THE NATION MONDAY 13, 2013

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

NEW S Pages 27 NEWS

Confront insurgency, governors tell Jonathan

UBA’s profit up by 905% to N55b

•Southsouth, Southeast helmsmen meet

•Audited report for 2012 released

NEWS Page 10

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VOL. 8, NO. 2484 MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

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•Manchester United’s manager Alex Ferguson (centre), surrounded by his players, lifts the Premier League trophy at the end of the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Swansea City at Old Trafford in Manchester, United Kingdom…yesterday. Manchester United won 2 - 1 PHOTO: AFP

Supreme Court to IG: rescue Justice’s wife

Don’t declare emergency rule in troubled states, ACN, CPC warn

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

O

A

BDUCTORS of the wife of a Supreme Court Justice, Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour, and two others, are yet to contact the family, a source said yesterday.

The Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr Sunday Olorundahunsi, has written Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar to rescue the hostages.

Abubakar, it was learnt, has issued a signal to Edo State Continued on page 4

•Justice Rhodes-Vivour

PPOSITION parties Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) - warned yesterday the Federal Government against the declaration of a state of emergency in the violence-ridden states of Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa.

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

The parties made their position known in statements by their spokesmen - Alhaji Lai Mohammed (ACN) and Mr. Rotimi Fasakin (CPC).

“If the imposition of emergency rule on the most affected states is the only viable option left for President Good-

luck Jonathan to tackle the crisis, then he should step down,” Mohammed said.

The CPC queried why violence is festering in states not controlled by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But the Federal GovernContinued on page 4

Slain policemen’s widows get bodies after protest Governor vows action Police get line (07066228200) for information

P •Abubakar

ROTESTING widows and family members of the policemen killed in Nasarawa State have got their request.

Hospital authorities at the weekend released the charred bodies from the morgue.

It was a moving sight at the Dalhatu

From Yusuf Alli and Yomi Odunuga, Abuja

Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH), Lafia where the evacuated bodies of the policemen killed in Alakyo Village by Omatse Cult members in an ambush were kept.

The stench of decomposing bodies

filled the air around the hospital as families picked the remains of their relatives.

A Red Cross official said of the state of the bodies: “We tried to pack them but the bodies were breaking into pieces, so, we will use shovel to pack them.”

It was gathered that Police Inspector General Mohammed Abubakar authorised the release of the bodies after his visit to Nasarawa State at the weekend.

But, contrary to the claim by the police chief that 23 policemen were killed, Continued on page 4

•SPORTS P23 •CEO P32 •FINANCE P25 •POLITICS P43 •MOTORING P45

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

2

NEWS

Concerns • Chairman, Cadbury Nigeria Plc Emil Moskofian (second right)greeting investment banker Mr Atedo Peterside at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos...at the weekend. With them are Company Secretary Mrs Fola Akande (left) and Finance and Strategy Director Mrs Oyeyinka Adeboye.

PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAMS

• All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Senator Annie Okonkwo (middle) receiving the 2013 Integrity Award from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Proven Integrity Communications Network, Mr. Onwordi Onichabor in Accra, Ghana... at the weekend.

With them is Okonkwo’s Special Assistant on Media Collins Ugwu.

•Nollywood star and Samsung brand Ambassador Kate Henshaw (left), Director, Handheld Products, Samsung Electronics West Africa Mr Emmanuel Previmates (second left), Managing Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa Brovo Kim (second right), and Marketing Manager, Handheld Products, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Ms Olajumoke Okikiolu, at the launch of Galaxy S4 Smartphone in Lagos...at the weekend .

PHOTO: BOLA OMILABU

•Managing Director, Pernod Ricard Nigeria Mr Dariusz Oierowiec (second right), National Sales and Marketing Manager Mrs Maria Martinez (second left), Mr Hakeem Aromire (left) and Finance Manager Mr Samson Kuponiyi, at the launch of Absolut Unique in Nigeria... at the weekend.

PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN

To some stakeholders, the revised National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), which includes a clause barring private jet owners from carrying persons other than their relatives, must be reviewed, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

I

T was a busy week for officials of the Ministry of Aviation and its agencies. Chief Executive Officers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and others took turns to explain the revised National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP). They met with airline operators, private jet owners and others in the industry. They also had a date with the media to explain the new policy, which they insist is for the best of the industry. They said it would ensure safety and security.

The first NCAP was introduced in 1989 and it led to the establishment of the NCAA and FAAN. It was reviewed in 2001.

Minister of Aviation Ms Stella Oduah said the need for the review was strengthened by the ministry’s role in the country’s economic growth, changes in safety, security and technology not envisaged when the 2001 policy was introduced.

Ms Oduah, represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Aviation Reforms, Ms Anne EneIta, at a media briefing in Lagos last Wednesday, said: “It is my considered opinion that since the Aviation Ministry is recognised as an integral part of the socio-economic system of the country and plays a critical role in national economic development, its policies must be tailored to address the contemporary socio-economic development programme of government.

“To this end and in line with the expectations of the Transformation Agenda, the Federal Ministry of Aviation in 2012 evolved a new vision and mission through the development of a master plan, which is targeted at the provision of safe, secure, comfortable and self-sustaining air transport industry that is pivotal to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. This process involved collaboration with the World Bank that carried out detailed diagnostic review of the sector, consultations with stakeholders, assessment of existing institutional, legal and regulatory framework for aviation sector agencies.”

At a parley with aviation stakeholders, Ms Ene-Ita said the policy was aimed at strengthening the existing regulatory framework and facilitate the growth of domestic airlines.

She said the policy would improve performance and encourage new routes in addition to ensuring that the airports are better integrated into a wider transport network.

The Director, Commercial Business Development of the FAAN, Dr Adeniyi Balogun, said the policy would lead to automation of activities at the airports. This, he said, was part of efforts to track vehicles and ensure adequate security for all passengers.

•Na’alla, with his private jet

Of all the provisions of the policy, one stands out like a sore thumb: the operation of private jets in the country. There are no fewer than 150 private jets. Nigerian billionaires own jets from the Gulfstream, Bombardier Global Express, Hawker Legacy and Dassault Falcon, among many others.

Many of the owners have been known to give out the jets to their friends when the need arises or travel with them and other associates on some occasions. But this may stop if a provision in the new policy is not jettisoned.

The provision reads: “For private aircraft owned or leased by individuals, only the family members of the owner/ lessee of the aircraft will be permitted on board as passengers.”

Ms Oduah said the provision is “to streamline the operations of non-scheduled flights to conform with International Standards and Recommended Practices (ICAO SARPs) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations”.

The ministry also accused some owners of jets of using them for illegal activities. (See box) There is also another provision, which may work against companies in the practice of chartering planes or helicopters for their operations and sometimes have cause to use them to carry visitors to their companies. Oil companies operating in the Niger Delta are fond of doing this.

But that may stop, with this provision, which reads: “For private aircraft owned or leased by companies or corporate entities, only the employees and members of the board of directors of the company will be permitted on board as passengers.

“For aircraft belonging to non-scheduled or scheduled operators, only the employees and members of the board of directors of the company or the corporation may be permitted on board as passengers; all operators will declare the identities of all passengers on non-revenue charter flights in the appropriate general declaration forms prior to obtaining Air Traffic Control (ATC) clearance.”

Last Tuesday, owners and operators of foreign and Nigeria registered business aircraft, at an interactive session with representatives of the ministry in Abuja, accused the ministry of launching the NCAP 2013 without inputs from the private sector.

Last Monday, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) condemned the policy, which it said lent credence to allegations that President Goodluck Jonathan had dictatorial and despotic tendencies.

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) Secretary-General, Captain Mohammed Joji, described the policy as inferior to the one designed by the military.

Joji said the global trend was to reduce functions of aviation ministries, noting that the policy had enlarged the responsibilities of the Ministry of Aviation.

He said creating general aviation under the mandate of the NCAA was

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

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NEWS

over civil aviation policy

•Joji

•Ms Edozien

•Uriesi

Wanted persons smuggled out with private jets, says Fed Govt

W

ANTED persons are being smuggled out of the country with private jets, the Federal Government has said.

Some private jet owners also indulge in illegal charter services, depriving government agencies of N25 billion annually, it was learnt.

The Coordinating Manager of Information and Communications for Aviation Parastatals and General Manager, Corporate Communications of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Yakubu Dati , made these claims in a statement at the weekend.

Dati said security operatives have found that many wanted persons escaped through private jets.

He said others who should not be in the country had also been in with private jets, adding this is easy because many private jets take off from private facilities at the airports.

He noted that illegal consignments, including cash and personalities that may constitute security threat may be airlifted in and out of the country with private jets.

Dati said the government was determined to check the abuse of private jets, adding that for security reasons, pilots flying private jets must declare the manifest of each flight. wrong.

The President/Chief Executive Officer, TopBrass Aviation, Mr. Roland Iyayi, called for a review of the policy, with the input of stakeholders.

Iyayi said: “From the look of things, it shows that stakeholders were not duly consulted before this policy was introduced. We should not introduce policies that will kill the industry, but one that will grow the aviation business.

“There have been a lot of complaints against this policy since it was introduced, and I don’t want to believe that there are no good advisers to the avia-

•’25b lost to illegal charter operations’

By Olukorede Yishau, Assistant Editor (News) and Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

He said, henceforth, government would monitor the operation of unscheduled flights to check security breaches.

Dati said charter services by private jets had become lucrative business because 80 per cent of these jets have private licence, but carry out commercial operation, thus constituting safety challenges since they are not subjected to compulsory maintenance checks by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

He said about 80 per cent of the 150 private jets in the country were registered overseas, which means that they are exempted from paying taxes and five per cent charges to the NCAA. Dati added that although the jets are owned by Nigerians, they are designated as leased to avoid Customs duty.

He said: “So when you collate what government agencies lose by the illegal operations of these aircraft it amounts to over N25 billion in a year. And I can authoritatively tell you that it is now a lucra-

tion minister. I think it is better to review what is contained in this document and get the input of stakeholders, otherwise the debate against most of the sections of this policy will persist.”

Chairman, Private Flyers Nigeria Bala Na’allah said the policy would undermine the existing Civil Aviation Act, adding that “Section 33 of the Act does not require an owner of private jet to look for a permit from anywhere as stated in the policy.”

Na’allah said: “Since we are having some sections of the policy that

tive business that businessmen bring in aircraft to operate as private jets while they are actually used for commercial purposes, so it makes nonsense of those charter operators who followed the laid down process, whose business has now been taken away by the illegal private operators.”

These illegal charter operators, he said, had taken away substantial business from scheduled airlines because those that would have filled the business class cabin are now airlifted by illegal private charter services.

Dati said: “This explains why our airlines are not growing. Instead of marked growth of our airlines, it is the number of private jets that is growing. This is an aberration. So, government cannot fold its hands and watch this unfavourable situation, which has already started affecting the nation’s economy, knowing the crucial role scheduled airline operation play in any country.”

He said the money used to buy these aircraft were made locally but taken away from the country to maintain foreign licence, foreign pilots, engineers and maintenance services.

are not in agreement with certain parts of the regulation in terms of putting up a defence, which one supersedes the other? I suggest that the ministry allows us to study the policy, and where necessary, have it reviewed if we must grow this industry.”

The Deputy Controller-General, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in charge of Tariff and Trade Matters, Mr. Julius Nwagwu, said the NCAP 2013 infringed on Customs duties.

Nwagwu said: “There are those who were meant to drop passengers and fly back, but are still found within

the airport premises for long periods.

This is against the Customs laws.’’

He raised the issue of private jets coming into the country without documentation, which he said “is fully against customs laws’’.

“We need to highlight these issues in the policy before it is released. This has become imperative so that operators will be guided,” he said.

There is hope that some changes will still be made to the policy, as Ms Ene-Ita and some other officials of the ministry have said the loopholes in the policy would be plugged

before the president’s approval.

Besides the contentious provisions, the NCAP 2013 has some provisions with the potential of turning around the industry. One of such is the development of aerotropolis, where cities would be built around airports, such that hotels and conference halls are built around the airports to cater for accommodation and business meetings. A medical cluster is also being planned around the airports to tap into the medical tourism market.

Foreign pharmaceutical companies are also being wooed to establish locally around the airports. With this, airports would no longer be terminal points only but places where economic activities would thrive.

FAAN Managing Director George Uriesi, in a presentation at last Wednesday’s parley with the media, said the aerotropolis would turn around the aviation sector. He said the aerotropolis were being planned around the airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.

President Goodluck Jonathan, in a brochure on the project, said the aerotropolis would be private sector driven.

Ms Oduah said the development of the aerotropolis would begin this year.

An integral part of the Aerotropolis Nigeria is the Perishable Cargo, which Dr. Ndidi Edozien said has the potential to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Six of the country’s airports will be equipped with facilities to preserve perishable cargoes. They have been designated as terminals for perishable and nonperishable goods.

Dr. Edozien said the project would involve the provision of agro-processing facilities, agro-export conditioning centres, storage infrastructure and cargo warehousing at designated airports.

Ms Oduah believes that when the transformation of the airports is completed, the sector’s contribution to the GDP, which stands at 0.6 per cent, will be improved.

She said: “It is expected that these measures would in the medium and long term improve performance, resilience and the passenger experience, which according to the 2010 Oxford Economic calculation places the value of passengers using the Nigerian aviation services at N785 billion per annum and the contribution of N198 billion made by the aviation sector to the economy, which represents 0.6 per cent of the GDP. “This development now ranks Nigeria after China and Japan in terms of passenger volume and is expected to keep growing at a rate of 9-10 per cent annually reaching the level of 15 to 20 million passengers by 2020.”

The 10 commandments of civil aviation, by minister

P

ART 1 deals with the historical background of the aviation sector in Nigeria beginning with the first flight into the country in 1925, the establishment of the Nigeria Airways Limited in 1958; the evolution of the governance structure of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Industry; and the Aviation Reforms of 1995, the Aviation Policies of 1989, 2001 and the evolution of public sector instructions respectively.

Part 11 presents an overview of the strategic goals, objectives, management and institutional framework of the Aviation Industry in Nigeria; the current governance structure of the sector, the current challenges facing the industry, the economic and social contributions of the aviation sector to the Nigerian economy.

Part 111 highlights the importance of Aviation Financing with emphasis on the development of a self-sustaining aviation

Minister of Aviation Ms. Stella Oduah, in an address to media executives on the revised National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), gives an overview of the 10-part policy: commercial financing mechanism, the framework for the enhancement of regulatory functions and oversight of airports, air navigation services and airlines through sustainable financing, the improvement of semi-autonomous Economic Regulatory Unit facilitated by an automated collecting system of the agencies.

Part 1V deals with Aviation Training Organisations (ATOs).

Part V deals with the establishment of ICAO State Safety Programme which would ensure that aviation service providers have adequate safety Management System (SMS) in accordance with the ICAO Safety Management Manual.

Part VI provides an overview of the

liberalisation of Air Transportation, the elimination of restrictions and creation of enabling environment for alliances (through Route Dispersal Guidelines and code-sharing) amongst local airlines.

Part VII deals with General Aviation (GA) and provides for measures to generate definite policies, develop regulatory framework and adequate infrastructure to support it. For reason of safety and national security, this part focuses on the need to control and monitor all non-scheduled flights operations – including helicopter operations (offshore and onshore) in Nigeria as well as the operations of foreign non-scheduled flight and flying school.

Part VIII focuses on international relations, Bilateral and Multilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA/ MASA). This part advocates that air service agreements should be negotiated not only on the principle of reciprocity but also on economic consideration with emphasis on providing maximum opportunities for Nigerian airlines to grow and compete successfully.

Part IX covers Aviation Allied Support Services, intermodal transport systems, Facilitation of Passengers, Goods and Services, pandemics and emergency response.

Part X advocates the key deliverable (Aviation Performance Bond) upon which the Ministry and its Agency

•Ms Oduah

will be measured on a quarterly basis with a consolidated report produced annually. To this end, it is expected that this Policy would be reviewed every five years or when necessary.

4

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

NEWS Don’t declare emergency rule in North’s states, ACN, CPC warn Continued from page 1

ment has denied that a decision to declare a state of emergency in any state has been taken.

The ACN said the crisis has dragged on for so long because of the failure of the Jonathan administration to appropriately diagnose the problem, in the first instance, coupled with an exhibition of lethargy and an appalling lack of creativity in devising measures to end it.

Said the party: ‘’Perhaps President Jonathan should emulate the late United States President Harry Truman by putting a sign on his desk at Aso Rock that reads ‘The buck stops here’ to remind him that

he bears the ultimate responsibility for the security situation in the country today, instead of any attempt to blame some state governors in the affected states. ‘’Imposing a state of emergency on the states that have been mentioned, like Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states, will amount to shifting responsibility and unduly victimising the governors of those states, who have done perhaps more than the President, in dealing with the crisis, even though they are not in charge of any security apparatus. ‘’It is important to state here that the President virtually abandoned the states as they Continued on page 59

‘Rescue Justice’s wife’ Continued from page 1 •Miss Habibat Tinubu, daughter of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (third right, waving) among other graduating students of the Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, United States…at the weekend.

Govt officials indicted in Imo baby factory scandal

M

ORE facts emerged at the weekend about the booming babies trade in Imo State.

Government officials aid and abet the trade, otherwise known as baby factory, sources said.

According to the sources, who pleaded not to be named, these officials, especially of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Development, which is responsible for child adoptions, act as middlemen between baby factories’ operators and buyers.

This development may have informed Governor Rochas Okorocha’s directive that all child adoptions will henceforth be approved by his office.

According to a source, whose aunty was assisted to adopt a three-year-old boy, the group charges as much as N350,000.00 for adoption of a male child. “When you meet them they will collect the fee upfront and give you a date to come and take the child but they won’t let you into their source of supply,” he told The Nation.

It was also gathered that the

•Commissioner: I’m not aware of illegal adoptions From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

officials are aware of all existing baby factories which allegedly give them an undisclosed number of children annually to stay in operation.

“The business is run by a strong syndicate, especially at the ministry under which they hide to perpetrate the heinous crime. They often buy the children direct from the owners of the illegal motherless babies homes and sell to their teeming customers,” the source added.

Corroborating this claim, one of the expectant teenagers rescued from a baby factory in Umuaka, Njaba Council Area, by the Imo State Police Command, Ogachi Chibue, 22, from Nwkerre Local Government Area, said: “Once we deliver our babies, some people will come here to take the babies away. If we ask, they will tell us they are government people.”

Ogachi, who is about five months pregnant, had two other kids between ages three and four, who she said were to be taken by some govern-

ment officials before they were rescued by the police.

She looked pale.

“I don’t know the man that brought me to this place.

When we arrived, I was told that they will settle me after delivery but they did not tell me how much they were going to pay me,” she said.

Another teenager who was among the rescued girls, Chiamaka Akubuiru, 22, from Agba in Oguta Local Government Area, said: “I saw where they wrote Motherless Babies Home and I decided to go there because I was pregnant and I felt that I would receive medical care there.

“They told me that after delivery, government officials would come to take the baby away .”

Commissioner for Women Affairs and Child Development, Mrs. Ann Dozie, who confirmed that the pregnant teenagers had been handed over to her Ministry by the Police, denied any knowledge of illegal child adoption going on in the ministry or any other place.

According to her, child, adoptions are strictly procedural and follow court proceedings, which perfect such adoptions. “I don’t move about the state to know who is adopting children illegally, but in my ministry, we follow laid down proceedings in child adoption. But, if anyone is doing anything behind my back, that, I do not know,” she said.

Oyibo, whose real name is Chukwubuka Onyemefule, from Umuaka, Njaba Local Government Area, who earlier confessed to impregnating the 26 teenagers, told our correspondent that he was framed up by the police.

The Police paraded the 23year old for allegedly being contracted by the owner of the home, Madam One Thousand, to impregnate the girls.

But, in an interview with The Nation, Onyemefule said: “I was working in the pure water section of the hospital before the police came to pick us. I only stayed there for three weeks.”

Police Commissioner to track down the abductors in the swamps on the Ore-OkadaBenin axis.

But it was gathered that the kidnappers have not established contact with the family of Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour.

Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour and her daughter (whose name was not given) were abducted on Friday on their way to Benin for a wedding.

The driver of the car in which they were travelling wasl also kidnapped. The car has not be recovered.

A source at the Supreme Court said: “The Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Olorundahunsi, has formally written the IGP to rescue the wife, the daughter and the driver of the Supreme Court Justice, who were abducted on Friday.

“I am aware the IGP has issued a signal to the Edo Police Command and other neighbouring commands, ordering them to comb the swamps on the Ore-Okada-Benin axis. So, the search for the hostages has started.

Responding to a question, the source added: “The kidnappers have not got in touch with the family of the judge.

This is what is making the search for these innocent victims difficult.

“This has created anxiety for all. If they had got in touch and made their position known, we would have

known their motive.”

Asked about the next step, the source said: “Security agencies are on top of situation. The family is trying to make basic information available on the movement of the suspects.”

Lagos Lawyer Festus Keyamo in a statement yesterday condemned abduction of the Justice wife, daughter and driver.

He said: “I received with deep shock and bewilderment the news of the abduction of the wife and daughter of Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, a Justice of the Supreme Court.

By the nature of their job, Justices of the Supreme Court, and indeed all judges, always live a spartan life, not given to ostentation and primitive acquisition of wealth.

“Therefore, the kidnappers should know that Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour is the wrong target of this dastardly act. He does not deserve this agony.

Again, the Justices of the Supreme Court have not contributed in any way to the destruction of our values that has pushed young men and women into this kind of unholy enterprise. Rather, they have indeed played a constructive role in preserving and sustaining our democracy. “ I passionately appeal to the kidnappers, wherever they may be, in the name of the God they serve, to release unharmed the wife and daughter of Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour.”

Slain policemen’s widows get bodies after protest Insurgency dangerous, say Mark, Sultan, CD

Continued from page 1

it was gathered that more bodies were brought to the morgue at the weekend.

Nasarawa State Governor Tanko Al-Makura vowed to crush the Omatse cult.

The police urged the public to give information on the killing of the policemen. They unveiled a dedicated line for the purpose.

The police and security agencies have continued the manhunt for members of the Ombatse militia, whose leader, Baba Alakyo, they have been told to capture alive.

Governor al-Makura, in a statement by his Media Officer, Malam Sani Mairiga, said the crisis had no religious connotation.

The statement said: “The state government will not watch while some disgruntled individuals hold it to ransom and turn the state into a theatre of death, undermining the development efforts of this administration.

“The state government will

S

ENATE President David Mark yesterday took stock of the unabating insecurity in the country and declared that insurgents may overrun the country.

He spoke as Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakr and the Campaign for Democracy condemned the Nasarawa killings.

A statement by Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh in Abuja quoted the Senate President as warning that unless immediate steps were taken to arrest the worsening situation, the country may fall prey to insurgents.

He condemned in strong terms the attack and killing of police and other se-

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Sanni Onogu, Abuja, Tajudeen Adebanjo and Precious Igbonwelundu

curity operatives in Nasarawa state by some cultists and submitted that “nobody, no nation no matter how weak would live to accept such heinous crime”.

Mark wondered: “What is happening to us as a people is strange and condemnable. How did we degenerate to this level where every one became a brothers’ hater instead of being our brothers’ keeper?

“The situation calls for soul searching.

We must re-examine ourselves. We must look inwards.”

He noted that there could be foreign collaborators but the foreigners would not succeed if there are no willing tools internally.

The President of the Senate implored any aggrieved persons or groups to explore many established channels including the National Assembly to seek redress instead of resorting to violence.

He lamented that the insecurity situation has made life uncomfortable for Nigerians and reduced sacred human life to something insignificant.

While sympathizing with the victims of various attacks in Borno, Yobe, Nasarawa and Benue States, the Senate Continued on page 59

•Mark

Also at the weekend, Minister of Information Labaran Maku denied any link with the violence.

Continued on page 59

deal decisively with those fanning the embers of crisis in the state, including their sponsors.

“We have had enough bloodshed in Nasarawa; those who are hell-bent on sabotaging our efforts will not go unpunished.

“It is unfortunate that some people still perpetrate evil against their fellow human beings at a time when the state

has begun to count the gains of democracy.

“The crisis has no religious coronation as being speculated by some section of the media; some people are just bent on destroying the state because they feel they are not in power.

“They should know that nemesis will soon catch up with them.

“There is no hiding place for unpatriotic individuals in Nasarawa; there is no cause that can justify the killing of innocent souls. “ The governor called on citizens of the state, regardless of their religion or ethnicity, to be good, kind and supportive of one another “in this difficult period’’.

A source, who on the man-

hunt for the killers, said: “Even if it will take six months, we have been ordered to bring these militia men to justice.

“We have a mandate to effect the arrest of the militia leader, Baba Alakyo. We know that they are on the run but all state commands have been placed on the alert to arrest the militia leader, who is central to the crisis in Nasarawa.”

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NEWS

Nigerian passport: Five-year jail term awaits guarantors of non-citizens T

HE Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, has urged Nigerians to ensure that the passport applicants they recommend are well-known to them, as a fiveyear jail term awaits anyone who guarantees a non-citizen to obtain the country’s passport.

Moro, who spoke at the inauguration of a third passport office for the Lagos Command, located at Alausa, Ikeja, reminded the people of the Passport (Miscellaneous Provision) Act that provides for a jail term of five years without an option of fine, for anybody who stands as a guarantor to a non-citizen to obtain a passport.

At the event were the Acting Comptroller-General of Immigration, Rilwan Musa, the Lagos State Command Comptroller, R.O. Odupeyin and the Head of the Passport Office, J.O. Ajisafe, among others.

Jonathan’s trip to South Africa not a jamboree, says senator

By Precious Igbonwelundu

Urging Nigerians to follow due process in the application for a passport, Moro said the international passport is a security document that needs to pass through certain processes to sustain its credibility internationally.

Moro, who said the e-passport was introduced to curb the defects of the Machine Readable Passport (MRP) that was exploited by fraudsters and human traffickers, among others, noted that it had met the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Said he: “An electronic chip that contains the holder’s biodata is embedded in it. Nigeria has ensured that the credibility of the e-passport is not tampered with. Hence, we no longer hear stories of Nigerians being made to step aside from other passengers at foreign airports and screened rigorously on account of the

‘Our system provides effective border management by facilitating the processing of bona fide travellers, while detecting those on the watch list, online and real-time’ passports they hold.”

Moro, however, noted that the e-passport is not a standalone solution to the management of migration, adding: “We have put in place systems at our international airports to verify the data in the circuit chip embedded in the passport and cross- match it with that of the central data base of the Immigration Service.

“Our system provides effective border management by facilitating the processing of bona fide travellers, while detecting those on the watch

list, online and real-time.”

He said the government was determined to improve border control with the use of modern border management system and enjoined applicants to submit breeder documents that were obtained from statutory bodies only. Moro said they should desist from dealing with third parties.

Ajisafe, who spoke with The Nation, noted that the new office would save customers from Ikeja and environs the cost and attendant stress in going to the Ikoyi or Festac office.

He hailed Governor Babatunde Fashola for his support in the actualisation of the project.

According to Ajisafe, with adequate funding, equipment and manpower, the country’s borders could be effectively protected against illegal immigrants and traffickers.

The officer, who acknowledged that the agencies man-

ning the borders were under funded and short staffed, however, said the porosity of the country’s borders encourages smuggling of persons and weapons.

His words: “We have border patrol officers, but the problem is with the porosity. If adequate funds and personnel are provided, we can reduce illegal immigrants and smuggling to the barest minimum.

“Small arms are easily smuggled through land borders because they can be dismembered and carried by several people. More than four people can carry different parts of AK47 and when they get to their destination, they will couple it.

“So, we need sophisticated detectors that can detect these weapons even if they have been dismantled.”

Odupeyin noted that the construction of additional issuing centres explains the command’s determination to issue quality and benchmark services to Nigerians as well as decongest the Ikoyi and Festac issuing centres that are daily besieged by customers.

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

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HE Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Smart Adeyemi, yesterday said President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to South Africa was not a jamboree.

He said the visit led to the signing of nine Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on economic development cooperation between the two countries.

The lawmaker said the trip also assisted to end the rivalry and suspicion between the two nations.

Adeyemi, who spoke with reporters in Abuja, said the visit would stop the hitherto maltreatment of Nigerians in South Africa.

The senator, who was in the presidential delegation, said: “President Jonathan’s visit to South Africa was not a jamboree. It was very rewarding in the sense that it focused on economic development collaboration and integration. The trip enabled the President to solidify the relationship of the government and people of Nigeria with South Africa.

“With about nine Memoranda of Understanding between the two countries, it is a pointer to a new chapter in the history of Africa because Nigeria and South Africa are the big economies on the continent.

“The two leaders succeeded in opening a new vista for continental economic integration.

We should expect a new dawn of economic boom between the two countries very soon.

“The two nations have potential. They are coming together at the right time. The visit will enable other African countries to cooperate and consolidate their ties.

“So, this is a new chapter in the relationship between Nigeria and South Africa. The good thing about the MoU is that it touches every sector, including mining and power. It will create trade balance between the two nations. We should salute the two presidents for coming together to lay the foundation for a new Africa through nine memoranda.”

•Moro (second right); Lagos State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Oyinlomo Danmole (second left); Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Aderemi Desalu and Ajisafe, at the inauguration of the new Passport Office... at the weekend.

PHOTO: ADEJO DAVID

Customs arrests Chinese, Malian for ‘smuggling’

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

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HE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Command, Ikeja, Lagos has arrested two Chinese and a Malian for allegedly attempting to smuggle out over 21 kilogrammes of processed ivory and elephant tusks. The items were concealed as hand bangles, hair attachment, building materials, beads and decorative samples, through the cargo wing of the MMIA. The items were allegedly packaged as courier in 176 packages, to be flown to Monrovia, South Africa and China, before they were intercepted during a joint examination by Customs officers at the cargo sheds of the airport.

The spokesperson of the Airport Command of the NCS, Mrs. Thelma Williams, said the items and suspects would be handed over to the National Environmental Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA) for prosecution.

She said but for the diligence of officers and men of the NCS, the prohibited items would have been smuggled out of the country.

Mrs. Williams said the officers and men of the NCS would carry out surveillance at airports to foil attempts by smugglers to export items on the prohibited list.

She said the arrest and handover of the suspects to the relevant agency of the government was a follow-up to a similar incident on March 4 when a Chinese, Miss Liang Zuliwho, was intercepted at the MMIA with some processed pieces of elephant tusk.

According to her, the suspect was handed over to the NESREA, which prosecuted her through its lawyers in collaboration with the NCS officers, who stood in as witnesses. She was found guilty and convicted on April 23.

Falana: How to stop reckless killings of security men •Falana

CTIVIST-Lawyer Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, has proffered a solution to the reckless killings of security men by the Boko Haram insurgents and others.

He spoke in a statement in Lagos at the weekend.

The lawyer said: “Last week, the security of the nation was once again put under severe test by the dreaded Boko Haram sect. In separate but coordinated attacks by the terrorist group, 55 people, including soldiers, policemen, prison officials and unarmed civilians, were brutally killed in Bama, Borno State.

“The Bama prison was attacked, leading to the illegal release of 105 prisoners. In a

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similar tragic incident, a cult group ambushed and massacred 46 policemen in Nassarawa State. Disturbed by the reckless bloodbath, President Goodluck Jonathan cut short his visit to South África and returned home to take charge of the embarrassing security crisis.

“Besides condemning the barbaric attacks by the terrorist organisations and commiserating with the bereaved families, President Jonathan reportedly held an emergency meeting with the country’s security chiefs. As usual, the Federal Government has assured Nigerians and foreigners of the security of life and property in the country.

“While joining other concerned Nigerians to console those who have lost their loved ones, I am compelled to call on the government to embark on concrete measures to halt the worsening insecurity in the North.

“It is inexcusable to deploy ill-trained, ill-equipped and

ill-motivated soldiers and policemen in war zones armed with only AK 47 rifles without bullet proofs, serviceable vehicles and communication gadgets to fight suicide bombers, who carry more sophisticated weapons.

“It is common knowledge that security personnel buy their uniforms and kits. Those posted to the Northeast geopolitical zone are not provided with any accommodation, while salaries and allowances are irregularly paid. No life insurance is provided. The families of those who lose their lives are not officially informed and the meagre entitlements of the deceased are not promptly paid to their dependants.

“For the past three years, police stations and prisons have been targets of attacks by terrorists, but the government has not deemed it fit to secure such facilities. Last week, in a misdirected antagonism, angry policemen attacked hospital officials in

Maiduguri as there were no sufficient facilities for the embalmment of the bodies of their colleagues, who have been killed by the terrorists.

It is totally unacceptable that the hospitals and other medical centres in the war zone have not been upgraded.

“When the UN building was bombed last year, many of the victims were ferried to South African hospitals for medical treatment. Although it was a shame for the country, the government did not bother since its own officials rush abroad for medical check-up and treatment. Owing to official negligence, many victims of bomb attacks die due to lack of adequate medical attention.

“In view of the foregoing, the Federal Government should stop shedding crocodile tears, having carelessly risked the lives of soldiers and policemen, who are made to fight guerilla wars without any training. The Federal Government should take urgent measures to train and equip the security personnel deployed in the battle fields, purchase helicopters for aeri-

al survey of the Northeast zone, upgrade medical facilities including the provision of ambulances, fortify police stations and barracks as well as prisons and other detention facilities. The Mobile Unit of the Nigeria Police should be retrained and equipped to contain terrorism, kidnapping, insurrection and civil disturbances so as to limit the armed forces to the defence of territorial integrity of the nation.

“If the Federal Government continues to risk the lives of security personnel and expose the lives of the civilian population to danger in the war against terrorism, Nigeria may be sanctioned by the Security Council of the United Nations in view of the ongoing investigation into the Baga invasion being conducted by the government of an influential member of the body. Locally, the government is also liable to be dragged to local courts to pay damages to the victims of preventable deaths arising from the negligence of the state to secure the lives of Nigerians.”

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

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NEWS DG to workers: embrace change

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•Governors hall...from left: Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Martin Elechi (Ebonyi), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River) at the meeting of Southsouth and Southeast governors meeting in Government House, Asaba, Delta State...yesterday.

Minister orders probe of 445,000 domestic crude oil deals T HE Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, has ordered the Group Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Bon Otti, to conduct an investigation into the management of the 445,000 Barrel Per Day (BPD) domestic crude oil purchase by and remittances to the Federation Account.

To ensure the integrity of the exercise, she has directed Otti to immediately engage an independent consultant to conduct the investigation.

According to reliable sources at the NNPC yesterday, the investigation became necessary due to allegations of corruption involving some top officials of the

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

corporation with regards to the management and remittances of the said crude oil purchase.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke is said to have described the allegations as grave and directed that detailed investigations should begin into all aspects of transactions regarding the management of the 445,000 barrels of oil, the day allocated, sales to NNPC by the federation viz-a-viz the level of remittances made to the federation.

The investigation will also cover, but not limited to the

volumes and the value of crude oil purchased by the NNPC, the allocation of crude oil volumes into the following components-volumes and values utilised, exported oil, volumes and values of crude oil dedicated for offshore processing, volumes and values of crude oil dedicated to products swap as well as volumes and values of crude oil delivered to local refineries.

The investigation is expected to also uncover the values of proceeds from crude oil purchase, volumes exported, volumes and values of various states of products yield delivered for crude

oil and for offshore processing, product swapping and the quantity and values delivered for local refineries.

The panel will also ensure that it determines the amount realised by the Petroleum Price Monitoring Commission (PPMC) from the sale of petroleum, remittances made by Corporate Treasury from the sale of petroleum products and remittances made by the Corporate Treasury to the Federal Allocation Accounts Committee (FAAC) from the proceeds of volumes of crude oil delivered to local refineries, offshore processing and crude oil exported.

Shagari urges Nigerians to plant trees F ORMER President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari has urged Nigerians to imbibe the culture of planting trees, to prevent global warming.

The Second Republic President spoke yesterday when he inaugurated a pilot tree planting campaign in flood affected areas at Kaurar Malam village in Tureta Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

The tree planting campaign was organised by the Sokoto State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) as part of its social responsibility to the public.

Shagari, who is also the Turakin Sokoto, said Nigeria needs more trees especially in floodprone areas, adding that “there are numerous medicinal, food

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From Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto

and an array of socio-economic benefits of trees.”

“Nigeria should be made more greener, boosting the health and other functions of trees,” the former president, who was the chairman of the occasion, noted.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, who spoke through the District Head of Yabo, Alhaji Muhammadu Maiturare II, hailed the NUJ for the gesture.

He said: “Such laudable efforts should be sustained and emulated by all unions and organisations. Individuals too

must learn to plant more trees and nurture them.”

Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wamakko represented by the Commissioner for Animal Health and Fisheries, Alhaji Garba Sanda, said increasing human and livestock population pressure has resulted in a significant depletion and degradation of the forests.

“This is due to excessive fuel wood collection, over grazing, farming encroachments, bush fires, hunting and desertification,” he said.

According to Wamakko, “I hope the tree planting campaigns initiated by the NUJ will result in massive mobilisation of the communities to-

HE Director-General (DG) of the Public Service Staff Development Centre (PSSDC), Mrs. Olubunmi Fabamwo, has urged workers in the Lagos State civil service to be the change they desire to see in the workplace.

Mrs. Fabamwo said this at the closing ceremony of the fourth batch of the management bridge training organised by the centre for the middle cadre officers in the civil service.

According to her, 200 officers currently on level 13 and regarded as ‘management staff’ are trained in modern public service management to equip them with cutting edge tools needed for the discharge of the tasks ahead.

She enjoined the 36 participants to make use of the skills learnt during the four-day programme to make the difference in their offices.

She said the centre designed the three-module course to bridge the efficiency gap of management officers and improve public service delivery.

Said she: “We saw that as people move up and become senior managers in the serv-

By Yinka Aderibigbe

ice, they lack the requisite competences and skills and for us, this is unacceptable.

We developed the module and sold it to the Ministry of Establishment, Training and Pensions, which not only bought into it, but sponsored 200 management cadre workers this year.”

Mrs. Fabamwo said the centre is committed to designing products aimed at training and retraining the workers, who will consolidate on the culture of excellent service the state is known for.

The DG said the first module is designed to “prepare public servants in Lagos State to make the transition from Grade level 12 to 13 and develop their skills in modern management theory and help them to maximally contribute to the state government’s reform agenda.”

Responding to a communiqué presented by the class, Mrs. Fabamwo said the centre “is about proposing the extension of the training to the professional cadre in the service,” to ensure that everyone gets on the same page on the performance level.

Fashola urges INEC to be fair

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AGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, (SAN) at the weekend urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to write its name in gold by ensuring that it is seen to have acted above board in delivering Nigeria’s first successful political merger.

Fashola, who spoke at the Eagle Square, Abuja at the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) convention, which was graced by a large gathering of the party’s supporters, including the Chair-

man of its Board of Trustees (BoT), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, said INEC must not only be above board, but must be seen by Nigerians to have done so.

He added: “If it is true that our opponents have any plan or any hand in scuttling the merger, they must rethink and desist. If they believe that the merger offers no ideology, it is not for them to decide that. It is the decision the people of Nigeria, who own Nigeria’s sovereignty, have to make and live with.”

‘Anenih, Tukur great asset to PDP’

A •Shagari

wards developing a tree planting culture.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the NUJ, Sokoto State Council, Labaran Dundaye, had said that the gesture was aimed at helping the flood victims of 2010 and 2012 to make their new settlements more habitable.

FORMER governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has described the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, and the party’s Chairman, Alhaji Bamangar Tukur, as “a plus to the PDP brand.”

Kalu said this when he hosted the Nigerian community in New Delhi, India, to a dinner at Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi.

He said PDP is an extended family and is bound to have differences among members.

Said he: “Even in a nuclear family, brothers and sisters disagree to agree, not to talk of an extended one as it is the case with the PDP, the biggest political party in Africa.”

Kalu noted that despite

this, the party has instilled discipline among members through an efficient and effective conflict management mechanism.

He said the PDP is a party of inclusion and not exclusion and it is on this strength the party has put in place an aggressive approach to bring back to the party fold aggrieved members, who have dumped the party at one time or the other.

Kalu debunked the rumoured conflict between the BoT, under the chairmanship of Anenih, and the National Working Committee headed

by Tukur.

He said PDP is guided under a well articulated constitution, which spells out the roles and responsibilities of each office within the party hierarchy.

UN, FRSC urge compliance with zebra crossing

HE United Nations (UN) and road safety organisations have urged motorists to cultivate the culture of adhering to zebra crossing signs, to ensure the safety of pedestrians on the roads.

The decision was arrived at, at the weekend when hundreds of Nigerians, including road safety officers, staged a walk on the streets of Lagos to commemorate the UN Global Road Safety Week, with the theme: ‘Make Walking Safe’.

The walk, which began

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

from Omole Phase II through Berger to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) office at Ojodu, was organised by the Temidayo Ogan Child Safety and Support Foundation (TOCSS), a non-government organisation in partnership with the Lagos State Government.

The National Focal Person, UN Decade of Action on Road Safety in Nigeria, Dr. Sydney Ibeanusi, said that pedestrian safety in Nigeria was not be-

ing put into consideration by the road users, as most motorists would not wait for pedestrians at the zebra crossing.

He said: “Road users include all of us. The main factor we have identified is non-obedience to the laid-down laws governing road safety. At times, when pedestrians cross the road, they don’t always know what to do.

“Inasmuch as we don’t have enough infrastructure in the country for road safety, we

should use the few available ones we have. Also, the road users attitude is very bad, but we are happy that road safety has been inculcated in the school curriculum.”

The Zonal Commanding Officer, Zone 2, Lagos and Ogun FRSC, Ademola Lawal, said the safety of pedestrians is in the hands of all.

He urged Nigerians to join in the campaign to ensure that the rights of pedestrians were protected.

He said FRSC had been engaging in series of campaigns

and advocacy to ensure that pedestrian safety was guaranteed.

Said he: “The challenge we have is the attitude of road users. Most pedestrians don’t know what to do on the road.

We want to intensify our public enlightenment in this regard through jingles on the radio and other means.”

Lawal decried motorists’ attitude to zebra crossing, saying that the FRSC had ensured that before anyone obtained the driver’s licence, such a person must go through pre-

scribed driving schools where he would be taught the need to stop at zebra crossing for pedestrians to cross the road.

“This walk is to create awareness that pedestrian safety is key. We need to make walking safe. All of us are pedestrians, it doesn’t matter whether you drive a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) or not. You still walk on the road at times without your SUV and it becomes important that all of us must ensure that pedestrians are safe,” he added.

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THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

NEWS Police get permission to question ex-Osun commissioner From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

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•Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi (middle) with pupils of the American Christain Academy, Onireke, Ibadan - Atatt Okutinyang (left), Alexander Allam (second left), Lily Omidiran (second right) and Minatoualla Altobel - during their visit to the Governor’s Office...at the weekend.

Ex-Oyo deputy governor to Ladoja: leave Adedibu alone F ORMER Oyo State Deputy Governor Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi has advised former Governor Rashidi Ladoja to sort out his problem with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) without dragging in the name of the late strongman of Ibadan politics, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.

Gbolarumi, in a statement in Ibadan, yesterday berated Ladoja for making a “derogatory” remark about the late Adedibu while condemning the disruption of a rally organised by the Accord by thugs at Olomi, in Ibadan.

The former deputy governor said: ”It is unfortunate that Ladoja

Ekiti aspirant: zoning is in PDP’s constitution

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

could be quoted as saying that Oyo State should not descend into Adedibu’s era, when political thugs held the state by the jugular.

“How can Ladoja make such an uncharitable remark about the late Adedibu, who was his political godfather and mentor? Ladoja should not be an ingrate.

“Who made him politically?

Was it not the same Baba Adedibu?

It was through the grace of Allah and the political machinery of Baba Adedibu that Ladoja first became a senator on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) and later governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

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PEOPLES’ Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Chief Abiodun Aluko, has said “zoning is part of the constitution of the party”.

Aluko said the call by aspirants from Ekiti Southern Senatorial District for zoning was not an indication that the aspirants were weak.

The former deputy governor spoke with reporters in Ado-Ekiti at the weekend.

He described the zoning call as “the right and proper thing going by political antecedents of the state”.

According to him, the national body of party “had made zoning and rotation of other major political offices in the party an integral part of the party’s constitution. The situation cannot be different in respect of the approaching governorship race in Ekiti.”

He added: “Zoning is for equity and justice in PDP. It has become a policy that positions be rotated and it will not be different in Ekiti. We believe in equity and fairness.

“In 2007, Southern Governorship candidates, such as myself, Mr Akin Osuntokun and Gbenga Aluko were deliberately screened out of the race to favour our candidate to emerge from the North Senatorial District.

Osuntokun or myself, would have won.

“So, I am not talking from the position of weakness over this agitation. I will still beat anybody from the North and Central if thrown open by party leaders. Those who are clamouring for the abrogation of this policy, having enjoyed it in the past are only being insincere.”

“Ladoja should remain grateful to Baba Adedibu instead of passing this kind of unsavoury remarks about the man that made him politically.

“Let Ladoja go and sort out his problems with ACN and Governor Ajimobi. He should not drag Baba Adedibu’s name into it. Ladoja should also not forget that in our tradition and culture, and even in other climes, you don’t talk ill of the dead. What Ladoja is doing now amounts to biting the hands that fed him.”

Describing Ladoja as a key member of the late Adedibu’s group when the going was good, Gbolarumi said: “Ladoja was not only a good political son of Baba Adedibu, he was one of Baba’s

right hand men but if he is now describing Baba Adedibu as a thug after being in his political camp for several years, then that means Ladoja himself is a thug. Politicians should learn to play politics without bitterness.

“It is obvious from Ladoja’s remarks that he is a bitter man. But I will like to remind him that Baba Adedibu was one of the political leaders who fought for the enthronement of democracy in this country.

“He would be remembered for the valiant roles he played in the country’s return to civil rule in 1999.”

He advised the ACN and Accord not to turn Oyo State into a war zone, adding that political leaders must eschew intolerance and play politics according to the rules.

Ekiti to review 2013 budget

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KITI State’s 2013 Budget is to be revised to ensure the speedy completion of ongoing projects.

This was part of the resolutions reached at the Second Executive-Legislative Parley, which held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Ikogosi Warm Spring Resorts in Ikogosi-Ekiti.

The parley was attended by Governor Kayode Fayemi; his deputy, Prof. Dupe Adelabu; members of the State Executive Council; members of the House of Assembly and Ekiti lawmakers in the National Assembly.

The participants said the eightpoint agenda of the Fayemi administration has improved infrastructure and attracted investors to the state.

According to a statement issued

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

at the end of the parley, the budget should be revised to ensure the completion of ongoing capital projects.

It was also resolved that the MidTerm Expenditure Framework (MTEF) that informed the 2013 Budget should be updated and extended to 2016. This is to be reflected in next year’s budget.

The MTEF for 2014 and 2015 should cover agriculture, education, health, urban and physical planning, lands, tourism and infrastructure.

It was resolved that government agencies should design a sustainable plan to improve Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR), as the state could no longer rely on Federal Allocation.

The plan must include clear mea-

sures to capture existing revenue sources, expand the revenue base and block all loopholes, as well as leakages.

It was resolved that a Stakeholders’ Forum, comprising individuals and groups from political and economic boundaries, should be convened to help the government restore the core values of integrity, hard work and honesty that define Ekiti people.

The parley recommended a census of ongoing and abandoned federal projects in Ekiti to inform advocacy for a better deal from Abuja.

It urged the Executive to support the Legislature to undertake its law-making, appropriation and oversight responsibilities.

The parley hailed the government’s investment in the Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort.

Ogun ACN hails closure of illegal schools

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ogun State has praised the Governor Ibikunle Amosun administration for clamping down on illegal private schools.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Sola Lawal, the party thanked the governor for the administration’s free education policy.

The statement reads: “This is a clear departure from the debasement of teaching and learning in public schools through scant atten-

tion by the immediate past administration in the state, which left behind backlog of unpaid teacher’s salary and closure of public schools over lack of funding.

“Over the years, the menace of illegally-operated private schools has cast a dark shadow on the vibrancy that education used to enjoy in the state long before the recent decadence.

“A serious government worth its name has a statutory duty of monitoring and regulating not only what is being taught in schools in its do-

main but also how learning is being imparted and under what environmental condition.

“The party assured parents and other stakeholders of government commitment to salvage the drift in educational sector through consistent insistence on high standards, part of which led to closure of 160 illegal schools across the state.

“Allowing such illegal learning institutions operate un-hindered is tantamount to mortgaging the future of young ones in the obnoxious grip of quacks.”

N Osun State High Court in Osogbo, the state capital, has given the police permission to invite former Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives and Empowerment Mrs. Ayomide FarounbiSeriki for questioning ove alleged misappropriation of fund.

Mrs. Farounbi-Seriki served in the administration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

She allegedly mismanaged one million dollars that was paid by the state into the account of Riverbank Trade Investments Ltd. Mrs. Farounbi-Seriki, in a suit against the Osun State Government, urged the court to restrain the police from arresting and investigating her.

But the court said the law cannot shield an individual from giving account of his or her stewardship.

It ruled that the police are free to invite Mrs. Farounbi-Seriki for questioning.

The court denied Mrs. FarounbiSeriki’s request for N10 million damages and struck out the case.

Daniel’s ex-deputy Badru returns to PDP From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

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ORMER Ogun State Deputy Governor Alhaja Salmot Badru has returned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Badru was deputy to former Governor Gbenga Daniel for eight years.

She contested to represent Yewa South and Ipokia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives in the April 2011 general elections on the platform of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN).

PDP’s State Secretary Alhaji Semiu Sodipo, confirmed Badru’s return to the party.

Two die in Ogun auto crash

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WO persons died yesterday evening at Kobape village on the Abeokuta-Sagamu Expressway, when one of the tyres of a Sienna bus burst.

The driver lost control and the vehicle sommersaulted several times.

The Federal Road Safety Commission’s (FRSC) Head of Operations in Ogun, Mrs. Cecilia Alao, said the accident was caused by overspeeding.

She said the vehicle, marked Lagos EPE 158 BE, was travelling from Lagos to Abeokuta when the accident occurred.

The driver died on the spot. One of the four passengers died on the way to the hospital.

Alao said the remains of the victims had been deposited at Ijaye General Hospital, Abeokuta.

Those injured are being treated at the same hospital.

Fashola to inaugurate WEMABOD’s estate From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

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AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) will tomorrow inaugurate the Golden Court, a residential estate built by WEMABOD Estates Limited.

Golden Court is located on 79, Akinola Cole Crescent, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos.

The inauguration is part of activities marking the 50th anniversary of WEMABOD Estates Limited, a subsidiary of the Odu’a Investments Limited.

It will be followed by the anniversary lecture at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

Prof. Tunde Agboola of the Department of Physical Planning, University of Ibadan (UI), will speak on the topic “Housing provision in Nigeria: Challenges and the way forward.”

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THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

NEWS ‘Lagosians voted for state police’

By Oziegbe Okoeki

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AJORITY of the Lagosians, who participated in last year’s public hearing on constitutional amendment, voted in support of state police, it was learnt at the weekend.

The public hearing was organised by the National Assembly.

The Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Strategy, Security and Publicity Mr. Segun Olulade spoke with reporters in his office at the Assembly Complex.

He said the National Assembly’s report on the public hearing does not reflect the aspiration of Lagosians.

Olulade said: “Lagosians are the most eloquent and consistent advocates of true federalism in the country, and as such, they spoke vehemently on the need to establish state police and the imperative of the devolution of more powers to states, since state and local governments are closer to the people.”

He said a considerable number of political parties, individuals and interest groups canvassed for the State Independent Electoral Commission in preference to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Olulade said Lagosians will reject any report that is not in tandem with their recommendations at the hearing.

35-year-old man ‘rapes’ minors

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35-YEAR-OLD man, Kareem Mandoju, has been arrested by the police in Saki, Oyo State, for allegedly raping two minors, aged five and six years.

Mandoju allegedly committed the offence around 10am last week Sunday.

The victims’ mother discovered that they were bleeding when she wanted to bathe them around noon.

She asked them what happened and they told her their neighbour, Mandoju, had carnal knowledge of them.

The suspect allegedly dragged the minors into his apartment and raped them.

•Man, 27, arraigned for ‘defiling’ teenager From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan and Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

The victims’ mother reported the incident to the police and the suspect was arrested.

The children were taken to the General Hospital, Saki, where the rape was confirmed.

Police spokeswoman Olabisi Ilobanafor confirmed the incident.

She said: “The suspect has been arrested. He is currently with us. He will soon be arraigned. We have overwhelming evidence against

him.”

A tailor in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, Suleiman Jelili (27), has been arraigned before a Magistrate’s Court for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl.

Jelili allegedly committed the offence at Opele Compound, off Sabo Road. He was apprehended by members of a vigilance group and handed over to the police at Oke Baale station.

Jelili was arraigned on a three-count charge of rape, threat to life and molestation.

He pleaded not guilty.

Police prosecutor Solomon Oladele said the accused did not only rape the teenager but also threatened to kill her and one Owolabi Kabira with a cutlass and a bottle.

He said Jelili entered the victim’s room through the ceiling and forcibly had carnal knowledge of her.

Defence counsel Okobie Najite urged the court to grant his client bail.

Magistrate Mohammed Lasisi granted Jelili N100,000 bail with two sureties, but the accused could not meet the bail conditions.

N20m gifts for Oyo constituents From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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HE member representing Oorelope Constituency in the Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr. Adesope Azeez, at the weekend donated gifts worth over N20 million to his constituents.

The items include 20 motorcycles, 20 deep freezers, four wheel chairs, 10 grinding machines, secondary school textbooks, sewing machines, spraying machines and drugs, among others.

They were distributed at the Igboho motor park.

Azeez thanked Governor Abiola Ajimobi and Speaker Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu for their contribution to the success of the programme.

Mrs. Sunmonu thanked Ajimobi for supporting the programmes of lawmakers.

She said his support has made it easier for legislators to impact positively on the lives of the people.

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•Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi (right); author of My Yester-Years Chief Bandele Falegan and his wife, Olufunke, at the presentation of the book in Ado-Ekiti...at the weekend.

Lawmaker mourns Ondo ACN chieftain

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LAWMAKER, Mr. Ifedayo Abegunde (Akure North/ South Federal Constituency), has commiserated with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State on the death of Chief Ayodele Awodeyi, a chieftain of the party in Owo Local Government.

Abegunde also sent his condolences to the deceased’s family.

Awodeyi died last week after a brief illness.

The late Awodeyi was a seasoned banker, community leader and former representative of Owo Constituency 1 in the House of Assembly.

He defected from the

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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•Abegunde

sive politicians will continue with the struggle until the right man is at the helm of affairs.

“My condolences also goes to Mr. Rotomi Akeredolu (SAN) on the demise of this illustrious son of the state, who ran a good race before he finally bowed out.”

Ekiti approves N300m for rural projects

HE Ekiti State Government has approved N300 million for developmental projects in 60 rural communities.

The Commissioner for Rural Development and Community Empowerment, Chief Folorunso Olabode, announced this at the weekend at a forum in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

He said the money will be released to the communities within two weeks for projects, such as markets and town halls, among others.

Olabode said the ministry’s

•263,442 cocoa seedlings for farmers projects and programmes were designed to alleviate poverty, adding that the government will partner Community Development Associations (CDAs) to develop rural areas.

He urged the CDAs to initiate meaningful projects.

To curb rural/urban migration, Olabode said the government has organised health intervention programmes, renovated schools, executed rural electrification projects, opened up rural areas and

initiated the Youth Commercial Agriculture Development Programme (YCAD).

Olabode assured communities of even distribution of projects.

Also at the weekend, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Babajide Arowosafe, said the government will distribute 263,442 cocoa seedlings to farmers.

He spoke during a meeting with cocoa farmers in AdoEkiti.

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HE Lagos State Government has cleaned and dredged primary and secondary channels to prevent flooding.

It urged residents to be calm whenever it rains, adding that the water will disappear as soon as the rain stops.

The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, spoke at the weekend while monitoring the mid-rain cleaning programme on Lagos Island, Mainland and Victoria Island.

Bello assured residents that the government will keep canals and channels clean always to ensure free flow of water whenever it rains.

He said: "The government alerted Lagosians earlier in the year that the state will experience heavy rains and thunderstorms, and as a responsible and proactive government, we have put in place preventive plans and programmes to reduce flooding to the barest minimum, despite the global climatic occurrences that have made coastal states susceptible to flooding."

The commissioner told Lagosians who reside around Kuramo Beach, Alpha Beach, Okun Mapo, Owode Elede, Ikorodu, Badia, Ijora, Ajegunle and other low line areas to be ready to relocate when the rain intensifies.

He said: "Lagos is a coastal state that is susceptible to flash flood anytime it rains. What is of utmost importance to this administration is to ensure that whatever flash flood experienced is effectively discharged into channels that have been dredged and cleaned."

Bello urged residents to dispose waste properly and keep their environment clean.

Probe Ondo tribunal judges, lawyer urges CJN

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

Labour Party (LP) to the ACN before last October’s governorship election.

Abegunde said the late Awodeyi’s contributions in the Assembly were remarkable.

He said: “His popular radio programme, Owo o ni baje, has contributed to the growth of Owo Local Government and Ondo State at large. The erudite politician and philanthropist joined other progressives to effect a change in the governance of the state and, very soon, his mission will materialise.

“Though the change did not come in his life time, progres-

Lagos clears drains to prevent flooding

Arowosafe said the government is determined to revive cocoa production in Ekiti and assured farmers that the number of nursery points will be increased to ensure accessibility.

He said the government would facilitate a virile marketing strategy that will enable farmers market their produce at reasonable prices.

Arowosafe said agrochemicals have been subsidised by the federal and state governments under the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES).

N Akure lawyer, Mr. Charles Titiloye, has urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to probe the Ondo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, led by Justice Andover Kaka’n.

He alleged that the panel judges applied a non-existing provision of the Electoral Act to dismiss the petition of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Titiloye is the counsel to the ACN’s candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN).

He said: “On page 27 line 24 of its judgment, the tribunal ruled that the injection of names into the 2012 voter’s register by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a pre-election matter and it has no jurisdiction over it based on Section 131(5) of the Electoral Act. “Section 131(5) is not in existence in the Electoral Act 2010 as amended. What we have in the Electoral Act is Section 131 (a, b, c, d), which deals with electoral offences, including threats of violence during campaigns and voting.

“It is very embarrassing that the three High Court judges can deliver judgment and hinge their decision on a law that does not exist in the Electoral Act. “This is gross misconduct and abuse of judicial powers, which the CJN must investigate to bring sanity to the Judiciary. The tribunal manufactured the said section to deny the petitioners justice.

“What is more serious is the confidence and certainty with which the tribunal judges relied on the said non-existing section throughout its judgment to dismiss the petitions of the ACN and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“This is not an error of judgment but an intentional conduct aimed at undermining justice. While steps are being taken to appeal the judgment, the CJN needs to swiftly investigate this development in the interest of the Judiciary.

“All hands must be on deck to ensure that the gains of electoral reforms in Nigeria are not reversed through any means. To say INEC can inject strange names into the voter’s register, refuse to defend it at the tribunal and get away with it because an election has been conducted is to endorse electoral fraud in Nigeria. This is what this judgment means to electoral justice.”

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NEWS Big Brother returns with The Chase

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ELEVION viewers across Africa are gearing up for the biggest reality show on the continent the 8th edition of Big Brother Africa.

This year’s edition tagged: “The Chase” will feature 28 housemates from 14 countries and they will slug it out for 91 days in a bid. Up for grabs is a princely $300,000 cash prize and a one-way ticket to stardom.

Billed for inauguration May 26, the contest is ecpected to combine electrifying twists requiring housemates to use their charms and wits to outdo competitors. And setting the tone in line with the theme, the new season’s logo (the iconic Big Brother eye) has an enchanting gold dust finish with a dazzling diamond centre showcasing a glittering and slightly flirtatious feel with edgy gold plated lines.

Commenting on the new season, M-Net Africa Managing Director Biola Alabi says, “Without revealing too much, I can say that AfricaMagic always strives to deliver the best in entertainment and Big Brother Africa remains at the forefront of our plans. We want to give audiences and loyal fans of the show, a truly unforgettable experience once again.

This season, audiences can expect a show encompassing suspense, emotions, drama, fun, excitement and quite possibly, as we have seen in previous seasons, a little romance.”

Ex-Borno Governor to Atiku: prove I’m a terrorist

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FORMER Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has challenged ex-VicePresident Atiku Abubakar to release proofs of his allegations linking him with terrorist or militia groups.

He accused Atiku of allegedly using the media to engage in cheap media blackmail to link him and some politicians with alleged arming of militia groups.

Atiku had told BBC that Modu Ali Sheriff was amongst some governors who gave arms to militia groups between 1999 and 2007.

The ex-VP said that at a stage he met with some of the governors and warned them of the dangers ahead for the nation.

But Modu Ali Sheriff, who had issues with Boko Haram and invited by the SSS, denied “ever arming any group, or giving guns to individuals for whatever purposes.”

•Sheriff: I never gave guns to anybody From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

In a statement in Abuja by his Media Ofice, he said he has never handled a gun himself, and could not have given same to people.

He said: “I do not want to join issues with Atiku Abubakar. I used to respect him and I hope he does not squander the goodwill he enjoys from some of us with his careless remarks. I do not see him as an enemy, as I have no ambition to contest the position he is seeking, which is the Presidency, but he should not take us for granted, as we have the capacity to match him.

“The former vice President is being rather too desperate in his quest to be President, and seems to be envious of the rising political profiles of some politicians from the North, who may have the potentials to stop

him.

“I have no presidential ambition and should be the last person Atiku will take on in the seeming political game of blackmail. “I respect Atiku, but he should be cautious in his remarks, which sometimes portray him as un-statesmanly”.

On the Boko Haram insurgency in Bono, Ali Sheriff said security reports had absolved him and Atiku was not in the position to know how the Presidency in collaboration with the Borno state Government had been handling the issues “Because of his (Atiku’s) estrangement in the scheme of things, so he was not in the position to advise me or any governor.

Sheriff cautioned against the politicisation of the crisis, and called on stakeholders to give useful inputs to government, and stop playing to the gallery in the bid

•From left: Former Nigeria Ambassador to the United Kingdom and celebrator, Dr Christopher Kolade, his wife, Beatrice, Director, IOD Centre for Corporate Governance, Chief Isaac Dada and Mr. Thomas Awagu, at a dinner to mark Kolade’s 80th birthday in Lagos ... yesterday.

‘JAMB not ready for e-testing’

PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA

From Dele Anofi, Abuja

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HE electronic testing (e-Testing) by the Joint Matriculation Examination Board (JAMB) for the 2013 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) drew criticism due to the woeful performance recorded by candidates in the last examination.

The House of Representatives has summoned JAMB Registrar Prof. Dibu Ojerinde to explain the circumstances behind the mass failure.

Ojerinde said In June 2012 that “the board shall be commencing e-testing in the 2013 UTME for candidates because this is what is obtained everywhere in the world”.

A member of the House Committee on Eduction, Kehinde Adeneye (ACN, Ogun) said though e-testing was a welcome development but that the challenges are too enormous for JAMB to accomplish at this period because of the fundamental issues associated with the scheme.

According to the lawmaker, the level of computer literacy and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the country would not allow full achievement of the objectives.

to settle scores.

It is a sad commentary, that the Northeast has remained the most underdeveloped of all the political zones in the country, in spite of the enormous endowments and the opportunities, most of which were wasted during the tenure of Atiku Abubakar as the Vice president. Atiku is the least qualified Nigerian to blame others on insecurity.

“No amount of intrigues or blackmail could shake me or salvage the dwindling political fortunes of Atiku, and his likes, who wasted golden opportunities given to them

by God to be of service to fellow countrymen.

“I have no presidential ambition, and Atiku should stop seeing me as a threat. I challenge Atiku to provide contrary proofs, to what obtains in the security reports authored by a former Chief

Governors urge Jonathan to confront terror OUTHSOUTH and South Eastern Governors yesterday condemned the rise in acts of terrorism across the nation.

They urged President Goodluck Jonathan in a communiqué read by Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke and his Anambra State Peter Obi to “confront terror wherever and whenever it occurs in Nigeria “.

The meeting which held in Asaba, Delta State capital was attended by nine Governors.

They are Theodore Orji (Abia), Rotimi Ameachi (Rivers) represented by his Deputy Tele Ikuru, Bayelsa, Seriake Dickson, Enugu, Sullivan Chime, Imo, Rochas Okorocha, Anambra, Peter Obi, Ebonyi, Martin Elechi, Akwa-Ibom, Godswill Akpabio, Cross River State Liyel Inoke and host Gov-

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‘

The meeting was concerned at the condemnable behavior and antics of some Nigerians and their collaborators in assaulting the collective psyche of the nation, by waging various acts of terrorism ... but salutes the resolute stance of Mr. President to confront terror wherever and whenever it occurs in Nigeria From Musa Odoshimoke and Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

ernor Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole was absent.

Part of the communiqué reads: “The meeting was concerned at the condemnable behaviour and antics of some Nigerians and their collaborators in assaulting the collective psyche of the nation, by waging various

’

acts of terrorism ... but salutes the resolute stance of Mr. President to confront terror wherever and whenever it occurs in Nigeria” The governors appealed to Nigerians to “adopt dialogue and peaceful means to resolve issues affecting our country, adding that they have resolved to work together and ensure regional cooperation in stemming the spate of kidnapping, arson and pipeline vandalisation”.

The governors praised Jonathan for his “focused leadership and bold, result - yielding transformation agenda, urging the unwavering support of Nigerians.

The governors agreed on the economic, regional and political integration of the old Eastern and Midwestern regions now the South/ South and South Eastern states.

It urged the Federal Government to embark on the construction and rehabilitation of railway links between all the states in the region.

It commended President Jonathan for the extensive ongoing rehabilitation and modernisation of airports in the country and called for the establishment of cargo airports including Owerri and additional deep sea ports in the region including Ibaka, Escravos, Agge and dredging of the Calabar ports.

of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Paul Dike and his committee and the earlier report presented by Ambassador Gaji Galtimari, on the origin and manifestations of the problems in Borno, both of which absolved me of complacency.

“The remarks credited to Atiku Abubakar were the outpouring of the frustrations of a sinking politician, who does not have the capacity to confront his real adversaries, rather, he throws diatribes at others he feels might join the growing army of politicians who could rubbish his political chances in the future.”

Judgment in ‘My Pikin’ case for May 16

By Joseph Jibueze

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USTICE Okechukwu Okeke of the Federal High Court, Lagos, will deliver judgment in the trial of a company, Barewa Pharmaceutical Company Limited and others on May 16.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) charged Adeyemo Abiodun and Egbele Eromosele for allegedly producing a contaminated medication for newborns named: My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture.

They were arraigned along with the firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Gbadegeshin Okunlola, who died on October 27, last year. He was 58.

The judge, who will retire two days after the judgment, fixed the date after parties adopted their written addresses.

Defence counsel Mr Osaro Eghobamien, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), urged the court to discharge and acquit his clients.

He said the prosecution failed to discharge the burden of proof that the defendants were guilty as charged, adding that NAFDAC’s case was incompetent.

“The process of scientific evidence is that the samples taken from the defendant, must be shown to be the same with that analysed and presented in court. The chain must not be broken,” he said.

But the prosecutor counsel, Mr Aminu Alilu urged the court to uphold the charge and convict the defendants.

He said the company could not detect that raw materials used to produce the deadly medication was contaminated because its laboratory was not adequately equipped for such tests.

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NEWS

PDP crisis: Anenih canvasses new formula for presidential, governorship primaries for 2015 poll

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N what appears to be a game plan for 2015, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, yesterday said the party ought to evolve a new formula for selecting its presidential and governorship candidates.

The politician, popularly called Mr. Fix It, kept the new system under wraps. He also admitted that some PDP governors have complaints against the national leadership of the party, led by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Anenih said if PDP breaks as a result of the inordinate ambitions of a few members, Nigeria’s democracy will suf-

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

fer.

The former Works Minister regretted that some PDP members have teamed up with “enemies” to undermine the Goodluck Jonathan administration. He also alleged that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has been hijacked by the opposition.

Anenih spoke last night in Asaba, the Delta State capital, at a meeting of governors, federal legislators and state chairmen of the party from the South-South.

The politician said presidential and governorship primaries have always caused cri-

ses in the PDP. He said: “Our party’s primaries have, over the years, been the most serious sources of rancour and disunity in our ranks. Almost two years are devoted to pre-election processes for political offices and another two in managing post-primaries/election bitterness and disunity.

“More pernicious is the fact that we invest so much resources and energy fighting one another in the primaries that should have gone into the larger battle against our political rivals. We cannot continue this tradition of internal warfare. We must not live under the illusion that we can fight one another to the finish and

hope that we can continue to have enough energy left to win elections.

“We must (therefore) evolve a new system of selecting our flag bearers at the presidential and governorship levels that will preserve our unity and reserve our energy and resources for the greater battle for political power. We must seriously consider this to avoid frictions and acrimony in the overall interest of our party and the nation.”

On the crisis rocking the party, he reminded party leaders in the South-South that if PDP breaks, Nigeria’s democracy would be in danger.

Anenih said: “Today, ours is the only national party in

Nigeria with its members spread across all the nooks and crannies of the country. We, therefore, have a strategic obligation to put our house in order to sustain the peace which we have enjoyed in the last 14 years.

“We must always be conscious that if the PDP becomes fragmented as a result of the inordinate ambitions of a few members, our country, our democracy and our people will suffer. We must, therefore, subsume our ambitions to the greater good of our party and our country.

“We must not live under the illusion that our party is invulnerable. Although, the existing opposition parties are still too small, fragile and sectional, we must not ignore the possibility that a merger of these parties may constitute a threat to our current dominance of the political terrain.”

The BoT chairman admitted that some PDP governors have complaints against the leadership of the party.

He added: “It is true that some governors have complaints against the leadership of the party; however, such complaints are not sufficient to warrant any rebellion, as speculated. There have also been some complaints against the governors. In any case, the problems raised are not insurmountable as, indeed, they are already being addressed by the leadership of the party.”

Anenih decried what he called “a well-oiled wheel of insidious media propaganda, which has been tirelessly churning out sinister informa-

tion about the Jonathan administration for the purpose of destabilising (and eventually replacing) his government”.

He said: “Unfortunately, some of these political enemies have PDP members as accomplices. What the antiJonathan forces are doing is to create tension in a desperate bid to unsettle and disrupt the administration. Any of our brothers and sisters being used to play mischievous roles should be dissuaded from doing so.

Although Anenih dismissed the proposed merger of opposition parties as no threat to the survival of PDP, he warned that the ruling party cannot be complacent.

He said: “The proposed merger of four political parties, under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC), appears to be a house built on sand, which is likely to collapse with the first rain.”

He faulted recent activities of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), which he said portrayed it as an anti-Federal Government.

He said: “Indeed, the general perception is that the NGF has become a formidable group of power wielders, seeking to control governments at all levels, including the Federal Government. What is now beyond doubt is that the NGF has been hijacked by opposition governors and is no longer promoting the interest of the PDP. It is for this reason that I fully endorse the formation of the PDP Governors’ Forum.”

Iraqi war commander to deliver Africa Today’s lecture

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FORMER Deputy Commanding General of the Multinational Force in Iraq, Lt.-Gen. Robert Fry, has arrived in Nigeria to deliver this year’s distinguished lecture series of the pan-African news magazine, Africa Today.

Sir Fry was, until his retirement in 2007, the Commandant of United Kingdom’s (UK’s) Royal Marines. He will deliver a lecture on: The Relevance of Special Forces in Contemporary Military Operations.

The lecture, which is holding in Nigeria for the first time since it was inaugurated in 2002, will take place at the National Defence College (formerly War College) in Abuja, on May 16.

It will be attended exclusively by top military officers from Nigeria and other African countries as well as members of the diplomatic community.

Africa Today’s publisher, Mr. Kayode Soyinka, announced this in Abuja yesterday.

He expressed delight that a top military administrator of Sir Fry’s calibre will deliver the lecture this year, “particularly on a topic that is relevant to the security challenges that Nigeria is presently facing”. “Soyinka added: “This way, he (Fry) can bring his experiences and link them with our current challenges in Nigeria and the sub-region.”

A distinguished Com-

•Gen. Fry

monwealth and Oxford-educated former Rhodes scholar and vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies, in Jamaica, Prof Rex Nettleford, delivered the inaugural lecture.

The Deputy Commandant and Director of Studies at the National Defence College, Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Inuwa Idris said: “It is a great honour for us to host Lt.-Gen. Fry at the National Defence College to deliver The Africa Lecture this year. Drawing from his vast knowledge and experiences in different conflict areas around the world will no doubt be of great benefit to our college, and especially our officers, as we deliberate on strategies to confront the security challenges we are facing as a nation and within the sub-region, most especially in Mali and The Sahel.”

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COMMENTARY FROM OTHER LANDS

EDITORIALS

NNPC’s house of stench •Nigerians are yet to be told the whole truth about oil mining leases to Atlantic Energy

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N an industry where sleaze is the rule rather than the exception, the protest by representatives of oil producing communities over alleged fraudulent allocations of some marginal oil fields has merely opened a fresh can of worms.

On April 25, the protesters, drawn from the ethnic nationalities of Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko and Ndokwa in Delta State had stormed the National Assembly where they accused Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani AlisonMadueke and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, of secretly transferring the Oil Mining Leases OMLs 26, 30, 34, and 42 to Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited.

The minister was specifically accused of violating the procurement act as well as breaching extant regulations governing the allocation of the blocks, particularly the requirement of open and competitive bidding. The exercise, they alleged, cost the nation billions in lost revenue. The protesters claimed only $50 million went into the coffers of the Federal Government as against $800 million that ought to have been paid were the bid process to be competitive.

Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, GMDNNPC, Andrew Yakubu, has since responded to the allegations.

In a letter to the Senate, the corporation denied any award of acreage or a divestment of any of the oil blocks by its subsidiary, the NPDC. It claimed that the arrangement was a “Strategic Alliance Agreement, SAA between NPDC and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, with the understanding that the latter

would provide funds for the operations of the blocks.”

Although he would not disclose how much the reserves in the OMLs came to, he also denied that they came near the five billion barrels quoted by the petitioners. And as for alleged loss of revenue, he was emphatic that “the actual revenue… due to the Federal Government remains unchanged and has not been eroded as royalty and tax accruable to the federation account will be paid based on production”.

He clarified the issue of “entrance fee” paid by Atlantic Energy. He claimed that it was “aimed at acquiring the right to fund and not payment for the acquisition of participating interest in the leases”.

The SAA, he claimed was “an alternative funding agreement” to meet NPDC’s cash call obligations and hence does not fall within the purview of the Public Procurement Act. Merely from the foregoing, a number of questions natural arise. First is the nature of the SAA under which a public company could claim to seek funds outside of the strictures of the Public Procurement Act. The second is the choice of Atlantic Energy; what is the firm’s pedigree and how did NPDC and, by extension, the minister arrive at its choice for the SAA among many other companies?

Third is the company’s claim to have paid “significantly higher value than the “mere $50 million” peddled in the media”. By how much? How did the two parties arrive at the amount paid, particularly as the process was not competitive, having been deemed outside of the pur-

view of the procurement act?

Most puzzling of all is what is touted as the role of Atlantic Energy in the development of the leases. The firm claimed in a newspaper advertisement last week that the agreement covered the provision of technical capacity to NPDC, funds for share of operations, and technical training to NPDC staff. It seems to us as unimaginable that a clearly nondescript player would pay “significantly higher value than the “mere $50 million” to a technically –savvy oil prospecting subsidiary of the national oil corporation.

Does anyone smell rent? And what is the firm getting in return?

Obviously, the nation has not been told the whole truth about the affair. Just as the truth deserves to be in the open, it seems that only the National Assembly can help remove the lid on it. We expect they will very soon.

“A number of questions natural arise. First is the nature of the SAA under which a public company could claim to seek funds outside of the strictures of the Public Procurement Act. The second is the choice of Atlantic Energy; what is the firm’s pedigree and how did NPDC and, by extension, the minister arrive at its choice for the SAA among many other companies?“

Sheer escapism •Single term not solution to electoral malpractices HORTLY after his assumption of office in 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan had caused a national uproar when, during his first media chat he proposed an amendment to the constitution to replace the current two-term tenure of four years for the executive, with a single term tenure of seven years.

The President argued that this was the panacea to the excessive competition, confusion, tension, and distractions attendant on conducting elections every four years. In his words on that occasion, “The issue is that in Africa, elections create social unrest and we need to manage this. ... Every four years you conduct elections, you create so much tension in the political environment. As we are talking, some people are busy holding meetings for the 2015 elections”.

Despite his strong avowals that he would not be a beneficiary of the pro-

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There is still no alternative to the conduct of free and fair elections in which all stakeholders – the electoral umpire, security agencies, political parties and the electorate – play according to the rules of the game ...

The proposal amounts to sheer escapism and should be jettisoned by the National Assembly. There are more pressing issues for our law makers to address; tenure elongation in whatever guise is definitely not one of them.

posal, many Nigerians opposed it because they believed, from our experience, that President Jonathan had a hidden agenda of wanting to extend his tenure.

Yet, there were also several others who argued that the suggestion was not really the panacea to the problems identified by the President.

Surprisingly, the issue has once again come on the front burner of public discourse with the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution suggesting a single tenure of six years for the President, Vice-President, Governors, and Deputy Governors, commencing from 2015. It has been speculated that a key reason for this proposal is to prevent President Jonathan and incumbent Governors from contesting the 2015 elections.

We do not believe that the constitution of a country should be so casually amended simply to target specific individuals. Such a serious exercise must rather be informed by general principles and the public good.

In any case, the incumbent President and Governors were in 2011 elected for a four-year renewable tenure and it is immoral and arbitrary to seek to change the rules mid-stream. However, the House of Representatives has said that it would stand by the decision of majority of participants at its public hearings who opposed the proposed single tenure.

Even then, the decision of selected participants in the National Assembly constitutional amendment public hearings cannot be equated with that of the generality of Nigerians. That is why

we favour a more comprehensive approach to constitutional amendment involving an elected constituent assembly and a national referendum.

In any case, the single tenure proposal will not necessarily resolve the problems it is designed to address. Elections will still be intensely contested. In fact, an elongated tenure of one term will only make the competition for the affected offices even fiercer, with increased possibilities of violence and sharp practices. Again, the proposal assumes that the incumbent, after the expiration of one term, will have no interest in whom his or her successor will be or which party will come to power.

This is unrealistic. The power of incumbency will thus still be as potent and prone to be unethically manipulated as ever.

There is still no alternative to the conduct of free and fair elections in which all stakeholders – the electoral umpire, security agencies, political parties and the electorate – play according to the rules of the game. There is no way we can run away from elections even if we have single- term tenure. The alternative would be to ban elections, which would be absurd and antithetical to democracy. The proposal amounts to sheer escapism and should be jettisoned by the National Assembly. There are more pressing issues for our law makers to address; tenure elongation in whatever guise is definitely not one of them.

Heart of darkness inside the Congo Annan report shows the true cost of opaque mining deals

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INERAL deposits ought to be a blessing for the country in which they are found. More often they are a curse. When citizens do not know how much their governments are paid for minerals, they cannot ensure that the revenues are well spent, or that their countries are even getting a fair deal.

Kofi Annan’s Africa Progress Panel has delivered a timely reminder of the real cost of murkiness. In a report, the organisation has singled out deals involving two large UK-listed companies, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp and Glencore, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s poorest countries.

The report calculates that five deals concluded between 2010 and 2012 collectively cost DRC $1.4bn in foregone value – equivalent to 7 per cent of national income, or twice the country’s national education budget. While Mr Annan offers no evidence of wrongdoing, stupendous gains were in effect handed to secretive offshore vehicles controlled by Dan Gertler, an Israeli businessmen close to DRC president Joseph Kabila, to which the assets were sold by state companies at low prices.

ENRC’s involvement stems from the fact that in three cases the Kazakh mining group subsequently purchased concessions controlled by Mr Gertler at far higher prices than those he paid. Glencore figures because it lent money to Mr Gertler to finance at least one other deal.

The US Congress and the European Commission have rightly been striving to bring more scrutiny to bear on opaque deals of this sort. Both jurisdictions will soon require mining companies to report publicly their payments to host governments.

The case for openness is clear. Mineral resources hold back the development of states that possess them as much as they promote it. Publicity about what governments are paid for minerals may not ensure those resources are managed better.

But it is necessary.

Mr Annan’s findings should focus attention on the activities of Mr Gertler and his relationship with the DRC government. They also raise questions about the conduct of both the UK-listed companies, in particular ENRC, which is already under investigation from the Serious Fraud Office over corruption allegations.

Western governments have come out against the unfair exploitation of mineral resources in poor countries. In taking seriously the allegations made by Mr Annan, they can show that their stand amounts to more than just words.

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

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20

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

CARTOON & LETTERS

S

IR: As a Chelsea fan, the news that Sir Alex Ferguson the manager of Manchester United FC has decided to quit his job fills me with great joy ¯ and relief. If there was any man who stood between Chelsea (ok, and other teams) and the English Premier League silverwares it is Ferguson. The man straddled the league like a colossus. I know no greater joy than when he loses. And now the Fergie Time is over!

When I say Fergie Time do not mistake it with the 27 years he spent as the manager of Manchester United.

The Fergie Time I mean was first heard in the 90’s. It is that extra period that referees add that drags a match long enough every time Manchester United need a crucial goal. The first was in 1993 when United got seven whopping minutes of injury time against Sheffield Wednesday and scored to win a first top-division championship since 1967. And after that there have been many of them.

To the opposition it is crazy, an injustice, but to Man U fans it is exciting, a miracle.

Yet, no one can take his managerial capabilities away from him. He is got the charisma. His team looks on him like a father. It is always difficult to defeat a team that believes in a coach and plays for him. He instilled in his boys a comeback, it-isnot-over-till-the-fat-lady-sings mentality that is unrivalled in football.

Sometimes you think they get their cue, or even the match plan from the intensity in which Ferguson chewed his gum.

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

Ferguson: When to ‘step aside’ He was supposed to retire in 2002 but shelved it. Ferguson knows a perfect story. Because that year Arsenal won the league. Ferguson is also smart. He knows it is the last impression that lingers on. He wants history to be forever kind to him. He does not want to sully his status as a Manchester United legend and icon.

He is leaving, or do I say ‘stepping aside’ at the right time. His 27 years as Manchester United manager re-

main glorious, and will be difficult to match.

He won 38 trophies with Manchester United. That included 13 league titles, two Champions Leagues, five FA Cups and four League Cups. Before this he tasted success in Scotland, first with St Mirren where he won the first division title in 1977, and then Aberdeen, with three Scottish Premier Division titles, four Scottish Cups, three League Cups, and a fa-

mous European Cup winners Cup victory over Real Madrid in 1983.

African leaders can learn from Ferguson. At first, African leaders may come with good intentions for their people. They may improve the lot of their people. Instead of leaving when they should, they wait to be booted out in shame after destroying what they may have built. If only African leaders know that the best time to leave is when they are loved

S

• Dr Cosmas Odoemena, Lagos.

Leadership is Nigeria’s problem

S

IR: There is no gainsaying that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is in difficult times.

Ditto the states governors. The truth must be told, Nigerians are expecting purposeful, resourceful, Godly leadership. One is deeply surprised that since May 29, 2011 when we began another democratic dispensation, Nigeria’s development continues to be hampered by bad leadership, moral decadence, hunger, poverty, insecurity and deep-rooted corruption. Our leaders tell lies under oath, trust in deceitful words. They

make promises and break them.

What Nigerians need now is a good and God-fearing leader who will work hard in raising the standard of living of the people, transform the society, enact policies that would give all Nigerians a sense of oneness.

Some of the challenges of national integration and development in Nigeria include economic crisis and poverty, unequal development, crisis of governance and poor political leadership.

Nigeria has big potentials to be-

come one of the most powerful countries of the world, and for it to occupy such position, it must transform its system, integrate the people, grow the economy, fight poverty and hunger. Nigerians and the leaders should also allow God to direct the affairs of their governance.

Nigerians and the rulers should be full of prayers, to empower the Goodluck Jonathan administration to tackle the raging socio-economic and political problems facing the nation and capable of eroding national unity and stability.

FG, security agencies should tighten security IR: The Community Defence Law Foundation, CDLF, a grass-root based civil society organization calls on the security agencies to immediately begin to tighten security around the country.

The recent recorded increase in violence in Borno, Plateau and Nassarawa states resulting in the loss of many lives including that of about 30 policemen calls for worry and the need for the security agencies to indeed be on top of the situation. The President, Dr.

by the people, when they are doing well. This raises the bar for the incoming person and nudges them to want to do better as all eyes will be on them. Success begets success. And failure begets failure, which is why African leadership has had failure in perpetuity. African leaders should borrow a leaf from Ferguson’s book who leaves when the ovation is loudest.

Yet I could not help the sneaky feeling that Ferguson knows that come next season Jose Mourinho could be coming back to Chelsea. And with Manchester City’s ever bigger dreams? Trophy starved Arsenal?

Vengeful Liverpool? Surely there is a knight who knows the best time to ‘step aside’ is now.

Goodluck Jonathan had had to abort his foreign trip to attend to this security lapse, realizing the carnage. Again, there are worries on threats and counter-threats by some political leaders of the north and militant leaders of the Niger Delta on making Nigeria ungovernable if things fail to go their way politically come 2015.

We may not also close our eyes at the arrest of a woman on Thursday, illegally possessing police uniforms at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,

Ikeja-Lagos. The woman was about to board an Aero airline flight to Kano, when the security details at the airport accosted her and, she failed to provide convincing answers. All these and many others portend danger to Nigeria’s corporate existence.

CDLF, calls on our security men to intensify security patrol at our borders; arrest and prosecute all those who have truly erred in law; begin aggressive mop up of fire arms in illegal and idle hands. We also will recommend that the

Ministry of Information, National Orientation Agency, National Christian and Muslim bodies embark on enlightenment campaign to educate the people to embrace peace, respect and tolerate each other’s religion and culture.

The Police must remind the politicians not to, through their unguided statements, overheat the polity thereby, sending wrong message to their supporters.

• Uzodinma Nwaogbe Abuja

President Jonathan needs to urgently tackle the energy problem, revive industries, encourage entrepreneurs, create mass emoployment for the youth, look into the security situation in its entirety, tackle the war against corruption seriously, adhere to the tenents of the rule of law, improve infrastructural facilities, convocation of prayer summit at all levels of our government among others.

Sincerely, Nigerians must create the atmosphere of trust, transparency, honesty and accountability in the spirit of the fear of God, otherwise it will remain where it is. We have to harness the God’s given abundant gifts of nature around us to make the country great. Our leaders have to learn and start taking decisions on what is best for the country rather than their self-serving interests. Unless and until we address the challenge of leadership, the country can never move forward.

Religious leaders in the country should not feel shy to address issue of bad leadership and also make their views read and heard.

• Prophet Oladipupo FunmiladeJoel (Sekunderin) Lagos

21

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

COMMENTS

Diverting the nation to final bus stop

N

IGERIA of today is in perceptible disarray. There is so much confusion and discouragement indicating that the nation is being dragged to the end of its journey. The desperation to retain power at all cost is diverting the essence of fulfilling the promise of transforming the nation. As goal posts keep shifting, developments keep degenerating. It is as if the only things being transformed rapidly are the private pockets with looted funds from the national treasury, leaving the masses to perish in penury.

The problem afflicting the nation is the non-commitment of the chosen few in leadership who tend to be holding the electorates in hostage. Concentrating on nation building has become pettiness while ambition and corruption are prioritized. When on May Day the labour leaders requested the President to fight corruption harder, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s response was the current trend counter-attack as he told the workers to advise their colleagues to stop stealing. He might have forgotten that those stealing downstairs are following the pattern at the top.

An article by Dutch journalist and writer Femke van Zeiji, titled “Mediocrity overtakes corruption to wreck Nigeria” published in The Guardian few weeks ago recapitulated the factual situation of the nation. “Nigeria is the opposite of meritocracy: you do not earn by achieving,” she wrote. “You get to be who and where you are by knowing the right people. Whether you work in an office, for an enterprise or an NGO, at a construction site or in government, your abilities hardly ever are the reason you got there. Performing well, let alone with excellence, is not a requirement, in fact, it is discouraged.”

The lady who lives and works in Nigeria must have experienced the trauma stalling the country from moving forward. To her, “it would be too threatening: showing you are more intelligent, capable or competent than the ‘oga’ at the top (who as a rule, is not an over-achiever either) is career suicide.” She could see the drift of the nation’s failure from “an attitude that trickles down from the very top, its symp-

‘It is pitiable that the crops of Nigerians who have now morphed into the leadership class are more interested in personal attainments than rendering faithful services to the people.’

C

ONSEQUENT upon the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election won by the late Alhaji M.K.O. Abiola, Nigeria headed for the precipice. It took the fleeting emergence of Chief Ernest Shonekan for some fragile stability and graveyard peace to be achieved.

Shortly thereafter, the late Gen. Sani Abacha came on the scene by dismissing the interim government headed by Chief Shonekan through a coup. The bespectacled General clamped a lot of people into jail and routinely made the prison yards nationwide the habitation of real and imaginary ‘troublemakers’, particularly the advocates for the restoration of democracy to Nigeria on the vociferous and popular NADECO platform.

On the heels of the revalidation of democracy by General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who assumed the reigns of leadership following Abacha’s death, it took massive persuasion to get Obasanjo to return to power as a civilian head of state.

One of the dignitaries that visited the Ota farm settlement of Obasanjo immediately after his release from incarceration was former head of state, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), GCFR. The mission was to encourage OBJ to accept the responsibility circumstance had thrust on him with Abiola’s controversial transition.

That trip was long before OBJ eventually became the country’s president and began to drive rough thereafter, forgetting where he was coming from, God’s intervention in his rescue from Abacha’s gulag and his antecedents generally. Astonishingly, almost all the people who played key roles in the enthronement of OBJ as Nigeria’s president gradually became his targets for witch-hunt, assault and needless embarrassment.

It must be underscored that OBJ is a very amnesic, vindictive and pretentious human being—all traits resoundingly confirmed by events before, during and even after his wasted eight-year presidency!

While in office, OBJ established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) with its first chairman as Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu. At the outset of this laudable agency there were dispassionate efforts at rooting out corruption and other criminalities from this clime. Along the line, the agency derailed and became OBJ’s instrument for humiliation, intimidation, oppression, subjugation, suppression and witch-hunt of all manner of ‘enemies’ and their perceived friends.

So, without recollecting the roles IBB and former VicePresident Atiku Abubakar, among others, played pursuant to his disastrous presidency in terms of political strategy and moral backing, he covertly unleashed the EFCC on them,

toms eventually showing up in all of society, from bad governance to bad service.” Her conclusion was that frustration of unrewarded excellence is making Nigeria to become a “pretty cumbersome place for anyone striving for perfection.”

Not long ago, President Jonathan acknowledged openly that corruption in Nigeria is not a serious issue, daringly certifying that a good 80 per cent of what Nigerians consider to be corruption are actually not corruption cases. Perhaps, he said so to denounce the critics in self-defence. Yet, hardly could any impactful development be seen of the enormous budgets that are annually approved for execution since he assumed office.

Indeed, those in power might be defending their ineptitude, cluelessness and disloyalty to those whose votes were manipulated to get into office by lambasting their critics as colleagues in despotism and fraud. The reality of the state of the nation today is unhidden as corruption is crushing depressingly on the life of the underprivileged, lowly and poor majority.

Only last week, a report of Save the Children International, a non-governmental organization disclosed that among 176 nations, Nigeria is rated 169th worst place to be born. It also stated that being the 12th highest country where babies die on their first day after birth, Nigeria has become one of the riskiest place to be born on earth. The conclusion was that the agonizing story is based on the poor health circumstances of mothers. Many more Nigerians are today being confronted with early death due to hunger and diseases.

Of course, the colossal corruption in Nigeria at all levels as alleged by United States of America’s Department of State last month cannot but strengthen destitution in the land of abundance. Documenting major financial scandals of 2012, the department’s report presented to the US Congress by Secretary of State John Kerry estimated official money lost to “endemic corruption and entrenched inefficiency” at $6.8billion (N1.067trillion). Among others, the world was also reminded of the stealing of N32.8billion Police Pension Fund, fraudulent contracts, embezzlement and laundering of N75billion by a former Minister and the many ex-governors arrested and charged for fraud committed while in office.

It is not strange declaring that though Nigerian law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, the fact that the law is not being implemented devotedly, fraudulent practices are being engaged with impunity across the land.

Supposed anti-corruption institutions have proved to be tools in the hands of the authority to deal with fellow corrupt officials they disagree with on personal issues.

Even when the commissions and the judiciary arraign criminals, there is hardly confidence in concluding the cases justifiably. The consequence has been a criminal nation begetting criminal citizenry. Today, there are multitude criminal cases inconclusive in trial: oil thieves, fuel subsidy scammers, and much more. After boisterous arrests, followed by few days of detention, if at all there is arraignment, bail would be granted and that might just be the end as adjournments would be mounting upon deferments. Were the cases

of ex-Delta State Governor James Ibori who pleaded guilty abroad after escaping from home and militant leader Henry Okah convicted for bomb blasting in Abuja handled here at home, penalties of their criminalities would not have manifested as it was. Afterall, many of the ruling party’s former governors like Ayo Fayose, Adebayo Alao-Akala and Aliyu Akwe Doma who were once arraigned for fraud are walking free today upon inconclusive trials.

It is pitiable that the crops of Nigerians who have now morphed into the leadership class are more interested in personal attainments than rendering faithful services to the people. The nation is under untrustworthy political class who make promises that are never fulfilled. Million jobs are assured, but more million people are remaining jobless - rendering enormous talented human resources wasted and discarding them to criminality.

Resolving power challenges keeps dragging with government propagandists defending electricity output of 4,500 MW for use by 160 million Nigerians as remarkable achievement. Pledges are made to build more cash reserves, but such reserves are reportedly being pocketed by the very few privileged, leaving the nation in mounting indebtedness. Let’s recollect how Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili’s disclosure was turned to battle of personalities.

The way the country is being administered is as if the political elites are essentially telling the masses that they are ordinary Nigerians deluded about the nation’s state of affairs. They relegated the masses as the foolish and elevate themselves as the sane.

The reality is that Nigeria is being detracted from moving forward through terrorism, kidnapping and fraud – all resulting from embedded corruption. Disasters keep crawling across the land. People in poverty are being used as tools in the hands of the wicked.

The fatal challenges of Boko Haram disparaging the nation today are being faked as religious when in actuality it is largely more about power tussle. Last week, detachment of riot policemen and security officers heading to dislodge the shrine of Ombatse, a deity of Eggon people in Nasarawa State were murdered. Same time, many casualties emerged in Agatu Local government Area of Benue State after attacks. This was happening when the issues of the many lives lost in Baga, Bama/Banki and Marte were still unresolved.

Yet, life cannot continue the unpleasant way it is. The failing leaders should know that their time will soon be over.

The haven of rogues undermining the economic development of the country will soon be forced to vomit all the swallowed good of the land. This is because people are anticipating for change.

For Nigeria not be extricated as a nation, this time of wasteful challenges is surely for meaningful change in governance. This is why the wise who love the people should not allow the craving for 2015 elections to detract since it will not just be about voting for change of personalities or about tribalism. It will be about reformation of a decaying nation.

Now then should be the time to focus more about change in attitude, in character and in conducting sincere and purified business of government.

IBB on Adenuga, OBJ and allied issues

By Ebere Wabara including the ACN leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Ribadu graciously confirmed this at the presentation of a book in honour of the late Abiola by Dr. Olatunji Dare not long ago and further made a testament to futile pressures on him to criminalize Tinubu at all costs!

The relationship between IBB, Adenuga and OBJ informed this essay in the light of IBB’s congratulatory message to Adenuga on his diamond anniversary a fortnight ago, as published in major Nigerian newspapers, including this racy medium, naturally (extracts below).

Shortly before the end of his tenure as third-time president of this country, OBJ reopened the missing $2.8 billion Gulf War accruals (windfall) and declared that all those involved in the looting of the money will be tried in obvious reference to IBB whose government was in power when the incident happened. In fact, there were talks that IBB may be arrested to explain the alleged misappropriation! That never happened apparently because of the backlash such jaundiced inquisition will elicit.

The next victim of OBJ was the chairman and principal owner of Globacom, Otunba Mike Adenuga, Jr. (GCON). As usual, the EFFC was let loose on ‘Mr. Glo.’ What were his offences? His enduring friendship with IBB and parleying with Atiku instead of supporting his third-term fiasco! Not surprisingly, the EFFC furiously went after Adenuga. What were the additional charges? ‘The Bull’ was allegedly fronting for IBB in the ownership of Globacom! When that script was torn to shreds, the EFCC and its principal (OBJ) could not understand why and how ‘The Guru’ should be the core stakeholder in the multi-billion telecoms project (forgetting that he is one of the world’s 258 richest men, according to Forbes magazine). So, the next thing was to get to the root of the suspicions through the invasion of Adenuga’s home and offices on Victoria Island in a Gestapo way in search of implicative documents, unsuccessfully. At a point in the ensuing drama, the EFCC made a volte-face and said it was IBB’s son and next governor of Niger State, Muhammed, who held his father’s purported equity in Globacom! The victimization got to a point that when Adenuga travelled to Paris during the EFCC siege, the combative agency issued a vitriolic statement that he had fled the country to foreclose arrest and the misinformation spread

like a hurricane and people were calling me to find out the truth and the multi-billionaire’s whereabouts as a corporate affairs strategist in one of his companies then! Overall, the EFCC brouhaha ended in a fiasco as there was no iota of truth in its principal’s weird imagination and despotic machination.

The point must be noted that Adenuga was vindicated at the end of the day. It took the courageous, unquestionable, unimpeachable and trustworthy intervention and royal guarantee of Kabiyesi Alaiyeluwa, Oba (Dr.) S. K. Adetona, CFR., when Adenuga returned from France shortly after the unwarranted invasion of his person and institutions to broker a final resolution and emancipation of ‘Mr. Glo’ from the unnecessarily vindictive and jealous clutches of OBJ when he was in power for the last time! Never again!

Now the vintage message from IBB to Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jnr., GCON, on his 60th Birthday, which, I am sure, most people did not flag! It is instructive and partly goes thus: “…The fact that you treasure the virtue of true friendship and loyalty to any cause you believe in gives you the cutting edge. I am eternally grateful for all the troubles you had to go through because of me in the hands of a regime that tried to derail our friendship and relationship.

“Even when you came under severe pressure by that same regime which I helped to nurture (emphasis mine), to blackmail me in order to hang me, you remained eternally loyal and steadfast. Only a businessman of character, sound upbringing and virtue could choose friendship instead of his economic empire. Only a man of delectable poise, with an open mind and fear of God, would choose to sustain an agelong relationship instead of sacrificing same at the altar of avarice, greed and economic interest.

“Such tribulations are prices we have to pay for true friendship…I remain grateful for being a true friend indeed.”

The foregoing extracts speak volumes of the uncanny character of the Ota farmer! Who can name the symbol of devilishness for me? I already have an exemplar in the person of…as if you didn’t know! Do I need to add that the instructive anniversary message from IBB for The Bull—and to the bully from Ota—made my day? I read it voraciously and internalized the import of it all. I implore those who did not read it to get a copy and digest it for personal edification.

•Wabara is a perception manager based in Lagos.

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

22

COMMENTS

O

UTRAGE over statements by two key personages from the Niger Delta on the likely outcome of the 2015 elections should President Goodluck Jonathan fail to make it, is to be expected.

The duo of Asari Dokubo, a repentant militant and Kingsley Kuku, special adviser to the president had at different occasions threatened dire repercussions for the country if Jonathan is not returned to power come 2015.

They were reported to have said that the country will know no peace if Jonathan is not returned as president of the country. Even with the denial by Kuku that he did not say there will be a return to violence in the Niger Delta if Jonathan did not make it, not many are persuaded that he did not author the statement credited to him. This is more so as Dokubo has not denied his own version.

There is the feeling that coming the way they did, those statements should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand. That perhaps accounts for the condemnations that have trailed them. Even then, such inciting statements are neither entirely new nor limited to the Niger Delta region.

Before now, two northern leaders Adamu Ciroma and Lawal Kaita had issued threats insisting that the north must produce the president in 2015 else there will be dire consequences. Apart from these, there have equally been inciting statements from some other quarters on the 2015 elections and their possible outcome should things not go the way expected.

Coming on the heels of earlier predictions that the Nigerian state might fail by 2015, these recurring threats must be a serious cause for worry. It is only hoped that we are not walking the path of self-fulfilling prophesy.

But more importantly, the threats expose the nature of desperate politics we play in this country. They speak volumes on what progress or lack of it has been made in our quest for national integration in the last 52 years of our independence. Above all, we are being exposed to the motivational and propelling reasons for our pattern of political competition. And central to all is prebendalism-the quest for political power for the sole aim of satisfying ones immediate families and primordial interests. That is why the South-south is threatening fire and brimstone should their kinsman Jonathan fail to make it again. That is why the north is laying strident claims to power in 2015. And

I

Emeka OMEIHE 08121971199 email: EmekaOmeihe@yahoo.com

Dokubo, Kuku et al it is for the same reason other sections that have not taken a shot at the presidency are equally fighting for it.

Implicit in all these struggles, is the feeling that it is by electing one of yours into strategic national offices that the interests of that section can be adequately protected. It also exposes the fact that we are yet unable to build national leaders and national institutions. Our people are yet to repose confidence in the capacity of our political leaders to rise above sectional, ethnic and primordial predilections despite pontifications to the contrary. By the same token, they are yet to come to terms with the reality that the resources of the country will not be disproportionately deployed to service sectional interests.

So how do we expect this country to make any meaningful progress with such a ruinous political culture? How can meaningful development take place with the subsisting suspicion, mistrust and in-fighting among the component units? These are the issues to ponder especially when it is recalled that the spate of insecurity in the country is directly tied to events of the last presidential primaries of the ruling party.

Is it not surprising that the credentials being bandied by all those threatening the country should their region fail to produce the next president are predicated on ethnic interests?

Both Dokubo and Kuku are flaunting their Niger Delta credentials while Ciroma and Kaita are talking of northern interests. So where do we locate the Nigerian interest within this cacophony in sectional voices? That is the question to ponder. The issue is not just that sectional considerations dominate our perception of the power equation in this

WATCHED with zeal and enthusiasm the recent Presidential Power Reform Transaction Signing Summit at the State House Abuja. At that summit, the preferred bidders for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor generating and distribution companies that have paid the initial 25% of the bid prices were handed over their 25% payment certificates. The balance of 75% is expected to be settled within six months. That event to me was indeed a major step forward in the implementation of the power sector reform. The Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo in his speech at the event described the summit as a “further boost to the reform momentum and investment confidence.”

The minister is n right because the critics of the ongoing privatization efforts in the power sector do not agree that the process would reach the present stage of its journey. Their scepticisms were initially hinged on the believe that privatization of the power sector was not an answer to Nigeria’s quest for uninterrupted power supply and therefore concluded that the project would not work.

Today, we have gone beyond the unbundling of the PHCN to the sale of the successor companies. It is also becoming increasingly clear that the solution to the interrupted power supply in the country lies in the hands of private investors given the enormity of the financial investments that are required to revitalize and transform the sector for efficiency and result.

For instance to achieve the projected 40,000 MW in the country by the year 2020, it requires an annual US$10 billion investment in the power sector for the next 10 years. This means that a whopping US$100 billion is required urgently with generation alone, accounting for 35 percent of the fund injection. Obviously, this huge capital outlay is not available to the federal government now or in the near future.

The interest shown by investors in the privatization of the power sector is unimaginable. Impressed with the investors market confidence in the power sector, President Goodluck Jonathan during the Power Reform Transaction Signing Summit stated that he was encouraged by the sustained interest in the sector and the meaningful investments that had been prompted in gas processing, power generation, power distribution and transmission. The President is not alone on this impressive note. Major industry players present at the event as well as senior government officials, friends and partners of Nigeria gave their endorsement and expressed confidence in the implementation and progress so far recorded in the privatization process of the sector.

In no distant time, the generation and the distribution companies would be handed over to the preferred bidders to be fully managed by them. The only component of the power sector that will remain in the hands of the government is the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). Already a

country but they now constitute serious threat to its continued survival.

It is even more pondering that the feeling is permeating that political power can be cornered through threats by the component units. Ironically too, these threats are not limited to the political front. The dreaded Boko Haram religious sect that has been levying war on the country in the past two years had issued such threats. In its case, it is championing the institution of an Islamic state in the country for which it asked southerners to leave the north. The attacks on churches and southerners before now were predicated on its commitment to have its warped agenda come through. Even as we condemn the Niger Delta chieftains for threatening hell if Jonathan does not return for a second term, such inciting statements

‘Why do we oppose fresh negotiations on how we can live in harmony and achieve faster development when each day, issues arising from this continue to stare us in the face? Is it not confounding that sectarian and primordial cleavages are now at an all time high despite our touted unity over the past 52 years?’

are not new in our political chessboard. As a matter of fact, they are fast assuming the necessary and sufficient conditions for groups within the country to seek accommodation and relevance from those who hitherto dominated its leadership. It is also very interesting that northern chieftains have also fallen for the same tactics. What matters now it would seem, is no longer merit or competence but the geopolitical zone which the leader comes from.

This is where this country has just found itself and that is very unfortunate. Perhaps, what all these underscore is the point that has been severally canvassed on the need for us to take another look at the basis for our continued stay as a country. Before now, several well meaning Nigerians have rooted for a national conference or its sovereign variant to determine Nigeria’s future. Those who make these calls hinge them on the imperative to resolve once and for all, the contentious issues of our federal structure so that the country can progress in an atmosphere devoid of their disruptive influences. But each time these issues are raised, those who purport to be the conscience of this country stridently oppose the idea. However, the issues that give rise to such calls refuse to disappear. Is it not time we face reality and save this country the distractions it faces on account of our inability or outright refusal to square up to our nagging problems? Or why do we delude ourselves to the effect that all is well when in all actuality, the component units live in mutual distrust and utter suspicion. Why do we oppose fresh negotiations on how we can live in harmony and achieve faster development when each day, issues arising from this continue to stare us in the face? Is it not confounding that sectarian and primordial cleavages are now at an all time high despite our touted unity over the past 52 years?

Perhaps, if we had addressed some of these problems through the conference, the Niger Delta militancy and the Boko Haram insurgency which are serious threats to our nationhood would have been taken care of.

Perhaps also, there would have been no need to resort to ad hoc amnesty palliatives for issues that would have been holistically tackled.

It is therefore not enough to brood over threats from Niger Delta, Boko Haram, Arewa Forum, Oodua Peoples Congress and Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra. That is how bad our inability to address issues of our collective being has taken us to.

Achieving robust power transmission network

By Uche Aneke management contract between Manitoba Hydro of Canada and the federal government has been put in place for TCN, to bring global best practices to bear in the expansion and management of the Nation’s grid. The TCN Board has also been inaugurated and the Schedule of Delegated Authority (SODA) has been issued to Manitoba Hydro.

What this means is expected massive increase in the quantum of power generation and distribution in the country. But can this expectation be sustained in view of the state of the transmission network available in the country and the huge financial investment required to strengthen it?

The Minister of Power, Professor Nebo, recently revealed for instance that a total capital outlay of US$3.4 billion is required up to 2016 to fix the country’s transmission grid to be able to evacuate all generated power estimated at 20,000MW. At present, the transmission network in the country remains weak and cannot wheel a power load greater than 5,000 MW. What government needs to do at this moment is to urgently put in place a robust transmission expansion master plan to cope with the expected massive increase in generation.

It is on record that the gap between the power production profile and the effective wheeling capacity of the country’s grid is in excess of an average of 1,200MW per day of stranded generation. This development is unhealthy and cannot be tolerated in this expected new dawn of increased power generation, especially when the private investors take over.

Efforts should therefore be intensified by the government to address the issue of the present radial network and dominant single- circuit network which industry experts said were responsible for grid fragility. There is also the issue of accumulated maintenance neglect throughout the network which the government should also look into, to avoid the increasingly weak handshake at the TX/DX interface, causing frequent feeder-line tripping and declining efficiency of transmission-level fault detection and protection systems.

As noted earlier, government alone may not be able to achieve this robust transmission network. It therefore becomes expedient to tinker with the idea of declaring a Transmission Emergency in the sector in recognition of the threats this weakness poses to the development of a sustainable power market. In the same direction, government can as well create an enabling frame work for private- sector

participation in transmission project development as well as promote an agenda to attract investors to partake in project development.

It is however, gratifying to note that some positive steps have been taken by the government to strengthen the nation’s transmission line capacities. Already government is working out the funding of the TCN long term expansion plan from a mix which will include the Transmission Development Fund, international banks and multilateral agencies. Work is also currently on going in the refurbishing, rehabilitation and expansion of existing plants, for electricity development in the country.

There are also faults clearing in the transmission network across the nation, upgrading and modernizing many aspects.

Many of the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) already have transmission components embedded in the project. For example, 118 transmission projects by NIPP are ongoing now in 43 lots. These transmission projects which cover over 274km of lines and transmission capacity of 2,370 MW will soon be completed.

While commending the present conscious efforts of government to achieve a robust transmission network, it is also pertinent to say that the application of speed in the completion of these critical projects is important to quickly enhance the TCN wheeling capacity and to maintain stability in the entire electricity value chain during and after the privatization of the power sector.

• Aneke is an Abuja based public affairs analyst.

‘It is on record that the gap between the power production profile and the effective wheeling capacity of the country’s grid is in excess of an average of 1,200MW per day of stranded generation. This development is unhealthy and cannot be tolerated in this expected new dawn of increased power generation, especially when the private investors take over’

25

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Following the approval of Federal Executive Council, we have concluded arrangements to commence the construction of not just one, but five brand new world class international airport terminal.

- Ms Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation

THE CEO

FINANCE

‘Banks not most profitable institutions - P. 28

Attracting investments to the market - P. 34

News Briefing

Furore over banks’ donations to FRC

SON to regulate tokunbo vehicles’ import THE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is to regulate the importation of second hand vehicles (popularly known as tokunbo).

- Page 26

NSE’s index hits 36,000 points INDEX at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated by 0.64 per cent to reach a new high of 36,000 points.

- Page 26

Senate dashes hope of NPA, Shippers’ Council THE Senate Committee on Marine Transport has dashed the hope of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to become the technical regulators at the nation’s sea ports.

- Page 27 DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$107/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,800/troy ounce Rubber -¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

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

Inflation Treasury Bills -

11.9% 7.08%

Maximum lending-22.42% Prime lending - 15.87% Savings rate 91-day NTB

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2% 15%

Time Deposit MPR -

5.49% 12%

• Obazee

I

NVESTORS, banks’ ex ecutives, financial serv ices operators and stakeholders have deplored huge donations by banks to the IFRS Academy, an initia-

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0.2958 206.9

£ $

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242.1 156

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1.9179 238

RIYAL -

40.472

ried on the issue by miffed shareholders; some executives merely offered off-thecamera excuses of “you know they are our regulator, it’s in our best interest to comply.”

Stakeholders, who spoke in confidence to The Nation, said such donations could compromise the integrity and independence of the FRC. A leader of financial services trade group said FRC needs to tread carefully in order not to undermine the

integrity of the financial regulatory system, especially given its onerous duty as the accounting standards setter and implementer of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

They expressed dismay that as the government agency in charge of ensuring companies comply with accounting rules and practices, such donations could compromise FRC’s integrity.

The academy is a unit of the FRC and it’s aimed at training regulators and operators in IFRS.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government had directed that companies should convert to IFRS with effect from January 1, last year.

Chief Executive Officer of FRC, Mr Jim Obazee, had explained that the IFRS Academy would help to update accounting skills, lamenting the deplorable state of accounting training in higher institutions in the country.

He had noted that most of these accounting students go through school without any knowledge of IFRS, making them almost unemployable.

Govt may extend N257b destination inspection contract

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HERE are indications that the Federal Gov ernment may extend for the second time this year, the N257 billion contracts given to the three service providers under the Destination Inspection (DI) scheme.

The government, investigation has revealed, may take the decision based on the report that the Nigeria Customs Service does not have the personnel to man and maintain the machines.

The seven-year contract, which was to expire on December 31, last year, was first extended on January 1, this year by President Goodluck Jonathan.

After the initial sixmonth extension, the Federal Government, sources said, was yet to be convinced that Customs officials could take over the job.

A source close to the Federal Ministry of Finance told The Nation yesterday, that the Federal Government might table the extension of the contracts at the Federal Executive (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.

But the announcement for the renewal of the contracts, the source said, might be delayed till the

Foreign Reserve $35.8b FOREX CFA EUR

tive of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC).

Shareholders have criticised the donations, which were highlighted in the yearly reports of the banks, as official arm-twisting, wondering why the government agency could not fund its learning initiative.

Annual reports of several quoted companies released so far showed a wide gap between banks’huge donations to the IFRS Academy and almost none from non-financial services’companies.

Bank executives were silent when they were que-

• Dikko

By Oluwakemi Dauda

end of the month or early next month.

The source also said Customs’ supervising ministry was yet to see the preparedness of Customs officials to take over.

The ministry sources said the Federal Government was worried because it is afraid of creating crisis at the ports and other affected areas.

However, Customs Public Relation Officer, Mr Wale Adeniyi, said they have enough men to carry out to do the jobs.

Many Customs officers, Adeniyi said, have been trained on the scanning.

“Our officers are ready to do the job and they have been trained to do so. I doubt if the government will extend the contract beyond next month,” he said.

The Save Nigerian Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Coalition advised the Federal Government to hand over the inspection scheme to Customs in July Its Chairman, Mr Chukwu Osita, said it would be better and cheaper for the country if Customs takes over from the contractors.

“I have not seen what the service providers are doing that the Customs cannot do. Customs has been training its officers and men in the past six years and it is time they were given the chance to practise what they have been taught.

“Customs should be allowed to take over the destination inspection because we are not getting the service and all the problems associated with destination inspection scheme are still there.

“We expect that with the service providers, the

problems will be eliminated, but shippers still continue to have problems,’’ Osita said.

He, however, added: “If the government thought that the service was not ready to take over, then

some staff working with the service providers should be employed by the Customs.”

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

26

BUSINESS NEWS Flight Schedule MONDAY - FRIDAY LAGOS – ABUJA Departure Arrival 1. Aero 06.50 08.10 2. Associated 07.00 09.30 3. Air Nigeria 07.00 08.20 4. IRS 07.00 08.20 7. Arik 07.15 08.15 7. Chanchangi 07.15 9. Air Nigeria 08.15 09.35 10. Aero 08.45 10.05 11. Arik 09.15 10.15 12. Chanchangi 10.00 11.00 13. IRS 11.15 12.35 14. Aero 12.20 13.30 15. Air Nigeria 13.25 14.45 16. Chanchangi 13.30 14.30 17. Arik 13.45 14.45 18. IRS 14.00 15.20 19. Aero 14.10 15.30 20. Air Nigeria 14.50 16.10 21. Chanchangi 15.30 16.30 22. Arik 15.50 16.50 23. Aero 16.00 17.20 24. IRS 16.30 17.50 25. Arik 16.50 17.50 26. Chanchangi 17.30 18.30 27. Air Nigeria 17.35 18.55 29. Air Nigeria (T/TH) 18.30 19.50 20. Arik 18.45 19.45 31. Aero 19.20 20.40

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LAGOS – BENIN Arik 07.30 Associated 08.30 Aero 10.50 Arik 11.45 Associated 13.00 Aero 14.25 Arik 15.30 Associated 16.00 Arik Aero Arik Aero

1. Arik 2. Aero 1.

2.

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LAGOS – CALABAR 07.30 11.20 12.50 16.00 LAGOS – JOS 10.55 11.15

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

08.30 09.10 11.50 12.45 13.40 15.20 16.30 16.40 08.50 12.40 14.10 17.20 12.15 12.45 09.10 11.00 11.10 16.20

LAGOS – PORT HARCOURT (CIVIL) 1. Aero 07.15 08.35 2. Arik 07.15 08.35 3. Arik 09.00 10.20 4. Aero 10.50 12.30 5. Arik 11.40 13.00 6. Air Nigeria 12.00 13.10 7. IRS 13.30 15.00 8. Arik 14.00 15.20 9. Air Nigeria 16.00 17.10 10 Arik 16.10 17.30 11. Aero 16.15 17.30 12. Arik 17.10 18.30 1.

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

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

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Arik Aero Arik Aero

LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

09.1 12.50 12.55 15.55

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LAGOS – KANO Air Nigeria 07.10 IRS 08.00 Arik 12.20 IRS 14.00 IRS 18.15

08.50 09.45 14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

1. Arik 2. Arik 3. Arik

LAGOS – MAIDUGURI 1. IRS 11.15 13.15 2. Arik 15.50 18.00 LAGOS – ILORIN 1. Overland 07.15 2. Arik (M/T/TH/F) 17.30

08.00 18.00

LAGOS – ABUJA SAT/SUN Arik 7.15; 10.20; 2.20; 5.20pm – 7.30; 9.15; 10.20; 2.20; 4.50; 6.45 Aero 07.30; 09.35; 13.10; 14.50; 20.20 – 07.30; 09.35; 13.10; 14.50; 20.20 Air Nigeria 08.15; 14.30; 17.15; 18.30 – 08.15; 13.30; 14.30; 17.15; 18.30

• From left: Executive Director, Service Bank, Enterprise Bank Limited, Mr Aminu Ismail; Managing Director/CEO, Mallam Ahmed Kuru; Executive Director, Enterprise Risk Management, Mrs. Louisa Olaloku and the Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, Mr Niyi Adebayo, at the bank’s media interactive session, in Lagos.

targets $10b SON to regulate tokunbo vehicles’ Nigeria investment in agric import N T HE Standards Organisation Of Nigeria (SON) is set to regulate the importation of second hand vehicles (popularly known as tokunbo).

During an interview with The Nation, its Director-General,Dr Joseph Odumodu, said this became necessary because of the compliants from consumers on the condition of these vehicles.

According to him, SON will now, henceforth, look beyond the age of these vehicles and inspect features, such as the condition of the engine, emission and the mechanical function.

He said the condition of such vehicles was worrisome, adding that they could contribute to the deple-

By Toba Agboola

tion of ozone layer through the emission of carbon monoxide from the vehicles.

“In order to checkmate this ugly development and stop the country from being used as a dumping ground for all manners of used vehicles by some unscrupulous business men, SON will soon fix a date to meet with the major stakeholders to take the challenge.

“We may commence the regulation of these used imported vehicles in the next three months,”

he said.

He also said some measures would be put in place in the interest of Nigerians as well as its eco system.

Odumodu urged car dealers, especially those into manufacturing and importation business, to adhere to importsation guidelines.

He called for their collaboration with SON, adding that such synergy would enable his agency to sensitise the sector.

According to the Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA), Nigeria imports 10,736 vehicles monthly. Of this, about 8,270 are used vehicles and othes brand new.

NSE’s index hits 36,000 points

I

NDEX at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated by 0.64 per cent to reach a new high of 36,000 points.

The All Share Index (ASI), which tracks prices of all quoted equities, appreciated by 228.19 points to close at 36,010.28 points while the market capitalisation grew by N73 billion to close at N11.513 trillion.

Investors yesterday staked N4.593 billion on 315.725 million shares in 5,880 deals. This was as a result of the good performances of some highly capitalised stocks and good corporate actions of some companies that recently released their results.

The financial service sector remained the toast of investors with 240.538 million shares worth N2.267 billion across 3,189 deals. Ninety per cent of the top 10 most traded stocks were in the financial services sector. Seventy

By Tonia Osundolire

per cent of it was in the core banking sector while mortgage carriers, brokers and services sector and other financial institutions shared 20 per cent.

The remaining ten per cent of the most traded stock was in the services sector.

UBA emerged the most traded equity with 48.774 million shares valued at N380.198 million. It was followed by FBN Holdings, which accounted for 30.303 million shares worth N608.251 million, while Unity Bank sold a total of 22.915 million shares.

Others on the list were ETI, Skye Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Resort Savings & Loans, Diamond Bank, Access Bank and C & I Leasing with 20.658 million shares, 20.367 million shares, 16.962 million shares, 15.185 million shares, 14.077 million

shares, 9.882 million shares and 9.843 million shares respectively.

In all, 118 stocks recorded price change with 35 appreciating, 25 reducing in value and the remaining 58 closing flat.

Berger paints led the gainers’ chart, adding N0.75 to close at N8.25. It was followed by Cutix with a price increase of N0.19 to close at N2.11. Others were Cadbury Nigeria, Total Nigeria, Courtville, UBA, RT Briscoe, UAC-Property, Flour Mills of Nigeria and Presco.

On the losers, table, Paints Manufacturing Company led with a drop of N0.16 to close at N1.46. It was followed by Academy Press with a price drop of N0.18 to close at N1.67. Also on the table were May & Baker, Costain, Ikeja Hotel, Wema Bank, UTC, Japauloil, ABC Transport and Prestige among.

No killer gas in market, says DPR chief

T

HE Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has denied a report that there is killer gas in the market.

Speaking at a stakeholders meeting at its Lagos office, the Head, Gas Division of the agency, Okpara Ojiako, allayed the fear of the people, saying it was not true.

However, the stakeholders’ concluded that most of the cylinders in circulation were old and needed replacement.

The DPR boss explained that neither the Department nor the SON has certified any gas either sourced locally or imported as unfit for domestic use because it is substandard.

The clarification came in the

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie, Asst. Editor

wake of complaints by some retailers and consumers that there were reports and text messages that a certain gas was not good.

He said the industry should be happy that there is a gas from other sources, adding that there were other more critical issues that should be of concern to Nigerians on the use of gas.

Addressing the meeting which was attended by SON representatives, members of the Nigerian Association of LPG Marketers, LPG Retailers Association of Nigeria, Gas dealers, Ojiako said though efforts were on to review the standard set by the SON on theh quality

of gas and its equipment, no gas in the country has been found to be below standard.

He said the problem in the industry was not much about the gas itself, but the handling and wrong choice of equipment, such as burners, valves, regulators and the cylinders.

Rather than creating fears in the people by branding a gas cylinder as fake, the DPR chief said the stakeholders should engage the them more on the handling of the product, noting that members of the public should be made to be aware that the under filing of cylinder amounts to cheating while overfilling could lead to death.

IGERIA is targeting $10 bil lion of investment in farm ing to boost domestic food production by 2015, to reduce a reliance on imports, Agriculture Minister Akinwunmi Adesina said.

The Federal Government is working with the Central Bank to “unlock” $3.5 billion in funding from commercial banks for farmers, Adesina said in an interview in Cape Town.

So far, $8 billion in private investment commitments in agriculture has been arranged by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, he said.

Nigeria is trying to reverse a decline in its farming industry. The nation plans to boost food supply by 20 million metric tons by 2015. While Nigeria grew enough food to feed itself in the 1960s, it is the world’s largest importer of rice and sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest importer of wheat and sugar.

Food production rose by about 8 million tons in 2012, about 40 percent of the four-year objective, “which was 70 per cent above the target that we set for ourselves last year,” Adesina said.

Economy grows by 6.6% in Q1

T

HE economy expanded by an estimated 6.6 per cent in the first quarter of the year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said, citing figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Growth in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy compared with 6.9 per cent in the previous three months, the Abuja-based bank said in a May 8 report on its website. It attributed the slower growth largely “to the decline in the contribution of the non-oil sector.”

Total government revenue fell 2.4 per cent to N2.4 trillion in the period, compared with the previous three months, according to the report. The federal government’s deficit in the quarter was N284.8 billion ($1.8 billion), or 2.9 per cent of estimated gross domestic product.

Oil receipts of N1.8 trillion in the period were 16 per cent higher than the budget estimate and 1.4 percent more than the previous quarter, the bank said. Oil is Nigeria’s main export, accounting for more than 90 percent of the country’s foreign currency income. Non-oil receipts fell 13 percent to 575.8 billion naira and were 23 per cent below the budget estimate, according to the report.

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

27

BUSINESS NEWS

Senate dashes hope of NPA, Shippers’ Council as technical regulators

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HE Senate Committee on Marine Transport has dashed the hope of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to become the technical regulators at the nation’s sea ports.

The bill for the creation of a Technical Regulator is at the National Assembly.

In their efforts to facilitate trade and stop arbitrary charges by terminal operators, both the NPA and the Shippers’Council have been jostling for the juicy position of regulator at the port as the legislative body is trying to create a tech-

By Oluwakemi Dauda

nical regulator that will promote the interest of importers and other port users.

But the two agencies are unlikely to get the nod of the Senate to take the position.

Speaking in Houston Texas, United States, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Zainab Kure, said the Senate would not consider the two agencies in their efforts to create a technical regulator for port operations in the country.

Kure said the Senate is not in sup-

port of any of the two agencies to regulate the industry.

Kure said that before the bill which will soon go through second reading would be passed, it will first go to the public for their input.

According to her, “We are not going to take any of the existing establishments, it is going to be thrown to the public to decide and whatever they decide will stand.”

She frowned at the fact that there is uniform process for checking arbitrariness of port charges and further noted that the earlier the technical operator is put in place,

the better there would be sanity in that sec maritime industry.

On local shipping capacity, the senator said that she was not happy that the Cabotage law has not been implemented and blamed its nonimplementation on the poor economic situation of the country.

She, however, advised the Federal Government to float a shipping line that would help in the practical training of cadets across institutions in the country.

On the Cabotage Vessel Financ-

London Mayor, NBA sign MoU on Business Law

T

•Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Lagos State, Mr Ben Akabueze (2nd right), during the Ministerial briefing to commemorate the second term of Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) administration in Ikeja.

With him are: Special Adviser to the Governor on Economic Planning and Budget, Mrs. Iyabowale Aluko (2nd left); Permanent Secretary, Mr Bayo Sotade (left) and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Mrs. Oluranti Odutola (right).

UBA grows profit by 905% to N55b

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NITED Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc witnessed the highest growth in profitability in the banking sector in 2012 as the bank leapfrogged profit by 905 per cent to about N55 billion.

Audited report and accounts of the bank for the year ended December 31, 2012 released at the weekend showed that it recovered from the N6.8 billion loss it recorded in the previous year on account of loan provisioning that it did to clean up its balance sheet to post a profit of N54.8 billion in 2012.

Profit before tax rose by 295 per cent to N52 billion in 2012, compared with a loss of N26.60 billion in the previous year, while total comprehensive income attributable to equity holders grew by 5,058 per cent to N55.53 billion compared with a loss of N1.12 billion in 2011.

Gross earnings grew by 34.45 per cent to peak at N220.1 billion, representing approximately N56.40billion additional revenue

By Taofik Salako

on the N163.7 billion recorded in previous year.

Highlighting the 2012 results, the Group Managing Director, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr Phillips Oduoza, said the results demonstrated the strength and resilience of the bank’s business model.

According to him, UBA had a strong year in 2012 and its success was again driven by the strength of its customer-focused, corporate and treasury driven business model.

“We are confident about our ability to deliver sustainable earnings growth in the future. We will continue to strategically invest in our businesses, manage our expenses and contain cost, whilst continually seeking ways to exceed expectations of our stakeholders,” Oduoza said.

He praised employees of the bank for the turnaround performance, noting that their dedication

Insurance policies yet to reach one million mark

T

EN years to its centenial an niversary in the country, the insurance in dustry has not been able to issue up to one million individual policies - in its motor, life or householders’ policies, the Group Managing Director Akin Ogunbiyi, Mutual Benefits Insurance, has said.

His firm, he said, issued only 250,00 policies in three years.

He assured of its firm’s preparedness to contribute to the development of the nation and the industry.

He said the new goal of the company is to boost the economy, adding that the firm has through its micro finance bank reached-out to the uninsured at the grassroots.

By Uyoatta Eshiet

He said: “Mutual Micro Finance Bank today is into micro insurance and we have devised products and services that the common Nigerian people can actually buy.

We have products for as low as N50.

“Our products are affordable and they meet the needs of the people; that was why when we approached the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), we made a presentation to them as to the objective we want to achieve using micro finance banks to drive micro insurance. As God will have it, they gave us the approval to invest in the bank.”

to customers and clients remains the driving force behind the bank’s success.

“The bank had a good performance for full year 2012, putting us in a position to commence the journey back to industry leadership and setting the stage for the attainment of our long term strategic intent of being a leading Bank on the African continent,” Oduoza said.

Also commenting on the results, Group Chief Finance Officer, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr Ugochukwu Nwaghodoh, said the bank’s continuing focus on customer service delivery, efficient capital management and returns maximisation has enabled it to post one of the highest returns in the industry with return on equity exceeding 30 per cent in 2012.

According to him, the bank’s ability to serve clients globally with solutions tailored to their needs gives it a strong advantage in today’s rapidly changing and highly competitive market place.

“Adopting a unique business platform across Africa, as a group, has also ensured that we present a single face to our customers and clients around Africa. This does not only help foster collaboration throughout the Group, it also strengthens our ability to deliver value adding and innovative solutions to our customers and clients through our integrated model,” Nwaghodoh said.

ing Fund (CVFF), the law maker said people were not accessing the fund.

She advised those who have applied for the Fund, and to do so to enable her committee to take action to ensure disbursement.

She said a letter would enable them determine whether the nondisbursement of the fund is deliberate or based on other issues. “We are going to look into it and we will be able to sought it out,” she said.

HE Lord Mayor of the City of London, Rt. Hon. Alder man Roger Gifford, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Law Society of England and Wales and its Nigerian counterpart on Business Law. The MoU co-sponsored by the Nigeria-British Association, is directed at the financial service sector, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Inland Revenue Service, as well as on the nation’s economy.

While Nankunda Katangaza, Head of International Policy, Law Society of England and Wales signed for the , Law Society of England and Wales, Gbenga Oyebode, Chairman, Section on Business Law, signed for the Nigeria Bar Association. Tax laws, financial regulations, capital market regulations, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), were also given spotlight by speakers at the event.

Some of the speakers at the event

were Mr. Olamide Oladosu, Partner, Templars Law Chamber and Mrs. Ayotunde Owoigbe, Partner, Banwo and Ighodalo Law Chamber. The speakers took the opportunity to intimate the British team on laws and regulations governing business in Nigeria.

The occasion was also used by the Law Society of England and Wales, through the Lord Mayor of the City of London, to make a cheque presentation to a Non-Governmental Organisation, Laptops4Learning, which was received by its cofounder and Executive Director, Mr. H. Tomi Davies.

Others at the event were Mr Mike Purves, the Director, Trade and Investment, UK Trade and Investment, one of the sponsors of the event, Peter Carter, Deputy High Commissioner, British Deputy High Commission,Roger Woodbridge, Executive Director, Mainstreet Bank Limited, Richard Goulden, Petroleum Segment Manager, Mantrac Nigeria Limited and Toyin Bashorun, who represented the NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN).

‘Cheap imports kill palm oil investments’

L

OCAL investors in palm oil produce and processing have complained that cheap importation of palm oil will kill local industries, cripple the agricultural transformation agenda of the Federal Government and turn Nigeria into a dumping ground for imported palm oil unless something urgent and drastic was done.

Representatives of key associations in the oil palm sector spoke at a meeting with the leader of the Oil Palm Transformation Team, Dr. Dickson Okolo in Abuja.

The National Chairman of Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN), Igwe Hilary Uche, accused Nigerian collaborators of ‘driving’ the importation initiatives in collaboration with their foreign counterparts.

He lamented that local producers were the worst hit.

He expressed confidence in that Nigeria has the resources to produce palm oil for local consumption.

The groups expressed dissatisfaction with PZ Wilmar, a company they accused of trading duty-free Crude Palm Oil (CPO) in Nigeria.

Mr Fatai Afolabi, representing the Plantation Owners Forum of Nigeria (POFON), noted that in the past 10 years, some Nigerians have been working with some Asians and Malaysian investors to “sabo-

By Daniel Essiet

tage our local efforts to grow the oil palm industry.”

Wilmar International, Afolabi said, is the largest plantation owner in Malaysia and Indonesia it is partnering PZ, its Nigerian ‘trade agent,’ to form PZ Wilmar, to sell Wilmar’s CPO in Nigeria.

He was specific that PZ has established a refinery in Ikorodu, Lagos, “without due regard to the fact that there are no major plantations around to supply its raw materials, which is, indeed, a ploy for massive import of duty-free and cheap CPO from Malaysia under ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS).”

Afolabi criticised the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), describing it as “working to achieve policy changes in favour of PZ Wilmar” and MAN’s position in “the past,” which did not favour local plantation developers and processors, such as pursuing downward review of CET from 35 per cent to five per cent in 2012.

He frowned at what he described as ‘unacceptable proposal from MAN that any plantation owner that has up to 200 hectares and above should be given a concession to import CPO at zero tariff while some companies are “serving as pipelines to pump CPO from Malaysia and Indonesia to Nigeria.”

NIPC seeks review of trade agreements

T

HE Nigerian Invest ment Promotion Com mission (NIPC) has urged the National Assembly to ratify all bilateral agreements that Nigeria has entered with other countries.

Its Executive Secretary, Mustafa Bello, told The Nation that there are over 40 agreements that were yet to be ratified by the National As-

By Toba Agboola

sembly. He said without their ratification, Nigeria would continue to lose the benefits accruable from such pacts.

He urged the lawmakers to promote the economic and political development of the country, adding that they should work with the

Federal Government to bring about job creation programmes for the unemployed youths.

He said the financial sector reform has led to a steady economic growth over the years because of the institutionalisation of investment friendly policies that have impacted positively on the economy.

28

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

THE CEO Over one year after its introduction, how has cash-less banking fared? It has done well, says Mr Tunde Lemo, Deputy Governor (Operations) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who is responsible for driving the policy. In this interview at the sidelines of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington D.C, United States, last month, he tells Group Business Editor AYODELE AMINU about the hitches in the policy’s implementation and how they are being tackled; consolidation in banking; the credibility and sustainability of banks’ profit, among other issues.

‘Banks not most profitable institutions’ B Y the first week of July, the next phase of the cashless policy is expected to start in some states; how prepared are the CBN and the banks? Are you anticipating any shift in that date?

Well, first and foremost, there is not going to be any shift. Recall that we started this programme actually in January, last year and we are only just continuing. We are only just moving to Phase Two, so we have learnt all the ropes in phase one in cash-less Lagos and we believe we are ready to roll out to other six locations in Nigeria. We are actually working in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee. We have a subcommittee headed by the MD/CEO of UBA, who is the cashless champion among the banks’ CEOs and together with the other institution like the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), we are working very hard to ensure that we dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s. I can tell you that we already have our road map and we are not going to shift the implementation date of the Phase Two, which is 1st of July 2013.

What are the current and previous challenges and how are they being solved?

The most important previous challenge was connectivity; we have over 150,000 Point of Sales (PoS) machines in Lagos area where we had the cash-less Lagos. However, only 25 per cent of them are active largely because we don’t have General packet radio service (GPRS) and connectivity alive in some of the clusters and because of that, it has affected the rate at which those machines are used. However, we believe very much that it is getting better because we monitor the transactions on daily basis and we are beginning to record large volume and value of transactions done under the PoS. So, rolling into Phase Two, we believe that there may also be a challenge. However, we are not even looking only at the PoS as a major of channel for cash-less; we are looking at all the other major channels for cash-less.

That is to say that apart from the PoS, we have the mobile telephone, which we will use all the malls, particularly in PhaseTwo because, of course, you know that the teledencity in Nigeria is very high and we have over hundred million mobile phones now, which then makes hundred million Nigerians potential users of mobile money.

So, we are also driving cash-less through that, don’t also forget that high volume of frequency of transactions done by banks and through the high corporate end also go through the cash-less channels. There is a product managed by the NIBSS that they call the NIPS (Nigeria Inter-bank Payment System) instant payment. NIPS records over N20 billion values per day. And in terms of volume, it is over hundred thousand (number of transactions that occur). There is also the NIBSS Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) that goes through the clearing house; you get value the following day. That also has increased in volume. Between NIBS and NEFT, we record over N80 billion transactions per working day and they both now account for more than twice the volume of cheques. In fact, the share of cheques as a proportion of non-cash transactions is down to 20/21 per cent on a daily basis and I think this is quite remarkable. So, this is the kind of thing we want to emphasise. When we talk about cashless actually, we are looking at the retail end.

The wholesale end is already very cash-less, so we are quite happy at the progress we have made in the area of NEFT and NIBSS. As we roll out to other six locations, we are going to engage the customers on the need to use more of the NIPS and NEFT if they are high networth individuals and also there are other card and electronic payment services

• Lemo

PHOTO: AYODELE AMINU

Profile •Name

Tunde Lemo

•Institutions

University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Wharton College, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, U.S.A; Harvard University, INSEAD, Fontainbleau, France, Brandies University and Boston University

attended

•Qualifications

First class degree – Accountancy (won seven laurels including best graduating student)

•Previous Positions

Deputy Governor, Financial Sector Surveillance; MD/ CEO, Wema Bank Plc (2000-2003); awarded national honour (OFR) in 2011

•Experience

27 years

or products that banks have developed that also should be seen as part of the programme.

But the PoS machine will also be installed in key locations and we will also monitor the use of mobile phones. So, these are the channels that we are encouraging and, of course, we’ve been able to get a lot of customers to embrace ATMs. I was going through the papers a few days ago, there was a survey done

by KPMG where they said about 80per cent of the respondent said they regularly use ATMs, which is good. But you know ATM is not cash-less, because you are still going there to collect cash. We want to encourage people to move away from cash. As efficient as ATM may seem, we want to leapfrog and then get more people to move away from cash and embrace cash-less.

Going by the guidelines of the cash-less policy, banks are not supposed to be directly providing Cash-In-Transit for their customers. It is supposed to be outsourced, but some banks are still doing this. What is the CBN doing to stop such banks and what sanctions await erring banks?

Those who do it do so outside Lagos. You will recall that we said cash-less started from Lagos where we said banks should no longer

do cash pick up activities. When we move over to other six locations, banks will also step back from cash pick up activities. We have registered four cash-in –transit companies that should do that on behalf of others and we are also happy that filling stations themselves and other big supermarkets are embracing cash-less. There is a company called Easy fuel, they get the filling station to install that capability at the filling station, whereby you just drive in and use your card to buy fuel. They are even going beyond that now to make it fairly more contactless –meaning that you can even fill your car with fuel without the use of card.

That will also ensure that you don’t even build up cash not to talk of having CIT company to evacuate.

What is the CBN doing in a situation where you are using your ATM or PoS and they debit you, without you getting value for it?

We have put in place a dispute resolution mechanism. Banks have been told that at every point where you have ATM or PoS, there is a number you can call as a customer if you have a problem and that problem should be resolved within 48hours. In other words, if you are wrongly debited, may be

because of a fault or an issue, the bank is expected to resolve it. If, however, by seven days it is not resolved, you can escalate it or actually escalate it to CBN. We have set up a full-fledged department called the Consumer Protection Department, that department will ensure that the banks are not only sanctioned for delaying the resolution of the problem, they will also ensure that the customer is refunded the money that was wrongly debited. But we don’t even want it to get to that point. We want a means by which disputes are resolved as they occur and I must also say that we have seen tremendous improvement because we keep tab of complaints from customers. There are less and less complaints now even as we continue to see the volume grow around ATM transactions.

Why did the CBN increase the number of states for the second phase of the cash-less project to five?

Yes, we actually had five before; we added Ogun State because of Ota. You know that Lagos and Ogun are almost in the same territory now in terms of the fact that the two states, the residents now criss-cross at different territories. In order to avoid arbitrage – a means by which, of course, there is cashless in Lagos and there is no cash-less in Ota, Ota is as close to Lagos and so many other places in Lagos. So, to discourage arbitrage, it is important to add Ogun because it is very very close to Lagos and we don’t want a situation whereby banks then use territories that are very close to Lagos to side-track or to avoid the strict conditions of cash-less.

But apart from Ogun, we also have Anambra, which is there because of Onitsha, which has a major market. You know Onitsha also has a large market. Abia is there because of Aba market. Rivers is there because of Port Harcourt, Abuja and, of course, •Continued on page 29

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

29

THE CEO

‘Banks not most profitable institutions’ •Continued from page 28

Kano. So, those are the five other locations. But when you add these locations to Lagos, you are accounting for around 90 per cent of the volume of cash within the country. These locations are major cash centres. The other states will be added in Phase Three. But we believe if we get it right with these six locations in addition to Lagos, we would have covered 90 per cent of the volume of cash.

When will the Three Phase be implemented?

Let us look and see to the success and implementation of Phase Two first. I don’t want to hazard any guess, but I reckon that in no distant future, we will get to other parts of the country.

Why did the CBN reverse itself by abolishing all off-site ATMs not directly operated by banks?

There was no reversal. Recall that at the time the Central Bank said banks should not put branded ATMs outside their premises in offsite, it was because then, when you get to some key locations like Hilton, you see 25 ATM machines, virtually every bank is there and yet other areas are not well-serviced. So, we felt that instead of wasting resources, why not then get licensed Independent ATM Deployers (IADS) to have those equipment there that will serve the entire industry. The IAD, then were just three and so we had three in those important locations as opposed to having 20-25 different machines, just to save cost. But recall that at that time we didn’t have cashless exercise. But when we came up with the cash-less programme, we decided to look away from that to encourage banks because, then, we had told banks to invest heavily In ATM machines. So, it was the cashless programme that made it unnecessary to do that and, of course, we discussed with the IADs and we have since ensured that they were compensated for the change in policy.

Let’s move to the banking indus-

try. Given the number of banks in the country, would you say Nigeria is over-banked or under-banked?

I don’t want us to be looking at whether Nigeria is over-banked or under-banked in terms of the number of banks. For instance, the biggest bank in India has more branch networks than the entire banks in Nigeria; so, if that bank were to be in Nigeria, probably we would think that Nigeria is underbanked, because it is only one bank.

Banking penetration in Nigeria today is monitored in terms of the number of Nigerians who have bank accounts and the number of bank branches. Today, we have around 6,000 branches of banks all over the country and we believe that we can do better. However, we are asking banks to look away from the traditional means by which they deploy their services, because it is not cost effective; technology has made deployment of banking services cheaper. You don’t have to have the physical presence of the brick and mortal type banking before you can conduct banking business. Today, if you go to Kenya and you go to a normal grocery shop, the grocery shop combines with his core business about two, three or four banks. And most of the people outside the city, what do they do when they go outside the city? They either go to deposit, save or open accounts. So, these normal three not-too-complex services can be rendered without the physical presence of a bank. That is why we came up with a regulation around agency banking and we have since released guidelines and, of course, before long we are going to license or register accredited agencies of banks. Through the agencies, we expect that we will be able to get a lot of people into banking network. So, access to finance, banking services is a better barometer now to measure banking penetration as opposed to brick and mortal presence of banks or the other numbers of banks. Today, I will not be surprised if these num-

‘We have put in place a dispute resolution mechanism. Banks have been told that at every point where you have ATM or PoS, there is a number you can call as a customer if you have a problem and that problem should be resolved within 48hours. In other words, if you are wrongly debited may be because of a fault or an issue, the bank is expected to resolve it.

If, however, by seven days it is not resolved, you can escalate it to CBN’

• Lemo

bers shrink and yet with wider network of branches. If a bank can have 60,000 branches in India, why can’t we have a mega bank that will have the same number of network that the entire banking industry has? So, we should look at penetration in terms of the number of people who have access to banking services and that is improving and we will continue to improve on that.

Do you foresee further consolidation in the industry?

That should be driven by business exigencies. Banks are free to discuss that among themselves if there are opportunities. What we are telling banks is that they can achieve a lot better by sharing facilities, which is the shared services’programme that we have put in place in the last three years and we are beginning to see a lot of transactions there. The banks’ cost to serve ratio is going down. Going by the results published by banks, they are returning very good profits and the customers are beginning to get the benefit of that in terms of lower interest rate. Only last month, the Bankers’Committee came up to say that they were going to reduce interest charges on the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and, of course, they are by that introducing the benefit of the cost to service ratio. Banks, on their own, can choose to merge, but the CBN is not going to force that. It is not going to be regulator induced. However, it may bother us when we begin to see a cluster among two-three banks. But the anti-trust issues are there. How far can they go? Can we just sit back and look at the whole thing shrink to one or two? May be not. But today, so long as they can still get a lot more mileage by combining resources and reduce costs, we will encourage mergers and acquisitions up to certain level.

We have seen about two banks posting over N100 billion in profit.

How credible and sustainable are these results?

Credibility first. Of course, with all the strict regulations around integrity of data and strict regulations around prudential issues, I am not sure any bank will take the risk of playing games anymore. Don’t also forget that we have the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) - a new accounting policy that ensures that all the risk you have in your balance sheet is well-explained to investors and that you also make enough provisions. You mark to market if you have real sensitive assets in your books. So, because of that, I believe that all the numbers that are being shunned out are real and they are good.

On sustainability, I think the public thinks that these banks are making super normal profits. You are just looking at the numbers, you are not looking at the capital that is employed. I think that at the end of the day, banks are not the most profitable institutions in Nigeria. Take, for instance, oil companies and telecoms. They are having superior arrow eyes on returns to investment. Banks’ return on investment is at best 20-21 per cent; that is not abnormal in terms of the risk that they take. So, talking of sustainability, I believe it will remain sustainable to the extent, of course, that the business climate is good, that we continue to fix infrastructure and continue to de-risk the business environment. Don’t forget that we have not even yet seen enough penetration that we expect in Nigeria. When you look at the total financial assets relative to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), I think there’s a lot more that banks can do.

With inflation decelerating to about 8.6 per cent, do you foresee the CBN changing its monetary stance at the next Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting this month?

• Lemo

PHOTOS: AYODELE AMINU

‘Banks on their own can choose to merge but the CBN is not going to force that. It is not going to be regulator induced. However, it may bother us when we begin to see a cluster among two-three banks. But the antitrust issues are there. How far can they go? Can we just sit back and look at the whole thing shrink to one or two? May be not. But today, so long as they can still get a lot more mileage by combining resources and reduce costs, we will encourage merger s and acquisitions up to certain level’ Well, first and foremost, you cannot expect me at an interview like this to begin to tell you the direction that the MPC will go.

First, I don’t even have all the facts with me to tell you the way my mind is working and yet I am just one in 12 members. So, you can see it is difficult for me to sit down here and tell you whether or not when we meet, rates will go up or come down. It all depends on so many things. But don’t forget, we are happy that we are beginning to see traction in the area of lower interest rate, but how sustainable are these? And then you have not yet removed the base effect. These rates are low, because if we look at year-on-year, there were spikes this time in February/ March and when you consider that as a denominator, you can then understand why year-onyear the rate is low. Although if you check month-on-month, there is some deceleration of interest rate, but it is not yet time for you to begin to say that it will be sustained; we need to wait a little bit longer.The reason, again, is because of what is happening in shale oil and in the international scene. There are still some downside risks that are there, that may not make it expedient for the MPC to look at loosening the monetary stand now.

However, we don’t yet have the facts on the table; so, it is too early to make a judgment on whether or not the rate will come down. But, of course, when we meet and we will see all the figures, we will then be able to know where things should be.

The Holding Companies are burdened by double taxation. How is this being addressed by the CBN? Fiscal issues are not under the Central Bank purview. When we talk about taxation and tax concession; these are matters for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The

Central Bank together with our colleagues in the Financial Sector Regulators Coordinating Committee (FSRCC) are helping to talk to the relevant tax authorities on the need to look at these areas where there are double taxation so that they we can at least have some concessions and some understanding, so that banks are not unduly penalised. We can only advocate and push for a consideration, because it is not within our control. So, I cannot be upfront on whether or not they will get it.

Looking back at CBN’s intervention in 2009, would you say it was justified, given what some critics had said?

I think if there is any doubting Thomas or anybody who doubted the veracity or the importance of what we did in 2009, they should by now be convinced that we did what we were supposed to do and if we didn’t do it, it would have been a lot more devastating. We had a similar problem with Europe. Europe was in denial and you can see what began to unravel in Europe after all the actions that we took. Everybody thought that we went overboard, but we are glad that two years after the action, Nigeria’s case even became a very interesting case study in the United States to the point that the governor of the Central Bank was even invited by the Congress to share his experience and his thoughts and at the end of that meeting, he received a very good commendation. But, again, what is happening in Greece and other places in Europe now confirms that had they done what we did in Nigeria three or four years ago, the problem wouldn’t have gotten that bad. So, like the proverb says, “A stitch in time saves nine.” We tried to stitch our own problem in time and that is why it has saved us a nine that we are beginning to see in Europe.

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

30

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 10-05-13

Ghana, Nigeria, Japan lead global equities rally

A

FRICAN equities have been the most resurgent so far this year as investors in Ghana and Nigeria scooped aboveaverage returns on the back of increased domestic participation and stable foreign inflows.

Year-to-date analysis of global equities’ returns showed that average return

by Nigerian equities was nearly twice that of equities in United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom (UK). The analysis was based on opening data for Friday, May 10 tracked by FSDH Merchant Bank.

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) All Share Index (GSE ASI), which serves as benchmark for the Ghanaian stock market,

By Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

indicated the highest return of 53.30 per cent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Index recorded average return of 36.52 per cent.

Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)’s benchmark index, the All Share Index (ASI), opened last Friday with a return of 27.43 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the S & P 500 Index, which benchmark the USA market, returned 15.10 per cent and 14.06 per cent respectively.

The FTSE 100 Index, which mirrors the UK stock market, recorded average return of 11.78 per cent.

Turnover on the NSE last week stood at 1.69 billion

shares worth of N21.39 billion in 28,392 deals.

Financial services sector dominated the activities chart with a turnover of 1.31 billion shares valued at N12.17 billion traded in 15,796 deals. Banking subsector accounted for turnover of 917.182 million shares worth N8.53 billion in 11,236 deals.

The ASI rallied 2.57 per cent to hit a high of 36,010.28 points while aggregate market capitalisation of all equities rose correspondingly by 2.57 per cent to close at N11.513 trillion.

Meanwhile, the rights issue of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) has opened following approval-inprinciple by the Quotations Committee of the NSE. Transcorp is issuing about 12.91 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N1 per share. The right issue is expected to close on May 31, 2013.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 10-05-13

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

31

MONEY LINK

Fed Govt appoints Citi, Deutsche for $1 Eurobond HE Federal Government has appointed Citi Bank and Deutsche Bank to manage a $1 billion planned Eurobond, the head of the debt management office (DMO) told Reuters last Friday.

“The Federal Executive Council approved the appointment of Citi and Deutsche as joint book-

T

Stories by Collins Nweze

runners for the planned $1 billion Eurobond,” DMO Abraham Nwankwo said.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minster of the Economy Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had said at the recently concluded World Bank/International Mon-

The minister said: “The Ministry of Finance will undertake road shows in Europe and America to attract investors to subscribe to the bond. This will be our second Eurobond on offer, the yields on Nigeria bonds are good, this is an auspicious time for us to go and launch the Eurobond and so we are continuing.”

etary Fund (IMF) Meetings in Washington D.C, United States, that the Eurobond will be used to finance the power sector and gas development.

The Minister said the Federal Government will float a Eurobond before the end of this year, stressing that a time table has been put together.

CBN: cash-less extension to other states in July sacrosanct

T

HE planned extension of the cash-less policy to five states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from July 1, is sacrosanct, Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Tunde Lemo has, said.

The cash-less policy, which began in Lagos in January last year is billed to be extended to six more states ( Rivers, Kano, Anambra, Ogun and Abia as well as the FCT) in July 1.

Lemo, who is responsible for driving the policy, said the additional states were chosen because of the large volume of cash transactions in some of their major cities.

He said: “Recall that we started this programme actually in January last year and we are only just continuing.

We are only just moving to phase two, so we have learnt all the ropes in phase one in cash-less Lagos and we believe we are ready to roll out to other six locations in Nigeria.

“We are actually working in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee. We have a subcommittee headed by the MD/CEO of UBA, who is the cash-less champion among the bank CEOs and together with the other institution like the Nigeria In-

terbank Settlement System (NIBSS) and others, we are working very hard to ensure that we dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s. I can tell you that we already have our road map and we are not going to shift the implementation date of the phase two, which is July 1, 2013.

“We are ready to roll out to the six other states and there would be no change in date. We are not shifting the goal post. We have a roadmap, which is being followed and we are fully prepared,” he said.

He said the previous challenge of the cash-less policy was connectivity. “ we have over 150,000 Point of Sales (PoS) machines in Lagos area where we had the cash-less Lagos.

However, only 25 per cent of them are active largely because we don’t have General packet radio service (GPRS) and connectivity alive in some of the clusters and because of that, it has affected the rate at which those machines are used,” he said.

Lemo however, said these challenges are being overcome. He said: “We believe very much that it is getting better because we monitor the transactions on daily basis and we are beginning to record large volume

FBN Capital inaugurates index

F

BN Capital Limited, the investment banking and asset management subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc, has launched Nigeria’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

In a statement, the bank said the product was done in collaboration with NOI Polls Limited. This adds Nigeria to the list of countries, which makes use of this economic indicator that gauges the performance of the sector at monthly intervals.

The FBN Capital Limited PMI will join some existing surveys of business and consumer expectations and it is expected that this will develop into a core forward economic indicator for analysts, policymakers and financial market players as it is the only sector specific, monthly index.

A PMI is a simple exercise. A selection of companies is asked their view each month on core variables in their business.

Head, Macro-Economic and Fixed Income Research for FBN Capital, Gregory Kronsten, said: “A new PMI has the potential to become a leading forward economic indicator with influence on financial markets. Readings are released at the start of the new month, and since this is our first reading, we cannot identify trends.

•CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido

and value of transactions done under the Point of Sales (PoS). We are not even looking only at the PoS as a major of channel for cashless; we are now looking at all the other major channels for cashless. We have the mobile telephone, which we will use to drive the cashless policy.

The cashless policy is aimed at reducing the dominance of cash in the system. It specifies penal charges for individuals and corporate organisations that want to withdraw or lodge cash above the prescribed limits.

Under the policy, the banking watchdog pegged the daily cumulative cash withdrawal or deposit limit for individual accounts at N500, 000 per day and N3 million per day for corporate accounts.

FGN BONDS Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 350m 150m 350m 138m 350m 113m

MANAGED FUNDS

NIDF NESF

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

GAINERS AS AT 10-05-13

SYMBOL

O/PRICE

C/PRICE

CHANGE

BERGER CUTIX CADBURY TOTAL COURTVILLE UBA RTBRISCOE UAC-PROP FLOURMILL PRESCO

7.50 1.92 40.00 146.00 0.56 7.49 1.62 15.00 77.55 25.00

8.25 2.11 43.90 160.00 0.61 8.02 1.72 15.90 82.00 26.30

0.75 0.19 3.90 14.00 0.05 0.53 0.10 0.90 4.45 1.30

PAINTCOM ACADEMY MAYBAKER COSTAIN IKEJAHOTEL WEMABANK UTC JAPAULOIL ABCTRANS PRESTIGE

O/PRICE 1.62 1.85 1.96 0.87 0.82 1.26 0.70 0.62 1.11 0.65

C/PRICE 1.46 1.67 1.77 0.79 0.75 1.17 0.65 0.58 1.05 0.62

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change (S/N) Parallel Market

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

153.0000

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 11.8%

July ’12

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

Date 2-7-12 27-6-12 22-6-12

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

CHANGE 0.16 0.18 0.19 0.08 0.07 0.09 0.05 0.04 0.06 0.03

Exchange Rate (N) 155.2 155.8 155.7

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Year Start Offer

LOSERS AS AT 10-05-13

SYMBOL

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m 113m

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

OBB Rate Call Rate

T

HE Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), a special purpose professional services firm owned by the Nigerian Bankers’ Committee will launch new products on May 17 in Lagos.

The products include FITC Virtual Learning, FITC E-recruitment, FITC Virtual library and the Nigerian version of the IFC Corporate Governance and Board Leadership Training Curriculum.

In a statement, the institution said the products are part of the organisation’s transformation agenda started late 2009.

“The products are aimed at enhancing FITC’s service delivery in line with emerging situations of its stakeholders as well as on-going reforms in the broader Financial Services Sector and national economy, for global competitiveness,” its Director, Dr. Lucy Surhyel Newman said.

He said the new products is part of the transformation agenda being implemented by the management of the organisation.

“The first phase of the transformation, which started since 2009, involved FITC’s internal capacity and brand alignment to deliver on its brand promises to internalandexternalstakeholders,thusmaking FITC a high impact special purpose organisation nationally, regionally and globally,” she said.

Explaining the rationale for the introduction of the products, Newman said the virtual learning will serve as an alternative medium for delivery of some of its training programmes in a timely, convenient and more accessible manner while the e-recruitment portal is designed to enable job seekers to submit their resume online to the organisation’s website and facilitate faster candidates’ selection process at optimal cost and from any part of the world.

DATA BANK

Tenor

Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

FITC to launch new products

Offer Price

Bid Price

ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH 9.17 9.08 KAKAWA GUARANTEED 1.00 1.00 STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE 141.23 140.73 AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 150.53 149.64 LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL 0.80 0.78 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.15 1.15 BGL NUBIAN FUND 1.08 1.07 FBN MONEY MARKET FUND 100.00 100.00 FBN FIXED INCOME FUND 1,000.00 1,000.00 NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. 1,819.09 1,811.97 PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND 14.91 14.18 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 1.33 CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST 1.87 1.80 STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY 11,479.78 11,138.42 • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUNDARM AGGRESSIVE

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

32

DUE DILIGENCE

GTBank: Sustaining strong performance

G

UARANTY Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc scaled up its performance outlook again last year with strong growths in the topline and bottom-line translating into higher returns to shareholders. With both outward and underlying performance indices generally on the upward, the bank set a new milestone with a pre-tax profit of N103 billion.

Audited report and accounts of GTBank for the year ended December 31, 2012 showed impressive improvements in both corporate and operational performances of the bank, which were underscored by 41 per cent increase in actual dividend payout to shareholders as well as considerable improvement in the future sustainable dividend outlook of the bank.

While gross earnings’ growth rode on the back of robust growth in core banking operations to about 22 per cent, increasingly efficient overall cost management and assets quality muffled relatively higher cost of funds to magnify pre and post tax growths by 66 per cent and 69 per cent respectively. Outward profit and loss items reflected stronger underlying fundamentals. In spite of one percentage point decline in interest margin, overall profit per unit of operation improved considerably during the year. Pre-tax profit margin improved by 12 percentage points from 34 per cent in 2011 to 46.4 per cent in 2012. Return on equity also improved from about 23 per cent to 31 per cent, strengthening the robust dividend outlook implied by 41 per cent increase in dividend per share from N1.10 to N1.55 and more comfortable future dividend outlook implied by better dividend cover of 1.92 times in 2012 as against 1.60 times in 2011.

In all counts, the bank’s performance showed a healthy congruence that supports the milestone profitability. Assets quality reached a new high with a negligible bad loans-to-total loans ratio of 2.4 per cent, far ahead of industry’s benchmark of 5.0 per cent. As total assets trended upward to N1.7 trillion, improvement in capital adequacy provided the overall balance sheet structure with stability and strength.

However, the profitability of the core banking operations, though

2008

By Taofik Salako

steady, was moderated by higher cost of fund. Net interest margin slipped from 77.9 per cent to 76.7 per cent. This, coupled with marginal decline in noninterest income, underlined the headwinds during the year. The liquidity position was relatively steady, though cash coverage for liabilities was lower.

Capital adequacy GTBank’s consolidated balance sheet expanded to N1.73 trillion in 2012 as against N1.61 trillion in 2011. Balance sheet growth was driven by earnings assets which totaled N1.67 trillion, 96.5 per cent of total assets, in 2012 as against N1.55 trillion, 96.3 per cent of total assets, in 2011. Customer deposits improved by 12 per cent from N1.03 trillion to N1.15 trillion. Total liabilities stood at N1.45 trillion, 5.3 per cent above N1.38 trillion recorded in previous year. While paid up share capital remained unchanged at N14.72 billion, shareholders’ funds increased considerably by 23 per cent from N230.39 billion to N283.44 billion.

The underlying capital adequacy was stronger. The proportion of equity funds to total assets improved from 14 per cent in 2011 to 16 per cent in 2012. Equity’s coverage for loans and advances increased from 32.6 per cent to 36.4 per cent. There was also appreciable improvement in the proportion of equity funds available for earnings assets with fixed assets/equity funds ratio of 21.5 per cent in 2012 as against 25 per cent in 2011.

Assets quality Continuous improvement in credit risks management underpinned a healthier overall asset quality in 2012.

While gross loans and advances increased modestly by 8.9 per cent, classified loans dropped by a quarter during the period. With these, probable threat from non-performing loans dropped to a more negligible level.

Gross loans and advances improved from N732.75 billion to N798.31 billion. Impaired and classified loans

2009

Fiscal Year Ended December 31 Profit and Loss Statement Gross earnings Interest income Interest expense Net interest income Total non-interest income Total non-interest expense Profit before tax (loss) Profit after tax (loss) Balance Sheet Assets: Cash and balances with other banks Short-term investments Loans and advances (net) Total earning assets Fixed assets Total assets Liabilities and Capital: Total deposit liabilities Total liabilities Paid-up share capital Shareholders' funds Liabilities and equity

2010

2011

2012

2012 12 months Nm 221,940 170295 39609 130,686 51,645 76,875 103,028 87,296

% change 21.7 34.7 41.6 32.7 -7.7 10.1 66.0 68.7

however dropped by 25.5 per cent from N25.86 billion to N19.26 billion.

The proportion of designated nonperforming loans to total loans thus improved appreciably from 3.5 per cent to 2.4 per cent, significantly ahead of the industry’s benchmark of 5.0 per cent. While the bank made adequate provisions for classified loans, the possible threat was also muted by higher equity funds. The proportion of classified loans to equity funds dropped from 11.2 per cent in 2011 to 6.8 per cent last year.

Profitability GTBank combined aggressive income growth with efficient cost management to deliver a robust top-down profit growth, that reflected all through the payouts to shareholders and retained underlying values in the bank. Outside and underneath, the general profit outlook was stronger in 2012. The proportion of operating expense to gross earnings improved from 38.3 per cent in 2011 to 34.6 per cent in 2012, which also reflected the improvement in the subset staff cost efficiency as proportion of personnel costs dropped to 11.7 per cent of total income in 2012 as against 12.3 per cent in 2011. These counterbalanced marginal decline in net interest margin from 77.9 per cent to 76.7 per cent. Thus, pre-tax profit margin improved from 34 per cent to 46.4 per cent. Average contribution of each employee to the bottom-line improved from N17.4 million to N27.5 million as against increase in average cost per head from N6.3 million to N6.9 million.

Actual payouts and intrinsic returns took cue from the strong profit performance. The bank increased cash dividends to shareholders to N45.6 billion for 2012 business year, representing a dividend per share of N1.55.

It had distributed N32.4 billion, equivalent to dividend per share of N1.10, for the 2011 business year. Besides substantial increase in distribution to shareholders, it generated greater intrinsic shareholder value during the year. With increase in earnings per share from N1.76 to N2.97, dividend cover improved to 1.92 times in 2012 as against 1.60 times in 2011. This underlines improvement in the bank’s sustainable dividend payment capacity; in spite of the current increase in cash payout. Return on total assets improved from 3.9 per cent to 5.9 per cent while return on equity increased from 22.5 per cent to 30.8 per cent, altogether showing increased efficiency in the general utilization of assets and shareholders’ funds.

Group’s gross earnings had risen to N221.94 billion in 2012 as against N182.41 billion in 2011. The top-line performance was driven mainly by core interest-based banking operations, which lent credence to the stra2011 12 months Nm 182,409 126472 27,980 98,491 55,937 69,825 62,080 51,742

322,989 271,019 779,050 1,673,991 60,887 1,734,878

-12.3 60.6 10.2 7.9 5.9 7.8

368,282 168,787 706,893 1,551,142 57,511 1,608,653

1,148,197 1,451,437 14,716 283,441 1,734,878

11.9 5.3 0.0 23.0 7.8

1,026,119 1,378,259 14,716 230,393 1,608,653

tegic decision of the bank to focus on core commercial banking business. Interest income rose by about 35 per cent from N126.47 billion to N170.30 billion. However, average cost of funds was higher as interest expense rose by 42 per cent from N27.98 billion to N39.6 billion, leaving net interest income with 33 per cent growth from N98.49 billion to N130.69 billion. Interest income/loan and advances ratio had stood at 14.6 per cent in 2012 as against 12.5 per cent in 2011. This was counteracted by increase in interest paid/total deposit ratio from 2.7 per cent to 3.4 per cent. Non-interest income also slipped by 7.7 per cent to N51.65 billion as against N55.94 billion in previous year.

The bank tightened grip on operating expenses, trimming total operating expenses growth to 10 per cent at N76.88 billion in 2012 compared with N69.83 billion in 2011. With increase in total number of employees from 3,565 persons in 2011 to 3,747 persons in 2012, personnel costs increased from N22.37 billion to N25.97 billion. The top-line growth and cost containment strategy impacted on the bottom-line. Profit before tax grew by 66 per cent from N62.08 billion to N103.03 billion. After taxes, net profit for the year stood at N87.3 billion, about 69 per cent increase on N51.74 billion recorded in 2011.

Liquidity Group’s liquidity position remained steady, though assets rebalancing from cash and balances to short-term investments impinged on cash coverage for liabilities. Given the liquidity of the short-term investments-largely treasury bills, the 61 per cent increase in short-term investments counterbalanced the 12 per cent decline in cash and bank balances. The proportion of cash and bank balances to total liabilities dropped from 26.7 per cent to 22.3 per cent. Loans and advances/total assets ratio was steadied at 44.9 per cent in 2012 as against 14.3 per cent in 2011.

The proportion of loans and advances to total deposits stood at 67.8 per cent as against 68.9 per cent in previous year.

Governance and structures GTBank is a publicly quoted commercial international banking group with primary operations and listing in Nigeria and subsidiaries in several African countries and United Kingdom. Its shares are held by 350,140 Nigerian and foreign; institutional and individual shareholders. It sustains pri-

•MD/CEO, GTBank Segun Agbaje

mary listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), where it leads as highest-priced banking stock, and on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), through listing of its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs).

There were no changes on the board and management. Mr. Segun Agbaje remains the managing director. However, Mr Oluwole Oduyemi, who chaired the board during the period under review, retired after the 2013 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and handed the baton to Mr Egbert Imomoh, another non-executive director, in a smooth transition characteristic of the highly regarded ethical bank. Oduyemi clocks 70 years this month and retired in line with GTBank Code of Corporate Governance, which stipulates retirement age of 70 years for non-executive director.

GTBank is regarded as a foremost company in relations to compliance with codes of corporate governances and best practices. It has no outstanding compliant against it as at the review period.

Analyst’s opinion The overall performance in 2012 further highlights the reliability of GTBank’s corporate growth strategies and its institutionalized efficiency. A more aggressive get-the-market topline strategy, as underlined by segment-facing initiatives such as social banking and small and medium business banking, and its traditional efficient cost and credit risks management provide assurances on sustainable growth outlook. The beginning of expansion into the Francophone African countries, with the opening of Cote d’Ivoire subsidiary in 2012, would complement strong footholds in Anglophone African countries, and strengthen its inimitable domestic franchise. Overall, there is reasonable basis to assume sustained growth in the years ahead.

Fiscal Year Ended December 31

2012 %

2011 %

Asset Quality Gross Loans and Advances (Nm) Classified loans (Nm) % of classified loans Loan Loss Reserves/Classified Loans Classified Loans/Equity Stock

798,312 19,262 2.4 100.0 6.8

732,753 25,860 3.5 100.0 11.2

Capital Adequacy Equity/Total Assets Equity/Loans and Advances Permanent Assets/Equity

16.3 36.4 21.5

14.3 32.6 25.0

Liquidity Ratios Loans & Advances/Total Assets Cash & Bank Balances/Total Liabilities Loans & Advances/Total deposits

44.9 22.3 67.8

43.9 26.7 68.9

Profitability ratios Pre-tax Profit Margin Return on Total Assets Return on Equity Net Interest Margin Interest Income/Loans & Advances Interest Paid/Total Deposits Operating Expense/Total Revenue Non-Interest Income/Total Revenue Pre-tax Profit Per Employee (Nm) Staff Costs per Employee (Nm) Staff Costs/Gross Revenue Earnings per share (basic)(kobo) Dividend per share (kobo) Dividend cover (times)

46.4 5.9 30.8 76.7 14.6 3.4 34.6 23.3 27.5 6.9 11.7 297 155 1.92

34.0 3.9 22.5 77.9 12.5 2.7 38.3 30.7 17.4 6.3 12.3 176 110 1.60

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

33

FINANCE With many analyses indicating that Nigeria could be the sixth of the five acknowledged emerging economiesBrazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), the shift in the global economic balance, characterised by the recessions in America and Europe as well as unrests in the Middle East, places Nigeria at a vantage position to leverage on its enormous resources to become an emerging economy. TAOFIK SALAKO reports on efforts by stakeholders to create a more conducive investment environment for foreign and Nigerian investors.

Attracting investments to the market

retaining both domestic and foreign investments. It is against this backdrop that the Federal Government, created the new Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. Government’s driving force has been the need to meaningfully improve the welfare of the average Nigerian by designing and implementing policies and strategies that will lead to inclusive economic growth,” Aganga said.

The minister explained that in order to achieve this, a committee has been set up to develop an integrated industrial policy for Nigeria.

“This is the first time that we are doing this since 14 years, in terms of developing an integrated industrial plan. But more importantly, we are going to develop institutions that will drive the industrialisation of this country,” Aganga said.

F

OREIGN investors have gradually and consecutively increased their investments in Nigerian equities from about 15 per cent of total market turnover in 2007 to a high of about 67 per cent.

A latest report on foreign investment flow showed that foreign investors staked about N4.3 trillion on quoted shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) between 2007 and March 2013. Foreign portfolios were particularly the main drivers of transactions on the NSE in the past two years, with foreign investors accounting for average of two-thirds of equity transactions between 2011 and 2012.

Foreign portfolio transactions increased from N615.6 billion in 2007 to N787.4 billion in 2008.

These trimmed down to N424.6 billion in 2009 before rising consecutively to N577.3 billion and N847.9 billion in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Foreign portfolio trades stood at N808.4 billion in 2012 and were reported at N215.6 billion by March 2013.

The sustained foreign inflows appeared to have infused confidence in the Nigerian investing public as Nigerian investors have made strong rebound this year, displacing foreign portfolios as the main drivers of stock market’s transactions. Compared with the situation in 2011 and 2012 when foreign investors accounted for 67 per cent and 61 per cent of total turnover on the NSE, foreign investors now accounted for about 43 per cent. Nigerian institutional and individual investors stepped up their transactions from a recent low of 33 per cent in 2011 to 39 per cent in 2012 and now currently account for more than 57 per cent of total transactions.

Besides, most quoted multinationals have in recent years invested in additional production capacity in consolidation of their market shares in Nigeria. From Nestle Nigeria to Cadbury Nigeria, GlaxoSmithKline Consumers Nigeria, PZ Cussons Nigeria and Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria, existing core foreign investors have been enthusiastic to lead capital-intensive new production plants and upgrades. In some instances where Nigerian investors had been tepid in providing their equity funding, core investors such as Cadbury UK brought in additional capital to take over the equities and ensure the realisation of the corporate renewal plan.

The increased investments by long-established core investors in Nigeria’s major quoted companies mirror similar activities among several existing private companies as well as renewed interests by new foreign investors. Large private companies such as Promasidor Nigeria and Procter and Gamble Nigeria are increasing production capacities to further situate Nigeria as the hubs of their Sub-Sahara Africa operations. Promasidor plans to build another factory in another part of Nigeria, in addition to its multi-billion naira complex in Lagos. Procter and Gamble recently inaugurated a new manufacturing plant that would further domesticate local manufacturing of its products. Already, some 70 per cent of Procter and Gamble Nigeria’s products are manufactured in Nigeria.

Notwithstanding the positive macroeconomic outlook, stakeholders are unanimous that there is still need to provide amenable macroeconomic situation to domesticate foreign capital, since such capital are continuously in search of comparatively better operating environment.

Creating working synergies The Ministry of Trade and Investment and the NSE has signed on to working relationship to further improve the investment climate. Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr.

Early successes

•Aganga

•Onyema

‘With the NSE providing the private sector input and the government supporting with fiscal and ministerial initiatives, the renewed working relationship among stakeholders could further enhance the attractiveness of Nigeria as prime emerging-market investment destination’ Olusegun Aganga, whose ministry has been given the mandate to get as much investment as possible into the country, was last month the special guest at the NSE CEO sectoral dinner organised for entrepreneurs in the industrial goods sector in Lagos. An upbeat Aganga assured the management of the NSE of the ministry’s support in ensuring that more investments flow into the Nigerian stock market in particular and economy in general.

Interestingly, analysts hold the view and very strongly too that the minister’s pledge would be a promise kept given his legendary commitment to inflow of investments into the economy. Aganga’s antecedence, these analysts stressed, is such that there is no iota of doubt that he would deliver on his promises. Specifically, as minister of finance, Aganga, was said to have been instrumental to the recruitment of the Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema in 2011. Like a new-broom that sweeps clean, the coming of Onyema has led to reforms at the Exchange, which have had far-reaching effect at the stock market.

Therefore, the minister’s assurance to support the efforts in attracting more investments into the economy through the NSE was not seen as another empty promise by government officials.

A database for decision-making To underscore the new high tempo of the working relationship, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), one of the parastatals under the Ministry of Trade and Investment, this month visited the NSE to brainstorm on areas of cooperation. Chairman, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Chief Funsho Lawal, assured the investment community of the Commission’s determination to ensure that adequate information needed to assist investors to make vital decisions would be available through the NSE. “We are happy to collaborate with the NSE and the market community to ensure that activities in the market as regards quoted companies are boosted. To this end, we would try to ensure that companies are properly registered and we plan to help stockbrokers and investors in making adequate decision regarding the companies they are

investing in. We will also be involved in assisting companies who plan to gather information on how to list their shares on the Exchange, and give them the necessary steps towards easy registration that will, ultimately, lead to the listing of their shares on the NSE trading floor,” Lawal said.

CAC will establish as a contact centre at the NSE as part of the new partnership to provide adequate information on companies to assist investors in decision making.

For the first time in the history of Nigeria, CAC has achieved a 24-hour registration of businesses in its Abuja and Lagos Offices, while arrangements have been concluded to extend it to other states of the federation in no time.

Challenges of listed companies While listed companies through the listing take care of their financial challenges, there are other factors militating against the operations that have retarded their growth and prevented more flow of investments into the country. The performance of the companies in the industrial goods sector, for instance, has been hampered by poor infrastructure, proliferation of smuggled goods, inconsistent government policies, influx of sub-standard goods and unfavourable import tariff.

However, Aganga said the Ministry was taking measures to ensure that these challenges are tackled. Specifically, he assured the CEOs of listed firms and prospective ones that the ban placed on some foreign products would be implemented. The area of tariff, he stated that the ministry will equally ensure its implementation.

He added that the Federal Government was committed to partnering state governments in creating a sustainable enabling environment for attracting and retaining local and foreign investments across the country.

Business-friendly environment Aganga declared that the Federal Government was creating the environment that would ensure inflow of more investments.

“We are creating a sustainable enabling environment that is capable of attracting and

There is no doubt that several investment climate reforms programmes embarked upon by the ministry have started yielding good dividends going by recent reports from reputable international organisations, scoring Nigeria high in terms of inflow of Foreign Direct Investment compared with other developed and developing economies across the globe.

Nigeria has been ranked as one of the four major investment destinations and growth areas in the world. According to KPMG, one of the world’s foremost audit, financial and tax advisory firms, Nigeria’s new-found status followed the disappointing returns recorded by the BRIC with the exception of China.

Also, statistics from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) put Nigeria as Africa’s biggest destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2011, with total FDI inflows of $8.92 billion. Specifically, the report stated that Nigeria received $8.92 billion in FDI, thereby placing it as first in Africa, while South Africa was ranked next with total FDI inflows of $5.81 billion.

Most analysts see greater prospects for investment flow. In its report titled African equity exposure-Direct investment is superior, Renaissance Capital, a leading investment research firm, stated that direct investment approach remains the better option for higher returns.

According to the report, equity investments in quoted companies in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone and other SubSaharan African (SSA) countries offer better prospects of higher yields and returns than indirect investments either through South African companies or multinationals with exposures to African economies.

Renaissance Capital outlined the rationale for investing in Africa’s equity and debt markets to include Africa’s positive structural demographic dividend, rapid urbanisation, improving political stability, commodity wealth, the broadening of its economies beyond commodities, improving regional integration, positive macroeconomic settings and the deepening of its financial markets.

“We think direct African equity investment is the superior approach. The combination of a limited investment pool and rapidly increasing global fund flows into African equity funds provides a strong positive underpin for share-price performance in Africa’s equity markets, in our view. Furthermore, African policy-makers are determined to drastically improve the tradability of their equity markets. Direct SSA equity exposure also benefits from the domestic support provided by large pension funds in Nigeria and Kenya,” Renaissance Capital concluded.

Global Chief Economist, Renaissance Capital, Mr Charles Robertson, narrowed it down to Nigeria, pointing out that Nigeria is currently the best investment destination globally with prospects for high returns on investment.

With the NSE providing the private sector inputs and the government supporting with fiscal and ministerial initiatives, the renewed working relationship among stakeholders could further enhance the attractiveness of Nigeria as prime emerging-market investment destination.

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

34

MONEY MARKET REPORT

Liquidity rises on N387b TBs, OMO refunds T

HE liquidity in the money market increased significantly last week as inflows of about N387.43 billion Treasury Bills (TBs) and Open Market Operation (OMO) bills repayment hit the market. Consequently, the interbank inter-bank rate fell by 408 basis points to 10.3 per cent, reflecting improved liquidity in the market.

The call/overnight and seven-day money market rates fell to 10.29 per cent and 10.66 per cent last Thursday.

The three-month Nigeria Interbank Offered Rate also fell to 11.5 per cent, though less activities are done on the tenor. The interbank secured lending (Open Buy Back) fell 379 bps to 10.25 per cent for commercial banks and discount houses.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) liquidity management remained active. It was supported by the circular issued last August reviewing its guidelines for how banks access its Standing Lending Facility window.

Currency analysts at Ecobank Nigeria, Olakunle Ezun said the naira appreciated 0.2 per cent against the dollar in the Inter-bank.

He said the appreciation continued to be driven by improved dollar supplies from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other oil companies. He said although the naira has a weakening outlook, the steady rise in reserves to $48.8 billion (around seven months equivalent of imports) and CBN's MPC decision to hold rate unchanged at 12 per cent would provide a large cushion to support the naira in the weeks ahead.

ties of deposit money banks (DMBs), microfinance banks (MfBs), licenced primary mortgage banks (PMBs) and licensed depositor of insured banks are entitled to up to N500,000 for DMBs and N200,000 for MfBs and PMBs in the event of failure.

Representatives of Bank Examination Unit (BEU) Shehu Aladire said on-site and off-site activities of the corporation are aimed at operational efficiency and compliance with banking rules and regulations in the system.

He identified the four types of on-site bank examination as maiden, routine, target and special examinations.

London Exchange African companies that are quoted in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) raised 4.2 billion Pounds Sterling from the exchange in five years, the Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Roger Gifford had said.

The listings cover periods from 2008 till date.

He spoke during the United Kingdom-Nigeria Investment Partnership Forum organised by Guaranty Trust Bank in Lagos.

The Mayor said there are a total of 600 nonUK companies currently quoted in LSE, adding that the Exchange gives opportunity to interested firms to be listed with minimal requirements.

He said such listings must however, comply with ethical and regulatory requirements, adding that Nigerian firms are encouraged to list in the LSE. He said the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remains a gateway to African market, adding that there is however, need to build more confidence in the market.

Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Oscar Onyema said the Exchange is looking inward and boosting local participation. He said the capital market appreciated by 35 per cent last year, and has so far achieved 19 per cent.

He said the management of the NSE is committed to developing framework for the market operation. He urged Gifford to continue in his efforts at promoting further collaboration between NSE and LSE.

Naira notes

Sustainable banking practice Banks were urged by the CBN last week to consider environmental and social policies in their decision-making and lending processes. The apex bank also developed a reporting template for banks in filling their reports on loans to firms whose operations have negative impact on the environment.

This was in line with the Sustainable Banking Practice being promoted by the banking watchdog.

The CBN in a statement said Sustainable Banking is aimed at minimising or mitigating the negative impacts of financial institutions' operations on the environment and local communities in which they operate especially on agric, power and the oil and gas sectors.

According to the regulator, for the successful implementation of the principles, the institutions would be required to develop a management approach that balances the environments and social (E&S) risks identified with the opportunities to be exploited through their business activities.

"The adoption of the principles will not only help banks in mitigating the E & S risks associated with their business operation and those of their clients, but also help them to achieve greater efficiencies and better position them to take advantage of opportunities in the global market place where environmental and social issues are becoming increasingly important.

"They will also enjoy higher productivity, higher staff morale, lower turnover and absenteeism due to strong employee relations and workplace practices. The CBN would need to provide the structural mechanism to encourage consistent and widespread implementation of the principles and develop its institutional capacity to support the banks in their implementation of the principles," it added.

Money laundering The CBN reviewed its anti-money laundering/combating the financial terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation 2009. The policy was also aligned with the money laundering prohibition act and terrorism act as well as revised financial action task force (FATF) 40 recommendations initially issued in 2012.

A circular to all banks and other financial institutions, signed by CBN's Acting Director, Financial Policy and Regulation, I.T. Nwaoha, said financial institutions are to henceforth, report to the CBN and Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) any asset frozen or actions taken in compliance with the prohibition requirements of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their financing including attempted transactions.

He said during the establishment of customer relationship, or when conducting occasional transactions, a financial institu-

Bank to bank report

•Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

By Collins Nweze

tion suspects that transactions relate to money laundering , then the institution should identify and verify the identity of the customer and the beneficial owner, whether permanent or occasional, and irrespective of any exemption of any designated threshold that might otherwise apply.

ANAN The Ex-Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Terkaa Gemade, said the last two years were for the actualisation of the association.

ANAN, in a statement, said Gemade spoke in Abuja while presenting the achievements of the immediate past president of ANAN, Hajia Maryam Ladi at the association's preannual general meeting dinner. ``Today, we are celebrating the actualiser of ANAN vision. The vision that started in 1979 with ANAN not being known, not being wanted and today, the vision has been actualised,'' he said.

The former registrar commended the strategies pursued by Ladi Ibrahim to put ANAN on a right footing. He recalled the tortuous road the association passed through to become the most articulate and most liquid asset-based professional association in the country.

Gemade also recalled the achievements of the founding fathers of the association and

•CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

their numerous contributions toward the growth of the association. He also said that in the last two years, the association got the membership of international bodies such as the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC); Pan-African Federation of Accountants (PAFA); as well as Association of Accounting bodies of West Africa (ABWA).

According to him, ANAN is also a member of the International Association of Accounting Education and Research.

NDIC The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has blamed bank failures in the country on insider abuses, weak internal control system and poor corporate governance in many lenders. NDIC Deputy Director Research, Usman Wali disclosed this when members of the National Association of Banking and Finance Students (NABAFS), Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa visited the corporation in Abuja.

In a statement, he said the role of the corporation in protecting depositors' interest is key to the nation's financial stability and economic development.

Wali emphasised that the visit was crucial to the enhancement of the NDIC's public awareness on its mandate and activities. The Deputy Director said the corporation's operation is focused on its core mandate of deposit guarantee, banking supervision, distress resolution and liquidation.

He said the NDIC insured deposit liabili-

‘The call/overnight and seven-day money market rates fell to 10.29 per cent and 10.66 per cent . The three-month Nigeria Interbank Offered Rate also fell to 11.5 per cent, though less activities are done on the tenor. The interbank secured lending (Open Buy Back) fell 379 bps to 10.25 per cent for commercial banks and discount houses’

Access Bank has partnered MasterCard in its drive to promote cash-less and financial inclusion policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The collaboration was also involved the Nigerian National Identity Management Commission (NNIMC) in order to roll-out 13 million MasterCard-branded National Identity Smart Cards (NISC).

In a statement, the bank said the collaboration was revealed on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa.

According the Bank's Group Managing Director, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, "Access Bank's involvement in this project is testament to our ongoing efforts to expand financial inclusion in Nigeria. The new identity card will revolutionize the Nigerian economic landscape, breaking down one of the most significant barriers to financial inclusion - proof of identity, while simultaneously providing Nigerians with a world class payment solution".

Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, said Nigerian banks are more favourably disposed to lending to oil producing companies if such firm's oil reserves are confirmed.

Speaking during the UK-Nigeria Investment Partnership forum held in Lagos, he said oil exploration is capital intensive in nature and it only makes sense to ensure that funds being availed the oil companies are paid back so that the banks will not suffer monumental losses and put shareholders capital at risk.

Speaking on "Sustainable oil and gas sector Reforms" he said the consolidation exercise in the banking industry has strengthened banks' ability to fund the oil and gas sector, even as he stressed the contributions his bank has made in strengthening players in the local exploration market.

He explained that since banks do not want to lose money, they would rather lend to oil exploratory companies after reserves have been confirmed.

Speaking on the marginal oil fields, which were given to indigenous companies and investors, he said the challenge banks face in lending to indigenous oil firms is that some of the companies have one dominant individual as the promoter, which is not in tandem with good corporate governance.

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

35

EQUITIES WATCH

Email: taofad2000@yahoo.co.uk

There are two broad sides to the stock market-the bullish upside and the bearish downside. With a full-year average gain of 35.4 per cent in 2012 and a year-to-date return of 28.25 per cent so far this year, the bullish rally portrays the impressive gains by several stocks. But it also belies the groaning pains of several struggling investors. For in mortgage subsector, there has been no difference in 2011 or 2012 and there is less to cheer about in the continuing bullish run in 2013. TAOFIK SALAKO reports that mortgage stocks appear stuck in a murky foundation of poor fundamentals and business strategies.

I

NVESTORS in several equities have been counting their gains in billions. With total capital gains of N2.44 trillion or 35.4 per cent in 2012 and a superlative accretion of about N2.54 trillion or 28.25 per cent returns so far this year, equities are undoubtedly the most attractive and best-return securities in the Nigerian securities market. Compared with negative or negligible real return of his fixed-income an average equity investor still smiles with double-digit inflation-adjusted return. Inflation currently stands at 8.6 per cent while the benchmark interest rate-the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), is 12.0 per cent.

Either way, equities make more sense than other instruments.

But the generally, positive overall market situation belies the risks, concentrated and scattered, that still dodge equities. The mortgage subsector is one of the Achilles' heels of the market. In its seven years, the mortgage subgroup shows little subsisting gains for investors. With the earliest company listed in 2006, all other mortgage companies were listed around 2008, riding on the back of the extremely bullish market during the 20042007 equity booms. They had raised huge capital, restructured their balance sheets and wooed investors, who were fascinated by the tangible underlying assets and immense opportunities in the housing sector, with high hopes of 'concrete' returns in the characters of the solid structures that formed their underlying assets.

Mortgage runs on a clear business principle: a home buyer or builder obtains finance from a financial institution to complete the real estate development. Besides the demand for initial equity contribution of varied size, the property in question also serves as collateral and the ownership only fully transferred to the owner upon complete payment of the loan and the conditions thereon. The underlying assets of mortgage companies are thus private and commercial housing developments. Savings and loans companies, otherwise known as primary mortgage institutions (PMI), therefore mobilise savings from customers, mostly prospective home owners, and distribute such deposits to needy customers. They also serve as veritable vehicles for implementation of the government's housing initiatives such as National Housing Fund (NHF). As financial intermediation companies, PMIs are regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Quoted mortgage companies are also regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

With housing estate sprouting all over, the combination of the real estate boom and stock market boom had given many investors the beliefs of a one-for-two deal. This much was also evident in the historic emergence of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), which also had its primary assets in real estate, on the stock market. But with post-listing results, mortgage companies appeared to have suffered a fatal failed start; they appear yet to recover from the trauma. This is related by the share prices and underlying fundamentals of the four mortgage companies.

Losing on both sides Against the background of year-to-date return of 20 per cent in the banking subgroup, mortgage stocks are stuck mostly at their nominal values. Abbey Building Society, the three other stocks in the subgroup- Aso Savings and Loans Plc, Resort Savings and Loans and Union Homes Savings and Loans have stagnated at their nominal value of 50 kobo since 2011. Abbey Building Society itself replicates the stagnation in the subgroup. Its share price opened 2012 at N1.44 and closed at N1.37. It has stuck at N1.43 so far this year, underlining the negative return since 2011.

The nominal share prices largely reflected the poor operational results of the mortgage companies. Audited and interim reports of nearly all the companies have shown considerable declines over the years. Three-year audited reports and accounts of Union Homes showed gradual built up in losses and erosion of the capital base since 2009, cumulating in a negative net assets of N2.59 billion in 2011, the last audited year available for the company. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has tagged many mortgage companies for late rendition of periodic earnings reports.

What hopes for mortgage stocks?

Union Homes Union Homes' turnover increased from N5.52 billion in 2009 to N7.22 billion in 2010 and slumped to N5.86 billion in 2011. All through the years, the company recorded losses with loss before tax of N1.32 billion, N9.54 billion and N2.67 billion in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. Net loss after tax stood at N1.67 billion, N6.55 billion and N2.39 billion in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. The company's total assets dwindled consecutively from N51.83 billion to N49.01 billion and N42.04 billion. Shareholders' funds declined from N5.71 billion to N1.90 billion and turned into a deficit of N2.59 billion in 2011.

Aso Saving Also, audited report and accounts of Aso Savings for the year ended March 31, 2012 showed that gross earnings dropped from N11.01 billion in 2011 to N10.79 billion in 2012. Profit before tax slumped to N301 million as against N1.90 billion while net profit after tax dwindled from N1.21 billion in 2011 to N129.30 billion in 2012. However, while net assets dropped marginally from N3.01 billion to N3.14 billion, the company still had total assets of N86.24 billion.

Resort Saving and Loans Resort Savings and Loans showed a less worrisome outlook, though profit remained substantially lower than previous performance. Interim report and accounts of the mortgage banker for the period ended Sep-

tember 30, 2012 showed that gross earnings improved to N964.45 million in 2012 as against N945.93 million recorded in comparable period of 2011. Profits before and after tax stood at N90.76 million and N63.53 million compared with N211.52 million and N148.06 million recorded respectively in the comparable period of 2011. However, the third quarter report represented significant improvement on the full-year report for 2011, when the company posted net loss of N979.43 million. Audited report for the year ended December 31, 2011 had shown pre-tax loss of N939.43 million while gross earnings stood at N1.21 billion. The third quarter report showed that the company moved farther away from the brinks and built up equity funds far above new capital requirement of N5 billion for national mortgage banker. Net assets stood at N5.73 billion in third quarter 2012 as against N4.03 billion in third quarter 2011 and N2.87 billion recorded as closing figure for 2011.

Building on weak foundation The deteriorating fundamentals of mortgage companies underlined the adverse effects of wrong investment strategies and poor corporate governance. Stashed with new funds, the mortgage bankers had embarked on spending sprees, diverting funds from their core real estate and housing investments to personal investments and the stock market.

Mortgage companies were reported to be carrying several bad loans from the huge funds

poured into the stock market bubble between 2007 and 2008 and were trapped in unrealizable assets as recession set in mid 2008.

A report by one of the mortgage companies described how former directors and other insiders built up nearly N4 billion in outstanding non-performing loans, more than threequarter of the company's total balance sheet size. The former directors, who resigned in 2011, their family members and related companies took various loans through various instruments such as mortgage, overdraft, term loan, lease, staff loan and subsequently turned away from servicing the loans. The report showed that the former directors and their cronies were indebtedness to the tune of N3.99 billion when the company's total assets and shareholders' funds were N5.24 billion and N2.87 billion respectively. Out of the 25 insider credits totaling N3.99 billion, only one loan of N15.44 million, less than 0.4 per cent of total insider credits, was performing.

In the largest instances of the insider loans, the former directors awarded several loans to another quoted company where they served as directors. The report indicated that about N2.81 billion non-performing loans were related to that company, which engages in fund management, capital market operations, financial advisory and portfolio management. The immediate past chairman of the company reportedly took several personal loans with about N42 million outstanding as non-performing on three facilities.

Bad capital, new capital Still struggling with poor market perception, mortgage banks now face the challenge of recapitalisation. Most mortgages banks need to raise new equity funds to meet new minimum capital requirement under the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)'s policy framework for mortgage banks.

Under the new CBN's framework for mortgage banks, they will be classified into national and state mortgage banks, with the geographic demarcation as benchmark for minimum capital requirement. National mortgage banks are authorized to operate in all states of the Federation while state mortgage banks are restricted to their registered state. National mortgage banks are required to have minimum capital base of N5 billion while state mortgage banks are required to have N2.5 billion.

Both Resort Savings & Loans and Aso Savings are already in the process of raising funds. The NSE late last month approved combined floatation of initial public offering (IPO) and rights issue for Resort Savings.

Under the hybrid offer, Resort Savings will be issuing more than 3.333 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at a price of 51 kobo through the IPO. It will also simultaneously issue 3.6 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at the nominal value to existing shareholders. Altogether, Resort Savings hopes to raise about N3.5 billion.

Aso Savings and Loans had earlier floated a rights issue of 11.05 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at 60k per share.

Besides concerns about their historical fundamental performances, the capital raising efforts of the mortgage banks could be hampered by both the general lackluster state of the inactive primary segment of the capital market. There is also the issue of large outstanding share capital of mortgage banks relative to their assets base, which could encumber new fund raising without addressing issues of share reconstruction and valuation.

Resort has 11.33 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. Aso Savings has the second sectoral outstanding shares of 8.68 billion shares, nominally valued at N4.34 billion. Union Homes has 7.81 billion outstanding shares while Abbey Building Society has the least outstanding shares issue of 4.2 billion shares.

Undoubtedly, the mortgage industry has a robust outlook. With estimated housing deficit of about 17 million and growing demand for private and commercial developments, mortgage bankers have latent untapped opportunity in Nigeria's large population and wide gap in shelter. But the challenges for the mortgage bankers are appropriate products and investment strategies that could unlock these opportunities. Before then, they need to convince investors they have found the winning formulas.

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39

International Business

Nissan sees small rise in profit

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APANESE carmaker Nissan has reported a small rise in full-year profits, but sales in its key market of China fell.

Net income amounted to 342.45billion yen ($3.4billion; £2.2billion), up 0.3 per cent from the previous year. Global revenue grew 2.3 per cent to 9.6 trillion yen.

Sales in China fell 5.3 per ecnt to 1.18 million units, with Nissan's market share down 6.5 per cent

from the previous year.

Chinese consumers were urged to boycott Japanese goods last year amid a row between the two countries.

China makes up a quarter of Nissan's global sales, and chief executive Carlos Ghosn has pledged to become a leader in electric cars in China, ploughing significant investment into the technology.

Sales in Europe decreased 7.5 per

cent to 660,000 as the downturn in the region's economy hit sales.

US sales rose 5.4 per cent, while demand in emerging markets was strong. Overall, sales worldwide increased to 4.9 million units, up 1.4 per cent from the previous year.

Nissan, which is partly owned by France's Renault, said it expected net profit to increase by 23 per cent to 420 billion yen in the current financial year.

Toyota and Honda both reported record sales in the year ended March. Revenue for Toyota rose 16.3 per cent while Honda saw sales jump 32.2 per cent year-onyear. Their profit rise has been largely due to a weakening yen against other currencies, which inflates overseas earnings when they are repatriated.

But Nissan used a relatively conservative exchange rates when calculating its latest earnings, with a dollar-yen rate of 82.9 yen to the dollar.

IAG reports bigger loss over troubled Iberia

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OSSES at International Airlines Group have ballooned in the first quarter due to its troubled Spanish carrier Iberia.

The owner of Iberia and British Airways reported a net quarterly loss of 630million euro ($820milion; £531million) compared with a net loss of 129million euro last year.

IAG is trying to turn around Iberia, which has been struggling amid the economic crisis in Spain and stiff competition from budget carriers.

It took a 311million euro charge mainly related to restructuring at Iberia. In the first three months of the year, IAG said total revenue was up 0.5% to 3.9bn euros, with passenger revenue up 3.9 per cent

to 3.34bn euros.

"These results are encouraging with underlying revenue strength in strategic markets. However while the first step towards restructuring Iberia has been taken, there is more work to be done," said chief executive Willie Walsh.

IAG pushed through a plan to cut costs at its Spanish unit aimed at returning the company to a 600million euro profit by 2015. Workers at the Spanish airline staged two strikes earlier this year over 3,000 job cuts.

IAG is also planning to take over Vueling, the Spanish low-cost carrier, in which the company already holds a 46 per cent stake. The carrier is expected to co-operate with

Iberia while remaining a standalone company within the group.

The firm said British Airways had enjoyed a strong performance in the quarter thanks to a rise in business and first-class flights on its transatlantic routes.

However, IAG said it could not provide profit guidance for this year because it was waiting for shareholder approval for new planes, which could affect forecasts.

Last month, IAG ordered 18 Airbus A350 aircraft for BA as part of a move to replace a fleet of 30 Boeing aircraft over the next 10 years.

It also agreed to buy 18 Boeing Dreamliners to replace some of its ageing jumbo jets. Mr Walsh said

that the company was scheduled to take delivery of two Dreamliners by the end of June.

"The airline is today testing investors' resolve," said Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

"The restructuring process at Iberia still remains a slow work in progress, whilst rivals such as Easyjet and Ryanair continue to take advantage of prohibitive work practices still being suffered by former state airlines.

"On the upside, management is clearly battling hard in Spain, with the long term aim of establishing a major hub to expected growth in Latin America," he said.

BBC

Moody's downgrades Co-op Bank's debt rating to 'junk'

F

•UK Co-operative Bank

mitted there was a "need to strengthen our capital position in light of the broader economic downturn and the pending introduction of enhanced regulatory requirements".

It added: "We have a clear plan to drive this forward throughout the

coming months."

These plans include selling off its life and general insurance businesses, and simplifying its operations.

In March, the Co-op Bank reported annual losses of £674milion for 2012.

Moody's reckons the bank's "problem loan ratio" rose to 10.9 per cent in 2012, up from 8.1 per cent in 2011, reflecting a deterioration in its commercial property portfolio.

Most of Co-op Bank's problems stem from bad loans associated with its takeover of Britannia Building Society in 2009.

U.S. stocks fluctuate as investors consider stimulus pace

U

NITED States’ stocks fluctuated between gains and losses, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index poised for a third straight week of gains, as investors weighed the pace of central bank stimulus amid a meeting of finance ministers.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reports that energy companies posted the biggest decline out of 10 S&P 500 groups, as the price of crude fell to a oneweek low.

Apple Inc., the world's most valuable company, lost 1.1 percent. Gap Inc. added 5.5 per cent, pacing gains with discretionary stocks after forecasting profit that topped estimates. Nvidia Corp. rose 4.4 per cent as fiscal first-quarter sales and earnings exceeded projections.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent to 1,628.01 in New York. The equity benchmark rallied to a record on

A

REVISION by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has cast doubt on the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) double-dip recession last year.

Revised growth estimates suggest the construction industry shrank in the first quarter of last year, but by less than previously thought.

Analysts say the revision may be enough to mean the overall economy narrowly avoided falling into recession for a second time.

The ONS is due to give official confirmation of this in June.

The revised figures show the construction sector shrank by 5% in the first three months of 2012, less than the 5.4% contraction initially reported.

The ONS gives its final estimates for growth in June, and if other parts of the economy remain unchanged, the economy as a whole would register zero growth, rather than a contraction of 0.1%.

The economy needs to register two consecutive quarters of negative growth to be in recession.

Right now it looks as though the UK has not formally been in recession since the summer of 2009" However, the ONS may also revise the growth of other parts of the economy when it publishes its final estimates in June, such as the much larger services sector, which may offset the gains in construction.

Construction accounts for less than 7% of the UK economy, whereas the services sector makes up about three quarters of output.

Despite this, the construction sector's weakness has been blamed for dragging down economic growth. BBC

Fed's Bernanke warns of shadow banking risks

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O-OPERATIVE Bank branch in Derby has pulled out of a deal to buy 630 bank branches from Lloyds Banking Group.

According to the Cable Network News (CNN), ratings agency Moody's has downgraded the Cooperative Bank's debt rating to "junk" status, citing fears that it is vulnerable to potential losses.

The agency warned that the bank may need "external support" if it could not strengthen its balance sheet.

The news preceded the resignation of chief executive, Barry Tootell, following the bank's failure to buy 631 branches from Lloyds Banking Group.

Responding to the Moody's downgrade, the Co-op said it had a "strong funding profile" that was "significantly above the regulatory requirements".

But, in a statement, the bank ad-

UK ‘avoids’ double-dip recession

five consecutive trading days starting on May 2, and is heading for a weekly gain of 0.9 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.87 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 15,069.75. Trading of S&P 500 stocks was 11 percent below the 30-day average at this time of day.

"People are seeing light at the end of the tunnel," Larry Kantor, the New York-based head of research at Barclays Plc, said in a radio interview on "Bloomberg Surveillance" with Tom Keene. "We would not be surprised to see a correction but we would be a buyers on dips because of the tremendous monetary policy and the fact that the economy is growing."

Group of Seven finance ministers start a two-day meeting in Aylesbury, north of London, today. They may not release a formal communique, a Canadian Finance Department official said May 8. Central banks worldwide

have announced 511 interest-rate cuts since June 2007, according to a Bank of America Corp. tally done before Vietnam and Sri Lanka lowered their policy rates today.

U.S. stocks retreated after the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said he favors scaling back the central bank's monthly $85 billion in bond purchases as early as the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which is scheduled for June 18-19.

Plosser's remarks highlight a debate within the FOMC on whether to expand or curb a pace of bond purchases that has pumped up the central bank's balance sheet to $3.32 trillion. At their April 30-May 1 meeting, policy makers said they're prepared to increase bond buying in response to changes in the labor market or inflation.

"We're in the late stages of an ac-

commodative Fed," Andrew Slimmon, Chicago-based managing director of global investment solutions at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, said by phone. His firm has $1.7 trillion in client assets.

"They may change policy next year, so this stock market at some point is going to discount a change in policy. That's going to temper the bull market in equities. I don't think that's going to happen soon.

It's likely going to be next year."

The U.S. bull market has entered its fifth year. The S&P 500 has surged 141 per cent from a 12-year low in 2009, driven by betterthan-estimated corporate earnings and three rounds of bond purchases from the Fed. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, fell 0.5 per cent to 13.06. The equity volatility gauge is up 1.6 percent for the week, paring its loss for the year to 28 percent.

EDERAL Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said that the shadow banking system still posed a threat to financial stability, and funding markets might still not be able to cope with a major default.

In a wide-ranging speech explaining, the Cable Network News (CNN) reports, the Fed's role in monitoring the health of the banking system, Bernanke also laid out how the central bank was looking at asset markets closely for signs of excessive risk taking.

"While the shadow banking sector is smaller today than before the crisis...regulators and the private sector need to address remaining vulnerabilities," Bernanke said at a banking conference sponsored by the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank.

The 2007-09 credit meltdown, and the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers, brought to light a group of firms and funding vehicles known together as shadow banks that were poorly regulated but harbored large risk.

The highest grouping of U.S. financial regulators, the powerful Financial Stability Oversight Council, which is chaired by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, last month also warned that runs on shadow banks were still possible.

Asked about the issue of too-bigto-fail banks, Bernanke said regulators should tell banks to hold more equity if they decide that current rules do not do enough, rather than impose an arbitrary limit on size.

"Because that makes them safer, but also because it reduces or eliminates their funding advantage and gives them an incentive to reduce or simplify their firms," Bernanke said.

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THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

AFRICA BUSINESS

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

NIMASA gets Deputy Director, PR

T •South African miners during a protest.

Amplats plans 6,000 job cuts in South Africa

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NGLO American Platinum (Amplats) is planning to cut 6,000 jobs at its South African mines, which were hit by violent labour unrest last year.

The layoffs would save the company 2.3billion rand ($256million; £160million) in costs, said chief executive Chris Griffith.

As a result, platinum production will fall by 250,000 ounces this year and by 100,000 ounces a year in the future.

The firm reported its first loss last year following the disruption caused by strike action.

Amplats is 80 per cent-owned by minerals conglomerate Anglo American.

Most of the layoffs will affect the platinum belt city of Rustenburg.

The 6,000 job losses are significantly fewer than an earlier proposal in January to shed 14,000 jobs.

However, Simon Hlongwane, a branch secretary for the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), said: "Jobs

must not be lost."

He added: "Where will 6,000 people in this economy go? They will engage in criminality. We as AMCU stand ready to fight."

Production at the Rustenburg mine was disrupted for eight weeks in 2012 following illegal strike action. At the time, Amplats said that the strikes had cost it 700m rand ($80million; £50million) in revenue.

In January, Amplats announced a major restructuring plan that would cut 14,000 jobs and save $420million (3.8bilion rand) a year.

A month later the company reported a 6.33billion rand operating loss for the 2012 financial year 2012, with output down eight per cent to 2.2 million ounces. In 2011, it had reported a profit of 7.97billion rand.

Violent strikes in the platinum and gold industry claimed more than 50 lives last year, including 34 striking miners at a nearby platinum mine run by Lonmin.

Mali seeks $2.6b for economic recovery

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ALI will ask international donors for nearly two billion euro ($2.6 billion) to help rebuild the country and try to halt a resurgence of al Qaedalinked Islamists who were driven out of the major northern towns by a French-led offensive.

Reuters reports that Paris launched a ground and air operation in its former colony in January to break the Islamist rebel hold on the northern two-thirds of the country, saying the militants posed a threat to the security of West Africa and Europe.

The rapid offensive took back most of the territory seized by the militants but has failed to stop them from waging a guerrilla war.

On Friday, suspected Islamists carried out three suicide attacks on soldiers from Mali and Niger in northern Mali, wounding a Malian soldier. At least five bombers died.

In a document drawn up for an international donors' conference in Brussels on Wednesday, the Malian government said it would be able to finance just over half of a 4.34 billion euro plan for this year and next, but needed help with the rest.

"The international community is greatly needed to finance and implement the plan, up to a level of 1.96 billion euros," the gov-

ernment said in the document, posted in French on the conference web site.

"To get out of the crisis and to begin lasting development, Mali needs and depends on the technical and financial support of the international community," it said.

The plan sets out 12 priorities, including keeping the peace, organising credible elections and fighting corruption.

Next week's conference, organised by France and the European Union, will aim to raise at least $600 to $700 million, diplomatic sources said.

Due to attend are Mali's interim president, Dioncounda Traore, a number of other African leaders, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

France is now looking to withdraw thousands of its troops and hand over security duties to a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Donors who suspended assistance to Mali following a military coup in March 2012 have resumed budget support and project aid.

The EU has unblocked 250 million euros in frozen development aid and Paris has restored 150 million euros, including a 10 million euro emergency assistance fund to rebuild key services such as water and electricity.

AGRA praises partners in Northern Ghanaa

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LLIANCE for Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) has praised three of its partner institutions for their hard work, passion and dedication to the implementation of the Agriculture Value Chain Mentorship Project (AVCMP).

The partner institutions are the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development, and Ghana Agricultural Associations for Business Information Centre.

Dr Bashir Jama, West Africa Director of AGRA gave the commendation in Nyankpala in the Tolon District of the Northern Region, after he paid a working visit.

The three-year project, which would end in 2014, aimed at contributing towards government's objective to becoming an agro-industrial

economy by strengthening the capacity of agrodealers, small medium enterprises, farmer based organisations to ensure a highly productive, efficient, competitive and sustainable system.

Funded by Danish International Development Agency, AVCMP has three components, being jointly implemented by SARI of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development and Ghana Agricultural Associations for Business Information Centre.

Dr Jama said it was AGRA's strategic operations to use different approach and innovation to help small holder farmers especially women who are the most marginalised to succeed. He advised partners to develop novelty ways to convert challenges to gains so as to help achieve the project's objective of improving the livelihood of farmers.

HE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has promoted a journalist and public relations expert, Mr Isichei Osamgbi, as Deputy Director and Head, Public Relations (PR).

According to a statement by NIMASA’s Director-General, Mr Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, “Mr Isichei Osamgbi is expected to bring his immense wealth of experience in public and private sectors to bear on NIMASA’s operations and growth.”

Osamgbi joined NIMASA as Deputy Director/Head, Abuja Zonal office, last year. He worked with Shell Nigeria between 2007 and last year. As Shell’s Media Relations and Communication Adviser, he was part of the team that helped boost the image of the oil giant.

Between 1996 and 2006, the new NIMASA spokesman was at THISDAY Newspaper, where he held important positions, including Energy Editor, Business Editor (Nation’s Capital), Deputy Group News Editor, Corporate/Public Relations Manager, and member, Board of Editors.

He attended Edo College, Benin City; the former Edo State University, Ekpoma (now Ambrose Alli University, AAU), where he graduated with a degree in English in 1992, and the University of Lagos where he obtained a Master’s in International Law and Diplomacy in in 1997.

He has also received certificates and train-

• Osamgbi

ing both in Nigeria and abroad in public relations and media, notably a postgraduate certificate in newspaper management from the University of Mainz/International Institute of Journalism Berlin, under the German Government scholarship for excellence in journalism.

As a reporter, Osamgbi covered major international assignments, including the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the United Nations and the Commonwealth.

He is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

He is also a member of the prestigious Ikoyi Club 1938, Lagos, and a Director at the Rotary Club of Ikoyi, where he is an honouree of the Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) of Rotary International.

He is happily married and has children.

CAREER MANAGEMENT Job searches, resumes and interviews

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ELL, imagine sitting in a lobby waiting for an interview. You look around and all those waiting are as professional and qualified as you ...

• Graduates from top schools; possess relevant years of experience in your field; have achieved impressive success in their careers.

In other words, they are ALL highly QUALIFIED. Again, highly QUALIFIED!!

Same happens when 760 resumes have been pruned to 12. They are all HIGHLY QUALIFIED and EXPERIENCED That practically means you are a commoditya commercial term that means undistinguished/undistinguishable product. Who wants to buy ordinary things? I am sure you will prefer to buy unique/something special when you are out to buy things. The behaviour of employers in choosing the preferred candidate is not much different!

So, what will you say during this interview that is special and more compelling in order to outdistance others? What will you write in your resume that will make the employer want to see you? How will you craft your cover letter so that the potential employer will feel you must be invited for the list to be complete?

What is your USP (unique selling point) and what does that translate to so it’s a benefit for your new employer?

Standout from the crowd of experts The number one strategy job seekers neglect is the selling of their UVP (unique value proposition) over other qualified candidates these days, especially for senior/executive positions, your competition is not the under-performer with an unpolished resume and poor communication skills! (Wouldn’t that be easy?)

Your competitor is smart, is articulate, and accomplished. So, you, must introspect, dig deep, and develop a enthralling marketing plan that persuades from resume to interview, and through follow-up by seducing your employer with the promise of success through a clearly differentiating value you, and only you, can offer.

You must examine your career performance, find those special ways in which you deliver results–own them and promote them! Because to win in this challenged job market, you must sell a unique value proposition/a brand/a differentiating value.

Deep-dive analysis So, how do you go about this? Take out your pen and paper or better yet, open your MS Word programme and answer the following

By Olu Oyeniran

questions: • Why would an employer hire me over others who are qualified?

You are not allowed to answer this question with education, years of experience, or industry knowledge. Sorry! Yes. These are important and you must leverage them, but these are qualifiers. Remember, your competition is qualified—we are looking to nudge your employer over the fence by dangling a gem. Paint a rosy future from the previous success using words, figures, confidence.

• What is my UV and how will it impact my future employer?

What values do you want to add to the employers business and situation? How do you want to make money, save money and/or grow the business for him? When others speak of you, what do they say? What have you been consistently recognised for? How have you delivered in areas that no one else could?

• What guarantee can I make to my future employer?

It is not enough you have discovered your brand or USP/UVP—you must market it and convince the employer to switch/buy what you are selling. How do you present this as unique, effective and repeatable?

• What can I use to substantiate my personal brand or UVP? Convincing is done with examples, stories, and references. You must prove it. Figures are the most effective and must be included!

• Is this message delivered consistently and persuasively?

You must pass these across in all your job search communication media. These media include your resume, cover letter, interview performance, online social profiles, or any self-publishing/self promoting b content. The more consistent you are in the promotion of your image across all materials/communications—the more believable you will be—the more trust you will gain—the more convincing you are.

The game has gotten tougher folks! The same way in which you make purchasing decisions (you want to get the best for the money)—employers want to hire the best for the salary and they desire to not make a mistake in hiring you.

•Oyeniran is the Lead Consultant, EkiniConsult & Associates. He can be reached on Jobsearchhow.com.ng Tel 08083843230 (SMS Only).

42

Monday, May 13, 2013

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

43

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Ahead of the 2015 general elections, drumbeats of war are sounding as politicians are threatening fire and brimstone. AUGUSTINE AVWODE examines the implications of the heat for the polity.

2015 and drumbeats of war

tion.”

National concern

T

HE sounds are ominous. Suddenly, 2015, which is still 20 months away, is already dressed in the toga of ‘decisive’ year. In the last few weeks, the nation has been jolted by utterances of party chieftains, and regional and ethnic jingoists on the preparations for the forthcoming general elections.

Reminiscent of the 2007 elections, the 2015 elections are already being overshadowed by an incipient dangerous trend. In 2007 former President Olusegun Obasanjo was particular about winning the elections by all means, fair or foul. But the present ethnic agitation defiles party affiliation. It has assumed a campaign of sounding war drums threatening, not only peace in the Niger Delta, but also the corporate existence of Nigeria.

Inflammatory statements Last month, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) Kingsley Kuku, attributed the current relative peace and security in the oil rich Niger Delta region to the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan is still in the saddle. He was speaking at an interactive session with senior officials of United States Department led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of African Affairs), Ambassador Donald Teitelbaum in Washington DC. He therefore sought his assistance of the US to persuade him to seek re-election in 2015.

“It is true that the Presidential Amnesty Programme has engendered peace, safety and security in the sensitive and strategic Niger Delta.

“Permit me to add that the peace that currently prevails in the zone is largely because Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who is from that same place, is the President of Nigeria. That is the truth.

“It is only a Jonathan presidency that can guarantee continued peace and energy security in the Niger Delta,” Kuku asserted.

The implication is that any day Jonathan ceases to be the President, violence and militancy would return to the region and the economy would lie prostrate again.

If Kuku was diplomatic about the fate that awaits the country, if Jonathan was not returned as President in 2015, the leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has no time for such niceties. Last week, he categorically declared that that there will be no peace, if Jonathan is not reelected as the President in 2015. Dokubo-Asari spoke in Abuja when he addressed a press conference with a view to responding to criticisms which had trailed Kuku’s US statement.

“There will be no peace, not only in the Niger Delta, but everywhere, if Goodluck Jonathan is not the President by 2015, except God takes his life, which we don’t pray for.

“Jonathan has uninterrupted eight years of two terms to be president, according to the Nigeria constitution. We must have our uninterrupted eight years of two tenure, I am not in support of any amendment of the constitution that will reduce the eight years of two tenure that Goodluck Jonathan is expected to be president of Nigeria”, he said.

But while Kuku had found time to clarify his call for Jonathan’s re-election, Dokubo-Asari has remained defiant. Kuku explained that his submission was borne out of his firm believe that Jonathan Administration has stabilised the nation’s economy and can do more if given the time to implement certain pacts signed with exmilitants in the region which will help in stabilising the fragile peace currently in place.

“What I said in the U.S has been completely misrepresented. I spoke of the possibility of a degenerate Niger Delta if we do not value the fragile peace we have in the area today. I did not say that the Niger Delta will resort to violence if the President was not re-elected in 2015. I never

• Dr Jonathan

• Dokubo-Asari

said that and I couldn’t have said that”, he explained.

Condemnation of war threats Expectedly, condemnation of the ‘no Jonathan, no peace in 2015’ has been massive. Speaking to The Nation, the Convener of Coalition of Northern Leaders, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said it was a “dangerous trend”. He challenged those behind what he called “threat and blackmail” to come forward. He claimed that Dokubo-Asari was pushed to the front to do what his sponsors wanted done but too afraid to do it themselves.

Junaid challenged Nigerians to deal with those who are not only threatening democracy in Nigeria, but also the country as a whole now.

He said the lack of “normal” democracy in Nigeria will make it difficult to deal democratically with those beating the drums of war in respect of 2015.

“Clearly, this is a dangerous trend. When it has come to the extent of threatening and blackmailing people from other sections of the country to win election, then you know that the situation is bad. What those beating the drums of war are doing is to coerce and blackmail Nigerians to continue to vote for incompetent and corrupt people in government. The problem is the lack of normal democracy in Nigeria.

“What I mean is that, if the electorate know that their votes will count, there is no amount of blackmail or intimidation that can stop the will of the people. But in Nigeria, they always subvert the will of the people. The electoral umpire is not helping the situation. In fact, one of them is a card carrying member of the party. Clearly we have to stand and fight for democracy by making sure that our votes count. What you have here is the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau.

Those using them are behind. The people that are talking are working for those who cannot do what they have in mind by themselves. But we must deal with this dangerous trend now, and decisively so”, he said.

Fear of opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Publicity Secretary in Lagos State, Mr Joe Igbokwe simply urged Nigerians to ignore Dokubo-Asari. He said blackmail and threats cannot win elections.

“Please let Nigerians ignore Dokubo-Asari over his comment on the 2015 election. Blackmail and threats can never win a debate for war mongers and history is my witness. In 2015, Ni-

• Kuku

gerians will chase away the PDP from Abuja and all state capital notwithstanding the threats.

We have passed this road before. Some years back, a close aide of the Pope then asked Josef Stalin to do something that will please the Pope.

But Stalin was quoted as asking: The Pope who is asking to be pacified, how many battalions has he got? Now, how many battalions have those who are beating the drums of war?”

Lagos lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, described the development as very embarrassing and a different kind of ethnic war lordism”.

Speaking to The Nation, Aturu said the type of hegemony we are experiencing now is a backward type. “We are experiencing a different type of hegemony in Nigeria now that is most backward. It is a different brand of ethnic war lordism in the sense that, it must be embarrassing to the President because it has no merit, and no reason, but relies only on violence and it is destructive.

It is unfortunate because some of the finest people of my generation are from this particular ethnic group.

“It is unfortunate because a small segment has given it a colouration that is very damaging.

And I believe that this is not a reflection of the thinking of the average Ijaw man. But this group seems bent on imposing their own ideology on the rest of the country and they are working towards the goal of ensuring that Nigeria doesn’t come out of it, if Jonathan is not returned as President. I think this is very absurd and unfortunate,” Aturu said.

As a response to Dokubo-Asari’s threat, a former member of the House of Representatives and a chieftain of the Congress for Progressive Change in Jigawa State, Farouk Adamu Aliyu, equally declared that there will be no more Nigeria if a Northerner is not elected as President in 2015. Analysts say it was a reaction that was borne out of anger.

Veteran unionist, Chief Frank Kokori, while condemning the statement, urged people from the Niger Delta to talk less about Jonathan’s 2015 ambition, if any. He said he was sure that the President must have been so embarrassed by the comments credited to Dokubo-Asari.

“I think the President must have been so embarrassed by the comment of Dokubo-Asari. It is an unguarded statement. People should learn to talk less about Jonathan and 2015. Everybody knows where Dokubo-Asari is coming from. It is only natural that he will always support the Jonathan Administratioin because from all indications, he has interests which he thinks would be better protected by a Jonathan Administra-

‘Let Nigerians ignore Dokubo-Asari over his comment on the 2015 election. Blackmail and threats can never win a debate for war mongers and history is my witness. In 2015, Nigerians will chase away the PDP from Abuja and all state capital notwithstanding the threats. We have passed this road before’

The threat to peace and order has elicited national concern among federal lawmakers. Last week, the House of Representatives mandated its Committees on Police Affairs and National Security to liaise with the Inspector-General of Police on the comments made by Asari DokuboAsari and Kuku on 2015.

The House urged the IGP, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar to invite both men for thorough questioning while condemning the statements credited to them. The decision followed a motion by Hon. Ali Madaki, a PDP lawmaker from Kano State which was unanimously adopted.

According to him, if left unchecked the utterances credited to Dokubo was capable of creating disunity and disaffection among Nigerians.

He said that while Nigerians were praying for peace, some were already out sowing seed of discord.

On March 22, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Bamanga Tukur declared that his party had a pending war to fight. The party leader, who was on reconciliation tour of the Northwest zone, vowed that the PDP would not allow the carpet be swept off its feet. He emphasised the need for the party stakeholders to be united because, in his words, “there is a heavy war ahead in 2015”.

He added that “a group has come up and wants to sweep the mat off our feet. We cannot allow that to happen. Because the PDP is the only party that is not religious, not sectional or tribal. We are one big party, and we intend, and we must remain so”.

Analysts say the Adamawa-born politician should have been more circumspect in his choice of words. While conceding that Tukur could go to any length to emphasise his party’s readiness to triumph at the polls, they maintained that the choice of the image of war diminished whatever democratic credential the party claims to have.

Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe later explained that it was nothing serious. He told senior journalists during a recent visit to The Nation’s headquarters that as the national chairman of the ruling party, he was not expected to fold his hands and watch other parties mobilize to overthrow his own party.

“What do you expect him to do, fold his hands and watch others overthrow his party from office? No, he wouldn’t do that. It is in the context of the elections that will hold in 2015 otherwise, he doesn’t mean any harm”, he said.

Can PDP lay good example?

Critics have faulted Tukur because of the experience of 2007. Former President Obasanjo had made a similar ,but much clearer threat, during the build-up to the 2007 elections. In February 2007, during a meeting of PDP stakeholders in Abeokuta, Obasanjo said that the elections were a do-or-die affair for his party.

“This election is a do-or-die affair for me and the PDP. This coming election is a matter of life and death for PDP and Nigeria.” The results went down as the worst in the history of electoral contests in Nigeria. It took the intervention of the courts to retrieve some of the states ‘captured’ by the party in that election. Many have begun to express reservations about the possibility of free and fair elections come 2015 given the sordid experience of 2007 and the threat to win 32 states by the PDP. It is not difficult to see why many Nigerians are worried. The country has going through trying times in the past two years, particularly, the activities of Boko Haram sect in the North. Apart from the trying period of the civil war, at no other time has Nigeria faced a problem which directly threatens its corporate existence like now. To steer the ship of state from the brink, where it is teetering dangerously now, words and acts that are divisive in nature must be avoided altogether. Importantly, with the report few years back that Nigeria may not survive the year 2015 as a single entity, many people are apprehensive that unless internal centripetal forces are properly managed, the worst could happen and authors of the report given opportunity to laugh. This, certainly, is the last thing Nigerians are praying for.

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

44

POLITICS CPC CONVENTION Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande reiterates the commitment of the progressives to power shift as the baseline for repositioning the country.

‘PDP’s years of locust will soon be over’ ‘The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision’ - Helen Keller

‘The events we are witnessing today, are but a demonstration of the courageous efforts of the people towards saving Nigeria from descending further into hopelessness, poverty and insecurity. The need to rescue Nigeria from the hands of detractors, rent seekers and seeming irredentists is now more compelling’

O

NCE again, Nigeria is at the cusp of change. We stand at the threshold of history, willing and determined to keep the promise of building a new nation. I am thus happy to be with you today at this momentous occasion of your national convention. A similar momentous event is taking place in Gusau, Zamfara State about now.

That the CPC and ANPP are holding their national conventions the same day, though in different ,to, among other things, endorse the ongoing merger process barely three weeks after the Action Congress of Nigeria had done its own in Lagos, underscores the unquestionable commitments of the progressive Nigerian leaders to re-direct and reposition politics and governance of this country.

Distinguished party leaders, ladies and gentlemen, we have embarked on this historic journey; the first of its kind in Nigeria’s political history, because we want to be recorded positively on the side of history. We are however, not unaware of the huge challenges we would face in this endeavor, and the series of minefields we are to cross in our common resolve to rescue this country from total collapse. It is against this backdrop, that we are gathered here as we did in Lagos to fulfill one of the requirements under the law to actualise our coming together under a single political platform-the All Progressives Congress (APC).

For over a decade, since the Peoples Democratic Party came to power, our economic has stagnated to the point of near collapse.

Their institutionalised misrule has engendered a general sense of hopelessness and despondency among the citizenry.

This coalition of progressively minded leaders represents a major shift in Nigeria’s political landscape. As leaders and indeed, political parties, we are convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that Nigerians deserve a better country. Nigerians deserve better leadership going forward. We have heard the

• Akande

Macedonia call of our people and we have set sail on an irreversible course to contest and change governance at the center. For too long Nigerians have endured this punishment for too long whereby power is used for selfish and narrow interests.

We wave or hold no magic wand. But we signpost the fact that a new hope and leadership is needed. What we offer is our commitment to democratic norms and values.

We believe that through a conscious progressive orientation we can change Nigeria for the better. For PDP’s years of the locust, we offer in exchange a new regime of prosperity, fiscal discipline, security and a more emancipated society.

Through sacrifice and renewed patriotic zeal, we hope to unseat the current incompetent and corrupt leadership. We urge Ni-

gerians to side with us by voting right when elections come. Nigerians must reject the kind of results foisted upon us from 1999 to 2011.

The continued polarisation and division of Nigeria between the North and the South and between the Christians and the Muslims which has intensified bloodletting, sectarian violence and destruction of property flowed from a flawed and manipulated election. This time around, Nigerians must rally in support for ‘one man, one vote’ and ensure every vote counts. Biometric voting is a clear option for free and fair election and Nigeria must move in that inevitable direction.

With renewed commitment, we must make sure that our electoral system is anything but open, credible and transparent.

I am convinced that this bold and historical step by ACN, ANPP and CPC to merge into one formidable electoral machine against PDP would serve as a major antidote against the seeming total disintegration of Nigeria.

Nigeria is insecure today due to decades of leadership failure. We have suffered over a decade of systemic decay, institutionalized manipulation amnesia, increasing grinding poverty and unprecedented level of corruption, which have culminated into high-level insecurity.

The merger process therefore, affords us the singular strength of ensuring fraud free and credible voters register by biometric evaluation and thereby democratically dislodge the PDP from power with a view to bringing to an end frequent incidences of shedding blood and destruction of property which have become the defining nature of the Jonathan’s administration.

Our streets continue to flow with the blood of fellow citizens who are innocent of any crime. Perhaps, aside the civil war period, the unity of this country has never been as threatened as it is presently. All of our national fault lines are growing deeper and the continuous existence of the country as indivisible entity is increasingly in doubt.

The events we are witnessing today, just as we did in Lagos on April 18, beyond their partisan import, therefore, are but a demonstration of the courageous efforts of the people towards saving Nigeria from descending further into hopelessness, poverty and insecurity.

The need to rescue Nigeria from the hands of detractors, rent seekers and seeming irredentists is now more compelling.

On this note, I salute you all on this auspicious occasion and with a deep sense of duty announce that the greatest number of the Nigerian people have now invested their hopes in a future with APC. I thank you for listening.

Chief Akande delivered this speech at the national convention of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) held in Abuja at the weekend.

Ekiti State House of Assembly member Hon. Segun Erinle (Ilejemeje Constituency) spoke with MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE on the national insecurity, Fayemi Administration and the preparations for the next year’s governorship election by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

‘Fayemi deserves second term’

H

OW can Nigeria overcome insecurity, especially the threat by the Boko Haram

sect?

The Boko Haram threat is serious. There is the breakdown of law and order. May the good Lord grant us peace in this country. The insurgency of this faceless group is becoming embarrassing to the country.

Do you think the recently inaugurated team by the President to negotiate with the sect would solve the problem? l doubt it because you can only negotiate with people you know.

The members of the sect are not known.

The opposition parties are forming an alliance. Do you think they can dislodge the PDP? l believe that, in a free and fair elections, the opposition parties would not only defeat the PDP, but PDP as a party would become history in Nigeria.

How? As soon as the PDP looses any election at the federal, they become history because they have done more havoc to Nigerians than good.

How would you rate the perfor-

‘The governor’s eight-point agenda has been truly and genuinely perfected and implemented; so he deserve a second term in office and by the special grace of God, he will win a deserving second term in office’ mance of Governor Kayode Fayemi?

There are yardsticks for rating the performance of a governor.

One of the yardsticks is comparing the development that has accrued to the state during the tenure of office of the governor and his predecessors. If we are to rate our governor, you would agree with me that he has performed creditably well.

Is it true that the governor and Opeyemi Bamidele are fighting?

Both Opeyemi and the governor are good friends and leaders of our great party and l cannot see them fighting. But in politics, there can be disagreement, which does not constitute fighting.

Do you see the recent endorsement of Dr Fayemi forclosing av-

enues for other candidates to show interest in the governorship in your party?

No. People are free to exercise their fundamental human rights as party members. The endorsement by most of us is to show our support for the good work the governor has done and press for continuity.

Are you aware that Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele is interested in the governorship? l have heard it as a rumour, but Hon. Opeyemi has never announced to the party of his interest to contest for the governorship.

Assuming he decides to contest, where would your vote go?

I have stated earlier that l want continuity in government. So, l would be supporting the incum-

bent, unless he decides not to contest again.

What are your achievements as a legislator?

My primary assignment is a legislator is to make law. l have been involved in passing nearly all the 41 bills in the House. These bills have assisted the executive in moving the state forward. So, l think this is a major achievement on my part and my colleagues in the House. Secondly, l did promise the electorate during my campaign that l would empower our youths. This l have also done during my empowerment programme, which is a continuous exercise. I have also assisted a large number of our people in their businesses and trade by empowering them to start small businesses. Our students are not left behind. l have distributed exercise books to all the secondary schools in the constituency. l have paid for the GCE and JAMB examinations for more than 500 students in the constituency.

How has been the relationship in the House in the last two years amongst the members?

There have been cordiality among the members, although

• Erinle

we have had our ups and downs.

But maturely we have been able to tackle our problems without out blowing it.

A year ahead to the governorship election, what are the chances of your party?

The governor’s eight-point agenda has been truly and genuinely perfected and implemented; so he deserve a second term in office and by the special grace of God, he will win a deserving second term in office.

How is the House managing its leadership crisis?

Let me assure you that the crisis in the house has been resolved and, as l speak to you, we are united family.

45

MOTORING THE NATION

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

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

The Porsche Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos has unveiled the modified version of Porsche Cayman. Redesigned with exceptional trappings, the newcomer is the third generation edition for the 2014 model year, writes TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO

•Porsche Cayman

Porche Cayman returns W

ITH a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive and two-seater sports car, Porsche Cayman is an elitist coupe derived from Porsche’s second and third generation Boxster roadster and the 911 Carrera.

Since its introduction into the Porsche lineup seven years ago, the Cayman stands out as the most entertaining and engaging sports ever.

Porsche boasted that the new Cayman promises to set an even higher standard based on series of modifications the automaker has added to make the car more powerful, faster and elegant than its predecessor.

Stallion Motors Limited Deputy Managing Director, European Brand, Mr Julian Hardy, owners of Porsche franchise in Nigeria, acknowledged the enhancements in analysing the new Cayman.

Hardy said the styling of the new Cayman is evolutionary rather than revolutionary, remarking that the newcomer has been upgraded with new optional features such as Adaptive Cruise Control (ADC) for the first time. ADC controls the distance to the car ahead in traffic and the vehicle speed.

Noting that the new Cayman comes with an optional entry and drive keyless system that can be factory installed, Hardy said: “Though at a glance the coupe looks remarkably similar to its sleek predecessor, a closer inspection reveals it is longer and wider than before, while the sharper edged design gives the Cayman a more aggressive stance.”

For instance, the newly designed tailpipes of the exhaust system visually terminates at a low central point allowing the Cayman to get an oval tailpipe and the Cayman ‘S’ has twobranch dual tailpipes.

Available in two versions of 2.7 litre and 3.4litre, the base (standard) Cayman is

•Interior of the car

equipped with 2.7-litre flat six engine mounted on a six-speed manual transmission or optional seven-speed Porsche PDK, producing 275hp with 214 Ib-ft of torque, which is 10 times more than its previous model.

The Cayman ‘S’, on the other hand, is mated to an upscale 3.4-litre flat six engine that produces 325hp and 273 Ib-ft with six-speed manual transmission or optional seven-speed Porsche PDK (automatic dual clutch).

Both engines are up to 15 per cent more fuel efficient due to their petrol direct injection thermal management, electrical system re-

cuperation and auto start/stop function.

Hardy said Porsche engineers placed high priority on turning of the Cayman not just to improve the driving performance and agility of the car, but to simultaneously enhance the comfort and daily practicality.

Electromechanical power steering has also replaced the previous hydraulic system in the Cayman to allow drivers experience the agility of the Cayman even more intensively, the European brand director affirmed.

These modifications, Hardy said, are all

intended to enhance the capacity, refinement and comfort of the Cayman thus making it more relaxing in long distance drive.

“With this beautifully balanced mid-engine handling coupled with a perfectly weighted steering and staggering grip, the new Cayman is best to drive especially down any twisting road,” he said.

He, however, added that buyers can also add the brilliant PASM adaptive dampers, which combine superb body control with a remarkably supple ride.

Also noticeable in the Cayman models are the 18-inch alloys on the base model and the eye-catching 19-inch rims fitted on the classy ‘S’ model to give the new Porsche Cayman an upscale attraction.

Talking reliability, Porsche has long tradition of building beautifully engineered cars and the Cayman is no exception. The cabin is solidly screwed together while the mechanicals are lifted straight from the Porsche Boxster and 911 Carrera.

Porsche Cayman also comes with several other features such as a raft of safety kit as standard, including full complement of six airbags and electronic stability control.

Buyers with deep pockets can however add ceramic brakes, powerful bi-xenon headlamps and adaptive cruise control. However, Isofix child seat fixings is standard and does not attract an expensive extra.

A surprisingly practical sports car, the Cayman assures the driver and passenger plenty of head and legroom as well as useful storage space.

“There is a deep and well-shaped 150-litre boot in the nose and a shallow load area behind the front seats that could accommodate 162 litres of luggage, which increases to 275 litres,” Hardy said.

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

46

MOTORING

Stallion opens new centre in Sokoto

G

OVERNOR of Sokoto State Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamako has praised the the Stallion Group for opening its new multi-brand automobile facility in Sokoto, describing the initiative as another stride towards the socio-economic transformation of the state.

Wamako, who was accompanied by top government functionaries and the representatives of the Sultanate, to the inauguration of the centre, said: “We welcome you unequivocally and pledge you won’t regret investing in this state.”

He enjoined the group to take advantage of the huge treasures in the state and diversify its investments.

The coming of Stallion, he said, was the result of reciprocal calls

•From left: Governor Wamako, Singh and Stallion Motors Multi-Brand Facility Branch Manager Mr Hiten Katoch during the inauguration Stories by Tajudeen Adebanjo

on investors to explore the huge resources of the state, adding: “This initiative is the beginning of a fruitful and prosperous rela-

tionship with the organised private sector.”

Stallion Motors Limited Managing Director, Mr Parvir Singh, said the company is ready to collaborate with the government to

transform the region to an ultramodern commercial centre.

Singh said Stallion was mindful of the commercial and traditional significance of the ancient city in the annals of history.

He noted that the company has bolstered her image to a global brand with reputation for excellence.

He said: “We are expanding our network to cater for customers, irrespective of their locations.

Stallion Motors Multi-Brand automobile facility is a complete one-stop shopping arcade, covering all aspects of vehicle ownership and providing seamless access to quality service.

“The first of its kind in the region, the facility is an entirely multi-brand automobile precinct uniquely designed to provide sales, service and spare parts for about 10 different automobile brands marketed and distributed by the company.”

Incorporated 40 years ago, Stallion Group has grown from its modest start into a fledging multibusiness conglomerate, becoming one of sub-Sahara largest.

“This is in addition to several multinational representations in eight African countries with unrestrained involvement in commodities, agri-business, food, industries, automobiles and services,” he added

Assembly warns tricycle operators over reckless driving

T

•Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Lagos State Sector Commander, Nsebong Akpabio (left), leading his colleagues to distribute pamphlets during the launch of Operation Shield at Mowe, Ogun State PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAMS

ABC Transport expands cargo operations

A

BC Transport Plc has expanded its cargo operations.

This is to strengthen ABC Cargo Express.

The company has started a sustainable re-fleeting programme by acquiring 12 brand new trucks for rapid delivery of goods across the nation and establishing a maintenance depot (in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos) dedicated to cargo trucks.

In addition, ABC Cargo Express is opening new outlets for business, especially in Lagos.

According to ABC Cargo Express Chief Operating Officer, Mr Kamalendu Ghosh, plans are on

to fortify cargo operations in the north, with ABC Kaduna terminal as the hub.

The cargo warehouse in Katampke, Abuja has been outfitted to accommodate largescale consignment and third party warehousing.

All these, Ghosh said, were aimed at increasing deliveries up north.

“And with an adequate GoodsIn-Transit insurance in place, customers of ABC Transport can enjoy more peace of mind whenever they have to transact cargo businesses,” he said.

Ghosh said the company has installed a Java-based technology to enhance its e-waybill software, which not only enables the company to keep track of consignments, their movements and locations, but also disseminates SMS alerts/notifications to consignees for easy and prompt collection once their goods get to the specified terminal.

This, he said, was expected to reduce delays, improve efficiencies in transactions and waybills and improve customer service on the whole.

HE Lagos State House of Assembly has warned members of the state threewheelers association to caution their members to desist from reckless driving.

Its Chairman, Committee on Transportation, Commerce and Industry, Hon. Bisi Yusuf, gave the warning during a meeting with the executive members of the association at the Assembly Complex in Alausa, Ikeja.

Yusuf, who represents Alimosho 1 Constituency, said he would arrest any tricycle operator who disobeys traffic laws passed by the assembly.

He noted that most of the gridlock witnessed on the highways were caused by tricycle operators who make U-turns in unauthorised places.

The lawmaker appealed to the association to ensure that their parks are kept clean, urging them to educate their colleagues on the traffic law.

“No responsible government will make law and see its people violating it without an appropriate sanction,” Yusuf said.

He charged the operators to report any strange faces in their parks to security agencies.

Yusuf said the government has spent so much on security, adding that it is the responsibility of everybody to collaborate with the

•Hon Yusuf

By Oziegbe Okoeki

government to tackle security challenges in the state.

A member of the Committee, Hon. Muyiwa Jimoh, urged the association to set up a task force to monitor its members in their various designated parks.

Responding, the state Administrative Secretary of the association, Mr Luqas Olaore, assured the committee that their observations would be implemented.

He promised that the association would collaborate with the government in tackling insecurity.

SAFE DRIVING

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HE Inspector-General of Police (IGP) has directed that vehicles with tinted glasses should be kept away from the roads except their owners are using them on health and security ground, and that these must be supported by permits from the office of the IGP. There have been hues and cries about this new directive. I think I need to air my view on it.

First, the directive has once again confirmed the level of inconsistency in policy formulation and implementation in Nigeria. On March 7, 2011, there was an advertisement by the Ministry of Police Affairs and signed by the Minister (published in page 40 of The Nation entitled “Expiration of the Deadline on the use of vehicles with Tinted Glasses”.

Paragraph 2 of the advert stated that “Commissioners of Police in the state and the Federal Capital

The tinted glass law Territory are now directed to begin physical apprehension and prosecution of offenders, beginning from Saturday, March 5, 2011, with the exception of those with factory-fitted tinted glasses. This is in line with the motor vehicles (prohibitation of Tinted glasses) Act which forbids the use of tinted vehicles on Nigerian Roads”.

What then has happened between then and now that the new directive now says there is no more exemption to factory-fitted tinted glasses?

Apart from the fact that the money spent on the former adverts were wasted, it re-affirmed inconsistency in the Police Administration.

In the same advert, it was also stated that the “The public should also note that all permits and licences granted for the use of tinted

glasses have been revoked”. Why, then, is the Nigeria Police Force saying that some categories of people should obtain permit? In a country where senators and even governors have been accused of sponsoring terrorism, who cannot be a security risk in Nigeria?

Did I even hear that the cost of obtaining the tinted glass permit is N20,000?

Is the objective to make it a revenue generating venture or a crime prevention drive?

Now back to the main issues, vehicle technology is advancing daily even as criminals are advancing in their tactics. Let us look further into few more points.

Most of the vehicles being manufactured today have factory-fitted tinted glasses, particularly the SUV.

The main reason for fixing tinted glasses is not to hide the identity of the occupants, but to reduce the ray of light and heat in the vehicles.

I don’t know whether the Nigeria Police Force knows that some of the factory-fitted tinted glasses have no transparent alternatives that one can fix if the tinted are removed?

Is Nigeria more security-conscious than the United States of America?

Why do they allow the use of tinted glasses? We are agitating for development everyday. Why, then, can’t we toe the line of America in security and surveillance?

What is the data gathered by the Nigeria Police Force that linked the crime rate with tinted glasses? Sometime ago, the use of okada for commercial purposes was banned in some cities because of their use for crimes. Later, we heard that tricycles are now being used. Should we ban the use of tricycles? There is also an increasing rate of the use of

Jide Owatunmise •Registrar / Chief Executive, Professional Driving and Safety

Volkswagen golf cars for suicide bombing in Nigeria. Can we go further to ban the use of golf cars as well, though they have transparent glasses?

One of the supporting points of the Nigeria Police Force is that vehicles with tinted glasses are •To be continued next week

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NEWS Omotoso, Amadi for colloquium From Chris Oji, Enugu

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ROFS Kole Omotoso, Elechi Amadi, Abubakar Gimba and Ms Chimamanda Adichie are among speakers at the Day of Tribute/Colloquium being organised for the late literary giant, Prof. Chinua Achebe.

The event, which will hold on May 18, will be hosted by Abia State Governor Theodore Orji at Achebe’s alma mater, Government College, Umuahia.

The event, is being organised by the World Igbo Leadership, Education and Cultural Council (WIECC) in conjunction with the World Igbo Youth Council (WIYC).

A statement by the coordinators, Chuks Ibegbu (WIECC) and Okechukwu Isiguzoro (WIYC), said the citation and review of Achebe’s works would be done by Elder Alwell Onukogu, the Rector of the State Polytechnic, Aba.

Orji promises to transform Abia

A •Lagos State Governor’s wife Abimbola Fashola flanked by fomer Commissioner for the Environment Dr. Muiz Banire and his wife, Olufunmilayo, founder, Rhesus Solution Initiative (RSI) at the Rhesus Factor Day Walk for Life organised by RSI in Lagos...yesterday PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAMS

Activist to Nigerians: demand security, good governance

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IGERIANS have been urged to demand security of lives and property as well as good governance.

The Chairman of the Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr Chidi Odinkalu, made the call during a two-day summit on security and governance challenges in the Southeast, held in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

He attributed the growing security challenges across the country to inept leadership.

Odinkalu asked Nigerians to rise and insist on qualitative leadership that will

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

guarantee the protection of lives and property.

The activist noted that the inability of the government to provide employment for the teeming youths has fuelled criminality in not only in the Southeast but across the country.

He said: “In Nigeria, we are not only faced with the threats of terrorism but also serious issues of human right abuses in our homes and offices, which often spills over into the larger society.

“The time has come for the people to rise and demand for good governance and improved security, which, of

course, is their right”.

Presenting a paper at the summit organised by a NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO), CLEEN Foundation in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Ford Foundation, Dr. Ukoha Ukiwo of the University of Port Harcourt, blamed insecurity in the Southeast on the increasing number of Ndigbo who were displaced in the cities as a result of urban renewal and safety city programme.

He said as a result of the demolition of homes and business places of most Igbo youths in major cities, the population of displaced persons who were forced to re-

turn to the Southeast increased with its attendant consequences.

Also speaking, the regional representative of the Ford Foundation, Innocent Chukwumah, noted that the huge decline in the socioeconomic development in the zone was largely responsible for the current security situation.

Chukwuma said the traditional self-help development efforts of the Igbo should be complemented by the government for good governance to thrive.

He urged the participants to come up with a declaration on how to rescue the zone from the claws of criminals.

How Okorocha’s award triggered strike

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ESS than two weeks after the leadership of the Imo State branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Organised Private Sector on behalf of workers presented an award to Governor Rochas Okorocha for his workers-friendly policies, workers have begun an indefinite strike.

The Nation gathered that the workers, who have been nursing animosities against the governor for his refusal to implement certain agreements he reached with them, were provoked by the award presented to the governor during the May Day celebration.

According to sources within the NLC, there was no wide consultation on the decision to present an award to the governor.

“What workers had expected was the presentation of the plight of the workers who have not been promoted in the last 15 years and not an award.

“Dissenting groups, representing various workers’ councils, were not happy with the NLC chairman, Reginald Anyadike, when he presented the award to Okorocha.”

Three days after the controversial award, the workers, who felt betrayed by the leadership of the union, em-

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

barked on an industrial action that left people wondering if they were not the same workers who gave the governor an award.

The state government through the Head of Service, Mrs. Nkechi Onumajulu, threatened to retire any worker who participates in the strike.

The government also suspended the Public Service Joint Negotiating Council, which had directed workers to embark on the strike, over alleged embezzlement of funds.

The strike, which was scheduled to takeoff on the same day the government was marking the Imo Freedom Day, had to be postponed after the workers were prevailed upon not to ridicule the governor before his visitors and friends who will be coming to the state.

But the Chairman of the State Council of the Nigeria Civil Service Commission, Luka Dahain, said the strike was not connected to the award but a result of the negligence of civil servants by the government.

He said the workers were aggrieved because they were not promoted in the last 15 years, “which is unheard of”.

But Anyadike faulted the strike and directed the workers return to their duty posts.

He said the Joint Negotiation Council (JNC) or any other body does not have the right to ask the workers to

embark on any strike, noting that it is the sole right of the NLC to call for the strike which will be all embracing.

BIA State Governor Theodore Orji has reiterated his commitment to transforming the state into the envy of its contemporaries.

He said the government was working to elevate the standard of living through its realistic programmes for all facets of human endeavour.

In a statement, the governor said: “My intention to install landmark amenities is not only transparently genuine, but also non-negotiable because before now, the administrative method in Abia

had been rooted in media propaganda, which is the reason there was nothing on ground to show for the enormous funds that accrued to the state before we took over.

“The developmental activities of the government cannot be separated from the wide range of support and understanding we have cultivated with the people.

“We make bold, therefore, to challenge the irredeemable critics to admit the level of development which certainly has overwhelm their pessimism.”

Ex-lawmaker ‘barred’ from functions

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NAMBRA youths under the aegis of Anambra Youth Assembly (AYA) yesterday barred a former lawmaker, who represented Anambra East/West Federal Constituency, Ralph Okeke, from public functions.

Speaking at a briefing held in Awka, the group’s President Chinedu Obidigwe and Secretary Nnamdi Malive, said the action was to tame the ex-lawmaker for making unguided statements against

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

the people.

Obidigwe said: “We declare that Ralph Okeke only believes in his own personal gains and not the interests of his people, just as he is vying for deputy governor to a-yet-to-be known candidate against the wishes of his people.

“We hereby ban him from participating in stakeholders’ functions from henceforth.”

Abia to host youths From Sunny Nwankwo, Aba

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HE Abia State government will host 1,000 youths and investors who are expected to witness the maiden edition of “Miss Enyimba Beauty pageant and Enyimba Youth Carnival Train Road Show” in Aba. The Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Youth Development, Maduka Uwadi, said the event will showcase the rich economic potentials of the state.

He said the event would create opportunities for businessmen to meet with investors who will be in the state for the show.

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THE NATION MONDAY MAY 13, 2013

NEWS ACN to PDP: shut up From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

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HE leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Edo State yesterday challenged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to provide evidence that Governor Adams Oshiomhole begged to join the party or shut up.

The Chairman, Thomas Okosun, said this in a meeting with local chairmen in Benin City.

He said the PDP was deceiving itself by alleging what he described as “its normal story telling”.

The PDP, the ACN chairman said, lacks what the comrade governor will beg for, particularly when it comes to the politics of Edo State today.

Okosun said the PDP failed in the local government election because it was not in touch with the people.

“It is funny because PDP only exists on the pages of newspapers in Abuja but is nowhere to be found in Edo State.”

Imoke’s wife fetes victims

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IFE of Cross River State Governor Mrs. Obioma Imoke has donated food items worth millions of naira to the displaced people of Adadama community in Abi Local Government.

Items donated included bags of rice, beans, garri, salt, tubers of yams, kerosene, tissue and wrappers.

Adadama people were displaced in January when their neighbours in Ebonyi State invaded their community, resulting in the death of several people.

She made the donation

From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

through the Partnership Opportunities for Women Empowerment Realisation (POWER), a non governmental organisation she founded.

Mrs. Imoke regretted the outbreak of the conflict, which had not only left a lot of people dead, especially women and children, but has also led to the displacement of the people.

She promised to work to stop the fighting between the communities and sympathised with the victims’ families.

Support for Jonathan From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

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HE people of the Southsouth have been urged to continue to support President Goodluck Jonathan.

An activist, Mark Ikpuri, said this in Warri, Delta State, during a youth sensitisation programme.

He said the Jonathan administration means well for Nigeria, particularly the Niger Delta.

Ikpuri urged the people to be patient with the government and maintain the peace at all times.

Describing the face-off between the President and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as unfortunate, the activist advised both leaders to find a common ground for amicable resolution of their differences.

Fed Govt to youths: stop kidnapping expatriates T HE Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, at the weekend appealed to Niger Delta youths to stop kidnapping expatriates working in the region.

The minister made the appeal after inaugurating the construction of the Okoso Bridge, Section II of the East West Road.

Since the beginning of work, about 11 construction workers have been kidnapped.

The recent was the abduction of two workers, which made the construction firm to stop work until the intervention of the Federal Government.

The Okoso Bridge, which is being built by Setraco International Holding Group, is a critical part of the dualised East-West Road project.

The minister expressed his concern over the consequences of continuous kidnap of expatriates from construction sites, saying that for development to occur, there must be peace and security.

He also pleaded with the youth that they must not allow the opportunity of infrastructural and economic development pass the region by.

The minister also urged

‘Nigeria must be made safe ’ From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

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HE President of the Association for Non-Violence in the Niger Delta (ANND), Kennedy Tonjo West and the President of the Niger Delta Ex-Agitators Forum (NDEF), Amaibi Ombi, have said Nigeria must be made safe for democracy.

They admonished Northerners to sheathe their swords and give peace a chance.

The ex-militants, yesterday at a joint briefing in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, said when it comes to electing leaders, people should not play God. “The comments of some Northerners before the 2011 elections can be linked to the insecurity and wanton killings in the country. We do not need a seer to tell us, who the instigators of the insurgencies are.”

The ex-agitators also stated that the six-year single tenure proposed by President Goodluck Jonathan was a step in the right direction, which they said would ensure unity and stability.

They condemned the calls for the arrest and prosecution of the Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku, and the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, for threatening mayhem, if the President was not reelected.

•Okoso Bridge inaugurated in Bayelsa From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

monarchs, parents and religious groups to talk to the youth to give room for development by cooperating with the contractors.

‘We need to start discouraging this act and stop blaming neglect and absence of infrastructural development in the region on the government.

“It sends wrong signals of

undermining development to foreigners. We are only hoping that some reasoning will get into the head of our young men who are into these criminal activities, to stop so that the development we said we need will come to us.

“As you can see, we have a lot of solders here and this is the condition with which these people are working.

“That is why you have the CEO present here after several appeals. The initial date scheduled for inaugurating the bridge was delayed due to the insecurity.

“We should allow contractors to work and that is the only way we can get the development we are talking about.

“That is the appeal we are making. Mr. President has promised that this road will be delivered to the people

by December next year.”

The Chief Executive Officer of Setraco, Said Kalaf, said 11 of his workers have been kidnapped since work began on the road in 2009.

“Our workers’ morale is low and we are doing our best. The kidnap and killing of our expatriate workers have broken the company’s back bone.

“We are here to develop the area and we are hoping they will allow us to do that,” he said.

Group condemns attack on Kuku

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IGER Delta leaders at the weekend slammed the Arewa Consultative Youth Forum and prominent northern leaders over calls for the investigation and arrest of the Special Adviser on Amnesty, Kingsley Kuku and Mujahid Asari-Dokubo.

Rising from a meeting in Warri, Delta State, yesterday, the leaders said reactions of Northern leaders to the comments purportedly made by the duo are provocative.

They passed a vote of con-

From Shola O’Neil, Warri

fidence on Kuku and advised against heating up of the polity.

The communiqué was signed on behalf of the group by Bassey Etim (Akwa Ibom), Jonjon Preye (Bayelsa), John Yingi (Delta), Cobham Ekpo (Cross River), Frank Odili (Rivers), and Osagie Omoruyi (Edo).

They lamented the perceived plot to undermine President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, as part of an overall agenda to deprive him a second term.

PDP chairman expelled

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HE Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Patani Local Government of Delta State, Godbless Omoniyi, has been expelled for alleged misconduct.

In a statement by the Disciplinary Committee Chairman, Ebi Oki, the PDP said Omoniye claimed that Patani PDP denies endorsing the House of Representatives member in the area for fifth term when such a decision was not reached or discussed.

The statement alleged that the chairman was operating a dictatorship and does not consult before fixing meetings.

The statement urged Omoniyi to handover all party documents and property in his possession to the new chairman, Fredrick Poawei.

But Omoniyi said no one,

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

except the state executive, has the right to expel him adding that “the self-acclaimed” chairman of the disciplinary committee is not even a member of the party.

•Oshiomhole (middle) with the monarchs after his turbaning

Monarchs confer title on Oshiomhole

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ONARCHS in Edo State at the weekend conferred the traditional title of Oshiosimua (Divine Redeemer) on Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

The Crown Prince and Edaiken of Uselu, Eheneden Erediauwa, who was chairman of the ceremony, said the title showed that “the

From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

people appreciated the governor for his achievements.”

“We must praise Oshiomhole for demonstrating that free and fair elections can hold in Nigeria without violence.

“He has become a shining torchbearer and flagship of democratic practice in Ni-

Groups condemn Clark’s statement

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OUTHS, under the aegis of Delta Central Progressive Alliance (DCPA) and Delta Focus Group (DFG), have condemned a statement credited to Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Victor Ochei, over the Independent Power Plant project.

A statement by publicity secretaries of the groups Paul Agboghweta and Saturday Mofoye lamented why such statement should come from a respected Ijaw leader.

The groups wondered why Clark likes attacking promising young men with vision and

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

aspiration.

They said: “Clark should know that Ochei has never indicated his interest to contest for governor in 2015, unlike Godsday Orubebe.

“It is only groups like ours that are urging him to contest because we are ready to support him to actualise the dream.”

The statement added that gone are the days when some group of elders and leaders would tell the youths who should be their representatives, “we Deltans will decide who will be the governor and not one individual.”

geria, which shows that Nigeria can get to the promise land of democracy.

The Otaru of Auchi, Haliru Momoh, said the reception was in recognition of the outstanding performance of a son of the soil.

“We are here today to celebrate a young man who has served his nation. God says you look at the past to determine the future and the present.

“Now, what was the past of this young man? He was the foremost pioneer of a detribalised Nigerian Labour Congress and was the famous pioneer of the fight to finish of the rights of man.

“He has delivered this successfully before even thinking about going into politics. Like I said this occasion is grounded in the spirit of Edo State that is why we invited the Crown Prince to be the chairman of this occasion to analyse and itemise the profile of the governor

which he has delivered today,” he noted.

Oshiomhole promised to meet the expectations of the people.

“Let me thank our monarchs in Edo North for honouring me this afternoon and like the Crown Prince said it is not everyday you find monarchs from various kingdoms and domains coming together to honour their son.

“By your actions, you have increased my burden because as they say to whom much is given much is expected. Last year, I had the fortune of being recognised and appreciated by the royal fathers from Edo Central, from Esan land when they all agreed to confer on me the Adolor of Esanland.

“I am humbled and grateful; I am indebted and committed to continue to do my best using my office to deliver joy and happiness and prosperity to our people in Edo State.”

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

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C ITYBEATS Anger over farmer’s murder

By Jude Isiguzo

THE people of Amizi, Awomnuzie community in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State, are angry over the alleged lackadaisical attitude of the police towards the investigation of the murder of their son by yet unidentified gunmen.

Andrew Ukatta, 58, was allegedly killed on January 10 on his farm, thus throwing the community into mourning.

His battered body was said to have been found the following day by a search team constituted by the community, following the alarm raised by his family.

Despair has since ruled the community as farmers no longer go to farm for fear of similar attacks.

Some villagers believe Ukatta could have been killed by some unscrupulous members.

Though they have not accused any person, they believe proper investigation has not been carried out by the police to unravel the killers.

Perhaps to spur men of the Abia State Police Command to unravel the mystery behind the man’s death, the community delayed Ukatta’s burial. But five months after, his killers are yet to be found.

The community, in a protest letter to the Inspector General (IGP), urged him to detail a crack team of investigators to expose the culprits.

The village youths, in a February 25 petition entitled: “Insecurity of lives and property in Amizi,” to the Director of Department of State Security, Abia State Command, said: “We are no longer safe in our home town, which has led to the murder of Mr. Andrew Ukatta on January 10. Law enforcement agencies must, as a matter of urgency, come to the rescue of our little community.”

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

Three injured as fire guts building in Lagos •Another structure collapses

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N inferno, on Sunday, gutted a three-storey building, next to that which collapsed on Tuesday, at Ojodu Berger, Lagos, leaving no fewer than three persons injured.

The incident, which according to sources, occurred at about 8:12am, was caused by a generator spark.

Meanwhile, another building collapsed early yesterday at Ojo, a Lagos suburb. The building, located in Liverpool Estate, Zone 11, Ijegun, Oriade Local Council Development Area (LCDA), was said to have collapsed at about 12am, although no casualty was recorded.

Chairman of the Estate, Victor Nnotum, told The Nation: “Yes, a three-storey building collapsed early this morning. It happened at about 12am. Because our estate is located within the carnal area, we are trying to ensure that children do not come near the affected building to swim or play, so that they do not get trapped.”

Nnotum, who commended the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), for

By Precious Igbonwelundu

their prompt response, said that although it was not easy gaining access into the area, the rescue agencies acted swiftly to ensure no casualty was recorded.

At the fire site, it was gathered that the three injured persons were trapped inside the building, and were immediately rushed to the hospital where they received treatment and were discharged after their rescue.

A source said: “Eight flats out of 27 assorted flats in the building were razed by the fire.

“The building is like barracks; the occupants do not even have enough air space.’ Why won’t a generator cause fire outbreak?

“Those who live here were given quit notice, but I don’t know why people toy with their lives.

If you look at the building, you will see that it is not habitable.”

Our source commended the timely intervention of the Fire Service men and other emergency management agencies, noting that but for their quick response, it would have been a

•Scene of the collapsed building ... yesterday

serious disaster.

Director, State Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe, and NEMA’s South West Information Officer, Ibrahim Farinloye, also confirmed the incident.

Fadipe said his men were deployed to quench the fire as soon as they got the tip-off.

He said: “We got the information in the morning that a building next to Tuesday’s collapsed one at 19, Bashiru Street, was gutted by fire. We were told the fire started around 8am and as soon as we got the information, Fire Service men

were deployed there.”

Farinloye, who confirmed that the occupants had been asked to vacate the premises, said there had been complaints of fragility.

He said: “The result of the integrity test on the building is still being awaited. But I’ll like to use this opportunity to beg Lagosians to be mindful of the environment and their actions.

We were told the fire was caused by a generator. The house is so air-tight. There are close to 27 flats of two and three bedrooms, all packed in one

Bricklayer ‘kills’ labourer with shovel

By Jude Isiguzo, Police Affairs Correspondent

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162 suspected cultists arrested

By Jude Isiguzo

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O end the activities of cultists and hoodlums in the area, 162 people were arrested at the weekend on Lagos Island during a joint raid by security agencies in the state.

The coordinated raid, which involved policemen from divisions under the Area ‘A’ Command, Lion Building, the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja; Police Mobile Squad 20, Directorate of State Security (DSS); the Military and members of the Neighborhood Watch, was led by the Area ‘A’ Commander, Mr Edgar Imohimi.

Sources said the operatives stormed hideouts of suspected cultists between 9pm and 10.30pm. Two females were among those arrested.

Areas raided include: LUTA, Bamgboshe, Massy, Oja-Oba and Adeniji-Adele under bridge.

Although it could not be ascertained whether those arrested were members of any cult group, The Nation gathered that the suspects were still being interrogated.

The raid was part of the proactive measures to check excesses of cult groups in the area and also to ensure they did not have a foothold on the Island.

It was learnt that the raid followed intelligence report from residents of the area, some of whom were said to have been in fear over cultists’ activities which, most times, had resulted in violent clashes.

“We acted on a tip-off and that is why we engaged the services of members of the Neighborhood Watch in the raid. From the hideouts, it was evident that some of them could be members of confraternity groups,” police sources said.

building.”

Farinloye who also confirmed the building collapse at Ojo, said: “We are just leaving there now. It is a three-storey building and it is located right inside the carnal. The building has a good foundation but materials used were substandard.

We have been able to secure the place and have also spoken with the community leaders to ensure that children do not go around there to swim. Drainages have also been evacuated and there is calm at the moment. No one was injured.”

•Prof Olatunji-Bello (left), Banjo and Abdulmumuni ...the session

NIPSS alumni unveil development plans

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T was a forum intended to unveil the agenda of the Lagos State chapter of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI), an offshoot of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). It was born in 1982, as a think-tank and fountain of manpower for good governance at all levels in the country.

It was last Friday, during an interaction with select reporters at the association’s Ibusa House, Gbagada, Lagos office. The trademark toothy smiles of LAANI’s Publicity Secretary, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, went on momentary sabbatical.

So it was for Mr Victor Banjo (Chairman) and Bello Abdulmumuni (Gen. Secretary). Their concern: The frightening insecurity in the country and the worsening plight of the downtrodden.

In tandem with the association’s agenda for 2013/2014 year, entitled: ‘Towards a better Society,’ Banjo, had said “We planned to meet with: the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division, Nigeria Army to discuss civil-military

By Dada Aladelokun, Assistant Editor

relations; police Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of Zone 11, to discuss crime prevention; Lagos Police Commissioner, to brainstorm on how to tackle kidnapping in the state, and Oba Rilwan Akiolu, an “illustrious alumnus” of the institute. It held last Saturday.

He also expressed the readiness of the LAANI to meet with officials of the Lekki Consortium Company (LCC); the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), as well as hold a policy roundtable with the Lagos State Government to highlight issues that can accelerate development in the state.

Besides assessing independently, the number of projects that have been executed based on recommendations from government officials who have attended the NIPSS, Banjo said LAANI would also stimulate citizens’ minds through Annual LAANI Policy Lecture on major topical issue to be ad-

‘What we daily experience in this country, especially the wanton killing of helpless Nigerians, particularly in the North, should concern any sane human being’ dressed by a distinguished personality, and the establishment of LAANI Policy Centre with the assistance of the state government.

The question-and-answer session readily gave the trio – Banjo, Olatunji-Bello and Abdulmumuni – away as among the few privileged Nigerians who had been in angst over the worrisome security situation in the country. They all seethed with rage over the rate at which innocent souls are being wasted by the dreaded Boko Haram sect without let.

“What we daily experience,

hear and read in this country, especially the wanton killing of helpless Nigerians, particularly in the North, should concern any sane human being. Government must deal with the growing menace decisively because it will be uncontrollable if it spreads, and I dare say emphatically that the issue of amnesty is a ruse; it won’t work,” said Olatunji-Bello, the immediate former Acting Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU).

Banjo and Abdulmumuni were unanimous in their admonition that government must treat the Boko Haram issue as an act of terrorism. “It is not something to be treated with kid gloves; and we must realise that silence is not golden in the circumstances,” Banjo added soberly.

In line with AANI’s commitment to putting government on its toes to live up to its responsibility, Olatunji-Bello added that LAANI would not rest on its oars through continued partnership with the Lagos State Government to fast-track good governance in people’s interest.”

BRICKLAYER has been arrested by detectives attached to the Ogonbo Police Division: His offence: Allegedly killing with a shovel, a labourer who was working with him on a construction project.

The incident occurred around 9am on May 7 at the construction site located at Osungotedo, Ogombo, a Lagos suburb, along the Epe/Lekki Expressway.

The suspect, Alaba Jona and the deceased, Segun Peters, were said to be working on the site.

Jona was the bricklayer in charge of the building, while the late Peters supplied mixed sand, cement and gravel.

The Nation learnt that around 10am, the late Peters complained of tiredness and hunger and sought to be allowed to rest, but the complaint did not go down well with Jona, who forcefully collected his shovel.

“He tried to continue mixing the sand and cement, but Peters collected the shovel from him, did the mixing and lifted the head pan filled with mixed sand and cement. He was about placing it on his head when Jona collected the shovel from him and hit him on his stomach. Peters’ stomach ripped open and he slumped. He died before help could arrive. Jona absconded from the site and was later arrested by policemen in a nearby village where he had gone to hide,” a source said.

Police sources confirmed the incident, adding that the suspect had been caught.

Peters’ remains were said to have been deposited at a morgue on the Island, while Jona was moved to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba.

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NEWS Don’t declare emergency rule in North’s states, ACN, CPC warn Continued from page 4

reeled under the effects of the Boko Haram onslaught. For about two years after assuming office, he refused to visit the states until the APC Governors blazed the trail and left him with no option but to follow suit.” ‘’It is also important to warn that since the listed states are not under the control of the PDP and - going by precedence – President Jonathan is sure to appoint card-carrying PDP members to preside over the affairs of the state in the event that he imposes emergency rule on them, it will amount to robbing the citizens of those states of their mandate and capturing more states for the PDP.. ‘’In any case, the affected states are already heavily militarised with the massive deployment of troops there to battle the Boko Haram insurgency, and one wonders what else will change if they are put under emergency rule....beyond just removing elected officials like Obasanjo did wantonly during his tenure,’’ ACN said.

The party said if the President still finds the state of emergency option the most viable despite the arguments to the contrary, then he should go further by also putting Abuja, where the police headquarters, a military barracks and the UN complex have been bombed; the states in the South where kidnapping has become a dai-

ly occurrence as well as the areas where the nation’s crude oil is being stolen in millions of barrels under the state of emergency.

It advised President Jonathan to stick to dialogue in dealing with the Boko Haram crisis, with the hope that a determined pursuit of the new measures, rather than a half-hearted, made-for-klieg lights posturing, will help end the crisis.

The CPC described emergency rule as a knee-jack response to security challenges.

Fashakin said the party suspected a sinister plot to declare emergency rule in the three states.

The statement said: “There is every reason to believe that the President is contemplating declaration of emergency in three states- Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa – that have been embroiled lately in orgies of violence with attendant fatalities.

“First, as a party, we condemn in strong terms these orgies of violence in these states.

“Second, our hearts go out to the families of those whose lives have been cut short by these insurgencies. “ We commiserate with the gallant servicemen and women that paid the supreme sacrifice in Yobe, Borno and Nasarawa states while in the service of the nation. We are sure that their labour and sacrifice shall not be in vain.

“Third, we wish to alert the nation about the sinister plot

to invoke emergency rule in these states.”

The party said recourse to emergency rule would amount to self-serving purposes.

“The question is, what is the new thing that an administrator will hope to achieve, given the present scenario of militarisation in these states? Should this not be interpreted as another knee-jack response of this administration to situations that require out-of-the-box thinking? Is this approach not to be interpreted as a pre-meditated consequence of ineptitude of this regime?

“It would be recalled that no other person than the former National Security Adviser, late General Andrew Owoye Azazi, had alerted the nation about the politics of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) being the locus of the insecurity in the nation state.

“The question is, what did the Federal Government do to stymie the odiousness of the politics of the ruling party other than merely sacking the messenger?

The statement added: “Fourth, as a party, we have noticed a dangerous trend that the states mainly embroiled in these spates of insecurity are mainly non-PDP states which further fuels the notion that these insurgencies are purposely orchestrated to create the ambience for the declaration of emergency rule in the states.

“Fifth, on the basis of the foregoing, therefore, the Con-

gress for Progressive Change, CPC, is vehemently opposed to any declaration of state of emergency because we are convinced that it is not only puerile but meant for self-serving purposes.

“In this vein, therefore, we reject in its totality this intent at declaring any state of emergency and request the President, as the Leader of the PDP, to consult within his party for the panacea to the nation’s security nightmare.”

Presidential spokesman Dr. Reuben Abati said at the weekend that no decision had been taken yet on the states that have witnessed escalation of violence as a result of attacks by members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday summoned an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.

The meeting, attended by all the Service Chiefs, discussed fresh attacks in Bama, Borno State and Nasarawa State that left dozens of policemen dead.

Dismissing the report of a planned declaration of emergency rule in Nasarawa, Borno, Yobe, Benue and Plateau states, Abati said: “No such decision has been taken and people should stop speculating.

“The Federal Government is studying the situations in the affected states and would take a decision that would be in the overall interest of the security of not just the people of the states affected but the country.”

Activists demand Rivers police chief’s removal

F

OR accusing The Nation newspaper of slanting its reports against the Rivers State Command on the crisis rocking the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Rivers Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu came under attacks yesterday.

Two rights groups - the Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) and the Human Rights Alliance – demanded Mbu’s immediate removal for lying against the media organisa-

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

tion.

Anyakwee Nsirimovu, IHRHL’s Executive Director and Ken Atsuwete, a Port Harcourt lawyer, spoke for the groups.

Besides their call for Mbu’s immediate redeployment, the duo also asked the police chief, who was transferred from Oyo State to Rivers State about two and a half months ago, to apologise to The Nation, over the allegation levelled against it.

Mbu, while addressing a

crowded news conference at the Police Headquarters on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt on Friday, accused The Nation of being paid by Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Rivers State Government to attack and cast aspersions on him, demanding an apology.

Mbu also absolved himself of any involvement in the deepening crisis rocking PDP in the state, claiming his neutrality.

Defending his role, Mbu said his interest was to ensure the protection of lives and property of residents, even as he

warned that he should not be dragged into the crisis involving Amaechi and the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike and the others.

Rivers House of Assembly Speaker Otelemaba Dan Amachree had earlier condemned the plot to destabilise Rivers to pave the way for the declaration of state emergency rule in the state, insisting that the police commissioner must be removed, for taking sides and acting the scripts of the “Abuja forces”.

Slain policemen’s widows get bodies after protest Continued from page 4

leader, who is central to the crisis in Nasarawa.”

Also at the weekend, Minister of Information Labaran Maku denied any link with the violence.

A statement by the Minister’s Press Secretary, Joseph Mutah, expressed regrets that a newspaper attributed the violence to the alleged rivalry between him and the Nasarawa State Governor.

The statement said: “It is shocking that this story was published without recourse to the available facts about the unfortunate violence which are in the public domain in Nasarawa State, and which have also been reported widely in the media.

“For the information of Nigerians and members of the public, the Minister of Information has in the last one year waged a one-man campaign in Nasarawa State, which was widely reported in both the print and electronic media against the activities of militia and mercenaries who have been destroying communities, lives and property in the state.

“The people of Nasarawa

State know the truth behind this unfortunate violence and the perpetrators.

“Mr. Maku is totally and completely unconnected to anything violent and ungodly. Right from his days as a student union leader in the University of Jos, a teacher, a journalist, commissioner, Deputy Governor and now Minister, Mr. Maku has been a man of peace and has never been associated with violence.

A statement signed by the Deputy Public Relations Officer, CSP Chris Mba, said the police would encourage wider communal participation it its investigation.

The statement read: “As part of efforts at encouraging a wider and communal participation in the investigation into the recent killing of policemen in Nasarawa State, the Police High Command has established a dedicated telephone line for members of the public who may wish to provide vital and useful information to the Police.

“To this effect, the IGP appeals to Nigerians who may be in possession of information that could aid on going investigation not to hesitate in providing same to the Police, promising that all such information will be treated with utmost confidentiality. Such in-

formation can be provided via phone number 07066228200 (calls or SMS) or email: policemonitor@npf.gov.ng.

“The IGP reminded the public that an attack on the security forces of any nation is an attack on the entire nation. He, therefore, appeals to Nigerians to support the Police as it strives to tackle this and other security challenges facing the nation.

“Meanwhile, in a bid to ameliorate the plight of the dependants and family members of the fallen police officers, the IGP has ordered the immediate relocation of the Force Welfare Officer, DCP Abiodun Ige, from Force Headquarters to Nasarawa State to enable her effectively and speedily coordinate all welfare related issues touching on the families of the late officers, including but not limited to the payment of all statutory and relevant compensations.

“The IGP appeals for patience and understanding of family and friends of the slain officers, particularly as it relates to the issue of the release of the bodies of the officers, promising that all corpses will be released as soon as preliminary enquiries are concluded.

“While restating the com-

mitment of the Force to uncover and bring to book the perpetrators of this crime, the IGP reassures the family members and friends of the deceased that the Force is united with them in grief and will neither forsake nor abandon them at this trying moment.

“Meanwhile, the AIG in charge of Zone 4 (covering Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states), AIG Mike Zuokumor, has on the orders of the IGP relocated to Nasarawa State.

A highly experienced and an operationally-minded officer, he is currently coordinating all ongoing operations relating to the incident.”

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Insurgency dangerous, say Mark, Sultan, CD Continued from page 4

President urged security operatives to go back to the drawing board and restrategize for effective operation.

He also suggested a working synergy between and among security agencies, saying that such cooperation would plug any loophole or lapses and ultimately yield better result.

Mark said: “We must remove sentiments and be able to separate issues from crimes or criminalities. Offenders must be seen to be punished to serve as a deterrent to others.”

He stated that the siege Nigerians have been subjected to on account of the insurgencies and other violent crimes in the recent times are avoidable if “we put our houses in order.”

“Everyone must rise up to defend our fatherland instead of leaving security in the hands of security operatives alone.”

President-General of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) and the Sultan expressed shock over the “cruel and merciless” attacks on innocent people at Bama in Borno State and Alakyo in Nasarawa State.

Alhaji Abubakar described the attacks as unfortunate when the Baga massacre which, he said, should have been the last in such attacks still fresh in memory.

A statement signed by JNI Secretary General Dr Khalid Abubakar Aliyu said: “The JNI therefore calls on all and sundry to be wary of happen-

ings around them and take proactive measures by reporting to appropriate authorities doubtful persons and events.

Equally, the JNI calls on all citizens to give their unflinching support to the constituted Federal Government Amnesty Committee, whose mandate is not only recommending amnesty but dialoguing with insurgents towards opening doors for the restoration of peace and stability in the North and Nigeria at large.”

The CD condemned the escalation of wanton extra judicial killings in the country.

The group’s president, Dr. Joe Odumakin, who described the death of policemen in the last one week in Borno and Nassarawa states as a key characteristic of a failed state. She said government has shown a lack of capacity or willingness to secure the lives of its citizens.

She said although the incessant killings of civilians. “It gives a sense of total hopelessness to the chaos that is going on in the country.

“The high rate of casualties on the part of policemen witnessed in just one week has not been recorded in most of the wars fought in recent history, which confirms the notion that Nigeria is presently at war.

“The vulnerability of security forces to the seeming superior power of terrorists, removes whatever confidence the civilian population has in the state to guarantee security of lives and property and by extension a clear demonstration of the failure of state.”

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

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FOREIGN NEWS

Syria: Redefining a ‘game-changer’

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N the seamlessly violent and intractable murky waters of the Middle East, looking for a ‘game-changer’ in the over twoyear Syrian crisis, to some, seems like looking for a needle in a haystack. Yet, it should not be so. What we have are complexities of international intrigues and power plays that have come to characterise the international global arena since the end of World War II. Back in 2006, then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned during the 34-day Israeli-Lebanon military war against ‘a game-changing’ weapon possession by Hezbollah.

Prelude to the Persian Gulf War, US President George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st drew a ‘line in the sand’, a kind of ultimatum before reversing Saddam Hussein’s misadventure in the annexation of Kuwait as Iraq’s 19th Province.

After the 911 terrorist attacks on his homeland, President George W. Bush, the 43rd did not as much wait for nor need any ‘red line’, a somewhat vague UN Resolution 1441 and a 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam and his sons, were enough for ‘Dubya’ before unleashing the full force of America’s immense firepower to start pounding Iraq.

According to Secretary of State, General Collin Powell, goal was to ‘first cut it and then kill it’ referring to Sadddam Hussein’s military. That was 20th march 2003, just as I was waking up to my birthday in the friendly city of Baltimore.

In the present Syrian crisis, President Barack Obama has also talked about a ‘red-line’ which will alter the scale and nature of America’s involvement should the Assad war machine deploy its chemical weapons on its civilian population.

Israel, America’s staunch strategic ally in the region, who more

than anyone in the region knows the price of sustaining its sovereignty, quickly fired its second bombastic salvo, destroying suspected ‘game-changing’ munitions being moved by Syria across to the perceived safety of Hezbollah’s hold out in Southern Lebanon.

America looked the other way, with President Obama acquiescing with stoic refrain: Israel has the right to protect itself and its people. At least, while America still looks for its own ‘red line’, Israel can do the heavy lifting right away.

In all of these, the casualty figures, which has been noted in this column recently, to have stagnated by official account at 70,000 dead continues to spiral by all accounts but official United Nations figures. The significance is not lost on discerning minds.

Crossing the numeric threshold of say 100,000 is an alarming call for international intervention by any justification. We may recall, that during the Iraq War, America defiantly stated at a time they are not in the business of counting war casualties.

All these are part of war strategies; concentrate on the business at hand.

With human testing and aerial pictures of dead animals, it has been clearly shown, that some form of chemical weapons; especially sarin gas, have been used against civilian population in Syria’s now increasingly widening conflict. The finger-pointing game is on with President Bashar al-Assad accusing the coalition of Syrian rebel fighters and vice versa on who is in the business of chemical weapons use.

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria has been only as effective as Assad has allowed it to be; having denied it entry into Syria, thus relying only on interviews with refu-

gees and outsiders.

Turkey which suffered its worst casualty just Saturday with two car bombs exploding within 15 minutes apart killing 43 and wounding 140, so far has blamed a neigbouring country without naming Syria, while showing restraints from being provoked into directly joining the war.

America has so far pumped $510 million into humanitarian and noncombat supplies, put Secretary of State Senator John Kerry on an endless shuttle diplomacy from Moscow to Geneva via the Middle East trying to facilitate an international conference to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Obama, in waiting for a ‘red line’, is not necessarily shy of putting the boots on the ground in Syria. After all, Iraq is a finished business. The drawing down has begun in Afghanistan with the final curtain about to be drawn next year. And in any event the American war machine is just as strong as ever.

But for America, the power and the haunts behind the Q word for ‘quagmire’, as in Nixon’s Vietnam War is palpable. The Middle East is a volatile region with holdouts of unpredictable and irascible characters in the saddle in Syria, Iran as well as fringe non-state actors with handles on weapons of mass destruction.

In a rare interview on his country’s State television, SANA recently, the embattled President Bashar al-Assad categorically and defiantly let it be known that the option of defeat is NEVER an option and this desperate declaration underscores the danger ahead for the innocent civilian population who are the victims of this ever expanding crisis.

As we look for ‘game changers’ and ‘red lines’, President Assad is a schemer, who knows what the manifestations of chemical weapons use are.

After Saddam Hussein’s use of

Pakistan’s Sharif headed for victory •Obama promises to work as ‘equal partners’

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AKISTAN’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif looked set Sunday to return to power for a third term, with an overwhelming election tally that just weeks ago seemed out of reach for a man who had been ousted by a coup and was exiled abroad before clawing his way back as an opposition leader.

As unofficial returns continued to roll in Sunday, state TV estimates put Sharif close to the majority needed to govern outright. Even if he falls short of that threshold, independent candidates almost certain to swing to his favor would give Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N a ruling majority.

The margin of victory over the closest competitors - a party headed by former cricket star Imran Khan and the outgoing Pakistan People’s Party - gave Sharif’s party a clear mandate to guide the country of 180 million over the next five years.

Violence marred the vote in the southern port city of Karachi, the northwest and in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. At least 29 people died in election-related attacks, but people still came out in droves. Election officials said the turnout was close to 60 percent, easily eclipsing the 44 percent of voters who came to the polls in 2008.

Sharif fended off a strong

challenge from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Khan, who led the country to victory in the 1992 cricket World Cup, had tapped into the frustrations of many Pakistani youths fed up with the country’s traditional politicians.

But in the end, it was Sharif and the PML-N who emerged as the clear winners. The seat projections indicated that his party would have a much stronger grip on power than its predecessor.

Supporters in Lahore said they hoped that would bring progress after the outgoing Pakistan People’s Party government, which much of the country saw as only focused on its survival.

Syrian rebels release four UN Filipino handed over to a U.N. delegaYRIAN rebels yesterday released four Filipino peacekeepers tion in the border area on Sun-

S

U.N. peacekeepers they abducted last week in a dramatic incident that prompted warnings from the Philippines that the nation could pull out its contingent from the Golan Heights.

Meanwhile, a Syrian official said President Bashar Assad’s troops have the right to enter the Israeli-occupied Golan whenever they wish - a veiled threat at Israel to stay out of Syria’s conflict.

Also Sunday, Damascus rejected Turkey’s allegations that Syria was behind two car bombings that killed 46 people in Turkey and wounded dozens more the day before.

The four Filipinos, seized Tuesday, were apparently unharmed, but will undergo a

medical checkup and stress debriefing, said Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan.

A statement issued by the rebel group holding the peacekeepers - the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade - said the four were

day, but provided no other details.

The peacekeepers are part of a U.N. contingent that patrols a buffer zone between Syria and the Golan Heights, a plateau Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

Pope canonises 800

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OPE Francis has proclaimed the first saints of his pontificate in a ceremony at the Vatican - a list which includes 800 victims of an atrocity carried out by Ottoman soldiers in 1480.

They were beheaded in the southern Italian town of Otranto after refusing to convert to Islam.

Their names are unknown, apart from one man, Antonio Primaldo.

Within two months of taking office, Pope Francis has proclaimed more saints than any of his predecessors.

Among those canonised on Sunday were two Latin American nuns - Laura Montoya from Colombia and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala from Mexico - who both died in the 20th Century.

Global Focus DAYO FAKUADE, Foreign Editor sms 08134230367

daborgu@gmail.com mustard gas on his own people in the Eighties, the horrendous mass killings made its round to the international community with neither equivocation nor denial from Baghdad. But imagine another brutal dictator killing its civilian population 50s and 60s at a time without as much noise.

In trying to walk the fine line, Assad has said it can only use such weapons against “external aggressors” and has consistently labeled the Syrian rebels as “terrorists”.

These are the challenges ahead in engaging Damascus and when and what will constitute an actionable ‘game changer’ with members of the international community in the months ahead.

In the meantime, the killing field in Syria is active and the figures unabated.

In Other News It was cheering and morale-boosting news for fatigued rescue workers on Friday at the site of the April 24 garment factory building collapse in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, when 19-year old seamstress, Reshma Begum was miraculously pulled out to safety after 17 days of the disaster. She had been surviving on dried food, bottled and rain water. Average monthly wage for the workers in this factory is $38 (about 5800 Naira). The industry is promising an overhaul in working conditions, including wage increases.

From the Persia, Iran’s former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 78, a relative moderate and reformist, is throwing his hat into the ring of the presidential election coming up June 14 to replace

the fire brand retiring President Mahmoud Amadinajead, who has been a thorn in the flesh of the Iranian spiritual establishments lately, and whose second term is expiring.

Rafsanjani’s last minute entry into the political race has totally altered the political transitional landscape formerly thought to be a shoe-in for the conservative cum spiritual establishment. In all, about 400 candidates are scampering to replace Ahmadinajed.

Also, the confettis are dropping on two-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan as he is coasting to victory once again under the Muslim League-N Party (PMN-L) in Saturday’s Pakistan presidential elections. In spite of threats of disruptions by the Taliban, the security apparati sprung to action with over 600,000 personnel to supervise and monitor the election which has about 60percent turn out of the electorate, in a nation of 180 million.

Lastly, the sordid inhumane story of abduction, rape, chaining, food deprivation, beatings and decade – long illegal imprisonment of three women coming out of the low income neighbourhood of Cleveland, in the State of Ohio, USA, continues to unravel with the principal suspect Ariel Castro, 52, now cooling his heels in a Cleveland Municipal jail, under a suicide watch, held on a Eight million dollars bond.

His victims: Amanda Berry, Gina Dejesus and Kristine Knight with her 6 year old, are starting their long healing and recovery process, after gaining freedom Monday from a better imagined monstrous psycho.

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

61

NEWS

No mass grave found in Baga, says senator A RE there mass graves in Baga, Borno State, following the recent clash between Boko Haram members and operatives of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF)?

This is the question the controversy over alleged mass murder of Baga residents has thrown up.

But a member of the Senate Committee, which visited the troubled community last week explained that members of the committee did not find any mass grave.

The committee member, who spoke in confidence with our correspondents in Abuja, said he counted about 26 fresh graves at the cemetery the committee visited.

The Senate, at its plenary on April 23, deliberated on the Baga incident and mandated its Joint Committee on Defence and Army, the National Security and Intelligence and the Police Af-

From Onyedi Ojiabor Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

fairs, to investigate the alleged massacre.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence and Army, George Sekibo, led the senators on the mission from May 7 till May 9.

Other senators on the factfinding mission included Deputy Senate Leader Abdul Ningi; the Chairman, Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Mohammed Magoro; the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Army and Defence, Mohammed Bindowo Jibrilla; the Chairman, Senate Committee on Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Saidu Alkali; the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Abubakar Umar Tutare; the Vice-Chair-

man, Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Saleh and the Chairman, Senate Committee on National Identity and National Population, Maina Ma’aji Lawan, representing Borno North.

The source said the committee met with Governor Kashim Shettima and was briefed by the police commissioner, the Director of the State Security Service (SSS), the Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) and the Joint Military Task Force (JTF).

The Senate Committee was also said to have visited the scene of the clash and had audience with the local government chairman, the district Head, the village head, the Bulama (a local ethnic group), elders and some victims of the crisis.

It was learnt that peace is gradually returning to the town while many arrests have been made.

200 PDP members defect to ACN in Kwara

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O fewer than 200 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State at the weekend defected to the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

The defectors were mainly from Agbonda, Ajase-po Ward 2. It was learnt that they burnt every symbol of the PDP in their possession.

The defectors, who were said to be predominantly farmers, complained of lack of assistance from the ruling party to improve their farming.

A man, who was simply identified as Joshua (aka Baba Damilola), led other defectors into the ACN from other 18 communities, including Agbamu.

Joshua said: “We have worked for them (PDP) in the past and there is nothing to show for it. We are tired of empty promises. Your governments in Osun and Ekiti states impress us; that is why we are coming into your fold.”

Prince Tunde Oyeyipo, ACN chairman in the area,

PDP: Caretaker committee can’t save opposition

T

HE Kwara State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said the caretaker committee set up by the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) cannot save the party in the state.

This is coming as the opposition party received over 200 PDP defectors in Irepodun Local Government Area of the state.

In a statement in Ilorin, the state capital, by its Secretary, Prince Yemi Afolayan, the PDP criticised ACN for allegedly lacking internal democracy.

The statement added: “In the PDP, we practise politics of consensus but the ACN is known for autocracy under which candidates are anointed by the leadership in Lagos and imposed on state chapters, disregarding their choices. This is responsible for the exodus of ACN members to the PDP. So, the ACN is doomed.”

The PDP said the appointment of a caretaker committee, headed by an Ondo man, “shows that governance would be controlled by forces outside the state, if the ACN had won the governorship elections in Kwara”.

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

received the defectors. He gave them a flag and brooms to sweep away poverty and neglect from the land.

He said: “This is not the first time we are giving things out. We just gave a tricycle to a disabled young man in Ijomu-Oro, this afternoon. We have sunk motorised bore-

holes in Arandun, Oko and Olowonnijere and connected Olomioja, among others.

“Our party, particularly the All Progressives Party (APC), which used to be a brand of analgesic in those days, will heal our land. We have 100 per cent assurance that we will win Ajase 2 and Irepodun in any election.”

Granting Boko Haram amnesty not justifiable, says cleric

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HE Catholic Bishop of Kwara State, Dr Ayo-Maria Atoyebi, yesterday said the Federal Government’s plan to grant amnesty to the Boko Haram sect is unjustifiable.

Atoyebi addressed reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, as part of activities marking the 47th World Communications Day. The cleric noted that “Boko Haram members have not told us what …Nigerians have done to them that warrants the killing of innocent people”.

He said the Niger Delta residents complained about their means of livelihood being devastated as a result of oil exploration.

The cleric said Boko Haram is a faceless group, which cannot be identified, adding that even when its members were called for a dialogue, “they reject same without reasons”.

He attributed the problems in the country to the greed of those in authority as well as the followers.

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

Also, the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affaira (NSCIA), Prof Ishaq Oloyede, has urged the Federal Government to proffer solutions to the current security challenges in the country.

Oloyede, a former ViceChancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), said: “I pray that God will strengthen the government to be able to face the challenges. It is the re-

sponsibility of the government to tackle insecurity.”

On his recent appointment as the NSCIA scribe, the former university administrator said: “You expect a more vibrant Islamic community that is much more involved in what goes on in the country. Of course, there will be more rapport between Christians and Muslims. I’m a Professor of Islamic Studies and the first rule is that you must love your neighbour as much as you love yourself.”

Benue community condemns attack on policemen From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

T

HE Otukpo community in Benue State has condemned yesterday’s attack on some policemen by some armed youths at Asa settlement, in the outskirts of Otukpo, the country home of Senate President David Mark.

The youths reportedly opened fire on some policemen, wounding three of them.

The Och’Otukpo Odu, Chief John Eimonye, spoke at a meeting in the town when he addressed members of the community on the incident.

The meeting was attended by district and clan heads, elders, major stakeholders as well as opinion leaders in the town.

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THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

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WHO SAID WHAT

‘The time has come for the people to rise and demand for good governance and improved security, which, of course, is their right’ MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL 8 NO 2,484

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

A

SENSE of perfidy hits the air. So rather than cavort over the flowering of democracy, we confront the nascent hubris of a dictator. I use the word “nascent” advisedly. We have not seen tyranny in its barefaced and full form.

It is furtive and deceptively tentative, but carries the barbarous aura of the inevitable.

Not long ago, the former governor of Zamfara State – no fan of mine – was picked up by the police because he said the APC would stage a peaceful protest if his party was rigged out of the 2015 polls. The Shariaflaunting lover of nubile flesh did not offend against the law. He exercised a natural instinct of the politician in an ambience of electoral fraud.

Months later, former gun-swinging denizen of the Niger Delta forests, Mujahid AsariDokubo, warned that if his kinsman, Goodluck Jonathan, is not tenanted at Aso Rock in 2015, militancy will dissolve the apparent peace in the home region of the president. He merely echoed the sentiment of an officered sympathiser of the militants, Kingsley Kuku, who is special adviser to the president on amnesty. None of them, in spite of the discomfort of the National Assembly, was even called for questioning over clearly subversive threats.

The one threatened peaceful protest and was picked up. The others mouthed apocalyptic prophesies but they spoke back in defiance. Their grandfather and fuddy-duddy of Nigerian politics, rather than intervene in wisdom, played the role of an agent provocateur at over 80 years of age. He joined the delinquency and juvenile ranting and explained that others in the North had said similar things.

In this instance, the office of the inspector general of police iced over with cowardice.

Recently, Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s official aircraft was grounded at Ondo State.

The aviation authorities said he had no papers, which the Rivers State Government has challenged. Not long after, the police swooped on a local government headquarters. The excuse was that the governor should not have dissolved the executive, which happened through the state legislature.

This did not only fly in the face of the principle of a federal state, but it violated the principle of the rule of law. If they don’t like what the governor did, why not go to court?

It is common knowledge that the battle for Rivers State is the continuation of the friction between President Jonathan and Governor Amaechi by other means. The story, at least in public, can be traced to the open shame of rhetoric from Dame the Vain, first lady Patience Jonathan, in Rivers State during the closing days of Governor Amaechi’s first term. She openly lashed out at the governor over activities in Okrika, where she hails from. Since then, tension has crackled between Port Harcourt and Abuja. What we

SAM OMATSEYE

IN TOUCH

intouchsam@yahoo.com 08054501081(sms only) •NMMA Columnist of the Year

Like a thief in the night

•Asari-Dokubo •Kuku see today, including the fulminating shallowness of Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike, represents a proxy war. From his reptilian redoubts in Aso Rock, he is unleashing venoms abroad.

What is going on in Rivers State, with the strong-arm hysteria from Abuja, foreshadows the rough and tumble of 2015. It is the story of a snake trying to encircle his enemies in a jungle where law and order play coy to the logic of the unbridled giant.

We also saw the introduction of a legislation to bar private aircraft owners from carrying what is perceived as passengers. To the undiscerning, it is a clever way of slowing down opponents who would hit the hustings for 2015 election when they compete with him for the meaty prize. It is a legislation for aerial supremacy through monopoly in the air battle of the 2015 campaigns. It is a metaphor of modern warfare. The law seeks to create a no-fly zone for the opposition. So while the president and his team corral the

RIPPLES NIGERIA HAS A BRIGHT FUTURE –Cleric

Yes..as BRIGHT as our POWER SUPPLY

‘What is going on in Rivers State, with the strongarm hysteria from Abuja, foreshadows the rough and tumble of 2015. It is the story of a snake trying to encircle his enemies in a jungle where law and order play coy to the logic of the unbridled giant’ air and unleash the gunfire, the ground battle belongs to the opposition who will lie hobbled below, pinned down and ponderously weak, an army without the aerial sway.

President Jonathan can now wield the nimble power of the sky with its lethal ferocity.

As a well-known top politician told me in the aftermath of the Amaechi aircraft saga, no one should take a romantic view of tackling Jonathan and his cohorts in 2015. It came close to journalism recently when two journalists with the Leadership Newspaper were held rather than taken to court. He plots to slam a state of emergency on Borno and Yobe states. By this he is trying to turn his failure to combat terrorism into an advantage for political control against 2015. Our greatest tragedy is the absence of the rule of law. It is in that sewer that tyrants breed.

These are just a few of the signs of what I called nascent tyranny. Because we live in an ostensible democracy, we take those actions for granted. Tyranny comes like a thief in the

HARDBALL

S

CORES of policemen killed by a cult group in Alakyo village in Nasarawa State; scores more murdered in Bama, Borno State by Boko Haram militants; perhaps hundreds killed in Baga, Borno State in questionable circumstances; and scores and scores of other security agents, including Department of State (SSS) operatives and soldiers, killed in action.

Add to the mess a dozen relatively new forms of criminality such as kidnapping, gory bouts of rape, and bloody ethnic cum border disputes, and you begin to wonder whether the country has not yet plumbed the depths of depravity and horror. Despair? No, said some; its much worse, its Nigeria’s awful moment of angst. The country seems to be locked in a cul-de-sac, battered by bloodbath, wearied by its interminable woes, and unsure whether there is any way out, or if there is, whether the country’s leaders have the courage to take the audacious steps needed to free Nigeria from its self-imposed torments.

This dangerous and menacing point was, however, not reached by sudden flight. It had been slow in building, indeed long in

CHIDI ODINKALU

night. In the early days of Joseph Stalin, complains streamed the news media of a budding tyrant. A prominent New York Times reporter denied it. The evidence of killings, anti-Semitic slayings and concentration camps were regarded as little irritations.

The then well-known critic Edmund Wilson visited from the United States and gave Stalin the thumbs up. Even novelist and essayist Maxim Gorky came from exile and resettled in his home country and lunged at prose spirit Vladimir Nabokov for cynical error for raising a false alarm. Gorky once argued that the only people who deserve freedom are those who are ready to fight for it every day. He ignored his own religion. But he was one of the early victims of Stalin’s purge. Alexander Solzhenitsyn fell into his snare and even fought in his army, before his disillusion and exile. His Gulag Achipelago, One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich and Cancer War are three masterpieces on the Stalin era that won him the Nobel Prize.

In the early days of the Abacha regime, Ken Saro Wiwa during a BBC interview praised the coup that ushered in the tyrant. I wrote an op-ed piece then in the National Concord cautioning the novelist and playwright. I also noted that he was mistaking his cozy embrace with the general with the general apathy in the land. Saro Wiwa replied that he was cut from a rare gem. Just like Gorky, he became a tragic victim of a tyrant he helped nurture. It is one of the sore memories of my life that he visited me a day before he was arrested. A similar fate almost happened to Wole Soyinka who outgrew his chumminess with the foxy IBB and lived in exile during the Abacha era.

Asari-Dokubo said President Jonathan has performed. He should leave that to voters.

He is one man, and his Ijaw nation, whose lives he has not lifted, are one people. When he swept to power in what they gleefully designated as a pan-Nigerian mandate, they should have told him that he ought to rise up to the challenge. Democracy has shown historically that it does not guarantee freedom or well being. It calls for vigilance. That was why right-wing economist – I hate to quote this guy – once asserted that “perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one’s government is not necessarily to secure freedom.” He is Friedrich Von Hayek.

Nascent tyranny thrives on a false perception of leader’s innocence. I recall the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, where innocent children carry out the worst tyrannies in themselves. The only solution is vigilance, and a fighting conscience from within.

That is what Ghandi referred to when he said, “The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.” This tyrant is the counterfoil to the other tyrant.

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

Plumbing the depths of despair coming, and it gave as many signs of its portents as nectar inescapably draws bees.

It is easy to blame economic and social dislocations for the outbreak of sectarian wars. Of course there are always elements of those factors involved in any eruption of violence, particularly violence levelled against the state. But how many Nigerians have scrutinised history to discover the many points where the country’s leaders took the wrong turns down the road, many points where opportunities existed to do right by country and avert rebellion? As recent as the Fourth Republic, would things not have been different had the founding leaders of this republic not played God? Indeed, had they been altruistic, patriotic, and conceived a brilliant vision of what Nigeria should be and where it should head, would things not have been different?

The country is structurally deformed and needs fundamental changes to promote economic growth, tackle unemployment

and guarantee political stability. But many of the social and political upheavals of today, starting from the 2009 Boko Haram revolt to the rampant militia activities of the past one year or more, are products of the thoughtless manipulation of the electoral process that began in 1999 and was accentuated in 2007. Power brokers imposed Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and got away with that short-sighted act, but he proved to be the wrong man for the right job. Obasanjo, however, in turn imposed Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan in 2007, and also got away with it, though once again they proved to be the wrong men for the job. The country is consequently stuck with the follies of 1999 and 2007, which follies contributed significantly to the woes of today. If these follies are repeated in 2015, they could prove fatal to the survival of Nigeria, as the killings, kidnappings, maiming and defiance of lawful authorities push the country to the depths of despair.

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