The Nation May 24, 2013

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

‘Govt spends N700b on security in 4 months’ •Sanusi: expenditure hits N2trn

Anti-Amaechi camp splits NEWS

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BUSINESS

•Yuguda joins NGF race

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www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 8, NO. 2495 FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

House to govt: lift ban on Rivers’ jet

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N150.00

CHINUALUMOGU ALBERT ACHEBE (1930 -2013)

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

HROUGH its Committees on Justice and Aviation, the House of Representatives yesterday told the Ministry of Aviation and other regulatory agencies to lift the sanctions imposed on the Bombardier jet owned by the Rivers State Government.

The committees said neither the state government nor its officials forged any document to secure flight clearances or any other licence.

The committees recommended that Caverton Helicopter should be prosecuted under S. 36 (4) Civil Aviation Act, Cap. C13 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

But the company yesterday denied any wrong doing in the Rivers aircraft crisis.

The committees claimed that although the government operated its aircraft with expired clearance between April 2 and 26, several other aircraft are suspected to be in a similar situation.

They said the isolation of Rivers State for reprimand has become difficult to deny.

Continued on page 2

British-Nigerians ‘killed’ soldier in London

•Leaders condemn terrorism

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HE world spoke yesterday against Wednesday’s killing of a British soldier in Southeast London by two men identified as British with Nigerian descent.

British Prime Minister David Cameron described the incident as a terror attack.

One of the suspects said they killed the soldier, Lee Righy, of the Second Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in Woolwich, London because the British military has been killing Muslims.

Cameron, President Goodluck Jonathan, United States President Barack Obama and other world leaders condemned the action.

•The mausoleum where Achebe was buried...yesterday

•PAGES 4&5

Presidents lead Achebe farewell

Continued on page 2

•The late Prof. Achebe

Emergency: Jonathan under attack over states’ funds ACN condemns power grab Sagay to states: go to Supreme Court

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•Dr. Jonathan

HE President’s acquisition of powers to spend the cash allocated to Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, the states under a state of emergency, has been rejected by the main opposition party and senior lawyers.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and senior lawyers faulted yesterday the wide powers granted Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Sanni Onogu, Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

The ACN warned that “unless this despotic tendency is checked, nothing prevents the President, in the name of the ongoing fight against Boko Haram, from extending this power grab to other states that catch his fancy.”

“This is dangerous and must be checked in the interest of our democ-

racy,” the party said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

The National Assembly yesterday granted Jonathan sweeping powers to spend funds belonging to the states and local governments under the state of emergency.

This followed the Senate, and the House of Representatives’ adoption of the conference report on the state of

emergency proclamation 2013.

The Senate had on May 21 approved wholesale proclamation of a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, but the House endorsed the measure with some level of caution.

The new position of the lawmakers negated the initial stance of the House of Representatives that Jonathan Continued on page 2

•BUSINESS P11 •SPORTS P24 •POLITICS P43 •MONEYLINK P55 •CITYBEATS P56

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

NEWS

•President Goodluck Jonathan and Ghanaian President John Mahama waving at the crowd on arrival •The late Achebe’s widow, Prof. Christie and son Dr. Ike, singing during the funeral service...yesterday in Ogidi, for Achebe’s burial...yesterday.

PHOTOS: AFP

A

NGF poll: Anti-Amaechi camp splits

LL is set for a battle royale as three candidates have picked nomination forms to vie for the Office of the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF).

The three governors are the incumbent chairman, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) and Isa Yuguda (Bauchi).

The emergence of two candidates from the presidency/ anti-Amaechi forces signposts a split.

Desperate efforts were being made last night to bring Shema and Yuguda to a dialogue table to enable one of them to step down.

The Northern Governors Forum last night fixed a meeting for today between 11am and 2pm.

A source at the NGF Secre-

House to govt: Lift ban on Rivers’ jet Continued from page 1

•Rivers governor can run, says David-West

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja and Tony Akowe, Kaduna

tariat said: “Just a few minutes ago, Governor Isa Yuguda came to obtain a nomination form. We have three candidates vying for the office now.

“We are still working out modalities for the election which would hold on Friday (today). So far, we do not envisage any hiccups at all.”

It was however gathered that all the governors have broken into different caucuses to strategise for the poll.

Another source added: “The loyalists of the candidates have been coming to different caucuses to sell their qualities ahead of the election. It is like a mini-campaign.

“The major problem in the

camp of the presidency/antiAmaechi forces is that Shema has refused to step down for Yuguda.

“The anti-Amaechi forces are worried that the Rivers State governor can have an easy ride if their camp remains divided.

“But pro-Amaechi governors were suspecting last night that the nomination of Shema and Yuguda could be a deliberate ploy to distract them so that they would not know who is contesting against their candidate.”

“We want to use the opportunity of the session to harmonize our position. Northern governors are 19, our votes are vital to the emergence of any NGF chairman,” a governor said.

Asked if block voting is pos-

sible by the Forum, the governor said: “It is remote but we can be united for a common cause.

“We have our own challenge too because some governors see the NGF chair as a ticket to the clinching of the Vice-Presidency in 2015.”

The Northern Reconnaissance Group (NRG) has advised Northern governors to stand firm by voting for their conscience.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “Most governors want secret ballot; those opposed to Amaechi were lobbying for open ballot or no election. They want governors to openly identify with their preferred candidate for the NGF chair.

Continued on page 59

British-Nigerians ‘killed’ soldier in London

Continued from page 1

The Muslim leadership in Britain also decried the killing of the soldier in front of a barrack.

The suspects were accused of hacking the soldier to death on a London street in revenge for wars in Muslim countries. They were known to security services, a source close to the investigation said yesterday.

One man was filmed justifying the killing as he stood by the body, holding a knife and meat

cleaver in bloodied hands. He was named by acquaintances as 28-year-old Londoner Michael Adebolajo - a British-born convert to radical Islam. So frenzied was the attack, some witnesses thought they tried to behead the victim.

The attack, just a month after the Boston Marathon bombing and the first Islamist killing in Britain since local suicide bombers killed 52 people in London in 2005, revived fears of “lone

wolves” who may have had no direct contact with al Qaeda.

British media said police raided homes of relatives in the city and near the town of Lincoln.

Adebolajo and the other man, who may have been born abroad and later naturalised as British, are both in custody in hospitals after being shot by police.

Cameron held an emergency meeting of his intelligence chiefs to assess the response to what he called a “terrorist” attack; it was

the first deadly strike in mainland Britain since local Islamists killed dozens in London in 2005.

“We will never give in to terror or terrorism in any of its forms,” Cameron said outside his Downing Street office.

“This was not just an attack on Britain and on the British way of life; it was also a betrayal of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is nothing in IsContinued on page 6

The aircraft was grounded on April 26 by the government, based on alleged infractions, including operating the aircraft with expired clearance, failure to file a flight plan and failure to make a manifest available to regulatory agencies.

The row over the aircraft between the Aviation Ministry and the state government made the House to refer the matter to its committees on Justice and Aviation.

But, in their report signed by the Chairmen of the Justice and Aviation committees, Ali Ahmad and Nkeiruka C. Onyejeocha, the committees confirmed the Bombardier B7001A11 Global Express marked N565RS as the property of Rivers State.

The report, which was obtained by our correspondent, reads: “That in view of our findings, we hereby make the following recommendations: Rivers State Government should be allowed to comply with the necessary conditions for granting of all required permits and licences of Rivers State Government – owned Bombardier B700 Global Express Registration Number N564Rs; “For providing information that led the authorities to wrongly believe that Rivers State Government falsified documents thereby leading to grounding of its aircraft, the Attorney – General is requested to consider

Jonathan under attack over power to spend states’ cash Continued from page 1

should not utilise funds accruing to the states.

The House had on Tuesday deleted 3(2e) of the emergency proclamation gazette, which states that the President can “provide for the utilisation of the funds of any State or local government in the emergency area”.

But the Senate’s endorsement of the Clause created a difference which the two chambers inaugurated a conference committee to harmonise.

The committee settled for the Senate’s version, which empowers the President to “provide for the utilisation of the funds of any state or local government in the emergency area.”

Yesterday, the two chambers adopted the Senate’s version empowering the President to utilise funds accruing to the states under emergency.

The House’s creation in Section 2(h) that “provides for the payment of compensation to victims of terrorism on or before the emergency proclamation” was deleted.

The Senate’s Clause, which “provides for the maintenance of such supplies and services as the President considers essential to the lives of persons in the emergency area”, was adopted.

Also, Senate’s version in

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prosecuting Caverton Helicopter under provisions of S. 36 (4) CIVIL Aviation Act, Cap. C13 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

“Urge the Ministry of Aviation to desist from undue interference in the day-to-day operations of the aviation regulatory authorities as envisaged by the law; “Urge the aviation regulatory authorities to operate professionally and ensure compliance with international best practices in the industry; “That the House of Committee on Aviation be mandated to scrutinise the reason for rampant foreign registration of aircraft by their owners and to further investigate all private – use aircraft operating in the country with a view to sanitising their operations and ensuring enforcement of the law in a society that is democratic.”

The committees blamed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for grounding the aircraft without complying with due process, especially notifying the Rivers State government, the owner of the aircraft.

The report said: “When an operator or aircraft is in violation of a regulation, the NCAA reserves the right to impose sanction, depending on how it chooses to treat the severity of the infraction: it may grant waiver, impose civil penalty or other comparable sanctions or susContinued on page 6

ACN, lawyers fault presidential power

HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of insincerity by saying the democratic structure in the states where he has declared a state of emergency will be kept intact. The party accused the President of grabbing power in the states and castrating democracy.

In a statement in Kaduna by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party quoted from the President’s speech to the nation on May 14, saying: ‘’The details of this Proclamation will be transmitted to the National Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. But, in the meantime, let me make it clear that within the purview of this Proclamation, the governors and other political office holders in the affected states will continue to discharge their constitutional responsibilities.’’

It said the gazette published by the Federal Government on the declaration showed that “the President has virtually eviscerated the democratic structure and stripped the political office holders of their constitutional responsibilities, thereby reversing the assurance he gave in his speech Clause 4, which provides that “The President shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after an Order has been made under these Regulations, transmit any copy of the Order to each House of the National Assembly for

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja and Precious Igbonwelundu

on the declaration”.

The ACN also warned that “unless this despotic tendency is checked, nothing prevents the President, in the name of the ongoing fight against Boko Haram, from extending this power grab to other states that catch his fancy.

“This is dangerous and must be checked, in the interest of our democracy,’’ the party added.

The ACN said in accordance with the gazette, the governors and local government chairmen in the states under the state of emergency can only rule under the control of the President or anyone he so designates; the President is allowed to hold state funds; while the House of Assembly is now only a rubber stamp, as any order made under the emergency is deemed to be a law enacted by the House.

The party said it (ACN) has now been vindicated for not only rejecting the proclamation, but for asking the National Assembly to study it well before approving it. ‘’Here is what we said in our statement

approval and if the National Assembly disallows the Order, it shall cease to have effect without prejudice to anything done thereunder”, was adopted.

The House’s version, which specified time lag of “within sev-

of May 16th: ‘Truly understanding the proclamation will enable them to make an informed decision when the issue is brought before them.’ ‘’We also said that the state of emergency, which is essentially martial law, ‘has castrated democracy in the affected states, even though the democratic structures have been left largely intact’.Our warnings have now turned out to be prescient, a departure from the mass hysteria that greeted the declaration, a departure from the failure of all those who should have seriously scrutinised the declaration. ‘’A nation justifiably angry over the senseless Boko Haram killings, but inexplicably overly exuberant at a time that calls for sober reflection, simply failed to see the booby traps in the state of emergency declaration. Predictably ever-acquiescing Senate went ahead to approve the declaration even before reading its provisions! ‘’But the House of Representatives, whose members are always standing by the people of Nigeria, carefully scrutinised the gazette and acted in the best interest

en days”, was thrown out.

Members of the House, on Tuesday, amended three of the clauses of the gazetted regulations.

While defending the House’s position on the issue of state

Continued on page 6

funds, the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Victor Ogene, said the House’s position was to protect democratic tenets and accountability.

His said: “There are democrat-

•House Speaker Tambuwal

ic tenets that must still be protected and this is why we have certain differences in the versions passed. There was a familiar trend that ran through our debate on the proclamation.”

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

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NEWS CHINUALUMOGU ALBERT ACHEBE (1930 --2013)

Jonathan, Mahama, Anyaoku, •Master storyteller buried in Ogidi

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RESIDENTS Goodluck Jonathan and his Ghanaian counterpart, John Mahama, yesterday led dignitaries to bid farewell to the late Prof. Chinua Achebe.

Achebe’s remains were buried in a mausoleum in his country home after a funeral service at the St. Phillip’s Anglican Church, Ogidi, Anambra State.

Jonathan, at the church service, said the late Achebe was a man of value.

He said: ''Though I did not have enough time to interact with him, but I did interact with those who are like him and with mama here (Achebe's wife Christie). I wondered whether he loved his books more than his wife. ''He used literature to express his ideas of life. He used Things Fall Apart to illustrate the loss of our value system. we should ask ourselves: have we changed from what Achebe talked about? ''We should work hard so that by the time Achebe (Jnr) will write his own book, he will write that '’There is a country’ and not ‘There was a country'. ''All of us should come together, traditional rulers, Clergymen, the big business moguls, we have to correct those things, there is nothing wrong with us , it is just a matter of bringing back those values.''

The president announced that the Federal Government and Ghana would rebuild Akpakaogwe Primary School, Ogidi, which the late Achebe attended.

Speaking after the funeral service, prominent Nigerians paid tributes to him.

Former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme described the late Achebe as a pacesetter who blazed the trail for the revolution of African literature.

He said: “Before he came on the scene, it was a matter of foreigners writing about us. His first book: Things Fall Apart, made such

•Widow of the lateAchebe, Christie (second left) and her children at the church service...yesterday.

•Dr. Ekweme andhis wife Beatrice at the church service in Ogidi...yesterday.

•The late Achebe's elder sister, Mrs. Ezinne Zinobia Ikpeze, attended the funeral on wheelchair...yesterday.

From Evelyn Osagie, Nwanosike Onu, Awka and Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

impact worldwide. It was an opportunity for people to learn the impact the white people had on African culture. That made him a trail-blazer.’’

Former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku described the late Achebe as an ‘Iroko’ in the literary forest, who instilled confidence into African literature.

Anyaoku said: “He was an outstanding, by global standards, storyteller and a social critic. His

Cleric chides security agents

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•Pallbearers bearing the casket containing the body of the late Achebe...yesterday.

PHOTO: AFP

• Governor Peter Obi’s wife Margaret (left) and daughter, Amaka at the funeral service for the late Achebe at St. Philips Anglican Church, Ogidi... yesterday

HE Anglican Archbishop of Aba Province, Rt. Rev Ikechukwu Nwosu, yesterday berated security agents for blocking Governors Peter Obi (Anambra) and Theodore Orji (Abia) from entering the St. Philip’s Anglican Church, Ogidi, where a funeral service was held for the late Prof.

Chinua Achebe.

Rev Nwosu said it was wrong of President Goodluck Jonathan’s security aides to block the governors and clerics from entering the church for any reason.

Rev Nwosu said politicians should caution their aides at functions.

He said: “If these priests are not here, Achebe will not be buried. The security men broke the rule of order of service by locking the bishops outside.

Without the men of God, everybody will be seated here doing nothing.

From Nwanosike Onu, Evelyn Osagie, Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Ogidi.

“Not only that the priests were locked out, the host governor, Mr. Peter Obi and the Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji were equally prevented from coming inside the church. That is not the way to do things.”

Many of the dignitaries who attended the church service, including reporters, were frisked by the security operatives.

Rev Nwosu, who represented the Anglican Primate Rt. Rev Nicholas Okoh, said the late Achebe was known for his “ parable to the Nigerian nation, his foundational upbringing and his social actions’’ quoting from Matthew 3: 34.

He said the late Achebe’s achievements were informed by his determination and trust in God, adding that there was no hopeless situation on earth.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24 , 2013

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NEWS CHINUALUMOGU ALBERT ACHEBE (1930 --2013)

u, others bid Achebe farewell He was a rare Nigerian, says Kalu

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ORMER Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu yesterday described the late Prof. Chinua Achebe as a rare Nigerian.

Kalu, in a statement, said: “Achebe has left us with a parting message, that he was indeed a rare Nigerian, an Igbo whose best friends were Yoruba and Izon, an in-law to the Yoruba, a writer who once pleaded for a Northern army officer that fought against the Igbo during the war.

“Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Bekederemo Clark were fond of themselves. I am sure now that those uninformed critics who saw him as anti-Yoruba would have covered themselves in shame when they saw his son-in-law, Prof.Ogundimu.

“During the civil war, the late Mamman Jiya Vatsa fought in the tough Uzuakoli sector,yet when he

was condemned to death in 1986, Achebe was at Dodan Baracks, Lagos begging that the General be spared. That was vintage Achebe.”

On the late Achebe’s relationship with Soyinka, Kalu defended the Nobel laureate, insisting that those who often attacked him were unaware of the strong bond between the duo.

He said:“Achebe and Soyinka spoke with one voice most of the time. They condemned genocide, pleaded for Vatsa and prayed for a better Nigeria. Ignorant people only tried to use the Nobel prize to separate them. In fact, Soyinka did not have to bribe anybody to win the Nobel. Prior to 1986, he condemned the ‘Hollywood razzmatazz’ that surrounded the whole show. At the same time, Achebe won several awards. Not winning the Nobel did not take anything away from him.” •From left: Orji, Uduaghan and Okorocha at the church service for the late Achebe in Ogidi...yesterday.

work will live for a very long time because he brought confidence into African literature. Like the renaissance in Europe which gave European writers confidence in their culture, Chinua Achebe’s writings gave African writers confidence because his social analysis was to the point and he created an atmosphere that enabled African writers to rediscover the dignity of the Africans before the Europeans came. And so in that way, his legacy will live forever.’’

Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan said the late Achebe was a moral compass for many Nigerians who stood on very strong moral grounds on a lot of issues in Nigeria.

He said: “He will be remembered for his steadfastness in ensuring that we have a better society. He had a small pamphlet on how to deal with leadership issues which many people have read to help shape their lives,’’ the governor said.

Former Governor of Anambra Dame Virgy Etiaba described the late Achebe as a fearless, coura-

geous and outspoken character, who would never be easily forgotten.

He said: “All those who reacted negatively and positively to his last book: There was a Country, have all come together to give him a befitting tribute.This is because he was very hard working.

He started from a humble beginning and ended in great heights.’’

Minister of Labour and Productivity Emeka Wogu said the late literary icon lived a good life and was renowned as a writer of repute.

He described the late Achebe as a great African and Nigeria’s gift to the international community.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala said the late Achebe’s literary contributions to the world would endure forever.

“We’ve learnt a lot from his commentary over time about leadership, the need to have integrity and honesty and that is what we strive to do in our work.”

•A vendor selling the late Achebe’s books at the funeral service in Ogidi... yesterday.

PHOTO: AFP

Dr. Ngige at the funeral... yesterday.

for locking out Obi, Orji, others The roll call President Goodluck Jonathan President John Mahama Governor Theodore Orji Governor Peter Obi Governor Rochas Okorocha Governor Liyel Imoke Governor Martin Elechi Senator Chris Ngige Chief Emeka Anyaoku Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Labour Minister Emeka Wogu Power Minister Chinedu Nebo Hon. Uche Ekwunife Hon. Emeka Ihedioha Former Governor Virgy Etiaba Chinwe Nwebili Prof Chukwuemeka Ike Dr.Alex Ekwueme Prof Laz Ekwueme Prof Viola Onwuliri Mrs. Margaret Obi

•Minister of Power Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and the Minister of Labour Chukwuemeka Wogu on their way to the Helipad to receive Jonathan and Mahama for the late Achebe’s funeral service...yesterday.

•Chief Anyaoku at the church service... yesterday.

•Dr. Ezeife at the church service... yesterday.

PHOTOS: AKIN OLADOKUN and NAN

•The late Achebe

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

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NEWS

British-Nigerians ‘killed’ soldier in London lam that justifies this truly dreadful act.”

He said there would be a review of how intelligence had been handled - Adebolajo had been known to authorities for handing out radical Islamist pamphlets in Woolwich.

One source close to the inquiry said the local backgrounds of the suspects in a multicultural metropolis - nearly 40 per cent of Londoners were born abroad - and the simplicity of the attack made prevention difficult: “Apart from being horribly barbaric, this was relatively straightforward to carry out,” the source said. “This was quite low-tech and that is frankly pretty challenging.”

Anjem Choudary, one of Britain’s most recognised Islamist clerics, told Reuters Adebolajo was known to fellow Muslims as Mujahid - a name meaning “warrior”.

“He used to attend a few demonstrations and activities that we used to have in the past.”

He added that he had not seen him for about two years. “When I knew him, he was a very pleasant man,” Choudary said. “He was peaceful, unassuming and I don’t think there’s any reason to think he would do anything violent.”

The two men used a car to run down the young soldier near Woolwich Barracks in southeast London and attempted to behead him with a meat cleaver and knives, witnesses said, before telling shocked bystanders they acted in revenge for British wars in Muslim countries.

A dramatic clip filmed by an onlooker showed one of the men, identified as Adebolajo, his hands covered in blood and speaking in a local accent apologising for taking his action in front of women but justifying it on religious grounds: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you.

The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day,” he said. “This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

President Jonathan, in a statement by his Special Adviser Media, Reuben Abati, expressed shock at the terrorist

attack and killing of the soldier.

“He conveys his sincere condolences to the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the British people over this senseless and barbaric act, and shares their grief at this moment.

“President Jonathan notes that a terrorist attack anywhere is an attack on the way of life of all free nations and must be collectively condemned by all persons irrespective of race, ethnicity or religion.

“It is in this spirit that the Nigerian government is partnering with the British Government, as well as all other stakeholder sovereigns to stand up to and fight terrorism and extremism in whatever guise or pretence it chooses to present itself.

“President Jonathan recognises that each environment presents its own unique challenges and peculiarities and actions taken by affected nations may differ, yet the resolve to confront and defeat this threat should never be in doubt.

“President Jonathan says Nigerians are collectively resolute about the need to protect the freedoms that define our existence and inter-relationships at home and overseas. Our recent past tells us that when we pull together, this common enemy and threat will eventually be defeated,” the statement said.

Cameron said “nothing in Islam justifies this dreadful attack”.

“The people who did this were trying to divide us but they should know that something like this will only make us stronger.

“It is not just an attack on Britain and the British way of life but a betrayal of Islam.

“There is no justification for this act, and the fault lies solely and purely with those responsible,” Cameron said.

He urged the public not to be deterred by the incident saying, “one of the best ways to defeat terrorism is to go about our normal lives.”

Mr Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, described the incident as horrific, saying those responsible “will be brought speedily to justice”.

Johnson, who visited the scene of the attack, said Islam or the British foreign policy should not be blamed for the incident as the attackers acted on their own.

Houses of Assembly. It is unconstitutional for the President to assume such powers as withholding or expending the state allocation because no provision empowers him to do that.”

Ali said the provision does not accord with the dictates of the constitution.

He said: “It does not accord with the dictates of the constitution for the President to withhold state funds using state of emergency as an excuse.

“If media reports to the effect are true, then the action would amount to an illegality. It may require further interpretations by the Supreme Court to set the matter straight in such a circumstance.

“That will amount to dissolution of the elected state executives and legislative arms of the government in the affected states, if it’s true.”

More senior lawyers disagreed on the propriety of the powers granted the President under the state of emergency.

Chief Felix Fagbohungbe (SAN) and Dr. Ahmed Mohammed faulted what they described as an attempt to take over the responsibilities of the governors and legislature (with the exclusion of security issues).

Dr Joseph Nwobike (SAN) and Sebastine Hon (SAN) said the

President was in order.

Fagbohungbe argued that the President, having decided to retain democratic institutions in the affected states, should allow them to perform their roles.

“In as much as he did not remove the governors and the Houses of Assembly, they should be allowed to perform their roles, with the exception of security issues.

“The President, by his proclamation, said he was taking over issues of security in those states.

His intervention should be limited to security issues,” he said.

Fagbohungbe blamed the controversy that greeted the emergency declaration on the failure of the Constitution in Section 305 to spell out the mode and shape a state of emergency should assume.

“There is no law to explain how state of emergency should be. Section 305 only gave how it should be declared.

“The National Assembly should learn from this and make laws to regulate and spell out how a state of emergency should be operated,” Fagbohungbe said.

Mohammed said the President should allow the democratic institutions and offices in the affected states to function, having chosen to retain them.

Continued from page 2

•President Dangote Group Alhaji Aliko Dangote (left) speaking at the 4th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Dangote Cement Plc, in Abuja…yesterday. With him (from left) are: GMD Mr. DVG Ediwin and Director Mr. Olakunle Alake

House to govt: Lift ban on Rivers’ jet

Continued from page 2

pend, withdraw or revoke the licence, permit or any other approval.

“Where it chooses to vary, suspend or revoke a licence or any other authorisation, it is mandatory that it notifies in writing the offending party, specifying the infraction and period of sanction.

“The Civil Aviation Act generally does not envisage grounding of an aircraft in non-emergency circumstances”, with immediate effect and indefinitely. Thus, NCAA can ground an aircraft in non-safety or security circumstances, but it cannot do so with immediate effect or indefinitely.”

The committees gave the details of the conclusions, which led to its recommendations.

The report said: “Based on its findings, the Committee reaches the following conclusions: “The aircraft Bombardier B700IAI I Global Express with Registration Number N565RS is the property of Rivers State government; “Operational and other navigational charges were received

by NAMA and FAAN and other agencies while operating the aircraft and receipts issued without raising alarm as to ownership of the aircraft by Rivers State government;

“Perusal of the Trust Agreement between Rivers State Trustor and Bank of Utah Trustee would have shown this fact of ownership, it is distressing that NCAA and the ministry still fail or refuse to appreciate this simple fact; but since the authorities did not raise ownership issue with several other aircraft having the name of Bank of Utah Trustees, this allegation is in bad faith and grossly unprofessional; “As the owner, Rivers State government, elected to register the aircraft in the U.S. to save money for the state and avoid unnecessary bureaucracy; “Rivers State government, through Caverton, applied to the Minister of Aviation to import and operate the aircraft in Nigeria but the application was not consummated. And so, it is being operated in Nigeria as a foreign aircraft for private use; “As from August 27, 2012, when it applied on behalf of Rivers State to import the aircraft, Caverton maintained agency rationship with the government; although that relationship was abated shortly thereafter with regard to the importation of the aircraft, other aspects of the agency relationship continued, especially relating to applications for flight clearance; how-

ever, all relationships between the parties were brought to an end by Caverton’s letter of denunciated to NCAA dated 26 April, 2013; “As owner and operator of the aircraft, neither Rivers State government nor its officials forged or falsified any document toward securing flight clearances or any other licence; “Should top management of Caverton deny transacting business with Rivers State government despite its acquiescence of transactions between its member of staff and the Government, then its behaviour smacks of administrative laxity or negligence; alternatively, its behavior lends credence to the ascertion that it was pressured to deny the relationship.

“Caverton should be held accountable for providing information that led NCAA to ground the aircraft, contrary to the provision of the law.”

Caverton helicopter in a statement yesterday by its communication consultant, Mr. Waziri Adio said: “We urge the public to look beyond political considerations and engage the facts as they are; “We want to restate that the only relationship that we have had with this aircraft was the request for importation, which was

communicated to the Minister of Aviation on August 12, 2012.

This request was not consummated, as the Canadian company that mandated us to write the initial letter of request (ACASS) later told us to stay action as they were no longer in charge of the aircraft; “We want to restate that subsequent requests for clearance permit for the aircraft did not originate from us. We maintain that the requests sent for flight clearance in our name were forged and we are inviting security agencies to investigate the matter; “We also maintain that the curious attempt to conflate request for importation with application for flight clearances is at best tendentious. The two are not, and cannot be, the same; “We challenge the Rivers State government to show evidence that it has a contractual relationship with us on this aircraft. We challenge Rivers State to show any mandate, any contract, any correspondence, any form of payment to us for providing the purported services to them in the last eight months as they claimed. It is inconceivable that, as a business, we will be providing the purported services to them for free and without any form of documentation.”

ACN, lawyers fault presidential power on state of emergency spending Continued from page 2

of the people. We salute this great chamber and its truly honourable members. We urge them not to relent until they have succeeded in protecting democracy, even as the country fights the insurgents who have turned parts of our country into a killing field,’’ the party said The ACN said it had not backtracked from its rejection of the declaration of emergency rule in the three states.

The party also said it remained convinced that only a combination of a responsible use of force and dialogue - which some have tagged a carrot-and-stick approach - can resolve the Boko Haram crisis and that the use of brute force has never totally resolved any insurgency anywhere. ‘’We do not need any lesson in patriotism and responsible opposition, because every action we have taken has been guided by patriotism and responsible opposition. Our interventions have never been based on cheap popularity but on rare courage and patriotism, and we will not relent in toeing this path,’’ it said.

Senior lawyers said yesterday that the presidential power to spend the cash belonging to the states, amounts to crippling the governors and local government

chairmen financially.

Those who commented on the development include professor of Law Itse Sagay (SAN), Mr. Norrison Quakers (SAN), Mrs. Funke Adekoya (SAN) and Alhaji Yusuf Ali (SAN).

Sagay said to start with, the 1961 Act is deformed and no longer a law.

He said the Act was deleted from the country’s laws, with the enactment of the Laws of the Federation, 1990.

Sagay said it was contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, which aptly states the financial independence of each federating unit.

He said: “It is absolutely illegal. The powers of the President and National Assembly are clearly stated in Section 11.

Funds are provided for in Section 162 as part of the Federation Account.

“Moreover, there is a Supreme Court pronouncement on that in the case of AG Lagos vs AGF, 2004, where the apex court held that it is illegal for any part of the federating unit to withhold another’s funds.

“If that is the case, it means that the President has applied the use of force to suppress the Constitution. I doubt he will do a thing like that.

“If it is true, the states should

immediately file an action at the Supreme Court over their rights.

“But this does not mean that the state of emergency should stop. It should continue until Boko Haram is completely wiped out. The Federal Government has to fund it with its money, unless the states donate money to the Federal Government. It is a thing of force.

“The 1961 Act is deformed and no longer a law. It was deleted when the 1990 Laws of Nigeria were being enacted. So, that provision is contrary to the present Constitution and will amount to an act of nullity because it went away with the First Republic.”

Mrs. Adekoya spoke contradictory provisions in the Emergency Powers Act. She said: “The Gazette purports to issue Regulations under Section 3 of the Emergency Act 1961. it says: “2 (1) (2) A state governor or local government chairman in an emergency area shall continue with the general functions of administering the emergency area under the control of the President or any person designated or authorized to act on his behalf; “(3) says the President may give directions to a governor or chairman directly or through his designate or a duly authorised person with respect to the ad-

ministration of the emergency; “3[e] says the President may make orders to provide for the utilization of the funds of any state or local government in the emergency area. This does not empower him to seize the funds of the state or local government; “He must utilise those funds in the emergency area but may do so in a manner other than as approved in the State Appropriation Law, without breaching the law; “In effect, the state of emergency has suspended the State Appropriation Law, Section two of the Regulations as gazetted is contrary to Section four of the Act which states that the regulations made under Section 3 ;may provide for empowering such authorities or persons as may be specified in the regulations to make orders and rules; “In the regulations now made, the persons to act for the President in Section two are not stated.”

Quarkers said the Constitution neither provided for nor envisaged such actions.

He said the Fiscal Responsibility Bill states that governors are responsible to their Houses of Assembly.

“The governors are empowered to expend their money subject to the approval of their state

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

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NEWS

Buhari, Tinubu, Akume, others speak at opposition rally in Kaduna tomorrow

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ORMER Head of State, General Muhammadu Bugari and former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are among high profile opposition leaders scheduled to address a rally organised by the coalition of opposition parties in Kagoro, Southern Kaduna, tomorrow.

Other speakers are former Benue State governor and Senate Minority Leader George

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

Akume; Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN); former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai; Nasarawa State Governor Tanko Al-Makura and former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau.

The event, which will be chaired by a former Chief of Naval State, Vice Admiral Ibrahim Iko (rtd), has as its

theme: A Decade of Democracy: A Region at Crossroads.

The secretary of the conference of opposition political parties in Kaduna State, Francis Kozah, told reporters yesterday that the rally will mark a significant shift and higher attainment in the search for alternative leadership in Kaduna State.

He said: “We have been looking for ways of alternative government in this state since

the last two years. The idea of the formation of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is what we, the opposition parties in Kaduna State, strongly identify with.

“We believe that the rally will give our people the strong sense of our commitment for a new government come 2015.

With the calibre of people that will address us, we have done what is expected.

“We have written the Com-

missioner of Police and all the Divisional Police Offices (DPOs) in Southern Kaduna with their counterparts in the in the State Security Service (SSS). We asked for security during the rally. We are very sure they will comply, because this is a constitutional right.

“But, even from the words of the state government, Kaduna State is secured and peaceful. So, there will be no basis for that.”

•From left: Managing Director, Zeberced Group of Companies, Adil Kurt; Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga; Vice President Namadi Sambo; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed and Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, at the ground-breaking PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN. ceremony of the Abuja Industrial Park in Abuja... yesterday.

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Ajibola, El-Rufai, others X-ray effects of corruption, insecurity on Nigeria

MINENT Nigerians yesterday gathered in Lagos to discuss the state of the nation. Insecurity and corruption, two issues that have bedevilled the country for years, took the front burner.

The frontline citizens examined the implications of the two problems over the nation’s development and proffered solutions.

The concerned Nigerians include two former AttorneysGeneral of the Federation (AGFs) - Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN) and Godwin Kanu Agabi (SAN) - former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mallam Nasir El-Rufia; former Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Dr Muiz Banire; Lagos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN); former Chairman of the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Dele Adesina (SAN); Pa Tunji

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By Adebisi Onanuga

Gomez and son of the honouree, Segun Aka-Bashorun.

They spoke on the topic: Law, Corruption and the Future of Nigeria, at the Alao Aka-Basorun Annual Lecture marking this year’s Law Week of the Ikeja branch of the NBA. The event, held at the Bar Centre, GRA, Ikeja, was chaired by Ajibola, a former President of the International Court of Justice.

Mrs. Atinuke Aka-Basorun, the widow of the late legal luminary, Chief Alao AkaBashorun, and her son, Segun, attended the event.

Ajibola said Nigeria tops the list of the most corrupt nations in the world.

He urged the government to seriously tackle insecurity and corruption, adding: “Otherwise, the situation in the

country will turn chaotic.”

The NBA Ikeja chairman, Mr. Monday Ubani, noted that corruption has become a bane to national development because it has reduced the country from being a giant to a lilliputian.

Erudite scholar, Prof Akin Oyebode, advocated life incarceration for those who engage in corrupt practices and other acts of malfeasance.

The academic noted that Nigeria is at a crossroads on how to tackle corruption, insecurity and other socio-economic crises.

He said: “There is a crying need to send the right signals to the rest of the population and the international community that we are indeed a selfrespecting people, wedded to zero tolerance for corruption, opposed to impunity and dedicated promoters of equality

before the law.”

The professor of International Law stressed that “if we are truly intent on securing respect for our flag, passport and good name, we must do whatever needs to be done to join the rest of the humanity by showing the will not to condone corruption”.

“The failure to take immediate action along these lines will only result in our being grudgingly tolerated by the rest of the world, in spite of our much-taunted status of ‘giant of Africa’ with a manifest destiny to lead Africa and the entire black race.”

El-Rufai said Nigeria is sitting on a democratic time bomb because of the myriad of economic problems facing the country. These, he said, include corruption, insecurity and unemployment.

Aliyu to Fed Govt: Harmonise police welfare with other security agencies

IGER State Governor Babangida Aliyu has advocated the harmonisation of police welfare package in conformity with other security agencies’ to boost their morale in the face of current security challenges across the country.

The governor attributed the acute manpower shortage in the police to the formation of vigilante corps by most states.

Aliyu spoke in Minna, the state capital, at the inauguration of the state Advisory

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

Committee of Vigilante Corps.

The governor noted that the security situation in the country would improve when the welfare of policemen is at par with that of other security agencies.

He said because of the low motivation, police officers do not show adequate zeal in carrying out their duties.

Aliyu said: “If a policeman dies in the line of his duty, we

hear that his family gest N500,000 or N1million while another arm gets up to N10 million. We need to standardise this to encourage them to work for the nation.

“All the police and military personnel, put together in this country, are not up to 500,000.

They are understaffed, yet overstretched and under paid for the risky jobs they undertake.”

According to the governor, the a security officer will be ready to risk his life for the

Drama in court as witness narrates how N500m fraud was uncovered

By Precious Igbonwelundu

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HERE was drama yesterday at a Lagos High Court, Igbosere, during a demonstration of how a N500 million fraud was executed by employees of a business outfit.

A witness, Idris Shittu, an auditor hired by the company, Esther Olufunmilayo Nigeria Limited, told the court, presided over by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi, that multiple fraud hit the company between January 2004 and May 2005.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned five employees of the company Abdullahi Ochuda: Adekoya Johnson; Aminat Sholaja, Kudirat Ayinde and Abioye Ayodele - on 16-counts of stealing and fraud, following a petition by the company.

They allegedly conspired and stolen N333.95 million, being proceeds of sale of rice, property of the company. They pleaded not guilty.

Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Kayode Oni, Shittu gave the scientific approach the team of auditors applied to uncover the alleged fraud.

He said there was evidence that the defendants were responsible for the alleged fraud.

The witness told the court that records of stocks, daily sales and daily invoices were examined.

AIDS: Nigerian woman deported from Cairo Airport

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NIGERIAN woman, who was suspected to have the dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), was yesterday deported from Cairo International Airport by Eyptian aviation authorities.

The woman, whose identity was not disclosed, arrived from Nairobi aboard a Kenyan airline.

She was deported by security operatives after conducting a search on a doll she had in her possession and found medication stashed inside.

When asked about it, the passenger was reported to have said the medication was for the treatment of AIDS. The passenger, who did not object to the decision to deport her, returned to Nairobi on the same plane.

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Minister commiserates with DSS over Nasarawa killings

HE Minister of State for Education, Mr Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has urged the Department of State Security (DSS) not to be discouraged by the recent killing of 10 of its personnel in Nasarawa State.

Wike spoke in Abuja during his condolence visit to the DSS Director-General, Mr Ekpeyong Ita. He said the Federal Ministry of Education was saddened by the killings and condemned them.

The minister of state said the ministry has a special relationship with the DSS because the department’s personnel works with the ministry to stop the sale of free textbooks for less privileged Nigerians by unpatriotic persons.

Wike said: “We condemn the killing of these young personnel, who are committed to serving their fatherland.

Pan-African University renamed

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•Aliyu

country if he knows his family would be taken care of by the government.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie & Nneka Nwaneri

HE Pan-African University (PAU) in Lekki, Lagos, yesterday changed its name to the Pan Atlantic University.

Its Vice-Chancellor, Prof Juan Elegido, told reporters at the institution’s Victoria Island campus that the name change followed a decision by the African Union (AU) to establish a university by the same name.

The continental varsity is being hosted by established institutions in five member-countries, including Nigeria.

The AU established a university which offers full scholarships to brilliant African students for post-graduate training and research in December 2011 and named it the Pan African University, despite the fact that a privately-run institution by the same name in Nigeria had been in existence since 2002.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

NEWS

Court warns Sylva against tampering with seized assets

Group condemns ex-militants’ protest •’Wike is fomenting trouble’

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From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

HE Rivers Coalition for Peace and Development has condemned Wednesday’s protest in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, by the members of the Rivers People Assembly (RPA), which had many ex-militant leaders in attendance.

Besides, the Coalition accused the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike and other highly-placed politicians of fomenting trouble and creating a semblance of disorder in the state.

It expressed concern over the resurrection of militancy and criminality in the state.

In a statement by its chairman, Ichegbo Wobihele and Secretary, Daerebo Awoyesuku, the coalition alleged that the protesting members of the RPA were hired to destabilise the state.

The group said: “Early on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, Rivers people woke up to the rude shock of the miscreants and criminals in the guise of ex-militants, parading the streets of Port Harcourt.

The sad spectacle was a reminder of the inglorious days when Rivers people were held hostage by the guns of thieves, kidnappers and murderers.

“The hired crowd was made up of hoodlums and criminals belonging to the notorious quartet of Tom Ateke, Mujahid DokuboAsari, Soboma Jackrich, aka Egberipapa and Solomon Ndigbara, a wanted criminal, known as Osama Bin Laden, from Yeghe-Ogoni community, who attacked Governor Amaechi’s helicopter during the Ogoni Day celebration in 2011 (January 4).

“Curiously, the hoodlums arrived at the Government House gate, right after the departure of the AIG Zone 6, Calabar (Mr. Jonathan Johnson) and his team. For more than three hours, they barricaded the gates of the Rivers State Government House. Curiously, the miscreants were escorted with cooling vans that supplied food and drinks as they rampaged.

“The protesters also boasted that they are ready for a confrontation with the police and the military. We commend the fact that Governor Amaechi and the Government House security personnel exercised restraint and did not as much as lift a finger against the protesters.

“Yesterday (on Wednesday), four coaster buses, loaded with unknown persons, came into Rivers State from Akwa Ibom state, for the continuation of the militants’ protest. Buses have also arrived into the state from neighboring Bayelsa state, carrying militants mobilised by Soboma Jackrich.

“We want to remind Nigeria that it was not too long ago, when Rivers state was the fault-line of the Niger Delta militancy crises.

At a time, there was total lawlessness and the state was dangerous, as a result of the activities of these same people.

“Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi restored peace and security by putting these hoodlums out of business in the state. This he did with the active support of previous security agency heads, especially the police.

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

•Sylva

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FEDERAL High Court in Abuja yesterday cautioned former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva, against tampering with the properties seized from him last year.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had, upon an interim order of attachment made exparte by Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed, attached about 46 choice properties believed to be owned by Sylva.

Justice Mohammed said the order by his court still subsists until it is set aside.

He said the fact that a formal pronouncement had not been made by the court, expanding the order’s lifespan, did not imply it had lapsed.

The judge said the fact that EFCC has applied for the extension of the order means it is still alive even when the application is yet to be pronounced on.

“Since you have an application before the court for the extension of the lifespan of the order, until that application is taken and decided, it is taken that the order still subsists,” Justice Mohammed held.

The judge was reacting to a complaint by EFCC’s lawyer, John Anietor, to the effect that Sylva was of the view that since the court had not formally extended the order’s lifespan, it had lapsed with the passage of time.

Anietor had tried unsuccessfully to move his pending application for the extension of the order’s lifespan.

Other defence lawyers in the suit opposed to the hearing of the application on the grounds that their applications challenging the competence of the suit and the court’s jurisdiction ought to be heard first.

Upon arguments by parties,

Justice Mohammed elected to hear the defendants’ objections and the EFCC’s application together and give separate rulings, starting with that on the objections.

“In line with the court’s posture towards the quick dispensation of cases, counsel to the parties are enjoined to within two weeks regularise their processes and file same.

“You are equally expected to prepare your arguments and counter-arguments as the matter shall, on the next adjourned date, be heard and addresses adopted, preparatory to judgment delivery.

“The matter, based on the agreement of counsel to the parties, was adjourned till June 17,” Justice Mohammed held.

The EFCC had, in the case, accused Sylva of fraud. He was alleged to have misappropriated about N5.6billion while in office.

The court equally granted an application by a firm, Messrs First Auctions Nigeria Limited, seeking to be made a respondent in the suit, a request that was not objected to

by others.

After granting the joinder application, Justice Mohammed directed the lawyer representing the firm, Edwin Ekwunife, to urgently update himself with the development in the case with a view to catching up with the pace of the trial.

The firm is contending that one of the properties seized from Sylva belongs to it.

First Auctions’ Chairman and Managing Director, Ikechukwu Asoga, averred in a supporting affidavit that his company was the bona fide owner of the property at Plot 1271, Nike Street, Cadastral Zone A05, Maitama, Abuja.

He said his company only learnt from a newspaper publication that the property was seized by the EFCC. He denied that the property in question had any relationship with the person whom the EFCC tried to link it with.

He said his company was not investigated or charged with any offence by the EFCC or anyone else to warrant the seizure.

Teachers in 18 states to begin strike on June 1

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EACHERS yesterday vowed to begin their proposed strike in 18 states on June 1 if their demands for the 27.5 per cent salary increase are not met.

The Senate urged the federal and state governments to honour their agreement to pay the sum, to avoid another disruption in the education sector.

•Senate urges Fed Govt to honour agreement with NUT From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), President, Mr. Olukoya Alogba, spoke to reporters after a mediation meeting convened by the Senate Committee on Education between the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike and the teachers in Abuja.

Alogba said it was lamentable that teachers were still being excluded from the National Minimum Wage.

He appealed to the federal and state governments to honour their agreements with them or face paralysis of the

education sector from June 1.

The NUT boss said: “We want to appreciate the Education Committee of the Senate and by the extension the Senate for playing a fatherly role by intervening in this quagmire.

“But let me assure you that on behalf of the entire teachers in this country and the 18 states where the 27.5 per cent salary increase matter has not been resolved, that from June 1, the teachers in these states will proceed on an indefinite strike.

“We appreciate the appeal.

Organisations and government officials have been appealing since 2008, but the quagmire has continued. They say once bitten twice shy.

“We will not change our stand unless something good by way of honouring agreement comes the way of teachers.

“We remain resolute on this.

We are aware of the antics of some of government functionaries.

“We have directed teachers in the affected states to proceed on an indefinite strike and that only the national body of the NUT shall be qualified to suspend the strike once it starts. I want Nigerians to know that the Senate is performing its functions.

“Let President Goodluck Jonathan perform his own functions. Let the Governors’ Forum, all governors begin to respect agreements.

“Teachers have been pushed to the wall. It is now time to say that we are not ready to be cheated again.”

‘There are 1,497 illegal entry points in Nigeria’

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HE Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, has said there are about 1, 497 illegal entry points in Nigeria, against the 84 legallyrecognised entry points.

He said the country required about $244 million to install electronic surveillance gadgets in the 84 legal and 1,497 illegal entry points.

Moro spoke in Abuja yesterday when he briefed the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the party’s national secretariat.

He said the United States Department had offered to assist Nigeria in the installation of the facilities, as part of the US international war against terrorism.

According to him, the US

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

Department had already picked quotation from a Chinese firm for the components of the facilities under a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Moro acknowledged the porous state of the nation’s borders, stressing, however, that the illegal 1,497 entry points will be effectively policed when the surveillance gadgets are put in place.

The minister said: “We are making efforts to procure appropriate modern technology to be installed along our borders and we are collaborating with the US State Department and a private Chinese company

for which we had initially received a cost of $244 million.

“With the assistance of the US State Department, we realised that some components of the offer we got from the private firm were contained in what the State Department would be offering us.

“When we have done this, the temptation of illegal entry into Nigeria will be reduced.”

He said his ministry was partnering the Border Development Agency for the construction of plazas at the legal 84 entry points.

This, according to him, would promote commerce along the border communities and reduce illegal activities.

$10b direct investments for Nigeria

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HE drive of the Federal Government for a foreign direct investments into the Nigerian economy has yielded fruit as a multinational group of high net-worth private investors, with base in Europe and Singapore, has concluded plans to make major investments in the oil and gas sector, real estate, agriculture, university education and power generation.

The group is being led by Tacnero (pte) Singapore. Sources said it has developed necessary bilateral template and investment platform to ensure the success of the investment in Nigeria, which runs to an investment funds in excess

of $10billion.

The consortium, according to a statement issued by Greg Anumenechi, a lawyer, will partner credible local organisations to form a synergy for a long term mutually-beneficial economic development. The investment will lead to the employment of thousands of Nigerians.

He said the consortium has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with three Nigerian companies in the oil gas, real estate and a private institution for the development of a private university in Nigeria.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

NEWS

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Oke appeals Ondo tribunal’s judgment

HE governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last October’s election in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, yesterday filed an appeal against the judgment of the Justice Andovar Kaka’n-led Election Petition Tribunal, which declared Dr. Olusegun Mimiko winner of the poll.

The suit was filed at the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, the state capital.

The 32-page appeal, based on 37 grounds, was filed by 23 lawyers, led by Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) and Patrick

O

Ikweto (SAN).

Oke said the election was marred by irregularities.

The appeal reads: “We established that while 1,580,380 voters were registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the 2011 voters’ register, the 2012 register contains 1,654,205 voters.

“Notwithstanding this finding, the tribunal held it to be a pre-election matter.

Oke presented an avalanche of uncontroverted evidence, both documentary and oral, to establish each ground of

his petition, while the respondents, particularly the third, did not deny orally or with documentary evidence allegations of non-compliance, corrupt practices etc, yet the tribunal curiously imposed a burden of proof on the petitioner.

“The petitioner produced witnesses, who were unit and ward party agents, as well as voters, who under cross examination gave evidence to establish voting without accreditation and part accreditation.

“In spite of the evidence of the respondents, which sub-

stantially established same, the tribunal discarded the evidence and called them hearsay evidence.

“Oke gave documentary evidence (INEC documents) given to his agents by INEC. He presented oral evidence from his agents, including his own first hand experiences on the field, but the tribunal discountenanced it as hearsay evidence.”

On Wednesday, the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), filed an appeal before the same court on 45 grounds.

Lagos uncovers 5.5m tax evaders

VER 5.5 million people in the informal sector have been evading tax in Lagos State.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, gave the number yesterday at the Third Annual Lecture and Inauguration of the Public Service Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Lagos.

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From Damisi Ojo, Akure

Abiru said there are eight million taxable individuals in the informal sector and only 2.5 million are captured in the tax net.

He said: “Taxation is the bedrock of this administration because the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) almost doubles the allocation from the Federal Government. The government is working hard to capture defaulting individu-

als and businesses in the tax net for proper collation.”

ICAN President Mr. Doyin Owolabi urged traders to report illegal tax collectors to the government.

Owolabi said: “Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of the country, so people expect a lot from the government, but they are not willing to pay tax.

“Some are complaining

that taxes are being collected from them by some officials, but most of the funds do not get to the government’s purse.

Individuals in the informal sector should report such fake officials to the appropriate quarters, so that they would not have to pay tax twice.”

He said the government would be able to provide necessary amenities for the people, if the IGR increases.

Convicted stockbroker appeals ruling

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STOCKBROKER, Adewale Adegboyega, who was sentenced to three-month imprisonment with hard labour and 30 hours community service by an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court in Lagos, has appealed the judgment.

The convict’s counsel, Ifeoma Esom, in a notice of appeal filed at the High Court, said the Magistrate, Mrs. F.O Aigbokhaevbo, erred in law by declaring his client guilty of the three-count charge of impersonation, forgery and altering beyond reasonable doubt.

Esom said: “There was no evidence before the magistrate that the appellant intended to defraud the complainant or any other person by reason of the alleged impersonation.

“The evidence before the

missed in 2002.

The bursars - Miss Famuagun Sayo, Mrs. O.L. Akomolafe and Mr. B.E. Oye were among officers recommended for sanction for the loss of about N13 million while they were in service.

The Chairman of the House

Committee on Public Petitions, Olowo Ajiboye, recommended the re-absorption of the three officers after investigation and upheld the disciplinary report on the other officers involved.

It was resolved that Owolabi was wrongly accused.

Olowo said Owolabi was tried under the 1976 Civil Service Rules instead of the new rule approved in October, 2001.

The report was unanimously approved by the House.

Four bills passed through

magistrate clearly showed that the Forms CM001 and DAF07 alleged to have been forged and altered were indeed genuine. The magistrate failed to consider the evidence, which showed that the complainant was not prejudiced in any way by reason of the transfer of his stocks to Intercapital Limited and actually benefited from that transfer.”

Adegboyega urged the court to grant him bail, pending the hearing and determination of his appeal.

The convict was arraigned by the police and tried for looting the stock account of Mr. Dapo Apara, a customer of Zenith Securities, of 10,321 units of Conoil Plc shares valued at N918,052 on March 14, 2006.

Lagos Assembly holds public hearing on FoI bill

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HE Lagos State House of Assembly will today hold a public hearing on the Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium of the Assembly

Ekiti Assembly passes resolution to re-absorb sacked workers

HE Ekiti State House of Assembly has passed two resolutions calling for the re-absorption of three dismissed secondary school bursars and a produce officer in the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Produce Officer, Mr. Omolayo Owolabi, was dis-

By Precious Igbonwelundu

their first reading yesterday.

They are: Local Government Transition Committee (Amendment) Law, 2013; Ekiti State Safety Commission Bill, 2013; Ekiti State Water Supply and Sanitation Bill and Ekiti State Order of Precedence of Public Officers Bill.

By Oziegbe Okoeki

Complex in Alausa, Ikeja.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Strategy, Security and Publicity, Mr. Segun Olulade, urged the public to attend the hearing and express their opinions on the bill.

He said the bill was borne out of the need to domesticate the FoI Act, which was created by the National Assembly two years ago.

Olulade said the law would give the public access to official information and strengthen communication between the government and the governed.

•Fou

10

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

NEWS ‘Ajimobi a rare governor’

F

ORMER National President of the Campaign for Democracy (CD) Comrade Mashood Erubami has described the ongoing transformation and urban renewal programme of Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi in the last two years as a rare development in the history of the state.

Erubami, who is the National President and Convener of the Nigeria Voters’ Assembly ( VOTAS), said the feat has made Ajimobi a rare governor, who exhibits courage and ingenuity in everything.

In statement yesterday, the activist said: “Before Ajimobi, the face of Ibadan had remained the same - rough , dirty and structurally defective - in the last 30 years, with nothing to show for the

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

years of government and governance, which has made it difficult to attract investors to Oyo, reducing the state to a teachers’ state, without a major platform for sustainable human development. “ The current beautification efforts of the government is quite discernible to all. Everyone can feel the order being brought to motor parks, the changing face of our roads and a reduction in hold-ups.

“The architectural transformation being brought into the state is unparalleled, while lots of efforts are being made to uphold the sacredness of life as a fundamental human rights through massive dredging of flood prone areas.”

Awo Centre hails Aregbesola at 56

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HE Board of Trustees, Board of Directors and staff of the Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance yesterday congratulated Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who turns 56 tomorrow.

In a congratulatory message by its Director-General, Prof. Moses Makinde, the centre described the governor as an advocate of integrity and hero of the people.

The message reads: “We congratulate the hero of the people; a committed servant of the masses; an advocate of integrity, education and good governance; an irrepressible Awoist; a leading exponent of Yoruba cul-

By Wale Ajetunmobi

ture and civilisation and founder of Awolowo Centre, His Excellency, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, on your 56th birthday.

“It is our sincere wish that the revolutionary and humane fervour burning in you will continue to be translated into greater service to your people and humanity.

“Wishing you a blessed celebration of excellence and greatness in the years ahead, we pray God Almighty grants you long life and good health as you continue to pursue your ideology of the greatest good of the greatest number for Osun people.”

HE prime suspect in the alleged murder of a woman, Mrs. Rebecca Adewumi, in Omuo-Ekiti, Ekiti State, has denied some of the claims he made to the police.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, Dayo Orojo told Justice Toyin Bodunde of the State High Court that he wrote the “unfavourable” statement under duress.

Although the content of the “unfavourable petition” remains unknown, it was feared it might not favour his defence.

Orojo was arraigned alongside Mrs. Adesola Adewumi and Feranmi Abe for the June 30, last year murder of Mrs. Rebecca Adewumi, who was accused of being a witch.

Orojo’s denial followed his invitation into the dock after his counsel, Mr. Olalekan Olatawura, declared that the said statement, which was admitted by the police inves-

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

tigation officer, Inspector Whesu Felix, was authored by him (Orojo).

Whesu, who was being cross examined by the prosecution team led by Mr. Peter Alabi, a state counsel, admitted the statement as the one made and submitted to him

by Orojo on his invitation by the police.

The defence then rose to oppose that Whesu be cross examined on the merit of the statement, saying “it was made under duress”.

Justice Bodunde ordered a “trial within trial (TWT)” as a judicial necessity to establish “the voluntariness” of the contested statement.

In proving that the statement was not voluntary, Orojo said he and the Olomuo of

Omuo-Ekiti, Oba Noah Omonigbehin, met the wife of Governor Kayode Fayemi, Erelu Bisi, who threatened to deal with them after they both gave accounts of how Mrs. Adewumi died.

According to him, they later met the governor, who, after listening to their accounts, said they were free to go.

However, while being cross-examined by the state counsel, Orojo admitted that he did not include in the statement the fact that the late Mrs. Adewumi’s fingers were cut or that she was given any potion to force her to confess to witchcraft when taken to the palace of the Olomuo, which were both found to be true.

He also admitted that neither the governor nor his wife was in the room where he wrote the statement or seen around the State Police Head-

quarters that day and that there was no one carrying guns or other dangerous objects around him at the time.

In proving that Orojo made the statement voluntarily, the prosecution said he (Orojo) had been careful enough to exclude aspects which he thought would not favour him and included only areas that he thought fit.

Questioned on why he denied the claims he made in the “unwanted” statement, Orojo said: “All that the governor and his wife said to me and what I kept hearing over the radio and in The Nation newspapers made me write what I wrote.”

With the admission, both counsel rested their cross examination and the TWT ended.

Justice Bodunde adjourned the hearing till June 3.

Ekiti sanitation Saturday

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HE May edition of the environmental sanitation in Ekiti State will hold tomorrow from 7am to 9am.

According to a statement from the Office of the Commissioner for Environment, movement would be restrict-

ed during the exercise.

Government officials and security agencies will monitor the exercise.

Residents are advised to come out and clean their environment.

The sanitation in markets hold today.

‘Defecting PDP members are our enemies’ HE Caretaker Chair-

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man of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) reconciliation committee in the Southwest, Chief Ishola Filani, yesterday said aggrieved members showing divided loyalty to the party were not serious.

Filani spoke at the PDP Zonal Secretariat in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while receiving reports of the party’s reconciliation committees in Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Lagos, Osun and Ekiti states.

He said: “It is saddening that most of our members who rose to prominence politically today still cling to

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

mushroom parties.

“Anybody patronising mushroom parties with the aim of making anything out of it is wasting his time and pursuing a personal agenda.

“Such people are enemies of our party. I do not know what benefit the Accord or Labour Party (LP) can bring to the Southwest ”.

Commending the committees for their efforts, he said their reports would be looked into by another committee.

SERVICOM inaugurated at UI

S

Omuo-Ekiti killing: Prime suspect T disowns statement

ERVICE Compact, otherwise known as SERVICOM, has pledged to tackle cases of missing results and poor service delivery in the University of Ibadan (UI).

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on SERVICOM, Mr. Sylbriks Obriki, spoke yesterday while inaugurating the SERVICOM committee at the Senate Chambers of the university.

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

He said: “We are inaugurating SERVICOM in UI in order for the students to report missing results, to ensure efficient service delivery to the end users and hold everybody responsible for service delivered.

“Documentation is a major problem in Nigeria. Why should a student’s result be missing yearly and the lecturer is not held accountable?”

•Ekiti State Deputy Governor Prof. Modupe Adelabu (second right) with the President of the Council of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), Dr Michael Olawale-Cole (right); NIM Registrar/CEO Mr. Maurice Lakanu (second left) and NIM Southwest Chairman Mr. Isiaka Bisiriyu during a visit to the deputy governor...yesterday.

Rivers PDP crisis: Workers begin two-day warning strike NOTICE to embark over sealing of local govt secretariat on a two-day warning

A

strike to protest the continued closure of Obio/ Akpor Local Government Headquarters was yesterday served by workers on the payroll of Rivers State government.

The strike, slated to begin on Monday is to protest the locking out of workers under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) from their duty posts and the non-payment of their salaries.

They urged the government and the State Police Command to take immediate action, failing which the workers threatened to embark on indefinite strike that could bring the economy of the Niger Delta to its knees.

The position of the workers was disclosed at news conference jointly addressed in Port Harcourtby the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Con-

O

•Labour leaders accuse CP of heating up polity From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

gress (NLC) Dr. Chris Oruge, his counterpart in the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Chika Onuegbu and the chairman of the Rivers chapter of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), Chukwu Emecheta.

The labour leaders accused Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu of heating up polity in just three months of his deployment from Oyo State.

They urged him to refrain from taking sides in the political crisis rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, but to ensure the safety of lives and property.

A statement jointly issued

by NLC, TUC and JPSNC reads: “The organised labour

does not have any business with the ongoing political crisis in the state. Labour is purely concerned with the rights and privileges of our members working in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

“The workers at the council secretariat should be allowed to go back to work, in line with the May 13, 2013 order of a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice H. A. Nganjiwa and pay their salaries.

“The organised labour has the responsibility to ensure that the workers’ interest is protected at any level. We will not shy away from this responsibility, which our members have bestowed on us.

“Organised labour is also concerned about the security situation in the state. We is-

sued a joint statement, where we requested the Rivers commissioner of police to obey the decision of the court and vacate the Obio/Akpor council secretariat.

“Labour gave seven-day ultimatum on May 17, which will expire tomorrow (today). Industrial action will commence on Monday, May 27, 2013. The TUC, Rivers state has agreed to support the NLC and participate in the strike action, as injury to one is injury to all.”

The ultimatum was to allow for the payment of the workers’ salaries, appoint the head of the local government administration to act, pending the final determination of the suits in court and to reopen the secretariat for the workers to return to their desks.

30 Benin Republic monarchs billed for Osun

VER 30 traditional rulers from the Republic of Benin are expected at the Oodua World Children’s Day organised by Osun State.

Children from Southwest states and Yoruba-speaking communities in Kogi, Kwara, Edo and Delta states will assemble in Osogbo, the

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

Osun State capital, on May 27.

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, is expected at the programme.

Speaking with reporters yesterday at the Governor’s Office in Osogbo, the Chairman of the Oodua World

Children’s Day Planning Committee, Mr. Oguntola Toogun, an Assistant Chief of Staff to the governor, said: “The Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration is determined to give children a sense of direction and help them discover their potentials, so that they can function with poise and courage

when they grow up.

“The Oodua World Children’s Day is aimed at securing the future of our children through a well packaged and all inclusive celebration.

Osun State is trying to position our children and youths physically, mentally and intellectually to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

BUSINESS

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Ex-Spring Bank’s, Bank PHB’s chiefs seek to quash charges

By Joseph Jibueze

F

ORMER Managing Di rector of the defunct Spring Bank Plc, Charles Ojo, and his Bank PHB Plc counterpart, Francis Atuche, have urged a Federal High Court, Lagos, to quash criminal charges brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

They are facing a 45-count charge of alleged N125 billion fraud.

Ojo was formerly with Bank PHB before moving to Spring Bank following a merger bid.

Justice Rita OfiliAjumogobia reserved ruling for July 8.

She fixed the date after Ojo’s lawyer, Mr Osahon Idemudia, had replied on points of law to processes filed by the prosecutor, Mr Dele Adesina (SAN).

The defendants were first arraigned before Justice Akinjide Ajakaiye in 2009.

They had pleaded not guilty to the charge, and the court had granted them bail.

They subsequently challenged the competence of the charge preferred against them, urging the court to quash it, but Justice Ajakaiye had refused their application and ordered their trial.

The two then filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal, urging it to set aside the ruling of Justice Ajakaiye which ordered their trial.

Ojo and Atucje were subsequently re-arraigned before Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia on November 14, last year following Justice Ajakaiye’s transfer.

This led to the commencement of the case de novo (afresh) before OfiliAjumogobia.

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

-N10.6 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -9% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending -22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $48b FOREX CFA -0.2958 EUR -206.9 £ -242.1 $ -156 ¥ -1.9179 SDR -238 RIYAL -40.472

11 At the moment there is an average of about 18 hours per day of constant power supply to different parts of the country. This feat was brought about by the implementation of the integrated power sector reform programme anchored on the power roadmap.

- Minister of Information, Labaran Maku

Investors to take over PHCN in July

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INNERS of the suc cessor firms unbun dled from the Power Holding Company of Nigerian (PHCN) are to assume possession of the companies by July, the Minister of State for Power, Hajiya Zainab Kuchi, has said.

Hajiya Kuchi said the new date, which is in line with the Bureau of Public Enterprises’ (BPE’s) timeline for the privatisation of PHCN, was chosen to allow for the resolution of outstanding issues between PHCN staff and the Federal Government.

Kuchi, who spoke to reporters in Abuja, noted that the ministry had taken over the challenges and addressed them.

According to her, the fund for the workers’payment is available and the ministry that

• Govt releases MYTO funds From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

is computing the data would pay the workers in June.

She said: “We are finalising on labour. The labour is what is standing between us and handing over. And all the issues that were there have been addressed.

We are on payment to a certain level and once the payments issues are finalised, which we hope will be June ending, we will definitely be handing over to the successor companies by the end of July.

“That is the conjecture that we have here and that is the stand of BPE. BPE has a timeline, but this was stretched forward because of the labour issues that we

needed to address here.

“But we have taken over all the problems. We have addressed all the issues. The funding is there for the payment of labour, all they are doing is data computation and as we are done with this, the handing over processes will take place.”

The minister, who clarified what she told the Senate Committee on Power on Wednesday, said there were projections that by December last year, the privatisation process would have been concluded. Thus there was a zero allocation for the distribution and generation companies.

But the situation, according to her, “is being addressed through the release of (Multi-Year Tariff Order

(MYTO) fund for the transition period until handing over.”

On when the Federal Government would supply 10,000mega watts in the country, the minister said though the ministry was generating 10, 000mw, it would supply in 10,000mw next year.

She added: “By our projection and by the data available by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, we will reach 10,000mw by December next year- 2014 - if we succeed. We are depending on the Transmission Company of Nigeria because right now, we are generating up to 10,000mw, but the wheeling power is what we are trying to increase its capacity.”

The minister explained that the gap between generation and supply is be-

cause of the “rot” that the transmission section suffered.

She said the Niger Delta Power Holding Company has been trying to revive the infrastructure, which has been down.

Continuing, Kuchi said following the rehabilitation of the companies, “we have about 10 NIPP projects that are going to be commissioned.”

Besides, she said with the additional power supply, which the Federal Government is expecting from the Africa Development Bank and the Europe bond that the government has just finalised, wheeling in 10,000mw be attainable next year.

She noted that the ministry is maintaining a deliverable generation capacity of 4,500mw.

Again, ‘NNPC stalls probe of IGR remittances’ From Victor Oluwsegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

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• From left: Chairman, Mansard Insurance, Victor Osibodu; Directors, Tosin Runsewe; Yetunde Ilori and Kunle Ahmed at the PHOTO: DAVID ADEJO 21st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company in Lagos...yesterday.

Senate opposes liquidation of NITEL

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HE Senate has asked the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to discountenance any plan to liquidate the moribund Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL).

Instead of the “guided liquidation” of NITEL that BPE is pursuing, the upper chamber said NITEL should be concessioned or managed under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation, Senator Gbenga Obadara, stated this at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday.

He said the committee told the BPE and National Council on Privatisation (NCP) not to liquidate NITEL and Mtel.

He said BPE informed the committee that NITEL was indebted to the Federal Government and others to the tune of N351 billion, adding that they were surprised that BPE or NCP could not give the worth of NITEL. He said the committee is

• Opts for concessioning/ppp From Onyedi Ojiabor,

Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

concerned that BPE intended to liquidate a firm it did not know its value.

He said: “We met with BPE and NCP on the way forward over NITEL and Mtel to obtain the situation report of the proposed privatisation of both entities.

“We were told that the exercise will go through guided liquidation. We took them on why NITEL should be liquidated in any form at all. We thought about how NITEL would be put to a better use.

“We were confronted with the fact that NITEL is owing the Federal Government and other people about N351 billion. We also asked to know those owing NITEL? “They could not give us the fact of who is owing

NITEL. We were later told that NITEL is owing the Federal Government N179 billion. But with facts available, we know that the Federal Government and government’s agencies are owing NITEL about N250 billion.

“They (BPE) said NITEL is still owing banks about N64 billion which we know can still be negotiated.

“The people that are owing NITEL we don’t know.

We asked what is the worth of NITEL today? They could not tell us the worth of NITEL. “How do you then sell what you don’t know the worth of? As people representing Nigerians from various Senatorial districts, we thought it fit that we should not allow NITEL to be sold without knowing or having empirical facts to corroborate what they were telling us.

“We took them on why it should be guided liquidation or liquidation at all.

“If you look at international best practices today, it is Public-Private Partnership PPP) or concession. The BPE failed to tell us the procedure they are going to adopt in the liquidation.”

Obadara said the committee recognised the fact that no nation sells its common wealth, adding that NITEL as a major government firm badly run by past administrations, should not be sold.

The lawmaker said that when he assumed the chairmanship of the privatisation committee, he assured Nigerians that the country’s enterprises would not go the way of others in the past.

He noted that members of the committee believed that if NITEL was given a life line through concessionaires or PPP arrangement, “with good conditions, including tax rebates”, Nigerians would benefit from the organisation.

HE House of Repre sentatives has accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of delaying the investigation of remittances of the Federal Government’s share of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by revenue generating agencies.

NNPC made N6 trillion between 2009 and last year as IGR, but refused to remit N142billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) as demanded by the Fiscal Respinsiblity Act (FRA), 2007.

Unlike in March when the subsidiaries’ heads, with the exception of the Group Managing Director (GMD), Andrew Yakubu, appeared before Committee, but refused to make individual presentations, none of them appeared yesterday.

However, four senior officials, led by the Group Executive Director (Finance), Bernard Otti, stood in for the GMD, yet they did not any presentation.

Chairman of the Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, noted the time-wasting tactics adopted by the NNPC, which he said, was delaying the conclusion of the report of the investigation.

He said: “This exercise is not about the NNPC, but the subsidiaries that are generating the revenue. We are aware that out of the 17 subsidiaries, it is only five that have not been making profit and we want to know how the profit of the others are being spent since NNPC has been saying that it has never operated on surplus.

“Unfortunately, this delay is affecting the submission of the report of this investigation. We investigated 60 agencies and all of the them have responded. It is only NNPC that is remaining.”

12

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

BUSINESS NEWS

V

N316b investment for New Abuja Industrial Park

ICE President Namadi Sambo yes terday maintained that the new Idu Industrial Park in Abuja is projected to attract over $2 billion (about N316 billion) Direct Foreign Investment into the country.

He made the remark during the ground breaking of the industrial park.

He said the park is in line with the Federal Government’s national implementation plan under Nigeria’s Vision 20:2020 and would facilitate competent investors and manufacturers to establish small and medium scale industries in the city.

The park, he said, is fashioned in line with the guideline and philosophy of the Abuja master plan.

He said: “This project when

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

completed will provide further testimony to the success in the implementation of Federal Government transformation under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan.”

Commending the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, for his level of ingenuity in ensuring wide spread infrastructural development in the territory, Sambo said the thrust of the national implementation policy is to promote private sector investment through the creation of an enabling environment that will allow for substantial improvement in efficiency, productivity and profitability in manufacturing and other key

sectors of the economy.

Sambo continued: “I was telling the minister that I am highly delighted and im-

D

pressed with his performance because from the helicopter, right from the villa up to this location, it is

project, after project and project after project.”

Earlier, Senator Mohammed said 250 hectares of land

had been allocated to the industrial park, adding that the project is private sector driven.

Caverton Group’s profit rises by 1,625%

ESPITE the challenges in the domestic avia tion sector, Caverton Offshore Support Group (COSG) made a turnover of 47.6 per cent and 1,625 per cent in profit for the 2012 financial year ended December 31, 2013.

Shareholders at the company’s Fourth Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, yesterday approved 9.5kobo as dividend for every N1 share. This amounted to N318.3 million, representing 18.6er cent increase on the

• Pays N313.4m dividend

By Akinola Ajibade

N286million dividend paid for the 2011 financial year.

The group, made up of Caverton Marine Limited, Caverton Helicopters Limited and other subsidiaries, is an indigenous conglomerate and one of the leading providers of marine, aviation and logistics support services to the oil and gas sector.

According to its yearly reports audited by Ernst & Young and ECN & Co., the company recorded impressive growth. The group’s turnover increased from N10.928 billion in 2011 to N16.132 billion in 2012 (an increase of 7.6per cent); while its profit after tax and exceptional item rose from N60.373 million to N1.035 billion (a rise of 1,625 per cent). Also, earning per share increased from 0.02kobo in 2011 to 31kobo in 2012, an increase of over 150, 000 per cent.

“The recorded increase was due to the positive impact of the revenues generated on our new fleet of aircraft deployed in our existing contracts,” said Mr Aderemi Makanjuola, the Chairman of the group.

“Growth would have even been more impressive if not that we decided to buy helicopters instead of leasing them,” he said.

Despite its buoyant outlook, the group decided to pay 9kobo as dividend in order to plough most of the profit back into the business, Mr Makanjuola added. “The adoption of this cautious approach of low dividend payout is in view of the belief to conserve funds for future growth and expansion, which will translate to greater advantages for the

T

c o m p a n y i n t h e -n o t -s o distant future,” he explained. The company paid 5kobo per share in 2009; 7.5kobo per share in 2010; and 8kobo per share in 2011.

Incorporated in June 2008, Caverton Offshore Support Group was formed in response to the Local Content Policy of the Federal Government, which is aimed at increasing indigenous participation in the oil and gas sector.

Caverton Helicopters and Caverton Marine, which was initially made up the group, have provided services to clients working within the oil and gas industry for 15 years and currently have a global workforce of over 600 employees.

Caverton Helicopters, which started operations with an intra-city helicopter shuttle services in Lagos in 2004, has grown steadily to become a dominant player in the oil and gas and aviation sub-sector within and outside the country.

On its part, Caverton Marine Limited, which was incorporated in 1999, has, among others, provides premium marine services to the Nigerian Ports Authority, Oando Plc, Total Fina Elf, African Petroleum, Shell Trading and Shipping Company and Shell Petroleum Development Company.

ECOWAS to boost agric with $56m

HE West African Agri cultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) plans to boost the agricultural sector with $56million.

The amount is to be spent over a five-year period.

The National Project Coordinator, Prof. Damian Chikwendu, made this known at a meeting between WAAPP and Federal University of Agriculture in Makurdi.

WAAPP is a sub-regional programme of ECOWAS coordinated by the West and Central African Council for Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD).

The amount is made up of US$30 million sub-regional International Development

By Daniel Essiet

Association (IDA) and US$15 million Nigeria IDA. According to Chikwendu, the Federal Government is providing counterpart funding of US$5. million.

In addition, he said the Spanish Government through the Global Food Crisis Response Programme (GFPR) is providing a US$6million grant. He said 1.5 million farmers, processors and marketers are expected to benefit from the project Beneficiaries, he said, would come from adopted villages and communities around them.

Chikwenu said the main objective of WAAPP is to improve agricultural productivity and promote regional integration.

Airtel’s Chief Marketing Officer, Akanmu, resigns

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HE Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Airtel Networks Limited, Mr Olu Akanmu, has resigned, with effect from Wednesday, The Nation has learnt.

The telecom firm in a statement said: “Mr Akanmu led the marketing function at a crucial time in the life of our organisation and

brought his over two decades of marketing experience and a rich knowledge of the telecommunications market to bear on his role as our CMO. “We wish him the best in his future endeavours.

“A replacement for Olu will be announced shortly.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

13

AGRO-BUSINESS

Cross River: From tourism to investors’ haven

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N 2007, when the Tinapa Tourism and Leisure Resort was still at its inaugural state, the dominant factor in the Cross River State economy was plantations.

This was in the late 60s and early 1970s during the Dr Michael Okpara administration in the Southeast.

Rubber, palm and cocoa plantations, which were meant to serve as sources of raw materials for industries in the Southeast and South west, occupied thousands of acres of land in the three provinces of the state.

Apart from occupying vast portions of land, economic trees in these plantations have aged with time and become unproductive, effectively making them a burden to the state than a dependable revenue yielding investment.

Along with this, came the “civil service state” toga, which the state had become synonymous with, owing to the vast army of workers in the employ of the state. Senator Imoke, desirous of pulling the state away from this derisive label, brought ingenuity to bear, by creating ministries and departments on assumption of office. One of such departments, which has since become an invaluable asset in driving the state’s economy and generating massive employment, is the Department of Trade and Investment Bureau.

Senator Imoke’s vision in establishing the Investment Promotion Bureau is with the aim of making it to function as a One-Stop Investment Centre (OSIC) dedicated to attracting and facilitating investments to Cross River State and providing support for in-coming investors. From inception in 2008 to date, with Mr Gerald Ada, a Regional Manager with Diamond Bank, brought in by the governor, the state’s investment portfolio has witnessed increased inflow in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), both quantitatively and qualitatively. This has consolidated the state’s position as the preferred investment destination in Nigeria.

Business visitations to the OSIC are over 300 firms and those that have started work within the state have a combined investment portfolio in excess of $2 billion.

Governor Imoke’s vision of building a private sector-driven economy is without doubt crystallising right before everyone’s eyes, both critics and supporters alike. Major private investors, such as General Electric (GE), Dangote Cement, OCICI Ltd, Essar Power, Project Master, Brentex Petroleum Services, Dado Oil and Gas, Artee Group, Oando GAS and Power, Genesis Electricity Limited, Flour Mills Integrated Foods, Premiers Feeds, Godilogo Farms, South Gate Cocoa, Southern Fried Chickens, among others, have entered the state’s investment space in a short time.These are swelling the state’s profile by the day. The spin-off effects these investments are bringing is job creation in excess of over 50,000 direct and indirect jobs for the people and the creation of over 10,000 small scale enterprises as well as an increase in internally generated revenue (IGR) to the state.

Wilmar, Asia’s leading agribusiness group, has taken over the CALARO and Ibiaye Palm Plantations, and is investing S400 million in agro-cultivation and processing with an expected returns worth N1.375 billion in internally generated revenue. Twenty-thousand jobs would be created for the people from this investment.

Wilmar is the largest global processor and merchandiser of palm and lauric oils and a major oil palm plantation owner. In China, it is the leading consumer pack edible oil producer, oilseeds crusher, edible oil refiner, specialty fats and oleo chemicals manufacturer. In India, it is one of the largest edible oil refiners and leading producer of consumer pack edible oils.

“Wilmar also has extensive investments in

• Seedlings

other economic cash crops, such as rice and sugar as well as fertiliser plants. The company has capacity to cultivate 7,500 hectres yearly and has entered into a joint venture agreement with PZ Cussons for its refining operations. Wilmar is a signatory to the International Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which means that it is involved in sustainable palm oil production that is ecofriendly and socially responsible,” Ada said.

Another investment in that magnitude is that of the United States General Electric, which has since acquired land at the Export Processing Zones Authority. With an investment portfolio of $1 billion in a manufacturing and assembly plant, it would generate internal revenue of N500 million for the state.

In the same light, Orientals Energy Resources Limited has acquired land for a factory to manufacture pipe mills and is investing $300 million and over 1,000 jobs would accrue from this investment alongside generating internal revenue to the state projected to hit $120 million yearly.

Nigeria’s major industrial conglomerate, Dangote Group, is also investing in the state through the establishment of a cement manufacturing plant worth $800 million, while Essar Power has concluded arrangement for establishing an energy and power plant with a capacity to generate 250 megawatts of electricity.

Energy and gas companies, such as Oriental Energy Resources Limited and Brentex Petroleum, are poised to set up plants valued at $300 million and each to manufacture pipe mills, which would cumulatively yield $50 million in IGR to the economy of the state.

Major retail outlets, such as Artee Group and Southern Fried Chicken, have enthusiastically acquired spaces in the state and have set up their chain of shops.

Obviously, Cross River State, with low crime rate, serene environment and hospital people remains a safe and conducive haven to do business. There are huge opportunities in the over 18,000 sq km of arable land for other crops, abundant solid mineral deposits including huge limestone deposits, beautiful mountains and vast rain forests for which investors are attracted to.

Information Minister, Mr Labaran Maku, during the Good Governance Tour to the state in February this year, after going through the investment portfolio of the state, was amazed at the progress made by the state. He described it as the emerging Nigeria’s manufacturing hub, given the level of investment inflows into the state.

Inspecting the land acquired by GE for its factory at the Free Trade Zone in Calabar, firms are opening shops in Calabar, the state may soon become the manufacturing hub in West Africa.

In his reckoning, with 69 firms functioning in the Free Trade Zone alone and over 43 into the manufacturing of goods, the inflow of investments into the state is unsurpassable and attributed it majorly to the state’s focused and visionary leadership. “I congratulate Cross River State government on winning the General Electric project. Cross River is not only known for tourism, but is gradually becoming a manufacturing hub for the country and West Africa sub region.

“We have Tinapa, International Convention Centre, Free Trade Zone and now General Electric. It means what Cross River has done for itself from Obudu to Calabar is a clear indication of visionary leadership.

“For us, this type of investment is an announcement that Nigeria is moving forward and good governance can be seen everywhere.

We are not only winning in football, we are also winning clearly in the economic transformation.”

From left: A beneficiary, Mrs Yemisi Adenrele; State Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture ,Lagos Office, Prince Adegbola Olusi; Programme Manager, Agric Development Authority,Lagos State Mr Kayode Ashafa, and Director, Fisheries Lagos State, Mrs Funmi Bamtefa, during the launching of Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) in Ikorodu, Lagos.

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Plateau requires N2.5b to revive fish farm

LATEAU State Panyam Fish Farm is looking for N2.5 billion which can generate N1.7billion yearly.

The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Steven Barko, said in Jos, the state capital that the farm could repay the loan in two years.

He said the farm would have been in operation by now, if not for funds.

The commissioner said the government had spent the past one year looking for partners to resuscitate the farm. ‘’I would have kicked-off the Panyam Fish Farm by now, but I am still looking for funds for the past one year. I have been going around, looking for investors to partner with and revive the farm. ‘’The visibility studies are completed and the farm’s revenue potential is great. With the pro-

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jected N1.7 billion as annual revenue, the farm can pay off the N2.5 billion in two years. ‘’The farm, which spans 309 hectares, can produce 3,900 tonnes of fish annually and more than 10 million fingerlings could also be raised there. ‘’It also has the potential to generate employment as so many people would be engaged in different activities. ‘’Some could buy the adult fish and process it while others may engage in the marketing of the fingerlings,’’ he added.

The commissioner explained that the state opted for investors in resuscitating the farm because the banks contacted offered a very high interest rate.

He, however, expressed optimism that by this time next year, the farm would start operations and that it would be run as a company for effectiveness.

Prices of agro-chemicals, seeds rise

HE prices of herbicides and seeds have gone up by about 20 per cent in Kaduna as the rainy season commences, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

A visit to some of dealers selling agriculture chemicals at the Kaduna Central Market indicated that the prices of herbicides such as roundup, atrisin and gramazone had risen from about N750 to as much as N1,050. Also, a two kilogramme bag of maize and guinea corn seeds now sale for N550 from the previous price of N450 before the rainy season, while that of soya beans has risen from N400 to N600.

Mallam Musa said the Organising Secretary, Agro-Chemical Dealers Association in Kaduna State, attributed the increase to high demand.

“We are having very high patronage, it is not about inadequate supply. It is a normal situation during the rainy season to have this slight increase,” he said.

According to him, the demand is usually more than the supply at the beginning of the rainy season and this often leads to scarcity of the farm inputs.

Musa said members of the association were not involved in the e-wallet programme of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.

He explained that even though some of the members were requested to open bank accounts for inclusion into the programme this year, “there is no response up till now”.

The organising secretary expressed fears that the selection of dealers for the Growth Enhancement Service Scheme “may have been politicised.”

Ondo ADP tasks farmers

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HE Programme Manager, Ondo State Agricultural Development Project (ADP), Mr Idowu Olabode, has urged farmers to add value to their produce to make agriculture more profitable.

Olabode gave the advice in Akure at a training organised by the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS).

The Programme Manager was represented on the occasion by Mr Babalola Adeniyan, the Director of Technical Service and Crop Facilitator for ADP. Olabode said the state was looking beyond subsistence farming so that farmers could have enough to eat and sell.

He said the programme was committed to disseminating the latest technology on postharvest activities, adding that the state was collaborating with the Federal Government to establish a processing facility.

Olabode said the state government was ready to partner with farmers interested in the programme.

The Training facilitator, Dr Emmanuel Moyinjesu, told the farmers that there was need for them to add value to their produce.

He said over 70 per cent of their produce were lost to post-harvest wastage.

“The marketers are reaping a lot of gains out of the efforts of the farmers in addition to the havoc being wrought by the post-harvest wastage.“Farmers are not getting the required results.“Their standard of living is not improving. What they have laboured for is at zero reverse; not making agriculture profitable,” he noted.

Moyinjesu urged farmers to always do the right thing by following the recommendations of the state’s Ministry of Agriculture.

He also advised residents in the state to use the available land at their disposal to engage in farming.

A participant at the training, Mr Ambrose Akinfolarin, described the programme as “very encouraging, satisfactory and long overdue.’’

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Church builds clinic

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• Governor Nyako

HE Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria has built a health clinic worth N4.5 million in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

The acting Bishop of Yola Diocese, Rev. Ishaku Bala, disclosed this at the opening of a threeday conference of the diocese in Gombi.

He said that the clinic was built to address the health needs of the people in the area.

Bala added that the church had implemented several human capacity building programmes to improve the living standard of its members across the state.

“The church has also established poultry and fish ponds that will accommodate more than 1000 chickens and different variety of fish,” he said.

Foundation lifts orphans,others

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IDOWS, orphans and the less privileged had cause to smile in Ihiala and Ekwusigo local government areasof Anambra State recently when a group, Adadioranma Foundation, showered them with gift items worth over N200 million.

The event took place at Saint Mathews Catholic Church premises in Ihiala.

Some of the items distributed included four Honda Accord cars, 200 sewing machines, 400 motorcycles, 150 generating sets, 40 grinding machines, 310 deep freezers, 142 coolers and 178 vulcanizing machines.

According to the founder,Mrs Nkoli Imoh,the group began operation in year 2000 as it was motivated by the zeal to provide succour for the less privileged. She said it was a divine call and her own contribution towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) not only in Anambra State but in the country.

Imoh said that the foundation by its gesture, had been working not only towards uplifting vulnerable persons above the poverty

Anambra

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

level, but also given them the leverage to self actualisation.

Mrs. Ozoemenam Chanchan, one of beneficiaries, told Newsexrta that God had been using the young woman to cater for the needy in the society especially the widows not only in the two council areas but through out Anambra State.

Other beneficiaries, Mr. Azubuike Adiakoba and Christian Odunukwe said that both the state and Federal Government had not been able to march what the woman had done for the less privileged.

Speaking to the beneficiaries, the chairman and secretary of the foundation, Chiefs Izuchukwu Anene and Jude Okwudiba, commended Mrs. Imoh’s vision for establishing such a foundation aimed at uplifting the needy in society.

Group condemns military action against HE use of military action against the Boko Haram insurgency has been conBoko Haram demned.

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New Generation Forum, a social-political group, flayed the deployment of soldiers in tackling the problem in some parts of the North.

President Goodluck Jonathan had in a nationwide broadcast on last Tuesday declared a state of emergency in three states in the North-Eastern part of the country. The states are Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

Expectedly, the declaration generated mixed reactions from many quarters.

The convener of the forum, Mr. Azeem Awe, said deploring soldiers to the three states in the name of tackling the insurgency would worsen the situation.

According to him, the militants must be stopped and the issue approached with caution and high intelligence.

Awe said: “Counter-terrorism Unit is what the Federal Government needs to combat Boko Haram and not the civil trained policemen or Anti-riot police unit (MOPOL) or the Army who are trained for war.

“Counter Terrorist Unit deals with what the army or the police cannot handle in the fight against terrorism. This unit is stealth, robust, hardcore and tactically intelligent to deal with faceless killers.”

On the composition of Panel on Amnesty

By Wasiu Adeyemi

for the Boko Haram and the Amnesty itself, Awe said it is an aberration to have the committee comprising civilians or politicians and not military intelligent officers.

He said: “The composition of the panel is wrong. It should be composed of retired military intelligent officers. The committee comprising the civillians might not do the work effectively or might not be able to handle the group if they prove to be recalcitrant.”

Church programme THIS year’s Joint Christian Ministers Conference of the Faith Family Bible Church will hold from June 3 to June 5.

The time is 9am to 1.00pm daily. Also its crusade will run from June 2 to June 5.The theme is: Signs and wonders Today. The venue is 17, Alhaji Kosoko Street, Ojodu Berger, Lagos.

Speaking on the programme, the host Rev David K. Aboderin described the conference as the manifestation of God in their ministries.

•From left: Dr Erbade Arigbe-Osula ,keynote address speaker; His Royal Highness David Dorubo-Spiff,chairman of the occasion; President Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Olumide Akintayo and Pharm Elizabeth Bob Manuel,Director of Pharmaceutical Service,Rivers State during the 11th Biennial Conference of the Association of Lady Pharmacists at Atrium Centre, PortHarcourt,Rivers State

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Adamawa

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He said the main objective of the conference was to bring together followers to remind them of the words of God and to discuss the way forward.

He said the diocese had recorded significant progress economically and spiritually.

On insecurity challenges, he advised followers to repent of their sinful ways and leaders to show the fear God in all their activities.

Gombe fights tuberculosis

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OMBE State government has procured new equipment that would easily detect multi drug resistant tuberculosis by diagnosing the genes of carriers.

The Manager, Leprosy and Tuberculosis Programme of the state, Dr Musa Mustapha told journalists in Gombe that the gene diagnosis machine “can detect drug resistant TB within few seconds”.

According to him, before now, isolating multi drug resistant tuberculosis had been a problem to health officials in the state.

He said that already, the cases of suspected drug resistant TB from hospitals in the North East were being referred to the state for diagnosis.

Mustapha said five cases of the disease were detected in the state, adding that the patients were referred to hospitals outside the state for treatment.

The programme manager said the government would soon establish a treatment centre in Gombe for multi drug resistant TB. According to him, only five treatment centres of the disease exist in the country and are located in Lagos, Ibadan, Zaria, Kano and Port Harcourt.

• Chairman,Mosan Okunola Local Development Area(LCDA),Hon.Abiodun Mafe leading other council officials and community leaders to inspect areas prone to flood in his council .

Lawmaker empowers youths,widows

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HE member representing Ikeja 11 Constituency and Deputy Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon.Lola Akande, has distributed cash prizes to several youths and widows in her constituency to alleviate poverty.

The annual empowerment programme, which was sixth in the series, was meant to support new businesses, cooperative society and ward development.

Among the beneficiaries and recipients of N20,000 each were a batch of trainees that have just acquired skills in making of shampoo,

Lagos

By Oziegbe Okoeki

hair cream, disinfectant, emulsion and gloss paints,stove thread, pink oil, hair conditioner, make-up and tying of head gear.

Others were 21 widows (N20, 000 each); 10 ward chairmen (N50, 000 each); 20 youths (N10, 000 each); two Local Government Area chairmen (N50, 000 each); Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) women leaders also got N65, 000 for their cooperative society.

Speaking at the programme held at Ojodu Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Akande said the programme was borne out “of my passion for the general upliftment of the people and eradication of poverty.”

Since her assumption of office in 2007, Akande and her team had distributed equipment such as hair dryers, sewing machines, coolers, computers, generators, refrigerators, cookers and cash to improve their businesses as demanded by her constituency Akande enjoined the beneficiaries of this year’s empowerment programme to use the funds judiciously to start or boost their businesses, adding that most of the earlier recipients had •From left: Research and Development Manager, Sweet Sensation, Tunji Kadiri; Head, General Operations, not done anything with Bisi Oluwatola, Assistant General Manager ,Front Operations, Emi Adewole-Ojo;MD/CEO Olatunji Kamson, theirs, especially youths that Lady Kehinde Kamson, Executive Director Felix Kayode ,Quality Assurance Manager, Oluyemi received N100, 000 each.

Yusuf,Head Marketing and Kunle Olulana,Head, Corporate Services at the launch of Jamaican Jerk Chicken at She advised the beneficiaries to follow the example of established Sweet Sensation Head Office in Lagos. businesses-multinationals and conglomerates inclusive – all of which started as small ventures.

Lagos trains 500 in skills

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AGOS State Ministry of Women Affairs has begun a four-week free skill acquisition programme for over 500 youths in Ikorodu Division, a suburb of Lagos The programme which will train beneficiaries how to produce stove thread, izal, insecticides, catering and hair dressing sevices, beads, wireworks, event planing decoration, tie and dye among other hand works, was aimed at training people to be self employed rather than waiting for government for jobs .

While addressing the beneficiaries, the facilitator of the programme Hon. Sinai Agunbiade representing Ikorodu Constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, urged the participants to make use of the opportunity they have judiciously, saying they can be financially independent after the four weeks programme.

He praised the state government for giving the people of Ikorodu the opportunity to benefit from such programme.

Agunbiade said the state government

Osun to boost tourism

HE Osun State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Culture and Tourism, Mr Sikiru Ayedun, has said that the state was preparing to give a facelift to historical sites to boost tourism.

Ayedun made this disclosure in a telephone interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said the state was blessed with an array of culture, arts and tourism opportunities to make it the number one tourism destination in the country.

The commissioner said it was on the basis of the derivable benefits from the venture that necessitated government’s decision to embark on the project.

“We have been able to take steps in setting a roadmap which will make Osun a tourist

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Book launch

By Innocent Amomoh

WO books , Soul Refreshers and Pleasant Dreams, written by Mr Femi Onasanya, have been presented to the public in Lagos. The United Kingdom-based author said happenings around him including personal experiences inspired him to write.

Introducing his latest works recently in Lagos, the author said while Soul Refreshers seeks to address the uncertainties of the future, Pleasant Dreams teaches about how to approach seemingly unpleasant situations with the right attitude.

Onasanya is an internationally acclaimed personal development enthusiast and life coach, who has promised to write more books as long as he lives.

Graced by dignitaries led by the Chairman, former Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force, Musliu Smith, the book presentation took place at the Muson Centre, Onikan, amidst pomp and pageantry.

Having presented his first book, One missing ingredient last year, Onasanya decided to release the latest works in quick succession.

Making his remark at the occasion, Smith praised the young author for finding time out of his tight schedule to present the two books at the same time, an effort he described as encouraging.

“For us in our dear country, Nigeria, I know, there are bountiful, useful lessons to be learnt from the books, particularly the two new ones which, if well imbibed by both young and old, will no doubt, change more of our people to be God-fearing, disciplined patriots, who will be nation builders rather than wreckers,” he said.

By Jeremiah Oke

sponsored the project because of the trust it has in the people of Ikorodu and because the executive arm of government is committed to ensuring that dividends of democracy go round the entire state. He the state government wholeheartedly supportedthe proposal he submitted because it is the desire of government that everybody should benefit from the programme.

He said 50 best students will be compensated at the end of the programme and tthis is expected to make them self sufficient Also speaking at the flag-off, the Director of the Programmes in the Ministry of Women Affairs and the Co-ordinator of the programme, Mrs. Oladapo Ajayi, urged the participants to shun truancy as those who refuse to comply with the rules and regulations of the scheme will be expelled.

She urged the participants to be productive and cooperate with their trainers so that they will be able to give them the best during the training.

attraction.

“The government has done a lot of things in terms of upgrading our cultural festivals, which used to be locally celebrated before now,’’ he said.

Ayedun revealed that government had previously restored sites such as the Olajokun Memorial Park, Osun Grove, “Opa Oranmiyan”, Oke-Mogun shrine in Ile-Ife and the Oluminrin Waterfall in Erin-Ijesa.

The commissioner also used the medium to commend the laudable efforts of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola in promoting the state’s rich culture to boost its tourism potentials in the country.

•Deputy Governor Titi Laoye-Tomori

Council chair seeks improved revenue

HE Chairman, Oyo West Local GovernmentArea of Oyo State, Hon Adesoji Ojoawo, has canvassed for more money for local governments.

Speaking in Oyo, the chairman said if the allocation to the third tier of government is increased, more development will come to the people at the grassroots. “More money should be given to the local government because they are the closest to the people. Before anybody runs to the governor or the president, the first port of call is the council. Councils have more responsibilities; I

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Osun

will advocate more money for local government.

While some chairmen are kicking against the control of allocations to local councils by governor, Ojoawo explained that the disbursement of allocation to the councils is statutory. “The true situation about allocation is that the allocation from the Federal Government comes to the state first before it is disbursed to the local government. But in Oyo State, the governor has not been tampering with the allocation; from the source, he pays teachers’ salary from the allocation and that takes a larger chunk of the allocation.

“When you read in the newspapers that the local government is being given N40 million, what gets to the local government is N16 million. It is not the making of the state governor, only that the statutory deduction from this money reduces what goes to the local government eventually”.

He explained that the idea of deducting teachers’ salary came about because at a time some, local governments were unable to pay their teachers’ salaries.

He said he had been able to complete some of the the road, toilet and beautification projects which he embarked on when he assumed office and the council is entering another phase to make life better for its residents. “Well, the state government in collaboration with local government is trying its best. Recently the state government procured tractors and distributed them to all local governments in the state; these

tractors are deployed to farms to boost agriculture. Again, the government in collaboration with the councils , have been able to procure seven units of buses to be given to National Union Road Transport Workers (NURTW), to facilitate transportation in Oyo State. The local governmen is being used but the state government is the supervisor.

Ojoawo said his council had started building two sets of block of classrooms and would be completed in the next two weeks now. Teachers are being paid and promoted as and when due, pensioners are also being paid, gone are the days when teachers will carry placards, when teacher would down tools” The council chief said his relationship with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyem III is like that of father and son.

“All that I have achieved in life is through his benevolence. It is not a matter of being close to him, I’m his son, I may not be his biological son, but I’m his son, there is no secret.”

• Hon. Ojoawo

Ebonyi promotes maternal healthcare

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HE Ebonyi State government has said the state’s Community Health Insurance Scheme would be used to boost maternal and child care programmes in the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Sunday Nwangele, told journalists in Abakaliki that the scheme would be used to drive efficient infant and maternal healthcare services.

He said that the programme would give more access to healthcare services for pregnant and nursing mothers as well as children below five years.

According to him, the health insurance programme, which was community-based, would be accessed on the payment of N150 by the enrollees monthly.

He explained that necessary measures had been put in place for grassroots awareness and sensitisation campaign to enlighten the rural dwellers on the importance of keying into the programme.

The commissioner said the initiative would reduce the rate of infant and maternal mortality and pregnancy-related death which were high

in the rural areas.

He maintained that with less than N2,000 annually, beneficiaries of the scheme would have paid their hospital bills for the year.

Nwangele said the scheme would cover health issues ranging from child delivery, surgical operation, ante-natal and post-natal treatments among others.

He said that all the 13 general hospitals owned by the state government and some mission hospitals had been equipped and upgraded to enhance the success of the programme.

The commissioner said that government attached much importance to the health needs of the citizenry.

He said government would do everything possible to ensure the provision of efficient healthcare services to the people in line with the health policy of the state.

“The community health insurance scheme is one of the surest ways to provide access to medical facilities to vast population of women and infants living in our rural communities,’’ he said.

Butchers seek modern abattoirs

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•From left: Maureen Reece, winner, The Smile for Golf Tournament Competition, Georgia Oboh, MD, Smile 360 Orthodontists Clinic and sponsor of the tournament, Dr. Amy TraoreShumbusho, Mrs. Jenney Glyn-Jones at the presentation of trophy to winners of the Smile for Golf Competition held at Ikoyi Golf Course, Ikoyi, Lagos

HE Butchers Association in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State has appealed to the council to construct modern abattoirs to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic. The branch Chairman of the association, Mr Tunde Akanfe, made the call in an interview with journalists in Jattu, Edo State.

Akanfe observed that meat processed from the deplorable abattoirs posed a serious health threat to consumers.

He noted that most of the abattoirs in the area lacked facilities to guarantee hygiene.

According to him, the abattoirs are facing challenges of water, space and the lack of maintenance by the council.

“We slaughter an average of seven cows daily here in Jattu abattoir and make use of 500 litres of water on a weekly basis.

“We pay all sorts of levies to the council authority for maintenance, but we are really not impressed with their maintenance work.,” the chairman said.

Edo Reacting to the development, the Head of the Environment Department of the council, Mr Festus Okhenukhokho, assured the butchers that the newly inaugurated council officials would address the challenges faced by abattoirs in the area.

Okhemukhokho, who also described as deplorable the present state of abattoirs in the area, said efforts had previously been made to address the problems with little success.

“The department had made several attempts to get this corrected. We had on several occasions written memos to the authority but nothing ever came out of it.

“At a time, the Abattoir in Auchi was bad that the monarch had to step in himself.

“He built one himself for the use of the meat sellers. Am sure with the coming of the new council officials, something urgent will be done on the state of abattoirs in the area,” he said.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

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COMMENTARY FROM OTHER LANDS

EDITORIALS

Eavesdropping on Internet Communications

Bright stories •Literary laurels coming Nigeria’s way show that all is not lost in a gloomy nation

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HEERING news about Nigeria has come from the literary world. It is symbolic that the fictive universe, founded on the guiding principle of “suspension of disbelief”, has generated belief in Nigeria. In spite of national troubles, some of them threatening the very soul of the country, the publicity of literary laurels won by her citizens brought a glimmer of hope.

Indeed, the crowning of Nigerian novelist Sule Emmanuel Egya, who writes under the name E.E. Sule, as the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize regional winner for Africa, is a redeeming feature for a country faced with a serious image challenge internationally. Sule, 36, currently an associate professor of English at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, is one of five regional winners representing Africa, Asia, Canada & Europe, Caribbean, and the Pacific regions; they will receive 2, 500 pounds each. The overall winner of the 10,000 pounds prize will be announced at Hay Festival UK on May 31.

It is not only interesting; it is also admirable that Sule shone for his first novel, Sterile Sky. It is instructive to know that the well-regarded Commonwealth Book Prize, awarded for the best first novel, seeks to “unearth, develop and promote the best of new writing from across the Commonwealth, developing literary connections worldwide and consistently bringing less-heard voices to the fore.”

Sule’s literary glory is even more significant because it is not just an isolated case, but rather a telling signal of a creative flowering in the land. The evidence of this artistic wave is that the country made history by producing four of the

five writers shortlisted for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. It is, interestingly, the first time any country on the continent would have such a number on the prestigious literary shortlist. Flying Nigeria’s flag are Elnathan John with Bayan Layi; Tope Folarin with Miracle; Abubakar Adam Ibrahim with The Whispering Trees; and Chinelo Okparanta with America. The winner of the 10,000 pounds award, given each year for the best original short story by an African writer, will emerge at a celebratory dinner in England on July 8. It is notable that Nigeria’s Rotimi Babatunde won the 2012 Caine Prize for his short story entitled Bombay’s Republic, proving perhaps that the country’s domination of this year’s shortlist is no fluke.

By a reinforcing concurrence of events, the country’s literary glories this year, in the context of the Commonwealth and Caine prizes, have coincided with the release and celebration of a new novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the USbased multiple award-winning Nigerian female author. Following her latest work entitled Americanah, she was recently spotlighted by the respected international TV news channel CNN in a magazine programme, African Voices, focused on “Africa’s most engaging personalities who are shaping the African continent in different areas of life.”

Surely, these bright stories not only demonstrate the beauty of Literature and its image-building capacity for both individual and nation; they also underline the value of writing and reading, and their importance in the overall context of human capital development. In a striking sense, these literary success stories hold

out positive and welcome examples for a country in the grip of a crass and crippling materialism. The enlightening lessons, among others, are that education pays; and that conspicuous acquisitiveness is not all there is to life. Regrettably, these are the very lessons that are undermined by the conduct of many in leadership positions across the country, especially the political elite, notorious for philistinism and mind-boggling material greed.

For instance, isn’t it disheartening that the country’s primary school completion rate reportedly ranges between two percent and 92 percent, depending on the state? Even then, these alleged figures represent only the tip of the iceberg in a country darkened by widespread illiteracy and ignorance. We definitely need more of such bright stories to illuminate the gloomy situation.

‘Surely, these bright stories not only demonstrate the beauty of Literature and its image-building capacity for both individual and nation; they also underline the value of writing and reading, and their importance in the overall context of human capital development. In a striking sense, these literary success stories hold out positive and welcome examples for a country in the grip of a crass and crippling materialism’

Obama’s jaded African policy

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•Hopes of an America-aided African growth fade after four years

HE election of Barack Obama as the first African-American to be trusted with the presidency of the most powerful country in the world was expected to expand the opportunities open to black Americans and spur real development in Africa. Prior to the emergence of the Obama phenomenon, it was considered nigh impossible that a whitedominated United States of America would elect a disadvantaged minority to the presidency. His election was thus regarded as an opportunity of a lifetime to break other barriers that have held down the blacks and other minorities in the country.

The President and his wife, Michelle, are expected to embark on the first real African tour from June 26 to July 3, during which he is expected to meet with key government figures, private sector leaders, the youth and civil society groups.

Curiously, Nigeria, being the most popu-

‘The discussion on why he left Nigeria out of the coming visit is unnecessary.

As President of America, he has the right to decide where to visit and when. A visit to Nigeria would not necessarily aid the drive for prosperity and even stability in the country. The previous trip to Ghana did not yield any fruit for that country’

lous country on the African continent, and Kenya, Obama’s ancestral home, despite being sub-regional leaders in East and West Africa have been left out of his itinerary. This is generating ripples in diplomatic circles.

It is disappointing that almost five years after Obama assumed office as American President, nothing has changed in the country’s African policy. If anything, his predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, proved to be better strategic partners of the African continent than Obama.

Under Clinton, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Susan Rice, said: “We have redefined the U.S. relationship with Africa. We have moved beyond Cold War competition, superpower exploitation, and patron-client mentality to establishing a partnership with Africa based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”

Indeed, Clinton was seen by many as a true friend of the continent. In one of his visits, he apologised for the West and America’s infliction on pain on the continent in the past.

When he was succeeded by George W. Bush, a Republican, it was expected that the enthusiasm would wane. It did not.

While not expanding the horizon, Bush introduced and funded policies to mobilise support for measures to combat the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and that mass killer, malaria.

Despite promising in 2009 that America would be a strong partner of the African people, there has been no fresh initiative to support this. On a visit to Ghana that lasted only a few hours, Obama characteristically raised hopes of a better day but soon went to sleep.

The discussion on why he left Nigeria out of the coming visit is unnecessary.

As President of America, he has the right to decide where to visit and when. A visit to Nigeria would not necessarily aid the drive for prosperity and even stability in the country. The previous trip to Ghana did not yield any fruit for that country.

What we demand of the Obama administration is to live up to the promise of his election in 2008 by leaving a legacy that would enhance the place of the African Americans in the political sphere. He needs to identify and appoint more African Americans to positions of responsibility to emphasise their capacity to handle serious affairs of state. President Obama has thus far given the impression that he lacks the courage to do this.

Second, he needs to come up with concrete policy initiatives that would promote the growth and development of the African continent. Many researchers have suggested that Africa is a sleeping giant that could wake up soon. China is already positioning herself as a friend and strategic partner. It is in the interest of the United States to move if it is not to lose a golden opportunity to book a space on this moving jet.

While Kenya and Nigeria suggest themselves as natural allies who could help American interest as well as propel the development of the continent faster than Tanzania and Senegal that Obama has chosen to visit, what should be of concern to all persons of goodwill is the enunciation of clear policies to promote genuine partnership

T

HE Federal Bureau of Investigation has a new plan to intercept Internet messages, calls and video chats.

Instead of requiring companies like Skype and Google to build surveillance capabilities into their services as it suggested in 2010, the F.B.I. now proposes fining companies that fail to comply with court-ordered wiretaps.

The new approach has met less opposition from other agencies, like the Commerce Department, than the earlier plan, which went nowhere because some officials worried that it would hurt innovation by imposing expensive and technically difficult requirements on startup Internet-based communication services.

Fines, some officials believe, would be less of a burden on new businesses because they might not have to worry about developing the ability to conduct wiretaps right away. The White House is evaluating the plan for submission to Congress.

The F.B.I. has long complained that it is becoming ever harder to carry out courtapproved, real-time eavesdropping on criminal suspects since people are communicating without picking up a phone. The agency argues that the monitoring of Internet-based services does not expand government surveillance, but merely updates the current wiretap law. Judges would still have to authorize wiretaps, and would impose the fines if the services did not comply.

But tech companies and advocates for greater privacy and security say the threat of fines would still force companies to build complex wiretapping capabilities into their services from the start (allowing wiretapping on peer-to-peer services like Skype will be particularly difficult). And they argue that opening systems to surveillance could make them vulnerable to hackers, a serious problem.

Some experts say there are other ways to monitor suspects. A recent paper by four academics in the journal IEEE Security & Privacy argues that the government could get court orders to install software directly on the computers of suspects instead of going through Internet companies.

The administration and Congress need to analyze carefully the F.B.I.’s proposal, details of which have not been made public. New rules will have to strike the right balance between privacy and cybersecurity and the government’s need to monitor criminal activity.

– 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 Kunle Fagbemi •Editor, Online Lekan Otufodunrin •Managing Editor Northern Operation Yusuf Alli •Managing Editor Waheed Odusile

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

20

CARTOON & LETTERS

S

IR: After reading through the article written by one Ayo Aluko-Olokun in The Punch of Thursday May 16, titled ‘Osun: Why Launch Opon Imo in Lagos?’, I came to the sad conclusion that the writer does not have the slightest clue of what `Opon Imo’ is all about.

I got more disappointed when I discovered that the writer is a journalist and a public affairs analyst.

The ‘Opon Imo’ has never been launched anywhere under the sun; not in Lagos and not even in Osogbo. What has been held so far has been series of press briefings, including the one in Lagos, on the conception and progress on the project. There was a pilot study last year when the device was given to a few students in Osogbo for test running and collected from them after a few weeks. The device will be launched on June 3, at Ilesa.

S

EDITOR’S MAIL BAG

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

Opon Imo yet to be launched The writer needs to be tutored on the advantages this learning tablet has over physical textbooks.

Which textbook in the world can ever have up to 63 subjects in it?

Furthermore, this precious gem in the hands of these students is equipped with solar chargers and does not rely only on electricity to function. It contains a lot more than textbooks. It is compact, and the students cannot visit any other site on it apart from the purpose for which it was made for. It is loaded

with all the learning aid the students need on the senior secondary school level to make good grades in senior secondary school examinations. At a time when even JAMB is trying to make students write examinations on the computer, how will they learn to use computers if they are not introduced to it while in school?

All over the world people now gather information on the internet.

In developed world, big bookshops are folding up by the

day.

It takes more than sitting in an armchair in Lagos to write about this bundle of knowledge initiated by the government of Osun State.

The writer needs come down to see for himself.

I also wish to correct the claim that there are demonstrations and strikes everywhere in Osun. The government of the state of Osun is a responsive government that does not joke with the well being of its citizens and workforce. The

On Yoruba marginalisation

IR: The on-going debate on the marginalisation of the Yorubas in the present socio-political set up in Nigeria does not hold water for us third generation of Yorubas. In fact I feel that the first and second generation Yorubas are more of our problems compared with other tribes in Nigeria.

The first generation are the pre-independence leaders, led by Chief Awolowo, who failed to see that the Yorubas should have been a nation on its own without the drawback syndrome that the other tribes exhibited and are still exhibiting. Their longing for power at a bigger centre blinded them to the open fact that their co-sojourners in the contraption called Nigeria are not compatible with their progressive ideas. While one major group saw education as a continuity of the colonial and religious oppression, the other did not see how it will add to their profit in their line of business. Thus the first

generation sold a bright future of an entire people and bedded with incompatible bedfellows.

The second generation led by Chief Obasanjo, are completely bereft of ideas on how local politics are played.

They pretended to be more Catholic than the Pope. It is Nigeria first before the Yorubas while the others think of their own people first before Nigeria. The Obasanjo group did everything to please the other tribes while their own people wallowed in abject neglect and humiliation. But for the so called federal character, the Yorubas would not be holding one single reasonable position in the federal set up today.

Chief Obasanjo spent eight years as President but failed to complete the expressway going to his farm and town not to talk of completing the Lagos-Ibadan/Ibadan–Ilorin roads that were awarded by his predecessor, a non-Yoruba. Under him, his Minister of Works, Tony Anenih con-

structed a bypass to decongest Benin City traffic while Mukhtari Shagari – his Minister of Agriculture/Water Resources littered the North-west with boreholes.

Recently, the Minister of Aviation sacked all the directors in FAAN – six of them Yorubas and replaced them with her own people. The last Minister of Power, Prof Nnaji promoted and placed a lot of PHCN staff during his short stay in office. Over 70% of the beneficiaries are his kinsmen. Take a census of all the key officers in key positions in the PHCN successor companies and one will be amazed at how the Yorubas have lost out.

Once upon a time, the so called Awolowo disciples are respected and when they spoke others listened. But as soon as they won the battle to install a Yoruba man as President after Chief MKO Abiola’s humiliation, they went to sleep. They thought they have won the entire battle for the

Yorubas. What followed was the selling of the South-west to the anti-progressive elements and another four years of set-back for the Yorubas.

The only Yoruba leader that attracts some grudging respect from the other tribes in Nigeria today is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, but he too must stop acting as if he has done everything for the Yorubas in re-taking the South West from the anti-progressive groups. He should start fighting for positions and better share of the national cake for his own people at the federal level.

The attitude of the Yorubas in key positions at the national level must change to reflect the Nigerian realities and politics. Our political attitude and decisions must be reciprocal and we must stop the ‘holier than thou’ strategies that benefit other tribes at the expense of our own people. If not, our children will become third class citizens in this country.

• Chief Omolade Olanihun Ala Quarters, Akure

lecturers that are on strike have already called it off. Other workers in the state are at work and are doing well.

The article was characterized by biases and condemnation throughout. The writer appears to have made up his mind not to acknowledge the good work the present administration is doing in Osun. He is so confused about what the present administration has achieved within the short period they took over from the previous administration. Be that as it may, my advice to him is to always get his facts right before heading to the press.

• Titi Ajayi, (Mrs), Ilesa, Osun State

Ambassador Fafowora’s Lest I forget

S

IR: As a young kid, the image of Dr. Dapo Fafowora etched on my mind was that of a rare breed; an individual I aspired to grow up to be like. I was too young to know his exploits as a thoroughbred diplomat, but I remember that he ably managed the Nigerian Manufacturers Association (MAN) when he was at the helm of that organisation. I saw his brilliance at many of the public fora where he delivered lectures, or discussed issues of national concern. It was him that informed my decision to go into academia.

I think God had other bigger things for him when he was crudely taken out of the Foreign Service. He touched many more lives including mine, after his stint at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For that I want to use this medium to say a big “thank you sir” to him.

Wishing him more healthy years ahead.

• Olugbenga Ayeni.

Lagos

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013 16

21

COMMENTS

Readers’parliament 22

Y

OUR analysis is correct.

Some parents are boastful of their ability to purchase seats for their wards to cheat at JAMB and SSCE centres. It is sad to see what our country has degenerated to. God will help us.

08023137600.

Haba Tunji. This your piece was too harsh to Nigerians. I am sure you are not residing in Nigeria. 08033754830.

Olatunji, I agree with you totally that, ‘We are very bad people.’ If Mr. ‘Integrity’Lawan Farouk could fall the way he did, then hope is not in sight for this society of ours. Look at the appointment of Dame Patience as Permanent Secretary. Very absurd. 08034053328.

Remain blessed for saying the truth. All men need to be forcefully castrated, so that we can stop breeding baboons and then let the country return to stone age.08037967898.

I wish you continue with this line of write-up. You strike a definite chord in our psychology and sociology with the message. I wake everyday with these foreboding realities of the basic Nigerian psyche. I fear for the future of this race and generation…I totally agree with your thesis. 08054967602.

Excellent piece of writing. I agree with you 100 per cent. We need to change ourselves because we are indeed very bad people.

08079890367.

“It is good to be bad and bad to be good in contemporary Nigeria,” truer words I have never read in Nigerian newspapers.

Brilliant article today, Mr. Ololade! Please keep up the good work. And the truth shall set us all free. 08178675967.

Thanks a lot dear. You did very well in your piece. May God bless you with more knowledge and wisdom. Amen. 08063675643.

May Almighty God bless you for telling the truth the way it is, ‘We are very bad people.’

08037036487.

Olatunji, what you are saying cannot be disputed. What has eluded us is the way out of the quagmire. From Cyril Chinweike Eze. 08037907122.

And Patience Jonathan is now a permanent secretary. Only in Nigeira can such happen. We are very bad people indeed.

07035347838.

I have never read a more honest description of you and me. We are very horrible people. From Ehimare Ehoho. 08081322995.

May God bless you for telling

‘Your write-up captured the sad reality of the contraption called Nigeria. You mirrored the true state of the inhabitants of this country and as sad and fearful the truth is, we are all culpable in the mess our dear country is in. More ink to your pen. From Tapshak Armstrong’ Jos. 08166032757.

P

OLITICS concerns everything in life and it is usually a very serious affair. In Nigeria, the major political story dominating the airwaves is that of a newly formed political party - the All Progressive Congress (APC), born from a merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). As the seconds click towards the 2015 general elections, the polity is heating up. And at the centre of the heat is the APC, famed potentially to be the biggest opposition party to arise in the country.

Faced with hurdles, even before the APC started flying, the party’s christening generated controversy when two other political parties claimed to have submitted application bearing the same acronyms. But, considering that the first goal of the APC is to unseat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that issued can easily be resolved.

Since the coming of the fourth republic in Nigeria, the PDP has held sway both at the federal government level and in many other states too. But, today, that popularity is waning, even among erstwhile supporters. Suddenly, there seems to be a yawning need for change in Nigeria shared by many people. To them, the PDP as a party is just not capable of delivering the democracy dividends anymore. This perhaps account for the overwhelming support which the APC has been receiving in states under ACN, CPC, ANPP, and APGA rule.

A week after the formation of the party, Lagos State governor Babatunde Fashola, likened APC to a marriage.

But, from indications, this is not a marriage of convenience. And it seems for once, the PDP stranglehold is really threatened. I consider that a relief. Joining Fashola on this cause include the governors of Ekiti, Kayode Fayemi; Ogun, Ibikunle Amosun; Oyo, Abiola Ajimobi; and that of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. Others are Adams Oshiomhole of Edo; Rochas Okorocha of Imo; Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara; Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa; and Kashim Shettima of Borno State. And state after state, directed by governors of those states, the APC chant is growing louder.

Watching events since the party was formed by a coalition of four political parties in February, I’ve seen people after people embrace what the APC stands for; change.

us the truth. Please keep it up.

From Luka Jos. 08081767426.

Of course, we are very people Olatunji. In Port Harcourt where I live, it’s really the picture you painted. Success through hard work is no longer the way of life.

What of teachers known b ydear patience, they are now the vampires that devour their wards.

Thanks. Good piece. From Ray Port Harcourt.08056666484.

You said it all. We are indeed very bad people. None could be worse. From Barrister Obi Anierobi.

08031157593.

Olatunji, I like your write-up.

Let us be accountable for all our actions, let us stop blaming our leaders. An average Nigerian man is a criminal. From Zuby Port Harcourt. 08051603828.

Your article is a very good one.

Unfortunately you are talking to people who have long chosen the path of amorality. The assertion that the followership is as bad as the leadership is true. But in all climes, it is the leadership that sets the pace either for moral degeneracy or righteous living. The theory of the vital few cannot be wished away. The elites, opinion moulders and policy formulators who develop the framework for policy implementation and are supposed to enforce compliance are the first culprits. No society has only good people; what deters people from wrongdoing is the arm of the law which is supposed to be enforced by the leaders. That’s why foreigners come to Nigeria and beat traffic lights.

Let’s get good leaders and things will fall in place. From Etokowoh Owoh Uyo. AKS. 08037975031.

Your ability to put reality in pure perspective is outstanding.

Until Nigerians move away from pretence, egoism, deceit, avarice, hate, etc, I wonder where our religious disposition will take us.

From Paul Vingil. Abuja.

08035880838.

I honestly agree with you and I pray that God endow you with wisdom, knowledge and blessedness to tell the nation the root of our problem. God bless you bro.

From Wellington Sango, Ogun State.

08060244044.

Mr. Olatunji Ololade, your write up, ‘We are very bad people (1),’ I must confess, is the best write-up ever in this morally bankrupt and unholy entity called Nigeria. More of it, please, my brother. They will surely meet the people’s justice in 2015. May God keep more of your type for the battle ahead. From Henry Oputa esq, Port Harcourt.

08033125515.

Nice piece Olatunji. We need more of your type. Self tendencies have destroyed us all. I think that Nigeria can only be better when Nigerians think better. Indeed, we are very bad people.

08036851612.

Your write-up captured the sad reality of the contraption called Nigeria. You mirrored the true state of the inhabitants of this country and as sad and fearful the truth is, we are all culpable in the mess our dear country is in.

More ink to your pen. From Tapshak Armstrong.

Jos. 08166032757.

We are very bad people 1 says it all. Keep telling the truth. You are superb. From Kehinde Olalemi.

07063504030.

Tunji my brother, I totally agree with you. I fully understand your angst. Our society is largely populated by monkeys and baboons in human garb, primitive in thinking and bestial in deeds. I have never seen or heard of a society so depraved as ours. Until we, as a people, embrace those things that are truly important in life and jettison the mindless and

blind accumulation of vanities, we are eternally doomed as a people spiritually and naturally.

From Gerard Ifeanyichukwu Okonkwo. Onitsha. 08023656124.

What do you have to say about the south-east of the country where people are kidnapping fellow human beings including new born babies in the name of money? And all of us claim to be Christians. 08160149957.

In fact, you have said it all and I totally agree with you. What can we do now to stop this menace and attitude of ours because each time? From Shakiru. 08030699828.

Olatunji Ololade, since I was born in this feeble but very wicked and perverse country that is called Nigeria in 1953, I have never discerned anybody’s heart like I’ve just did yours…having gone through your humble and earnest dispositional topic, I thought I were you but of course, I’m not.

This is to erase the unscrupulous position of the doubting Thomases that will oppose your write-up in anyway because Nigeria is just simply negative to the core. I’m in this position because some agents of negativity will want to counter the message of good people to this. They will want to smother this great message by which you teach all of us about how bad and wicked we are in this hopeless and worthless country we live in that is called Nigeria…A people that hails criminality are very bad people.

A people that condones wicked preachers that pray for government officials who steal public money are very bad people. A people who allow their previous leaders to walk the streets with their loots, even after these leaders have lost immunity are very bad people. A people that have made their generation a thieving one are very bad people. 08036925729.

APC: A merger here to stay

By Kunle Akinmosa This change is not just about change of power, rather it is a change for a better life. Already, APC has stated that its priority programmes include agricultural development, job creation, free education, affordable healthcare, infrastructural development, adequate power supply, eradication of poverty and corruption and rapid technological advancement and industrialisation. No doubt, this is what we need at this moment.

And, I’m particularly happy that Fashola is in the forefront of the APC cause because in Lagos, Fashola has succeeded in shoring up development from where his predecessor left off. The little frustrations the Lagos State government has suffered in its developmental strides has come largely from an obstinate PDP-led federal government that would rather gloat on triumphing over political opponents than seeing overall progress put in place.

However, now that the APC, a true opposition party, has come home to roost, the fight to wrestle power and consequently a better future for Nigeria and Nigerians must not be left solely in the hands of politicians alone.

In this guise, religious, ethnic, and professional groups must also come on-board to stop the mortgage of the country’s future. This PDP tyranny must be fought. Already, some mischievous pundits are saying APC is full of strange bedfellows. Recently, referring to cracks in the APGA, Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, had said that only few people stayed away from joining the new party. Okorocha said, “As far as I know, the real members of APGA are with APC and Nigerians are aware of that.”

The truth is that, as it is, proponents of APC believe in the party’s unity.

In a letter to the editor which was published in The Nation newspaper of Monday, May 20, governor Fashola agreed “that all previous merger attempts have been unsuccessful.” But, advising personnel of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Fashola said the body should leave the choice of whether the APC be or

not to be left to Nigerians to decide.

“The most important thing that this merger will achieve, is that it gives the people of Nigeria a real choice as to who to trust with their affairs,” Fashola wrote.

“This is instructive because a choice between the PDP and the PDP is not a choice.”

Before the advent of APC, no other party could have been so ambitious to position itself as a formidable option. Likening the opposition to an ‘automobile workshop without basic tools,’ Fashola decried the opposition’s inability to fund power projects, fund security agencies, or fund anything.

“When we create that choice and the people of Nigeria decide that they want to stay with the party that has brought us this far then they will have made their choice – A real choice.”

If this real choice was absent in previous mergers, the PDP must be realising now that this time, the merger is for real. And it is potent too.

• Akinmosa wrote from Agege, Lagos.

‘This PDP tyranny must be fought.

Already, some mischievous pundits are saying APC is full of strange bedfellows. Recently, referring to cracks in the APGA, Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, had said that only few people stayed away from joining the new party. Okorocha said, “As far as I know, the real members of APGA are with APC and Nigerians are aware of that’

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

22

COMMENTS ‘Reality is never as bad as a nightmare and the mental tortures we inflict on ourselves.’

——Mahatma Ghandi

I

NDUBITABLY, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State loves his kith and kin in the northern part of Nigeria a region that is currently embroiled in selfinflicted turmoil through the subversive inclinations of the malevolent Boko Haram insurgents. But he has most probably and suddenly realised that frank talk with his kinsmen remains the only panacea to the catastrophic activities of insurgents that are threatening the region with imminent annihilation.

Kwankwaso dared to say publicly what most northern elite know, but had been shying away from, for selfish reasons and indeed, lack of valour. In apparent allusion to the upsurge in rebellious activities, especially in the north during a courtesy visit by members of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of security challenges in the north, he said: “We have a situation in this part of the country where parents give birth to 20 to 30 children, chose only two of them and send the rest away to God-knows where. Children are sent to places that they don’t know. They are left to fend for themselves. We have a situation where you go round the city and find garrison of children, able-bodied youths begging. These children were abandoned by their parents and they were sent away and brought into the state. They grow up to hate themselves, hate their parents, hate the leaders, hate the government and the society.

They feel they were deprived, they feel injustice and they become enemies of the state and constituted authorities. They thereby become vulnerable to crime and violence.”

No northerner, dead or living, has been more apposite in precisely depicting the northern quagmire that is gradually assuming national and international dimensions.

Yet, previous and present leaderships of the region, despite their education and exposure, continue to promote a feudal cum political system that forcibly makes the greatest number of their people to remain perpetually poor and subservient to them. The Boko Haram is surely the creation of the northern political and feudal class that overtime, takes delight in breeding a largely uneducated society of almajiris in their region. Among these hoi polloi in the north, poverty, illit-

N

OW that the Presidency has eventually acted by facing the security challenges bedeviling the country eyeball-to-eyeball, I rerun this piece published here on Friday March 29, 2013.

Declaring emergency andembarking on a shooting war is the easy part, the main WORK is to DECLARE GOOD GOVERNACE across the entire country. Please read carefully: When reality struck me smack in the face, I could not cry; I actually laughed out loud as if to say, Nigeria, “I dey laugh o!” To think that Nigeria, a crumbling entity actually sent troops to Mali to quell insurgency! On a second thought, it occurred to me that our presence in Mali is not altogether altruistic; it is largely because there is some dollars to share. I will not discuss here, the number of military trucks, armoured personnel carriers and assault rifles Nigeria to make her fit to embark on a foreign peace mission. The question today is that is Nigeria truly more stable than Mali? Is it more secure, is it better governed and better led?

Reality check Not that one didn’t have an inkling of the dire situation the polity in enmeshed in especially under President Goodluck Jonathan’s watch, but reality dealt me a dirtier slap when I read a report of a terrorist attack in Yobe state last Monday. Let me present the report verbatim as carried by National Mirror newspaper (Tuesday, March 26, 2013, page47): “Gunmen yesterday morning attacked the Bara Divisional Police Station in Yobe State killing one police man.

“Bara is the headquarters of Gulani Local Government Area of the state.

“Sources said that the attack began at about 1:00 am and lasted for about two and half hours.

“The attackers burnt the police station and went away with the three cars parked in the premises.

“The Yobe State Commissioner of Police, Mr Sanusi Rufai who confirmed the incident to journalists in Damaturu, the state capital, said though the police station was burnt with rocket propelled launcher and explosive devices, the attack was repelled by security operatives .

“He also said that the police man killed was a corporal, adding that the slain victim was slaughtered by the gunmen in his residence at about 5:00 am after the attack on the police station.

“The attackers, according to the police boss, also destroyed MTN and Glo telecoms masts.

“The gunmen also carted away three local govern-

07011117777

Re-thinking the northern quagmire

•Governor Kwankwaso

eracy, feudal and religious fundamentalism, and indeed, irrationality, have become a culture. This fact informs why these almajiris have become easy tool for fomenting hubbub in the hands of northern feudal/political elite, even when this elitist class keeps its own well-groomed and educated Hausa/ Fulani children far away from such flashpoint areas. These almajiris and not the exposed kids of the northern leadership class, constitute a substantial chunk of Boko Haram followership now working assiduously to destabilise the country.

Kwankwaso puts the blame of insurgency befuddling the region on;“ parents, the communities, the local government authorities, state governments and the Federal Govern-

ment” but failed to tell bewildered Nigerians about steps that he has taken so far as governor of Kano state to remove the plague of almajiris and by extension that of Boko Haram from Kano. As parents, how far has he and other northern elites cum oligarchy gone in ensuring restoration of family cum societal values in the youth and the community at large; and as governor, how far has he with other governors, past and present in that region, gone to ensure that that region do not stray into anarchy? What efforts have been taken by Kwankwaso and others in his class to change the stereotype against western civilization, even when the northern leadership is an ardent admirer and beneficiary of western education? He wants parents to take responsibility of their families, yet, poverty still reigns unabatedly not only in Kano but other northern states. The administrations of northern states have done very little to impress it on their people to place high premium on western and not Islamic/Arabic education. The latter has given impetus to the creation of more almajiris by the system.

Let us ask Kwankwaso and the entire northern elite to tell Nigerians how many wives and children most of them have? And how do they fund them; could it be through allocated resources that ought to have been used to develop their entire people and infrastructure or through immoral exploitation of the archaic system in place? Do northern governors at any time bother to put in place any

EXPRESSO STEVE OSUJI

SMS O8181624757, email:steve.osuji@yahoo.com

Like Mali, like Nigeria ment vehicles.

“The commissioner, however, said no arrests had been made in connection with the attack and no individual or group had claimed responsibility.”

This attack comes exactly one week after the massive devastation of the New Luxury Bus Park in Sabon Gari, Kano, also in the Northwest of Nigeria. Yobe is a vast swath of border state. So are Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Jigawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, kwara and even Oyo and Ogun. These states deserve special security attention, to say the least. From the account of the attacks in Yobe, it is obvious any notion of security in Nigeria is merely a ruse; we seem to be living by sheer Grace. For such a sensitive state where attacks have been rampant in the last two years, security is still virtually non-existent. This explains why a gang of hoodlums would operate for four hours (1pm to 5am), sacking police station, LGA office, damaging telecoms facilities and driving away with about six vehicles without a trace; they could have had breakfast if they wanted.

Stories like Yobe’s are happening everyday across Nigeria. Last Friday, in Ganye town which is the headquarters of Ganye LGA in Adamawa State, gunmen stormed the Ganye Prisons, overpowered a combined team of Mobile Police, soldiers and other armed forces to free about 127 prisoners. About 25 people lay dead after the attack including the deputy comptroller in charge of the prison, Mallam Baba Musa. In Benue, the Tivs and the Nomadic Fulani are engaged in a killing spree; kwara, Ebonyi, Cross River, are theatres of communal wars with security agent over-powered and in

retreat. Plateau State’s matter is a full-fledged debacle where perhaps, more Nigerians have been slaughtered than cattle in the last 10 years.

Just last Tuesday, 28 people were killed and several villages razed in an overnight raid in Ryom Local Council. As has always been the case, Ryom could have been a jungle or the centre of the Kalahari Desert for there was no sign of government or security presence as the blood fest went on. In the south-south and southeast parts of the country, kidnappers and ritualists reign as security agencies wish they would be left alone.

Where there is no government

The reality that should be poking sticks into our eyes is that this entity has buckled terribly.

Henry Okah, master-mind of the Abuja the bomber was tried and jailed in South Africa last Tuesday; James Ibori, was jailed in London recently but hardly any high profile criminal can be convicted or jailed in today’s Nigeria because our leaders have been castrated by corruption and our institutions suborned. The reality that most of us are wont to deny is that all else has failed in Nigeria except the stream of oil revenues that our leaders steal and fritter away as soon as they are earned.

Our reality, which we tend deny, is that there is hardly any governance going on in Nigeria today. Yes, we see some governors and ministers deigning to do some work but they are not governing; they are merely executing odd, oft ill-conceived projects. Governance by a simple definition is working the institution, not working the helmsman. Therefore, while there are a few projects going on in some towns and city

social security or safety net that can dissuade abandonment of children or begging on the streets by northerners in the country? The streets of most states across the federation, especially Lagos, have been taken over by northern states’ indigenes that also double as emergency commercial okada drivers mostly becoming harbingers of death on roads in the Centre of Excellence. Since the religion of Islam which the northerners have unfortunately turned into a culture permits marriage to more than one wife, inevitably leading to rearing of several children; and in view of the debilitating underdevelopment of the region, provision of safety net/ social security by any sincere government in that region should be a necessity. But northern leaders including Kwankwaso seem not to be giving such beneficial policy any useful thought. Whatever is rampant in the north in the past and even today is that what is meant for the people as democracy dividends are cornered by the few and the oligarchy that are ruling the region.

However, this deliberate oversight and invidious greed of the northern feudal/political/oligarchy have put the entire country in this Boko Haramic mess. And one agrees with Kwankwaso that ‘what started in Yobe and Borno is now everywhere in the north.

It may eventually engulf the country - if we don’t check it now.’ It is a national issue that must be addressed. This statement should be the raison d’etre, and motivating bulwark that should goad on all northerners wherever they might be to give intelligence and inspirational support to the country’s military of Joint Task Force (JTF) comprising troops deployed to quell the Boko Haram insurrection. Boko Haram must be checked now and everybody, whether in the north or anywhere, with useful intelligence hints about this evil group, must come forward and give such to security agencies.

The Boko Haram cankerworm should not be seen from the prism of being problem of our non-performing and inept President Goodluck Jonathan alone- Boko Haram was largely seen ab initio as a northern problem; but it has since become a Nigerian/international problem that must be destroyed - if only to prevent a re-enactment of what happened in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote D’voire and of recent, Mali, in the country. The truth as it is now is that this northern nightmare whether almajiri syndrome or Boko Haram needs a rethink! centres, a vast swath of space is overlooked along with larger population. Most of the 774 LGAs across the land are untouched, ungoverned and famished. Hardly any socio-economic activities go on there as the state governors hijack and squander the funds meant for this tier.

Again, our unspoken reality is that our hinterlands are so withered and wasted that any band of boys with as many as six assault rifles could seize a chunk of the country and have the police, army, airforce running helterskelter in their usual reactionary mode. Such is our reality and our predicament. Our naked reality is that Nigeria is no better than Mali today and if we knew any better, the UN should be considering a standby troop for Nigeria before the last few cords snap. Our REAL reality is that the current leadership lacks the capacity to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. Our leaders are only single-minded about holding power; what a pity, blind people desperate to rule a dead country.

FEED BACK: Kalu’s Njiko Igbo and a tear for Ndigbo Happy Sunday Steve read your article in The Nation (May 17). What is the meaning of Njiko?

Before you answer me I would like to console you. As a northerner I honestly admire such Igbo politicians like Ken Nnamani, former Senate president. The Igbo should rally round him for he might be their saving grace. To that extent, no need to weep for Ndigbo. Have a nice day – 08051571477 Mr. Osuji I like the way you always tackle Igbo causes, but you were criminally silent when Gov. T.A. Orji sacked Igbos from other states while retaining non-Igbos – 08037649389 Brother Osuji people like you who are still able to talk to our people should continue to do so. I returned to Igboland to find a weak and divided people. I had thought my people were strong. Rather they find so much pleasure in inflicting pain on their people. We run to outsiders to give us political power instead of looking at ourselves and bonding together.07063315222 I love your write ups in The Nation. Please keep it up. – 07037999888 It appears to me that the unique thing that makes the Igbo man prosper in business is the very thing that is his Achilles heel when it comes to politice. What that unique thing is can only be defined by the Igbo themselves - 07042325266

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

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NATIONSPORT FRIDAY, MAY 24,2013

NFF confirms Mikel for Kenya, Namibia clash

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

25

PEOPLE THE NATION

AN EIGHT-PAGE SECTION ON SOCIETY

Governor Abiola Ajimobi and his wife Florence, were on Saturday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, installed as the Aare Atunluse and Yeye Aare Atunluse of Ibadanland by the Olubadan, Oba Samuel Odulana. Dignitaries thronged the ancient city to share in the joy of the day with them, report BISI OLADELE and TAYO JOHNSON.

•From right: Governor Fashola; Governor Ajimobi; Oba Akiolu; Yeye Florence Ajimobi and wife of Osun State Governor Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola

T

HE crowd at the palace and the stadium was huge. The palace was the first port of call for Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi and his wife, Florence who were installed as Aare Atunluse and Yeye Aare Atunluse of Ibadan by the Olubadan, Oba Samuel Odulana, last Saturday.

It was unique honour because the Olubadan rarely confers chieftancy titles on people, particularly politicians.

By 9am, there were telltale signs of the ceremony. At the popular Iwo Road interchange, police and other security personnel and YES-O cadets lined both sides of the road leading to the palace where the Ajimobis were installed.

Members of the Olubadan-In-Council; members of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), security personnel and journalists arrived to avoid rush.

The first guest to arrive at the palace was Senator Oluremi Tinubu and the Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon Monsurat Sunmonu who donned ankara uniform bearing the honourees portraits. They were received by some members of the Olubadan-inCouncil and the CCII leaders including Chief Bayo Oyero and Alhaji Gboyega Arulogun.

They were later joined by Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and some traditional rulers such as the Olugbon of Ile-Igbon, Oba Adegboyega Osunbade and the Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Ganiyu Oloogunebi; Senator Ayoade Adeseun and other members of the National Assembly from the state who also wore the ankara uniform.

The street leading to the palace was agog with itinerant drummers, trumpeters, acrobats and others. Residents filled both sides of the road watching as dignitaries arrived

All hail the new chiefs in posh cars.

At 11:25 am, the governor and his wife arrived into the warm embrace of guests and well-wishers.

The accolades of: “Action Governor. Action Governor. Atunluse” rent the air.

Decked in Yoruba traditional wear, Sanyan, with a brown cap to match, Ajimobi and his wife, who also donned the same attire with a white top and Sanyan headgear to match, were received by Prince Gbade Lana, on behalf of the monarch.

They came with the National Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande, who donned a white agbada.

The ceremony began in earnest and within 40 minutes, Ajimobi and his wife became the Aare Atunluse and Yeye Aare Atunluse of Ibadanland. They were also presented their certificates.

While performing the installation on behalf of his father, Prof. Femi Lana said the governor was honoured for transforming the state.

In his acceptance speech, Ajimobi described the Olubadan as a highly revered and principled monarch who would not confer chieftaincy title on anybody who did not deserve it, no matter the person’s status.

He said he was proud of the Olubadan pointing out that he had been offered several chieftaincy titles which he turned down.

The Aare Atunluse said: “I have no choice than to accept this honour, coming from the highly revered royal father - Olubadan. I know that he doesn’t just dole out chieftaincy titles

anyhow. He is a man of no mean achievement and he is highly principled. He has done us, the sons and daughters of Ibadanland proud. I am, therefore, very pleased with this.”

Mrs Ajimobi said the recognition would make her and her husband work harder.

“I really appreciate the Olubadan for honouring us,” she said.

The celebration train moved to Liberty Stadium where guests were entertained by Evangelist Ebenezer Obey and King Wasiu Ayinde.

The venue of the reception was decorated in yellow and maroon which are colours of the state’s logo.

Ushers dressed in native attires directed guests to their seats.

Royal Spices, a caterer ensured that the food and drinks were in steady supply.

Former Governor of Ogun State Chief Olusegun Osoba said Ajimobi deserved the honour because in less than two years, he has made landmark achievements in Oyo State.

“Transformation is boldly written in all nooks and crannies of the state and this shows that he is a visionary leader who wants to reposition the state,” Osoba said.

Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) said: “Ajimobi has been doing a wonderful job in Oyo State and I hope he will not be distracted by the criticism of the opposition party. There is peace in Ibadan now and that alone is something we should celebrate in the history

•Oba Odulana

of this state. The last time we witnessed this type of transformation in this state was during the era of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Maj-Gen David Jemibewon.

Ajimobi deserves to be praised, it is not about politics but people need to have a rethink and support this wind of change blowing in Oyo State.

•Continued on page 26

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

SOCIETY

All hail the new chiefs •Continued from page 25

Senator Tinubu said: “I believe that this title given to him will act as an incentive for him to do more and we can only wish and pray for good health for him and long life to do more for this state. I urge the people of this state to be patient and to be supportive and embrace all the projects that the governor is putting in place for the state. We thank them for their cooperation, because without their cooperation he would not have done this much and we want their continued support so that he can do more.”

At the reception were Edo State Governor Adams Oshihomole; his Osun and Ekiti state counterparts Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Dr Kayode Fayemi.

Others included an ACN leader and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Chief Tom Ikimi; Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos; the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, AbdulAzeez Arisekola-Alao and former governor of Oyo State, Dr Omololu Olunloyo.

Governors of Kano, Niger, Cross River, Plateau and Ogun states were represented.

Also there were National Assembly men from Oyo State, including Hon Abiodun Awoleye; members of the Oyo State Executive Council led by the Deputy Governor Chief Moses Alake-Adeyemo.

Members of the Oyo State House of Assembly, ACN State Chairman, Chief Akin Oke and top civil servants also graced the occasion.

•The Olugbon of Ilegbon, Oba Samuel Osungbade (left) and former Commissioner of Information, Alhaji Adegboyega Arulogun

•Chief Ikimi (left) and Chief Akande

•Governor Oshiomhole

•Alhaji Arisekola-Alao

•Chairman of Oyo State ACN, Chief Akin Oke and Senator Tinubu

•Hon Sumonu and Deputy Speaker Hon Tunde Olaniyan •The Aseyin of Iseyin Oba Abdul-Ganiyu Salawu (left) and Eleruwa of Eruwa, Oba Samuel Adegbola

•Chief Kola Daisi •Representative of Kano State Governor, Special Adviser of Internal Community Relations, Alhaji Abdul-Lateef Abdul-Salam (left) and Chief Akintola (SAN) •From left: Mrs Temitope Alonge; President, Ibadan CCII, Mr Bayo Oyero and Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital (UCH), Prof Temitope Alonge

•Deputy Majority leader of Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Lola Akande

•Senator Ayo Adeosun (left) and Special Adviser on Political matter to Oyo State Governor, Alhaji Fatai Ibikunle

•Chief Oyero (left) and Prof Lana

PHOTOS: FEMI ILESANMI

27

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

S OCEITY

‘He always makes me laugh’ The families of former Supreme Court Justice George Oguntade; the late Dr Jimi Okunola Aina and Victor Tokunbo Bali celebrated the union of their children, Olujimi and Ibijola, at Ruby Gardens Event Centre, LekkiAjah, Lagos last Thursday. OLATUNDE ODEBIYI writes

Y

ORUBA culture was on display during the introduction and engagement of Olujimi Aina, son of the late Jimi Okunola Aina and step son of of former Supreme Court Justice George Adesola Oguntade and Ibijola, daughter of Victor Bali.

Dignitaries, family members, friends and well wishers came from far and wide to share in the couple’s joy.

The decor in the Ruby Gardens Event Centre, Lekki-Ajah, Lagos blended with the colour of the day.

The hall was decorated in white, gold and wine. Light sparkled across the hall.

The hall was filled to capacity and guests looked resplendent in their traditional attires.

The groom, Olujimi, looked charming in black and gold stripes of Agbada and sokoto. The bride was dazzling in her cream lace buba with black and gold striped gele and iro.

She dazzled guests with her infectious smiles.

Olujimi, who is into real estate, was accompanied into the hall by his friends.

He and his friends prostrated for his family and his in-laws and they prayed for him.

Ibijola was also escorted into the hall by her friends and some family members amid songs.

She knelt to greet her in-laws and parents.

She later joined her lovebird on the bridal chair; they kissed and hugged each other.

A minute silence was observed in honour of the groom’s late father.

Emibalomo Iretemide Cultural Dance Group from Owo in Ondo State charged the atmosphere with traditional songs and dances.

Decked in native attires with red beads, the groups ensured that there was no dull moment.

Pastor Moses Bali prayed God to give the couple everlasting joy in the marriage.

Justice Oguntade urged the couple to always tolerate each other. ‘’What joined you together will not separate you, God will guide you in all you do and grant you a successful marriage’’.

The bride’s father couple prayed God to provide all they need to make the union successful.

Olujimi prayed for everlasting joy in their home.

He said: “What attracted me to her was intelligence and pretty face.

We always connect to each other, she is a part of me and I love her so much,” he said.

Ibijola described her beau as her brother and best friend.

“What attracted me to him was that he always laughs and he always makes me laugh, he is the kind of man I deserve,’’ she said.

•The couple Olujimi and Ibijola

•Alhaji Rasak Okoya

•Groom’s parents Justice Oguntade and wife Modupe

•Bride’s parents Mr Tokunbo Bali and wife Taiwo

•Osile of Oke-Ona Oba Adedapo Tejuoso (right) and Chief Tayo Oluwole

•From left: Mrs Yinka Yusuf; Mrs Abimbola Fashola and Mrs Folahan Odebo

•Olori Kemi Adetona (right) and Alhaja Modupe Shitta-Bey

•Chief Samuel Adedoyin (left) and Asoju Oba of Lagos Chief Molade OkoyaThomas

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

SOCIETY

•Alhaji Nurudeen Shitta-Bey (right) and Justice Ishola Olorunnimbe

•From left: Balogun Bisi Omidiora; Mrs Bunmi Craig and Mrs Adenike Vincent

•Prince Adekunle Ojora and wife Ojuolape

•Alhaji and Alhaja Sakariyahu Babalola

•Hajia Abba Folawiyo (right) and Chief Oprah Benson

•Nkiru Anumudun and Bolu Akingbade

PHOTOS: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE

UNION OF LOVEBIRDS

•Pastor and Deaconess Abraham John-Oze

•The couple Ifeanyi Collins Kanu and wife Amaka

•Pastor Ahenta David

•Pastor Joab Ayuba

PHOTOS: RAHMAN SANUSI

29 FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

Vol 4. No. 1799

How domestic tourism drives destination branding Yearly, over 600 million people travel globally, hundreds of millions or more travel domestically from one city to the other for various reasons – business, pleasure, relaxation, enjoyment, education and more. WALE ALABI examines the trend.

G

LOBALLY, tourism and incentive travel is not only acknowledged as the largest industry in terms of huge revenue generation but is also the world’s highest employer of labour.

Yearly, over 600 million people travel internationally while hundreds of millions or more travel domestically, transiting from city to city. They embark on this journey for various reasons: specifically for business, pleasure, relaxation, enjoyment, education and more.

Over the years, the tourism industry has grown and is also evolving with leading tourism destination spots changing from the former assets-driven marketing to the strategic customer-centric marketing. This entails the selection of the best a country has to offer in terms of arts and crafts, science, cultural and biological diversity, beautiful scenery, rich and distinct history and people with diverse heritage.

These days, tourism has become the honey pot of most countries as they rely on it either as the major foreign exchange earner or as the main source of national income and in most cases with the revenue generated higher than those of agrarian countries. Worldwide, tourism generates about 10 trillion dollars, employs about 300 million people and about ten trillion dollars in terms of capital investment. Nigeria with the world at her feet as a tourism destination spot has the potentials of earning well over N100 billion annually, if well harnessed.

Genesis of tourism in Nigeria could be said to have began in 1472, when Lagos as a protectorate welcomed the Portuguese who came visiting for reasons best known to them. But then they could be described as the first set of tourists to step on Nigerian soil. Because according to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), “tourism is the movement of people from one place to another, either across national or international boundaries for some specific purposes such as education, business or even sports and immigration.”

With rich natural endowments, huge population, friendly people and good climate, Nigeria as a tourism spot has huge potentials.

Hence the world ought to be visiting Nigeria to see what she has to offer. With a population of about 150 million, 250 ethnic groups with diverse historical and cultural backgrounds, Nigeria is indeed a paragon of tourism. Sadly, however,

over the years, Nigeria has been unable to harness these potentials for branding and sundry developmental purposes.

Reasons for this are not farfetched, tourism industry analysts contend that Nigeria is perhaps blinded to her tourism potentials because of the petroleum resources available in the country which earn her trillions of naira every year.

Analysts also point to the fact that the average Nigerian does not know how to relax, rest or enjoy himself utilising the tourism potentials God blessed Nigeria with. But why do Nigerians fail to tap into Nigeria’s tourism endowments? Reasons for this range from poverty, economic survival, ignorance, non-appreciation of heritage, complacency and religious fanaticism. Given this scenario, only a few rich appreciate domestic tourism in Nigeria.

However, how can the Nigerian tourism industry become attractive to outsiders if Nigerians themselves fail to appreciate and patronize the tourist havens and facilities? How can Nigeria’s huge tourism potentials be explored and exploited profitably if domestic tourism does not flourish? Domestic tourism apart from it revenue generating benefit also plays a very vital role in destination branding.

According to the late tourism guru, Matts Da’Silva, “domestic market is important to any country determined to develop its tourism destinations with a view to penetrating the international market. It is a truism that globally, domestic tourists always outnumber international tourists in varying ratio.

“It is possible that local products can be developed to international standards by clustering very popular destinations or points and various festivals within the country, in conjunction with states and local governments where most destinations are located to form circuit for marketing internationally, thus

• A group of dancers at Calabar carnival

building the image of the nation as an international tourist destination”. This strategy will however work when it is driven through a Public, Private, Partnership (PPP) platform.

Already, some states in Nigeria are already utilising the PPP platform in the tourism sector. States like Cross River, River, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Kebbi, Ondo and the Federal Capital Territory-Abuja are in the vanguard of promoting domestic tourism for destination branding. Before it was recently rebranded as ‘Ipinle Omoluabi’, (State of the virtuous), Osun State was known as the land of the living spring.

The term, living spring was taken from the Osun River. Annually, the Osun festival features colourful display of the rich cultural heritage of the Yoruba people.

Also, the Osun Sacred Grove and Shrine in Osogbo is acclaimed locally and internationally as a favourite tourist spot. And the Osun, one of the pantheons in Yoruba mythology is regarded as the goddess of fertility.

Drawing tourists within the country and abroad, the Osun annual festival has for decades now become a veritable marketing tool to

position Osun State. Also, corporate brands like Grand Oak Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Coca-Cola Nigeria and MTN to mention just a few have partnered with the government to leverage the Osun as a tourist spot.

In Cross River State, the Calabar Carnival, the month long festival, which opens weeks preceding the Yuletide has become very useful in branding Cross River State. In fact, the festival has since it maiden edition in 2000 evolved into a big tourism fiesta, too big to be ignored by governments, private sector and the international market. Sponsors of the 2011 edition include Etisalat, First Bank, Dangote and Afromedia.

To underscore the importance of the carnival the state governor, Liyel Imoke said: “Over the years, Cross River has proven to be a flagship tourism destination, not just in Nigeria but also in the West African sub-region. This event remains an integral part of our tourism offering. As we celebrate the richness and diversity of our culture, we do not forget those in our society who do not have the opportunity we enjoy. This is why we hold charity-focused events as part of our festival activities.”

‘It is possible that local products can be developed to international standards by clustering very popular destinations or points and various festivals within the country, in conjunction with states and local governments where most destinations are located to form circuit for marketing internationally, thus building the image of the nation as an international tourist destination’

Although, it did not hold for two years, the Argungu Fishing Festival, which has put Kebbi State on the global tourism map is set to bounce back this year. The festival which also features motor ride competition before it went comatose due to some undisclosed reasons was a potent branding vehicle for Kebbi State. It was so popular as a domestic and international tourist spot that it got endorsements and sponsorship considerations from both private and public sectors.

Having realised the vital role domestic tourism plays in destination branding, Ondo State has also joined the tourism train with the unveiling of MARE, the mountain climbing competition in Idanre in December, 2011. Also, the Lagos State government has reinvented the Eyo Festival for which Lagos was noted for.

The one day carnival-like event often draws tourists from within the state and beyond. And it is often beamed live on television networks. The festival which was revived in 2009 drew huge corporate endorsements. In the word of Lagos governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, “tourism is being employed to improve Lagosians’ quality of life and Eyo is being utilised as a prime representation of the Lagos cultural renaissance.”

If Nigeria as a country and the state governments continue to invest in tourism at this tempo, in no distant future Nigeria will join the comity of tourism destination brands like Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi (Dubai), Kenya and South Africa. But before this can happen, it is important to stem the tide of Boko Haram terror gang and the twin evils of armed banditry and kidnapping.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

30

Brandnews NIPR Lagos to hold 24th AGM THE Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) hold its 24thAnnual General Meeting (AGM)/Public Relations Week on July 4.

The topic of this year’s lecture entitled: Public Relations and good governance: What synergy? will be delivered by the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), at the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) House, Ikeja at 10am.

The Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, will be the royal father of the day.

Activities lined up to mark the week-long event will start on June 28 and end on July 5.

Other events lined up for the week include Jumat Service (June 28); Aerobic/BasseyKoma Memorial Novelty Match (June 29); Thanksgiving Service (June 30); CSR, Ikoyi Prisons (July 2); NIPR LSC Youth Leadership Assembly/PR Essay (July 3); and African Night (July 5).

KFC launches snack

• From left: Corporate Affairs Manager, Cadbury West Africa, Kufre Ekanem; President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Prof. Ngozi Nnam, and Managing Director, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Emil Moskofian, at the event in Enugu.

Nobel Carpet rewards distributors

N

OBEL Carpet has rewarded its trade partners. It held parties for them in four key cities in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano.

The high points of the events were the presentation of the star prizes to five winners. They were Mrs. Adesina Olukemi (Kess Carpets) and Mr. Surajudeen Oladokun (Obokun Carpets), winners from Lagos and Ibadan, got a brand new Honda City and Hyundai Elentra cars. Sir R.C. Oforukwuga (RC Ofor Carpets) and Mr Tony Ogu (Tony International Carpets), winners from the Port Harcourt zone got a brand new Honda City and Hyundai Accent

Stories by Wale Alabi

cars, while Alhaji Lawan Abubakar (Beli Ventures Nigeria Enterprises), winner from Kano got a Hyundai Accent car.

Speaking at the Lagos party, Mr Kunal Malhotra, General Manager, Nobel Carpet and Rugs, said the firm rewarded the distributors for their support for the brand. He said the success the brand has achieved is hinged on the support it enjoyed from the distributors.

He said: “We are here to celebrate our valued partners who have proven themselves consistent and reliable over the years. Our brand, Nobel Carpet, is the preferred car-

pet and rug brand not only in Nigeria, but also in sub-Saharan Africa.

We can affirm that that this achievement would be impossible without the continued support of our distributors”.

Assistant Sales Manager, Nobel Carpet & Rugs, Mrs. Bunmi Odunoye, said: ‘‘We congratulate and celebrate with the distributors who have won the star prizes at this year’s distributors’ party, we are very happy to be associated with them and we hope it will continue to be a mutually beneficial relationship.’’ She reaffirmed the company’s commitment to producing the best quality made-in-Nigeria goods.

KFC has introduced a new “Snacker” to the snack-lovers and fun loving youths and people in Lagos and Ibadan.

KFC Snacker is a toasted sesame bun with one piece crispy strip, lettuce and pepper mayonnaise.

According to the firm’s Head of Marketing, Mr Vikram Varma, “people especially youths and students are tired of regular meat pies, hot dogs and rolls and are looking for something real. KFC, in line with consumers expectation, has a real snack which is affordable as well as great tasting.

In Lagos, Ayoade Ayo and Ayoade Sayo, said: “KFC Snacker has great influence on us at eating better and getting around our tight lecture schedule, moreover, it is affordable at the price of N300.”

Miss Ngozi Donalds, fondly called Pink lady, 21, added: “I start my day early in the morning with a pack of KFC Snacker, it sets my daily rhythm right.”

Firm kicks off weekend promo iSTORE Ikeja, Apple’s flagship retail store in Nigeria, has announced the commencement of its weekend super bonanza to reward its customers. iStore Communications Manager, Taryn Hyam, said the promo, which will run for six weeks, was designed to reward consumers who patronise official Apple products from the iStore.

“The Super Savings promo, which will feature in form of a whooping weekly deal on Saturdays for six weeks, will have a lucky customer buy a device and get great accessories worth between N10,000 and N150,000 to complement the original product purchased, that is the deal.”

“For instance, the deal for the first week is for a customer to buy a MacBook Pro 13 and get original SuperDrive CD drive which cost about N140,000 for free or buy an ipod Touch and instantly get an ipod Protector and TotalGuard or buy a third generation ipad at a highly discounted price, she said.”

The iStore spokesperson remarked that, only customers who buy official products from the Apple store will benefit from this amazing offer.

She enjoined phone and tech customers to buy only genuine Apple products through the official partner channels to enjoy rest of mind via product security, two-year warranty which will be honoured, world class after sales support from well-trained personnel, product set up and education, and speedy access to accessories and spare parts.

Sony inaugurates auto centre in Lagos

• From left: Managing Director/CEO, Precise Financial Systems (PFS), Yele Okeremi, guest speaker at the Digital Africa Conference held in Abuja, chatting with Group Managing Director, Bitcom, Biodun Omoniyi and Managing Director, Central Securities Clearing System Plc, Kyari Bukar at the weekend.

Firm holds training on oil and gas

O

PERATORS and regulators in the oil and gas sector have been advised to improve on their document control and management processes to guarantee business efficiency and stem the tide of corruption and inefficiency.

At a workshop by Young & Bailey Nigeria Limited,a leading document and electronic content management firm entitled: Document control and management: turning challenges into opportunities, lead paper presenter, Shola Adeola, an Information Technology manager, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, noted that docu-

ment control and management requirement is one of the most difficult and ineffectively implemented requirements in the nation’s oil and gas sector, leading to errors, delays, costs, poor records management and non-conformities.

Submitting that the relevance and impact of proper document control and management processes in oil and gas servicing organiations cannot be over emphasised, Adeola said lack of proper document control can lead to dissatisfaction of contractors, engineers and project managers, thereby resulting invariably in project failures.

He therefore challenged docu-

ment control managers in the various spheres of the nation’s economy to update their knowledge base as well as adopt cutting edge, world class solutions in order to protect the integrity of their organisations.

Managing Director, Young & Bailey, Joseph Munis, said his company organised the free workshop as part of its corporate social responsibility drive that is intended to help Nigeria and businesses in the country improve on their document control and management capabilities.

According to him, “As the Nigerian partner of Laserfiche and Idocuments”.

SONY Middle East and Africa has inaugurated a new state-of-the-art Sony-authorised Service Centre, Redington Isolo. The centre, located in Afprint Industrial Estate, reinforces Sony’s commitment to provide the best after-sales support to its valued customers in Nigeria.

Speaking about the centre, Shinya Mukaida, Director, Area Management, Sony Middle East and Africa said: “This is a proud day for the team here in Nigeria. Customers will benefit from the services, support and added convenience that we can offer with an enhanced network of Sony-authorised service centres across the country. These kinds of intensive and specialised services mean that our customers will receive the best support without any compromise in turnaround times.”

The centre is equipped to repair and restore a wide range of Sony products, such as BRAVIA LCD/LED TVs, Handycam camcorders, VAIO notebook computers, Cyber-shot digital still cameras and Network Walkman portable music devices.

Other Sony service centres in Nigeria include Sony Centre Victoria Island Lagos, Sony Centre Port Harcourt, 202 ABA Road Water Lines Junction., Sony centre Ikeja opposite KFC Lagos, Sony Centre Palms Shopping Centre Lagos, Sony Centre, Surulere Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall, Lagos, Sony Collection center, opposite Access Bank Alaba, Sony Centre, MM1A Airport, Lagos and Sony Centre MMA2 Local Airport.

Nokia 105 now available in Nigeria NOKIA has announced that the Nokia 105 is now available for purchase in Nigeria.

A successor to the highly successful Nokia 1280, the Nokia 105 features quality handset design, a durable, one-piece keymat and a long-lasting battery, making it ideal for first-time buyers, or for people in search of a reliable back-up phone.

The new handset is available in cyan or black and features a color screen, which makes it unique when compared to other phones at its price point Featuring a 1.45-inch true colour screen with a user-friendly interface, the single SIM Nokia 105 comes with productivity and leisure tools like: FM radio*, up to five pre-loaded games, multiple alarm clock capabilities, a speaking clock and the Nokia Life service for tips on education and health, as well as entertainment topics.

SHOPPING

31

THE NATION

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.net

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

Next Monday is Children’s Day, which will be celebrated worldwide.

To mark the day, schools and organisations will initiate various competitions and give prizes to outstanding pupils.

There will be special offers for kids in fun places including shopping malls, cinemas and amusement parks, all in the name of the day, TONIA ‘DIYAN reports.

e-mail: shoppingthenation@hotmail.com

Shopping@thenationonlineng.net

• Shoprite busy for Children’s Day

For a funfilled Children’s Day •STORY ON PAGE 32

Creating customer awareness

Traders seek govt’s help on road

Page 33 •Saved in Mac 27 - Shopping 2013 Folder - Shopping 24-05-13 Friday

‘Nigerian fabrics have taken the front seat’ Page 34

Page 34

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

32

SHOPPING

• Parents and their wards shopping for Children’s Day

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EXT Monday is Children’s Day. As usual, children will not go to school that day. It is another opportunity to celebrate children. This is time for them to enjoy special fun-filled activities, including parties and games. Special celebrations are held at shopping centres and amusement parks to celebrated kids. At home, parents shower their children with special gifts and treats.

Stores and markets are already stocked with more gift items for children than during ordinary seasons.

Indeed, it is a period that children become money-spinners for wholesalers and retailers of these items as they won’t stop restocking to satisfy prospective buyers including schools, government officials, orphanages, religious bodies and individuals.

Stores also organise funfairs for kids while their parents do the shopping. They have fun times with the bouncy castle, train ride, merry-go-round and gleefully watch their favourite mascots entertain them. Seeing children as the best marketing tools, retailers are persuaded to rent temporary equipment that would enhance their fun during shopping.

The celebration is certified by the United Nations (UN) to remind everyone about children’s right to enjoy their childhood without any borders, most importantly, to become educated adults in future. It is of-

For a funfilled Children’s Day ten deemed a tribute to childhood.

The 35th US president, John Kennedy had said: “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” It, therefore, goes without saying that the true essence of the celebration is to understand the significance of childhood.

Fun-filled educative and cultural programmes are organised for kids by the government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) throughout schools. Special television programmes for children are broadcast, as well as all kinds of fun activities to make the day memorable.

Parents seem to be more concerned about their children’s wellbeing; therefore, they are eager and they look forward to buying choice gifts that will keep lasting memories.

Some offer their children cartoon characters and greeting cards to express their love. For kids, it is a time to make requests and get it granted almost immediately.

There are also parents who are planning to take their children to orphanages with the aim of instilling precious values in them.

For example, a child can be encouraged to give away some of his clothes, shoes, toys, used school books, etc to other poor children, as this will help them know the real

significance of the celebration .

Mrs Folashade Akinremi of The Guest House, Ikoyi, Lagos said: “It is important to make every May 27 special for children. After all, children will not only remember parents for the material things they provide, but for the feeling of being cherished and how they are taught to share love among their mates.

“Children are like precious gems, parents should understand the significance of the only day set aside for them apart from their birthdays and make them happy,” said Mrs Mute Olori of the African Independent Television (AIT).

“Children are adorable; they are divine gifts that parents get from the almighty.

Their eyes are full of innocence. They smile when they receive love and admiration, they cry when it is their first day at school away from their parents, they giggle when they mingle with their peers, and they signify nothing but pure and faithful love. They truly symbolise God, therefore, let us as parents and mothers play our roles 100 per cent, said Mrs Modupe Shopeju, MD Delightsome gifts concepts, Gbagada, Lagos.

“Childhood memories are the sweetest of all, they can be savoured for a lifetime. Chil-

dren’s Day celebration is fun for the little ones but it is important for the parents too.

Every parent must understand the importance of Children’s Day. Parents should be well aware about the little desires of their angels, said Mrs Nnenna Azuka, Marketing Manager, UAC Restaurants.

Children decide the future of any country.

Therefore, if the children of a particular country are provided with proper foundation and development opportunities, they can uplift the nation towards greater prosperity. On the other hand, failure to feed and educate the children prepares to ruin all the expectations of any nation,” Professor Pat Utomi said in a television interview at the last celebrated children’s day.

Therefore, amidst all this pomp, we should not lose sight of the real message for children which is to provide them with a safe and loving environment to grow as well as give them ample and equal opportunities through which they can take great strides and contribute to the progress of the nation.

This day serves as a reminder to parents, to renew their commitment to the welfare of children and teach them to live by good standards and example.

Different strokes for different folks As the saying goes, fingers are not equal. While some parents are planning to give their children a swell time on children’s Day, others are thinking of how to pay their school fees. TAIBAT IDOWU reports.

B

UOYANT parents across Lagos metropolis have said unusual fun places are the best places to take children on their day. On the other hand, some parents who are not buoyant prefer to meet the basic needs of their wards instead. These needs include school fees, feeding allowance and so on.

Places such as airports, museum centres, National Art Theatre, amusement parks, zoos, beaches and many more fall into the unusual fun places category.

Mrs. Fathai Ajumobi is a nursing mother who noticed that her four year-old child loves memorable and unusual places and would like to visit one this children’s day. “ I intend taking my boy to a zoo in Badagry, he has always talked about visiting one. I want to make his wish come through. Even if I end up not buying him a gift, I am sure he will be contented with visiting the zoo to see life animals.” she said.

Mrs. Obi Adanma works with an alliance company in Ikeja. She told The Nation Shopping that she cannot deprive her children of the essence of Children’s Day, which is to show them true love. “I have two wonderful girls and I have paid for some gifts for them in advance. They both love cartoon characters as toys, and that is what I am getting for them: Barbie, Dora, Cinderella and the likes, they cost a fortune you know! But I am happy because my kids are simply going to have fun with these toys”.

For Mr. Kazeem Ayetoro, a carpenter, it is a different

ball game. He can hardly remember when exactly Children’s Day is. His children school fees which is unpaid is paramount. “If only I can afford my children’s school fees as their children’s day gifts , they will pray for me.”

Mallam Musa Dongo, a trader at mile 12 foodstuff market has a similar case. He is not aware of the celebration. His wife and children reside in Sokoto where he hails from.” I am not used to celebrating with my family, because I am hardly with them and I don’t know most of these things. But now that you have educated me on what to do for my children on their day, I will send them nice gifts through a driver friend who plys Lagos to the north.

For some parents, family outing on this day is more convenient, rewarding, fulfilling and affordable for them and their wards. Some parents mentioned that schools fail to give children tangible gifts that would be worth the children’s party fee the kids paid. Therefore they think it is wise to take their kids out themselves to have ‘better fun’ as they called it.

Mrs Funke Abdul Azeez, a house wife, is an example of such parents, “I prefer to take my children out myself, because all the children’s parties organised by their schools are not rewarding. I cannot continue to waste money” Yet for some parents, children events organised by schools are preferred. To them, such events gives

children a sense of belonging among their pairs.

Mr. Nek Uzur is the proprietor of Ernal International School, Egbeda, Lagos. He said his pupils are taken to media houses on excursion on Children Day and on other public holidays. “My pupils are taken round some media houses to be taught basic knowledge of how our media houses operate. What we do basically is to educate them as often as we can, public holidays are not an exception.” he explained.

Said Mr E=meka Oyenka, an accountant, Children’s Day is just like every other day to my kids as I am fond of making them happy all the time. I make sure my children visit Shoprite on Sundays unfailingly because it is the only day I don’t go to work. I devote it to them to make them happy. I also buy them their choice gifts regularly.”

Some parents who would be at work on Children’s Day being Monday also have something to give to make their kids happy. Mrs. Elizabeth Nkem is a radio presenter who would not fail to prepare sumptuous meals for her kids before leaving for work. “I will not be able to take my children out because I will be going to the office but I will not fail to make them their favourite meals.”

Mr. Chibuzor Kelechukwu said he will not be available on children’s day because he has a business trip to make and doesn’t know if his wife would devote time for the children. “My wife and I are very busy people and might not have the time to take our kids out on a Monday, we might decide to do that over the weekend.”

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

SHOPPING

Use thoughtful words

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GREETING card is the most common gift. It can be found almost around every corner.

People, including kids give each other greeting cards. As simple as they are, they are the most effective way of expressing feelings.

They are capable of expressing things that seem difficult to put in words. There are greeting cards for every occassion.

These days, gift shops stock them more, especially the lovely cartoon character types. Cards can be used to show gratitude and render apologies.

They are capable of expressing a wide array of emotions right from congratulatory, joy, celebrations to sympathy. Whatever may be the reason and season, you are sure to find a card that expresses the thoughts you have so perfectly and elegantly, that you end up wondering how the makers of the card knew how you felt.

Another major reason for the popularity of the greeting card is the price.

By Tonia ‘Diyan

Greeting cards are the cheapest forms of gifts. They come as low as N100 but they can also go as high as N5,000 per pack.

To celebrate Children’s Day, sales of greeting cards in variety stores have increased while those of card stores have decreased. This shift is as a result of changes in consumer habits, as people prefer to buy cards at the same store where they make other purchases.

Retailers who sell greeting cards tend to be at the forefront when responding to this shift in consumer tastes and identifying the latest trends.

Today’s shoppers’ feel the pressure of ‘not enough time’; they, therefore, want the right card in a convenient setting, displayed informatively so that the perfect card is easy to find while in the store. For them, convenience equals time. They also want value, which includes price, convenience, quality and brand.

• Children’s day cards

Why cost of production is high Stallion Plastic, a plastic firm in Lagos has attributed low sales to poor electrical power supply. It blames the epileptic poor power for its high cost of production, reports TAIBAT IDOWU.

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• Stallion company

ANY have embraced the use of plastics in their various homes, offices, shops and at parties, where they are used as souvenirs. Plastics generally are not only durable but affordable.

But, one of the country’s plastic firms, (Stallion Plastic) is faced with the challenge of constant power failure among other challenges, such as high tax rates. The plant manager of the company, Mr. Saka Akinbode said this in an interview.

He told The Nation Shopping that the company has not been able to achieve its mission and vision of being in existence “our vision is to progress beyond where we are today and to provide shoppers with quality, durable and affordable plastics. We planned to build more outlets across Lagos and beyond. But the challenges we face are enormous and they are destroying our vision. For example, we spend millions of Naira to buy diesel within a month, to help us produce. And after we strive to produce 20 tons a day, we hardly sell eight to 12 tons because our customers also complain of the poor economic condition of the country.”

Distributors of plastics within Lagos, are

Creating customer awareness The Interior Designers Association of Nigeria (IDAN) is offering shoppers quality interior designs for homes and offices. They are also offering a two-day lecture on safety measures to adapt while buying interior designs. TAIBAT IDOWU writes

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ETWEEN May 31 and June 1, the Interior Designers Association of Nigeria (IDAN) will hold its annual Home and Design Exhibition to celebrate World Interiors Day 2013. Venue is the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The president of the association, Mr Anselm Tabansi, who doubles as the CEO of Svengali, told reports that the seminar is to educate shoppers on the importance of safety in interior designing.

“This seminar is put together to educate people on some common challenges faced in this industry, safety in interior designing to be precise. We face an ever-changing design environment and only our knowledge and insight will help us continue to reduce work –related incidents, illness, injuries, and death,” he said.

The Lagos State Safety Commissioner, Mrs. Dominga O. Odebunmi, who was rep-

resented by the Head of Research and Development, Mr Akinoso Taiwo and the Assistant Director, Safety Skill Department, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr Yinka Adebiyi, said interior designers should provide alternatives to handle hazards by providing special training often and teaching people the possibilities of limiting hazards in interior designing. “The best way to ensure safety of any structure is to incorporate safety at its inception or design stage,” said Taiwo.

Mr Yinka Adebiyi, who also spoke on behalf of the Lagos State Safety Commissioner, said there will be continuous inspection on the standard of safety materials of every interior organisation. “It is the responsibility of every organisation to have safety materials for employees and users of these products. We will not get tired of going round organisations to ensure that safety services are up to standard,” he said.

•Home interior design

lamenting low sales as well. “We are not making sales after struggling to buy in large quantity with at least N50,000. Most of the time we contribute money among ourselves as distributors just to restock but we are usually not encouraged by shoppers who are expected to patronise us often.” said a Stallion plastic distributor, Mr Shina Bankole.

The company is appealing to the government to supply steady power for smooth production.

Talking about the usefulness of Plastics, pales made of plastic are better used instead of the old fashioned and out dated iron pales.

Mothers use plastics to pack their children’s lunch. Food vendors and eateries are also regular users of plastic plates with lids.

They come in various colours, designs, shapes and prices. There are plastic chairs, tables, spoons, hand fans, jugs, trays, bucket, bowls, etc and their prices ranges from N95 to N110 for the small sizes. According to Akinbode, a bucket of 15inches cost N110, 18inches cost N130.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

34

SHOPPING MY SHOPPING

‘Nigerian fabrics have taken the front seat’ • Diane Oputa, wife of Entertainment maestro, Charly boy and CEO Taakraacademy

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OW has made-in-Nigeria fabrics gained recognition in other parts of the world?

It took a while though, but it has now gone international and it is finally being recognised on the runway and in highbrow department stores. This is good news for those of us who have for years been promoting ‘Proudly made in Nigerian fabrics’ hitting the pavement and carrying our designs back and forth to the United States and England.

What value do these designs have abroad?

The appreciation for trendy Nigerian fabrics has always been intriguing to the international community and is the pride and joy of the designer to see their pieces on display or being worn by foreigners.

Why did you choose ankara and not any other material?

The bright colourful textiles made with graphics and motifs are designed into func-

By Tonia ‘Diyan

tional pieces that definitely add a twist to anyone’s wardrobe.

Today, Ankara fabric has taken the front seat in the textile community and is being used to design anything from home interior, luggage, clothing and now the latest shoes and handbags.

Where can one buy ankara products from?

Nigerian designers are showing just how versatile they can be. Labels like Adametu not only design shoes and bags made in Ankara, you can also find Adametu Exotic Jewelry in any African fashion store around you or on their web-site taakra.tv/jewelry.

For instance, Maria McCloy makes some lovely shoes with ankara print but decides to sell them in Jorhanburge. She sells them mainly on Sunday afternoons through MeMeMe clothing shop in Parkhurst.

‘The appreciation for trendy Nigerian fabrics has always been intriguing to the international community and is the pride and joy of the designer to see their pieces on display or being worn by foreigners’ How have you taken stress off shopping in Nigeria?

I have succeeded in establishing a totally innovative and the first of its kind, Retail Therapy Fashion lounge which was named after realising that the retail shopping experience in Nigeria could be stressful.

What is the rationale behind this therapy?

It is aimed at providing a comfortable shopping environment for customers who are mainly women, focusing on a few things women love: unique designs, good prices, quality shoes and good wine.

What do shoppers get at the therapy lounge.

It serves as a relaxation spot for shoppers, they could have a drink while shopping for exotic, yet affordable shoes.

• Diane What fascinated your shoe selling business?

The business side of selling my addiction was as a result of the high cost, yet low quality products sold to Nigerian women; I have also chosen to give a sense of freedom to women while taking them to shoe heaven.

Traders at the Afenifere Okota market also known as Century market are crying out for help as they attribute low sales to the poor road conditions. TAIBAT IDOWU report.

Traders seek govt’s help on road

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RADERS at the Afenifere Okota market are complaining that they are not making sales. According to them, the road leading to the market is deplorable.

Traders who spoke to The Nation Shopping said whenever it rains, the market becomes flooded because water from the bad road will flood the market and people won’t patronise them until the market is dry again.

Traders at the market said the bad road put off their customers even when there is no rain. They said the road is so bad and vehicle owners won’t want to damage their vehicles.

They would rather patronise neighbouring markets with good roads.

It is now difficult for the residence of Okota and environs to move freely as the road is blocked for re-construction but the traders said it’s been like that for some time now and nothing has been done about the situation.

Mrs. Ogechukwu Okoro sells fish in the market. She said when the road was good, she made huge sales daily but now the story is different.

“It is as if we are in a cage, everywhere is blocked. The road leading to Mile2, Festac and Amuwo-Odofin is flooded, thereby denying our customers access into the market.”

Mrs. Ngozi Okafor sells soup ingredients, she said: “I have lost all my customers, I sell perishable items, If I don’t sell some of them daily, they get spoilt and I will have to throw them away at my own loss. For how long will I continue like this? The condition we

are in is so discouraging and we need immediate help”.

The secretary of the market, Chief Adisa Olundegun, said the market since it existence for over two decades, is compliant with the

•Lagos motor fair and spare parts Expo at Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

directive of the state government. “We haven’t had issues with the state government in anyway, we are law abiding, we keep our environment clean always and pay our taxes from the little petty things we sell. I think we

deserve a better condition.”

However, the market stocks items, such as foodstuffs, wears, electronics, beauty accessories, baby items, utensils, interior decoration, home fittings and lightings.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

35

INTERVIEW

Flaws in alcoholic beverage adverts regulation Shina Loremikan is the National Coordinator of the Campaign Against Impunity, an affiliate of Consumer Rights Advocacy Network of Nigeria. In this interview with WALE ALABI, he speaks on the challenges in consumer rights advocacy in Nigeria. Excerpts:

W

HAT is the biggest challenge facing consumer rights?

One of the greatest challenges is that some manufacturers of consumer products tend to take the average consumer for granted in the delivery of their products and services, and this is linked to the fact that there does not appear to be a level playing field for consumers to determine what is best for them.

Hence the consumer space is narrowed since he or she is denied the information necessary to make informed choice.

For some manufacturers of consumer goods, it is business as usual if they can manage to muzzle their competition and prevent them from gaining access to the consumer’s attention, thereby denying him or her opportunity for making informed choice. The ideal situation should be that the consumer is the king and his or her ability to make a choice is sacrosanct, but the opposite appears to be the case. Some manufacturers behave as if the consumer owes them an obligation to buy their products.

Who is responsible for the anomaly? Are there flaws in the system?

It can be seen that the regulatory agencies have not lived up to expectation. They, who are supposed to be on the side of the consumer by guaranteeing that the space for choice is wide and free, give the impression that they are compromised. For example, one of the issues that have attracted our concern and to which we are running a campaign has to do with the way the advertisement of alcoholic beverages on terrestrial television (etc.) is being handled by the regulatory body. With the recent happenings in the industry, it is clear that the regulatory agency is sleeping. The regulatory agencies have been turning a blind eye on some brands that are flouting the advertising for alcoholic beverages in the electronic media while bringing the weight of their sanctions to bear on others – this is selective justice.

You can imagine a situation where two brands in the same sector err and only one is sanctioned.

As a group, we are not interested in big business in themselves, but on how their actions impact on the right of consumers. Why should leverage be given to one brand at the expense of its competition?

This restricts the space for consumer choice and can almost be posed as a question of human rights. Remarkable instances in this direction invite the examples of the Anti-trust advocacy, which has led to legislation, in the United States where big corporations seek to muzzle out their competition; this ultimately impacts on the consumer whose capacity to make choice is infringed upon, and he can only consume what is visible to him despite the availability of better alternatives.

Are you advocating a ban on advertising of alcoholic products or that the consumer space should be widened?

• Loremikan

Well, to clarify things, we are not campaigning for a ban on the advertising of alcoholic products, and as I said earlier, what we are concerned with is having equity and fairness in the execution of the laid down rules of advertising governing players whether big or small.

Recently, there have been reports in the papers about one alcoholic beverage company’s flouting of the advertising standards code on the advertisement of alcoholic products and the subsequent withdrawal of its advertising license. While we are not against the regulatory bodies carrying out their duties in seeing to the enforcement of the codes, it is disheartening to note that there are double standards in that one company is allowed to flout the advertising codes while others are punished for the same thing. This not only shows a skewed sense of justice, but, more importantly, restricts the consumer’s space for choice, which is our main concern. What we are advocating is one standard for players. Every organisation should have an equal playing ground to advertise its products and services and the system should not favour one over the other, as this also sends a very bad signal to the international community at a time when Nigeria is positioning itself for Foreign Direct Investment.

Can you expatiate on it?

We learnt from our investigations that the brewery was sanctioned for showing an alcoholic advert on satellite television before the stipulated period and was subsequently banned even after complying by taking down the said material, after being given a warning. On the other hand, our investigation revealed that a competitor’s brand also runs advert slots for one of their premium alcoholic brands at an even earlier time slot than the company in question. Now why should there be this sort of disparity in dealing with two companies in the same industry? This narrows the visibility of all the information required by the consumer and I believe that it sends out a very negative signal to foreign investors in that what we are

telling them is that they may not be able to play on an even playing field when it comes to marketing their products and services. The sad thing about this is that it is the consumer who, ultimately, bears the brunt of the negative effects this warped regime of information access.

Are you campaigning for the erring party to be sanctioned?

As a rights advocacy group, what we are after is fairness and justice. As it is said, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. We must be careful not to portray our society as selective in the administration of its rules and standards. We are saying undermining the code or giving preference to one company at the expense of the other does not encourage fair competition neither does it serve the interests of the consumer.

What are the issues involved?

Naturally, the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) makes the recommendation to APCON on who to sanction and without the suggestion of the ASP, APCON will not sanction any organisation. Therefore, it is pertinent to ask what the interest of the ASP is that would warrant them sanctioning one group, but turning a blind eye to the other. Does the head of the group have any vested interests in the advertising success of any of the breweries? If these are not true, then the organisation should show itself as an impartial regulator and take appropriate action against erring brands.

So, what are you doing to ensure that the double standards in the advertising of alcoholic beverage products is stopped?

That is the reason why we are campaigning. It is our civic duty to sensitise the public on the issues. First, we are educating Nigerians on the reality of the issues so that they can understand and also demand for fairness on these issues. We want consumers to speak out with one voice against injustice in whatever shape or form it appears. That is what we are saying. We are not against any brewery, company or operator in any way. All we are after is the welfare of the consumer. That is what the Consumer Rights Advocacy Network of Nigeria is after.

Any advice to consumers and the parties?

What I would like to say is that the consumer should be vigilant.

They should say no to unfairness in regulation and underhanded marketing tactics, especially when it comes to issues like this.

We call on the leadership of the Advertising Standards Panel to exercise transparency and equity in dealing with companies that flout its regulation. There shouldn’t be any favoritism in handling these matters. Nigeria has come up tops on the list of corrupt nations in the world and this recent incident does not help our cause in promoting the virtues of this great nation.

Y

OU have a right to privacy.

No other human has the right to deny you the right to privacy. No one, not even technology by any name, has the right to step on your right to privacy. However, if your right to privacy becomes an issue of public discourse, and advocacy group stepped in to defend your right to privacy, then your right to privacy is on the wane.

However, your right is your right.

Your privacy is your privacy.

Technology has its boundary, and by design or accident, it should not intrude on your right to privacy and by extension your right to life. The right to privacy is yours one hundred per cent. You can choose to do whatever you deem necessary in closet.

No one, no one, has the right to deny you the right to your privacy, unless if you are fighting the state and the society. However, then, even, prisoners have some sort of privacy. Likewise, the dead have privacy. The living has privacy too. There is no contest. On the one hand, your right to privacy cannot be guaranteed in a public place like stadium, cinema, conference centre or a classroom.

However, if any one or technology impinges on your right to privacy, as is the case with the advent of Google Glass, you have a right to stand up and scream! If you choose to shut up, some right advocacy group would rather take it up, and on your behalf, would shout on the rooftops, raise concerns regarding the intrusion of your privacy. Lately, privacy advocates are concerned that people wearing Google’s latest innovation, Glass - a wearable computer with a headsup display - may be able to identify strangers in public using facial recognition or surreptitiously record and broadcast private conversations.

Other concerns have been raised regarding legality of the Glass in some countries, particularly in Russia, Ukraine, and other post-USSR countries.

According to reports, in February, this year, a Google+ user noticed legal issues with Glass and posted in the Glass Explorers community about the issues, stating that the device may be illegal to use according to the current legislation in Russia and Ukraine. Concerns have also been raised regarding operating motor vehicles while wearing Glass.

To give it a bite, West Virginia State representative Gary Howell has introduced to legislation an amendment to the law against texting while driving to include bans against “using a wearable computer with head mounted display.” Howell said the primary thing is a safety concern, Glass headset, he said could project text or video into a driver’s field of vision, which is a potential for distraction.

He opined that since the youths are tech-savvy they tend to try new things. The youths, he said, are the most vulnerable and under-skilled drivers in the UK. According to him, many car crashes caused by texting and driving occurred mostly among the youngest drivers. “It was argued that the Glass and other similar wearable types of technology will create a world where ‘privacy is impossible’.

A London-based campaign group has warned that the “The Cyborgs” should be stopped while calling for limits on when the Glasses can be used - along with guidelines to inform the public when they are being filmed.

While speaking to the BBC, one of the campaigners stressed that their aim was not to bring about a ban on the technology but instead they want people to “actively set social and physical bounds

Glass, privacy and society around the use of technologies and not just fatalistically accept the direction technology is heading in”. That is the idea. Society watchdogs are there to ginger people’s consciousness to real or perceived dangers. And Glass, as it is designed right now, consists a perceived danger, as its usage might cause “distractions” to living and life.

On its website, the campaign group, formed in February this year, said its aim is to “encourage individual people to think about the impact of new technologies, to set bounds on how technologies are used (and) proactively negotiate their relationship with the future. We want people to be selective adopters.” The group’s website features downloadable Google Glass ‘ban signs’, which the group encourage readers to put up “to ban people from wearing the Glass to help “protect your privacy.”

Issues surrounding privacy in relation to Google Glass are being debated ahead of its expected launch date in 2014. The five-Point Cafe in Seattle has famously banned the use of the Glass posting a sign for patrons reading kicking will be encouraged for violators’ of the rule. Google’s co-founder, said, “We are putting a lot of thought into how we design Glass because new technology always raises important new issues for society. Our Glass Explorer programme will give all of us the chance to be active participants in shaping the future of this technology, including its features and social norms.”

For argument’s sake, the Glass could be useful in a case of hit and run mishap where a reckless driver knocks down a pedestrian and decides not to stop. In such a situation, if bystanders were wearing the Glass, they might record the scene instead of employing the smartphones. Later, the wearer would reveal the identity of the offender during investigation by the police. This instance and other similar situations would benefit greatly from usage of Glass. That is where it ends.

In Nigeria, Glass could turn out to be a weapon of blackmail. For example, if a wearer of the Glass has sinister motive, such as monitoring the movement of a woman, a wealthy individual or a child within an estate, street or other area with the purpose of executing dastard act, the Glass could become a weapon in the hands of crime-minded individuals. Any way you look at it, the Glass is another sure means to invade individual’s privacy, to rob innocent people of the right to private and decent living.

On the other hand, in the hands of professionals, such as broadcast journalists, secret service agents etc, the Glass becomes a miniature outside broadcasting unit, a surveillance tool and monitoring device. In the hands of politicians, the Glass becomes an object of blackmail, witch-hunting and invasion of privacy. Whatever way it is viewed, the Glass may be a masterpiece, but its usage raises several social issues, which the inventor needs to consider before the release date.

In addition, as Google co-founder noted, ‘society’ must accept the product and adopt it; but if it encroaches on the right of individual, the Glass may spend the rest of its life in the laboratory. Since no technology can succeed if the society does not accept and adopt it, every successful technology or innovation worships on the altar of societal acceptance. If the society turns against Google’s invention, the Glass will be broken.

*Editor - Wale Alabi *Consulting Editors - Rarzack Olaegbe, Sola Fanawopo * Correspondent-Jimi David * Business Development - Kenny Hussain * Legal Adviser - Olasupo Osewa & Co Brandweek is powered by Brandz Republic Consulting and published every Friday in THE NATION newspaper.

All correspondence to the editor - 0808.247.7806, 0805.618.0040, e-mail: korede2000@gmail.com © All rights reserved.

36

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

COMMENTARY

FEMI ABBAS ON

I

N every moment of frenzy there must be a pacific indication of tranquility. Such indication came to the fore twice in the past one week in Nigeria. One took place in Abuja on Thursday, May 16, 2013. The other surfaced in Ibadan on Sunday, May 19, 2013. Yours sincerely was a witness to both. At Abuja, an international conference was organised to further the course of peace by an international Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) called Global Peace Foundation (GPF).

The objective was to douse any prevalent religious tension in Nigeria by ventilating conducive atmosphere for peaceful coexistence of all and sundry. Thus, the leadership of the two Nigerian prominent religions (Islam and Christianity) were invited as the horse’s mouth from which the multitude Nigerian adherent of both religions could hear the sacred rhyme of interfaith.

Among the prominent personalities invited to the conference were His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa‘ad Abubakar III, who is the President General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) as well as the Sultan of Sokoto and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. Both are co-Chairmen of Nigerian Interreligious Council (NIREC). The facilitator was Bishop Sunday Onuoha.

Some other important personalities present at the occasion include the first Governor of Rivers State(1967-1975), King Alfred Diete Spiff, the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass; a one-time Governor of Imo State, Major-General Ike Umaru Sanda Nwachukwu; the Prelate of Methodist Church, Bishop Olu Makinde; the former Chairman of EFCC, Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu; a former Minister of State for Education, Hajia Aisha Duku; the former Director of Nigerian Arabic Village, Professor Tijani Almiskeen, a frontline member of the Nigerian Council of Ulamai, Barrister Muzammil Hanga; a onetime Editor of New Nigeria newspaper, Hajia Bilkisu Yusuf and a host of others including yours sincerely. The venue of the consultative summit was Abuja Sheraton Hotel.

His Eminence, the Sultan, could not personally attend but was ably represented by a brilliant and very articulate traditional ruler, His Royal Highness the Andoma of Ndoma, Nasarawa State, who captivated the audience with his unsurpassed eloquence while marshalling facts with figures. His submission was greeted with a very thunderous applause and overwhelming ovation. The opening remark he gave on behalf of His Eminence the Sultan became the main axis around which other speeches were weaved. Each of the speakers emphasised the need to de-politicise religion and tribal differences especially in Nigeria.

Global Peace Foundation (GPF) is an international non-profit making organisation intended to promote world peace and cooperation with the motto “One Family under God.” Established in 2007 by Hyun Jin Preston Moon, a son of the South Korean founder of Unification Church, Sun Myung Moon, the Foundation was originally called the Global Peace Festival and later changed to Global Peace Festival Foundation before it finally assumed the name Global Peace Foundation (GPF).

The International President of the Foundation is Mr. James P. Flynn who, in his welcome address, called the attention of the audience to the modern technological advancement which he said has turned the entire world into a global village but is unfortunately helpless in promoting global peace and tranquility among races of mankind.

While admitting that the current challenges of insecurity are not peculiar to Nigeria, Mr. Flynn asserted that Nigeria could however surmount those challenges if such vices as corruption, drug and human trafficking as well as tribal and religious conflicts could be effectively curbed through the utilisation of the modern technology for peace building. According to him, no nation can correctly claim to be educated and civilised through political or economic means to the detriment of

Femabbas@yahoo.com 08122697498

Summit for peace

•Oritsejafor

peace building and he concluded that only identification and respect for individual uniqueness can facilitate an identity of common humanity with one family under God. The summit was a vivid reminder of a historic pact which Prophet Muhammad (SAW) signed on behalf of Islam with Christian leaders from St. Catherine’s Monastery in 628 CE to facilitate peaceful coexistence of adherents of the two religions. The details of that pact were published in this column on March 12, 2010. But since they still remain very relevant the article may be recalled very soon.

New exco for Oyo Muslim community

I

N Ibadan, Oyo State, all roads led to the multibillion naira residence of Alhaji Abdul Azeez Arisekola Alao, the Aare Musulumi of Yoruba land last Sunday. Leaders of Islamic faith consisting of men, women and youth trooped into Aare’s residence from all parts of the state for a unique meeting at which a new foundation was laid for rebuilding the state’s Muslim Community. Present at the occasion were the Chief Imam of Ibadan land, Sheikh Busari Shuara Haruna III; the Chairman of Ibadan Muslim Community who is also the Chairman of Central Council of Ibadan Indigines (CCII), Alhaji (Chief) Mustapha Adebayo Oyero; the Iya Adini of Yoruba land, Alhaja Sekinat Aderoju Adekola; the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) who is also the outgoing Chairman of Oyo State Muslim Community, Alhaji Abdul Waheed Akin Olajide; the Ibadan Imamate in Council; the National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO); the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN) the collective body of Muslim Professionals; and a galaxy of other invitees from Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and Lagos states.

The occasion was meant for the inauguration of a new Executive Council for Oyo State Muslim Community. Prior to

that occasion, an electoral college (Majlisu Shura) headed by Dr. Daud Amoo (Alaga) was appointed to elect a new Executive Council following the completion of the tenure of the former Executive Council led by Alhaji Akin Olajide. The new Executive Council as announced by the Chairman of Majlisu Shura is being led

by Alhaji Ishaq Kunle Sanni the erstwhile National President of NACOMYO while the new Secretary is Alhaji Murziq Bidemi Siyanbade who replaces the outgoing Secretary, Alhaji Abdul Wahab Gbadeyanka.

The occasion was unique not only because of the seeming vibrancy in the formidable leadership of the new Council but also because of the Ummah’s great expectations from it. Alhaji Kunle Sanni is nationally known for his relentless Islamic activities and his unflinching dedication to the course of Islam innately and outwardly. He is the first national President of NACOMYO which he had jointly nourished to the national level with some other brothers and sisters in Oyo State. NACOMYO started locally as Council of Muslim Youth Organisation of COMYO which he (Kunle Sanni) lifted to the national level. He has since been in the frontline of Islamic activism both at the regional and national levels.

Today, as the Chairman of Muslim Community of Oyo State, Kunle has assumed a new posture that may create a new hope and engender new and higher expectations in the State’s Muslim Ummah. And he seems to be very much aware of this and he showed preparedness for it in his acceptance speech. In that speech, he remembered the occasion which brought Abubakr Siddiq to the Caliphate after his election by a shura following the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). He therefore started his acceptance speech using the same words that Caliph Abubakar used in accepting his choice as the new Chairman thus: “My dear people, you have made me your leader though I am not the best of you; If you find me doing well, please, support and encourage me; But I make mistake do not hesitate in correcting me for I am neither perfect nor infallible....”.

He then went ahead to make certain promises with which to allay the fear of the Ummah by stating that with the new Executive Council, a revolution was in the making for the administration of the Community during his tenure. “I can assure you with the support of our fathers, the Imams and the Muslim elders in the State that in sha’Allah this tenure will be a success story. We shall use our Mosques effectively as it is being done in other parts of the world Madrasah, Hospitals and Marriage Counselling and settlement of communal or interpersonal rifts within the Community”. The new Chairman of the called for the cooperation of Muslim professionals and thanked all and sundry particularly Aare Arisekola Alao whose incessant support has become a permanent pillar of reliability.

The new secretary is also like the new Chairman in dedication and commitment to service. His nomination, like that of the Chairman did not meet any opposition. The duo have thus become like a pair of scissors sometimes dwelling differently but firmly tied together naturally to jointly operate effectively. More than ever before, this is the time that the Muslim Community of Oyo State needs every one’s cooperation to remain afloat.

The Message wishes the new Executive Council of Oyo State Muslim Commu-

nity a very successful tenure and spiritual strength to carry out the assignment ahead of it with Allah’s guidance and support.

Nature’s voice

A

N adage in Yoruba language becomes axiomatic when the above narrations about peace conference in Abuja and inauguration of a new Executive Council for Oyo State Muslim Community are compared to the natural disaster last Monday in the United States. That adage states that though vulture and the monkey dwell in the same forest, their ailments are dissimilar and their cure remain dissimilar. While the vulture is bald on the head, the monkey is bald in the bottom.

It was another thunderous day of rage last Monday in Oklahoma, United States.

A terrible tornado jumped onto the stage of human existence and launched a devastating protest that put technology to shame. Residential houses, office buildings, factories, school buildings, animals, vehicles and even human beings were forcefully squeezed together into sheer rubbles thereby leaving human civilization in tartars. It was a disaster of no comparison. No one knew what the tornado was protesting against. But the frequency of its protest at that particular area of the country is an indication that nature is speaking a language which man is yet to understand or able to interpret correctly.

Moore, a suburban town of about 56,000 inhabitants in the vicinity of Oklahma city felt the effect of the rage most. The first memorable time a tornado of that magnitude voiced out nature’s anger was in 1925 when over 600 people weathered the storm with their lives. It has since repeated itself almost in like manners. But the most recent ones before last Monday were those of 1999 and 2003 both of which forced the governments of the area to begin again. The voice of last Monday’s tornado might not be loud enough to heard in all parts of the world but the impact of its 45 minutes action in Oklahoma area alone was louder than the combined noise that all European and American atomic and nuclear arsenal could make at once. With the occurrences of tornado, hurricane, typhoon, cyclone, earthquake and tsunami in different parts of the world, man is being frequently reminded that without serenity of nature mankind is incapable of causing or quelling any trouble.

At a Press Conference last Tuesday in Oklahoma, the Governor of the State, Mary Fallin said it was one of the “most horrific storms and disasters that this state has ever faced.” Based on the medical report available at that time, she put the casualty figure at about 24 but added that the figure could rise as over 230 people were said to be injured while about 100 others were safely rescued from the rubbles. But at the point of sending this article last Wednesday, the casualty figure had risen to 92 while many hundreds of people were still missing. No technology could stop the horrifying tornado from travelling at a speed of 320 kilometres per hour while covering an area of about two miles in its merciless surge. It is a confirmation that nature also has a way of putting man in check and re-shaping his destiny in a way.

For African countries like Nigeria which have no such experience, there is a lesson to learn. If God endows you with the kind of clement weather you enjoy, why must you subject yourselves to the wicked artificial deaths you are inflict on others through terrorism and other vices?

Can clemency be compared to disaster?

Life, even to nature, is sacred. For nature, taking it by any means is only a matter of inevitability. Whoever claims to be killing fellow human being in the name of Islam without passing through a legal means is surely an agent of Satan who must be condemned by all genuine Muslims.

The true picture of Islam was demonstrated in the pact which Prophet Muhammad (SAW) signed with the leadership of Christianity in 628 CE. Please, read that fully in this column next Friday.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

37

SOCIETY The sixth anniversary of Rhesus Factor Day Lecture/Fundraising organised by Rhesus Solution Initiative, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), was held at the MRC Hall of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO reports

Saving a nation’s future

O

NLY a few believed the organisation would stand the test of time when it was founded in 2007. Six years after, Rhesus Solution Initiative (RSI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), initiated by a businesswoman and wife of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Legal Adviser Mrs Olufunmilayo Banire, is waxing stronger.

Mrs Banire, who almost fell victim of the Rhesus disease, has taken the campaign against the deadly syndrome to many parts of Lagos.

Rhesus disease is an ailment which affects an unborn baby when its mother's immune system generates antibodies which attack the baby's red blood cells.

If such babies die in Yorubaland, they are called Abiku.

The babies can be saved if the expectant mothers get RhoGAM injections.

Last Thursday, RSI celebrated its sixth anniversary otherwise called Rhesus Factor Day. The event was held at the MRC Hall of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

The anniversary began six days earlier with Walk for Life.

Wife of Lagos State Governor Mrs Emmanuela Abimbola Fashola led eminent personalities including Dr Muiz Banire and Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Public Health Dr Yewande Adeshina to complete the 18-kilometre walk from Maryland to Jibowu and back to Maryland.

The awareness campaign was attended by no fewer than 500 people.

Six days after the walk, many of the guests converged on LASUTH MRC Hall for the anniversary lecture and fundraising, it was green all through.

Aside from the green décor, the organisers were in uniformed green Ankara fabric.

The event featured a lecture, blood donation and fundraising.

In her welcome address, Mrs Banire thanked God for sparing "our lives to witness this day and this event again this year. I must also register the point that this year's Rhesus factor day has been remarkable."

According to her, the organisation was founded to create and promote awareness on Rhesus Incompatibility and its associated complications, which contribute to high infant mortality and maternal morbidity rates.

Mrs Banire said: "We have adopted awareness, counselling, intervention, training, advocacy and research to achieve the set goals. In the area of awareness, we have visited churches, mosques, local governments, corporate organisations and pubic places to create awareness on the importance of Rhesus factor.

“By the grace of God and through your past financial support, we have donated free Rhogam injection to about 600 financially challenged rhesus negative mothers across general and private hospitals, primary health centres and maternities, traditional and religious birth homes in Lagos and Ogun states.

“At our office in Ikeja GRA, over

•Mrs Banire and Prof Micheal Bankole

•Lagos State Commissioner for Local Governments and chieftaincy Titles Hon Ademorin Kuye and Dr Adeshina

•Lagos State Commissioner for Education Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye and Secretary to the Lagos State Government Dr Idiat Adebule

•Lagos State Commissioner for Housing Hon Bosun Jeje (left) and Dr Banire

•Hon Ajibola Basiru and Mrs Modupe Olaiya

•From left: Mrs Grace Giwa; Mrs Mayowa Ikuforiji and Mrs Azeezat Tijani

•Hon Abdoulbaq Ladi Balogun (left) and Alhaji Musibau Oyefeso

•Hon Jubreel AbdulKareem

•Alhaja Fatimat Oyefeso PHOTOS: NIYI ADENIRAN

800 women who were referred to us from different health facilities have benefited from our free counselling. We have also trained over 50 volunteers and almost 500 traditional and religious birth attendants on the importance of blood group and Rhesus factor and all its associated details."

She thanked the Lagos State Government, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Mrs Fashola and many other individual and corporate firms for their support.

She described Dr Banire as her "wonderful husband of 20 years,

my soul mate and guarding angel."

Dr Adeshina hailed the organisers for the vision and foresight in selecting the theme, “Rhesus Factor Awareness: A contributory effort towards improving maternal and child health.”

Dr Adeshina said the theme could not have come at a better time than now that the government is in the process of scaling of laboratory services for basic tests, including Rhesus Typing, as part of its Primary Health Care

Revitalisation Policy towards improving child health and reducing maternal mortality.

She urged stakeholders to make Rhesus incompatibility a thing of the past, adding that they should emulate RSI founder and assist the government to provide affordable care to its citizenry. The government alone, she added, cannot provide free health for its 20.5 million population.

The guest speaker, Dr. Ann Ogbenna a Lecturer/Consultant Haematologist at College of Medicine University of Lagos/Lagos University

Teaching Hospital CMUL/LUTH, said in Nigeria, Rhesus disease contributes to the death of 144 women daily from pregnancy and childbirth complications.

Dr Ogbenna, said only two per cent of women are aware of complications related to negative blood group during and after pregnancy; while 94.3 per cent are not aware of precaution , if they are negative.

She said precautions must be taken to reduce preventable causes of maternal and child mortality from rhesus blood group.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

38

SOCIETY Daughter of former Minister of Agriculture Otunba Bamidele Dada, Omolade and her beau, Dr Adebisi Oluwaseun Araba, have got married at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, reports OSEHEYE OKWUOFU.

Their day of joy

•Parents of the bride, Otunba Dada and wife Yeye Omolade

•The couple Dr Araba and Omolade

I

T was a gathering of who is who. They came to witness the marriage of Omolade Adebimpe, daughter of the former Minister of Agriculture and Assistant Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Otunba Bamidele Dada and her beau Dr Adebisi Oluwaseun Araba penultimate Saturday. The parents of the bride and the groom could not hide their joy on the occasions.

The event began the previous day with the traditional engagement at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

It ended with a reception after the church service at the Oritamefa Baptist Church, Agodi, Ibadan.

Scores of female ushers in uniforms were everywhere receiving guests.

The guests sat quietly while awaiting the couple’s arrival. The couple was ushered into the church with a special song, accompanied by dozens of bridesmaids and groom’s men in colourful attires. They were was preceded by their parents.

Intermittently, the church choir selected songs from the hymn book directed by Dr Olu Onifade.

In his sermon, Reverend Kayode Oladele enjoined the couple to make God the third person in their union, and apply His principles always.

The cleric urged the groom to always love his wife, and advised the wife to cherish her husband.

Reverend Oladele said: “Firstly, marriage was ordained for companionship, help and comfort which husband and wife ought to share with each other both in prosperity and in adversity.

Secondly, marriage was ordained in order that the natural instincts and affection implanted by God should be hallowed and directed aright so that those who are of God and His estate would continue therein in lureness of living. Thirdly, marriage was ordained for the procreation of children who should be brought up in the fear of the Lord and for the praise of His Holy name.”

After the couple took the oath and exchange rings, the priest pronounced them man and wife.

Otunba Dada said:“We thank Him for His mercies. My daughter is the last born of the family, the baby of the house; we thank God for making this day a reality. We pray to God to bless this marriage and grant them the joy and all the blessings of a happy married life.”

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Olu Adeniji described the couple as a wonderful match and prayed God to grant them the joy of a happy marriage.

Prof Sunday Ajayi, formerly of the Department of Fisheries, University of Ibadan, who chaired the occasion, described the two families as rare breed. He expressed hope that the couple would continue with the values of their parents.

“I have known Otunba Dada since 1982 when he was the Federal Director of Fisheries and when he joined the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) where he rose to the position of the Assistant DirectorGeneral until his retirement. I rejoice with the couple and pray that God will continue to grant them joy and happiness in their married life,” Ajayi said.

•Groom’s parents Chief Araba and wife

•Amb Adeniji

•Gen Raji Rasaki

There was more than enough to eat and drink.

Female musician Queen Ayo Balogun entertained guests.

Among dignitaries at the event were President Goodluck Jonathan, represented by Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Oloye Jumoke Akinjide; Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi represented by the Commissioner for Lands, Mr Bimbo Kolade; former military governor of Lagos State BrigGen. Raji Rasaki; Chief Medical Director,

University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof Temitope Alonge; former Secretary General, Nigerian Baptist Convention, Reverend Ademola Ishola; Otunba Olafisoye Adebiyi; former Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Mr Richard Aisueseogun; former Director of Administration, FAAN Mr Adeniyi Ajakaiye; former Commissioner Accident Investigation Bureau, FAAN Mr Sam Oduselu; Chief Dayo Odutola and Chief Olasehinde Afolabi Ishola, among others.

VICAR, CHRIST CHURCH ANGLICAN, AGEGE, VEN CHRISTOPHER AYEJOTO MARKED 50TH BIRTHDAY AND BOOK LAUNCH IN LAGOS

•From left: Revd James Odedeji; Justice Babasola Ogunade; Ven and Mrs Christopher Ayejoto during 50th birthday of Ven Ayejoto and launch entitled Steps to Spiritual Growth

•Mr Bolade Omonijo, reviewing the book

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

39

SOCIETY The Kosofe Local Government chapter of the League of Chief Imams and Ulamau installed new Islamic chiefs last Saturday at Agape Place, Kosofe, Lagos. WALE AJETUNMOBI and BUKUNMI OGUNDARE report.

Reward for selfless service

Demonstrative Speech

W

HILE checking out some materials on the different

A

RAROMI Gbagada in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State last Saturday was a beehive of activities. The area’s League of Imams and Ulamau held its maiden Installation of Islamic Chiefs and Awards.

By 10am, the average-size hall of the Agape Place, the venue of the event has been filled with guests, who were clad in various attires.

The Oloworo of Oworonshoki, Oba Bashiru Oloruntoyin Solihu, added a royal touch to the ceremony when he walked majestically into hall with his chiefs and subjects, beaming smiles in his white regalia.

Leading the pack of the new Islamic chiefs is the Deputy Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Safiriyu Abiodun Sunmola, who was installed as the Baba Adinni of Kosofe.

Other recipients included Alhaji Muftau Ayinla Asiwaju Adinni; Alhaji Muftau Ayinde Fashola Otun Baba Adinni; Alhaji Musliudeen Aigoro - Otun Aare Adinni; Alhaja Muheebah Osifeso - Iya Adinni; Alhaja Hassanat Shobayo - Ameeratul-Muslimat; and Alhaja Bushirat Balogun Arowosadinni.

Also, an ACN stalwart, Alhaji Busura Alebiosu and his wife Alhaja Hairat, were given awards of recognition with Alhaji Safiriyu Oladepo, a shipping magnate, and Alhaja Basirat Akinsanya, a politician.

General Secretary of the League Imam Sherif Idris congratulated the awardees.

The award, Idris said, was meant to galvanise a generation of faithful that would play active roles in all fields of human endeavour.

Islam, he said, is not averse to any legitimate means of livelihood, but cautioned Muslims that their material acquisition must not make them derail from the path of the Almighty Allah.

Lagos State Governor Mr Babatunde Fashola who was represented by his Special Assistant, Alhaji Hakeem Kosoko, noted that the responsibilities placed on the shoulders of the beneficiaries were enormous, urging them to live exemplary lives according to the Sunnah (examples) of Prophet Mohammad.

He urged parents to inculcate religious teachings in their wards warning the youths against thuggery and hooliganism.

Pa Sunmola, whose philanthrophy him the honour, thanked the League for selecting him, promising to do more to uplift the poor.

He told the Imams to get a parcel of land for him to build a six block of classrooms for indigent students in Kosofe.

Speaker, Lagos State House

COMMUNICATE YOUR IDEAS

•Alhaja Aduke Aigoro and Alhaji Musliudeen Aigoro.

•Pa Sunmola

•Oba Solihu (right) with one the new chiefs

•Senator Ashafa (left) Hon Osinowo

•Alhaji Sherif Idris PHOTOS: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE

•Alhaji Adeoti

of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, promised to build four block of classrooms in addition to the six promised

by Sunmola.

Accompanying Sunmola to receive the turban were Senator. Gbenga Ashafa; Hon. Sikiru Osinowo, Chairman of Kosofe Local Government Area, Hon. Mikail Sofola, his

predecessor, Hon. Tunde Braimo and chairmen of Agboyi-Ketu and Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Areas (LCDA), Hon. Monsuru Durosinmi and Hon. Abdulfatai Oyesanya respectively.

Also in attendance were Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, represented by the

Secretary to Osun State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti; former Lagos Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Titles, Prince Rotimi Agunsoye, chairman of Surulere Local Government, Hon. Tajudeen Ajide, chairman, Remonic Manufacturing Company, Alhaji Mutalib Ogunnoiki among others.

types of speeches, I came across the demonstrative speech.

Demonstrative speech was defined (in those materials) as a speech that is similar to an informative speech, but which goes further to illustrate how to do something. I thought about this definition for a while AMODU LANRE OLAOLU (Ph.D) sospeak2lanre@yahoo.com. and then arrived at my own 07034737394 conclusion that demonstration can be a part of any of the five major speeches I mentioned some weeks ago; informative speech, persuasive speech, entertaining speech, technical speech and brief remark. Hence, it may not be necessary to put it in a class of its own.

The WordWeb Dictionary defines demonstration as a show or display. The dictionary also defines it as the act of presenting something to sight or view. Ok, I agree that not all speeches possess enough show or display to fall into this category, but then, that is simply the speaker's choice.

If we see demonstration as a step-by-step execution of a project before an audience so that the process can be learnt, we may be working by a very narrow view of the term. But if we see demonstration as also meaning illustration, then we will see that any topic can be illustrated, thus demonstrated.

Demonstration is one of the major strategies I recommend for any major presentation, particularly if it is a relatively long one. This will help to sustain the attention of the audience as well as ensure that your listeners get the gist of the presentation. There are, of course, several types of demonstrations in relation to public speaking. However, we shall limit ourselves to four: •Physical Demonstration: this is the type of demonstration that makes use of the speaker's body as its instrument of attraction. What I mean here is that the speaker makes use of body moments and gesticulations to pass across the message. I'm sure you are familiar with this type of demonstration. This is actually one of the most natural ways of demonstrating (if used effectively) because it flows with the information being passed across. Imagine a speaker delivering a career talk on carpentry. You may find such a person demonstrating the use of a hammer, saw, etc while the audience watch and imagine what the experience would be like. There are some speakers who exude such charisma that they find it difficult to stand at a spot while speaking. Such speakers tend to demonstrate their speech with their actions.

It is, however, noteworthy that not all speakers move around while speaking and not all of them demonstrate or gesticulate conspicuously. This does not suggest that they will be interesting or boring. A lot of times, it depends on personal techniques and how you apply them.

•Mechanical Demonstration: this simply refers to the type of demonstration that takes the audience through the stages of developing something. It may require the use of tools and devices or it may simply involve the application of principles or techniques in designing something. Whatever be the case, the idea here is that the audience is not only supposed to become enlightened about something, skill must also be acquired. Speeches in this category may include how to build a website, how to trade online, how to produce a movie, how to sing or dance, etc. Let's just say that most of the "How to do" speeches fall into this category.

•Dramatic Demonstration: this is an interesting one that you may not see all the time. The speaker introduces some dramatic elements into the speech so as to paint a graphic picture in the minds of the audience. Sometime ago, I made a presentation on peer pressure and self identity. To make my point clear to my audience, I asked for five male volunteers to step up to the podium. They were asked to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and sway from side to side. After keeping up the motion for a while, I asked the person in the middle to stand still while the two on both sides continue the movement. What we discovered was that no matter how much he tried, the forces on both sides were too great for him to stand. My point was that an individual cannot remain in a group and expect to be different. If he really wants to be different, he must step out from among them. In the midst of all the laughter and excitement, they got the point.

•Technical Demonstration: in this type of demonstration, the speaker makes use of technical aids to pass across the message. Demonstrations can be done using multi-media such as projector to illustrate the speech. Power Point presentations can also be used. A speaker may also choose to use a white board and marker. What matters is for technical aids to be used.

One way or the other, we get to demonstrate our speeches.

Whether we make use of some of the ones presented above or other ones, the most important thing to keep in mind is that the demonstration must complement the speech and not obstruct it. Everything must work together to help you achieve your ultimate goal, which is to communicate.

Dr. Amodu teaches at the Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ogun State.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

40

SOCIETY The remains of Chief Michael Obayemi, father-in-law of former Military Governor of Lagos State Brig-Gen Raji Rasaki, have been interred in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, writes SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN.

Farewell to ‘ father in a million’

T

HE late Chief Michael Obayemi, fatherin-law of former Military Governor of Lagos State, Brig-Gen Raji Rasaki, was as great in death as he was in life.

Chief Obayemi, member of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the Second Republic and a successful businessman, died on December 3, last year at 97.

His remains, in a transparent casket, were brought into Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, in a chartered airbus which landed in Christ’s School field penultimate Thursday for lyingin-state.

The remains, laid in state for a whole day.

On Friday, the remains of Obayemi were moved into St. Andrews Anglican Church, Okeila, in a silver coated casket for a church service. The interment soon followed at a mausoleum specially built for him inside Obayemi Estate in Adebayo area of Ado-Ekiti.

The deceased’s four widows, Felicia, Victoria, Rachael and Juliana Obayemi, sat on special chairs. They looked reserved and withdrawn. Clearly, in their late 80s and early 90s, they wore a uniformed Iro and Buba made of striped Aso-Ofi. His children over 20 grandchildren and great grandchildren, filed out in traditional dresses. They looked resplendent and beaming smiles. They were led by the eldest daughter, Evang. Ibiwumi Ebun, who with three other immediate siblings, including Chief Julius Abiodun Obayemi, Mrs. Funmilayo Ajibike and Fatima Raji-Rasaki sat on the last row of chairs next to their mothers during the service. They were also dressed in same striped Aso-Ofi. As early as 10 am, the church had become filled up, with legion of dignitaries and extended family members, including political and business associates of the deceased.

Amid songs by the choir and exchanges of pleasantries, the cleric, Rt. Rev. Christopher Omotunde, Anglican Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, mounted the podium and offered a message which extolled the virtues of the deceased and condemned the greed and violence which, according to him had become prevalent in the society lately.

Rev. Omotunde urged political leaders to observe limits in material acquisition, saying “life is a zero sum game, vanity upon vanity, all equals vanity.”

According to him, “what enduresin life are legacies of selflessness, patriotism, and commitment to humanity in all regards.”

Omotunde recalled the times of Chief Obayemi, the Baba Ijo of St. Andrews Anglican Church, Ado-Ekiti, noting: “he forgave all his political adversaries and eventually triumphed over them all. He died an accomplished man at a ripe old age.”

“Baba Obayemi had his properties destroyed and vandalised during a political turmoil here in the town and he had to relocate to Iyin-Ekiti. When the then Vicar, Bishop Awelewa Adebiyi, came here and heard of his great and noble deeds, he went to Iyin-

Ekiti to meet him.

“After much persuasion, Baba agreed to come back to Ado-Ekiti and rebuilt his properties. Funny enough, most of the people indicted by the police in the destruction of his properties were from this church.

“As a godly person, Chief Obayemi agreed that the matter be withdrawn from the court and he forgave those indicted and that did not stop him from continuing his support for the church and the people,” he said.

The reception held at the Christ’s School field was no less intimidating with about seven gigantic canopies each occupying a minimum of 1,000 guests.

The itinerant drummers were on hand to make quick fortune, singing praises and doing funny stunts with the drums. The Juju music maestro, King Sunny Ade, was also on hand to tickle the ears with his Juju music, drawing his hosts, Fatimo and her husband, Brig-General Rasaki to the dance floor.

Chief Obayemi's first child, Ibiwumi, described him as "a father in a million, one who cherished his children more than gold and silver, a father who doesn't like being cheated and would not cheat anyone.

Hon Raji-Rasaki recounted how she went "blank" on being told to write a tribute, saying this was "not because I did not have anything to say but the harsh reality of his being gone hit me and it hit me real hard."

She said: "Dad, it was your love which kept me going in those bleak times that seemed really bad. You always had an answer to every question I had, the right word for every doubt and the perfect solution to every challenging situation."

The deceased's first son, Abiodun, described him as "an icon and rare among men. Your life and times would remain an enviable case study and a good research material for the questing academic."

In an attendance at the reception were the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Arisekola-Alao; Chief Lateef Oyelade; Akogun Lekan Alabi; Alhaji Muibi Akanbi Yusuf; Former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi; Dr Rauf Masa, Ibadan tyre dealer, Alhaji Lamidi Ajadi and Hon Kabiru Adesokan.

There were former Military Administrator of Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti States, Rear Admiral Joseph Olaseinde; Rear Admiral Abiodun Olukoya; Commodore Kayode Olofinmoyin, Navy Capt. Atanda Yusuf, former Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose, his deputy, Mrs. Biodun Olujimi; Wife of former Oyo State Governor Alhaja Mutiat Ladoja and former ace broadcaster, Mrs Ronke Tanko Ayuba.

Others were the Senate’s Chief Whip, Senator Hosea Agboola; Senator Grace Bent; former speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon Moruf Atilola; former secretary to the Oyo State government, Alhaji Sarafadeen Abiodun Ali; former commissioners in Lagos and Oyo states, Architect Kayode Alison and Dr. Olu Alabi.

•From left: Hon Raji-Rasaki; Mrs Ajibike; Mr Obayemi and Evang. Ebun

•Alhaji Arisekola-Alao (left) and General Rasaki

•High Chief Lateef Oyelade

CHIEFTAINCY

WEDDING

•Mr Emma-Glory Olorunmola and his wife, former Miss Omolara Daniel during their wedding at Ore-Ofe Baptist Church, Ijumu Kabba, Kogi State.

•Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji (middle) with (from left) Adeboruwa of Igbogbo Oba J.O Fatola; Olubeshe of Ibeshe Oba Richard Ogunsanya; Hon Adebimpe Akinsola and Hon Muhibat Rufai-Adeyemi during Hon Akinsola’s conferment as Olu Omo of Igbogboland.

•Hon Oyetunde Ojo

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Friday, May 24, 2013

POLITICS

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

43

THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Senator Joel Ikenya was the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate in Taraba State in the 2011 election. He spoke with FANEN IHYONGO on issues affecting the state and the nation.

W

‘APC will uproot PDP in 2015’

HAT is your assessment of the PDP administration in Taraba State?

We are not satisfied with it. During the campaigns, we told people that the PDP has no people-oriented programmes and cannot deliver; that it has no vision or dream for the state and it came to pass. Today, we are in the second tenure of Danbaba Suntai.

So far, over N350 billion has been collected from the federation’s account with nothing to show for it.

We told the people from the beginning, that the PDP don’t have the masses at heart. Our hospitals are worse than what, in 1983 General Mohammadu Buhari said, have been turned into mere consulting clinics. Today, they are synonymous with people hawking drugs.

We are watching and taking stock of what they are doing, at the appropriate time we will respond. We said it before and I am saying it again, for posterity and our conscience.

What is the plan of the opposition in the state?

The opposition is working hard to ensure that the merger of the major political parties into the All Progressives Congress (APC) work effectively in the state. I am in Jalingo because of the membership card validation exercise for all the members in the 16 local government areas. I brought materials for them from Abuja.

They are working on them to put our structures together. On April 27, we had convention in Lagos to endorse the merger plan. We shall have the final rally in Abuja for all the parties to submit their registration certificates, so that we shall go ahead and empower our party leaders to do the final registration of APC as a party.

What is the prospect of the APC in 2015, if it is registered?

Our weapon and strength are in the unity that we have. We have understood why the opposition is being defeated. We are being defeated not because we don’t have the people but because we are divided. But this time, we

are putting our heads together to have a cohesive and formidable political party that will take over power from the PDP. Not just because we want to rule, but to perform better than the PDP; by developing this country in the interest of the masses. The confusion and infightings in the PDP are also to our advantage. We understand they are divided over the presidency and governorship interests in the states. Besides, there are other individual members of PDP who want their interests to override the interest of others.

Look at what is happening in Taraba State today. There are many camps in the PDP. We, in the opposition have learnt a lot of lessons through the democratic process. We are working hard to put in place a superior platform for people to come in, so that we can defeat the PDP in 2015 and deliver the dividends of democracy to the people. We shall continue to expose the failures of the PDP. If there was any magic to perform, the PDP would have made it happen a long time ago. It is about 14 years that the PDP is ruling this country and has not done anything spectacular. I believe the APC will uproot the PDP. How can the opposition prevent rigging?

We believe that in every process, there is always room for improvement. The opposition will mobilise our people.

Not only to mobilize the people; we shall educate them as well. Some of the things that happened to us in the last election were as a result of ignorance.

Some of us were asking for one man one vote but the PDP did not and does not believe in one man one vote. PDP believes in using the resources of the people to fight the people. In the coming election, our people are going to

•Ikenya

be fully mobilised as it is done in Lagos, Osun and Edo states. You can’t rig election in these states because the people are well mobilised and informed. Look at what happened in Edo State. Even some of the people who call themselves political god-fathers lost their polling units. I want to say our case is different here because of lack of mobilisation and voter education.

We are working hard to educate the people and we are making it in such a way that there won’t be any form of violence.

Do you have confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)?

When I look at elections in Edo and other states including those in the Southwest where INEC conducted election and the Labour Party won, I believe there is improvement. The only

area that bothers me is the judiciary. In 2007, when I ran for the Senate and won the PDP primary and my co-contestant overturned it, I went to court and it was quashed. I went to a High Court in Kaduna State and was given judgment despite I had never seen the judge. The man appealed, I didn’t know the judge, I didn’t talk to anybody, but I got my judgment. He went to Supreme Court, I didn’t go there, but my lawyer won the case. We returned to the tribunal sitting in Taraba, and the judge upheld my election. He appealed against me in the Court of Appeal, and again I defeated him. The judiciary then, under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, was wonderful. Unfortunately, in 2011 the judiciary changed. We have never found ourselves in this kind of situation. May be it is because of the new electoral law. On the part of INEC, I believe they have learnt their lessons.

What are your plans for 2015? Are you going to take another shot at the governorship?

If the parties merge, it is going to be the most popular party in the state. I will be foolish to think that I am the only one qualified to contest the number one position of the state in its platform. I will not dream that. I believe there would be many gubernatorial aspirants in the APC. I want to assure you that the APC is going to be very transparent, with internal democracy. And the primaries are going to be conducted by the national secretariat of the party. The party has credible people, people who are honest, people who are fair and people who believe that democracy is a government of the people for the people by the people. So, I am not going to impose myself. I am going to contest

‘We are working hard to put in place a superior platform for people to come in, so that we can defeat the PDP in 2015 and deliver the dividends of democracy to the people. We shall continue to expose the failures of the PDP. If there was any magic to perform, the PDP would have made it happen a long time ago’

but I will accept every outcome of the election at various levels, believing God that there wouldn’t be any injustice.

What is your reaction to the agitation for power shift in Taraba State?

We are part of Taraba and we are also indigenes of the state. We believe it is our turn to produce the next governor of the state. In the northern part, Jolly Nyame was governor from 1992 to 1993. He bounced back in 1999 till 2007.

He handed over the baton of power to the central zone, which produced the incumbent governor, Danbaba Suntai.

This means by 2015, the north and central zones would have ruled for 18 years. Therefore, it will only be fair if we are given the slot. This is a very serious issue and we shall ensure that power shifts to Taraba south. Some people are calling for a Muslim governor in the state. I share their views, in the sense that we also have Muslims in southern part of the state. If the stakeholders want a Muslim governor in 2015, fine, but he should come from Taraba south. We have prominent and well educated Muslims from the southern part of the state who have all it takes to govern Taraba.

How do you see the return of Nyame to the PDP? He consulted me but I refused to go back with him. I know how he fought for the survival of PDP in Taraba State.

During his administration, he fought all the oppositions. He fought to see that PDP won all the elections. We are all his products. During his tenures, I was elected member of the House of Assembly, member of the House of Representatives and also as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I don’t feel betrayed by his action. For someone who served the state for 10 years, and felt that the PDP is his brain child, I see no reason why he should not be allowed to go back to the party he nurtured. Nevertheless, Rev. Nyame is still respected by the opposition. He is the father of all.

Special Assistant to the Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun on Political Affairs Adeniji Adesanya spoke with MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE on activities of the administration.

Amosun won’t be distracted by idle talks, says aide

•Adesanya

H

OW WOULD you react to the claims that Governor Ibikunle Amosun cannot foster unity in the Ogun State ACN? First and foremost, I would not have bothered to discuss this issue because it is baseless and jaundiced. But let me say that we all know who Senator Ibikunle Amosun is. He stands for integrity, progress and welfarism. Governor Amosun has ensured that Ogun State is renewed from the old dilapidated structures to a modern state, which we have all been clamouring for. The governor is working but idle

minds will not see the positive impact the government is making in the lives of the people. And he will not be distracted by idle talks by anybody.

Even before becoming a senator, he was all over the place in his generosity. Governor Amosun has ensured that every citizen, irrespective of political leaning, benefits from his government.

Kayode Soyinka also said that the governor is more of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Nigerian People Party (ANPP) than the ACN. What is your take on this claim?

Let me tell you that winner takes it all. Politics is about the game of number. Kayode Soyinka cannot win an election in his bedroom, much more at the ward level. Governor Amosun is a grassroots man. His winning the election simply shows that he belong to the people. When you go to the market places, the artisans and other less privileged people at the grassroots, the governor is in their minds. They love him and have been praying for him because of his developmental strides. The massive infrastructural development going on across the state is done to make life meaningful for the people who voted

for him. Anywhere he goes, the people troop out to welcome him. Kayode is a true son of Ogun, he should not have said all those things about the governor. So, let me pass this message across to him, that: if he is not busy, he should find something to do to keep himself busy. The people that are busy are the ones seeing the things Governor Amosun is doing. He should support what the government is doing and not to sit down somewhere and be saying what does not exist, that Amosun cannot run a united ACN because he does not belong. Who told him that the governor does not belong? Give it to him, even the likes of our very good friend, the late Dipo Dina trusted Governor Amosun and he knew that the governor could deliver. So, if he is being paid to do a dirty job, he should desist from that and find himself something better to do. If he wants to live under the disguise of preaching negative things to the society, I think that is not good enough. It shows that he is not busy and should find something to do. The last time I heard about him was long ago when he was begging to be part of ACN and he lost. He cannot be compared with Governor Amosun, who is a winner all day

round.

The PDP in the state is fractured.

Don’t you have the fear that the enemies of the ACN could also instigate division in the party to cause disaffection?

If there are divisions in PDP, it has to be so because it is not a progressive party. It is not a party the people want for the state. And we have a progressive government of the ACN in place and it is doing fine. I think what the governor is doing is giving some people some concern because they have been overwhelmed by the achievements of the ACN led administration. If the PDP has any ambition, they should go and throw it into the ocean, with the massive developments going on all over the state, it would be foolhardy for them to think that they can make inroad back to relevance, when they had frittered away such opportunities in the past. The ACN is performing wonders. Just think of it, is it in the rural transformation, empowerment, health or education? They should just bury their dream. For us, we are not going to look back, the energetic governor has promised to make life better for the

people and that is what the government is all out to achieve and no amount of side comments or lame talk will make government lose focus. The giant strides recorded by governor Amosun have earned him lots of commendations and awards.

Government’s developmental plan has led to the pulling down of private structures in the state. Have those affected been compensated?

Governor Amosun is a man of integrity. If he says something he does it. He is not somebody that promises something and later changes his mind.

I want to let you know that, before he went to the streets to pull down structures that obstruct public interests, there have been alternatives for their owners. So, if he has not been doing something to address whatever deficit they suffered, I don’t think government house would have known peace.

The whole place would have been jam-packed with people protesting.

But let me tell you that some people are just hiding somewhere out of envy to cause disaffection by saying that the government does not really bothered how the people are affected in view of the transformation going on in the state.

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EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMA RY AS AT 23-05-13

‘Why Dangote Cement is re-investing’ •Profit-taking cuts N251b from equities

C

HAIRMAN, Dangote Cement Plc, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, yesterday explained that the board of directors of the company decided to pay dividend per share of N3 out of the earnings per share of N8.92 recorded in the 2012 business year because of the need to plough back funds into expansion programmes aimed at fast-tracking and securing future growth.

Speaking at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the company in Abuja yesterday, Dangote said the company was conserving funds for its expansion project.

He assured the shareholders that given the huge investments the company is making on expansion within and outside Nigeria; profitability will improve and lead to more dividends for shareholders in the future.

According to him, the company would on Monday lay foundation for a cement plant in Tanzania, while two additional plants would be inaugurated in Nigeria next year.

He noted that the company had commenced exportation of cement to Ghana in March as part of its strategy to further exploit the opportunities in the West African sub-region. He assured that the company was clearly on the right

By Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

path and was poised for improved performance in 2013.

“The future remains bright for us as we fast-track our expansion projects both within and outside the country. The ban on the importation of cement has opened a new vista of opportunity for local manufacturers who are expected to reap the inherent benefits soon,” Dangote said.

Audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2012 showed a profit after tax of N149.632 billion as against N120.952 billion in 2011. The gross dividend of N51 billion, represented a dividend per share of N3, 140 per cent higher than the N1.25 paid for the 2011 business year.

Meanwhile, investors sought to monetise recent substantial gains by several stocks yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), tilting the market’s balance to the negative.

Besides the preponderance of losers to gainers at 36 to 29, the market position was largely affected by losses suffered by highly capitalised stocks such as Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries and Unilever Nigeria.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped

by N251 billion to close at N11.659 trillion. It had opened at N11.910 trillion.

The All Share Index (ASI), the common index that tracks all equities on the NSE, also dwindled from 37,259.91 points to 36,472.43 points.

Dangote Cement led the losers with a dip of N14.70 to close at N171.30. Unilever Nigeria followed with a loss of N7.40 to close at N68.60.

Nigerian Breweries fell by N3.03 to close at N170.

Okomu. Okomu Oil Palm placed fourth with a loss of N2.30 to close at N49.50 while MRS Oil and Gas lost N1.80 to close at N16.20.

However, market’s highest-priced stock, Nestle Nigeria moved closer to the fourdigit price mark yesterday with a gain of N24 to close at N987 per share. Cadbury Nigeria placed second on the gainers’ list with addition of N5.33 to close at N58.68. CAP rose by N2.49 to close at N65.

Julius Berger Nigeria gathered 88 kobo to close at N55.88 while Guaranty Trust Bank chalked up 80 kobo to close at N28.80 per share.

Market’s turnover remained above average as investors showed keen interests in Zenith Bank Plc. Total turnover stood at 429.18 million shares valued at N5.73 billion in 6,404 deals. Banking stocks altogether accounted for 253.8 million shares valued at N2.85 billion in 2,472 deals. Zenith Bank was the most active stock with a turnover of 56.40 million shares valued at N1.25 billion in 390 deals.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 23-05-13

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

MONEY LINK

Fed Govt spends N700b on security in four months, says Sanusi T

HE Federal Government spent a whopping N700 billion on security between 31 December 2012 and 30 April this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said.

The disclosure of the huge funds pumped into the security came hours after Sanusi explained why the apex bank had to refinance and restructure the N3.6 trillion Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) bonds in its custody maturing in December.

The CBN Governor said the apex bank had been under pressure to reduce interest rate but that is becoming increasingly difficult with increasing government expenditure.

Sanusi spoke this yesterday at a National Risk Management Conference held in Lagos.

Boko Haram, an Islamic splinter fundamentalist group, which has being active since 2009, is estimated to have killed 4,000 people in the country. This has raised the amount spent on security.

•N2t expended this year

Stories by Collins Nweze

He also said that the government reduced its savings in the CBN through the commercial banks by N1.4 trillion and has spent over N2 trillion in four months.

The Governor said the CBN is not against the state of emergency in the three northern states-Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, but is worried that the process will cost money and all these make it difficult for the apex bank to reduce interest rate.

“We need to increase savings from excess crude account and other government savings. We have been under a lot of pressure to reduce interest rate,” he said.

Explaining the reason for the refinancing of AMCON, he said the shallowness of the Nigerian Stock Ex-

rescued banks by AMCON and a lot of those capitals of the rescued banks were already depleted. AMCON did not just purchase the non-performing loans from the banks, but decided to inject fresh funds into the banks and is now in the process of recovering the loans.”

He said AMCON is also committed to filling the holes that existed in the rescued banks.

“We do know that by buying so much non-performing loans from banks, AMCON constituted a big risk.

But the question is how we manage that risk. Today, AMCON has bonds worth N5.7 trillion,” he said.

He said that many of the banks that bought the bonds from AMCON did so when the interest rate was very low, about seven per cent. However, by the time the recapitalisation of the banks was done, interest rate had moved up by about 900 basis points.

He said had AMCON not intervened, the impact of that would have been erosion of assets of those banks, and that would have brought them back to where they were before the reforms.

He said the CBN has N3.6 trillion of the N5.7 trillion that AMCON has to pay back out of which N1.7 trillion will be refinanced by December this year and about N4 trillion at the end of next year.

He said: ”The option is to raise new bond at the domestic capital market. But AMCON cannot raise N4 trillion in the Nigeria capital market between 2013 and 2014.

There is not enough money there to do that. The model did not work. At current interest rate of 13 to 14 per cent, there is no way AMCON is going to raise the money in 10 years

change (NSE) and the need to avoid currency risks associated with the issuance of bonds at the international market, were the compelling factors behind the decision.

He said the CBN does not want AMCON to offer the bonds at the international market, so as to avoid currency risks and reduce concerns for rising foreign debt.

The Governor said the process of refinancing and restructuring requires that AMCON will issue a N3.6 trillion bond to the CBN at a coupon of six per cent.

The CBN boss regretted that the Nigeria Capital Market lacks the capacity to raise the needed funds to redeem the AMCON bonds maturing by December.

He said: “There were near zero recovery on the recpitalisation of

AMCON moves to divest from Enterprise Bank

T

HE Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is searching for financial advisory and law firms that would guide the divestment of its shareholding in one of the bridged banks -Enterprise Bank Limited.

In a statement, the AMCON Managing Director, Mustafa Chike-Obi said proposals are expected from Investment banks and qualified international financial adviser to provide financial and transactional advisory services towards the divestment of its entire shareholding in the bank.

The Corporation also invited law

•Corporation seeks advisers, law firms for lender firms to respond to its request for proposals to act as Legal Adviser to the divestment of its equity stake in Enterprise Bank.

However, interested advisers must have demonstrable experience in similar transactions; have recommended transaction approach; experienced team members; must be deadline oriented; have proposed fee structure and address any potential conflicts of interest.

The application commences on Monday, May 27, while all applications must be received on or be-

fore June 7, 2013.

Chike-Obi said such advisers must not be registered by the Nigerian Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to provide this function. However, the interested firms must form a consortium with an SEC registered Issuing House.

He explained that in August 2011, AMCON was invited by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to capitalise three Bridge Banks it had created, namely Mainstreet Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited and Enterprise Bank Limited.

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 350m 150m 350m 138m 350m 113m

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

NIDF NESF

OBB Rate Call Rate

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

GAINERS AS AT 23-05-13

SYMBOL AGLEVENT CADBURY COSTAIN NAHCO CCNN DANGSUGAR UNITYBNK NASCON CAP RTBRISCOE

O/PRICE 1.70 53.35 1.24 7.13 10.30 8.61 0.67 12.48 62.51 1.62

C/PRICE 1.87 58.68 1.36 7.70 10.99 9.15 0.71 13.07 65.00 1.68

CHANGE 0.17 5.33 0.12 0.57 0.69 0.54 0.04 0.59 2.49 0.06

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD NGN GBP

147.6000 239.4810

149.7100 244.0123

150.7100 245.6422

-2.11 -2.57

NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change (S/N) Parallel Market

212.4997

207.9023

209.2910

-1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

153.0000

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 11.8%

O/PRICE

MRS UNILEVER PAINTCOM CUTIX JOSBREW CHAMPION DANGCEM STERLNBANK WAPIC ETERNA

18.00 76.00 1.54 2.12 1.23 4.78 186.00 2.85 0.94 3.90

C/PRICE 16.20 68.60 1.40 1.93 1.13 4.40 171.30 2.65 0.88 3.66

CHANGE 1.80 7.40 0.14 0.19 0.10 0.38 14.70 0.20 0.06 0.24

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m 113m

Exchange Rate (N) 155.2 155.8 155.7

Date 2-7-12 27-6-12 22-6-12

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

LOSERS AS AT 23-05-13

SYMBOL

unless we double or triple the levy on the banks.

“It was a difficult thinking process and we decided to ask: How much can AMCON pay in December? If AMCON stretches itself, it can pay off N800 billion to N1.1 trillion, which is enough to pay off every holder of AMCON bond maturing in December 2013 other than the CBN.” He said the AMCON has been advised to pay off all other bond holders

by December this year except the CBN. Sanusi said the CBN worked on the existing balance sheet of banks, looking at 0.5 per cent of the balance sheets, and assumed a growth rate of about 20 per cent to see how AMCON can be supported.

He said that with this level of cash flow from the banks, the maximum lending rate that AMCON can comfortably pay back all its loans over a period of time is between five to six per cent.

Sanusi said that of the $12 billion portfolio inflows that came into the country last year, $9 billion came in through one bank.

He assured investors that the funds are real money and not hot money as speculated. He said the CBN is aware of how the inflows from offshore come in and go out of the country.

DATA BANK

FGN BONDS Tenor

•Sanusi

Offer Price

Bid Price

ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH 9.17 9.08 KAKAWA GUARANTEED 1.00 1.00 STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE INVE 142.11 141.62 AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 157.84 156.84 LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL 0.80 0.78 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.15 1.15 BGL NUBIAN FUND 1.08 1.07 FBN MONEY MARKET FUND 100.00 100.00 FBN FIXED INCOME FUND 1,000.00 1,000.00 NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. 1,814.65 1,806.71 PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND 14.39 13.69 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 1.33 CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST 1.87 1.80 STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY 11,767.22 11,419.33 • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUNDARM AGGRESSIVE

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

56

CITYBEATS 'Emergency rule'll yield fruits’ Lebanese 'abducts' sister for N100m ransom ‘The only regret I A have is that I did it

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

Biodun-Thomas Davids

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan's emergency declaration in three northern states - Borno, Yobe and Adamawa - last week, will prevent Boko Haram insurgents from overrunning the machinery of government in the affected states.

The view was expressed by the President/Chairman of Council, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), Mr. Teslim Busari, at the 39th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Institute in Lagos.

He said: "The steps taken by the President through this emergency rule will not allow government machinery in the three states to be hijacked by terrorists. We thank President Jonathan for wielding this big stick to further prevent loss of lives and property in these states and other states where the sect is planning to unleash terror."

"The emergency rule will definitely work because it will lead to restriction of movements in the affected areas. And when people's movements are restricted, the activities of these terrorists will be well-monitored and curtailed; this will further prevent bloodshed."

Busari added: "The President has acted well by declaring emergency rule in the three states. This is because the activities of Boko Haram have remained a national nightmare despite the federal government's gesture of amnesty offer and the planned dialogue with the insurgents."

He also frowned at the nation's rising debt profile, saying that there is nothing bad in securing foreign loans.

He, however, urged the federal government to ensure that such loans are used for providing people-oriented developmental projects.

Simba trains in Oyo, Adamawa

By Mercy Michael

THE Simba Group, distributor of luminous inverters in Nigeria, has extended its free training events for inverter technicians to Yola, Adamawa State, and Ibadan, Oyo State. The events, tagged, Simba Service Kamps, were held at the Group's new regional offices. The training programmes are part of the group's initiative, launched four years ago, to educate the industry on inverter service needs, and help ease the way for aspiring individuals to join the trade.

Inverters have become 'must-have' products for homes and offices. They store electricity in batteries when power is available from the grid, and allow users to use electricity when power goes off.

The group's Head of Service, Mr. KJ Anil, said the free training was necessary to make sure there are qualified hands to install and service Luminous Inverters all over Nigeria.

Glo X Factor holds audition

GLOBACOM, sponsors of X Factor, the world's biggest singing reality TV show, has announced that the last audition to select aspiring singers who will compete for Globacom's N24 million prize money for X Factor will be held in Lagos on Saturday and Sunday at Dream Studio,1, Bamako Street, Omole Estate, Ojodu, between 9 am and 3 pm Globacom added that on Wednesday, next week, the X Factor judges, including popular rapper M.I, Ghana's Reggie Rockstone and veteran singer Onyeka Onwenu, will pick winners from the thousands of contestants expected to compete opportunity to be part of the next stage of the competition.

Winners at the Lagos audition will join other talented singers who made it from the auditions held in Port Harcourt and Abuja as well as in Kumasi and Accra in Ghana. They will move into the Booth Camp which will open on June 3.

LEBANESE, Mohammed Dannawi (23) and a Nigerian, Obi Kwentua (37), have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command over an alleged kidnap.

The victim, said to be Dannawi's sister, was not only allegedly abducted for a N100 million ransom; the suspects allegedly kidnapped her as a punishment for an offence she allegedly committed against Dannawi about five years ago.

Dannawi is a supervisor in his sister's hotel, Cool Cat, located on Abule Nla Road, Ebute-Metta, Lagos Mainland, while Kwentua is said to be a friend of the family.

They were paraded at Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, yesterday, by the Command's spokesperson, Ngozi Briade, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP).

Narrating his involvement in the kidnap saga, Dannawi told reporters: "I called Obi and told him that I wanted to kidnap my sister, Essa, a widow who owns the hotel where I work. Kwentua introduced me to T Boy who said he would do the job. I told him that I wanted my sister to be kidnapped and kept away for six

under the influence of cocaine because my sister had been bitter with me for taking hard drugs. Beg her to forgive me’

By Jude Isiguzo and Ebele Boniface

days to teach her a lesson for the evil she did to me five years ago. I did not ask them to demand ransom because we had already agreed on how much I was to pay them for the job.

"Unfortunately, police operatives got hint of the deal and tracked us down. The only regret I have is that I did it under the influence of cocaine because my sister had been bitter with me for taking hard drugs. Beg her to forgive me. That was the small prob-

Couple seized for allegedly selling children

T

HE police in Lagos have arrested a couple for allegedly stealing and selling babies.

The state Police Command's spokesperson, Ngozi Briade, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), paraded the suspects yesterday.

She said they were arrested by Special Anti-Robber Squad (SARS) operatives.

The lady, Adaeze Mba, 23, said her husband, Chibeze Mba, were said to be in the business in connivance with Mrs. Benedicta Ogbonna, an alleged child trafficker and owner of a motherless babies' home in Onitsha, Anambra State.

The couple was arrested for stealing and selling three children belonging to other persons.

One of the babies they allegedly

•Permanent Secretary, office of Environment Services, Hakeem Adeniyi Ogunbambi, planting a commemorative tree to celebrate his birthday at the Secretariat, Alausa, Ikaja ... yesterday

• Dannawi and Obi ... yesterday

lem I had with her that pushed me to plan her abduction. Tell her that I am sorry."

Kwentua, who confessed that Dannawi introduced him to T Boys, said: "I contacted T Boy who brought five of his gang members to carry out the job. Later, Dannawi reported to the police that his sister was missing, adding that he suspected that she had been kidnapped. He urged them to help him find her. The report got to SARS and we were arrested. His sister stayed only five days with us and it was in the same

building housing the hotel that the woman was kept."

Braide said: "On May 2, a Lebanese woman, Alhaja Essa Dannawi (61), was kidnapped from her home, 40, Abule Nla Road, Ebute Metta West.

After the matter was reported, the case was transferred to SARS, Ikeja by the Area Commander in Charge of Area 'C' on May 6. The Officer in Charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent (SP) had an extensive interview with a relation of the victim from whom useful information was gathered. Mohammed Dan-

By Jude Isiguzo and Ebele Boniface

stole and sold for N400, 000, was the three-month-old.

Another child, Stanley Esiaka, now four, was allegedly stolen from his parents in the Jakande area of the state. After allegedly stealing the boy, they travelled to Onitsha, where they sold him to Ogbonna.

Braide, said: "On March 14, a case of a missing person was reported at Ileba-Hausa Police Station. The complainant was Caleb.

He said his four-year-old son got missing during the night he left him with Chibeze. Attempts made to get Chibeze on his phone were futile as it was switched off.

The phone of his wife, Adaeze, was also switched off.

• The recovered children ... yesterday

"Detectives, who investigated the case, traced them to AkwaIbom and arrested them. They confessed to have taken and sold Stanley to Benedicta for N400, 000. The said Benedicta lived in Onitsha. Police detectives went to Onitsha, where they arrested Benedicta, who confessed that she sold the baby to another person for N600,000.

Upon further interrogations, Chibeze confessed to have been in the business for years. Investigations also revealed that the couple had stolen two kids from two different couples and sold them.

"Benedicta seemed to be a

child trafficker. She confessed that she used to buy baby boys for N400, 000 each and girls, N300,000 each, from Chibeze."

However, Adaeze said: "The baby’s mother is an imbecile. She said she hadn't money to take care of the baby. She gave the baby to my husband, who was to give her some money, but police arrested us before we could give her any money. I did not steal Stanley. My husband said Mrs. Ogbonna wanted another baby and sold him to her."

But Mrs Ogbonna insisted she did not run a motherless babies' home, but had only collected three children from Chibeze.

Hausa community lauds Lagos hosts

M

EMBERS of the Hausa community in Ikotun, a Lagos suburb, have commended their host community for their hospitality and understanding, which, they said, they had been enjoying since they settled in the area.

The Seriki of Ikotun, who has directing the community's affairs since 1976, Alhaji Nuhu Al-Hassan, said the Yoruba people had been accommodating, thus ensuring peace and unity among them.

He said it had been very easy resolving any misunderstanding sometime that sometimes arose,

By Tunde Samuel

adding that because they trust and believe in each other, their relationship had remained rosy.

"This place is not our state and these Yoruba people have accommodated us for over 30 years despite all that is happening in our own part of the country. This is something to thank Almighty Allah for and we urge our hosts to continue to live in harmony with us. We also thank our able governor, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, for the good work he is doing in the state", the Seriki said.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

57

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

T

nawi, a fellow Lebanese, nephew and a staff of the victim, was arrested on May 9. Upon interrogation, he confessed to having organised the kidnap of his aunt because she had offended him.

"Thereafter, SARS detectives, led by Kyari, arrested the gang's leader, Obi Kwentua, a Nigerian at Rita Lori Hotel, Surulere, where he had waited to collect the N100 million ransom, which he demanded from the victim's relatives. The victim was rescued from the gang's hide-out in Oyingbo area."

Grandparents arrested for selling narcotics

NAFDAC parades 'fake drugs' merchant'

HE road has ended for Mr. Olisaemeka Osefor who claimed to be representing a cartel of drug counterfeiters based in China. According to him, the cartel specialises in the production and shipment of various counterfeit drug products into the Nigerian market.

Osefor was allegedly caught in the act last week by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

With his team, he was said to have successfully shipped into the country, various brands fake drug products worth over N106.2 million into the country.

Acting on a tip-off, operatives of the Enforcement and Investigation Directorate of the Agency stormed a warehouse at Progressive Traders Market, which is known for the sale of jewelry and cosmetic products within the Trade Fair Complex along Badagry Expressway, Lagos.

The fake products were said to have been cleverly concealed in plain cartons and sacs.

Some counterfeit drugs impounded from them included: Skineal Cream, Funbact-A cream, Mycoten Cream, Neurogesic Ointment, Rough Rider Condom, Iman Luxury powder and healing balm.

Parading Osefor before reporters at the agency's office in Oshodi, Lagos, its Director-General, Dr.Paul Orhii described Osefor's arrest as

‘Latest findings had proved drug counterfeiters now operate from markets that deal in other commodities to shield their dubious activities from law-enforcement agencies’ among one of the ground-breaking efforts the agency had made in recent times, noting: "Latest findings had proved drug counterfeiters now operate from markets that deal in other commodities to shield their dubious activities from law-enforcement agencies."

Admitting that the agency cannot win the war alone, Orhii urged all Nigerians to join hands with NAFDAC to combat the menace and also pledged monetary reward for any member of the public, landlord and market union, whose report would lead to uncovering of any suspicious activity relating to NAFDAC-regulated product around their communities..

Reiterating that China remained a problem in the fight against fake drugs in Nigeria, Orhii threatened that NAFDAC would begin prosecution of owners of warehouses used in stocking fake drugs.

The agency's Director of Enforcement, Mr.Garba Macdonald, said his officers would step up intensive surveillance to consolidate on the achievements so far recorded in its fight against fake drugs.

Osefor was said to have confessed to being in business with a cartel based in China, from where the fake products were sourced. He also allegedly added that their collaborators were at the Tin Can Island Port where they illegally clear their consignments on arrival.

• Osefor

•Killers of Gov. Obi's nephew arrested

F

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

S

IXTY-seven-year-old Matthew Ochini and his wife, Josephine (63), were yesterday paraded by men of the 4 Brigade of the Nigerian Army for allegedly dealing in substances suspected to be Indian hemp.

Reports said they were arrested along the Benin-Lagos Expressway, following a raid by the soldiers on the Uselu Motor Park. Five bags of suspected Indian hemp were allegedly found on them.

Commander of the 4 Brigade, Brigadier General PAT Akem, who spoke through the Brigade's Public Relations Officer, Captain Roseline Managbe, said the couple confessed to have been in the sale of hard drugs "for quite some time."

Also paraded were nine suspected kidnappers who the Brigade Commander said were cohorts of the most wanted kidnapper in Delta State, Kelvin Duku.

He said the kidnap suspects were arrested by the Quick Response Group (QRG) from the 222 Battalion of the Army at Ughelli in Delta State.

Akem gave their names as Kennedy Itoje, Atibaka Tega, Ebruke Oghenekohwor, David Ogaga, Alex Omorere, Futu Equonor Shedrack, Junior Okpakpo and Ogole Lele Tala.

N

• The suspects with the bags containing the illicit substances ... yesterday

The Brigade Commander said the suspects confessed to having been involved in the kidnappings of a nephew of the Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, who died in their custody; the director of Hotel Ese, Warri, and the killing of the Chairman of Orhuwhoru community vigilance group in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State.

Items listed to have been recovered from the suspects included: Two FN rifles, two AK47 rifles, one singlebarrel gun, one pump action, four magazines of 30 rounds each, three machetes and four mobile phone sets.

An Indian returnee, Osarunmese Osamuyi, who allegedly duped his victim of N400,000 under the guise of obtaining chemicals to manufacture American dollars, was also paraded.

Osamuyi admitted to the crime in a chat with reporters, saying he was looking for money to return to Indian and complete his studies.

"He was just giving me money and I was collecting it. If I had chemicals to print dollars, I would have printed for my family alone. I want to go back to Indian," he said.

However, the suspected kidnappers denied being involved in kidnapping or being Kelvin's acquaintances.

Nigerite shines at forum

IGERITE Limited, Nigeria's premier building components solution manufacturing firm,

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie Nigerite Limited, won two innovaSpeaking at the session with the tive awards for its building solutions at the just-concluded Nigerian Insti- theme: 'Innovative Building Contute of Architects (NIA) Forum 2013. struction in the 21st Century', The company stood out at the fo- Ronald Ashkin, Technical Director, rum with a demonstration of its new Growth and Employment in States dry construction building solution, (GEMS), canvassed a departure making its stand a must-visit for par- from wet construction which, he noted, had not been able to respond ticipants and visitors to the forum.

Since the firm opened for business to the ever-increasing demand for in Nigeria over 50 years ago, it has housing in the country.

"To address the housing deficit in distinguished itself in the market with top-flight and innovative ma- the country, dry construction is the terials that are not only durable, but way to go," said Chucks Omeife, President, Nigerian Institute of environment-friendly.

CITYBEATS

Builders (NIOB).

According to Sam Odia, National Director, Fuller Centre for Housing, dry construction saves as much as 70 percent of time when compared to wet construction, explaining that it has unrivalled speed.

In his presentation at the Forum, Osei Kwame Agyeman of Casa Assocaiti, a leading Architecture firm in Accra, Ghana, linked social conflict among city dwellers to the government's inability in most West African states to properly manage available urban spaces.

Four held for attack on ACN chieftain

OUR persons, who were allegedly involved in a recent attack on an Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftain, Abiola Okanlawon Olowu and his associates, during a political rally in the IbejuLekki area of Lagos State, are now in police net.

Their arrest by detectives from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos Command, followed a petition by Kemi Omotoso and Associates, solicitors to Olowu, an engineer, to the Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, urging him to investigate the matter and "bring the perpetrators to justice." The suspects were among the 13 people mentioned in a petition.

It was reliably gathered that the Commissioner of Police had directed his men to fish out

By Jude Isiguzo, Police Affires Correspondant

the perpetrators of the attack and bring them to justice without delay.

Detectives were said to have swung into action, combing IgaOba area of Ibeju town and neighbouring communities from where the suspects were apprehended.

They are being detained and interrogated, The Nation learnt.

Police sources at SARS said the suspects had made confessional statements, that their sponsors incited them against the party chieftain. They reportedly confessed: "It made us to attack him and his associates, but we regret the action and we apologies."

Efforts to reach the command's spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP) for confirmation of the suspects' arrest failed as she was "not available."

'Blood free in Lagos hospitals'

“B

LOOD is free in all Lagos State-owned hospitals; patients are only asked to pay for blood screening.

Blood has the same value with human life and therefore, it cannot be quantified with money," a member, Lagos State Blood Transfusion Committee (LSBTC), Mr Solomon Eka, has said.

He spoke in Lagos during a voluntary blood donation campaign organised by the committee in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

He also urged Lagosians to develop the culture of voluntary blood donation with the view to regulating blood supply in the state.

Eka said: “Lagos is yet to achieve 100 per cent voluntary blood donation. Despite the awareness and education on the need to donate blood, it has not yet yielded the desired result."

Oluwatoyin Tuase, also of the ministry, said: "Voluntary blood

By Olatunde Odebiyi

donation is a service to humanity; a good opportunity to give back to the society."

Meanwhile, the Indian community in the state has also partnered with the LSBTC on voluntary blood donation. The Indians, under the aegis of Saint Nirankari Mission, aka 'Universal Brotherhood', is a spiritual movement, dedicated to humanity.

The Mission’s Head, Preveen Kapur, said the need for blood was on the increase in all parts of the world.

"Voluntary blood donation is a social responsibility that saves lives.

The goal of the mission is to raise awareness on voluntary blood donation; having realised the need expressed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), that there were massive shortages of blood throughout the world in the blood banks.

Another member, Dr Deep Miran, said voluntary blood donation is important because no one can survive without blood.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

58

NEWS Fed Govt receives panel report on Bakassi From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

THE Federal Government yesterday received the report of the Presidential Committee on Bakassi with a promise to look into it and implement the relevant recommendations for the benefit of Nigerians.

Vice President Namadi Sambo gave the assurance while receiving the report at the Presidential Villa yesterday from the committee chaired by the Deputy Governor, Efiok Cobham.

According to him, the government was aware of the schedule of completion of the committees’ task later in the year and that the government was looking at the re-inauguration of the implementation committee.

Promising that the government would look at the report favourably, Sambo thanked the committee for working diligently and in-depth in looking at the problems of the Bakassi people.

Bishop in police net for alleged kidnap

T

HE Christian community in Delta State was thrown into confusion yesterday, following the arrest of a popular bishop of a new generation church in Udu Local Government for alleged kidnap.

The suspect was arrested on Wednesday by policemen from Warri Area Command, after a selfconfessed member of a syndicate was arrested in a failed attempt to abduct the owner of a private school on Enerhen Road, Effurun.

It was gathered that the bishop’s alleged accomplice visited the victim under the pretext of delivering a prophetic message

•Police under pressure to release suspect From Shola O’Neil, Warri

and then tried to abduct her along with one of the pupils about a week ago.

But nemesis caught up with the gang when the victim raised the alarm, which attracted neighbours who swooped on the suspect and handed him over to the Enerhen Police Division.

The bishop was arrested when he went to bail the suspect, who implicated him in his confessional statements to the police.

However, the arrest was not without much drama.

It was gathered that the matter got to the attention

of the Area Commander, Rabiu Hussaini, following the shoddy handling of the arrest by the police of Enerhen Division.

The Nation learnt that the victim petitioned the Area Commander when the Enerhen Police Division, which carried out the initial arrest, released the suspect under suspicious circumstances.

The victim, through her lawyers, A.E Efole, alleged that the police collected N2 million gratification “to sweep the matter under the carpet.”

Thereafter, they said the police released the suspect

without arresting his accomplice.

Efole, who authored the petition, claimed the police said the suspect “is insane and that anytime he commits a crime, he mentions the bishop as the brain behind his evil act.”

The Area Commander could not be reached for comments.

But a source said the police are under pressure to release the bishop.

At the time of this report, the suspects have been taken to the bishop’s church for further investigation.

Aero flies to Douala

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

AERO has said effective May 27, it would begin thrice weekly flight operations between Accra and Douala.

The flight, which would be operated with a Boeing 737, would depart Accra for Douala at 8:00 via Lagos; while the Douala to Accra flight departs Douala at 13:00 to Accra through Lagos.

Aero’s Acting Managing Director, Obaro Ibru, said: “We are making travel more convenient and reliable for our customers. It is a proud moment to welcome Douala into the family, a destination we are confident will serve our customers well. It will give them more choices and flexibility in planning their business and leisure trips.

“The launch of the route is part of our strategy of focusing on operations in Africa, which is a key growth area for the airline and also in line with the airline’s regional expansion programme.

Stakeholders partner JTF From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt THE Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in Rivers State and Tankers Drivers Union have partnered the Joint Military Taskforce (JTF) to end pipeline vandalism.

The IPMAN Chairman, Sunny Nkpe, said this yesterday in Port Harcourt after a meeting.

Nkpe said the shortage of petrol supply in the state was because of the closure of the Port Harcourt Refinery due to vandalism.

He said: “The meeting was about the activities of the vandals, which have affected the depot and refinery operation in the state.

“It is in the interest of all that we shutdown the refinery, as soon as we are through on the new measure, the refinery will start operation again.”

Edo not subsidising pilgrimage From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

E

DO State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said government would not use tax payers’ money to subsidise pilgrimage.

Oshiomhole spoke yesterday when the zonal federal commissioners and officials of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission visited him.

The governor said: “For those who want to travel for pilgrimage, we cannot discourage them.

“But what I am not ready to do is to take tax payers’ money to subsidise a trip for someone who wishes to go and pray.

“I have issues with that because people who pay taxes work hard to pay.

“If you look at the challenges we face, many are homeless, so many communities without water, many schools we have rebuilt and still many more to be done; so many people are unemployed; many are hungry.

“When you look at all these and several other problems, I am of the opinion that pilgrimage is not a priority.

It is a luxury.”

Oshiomhole commissions classrooms

•Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello (third right) inspecting the Victorial Island Drainage project... yesterday. With him are Mr Muyideen Akinsanya (second left); Mr Bode Adebowale (right); public Relation Officer, Mr Fola Adeyemi (second right and Mr Henry Johnson all of the ministry

Navy impounds Cameroonian vessel for ‘breach of security’ T HE NNS Victory of the Nigerian Navy in Calabar yesterday impounded a Cameroonian passenger vessel, MV Anna Maria, for entering the country through the Calabar Waterway.

It said the vesssel was without the required navy escort at the boundary of the two countries.

The NNS Commander, Cmd James Oluwole, said the development was an attempt to derail the resolve of the Navy to properly secure the waterways.

His words: “With the ugly incident that happened yesterday, this ves-

From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

sel is not permitted to leave.

“The nature of the problems faced on the Calabar waterways is of international dimension with persistent kidnapping of captains of vessels that come in from Cameroon.

“With the coordination of other security agencies, we have been able to solve the problem.

“The vessel cannot leave here because I was not aware of how it came into these waters.

“It just entered our waters because it did not have enough patience to wait for us.

“We have dedicated escorts to pick up these vessels. It is our duty to ensure that no vessel is harassed.

“What has happened here is an attempt to derail our resolve.

“We would not allow Nigeria to be embarrassed by people who would not obey instructions.

“If you decide to come on your own, the Navy cannot be blamed for that.”

The ship’s Captain, Tanka Dieudonne, said the vessel called the navy gunboat to escort it, but entered the country on its own when the gunboat did not come on time.

The ship’s Agent , Joseph Jerome, said they have not experienced any attack on the waterway in the past four months since adequate security arrangements were put in place by the Navy.

Calabar Area Manager of the National Inland Waterways Authority Adetola Olawale called on stakeholders to always adhere to instructions to avoid embarrassment.

Why Ijaw want Amaechi out, by ex-militants

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HE plot to unseat Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi thickened yesterday as Ijaw former leaders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) urged the House of Assembly to impeach the governor.

Ijaw leaders of MEND, who met in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, accused the governor of implementing anti-Ijaw policies, adding that it would be a victory for their kinsmen, if the governor is impeached.

Paul Eris (aka General Ogunboss), who spoke with reporters after the

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DO State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday commissioned a block of eight classrooms and a headmaster’s office renovated by the New Covenant Bible Church at Evbuobanosa, Orhiorhwon Local Government Area.

Oshiomhole said the government will take development to the communities and demonstrate that the people in the rural areas are not inferior to those in the urban areas.

According to the governor, deliberate steps will be taken to take development to the rural communities.

“When we politicians and leaders lament about rural drift, people moving away from villages, rushing to the cities, we sermonise about the need for people to remain where they are.

“Those sermons will amount to nothing if we do not take deliberate steps to bring development to our rural communities.”

•Opposition funding anti-Amaechi protest

From Shola O’Neil, Yenagoa

meeting, said: “I want to categorically state that Amechi’s impeachment will be a big lift for us (Ijaw) and we are strongly in support of it.”

The call by the former warlords came against the back drop of reports that the governor’s opponents have released money to sponsor ongoing “Amaechi Must Go” protests across the state.

It was reliably gathered that touts and street urchins were given unspecified

amount of money and gifts on Wednesday at the Boro Park, Mile 1, to join the protest.

A source at the venue said: “I witnessed a group of motor park touts sharing souvenirs and money at the Isaac Boro Park to run a rally tagged “Amaechi must go”.

However, Ogunboss, who chaired the Yenagoa meeting, said in a statement that their call for Amaechi’s impeachment was informed by the governor’s role in the demolition of houses belonging to the

Ijaw in Port Harcourt.

He said: “We have not forgotten the abnormalities and excess use of force by the Amaechi-led government which in recent times demolished houses belonging to poor Ijaw in waterfront suburbs in Port Harcourt, Okirika and other communities.”

The former MEND leader further disclosed that Wednesday’s protest by other ex-militant leaders, including Ateke Tom and others, was a true reflection of the mindset of the people.

•Amaechi

He urged the Rivers State House of Assembly to listen to the voice of the people by impeaching the governor.

THE NATION FRIDAY MAY 24, 2013

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NEWS

Emergency rule: Amnesty cautions Fed Govt against recklessness by security

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HE Amnesty International yesterday asked the Federal Government to prevail on Special Forces in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe to stop killing and mass arrest of innocent citizens of innocent citizens.

The AI said it has received report of mass arrests in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital and gross human rights violations in the three states where emergency rule is in place.

The group made its position known in a statement by its Deputy Director for Africa, Lucy Freeman.

The statement said: “Nigerian authorities must not use the state of emergency imposed in the North as an excuse to commit human rights

•Decries killings, mass arrest by Special Forces From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

violations, Amnesty International urged today as the military continued its assault on Islamist armed group Boko Haram.

“Several people have reportedly been killed and hundreds arrested since a state of emergency was declared in the northern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe on 14 May. The military reportedly claim those targeted are suspected members of Boko Haram.

“Some 2,400 people have fled the region for neighbouring Niger, according to a statement on Tuesday by the In-

ternational Committee of the Red Cross.

“Issues of national security and the state of emergency do not give the military carte blanche to do whatever they want.

“The onus is on the state to prove that they are not using an emergency as justification to run roughshod over people’s human rights.”

The AI alleged that in the last three years, it had documented some grave allegations against troops clamping down on Boko Haram.

The statement added: “Over the past three years, Amnesty International documented grave human rights violations committed by security forces

in their response to Boko Haram, including extra-judicial executions, enforced disappearances, indiscriminate torching of civilian housing and arbitrary detention.

“In recent weeks, residents of Borno state in northern Nigeria have told Amnesty International that mass arrests in the state capital Maiduguri have increased.

“Detainees continue to be denied access to lawyers and families and are not being charged with any crimes or brought before a court. Many people have spent more than a year in military detention without being tried or even charged with any crimes. Others have simply disappeared.

‘Prison Services loses 45 officers to insurgency’

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O fewer than 45 officers have been lost to the various attacks across the country following several cases of jail breaks by the Boko Haram insurgents in the north, the Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) said yesterday.

NPS Comptroller-General Zakari Ibrahim told reporters in Abuja that 45 warders, including high ranking officers were killed by Boko Haram militants, since the group started its ‘’unholy campaign’’ about two years ago.

Zakari, who spoke at the League of Interior Corre-

Abati loses mum

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From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

HE mother of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, Madam Maria Taiwo Abati is dead.

She was 81.

In a statement on behalf of the family, Dr. Abati said: “With a heavy heart and gratitude to God Almighty, the Abati family of Kemta-Okebode, Abeokuta announces the passing away of their mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother, Madam Maria Taiwo Abati, who passed into glory today (yesterday) aged 81.”

“Mama Abati, a devout Christian, a very kind and loving person was born on 7th August 1931. She was born into the family of late Pa Samuel Jobo Arowotadina and late Madam Elizabeth Efundunke Arowotadina of Ijemo, Abeokuta.”

“She was a trader at Kuto Market for many years. She was popularly known and addressed as Mama Adunni or Mama Sunday.”

She is survived by children, grandchildren and great grandchildren including Dr. Abati, Mr Robert Abati, a Geologist with Dangote Cement, Mr Ralph Abati, a banker with Fidelity Bank Plc and Mr Lanre Abati, an Economist & Chartered Accountant.”

“She is also survived by her twin sister, Madam Victoria Kehinde Olude.Funeral arrangements will be announced later,” he added

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

spondents of Nigeria Accountability Forum, said that top security equipment are now being installed in several prisons to reinforce security. Besides, he said soldiers have been deployed to assist the prison mobile police to protect the prisons around the country.

He said many prisons were vulnerable because the buildings and walls were built about 100 years ago with mud and have never been reinforced or replaced with

stronger concrete materials.

The Comptroller-General said that the insurgents usually attacked the prison formations in large numbers with heavy weaponry, saying “the attackers overwhelm our security easily because they come sometimes with 15 or 20 vehicles armed to the teeth and in their hundreds.”

He said that the NPS has been facing numerous challenges, especially as it relates to modern security equipment and dilapidated infrastructure. Zakari said: The

prison establishment was indebted to several contractors and may face litigations for implemented capital projects which have not been paid for in the past two years.

“Inadequate security weapons and gadgets required for operational uses in view of the prevailing security situation across the country where our facilities have been attacked and burnt down and some of our officers have been killed by terrorist groups are our major challenges and constraints now,” he said.

NGF: Governors opt for secret ballot •Continued from page 2 “I think the anti-Amaechi forces, who had collected signatures, are determined to monitor whether PDP governors in particular will keep faith with the wish of the Presidency.

“So far, the NGF secretariat has not been able to resolve the mode of the ballot.”

Responding to a question, a source at the NGF secretariat said: “We have been holding a series of meeting since morning on election modalities.

“While we are doing this, more governors have signified intention to join the race.

We are waiting for them to obtain the nomination form before we make the list public.”

Article 6.3 -6.7of the NGF Constitution says: “The meeting of the Governing Board shall be known as the General Meeting and shall hold as many times as circumstances and members’ convenience dictate but not less than once quarterly.

“The quorum at the General Meeting shall be half of the total number of the Members of the Governing Board.

“Notice of the General Meeting shall be communicated to the members in writing or orally or through other means of communication not less than three days to the meeting “Members of the Governing Board shall elect from among themselves a person to be known and addressed as Chairman who shall preside over the affairs of the Board and chair all its meetings and another to be known and addressed as Vice-Chairman,

who shall assist the Chairman in directing the affairs of the Board and chair its meeting in the absence of the chairman.

“In electing the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, members shall give due regard to; “The principle of federal character; and the need to reflect political party representation in the Board, so as to ensure that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman are not persons elected as Governors of their states on the platform of the same political party but on the platforms of the two political parties with the highest representation in the Board.

“The Chairman and the ViceChairman shall hold office for a term of two years but shall be available for re-election for another but final term of two years.”

The NRG has advised Northern governors to stand firm by voting their conscience.

In a statement, signed by its President, Idris Mahuya Ahmed, the group begged Northern governors not to succumb to pressure from the Presidency.

The statement said: “As we write this letter, you all stand at the cross roads of your political lives. The choice of which road to take does not even appear to belong to you people, except a few principled ones among you. A majority of you have become victims of a vested interest and manipulative forces within the Presidency. You all have a choice to be your own men like you have always been in the North or you become puppets and little dumb kids like the lamb meant for the slaughter.

Former Minister of Petrole-

um Resources, Prof Tam David-West, urged Amechi to recontest the election. He urged him to disregard the chiefs of Kalabari Kingdom in Rivers State who asked him not to run when they visited Jonathan in Abuja.

“The chiefs do not understand the issues at stake; they are expressing their own views and not the views of the Kalabari people. I and the Kalabari Kingdom are asking and supporting the governor to contest”.

The former minister who is from Rivers State said Amaechi has the right to contest.

Second Republic Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa urged President Jonathan not to meddle in the election of the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum.

The former governor cautioned the president against imposing his candidate on the governors.

“What does President Jonathan want to achieve with the Governors Forum? Does he think that all the governors belong to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?

“If it is true that he is interfering with the Governors Forum election, it is undemocratic and he must be opposed vehemently. He may succeed in using the governors from the PDP and dump them later, but certainly he cannot use the governors from the opposing political parties for any reason.

“I want to also believe that he is out to impose state of emergency in other States that are not controlled by PDP and if he dares do that again, he is heading for a disaster, he is heading for serious trouble.”

Man ‘murders’ father From Chris Oji, Enugu

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SIXTY-five year-old man has been allegedly murdered by his son.

The incident occurred at Umuonu Umuida Enugu Ezike in Igboeze North Local Government of Enugu State.

The deceased’s name was given as Felix Atta; his son was identified as Ejiofor.

Police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu said the victim was rushed to the General Hospital, Ogurute Enugu Ezike, where he was confirmed dead.

He said although the son was apprehended, the police were yet to establish the motive behind the killing.

“We have begun investigations into the killing,” said Amaraizu.The body has been deposited at the Hospital Mortuary.”

A middle-aged man allegedly hung himself inside his room at Umuenachi Amalla Egazi in Udenu Local Government.

It was gathered that the victim, who is said to be suffering from a partial stroke, was discovered in his room at about 7.30am on Wednesday.

Amaraizu said investigations have begun; the body has been deposited at Prince Eze Hospital Mortuary, Obollo Afor.

Funeral for Ado-Ekiti chief’s wife

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HE funeral rites for the late Mrs. Caroline Moradeke Ogunremi (nee Osobu), wife of Chief Michael Olu Ogunremi, the Barafon of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, begin on May 29. She was 70.

According to a statement by the families of Ogunremi of Ado-Ekiti and Osobu of Ilesa, Osun State, lying-instate/service of songs will hold on May 29 at the Abeni Ogunseitan Close, GRA, Ilesa Osun State home of the deceased from 5pm.

Also, on Thursday, there will be lying-in-state/service of songs at 250, Idolofin Street, Ado-Ekiti home of

•The late Mrs. Ogunremi

Chief Ogunremi at 6pm.

Funeral service will hold the following day at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Odo-Ado, Ado Ekiti at 10am.

The late Mrs. Ogunremi is survived by her husband, children and grandchildren.

Fed Govt asks court not to stay senator’s trial

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From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

SCHEDULED hearing of a motion by Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume seeking a stay of proceedings in his alleged link with terrorists was stalled yesterday before the Court of Appeal.

The hearing was averted owing to the late filing of an objection to the motion by the Federal Government.

Ndume is being tried on terrorism charges and accused of allegedly sponsoring the Boko Haram sect.

He is also being tried for his alleged failure to disclose the mobile phone number of Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, a terrorist spokesman. The number is believed to be in his possession.

The senator’s application seeks to stay his trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja pending the determination of his interlocutory appeal.

In objecting to the application, the government argued among others, that it was a ploy by the senator to delay his trial.

The three-man panel led by Justice Dauda Yahaya ordered the parties to file their written addresses and exchange same between now and October 2 when they will be adopted preparatory to ruling.

In his appeal, Ndume wants the court to overturn the December 11 and 12, 2012 ruling by the trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court.

The judge had in the ruling admitted, as evidence against Ndume, alleged call logs from a telephone firm, which indicated that the senator had telephone conversation with one of the Boko Haram commanders, Ali Kondoga.

Ndume wants the appellate court to invalidate the admitted evidence on the grounds that the trial judge erred in law when he admitted non-admissible documents, which the senator described as radical and fundamental against him.

Justice Kolawole had, by the ruling, admitted in evidence certain DVDs containing call-data records, including findings based on investigations carried out by a Special Investigation Panel (SIP) of the State Security Service (SSS).

The SSS operatives, who investigated that case, had earlier told the trial court that there were 73 communications between Ndume and the convicted spokesman for the Boko Haram sect, Ali Umar Konduga.

A Nokia E7 phone allegedly belonging to Ndume, was said to have been used in communicating with Konduga, whose phone identity was given as Nokia 2700.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

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NEWS

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•From left: Chairman, Lexcel Group, Mr. Ola Rosiji; Managing Director, Grand Oak Limited, Mr. Akshay Kumar; Category Manager, Grand Oak Limited, Mr. Charles Nnochiri; Group Managing Director, Lexcel, Mr. Anil Ahluwalia; Group Finance Director, Mr Wale Majolagbe and Managing Director, Nigeria Distilleries Limited, Otunba Adebayo, during the unveiling of Aspire Magazine in Lagos.

Suspected Fulani herdsmen kill seven in Benue community

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USPECTED Fulani herdsmen on Wednesday killed seven people and burnt several homes in attacks on five villages near Udei in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.

The villages include TseNyamkyume, Tse-Ama, TseUto, among others.

The attackers reportedly invaded the villages as early as 6am when unsuspecting farmers, the majority residents, had left their homes for their farms.

Six bodies were recovered by a detachment of soldiers from the 72 Army Battalion, who were deployed in Udei to restore peace.

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

The victims include Mr. Uchana Tongov, Yemetse Mtsenem, Mrs. Umar Aperaku and her little boy, Terkimbi.

Others are: Ihumban Gwarche and Moses Boniface.

Mrs. Maaga Simeon escaped death but sustained deep cuts on her body. Scores of other residents were displaced.

During an on-the-spot assessment of the situation, a member of the House of Assembly, Avine Agbom, who was accompanied by Mr. Matthew Mnyam, a resident of Udei, condemned the killings and destruction of property by the suspected herdsmen.

The lawmaker blamed the killings on Nasarawa State Government.

He alleged that the assailants camped in the neighbouring state and attacked Tiv farmers in Benue State.

Agbim urged both states to implement the report of a peace committee they set up last year to end attacks in the area.

The lawmaker also called for the establishment of camps at Udei, Igyungu Aze, Daudu and Agan as well as the Local Government Primary School at North Bank, where over 100,000 displaced persons can be cared for by the Benue State Government.

He appealed to the fleeing farmers to remain calm and await government directive on the incident.

Agbom hailed the leader of the military detachment, simply identified as Capt Shola, for the military’s prompt intervention and for bringing the bodies of the deceased home for burial.

The lawmaker called for an end to the crisis.

Police spokesman Daniel Ezeala, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said seven people were killed in the attack.

Ezeala said the police have deployed their men in the area.

Jonathan to lay Zungeru hydro electricity dam’s foundation Tuesday From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

ers yesterday in Minna, the state capital, after the State Executive Council (Exco) meeting.

He said the construction of the dam brings to four the number of hydro-electric dams in the state. The others are at Jebba, Kainji and Shiroro.

The commissioner hailed the President for approving the project, which he said has been on the drawing board for over 15 years.

Yahaya also said Niger

State will give the President a befitting reception during the visit.

He said: “Niger State is appreciative of what the President has done. For 15 years, the project has been on the drawing board. With the project on stream, Niger State will take its pride of place as the powerhouse of the country.”

The commissioner urged the Federal Government to dam the Gurara Falls for power generation.

Offa/Erin-Ile crisis: Kwara proscribes unions

Release of Boko Haram detainees: ‘We’ve not been communicated’

•Jonathan

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan will, next Tuesday, lay the foundation of

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HE Kwara State Government yesterday proscribed the Offa and ErinIle branches of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) over their role in this year’s communal clashes.

The two neighbouring communities of Offa and Oyun local governments were embroiled in communal clashes that led to several deaths and destruction of property.

The report of the judicial commission of enquiry set up by the government, which was submitted early this month, allegedly indicted the two unions as the brains behind the perennial clashes between both communities.

Addressing reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, at the end of the state executive meeting, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Alhaji Isiaka Gold said: “The Offa and Erin-

the multi-billion naira Zungeru hydro-electric generation dam in the Wushishi Local Government Area of Niger State.

This is coming 15 years after the project was conceived.

The foundation-laying ceremony is part of activities lined up for the President’s one-day visit to Niger State.

Details of the visit were sketchy yesterday.

The Commissioner for Information, Prof Mohammed Kuta Yahaya, addressed report-

The proscription will remain in effect until the unions demonstrate that they have imbibed the spirit of cooperation and peaceful coexistence From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

Ile branches of the NURTW and RTEAN, having been implicated in the immediate causes of the communal crisis between both communities due to their intransigence, are hereby proscribed.

“The proscription will remain in effect until the unions demonstrate that they have imbibed the spirit of cooperation and peaceful coexistence.

“Furthermore, government directs that Ajegunle and IdiAgba Motor Parks in Offa and Erin-Ile, which were identified as major sources of recurring rancour between the two com-

munities, are unauthorised and should, therefore, be closed down. The Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs is to ensure that the motor parks comply with the statutory distance of five kilometres between them.

“The (State Executive) nCouncil resolved that the Elerin of Erin and the Olofa of Offa should be prevailed upon to harmoniously enter into a covenant of peaceful coexistence between the two communities and commit to full respect for the rule of law in the interest of long-term peaceful coexistence, development and equity.

“The government appeals to both the Erin-Ile and Offa communities to accept the unity road created by as a buffer zone by the state government in the interest of peace and harmonious coexistence. Both communities are enjoined to imbibe the spirit of give-and-take and cooperation in view of the fact that land is a natural endowment from God.”

From Duku Joel, Damaturu

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HERE seems to be no sign of freedom for the women and children held in the custody of the Army in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, two days after a Presidential order said they should be released.

Our correspondent, who has been monitoring the situation since the presidential directive, reports that there was no sign of such process at the two popular detention camps, popularly called Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib in Damaturu.

Joint Task Force (JTF) spokesman Lt. Lazarus Eli said: “Yobe JTF has not received and official directives concerning this matter. We are still waiting for our headquarters.

“As soon as we are officially communicated, we will begin the process.”

I’ve nothing against the Eggon, says al-Makura

ASARAWA State Governor Tanko al-Makura has said he has nothing personal against the Eggon, a local ethnic group in the state, other than the activities of some of their kinsmen in the Ombatse cult.

In a statement circulated in Abuja yesterday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Press Affairs, Mr Sani Mairiga, the governor decried the activities of the cult.

He said the issue is a source of concern to him and to other peace-loving people of the Nasarawa State. al-Makura noted that the Eggon people were not being discriminated against, as claimed, adding that there were many of them holding important positions in the state.

The statement said: “Among the 17 commissioners in the State Executive Council, three are Eggon; there are two permanent secretaries, while the Head of the State Civil Service, the Special Adviser on Security Matters are all from Eggon.

“Other positions they hold include the Director-General, Adult and Non-Formal Education Commission, Managing Director, Nasarawa Investment Board and the Head of the State Primary Heath Care Development Agency.

“These appointments are enough evidence to show that Governor Al-Makura is running an all-inclusive government without bias.”

2012 Kano attack: Family of 40 slain policemen yet to be compensated

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From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

IXTEEN months after suspected terrorists attacked Kano and killed 192 people, including 40 police officers, the families of the slain officers are yet to be compensated by the Federal Government.

Authorities at the Bompai police headquarters told the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North that the families of the deceased police officers have been appealing to the command to take up their case.

The Nation recalls that on January 20, last year, terrorists, suspected to be members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, carried out coordinated attacks in Kano. They targeted the command headquarters and Zone One headquarters.

The police command said families of the slain officers have not received any support from the government since the incident.

The committee was told that the command lost 40 officers in the January 20, 2012 attack in which 192 persons were killed.

The dead included security personnel from the Department of State Security Services (DSSS), Immigration and Customs.

PUBLIC NOTICE STREET NAMING

I, Mr. Solex Obiudo, wish to inform the general public that I have applied to Isolo Local Council Development Area, that the street opposite Conoil Petrol station, near Sifax Nig Ltd, off Ago Palace way, Ago, be named as SOLEX OBIUDO Street, in my favour. This is for the information of Isolo L.C.D.A and the general public.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

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FOREIGN NEWS

Brave woman assailed Nigerian-linked London attacker A

BRAVE scout leader who may have prevented further violence has emerged as an unlikely hero in the apparent terror attack that left one man dead on the streets of London.

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett got off a bus and tried to reason with the two attackers after she tried to help the man lying on the street but found he had no pulse and was already dead.

The 48-year-old mother kept talking to the two bloody attackers before police came, trying to keep them calm.

Loyau-Kennett, who lives in Cornwall in southwest England, told several British media outlets Wednesday night and Thursday morning that she was returning from a trip to France and was visiting her children in London when the bus she was on stopped because of the melee.

She said she saw a crashed car and the victim lying on the street and tried to help him since she had been trained in first aid. She had determined the man was dead by the time the attackers confronted her.

She said a man “with a black hat and a revolver in one hand and a cleaver in the other came over” and excitedly warned her to stay away from the body.

“I asked him why he had done what he had done,” The Guardian quoted her as saying. “He said he had killed the man because he (the victim) was a British soldier who killed Muslim women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was furious about the British Army being over there.”

When the man told her he was going to kill police when they arrived, she asked him if that was reasonable and tried to keep him engaged.

Then she spoke to the other

•Suspects known to security services

attacker, who she described as quiet and shy.

“I asked him if he wanted to give me what he was holding in his hand, which was a knife, but I didn’t want to say that,” she said. “He didn’t agree and I asked him: `Do you want to carry on?’ He said: `No, no, no.’ I didn’t want to upset him,” she is quoted as saying in The Guardian.

Prime Minister David Cameron Thursday praised Loyau-Kennett’s performance in the tense situation and said she “spoke for all of us” when she told the first attacker that he could not win the war he said he was hoping to start on the streets of London.

Cameron said the presence of mind she and others in the vicinity showed despite the danger was an indication of how Britain would triumph over terrorism by standing together.

Loyau-Kennett said she was not scared and that the armed men did not seem to be drunk or on drugs. She said she was trying to keep them occupied so they didn’t get more agitated.

She re-boarded her bus shortly before police arrived, watching from the bus as police shot the two suspects, who are both receiving treatment in hospital.

“The officers shot them in the legs, I think” she says in The Guardian.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the UK will “never give in to terror or terrorism”.

Sources said Mr. Adebolajo

•Adebolajo had featured in “several investigations” in recent years - but were not deemed to be planning an attack - “were not inaccurate”.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street on Thursday, Mr Cameron said: “One of the best ways of defeating terrorism is to go about our normal lives.”

He said there was no justification in Islam for the attacks, which were “solely and purely” the responsibility of the individuals involved.

Across London there are 1,200 extra police officers on duty in response to the attacks, Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne said.

Earlier officers raided a flat believed to belong to one of the attackers on a Greenwich housing estate.

Neighbours said two sisters in their 30s, an older woman and a teenage boy were taken away in a police van.

An address in Saxilby, Lincolnshire, is also being searched in connection with

“I asked him if he wanted to give me what he was holding in his hand, which was a knife, but I didn’t want to say that,” she said. “He didn’t agree and I asked him: `Do you want to carry on?’ He said: `No, no, no.’ I didn’t want to upset him,” she is quoted as saying in The •Loyau-Kennett Guardian.

the attack.

According to BBC sources, Mr Adebolajo, a Briton of Nigerian descent, comes from a devout Christian family but took up Islam after leaving college in 2001.

He was described as “bright and witty” when he was at college.

Man at scene of Woolwich incident This man was photographed brandishing a knife and speaking to a woman at the scene.

Witnesses said the soldier was attacked at 14:20 BST with knives and a cleaver in Artillery Place, near Woolwich Barracks, by two men shouting Allahu Akbar (God is Great).

The men made no attempt to flee and encouraged people to take pictures of them and the victim.

Japanese man, 80, oldest to top Everest

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N 80-year-old Japanese man who began the year with his fourth heart operation became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest yesterday, a feat he called “the world’s best feeling” even with an 81year-old Nepalese climber not far behind him.

Yuichiro Miura, a former extreme skier who also climbed the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak when he was 70 and 75, reached the summit at 9:05 a.m. local time, according to a Nepalese mountaineering official and Miura’s Tokyo-based support team.

It was a moment Japanese news agency Kyodo cap-

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tured on video from 10 kilometers (6 miles) away, using a camera crew at 5,500 meters (18,000 feet) elevation on another mountain.

“We have arrived at the summit,” Miura said in a radio transmission to Kyodo from the world’s highest point. “80 years and 7 months. ... The world’s most incredible mountaineering team had helped me all the way up here.”

Miura and his son Gota made a phone call from the summit, prompting his daughter Emili to smile broadly and clap her hands in footage shown by Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

“I made it!” Miura said over the phone. “I never imagined I could make it to the top of Mount Everest at age 80. This is the world’s best feeling, although I’m totally exhausted. Even at 80, I can still do quite well.”

Nepalese mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha, at the Everest base camp, confirmed that Miura had reached the summit and was the oldest person to do so.

The previous oldest was Nepal’s Min Bahadur Sherchan, the 81-year-old on Miura’s heels.

Sherchan is preparing to scale the peak next week despite digestive problems he suffered several days ago. On

•Miura Wednesday, Sherchan said by telephone from the base camp that he was in good health and “ready to take up the challenge.”

The two elderly mountaineers have crossed paths before.

Miura, who had become the oldest Everest climber with his ascent at age 70, would have reclaimed the title in 2008 as a 75-year-old, but Sherchan, then 76, reached the summit just a day before he did.

While Palestinians praised Kerry’s efforts, they said there has been little progress ahead of what they believe to be a June 7 deadline for action. They are already beginning work on a “day-after” strategy.

“We don’t have unrealistic expectations. We know the immensity of obstacles,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official. “If it doesn’t work, of course we have our own plans.”

The Palestinians say there is no point in negotiating while Israel continues to build Jewish settlements. More than

500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, making it increasingly difficult to partition the land between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel also captured the Gaza Strip in 1967, though it withdrew from the territory in 2005.

The Palestinians have demanded that Israel freeze settlement construction and accept the pre-1967 frontiers as the baselines of a future border.

While previous Israeli leaders have used the 1967 lines as a starting point for talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin says negotiations should begin without any preconditions.

US, Israel raise hopes for Mideast peace restart

HE United States and Israel raised hopes yesterday for a restart of the Middle East peace process, despite little tangible progress so far from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s two-month-old effort to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

As they met in Jerusalem, Kerry praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the “seriousness” with which he is looking at ways to revitalize peace hopes. Kerry expressed optimism without outlining any concrete strat-

egy for ending a stalemate between the two sides that has seen them hardly negotiate one-on-one at all over the last 4½ years.

Netanyahu said his conversation with the top American diplomat would touch on mutual concerns about Iran and Syria. “But above all,” he said, “what we want to do is restart the peace talks with the Palestinians.”

The visit, Kerry’s fourth trip to the Jewish state since taking office as secretary of state in February, coincides with deepening pessimism from Palestinian officials

about the new peace push.

They are planning to resume their campaign of seeking membership in key international organizations as early as next month in a bid to put pressure on Israel into offering some concessions.

Without major U.S. pressure on Israel, the outlook seems bleak. The most immediate divide concerns the issue of Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — lands that Israel conquered in the 1967 Mideast war and which the Palestinians hope to include in their state.

In footage obtained by ITV News, one of the men was filmed wielding a bloodied meat cleaver and making political statements.

“You think politicians are going to die?,” he said. “No, it’s going to be the average guy - like you - and your children.

“So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so you can all live in peace.”

Another eyewitness said the police “didn’t even get a chance to get out of their car”.

“They just had to shoot him because he was just hurtling towards them,” Graham Wilders told the BBC. “And then the other one, with the handgun, lifted it up and obviously they shot him.”

Niger suicide bombers kills 19 SUICIDE bombers have struck a military camp and a French-run uranium mine in two towns in north-west Niger.

A bomb at a barracks in Agadez killed at least 19, including 18 soldiers, officials told the BBC. Four attackers died and a fifth is holding four army officers hostage.

The attack on the Somair mine, in the town of Arlit, killed one person and injured 14, its operator Areva said.

The jihadist Mujao group said it had carried out the two attacks.

Mujao spokesman Abu Walid Sahraoui said the operations targeted “the enemies of Islam in Niger”, according to Agence France-Presse.

French President Francois Hollande vowed to protect his nation’s interests and co-operate with Niger in its “fight against terrorism”.

He said on a visit to Germany: “Everybody should know that we will let nothing pass, and support Niger’s authorities in ending the hostage taking and destroying the group that carried out these attacks.”

Both attacks were carried out as people prepared for the early morning prayer just after 05:00 local time (04:00 GMT), BBC West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy reports.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

62

SPORT EXTRA

NEWS

Finance Ministry releases N200b Enyeama hits Eagles’ camp today for second quarter capital S

T

HE Federal Ministry of Finance has released N200 billion capital for the second quarter of the year.

A statement by Paul Nwabuikwu, the Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, said the money “will ensure further progress in the execution of capital projects captured in Budget 2013”.

The statement explained that of the N400 billion released as capital for first quarter, N335 billion has been cash-backed.

It added that “of the cashbacked portion, 65 per cent has been utilised so far”.

•Pays N72.7b to power sector

From Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor), Abuja

The statement also said the Ministry of Finance has paid N72.7 billion to the Federal Ministry of Power “this year to cover various items in line with the implementation of the Power Road Map”.

A breakdown of the figures shows that N59,089,522,721 billion was paid in the first quarter while N13,733,822,832 has been paid so far in the second quarter.

The statement also explained that “the amount includes N45 billion paid to the

UPER EAGLES firstchoice goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, is expected today at the team's

Novina Hotel camp in Nuremberg Germany, officials of the national team have stated.

Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) workers as part of the power privatisation programme and N5 billion paid for the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO)”.

Other beneficiaries of the N72.7 billion disbursement to the power sector, the statement said, “include the Power Ministry’s headquarters, the PHCN, the National Rural Electrification Agency, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, the National Power Training Institute, the National Electricity Liability Management Limited/GTE (NELMCO) and Bulk Trader”.

Presidential committee seeks access to Boko Haram members

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HE Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in Northern Nigeria yesterday urged Nigerians to assist in linking the committee with the sect members.

The committee expressed frustration in carrying out its assignment because of the dearth of useful links to members of Boko Haram.

The Chairman of the committee and Minister for Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, told Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Yero during a visit that the committee needs useful information from Nigerians on how to reach members of the sect, if it must succeed in its assignment.

The committee chairman urged Nigerians with links to the insurgents to give the committee useful information to ease the dialogue and

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

reconciliation.

Turaki said: “We want anybody that may have links with some of these people to direct us to ease the process of dialogue that will ensure transparency and honesty, which are the hallmarks of this committee.

“The committee is in Kaduna State as part of its nationwide tour, particularly in the affected areas, for the purpose of enhancing consultations and interacting with critical stakeholders and having interactions with some of the victims as well as their families.

“If the committee must do its work properly, is it important that we have a very serious interaction with key stakeholders. That is why we are here. We are here to tap from the government’s wealth of experience in conflict resolution.

“It’s not only because Kaduna State that has been known as the centre of North. But it’s because Kaduna State has had a track history of one form of conflict or another and …the people of Kaduna State have been able to tackle such problems.

“The terms of reference of this committee are to constructively engage members of Jamaatul Allisuna Li Takwatu Wal Jihad in constructive dialogue with a view to bringing an end to the unfortunate state of affairs.”

Yero noted that for the committee to achieve its objectives and restore peace, justice, fairness and law enforcement, nobody should be treated as being above the law.

The minister told stakeholders that the committee was not set up to grant amnesty to members of Boko Haram but to dialogue with them to ensure a peaceful resolution.

Fed Govt regains Ajaokuta Steel from Global Steel

A

FTER about six years in the limbo, the Federal Government has finally regained the Ajaokuta Steel Complex from Global Steel Holdings Limited, it was learnt yesterday.

The government was also said to be negotiating and regaining the Iron Ore Mining Company in Itakpe.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Smart Adeyemi (Kogi West), addressed reporters in Abuja on the development.

The two multi-billion steel complexes are situated in Kogi State.

The Ajaokuta Steel Complex was given by concession to Global Steel Holding Limited (GSHL) of India.

Since 2007, the Federal Government is said to have been locked in arbitration with GSHL and Global Infrastructure Limited at the International Chamber of Commerce, London, for the return of Ajaokuta Steel Complex.

The legal tussle, it was learnt, started in 2008 when GSHL dragged the Federal Government before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, was said to have led the Federal Government delegation.

Ajaokuta Steel Complex was sold to Global Steel by former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration under its privatisation pro-

•Indian firm forfeits $1b compensation

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

gramme.

Shortly after the sale of the complex, allegations of downsizing and asset-stripping rocked the complex before it finally shut down operations.

President Goodluck Jonathan is said to have intervened in the matter, which led to the government’s recovery of the complex.

It was also learnt that Global Steel agreed to forgo $1 billion it demanded as damages, which it allegedly suffered when it ran the two plants.

Adeyemi yesterday expressed optimism that re-

vamping Ajaokuta Steel Complex will yield at least 10,000 jobs, “not only for Kogi State indigenes but also for neighbouring states”.

He said: “The Federal Government has recovered the Ajaokuta Steel Complex from Global Steel. With that, more than 10,000 workers will be gainfully employed.

“I think the return and recovery of this complex is worth celebrating. The government of President Jonathan is worth celebrating. The Federal Government should be commended for recovering the complex.

The Federal Government has succeeded in recovering Ajaokuta Steel without any attendant financial obligation whatsoever.

Democracy Day: Fed Govt declares May 29 public holiday

T

HE Federal Government yesterday declared May 29 as public holiday to celebrate this year’s Democracy Day. The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, who declared the public holiday on behalf of the Federal Government, urged Nigerians to deepen their participation in democratic governance.

A statement by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, Mrs Daniel

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

Nwaobia, said the minister congratulated Nigerians on the attainment of yet another successful year of the transformation agenda of the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration.

Moro also enjoined Nigerians to always pray for the success of Mr. President’s determined effort to bequeath to Nigeria a land of peace and unity.

•Enyeama

Govs never forced us to accept LMC—Club Owners

C

ONTRARY to reports in some sections of the media that premier league Club Owners were overruled by state governors and were forced to accept the League Management Company (LMC) against their earlier stand, the Association has described the reports as untrue and misleading.

Reacting to the reports, Acting Secretary of the Club Owners Association Alloy Chukwuemeka said the acceptance to work with the LMC was borne out of the agreement reached between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and representatives of both club owners and the LMC, where certain contentious issues were resolved in favour of the agitations by clubs.

He added that club owners were not at any time forced or coerced into accepting LMC because what was paramount to all the stakeholders was the progress of the league which

was not interrupted.

Chukwuemeka however stressed that the cordial relationship which existed afterwards between LMC and club owners was to ensure that “we jointly move the league forward within the short time of its existence.”

The Association also cautioned one of its members, Fan Ndubuoke, over a comment credited to him calling for the resignation of the two members of the Club Owners from their membership of the LMC. Reacting to the comment Chukwuemeka said the outburst by the Heartland boss may be as a result of tension arising from a match between his club and Sunshine, just as he was cautioned from incisive comments capable of bringing the game and its stakeholders into disrepute.

The club owners advised Ndubuoke to channel his grievances to the appropriate quarters.

‘2012 Olympics probe, sheer waste of time’

T

HE Nigerian O l y m p i a n s Association (NOA) on Thursday described moves being made by the authorities to probe the cause of Team Nigeria’s failure at the London Olympics as a sheer waste of time.

Henry Amike, the NOA’s President, made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. It would be recalled that Gbenga Elegbeleye, the newlyappointed Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC) had recently said that the body would delve into the root cause of the debacle.

The former quarter-miler stressed that the NSC should put the disappointment of the London Olympics behind it, and guard against

a recurrence. ``As far as I’m concerned, I have witnessed lots of probes. A probe is just an avenue to make money.

Probes have come and gone in this country and after the probes, nothing happens. I will not subscribe to any probe panel; what I think the new D-G should be concerned about is how to stabilise the country’s sports administration. ``We should move forward, probing is a wasteful venture and I strongly suggest that we just forge ahead. Athletes did not deliver, all we have to do is to invest more in our athletes,’’ Amike said.

On the country’s chances of excelling at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland, Amike told NAN that the preparation ought to be on course by now.

Enyeama, who was in goal all through in South Africa when Nigeria beat all-comers to lift her third AFCON title, is one of the three goal keepers invited by Coach Stephen Keshi for the Mexico friendly.

The duo of Chigozie Agbim and Israel-based Austin Ejide have earlier hit camp as they hope to catch some attention that could see them taste action in the Mexico friendly.

Apart from the Mexico friendly, crucial ties lie ahead of the Super Eagles as they amongst other things seek a ticket to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Meanwhile, Ukraine-based forward Brown Ideye is to join the team in Texas, USA while Ahmed Musa and Fegor Ogude will join the squad in Frankfurt after the friendly with Mexico in America, also due to club engagements.

Boxing champion Emenogu assured of NASS support

D

EPUTY Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha on Wednesday assured Nigeriaborn International Middleweight World Boxing champion, King Davidson Emenogu of the support of the National Assembly in his bid to defend the title in Abuja in July this year.

The Deputy Speaker gave the assurance when the world champion paid him a courtesy visit and presented to him laurels he has won in his office at the National Assembly.

The Deputy Speaker commended the boxer for his accomplishments noting that he has done the country and the African continent proud.

Hon. Ihedioha disclosed that the House of Representatives will encourage him to win more titles for the country.

“You have conquered the world and made the country and Africa proud. This achievement is no mean feat.

You should be encouraged and celebrated to win more laurels,” Ihedioha said.

He advised Emenogu, who hails from Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State which is a part of the constituency represented by the Deputy Speaker in the House, to work hard to achieve a successful defence of his title.

King Davidson Emenogu in his remark to the deputy speaker and other members of the House of Representatives, including Chairman, House Committee on Sports, Hon. Godfrey Gaya, noted that he had won five international boxing belts.

According to him, the titles include; International Light Weight World Champion; Africa Light Middle Weight Champion; International Federation Champion; Australian Champion and Asian Boxing Association Champion.

He pleaded for government’s support to enable him defend the International Light Middle Weight World Champion fight taking place in Abuja towards the end of July.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

63

TODAY IN THE NATION ‘Our reality, which we tend to deny, is that there is hardly any governance going on in Nigeria today. Yes, we see some governors and ministers deigning to do some work but they are not governing; they are merely executing odd, oft ill-conceived projects.’

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

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HE pathetic picture of a young woman baring her breasts in public on a Lagos street in a desperate attempt to call attention to her miserable condition has gone viral on the web, with a wide range of comments by Nigerians. The significance of the incident should not be lost on right thinking people, who still appreciate the rationale for having a political community.

Many commentators have called attention to the importance of individual responsibility, and that is a good point. Having too many children without adequate planning is a bane of our society. Children having children, and men acting as bullies and controlling the lives and future of women with impunity has been an undeniable part of our tragic history. The story of the young woman bears out this important observation. Yet it is also important to note that there are helpless victims of societal neglect and for them, our collective obligation is undeniable and the government, as our representative, has a huge responsibility.

While security of the individual is one component of the rationale for government; the other component is the promotion of the welfare of the individual. In other climes, government serves as benefactor of the poor, the needy, and the sick. We know that poverty is a reality. We also know that it is pervasive in our society. Where this is the case, it is not possible for our people to be their brothers and sisters keeper the way they used to be because they are all mostly poor. The system of charity that prevails in advanced countries is not replicated here because of this prevalent and generalised poverty. In the circumstance, government has to care for those who through no fault of theirs find themselves on the wrong side of the economic divide. This is why poverty alleviation programs are important when they are not politicised.

Government must be the insurer of last resort of citizens against the uncertainties of social life. People pay for insurance not to prevent disaster but to limit its negative impact on their resources. Diseases, disability, loss of employment, and unanticipated changes could be devastating. While some have the capacity to overcome such adversities on their own, the majority of our people are unable due to inherent disabilities. Esther Odozi is only one representative of that silent majority. As a community, we failed them.

Despite the tremendous wealth of natural and human resources with which we are endowed, Nigeria is ranked as one of the poorest countries because of the number of poor people. There is no use going over why this paradox has been our lot. It is clear to all that we have not utilised our resources for the benefit of our people. We also know that in the last three decades, Nigeria has spent a better percentage of her resources battling poverty. Yet on the eve of President

RIPPLES I USED TO JUMP ON MOLUE NOW I AM SET TO BUY A JET –Bishop

JET? I wonder if it is the LATEST MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION TO HEAVEN

VOL.8 NO.2,495

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

SEGUN GBADEGESIN gbadegesin@thenationonlineng.net

What we owe each other

•Map of Nigeria

Obasanjo’s second coming in 1999, the World Bank’s report revealed that the Human Development Index (HDI) of Nigeria was on 0.416 and 70 per cent of the population was living below poverty level. So how can anyone justify the amount of resources purportedly invested in poverty alleviation with such a dismal result? This is the fundamental question.

Since the beginning of the Third Republic, the Federal Government has used Poverty Alleviation programme as one of the instruments to combat the scourge of poverty. We can tell how effective this programme has been in light of the incidence of poverty in our midst. Whether we focus on the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) or the Rural Infrastructure Development Scheme (RIDS) or the Social Welfare Services Scheme (SOWESS) or yet still the Natural Resources Development and Conservation Schemes (NRDCS), the failure of the programmes is visible to the blind. The poor are still very

much around.

Our poverty alleviation programme is politically motivated with little to no sincerity about its effective outcome. A national programme, administered as a centralised federal programme can hardly be expected to effectively reach the poor who live in the states and in the local government areas.

These are the first responders to the afflictions of the poor. It is therefore going to be difficult for the Federal Government to operate poverty alleviation programmes which it wants the states to be an appendage to. It could have been more effective for the Federal Government to issue broad policy goals and targets which it expects states and local governments to meet, and then give poverty alleviation grants to these local authorities to implement.

It doesn’t help that we have an aggravated competition system of politics in which the Federal Government is controlled by a political party that is in some cases different from those controlling the states and local governments, and in which there is a lack of mature relationship between the actors. In such a situation, the necessary cooperation in implementing such a programme is lacking. And where you have an arrogant leadership at the centre, the problem is compounded. The National Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP) was a victim of such condition which mandated the implementation the programme in the states through the Federal Government Controller of Works in each state, thus marginalising the states and local government authorities. And an investment of more than N10 billion went down the drain. 200,000 jobs were to be created in a country of 140 million people with unemployment at more than 40%. Instead, emergency millionaires were created in the

HARDBALL

A

S governors head to the poll today to elect the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), neither the people of Rivers State nor the powerful schemers in the presidency can determine conclusively what the aftermath would look like. The most important factor in the election is the fact that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State is seeking a second term. The presidency pretends it is not interested in who leads the NGF. In reality, however, it is deeply and obsessively interested, as if should its candidate win, the victor would inexorably be its puppet and insult other governors by being the presidency’s lapdog. Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema is expected to cross swords with Amaechi for the position.

Should Amaechi win, his troubles with the increasingly powerful President Goodluck Jonathan will worsen, for as Amaechi is boisterously irreverent and implacable, the president is laconically stubborn and imperious. Neither of the two takes prisoners, nor does any of them fancy himself as a prisoner of the other. The ongoing struggle between Rivers and the presidency has manifested in various ways, including struggle for oil wells, the controversy over the socalled excess crude account, the sovereign wealth fund palaver, and the politics of 2015 and how to deliver the votes of Rivers State.

So far, it is an unequal combat. While Amaechi seems powerless, he nonetheless appears to sit on the moral high ground.

And while the presidency, which has instigated series of problems for the governor,

STEVE OSUJI

hierarchy of the ruling party. The poor remain poor.

Nigeria needs leaders with an adequate knowledge of the requirements of effective leadership. In addition, however, such a leadership must also have the endowment of a heart that feels the pain of the downtrodden and helpless citizens of our great country.

But a leadership does not fall from the sky.

It will have to come from among the citizens and be accredited and mandated by them. Therefore citizens also have to have the heart that recognises the obligations that we owe to each other. In our pre-governmental relationships, in our various communities, we are each other’s keepers. The coming of the state does not negate that relationship. It is expected to enhance it. This is why we cannot be satisfied with mere sloganising about the greatness of the country. A landmass is not great in itself; it is the commitment of patriotic citizens that make a nation great. But that commitment is not forthcoming without a realisation on the part of citizens that the political leaders place the highest priority on the interests and welfare of citizens. If what is apparent to citizens is the cut-throat competition to acquire the most for self and family on the part of leaders, then the vicious cycle of poverty and alienation is not going to cease.

In the matter of promoting the welfare of our people and confronting the scourge of poverty, we must strengthen our educational system to give the necessary tools to our youths to make them productive citizens. Through them, we can raise the productive capacity of our economy, and provide for the needs of our mounting populations. Consider this. A well-educated citizenry is in a better position to solve the myriad problems of technological development, be it in the area of power, agriculture, including food technology, or transportation. In addition, gainful employment that is made possible when education is extended to a majority of the population reduces the potential of insecurity caused by unemployment. If only a minority makes it big while the majority suffers in silence, it’s a short step to anarchy and chaos, the kind that has characterised our democracy in the last fifty years. Esther Odozi is a national wake-up call!

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

Amaechi and the NGF election appears so powerful, it has nonetheless acted without the ethical scruples expected of Nigeria’s highest office, or the nobility expected of a sermonising president.

If the election proceeds decorously, and the governors have the decency to recognise that all eyes are on them, by the end of today or the early hours of Saturday, the election will have been lost or won. That the loser, especially if it is the presidency’s candidate, will reconcile himself to his loss is doubtful. So, expect more troubles in the near future. But if Amaechi were to lose, still expect a different type of trouble ahead, for the governors who support him will permanently resent the winner. From all indications, the NGF is already polarised, and will take long to heal after the election, if it ever heals. The polarisation indicates that many governors are in fact overrated and cannot be trusted to act with the maturity and savvy expected of their high offices. It is truly remarkable how they exhibit such fiery passions and betray a lack of character over a body that is, strictly speaking, not even constitutional.

But by far the most remarkable factor in the NGF election is the attitude of a loud section of Rivers State society. No one can ignore the political chicanery going on the state as the presidency sponsors politicians to unsettle Amaechi. This chicanery has disabled the state assembly from sitting, created theatrical atmosphere in which the state police commissioner seems to have taken sides,

and protests and more protests are being organised almost on a daily basis, for barely discernible reasons. Sometime last week, a group of women demonstrated in support of the governor, calling on the state police commissioner to be redeployed. A day after, and in an unprecedented move, another group of women demonstrated in support of the rather voluble state police commissioner who keeps reminding everyone he got a degree from the University of Lagos, almost as if learning and character were the same thing.

Now, two days ago, ex-militants were reported to have also taken to the streets to pressure the governor to resign. In addition, another group of contrarians calling itself Rivers PDP elders want their governor to step down from contesting the NGF chair.

Enough is happening in Rivers State to indicate firmly that the presidency is at war with Amaechi. The NGF election will, therefore, not be the end of the war irrespective of whoever wins or loses, and the presidency will be as eager to undermine the constitution to unhorse the recalcitrant governor as it will be unprepared to take defeat gamely.

But as the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo presidency proved lavishly a few years back, a president that indulges in petty political squabbles diminishes not only himself and the country he leads, he also embarrasses his office and consigns himself to future irrelevance.

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Editor Daily:01-8962807, Marketing: 01-8155547 . Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja. Tel: 07028105302. Port Harcourt Office: 12/14, Njemanze Street, Mile 1, Diobu, PH. 08023595790. WEBSITE: www.thenationonlineng.net E-mail: info@thenationonlineng.net Editor: GBENGA OMOTOSO