The Nation May 12, 2015

Newspaper of the Year

Presidency expels Page 4 reporter from Villa

•Gunmen in clinical coats rob doctors at LUTH •Kwara Governor Ahmed sacks commissioners •Have mercy, UCH patients beg govt, doctors MORE ON •Azikiwe’s first son Chukwuma dies at 75 •AND PAGES 5,8,10&59

•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 10, NO. 3212 TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

National Assembly gazettes amended Constitution

N150.00

Chadian President Derby: I don’t know Shekau’s whereabouts

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

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HE controversial Fourth Alteration of the 1999 Constitution has been gazetted, The Nation learnt yesterday.

A source close to the leadership of the National Assembly told our correspondent that a clean copy of the Fourth Alteration Bill 2015 (Constitution Amendment) was gazetted yesterday.

The gazetting of the amended Constitution is coming Continued on page 4

•www.thenationonlineng.net

•President Derby ... yesterday

HERE is Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau?

He was once declared killed by the Defence Headquarters (DHQ). But he resurfaced in videos, threatening more havoc. The DHQ said there were many impersonating

From Tony Akowe and Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

the terrorist leader.

In February, Chadian President Idris Derby said Shekau was hiding in Borno State town Dikwa, warning that if he did not come out of hid-

ing, his troops would go after him.

But yesterday in Abuja, President Derby told reporters after a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan that he does not know Shekau’s whereContinued on page 4

•INSIDE: LAGOS PDP CHAIR SHELLE SACKED P7 FAKE POLYTECHNICS ‘SPRINGING UP’ P6

APC: Jonathan’s ministers must defend their actions ‘Those afraid should state why they are’

TAKING THE BATTLE TO BOKO HARAM

• SEE ALSO PAGES 2&3 PAGES 2&3

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INISTERS and presidential aides must be ready to answer for their actions after leaving office, the All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday.

But the party of the incoming Gen. Muhammadu Buhari administration will not persecute anybody, contrary to President Goodluck Jonathan’s fears.

The APC was yesterday reacting to Dr. Jonathan’s statement on Sunday at the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Cathedral Church of Advent, Life Camp, Gwarimpa, Abuja during a farewell service in his honour.

The President said: “For ministers and aides who served with me, I sympathise with them; they will be persecuted. And they must be ready for that persecution.”

But APC spokesman Lai Mohammed, in a statement, said the incoming Buhari Administration will not persecute anyone.

The party said, however, that those who have played poker with the nation’s destiny must be willing and eager to clear their conscience before man and God. “That the President-elect is a man of integrity is not an issue for debate, and he has made it clear that he will not be bogged down by endless probes.

“However, the hands of the incoming government will not be tied by those WILL THE who have chosen to play CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON the victim and exhibit a persecution mentality.

APRIL 15, LAST YEAR EVER Whoever has any reason to

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RETURN?

Continued on page 4

1 •1. Women return to Mararaba on Sunday after the city was recaptured.

•2. A man walks by a tank left by Boko Haram militants between Michika and Marabara, two cities recaptured from Boko Haram ... on Sunday.

•3. Two boys walk by destroyed homes and cars in Michika ... on Sunday.

PHOTOS: AFP

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•TRANSPORTATION P13 •SPORTS P23 •POLITICS P45 •PROPERTY P50 •FOREIGN P61

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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NEWS

1000 Nigerian refugee • 45S babies born every month

N •From left: Team Leader, Events & Sponsorship, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Matthew Obiazikwor; Brand & Strategy Manager, Gem Publications , Kehinde Adollo; Chief Executive Officer/Publisher, Gem Woman & Gem Man Magazine, Bola Olawale and Assistant Vice President, Retail and Commercial Banking, FCMB, Victoria Island Zone at a news conference on Gem Publications 2 Become Couples' Dinner with the theme: “Love of a Lifetime” at Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

IGERIAN refugees give birth to 45 children every month at the Minawao refugee camp, Cameroon, aid agencies have said.

Most of the children do not have official birth certificates, the Voice of America (VOA) said.

The government of Cameroon and the United Nations agency – the United Nations High Commission for Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) - have begun issuing the children birth certificates with the hope the Nigerian government will accept them when the refugees return.

According to Cameroonian authorities, no fewer than 1000 of such babies have been issued with birth certificates.

Isaak Luka, leader of the group of Nigerian refugees at the Minawao camp in northern Cameroon, expressed gratitude to the aid agencies for helping to establish birth certificates for their new born babies.

Luka said: “We are very grateful because our children will benefit their civic rights. We thank the government of Cameroon and the head of the refugee agency partners and the different UN agencies, without neglecting NonGovernmental Organisations (NGOs)

and the Cameroonian government for the attention they reserve for us.”

Aissatou Jowel, told the VOA that it will be painful for her to return to return to her home in Nigeria where she claimed Boko Haram insurgents killed her husband.

She spoke at the Minawao Camp, where she has been staying with her children.

Cameroon, UNHCR deal Theophile Nguea Beina, the highest Cameroon government official in the area, said the Nigerian children started enjoying their rights to birth registration following negotiations between the government of Cameroon and the UNHCR. Beina said: “Legally, a right of every child to have a birth certificate and a legal existence has been respected.

Socially, these children are not responsible for what happened in their country.

“They are vulnerable and the government of the Republic (Cameroon) cannot stay and see this situation persist.”

UNHCR’s associate reporting officer Djerassem Mbaiorem, said the birth registration does not confer Cameroonian nationality upon the

How South African •From left: Vice President, International Coach Federation, Nigerian Chapter, Mr Adeboye Martins; President, Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle, Media Director, Mr Lanre Olusola and Director, Mrs. Habiba Balogun at the inauguration of the International Coach Federation, Nigerian Chapter at Dolphin Estate, Lagos...yesterday.

PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA.

•From left: Marketing Services Director, Nestle Nigeria Plc., Mrs. Iquo Ukoh; General Business Manager for Jordan and Labanon, Mr. Kais Marzouki; Managing Director, Mr. Dharnesh Gordhon; Chairman, Mr. David Ifezulike; Company Secretary, Mr. Bode Ayeku and Executive Syed Saiful Islam at the 45th Annual General Meeting of Nestle Nigeria Plc. at MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

PHOTO: JOHN EBHOTA

Mercenaries from South Africa have proved quietly decisive in helping the Nigerian military turn around its campaign against Boko Haram, writes The Telegraph’s COLIN FREEMAN in Abuja.

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ITH their roots in South Africa apartheid-era security forces, they do not fit the standard image of an army of liberation. But after just three months on the ground, a squad of grizzled, ageing white mercenaries have helped to end Boko Haram’s six-long year reign of terror in northern Nigeria.

Run by Colonel Eeben Barlow, a former commander in the South African Defence Force, the group of bush warfare experts were recruited in top secrecy in January to train an elite strike group within Nigeria’s disorganised, demoralised army.

Some of the guns-for-hire cut their teeth in South Africa’s border wars 30 years ago. But their formidable fighting skills – backed by their own helicopter pilots flying combat missions – have proved decisive in helping the military turn around its campaign against Boko Haram in its north-eastern strongholds.

Who are Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgents?

The insurgents have now fled

many of the towns they once controlled, leading to the freeing of hundreds of girls and women last week who were used by Boko Haram as slaves and bush wives.

The role of Col Barlow’s firm in turning around one of the most vicious African insurgencies of modern times has been kept largely quiet by President Goodluck Jonathan, who lost elections six weeks ago to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

But last week, Col Barlow discussed his company’s role in a seminar at the Royal Danish Defence College, and in a separate interview with a Sofrep.com, a special forces website, he described in detail the “aggressive” strike force that was created to push Boko Haram onto the back foot.

“The campaign gathered good momentum and wrested much of the initiative from the enemy,” said Col Barlow, 62.

He went on: “It was not uncommon for the strike force to be met by thousands of cheering locals once the enemy had been driven from an area.

Escaped Chibok schoolgirls offer help to freed Boko Haram hostages

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•Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Mrs. Sola David-Borha flanked by General Manager, Corporate Treasury, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Ishmael Nwokocha (left) and Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Mike Ikpoki at the 2015 MTN Golf Championship pre-event dinner in Lagos.

EBORAH knows just what to say to the 275 women and children who were held hostage by Boko Haram and rescued recently by the Nigerian military.

“We will pray together, then after praying together I will advise them to forgive the people who mistreated them because if you forgive people, God also forgives you,” she told AFP. The 19-year-old spoke from experience: she was among another group of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram fighters from her secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14 last year.

Deborah and 56 others managed to escape hours after their abduction.

The other 219 were not so lucky and are still missing.

She said: “We will tell them that life is a journey. You meet many obstacles in life and life is just full of surprises and you never think it will happen to you.

“Now they have been released they should make up their minds to start a new life and live a happy life.

“We have already forgiven them (Boko Haram). It wasn’t difficult because that’s the lesson we’ve been taught since our Sunday school days, that you should forgive whoever hurts you.”

Deborah was sitting in a small, modern classroom at the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, with Blessing and Mary, both 18, who also escaped with her that night.

Twenty-one of the 57 who evaded

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

3

ee babies get birth certificates at Cameroon’s camp he was born there.

A midwife at the refugee camp, Ombaneme Kaniset, said the camp authority has the mandate to prepare a birth declaration card for each newborn baby and forward it to UNHCR officials working in collaboration with other aid agencies and the government of Cameroon.

According to her, 45 babies are born every month.

Extraordinary circumstances

•Aissatou (left) with her children and other refugees at the camp...yesterday.

refugee children. But, he said, by establishing a legal record on where a refugee was born and who their parents are, the kids can claim their Nigerian nationality when they become

adults.

He said wherever children are born, they have the right to be issued birth certificates, though if they are born in a country different from that of their

PHOTO: VOA

parents, they have up to 18 years when they become adults to decide to be nationals of that country if the constitution of the country allows him to have the nationality based on the fact that

She said they direct some of the expectant mothers who arrive at the refugee camp from Nigeria with emergency cases to specialists and then encourage them to follow up their prenatal consultation.

She added that some of them have never had prenatal care and most of them do not have medical records since they are running from violence.

Some of the mothers do not know the importance of birth certificates.

Benjamin Mambou of the International Emergency and Development Aid (IEDA) relief said they have been educating women who refuse to give their children names and those who refuse to collaborate with birth registration officers.

“We will continue to sensitise (educate) parents who didn’t give us the names of their children, who didn’t identify their children. We will do it or

mercenaries battled Boko Haram “Yes, many of us are no longer 20year-olds. But with our age has come a knowledge of conflicts and wars in Africa that our younger generation employees have yet to learn, and a steady hand when things get rough.”

During apartheid, Col Barlow served with the South African Defence Force, a mainly white military unit that defended the regime against insurrection and fought border wars in neighbouring Angola and what is now Namibia.

In 1989, as apartheid was beginning to crumble, he co-founded Executive Outcomes, a private military company made up of many ex-members of South Africa’s security forces.

One of the first modern “private armies”, in 1995 it successfully helped the government of Sierra Leone defend itself against the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front, notorious for chopping off the arms of their enemies.

Another co-founder of Executive Outcomes, which was dissolved in 2000, was Simon Mann, the Old Etonian was later jailed in Equatorial Guinea over his attempts to plot a coup there.

Col Barlow’s new company is known as STTEP, which stands for Specialised Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection. It is thought to

have sent around 100 men to Nigeria, including black troopers who previously served in elite South African units. Others even fought as communist guerrillas against the South African Defence Force.

It is not known how much the Nigerian military has paid for STTEP’s services. But the fact that the Nigerian government felt it necessary to bring them in raises questions about the level of help that it was receiving from the British and United States (U.S) militaries, who offered mentoring packages in the wake of Boko Haram’s kidnapping last year of more than 200 schoolgirls from their dormitory in Chibok, Borno State.

Describing Boko Haram as “a bunch of armed thugs who have used religion as the glue to hold their followers”, Col Barlow said the initial plan was for his men to train up a team to help free the schoolgirls.

However, as Boko Haram continued to run amok across northern Nigeria, massacring hundreds at a time in village raids, the plan turned to schooling Nigeria’s largely traditional army in “unconventional mobile warfare”.

Key to this was a tactic known as “relentless pursuit”, which involved mimicking Boko Haram’s hit-and-run tactics with non-stop assaults. Once

•Deborah,Blessing and Mary in the Library at AUN...at the weekend. PHOTO: AFP

Boko Haram’s clutches in April 2014 are currently studying at the university, preparing to sit the secondary school examinations that they were unable to write when the Islamists stormed their hometown.

The conversation varied from how they have adapted to life on campus,

the undergraduate studies they plan to take and love of watching films and gospel music to learning how to swim and playing basketball.

“It’s a far cry from their life back home,” they say, “where the facilities were rudimentary, electricity supply sketchy and the mobile phone net-

the insurgents were on the run and their likely route established, members of the strike force would be helicoptered into land ahead of them to cut off their likely escape routes, gradually exhausting them.

The South Africans even used bush trackers to work out where their enemies were going, an old-fashioned art that proved vital in Boko Haram’s forest hideouts.

“Good trackers can tell the age of a track as well as indicate if the enemy is carrying heavy loads, the types of weapons he has, if the enemy is moving hurriedly, what he is eating, and so forth,” said Col Barlow.

The Federal Government insisted that the South Africans’ role was mainly “technical advisers” but Col Barlow said his men had been involved in direct combat. His air power unit was “given ‘kill blocks’ to the front and flanks of the strike force and could conduct missions in those areas,” he said. His forces also helped with intelligence gathering, troop transportation and evacuation of casualties.

President’s Jonathan’s decision to hire STTEP came just ahead of March’s elections, when his government’s failure to either tackle Boko Haram or free the kidnapped schoolgirls was a major issue. work has been down for the last six months.”

At the same time, the trio said they were well aware of the situation facing the 275 hostages rescued from the militants’ Sambisa Forest stronghold, not far from Chibok, in Borno state.

Their release late last month raised hopes that Deborah’s former classmates were among them.

“We were happy that they were released but... it was unfortunate that our sisters were still out there,” she said.

The trio now want to do community service to assist at the camp outside Yola where the former captives now live.

“We are also in a position to help them because we were once like them,” said Deborah.

She added: “We want to share food items and then give them a kind of inspirational speech that will touch them because we are now people who are used to encouraging others no

we make sure that will be done,” said Mambou.

“We will continue to educate and assist them in what their children become in the future. They will go to their country, the government of Nigerian will take care of them but firstly here in Cameroon. We take care of them, we give them birth certificates and we assist them.”

UNHCR’s Bawoing Mahamat, who has also been encouraging mothers to register their children at birth, said when the situation in Nigeria stabilises and the refugees agree to return, they will organise a meeting with the Nigerian government to make sure the children are not discriminated against because they were born out of their country.

He said a tripartite meeting of Cameroon, Nigeria and the UNHCR will be convened to examine birth certificates delivered to Nigerian children when calm returns to their country and they agree to return.

The UNHCR reports that since January this year, more than 11,500 Nigerians have arrived in the camp.

The government of Cameroon says it has counted more than 74,000 Nigerian refugees in Cameroon and a majority are women and children. About 1,000 have so far received birth certificates.

He has promised that when Gen. Buhari takes over at the end of this month, Boko Haram will be a spent force, although it is not yet clear whether the Buhari government will renew STTEP’s contract.

Col Barlow warned that while the Nigerians had done well within three months that he had been contracted to mentor them, “the enemy was able to flee the battlefield with some of their forces intact, and will no doubt regroup and continue their acts of ter-

ror.”

The involvement of STTEP in Nigeria will inevitably reignite the debate over whether private military companies should be used in conflicts. Human rights groups question whether they are publicly accountable, and in South Africa especially, their background in the apartheidera makes some uneasy.

However, Col Barlow, whose firm has a code of conduct for behaving “in a legal, moral, and ethical manner”, said that private companies were often better than United Nations (UN) or Western trainers of African armies. The latter were often hamstrung by political baggage and a failure to understand how either African armies or their enemies worked, he said.

The advisers that Britain and America have sent to Nigeria are also not permitted to take part in operations on the ground, partly because of the Nigerian’s army’s poor human rights record.

Noting that even the U.S. military appeared to regard his firm with distrust, Col Barlow added: “Some like to refer to us as ‘racists’ or ‘apartheid soldiers’ with little knowledge of our organisation. We are primarily white, black, and brown Africans, who reside on this continent and are accepted as such by African governments.”

matter what they have been going through.

“I think we are in a position to help them with our words.”

The Chibok pupilss at AUN are being offered an unexpected chance of a better future, one that is unlikely to be available to the other former hostages.

For the hundreds of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled the violence to Yola, though, life will remain tough: some have already returned home now that the military have the upper hand against the militants.

But the humanitarian situation remains acute: villages and towns have been destroyed and farmland devastated, raising the prospect of future food shortages for people who mainly live from subsistence farming.

The three pupils know they have been given a rare opportunity: Deborah wants to work in environmental health while Blessing and Mary both want to become medical

doctors — and return to work in Chibok.

The world attention on the Chibok kidnapping, prompted benefactors to come forward to pay for the girls’ education, food and accommodation at AUN. University Director Margee Ensign said she was contacted recently with an offer to pay the fees of all 57 of those who escaped last year.

Deborah, Blessing and Mary have been working to contact and convince the others to come: six have so far said they will when the new term begins in August - providing their parents agree.

The young women are excited by the prospect.

“I’m very glad to hear that because I think this is an opportunity that there’s going to be a better Chibok, because the more we are the stronger we will continue to be and the higher the rate of our ambitions,” said Deborah.

•Barlow...in 1997

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

NEWS

•Vice President Namadi Sambo (right) with members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Transition Committee Alhaji Ahmed Joda, Dr Doyin Salami, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and Dr PHOTO: NAN Ogbonnaya Onu during a meeting ... yesterday.

National Assembly gazettes amended Constitution Continued from page 1

despite the ruling of the Supreme Court that all actions on the review of the Constitution should be suspended.

The apex court also mandated parties to the suit on the alteration of the Constitution - the National Assembly and the Presidency - to maintain the status quo pending the ruling on May 17.

President Goodluck Jonathan declined assent to the alterations, citing alleged neglect of due process by the National Assembly in amending the Constitution.

The Presidency also took the matter to the Supreme Court to stop the National Assembly from overriding the President’s assent.

But the source said that gazetting the document was

the first step to bringing back the amended Constitution to the floor of the two chambers of the National Assembly to override the President.

He noted that “when the document is brought back to the floor of the two chambers of the National Assembly, the Bill will be passed into law by two-third majority”.

Asked the likely implications of overriding the President’s assent when the Supreme Court order is that the National Assembly should maintain the status quo, he said that the apex court lacked the powers to stop the parliament from its constitutional duties of law making.

Moreover, he said that most of them “suspect that by fixing May 17, as date of hearing in the suit challenging the alterations of the Constitu-

tion, the Supreme Court was not mindful that the life of the Seventh National Assembly that amended the Constitution would have elapsed”.

He added: “We are not disobeying the Supreme Court.

We are merely carrying out our legislative duty, which included amending the Constitution when necessary.

“By gazetting the alterations, we can now go ahead to override the President’s assent pending the ruling of the Supreme Court on the matter.

“The Supreme Court itself knows that it cannot stop the National Assembly from carrying out its constitutional duties.”

He said that the feeling of majority of members of the National Assembly is that the withholding of assent by the President is in bad faith.

•President-elect Muhammadu Buhari receiving Second Republic President Alhaji Shehu Shagari (left) in Abuja ... yesterday

Boko Haram kills two Cameroonian soldiers

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OKO Haram’s gunmen at the weekend killed two Cameroonian soldiers in fighting that also left three militants dead, military officers said yesterday.

The clash highlights how pockets of Boko Haram fighters remain active despite progress this year by troops from Nigeria and neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon in breaking the militants’ hold on vast swathes of territory.

A Cameroonian officer said clashes erupted when soldiers were dispatched to check reports of Boko Haram militants moving towards the

northern town of Zelevet, near the border with Nigeria.

“When we arrived ... the enemy attacked. We returned fire but sadly we lost two men,” the officer said, asking not to be named. A second officer said three Boko Haram fighters were killed and a female militant captured.

Separately, a military source said another 20 people had been killed last week in attacks in villages on the Cameroon side of the border with Nigeria.

There was no immediate official comment from the military on any of the reported incidents.

Earlier this year, Boko

Haram occupied large chunks of northern Nigeria and was increasingly mounting attacks on neighbouring states, prompting regional leaders into action to reverse gains made by the six-year insurgency.

Operations carried out by regional forces have pushed the militants from most of their positions and Nigerian President-elect Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to crush what remains of the group.

However, Boko Haram militants continue to hit back and at least five people were killed in a raid on a village in southwestern Niger last week.

Chadian President Derby: I don’t know Shekau’s whereabouts Continued from page 1

abouts.

“I cannot tell you today that I know where Shekau is hiding even if I knew, I won’t tell you,” he told reporters.

But he expressed regrets that the Nigerian and the Chadian armies were not working together. If they had cooperated, Derby said, the insurgents might have been wiped out.

He said: “It is regrettable that the two that - Nigerian and Chadian - are working

separately in the field, they are not undertaking joint operation. If they were operating joint operation, probably they would have achieved more results.

“It is true Boko Haram has not been completely eradicated but they have been tremendously weakened. I did not want to wait and come during the inauguration of the new government. I thought I should come to consult with Mr. President, to congratulate him and to have this exchange and have over-

view of what we have an been able to achieve in the fight against Boko Haram.”

Asked on the relationship between the multinational task force fighting in Lake Chad and the South African mercenaries fighting with them, he said: “I have no information concerning mercenaries from South Africa.

Still on the issue of Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin, there are four countries Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger - that are currently securing the area.

“The four countries have managed to form a multinational mixed force that will metamorphose to what is probably known as a Rapid Response Force that the African Union is trying to form for Africa.”

On the purpose of his visit, he said: “I came to consult with my brother President Goodluck Jonathan. As you all know, Nigeria and Chad are two countries that have a lot of similarities in fighting insurgents.

“Chad has had its own

APC: Jonathan’s ministers must defend their actions Continued from page 1

be afraid must lay bare such reason before Nigerians,” the party said.

It added that under the climate of change that Nigerians have ushered in with their votes, only the guilty needs to be afraid, and those with a guilty conscience, on account of their actions in the public sphere, must clear such so they can be at peace with themselves.

“The last time we checked, this does not fit the definition of persecution,” APC said.

The party wondered why the President chose a public forum to express his fears when he could have done so privately during his meetings with the President-elect.

“Since the presidential election was won and lost, the President and the Presidentelect have met privately a number of times. Why didn’t President Jonathan express

Jonathan, Buhari transition teams pledge cooperation

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HE Transition Committees of the outgoing Jonathan administration and that of the incoming Buhari government met yesterday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

No statement was issued on how far the committees have gone in reconciling the handover notes but chairman of the Buhari team, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, said the meeting went well.

He said his committee is getting the necessary cooperation from the outgoing government.

“Our committee has never said to anybody that there is no cooperation, we have never said that and we are waiting for the reports, until when they come.” his apprehensions during these meetings?

“Even if the two have not met, the President could have reached out to the Presidentelect over any fears that he may be nursing, instead of

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, described the meeting as “fruitful and cordial.”

“The meeting was very, very fruitful; it was very cordial.

“There is certainly no (contending) issue, we are flowing and we have clearer understanding of the workings of the two committees.”

Vice President Namadi Sambo, who chairs the Jonathan’s team attended.

APC National Chairman John OdigieOyegun, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Vice Chairman of the Buhari team Dr. Doyin Salami, among others, also attended.

engaging in an action that seems like he was being preemptive and seeking to curry public sympathy,” it said.

The APC insisted that the priority of the incoming government will be the welfare and

security of the long-suffering people of Nigeria, and enjoined all citizens to support the Administration in charting a new path for the country - away from the rapaciousness and impunity of the past years.”

problems in the 70s and 80s and Nigeria assisted Chad during those difficulties times.

“On the 2015 general elections, I came principally to congratulate Mr. President for the statesmanship he demonstrated during the elections.

We all know that elections in Africa are always contested but Mr. President demonstrated a lot of statesmanship, that he is a real democrat by conceding and congratulating the President-elect.

“You all know that when Nigeria sneezes, the neighbouring countries catch cold. If Mr. President had not taken that laudable initiative, you all know what would have

happened now. Nigeria is still living in peace, you all are living in peace and that would not have happened but for that laudable initiative he took.

“So I came to congratulate him for leaving a legacy not only for Nigeria but for Africa as a whole.”

He added: “As you all know, we both work together to fight Boko Haram. I thought it was important that before Mr. President leaves office, I will come for us to have an overview of what we did together, what we achieved together in the fight against Boko Haram.”

After his meeting with President-elect, President Derby and Continued on page 60

Presidency sacks German radio reporter from Villa

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OR questioning Chadian President Idris Derby, on Abubakar Shekau’s whereabouts and the link between the troops of the Multi-national Task Force and mercenaries from South Africa, Deutsche Welle (DW) (German Radio) State House correspondent, was yesterday de-accredited and expelled.

Musa Ubale asked the two questions when the Chadian President, in the presence of President Goodluck Jonathan, was fielding questions from reporters after their meeting.

The Federal Government was said to be unhappy with the questions and ordered the

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

immediate withdrawal of Ubale’s State House accreditation tag.

Ubale was escorted out of the Presidential Villa by security officials after picking his belongings from the press centre.

There was no statement from the office of the Special Adviser (Media) to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Reuben Abati on the development, last night.

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Akinyemi: Hurdles Buhari ’ll face in anti-corruption war

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ORMER Minister of External Affairs Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi has advised the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to seek a constitutional amendment for his administration to win the war against corruption.

Delivering an inaugural lecture at the Adeboye Centre for Peace and Good Governance of the Redeemer’s University, Ede, Prof. Akinyemi predicted that fighting and winning the war against corruption would be a herculean task for the Buhari administration.

The former Deputy Chairman of the 2014 National Conference maintained that fighting corruption was not as easy as the citizens thought.

“When we talk of government, we tend to think of the Executive branch. Yet the Bar and the Bench have done more to frustrate anti-corruption cases than the Executive. The Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) cannot jail corrupt public officials. They can only prosecute.

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

“What the new Buhari administration should seek is a constitutional amendment that does four things. First, the amendment should abolish bail in all corruption cases. Secondly, the amendment should abolish option of fine. Thirdly, those with pending criminal cases should not be allowed to run for public office. Fourthly, the prosecution should be allowed to appeal against judges findings of ‘not guilty.’ This step will be a test of the seriousness of the incoming administration,” the former minister said.

Prof. Akinyemi said apart from the Executive arm, the judiciary, the police and other government agencies should be active in the fight against corruption.

On how unemployment played a key role in undermining national security, the former minister said the National Conference, in its report on Boko Haram, recommended a Marshall-like economic and social package to tackle

unemployment and collapse of industries.

Advising Buhari to prioritise his programmes, he said the citizens have identified three key issues - security, unemployment and corruption - as flagships of good governance.

He said: “Factories, which closed down and migrated to other countries would have to be brought back through incentives and tax grace. In times of frustration, despondency and hopelessness, people turn for help and comfort from their spiritual roots. When they find no succour from their spiritual roots, they turn to revolution.

“A study of the French and Russian revolutions will show that the churches and priesthood had suborned themselves to the establishment, leaving the people to seek inspiration and comfort from revolutionary ideas and movements.

“In developing countries, where increasing urbanisation has dented the comfort zone provided by tight-night rural community, and where absence of good governance has created despair, religious or-

ganisations have stepped into the breach, preaching hope and salvation and directing restless energy and frustrations away from the streets.”

Prof. Akinyemi said peace and good governance are promoted when religious organisations speak the truth to those in power and encourage faith and hope in a better tomorrow.

Prof. Jide Osuntokun, who spoke on behalf of the centre, said Nigeria needed diplomats like Prof. Akinyemi and Gen. Ike Nwachukwu for the nation to regain its lost glory.

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who was represented by the Director-General, Awolowo Centre for Good Governance, Prof. Moses Makinde, described the theme of the lecture as apt, owing to the nation’s transition from civilian government to another.

Congratulating the university and the organisers of the lecture, he said: “I hope that the stimulus provided by Prof.

Akinyemi’s lecture would be matched by the responses from the audience and the university community.”

ICPC to arraign NCSDC officials over N1.2b unspent fund

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HE Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) said it has concluded plans to arraign three officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) over N1.2 billion unspent fund.

Its Resident Media Consultant, Mr. Folu Olamiti, said this in a statement yesterday in Abuja.

Olamiti said the officials would be arraigned today, before Justice Husseini Baba of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.

He said a former Assistant Commandant General of NSCDC, Mohammed Umar, and two others - Amobi Chidozie and Ojuolape Oyemomi - would be arraigned before the court.

Olamiti said the arraignment was in respect of an alleged conspiracy to offer gratification to some public officers in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF).

According to him, the gratification was to induce the public officers to extend the time of remittance of the N1.2 billion unspent funds belonging to NSCDC in December 2004.

He attributed the delay in the arraignment to the health challenge of Umar and the death of one of the accused persons, whose name was struck out from the charge sheet.

“The accused were alleged to have conspired and used their public offices to offer gratification to some public officers of the office of the AGF in the sum of N1.5 million as an inducement.

“The trio will also be facing trial for the transfer of the sum of N8.2 million meant for overhead vote to personnel vote, an offence contrary and punishable under Section 22 (5) of the corrupt practices and other related offences Act 2000,” he said.

Zik’s first son Chukwuma dies at 75

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•From left: A member of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Mr George Weah of Liberia; Speaker of the parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; President, ECOWAS Court of Justice, Justice Maria Monteiro and President of the community’s commission, Kadré Desiré Ouedraogo, at the first ordinary session of the parliament in Abuja...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Mark to state lawmakers: stop operating as governors’ stooges

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ENATE President David Mark yesterday condemned activities of members of State Houses of Assembly, urging lawmakers to wean themselves from the apron string of governors.

Mark, who reviewed the activities of parliaments at the state level, especially in the last 16 years of the country’s democratic experience, said it was improper that members of the state Assemblies have reduced themselves to stooges of their state governors.

He spoke at the opening of a week-long induction programme for newly elected state lawmakers organised by the National Institute for Legislative Studies in Abuja.

The general impression of most Nigerians, he said, was that the state Houses of Assembly have remained an appendage of the governor offices to the detriment of their constituents.

The Senate President noted that it was unthinkable that state Houses of Assembly failed to muster the political courage to vote for their financial autonomy when the first constitutional amendment offered them the opportunity. He described the development as a sad commentary.

He said: “As lawmakers, you

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

must avoid holding your sessions in the Council Chambers of the Government Houses.

“It is ignoble to use the mace outside the chamber or borrow Local Government Legislative Council Mace to conduct your affairs or resort to self-help by using your mace to perpetuate violence.

“You must conduct your sittings in line with the provisions of the Constitution and the extant rules of the House.

“As State legislators, you must restrain yourselves from the excessive use of the constitutional provision that empowers you to impeach either your speakers, executive governors or their deputies.

“Impeachment is not designed for a few days exercise.

Where it has become the last resort, it must be painstakingly conducted within the hallowed chamber of the parliament in accordance with the extant rules of the House and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Mark, who also asked for a synergy between state Houses of Assembly and the National Assembly, noted that a strong partnership was also required

between the Executive and the Legislature to achieve the nation’s developmental goals, increase transparency, accountability and curb corruption.

He said: “The Legislature in Nigeria has a chequered history. But in all its travails, the parliament has stood on the side of the people and intervened at the most critical moments to salvage the system from imminent collapse.

“I have always maintained that the most important legacy of the legislature in the last 16 years is its commitment to lawmaking, oversight functions and representation to ensure good governance.

“The legislature has also come to be recognized as a watchdog of the Executive and an important link between citizens and the state.”

Mark noted that the Legislature at the national level has continued to assert its independence and resisted Executive interference.

To be effective, he urged the state lawmakers to conduct themselves in a manner beyond reproach in all their dealings.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, who delivered a paper on “Legislative Procedures and Practice in state Houses of Assembly”, de-

scribed the state legislatures as a department in the governors’ offices.

Enang faulted the gale of impeachment across the country and alleged that most of them were instigated by governors who had taken the state lawmakers as tools they can use anyhow to achieve their desired objectives.

He said the procedure for impeachment of a governor or deputy governor should be clearly stipulated in the Standing Orders.

He said: “This does not imply intention to impeach, but this should be clearly stated to avoid the ‘dishonour’ that some Houses of Assembly have earned on this subject.

“I urge the President of the Senate, the Chairman of the National Assembly and Chairman of Trust of the Legislature in Nigeria that we collectively fashion out a constitutional process of protecting the legislature at state levels.

“It is now treated lower than paraststatals or bureau by the state governors, otherwise the shame and humiliation meted upon Rivers and notorious Ekiti State House of Assembly would repeat itself.

“Evil thrives when good men, who feel comfortable on their seats, do nothing.”

HUKWUMA Bamidele Azikiwe, the first son of Nigeria’s first President, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, has passed on at the age of 75.

He died on Sunday, a day to the 19th anniversary of his father’s death.

Bamidele, as he was called by friends and associates, died at Borromeo Hospital, Onitsha.

His death was confirmed yesterday by a family source, who craved for anonymity.

The source said he had been battling with respiratory related ailment for years now.

Before his death, he was addressed in Onitsha as the Owelle, replacing his late father in 1996.

The late Bamidele once contested unsuccessfully for the governorship seat of the old

•The late Azikiwe From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

Anambra State at the end of his diplomatic career.

Details of his funeral arrangements had not been officially announced by the Onitsha Kingdom, according to the customs and traditions.

As Owelle of Onitsha, Chukwuma was sixth in the title ranking in the commercial city.

Nnamani: EFCC to amend alleged N5b fraud charges

By Precious Igbonwelundu

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HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday asked a Federal High Court in Lagos for more time to enable it amend the charges against former Enugu State Governor Chimaroke Nnamani.

EFCC’s request before Justice Mohammed Yunusa yesterday came exactly 46 days after the court granted the commission’s application to separate Nnamani’s trial from that of the other suspects.

The ex-governor and his co-accused allegedly laundered N5 billion in a secret account, with the aim of concealing its source and failed to comply with the lawful inquiry by the anti-graft agency.

According to the commission, their alleged offence contravened the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, and the EFCC Act, 2004.

Joined with Nnamani in the alleged money laundering case instituted in 2007 are his former aide, Sunday Anyaogu; as well as six firms belonging to the former governorRainbownet Nigeria Limited, Hillgate Nigeria Limited, Cosmo FM, Capital City Automobile Nigeria Limited, Renaissance University Teaching Hospital and Mea Mater Elizabeth High School.

According to EFCC, its decision to try the accused persons separately was to prevent the erosion of their assets since the trial had dragged since arraignment without progress as a result of the former governor’s ill health.

On several occasions, Nnamani through his lawyer, Rickey Tarfa (SAN), had sought leave of court to travel abroad for medicare, as a result of complications from a heart surgery.

When the matter came up yesterday, lawyer to EFCC, Kelvin Uzozie prayed for an adjournment to enable the commission amend its processes for separate trial, which the court granted and adjourned to May 19.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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NBTE raises alarm over fake polytechnics, others •Board’s department under probe for illegal licences T HE National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has expressed concern over the proliferation of unaccredited and unlicensed private polytechnics, monotechnics and Innovation Enterprise Institutions (IEIs) operating illegally in the country.

NBTE Executive Secretary Dr. Manzuid A Kazaure said as at the last count, over 65 of such institutions were operating as well as deceiving and defrauding innocent parents and students.

He said the illegal institutions were in the habit of ad-

From Blessing Olaifa, Assistant Editor, Abuja

mitting students with claims that they run programmes leading to the awards of National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) certificates.

Dr. Kazaure, who said security agencies have been alerted on the issue with a view to clamp down on operators, confirmed that some top officials of the Programmes Department of the NBTE were being

investigated over issuance of registration licences to some private institutions.

In an interview with The Nation, Dr. Kazaure said an investigating team has been dispatched to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to probe an illegal institution that has been operating there.

“An investigating team has been sent to Uyo, while the Abuja case has been concluded. The Minister of Education will soon receive the report,” Dr Kazaure said.

He stressed that officials of the Programmes Department, who were culpable in the licensing of such institutions, would “face the full wrath of the law”.

He said the board was worried by the sudden rise in the number of private polytechnics, monotechnics and IEIs. The Nation gathered that the NBTE has been inundated with complaints that such sudden rise could not be possible, except those saddled with the responsibility of checking the

activities of the illegal institutions have either compromised or lowered the standard.

It was learnt that sequel to complaints over the way and manner some institutions got approval to begin academic activities, the management of the NBTE decided to beam a searchlight on the Programmes Department to see whether laid down rules were being followed.

According to a source, some institutions that parade them-

selves as private polytechnics and monotechnics in some states only have two or three buildings, without laboratory and library.

“Some use structures that cannot pass for a secondary school, without any sport facility or football field. Yet they got approval to operate.

“What we are witnessing is a bastardisation of our education system and it boils down to corruption and the culture of impunity. Some people believe they can do anything and get away with it. But we are talking about the future of our nation”, the source lamented.

Gowon to chair Foursquare Diamond Jubilee Lecture

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ORMER Head of State Gen. Yakubu Gowon will on Thursday chair a special lecture to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria.

The event is billed for the National Headquarters of the church in Yaba, Lagos.

Vice Chancellor of McPherson University, Ogun State, Prof.

Adeniyi Agunbiade, will speak on to topic: ‘The Church and the Nigerian Nation: Impact, Challenges, and the Way Forward.’

Expected as Royal Father of the Day is the Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse II. The General Overseer of the church, Rev. Felix Meduoye, is the chief host.

“This lecture is one of the yearlong series of activities lined up to commemorate the 60th anniversary of our movement, the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria,” the General Overseer said, adding that there will be a special session of prayers for newly-elected public officers during the lecture.

Gen. Gowon is founder of Nigeria Prays, a body set up to intercede for the country in prayers, and had ruled Nigeria between 1966 and 1975.

Foursquare Gospel Church was founded in 1923 by preacher, Aimee Semple McPherson.

The headquarters is in Los Angeles, California. It was introduced to Nigeria in 1955.

•President Goodluck Jonathan (right) welcoming his Chadian counterpart, Idris Derby Itno, to the Presidential Villa, Abuja ...yesterday.

PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN

APC Ireland advises Buhari

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC), Republic of Ireland chapter, has enjoined the Presidentelect, Muhammadu Buhari, not to be distracted by the scheming of some lobbyists, who are always romancing every new government in power for their selfish interest.

It added that the recent efforts of the outgoing administration to create bottlenecks for the new government through appointments and introduction of unnecessary policies should be disregarded.

The APC chapter urged Buhari to hit the ground running immediately he is sworn in on May 29.

The chapter, in a statement by its Chairman, Prince Adegboyega Adefioye, described the victory of the party at the polls as the realisation of the vision of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who once

By Sina Fadare

dreamt of a Nigeria where people regardless of ethnicity, religion or class would “unite and kick against rigging, corruption and tyranny.”

He said with his emergence, Buhari has a heavy burden of bringing sanity into the nation’s political stage.

The party said by emphasising merit above partisanship, the new administration will be on its way to success.

“It is understandable that the tasks ahead are enormous and that expectations of the common man are very high.

“But with certain basic decisions such as cutting down fleet of cars operated by political appointees; declaration of their assets, and by associating himself with people of integrity and sound leadership charisma, Nigerians both home and abroad will be hopeful of a new dawn,” it said.

Council of State meets today From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

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HE Council of State meeting, to be chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, is scheduled to hold today at the Presidential Villa, Abuja The meeting, which starts by 11.00am, is the first after the general elections. It is expected to be the last under Jonathan’s administration.

The last meeting was held in February.

The responsibilities of the council include advising the President in the exercise of his powers with respect to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), including the appointments of members of the commission.

It can also advise the president in the exercise of his powers with respect to the national population census and compilation; prerogative of mercy; award of national honours; the National Judicial Council, including the appointment of its members, other than ex-officio members, and the National Population Commission.

Apart from the President, other members are the vice president, former presidents or former Heads of State, former Chief Justices, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, all state governors and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

International Coach Federation inaugurates Nigerian chapter

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LEADING global coaching organisation, the International Coach Federation (ICF), has opened a chapter in Nigeria ahead of the International Coaching Week, which will be hosted in the country.

The organisation has 118 communities in 59 countries in all continents and recruits 130 members every month.

Announcing the launch of the chapter yesterday at a news conference in Lagos, its president, Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle, said the country has joined Kenya and South Africa to service sub-Saharan Africa.

Mrs. Ponnle said the Nigeria chapter was officially inaugurated and approved last Thursday, after months of hard work and planning.

She said in line with the global vision, the focus for the Nigeria chapter would be the pursuit of flourishing of humanity, with particular focus on Africa.

She said: “We have an overriding passion to help the Af-

By Seun Akioye

rican people raise their level of awareness and consciousness to unleash our continent’s untapped potential, increase our productivity and life success. We strongly believe that coaching is one path to catalyse this vision, one person at a time.”

The ICF was founded in 1995.

It has over 20,000 members.

As a relatively new innovation in the country, its president explained that “coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking, creative and outcome-oriented process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential”.

Mrs. Ponnle said coaches are highly trained individuals, who have expertise in various areas of human endeavour and help individuals and corporations to transform from functional to optimum.

The Vice President, Adeboye Martins, said the profession “is helping people to grow”.

On the Coaching Week, the director, membership, Habiba Balogun, said the event will hold from May 18 to 24.

She said the flagship event of the week will be the breakfast seminar for business CEOs, executives and human resources practitioners with the theme: “Nigeria, Experience Coaching” on Tuesday May 19, at the Wheatbaker Hotel, Lagos.

The keynote speech will be delivered by the Managing Director, Heineken/Nigerian Breweries, Nico Vervelde. He will be joined by an international speaker, Zack Lemelle from the United States (U.S.).

Balogun said coaches in Nigeria will also join their colleagues around the world to offer a variety of activities and pro bono services in their communities, where they will share information, hold free virtual sessions and a coaching café.

On why the ICF is just opening up in Nigeria, Martins said Nigerians were beginning to see the impact a coach can have

on the overall development.

“Nigerians have a macho view of their own development, but they are starting to realise that not only academic success can help them reach their potential, but a coach can have immense impact on productivity.

“Coaches are also working to raise ethical standards and the quality of leadership in Nigeria,” he said.

The Director of Media and Publicity, Lanre Olusola, who addressed the perceived high fees of coaches, said Nigerians should appreciate the value coaches bring to individuals and corporations.

Other members of the board include Dundun Peterside and Renee Petzer (in charge of Education and Programmes), Weyinmi Jemide (Finance), Titi Akisanya (secretary) and Yinka Odusanya (administrator).

Other board members are Sochi Ilomechina, Dupe Wigwe, and Barbara Lawrence.

Funding threatens 2016 census, says NPC chairman

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HE Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Chief Eze Duruihioma, has expressed concern over the delay in the release of funds budgeted for the conduct of the 2016 national census.

The delay, he said, is having adverse effect on the commission’s plans for the exercise.

Duruihioma told reporters in Abuja that the conduct of the census is a statutory obligation of the commission.

From Tony Akowe, Abuja

But, five months into the year, he claimed that funds meant for the smooth conduct of the exercise were yet to be made available to the commission.

Addressing a news conference, the NPC boss said the commission plan to spend about N400 million on the conduct of the 2015 National Education Data Survey (NEDS), aimed at providing

accurate data for planning in the nation’s education sector.

The survey is meant to provide policy-makers with accurate and timely data to formulate action designed to increase enrolment, attendance and learning to achieve the Universal Basic Education Commission and Education for All goals for the children of school age.

The 2015 NEDS will also provide a substantial amount of the household-based edu-

cation data needed in the country.

The outcome of the 2015 NEDS will inform programming that would improve levels of student enrolment and attendance, as well as facilitate equitable access to quality schooling for all children.

He said during the exercise, the commission will collect information from 30,000 eligible households with at least one child, aged 4 to 16.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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Ajimobi, APC to join Accord, Ladoja to inspect materials

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State and its governorship candidate, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, have been allowed to join Accord and its candidate, Sen. Rashidi Ladoja, to inspect the materials used for the April 11 election.

Ladoja and his party are challenging Ajimobi’s victory.

As a first step, they sought an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its resident electoral commissioner to allow them inspect the materials used for the election in the 33 local governments.

But the APC’s and Ajimobi’s lawyers made an application to be joined in inspecting the materials.

The application also sought an order compelling INEC and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC)

‘OPC not licensed to carry arms’

• Ondo Tribunal grants APC’s applications as the motion on no•Judges call for security in Ekiti soon tice is received from the peFrom Bisi Oladele, Sikiru Akinola, Ibadan, Damisi Ojo, Akure and Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

to issue them the certified true copies of all forms, including all forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D, EC8E and EC8G used for the election.

Others are all forms EC25B and EC25 (1), forms EC40A, EC40B and EC40C used in the state.

The applicants are also seeking inspection of all incident forms and reports used for the election as well as data results from card readers and updated voters register, among others.

The application was granted by the tribunal.

The three-member tribunal is chaired by Justice F. C. Obieze.

Justices I. M. Muhammad

Karaye and J. E. Ikeade are members.

In Ondo State, the tribunal sitting in Akure, the state capital, yesterday granted all the applications tendered by the APC and its candidates in the National and House of Assembly elections.

This followed the motion on notice filed by their counsel, Dr Tunji Abayomi.

The Chairman, Justice Anthony Ogar, scrutinised the applications and granted that the motions be used as evidence before the court.

The tribunal also granted substituted service of the applications to the respondents.

Counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidates Remi Olatubora told the court that his clients were yet to be served the motion on notice.

Olatubora said the party would file its response as

titioners.

The tribunal in Ekiti State had its inaugural sitting yesterday, with a warning to counsel not to make frivolous allegations.

It called for security for judges, lawyers, politicians and the public.

The tribunal chairman, Justice A.N. Erahor, described the job at hand as a “crucial and critical national assignment that must be diligently prosecuted”.

He will be assisted by Justice A.T. Lamina and Justice P.A. Obayi.

Justice Erahor promised that the panel would handle all matters dispassionately and demonstrate impartiality.

“If you notice any infraction in the course of the proceeding, just call our attention to it.

“We don’t want any frivo-

lous allegation against any member of this tribunal.

“Nobody has monopoly of knowledge. I expect everyone to play their roles professionally so that all the issues can be handled firmly and fairly.”

Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Owoseni Ajayi assured the tribunal members of safety and a conducive environment.

“As a government, we are assuring you of a conducive atmosphere, but without compromise.

“We are urging you not to be distracted by political sentiments,” he said.

The APC is challenging the victory of the PDP in elections conducted in two senatorial districts and four House of Assembly constituencies.

APC counsel Ibrahim Olanrewaju and his PDP counterpart, Kolapo Kolade, promised to cooperate with the tribunal to ensure timely conclusion of petitions.

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HE Founder of the O’dua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr Frederick Fasehun, yesterday said the group was not licensed to carry firearms.

Fasehun’s comments followed allegations of random carrying of arms by some members of the group in Lagos State.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone that the organisation had no legal rights to carry arms.

“Any Nigerian not licensed to carry arms and is caught with arms will be doing so at his own risk.

“My members know my position on illegal arms possession. They do not carry arms near me and if they do so, it is at their own risk and not the organisation,’’ Fasehun said.

He, however, said those making the allegations must be sure of their facts so as not to be sued for libel.

“The police, at all times, must consider circumstances of allegations and evidence on ground in handling allegations of illegal carrying of arms,’’ he said.

•The tanker...yesterday.

By Leke Salaudeen

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HE Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State , Tunji Shelle, has been removed.

He was replaced by his deputy, Kamal Olorunoje, who will operate in acting capacity.

Shelle’s removal was announced yesterday at the state executive committee meeting held at the party’s secretariat in Ikeja.

Among the reasons listed for his sack, according to the party leaders, are the failure of the party to win the presidential and governorship elections in the state; the role he played in the crisis that trailed the governorship primaries and lack of transparency in the running of the chapter.

It was alleged that Shelle connived with some elders of the party to inflate the number of votes cast at the governorship primaries.

The votes were more than the total number of accredited delegates that participated in the exercise.

Consequently, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro one of the major contenders for the ticket, sued the party and Chief Olabode George, asking for the nullification of the primaries.

It took the intervention of the Presidency before Obanikoro withdrew the case.

However, a source within the party said only a faction took the decision to sack Shelle. He said the decision can not hold.

George and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe did not pick their phones when our correspondent called them.

In a statement by its State Publicity Secretary,Taofik Gani, the PDP called on party members to discountenance the said sack.

It also admonished those behind the ``preposterous action'' to retrace their steps and allow peace to reign in the party.

"It is therefore very irrational for anyone or persons in the party to try to create acrimony by claiming that the State Chairman has not performed to warrant continuing in office" it stated.

Revisit airport, says Amosun

Chief Imam to be turbaned

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From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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HE 18th Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheikh AbdulGaniyy Abubakar Agbotomokekere, will be turbaned on Friday at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba , Ibadan.

Sheikh Agbotomokekere replaced Sheikh Busari Suara Haruna, who died on April 9 at 93.

The Chairman, Ibadan Muslim Community, Chief Bayo Oyero, said members of the league of Imams and Alfas in Yorubaland, including Edo and Delta, are expected to grace the occasion.

Also expected are Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi; Olubadan of Ibadanland Oba Samuel Odulana; Seriki Musulumi of Yorubaland Alhaji Yekini Adeojo; Iyalode of Ibadanland Alhaja Aminat Abiodun and Iya Adinni of Yorubaland Alhaja Sekinat Adekola.

Oyero said guests are to be seated by 9:30am. He added that after the turbaning, the Chief Imam will lead Jumat service at the Central Mosque, Oja’ba.

Lagos PDP chair Shelle sacked

•The tanker inside ditch. (INSET) people scooping petrol PHOTOS FEMI ILESANMI, IBADAN

Residents scoop fuel as tanker falls in Ibadan

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ESIDENTS of Olodo community in Ibadan yesterday trooped out in their hundreds to scoop fuel at an accident scene.

The driver of a fully loaded petrol tanker lost control of the vehicle near the Olodo garage.

An eyewitness said the petrol tanker with registration number LAGOS AGL 479XP was coming from Lagos.

Adisa Babatunde said the accident occurred as the tanker skidded off the road.

“The driver lost control of

From Tayo Johnson and Sikiru Akinola, Ibadan

the vehicle and could not stop it. It was difficult for him to manoeuvre as the trailer was heavy.

“We thank God that he was able to divert the tanker without injuring anybody.”

Another eyewitness, Kehinde Kazeem, said: “The tanker lost control as it was ascending the steep.

“The driver did all he could to make sure no one got hurt. No life was lost.”

Immediately the accident

occurred, some residents brought out jerry cans to scoop petrol.

At the scene, some security agents controlled human and vehicular movement.

Men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, fire fighters and the police were battling to drive the fuel scoopers away.

An NSCDC official, Adedapo George, said: “I have not seen the driver since we got here. Thankfully, there was no casualty.

“We were able to curb the situation because we came

in on time.That was around 9am. We can’t confirm to you if they had been scooping the petrol before our arrival.

“We managed to stop them from going near the truck and made sure they stayed away.”

The driver’s mate, Raimi Adegboye, said: “The driver has gone to the hospital, maybe, because of the shock he suffered.

“We were driving from Lagos and were close to our destination when it happened.”

GUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has called on the Federal Government to resuscitate the abandoned international airport project initiated 10 years ago.

The governor spoke at the site of the proposed airport at Imosan village, Wasimi, in Ewekoro Local Government Area.

Amosun said he had written to the Federal Government to complete the project, noting that since its benefits to the government and the people are immense, government cannot afford to abandon it.

He said though the project is a Federal Government sponsored project, the state is ready to facilitate it to improve the lot of its people.

“The perimeter fencing had been done. It is five by five kilometres. The survey and design are in place, but for the way we are as a nation, it was stalled but at least we can physically see that the project does exist and we can only wish it gets to the advanced stage,” Amosun added.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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Five paraded for ‘stealing’ N10m equipment

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IVE suspects were paraded yesterday by the police in Oyo State for allegedly burgling the mast centre of a telecommunication firm.

They were intercepted by a team of policemen from Akanran, Ibadan, after they allegedly burgled the centre at Dagbolu, an Ogun State boundary community, at the weekend.

Parading them at the State Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan yesterday, the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Katsina, said the suspects were rounded up after a tip-off.

According to him, the suspects invaded the mast centre at 3:15 am, overpowered the guard and carted away two Mikano electric power generators and some equip-

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

ment worth N10 million.

Katsina said: “They macheted the guard. Then they tied him down. But they made the mistake of choosing Oyo State as their escape route.”

Sina Olafisoye, Taofeek Olanrewaju, Kazeem Tijani, Idowu Sanusi and Sunday Atanda denied the allegation.

Tijani accused the guard, Atanda, of colluding with Dauda, who is at large, to deceive them into following him to the site to buy raw materials.

But Atanda denied the claim, saying they were all thieves.

He said the suspects ambushed him because he could not get help.

PHOTO: FEMI ILESANMI

•The suspects...yesterday

Have mercy on us, UCH patients beg govt, doctors

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T was a pitiable sight at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, yesterday with many of the patients and their relatives loitering around in agony and pain.

At the entrance of the hospital, some patients sat on the floor with their relatives; others were on the corridors with no doctors to attend to them.

They appealed to the Federal Ministry of Health to wade into the feud between the management and resident doctors.

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

The striking doctors are demanding for the payment of skipping allowance owed by the hospital management.

But the Chief Medical Director, Prof Temitope Alonge, insisted that the said allowance was not included in the 2014 budget, adding that only the National Salary and Wages Commission can provide answer to the demands.

A patient, Aderogba Akiolu, appealed to the Ministry of Health and the manage-

ment to end the strike action for the sake of the masses.

“I’m a cardiac patient and I have been coming here daily to see if they have ended the strike. I cannot afford to go to a specialist hospital. The only place that I can receive treatment is here at the UCH where they have qualified hands.

“Tomorrow, I will still check if God says I will be alive. The government and the management of the hospital should have mercy on us.

“They should know that it is human lives involved.

Why should the government watch doctors’ strike to go on for ten days without finding a solution to it?” Akiolu said.

An aged woman, who was lying on the floor without any relative, called on the government to wade into the crisis.

The woman, who gave her name as Mrs. Adunola, said she came to the hospital to receive treatment for cancer.

The President, Association of Resident Doctors, Dr Lukman Ogunjimi, faulted Prof Alonge’s claims and insisted that the unpaid allowances must be paid.

LASU: Council/workers meeting deadlocked

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LENGTHY meeting held by the Governing Council of the Lagos State University (LASU) and the unions over the crisis rocking the university ended in a stalemate yesterday.

Sources, at the meeting held at the LASU College of Medicine, said the Council made repeated attempts to prevail on workers to allow Vice-Chancellor Prof John Oladapo Obafunwa be allowed to complete his tenure.

Though reporters were barred from the session most of which went smoothly, there was, however, spontaneous outburst once in a while.

The unions, it was learnt, insisted at the meeting that the Council must revisit all allegations levelled against

By Adegunle Olugbamila

Obafunwa, document them, and make same available to union leadership that will present same to their members.

“We could not conclude anything,” said Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University Saheed Oseni after the meeting which ended at 8pm yesterday.

“Despite their (Council) plea, we insisted that (Prof) Obafunwa cannot come to the campus yet.

We then held that Council must revisit and document all allegations levelled against him.

“Those allegations include double standard, denial of our members’ promotion, high handedness, refusal to effect

outstanding arrears, disregard for due process and several others.”

Another source, a member of the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) said: “We have told them to produce the document first which we will table before our members in a congress before we can then get back to Council.

“As things stand, it is unlikely that another meeting may be called this week.

“But we made it point clear that we are not on strike and that until Council listens to us, we will not listen to them.

“We made them realise we all want progress for this university and until things are done properly, we might not arrive at anything reasonable.”

The meeting was attended

by Obafunwa and his deputy (Management) ,Prof Fidelis Njokama, Registrar Akinwunmi Lewis representing the university management.

Others in the management team include Librarian Dr Babalola Oduwole and Bursar Mr Tayo Hassan.

The Council was presided over by Mr Jide Adesoye, who represented Council Chairman Olabode Agusto and Provost of the College of Medicine, Prof Gbadebo Awosdanya.

The unions were represented by Oseni, Non Academic Staff Union of Universities Albert Agosu, ASUU Chairman Dr Adekunle Idris as well as chairman of National Association of Academic Technologists Ola Gbadamosi.

Nigeria paying for past failures, says Fashola •Governor receives National ID card

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

•Fashola

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AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday said the hassles Nigerians faced in their quest to pick up their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) could

have been avoided , if the country succeeded at providing national identity cards.

The governor spoke at the presentation of his National ID Card by the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Chris Onyenmena, at the Lagos House, Ikeja.

Fashola, after receiving his Unique Identification Card, said the country is paying for the botched attempts at capturing every Nigerian in a common data base.

He said: “I need to emphasis that this is a very important project for all Nigerians.

“What we have not got right

in the previous exercise; we are all paying for it now. One cannot really overemphasis the role of common and reliable identity management exercise will play.

“Government cannot provide services for people who will remain anonymous and the national ID card will help government in doing many things in terms of planning.

“If this had been done successfully, it would have eliminated or substantially reduced the stress we put ourselves through in order to get PVC to vote.

“So anyone who is involved in this must know that if they do it well, you are contribut-

ing to building Nigeria and if you do it badly, you are undermining the country.”

Onyenmena explained the distinction between a unique identification and ordinary card issuance; saying unique identification is biometric based.

He said:“It is usually based on unique set of standards, especially when it is founded on the biometrics, like the fingerprints or the face or the eyes or the combination of these.”

“What the National Identity Management Commission is charged to do is to provide the foundation identity so it becomes possible for all functional identities or registration to pick from.”

‘I want to be Oyo Speaker’

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MEMBER of the Oyo State House of Assembly representing Ibadan North State II, Segun Olaleye, has said his plan to become to next speaker is to consolidate on the good performance of the outgoing seventh Assembly.

He said the office is for exposed, experienced and competent lawmakers.

The lawmaker said he was ready for the job.

According to him, he was

From Jeremiah Oke, Ibadan

among the members who maintained stability in the House.

He noted that his contributions and interventions to normalise abnormality in the House cannot be overemphasised.

“I am contesting for the post of speakership because I believe there is a need for us to consolidate on the good work we have started.”

Cross River APC, Ndoma-Egba bicker over visit to Buhari

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EADERS of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River have accused Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba and his group of trying to lay political land mines for Presidentelect Muhammadu Buhari and “stampede him into taking decisions that will satisfy their selfish desire”.

The APC leaders said they would revisit any attempt by the Senate Leader and his group to impose themselves on the party.

In a statement in Abuja, the APC leaders, under the auspices of Forum of Concerned Elders of the All Progressives Congress in Cross River State, urged the President-elect to be wary of visitors from Cross River State, led by NdomaEgba.

The APC leaders described them as “political gold diggers”.

The statement was signed

by Eyo Nsa Ekpo, Ekeng Iwatt Effion, Cyprian Oyom Igban, Agim Lawrence Ikwen, Group Captain Oyo Ita (rtd)and Elder David Okon.

But Ndoma-Egba denied any ulterior motive.

The Senate Leader said he only led a non-partisan delegation of patriotic Cross River leaders to the Presidentelect.

The Forum said NdomaEgba was in a position to influence the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government to address the issues they tabled before Buhari during their visit but failed to do so.

They argued that it was during his 12-year tenure in the Senate that the state lost its oil wells and land to Akwa Ibom State and also lost the famous Bakassi Peninsula to Came-

From Tony Akowe, Abuja

roon.

They wondered why he was just realising the suffering of the people.

The statement reads: “The Forum of Concerned Elders of the All Progressives Congress, Cross River State, appreciates the President-elect for receiving a group of selfserving political gold diggers from Cross River State, led by Ndoma-Egba.

“Clearly, our Presidentelect has demonstrated that he has a non-partisan, non-discriminatory agenda as the chief architect in the emerging new Nigeria. This is indeed a total departure from the ethnic, religious and sectional agenda promoted and propagated by the PDP of which Ndoma-Egba and his co-travellers actively encouraged and indeed fully participated.

“The concerned elders are disturbed by the timing of this visit and the demand tabled before our Presidentelect. Ndoma-Egba has been a prominent part of the decision making process in Cross River and Nigeria as a threetime senator, Majority Whip in his second term and Majority Leader in his third term.

“It was during his tenure that Cross River State finally lost Bakassi to Cameroon.

“Clearly, the agenda of Ndoma-Egba and his group of co-travellers is trying to lay political land mines on the path of our President-elect .”

But Ndoma-Egba said the suffering of the people has no political affiliation, pointing it that the loss of Bakassi to Cameroon and oil wells to Akwa Ibom state has further impoverished the people.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

9

NEWS Ministry orders SAHCOL to recall sacked workers

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•Members of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) protesting against the non-payment of their N3billion by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in Abuja...yesterday.

Story on page 12

HE Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity has given the management of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) a two-week ultimatum to reinstate four sacked workers of the company before it could consider any dialogue on the matter.

Mrs. C.C. Dike of the ministry’s Department of Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations, in a letter to the General Secretary, National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) dated May 5, directed SAHCOL to recall the workers in the interest of peace.

The letter reads: “I am directed to refer to Form TD/3 dated April 23,2015 filed by the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) notifying the Honourable Minister of Labour and Productivity of a trade dispute against SAHCOL over the fol-

How my husband was killed, by APC youth leader’s wife

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HE commission of enquiry into politicallymotivated killings in Rivers State heard yesterday how the All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth Leader in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, Mr Orukwuowu, was murdered on the day of the governorship election.

The wife of the slain youth leader, Mrs Ruth Clever Orukwuowu, was defending her petition to the commission.

She said on April 11, her husband had just finished accreditation when some gunmen in military camouflage, invaded Unit 5 in Idu community and killed him in the presence of

From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

other voters.

In tears, the widow recalled that if she was not away to answer the call of nature, she too would have been killed.

Mrs. Orukwuowu, a 41-yearold mother of seven, urged the government and police to protect her family, who she said had been living in fear since the murder of her husband.

She said the family got wind of the plot to kill her husband, following the murder of a former Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Chairman Christopher Adube, his three children, driver and cousin at Obrikom.

The widow said her family did not know her husband would be killed.

Accompanied by her seven children, she urged the APC, the Rivers State Government and the police to protect her family because they feared that the gunmen might still come after them.

A Supervisory Councillor in Etche Local Government Area, Mr. Blessing Nwuchigbo, whose family house was razed by suspected members of a rival party, prayed the commission to aske the police to investigate the matter to bring the perpetrators to justice.

He alleged that after his house was razed at Ozuzu on

Members seek stay of action on ICAN’s council election

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OME aggrieved members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) have urged a Lagos State High Court to stop the institute’s council from action on any election pending the determination of a suit concerning the conduct of its elections in 2014.

In the suit before Justice A. M. Lawal, the plaintiffs Messrs Olusola Oyetayo, Solomon Adeleke as well as Oluseyi Williams (Mrs.) and Gbemi Soyemi Beecroft (Mrs.) are praying the court for an order setting aside ICAN’s elections of May 15 to May 29, 2014, on account of unprecedented fraud and abuse of internal electoral process, and falsification of members’ record and identity theft.

The defendants are Chidi Onyeukwu Ajaegbu and

By Chikodi Okereocha

ICAN. Other prayers of the plaintiffs include: * “a declaration that ICAN’s system of “Group Voting”, whereby each voter must cast vote on all the vacancies or otherwise be disqualified from voting, is unconstitutional and in contravention of members’ right to freedom of thought and freedom of expression as safeguarded under sections 38 and 39 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended); *”an order compelling ICAN to stop with immediate effect the system of “Group voting”, whereby each voter must cast vote on all the vacancies or otherwise be disqualified from voting at all. *an order mandating ICAN to sanitise its electoral process-

es, carry out a forensic audit of its Information Technology’s (IT) electoral process and update the records of its members to remove all fraudulent entries on members’ record before conducting any other election”.

Hinging their prayers on the established principle of law as enunciated in the Supreme Court case of Governor of Lagos State V Ojukwu (1986) NWLR (Pt 18) 621, the claimants’ counsel, Eyitayo Ogunyemi of Falana and Falana’s Chambers, urged all members of the Institute to stay all activities that might be tantamount to foisting a fait accompli on the suit before the court, particularly any act directed towards conducting any election into the council of ICAN pending the determination of the suit.

•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (second left) presenting a Certificate of Occupancy to the Secretary, Ifedele Agunbiade Village, Eti-Osa Local Government, Alhaji Sikiru Agunbiade...yesterday. With them are Deputy Governor Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire and PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES Permenent Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola.

March 19, he notified the police.

According to him, nothing has been done to apprehend the culprits.

Kenneth Nwuchigbo and Loveday Onuwa, who also claimed that their houses and other property were razed by suspected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs, demanded adequate compensation.

Also, the PDP yesterday served the commission an interim order of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, retraining it from sitting.

Despite receiving the court order, which was served by PDP’s Legal Adviser, Emma Aguma, the commission entertained petitions from some victims’ families.

The PDP legal team, led by Aguma, stormed the Obi Wali International Conference Centre, on Eliozu Road in Port Harcourt, where the commission, led by Prof Chidi Odinkalu, was sitting.

Aguma presented the court interim order restraining the commission from doing its probe.

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

lowing points in dispute: *victimisation of union chairman /secretary; *refusal to respect right of employees to peaceful assembly /association; and *refusal to conclude review of conditions of service.”

According to the letter, there was evidence of lack of proper understanding of the principles and practice of trade unionism in the organisation by the management of SAHCOL, as well as the national labour laws on the matter.

It noted that for sacking and subsequent publishing of the disclaimer notice in a national newspaper, SAHCOL was in breach of the provisions of section 9 (6) of the labour Act, Cap L1, Laws of the Federation, 2004.

It added that the unions have a right of assembly within the boundary set by the Act. Following the letter, the union said SAHCOL should carry out fair labour practices premised on equity and natural justice to ensure peaceful industrial relations.

It urged the firm to reverse the disclaimer published on the four sacked staff and subsequently recall them.

The management of SAHCOL, by the letter, was given two weeks within which to reverse the sack, call the four labour leaders back for dialogue.

When contacted, the General Manager, Public Affairs of SAHCOL, Mr. Basil Agboarumi, said dialogue with the concerned workers was ongoing.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

10

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 09091178827

Seven injured as fire razes buildings, shops in Lagos

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O fewer than seven persons were injured on Sunday night when fire razed over 109 shops and houses in IJora, Lagos.

The fire, which started at 5.30pm, followed a gas cooker explosion in one of the shops. Properties worth millions were destroyed.

Eyewitnesses said ‘area boys’ attempted to quell the fire before the police arrived at 6pm. Lagos State Fire Service officials (LSFS) arrived at 8pm when the “enormous damaged had been done”, sources said.

A shop owner, Alhaji Babafemi Ojora, lamented his loss: “I have lost everything, only God can replace everything I have lost but I thank God Almighty for my life”.

He hailed the area boys for their efforts in containing the fire before the fire fighters’ arrival.

Isa Abdullah, another described the incident as sad.

He said: “I sat down immediately I heard not minding where I was at that point. I came to Lagos from Jigawa State to earn a living and now I am left with nothing, what would my wife and my children live and feed on?”

Other shop owners expressed their grief amid tears. Many stood by the remains of their burnt shops.

A mechanical Engineer, who declined to give his name, said he just acquired machines worth N7million days before the inferno.

He blamed the fire service for not responding fast enough.

“They didn’t show up until everything has been razed,” he said.

A resident, who gave his name simply as Mohammed, said the inferno was the first he would witnessed

By Olawale Balogun and Queen Elawure

since the market was built.

“We have never experienced such a devastating loss, we pray such incident never repeats itself and the market regains its stance,” he said.

Another witness said the fire started from one of the shops at the 7up area of Ijora, where black oil’s stored.

Confirming the incident, SouthWest Zonal spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Ibrahim Farinloye said the affected buildings belong to Bayelsa State Government.

Farinloye said: “About 109 shops and residential buildings were consumed in the fire outbreak at the scene, located in open space belonging to the Bayelsa State Government besides the 7up Bottling Company, Ijora.

“One person who sustained serious burns was rescued and taken to the hospital.

“The fire started from a shop filled with drums of black oil. People are also using the space as residence,” he said.

NAN recalls that early in the year, two people were burnt to death in an early morning fire that ravaged no fewer than 10 buildings, including a brothel in Ijora.

The January 15 inferno also destroyed properties worth millions of naira.

Several people, mostly sex workers and their customers were injured in their attempt to escape.

The victims were identified simply as John and Yaro and they were

•The burnt market...yesterday

•Mohammed

•Abdullahi

•Ojora

reportedly sleeping in one of the burnt buildings when the fire started.

Fire fighters’ to put out the fire were

threathen by irate hoodlums.

The fire was said to have started following a power surge from one of

the affected buildings and spread rapidly because of the nature of the wooden houses.

LUTH doctors, others robbed

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RMED robbers struck at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) last Thursday, dispossessing doctors and others of valuables.

Some doctors were in the ARD Lounge, preparing for their examinations while others were relaxing when the robbers struck at about 7.30am A victim said: "The first that entered wore a clinical coat. As he entered, he just shouted: 'This is armed robbery; all of you, cooperate and face down. If you make any move, I will waste your life.' Three others soon joined him. The first person was holding a pistol and he pointed it at each of us. We lost working tools such as iPads, handsets - some of those phones are expensive and some lost personal effects.

At the end, they left through the backdoor. That was highly curious to some of us. The experience that we medics can be robbed at gunpoint at a place considered

By Oyeyemi GbengaMustapha

our safe zone is really scary.

"The issues that really baffled us include how it happened, despite the security measures put in place by the management.

There are suspects - people hanging around that we did not feel comfortable with. The association has lodged a complaint with the Alakara Police Station in Mushin and also with the one attached to the hospital. There was a lady medic in our midst; we thank God that she was neither harassed nor assaulted."

Another said: "Some of us were there at the Lounge because we were on call duty; some go there because of the guarantee that there would be electricity. Most of us are sitting for our different examinations; so we read there.

Of interest is that the assailants were all in clinical coats. And we deduced that there was at least, one person outside who was giving others signals. There are sus-

PHOTO: JOHN EBHOTA

pects and the management is already handling the case.

"So also, the security breach baffled us. A security officer was on duty at that time; even if he couldn't shoot, he should have raised the alarm to attract reinforcement while taking to his heels. We observed that the assailants were in a haste to do their thing and move on. They carted the stolen things inside a bag of a colleague. They even took away log books and case notes meant for the examinations.

"The most disturbing thing is the gate at the back of the lounge.

Most people, including doctors, did not know it existed. It was perpetually under lock. But that was their escape route and it was opened. That indicates that it was a well-planned crime involving an insider. The incident is a trauma for some of us. Some of us still wake up with a jerk around that time every day since that fateful day."

Four jailed 24 years for oil theft

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FEDERAL High Court in Lagos yesterday sentenced four men to 24 years imprisonment for stealing petroleum products belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Justice Okon Abang convicted Yama Abass, Adeleke Adetoro, Olaniyi Tope and Beliya Abegunde for stealing 33, 000 litres of petrol worth N3.2million.

They, with some persons still at large, were said to have conspired and damaged oil pipelines last July 13, and stole 33,000 litres of petrol belonging to the NNPC along Epe/Ikorodu road.

They were arrested while selling the products to some gas stations.

The offence, according to the prosecution, contravened Sections 390 and 516 of the Criminal Code, Laws of the Federation, and Section 7(a) (b) of the Miscellaneous Offence Act, 2004.

The court, however, discharged and acquitted Alabi Olayinka, who was arraigned

Two bag 31 years jail for robbery, kidnapping of mariner

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USTICE Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos High Court in Ikeja, yesterday sentenced two men, Sunday Akala and Monsuru Oduntan, to 31 years imprisonment each for robbery and kidnapping.

They were found guilty of conspiracy, robbery and kidnapping of a mariner, Omosebi Oluwafemi.

Tunde Fayomi (32), the second defendant, died during the trial.

Akala, 35, and a Master Degree holder, was said to have conspired with Odutan, 38, and others to kidnap his friend, Oluwafemi, because he needed money to pay his house rent.

By Adebisi Onanuga

The convicts were arraigned by Lagos State Government on a three-count charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery and kidnapping.

The prosecutor, Hafeez Owokoniran, told the court that the offence contravened Section 402 (2) (a) of the Criminal Code of Lagos State 2003.

Delivering judgement, Justice Okunnu held that the statements were not obtained under duress, adding that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Justice Okunnu however absolved the convicts of armed robbery.

The judge held that the prosecution was unable to prove whether the convicts’ weapon was a gun.

She said: “The evidence before the court shows that there was robbery and not armed robbery.

“I have considered carefully the facts of this case. As I have always said, it is for the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt.

Judging by the evidence, I find that there was a robbery when the money was collected from PW1 (Oluwafemi).

“I find PW2 and PW3 as credible

evidence. The prosecution has largely succeeded in proving its case. I hereby find them guilty of conspiracy, robbery and kidnapping of Oluwafemi,” the judge said.

The judge thereafter asked the convicts if they had anything to say before delivering her judgement.

While Odutan said he had nothing to say Akala pleaded with the court to have mercy on him.

After listening to the plea of the convicted persons, Justice Okunnu sentenced each of them to 21 years for conspiracy to commit robbery and 10 years for kidnapping.

“The sentences are to run concurrently,” the judge added.

By Precious Igbonwelundu

alongside the convicts last August, because there is no evidence linking him to the crime.

It noted that Olayinka would have a good case against the police if he sued for unlawful arrest, detention and malicious prosecution.

Delivering judgement, Justice Abang ordered the petrol station that bought the stolen product from the convicts to return N3.2million to the Federal government within seven days.

The court also ordered the auctioning of the tanker used in conveying the stolen product within 14 days of the judgment, and the proceeds remitted to government.

Justice Abang described the convicts as harbingers of evil, adding that they do not deserve sympathy for their economic crime against the nation.

He turned down the defence counsel's plea for mercy, insisting that people shouldn't commit crime and expect the court to show them mercy.

The judge attributed the fuel scarcity being suffered by Nigerians to the activities of the convicts and their cohorts, adding that they should not plant thorns and expect to harvest flowers.

"They have no sympathy for this country and the citizens. In spite of all the efforts made by the Federal Government to protect the petroleum pipelines and make petrol accessible with ease, the convicts and their cohorts have made consistent efforts to sabotage and frustrate the efforts of government," he said.

The court held that the jail term would begin from July 13, last year and run concurrently.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

11

CITYBEATS Foundation empowers Boko Haram victim, others A CITYBEATS LINE: 09091178827

NON-PROFIT-making Organisation Fatima Charity Foundation (FCF), yesterday empowered 10 widows, including a woman whose husband was killed by the Boko Haram insurgents.

The event, which was held at the Cathedral Primary School, Lagos Island, featured lecture, goodwill messages and distribution of materials to the widows.

The foundation's President, Chief Bintu-Fatima Tinubu, urged the society not to see widows as liabilities.

Chief Tinubu, wife of former police chief, the late Kafaru Tinubu, said: "I know people look down on widows, but today I want to say that we are not liability widows; we are able widows. We are workers, labourers, mothers and professionals in our own rights. We do not want to be pitied; rather we want to be given a place and a fair chance like everyone in the society. We are able widows because singlehandedly without our spouses, we have brought up worthy and great citizens."

Chief Tinubu thanked God for making many widows stand the test of time.

"We are not going to give up because we have a lot to give out to make Nigeria better. So, I stand with you and share in your joy, sor-

•Ama Muhammed •Chief Tinubu (second left) assisted by Hon Idayat Anifowose (third left); Alhaja Agbalajobi (second right) Alhaja Sekinat Yusuf (right) to present sewing machine to Mrs Sherifat Ojo. With them is Alhaja Khadijat Ife Shabi (left) ...yesterday PHOTO: TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

row, success and I say it is time for empowerment. Together, we will go out there and prove our worth and strength," she said.

The guest speaker, Alhaja Simbiat Agbalajobi, wife of former Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship

aspirant, the late Prof Femi Agbalajobi, wondered why the society stigmatises the widows and condemned the attitude.

According to her, widowhood is not a disease, adding: "Anybody's husband can die whether old or young. That doesn't mean the end of the world."

Life, she said, sometimes could be disastrous if a widow didn't gather herself on time and move on with her life.

According to her, the experience of mourning period is not palatable.

Alhaja Agbalajobi enjoined government at all levels to evolve empowerment

programmes for widows, saying they shouldn't be left uncatered for.

"Widows are part of the society; they have ways of assisting the society to develop if given proper orientation and a sense of belonging," she said.

One of the beneficiaries, Ama Muhammed, whose

was among the victims of Boko Haram insurgents, said life had been tough since her husband's death.

According to the mother of five, her husband died during the bomb blast in Maiduguri, Borno State capital that killed scores of people a few months ago.

She thanked the foundation for coming to her aid.

Ama said she had been selling snacks to cater for the children's needs.

Lagos CJ withdraws case from magistrate

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AGOS Chief Judge, Justice Funmilayo Atilade has withdrawn from Chief Magistrate Adeola Adedayo the case of two brothers following petition.

Sulaiman and Kehinde Sanusi petitioned Justice Atilade, accusing Chief Magistrate Adedayo of bias following her allegation that they wanted her dead.

The brothers are being tried by the Chief Magistrate for illegal possession of firearms and disobeying court orders.

Yesterday, when the clerk called the case, the prosecutor, S. Dawodu told the court that there is a new legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

Apparently unaware that the case file has been recalled, Chief Magistrate Adedayo requested for it from the registrar: but the registrar answered: “They have called for the file from Ikeja.”

Addressing the court, the chief magistrate said: “The case file is not here. I have nothing to write on. The file has been taken to Ikeja”.

The defendants and their lawyer were absent.

In the new legal advice, it was gathered that the DPP recommended Sulaiman for trial

By Precious Igbonwelundu and Adebisi Onanuga

for illegal possession of firearms.

It, however, exonerated Kehinde of any wrong-doing.

The police are alleging in charge A/143/2014 that Sulaiman unlawfully possessed firearms, contrary to Section 104(1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2011 and Section 4 of the Firearms Act. The brothers and their other siblings have been squabbling over their father’s estate.

In 2002, Sulaiman and two of his siblings, filed suit ID/ 904M/2002, challenging the powers of three others whom their father appointed as executors of his estate.

They accused the executors of mismanaging their father’s estate.

Ruling on the case in 2006, Justice Elfreda WilliamsDawodu ordered Sulaiman to produce all documents in his custody to the estate.

He also directed the respondents to resume joint management of the estate in line with their father’s will executed by late F.R.A. Williams (SAN).

The respondents were also ordered to return to court to submit a report of stewardship on the estate.

•Scene of an accident at the Shogunle Railway Crossing, Ikeja, Lagos...yesterday

Woman, 91, threatens to occupy Fashola’s office

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91-YEAR-OLD woman has threatened to occupy the Lagos State Governor’s office if the Metropolitan College and Isolo Secondary School are not returned to her within seven days.

Rotary to begin Conference tomorrow

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HE Rotary District 9110 will tomorrow begin the 33rd edition of its Conference.

The Conference is a climax of the activities of the year and will hold in Abeokuta from 13-16 and is tagged Olumo 2015.

Annually, the conference serves as an opportunity for members of the District, which comprises Lagos and Ogun, to meet and showcase their activities in the past year and to also prepare participants for the upcoming International Conference.

Governor of the District, Dr Dele Balogun, said the theme for the three-day event is Keep the Service Flame Burning.

There, he will give account of his stewardship in the last 10 months, present his scorecard and programmes geared towards improving service to the community. Also, it will serve as an

PHOTO: RAHMAN SANUSI

By Nneka Nwaneri

opportunity for members and non-members to learn more of the Rotary and share ideas on contemporary issues.

Expected to speak at the event are Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and former Secretary of Health Prince Julius AdelusiAdeluyi as a guest speaker. The event will be wrapped up with a dinner on Friday Dr Balogun also announced that screening and free surgery for those with eye cataracts is on for 100 people at the Rotary Club of Palmgrove which will end on Saturday.

Also, 200 amputees will benefit from getting artificial feet, courtesy of the Rotary Clubs of VGC, Palmgrove and Ogudu among other on-going projects of the District.

By Precious Igbonwelundu

The nonagenarian, Mrs Roseline Ololo, made the threat yesterday in a statement by her lawyer, Malcolm Omirhobo.

She vowed to permanently occupy the governor’s office until her requests were met.

The woman with her late husband, Chief Michael Ololo founded the college in 1955 through their firm, Akaix West Africa Limited.

But the school was taken over in 1976, following the military regime’s Education (Private Secondary Institutions Special Provisions) Law then under which 48 private secondary schools were acquired.

Subsequently, the Isolo Secondary School was established on the same premises as the Metropolitan College.

But in 2001, the Bola Tinubu administration repealed the law and returned the schools, including Metropolitan College, to their owners after an agreement with the founders at Arbitration Court.

However, trouble started following the Ministry of Education’s insistence to retain Isolo Secondary School.

Akaix West Africa said the retention of part of the school was against government’s restructuring of the education system of divesting and allowing private sector investment.

Following the disagreement, Mrs Ololo was said to have written to Fashola, urging him to present the matter at the state executive council meeting for deliberation.

In pursuit of her case, the nonagenarian said she has decided to occupy the governor’s office in protest against the undue delay in returning her school.

“My client desperately wants her school to be given to her in her lifetime because the school is the family legacy. Mama and her late husband worked hard to build the school and they cannot sit back and watch when the other schools have since been returned to their owners.

“We don’t have any problem in terms of running the school effectively and efficiently. We are capable and we have agreed that we should be sanctioned if we don’t run the school properly. So, there is really no reason for the delay in returning everything to us,” the lawyer stressed.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

12

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Commercial banks are not manufacturing-friendly as their interest rates are usually very high; therefore, commercial banks remain a major challenge to the sector. Even the Bank of Industry’s (BoI) framework, which pegs interest rate at nine per cent, only finances machinery acquisition; it does not cater for working capital.

-MAN President, Dr Frank Jacobs

Power generation capacity hits 6,000Mw, says Sambo

V

• From left: Chairman, Tractor Owners & Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria (TOHFAN), Alhaji Danladi Garba; Senator Jibril Bello Gada; Treasurer, TOHFAN, Alhaji Abdullahi Lawal; Acting Zonal Head, Kaduna, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Mrs. Folashade Adigun and Head, Agric Department, FCMB, Mr. Kudzai Gumunyu, at the handing over of 67 units of tractors, financed by FCMB, to the association in Kaduna.

Fed Govt unveils 2015 rice import allocations N

IGERIA’S rice import target for this year has been reduced to 1.3 million metric tonnes.

In a letter signed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi A. Adesina, and addressed to the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, he said a domestic supply gap of 1.3 million MT was determined for 2015, down from 1.5 million in 2014.

He said one million MT of this quota had been set aside as allocations to existing rice millers, importers and new investors with approved Domestic Rice Production Plans (DRPP), at a preferential levy of 20 per cent and duty of 10 per cent.

By Chikodi Okereocha

This year’s supply gap is 200,000 MT lower than 2014, as rice importers with no DRPP will account for the remaining 0.3 million MT at the higher levy of 60 per cent and duty of 10 per cent.

In 2014, rice importers and new investors were required to post a Domestic Rice Production Performance Bond from a qualifying bank to clearly demonstrate their commitment to domestic investment plans in rice production and processing.

Under this year’s import quota, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, identified 22 compa-

nies that will receive quota allocations for 2015 out of the number that was approved last year.

In the letter titled, “Approved List of Companies Allocated Rice Import quota for April 2015- March 2016 period”, it is stated that certain criteria informed the trimming down of the number of companies from last year’s figure.

It reads in part: “In line with the Federal Government’s policy (“the Policy”) to ensure self-sufficiency in rice by 2014, domestic rice production and milling operations continue to rise, which has resulted in a reduction in rice requirements of the country”.

As was the practice in 2014 and in line with the policy, the allocation of import quotas continues to be made along the explicit criteria set for encouraging domestic production and domestic milling of rice, to lead to selfsufficiency. These criteria are based on the extent of existing domestic milling capacity as well as along four (4) specific items that assess each company’s ongoing investment outlay into domestic rice production and milling.

These include the following: Domestic Rice Production Plan (DRPP): demonstrate evidence of current or planned investment in domestic rice production over a 3-year period, size of investment, proof of land acquisition and establishment of rice fields and paddy production, paddy purchase outlook from Paddy Aggregation Centres (PAC): Demonstrate a clear plan of purchase of paddy from PACs, should include location of PACs, volumes of paddy to be purchased among others.

ICE President Namadi Sambo yesterday said the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) now has 6000megawatts (Mw) generation capacity.

Speaking during the inauguration of the 330/132KV Transmission Substation in Gwagwalada, Abuja, he confirmed the position of the Minister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nebo, that were it not for gas challenge, the electricity market can generate 6,000Mw He added that the electricity market has 5,500Mw transmission capacity.

Sambo said: “At present, as confirmed by the minister of power, the generation level is about 6,000Mw. And we can wheel up to 5,500Mw.” He noted that based on what the administration has done in the power sector, posterity would place them on the right side of history.

His words: “We shall continue to make our contributions. We are confident that posterity will place us on the right side of history.”

Urging vandals to keep off the installation, Sambo called on the residents of Gwagwalada to keep surveillance on the substation.

The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) which constructed the facilitty through Chinese Construction Company (CCC) International, will in its second phase of the project, focus mainly on the construction of hydro power plants in northern Nigeria, he said.

Sambo said: “In its phase two mandate, the NDPHC will vigorously pursue the construction of hydro power plants mainly in the northern axis to assure a mixed grid distribution.

“Currently, the company plans to construct new nine and hydro power plants, which includes the Mambilla hydro power plant that will generate 3050Mw. “

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

The Vice President said with the completion of the project, system stability in the national grid would improve.

Justifying the decisions of the company and that of the National Council on Privatisation in the implementation of power projects in the country, Sambo said: “ I will use this opportunity to assure all Nigerians that all the decisions and project implementations both Niger Delta Power Holding Company and the National Council on Privatisation, all decisions are taken on sound professional advice and sound decision to ensure that we succeed in Nigeria in providing power for the benefit of Nigerians and development.”

Nebo said the Federal Government had looked forward to the completion of the project before now but there were some hiccups that delayed it.

He appealed to vandals of power installations to give the power sector a chance .

Nebo said: “We plead with those who are vandalising our gas to power infrastructure to give Nigeria a chance to celebrate what this administration has done . Because today, we do not only have the capacity to generate about 6,000Mw of power if we have the gas, also to wheel out through transmission over 5,500Mw.” The Managing Director NDPHC, Mr. James Olotu noted that the sub-station would improve electricity supply and the quality of life.

The chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Senator Philip Aduda, who noted that the sub- station will boost power supply to the Northcentral zone, said energy generated in the NESI will be stranded or useless if it is not transmitted.

Oil workers dare AMCON over N3b payment M

EMBERS of the Ni gerian Union of Pe troleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), yesterday vowed to die, if the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) fails to pay the N3 billion belonging to its members.

Chairman of the Seawolf Branch oF NUPENG, Christian Okoji, who spoke during a protest he led to AMCON’s office inAbuja, said AMCON had been owing the workers for 18 months, including their salaries and terminal benefits.

He said: “Precisely December 2013, AMCON came and bought the company. So when they came, they assured us that they are going to change the system because the former management was having financial constraint.

“Based on that, they came and asked us to denounce our former company and

From Chioma Onyia, Kehinde Ore and Hope Ayorinde, Abuja

send all our personal data to them and from that moment they will be paying the salaries.”

He stated that AMCON only paid them for two months, December 2013 and January last year respectively.

“We have been working, the three rigs, one of the rigs was working with Total, one with Addax and the last with Conoil. They were all working making good money. The least payment for those rigs was about $130,000 per day.

So the rigs were making so much money. At the end of the day, AMCON refused to continue the payment of salaries. So our organisation which is Nupeng called them

to order to know the fate of the workers and know why AMCON has refused to pay their members Responding for AMCON, its Executive Director, Credit, Abbas Mohammed Jega said Seawolf is owing AMCON and can not pay the protesters until the company pays them.

“Now Seawolf took a loan from FirstBank and bought rigs and they couldn’t operate the rigs very well and they were losing money, they were losing contracts, they couldn’t pay back the loan to FirstBank. So FirstBank asked us to buy the loan so we bought the loan from First Bank and we called the owners of Seawolf to come and pay their loans, come and tell us how you want to pay the loan, for over a year we were looking at the figures we couldn’t agree, seawolf is not in a position to do business and to pay the loans.”

TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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THE NATION

BUSINESS TRANSPORTATION

E-mail: ynotaderibigbe@gmail.com

Lagos to get taxi directory T

O erase commuters’ pains, a directory of the 289 parks where they can get taxis and cabs will soon be unveiled by the Lagos State Government.

The directory, sponsored by the state’s Taxi Drivers and Cab Operators Association, contains the number of parks in 17 of the 20 old local governments in the state, where the association has its branches.

The local governments are: Agege, 12 parks, Ajeromi Ifelodun (4), Alimosho (21), Amuwo-Odofin (4), Apapa (12), Eti Osa (14), IfakoIjaiye (13), Ikeja (19), Ikorodu (23), Kosofe (30), Lagos Island (13), Mainland (34), Mushin (29), Ojo (1), Oshodi Isolo (10), Shomolu (15) and Surulere (35).

The 19-page manual exclusively obtained by The Nation, it was learnt, is to further make taxis more accessible to passengers.

A top official in the Ministry of

Stories by Adeyinka Aderibigbe

Transportation, who preferred not to be named, said the directory would be widely circulated after its approval by the government, adding that residents can call for taxis from anywhere without necessarily going to the park.

He said: “The directory is to make commuting more pleasurable in the state. It not only contains the number of parks in each of the local governments, it has the locations and addresses of these parks and the telephone numbers to call for the provision of a taxi on request by any commuter.”

This, he added, is in line with what obtains globally, where travellers have the option of calling for taxis for easy mile-to-mile commuting. According to him, when it eventually takes off, it will erase the use of motorcycles and tricycles as options for commuting,

• Taxi cabs directory coming

while promoting the taxi culture.

Though Commissioner for Transportation Kayode Opeifa could not confirm when the directory would come into force, it was learnt that it is part of the state’s strategic transport master plan, meant to change public transportation culture.

At the presentation of free licences to taxi and cab operators last month, Opeifa said his ministry

now has a data base of all operators, adding that the licence is to further make taxis safer, secure, affordable and more reliable.

Governor Babatunde Fashola, who approved 14,000 licences for taxi and cab operators, said taxis would be a major vehicle for tourism, nothing that this is the sector where the state has comparative advantage and can get more inter-

nal revenue.

“As the night economy gets stronger and more tourism sites are being completed and more continues to emerge, it would require the service of comfortable taxis and cabs to take people round the state and as the state makes more money from these resorts and tourism sites, so would these drivers,” Fashola said.

Speed limiter not available, drivers allege

T

WENTY days to the expiration of the deadline for the installation of speed limiters on commercial vehicles, trucks, trailers and other articulated vehicles, commercial drivers are complaining about the nonavailability of the device.

Those who spoke to The Nation said they could not get the device to buy, arguing that it would be wrong for the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to begin enforcement under such a situation.

The deadline for the installation of the device is June 1.

A driver, Jelil Abdulkareem, who operates at the Ojota Park, said he had gone twice to the accredited retailers of the device but could not get it.

Another, who identified himself as Abraham, said the device is scarce, wondering how the agency could go ahead with its enforcement when many drivers were yet to get it.

Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation Kayode Opeifa also raised some of these concerns at the last stakeholders’ meeting, in Lagos last Tuesday.

He said besides unavailability of the equipment, FRSC must look at the fundamental rights of some individuals, especially, drivers who may insist that they do not need any device to regulate their speed.

The device, he noted could be introduced where there is growing indiscipline, arising from overspeeding, adding: “The government has a responsibility to ensure that lives are protected. You have no right to kill or maim any Nigerian just because you wanted to make money as a driver. That is why the FRSC has come up with the speed limiter which ensures that it regulates your speed and keep you and others safe.”

The FRSC Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi said the limiter is a global solution to reducing the rising road fatalities.

He said no fewer than 7, 308 lives were lost to road accidents in the past 15 months noting: “At the last year world remembrance for road traffic crashes victims, the

focus was on speed, speed is one of the leading causes of death globally.

“In 2014, we recorded 10, 380 Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) and about 6,000 lives were lost and 2,063 were injured.

“And for this year, in the first quarter of 2015, we recorded 2,342 RTC while 1,308 lives were lost and these are our future leaders.

“We have identified, that in all these reports, 50.8 per cent of the crashes were speed related and loss of control carried 16 per cent.

“Speed is a key factor in crashes and once we can tame this, I am sure things will be much better.

“This led to the global recommendation that speed limiting devices should be introduced in every country as part of the global strategies to curb losses on roads.”

The Corps, Oyeyemi said, targets zero death in crashes adding that it is committed to the United Nations Action Plan on reduction of road fatalities by 50 percent.

He said all the stakeholders agreed to begin the enforcement on June 1.

Oyeyemi said the enforcement would be in phases, with FRSC starting with commercial vehicles.

According to him, the organised transport sector has seen the device’s benefits, which he said, include controlling fuel consumption, enhancement of the lifespan of vehicles, elimination of crashes, reduction in carbon emission and zero death.

He said at the African Action Plan summit held in Accra, Ghana recently, only Kenya had

demonstrated a serious implementation of the installation of the device.

He said the commission had started training its personnel to ensure maximum compliance and enforcement.

He commended the Federal Government for improved road network stressing however that no road in the country met the minimum requirement of an expressway.

Minister of Works Mike Onolememen, represented by Mr Adetokunbo Sogbesan, said the menace of Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) had become a concern to the government.

The Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Dr Joseph Odumodu said the device would be built into the vehicle engines to checkmate

speed.

Odumodu, represented by Mr Richard Adewumi, SON’s Head of Electrical, presented a paper titled: ‘Speed Limiting Devices: Requirements and Specifications for System Components and Implementation’.

He said: “No matter the level of acceleration the driver want to attained once the maximum speed is set, you can go beyond it.

“The essence of the standard is to prevent people from committing suicide.’’

The director said the device has a recorder that could print out the speed record when a driver is stopped by traffic agents.

He said environmental issues such as temperature, salty water, dust, heat, contaminants, etc were factored into the device for effective operation.

‘500 kids killed in road crashes daily’

By Olalekan Ayeni

• Adetunji

T

HE Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has urged school bus drivers to be safety conscious and make the roads safe for users, especially pupils.

At the third United Nations Road Safety Week, which ended last Sunday, the agency said it was worrisome that 500 children are killed daily globally.

Speaking on the theme: “Children and road safety” at the Ogun State Sector Command headquarters in Abeokuta, the Sector Com-

mander, Adegoke Adetunji, said the growing rate of child fatalities informed the UN’s directive to organise a child road safety week to draw attention to the need to keep the roads safe for children. The event, he noted, was organised across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

It was also a part of the UN’s decade of action on road safety, which mandated all member-nation to reduce the rate of road traffic crashes (RTC) as well as fatalities to 20 percent by year 2020.

Adetunji said the one-week campaign was to enlighten the public on the need to consider children’s safety on roads.

He said: “Children are the leaders of tomorrow and the future of a nation. Thousands of them are being killed and deformed on the roads around the world every day, because of what the elderly ones do or fail to do when they are behind the wheels.”

A nation that desires a better future must protect its children, he said, adding that there is need for road discipline for children’s sake.

He said road indiscipline exposes children to dangers and many children may not have the chance to grow old as they may be involved in fatal accident.

He appealed to parents, drivers and mototcyclists to be safety conscious whenever they are driving close to school premises or wherever children can easily be found, so that the roads can be made safe for them.

Adegoke urged parents to consider children’s safety while travelling, saying it is wrong to allow children between ages one and 12 months to sit in front of a car.

“Most parents/drivers allow minors to sit in front of a vehicle; this is abnormal and very bad. Such a parent, he said is exposing the child to a grave danger in case of any crashes. He noted that parents must always use a baby car seat for their minors, for him/her to be adequately protected in case of any crash because children are more prone to injuries or being killed whenever accident occur on the road.”

“Parents should stop putting their children on the lap or chest while

driving; this, he said, is the easiest way of exposing children to crashes.

It is better for a child to cry than sending him/her to an early grave,” Adegoke said.

The FRSC boss urged parents to always use the safety lock when on motion and restrain them from playing with it. “Children are innocent, they don’t know anything, but it is the duty of the parents to protect them against dangers,” he added.

He appealed to Nigeria Union of Teachers to assist in spreading this children road safety proclamation among the pupils, parents and the public.

Adegoke urged school proprietors to comply with the new school bus designs as approved by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

He advised parents/guardians and school owners to always ensure the safety of their children/wards from home to school and back, urging them to avoid putting their children on okada.

He also warned the parents against the use of pick-up vans to convey children to school, imploring proprietors to comply with the guidelines to avoid arrest when enforcement begins.

14

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12 2015

THE NATION

BUSINESS AVIATION Airports are deploying cutting edge technology to ease passenger travel. There are common users self check in kiosks, electronic boarding gates and baggage reconciliation system. Terminal operators and airlines are considering ways of reducing processing costs and time for passengers. When will Nigerian airports follow suit? KELVIN OSA- OKUNBOR asks.

Flying with ease W

HETHER for local or international trips, check -in of passengers is not always pleasant.

Over 15 million passengers who use the airports yearly have stories to tell. Some of the challenges they face are unduly long queues and duplication of efforts by agencies checking passengers' documents and baggage, among others.

But travel experience can be enhanced if cutting edge technology is deployed to save time, reduce stress and eliminate bottlenecks .

The International Air Transport Association ( IATA), the Airports Council International (ACI ) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation ( ICAO ) have, over the years mandated airport and terminal operators in Africa to install state-of-the-art equipment to ease passengers' travel.

According to studies carried out by IATA, the aviation industry could save as much as $ 1 billion annually and enjoy over 40 per cent market penetration if airport terminal managers and airlines install self-service check-in facilities .

Despite the accruing benefits of installing such facilities at airports, Nigeria and other African countries, have failed to comply with the mandate of the global bodies.

Unfortunately, the multi-billion naira airport remodelling projects still ongoing at 22 airports nationwide did not factor in the installation of common user check - in kiosks , electronic boarding gates as well as baggage reconciliation system.

According to experts, about 30 minutes spent on processing individual passengers at Nigerian airports could be reduced if the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN) deploys common user self check-in kiosks, electronic boarding gates and baggage reconciliation systems at terminals to facilitate domestic, regional and international travels.

The slow march towards the use of technology at airports has raised questions about the competence of government agencies to run airport terminals, which have been effectively managed by the private sector in other parts of the world .

This has fuelled agitations for the privatisation of airports by some experts, who argue that if airports are left in private sector hands, they would function effectively with the deployment of modern facilities as obtainable in other parts of the world .

Worried over this trend, Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka, last week said government has approved contract for the installation of modern check-in facilities at the nation’s major international airports.

Chidoka said it is disturbing that Nigerian airports are not measuring up with global airport terminals in terms of the use of technology to make air travel easy.

Passengers using self check-in facilities at the airport

He said airports in the country ought to have world class facilities, which private sector managed terminals should emulate.

He spoke in Lagos at the commissioning of the Common User Passenger Processing System (CUPPS) at the Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, BASL, operators of the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 (MMA2), Lagos.

Common use self-service (CUSS) is a shared kiosk, offering airport check-in to passengers without any need for ground staff.

The CUPPS is the first of its kind in Nigeria and it is the latest automated technology in fasttracking passenger facilitation at the airport.

He praised the owners and operators of the airport, saying: "MMA2 has offered a template on how government should go about handling of Nigerian airports.

"We have decided to change the system and MMA2 has beaten us to it. We need to improve passengers' experience. I want other terminal operators to emulate the continuous improvements we are seeing in MMA2. What MMA2 has done is good for the system," he said.

The minister took a swipe at the infrastructural and equipment decay in the country's aviation industry, adding that urgent steps are needed to correct the anomalies.

According to aviation experts, the CUSS can be used by several participating airlines in a single terminal.

The first major installation of CUSS for multiple airlines was launched in 2003. By the end of 2008, CUSS had been implemented at more than 100 airports globally. But operators of BiCourtney Aviation Services Limited last week blazed the trail in

the country when it commissioned the facility at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two ( MMA 2 ), Ikeja, Lagos .

Speaking at the event, its chief operating officer , Mr Christophe Pennick, said the firm installed the facility to upgrade the terminal to a global standard.

He said it took 18 months of planning to ensure that passengers, airlines and ground handling companies enjoy the standard of services obtainable in other countries.

Pennick said: "We can proudly say that MMA2 will be the only airport terminal in Nigeria to have solely installed the latest version of a computer system that enables the passengers and terminal users as a whole, experience a fast, secured, safe and customer friendly way to board a flight.

"We have introduced selfchecking, automatic e-gates and a full Baggage Reconciliation System.

"The system we have put in place is the same as installed in major international airports like Charles De Gaulle, Bangkok International, the brand new airport terminal in Mauritius and over 200 airports worldwide.

"We changed all the check-in counters and scales and increased their number from 31 to 45. The design and manufacturing was done by the same company providing Amsterdam Schiphol and various other major international airports. We chose them for their quality of workmanship and product."

He said the computers at the check-in desks were all changed and each computer is connected to a brand new boarding pass printer and a new baggage tag printer, adding that each airline

has a ticket barcode scanner to call up the ticket immediately and without any keyboard input to accelerate the check-in process.

For passengers travelling without bags, he said the firm has purchased and installed four self-check-in kiosks.

"We have increased the security features at MMA2 by installing e-gates before the security screening point. As explained, this makes it virtually impossible for an unauthorised person to enter the sterile boarding zone.

"Each gate is now equipped with a boarding pass scanner and a brand new manifest printers.

The installation of PAXTRACK makes it possible to restrict access to certain zone based on the boarding pass; analyse the peaks and makes it easier for us to plan resources; locate a passenger within the terminal and enables the boarding agent to have a better on-time performance.

"The installation of a full baggage recovery system makes us the only terminal in Nigeria to offer an automated baggage reconciliation system as prescribed

by ICAO. "We're the only airport terminal in Nigeria that is providing baggage tags and boarding passes and the equipment was installed by our team and the system is owned by the airport.

"Our focus is the customer. Our drive is customer satisfaction and eventually the result is being the preferred airport terminal in Nigeria,"he said.

He explained that in its drive to being and remaining the best, it has chosen to ensure that the industry benefits from it, adding that the technology will process passengers faster, more secure

‘We can proudly say that MMA2 will be the only airport terminal in Nigeria to have solely installed the latest version of a computer system that enables the passengers and terminal users as a whole, experience a fast, secured, safe and customer friendly way to board a flight’

and certainly make passengers enjoy their journey more.

He said: "We, therefore, would appeal to the authorities that such investments in improvements in passengers' facilitation, increased safety and security and industry efficiency should be motivated through various ways."

By Nigerian standards, domestic airport terminals have either airlines and ground handlers operate with manual boarding passes or expect the airlines to install their own equipment.

"The philosophy we wanted to adopt at MMA2 was totally different. We want our customers and our customers' customers to experience the same level of service and similar technology as airports abroad.

"Passengers can enjoy easier and faster passage through the airport, due to less queues. Furthermore, CUSS kiosks can be located throughout the airport, ranging from car parks to transit areas, thus cutting down airport crowds.

"Economically, CUSS reduces the labour cost of ground staff required by manual check-in. With the introduction of CUSS, the check-in area at the airport can be reduced to enable more retail outlets, or entertainment facilities."

A passenger, who identified himself as Mr Foster Umen said in the last few years, airlines operating in busy airports around the world have been educating clients on the benefits and the use of self-service kiosks and online check-in services.

He said: "And while the queue remains, either for luggage check-in or for the use of kiosks themselves, the pure cost savings have encouraged the number of kiosks in use to grow.

"Airport self check-in technology has brought about massive cost savings. For the airlines, such technology has brought about massive cost savings."

Unlike in Nigeria, the use of kiosks have started to grow, and become an everyday part of airline travel.

New CUSS kiosks are being used by some airports to help ease security risks when processing customers travelling between different terminals for connecting flights or passengers travelling on numerous airlines.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

15

THE NATION

BUSINESS MARITIME

e-mail: maritime@thenationonlineng.net

Plan to stall Shippers’ Council gazette exposed

T

HERE is a plot to stop the gazetting of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) as a port economic regulator before President Goodluck Jonathan’s exit on May 29.

It was learnt that terminal operators, shipping firms, truck workers and some banks are working against the NSC being gazetted.

Sources at the Federal Ministry of Transport (FMT) said the plot is to ensure that the council remains a toothless bulldog.

A source, however, said the NSC is fighting back. It is said to have appointed three consulting firms to help it in discharging its obligation.

Stories by Oluwakemi Dauda MaritimeCorrespondent

The firms are CPCS, Nafith and Mark Analytical.

Contacted, the Executive Secretary, Hassan Bello, said the Canadian-based CPCS would guide it in its regulatory role. Nafith, a Jordanian firm based in the USA, would sanitise the ports as it did in Jordan.

Mark Analytical, which is affiliated to Lagos Business School, is expected to focus on manpower development, Bello said, adding that the Council, as an economic regulator, must ensure that the ports are competitive.

He said the legal framework

which the Council needs to carry out its new role has been signed by the President, adding that they still need to be gazetted for them to perform optimally.

Bello said after the implementation of the Federal Government’s port reform programme, which led to the concession of port terminals to private operators, the government noticed a disturbing vacuum in the maritime sector, including the absence of an economic regulator that would act as a referee in the industry.

He said: “The inefficiency in the procedures and operations of agencies and service providers, and even users, are adversely affecting and undermining Niger-

ia’s competitive advantage in international trade.

“That is why we are building capacity internally and restructuring the NSC. For you to carry out your assignment and have effective structure, you must build capacity and that is what we are doing to be more educated, more knowledgeable than the people we are regulating.”

The NSC scribe said the Council is expected to monitor and correct any lapses and address anti-competitive behaviours. The Council is to assess options for competition, decide on entry rules, regulate pricing and monitor outcomes.

Bello said effective regulation requires much more than just competent economic and financial

analysis, and as well manage the complex interaction with the regulated firms.

He said the NSC, as an umpire in port operations, is needed to make the process to be fair to all parties.

Bello said the Council is consulting widelyand meeting all stakeholders because the port economic regulation is not targeted at any groups of people.

“When you are regulating, you have to look at the sector holistically. The link to the chain must be very strong. That is why we are consulting with the terminal operators, shipping companies, truck owners, clearing agents, freight forwarders, insurance companies, banks and all those concerned,” he said.

Customs smashes smuggling ring in Imo

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• Some of the vehicles seized by Customs in Imo.

Agents accuse govt agencies of killing ports operation • Customs: agents, importers are dubious

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HE Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has berated the Federal Government for allowing its agencies to use discretionary powers to extort money from importers.

Importers, the group alleged, have been prevented from reaping the benefits of port concession because of the agencies’ ‘unlimited’ powers.

ANLCA President Prince Olayiwola Shittu blamed the agencies for corruption, inefficiency and high cost of operations at the ports.

Shittu said ports privatisation in other countries was done to benefit the economy, the citizens and successor companies. He lamented that the exercise has not benefited Nigerians except the few ‘money bags’ and foreigners, who took over the ports from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and some senior officials of government agencies at the ports.

Ports concession anywhere in the world is done with the primary aim of improving efficiency to bring about better infrastructure and services, with the attendant benefits to all parties, he said.

Shittu urged the government to look into the discretionary power given to its agencies at the ports because the current system has polluted the ports with bribery and corruption.

Shittu pointed out that some importers would have done their valuation and only want to use the agents to bribe the Customs and to bribe their way to move their consignments out of the ports. He added that the agents and importers should be blamed under such situation.

To other stakeholders, corruption should be blamed on government officials.

An importer, Mr Kayode Gbadamosi, said clearing agents and some importers would not give bribe unless some representatives of the government asked for it.

“Most officials of the government agencies at ports are all the same.

They are all partners in the crime because agents and importers must pass through them before moving their consignments out of the ports.

Once you take your document to them to sign, they believe you are in business together and you must give them their share, not minding the trouble you went through and where you got the money to bring the goods to the country,” Gbadamosi said.

But a senior Customs officer, who craved anonymity, said most of the agents and some importers are dubious.

“Government officials alone cannot be blamed. Most of the import-

ers are more dubious than government officials because they always want the officials to dance to their tunes and that is why they always look for ways to bribe them.

“If your declaration is genune and you are ready to pay correct duty, I don’t think there would be any need for you to give money to anybody if your transaction is not shady.

“Some importers bring in consignments, devalue the invoice and want the Customs to work with that invoice. The importer already wants to cheat government in duty and, at the end of the day, the agent becomes a tool in the hands of the importer. Nobody will see the importer; they only see the middleman that is running around, that is the agent.

“For instance, an importer gives an agent a job worth N600,000, but says he can only pay N50,000, knowing that N400,000 cannot cover the job. Some agents will jump at it and collect the money.

But, after some time, they will come back for more money. The importer would be forced to pay the money because they do not want their cargoes to remain in the port and that is when they will start to blackmail government officials that demand for the payment of the money to government purse.,” he said.

HE Nigeria Customs Serv ice (NCS), Federal Opera tions Unit (FOU) Zone ‘C’, in Owerri, the Imo State capital, has smashed a smuggling ring, which specialised in importing fake drugs and other prohibited items.

About 1,777 cartons of fake and sub-standard drugs, Super Mebendazole and Levamisole Hydrochloride, with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over N250 million, were seized.

The Area Controller, Mr David Dimka Victor, said the drugs were imported without NAFDAC’s registration, manufacturing batch numbers and expiry dates.

Dimka said the truck conveying the drugs was impounded on the Benin/Ore Expressway on a tip-off,.

The fake drugs, Dimka said, were handed over to NAFDAC Directors in-charge of Imo and Edo States, Mammael Victor and David West, on behalf of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi, for further investigation.

He expressed concern over the increasing cases of smuggling of illicit, unregistered drugs and contraband goods into the country in spite of severe punishment.

He said 193 bales of fairly used jumbo school bags and 780 bales of second hand clothing were impounded on the Eleme/Aba Road by men of the NCS, warning against the buying of used and expired tyres because of the problems and accidents they cause on the road.

He said other items seized included furniture, 599 bags of 50kg long grain parboiled rice and 182 flashy vehicles. He lamented that while many Nigerians preoccupy themselves with ideas to move the nation forward, and engage in decent means of livelihood, the shameless few involve themselves in acts capable of bringing the nation to ruin.

He, therefore, warned smugglers, their agents and collaborators to turn a new leaf before they are arrested, stressing that officers and men of the service are better equipped, informed and trained to dislodge smugglers across the country.

He appealed to members of the public with useful information about smugglers to always make them available to the nearest Customs Command for necessary action, pledging that such information would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

Sifax postpones shipping line’s visit

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IFAX Group has announced the postponement of the first call of MNM African Shipping Line’s MV Orient Spirit to Lagos port.

The group is the official agent of the new line in Nigeria and Ghana.

MNM is the first privately-owned African shipping line and would make calls at ports, such as Lagos, Barcelona, Sagunto, Tangier, Casablanca, Agadir, Nouakchott, Dakar, Conakry, Tema and Abidjan Its Managing Director, Mr. Markus Brinkmann, in a statement signed by the Group’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Muyiwa Akande, attributed the postponement to unforeseen patronage from some West African ports that the vessel was scheduled to visit before coming to Lagos.

“The MV Orient maiden call at

Lagos port has been postponed.

The vessel has been overbooked at the various ports she called in other West African countries. We are surprised by this level of trust and patronage already shown by clients on the very first voyage of the vessel.

“With our second vessel coming on stream shortly, this situation would be properly addressed and the enthusiastic Lagos market would be appropriately serviced,” Akande said.

The Sifax chief assured clients and stakeholders of the group’s resolve and that of the shipping line to provide international standards services; saying the objectives of promoting international trade and linking ports in Nigeria and other West African countries with new ones across Europe drive the shipping line.

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COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

LETTER

What Buhari needs to do on power

Devil in the subsidy •The fuel subsidy devil has grown more horns, defying logic and commonsense

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F Nigeria’s economy is a queer admixture of voodoism and avarice, the fuel subsidy syndrome must be magic of the most malevolent kind. For government economic managers and the Bretton Wood school of analysts, the issues are as complicated as rocket science. They insist market prices must be allowed to reign in the downstream oil sector otherwise supply of products will always fall short of demand and the economy will continue to bleed.

But for the average Nigerian, the matter is simple and straightforward. Extremely poor leadership class had failed to develop Nigeria’s oil sector and indeed, gave rise to a deadly cabal taking over the space. They also insist that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has outlived its purposes, having been circumscribed by enervating corruption.

‘We do not have the PPPRA’s numbers and its special abacus for generating spiralling subsidy figures in a period of falling crude prices. That would not matter anyway because there are devils both in PPPRA’s numbers and government’s logic.

This is simply manifest failure of the outgoing government, especially. It has left not just the oil sector in a mess, it has fouled up the entire economy in a way that it will take some time to clean up’

The arguments on the street have been quite simple and uncomplicated. First, Nigeria is one of the top 10 global crude oil producers, yet it is the only one that still imports petroleum products; recently spending about one quarter of its annual budget on this. Second, refineries – both public and private - are functioning in other countries, even in non-oil producing countries. In fact Nigeria ships large quantity of products from refineries in Cote D’Ivoire, a non-oil producing country.

Another galling argument is that each drop of crude oil shipped out bears over a dozen other products apart from the commonly used petrol. Nigeria therefore exports crude oil as a single product and at a single price but imports over a dozen refined products at premium prices. For instance, about N500 billion has been paid out to oil marketers this year alone for petrol imports, including interest rate differentials of about N40 billion. This is only as regards petrol (PMS) and kerosene. The foreign exchange cost of importing other products like diesel and other petroleum products and by-products which are supposedly deregulated, remain un-captured in Nigeria’s annual fiscal expenditure.

However, a more troubling proposition is what may be described as the Nigerian fuel quagmire - the so-called petrol subsidy by the Federal Government - no longer obeys economic rules, it seems. For example, when crude oil prices rose sharply in the international markets, there was pressure to increase the pump price of petrol in order to cut down on the sum required for subsidy.

In other words, high price of crude oil

is directly proportional to high price of refined petrol. In the past six months however, the price of crude has fallen by nearly half, yet the pump price of petrol in Nigeria has dropped by only about 10 per cent. Late last year when crude oil price fall manifested, daily subsidy on petrol was said to have dropped to 90 kobo per litre. As at late last week, daily subsidy had risen to about N45.21 according to the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

We do not have the PPPRA’s numbers and its special abacus for generating spiralling subsidy figures in a period of falling crude prices. That would not matter anyway because there are devils both in PPPRA’s numbers and government’s logic. This is simply manifest failure of the outgoing government, especially. It has left not just the oil sector in a mess, it has fouled up the entire economy in a way that it will take some time to clean up. A whopping N6.35 trillion is said to have been flushed down the subsidy drains in the last five years; half of it probably purloined. Half of this would have been sufficient to build a large capacity modern refinery over the same period. This would have ended products importation.

It goes without saying that petroleum is Nigeria’s number one asset. The Buhari administration must start by emplacing men and women of integrity at its helm so that they can revamp the rundown sector in record time. Going forward, the NNPC must render annual accounts publicly. There must be transparency. Old refineries must be fixed in record time.

New ones must be established also in record time. This is the way to go and no excuses will be acceptable anymore.

Downgrading Asaba Airport • Delta State govt should fix the place for normalcy to return soonest

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IVEN the reasons adduced by the Federal Government for downgrading the Asaba Airport in Delta State, on May 5, it would appear the government did the needful if only to ensure the safety and security of passengers. Air passengers’ lives, like the other passengers’, should not be endangered for any reason. We do not know what to make of an airport with undulating runways, or one without good perimeter fencing as well as other measures that could guarantee the safety and security of passengers.

What is particularly sad about the matter, apart from the fact that the absence of some critical facilities at the airport created a huge security risk for the travellers, was that the Federal Government had also drawn the attention of the state government to these laxities, stating that its inability to address them “violated the Compliance with safety standards as stipulated in the Nig CARS part 12.6.2 and 12.6.3”, without positive response from the state government.

The violations are also about associated facilities and adequately trained personnel. According to the Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, the downgrading of Asaba Airport was carried out in the public interest, as the FG “places very high premium on the safety and security of air passengers”. For this reason, the FG would “never compromise set standards

for whatever reason”.

What the downgrading implies is that the airport cannot operate commercial flights, except with small aircraft. According to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the regulators of the industry, the aircraft it can take include the Dash 8 or Q series aircraft with twin engine, medium range and turboprop airliners which can carry up to 80 passengers and are often used for commercial operations.

We would even have thought that the NCAA would stop all flight operations at the airport until the issues are addressed.

However, since the authority, in its wisdom, only chose to downgrade the airport, Delta State government, its owner, should heed the admonitions of the authority and fix all the facilities requiring fixing.

Without doubt, it is good that the airport was built, as it opened Delta State as a better and faster link between the South west and Northern states than the notorious Benin-Ore Expressway. The airway has transformed Asaba, the capital, significantly, making it a business outlet to the entire south of Nigeria.

Under the circumstances, it is good and proper for the Federal Government to have identified the problems with the airport and went ahead to ban it from taking big aircraft as a precautionary measure to possible air disasters. We can only hope that the ban or downgrading would be sustained until Delta State Government

realised the import of the ban and quickly attends to all the shortcomings. The earlier this is done, the better for the state and other states in the South south and South east.

We commend the NCAA for being proactive on the airport. As they say, ‘prevention is better than cure’. It is better to prevent avoidable air crashes and the attendant loss of lives than to take actions after the harm has been done. We have had enough of air disasters.

But Asaba Airport is not alone in terms of inadequate facilities in the country. The authority would do well to beam its searchlight on other airports, including the international ones, with a view to ensuring that they provide the basic tools for passengers’ safety, security and comfort.

‘We commend the NCAA for being proactive on the airport. As they say, ‘prevention is better than cure’. It is better to prevent avoidable air crashes and the attendant loss of lives than to take actions after the harm has been done. We have had enough of air disasters’

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IR: Now that the elections have been won and lost, the time for rhetoric is over; it is time for the winners to get into the serious business of governing and uniting Nigerians. It is gratifying to note that the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in his acceptance speech, hit the right tone by saying “You are all my people, I will treat you all as mine…..I pledge myself and our in-coming administration to just and principled governance. There shall be no bias against or favouritism for any Nigerian based on ethnicity, religion, region, gender or social status”.

He also promised to ensure “equity, fairness and justice for all Nigerians”. These are encouraging words and statements meant to heal the wounds caused during the electioneering Campaigns.

The energy crisis in Nigeria is real and for Gen. Buhari to be successful, he has to tackle the problem of power deficits seriously and transparently. Reliable and uninterrupted electricity supply is the key to industrialisation and sustainable development. It is the engine that drives all other segments. Increasing access to electricity in Nigeria’s urban and rural areas will jump-start our economy, help in job creation and improve the living conditions of the Nigerian people. After swearing in, Gen. Buhari should declare an emergency on the Power Sector, organise workshops both on national and zonal levels, invite stakeholders and prospective investors, lay down his plans and policies and provide enabling environment as well as incentives.

There are large coal deposits at Enugu which are untapped and can be used to generate electricity. Some Nigerian companies have been granted licences to mine and use coal for power but until now, nothing has been be done by these companies. I assume that their delay in taking off, may have to do with their inability to source the huge funds needed to build modern coal fired power plants and getting capable technical partners with the necessary know-how and technologies.

In today’s business world and in such capital intensive project like power, small companies have little chances of funding or access to credit facilities and in order to be successful and sustainable, they are merging and forming partnerships, therefore all those that obtained licences to build and operate power plants in different cones but have challenges should be made to pull their resources together as to build bigger and modern plants. In the case of Enugu Coal, a modern 2000 MW capacity coal fired power plant cost about •2 billion Euros.

The proposed coal and/or gas plants are critical and essential infrastructures, which Gen. Buhari´s administration needs to show serious commitment to as project financing shall not pose much problems. A German Consortium is ready to partner the Federal Government and/or Nigerian Consortium /Investors in this area and act as both co-financing and technical partners. The consortium requires at least 25% counterpart funding from the Federal Government and/or Nigerian Investors, while they provide the rest 75% of the Project Budget in form of Equity and Loan with 2% interest rate.

The job before General Buhari as the Nigeria’s next President is enormous and challenging, therefore there is no gain-saying the fact that he needs the support of all Nigerians both home and abroad as well as the meaningful contributions of all those who can help him fulfil his campaign promises. He needs technocrats as well as people who are practically oriented and can produce immediate results.

• Chief Joe Mmeh, Germany

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

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

•Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon

•Advert Manager Robinson Osirike

•Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina

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

•IT Manager Bolarinwa Meekness

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

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: Oath is defined as a formal promise to do something or a formal statement that something is true. An oath of office is a declaration a person takes or makes before undertaking the duties of an office, usually a position in government, an association, before the person exercise the powers of the office. Oaths of office are a statement of allegiance to the Government or people; some are affirmations of loyalty to a constitution or other legal scripts or to a person. Professions swear to statements that they will serve the people; plaintiffs and defendants swear to tell the truth in court and even couples also swear be it in court, church or nikkai that they will love, care for and be true to their partner.

Modern democracy is incomplete without oath-taking. At the inauguration of an administration, the President, his vice, governors and their deputies, ministers, commissioners and other appointees takes Oath of office. As the May 29 handover date approaches, Nigeria’s newly elected and appointed political leaders will once again be stepping forward to take an oath which will enable them to assume full responsibility of their respective offices. Over the years oath-taking in Nigeria has been reduced to a mere mockery of a failed system and the sensibility of Nige-

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Making a mockery of oath-taking rians. Government officials are as guilty as professionals in the discharge of their constitutional obligations. Their attitudes are a complete departure from their oath of office. They often deride the same people they have sworn to serve.

Total disregard to the provisions of the constitution they swore to uphold is the order of the day. Neither the professionals nor political office holders are excusable on this matter.

The core of oath taking has suffered a shipwreck and our society is sinking! Apart from the funfair and the wasteful ceremony that usually characterizes oath taking/ swearing-in in Nigeria, the whole essence and core value of the exercise ends with the funfair and merriment of the day. As soon as they get into office, political office holders almost immediately begins to act contrary to the contents of their oath of office. Executive and legislative recklessness, high profile

corruption, and all sorts of misconducts and abuse of office with impunity are usually the order of the day. Contrary to the contents of their Hippocratic Oath, doctors usually abandon their duty posts to embark on regular strikes. Lawyers are now dubbed liars; they manipulate the judicial system to suit their friends and the “highest bidder” contrary to the oath they took. Accountants and clerical workers have transformed into “pen robbers”.

There is urgent need for our institutions to be strengthened. It is meaningless for an elective or appointive office holder to mount the podium to take an oath of office when our institutions aren’t adequately empowered to bring offenders of oath breaking to book.

The EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau have been reduced to toothless bulldogs. The agencies saddled with the responsibility of upholding the rule of law are the ones breaking it and aiding injus-

tice. The reason why Nigeria’s voice is no longer respected among the comity of nations is that we do not obey our laws; our leaders are the chief breakers of the rule of law.

What made countries like the USA and China so great today is their strict obedience to their own laws, and offenders are squally brought to book by their strong institutions, no matter who is involved or how highly placed the offender. A former Egyptian President was sentenced few days ago alongside his sons, this is a perfect example of a “working” institution and Nigeria should learn from that. If our political office holders are aware that the law will always take its course if they do not adhere strictly to the contents of their oath of office, they will surely sit up and serve uprightly.

• Hussain Obaro, Ilorin-Kwara State

Nigeria needs a viable opposition IR: I wish to appreciate Asiwaju Bola Ammed Tinubu and General Muhammadu Buhari for availing Nigerians the opportunity for a viable opposition in the past few years, and also to congratulate them on the welldeserved victory of their party, the APC, in the just concluded general elections. Nigerians say they have done well.

But most importantly, I want to also utilize this avenue to appeal to the PDP to stand up to this onerous task of affording Nigerians a viable and virile opposition from May 29, and to stop this unnecessary blame game going on among its fold. The blame

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game is not necessary. What Nigerians are simply appealing for is for PDP to ‘give us this day a viable opposition’. As the saying goes, ‘power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ An absolute power is that power that is not put to check.

The PDP cannot afford to fail Nigerians on this all-important task. It is as important as being the government. The fact that PDP is not going to be the party at the centre come May 29, does not mean it has totally been rejected by Nigerians. If Nigeria has, for instance, 40 million eligible voters, and just above 27 million voted in the last presidential

election, then we can say that 13 million Nigerian voters are yet undecided as to which camp to belong, so whatever the PDP does now would determine if the party can ever again regain its political loss. It is not the time for casting aspersions but rather a time for self-appraisal, and re-organization.

It is very important because Nigeria cannot afford a one-party state.

I also wish to also appeal to the in-coming government of General Muhammadu Buhari to give the necessary impetus to the opposition parties in Nigeria and never to see opposition as inimical to his government but rather as a

spring board for his government success. In a time like this when the nation is expecting so much due to the over-hyped ‘change’ slogan of the APC, critics are more important than praise singers. This starts with the way his government handles the affairs of regions which voted against him in the last election. Every region deserves fairness from this government.

People who voted against him on the basis of party allegiance are not to be considered enemies. They are even more to be trusted than those whose hobby is to jump from one party to another.

• Ohimai Daniel, Lagos.

Kudos to IGP Arase

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IR: When I read the Nigerian Tribune of Thursday, May 7, 2015 P.9 captioned “IGP restores sick officer’s salary 2 years after”, I was dumbfounded, as an administrator because the police put in oblivion the public service rules (PSRs) and also acted suo motu, i.e., on their own. Thank God for the police officer with F/No. 09527 W/ sergeant Ajuma Ibrahim attached to Lagos State police command.

The Inspector General of police, Solomon Arase’s attention was drawn to the sad situation by a reality radio and television talk show in Lagos and the IGP acted swiftly.

Kudos.

No doubt, the IGP has regard and respect for the press like the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, who once said “four hostile newspapers are more feared than a thousand bayonets”. He believes also in the words of Thomas Jefferson, 3 rd American President (1801 – 1809) who said “He prefers the press to his cabinet because the press will always tell him the truth”.

With the above, it is gratifying to commend the effort of the IGP. Nigerians and indeed officers and men of the police should be grateful and delighted that we all have such a resourceful and understanding IGP. Happily, the IGP also believes in the words of Martin Luther King Jnr. “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake”.

May I also use this opportunity, to inform IG Arase that deadly armed robbers continue to terrorize the people of Ubulu-Uku Kingdom in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State. The robbers start from Uteogbeje junction to Obior and to Enugu-Iyi in Ubulu-Uku. Many people have been robbed and killed in the place. The people of Ubulu-Uku Kingdom no longer go about their agricultural business. We do hope the IGP will direct the Delta State Commissioner of Police and the Area Commander to map out strategies to urgently arrest the situation.

• Dr. Charles Ikedikwa Soeze, Effurun, Delta State.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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COMMENTS

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O Ayo Fayose, Adamu Mu’azu, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman, is a devil that must be nailed on the cross — and nailed hard.

And trust the Ekiti abrasive one (not famed for any deep thinking, lay or intellectual, but only a relay of reflex thought bounces), to make a facile comparison between election fortunes and misfortunes in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

“Haven’t we now seen what operates in saner climes, with the resignation of the British Labour Party and Liberal Democratic leaders?” he roared, referring to the duo’s crushing election

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epublican ipples

lordbeek1@gmail.com, 08054504169 (Sms only, please)

Fayose’s devil on the cross

losses to the ruling Conservatives in the May 7 general elections. “Shouldn’t our party national chairman also take a cue from this and allow for fresh minds to steer the ship of the party at this difficult time?”

Of course, Burlesque Fayose would be incomplete without Trademark Fayose: graceless gloating. “I am ... not operating here on empty boast because Ekiti State was delivered to the PDP 100 per cent. ...” he further growled. “Imagine the PDP not getting up to five per cent ... in Bauchi State, the national chairman’s home state, and someone is still not being honourable enough to resign”.

Honourable enough! Saner climes! The grave irony of this twain clearly is lost on Triumphalist Fayose!

Saner climes! Did Ed Miliband, the British Labour Party leader, have in his camp a Mr. No Apology, with a penchant for insane adverts, that coarsely projected a principal opponent’s sure death, and harvested for his party mass hatred, among those who had the putative electoral numbers?

And honour! What has been honourable in Mr. Fayose’s conduct since his unfortunate second coming in Ekiti?

Besides, is it not tragic narcissism, powered by unconscionable villainy, to work on over-drive to lose northern votes, yet crow over delivering Ekiti votes 100 per cent — Ekiti votes, the minority of minorities of electoral numbers in the South West?

Ripples would not be bothered by whatever pains bickering Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hierarchs inflict upon themselves, in their post-defeat feuding. For all the havoc they socked on the country, they sure had it coming.

Besides, the recrimination is almost spiritual. You don’t mess up millions of longsuffering Nigerians and exactly expect to live blissfully ever after!

But it is a conceptual matter. PDP may well have been a

‘The Fayoses of this world, who bay for Mu’azu’s blood, only savage the puppet. But the puppeteer is their real quarry’

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Olakunle Abimbola

ONSIDERING that it took its well articulated terms of reference to awaken the somnolent Presidency to the reality that it still ran the show, there might yet be something that the incoming All Progressives Congress administration can still do to help halt the pervasive meltdown under which vital institutions of state have gone prostrate.

As it is, the story is virtually the same of governance in full flight – if you like, retreat. Not the lame duck stuff as one might expect of a government winding down. Indeed, for a country ordinarily under-governed, what is increasingly palpable is a Jonathan administration practically missing on all fronts – what the military call AWOL; the only exception being the rash of opportunistic appointments designed to rile the incoming government.

In the electricity sector, the story is all too familiar of alibis manufactured, traded and recycled the same way financial sector smart alecs continue hawk their sweet poison of derivatives to the hapless public in Jonathan-nurtured laissezfaire environment. Once upon a time, the sector was comatose; today, it is as good as dead. The minister in charge, a world-class scientific mind now adorns the garb of prayer warrior in chase of industry demons. The electricity sector regulator – the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission – has since relapsed into the ‘sleep’ mode in the absence of an industry to regulate; meanwhile, the club of disparate players inelegantly called DISCOs or distribution companies –more aptly rent collectors- are apparently lost in the park after discovering something bigger than the magical pot of fortune promised them post-privatisation – they just couldn’t figure out what to do! Between them, the nation is presently locked in a bind.

Isn’t it said that what you see is what you get? Should anyone still be in wonder as to why the nation is in darkness?

As it is in the power sector, so it is in the petroleum sector.

Here the administration’s benumbing incompetence, long laid bare before the world, ordinarily ought not to deserve any attempt at exhumation. Clearly, if the current paralysis of the nation’s socio-economic life occasioned by the dry pumps across the land is any living proof of the astounding lack of imagination of those running the downstream sector, that is only when one fails to reckon with the state-abetted criminality in the upstream sector – the industrial scale theft under which 20 percent of the nation’s crude is said to disappear to some invisible Mafiosi, daily. And this is aside the invisible operations of the prospecting arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation – the Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation – known of course only to the shadowy players and their patron saints in the oily business – thanks to the PWC fellows!

How about that for a legacy?

You ask: what happened to the Jonathan magic that was

useless ruling party, that has led Nigeria to nowhere but perdition. By the way its partisans fall upon themselves, it could even be a far more useless opposition prospect, since its only glue is power without responsibility; its only life, humongous greed for the common wealth.

That seems to explain the mutual allegation of soulless money sharing, between party and presidency, with each combatant in each camp grossing no less than N30 million each. And the more that illicit pork appears slipping away, the more hysterical and distracted PDP is likely to become.

Still, we have a democracy to run. On May 29, roles would change, with the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) becoming the new federal ruling party. But the PDP meltdown is selfevidence that a multi-party democracy, without vigorous opposition, is nothing but an endangered species. So, for the polity to develop, and democracy to deepen, there must be a strong and vibrant alternative.

PDP appears best suited, if not most suitable, to play that role. But with its emotive in-fighting, it is fated to lose focus even more. So, it is in the polity’s enlightened self-interest to try to refocus this stranded, bad-tempered giant, lest it becomes the polity’s collective burden.

Chairman Mu’azu may have led his party to electoral slaughter.

And the quad of First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, Governor Fayose, Femi Fani-Kayode, and Doyin Okupe may well be the real devils to be nailed hard on the cross, for strafing and bombing their party with reckless electioneering.

But they all were a symptom of President Jonathan’s sickening craving for power — power to which he had proved most inept and sorry; but to which he must, do-or-die, reclaim for four more years.

Never, in the history of Nigeria, even with its serial disappointment in leadership, has any leader manifested such crassly inordinate hunger for power . Not Ibrahim Babangida, not Sani Abacha, and certainly, not Olusegun Obasanjo, even with his doomed attempt at third term.

The trio of Babangida, Abacha and Obasanjo were certainly no saints where Jonathan was the very devil. But under none of them did the Nigeria virtually collapse as a state, with Boko Haram bombing at will, capturing territories and kidnapping

Policy Sanya Oni sanyaoni@yahoo.co.uk 08051101841

A government on AWOL celebrated ‘live’ and in ‘colour’ by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) in the heady days of electioneering? I mean the outlandish claims of achievement in power stabilisation, railway modernisation and road building – that left one wondering if they were talking about another country but Nigeria?

With recriminations going back and forth between the Finance Ministry and the cartel of fuel importers over the bureaucracy-induced crisis, it seems now so easy to imagine that the so-called called ‘Jona’ magic was nothing more than the relentless inflow into the piggy bank. With oil price in the dive and with it the sluggish demand for Nigeria’s sweet crude, the nation would appear wiser to the administration’s claims to superlative performance.

It is however the security sector that stands the administration apart in corporate dereliction. This is a sector in which the concept of the state as holding the monopoly in the use of force has undergone the most comprehensive redefinition by the outgoing presidency. Today, under Jonathan’s new-fangled paradigm, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest navy now finds itself playing second fiddle to yesterday’s pirates on the nation’s exclusive economic zone.

In the same vein, nearly a quarter of the nation’s security work is outsourced to a rag-tag army of ill-clad, ill-equipped and certainly ill-trained volunteers called Civilian Joint Task Force in the North-east. Again, under that strange blend of Public-Private-Partnership security model, another quarter has also been outsourced to yesterday’s brigands in the freefor-all bazaar of pipelines protection – and this in a nation with a long heritage of disciplined, cohesive and wellstructured military.

Do I exaggerate? Please recall the various accounts of the death of Oluwadimilola Adebimpe Fajana – the 26-year-old

citizens, and Jonathan having absolutely no solution. Yet, the president, and his deluders, were adamant he had earned a second term!

This single-minded hunger for power, if not for service, was what induced old man Bamanga Tukur to risk a PDP collapse on his head, rather than confront Jonathan’s power demands. Alhaji Bamanga ended up the fall guy, but not before the Governors-7 had rebelled, and the Governors-5 defected, thus sending a collapsing PDP on a journey

of no return.

This tragedy also hall-marked the emergence of Adamu Mu’azu, hailed then as “game-changer”, for somewhat helping to stanch the bleeding. It is ironic now that he is being nailed over an electoral game-change, that nailed the PDP coffin and snapped it out of its grave hubris. He likely would get the sack as Alhaji Bamanga before him. But that would just be chasing shadows.

In all of these though, Goodluck Jonathan is the mathematical constant. Fortunately, Nigerian voters have given him the tortoise treatment — wasn’t it the tortoise, in Yoruba folklore, that swore not to return from his trip until he was disgraced?

Still ironically, Jonathan was only the victim of past excesses of the Obasanjo era. His chief offence is nothing but rank opportunism. To cast PDP in his own image, Obasanjo created the rather fraudulent title of party “national leader” — a euphemism for being over and above the party that nominated him for presidency.

Jonathan inherited this fraud and decided to milk it to the hilt. On that, he spurred old man Bamanga like a wild horse; and savaged Chairman Mu’azu with the embarrassment of making his gutless National Working Committee (NWC) claim the party only printed one presidential nomination form, and the sole form had been annexed by the national leader — so paranoid was Jonathan to coral the PDP presidential ticket!

Jonathan, the party leader, badly wanted that form — and before that request, every party knee must bow!

Unfortunately, Jonathan lacked neither the brutal savvy nor the native intelligence — or even the routine policy bragging rights! — to impose his will. The result was the crashed PDP humpty-dumpty; and the evaporation of its dream of ruling in perpetuity — 60 years to start with!

So, the Fayoses of this world, who bay for Mu’azu’s blood, only savage the puppet. But the puppeteer is their real quarry.

The Jonathan debacle must teach the Nigerian party system a stiff lesson. Never again must a president be so powerful to subvert collective party interest.

APC must put a president on its platform under some form of party leash, if it must escape the PDP fate.

lady caught up in the cross-fire between the vandals and the OPC hired by the administration to do the job of policing the pipelines. Today, the much that is known is that she was felled by the guns of operatives of Jona-licensed militia at Arepo– one of the many popular theatres of pipeline vandalism along the Ogun State corridor.

Pity the grieving father, Ojo Babafemi Andrews; he could only moan helplessly to wit that “by the reason of his patronage of people who have no basic training in arms and weaponry in the business of pipeline protection, which is a very dangerous security enterprise which is supposed to fall under the purview of the trained Nigerian security agencies…

President Goodluck Jonathan is culpable in the death of Damilola Fajana and that of others by the virtue of his morbid desperation for political power which led him to awarding such senseless contract to OPC in return for political support in Lagos State”.

Case closed.

Now, I have actually heard one or two people wonder whether the current potion of affliction being administered

by President Jonathan isn’t proving too much of a price to pay for the slaying of the PDP bear on March 28. To them I can only offer a word of consolation: forbear. Having long given up on my search for the distinction between a lame duck administration and a vengeful, mischief-driven one, I have since accepted the Yoruba philosophical expression – Suru lojo – which roughly means, patience has an end point.

Finally: what’s the idea behind the ostentatious pity-party staged by the President at the weekend? I refer to his Thanksgiving homily where he stated that he, his ministers, advisers and other appointees will be persecuted when they leave office and that they should be ready for that? The problem, I guess, isn’t so much the President’s artful play on the word ‘persecution’ in place of prosecution to describe the fate awaiting his men – which is nonetheless opportunistic, if you ask me; it is his less-than elegant attempt to launder an ignoble legacy. The question is – could anything be wrong with being called to account for one’s stewardship? Why should anyone be afraid?

‘I have actually heard one or two people wonder whether the current potion of affliction being administered by President Jonathan isn’t proving too much of a price to pay for the slaying of the PDP bear on March 28. To them I can only offer a word of consolation: forbear’

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

22

COMMENTS

T

HE framers of our constitution, like most others similar documents, made the legislative arm the numero uno; that is, first in rank, order or prestige. And to many a Nigerian politician, the responsibilities and charm of the Office of the Senate President, epitomise the height of triumph at election into the upper chamber for whoever emerges as the occupier of the office.

In addition, political analysts contend that the fierce contest for who becomes first amongst equals in the red chamber as currently the case in Nigeria is because as a matter of fact of law, whosoever becomes the number three citizen, aside from being the senate president, is also the chairman of the National Assembly.

It is against this backdrop that political watchers are not surprised a bit that the All Progressives Congress, APC has not been able to make a definitive pronouncement on which of the four geo-political zones of NorthEast, North-Central, South-East and SouthSouth will produce the Senate President after the North-West and the South-West had produced the President-Elect and the Vice President-Elect respectively.

Although, if what a chieftain of the winning party is anything to go by, the NorthEast geo-political zone appears the favourite.

According to him “if democracy, nay election, is all about numbers, then the NorthEast, which garnered the second largest vote in the last election after North-West should have the Senate Presidency, assuring that in a matter of days, the party hierarchy will for-

‘The in-road made by Lawan into the South-East caucus of senators-elect, according to political analysts, show the need for Nigerian politician who wishes to play any role at the national level to be a bridge builder like the contestant’

N

IGERIA’S President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, no doubt, has a huge burden upon his shoulder. Nearly every sector throughout the country is threatened and in predicament.

The 16 years’ reign of the People Democratic Party, (PDP), has been a matter of one step forward two steps backwards. In particular, the last six years under President Goodluck Jonathan has been a huge disaster. The economy is currently comatose. The nation’s foreign reserve has been recklessly depleted by the spendthrift Jonathan administration. To worsen things, inflation and unemployment is at an all-time high while corruption has become the order of the day in the corridors of power. When the President of a country affirms on national television that ‘stealing is not corruption’, you don’t need to be a prophet to know that such a country is in trouble. The truth, is that Nigeria is actually in trouble.

This is why I don’t envy General Buhari.

The Nigeria that President Jonathan is leaving behind for Buhari is one that is in a complete mess, and we should make no mistake about it. One of the very daunting tasks that Buhari and his team would have to tackle in earnest is that of unpaid salaries raging across the country as this could become a clog in the wheel of democracy.

In the last 16 years, the norm in budgetary planning, formulation and execution has been for recurrent expenditure to be excessively higher than capital outlay. This is not, in any way, peculiar to the Federal Government alone as nearly all the state governments in the country operate a similar unproductive budgetary planning.

The consequence of this is the poor state of social and physical infrastructure across the country. Almost all federal roads are in terrible conditions. The inept PDP-led government, after 16 years in power, could not fix the nation’s refineries as we shamelessly continue to import refined petroleum products from neighbouring countries.

This is what happens when a nation fails to prioritize its developmental needs. No nation in the world, not even the almighty United States of America, touted as the number-one economy could develop via the kind of budgetary system we have been operating in the past 16 years.

Senate Presidency: Numbers adding up for Lawan

By Mosun Adebamiro mally make its decision on the issue public to the relief of people in the North-East and contestants from the zone that are in the race for the office.

Political observers are of the opinion that aside from the large number of votes the APC got from the North-East geo-political zone, all the 109 senators-elect should not forget that the best that area of the country has had at the national level under a civilian regime, was the Prime Minister portfolio in the first republic: It has never produced a senate president.

As agitation from people in the zone for the senate presidency is going on, so also campaigns by contestants who want to become senate president. As at last count, only two contestants from the zone have mounted serious campaigns. They are Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawal from Yobe State and Senator Ali Ndume from Borno State. Two other contestants from the geo-political zone of NorthCentral are eyeing the office, apparently hoping the post will be zoned to their area.

From their various campaign methodologies thus far, political watchers have characterised Lawan as a marathon runner while Ndume is regarded as short distance runner. According to them, Ndume, like Seantor Danjuma Goje from Gombe will not match Lawan, who has constructed solid political bridge across the nation since being a parliamentarian at the inception of democracy in 1999.

And the political predication that Lawan will ultimately emerge victorious in the race began its manifestation, when “a charity begins at home” press statement, announced that Yobe State caucus of National Assembly has endorsed him as Senate President. It was issued against the background of a campaign

of calumny. The Press Statement added: “We therefore call on all North Eastern government and National Assembly caucuses to support this move as well as other geo-political zones of Nigeria”. The government and people of Yobe State have also thrown their weight behind the senator.

As if responding to the clarion call made

by Yobe State caucus, all senators-elect from the North-West zone, in a block endorsement, declared that Lawan has what it takes to lead the National Assembly.

The South-West APC caucus after over 6 hour meeting in Abuja has also endorsed Lawan with 12 out of 13 APC senators-elect resolving to have him as the Senate President. The only absentee from the meeting was unavoidably absent and his vote was assured the frontline contestant. The APC senators-elect from the zone further assured Lawan that they would convince their distinguished PDP colleagues in the zone to also vote for him. Political watchers have described the endorsement by the South-West senators-elect as “an eloquent testimony to obvious acceptance of Senator Lawan by the party leaders from the zone before now. Although officially the senate presidency has not been zoned to North-East, political observers said the body language of APC leaders at the national level indicate that Lawan is their man for the senate president.

The in-road made by Lawan into the SouthEast caucus of senators-elect, according to political analysts, show the need for Nigerian politician who wishes to play any role at the national level to be a bridge builder like the contestant. While all the senatorselect from the zone emerged on the platform of PDP, the political “handshake” that Lawan always extend to all including his “ranking” colleagues from the zone, according to insiders, soften the ground for him before his recent meeting with the caucus. At the end of the meeting, Lawan was assured of the zone’s

Buhari and the challenge of unpaid salaries

By Lateef Raji High wage bills, as well as escalating cost of governance, remains a major threat to the survival of democracy in the country. Presently, aside the various Federal Government agencies and parastatals that are being owed various degrees of salaries and emoluments, about 26 state governments owe workers salaries in arrears of months. The State of Osun readily comes to mind here as the state has been singled out for target of media attack on this issue.

I am piqued about this though since the state is not the only one in this dire financial strait. The Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was, in fact, the first person to call national attention to this financial disaster in 2013, when he alleged that the Federal Government had declared war on the state as allocation dropped to 40%.

It will be difficult to query his record as a worker-friendly administrator. In some states, in order to ensure workers go home with something; salaries are paid in bits.

Expectedly, in most of the states, workers are threatening to go on strike in a bid to press home their demands for prompt payment of their wages. Things are not looking up at all. At the time of writing this, the April allocation has not been disbursed.

With the decline in revenue accruing to the Federation Account through the sale of crude oil, some of the states might not be able to pay workers salaries, not to talk of paying arrears of pension and gratuity to pensioners. As things stand, the amount that stands to the credit of each of the states monthly is not enough to pay workers’ wages, and this means all other similar recurring expenditures would suffer. A few of them that try to embark on capital spending do so through loans from banks and bonds earlier negotiated, which must be serviced regularly at huge cost.

With this stark reality, it has therefore, become highly imperative for the incoming Buhari administration to take a holistic view of the whole issue with a view to saving our fledgling democracy from an imminent collapse. Bureaucracy is meant to help drive the pace of development in a democracy. In any nation where bureaucracy has become the problem rather than the solution, democracy would certainly become endangered. This is where Buhari, and his team need to take decisive steps to save the country from what has become a chronic and nagging problem. As a stopgap measure, one is actually canvassing that the incoming administration bails out the states that are owing excessive workers’ wages by offsetting such, and give them enough to pay pensions and gratuity. We have done it before.

Unpaid salaries have always plagued civil administration in Nigeria. Military takeover, had always been the quick-fix, but with its recurring nature, it’s obvious we have not found the solution. Yes, government is always the biggest employer of labour; we cannot continue to bring idle hands into governments without a commensurate analysis of what is actually needed. This is to avert undue labour disputes that could cause needless troubles in the land. A sound employment policy

bulk endorsement, which a PDP chieftain at the meeting, was reported to have said would be announced in due course.

Analysts are of the opinion that since APC senators-elect from Yobe State, his primary constituency, the North-West and South-West have endorsed Senator Lawan, “it is the custom in parliamentary practice to take cognisance of what has happened in other zones, especially in a contest of this nature and this could not have been lost to the South-East caucus in their deliberations on the contestant”.

Advancing reason for the successes being recorded by the campaign team of Lawan in the South-East and South-South caucuses, a PDP insider said “It is payback time: Lawan has been a pillar of support for the out-going leadership in the Senate and nobody should be surprised if they had decided to campaign for him in South-East and I can tell you with all certainty that our distinguished PDP colleagues in the South-South caucus are ready to back us in making Senator Lawan our Senate President” Political pundits have contended that it is certain that the South-South senators-elect will also go the way of the South-East in giving their votes to Ahmad Lawan For the North-Central, Political analysts said while senators-elect from Kwara State are in support of Saraki “for obvious reason” the zone at the moment “is divided due to the in-road made by Lawan as some senators-elect from states of Niger, Kogi and Plateau are in full support of Senator Lawan’s candidature”. Political foot soldiers are of the opinion that once the zoning arrangement is formally announced and North-East clinches the Senate presidency, North Central will go the way of Lawan as another contestant from the zone in person of Senator George Akume will also drop off from the race.

Dismissing the likelihood of the Tambuwal episode playing out on the red carpeted floor come June 4, political analysts said such would not be allowed by APC national chieftains who are toiling day and night to solidify the foundation of a solid party system already in place at the national level.

• Adebamiro, a political analyst lives in Kubwa, Abuja.

would still address the problem of unemployment.

Equally, the idea of the Federal Government entering into wage negotiations on behalf of the state governments should be discarded. Since the revenue base of each state differs, it would be inappropriate for both the Federal Government and the labour unions, to force state governments to pay their worker’s wages being paid by the Federal Government. Each state ought to employ and pay according to its capacity. Equally important is that labour unions must desist from the incessant act of demanding for an arbitrary wage increase.

While the work force deserves better pay packages, government has responsibilities to the larger society through the provision of social amenities and infrastructures.

In the same vein, governments across the land need to cut all avenues that open the door for wastes in governance. We have taken the issue of taxation too lightly in this country. No nation attains greatness without the adequate contributions of the citizens in the forms of taxes. We must start emphasizing our tax systems to make governments and citizens more fiscally responsible. Democracy is about bringing development to a greater number of the people. It is about human and capital development. It ceases to be democracy when just a few individuals or groups corner the commonwealth while the rest of the society languishes in abject poverty. Now that change has come, it is indeed the right time to get things done in the right way in order to get the right result.

• Raji is Special Adviser, Information & Strategy, Lagos State.

‘Democracy is about bringing development to a greater number of the people. It is about human and capital development. It ceases to be democracy when just a few individuals or groups corner the commonwealth while the rest of the society languishes in abject poverty. Now that change has come, it is indeed the right time to get things done in the right way in order to get the right result’

TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

25

’

One intriguing practice in our current democracy, is the use of mere legislative resolutions to approve loans.Without much ado, legislative resolutions do not have the force of law

’

See page 39

E-mail:- law@thenationonlineng.net

When it comes to land matters, legal icon and former Federal Commissioner for Works Alhaji Femi Okunnu (SAN) is no push over. He is versed in land law. He challenged the decree empowering the Federal Government to confiscate land within 100 metres of the sea shore in court and won. In this interview with Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN, Okunnu talks about contemporary issues on state land administration.

Why did you take Federal Government to court over Lands Title Vesting?

Square (TBS): Who owns TBS, Federal or state government? Who owns a good number of lands being claimed by the Federal Government in Lagos.

Another issue addressed in the book is about land along navigable waterways like Lagos lagoon. For example, the Federal Government with armed police/soldiers stopped construction work on the land on Lagos lagoon behind Falomo Police Barracks. The project belongs to Lagos State Government. But the Federal Government officials with armed soldiers stopped the project. The question is who owns the land along navigable waterways like Lagos lagoon. That problem was highlighted recently by some incident along the Lagos lagoon in Southwest Ikoyi wherein officials of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) with armed police demanded fees from land owners along the lagoon for being within the right of way of the lagoon. These are issues raised in this new book including how much of Navigable Inland Waterways Act is legal or illegal? It also touches on political and constitutional history of Lagos from 1861. It also talks about land tenure in different states of the federation and many more issues.

F

ORMER Military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida promulgated a decree on Lands Title Vesting which empowered the Federal Government to appropriate or confiscate lands within 100 metres of the shore of the Atlantic Ocean belonging to whoever, whether states, firms or individuals. For example, any land from Benin Republic border to Cameroun border, within 100 metres of the sea shore, was simply expropriated without compensation. The decree vested the title on the Federal Government. It affected all the coastal states: Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River.The one that affected Lagos in particular was the land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean for the lagoon. In effect, the whole of Victoria Island, Lekki, Lagoon shore of Lagos Island or any land reclaimed up to Ikorodu, Iddo, Apapa on to Badagry were affected. So what was left of Lagos?

I took the Federal Government to court as a Nigerian citizen, with the backing of the then governor of Lagos State, the late Sir Michael Otedola. The case dragged on till 2000 when I got judgment. In spite of the judgment, former President Olusegun Obasanjo re-enacted the decree in 2004, not by going to the National Assembly for a new Act. He acted under a section of the Constitution which still empowers the President or a Governor to amend an existing law. But the law (Lands Title vesting) ceased to exist in 2004 because the Federal High Court has declared it illegal and unconstitutional. Obasanjo was badly advised by his Attorney-General at the time because that Act was still in the laws of the Federation. That was the subject matter of the first and second editions of my book titled: “Contemporary State Land Matters in Nigeria: The case of Lagos State.’’

The decision in that case effectively nullified the obnoxious Lands (Title Vesting) Decree No 52 of 1993. Anyone who claims to have any kind of title to land on the foreshore or islands must regularise his title with the Lagos State Government.

The entire landmass of Lagos State as prescribed by all the laws establishing the state of Lagos, excluding those lands granted to the Federal Government for Federal purposes, belongs to the government and people of Lagos State.

What is the focus of your new book?

INSIDE:

The book is on a different format. It discusses the Federal State Land and the State Land of the state. For example, in Lagos State, the problem is bigger here because of large volume of federal land in Lagos.

The new edition also discusses fully other areas of dispute between the Federal Government and the State governments. For instance, the Federal Government has established land registry in Lagos supposedly to register Federal lands in Lagos and probably it is being done in other states. It has no legal basis. It has no backing in law.

Land is a state matter. When we talk of land administration, we are talking of physical planning which is a state function.

Federal Government should have no land

Promoting judiciary independence and ethics -Page 26

What motivated you in writing the book?

•Okunnu

Why Fed Govt can’t establish land registry,

by Okunnu registry in any region or state. Since the Federal Government was established in 1954, federal state lands in any region or state are used to be registered in land registry in the state capital.

All I have said about land registration do not apply to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja. Federal Government owns the land in Abuja as it used to own the land in Lagos before the creation of Lagos State.

But since the creation of Lagos State in May 1967, Titles to State Lands in Lagos was transferred to Lagos State Government. That is why the Title of a place like Ikoyi which used to be vested in the Federal Government was

NDLEA commander seeks reinstatement -Page 37

transferred to Lagos State Government.

Another issue discussed in the new edition is about issue of Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) in respect of Federal State Lands in Lagos. Only state government has the power in law to issue C of O to any land owner including the Federal Government in respect of lands located in that state. But in recent years, Federal Government has been issuing C of Os in respect of land transaction concerning Federal State Lands in Lagos. There is no legal or constitutional backing for that.

The third issue raised in the new edition is what are Federal Lands in Lagos? For example, the issue of ownership of Tafawa Balewa

One, as a Nigerian, I am trying to show in various states of the country what is state land belonging to the state government of a particular state and what is federal state land within each state of a particular state.

I have presented the distinction of going back to 1954 when the colonial government set up the federal system of government in Nigeria. The controversy assumed new proportion in Lagos State after the Gowon government defined what was federal state’s land and what was Lagos state land after discussions between the representatives of the two governments and the approval by the Supreme Military Council headed by Gen. Yakubu Gowon.

Another motivation is that it pleased Allah that I was a Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing during Gowon’s era from 1967 to 1974 and in-charge of Federal lands throughout the country. I thought I should pass my knowledge acquired as the Minister in-charge of federal lands at the time and the knowledge acquired since I left government in 1974 to the Nigerian public all in the interest of good governance, harmony and peace among the states and the people of the country.

To what extent will it benefit the public The issues raised should interest general readers. A number of people bought lands from the Federal Government in Ikoyi and other parts of Lagos city. They have problems with Lagos State about titles. The claim to land with the right of way of inland waterways will have profound effect on all landed properties along the right of way of all navigable inland waterways in Nigeria including Rivers, Niger, Benue, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gongola, Taraba, Cross River, Forcados, Benin, Ethiope, Warri, Imo, Lagos Lagoon, Anambra and Ogun Rivers, Lake Chad and several others as defined in the Act.

´Lawyer to Buhari:

review Jonathan’s last-minute appointments -Page 37

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

26

NATIONAL BAR In this piece, Lagos lawyer Ade Adedeji stresses key issues needed to enhance professional ethics among lawyers. He emphasises the need for enforcement of the Rules of Professional Conduct for legal practitioners

Promoting judiciary independence and ethics

E

SSENTIALLY, ethics refer to well-based standards of right and wrong that spell out what human beings ought to do in certain circumstances. These refer to well-accepted virtues such as honesty, dedication, loyalty, dignity of purpose, etc.

Therefore, ethics in the legal profession refer to the actions of members of the bar and bench alike in the overall discharge of their responsibilities and in the exercise of their rights and privileges.

The legal profession, being a noble and prestigious profession, just like every other profession, has its code of conduct which regulates the general affairs of its members, be it in their relationship with clients, the court, the public, etc.

These set of rules are now known as the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, (RPC) 2007. As a matter of fact, Section 1, RPC captures the general duties and conducts of legal practitioners.

As the oldest and perhaps, most noble profession in Nigeria, extensive ethical rules of professional conduct were first drafted and adopted by the General Council of the Bar in 1980. In the same year, the Federal Government Officially gazetted the said rules. It is important to note that this set of rules has been reviewed, the result of which is the “Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners” dated February 7, 2007 which is the extant rules.

For a proper discussion of this very important theme, I consider it apposite to briefly highlight some of the major issues bordering on integrity of legal practitioners.

Dealing with clients property and conflict of interest As regards dealing with Clients property, two major issues arise: On Remuneration for fees for legal services rendered - Rule 48(1) states thus: A lawyer is entitled to be paid adequate remuneration for his service to the client. On dealing with client’s properly, Rule 23(2) states thus: “where a lawyer collects money for his client, or is in a position to deliver property on behalf of his client, he shall promptly report, and account for it, and shall not mix money or property with, or use it as, his own.”

On the other hand, conflict of interest is an area that has given rise to so many issues bordering on the integrity and dignity of lawyers.

It is simply a breach of professional ethics. Many at times, lawyer’s vested interest conflicts or clashes with that of his client, which immedi-

ately raises questions about his integrity.

There are decided cases on this issue (both local and international). I shall quickly reel out a brief facts and decision of the court on a particular case which, to my mind, will further shed light on this sub-head. I refer to Law Society of New South Wales v. Harvey (1976) 2 NSWLR 15.

Relationship with client within the bounds of the Law In this regard, the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) have received various petitions in response of lawyers’ breach of certain rules subsumed in this sub-head, such as professional negligence, breach of duty of confidentiality, professional incompetence, mismanagement of client’s money, property, etc. In many instance, acts have been adjudged to be infamous conducts.

Essentially, Section 12 of the Legal Practitioners Act provides four (4) offences for which a legal Practitioner can be punished by the LPDC, they are: i. infamous conduct in a professional respect; or ii. being convicted of any crime which is incompatible with the status of a Legal practitioner by any court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria; or iii. obtaining enrolment by fraud; or iv. for any act that is generally regarded as incompatible with the status of a Legal practitioner It is interesting to note that conducts that qualify as infamous conducts are not stated in the Legal Practitioners Act but some decided cases, both local and foreign have given us some ideas of such acts.

In Allison v. General Council Medical Education and Registration (1894) 1 Q.B 750, the English court defined an infamous conduct as such conduct “regarded as disgraceful or dishonourable by his professional brethren of good repute and competence.”

In MDPT v. Okonkwo (2001) 7 NWLR (Pt711) 206, a case which borders on medical misconduct by a medical practitioner also provided a good opportunity for the Supreme Court to describe what would amount to an infamous conduct. Ayoola, JSC, while reading the lead judgment described an infamous conduct thus: “A charge of infamous conduct must be of a serious infraction of acceptable standard of behaviour or ethics of the profession. It connotes conducts so disreputable and morally reprehensible as to bring the profession into disrepute if condoned or left unpenalised ...”

I consider it very important to also state that the relationship between the lawyer and his cli-

ent is one of confidence. This duty of confidence also gives rise to an ethical obligation whose breach would be ground for disciplinary action by the LPDC. Let me also be quick to state that the duty of confidence is not without some qualifications, such as where the client consents or where the lawyer is compelled by an enabling law to make certain disclosures on his client’s instructions or where such disclosure are in the public interest.

A lawyer must, in the discharge of his duties as a minister in the temple of justice, always remind himself of the need to preserve his integrity and not sacrifice on the altar of pecuniary gains. Personal integrity is the most essential quality of a lawyer.

Engagement in Business This issue has over the years, given rise to disciplinary actions by the LPDC regarding the conducts of some lawyers. It is rather unfortunate to discover today that many of our colleagues have suddenly become “Jacks of all Trades”. The desperate pursuit of penicuniary achievements have led many lawyers to carry out unwholesome acts not befitting of a member of this noble profession.

The General Council of the Bar in its wisdom had anticipated that if lawyers were not restricted to law practice alone, their personal integrity may be tarnished; hence the RPC. Rule 7(1) of the RPC states as follows: “(1) unless permitted by the General Council of the Bar (hereinafter referred to as “Bar Council”) a lawyer shall not practice as a legal practitioner at the same time as he practises any other profession.

(2) A lawyer shall not practise as a legal practitioner while personally engaged in the business of commission agent.

Discipline of Legal Practitioners This is perhaps, the most talked-about issue among colleagues at different fora organised to brainstorm and articulate new roadmap for the profession. Both the bar and the bench have in recent times been inundated with cases bordering on professional misconduct, abuse of trust, negligence, etc.

Quite a number of these cases had been entertained by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), a body established pursuant to Section 10, Legal Practitioners Act (LPA), CAP L11, LFN, 2004 to handle or deal with cases of professional misconduct.

The said Section has clearly set out the penalties applicable where a legal practitioner is adjudged culpable as alleged.

In this regard, the LPDC may impose the following penalties: a) Order the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court to strike off the name of the alleged offender from the roll of legal practitioner in Nigeria b) Suspend that person from practice as a legal practitioner for such period as may be specified in the direction c) Admonish that person.

It is important to state at this juncture that “the LPDC, in wielding the big stick, looks carefully at the severity of the alleged misconduct or offence for the purpose of determining the appropriate sanction.

For instance, where a legal practitioner is adjudged guilty of a misconduct not amounting to an infamous conduct, but same is incompatible with the status of a legal practitioner, the LPDC, may in its wisdom, suspend or admonish such a legal practitioner regarding his future conducts.

His name cannot be struck off the roll of legal practitioners.

Liability in Professional Negligence

•Lagos State Attorney-General & Com. for Justice Mr. Ade Ipaye and his Ogun State counterpart Mrs. Abimbola Akeredolu at public presentation of a book titled, ‘Personal Income Tax ActPrinciples and Cases in Nigeria’.

Neither the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) nor the RPC defines what is meant by professional negligence. However, resort could be had to the ‘Black’s Law Dictionary” Sixth Edition page 1032 for the meanings of the word “negligence” I quote as follows: “The term refers only to that legal delinquency which results whenever a man fails to exhibit the care which he ought to exhibit, whether it be slight, ordinary, or great. It is characterized chiefly by inadvertence, thoughtlessness, inattention, and the like ...”

This, no doubt gives us an idea of this subtopic. A legal practitioner, like any other professional, is liable to any wrong committed in his private capacity in relation to his client’s

•Adedeji express instruction(s).

He may be sued in contract, tort or criminal misconducts. The limit of his liability is as contained in Section 9, LPA

Compliance with the rules of professional ethics by lawyers It is unfortunate that the level of compliance with the rules of professional ethics is declining by the day. Substantial numbers of lawyers have engaged themselves in deliberately flouting the Rules of professional conduct as provided for in the relevant rules of professional conduct as explained above.

This might not be unconnected with the increasing number of lawyers and the decline in social value. We have noticed, in the recent past, breaches of the major rules of professional ethics.

Enforcement of the rules of professional ethics The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) is the body statutorily charged with the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing discipline among lawyers. Section 10 of the LPA establishes the LPDC with the duty of considering and determining cases where it is alleged that a person whose name is on the role has misbehaved in his capacity as a legal practitioner.

There have been complains in some quarters that the Disciplinary Committee of the NBA has not been very active in the enforcement of the rules of professional ethics among lawyers. However, there have been reported cases in recent time where the L.P.D.C sanctioned lawyers who were found guilty of professional misconduct.

Conclusion This paper has only attempted to bring to the front-burner the lingering issues that border on the general conduct of legal practitioners. Three basic issues have been highlighted in this speech, which are: A legal practitioner’s dealing with his client’s property and conflict of interest, relationship with clients within the bounds of the law and engagement in business. The spectrum of issues or conducts of legal practitioners that relate to the topic in discourse are more than those discussed herein for want of time. Beyond anything else, I feel compelled to reiterate the fact that the legal profession is a calling, and as practitioners, we are officers in the temple of justice, hence the need to imbibe the finest conducts.

Further to this, we must be reminded that personal integrity is the most cherished quality and asset of a legal practitioner. With integrity, clients’ confidence is earned!

•Adedeji is Managing Partner at Adedeji & Owotomo, LLP, Lagos

Correction The caption of the picture published on Page 39 in last Tuesday’s edition should have read: Justice Abimbola ObasekiAdejumo of the Court of Appeal (left) presenting a plaque to Mr Sylvia Ogwemoh (SAN) at a seminar organised by the Commercial Law Development Services (CLDS) Limited in Lagos. The error is regretted - Editor.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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LAW & SOCIETY Despite the enactment of the Pension Reform Act 2004 which took away its major responsibility, the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) is still waxing stronger, writes ERIC IKHILAE.

10 years after Pension Reform Act, is NSITF still waxing stronger?

S

OME years ago, it was com mon to see ex-service men and other retirees queue for days to get their pensions. Some died in the process, a development many attributed to the failure of the pension system.

To tackle the challenge, the Federal Government in 2000, took steps to reform the pension system, which resulted, among others, in the enactment of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004.

Earlier, an agency - the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), established by Act No. 73 of 1993 – had been responsible for providing a Social Insurance Scheme (SIS) for employees in the Organised Private Sector (OPS). It replaced the defunct National Provident Fund (NPF).

With the PRA 2004, the main duties of the NSITF - pension management - a major element of the Social Insurance Scheme (SIS), was taken away from the NSITF and handed to a new body - Trust Fund Pensions (TFP) Plc. The development saw NSITF transferring over N54 billion worth of assets to TFP. NSITF was given five years, between 2004 and 2009, to complete the transfer of pension assets and liability to the TFP, the new Pension Fund Administrator (PFA).

While the reform helped to ameliorate the challenges in the pension

management, it marked a major downturn in the operations of the NSITF. The withdrawal of its pension administration function led to a drastic reduction in its activities, and as such, could not afford to retain its workforce, leading to a mass retrenchment in 2006.

The gloom that enveloped the NSITF during this transition, no doubt, resulted in low motivation, frustration and disenchantment among the remaining staff, which also accounted for why it could not drive through the process of passing the Employee Compensation Bill that was before the National Assembly.

For the Federal Government, the new challenge was how to sustain the NSITF which, in Section 71(2) of the PRA 2004, is meant to function as a social insurance advocate and provider of employee compensation benefit. The government was faced with the task of assembling a management team to help drive this strategic institution out of the woods into an agency capable of harnessing its potential for the actualisation of its goals and objectives.

The administration of the late President Umar Yar’Adua promptly constituted a board headed by Dr. Ngozi Olejeme as Chairman, with a management team led by Alhaji Umar Munir Abubakar as the Managing Director/Chief Ex-

ecutive Officer (CEO).

Today, the NSITF has bounced back to business, with a lot of achievements to its credit.The chairman’s leadership has strengthened the management, administrative operations, capacity of the Fund and cemented its relationship both internally and externally.

In effect, she has created a harmonious relationship between the board, management and staff of the NSITF, on the one hand, and stakeholders, like the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) –consisting of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria and the National Economic Council (NEC), on the other.

The harmonious relationship and understanding between the NSITF and its stakeholders helped increased public and private sector support in making it a major employee compensation service provider and a key player in the socio-economic affairs of the country.

Under the Board and Management, the NSITF championed the process, leading to the repealed obsolete Workmen’s Compensation Act (WCA) of 1942 and in its place, the Employee Compensation Act (ECA) of 2010 was enacted, which now allows NSITF to offer many serv-

ices.

With the backing of the Federal Government, the NSITF initiated the process that led to the inauguration of a National Working Committee on Social Security Policy for Nigeria - headed by elder statesman, former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon.

The membership of the Committee was drawn from all spectrum of the society, including labour groups, employers’ associations, Civil Society Organisations, professionals and the three tiers of government, with key officials from the Presidency, as well as the National Planning Commission (NPC), National Pension Commission (NPC), Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

The Committee has since submitted its report to the Federal Government; the government’s White Paper on the report is being awaited.

The passage of the ECA into law in 2010 has not only made the NSITF to engage more hands in its operations, the Employees’ Compensation Scheme has created a huge employment opportunity in the labour market. The NSITF staff of 94 in 2009 have risen to over 4000 as at June, last year.

To ensure that its operations and services are easily accessible, NSITF embarked on massive infrastructure

•Mrs Olejeme

development, leading to the establishment of offices in all states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), bringing its branches to 49 with 11 Regional Offices.

The NSITF has also begun an extensive transformation of the entire operational system to ensure Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA) of all its records as it drives theEmployees’ Compensation Scheme, with the computerisation of all business processes of the organisation.

In claims and compensation for employees, the NSITF has created ECS Claims and Compensation Manuals, already being used. This has, among others, helped to reduce the turnaround time for claims processing from one month to two weeks, leading to the payment of about N315million to 1,393 claimants from August 2011 to July 2011.

•Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN)(second right), Solicitor General, Lawal Pedro(SAN) (right), Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Kadiri Hamzat (second left) and Commissioner for Water Front, Adesegun Oniru, at the inauguration of Lagos Court of Arbitration building at Lekki.

Boko Haram: SERAP urges govt to assist expectant mothers, children

T

HE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has advised the Federal Government to provide access to healthcare to children and women raped and impregnated by Boko Haram militants.

It spoke against the disclosure by the military authorities that about 214 children and women rescued from Islamist Boko Haram militants in northeast are pregnant.

In a statement by SERAP Executive Director Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation said: “Having survived the horrific crime of rape and sexual violence, these children and women should be spared further physical and mental torture by ensuring that they are urgently allowed access to all necessary medical treatment. Such medical treatment must be provided on a non-discriminatory basis.”

By Adebisi Onanuga

It continued: “These children and women have suffered a wide range of significant physical, psychological and social consequences. Under international law, all victims of conflict, including rape victims, must receive the best care as soon as possible. The children and women are therefore entitled as of right to enjoy access to good quality medical care, including for sexual and reproductive health.

“SERAP is seriously concerned that the pregnant children and women continue to face adverse treatment or lack proper treatment and care. If urgent action is not taken, the severity of the crime against them means many of these children and women can spend the rest of their lives with full blown emotional problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.’’

The group said by ensuring their access to medical treatment and care, President Goodluck Jonathan would be sending a message that the rights of the children and women would be honoured by his government.

SERAP contended that children and women raped during armed conflict are within the “wounded and sick” protected by Common Article 3 Geneva Conventions. Nigeria is obliged to provide all wounded and sick victims of armed conflict with humane treatment, and access to appropriate life-saving medical care and attention required by their conditions without discrimination,” the group said.

“Any denial of access of these children and women to medical care and attention will be life threatening and continue to cause unbearable suffering to them, and therefore contravening Common Article 3, as well as vio-

lating principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience.”

“The Geneva Conventions imposes an absolute duty on governments to provide persons “wounded and sick” in armed conflict with complete and restorative medical care without discrimination,” the organisation stressed.

The group urged the government to ensure that regular information is provided to the public on the exact number of pregnant children and women now being screened by the authorities; the level of medical care and attention they are receiving; the level of their access to the minimum essential food which is nutritionally adequate and safe; basic shelter, housing and sanitation, the level of their access to essential drugs, and the plan for their rehabilitation.”

“SERAP is closely monitoring the

situation of the children and women and will take appropriate legal actions nationally and internationally should the government continue to deny them their right to effective remedies, and fail to implement the above suggested recommendations,” the organisation added. ”The UN General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action commit states including Nigeria to provide women who are subjected to violence with just and effective remedies for the harm that they have suffered.

The right to a remedy for the children and women should include: access to justice; reparation for harm suffered; restitution; compensation; satisfaction; rehabilitation; and guarantees of non-repetition and prevention”, it stated

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

28

NATIONAL BAR Patrick Tolani is a lawyer with Vale Partners, Lagos. He is also the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Charity Aid and Development Foundation for Africa, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the United Kingdom. In this interview with ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA, Tolani speaks on the judiciary under outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan.

He also speaks on the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration, urging it to work to earn public trust.

‘Buhari must address rot in judiciary’ Would you say the judiciary was corrupt under outgoing President Jonathan?

employment for those people and three help the environment because these people are no longer producing and throwing the waste away.

A

NYBODY on the street can attest to that. I don’t need special knowledge in law to know that one of the lega cies of the Jonathan-led government is impunity. The government did not consider any sector or institution as important as far as their ambition is concerned. From military, police, judiciary, just name it; everything was bastardised. If there are no problems with the judiciary, why will successive chief justices be talking about corruption and bad eggs in the system? A system of impunity and corruption was created by this system, and everybody keyed in. When the functionaries in the judiciary know there is no room for corruption, they will sit up.

When Nigerians know there is a systemic corruption, people will be corrupt. When they know the environment is not conducive for corruption, they will sit up. That is why all we need from the incoming government is strong leadership, strong institutions, and strong values. A minister took N20 billion to fly a private jet all over the place and when the National Assembly summoned her, she refused to go. Is that not impunity?

The incoming leadership must not give room for selective judgment.

But Nigeria is being seen as a country with endless opportunities for infrastructure, how valid is this?

Following the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the elections, there have been mass defections, especially from the Peoples Democratic party( PDP) to the APC. Are we not foreseeing a gradual emergence of a one party state?

It’s a bad development. Again, it’s a product of the political system we have operated for years. All it shows is that the political class are full of jobbers. They are not interested in the masses, governance or development. During the APC primaries, it was clear Buhari had no money to share to delegates unlike some of his other contenders who did; yet he still won.

Six weeks to the election provided an opportunity for Jonathan to share as much money as he could never share, yet he lost.

Now if people are trooping from PDP to APC and they get there only to find out there is nothing for them that serves them right because Buhari had said there was not going to be any opportunity for anybody and I want him to stick to that. With that, Buhari would have established a cultural change of selfseeking in the political climate of Nigeria.

However, the opposition should not be left struggling to survive. The new government must provide facilities, probably grants to support them to they can maintain their structures and not just a winner-takes- it-all sort of thing.

For the first time in Nigeria, an opposition party defeated a sitting government. What do you think made this possible?

The new government rode on the back of the ‘change’ slogan and I think it was wise for them to pitch into the mood of Nigerians that desperately wanted a change. I’ve always maintained that we need to do a lot of work to define what change means. For me, if you look at the trajectory of change over the years, there is nothing new about it. It always gets to a point in this country when people become tired of the leader they have and, therefore, crave a change. When Gen. Muhammadu Buhari became the military Head of State through a coup detat in 1983, I was old enough to know many people were tired of the Shehu Shagari-led government. Unfortunately, Buhari’s dictatorial tendency eventually eroded public confidence. I also remember that the Abacha regime was also brutal and dictatorial forcing Nigerians to seek a change. I recall that during that time, I was being detained alongside Femi Falana for organising a labour workshop. But when Abacha died, everybody jubilated.

Are you convinced then that this change is desirable?

It was clear the Jonathan administration lacks focus. The government is overwhelmed with Nigerians’ problems and is not interested in solving them. Second, those who are a part of that the government were not interested in listening to anybody but themselves and that got people frustrated. Now I will be very reluctant to say Nigerians voted for Buhari out of sheer love. When the APC gets into government, that is when their trial period begins and, therefore, they need to earn Nigerians’trust on time.

In other words, expectations are high?

Very high! The incoming government does not have a long time to prove they can actually meet the needs of Nigerians’.

Nigerians will be very impatient with them and they cannot give the excuses that ‘we did not cause the problems’. Once they mount the saddle, they need to start tackling the problems immediately and woo Nigerians. To them, it is a test period, and it won’t be long for Nigerians to predict if they would fail or not.

So, what are the key areas they need to work on?

I’ve read the APC manifesto and Buhari’s promise to deliver

•Tolani

within his first 100 days of his administration. However, let me put the achievements in two categories - the concrete or lifechanging measures, while the other is the perception measure.

Let me deal with perception first. I don’t care how much you talk about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), if all those figures don’t translate to life-changing things, they are useless to the public. So, it will take them a little bit of time to win perception. But there are concrete areas. First, is power. It is easy for a Nigerian to say ‘I used to have light a day in a week before, now it’s four days in a week under the new government’. That is a measurable achievement that connects and resonates with the people. Another is employment. I mean sustainable employment generation, and not merely hiring people to sweep the street. Consistent power supply and employment are interwoven.

Can you shed more light on why one can translate to another?

When you generate more energy, there is power, and the production capacity of companies will increase. So, companies can increase their capacity and, then, employ more people. I was somewhere in Niger Delta some years ago, some young people were empowered with equipment in an attempt to encourage them to go into entrepreneurship. But I was saddened that some of them later sold the equipment bought for them because there was no light to power them.

So, energy is critical. Second, the incoming government must devote serious attention to diversification of the economy.

The oil industry has got lots of potential that we are not tapping into. For example, I still cannot understand why we are still importing fuel in this country when we can make our refineries work and also have modular refineries.

I’ve carried out a research on oil theft and artisanal refining in Nigeria. The general notion of the people is that they should be able to have the opportunity to leave the creek and stop artificial refining that destroys the environment and actually do this business in a legal way. If we can reduce how much fuel we import by having small modular government-supported refineries, one, we will have more supply of fuel in the country therefore reducing the amount of money we spend on fuel abroad. Two, it will generate

‘When Nigerians know there is a systemic corruption, people will be corrupt. When they know the environment is not conducive for corruption, they will sit up. That is why all we need from the incoming government is strong leadership, strong institutions, and strong values’

We have a huge opportunity for public infrastructure.

The government must concentrate on infrastructure, such as roads that are labour-intensive. Look at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that is under construction. Those who are assisting in pouring sand, carrying water and all that are probably not in one employment or the other before. And when the road is fully constructed, it will reduce accident, car damage, and people will get to their destination on time.

We have the rail system that still needs to be built and it is a huge capital investment that involves a lot of personnel. I, alone, will be happy that we borrow money to build rail lines. Those are sustainable investments for the future.

If the trust is there, and the infrastructure work, all the outsourcing that we give to India can actually come to Nigeria. All these fraudsters and yahoo boys can actually be employed to run call centres. For instance you pick a phone in the UK and you are making an enquiry but the person picking the call is in India because it’s cheaper for those companies to pay people in India to outsource it to that company than to do it in the UK where the labour law are very stringent. I’m not encouraging a breach of labour law, but all I’m saying is that the tight labour rules in those countries like UK now makes it is imperative for us to have comparative advantage over them. But this is what Nigeria has missed for many years because we don’t have the infrastructure to do such things.

Another area is farming. Now there are modern equipment that support greenhouse farming in Nigeria. It will one one hand generate electricity on solar panels, and on another, we can begin greenhouse farming programs operating underneath the solar power. Then we can plant as many crops as possible that can meet our food insecurity challenges. For a government seeking legitimacy, those are the kind of things they should do.

Boko Haram, abduction and other elements of insecurity are on the rise, yet the outgoing government seems helpless. What is your take on this?

I’ve done a lot of research on security but I’m piqued about how bad our security situation has gone. My first argument is that as a country, we don’t have a security strategy. It was only about a year ago that the Office of the National Security Adviser was talking about security strategy. When you say security, what comes to mind in a very pedestrian environment like Nigeria are things like kidnapping and Boko Haram; but there are more security issues that should worry any government than that. On the forefront is the security of lives and property, employment and even food security.

For instance, we are all focused on Boko Haram but we have not been able to predict what will happen at the NigerDelta. Free money will stop for the elements in the Niger Delta who are getting around President Jonathan by saying all sort of provocative things simply to show that they are relevant. What about those stealing oil? If this government can have the will to summon them, what will they do?

Assuming there is drought or flooding, what happens?

What about the interplay of forces in the international environment? What about ISIS that adopted Boko Haram. Then, how do you protect the sovereign integrity of Nigeria? So there must be holistic approach to security which the government must formulate.

Despite President Jonathan’s defeat, some people still believe his administration performed, blaming his lieutenants for his problems. Is that so?

I listened to President Jonathan’s campaign during the election, when he claimed his government established 12 new universities, refurbished the railways, and all that. I felt our president does not even know what he has done; and this is because the philosophy of public management in Nigeria is not based on result -oriented system. The people working in the public sector see themselves as merely going to the offices daily without any particular target to meet. The ministers are in the government without target to meet. And there is no monitoring, reporting or evaluation system. But we can change to a performance-based public service, which is in tandem with our budgetary system. The critical performing department of the government should get more money. Those who underperformed should get less money but after sometime, the minister should be removed.When I say result, I mean impact-based result, I mean basic things that affect the common man on the street - food, electricity, shelter as well as quality and affordable education.

Newspaper of the Year

AN 8-PAGE PULLOUT ON NORTHERN STATES

TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

PAGE 29

INSIDE Dismissed soldiers seek reinstatement

PAGE 27

Rotary Club equips Kwara institution •Some of the returnees waiting for food at the Geidam Stadium gate

DUKU JOEL reports the horrific return of 6000 Nigerians evacuated from the Lake Chad end of Niger following insurgents’ attack on the area

T

HE only good part is that most of them returned alive. Otherwise, on the balance, life has been quite unkind.

Boko Haram insurgency forced some to flee to Niger Republic, some to other neighbouring countires. A good number crossed the border in search of greener pastures in the form of fishing in the Lake Chad end of Niger.

In any case, violence erupted right in their midst. The insurgents hit a military facility in the area, claiming many Nigerien casualties, among them civilians and about 45 soldiers.

The Nigerien authorities had to evacuate the entire area in order to, according to them, properly engage the terrorists and prevent further casualties.

The evacuees reportedly turned down a Nigerien offer to relocate to a camp in the country, choosing to return home.

The homecoming proved costly. Some of them trekked for

PHOTOS: JOEL DUKU

Insurgency: Tearful exodus from Niger ‘Some of the returnees embarked on an exhausting endurance trek lasting more than three days, just as many others watched their loved ones, including children, die for lack of food and water’ days and finding no food or water, quite a number died, including children.

According to the directives, the Boko Haram attack prompted the government of Niger to issue a quit notice to all nationals including Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria in the area to vacate the area.

The returnees relived their ordeal, alleging some brutal treatment at the hands of the soldiers. Some said they were actually chased out of Niger, though the National Emergency Agency (NEMA) said ‘chased out’ was not the word, rather ‘evacuated’.

They look gloomy, anxious, desperate and hopeless. None of them had kind words for the government of Niger with their soldiers when our correspondent spoke with

some of them coming through the Geidam axis of the Niger-Nigeria border.

Some embarked on an exhausting endurance trek lasting more than three days, just as many others watched their loved ones including children die for lack of food and water.

Our correspondent gathered that the fleeing people, mostly fishermen from the Lake Chad axis of the Lelewa community, settled in Niger where they carried out their legitimate fishing business for between five and 10 years.

Thirty-five-year-old Garba Musa from Taraba State said that he watched his son die in his arms for lack of water as he trekked for three days without food and water to get to Geidam from Lalewa, a fishing

community in Niger Republic.

“I watched my son died in my hands for lack of water,” he manage to speak amidst tears in his eyes.

The fisherman who left everything behind including his chunck of fish and a fishing boat wondered how he can start life again but surely the thought of going back to Niger is the last thing on his mind.

“I can’t believe what happened that the government of Niger will just wake up and decide to chase us out of a place that we have been doing business for years. I had 76 cartons of fish and my wife had 42 that we were planning to take to the market but we left everything including my fishing boat. I honestly don’t know where to start but I will never go back to Niger again,” Musa vowed.

Danjuma Ezekiel is a student in Nigeria who went to Niger to catch fish, make money and return to school in Nigeria but he is now caught up in the quagmire. He said he felt there was a diplomatic problem between Nigeria and Niger Republic when he narrated his experience in Niger. ”I don’t know the problem between Nigeria and Niger government because what they did to us suggested there is a problem.

“One fateful day, we were living •Continued on page 30

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Empowering IDPs through skills

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Jonathan, Aso Villa worshippers and 2015 polls

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

THE NORTH REPORT

Tearful exodus from Niger •Continued from page 29 in one surrounding. There was a day Boko Haram attacked one village called Taranga and killed many soldiers. After two days the Nigeriens sent soldiers to the water areas to go and pack the dead soldiers and they told us to leave the area. We now left Alawai to Daba Masara near Lelewa where the soldiers were camped and they came and pushed us out of the place.

“Some of us trekked for a distance of over 100km to one local government. They took us to Gigimi to Diffar. But what I want the whole world to know is that Niger drove us out of their country. I think our government has to do something about this because many people died in the process,” Ezekiel informed.

Aisha Bintu from Doro Baga said she also lost two of her children while running from Lelewa.

“My son died in my hands and I could not trace the whereabouts of the other one. I lost two of my children because of how this Niger soldiers treated us,” Aisha said.

Forty-five-year-old Ibrahim from Kebbi State who fished in the community for over 10 years, said he counted more than 50 people that died on their way to escape the brutality of the Nigerien soldiers whom according to him were pursuing them like animals.

“I counted over 50 people that died on our way out of Lelewa when the Niger soldiers were chasing us as if we are animals.

Many children also died due to lack of drinking waters as we were trekking for over three days to Diffar.

“I have been living in Lelewa for the past ten years doing my fishing business and everything that I have got is gone. The Niger government is not fair to us at all. We could not carry anything from our houses,” Ibrahim lamented.

Meanwhile the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has so far registered more than 6000 deportees in Geidam, just as the agency has equally evacuated thousands of them to their various states of origin.

Explaining the role of NEMA in the operation, the Director of Search and Rescue operation in NEMA Air Commodore Charles Otegbade disclosed there job is to profile the deportees and make necessary arrangements for their return to their states of origin.

He said: ”We are here in Geidam for an operation and the operation essentially started from a report that we received from the Government of Niger that some of our citizens that are

T

HE Federal Government has applauded the efforts of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) in producing a template for job creation.

Minister of Trade and Investment Dr. Olusegun Aganga gave the commendation on a visit to ITF headquarters Jos. The minister said: “The National Skill Gap Survey Plan of ITF is a positive initiative that is capable of solving the unemployment crisis facing the country.

•The deportees

•An aged woman arriving one of the temporary camps in Geidam from Niger

‘I counted over 50 people that died on our way out of Lelewa when the Niger soldiers were chasing us as if we are animals. Many children also died due to lack of drinking water as we were trekking for over three days to Diffar’ living in some of the islands of the Nigerien portion of the Lake Chad and Nigerians that were displaced by the insurgents to that areas should be evacuated.

“The need arose because the Nigerien government wanted to

•A man in a makeshift shelter with his family after returning from Niger conduct military operations in those areas. They offered to relocate the Nigerians citizens to some of the IDPs camps within Niger but the people refused and choose to come back home so the Nigerien government decided to move them to Nigeria and the best they can do is to take them to the border. So they choose the border crossing at Geidam and they have been bringing them.

“Our job here is to receive the Nigerians that are returning and to facilitate their various homes.

When we got the initial information from the government, they gave us an estimate of about two thousand people. But so far, since the operation started yesterday, we have received a little over three thousand and the operation is still ongoing. This morning too we got information that from the same

Nigerien government that another six thousand are on their way and we will be receiving that this afternoon.

“We are making do with a primary school and a mini stadium.

That is where we are keeping them. We do not intend to create permanent camps in Geidam here because the desire of these people •Continued on page 31

Fed Govt hails ITF jobs plan From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos

Continuing, Dr. Aganga said, “For the first time in the country, ITF through the ministry, is coming up with a National Skills Gap Survey in the country in other to meet up with the Skills gap in each sector of the economy

of the country.

“The survey is aim at identifying those various vacant gaps that required competent skill personnels needed which an institution like ITF is in the best position of training them to work” He maintained that, various academic institutions like the Universities and the Polytechnic will have to include the Survey

plan in to their school Curriculum which means that Jobs will be created in future.

He lament that, “there are so many graduates out there, and so many vacancies out there but lack of skills has been the problem” The minister disclosed that Dangote Group of Companies is building an Integrated Petrochemical Plant in Lagos which,

after completion, will end the country’s importation of petroleum products.

Also, he added, the country will become an exporter of the products.

Aganga said that the country needs about 5,000 petrochemical engineers in the country to work in that industry.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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THE NORTH REPORT

S

OLDIERS dismissed for their alleged conduct in the antiBoko Haram war have expressed a desire to be reabsorbed in the Army, saying they were wrongfully sacked in the first place.

In January, no fewer than 227 soldiers protested in Jos after they were reportedly dismissed unjustly from the 3 Armoured Division. The protesting soldiers who could not stomach their plight stormed the Plateau State secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) with placards. They told newsmen there that they were unjustly dismissed and without the benefit of fair hearing.

Leader of the protesting soldiers, Sergeant Abiona Elisha, said “We have just been dismissed from the service of the Nigerian Army after sending us to go and suffer, fighting insurgency in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states. We were not told our offence. All of a sudden, we were recalled to the barracks and made to face trial. Even in the trial, we were not given the chance to defend ourselves; they just took a decision and dismissed us.

“We were not even told what our offences were during the so-called trial. We are surprised that we can be treated like this in our own country, we were sent to fight insurgents without weapons, a lot of our colleagues were killed in the course of defending our fatherland, even those who are in hospital treating injuries sustain from battlefield were also dismissed while still on hospital admission.

“We are so pained over this action because we were the ones used to recover Gwoza from Boko Haram at the initial stage, we defended our fatherland even with bare hands, yet we were dismissed in this manner, we need help, this is pure injustice. The worst situation is that, families of our colleagues killed in Adamawa and Yobe are languishing in hunger as the Nigerian Army refused to pay their entitlement.

“So we are calling of President Goodluck Jonathan and Chief of Army Staff to intervene in our case

Continued from page 30 is to go back to their homes. We are just using those two points to sort them out according to their states of origins. We have contacted their states of origin through the State Emergency Management Agencies. After sorting them out, we will arrange for their transportation to

‘We were the ones used to recover Gwoza from Boko Haram at the initial stage, we defended our fatherland even with bare hands, yet we were dismissed in this manner, we need help, this is pure injustice. The worst situation is that, families of our colleagues killed in Adamawa and Yobe are languishing in hunger’

•On their way to fight the insurgency

Dismissed soldiers seek reinstatement From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos

and reinstate us.

When contacted, the deputy director army public relations officer of the 3 Armoured Division Col Texas Chukwu denied any knowledge of the dismissal of the soldiers, saying “I have no knowledge of the issue, I just came back from Maiduguri, I am

not aware any soldier was dismissed.”

A similar scenario is playing out already as Information coming out from the barracks have it that a group of 300 soldiers has been arrested for complaining of no weapons to fight Boko Haram. The affected soldiers are said to be under detention at the 3rd Division headquarters. It was gathered that the soldiers were all

arrested while working in Adamawa State. Reports have it that the soldiers were arrested for refusing to heed the order of their commander to fight on the excuse that their colleagues were killed by the better- armed Boko Haram fighters.

Sources said that the soldiers prefer to die where their family will see their bodies for burial.

But in military tradition, the action

of these soldiers amounts to mutiny which attracts severe punishment.

According to the source, in spite of the punishment for mutiny, the issues raised by the soldiers are those of fundamental human rights.

“They are asking: Don’t we have rights, can’t we be given fair hearing, why are they punishing us unjustly, the source said.

Investigations revealed that the case of the 300 soldiers under detention was not a recent issue. It is believed that the agitation of these soldiers may have led to the provision of equipments for the troops who are currently engaging the insurgents A senior officer serving with the division told The Nation: “At the time the soldiers committed the offence, it was evidently a mutiny to refuse an order from a superior officer to fight the insurgents. It is an unpardonable offence in the military. However, their agitation has brought sanity into the military in the sense that the military •Continued on page 32

Tearful exodus from Niger their various states,” he said.

Yobe State Executive Secretary of State Emergency Management Agency Mr. Idi Jidawa told The Nation in Geidam that he has contacted all the State Emergency Man-

agement Agencies concerned and the response is very encouraging.

“I arrived Geidam today (Thursday) and what we have done is to contact all the SEMAs in the affected states. I have earlier sent my team

•Belongings of some of the returnees scattered outside a camp in Geidam

which has been on ground with NEMA all this while. I called my Deputy Governor and spoke with the Deputy Governor of Bauchi and the Governor-elect of Kano State and the response is very encouraging. ”The good thing about the evacuation is that the people are not looking for anything more but just to be transported to their various states of origin and NEMA is providing that adequately,” Yobe SEMA Boss informed.

The Nation gathered that NEMA has so evacuated deportees to over ten states of their origin. The states include Benue, Taraba, Bauchi, Imo, Kano, Kebbi, Borno, Adamawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Niger.

Some of the deportees who arrived Geidam look tired while the children look pale and malnourished.

Elderly people were seen struggling to carry their personal belongings with little energy left in them apparently due to exhaustion from the scourging sun on open trucks from the long journey.

The Borno state government has received the first batch of deportees from Niger through Geidam in Yobe State. Speaking to newsmen while receiving the first batch of 1,200 deportees at Njimtilo, the entrance to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, the chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Grema Terab said the t state government decided to establish a new camp for them because of their

special case. Grema, also informed that another set of 17 mass transit buses have been sent to Geidam to bring in the second batch of 1,200 people, disclosed that more people are still expected as the Nigerien government continues to repatriate more people.

He said, “The 2,400 are not the only people we are expecting back in Borno from Niger and provisions have been made to get them housed one of the 400 Housing Estate along Gubio Road.”Grema said the camp was created specially for them because of their peculiar situation, stressing that “some of them though Nigerians were born in Niger and have never been to Nigeria, we have to keep them in a camp for now, console them and treat those that are traumatized with the intention of allowing them to mix with other Nigerians in not too distant a time. We are equally looking at the possibility of assisting them to start a new life in the country by given them economic assistance.”

He said the state government is not ruling out collapsing the new camp into the 20 already in existence after few months.Grema said: “When we are sure the local government of the deportees, we will allow them to mix up with their people in the other local governments, we will also involve them in the larger programme of rehabilitation of the victims of the insurgency.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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THE NORTH REPORT

Rotary Club equips Kwara institution

T

HE Rotary Club has helped to put some school challenges at bay. A shortfall in laboratories and scarcity of drinking water are some of the concerns at Senior Secondary School, Isolo-Opin, Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State.

The Rotary Club of Ilorin GRA has provided a motorised borehole and also built a science lab for the school. Both facilities were valued at about N2.7 million.

Speaking during the commissioning of the projects, President of the club and former military administrator of Bauchi and Osun states, Col Theophilus Bamigboye urged well-heeled in the society to partner with government at all levels to boost education in Nigeria.

The retired military officer lamented the falling standard of education in Nigeria, adding, “With what we met here in the school before our intervention, I don’t see anybody passing through this school that can further his education on science and technology-oriented courses. But with what we have put in place I believe the sky is the limit for them.”

He said: “I urge individuals, corporate bodies and other voluntary organizations to partner with government at all levels to move education forward in Nigeria.

That is the norm in advanced countries, that is why Rotary Club has decided to assist the community and this will encourage others to do same.

“This community will serve as our star project. After this first phase we will come back to sink more boreholes in the community.

We will upgrade the medical centre in the community. Being a global village after my presidency, my successors will continue to visit here.”

In remark, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Alhaji Saka Onimago charged individuals and organizations in the state to emulate Rotary Club to improve the standard of education “in general

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

in line with the state government education reform agenda.”

Represented by Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Alhaji AbdulHameed Alabi, the commissioner said “no government, however endowed and benevolent, can single-handedly provide all the needs of its citizenry. It is therefore gratifying to note that notable nongovernmental organisations and wealthy individuals are coming forward to fill the gap in the provision of critical infrastructural facilities in our schools. More so at this austere period when governments at all levels are facing acute shortage of funds to execute their projects.

“In line with the club’s spirit of humanitarianism, selflessness and altruism, this noble club adopted this secondary school and embarked on some projects which were considered most critical to the school community. I am most delighted to say that all the projects identified had been successfully completed and we are gathered here today to witness their official commissioning.

“I wish to call on the school community to jealously safeguard the projects with a view to ensuring their longevity and as a way of attracting similar project to the school both now and in the future.

Earlier, the Principal of the school, Mr. Ayo Abegunde listed the areas of the club’s intervention as upgrading of the school laboratories with valuable materials; provision of 85 lockers and chairs; multipurpose water project serving the laboratories; extension of electricity to the school and erection of a befitting signpost.

Narrating what led to the club’s intervention in the school, the principal acknowledged of a former youth corps member who brought the attention of members to the deplorable condition of some the facilities in the school.

His words: “What we are all witnessing today started with the singular efforts of a youth corps member, who decided towards the tail

end of her service year in 2012 to build a VIP toilet for the school.

Being a rotaract she got in touch with Rotary Club of Ilorin which eventually sponsored and commissioned the project.

“Before commissioning the toilet some members of the club visited the school to assess progress of and saw the deplorable condition of facilities in the school. The club was particularly concerned about the unplastered laboratory block without ceiling and materials; the half completed assembly hall; the block of three classrooms though renovated by the state government, but with broken lockers and chairs; the library at foundation stage and the half completed computer room without computers.

“With the above in terrible state of disrepair not conducive for learning in an institution the club drew the attention of Rotary Club International with a view to finding ways of assisting the school.”

Mr. Abegunde said that the club had therefore, designated IsoloOpin community and global village and cited star projects at its senior secondary school.

•The science lab

Dismissed soldiers seek reinstatement

•Continued from page 31 authorities have now woken up to their responsibilities to kit, equip and motivate soldiers across the board”.

The severity of the offence of these 300 soldiers is such that no one inside and outside the mili-

•The borehole

tary is allowed to talk about it because it is being treated as purely military matter. Even journalists are not allowed to talk about it.

Any journalists who try to ask why these soldiers were arrested are

•The dismissed soldiers when they protested

threatened with the same mutiny offence by the Nigerian Army.

When contacted on phone, spokesman of the 3 armored division, who is the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations Col. Texas Chukwu

said, “My friend don’t disturb me, who told you some soldiers are in detention here, you should know your limit as a journalist.”

The affected soldiers may have been under detention for the past three months without trial. While the affected soldiers are on death roll, their immediate families in the barracks are languishing in hunger and deprivation. Their children now beg for food in the barracks.

Reacting to the arrest of the soldiers, Defence spokesman Major General Chris Olu Kolade, who was in Jos last week said, “Mutiny, cowardice, desertion are military offences, they are not civilian offences, the Nigerian army don’t take such offences lightly. That is why the Nigerian army is reputed for its discipline. In the whole of Africa you can never have a more disciplined army like that of Nigeria, that is why up till date the UN still looks up to Nigeria army to lead military operations in Africa, and we have never been found wanting in that regard. When people start using certain sympathy and sentiments to defend soldiers who violate the military rules and traditions, I find such unusual

and painful.

“In the area of human rights, the day you pick up the military uniform and you put it on your body, you have automatically sacrificed these rights, and you know of this even before you picked the uniform. You know the offenses and you know the penalty if you violate them. Up till this moment, the Nigerian army does not tolerate cowardice, desertion and mutiny.

The excuse of saying yes as at the time they soldiers committed the offenses they were truly not equipped, that is not an excuse in the Nigerian military, no matter the circumstances, loyalty in the military must be 100%.

“We at the ranks of Generals in the Nigerian army we have paid our dues to reach this level and we demand that from the junior officers, anything less will amount to destruction of the foundation of the military profession.

I want to appeal to all Nigerians not to try to treat military offences in a civilian way, doing so will amount to killing the military profession. So we should drop sentiments and deal with military issues the way they are”.

Website: http://www.thenationonlineng.com

TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

Page 33

•Children at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp

I

T sure feels like blows coming from all sides. So many of them worked so hard to provide for themselves and their families. Some managed to raise properties. Then, suddenly, everything came crumbling down and they had nothing to call their own.

They now beg for food.

That has been the fate of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Northeast, who have lost all they worked so hard to acquire. They are now homeless.

Apart from witnessing the death and disappearance of their loved ones and neighbours, they also saw the assault by Boko Haram insurgents. One wonders if they will be able to recover from all this. While some are lucky enough to stay with relatives in other parts of the country, others are forced to settle in camps in inhuman conditions.

But with the rescue of about 1000 persons who were kid-

‘They have lost everything and need support in starting life afresh when they return back home. The idea is for them to make a little money and learn few necessary skills before they return back to their states, where, hopefully, they can use it to start life afresh’

Skills for IDPs

A lone woman is helping to put the cheer on the faces of internally displaced persons (IDPs), not by giving them money but teaching them skills, writes GRACE OBIKE napped by the Boko Haram insurgents by Nigerian military, most of these people are eager to return home and start life afresh.

A mother of three, Amina Muhammed, in an interview with Abuja Review said: “When peace returns to Gwoza, I will like to return. I don’t like it here because as a person, you feel free in your own house rather than having to squat in such conditions. Some of us were landlords back home. Most of our men had good jobs and businesses but now it is all gone. We are suffering here; staying in Abuja is not

•Their unsanitary living space

fun at all.”

Although some individuals have taken it upon themselves to provide food and clothes for the IDPs in different parts of the country, another individual has taken it upon herself to empower the women. They call her Mama IDP at the Area 1 Camp and a lot of them have nice things to say about the woman who prefers to remain anonymous. She said at first, she, like other well-meaning Nigerians, had began with providing them with food and clothing items weekly but she went further to provide them with skill acquisition

programme where the women are taught bleach making, liquid soap making, making of dusting powder and vaseline.

“They have lost everything and need support in starting life afresh when they return home. The idea is for them to make a little money and learn few necessary skills before they return back to their states, where, hopefully, they can use it to start life afresh.

“Five months ago when we visited here, we began bringing food on weekly basis and realised that there was no learning centre and the children were not going to

school; they were always running around dirty and their parents could hardly control them.

“So, with the help of friends, we were able to open a learning centre in the uncompleted building where 13 families lived for the past nine months but the woman that owns the building needs to continue with her building so she has asked them to vacate.

“Five weeks ago, we began a training programme that will empower these women so that when they go back home, they will be able to have some kind of skills to help them generate income so that they can help their families because they have lost everything back home.

“We need volunteer teachers for the learning centres. We have children that are of secondary school age but because we don’t have the facilities for them, they cannot come to the school. We have almost 20 children that should be in the JSS category. We still need funds to buy sewing machines and teach them how to make pastries like akara and other things so that they can raise funds for themselves.

“This camp needs things as little as sanitary pads for their monthly periods and pants. Most of the children do not have pants to wear. We need pairs of slippers, clothes and we need things that people may not want as they are valuable here. We also need old toys.

“We need counselling for these people. We need prayers and support. They have lost everything; they saw their children being slaughtered in front of them. For me, my emphasis is on women because they run the home, my emphasis is to develop the skills of the women because most of them have no skills and they just wait on their men to bring money for food.

•Continued on page 34

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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ABUJA REVIEW

Skills for IDPs •Continued from page 33 “My emphasis is also on the men; they need a source of livelihood, they need their pride and dignity restored. If they can go out and source for a job and bring food on the table that will be a thing of pride for them. Most of them do not have it now so they can resort to any kind of menace.

“These women are very hard working. In two days, they have mastered how to produce the soap, dusting powder and Vaseline among others. They are not only hard working, they are intelligent.

We have been training them for the past five weeks, we intend to harvest the best hands here and take them to another IDP camp to train those ones as well, so that when they return home, they have some skills to do. It’s not about anybody taking the glory but about man helping man.”

Amina Muhammed added: “I have stayed in this camp for seven months. From Gwoza, we trekked to Madaghalli and I was pregnant at the time. From Madaghalli, someone gave us a lift to Maiduguri and we got another free transportation to Abuja.

“While in Abuja, a woman, Aunty Habiba came here and took us the pregnant women to the police hospital for antenatal and when it was time for me to be delivered of my baby, she took me to the hospital and I had my baby through caesarean. She took care of the bills.

When peace returns to Gwoza, I will like to return. I don’t like it here because as a person, you feel free in your own house than having to squat in such conditions. Some of us were landlords back home; most of our men had good jobs and businesses but now all are gone. We are suffering here; staying in Abuja is not fun at all.

“The owner of the building has asked us to vacate because she has actually helped us with her place but she needs to complete her building. Some people are unable to provide the money to pay for their shacks but I gave them money for mine to be built and for the others that cannot afford to pay for theirs, mama IDP is assisting them with it.”

‘These women are very hard working. In two days, they have mastered how to produce the soap, dusting powder and Vaseline among others.

They are not only hard working, they are intelligent’ Woman leader of the camp told Abuja Review that although they appreciate residents of Abuja that provided them with food item often, they have better appreciation of the programme because they can earn a living on their own someday without having to live off other people or continue to beg.

She said: “Yes, all our women took part in the skills acquisition programme provided by Mama IDP. When we go home, we will have things to do that will help us a lot compared to how people simply provide us with food. But this is something that even if we return home, we will have something to do instead of staying idle. We will be able to purchase the chemicals ourselves and make the products for sale.

“Honestly, staying in Abuja is only for people who are accustomed to it because if not for people that have been assisting us in this city, how would we have survived?

To eat is a problem. We have to buy. Who will want to live his home where things are much simpler?

Staying in the village is so much easier than this Abuja life.

“We are not safe even from security officials who harass us all the

•Kegs of liquid soap made by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at an Abuja camp time. They came in the middle of the night the other day and packed all our men away for no reason although all of them have been released now. When we asked questions, they said it is a simple routine patrol but what kind of patrol will make them take people away in the presence of his children for no reason. Why then will we want to stay in a place like this with all the troubles?

“Unfortunately we enjoyed learning this work and hope to continue on our own, we do not have the startup capital to purchase all the chemicals required. So, we are pleading with well-meaning Nigerians not to be tired of us. They should continue to help us as they have been doing. They should provide us with the startup capital and direct us to where to buy all the chemicals needed to produce all these things.

“Although when we make all the items, we will not sell them as expensive as they are selling them here; we will make and sell them cheap so that it will be affordable to the poor and we can exhaust our products and make new ones.”the products IDP’s learnt during the programme

•Amina Muhammed with her two-week-old baby

‘Don’t stigmatise freed inmates’

T

•President Goodluck Jonathan (right) listening to MD, Julius Berger, Detler Lubasch, with them from left are the Minister of State FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide; FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed and Julius Berger Divisional Manager, Harmut Warnecke during the Inspection of the Lot 2, Umaru Musa Yar’adua Expressway, Airport Road in Abuja PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN

QUOTE

HE Public Relations Officer of Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Mr. Frances Enobore has praised The Nation Newspapers for effectively informing the public.

Enobore, who is a Deputy Controller of Prisons (DCP), gave the commendation when his team visited the Abuja Bureau of The Nation Newspaper and were received by the Deputy Editor Nation’s Capital, Mr. Yomi Odunuga.

He also seeks further collaboration in the area of educating the society not to stigmatise already freed inmates who had served out their jail terms.

The sad development, he said, is not helping the inmates who have passed through reformation and had learnt several vocations while in prison before gaining freedom.

He advised the society to accept them so as to help them to move ahead with their lives.

His words: “We appreciate The Nation Newspapers for the good job the management is doing for the country through information and for also showcasing the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS). The NPS cannot do it

From Gbenga Omokhunu

alone without the support of the media.

“We seek further collaboration so that you help the service to inform the public not to stigmatise freed inmates. Doing so will demoralise them in the society and it may not help them showcase what they have learnt in the prisons.

“They learn a lot that is good for the society and I think we should encourage them. The stigmatisation is not helping the reformation we are giving to them in the prison. The sentence is enough punishment for them and the Controller-General of Prisons is strongly not in support of stigmatization of freed inmates. He always tells members of the public to accept freed inmates back to the society.”

Responding, Mr. Odunuga urged the NPS to do more in controlling the excesses of the violent ones among the prisoners.

Odunuga promised to continue to help the service where necessary.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

35

ABUJA REVIEW

O

NE of the reasons for daily influx of people into Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is to enhance their well-being.

While a few have seemingly realised their dreams, others are still hoping and praying that one day, all will be well.

The FCT is made up of six satellite towns which have become the abode for many. Byazhin Across is a community in Kubwa Council Area in the FCT. It is thickly populated suburb.

Located at the ends of Kubwa, Byazhin Across is a fast-growing community as many people move into it on daily basis. Residents of this community are mainly those who cannot afford the expensive accommodation in other areas of Kubwa.

Unfortunately, the infrastructural development of the community does not commensurate with its dense population. Byazhin Across community represents squalor and underdevelopment. It is a community that lacks social amenities such as pipeborne water, regular electricity and tarred roads.

Every household owns an electricity generating set to avoid living in the dark. The residents also provide water for themselves through sinking of boreholes. Those who could not afford boreholes make use of a local river to serve their water needs.

Some residents who spoke to Abuja Review recounted the awful experiences they have been going through in Byazhin Across.

Community begs for facilities From Ayorinde Hope

Mrs. Happiness lives in a self-contain with her husband and three children. She told our correspondent that she pays N80, 000 as rent per year.

She complained about lack of power supply and absense of pipe-borne water.

She said: “We just had electricity few weeks ago. If you look around, you will still see new electric poles, but the problem is we hardly get electricity. It comes like two hours in two days.”

Mrs. Happiness also stated that the area is prone to security breach as properties get stolen whenever people are not around. She, however, urged the incoming government to come to the community’s aid by providing basic amenities such as electricity and pipe borne water.

Another resident, Mr. Christopher, who hails from Cross River State expressed displeasure over what he called lack of necessities of life in the community. “I stay in a single room apartment here in Byazhin Across, and one of the major challenges for me is poor road network. From here to the express road costs N150 to and from. Towards the evening, it costs between N200 and N250 most times.

The dust from the road affects my health a lot and there is hardly elec-

Indigenes seek ‘genuine’ development I NDIGENES of Abuja have called on their representatives at the National Assembly to work towards impacting positively on the lives of the people who voted them into power.

A community leader in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Daniel Yepwi lamented that indigenes have been left behind in terms of education and job opportunities, which indigenes of other states are benefiting from.

According to Yepwi, it is time members in the House of Representatives and the Senate used their political offices to attract genuine development to the six area councils in the territory.

He said lucrative job opportunities promised to indigenous people of the FCT are being enjoyed by people from other states at the detriment of the natives.

“People of the Niger Delta are enjoying today, because their leaders stood firm without compromising.

It is time chairmen of other area councils started emulating chairman of AMAC, Mr. Micah Jiba for scholarships he has given to our children to study post-graduate programmes abroad, with the promise to do more.

“The incoming minister of the FCT

•Fuel queue in Abuja

should avoid demolition of our ancestral houses because no nation thrives without a history. Nigerians and government met Gbagyi people here in the FCT and I wondered why every government will come and start demolishing our homes? In countries such as the United States of America (USA), there are still ancestral homes and buildings owned by the red Indians who still live there till today,” he said.

The indigenes, who congratulated the President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, further advised him to maintain his principles and integrity by making sure he appoints an indigene as a minister of the FCT. They appealed to the incoming government to carry the indigenes along and avoid any thing that will plunge the youth into crisis such as the Niger Delta youths.

“We want the incoming administration to dwell more on projects and programmes that will benefit us, not like the Bala Mohammed-led administration that used the military to demolish and humiliate us on our land,” he said.

tricity supply to the community to enable us to do our jobs.

“I have a small generator but when there is fuel scarcity, I abandon my work and jobs until when it’s available,” he said.

He also said he rely solely on borehole and purchase water from cart pushers popularly called ‘Mai Ruwa’ at N250 per cart. Mr. Christopher calls on the incoming government to effect a gradual change on all the social needs of the community.

“I believe so much in the ability of the incoming government because I know they have our interest at heart.

I would want them to bring the change into this community by gradually meeting our needs and I think constant electricity is a major need,” he said.

Mr. Turheeb lives in a one bedroom flat and pays N130, 000 per year. He said their major challenges are water and electricity. He stated that electricity is rationed and when it’s his turn, he rarely gets electricity.

“Light is a major challenge and it is one day on one day off. Sometimes when it is our turn, we do not get it,” he said.

Another resident, Mrs. Joseph, a petty trader, complained about the road and poor electricity supply. She noted that the road is often unusable during the rainy season.

D

ELTA State women in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the auspices of Niger Delta Women Development Initiatives (NDWDI) have advised the incoming administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to involve women in the fight against insurgency.

The National Coordinator of NDWDI, Hon. Patience Oyowhose who gave this advice during a press conference at the unveiling of NDWDI in Abuja, said as mothers, they want the incoming administration to work with women, because the insurgents are not ghosts; they have parents.

‘Mothers are responsible for their children. If the women are carried along in the fight against insurgence, I believe that there will be peace. This is because the women can reach out to the youth’

“During rainy season, our road is very bad. There is no gutter, even people don’t like coming to this area because of the bad nature of the road when rain falls. We don’t have light and we buy water from borehole operators. A 25 litre gallon is N15 and 20 litre paint bucket is N10. It is expensive and I want government to

do something about it; we are really suffering here,” she said.

Residents of Byazhin Across are hoping that the Federal Government will heed to their call and reduce the hardship they go through by providing the much-needed social amenities that will help in developing their community.

Indigenes appeal for equity

I

NDIGENES of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have appealed to the incoming administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to involve them in his administration, in order to benefit from the change which they have prayed for, even as they said they had been marginalised by past and present administrations.

The leader of Dagbalo community, Rev. Danjuma Tanko, who made the appeal on behalf of the indigenes in a press briefing on the future of Abuja natives, said the people of Abuja have suffered endless marginalisation.

According to Rev. Tanko, since the existence of Nigeria, the people of Abuja have never been given the chance to participate in the affairs of governance, saying that the North Western State era was the beginning of marginalisation for

From Gbenga Omokhunu

the people of Abuja.

“This situation continued during the days of the military rules, when we expected participation during the Second Republic. The incoming administration should give hope to the people so that they will feel and participate actively in the change that we have being praying for.

“No political appointment has been offered to the indigenes. The people of Abuja have a lot of graduates today, but there are no jobs for them. Our means of survival has been ceased from us and converted into buildings and road constructions.

“Even with the present degree of development in the city, it is highly worrisome if this is an invasion. We •Continued on page 36

‘Involve women in fight against insurgency’ Stories from Gbenga Omokhunu

According to Oyowhose, mothers know where their children are. If Gen. Buhari works with women, they will be able to reach their children at any given time, in order to continue to advise them against being influenced by selfish and wicked Nigerians, who cash in on the disadvantages of the poor to perpetrate evil.

“Mothers are responsible for their children. If the women are carried along in the fight against insurgence, I believe that there will be peace.

This is because the women can reach out to the youth.

“The Niger Delta women in the FCT and outside Abuja have not been effectively utilised by previous governments. A lot of things are happening in Niger Delta and the women are the ones farming and fishing, and there is too much pollution. The government just reports that they are doing something on papers, but nothing has been done.

“So, this time around, we are say-

•A displaced child sleeping in an uncompleted building

ing that the women must have a voice and that whatever is being done; the women must be carried along. We must know what is happening to our women. How many women are being empowered and employed? How many Niger Delta women are in position to reach out to the women at the grassroots? That is why we are out to speak for our women,” she said.

She also said they envisioned a continent in which women take their rightful place as home and nation builders, with opportunity and access in all areas of development in Niger Delta and the FCT, saying that they want to bring together female executives, professionals and leaders to further advance the leadership status of women in the Niger Delta.

“The Niger Delta Women Development Initiative in the FCT and outside Abuja seeks to advance the status of women in leadership by creating an empowering platform and harnessing the synergies of alliance, by fostering an alliance among Niger Delta women in leadership position among others,” she added.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

36

ABUJA REVIEW

E

VEN though the March 28 Presidential election has come and gone with President Goodluck Jonathan conceding defeat to the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, reactions to the outcome of the polls is yet to be over.

Some worshipers at the Aso Villa Chapel inside the State House, believe that not enough effort was made to ensure Jonathan’s re-election.

They felt that Jonathan’s administration failed to exploit the opportunities available to it to garner more votes through worshipers at the Chapel which they believed could have changed the fortunes of Mr. President during the election.

Claiming that they had a high number of influential members in various fields, who would have influenced co-workers, friends, neighbours, families and relatives to vote for Jonathan, some of the worshipers said they were not mobilised for the election.

They specifically complained of not been ‘carried along’ in the scheme of things leading to the presidential election.

The worshipers bared their minds during the Sunday School class, which was attended by President Jonathan, at the Chapel last week Sunday.

One of the worshipers while making contribution to the Sunday School class said: “Before the elections, nobody saw us, nobody carried us along. Now we have lost the election and losing is painful. I don’t like losing. So when we study these things, let’s put it into practice.”

On the issue, Chaplain of the Chapel, Ven. Obioma Onwuzurumba said: “The church before felt it was dirty to play politics. And I think that is why Church has been losing. Yes, we need to carry everybody along as much as possible.”

“I say as much as possible because people who have studied leadership have come up with the conclusion that only 20 percent of a group given a job will always do 80 percent of what is required.

And that has been proven.”

“No matter how you try to carry everybody along, you don’t find everybody always cooperating. In as much as everybody will feel left out, there are some people who always grumble that they are not carried along.”

“And some people just grumble, waiting until they are begged, cajoled, pushed, until they are enticed with something of value before they move. Such people will always grumble. They will never see that they have opportunities where they could have showcased themselves without been noticed,” he added.

But President Jonathan, who was dressed in a cream-coloured traditional attire, did not make any remark on the complains. He read the first lesson from Daniel 11: 32 during the service proper.

It is not only the Aso Villa

Jonathan, Villa worshippers and 2015 polls Chapel worshipers that felt that they were not carried along towards the election by the Jonathan’s administration.

Many staff and other groups in the Presidential Villa, who witnessed the visits of various groups to Mr. President on the re-election bid, also felt that they were not properly engaged by the power-that-be to campaign for Jonathan in their localities.

Unlike the worshipers, they have, however, not been outspoken about their complaints.

In order not to appear to be ‘crying more than the bereaved’, it’s high time the various groups put the election behind them as President Jonathan has already done that and looking ahead to what the future holds for him.

Prayers for Buhari, incoming government Despite the head of the incoming government, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari being aMuslim, the Christian community at the State House, Abuja have started to give the incoming administration the necessary spiritual backing.

The Aso Villa Chapel, which is located a stone throw from the official residence of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has supported the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan and other former Presidents with prayers in their tenures.

Even as the Chapel is praying for President Jonathan to successfullycomplete his assignment as Nigeria’s president on May 29, several prayer points have been out-

God to use the President-elect to reconcile the northern and the southern part of Nigeria for a true united nation under the living God as Sovereign Lord and ruler. 2nd Kings 3:7.”

Part of prayer points for Monday May 25th reads: “Commit to God the victors from March 28, 2015 Presidential, National Assembly (Senatorial and House of Representatives) election, that they will carry-on with genuine heart, passion for the people and the nation at large. Nehemiah 1: 4-6.”

From the Villa

By Augustine Ehikioya

Meal ticket beyond May 29 lined for the incoming government.

Apart from prayer points raised for the incoming government at the Chapel during the first Sunday service of May, the Prayer Guide for Nigeria for the month of May 2015 circulated to members of the Chapel had about twenty-one prayer points for the incoming government, spread throughout the month.

One of the prayer point for Sunday May 10th asked the worshipers to “Pray that the incoming administration shall hit the ground running as they resume so as to fulfill both short and long term goals while retaining and complete all the developmental projects of the out-going government in the interest of the nation. Kings 18:6.”

Another prayer point for the incoming government for Friday May 15th reads: “Nigerians have complained of corruption, insecurity and of low economy; pray that the new helmsman, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in the new administration at the

Federal level shall address these issues frontally as desired 2nd Peter 1: 4.”

Part of prayer points for Sunday May 17th reads: “Commit the fifth month of the year, May 2015 into God’s hand, pray for a peaceful and smooth transition across Nigeria and a new dawn in our socio-political development. Proverb 16:3" Similar prayer points for the success of the transition was also scheduled for Thursday May 21st, Saturday May 23rd and Friday May 29th.

Monday May 18th prayer points include “Pray for the inclusion of individuals who would add value to the incoming government in the cabinet and very important appointive positions. Mark 3: 13-14.”

Another prayer point for Wednesday May 20th reads: “And thank Him for the President-elect, Gen. Buhari (rtd) who has promised to carry everybody along in his government.”

Prayer points in the prayer guide for Sunday May 24th include “Ask

All Ministers in the present cabinet of President Jonathan are expected to be out of government from May 29th, while only one of them as at today is certain to remain in government beyond that day.

The lucky one is the Minister of State for Agriculture, Asabe Asmau Ahmed, who was named last Tuesday as the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF).

The new PEF Executive Secretary, who hails from Niger State and holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, respectively, is expected to put her wealth of experience in public service to use in the new assignment.

But how long she will stay on the new job beyond May 29th will depend on whether the incoming government will reverse the last minute appointments or not.

Indigenes appeal for equity •Continued from page 35 are law-abiding people and we pay our taxes directly and indirectly,” he said.

Tanko further said the federal allocation which the FCT benefited from in theory and not in practical, other Nigerians who are already benefiting from their states also come to the FCT to control the revenue allocation without considering the interests of the indigenes.

“The end result on how they manage the FCT allocation is a total neglect of indigenous commu-

nities and advancement of act of impunity, whereby they cease our lands without alternative means or compensation, developing and providing infrastructure on the ceased farmlands, while the indigenes lack good roads and electricity in their communities.

“Our traditional status should also be upgraded and given the chance to contribute actively in the affairs of nation-building. It must be noted that these people have sacrificed their kingdoms for the peaceful co-existence of Nigeria. So, they must be carried along in the scheme of things,” he said.

•Native silos used for storing grains at Gashua in Yobe

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

37

LAW & SOCIETY

NDLEA commander seeks reinstatement

A

N Assistant State Commander of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Prince Benjamin Ikani, has taken the agency to the National Industrial Court (NIC), seeking reinstatement In the originating motion, Ikani is praying the court for four reliefs.

The first, second and third respondents are the chairman of the NDLEA, the agency and its director-general/ secretary.

Ikani said he filed the suit, following the agency’s refusal to reinstate him, thereby disobeying an order of Justice Ayodele Obaseki-Osaghae of NIC. Ruling on an ex-parte application dated April 22, this year, Justice Obaseki-Osaghae ordered the respondents to maintain the status quo ante bellum as at February 15, this year, when Ikani was suspended, pending the hearing and determination of the Originating Motion on Notice.

The presiding judge had further ordered the reinstatement of Ikani as an Assistant State Commander, including his pay, pending the hearing and determination of the Originating Motion on Notice.

The court adjourned to May 14, for hearing of the Originating Motion.

But in the new suit filed through his lawyer, Mobola Akintunde, the applicant is seeking an Order of Certiorari of the court to quash the decision of the respondents, suspending him without remuneration for instituting a suit against the respondents as contained in a letter dated February 16, this year, saying the decision was ultra vires and a violation of his right to fair hearing.

Ikani also prayed the court for “an order of prohibition prohibiting the respondents from implementing or

By Adebisi Onanuga and Precious Igbonwelundu

enforcing the decision of the respondents suspending the applicant from duty without remuneration as contained in the respondents’ letter dated February 16, 2015".

He also sought for “an order of injunction restraining the respondents by themselves, their officers, agents, servants or privies from implementing or enforcing the said decision contained in their letter dated February 16, 2015” and for such further or other orders as the court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.

The three grounds upon which the application is predicated are that “the respondents have no power under the NDLEA Act Cap No LFN 2004 or the NDLEA Regulations (Terms and Conditions of Service) 2001 or indeed any other law to suspend the applicant from duty without pay merely on the ground that the applicants instituted an action against the respondents.

“That the applicant was not given an opportunity to be heard before the decision to suspend him without remuneration was taken.

“That the action of the respondents in suspending the applicant without remuneration on the ground that the applicant instituted an action against the respondents is a breach of the applicant’s right to approach the courts and access to justice”.

In a 29-paragraph affidavit in support of the Originating Motion, Ikani alleged that the NDLEA under Mr. Glade, had declared war on him following his appointment by the Attorney General of the federation as Secretary of the seven-man Presidential Committee, headed by Justice Gilbert Obayan (rtd.) and inaugurated in 2006 for the reform of the

agency.

He claimed that the report of the committee was submitted in 2007 and that the leadership of the agency accused him of not protecting them.

Ikani averred that he had borne the brunt of several persecution by the agency, including the alleged plan to retire him in 2010 on the ground “on the untenable ground that I was not entitled to return to service after serving as Attorney- general of Kogi State”.

He further averred that when he became aware of the plan to retire him from service, he instituted an action at the Federal High Court, Lagos in suit number FHC/L/CS/ 1327/10 and sought various declaratory and injunctive reliefs against the first and second respondents and two others to which, he said, they responded by filing a counter affidavit in opposition to the originating summon.

Ikani submitted that the court restrained the respondents from interfering or obstructing him in the performance of his duty in the NDLEA, adding that on the threat of committal for disobedience of the order of the Federal High Court, he was reinstated to the service of the second respondent in a letter dated November 23, 2010 while the suit number FHC/L/CS/1327/10 was transferred to the NIC. The applicant stated that his persecution and witch-hunting continued in the agency as the defendants forwarded a complaint containing allegation of “disobedience to order and falsehood/prevarication” against him to the Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee (SSDC), describing the allegations as “spurious and unfounded and constituted part of the vendetta and persecution embarked

upon by the first respondent to achieve the objective of finding new grounds for relieving me of my position in the second respondent”.

Ikani claimed to have again approached the Federal High Court in 2013 where Justice Kurya made an order of interim injunction restraining SSDC from adjudicating on the complaints and allegations against him by the first and second respondents pending the hearing and determination of the Originating Motion on Notice.

He averred that while the order is still subsisting and the case still pending, the respondents allegedly decided to suspend him again from duty pending the hearing and determination of suit number FHC/L/ CS/1327/10 and that the decision was conveyed to him in the letter dated February 16, this year.

Ikani averred that he was not aware of the decision by the respond-

By Precious Igbonwelundu

A

‘Makanjuola a loss to legal profession’

A

RETIRED Lagos judge, Jus tice Ebenezer Adebajo, has described the late Chief Legal Officer and Head of Litigation for Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), Ms. Eniola Makanjuol, as a loss to the legal profession.

In a statement, Justice Adebajo said the deceased was set for a great professional career in law, adding that she joined the Lagos State Ministry of Justice as a senior legal officer.

“Olatunji, as she was fondly called by her parents, was admitted into St. Theresa’s College, Oke Ado

By Adebisi Onanuga

Ibadan at the age of nine, an unusual feat in those days, where her sister, Mrs Yejide Runsewe, was a senior. She maintained an impressive academic record in the school.

It was no surprise when she gained admission to study law at the prestigious University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) Ile Ife in 1976,” he said.

He said Makanjuola, 52, later rose to the post of Assistant General Manager at LSDPC and moved to Ibadan in 2004 as Head of Legal Department at Odua Telecoms, Ibadan.

•Makanjuola

ents to suspend him from duty without pay. He added that his employers had no power to do so without affording him the opportunity to be heard. He described it as a violation of his right to fair hearing and access to justice.

Lawyer to Buhari: review Jonathan’s last-minute appointments

•Ofuokwu

•Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade (middle) flanked by Justice Demola Bakare of Ogun State High Court (right) and Justice Oyejola Oyewunmi of the National Industrial Court (NIC) at the opening of the Continuous Legal Education Programme of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch.

•Director-General, NDLEA, Roli Bode-George

CONSTITUTIONAL lawyer, Ike Ofuokwu, has urged the President-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to review the recent appointments made by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The appointments, he said, could not be justified by any one neither is there any political exigency to warrant them.

He urged the incoming administration to nullify any such appointment if found not to be based on merit.

Ofuokwu said: “All these last- minute recruitment and appointments should be reviewed by the incoming Buhari administration and where there is no merit in them, should be cancelled and nullified immediately because they are founded on political considerations.”

The lawyer said some of the appointments were based on political patronage and to reward those who want relevance at all cost and who seek “an agency of government that must pick up their bills for the rest of their lives.”

Ofuokwu, an All Progressives Congress (APC) leader in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, said he mobilised votes for Gen. Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) during the general elections. He faulted a report in which President Jonathan was quoted as questioning Gen. Buhari’s victory.

He said: “I want to believe that the president was quoted out of context, otherwise it goes further to show the nature and the character of men who ran the affairs of this country for nearly six years.

“Their approach to issues is simply reductionist. It is anachronism to expect that Jonathan would have won in a free and fair election after a-nothingto-write-home-about outing of nearly six years. ‘’ He continued: “In the first place, let’s put the records straight: there was nothing statesmanly about his conceding defeat and congratulating Gen. Buhari even before the winner was announced.

That was the only option he had in an election that humbled him.

“It was only in the imagination of

PDP members that they thought that Jonathan could have won that election.

It’s therefore a misconception and an abuse of the word to label him a ‘statesman’.

“It was the most inappropriate word to use for him in an election where we are yet to fathom how he got the bogus votes recorded for him in Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom states etc.

“We all saw the turn out in pre-election rallies and there is no way he could have scored what was awarded him in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and in some other states.

“It is simply hypocritical and an afterthought for anybody to question Buhari’s victory. With the exception of the politically nerd, months before the elections, every right thinking person saw the victory coming.

“As a matter of fact it was the shift in date to enable PDP perfect the art of rigging that saved them from what would have been a total humiliation rejection.”

Ofuokwu praised APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for his role in ensuring victory at the polls.

“Like him or hate him, he has indeed proven himself a worthy leader and a consummate politician.

“Even when he could have joined the ruling party with immense benefit, he remained in his own party, built it into a vibrant opposition and transformed it into a national mega brand while other top politicians were busy jumping ship and indulging themselves in political prostitution.

“I recommend that present and aspiring politicians should understudy his political sagacity,” he said.

On his expectations from the incoming APC/Buhari administration, Ofuokwu said: “When you talk of integrity, honesty and resilience, Buhari is a global brand.

“However, I do not envy Buhari/ APC at all because they have inherited a near comatose economy, disillusioned people and morally bankrupt workforce that is bereft of any meaningful legacy,” he said.

Among others, Ofuokwu wants the incoming administration to review the sale/privatisation of some public utilities.

“This again lends further credence to the insatiable appetite of the outgoing government to bankrupt this country at all cost with their penchant for primitive acquisition of our common patrimony.

38

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

FROM THE COURT

Firm sues MTN, others for intellectual property ‘theft’

F

OR allegedly using the Emer gency Recharge Card Service (ERCS) without the approval of the patent owner, four telecoms giants have been sued to the Federal High Court in Lagos.

They are MTN Nigeria Communication Limited; Airtel Networks Limited; Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Limited (ETISALAT) and GLOBALCOM Limited.

The firms were sued before Justice Saliu Saidu by a company, Erosalem Global Limited, for allegedly disregarding the plaintiff’s right over its invention (ERCS) with Patent no: NG/P/ 2009/634 by integrating the service on their platforms and benefitting financially.

In a writ of summons marked FHC/L/CS/1694/14, the plaintiff is seeking an order of court compelling the telecom firms to account for all profits they made through the unlawful use, supply, sale and application of its ERCS invention.

The plaintiff wants the court to order the defendants to pay 50 percent of all the profits made from inception of the package as well as interest on the said sum at the rate of 21 percent till judgment is given, and 12 percent thereafter, till the entire sum is fully liquidated.

It is also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the telecom firms and their agents from using, selling, applying, providing to their subscribers or anyone, the plaintiff’s ERCS, which involves the process and application of borrowing airtime to telephone

•’There’s no case against us’

By Precious Igbonwelundu

prepaid subscribers either through the use of SMS, USSD code, printed recharge card, customer care or any other mode.

The plaintiff alleged that it invented the ERCS in 2008 and 2009, adding that it was the first to ever develop the concept.

It averred that the invention was patented in 2009, which was not prior to that time, part of the methods or applications of any telecommunication in Nigeria or the world over.

Hence, the plaintiff is praying the court to award N5 billion against MTN for alleged breach of confidence, as well as N25 billion jointly against the defendants for the unlawful use of its Patented right.

Stating its case, the plaintiff averred that after obtaining its Certificate of Patent (CofP), it sought a platform where the invention could become accessible to the public and through one Chibuzor Eronini (the inventor), approached MTN (first defendant) who invited it to a meeting held on March 12, 2010.

It claimed that the meeting held at MTN’s office with Eronini representing the plaintiff while one Lynda Saint-Nwafor, a senior management staff, represented MTN. The plaintiff claimed that it gave a detailed presentation at the meeting and explained the workings of the ERCS to MTN, which was

impressed and expressed serious interest in implementing the product on its platform as a telecom provider.

It stated that MTN then collected the written proposal of the product prepared by the plaintiff titled “Proposal for Emergency Recharge Service” (ERS), MTN, which was a confidential document and promised to get back to Erosalem Global with the intention of entering a partnership to sell the product to MTN subscribers.

The plaintiff averred that MTN deliberately refused to contact it on the way forward after obtaining its confidential information contained in the proposal and it eventually reached out to MTN on May 22, 2012, through email asking why the telecoms company failed to get back to it on the ERCS. According to Erosalem Global, it got a surprising reply from MTN (Nwafor) which said: “Unfortunately, MTN has moved on and currently in the implementation phase of this solution. Do take care for now.”

The plaintiff further claimed that the ‘keep talking with MTN Xtra time’, currently being provided by the service provider was its ERCS invention.

It stated that while MTN started the unlawful use of Its patent in February last year, Airtel started it in February 2013, with Etisalat and Glo commencing their in March and May, last year.

Erosalem Global Limited claimed that its ERCS invention

was being sold by the defendants in large scale to their millions of subscribers without its consent or approval.

It averred that the defendants’ actions have infringed on its proprietary right over the invention of the ERCS, noting that despite writing the defendants in August last year, to desist from the act and compensation it, they continued the willful infringement of its right.

Consequently, the plaintiff wants the court to declare that it is the bonafide owner and registered proprietor of ERCS and that MTN by unlawfully using a confidential information received from it on March 12, 2010, without its consent has breached its (MTN’s) duty of confidentiality.

But in its statement of defence, MTN denied the allegations, noting that the concept was not exclusive to the plaintiff.

It described as false, Erosalem Global’s claim to originality of the concept of airtime credit service or advance airtime service.

MTN alleged that as far as 2007, a British Virgin Island registered company, Urbis Telecom Corporation applied for and was granted patent over the idea of airtime credit advancement, and has sold the concept in various countries of the world and grants licences to other companies or organisations interested in making use of the idea.

MTN further contended that its Xtra time service was different from the plaintiff’s ERCS, noting that Erosalem Global’s Patent involved the purchase and use of emergency recharge card vouchers by a subscriber at a value lesser than

•From left: Alternnate Chairman, Law Week Committee Niyi Adewumi; 1st Vice Chairman NBA Ikeja Gloria Nweze; Chairman, NBA Ikeja Yinka Farounbi; Pedro; Secretary, Law Week Committee Olugbenga Ogunleye and General Secretary NBA Ikeja, Seyi Olawumi at the briefing.

Lagos Solicitor-General deplores impunity

L

AGOS State Solicitor-Gen eral, Lawal Pedro (SAN) has expressed concern over the increasing level of impunity in the society, lamenting that ‘’impunity appears to have become our way of life’’.

He spoke at a briefing on the Annual Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch at the Bar Centre, Old Secretariat, Ikeja GRA. The theme is, ‘Curtailing the culture of impunity in our national life’.

He noted that no one is exempted from the problem.

Pedro, who is the chairman of the Law Week Committee, said: “Our challenge is the seeming acceptance of impunity as our way of life. Our worry is the lack of condemnation of instances of impunity by the society. It appears that our society has ‘normalised’ acts of impunity. We appear to have

•NBA Ikeja holds Law Week

By Adebisi Onanuga

accepted that impunity is part and parcel of our society.’’

“Rather than outright condemnation, we now appear to be glorifying disobedience to law and order. We celebrate corruption and applaud perversion of law,” he further said.

He cited “elementary driving against traffic, failure to pay taxes, extra judicial killings, failure of governance, bribery and corruption, electoral manipulation, lack of access to judicial system as well as inordinate delay in the justice administration”as some instances of impunity.

He said lawyers and judges, as officers in the temple of justice, have now become endangered

specie as prosecution for corrupt practices was being regarded by the society as persecution.

He explained that it was for this reasons that the Ikeja branch of the NBA decided to place impunity under its legal microscope and forensic x-ray emphasising , “the time has come to critically interrogate the role of lawyers in the society. Unlike other professions whose bottom-line is profit, legal practice has an additional responsibility of being the guardian angel of rule of law”.

Pedro said there must be a change of attitude on the part of Nigerians. “We all know that a fundamental principle of rule of law is that of equality before the law. This principle is underscored by the provision of section 17 (2)

(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which provides that every citizen shall have equality of rights, obligations and opportunities before the law,’’ he added.

On the Law Week, he said it would take off on Sunday with a church service at the Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral, Ikeja GRA, followed by a visit to the prisons and Law Clinic yesterday and today.

He said the yearly Alao-Aka Basorun Memorial lecture would hold at the Bar Centre tomorrow, including the Variety Night at same venue.

A lecture is slated for Thursday, May 14 at the auditorium of the LTV8, Ikeja; a Jumat Service would hold at the Old Secretariat Central Mosque and a dinner at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja on Friday.

the stated value of the recharge card.

It claimed that while the plaintiff’s patent involved the purchase and use of vouchers before a subscriber can enjoy the service, no such requirement was needed on its Xtra time service.

MTN further denied the alleged breach of confidence, stating that no confidential information was communicated by the plaintiff, describing it as false and speculative.

Praying the court to dismiss the suit and award substantial cost against the plaintiff, MTN described the suit as frivolous, speculative, gold digging, vexatious and a calculated attempt of exploitation.

Like MTN, Etisalat also claimed that the practice of airtime advancement has been in existence in other parts of the world with requisite intellectual property registration, prior to the grant of Patent right in 2009 to the plaintiff.

The matter has been adjourned to July 9, 2015.

Man remanded for ‘theft’

By Adebisi Onanuga

C

HIEF Magistrate Abimbola Komolafe of an Ikeja Chief Magistrate’s Court has ordered a 58-year-old man alleged to have stolen a N120,000 phone to be remanded in prison custody pending the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

The prosecutor, Inspector Eramus Nnamonu, alleged that the defendant used a toy gun to rob one Chief Omololu Adegbuyi.

Peter, whose residence is unknown, was said to have committed the offence on February 24, this year at Gbagada Junction, Lagos.

The accused was arraigned on a one-court charge of stealing before Magistrate Komolafe.

According to the Police Prosecutor, Inspector Nnamonu, the offence was contrary to Act, Cap. 398 vol. XX11 of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 as amended.

However, when the charge was read to the defendant, he pleaded not guilty to the one count charge preferred against him by the police.

But Chief Magistrate Komolafe rejected his plea, saying that the court would wait for the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

Subsequently, the prosecutor urged the court to remand the accused, pending the advice of the DPP. The court granted his request and ordered the defendant to be remanded in prison custody.

Chief Magistrate Komolafe adjourned the matter till June 4, this year.

•Lagos DPP, Idowu Alakija

39

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

LEGAL OPINION

Workers urged to call off strike

A

N advocacy group, Access to Justice(A2Justice), has appealed to the leadership of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) to call off its strike.

Its Executive Director, Joseph Otteh, and the Senior Programme Officer, Chinelo Chunweze, stated this in a letter to JUSUN’s National President, Marwa Adamu.

The group noted that while the strike had been called off in many states and at the federal level, it was still on-going in about 15 states where the governments had refused to obey the court judgment on the matter.

It noted further that in the affected states where the strike is five months old, the courts had been shut by the union.

A2Justice gave two reasons for its action. It said: “First, the impact of the strike has been massive and has had the most disproportionate effect on persons who are mostly ‘outsiders’ to the policy making circuit and who exercise little or no influence over policy makers who alone can address the grievances being expressed by JUSUN in the sustained strike.

By Adebisi Onanuga

“Second, there will be considerable changes to the composition of the executive branch in a significant number of states where the strike is taking place soon”.

According to the group, “newly elected governors will be sworn into office in some of these states on May 29, 2015, which is less than a month from this time. This is the situation in states like Kaduna, Enugu, Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa, among others.

“The in-coming administrations could pursue a different policy from those being applied by the group of incumbencies, and could very well differ on policies relating to compliance with the Justice Ademola judgment. But coming into office and meeting a pre-existing and on-going strike that has effectively crippled the operations of a vital branch of the government will not represent a healthy inheritance, nor a good start to the business of governance.

“In this instance, it appears to be more meaningful that new governments begin on a clean slate and have the space and opportunity to articu-

late their own policies as well as correct past policies that have created obstacles to good governance.’’

A2Justice urged the leadership of JUSUN to consider the case of those who were affected by the strike. It listed them to include the “innocent”, there are thousands, probably 10s of thousands of people who are languishing in detention, in police and prison cells because their cases cannot be processed by courts that have been shut following the strike.

It added: ”The wholesale denial of the constitutional rights of these people over this protracted period, with no immediate expectation of amelioration or relief, is a staggering and grave injustice to them. These “casualties” of the strike bear no responsibility for the state of affairs that triggered the strike by JUSUN. “In fact, many of them will include those who support the cause of a free and independent Judiciary – the mantra of the struggle now waged

by JUSUN - and they will wonder how they should bear responsibility, on this kind of debilitating scale, for the failure of governments to guarantee the implementation of the high court’s judgment.

•From right: Lagos State Judge, Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade and Head, Family Court, Justice Yetunde Idowu, at the inauguration of the new court in Epe.

LEGAL JOKES •Question: Do you know how to save five drowning lawyers?

Answer: No. Reply: Good!

•Question: Why don’t snakes bite attorneys?

Answer: Professional courtesy.

•Question: Why do male attorneys usually wear tight shirt collars and ties?

Answer: It keeps their foreskins from creeping up and covering their faces.

•Question: How can you tell that an attorney is about to lie?

Answer: His lips begin to move.

•Question: How can you tell the difference between an attorney lying dead in the road and a coyote lying dead in the road?

Answer: With the coyote, you usually see skid marks.

•Question: How many lawyers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Answer: How many can you afford?

•Question: What do you get if you send the Godfather to law school?

Answer: An offer you can’t understand.

An attorney passed on and found himself in Heaven, but not at all happy with his accommodations. He complained to St. Peter, who told him that his only recourse was to appeal his assignment. The attorney immediately advised that he intended to appeal, but was then told that he would be waiting at least three years before his appeal could be heard. The attorney protested that a three-year wait was unconscionable, but his words fell on deaf ears. The lawyer was then approached by the devil, who told him that he would be able to arrange an appeal to be heard in a few days, if the attorney was willing to change venue to Hell. When the attorney asked why appeals could be heard so much sooner in Hell, he was told, “We have all of the judges.”

As Mr. Smith was on his death bed, he attempted to formulate a plan that would allow him to take at least some of his considerable wealth with him. He called for the three men he trusted most - his lawyer, his doctor, and his clergyman. He told them, “I’m going to give you each $30,000 in cash before I die. At my funeral, I want you to place the money in my coffin so that I can try to take it with me.” All three agreed to do this and were given the money.

At the funeral, each approached the coffin in turn and placed an envelope inside. While riding in the limousine to the cemetery, the clergyman said “I have to confess something to you fellows. Brother Smith was a good churchman all his life, and I know he would have wanted me to do this. The church needed a new baptistery very badly, and I took $10,000 of the money he gave me and bought one. I only put $20,000 in the coffin.” The physician then said, “Well, since we’re confiding in one another, I might as well tell you that I didn’t put the full $30,000 in the coffin either.

Smith had a disease that could have been diagnosed sooner if I had this very new machine, but the machine cost $20,000 and I couldn’t afford it then. I used $20,000 of the money to buy the machine so that I might be able to save another patient. I know that Smith would have wanted me to do that.” The lawyer then said, “I’m ashamed of both of you. When I put my envelope into that coffin, it held my personal check for the full $30,000.”

When a person assists a criminal in breaking the law before the criminal gets arrested, we call him an accomplice.

When a person assists a criminal in breaking the law after the criminal gets arrested, we call him a defense lawyer.

LAW AND PUBLIC POWER

with gabriel AMALU email:gabrielamalu1@yahoo.com For comments: 08033054939 (sms only)

State legislators’ sudden independence

S

UDDENLY in a number of states, the hitherto docile and dodgy legislators are acting independent. From Enugu to Niger, Bauchi to Ebonyi, the state houses of Assembly with few weeks to the end of their tenure, and that of the governors, have developed gusto and guts, and are calling for wrestling bouts with the state chief executives, who until the recent shows, were objects of trepidation. Interestingly, the legislatures are swinging from a state of subjugation to the whims and caprices of the governors, to attempts at complete emasculation of the state executives.

What could be the reason for this end-time excitements? Many have put their bet on money. Take the case of Enugu State, where the hitherto invincible governor, Sullivan Chime,‘aa lawyer, has condescended’ to call a press conference, to defend himself, from the impeachment treat by a faction of the state assembly, led by Speaker Eugene Odoh. Before now, I bet that Odoh could not go to bed, without seeking ways to beg and makeup, if he suspected that the governor showed a grudge against him, however minuscule.

Indeed, for all the years Mr Odoh presided as the Speaker, the house he led, was literary, a mere rubber-stamp,to the wishes of the state governor, however fanciful.Such was the subjugation of the state legislature to the governor, until now.So, what could have caused the split in the house, between Odoh led 15 members, and the deputy speaker, Mr Oji led, nine members? According to the speaker, (well, I mean Mr Odoh, for I do not recognise the other fanciful prop-up, Mr Nwamba, who now lays claim, to be the new speaker) Governor Chime is after him and his faction, for refusing to give him, the approval to take a further N11 billion loan.

One glaring confirmation that the members were previously in comatose, is the other reason proffered by Odoh and his group,forseeking toimpeach the governor. According to them, the governor allegedly forged 12 billion naira supplementary budget in 2012; but he did not bother to explain to the people,why he and his group did not raise such a grievous allegation against the governor, until the year.The Odoh faction, gaming as patriots,questioned why the governor would want to take a loan, when he has few weeks to the end of his tenure.

Governor Sullivan, who after fighting-off his benefactor and predecessor,Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, in his first term, had enjoyed untrammelled power and influence, must be wandering how come,the Lion of the Lion House, Enugu, has become an object of pun and ridicule for his subjects; for the legislators were all these years,acting likeone. Until Mr Odoh and his group, recently, but strangely,found courage, Governor Sullivan brooked no form of opposition, as he reigned. His Excellency must also be wandering, whether it is the same house that he not long ago ordered toimpeach his erstwhile deputy, Sunday Ugwu,to show the latter who was in charge, that has suddenly turned against their master.

As the Igbo would say: okuko chubagi na’ututu, gbawa, maka imaghi ma opuru eze na abani. Literary, if a chick starts chasing you in the morning, you had better take to your heels, for you do not know whether it grew teeth, the previous night. Indeed, speaking metaphorically, these legislators were until now, mere chickens, before the governor. In his defence, the governor denied forging the 2012 supplementary budget. He also claimed that the legislators had earlier passed a resolution authorising the controversial 11 billion naira loan, and that all he requested was for further confirmationfor the facility already in use, to re-assure the bankers, who asked for that.

The governor who before now would have ignored both the legislators and the people of state, even as nobody would have dared such a sacrilegious impunity against him, in his hey days, went ahead to deliver what he considered a clincher. He alleged: “they (the legislators) felt the administration was coming to an end and it is time to make money. They came shamelessly and said I should give them money. They thought I was asking for the loan as a parting gift. This nonsense started when they could not get me to give them money outside their allowances”.The governor wants the rest of us to believe that they are no booties to share, as their tenures come to an end. Abeg,he can tell that to the marines. Now, the governor-elect, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi,according to reports,has weighed in to settle the combatants.

As the grandstanding ricochets, the unspoken reality is that power has changed hands, from Sullivan to Ifeanyi; and the Ebeano political family in their tradition, choose to ignominiously dethrone the reigning godfather, and enthrone a new one. Sullivan’s faith is not new. Perhaps the newest introduction to the family tree, is that unlike in the past, the official assassins sought to hew the godfather, while he was still sitting on the throne of state governor. Previously, the decapitation of a godfather starts, after he seizes to be governor, but still lays claim to be the godfather.

One intriguing practice in our current democracy, is the use of mere legislative resolutions to approve loans.Without much ado, legislative resolutions do not have the force of law. For state governments, a combined reading of sections 120 to 123 of the 1999 constitution, shows without equivocation that all state expenditures, must be by an appropriation bill. Mutatis mutandis, sections 80 to 83 deal with the expenditure by federal government. Finally, what is happeningin Niger, Enugu, Ebonyi, Bauchi and the other states, are efforts by the legislators, emasculated over the years, to get back at the lame-duck governors.

40

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

BOOK REVIEW

How to get results from oil industry via the law

I

NDEED, I feel highly honoured by the invitation to review this reference book ‘Nigerian Laws, Cases and materials on Oil and Gas’ written by my friend and colleague Niyi Ayoola-Daniels Esq. Perhaps before I delve into my primary assignment, I will start by sharing with you what motivated the author to embark on the publication of this book. In my discussion with Niyi sometime in 2005, he told me of an indirect challenge thrown at him by two American Investment attorneys whom he met at Columbia University Law Library on a visit to New York. These New York Attorneys requested to know if there was a one-source publication where they could obtain up-to-date information on the complete laws and regulations governing Nigeria’s oil and gas industry (upstream, midstream and downstream).

They claimed to have contacted the Nigeria Consulate in New York and the Embassy in Washington but without any useful and positive outcome. It was upon his return to Nigeria and after our discussion during which he got to know that I was the author of the book “Petroleum Development Contracts between Nigeria and the Multinational Firms” that he decided to respond to this challenge of producing this unique book that is being publicly presented to you here today.

You will all agree with me that Nigeria’s oil and gas legal regime is a specialised area of law, regulating the exploration, production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas, the supply, distribution, storage and marketing of petroleum products, as well as liquefied natural gas. As diverse as the area of coverage, so diverse is the legal regime governing same in the form of statutes, cases, subsidiary legislations and regulations.

In other words, there has been no one one-stop compendium containing all these laws and cases until now. This is what makes this book unique. The book is unique in the sense that unlike those written by earlier scholars and experts in the field, it goes one step further. It is a one-stop digest of Nigeria ’s oil and gas laws, regulations, relevant cases, materials and commentary and is therefore a welcome addition to the existing works on the subject. Indeed, the book covers laws governing the entire legal regime regulating the upstream, midstream and downstream operators of Nigeria ’s petroleum and natural gas industry.

In content and form, the book is broadly divided into two volumes. Volume One is composed of five parts whereas volume 2 comprises 11 parts. The work is published in loose leaf form which covers the 16 parts and gives complete outline, comments and indexes to all the laws, statutory instruments and judicial decisions. Almost all oil and gas cases decided by Nigerian courts are adumbrated in this work and their relevance highlighted. One great advantage of this loose leaf format adopted by the author is that new changes or amendments in the laws or statutory instruments affecting Nigeria ’s oil and gas industry can easily be incorporated into the pertinent sections of this work by the user. I understand the author will periodically publish updates of the new laws, amendments of statutes, cases and other materials and make them available to subscribers. These updates will then be periodically inserted into this work by the user and the old or outdated ones removed.

Legal framework for Fed. Govt ownership of oil and gas resources, including exploration and production rights available to investors Part 1 deals with laws and regulations governing Federal Government ownership of oil and gas resources in Nigeria . This part also captures the judicial interpretation of Federal ownership of oil and gas resources including the extent and size of such ownership in the well known “Resource Control” case involving the A.G Federation V A.G Abia State (N0. 2) (2002) 6 N.W.L.R Part 764 pages 542-905, ET this case, the Supreme Court interpreted many oil and gas issues including the determination of the seaward boundary of a littoral state within the federation of Nigeria for the purpose of computing the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly from oil and gas re-

Title of book: Nigerian laws, cases and materials on oil and gas Author: Publishers: Pages: Volumes: Reviewer:

Niyi Ayoola-Daniels Esq. (2008) Petgas Global Consultants Limited.

1570 Two Volumes Maxwell M. Gidado Ph.D.

sources in those littoral states

Legal framework for evacuation and transportation of Nigerian crude from oil fields, including shipment (export/domestic) The focus of this part is on the laws, regulations, cases and materials governing evacuation, transportation including shipping of crude oil in Nigeria from oil fields to storage tanks via Pipelines and Oil Terminals. Also covered here are the laws and regulations on transportation of crude oil

by Ocean Tankers as well as Domestic Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) of crude oil and other ancillary services. The author is of a strong view that the scope and applicability of the “Cabotage” Act in Nigeria covers both upstream (domestic carriage of crude oil) and downstream (domestic carriage of petroleum products).

leum Company V. F.B.I.R (1997) 4 N.W.L.R Part 501 pages 511.

Legal framework for natural gas development and utilisation in Nigeria, including the West African gas pipeline project.

The theme of part six is Natural Gas Development and Utilisation (upstream). And since the proposed law on downstream gas operations in Nigeria is still a bill awaiting passage in the National Assembly, downstream gas operations is not discussed in this work. It is in this part that the West African Gas Pipeline Project Act and Regulations are covered including the legal status of West African Gas Pipeline Project.

Legal framework for downstream petroleum sector covering supply, distribution, storage and marketing of petroleum products The focus of part seven is on the laws and regulations governing downstream petroleum sector in Nigeria , (excluding gas). This part covers the legal framework for the supply, distribution, storage, marketing and sales of petroleum products including the laws governing the construction of Refineries, Pipelines as well as importation and exportation of petroleum products. Covered in this part also are the activities of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), uniform rate/prices of petroleum products including activities of Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) and the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF).

Legal framework for Nigeria Sao Tome and Principe joint development of petroleum resources including exploration and production rights available to investors in the joint developLegal framework for managing ment zone environmental pollution and spillage in Nigeria This part focuses on the laws and regulations governing Joint Development of Petroleum and Natural Gas between Nigeria and Sao-Tome and Principe in areas of Exclusive Economic Zones of the two countries. Covered here are the principles of Joint Development Zone (JDZ) including the legal status of JDZ Treaty in Nigeria as well as guidelines for bidding for petroleum blocks in the JDZ and petroleum exploration and production rights available to JDZ investors.

Legal framework for National participation in petroleum operations including the role of NNPC The focus of this part is on the law governing Federal Government’s direct participation in Petroleum and Natural Gas operation in Nigeria especially the role of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Here the Laws that brought about the acquisition by NNPC of all shares, rights including petroleum exploration rights formerly held by Shell British Petroleum Company Limited

The concern of Part Eight is with the laws and regulations affecting environmental pollution and spillage in the oil and gas industry. This part covers the laws on Federal Government’s policy on National Oil Spill Contingency Plan. Also covered in this part are the laws regulating the obligation of holders of OPL and OML to adopt measures to prevent pollution of inland waters, rivers, water courses and the Territorial Waters of Nigeria, the Continental Shelf as well as the Exclusive Economic Zone.

Legal framework for transparency and accountability initiative in the oil and gas industry The theme of this part is Transparency and Accountability Initiative in Oil and Gas Revenue in Nigeria including the powers of Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions (EFCC) to investigate and punish fraudulent manipulation of statement of accounts resulting in wider payment of oil and gas revenue accruable to the Federal Government.

zone license. A covered under this part are the laws regulating health, safety and environmental matters within the oil and gas free zones.

Legal framework for investment protection and guarantees in Nigeria ’s oil and gas industry The theme of part 12 is Investment Protection, Assurances and Guarantees for companies engaged in oil and gas activities in Nigeria . Also covered here are the laws regulating the activities and operations of Nigeria LNG. This part examines the recent decision of the Federal High Court ( Port Harcourt ) in a case involving Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) V. Nigeria LNG (unreported Suit No. FHC/P/CS/361/2007) over whether or not NDDC is entitled to receive from Nigeria LNG, 3% of the latter’s total annual budget for the years 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004 and thereafter.

Legal framework for oil and gas communities in the Niger Delta Part 13 focuses on Niger Delta Development Commission Act, the law regulating oil and gas community issues in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria , including its purpose, funding as well as method of rotation of the office of Chairman of the Commission.

Legal framework for human resources development and capacity development in oil and gas industry The theme of Part I4 is on Human Resource Development and Capacity Building in the oil and gas industry. Here the law establishing the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) as well as the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) is covered in this part.

Legal framework for petrolem Legal framework for due procprofits taxation and other taxaess and fundamental a principles Legal framework for strategic tion in Nigeria including royalof public procurement and conplanning and survellan of oil and ties and fiscal incentives tract award in Nigeria ’s oil and gas policies in Nigeria This part covers the law on taxation of companies engaged in upstream petroleum gas industry The theme on part 15 is on strategic planoperations (Petroleum Profits Tax Act). This Act contrast sharply with Companies Income Tax Act as amended, which is a law regulating taxation of companies engaged in downstream oil and gas operations (marketing, distribution and sales of petroleum products and natural gas). This part highlights more than 30 headings regarding petroleum profits tax issues including their judicial interpretation. Of special note here are the decisions of the Supreme court of Nigeria in Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited V. Federal Board of Inland Revenue (1996) 8 N.W.L.R Part 466 page 256 on meaning of ‘Petr0leum Profits Tax’ and ‘Petroleum operations’ and Gulf Oil Company Limited V. Federal Board of Inland Revenue (1997) 7 N.W.L.R Part 514 page 535 on computation of‘ chargeable tax payable under Petroleum Profits Tax Act. Also discussed in this part is the Court of Appeal decision in Texaco Overseas Nigeria Petro-

In this part, the work here centers around the laws governing Due Process and Fundamental Principles of Public Procurement in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry especially the application of Public Procurement Act 2007 to all NNPC’s procurement contracts.

Also highlighted here is the applicability of Public Procurement Act of 2007 to nongovernment owned oil and gas enterprises which derive at least 35 per cent of funds appropriated or proposed to be appropriated for any procurement contract from the Federation share of Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Legal framework for oil and gas export free zone scheme in Nigeria Here the laws and regulations governing oil and gas export free zone scheme in Nigeria is (the focus including the legal procedure for obtaining oil and gas free

ning, surveillance and co-ordination of National policies in oil and gas and other energy sources in Nigeria . Here the law establishing the Energy Commission of Nigeria is covered.

Legal framework for the control and management of oil and gas development funds in Nigeria This is the concluding part of this work and it focuses on the Finance (Control and Management) Act which is designed to provide legal framework for the control and management of public finances and funding in Nigeria as it affects the control and management of Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), especially the mechanism for funding, budgeting and disbursement of PTDF including the oversight constitutional powers of the National Assembly as contained in sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution over PTDF.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

43

HEALTH THE NATION

E-mail:- health@thenationonlineng.net

In this interview with OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA, Lagos State Health Commissioner, Dr. Jide Idris gives account of his stewardship, Excerpts:

‘Nigeria ‘ll soon be medical tourism centre’ W

HAT has been your experience like, being a Permanent Secretary (PS) and then, Commissioner of Health?

It has been quite interesting, quiet enriching.

Life is in stages. In the course of career building there are ups and downs, highs and lows, negatives and positives. All these mould you for a better performance. Pick the lessons, to further equip you. Coming to this Ministry has really been challenging and inspiring. Before coming, I was in the private sector, where you are all rounder. But the public service gave me the insight into the system, and today I am better for it. My background helped me to strike a balance between managing both private and public sectors of health to the seamless access of healthcare by Lagos and its environs. People often take the private sector as not being organised, my coming into the public sector helped me make some health reforms and today people are happy for same. It is in public sector that I learnt big time that there are different shades of characters, with different intentions and ways of actualising them. My being a Permanent Secretary and now Commissioner was an opportunity that helped me to resolve a whole lot of problems- institutional, administrative and funding. I will just say wherever you find yourself, do your best, you won’t know where next you are heading. Today, I can say I have left the system better than how I met it. Every achievement that may want to be credited to me is as a result of collective responsibility and team work. Whoever might be coming in would also do better than my person because Lagos Ministry of Health is a family.

What was the most challenging aspect of your duty as a commissioner?

It is basically that of human resource. Worldwide, the health sector is the most rife, if not handled well, it could cripple any government.

A major challenge is having to work with people of diverse interest; who could become manipulative just to achieve their goals. But, the greatest challenge is that of doctors’ strike.

Personally, every strike affected me, for a while because it slows down the system. In all, I learnt that it was a reflection of some deficiencies in the system, not only in the state, but at the national, as well. It taught me how to see issues circumspectfully, take quick steps in the interest of the patient and also not jeopardise professionalism or promote favourism to the chagrin of other professionals. It is also a lesson to professionals in the public sector that the system could be better by their cooperation or departure from the system.

Is funding not an issue?

Financing health sector has always been a major problem. And it is a reality that the government cannot fund the system alone 100 per cent. It is just impossible. More so, we are operating in a system where resource is limited. That fund is limited could be for political reasons.

Strikes, for instance is not totally a reflection of scarcity of fund, but that issues can be resolved without necessarily resolving to strike. The lesson is that we can all determine to find solutions to a problem without going on strike. As I have always told my colleagues, you may win an argument, but the success is temporary, the life lost cannot be replaced. For every issue, the way out should be constructive not destructive to the system. What gain is it to anybody, if in the course of a fight lives were lost?

Can you rate the Public Private Partnership (PPP) in your tenure?

The PPP has helped to address some issues greatly in the system. It has not totally resolved all the problems. Till date, we are still learning on other ways to improve the system. We have not fully developed on that. We had some experiences, where we had to suspend, cancel or outrightly turn down some PPPs. The basic is that it is a contractual agreement that must be properly understood by all parties involved, and not necessarily a money making venture. Some structures must be put in place; knowledgeable capability that must be developed. As a state, we are developing that and it will be better for it. PPP is the way to go, where government resources are limited and the private sector has

•Dr Idris

and can supply what the government wants.

The duo will work together to provide the services required by the patient.

In some facilities, where PPP are operational, when equipment break down, it takes week or months to fix them to the detriment of patients who need them, why that?

Part of the reason could be some loopholes in the contractual arrangement. Also, most hospitals depend on the manufacturers to operate the tools; the manufacturers now depend on their agents. We have found a way out, and it is to train hands in the operation of those equipments and in the area of medical engineering.

There are very few medical engineers in the country and we need to train more. Another problem is that once the contractual agreement ends, to engage hands to run the equipment is problematic. To end that, we add in the contractual agreement the need to train a local hand in the operation of any equipment being supplied. There is an issue of energy supply as well, as epileptic power supply damages these equipments, or sudden power surge, but the state got round that recently by dedicating power plant to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) for instance. We also found out that it has also got to do with the people operating the system. We found out that there are some people who are deliberately damaging the equipment because they don’t want to be involved in the pre-arrangement or being drafted to operate such equipment. To overcome the issue of equipment damage or breakdown, by setting in motion proper arrangement of monitoring how they break down and why.

As you wrapped up your activities as the arrow head of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, what message do you have for the people?

Health is wealth. Your health is in your hand.

Personal hygiene must not be taken for granted.

People must know how to keep healthy because a healthy people are a health nation. It starts with as much as simple routine hand washing.

The government ministries of health and the citizens have an agreement, to keep all healthy.

Citizens have a role and the government too.

When government does its beat, the governed is expected to play its part. When an individual is careless with his health, the government provides the facility to take care of him. Aside communicable diseases that government works round to deal with, essentially others such as non communicable diseases are left to individuals to prevent, by way of lifestyle modifications or changes. The Lagos State Government has set a template, which others have adopted, that is, routine free checks for diabetes, hypertension, eyes, oral health etc. Behavioural change is a way to go. Lagosians are fast in knowing their numbers, but we need to take it to national levels. Once Nigerians are aware of their numbers, they will be able to engage their healthcare providers promptly, once the num-

‘Financing health sector has always been a major problem. And it is a reality that the government cannot fund the system alone 100 per cent. It is just impossible. More so, we are operating in a system where resource is limited. That fund is limited could be for political reasons. Strikes, for instance is not totally a reflection of scarcity of fund, but that issues can be resolved without necessarily resolving to strike’ bers are becoming worrisome. The world is changing to preventive instead of curative medicine. Community health is interwoven with personal health, government can only provide the information and facility, each individual is responsible for what he does with those. Partnership with the community is also good in healthcare delivery, if a community does not partner with government’s activities, it may not be beneficial for both parties. We have done promotional and behavioural health advocacy in Lagos and hospital attendance dropped. This was even before the step up in campaign of hand washing during Ebola outbreak in the state. By virtue of education or location, some citizens may not fully understand their roles in obtaining optimal healthcare, that is when the government can engage at the grassroots. This can be done using different media, avenues, languages etc.Lagos health indices improved tremendously throuh handwashing as ocassioned by Ebola. That shows that behavioural change is a chage agent. That can be pursued further at the national level.

You were so keen on health reforms. As you draw the curtains, any regrets?

Regrets, that is a tough one. Health reform is not the end of the story, but meant to address some specific areas. As you are proffering solutions to some problems, others are also springing up. We have succeeded in that Health reform, but may not be 100 per cent because there is no perfect system anywhere. Look at the decentralisation of hospitals management from boards. We then had to deal with the issue of training Medical Directors on managerial skills, accounting, administration and accountability among others. Cohesion was what bailed out most facilities when petitions were flying everywhere. My table grew with all sorts of files of different sizes, colours and shapes, really, it was tough, but then sanity prevailed when we held meetings, and conducted trainings. Indeed, consultation is far better on issues than confrontation. People then realised that nobody was superior in the system, but that one person must be the captain to stir the ship and the dust cooled down. That singular effort brought out an important lesson, which is that, people are not difficult to lead, but mode of leadership is what matters. The building of capacity of leaders sincerely saved a lot of distress. Reform is a continuous thing. Look at the issue with the introduction of MRI and CT Scaner. Most of our health personnel do not know the indication for them. And people meant to operate them did not know how to operate and we were having issues, but with consultation, people monitoring, the problems were addressed.

Lagos has recorded some achievements in the area of traditional medicine (TM), through its Traditional Medicine Board. Would you

suggest to the incoming General Muhammadu Buhari administration to adopt the state template?

It is true that the state has taken and recorded some positive steps in the area of traditional medicine. But, we have not achieved all the set goals; there is still a lot of work to be done. In terms of regulation, we have taught them place of harmony with the orthodox and when to refer appropriately. Health Bill has been passed.

That stipulates the roles of everybody and even the patient. I will recommend that the Federal Government revisits the policy on Traditional Medicine and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). World Health Organiation (WHO) recognises it and majority of our people have strong belief in that sector. So, I will suggest the Federal Government get the stakeholders together and know their minds, and also how best to streamline their practice, so it is a not a free market for all and sundry. President Elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari during his campaigns did mention what the health sector would be like and as a man of integrity I know Nigerians are in for a better healthcare services.

Lagosians have at different times said your administration promised free health services, but it was not so in most of the facilities. What do you have to say to that?

It was a good intention. Sincere attempt was made, but in the reality of resources available and the growing population, every week, the state, through the Ministry had to revisit some aspects of the services. Healthcare is expensive and as much as you don’t have health financing in place. It is absolutely difficult for any government to give free healthcare services. So, we came up with Community Health Insurance programme. That is the way to go, knowing that contributors can’t fall sick at the same time.

Do you have any disappointments?

This is another tough question. Well, there were some projects I would have loved to see being actualised and even see fly to boost some of the ones we have done, but they did not materialise at all. I believe if they were done, would have been beneficial to Lagosians tremendously. I believe the new administration would do that. Another challenge, not disappointment, is that I have not been able to resolve the intra professional conflicts. Worldwide, the spirit is team work, but here, a particular profession wants to do it all, and wont bait an eye lid even when told that such brief does not come under its purview. The patient should be the focus and not who is superior in a team.

Everybody is a professional in his right profession. The health force must work as a team.

Once we are able to do that, everybody would be happy working together for the betterment of the patient. And nobody would be able to sabotage our effort. Trying to retune people mindset is a tough task, but it can be done. Not having enough human resource in healthcare is another herculean task unaccomplishment.

What is your next step?

I came from the private sector and I have gained more experience by coming into the public sector. So, either way; if I am back in the private sector, I won’t be a fish out of water.

And if in public, the reward for sterling accomplishment is more work. So, I am available and will breast the tape. Lagos has proven with the health sector that brain gain is possible, as against brain drain and medics flight experienced nationwide. So, with Lagos’s success stories in the health sector, including LASUTH, Gbagada Cardiac and Renal Centre, the first in Nigeria, the health sector would experience changes, nationwide, as more medics in the Diaspora returns home. Our colleagues in the Diaspora are willing to come home, once the environment is conducive and Lagos has shown that it is possible, some other states have also done same. A lot of them were even trained by our government here and they are willing to give back to the county. Nigeria is the country now to watch out for, for Medical tourism.

Lagos managed Ebola and that is a pointer that we can perform to international standard.

Many states have also come to be trained on how we do certain aspects of healthcare delivery.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

44

HEALTH

Why many women suffer anaemia, by nutritionists

T

HE figures are scary-49 per cent of women of reproductive age have anaemia, 24.3 per cent, low iron supplies and 12.7 per cent are iron deficient.

Nigeria has the largest case of micro-nutrient deficiencies in the world, with anaemia as the most common.

This is the statistics, according to the Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN).

The figures speak volumes about women’s and children’s health. “Majority of adolescent girls and women did not meet the iron requirements of 20 milligrams per day as recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation (WHO)”, NSN said.

According to its President, Prof Ngozi Nnam, iron deficiency anaemia is a condition in which the red blood cells or their oxygen-carrying capacity is insufficient to meet physiological needs of the body. The symptoms of

By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha

anaemic condition include, fatigue, dizziness, weakness, drowsiness, shortages of breath and all these militate against active living and human productivity as iron is critical to learning process and energy for day-to-day activities. Iron is one of the most prevalent micronutrient deficiencies globally, with almost one of every two women of reproductive age being anemic in Nigeria.”

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos organised by Unilever Nigeria in partnership with NSN on the impact of iron deficiency anaemia in Nigeria, Prof Nnam said the causes of anaemia vary, adding that approximately 50 percent of the cases are due to iron deficiency.

Speaking on a survey findings commissioned by Unilever Nigeria focusing on iron deficiency anaemia among women in Nigeria, Dr Folake Samuel, of the University of Ibadan said the preliminary research findings show that al-

though many Nigerian women are aware that there are rich iron sources of food around us with their benefits; they are as well aware of the consequences of iron deficiencies,and a lot of them consume iron rich food. Despite all these, the consumption of iron rich food is still low and this calls for action and intervention.

As a result, a significant proportion of the women frequently experience various symptoms of iron deficiency, Dr Folake said quoting the report.

The survey sampled 615 women aged 20 to 45 years in Lagos to access their level of awareness on iron deficiencies, iron rich food and consequences of iron deficiencies.

“Looking at the awareness level of symptoms of iron deficiency, 55 per cent of the women rated tiredness and fatigue as part of daily life and know that when you suddenly become dizzy out of the blues, it is the consequences of not eating enough iron rich food;

pale complexion, being another symptom of anaemia is also common in our society. Some people mistake a woman being pale for pregnancy, not knowing that it is an indicator of being anaemic,” she said.

Professor Ngozi Nnam added that adolescent girls and pregnant women are the segment requiring the highest amount of iron intake and are, therefore, most susceptible to iron, adding that the typical Nigerian diet is low in iron-rich foods, while cassava and cereals (high in phytates which decreases iron absorption) are commonly eaten staples.

“Pregnant women, teenage girls and women of reproductive age are among the most vulnerable to iron deficiency anaemia because of high iron requirements. Increasing iron intake during adolescence to prepare for pregnancy is crucial to decreasing the risk of iron deficiency anaemia and negative birth outcomes.

“The commonly consumed tradi-

tional dishes may not provide sufficient iron to meet the requirements and it may be a challenge to manipulate these recipes as they are passed down from generation to generation. In Nigeria, mothers are the kitchen ‘gatekeepers’ and their adolescent daughters learn cooking behaviours from them,” she said.

Hygiene and Nutrition Social Mission Director, Africa, Unilever, Myriam Sidibe, said the aim of the programme was to provide more sensitisation to the general public on the importance of iron nutrients to the health of individuals.

She said that women and children were the group of people more vulnerable to anaemia. ‘’These issues are common among our women and teenage girls and these people are the bedrock and foundation of the home and family which is the unit of the nation. ‘’These are the critical people in the society and their health is important to nation building; we need to take care of these people,” she said.

Senate passes VAPP Bill

By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha

W

OMEN and girls rescued from the Sambisa forest can decide on the best course of action most suitable for them and get the backing of the law, as the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill (VAPP Bill) has been passed by the Senate.

It took the Senate exactly 22 minutes to pass all the 46 clauses contained in the VAPP bill, which has been in the National Assembly for close to 13 years.

VAPP Bill is a bill for an act to eliminate violence in private or public life, in peace and conflict situations to prohibit, prevent and punish all forms of violence in the society and to provide maximum protection and effective remedies to all victims of violence.

Clause to clause consideration of the bill which started on April 14, 2015 suffered initial hiccup following observations that Clause 1 of the bill had issues with the term of imprisonment for underaged sexual offenders.

After the April 14 set back, passage of the bill suffered delay due to internal issues that were later resolved.

The events which caused the distraction and subsequent postponement of the clause by clause consideration include the death of Sen. Uche Chukwumerije, the refusal of the President to sign the amended constitution, xenophobia in South Afruica, the consideration of the 2015 budget and the killings in Jos that almost caused another set back.

However, the passage did not go without a drama as the absence of the Chairman of the Senate Committee of Human Rights, Judiciary and Legal Matters, Sen. Umar Dahiru almost marred the process when the bill was called for consideration.

When the Senate Leader called it up for consideration, Sen. Dahiru was not in the chambers.

Another member of the committee who stood in for Sen. Dahiru almost caused a deferrement because he was not aware that contending issues raised on the first day of consideration had been resolved.This was later resolved by the chairman.

The Senate moved into consideration of all the clauses and sebsequently passed the bill.

Sen. Ike Ekweremadu that took charge of proceedings for the Senate President.

•From left: Tender/Market Access Manager, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Abass Sanni; Group Product Manager, Ijeoma Eruchalu; Communication and Engagement Manager, Bolaji Sanyaolu and Founder, ENOF, Lola Ilaka at the event.

Asthma affects seven million Nigerians, say experts

N

O fewer than seven million Nigerians are living with asthma, a chronic disease, which affects the airways, the Medical Science, Liaison, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Dr Omolabake Okunubi, has said.

This, she said, is because the severity of asthma is under-estimated in the country. Mrs Okunubi spoke at the World Asthma Day (WAD) in Lagos organised by GSK and Eias Nelson Oyedokun Foundation (ENOF) with the theme: You can control your asthma.

Asthma, she said, is a killer disease, which affects no fewer than 300 million people across the world.

The good news, Mrs Okunubi said, is that people can control their asthma, adding: “There is a class of medication known as controller drugs for asthma. These are taken on a daily basis to put the symptoms under control.”

Besides, with correct treatment, support and advice, asthmatics can lead full and active lives.

Asthma, she said, does not have to limit people’s life because it can be controlled.

She said people can stop asthma attacks by taking their preventer treatment regularly. They should know the things, which trigger their asthma and avoid them where possible, she added.

Okunubi said: “Using a peak flow metre and a diary will help them to know how well their asthma is controlled. This will ensure there is advance warning of worsening asthma symptoms.”

In the event of asthma attacks, she said, the asthmatics should take one or two puffs of their reliever inhaler

By Wale Adepoju

(usually blue), sit up and take slow steady breaths.

“If the asthmatics do not start to feel better, they should take two puffs of their reliever inhaler. This should be one puff at a time. They can take up to 10 puffs. If they do not feel better after taking the inhaler, the asthmatic can visit a hospital,” she said.

A consultant paediatrician, Massey Street Children Hospital, Lagos, Dr Abimbola Mabogunje, said people, especially students can have a productive and physically active life if their asthma is controlled.

She said the law, which says students should not be given more than paraceutamol when they are sick in

school, should be looked into.

“Ideally, there should be a nebulizer in the school. This helps to relieve an asthmatic attack before they are taken to the hospital. There should be steroid tablets, injection and aspirin in the school,” she said.

Most asthmatics, she said, need two kinds of drugs. They are a quick-acting reliever or rescue medication, which they take when needed to stop asthma symptoms; and a controller medication taking daily to prevent asthma symptoms.

The paediatrician said schools should be empowered and caregivers and teachers educated to be able to deal with asthma in students. Teachers should be able to recognise asthma symptoms so that they can give first aid and refer them promptly.

Also, there should be a plan with the parents and doctors to care for an asthmatic child.

“Many Nigerian children are suffering from asthma. The figure is a lot more than what we see in the hospitals. This is because a lot of people are living with it silently and are not living optimally because they are not well,” she said.

Mabogunje said: “Chronic cough, especially at night and early in the morning, difficulty in breathing, particularly during exercises and shortness of breath, mainly when children are not keeping up with their peers when they are running, people should look out for these in their children. Those sorts of children are likely to have something wrong with their lungs’ function, especially asthma.”

‘Hypertension has become common’

O

NE in every three Nigerians is hypertensive. Hypertension, also referred to as high blood pressure, is a condition in which the arteries have persistently elevated blood pressure. Every time the human heart beats, it pumps blood to the whole body through the arteries.

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Carlisle Healthcare, Mrs Shade Animashaun, hypertenstion has been noted o lead to grave ailments and diseases that bring about other chronic diseases.

Mrs Animashaun attributed stress and lifestyle of Nigerians as

By Nneka Nwaneri

a major contributor to the disease which seemingly have no visible symptoms.

As a way of creating awareness to curb the condition, she said her firm has organised a walk on May 16 in Lagos to mark the World Hypertension Day which comes up on May 17.

The programme-‘Team Up For Health Walk’- is to build a team of health advocates at the community level. It kicks off from Ikoyi Baptist Church to Lekki bridge and back. It will be a one hour 30minutes walk. Participants would be screened and counselled.

“The idea of the walk is for nonprofit motive, but to impact on the society”.

She urged all to monitor those in their community by ensuring daily monitoring of their BP so that a rise can be timely diagnosed.

“Regular exercises strengthen the heart and keeps the body fit. 10 percent of the profit from my outfit has been put into the initiative. Individuals with the hope of becoming entrepreneurs can key into the initiative by buying the blood pressure checking machine at installments so as to help a wide number of people check their pressure at very reduced prices,” she stated.

THE NATION TUESDAY MAY 12, 2015

45

‘

To lead the House of Assembly, especially the Lagos State House, goes beyond the mere ability. There are other qualities. These include competence, charisma, good moral standing, ability ?????????????????????? to carry members along as well as having the confidence of colleagues, and most importantly, the ability to sustain the current tempo of achievement in the House

‘

‘

The race for the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly is gathering momentum. Eight contenders are lobbying All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders, members-elect and other stakeholders for the position. Who succeeds outgoing Speaker Yemi Ikuforiji? Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU writes on the scramble for parliamentary power in the Centre of Excellence.

•Obasa

•Eshinlokun

•Tejuoso

•Abiru

Who succeeds Ikuforiji as Lagos Speaker?

Y

EMI Ikuforiji, economist and former polytechnic teacher, will bow out as the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly next month after 10 years of meritorious parliamentary service. In 2005, when he was elected as the Speaker, he was barely two years in the House as the representative of the Epe Constituency. He succeeded a party colleague and lawyer from Agbowa, Hon. Joko Pelumi, who was removed, following a friction between him and other legislators.

As he bows out, no fewer than eight ranking lawmakers are struggling to succeed him.

In their respective constituencies, they are acclaimed party leaders. They will not be green horns when the House is inaugurated.

The eight are from the three senatorial districts. None of them is a pushover.

Out of the eight, Hon. Rotimi Abiru is the only principal officer. Thus, he towering stature as a man of experience. Besides, he is perceived as a man of honour and integrity; brilliant and cerebral. Abiru is the Deputy Chief Whip, held in high esteem by colleagues. He is fondly called the ‘Barometer of the House.’

The Ikorodu-born politician represents Somolu Constituency 11. Before he was elected as a legislator in 2007, he was a supervisory councillor in Bariga Council. He was re-elected in 2007 and during the recent general elections. Abiru is a top contender for the exalted seat.

Also in the race is Hon. Wasiu Sanni Eshilokun, a prince of Lagos and graduate of Agricultural Economics from the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State. He was a member of the House between 1999 and 2003. The loyal party man has an intimidating political credential. Until recently, he was the state secretary of the ruling party. To that extent, he is a party elder; tested and trusted. He is from Lagos Island where he has served as the council chairman for six years. If the decision to elect the Speaker is the prerogative of APC gerontocrats, the pendulum of victory may swing towards Eshinlokun’s direction during the in-house election.

The third contender is Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, a native of Itori, Ogun State. He has spent 16 years in the parliament. If the outgoing Deputy Speaker, Hon. Kolawole Taiwo, has not lost-re-election, he and Obasa will be slugging it out. But, despite his status as a high ranking lawmaker, many of his colleagues do not see him as a likely successor to Ikuforiji. One of his colleagues said that he may not be a stabilising factor. Obasa, the Chairman of the Budget Committee, represents Agege Constituency 11.

Another aspirant, Hon. Funmi Tejuoso, was elected for the third time in the last election.

The lawyer from Mushin Constituency has

served as the Deputy Speaker. But, she was removed by her colleagues, following some allegations. Efforts by a top party leader, also a lawyer, to get her back to the seat failed in 2011 as the majority insisted that she did not deserve a second chance. A petition against the Speaker was sent to the party secretariat on the issue. But, the House was adamant.

The gender sentiment may also not work for her because the deputy governor, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, is a woman. Thus, there is no evidence of political discrimination against women in Lagos APC. A legislator, who reflected on Tejuoso’s impeachment, said the House has not forgotten the incident. “Some legislators visited Mushin, Tejuoso’s base, for oversight function. Thugs attacked tham. Hon. Adelabu Onibiyo was part of the delegation. They felt that the thugs were incited,” he said.

Tejuosho denied his involvement in the assault against the lawmakers. But, she could not escapte the hammer. However, she has remained vocal on the floor. Currently, she is the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance. If she has not been impeached before, she would be enjoying a high rating as a power broker in the House.

Other contenders-Lanre Ogunyemi from Ojo, Sunai Agunbiade from Ikorodu and Gbolahan Yishawu from Eti-Osa-are not serious contenders. Ogunyemi is fondly called “senior party member” in the parliament, having served as the Alliance for Democracy (AD) secretary and Special Adviser to the Deputy Governor before he was elected into the House in 2011. Agunbiade, a lawyer from Ikorodu, has made mark as a student union leader and youth activist. Recently, he was drafted into the race by some activist-lawyers.

But, he appears to be lukewarm.

There are three issues on the front burner.

These are zoning, merit and preference by the ruling party. There has been no categorical statement by the party on zoning, although it is being inferred. Since the party has zoned the governorship to the East District, and the deputy governor-elect is from the West, party members from the Central District believe that the next Speaker should come from the Central.

Historically, party preference and zoning are inter-twined. Second Republic legislator Oba Olatunji Hamzat, who had vied for the Speakership, wrote in his book: ‘Reflections of a pubic man,’ that the party is supreme. In 1979, shortly before he left the House for the State Executive Council as Commissioner for Transport, he had discontinued his bid for the Speakership in deference to the wish of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), which rooted for Hon. Oladimeji Oshinnowo, a lawyer from Ikorodu, who eventually became the Speaker. “Osinnowo was the candidate

‘

There are three issues on the front burner. These are zoning, merit and preference by the ruling party.

There has been no categorical statement by the party on zoning, although it is being inferred. Since the party has zoned the governorship to the East District, and the deputy governorelect is from the West, party members from the Central District believe that the next Speaker should come from the Central

’

of their choice. No one can fight such machinery and win. Retreat was valorous and prudent. That much I chose, rallying behind the party’s choice without complaint,” Hamzat wrote.

But, zoning, although expedient, is not sacrosanct. The UPN governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, is from Central. He lived at Ilupeju, Lagos West. But, he has never hidden the fact that Omu-Aran, Kwara State, is his root. His deputy, Alhaji Rafiu Jafojo, an Awori from Agege/Ikeja, has his roots in Ile-Ife. In fact, in 2003, Hon. Oladimeji Longe was elected Speaker, thereby repudiating zoning.

In the Third Republic, the governor, the late Chief Michael Otedola, came from the East.

The Speaker, Abayomi Kinyomi, an engineer, came from Ojo, West District. Also, in 1999, when Governor Bola Tinubu came from the West, the Speaker, Olorunnimbe Mamora, came from Kosofe, East District. In 2003, a green horn, Pelumi from the East District, succeeded Mamora. When he was impeached, he was succeeded by Ikuforiji, also from the East. But, in 2011, Ikuforji who sought re-election into the House from Ikeja Constituency, Lagos West, still retained his position as the Speaker.

APC members who want Eshilokun as the Speaker have adduced some reasons. They have pointed out that the slot has been automatically zoned to the Central since the governor-elect is from the East and his deputy is from the West. Also, they said that the Central has not produce any Speaker, unlike the East that has enjoyed the slot for uninterrupted 16 years. In their view, the East cannot produce the governor and the Speaker at the same time.

An APC chieftain, who is rooting for Eshinlokun, said: “The West also does not deserve the Speaker. The deputy governor, the party chairman, Otunba Dele Ajomale, the deputy chairman, Chief Funso Ologunde, the National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire, the Southwest Women Leader, Chief Kemi Nelson and the Southwest Youth Leader are from the West. Yet, the West lost five local governments in the recent general elections. Are they now asking for compensation for failure?”

He added: “The zoning favours Eshinlokun from the Central. He is a ranking lawmaker.

He has a rich political and administrative experience, having served as a legislator, Executive Secretary, Lagos Micro-Financial Institutions, Special Adviser on Parliamentary Matters/Liaison Officer, Chairman of local council for six years and state party secretary.”

But, supporters of Abiru have said that he is the most qualified legislator, having spent eight years in the House before his recent reelection. Abiru is also a principal officer. The Deputy Chief Whip is popular among the 20 returning legislators. Apparently throwing his weight behind his candidature, the outgoing Deputy Speaker, Hon. Kolawole Taiwo, said that experience is critical to effective legislative leadership. “To lead the House of Assembly, especially the Lagos State House, goes beyond the mere ability. There are other qualities. These include competence, charisma, good moral standing, ability to carry members along as well as having the confidence of colleagues, and most importantly, the ability to sustain the current tempo of achievement in the House. The next Speaker should have these qualities,” he said.

Abiru, according to returning legislators, is a strong contender. He holds a Masters Degree in Chemistry from the University of Lagos, Akoka. He had also attended leadershýp traýnýng, workshops and semýnars in the Leadershýp Institute, Arlýngton, Výrgýnýa, Harvard Kennedy School in the United States and the Business School, Unýversýty of Cambrýdge. “Lagosians know his root. His father was a judge from Ikorodu. Justice Akanbi Abiru, a Second Republic senator, has good children and Rotimi is one of them. But, he also epitomises humility, calmness good character. I think he enjoys acceptability among ranking lawmakers,” said a returning legislator.

At the weekend a lawmaker told our correspondent that the APC Natioal Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and other party leaders have a role to play in the emergency of the new Speaker.

When contacted at the weekend about their ambition to become the next Speaker, the leading aspirants said that it is not a do-ordie affair.

46

THE NATION TUESDAY MAY 12, 2015

seek this; it was thrust on us by people who ‘areWeindidthenot habit of overrating themselves. And their intention is simple. To corrupt public opinion in the hope that such opinion corruption will diffuse to the court of law ’

Soyombo Opeyemi, Special Assistant on Media to Ogun State Governor Senator Ibikunle Amosun, spoke with reporters on the allegations against the governor by the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State in the recent general elections, Mr Gboyega Nasir Isiaka...

‘Isiaka planning to corrupt public opinion’

T

HE candidate of Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State, Mr Gboyega Isiaka, has described the election of Governor Ibikunle Amosun as fraudulent. How do you react to that?

Let me say straightaway that we are now in the court of public opinion. We did not seek this; it was thrust on us by people who are in the habit of overrating themselves.

And their intention is simple. To corrupt public opinion in the hope that such opinion corruption will diffuse to the court of law. Otherwise, having taken his case to the court of law, one would have expected Mr Isiaka to devote his time to the suit. But our courts are not unaware of the antics of some political litigants in Nigeria. Rather than bring concrete evidence to the courts, they recourse to duplicitous stories on the pages of newspapers in the hope that the courts will rule in their favour based on such avalanche of lies in the media. It doesn’t happen that way. If you describe as fraudulent an election that has been hailed all over the country as free and fair and in line with preelection surveys, opinion polls and prognoses by credible individuals, bodies and institutions, then it is a pity because you now face the selfinflicted burden of having to manufacture evidence to prove that.

So, you believe Isiaka stands no chance at the tribunal?

Judges give verdicts based on facts, not sentiments; they deal with facts, not fantasies, and this is trite. As I stated a couple of days ago, Isiaka himself knows that he lost the election and knows the reasons why he lost. He knows about the performance of the Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, which endeared him to voters. He is very much aware of how Amosun, despite being the incumbent, never took our people for granted but went from village to village, hamlet to hamlet. He also canvassed for votes in towns and cities; toured the entire 236 Wards in the state; went on an extensive local council tour and devoted hundreds of hours to meeting all shades, groups and sociocultural associations across the state before the election. Please, ask Mr Gboyega Isiaka how many Wards he visited during his campaign? He knows that his own electioneering never attained any steam until few days to the elec-

• Amosun

•Isiaka

tion, when it was already too late.

And for his godfathers to resolve their tug of war over who should control the PDP candidate and party machinery only 3 days to the election did enomours damage to Isiaka’s campaign.

Let me tell you that Mr Isiaka has only taken the tribunal option to score a cheap political point ahead of 2019 election. He wants to court public sympathy; he wants to be seen as the champion of the masses in order to get a soft-landing come 2019. There’s also the paranoia of having to lose election thrice in a row to the same candidate. So when

some politicians go to tribunal, they have other reasons. Unfortunately they waste the time of people who have high regard for their time.

Isiaka has also accused Amosun of pursuing self-aggrandizing projects You know such comments are made to seek newspaper headlines.

I told you in an interview before the election that but for the freedom allowed during campaign, we should have dragged these people to court for using the name of Amosun without permission to raise their public profile. They need to attack Amosun in order to remain in the public domain. And I don’t have any problem with the opposition attacking or criticizing Amosun provided they do so with facts.

Even the governor himself has said severally that we need constructive criticisms to keep us on our toes.

But when a 10-km road is constructed for say 50 million naira, you then sit in your critic armchair to divide N50m by 10 and claim that each kilometer costs N5 million, deliberating ignoring the fact that on that same 10-km road, you have one overhead bridge or flyover, 2 or 3 bridges constructed over river and several other road furniture. Does it make sense to pick your calculator and say a kilometer of road costs N5m when it is known in construction world that such bridges will take close to 30% of the entire cost.

Is this criticism or sheer deceit?

What is self-aggrandizing in erecting model schools, in providing free education, in providing limited free health care through Gbomoro, in providing hundreds of transformers in order to bring to life comatose businesses, in building light rail, in boosting agriculture through provision of massive land clearing equipment, in providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and thousands of jobs generated for our youths? But for the investment of Amosun in security, what will have become the economy of our state today? How will our people who could not sleep in the night and work in the day under the climate of fear be productive? How will a global institution like the World Bank have taken notice of the giant strides made in just few years of the current administration? Were you not here in 2008 and 2010 when the respected institution rated Ogun as lowest in terms of ease of doing business in Nigeria? And the same body says we’ve moved to the top rung of development ladder within three years of the Amosun administration. Is that also self-aggrandizing?

Politicians should not play politics at the expense of our people.

‘Suswam setting trap for successor’

•Suswam

B

ENUE State Governor-elect, Samuel Ortom has said that, Governor Gabriel Suswam was setting a trap for the incoming administration.

He said some steps being taken have financial implication for the next government.

Ortom referred to discussions with the incumbent administration that the outgoing Governor would stay action on the conduct of local government elections, put aside the idea of further recruitment into the public service and discontinue the process of appointing more traditional rulers because of the huge financial implications in the face of the non payment of salaries, pensions and other government commitments.

Ortom spoke to reporters on the issues through his deputy, Benson Abounu.

His language and tone was benign, courteous and civil.

On April 30, the Benue State Information Commissioner, Mr. Justin Amase, accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains of “carrying on as if they have already assumed office and jumping the gun with inflammatory statements and threats.”

The commissioner said: “The Governor specifically takes exception to

‘

The Benue State Information Commissioner, Mr. Justin Amase, accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains of “carrying on as if they have already assumed office and jumping the gun with inflammatory statements and threats

‘2015 polls major milestone of our democracy’

T

HE Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, has said the recent general elections where President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was defeated by opposition candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress (APC), was a significant landmark in the country’s democratic experiment.

Ndoma-Egba, representing Cross River Central Senatorial District in the outgoing National Assembly, made the remark in an interview in Abuja.

According to the three-term Senator, the incoming government of Buhari must put in its best to meet

the yearnings and aspirations of the Nigerian people who effected the change as seen in the just concluded elections.

“I think it is the major milestone of our democracy because our current democracy is the longest in our post-colonial history. It has been the longest unbroken episode of our democracy. And I believe that with the last election our democracy has come to stay because we have moved from one President getting a second term to one President handing over to another President but within the same political party, and then from a Vice President assuming the functions of the President while the President was inca-

pacitated. And from that acting President becoming President; and now a President from one party handing over to an incoming President from another party. This actually is the defining moment of our democracy. It means that our democracy has survived every stress point and is now on the roll. But that doesn’t mean we should take things for granted because democracy is a culture. It is a state of mind. It is an endless journey. There is no destination that you call the democratic destination. It is a continuous journey. But the yardsticks have been defined now. And so, we expect to see minimum level of political behaviours in subsequent elections.”

’

On whether the poor performance of the PDP in the last 16 years necessitated the demand for change by the people, he said: “The electorate is entitled to demand a change for whatever reason. It could be for want of meeting their expectations. It could be for no reason at all other than we just want a change. The important thing is the will of people that we listen when they speak. So, if they have spoken, so be it, for whatever reason. But again, like I said it is good for our democracy, because if it is for want of meeting their expectations, then, it puts the incoming government on notice; that the day you will fall short of meeting the people’s expec-

recent assertions credited to the Deputy Governor-elect in which he was said to have issued threatening proclamations to our government.”

According to him, Abounu’s statements on alleged recruitment into the civil service, appointment of traditional rulers, and conduct of local government elections were “unnecessary and a negation of the consultations being held with the governor-elect.”

The commissioner added: “His Excellency, Rt. Hon Gabriel Torwua Suswam remains the governor and would not tolerate reckless pronouncements from any person or persons on matters of government and governance.”

When the governor-elect paid a courtesy call on the governor on Monday, 13th April, 2015, in the old Banquet Hall of Government House, Suswam, without any prompting, pledged to consult with Chief Dr Ortom on all major new policies that were bound to affect the incoming administration.

The Governor-elect had expected that the pledge would be followed through and when it was not it became necessary for him to alert the public on account of the fact that the actions being undertaken were booby traps for the take off of his administration.

Ortom had never carried on as if he was already in government. This one instance might suffice. When journalists asked him during a press conference at NUJ House after his election to comment on the constitution of caretaker committees in the state he declined saying he had not assumed office.

He said that he respected the incumbent as the subsisting Governor and acknowledged his position.

The statements and comments with regard to issues of public interest and fiscal responsibility which APC chieftains and Chief Dr. Ortom have raised are not inflammatory, reckless and unnecessary threats as alleged by the Information Commissioner.

Rather, they are genuine concerns raised by patriotic leaders who have the genuine interest, welfare, and mandate of the people at heart.

Such statements also stem from the stark realization that very soon, indeed in a matter of days, the burden of leadership in the state with its enormous responsibilities in the face of numerous challenges would be the thrust on their shoulders.

It is amazing that rather than address the concerns raised, the commissioner resorted to chasing shadows and barking orders.

One had expected that he would explain why new financial commitments were being made in the face of unpaid salaries, allowances, pensions, and the general grounding of all public institutions in the state.

•Egba

tations; they also reserve the same right that they have exercised in bringing you in to send you out.”

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THE NATION TUESDAY MAY 12, 2015

The governor-elect has promised to set a standard. His no-nonsense ‘demeanor has sent a huge message to those capable of distracting him.

Ikpeazu has read a riot act to agents of perfidy in the state, saying that it will not be business as usual. When he assumes office, he said he would not entertain courtesy calls, receptions, and chieftaincy titles

‘

Abia State Governor-elect Okezie Ikpeazu will inherit many challenges when he assumes office on May 29. To reposition the state for progress, he has unfolded plans to run a transparent government, reduce the cost of governance and foster economic development. EMMANUEL OLADESU reports.

Ikpeazu: I ‘ll reduce cost of governance in Abia

O

KEZIE Ikpeazu, former university teacher and Abia State governor-elect, will inherit many challenges when he assumes office on May 29. The state is very poor. It is also a disunited state.

The infrastructure is ebbing away.

To many observers, governance cannot be a tea party in post-Orji era.

The governor elect has many advantages. He is a very educated politician. He also has the experience. His antecedents as a public servant of note speak for him. Now, many indigenes expect him to make a big difference. His first assignment is to heal the wounds of a bitter contest and reconcile with his rivals at the poll.

The governor-elect has promised to set a standard. His no-nonsense demeanor has sent a huge message to those capable of distracting him.

Ikpeazu has read a riot act to agents of perfidy in the state, saying that it will not be business as usual. When he assumes office, he said he would not entertain courtesy calls, receptions, and chieftaincy titles. He also ruled out an elaborate and money spinning thanksgiving service and grand reception, except for a solemn one with five widows and five motherless children at the Government House Chapel. He does not want the title: “His Excellency.” The governor-elect said that he will prefer to prefix his name with ‘Dr’ because he holds a doctorate degree.

“I want to leave the stadium immediately after swearing to commission a project for starters,” Ikpeazu told his associates in Umuahia, the state capital.

The governor-elect said that there will be no merry making in the State House. Instead, he promised to embark on projects that will make his administration stand out in two

years. These include five major roads across the state. Also, he promised t sanitise the environment by making the cities clean through effective waste disposal. He said the drainage system would be upgraded to support the new roads to be constructed.

Ikpeazu promised to run an accountable government, adding that due process will not be compromised. He said jobs must be created for youths to reduce unemployment.

Already, the governor-elect has hinted that the huge political bureaucracy must give way. He has therefore, promised to reduced the cost of governance by reducing the number of ministries to 10. He explained that the ministries will be manned by core professionals or technocrats.

Ikpeazu has unfolded what he described as “nine development ideas” that will guide his administration.

The first is economic transformation.

“For economic growth to occur, certain things must be done to facilitate gainful employment and I believe that agriculture is a factor. Abia has the natural advantage of growing cash and food crops. We should also pay attention to industrialisation. Our local firms and industries should be able to compete globally. We will create industrial parks as centers of excellence to further enhance the historical strengths of the state in garment and leatherworks,” he said.

Ikpeazu also promised to encourage small scale enterprises, especially in garment and leather works space, by building their capacities through access to finance and power.

The task of wooing investors is also a priority. This will boost commerce in Aba, the major commercial hub, where plans are underway to raise the Ariara and Aregua markets to a modern standards. In fact,

•Ikpeazu

Ikpeazu said the 14 major markets across the state will be upgraded with modern facilities.

Abia is not a major oil-producing state. But, this has not fully robbed off on the state. The governor-elect said that the state has the capacity to develop a major operational and logistics base for oil and gas firms.

“Abia State will explore the presence of, and potential for, crude oil or gas exploration and production,” he said.

Education is also a priority. Stressing that his administration will defend the critical sector, the former university don said: “We believe that the strength of Abia lies in her people. As such, the transformation of the education sector in Abia will involve both the public and private institutions. We will develop an all-inclusive master plan to drive development and progress within the sector.

“This master plan will incorporate

the restructuring the education curricula for primary, secondary and state-owned tertiary institutions to ensure our children and youths are empowered with sound knowledge and technical skills required to survive and add value in the ever-evolving labour market.”

A major challenge in Abia is insecurity. It is not peculiar to the state.

It is a national problem. As the Chief Security Officer, he said no stone will be left unturned to guarantee safety of life and property.”We shall enhance the security of Abia State by achieving the following key targets: Keying into the federal government’s Identity Management Scheme to generate identity documents for residents of Abia State.

“This will provide us with the data for our planning as well as give all Abia people a common identification card to facilitate their business transactions with the state and each other,” adding that he would also “empower the security agencies with funds to improve on equipment and intelligence gathering through the use of information tools and a structured vigilante network.”

On his plans for the judiciary, Ikpeazu said: “We will develop and strengthen our state judicial system to ensure the timely delivery of justice in matters affecting our people. In this regard, the areas we will address include: “Introduction of a fully automated judicial system leveraging a Centralised Information Management system, an automated Workflow Court Calendar, Case File view etc. In addition to this, we shall ensure the improvement of the remuneration and welfare packages of our judicial workers to improve morale and drive efficiency.”

Health and housing are two other

Buhari’s reform ‘ll be pro-masses, says group

‘How Rivers governor-elect ‘ll be sworn-in’ A lawyer, Uche Wigwe, explains how the next governor of Rivers State will be sworn-in by the judge on May 29

S

ECTION 185 (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Nigeria (as amended) stipulates the procedure for administering the oaths of allegiance and the oaths of office of a State Governor. The provision provides thus185 (2) “the Oath of Allegiance and the oath of office shall be administered by the Chief Judge of the State or Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court Appeal of the State, if any, or president of the Customary Court of Appeal of the State, if any, or the person for the time being respectively appointed to exercise the functions of any of those offices in any state” From the provision of the Constitution, it is trite that either the Chief Judge of a State, or the President of the Customary Court of Appeal a State, or a Grand Khadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal a State, or any person exercising the functions of the above mentioned posts in any other State in Nigeria can administer the oath of office to a Governor.

Under the Interpretation Act CAP 123 LFN 2004, Section 18 (3) defines the word “OR” as follows – “The word “or” and the word “other” shall in any enactment, be construed disjunctively and not as implying similarity. This expressly connotes that each of the offices stipulated under Section 185(2) of the 1999 Constitution have the power to administer oath of office to a governor and can

perform that function distinctly or independently.

Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), interprets “State” as follows – “State” when used otherwise than in relation to one of the component parts of the Federation, includes government. This simply means that a State is one of the component parts of the federation. To this end, the last phrase of Section 185(2) - or the person for the time being respectively appointed to exercise the functions of any of those offices in any state therefore connotes that in the absence of the Chief Judge of a State or the Grand Khadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal of a State or the President of the Customary Court of Appeal of a State to administer oath of office to a Governor, that the Chief Judge or Grand Khadi of Sharia Court of Appeal or President of the Customary Court of Appeal of any other State can perform the said function of administering the oath of office in the State where there is a vacuum.

The only argument that can be canvassed against the use of a Chief Judge of another State or Grand Khadi of the Sharia Court of another State or the President of the Customary Court of Appeal of another State in administering the Oath of Office to a State Governor in another state is if the state in issue has such offices duly occupied by a validly appointed person.

In Rivers State, it is known that there is presently no Chief Judge of

•Wigwe

Rivers State. There is also no subsisting President of the Customary Court of Appeal, as the substantive president was suspended by the National Judicial Commission (NJC). Therefore, on the strength of the last phrase contained in Section 185 (2) of the Constitution, it will be valid for the Chief Judge of another State or the Grand Khadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal of another State or the President of the Customary Court of Appeal of another state to administer the oath of office to the governor-elect of Rivers State, owing to the fact that there is neither a Chief Judge or President of the Customary of Appeal in Rivers State to perform such function.

areas that the incoming government intends to invest on because of their effect on the generality of the people.

He said: “To provide effective and efficient healthcare services to all our people, in every part of the state, we will strengthen the 710 governmentowned healthcare centers by improving their infrastructure, funding and improving the quality of healthcare professionals deployed in them. We will partner world-class healthcare providers to train our personnel and provide complimentary infrastructure.”

On housing, Ikpeazu said:”We will promote increased development of affordable housing through the provision of necessary infrastructure and PPP. Our government will optimise the Land and Title Registration process to encourage increased investment in the sector.

“We will attract private and corporate home developers to build in Abia State, and ultimately mastermind a ‘reverse brain drain’ which will see a majority of Igbo families moving their primary abode back to Abia State from Lagos and Abuja.”

Also, in preserving the environment, Ikpeazu promised to undertake “extensive drainage rehabilitation and channelization of flood prone areas within the Aba and Umuahia metropolis; construction of storm water management and erosion control sites.

He added: “We will embark on the development and beautification of numerous leisure parks across the State; encourage and promote horticulture across our cities; boost the quality of waste management and traffic management services to improve quality of life and boost IGR generation.”

T

HE National Coordinator Nigerian League of Democrats (NLD), Otunba Niyi Adebanjo, has said President-elect Muhammadu Buhari will transform the country.

He said the emergence of Buhari has put an end to the 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP’s) arrogance, adding that the self acclaimed biggest party in Africa fell from the people’s favour.

He said: “At its height and in control of the Federal Government the PDP with so much impunity and with little thought for Nigerians who were groaning under the weight of a massively corrupt government, the looming presence of insecurity, grinding poverty, wholesale unemployment and the darkness foisted on the people, the party acted as if nothing was wrong.

“The fate of the PDP is therefore a veritable lesson note from which to draw nuggets of wisdom in governance to offer as recipes, guidelines, signposts and even beacons to the government in waiting. That is what the NLD has done in the form of suggestions that the organisation has carefully put together for General Muhammadu Buhari as he prepares to lead a team of change agents into Aso Rocks come May 29, 2015,” he said.

Adebanjo explained that Buhari has the capacity to change the country to where everybody will live in peace.

“It is our belief that as a former army general, with a lot of war strategies under his epaulettes, it should be expected that the president elect is aware that he cannot fail in the battle field.

By Musa Odoshimokhe

“The president-elect should give consideration and attention to the number of national problems and tackle them headlong as government begins business. General Buhari should avoid the disease that commonly plagues governments at the local, state and federal level when they try to dissipate energy in covering the entire field without getting anything done at the end of their tenure.

“The battle to reach zero tolerance for corruption, provision of affordable electricity, reduction in the army of unemployed youths and improvement in the level of infrastructure development should rank very high for the administration.

“The NLD believes that people guilty of corruption should not only be made to forfeit the proceeds of selfenrichment but should equally serve a term of jail time, to make them suffer just in the same way they inflicted punishment on the citizens who were denied of the provisions that was due to them if the money so allocated was not misappropriated.

Adebanjo called for a synergy that will guarantee a seamless operation in government, noting that Buhari must revisit the Steve Oronsaye’s report on civil service reform. “Premium should be paid on professionalism in the civil service. A radical approach that will bring the civil service to the admirable service oriented public office of the 1960s should be the standard that the new government must resolve to reach.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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

BUSINESS PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.com 08062722507

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How to ensure affordable housing, by ministry

The built environment is gradually being taken over by foreign architects at the expense of their indigenous courterparts.

What is the way out?

It is by adhering to local and international laws, say the indigenous operators.

MUYIWA LUCAS reports.

M

T

HE gathering was unanimous in its mission-to fight the incursion of foreigners into the built environment.

The Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) cautioned foreign architects over their incursion into the country’s architectural landscape without complying with extant laws and the International Union of Architects (UIA) recommended International Standards of Professionalism guiding their practice in foreign lands.

ARCON said its warning is based on “The Architects Registration Act” Chapter A19, paragraph 1 which stipulates that: “Subject to the provisions of this Act, a person shall not prepare or take full responsibility for the erection or commissioning of architectural building plans or practice or carry on business…under any name, style or title containing the word “architect” unless he is a Nigerian citizen and registered under this Act.” The UIA Accord on recommended International Standards of Professionalism in Architectural practice recognises the ARCON Act. It stipulates that every foreign architect abides by it, while it recognises that there is an interest in increasing the responsible mobility of architects and their ability to provide services in foreign jurisdictions. The Accord stressed the need to promote the awareness of local environmental, socio-cultural factors, ethical and legal standards.

ARCON President, Mr. Umaru Aliyu, who spoke while addressing architects and other stakeholders at the seventh edition of the Lagos Architects Forum 2015, tagged “Lagos 6.0: The Business of Architecture”, said the policy is explicit.

The forum was organised by the Nigerian Institute of Architects, Lagos State Chapter, in Lagos, last week.

He explained that the UIA Policy is very explicit on the procedure to be followed by architects providing architectural services on a project in a country in which they are not registered. Such architects, going by the UIA Accord, he explained, shall collaborate with a local architect to ensure that proper and effective understanding is given to legal, environmental, social and heritage factors; while the conditions of the association should be determined by the parties alone in accordance with UIA ethical standards, local status and laws. “Foreign architects work-

•From left: Aliyu; Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Toyin Ayinde and Vice President, Retail, Schneider Electric, Mr. Tonye Briggs, on tour of Schneider Electric stand at the Lagos Architects Forum.

Architects kick against foreign domination

ing in the country must have the Nigerian architect as the lead consultant. ARCON wishes to once again make it clear to all and sundry that it will not stand by and watch the rights of its members being trampled upon and the sources of their livelihood eroded through illegal foreign incursion.

We wish to sound a note of caution to everyone engaged in this unwholesome act to desist from it or be ready to face the full wrath of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Aliyu said.

He further said the body has also introduced a new initiative to curb unprofessionalism or quackery in the profession. The initiative, known as the Architect Project Registration Number (APRN), is being seen as a major way forward in stemming cases of corruption plaguing the local construction industry. This is because without the newly introduced number, no architectural drawings in any part of the country would be adjudged legal.

“The Council appreciates the untold hardship our members have been subjected to by the unwholesome attitude towards the practice of architecture in Nigeria over the years. It is in recognition of this that the Council introduced the use of the ARCON seal, complemented with the use of the security stamps to be affixed on every sheet of the drawings submitted for developmental control/implementation

purposes. “The Council has however gone ahead to introduce the Architect Project Registration Number (APRN), which is a number assigned by the Council to each architectural project in any part of the country to ensure that only fully registered architects submit architectural drawings for developmental control/implementation and receive approval from relevant approving authorities. “All submissions for development control/implementation must comply with the above,” Aliyu said. He urged its members to continue to work with the body in establishing the business and practices of architecture in an appropriate manner.

Until the recent introduction of the APRN, ARCON rule was that each sheet of architectural drawing must have its security seal, and duly signed, and accompanied by current practice license of the architect. But instead of reducing the lapses within the industry, it appears the measure was not effective, thus leading to the new regulation.

Earlier at the forum, the President, Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), Mr. Waheed Brimmo, expressed confidence in the ability of the body to achieve the laudable objective of the Forum, describing it as a “great event that has metamorphosed into a forum of inestimable enlightenment, exchanges, expositions and exhibitions.” He said there was no gainsaying about the centrality of the business of architecture in the survival and advancement of architecture and architects and there could not be a better time than now for them

as professionals to establish parameters to assess the practice in a world that is daily advancing. Brimmo urged the organisers of the event to package the programme as a learning module and make it available to all schools of architecture, and all in the field.

In his welcome address, NIA Lagos Chairman, Mr. Ladipo Lewis, said the state chapter had always worked ardently towards contributing positively to the development of Lagos State. He said this year’s theme was apt as it is coming at a time the country emerged the largest economy in Africa.

He said: “The need to engender the entrepreneurial spirit in our participants, has been a recurring theme in all Lagos Architects Forum. This would ultimately lead to the delivering of exceptional buildings, high quality structures, affordable homes, and employment opportunities for the citizens and communities in Lagos State.

“The City of Lagos will benefit from the copious knowledge acquired at this event, we can transform our city into an airline, tourism, trade, entertainment and convection hub, Lagos could become the Dubai of Africa, transforming the economy with foreign investment, in tourism, trade, shopping and convention activities, jobs would subsequently be created in abundance.

“The need for investment friendly Urban Design and Planning Legislation cannot be over emphasised.”

Firm unveils housing security solutions

S

tanley Security, one of the world’s most renowned providers of in tegrated security solutions for homes and businesses, has introduced its products into the Nigerian market.

Unveiling the company’s offerings, which include the provision of ancillary support and training for practitioners, on the sidelines of the Lagos Architects Forum at the Eko Hotel and Suites last Wednesday, Pre-Sales Marketing Manager, Middle East & Africa Mr Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan, explained said the company was determined to contribute to the ever growing construction industry through its assorted quality products, many of which are the first generation of the products in the industry.

INISTER of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Dr Akon Eyakenyi has called on the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) executive to ensure that stakeholders maintain quality in pursuit of affordable housing.

Speaking when the group visited her on Abuja, REDAN President Reverend Ugochukwu Chime, the Minister hailed the transparent process that brought up the executive. She urged the executive to continue to maintain an open and all-inclusive administrative policy that will benefit stakeholders in the sector. “If you have an open administration, you will succeed,” the minister said.

While commending the effort of the out-going administration and in particular President Jonathan’s genuine concern and support to the sector, she noted that government is a continuum, expressing hope that the in-coming administration will continue with the laudable programmes and projects in the sector. The Minister further advised the executive to ensure that on-going projects are duly completed, assuring that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) as a government institution would continue to render relevant financial assistance to developers. However, she admonished that such financial assistance should be well utilized for the benefit of providing affordable and quality housing for Nigerians.

Rev. Chime commended the Minister for the various strides recorded during her tenure, noting that she has commissioned more housing estates than any Minister who had ever served in the Ministry, attributing it to her inspirational and outstanding leadership qualities.

“We are committed to adding to the capacity of every professional in the Nigerian construction industry to deliver top notch security products and services to their customers,” he said.

Radhakrishnan, told visitors to the exhibition that Stanley’s extensive portfolio of products including Architectural Hardware (Commercial & Residential Hardware), glass accessories, Electronic locks and automatic doors, among others, are available nationwide. They are being distributed by emel Building Materials, a subsidiary of the Emel Group, a leading business conglomerate, operating in Nigeria since 1966.

He explained further that part of the unique offerings of Stanley Products, which have been tested in more than one hundred locations, is that they are designed for integration into the hardware and software structure of any organisation that employs their use.

Radhakrishnan said: “Stanley Security has over the years developed various custom fit products for institutions across the financial, educational, healthcare and transportation sectors. We are very sure that builders in Nigeria will have a dependable ally in every Stanley product they embrace just as builders all over the world are able to testify” Stanley Security was founded in 1843 and has been listed on the NewYork Stock Exchange since1966.

•Chief Executive Officer, Emel Group of Companies Mr Naresh Asnani

Unique exhibition holds

A

N opportunity to showcase interior decorations and fittings holds in Lagos next week. The three day event which runs from May 20 to 22, tagged “Unique beyond borders” is the 12th edition in the series packaged by Unique Interiors. The venue is Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

According to the organisers, each day of the exhibition has its own unique focus. Day one, for instance, has being tagged “Interior Design day for interior design professionals and people looking to have a career in it will benefit from a free introductory course for beginners. The second day designated as “Facility Management day”, will appreciate facility managers and their profession. It will also feature a seminar on the importance of facility management to the industry. On the third and final day, Architects will take their turn as their works and contribution to the built environment will be espoused.

“The general public is invited to be a part of our seminar sessions to improve knowledge in areas such as safety and healthy living, sustainable buildings, energy efficiency and management, lifestyle, Choosing and using color, improving facility interior life cycle, problem ceilings, setting Ambience, role of good architecture in design, designing spaces, rejuvenation of aging buildings ,health & wellness . Also career talk for the youth and upcoming leaders on how to improve and stand out amongst peers both in presentation and personality,” a release by the organisers made available to The Nation, read.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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Nigerite demystify dry construction

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N architect with Nigerite, Jesse Onovere, has explained why his firm is championing dry construction as an alternative to building. It is to demystify the age-long belief that dry construction is not viable, he said.

Onovere, in a sideline chat with The Nation during the Lagos 6.0 Architect Forum in Lagos, last week, said that Nigerite, beyond marketing its product at the forum, was also using the opportunity to let the public know that dry construction remains a very viable alternative to wet construction- that is, mortar and brick.

Nigerite, a principal sponsor of this year’s Lagos Architect Forum, according to Onovere, said with its flagship product, the Kalsi- a brand for the firm’s dry construction system, makes use of dry walls as its basic element; thus making it possible to be used to build a house and used for both internal and external works.

“We have been pushing for dry construction for about four and half years now. We are building momentum over time and that is why we are launching it again this year. The reaction to the Kalsi wasn’t too lovely; I remember I

Stories by Muyiwa Lucas

had several presentations to people; and they didn’t understand it very well; many would tell us then that “I don’t want to be used as a guinea pig” for this your solution. It was like that for about two years when we started.

But after the third year, some people tested it and found out that it enhanced their jobs, including the architects. Now, people have been coming for it and more are also keying into it. Overall, the response has been impressive; still growing though, and better than what we had before. I would say we have like 45 to 50 per cent acceptance so far; but it can be better,” Onovere told The Nation.

To this end, Onovere said that Nigerite’s dry construction solution, the “Kalsi” board solution, offers this alternative at a cheaper cost. “We are trying to also let them know that it is possible to demystify the process of building.

With images that we just rolled during the presentation you saw, we are trying to let the public know that it is possible. So ours is to demystify anything pertaining to the dry construction business,” he said.

The Kalsi is not being sold as a product but as a building solution; so it comes with other items like the galvanised steel and cement board. Experts knowledgeable in dry construction say that whereas there are some wastages in brick and mortar, which are not always factored into the cost of construction, but with the Kalsi solution, wastages are taken off the shoulders of the building owner. For instance, the pipe used is already pre fabricated, saving cost in employing artisans coming to chisel metals.

It would be recalled that Nigerite recently refurbished its reception office using the Kalsi solution to serve as a testimony to stakeholders, create more awareness for the Kalsi brand as well as demonstrate that Kalsi can be used to complement, build and remodel already existing buildings and open area offices. Kalsi Floors are cement boards used for sub-floor applications in houses, apartments and lightweight commercial buildings. They are also suitable solutions for false-floor applications to conceal services in buildings. It can be finished with marble, granite, ceramic, or any other finishing material of choice.

• From left: Deputy President, NIQS, Mrs. Mercy Iyorther; President, NIQS, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, and Chairman of one of the NIQS sessions, Alhaji M.B. Abubarkar, at the Institution’s three-day workshop held in Kano...recently.

Embrace entrepreneurship, surveyors told

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HE three-day national workshop organised by the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) has ended in Kano, Kano State, with the body urging its members to learn the act of entrepreneuership. The theme of the workshop was “The Professional as an Entreprence.” The workshop, according to its organisers, was held with a view to providing an avenue for enlightening the professional Quantity Surveyor on the need to embrace entrepreneurial development, digitisation and professionalism. Besides, the workshop was to further equip the Quantity Surveyor for the future growth and sustenance of the profession.

At the workshop, the various speakers and other stakeholders noted that there is a dearth of professionals in various sectors of the Nigerian economy and the previous model of single-shop owner is no longer sustainable. Hence, it was observed, there is the need to expand, integrate, innovate and diversify in order to promote the profession.

The theme of the workshop was further broken down to subthemes which were addressed in the form of paper presentations, viz: entrepreneurship; professionalism, and digitalisation. At the end of the workshop, four syndicate sessions were held and the observations made by the participants.

At the end of the workshop, several recommendations were made to improve the practice of the profession. For instance, for the individual professional, there is a need to embrace digitalisation, explore the use of MS Excel in the preparation of Bills of Quantities and other contract documents, as this can greatly reduce the burden on the QS by eliminating boring and routine tasks. Besides, it was also recommended that Nigerian QS can achieve partnerships with foreign firms with deep expertise in highly relevant areas such as new methods of project cost benchmarking, public-private partnership (PPP) concept in infrastructure development.

Importantly, it recommended that since the current level of entrepreneurial skills within QS practice in Nigeria is shallow and needs to be deepened, practitioners in the country must appreciate the need to act more as entrepreneurs and learn what entrepreneurship is all about.

“For the QS interested in entrepreneurial development there are important things to consider: the preparation of a business plan, consideration of the external environment where the business will be reviewed and other institutions within the external environment.

There is a wide range of potential projects open to the forward thinking QS interested in entrepreneurial development in the areas of

Transportation, Energy, Oil & Gas, ICT and Social Infrastructure among others. Quantity Surveyors are enjoined to take advantage of the opportunities available in entrepreneurial development and to keep abreast with the latest developments in the business,” the communique at the end of the workshop read.

Stakeholders at the forum also recommended mergers and acquisition for practitioners and their firms as this is a viable means for survival and growth of professional firms. It charged practitioners to de-emphasise individualism and seek to provide avenue for tutelage of younger professionals, as the best recipe for practical survival and growth of professional firms is competence, integrity and honesty.

“To avoid mistakes, overcome problems and become successful and achieve sustainable growth, the Quantity Surveyor requires knowledge of business practice, accounting principles, national economic conditions and expertise in the building process,” NIQS said in its communique.

For the NIQS and/or other organisations, it further recommended that there is need to create higher levels of membership or distinction for firms requiring greater investment in knowledge, diversification , internationalisation and staff quality/training that can create incentive to invest.

Firm unveils precast concrete technology

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S part of the effort to sup port the Federal Government’s plan to bridge the housing deficit in the country, a fast-pace building construction technology has been introduced into the country’s built environment The automated precast concrete technology, renowned globally for speedy housing construction, was presented by CTSR Group, a Nigerian company with franchise from the owners of the technology, Broad Homes Industrial International Company Limited, a subsidiary of Broad Homes Industrial Company, Limited at the just concluded forum of architects, in Lagos.

The company, according to its officials, offers technical service and consulting in the area of precast concrete manufacturing and construction. Broad Homes, company officials said, is specialised in providing integrated solutions of precast concrete construction, for residential and commercial buildings, public and industrial facilities and infrastructure, for almost 20 years.

“By 2014, Broad Homes has expanded the annual production capacity up to 10 million sqm of construction area, operating 15 precast concrete factories,” the Chief Executive Officer of CTSR Group, Mrs. Funke, Otti said.

She said with advanced precast concrete construction technology and expertise, the company is engaged in helping the customers to fully master precast concrete construction technology by delivering the smartest precast factory solution, and providing engineering services, technical consulting services and technical support in the whole lifecycle of construction project. Otti said the automated precast technology is a one-stop shop for housing solutions covering research and development, design, construction, etc.

“The technology provides factory made sustainable buildings, fea-

turing reinforced concrete pre casting and is five times more efficient with its energy saving technology.

The technology will deliver such advantages that will include quality through the standard manufacturing and assembly processes, predictable schedule and on time delivery which will result in cost savings by reducing market risks and variables,” Otti explained.

For her, the aim of her firm is to revolutionalise housing construction. To do this, she said, CTSR will initiate a new city development with affordable high-rise apartment buildings, which the new technology can enable the building go up to 30 floors and in the process, save up to 70 per cent of construction time when compared to the traditional construction processes.

The company, she said, could build in any part of the country and would focus on any place that there is a need for housing, particularly high-rise buildings for now. “We are not saying no to single dwellings but we believe it is cheaper to do multi-floors like the 1004 Estate in Victoria Island because of the cost of land and infrastructure. We are looking at doing 2,000 to 4,000 housing units that are well-planned with all the green areas, and provision for firefighting, so that if you have any emergency you can do something while waiting for the fire service,” she said.

According to her, setting up the factory is capital intensive but, the cost of not adopting the technology, which has been widely adopted in other parts of the world, could be counter-productive to the set goals. “The initial stake is quite high but we have decided to take the bull by the horn. We believe we need to develop our people and add value to the built environment. This is the reason we have decided to set up a factory here, which is currently under construction,” she submitted.

Lagos seals off wild animals’ premises

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building in Lagos has been sealed off for allegelly keeping dangerous and wild animals, such as panther, water snakes, giant eagle and crocodiles.

House 13, Alhaji Abass Street off Adebowale Street in Ojodu Berger, Lagos, was sealed off after it was sanitised by officials of the Ministry of the Environment.

The property hitherto inhabited

by John .A. Adekanbi, was discovered last October to be harbouring dangerous animals when officials of the ministry were on a Houseto-House Awareness Campaign during the monthly environmental sanitation.

The site is an undeveloped piece of land, poorly managed, filled with dirt, accumulated disused articles and refuses. There are containers filled with stagnant water and unwholesome smells permeate the area.

According to Dr. Abiodun Afolabi, Director Monitoring, Enforcement & Compliance, who led the exercise, the environmental nuisances discovered include a heap of vegetal waste at the frontal area of the premises, disused furniture items and disused articles overgrown trees within the premises with branches extending over the perimeter fence to the neighbouring compound.

Other nuisances observed include andinsanitary, improper and dilapidated toilet facility, illegal structure unfit for human habitation etc.

It was also discovered that some of the animals strayed away, also posing danger to neighbours and passersby.

Before the sealing off, officials in the ministry and Messrs Origin Gardens, a renowned conservationist, visited the location after which a proposal was forwarded for the relocation of the wild animals to a zoo. Subsequently, an Abatement of Nuisance Notice was issued to the owner, Mr. John Adekanbi, to sanitise and tidy up the environment of his property within 72 hours.

Upon the expiration of the notice served and non-compliance by Adekanbi, the ministry officials with the Magistrate of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Court conducted a LOCUS-IN-QUO to the property with a view to obtaining a court order to evacuate the wild animals and junks from the premises.

Consequently, a seal order was placed on the property and the evacuation of the animals and junks within the premises was done by Messrs Origin Garden Zoo and Sanitation Services Department of the Ministry of the Environment.

However, prior to the evacuation the government relocated Mr.John Adekanbi, his wife and son to a very befitting accommodation while the evacuation was carried out. It should be recalled that It is against the law to breed or keep at home wild and dangerous animals that can be a threat to human lives.

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TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

THE NATION

BUSINESS ENERGY

E-mail:- energy@thenationonlineng.net

Oil price crash takes toll as firms cut pay, jobs S

OME servicing companies are slashing workers’ salaries because of paucity of funds. Others are retrenching.

Besides, many have placed an embargo on employment following the rising cost of operation.

The development follows the downturn in the global oil market, which has made it difficult for them to make profit and execute new projects.

The companies have sacked 6,000 of their 20,000 workers to stay afloat. But operational challenges

By Akinola Ajibade

caused by dwindling oil fortune are compelling them to further embrace cost-cutting measures.

The President, Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Emeka Ene, said these challenges are forcing the firms to restructure their operations.

They are facing a cash crunch that has not made them execute new contracts.

Ene said the problems could force many firms out of business if noth-

ing is done.

One of the problems, Ene said, is the directive that oil servicing firms should cut down cost of contract by 30 per cent without considering the implications on their businesses.

He said: “A number of our members, who are trying to cope with the situation are now laying off staff; others are slashing salaries and no new employment is being generated because there are no new projects to execute. “ Besides, oil exploration and

production companies have directed our members to reduce the cost of oil services contracts by 30 per cent. These were the contracts we got when the price of crude oil was over $100. Now we are being ordered to slash the contracts’ cost by 30 per cent, forgetting that we have spent a lot of money to procure equipment for the job.”

Ene said it had been very tough for the industry, which is finding it difficult to mitigate the effects of crashing oil prices.

According to him, operators in the servicing industry were given a blanket instruction, by oil ex-

ploration firms, to slash prices of services by 30 per cent instantly. “ This strategy is short-sighted and focused on destroying Nigerian companies, who are now being forced to either lay off staff or cut down salaries of their workers.

The profit margins of these companies during the boom years of $100 a barrel lie between 20 and 30 per cent for the most profitable ones. However, there are firms with lesser profit margins,” he said.

Ene said a greater collaboration, among industry players was expected to enable them manage cost well.

Cost of NLNG’s Train 7 to go up

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•From left: Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Mr. Osagie Okunbor; Managing Director, Oilserv, Mr. Emeka Okwuosa; and the President of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Ene at the business luncheon/panel session held at Crown Plaza in Houston, Texas during the Offshore Technology Conference in United States.

Hope rises as oil price exceeds $65

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HERE is hope for African oil producers, especially Nigeria whose economy’s mainstay is oil, as prices jumped to $65.53 per barrel (bbl) last weekend.

The price is expected to hit $70 a barrel in the near future if the market continues to go south. The development, which is the first since June, last year when the price of crude oil fell from a high of $115 per barrel to as low as $43 per barrel, will boost earnings of oil producing countries.

Analysts from Energy Information Agency (EIA) attributed the rise in price to volatilities, occasioned by low production of United States’ shale oil and the disruption in Libya’s oil production, among others.

The United States’ based agency said the issue will trigger production of oil in the 12-member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as well as impacting on their earnings.

It said: “Rising oil prices will see producers increasing their production and boosting their earnings for economic growth. However, oil producing nations should try as much as possible to moderate production because any attempt to over supply crude will affect prices. There is the need to prevent prices of crude oil from sliding or falling now that the market is picking.”

It added that the market would recap at $70 if the tempo of activities in the global oil market is sustained.

OPEC, in its April monthly report, said prices are tumbling and rising in response to the happen-

By Akinola Ajibade

ings in the market, adding that prices would rebound to the level they were before the free fall.

The issue, experts said, signifies hope for Nigeria, which generates 70 per cent of its earnings from crude oil export to facilitate socioeconomic growth. A professor of Energy Economics with the University of Ibadan, Adeola Akinnisiju, said things are looking up for Nigeria going by the gradual recovery of oil prices in recent times.

He said the country runs a monoeconomy since it strongly depends on oil for its budgetary financing.

He said: “Easing fiscal burdens occasioned by fall in prices of crude oil is the major concern and priority of the Federal Government. Since Nigeria has failed to diversify its economy and has consistently relied on oil for financing its capital and recurrent expenditure, it would definitely grab any opportunity that

presents itself with both hands. The steely rise in crude oil price is an opportunity, which the government would like to utilise for growth.”

Also, a lecturer at Pan African University, Dr Austin Nweze, said the fiscal growth of the country is tied to the sales of crude oil. He said the prayer of the Federal Government is that crude oil price should increase rapidly to enable it fund critical socio-economic projects.

He said the fall in crude oil prices is affecting the nation’s economy, adding that a rise in price of oil is a welcome development.

He expalined that the government’s inability to grow the economy was as a result of the dwindling oil price, which started last year.

The declining oil price has caused fiscal and administrative challenges including government’s failure to arrive at an agreeable benchmark for the budget.

HE cost of building the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited’s (NLNG) Train 7 will be reviewed upwards to match realities whenever the final investment decision (FID) on the project is due as a result of delay, it was learnt.

F1D is a business plan or strategy, through which gas producing and exporting countries such as Nigeria sell gas to its buyers abroad.

Its Managing Director, Babs Omotowa told The Nation that the review becomes imperative because discussions on the project have been on the table in the past seven years, which is a long time.

The Train 7 project has been enmeshed in politics and personal interests, which stalled its timely FID and construction since 2008.

It was that the conflicting interests, which led to the delay are among the company’s shareholders. Although the NLNG does not want to disclose the cause of the delay, which has caused the government, shareholders and the economy billions of dollars that could have been earned as revenues.

Omotowa also stated that the tumbled price of crude and gas would not affect construction of the project if the FID is taken, but noted that the revenues that could have accrued from the project may not be as expected because of other suppliers that have come on stream within those past years that would be competing for the market.

He said: “Our focus remains that we shall continue to work with our shareholders as we have been doing. We have a couple of shareholders that are directly involved in the project but we also have stakeholders that are involved in our supply side, and the Joint Venture. We will continue working with all stakeholders to get this project through.

“There are still a number of

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

works that we are doing and I think when we continue to do those works and when we come to the time of FID, we will be able to approach our shareholders to seek for approval. It was in 2008 that we first did a lot of the preFID type work. For example in 2008, we tendered for the construction of that Train 7 plant.

“Many of those tenders have become unrealistic because it is just too long, so we still have to retender them to be able to get what will be the new cost of building the project. There are lots of works we need to do with the gas suppliers to make sure they have enough money to do the gas infrastructure and to be able to transport them to the plant.

“So, whatever we are doing we are working with all the shareholders to be able to achieve that, and it is when we complete that then we will indeed, go for an FID. We are optimistic that our shareholders have supporting the project, and we will get the necessary support when we come for an FID. It will take about two years to complete the tendering process and require sometime to accomplish the other requirements.”

On the impact of shale gas on the prospects of Train 7, he said: “While the supply side is growing in terms of shale gas and we are seeing the impact today affecting price, the demand side will also continue to grow and we will continue to get even much more demand on gas side. It is fair to say that the price may not be as high as it used to be and indeed, we have seen the situation where the prices in Asia, which used to be between $15 and $20 per million British thermal unit (mBTu), has now come down to about $7 but we are still confident that the business case continues to be robust for the Train 7 and we will be able to deliver even an additional value despite all the stress.

Sahara Group inducted into SDG-F advisory group

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THE Sahara Group has been inducted into the Private Sector Advisory Group of the Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDGF). The induction is in recognition of its contribution to activities that promote inclusive economic growth for poverty eradication, capacity building, food security and access to potable water.

Sahara Group is an indigenous power, oil and gas, and infrastructure conglomerate with footprints in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

It will be represented on the advisory board by Mr. Tonye Cole, the Group’s co-founder and Executive Director.

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

Speaking at the Board’s inaugural meeting in Madrid, Spain, Ms. Paloma Durán, Director, SDG-F said the Private Sector Advisory Group would provide the SDG-F Secretariat with guidance and strategic support to achieve better development results in coordination with the private sector.

The SDG-F is a development cooperation mechanism created in 2014 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on behalf of the United Nations system, with an initial contribution of the Government

of Spain to support sustainable development activities through integrated and multi-dimensional joint programmes.

Durán said the inclusion of Sahara Group on the advisory board was informed by its remarkable sustainable development activities that are driven by strategic funding, partnerships and volunteer activities involving Sahara’s staff.

“The decision to include Sahara Group will be of much value and I am confident that this Advisory Group will facilitate the emergence of formidable platforms through which the SDG-F can partner with

the private sector to achieve its goals,” Duran added.

The Board is expected to, among others, help shape the SDG-F’s activities on capacity building, dialogue, research and knowledge sharing, resources and infrastructure as well as advocacy and creating awareness.

Describing Sahara’s involvement with the SDG-F as another unique opportunity to serve, Cole said the company continues to seek avenues to promote sustainable development across markets where it operates through its Personal Corporate Social Responsibility (PCSR) platform.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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ENERGY

Buhari may adopt Lagos model to fix power sector

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HE incoming government of General Muhammadu Buhari may adopt the Lagos State model of power generation to solve Nigeria’s energy problem in short and long term measures, it has been learnt.

The Lagos Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Taofiq Tijani, who spoke to The Nation on the sideline at the just concluded Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, United States said the approach will quickly fix the problem.

He said the adoption of the embedded and captive generation had helped Lagos to tackle its power supply deficits. Vice President-elect Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo plans to adopt that model at the Federal Government level, Tijani said.

His words: “I think the Vice-President elect has mentioned it several times that they will use Lagos State model to rejuvenate the power sector and also see that things are done well and quickly to increase generation. On the Lagos State model, we have been doing embedded and captive generation. Today, the distribution infrastructure has been privatised, but they don’t have anything to distribute because there is no generation coming from anywhere.

“Most of the generation comes from the national grid, which is weak, inefficient and, besides, the transmission network is not capable of transmitting the generated power to distribution infrastructure. So, what the in-

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

coming government can do quickly is to encourage embedded power generation. Let them find a way of getting investors that can put in place captive, embedded power generation that can supply distribution infrastructure with power to distribute. That can be done quickly because I know there are a lot of investors, who are ready to do that.

“The last independent power plant we did in Lagos State was the 8megawatts (MW) in Lekki that supplies power to our water scheme in Lekki, Ikoyi and Victoria Island and also the street lights in Lekki and Ikoyi. Today, we run that plant to supply power to the infrastructure and because there is excess power, we need to let the street lights run 24 hours. If you go to Lekki, you will see the street lights on all the time and we cannot switch off because it will affect the turbines. But if there is a law that allows that captive power to be given to households or commercial concerns, they will have power to use, but the law doesn’t allow that to happen.

“So, those are the type of things the government can do. It can do many independent power projects (IPPs) to support the distribution infrastructure and people will have power. This is what the incoming government should do, going forward because the current government allowed things to happen without looking at the consequences. So, the new government

should look at how to make things better. “ Tijani noted that the new government should consider the Petroleum Industry Bill and quickly look at the areas that are not contentious or do not have controversial issues and see if they can extract those areas and get the bill passed “because what the bill will do is to redevelop the oil industry and encourage investors”.

“There are some areas of the bill that are in contention and that is why it has not been passed. Even they can leave out areas and revisit them later and pass the other. There are also areas in legislation, law which need not the attention of the National Assembly, which can be done at executive level to encourage participants, investors and people put in money in that industry. Unless they put in money, invest and bring the whole industry back alive, I think we will just be lagging behind other countries,” he said.

The Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr David Ige, said the loss of 400 million standard cubic feet per day (mscf/d) of gas and the reduction in water level at the hydro plants had been responsible for the significant drop in power supply across the country, especially in the western axis. He said some major pipelines are out of operation because they are vandalised and generation at Shiroro hydro power plant dropped by about 300MW because of insufficient water level.

FMC Technologies, UNIPORT collaborate on subsea engineers

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MC Technologies, Inc. is collaborating with the University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) to start the award of the first Master of Science degree (Msc) in Subsea Engineering in Nigeria.

According to the company, the curriculum will be developed in collaboration with industry experts to ensure that students are prepared for work in the offshore oil and gas industry. The university will be accepting applications for the new programme this academic session.

“FMC Technologies is dedicated to developing its Nigerian workforce so that an ever increasing number of technical, leadership and management roles in Nigeria can be performed by Nigerians,” said Michael Hunt, Country Manager, FMC Technologies.

“This collaboration represents a major milestone in furthering the development of a highly skilled Nigerian workforce. These students will play key role in the future of

the oil and gas industry in Nigeria,” he said.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Joseph Ajienka, while showing gratitude, described the event as a major milestone, not only for the university, but for the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. “We are very pleased to cooperate with FMC Technologies in this effort. Given the facilities and experience of FMC Technologies, we are confident that a Master of Science degree in Subsea Engineering will add tremendous value to our services,” he said.

Participants upon graduation, would have expanded opportunities to work in the energy industry, including potential employment with FMC Technologies in Nigeria. FMC Technologies has been contributing to the growth of Nigeria’s vital oil and gas industry for more than 16 years and currently employs approximately 250 personnel in country.

Eko Disco acquires vehicles to improve service

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HE Eko Electricity Distribution Company has acquired 15 new pickup trucks to enhance its services and bridge gaps in delivery period.

Its Managing Director, Dr Oladele Amoda while unveiling the new vehicles at the company’s corporate headquarters in Lagos, said the acquisition of the vehicles was in pursuit of the company’s drive towards continuous satisfactory service delivery and general operational efficiency.

He said the vehicles would be deployed to strategic operational units of the company for quick response to technical faults clearing, billing issues and customer complaints. He said the reinforcement of the company’s fleet has been a continuous exercise, adding that the vehicles being unveiled were the first phase of the vehicle acquisition programme.

To ensure seamless interaction with customers, Amoda said help lines, which customers would use to reach the company at any time on any issue, are written on all the vehicles.

Amoda also appealed to customers to endure what he described ‘’as not too satisfactory state of power supply” in areas under the company’s network. According to him, the company is aware of the plight of its customers as regards inadequate

power supply. The situation, he said, was not limited to Eko Disco coverage area alone. He assured customers that efforts by Eko Disco to seek alternative source of power supply through embedded generation would soon start yielding positive fruits.

The management decried the spate of violent attacks on its workers on their lawful duties by some people claiming to be protesting against poor power supply in their communities.

The Head of Corporate Communication, Mr. Godwin Idemudia said poor power supply can never be a plausible excuse for anybody to take the law into his hand and unleash violence on workers on their lawful duties. He said rather than resorting to attacks on staff and vandalism of property, the company expects customers having complaints to lodge them through appropriate avenues such as contacting the customer care centre either on phone or online, or coming directly to any of the operational unit of the company.

The management warned perpetrators of the ‘criminal and barbaric act’ to desist from that, adding that the company would not fold its hands and watch its workers being attacked on the guise of poor power supply. The full weight of the law would be brought on anybody caught in the act.

NCDMB management, workers at loggerhead over promotion •From left: Chairman, Skyrun Corporation, Mr. Xie Shao; Ambassador/Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Beinjin, China, Ambassador Patrick Olusola Onadipe; Sales Manager, Ningbo Sanxin Electric Company Limited, Amy Wu; Chief Finance Officer, Ikeja Electric, Mr. Aigbe Olotu and National Coordinator/CEO, Nigeria-China Business Council, Chief Mathew Uwaekwe, during a visit to Ikeja Electric in Lagos.

Nigeria to spend $40b on work programmes in two years

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ESPITE the global low oil price, the Department of Pe troleum Resources (DPR) has said there is a $40 billion new spending, planned for work programmes in Nigeria between 2015 and end of 2016.

The President/Founder, Anabel Group, Dr Nicholas Okoye, broke the news at the Nigerian Investment Forum, organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitory Board (NCDMB) in collaboration with SweetcrudeReports in Houston , Texas, United States.

He said the NCDMB was targeting 50 per cent local content in all oil and gas operations by 2020.

Speaking on the global effects of the Nigeria energy industry, Okoye said: “NCDMB is stepping up its development and monitoring mandate to expand access to Nigerian operators in shallow and deepwater operations as well as in topside fabrication of floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs), with clear goals of hitting 50 per cent Nigeria content by 2020.

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

“According to the Department of Petroleum Resources, there is a $40 billion new spending planned for work programmes in Nigeria between 2015 to end of 2016. With new investors in upstream assets of the international oil companies (IOCs) and many assets from the 2005/2006 bid round being due for signing of their production sharing contract, that figure will grow at 10 per cent over the next five years.

“International demand for crude oil is slowing in the United States and Europe due to shale gas and other alternatives, as well as slow growth in Europe. Crude demand from China is slowing due to the slow growth in demand for goods and services from European markets. In addition, Saudi Arabia is over producing, which has caused price pressures on the international price of crude “However, Europe is stepping up its use of gas for heating during the winter UAE and other OPEC pro-

ducers are also over producing. US dollar is getting stronger causing pressure on dollar loans,” he said.

On factors responsible for the oil price decline, he said, the slowing crude oil demand from China and India, USA and European nations as well as new shale oil and gas reserves in the United States and new production from the province, were responsible.

He said new alternative and renewable energy sources in USA and Europe, with the European Union (EU) setting targets of 35 per cent of energy from renewables by 2020, are also challenges facing pricing of the Nigerian and global oil, adding that Germany targets 80 per cent from renewables by 2050. He also noted that over production from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and other OPEC producers contributed greatly to low oil price.

On alternative energy revolution, Okoye said Stromautobahn, named after the autobahn, is the most ambitious and largest alternative energy project in the world.

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EMPLOYEES of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) are ready to go on strike if their management refuse to address issues relating to staff promotion, pension remittance and unionisation in the organisation.

The workers, under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), the inability of the NCDMB management to respond to the issues raised above necessitated the handling down of a 14 working day ultimatum, which will expire on Friday, May 8, 2015.

In the strike noticed issued by the Port Harcourt Zone of PENGASSAN and dated April 24, 2015, the workers stated that the management violated extant labour laws and practices concerning promotion, payment of non-regular allowances, allowing willing employees to join union and pension remittance.

The union demanded that the management should constitute a promotion committee made up of all general managers from various directorates and divisions in the Board, adding that the demand became inevitable as a result of avoidable communication gaps that exist during promotion exercise.

According to the workers, some staff were not promoted during the

last exercise due to communication gaps between the board management and the management staff of the directorates and divisions that made up of the NCDMB. The workers demanded that staff affected due to such lapses should be promoted without further delay.

They also advised the management not to encourage selective promotion as such may cause disaffection among the staff.

The workers called on the NCDMB management to cancel a promotion examination conducted for staff on level SS4 as obtainable in other government agencies and parastatals in the oil and gas sector of the economy, such as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Petroleum Equalisation Fund Monitoring Board (PEFMB) and Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), among others.

The senior staff called the management to promote all those affected by the examination result, while urging that all promotion should be backdated based on the normal three years promotion basis as was used in previous promotion and in other government agencies and parastatals.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 11-05-15

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 11-05-15

Nestle to focus on long-term growth

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ESTLE Nigeria would ensure good balance between its immediate short-term returns and long-term performance as the food and beverage company continues its expansion drive.

Chairman, Nestle Nigeria, Mr. David Ifezulike, outlined the strategic growth plan of the company to its shareholders yesterday at the annual general meeting in Lagos.

He said the goal of the company’s growth plan is to strengthen the foundations for future growth while delivering on its short-term commitments.

According to him, the company has been well-positioned to respond to macroeconomic challenges while exploiting emerging opportunities.

“While delivering in the short term, we will remain focused on our business, long term, and continue to build the foundations for future growth. We will take appropriate steps to accelerate our growth as we have done in

By Taofik Salako Capital Market Editor

previous years,” Ifezulike said.

He noted that the construction work on the company’s ultra-modern, N4.6 billion, 14.13 hectares waters factory located in Abaji, near Abuja, has reached advanced stage and should be ready for inauguration in the last quarter of 2015.

The assurance came just as shareholders of the company approved distribution of N13.9 billion as final dividends for the 2014 business year.

The board of directors of Nestle Nigeria had recommended distribution of N13.87 billion to shareholders as final dividends. The company had earlier distributed N7.93 billion as interim dividends. This final dividend brought total dividend for the year to N21.8 billion.

A breakdown of the gross dividend showed that shareholders would receive a final dividend per share of N17.50,

bringing total dividend per share for the year to N27.50.

The final dividend becomes payable as from today to shareholders on the register of the company as at the close of business on Friday, 24 April 2015.

The final dividend is being paid from the pioneer profits of the company and as such not subject to deduction of withholding tax.

Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed that turnover rose by eight per cent from N133.08 billion in 2013 to N143.3 billion in 2014.

Profit before tax however dropped from N26.05 billion in 2013 to N24.4 billion in 2014.

Profit after tax was almost unchanged at N22.24 billion in 2014 as against N22.26 billion in 2013.

The board of the food company described the 2014 performance as satisfactory citing the tough macroeconomic environment and the devaluation of Naira.

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 11 -05-15

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

55

MONEYLINK

Lagos to deploy sound financial policies in development plan

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HE Lagos State government has promised that it will follow sound financial policies in driving its 2012 to 2025 development plan.

Presenting the plan at the stakeholders’ sensitisation forum orgnised by the Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning and Messrs Penyl Consult Limited, Bunmi Oyeleye, said the forum was meant to build up grassroots support for the plans.

Oyeleye, an executive of Messrs Penyl Consult Limited, said the government of Lagos decided to hold the parley based on its commitment to bottom-up approach.

Some of the stakeholders that attended the forum include property owners, business chiefs and tenants.

They urged government to ensure that all development plans conform to the international best practices, and should include grassroots participation.

Oyeleye said the programme, with theme: “Stakeholders’ Sensitisation on the Lagos State Development Plan (2012-2025)” will also be replicated in Epe and Badagry divisions of the state.

He said the programme is a blueprint that will guide the government on areas of concentration and help players in all sectors of the economy to direct their energies and contribute to the improvement of quality of life of the people in the state.

A statement by the state Commissioner of Economic Planning and Budget, Ben Akabueze said Lagos remains the fastest growing megacity, adding that it is geographically well placed to serve all the major markets of the world.

IFC, AfDB to boost private sector growth

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Stories by Collins Nweze

“Lagos Port handles four out of five Nigeria imports and 70 per cent of exports; the Apapa Port located in Lagos State is estimated to be the busiest port in West Africa. Other key attributes of the state include a convenient and extensive network of trade routes and a strong base in finance, manufacturing and service sectors,” he said.

Akabueze said Lagos has a major role to play in elevating the country to the group of leading economies in the world, having been regarded as Nigeria’s financial, commercial and industrial nerve centre with several financial institutions and manufacturing industries.

“The state accounts for over 60 per cent of the nation’s industrial investments, foreign trade and commercial activities. It also accounts for more than 40 per cent of all labour emoluments paid in the country.

“The management of the state’s resources is predicated on well thought programmes, plans and policies across the public service.

The need to harmonise and institutionalise all these programmes, plans and policies necessitated the commissioning of a project that produced what we now call Lagos State Development Plan (LSDP),” he said.

He said the consolidation of all the previous and existing policies and plans into LSDP suggest a clear indication of visionary leadership that is committed to Lagos State becoming “Africa’s Model Megacity and Global Economic and Financial Hub

•Akabueze that is Safe, Secure, Functional and Productive” by 2025.

“In the past, the availability of a plan that is all-encompassing and one which would serve as a generic guide to planning in all Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had eluded the state. This document is therefore coming at a time the state aspires to attain a Model Mega city status that will run on carefully documented frameworks.

NHANCING partnerships with a view to boosting private sector as the driving force for sustainable and inclusive growth in Africa is one of the main priorities for the African Development Bank’s Private Sector Department (OPSD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

For this reason, the African Development Bank hosted a high-level delegation from the IFC for two days in Abidjan, to deepen relationships between the two institutions, and to develop initiatives to increase private sector investments in the region. The ultimate goal: to use investment to change lives in Africa.

Opened by AfDB Vice-President Solomon Asamoah, the meeting offered the opportunity to assess the experiences and lessons learned over the past few years of private sector financing to drive better results on the ground. The meeting also examined how the two institutions can better collaborate to bolster Africa’s development by enabling sustainable pri-

vate investment in a continent, which according to AfDB Private Sector Director Kodeidja Diallo, “is characterized by large and small projects funding gaps and challenges.

“Africa is a huge market and we need to invest to change lives,” she said, echoing Vice-President Asamoah, Vice-President, Operations, in charge of Infrastructure, Private Sector and Regional Integration.

The meeting particularly seeks how to increase the success factors for operations in fragile states, adequacy of business model for SME financing and advisory services. IFC Directors for Western and Central Africa, Saran Kebet-Koulibaly, and for East and Southern Africa, Cheikh O. Seydi, both of whom headed the delegation, expressed gratitude to the Bank for hosting the meeting, saying that it provided a golden opportunity to revamp the cooperation.

“We believe in our partnership with the AfDB and the benefit of it is to sit down and take the partnership to the next level,” Seydi said.

Heritage Bank is Road Race banker

H

ERITAGE Bank Limited has extended its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vote for wellness and physical fitness of Nigerians to the 10-kilometre Okpekpe Road Race as the Official Banker.

The annual international event, which has been certified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as a bronze label event on its calendar, is on its third edition.

The event will take place on Saturday May 16 at Okpekpe Town in Etsako Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo State.

It will be recalled that Enterprise Bank Limited, which has been acquired

by Heritage Bank Limited, was the

Official Banker of the second edition of the race last year.

The Heritage Bank sponsorship of the10-kilometre race is also meant to partner with the Edo State government and the event organisers, Pamodzi Sports Marketing Limited, in the joint bid to create a platform of support and exposure for Nigerian and African youths to international marathons.

The Okpekpe Road Race, which is the only IAAF labeled marathon in Africa will feature in this edition over 28 professional athletes and participants from more than 10 countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia Eritrea, Morroco, Nigeria and Norway among others.

Both male and female runners will participate in the race. All winners in the race will be going home with juicy monetary rewards in the event, which incidentally attracts the highest total prize money for a 10-kilometer race in the world.

For both the female and male categories, the first, second and third prize winners would receive $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000 respectively. Similarly, 4th to 8th winning runners would be rewarded with cash prizes of $8,000, $6,000, $4,000, $2,000 and $1,000 respectively totaling $142,000 (about N30 million). There are many other prizes to be won, including cash prizes for the first eight place finishers who are Edo State indigenes.

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS AFRINVEST W. A. EQUITY FUND ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH BGL NUBIAN FUND BGL SAPPHIRE FUND CANARY GROWTH FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CORAL INCOME FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND FBN HERITAGE FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND FIDELITY NIG FUND • UBA BALANCED FUND • UBA BOND FUND • UBA EQUITY FUND • UBA MONEY MARKET FUND

126.04 9.17 1.12 1.19 0.63 1.39 1,744.73 1,104.77 112.34 121.16 1.67 1.1978 1.3117 0.7319 1.1349

125.82 9.08 1.12 1.19 0.62 1.33 1,744.73 1,104.00 111.75 120.30 1.62 1.1912 0.7203 0.7203 1.1349

CILEASING BERGER CAVERTON REDSTAREX NASCON HONYFLOUR FLOURMILL MAYBAKER FIDSON LIVESTOCK

O/PRICE 0.66 9.07 3.45 4.70 8.30 3.96 35.29 1.79 3.15 2.45

C/PRICE 0.72 9.52 3.62 4.93 8.70 4.15 36.95 1.87 3.26 2.52

CHANGE 0.06 0.45 0.17 0.23 0.40 0.19 1.66 0.08 0.11 0.07

LOSERS AS AT 11-05-15

SYMBOL

O/PRICE

C/PRICE

FOREX RATES (NairaVs Dollar) April 1, 2015

Inflation: Febraury

8.4%

Monetary Policy Rate

13.0%

Foreign Reserves

$28.2b

Oil Price (Bonny Light/b)

$67.91

CHANGE

Interbank ($/N)

199.00

$1

Black Market ($/N)

215.00

$1

London Inter-bank Offered Rates (LIBOR)

Money Supply (M2)

GAINERS AS AT 11-05-15

SYMBOL

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

N16.42 trillion.

Credit to private Sector (CPS)

N17.2 trillion

Primary Lending Rate (PLR)

16.5%

Tenor 1 Month 2 Months 3 Months 6 Months 12 Months

April 31

May 6

Rate)%

Rate (%)

0.1735 0.2147 0.2615 0.3841 0.6709

0.1715 0.2108 0.2626 0.3857 0.6744

Nigerian Stock Market Indices NIGERIAN INTER-BANK OFFERED RATES (NIBOR)

Tenor

12-02-15 Rate (%) Rate (%) 13-02-15

Overnight (O/N)

14.683

76.583

1M

15.033

15.977

3M

15.809

17.177

6M

16.493

17.908

Statistics All Share Index Mkt Cap (NGN’bn) Deals Volume (mn) Value (NGN’mn)

4 May 34,649.3 11.8 3,385 564,28 6,087.80

5 May 29,383.93 9,804.36 3,714 377,75 6,568.66

GOVT. SECURITIES YIELD – SECONDARY MARKET

UNITYBNK

2.62

2.37

-0.25

FIDELITYBK

1.92

1.80

-0.12

24.49

23.27

-1.22

T-bills - 91

12.44

2.50

2.38

-0.12

T-bills - 182

13.85

ETI SKYEBANK AIRSERVICE

2.10

2.01

-0.09

CONTINSURE

0.99

0.95

-0.04

Dates

ABBEYBDS

1.30

1.25

-0.05

03/02/2015

ABCTRANS

0.57

0.55

-0.02

160.56

155.00

-5.56

GUINNESS

Tenor

Feb. 13, 2015

Rates

Amount

Amount

T-bills - 364

13.92

Offered in ($)

Sold in ($)

Bond - 3yrs

15.92

500m

499.93m

3/12/2014

400m

399.97m

Bond - 5yrs

17.22

1/12/2014

350m

349.96m

Bond - 7yrs

16.59

Transaction

56

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

57

NEWS ‘Edo not owing workers’

IPAC chair alleges threat to his life From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

T

HE Chairman of Cross River State Inter-Party Advisory Council, Mr Godwin Akpama, yesterday alleged threats to his life.

Akpama told our reporter in Calabar, the state capital, that a close aide to the governor was threatening him.

In a letter to Governor Liyel Imoke, he said: “It is necessary that I bring to your attention this issue of threat to my life by one of your aides.”

He added: “Greetings, governor; God’s blessing, sir. Please, this is to bring to your attention threats to my life by one of your aides through one of his aides. This is the second time he has called me to threaten my life.

The first was that I was supporting Legor Idagbo against his preferred candidate. Now, he says I am castigating his boss. It is surprising that this government official is harbouring thugs, killers to undo those who raise genuine issues for his clarification!

“It is necessary, sir, that I bring to your attention this issue of threat to my life by your aides. My life and those of my family are in this ‘terrorist’s’ hands. I will use all legal approach to seek justice to this continued threat to my life.”

Youths arrest ‘pipeline vandals’ From Shola O’Neil, Warri

T

WO suspected pipeline vandals were arrested yesterday by youths of Odimodi Community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.

The suspects were reportedly picked up near Isiayegbene, a fishing settlement by River Forcados. They were handed over to the leader of naval officers attached to the Joint Task Force (JTF) at the Forcados Terminal of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

The Base Information Officer at NNS Delta, Warri Naval Base, Commodore Tope Ogunaike, confirmed the report.

He said investigation was ongoing on the matter.

Ogunwale said the Commanding Officer would speak today on the arrest.

A community leader, who spoke in confidence, said: “Prior to the arrest of the youths, SPDC official informed the community that there is a drop in the pressure of crude oil in some of their facilities. This usually means that illegal bunkering gangs or vandals are at work.

“When the report got to the community, members of the Odimodi Surveillance were mobilised and asked to comb the creeks and rivers for unusual activities and report back to the community.

“In the course of their patrol, the surveillance boys accosted a group of boys near Isiayegbene. When they were asked about their mission, they could not give a cogent reason; instead, they tried to fight their way out.”

•Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio (middle) being presented to the public as the pioneer Chancellor of Ritman University by Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Chinedu Mafiana (left) and Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the University, Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien...yesterday

Compensation: Ijaw community gives three-day ultimatum to govt T HE Ijaw of Lotiebiri in Warri South Local Government of Delta State have threatened to attack their Itsekiri neighbours in Ugbori community should the government fail to compensate them over the December 2012 invasion of their community.

In a statement by its leader, Chief Ebi Ikoro, the Ijaw community gave the government a 72-hour ultimatum to do justice to its people.

The statement said the Ijaw lost property worth millions of naira in the invasion of its territory by some people suspected to be

•Threaten to attack neighbouring Itsekiri From Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

Itsekiri and led by a man simply identified as Jeffrey.

The community warned that its members, on the expiration of the ultimatum, would go after the Itsekiri plying the deep Warri waters, especially the Escravos River.

The two communities of Lotiebiri and Ugbori resumed hostilities over the alleged invasion earlier this year.

The Ijaw demanded N500 million compensation but the Itsekiri said the demand was unjustifiable.

The Ijaw had said Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, at a security meeting on the resurgence of the Lotiebiri/ Ugbori disagreement last February, told the participants that his administration had paid the compensation for the invasion.

The statement said: “Have you seen a situation where a community was

forcefully invaded, houses and property demolished, then after 27 months of long suffering of the displaced people, when the petition was read, then Governor Uduaghan admitted that he had settled those people long ago, without consulting the heads and affected persons in the community?

“Let this serve as the warning to all Itsekiri plying the Warri-Escravos River to desist from it, pending when our money will be paid.”

Anxiety in Warri, environs as robbers target bank customers T HERE is apprehension among residents of Warri and environs in Delta State.

This followed a fresh wave of robbery attacks targeting customers leaving banks in the area.

Our correspondent learnt that customers leaving a new generation bank on the Ogunu Road in Warri were particularly targeted by the hoodlums.

At least two incidents were recorded last Friday and yesterday morning.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The latest victim was attacked near the Angle Park before midday today (Monday). The victim, a man, had just left the

From Shola O’Neil, S’South Regional Editor, Warri

bank with N300,000 and was on his way to the office when he was accosted by gun-toting men, who had apparently trailed him in a Toyota Camry car.”

The Nation exclusively reported the riot act read by the Area Commander of Delta South, Mr Mu’azu Muhammed, to erring bank managers in the city.

The Area Commander, who was apparently unhappy about the development, ordered a crackdown on banks where such attacks

were rampant because he believed that there were “bank insiders working with the hoodlums”.

Also, it was gathered yesterday that the victim of Monday’s robbery reported the matter to a special anticrime unit, tagged ‘QRS’ (Quick Response Squad), in the area.

“He said he was riding on a tricycle (Keke) when the armed hoodlums accosted him near the Angle Park roundabout. The ordered him to give up the money or risk being shot. The hoodlums took the money and sped away,” a police source

told our correspondent.

When our reporter visited the scene, detectives from the Area Command and the Officer in Charge of the QRS, Mr Alika Lamido, A Superintendent of Police (SP), were interrogating the victim to extract clues about the hoodlums.

Although Mu’azu could not be reached for comment, a source in his office, who spoke confidence, confirmed the report.

The source added that in line with the commander’s directive, they were beaming their searchlight on bank workers.

Rivers Assembly suspends three council chairmen

T

HE Rivers State House of Assembly yesterday suspended three local government areas’ caretaker committee chairmen.

The chairmen are: Cassidy Ikegbidi of Ahoada East; Ojukaye Flag-Amachree of Asari-Toru and Derick Mene of Khana local government areas.

The chairmen were suspended for reasons bordering on insecurity and alleged financial mismanagement.

The Assembly set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the activities of the suspended chairmen.

•Summons nine commissioners, others over economy From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

It summoned, yesterday, nine commissioners and four heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to appear before it today (Tuesday) by 10am prompt over the economy of the state.

They are: Commissioners for Finance, Agriculture, Power, Health, Tourism, Information, Budget, Works and Transport.

Heads of MDAs invited are: The Accountant-General, Chairmen of Board of In-

ternal Revenue, Rivers State Assembly Service Commission and Secondary School Management Board.

The Assembly said it took the decisions following two motions presented by Deputy Leader Nname Ewor, representing Ahoada East.

The Assembly expressed worry that while the state government claimed it had paid salaries of civil servants up to March, there were conflicting reports against the claim.

Ewor, in the motion on the suspension of the chair-

men, noted that insecurity and financial recklessness were common in the three local government areas.

He said: “In these three councils, human lives have been rendered insignificant and financial frugality has been jettisoned to the waste bin. The local government areas are drifting to the Hobbesian state of nature.”

Deputy Speaker Leyii Kwanee, who presided over yesterday’s sitting, said the Assembly’s decisions were not meant to witch-hunt anybody but to ensure justice.

THE Edo State Government has denied owing its workers salary arrears.

The government said it was up-to-date in its obligation to the workers.

The government, in a statement yesterday, insisted that it should not be lumped in the league of some states in default of payment of salaries because it meets its wage obligations before the end of each month.

In the statement, Commissioner for Information and Orientation Louis Odion said: “We read with deep shock the claims that the Government of Edo State owes workers five months’ salary arrears. Nothing could be more misleading and mischievous.

“While it is true that some states are currently unable to meet their financial obligation, Edo remains an exemplar. For the records, Edo State Government does not owe workers salary arrears as the government has fully discharged its obligations. As a matter of state policy since Comrade Adams Oshiomhole assumed office in 2008, pensioners receive their pay first, followed by workers who get paid not later than the 25th of every month. The policy has not changed. For April, all pensioners and workers were also paid on schedule.”

Doctors start warning strike From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

RESIDENT doctors at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) have begun a five-day warning strike.

The president of the hospital’s resident doctors association, Dr Owen Omorogbe, told reporters at the weekend in Benin, the state capital, that the strike was over the doctors’ welfare.

Owen said the doctors wanted an end to unpaid entitlements, casualisation of medical officers and poor job description for interns.

Tribunal begins sitting in Cross River From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

THE Cross River State Elections Petitions Tribunal will start sitting today.

The tribunal’s Secretary John Tsok said the inaugural sitting for the National and State Assemblies’ petitions would hold today at the National Industrial Court in Calabar, the state capital.

The sitting on the governorship election would tomorrow at the Federal High Court, also in Calabar.

The tribunal has received 26 petitions from aggrieved politicians and parties on the March 28 National Assembly and April 11 governorship and House of Assembly elections.

Tsok said: “The tribunal has received four petitions on senatorial election; nine on House of Representatives; two on governorship and 11 on the House of Assembly elections.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

58

NEWS Police recover Card Readers, laptops in Abia From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

THE Zone 9 Police Command in Umuahia yesterday recovered five additional Card Readers and two laptops, allegedly belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), from Amoba Housing Estate, Old Umuahia, Abia State.

Reacting to the incident, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Selina Oko said Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of Police Usman Gwary informed her of the development.

“The AIG called me this morning (yesterday) to come and inspect some materials that were recovered.

I told him I was not in Umuahia, and that I would come to inspect them when I return.”

Sources said the items were recovered from a location close to the residence of an INEC official who is currently in police custody.

Police spokesman Emmanuel Jiakponna said he was not aware of the development.

Herbert Ejiofor and Nnamdi Nwabuko, workers in the Information Communication Technology Department of Abia INEC, were arrested for allegedly trying to remove electoral materials from the office.

Six other workers were later arrested and interrogated by the police in connection with the foiled attempt but were released.

Chukwumerije’s burial rites begin May 20 From Onyedi Ojiabor

THE Family of the late Senator Uche Chukwumerije has released details of his funeral.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije, the first son of the deceased, said the events will kick off with a valedictory session in the Senate chambers on May 20. A night of tribute will follow same day in Abuja.

The body will leave Abuja for Enugu on Thursday May 21, and after airport ceremonies, will depart for Isuochi, Abia State where a lying-in-state will take place, to be rounded off with a service of song.

There will be a church service on Friday May 22 and interment will follow in Chukwumerije’s compound.

Dignitaries present included Senator Ben Obi, Chief Chekwas Okorie, Senator Bassey Henshaw, Senator Mohammed Saidu Dausadau, and Prof A.B.C Nwosu.

Okunnu’s book for launch LAGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola will tomorrow present a book written by legal icon and former Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing, Alhaji Femi Okunnu in Lagos.

According to a statement by the publisher, “Contemporary State Land Matters in Nigeria: The Case of Lagos” is the third edition.

The ceremony will hold at the Metropolitan Club, 15, Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island.

‘Virement’ not unconstitutional, says Chime

T

HE Enugu State Government has dismissed as baseless and legally untenable, allegations by some members of the State House of Assembly loyal to the former Speaker, Eugene Odoh, that the government breached the constitution when it applied the process popularly known in the public service as “virement” to reallocate funds in the 2012 budget.

A statement by the Chief

Press Secretary (CPS) to Governor Sullivan Chime, Chukwudi Achife said those making the allegations were either ignorant of the law and the facts surrounding the matter, or were merely blackmailing the government for ulterior reasons.

Achife contended that there was nothing unconstitutional about virement, more so when the House had approved the adjustments made by the executive in that year’s budget.

The CPS said after the 2012 appropriation bill was signed into law, government saw reasons to reallocate and duly, by way of a supplementary bill, applied to the House for approval.

The CPS said the supplementary bill, which neither added nor removed any money from the original budget of N76. 4 billion was approved by the House, adding that the executive also reflected the supplementary bill in the 2013 bud-

get, which the House passed without question.

He said: “It is shocking that legislators could claim that a supplementary bill, which they had passed, was forged even when the Bill is a public document that anyone can access.

“It must be emphasised that not one kobo was added or removed from the original budget, the supplementary budget was basically an application to reallocate

Tight security as Ebonyi Election Tribunal sits

•Flight Officer Ademulegun Adebayo Jonathan (Middle) being decorated as Captain in Command of flight by Chairman of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema (Right) and the Chief Operating Officer/ Managing Director, Mrs. Olutoyin Olajide, at the company’s corporate headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos.

From Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

T

PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE

Ebonyi govt cancels N15billion bond

T

HE Ebonyi State Government yesterday, announced the cancellation of the N15 billion bonds it applied for last September.

Governor Martin Elechi announced the cancellation yesterday in Abakaliki.

Elechi said the cancellation became necessary following fears generated by a petition from the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Chukwuma Nwazunku to President Goodluck Jonathan against the bond, which he said had affected investor’s confidence.

Elechi said time would also render the bond meaningless since the administration will be leaving office by May 29.

The governor spoke at the inauguration of the multibillion naira ultra-modern Secretariat at Ocho-Udo Estate and the Ebonyi International Market, Abakaliki, both of which cost the government over N34 billion.

Elechi said the two projects would have benefited more than N2.5 billion each from the bond if it had been accessed.

He said the secretariat complex, constructed at the cost of over N15 billion, would provide conducive environment for workers, noting that it was not enough to train and pay wages to civil servants without commensurate conducive working environment.

The 6,000 office secretariat consists of 11 buildings of four floors each complete with lifts, parking spaces, road network with drainage channels, fenced with concrete dwarf wall, and finished with chrome stainless pipes.

It sits on a 68 hectares of land ceded to the state government by the Nigerian Military Cantonment in Abakaliki, in exchange for a

funds within the original budget as had been passed by the House. How it becomes unconstitutional certainly defies reason and the law”.

Achife urged the public to discountenance such false claims, noting that some ‘habitual detractors of the Governor who had been championing the claims, would be disappointed to learn that they have been dissipating energy unnecessarily’.

•Elechi commissions market amidst protests From Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

shooting range at Afikpo.

Elechi said the projects were not 100 per cent completed but it was better to move in and continue with finishing touches to avoid depreciation.

The International Market, constructed at the cost of N18.6 billion, was conceived to serve traders from the Republic of Cameroon and the old Eastern region, including Enugu, Cross River, Abia, Imo, Anambra etc.

Governor Elechi said a Cargo Airport was conceived at Igbeagu community to complement the market and to serve major towns such as Ikom, Ogoja, Obubra and Obudu, in the neighbouring Cross River State but that was left to the incoming administration to decide.

Elechi said 343 traders, who applied had been allocated stalls in the International market.

“Those who are threatened by uncertainties will perhaps have themselves to blame in due course.

“There is no contradiction of any law in what we are doing. We conceived this market, we designed it and it has taken a lot of resources.

“We think one way of sustaining the quality of the structure, one way of moving forward is to sell the available stalls and with the proceeds, finish the uncompleted ones,” Elechi said.

Controversy have continued to trail the allocation of the stalls as market leaders under the aegis of Ebonyi State Amalgamated Traders Association last week, disassociated themselves from the

allocation of shops and the inauguration ceremony.

The leaders said their interests as major stakeholders in the project were relegated to the background.

The state House of Assembly had passed a resolution stopping the allocation of shops.

Their protests and resolutions not withstanding, the government went ahead to inaugurate the market and allocate the stalls.

Speaking at the inauguraiton, Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr. Ifeanyi Ike and his Lands, Survey and Housing counterpart, Friday Nwogha said the market, sitting on 50 hectares of land, has 7,070 lock up stores, 15 ware houses, 40 Kiosks, two Banks and four restaurants, among other facilities.

Ezea: I didn’t mismanage funds

E

NUGU State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Okey Ezea, yesterday, gave an open account of his campaign expenditure in the last electioneering campaigns.

Ezea was reacting to the allegations of financial misappropriation from party members, who claimed that he mismanaged N400 million.

Ezea said N100 million was approved for the January 10 presidential campaign rally but N50 million was released, of which N12 million was paid for live coverage of the rally.

The balance of N50 million was released a day after but was short by N4.250 million.

Another N50 million came from Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State.

Ezea explained that the

From Chris Oji, Enugu

money was for the candidates contesting various positions.

According to him, from the money released, the formular for sharing was 50 per cent of the amount or N22.5 millon to the governorship campaign while the National Assembly contestants jointly got 50 per cent with each of them getting N3 million each while the House of Representatives candidates got N1.68 million each.

And from the N50 million Okorocha donated, each of the 24 candidates that vied for the House of Assembly got N500,000 each, amounting to N12 million, while tours and gifts to wards gulped N8.6 million, leaving a balance of N29.4 million.

The N29.4 million balance was further distributed in the

following order: Presidential campaign committee, N2.9 million; Senators N7.25; House of Reps N10.5 and governorship N8.7million.

Ezea said he was constrained to make public these details because people who never wished the party well have mounted a persistent attack on his person, alleging that he received N400 million, which he pocketed.

“I want them to come out and tell the world when, where and from whom I received the N400 million.

“Out of the N133 million received, a total of 37 candidates shared N95 million. Ordinarily, no party comes out publicly to disclose how much it spent in an election but I am doing so to prove critics wrong. They should come out with proof if they have any,” Ezea said.

HE Ebonyi State Election Petitions Tribunal yesterday, began sitting in Abakaliki, the state capital, amidst tight security.

Security personnel, comprising Police and Civil Defence, barricaded the major roads. This caused tension as motorists and passers-by diverted to alternative roads.

The police Anti-Bomb squad was stationed at the two gates to the tribunal.

Some policemen, men of the DSS and Civil Defence were stationed inside the premises of the high court where the tribunal was sitting.

In his inaugural address, Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice J.F Agya warned petitioners against frivolous petitions.

He said the tribunal would not condone any action intended to frustrate the quick determination of a petition.

Agya explained that by the provisions of section 285 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, (Second Alteration) Act 2010 (supra), an Election Tribunal shall deliver its judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of filing, a situation he noted was going to deny the tribunal the luxury of time.

“The tribunal will therefore not allow any party to resort to any sort of subterfuge by way of unnecessary applications for adjournment or resort to technicalities,” Agya said.

The chairman solicited the cooperation of counsels to ensure that at the end of the exercise, justice would not only be done, but seen to be done.

He promised that the tribunal would abide by the oath they swore and dispense justice regardless of the position, status or standing of the parties appearing before it.

“Our decisions on any of the petitions will therefore be based on the pleadings (petitions and reply), evidence (physical, documentary and oral) and the persuasive arguments of the counsel.

“Any attempt to influence the decision of the tribunal will not only be frowned at, but will definitely attract serious sanctions,” Agya said.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

59

NEWS

APC candidate asks tribunal to declare him Gombe governor-elect T HE Gombe State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Mohammed Inuwa Yahaya, has asked the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to either declare him the winner or nullify the results of the April 11 election.

He said Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were not duly elected and did not score the lawful majority votes cast

•Tribunal orders substituted service on governor From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

at the election and ought not to have been returned.

The tribunal yesterday ordered a substituted service on Dankwambo after hearing a motion ex parte

by Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN), Yahaya’s lawyer.

A court bailiff, Mohammed Dawaki, was on

Friday prevented from pasting the court process on the gate of the Government House in Gombe, the state capital.

In an application before the tribunal, the APC and its governorship candidate averred that of the 285,369 total votes cast, 114,610 invalid and unlaw-

ful votes were credited to Dankwambo.

The APC and its candidate faulted the results from 11 local government areas. They claimed that some of the results were either inconclusive or marred by all sorts of grandiose electoral malpractices.

A

FEDERAL High Court, sitting in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, has frozen Governor Sule Lamido’s accounts and those of the state government.

The court summoned the commercial bank handling the accounts to appear before it and give the statements of the accounts.

The court’s decision followed the governor’s and his administration’s alleged refusal to obey the court’s order to pay N50 million damages to an All Progressives Congress (APC) senator-elect and others.

The court, presided over

by Justice Sabiu Yahuza, gave the order yesterday, when the plaintiffs returned to court through their lawyer, Umar Aliyu, and complained that the defendants did not comply with the judgment.

Aliyu expressed satisfac-

Court freezes Lamido’s, govt’s accounts From Ahmed Rufa’I, Dutse

tion with the court’s decision.

He said: “We sued the governor, the Jigawa State Government, Birninkudu Local Government Area and police commissioner for illegal trespass, attacking my client’s residence in Birninkudu and violation of his right.

“We convinced the court beyond reasonable doubt with genuine evidence. The court made the judgment in our favour and ordered the defendants to pay my clients N50 million. The defendants failed to abide by the court’s verdict within the period provided by the law.

“That was why we went back to court and complained...”

Aliyu won’t recognise Niger Assembly’s new Speaker

T •From left: Bishop of Bishop Vining Cathedral Church, Ikeja, Rev. Abel Ajibodu; Bishop of Lagos West, Anglican Communion, Bishop Olusola Odedeji and Administrative Assistant to the Bishop, Ven. Abiade Adeniji, at a news conference on First Season of the Sixth Synod of the Diocese of Lagos West Anglican Communion at Bishiop Vining Cathedral, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos...yesterday PHOTO: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Eligibility: Court orders service of processes on Yobe governor J USTICE Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yes-

terday ordered the service of court documents on Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam in a suit challenging his eligibility to contest in the April 11 governorship election.

Justice Mohammed gave the order in his ruling on an ex parte application filed by Ayuba Sabo and Ahmed Abubakar, who were governorship aspirants and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), like the

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

governor.

The plaintiffs have also filed a petition before the Yobe State Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal, challenging the governor’s victory in the April 11 poll.

Justice Mohammed ordered that the governor and the Independent National Electoral Commission (defendants) be served through newspaper publication.

The judge also ordered

Eight injured in Kano palace wall’s collapse

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IGHT persons were injured yesterday at the palace of the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, when a mud wall under construction caved in on them.

The incident happened at 11am when the workers were rebuilding the ancient mud house that had become dilapidated.

An eyewitness said 10 workers were plastering the 100-year-old mud house when it collapsed.

It was learnt that the emir immediately instructed one of the senior emirate officials to ascertain the cause of the building collapse and report back.

Our reporter, who was at the palace when the incident happened, noted that five of the injured were evacuated from the debris and rushed to the Murtala Muhammad

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

Specialist Hospital in Kano.

At the time of filing this report, the fate of the three others under the rubble could not be ascertained.

Iliya Ahmadu, one of the workers who was unhurt in the accident, told our reporter the workers were water vendors from Babura Local Government Area of Jigawa State.

He said they heard that there was a construction work at the Emir’s palace, adding that they opted for it as casual workers.

Ahmadu broke down in tears.

He was not sure if his brothers, who worked on the collapsed building, died in the accident.

There was no official statement by the Kano Emirate Council on the incident at the of filing this report.

that Gaidam and INEC respond to the suit within seven days after the publication.

Gaidam was deputy governor to the late Mamman Ali, but assumed the governorship position following the former governor’s death in January 2009.

He won the 2011 governorship election and the April 11, 2015 election on the platform of the APC. The plaintiffs averred that if Gaidam was allowed to contest in the election and declared winner, he would be spending the third term in office, contrary to the provisions of the constitution.

The plaintiffs relied on the provisions of Sections 180(2)(b) and 182(1)(b) 191(1) of the Constitution, arguing that Gaidam, having taken the oath of office on two occasions, was no longer eligible to contest the April 11 election.

In a supporting affidavit, they averred that with Gaidam’s re-election he “will end up spending three terms of a period of 10 years and four months, against the provision of the 1999 Constitution which allows for two terms of a period of eight years, with each term being just four years”.

The plaintiffs, through their counsel, Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), submitted 10 issues for determination.

Their prayers read: “A declaration that having regard to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) it is not unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal and not permissible for any person to occupy the office of a governor of a state of Nigeria for more than a cumulative and or aggregate period of eight years when it is practicable to hold election into the office of the governor of Yobe State.”

HE refusal of Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu to recognise the new Speaker of the House of Assembly, Isah Kawu, at a public function yesterday has heightened the fears that the ExecutiveLegislative crisis may not end soon.

Kawu, who attended the first public function since he was elected, was not recognised by the governor in the order of protocol when he spoke at the inauguration of Gen. Mamman Kontagora Building Materials Market in Minna, the state capital.

Aliyu, who arrived at the event with impeached Speaker Adamu Usman, also had the new Speaker, new Deputy Speaker Bello Ahmed, Chief Whip Sadatu Kolo and Bala Faruqu, representing Bida II, trailing him.

Those who thought the occasion offered the feuding government functionaries the opportunity to embrace one another, were disap-

T

From Grace Obike, Abuja

placed Persons (IDPs) Prof.

Soji Adelaja said the ongoing effort by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Red Cross and other partners was meant to reduce the suffering of the displaced persons in the region.

Adelaja, who was represented by Dr. Tukur Ingawa, spoke during an assessment tour of the distribution of the materials in Borno State, according to a statement by PINE’s spokesman Odutayo Oluseyi.

The statement said: “The

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

pointed.

When he read his address, the governor refused to recognise either the new or the impeached Speaker. He simply addressed them as, “my employers, members of the Niger State House of Assembly” without acknowledging the presence of the Speaker.

In the sitting arrangement, the new Speaker’s seat was occupied by his impeached colleague.

The development contradicted last week’s suit filed at a Minna High Court by the governor who sued Kawu in his capacity as the Speaker of Niger State House of Assembly.

Ahmed sacks commissioners, others

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HEAD of the May 29 handover date, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed yesterday approved the dissolution of the State Executive Council (Exco).

Affected by the dissolution are: special advisers, senior special assistants, special assistants, liaison officers and youth employment coordinators.

Fed Govt distributes materials to 112,000 in Northeast HE Federal Government has begun the distribution of materials, including food and nonfood items, to 112,000 displaced persons and 16,000 households to victims of Boko Haram in the Northeast.

The government, under the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE), will deliver the relief and humanitarian materials to victims of Boko Haram insurgency.

PINE Chairman, who also chairs the Special Committee on Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Internally Dis-

•Aliyu

Federal Government has developed a comprehensive redevelopment plan for the Northeast.

“The materials being distributed are of two categories: food and non-food items, such as rice, spaghetti, salt, vegetable oil, maize, buckets, blankets, detergents, nylon mats, raincoats, sanitary pads, multi-vitamins.

“The items are estimated to reach 16,000 households and about 112,000 individuals in IDP host communities and home communities in the Northeast.

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

Announcing the dissolution, Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Isiaka Gold said: “All boards of government-owned companies, commissions, corporations and organisations, other than those of statutory status, are also dissolved.

“Also, all commissioners are advised to hand over government property in their custody to their permanent secretaries while heads of other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) must hand over to the most senior officers in their establishment.

“Governor Ahmed expresses sincere appreciation to all the affected political office holders for their immeasurable contributions to the success of his administration in the last four years and wishes them success in their future endeavours. He also looks forward to a continued robust partnership to move the state forward.”

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

NEWS 150 displaced from Niger Republic back in Minna

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HE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday took no fewer than 147 returnees from Niger Republic to Niger State. The returnees are origins of the state.

They are part of Nigerians who flee the areas prone to Boko Haram attacks in the neighbouring Niger Republic.

Head of Relief and Rehabilatation of Niger State Emergency Managment Agency (NISEMA), Garba

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

Salihu told reporters in Minna that the returnees have since been camped at the Internally Displaces Persons (IDPs) camp in Minna, the state capital.

According to him, the returnees were brought back to the state from Gaidam in Yobe state.

He said some of the returnees were in Niger Republic for fishing business in Lake Chad.

The returnees include 58

famale and 89 male out of which 61 of them are children.

Salihu further explained that the returnees are from seven local government areas of the state and that the agency has started evacuating them to their respective council areas from Minna.

He said those from Kontogra, Shiroro and Meshegu LGAs have been reunited with their kindred.

The NISEMA chief expressed confident that all re-

turnees will be reunited with their families on or before Thursday.

The leader of the returnees, Abubakar Usman, told reporters that they arrived in the country about two weeks ago before their evacuation to Niger State from Yobe State.

He appealed to government and well-spirited individuals to come to their aid as they have lost all their possessions.

Usman commended the NISEMA management for showing concern during their sojourn at the camp. He confirmed that the agency provided food and medication for them.

New defence policy coming, says Gusau

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HE Presidential Committee on the Review of National Defence Policy yesterday in Abuja submitted its draft report to the Minister of Defence,retired Lt.-Gen. Aliyu Gusau.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 35 - member committee was inaugurated on Nov. 20, 2014.

Receiving the report, Gusau said the National Defence Policy (NDP) was promulgated in 2006 and had never been reviewed, even though the nation had undergone a lot of transformation.

He said the nation had also gone through security challenges, adding that there had also been new developments

and challenges in the global environment that had direct impact on national defence and security.

“All these highlighted the

need for the review of the NDP in order to bring it to terms with the new developments, emerging and anticipated threats and challenges.

“We have started a process which can obviously not be completed before May 29 when a new government takes over.

No rift with Assembly, says Amaechi

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HE Rivers State Government has denied that there is a rift between the executive and the legislature.

In a statement last night by Commissioner for Information Mrs Ibim Semenitari the Rivers State government said it is “surprised at news reports of a rift between Governor Amaechi and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“Governor Chibuke

Amaechi holds members of the Rivers State House of Assembly in high regard. Having served in that same house for 8 years, he appreciates the strategic role of the Assembly in ensuring that government is held accountable to its electorate and will work with them to guarantee the rights of all Rivers people.

“The Rivers State Government also wishes to reiterate the fact that it is committed to paying civil servants their

hard earned pay because it is their due and not a privilege.

It is however important for government to confirm that it has paid salaries of its workers for the month of March and will very soon commence the payment of April salaries.

“Once again government wishes to appreciate the kind understanding of Rivers workers as it strives to ensure that it meets its obligations to them.

‘I don’t know Shekau’s whereabouts’ Continued from page 4

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari said they had agreed on a joint action between Nigeria and Chad to ensure sustainable peace and security in the sub region.

The Chadian President told reporters after the meeting at the Defence House that putting an end to the Boko Haram insurgency was paramount to both Nigeria and Chad and other members of the Lake Chad Commission.

He said Chad and Nigeria were facing the same challenges and how to meet the expectations of the people, pointing out that both countries who are members of the Lake Chad Basin Commission will work together with other members to bring about peace, stability and security.

He pledged to work with the Nigerian government to handle the Boko Haram insurgency. The Chadian President, who spoke through an interpreter, said the visit was aimed at congratulating Nigerians and their leaders for achieving one of the greatest election ever seen in Africa.

Derby said: “Nigeria and Chad are two countries with one people. We have many things in common, a long tradition and a long history together. The visit here is to meet with the President-elect and to enhance the bilateral relations aimed at meeting

the common challenges.

Buhari said: “We know how Chad, Niger and Cameroon have been helping Nigeria to secure our border and you khow this helps in commerce and industry.

“Due to the insurgency attacks, some of the bridges

were blown up while infrastructure were destroyed.

These were some of the things that we discussed and God willing, we will sit and make sure we have a comprehensive review of the security situation in the Northeast and how it affects the countries.”

Akwa Ibom poly honours NDDC boss, Akpabio’s wife, others

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KWA Ibom State Polytechnic, IkotOsurua,at the weekend awarded its fellowship to Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) Bassey Dan-Abia; a former military administrator of Akwa Ibom State Commodore Idongesit Nkanga and wife of Akwa Ibom State Governor Mrs. Ekaette Akpabio.

The institution held its fifth convocation and the award of honours to the distinguished personalities.

There were 9,961 graduates who bagged different grades of diploma.

The ceremony was witnessed by the political elite in Akwa Ibom State including Governor Godswill Akpabio and the governorelect, Chief Emmanuel Udom.

Akpabio challenged the new graduates to take advantage of the positive changes that had taken place in the state, noting that they were lucky to be joining the labour market that had been watered by the uncommon transformation of his administration.

He urged them to join the emerging industrial revolu-

tion in the state, adding that they must avoid the danger of seeking to be rich by all means.

Dan-Abia thanked the institution for recognising those who had contributed in one way or the other to the growth and development of technological education in the Niger Delta. He said technological education is the bedrock of industrial development and should be promoted by the government and the private sector.

The NDDC boss assured the polytechnic authorities that the commission would intervene in addressing the challenges facing the institution. “We will send our team to come and assess the needs and determine how best we can be of assistance.

However, be rest assured that the NDDC will provide a brand new electricity generating set for the polytechnic,” Dan-Abia said.

Rector Israel Affia said the institution had witnessed a steady growth in recent years, leading to the accreditation of most of its programmes by the National Board for Technical Education, (NBTE). He gave credit to Governor Akpabio.

UNIUYO varsity hostel for inauguration

T

HE 522-bed modern hostel built by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital in the Akwa Ibom State capital will be inaugurated this month, NDDC Managing Director Bassey Dan-Abia, said at the

•Chairman Troyka Group, Mr. Biodun Shobanjo (second left) presenting Marketing Edge Brand Personality of the Decade to Chairman Stb-McCaNN Sir Steve Omojafor (second right) at the Marketing Edge 2015 Brands and Advertising Excellence Awards held in Lagos. With them are Omojafor’s wife Lady Modupe (third left); Publisher Marketing Edge, Mr. John Ajayi (left) and his wife Modupe.

weekend.

He said the contractor will hand over the project next week.

The NDDC boss said the commission had made a conscious decision on the completion of all on-going projects instead of awarding fresh contracts.

According to him, as an interventionist’s agency of the Federal Government, providing hostels for students in universities and polytechnics is an important contribution to the building of human capital.

The site manager of the project, Mr. Okon Jonah, assured the NDDC chief executive officer that the hall of residence was ready for occupation.

The University of Uyo Teaching Hospital students’ hostel is one of the 19 being executed by the NDDC across the Niger Delta. Hostels at the Imo State University, Federal University of Science and Technology, Owerri, University of Benin and the Delta State University, Abraka, have been completed and inaugurated.

THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

61

FOREIGN NEWS Saudi Arabian King not coming to White House talks

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AUDI Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will no longer be in attendance at President Barack Obama’s meetings with Arab leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council this week.

The late change of plans, could be seen as a snub to Obama, coming just four days before the start of two days of sessions beginning tomorrow and culminating in a Camp David summit on Thursday.

“We first learned of the King’s possible change of plans from the Saudis on Friday night,” said a senior administration official. “This was confirmed by the Saudis on Saturday. We coordinated closely with our Saudi partners on the alternate arrangement and timing of the announcement, and look forward to welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”

The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in a statement acknowledged the King’s absence was “due to the timing of the summit, the scheduled humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen and the opening of the King Salman Center for Humanitarian Aid.”

Kerry to neet with Putin in Russia today

S

ECRETARY of State John Kerry will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, today, the first U.S. Cabinet-level visit to Russia since the Ukraine crisis flared last year.

Mr. Kerry’s visit to the Black Sea resort town comes as Western powers continue to complain about violations of a threemonth cease-fire agreement between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists. A meeting between Mr. Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the weekend produced little apparent progress on the crisis.

The State Department said Mr. Kerry will meet with Mr. Putin as well as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the crisis, as well as the Syrian civil war and nuclear talks with Iran.

Although the U.S. and Russia are at odds over the Ukraine crisis, Mr. Kerry will urge Moscow to find common ground on restarting political talks on Syria.

“We’re going to press upon the Russians that now is the time for them to really make a 180degree turn on their support for the regime given what’s happening on the ground,” a U.S. official said.

The Kremlin didn’t immediately confirm the meeting with Mr. Putin, though a spokesman had said last week one was possible.

In a statement announcing the Lavrov-Kerry meeting, Russia’s Foreign Ministry blamed what it called the current “difficult period” in relations on “the targeted unfriendly actions of Washington.”

Thousands of migrants stranded off Thailand coast

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HOUSANDS of refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar are stranded at sea close to Thailand, according to an international migration agency.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) told the BBC a Thai crackdown on recent arrivals meant many smugglers were now reluctant to land.

As many as 8,000 people are believed to be stuck on boats, the IOM said.

In the past two days more than 2,000 have arrived in Malaysia or Indonesia after

being rescued or swimming ashore.

Bangladeshi migrants, and ethnic Rohingyas who face persecution in Myanmar, are normally brought by people smugglers.

But Jeff Labovitz, head of mission for IOM Asia Pacific, told the BBC that the discovery last week of dozens of human remains in abandoned camps in the south of Thailand had prompted a police crackdown and therefore people smugglers were holding their boats at sea.

He said that an estimate by

the Arakan Project, which monitors the movements of Rohingyas, that 8,000 people are stranded at sea could not be verified but seemed credible.

Malaysian officials said on Monday that 1,018 Bangladeshi and Rohingya refugees had landed illegally on Langkawi island, apparently abandoned by people smugglers who were transporting them to Thailand.

Indonesian authorities rescued nearly 600 migrants stranded off the coast of Aceh on Sunday and more than 400

others early on Monday.

Police in Langkawi said three boats arrived into shallow waters near Langkawi in the middle of the night and the refugees offloaded.

“We think there were three boats that ferried 1,018 migrants,” said Langkawi deputy police chief Jamil Ahmed.

He said the 555 Bangladeshis and 463 Rohingya, including 99 women and 54 children, would be handed over to the immigration department.

Authorities expected more migrants to arrive from waters

•Migrants rescued off the coast of Aceh were suffering from exhaustion and lack of food

Yemen rebels ‘down Moroccan warplane’

H

OUTHI rebels in Yemen say they have shot down a Moroccan fighter jet that was taking part in Saudi-led coalition air strikes against them.

Rebel-controlled Al-Masirah TV reported that the F16 was hit as it flew over Saada province, and broadcast pictures of what it said was the wreckage.

The Moroccan Royal Armed Forces earlier said one of its planes was missing.

If confirmed, it would be the first aircraft lost by the coalition since its air campaign began on 26 March.

The bombardment has been stepped up in recent days ahead of the start of a proposed five-day humanitarian ceasefire.

Hundreds of thousands of

civilians have been displaced by the conflict in Yemen Saudi Arabia says its offer of a pause in hostilities from 23:00 (20:00 GMT) today to allow aid deliveries is conditional on the Houthis reciprocating.

The rebels have agreed to the truce, but say they will “respond” to any violations.

The 10-nation coalition launched air strikes against the Houthis and allied army units loyal to Yemen’s ousted former president Ali Abdullah Saleh with the aim of restoring the government of exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

There have been more air strikes ahead of the humanitarian pause Militias allied to the exiled president have failed to halt the rebel advance

Morocco backed the intervention from the start and put at the coalition’s disposal a squadron of F-16s already stationed in the UAE for the campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Yesterday, a Moroccan Royal Armed Forces statement said one of the F-16s had gone missing while flying over Yemen at around 18:00 (15:00 GMT) on Sunday. A second F-16 on the same mission was not able to see whether the pilot ejected, it added.

Later, al-Masirah reported that “air defence of the tribes shot down a warplane over Wadi Nushur”, a valley in the Houthis’ northern heartland of Saada province.

The Moroccan flag could be seen on the purported wreckage of the plane

PHOTO: REUTERS

France’s Hollande calls for U.S. to lift Cuba embargo

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FRENCH President Francois Hollande, on a historic trip to Havana, has called for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

The embargo is still in place, although relations between the US and Cuba have improved in recent months.

Speaking at the University of Havana, Mr Hollande said France would do its utmost to ensure that “the measures which have so badly harmed Cuba’s development can finally be repealed”.

He is the first French president to visit Cuba since its independence.

Mr Hollande is also the first Western head of state to visit the Communist island since the diplomatic thaw between Cuba and the US was announced in December.

Earlier on Monday, the president bestowed France’s

Libya condemns EU anti-smuggler plans

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IBYA has criticised EU proposals to authorise the use of force against people smugglers taking migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe.

The Libyan ambassador to the UN told the BBC that the EU’s intentions were unclear and “very worrying”.

The EU is seeking a UN mandate to allow military action to destroy or halt smugglers’ boats in Libyan

waters.

The measures are part of the EU’s proposed plans to stop migrants drowning in the Mediterranean.

The UN estimates that 60,000 people have already tried to cross the Mediterranean this year. More than 1,800 people are feared to have died making the journey in 2015 - a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014.

Many of the migrants are fleeing conflict or poverty in

countries such as Syria, Eritrea, Nigeria and Somalia.

The EU is also discussing plans to expand maritime rescue services and introduce a quota system for distributing asylum seekers between EU members.

The European Commission is expected to propose the quota system tomorrow, along with plans to increase legal means for migrants to come to Europe so that they do not turn to smugglers.

around the area, he added.

The migrants rescued off Indonesia on Sunday have been taken to a sports stadium in Lhoksukon, the capital of North Aceh district, chief of police for the area Lt Col Achmadi said.

Rohingya migrants are fleeing persecution at home Rohingya refugees rescued off the coast of Aceh eat breakfast in a sports stadium Some say they had nothing to eat on the ships Some were getting medical attention after being found sick and starving.

A quota system would need to be agreed by EU states and is highly controversial, with many countries fiercely opposed.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is taking her case for international intervention in Libya to the UN Security Council in New York later on Monday.

The EU has proposed “systematic efforts to identify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers”.

highest award, the Legion of Honour, on the head of the Catholic Church in Cuba, Cardinal Jaime Ortega.

Francois Hollande’s visit is the first by a French leader since Cuba’s independence in 189 The BBC’s Will Grant in Havana says that unlike some other European countries, France has long maintained reasonably good relations with Cuba and wants to benefit from the new economic openness.

After landing at Havana airport, Mr Hollande said the visit was a moment of “great emotion”.

Before arriving, he told reporters that France sought to “be the first among European nations, and the first among Western nations, to be able to say to the Cubans that we will be at their side if they decide themselves to take needed steps toward opening up”.

Mr Hollande’s office said the French leader was also keen to meet former president Fidel Castro, who led the Cuban revolution.

It is not clear if Mr Hollande will meet Fidel Castro Cuban officials have not confirmed whether such a meeting will take place.

A number of high-ranking US and European politicians have visited Cuba since 17 December, when the US and Cuba announced they would move towards re-establishing diplomatic ties.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015

SPORT EXTRA WORLD RELAYS FALLOUT:

UAE Athletics President congratulates AFN T

HE President of United Arab Emirates Athletics Federation, Ahmad Al Kamali, has sent messages of congratulation to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) on its success at the just concluded IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas.

In a letter addressed to

the president of the AFN, Evangelist Solomon Ogba, Al Kamali, also an IAAF council member, described the feat of the quartet that won the gold medal in 4x200m as a wonderful achievement.

At the World Relays, Nigerian’s quartet of Blessing Okagbare, Regina George, Dominique

Duncan and Christy Udoh shaved two seconds off the Nigerian a n d A f r i c a n record set earlier this year to take the gold medal in 1:30.52.

Jamaica came second in 1:31.73 and Germany third in 1:33.61.

Al Kamali who is also a member of the United Arab Emirates National

Olympic Committee Executive Council said, ‘’ it is always a pleasure to see Nigeria and the selfless sacrifice of Solomon Ogba, rewarded with medals at major championships. I wish to extend my congratulations to Ogba personally on the medal for Nigeria ‘’.

Ndidi’s arrival boosts Flying Eagles in Germany

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HE Flying Eagles training camp in Nurnberg, Germany, bubbled on Monday morning with the arrival of Genk central defender Wilfred Ndidi.

Ndidi arrived the team’s

Novina Hotel after a six-hour road trip with his foster father in Belgium on the steering wheels.

“This is the one player we have been waiting for,” said an excited skipper Musa Muhammed. “’Dogo’ is not just a teammate, he is a friend, and the whole squad are happy he has joined us.

“Personally, his joining the team means I can go upfront from my right fullback position without any hesitation because I know he will cover for me.

“But he now has to go through the hard work we have been subjected to since we arrived in Germany.”

Ndidi, 18, himself said he is

delighted to reunite with the team after his Belgian club Genk blocked him from the recent African Youth Championship in Senegal.

On Saturday, he played the full 90 minutes as Genk won 3-2 at Zulte-Waregem.

He played the first half as a left back and the second half as a right back.

•Ndidi

•Bafetimbi Gomis beats Laurent Koscielny in the air to score Swansea's winner

Lagos Island agog for U-12 Kids Cup

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total of 8 football academies in Lagos Island are expected to participate in this year’s edition of the Oguns U-12 Kids Cup competition, scheduled to kick off on May 16, 2015.

The teams include Damilola Tailor Football Academy, Baba Richard Football Academy, Isowo Football Academy, Oguns Football Academy, Melidion Football Academy, Apasa Football Academy, Young Strikers Football Academy and Richo Babes Football Academy.

Chairman of Oguns Investment Nigeria Limited, Waheeed Usman Ogunbiyi said sponsoring a football tournament on Lagos Island is borne out of passion he has for the round-leather game during his childhood days.

Aside from this, Ogunbiyi said he also wants to contribute his sown quota to football development on Lagos Island and urged the participating teams to be of good conduct during the tournament.

“I am not sponsoring the competition to make money or for cheap popularity but because of

the love I have for young players and that is why I want to channel my resources to grassroots football where young players will engage themselves throughout the period of the competition,” he said.

Ogunbiyi charged the Eko Youth Sports Association led by Lateef Ojora Ogunfowora to organize a hitch-free competition and give all the participating teams a level playing field.

“My candid advice for the participating teams is that they should play the game according to the rules and regulations and avoid vices that can tarnish the image of the competition,” said Ogunbiyi who has donated a giant trophy for the tournament.

Match coordinator, Ogunfowora expressed gratitude to the cup donor for his kind gesture and promised to organise a memorable competition.

“We thank the cup donor, Ogunbiyi for his contributions to the grassroots football on Lagos Island and we have concluded plans to conduct our draw ceremony next week and we wish all the 8 teams best of luck in their outings,” he said.

Late Gomis’ header stuns Arsenal to hand Swansea famous victory

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HE home side controlled the opening stages of the contest and stretched Garry Monk's side on several occasions.

But despite their early d o m i n a n c e , t h e Gunners couldn't carve out a clear-cut chance to test the returning Lukasz Fabianski - who spent seven years at the Emirates.

Arsene Wenger's men continued to dominate the half and successfully restricted the visitors to sporadic forays into their half.

But the Welsh side held their shape and frustrated the north Londoners - who were looking for a victor The Gunners started the second period the same way they did the first and piled the pressure on their opponents.

As the half wore on the game became a much more open affair

and both teams had chances to take the lead.

Wenger changed the formation of his side in the latter stages of the contest and brought on Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere to try and find a late winner.

Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla had great chances to hand the home-side victory in the minute.

But unfortunately for the Emirates faithful, their efforts were well saved by Fabianski who was in inspired form for the visitors.

And they were punished for their poor finishing in the 85th minute Bafetimbi Gomis headed home from just inside the box.

The defeat for the Gunners leaves them three points behind secondplaced Manchester City - who recorded an emphatic 6-0 victory over QPR yesterday evening.

TODAY IN THE NATION

TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

‘The Fayoses of this world, who bay for Mu’azu’s blood, only savage the puppet.

But the puppeteer is their real quarry’ VOL.10

OLAKUNLE ABIMBOLA

NO. 3212

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

I

N my time, I have seen a great deal as observer and gone through a great deal as participant-observer. But few things have unsettled me as seeing Chief Olusegun Osoba’s picture displayed prominently, following the general elections, in the gallery of “those who failed.”

There was something so jarring, so incongruous about the characterisation Osoba, crackerjack reporter, astute manager of men and resources, media administrator who ran two regional newspapers with roaring success and steered the tottering Daily Times back to its glory days, pacesetting governor of Ogun State for one aborted term and a full term, a pillar and symbol of the struggle against Sani Abacha’s brutish rule and the evisceration of the choice of the sovereign people of Nigeria, and one of the architects of the realignment that culminated in the formation of the APC, now a government-in-waiting: How can such a person be characterised as a failure?

It is true that Osoba served only one term as governor of Ogun State after the return to democratic rule in 1999, losing, in the official account, his re-election bid four years later to Gbenga Daniel. They said he lost because he was remote, arrogant, and lacked the popular touch.

I am in a position to say that this was not true, having witnessed him up close interacting with visitors who had gone to his office without an appointment but hoping to see him nevertheless. It was around Christmas, in 2000, and President Olusegun Obasanjo was being expected on his sprawling farm in Otta for a short vacation.

Visiting from the United States, I had gone to Otta in the hope of meeting the President and renewing ties. Security and protocol were so suffocating that I could not even get past the farm gate. So, I headed to Abeokuta, hoping to meet Governor Osoba and pay him my compliments.

After registering my presence at the reception, I was ushered into a waiting room.

Eighteen visitors had preceded me, all of them wanting to see the governor. My heart sank. This was going to be a very long day, surely.

Some 30 minutes later, his voice wafted into the room, borne by the crisp harmattan wind. I thought he was going to take the elevator to his executive suite. Instead, the door handle turned, and into the room stepped the Governor Osoba himself.

He surveyed the room for a minute or so, and began attending to the assembled visitors, starting with the person seated nearest to the door and proceeding counter-clockwise.

There was the young man who said a federal agency in Ogun State was hiring and that the governor’s endorsement would enhance his chances. Osoba endorsed his ap-

RIPPLES

PDP MAY DIE–David Mark

And of course, NIGERIANS are ready TO say R.I.P...REST IN PIECES

OLATUNJI DARE

AT HOME ABROAD olatunji.dare@thenationonlineng.net

Osoba: The veteran politician at bay

•Chief Osoba

plication on the spot.

There was the elderly woman, a motor accident victim recently discharged from hospital. Apparently she had sought and received help from the governor, but needed more help still. Osoba listened solicitously, and directed his personal assistant to attend to her needs.

There was an official of the National Union of Teachers which was at that time locked in a trade dispute with the Ogun State Government. From what I could make out, the official had conducted himself in a manner the governor considered contumacious of his office. He told the official he would not treat with him until he apologised for his contumacy.

In this manner did Osoba attend to all his visitors who, like me, had no previous appointment. He invited the three of us he

could not attend to on the spot to follow him to his office.

Where in all this is the arrogance, the aloofness to which they ascribed his 2003 election loss?

We now know that he did not lose the election; that official result was a cruel travesty, a product of ballot stuffing on a scale almost beyond belief.

Hounded ceaselessly by Gbenga Daniel who never saw an opponent he did not want to destroy, Osoba went into political hibernation in Lagos, where he busied himself rebuilding the Ogun State ACN and positioning it to return to power in 2007 with Ibikunle Amosun, a former PDP Senator, as Governor.

The day Osoba returned to Ogun State and his home in Abeokuta has got to be one of the most glorious in his eventful life. He was met at the Lagos –Ogun boundary by a cavalcade of jubilant party men and women, admirers, and supporters, and escorted to the state capital and his home with song and dance. Rarely had the ancient city witnessed such a carnival.

GEJ: Wrong on de Klerk

W

HERE on earth did Dr Goodluck Jonathan come by the information he dispensed with such solemn authority during worship at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Abuja last Sunday, namely that the wife of FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last white president, left him because he ended apartheid and surrendered power to the African majority?

Dr Jonathan intended the remark to make the self-serving point that doing the right thing as De Klerk did, and as he himself had done when he conceded defeat in the presidential election, often carries a heavy price.

If it is any consolation to Dr Jonathan, Marike and her husband of 39 years separated in 1998 – four years after Nelson Mandela was sworn in as president – when she discovered that he was having an affair.

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080

HARDBALL

G

OODLUCK Jonathan, Nigeria’s outgoing president, is on the prowl again, on church pulpits. The last time, he shopped for votes for a doomed second term. But this time, he shops for pity in a looming post-power jungle.

Before his first “pulpit tour of duty”, the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) compared Jonathan to Nelson Mandela, and a triad of other great world leaders. But that rude supposition only inflamed the electorate and Jonathan got so TANned at the polls that his party, hitherto, the self-named “largest party in Africa”, shrivelled to largest party in Nigeria’s South East and South-South geo-political regions.

Now, President Jonathan is likening himself to Frederik de Klerk, the last white ruler of apartheid South Africa. In a logic peculiarly his own, the outgoing president credited himself with “hard decisions”, among which was losing an election and conceding defeat. Was he supposed to do otherwise?

If he suggested he would or should have, then is he saying he had the divine right to rig elections; and if that failed, he reserved the right to shunt aside the mandate of the people and impose himself? Pray, under what form of government would that be — still democracy? Ha! It is Freudian slips, like this, that expose the dirty recesses of the president’s mind, which seem to suggest a living form of the

Then, things began to go sour. Osoba could not get his nominees appointed to the state’s cabinet or given senior positions in the Amosun Administration, I gather. Though chair of the ACN in Ogun State, his influence was at best slight. He found himself being pushed closer and closer to the margins.

As rumours circulated that Osoba was set to dump the ACN because he felt he was not getting the respect he felt was his due, I talked with some friends about putting together a platform for reconciling him with Amosun.

Before we could launch our effort, Osoba dumped the APC. But he did so with his accustomed refinement. The PDP had been wooing him mainly out of spite for the ACN, and would gladly have paid any price to have him join its ranks. Instead, Osoba pitched his camp with the little-known Social Democratic Party that had virtually no chance of supplanting the ACN and the PDP, the entrenched political parties in Ogun State.

The outcome was all too predictable. The SDP was clobbered in the general elections and now faces an uncertain future. The ACN that Osoba played a significant role in setting up and nurturing is set to take office at the Centre in some three weeks – without Osoba. I am sure he has no regrets but sees the outcome as the price of principles.

In the winner-takes-all paradigm of Nigerian politics, the bell may well be tolling now for one of the most engaging and colourful careers in recent Nigerian politics.

That would be a pity indeed. Osoba’s superb managerial skills, his suavity, his excellent social and public relations skills, his perspicacity, his graciousness and his quiet competence, not forgetting his regal bearing, recommend him powerfully for a significant role in General Muhmammadu Buhari’s administration.

He would make an excellent High Commissioner to the Court of St James’s.

From Mandela to de Klerk Biblical whited sepulchre, gleaming outside, but rotten and smelly within.

For deservedly losing an election and conceding, Jonathan therefore beatified himself as Nigeria’s de Klerk. As de Klerk ruined himself by ending minority rule in South Africa, Jonathan also ruined himself by being voted out — a gracious democratic emperor ungratefully ousted by the ignorant and ungrateful rabble, perhaps?

And as de Klerk’s wife divorced him after his wilful self-ruin, so would Dame the Game divorce Jonathan after his own wilful power suicide? By thank God — praaaaaissseee the Loooorrrddddd, Halleluyah!!! — Herself the Dame vigorously rejected such a supposition, sending the church hall into a thunder of applause!

But even then, the embattled president is not at all assured of post-power bliss. His Excellency and his brave ministers would be persecuted! “So, for minsters and aides who served with me, I sympathise with them because they will be persecuted. They,” he insisted, “must be ready for persecution.”!

The President even went the literary historical way by quoting the late Tai Solarin’s

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above famous, if unconventional, New Year’s wish: “May your road be rough, may you have a hard time this year!” Jonathan gamely told his soon-to-be-persecuted aides and ministers: “May your ways be rough, I say to my ministers, I wish you what I wish myself.

They will have hard times, we will have hard times. Our ways will be rough.”!

What’s this? The President doesn’t know the difference between persecution and prosecution? Or he was being satanically mischievous and cynical?

But why is Jonathan so sure? A case of the guilty being afraid? An infantile ploy to crave sympathy, knowing that his presidency has big queries, the way it has spectacularly collapsed the economy, even if the Breton-Woods ambassador and economic viceroy insists Nigeria couldn’t be better, economically? Or yet another Freudian slip showing what he would have done, were he in Muhammadu Buhari’s shoes?

By the way, Jonathan should count himself lucky, quoting Tai Solarin so glibly. The nononsense Tai, who does not tolerate fools gladly, would have mercilessly pounced on Jonathan for his presidency’s unadulterated incompetence — on the missing Chibok girls, for one!

As May 29 draws nigh, Jonathan and his presidential cry babies should just hold their peace.

They have done enough harm already. So, they can save the polity their gratuitous barrenness they call parting shots.

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