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Military probes mutiny in Borno barracks From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

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LL was calm yesterday at a military facility in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, after soldiers fired shots in anger.

Soldiers at the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army threatened to attack the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Division, Major General Ahmed Mohammmed, The Nation learnt.

A military source, who spoke in confidence, however, said the situa-

•The United States Global Hawk drone that went to work searching for the missing girls...yesterday

The 44-foot-long Global Hawk has a wingspan of more than 116 feet, a height of 15 feet, and a gross takeoff weight of 26,750 pounds, including a 1,500-pound payload capability. A single Rolls-Royce AE3007H turbofan engine powers the aircraft. The distinctive V-tail, engine cover, aft fuselage and wings are constructed primarily of graphite composite materials. The center fuselage is constructed of conventional aluminum, while various fairings and radomes feature fiberglass composite construction

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Jonathan to Boko Haram: no prisoners swap for girls Continued on page 2

U.S., UK step up air search for girls Obasanjo, Soyinka speak on sect

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From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has ruled out freeing Boko Haram prisoners in exchange for the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.

Minister of Special Duties Tanimu Turaki, had earlier said authorities were ready to negotiate with Boko Haram, but the President insisted yesterday that this was out of the question.

“He made it very clear that there will be no negotiation with Boko Haram that involves a swap of abducted schoolgirls for prison-

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WHERE ARE THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15?

Continued on page 2

INSIDE

•U.S. vows justice •Catholic women to pray •North’s governors’ wives: girls must return •Aregbesola calls for MORE ON intercession PAND AGES 2,4-7&58 •CAN summit tomorrow •One month after...

•ALL FOR THE GIRLS: Protesters in Lagos marking the one-month anniversary of the girls’ abduction...yesterday.

PHOTO: AFP

•HOW SHOULD THE HOSTAGE ISSUE BE RESOLVED? EMINENT NIGERIANS SPEAK P6

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

NEWS CHIBOK GIRLS’ ABDUCTION

Soyinka: sect ‘obscene,’ incapable of dialogue

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OBEL laureate Wole Soyinka has described Boko Haram’s leader as an “obscenity” who is likely to be incapable of dialogue.

The winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature told AFP by phone from Los Angeles that Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau was “high on religion and drugs”.

“For me, we are dealing with a sub-human species,” Soyinka said. “How do you dialogue with that kind of obscenity?”

Debate over the prospects of negotiating with Boko Haram and even Shekau himself has

been a controversial issue in Nigeria throughout the extremist group’s uprising which has killed thousands.

The issue resurfaced on Monday after Shekau released a video suggesting the girls kidnapped from a secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok could be released in exchange for Islamist prisoners held by the government.

“It is a bind for the nation because the girls must be secured,” Soyinka said, voicing sympathy for the officials who must assess the pros and cons of talking to Shekau.

Continued on page 68

THE 77 GIRLS IDENTIFIED IN VIDEO

•Protesters in front of the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington, DC...yesterday.

PHOTO: AFP

Military probes mutiny in Borno barracks Continued from page 1

tion had been brought under control.

The incident happened at the Maimalari Barracks of the 7 Division early in the morning over alleged exposure to “unnecessary risks” by military authorities.

The revolt coincided with the visit of the GOC to Maimalari Cantonment to boost the troops’ morale of troops.

It was also learnt that some of the soldiers were angry that they had become war wearied because the military has not been rotating troops as it is conventional.

Others were also said to be aggrieved over provision of obsolete equipment, which had made them vulnerable to insurgents.

Although a few others were alleged to have complained about short-payment of allowances, a military source said all stipends and inconvenience allowances had been paid up to

date.

The grouses of the troops were: •cheap exposure to ambush by Boko Haram insurgents due to uncoordinated information; •needless killing of soldiers as a result of misleading information; •insufficient food(one meal per day); •obsolete equipment, limited arms and ammunition to fight insurgents •alleged short-payment of accruing allowances; and •non-rotation of troops leading to diminishing returns.

A source said: “These soldiers attacked the convoy of the GOC who escaped by the whiskers.

“But some orderlies of the GOC, who are fellow soldiers, were shot. The injured soldiers are receiving treatment.

“The mutiny was allegedly triggered by the arrival of the bodies of four soldiers, who were ambushed and killed in the Chibok axis by Boko Haram insur-

gents.

“When the soldiers saw the bodies of their colleagues, tempers rose and they revolted against the GOC. “They attributed the killings to misleading information. Some locals had provided clues which could lead to the location of the abducted girls.

“But while following the clues, the troops were ambushed by Boko Haram and killed. The soldiers claimed that unverified clues from locals by the military hierarchy had been leading to needless killing of soldiers.”

A military source said: “The situation was immediately brought under control by the Military High Command.

“The report available indicated that the soldiers only shot sporadically into the air in protest; they did not attack the GOC. “They registered their displeasure over misleading information by the locals in Chibok and other frontline

areas leading to incessant ambush and killing of troops.

“Some of them also demanded the adoption of rotation system for troops because the same set of soldiers had been battling Boko Haram insurgents.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “The mutiny was not about allowances because these had been paid to date.”

The Defence Headquarters yesterday said a board of inquiry would be raised to probe the shooting.

The Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, made the clarification in the military’s reaction to troops’ mutiny .

The statement said: “The 7 Division of the Nigerian Army is to institute a military board of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the conduct of soldiers who fired some shots today while the General Officers Commanding was addressing troops in

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(Amira 3rd Speaker)

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(2nd Speaker)

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Saraya Amos Ali Saraya Samuel Saraya Stover Saraya Yanga Shikta Abdu Solomi Pogu Suzana Yakubu Yana Bukar Yana Joshua Yayi Abana Zainab Yaga

Continued on page 68

Jonathan to Boko Haram: no prisoners swap for girls Continued from page 1

ers,” said British Africa Minister Mark Simmonds after meeting Dr. Jonathan in Abuja, to discuss an international recue mission for the girls, according to the BBC. The April 15 kidnapping has caused international outrage, and foreign teams of experts are in the country to assist the security forces in tracking them down.

The United States has deployed a drone in the search for the abducted Chibok girls as Britain offered a surveillance plane and a military team to help.

The over 200 girls were abducted from their dormitories.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday in parliament: “Today I can announce we have offered Nigeria further assistance in terms of surveillance aircraft, a military team to embed with the Nigerian army in their headquarters and a team to work with United States experts to analyse information on the girls’ location.”

The UK Ministry of Defence clarified that one Sentinel

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Obasanjo: Jonathan is overwhelmed by Boko Haram

X-PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday insisted on a carrot and stick approach to end the Boko Haram insurgency.

He said there could be no other means since President Goodluck Jonathan “is overwhelmed “by the Boko Haram (insurgency).

Obasanjo spoke on a BBC programme, Focus on Africa, which aired a special edition on Nigeria’s insecurity last night.Obasanjo said he took it upon himself in 2011 to go on a fact- finding mission when Boko Haram insurgency became uncontrollable to see how to mediate.

He said he met people, especially families who knew them. “I wanted to find out if it was an organisation which has aims

plane would be sent.

Specialist teams from the United States, Britain, France and Israel are already helping Nigeria’s military in the search.

Britain last week sent a team of experts to Nigeria, including officials from the Ministry of Defence.

US surveillance planes have been scouring a vast swathe of northern Nigeria, looking for

By Wale Adepoju

and objectives and if they have foreign backing.”

Obasanjo said Boko Haram has leaders, adding that there was somebody who acted as a lawyer to the sect.

“The lawyer, who was acting in proxy told me: ‘Mr President if you want to meet their leaders give me three hours. I will gather their leaders, not in Nigeria but outside Nigeria. Obviously, they have leaders,” Obasanjo said.

When asked if carrot and stick approach would work in dealing with Boko Haram, he said: “Well, if you had tried stick and stick alone and it has not worked, is there anything wrong to try something along with the stick?

“I doubt it very much if you will consider

the girls.

Cameron also rejected claims that the Nigerian government had failed to do enough to help find the missing girls. He said: “This was an act of pure evil.

The world is coming together not just to condemn it but to do everything we can to help the Nigerians find these young girls.”

The prime minister rejected a suggestion by Tom Clarke, a former Labour minister, who

that as wrong because in your introductory statement on this programme, you made the point that no matter how well-meaning the President might have been with his assertion that he will be on top of Boko Haram, it has not been achieved.”

Human rights activist Shehu Sani said Boko Haram is a sect that has a theocratic agenda.

He said the sect is unlike others in the north, adding: “There are sects in the North that say Nigeria should adopt Islam but they are not as fundamental.”

Sani said force had not been able to yield any result.

He cautioned the Federal Government to get the girls out first before using force to subdue the sect.

According to him, Obasanjo has a list of the leaders of the sect.

said the Nigerian authorities had failed to lift a finger to help find the schoolgirls. A group of about 130 of the kidnapped girls appeared earlier this week on a video released by the terror group Boko Haram.

Clarke, who is a respected expert on international development, asked the prime minister: “While I welcome the efforts to rescue the schoolgirls in Nigeria, will the prime min-

ister agree that the Nigerian government hasn’t lifted a finger to protect its own citizens in the north as they were attacked by Boko Haram?”

Cameron replied: “I don’t think his description of the Nigerian government is entirely fair. They do face a very vicious terrorist organisation in terms of Boko Haram.

“They are investing in and training their armed forces in

•Obasanjo

counter-terrorism abilities. We have worked with them on that and we are willing to do more work with them on that, particularly if we can make sure proper processes are in place for dealing with human rights issues.”

But the PM said Britain should be prepared to provide more than military assistance.

Continued on page 68

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

4

NEWS CHIBOK GIRLS’ ABDUCTION

U.S.: we’ll b

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•Chairman, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Chief Kolawole Jamodu speaking during the 68th Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos... yesterday. With him are (from left) Managing Director/CEO Nigerian Breweries Plc., Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde, Company Secretary, Mr. Uaboi Agbebaku, and Mr. Thomas A. de Man. PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

•Marketing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Patricia Jemibewon (left) presenting a cheque to Fakorede Adeoye, star prize winner of an all-expense paid trip to watch the FIFA 2014 World Cup live in Brazil in Lagos...yesterday. With them are Nollywood actress, Tina Mba (second right) and Project Manager, Coca-Cola FIFA World Cup Promo, Toyin Nnodi .

•From left: Managing Director/CEO , AA Rescue Nigeria Limited, Mr. Otoyen Efebo, MD/CEO, Lafarge WAPCO, Mr. Joe Hudson, Chairman, Ewekoro Local Government Area, Dele Soluade and the representative of the Minister for Transport, Mr. Ashekeme Olusegun at the launch of the Lafarge Drivers' Academy in Arigbajo, Ogun State.

• From left: Chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Foluso Philips, Company Secretary, MTN Nigeria, Uto Ukpanah and Team Leader, Department for International Development (DFID), Christopher Shyers at a workshop on Supply Chain Transparency by NESG in Lagos.

HE United States Department of State yesterday said it would support the Federal Government to bring to book the abductors of the Chibok girls.

The Department of State, in a factsheet released by the Office of its Spokesperson in Washington, DC, quoted the Secretary of State John Kerry as saying: “The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime, and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian Government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice.

I will tell you, my friends, I have seen this scourge of terror across the planet, and so have you. They don’t offer anything except violence. They don’t offer a health care plan, they don’t offer schools. They don’t tell you how to build a nation; they don’t talk about how they will provide jobs. They just tell people, “You have to behave the way we tell you to,” and they will punish you if you don’t.”

Nigeria, it said, is a key strategic partner in Africa. It added that the country has the continent’s largest population and largest economy, and it plays a vital role in efforts to resolve crises and promote stability and prosperity in West Africa and beyond.

It observed that in the midst of rapid economic growth, the country faces security challenges, notably Boko Haram , which it described as “a violent Islamist movement that has staged regular attacks in northern Nigeria since 2010.”

It revealed that Nigeria would join the United States as one of the founding members of the International Institute on Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ), which would open its doors in June 2014 in Malta, and provide rule of law-based training on how to counter terrorism and other transnational criminal activity within a rule of law framework.

“As a founding member, Nigeria will be expected to ensure its police, prosecutors, and prison officials are regular participants in IIJ trainings.”

The factsheet also explained that the State Department’s Counterterrorism Finance (CTF) programme provides training aimed at restricting Boko Haram’s ability to raise, move, and store money.

“CTF’s current focus provides Nigeria with cross border financial investigations training to work effectively with counterparts in neighboring countries on critical CTF cases,” it said.

The factsheet noted that given the country’s importance as a regional political and economic leader, the U.S. has a vital interest in helping to strengthen its democratic institutions, boost its prosperity and security and ensure opportunity for all of its citizens.

The factsheet reads: “The U.S. and Nigeria also work closely together in multilateral fora, including the UN Security Council, where Nigeria is serving a term as a non-permanent member for 2014-2015.

“As the President noted in his National Defense University speech in May 2013, countering terrorism requires a holistic approach. We continue to work with Nigeria and other international partners to help promote and support such an approach to Boko Haram. The United States has been working to counter BH for many years, and we will continue to do so.”

On the counterterrorism assistance to the country, the factsheet noted: “Counterterrorism support to Nigeria focuses on building critical counterterrorism capabilities among Nigeria’s civilian and law enforcement agencies. This supports the

•PARIS PARIS : French Jewish writer Marek Halter (centre left), Imam Hassen Chalghoumi (centre right), and other people take part in a protest against the kidnapping by Boko Haram of over 200 girls, in Paris...yesterday.

PHOTO: AFP

By Olukorede Yishau

larger U.S. objective of encouraging Nigeria to develop and implement a comprehensive approach to counter BH that upholds and enforces the rule of law, provides civilian protection, respects human rights and international norms, and addresses the underlying grievances that BH exploits (including through development gains and through responsive governance).

“Based on our longstanding concerns about Boko Haram, we have a robust security dialogue and assistance relationship with Nigeria. As part of the Bi-National Commission Framework, we hold regular Regional Security working group meetings focused on the Boko Haram threat and ways our two governments can collaborate on a holistic approach to countering the group.

“Our security assistance is in line with our efforts to ensure Nigeria takes a comprehensive approach to countering Boko Haram. We are working to build Nigerian law enforcement capacities to investigate terrorism cases, effectively deal with explosive devices, and secure Nigeria’s borders, while underscoring that the most effective counterterrorism policies and practices are those that respect human rights and are underpinned by the rule of law. We are also focused on enabling various Nigerian security services with fusing multiple information streams to develop a better understanding of Boko Haram. Our military assistance supports the professionalisation of key military units and improves their ability to plan and implement appropriate steps to counter Boko Haram and ensure civilian security.”

The U.S. said its Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) programme enhances law enforcement agencies’ capability to prevent, detect, and investigate terrorism threats; secure Nigeria’s borders; and manage responses to terrorist incidents.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

5

CHIBOK GIRLS’ ABDUCTION

bring insurgents to justice One month after Chibok girls’ abduction

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•LA GOS LAGOS A man carrying a placard calling for the girls’ release.

•O WERRI •OWERRI Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (middle) and Imo State women leaders during a protest calling for the release of the abducted Chibok girls in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

PHOTO: AFP

Northern governors’ wives: abducted girls must return by all means

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IVES of northern governors have said the abducted girls must be returned by all means.

They said: “We must ensure members of this terrorist group and their sponsors are brought to justice.”

The northern governors’ wives spoke at their 14th meeting of the Northern Governors’ Wives Forum (NGWF) held at the Nasarawa State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.

At the meeting were the forum’s chairperson, Dooshima Yemisi Suswam (Benue), Hajiya Adama Dankwambo (Gombe), Hajiya

From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo

Jummai Aliyu (Niger) and Hajiya Asmau Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara).

Others were Hajiya Fatima Yero (Kaduna), Hajiya Halima Wada (Kogi) and Hajiya Salamatu Almakura (Nasarawa).

Mrs Suswam said: “Our agony worsened with the news of the dreams of innocent children terminated while asleep in their school dormitories in Buni-Yadi in Yobe State.

“Our agony went deeper with the news of the abduction of over 200 girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state.

“It is our sincere prayer that the insurgency has reached its climax with this abduction of girls,” she said.

The forum condemned terrorism and described the abduction of girls as “cowardly, inhuman, uncivil, heinous and ungodly”. “Insurgency must be stopped,” the forum said.

Mrs Suswam praised the Federal Government and the international community for their resolve to bring back the abducted girls.

“The acceptance of help from the international community by the Federal Government is highly commendable,” she said.

Catholic women seek prayers for girls’ release

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HE National Council of Catholic Women Organisation has called on Catholic women to pray for the safe return of the over 200 girls abducted from the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.

A statement by the National President of the organisation, Mrs. Agnes Erogunaye, noted that this is a time in which women must come together and cry for the intervention of God in the evil that the abduction of these girls signify.

In addition to praying for the safe return of the girls, Mrs Erogunaye also advised women to pray for the end of all violent occurrences in Nigeria noting that women and children are the most vulnerable when we have these sad incidents, “We are sacrificing the future of this country unless we arrest this trend with prayers. That is in addition to the fact that there can be no meaningful economic development in any society

devoid of peace.”

While saying that the hearts of all catholic women go out to mothers of all the girls that are in the custody of Boko Haram elements, Mrs Erogunaye expressed absolute confidence in the efficacy of prayers as-

suring that God is a God that never fails.

She called on the Federal Government not to spare any effort at recovering all these girls alive noting that this is a demand by which all people of goodwill must stand.

‘Powerful Nigerians behind Boko Haram’

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By Adedeji Ademigbuji

UNITED Nations Ambassador for Peace, Alao Akintunde, has said some powerful people in the country are sponsors of Boko Haram.

Akintunde, a lawyer, told The Nation that the faceless sponsors had a target and game plan, which is to make Nigeria ungovernable for President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said: “People whose identities are yet to be unveiled are behind these atrocities. These acts of terror are deliberate. You can see the rate of ritual killings in the country today. It all borders on security. The insurgents are being strengthened by people of power and influence in the society. Most of these bigwigs have their own children overseas.

“If we had done the right thing in terms of security, how can a group of people kidnap over 200 girls out of a place without a police check point to challenge them and this is a place where there is a state of emergency.”

Akintunde added that the solution to the menace lies in getting support from the international community.”

PRIL 14: Boko Haram invades Government College, Chibok at night.

April 15: Early morning, the girls are moved out. Over 200 of them. Some girls escaped.

April 16: Nigeria’s military says most of the girls managed to escape or were freed and releases a statement saying only eight girls are still missing. It turned out to be a lie and it admitted misleading the public.

April 17: Chibok people say many remain unaccounted for and parents of the missing girls head into the Sambisa forest near the Cameroonian border to search for them. On their return they say they did not see any Nigerian soldiers in the forest.

April 18: Army spokesman Maj.Gen. Chris Olukolade says a report stating that most of the girls had been freed was incorrect but was “not intended to deceive the public.” Parents insist that more than 200 girls are still missing. The military has not rescued any of the girls.

April 19: Asabe Kwambura, headmistress of the school in Chibok, appeals to the government to do more to save the girls and calls on the kidnappers thought to be members of the Boko Haram group - to “have mercy on the students.”

April 23: Nigerians take to social media to show their anger at the government response and Ibrahim M Abdullahi, a lawyer in Abuja, sends the first tweet using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

April 29: Parents of the abducted girls protest government “indifference” to the mass abduction, their anguish heightened by reports the girls have been sold as wives abroad.

April 30: Hundreds march through Abuja to protest at government “indifference” to the mass abduction. A community leader from Chibok warns that the girls may have been taken to neighbouring states and forced to marry militants. He says that 230 girls are missing - another increase in the figure.

May 1: Hundreds of desperate parents protest in Chibok, calling for help from government and the international community. Protests are also staged elsewhere in Nigeria and abroad.

May 2: The police say Boko Haram militants are holding 223 of the initial 276 girls who were abducted, after 53 managed to escape.

May 4: Another 11 girls are abducted by suspected Boko Haram Islamists in Borno state, this time from the villages of Warabe and Wala.

May 4: President Goodluck Jonathan makes his first public comments since the abduction, saying his government is seeking assistance from the US and other world powers to tackle Nigeria’s “security challenge”. He vows to do everything to ensure the release of the girls.

May 5: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, in a video obtained by AFP, claims the abduction of the girls and threatens to “sell” them in the market as “slaves”.

The US State Department says it has information that the girls could have been ferried across to neighbouring countries. Chadian and Cameroonian authorities deny the presence of the girls in their territories.

May 6: U.S. President Barack Obama describes the girls’ abduction as “heartbreaking” and “outrageous”, adding “this may be the event that helps to mobilise the entire international community” finally to act against Boko Haram.

He confirms Nigeria has accepted the deployment of an American team of experts to help find the girls.

Al-Azhar, the highest religious authority among Sunnite Muslims calls for the release of the girls saying that harming them “totally contradicts the teachings of Islam and its principles of tolerance”.

May 6: U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama tweeted a picture of herself highlighting the #BringBackOurGirls campaign May 7: The police offer 50 million naira (£175,000) for information that could lead to the location of the girls.

In Paris, French president François Hollande offers Nigeria a “special team” to look for the girls and Britain says it will send a team of experts to Nigeria to help with the crisis.

The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag hits 1 million tweets and US First Lady Michelle Obama joins the online campaign, posting a picture of herself on photo-sharing site Instagram holding a piece of paper with the hashtag on.

May 8: The Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a shooting by Taliban insurgents,Malala Yousafzai, joins the #BringBackOurGirls campaign and says the world must not stay silent over the abduction.

May 9: Experts from the U.S. and UK arrive in Nigeria to help with the search for the missing girls. Amnesty International accuses the military of ignoring warnings before the abduction.

The human rights group said credible sources told it that the army were notified of an impending attack four hours before it happened but did nothing. The government says it doubts the report but will investigate.

May 11: Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima says he has information on the whereabouts of the girls and has passed reports of possible sightings to the military.

He says he does not think they have been taken across the border to Chad or Cameroon.

May 12: Boko Haram releases a second video showing the abducted girls dressed in Islamic robes and asked for a swap of the girls with his imprisoned members May 13: Parents identify 77 of the girls. The Borno State government organised mass viewing of the video giving parents the opportunity to identify their missing children.

May 14: The day is marked with demonstrations across the country and beyond calling for the girls’ release.

May 15: It is exactly one month after Boko Haram abducted the girls.

THE NATION THURSDAY MAY 15, 2014

6

NEWS CHIBOK GIRLS ABDUCTION

Exactly one month after over 200 girls were abducted from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, Nigerians have expressed divergent views over the idea of negotiating for their release with their Boko Haram abductors. While some of the respondents who spoke to our correspondents yesterday urged the Federal Government to go ahead and negotiate their release, majority of them called for caution, saying members of the sect cannot be trusted to keep to their words:

Ex-Army chiefs, don, security expert, politicians, others unite against negotiation Col. Gabriel Ajayi, a retired infantry officer, Nigeria Army “The best approach is for the Federal Government to take a middle course in the matter.”

Ajayi, a security and ancillary services consultant, said if there must be negotiation, it should be fashioned after what the Israelis normally do with Palestinians for exchange of prisoners of war periodically.

“Such negotiation should be done underground between relevant security agencies and other Islamic bodies on one side and the insurgents on the other,” he said. He added that details of such negotiation should not be celebrated on the pages of newspapers.

Ajayi said government should maintain its policy of not negotiating with terrorists, because doing so would amount to ridiculing the government and glorifying the terrorists. He said once that is done, the government might as well start negotiating with armed robbers and all manner of criminals in the country.

“The moment representatives of government sit at a round table to negotiate with them, it means the government has recognized them officially. It should never be so; the government is bigger than everybody, including the bunch of idiots called Boko Haram. You don’t ridicule a legitimate government representing 150 million Nigerians, by forcing them to sit down to negotiate with criminals and gangsters,” he argued.

The retired military officer said members of Boko Haram have violated every known law of humanity and did not deserve to be celebrated the way Nigerians are doing indirectly today. He said something is wrong with the way the average Nigerian is reacting to the issue. His words: “Everybody is talking about Goodluck Jonathan, saying bring our girls back, but nobody is condemning the Boko Haram people; nobody is talking about the governor of the state where the girls were abducted.

The outrage of the people is not against Boko Haram and its inhuman conduct, but against the government of Goodluck Jonathan. Boko Haram feels on top of the world now because everybody is abusing the government.”

With this state of affairs, he said Boko Haram is being emboldened to continue killing more innocent Nigerians.

He noted that it is unfortunate that innocent girls who have nothing at stake in the whole crisis and who may actually not know what is going on have been thrown into the epicentre of this crisis.

Col. Joe Achusia, former SecretaryGeneral of Ohanaeze Ndigbo “There should be no negotiation whatsoever between the Federal Government and the leaders of Boko Haram for the release of the school girls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State exactly a month ago.” He asked rhetorically: “What would be the basis of such negotiation? Is government going to exchange the over 200 girls abducted for the 2,000 or 3,000 detained Boko Haram suspects? If this is done, what stops them from kidnapping more girls?”

To tackle terrorists like the Boko Haram insurgents, Achusia said the military must go all out against them and defeat them in battle. “That is

By Raymond Mordi, Leke Salaudeen, Musa Odoshimokhe and Osagie Otabor, Benin

the only way to deal with such insurgents,” he said, adding: “I sympathise with the families of the kidnapped girls. If I were the one, I would not have a single night’s sleep until my daughter is back. One can only pray that the security agencies would find a way of getting them back safely, without doing battle with the insurgents.”

Afenifere chieftain Supo Shonibare There is no basis for negotiating with Boko Haram.

“The situation with the issue of dialogue with or engaging Boko Haram is difficult to even begin to contemplate because their demands cannot be linked to any deprivation of rights issue or that of self-determination. It’s a demand for a nonsecular state which is unacceptable to most Nigerians.

“To however appease a group of insurgents without identifiable local support base, professing religious ideology with overtly devious intent or to release operatives of this sect in detention to increase the ranks of these insurgents does not appear to be a strategically appropriate approach particularly now that the international community is also involved in the rescue operations. I am sure that the international community will also assist in the remodelling of the security architecture to generally contain terrorism in our country”.

Student activist, Edwin Chukwuma The government should negotiate with the insurgents and get the girls released as soon as possible.

Ordinarily, I will say the Federal Government should not negotiate with Boko Haram because they are criminals that have unleashed terror on innocent citizens. What one would have suggested is total war against Boko Haram sect. But the situation in which we are today calls for caution. With over 200 school girls still languishing in their den,

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government has to consider the trauma these girls are undergoing and the plight of their parents in the past one month when their children were snatched by negotiating for the release of the girls. If the government fails to act in time, Boko Haram may be ruthless.

Negotiating with them may sound funny but it appears we don’t have choice because of human lives that are involved. We need to secure the lives of these girls by getting them released and handed over to their parents.

University teacher,Dr Tunde Omodara He has mixed feelings about the matter. He is fully in support of negotiation with the insurgents for the sake of the girls who are innocent and being made to suffer for what they did not cause. This position is also informed by the state of minds of their parents who are in trauma over the abduction of their daughters.

On the other hand, Omodara said the government should not have anything to do with the criminals that have killed a lot of Nigerians, bombed churches and mosques. He said government should declare war on them, capture them alive and make them face the full weight of law for the crimes they have committed.

Southwest Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, Chief Ishola Filani A situation where these people want to hold government to ransom should not be accepted. That is why I am supporting that there should be no negotiation with them. How are we sure that these girls would be handed over to the authorities, when they secure the release of their prisoners. Are they reliable? These are wicked people who are detained or put in prison because they committed crimes. Why should you exchange people with criminal records with innocent children? These are children who did not commit any crime in whatever form. So, why are you asking government to free criminals for innocent children? Does this make any sense? My argument is that

we should put in more efforts in terms of the assistant being rendered by the international community.

There is no guarantee that if these girls are exchanged for them, they would reneged from the agreement.

Former presidential candidate of the National Action Council, Dr. Olapade Agoro The Federal Government has the choice of making a fool of itself by negotiating with fools, criminals and unguarded rogues. These are people who do not hold sacred the fundamental human rights and value. If the Federal Government is out to negotiate with the faceless criminals, then we should accept that the Federal Government is also a criminal.

How can the government negotiate with those who have killed innocent citizens and traumatised little children? I don’t know why they would want to negotiate with them. We should go all out and fight them. As a good nation, we should make a point by going all out for these criminals. If Barrak Obama would not negotiate with Osama Bin Laden and he deployed all arsenals at his disposal to haunt him down, what stop us from towing similar line? It is a weak government that goes all the way out to negotiate with criminals.

What will happen to the families of thousands of Nigerians that have been killed by these criminals? It is only someone without conscience that will negotiate with these criminals. We were told once that the government extended the olive branch through a committee headed by a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, but they refused to come out. They rather took to further commission of crimes by abducting these innocent school girls.

Now you are saying you want to negotiate with them, let them negotiate with them and we will know who will pay the price. I have never known any reasonable government that had gone to negotiate with criminals. If I had become the President of this nation I don’t think will negotiate this with anybody. I don’t believe any reasonable person will go and negotiate these faceless crim-

Jonathan lauds UK, U.S., others

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday reiterated Nigeria’s appreciation of the support being given by Britain and other countries towards locating and rescuing the girls abducted from Chibok.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the president made the remark during his meeting with British Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

According to him, the Federal Government will also welcome international support for its plans for the socio-economic rehabilitation of the Northeastern states after the Boko Haram insurgency has been substantially curtailed.

He said he looked forward to meeting the Heads of State and Government of Benin Republic, Chad, Niger and Cameroon on Saturday in Paris for talks on how Nigeria and their countries could strengthen and intensify collaboration against Boko Haram and other criminal organisations.

He said: “If we all collaborate more, it will be easier to eradicate Boko Haram and terrorism.”

Simmonds reassured Dr. Jonathan of Britain’s commitment to giving Nigeria all required assistance to find and safely rescue the abducted girls.

He said: “We are keen to support Nigeria in every possible way and help you overcome present challenges.”

Also yesterday, the President received solidarity calls from the Prime Minister of Algeria, Abdelmallek Sallel and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan.

They both expressed their willingness to share their counter-terrorism experiences with Nigeria and support the ongoing search and rescue operations in any possible way.

The President also received the United Nation’s Secretary-General’s Representative in West Africa, Ambassador Saidi Jinit.

He told Ambassador Jinit that the Federal Government would welcome help from the United Nations for the coordination of a planned victims support programme and a Victims Support Fund.

•Dr. Jonathan

inals.

Benin philanthropist, Hon. Jeffery Edorodion The Federal Government should negotiate with the dreaded Boko Haram Islamic sect to secure the release of the abducted girls.

Jeffery said the lives of the abducted students were more important than 10,000 Boko Haram members at detention centres.

Jeffery said the Federal Government should take steps towards securing the release of the girls even if it meant releasing detained Boko Haram members.

He said other countries including United States of America do negotiate to free their citizens and Nigeria should not be an exemption.

According to him, The Federal Government have to negotiate with Boko Haram because those girls are more important than 10,000 Boko Haram members.

“If there is room for negotiation, the Federal Government has to go into the process. The West do negotiate with terrorists. Why wouldn’t Nigeria negotiate with terrorists but they have to do it with caution.

Renowned security expert Dr. Ona Ekhomu The Federal Government must maintain healthy skepticism over the offer of dialogue made by the Boko Haram terrorist organization.

He said that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau did not have a track record of honesty and had previously used deception in running terror campaigns against innocent citizens and could therefore not be trusted to keep his promise to release the abducted school girls if Boko Haram detainees were released by the Federal Government.

Ekhomu said that Shekau had promised in the past not to attack school children, explaining that that was why schools were torched at night time. However, the terrorists in a volte-face have consistently attacked and killed school children, changing recently to a new tactic of kidnapping school girls.

On the video released by Boko Haram showing some of the school girls, President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON), Ekhomu said that it was sad that innocent little girls were being used as pawns in the terrorist game plan. He said that the girls should be released without conditions. He urged the terrorists to let the girls go as a sign of good faith in order to enable negotiations begin. He said that it is apparent that the Federal Government is anxious to bring the terrorists attacks to a halt through a negotiated settlement.

Ekhomu, who is the first chartered security professional in West Africa praised the United States government for promptly sharing satellite intelligence with the Nigerian Military, and commencing manned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights. He also praised the British government for providing security resources for search of the missing girls. He urged the Nigerian government “to stay the course as the high-tech investigative help from the foreign partners are likely to lead to a quick resolution of the abduction saga”.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

NEWS

CHIBOK GIRLS’ ABDUCTION ‘Shekau has no right to kidnap girls’

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S the world intensifies campaigns for the release of over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State, by the Boko Haram sect, an Indian child rights and antitrafficking activist, Sunitha Krishnan, has said the sect’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, has no right to abduct the innocent girls.

Krishnan, who has dedicated her life to rescuing women and children from sex slavery, called for the immediate release of the girls.

Moved by the plight of the schoolgirls in the captivity of the terror sect, the activist sent an email to our correspondent with an open letter addressed to Shekau.

Titled: An open letter to chief of Boko Haram, Krishnan expressed deep-seated grief over the girls’ predicament.

She said: “I am deeply anguished by the kidnap of schoolgirls by Boko Haram. Attached is an open letter I have written to Abubakar Shekau. I have also written to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), offering myself to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the girls.”

In the letter, which begins with the Indian word “Namaste!” meaning “I bow before the goodness in you,” Krishna described the girls’ abduction as “inhu-

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By Evelyn Osagie, Senior Correspondent

man” and “oppressive”.

According to her, anybody involved in such an act “has no moral right to preach anything”.

The activist described Shekau as “passionate” and a man of “conviction”, but condemned his method to actualise his convictions.

Krishna added that “nothing can justify mindless violence and force” the sect leader has been perpetrating.

She said: “What is the logic in kidnapping 272 girls and keeping them in captivity and threatening to sell them as sex slaves?

No matter how right your thoughts are, but if your actions are wrong.....then you also will become ‘wrong’. “…Children or other human beings are not playthings …that you do anything that catches your fancy with... Using violent methods, kidnap, forcing human beings to follow another religion under duress cannot bring any change in the world.

“You have no right to kidnap those girls; definitely, no rights whatsoever to blackmail anybody so that they are forced to release your colleagues. Do you have any idea what it is to a woman to be violated …again and again? Believe me, Allah will never forgive you even for a having a thought of that nature…”

CAN to pray for girls

HE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) will tomorrow hold a national prayer and fasting summit for the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

The summit takes place at the Ecumenical Prayer Centre, Abuja, at 11am.

CAN National President Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor said the summit became necessary because of the insecurity posed by the Boko Haram insurgency, especially the abduction of over 200 pupils of the Government Girls’ Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.

Oritsejafor, who spoke on phone yesterday with our correspondent, explained that the prayer summit is meant to create a spiritual platform for Christians across the country to seek

By Sunday Oguntola

God’s mercy in unity and faith.

The CAN president directed state chairmen to hold a similar summit in their domains.

He said: “More than ever before, Nigeria needs prayers at this time. Many pressure groups have staged protests to demand the return of our abducted daughters. But beyond this, we need to pray fervently because, as the Bible says, ‘we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers’.

“Our prayers are to seek divine intervention for the safe return of our girls and for God to heal our land – Nigeria.”

Global lawyers condemn girls’ abduction

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By Justice Ilevbare

HE Nigerian Society of International Law on Tuesday joined the world in condemning the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State.

The Boko Haram had on April 14 abducted the schoolgirls in their hostels at Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

The society in a statement signed by its President; Prof. Oluwole Agbede and Secretary General; Dr. Rufus Olaoluwa, described the girls abduction as “barbaric, callous and palpable crudity.”

NSIL said, “It is disheartening that ‘a barbaric’ group who detested western education would go about with the products of western education to commit criminal and terrorist acts. This group uses video, internet, guns, bombs, vehicles, phones just to mention a few of the gadgets which belong to the western education which they detest “.

“The threat by the sect leader, Abubakar Shekarau, to sell the girls into sexual slavery is a brazen insensitivity to inform feelings and public outcry.”

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Minister, others seek action against insurgency

HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof.

Viola Onwuliri, led yesterday scores of other women for a global action against terrorism and support for Federal Government’s rescue of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in Chibuk, Borno State, on April 14.

Onwuliri spoke yesterday at a prayer and fasting session on the premises of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education (AIFCE), Owerri, the Imo State capital.

The session had the theme: For Our Daughters We Pray.

The minister noted that Nige-

By Bola Olajuwon

ria had gone through multiple challenges but survived them.

She hoped the Chibok saga would be surmounted.

Prof Onwuliri noted that though Nigeria did not pray for any challenge, going through them had made the nation stronger.

She said: “Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has led to thousands of deaths. The abduction of the girls has once again exposed the evil works of Boko Haram. Today, we are facing the equivalent of an extraterrestrial invasion.”

•Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR), in solidarity with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, led by its founder, Amina Oyagbola (siting third left), calling for the release of the abducted Chibok, Borno State, schoolgirls in Lagos...yesterday

Aliyu: our pact with global community shouldn't exceed three months

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HE chairman of the Northern States' Governors' Forum (NSGF) and Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu has said the agreement between the Federal Government and the international community on the search for the over 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls should not exceed three months.

Aliyu spoke yesterday in Minna, the state capital, on the need for Nigeria to quickly

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

end the abduction saga and move forward.

The governor said he was speaking out because of the apprehension the global assistance was generating in the land.

The United States (U.S), the United Kingdom (UK), France and Belgium have offered to rescue the abducted schoolgirls and render intelligence

support for Nigeria's armed forces.

The Americans are already in the country.

Aliyu said: "It is a normal thing for the country to seek assistance in the fight against insurgency, but people are apprehensive. We must be careful about the wordings of the agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding (moU) to be signed."

The governor regretted that Nigeria, hitherto seen "as a

peace keeper", was seeking the assistance of the international community to maintain peace within its territory.

He urged Nigerians to support the Federal Government in the efforts to restore peace in parts of the country.

Aliyu restated his belief that with the support of the international community and cooperation among Nigerians, insurgency will end in all parts of the country within three months.

Boko Haram is assault on Nigerians’ psyche, says NGO

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NON-governmental organisation (NGO), the Yellow Jerry Can Foundation (YJCF), has said the Boko Haram sect is an assault on the psyche of Nigerians.

It, however, said the activities of the sect, especially its abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, should not stop the celebration of this year’s Children’s Day. YJCF’s founder Adaora Onyechere spoke yesterday in Abuja on the activities of the violent sect.

She noted that Boko Haram

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From Dele Anofi and Faith Yahaya, Abuja

was attacking the psychology of Nigerians but should not be allowed to win its war against the nation.

According to her, the Children’s Day celebration should be an opportunity for Nigeria to further focus global attention on Nigerian children and the need for tighter security for them.

Onyechere said YJCF will mark the day with the children on May 23, despite the Boko Haram challenge.

The group is supported by the

National Assembly, DAAR Communication Plc, the Department of State Security (DSS), CNN Freedom Project, the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) and the Nigerian Children Ambassador.

The theme of the event is: For Love Sake and In Remembrance.

Onyechere said: “Children are tools for national development; that is why the sad situation of the missing over 200 girls should not be about them alone. It’s about the security of the children.

Aregbesola calls for intercession

SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has urged religious groups in the state to continuously pray for the safety and unconditional release of the abducted pupils of the Government Girls’ Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.

The governor spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Community Forum, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, at a special service organised to pray for the state and Nigeria.

The event was held at Everlasting Rock Ministry Church, Ibokun, Obokun Local Government Area.

Aregbesola said the girls needed the nation’s prayers as the search for their abductors becomes a global issue.

The governor noted that bombings, killings and kidnapping of innocent people by Boko Haran insurgents should not be seen from a religious angle but as a grave act of inhumanity against mankind.

He said the kidnap of the innocent schoolgirls was a revolt against the nation’s socio-political order.

Aregbesola described terrorism

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

as a menace that does not resolve matters but causes destruction.

According to him, terrorism always sends bad signals to investors and cripples economic activities.

The governor stressed that the fight against terrorism should be fought without religious sentiment.

He said: “Islam is a religious of love and peace, meaning that the activities of Boko Haram are beyond religion. Rather, their target is to use all means to destabilise this country. This is the more reason we must pray fervently and without ceasing for the unconditional release of these girls, not only in places of worships but also in our homes so that they can be reunited with their families, who have been in sorrow since the unfortunate incident happened.

“We must continue to pray until these girls are released and Boko Haram insurgency becomes a thing of the past.

“I’m also calling on the people

to be more vigilant and report any suspicious movement or object to security agencies.

“I urge parents to warn their children against being used by any politician to cause trouble in the state in the name of ambition. I also want to warn the people against selling their voters’ cards to desperate politicians.”

Also, the Osun State chapter of the Women for Change Development Initiative announced a seven-day fast for the release of the abducted Chibok girls.

The group’s state Coordinator Mrs. Remi Wilson said consistent call for the release of the girls should be sustained till they are released.

In a statement in Osogbo, the state capital, the activist said the fasting and prayer sessions would be interdenominational to seek God’s mercy for the safe return of the abducted girls.

She said: “There have been street processions by various organisations. We will not get tired in using the power of prayers on this issue that is of concern to true mothers. We have also charged our members to include intercession against ignorance in

“Their abduction and other attacks by the insurgent group were meant to keep us in perpetual fear.

“We cannot pretend that if this and other insurgent groups were not stopped in their dastardly activities, then the whole of humanity is threatened.

“Nigeria should not waste the opportunity of this year’s Children’s Day celebration to go by without ensuring that the plight of the Nigerian children becomes a priority for the Federal Government as well as state and local governments.”

•Aregbesola

Nigeria.

“It is no longer proper to describe the insurgents as Muslims because they have been engaging in acts of terrorism against defenceless citizens. It could only have been ignorance for a group calling itself ‘Boko Haram’, using social media and advanced technology to further the cause of terrorism against future mothers.

“We will include in our prayers that God himself should liberate these insurgents for them to see that what they are doing is, evil.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

8

NEWS

Northern Senators vow to vote against extension of emergency rule

Nyanya bombing suspect Sadiq Ogwuche arrested in Sudan

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MINU Sadiq Ogwuche, who was on Monday declared wanted by the Department of State Security,(DSS) in connection with the Nyanya, Abuja bombing was yesterday arrested in Sudan.

The arrest came after the National Bureau of the Interpol based at the Nigerian Police Force Headquarters issued an international red alert for the search and arrest of terror fugitive.

This was announced yesterday in Abuja at the National Briefing Centre, located at headquarters of the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

The coordinator of the national briefing centre, Director General of NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri, said Ogwuche was arrested in Sudan.

•Ogwuche From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

“Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche who was earlier declared wanted has been arrested in Sudan with the efforts of the Army, DSS, the National Bureau of the Interpol based at the Nigerian Police Force Headquarters and security operatives of Sudan,” Omeri said.

He further stated that the security operatives are already working to ensure his extradition back to Nigeria from where he was arrested.

He promised to provide more information on his arrest as soon as possible.

Conference committee receives 31 requests for state creation

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HE National Conference committee on Political restructuring and Forms of Government has received 31 demands for state creation, it was learnt yesterday.

The requests, it was gathered, came from the six geo-political zones.

The committee which kicked off deliberation on the number of states to be created yesterday unanimously agreed that there is need for state creation.

Some committee members believed that some of the requests deserved to be given attention.

The requests included Oduduwa State, Aba State, Orimili State, Ijebu State, Adada state, Yemen state, Amana State, Apa State,

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Dele Anofi,Abuja

New Delta State, Okun State, Anioma State and Savannah sSate.

Others were requests for Edu State, Lagoon State, South Plateau State, Confluence State, Etiti State, Anim State, Njaba state, Savannah state Oke-Ogun state and Toru-Ebe state, New Oyo state, Hadejia State, Ose State, Ogoja State, Okura state, Ugwuaku state, Ghari State, Sombreiro and Old Calabar State.

The committee also received one change of name from Adamawa State which demanded that the name should be changed to Gongola State.

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HE Northern Senators Forum (NSF) yesterday vowed to vote against the request by President Goodluck Jonathan to extend emergency rule in three Yobe, Adamawa and Borno states.

Chairman of the NSF, Senator Umaru Dahiru (Sokoto South) told reporters after an over three house meeting by the lawmakers, that it was glaring that extension of the statement of emergency is not the best way to fight the Boko Haram insurgents in the area.

Dahiru said: “If you notice, we had a meeting this afternoon and basically the issue of state of emergency is one of things that we discussed. We discussed it thoroughly, the pros and cons because majority of us were here to make their own contributions and a lot has been said.

“This time around, if you discover in the past a request was made and it was approved the way it came. This time around there is a rethink. The majority position, which we have agreed upon, is that we are not going with the state of emergency.

“Categorically, that is our position. We are not convinced that it is only the issue of state of emergency that the security personnel can only be able to achieve.

“We believe that more needs to be done and there are things that need to be addressed to conquer this issue of insurgency and what have you. So, if I am to go by your question, our own position is that we are not going to support extension of emergency rule.

“Let me develop it further. Our

Reps divided over emergency rule extension

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HE House of Representative was sharply divided yesterday over President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for an extension of the State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

Yobe and Borno lawmakers rejected the request, saying the two states were better off when there was no state of emergency than when soldiers moved in.

The House could not finish its debate on the issue as many lawmakers could not make their contributions yesterday.

Speaker of the House, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal said voting on the issue would hold today, but that it would be after the House has been briefed by the Service Chiefs on the abducted girls in Chibok, Borno State and the situation in the states under emergency rule.

Leader of the Borno caucus in the House, Hon. Mohammed Mungunu, said all lawmakers from Borno and the citizens of the state were tired of the State of emergency because it was not effective.

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

meeting is not stopping here. We are going to engage the three governors, that is, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. We are going to engage then too.

“We want to know what went wrong, if there is anything for us to do to adjust. We are going by our own assumptions and suggestions. If you can see the leadership of these three given states and say more about it.”

On whether the Northern Senators would vote against the extension of emergency rule in the Senate when the request is being considered, he said: “Of

From Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja

“Over the last one year that emergency rule has been in Borno, were all living witnesses to the fact that emergency rule has failed to work.

Why? Because the military doesn’t have the fire power to withstand the Boko Haram Insurgents.”

Goni Lawal ( Yobe) said: “We’re almost a year under the state of emergency, but it is increasing the attacks.”

He gave a chronicle of fatalities under emergency rule, saying the state had a better deal before the state of emergency was imposed.

“What are they achieving? We don’t want it, We don’t like it.”

Minority leader of the House and All Progressives Congress (APC) Caucus leader, Femi Gbajabiamila said it was important to do a tabulation of the period before and after the emergency rule was imposed on the three states and come up with the figure of attacks and casualties to enable members decide if the emergence rule extension is necessary.

course, I don’t know if you have read the constitution. The Constitution requires two-third majority in terms of voting and of course there must be voting. If we can be outwitted in the voting, fine.

“But as far as we are concerned our position is that we are going to vote against it. And of course this technically speaking when you read the Constitution in section 304(6), it prescribes how a state of emergency should be proclaimed and our own position is that we are saying no and obviously we are going to stand by it.”

The lawmaker representing

Sokoto South said the way out of the logjam would be made known after the committee set up by the forum submits its report and its recommendations conveyed to the Federal Government.

He commended the efforts of the military in the fight against the insurgency and pledged the support of the NSF to ensure their success.

He also expressed support for the decision of foreign powers to assist the country to rescue the over 200 school girls abducted by the Boko Haram sect but maintained that such support must be on the terms to be set by the Federal Government.

JAMB: there’s adequate security for our May 17 examination

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HE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) have concluded arrangements for the smooth conduct of Computer Based Test (CBT) in the 2014 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB, Prof ‘Dibu Ojerinde, said adequate security deal has been put in place to avoid crisis Ojerinde said the May 17 date was sacrosanct, urging candidates to prepare well for the examination.

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From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

According to a statement by JAMB’s spokesman, Fabian Gabriel, the JAMB boss said the Computer Based Test eliminates examination malpractice and enhance prompt release of scores two hours after the examination.

He said the examination would run between May 17 and 31. He advised the candidates to reprint their e-slip in the event they missed or misplaced their schedules.

Lafarge pledges to support Nigerian mega-city plan

AFARGE Nigeria has pledged to support Nigeria’s mega city plans.

Country Organisation and Human Resources Director, Lafarge Nigeria, Mrs. Fidelia Osime, spoke at the launch of the United Nation-Habitat State of the World Cities Report (SMCR) in Caleb University, Imota Lagos.

She said Lafarge has a very strong commitment to Nigeria which explains why the company has grown from 3 million metric tones in 2008 to 8.5 million metric tones in 2012 with an investment of 1 billion Euros.

She affirmed that Lafarge would double its capacity in the next three to four years as indicated by the recent ground breaking ceremony

of additional 3 million tones capacity line in AshakaCem. Osime said the report was aimed at providing the most authoritative and up-to-date assessment of conditions and trends in the world’s cities and other human settlements as well as raising global awareness on human settlements issues.

It is an in-depth comparative study carried out on more than 50 cities in the world, covering over 40 nations.

She said: “Those of us who are conversant with Lafarge and our values would therefore not be surprised at our ongoing association with organizations and institutions that are concerned about living conditions and trends, and sponsorship of today’s programme.”

President Goodluck Jonathan welcoming British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Andrew Pocock (left) during the visit of a British delegation to the Presidential Villa in Abuja...yesterday. With them is British Minister of State for Africa, Mr Mark Simmonds.

PHOTO:NAN

We ‘ll obey court judgment on Southwest PDP , says Metuh

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HE National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, has said the party will respect the court judgment restraining it from appointing a new caretaker committee in the Southwest until a valid congress is held.

Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Lagos had on Monday held that the current members of the caretaker committee in the South West be recognised by the PDP as the valid officers of the party in the zone, saying: “I hold that the plaintiffs can remain in office

until a valid congress is held.”

Metuh said: “The PDP is a law-abiding party and as a result of that will obey the court judgment.”

He, however, added that the party would follow up to ensure that the zonal congress was organised as soon as possible in accordance with the tone of the judgment.

Speaking on what had delayed the congress, the PDP’s spokesman said it had to do with logistics, noting that the party was prepared to hold the congress as soon as possible.

“The working committee met today (Wednesday) and this matter was one of the

issues discussed. We want to hasten the process of holding the congress. The committees responsible for this are already working on it.”

Asked if a date had been fixed for the congress, Metuh said: “No date has been fixed yet for the congress. The only thing I can say is that the congress will be held very soon.”

The Caretaker Committee members of the PDP in the South West had approached the court to restrain the national headquarters of the party from appointing new people as caretaker committee members in the zone claiming that they

resigned as members of the caretaker committee to enable them contest election at the congress which was slated for August 24, 2013.

The plaintiffs claimed that the national headquarters of the PDP, believing that an Ekiti State High Court had given an order stopping the congress, cancelled the congress only to later find out there was no such order.

The plaintiffs claimed that since it was the party that cancelled the already scheduled congress, they ought to be allowed to continue in office till a valid congress was held.

THE NATION THURSDAY MAY 15, 2014

9

NEWS

Why we introduced same uniform, by Aregbesola

Work begins on Ikere-Ondo boundary road

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• Ayodele Abeeblahi is Osun literary champion

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ASTER Ayodele Abeeblahi of Osogbo Grammar School has emerged the first Secondary School Literary Champion in Osun State.

Abeeblahi won the grand finale of the school debate on leadership, organised by the Omoluabi Support Group and Oranmiyan Worldwide.

The event was held at the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo, the state capital, on Tuesday.

The debate turned out to be an assessment of the education reforms of the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration.

The performance of the pupils triggered commendation and was described as “a reflection of the administration’s investment in education”.

Abeeblahi will spend May 26 with the governor.

Jacob Mary of Apara Memorial College, Kajola, came second.

Aregbesola was excited by the pupils’ performance.

He said they had justified the government’s investment in education in three-and-a half years.

Aregbesola said: “I am impressed and excited that despite the wrecked education by the previous administration, these pupils can still come out with brilliant ideas.

I am very proud because it is obvious that they can compete with any student in the world.

“This was our vision for the state; to build a better future for the younger generations.

If we refuse to do this, it means we have failed and are doomed. Some people, many years back, provided this opportunity for us and we are duty-bound to provide such opportunity for incoming generations.

“We started the reform in 2012 and we are proud of the result we are getting. That is why I wonder that some people still criticise our school uniform policy, thinking it is the only aspect of our reform.

In the 60’s, the whole of the Southwest and Delta were using the same uniform before

the missions introduced different uniforms.

“In Benin Republic, very close to us here, they use the same uniform, Khaki, across the country. We introduced it to grow our economy and make us self-sustainable. A state that cannot survive independently is doomed.”

He thanked Omoluabi Group members, who are public office holders in Lagos State, for their support since 2005 till date.

Aregbesola said his administration would continue to improve education.

His deputy, Mrs. Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, who doubles as the Commissioner for Education, said education has been overhauled by the Aregbesola administration. “It is a complete departure from the old trend of redundancy and mass failure”, she said.

Chairman of Oranmiyan Worldwide Prince Felix Awofisayo, who spoke for the organisers, said the Osun school reforms had become a model in Africa and Europe.

Awofisayo was represented

•Aregbesola

by Dr. Yemi Adegoke.

The Chairman of the occasion, Ambassador Olu Otunla, said leadership requires preparation, vision and political will to address the problems confronting the people, adding that such traits must be learnt from a tender age.

Otunla said Aregbesola has built a knowledge-based federated unit through his administration’s huge investment in education, urging pupils to take advantage of the reforms.

In attendance were House of Assembly Deputy Speaker Adegboye Akintunde; the governor’s wife, Alhaja Serifat; Mr. Ipoola Omisore and Mr. Muyiwa Jimoh of the Lagos State House of Assembly, among others.

Lagos No-Smoking Law enforcement begins Aug. 17

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HE Lagos State NoSmoking Law is not to infringe on smokers’ rights, but to protect nonsmokers’ rights, the Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) has said.

Enforcement of the law begins on August 17.

At an advocacy and sensitisation campaign/ stakeholders’ meeting on the law yesterday, LASEPA General Manager/Chief Executive Officer Rasheed Shabi said: “Smokers have the right to smoke! Non-smokers too have a right not to be impacted by the smoke from the cigarettes in their personal space.

“Vulnerable groups, such as children and senior citizens, also have the right to be protected, whilst everyone has the basic right to clear air. Our society has to find a balance to the delicate inter-relationships between all groups involved, such

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By Adedeji Ademigbuji

that no person’s right is violated. This is the essence of the non-smoking law in public places.”

Shabi said enforcement would begin on August 17, six months after the law was made, adding: “We have heard many complaints that law enforcement agencies are already arresting offenders. Please, note that enforcement of this law becomes effective from August 17. The bill was signed into law on February 17 and it takes six months before it can become enforceable. The main implementing agency for this law is LASEPA.” The representative of the British American Tobacco, Nigeria, Mr. Sola Dosunmu, said the law is balanced and respects choices.

He hailed the government for giving six months grace before enforcement, adding:

“We have studied the law and particularly like the fact that it is balanced and respects choices. There are key facts about the public place smoking law which we want to highlight. Section 1 clearly defines public places to exclude streets, roads, highways, etc.

“Section 2 states that from the commencement of the law, no person shall smoke in public places listed in schedule one, which include crèches; nursery, primary and secondary schools; health institutions and public transportations.”

He said the public awareness by LASEPA would correct misconceptions about the law.

Governor Babatunde Fashola, represented by his Special Adviser on Health, Dr. Yewande Adesina, urged stakeholders to support the government in promoting the law to ensure the well be-

Oil spill: ‘Ilaje people are dying’

BOUT 108 riverside communities in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State have sent a Save Our Soul (SOS) to the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) over the activities of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

The communities said they had been battling strange ailments since the December, 2011, Bonga oil spill.

They said despite SPDC’s assurance that the spillage would not harm residents, people were dying daily.

The SOS, signed by Prince Kumoye Fadiya; Mr. Ilurimi Orimisan and Mr. Sehinde Akinbami, reads: “It is part of the admission of Shell that it deployed ships and air planes to spray dispersant on the oil spilled to sinking it in the sea. Though Shell claimed that the spill did not get to the shoreline of coastal villages, the dispersants and

From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

other chemicals dispensed from the plane were carried by the air, which, no doubt, affected the vegetation and people living in coastal villages.

“We are informing your agency/office that after the said spill and the attempted remedial measure, strange ailments have surfaced in the coastal communities. These strange ailments are prevalent among children. When they fall sick, it is impossible for the health centres in the villages to treat them and they are referred to specialist or general hospitals several kilometres away at

Igbokoda or Okitipupa.

“The most unfortunate thing is that most of these children die before they get to the hospital. As for the few that make it to the hospitals, when tested, they are found to have blood shortage, cough and other strange ailments.

“We have been hearing in the media of protests by communities in Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states to the House of Representatives over the Bonga oil spill, but in our case, we reported to the Ondo State Ministry of Environment, but nobody seemed to listen.”

The communities are demanding compensation from Shell and relief materials for their people.

Osun Poly resumes Monday

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ORKERS and students of the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, will resume on Monday.

This is contained in a statement by the Registrar, Busari Salawu, who is also the secretary of the institution’s Governing Council.

ing of residents.

Adesina said: “I urge stakeholders to reach out and enlighten your families, friends and associates on the benefits of the law for a cleaner and healthier Lagos.”

HE Ekiti State government has started dualising the IkereOndo boundary road.

Governor Kayode Fayemi said the project was in fulfillment of his promise to Ikere-Ekiti people that the road would be dualised.

He said his administration desires to dualise major roads leading to the state, adding that the designs of the AdoIjan and Ado-Iyin-Igede roads were ready.

Fayemi said the reconstruction of the Ado-Ikere road, which got bad a few months after it was constructed in 2006, is ongoing.

He said: “By virtue of the high cost of the project, coupled with competing priorities for our limited resources, the government

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From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

opted for a contractor-financing method to execute the project. This is a novel method in the provision of critical infrastructure.

Three of our other ongoing road projects are also contractor-financed. This pragmatic approach is being practised in some states under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework.”

Fayemi said the project, which would be completed in 14 months, would boost Ikere’s economy.

The work began at the Ondo State boundary to enable the government compensate people whose buildings would be affected before the construction work gets to Ikere.

Ekiti seals off Chinese firm

HE Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service has sealed off the construction site of a Chinese firm in Ado-Ekiti for an alleged unpaid N71.761 million tax.

Chairman of the agency Mr. Isola Akingbade, who led an enforcement team to the site, said Hongye Ampic Concept Ltd failed to comply with the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) of 2006.

Akingbade said the agency obtained a court order to seal off the site before doing so.

He condemned what he called the nonchalance of many foreign contractors to

tax payment, an attitude he said was not acceptable in their home countries. Warning that the government would not tolerate tax evasion, Akingbade said it was sad that a company whose fleet of heavy duty trucks “enormously contribute to the short lifespan and incessant damage of roads that were constructed with taxpayers’ money, was evading tax.”

He urged individuals and organisations to pay their taxes to enable the government fulfil its obligations to them.

Agents of the company declined to speak to reporters.

THE NATION THURSDAY MAY 15, 2014

10

NEWS EKITI 2014

Candidates boycott dialogue with women From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

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•Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi acknowledging cheers during sensitisation of teachers on the State Educational Programme Investment Project (SEPIP) in Ado-Ekiti...yesterday.

Non-indigenes pledge support as Fayemi takes campaign to Ikole N ON-indigenes resident in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State have pledged their support for Governor Kayode Fayemi in the June 21 governorship election.

The ethnic nationalities, including the Tiv, Idoma, Igede and Ebira who turned out for the All Progressives Congress (APC) rallies held in Oke-Ako, Irele and Ipao communities yesterday, said they had benefited immensely from the Fayemi administration.

They said Fayemi’s construction of roads in rural communities contributed “immensely” to the conveying of farm produce to the urban areas.

The campaign train took Fayemi to Ayebode, Odo-

•Organisation urges voters to collect PVCs Ayedun, Oke-Ayedun, Iyemero, Itapaji and Odo-Oro. A prominent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Oke Ayedun, Mr. Adebisi Ogunsakin, defected to the APC along with his supporters at the rally held in the town.

The governor also received royal blessings from the traditional rulers of the communities who appreciated him for spreading dividends of democracy to their people.

Fayemi said his administration did not neglect any community, nothing that the

APC government has given all communities what is due to them.

These, according to him, include road, payment of monthly stipends to the aged, youth employment, grants to finance projects in rural communities, renovation of schools, payment of special allowances to teachers in rural areas and empowerment of farmers with loans and equipment.

The governor said Ikole Local Government area is one of the councils to be divided into smaller administrative units

when the panel on creation of new councils concludes its assignment.

He urged the electorate to come out en masse to vote for APC on June 21.

Fayemi charged them to guard their votes against “electoral robbers” who, according to him, are desperate to grab power by all means.

Also yesterday, the Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation urged all registered voters in the state who are yet to obtain their permanent voter’s cards to do forwith.

May 21 has been designated as the last day for the collection and transfer of voter’s cards in the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

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is worried over the high number of permanent voter’s cards yet to be collected.

According to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Halilu Pai, only 285,794 of the 635,315 permanent voter’s cards had been collected.

In a statement in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, the spokesperson of the campaign organisation, Mr. Dimeji Daniels, said with the May 21 deadline set by INEC, there were only six days left for those yet to collect their cards to do so if they are willing to vote on June 21.

Last week, INEC said temporary voters’ card would not be allowed on election date.

The campaign organisation urged people to collect their permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) to be able to keep their choice in the June 21 governorship election, Fayemi, in office for the delivery of more dividends of democracy.

LL the 18 candidates in the Ekiti State governorship election yesterday shunned a women’s dialogue organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in AdoEkiti, the state capital.

The forum, held in conjunction with the Women Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON) and supported by the United Nations Development Programme’s Governance for Development Project (DGD), was attended by women from different professional bodies, parties and trade groups.

But the deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Prof.

Modupe Adelabu, was at the event, which was also attended by Erelu Bisi Fayemi.

On behalf of Governor Kayode Fayemi , Prof Adelabu signed a document tagged: “12-Point Agenda,” which listed what was described as “the social contract between the governorship candidates and women of Ekiti State” with WOCON. In a brief remark, Adelabu said: “12-Point Agenda” reflected Fayemi’s achievements on protection of women from rape, victimisation and oppression, promising that “the APC will improve on the gains recorded so far”.

Accord Party (AP), which was represented by a ward executive member from Ikole Local Government, Mrs. Mary Obayemi, explained some of the programmes which the party promised to implement in relation to women empowerment if it secured a win in the election.

Also, a Labour Party (LP) member from ward II in Oye Local Government, Mrs. Modupe Awoseyinla, and a Peoples Democratic Party leader from Moba Local Government, Mrs. Lucia Oluyede, were disallowed from signing the contract on behalf of their respective governorship candidates.

‘Stop making Ikere-Ekiti dumping ground for deputy governors’

COALITION of IkereEkiti indigenes in Ekiti State, the Concerned Ikere Indigenes (CII), has rejected the choice of Dr. Olubunmi Olusola as the deputy governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the June 21 election.

The group described the Mrs. Olushola’s choice as a deliberate policy to degrade the town as a place where no one is qualified to be governor.

In a statement yesterday, the CII claimed that “Ikere-Ekiti had produced two deputy governors for the PDP candidate, Ayodele Fayose, whom he humiliated out of office.

“The impeachment of our illustrious son, Surveyor Abiodun Aluko, was orchestrated by Fayose before he brought in Mr. Adebisi Omoyeni to replace him. Omoyeni himself left Fayose’s government when the former governor was plotting to rubbish him and dent his

impeccable credentials.”

The group claimed that Aluko and Omoyemi “are more qualified than Fayose on grounds of integrity, exposure, education and corporate governance. They were in the race for the 2014 governorship in Ekiti State, but Fayose in cahoots with party national leadership, conspired to deny our illustrious sons the coveted seat only for him to now declare to Ikere-Ekiti people that they don’t deserve to be governor of Ekiti State but a perpetual deputy governor.”

The CII further alleged that Chief Dayo Okondo, who Fayose purportedly deceived for a long time on a promise to make him deputy governor, “is now wrecked in failed health over psychological crisis resulting from the PDP candidate’s deception” after he reportedly used the man for unedifying duties.

“Since the man has been on sick bed, Fayose has not

deemed it fit to visit him while Governor Kayode Fayemi is the one now taking care of Okondo’s health challenges,” the statement added.

Also, the Ikere-Ekiti indigenes accused Fayose’s thugs of turning “their guns against the students of the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, killing scores of them, resulting in the closure of the school with Ikere-Ekiti businesses suffering the brunt of the close down of the college.”

It also asserted that even though it was agreed that the South Senatorial zone should produce the next governor of Ekiti State, “all the aspirants of the party in the zone were rigged out in the primaries only for Fayose to bring in an Ikere-Ekiti indigene who nobody knows at home and who is a political novice to be his running-mate so that he can manipulate her in the governance of the state at will at the detriment of Ekiti people.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

11

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 08023247888

‘Funsho Williams’ phone found on defendant’

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HE handset of the late Funsho Williams was found with one of those standing trial for his alleged murder, a Lagos High Court heard yesterday.

A witness, Abasi Udoe, a retired Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), told Justice Adeniyi Adebajo that the handset was found with Bulama Kolo, the first defendant.

Udoe said his investigations showed that Kolo; the second and third defendants inserted their SIM cards in Williams’ phone.

Led in evidence by a state counsel, Mrs. E.I. Alakija,

By Precious Igbonwelundu, Staff Correspondent

Udoe said call records obtained from GSM service providers, showed that the three defendants used Williams’ phone.

A huge sum of money for campaign, withdrawn by Williams and his valuables, were also stolen, he said.

Udoe said the fourth, fifth and sixth defendantsTunani Sonani, Mustapha Kayode and Okeponwasa, were arrested because they were the late Williams’ security men.

The witness said the blood-stained shirt recovered from the crime scene

Trial of ‘killer cop’ begins today

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HE orderly room trial of Police Sergeant Godwin Otene, who allegedly shot dead a 33-year-old businessman, Oyoma Edewor, last weekend, begins today, it was learnt yesterday.

Otene risks dismissal and prosecution for alleged murder, if found guilty of the offence.

The suspect, who was arrested after his escape by the Area ‘E’ Police Command, was moved to the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, on Tuesday.

Command’s spokesperson Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said investigation into what prompted the policeman to kill Edewor was ongoing.

She said the suspect could not be dismissed without following due process.

Otene was alleged to have abandoned his duty post as station guard at Area ‘E’ Command Headquarters,

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belonged to Imariabie.

He said: “I received a letter in December 2006 and came down to Lagos with a team of six officers. I was authorised by then Commissioner of Police to commence investigations.

“I also visited the crime scene and the forensic department of the police force to check exhibits found at the scene during initial investigations. I discovered that huge sum of money was withdrawn by the deceased for political rally but was stolen along with some jewellery during the incident. I personally arrested the first defendant. He was

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Edewor

Otene.

His family is demanding justice, claiming that Edewor was intentionally killed by Otene.

Yesterday, Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, assured the family that justice would be done.

HE Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) has foiled an attempt on the life of a Lagos socialite, Ade Victor Adelakun, aka Ade Lexus, following a tipoff.

According to a Police Bulletin, Ibrahim Lawal, 27; Yomi Olanrewaju, 25; and Emmanuel Adewale, 25; were caught while plotting to attack the socialite. Their driver, who was identified as Samuel, escaped in a Sienna space bus.

The suspects, who were armed with guns and Adelakun’s picture when they were searched, claimed they were sent by an Ibadanbased businessman.

Luck ran out on them when an informant overheard them plotting how to strike their target.

It was gathered that the suspects had gone to Pekas Night Club, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, to perfect their plot, unaware that an informant was eavesdropping.

After gathering enough information, the informant alerted the officer in charge

Prophetess charged with setting daughter on fire

OLICE operatives in Lagos have arrested a prophetess with the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) in Epe, on the out skirts of Lagos for allegedly setting her nine-year-old daughter on fire.

It was gathered that the cleric, Bose Oluwole, 37, claimed she was trying to deliver her from witchcraft.

It was alleged that she committed the offence on IjebuOde Road in Odomola, Epe. Eye witnesses reported the matter to the police in

By Jude Isiguzo

Epe which rescued the victim, Damilola.

She was reportedly rushed to Epe General Hospital.

Residents alleged that the suspect poured kerosene on Damilola and set her ablaze.

Police sources said during interrogation, the suspect allegedly confessed to the crime, saying she set the girl ablaze in obedience to God’s instruction to cleanse her of demonic spirits.

Agbo from the forensic department to tender some material facts on the case.

Her prayer was granted by Justice Adebajo, who adjourned the matter till May 16.

Kolo, Maina, Cassidy, Sonani, Mustapha Kayode and Imariabie, are standing trial for the alleged murder of Williams’ in his residence in 2006.

They were charged with conspiracy and murder, to which they pleaded not guilty.

The defendants, according to the charge, on or about July 27, 2006, at 34A, Corporation Drive, Dolphin Es-

• The late Williams

tate in Lagos, Ikoyi, conspired to murder Williams.

The offence contravenes Sections 316 and 324 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2003.

Police foil attempt on Lagos socialite’s life

By Jude Isiguzo

FESTAC for “illegal duty” in the Alakija area.

The late Edewor, whose car broke down, while returning to his FESTAC home, had hired a van to tow the vehicle home.

While on the way, three policemen at a checkpoint around Third Gate Bus Stop, were said to have flagged down the towing van but its driver refused to stop.

• The late The policemen forced the driver to stop after a chase. The driver abandoned the van and escaped.

Edewor was allegedly dragged out of his vehicle, asked to sit on the floor and remove his shirt before he was allegedly shot dead by

cautioned along with others and statements obtained from them.”

Mrs. Alakija urged the court to admit the defendants’ statements as exhibits.

Her request was granted.

But, counsel to the defendants, Mr Agbara Okezie, told the court that Kolo told the police that he got the said phone at Computer Village in Ikeja.

He submitted that Imariabie also told the police that he was off-duty on the day of the incident.

Mrs. Alakija prayed the court to issue a witness summon on Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Benneth

In her alleged confessional statement, the suspect said: “I saw in my vision while praying that my daughter is from the witchcraft world. When I prayed to God over it, I received the instruction through Holy Spirit to burn my daughter’s body in order to deliver her from the evil society.”

After investigations, the suspect was charged before an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court in Lagos, on a twocount charge of attempted murder.

The offence, the police prosecutor, Inspector Emmanuel Nwankpoma, said, is punishable under Sections 171 and 228 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.

The defendant pleaded not guilty, but Magistrate C. J. Momodu directed that the matter be transferred to Family Court 2 because of the victim’s age.

The magistrate in charge of the Family Court, Mrs. O. O. Oshin, ordered that the defendant be remanded in Kirikiri Prisons, Lagos, till June 2 for mention.

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• The Chairperson, Iba Local Government Development Area (LCDA), Lagos State, Princess Ramota Adedayo Oseni, presenting the key of a bus donated by the council to representatives of association of market men and women in the area.

‘Go to the night club where Ade Lexus hangs out and kill him there. If you don’t see him at the night club, go to his house and get the job done’

By Precious Igbonwelundu, Staff Correspondent

of SARS, Abba Kyari, who deployed his team in the night club.

About 1am, according to a source, the SARS team stormed the club and arrested three of the suspects.

One of them escaped.

The source said the suspects got a part payment of N140,000 to execute the job.

SARS operatives, it was learnt, contacted the suspects’ sponsor, who lives in GRA, Ibadan, Oyo State, through one of the suspects’ phone. Without knowing they were in police net, the sponsor allegedly said: “I want that job done today by all means.

Go to the night club where Ade Lexus hangs out and kill him there. If you don’t see him at the night club, go to his house and get the job done.”

The bulletin said: “The instruction given to the assassins was to kill one Ade Victor Adelakun of Ogudu GRA. Consequently, two SARS teams proceeded to

Pekas Night Club, where the suspects were planning their attack and arrested three of them.

“Upon interrogation, the suspects confessed that their sponsor sent them to kill Ade Lexus, his former business partner. N100,000 out of the N140,000 given to the suspects as mobilisation fee has been recovered as well as a picture of the victim.”

The sponsor was said to have escaped when police operatives stormed Ibadan to arrest him.

Adelakun, who said he was dumbfounded and was yet to fathom why the man wanted him dead, praised SARS operatives for acting speedily.

He said the primary suspect was neither his business partner nor friend. “A friend of mine in the United Kingdom was the one that introduced us and I have met with him only on a few occasions. If he had succeeded with the assassination, no one would have suspected him because he does not stay in Lagos, neither do we chat that often,” he said.

Adelakun added: “He told me to lend him money a while ago for a business project and I turned him down; maybe that is why he got angry. Also, the arrested suspects said their sponsor alleged that I stole his wife; that is not true. I am a happily married man with beautiful children.

“I thank SARS men for this breakthrough. I was surprised to receive a call from the SARS commander that I was the target of an assassination. I did not know the Nigeria Police work in that manner; I am impressed.”

Health group holds training

HEALTH group, LiveWell Initiative (LWI), has begun a three-day health bazaar and training programme with the aim of enlightening Nigerians on how to pay more attention to their health and environment.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the group, Mrs Bisi Bright, a pharmacist, said this year’s edition of the programme is a multi-sectoral international three-in-one event, covering exposition, plenaries and health fair. It is tagged: “Grand Health Bazaar GHB2014”. The programme kicked- off yesterday at The Havillah, Victoria Island,

By Uyoatta Eshiet

Lagos, and will end on Friday. The main theme of the training is: “Sustaining wealth creation through Health-enhanced Africapitalism” The first day of the event had’ Local Content’ as it relates to our health as its main theme. The moderator of one of the sessions was Erelu Abiola Dosunmu, Director, NEPAD Business Group.

She spoke on: “Promoting the Eco-system through power, oil and gas operations.” Other presentations were made by Shell Oil; Department of Petroleum Re-

sources, Swiss Biostadt Limited and General Electric, among others.

Mrs Bright said today’s session would cover trainings on agriculture.

The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina; Mr Kola Masha, Prince Wale Oyekoya, Mr Roger Woodridge and others are expected while the third day will dwell extensively on food and beverages with about ten experts lined up, including Dr Femi Olugbile, former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Lagos.

Bisi said the training is for every Nigerian irrespective of status in the society.

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014 NLNG is one of the biggest success stories in our country. From what I am told, the company has invested $13 billion so far since inception, and has become a pacesetter in terms of revenue generation for the government.

-Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga

CBN, Sanusi against review of Intercontinental Bank’s acquisition by Access Bank T HE Central Bank of Ni geria (CBN) and its suspended Governor, Lamido Sanusi have faulted a suit by some shareholders of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, seeking a review of the process leading to the bank’s acquisition by Access Bank Plc. In separate notices of preliminary objection, the CBN and Sanusi urged the court to dismiss the suit for want of jurisdiction.

The applicants hinged their objection on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to file the suit; that the suit was statute barred and that the plaintiffs have no cause of action against them.

Sanusi, in the objection filed by his lawyer, Sam Kargbo, argued that the suit amounted to an abuse of court process and that it was improperly commenced.

He contended in a supporting affidavit, that the merger and takeover of Interconti-

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

nental Bank by Access Bank was done pursuant to a courtordered merger; that the merger and takeover are lawful and valid since it was done in good fate and in full incompliance with all relevant laws and regulations.

Sanusi stated that his role in relation to the merger was restricted to his ensuring the regulatory oversight functions of the CBN and that he was not involved in the transactions that led to the bank’s takeover by Access.

The CBN argued, in its objection, that the suit was statute barred having been filled outside the time limit allowed for challenging acts of public officers.

It also contended that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the suit by reason of

• Urge court to dismiss suit

the provisions of section 53(1) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) and section 52(1) of the CBN Act, 2007.

Yesterday, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Chris Uche (SAN) told the court that he was served with copies of the notices of preliminary objection filed by Sanusi and CBN earlier before the court sat.

He also acknowledged the service on him, of ?applications for joinder by some individuals seeking to be made parties in the suit.

Uche sought for time to enable him respond to? the pending applications, an application the defendants did not object to.

Trial judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed has adjourned to July 16 for mention and pos-

sible hearing.

The suit instituted by some shareholders of Intercontinental Bank Abdullahi Sani, Adaeze Onwuegbusi and Chijioke Ezeikpe, has Sanusi, the CBN and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as defendants.

It is the plaintiffs’ main contention that the process through which Access Bank acquired Intercontinental Bank, during the banking reform exercise supervised by the CBN under Sanusi, was allegedly untidy and fraudulent.

The plaintiffs, in their originating summons, urged the court to among others, determine, * Whether Sanusi, acting as the Governor of the CBN,

“did not act fraudulently in breach of his public office, against the public interest and contrary to the provisions of Sections 12, 32, 35 and 39 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), “ deliberately undervalue the bank and sold it to his friends in Access Bank when the bank;s Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director, Aigboje Aig-Imoghuede and Herbert Wigwe, were allegedly indebted to Intercontinental Bank, to the tune of N16.2billion, to the knowledge of the 1st defendant (Sanusi). *Whether Sanusi, acting as Governor of CBN did not act fraudulently, in breach of his public office, against the public interest and contrary to the provision of sections 12, 32, 35 and 39 of BOFIA, in taking over Intercontinental Bank and selling same to Access Bank Plc, “notwithstanding that

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• From left: Founder, Praekelt Foundation, Mr Gustav Praekelt; Director, Business Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr Lucas Dada; and Chairman, Open Media Group, Dr Ernest Ndukwe; at the Etisalat Sponsored 2014 Mobile West Africa, held at Four Points , Sheraton Lagos, Victoria Island...yesterday.

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$117.4/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,396.9/troy Sugar -$163/lb MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE -N11.4 trillion JSE -Z5.112trillion NYSE -$10.84 trillion LSE -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -8% Treasury Bills -10.58%(91d) Maximum lending -30% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -1% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $45b FOREX CFA -0.2958 EUR -206.9 £ -242.1 $ -156 ¥ -1.9179 SDR -238 RIYAL -40.472

the facilitator of the said sale/buy-over transaction, Senator Bukola Saraki, was also indebted to Intercontinental Bank Plc, to the tune of N8.9bn, through his companies, Limkers, Dicetrade, Skyview Properties and Joy Petroleum, to the knowledge of the 1st defendant.” *Whether Sanusi did not act fraudulently “in waiving/writing off the sum of 16.2billion owed by the Mr. Aig-Aigboje Imokhuede and Mr. Herbert Wigwe, the MD and Deputy MD of the Access Bank and the sum of N8.9billion owed by Senator Bukola Saraki and other sums so owed, all totaling over N40billion in a bid to enable the said Access Bank to fraudulently purchase Intercontinental Bank at a ridiculous sum of N50bn only, even when the quarterly profit of the said Bank was more than N50bn and which Bank at the material time was worth more than N1trillion, to the detriment of the Plaintiffs as shareholders and investors.”

Presidency laments delayed 2014 budget

HE Presidency yester day lamented the con tinued delay in the passage of 2014 budget.

Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Goodlcuk Jonathan, Information Minister, Labaran Maku, said it is becoming worrisome that almost midway into the year, the Federal Government has no budget in place.

According to him, the distortions in what was transmitted to the National Assembly may work against the budget implementation.

Maku explained that efforts are ongoing to reconcile the

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

grey areas.

He said: “The Minister of Finance briefed us today (yesterday) at the FEC relating to the progress on the budget.

It is very sad that we have almost entered the middle of the year and we don’t have a budget.”

“This indeed is sad that the budget has taken so long in coming and practically we have less than seven months to execute the budget.

“We will do everything possible to reconcile the few differences that emerged in what was transmitted to the government by the National Assembly,” he said.

Nigeria records over N5b total merchandise trade in Q4

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HE value of Nigeria’s external merchandise trade stood at N5, 162.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, it was learnt yesterday.

This was N495.3billion lower than the N5, 658.2 billion recorded in the previous quarter, representing about 8.8 per cent decline.

A statement by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on the quarterly trade statistics report, explained that the observed change was as a result of decline in the value of imports and exports by 19.1 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively from the previous quarter.

The report revealed that the value of imports declined from 2,084.8 billion in the Third Quarter of 2013 to N1, 686.1 billion in the Fourth Quarter of 2013, while the value of exports declined from N3, 573.2 billion to N3, 476.8 billion over the same period.

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

It reads in part: “The resulting trade balance of N1,790.8 billion presented an increase of N302.2 billion, or 20.3 per cent from the preceding quarter. Comparison with the fourth quarter of the previous year revealed that the value of the nation’s total merchandise trade declined by 28.2 per cent, or N2, 022.9 billion. Total trade stood at N21, 261.1billion for the 2013 calendar year, 24.3 per cent, or N6, 810.1billion lower than N28, 071.2 billion recorded for 2012, as a result of a decline in exports by 36.5 per cent.

“The crude oil component of total exports stood at N2, 981.7 billion for the Fourth Quarter, while the non-crude oil accounted for N495.2billion. The value of Nigeria’s imports amounted to N1, 686.1billion in the Fourth Quarter of 2013. This represents a decline of

N398.7billion or 19.1 per cent from the N2, 084.8billion recorded against the Third Quarter of 2013.

Year-on-year, the value of imports were N393.2 billion or 30.4 per cent greater than the value recorded for the corresponding quarter of 2012. According to the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC), compared to the Third Quarter of 2013, the decline in imports can be attributed to the fall in the value of imports of “Beverages and Tobacco” by N202.1billion or 93.8 per cent, and a N25.0billion or 56.7 per cent decline in the value of “Crude Inedible Materials.”

“When classified by Section, “Boilers, Machinery and Appliances” accounted for the largest share of imports, with N355.9 billion, or 21.1 per cent of total imports.”

Other significant imports to Nigeria during the period

included vehicles, aircraft and parts thereof, with N293.6 billion, or 17.4 per cent and “mineral products” with N230.3 billion or 13.7 per cent of the total import bill.

Imports categorized by Broad Economic Category show that “Industrial supplies” contributed the largest percentage to imports, accounting for N464.7 billion or 27.6% of the total imports.

“Capital goods” and “Food and Beverages” follow, with N426.1 billion or 25.3%, and N269.1billion or 16.0%, of the total imports respectively summarizing imports by region shows that the greatest value of imports to Nigeria in the fourth quarter of 2013 came from Asia, with N746.9 billion or 44.3% of total imports.

“This was followed by Europe with N554.6 billion (32.9%), The Americas with N267.3 billion (15.9%), Africa with N102.8 billion (6.1%)

and Oceania with N14.4 billion (0.9%). ECOWAS contributed N48.0 billion, or 46.7% of the total imports from the Africa region. The individual countries with the five greatest import values are China, United States, South Korea, Netherlands and India, with Nigeria consuming N374.1billion, N185.1billion, N122.5 billion, N95.7 billion and N90.7 billion of goods respectively.

The total imports for the 2013 calendar year amounted to N7, 015.8billion, N1, 390.9 billion or 24.7% greater than the cumulative total for 2012.”

On the exports classified by Standard International Trade Classification and country of destination, NBS said the value of Nigeria’s exports stood at N3, 476.8 billion in the Fourth Quarter of 2013, a moderate decline of N96.5 billion or 2.7% from N3, 573.4 billion recorded in the previous quarter.

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COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

FROM OTHER LANDS

AMCON and Mainstreet Bank sale • Friday deadline raises pertinent questions of due diligence and fairplay ARRING any change of mind, the deadline set by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) for prospective investors in Mainstreet Bank to turn in their Expression of Interest (EOI) expires tomorrow. Convinced that one week was sufficient for any serious investor to turn in their EOIs, the corporation had set the one-week limit for the exercise.

However, this decision appears to have been largely, badly received by investors and other stakeholder groups who consider the time given for the exercise as being too short for any meaningful evaluation and due diligence to be done

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‘How much time do the investors need for their due diligence? We believe that this could be worked out between AMCON and the investors.

With proper engagement and good faith on all sides, we believe a mutually-agreeable time-frame can be worked out.

Our understanding is that the investors need basic information on the bank to be able to make informed bid just as it is the responsibility of AMCON to assist the investors in all the way it can’

on the bank. Asides, some were of the opinion that AMCON should actually tarry to allow the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-governor designate, Godwin Emefiele, settle down before commencing the sale. They also pointed to unresolved labour issues in other transactions and the need to address them before the conclusion of the sale.

To start with, we share in their concerns that any rush by AMCON to sell the bank would negate the lofty ideals of fairness, openness and transparency which the corporation had advertised as its guiding principle. The investors certainly have a point when they insist that the process requires enormous work on their part. Of course, in the circumstance, their demand for extension of the time to do a thorough work of evaluation would not only seem fair but reasonable. Moreover, given that the CBN governor-designate is expected to take over by June 1, we do not see anything wrong with the call to tarry.

Be that as it may, we cannot entirely discount the fears of the corporation, particularly the risk of rendering the exercise not only open-ended but an allcomers affair. AMCON boss, Mustafa Chike-Obi may not have been altogether too cynical when he noted that an earlier exercise on Enterprise Bank, produced in all, 26 so-called investors, a number of whom he described as “spare parts dealers”, particularly as he claimed that over 30 investors are being expected this time around – a number he considers

apparently unwieldy to go into the bank to do due diligence.

With due respect to the AMCON chief, there is clearly no guarantee that the short time-frame for the investors to turn in their EOIs would produce his expected class of serious investors.

There are in fact real possibilities that investors regarded as “unserious” might actually be the ones that would show up in the event of an adverse timeline. This is certainly not what AMCON wants.

Having said that, we do not see how a short extension would hurt the process.

Indeed, we see much to be gained by a thorough and deliberate process which seeks to balance the fears of a possible laissez-faire process with the requirement for a process that is inclusive. That is the only way to assuage the fears of the concerned stakeholders that there are no underhand dealings; it is the surest way to enhance the credibility of the process.

How much time do the investors need for their due diligence? We believe that this could be worked out between AMCON and the investors. With proper engagement and good faith on all sides, we believe a mutually-agreeable timeframe can be worked out. Our understanding is that the investors need basic information on the bank to be able to make informed bid just as it is the responsibility of AMCON to assist the investors in all the way it can. Having come this far, we cannot afford anything of a botched process.

Gowon’s gaffe • The former head of state made a gaffe about a goofy president

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T a period that the entire world focuses on terrorist inflictions on the country, we expect leaders in the land, past and present, to show circumspection and deep understanding of the situation before passing comments. But General Yakubu Gowon, former Head of State and founder of Nigeria Prays, a nondenominational religious group, jettisoned the sensitive mood of the nation on the brazen terror of Boko Haram without effective official response. In an act of dark comedy, he expressed satisfaction about the unyielding efforts of the current administration at the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch dinner and award night.

While speaking as chairman of the occasion, he reportedly declared: “I can tell you this and I know this, the president is doing his best and do not listen to the sort of news you hear from foreign press talking as if the government is doing nothing. He is in consultation with the military chiefs; he is in consultation with all the governors and all the political parties to be able to join hands to deal with this problem.” In view of global outrage over the tepid handling of the Boko Haram menace by President Goodluck Jonathan, we consider as quite un-statesmanlike for a man of Gowon’s standing, an otherwise elder statesman, to be so unguardedly provocative in his statement over this highly volatile matter.

Gowon stakes his reputation unnecessarily since what in his estimation was ‘best’ of Mr. President on the issue is worldwide rated not to be good enough to stem the tide of terrorism in the country. The most recent and heinous act of

the terrorist Boko Haram group was the abduction of over two hundred school girls in Chibok, Borno State. Since April 15 when the girls were abducted, the government has not displayed convincing capability or shown purposeful plan of action to rescue the innocent girls until the very recent appearance of American soldiers/experts on the arena. We could not have so easily forgotten the bombings and explosions underscoring the reality that the government has truly lost grip of the battle against terrorism in the land.

We wonder under the prevailing circumstances the parameters deployed by Gowon in arriving at that curious conclusion of ‘best’ actions from President Jonathan.

As a former commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces, he cannot feign ignorance of the billions of naira already expended on the anti-terrorism battle and the shoddy responses to distress calls by the military around the affected areas.

Despite this, could his recent statement truly have been conscience-driven? We doubt this because what Nigerians are craving for is not reckless panegyrics but the quelling of the brigands, effective rescue of the abducted girls; and return to normalcy in the affected areas that have been embroiled in turmoil for five years now.

The statement attributed to Gowon is sad because we expect such to have, at best, emanated from a leader of weak resolve at this period of national hurlyburly. We expect that genuine statesmen would refrain from making unpopular statements, especially when such is not in tandem with reality. If Gowon’s state-

ment was meant to buoy up the waning image of the Jonathan administration, then it is a bad public relations stunt at this time, more so coming from someone like him that has become notorious for publicly supporting discredited past leaders, including Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Chief Ernest Sonekan, among others.

What Nigeria needs most, in our view, are statesmen that are ready to tell the truth to power. Not the ones that would clothe official ineptitude and corruption in borrowed robes. Gowon would do well by concentrating on his prayer project rather than making statements capable of reminding us of his feeble leadership over the country.

‘What Nigeria needs most, in our view, are statesmen that are ready to tell the truth to power. Not the ones that would clothe official ineptitude and corruption in borrowed robes. Gowon would do well by concentrating on his prayer project rather than making statements capable of reminding us of his feeble leadership over the country’

Ordering Google to Forget

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N a ruling that could undermine press freedoms and free speech, the highest court of the European Union said on Tuesday that Google must comply with requests from individuals to remove links on search results pages to newspaper articles and other web pages that might cause embarrassment.

The European Court of Justice ruled that an individual’s “right to be forgotten” was so strong that Google and other Internet search companies could be forced to remove links even if the information in question was itself accurate and lawful.

The court said links could be removed if they were found to be “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant.” But the ruling provided little guidance to lower courts about how to decide when links should be removed.

As a result, it could open the floodgates for people living in the 28 countries of the European Union to demand that Google and other search engines remove millions of links from search results. Such a purge would leave Europeans less well informed and make it harder for journalists and dissidents to have their voices heard.

The ruling was based on a case brought by a Spanish man against a newspaper and Google.

He argued that searching for his name led to two pages originally published in 1998 on the website of the newspaper, La Vanguardia, about his debts and the forced sale of his home. The Spanish Data Protection Agency did not require the newspaper to take down the pages, but it ordered Google to remove links to them. Google appealed that decision and the National High Court of Spain sought advice from the European court. The case now goes back to the Spanish court for resolution.

In 1995, the European Union issued a directive to its members to protect the privacy of individuals. The directive did not explicitly establish a right to be forgotten. But the European court ruled that “after a certain time” individuals can argue that search links no longer comply with the directive and should be erased. The court, however, did not specify how much time has to pass for a request to be considered valid, presumably, leaving that question to Internet companies, privacy officials in European countries and lower courts to answer on a case-by-case basis.

European lawmakers and courts have a long history of protecting privacy. In March, the European Parliament approved a new data protection law that, among other things, includes an explicit right to be forgotten. European governments still need to sign off on that legislation before it can be finalized.

The desire to allow individuals to erase data that they no longer wish to disclose is understandable. For example, there are good reasons to let people remove embarrassing photos and posts they published on social media as children or young adults. But lawmakers should not create a right so powerful that it could limit press freedoms or allow individuals to demand that lawful information in a news archive be hidden.

- New York Times

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

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

•Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon

•Advert Manager Robinson Osirike

•Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina

• Gen. Manager (Training and Development) Soji Omotunde •General Manager (Abuja Press) Kehinde Olowu •AGM (PH Press) Tunde Olasogba

•IT Manager Bolarinwa Meekness

•Deputy Editor (Nation’s Capital) •Press Manager Yomi Odunuga Udensi Chikaodi •Group Political Editor Emmanuel Oladesu •Legal Counsel John Unachukwu •Group Business Editor Simeon Ebulu • Manager (Admin) Folake Adeoye •Group Sports Editor Ade Ojeikere •Acting Manager (sales) •Editorial Page Editor Olaribigbe Bello Sanya Oni

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: Due to the culture of relentlessness during political campaigns preceding elections, it could be misleading to go by the results of opinion polls, particularly if you have got two contradicting opinion poll results like in the case of Ekiti State where different opinion polls have trumped up both the PDP and the APC candidates as likely winners of the June 21 governorship election.

If the recent Abuja-based NOI polls purportedly carried out for an ANAP Foundation had scored PDP’s Ayo Fayose highest, it could have truly served only the interest of the PDP federal government; and you would pardon the Ekiti APC which promptly called it a voodoo opinion survey.

Ditto could the subsequent opinion poll carried out by the Ekitipanupo Research Group be doubted even by neutral observers, let alone the PDP which might have jumped at condemning it as false.

While the Labour Party, the Accord Party and the rest have been revealed as trailing far behind by the two opinion poll results, they

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Ekiti 2014: Much ado about polling are still supposed to be fighting hard on the campaign fields to outstage the PDP and the APC and be able to prove the two surveys wrong.

While the crowds at the campaign grounds can be deceptive, the frequency and the ease of crowd-pulling can be reassuring, at least, to a prospective winner. So can the enthusiasm of such crowds help a prospective winner in assessing the genuineness of the support being given. The readiness and the massiveness of the people’s participation in promoting a particular candidate can also be a good guide in determining his popularity.

If you see the popular and up-coming artistes like Yinka Ayefele,

Wasiu Ayinde, Sina Peters and several upcoming others like the sensational “new Hubert Ogunde”, staking their reputation to line up and compete to sing-praise a candidate, it could be a good measure of the candidate’s acceptability even if we won’t rule out commercial motives or mere desires to gain limelight behind their competitive participation.

There is only one candidate who enjoys such robust, massive and rousing supports in Ekiti State today and he is the incumbent. He is the only one too whose political party has been attracting teeming defection from the opposition parties in the calibres of a former governor, former commissioners, a

former assembly member, a current assembly member and former local government party chairmen, to mention only the leading figures.

If an ex-senator has also decamped to the opposition party, the monarch of the ex-senator’s town was to, shortly after, declare the incumbent as the “Awo of our time”, as if to decry the ex-senator’s defection.

If the obvious variables above would not be enough to guide us towards the direction the votes would go, come June 21, the current advertised denial of the Labour Party in Ekiti State, that it entered into a joint action arrangement to vote-in another party’s candidate for “a first four year term” would confirm to us the true

positions of the three visible candidates in the race.

The PDP and the Labour Party had been the apparent partners of a sort from the onset with the PDP donating one of its former lawmakers to Labour Party as party chairman without formally defecting from PDP to Labour party.

The Labour Party’s current radio denial has, no doubt, revealed the PDP’s fear of defeat; the fear that had apparently led the party to wanting to activate a working agreement which Labour Party was however no longer willing to honour so as to “govern in the second term”.

If opinion surveys would confuse us, this advertised denial by the Ekiti Labour Party which reveals a panicky attempt to resort to practically fusing the PDP and the Labour Party would convince us that the two parties should come behind the APC in the 2014 gubernatorial race.

That is what to expect.

• Jide Oguntoye, Oye-Ekiti

My thought on Chibok abduction saga

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IR: First let me offer my deep sympathies to the missing Chibok girls and their families. What they have been through, the unending injustice, frustration, pain, worry and fear, are almost too harrowing to consider at once. Our prayers go out on behalf of you and your families. May Almighty God provide safe and speedy return for as many as are still missing.

I heavily doubt there is a man more reviled today than Abubakar Shekau. Already drunk off the blood of thousands of innocent victims, he has now stepped up his campaign of terror to target school children. Perhaps it was the scale and impunity of the act, or the heartbreaking accounts of desperate parents trying to mount their own rescue mission into a dangerous forest, deterred only by the risk to their daughters’ lives; something snapped in the consciousness of a nation and world that had previously watched from afar. Whatever

Shekau’s calculus was, he has definitely succeeded in drawing the outrage of even Al Qaeda leaders, for whom the kidnap and trafficking of young girls is apparently too extreme.

Indeed, the outcry, from Nigerians as well as the international community, has been nothing short of impressive, spurring action where there had previously been none.

Nations with the best counter-terrorism operations have offered assistance, now received, in personnel and resources; voices heretofore silent about terrorism have begun speaking up specifically about Boko Haram. It seems now that credible efforts will be mounted, that the tide may yet turn, families made whole.

Yet, these positive developments come with a stark dose of reality.

With each passing moment, locating and recovering the missing girls will only get harder. If, and hopefully when they are recovered, these children will need extensive medi-

cal and psychological assistance to overcome the trauma they have no doubt experienced at the hands of their captors.

Along with the aforementioned international statements of support has come stinging criticism about the handling of this tragedy by the state and federal governments.

Equally disheartening was the finger-pointing and political sniping between the two. It is, to put it simply, shameful, and unworthy of the urgent plight of these girls. There will be time for heads to roll (and roll they must) but this is the time for cooperation an action. It is time to show Nigerians and the world that this government is capable of confronting all forces of disintegration and terror.

There is no doubt that the government has been very slow in grasping the seriousness of this abduction that has bought pains to parents and the nation as a whole.This administration was

treating the abduction with business as usual attitude until there was a global outcry of Bring Back Our Daughters.There were conflicting information from agents of government as to the safety,whereabout and number of the girls that returned.The contradiction was so much that a US Senator concluded that there is no government in Nigeria. The way the government handled the unfortunate incident has brought to Nigerians shock, shame and embarrassment.

What this ugly incident has bought to the consciousness of Nigeians is the capability of the Nigerian military in terms of training, equipment and command structure to fight this insurgency effectively.The military deserves better funding to rid the nation of this menace soonest because negotiating with the insurgents should not be an option.The emergency rule in three affected states has not been been justified by the success

of the insurgents in unleashing havocs on communities on daily basis in the North-east.Nigerians deserve more and demand more from government protection from all forms of terrorism that have been unleashed on our nation.

Finally, I believe Nigerians need to lift the veil of hypocrisy and look within. This country is a major international player in the trafficking of women and children for sex and cheap labour. This industry is fuelled, more than anything, by extreme poverty and desperation, the same factors that fuel political and religious terrorism. Even if and hopefully when Shekau and his followers are captured or killed, the circumstances that animate him will still exist and possibly spread, unless we put a credible effort toward making this country work for everyone.

•Senator Robert Boroffice OON National Assembly, Abuja

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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COMMENTS

Centenary awards: An assessment

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ELEBRATING Nigeria’s centenary 1914-2014 has come and gone. One of the highlights of the celebrations was the award of centenary honours for 100 people who distinguished themselves in one area or the other. The categories of people celebrated according to government publication include: 1. Heroes of the struggle for Nigeria’s independence/pioneer political leaders; 2. Pioneers in professional callings/career; 3. Pioneers in commerce and industry; 4. Promoters of democratic transition in Nigeria; 5. Heroes in global sports competitions; 6. Accomplished pioneer public servants; 7. Accomplished contemporary entrepreneurs; 8. Distinguished academics; 9. Internationally acclaimed artists, literary icons and journalists; 10. Outstanding bravery and public spiritedness; 11. Outstanding promoters of unity, patriotism and national development; 12. Exemplary service in the promotion of peace and excellence.

These were the areas in which 100 people were singled out for centenary honours. For some curious reasons, Queen Elizabeth II, Frederick John Dealtry Lugard and Lady Flora Louis Lugard were the first three to be honoured before the 100 Nigerians. May I say that I was glad that my late brother, Professor Kayode Osuntokun, a distinguished neurologist and neuro-scientist who died almost 20 years ago at a very young age was honoured. To God be the glory. Because of this, I had the opportunity to get a copy of the publication and citations on the awardees. What struck me is the lopsidedness in some of the categories. There were only nine academics who were honoured whereas under the category of artists there were 18 of them double the number of academics. However, three of these so called artists like Soyinka, Achebe and John Pepper-Clark double as academics. In the category of artists/musicians, the omission of Dr. Victor Olaiya was striking. I do not think of any Nigerian who would place Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Osita Osadebe over Victor Olaiya in the history of music in Nigeria. I was also surprised that it is in this category of internationally acclaimed artists, literary icons and journalists that Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule and Professor Akinlawon Ladipo Mabogunje, Dr. Barnabas Sanyaolu Oloruntoba and Justice Mariam A. Mukhtar, current chief Justice of Nigeria were placed. This must have been a mistake. I know Professor Mabogunje very

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INCE the civil war ended in 1970, Nigeria has been peaceful. Although there have been some low moments, we have always sailed through the storm. The only major threat we have faced is that of military takeover. Mercifully, military dictatorship is now also in the past following the blundering and bumbling regimes of Gen Ibrahim Babangida and the late Gen Sani Abacha.

With an uninterrupted democratic government since 1999, Nigeria has never had it so good even though it could be better. By the 29th of this month, we will be celebrating 15 years of uninterrupted democracy despite such irritants as the adoption of Sharia in some parts of the country, Niger Delta militancy and the Boko Haram insurgency. Like military coups d'etat, we seem to have overcome the Sharia and Niger Delta militancy challenges.

These have been replaced by Boko Haram, a bunch of Islamic fundamentalists, bent on rewriting the Quran and the Hadith, the teachings of Prophet Mohammed. Boko Haram inched its way into the nation's subconscious mind stealthily, pretending to be propagating Islam.

With the way it is going about its campaign, Boko Haram cannot be the poster-group for Islam. It has done everything contrary to the tenets of the religion. The prophet admonishes Muslims to seek knowledge even in as far a place as China.

In his days, China was considered

well; I do not think he will enjoy being in this category of artists. I think Maitama Sule and the Chief Justice and Dr. Oloruntoba belonged in the group of public servants while Professor Mabogunje should have been grouped along distinguished academics. In the category of outstanding bravery and public spiritedness, I was amazed at the absence of the late Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi who paid the ultimate price to protect his guest, the late head of state, General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. It is amazing that a young man, Michael Chukwugekwu Iroka would have been honoured for saving a man from being burned to death in an inferno in Makurdi, an action which obviously deserves a commendation but not a centenary award over and above Colonel Fajuyi’s bravery of July 1966. In the category of heroes in global sports competitions, I expected to see Hogan Bassey, the first Nigerian to win a world championship in Boxing. I also expected to see Emmanuel Ifeajuna, the first Nigerian commonwealth gold medallist in high jump. In the section on heroes of the struggle and pioneer political leaders, names of Dr. R.A.B. Diko, the founder of the original JamiyahMutanen Arewa and Sir Kashim Ibrahim, the first governor of northern Nigeria are missing. I also expected at least to see a section for outstanding traditional rulers which would have included apart from Sir Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Oba Aderemi, the Ooni of Ife and Oba Akenzua of Benin. I also believe that Chief S.L. Akintola, the premier of the west and a member of the first federal cabinet of 1957, Dr. Michael Okpara, the premier of eastern Nigeria at independence should have been included along with Sir Ahmadu Bello. Since this document is an historical document it should have been prepared by an historian because too many errors are contained in it. For example on page 18, the first Nigerian lawyer, Christopher Sapara Williams is not from Ogun State, he was an Ijesha man from Osun State.

It is curious that Chief Simeon Adebo did not make the list under public servants. Chief Adebo was an exemplary civil servant, the first permanent representative of Nigeria in the United Nations and later under secretary in the UN. For the sake of historical record, Chief Adebo should have been on the list. The president of course had stated that a list like this could not have been done without mistakes and had pleaded for understanding for any serious error of omission. I also find it very interesting, to say the least, the citations of President Olusegun Obasanjo and General Sani Abacha. For example, on page 89, we are told that “Obasanjo’s first wife, Mrs. Oluremi Obasanjo is the mother of his oldest children.”

On the same page we are also told that “Mrs. Stella Obasanjo

lost her life a day after abdominoplasty in Spain.” It went on that the doctor who performed this was sent to one year imprisonment and made to pay $176,000 to the family of the bereaved. It added that Obasanjo has many other children at home and abroad. In the same paragraph, it stated that “Stella was not the first wife Obasanjo lost, that he lost an- Jide other one, Linda in 1987.” As if this was Osuntokun not enough, on page 88 on the citation of Professor Ade-Ajayi, reference was incongruously made to Obasanjo and that during the protests and riot called Ali-must-go, Akintunde Ojo was shot by the police at the University of Lagos and “his mother was rumoured to be a mistress of Obasanjo”. Whoever wrote this tried hard to damage the image of Obasanjo.

And I asked myself, why is that necessary in a document on the centenary of the Nigerian awards. I was intrigued by the citation on General Abacha. He was said to have been responsible for increase in Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves and that “his regime became the first to record unprecedented economic achievements” and that he reduced inflation rate he inherited from Babangida from 54 percent to 8.5 percent between 1993 and 1998. Whoever prepared this document must have done it tongue in cheek because the same week this celebration was going on, the United States government announced the seizure of 648 million dollars stolen Nigerian money lodged by Abacha in several accounts in the US and this is on top of the billions spirited away by him into Swiss accounts. I take exception in celebrating General Abacha’s so called achievement because I and others suffered terribly under him, and in spite of our going to the Oputa panel, we got no restitution. This document was prepared apparently by a junior officer and the document was not vetted by a superior officer of intellect. This is not good enough. Whatever we do in the name of our country, we must always bear in mind that records are for posterity and as well as for the international community to see the way we do things in our country. A document perfunctorily produced and full of errors and omissions does not do our image any good.

Darkness falls to be faraway. Today, Boko Haram has turned this advice on its head.

To the group, Muslims should not seek knowledge except to be versed in Islamic matters.

In today's world, it is impossible to do away with western education.

Instead of seeing western education as a sin, what Boko Haram should fight for is the teaching of Muslim students in Arabic and not English language. The problem is that Nigeria being a secular state, it will be difficult to adopt Arabic as the language for teaching in our schools.

But really is that what Boko Haram wants? Its demands are not clear because they keep changing by the day. Today, it is that education is bad. Tomorrow, it is girls should marry - at what age it did not say. The day after, it is ''we are waging war against Christians and infidels''. Who determines who an infidel is? Is it someone who takes it upon himself to kill people under the guise of propagating Islam?

Can an infidel be worse than a person who kidnaps schoolgirls in their dormitory in the wee hours of the night?

Abubakar Shekau or what he calls himself should look inwards in his search for an infidel. Boko Haram, the group he leads, cuts the perfect picture of an infidel. If Shekau is not an infidel, he would not have

‘Where is Shekau keeping the girls? Here in the country or outside it? Can't his hide-out be traced? Is he being shielded by some people in the country? No matter the number of his hideouts, the noose is fast closing in on Shekau. The only option he has is to let the girls go.’

stormed the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) in Chibok, Borno State, in the dead of night on April 14 and abducted over 200 girls.

Only an infidel can do that and still come out to boast that he would sell the girls ''by Allah''.

Why call the name of Allah in vain? All he is after is the gain he can make from the girls' abduction.

So, he should not drag Allah's name into his deliberate and clinically executed plan of kidnapping those girls for money. What he never bargained for before he threw the country into this darkness is the global outrage over the girls' abduction. He may have bitten more than he can chew over their abduction. hekau's time is up, but like others before him, he does not realise it yet. He is enjoying the few minutes he has left in the limelight. Let him continue to appear on videos, mouthing inanities and boasting about his prowess and invisibilty. What is more, he is giving conditions for the release of the girls. Are the girls those he abducted on April 14 or those that fell into his hand before that day? If those were not the Chibok

S

31 DAYS AFTER

?

WHERE ARE THE ABDUCTED CHIBOK GIRLS?

girls, where then did he get them from? Does it mean he has been abducting girls all along without the security agencies being aware?

It is incredible that such large scale abduction of girls has been on for long without anyone raising an eye brow. Where is Shekau keeping the girls? Here in the country or outside it? Can't his hide-out be traced? Is he being shielded by some people in the society? Who are these people? Can't they be fished out to lead us to Shekau's hide-out? For sure, he cannot have one hide-out, but no matter the number of his hide-outs, the noose is fast closing in on him.

For how long will evil triumph over good? Only for a short time.

That being so, the only option Shekau has is to let the girls go or

Lawal Ogienagbon lawal.ogienagbon@thenationonlineng.net SMS ONLY: 08099400204, 08112661612

be ready to face the consequences of his action. Let him remember, ''there is God ooo'', and that God is not the one he calls in vain to support his excesses.

Edo is the poorer sir!

F

ORMER Edo State Governor Lucky Igbinedion never ceases to amuse me whenever he talks. He likes to spin tales about his days in office. He was governor for 96 months and for those eight years there is nothing tangible that can be pointed to as his achievement. Igbinedion left Edo poorer than he met it. If for argument sake, we agree with him that he met the state poor, what did he do to change things? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Instead, he was busy gallivanting across the world, wasting our scarce resources. A good governor in his shoes would have put on his thinking cap to see what he could do to salvage the ancient state. That was not his mission. His mission was to use the state's scarce resources for other purpose.

He and his friends went partying

all over the world. They celebrated birthdays in London, New York and Johannesburg. Was it his money they spent on those revelries? He should spare us the story of running to his father, Sir Gabriel Igbinedion and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart Chief Tony Anenih to borrow money to pay salary. If he did that, it was not because the state was broke, but because of his mismanagement of its scarce resources. He cannot rewrite the history of what we all know. No, not while we are still alive. The truth is that he killed our state and he missed going to jail for it because of the bungling of his trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

This is why today he can boast that being a governor made him “poorer'”. No sir, you left the state poorer than you met it.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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COMMENTS

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PC should order its militants to release the girls; Tinubu as commander in chief is in a position to do that. Your anger against Jonathan will consume you” (0817974198) Since I do not belong to APC, I am not privileged to know if the party has a military wing as contained in the above reader’s reaction to my piece “The buck stops at the president desk” ;( May 1). But one thing I can assure the reader is that if indeed an APC military wing exists, General Muhamadu Buhari who as a GOC in Jos, did not wait for President Shagari’s orders before chasing insurgents who crossed from Chad to terrorise Nigerians, taking over a chunk of their territory before accepting a truce would have redeemed the battered image of a country where Boko Haram runs a ‘Sambisa forest republic’ where they kept 270 innocent girls plucked from their dormitories, daring Okupe’s two battalions stationed in Borno State, to enter while their commander-inchief is taking some lessons in Asonto dance steps in Sokoto and Kano.

But to aver that I am angry with President Jonathan, to whom we traded off our rights to freedom and liberty for his protection of life and property, is an understatement. And I am not alone. There is anger on the streets of major cities in Nigeria. From Chibok to Maiduguiri, Lagos to Abeokuta, Ado-Ekiti, Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Uyo and Abuja, the mood is the same. Elsewhere in the world, New York, London, Paris, Senegal etc; the mood is the same. There is anger against what Prime Minister Cameron of Britain described

‘Chibok has brought it home more graphically to the international community that we are fast moving towards becoming a failed state with our commander-in-chief requesting for military and logistic support to penetrate Mambisa forest enclave an area said not to be much bigger than Ikeja and where 270 innocent girls have been kept for close to four weeks’

U

Chibok tragedy: Unmasking PDP and President Jonathan as Boko Haram’s “pure act of evil” and what Hillary Clinton described as “government failure to protect its people”.

Like everyone else around the globe except PDP leaders whose voices have remained tepid, I am angry with our president.

I am incensed with a president who spent the first three weeks of the capture of our daughters praying long after the Jews who like their Arab cousins stubbornly resisted acknowledging Christ as son of God, have nonetheless imbibed His teaching about following up prayers with actions. I am anguished because our president waited for three weeks only to tell us he did not know the where about of our 270 abducted teenage girls. I am tormented by the foot-dragging that followed the Chibok tragedy and this has left me with a deep sense of shame, embarrassment and a feeling of total helplessness.

Like Cameron who fondly reminded the British Parliament he has two daughters, I as a doting father who sneaked to my daughters’ boarding school thrice a week, to catch a glimpse of my adorable angels, a father who packs food to his undergraduate teenage sunshine in her studio daily, I feel terrified when I see fathers and mothers crying on television over their kidnapped little angels. And as a therapy to ensure I am not consumed by my anger against our president, tears also flow freely from my eyes in solidarity with grief-stricken weeping fathers and mothers.

With Chibok, PDP and President Jonathan can no more live in denial as Wole Soyinka, one of the remaining few Nigerian credible voices told CNN Amanpour last week. Before now all critics of President Jonathan’s

SUALLY when people talk of Nigeria’s politics of today, they often tend to forget one thing: that very few among them assume the confidence that political actors in the fore-front of seeking various political offices through people’s votes will have anything to offer in return for such votes.

But there are true sons of democracy who by sheer courage and commitment to a just cause, have shown what they are worth. They are people who have excelled in various responsibilities. By their attributes, the Nigerian electorate will have no option but to give them their votes anytime, anywhere.

For me, this category of politicians is where the nononsense, erstwhile FCT minister, Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i belongs. The world knows and cannot deny what elRufa’i can do when it comes to bringing results and succour to the people he so much cares for through good stewardship.

Indeed, el-Rufa’i may be seen by some as a controversial politician, perhaps due to his fearlessness on issues that touch on the destiny of Nigeria and Nigerians. However, majority view him as a man of action; a man who is always at the vanguard of the masses and ready to sacrifice his life for the betterment of underprivileged Nigerians, the toiling Nigerians who have been enslaved by a crude system of governance that has taken control of the nation’s political terrain over the years.

The real value of this man, politically speaking, is yet to be fully harnessed. But when political pressure groups begin to clamour for the Zaria-born political giant to go for Kaduna governorship seat come 2015 under the All Progressives Congress (APC), I hold a contrary view. This is no pettiness because I candidly have the conviction that there is a much better way of utilizing the talent of this man at a much higher level in the country’s political evolution.

So to make el-Rufa’i kow-tow to state level pressure and not accorded a national responsibility or a more central role in the nation’s politics, will simply mean reducing the giant to a Lilliputian role. The former Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) head and FCT minister, who transformed both government establishments in accordance with laid down rules is not an armtwister but a principled personality who should be a perfect player at the APC’s helms.

inept handling of the nation’s affairs have been blackmailed. Newspaper columnists doing their job of helping the public interpret news of government activities are proclaimed ignoramuses by Aso rock’s knowall attack dogs of Doyin Okupe and Ahmed Gulak. Now critics of PDP wheelers and dealers and the president style to have been vindicated.

Hillary Clinton the US immediate past Secretary of state only last week dismissed the PDP administration headed by President Jonathan as irresponsible, asserting that “The government of Nigeria has been, somewhat derelict in its responsibility for protecting boys and girls, men and women”.

The well respected London Economist equally dismissed President Jonathan government as incompetent lamenting that “the worst aspect of the Nigerian government’s handling of the abduction is its seeming indifference to the plight of the girls’ families.

It took more than two weeks before Jonathan addressed the matter in public.” But the Economist has gone further to condemn the meddlesomeness of the president’s wife who it accused of “indiscriminate use of power even when she was not a constitutionally elected official” by ordering “the arrest of two leaders of the protests, bizarrely accusing them of belonging to Boko Haram and of fabricating reports of the abduction to smear the government”.

Amnesty International intervention also seems to have confirmed the fears of Nigerians that our military might have not been properly kitted in spite of humongous defence budget of about one trillion naira, a quarter of the nation’s annual budget, a claim

often dismissed by government contractors as spokespersons or image makers. Netsanet Belay, the body’s Africa Director (Research and Advocacy) accused government of “a gross dereliction of duty to protect civilians, who remain sitting ducks for such attacks.”

According to the body, Nigeria’s military headquarters in Maiduguri “was aware of the impending attack soon after 7pm on April 14, close to four hours before Boko Haram began their assault on the town.”, but was alleged to be unable to “to muster troops – due to poor resources and a reported fear of engaging with the often better-equipped armed groups – meant that reinforcements were not deployed to Chibok that night. The small contingent of security forces based in the town – 17 army personnel as well as local police –attempted to repel the Boko Haram assault but were overpowered and forced to retreat.”

The New York Times asserts the president ”leads a corrupt government that has little credibility.” For long the president and his party have lived in denial insisting corruption is not an issue in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary They briefly forgot in the new globalised world, sovereignty is dead. The world can see through a president who tries to wash his hands clean by attributing the non successful prosecution of those accused of stealing N1.7 trillion to the wheel of justice which he says grinds slowly in our environment. It is not hidden from the world how Boni Haruna, former governor of Adamawa state got a judicial relief on the eve of his appointment as a minister after an inconclusive seven years judicial battle with EFCC. The world can make an informed judgment from action of a president who openly supports a minister accused of frittering away N10 billion (enough to buy 10 unmanned drones from South Africa at a unit price of about US$500,000) on hiring of aircrafts. And as for the president’s party, the world can see that of the 23 PDP elected governors in 1999, 17 are either in prison, still serving jail terms, or in exile trying to escape from justice.

Chibok has brought it home more graphically to the international community that we are fast moving towards becoming a failed state with our commander-in-chief requesting for military and logistic support to penetrate Mambisa forest enclave an area said not to be much bigger than Ikeja and where 270 innocent girls have been kept for close to four weeks. America, Britain and France which currently harbour millions of Nigerians must have now realized it is in their own enlightened self-interest to save Nigeria from PDP, President Jonathan and Boko Haram.

El-Rufa’i: Putting square peg in square hole

By Musa Balarabe Ahmad As a political party, the APC appears to have all it takes to wrestle power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in terms of composition, form and import, and therefore requires the services of dogged fighters like el-Rufa’i, more especially that the highly revered former Head of State and APC Leader, General Muhammadu Buhari shares the same vision for Nigeria with el-Rufa’i.

Not only that the General and el-Rufa’i belong to the APC and have same political ideology, the former FCT minister’s landmark performances in the various offices he held at the national level, as well as his good relationship with General Buhari, are enough to show that committing el-Rufa’i to the Kaduna enclave as against the centre of the pack where he knows and understands best, will not only be suicidal to the genuine cause of the APC but also detrimental to its aspirations. His role at that level is most ideal, but this does not mean serving his state is inferior. I always respect people’s views but not in circumstances where wrong decisions relating to people’s interest are made.

So, I would rather el-Rufa’i be deployed to and fully supported in the handling of the affairs of the secretariat of the APC, since his ability to hold the secretaryship of the party in an interim arrangement creditably well has proven that he is more than capable in stewarding the affairs of the APC at that level.

Knowing General Buhari as a man of principle, I am of the opinion that forming a team that will ultimately crush the PDP without el-Rufa’i could create a dent in the runin to 2015 election for the party, because the General needs this man to help him and party alike toward putting things straight in the political battle to wrestle power from a failed PDP leadership.

General Buhari also needs to know that the success of

any political system is usually determined by the import of the actors and the support they get from the electorate. Individual politicians on the other hand are usually overwhelmed by the demands of their constituencies, whether or not they are able to satisfy such demands to a level acceptable by the majority.

Therefore, with el-Rufa’i there, a lot of the pressure would be taken off the shoulders of the General if the APC considers him to be at the helms of the party’s secretariat.

As a matter of fact, el-Rufa’i should not be disposed to substantially giving his maximum contributions in the fight against Nigeria’s reckless cabal from Sir Kashim Ibrahim House. A more appropriate place for el-Rufa’i is where his armoury of talent will be more beneficial to his country and people, and the only way of putting the proverbial square peg in a square hole.

• Ahmad writes from Kano

‘el-Rufa’i should not be disposed to substantially giving his maximum contributions in the fight against Nigeria’s reckless cabal from Sir Kashim Ibrahim House. A more appropriate place for el-Rufa’i is where his armoury of talent will be more beneficial to his country and people’

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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N the midst of the storms and clouds of recent developments, we Nigerians can miss some very valuable treasures. We have been attracted to all sorts of intriguing images from the National Conference – some images of serious leadership, and many more images of shallow self-seeking and downright irresponsible utterances, all posturing as free speech.

We have been overwhelmed by the horrors of Boko Haram’s atrocities – all of which seem to be a determined effort to drown out the voices of the National Conference. And we have been wooed to the images of an African economic summit – with its dandified images that differ radically from the realities of our economic life.

In the course of all these, there has appeared one treasure that can be easily missed, but that I am determined that we should not miss. I refer to the statement sent by the former Vice-President of our country, Atiku Abubakar, to the National Conference a few weeks ago.

Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s message to the National Conference is a great national treasure for two important reasons. First, it is an excellent statement of the case for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation. It is almost impossible to find a better rendering of the case anywhere else.

Secondly, because it comes from a very eminent member of the Fulani political elite of Northern Nigeria, it is more than

‘The evidence is there for all to see, the excessive dominance of the federal government has been detrimental to the development aspirations of all sections of this country. It is precisely why we now rely almost exclusively on oil revenues, which come mainly from a small section of the country’

T

HAT a whole lot is wrong with education in Nigeria today is an understatement and a nation that denies education to its people denies them and their country a future; denies them civilization and optimum utilization of God-given human resource, which is a key factor in individual, entrepreneurial and national development.

There is therefore urgent need to save Nigerian education from its current stupor before we drift permanently into the lonely and terrible abyss of ignorance that would probably lend credence to the aphorism that “where ignorance is bliss: it is folly to be wise”.

There is organized chaos in the country for the benefit of those who reap out of chaos, so our educational institutions are caught in the Sisyphean web of myriad manifestation of corruption and politicization of every aspect of the Nigerian life. Wise nations keep politics away from the ivory tower, hence the name, but unfortunately in Nigeria we merge the sacred with the profane, so all is soiled. Some patriotic alumni of historically great institutions in the country, in a patriotic bid to save the fast fading glory of their alma mater, have mooted the idea of individual restoration of such institutions through voluntary contributions but there is obviously not much that can be done singly or at institution levels because individual efforts in this regard would simply be a tiny drop of water in an ocean and moreover, even the academia has joined the political bandwagon for its selfish pecuniary gains and may likely sabotage such noble efforts.

Education used to be for those who have professed the ability and the interest to read and write but these days, even parents in their misguided parental love are keen to pay bribe to get their lazy kids to “pass” exams; worse, teachers are even more keen to record good pass marks at WAEC or similar for the students they did not teach, so they write the answers and pass to their students at examinations; the school authorities themselves aspire to have astounding records of good performance at external ex-

Nigeria: Let’s embrace this treasure from the North unique; it is historic. What we Nigerians are used to hearing from our Hausa-Fulani political elite is a trenchant defence of the status quo in our country – the status quo consisting of all the distortions that were entrenched in our federal system step by step by the military dictatorships that ruled our country from 1966 to 1999. The military dictatorships, with the very active support of the civilian Hausa-Fulani political elite, turned our federal government into virtually the sole owner of all power, and the sole controller of resources and assets, in our country. In their hands, our federation ceased to be a federation.

Our federal government became an overbloated, horribly inefficient, and viciously corrupt establishment, actively spreading corruption into our political life, our electoral system, and our management of all aspects of our public business. Ostensibly to satisfy our people’s local demands, the military dictators split our country into more and states – that is, into smaller and smaller states. Our states became impotent entities, easily manipulated by the federal monster, totally dependent on federal handouts for their existence, and essentially powerless to promote development in their domains. The inevitable loss of local push and morale quickly generated intense poverty in all parts of our country.

All attempts at the development of local resources vanished, as the federal authorities encouraged every part of Nigeria to depend on oil revenue from the Delta. No truly informed Nigeria has any doubt that these changes are the fundamental causes of poverty, insecurity, and conflicts in our country, and the reason why our country now seems to be about to break up. Yet, unbelievably, the Hausa-Fulani elite insist on the preservation of this whole monstrosity. But now, at last, a prominent Hausa-Fulani servant of our country has taken the courage to step out to contradict his kinsmen. I repeat that this action by Atiku Abubakar is truly historic.

Step by step, he states the case very thor-

oughly for the restructuring of our federation, for the reduction of the powers of our federal government, for giving new powers and imparting new energies to our states, for reviving state and local initiative and morale, and for a new surge of development and prosperity in our country.

The Hausa-Fulani elite, as well as some others who share some of their views, have made it routine to stigmatize all Nigerians who advocate the restructuring of the Nigerian federation as enemies of Nigeria who desire to break up Nigeria. Atiku now says loudly that the accusation is not true and must stop. “We must stop assuming” he says, “that anyone calling for the restructuring of our federation is working for the breakup of the country”.

The Hausa-Fulani elite and some who agree with them have always insisted that the only way to ensure the unity of Nigeria is to make the federal government overwhelmingly powerful. Atiku now clearly contradicts that. He says, “And the notion that over-centralisation and an excessively powerful centre is equivalent to national unity is false. If anything, it has made our unity more fragile and our government more unstable. We must renegotiate our union in order to make it stronger”.

In support of stronger and more virile states and local governments, he states, “Greater autonomy, power and resources for states and local authorities will unleash our people’s creative energies and spur more development. It will help with improving security. It will help give the federating units and the local governments, greater freedom and flexibility to address local issues, priorities and peculiarities. It will promote healthy rivalries among the federating units and local authorities. It will help make us richer and stronger as a nation”.

From the way the northern political elite have always resolutely defended over-centralisation of power and opposed any sug-

Gbogun gboro gestion for decentralisation, it is as if they are certain that a very strong federal centre benefits the North in some special way.

Atiku now urges that we Nigerians should learn to discuss these matters dispassionately and objectively. He says, “We need to eschew emotions and kneejerk reactions and examine these issues critically. As is to be expected, interests have been formed and entrenched so that calls for devolution and decentralisation (mostly from the south) have been met with very strident opposition (mostly from the north). It is as though the over-centralisation of power and concentration of resources in the federal government benefit the north more than the south. Nothing can be further from the truth. In my view, and the evidence is there for all to see, the excessive dominance of the federal government has been detrimental to the development aspirations of all sections of this country. It is precisely why we now rely almost exclusively on oil revenues, which come mainly from a small section of the country. It is what has, by extension, killed our agriculture, local control of schools, and promoted corruption that has eroded the quality of our public and even private institutions”.

Vice-President Atiku deserves the gratitude of Nigeria for this historic intervention of his. And for those who still believe that their ethnic group has a vested interest in the status quo that is destroying our country, here is something to ponder.

Memo to confab: Saving education from decay

By Sam Azoka Onyechi aminations as this will bring good patronage of more students to their schools with proprietors smiling their way to the bank, so what do they do? They discuss with the external invigilators that their students are willing to play ball and with mutual consent, collect agreed sums of money per student for the invigilator, so he looks the other way when the mass cheating is being organized by the school principal or the proprietor himself.

Gone are the days when students are made to repeat a class because they did not do well in their promotional exams. What then is the outcome of this organized educational crime?

Candidates who are “ready” for the higher institution without any iota of readiness for, or any appreciation of, the rigours of higher educational pursuit. Same scenario is only but predictable at the higher schools, and so there must be a way to survive and graduate from the university - either by bribing the lecturer, some of who are ready to be bribed or by sleeping with others if you are female and the lecturer is male, randy and dirty; or a combination of these and more means of getting grades you did not work for.

I believe we should be looking at raising the consciousness of Nigerians and our politicians to the sacred nature of education rather than making an isolated attempt at turning around a particular institute or university because the forces that prevail against good education in the country are pervasive and a behemoth.

There is therefore need for the national conference to discuss and ratify measures against politicizing education, making government to fund education and academic research directly and adequately, and interfere less in academic institutions and matters of academia such as appointment and removal of VCs; compelling our society through the

legislature to encourage the making of laws aimed at challenging the influences of corruption and bribery in educational matters particularly and punishing same; getting the National Assembly to pass a bill with severe punishments for academic and exam malpractices, including aiding and abetting these, with such punishments as closure of schools that aid and abet exam malpractices and jail terms for officials who do so entrenched in such laws.

Nigeria must redesign her educational system by removing all forms of politicking from education and its administration in Nigeria; by making laws that separate education from all forms of manipulation or political influences; by creating huge budgetary allocation up to 40% of national budget through the legislature as educational fund that will not lend itself to government agents’ further approval processes; making laws criminalizing any attempt or support for any attempt that aims to lower educational standards in any form or guise; restoring hitherto pre-civil war international standards of education in Nigeria as per structure, syllabi.

Infrastructure, admissions, teacher engagement, accreditation, board supervision; by reviving the teacher middle class status in society through proper and regular salaries and perks designed to make teaching a worthy profession; and other measures with similar motives of aiding revival of education in Nigeria, including free and compulsory education for Nigerian citizens up to Senior Secondary School level, establishment of a professionally oriented education commission and board with powers to oversee full implementation of all aspects of educational processes and practices, especially any form of corruption such as stealing or diverting of funds meant for education, etc.

The next challenge is to sending hawking

professors to the laboratory. We should tackle this problem, which is gradually and steadily killing the future of Nigeria, at its holistic and general level and with a sincerity of purpose that is fast fading from Nigerian leadership. This if truly pursued will take the hawking professors off the street, where they are selling away their future and Godgiven intelligence as baked bread, to the research laboratory where they will be manipulating cassava by-products for global food supply from Nigeria. This is fact as so many of us, including most conference attendees are beneficiaries of standard and affordable education in this same Nigeria 30 to 50 years ago and would have otherwise been hawking bread on our streets or engaged in some other menial tasks generally undertaken by undeveloped intellect. To the National Conference attendees, I must ask, who would have known that you have something upstairs to give your nation if you did not have the opportunity given by this same country to go to school and develop yourself?

This is the question your conscience must answer before the sitting of this conference is over or you would indeed be hollow men masquerading as patriots, feeling nothing, seeing nothing, thinking nothing and doing nothing. This issue of reviving education should not and must not be our typical business as usual affair – it must haunt us, pervade us, terrorize us, even more than Boko Haram and should have pride of place in the hierarchy of issues being currently discussed, for the growth and stability as well as sustenance of tomorrow’s Nigeria. It is not an overstatement to assert that this is the greatest issue of importance in the ranking of the affairs of state on the agenda of the National Conference, for a properly educated and usefully engaged populace equals a civilized and progressive-minded nation.

•Onyechi is a public affairs analyst

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

22

A’Ibom 2015: A fairy tale from New Telegraph

By Iboro Otongaran

T

he attention of Mr Umana Okon Umana, immediate past secretary to the government of Akwa Ibom State, has been drawn to an article in the New Telegraph of Tuesday, May 13, 2014. In the article written by Tony Anichebe on the staff of the fledgling publication, Umana was caricatured and painted in colours that bear no resemblance to the very wholesome man that he is.

In summary, the article made the following claims: (1) Umana is a man of fabulous wealth (2) Umana had a deal to back Akpabio for governor in exchange for Akpabio’s support for Umana’s governorship bid in 2015 (3) Umana was appointed SSG in compensation for his support to Akpabio in the 2007 election (4) Umana was the defacto governor while serving as SSG (5) Umana awarded contracts and sacked commissioners without reference to Governor Akpabio (6) Umana is an angry man who is ready to go physical when he cannot have his way.

None of the claims above which are made in the article under reference is correct. The reference to Umana’s fairy tale wealth is garrulous gossip. The author of the article is not Umana’s accountant. So he cannot talk about his assets and liabilities. He is not competent to do so.

The talk of a deal with Governor Akpabio to make Umana governor in 2015 in exchange for Umana’s support for Akpabio’s governorship bid is another fairy tale; the stuff of beer parlour journalism. There was no deal between Umana and Akpabio. It is also not true that Umana was appointed secretary to the state government to compensate him for his support to the governor in the 2007 election.

Those who are familiar with the politics of Akwa Ibom State would readily say that the appointment was neither part of a deal nor was it a compensation for any support.

The position of SSG was first offered to Arc Otu Ita Toyo, who was chairman of the state PDP at the time. It was after Arc Toyo declined the offer that the governor called on Umana to join the government as SSG. Umana too declined the offer until he was prevailed upon by his compatriots to accept to serve the state in that capacity.

This story was confirmed by Arc Toyo himself in a recent meeting in the state. If the position of SSG was given to Umana as compensation, why was it offered to Arc Toyo first?

The article betrayed abysmal knowledge of how government works when it also claimed that Umana, as chairman of the Finance and General Purposes Committee (FGPC) of the State Executive Council, was the one awarding contracts in the state without the approval of the governor. Even a brilliant cub reporter would know better. Umana had no power to award contracts, not even of a N100,000 limit. He was not even involved in contract negotiation. Negotiation of contracts starts in project ministries, which make recommendations to the governor.

Contracts that receive the blessing of the governor are then presented to the FGPC or the Executive Council as appropriate for consideration and award. Award letters are then issued by the secretary of the FGPC after due clearance with the governor. Umana Okon Umana was not the secretary to the FGPC and did not sign any letter of award of contract.

It is ludicrous to say that Umana awarded contracts without reference to the governor. How would such contracts have been paid for? Apart from the fact that it is only the

governor who approves award of contracts and other expenditure requests, the governor is in a position to stop payments for contracts he did not approve when such contracts are presented for payment because he is the sole authority who approves payment as well, based on the submission of the state accountant general.

The article under reference is simply a rehash of drunken old tales which belong with a guttersnipe, and not a news publication seeking to be taken seriously in a rather crowded industry. As typical of all drunken tales, the article did not refer to any specific case with concrete evidence.

The writer reveled in generalities. There was nothing useful in it; a waste of precious space.

The newspaper immeasurably insulted Governor Godswill Akpabio, projecting him as an effete and powerless chief executive who watched helplessly as his lieutenants took all the key decisions in his government, including the sacking of cabinet members. The paper wrote: “…a former commissioner in the state Ministry of Science and Technology fired during the era ran to Akpabio for intervention but was asked by the governor to go and settle with Umana as he (the governor) had no problem with him.”

This is absolutely freshman’s stuff! It showed no respect for the governor, and reflects no knowledge of how things work in any organised set up, much less so in a government. If Umana could sack commissioners at will, I would like this “journalist from Elm Street” to tell his readers whether the former SSG put a gun to the governor’s head to send names of their replacements to the state house of assembly and similarly also forced the governor to swear them in.

The claim that Umana engaged in a shouting match with the governor is childish, to say the least. Those who know Umana would testify to his tremendous self-control and high regard for constituted authority. That is why he is able to handle most of the vitriolic attacks at him with philosophical calmness.

If Umana had a shouting match with the governor before disengaging as SSG, I would like to know how the writer of this fictitious story would explain the fact that Umana attended the swearing-in ceremony of his successor, where he posed for a photo shoot with the governor who used the occasion to pay him glowing compliments and followed it up with a commendatory letter in which he described Umana as “exceptionally competent.”

Umana’s respect for the office of the governor has not slackened in spite of his principled disagreement with Akpabio on the right way to choose the next governor of the state. Nothing to the contrary can be proven. So the idea of Umana picking a physical fight with the governor is a scene straight from Baba Sala’s movie.

It is not a crime for Umana to show interest in serving the state as governor. He has a constitutional right to do so, as do other Akwa Ibom indigenes. Umana respects the right of others to aspire and that is why he has never attacked them. He deserves the same respect that he has for other aspirants. Politicians who indulge in this campaign of calumny should focus on selling their aspirations and leave Umana Okon Umana alone.

“

”

*Otongaran is Media Adviser to Umana Okon Umana

25

THE NATION

EDUCATION

THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

The Lagos State University (LASU) is set to hit the headlines again. Teachers and students are up in arms against the management. They are seeking a reduction in tuition fees raised from N25,000 to between N197,000 and N350,000. Besides, teachers are demanding improved welfare.

ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA and MOJISOLA CLEMENT report.

Teachers, students join forces against LASU • The university entrance.

T

HE Lagos State University (LASU) is in the news again. The institution’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and students are fighting the management. The teachers are seeking improved conditions of service, the students are demanding a reduction in tuition fee. The teachers’ ultimatum to the school to meet their demands expired last Sunday.

On March 21, ASUU-LASU declared a trade dispute over the no vacancy no promotion clause in the conditions of service and the implementation of the University Miscellaneous Provision Amendment Act which stipulates 65-year retirement age for professors. The Lagos State Government signed the provision in 2012. The union is also seeking a reduction of the tuition fee, which was raised from N25,000 to between N197,000 and N350,000.

This last demand is similar to the students. It issued 21day ultimatum which expired on April 13 following it up with another 14-day ultimatum which expired last Sunday. The letters were addressed to the Chairman, Governing Council, Mr Bode Agusto. Copies were sent to Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), deans of faculties, heads of departments and

ASUU national president, among others.

The students would have resumed for the 2013/2014 academic session today – two weeks after ending the last session – but for a postponement until next Monday. It is not certain whether ASUU would start the strike before then.

‘

With respect to the “no vacancy, no promotion policy”, management again reiterates that this is not the policy of the present administration as it has always been in the Condition of Service since 2008. It is also a fact that people were promoted in 2012 and currently, there are 256 vacancies for academic staff for the 2012/2013 promotion

’

INSIDE

UNILAG immortalises Sofoluwe -Page 27

TY Danjuma Foundation endows $5m -Page 46

In their campaign against the linked fee, student leaders have been urging their colleagues, particularly those in 100 Level to 300-Level, who are directly affected, not to pay until the government responds to a proposal on how to reduce it. The students also described ASUU’s demands as justifiable, advising management to honour them.

But the management is appealing to the teachers and students to embrace dialogue, noting that the school just recovered from a students’ unrest that disrupted academic calendar in January.

The management, led by Prof John Oladapo Obafunwa, believes ASUU should continue to engage the executive and legislative arms of government on the implementation of the 70-year retirement age. With respect to the tuition fee, management is also appealing to ASUU to make presentation to government just like LASU Students’ Union (LASUSU).

“With respect to the “no vacancy, no promotion policy”, management again reiterates that this is not the policy of the present administration as it has always been in the Condition of Service since 2008. It is also a fact that people • Continued on Page 26

CAMPUS LIFE

•A 10-page section on campus news, people etc

Multiple explosions jolt UNIMAID -Page 29

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

26

EDUCATION • Continued from Page 27

were promoted in 2012 and currently, there are 256 vacancies for academic staff for the 2012/2013 promotion exercise,” said Prof Obafunwa when he honored ASUU-LASU congress to respond to the trade dispute last month.

The management claimed it has addressed 17 of the 20 concerns of ASUU, but ASUULASU chairman Dr Adekunle Idris says it is not true.

He said: “What we see is the management’s insincerity; it is distorting facts in order to justify its current position, then we will be getting farther away from resolution.

“We came with about 20 issues affecting our members. The national ASUU also met with them. The management promised to resolve some of these issues. And because we reached some agreement (with management), we felt there was no point bringing those things to focus again.

“Management is claiming that they have declared lots for vacancies. Yes it is true.

However we are not agitating for non-declaration of vacancies. We are saying that declaring vacancies is not acceptable to us.

That portion of the Condition of Service that is being interpreted to mean ‘No Vacancy; No Promotion’ should be expunged since they are interpreting it to stifle our members’ growth. The interpretation we gave to it from our understanding when we were doing the Condition of Service is different from what they are giving to it now. It simply means vacancies have to be created before our members can be promoted; and that vacancy must be at the discretion of management. The no vacancy, no promotion which they have now turned into ‘Promotion is a privilege and not a right’ is against all labour laws worldwide. Once our members have fulfilled the conditions for certain promotion, they must be upgraded automatically.”

Speaking on the retirement age issue, Idris said the university’s Governing Council can effect the retirement age policy and does not need the government to give a nod.

He said: “We believe those people that constitute the council represent the governor. If it is the government that will do it, let them do it. But we know the making of this law with respect to the retirement age of our members is under the purview of the Council. The council has the right, the duty, and the authority to increase the retirement age. The Governing Council of AOCOED (Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education) which is our sister institution owned by the Lagos state government increased the retirement age of their non teaching staff in December last year. The Council has no right to change the tenure of the principal offices, but they have a right to change the retirement age,” Idris added.

The ASUU chairman also said the union has been dialoguing with the management on its demands for years without result.

He said: “We have been talking since 2009 till April 2013; and all through the ASUU national strike last year. Our members said we should continue with our strike after the national strike ended, but we decided to halt it in line with ASUU principle of due process. The national ASUU also visited management.

“Thereafter we gave 21-day ultimatum, the council did not acknowledge the letter.

We again gave 14 days they neither acknowledged nor gave a reply. We then gave seven days and by the third day they contacted us for a meeting (last week Tuesday).

They are now begging us. If they are truly serious, they would not have been begging us. We told them at the meeting that this problem can be resolved within three to four days. Council met on Thursday (last week) yet did not pass the retirement age.

They are planning to meet first week in June. That means the strike doesn’t mean anything to them.

“Over d last one year, we have written 12 letters to the Council Chairman, we aware they are prepared for the strike; but we are equally prepared. What does it take government to pronounce new school fees regime. This strike can be stopped within three days. It only takes government pronouncement.”

But a dependable source in government who does not wish to be named, said that ASUU members are biting more that they can chew, urging the union to follow due

• Dr Idris

•Prof Obafunwa

Teachers, students join forces against LASU process.

The source said: “They (ASUU) are saying AOCOED council did it, let them go and ask AOCOED how they did it. LASPOTECH also did same. But they are not ready to follow due process; rather they have remained adamant.

“Government met ASUU in December and we told them to write a letter to the Lagos State House of Assembly which will be deliberated on the floor of the House, but they have not. Let me say categorically that the issue is beyond Council’s prerogative as they are saying. I’m surprised that the song they have been singing is strike! Strike!!

Strike!!! It is like certain elements are using them, you know this is election period.”

School fees hike The school fee increment could be traced to the recommendation of a visitation panel to the university in 2011. At the peak of the crisis that engulfed the university under Prof Lateef Akanni Hussain in 2011 which led to the closure of the institution for more than six months, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, on the recommendation of the Lagos State House of Assembly set up a Visitation Panel to investigate the crisis. It was that panel that recommended a raise in tuition from N25.000 to between N197,000 (for Faculty of Arts) and N350 (for College of Medicine).

However, the LASU Student Union (LASUSU) is insisting that government was selective in its choice of the recommendations, implementing those that favour it to the detriment of the students, many of who come from poor backgrounds.

At a briefing held at the LASU School of Communication in Ojuelegba, Lagos on Wednesday last week, LASUSU President, Comrade Nurudeen Yusuf Temilola, lamented that since the 725 per cent fee hike was introduced in 2011, enrolment has dwindled drastically in the school.

Supporting their claims with data, Nurudeen said there has been a sharp drop in enrolment from 4, 570 in 2006, to 1, 416 in

2014, adding that a total of 84 students have dropped out after the last academic session.

“There is an astronomical dropout rate.

There are several departments where some of the few students dropped out because they could not cope with the huge amount.

For others that are struggling, the hope that they will finish with this current fee regime is bleak,” he said.

Nurudeen also attributed the various uprisings that have occurred the school to hike.

He said successive LASUSU have fought against the fees to date. He recalled how an intense agitation for the reversal of the fees under the Akeem Durojaiye-led SUG led to the suspension of SU activities between October 2011 and July 2012.

He also recalled how the January protest by students to the secretariat in Alausa, resulted in Governor Fashola summoning the SU leadership for a debate on April 3 and asking them to come up with their own template on how the tuition should be reduced, since according to government, a total reversal is impossible.

This position, the SUG said, was tabled before the entire students in a general meeting at the university premises on April 7, leading to a proposal where they recommended that the fees be reduced to between N46.5000 (for regular students) and N65,500 (for freshers).

He said LASU, by the law that established it, is a public utility that is meant to balance social classes and not for profit making.

The students lamented that unlike before, LASU now holds third and fourth rounds of post-UTME screening to offer admission to candidates who probably are not the best of brains, but have been rejected by their choice universities and now approach LASU as the last resort.

“Maybe Lagos State government will want to say they are subsidising the education of each student in LASU with N700,000, we are yet to see any concrete evidence to that effect. This is premised on the fact that if a private university can charge N450,000 to include feeding and accommodation for a year, then LASU is costly compared to private

–LASUSU

There is an astronomical dropout rate. There are several departments where some of the few students dropped out because they could not cope with the huge amount. For others that are struggling, the hope that they will finish with this current fee regime is bleak

•Com Nurudeen

schools for paying N350,000 without accommodation and feeding,” he said.

The student leader said that government has more to lose by under-utilising faculties and human resources in LASU. “By under-utilising infrastructure and human resources in LASU, the Lagos State government is paying more. The same fixed overhead cost such as salary that can be used to effectively train 4,500 students is used to train 1000 students. The effect of the fee hike on enrolment takes more from government. As studentship drops, it doubles the cost incurred per student. Assuming the Lagos State government spends N700,000 on students, at 2,000 students, the cost will increase to N1.4 million, If the number of students drops to 1,000 whereas we are entitled to 5,000 students from the NUC quota, it means 4,000 slots are lying fallow.”

Students of the university also lent their voices on the agitation and hoping for a reversal.

Opeyemi Davies, a 300-Level Microbiology undergraduate said her petty trader mother has been paying through her nose to send her to school.

“I am happy about the turn of events, the school fees the Student Union proposed is a very good one and I wish that they would stick to it without being compromised,” she said.

Another 300-Level student of Fishery Wande Baruwa, corroborated Davies, said: “I am spending five years in this school and you can imagine me paying that outrageous amount of money with other miscellaneous fees. I support ASUU impending strike wholeheartedly. Who knows, there might be a total reversal.”

While Abisola Mary, a 300-Level Microbiology student seeks reversal, she does not want ASUU to go on strike.

“It has not been easy for my father to raise that amount of money. “I went through the Lagos State University Foundation Program before I gained admission to 200-Level through Direct Entry. I support the Student Union proposed fees, but I will plead with ASUU not to embark on this impending strike because the students will be affected most. ASUU should blame the government and not the Vice Chancellor. He did not put himself there. He is a ceremonial head and is actually dancing to some people’s tunes.”

Temitope Folaranmi, a final year Mass Communication student said though not affected by the fees, she is concerned that other students are forced to pay it.

“LASU is state school and is run by people’s taxes. I support ASUU strike. They feel for the masses that is why they are requesting for a total reversal and I also support the Student Union proposal. Anything short of this is a capital ‘NO’,” she said.

On students’ proposal, a highly-placed government source told The Nation it is being addressed.

“We are looking into it. It might interest you that those complaining are not directly affected by this fee. The Students’ Union even gave us a list of students who could not pay the fees and government paid for them. So they should give us time instead of agitating,” the source said.

27

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

EDUCATION

UNILAG immortalises Sofoluwe

EKSU FILE

SIWES unit visits students

V

ICE Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof Rahamon Bello, has urged the Federal Government to review the funding of universities upward.

Speaking while delivering the second annual memorial lecture in honour of his predecessor, the late Prof Adetokunbo Sofoluwe on Monday, Bello lamented that Nigeria's budgetary allocation to education (and university education in particular) is far less than that of many African countries with smaller economies and the UNESCO recommendation.

The late Sofuluwe Sofoluwe served as Vice Chancellor of the university between January 31, 2010 and May 11, 2012 when he slumped in his office and later died at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Idi Araba.

The lecture, with the topic: Funding of University Education in Nigeria: Trends, Challenges and new Directions, organised by the UNILAG Alumni Association (UNILAG branch), held at the Afe Babalola auditorium of the university. Bello canvassed funding per student, which he said would make universities enjoy relative autonomy and avail them of

•From left: Prof Bello, Prof Duro Oni, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Management Service, former UNILAG VC Prof Oye Ibidapo-Obe, University Librarian, Dr Olukemi Fadehan.

By Mojisola Clement

more funds to address the core businesses of the institution.

“Federal Government of Nigeria is hereby called upon to consider a re-evaluation of the funding pattern of universities because the current practice does not promote efficiency and best practices while stability and scholarship will be better promoted with autonomy of fund accrual," he said.

He expressed concern that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has become a major intervention grant for infrastructural development in the universities while the funds released for overhead and capital expenditure are dwindling and do not meet the

reality of the needs.

Chairman of the UNILAG branch of the alumni association, Dr Ayodele Ogunleye, an associate professor, said the lecture was held to celebrate Sofoluwe's intellectual and administrative legacies as well as to promote the values that he struggled to advance throughout his life such as human rights, social justice and freedom of expression.

He said the association plans to endow the Sofoluwe Dustinguished International Award for Excellence during the third edition of the lecture next year.

Meanwhile, the authorities of the university renamed the Senate recreational park after Sofoluwe on Sunday.

The park located close to the Senate Building of the university, was designed by a team of environmental scientists headed

by Dr Mike Adebamiwo.

It consists of a transition space for movement, a sevenfoot sculpture of the late professor facing the entrance of the park is at the centre, a memorial wall and an iconic picture made of mosaic tiles, and sitting area.

Many, who attended the lecture and inauguration, described Sofuluwe in kind words. The Vice Chancellor, Prof Bello described him as a very humble man.

"He means different things to different people, he was a friend, boss, mentor and that amiable personality you al-

•The statue

ways want to see when you are down," he said.

Dr Abraham Oshinubi of the College of Medicine said he was a wonderful and easy going person who was generous and humble to a fault.

His niece, Mrs Bunmi Taiwo, also described him as "a very generous uncle that you could always go to when you need money to finance anything."

Sofoluwe’s wife, Dr Olufunmilayo, said she was impressed by the school’s gesture to remember her late husband.

"He was a wonderful, caring and loving man. I am very overwhelmed and surprised at what the school management has done. It was a great and good surprise and I give all the glory back to God," she said.

RIVPOLY launches The Creek journal

R

IVERS State Polytechnic (RIVPOLY), has launched the maiden edition of The Creek Journal which the management said would open new frontiers of knowledge.

Unveiling the 104-page journal at the polytechnic’s convocation, the Vice Chancellor, Evangel University, Ebonyi State, Prof. Austin Ukwaku, said the publication will assist the students to improve on research.

Ukwaku noted that the venture could turn around the fortunes of the Polytechnic in research development if the school will properly utilise the essence of the journal.

Addressing the guests, students and members of staff of the Polytechnic, the Reactor, Sir Obianko Nwolu-Elechi, said with the launch of the

I

From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

Creek Journal workers, and even students will be able to write academic papers in their fields.

He said the institution is not only for teaching and learning, but to also conduct research.

“This is the time to prove who we are to the world; it is not only about learning but to dedicate our time for research,” he said.

Editor of the Journal, Dr. Chris Nwinika; who is also the institution’s Director of Academic Planning, said the journal covers various areas of science and technology, adding that the word ‘Creek’ explains the importance of human existence.

•From Left: Executive Director, Mr. Bernardino Doregos; honoree of NSHSS membership, Miss.

Adebola Duro-Aina; and Vice Principal (Administration), Mrs. Rebecca Okapa of Doregos Private Academy Ipaja Lagos celebrating Adebola’s feat.

Nigerian pupil honoured in U.S.

N recognition of her academic excellence and outstanding leadership quality, a pupil of Doregos Private Academy Ipaja Lagos, Miss Adebola Duro-Aina, has been selected as a member of National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) of the United States of America (USA).

The society which was founded in 2002 in the United States of America (USA), has over 950,000 members spread across over 160 countries of the world, enjoying benefits such as scholarship opportunities, academic competitions, free events, membership-only resources, publications, participation in programmes offered by educational partners, personalised recognition items, and publicity honours.

NSHSS Founder and Chairman, Claes Nobel, said he was

By Olawale Tosin

honoured to recognise the hard work, sacrifice and commitment demonstrated by Adebola to achieve this exceptional level of academic excellence, stating that she is now a member of a unique community of scholars – a community that represents our very best hope for the future.

“You have joined a dynamic organisation that connects young scholars to educational community that shares a commitment to excellence, education, and world betterment”,

‘

he added.

Speaking on the achievement, the proprietor of Doregos Private Academy, Mrs. Clementina Doregos, pointed out that the selection of Adebola is justified in view of the school’s mission of producing world class student that can rub shoulders with the best all over the world.

She explained that education remains the foundation of greatness for any nation and called on governments at various levels to pay particular attention to developing a virile

You have joined a dynamic organisation that connects young scholars to educational community that shares a commitment to excellence, education, and world betterment

’

educational system.

According to her, the development of any nation is dependent on the level of its human resources which is shaped by good educational system. She congratulated Adebola on the achievement, urging her not to relent in her efforts.

The recipient, Adebola, who was happy over the achievement encouraged other pupils to always strive for excellence, saying Nigerians are high achievers.

The National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) recognises academic excellence at the high school level and encourages members of the organisations to apply their unique talents, vision, and potential for the betterment of themselves and the world. It also provides scholarship opportunities for deserving young people. Since inception,

NSHSS has awarded more than $2million in tuition and programme scholarship. The society has its international headquarters in Atlanta, United States of America.

THE Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) Directorate of the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB) recently toured the institution's CommunityBased Farm Scheme (COBFAS) locations, to sensitise students on the Farm Practical Year (FPY) programme.

The Director, Prof Grace Sokoya, said the two-day visit to the geo-political zone in Ogun State (Isaga-Orile, Odogbolu, Ode-Lemo and Iwoye-Ketu) was to monitor how well the students were applying what they learnt in the classrooms on the farm.

She said that the Directorate was the link between National Universities Commission (NUC), the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the various industries and organisations where FUNAAB students would acquire the relevant skills and experiences.

Varsity partners institutes on cassava THE FUNAAB Vice Chancellor, Prof Olusola Oyewole, has approved a formal collaboration between the university and the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, to develop a proposal to actualise the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative on 'Improving Fertility Management System for Cassava'.

At a meeting with the coordinator of the project, Mr. Cecil Osei of IFDC, the Vice Chancellor, who was represented by the Deputy ViceChancellor (Development), Prof Felix Salako, praised the foundation for investing in the project, while adding that the university, through its Grants Management Directorate, had managed numerous research grants successfully and has a trackrecord of accountability.

Responding, Mr Osei lauded the university for operating a vibrant Grants Management Directorate.

He expressed confidence that going by the antecedents of FUNAAB in managing the C: AVA project, he was sure that the university would deliver when the proposal finally sailed through.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

28

EDUCATION Airtel teaches phone repairs

EKSU FILE

DVCs end tenure THE tenure of the two Deputy Vice Chancellors of the Ekiti State University (EKSU), AdoEkiti, Prof Olugbenga Aribisala (Deputy Vice Chancellor,Academic) and Prof Esther Aderibigbe (Deputy Vice Chancellor, Development) ended on April 25.

In appreciation of their services, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Patrick Aina formally wrote them letters of commendation in which he praised them for their enormous contributions.

The letter reads in part: “You have been an embodiment of energetic and formidable pillar to my administration and unshakable commitment to the development of the university.

Your style and approach in dealing with issues affecting the university community of staff and students have distinguished you as a good leader who knows the treasure embedded in good name and a legacy worthy of reference.

“I appreciate in you all these virtues and all that you have been doing in support of my administration to make our university a better place for the present and future generations.”

Plans for new programme THE EKSU Vice Chancellor, Prof Patrick Aina, has unveiled new plans for Entrepreneurial Studies in the university, which he believes will help it compete with the best in Africa.

Speaking while presenting the plans, Aina said that the university is embarking on entrepreneurship training to produce graduates who would be skilled and self employed.

The consultant engaged to implement the programme, Mrs. Foluso Olaniyan, said it would be beneficial to all and sundry.

“This project when commissioned, will improve the economy of the state.

“It is going to pass to students and prospective students vocational skills that will contribute to the development of the economy of the state. Rather than being unemployed, they can make sundry incomes by doing the skills acquisition venture learnt when they were in school,” she said.

The Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre, Prof. J. O. Oloyede, was among several officers of the University present at the presentation.

A

• Patience Bamidele (inset) a Nigerian Masters Student of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex organised a protest at the university to agitate for the release of the over 200 girls abducted from Chibok in Borno State.

Teleconferencing excites UNIBEN students E IGHTY students from the departments of Agriculture and Botany, University of Benin (UNIBEN) were thrilled after receiving one week of lectures in real time from lecturers of the Lincoln University, United States of America.

The initiative, known as Electronic Class Exchange, was facilitated by Idonuagbe Akogun, a son of former Leader of the House of Representative, Col. Tunde Akogun with support from the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC).

The students who were taught by Dr Jaime Pinero and Mr Jacob Wilson, were exposed to the importance of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in the context of global issues of trade and pest invasion, the biology and management options of insect pests, weeds, and pathogens affecting plants and livestock, among others.

Akogun, an alumnus of Lincoln University, said the programme was set up to create and sustain international linkages between developed countries and developing ones through their institutions of learning.

He said the idea was to expose Ni-

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

gerian students to foreign studies without leaving the country and also be at par with their counterparts in foreign countries.

He said: “I went back to my alma mater and thought of how children in Nigeria could relate with those in the United States – not those who have been abroad but those back home in Sokoto or anywhere in Nigeria. At least they can communicate and interact so that they can learn and be on the same playing field with Nigerians schooling abroad.

“Our vision is to carve out a synergy where schools across the world can interact in real time via cyber and virtual avenues creating a way for students to have first hand learning experience with their peers and foreign faculties from different countries.

“One way I believe we can stay a step ahead is by working and learn-

ing at a better rate and being able to connect live to the best schools and have information shared to us as this can only enhance the quality and value of the degrees that country gives out to aspiring graduates.”

Akogun said despite fears, the project has worked out so far and would be expanded to other universities and tertiary institutions.

“The idea has been well received but they were afraid of power issue, voice clarity and others but those are things we have thought about very well. The Federal Ministry of Education, NUC, NCCE, NBTE have keyed into the project. This project was free.

The communication was flawless. It can work anywhere in Nigeria. University of Benin supported the project so the students did not pay. I went to the schools abroad and told them what I want is their faculty. It is an avenue to collaborate. We can go into agriculture, engineering, medicine and peace and conflict resolution that can enhance the students personal and career goals,” he said.

IRTEL Nigeria has provided Niger Delta youths with practical knowledge in mobile phone repairs.

The Basic Mobile Phone Repair Module (BMPRM) offers a twoweek certificate course, which equips participants with fundamental knowledge of mobile phone repairs.

The initiative, which is organised

by Airtel Nigeria and facilitated by experts in phone repairs, is also designed to empower participants to become Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) owners.

The first session was held in Port Harcourt with 40 participants and according to the Telco, the inaugural phase of the programme has been scheduled to cover another 100 youths drawn from Bayelsa, Edo and Delta states.

Upon completion of the training, the participants will be set up as APRP operators, Data and SIM selling outlets and SIM Swap agents among a host of other opportunities.

Speaking on the initiative, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, noted that Airtel came up with the idea in line with its vision to encourage Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria and also to empower hundreds of youths through the programme.

“As more mobile devices are coming into the Nigerian market, there is growing demand for technicians who can repair phones and other mobile devices. We also appreciate the fact that millions of young people need to engage in productive ventures that can guarantee them stable income,” he said.

Pupils improve spelling through game

P

UPILS attending some private schools in Abuja have improved in their vocabulary and spellings through a new initiative, The Words Barn Game. It requires them to read extensively.

The Game boosts the reading, spelling culture and internet usage of pupils. Some of schools that have benefited from the initiative include: Glisten International Academy, The Hillside School, Abuja Capital International College, Roberto Schools, Lela Blossom School, Kingsville College, and Nigerian Egyptian International School, who have tried it.

Other are: Government Secondary School, Tudun Wada, Graceland

From Grace Obike, Abuja

School, Prime Scholars School, Christable Private School and The Siloam School.

Speaking during the words barn awards ceremony, at the Glisten International Academy, Racheal Ejoke, Creative Director, Starryclassix Limited which produced the game told The Nation that the firm hopes to inspire young people to impact their environment positively.

“With the use of the word barn, they are able to read books and sustain their reading culture whether their school is in session or on holidays and they are also able to improve their spelling

• (From left) Admiral Peter Ebhaleme, Prof Tunde Adeniran, Former Governor Gbenga Daniel, former President Earnest Shonekan, Chairman DN Meyer Sir Remi Omotosho, Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor Ms. Funmi Olunloyo, and foremost industrialist Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi at the public presentation of a book- 'Centennial Epoch: Memories and Legacies of the Nigeria' held at the NIIA Victoria Island.

PHOTO: ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA

culture despite the fact that this is an age where we use shorten words in communication especially with the social media, which has really spoilt the spelling culture, playing the game will help improve the spelling culture and sustain it,” she said A JSS2 pupil of Kingsville College, Faith Ajani, said she was learning as she played the game.

“The game makes me use my dictionary more often and to read extensively, learn new words and get better knowledge of words and better time management when I’m playing game. It is a very good hobby. Word barn can help people not very good with spelling and improve the reading culture of students,” she said.

Olayinka Bolarin, a JSS2 pupil of Glisten International Academy said, “Through words barn, I’ve learnt to motivate and influence people positively, it also taught me how to use my vocabulary and speak good English.”

Emmanuel Kunaiyi, an SS2 pupil of Abuja Capital International College said he got interested in the game by watching his friend.

“I was motivated to join by my friend Mohammed, I saw him playing the game and how much he enjoyed it and I liked it because it had to do with words. It improves your vocabulary because you have to read more to get more words. So far, I’ve learnt new words and my spellings have improved. Now when I go into the open world, I won’t be afraid of speaking because it has built my confidence.”

Six students were given awards, three got Words Barn Pride Award (WBPA) and three others with the Words Barn Most Positively Influential Award (WBMPIA).

•Prof Baridam

Ex-UNIPORT VC lists feats From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

THE former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Prof Don Baridam, has said that his achievements in office from July 2005 to July 2010 were impressive.

Baridam said they included: the construction of a Senate Building he described as the best in Africa, and over 100 projects which include faculty buildings, the e-library and the accreditation of all the academic programmes of the university during the period.

The don described the eradication of cultism from the university as “one of the greatest achievements then.”

Baridam, who was addressing his Ogoni kinsmen in the office of Peoples Democratic Party, Ward Seven in Bangha, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, said that as the sixth Vice Chancellor of UNIPORT, he succeeded in raising the bar of infrastructural and academic development which was why he was given several letters of commendation.

He also stated that as Chairman of Committee of VCs of Federal Universities and Association of VC of Nigerian universities, he contributed in many ways to the development and growth of the university system in this country and in the affairs of PDP then.

29

*CAMPUSES

Graduate dies on first day in Law School

*NEWS

Exam fever hits OAU

Page 31

*PEOPLE *KUDOS& KNOCKS *GRANTS

Page 42

THE NATION

CAMPUS LIFE 0805-450-3104 email: campusbeat@yahoo.com THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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

email:- campuslife@thenationonlineng.net

Boko Haram insurgents invaded Marimari and Gremari villages in Borno State last Saturday, creating panic at the nearby University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID). TAIWO ISOLA (300-Level Human Anatomy) reports.

•UNIMAID gate

Multiple explosions jolt UNIMAID T

HEY struck far from the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), but the echo was heard on the campus.

Students ran helter-skelter, following multiple explosions in Marimari and Gremari villages, both in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State.

The council is less than two kilometres from the university.

Boko Haram insurgents had come calling again.

The insurgents invaded the villages, shooting sporadically and throwing explosives. It was some minutes past midnight on Saturday when students were going to read in preparation for their examination.

The explosions shock the campus.

Some students, who were sleeping in their hostels, rushed out to know what was amiss. There was a stampede as staff and students ran for their lives, thinking the insurgents were trying to break into the campus. Some students were injured

in the ensuing melee.

Idris Suleiman, a student, who was reading in a classroom when the explosions occurred, said: “The class where I was reading was almost filled by students, who had exams the following day. When the bombs went off, the whole place shook. Everybody ran out because we thought the building was going to collapse on us. When I got to the hostel area, I heard students shouting ‘run for your life’.”

There was pandemonium in the hostels, but the students were afraid to run out because there was no electricity. “Everywhere was dark and we could hear students screaming for help from the hostels,” Idris added.

A female student, Anu Bamidele, who was in her hostel when the incident occurred, described it as terrible. “It was a terrible experience for us. If the incident had happened during the day, we would have known which direction to run to.

But the darkness compounded our fear; we stayed in there for as long as the shooting lasted because we didn’t know where it was happening.”

The Dean of Students’ Affairs (DSA), Prof M.W. Gaya, visited the hostels the following morning to allay the students’ fear. He cautioned them against trying to run away from the campus whenever there is an explosion.

Michael Jonah, a student, claimed to have heard sounds of Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) near the commercial area of the university as he ran to safety with other students, but said: “We didn’t know whether it was for us or against us; we just ran away.”

The students remained awake while the explosions and gunshots lasted. Stephen Edet, a final year student of Mechanical Engineering, said: “The explosion woke me up at

•Alligator found in poly hostel -P32

12am. My heart skipped. I had not the slightest idea of what was happening but I knew all was not well. Till about 4am, all occupants of my hostel remained awake. It was when the hostel mosques made calls for prayer that we felt comfortable to sleep.”

A resident of Ado Bayero Hall, who did not want his name in print, said he saw some fear-stricken students jumping down from the storey building, and sustaining injuries in their bid to escape.

The incident did not stop the ongoing examination as students, who had papers on Saturday morning, rushed to the venues. A Pharmacy student, who spoke with CAMPUSLIFE, said: “When the explosions and gunshots finally stopped around 4am, I picked up my books and started revising for my exam. I know there was no way the management would have cancelled the exam, despite the explosions that forced many students to abandon their books for four hours.”

The Borno State Department of the State Security said, in a statement, that the blasts and the shootings had nothing to do with the university.

The statement read: “There was an attack by insurgents in Marimari and Gremari villages, who attacked the villagers because of recent arrest of some and killing of some Boko Haram members by the villagers. The insurgents came for revenge.”

The insurgents were reportedly repelled by security operatives during an exchange of gun fire.

Meanwhile, the management has created military points at the university gates 1 and II and the campus motor park. Security operatives are also on campus to maintain law and order.

•‘Boko Haram is a bad ideology’ -P41

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

30

CAMPUS LIFE

Pushing Power of the hashtag Out with

O

N March 5, 2012, a group known as Invisible Children, Inc. produced a short film to promote the charity group’s “Stop Kony” movement to make Ugandan militia leader, Joseph Kony globally known and arrested for committing crimes against humanity. He is an indicted war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court. The goal of the film was to have him arrested by the end of 2012, when the campaign was expected to expire. It came with the hashtag #kony2012.

The film was an instant hit as it went viral.

As of last Tuesday when I visited the videosharing website YouTube again, it has received over 99 million views and 1.3 million “likes” and over 21.9 thousand “likes” on Vimeo.

Interestingly, the intense exposure of the video caused the “Kony 2012” website to crash shortly after it began gaining widespread popularity. A poll conducted in the United States of America revealed that more than half of young adult Americans heard about Joseph Kony for the first time in the days following the video’s release even though the carnage being perpetrated by his rebel group, The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been going on for decades. Such is the power of the social media which led to the film’s inclusion among the top international events of 2012

by PBS and called the most viral video ever

by TIME. Though controversy dogged the film’s release after a few weeks because of legitimacy issues and the film’s director Jason Russell’s psychological instability; it still resulted in a resolution by the United States Senate and contributed to the decision to send troops to the region by the African Union.

The strategy deployed by the group include obtaining the support of a select group of individuals in order to “help bring awareness to the abuse and killing of children in the East and Central African countries at the hands of Kony and his leadership.” This list included 20 “celebrity culture makers,” such as George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift and Ryan Seacrest.

The list also featured 12 “policy makers” that have “the power to keep U.S. govern-

Agbo Agbo 08116759750 (SMS only)

•aagboa@gmail.com ment officials in Africa” in order to work toward the capture of Kony. This list includes former U.S. President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and current Secretary of State John Kerry. A number of celebrities endorsed the awareness campaign against Kony, including Justin Bieber, Bill Gates, Christina Milian, Nicki Minaj, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Ellen Page.

Why do we need this introduction? We need it to draw attention to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign that has become a global headliner since a group of Nigerians decided to bring the attention of the world to the plight of the more than 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State.

Though not a documentary awareness campaign like the Kony film, it succeeded in bringing the issue into the fore-front of global discussions overshadowing the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA) which took place almost about the time the campaign break in Abuja.

It was therefore not surprising that international news media like CNN, Aljazeera, The Economist, New York Times, The Guardian of London and others all weighed in on this pathetic and embarrassing issue. The global attention generated has put the Presidency, the Nigerian military and our politicians in the dock of public opinion. From all indications, the verdict is that they have failed the people.

Nigerians did not only move to the streets to express their displeasure, they took their tweets along with them and the global audience had no choice but to join the campaign.

Since the #BringBackOurGirls campaign began, it has captured the attention of religious leaders like Pope Francis and Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, a top religious authority in Saudi

ESSAY CONTEST FOR UNDERGRADS THE Nation CAMPUSLIFE, in collaboration with AfricanLiberty.org and Network for a Free Society, is calling for entries into an essay competition.

Details are as follows: Question: Freedom creates prosperity. It unleashes human talent, invention and innovation, creating wealth where none existed before. Discuss.

Eligibility: All African Students in any tertiary institutions (university, polytechnic, college of education and technical schools) in Africa. The format of the text should be in Microsoft word and not more than 1,500 words.

Interested students can visit www.africanliberty.org for background materials. Note that plagiarism is not allowed; any text or sentences copied from other people works must be indicated in quotation marks and credit must be given at the bottom of the paper to the author. Any entry that contains plagiarised work will be disqualified.

On the first page of the completed essay, please write your full names, department, level of study and name of institution. Also include your email address and mobile phone number. Send your entries to adedayo.thomas@gmail.com Entries will be received between March 6 and June 6, 2014. Late entries will not be accepted. Winners will be announced on July 3 , 2014. All entries will get a free book titled Why Liberty by Tom G. Palmer OR Foundation of a Free Society by Eamonn Butler. Please be sure you include your postal address if different from your school address.

Prizes: 1st - George Ayittey (Platinum Prize): $1,000 and scholarship to 2014 Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA)/ASFL at the University of Cape Town Business School, South Africa, from August 14-17, 2014 2nd - Anthony Fisher (Gold Prize): $700 and scholarship to 2014 Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA)/ASFL at the University of Cape Town Business School, South Africa, from August 14- 17, 2014 3rd - Derenle Edun (Silver Prize): $500 and scholarship to 2014 Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA)/ASFL at University of Cape Town Business School.

South Africa, from August 14- 17, 2014 4th – The Nation CAMPUSLIFE Media Prize (Bronze): $300 and scholarship to 2014 Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA)/ASFL at the University of Cape Town Business School, South Africa, from August 14- 17, 2014.

We also have eight consolation prizes of $50 each.

Arabia, praying and condemning the actions of the insurgents. Political leaders are not left out either. President Barack Obama and David Cameron have weighed in by delivering tactical military and logistic support. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and other Nigerian politicians have equally endorsed the campaign.

Entertainment celebrities are also not left out; P. Diddy, The Rock, Usher, Genevieve Nnaji, Tiwa Savage, Tonto Dikeh, Angelina Jolie, Kim Kardashian, Seun Kuti, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Obama, Ellen DeGeneres, Christiane Amanpour, Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani young lady shot by the Taliban on her way to school have joined and endorsed the campaign.

The question most Nigerians would like to ask is this: Can tweets, likes, posts and selfies serve as a catalyst for social change? I will answer in the affirmative as the Arab Spring – though mismanaged – showed. Critics of online campaigns – and they are many - will be quick to tell us there is a high tendency to shift focus from the important issues of the campaign into the minor issues which serve as a distraction to the entire process.

I however don’t think so as I believe that the aim of the hashtags, tweets and picture is to keep the issue on the front burner by ensuring that enough buzz is generated so that it is not swept under the rug like most issues in the country.

Monitoring the news, I noticed that with this Boko Haram limelight comes an overwhelming global sympathy for the Nigerian citizens as the world comes to terms with the reality and the high level of ineptitude, insensitivity, insincerity and inefficiency of the Nigerian government in addressing the perennial and embarrassing insecurity in our midst.

As a historian, I know too well that the beginning of failure of a society - no matter how elaborately organized - is when it permits violent conflicts to continue unabated as a result of weak or ineffectual or ineffective leadership. This, sadly, is the Nigerian experience, from Boko Haram to herdsmen/farmers clash down to senseless ethnic frictions and confrontations that dots our unique landscapes.

And where do we place the blame for all these? It is simply a reflection of a failed leadership - both at the federal, state and local levels, but mainly on the shoulders of the federal government.

How more than 200 girls can be abducted

unchallenged by these terrorists is beyond barbarity and incomprehensible. As if this is not enough humiliation, the ineptitude and floundering of the government are equally a worse crime against humanity. No responsible government anywhere in the world except in Nigeria - folds its hands and watches its citizens butchered almost on a daily basis and merely wishes such an evil will go away sooner. A government which fails to protect its citizens, or demonstrates a true desire to do so, but merely smatters into diatribe and points fingers accusingly when it ought to be taking actions at the perpetrators of violence is as bad as the evil it refuses to fight, if not worse.

This highly embarrassing crisis has exposed the leadership failure in Nigeria to the entire world. The whole world is awestricken and dumbfounded by the inability of our government to muster the necessary courage to do what it is elected to do. The world is amazed at the glaring inefficiency of the government to fight corruption, tackle insecurity, curb incessant attacks by terrorists, and address the issues bedeviling its education, health and power sectors.

The world is alarmed at a government which waited till nearly three weeks after the kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls before it set up a “fact finding committee.” This was after it blundered and said the girls were rescued a few days after their abduction which turned out to be false. Do not forget that prior to now, 20 others girls were abducted and no one seems to be talking about their plight.

In other countries, security agencies, even if caught napping under similar circumstances, would have swung into action within hours, the Boston marathon bombing is a case in point where the perpetrators were identified and caught the same day. But in Nigeria, our security agencies regaled us with fictional tales of gallantry culminating in the rescue of the girls, when in actual fact, none had been rescued, save the handful that escaped on their own.

At the end of all this, do you know what my fears are? If the girls are eventually found and rescued I can bet you that they would be brought and celebrated at Aso Rock that is when you will see Nigerian sycophants in their elements. “Solidarity visits” from all parts of the country would commence “thanking” the President for having the “wisdom” of inviting the Americans and others to help rescue the girls. There would then be calls from all quarters for him to continue and finish the “good works” he has been doing. What a country!

Not a few students know Abisola Yusuf at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State. The 400Level English Language student recently unveiled the second edition of her magazine, Pendulum, at a ceremony attended by many. She tells SIKIRU AKINOLA (400-Level Political Science) what drives her passion to float the magazine.

‘I would have been useless’

W

HAT is Pendulum magazine all about?

The world is taking a new shape and so many new things are happening right now, which are having a negative effect in our lives.

But for me, I observe that a lot of values that define our humanity are phasing out. Integrity is becoming a virtue of the past. It is a common sight to see young ladies bleaching their skins and youths disrespecting elders. The society is corrupt and this is what people hear about us daily. But to write different stories about us, I observed we need a

•Abisola

new platform to do that. This is what the Pendulum magazine comes to do. It comes to chronicle our positive side. We are agents of positive change, who are out to proffer lasting solution to certain societal problems.

What drives your passion to start the magazine?

I derive my passion from the habit of impacting lives and motivate people through my pen. I discovered that when I speak, a lot of people are willing to listen. I started with a radio programme titled Feminine Space on Great 104.5 FM, the campus community radio.

But when the station had some technical challenges, I started looking

for an avenue to reach out to a larger audience and I decided to do that through the Pendulum. More so, I am motivated by the spirit to be a positive change agent in the society.

How did you get finance for the magazine production?

When I started, I was not even concerned about finance because the productions we did at the initial stage were personally financed from my pocket and with some help from people I met through advocacy. But when the challenges became enormous, I approached my mother, who helped financially.

I also got funds through adverts placed by people who appreciate what we do. It has been God all the way.

Who are your role models?

Let me say without God, I would have been a useless human being. I got inspiration to do this through God. He teaches and grants me a discerning spirit and gift of wisdom. I must say Gos id my first role model. My other role models are my mother and people I met in the course of my advocacy. I look up to people such as Mr Eyitayo Olu, Prof Niyi Osundare, Mr Ademola Adesola, Senior Special Assistant on Media to Osun Governor, and Dr Kehinde Ayoola of the Department of English in OAU. Do you see the magazine grow in the next five years?

To me, five years is relatively too far. Before then, the Pendulum Media Enterprise would have impacted so many lives by the grace of Almighty God. We would have changed the orientation of so many youths and purify their hearts from vices that are making our society a bad place to live in. In five years, we would also have got our own independent visual or audio media outfit.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

31

CAMPUS LIFE

Graduate dies on first day in Law School Collins Nwoha, a visually-impaired law graduate, finished from the Imo State University (IMSU) as one of the best students. He died on the day he resumed his Bar programme at the Enugu Campus of the Nigerian Law School, reports EKENE AHANEKU (300-Level Optometry).

T

HE registration at the Augustine Nnamani Campus of the Nigerian Law School (NLS) in Enugu State was not that rigorous, but Collins Nwoha, a visuallyimpaired graduate, posted to the campus, could not complete his registration before he died. It was the late Collins’ first day on the campus.

What could have caused his death? That was the question law students of the Imo State University (IMSU), Owerri, could not answer last week when the news of his death spread.

A pall of gloom descended on the institution’s Faculty of Law. Students wailed; some lecturers broke down in tears, wondering why a brilliant student should die in his prime. The late Collins studied Law at the university.

Being among the best students in his class, the late Collins was part of the first set of graduates mobilised for the Bar programme.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the deceased

enthusiastically left his house in Owerri for Enugu at 6am penultimate Monday for the Bar programme. He showed no sign of illness. On arrival at the Law School at 9am, he started his registration like others, with the help of his sister, Joy, and classmate, who always volunteered to carry the late Collins in his car.

Two hours into the registration, CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the late Collins complained of headache and fever. His classmate asked if he should take him back home to see his family doctor. The late Collins politely told his classmate to allow him complete his registration before leaving.

At 3pm, Collins visited the Law School clinic, where he was unable to see a doctor.

After waiting for several minutes, the deceased reportedly told his sister and classmate that he was strong enough to complete his registration and planned to travel back to Owerri the next day.

•The late Collins

He completed his registration at 5:55pm and was allocated a temporary bed space in Snake Island Hall. As the late Collins’ classmate was leaving the hostel, his condition was said to have worsened, making his sister, Joy, to scream for help.

The deceased was rushed to the clinic, where a doctor laboured to stabilise him to no avail. Collins died in the clinic.

His classmates said the late Collins’ visual impairment could not deter him from achieving excellence.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that his brilliance made his colleagues to select him as their representative in the Students’ Union Government (SUG).

“The late Collins never saw his disability as a problem rather he was encouraged to do more than what people with two eyes cannot do,” a student said Austin Chibueze, who saw the late Collins moments before his death, said: “I am still in shock. We travelled to Enugu together in the same vehicle. We went in for our registration together. I saw him going to his room in the evening but the next news I heard was that Collins is dead.”

Nwachukwu Ceevero, president of IMSU chapter of Law Students Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN), described Collins’ death as a tragedy, saying he would be remembered for his exceptional brilliance. “The death of Collins Nwoha reminds us of the fleeting nature of human existence. It is a tragedy because he had laudable dreams even as a visually-impaired student. But those dreams could not materialise. He will always be remembered for his exceptional brilliance,” he said.

Prince Ndiokwere, the union’s Chief Judge when the late Collins was a member, said: “I have no words to express my grief because Collins’ death is a great shock to me, especially when I consider his achievement, despite his disability. He was full of dreams but we cannot question God.”

•The students displaying placards

•The protesters being guided by a security official

There was a protest at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) last week, following the abduction of Prof Ray Ozolua, a lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology. EDDY UWOGHIREN (200-Level Medicine) and EZEKIEL EFEOBHOKHAN (300 level Pharmacy) report.

T

HE abduction of Ray Ozolua, a professor of Pharmacology at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) sparked a students’ protest on campus last Monday.

There was uneasy calm at the Faculty of Pharmacy when the news of Prof Ozolua’s kidnap broke. Students, who were waiting for him in the faculty lecture theatre, left the hall and gathered in groups to discuss the incident. Members of staff wore gloomy faces.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the professor was kidnapped by unknown assailants last Thursday evening at his off-campus residence.

His abduction was seen by students as strange. Four days later, it sparked a peaceful protest on campus.

Members of the UNIBEN’s chapter of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students (PANS) led their colleagues in the protest, calling on the school to protect lecturers from kidnappers.

The protesters comprised students of pharmacy, medicine and dentistry. The demonstration, which started at the car park of the old Pharmacy Building, saw students carrying various placards with inscriptions, such as: “Where is Prof Ray Ozolua?”, “Our pharmacologist is suffering”and “Give us back our Ray”, among others.

The protesters chanted solidarity songs as they marched round the campus. Security personnel accompanied them to prevent a

Lecturer’s abduction sparks protest break down of law and order. The students later gathered at the school main gate, creating awareness on the lecturer’s kidnap.

According to Samuel Ugwumba, president of PANS, the lecturer’s kidnap was a strange development that should concern the school authorities. He said: “Prof Ozolua is a gentle man, a father and a teacher to all of us. He teaches with passion. He is neither a business man nor a politician; what could have warranted his abduction? We are appealing to the abductors to release him unconditionally and unhurt.”

Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Akeem Omokide, a student, said the incident has brought trauma to the Faculty of Pharmacy, adding: “I have been finding it hard to read my books.”

The demonstrators moved to the office of the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Osayuki Oshodin, to register their displeasure over the incident. They were received by the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Harrison Osarenren, who praised them for their peaceful conduct. He said the management was doing all within its powers to secure Prof

Prof Ozolua is a gentle man, a father and a teacher to all of us. He teaches with passion. He is neither a business man nor a politician; what could have warranted his abduction? We are appealing to the abductors to release him unconditionally and unhurt

Ozolua’s release.

Jennifer Otakhor, chairman of the AntiDrug Misuse and Abuse Programme (ADMAP), a students’ body, and PANS members were selected to meet with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof John Okhuoya, and his Academics counterpart, Prof Obehi Okojie.

The Deputy VCs cautioned the students not to take the protest beyond the campus, saying: “The issue is very sensitive.”

Israel Osagie, the caretaker committee chairman of the UNIBEN Medical Students Association (UBEMSA), described the abducted professor as a mentor. He said: “I got to know Prof Ozolua during my preparation for the professional Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery examination. He is a gentle man and a mentor.”

Prof Ozolua was freed by his captors after the protest.

There was jubilation on the campus when he was released last Tuesday evening, a few hours after the protest. Students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, warned kidnappers not to use their lecturers as commodities of their nefarious trade.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

32

CAMPUS LIFE Fashion show at UNILAG

B

ARRING last minute change of plan, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) will, next month, be agog for campus fashion show to be organised by Black ‘n’ Bold Fashion House in collaboration with Africa Fashion Week London and Mahogany Productions and Events.

The organisers said they are leaving no stone unturned towards the hosting of the second edition of the Nigerian Students’ Fashion and Design Week, which has been scheduled for June 5 and 6 at the Indoor Sports Hall on campus.

Biola Orimolade, the head of the organising committee, told CAMPUSLIFE that the fashion show would host over 48 students and

Students criticise govt’s handling of pupils’ abduction

S

From Adeyemi Ayodeji OAU said: “We stand here to say that we do not commend the efforts of the president since the 276 girls were abducted by criminals and taken to the bush. We condemn the abduction but we feel the government has not done enough to rescue the girls from their abductors.”

The Vice-President-elect of the OAU Students’ Union, Funmilola Oladejo, said: “We are expressing our grievances over the efforts of the government so far in rescuing the girls. Through this solidarity rally, I believe now the government knows that we are up to something.

It is not a threat; they should find a quick solution to the problem before it is too late.”

Other students who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE expressed their dis-

appointment in the Federal Government, saying the comportment of the president showed he was not capable to lead the country.

Tunmise Oladoyinbo, a 400-Level English Education student, said: “We are here to mount pressure on the presidency to double its efforts in rescuing the girls from the bush.

We have been insulted enough and we don’t want the problem to aggravate beyond this.”

Mary Ajayi, a 400-Level English student, said the large turnout of students showed that people are not happy with the development. He urged the government to review its strategy to combat terror.

“The students are coming to say that we have not been feeling the impact of the government since the girls were taken away by Boko Haram. I see this protest achieving a positive end,” Mary said.

Alligator found in poly hostel

T

HERE was commotion last Saturday at Sango Campus of The Polytechnic Ibadan when students discovered a baby alligator in Olori Female Hall.

The hostel is located near Apete River, the north of the campus. An occupant of the hostel, who was washing her clothes, found the reptile, crawling into the building. She alerted other occupants, who were relaxing the in their rooms. Within a moment, the hostel was deserted by the students, who ran in different directions.

The occupants alerted the hostel porters, who moved to the scene. It was learnt that the porters used a long rod to kill the reptile, which tried to escape into the river.

While the reptile was being chased, there was a panic among students in nearby hostel, who got a hint that the creature had sneaked into the compound.

Because of the hostel’s proximity to the river, students said snakes are seen around regularly, but noted that it was the first time a reptile would be found, reinforcing the notion that there may be harmful creatures in the Apete River.

Some of the students said the alligator may have escaped from the University of Ibadan zoo, which is close to the school. Some other made a joke out of the incident, saying the reptile was spiritually sent to attack one of the hostel’s occu-

aspiring designers from across Nigeria for three days, as well as over 30 exhibitors that would be showcasing their creativity in fashion designing. He said the show would be broadcast live to audience projected to be 10,000.

The show, which started last year, is aimed at discovering new talent and giving opportunities to students that may not afford to participate in major fashion weeks. It will also provide a platform for emerging designers that want to use the opportunity as a platform to either launch themselves or showcase their brands.

Union gives foodstuff to members

•The protesters displaying placards at the Students’ Union building

TUDENTS of the Obafemi Awolowo University in IleIfe, Osun State, last Saturday protested the abduction of over 270 girls of Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram fighters.

The students converged at the Anglo-moz Car Park on campus, where they started a protest march.

They displayed various placards in which they decried they called government’s ineptitude in handling the schoolgirls abduction.

The protesters moved from around all the eight halls of residence on campus, chanting solidarity songs, before stopping at the Ken SaroWiwa Students’ Union Building.

A protester, who did not give his name, said President Goodluck Jonathan’s inaction showed the government’s incapability to protect the citizens against terror. He

From Hannah Ojo LAGOS

T

HE Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) of the Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH) in Yola, Adamawa State, has distributed free food stuff to its members.

Speaking at the event, the Registrar, Alhaji Ibrahim Ribadu, praised the union executive for promoting welfare of the members and uplifting their standard of living.

Ribadu congratulated the union executive for its achievement since inception, urging members to always support their leaders.

The union chairman, Comrade

From Saad Aliyu MAUTECH Mohammad Ibrahim, said that the primary objective of the union was to improve the welfare of the members and protect their interest when necessary.

Ibrahim called on the members to give their best in service to the union and university, urging them to work as a team to move the union to a greater height.

It was the second time SSANU would be distributing free food to its members.

6,832 take oath at DELSU

N

O fewer than 6,832 students have been admitted into various departments of the Delta State University (DELSU). At the matriculation held on the three campuses of the institution, the freshers took the oath administered by the Registrar, Mr. Udjo Ejiro, who noted that 5, 417 were admitted into the regular degree programmes, while 1, 415 were admitted for diploma programmes.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Eric Arubayi, congratulated the students to have successfully scaled through the admission hurdle, noting that the institution could only admit the successful freshers out of 30, 000 applicants that applied to the university.

The VC noted that the institution wished to admit more students, but said the management was prevented by the National Universities Commission (NUC) admission quota.

He noted that the university had grown from a modest beginning to be a model citadel of research and learning. According to him, the institution’s quality of education is evident in the activities of its graduates, who he said, have been contributing positively to the development of the country.

Prof Arubayi enjoined the new

From Philip Okorodudu and Ese Okoduwa DELSU students not to breach the matriculation oath they took, urging them to refrain from act inimical to the growth of intellectualism. He said: “I want to warn that the university takes serious exception to issues that bother on indiscipline and lawlessness particularly when such actions involve violence, cultism, and breach of peace, examination malpractice, indecent dressing and any kind of actions that breach matriculation oath.”

Some of the matriculating students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, could not hide their joy of becoming undergraduates of the institution Francis Edeki, admitted into the Department of Mathematics Education, said: “Today’s event is memorable, after all the rigorous process of admission. I humbly and sincerely thank God for making me to be one of the students being inducted”.

Victor Esiorho, 100-Levels Sociology, said he would use the opportunity of admission to create good future for himself, promising to abide by the university regulations.

Students get SIWES orientation

S •The alligator after it was killed

From Omolara Omoniyi, IBADAN POLY pants.

Some frightened occupants, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, said they could not say if the creature was a crocodile or an alligator.

Aisha Salami, an occupant, said: “We were frightened at the sight of the animal. It was discovered by one of the occupants, who had gone to wash her clothes. Although, we are used to seeing different kinds of animals such as snakes in the rainy season, but finding an alliga-

tor is totally strange.”

Another occupant, who declined to give her name, said: “I initially thought the alligator could have escaped from the zoo, but when I remembered we live close to a river, I was relieved.”

Porters advised occupants to be vigilant, urging them to notify the authorities whenever they discover strange animals around the hostel.

The baby alligator was found seven days after a snake was discovered in student’s room and one of the offices in the Mass Communication Department.

TUDENTS of the Federal Polytechnic in Offa, who are preparing to undergo fourmonth Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), have been urged to be good ambassadors of the institution and their parent when they eventually get placement for the exercise.

The Rector, Dr Mufutau Olatinwo, gave the advice at the 2014 Orientation Lecture for the students. The Rector, who spoke through the Director of Students Affairs (DSA), Mr. Leo Adeyemi, urged the students to show diligence and commitment to task in their various places of assignment.

The Head of Department of Mass Communication, Mr A.A oyewole, admonished the students to learn adequate skills while they undergo the exercise, urging them to stick

From Jennifer Umeh OFFA POLY to ethics and safety rule in their places of assignment to prevent accident.

Mr Chuks Okoji , a lecturer, who spoke on Safety in the industrial workshops, laboratory and environment, advised the students to always put on protective equipment as may be prescribed to them in the industry.

He listed some safety precautions, which would be useful to the students.

Another lecture, Mr Bisola Olowookere, urged the students to seize the opportunity of their industrial training to create good impression of themselves. He said the Federal Government would speed up payment of their allowance.

Newspaper of the Year

AN 8-PAGE PULLOUT ON SOUTHEAST STATES

Ebonyi community gets electricity, first time ever

Peace returns to communtiy, five months •PAGE 36

•PAGE 34

THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

PAGE 33

Nigeria’s first woman •PAGE 35 professor of statistics

•The youths at the inuaguration of the jobs programme at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri

25,000 jobs for Imo graduates, others T

HE plan could well be the answer to a variety of societal ills: youth unemployment, restiveness, crime and economic instability, among others.

The “Youths Must Work’ programme is catching on in Imo State. It is providing jobs for graduates and other youths in the state. Some reckon it will also help to contain agitation among youths and boost the state economy.

Already, the plan is said to have created about 25,000 jobs for various cadres of youths, including graduates of tertiary institutions in its first phase. Some other segments of the state population have

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

also been employed.

The initiative, according to Governor Rochas Okorocha, was conceived to ensure that every youth in the state is gainfully employed.

More and more of the target segment are abandoning the streets to become employees of the state government.

Its impact on the social and economic sector of the state is also invaluable as youth-related vices like armed robbery, prostitution, kidnapping, thuggish behaviour and youth restiveness have dropped drastically.

Inaugurating the first phase of

‘The ‘Youths Must Work’ programme is so dear to the rescue Mission Agenda. This administration will continue to create meaningful employment for our teeming youths so that they too will continue to contribute their quota to the building of the Imo State of our dream’ the programme at the Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri, the state capital, Okorocha observed that the re-

cruitment of graduates is not a political gambit but a fulfillment of his campaign promise to the teem-

ing youths of the state.

He assured that the plan will provide a job for every youth in the state ministries, agencies, parastatals and departments. The governor added that it will soon become a crime for any youth in the state to be idle.

Okorocha noted further that the initiative is unprecedented in the state and will be sustained by his administration contrary to the opinion of critics.

“The ‘Youths Must Work’ programme is so dear to the rescue Mission Agenda,” he said.

•Continued on page 34

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

34

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

Ebonyi community gets electricity, first time ever ‘We see rural elecT trification as a key

HE long days of darkness are over. Since it was founded, Okpuma never had electricity.

Now it does, and its residents are relishing the sweet relief.

The fact that Okpuma in Edda East Development Centre of Afikpo South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State was never connected to the national grid reveals the poor condition of rural dwellers, but it also highlights the need for the Federal Government to sustain the third tier of government in the country.

Until recently, nobody knew that the people of Okpuma in Amangwu community in Edda East Development Centre had never enjoyed public power since their community came into existence. But the story changed when the state governor Martin Elechi appointed Mr Kenneth Eseni as the Coordinator of the development centre in the area.

Mr Eseni, a journalist and former General Manager in charge of South East operations of Daar Communications Plc, operators of Africa Independent Television (AIT), Raypower and Daarsat, is of the school of thought that developmental initiatives and provision of infrastructural facilities should not be concentrated in a particular geographical zone but rather allowed to spread evenly across all nooks and crannies of the state.

The community was marginalised by previous administrations which seemed only interested in the residents’ votes, not meeting their needs.

In a chat with th reporter, Eseni said the council approved the sum of N9 million for the electrification project.

He said: “This community never had electricity since the creation of the world. They have never had light all through their history; since the creation of humanity, this community has never seen public electricity. It is not that they had light and it went down; they have never seen public electricity; whatever light

project that will turn around the economy of Edda East Development Centre and that is why we intend extending it from Amangwu through Asaga to Owutu and of course we will move into other parts of Edda east development centre. I can assure you that this project will be completed after the next ten days’ •The electricity project site at Okpuma From Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

they have seen was through power generating sets.

“We are taking this light from the high tension that is running from Amasiri down to Amangwu because we feel that this community has been so long neglected by previous administrations and we feel that their socio-economic life needed be turned around.

“Since Amangwu community where Okpuma belongs to already has light, it is just morally justifi-

able that we give Okpuma light, and after this project we are moving power to Asaga from Amangwu; we are extending it from the high tension from Amangwu to Asaga via Owutu.

“We have for some time now seen that Owutu took light from the Unwana axis and the power supply there has been quite epileptic to the extent that for several months, they don’t have light. The AmasiriAmangwu route is more reliable and our people are clamouring for a better power supply. That is why our administration through the directive of the Governor of Ebonyi

State, Chief Martin Elechi has concentrated much of our capital into this kind of project.

“We see rural electrification as a key project that will turn around the economy of Edda East Development Centre and that is why we intend extending it from Amangwu through Asaga to Owutu and of course we will move into other parts of Edda east development centre. I can assure you that this project will be completed after the next ten days.

“We identify the projects we want to execute and do appropriate costing and also categorise them so as to know those that are capital in-

tensive and those that are routine.

Maintenance of roads is a routine project, so we don’t really see them as capital intensive. Now from day one, we started saving; like this electrification project that is N9 million, you can’t just remove the cash from the monthly allocation at once, so we have to save it”.

Expressing joy over the electrification project, a community leader in the area, Sunday Ogbonnaya, stated that the project was a welcome development.

“Previous administrations have been coming to us with their cam•Continued on page 38

25,000 jobs for graduates •Continued from page 33

“This administration will continue to create meaningful employment for our teeming youths so that they too will continue to contribute their quota to the building of the Imo State of our dream”.

Speaking further, he said, “We have recruited 25,000 youths in the first phase into the Imo State Civil Guard, the Imo State security Network, the Community watch, while others have been recruited as teachers in primary and secondary schools, Ministries, Parastatal and departments and the programme will be sustained until every Imo youth is gainfully employed.

“The benefits of this programme are obvious; Imo State is one of the safest states in the federation today, because the youths have found something meaningful to do to earn a living there are no more cases of kidnapping, armed robbery, political assassinations and other heinous crimes.

“This administration is working very hard to revive all ailing state owned industries and create new ones to increase job opportunities for our youths and more youths will be recruited during the next phase”.

Deploring the level of unem-

•Okorocha

•Some of the youths at the parade at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri

ployment in the country, the governor urged the federal and state governments to initiate policies and programmes that will create jobs for youths.

He added, saying, “It pains me so much that our youths roam the streets everyday in search of nonexisting jobs. The extent of this menace was brought to the fore recently when youths lost their lives scrambling for immigration job. This calls for emergency in area of job creation.

“That is why in Imo State today, we have taken the lead in massive job creation for the youths. No more will our youths die searching for jobs, no more will the youths lose their dignity running after politicians as thugs, and no more will our girls go into prostitution to earn a living. This programme must be sustained until every Imo youth has something to do.

“We have decided to rationalise and socialise labour so that all

youths may work. We are not engaging the youths to provide jobs for them alone but to serve their fatherland and carve a niche for themselves.”

Speaking earlier, the Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, Hon Kenneth Emelu, commended the state Governor, for giving the youths the opportunity to serve and become responsible citizens of the state.

He noted that the recruitment of the youths in fulfillment of the

Governor’s promise three years ago will go a long way to curb crime in the state, stating that the Okorocha’s administration has made another remarkable achievement in the Rescue Mission Agenda.

The Commissioner disclosed that the 25,000 youths were drawn from the 27 Local Government Areas of the state, irrespective of political or religious inclinations.

“This is the first of its kind where employment is done without recourse to political party or religious group; every youth on the state had equal opportunity unlike in the past where job opportunities were the exclusive reserve of those that have godfathers in power”.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

35

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

Chime tackles water scarcity

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HERE is a good road network in the state, but that is not all the Sullivan Chime administration has done. One other giant stride in the state is the provision of water.

The problem of water supply to Enugu metropolis was old as the city itself. Sources of water abound in the state. But the problem has been distribution. There are the World Bank assisted water project at OjiRiver and the Ajalli water reservoir.

But the question is distribution.

The water pipes laid by the colonial masters in the 1920s have all rusted and weakened. Successive administrations were not interested in replacing them. And every now and then the old pipes burst. And this constituted a herculean task for the workers at the water corporation.

Instead of replacing the pipes, they rather patched them up, and the water problem persisted.

Governor Chime came with a different view. To him water is unarguably one of the most important basic needs of man. All through history, the success or otherwise of governments in all climes have been measured and predicated on how well they have been able to provide basic needs of the people more especially water.

Before the advent of his administration, water supply in Enugu State was the worst problem long declared to be intractable by preceding administrations.

But that era has since become history with the breakthroughs recorded by the Chime administration in the areas of regular water generation and distribution in both the urban and rural areas of the state.

The most significant and conspicuous of these achievements however, is the government’s successes

•A typical scene in Enugu

‘The administration set out to increase the state’s water supply capacity from under 20,000 cubic meters to 77,000 cubic metres. That objective has all but been realised’ From Chris Oji, Enugu

in the area of urban water supply more especially with the restoration of public taps that were last seen in Enugu more than three decades ago.

Needless to say that Enugu residents and visitors alike, have welcomed this development with such jubilation and excitement that they have promptly nicknamed the taps

‘I was lucky during the last Immigration recruitment exercise because I was among those who took the test at the stadium in Abuja where many applicants died. But today what I have been searching for in far away states for the last seven years I have found in my state without bribing anybody’ Giving a breakdown of the recruitment, Emelu revealed that 5000 youths were recruited into the Imo Security Network, 2000 recruited into the Imo Palm Plantation, 5000 employed as teachers in public primary and secondary schools, 2700 was recruited into the Local Government Service, 2000 employed in the Ministries and Departments and 7000 was recruited into the Imo Community Watch, among others.

Also lauding the programme, the State Commissioner for Information, Dr Theodore Ekechi stated that it was the first time in the history of the state when such a number of youths were given employment at a go.

“Governor Okorocha has done what no previous governor had ever thought of in the creation of jobs for the youths and he is doing this simultaneously with the massive developmental projects going on in all parts of the state,” he said.

He added further that, “the process of the recruitment was open and free and every youth in the state had the opportunity of getting employed unlike the previous administration that hurriedly employed 10,000 youths at the twilight of its term.”

In his remarks, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Sir Mathias Uguru, thanked the governor for tackling the menace of youths’ unemployment.

He said the state government has done well in combating crime through the creation of jobs for unemployed youths.

For the 25,000 youths, their joy knew no bounds as they filed out in their colorful uniforms to bid farewell to unemployment and poverty. As early as 7.30 am, thousands of youths and their relatives had converged on the main bowl of the Dan Anyiam Stadium where their journey into career civil ser-

Mmiri Sullivan (Sullivan’s Water).

The government had started this remarkable process of restoration with the complete removal of old steel and asbestos pipes in the urban areas - some of them which dated as far back as 1929- and replacing them with the safer and more durable PVC pipes. This not only helped to broaden the water supply channels and networks but ensured that it

vice was to begin.

The sudden change from job seeker to civil servant sounded so good to be true. Miss Nkechi Okoroafor, one of the beneficiaries from Owerri West Council Area of the state, it was a dream come true, “I never believed that this day was going to come. When the Governor announced the ‘Youths Must Work’ programme, I was sceptic, I thought it was one of those political statements so when they asked the youths to collect forms from the Ministry of Youths and Sports Development, I was skeptical because I thought that it was just for those who has people in government that can recommend them but today I am employed as a teacher in one of the primary schools and I thank my Governor for it”.

Mr. Stanley Ibecheodo, a graduate of English Language from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, was until his recruitment, a teacher in a private school where he was hardly able to make ends meet.

Reacting to his new job, he said, “I was frustrated looking for job all over the country; I was lucky during the last Immigration recruitment exercise because I was among those who took the test at the stadium in Abuja where many applicants died. But today what I have been searching for in far away states for the last seven years I have found in my state without bribing anybody.

“I want to urge other youths who were not so lucky in this first batch to keep praying and supporting this administration to sustain the Youth Must Work programme because it could be their turn in the next batch”.

reached all nooks and crannies of the cities.

Regular supply of potable water has since ceased to be the exclusive perquisite of the rich living in the high-brow areas of the coal city. Residents of such less regarded areas of Obiagu, Abakpa, Achara Layout, Idaw River and Emene are now happy and proud beneficiaries of the taps that sit sedately in front of their respective houses.

Gone are the long treks to water boreholes or wells as well as the queues and the frequent fights that Enugu residents have endured all these years. It is of record that a full of generation of Enugu residents especially those in the low profile habitats never had the opportunity available today to enjoy this all important social service.

It is not yet uhuru though as the service is yet to get to all the areas but the affected residents are confident that with the enormity and the

pace of work still being done by the state Water Corporation on the project, it would be a matter of time before the service reach their quarters.

A petty trader at Enugu’s slum area, Obiagu said that if anyone had told her that she would ever see a tap running freely in front of her ‘face me I face you’ residence in her lifetime, she would laughed the fellow away. “I grew up to believe that tap water was for the rich people living in GRA (Government Reserved Area and such places. I have lived here for twenty five years and I never saw any running tap until now”, she said.

Another citizen, residing in a part of Gariki, said that even though the service was still to reach his residence, he was optimistic that it would soon get there given the administration’s track record in keeping its promises to the people.

He said, “In Sullivan Chime, we have seen a governor who has always kept his promises, who has always completed his projects, even though our own tap is yet to be activated, we know and we see that work is going on and we are confident that in no time at all, we will join our fellow residents to enjoy this wonderful present” Indeed, on inception, the administration set out to increase the state’s water supply capacity from under 20,000 cubic meters to 77,000 cubic metres. That objective has all but been realised.

The issue of water supply has even been tackled with greater zeal and vigour in the rural areas of the state.

The Enugu State Rural Water Supply and sanitation Agency (ENRUWASSA), is the agency charged with the responsibility of providing safe drinking water to the rural communities.

Records show that it has so far lived up to its billings under the Chime administration which has the provision of potable water and environmental sanitation as a cardinal component of its widely acclaimed 4-point agenda.

The governor’s major land marks •Continued on page 38

Nigeria gets first woman professor of statistics From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

•Prof Nwabueze

N

IGERIA now has a woman professor of Statistics. She is Mrs Joy Chioma Nwabueze.

She hails from Imo State and teaches at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) Abia State.

The statistician is married to Prof Titus Ugochukwu Nwabueze, a native of Mgbidi in Oru West Local Government Area of same Imo State, a professor of Food Science and Technology, and Deputy Dean of Post-Graduate School. He is also the Desk Officer at the institution’s Nigeria Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Prof Joy Nwabueze seems destined for the peak. Speaking to our reporter, she said God prepared her for all her achievements. From pri-

mary school to the university, she always set a record. In her secondary school at Atta Girls Secondary School Ikeduru Imo State, she came first in all subjects except in Commerce where she scored 82% against the 83% by the first position holder.

But she maintained first positions in all classes till her final year.

She studied Statistics at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) where she had her first degree and Master’s in Statistics and has garnered 11 firsts in the course of her studies, teaching, works and national assignments.

The first was Best Graduate in MSc Class at UNN in 1987 for which she bagged the award of Jamie Brooks Memorial Scholarship.

Others include first female PhD holder of the graduates of the UNN Department of Statistics from either UNN or any other University in Nigeria since the establishment of the department. She also obtained her PhD in Statistics from the University of Ibadan in 2000 thus became the first female PhD holder in Statistics in Nigeria.

First Associate Professor of Statistics at Abia State University Uturu (ABSU) in 2008; first professor of •Continued on page 38

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

36

37

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

•The traditional ruler of Mgbom N’Achara, Ezeogo Asu UdeOgu with the coordinator and his entourage during a courtesy call on the monarch

•Members of the communities listening to the coordinators appeal for peace

Peace returns to communtiy, five months after N

OT many communities were more peaceful in Ebonyi Statel. Then, it was all gone, replaced by mayhem the residents never knew. Thankfully, peace is back in Okposi after five months of youth-induced crisis.

The community is one of three major towns that make up Ohaozara Local Government Area of the state, the other two being Ugwulangwu and Uburu.

Okposi was one of the most peaceful towns in Ebonyi State until about five months ago when the community was literally turned upside down by a group of renegade youths sometimes called cult groups.

These groups unleashed such mayhem never before witnessed in the area that indigenous people of the community resident in other cities and urban centres stopped coming back.

In about five months, about four persons where killed in various violent clashes that erupted in the area with many others maimed.

Even the police station in the area was also affected as it was vandalised by the rampaging youths.

The then coordinator of the area, did not help matters as he was said to have not taken the mater seriously. Some even accused him of complicity in the crisis as he was believed to be the sponsor of one of the groups responsible for the crisis.

Miffed by the failure of the coordinator to tackle the security challenges in his area, the State governor, Martin Elechi in March sacked the coordinator and replaced him with a renowned journalist and public relations expert, Mr Magnus Eze. Magnus Eze’s appointment as the coordinator did not come to many as a surprise. He was one of the few indigenes of the area who, during the heat of the crisis, continued go-

‘We decry the attitude of some politicians who use our youths as thugs to perpetrate violence and criminal activities in the community and urge them to desist forthwith as no stone shall be left unturned to unmask them’

‘In about five months, about four persons where killed in various violent clashes that erupted in the area with many others maimed. Even the police station in the area was also affected as it was vandalised by the rampaging youths’ ing home despite threats to his life.

He also initiated peace moves to restore peace in the area, which was known as the mezie okposi movement which mans rebuilding or reclaiming Okposi.

So his appointment as the coordinator, to many in the community was a welcome development. Since his appointment, The Nation can report that peace has returned to the community.

The cs oordinator on assumption of office urged indigenes of Okposi to embrace peace; maintaining that no development could be achieved in crisis situation.

Speaking at a reception organised at Enuakwa, headquarters of the Development Centre to mark his official taking-over ceremony and assumption of office, the Coordinator, Eze said the community had been ravaged by hoodlums, appealing to the youth to be more productive instead of taking to violence and other social vices.

Eze disclosed that in restoring peace and security of lives and property to the Development Centre, he would hold strategic meetings with the respective stakeholders including youth, women, community leaders, artisans, traders, traditional institutions as well as security agencies.

“The core mandate given to me by my boss, His Excellency, the Executive Governor, Chief Martin

From Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

Elechi is to restore peace in Okposi as a whole, not just the Development Centre. In doing this, our focus will be in reconciling the people; healing the wounds of our recent ugly past. We will endeavour to engender public confidence through consensus-building. We must restore Okposi people’s trust in government,” the coordinator explained.

He charged the Church to rise up to its billing in reorienting the

•The coordinator addressing townspeople during a sensitisation campaign

•The coordinator receiving gifts from the youths in the community

youths through inculcation of sound moral values.

The coordinator in his bid to achieve lasting peace also called a meeting of leaders of thoughts in the community, of Okposi EziN’asato Clan in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

The leaders met and after exhaustive deliberations on recent ugly happenings in the community

noted with serious concern that although, crime may never be eradicated completely from any society but the sudden rise of crime in the community from a once peaceful and almost crime-free community to a den of criminals and home to highly militant youths calls for concerted efforts by all well-meaning Okposi indigenes and government at all levels including the se-

•Members of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Plateau chapter, and civil society organisations protesting over the abduction of Chibok girls in Jos

curity agencies.

They also held that that the timely change of leadership at Okposi Development Centre with the appointment of Mr. Magnus Eze as Coordinator by the Ebonyi State Governor, His Excellency, Chief Martin N. Elechi, is a step in the right direction, highly welcome and commendable.

And having carefully taken criti-

cal x-ray of all the issues; the meeting hereby resolved as follows: that “That the two Coordinators of Okposi and Anuagata Development Centres in Okposi Ezin’asato should liaise with the traditional institutions and Development Unions of the three Autonomous Communities to ensure the security of lives and properties in Okposi Ezin’asato”.

“That the abduction and gruesome murder of Elder Ihebunandu Okorie, former Coordinator of Okposi Development Centre is a big blow not only to Okposi Ezin’asato but to the entire Ebonyi state and therefore urge the Ebonyi State Government and the security agencies concerned to ensure that the perpetrators of the dastardly act are brought to book no matter how highly placed the person or group of persons may be”.

The group also called on all well-meaning sons and daughters of Okposi Ezin’asato to support the efforts of government at all levels in ensuring the peace and security of lives and properties in Okposi Ezin’asato and its environs.

Furthermore, “we urge parents and guardians to monitor the ac-

tivities of their children and wards to avoid their conscription into the social miscreant gangs”.

“We decry the attitude of some politicians who use our youths as thugs to perpetrate violence and criminal activities in the community and urge them to desist forthwith as no stone shall be left unturned to unmask them’, the leaders concluded.

The coordinator also recently embarked on a familiarization and security awareness tour of the development centre.

These include town hall meetings and needs assessment as well as courtesy call on traditional rulers in the area to solicit for their support.

The traditional ruler of Mgbom N’Achara, Ezeogo Asu UdeOgu speaking when the coordinator paid him a vist advised Mr. Eze to involve all stakeholders of the ancient Okposi town and iron out best ways to stem the sudden out burst of heinous crimes and other social vices that has threatened the peaceful coexistence of the people of Okposi.

The campaign saw the coordinator visiting the four wards in

Okposi DC namely Amichi, Obiozara, Mgbom and Echara , and the 12 villages.

According to him, “the Mezie Okposi train has taken off, which is the focus of our administration.

We have come to reclaim Okposi, we have come to rescue, and then rebuild it.

“Prior to this period the people had almost lost faith in government to the level that maybe if the government had called on the people the people would have not heeded the call. So the governor’s action and pronouncement gave rise to this new lease of life, have given birth to hope to the people today.

Our driving focus is to see how we can through advocacy make the people to have faith in government again, and we do it through telling them and reassuring them that government has the best of intention for them”. ”This we will not do by staying in the office. This we will do through constructive engagement, by going down to the grassroots and talking to them in the language they understand. And we didn’t want to assemble them at a place we went to them one by one and also to their traditional rulers”.

On the needs assessment component of the campaign Mr Eze said, “It also afforded us the opportunity to do needs assessment. We didn’t want to stay in the office and guess that one community will need a culvert or water or road, instead we let them participate in choosing the project we will do for them’.

“So by needs assessment, what we do is when we come to a particular community, they tell us their problems and we then rank them in order of priority or most

•Abia State Governor Theodore Orji (third left) inspecting a road project in Umuahia.

With him are his aides and NGAMEC Construction company personnel

important, so whenever we want to do a project for that community, based on our financial strength, we begin with the ones they asked for.

We wouldn’t want to go and site borehole in a place where people need culvert”, he explained.

“Before we came on board there was crisis in Okposi, now the situation is calm, we have been engaging the communities and even the supposedly youth groups have pledged loyalty and have promised to be law abiding. Whatever mistakes that have been made we believe shall be corrected with time because we are not doing it alone.

“We intend to run an all inclusive government. So we are involving everybody. Whatever camp you belong to does not matter to us. The Mezie Okposi train has taken off, it is in everybody’s best interest to join us.

“In February at the height of the crisis that engulfed the community, a police station was vandalised, there was youth restiveness. But when asked what they are agitating for, you discover that there is really no issue worth agitating. It was all about a cult disagreement that led to the death of one person and from their was killed and so on.

“Also during that period, a former coordinator was also killed.

These were issues that agitated the people, and they were really worried, that it why it seemed as if the people lost faith in government”.

He warned the hoodlums to change or else they will be made to face the full weight of the law.

‘We have given hoodlums one month ultimatum to change or else they will be arrested and handed over to security agencies. We have been engaging them and their parents and relatives. We have sounded a note of warning that we are in liason with security agencies and we are aware that they are monitoring these trouble makers.

So to be fore warned is to be fore harmed”, he warned.

He also said the development centre will soon begin the destruction of some shanties near the development centre headquarters which has become a melting pot for hoodlums and criminal activities including illicit trade in hard drugs like Indian hemp.

Mr Eze, however, promised that modern shops will also be built in place of the destroyed shanties and rented out to the youths to reduce employment while taxes and rents fees collected will also swell the revenue of the development centre.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

38

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT Ebonyi community gets electricity first time ever

•Governor Elechi

•Continued from page ?? paign promises without fulfilling them but this young man between one to three months in office said enough was enough on lack of power in our community.

“I’m very happy over this project;

I say this project is sweeter than sugar for us in this community; we are happy. I’m reminding those in political office to emulate what our Coordinator is doing for us here.

The Coordinator has brought democracy dividend to us and we are happy. Politicians occupying various positions should use their office to assist the poor and downtrodden masses like you. We are located at the boundary between Afikpo North and South LGAs of the state.

“With this light, water will come; the youths and aged among us have promised that the materials will be secured; we are 100 percent prepared to ensure that all the materials for this project are adequately protected,” he assured.

•Madumere receiving an award from Dr. Rita Moses

Nigeria gets first woman professor of statistics •Continued from page 35 Statistics in MOUAU in 2013.

In university administration Professor Nwabueze who is in her mid forties became the first Acting Head of Department of Statistics at ABSU from 2000-2001 and first Dean of College of Physical and Applied Sciences of MOUAU from 2013 to date . She joined MOUAU in October 2011 and was elevated to professorship about two years after in 2013 along with her husband on the same day making it a double celebration for the Nwabueze family.

She is the first woman to receive a Distinguished Honours Award by the Department of Statistics of the UNN on the 30th anniversary of the department as the first female PhD holder of the department.

Also, she was the first to be celebrated at the 37th Annual Statistics Conference held at Uyo, Akwa Ibom state in 2013 by the National Statistics Association (NSA) as the first female professor of Statistics in Nigeria after more than 40 years of existence of the department of Statistics in Nigeria universities.

Prof Joy and her husband were the first couple to be pronounced professors on the same day in 2013 in the same bulletin by the MOUAU Governing Council.

The family is also first in another area of Christianity, as Prof Joy is a Pastor of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Ministries while her husband is the overseer of the MOUAU Chapter. Both thus became the first pastor- couple of the Ministry in the university.

She said that her life and story have not been only about teaching, as she has done other jobs which include working as a consultant to the World Bank and many other such foreign organisations within and outside the country.

Prof. Nwabueze said there are some major problems facing the country and they include, “That what builds a nation is a right policy and right policy will not be made without the right facts and right facts would not be gotten if the investigation of the survey is not scientifically or statistically carried out as there will be some biases that will mislead to conclusions and falsified information on ground concerning a nation”.

The earlier we started building into our policies the right pieces of information and right inferences drawn from facts and figures, the better it will be for our country especially when such pieces of information are picked scientifically and without biases or distortion”.

On why she chose to be a lecturer, she said that after her national youth service, she had opportunity to become a banker but preferred to be a lecturer which made her to go for her Master’s degree, adding that before completing her course work at UNN, she got a lecturing appointment at Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi where she spent only eight months and returned because o her love for her husband whom she married.

She gave other reasons why she chose to be a lecturer, one was because her roommate at UNN whose father was a lecturer, used to stay back on the campus during holidays while other students would go home.

Prof. Nwabueze said, “When we returned from holidays, my roommate would tell me what she and other students in the campus covered during the vacation. This made them be ahead of me in holiday studies.

I therefore resolved that hence my parents were not lecturers, this privilege that eluded me will not elude my own children, so I decided to be a lecturer to ensure that my children would not endure what I went through in my formative years”.

The other reason she gave was the simplicity of the life her Chemistry Lecturer lived and gave the lecturer’s name as Agbada now late.

“When he came to teach us, he would be talking of new discoveries he made in his laboratory and somehow this fascinated me. So I told myself that I would want to contribute to knowledge and make impact on human beings, I consequently resolved to be a lecturer and my father went on to predict that I would be a professor and here I am now”.

On the question that the problems of Nigeria may require her area of study, she said that statistics is needed in every aspect of life from individual to family to the nation, saying, “The nation needs to involve statistics and statisticians to provide and get accurate information and data base needed before policies are made”.

Imo Deputy Governor wins awards I

MO State Deputy Governor Prince Eze Madumere has won the Deputy Governor of the Year Award as well as the Best Deputy Governor in the Southeast. Both prizes were given by the Newname Magazine. Madumere was also recognised as the Pillar of Labour by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The deputy governor was said to won the awards based on his commitment to service and his exemplary life.

His monthly donation of substantial amounts of his income to cater for the less-privileged in the state and beyond, among other philanthropic gestures, played a good part in the honours, it was learnt.

The publisher of the magazine, Dr Rita Moses said Madumere led difficult negotiations that resolved conflicts in the state especially in its restive oil producing areas.

“The resolution of age-long communal conflicts between Irete Community and Nigeria Bottling Company Limited and communal crisis in Mbieri in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of the state, were some of the few examples of the many feats recorded by the Deputy Governor within his short time in office. These singled him out as a man of peace and commitment,” Dr. Moses stated.

As if this is not enough, a week later, Madumere was honoured with the Pillar of Labour Award by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as a mark of recognition for his dedi-

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

cation and vibrancy in labour matters.

The congress also praised his leadership qualities in handling industrial issues as he has remained fair and rapid in responding to labour issues.

While presenting the award to Eze Madumere, the state Chairman of the NLC, Dr. Reginald Anyadike said the choice of Madumere as the Pillar of Labour was as a result of his labour-friendly stance and competency in handling labour matters as a go-between the Governor and the unions.

Also extolling the virtues of the Deputy Governor, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy Dr. Theodore Ekechi, noted that the awards were well deserved, adding that Madumere was not just the best Deputy Governor in the Southeast but in Nigeria as a whole.

In his remarks, the Managing Director of Imo State Oil-Producing Area Development Commission (ISOPADEC), Dr. Henry Okafor described Prince Eze Madumere as the greatest motivator he has ever come across who has been a source of inspiration to many.

He said the Deputy Governor deserved even much more, adding that

his input in crises management, especially as it concerned the oil-producing areas, was remarkable.

Jeff Imo, a two-time Transition Chairman of Onuimo Local Government Area and business mogul stated that Madumere has remained a silent leader who has remained focused in his service to humanity.

“In the far away United States, he was a rallying point for most of our people. The man Madumere is silent as most of his good works are unknown. However, these groups spotted him; they must have done a serious work. He deserves even much more,” he stated.

In the same manner, the Archbishop of Orlu, Most Reverend Benneth Okoro described Madumere as the best Deputy Governor Imo State has ever had.

For Madumere, all the awards and encomiums would not have been possible without his boss, Governor Rochas Okorocha who gave him the free hand to operate and excel.

He said he would have refused the best Deputy Governor Award but for the lesson therein for the youth, adding that humility; loyalty, dedication, commitment, consistency, patriotism, good sense of judgment, patience and perseverance are some of the virtues he said the youth must imbibe if they must succeed in life.

Chime tackles water scarcity •Continued from page ?? in the provision of potable water supply in the rural areas include: Construction of eight motorised boreholes in Nsukka, IgboezeSouth, Ezeagu, Oji-River and UzoUwani Local Government Areas, as well as N36 Million for 42 shallow boreholes in Aninri, Agwu, Nkanu East, Nkanu West, Isi-Uzo and Enugu South Local Government Area, Ogui-Agu Eke in Udi, AmankwoOghe in Ezeagu and Nimbo in UzoUwani Councils.

With the support from some Local Government Councils, the Enugu State Government also rehabilitated water schemes at Umuaga and Obinagu (Udi), Ede Oballa (Nsukka), Amuri and Ojiagu Agbani (Nkanu West) while Government is doing work on the water schemes of Edem, Obukpa in Nsukka Local Government Area and in Ugbawka, Amechi

‘The issue of water supply has even been tackled with vigour in the rural areas of the state. The Enugu State Rural Water Supply and sanitation Agency is the agency charged with the responsibility of providing safe drinking water to rural communities’ Idodo and Owo in Nkanu East Local Government Area.

Rehabilitation of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) water scheme which includes the construction of four new boreholes, new water reservoir and water. reticulation on the campus at the cost of N329

million were also completed by the administration Governor Chime Construction work has also started on the over N2.5billion Adada River Dam project in IgboEtiti and Uzo-Uwani Local Council of the State to boost water supply in Enugu North Area of the State.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

39

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

•Protesters seeking the release of the Chibok girls

‘Fast for the Chibok girls’ A

S the over 200 schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State remain in the hands of their captors, a call has been made for fasting and prayer for their release.

A group known as Renaissance Family of Nigeria based in Umuahia, Abia State has called for a three-day national fasting and prayers for the girls.

The non-governmental organisation (NGO) said that the national fasting and prayer period is to seek the face of God in the search for the abducted girls, adding that the prayer session should be coordinated by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

The suggestion for the national fasting and prayer was contained in a press release signed by the national president of the body Sir Ambrose Nwachukwu and secretary Chief Ojike Kalu after its na-

y

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

tional meeting held in the Abia state capital.

The group described the abduction of the school girls as a monumental national embarrassment and a most reprehensible act that challenges the security imperatives of the country and called on the security agencies to be up and doing in their duties.

The group said, “The trauma, pains and associated nasty experiences which the schoolgirls might be passing through for more than two weeks should interrogate the souls of all Nigerians as to elicit genuine concern.”

There should be a total commitment of all and sundry towards securing the release of the innocent girls from the jaws of the suspected Boko-Haram who took them hos-

A

•Governor Chime

•A woman carrying a placard in Damaturu, Yobe State, in protest of the PHOTO: DUKU JOEL abduction of the Chibok girls.

tage shortly before the Easter period”.

The Renaissance family cautioned against the continuous politicisation of security matters as it concern the abducted girls because of the consequences insecurity is no respecter

of age, religion, geography, party politics or political leaning of individuals.

The group said that this is the time for all patriotic Nigerians to stand together, shoulder to shoulder and confront the evils of Boko-Haram

‘The trauma, pains and associated nasty experiences which the schoolgirls might be passing through for more than two weeks should interrogate the souls of all Nigerians as to elicit genuine concern’ by all means including fasting and prayers for everybody irrespective political party or religion.

Elder statesman makes case for APC

RENOWNED politician, social critic and member of the Imo State Elders’ Council, Dr. Edmond K. Onyebuchi has spoken of the imperatives of supporting the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the country’s quest to surmount its mounting social and economic problems.

The octogenarian, who is also the President-General of Odinma Okigwe Senatorial Zone Cultural Union, observed that improvement in the nation’s current political and economic status is impossible without change, adding that the APC has in its fold patriotic Nigerians who share similar interests in tackling and containing corruption in the country.

Onyebuchi, in a press statement made available to The Nation, said that the administration of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last 12 years has been a disaster for all Nige-

‘I am not running for any elective position or involved in partisan politics now but with the benefit of experience and as patriotic elder statesman, I have observed that the APC is a party that wants to shape Nigeria’s political destiny’ From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

rians, adding that, “in these years, the PDP has failed to solve both social and economic problems of the country and there is no guarantee that PDP will attain greater success if allowed to continue in power at the centre. So it is high time that Nigeri-

ans woke up from their political slumber and embraced change and progress”.

He added: “For Nigerians to achieve good governance in this new political dispensation, Nigerians should vote APC into power at all level in this coming general election for change and progress.

“I am not running for any elective position or involved in partisan politics now but with the benefit of experience and as patriotic elder statesman, I have observed that the APC is a party that wants to shape Nigeria’s political destiny which will distill wisdom, knowledge and enlightenment towards the upliftment of Nigerians. It has the capacity to bridge the gap between the old ways of doing things and the new”.

He concluded, saying, “The choice is clear, Nigerians should embrace APC because it is the only party that is truly committed to building a new social, economic and political order for our great nation. APC is the answer to Nigeria’s predicament. In Imo State, for instance, where APC is in power, the people have seen the difference compared to the inglorious era of the PDP, which looted the state for 12 years with nothing to show for it”.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

40

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

•Some Anambra traders with the visitors in Onitsha

Expatriates explore Anambra for business R

IDDING Anambra State of criminals is top of Governor Willie Obiano’s agenda. The new joint task force is proof of that.

Also, in the past one month, the team, led by Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), Jonathan Johnson who relocated to Anambra State on the orders of the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar has been combing the state looking for felons.

The result? Over 40 criminals have been arrested, and this has reduced the rate of crime in the state.

Further result? Doing business in the state is becoming attractive. Foreigners, for instance, are visiting Anambra with a view to setting up business there.

Some of the transitional rulers in Anambra State are not only reaping the fruit of quiet atmosphere, but they are also lending their voices in encouraging the white men to invest in their communities.

The monarch of Umuchu in Aguata Local Government Area, Igwe Godson Ezechukwu told some of them who visited his palace last week that they should forget what they read or heard from people about kidnapping and armed robbery in Anambra State, adding that the state is peaceful.

The white men, who paid a visit to the monarch, were Messrs Marmix Kuyper and Simon Pears, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Sales Manager respectively of Blount International.

The duo visited the state with other Europeans by the invitation of their West African Representative, Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, who led them to Bridge Head Market in Onitsha and many streets in the commercial city where most of their offices are located.

Blount international are makers of Carlton Chainsaw, saw chains and files.

Addressing them, the monarch said: “Umuchu community is safe for business transactions. We shall be happy if you set up your industry here. My people are in love with Carlton products.”

Besides, the white men held what they referred to as customer’s forum where all marketers of Carlton products and other would-be investors aired their views.

They praised Ezeemo for inviting the white men, even as they high-

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

lighted areas that needed improvement.

Speaking with our correspondent, Mr. Simon Pears gave Nigerians in business clean bills of health in contrast to some views in some quarters that Nigerian business class cut corners in their engagements in international commercial transactions.

He said: “Only just a few bad eggs are giving Nigeria a bad name. Since 2005 when Blount opened a business deal in Nigeria with its agent Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, the conglomerate has not had any cause to regret the association.

“We are here to hear from you about some of the problems you encounter in the sales of the products and to also address them. We believe that this will help us to serve our Nigerian customers better.

“Nigerians are very good people to do business with. We have been in this business with our major distributor Mr. Godwin Ezeemo for a long time and we can tell you that

•Igwe Ezechukwu of Umuchu, with Ezeemo and visiting expatriates

Nigerians are very wonderful. We use Godwin to judge what Nigerians can do.”

Asked why the European partners came to Africa and indeed Nigeria, Ezeemo, who is a representative and a distributor of Carlton chains in Nigeria and entire Africa told our correspondent that they told him that Anambra State has become peaceful and therefore, should be a good place for business.

He assured traders in the state that he would ensure that the company continued to improve everyday for the benefit of users of the products.

Furthermore, Ezeemo said he is not trying to do business like a typi-

cal businessman by asking the company for a reduction in quality, rather he is encouraging and advising them on ways of improving their products to dominate Nigeria and entire Africa.

He said: “Many other countries have chains, but they could be used for soft trees and flowers. But when you talk about African trees, then it has to be Carlton.

“We have further improved on the B3 chain by renaming it B3s chain, so that you can detect the fake ones. The ”S” in the B3 means Sokka and that represents the company Carlton.”

Two years ago, The Nation re-

ported that the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) invaded Anambra State, especially Onitsha to seal many shops dealing in fake products.

But Ezeemo said Blount International is doing everything possible to clean up the system of fake in Nigerian markets, adding that he is not happy with fake products being paraded in the markets by traders.

Apart from members of Blount International, other Europeans had been visiting Anambra State to explore the current peaceful atmosphere conducive to doing business in the state courtesy of Governor Obiano’s security policy.

Judge worried over flouting court orders

A

FEDERAL High Court Judge, Justice F. A. Olubanjo has expressed her worries at the flagrant disobedience of court orders by various institutions, saying such behaviour unhealthy.

Justice Olubanjo was speaking while hearing a suit brought before her in Umuahia, Abia State by Mr Marcel Eze vs Inspector-General of Police and seven others, with the First Bank Plc joined as garnishee.

The court was informed by the lead counsel to the garnishee, Mrs U. Agwu, through a written submission said that the Bank could not come up with the account statement as it would go against principle of withholding certain information of a bank customer.

In rejecting the submission of the counsel, especially on the confidentiality of customer records, Justice Olubanjo remarked, “Without reading from your submissions, I can strike out certain submission as being against the Evidence Act”.

She said, “I have never heard that a judge can order a court to produce an account of a customer and you

‘I have never heard that a judge can order a court to produce an account of a customer and [the person ordered will] fail to produce it with the excuse of confidentiality. As it stands today, you have blatantly disobeyed the orders of the court’ From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

fail to produce it with the excuse of confidentiality. As it stands today, you have blatantly disobeyed the orders of the court given on 10th April, 2014”.

While adjourning hearing till April 14, 2014, the judge gave a fresh order for the garnishee to present all the account records.

It would be recalled that Eze had in a judgment in his favour delivered on February 21 by Justice M.G. Umar at the Federal High Court

Umuahia against the IGP and the Zone 9 command, Umuahia for the sum of N75m be paid to the applicant arising from infringement on the applicant human rights.

Justice Umar had in his judgment ordered the payment decreed on the judgment of the Court on 21st February, 2013 shall be “from the account held by the 1st-7th judgment debtors in the garnishee”.

In pursuance to carrying out the judgment, the applicant/creditor filed a notice of motion through his lead counsel, Jerome Okolo praying the Court for an order ABSOLUTE in

perfection in favour of the judgment made on the judgment/ creditor on the 24th March, 2014 for the payment of N75m damages be removed from the account of the 1st and 7th judgment debtors being held by the garnishee, First Bank PLC. The applicant also sought for an Order of the court to compel it upon the garnishee to present all records of account been held by the judgment/debtor from the first date the account was first operated by the judgment /debtor up till 15th April, 2014.

However, when the suit came for hearing on the 10th April, the presiding judge disclosed the receipt of a letter through the Counsel to the Garnishee, Jasper Ejiofor from the Ministry of Police Affairs, Abuja with the reference number, FHQ/CPO/ 001/2014, dated the 24th of February, 2014 which informed the Court that the two accounts held by the judgment/debtors with the Bank have subsequently been closed as the judgment/debtor has discontinued all “business transactions with the Garnishee”.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

41

CAMPUS LIFE Don advocates industrial training for lecturers

T

•MSSN CMUL/LUTH Branch Amir (President) Yusuf Adebowale (on horse) leading members of the society during the procession

‘Boko Haram is a bad ideology’

T

HERE is no verse in the Quran and Hadith of the Prophet Mohammed that encourages Muslims to kidnap people for any reason, Ustaz Muhammad Jamiu Trimidhi, Imam, Sadaqat and Zakat Foundation, said last Friday at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Community Islamic Complex in Idi-Araba, Lagos.

The Islamic scholar made the point during the special Jumat Service to open the 24th edition of Islam Propagation Week and Great Procession, organised by the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) College of Medicine University of Lagos/ Lagos University Teaching Hospital (CMUL/LUTH) Branch.

The cleric condemned the abduction of the 276 school girls in

From Ibrahim Adam LAGOS Chibok, Borno State, saying the act was against the teaching of Islam and Sunnah (examples) of the Prophet. He described Boko Haram sect as a bad ideology that is out to tarnish the image of Muslims and the religion.

Ustaz Trimidhi said: “The resolve of Boko Haram to sell out the abducted girls in the ‘Will of Allah’ is not appropriate in Islam. It was never reported that any prophet of Islam or their disciples abducted a group of people and sold them out.

It is never in the history of Islam.

Boko Haram members are not representing Islam; they are representing another ideology entirely different from the teachings of the re-

ligion.

The cleric prayed that the sect’s power should be weakened, so that peace could return to the affected area. Speaking on the MSSN activities, Ustaz Trimidhi praised the executives and members of the Society for portraying good image of Islam on the campus.

He said: “We thank Allah for making us have this group of youths, calling people towards true path of Allah and showing good morals. This portends good future for Islam.”

The cleric, in his sermon, spoke on Tawasul (closeness to Allah), it was only through good deeds and piety that human could reach Allah.

After Asri (late afternoon) prayer, all members of the society trooped out to participate in the procession organised to sensitise people about Islam.

HE Director of Centre for Technical Vocational Education, Training and Research (CETVETAR) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Benjamin Ogwo, has called for restructuring of Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) to accommodate in-service industrial training for lecturers.

The professor of Industrial Technical and Workforce Education spoke in an interview with CAMPUSLIFE in his office. He said although Nigeria had good policies in development of technical workforce, noted that non-adherence to admission specification in polytechnics, dearth of equipment and poor implementation of SIWES programme remained the bane of vibrant technical workers in the country.

He called for the reformation of the SIWES programme to make it more effective. He said: “There is nothing wrong with lecturer going to the industry to acquire industrial experiences which they lack. This should be

From Inya Agha UNN a regular exercise for lecturers. It is improper for a lecturer to be teaching students a course for many years without visiting industries that are related to the discipline for knowledge.”

Explaining the activities of CETVETAR, Prof Ogwo said the centre provides skills that address specific needs of learners by taking into consideration the experience, educational level, and the technology available to the trainees.

The don said the trainings offered by the centre were geared toward solving the problem of unemployment in the country by providing needed skill for students in different sectors of economy, and retraining workers to adapt to the challenges of change brought about by technological innovations in their choice professions.

He advised the youth to take pride in craftsmanship and to updating their skills in their choice professions.

Pharmacists take oath

T

THE new Pharmacy graduates of the University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka, have been charged not to relent in their efforts to lead successful careers.

The Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Prof Vincent Okorie, gave the charge during the induction ceremony of fresh pharmacists held at Princess Alexandra Hall of the university.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof Bartholomew Okolo, who was represented by the Deputy VC (Academic), Prof Polycarp Chigbu, urged them to disconnect from egocentric attitudes and be open minded to tackle challenges con-

From Oladele Oge UNN fronting the health sector in the country.

In his remark, Prof A.A Attama praised the present administration for its sound academic programmes and infrastructural development.

Aluh Oyine, who emerged as overall best graduating student, received numerous awards from pharmaceutical companies with cheers from her colleagues.

“I urge my junior colleagues to summon courage in whatever they do to achieve the best for themselves,” she said.

Health college graduates 88

N

•Students entertaining the guests with the Arrow of God drama

Arrow of God hits Danfodiyo varsity

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HE new auditorium of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto was filled to the brim as students and guests from various parts of the country came to the campus to witness a one-day colloquium organised by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) in conjunction with the university.

The event with the theme: Literature, leadership and national unity, was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the late Chinua Achebe’s work, Arrow of God. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Riskuwa Arabu Shehu, extolled the late Achebe for his contribution to the development of literature in the country. Through Achebe’s works, he said, many students have learnt good governance and democratic values.

He said: “Our society can be improved by promoting Achebe’s works such Arrow of God and other, which have helped us to understand our society better.”

From Ibrahim Jatto and Halima Akanbi UDUS The Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji, who chaired the occasion, described Achebe as a symbol of national unity, praising the initiative for deeming it fit to honour the late writer through the programme.

The national planning committee on the 50th celebration of Arrow of God, Dr Wale Okediran, said 75 countries had celebrated the work, as well as many tertiary institutions in the country since the celebration started in January 2014. He said the programme was the grand finale, noting that the aim of the programme was to resuscitate reading culture among the younger generation.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Right Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who was the special guest, said he was honoured to attend the celebration of the work

of a great writer. He noted that the event was a home coming for him.

Tambuwal graduated from the university. He said: “The programme is unique because this is my alma mater and the writer whose work is being celebrated today was an alumnus of this university, having being awarded a honourary doctorate degree in 2006.”

Entertaining the guests, students of the department of Modern European Languages, Literature and Linguistics thrilled over 4,000 guests with a stage play of Arrow of God. Appaulse rented the air in admiration of the performance.

Other guests and keynote speakers at the event included the representative of the Governor of Sokoto State, Mallam Nasir Bako, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abike Dabiri, Nigerian ambassador to Republic of Ireland, Dr Bolere Ketebu, and Director at the Institute of Legislative Studies, Dr Kabi Ahmed, among others.

O fewer than 88 Medical Laboratory Science graduates of Ogun State College of Health Technology (OSCOHTECH) in Ilese, Ogun State, last Thursday, took the oath as medical laboratory scientists in a ceremony witnessed by the Medical Laboratory Science Council (MLSCN) of Nigeria.

The oath was administered by a representative of the council, Alhaji Mosunmade Azeez, who admonished the graduates not to abuse the ethics of the profession.

Azeez said: “I will advise you not only to embrace hard work and dedication in order to excel but to upgrade your academic knowledge.

You must abide by the code of conduct and ethics of this profession.

Don’t jeopardise the confidence reposed in you as you take your professional oath today.”

The college’s Provost, Dr Tunji Dawodu, said the graduates had proper training and outstanding performance in the qualifying examination of the council. He described the Medical Laboratory Science Department as one of the best in the college, saying the department had no history of cultism.

“I have always regarded Medical Laboratory Science department as one of the best in this school because it has not produced cultists but sci-

By Kunle Akinrinade entists. This is much reflected in the enviable performance of its students at the last examination conducted by the MLSCN,” he said.

Facing the inductees, the Provost said: “Your induction today confers on you the opportunity to practise having received your license from MLSCN. I urge you to observe the ethics of the profession, which requires confidentiality of laboratory reports.”

The Head of Department Medical Laboratory Science, Mrs Ayodele Sowole , urged the inductees to help in the development of the college.

She said: “You must always be loyal, hardworking, honest and obedient to your superior officers and other scientists as part of the training you received. You should all look back to further develop your alma mater and avoid any misconduct that could lead to withdrawal of your license by the council.”

The ceremony was not all academic as the new inductees staged a drama to encourage people to seek adequate medical test from qualified practitioners whenever they are sick.

Awards were also presented to professionals, who have contributed to the development of the department and the medical science laboratory practice.

•L-R: Assistant Director of Medical Laboratory Services, Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Mr Oduniyi Adebola; Alhaji Azeez and Dr Dawodu congratulating Miss Aderonke Adedipe, one of the graduands.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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CAMPUS LIFE The second semester examination is on at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State. OLUWAFEMI OGUNJOBI (400-Level Language Arts) writes about the method employed by students to pass the examination.

Exam fever hits OAU

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XAMINATION time holds a special place in students’ heart. Reason: Exam is intended to measure students’ knowledge, aptitude, skills and physical fitness. It is different from every other period. However, it is different strokes for different students.

For students studying Humanities-related courses, it is a time to test their theoretical knowledge of the discipline. For science-oriented students, answering questions on papers is not enough to prove their knowledge, they equally go into the laboratories to demonstrate what they have written on paper. While those in engineering have some constructions to do to complete their examination.

It is examination period at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State. All is quiet on campus as most students have literally relocated to the class for all-round reading. Some, who believe in divine help, are devoting time to fellowship.

Some students take stimulants to stay awake as long as they wish to read. Some take their books and bury themselves in central, faculty and departmental libraries.

All through the period, male students, especially, find it extremely difficult to cook, they spend time taking in junks or eating out at restaurants. Some even depend on ‘cooler ministry’ (food package) from their female friends.

Hostel helps are making quick money from students, who don’t have time to wash their clothes.

Some leave their hostels without having their bath. Female students leave their hair loose and unkempt.

Even to observe their routine morning prayers has become a task for some. “No time” is the word on every student’s lips. Some go to read in the academic areas, having their tooth brushes and face towels in their bags.

For Ayomide Faloye, a Pharmacy student, it is better to clean his teeth in the classroom than wasting time in his hostel to clean up. “We are talking about examination, and not a test,” he said, adding: “I leave my hostel with my toothbrush and face towel because I can’t waste time doing that in the hostel. I have my bath and clean my mouth outside the classroom, where I read.”

For the female students, their fancy bags have become a makeup kit,

•Group of students reading at Awolowo Hall cafe

containing everything they need to apply on their faces to look attractive and gorgeous. Students go for night reading with perfumes to prevent body odour.

This is not to say all the students face the exams with stress.

Abimbola Olasiyan, a final year Mathematics and Integrated Science student, said improper planning of time makes students to read all night.

She said: “Everything boils down to proper planning of time. As much as I read, I give myself enough rest and ensure I keep fit because I would not want to breakdown.”

Fellowships and religious associations have stopped their weekly activities to allow members prepare for the examination. While some religious students resort to prayers and supplications, others believe only reading would make them to pass.

Samson Adedeji, a 400-Level Nurs-

ing student, said prayers complement students’ effort. “It is only in OAU that I see students reading to fail. I used to have the mindset that if I read, I will pass my exams and if I don’t, I won’t pass. But the situation is not the same here; we need prayers to pass some of our courses,” he said.

“I have a reading period of nine hours daily but I can only read for seven hours. Within the hour left, I do everything I want to do because proper planning prevents poor performance,” Adeola Amusan, a 400Level Economics Education, said.

All is calm in Halls of Residence, especially male hostels where students always perform Aro (comic act). To the students, the fear of failure is the beginning of wisdom.

Given the stress on the campus, students hope the management has fortified the university health centre with personnel and drugs be-

•A student reading with torchlight on his phone

cause during examination, there are usually cases of students collapsing in the library and examination halls.

Following the matriculation of the Delta State University (DELSU), returning students have held ‘baptism’ for the freshers to ‘formally’ welcome them. PHILIP OKORODUDU (Graduating student of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering) captures how the exercise was conducted.

‘Baptism’: The rite of matriculation

‘B

APTISM’ is one of the rituals performed by students to welcome freshers on campus. It is a muchobserved culture in most tertiary institutions in the country. After matriculation, the freshers are called out by their senior colleagues for the rite, which they perform with water or other liquids.”

However, the ‘baptism’ turned bizarre after the matriculation of the Delta State University penultimate Friday. Despite the ban on the exercise by the management, students staying in off-campus hostels still welcomed the freshers with all kinds of liquid. There was a downpour that day, which flooded some areas of the students’ hostels. The rain continued the following day.

At 6:30am on Saturday, the freshers were called out by their senior colleagues to come for the ‘baptism’. The persistent rain made some of them reluctant to come out.

When the ‘baptists’ waited for several min-

•Some of the freshers being ‘baptised’

utes for the freshers, who did not come out for the rite, they moved into their hostels to call the freshers out.

They woke the new students up from their bed with water. Those who wasted time to come out for the exercise blamed themselves when muddy water was sprinkled on them right on their beds.

The ‘baptists’, who conducted the rite, were mainly 200-Level students, who received the same treatment from their senior colleagues.

The materials used for the ‘baptism’ in some hostels included banana peels, yam peels, paint, kerosene and tooth paste. The freshers were asked to line up to be conducted round the hostels, dancing and singing.

The ‘baptism’ was unique because of the rain as there was no shortage of water to perform the ritual. Participation was not a question of choice, but compulsory for all students living in school hostels.

A pre-degree student in the Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Peter Saka, who witnessed the scenario, said: “I don’t think I can tolerate anyone heap-

•A fresher sprinkled with liquid soap

ing banana peels on me; I would run away two days before my matriculation.”

A shop owner close to one of the hostels said she witnessed a scene where freshers were made to bath in the flowing dirty rain water. She said: “One of them started to cry

when he was being forced into the muddy water.”

A fresher in Physics Education Department, Joy Amuofu, said she got more than she bargained for when she refused to come out for the ‘baptism’. “I was embarrassed but I had no choice,” she said.

Blessing Isioma, 100-Level Biochemistry, thought the presence of her mum would make her senior colleagues not to touch her.

“My mum pleaded with them to leave me but they insisted that it was a ritual that must be performed. It was a terrible experience for me but I was happy at the end of the day,” she said.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that for students living on campus it was a low-key ‘baptism’, for fear of being caught by the authorities.

Asked how the ‘baptism’ went in the school hostels, a 300-Level student, who simply gave her name as Sandra, said: “You (CAMPUSLIFE reporter) want to report me to the management; I did not participate.”

At the Council Hall, interested freshers were taken to the school field, where they danced to entertain their senior colleagues.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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CAMPUS LIFE

Achieving food and national security

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EFORE I begin, let me define food and security according to the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary. Food is any substance that is or can be consumed by living organisms especially by eating, in order to sustain life.

While security is the condition of not being threatened, especially physically, psychologically, emotionally or financially.

To scientists, those are layman’s definitions of food and security. Scientifically, there is food security when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life.

Therefore, promoting food security should be a collective responsibility of every citizen of the world because nobody can do without food. However, to achieve surplus food, the challenges enumerated below must be prioritised and tackled.

First is water shortage. There is no gainsaying the fact that 60 per cent of the food we eat comes through agricultural activity. Food crops

such as cocoa, rice and cereal, which are agricultural products, need water to yield in large quantity. Today, how many farmers in Northern part of Nigeria, where most of the food we eat come from, have access to irrigation? This is one of the major challenges faced farmers and this must be solved to achieve nutritious food.

Also, for many farmers, it has been a challenge, storing farm produce because of lack of electricity to preserve the food in storage facilities. This problem is a threat to food security. And it is a common problem for farmers in the rural areas, where there is no power supply. Sea food (fishes) and perishables are daily wasted because of lack of power supply. If food security must be feasible, government must provide electricity to the rural areas.

Insecurity is another factor that tends to make food security a mirage. No farmer will go to farm if his security is not guaranteed. This is mostly common in the North, where there is no love lost between farmers and Fulani herdsmen. The government must proffer a lasting solution to the farmer-herdsmen

faceoff.

Bad roads, dilapidated infrastructure and rickety vehicles are part of challenges that must be solved if food must be made available all times.

Poverty is the major challenge against food security. Statistics have shown that majority of Nigerians live on an average of $1 per day, which is equivalent to about N160. With that little amount, food security is impossible.

Over population, no doubt, affects availability of food negatively. The world population is increasing at an alarming rate, while a fraction of the population is engaged in food production. There is an inverse variation, which will make it difficult to produce enough food for the bourgeoning population. More people should be encouraged to go to farm for food production. Also, family planning should also be done to avoid unnecessary births.

If all the problems listed above can be addressed, then food security is guaranteed. Places where food security is not feasible, there is bound to be malnutrition. Food

security is not all about access to just any type of food; it entails access to food and in its right proportion (balanced diet).

Starvation and death are the end results of food insecurity. An individual who has no access to food for days can starve to death.

There is a saying that one should “pay one’s dietician more than the doctor”. The reason for this is not far-fetched. Most of the diseases and ailments human beings suffer are as a result of what we eat. We need dieticians who can instruct us on nutrients that can be derived from food. Through this, we can prevent some diseases. In other words, when there is access to food in its right proportion, malnutrition diseases such as kwashiorkor, goitre, scurvy and such like can be prevented. Good food makes us to be energetic.

There are things that should be done by the government to boost food security. The government should subsidise or make affordable some good food necessary for body growth. The government should also promulgate Food Security Bill to protect what people

By Uchechukwu Amanze consume as food.

In conclusion, since we now understand the challenges of achieving food security and their consequences, we are now able to understand where the rain is beating us. If the measures are put in place, food security would be achieved.

Uchechukwu, 200-Level Food Science and Technology, ABSU

Let’s promote unity, not war

By Mark Orgu

R

ECENT happenings in the country have, again, shown us that all is not well with Nigeria. But what could be the sins of this nation that has the potential to be great and endowed with human and material resources? The nation is battling all kinds of ailment.

In its 53 years of independence, the country has been held by the jugular by corrupt leaders, who promote nepotism, tribalism and religious disaffec-

tion to divide the citizens and feather their own nest. Nigeria needs the help of all of us and God to truly be a nation for human beings and not beasts.

In the dead of the night, 276 school girls were abducted from the sleep by members of Boko Haram sect at Government Day Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. The incident happened despite emergency rule in that state. For what purpose were they kidnapped?

Today, no one is safe in the Northeast. The populace cannot sleep with their two eyes closed even in the day.

The dreadful Boko Haram insurgents have made the region ungovernable for the government. The sect has unjustly killed thousands of innocent citizens, thus intensifying tension in the country. What if the family members of the victims rise up today to revenge the death of their loved ones?

Wouldn’t that give rise to another civil war?

Where the hope for Nigeria lies remains million dollar question to answer. Does it mean that the labours of our heroes past are in vain? We kill ourselves for nothing; some even go

to the mountain top to pray and fast for their follow humans to die, forgetting the teaching of Jesus, who said: “Love your enemies and pray for them.” For the people here, it is “hate your enemy and destroy them”.

This is the reality of our society today. All kinds of evil are being perpetrated in the country despite our claim to high religious values. Nothing seems to work well; corruption is at its peak; politicians use their follow country men for rituals to win elections. Who will save the situation?

Where are we heading to? Could the path we are following now be a wider road to the gradual disintegration of the country? Ethnic militias are also rising up to demand certain rights or secede from Nigeria. The activities of the likes of Asari Dokubo, Ralph Uwazuruike and their co-travellers are a pointer in this direction. If these ethnic champions and militants are not checked, their activities may upset the arrangement and send the country on the path of disintegration.

Some people have been saying that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable; this is bad thinking. But it is evident

that Nigerians are not united as brothers and sisters, who share the spirit of oneness. Many have said that there is no need killing ourselves, rather we should strive to sustain the freedom our founding fathers bequeathed to us. But are we really doing that? We have been divided by our religion and tribe.

It is unfortunate that, some of the issues that led to civil war in 1967 are repeating themselves and the government at the centre seems unconcerned.

Nigerians must rise up to denounce these evil forces that will set us against one another and cause another civil war. I am sure nobody would like to witness another horror of killing. We must, therefore, begin to sensitise ourselves towards the danger and consequence of not re-uniting to tackle our common challenges and weakness.

When we do this, the challenges confronting us may become a thing of the past.

The former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, said what we are witnessing today is not too far from what happened under his administration, which led to the civil war. We have

We must unite against terror

I

AGREE that no group of human being can create a society that is totally free of crime, but we can have the grace to build a society where crime can be reduced to its barest minimum.

Today, we have beautifully designed for ourselves a crime-ridden society. Hence, we are troubled on every side, perplexed and in despair over the ruthless activities of a group of extremists. First, the nation witnessed 30month civil war in which thousands of people were killed for no just cause. Then we experienced militancy in the Niger Delta region because of oil. Thousands got killed in the unrest. Now, Boko Haram has crept in and people are in fear in very part of the country.

Just last month, many Nigerians were killed in their numbers by these rampaging Boko Haram insurgents in Nyanya Park, a few kilometres from the capital city. Despite the measure by the government to stop in these agents of death, the terrorists had their way and caused bloodshed. There is no security, one may say.

But those who are supposed to secure us were at the scene in a long motorcade, with battalion of security agents to ascertain the degree of wreckages. “We shall smoke them out of their holes,” the president and his officials boasted. Then, they disappeared from the bloody scene to visit hospitals, where survivors were gasping for breath.

After the bloodshed and the show of love to the victims, everybody went to sleep while the enemies stayed awake.

After Nyanya bombing, Boko Haram crimi-

nals invaded the dormitory of Government Day Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State and abducted over 230 school girls. Their teenage victims were taken into the thick Sambisa forest. A few managed to escape while a good number are being held by the criminals. God should have mercy on us. We can all imagine the psychological torture these kids are being subjected by their abductors.

Crimes come with little restraint, without anyone taking responsibility. For the fourth week now, these teens are in the bush with their abductors. In saner climes, where leaders are committed to the welfare and security of their citizens, heads would have rolled as a way of telling the citizens that certain officials of government have failed to do what they are required to do. In Nigeria, it is a sin to call for president’s resignation despite his failure to secure the land.

There are no explosive detecting devices to track and detect bomb-laden vehicles on our highways. Technology has helped many countries to reduce occurrence of this kind of crime.

In advanced countries, there are devices installed on the highways that trigger alarm as soon as an explosive is detected. The devices send signals to the nearby control station and security agencies with the vehicle’s details. Despite being blessed with resources, we cannot install those devices on our road.

The citizens are left in the cold, while the leaders secure themselves with our police. I strongly believe that we can overcome this challenge if Christians and Muslims faithfully pray for

the responsibility to pray and work with the government to end the cycle of violence, so that unity of the country would not be affected. It is imperative for the government to deal decisively with troublemakers and their agents.

We must be united as a nation that fought a bloody war against the colonial masters and won. This country can remain as one united entity when we invest efforts to solve its contemporary challenges.

We must not see war as the solution to our problems. We must detest the warmongers and agents. We should unite against forces that want to take away our freedom. Let us not look at ourselves based on our colour of skin or the language we speak or our faith, we should engage ourselves based on our common humanity and shared agenda to make our country great.

For now, Nigeria, our country, needs men and women of courage, who can stand the test of time and make sacrifice for its progress.

Mark, 400-Level Business Education, YABATECH

#BringBackOurGirls Envisage the tears That is yet to full the hopeful basket Our breast dried of milk For our future girls we care for Brooding daily for their return...

Souls doomed in brutal breathing When the buried hatchet gets lousy Shall we reason and smell the rat Of the nay-sion rulers...

By Emmanuel Ogar God’s help. Let all of us pray and cry to our God that He may send a helper or a comforter to heal our land from this bloodshed.

The services of a soothsayer are not required to tell us that recent happenings are being orchestrated to divide the country. By our act, we must not play into the enemies’ hands. Even though our leaders have not shown seriousness in tackling these crimes, we must play our role properly to secure our nation, because if the Boko Haram crimes snowball into a full crisis, everyone would be affected.

We must guide our utterances against one another and come up with information that can help our security agencies to prevent crimes in the society. We must act to save our nation from precipice.

Emmanuel, 500-Level Electronics and Computer Technology, UNICAL

Bring back our girls Don’t behead our girls Don’t turn their lives to slavery world Don’t disflower their beauty Batter not but tend them...

Lets match to Sambisa With the a target munitions To invade and evacuate our girls...

They’re our morrow’s leaders Bring back our 234 chibok For the sake of our pains ere birth And the pain of papa’s diligence...

We dream of hope That lies on despair Of our girls that cry in fear...

Tears upon cries Education upon Ignorance Terrorist upon citizens Intervention upon condemnation...

By Abdulazeez Ogunwole, a Mass Communication student, Moshood Abiola Polythecnic, Abeokuta

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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CAMPUS LIFE

•The twin lecture theatre

•The ICT Centre

•School of Post-graduate Studies

From a humble start, the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU) in Lapai, Niger State, has grown in academic and infrastructure, courtesy of its Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ibrahim Adamu Kolo.

WALE AJETUNMOBI reports.

‘Varsity project not a day journey’ T HREE years after it was licensed to operate, the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU) in Lapai, Niger State, faced the hurdle of accreditation for its 26 academic programmes.

The accreditation team of the National Universities Commission (NUC) gave a deadline for the exercise but the institution’s major headache was lack of requisite facilities.

In the midst of this, the school was embroiled in crisis, which led to the removal of its first Vice-Chancellor (VC). For six months, the institution was administered by an interim management until Prof Ibrahim Adamu Kolo was appointed as the substantive ViceChancellor on January 1, 2010.

On resumption, Prof Kolo was faced with some challenges, which include getting the courses accredited since the school was preparing to churn out its first set of graduates.

His major task was to stabilise things and put in place infrastructure that would aid the accreditation.

How did he go about it? Prof Kolo, who spoke to this reporter in his office, said: “I had a choice either to fail the accreditation or to go and plead with NUC to shift the date for us. When I got to the NUC office, the Executive Secretary, being an experienced academic and conversant with universities’ challenges, gave us reprieve to go back and start the accreditation process again. A new date was set and it would expire in three months.”

To get the courses accredited, the management needed to put in place facilities, including municipal facilities, laboratories, blocks of classrooms in all faculties, offices for lecturers, functional libraries and teaching personnel, among others. These facilities were either inadequate or not readily in place for the exercise.

“I had to convince the state government that we needed money to provide those things,” Prof Kolo said, describing Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu as an educa-

tionist, who knows the value of education.

“The governor immediately approved over N260 million for us to commence the accreditation process. Since then, the subvention of the university became stable. The money helped us to develop a strategic plan in preparation for the accreditation,” he said.

Four weeks before expiration of the deadline, according to the VC, substantial parts of the accreditation requirement were put in place, while the university waited for the NUC team for the exercise.

Prof Kolo said: “When the NUC team came for the exercise, 24 programmes being offered by the university were granted full accreditation. This is how we started the repositioning of the institution to meet worldclass standard.”

After surmounting the accreditation hurdle, the Prof Kolo-led management was faced with improving on the quality of teaching and providing more infrastructure to meet the standards of higher institutions.

He said: “University project is not a oneday journey. It is one that requires a systemic planning for over hundred years. It was not easy to get the calibre of staff required to teach our students. We believed strongly that we needed it to fix a benchmark for our teaching staff. If we had gone ahead to recruit only Master’s degree holders, lecturer I and II, and assistant lecturers, it would augur bad for the system. We had to engage mix staff, which include professors, readers and Ph.D holders.

“Again, we had to start making contacts to attract people to the school. We said we must pay what the federal universities pay, so that people would be willing to come and teach here. The dictum is that if we pay peanuts, we would only have monkeys around the school. This helped us a lot to stabilise our standard.”

The rise in the number of staff and students naturally gave rise to the need to provide more facilities and services. With the considerable subvention from the state and local governments, and support by Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Prof Kolo-led administration has initiated several projects, including Central Laboratory with eight mini laboratories for sciences, university auditorium, twin Lecture Theatres, Faculty of Arts building, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre, post-graduate school building and NIMASA Centre, among others.

Prof Kolo said the feat would not have been accomplished in the nine-year old university without the support of staff, who he said displayed professionalism in discharging their assignments. The university, he said, is becoming popular among secondary school leavers because of the qualitative teaching.

Students, who spoke to this reporter, praised the Vice-Chancellor for giving them hope through the accreditation of their courses.

Abdullahi Idris, a 400-Level student of Social

•Prof Kolo

‘

University project is not a one-day journey. It is one that requires a systemic planning for over hundred years...We believed strongly that we needed to fix a benchmark for our teaching staff

’

Sciences, said students would remember the VC for bringing his leadership skills to bear when the school faced accreditation crisis. He said: “I remember students used to discuss what would be their fate should the school fail the accreditation test. But today, the story is different. Even, when I was admitted, the campus only had a few structures for classrooms and offices. We can see there is development on the campus, with several classrooms and lecture theatres for students’ use.”

To Adejoke Onipinla, a 300-Level Counselling Psychology student, Prof Kolo’s appointment came at the right time. She said: “He has made learning easy with the provision of ICT Centre, which has WLAN facilities that can be used to access the internet 24 hours. We also enjoy 22 hours of power supply on both campuses of the school. What do we need to have in an academic environment that the management has not provided? I think Prof Kolo has done his best.”

If possible, Olaniyi Oladayo, a 400-Level Computer Science student, said the VC should be reappointed to consolidate the gains of his administration. “I believe every man has his own shortcomings, but I think Prof Kolo is the type we need to sanitise the education system. Despite paucity of funds and other challenges, IBBU has witnessed sustained progress under his leadership. The VC has written his name in hearts of students, given his achievement in academic and infrastructure,” he said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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CAMPUS LIFE

N

Osun disburses N521m bursary

O fewer than 25,283 students of the Osun origin have benefited from bursary awards to the tune of N521 million.

The state government said the effort was in furtherance of its determination to ensure that education is available to all indigenes irrespective of their financial conditions.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran, explained that N275.7 million was paid to final year students of the state in tertiary institutions for the 2012/2013 academic session.

He added that a special grant of N17.3 million has also been paid to Law school students of Osun Origin in six campuses of the Nigerian Law School for the 2012/2013.

Oyeniran said N208.6 million was paid to 20,215 final year students from 74 institutions and N18.5 billion to 185 law school students in five campuses last year.

He said: “What the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration has done with the payment of Bursary to the students is in compliance with

one of the six-point integral action plan that focuses on the provision of functional education?

“We should not forget that N2,000 used to be paid as bursary to final year students in colleges of education, N3,000 to all undergraduates and N10,000 to law students and their counterparts in colleges of medicine. ”With the coming of Aregbesola, bursary award to students in tertiary institutions is now N10,000 flat, irrespective of the student’s course of study, while N20,000 is being paid to final year students of law and medicine and a generous review of the N10,000 to students of Nigerian schools to N100,000", the director noted.

Also speaking, the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, said that all the education initiatives of the administration that are being commended from far and near are aimed at producing students who are well-prepared and who can compete with any student in any part of the world.

• A cross section of the members of the union at the meeting.

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Pay attention to research institutes, govt advised

HE Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI) has urged the Fed-

Muslim Students' Society of Nigeria (MSSN) Lagos State Area Unit Amirah (Female President), Hajia Hafsah Badru (right) presenting a plaque to Aisha Ghazali of the College of Medicine University of Lagos, winner of an essay competition (Higher Institution Category), during the Formal Opening of the MSSN CMUL/LUTH 24th Islam Propagation Week (IPW) at the New great Hall, Luth, Idi-Araba, Lagos.

With them is CMUL/ LUTH Senior Editor Zaynab AbdulAzeez.

PHOTO:ABIODUN WILLIAMS

Oyedepo seeks investment in knowledge for economic development

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HOUGH the economic future of the black continent looks bright, Bishop David Oyedepo, Chancellor of the Covenant University (CU) Otta in Ogun State, says it can only be fully attained with aggressive investment in knowledge.

Dr Oyedepo said this at the CU's maiden international conference on African Development Issues with the theme: Rising opportunity for investors in Africa and the prospect of an economic miracle held at the African Leadership Development Centre of the university.

He said Africa, like the rest of the world, has access to an avalanche of information that can renew her economically if used wisely.

"Africa must take responsibility in dealing with various issues affecting her economic development.

Investment in Human Capital Development is the key to sustainable economy; and we must have the capacity to manage and sustain them.

"Knowledge is not only the new currency of the world; it is the world's oldest currency and it is still very current. It is now the catalyst which drives every facet of development and Africa cannot afford to be blind to this development. Africa must reengineer her value system for knowledge investment," he said.

Despite war against corruption across countries in Africa, the cleric said it is not yielding fruit because one case of corruption seems to sup-

By Adegunle Olugbamila

plant another at every turn making the war seems ridiculous and Africa incapable of handling the social malaise.

He said investment in knowledge can bring an end to corruption because it will provoke people's awareness of social ill, and kick start the continent's sojourn towards economic emancipation.

He charged participants to go beyond making recommendations to continue spreading the gospel when they return home.

"There is no better time than now to facilitate deliberations on how Africans can accelerate an all-round development in the face of rising economic opportunities that exist for investors and positive growth indicators that have been experienced in the last decade. The reversal of poor economic indicators such as famine, extreme poverty, war, among others that characterised post-independence Africa countries have caused opportunities to emerge for investors in Africa," Oyedepo added.

The CU Vice-Chancellor Prof Charles Ayo said the drive for Africa's economic freedom constitutes a major goal of the university which it has imbued in every student the university exemplary leadership traits through her 'Entrepreneurial Development Studies' as well as the 'Total Man Concept'.

He said CU, now in her second decade, is posed to rank among the 10 top outstanding universities globally by year 2022, one target which Ayo added, necessitated the conference.

"We are not pursuing this mandate as one beating the air but with clearly defined goals and objectives.

The pursuit of this vision has taken the management to some leading world-class universities in Europe and North America in search of vital partnership and collaborations that will propel the university in the desired direction. One of the major reasons why we are gathered here today is part of our quest towards the actualisation of the mandate," he said.

Acting Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Sarah Alade who was one of the guests, expressed optimism about Africa economy regaining her pride of place.

She said: "The economic miracle that happens in Asia did not just happen. Both public and private sectors came together and ensure the transformation is not only on paper but practically realisable.

"The important thing is to realise that we have challenges and that is the first step. Once we have taken steps to address these challenges, it will reduce the gaps and those factors causing those problems for us.

I think we will get there,” she said.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

eral Government to pay attention to funding research findings and rehabilitate decaying infrastructure in research institutes across the country.

They made the call at their sectoral council meeting hosted by the Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT) in Ibadan.

The union also seeks the speedy payment of 12 months arrears of allowances and other demands of members of staff of research institutes and associated institutions.

Speaking on their behalf, the chairman, Mr F.A. Uwadiae, a legal practitioner, said only when the government fulfils these demands would research institutes take their rightful place in the nation’s development.

The national secretary of the union, Comrade M.O. Akinade, added that he was disturbed with the way research institutes were being relegated to the background unlike their university counterparts that always get the attention of the Federal Government.

“Let us come together and speak with one voice and close ranks in other to regain our lost position,” he said.

In his keynote address at the event, The Director General, NISLT, Dr Ighodalo Ijagbone, reiterated his commitment towards the welfare of NISLT staff and promised to create good welfare schemes that will help them improve economically, educationally as well as personally.

The Chairman of SSAUTHRIAI, NISLT branch, Mr Eddy Hyacinth, appreciated the DG of NISLT for his kind gestures to the workers of the institute and for hosting the sectoral meeting. He, however, said the union was not without challenges and hoped that the Management would help them.

In a communiqué released at the end of the meeting, the council appreciated the efforts of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim (GCON), Minister of Labour and Productivity Chief Emeka Nwogu (CON), Minister Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and other stakeholders in resolving the issues of the 12 months arrears owed the workers.

The council resolved further that Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) should facilitate the issuance of service wide-circular directing the immediate implementation of the skipping of CONRAISS 10 in line with the National Industrial Court judgment against unauthorised skipping.

Shot UNICAL don recuperating

A

LECTURER in the University of Calabar (UNICAL), who was shot on Tuesday by unknown gunmen is responding to treatment, the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Effiong Eyo, has said.

In a statement Eyo, he noted that the said lecturer, Dr Godwin Iwatt, is an Examinations and Records Officer in the Department of Microbiology.

The statement read: “It is no longer news that a lecturer in the University of Calabar has been shot. What is of paramount concern is being kept abreast with the facts.

From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

“On May 6, 2014 at exactly 1.30pm, the Exam and records officer for the Department of Microbiology, Dr Godwin Iwatt, was shot at close range in his office by a supposedly young but unknown assailant who is still at large. Dr Iwatt after being shot was quickly rushed to the medical centre of the Institution and thereafter transferred to a bigger medical facility where he is responding to medical treatment. The operation was successful and all bullets removed from his body.

“However, investigations are still ongoing.”

Elizade varsity student shines

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LIZADE University, IlaraMokin, Ondo State has won the first prize at a competition organised by the Nigerian Economics Students Association of Wesley University of Science and Technology, Ondo (WUSTO) as part of this year’s Young Economic Summit.

Representatives of private universities from the Southwest participated in the event. Each of the contestants was given 15 minutes to make presentation on the topic, The effect of educational expenditure on economic growth in Nigeria.

They were graded on their knowledge of the topic, flow of presentation, communication skills, bold-

ness, corporate dressing and time management.

At the end of the event, the representative of Elizade University, Oluyale Iyanu was pronounced winner. Afe Babalola University, AdoEkiti came second while Achievers University, Owo was third.

Oluyale congratulated his co-contestants on the seccess. He admitted the stiff competition they gave him, saying any of them could have won.

He attributed his excellent performance to availability of competent hands at Elizade University, as well as a conducive environment for learning.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

46

CAMPUS LIFE SCHOLARSHIPS

ACE FILE

APPROACHING DEADLINES

College clocks 50:

Provost lauds co-existence THE Provost of Adeyemi College of Education (ACE) Ondo, Prof.

Adeyemi Ibukunoluwa Idowu, has commended members of the Muslim and Christian community in the institution for their peaceful co-existence.

The provost gave the commendation in separate remarks he delivered, while speaking at a Jumat and church services, held as part of activities to mark the ACE Golden Jubilee anniversary held at the college mosque and the interdenominational church respectively.

Prof. Idowu noted that the peaceful co-existence, love, unity and cooperation exhibited by members of the two religions have helped in promoting religious harmony, contributing immensely to the growth and development of the college over the last 50 years.

Provost said: ‘’ ‘’ In other places, we usually hear of strife between Christians and Muslims, but here, we don’t have such situation, this is so because both Muslims and Christians co-habit peacefully because we believe in the existence of only one God,’’ Idowu said at the Jumat service.

Also speaking at the Christ Chapel Interdenominational church, Prof. Idowu lauded members of the various religious groups for their spirit of brotherliness and display of mutual love and respect towards one another.

Staff, students at Osemawe’s palace IN a related development, Prof.

Idowu has led staff and students of the institution in a walk, to the palace of the Osemawe of Ondo kingdom located at Enuowa in the ancient community.

The exercise which began at about 8 am at the college main gate was organised as part of the activities marking the 50th year’s anniversary of the institution.

Speaking at the monarch’s palace, Idowu who was received on behalf of the monarch, Oba Dr. Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo, by two senior Ondo traditional chiefs stated further that the visit was to solicit more support from the traditional ruler and his subjects for the success of the anniversary and the development of the college.

Prof. Idowu invited the monarch and the entire community to arrays of the anniversary including the 33rd (special) convocation, presentation of fellowship awards on five eminent Nigerians among others.

Responding on behalf of Oba Kiladejo, the Jomu of Ondo kingdom, High Chief Ambrose Akinsade described the visit as very commendable and expressed the royal father’s happiness over the celebration.

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Call for Application: Graduate Research Programme on Climate Change and Agriculture THE other members of the partnership include Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia; University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa; University of Nairobi (CHS-UoN), Kenya and Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaoundé I (FMBS/UYI), Cameroon.

Scholarship Provider: PAMAPS (Postgraduate Academic Mobility African Physician Scientist) Scholarship can be taken at: Africa (Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya and Cameroon) Eligibility: In order to be eligible for a PAMAPS scholarship under

this Intra-ACP EU funded project, applicant must: -Be a national of one of the African Countries.

-Have sufficient knowledge of the language of the courses or of one of the official languages of teaching in the hosting countries.

-Be an alumnus of one of the six partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in PAMAPS project - in case of master students.

-Be duly registered at a doctoral programme at one of the six partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in PAMAPS project - in case of doctorate students applications.

Scholarship Open for International Students: Students of African countries can apply for these post-

graduate scholarships.

Scholarship Description: PAMAPS is a partnership of six African Universities spread across the four regions of Africa involving the Anglophone and Francophone African countries being funded under the Intra ACP Academic Mobility Scheme of Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of European Commission. The project supports staff and students mobility in selected specialties of medicine and related sciences within the six collaborating institutions as well as eligible physicians outside the partnership. PAMAPS also supports training, teaching and research capacity of physician-scientists working in the partner institutions through seminars and workshops.

•Concluded

Danjuma Foundation endows $5m •To fund law research in Africa

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T is first of its kind by any Nigerian donor for research; and the endowment, a staggering $5 million is the University of Cape Town (UCT) South Africa which ranks among the first 100 outstanding universities in the world, and the topmost university in Africa, according to world webomatric ranking.

The aim is to fund groundbreaking research in Law in Africa in such a manner that will significantly effect Comparative Law on the black continent. The gesture4 was courtesy TY Danjuma Foundation, led by its initiator General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), with the UCT Centre for Comparative Law in Africa (CCLA).

The event which held at White Baker Hotel in Ikoyi on Tuesday last week will also see as one of the conditions of the grant, the UCT-CCLA in a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) which will also produce the first beneficiary.

Though the fund is meant for universities in Africa, NIALS, aside producing the first beneficiary, will consequently be appropriated 20 per cent of the total funding available for research within a given year.

Similarly, the Olu Akinkugbe Business Law in Africa Fellowship was equally inaugurated. Like the TYD Fund, its first Fellow must also emerge from the Lagos Business School, while subsequent editions must produce two scholars from Africa one of whom must be a Nigerian.

“There must always be one of the two from Nigeria,” said Dr Ada Ordor Director UCT-CCLA on the Fellowship.”The whole idea is cross pollination of ideas; Nigeria talking

• Chair CCLA Prof SalvatoreMancuso (2nd left) in a handshake with Prof Azinge after signing the MoU. Standing in the middle was Dr Price while Dr Ordor cheered.

PHOTO ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA

By Adegunle Olugbamila

to other scholars and researchers in other parts of Africa. It will rub off on the entire continent. It’s a new model of cooperation that is being tried; Africans partnering with Africans and not just receiving foreign grants.”

In his brief address, Gen. Danjuma said the grant though domiciled in the UCT, is meant for the entire Africa n scholars to tap from.

The donor recounted how he was invited to the UCT-CCLA, and he and his entourage were fascinated by the exercise; adding that upon his return to Nigeria, he sold the idea of the grant to his foundation BOT members which according to him, was embraced by all.

“Our donation is for Africa and not University of Cape Town, and the first beneficiary must be a Nigeria; hence the choice of NIALS. “One thing I wasn’t going to do was to make money to be used on legal studies. I think we have too many lawyers and too many laws that are not being enforced. After our deliberations, I was surprised majority view recommended the funds for the project.

“It (grant) will be open to all universities in all countries in Africa starting with Nigeria. The UCT will administer the fund and they will make sure that it is only the interest on the endowment that will be spent on research every year.

The CCLA Chair Prof Salvatore

whole idea is cross pollination of ‘ ideas;TheNigeria talking to other scholars and researchers in other parts of Africa. It will rub off on the entire continent. It’s a new model of cooperation that is being tried; Africans partnering with Africans and not just receiving foreign grants

Charis set to be Nigeria’s first silicon varsity

ORK has begun on the proposed Charis International University in Lagos, as proprietors of the school formally took possession of the site for the university located on Kilometre 55 Lagos-Epe express road, last Monday.

The school has also been adopted by foreign investors as a Silicon Valley University.

Universities that have Silicon University status boast of high profile multi-billion dollar ICT development centres. There are only four countries in the world with such university. They include US, China, India and Russia.

Spokesperson of the foreign investors in the project, under the name

Number of award(s): Total 48 postgraduate scholarships are awarded (36 for master and 12 for PhD).

Duration of award(s): Scholarships are awarded up to 22 months for master programme and up to 36 months for PhD programme.

What does it cover? The selected applicants of this Project will receive scholarship including payment of tuition fees (when applicable), travel costs to and from the host country and a health, travel and accident insurance and monthly stipend, depending on the type of mobility they will carry out.

Notification: Not Known How to Apply: Contact employer Scholarship Application Deadline: Contact employer.

By Mojisola Clement

Total Quality Education, Mr. Anthony Owens, a Briton, said at a stakeholders meeting that the "strategic endorsement of the proposed Charis University as a Silicon Valley University is a deliberate multi-billion dollar investment to revolutionise economic and industrial development in the African continent."

He stated further that Nigeria remains an investment destination in Africa with Lagos Lekki Free Trade Zone as a major catalyst for economic super highway.

Chairman of the planning committee of the proposed University, Prof Duro Ajeyalemi in a statement said the institution will stand out and be-

come the University of first choice in Africa as sound and excellent scholarship will be vigorously pursued.

Ajeyalemi noted that the planning committee, which includes professionals and relevant stakeholders drawn from both Nigeria and abroad, are working round the clock to ensure the establishment and eventual take off of the world class 22nd century compliant university in Nigeria, which will be in the ilk of Oxford, Cambridge and Havard Universities.

He added that the Lagos State government "has also lent its support for the proposed university. At a stakeholders meeting, the surveyor -general of Lagos State, Mr. Joseph Agbenla warned speculators of gov-

’

ernment reserved areas to desist from selling or dealing on government schemes particularly the land which Charis University is statutorily sited.”

Ajeyalemi said the government was magnanimous enough to give that Agbenla reminded additional 15 hectares through the survey plan No LS/D/LA3019 for the university which will be located in Olorunshola village.

He urged the villagers to support the university project as it will impact directly on them and the state.

Already the fencing of the site for the proposed university has commenced. Construction of major infrastructure is expected to begin as soon as the fencing is completed.

Mancuso describes the endowment as a testimony that African can ‘speak its own voice within the legal development in the global society’.

Mancuso said the essence of Comparative Law in Africa cannot be overemphasised in view of the “globalising world characterised by a variety of integration processes and regional blocs.” He said the knowledge of law across borders is imperative for cross-border work which increasingly characterises the African economic environment.

In his response the Director-General NIALS Prof Epiphany Azinge thanked Gen. Danjuma for facilitating the collaboration, and promised openness in the utilisation of the grant.

“It is instructive to note that the institute, by virtue of this grant, is now engaged in a collaborative undertaking with the UCT. We are extremely happy about this new relationship that will be mutually beneficial to both institutions. We look forward to a robust engagement between our two faculties and promise to live up to expectation of our benefactor.”

Chief Olu Akinkugba said a simple average of the share of the intra-African trade in African countries reveals that it is worth 21 per cent of total exports, making it the black continent second most important export market behind Europe.

He said African big exporters particularly the oil-producing countries trade little less with other African countries; yet there are other countries in Africa that depend substantially on intra-African trade. The aforementioned claim, Akinkugbe explained necessitated a platform for cooperation through harmonisation of business laws for co-development.

“It is based on this premise that the ‘Olu Akinkugbe Business law in Africa fellowship’ endowment is being launched, with the aim of building capacity to address this all-too important subject of co-development via research which provides the material for evidence-based law and policy making for Intra-African trade development.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

47

EDUCATION

Teachers urged to make investment count

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ITH millions of naira invested in Bridge IT, an initiative that uses mobile technology to improve teaching and learning of mathematics and science in public primary schools in Lagos since 2011, coordinator of the programme, Mrs Tinuke Adelakun, has urged teachers and officials to make the investment count.

Speaking at the opening of a fourday training for about 400 mathematics and science teachers at the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) last Monday, Mrs Adelakun said though the project has recorded many successes in stimulating more than 70,000 pupils to excel in their academics, the challenges of managing it are significant threats to these successes.

The Bridge IT, an initiative of Pearson Foundation in collaboration with Nokia and Airtel, provides education content (prepared

by Nokia Education Delivery) on mobile phones that teachers can use to teach pupils in a way that makes the lessons interesting.

Mrs Adelakun said the challenges faced by many of the 131 Bridge IT schools include poor power supply, loss of mobile devices, transfer of trained teachers to non Bridge IT

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

schools, and failure of trained teachers to implement the programme in their school, among others.

She said: “We have recorded quite a lot of successes in the lives of teachers, pupils and the schools. I have teachers who have won awards, have been moved to administrative positions because of their expertise, and are participating in other programmes because of the training they received. We also have children who have won scholarships to attend prestigious Day Water Man College, and schools that have become overpopulated because of the programme. However, we have had huge challenges.

“Many of the schools lack electricity. Though they have generators, not all head teachers are interested in fueling them. Some teachers who come for training go back and do nothing; some are transferred to non-bridge IT schools, while some who are sent to us are so senior and ready to write their duty post exam, meaning they could be posted as head teachers or assistant head teachers and are on their way out.

Lesson plans are available for the term but when we gave them to SUBEB, some were not delivered four or five weeks into the term,

• The teachers during a practical demonstration class.

which meant nothing was happening in those schools. There is a need for us to see this as our programme.

We signed an MOU with the ministry when we started. Bridge IT has achieved a lot in other countries but Nigeria has not got to that level.”

Responding to Mrs Adelakun’s concerns, Chairman, Lagos SUBEB, Mrs Gbolahan Daodu, urged the teachers, education secretaries, desk officers, inspectors and others to take the programme seriously,

given its potential to improve learning outcomes of the beneficiary pupils.

“The state government is doing a lot. But because government cannot do it alone, as far back as 2008, it called on to others to help. This is where Pearson Foundation, Nokia, Airtel and others come in. How can we make it succeed? For the programme to succeed, we must be passionate about it. Be interested, show commitment, have the zeal to

get it done and deliver it well. I am personally appealing to all of us to key into it. This is our programme,” she said.

Speaking on the efficacy of the programme, Mr Ayodeji Popoola of Ifeoluwa Primary School, Agege, said it has made his pupils interested in learning.

“It has so many values. Since 2011, the interest in our pupils is so great.

Once they have the period, they are eager to learn,” he said.

Commissioner to renovate classrooms in Sokoto

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HE Sokoto State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Farouk Malami Yabo, has put aside N2 million for the renovation of a block of three class rooms at his alma mater, Government Secondary School, Sanyinna in Tambawal Local Government. This is in addition to N500,000 donation

by Yabo to the school.

Both gestures were announced at the launch of a book “Sanyinna District: Events, Trends and Turning Points” in Sanyinna.

Yabo described his gesture as service to the nation which would impact positively in building the strength of hope for the town, state and country as a whole.

‘

I will continue to extend my little support for the development of humanity especially to the people of the state

From Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto

“Our historical origins and challenges ahead of accomplishing our visions and missions as a people, remain relevant in building a peaceful, united and stable nation,” he said.

Yabo noted that the country is in need of private sector’s moral and financial support to lift its education pride to the peak by complementing government’s efforts, adding: “With quality education cushioned by the availability of infrastructure, teaching personnel and aid, the level of development would have been wonderful in the sector.”

“I will continue to extend my little support for the development of humanity especially to the people of the state,” he further assured.

Also, the chief launcher, Dr Jabbi Kilgori, who represented the state governor…, donated N2 million. In all to N6.7 million was realised at the launch.

He further admonished Nigerians to write and read more books.

The Chairman of Tambuwal local government, Alhaji Sambo Modo, appealed to the various communities in the area to complement the efforts of the various security agencies to secure lives and property.

’ e-Learning Council adopts

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HE Chairman, Yaba Local Council Development Area, Jide Jimoh, has adopted eLearning for schools in his jurisdiction with the support of information technology expert in his council.

He made this known at the weekend while receiving the IT-educational portal on the card from Mr Niran Oke an expert in computer-science and education in his office.

The council boss believes the elearning materials will improve education of pupils in the council.

The initiative, tagged: “Yaba eLearning empowerment card’, is an internet-based education solution that gives pupils across primary, secondary and post-secondary levels a unique opportunity to access examination past questions and address problems that usually result in examination failure.

By Emmanuel Udodinma

“The e-learning solution can be accessed on a computer or a smart phone through a card which contains a protected-code for every users.

“Students in Yaba LCDA will be given Yaba e-Learning empowerment card to sign up for different categories of examination questions and answers as applicable to their level and academic pursuit upon assessing the IT-educational portal on the card,” said Jimoh while explaining the importance of the software.

Earlier, Mr Oke expressed optimisim that the facility will further address challenges which are often associated with failure in entrance examinations.

“With the use of this e-learning methods, students lives will be transformed,” he said.

• The participants during the introduction session of the Hackerthon

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15 girls create tech products

O commemorate this year’s International Girls in ICT (Information and Communications technology) Day, the Women Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) engaged 15 secondary school pupils in a hackerthon for the production of technology devices that can improve access to technology.

The programme, held at Laureates College, Mafoluku, Lagos, served as a platform for the girls, who had participated in workshops and camps organised by W.TEC in the past, to test the skills they gained from the programmes.

During the programme, the girls

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were divided into groups to produce technology products which included blogs, scratch video games, and mobile applications, the best of which were rewarded.

The International Girls’ on ICT Day requires ICT firms and other ogranisations to host girls for a work day to expose them to the use of ICT in the work environment and the opportunities they can explore in pursuing IT careers.

The initiative aligns with W.TEC’s focus to encourage Nigerian girls and women to use ICT to empower them-

selves socially and economically through technology literacy training, technology-based projects, mentoring, work placement and research.

In a statement, Mr Adeyemi Odutola, Media Officer, WTEC, noted that the participants, aged 1116 and drawn from both private and public schools, performed well in the production of blogs.

“Some of the tech products produced by the girls were really standard and presentable. Our Hackerthon which we used to also test all what we have taught them indicated that our girls have a good Tech future potential,” he said.

Education Commission (SUBEB) in Owerri, Imo State.

The Minister, who was represented by Dr Olu Ayewoh, said the Federal Government will not rest on its oars to ensure that basic education gets the desired attention.

He said the UBE is President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda to ensure that the disadvantaged segment of the society, such as the almajiri, the girl-child, and those forced out of school by poverty and lack of parental care are cared for.

He, however, urged states that are

not doing well, especially those that have not been able to access their matching grants, to brace up and complement the effort of the federal government in the delivery of basic education.

The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Dikko Suleiman, said, the theme of the meeting, Access and retention in basic education: The challenge of out of school children in Nigeria is timely and pertinent as the Federal Government is investing heavily to ensure that the out-of-school syndrome is addressed through access to quality UBE.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

Fed Govt to return school feeding

HE Supervising minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike said the Federal Government is considering re-introducing of the home grown school feeding and health programme as a component of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme to boost enrolment and retention in public schools across the country.

Wike made this known at the opening of the 12th quarterly meeting of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Management with executive chairmen of State Universal Basic

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

48

EDUCATION EDUTALK

with

In pursuit of public order

• Mrs Oladunjoye (middle) with the senior category quiz winners, Issa James (left) and Ayorinde.

Inset: Yeko.

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OTORISTS, I have discovered, respond differently to sirens. If the siren comes from vehicles driven by any of the law enforcement agencies like the police, army, navy escorting government officials, expatriKofoworola ates or bullion vans, motorists quickly make way for them to avoid being 'dealt' with. But if it Kofosagie@yahoo.com is an ambulance conveying a criti08054503077 (SMS only) cally ill patient to the hospital, motorists are slower in responding.

They are so slow that some ambulances are now fitted with public address system with which the driver announces that the vehicles should make way because there is an emergency.

I witnessed such scenario on Tuesday along the Abeokuta Expressway.

Road repair along the route caused traffic to slow to a crawl, a pace the ambulance could ill afford if whoever was inside the van was to survive.

However, the vehicles were slow in making way. The driver of bus I boarded wondered why it was so. I have wondered why too many times. And I think it is because many motorists are ignorant of the need to give preference to such vehicles on the road. I also think is because they fail to empathise with the patients, or imagine that they could ever be in such situation.

There is need for the government to put in place enlightenment campaigns to educate Nigerians on various aspect of societal living. It is not only about sirens. There are many other areas where many Nigerians handle issues wrongly. For instance, since the uncovering of the Soka Forest den, there have been many reported cases of lynching of suspected kidnappers and ritualists by members of the public, especially in the Southwest.

While the public anger against the Soka forest saga is understandable, it gives no license for suspects to be killed without facing the judicial system. Some of them may be innocent and unable to prove it to an impatient mob hungry to draw blood. A case in point is a sad story of a lecturer who was admitted at a hospital for Cerebral Malaria somewhere in north. He disappeared from his bed while his younger brother went to get him food. The man wandered into the town and soon followed a young boy home, asking for water. His mother raised alarm because she took him for a kidnapper. The man was beaten to the point of coma before he was rescued by the police. It was too late; he died.

The police recently raised alarm that many mentally-ill have been killed in similar fashion under the guise of seeking jungle justice against kidnappers. Even if the suspects accosted are truly criminals, killing them automatically closes the opportunity that the police would have had to investigate the case and get others arrested.

The police have repeatedly warned that those caught meting out jungle justice would be arrested and charged. However, I do not think it is enough for the police to threaten arrest. They must do more to reorientate Nigerians about not taking laws into their hands. They must also do more to be trustworthy. Many suspects are mobbed because people believe that the police will let them off the hook easily to continue perpetrating their wicked acts. If the public has greater confidence in the police, they will not take laws into their own hands.

While adults may be difficult to change, the police can work with the National Orientation Agency to carry their campaigns to primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Whatever our young ones learn in school, they will take to their homes and can succeed in changing the mindset of their parents and other members of their families and communities. This is another route the government can take to prepare the youth for the future while influencing the adults to change their ways.

Belo-Osagie

Maths brains thrill at quiz contest

J

OSEPH Yeko and James Issa proved they were the champions to beat at the grand finale of the BRF quiz competition organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Education last Thursday.

The duo left behind fellow finalists, Adeola JagboJagbo and Kayode Jasanya in the best individual mathematics category and went head to head for many more rounds, answering relatively difficult questions correctly, even when the time was reduced to five seconds.

The tie was finally broken when the duo were required to answer immediately after the question was read. Yeko, of Epe Senior Grammar School, Epe, beat James to it.

The moderator was impressed by the way Yeko approached the question, saying he demonstrated a mastery that made him even faster than the teacher.

However, James had his pound of flesh back in the Senior Secondary School category of the competition in which he represented his school, Agindingbi Senior Grammar School, Agidingbi, with Rilwan Ayorinde.

James proved he was an allrounder, excelling not only in Mathematics but also in English, Government, Current Affairs and Physics, some of which proved to be the Achilles heel of Yeko and his partner, Adeola.

Agidingbi Senior Grammar

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

School defeated Epe Senior Grammar School with eight points, scoring a total of 24 points to lift the trophy.

Impressed by their performance, former Commissioner for Education and Health, Dr Leke Pitan, urged the government to give both boys scholarships to the best universities in the world.

He said: “The questions are fairly difficult and those students made many people feel like illiterates.

They blow your mind. I am highly impressed. They should be specially monitored, mentored to ensure that there is no barrier to their education.

They should get scholarship to the highest level possible. Government should give them scholarship and help them to approach the very best schools around the world.”

On her part, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, said the government would continue to monitor them and when they get to the level of needing scholarship, they would get it.

She also congratulated all the participants and urged them to continue giving their best.

“It is not a mean feat that you made it this far. You have really worked so hard. We are offering you a great opportunity for self actualisation.

We have seen the intellectualism

and confidence being displayed here. Keep it up so that next year we will have something interesting. The Individual Maths contest was interesting,” she said.

Commenting on his victory, James Issa said he was extremely happy, despite losing narrowly to Yeko in the individual category.

“I feel extremely happy. I still have to thank God that among the over one million students in Lagos State, I made it to the final,” he said.

Prizes were presented to winners of the various categories at the event.

In the Primary School category, Ifeoluwa Primary School, Agege beat Adeleye Memorial Primary School, Mushin. Community Primary School, Ibeju-Lekki came third. Government Junior College, Ketu, Epe, beat Eva Adelaja Junior Girls Model College, Bariga in the final to lift the trophy in the Junior Secondary category. Atunrase Junior High School came third in that category.

Education Secretary, Agege Local Government Education Authority (ALGEA), Mr Olalekan Majiyagbe attributed the success of the primary category winners to proper preparation and motivation.

We engaged in serious preparation during the preliminary stages. Previously, we won second and third positions but this time, we targeted the trophy. We are the first LGEA to achieve this,” he said.

Fed Govt commits to girl-child education

T

HE Federal Government is committed to a comprehensive reform of the education sector. The Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike made this assertion in Kaduna last Monday.

Speaking at an advocacy meeting towards the promotion of nomadic girl-child education in the north, the minister said that successive reports and reviews have brought the government face-to-face with the reality of the nation's progress in the sector as well as the shortcomings and inadequacies of government actions.

"Such reports have also proved to be honest testing ground for our fidelity to our commitments, whether they concern action to be taken by the federal, state and local governments, international development partners, other non-governmental Organisations and the private sector," he said.

He added that government would collaborate with other stakeholders to meet up with challenges in providing "equal uninterrupted opportunity for the education of the girl child.”

"Without any doubt, we know that the challenge was very formidable and that it will continue to call for vigilance, continued inventiveness, creative innovations and unshakable commitment.

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

"I believe that it is not too soon to re-echo the commitment which stipulated that no country should fail to achieve the set EFA goal because of lack of necessary funding.

It is therefore too soon for us to be overtaken by fatigue. Our commitment should be reinforced now for this is one of the surest ways of meeting our targets nationally and globally," he said.

Declaring the meeting open, Kaduna State governor, Mukthar Ramalan Yero said his government was committed to uplifting the status of nomadic education in the state by creating a directorate in the ministry of education with annual budgetary provision to ensure proper funding.

Yero said that the state has a total of 270 nomadic schools with an enrolment figure of 27,166 pupils spread across the 23 local government areas, with a teaching population of 899 teachers.

He also said that the schools enjoy equal support as the conventional schools in terms of monitoring and supervision as well as the provision of infrastructural facilities and teacher capacity development.

Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Nomadic Education, Prof. Rashid Aderinoye

describe girls' education as the best investment in national development, but regretted that it has become a major issue in most developing countries especially in subSaharan Africa, Nigeria inclusive.

Aderinoye noted that states in the northern part of the country have the highest number of young girls who do not attend schools, while some of those in school drop out before completing the compulsory nine years of basic education.

He said: "The situation is worse for the nomadic girl-child in northern Nigeria who is often marginalised and at a disadvantaged position in the family due to cultural factors and religious misrepresentations. The nomadic girl-child in northern doubly disadvantaged, given her sex, age and ethnicity.

"Circumstances around her deny her right to education. The girl-child from the nomadic background is surrounded with a culture and social setting that neither recognises nor appreciates the value of girls education.

"The socio-cultural context of her existence not only encourages social exclusion and gender discrimination, but in addition, brings to bear the effects of institutionalised patriarchal practices hidden under religion and culture to perpetuate injustice and unfair distribution of opportunities.”

‘Whatever our young ones learn in school, they will take to their homes and can succeed in changing the mindset of their parents and other members of their families and communities. This is another route the government can take to prepare the youth for the future while influencing the adults to change their ways’

From my Inbox Re: Chibok on world stage (Thursday, May 08, 2014) Dear Kofo, It is with sadness I comment on the fate of the missing Chibok school girls. I pray that God will touch their abductors and make them release these innocent girls. Their situation reminds me of the days of Biafra, when the conquering Nigerian soldiers 'captured' innocent Ibo (Biafran) girls and converted them as spoils of war/wives, with no payment of dowry or consent of parents. No person in Nigeria, the government of the day, military command, not even the vociferous human/civil rights and international community condemned the reprehensible act. Today, 2014 Nigeria, Boko Haram has re-enacted the same scenario. The moral of the story: what goes around comes around; and those that fail to learn from history, repeat history!

Thanks. Chukwuma Dioka, Owerri, Imo State.

50

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

51

THURSDAY MAY 15, 2014

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Abia State Governor Theodore Orji spoke with Associate Editor TAIWO OGUNDIPE in Umuahia, the state capital, on the activities of his administration, the National Conference, national security and President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid.

‘Igbo Presidency not feasible now’ Y

OU are the Chairman of the Southeast Governors’ Forum. What is your agenda for the zone?

I have my own agenda, which will be an input into the existing agenda that was there before I came on board. Our major priority is to make sure that the Southeast is united; united in purpose, united in action. I know it is not an easy thing to achieve. But, if I have been able to make it in Abia that was highly polarised before now, the stakeholders are talking with one voice and Abia is one, united - I intend to replicate that in the Southeast zone. And I know that my colleagues will give me their unflinching support.

Second is the issue of security. We take it seriously because it is paramount in our agenda.

When I talk about security, I’m essentially referring to kidnapping because it is what is rampant in the Southeast. There are also armed robberies and other forms of insecurity. We have started addressing them both collectively and individually. We emphasise this every time we hold our meetings. Lack of security hinders economic progress and other areas of progress.

Apart from security, we also discuss the economic development of the region. We ask ourselves; what can we do to uplift the economy of the zone as a whole? We consider if there are projects we can do jointly to benefit the region.

We also look out for projects we can cue in with the Federal Government as partners to uplift the economic situation of the region. We also look at cooperating with the other zones in the country.

We are in partnership with the Southsouth Governors Forum. We’ll extend the same hand of cooperation to the Northern Governors Forum, with a view to surveying areas that we can economically, socially, educationally and otherwise partner in a way that will be in the mutual interest of the partners.

Also, our zone is known for its culture. We want to ginger the interest of the states in the Southeast in developing and investing in their culture. Here in Abia, we have many cultural attractions such as the long juju of Arochukwu, the war museum and many others. It is the same situation in Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Ebonyi states. We have caves and other monuments spread across the region. We want to make it a priority for the governments of the Southeast to look into reviving and enhancing them.

You are an advocate of a National Conference?

Is the conference meeting your expectation?

I support the confab and I think it is moving on fine. You don’t expect them to go in there and sing Hallelujah and everybody will chorus that.

The essence of the confab is for people to bare their minds on the issues that are critical to the development of Nigeria. They are to talk about those things they know should be addressed in Nigeria. Every member should talk about those things that are agitating the minds of the people in their states. I think that is what they are doing right now. People are voicing out their minds.

So, the confab is going on well. It is just like in the National Assembly where you have different shades of opinion coming up but eventually when the opinions are gathered together, then you take the best for presentation, articulation or implementation. That is what is happening at the national confab. Each zone chose their best delegates. We chose our best in the Southeast. And all the states articulated their points.

What are the essential Igbo agenda?

There are many of them. First is that we need an extra state in the Southeast so as to bring us at par with the other regions. Our delegates are also talking about devolution of power and federating units of the state. They are also talking about revenue sharing, boundary adjustment and those things that have been sensitive to us such as marginalisation, integration of people who think they are not well taken care of in the polity as well as the zoning issue. All these things have been itemised and they are already being argued.

Talking about economic integration, there were some industrial or business concerns run by the defunct Eastern Region. As the chairman of the Southeast Governors’ Forum, are you thinking of reviving some of them jointly?

We have started talking about some of them in the forum. What the delegates are doing is an extension of that. We had joint projects that held the whole of the region together such as the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation (ENDC), which concentrated on industrial and agricultural developments. It was through that corporation that Premier M. I. Okpara was able to establish industries, the rubber plantation and the palm estate as well as built the hotels that you hear of, Presidential Hotel in Enugu and the one in Port Harcourt. At the forum we will discuss the areas of strength of each state and harness them accordingly.

How have you been able to manage the political differences in the forum? It seems Governor Obi was able to carry others along in spite of political differences...

We gave Governor Obi the needed cooperation. Obi is in the APGA. I’m in the PDP, Elechi of Ebonyi is in the PDP, Chime of Enugu is in the PDP, and Okorocha of Imo is in the APGA. We moved on together very well because we cooperated with one another. This is still happening.

The governors’ forum is not a political forum.

We belong to different political parties but we’ve come together to discuss issues that are of common interest to the zone and to all of us. When it comes to discussing political issues, we break into committees based on party lines to discuss.

Our major interests are those things that are of paramount importance, such as economic, social and others along that line, to all the states in the zone irrespective of party affiliation.

What is the position of the Southeastern zone on the issue of Igbo Presidency?

We as Ibos want to produce the president because we have not produced one in recent times.

But we have to think about it and do it when the time is favourable for the Ibos without much hassles. We believe that President Jonathan should be allowed to complete his tenure. When we must have helped him to complete his tenure, then we’ll move into the issue of Igbo presidency.

Don’t you think that the President’s second term ambition will frustrate the agitation for power shift to the Southeast?

We (the Igbos) can’t make it now that Jonathan wants to go for second tenure. You need the support of others to get there. We as Ibos cannot make it now. And that is why we are saying let us support President Jonathan to complete his term. And when he completes his and we see the outcome of the confab and all, then, we go into the field and start struggling for the position.

Is the second term ambition of the President tearing apart the Southeast governor?

Not at all. That is not correct. I read about it on the pages of newspapers. And I said, well, people are bound to write what they feel in their minds.

Like I told you earlier, we don’t discuss politics in the Southeast Governors Forum. If we discuss politics, it is not on political line; what we discuss is the politics that will favour the entire zone. We don’t have to discuss the president’s ambition in the forum. We don’t discuss such things in the forum. Even the last time the president visited the Southeast on sensitisation tour, we didn’t discuss the issue at the forum. After

• Orji

the meeting of the forum, we then went in as PDP governors and discussed it. We have not had any rancor in the Governors Forum since I became chairman.

If President Jonathan is doing weel, why are your people complaining of marginalisation?

We have said it severally that Jonathan has to a very large extent given us a sense of belonging in this present dispensation. Since he came into government, we have gotten an Inspector General of Police, Onovo, even though he came in when Yar’Adua was the President and Jonathan was the Vice-President. Within the period of Jonathan presidency, we have gotten a chief of army staff and you know what that means. Within the period Jonathan has been president, we have gotten two chairmen of the ruling party – Vincent Ogbulafor who was there when Yar’Adua was President and Jonathan, and we also had Okwesilesi Nwodo.

Within this period, we have also gotten secretary to the Federal Government and a minister of repute who is the coordinating minister of the economy. Jonathan has given us a sense of belonging and has shown us that the South Easterners can be reckoned with in the government. So under President Jonathan, we are not talking of marginalisation; we are talking of real integration. And that is what we want and are asking for, that we should be reintegrated into the mainstream of Nigeria because we have a lot to offer.

What is the solution to insecurity?

I believe that the president is doing everything possible to make sure that the issue of Boko Haram is brought under control. Those who are criticising the President are those who don’t know him. The president that we have is a compassionate one. He is not a military man in the first instance, he is a democrat. He goes his way via democracy and not by militarism. He feels for the nation regarding what is happening. You don’t expect him to go to the North and start killing every person. The way he is handling the crisis, I feel, is one of the best ways because it is a security issue. He is the chief security officer and there are arms of security under him – the police, the military, the SSS and others.

His role as the chief security officer is to galvanise them to make sure that this thing is brought under control, and he is doing that. People should not expect that it is going to automatically stop hundred percent. It is going to take some time before you reach a very high percentage in bringing the insurgency down. These insurgents are trained in using weapons that are also sophisticated. Through the intelligence unit, we suspect there are hands of outsiders in this business. Therefore, it has to be handled with caution bearing in mind the corporate existence of this country as well as the lives and properties of Nigerians.

One of your colleagues, Governor Nyako, made a controversial statement recently that the PDP government. What is your reaction to this?

I don’t have any reaction to that. There was a

‘The governors’ forum is not a political forum. We belong to different political parties but we’ve come together to discuss issues that are of common interest to the zone and to all of us. When it comes to discussing political issues, we break into committees based on party lines to discuss. Our major interests are those things that are of paramount importance, such as economic, social and others along that line, to all the states in the zone irrespective of party affiliation’

reaction on the floor of the security council meeting that was held. I don’t have any personal reaction. My reaction goes along with the ones expressed on the floor of the security council meeting.

What are your views on the raging issue of Fulani herdsmen in the North?

Well I think it is being handled fairly and cautiously because it is a very sensitive issue.

But what has come out clearly is the fact that the Fulanis are not the people killing anybody.

They are the herdsmen who are just tendering their cattle. However, the problem is to find a grazing area for them because they move from one area to the other, and as they are moving, their cattle ravage farmlands and the villagers would not like that. Even in the Southeast here, it is a problem. They move from one village to the other and one farmland to the other.

And we are saying no.

Our people are mainly farmers and we don’t want them to ravage our farms. Even in some other areas where they are agitating for grazing land, the people there are against fit because it is their agricultural land that is being taken and they not getting anything in return.

However, I believe the federal government is handling it cautiously with inputs from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. What is happening elsewhere outside Nigeria is what will happen here. Cattle has to be reared, people will have to eat meat, isn’t it? But we have to find a means of breeding them without offending the other people who are not cattle rearers.

The APC has been accusing your party and the Presidency of playing religious politics.

They say the president goes to churches to campaign during services and programmes. What is your reaction to this?

That is not correct. The president does not go to churches to campaign. He is a Christian and by the virtue of being a Christian, he has the right to go to any church to worship. Have you heard him going there and telling them I want to contest, vote for me? He has never done that. He goes there, worships and leaves.

It is even rather the APC people who are playing religious politics. Haven’t you seen the composition of their national executive? All of them are Muslims in a country that is not an Islamic one.

The APC is accusing your party of playing this issue up and branding them an Islamic party and they accuse you of playing religious politics...

It is the obvious fact we are presenting. When you look at the composition of the major officials of the APC, all of them are Muslims. In the other parties there is balancing. You bring in a Christian; you bring in a Muslim to marry the whole thing so that the two religions will be carried along. In the APC, it is just one line.

Even their executive member from the Southeast is also being alleged to be a Muslim. If such a thing is happening in the PDP, they should tell us. As I said, the President just goes to the church to worship. If it is possible for him to go into the mosque to do that, he would go.

Would he be admitted into the mosque?

I don’t know about their practice, whether a non-Muslim can be admitted to worship.

But, I think if it is feasible and he is invited, he would go. If he knows how to worship like a Muslim, he would go and do it. After all, when official engagements take the vice president to churches and he is invited, he goes there. The same would apply to the President.

Some observers believe that if your party had seen that as a weakness of the APC, may be you should have kept quiet and allow the thing to affect the APC. They say you talking and campaigning about it might be counter productive and alienate your party from those who are Muslims.

It is not counterproductive. It is the truth that is being told. And as they say, the truth is bitter. It is the truth that is being told so that people would know about the opposition party that has come up and angle they are going; that they are one-sided in terms of religion. It has to be said. If it were the situation in the PDP, they would talk about it also, even more than the PDP would. That is the obvious fact. They are the ones who are saying the president is going about campaigning in churches while he is not doing that. While they are saying that, would we keep quiet? We’ll say you should also look at them, all their executives are all Muslims.

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THE NATION THURSDAY MAY 15, 2014

POLITICS In this interview, Osun State Labour Party (LP) governorship aspirant Alhaji Fatai Akinbade speaks on his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his aspiration to to rule the state. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE met him.

I want to govern Osun, by Akinbade

I

S the Labour Party (LP) on ground in Osun State?

Well, I am happy that you saw the number of people that attended my declaration of intention to run. If Labour Party is not popular, the turn out would not have been that much.

It was not a rented crowd. Labour Party has come to stay and it has become a party to be reckoned with in Osun State .

What is the chance of party at the poll?

We live in Osun State; we know our people, we know who they are. I have been involved in running of government in this state right from the time the state was created. I know everywhere. I know everybody. They may have their own people, but I want to tell you the real voters know who they want. In three months time, you will see what I am talking about.

Members of the state executive of the Labour Party were absent at your declaration for governorship. There appears to be a division within the party and it was alleged that you attempted to hijack the party structure.

Is that correct?

I am surprised you said members of the state executive were absent. They were all there and there is no division in the Labour Party. We now hold meetings regularly.

The allegation that I want to hijack the party may have a different meaning for those of you who are not politicians. Politics is a game of numbers.

I joined the Labour Party along with my supporters and we opened up the party. It did not have a secretariat before we came. There was no membership card and no party register.

But, when we came we on board, we rented an office for the party and brought membership cards from Abuja, which were distributed to members. This process cost a reasonable sum of money. We came in with a ledger and did all we could to give the party a structure. When we came, the party had only a caretaker committee and I can tell you that, of all the 10 members of the caretaker committee, eight of them are with us.

Any reason for the absence of members of the national executive at the declaration of your intention ?

It was a private affair. No member of the national executive was expected to be there. If it were to be the flagging off of my campaign, they would come. But, if they show up at my declaration of intention to run, it would translate to an endorsement of my candidature because there could be other aspirants.

You rolled out lofty programmes that would be executed, if you are elected. Considering the revenue al-

• Akinbade

location to the state, where would you get the resources to execute the programme?

If you know what government system is about, you will agree with me that ,definitely and certainly, I will have enough money to do it. You know in governance, what I discover over the years is that so many people in government don’t know why they are there. Majority of them beat about the bush. They don’t even know what project to execute at a particular time.

There are certain things that are important in governance, which everybody that aspire to be in government need to take cognissance of. Matters like transparency, accountability and due process are key in governance.

Most government money get wasted in projects that are not so important to the people. The way they award such contracts is another matter. When I become governor, I will ensure that I save a lot of money. So, the issue of money to execute projects would never be difficult because I will be so prudent. I will be transparent by allowing criticisms and by giving people opportunities to contribute. In fact, accountability would be my watch word.

Why did you leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? Is it true you left because you felt you will not be given the governorship ticket?

I have been in and out of government for some time. I am a man that cherish peace; that is what I preach. I am the type that abhor violence. But, I discovered that the PDP in Osun State has been hijacked by a group of people who have less value for collective interest. Where there is no internal democracy, it makes the selection of candidates difficult. I felt that there is no point remaining in the party, since it is obvious that I would be denied the party ticket. I have more than enough delegates that would have guaranteed me the ticket, if we were to go for pri-

maries. But, I have seen the hand writing on the wall because, the last congress we had, there were disruptions in some wards to allow some people to have their way. I know that a similar thing is likely to happen, if we go for primaries.

Some aggrieved PDP members are believed to have teamed up with you in your bid to govern the state. But, why were they absent when you declared for the governorship?

But, you saw other people there. Politics is a game of numbers. As politicians, we have the same strength like the voters, but some voters even have more influence than us. The fact that they did not show up doesn’t mean they are not for me; majority of them are trying to sort things out. Even the presence of the party faithful at my declaration shows that I have many people supporting my cause. They would show up when I am flagging off my campaign.

The other time, you alleged that the APC leaders wanted to assassinate you.

Is that not a spurious allegation?

If not that I cried out, my declaration would have been frustrated. Aregbesola said he would ensure I do not get the ticket of the Labour Party. They were surprised I could leave the PDP for the Labour Party and they know what my quitting the PDP means. So, I must not wait until I am attacked before I cry out; the noise I made has started yielding the result.

You served in the Oyinlola Administration, and by Rauf Aregbesola’s assessment, the administration was a failure. By extention, it means you are part of the failure. What’s your reaction to this?

Aregbesola couldn’t have said that. We need to compare what he has done in his first four years with what Oyinlola did in his first four years and compare the money that accrued to the two of them in their first four years. Oyinlola ran his government with transparency and he went through the due process before awarding contracts. Ask Aregbesola the justification for his claim that his administration has made some progress. Most of the projects he claimed to have executed were actually executed by the Oyinlola Administration. For instance, the road he claimed to have constructed from Akoda to Garage is of what distance? Oyinlola dualised Okefia to Iwo Road and other roads. He built the university with six campuses.

The projects executed by Oyinlola were done with the resources available to him. Whenever he borrowed money, he paid back on time. He took a loan of N6 billion to set up the university and he paid it back within 11 months. The last loan he took was for some other projects like building stadia, which he would have paid back before leaving office, because he was prudent.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE Politics of derivation and resource control The National Conference was described as another jamboree when it was inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan. The inability of delegates to resolve fundamental questions, including derivation and resource control has confirmed the illusion of hope, reports EMMANUEL OLADESU.

T

HE National Conference has been enveloped in anxiety this week. It started on Monday. After seven hours of closed-door deliberations, the Committee on Devolution of Power emerged without a decision on the twin issues of derivation and resource control. Delegates were taken aback.

Also, the committee could not resolve the argument and counter-argument for onshore-offshore oil dichotomy. Many delegates have called for its reintroduction in states where minerals are located off the coasts.

Last week, delegates from the North had spoken in support of a new derivation principle. They said that the 13 per cent should be retained in the constitution. But, delegates from the Southsouth disagreed. They said that the percentage should be jerked up.

The only consensus reched was that, if the current formula is to be reviewed, it should be done through the Act of Parliament.

Arguments by delegates from the oil-producing states bordered on the belief that the reintroduction of the obnoxious onshore-offshore oil dichotomy will draw the country backward into chaos.

Some Southern delegates argued that the demand for the premature scrapping of the Niger Delta Development Commission, the Presidential Amnesty Programme and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs could spell doom. They feared that militancy may be revived in the Southsouth.

The Co-chairman of the Committee, Obong Victor Attah, told reporters that the delegates on the committee had opportunity to articulate their views. He allayed the fear that the final position has been taken.

Attah said the final decision would not rob any part of the country its rights. He said the committee had adjourned to enable members reflect on the vexed issue, with a view to arriving at rational decisions, based on equity, fairnes and justice.

Committee members were advised not to take any decision in the direction that would create disequilibrium in the system. They were admonished to think beyond oil and gas as the only mineral resources in the country.

Nigeria’s leadership role in Africa came up for discussion at the sitting of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Matters.Ambassador Mohammed Isah Aliyu said that the Economic Committee of West African States (ECOWAS) single currency would not benefit to Nigeria because all the French-speaking West African countries are appendages of France. A member said that the Chibok kidnap saga should make the country to reflect on its foreign policy.

Retired Assistant Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Baba Ahmed suggested that the fight against corruption in the country should begin with the Police. But, he also advocated a better welfare package for the law enforcement agency. He recalled that, as a commissioner and later AIG, he did not have any imprest to his office.

The committee recommended the establishment of a Foreign Service Commission to coordinate foreign donations and aids into the country.

At the Committee on Public Service, remunerations and allowances of legislators were the major issues discussed.

A member described the jumbo pay as legal and moral issues. Another delegate suggested that the Pension Contributory Scheme should be applicable to the legislators.

The numbers of ministers and advisers for the President was also discussed.The committee recommended the amendment of the portion of the constitution that requires the President to appoint, at least, one minister from each state to read “not more than one minister from each state.” The number of ministers has therefore, been reduced from 42 to 36 It also recommended the full implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll System (IPPS) to include the military, paramilitary, judiciary and the legislature The committee said that state and federal legislators should be on part-time basis, adding that their remunerations should be comparable to other arms of government.

On budget reform, the committee recommended that projects should have terminal dates. The Millennium Tower and the Lokoja-Abuja road, which have been on-going for about 13 and eight years respectively, were cited as examples. The committee said that project monitoring should be reviewed.

The committee on Economy, Trade and Investment met to fine-tune the reports of its various sub-committees.

General Anthony Ukpo (rtd) suggested that government should invest in areas that do not have immediate commercial interest value like the space program. He also suggested that government should strengthen the regulation.

• Kutigi

PDP may not win Ogoni, says don From Clarance Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

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•Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu (right) congratulating the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Danladi Ndayebo, after his swearing in at the Government House, Minna... yesterday.

ORMER Vice Chancellorof the University of Port Harcourt, Prof Don Baridam, hs advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to embrace inter nal democracy.

He warned that the party may become unpopular in Ogoniland, owing to the politics of exclusion and mistrust.

He said:“Since democracy is the rule of the majority, it is in our best interest to welcome all those who aspire to be part of grand PDP movement.”

Baridam, who was addressing his kinsmen in Bangha, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, said that, as a card-carrying member of the PDP, he had wanted to join the senatorial race in 2003 before he got a divine directive to vie for the position of the vice Chancellors in 2005.

He said: “The PDP umbrella is expansive enough to accommodate both existing and new members. The members should not be afraid or suspicious of new members.”

He said: “Political parties that are not committed to internal democratic principles will likely fail and cannot adapt to new challenges and changing political realities that are characteristics of the 21st century politics.”

The former don warned that defection will also rock any party that fails to embrace the reality that internal democracy is the watchword.

53

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

NATURAL HEALTH THE NATION

E-mail:- health@thenationonlineng.net

Okra contains a wide range of nutrients at good levels. It has a lot of health benefits including spermicidal activity.

OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA writes.

Okra is safe for men, says Iwu C

ONTRARY to belief, okra is good for men, former Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Maurine Iwu has said.

Iwu, a pharmacologist and Chairman, Bioresources Development Group said once the base of the okra is removed, it could be taken by men. Many men shy away from taking okra because of the belief that it weakens their libido and makes sperm watery.

But Iwu said okra (Abelmoschus esculentus syn. Hibiscus esculentus) contains a wide range of nutrients.

It has high vitamin C and folate levels and also contains good amount of magnesium, manganese copper and small but useful amount of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and vitamin E. The base acts as a spermicide.

He said: “Research has demonstrated that okra may have a cholesterol-lowering effect, possibly due to its fibre content. It has also been investigated for its anti-inflammatory properties.

“It has been hypothesised that the binding of bile acids to fibre is one of the mechanisms by which fibre exerts a cholesterol-lowering effect. Bile acids are synthesised from cholesterol by the liver, but when bound to fibre are excreted.

To compensate for this loss, serum cholesterol is converted by the liver into bile acids, thus lowering levels of cholesterol in the blood. An in vitro study into the bile acid-binding capability of okra, beets, asparagus, eggplant, turnips, green beans, carrots and cauliflower found that okra was

•Prof Iwu

significantly more effective than all other vegetables.”

A research work entitled: ‘Plant and Food Research Confidential Report No. 2325’, has proven that Okra has cholesterol reducing property. The research stated that Okra was included for its viscous fibre content (0.39 g/100 g FW) in a study comparing the effects of a cholesterollowering diet with that of lovostatin (a common statin).

Prof Iwu said Okra improves skin health, as one study investigated the effect of polysaccharides derived from different food sources, including okra as skin therapies. It was found that rhamnogalacturonans from okra increase keratinocyte proliferation in vitro, thereby potentially

Improving heart health with plants

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ANY people have one heart problem or another.

But, these problems can be prevented by eating natural plants, a natural medicine practitioner, Dr Gilbert Ezengige, has said.

According to him, food and supplements can help to maintain the heart, thus avoiding serious heart challenges.

He said garlic (Allium sativum) promotes blood circulation and prevents blood clots formation.

This also assists in the treatment of hardening of arteries and lowers blood fat.

Garlic, he said, reduces high blood pressure.

Ezengige, who is also the General Secretary of Natural Integrative Medicine Practitioners Association (NIMPA), also recommended regular consumption of banana, which is rich in potassium.

He said it helps the body to maintain normal blood pressure and reduces cholesterol level.

He said onion is good for the treatment of angina, which is pain in the region of the heart.

Onion, he said, also lowers cholesterol in the blood and supports the heart function. It reduces blood pressure.

Lemon grass known botanically as Cymbopogon citrates, serves as heart and blood vessels tonic. It also

•Okra with bases noted for spermicide property

aiding in skin healing and rejuvenation.

“This plant has Anti-inflammatory activity. The products of 5lipoxygenase mediate allergic and inflammatory responses. These products are implicated in the development of a number of diseases, including thrombosis, atherosclerosis, inflammatory diseases and allergies such as asthma.

Sekiya (1997) investigated 90 foods as possible inhibitors of 5lipoxygenase as well as 12lipoxygenase and cycloxygenase

and okra was one of a small group found to inhibit 5- lipoxygenase activity.”

And for those with ulcer, they might find respite in Okra as its Anti-Helicobacter pylori activity has been established.

“Okra is a traditional Asian treatment for gastric problems, on account of its mucilaginous content Lengsfeld et al. (2004) investigated the effect of various okra extracts on the bacteria, H. pylori, a known cause of chronic gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers

and stomach cancer. Using an adhesion model based on sections of human gastric mucosa, this study found that pretreatment of the bacteria with a preparation of fresh okra juice inhibited the bacterial adhesion almost completely. However, freeze drying and reconstituting the juice reduces its effectiveness.”

Prof Iwu encouraged Nigerians to go back to the basics-natural food, as he said, “It is good to juice your fruits and cook your vegetables,”.

By Wale Adepoju

works as an antioxidant, which also works as a rejuvenator of the nervous system.

He said ginger-like garlic promotes blood circulation, supports the heart and blood vessels.

He also said avocado pear helps to regulate blood pressure and supports the heart function.

Ginger he said lowers the bad cholesterol (LDL), and increases the good cholesterol (HDL) level in the blood.

This plant tones muscles and nerves.

He identified tiger nuts (Cyperus esculentus) Ofio in Yoruba, Aki-awusa in Igbo, as a good plant for the management of the heart.

According to him,“It can also serve as body energiser and tonic. It is good for the treatment of atherosclerosis (plaque formation in the blood vessels).

“It can prevent heart attack and blood clot formation in the arteries.

It also reduces the bad cholesterol.”

Ezengige said other healing foods for the heart include: sour sop, celery, parsley, virgin coconut oil, citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruit, lemon etc. cashew nut, red wine, grapes, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, cayenne pepper, garden egg, honey and pepper fruit (Dennettia tripetala,

•Ezengige

mmimi in Igbo) and fish like mackerel, and sardines.

He identified food supplements that can support the heart vitamin E, vitamin C, bioflavonoids, calcium, coenzymes Q10, selenium, magnesium and fish oil which is rich in omega 3 fatty acids.

Ezengige advised readers to patronise fruit and vegetables but limit consumption of fried foods, artificial food products and (red) meat.

He said drugs can treat or manage diseases of the heart but they can’t nourish or revitalise it, adding: “Only foods can play that role”.

He recommended nutritional medicine because it utilises foods and food supplements to maintain

•Onions

health and prevent, manage and treat diseases.

Ezengige said the healing actions of foods are traceable to the food nutrients or non-nutrient plant chemicals (phytochemicals) which is present in food as well as the effects of colour energy of various foods.

He said people with various heart conditions are on the increase in our fast paced world.

This, he said, calls for a deliberate action plan to feed the whole body, most especially the heart with what can nourish it and keep it working smoothly.

“If we take just two disease conditions of the heart such as hypertension and stroke (the resultant effect

•Garlic

of uncontrolled hypertension), we will be confronted with frightening statistics,” he said.

Ezengige said: “Hippocrates, a Greek physician, best described today as the father of modern medicine who lived between 460BC and 357BC once told his students; Let food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food”.

He also advised his fellow colleagues to leave their drugs in the chemist’s shops if they couldn’t heal their patients with foods. “These Hippocratic teachings are cardinal to healthy living and fundamental to the proper maintenance of organs of the body including that vital organ we call the heart,” he stated.

54

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

NATURAL HEALTH

Some antidotes to Systemic Lupus erythematosus

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HERE is no time I think about my health that I do not remember Dr. Roger Williams, a biochemistry giant, Dr. Williams, author of 21 books and 300 articles, discovered folic acid and vitamin B5 or Pantothenic Acid, and went on to write the beautiful book, THE WONDERFUL WORLD WITHIN US. Lest I put off my friends who see everything spiritually, as indeed we all should, that "wonderful world" should actually describe biochemistry within "our bodies". For we are not these bodies but residents within them. So, in effect, I remember Dr. Williams whenever my eye dims, or my heart races a little faster, or I tend to be forgetful, literally run out of steam, or when a lab test suggests I need more oxygen, or potassium, or chloride or whatever else in my blood.

Dr. Williams' book shows how the body's biology and chemistry are powered by about 53 elements in particular ratios and how deficiencies cause varying stages of illnesses or disease.

So, when I am confronted with a case of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) or Discoid Lupus Erythematosus (DLE), this beautiful book encourages me to wonder what may be going on inside that disturbed wonderful world within which the skin wraps away from the eye.

My niece, the daughter of a Reverend gentleman, was the first SLE person I knew. She returned from holiday in the United States in the 1980s with an SLE diagnosis. In that country, patients had become so knowledgeable about health questions that doctors no longer took them for a ride. In Nigeria, many people still return from a visit to their doctor without knowing something as basic as their blood pressure reading.

Last week, I spoke on the telephone with a university student in Ado-Ekiti who always felt faintly or fainted on stepping out of bed in the morning. I had asked her to see her doctor and have her blood tested for red blood count, glucose level, oxygen etc. She had no personal records of these checks.

All she remembered was that the doctor said "something about vascular something".

This young woman cut a totally different picture from my niece who died in of SLE in the 1980s she returned from the United States with a box load of literature the hospital gave her on her health challenge. The idea was that patients should be knowledgeable about their health conditions so that they could become healthy and active participants in the healing processes of their bodies. My niece was so ill she couldn't do almost anything on her own. She couldn't even climb or descend the stairs. So, her bed had to be brought down to the sitting room. She suffered from pains in her joints, which were almost always inflamed, a condition that may be easily mistaken for rheumatoid arthritis which, like SLE, is an autoimmune disease. Sometimes, also, it may be confused with fibromyalgia, a condition of inflammation and pain in the joints, muscles, nerves and perhaps the connective tissue as well with loss of energy. In such a circumstance, it will require proper lab tests to make the right diagnosis.

Another SLE case I witnessed was that of the mother of an engineer. This woman, tall and agile in mid-life, became almost immobile and hardly able to talk. It took her minutes to rise from a seat. She could not support her grossly reduced weight. She liked to be independent, nevertheless. So, to walk to the toilet, for example, she would drag her feeble body along, holding tables, chairs, a standing fan or whatever lay within her reach. Her voice was lifeless, her eyes sunken. The soldiers of her body, her immune system, were trying to destroy that body, not its enemies, believing the body was an enemy that were meant to fight and eliminate.

How would this happen? Simple!

The answer requires an understanding of how the body defends itself, why it fails to do so but instead wages war on itself.

The Immune System

We can liken this system to, say, the Armed Forces of Nigeria. These armed forces comprise the Army, the Navy and the Air force. In the body, the defence system include organs, and mobile cells. These organs perform different roles which complement the functions of the mobile cells. They all function within an environment which we can liken to the human society, say Nigeria. Among these immune organ are the bone marrow, the thymus gland in the chest region and the lymph nodes in the armpits, groin, neck etc. The bone marrow produces cells which may differentiate into immune cells.

In infancy, these cells migrate to the thymus gland, which matures them, hence their name‌ the T4 cells, T standing for thymus. In many adults, the thymus gland is found to have shrunken to about a quarter of its size because of Zinc deficiency. This is why people whose sores do not heal quickly or well, or who fall ill frequently or take longer time to overcome infections are given Zinc food supplements. It has been found that within two months on such a supplement, the thymus gland grows back to its normal size and it can produce more T4 cells for the immune system. In this generation which is bedeviled with sexual explosion to such extent that the sexual problem has been spiritually described as "an incurable disease", men lose a lot of Zinc with every ejaculation. This is because about 80 per cent of the Zinc in a man's body is stored in the prostate gland. Among its function there is the provision of an antioxidant alkaline environment and defence for the sperm in the acidic vagina, and to curb the excesses of an enzyme, 5-Alpha reductase which triggers enlargement of the prostate gland when there is not enough Zinc there. Additionally, Zinc deficiency in the body may aid deterioration of the eyes because this organ cannot absorb, let alone use, Vitamin A to build its health, without the aid of Zinc. Without enough Zinc in the thymus gland, this organ cannot produce enough thymulin hormone which aids the maturing of T4 cells.

The lymph nodes are like filters in the lymphatic system.

They may be likened to filters in the kidneys which remove poisons from the blood as it passes through them for excretion in the urine. The lymphatic system is circulatory system parallel to the circulation of blood in arteries, veins and capillaries, the better known blood circulatory system. Red blood flows in this system. Actually, the colour of blood is not red.

It is the red blood cells which give it that colour. At certain points in red blood flow system, the plasma, the clear fluid in the blood, separates from the red cells to flow in the lymphatic vessels which carry the lymph to feed the cells and remove their wastes or poisons. The lympth nodes are strategically located to filter toxins so they do not return to red blood circulation when the lympth rejoins the red cells in the blood vessels. When a lymph node enlarges, it suggests it has had or is having too much to chew in respect of too much poisons to filter. Blood tests often reveal an abnormally high number of white blood cells. This indicates a rapid production of these cells to deal with an urgent or critical invasion by foreign bodies, very much like a national army massively recruiting and training recruits in the course of a war.

Therefore, swellings in the armpits, groin, neck and other places should be taken seriously, as these places may become cancerous (Hodgkins lymphoma, for example) if the toxemia grows out of hand.

Organs of the immune system complement the work of immune cells. These cells are of various shapes and sizes, move about in the blood or are resident in the organs or lymphatic vessels. They are like policemen or troops on patrol. Based on their nature and work, they bear all sorts of names, including Basophils, Neutrophils etc.

Some of these immune system cells produce chemicals which stain germs and other foreign bodies. Some other attack these stained germs and other parasites with enzymes which kill or maim the foreign bodies. The big cells, the macrophages, surround and engulf or eat up these stained bodies. Yet other immune cells gather information on foreign substances, like intelligence personnel of the secret service and pass it on to the cells or organs. This way, these cells and organs produce chemical substances with which they fight off any offensive.

The information gathered would include data on the chemical or protein structure of the enemy, and the cells and organs, ready for a fight, would produce chemical substances which can neutralise or destroy the chemical or protein makeup of the enemy.

Dr. Roger Williams' book, THE WONDERFUL WORLD WITHIN, is, indeed, an interesting work. The question most people would ask is, how does the immune system do these things when the cells and organs have no eyes and brains? I will come to that soon. Before then, I would add that recent research has shown that the environment in which these cells and organs function is crucial to their effectiveness and efficiency. Again, I would like to draw a parallel with the human society. Isn't the effectiveness and efficiency with which the Nigerian Armed forces will deal with the Boko Haram ragtag army in the kidnapping of about 300 girls in boarding school related to the society in which these forces operate and of which they are integral members?

In the body, this environment would include such integral members as the nervous system, the blood system, the blood system and the excretory system, particularly the lungs, liver, kidneys and intestine. Add the diet to this list.

Signaling or Vibration

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HE immune organs and cells have no eyes, alright. They recognise one another and other kindred cells of the body which number about 100 trillion in the adult through a unique vibrational frequency. In nature, every living and non-living thing vibrates on a frequency peculiar to it alone. The 100 trillion or so cells in the adult body originated from one sperm cell which fertilised one egg cell to form a single cell, the zygote, which kept dividing, one into two, two into four, four into eight etc. until the peak number was attained. As they divided, these cells differentiated according to the nature of their work. Cells that formed the eye differed from those of the kidneys or the brain or the bone.

But wherever they found themselves, these cells never forgot that they belonged to one great family which, in unison, vibrated on the same frequency. That is why the immune cells reject organ transplants for these foreign organs would vibrate on different frequencies. The immune system would,

therefore, have to be surprised with drugs, for the body to accept these strange organs.

I experienced this on another scale when I was rearing animals. Somehow, the mother hen would know certain chicks were not hatched by her. She would peck them sometime to death, to stop them from following her. If a baby rabbit falls from the cage and you pick it with naked hand, the mother rabbit would smell your vibration on the young one and reject it. In the pig farm, the farmers are not happy with mother pigs (sows) which produced small litter. Pig spend three month, three weeks and three days from mating to birthing.

If the sow produces three piglets, for example, where as many as 10 are expected, the fresh mother is sent for mating at the next menstrual 'heat' period, and the three piglets mixed up with those from a large litter. If the farmer does not first run his hands over the mother pig and thereafter massage the bodies of the three piglets with the vibrations thus picked, before mixing up the piglets, the mother pig would not agree to breast feed them. Before I learned the ropes, I always watched, amazed, at how the mother pig lying on her side, eyes closed while her piglets sucked her breasts, would suddenly rise to chase away foreign piglet which dared to try to suck her breasts. If these hungry piglets were stubborn and would not go away, the mother piglet may bite them to death or eat them up!

People who are fond of wearing second hand or used clothes should learn a lesson from this. Their vibration may be modulated by the vibration in those clothes which may still be linked to the vibrations of their last owners. This may be the source of certain seemingly inexplicable diseases or misfortunes so often attributed to ones 'enemies' in this part of the world.

Immune System derangement Why would an otherwise intelligent immune system gradually or suddenly derail and begin to attack the body, of which it is a member and which it is meant to protect?

Many reasons have been advanced as possible answers. I would like to mention only two of these possible factors because they appear to warehouse other factors. One is LEAKY GUT SYNDRONE. The other is ACIDOSIS.

LEAKY GUT

In leaky gut syndrome, the intestine is leaking. That is, the pores or holes through which digested food is absorbed into the bloodstream are wider than is normal.

Consequently, larger or bigger molecules pass through.

This is largely the function of a sick digestive process and system. The process begins in the mouth where teeth are supposed to break the morsel into small chunks in order to increase the surface area on which ptyalin, the alkaline-based enzyme in saliva, will act. Ptyalin converts complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides) to disaccharides. Another enzyme in the intestine converts disaccharides to monosaccharaides one of which is glucose, which produces energy for the cells, muscles and the brain. The failure of the digestive process begins in the mouths of many people. Many people do not chew their food properly, if they do at all, and do not let the morsel become liquefied by the saliva before they swallow it. The outcome is that polysaccharides do not get well converted to disaccharides and cannot be absorbed through the tiny pores of the intestinal villi (wall). In the intestine, the sludge forms food for bacteria and viruses and candida which grow abnormally large populations on this nurture. The parasites produce poisons which damage intestinal wall. They also nibble on this wall. In the end, the intestinal wall becomes so weak and its pores or sieves so large that abnormally large molecules of food are absorbed by the blood. The immune cells recognise these abnormally large molecules as irregular members of the household, and attack them to destroy them. When these molecules are incorporated into cells and tissue through adaptation in the absence of anything else, these cells and tissues come under immune attack for destruction.

Researchers have found that when cooked food is eaten, the swarm of the immune cells in the stomach is enormous but decreases when raw food or water is taken before such meals.

These are important points people challenged with SLE should bear in mind always. The intestine needs to be cleared up and leaky gut healed while the digestive function should be improved. Every morning, I try to take an anti-parasite formula on empty stomach. With my meals, I take probiotics. These are friendly bacteria which inhibit overgrowth of unfriendly bacteria. In between one meal and another, I sip Lasena artesian water. At 7.8pH, it is the most alkaline natural water in Nigeria today. It comes from a 522 meters deep well with zinc, silica and other medicinal and alkalising minerals. They help to neutralize dangerous acids in the body which may cause acidosis. Even then, I add Bio-plasma and homeopathic biochemical cell salts and 50mg Zinc to the water to make it more alkaline. Alkaline water has been found to be a key of longevity in many parts of the world. Nigeria's top bottle water brands test acidic. In acidosis, that ‘wonderful world within’ described by Dr. Roger Williams has been poisoned by the air inhaled, the water drank, the food eaten, by stress and by negative emotions such as hatred. It has been found that the milk of nursing mothers who hate passionately often tastes sour, and that may be a reason a hungry baby rejects it and cries nevertheless for food.

When the cells become acidic, a microscopic organism microbiologists call microzyma emerges from within them to destroy them. The body works optimally at 7.4pH. The pH scale is graduated 0-14. Readings below 7 are acidic, above alkaline. In acidosis, the signally of cells is grossly diminished, and the environment is literally filled with a babel of voices (signas or vibrations). The immune system is disoriented and misrecognises kith and kindred cells for enemy cells, attack and destroys them with antibodies.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

e-Business

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‘Dearth of infrastructure threat to e-payment

AILURE to fill the gap in the identity management infrastructure and solutions space can derail the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) efforts to put in place a cashless economy through use of alternative payments channels, Chairman, Chams, Ayo Richards, has warned.

He said without filling the gap, the payments transaction industry and the economy cannot thrive.

Richards said the firm’s identity assurance programmes being executed in the private and public sectors would strengthen its business, ensure future growth and fuel increased profitability in the long run.

Stories by Lucas Ajanaku

He spoke on the sideline at the firm’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, stressing that the sector has become the driver of the economy, arguing that the infrastructure deficit has to be fixed to move on.

He said: “ICT has become a key driver of economic activity in Nigeria and other developing markets. Remarkably, there is a huge gap to fill in the identity management infrastructure and solutions space which is our area of focus.

Without filling this yawning gap, the payments transaction industry

Spectranet launches ‘value for money plans’

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OURTH generation (4G) internet service provider (ISP) Spectranet Limited has launched its Pay Little Download Heavy in Lagos and Abuja.

It offers value for money paid by its customers.

Its Chief Operating Officer, Atul Ojha, who spoke in Lagos, explained that the new plans are appealing. The plans will cater for customers looking for significant value for money and takes into account the needs of all segments of the society, ranging from student, housewife, family, upwardly mobile corporate executive, corporate customers and people with keen interest in downloading movies to music to games.

He said: “The plans are also appealing to customers who are busy during the day but want to enjoy the internet during the evening and night. Spectranet offers night

plan with a very lenient access time, including offering 24 hours access on night plan during weekend and public holidays.

“The plans offer great savings when you consider the per Gigabyte (GB) cost of data download. As a matter of fact, these plans are the best in the industry.

Keeping in mind to offer value for money the cost per GB download in some of the plans is as low as N100.

“Spectranet is committed to delivering the best possible experience to the customer not only on the quality and grade of service but also value for money and convenience.

“A customer can go to the ‘Spectranet Store’ in his neighbourhood, can go to a channel partner next door or even call a friendly executive from the comfort of his home and experience Spectranet 4G LTE internet services.”

and economy at large cannot thrive.”

According to the chair, the identity assurance needs of the financial services industry, state governments, tertiary institutions, and specialised government agencies are the catalyst of the rapid growth in the issuance of identity cards and registration of citizens for recordkeeping purposes.

He said: “There are many government-driven identity assurance programmes going on in Nigeria currently and they are with biometrics, one of our areas of specialty.

We have the national identity programme by National Identity Man-

agement Commission (NIMC) and the Know-Your-Customer biometric registration programme for bank customers, as well as residency and smart identity card programmes being championed by some state governments.

As a leading player in the identity assurance space, we are engaged with governments and relevant agencies to provide these identity management products and services.

The demand for identity management services will continue to grow due increasing to financial inclusion, implementation of CBN’s cashlite policy and digitisation of commerce, presenting future

growth opportunities for us as a business.”

The firm’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Ademola Aladekomo, said despite its operational costs due to infrastructure challenge, the technology firm improved performance during the accounting year.

He said: “In spite of cost pressures and infrastructure challenges, especially in the area of power, Chams improved its 2012 performance by focusing on the core business of identity management and payments solutions in the 2013 financial year. We streamlined our business operations by vesting non-core

Glo votes $100m for service quality improvement

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ATIONAL telecoms operator, Globacom, has voted $100 million for the upgrade of its switches in its data network, adding that its equipment swapping project will see more than 60 per cent of its base transmission stations (BTS) across the country covered with third generation (3G) network facility.

The telco is one of the three axed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over failure to meet key performance indicators (KPIs) set down by the regulator and agreed to by the operators.

The others are MTN and Airtel.

They were fined N647million and were barred from taking in new subscribers by activating new subscriber identity module (SIM) cards. It is not clear if the ban has been lifted.

Speaking in Lagos, its Head, Operations, Kola Osho, said to address service quality problems, the telco has swapped Abuja, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, adding that Lagos is being swapped and had already achieved 80 per cent equipment swapping.

According to him, about 3000 BTS are involved in the deal, adding that Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital has also achieved 70 per cent equipment swapping.

He said the swapping has not only increased high data use throughput, it has reduced network congestion and increased the number of internet protocol (IP) transmission.

He assured that network coverage will be improved while the current 3G data network which is more than 43 per cent will be improved tremendously.

“In addition to all these, we are also

working on 1500 new sites all on 3G. We are deploying services to schools, highways, commercial hubs and other such important places,” Osho said.

Group Chief Operating Officer, Glo, Mohamed Jameel, said the importance of telecoms cannot be overemphasised, adding that 95 per cent of things are possible the internet ranging from education, health, commerce, agriculture, telemedicine and several others.

He said these developments underscore the need for service providers to develop broadband infrastructure, adding that for the opportunities available in the sector to be maximised, Glo will keep encouraging the development of relevant applications that will ride on the broadband infrastructure being developed.

MainOne sponsors global telecoms week

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EADING provider of innovative telecoms services and network solutions for businesses in West Africa, MainOne, is sponsoring the International Telecommunications Week (ITW), which holds in Chicago, the United States next week.

According to a statement, the ITW conference is a yearly meeting of global wholesale telecoms community expected to host over 5,000 delegates from about 1,800 companies in over 150 countries.

It will allow them to interact and discuss the latest market developments and business opportunities.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Funke Opeke, said the firm will continue its efforts at enhancing broadband penetration in the country.

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“We believe that our input at the International Telecoms Week will continue our efforts to enhance broadband Internet penetration in West Africa and especially Nigeria, so that MainOne can continue to lead the data boom that is currently taking place in our region. We remain committed to driving the growth in broadband penetration in Nigeria and West Africa to match the rest of the world,” Opeke said.

He will moderate a session at the event where the impact of new services and technologies on carriers and operators in Africa, Africa’s movement to cloud services, and how infrastructure sharing models are enhancing broadband penetration, operational efficiency and quality of service across Africa would be discussed.

KITS hosts data centre forum

N indigenous Information Comunication Technology (ICT) firm, KITS Technologies Limited, has hoseted a forum that addressed the technicalities in the establishment of data centres in the country.

According to a statement, data centre has long moved beyond building a gigantic, expensive and exquisite silo of proprietary hardware and software, stating that this concept and thinking have become obsolete.

It added that enterprise data centre are being overwhelmed with increasing business demands for more storage, computing resource (huge data and cloud computing). Failure to be abreast with new technologies that have full capacity to improve infrastructure performance, scale and economics is inimical to the health of the technology. It said addressing these issues would need a comprehensive rethinking of how data-

centers are designed and managed.

Director, Business and Strategy, Taofeek Okoya, said the critical and key design and management elements that more often than not drive cost down tremendously will be examined at the forum.

He said the seminar did not only provided invaluable information to delegates to avoid making common mistakes but further helped reduce the likelihood of cost overruns and capacity problems.

He said the event is important now that enterprises, banks, telecoms providers and governments are realising the need to build new data centre and also taking steps to tune it to existing data centre.

KITS Technologies Limited held the event in partnership with Capitoline LLP of the United Kingdom. It was designed to guide decision makers involved in data centre build and management.

•From left: Chief Operating Officer, Spectranet Limited Atul Ojha; Head, Sales and Marketing, Yogendra Sonawane, Head, Sales and Marketing Manager, Samson Akejelu, during the unveiling of its new internet bundle plans in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Huawei to train 10,000 youths in Nigeria, others

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HINESE telecoms equipment vendor, Huawei, has promised to train 10,000 youths in Nigeria and other African countries over the next five years, saying the future of the continent lies in arming the youth with the requisite information communication technology (ICT) skills.

Its Global Vice President, Mr. Charles Ding, said this is a further demonstration of the commitment of the firm to the continent and strengthening of the bond between China and Africa.

He said: “Huawei is committed to developing its business in Africa where our commitment will create mutually beneficial opportunities and win-win outcomes. Africa and China have enjoyed a strong relationship that has seen extensive cooperation in political, economic, and cultural areas. Africa has an open and

inclusive approach to international trade relations, which has created a sound business environment for Huawei’s development in the region.

“Huawei considers Africa to be one of its most important strategic growth markets. By localising our operations, we can better understand the needs of the market and improve our overall capabilities. We’re proud to have an opportunity to play an important role in Africa’s modernisation. We are also committed to creating more jobs; promote ICT industry growth and development in Africa.”

The presentation made by the firm at the The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, on Forging inclusive growth, creating jobs showed that the firm employs over 7,100 staff in Africa and also created 12,000 jobs through procurement and outsourcing services.

Ding said the future development of ICT industry is predicated on factors such as planning and innovative technologies.

He said: “The future development of the ICT industry is reliant, including, effective planning, innovative technologies, and sufficient investment. The successful implementation of these three strands will improve the competitiveness of the industry and promote the development of the digital economy.

“Huawei is committed to our work in Africa and to our support of public and private stakeholders.

We are confident that the future of the industry in Africa holds many opportunities and we will continue to increase our investment in the region and play a more active role in reshaping society through ICT.”

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THE NATION

BUSINESS INDUSTRY

industry@thenationaonlineng.net

To many, the proposed National Quality Policy (NQP) will end the preponderance of fake and sub-standard products and position made-in-Nigeria goods for global competitiveness. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

Waiting for national quality policy T

HE statistics are unflattering: Between 80 and 85 per cent of products manu factured in Nigeria are substandard, according to a survey by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

Although the level of substandard products dropped from 85 per cent to 50 per cent about two years ago, following the aggressive campaign against fake and substandard products by the SON, the figure is considered a drop in the ocean, compared with the situation in other climes. For instance, while 40 per cent of products in Egypt and Kenya was regarded as substandard, South Africa’s was less than 30 per cent.

For SON and industry stakeholders, the prevalence of fake and substandard products brought about by the absence of a National Quality Policy (NQP) is unacceptable and must be reversed if indigenous goods are to be globally competitive and make the nation a respectable member of the international community. SON has said it is determined to further reduce the prevalence of substandard goods to 30 per cent, and in collaboration with stakeholders, it has renewed the campaign to establish a NQP. Already, a National Steering Committee (NSC) has been inaugurated by the Federal Government to drive the process. The NQP national steering committee is mandated to review and harmonise quality policies in Nigeria, identify the national quality infrastructure needs and the best model for economic growth, and develop the roadmap for NQP implementation.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, is the committee’s chairman; SON Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu is the secretary.

Aganga explained that the NQP would produce a broad-based system that would provide quality specifications for all manufactured products in the country. At the inaugural meeting of the committee in Abuja, he said the policy would re-engineer the quality infrastructure and the technical regulation regimes and help the Federal Government exeute its economic plans.

The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, explained that a NQP is vital for national development because of its role in facilitating international trade. He said it enables nations to define bold and courageous initiatives to address quality related issues, such as performance, conformance, reliability, durability and safety.

According to him, these features are the drivers of domestic as well as international trade with the provision of adequate quality infrastructure to drive competitiveness, economic growth and development.

“A quality policy built on reliable human resources and infrastructure constitutes the fundamental means of assessing, planning,

E

managing developmental changes and achieving sustainable growth and global competitiveness,” Ortom, who doubles as the supervising Minister for Aviation, said, adding that the inauguration of the NSC for the formulation of a NQP was an expression of Federal Government’s commitment to re-engineering, strengthening, upgrading and maintaining the national regulatory, standardisation, metrology, accreditation and conformity assessment infrastructure to facilitate trade, enhance exports, accelerate economic development and reduce poverty.

For Odumodu, the inauguration of the committee was a shot in the arm of the agency in the campaign to stamp out fake and substandard products. According to him, the need for such policy cannot be over-emphasised because it has long been overdue. He explained that the lack of policy had over the years made harmonisation of the available quality infrastructure difficult thereby limiting the benefits, particularly in driving competitiveness and international market access.

Dr. Odumodu said Nigeria’s standard operation was faced with many challenges with the attendant overlap of interests and activities, which sometimes result to disagreements.

The cause of this, according to him, was the lack of NQP to hold the system and make it functional and efficient enough to earn global confidence. In other words, a NQP policy would set bases and rules for the players, harmonise the role of various players, and provide a commitment to complying with international standards.

Over time, operations of government agencies set up to regulate and ensure good standards, such as SON, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Universities Commission (NUC), National Judicial Council (NJC), Police, and Public Service Commission, among others, have been uncoordinated because of the lack of a framework or a NQP. Each of the agencies operates independently and, in some cases, on ad hoc.

The SON chief said until now, the determined efforts of the agency to curb the menace of substandard products have been marred by the absence of a national quality policy, noting that the policy would bring sanity to a system that is highly profitable to the actors.

He noted that the new policy would act as a catalyst for local productivity and quick adaptation of best global standards and practices to enthrone quality culture, improved management and process systems and work environments, in addition to attaining efficiency and products competitiveness, reduce importation and increase exports.

Not a few stakeholders agree with him, which is why most of them are upbeat that a new dawn is in the offing for Nigeria-made

•Aganga

•Odumodu

products. For instance, the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (ECCIMA) described the NQP as ‘timely and necessary’ to enable the country achieve its economic goals.

Its Chairman, Dr. Ifeanyi Okoye, assured the steering committee of its support. Dr. Okoye, who is the Managing Director, Juhel Nigeria Limited, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, expressed optimism that with the blue- print for quality expected from the committee, technical barriers to global trade would be removed for indigenous goods.

He said the establishment of NQP, which include a national accreditation body, a national metrology institute, internationally recognised test laboratories, standardisation of goods and services offered in all sectors and quality assurance would be catalysed to usher the economy into a new phase of growth and development.

The Champions of Development Nigeria (CDN) also expressed delight with the inauguration of the NQP Steering Committee. In a statement by its President, Mr. Jonas Yomi, the group described the committee’s inauguration as timely and could enthron the quality culture in Nigeria. It decried the lack of an integrated approach to quality management in Nigeria, saying that the harmonisation of regulatory agencies and quality policies was overdue if Nigeria was determined to establish national quality infrastructure, which is an important tool for implementing NQP. The group also lamented the non-existence or insignificant number of accredited laboratories in Nigeria, noting that accredited labs are the backbone of valid testing results without which products or services cannot be said to be certified or conforming to requirements.

“These unacceptable deficiencies of the present approach to standardisation highly recommend NQP. Without NQP Nigeria’s standardisation efforts will continue to look uncoordinated and unclear. NQP’s objective is to make quality the way of life in Nigeria.

It will define the apex standardisation institution in the country; clarify the boundaries for

each of the regulatory agencies; minimise conflict between them; enhance cooperation between them; and identify existing as well as needed infrastructure as well as chart its own implementation,” the statement said.

The group, however, urged the committee to ensure that all stakeholders are carried along in the process of the policy drafting and evaluation since only an all-inclusive policy will gain the needed broad-based support.

“There is need to reach out across the whole spectrum of stakeholders. This can be done through road shows as well as sustained mass media campaign. Within the framework of national interest, the diversity of views should be considered,” the group advised, urging the committee to see ahead and make only recommendations that will stand the test of time.

However, there are misconceptions about NQP. For instance, while the essential quality custom targets industries and the public, the reality is that every segment of the economy and national life is part of the standards regime. In the business community, for instance, small and medium scale businesses will take their rightful positions as the backbone of an emerging economy. That will be a departure from a situation where many homes in the urban and semi-urban areas are turning every space to a factory.

This is more prevalent in the sachet water production business, an industry that has blossomed with potential danger of water borne diseases. In education, makeshift structures that serve as school buildings with horrendous toilet and other basic facilities will give way for standard structures that are fit for human beings. “Quality is all encompassing,” a marketing communication consultant, Joe Anatune, said.

He pointed out that everyone has a role to play. “Users have duty to demand quality otherwise they end up with substandard products. The law and its enforcement must be properly and promptly applied. Manufacturers, transporters, sellers and civil society organisations are all part of the quality control chain, hence the NQP,” he said.

‘How Nigeria can utilise $68b WEF vote’

XPERTS have advised the Federal Government on how it can deploy the $68billion from the World Economic Forum (WEF) to boost economic growth and development.

A Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Lagos, Omotayo Adeluwa, urged the government to use the money to train professionals.

The WEF attracted over $68 billion (about N12.9 trillion) in investments to Africa, the Managing Director of the Forum, Dr Philipp Rosler, said.

He said the funds were in form of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) as well as private and public investments across Africa, which would continue to yield results in future.

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie Assist. Editor

Rosler said the funds were targeted at investments in projects that would foster the development of the agricultural sector, improve infrastructure, such as roads, railways, hospitals, education, skill development and Information Communication Technology (ICT).

Adeluwa said the government should use the fund to develop the country technologically. He said the country must move from taking ‘hand-outs’ from the international community to having a development road map where skills will be developed through technology transfer or exchange programmes

so that Nigerians could be trained in the latest technologies.

He added that Nigeria has no business being a mono economy, as there are many untapped mineral resources in the country.

Citing his research, Adeluwa said Niger State has a huge deposit of kaolin. However, he regretted, a government hospital was built in the area where the mineral is. He said his suggestions to the government to relocate the hospital and tap the kaolin that could last about 100 years were rebuffed. He said such attitude smacks of ignorance on the part of decision makers.

Also, the don called on the government to tighten its monetary policy, and have more control over money and the Central Bank of

Nigeria (CBN) to discourage capital flight.

The Chairman, Campaign for Democracy (CD), Southwest, Mr Goodluck Obi, said the donors of the cash were monitoring it to ensure that there is transparency and equity in its deployment.

He said: “Africa has a history of misappropriation of funds, from the beginning the mangers of the fund should identify which areas the funds are needed most to achieve real development and evaluate it at some part to identify its success rate.”

An area the fund should be channelled, he said, is in addressing the inequality between the rich and the poor. He lamented that while some people live in affluence, others live in abject poverty.

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61

EQUITIES Nestle Nigeria reassures on growth prospect

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also doubtful,” Adekunle stated.

He urged the government to reevaluate the implications of the plan for the pension fund industry and future of the personnel of the NPF. Other stakeholders in the capital market and pension industry had earlier said the withdrawal may have unintended negative influence on the capital market where the large chunk of the funds are invested while the lack of independence and competition could thwart the laudable objectives of pension management.

Stakeholders said the negative spillovers may also affect the Nigerian capital market as PFAs would have to adjust their portfo-

lios to meet the exigencies of transfers.

They urged the government to reconsider the idea and allow independent PFAs to continue to manage Police pension assets while the NPF concentrates on its core duty of protecting the citizenry.

However, Pencom has assured that the transfer would be temporary and it would not have any negative consequence on the industry.

Spokesman for Pencom, Mr. Emeka Onuora, said that the licensing of NPF Pensions Limited to manage the Police pension savings pending the opening of the transfer window would not pose any threat whatsoever.

overture already has attracted political scrutiny in the U.S. and U.K. AstraZeneca rejected Pfizer’s second proposal on May 2, valued at 62.6 billion pounds ($106 billion) and made up of 32 percent cash and the rest in stock.

Ian Read, Pfizer’s chief executive officer, and Pascal Soriot, his counterpart at AstraZeneca, will testify at two separate parliamentary committees this week, as the U.K. government seeks guarantees that Pfizer will preserve jobs and medical research in Britain.

Pfizer is concerned it’s beginning to lose momentum on the deal, said two of the people, and will be talking further to investors and listening to what comes out of the hearings as it evaluates its next steps.

Pfizer has said it would move its legal residence to the U.K., gaining a lower tax rate, while the

company’s operational headquarters would remain in New York.

In doing so, Pfizer would join more than a dozen other companies that have said they are making or considering such transactions since 2012.

Read has said the tax benefits, the chance to avoid U.S. taxes on $70 billion in cash built up overseas and AstraZeneca’s promising cancer medicines are among the reasons Pfizer is pursuing the deal.

The tax issue has sparked criticism from U.S. lawmakers, including Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that oversees tax legislation. Wyden said he may take up a proposal that would make it harder for U.S. companies to shift their legal addresses to avoid taxes.

A deal with AstraZeneca would help Pfizer add early-stage drugs

that use the body’s own immune cells to recognize and attack tumors. Atop the list is MEDI4736, AstraZeneca’s immuno-oncology drug expected to compete with experimental therapies from drugmakers including BristolMyers Squibb Co., Merck & Co. and Roche Holding AG. British lawmakers earlier this month mobilized against Pfizer’s attempt, demanding Business Secretary Vince Cable secure assurances on jobs and research investment. Part of Pfizer’s pitch to British officials is that AstraZeneca is a global company and has substantial operations and people outside the country, said one of the people.

About 40 percent of AstraZeneca’s revenue in 2013 came from North America, and more than 30 percent from outside of Europe, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Safetrust Mortgage Bank strengthens performance

S

afetrust Mortgage Bank Limited braced macroeconomic challenges and industry odds to grow its total assets to N12.6 billion and shareholders’ funds to N2.78 billion in 2013, putting it ahead as one of the most capitalised mortgage banks.

At the annual general meeting of the mortgage bank in Lagos yesterday, shareholders of the mortgage bank approved the audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2013 including distribution of a gross dividend of about N101.21 million. The breakdown of the dividend indicates a dividend per share of 6.0 kobo.

In his address at the meeting, chairman, Safetrust Mortgage Bank Limited, Mr. Akin Opeodu, said the mortgage bank surmounted environmental constraints to post a cheery positive performance that ranked among the best in the mortgage industry.

According to him, the mortgage bank was able to surpass the new

•Shareholders approve N101.21m dividends Stories by Taofik Salako Capital Market Editor

industry minimum capital base of N2.5 billion for state operating license by growing its shareholders’ funds to N2.78 billion, thus enabling the company to change its name from Safetrust Savings and Loans Limited to Safetrust Mortgage Bank Limited.

He outlined that the mortgage bank recorded total deposits of N6.62 billion and grew its interest earnings by 15.2 per cent from N1.85 billion to N2.12 billion while total assets and shareholders’ funds rose from N11.9 billion and N2.02 billion to N12.6 billion and N2.78 billion respectively.

“As a business, we will continue to focus on key growth sectors of the Nigerian economy and leverage on our enhanced capital position to enrich lives of our various stakeholders in a sustainable manner,”

Opeodu said.

Managing director, Safetrust Mortgage Bank Limited, Mr. Yinka Adeola, said in spite of challenges occasioned by the recapitalization of the mortgage industry in 2013 and adverse effects of many regulatory policies, the mortgage bank was focused on capacity building, competitive advantage over competitors and repositioning itself to leverage on emerging business opportunities.

He said the bank has already initiated a roadmap to scale up its operations by obtaining a national operating license by increasing its capital base to N5 billion through new issues and inorganic opportunities.

According to him, Safetrust’s resolve to continue to be a one-stop mortgage banking shop remains unfettered as evident in the substantial strides made by the bank towards human capital development, upgraded service standards and

branch networking.

He outlined that the bank is currently working on expanding its branch network with more branches expected in Lagos State while it will also adopt agent banking model to reach out to more customers.

“As a dynamic financial institution, Safetrust will continue to anticipate and respond to changes in the industry environment. Safetrust is committed to staying the course, remaining focused, as we chart the path that lies ahead,” Adeola said.

He said the mortgage bank has concluded on improvements of its service channels with customers now able to avail themselves of electronic banking services such as Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), telephone banking and internet banking while it is working on providing additional e-channel services to its customers.

Audited report and accounts showed that the bank recorded gross earnings of N2.26 billion while profit after tax stood at N142.70 million.

Analysts express fears over N305b police pension

F

INANCIAL market analysts have called for a rethink of the planned transfer of N305 billion pension savings of the men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from various pension fund administrators (PFAs) to a proposed government-owned pension administrator.

A financial analyst, Mr Ayodele Adekunle, in a statement, cautioned against the move by the National Pension Commission (Pencom) to move the N305 billion Police pension to the proposed NPF Pensions Limited noting that such transfer runs contrary to the letters and spirit of the Pension Reform Act 2004 (PRA) and could have unintended negative consequences.

According to him, the Federal Government should reconsider the move because it does not only pose a threat to payment of men and officers of the NPF but also moving the funds from existing PFAs contravenes the extant law on pension operations.

“We all are living witnesses to the stories about police pensions in this country and the N305 billion has professionally been managed under the pension reform over the years. Changing the status quo has so many risks and I believe the government should consider the demerits of this move before taking further action,” Adekunle said.

He noted that section 11(2) of the PRA 2004 gives every contributor the right to choose any PFA pointing out that the move by Pencom contravenes this provision.

“Apart from the fact that moving the funds contravenes that section of PRA 2004, I am suspecting some foul play. The regulator is saying that after the transfer, the police personnel will have the freedom to transfer to their PFA of their choice after two years. To me, there is ulterior motive in this position. Instead of transferring all the pension to a new PFA, the opportunity should be given to the police personnel right from day one so that they decide which PFA to use rather than compelling them to move to a new PFA and after two years they will transfer from the new PFA to any other one of their choice. This will not only be cumbersome but it is

P

By Alvin Afadama

HAIRMAN, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Mr. David Ifezulike, has assured that the company would leverage on its competitive advantages to surmount operating challenges and continue to deliver returns to shareholders.

In an address at the annual general meeting of the company in Lagos, Ifezulike said though the environment looks to be every bit as challenging in 2014 as it was last year, the current business year will again provide opportunities to the company leverage on its competitive advantages and deliver on its growth targets.

According to him, Nestle Nigeria’s performance would continue to benefit from the company’s drive for continuous improvement across its business lines while it remains disciplined in driving its performance in line with the Nestle model of profitable growth and resource efficiency.

He noted that in view of the good performance achieved in 2013 and in line with the board’s commitment to creating value for its shareholders, the company decided to pay a final dividend of N24 in addition to an interim dividend of N1.50, making a total dividend of N25.50 per share for 2013 business year, representing 27.5 per cent increase on the payout for 2012.

“We believe that companies are only sustainable and successful over the long term if they create value not just for their stakeholders but also for the societies in which they operate.

We believe that we can create value for our shareholders and society by doing business in ways that specifically help address global and local issues in the areas of nutrition, water and rural development,” Ifezulike said.

According to him, Nestle Nigeria pursues its objective of being the reference for financial performance in its industry with its commitment to creating shared value in order to be trusted by all stakeholders.

He commended the special intervention funds of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which were disbursed through the Bank of Industry (BoI), which have also helped to revive a good number of ailing industries and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Pfizer to raise AstraZeneca bid again

FIZER Inc is planning to sweeten its bid for United Kingdom rival AstraZeneca Plc (AZN) for a second time, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Pfizer and its advisers are crafting a new offer that would increase the value modestly above the current 50 pounds-a-share, about $84, level while bumping the cash portion, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Pfizer will probably wait until after U.K. government hearings to raise its bid, they said.

Bloomberg reported that Pfizer is putting together a sweetened offer before it considers whether to make a hostile takeover attempt by bringing its proposal directly to AstraZeneca’s shareholders, the people said. Pfizer would prefer a friendly deal since its unsolicited

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THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 14-05-14

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 14-05-14

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

63

MONEYLINK

AfDB okays new credit policy for low income countries

L

OW income African countries are now eligible to secure loans from the African Development Bank Group’s (AfDB) sovereign loan window, the lender has said.

In a statement yesterday, it said the decision followed a review of the institution’s credit policy which has been approved by its Board of Directors.

It said the policy underscores the bank group’s recognition of the strong economic progress of African countries during the last decade, and its mandate to help sustain inclusive growth in its Regional Member Countries (RMCs) or African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana and Togo, among others.

“The proposal reconciles the need to address the demand for resources to speed up the structural transformation of low-income African coun-

FirstBank partners WAEC on e-registration

F

By Collins Nweze

tries in a sustainable manner, RMCs’ debt sustainability, as well as the bank’s financial stability,” the statement said.

About 37 countries or nearly 70 per cent of the RMCs fall under the lowincome countries category that is eligible only to concessionary resources from the African Development Fund (ADF).

However, the report argues that diminishing scarce concessionary resources would be inadequate to finance and sustain the current high rates of growth and transform the structure of Africa’s economies to generate much-needed employment.

This view is bolstered by the fact that many African countries borrow nonconcessionary funds in the capital

•President AFDB DonaldKaberuka

markets at rates that are higher than what they could obtain from the bank.

Access to the AfDB’s sovereign resources by low-income countries would be available to low or moderate risk of debt distress countries and subject to International Monetary Fund’s Debt Sustainability Assessment (DSA), sustainable macroeconomic position as well as stringent oversight by the bank’s Credit Risk Committee, among other safeguards.

FCMB launches account opening on Facebook

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EW customers of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) can now open savings accounts in their homes, offices, or on via their computers or mobile devices.

The launch of the platform coincides with the introduction of a new product, called, ‘the e-savings account’. The new account is an online based savings account which enables prospective customers to complete their account opening process with FCMB without the need to fill out any physical form(s) or visit a branch.

In a statement, the bank explained

that this new innovation is designed with the aim of utilising technology to reduce the time it takes to open an account, whilst also improving customer service and customer experience.

It said the platform also extends the bank’s e-business offering by enabling new customers to open accounts, adding that existing customers already have access to various electronic banking services, including online banking, mobile banking and a range of international cards.

Although the platform offers just

one savings product, the Bank has informed that other types of accounts will soon be made available to give consumers the opportunity to select the right type of account for their banking needs.

It said all consumers need to do is to fill out a short form, which is both on the bank’s website and Facebook page, and upload a recent digital passport photograph. If the information submitted passes the bank’s due process checks, the customer is then provided with an account number within minutes of completion and submission of the form.

J

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year

35m 35m

11.039 12.23

19-05-2014 18-05-2016

NIDF

OBB Rate

Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 400m 400m 400m 400m 400m 400m

Tenor 91-Day 182-Day

Amount 30m 46.7m

Rate % 10.96 9.62

Date 28-04-2012 “

C/PRICE 0.99 2.73 4.86 2.25 2.09 2.35 18.46 1.66 4.09 7.25

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change

Year Start Offer

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

(S/N)

GAINERS AS AT 14-05-14

SYMBOL O/PRICE WEMABANK 0.93 FIDSON 2.60 PORTPAINT 4.63 AIRSERVICE 2.15 FIDELITYBK 2.00 MANSARD 2.25 UAC-PROP 17.68 LEARNAFRCA 1.59 FCMB 3.92 UBA 6.99

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS)

CHANGE 0.06 0.13 0.23 0.10 0.09 0.10 0.78 0.07 0.17 0.26

DISCOUNT WINDOWx Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00%

LOSERS AS AT 14-05-14

SYMBOL UPDCREIT NAHCO CUSTODYINS COURTVILLE MOBIL CONTINSURE OASISINS TOTAL REDSTAREX ASHAKACEM

O/PRICE 11.02 5.52 2.66 0.68 131.00 1.05 0.53 160.00 4.62 20.00

C/PRICE 10.47 5.25 2.53 0.65 125.55 1.01 0.51 154.00 4.45 19.50

CHANGE -0.55 -0.27 -0.13 -0.03 -5.45 -0.04 -0.02 -6.00 -0.17 -0.50

cluding High Potential Leader: Accelerating Your Performance at Wharton School, Pennsylvania in the US, High Performance People Skills, London Business School and Senior Management Programme at the Lagos Business School.

His appointment has been confirmed by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN).

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM

Price Loss 2754.67

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10%

From Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor), Abuja

DATA BANK

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33

Jaiz Bank gets ED

AIZ Bank Plc has appointed Mahe Abubakar as Executive Director, Business Development.

Until his appointment, Abubakar was General Manager/Group Zonal Head of Zenith Bank Plc Northwest.

Abubakar has a Masters in Business Administration from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and is a Dealing Clerk of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

In a statement, the bank said Abubakar has attended several trainings in and outside Nigeria, in-

FGN BONDS Tenor

tration PIN, the registration kit and the result checker scratch card after the payment of the fees.

According to FirstBank’s spokesperson, Mrs. Folake AniMumuney, FirstBank has been a major player in youth empowerment and development and welcomes this partnership as yet another platform for promoting excellence in the development of education in our country. AniMumuney said the Bank had since been providing adequate support across its social media platforms to ensure that prospective candidates for the WASSC (Private Candidates’) Examination receive up-to-date information on the sales of the e-registration materials.

She said: ”Our network of over 750 branches nationwide offers prospective candidates the opportunity to acquire the e-registration materials at locations close to them.“

IRST Bank of Nigeria Limited has been designated as sales points for the e-registration forms of candidates for this year’s November/December West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

With over 750 branches across the federation and 120 years of business operation, the lender said that it has been a consistent partner for educational and economic development.

The e-registration materials which have been available since Monday May 5 until Friday July 4 and can be obtained over the counter at all FirstBank branches across the country, at a cost of N11,440. Also, a late registration window period between Monday July 7 through Friday, August 1, this year will be available but at an additional charge of N21, 400.00 as stipulated by WAEC. Candidates are expected to collect an e-Receipt containing the regis-

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96%

Amount Sold ($) 399.9m 399.9m 399.9m

Exchange Rate (N) 155.75 155.8 155.7

Date 2-5-14 2-3-14 1-29-14

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX

NSE

6-2-14

28-10-11

% Change

CAP Index

N13.07tr 40,766.16

N6.617tr 20,903.16

-1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name Offer Price AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 153.82 ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH 9.17 BGL NUBIAN FUND 1.06 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.17 CANARY GROWTH FUND 0.72 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 CORAL INCOME FUND 1,637.31 FBN FIXED INCOME FUND 1,070.14 FBN HERITAGE FUND 115.47 FBN MONEY MARKET FUND 1,087.30 FIDELITY NIGFUND 1.67 INTERCONTINENTAL INTEGRITY FUND 1.05 KAKAWA GUARANTE ED INCOME FUND 143.11 LEGACY FUND 0.78 NIGERIA INTER DEBIT FUND 1,916.66 PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND 12.72 STANBIC IBTC ETHICAL FUND 1.07

Bid Price 153.13 9.08 1.05 1.17 0.71 1.33 1,634.46 1,069.86 114.69 1,087.00 1.62 1.03 142.62 0.76 1,909.29 12.40 1.04

• UBA BALANCED FUND • UBA BOND FUND • UBA EQUITY FUND • UBA MONEY MARKET FUND

1.2889 1.3313 0.9405 1.1729

Movement

1.3005 1.3313 0.9583 1.1729

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000

8.5000

Movement

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

64

NEWS (SHOWBIZ)

KSA, others thrill at Liz Anjorin’s movie premiere

I

T was a day of glory for popular Yoruba actress Liz Anjorin when she played host to celebrities and dignitaries at the second anniversary of her foundation, The Liz Anjorin Foundation and premiere of her latest flick, Kofo, The First Lady, at the Anchor Events Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, amidst pomp and circumstance.

Though the event, which was anchored by actor Saidi Balogun and standup comedian Koffi last weekend, has come and gone, many will still treasure the memory for a long time, particularly because it was graced by a lot of heavy weights in the entertainment industry.

It all started when the petite actress made a grand entry into the beautifully decorated hall on that breezy evening. As ex-

By Mercy Michael

pected, all eyes turned to her, as she went to the stage, with a stern- looking bouncer and a retinue of ushers walking closely behind her.

While the guests were having a fun time, legendary Juju musician King Sunny Ade, aka KSA, majestically walked in. The award-winning musician flashed a winsome smile as he welcomed Liz, performed for few minutes and dashed back in style, even before the guests could get enough of him.

Almost immediately after KSA’s performance, two Islamic acts, Alhaji Sadiat and Alawiye, thrilled the guests to some of their hit songs. The experience was not different when wave-making singer, Earthquake, mounted the stage.

One of the highpoints of the

event was the Magic Show by Nike Peller, who was also the chairperson, planning committee, and her brother, Zitto Peller. It was a re-enactment of what gave their late father, Professor Moshood Abiola Peller, his name and fame.

For many, the 10-minute drama staged by Liz Anjorin and Baba Ijesha also added colour and panache to the event. However, it was a prelude of sorts to the movie, which was being premiered.

The Liz Anjorin Foundation was founded two years ago to cater for the mentally and physically challenged children in the society.

“It all started like a dream, but I thank God it is gradually becoming a reality. Since we started the foundation, we have visited special schools across the country. We have toured visu-

•Koffi, Liz Anjorin and Saheed Balogun

Nikki Laoye launches #HelpKelechiWalk campaign

S

•KSA

ally all the special schools in Ogun State. The main reason for the movie premiere is to garner support of the corporate body as well as government for the mentally challenged in our society. The movie, Kofo, The First Lady, centres on the fact that, even if one is mentally challenged, one can still contribute to the society. I guess it’s true that there is ability in disability,” said Liz Anjorin.

Assisted by the two comperes, she passed around her donation cards to the guests at the event. While the donation was ongoing, KSA put up another exciting performance.

Among the dignatories in attendance were Chief Gani Adams, Hon. Suraj Adekanbi, Mrs. Ajoke Yinusa, Hon. Adepegba Sulaiman, Laide Bakare, Baba Tee, Madam Saje, Muka Ray, Mercy Aigbe, Yinka Quadri and Fali Werepe.

MultiChoice introduces Fashion Protégé

M

ULTICHOICE Nigeria has launched a new initiative, The Fashion Protégé, which is aimed at recognising the talents of budding designers and fashionistas.

Described as the first fashion TV reality show in Nigeria, the five-episode reality television series, which will be anchored by popular OAP Fade Ogunro, begins airing today on Africa Magic Entertainment. It showcases the journey of the contestants and chronicles their struggles as they strive to put their stamps on the fashion map.

The General Manager of Marketing, Martin Mabutho, said: “With Fashion Protégé, we have gone a step further by contributing to the development

By Ovwe Medeme

of the fashion industry in Nigeria. Nigerians are highly fashionable people and have garnered a reputation for being stylish. It is that vibrancy we hope to showcase. We also believe in nurturing the young and creating a platform for them to grow. It is not about searching for the next supermodel; rather, it was borne out of the need to grow the fashion industry.”

According to the organisers, fashion lovers between the ages of 18 and 35 had partaken in the auditions. However, the lucky contestants were mentored by Lanre Da Silva Ajayi and Mai Atafo.

Prizes to be won include a

•Anyiam-Osigwe

•Ogunro

trip to the London Fashion Weekend sponsored by the British Council, N1million cash prize, spotlight feature on Bel-

laNaija as well as a fashion magazine and a one- year free subscription on DStv, among others.

INCE Nigerian singer Nikki Laoye set up the Angel for Life Foundation, she has been showing fellow-feeling to some needy individuals in the society.

The sensational singer has been in the news for some time for spearheading the #HelpKelechiWalk campaign. Kelechi Uhegwu is suffering from Scoliosis.

In realization of this, she now goes about soliciting help for Kelechi: “Please, can you give me 5k for Kelechi?”

According to her, 5k For Kelechi had been created to provide what she described as “a droplet approach for kind-hearted individuals who would like to donate without feeling pressured financially and still help Kelechi fight for her life.

“The saying that ‘little drops of water makes a mighty ocean’ sets a marker for the goal ahead as Kelechi needs N15 million (£47,000) for two major surgeries in the UK to save her life and enable her walk again. Multiple donations are highly encouraged as well,” Nikki said.

Uhegwu is a graduate of the University of Lagos, Akoka and a self-employed makeup artist.

She was diagnosed with paralytic scoliosis at the age of one.

She needs immediate corrective spinal surgeries to prevent severe complications of scoliosis,

•Laoye

By Dupe Ayinla-Olasunkanmi

which leads to land heart failure.

Nikki Laoye has taken the campaign a step further by seeking the support of celebrities and On- Air-Personalities, including Funke Kuti, Yemi Alade, Dipp, Xblaze, Tola (CEO, PraiseWorld Radio), MC IceWater, DJ A’Cube, Charles Granville, Onos and many more.

Nikki Laoye is known for her eclectic musical expressions and captivating stage performances. She described her style as urban contemporary sound with the fusion of alternative rock, R&B, Hip Hop, Pop, soul, jazz and gospel.

M-Kaze out with four singles

A

FRO-POP singer Clement Azivudu, aka MKaze, seems ready to grow his fan base, as he has now released four new singles: Psycho World, I Wanna Be, This Girl (kupedekale) and Change. Following this feat, it is generally believed that he is increasingly inching closer to fame.

M-Kaze launched his music career in 2006, when he released his debut album titled: Music & M-Kase. Although it was not very popular in the South West, it became an instant hit in Port-Harcourt and the entire South-South region.

He soon followed this effort with some other songs, including ‘Psycho’ and King of the Underground. Over the years, he has released some other hit singles like U Be the One, U Can Be Me, Do Good, Kpom Love Gi, Sugar Banana and Why E Be Say, featuring Duncan Mighty.

It was, therefore, not surprising when he won the Artiste of

•M-Kaze

By Mercy Michael

the Year and Best Collaboration awards at the maiden edition of the Port-Harcourt Music Awards in 2009, among other laurels.

In an interview with The Nation, he said: “My strength lies in my unique creativity, fresh and inspiring sound as well as stage presence. I am currently signed to AMA Sound, a Lagosbased record label. I can arrange, mix and master my songs all by myself.”

Kalu Ikeagwu, Chioma Akpotha shine in Musical Whispers

N

•Ikeagwu

OLLYWOOD producer Ebele Okaro Onyuike has released a new movie titled Musical Whispers.

The movie, which will be premiered on May 30, centres on people living with autism in the society. It preaches the need for love, care and affection for the sufferers, instead of abandonment and resentment.

In the movie, David (Kalu Ikeagwu) and Agatha Uche (Chioma Akpotha) are blessed with a son, David Junior, who has autism, a condi-

By Ovwe Medeme

tion that is characterised by impaired development in communication, social interaction and behaviour.

Agatha spends all her time as a mother trying to give her son the greatest love that money can’t buy and ensures he grows up to be independent. However, her husband is frustrated with the demands and distractions that come with his son’s medical challenge. So, he eventually walks out on his family out of frustration. While this

plays out, Agatha losses her job. With the support of an older friend, Jasmine (Ebele Okaro Onyiuke) and the coming of a wannabe musician Terry, they introduce Junior into music, where his talent for singing blossoms beyond the imagination of all.

“The message of Musical Whispers to the whole world is to create awareness on the disorder called autism. It is to also create and encourage strong family love and support that, in turn, brings out everyone’s true potential. No human should be considered

useless, irrespective of his or her mental or physical challenges,” said the producer.

According to the producers, Musical Whispers was shot in Lagos and directed by the former president of Directors Guild of Nigeria (BON), Bond Emerua. The Director of Photography (DOP) was by Ayo Johnson.

The movie stars Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey, Victor Okenwa, Belinda Effa, Chikezie Uwazie and Chinedu Mbadiwe, with a special guest appearance by Raggae musician Orits Wiliki.

•Akpotha

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

65

NEWS Fashola revokes contract

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

L

•Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi (right) addressing a crowd of youths from all the 33 local government areas at a solidarity rally at the Remembrance Arcade at the Government House, Ibadan...yesterday.

AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola has revoked the contract for the construction of pedestrian guardrails in Marina due to a delay of the project.

The project was awarded to Electro-Technics Company.

Special Adviser to the Governor on CBD Mrs. Derin Disu told reporters at Alausa yesterday that the N125,634,950 million contract was terminated because the contractor did not live up to expectations.

She said the contractor delayed in executing the project, which should have reached an appreciable stage.

Mrs. Disu said: “The policy is to ensure that his negative attitude is terminated, so that it does not become inimical to the progress of the government. The policy of the state government is that contractors must move along with the intense and purpose of the state government. And this is to provide service and upgrade infrastructure.”

She said the contract was one of the four major projects of the CBD to improve infrastructure in the area.

Mrs. Disu said: “Two of the contracts have been completed and the last one would be handed over before the end of June.”

Sultan opens Ibadan Islamic Centre Alaafin advocates improved intelligence gathering T T HE Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, has urged security agencies to improve on intelligence gathering.

He said this would help them to effectively curb crime as the 2015 general elections draw near.

Oba Adeyemi spoke in his palace yesterday while addressing a crowd of All Progressives Congress (APC) members from Afijio, Atiba, Oyo-East and Oyo-West local government areas, which constitute Oyo Federal Constituency, after a solidarity rally held for Governor Abiola Ajimobi in Oyo. He said due process,

From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

anchored on accountability, transparency and probity, is the central nature of government in Oyo Empire, adding that this was responsible for the peace in the ancient town.

Oba Adeyemi said: “Today, Oyo remains the most peaceful domain because we not only place premium on respect for constituted authorities, but give our unalloyed support. But we will not accept cheating and injustice. Besides, the native intelligence gathering is so effective that all nooks and

crannies of the metropolis are being closely monitored.”

This unique concept of his administration, the Alaafin said, received commendations from various quarters, especially the top echelon of law enforcement agencies, such as former Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro and other officers when they visited the palace during their tenures in office.

He urged security agencies to increase surveillance of motor parks, market places, hotels and public places to check crime.

Hailing the people for their

calmness and restraint in the face of provocations, the ruler said he would not join the bandwagon of negative commentators and unguided utterances by some disgruntled elements in the society.

He said: “I urge the four local government caretaker chairmen in Oyo Federal Constituency to meet the expectations of Governor Abiola Ajimobi in their appointment. Our governor is God-fearing, wise, intelligent and proactive. He deserves our support for good governance.”

Lawyer urges NJC to reduce pressure on judges

A

N Akure lawyer Mr. Morakinyo Ogele has urged the Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to reduce the number of judgments judges are required to deliver quarterly from six to three or two.

He said this would ensure the delivery of quality judgments.

In a statement yesterday, Ogele said since the pronouncement of six judgments quarterly, majority of cases have been handled in a rush, “leading to poor judgments”.

He said judgments at the Federal and State High Courts have been watered down due to pressure on judges from the council.

Ogele said: “The fear of the council is the beginning of wisdom for judges today.

Hence, they hardly read files for the day’s proceedings; hardly consult authorities cited by counsel, hardly grant reasonable calls for adjournment, with the attendant effect of poor and unacceptable judgments.

“A typical instance is a liti-

From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

gation matter in which I was a counsel before a judge of the Ekiti State High Court of Justice. In this matter, the judge ordered an adjournment for the claimant to reply to my motion on notice vide further and better affidavit, and, on the same day, forced all parties to the suit to willy-nilly move their pending motions to the detriment of qualitative justice.

“This was because he did not want the sleigh-arms of the council to visit him. Sur-

prisingly, on March 31, the scheduled hearing date; he hurriedly gave his final judgment. A hurried judgment is justice denied.

“I do concede that in the consideration of matters before courts, it will accord with the course of justice to depose of them expeditiously. However, it is submitted that justice must not be sacrificed on the altar of expeditiousness.

“The litigants are being denied of being heard properly. It is, therefore, recommended that the required judgment quarterly be reduced to the barest mini-

mum. This will not only guarantee quality judgments but enhance the health of judges.

“With respect sir, judges sometimes were indisposed, but they forced themselves to attend court for the fear of making their returns; they sit, despite their unsound health.

This situation cannot allow sound judgment and such proceedings cannot be properly conducted.

“In view of this, I urge the council to reduce six judgments quarterly to three or two, so that the requirement of justice may be achieved by our judges.”

Regular medical check’ll curtail hypertension, diabetes, impotence HE Lagos Country

T

Club screened its members for eye, hypertension and diabetes free yesterday.

The Club President, Adewale Osomo, said people need to have regular medical check-up to track the diseases, which are preventable, to ensure

By Wale Adepoju

longevity.

Osomo spoke at the First Edition of the club’s Health Seminar Series. He said the exercise was necessary to preserve the life of club members who are exposed

to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Osomo said: “We have a situation where our members died just like that.

We had people who died at 60 or 63 and we are saying we can do better than this.

They are silent killers. They are preventable.”

HE Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar 111, will open tomorrow the Bodija Islamic Centre in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The Chairman, Bodija Estates and Environs Muslim Community Commissioning Committee, Chief Waheed Alli, told reporters yesterday that Governor Ishaq Ajimobi is the chief host.

House of Representatives’ Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and Governors Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Raji Fashola (Lagos) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) are expected at the event.

Oyo State House of Assem-

T

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

bly Speaker Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu is the mother of the day. The Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Arisekola-Alao, is the host.

The Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheikh Busari Haruna III, is the spiritual father of the day. Chief Imam of the University of Ilorin Prof.

Abdulganiyu Oladosu will deliver a lecture on: “The role of the mosque in Islam”.

The Project Coordinator, Alhaji Mursiq Siyanbade, said the construction of the 2,500capacity centre started in 1998.

The centre has offices, a library, an Arabic centre and a multi-purpose hall, among others.

Three die in Ogun road crash

HREE persons died yesterday in an accident on the PapaIlaro road in Ogun State.

Three others were injured.

Ogun Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Fatai Bakare told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sango-Ota that the accident occurred around 5:45am.

It involved an articulated vehicle marked XB 641 BBR, belonging to the Dangote Group, and a Volkswagen bus.

Bakare said the occupants of the bus were family members and friends heading to Lagos from Ilaro.

He said the truck driver lost control of the wheels and ran into the bus, adding: “The bodies of the victims have been deposited at the morgue of the General Hospital in Ifo and the injured persons are receiving treatment at the hospital.”

A

Book launch

BOOK, Rich Country Poor People; Nigeria’s Story of Poverty in the Midst of Plenty, will be launched today at the NECA House in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, at 10am.

The author is Prof. Banji Oyelaran Oyeyinka, the most senior director/chief scientific advisor and Nigerian at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in Nairobi.

The book is on the paradox of Nigeria’s impressive growth rate and its deepening poverty.

Two held for ‘kidnapping’ in Ondo

T

WO men were arrested yesterday by the police in Ondo State for allegedly kidnapping a 10-year old boy, simply identified as Gabriel, at Oke Aro in Akure.

It was learnt that the suspects went to Gabriel’s home and snatched him in the pres-

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

ence of his mother. The incident was reported at the police station.

Sources said Gabriel escaped from the kidnappers den on Tuesday and told the police where his abductors were hiding.

THE NATION THURSDAY MAY 15, 2014

66

NEWS

Niger Delta delegates reject 13% derivation

N

IGER Delta delegates at the National Conference yesterday rejected a resolution by the Committee on devolution of Power to retain the controversial 13 per cent derivation principle.

The delegates also described agitation by northern delegates for the scrapping of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Niger Delta Ministry and amnesty programme as laughable.

Most southern delegates at the committee were said to have been overwhelmed by the insistency of their northern counterparts to succumb to the decision to retain 13 per cent derivation principle.

Northern delegates in the committee, an insider said, “demanded and insisted on the reduction of 13 per cent derivation.”

But some Niger Delta delegates who are not members of the committee told The Nation that “we are waiting for the issue to come up at plenary.”

A member of the committee, Annkio Briggs, however, expressed disappointment over the resolution to retain 13 per cent derivation principle.

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Dele Anofi, Abuja

Briggs, an activist from Rivers State, said the delegates from Niger Delta came to the conference to make a presentation on ownership of the resources in their zone.

The activist noted that she was disappointed that those who were not bringing anything to the sharing table of the country were the people dictating the direction of issues at the conference.

She said that the argument that the status quo of 13 per cent derivation should remain while funds should be made available for the development of other mineral resources in other states is preposterous.

The position of Niger Delta people, she said, was that derivation should go up to 50 per cent.

She said: “Our position is that derivation should go up to 50 per cent. What we expected was that we will discuss the position of 50 per cent. If you don’t agree to the position of 50 per cent, what is it that you agree to? Is it 35 per cent or 25

per cent derivation?

“We expected that we should agree on something so that we graduate upward over time, but those things were not discussed.

“We sat down and what was clear to me was that people were sitting in groups and making decisions. I refused to agree with the decisions and the major decision was that we should allow 13 per cent derivation status quo to remain.

“This is based on the presumption that certain amount of money will be invested in other mineral resources in other states and when money is invested in other mineral resources in other states, it will still remain 13 per cent derivation principle.

“But I cannot lose sight of the fact that until those other minerals are exploited, the only exploration and exploitation that is going on is oil and gas.

“I refuse to go back to Niger Delta and tell my people that I brought back the status quo of 13 per cent derivation principle and that this status quo is based on the decision of people that are bringing noth-

ing to the table.

“I, therefore, wish to say that after spending two to three months here that what we are going to take back to the Niger Delta is that 13 per cent derivation principle remains and that the decision was taken at the whims and caprices and the arrogance position that is playing out here.

“This position is definitely not in the interest of Nigeria and definitely not in the interest of the Niger Delta. And I refuse to accept it on behalf of my people.”

Asked what steps she wanted to take to redress the alleged injustice, Brigss said that whatever action Niger Delta people decide to take she would join them.

Reminded that perhaps Niger Delta people ought to be happy that they escaped with the retention of 13 per cent, she thundered that there was nothing to be happy about.

She said: “I don’t know the Niger Delta people you are referring to. If you are referring to the Niger Delta people that include me, I tell you by my reaction you can see that there is nothing like happiness in what has happened here.

•Chairman, Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA), Mr Young Arebamen; Director, Legal Services, Mrs Magaret Adewale –– greeting a retiree of the agency –– Mrs Fatunbi Moriamo at her sendforth in Lagos... yesterday.

With them is Director, Finance and Administration, Mrs Bisi Owoyemi.

PHOTO: BOLA OMILABU

T

Fani-Kayode: Drama as court declares EFCC’s witness hostile

HERE was drama at the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday as Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia declared a witness presented by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as hostile.

The witness, Ojo Agbor, was testifying in the trial of a former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode for alleged money laundering when the prosecutor, Mr Festus Keyamo, applied to the court to declare him a hostile witness.

Keyamo said Agbor’s testimony was totally different from what was in his statement to the EFCC. The lawyer also alleged that the defence had “coached” the witness on what to say in court.

“He has been coached. That is why he has been running away despite different invitations to testify. We had to write his director to produce him this morning,” Keyamo said.

After the judge declared Agbor a hostile witness, Keyamo accused the witness of deliberately lying to the court.

He also alleged that the witness and Fani-Kayode had com-

By Joseph Jibueze

municated through phone prior to yesterday’s proceedings.

“Your phone record will show that you have called the accused person or the accused person has called you,” Keyamo said. The witness replied: “He has not called me.”

Keyamo said: “I want to put it to you that you’re here today to tell deliberate lies,” to which Agbor said “No”.

Keyamo also alleged that Fani-Kayode was giving the witness signals on what to say during proceedings.

When Fani-Kayode turned to gaze at Keyamo in a look of denial, Keyamo said: “The accused person is looking menacingly at me,” adding jovially: “The way he’s looking at me is like we’re dragging one girlfriend.”

The witness said the statement he made to EFCC was not voluntary.

According to him, the commission’s officials asked him to lie, otherwise he would be charged along with Fani-Kayode.

Agbor began his testimony by saying someone else, a

property manager, gave him various amounts money to pay into Fani-Kayode’s account.

The money, he said, was proceeds of a property sale.

He said he was given N3 million and other amounts by a man he called Kola.

But in his statement to the EFCC, which he read out in court on Keyamo’s prompting, he stated that Fani-Kayode gave him all the money directly.

During cross-examination by defence counsel Mr Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), Agbor said he was “slapped” by an EFCC official and threaten to “co-operate”.

“On 26th November, 2006, some Mopol (mobile police officers) arrested me and took my car key. I asked them ‘Where are you taking me to’?

“One of them landed me a slap and said I was a thief. They took me to EFCC’s office, locked me in a room, and asked me to tell them what I know about Fani-Kayode.

“I told them it was one Mr Kola that gave me the money I deposited into my boss’ account.

“They then told me that I

•Fani-Kayode

should write that it was FaniKayode, who gave me the money to deposit. They threatened to make me an accomplice if I didn’t write that Fani-Kayode gave me the money. My Lord, I had no option than to write,” Agbor said.

The witness said EFCC sent him a letter on April 24, asking him to testify.

“Keyamo told me that I should not change what I said in my statement. I said I was not going to lie,” he said.

During re-examination, Agbor said the officers who arrested him were different from those who took his statement, and that he could not remember their names.

Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia adjourned till June 24 for continuation of trial.

“I am not happy, my people are not happy and we cannot be happy. It is not about happiness. It is not about what anybody thinks here, it is about justice and it is about doing the right thing.

“To say that 13 per cent should remain in Nigeria of today is not doing the right thing in this country. We have to be very careful what we expect people to bring when we are bringing absolutely nothing.”

On the agitation by northern delegates for the restoration of onshore/offshore oil dichotomy, she said that the bridge would be crossed at the appropriate time.

She said: “It is arguable but we will cross that bridge when we get there. But I want to point it to you that Nigeria as a country is laying claim to the waters through the fact that we the oceanic people, we the people of the riverine area are in Nigeria.

“If we are not in Nigeria today Nigeria cannot lay claim to the area. So it a privilege to Nigeria that we are in Nigeria because that is the only way they are laying claim to the waters.”

Catholic Institute’s rector passes on

T

HE Rector of the Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) in Port Harcourt, Monsignor Felix Adedoyin Adeigbo is dead. Rev Adeigbo, who was also a professor, died on Tuesday at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan after a brief illness.

The late rector, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, specialised in social and political philosophy. He served for many years as the head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, and also as Dean of Faculty of Arts of the same university.

Described as a great teacher and mentor, he was responsible for producing a crop of PhD students who are now professors in tertiary academic institutions.

Professor Toyin Falola of the Department of History, University of Texas, United States, described him as an “amiable character and a fertile mind.”

Also, a director in CIWA, Rev. Father Joseph Oladejo Faniran, described Adeigbo, who studied in the United States and Canada, as “highly celebral, deeply religious, an astute intellectual, a priest to the core and a gentleman.”

Bill on plea bargain, criminal justice reform scales second reading in Senate

A

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

Bill seeking to introduce plea bargain into the nation’s laws and dealing with the delay in the dispensation of criminal justice in the country scaled yesterday second reading in the Senate.

The bill entitled: ‘Administration of Criminal Justice Bill, 2013,’ had been passed by the House of Representatives which then forwarded it for the concurrence of the Senate.

Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba, in his lead debate, noted that the bill seeks to repeal the Criminal Procedure Act Cap C41 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004; the Criminal Procedure Act (Northern States) Cap C42 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria; the Administration of Justice Commission Act Cap A3 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria; and enact the Administration of Justice Act to be applicable in Federal Courts and Courts of the Federal Capital Territory.

Ndoma-Egba lamented that for several decades, Nigerians have lived with a criminal justice system that “is grindingly slow and open to abuses, rendering it most effective.”

According to him, from the police stations to the courts and the prisons, the “system has delivered everything but justice and the society has been worse for it.”

He bemoaned a situation where court cases drag on to the point that conviction becomes unlikely, “as witnesses may no longer be readily available; and where they are available, some facts relating to the case would have been distorted, so much so that the essence of seeking justice by litigants is lost.”

Consequently, he said many aggrieved citizens now shun the courts because they do not believe their cases could be disposed off in their life time let alone get Justice.

Part of the problems the system has, he said, was its inability to apply commensurate punishment to infractions.

He added: “It is common to see a court give maximum sentence to a petty thief while those who stole billions of Naira from the public coffers get far lesser sanctions for their crimes when convicted by the court.

“There have been instances where some accused persons win elections in the course of trial to an office they can manipulate the system or enjoy immunity from prosecution.”

He stated that the primary objective of the bill is to ensure speedy and efficient administration of criminal justice in the country.

“It seeks to bring together the Criminal Code and Penal Code into one body of law so as to promote uniformity, protect the society from crime and protect the rights and interests of accused and victims in criminal proceedings in the country.”

He added: “The bill deals fundamentally with the problem of delay in the dispensation of criminal justice, which unarguably remains the most perturbing aspect of criminal justice delivery.

“Essentially, the bill makes provisions for speedy and efficient administration of criminal justice in courts across the country.

“In this regard, restriction on number and interval of adjournments, electronic recording of trials to reduce the problems associated with trial de novo of part-heard matters, limits adjournment of cases to give times and not more than 14 days intervals between adjournments.

“The bill introduces plea bargain into Nigeria’s Criminal Justice Administration. Though plea bargain is being employed in our courts to resolve high profile cases, it is being applied haphazardly due to the absence of an enabling legislation in the country.

THE NATION THURSDAY MAY 15, 2014

67

NEWS

Kogi appoints monarch

•Oba Irukera

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NEW Elegbe of Egbe has been appointed.

Oba Ayodele Irukera’s appointment followed the passage of Oba (Major) Stanley Kayode Owa (rtd), who died

on October 27, last year.

Oba Irukera also officially assumes office as Chairman, Yagba West Traditional Rulers Council.

The Kogi State government, in a letter by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy, Yunusa Sule Ilani, confirmed the monarch’s elevation.

The former Deputy Registrar (Establishment Division), University of Ilorin, until his elevation, was the Baale of Egbe, second in command to the late Owa.

Pa Agbesanwa for burial

P

A Cornelius Adetola Olukoya Agbesanwa is dead. He was 88. There will be a service of songs today at the Radio Lagos/ Eko FM Multi Purpose Hall, , Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Lagos from 5pm to 7pm.

A farewell and commendation service will take place tomorrow at the Bishop Adelakun Howells Memorial Church, Hogan Bassey Crescent, Surulere, Lagos, by 10am.

His remains will be taken to Ijebu-Ife, Ogun State, where a wake will hold from 6pm to 8pm.

The body will be interred on Saturday after a service at Auction! Auction Auction!

There will be a public auction sales of boarded items from NIGERIA CUSTOM SERVICE Items for sale are: Cars, Generators and Pick ups.

Sales commences from May 19 to 22, 2014. Auctioneer: Kuburat Lawal.

Tel: 08033488755 Venue: Federal Opeations (Ikeja), Seme, Apapa Port and M. M. Airport Lagos.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT

This is to inform the general public of the loss of an international passport NO 126109 belonging to MR.MOHMOUD EL-CHEIK TALEB ABDUL RAHMAN (Palestinian) OF IRON OX METAL WORKS LIMITED PORT- HACOURT. All effort made to trace it prove abortive. If found please contact the above address or call 08033390222, 08088869999 or the nearest Police Station.

•The late Agbesanwa

the First Baptist Church Isensi, Ijebu-Ife. Guests will be entertained at the Christ Anglican Primary School Play Ground Iwade, Ijebu Ife. He is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren, among who are Ayo Agbesanwa, Director News, Lagos State Television – LTV 8.

PUBLIC NOTICE

REGINA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ahmed Regina David, now to be known and addressed as Mrs Dakwal Regina David. All former document remain valid. General public please take note.

BENSON I, formerly known as Miss Benson Mfonobong Goodness now wish to be called and addressed as Mrs David Mfonobong Goodness. All documents bearing former name remain valid. Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS) and the general public should please take note.

IGWE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss. Igwe Chinyere Modester Catherine now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Brower Catherine Modester Chinyere. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLUBUKOLA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Kuti Olubukola Sherry, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ogunbanwo Kuti Olubukola Sherry. All former documents remain valid.All former documents still remains valid. The general public should please take note.

AUCTION ! AUCTION!! AUCTION !!!

There will be an Auction Sales of some scrap items of the Nigerian Custom Services, Such as ; Perkins Generators, Newage, Onan, Klocckner, Mercy, Ferguson, Lister, Dorman, Royal Generating Set. Domestic items like, Deep Freezer, Refrigerator, Air Conditioners, Gas Cookers etc.

It will take place on 19/05/2014 at: Abuja Headquaters, Command Training College, Lagos Industrial, MMIA Lagos, Ogun Area Command, Kaduna/Katsina Command, Edo/Delta Command, Area II Onne P/H, Niger/Kogi/ Kwara, Borno/Yobe Command.

Auctioneer's Name: STAAGMAT NIG LTD. Phone No: 08034389861, 08023504832.

PUBLIC NOTICE PROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP FOR AFRICAN YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION. This is to inform the general public that the above mentioned foundation has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (C.A.C) for incorporation under part “C” of the company and Allied Matter Act 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Rotimi Osiyoye-------- PRESIDENT 3. Mayokun Aofiyebi 4. Deji Adebambo---------SECRETARY 6. Olumide Osiyoye

2. Fuad Laguda 5. Seun Oyenuga 7. Tosin Odufuwa

OBJECTIVES: To put Africa on the right track for development by inspiring a new class of selfless and development-oriented leaders to make a positive impact on our society and challenge the status quo.

To promote and increase self-esteem, self-confidence and self–belief by encouraging the youths to get involved in African politics.

To empower African youths to advocate on their own and others behalf.

To create a safer, happier society by raising and empowering leaders with aspirations for the future.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28day of this publication.

Signed TRUSTEES

•Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology Segun Odubela cutting the tape to inaugurate a block of toilets donated to Oke-Ona United Primary School, Ikereku, Abeokuta, by Commissioner for Information and Strategy Yusuph Olaniyonu (left), a former pupil of the school…yesterday. With them are Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Muftau Ajibola (second right) and Chairman, Abeokuta North Local Government Taofeek Olabode.

APC to Kwara PDP: you’re still the same

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State has described the “re-branded” Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a fraud.

APC said nothing had changed in a violent PDP that lacks capacity to conduct successful congresses.

The PDP, on Monday, said it would pursue a five-point agenda, if elected in 2015.

APC said the opposition PDP has no impactful agenda that can consolidate on the achievements of the APC-led government.

It said PDP also displayed a dearth of capacity to comprehend government achievements.

APC’s spokesperson

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

Sulyman Buhari said: “The people do not need Iyiola Oyedepo to address any press conference before they know the true state of PDP. “Kwarans are well informed, no amount of nonexisting claims or distorted figures or both can deceive them.

“All over the world, rebranding is embraced by corporate entities, such as the violent PDP, to either shed its negative image or achieve a target or both.

“As at today, the PDP remains in confusion and purposelessness. How can any reasonable person describe

the bloody PDP congresses held in Kwara State as a watershed?

“These congresses were generally regarded as bloody by Kwarans and the media and the police confirmed same.

“The PDP penchant for violence is clear and the people will continue to reject a party that has the potential to institutionalise violence.

“A party that couldn’t successfully organise congress for its few members can’t be entrusted with governance.

“Kwarans have testimonies on the giant strides of the APC-led government on education, agriculture, economic empowerment, rural & infrastructural develop-

ment and health.

“Leadership is not about promises of a five-point cardinal programme when you fail the simple task of managing a team. APC is not about promises but actions.

“The PDP press conference betrayed national mood, it speaks volume of an insensitive party that must be rejected by all Nigerians.

“It is regrettable that the PDP chairman could not allot a paragraph in his address to the insecurity situation.

“The world has passed a clear vote of no confidence on the PDP-led Federal Government and Nigerians are left with no option than to bury PDP in 2015.”

Aliyu, Kwankwaso reshuffle exco

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ORMER Chief Press Secretary to Niger State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu Malam Danladi Ndayebo has been appointed Commissioner for Information, Communications and Strategy.

He was sworn in with four others in a reshuffle that brought two new commissioners into the state executive council. The governor dropped five commissioners.

Those sworn in include former Accountant General Abubakar Tukur as Commissioner for Finance and a former Special Adviser Abbas Munya who was appointed Commissioner for Mining and Solid Minerals

I

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

Resources.

Others are former Chairman of Edati Local Government Isa Kantigi (Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs) and Abdullahi Maza Kuka (Water Resources).

Those dropped are Daniel Shashere (Sports); Ibrahim Ahmed Matane (Agriculture) and Abubakar Baba Jibrin (Mining and Solid Minerals).

Others are Ibrahim Babamini Sule (Health and Hospital Management) and Mustapha Lemu (Science and Technology).

Halidu Khadi Kuta replaces Abbas Bello as the new

Head of Service and the Chief of Staff, Government House, Joshua Bawa, was appointed Commissioner for Special Duties.

In Kano State, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso swore in Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna as Commissioner for Agriculture and Ali Ahmed Yako as Commissioner for Higher Education.

In the minor executive council reshuffle, Kwankwaso said the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Nuhu Abubakar Danburam, is now Commissioner for Information; former Commissioner for Information Farouk Jibril Umar will take charge of the Ministry of Commerce.

The Commissioner for Land and Physical Planning, Muhammad Nadu Yahaya, will take charge of the Ministry of Budget and Planning; the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Yusuf Bello Danbatta, was transferred to the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning.

“I urge you to stand firmly because your appointments in these two key sectors are very important, so your ability to deliver should be your watch word.”

Kwankwaso said the government would not interfere in Saturday’s local government election and urged the people to be law abiding.

Akunyili begins treatment in India

MMEDIATE past Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, has expressed gratitude to Nigerians and well-wishers across the world who have been praying for her since the news of her sickness was reported.

Akunyili, in a statement in Lagos on her behalf by her media advisor, Mr. Isaac Umunna, said: “I am

touched – indeed overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and affection by my fellow countrymen and women, as well as numerous other well wishers around the world, many of whom have not only been praying for me but have also been mobilising through the various social networks for God’s healing hands to come upon me. I am confident that Al-

mighty God will hear our prayers and grant me quick recovery. I love you all and pray that Almighty God blesses you all.

Umunna, in the statement, confirmed that Mrs Akunyili is currently receiving treatment in India, and added that she was responding to treatment.

“She was first attended to by doctors in Abuja but had to travel to India on Sun-

day on their advice for further medical attention. Her husband, Dr. Chike Akunyili, who travelled with her, has spoken with me to confirm that she has started treatment and is responding well.

Dr. Akunyili asked me to convey his appreciation and that of Dora to Nigerians and other well-wishers throughout the world,” Umunna added.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

68

NEWS

CHIBOK GIRLS’ ABDUCTION

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State of emergency useless, says Shettima

ORNO State Governor Kashim Shettima said yesterday that the state of emergency declared in his state along with Yobe and Adamawa because of the Boko Haram insurgency is “useless”.

He is unbothered by the extension which President Goodluck Jonathan is requesting the support of the National Assembly for.

To him, the state of emergency which has been in place in the last one year has been largely ineffective in addressing the security challenges in the Northeast. The proposed extension has

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

already been rejected by the Yobe and Adamawa state governments.

Speaking in an interview aired on the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) monitored in Kaduna, Shettima accused the military of being ineffective in carrying out their responsibility. He recalled that during the Boko Haram attack on Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, it was the civilian JTF that confronted the terrorists and not soldiers.

The governor expressed regret

over the worsening condition of life in his state which he described as bad. He said residents were wallowing in poverty because the insurgents had made it impossible for businesses to thrive and had rendered farming impossible.

He said: “This state of emergency is useless; these wicked people had a field day when they annexed Giwa Barracks; the civilian JTF confronted them; many of them died.”

The governor said he was willing to sacrifice his life, if need be, for peace to be restored in his state. He said rather than be

afraid of an extension of the state of emergency, his major concern was to rescue the girls from Chibok.

He said: “This state of emergency is nonsense; our major concern is to find our Chibok girls alive,I can sacrifice my life for that, wallahi, wallahi (I swear by Allah).”

Shettima dismissed claims in some quarters that the state government was not cooperating with the military and wondered if the Civilian JTF members descended from heaven. He said at Nganzai, 34 civilian JTF men were killed and 50 were killed in Munguno.

APC governors support victims of Nyanya blast with N100m

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) governors under the umbrella of the Progressive Governors Forum ( PGF) yesterday announced thier support for the victims of Nyanya bomb blast with N100million.

Chairman of the forum, Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, explained the forum’s readiness to work with the Federal Government to ensure the rescue of the girls kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

According to him, the gov-

Continued from page 2

He said: “We should help across a broad range of areas – not just counter-terrorism, surveillance and helping them find these people but also working with the global fund promoted by (Gordon Brown) in terms of protecting more schools.”

A U.S drone has reportedly joined the search. The “Global Hawk” — the U.S. military’s high-altitude, long-endurance aerial drone — flew its first sur-

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

ernors are “deeply concerned about the growing state of insecurity and unequivocally committed to working with the Federal Government, local communities and international partners to ensure that all the school girls criminally abducted from the school are returned to their families safe and sound.”

He noted that abduction of these innocent schoolgirls is an assault on our nation, an attack on civility and constitutionalism and colossal de-

scent to barbarism, which is unacceptable and should be combated by all patriots.

Okorocha expressed the gratitude of the forum to Nigerians and the international community for standing by the innocent schoolgirls, their parents, Chibok community and the people and government of Borno State.

Once rescued, said the chairman, “we will support the parents and government of Borno State to ensure that our girls all receive treatment for the physical and psychological trauma they might

have suffered in captivity.

“We shall also undertake the rebuilding of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok to ensure that the students are able to resume normal life.

“More than ever before, we are resolute in our determination to move our dear nation forward. Successful fight against terrorism is a critical precondition for stability and constitutional governance. Together with all progressives and patriots, we will join hands to restore peace all over Nigeria.”

tems, including radar, optical and infrared sensors.

The drone joins the manned, propeller driven MC-12 surveillance aircraft which has already been conducting surveillance flights over Nigeria.

The U.S. first flew the MC- 12 over Iraq then Afghanistan and is considered a low-cost workhorse in short-range missions. . Some parents of the abducted students after identifying their girls in the video on Mon-

day at the Government House in Maiduguri, urged the government to ensure the safe release of their children “I thank God that I saw my daughter Aisha Zannah in the picture,” Mr Lawan Zannah, one of the parents said.

“They are our girls abducted one month ago,” he stressed and urged security agents to work towards rescuing the girls safely.

“We want our girls to return home safely now that we know that they are still alive”’

Military probes mutiny in Borno barracks Continued from page 2

Maimalari cantonment Maiduguri.

“The incident occurred when the bodies of four soldiers who died in an ambush while returning from patrol duties in Chibok were being conveyed to the morgue.

“There is calm in the cantonment and all normal operations activities are ongoing.”

Apart from the statement, there were indications last night that the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, sent a team to Maiduguri for preliminary stock-taking of the mutiny.

The source said: “The CDS has sent a team of senior officials to the 7 Division for preliminary findings. This is without prejudice to the board of inquiry which will be set up.”

The Borno State Government released the list of 23 more students whose identities were confirmed by their parents in the video clip of Boko Haram.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on

Communication, Alhaji Isa Gusau, also said the identification of the abducted girls was continuing at press time.

The statement said: “Please find the names of the additional 23 girls that had been identified. The names are 1. Fibi Haruna; 2.

Laraba Mamman; 3. Saraya Yanga; 4. Hauwa Mutan; 5.

Deborah Abari; 6. Hauwa Nkeki Mbalala; 7. Rejoice Musa8. Yana Joshua ; 9. Esther Ayuba; 10. Helen Musa; 11. Mwa Daniel; 12.

Hannatu Ishaku; 13. Yayi Abana; 14. Mary Ndamah; 15. Monica Enoch ; 16. Amina Ali; 17. Ashe Ezekiel; 18. Lydia Simon; 19.

Na’omi Bitrus; 20. Kawuna Lalai; 21. Kawuna Luka; 22.

Lydia Habila; 23. Margaret Watsai “The exercise is continuing with a new set of parents, teachers and students.

The three sets of people (parents, teachers and students) were brought to Maiduguri in batches. Another set is to continue the identification exercise tonight and we will get back too you with any update.”

Jonathan to Boko Haram: no prisoners swap for girls veillance mission over Nigeria on Tuesday in search of the girls, U.S. officials told NBC News.

With a wingspan of just over 130 feet, the Global Hawk’s air time is a huge advantage in surveillance operations: It can remain airborne for 28 hours with a range of 8,700 miles and has a top speed of 310 knots (357 mph), according to the Air Force.

The Global Hawk also has a variety of surveillance sys-

he said.

Shettima Haruna, another parent, said all the girls shown in the video were those abducted from the school.

Another parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, wondered how the girls were able to read in Arabic.

“The lady reciting the Quran is from Kubur Bula village; she had been of a good Christian background, but I wonder what they did to her.

“Her name is Rebecca but she looked like a true Muslim

in the video.”

Officials of the Borno government, however, declined comment on the issue, saying that they were yet to reach a conclusion.

“The process is still going; we have not concluded anything yet.

“I believe we should be able to conclude by tomorrow, when the commissioner for Information will be able to say something on the issue,” an official, who declined to be named, said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2014

69

FOREIGN NEWS

French journalist killed in CAR

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RENCH photojournalist Camille Lepage has been killed while working in the Central African Republic, presidential officials in Paris say.

The body of Ms Lepage, 26, was found when a French patrol stopped a car driven by Christian anti-balaka militia in the Bouar region, a statement said.

She had reportedly been travelling near the CAR border with Cameroon when she became caught up in fighting.

Camille Lepage’s work has been widely published, including by the BBC. She had also worked for several non-governmental organisations including Amnesty In-

ternational and Medecins sans Frontieres, her website said.

Ms Lepage had been working in CAR for several months, having moved to South Sudan in July 2012.

Her last tweet, a week ago, said she was travelling with the anti-balaka militia by motorbike to an area 120km from Berberati, where 150 people had been killed by Seleka rebels since March.

She said another six people had been killed two days earlier.

“All means necessary will be used to shed light on to the circumstances of this murder and to find her killers,” the French presidency said in its statement.

Kenya court orders arrest of ICC-wanted journalist

K

ENYA’s high court has ordered the arrest of journalist Walter Barasa.

It follows a request by Kenya’s director of public prosecution for his extradition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The ICC requested Mr Barasa’ arrest last year. He denies witness interference in the ICC trial of Deputy President William Ruto.

Mr Ruto denies charges of organising ethnic violence after Kenya’s disputed 2007 election.

In court papers made public last October, ICC prosecutors said Mr Barasa had offered bribes amounting to $16,200 (£10,000).

Correspondents say that he may soon be taken into custody.

If found guilty he could face up to five years in jail.

Some 1,200 people died and 600,000 were forced from their homes following the presidential election on 27 December 2007.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is also due to stand trial on similar charges - he too denies the allegations.

Fury at Turkish PM over mine tragedy

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VIOLENT protest erupted yesterday in the Turkish city of Soma, where at least 274 coal miners have died after a mine explosion.

Many in the crowd expressed anger at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. Rocks were being thrown and some people were shouting that Erdogan was a “Murderer!” and a “Thief!”

The protesters faced off against riot police, who had gas masks and water cannons, in front of the ruling NKP party headquarters.

Earlier in the day, women wailed uncontrollably, men knelt sobbing and others just stared in disbelief outside a coal mine in western Turkey as rescue workers removed a steady stream of bodies after an underground explosion and fire killed.

The fate of an estimated 120 miners remained unclear in

•Death toll reaches 274, scores still missing one of Turkey’s worst mining disasters.

Erdogan postponed a foreign trip and visited the mine in Soma, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul.

The deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.

Erdogan said the tragedy would be investigated to its “smallest detail” and “no negligence will be ignored.” He discussed rescue operations with authorities, walked near the entrance of the mine and also comforted two crying women. Earlier, Erdogan declared three days of national mourning, ordering flags to be lowered to half-staff.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine in Soma at the time of Tuesday’s explosion and 363 of them had been

rescued. Scores were injured, Yildiz told reporters in Soma, where he was overseeing operations by more than 400 rescuers.

The last worker rescued alive emerged from the mine around dawn, a government official said on condition of anonymity because she didn’t have prior authorization to speak publicly to journalists about the issue. As of 3:30 p.m., it had been about 10 hours since anyone had been brought out alive.

“Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing,” Yildiz said before Erdogan’s visit.

Erdogan said there were an estimated 120 workers still inside the mine.

“Our hope is that, God willing, they will be brought out,” he said.

“That is what we are waiting for.”

Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners stood outside the mine. The crowd shouted at officials, including when Yildiz passed by, and some wailed each time a body was brought up. A heavy police presence was in place around the mine.

The explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, officials said, which likely raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside than usual.

Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Turkey’s worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Syria conflict: ‘Hundreds die in government detention’

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EARLY 850 people have died in Syrian government prisons and security forces facilities this year, activists say.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 children and six women were among the victims.

They lost their lives as a result of torture, executions, maltreatment and poor conditions, it added.

The Observatory - which relies on a network of activists, medical and military sources in Syria - said the number of deaths could be even higher.

It said some 18,000 people among those held by the government in the past three years had disappeared, and many were feared dead.

“The number of victims is increasing because there are no measures being taken to deter the regime,” said the Observatory’s director, Rami Abdul Rahman.

The Observatory said that in the 847 cases it had documented up until 13 May, the victims’ families had been notified by

the Syrian authorities.

The government has denied that its security personnel are engaged in the widespread torture, mistreatment and execution of detainees.

Meanwhile, Physicians for Human Rights says government forces have been responsible for 90% of the confirmed assaults on healthcare facilities in Syria, challenging claims by officials that rebels are to blame.

PHR documented 150 attacks on 124 separate medical facilities over the past three years The US-based advocacy group published an interactive map which it said represented the most comprehensive study of attacks on medical workers, hospitals and clinics.

The map links to reports, videos and photographs of the 150 attacks on 124 separate medical facilities documented

by PHR since the uprising began in March 2011.

At least 468 civilian medical personnel have reportedly been killed.

U.S. baby survives 11-storey fall

A

BABY in the US state of Minnesota has survived an 11storey fall from an apartment balcony, local media report.

Musa Dayib, one, has two arm fractures and is breathing with the help of a ventilator but is expected to live, after slipping through a railing.

His doctor said his youth as well as the softer ground he landed on helped contribute to his survival.

Family and friends in Minneapolis’s Somali community say the family is in shock.

It is well documented that in such circumstances, a child often has better survival prospects than an adult would. This may be because children are more flexible, their bones less brittle. A smaller body mass may also mean that it is possible for a person [below] to break their fall.

“I’m more concerned about his dad and his mother,” Mr Bihi said. “They’re devastated. They can’t even speak.”

Dr Tina Slusher, who treated Musa, said an adult who fell from that distance would almost certainly be dead.

“Little [children] are more flexible and don’t break as easily as we do and he also fell in a very small patch of mulch [loose material put on soil],” she told local broadcaster KARE. But she added it was “definitely a miracle. It’s God’s gift to his family. Kids don’t fall this far and make it often.”

•Rescue workers carry a rescued miner from the mine in Soma, western Turkey, after an explosion and fire ...yesterday.

PHOTO: AP

Factories burnt in Vietnam anti-China protest

A

T least 15 foreignowned factories have been set on fire amid anti-China protests at industrial parks in southern Vietnam.

Hundreds more were attacked by some of the 20,000 workers who protesting in the streets of Binh Duong province.

They are protesting after China moved a drilling rig into waters also claimed by Vietnam earlier this month.

No casualties have been reported but officials said at least 200 people had been arrested over the violence.

In response to the protests, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said Vietnam was the “provocateur”, and that Beijing had expressed concern to Hanoi.

Meanwhile, Taiwan summoned the Vietnamese envoy to Taipei after reports that many Taiwanese firms were targeted having been mistaken by rioters for Chinese factories.

Nationalist sentiment of this intensity has not been seen in Vietnam for many years.

Tuesday’s protests in Binh Duong confirmed the government’s worst fear, that nation-

alism could easily get out of hand, posing a great risk not only to the business environment but also to domestic political stability.

The Vietnamese authorities were quick to condemn the anti-China violence and arrested some people they called “agitators”.

But critics say that other contributing factors such as social discontent and limited labour rights cannot be overlooked.

Singaporean and Japanese plants were also targeted.

The protesters began gathering in Thuan An town, in Binh Duong - Vietnam’s industrial heartland - on Monday, officials said.

They then moved on to two nearby industrial parks on Tuesday.

Three factories were set on fire on Tuesday evening after workers had gone home, a spokesperson for the Vietnam

Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) told the BBC. An employee of a Singaporean company told the BBC they saw four burnt buildings on Wednesday morning, and another eight including one belonging to a Taiwan-founded shoe firm with shattered windows and smashed front gates.

Firms with Chinese characters in their logos or signs were reportedly targeted

Qatar: Foreign worker restrictions ‘to be eased’

Q

ATAR has moved to change controversial laws on foreign workers amid mounting criticism ahead of the 2022 World Cup. The Gulf state has come under pressure to drop rules tying migrant workers to a single employer amid an influx ahead of the football tournament.

Human rights campaigners have accused Qatar’s current sponsorship system of being akin to modern-day slavery.

The draft law is part of a range of proposed labour reforms but there is no timeline for their implementation.

Expatriates make up the bulk of the workforce in the country.

More than 180 migrant workers died in Qatar last year and a significant number are believed to have suffered injuries as a result of unsafe working practices.

There have also been complaints about the standard of accommodation many workers live in.

Officials announced the proposed changes at a news conference in the capital Doha yesterday.

They said they hoped to introduce “a system based on employment contracts” as part of a reform package.

The reforms are also designed to end the longstanding requirement that foreign workers obtain their employer’s consent before leaving the country.

This received global attention after a FrenchAlgerian footballer was forced to stay in the country for nearly two years over a dispute with Qatari club El-Jaish over unpaid wages.

Human rights groups have long urged Qatar to scrap the sponsorship system, saying it leaves workers open to exploitation and abuse.

UK opposition Labour MP Jim Murphy, who has campaigned for workers’ rights in Qatar in his role as Shadow International Development Secretary, said the move was a “small step on a very long journey.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

70

SPORT EXTRA COUNTDOWN TO BRAZIL 2014 W/CUP

Neymar: ´I will end my career at Santos´

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•Vicente del Bosque

RAZIL star Neymar intends to finish his career where it all started at Santos, but could also represent other clubs in Brazil.

Neymar, 22, left Santos for Barcelona in June last year in his first move to a European club, and he has been tipped to star at the FIFA World Cup. While a return to his homeland appears a long time away, Neymar said he would definitely play in Brazil again – with his final season to be at Santos.

"This is something to think about, I want to play for another team in Brazil, it wouldn't be a problem to sit down and hear an offer,"

Neymar said.

"The club can be from Sao Paulo, from Rio de Janeiro or from any other state of Brazil, the only that is certain is that I will end my career at Santos."

Neymar said there were several reasons behind his decision to leave Santos, including a new challenge in La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.

"It wasn't just about the money, that's not why I left," he said.

"I wanted to live a dream, play other competitions, play the Champions League, grow, evolve, learn another language, that's what motivated me to come to the European continent."

•Neymar

Ashley Cole could return Isco out of Spain W/Cup squad

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PAIN coach Vicente del Bosque has announced his 30-man provisional squad for this summer's World Cup in Brazil, with Real Madrid's Alvaro Arbeloa and Isco as two of the most notable absentees.

Isco has struggled to find his best form in the second half of the season after initially impressing at Madrid, which has now cost him his place in Del Bosque's roster, while Arbeloa has lost his spot to Dani Carvajal.

Meanwhile, Iker Casillas has made the cut regardless of his limited amount of playing time at Madrid this season, while Thiago Alcantara and Fernando Llorente have both made it, too.

Other surprising callups include Alberto Moreno, Ander Iturraspe and Koke.

Del Bosque will announce his final squad on May 25.

Spain meet Netherlands, Chile and Australia in Group B

at the World Cup. SQUAD IN FULL: Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Napoli), David de Gea (Manchester United) Defenders: Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Alberto Moreno (Sevilla), Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea) Midfielders: Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Busquets, Xavi (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), Juan Mata (Manchester United), David Silva (Manchester City), Thiago Alcantara (Bayern Munich), Ander Iturraspe (Athletic Bilbao), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid) Attackers: Diego Costa, David Villa (Atletico Madrid), Alvaro Negredo, Jesus Navas (Manchester City), Fernando Torres (Chelsea), Fernando Llorente (Juventus), Pedro (Barcelona)

Ruiz, Campbell named in Costa Rica squad

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RYAN Ruiz and Joel Campbell are among 11-Europe based players selected in Costa Rica's provisional FIFA World Cup squad.

Ruiz, on loan at PSV Eindhoven from Fulham, and

•Ruiz

Campbell are likely to play key roles in Jorge Luis Pinto's team in a Group D featuring Uruguay, Italy and England.

Arsenal-owned forward Campbell, who has been at Olympiacos this season, is a 31-time international with nine goals to his name.

Everton's Bryan Oviedo is missing as expected, failing to recover in time from a broken leg suffered in January.

Pinto added Hansell Arauz, Esteban Alvarado, Ariel Rodriguez and Jairo Arrieta to make up his 30, but they are reserves and will not take part in the training camp.

MLS quartet Giancarlo Gonzalez and Waylon Francis (Columbus Crew), Roy Miller (New York Red Bulls) and Alvaro Saborio (Real Salt Lake) are also in the squad.

Costa Rica have friendlies against Japan and the Republic of Ireland in the United States before their World Cup begins with a clash against Uruguay on June 14.

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OY Hodgson has left the door open for Ashley Cole to come out of international retirement if Leighton Baines suffers a serious injury in the build-up to the World Cup. After 13 years' service, Cole retired from international duty on Sunday after Hodgson informed the Chelsea left-back he had not made his 23-man squad, which was officially announced on Monday.

Hodgson has opted for Baines and 18-year-old Luke Shaw in his squad instead of Cole.

Should Baines get an injury, Hodgson would be left with Shaw as his only option at leftback.

Shaw may be one of the most exciting players in the Barclays Premier League, but he only has 45 minutes of international experience in his locker.

When asked whether he would consider calling Cole up if Baines suffered an injury, the England manager said: "You would have to ask Ashley that...

I would like to think so."

Hodgson has not named Cole among his 30-man provisional squad, but the England boss could draft the 33-year-old in if Baines gets injured after June 2.

The England manager insisted he could not place Cole on the seven-man standby list out of respect for the Chelsea defender, who has 107 caps.

If Cole does not make a return after possibly the briefest

spell in retirement, Hodgson's only other option would be to draft standby player Jon Flanagan - a natural right-back - into the 23.

"Circumstances could make the decision a very good one or it could make it a very bad one," Hodgson said of dropping Cole.

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England snub shocks Defoe

ERMAIN Defoe says he is "devastated" to have been left out of the England squad for the World Cup in Brazil.

The striker is not one of the 23 players named by Roy Hodgson for the tournament, although he was selected for the standby list of seven the England manager will call upon if needed.

The 31-year-old, capped 55 times since making his England debut in 2004, moved from Tottenham to Major League Soccer outfit Toronto FC in January but was part of the national side as recently as last November when he appeared off the bench against Chile.

But with Hodgson opting for Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Rickie Lambert as his four strikers, Defoe has been omitted from a World Cup squad for the second time, having also missed out in 2006.

"It's hard even to find words to describe how I am feeling," Defoe declared. "I felt I had done enough. I feel sharper than ever and I have been on form and scored goals."

Defoe did appear for England at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, scoring the only goal of the game as Fabio Capello's side edged past Slovenia in their final group game.

Following the death of his father during Euro 2012, Defoe flew home but later re-joined the England squad for the rest of the tournament.

Reflecting on his omission for Brazil, the former West Ham and Portsmouth player admitted, "To miss out, I feel devastated. I didn't really feel I had to sell myself to the manager.

"I had a situation at the 2012 Euros where I lost my dad and I had a decision to make. But I chose to go back out to Poland

F

•Ashley Cole

and Ukraine because I know how important it is to play for your country."

•Defoe

World Cup ‘ll benefit Brazil, says Valcke

IFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has called for patience before assessing the impact of the World Cup in Brazil.

The governing body have come in for criticism ahead of next month's World Cup with many believing the tournament - estimated to have cost $11billion - will not provide any long-term benefits to a country that is struggling economically.

Alarmingly, an eighth worker lost their life in the Brazilian city of Cuiaba on Thursday as the nation rushes to be ready for the opening game on June 12.

But speaking to FIFA.com, Valcke believes football's showpiece event will benefit Brazil down the track, despite

anti-World Cup campaigners claiming the money would have been better spent on improving the country's health and education.

"You cannot talk about the legacy at or right after the World Cup," he said. "You need few years to see what the legacy is.

"There are legacies at different levels. The first level is the football infrastructure. They will have a level of stadiums and training camps which are amazing. They have better facilities to play football than before.

"The stadiums that were used at the Confederations Cup welcome more fans, because the structure is nicer and have a higher standard of international football.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014

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SPORT EXTRA

Eagles ‘ll get to World Cup semi—Moses F

ORMER International Gbenga Moses has tipped the Super Eagles to get to the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup but warned that lack of a match reader for the team may, however, scuttle that ambition.

“First and foremost like any other patriotic Nigerian I am expecting that the Super Eagles are going to perform exceedingly well. Again if you look at our performances at USA ’94 World Cup when the team won the Africa Nations Cup same year, we took that to the World Cup and we did well.

“If you look at it again this team has done very well under Coach Stephen Keshi. He has done what other coaches have not done with the team since USA ’94 Class of Eagles. The present set of the Super Eagles want to make name

for themselves and now with the fusion of other established players’ we are hoping that the Nigerian team will go to Brazil and do us all proud. The Nigerian team is of average age of 22 and 24 years and this is good for the team.

“Let me say it without mincing words that I am one of those that believe that the players will do what no other teams have done which means that they are likely to get to the semi-final. We are hoping that if they do that and get to that level we should be assured of splendid result after all”, Moses disclosed.

He also expressed confidence in the Eagles to live up to expectation at the World Cup. “As

a Nigerian I believe in the team and as an ex-Nigerian player I also believe that the players will do well. Let’s just hope and pray that Keshi will get it right before the start of the competition.

On the exclusion of Ikechukwu Uche and Chinedu Obasi from the provisional list of 30 released by the Eagles Coach, the former Inwuanyawu National FC (now Heartland FC) player frowned on their exclusion.

“Let’s be sincere with ourselves every serious team will go to that kind of competition with their best players. These are the best players Nigeria has presently. I am one of those that believe that yes no two players are the same and as a Manager you should be able to manage players that are indiscipline. You can get the best out of these player.

to drop some of our best and committed players [but] I am happy that the players understand that fact," Keshi said.

Injured Balogun said on Tuesday that he had been trying to reach the coach to thank him for his support and that he looks forward to returning to play once he's healed completely.

"I heard what Leon Balogun said and I must say I am thrilled that he understands the very difficult task we have been given

by Nigerians, I trust that sooner than later Leon will be back in the team," stated Keshi.

"We are targeting to bring him back during the qualifiers for the

Nations Cup in Morocco and I trust we will still be in charge.

Balogun we reason is one of our stars for the future of the national team,” Keshi said.

The coach called on the media to support him and the NFF in the task of making Nigeria great through football come the World Cup. “They create imaginary disputes between me and my employers, but I dare say there is no disagreement between us.

All I want is for all, including the players who did not make the initial 30-man list to Brazil, to support us so that we can excel at the World Cup,” he said.

From Segun Ogunjimi, Abuja

Dropped players thrill Keshi

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IGERIA coach Stephen Keshi says he is thrilled by the responses of some of the players that were not picked in his preliminary World Cup squad, especially Germanybased Leon Balogun as well as John Ogu, Brown Ideye and others.

Keshi who was quoted by national team spokesman Ben Alaiya said, picking the 30-man list for the World Cup was a difficult task and he was ready to please all but that can never be the case.

“I wanted the best for the initial camping list but sadly we cannot take everybody along, we have

AHEAD OF COMMONWEALTH GAMES

IAAF Relays to serve as test —Falilat Ogunkoya

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LYMPIAN, Falilat Ogunkoya has expressed the hope that the IAAF Relays slated for May 24-25 in the Bahamas would indeed serve as an avenue to gauge the strength of Nigerian athletes ahead of the Commonwealth Games slated for Glasgow, Scotland later in the year.

Ogunkoya who spoke with the NationSport on Tuesday also noted that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) would ensure that the lapses observed during the IAAF Relays would be looked into to ensure the country’s successful outing at

By Stella Bamawo the Games.

Ogunkoya said: “This is an avenue for the athletes to know their capabilities before they go for the Commonwealth Games.

The good thing is that some of the athletes have been in camp, so this will help in bringing out the best in them.”

Meanwhile, AFN President, Evang. Solomon Ogba will lead the contingent which includes Technical Director, Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama,

Olumide Bamiduro (Secretary General), Eric Campbell (Performance Director) and Relays Co-ordinator, Maurice Green.

They will be joined by Gabriel Okon, Daniel Etsebiminor, Ekundayo Ogunkunle (Physio), Timothy Lee (Physio), Falilat Ogunkoya (Athlete Representative) and Oluyayode Thomas (Media Officer).

Previously, the AFN had announced the names of athletes that would represent the country at the relays. The Nigerian athletes would be led by the fastest woman in Nigeria, Blessing Okagabare.

Ondo not pulling out of DAWN Games, says Famakinwa

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ONTRARY to the report that Ondo State had pulled out of the maiden Secondary School Sports Games tagged DAWN Games, the Director General of DAWN Commission, Dipo Famakinwahas refuted this report, saying, Ondo will be part of the competition holding in Lagos. “DAWN Commission, the Regional agency managing the Southwest integration agenda, would like to state that the governor of Ondo State, His Excellency, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko was duly notified, along with his brother governors, of the design, the processes and planning of the DAWN Games 2014,” he said.

He added: “And of course, Ondo State has been duly represented at all the preliminary meetings leading to the hosting of the Games. Indeed, at the initial Stakeholders' Meeting comprising the six (6) States where the Rules and Regulations and Timelines for the DAWN Games 2014 were agreed upon, Ondo State was represented at that meeting by the Director in charge of Sports in the State Ministry of Education. “Also at the Joint Technical Meeting of all the Stakeholders, and Inspection of facilities for the Games which took place in Lagos on April 23 - 25, 2014, Ondo State was fully represented at the meeting by Mr. Jide Fawolu, the Director,

School Sports, Ondo State. In fact at that meeting, the state representative submitted the duly completed DAWN Games 2014 Preliminary Entry Forms to the Technical Sub-committee, which was a confirmation of the State's participation at the DAWN Games,” Famakinwa said. He continued.

“It must also be stated that the National Sports Commission (NSC) has been a major stakeholder in the planning of the Games. In fact, Dr. Steve Olarinoye and Mr. Peter Nelson have represented the NSC South West Zone as members of the Central Working Committee and Local Organising Committee of the Games.”

THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

TODAY IN THE NATION ‘Chibok has brought it home more graphically to the international community that we are fast moving towards becoming a failed state with our commander-inchief requesting for military and logistic support to penetrate Sambisa forest...’

JIDE OLUWAJUYITAN

VOL. 9, NO. 2849

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

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HERE seems to be some hope that the Chibok girls’ crisis will soon be resolved –somehow. Probably by negotiation; most likely not by bullets. Somehow.

President Goodluck Jonathan announced gleefully the other day at the World Economic Forum that the end of the devilish Boko Haram sect had come. Many Nigerians share this optimism. But I hasten to warn that we shouldn’t muddle it all up. The battle is not the war. Retrieving the 276 or so youngsters is different from hacking down Boko Haram, the fiendish group whose April 15 invidious abduction of the pupils from their school in Chibok, Borno State, has made Nigeria the focus of a global resentment and revulsion – that the black man’s hope could be this sick.

When all the world’s super spooks will have returned home and the accursed crooks, murderers and plunderers of Sambisa forest are appeased. When the hostage negotiators and interrogators will have called it a day.

When the ballistic experts will have rounded off. When the counter insurgency specialists and the Special Forces will have signed off.

And when the global media will have disbanded their camp in Abuja to move on to more urgent matters. When it is all resolved - temporarily – it is most likely we return to our old ways. No lesson taught; no lesson learnt. Life goes on. And the morbid philosophy: oh! It was meant to be. Every nation has its own trying moment and all such vacuous postulations.

It will be fitting for us to put on record how a centenarian became the world’s sick toddler, bedridden by a debilitating ailment caused by the very offspring who should care for him.

On April 14, Boko Haram extremists stormed the Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, corralled over 200 girls into an open space, ordered them into a line of trucks, set the school on fire and drove off with their captives. Unchallenged.

By the time the gunmen completed their devilish mission, it was April 15.

The military were said to have got a report that evil was on the way, but a promised reinforcement never came, even after the deed had been done. Distraught parents hired motorcyclists, bows and arrows in their hands, and headed for the forest. They never got there. They were warned by villagers that daring to go on was nothing but suicide.

Devastated, Governor Kashim Shettima rushed down to the Presidential Villa to tell a heart-rending story of how over 200 kids were snatched off their hostels by Boko Haram insurgents. Incredible. The Villa, obviously, did not believe it was no fantasy, a farce, full of fury and drama, told by a politician desperate to discredit the Presidency for some cheap political points.

Then the headlines. The protests. #Bringbackourgirls. Rattled, the government set up a panel – whatever has become of the committee - to verify the truth of the matter.

Were kids actually kidnapped? If so, could the number be right? Where are the parents?

Are they among the protesters - former public officials and Abuja society women?

RIPPLES

NIGERIA MUST TURN TO GOD TO SOLVE BOKO HARAM–Politician

I beg we’ve disturbed GOD enough, let’s turn to our GOVT

GBENGA OMOTOSO

EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK

gbenga.omotoso@thenationonlineng.net

•Editor of the Year (NMMA)

Denouement

•Mrs Obama

Defying security advice, Shettima and his wife travelled to Chibok to behold the ruins of what used to be a vibrant school and comfort the grieving residents of a once peaceful town that is now the scene of a global tragedy and crime against humanity, the girl-child in particular.

He was all tears. So were many of the parents.

To dismiss all doubts that the girls had been snatched off their hostels, Boko Haram ringleader, Abubakar Shekau, released on May 5 a video in which he announced to a shocked world that he had the girls, bragging that he would sell them off. Their crime? Shekau said they went to school when they ought to have got married.

Before then, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Women Leader Kema Chikwe had issued a statement doubting the authenticity of the mass abductions. Many, who apparently felt hers was a mere expression of the prevailing feeling at the Villa, were asking: Is Kema also a mother?

She swiftly reversed her stand.

As if to follow up on Mrs Chikwe’s proposition, First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan summoned a meeting – many insisted it was an inquisition – at the Villa. It later turned out that Shettima’s wife had earlier been there to tell her how it all happened. Apparently, Mrs Jonathan didn’t believe her. So she summoned a meeting, which has now become a box office hit, one of the most viewed – some colleagues in the online section swear it is the most – video clips on the Internet.

The First Lady is filmed throwing up her arms in exasperation after discovering that some of

those who were to attend the meeting were not there. In the version of the clip that hit my mobile the other day, she is seen screaming: “Princepa, do u come with two teachers? No...u wia not eform too eh? Ohkay. Kotinew! No ploblem.

God will see us. Dia ris God. Dia ris God in everything we ah doin!! Dose blood that are shiarin in Boronu will answer! What of two teachers? WAEC. Two teachers dat can tell us dey coducted dat ezam; do u come with any? Princepa... Okay, na only u waka come too? Now the first lady is kolli you, kwom, ah wan to hep you! Kom to fine ya child, ya missing child... will you keep quiet? Chai..eh …chai-eh…Dia ris God o!! Dia ris God, Dia ris God, Dia ris God oh!

The blors wia sharing. Dia ris God ohhh … Dia ris God ooooooo.”

Why was the First Lady’s intervention for the camera? Wouldn’t a visit to Chibok to cry with those agonising parents have been better? Who advised Mrs Jonathan to do all that?

So much for a PR stunt that turned awry.

After the Shekau video, there was a global outrage, with world leaders and celebrities joining the campaign for the girls’ return. UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, Pope Francis, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Bill Gates, Kofi Annan, CNN anchor Christine Amanpour, Malala Yousafzai and actors Sean Penn, Ashton Kutcher, Justin Timberlake and Bradley Cooper, who backed a parallel hashtag:#RealMenDontBuyGirls.

Ever so protective of Nigeria’s sovereignty, the Presidency suddenly succumbed to pressure and cried out for help. Enter Britain, United States, France, Israel, China and others. They pledged to rush in their Satellite Imaging capabilities and other advanced tracking technologies to help find the girls.

The police announced on May 7 a N50m reward for information on the whereabouts of the girls. Nigerians sneered. Who are they fooling? Who does not know that the little ones were ferried away to Sambisa forest?

Where are the troops who are said to have been in pursuit of the insurgents? Only N50m? Is this another Gulder Ultimate Search? The questions were many.

HARDBALL

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Olusegun ‘Messiah’ Obasanjo moves again

ABA, as former President Olusegun Obasanjo is fondly called, has been quiet lately. Not known to be inconspicuous and invisible, even his quietude is a rumbling, roaring presence for those who ought to know.

Though since he fired his ‘toxic’ missive at his estranged godson, President Goodluck Jonathan, a few months ago, he has retreated from the political sphere. But be not deceived that he has been removed from Nigeria’s political scene or machinations if you like.

In fact, while Nigerians and indeed the entire world is carried away by the Chibok girls abduction saga in the northeast state of Borno, Baba’s attention is riveted toward the northernmost of the northwest states, Jigawa. He is reported to be on a kurukere political shuttle to Dutse, the rustic capital of Jigawa State. Any neophyte politician in Nigeria would know that Baba’s silence on the “Bringback the girls” campaign is the loudest statement and is a cause for worry for his political opponents. Baba is not one to keep mute when world leaders like Obama, Hilary Clinton, Cameron, Pope Francis and so on are speaking on an issue about his country.

Well, unless of course Baba is on to something

more important than the issue of the day.

And his detractors think he is. Recall that he has been absent at state functions recently, the last of which was the World Economic Forum (Africa) held in Abuja last weekend.

But he has been very visible in Dutse where he posed for a picture with numerous teenage girls (dressed in hijab) of Government Girls Secondary School (not Chibok) in Kudai, Jigawa State. He is said to have adopted the school. The young girls who flock around Baba in the bold photograph immediately remind one of the abducted Chibok girls, except that while these ones are gay, the others are morose. Think nothing of the coinciding (conflicting?) images but remember that Baba is a master of the Nigerian art and his imprints loom large on this shambolic edifice called Nigeria.

Hardball is doing all this jiu-jitsu just to establish the fact that Baba’s ominous silence and peregrinations up north have been a

Former Head of State and All Progressives Congress (APC) chief General Muhammadu Buhari condemned the sect, saying its doctrine of forced conversion has no place in Islam. The Villa hailed his statesmanship. APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu weighed in, suggesting how to tackle the matter. So did other dignitaries. When the APC Interim Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, stated the party’s position, lashing the country’s leadership and noting that Nigeria was on auto pilot, the Presidency was enraged. He was accused of “partisan blackmail”. Really?

Meanwhile, the protests continued, with more celebrities signing up. Former Zamfara State Governor Ahmed Yerima – remember him? The senator who was accused of marrying an underage girl – was photographed on the internet carrying the #Bringbackourgirls placard.

Strange? Well, these are strange times.

Perhaps to drive home his message more forcefully, Boko Haram followed up on May 1 with a car bomb in Nyanya, killing scores.The large settlement on the outskirts of Abuja had earlier been the scene of a massive suicide bombing in which many died on April 14. The Directorate of State Security (DSS) announced on May 13 that five suspects had been arrested.

The speed of the investigation was remarkable, even by our fast-food standard.

Apparently basking in its renewed confidence, Boko Haram stormed Gamboru Ngala on May 5, killing and plundering. The abduction of the Chibok girls overshadowed the despoilment of the hitherto peaceful town. Many were killed and property that represented so many years of sweating were left in ruins. A bridge linking Nigeria to Cameroon was smashed.

The terror mission continued, with the abduction of eight girls, aged between 12 and 15, in Warabe, Borno State. Nothing has been heard about them since May 6 when the news was broken.

Just on Monday, Shekau released another video, showing the poor Chibok girls, a majority of who are Christians, renouncing their fate. He offered to let them go in exchange for his brethren in crime who are in custody.

Now, the government is facing a big dilemma.

Should it swap prisoners with the innocent girls and be accused of bowing to terrorists?

Or should it stay firm–President Jonthan ruled out prisoner swap yesterday–and refuse to negotiate with criminals? Talk about being torn between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Forget about Shekau’s schizophrenic rambling; it’s all balderdash. There is little space for such characters to hide. When Mohammed Yusuf, Shekau’s predecessor, was murdered in police custody, the thinking must have been that that was the final solution. How wrong.

We left intact all the factors that bred the likes of Yusuf. And so it is most likely to be after Shekau.

The battle will be won. My fear is the war.

But, whichever way it goes, we should remember one fact: dia ris God oooo.

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above cause for indigestion for not a few of his party members, especially those in the camp of his disanointed son, the sitting president. Baba’s Jigawa shuttles are said to have so emboldened the state governor, Sule Lamido, to go beyond mere splashing campaign posters in Abuja to preparing to give the president a fight pound-for-pound and neighbour-to-neighbour in the upcoming Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary. In a contest being planned to be a fait accompli for President Jonathan, any serious contestant would be deemed ‘dangerous’ in the light of the hullabaloo (of global proportions) weighing down the presidency.

While you may want to accuse Hardball of being a busy body growing gray hair on a small family matter of the PDP, you may worry if you recall that Baba, the ‘messiah’, is about it once more, looking for a ‘president’ to anoint on our behalf. You will agree with me that Nigerians don’t want another president from Baba because the poor soldier he sent out to the war front has not returned… because he is a bad ‘chooser’ of presidents, he should leave us to make our own choice this time, we beg of him.

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