending issues and the efforts being made by party stalwarts to keep members under one umbrella.

Ogun PDP: Still a divided house T

HE crisis within the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is far from being over. The more party leaders try to unite the house, the more it falls apart.

Many party members and supporters who had thought the crisis should have been over after the April 2011 general elections have since realised they have been dreaming.

The latest signal that the party, rather than get over its internal problems, is sinking deeper into crisis was underscored by the new National Vice - Chairman of the party (Southwest) Mr. Segun Oni, who dismissed the congresses conducted in the state by Bashorun Dayo Soremi-led executives.

In Oni’s estimation, the outcome of the PDP congress in Ogun State is not recognised because all the forces at play, particularly the interest of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, were not accommodated. The former Ekiti State governor had during his visit to Chief Obasanjo in Abeokuta said: “There are no congresses yet in Ogun State.”

But Mr Bayo Dayo, the new state party chairman, advised Oni to stop living in the past and to face the reality as the era when a few people would foist themselves on the majority by hand-picking the lackeys as party executives is over.

According to Dayo, what is in vogue now and which should be embraced, is the enthronement of “internal democracy” in the PDP and not the imposition of one’s will on the others.

He said: “We are opposed to a fresh congress. We can’t continue to allow some elders to go into their room and write out names of executives, what we have done is to ensure internal democracy because we all agreed the Dayo Soremi-led executive is authentic.

“The National Working Committee approved congresses in all the states and Ogun was not excluded. We did not get any letter stopping us from conducting the congresses and our congresses were monitored by Abuja, the Independent National Electoral Commision (INEC) and the security.”

He said the new PDP executives in the Gateway State are poised to employ legitimate means, including the judiciary, to establish the authenticity of the executives as well as resist the imposition of persons as members of the executive committee.

Dayo said there was no notice to the effect

that there should be no congress in the state when it was conducted. Besides, it was monitored by the representatives from the PDP National Working Committee, the INEC and security operatives.

The continued to engender bitterness, if not a fierce battle amongst the contending stakeholders like Chief Obasanjo, billionaire hotelier - Prince Buruji Kashamu, former Commerce and Industry Minister, Alhaji Jubril Martins-Kuye and former governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

It is understandable why the battle for the soul of Ogun PDP rages on, defying every solution.. Until the April 2011 general polls that saw the party being flushed out of Ogun by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), it had held sway in the state for eight years, clinching all elective offices and boastfully dominating politics of the state with enormous backing from the PDP-controlled government at the centre.

With a mindset that the party would continue to win every election in the state by all means, the stage was set for dirty political intrigues and desperation among the quartet of Obasanjo, Kashamu, Kuye and Daniel over who controls the party as well as share party positions to loyalists in the state.

The crisis over who controls the party began during the build-up to the April 14, 2007 elections with Daniel showing his dictatorial tendency, using the party structure to broach his will over others.

But the crisis became a full-blown political war among the dramatis personae during the preparation to the April 2011 election, with each either fighting directly or through proxies to execute personal interests.

The former governor, who had his mind fixated on having former Managing Director of Gateway Holdings, Mr Gboyega Isiaka as

his successor at all cost, was using the party structure, headed by Elder Joju Fadairo, to undermine the interest of others and advance his will.

But there was an initial alliance among the trio of Obasanjo, Martins-Kuye and Kashamu, to wrest the party structure from Daniel and thus stall the plot to have his cronies run for elective offices.

While the federal might and PDP national apparatchik were mobilised against Daniel

by Obasanjo and Martins-Kuye, Kashamu doggedly tackled him in another direction, fighting him to a stand still through the judiciary.

Although, the National Executive Committee of the party waded into the crisis at this stage and recommended dissolution of the Fadairo-led executive committee and the harmonisation of the factional committees to accommodate all shades of interest. The implementation of this led to the emergence of Soremi-led committee.

Unfortunately for the party, rather than solve the problem, the harmonisation worsened the crisis as Daniel and his faction rejected the arrangement and did not only stick to the Fadairo-led committee, but also persistently used the platform for his political interest.

The logjam within state chapter of the party took a turn for the worse with the emergence of a parallel party executive, leading to parallel congresses for the 2011 polls.

Many who could not bear this contradiction, defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Labour Party (LP), among other political partiesd.

Analysts watched as national secretariat of the PDP and the court recognised the congresses conducted by the Obasanjo faction.

Determined to protect his political future,

‘A good number of party members and supporters who had thought the crisis should have been laid to rest at the conclusion of the April 2011 general election discovered that they were engaging in wishful thinking’

Daniel encouraged his supporters to defect to a relatively unknown Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN). Many saw the PPN as the former governor’s ‘Plan B’ arrangement.

The PDP paraded General Tunji Idowu (rtd) as its governorship candidate. Thus it went into the 2011 elections as a divided house.

The party was trounced by the ACN at the polls.

Despite this, efforts were made to resolve the crisis that brought defeat and odium to the party. The party at the national level and its former National Vice-Chairman, Southwest, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, raised a Transition, Reconciliation and Congress Committee (TRCC), chaired by Chief Bode Mustapha to re-unite all aggrieved persons and also conduct congresses in the state.

Oladipo said: “The reason for TRCC includes the need to unite the party before the congresses. The need to provide a level playing ground for all interests within the party to be able to fulfil their aspiration, to midwife the congresses so that the executives to be produced in the congresses are acceptable to the generality of the party faithful.”

The move did not go well with the actors and it succeeded in shredding the initial alliance of Obasanjo, Kashamu and Martins-Kuye.

The Kashamu group vehemently opposed the arrangement, which it described as a ploy by the Obasanjo minority group to undermine the function of the Dayo Soremi-led committee to pave the way for the imposition of ‘loyal’ officials. The group got a court injunction declaring the TRCC illegal.

According to the Kashamu group, Obasanjo is pursuing a separate political agenda best known to him in the state.

The group argued that if the over-bearing influence of the former chair of the PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) is not challenged, it could spell doom for the party in future elections. It went ahead to conduct its congresses in the state, despite directives to the contrary by the party’s NWC. Today, the new executive officers of PDP led

by Dayo do not enjoy the recognition of all and this much was conveyed by Oni, who spoke of plans to organise another congress that would accommodate all interests.

But the Kashamu group insists it would resist such move at the appropriate time. Who is cahrge of the PDP in Ogun State, only time will tell.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

POLITICS Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship aspirants showcased their strengths as they received the former chairman of the Ondo State Oil and Minerals Producing Development Commission (OSPADEC), Prince Adewale Omojuwa, to the party at a rally in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje sub- ethnic nationality, reports Deputy Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU.

Day ACN enlarged its coast at Igbokoda I

LAJE, the fishing community in Ondo State, was aglow with festivities. Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) banners adorned the walls, roundabouts and buses, which conveyed thousands of supporters to the rally. Party leaders, who were the hosts, were in joyful mood as governorship aspirants and their supporters stormed the ancient town for the ‘rally with a difference.’

To them, Prince Adewale Omojuwa, a prominent politician, who had just dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for theACN, is a big catch. It was actually a defection rally organised to welcome the former chairman of the Ondo State Oil and Minerals Producing Development Commission (OSPADEC), the contenders seized the moment in a demonstration of strength and popularity.

Six of them, accompanied by their supporters, made the event colourful.

Former Finance Commissioner Segun Ojo, who had served as the Afenifere national treasurer, climbed the stairs to the podium swiftly in a manner betraying his age. He waved the party flag to the party faithful, singing and dancing.

“Any river that forgets its source will dry up. That is the tragedy of the Ondo State governor”, he declared, amid shouts of his nickname “The General”. Welcoming Omojuwa to ACN, he added: “Mrs. Omojuwa, like her husband, the prince, was a moving spirit in the PDP. She will do the same for ACN. We have swept the carpet off the feet of Labour Party and its end is nearer”. Ojo congratulated Omojuwa for his decision to team up with the ACN, adding; “we are expecting all “Omolubais” outside to come in.”.

Another aspirant, Dr. Olu Agunsoye, who rode in an open roof Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), waving at the crowd, stormed the venue with 1,000 ex-militants and about 5,000 PDP and LP defectors. He was accompanied by Lagos politician Mrs. Morenike Adesina Williams, who hails from Akoko. “We must hack Iroko down in the next election,” said the former Power and Steel Minister, who applauded Omojuwa for joining the progressive team.

“Labour Party means hard labour in

• A cross section of party faithful at the rally in Igbokoda

Ondo State. In this area, there is nothing that Mimiko has done for you.

We will correct that. We want to correct the ills. But we must first uproot the Iroko”, he added, eliciting wild applause from supporters.

Mrs. Williams, chairman of IgandoIkotun local council, who had earlier canvassed support for Agunloye, described ACN as “the Ark of Noah is ready to move”. She said Omojuwa had entered the Ark, urging other well-meaning people to support ACN’s vision and mission in the state.

She said: “Let ACN rule Ondo State and Ondo will become another Lagos State. Go to Osun, go to Ogun, go to Oyo, you will see action. Ondo cannot be different.

“I am from Ogbagi-Akoko. We will sweep the bad government away. We want Ondo to become another Lagos.

Ondo should liberate itself from misery by voting the ACN”.

Urging unity, harmony and understanding among the rank and file, Mrs. Williams assured that “none of the aspirants will lose out”. But she quickly added that, when they get to power, they should not forget the women who toiled with them.

Senator Ajayi Boroffice also stood out in the crowd, being the only aspirant adorning a white ‘agbada’ on the podium. He arrived few minutes after the supporters of another aspirant, Segun Abraham, came in five new buses donated towards his campaign by his friends. Supporters of the banker-turned politician, Jamiu Akingba, another aspirant from Akoko, mixed freely with the youths carrying the banners of Mr. Wale Akinterinwa, former Finance Commissioner, who is also jostling for the number one seat.

There was no strife and rancour on the campaign field as supporters shared the same canopies, food and drinks. In unison, party members rendered the Ilaje anthem, after singing the national anthem. Other Yoruba sub-ethnic groups present looked in amusement. Although security agents maintained surveillance, there was no report of unruly behaviour during the ceremony that spanned nine hours. Yet, the occasion still served as a veritable opportunity for a popularity test for the contenders in an atmosphere of dignified tolerance and understanding.

ACN senatorial leader in the South District Pa Wale Akintimehin exuded happiness at the impressive turn out, praising Omojuwa as a crowd puller.

He said the PDP defector had taken a bold step by crossing to the ACN and congratulated the Ilajes for embracing the best political option. “We will work together and enjoy together. We have good aspirants. What we should do is to cooperate together and achieve success”, he admonished.

Echoing him, the women leader, Erelu Modupe Johnson, said: “We should unite as we move to Alagbaka in as from October”.

However, a party chieftain, Femi Adekanmbi, stressed the challenging task of power shift in a state where violence disrupted the memorial ceremony organised for former Governor Adebayo Adefarati. He said politics should be complemented by prayers. Adekanmbi added: “God who sent Oni packing in Ekiti will send Mimiko away”.

In Okitipupa/ Igbokoda axis, there is the agitation for the zoning of the governorship to the South, and then, Ilaje area. A stalwart, Niyi Olajide, who recently defected to the ACN ac-

knowledged “the wind of change from the PDP to the ACN”. But he stirred controversy at the rally, when he dwelt on this sensitive issue. He elicited applause when he said: “PDP is dead in Okitipupa Local Government. If anybody says there is PDP there, it is a deceit. We presented Agagu for the Senate, he lost. What is left?”.

However, when Olajide said “Ondo has a zoning formula,”adding that “for now, no governor will come from Okitipupa Local Government; it has produced a deputy governor, minister and governor”, his remarks momentarily polarised the teeming Ikale party supporters. It took the diplomacy of another chieftain, Taiwo Olayiwola, who spoke after him, to douse the tension by elevating “state politics” over the vulgarities of “local politics”, thus re-uniting the collective focus of the party faithful. He spoke briefly on the challenges before the ACN, contending that “this gathering is evidence that ACN will win Ondo State”.

Next month, ACN is expected to name its flag bearer. Will the prevailing concord among the contenders last? Agunloye, who spoke with reporters before the rally, assured all that party unity would not be consumed by the selection process. He said the process of building and nurturing the party’s structures, to which his “Omoluabi Campaign Organisation” is committed, would not be disrupted.

“We have a stronger, robust ACN ready to win power. We have witnessed the exodus of PDP and LP members to the ACN. We are determined to uproot the Iroko, hack it down and make a wood out of it for firewood”, he added.

Agunloye also pointed out that ACN aspirants are united in their determination to get the LP administration out of the way, foreclosing post-primary crisis.

“The growth in the number of the ACN aspirants means that it is the party of choice. Aspirants are building the party. That is what Boroffice is doing in Akoko, Alasoadura in Akure and others in their localities. Labour Party cannot match ACN again. Its antics of scheming, manipulation and violence will fail,”Agunloye stressed.

The ‘Comrade Governor’, Edo State and history

By Iluogwikphe Ogbhemhe

• Oshiomhole

A

BIDING commitment towards innovations, patriotism, development , loyalty and peopleoriented issues, is what the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole is exhibiting in the life of his people. His quality of thought no doubt, requires a real critical understanding of economics, people and governance. This can be seen in his many achievements and his well outlined cabinet, where women and youths have been given fairly large representation which use to be an elu-

sive venture in Edo politics.

An egalitarian Edo state is now a possibility, civil society and opposition political parties can air their views without harassment like it use to be in the past. The educational sector put it in the right perspective, all public schools in the state have either been renovated to meet today’s standard for education or totally rebuilt. The condition of learning in our schools is now conducive enough for a decent education befitting a child anywhere.

Primary and secondary education made compulsory and free for all residents in the state irrespective of their states of origin. To me, it is something to shout about, our parents can now breath air of relief. A well-articulated primary hearthcare system is being put in place, with free medication for pregnant women, children below the age of five and the aged. That’s not all, the retirees who normally find it difficult to get their stipends under past administrations, now gets their monthly emolument without tears before 25th of every month. The state civil servants have been enjoying the N18,000 minimum wage. What is the magic? To say how come he got it right is enough for Edo people to go wild

for the one -man-one vote crusader. I dare say, that the comrade is the messiah we can trust with the future of our state as at now because “the oracle have spoken.”

Lately, the state has become one big construction site with civil engineering works. Road networks, beautifully adorned with street lights, walk ways and flowers, cuts across the whole state internally and externally. Massive revamping of infrastructural amenities, agriculture, exploration of our solid rocks and minerals which in turn is attracting both local and international investors is being propagated. Promotion of public-private-partnership (PPP) that can create lots of job opportunities for the youths to mention a few is the hallmark. He has already made his mark in no time and he is worthy of our support for his second term bid.

A standing ovation for the comrade governor for his holistic approach towards the numerous problems he inherited. He has done a little above three years, what the previous PDP government could not do in ten years of our democracy. Rather, they took us back to twenty years of bottomless negligence! Ravaged, looted our commonwealth, got the state into perpetual backwardness. They simply

have no clue! As at now, they have been kept on hamlet and we will trash their remnant still lurking around come July 14 because this is the only way to send a message to political looters with no business in government.

Although, to dream is not a crime, so, let those who dream for a possible comeback to unseat the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as the ruling political party in Edo State keep dreaming. It is a fundamental human right of all to dream, but the situation on ground shows how the comrade governor has already banished the godfathers and their followers with a touch of positive change in the lives of the people.

In my humble view, the nation seems to be watching with wild admiration how the ACN thrown to our political arena, men with uncommon ability in terms of leadership qualities. This shows that the nation needs not weep as in no distant time, political manipulators will be out of circulation. The wheat would have been filtered from the chaff, Oshiomhole is a man truly loved by his people for his works. He has become a new dawn in Nigeria political journey. Where his fellow men chose to loot, he chose to make a different. He has paved way

for a people oriented government, where every citizen has a voice with their vote! An iconic metaphor for present day politics and a school of thought worthy of emulation, making use of his magic wand to take our state to the height! From what we have seen surely, he is equipped with the formula to alleviate poverty of unemployment, illiteracy and immensity of negligence that defined the state in the past.

For this reason, the governorship seat in Edo State is definitely not vacant! At least, not in the next four years, Edo is in a safe hands for now. Our comrade is definitely retaining the seat because he is giving his all. Only great mind like him deserve a second term to steer the ship forward. He has done well for our state, this, no one dispute.

Another standing ovation to you for the positive positivity change you have impacted. Your ability to turn a desert into a land flowing with milk and honey is highly appreciated, by all true sons and daughters of the land.

We shall consolidate our future by reciprocating your hard work with overwhelming 90 per cent vote! Come July 14, 2012 .

Iluogwikphe Ogbhemhe, writes from Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

INSURANCE stiffer penalties Insurers to keep customers’ PenComforseeks erring firms information for 10 years T I NSURERS will henceforth preserve their customers’ information for not less than 10 years at the end of any transactions, the Director-General Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Sunday Thomas, has said.

Thomas, who disclosed this at a forum organised by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in Lagos, said the move is in line with the industry’s bid to have detailed information of customers.

He said insurance firms are to display in their offices a notice stating the corporate responsibility for disclosure of information for transactions beyond a specified reason.

He said insurers are to identify the scope of the business to be transacted, obtain evidence of identification, keep up to date customers’ information and review their information in every transaction.

He said insurers are to report to NAICOM observations detrimental to their operations, adding that they have to receive and vet suspicious reports from staff; rendering “nil” reports with the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), where necessary to ensure compliance.

Stories by Chuks Udo Okonta

They are expected to co-ordinate the training of staff in AntiMoney Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/ CFT), engage in awareness, detection methods and report requirements to the commission and the unit.

He urged the operators to develop a robust risk management system including procedures, internal control and audit systems as well as perform the necessary Customer Due Diligence (CDD) on their customers, owners and beneficiaries.

He said operators are also to effectively monitor unusual transactions, take enhanced measures on higher risk customers, keep adequate records of transactions and respond to enquires by the NFIU on any transaction.

He noted that there should also be protection of the security and confidentiality of such requests. Insurance firms are to create more awareness and training among the staff that branches and subsidiaries observe appropriate AML measures.

Acting Director Inspectorate Directorate NAICOM Farinu Olusegun called on stakeholders to support the government in the fight against money laundering, adding that the governments cannot successfully prevent and control money laundering without the support of the civil society, especially the private sector.

He said those who developed the standards against money laundering recognised the role of industry and, therefore, included specific obligations and responsibilities for the industry.

He said Financial institutions, according to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards, are at the forefront of the fight against financially motivated crimes.

He said NAICOM would continue to forge partnerships with stakeholders, especially, insurance institutions that should be in the vanguard of the crusade against money laundering and terrorist financing.

He added that the commission should sustain its co-operation with other organisations at home and abroad to share best practices and promote greater co-operation.

HE Director-General National Pension Commission (PenCom) Muhammad Ahmad has called for more sanctions against firms that failed to comply with the laws on the pension scheme.

In a statement, he said there should be a review of the Penalties and Sanctions in the 2004 Pension Act, adding that the sanctions in Section 85 should be amended because they are no longer sufficient against infractions.

The Pencom boss said the commission is collaborating with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to stop sharp practices and make defaulters comply with remittance.

He said the commission will also continue to organise workshops with the anti-corrupt agency to educate employers on the need for proper documentation and remittance.

“In order to ensure compliance with the Pension Regulatory Act (PRA) 2004 by both self-funded public and private sectors, the commission applied various strategies ranging from public enlightenment and awareness campaigns, on-site inspection of employers, mailing of compliance letters to identified eligible organisations, collaboration with regulatory and professional bodies and application of sanction regime.

“The examinations targeted insurance companies, publicly quoted companies, hotels and private hospitals. This resulted in improved

registrations by employees, especially of the private sector institutions,” he said.

He said funding of Retirement Saving Accounts (RSAs), which was a challenge for many organisations, had improved.

“Routine examination was carried out on all the 35 licensed operators.

The examination was risk-based and involved the assessment of the financial viability, operational efficiency and governance/management structure of the pension operators. The examination reports, he noted, confirmed the effectiveness of the various risk based measures implemented by PenCom in the discharge of its supervisory responsibility as well as identified areas of challenge to the industry that required some regulatory intervention,” he added.

He noted that work is ongoing in developing and implementing framework for supervision of states and local governments as well as standard operating procedures for corrective actions, withdrawal and suspension of licence, mergers and acquisitions and contingency plan.

He said the Commission would leverage on the state-of-the-art information and communication technology to enhance its surveillance and supervisory activities on the industry, adding that there is no doubt that the deployment of the Risk Management and Analysis System (RMAS) would enable PenCom to obtain direct information on the activities of the pension fund operators to ensure that the system is safe and sound.

Niger Insurance eyes retail business

R

• From left: Deputy Commissioner Finance and Administration, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr George Onekhena and Senior Manager Inspectorate Mr Jaiyesimi Olugbenga at an event organised by NAICOM in Lagos.

‘How insurers can benefit from oil and gas’ T HE President Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) Dr Wole Adetimehin, has said the only way operators can maximise opportunities in the oil and gas sector is to form poll.

Adetimehin spoke at a press parley in Lagos.

He said this would enable the operators to raise more funds to underwrite large risks in the sector.

He said more insurers are involved in oil and gas business compared with the past, adding that though their participation is low, it would improve over time.

He said: “It is a gradual process.

When it started, our participation was low, but it has improved.

Now many insurers are underwriting oil and gas. In the short run, the portfolio of most operators may not be large, but over time as they build reserves, they

would increase their stakes. The capital base of companies in Nigeria is reasonably large, more than what you would find in this continent. Even in Europe and America, our capital base is larger than most firms. The facts remain that we are not doing enough business with it. That is why some of the operators have to move to the west coast. And there are some silent moves where some people are planning to combine business so that the can be seen mega companies.”

The Chairman Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) Mr Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi said despite the Nigeria Content policy, oil and gas insurance rate is still dictated by the London market.

He said the rates applied in oil and gas businesses are determined

by insurers in the London market who control a chunk of the business.

He noted that local insurers cover small proportion of risk in the oil and gas sector, adding that it is the standard insurance practice for those who take the larger proportion of a risk to dictate the terms of any business.

“Our members in the Nigerian market are bound to follow the lead of those who bear the greater proportion of risk. The pricing of insurance cover is determined by several factors which relate to the level of risk undertaken by the provider of the cover. Among the factors to be considered in pricing are the probability of a loss, the total amount of liability that may arise in the event of a loss, the level of safety mechanism in place and reaction of the global insurance market to a particular risk in a given period and claims clauses,” he said.

RETAIL insurance business is a gold mine, the Managing Director Niger Insurance Plc Justus Uranta has said.

He said in Lagos that in line with the industry’s Market Development and Restructuring Initiatives (MDRI), the company has put in place a new incentive that would be used to appraise its regional and branch managers on their performance on retail agency business.

He said: “Precisely, 10 years ago the company tapped into the market potential facilitated by the countries’huge population by introducing the agency and life department division. While this is becoming a success story, we need to replicate the success in the branch agency.

“Considering the company’s large branch networks, one would assume that our retained business should be highly successful, but this has not been the case. In order to revitalise this aspect of the company’s business, a new inceptive model has been put in place.

“Henceforth, regional and branch managers would be appraised on their ability to meet the company’s expectations on retail agency business.

“Our aspiration is in line with the MDRI programme of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), which emphasises compulsory insurance. This makes retail business a gold mine, which companies with well spread branch network like ours should dominate.”

He said the company hopes to underwrite N20billion premium this year.

Uranta said the company would do everything possible to abide by regulatory rules, adding that any officer who incurs penalties for the company would be held liable to face disciplinary actions.

“Corporate governance has become a global issue because of its effect on operations of firms. It focuses on the adherence to acceptable ethical standards and best practices for the benefit of all stakeholders,” he said.

Sovereign Trust gets A rating

S

OVEREIGN Trust Insurance Plc has been rated A by an international rating agency, Global Credit Rating (GCR), based in South Africa.

In a statement the company said it got the rating after a very rigorous solvency and liquidity examination to ascertain the level of its capacity in the industry. It said this makes it the fourth time it has been so rated since 2007.

One of the remarkable factors considered in the rating rationale was the company’s bold step in raising additional capital through a rights issue in 2011 despite the seeming apathy in the capital market occasioned by the economic recession that rocked the global economic landscape in 2009.

It noted that the move was very ambitious, strategic and ingenious because the capital market then was just emerging from a prolonged economic lull, turning to

existing investors for more capital injection then was considered a smart management decision based on the report. The report noted that the underwriting firm “has evidenced continuous growth over the years”. According to it, the underwriting firm’s market share took a leap by 3.1 per cent during the period under review.

The report asserts that the insurer’s ‘favourable underwriting track record’has been characterised by a much disciplined underwriting methodology put in place by the Management.

Another highpoint in the report focused on the Management’s effort at improving the cost efficiencies to grow the bottomline of the company significantly.

Considerable result was achieved as the NPAT rose by 11 per cent to N266million, supporting a nine per cent rise in the capital base of the firm.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

48

THE NATION

INVESTORS Multinationals plan new investments S

OME multinational companies are revving their Nigerian operations with more investments.

Major quoted multinationals including Unilever Nigeria, Nestle Nigeria, PZ Cussons and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria have announced sustained investment programmes under which major production facilities in Nigeria would be upgraded and expanded.

According to reports by the multinationals, new investments remain key drivers to growth in the economy, which most see as a major hub for their African operations.

But the multinationals were worried that the growing level of insecurity and wide gap between Nigeria’s outward Gross Domestic Products (GDP) growth and deepening poverty represent considerable investment risks.

Chairman, Unilever Nigeria, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, said Unilever Nigeria’s future rests on the platform of sustained investments to enable it to leverage the market opportunities.

In a statement for the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting

Stories by Taofik Salako

billed for tomorrow, Achebe said the conglomerate would invest in new capacities and resources in the years ahead even as it continues to reap the benefits of recent investments.

According to him, the company has raised the level of investment in manufacturing capacity, upgraded its plants for better quality and better capacity with improved internal efficiencies allowing it to fund new investments through internal sources.

“2011 is proof that Unilever Nigeria PLC is well-positioned to continue the upward growth trend into the future. The growth initiatives embarked on in 2011 will continue to yield sustained results while our commitment to future investments will enable us to leverage the market opportunities,” Achebe said.

Nestle Nigeria said it would continue to drive growth with new investments, noting that its commendable performance through the challenging economic periods was based on long-term investment plans.

Chairman, Nestle Nigeria, Chief

•Group Managing Director, FirstBank of Nigeria (FBN), Mr Bisi Onasanya(middle) flanked by Chief Financial Officer, Mr Bayo Adelabo (right); and Executive Director, Market Operations and IT, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Mr Adeolu Bajomo during the bank’s Facts Behind the Figures forum at the NSE in Lagos.

Olusegun Osunkeye, said the performance of the company was not based on a “single-minded focus on achieving short-term performance but were achieved while investing for the future and laying foundations to shape the future direction of the company.”

Nestle Nigeria had opened a N12 billion new factory in 2011. The new facility, which is Nestlé’s 27th factory in Africa, further strengthens Nigeria’s position as the hub for the single largest culinary manufactur-

ing operation in Africa. The company also inaugurated a N3.6 billion power plant and an ultra-modern N1.8 billion cereals milling plant.

He said new investments would enhance the competitive edge and comparative advantages of the company.

“We will continue to build our brands and create a sustainable competitive edge to accelerate Nestlé’s growth,” Osunkeye said.

PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc has started a long-term investment plan that

would see the conglomerate investing more than N100 billion in Nigeria over the next five to seven years.

A $56 million palm oil refinery in partnership with Singapore’s Wilmar International is already expected to become operational by the third quarter of this year.

It had invested N10 billion to strengthen its operations including upgrade of the white goods manufacturing and distribution facilities in Ilupeju, Lagos and a new Detergent Tower in Ikorodu, Lagos.

We’ll soon list our shares on NSE, says IGI

I

NDUSTRIAL and General Insurance (IGI) Plc has reiterated its commitment to listing its shares on the main board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to provide liquidity for the shares of the company and widen its ownership base.

IGI said with the consolidation of its group operations and improving profitability of all the constituents, the company already has the listing of its shares on the secondary market in view.

Chairman, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), explained that the board and management of the company were favourably disposed to listing the shares on the NSE in line with the clamour by several shareholders.

C

OMPANIES are shifting from printing of audited report and accounts to sending electronic copies to shareholders as several quoted companies and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are seeking regulatory changes to pave way for unfettered take-off of the ereporting scheme.

Shareholders of companies under the UAC of Nigeria (UACN) Group including UAC of Nigeria, CAP Plc, and UACN Property Development Company (UPDC), at the yearly general meetings of the companies considered amendments to the articles of association of the companies to enable the companies to send yearly reports and accounts and other notices through compact disc, electronic mail or web publication in addition to existing option of hard printed copy.

By Taofik Salako

The lingering unfavourable stock market situation in recent years, he said, was responsible for the company’s decision to delay the listing of its shares for open trading since the low procies at the stock market dissuaded most shareholders from providing initial shares that would create the minimum float for the listing.

Gowon assured that IGI would soon comply with all pre-listing requirements and provide its shares for open trading to provide liquidity and accessibility to investors.

He added that while working towards the listing on the main board of NSE, the company has in the meantime evolved an ar-

rangement to provide technical expertise and advice to shareholders who may wish to participate in the over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform being proposed by the NSE. He recalled that shareholders had at the annual general meeting of the company last year considered the low prices of insurance stocks and decided to withhold immediate listing of the shares to preserve their values from the downtrend.

He noted that prior to the global economic crisis and stock market meltdown, the company had provided necessary documents and taken several key steps towards listing of the shares but unforeseen changes frustrated the efforts.

According to him, while its finan-

cial adviser-Vetiva Capital Management Limited- had presented a timetable towards the listing of its shares, the sudden decisions by the NSE that private placement shall be listed at the offer price and that at least 10 per cent of the company’s paid up shares capital must be offered for sale on the day of listing frustrated the listing schedule as it was difficult to get shareholders to release shares which had been purchased more than a year for listing at N2 per share when the book value stood at about N8 per share.

He assured shareholders that the company has surmounted all initial challenges that surrounded its acquisitions in other African countries as well as the domestic challenges in Nigeria.

Firms shift to e-report, notice Cadbury Nigeria had earlier notified that it would now distribute its audited reports and accounts and other related documents in soft electronic format rather than in paper form.

The company said the decision to use compact disc to distribute information to shareholders was part of its desire to ensure the sustainability of environment and align with international best practice.

According to the company, to ensure fairness and equity, shareholders will be given the option of requesting for a paper copy of these documents by exception, if they determine that they do not want to receive same in a CD format.

Nestle Nigeria said it decided to in-

troduce electronic delivery of annual reports and other corporate documents to ensure quick and effective access to information.

Nestle Nigeria has already provided shareholders with an electronic mandate form, which would legally allow the company to send soft edition of its reports online through email address or compact disc. Nestle Nigeria’s shareholders would also be able to download all the reports from web address to be provided by the company.

While the companies are seeking shareholders’ consents, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested the National Assembly to amend the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990 to allow

electronic shares issuance, dematerialisation, electronic bonus and dividends among other initiatives.

According to the position paper made available to the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee on capital market, SEC is seeking amendments of Section 117 of CAMA which gives companies the general powers to issue shares and section 125, which makes provisions relating to allotment of shares and issuance of share certificates to allow electronic issuance and allotment.

“We recommend amendments to allow companies electronically issue shares through CSCS accounts. The law should allow electronic application for shares, electronic allotment

With total assets of N53.13 billion and a capital base of about N22 billion as against industry’s requirement of N5 billion, IGI might be the biggest insurance firm on the NSE by the time its shares are listed.

IGI Group comprises IGI, Global Trust Savings and Loans Limited, Global Trust Bank Limited and National Insurance Corporation Limited, all in Uganda; Societe Nouvelle D’Assurances Rwanda Limited, Industrial and General Insurance Company (Ghana) Limited, IGI Life Assurance Limited, Ghana; IGI Gamstar Insurance Company Limited, Gambia; IGI Pension Fund Managers Limited, Monarch Communications Limited, All Crown Registrars Limited and International Health Management Services Limited. and transfers of shares. This should lead to the dematerialization of paper share certificates. Generally review sections 114 to 165, CAMA,” SEC stated.

The apex capital market regulator also wanted the legislators to amend Section 220 of CAMA, which provides for service either by giving the member personally or sending it to him by post or to his registered address to provide for service of notices electronically in the first instance where a member has provided an email address as a means of communication and the definition of registered address should include an electronic address.

“Sections 83 and 84 should recognize the use of electronic registers as a mandatory backup and provide for a location of that register securely on independent servers or disks not in the premises of the company or the registrar,” SEC stated.

49

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

THE NATION INVESTORS

Kolade, others advise on good governance F

ORMER Nigeria High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Dr. Christopher Kolade, has called on institutional leaders to always put the interests of their organisations and the country above their selfish personal interests.

Kolade, who made the appeal while speaking as a guest speaker at a yearly seminar on Godliness in Governance sponsored by The

By Taofik Salako

Worship Centre (TWC) in Lagos, said selfishness in governance was the major reason for corruption in the country.

According to him, leaders need to adopt a system that enables people to grow into leadership positions through experience and performance, provide leadership education that highlights service deliv-

ery, quality and accountability.

“Our duty is to mobilise the younger ones, look for the future, and restore moral and civic aspects of formal education, teach values that are central to indigenous culture, honour justice, integrity, integrity, faithfulness, mutual respect and promote clear understanding of the right relationship between reward and hard work,” Kolade said.

The senior pastor, The Worship Centre, Mr Seyi Adeyemi, noted that values associated with godliness are fast disappearing from the private horizon, while suffering in the midst of plenty has become of the experience.

He said it is a fact that some nations less endowed than Nigeria in natural and human resources have better standard of living than Nigeria.

“The economic drum beat in recent times is that Nigeria has one of the fastest growing GDP rates which currently is about seven per cent compared to other countries, even in the developed world.

“The tragedy of it all is that our corruption index is also one of the fastest growing in the world. The net effect of this is an impoverished populace astonished by monumental corruption,” Adeyemi added.

Banks lose on African deals

T

HE colonial ties that bound French and Portuguese banks such as BNP Paribas SA (BNP) and Banco Espirito Santo SA (BES) to Africa are being loosened by the European debt crisis.

Lenders from Lisbon and Paris, according Bloombeg news, are retreating from funding projects in Africa as they ride out debt woes at home and prepare for more stringent global capital rules. Citigroup Inc. (C), Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) and Barclays Plc

(BARC) are filling the gap, while Johannesburg-based Standard Bank Group Ltd. (SBK) and Nedbank Group Ltd. (NED) are boosting mining and oil loans to benefit from an investment surge in the world’s poorest continent.

Credit Agricole SA and Banco Espirito Santo, Portugal’s largest publicly traded bank, are among lenders that have reduced African activities as the world’s largest oil and mining companies increase investments in Africa.

Shareholders hold seminar tomorrow

T

HE Shareholders Association (IZSA) Ibadan Zone is organising an interactive enlightenment programme for its members tomorrow.

Chairman of IZSA Mr Sola Abodurin explained that investors at the grassroots and others needed enlightenment on the declining stock prices in the market.

He added: “It will be an opportunity to let our members know that the low prices is an opportunity for them to increase their holdings. Given the efforts to reposition the market and the impressive results companies are declaring now, it will be difficult to see many of the stocks at their prices in the near future.”

•From left: Chairman, SBL Conference Planning Committee, Soji Owogbade; Chairman, NBA Section on Business Law (SBL) Mr Gbenga Oyebode; Chairperson, Media & Publicity Committee, SBL Conference, Mrs. Dorothy Ufot (SAN), Acting Chief Operating Officer, Publicis Consultants-SoulComm, Mojisola Saka and Vice-Chairman, SBL Council , Asue Ighodalo, at the briefing of Section on Business Law (SBL) in Lagos

FACTS

U

TC Nigeria Plc and Tantalizers Plc are known for their fast foods and tasty convenience products. Relatively small to medium size companies, both are quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Though with varied histories, the two companies are largely similar in terms of products and operating size. They largely contest for the same market segment and to a large extent; they are affected by the same variables.

Latest audited report and accounts of the companies for the year ended December 31, 2011 showed similar outlook with declining sales and worsening profit margins masked by induced net profit growth. The performances of both UTC and Tantalizers mirrored the low purchasing power amidst increasing costs of operations.

While the company struggled with slow down in sales and successfully managed the top-line cost, midline cost weighed in on the thin margin, leading to significant declines in profit. But the two companies propped up net earnings with extra-ordinary incomes. UTC ploughed in N1.56 billion-likely due to sales of fixed assets while tax write-back boosted Tantalizers’s net earnings. The improvements in net earnings nudged returns to aboveaverage levels and also enabled the company to sustain payouts.

Sales Generation Both UTC and Tantalizers witnessed declines in sales in 2011 but Tantalizers’ sustained slide showed a more worrisome trend.As against sales growth of 9.7 per cent in 2010, UTC’s sales dropped marginally by 0.9 per cent in 2011. Tantalizers’s sales dropped by 5.8 per cent in 2011, continuing the downtrend that saw turnover down by 9.3 per cent in 2010 With these, UTC still maintained a positive average sales growth of 4.41 per cent as against average annual decline of 7.55 per cent recorded by Tantalizers over the past two years.

Profitability High costs of sales and operating expenses mitigated the profitability of both companies. UTC’s over-

TO

FACTS

UTC vs Tantalizers: Not yet sweet bites FACTS TO FACTS Turnover growth Gross profit growth Pre-tax profit growth Gross margin Pre-tax profit margin Net profit growth Return on Assets Return on Equity

UTC 2011 % -0.89 2.4 -2880 37.0 -5.5 1649 49.1 85.4

Tantalizers 2010 % 9.7 14.6 -106.8 35.8 -0.2 6.7 3.1 6.0

Average % 4.405 8.5 -1493.4 36.4 -2.85 827.85 26.1 45.7

Pre-tax profit margin (UTC)

all profitability outlook appeared more precarious with higher rate of loss per every unit of sales.

Tantalizers’s gross profit contracted by 3.8 per cent in 2011, a relapse that magnified into about 46 per cent decline in profit before tax during the year. While gross profit margin had rose marginally at 46.6 per cent in 2011 as against 45.6 per cent in 2010, pre-tax profit margin nearly halved at 1.8 per cent in 2011 compared with 3.1 per cent in 2010. However, net profit rose by 66 per cent in 2011 as against an increase of 8.3 per cent in

2010.

UTC showed similar outlook.

Gross profit rose marginally by 2.4 per cent in 2011 as against an increase of about 15 per cent in 2010.

Gross profit margin had strengthened from 35.8 per cent in 2010 to 37 per cent in 2011. The company’s pre-tax loss worsened in the immediate past year as pre-tax profit slumped to -5.5 per cent in 2011 as against -0.2 per cent in 2010. With huge extra-ordinary items, profit after tax jumped by 1649 per cent.

On the average, Tantalizers still

Turnover growth Gross profit growth Pre-tax profit growth Gross margin Pre-tax profit margin Net profit growth Return on Assets Return on Equity

2011 % -5.8 -3.8 -45.5 46.6 1.8 66 1.6 2.7

2010 % -9.3 -13.6 45.6 3.1 8.3 1.1 1.6

Average % -7.55 -1.90 -29.55 46.1 2.45 37.15 1.35 2.15

Pre-tax profit margin (Tantalizers)

remained ahead of UTC, although the performances of both companies in the past year fell below averages.

Actual Returns Returns by both companies rose substantially above average in the immediate past year. UTC continued to outperform competition in terms of returns to shareholders and the entire stakeholders.

UTC’s return of equity leapt from 6.0 per cent in 2010 to 85.4 per cent in 2011. Return on total assets also

jumped from 3.1 per cent to 49.1 per cent. Average returns on equity and total assets in the past two years thus stood at 45.7 per cent and 26.1 per cent respectively.

Tantalizers’ actual return to shareholders improved from 1.6 per cent to 2.7 per cent while return on total assets increased to 1.6 per cent in 2011 as against 1.1 per cent in 2010. On the average, return on equity settled at 2.15 per cent while return on assets hovered around 1.35 per cent.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

50

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 8-5-12

Stock market recovers with N28b gain T

HE Nigerian stock market resumed its upwardly trend yesterday with two out of every three stocks that recorded price changes at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closing at higher prices.

The two main indices at the NSE- the All Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation; trended upward by 0.38 per cent each, pushing the year-to-date return at the stock market to about 9.3 per cent.

The ASI, which doubles as Nigeria’s country index, rose from its opening index of 22,571.78 points to close at 22,656.76 points. Aggregate market capitalisation of all equities also inched up to N7.226 trillion as against its value on board of N7.198 trillion.

The two indices had opened this week at N7.228 trillion and 22,665.99 points respectively but ended the first trading day on the negative as investors cashed in on built-up capital gains.

The recovery yesterday

By Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

was driven by significant increase in demand for equities, which saw 27 stocks out of 41 stocks that recorded price changes closing on the upside.

Besides the overtly bullish overall market situation, gains by highly capitalised stocks such as Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and Nigerian Breweries boosted the positive pricing trend.

Mobil Oil Nigeria led the advancers with a gain of N6.15 to close at N129.16.

Lafarge Wapco Cement Nigeria followed with a gain of N2.15 to close at N45.27.

Okomu Oil Palm gained N1.65 to close at N34.66. Nigerian Breweries added 87 kobo to close at N111. Presco gathered 59 kobo to close at N12.39. Dangote Cement rose by 56 kobo to close at N120. Berger Paints chalked up 42 kobo to close at N8.88.

Zenith Bank rose by 40 kobo

to N15.30 while CAP and Guaranty Trust Bank added 30 kobo and 28 kobo to close at N24.30 and N16.98 respectively.

On the downside, Oando led the decliners with a loss of 58 kobo to close at N16.93.

Ashaka Cement dropped by 50 kobo to close at N10.50.

Cadbury Nigeria lost 43 kobo to close at N14.79, First City Monument Bank dropped 25 kobo to close at N5.25. United Bank for Africa lost 21 kobo to close at N4.02. Nigerian Aviation Handling Company slipped by 19 kobo to N8.10. Skye Bank and Vitafoam Nigeria dropped by 18 kobo each to close at N3.79 and N3.51 respectively. Eterna lost 17 kobo to close at N3.40 while Access Bank lost 15 kobo to close at N6.85 per share.

Total turnover stood at 402.5 million shares worth N4.21 billion in 5,275 deals.

Financial services recorded the highest volume of 330.433 million shares worth N3.094 billion. It was followed by consumer goods with 28.430 million shares worth N903.146 million.

Others highly active subgroups were conglomerates, industrial goods, services, oil and gas and health care with 20.157 million shares, 6.446 million shares, 6.018 million shares, 5.776 million shares and 3.442 million shares respectively.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 8-5-12

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

51

MONEY LINK

CBN develops draft on financial inclusion strategy

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has developed an Exposure Draft on Financial Inclusion Strategy for the Nigerian banking sector.

In a statement, the apex bank said the step is in line with its developmental role in the economy.

The draft was prepared by a German-based Consultancy firm, Messrs Roland Berger in collaboration with the Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA), Lagos.

It said the strategy was aimed at reducing the percentage of adult Nigerians excluded from financial services from 46.3 per cent as at 2010 to 20 per cent by 2020. This is with a view to enabling them to have access to financial services, engage in economic activities and contribute to economic development of the country.

The apex bank has therefore, solicited for inputs from the public to enable it finalise the document.

Stories by Collins Nweze

The CBN said that commercial and other banks need to be key partners in its drive for financial inclusion, even if for reasons of enlightened self-interest. In this context, there is a need to take a different approach to bank charges and fees to customers.

It advised banks to bear financial inclusion considerations in mind in developing business models and products. The CBN said financial inclusion, alternatively characterised as ‘access to finance’ has been defined as ‘universal access at reasonable cost, to a wide range of financial services to everyone needing them, provided by a diversity of sound and sustainable institutions.’

Going forward, the apex bank said it will synthesise the schemes and programmes of stakeholders in the area of financial inclusion; establish weaknesses and causes of failure of these programmes and

Unity Bank wins two awards

T

HE Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA) has rated Unity Bank as the most functional bank among participating banks at the just concluded 33nd Kaduna International Trade Fair.

Several other banks were among about 60 other organisations that participated in the 10-day business exhibition.

Unity Bank was also recognised as bankers to the fair, the role it has played in the last five years at the fair regarded as one of the largest business gathering in West Africa.

At its special day of the bank at the fair, the Managing Director, Ado Wanka, who was represented

by Executive Director, North, West, Ismalia Galadanchi.

Unity Bank also won an Operational Efficiency Award in the 2011 Banker’s dinner get together held on March 3, and organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the Civil Service Auditorium Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

The event was well attended by CBN and commercial bank officials and was organised to encourage banks to improve on their accuracy and efficacy in the performance of banking operations.

financial literacy and consumer protection, model Point of Sales (POS) services and specialised banking such as mortgage banking and non-Interest banking among others.

It said that banks should strive to ensure that the needs and expectations of their customers are satisfied. The failure to meet the needs and expectations of customers creates grounds for complaints, which if not addressed in good time could result in the rejection of products/services and sometimes leading to litigation.

how to address them; define work and action plans of stakeholders to address financial inclusion in Nigeria. “The CBN will also promote workable models for fostering financial inclusion in Nigeria and who will own and drive them and set up special funds for promoting and developing a financial inclusion agenda for Nigeria,” it said.

The regulator noted that it will , in addition to some of its reforms, adopt some specific models to help drive financial inclusion, such as agent banking, mobile banking,

ANAN records over 8,000 membership

T

HE Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Terkaa Gemade has said the membership strength of the association had increased to 8,735.

Speaking at the ANAN 2011 Annual General Meeting of the association, Gemade said a total of 2,528 candidates were inducted as members of the association within the year.

Also, 133 members were con-

ferred with the Fellowship of the association. Gemade said during the year under review, the association sought the membership of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) and was admitted. “In our struggle to meet up with the Nigeria’s adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by January 2012 and International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), ANAN also embarked on in-depth training of all its members both preparers and

S

TAFF of Fidelity Bank Plc have donated television sets, DVD players, washing machines, fans and food items to the students of the Modupe Cole School for the Mentally and Physically-Challenged Children in Akoka, Lagos State.

A statement from the bank said the donation was a demonstration

of the staff’s readiness to be good members of the Fidelity family by keying into the bank’s vision for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

This was through the bank’s Helping Hands Programme, which encourages staff of all branches and units to identify with their communities by supporting them in their various areas of need, includ-

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 150m 150m 138m 138m

MANAGED FUNDS Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

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 28-04-2011 “ 14-04-2011

GAINERS AS AT 8-5-12 SYMBOL

O/PRICE

PRESCO MOBIL OKOMUOIL WAPCO UPL BERGER DANGFLOUR STERLNBANK DANGSUGAR FIDSON

11.80 123.01 33.01 43.12 3.42 6.46 4.96 1.24 3.32 0.87

C/PRICE

12.39 129.16 34.66 45.27 3.59 8.88 5.20 1.30 3.48 0.91

113m

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change (S/N) Parallel Market

Current Before

O/PRICE 4.23 3.69 3.57 11.00 5.50 3.97 0.59 1.50 2.91 17.51

C/PRICE 4.02 3.51 3.40 10.50 5.25 3.79 0.57 1.45 2.62 16.93

CHANGE 0.21 0.18 0.17 0.50 0.25 0.18 0.02 0.05 0.09 0.58

29-2-12 27-2-12

113m

155.7

22-2-12

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

153.0000

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

Dec ’11

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% 12.6%

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

Date

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

LOSERS AS AT 8-5-12

SYMBOL UBA VITAFOAM ETERNAOIL ASHAKACEM FCMB SKYEBANK GOLDINSURE RTBRISCOE REDSTAREX OANDO

Exchange Rate (N) 155.8 155.8

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Year Start Offer

CHANGE

0.59 6.15 1.65 2.15 0.17 0.42 0.24 0.06 0.16 0.04

113m

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

INTERBANK RATES OBB Rate Call Rate

ing people with challenges.

Managing Director, Mr Reginald Ihejiahi, in is remarks read by Miss Irunna Ejibe, Head of Learning & Development, explained that the bank decided to establish a bottomup structure for CSR rather than running it as head office affair.

The Principal of the school, Mrs. F.A. Durowoju, thanked the bank for its kind gestures.

DATA BANK

Tenor

NIDF NESF

auditors,“ he said.

The Registrar also recalled that during the year under review, five sessions of the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Programmes (MCPD) were held across the country, while the Annual Mandatory Public Practice Forum for members in practice was held in Makurdi, Benue state from 25th to 27th July 2011.

He said that during the year, 12 successful applicants were granted practicing certificates.

Fidelity Bank donates to underprivileged

FGN BONDS

Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

•CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido

Offer Price

Bid Price

ARM AGGRESSIVE 9.17 KAKAWA GUARANTEED 1.00 STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE 122.59 AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 103.35 THE LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL 0.74 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.08 BGL NUBIAN FUND 0.89 NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. 1,702.66 PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND 8.13 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST 1.87 STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY 7,259.48 THE DISCOVERY FUND 193.00 FIDELITY NIGFUND 1.67 • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

9.08 1.00 122.48 103.00 0.72 1.08 0.88 1,696.26 7.74 1.33 1.80 7,071.36 191.08 1.62

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK Previous 04 July, 2011

Current 07, Aug, 2011

Bank

8.5000

8.5000

P/Court

8.0833

8.0833

Movement

52

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Mrs Odutola

-Adebola Orolugbagbe

Nurturing profitable opportunities for young farmers

S

OMETHING remarkable is happening at the Lagos State University (LASU) Epé. In the lush low lands of the campus, an American trained agric researcher, Dr Olusanjo Adegoke, is staging a quiet revolution.

Laying the groundwork for a thriving and sustainable industry that can help farming families lift themselves out of poverty, Adegoke has been successful, using breeding techniques to produce commercial varieties of wheat, corn, poultry and some fruit trees.

The researcher told The Nation that he got the support of a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, LASU and the state government to translate his food sufficiency dream into new opportunities for young Nigerians to make a living from food production.

Adegoke, Chief Executive, Maspon Farms Nigeria Limited, told The Nation, that he is set to revolutionise farming, making it something can raise the living standards of Nigerians and provide source of incomes for those going into agric businesses after retirement.

In the last five years, he has being translating his researches into workable projects, which will provide Nigerians with good farm produce. The other part of his agricultural transformational agenda is to make 16 million Nigerians millionaires in the next five years teaching them local breeding techniques.Adegoke has improved different species of cassava and pineapple.

He has researched into over 1,000

crops that can be grown in the country. He wants to work with young Nigerians to produce over five billion tonnes of pest resistant cassava yearly at 108 locations nationwide.

The Maspon boss needs the support of the government to produce 60 billion tonnes of wheat across 40 Northeast locations and create business opportunities for youths involved in terrorism.

As his hybrid crops produce fruits, one recognises his passion to bring newfound prosperity to the nation.

Adegoke said he wants to help farmers implement agricultural best practices, enabling them to increase the value and marketability of their produce. He promotes a strategic plan for the industry that focused on improving producers’ skills.

The farmers, he said, will get hands-on experience in preparing the land, planting trees, controlling pests and diseases, managing the soil and harvesting the fruit.

Adegoke said thousands of farmers have the potential to use his researches and double their fruit incomes.

Within two years, he said the farmers will recoup their investment and make 180 per cent profit.

As the government looks at what it can do to boost food production nationwide, Adegoke is offering to mentor 16 million youths to become employers – farmers- if the federal and state governments is ready to support them with N400,000 each to grow special crops. He said they would turn the money around within two years,help revive farming culture and give other young people new

• Pigs in the pen.

employment opportunities.

To improve income opportunities for rural people, especially youths, the Maspon boss has identified promising native plant varieties. He would train farmers in grafting techniques to reproduce the genetic materials in new crops.

Adegoke is also propagating organic farming. He has planted different kinds of grasses that can be used as feed for the farm animals.

He ferments fruits, vegetables and other plants for use in organic farming. He uses a lot of his chicken manure to enrich his farms.

The Maspon boss plans to make LASU Epe community, the largest producer of organic vegetables, fruits, fish and meat for the tourists patronising the resorts and hotels in the state.

Besides, he would provide training for retirees, women and outof-school youths. The trainees will undergo hands-on practice in growing organic crops that include vegetables and fruits, organic chick-

Expert seeks more grants for SMEs

A

FINANCIAL consultant Mr Christian Wessels has advised the Federal Government to increase the funding of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

He said in Lagos that this would act as as catalyst for the growth of the productive sector.

Wessels advised the government to aid entrepreneurs by giving them unhindered access to investable funds.

He said the government should focus more on promoting SMEs to improve the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“These entrepreneurs need government’s support by way of cheap credit facilities to grow their businesses,” Wessels, who

is a Partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultant, said.

He said small-scale firms played important roles in fostering economic growth, boosting employment generation, and facilitating scientific and technological innovation as well as maintaining social stability.

“In the face of the uncertainty in the market and economic development, SMEs need more government’s support to survive.

“Many SMEs have been forced to turn to the high-interest money market.

“Often, getting loans from banks is always difficult with the effect of rising inflationary

trend and government policy of tightening measures on lending, which put pressure on investment in the real productive sector,’’ he said.

Wessels, however, predicted that Nigeria’s energy sector would improve in the next five years through the combined efforts of the government and private institutions.

“2012 is a year of dramatic economic and social challenges,’’ he said.

He said changes in the demography would affect the global economy.

He said the company was exploring how Africa was turning the challenges facing it into opportunities.

NASME flays SMEs certification scheme

T

HE National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (NASME) has faulted the number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to be used as pilot for the certification for export.

Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Commonwealth had said they would select 32 SMEs as pilot schemes for the certification of Nigerian products for export.

The SMEs proprietors are expected to undergo training after which they would be issued the ISO 9001 or 22000 to

enable their products to compete internationally.

NASME President, Ibrahim Garba, said with the various challenges that face SMEs, it would be difficult for many of them to afford the certification fee.

He said: “Our SMEs already have many challenges, challenges of power, transport, multiple taxation, definitely.

They will not be able to afford it.“ The NASME chief, therefore, urged the government to subsidise the certification fee as it would enable many SMEs to

compete internationally.

“We are appealing to the Federal Government to look into the possibility of subsidising the fee. It is very important, particularly if we want to compete.

“We need to have that certification if we want to compete anywhere. So we can stop grumbling about our market being a dumping ground for Chinese goods,” he added.

On the difficulty of accessing finance, the former CBN director urged financial institutions to look at other options of financing SMEs instead of asking for tangible collaterals.

ens, pigs and cows, and organic fish. He said he wants Nigerians to buy a live chicken for N500 in the new few years. One of the greatest challenges, farmers faced is how to keep their cows healthy.

He uses high productivity local crop varieties, which can improve the herd’s nutrition. Adegoke, who has been experimenting in different areas of agric, said he has found a successful way of running a cow business and the returns will help Nigerians to make good income, meet basic household needs, invest in their farms and create a cycle of sustainable development.

With N2million and six plots of land, Adegoke said he would raise a new generation of successful cow farmers. Within a year, he said they would break even and make returns on their investment.

Already, he has begun delivering of produce to major organisations and won their endorsement for quality produce. He has persevered

•Adegoke

through numerous mishaps and obstacles. He believes in the potential of agric to help create a better future for Nigerians.

Sesame seed processing for export

N

IGERIA is the fifth largest producer of the sesame seed in the world. It produces estimated 120,000 metric tonnes per annum. It is produced mainly in nine states, namely Nasarawa, Jigawa, Yobe, Benue, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Gombe and Plateau. About 30 per cent of the produce is consumed locally, while the balance is processed for export.

The commodity ranks second to cocoa in terms of volume of export and foreign exchange earnings. The major importer of sesame seeds in the world is Japan while the major consuming markets in the EU are Greece, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Japan consumes 165,000 tonnes yearly.

Sesame oil, particularly from roasted seed, is an important component of Japanese cooking.

Companies exporting sesame in Nigeria are Olam Nigeria, Akkay Limited, Dangote, Dantata, etc. The market share of these and other exporters is not known.

The machinery/equipment for sesame processing for export, consist: cleaning facilities; artificial seed drying machine; automatic seed splitting machine; weighing scales; and fork lifting machines.

Procured sesame seed must be processed and properly packaged to meet high quality international standard. The processing of the product can be done through several stages, which include: cleaning; cleaning and dehulling; cleaning/ dehulling/ drying; and cleaning/ dehulling/ drying /crushing for oil, etc. In Nigeria, the primary processing facilities for export market focus on cleaning.

By Edwin Agbaike

Processed sesame is packaged in polythene laminated gunny bags for both exports and domestic markets.

Storage: To avoid deterioration and maintain quality appearance, processed dried sesame seeds are stored at ambient temperature.

The local price per metric tonne of sesame seed when delivered to Lagos is about N160,000. Whereas, the export free on board price is about $1,800 per metric ton. This price depends on the type and form of the seed and the negotiation made with local sellers and exporters.

Generally, the Nigerian export commodities have continued to grow annually due to the increasing world population and consequent rise in the rate of consumption of these products. This is also manifest in the current global shortage of food and agricultural commodities.

This project stands a good chance of attracting finance from the Agricultural section of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other Banks in the country.

A well-packaged feasibility report is prerequisite for securing finance for successful set-up and operation of this project. For details on how to implement this project or any other, please contact us at the address stated hereunder. Kris-Ed Brilliant Limited [Brilliant Consulting]. 395, Borno Way, off Harbert Macualy Road, Sabo-Yaba, Lagos State. Tel. Nos. 08023381900; 08098525122.

•E-mail: krisedbrilliant@yahoo.com

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NEWS Community, Total bicker over eruption

Bomb scare at Lagos Airport AN unattended bag at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos last night created panic. People ran helter skelter in fear, as the bag was believed to contain improvise explosives.

A bomb disposal unit was deployed only for it to discover that the polythene bag did not contain any explosive.

From Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa

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GROUP, Egi National Congress (ENC), has accused French oil giant Total of downplaying the gas eruption in Egita, Bayelsa State.

In a statement by its National President,Nonye Nwokoma, Secretary-General Vincent Ake and Public Relations Officer Hukumere Edward, the group said emission from the site has spread to 17 villages and towns.

The group lamented that since the incident, no efforts have been made to stop the spread in more than 16 different points of the affected areas, covering a radius of three kilometres of farm lands and swamps.

It desribed as regrettable that the Obite Gas Project has no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as required by law.

Pandemonium as area boys clash at Obalende

By Joseph Jibueze

•From left: Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State Godpower Ake greeting the party’sNational ViceChairman Steve Oru at the inauguration of the state Executive Committee in Port Harcourt ...yesterday. With them is Southsouth Zonal Secretary Joe Edionwele .

JTF arrests 30 in Rivers From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

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OR allegedly engaging in bunkering, the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta yesterday paraded 25 Ghanaians and five Nigerians in Rivers State .

The suspects were arrested on Monday by the JTF operatives, who were on patrol at Awoba, in Degema Local Government Area.

The Commander, 2nd Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt, Brig.-Gen. Tukur Burutai, said over 250,000 tonnes of crude oil were recovered from the suspects.

Burutai, who is also the Commander of Sector 2 of the JTF, also stated that two vessels: MT Oxo and MT Ane, were also recovered .

He said the JTF personnel apprehended the suspects, while assuring that after thorough investigations, they would be handed over to the appropriate authority for prosecution.

Why Nigeria is backward, by ICPC acting chair

By Olamilekan Andu

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HE Acting Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr Ekpo Nta, has said the quality of governance has been decreasing in Nigeria because the rules and regulations for doing official businesses are deliberately ignored or circumvented through corrupt practices.

Nta spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, when he delivered a keynote address at a sensitisation/enlightenment campaign against corruption for Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) workers.

He said corruption is the major clog in the nation’s wheel of progress, particularly in “our socio-economic development”.

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Why I’m committed to monorail, by Amaechi

IVERS State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has restated his administration’s commitment to the Port Harcourt monorail project and the construction of roads.

He said free flow of traffic is important to national development.

Amaechi said his administration banned commercial motorcycles, known in local parlance okadas, and later banned tricycles (Keke NAPEP) in Port Harcourt and its environs, to ensure sanity and free flow of traffic.

He spoke yesterday at the opening of the State Road Safety Stakeholders’ Forum, sponsored by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), in partnership with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).

In attendance were Shell’s

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

Managing Director Mutiu Sunmonu; Transport Commissioner George Tolofari and the Chairman of the State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Theophilus Princewill, among others.

Amaechi, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), George Feyii, said: “The monorail project is a safe means of transportation. We will deplore the required resources, to ensure that the project is completed.

“I appreciate Shell’s efforts in sponsoring the forum. I urge other companies to emulate Shell.

“Sponsoring the forum is not just part of Shell’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), but to ensure road safety, which is very important.”

Amaechi also stated that his administration’s investment

in four terminals out of Port Harcourt city centre at Omagwa, Eleme, Oyigbo and Emohua, are also being vigorously pursued, with key roads also being constructed, to decongest Port Harcourt and ensure free flow of traffic.

Sunmonu said: “Improving road safety is indeed a shared responsibility. The challenges posed by conditions in countries such as ours, require the commitment of a multi-sector alliance to support a culture shift and changes in safety practices and the political and social will to sustain these.

“We believe in collaborations, because we recognise that no single entity can do this alone. Our membership of the multi-sector Nigerian Road Safety Partnership is key, because we believe that this platform will increase efficiency and impact.”

FOREIGN ‘Insider foiled underwear bombing’

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plot by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack a US-bound plane using an updated “underwear bomb” was foiled by an insider infiltrating a terror cell, US officials say.

The seized device is being examined by the FBI in Quantico, Virginia, while the source is said to have left Yemen.

The White House counterterrorism says the bomb was never an “active threat”.

Meanwhile, a senior US congressman has linked the plot to an al-Qaeda leader killed in Yemen on Sunday.

Fahd al-Quso, a senior figure in Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was killed by a drone strike.

Speaking yesterday, White House counter-terrorism chief Brennan would not be drawn on the nature of the operation to seize the device, instead describing the aim of the FBI investigation into the device.

“Now we’re trying to make sure that we take the measures that we need to prevent any other type of IED (improvised explosive device), similarly constructed, from getting through security procedures,” Brennan said.

Without giving specifics, the US says multiple overseas intelligence agencies were involved in the operation to seize the device.

Reports did not detail which foreign agencies the insider

was working with.

However, reports have linked the device to a Saudiborn al-Qaeda bomb-maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, previously named as a ley figure in the 2009 underwear bomb plot.

A US intelligence source told CNN the latest plan was thwarted two weeks ago following a tip from Saudi Arabia, heightening suggestions that Saudi intelligence operatives could have been involved.

•Amaechi

Tolofari said statistics and analyses show that 80 per cent of the accidents and traffic within Port Harcourt and its environs could be attributed to bad driving.

He urged the people to embrace road safety as a business principle.

The transport commissioner restated the commitment of the Amaechi administration to the ongoing transport sector reforms in the state.

Fake police officer held in Oyo

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MAN, Eyo Okon (62), was arrested yesterday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for allegedly impersonating a police officer.

He was arrested while attempting to bail his son, simply identified as Benje (26), who was arrested for alleged armed robbery.

It was learnt that Okon, dressed as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), went to Moniya Police Division to bail his son.

Commissioner of Police

Mobil, seven others to submit bank statements today

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HE second phase of the investigations into the fuel subsidy regime by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee, led by Farouk Lawan, began yesterday.

Nine of the 17 oil companies appeared before the panel.

Mobil and seven other oil marketers, which were initially absent from the public hearing, are scheduled to appear before the committee today.

The House said the rescheduled hearing would ensure that

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

the oil companies get fair hearing.

In its report, the committee indicted scores of oil marketers and recommended the refund of over N1 trillion from indicted companies, government agencies and individuals.

The panel requested Mobil Nigeria Limited and seven other oil firms to provide their bank statements today to ascer-

RAMPAGING rival youth groups (popularly called area boys) clashed at Obalende, Lagos Island, yesterday, with passersby running helterskelter.

They hurled stones and other weapons at themselves and threw punches in a mass brawl.

A man was seen wielding a machete. Gunshots also rang out.

No life was reported lost.

The incident occurred about 11.30am.

Commercial motorcycle operators (okada riders) and pedestrians fled.

Women screamed. Traffic was forced to a halt.

Traders hurriedly packed their goods. Others abandoned their wares and fled.

Passengers quickly disembarked from buses on the bridge descending to Obalende, something not allowed under normal circumstances.

Cars made swift U-turns and some motorists abandoned theirs and ran out.

It was not immediately known what caused the fight, but some eyewitnesses said it may not be unconnected with disagreements over territorial control of the bus terminal.

Offices around the vicinity closed hurriedly and locked their gates to prevent being invaded.

tain whether or not they were involved in the irregularities that characterised the fuel subsidy regime.

In the importation of PMS and other petroleum products into the country, Mobil reportedly earned N23.1billion in 2007, which became part of the subsidy scheme.

Lawan said the request on Mobil and the other oil firms is to ascertain whether or not they genuinely participated in the scheme, as claimed.

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

Tambo Yari Mohammed told reporters that Okon introduced himself as the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) in charge of Lekki Beach Division, Lagos State, and Benje’s father.

Okon, who claims to be a former Army Corporal, said he is a police informant and works with the Ikeja Police Division, Lagos.

He did not say how he came about the uniform with which he was arrested.

Okon said he did not know his son was a robber and was “only trying to help him out”.

It was learnt that a Nissan Micra car, marked LAGOS LSD 376 AE, was recovered from Benje and his gang.

Benje identified Okon as his father, but said the old man did not know he was a robber.

He also confessed to the crime.

Benje was arrested with her girlfriend, Bada Abosede, in a hotel.

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NEWS Ministry takes over Enugu town planning From Chris Oji, Enugu

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HE administration of Urban Town Planning authorities in Enugu State has been returned to the Ministry of Lands and Urban Development.

Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development Dr. Chukwuemeka Ujam announced this while meeting with Town Planning officers.

Ujam directed all planning authorities to submit, within two week, any action plan that would guide the government’s ongoing reforms.

Firms hold IT workshop TWO firms, Weco Systems and Cisco Inc., will hold a workshop on Information Technology (IT) today at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos.

The workshop will focus on the challenges facing corporations, such as the impact of mobile devices on corporate networking.

Residents hail Obi on award THE Anambra State Association of Town Unions and women in the state have congratulated Governor Peter Obi on his receipt of the Business Hallmark’s “Man of the Year” award.

In a letter entitled: “The serial winner wins again”, the President of the Association of Town Unions, Dr. Innocent Onwubunya, said: “Obi has become accustomed to winning and since everybody loves a winner, he is today courted by men of goodwill, who treasure goodness, progress and truth.

“We are proud of you and wish you more years of continued victories.”

Seven illegal refineries uncovered in Anambra

Terrorists have declared war on Nigeria, says Mark

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HE Senate yesterday painted an ominous picture of the security challenge facing the country.

It affirmed that terrorists have declared war on the country.

Senate President David Mark expressed the position of the lawmakers in an address at the plenary session.

Mark noted that though the address was meant to express appreciation to Senators for standing by him while he was away for medical treatment, he would seize the opportunity to raise topical issues, especially the security challenge.

He described the level of insecurity in the country as totally unacceptable and insisted that something must be done very quickly to improve the situation.

•Army, SSS destroy two barges, oil products

•Calls for dialogue From Onyedi Ojiabor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

He lamented that escalating acts of terror threaten the unity of Nigeria, challenging the human values Nigerians believe in.

Mark cautioned that in spite of the bombings, Nigerians should not despair or be disillusioned.

Nigerians, he said, should avoid politicising the situation, making divisive statements or pointing accusing fingers.

He said the primary responsibility of tackling the challenge lay with the government, though every Nigerian has a role to play.

He urged security agencies

to re-examine and intensify their pre-operational responsibilities, roles and actions as well as improve their operational capabilities.

The major task of security agencies, he said, must be to thwart and prevent bombings.

He urged the Federal Government to explore all avenues to discuss with those behind the security challenge, especially as they are Nigerians.

Mark also urged those aggrieved for whatever reason to find a better way to express their grievances.

He said that the transformation agenda of the Federal Government could only

From Okodili Ndidi, Onitsha

•Mark

work in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.

His words: “Clearly, terrorists have declared war on Nigeria and Nigerians. Escalating acts of terror not only threaten our unity as a nation but challenge the very human values we all believe in.

“In spite of these bombings, we should not despair or be disillusioned. We shall overcome through our collective determination.”

We’ve succeeded on climate change awareness, says Fashola L AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday said the

Climate Change Club has succeeded in creating awareness on the threat to the environment. He spoke at the club’s Fourth Anniversary celebration held at the Police College, Ikeja.

The club is an initiative of the Fashola administration.

It was created in 2008 to sensitise pupils in primary and secondary schools on the challenges of climate change.

Addressing pupils from the six education districts, Fashola said the enthusiasm the club has created among pupils, through the yearly essay and environmental sanitation competitions among public schools, shows that its objective has been achieved.

Describing the club as “a home grown solution to a global problem”, the gover-

•Sensitisation club marks fourth anniversary

nor said: “The fact that we are not compelled to do this, but have continued with it since 2008 shows the commitment of the state government to ensuring a better future for our children. I think we have succeeded.”

He said: “The growing population of over seven billion people and the dwindling natural resources are the major problems in our planet.

“Water supply all over the world is shrinking; land is being lost through desertification of coastal erosion and survival challenges are more intense.

“There would not be life without challenges, but our duty is to prepare you for the challenges you will face. You

will face the challenges to conserve water, conserve land and recycle most of the things you produce.

“We can control climate change and reduce its effects, if we change our attitude towards the environment.”

Fashola thanked the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye; her counterpart in the Ministry of the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello; their permanent secretaries; teachers and pupils for sustaining the awareness on climate change.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of prizes to winners of the essay competition.

Afeez Olanrewaju Adegbite from the Lagos State Model School,

Igbokuta, Ikorodu, won the primary category.

The junior secondary category was won by Okoli Comdaline of Iloro Junior Grammar School, Agege.

The senior category was won by Oyeleye Adenike of Igbokuta Senior High School, Ikorodu.

Others were the Prize for Drama, won by Oshodi Comprehensive Senior High School, and the Prize for the State of the Environment, won by Ajayi Crowder Senior Secondary School, Bariga.

Also at the event were Deputy Governor Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Mrs. Titi Anibaba, and other top government officials.

Okereke-Onyiuke: we’ve right to spend as we like •Continued from page 4 “So, for the CBN to call the capital market ‘kalokalo’, I would have come out to make a statement because you cannot call me a thief and expect me to keep quiet because I am not a thief and the stock market is not a ‘kalokalo’ but a place people make informed decisions because it is information driven. That is a grave statement.”

Mrs okereke-Onyiuke also faulted the nationalisation of some banks by the CBN, saying, “How can you nationalise the assets of your citizens?

Are we not Nigerians, even if the person is a criminal, you go to court and prove that he is a criminal then you take the assets.

“The CBN did not give the shareholders a fair hearing; they were not given any chance at all. The CBN and the NDIC were telling the Directors and Managers of the banks to recapitalize, nobody called the shareholders to an Annual General Meeting (AGM).

If SEC had made a pronouncement to say CBN you can take over the banks but not nationalise them by following the delisting rules and meth-

ods of the stock exchange.

“It is wrong to seize a quoted company and the reason people buy quoted company instead of private quoted is because of safe investment. Even as you are protecting the depositor, the investor should also be protected by calling an AGM to inform them of the need to increase their share capital.

“Even if you know that they cannot meet up with the recapitalization, you would have given them a chance and would have felt better, then, you can now follow the delisting rule set by the SEC”.

She agreed that the banking sector accounted for 60 per cent of the listed securities on the capital market and that it was the indiscriminate granting of margin loans by the banks to all manners of investors and market operators that caused the market to bubble.

She said: “However, in the case of Nigeria, the banks gave out these loans indiscriminately, and in most cases insisted that such margin loans were used to purchase their own shares.

Some banks were deeply in-

volved in granting margin loans that were not properly structured and this created excess cash in the market, and the share prices got bloated.

“The Nigerian Stock Exchange Management at several occasions warned market operators, that Regulators i.e. CBN and SEC had not issued Guidelines on Margin Loans.

Subsequently, it became quite evident that the margin loan facilities had been abused. However, they are off balance sheet items, not easily detected. (CBN/SEC recently issued the Guidelines on Margin Loans)”.

She called for hundred per cent funding of the capital market by the Federal Government and implored the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to live up to its promise to capital market operators as it is doing for banks.

“We were involved when AMCON was formed and when it was launched the agreement was that they will assist both the banks and the capital market. Why would we be involved if they are not assisting the capital market?

They should assist the capital for the market to rebound.

“Assurances were reiterated that AMCON will bail out both the money market and the capital market i.e. beneficiaries will be Banks, Stock broking firms and Nigerian Shareholders.

Urgent action needs to be taken on this because AMCON is largely servicing Banks only at the moment”.

She also called for the funding of SEC by the government, adding, “At the moment, SEC is partly dependent on the market fees and penalties collected from the market operators. This may have the tendency of compromising its regulatory functions”.

On the Trans National Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp), Okereke-Onyuike said her role was of national duty that was duly approved by the Council of the NSE. According to her, former President Olusegun Obasanjo co-opted her into the interim Board of the Corporation on the basis of her expertise.

She said former President Obasanjo wanted Nigeria to be like the Asian Tigers and asked her to rally a group of Nigerians that could make it work that a company that every Ni-

gerian would buy into.

“I told him that I could not be in the group because I headed the NSE and since some of those people were in the exchange as well as I, having to make decision on quoted companies, conflict of interest would arise.

“He insisted and wrote to the Council and the Council agreed that it was a national duty. I however made it clear that I would step down after the company might have taken off on a sure footing.”

The committee ordered Oteh to appear before it today.

The Committee was infuriated by the SEC boss’s refusal to turn up for the continuation of the investigation yesterday .

She wrote that she would prefer that her interrogation continued in written form.

Chairman of the Committee El-Sudi described Oteh’s letter as smirk of arrogance with the intent to undermine the authority of the National Assembly.

In the letter, Oteh who testified before the committee on Monday said she had to be at the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) meeting and would not be able to attend the public hearing any longer.

S

EVEN illegal refineries were yesterday uncovered in an island between the boundaries of Anambra and Delta states.

The illegal refineries were discovered by men of the State Security Service (SSS), who invited soldiers from the 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha.

Commander of the Regiment Col. Michael Durowaiye said the army received a report from the SSS that two barges, loaded with crude oil suspected to have been stolen from Agip pipelines, were sighted on the sea in Oko. Durowaiye said when soldiers got to the community, two barges loaded with 14 storage tanks containing refined oil products were discovered.

He said the barges and their contents had been destroyed.

Soldiers have taken control of the area to ensure that the hoodlums do not return to the island.

Leader of the Army and SSS Joint Team Lt. Col. Idongesit Akpan said no one was arrested.

He said: “No one was arrested. It seems the hoodlums received information that soldiers were coming. They removed the engines of the barges and ran away.”

Four tanks and 100 drums, loaded with refined gas; an empty boat and the illegal refineries were also destroyed.

Reps seek punishment for FAAN From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

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HE House of Representatives yesterday resolved that Federal Airports AuthoritY (FAAN) and Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) officials should be punished for negligence. This is because a British Airways plane landed in darkness at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

According to the House resolution, “the officials of FAAN and NAMA responsible for light at the time of the incident should be identified and sanctioned for negligence of duty.”

The resolution was adopted at the Committee of the Whole, sequel to the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Aviation and Power on the urgent need to investigate the circumstances leading to the power failure of February 9.

The lawmakers also directed the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), FAAN and NAMA to ensure constant power supply at all airports.

Also at plenary yesterday, the lower arm of the National Assembly mandated its Committee on Communications to investigate the SIM Card Registration regime and report back to it within 30 days.

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Borno to rehabilitate motherless babies’ homes From Joseph Abiodun, Maiduguri

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ORNO State Government has approved the rehabilitation of motherless babies’ homes in the state.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Inna Galadima, said the government recently approved the renovation and overhauling of the structures and facilities in motherless babies’ homes across the state, including the Fatima Ali Sheriff Motherless Babies’ Home in Maiduguri, to make them conducive for the workers and the less privileged children in the society.

The commissioner, who was reacting to an allegation in a national newspaper (not The Nation) that the motherless babies’ homes across the state have been neglected by the present administration, said the report was mischievous and published in bad light. “The report was not only baseless, but unfounded,” she added.

Hajiya Galadima said the Governor Kashim Shettima administration has given priority to the welfare and well-being of the less privileged by increasing and improving their feeding and equipping health facilities at the motherless babies’ homes in the state.

The commissioner noted her ministry has been living up to expectation, especially in the area of taking care of the less privileged in the society. She urged urged reporters to verify their stories before filing them.

Funeral for community leader

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COMMUNITY leader and a devout Christian, Mrs. Christiana Nwaogazi Uzomah of Umuogi, Okpala Umuekwune, in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State is dead.

She died after a brief illness.

According to a release by the family, a Christian wake on Friday will be followed by interment at her home town, Umuogi Okpala Umuekwune, on Saturday.

She is survived by children, grandchildren and great grandchildren including Deacon Tony Uzomah, a Lagos-based journalist.

•The late Mrs Uzomah

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Police defuse six explosives in Bayero varsity T

HE police in Kano have uncovered and defused six explosives on the main campus of the Bayero University, Kano (BUK) within one week, raising fear and safety concern on the campus.

Seperate attacks on worshippers penultimte Sunday, resulted in the death of several people including a professor.

Bomb experts yesterday defused four explosives planted in some lecture

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

halls. This followed a disturbing situation three days earlier when two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted in the Sociology department were uncovered and defused.

The development is causing serious concern, since the university is expected to

resume lectures soon after a recess.

The Nation investigation revealed that the Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Idris has taken up the issue with the university authorities, complaining about the porosity of the institution’s campus.

He confirmed that five IEDs were uncovered in different

locations within the university in one week.

The police boss said the situation called for concern, especially as lectures were about to begin, even as residents of the campus alleged that deafening sound of explosives was heard in the university.

Security sources, however, hinted that the explosion followed the detonation of the IEDs by men of the bomb disposal unit. No one was hurt.

•FRSC van set ablaze by angry youths in Lafia over alleged killing of their kinsmen... on Monday

UNILORIN v teachers: Appeal Court upturns verdict From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

THE Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, yesterday upturned the ruling of the Ilorin Federal High Court in a suit between the University of Ilorin and its employees.

Some documents tendered by the varsity in a case filed against it by 26 sacked teachers of the institution’s secondary school, have not been admitted as exhibits by the court.

The teachers sued the institution, seeking for their reinstatement and payment of all salaries and allowances from 2007 to date.

The teachers, whose appointments were terminated in August 2007, instituted a suit against the institution for what they called ‘wrongful termination of appointment’.

The affected teachers claimed the procedure for terminating their appointments, which was regulated by the University of Ilorin Act and other Conditions of Service, was wrong and unconstitutional.

Lamido urges Fed Govt to fund security

Four injured in Bauchi explosion OUR persons were injured yesterday as an explosion rocked the Peoples Motel in Bayan Gari area of Bauchi, the state capital.

“The explosion occurred about 9:06pm.

The explosives were thrown into the corner of the brothel and they damaged part of the building and caused panic in the area,”an eyewitness told The Nation in confidence.

The brothel is behind the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium, Bauchi.

Police Commissioner Mohammed Ladan confirmed

F

From Austine Tsenzughul , Bauchi

the incident to reporters in his office.

He said the explosion occurred at about 9pm and that a man and three women were injured.

The police commissioner said he has visited the brothel to ascertain the level of damage.

He said the four injured persons were taken to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi and they have been treated, adding that the

women have been discharged.

“The person currently on admission is the man suspected to have carried out the act. We are of this opinion because he was seriously injured. But we are still investigating the matter. Part of the building was partially blown off by the blast,” Ladan said.

When the suspect, Mallam Bappa Jibril of Unguwar Doya in the Bauchi metropolis was interrogated, he said some unidentified men at the Bauchi Muda Lawal Market accosted him and asked him

if he was a policeman. He said the men suddenly attacked him and took him away, adding that he later found himself at the scene of the explosion.

Details of the suspect and those involved in the blast were not given by the police commissioner. He only said: “We have begun investigation.”

When our correspondent visited the brothel early yesterday, the commercial sex workers declined comment, but they were seen packing out their belongings.

2015 presidency posters land seven in magistrate’s court

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CHIEF Magistrate’s Court in Bauchi State, presided over

by Muktar Abubakar, has adjourned till May 22, the hearing of a case brought against seven persons accused of pasting the posters of Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State contesting for presidency in 2015.

They were alleged to have pasted the posters in Bauchi, the state capital.

The suspects are: Tukur Yakubu Gamji, Abdullahi Ibrahim Sani, Adamu Danyaro Nuru, Mohamood Ahmed Kamal, Jibrin Dantani Mohd Garba, Mammu Ibrahim and Adamu Mohammed.

They are charged with criminal conspiracy, false information with intent to mislead the public and being in possession of sedative materials.

Police prosecutor Sergeant

From Austine Tsenzughul , Bauchi

Ajala yesterday told the court the accused conspired and criminally produced 1,000 copies of posters of Yuguda announcing his intention to contest for the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2015.

He alleged that the posters

are likely to cause a breach of public peace in the state, contrary to Sections 96, 418 and 419 of the Penal Code.

Ajala said on interrogation, the accused admitted to have printed and pasted the posters without consulting the governor.

“They also said they pasted the posters without his

knowledge,” the police officer said, adding that 823 posters, four films and a computer printer were recovered from the suspects.

Counsel to the suspects, Hauwa Jibril, applied for their bail, and this was not opposed by the prosecutor.

He said police investigation was ongoing.

Yobe deputy speaker resigns to ‘escape impeachment’ HE Yobe State House of Assembly Deputy Speaker, Dr. Ibrahim Kurmi, yesterday resigned his position in a circumstance described by observers as “strange”.

Kurmi, at a plenary session of the House in Damaturu, announced his resignation, saying he is quitting to allow him at-

T

From Duku Joel, Damaturu

tend to personal matters.

But a source in the House said some members had perfected a secret plan to impeach the deputy speaker.

The source said his problem was caused by his loyalty to Senator Alkali Jajere, instead of Deputy Governor Abubakar Aliyu. Both

men are from Yobe South Senatorial District.

Investigation showed the deputy governor is perfecting plans to unseat Senator Jajere who has just spent a year in the Upper Chamber.

Dr. Kurmi is serving his first term in the House of Assembly, while Senator Jajere is also serving his first term in the Senate.

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

JIGAWA State Governor Sule Lamido has urged the Federal Government to pay attention to the insecurity in the country by properly funding the security agencies, to enable them perform their duties efficiently.

He spoke when the Acting Inspector-General of Police M.D. Abubakar visited him in Dutse, the state capital, yesterday.

Lamido said injecting more funds into security would enhance the duties of security agencies and guarantee safety of life and property.

Fika Emirate denies attempt to burn palace From Duku Joel, Damaturu

THE Emirate in Potiskum, Yobe State, yesterday debunked the rumour that the Emir of Fika, Dr. Muhammadu Abali Ibn Muhammadu Idrissa, was stoned at the Potiskum General Hospital by irate relatives of victims of the Potiskum Cattle Market attack. It described as false the allegation that some protesting youths wanted to burn down the emir’s palace.

Spokesman for the palace, Alhaji Idrissa Madaki, who also holds the title of Dallatun of Fika, told reporters in Potiskum that “the allegations are untrue.”

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

61

NEWS OSHIOMHOLE’S AIDE’S KILLING

Oyerinde for burial tomorrow T

HE remains of the Principal Private Secretary to Edo State Governor, Olaitan Oyerinde,would be buried in his home town, Ede, Osun State, tomorrow.

Oyerinde was killed by unknown gunmen in the early hours of May 4, in Benin City.

His burial would be

preceeded by a service of songs at the Government House, Benin City, today at 4pm.

The body will depart for Ede in a motorcade at 7am tomorrow.

Oyerinde, 44, was Deputy General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) before his secondment to work with Governor

Adams Oshiomhole in November 2007.

A Mass Communications graduate of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), the late Oyerinde, a former student activist, was also a former Lagos State Chairman of the Campaign for Democracy (CD).

A former member of the defunct Nigerian Tenants

Association (NTA), the deceased began his trade unionism with the Iron and Steel Workers Union as Assistant General Secretary.

He was also the executive director of the Centre for Workers’ Rights (CWR) in Lagos.

He is survived by wife, Funke, four children, two sisters and aged parents.

Tinubu decries political violence •Writes governor

ATIONAL leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has decried rising political violence in the country.

He said exchange of ideas should be the focal point of

politics.

In a condolence letter to Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole on the killing of his Principal Private Secretary, Olaitan Oyerinde, Tinubu said political villains had ‘cut down’ a true hero of democracy.

“Oyerinde was a hero of justice, freedom and liberty – and a towering one at that.

“That the villains so wickedly cut short his life saddens me, but it equally builds my resolve, our resolve, to continue to fight for the liberation of our people.”

He said though his party wants power, it would never resort to assassinations and sundry violence.

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•Tinubu

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Tinubu wrote: “The ACN, in its search for power, will never resort to assassinations and blackmail as others do.

“Our party is concerned about the trend of unsolved high profile political killings in Nigeria.”

He said the roll-call of politically-motivated assassinations continues to rise, with opposition members forming the bulk of the casualties.

This, Tinubu said, would not deter the opposition from pressing on with plans to gain power and change the country for good.

The message reads: “Let it be said loud and clear, that the march is on once again to

fight for the freedom and rights of our people.

“I demand that the security forces spare no efforts or resources in apprehending and bringing to justice the perpetrators of this callous act.”

Commiserating with the late Oyerinde’s family, Tinubu urged the governor not to be discouraged or dissuaded from his chosen, though arduous, task of totally liberating Edo State from those he called agents of economic bondage.

He said: “Let the blood of Oyerinde and others who have died continue to water the tree of freedom.

“Edo people will yet see a new day under your watch.”

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PUBLIC NOTICE I,CHIEF CHUKWUEMEKA USUWA of Oruigwe Autonomous Community,Nnonno,Oboro in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State. do hereby disassociate myself from the civil suit instituted by a group of people against the government of Abia State over the Ezeship tussle in Oruigwe Autonomous Community in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State.

The said suit filed in Umuahia High Court with Suit No.HU/42/2012 in which my name appeared as the No.8 Claimant is hereby seriously rejected and objected to because my consent and authority was not sought and obtained by the said Claimants as same was mainly done to tarnish my image and demean my character and personality in the eyes and estimation of those that know me.This was an attempt by my detractors to mar my esteemed relationship with the government of Abia State under the able leadership of Chief (Dr.) T.A. Orji who had done so much in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of Oruigwe Autonomous Community in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State.

Indeed it should be noted that the Claimants in this suit wickedly intended to smear my humble name and I therefore use this opportunity to pledge my unalloyed loyalty to the Governor of Abia State and to inform him that I have nothing to do with the group and the suit in question now and even in the future.

Signed: CHIEFA. CHUKWUEMEKAUSUWA

Kukah condoles with Oshiomhole

Office Add: Room 1704, Huixing Building, No. 85 North Tongjiang Road, Jiangyin, Jiangsu, China.

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•The late Oyerinde

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HE Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan Kukah, has condoled with Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole over the murder of his Principal Private Secretary, Olaitan Oyerinde.

Oyerinde was killed by unknown gunmen in his home in Benin City, last weekend.

In a condolence letter, Kukah also commiserated with Oshiomhole over his convoy crash on Warrake-Auchi Road, in which three reporters died.

The cleric urged the governor not to despair saying “God often tries those He wishes to use in the furnace”.

“I have just read the tragic news of the brutal killing of our friend and brother, Comrade Oyerinde on the internet.

“I had tried to reach you early in the week but you did not pick the phone. I had called in response to the news about your accident.

“I want to assure you of my prayers but also to let youknow that God is in charge of everything.

“You have gone through quite a lot in the last few years.

I hope you also understand that God often tries those He wishes to use in the furnace.

Please be strong and keep faith.”

Writing glowingly of the late aide, the cleric said: “I really feel even more about the late Oyerinde because he was a man I had grown to love and respect.

The cleric said: “ I know he was such an efficient and gentleman, who loved and believed in you and your work.

“We must thank God for the time you had together and all that God helped you to accomplish.

“Please give my regards to his wife and children and assure them of my prayers.

“God bless and grant him eternal rest. May He console and strengthen you for the task ahead.

“The millions whose lives you have touched know that this will rather energise rather than discourage them. The Lord is with you.”

Oshiomhole promises to immortalise late reporters

E

DO State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has promised to immortalise the three reporters, who died when a lorry rammed into his convoy on AuchiAfuze Road.

The reporters are: Olatunji Jacob and George Okosun of the Independent Television and Fidelis Okhani of the Africa Independent Television (AIT).

Oshiomhole gave the promise yesterday at the flag-off of his re-election campaign in Irrua.

The governor said he would build an edifice to be called ‘Democracy House’ in the name of the deceased, where their embossedphotographs would be displayed.

The governor promised to do more than his administration recorded in the zone, if re-elected.

He said by the time he completes on-going road projects in the zone, the challenges of commuting within communi-

•Starts campaign ties in Esanland would be over.

Oshiomhole said his achievements in office were work done in two and half years because according to him, ‘the godfather deleted money for education in my first year’.

“Our money was trapped in the bank for one year because the House of Assembly refused to clear our nominees.

“You can see the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) revolution everywhere you go. Across the length and breadth of Esanland, we are working.

“I will show you what we are doing with the resources we refused to give to the godfather. Let them come and show you what they have done for 10 years and let us compare.

“My fight is against embezzlement of public funds. It is a fight against privatisation of our common wealth. It is a fight against dictatorship.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

63

NATION SPORT LACK OF GOOD PITCHES

Keshi slams Sports Ministry

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UPER EAGLES Coach, Stephen Keshi has lashed out at the Nigerian government represented by the Sports Ministry over the lack of good grass pitches in the country’s stadiums.

The former international blamed the government for not making provision for natural grass stadiums in the country.

Keshi, who attended a FIFA-approved Win in Africa with Africa (WIAWA) Coaching Course going on at Nicon Luxury, Abuja, complained bitterly about the absence of good federal government-owned stadia in the country.

"I am really concerned and it's a shameful thing (not to have a grass stadium pitch) to happen in this country. I don't know what you people (sports journalists) are doing about this.

"It is madness to hear that a nation as big as Nigeria doesn’t have enough football grass pitches where national teams can play their matches.

It's disturbing.

What is happening here in the country I have never experienced it anywhere", Keshi lamented bitterly.

The Coach fondly called the ‘Big Boss’ named Calabar, Owerri and Ibadan as the only Stadia with good grass pitches.

"In a country as big as Nigeria it is a shame to hear that beside the Abuja

From Segun Ogunjimi, Abuja National Stadium - that the pitch is not good for now we have only Kaduna, Owerri, Ibadan and Calabar stadia as the only venues that have grass pitches to host Eagles' matches", Keshi said.

"It's sickening to hear this.

We played against Egypt in Dubai. We trained on artificial turf but we eventually played on a grass turf. So, I don't understand what is going on in this country.

"You guys want us to win, win, but you are not concerned about where to

train for matches.

"Look at the training pitch of the Abuja National Stadium that we trained on this morning (Tuesday), it was like where they breed cows. Come on, it's annoying and I don't even know what to say. But whoever is in charge needs to do something", Keshi pleaded.

•Keshi

Abuja SWAN holds public lecture

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HE Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) FCT chapter in conjunction with Pencraft Books will tomorrow hold a public lecture with the theme: Peace, National Unity and Cohesion towards a better image for Nigeria. Papers will be presented by different scholars on football as a tool for national unity: contemporary Nigerian politics in perspective and football as a tool for rebranding Nigeria's image

From Andrew Abah, Abuja in the global world.

The Honourable Minister of Sports and Chairman National Sports Commission, Bolaji Abdullahi is expected to deliver the keynote address, which would be followed by a book presentation titled "The feast of wits and strongest: Africa's search for the Holy Grail of football.

The event will be held at Merit House, Maitama, Abuja.

www.thenationonlineng.net

TOMORROW IN THE NATION

‘‘The hallmark of a people’s civilisation is religious and WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.7 NO.2120

political tolerance. Religion should be a personal affair and not a state affair because after all individuals would answer to their makers for what they have done on this JIDE OSUNTOKUN side of heaven’

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

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ENULTIMATE Monday, a (presumably) regular reader of this column sent me an sms from 08025720606, in apparent anticipation of today’s piece. “Is it still poverty that caused the attacks on Christians yesterday? Is this not Jihad?” he asked, and promptly answered himself – sort of. “Be honest and write the truth,” he exhorted, obviously expecting someone with the image of a Muslim fanatic like me not to.

The reader was, of course, referring to penultimate Sunday’s massacre of Christian worshippers on the old campus of Bayero University, Kano (BUK). Boko Haram reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack in which between 13 and 20 people (depending on which media), including two professors, lost their lives. Several others were maimed.

Obviously this reader believes the connections I, like several other analysts, have tried to make between widespread poverty and perceived inequities in the North and in Nigeria, on the one hand, and the rise of Boko Haram’s terrorism, on the other, are, at best, tenuous, and, at worst, dishonest and untrue.

Poverty, I agree, was not, and could not have been, the immediate cause of the BUK massacre. Media reports of the terrible incident said those who carried it out came on motor-bikes and used sophisticated weaponry; these are not the toys of a poor man.

But then the massacre itself was not, and could not have been, Jihad – certainly not in the way it should be properly understood, as against its deliberate distortion by Islamophobes. Jihad in Islam is to strive for conversion by example and reason and not by force or violence. As such the BUK massacre was simply irrational and, in any case, could only give Islam a bad name.

No less irrational was last week’s attack on Thisday premises in Abuja and another in Kaduna, shared by The Sun and The Moment, in which several people lost their lives and for which the sect has reportedly claimed credit.

To terrorise a story teller, even when he seems to have distorted the story, couldn’t be more irrational; the sensible and reasonable thing to do is seek to counter the perceived distortion with a more credible version of the narrative.

The irrationality of the attacks on soft targets like churches, the academia and the media allegedly by Boko Haram can only lend weight to the position of those who say dialogue as a solution to its insurgency is pointless, even when it has become obvious by now that the scorched-earth policy of the authorities has also not worked – and it’s not likely to.

If government’s strong-arm strategy has not worked it is essentially because the strategy has lacked human intelligence, as even some of the strongest advocates of the use of force like The Punch have acknowledged. “Government,” it said in its editorial of May 3, “must change tactics of its containment to be intelligence-driven.”

But then it should be clear to even someone with less than average intelligence that you can hardly get useful information from a community caught between the terrorism of insurgents and that of the security forces that are

RIPPLES JONATHAN ORDERS IG TO FIND OYERINDE’S KILLERS–News

Please do, as you have FOUND BOLA IGE’S KILLERS

People and Politics By MOHAMMED HARUNA ndajika@yahoo.com

Beyond Azazi’s controversial intervention at BRACED Summit

•Gen Azazi

supposed to protect it. And this seems to be the case with the Boko Haram insurgency.

You are even less likely to get any useful human intelligence when members of the terrorised community have cause to harbour suspicions that the security forces - and their political masters - have no genuine interest in ending the insurgency but instead stand to benefit materially and politically from prolonging it.

This suspicion is not to be sniffed away because each time the trail of terrorism in the country points away from Boko Haram as the main suspect, the trail suddenly goes cold.

Take, for example, the case of a massive illegal importation of arms from Ghana that was reported by the BBC in January. In this case the Ghanaian police caught a truck in Accra, the capital, with a false bottom carrying enough AK47s, rifles, pistols and rounds of ammunition to arm the army of a small country, heading for Nigeria.

The Ghanaian police arrested five persons, one British, one German, two Ghanaians and two Nigerians as a result. You would expect our security services to jump at this opportu-

nity of stemming the flood of illegal arms into Nigeria. However, five months on, the federal authorities have told Nigerians absolutely nothing about the fate of the two Nigerians involved.

Take, again, the case of last Christmas’ bombing of a Catholic church in Abuja whose mastermind has since been arrested and which has resulted in the dismissal of the commissioner of police in charge of the case. The mastermind reportedly fingered five others who are not Muslims as his accomplices. Nothing has been heard of the fate of those accomplices and the mastermind himself is yet to be tried.

Again, take this year’s Easter bombing in Kaduna. Daily Trust published the plate number of the car used for the bombing. The police traced the ownership of the car to a non-Muslim living in a predominantly Christian Kaduna South. Since then nothing has been heard about the case from the security forces.

The point of all this is that there is probably much more to the Boko Haram story than the authorities are telling the public. At any rate, the popular thinking in the North is that Boko Haram has become a portent weapon in the hand of the Jonathan presidency for keeping any Northern opposition to Jonathan seeking re-election in 2015 on the defensive by further widening the region’s existing deep religious divide.

The only way to prove that Boko Haram is not being manipulated for sinister purposes is for government to enter into dialogue with its leadership in good faith. And it’s not enough to say its leadership is not known because that would mean an admission by our security forces that they have failed in their basic duty of identifying a self-declared enemy of the State.

It’s also not enough to say the sect’s stated goal of Islamising Nigeria is irrational and unrealistic, which is true; no power on earth can force a people to change their faith. But then this is only one of several of its stated goals. And the point about dialogue is to give and take.

It’s also not enough to say, as The Punch (May 3)

HARDBALL

I

F President Goodluck Jonathan had known how deeply ironical and revealing of his personality his statement at the First Baptist Church, Garki, Abuja, would be, he would have been more careful in choosing his words. He had gone to the church for the New Year’s service and had, as usual, been offered the chance to say a few words to the congregation. Never in want of something dramatic to say, Jonathan suggested that his slow approach to taking decisions was more a deliberate thing to avoid taking wrong decisions than a reflection of any inherent fault in his psychology. Said he: “When I’m challenged, I think more. I don’t rush to take decisions. I listen more to people; that is why it looks as if I’m slow. I also know that when people rush to take decisions, they also make a lot of mistakes.”

The president was apparently trying to justify why it took him so long in taking a decision to impose a state of emergency in some areas of the four northern states of Niger, Borno, Yobe and Plateau. It is not clear whether the statement also referred to his decision on fuel subsidy removal, which many people thought was too hasty in view of the fact that he said he was still consulting. It is true his decision on state of emergency came alarmingly late, but no one, except perhaps

Presidential slow motion himself, is sure the late decision was a product of slow reflection or of stumbling into an understanding that comes after all other options had been deployed without success.

Even then, we must take the president’s statements with a pinch of salt. He says when he is challenged he thinks more. Now, where on earth did he get that impression from? There is nothing in his antecedents, nothing in his policies, nothing he has said or done on the key issues challenging the stability and growth of Nigeria and its democratic experience to show that his response to challenges is more thinking.

If he had offered us a few examples, we would have delightfully considered them and perhaps come to the same conclusion he felt was reasoned.

In fact, whether on that same Boko Haram issue, or on fuel subsidy, or on Nigeria’s political evolution, or on the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, we find nothing to substantiate his assertion that he reasoned more when challenged.

Jonathan also asserts that he listens more to people. This is spuriousness taken too far. If he

did, that it is “illogical” to compare Boko Haram with “MEND, OPC, MASSOB, etc” simply because the sect is “known to be receiving weapons and support from foreign groups.”

As the editors at The Punch know only too well, of the three ethnic militias it mentioned, only MASSOB, with all its provocative posturing, never took up arms against the Nigerian State.

None of the sophisticated arms the others used against our security forces are manufactured in Nigeria, and it was a notorious fact that both MEND and OPC received support from abroad.

In an interview with the London Financial Times (February 17), General Andrew Owoye Azazi, President Goodluck Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, rejected any talks with the violent sect. “Some people say that we must reach out to them (Boko Haram). But if you reach out to somebody 10 steps away from the centre, you are wasting your time.”

Before this interview he had written a wellpublicised article in the neo-conservative Washington Times (January 4) in which he sought for America’s help in fighting Boko Haram.

“We,” he said, in the 914-word article, “can destroy Boko Haram in its early stages, before it goes truly international. We don’t want or need American troops. But we will benefit greatly from American know-how and other forms of support as we develop our new counter-terrorism strategy.”

His controversial and somewhat coded intervention at the BRACED Summit of the six Southsouth on April 26, suggests that the NSA has now changed his mind about rejecting any talks with Boko Haram. Military force alone, he has said, cannot solve the problem. “I think,” he said, “it’s a combination of everything (religion, poverty and a desire to rule Nigeria). Except you address all those things comprehensively, it would not work.”

“Boko Haram,” General Azazi had said in the WT article, “is an enemy of all decent people. It is striving to spark a religious war the way racist extremists (in America) in the past tried to provoke race wars.”

Azazi may be right, but there are those, including this reporter, who believe his position tells only half the story. The other half is that there seems to be rogue elements in government and plain criminals who are using it for sinister motives or for material gain – or for both.

It seems, at least to this reporter, that the best way to stop both Boko Haram and those using it as cover for their own objectives from achieving those objectives is not just to talk to the sect’s leadership through honest brokers.

It is also necessary that the dialogue is entered into in good faith.

•For comments, send SMS to 08054502909

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above listened to people as he claimed, his decision on fuel subsidy would have shown it. If indeed he listens, then he is apparently inattentive, and he probably confuses listening with attentiveness. He also says that his late decisions make him look as if he is slow. The truth is that he doesn’t just look like he is slow; he is indeed slow. But if he is slow and he ends up taking the right decisions, we would become accustomed to his speed, as undesirable as it might be, and rejoice that his painstakingness is at least bearing fruit.

But by far the most untruthful of his assertions is the one that equates fast decisions with lots of mistakes. There is nothing anywhere in the humanities or in the social sciences that establishes an inverse relationship between fast decisions and more mistakes. Absolutely nothing. Had he done his famously slow reflection on the topic, he would have known there is no link between the two. He is welcome to his slow decisions, but let him at least not buffet us with his furious mistakes.

Since he thinks more when challenged, we throw him the challenge to think fast. Perhaps, for a change, that would see him making better decisions.

•The article first appeared on January 4, 2012

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