October 01, 2015

Newspaper of the Year

•Eight docked in Ilorin for Sallah Day disturbance •Ondo workers begin strike over unpaid salaries •150 Hajj stampede victims buried in Saudi Arabia •NURTW chief Oluomo’s aide shot dead in Oshodi •Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 10, NO. 3353 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

P51 P48 P8 P2

States diverting bailout cash, says NLC NEWS

Page 2

•www.thenationonlineng.net

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

2 P52 •INSIDE: CBN: BANKS HAVE SUFFICIENT LIQUIDITY P8 BIRD FLU SPREADS TO 21 STATES P5

Amaechi, Fayemi, Fashola, Onu make ministerial list Ngige, Shittu, Kemi Adeosun, others likely

LIKELY TO BE ON THE LIST •Audu Ogbeh •Ogbonnaya Onu •Rotimi Amaechi

By Our Reporter

S

ENATE President Bukola Saraki yesterday received the first set of names of would-be ministers to be screened by lawmakers.

The list was presented to him after plenary at about 5pm by the President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari and Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on National Assembly Matters Ita Enang.

On his twitter handle at about 5:20 p.m, Saraki wrote: “I can now confirm that I just received the list of ministerial nominees.”

The list was submitted in a sealed envelope

by Kyari and Enang.

The Senate President’s spokesman, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said: “Dr. Saraki, following the tradition of the Senate, decided that the envelope will remain sealed till Tuesday October Continued on page 8

•Babatunde Fashola •Udoma

•Fayemi

•Fashola

•Amaechi

•Rahman Dambazzau •Abubakar Malami •Kemi Adeosun •Aisha Alhassan •Amina Mohammed •Adeosun

•Ogbeh

•Onu

•Malami

•Hadi Sirika

Buhari: Nigerians’ll soon feel changes

•Chris Ngige

By Joseph Jibueze

•Adebayo Shittu

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RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari this morning raised the hope of Nigerians that they will soon be feeling the full effect of the changes being introduced by the government.

In his broadcast to mark the country’s 55th independence anniversary, he said: “All the early signs are that within months the whole country would begin to feel a change for the better”.

•Solomon Dalong •Ibe Kachikwu •Shittu

•Ngige

•Alhassan

•Sirika

Continued on page 8

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WILL THE CHIBOK GIRLS EVER RETURN?

•Osagie Ehanire •Udoma Udo-Udoma

55th Independence Anniversary SEE ALSO PAGES 4-7&53 He also spoke on the need for Nigerians to change themselves and why his ministers’ list was released late.

According to him, it would have been tardy to name the ministers when handover

•Kayode Fayemi

•Ahmed Isa Ibeto •Sulaiman Adamu •Ibrahim Jibril •Mohammed

•Dambazau

•Ibeto

•Ehanire

Our stand on seized N5.3b, ex-IGP’s assets, by EFCC

STORY ON PAGE 52

Lamorde: cash, items taken from Alamieyeseigha remitted to govt

•SYLVA WINS BAYELSA APC GOVERNORSHIP TICKET P50 TRIBUNAL SACKS SENATOR P5 P511

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

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NEWS Reps seek political solution to Saraki’s travails From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

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•President Muhammadu Buhari (middle) being welcomed back to the country from the United States by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja ...yesterday.

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Judge withdraws from Saraki’s case against CCT, others

USTICE Ahmed Ramat Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday withdrew from the case by Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

Saraki sought to restrain the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), the Federal Ministry of Justice and others from proceeding with his trial on the false asset declaration charge against him before the CCT. Justice Mohammed declined, on September 17, to grant Saraki’s prayer for an order restraining the respondents in the case. Saraki had applied for the order via an ex-parte motion.

Instead, the judge ordered that the respondents be put on notice and show cause on September 21, why the prayer sought by Saraki should not be granted.

On September 21, the judge, after arguments from parties, elected to hear the substantive suit.

Parties were in court yester-

•Returns case file to court’s head for reassignment From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

day for the hearing of the main suit when the judge said he would no longer hear the case following publications in the social media, which portrayed him compromised.

He said the publication cast doubt in his integrity as a judge hearing the case, which will make any of the party doubt his intention, whichever position he takes in the case.

Justice Mohammed said it was more honourable for him to hand the case file to the chief judge for reassignment.

To avert a possible misrepresentation of the day’s proceedings, the judge directed an official of the court to make a printed record of the proceedings, signed by the judge, available.

Part of the printed court record reads: “In the first instance, I have never made any

restraining order against any of the defendants, and in particular, the Code of Conduct Tribunal vide a motion exparte or any motion at all.

“Those, who are conversant with the workings of this court, would vouch that this court is not in the habit of granting ex-parte restraining orders to stop public institutions from carrying out their statutory duties.

“Ordinarily, the above explanation should have been the end of the matter. However, the issue, in my view, is much more than just offering the above explanation.

“If this court were to proceed with the hearing of this matter, and by any chance, the plaintiff’s case succeeds at the end of the hearing, then the allegations in the publications would seem to have been proved.

“If, on the other hand, the

plaintiff’s claim is dismissed at the end of hearing, then the plaintiff’s side would assume that the court was blackmailed by the publication not to do justice in the matter.

“I have no interest in the instant case and indeed all pending cases before me other than to administer justice. It should, however, be noted that justice is rooted in confidence.

“If the foundation of that confidence is shaken, then a judge should take the path of honour and hands off the case.

This, in my view, is the honourable step to take in such circumstances.

“It is in the light of the above observations that I hereby remit the case file of this matter to the chief judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment of the suit to another judge. This will best serve the interest of justice,” the judge said.

HE leadership of the House of Representatives is set to meet President Muhamadu Buhari to find a political solution to the corruption trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The decision of the House is an offshoot of a motion brought before the House under matters of urgent public importance by a member, Raphael Igbokwe, with the title: “a motion on Nigeria’s 55 years of independence: need for vigilance.”

The lawmakers, also in their resolution, passed “a vote of confidence in the leadership of the National Assembly, urging all institutions of government to be guided by the rule of law and due process and avoid being used to undermine any arm of government.”

Sequel to an amendment by the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, and Hon. Patrick Asadu, members at plenary yesterday mandated the leadership of the House to meet with the President “ with a view to politically resolve all outstanding issues relating to the National Assembly in the interest of Nigerians” His amendment to the original motion, which was also granted, included mandating the Speaker “to intervene in the issues and challenges being faced by the Chairman of the National Assembly ( Saraki) with a view to finding a political solution and protecting the institution of the National Assembly as a whole in the interest of our democracy.”

2019: PDP zones presidency to North

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HE leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has zoned its 2019 presidential ticket to the North. The party, however, did not state which of the three zones in the region the ticket was being zoned to.

The party’s Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus made the disclosure at the party’s secretariat yesterday while receiving the report of the Post-Election Review Committee.

Secondus said the decision was part of the recommendations of the committee, chaired by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.

Ekweremadu, while presenting the report, said: “Since the last president of PDP extraction came from the southern part of Nigeria, it is recommended that PDP’s presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election should come from the northern part of the country.”

The committee also recom-

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

mended that the title of “party leader” be discarded forthwith at all levels, as it has no basis in the constitution of the PDP, adding that this would go a long way to strengthen the structure of the party at all levels.

The committee also recommended that the party do away with the use of delegates for picking its candidates for elections, saying the process had been grossly compromised and abused.

Instead, it recommended the adoption of direct primaries as means of electing candidates for elections at all levels. This, according to the report, was a practical way of returning the party to the people.

The committee also recommended that the party should be self-funding, relying on membership registration and enforcement of dues and levies in line with the PDP constitution.

NLC accuses some states of diverting bailout cash

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HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday accused some governors, after receiving bailout funds from the Federal Government to pay workers’ salaries and pensions, of diverting the money into fixed deposit accounts for personal gains.

NLC President Ayuba Wabba levelled the accusation against the governors in his message to Nigerians on today’s 55th Independence anniversary.

The labour leader said such action was unacceptable and would be resisted.

He said the NLC was working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to track such funds and take appropriate actions.

Wabba hailed the National Council of State and President Muhammadu Buhari for paying the backlog of salaries.

But the labour leader regretted that the enthusiasm and commitment by the Council of State and the President on the matter had not been replicated in some states.

He alleged that rather than

From Tony Akowe, Abuja

pay salaries and pensions, some of the governors “have elected to play politics with the welfare of their workers with some of them quoted as saying that they reserve the right to do what they like with the intervention fund from the federal government since it is a loan.

“We note particularly that payment of pensions at state and local governments is a major problem because they operate defined benefit pension system which often times is not funded. And even when it is funded, the governors and their cohorts help themselves to these funds because they are exposed.

“We condemn this attitude and strongly warn that henceforth, any state that defaults in the regular payment of salaries and pensions will face the wrath of the workers. Salaries and pensions are inalienable rights of workers and retirees and not privileges. We also call for pension reforms at state and local government levels to enhance the security of pension funds and regular payments.

“We would want to sound a note of caution to the gover-

nors who have fixed the intervention funds in banks for pecuniary benefits. It is totally unacceptable. The Nigeria Labour Congress is working with ICPC to track the fixed funds for the purpose of taking appropriate action”.

The NLC President argued that the performance of the economy has been of great concern to Labour, stressing that “in the months preceding the 2015 general elections,

the performance nosedived largely due to a number of reasons including dwindling oil sales in the international market, fiscal indiscipline, corruption, rising cost of governance and unhelpful macro-economic policies.

“However, the general elections, arguably was the trigger, as the economy cascaded to its lowest ebb immediately after the elections, in recent years. Funding the

2015 budget was difficult, government borrowed to pay salaries.

“Even then, not all MDAs were paid. Save two or three states, the rest were unable to pay salaries or pensions leading to a backlog of up to six months or more. The Naira was massively devalued while inflation rose. Practically, everything came to a halt. There were clear signs of restiveness in the polity.

“It was therefore not surprising that one of the first things President Muhammadu Buhari did (after being sworn in), was to create an intervention fund through the instrumentality of the Council of State to enable the states pay up backlogs of salaries and pension arrears.

There have been other interventions that have considerably eased tension in the polity.”

Rival gang kills MC Oluomo’s aide

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HE rivalry within the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Oshodi, Lagos chapter turned bloody last night, with the murder ofOlayinka Mamowora (a.k.a Mamok), an aide of the union’s State Treasurer and Oshodi chapter chairman, Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya, otherwise known as MC Oluomo.

The assailants, 10 in number rode on motorcycles to Mosaku Street in Oshodi and shot Mamowora in the head.

The late Mamok, 46, a relative Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, was survived by aged mother, wife and a child.

The deceased was killed inside a barbing saloon while shaving

•NURTW chief: be calm, don’t create chaos

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

his hair.

The saloon is three houses away from the deceased residence.

According to an eyewitness, the assailants after killing Mamok, dragged his lifeless body outside and put it on top of his ash-coloured Honda saloon car.

“Once people heard gun shots, residents and passersby scampered in different directions for safety. Those guys, who killed Mamok after satisfying themselves that he was dead, left on their motorcycles immediately,” he said.

A visibly angered Akinsanya told the crowd that gathered at the scene last night not to go and create chaos in the community.

Another eyewitness said the assailants acted on information and tracked him down to the saloon.

A visibly angered Akinsanya told the crowd that gathered at the scene last night not to go and create chaos in the community.

“I did not order anybody to start fighting or causing crisis out there. We know those who were behind the killing of Mamok but we won’t take laws into our hands. We will allow police to do their job,” he said.

•The late Mamowora

“I will also consult with my leaders on the next line of action, but we will not go violent and disrupt the peaceful atmosphere the current administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and the state Commissioner of Police have achieved in the last few months,” Akinsanya said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

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THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

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NEWS From Balewa to Buhari:

A nation’s thirst for good leadership

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N 55 years, Nigeria has witnessed 15 administrations. Until the second coming of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as President, it has been a tale of elusive hope and wasted expectations. The country has agonised under eight military regimes. It has witnessed an inexplicable interim contraption; a mixed grill of soldiers and their civilian collaborators. The five civilian heads of government - the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan - could not make much difference. Will Buhari, who now has a second chance like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, succeed where others did not measure up?

Dashed hope On October 1, 1960, there were high expectations. Nigeria was projected as middle-level power capable of taking the world by the storm. Its natural resources and human endowment were vital assets. But, six years after, the fledgling federation was still crawling.

The leadership failed to lay a strong foundation for a united nation. Thus, the colonial legacy was threatened by disintegration. In the seventies, there were signs that the country would become an economic miracle. But, in the eighties, the economy laid prostrate. It is a tragedy of nationhood that, more than five decades after, Nigeria is yet to resolve its national question. Many citizens perceive themselves, not as Nigerians bonded together by common destiny, but as tribesmen projecting the antagonistic pursuits of rival ethnic groups in an atmosphere of lopsided federalism.

Balewa At independence, Nigeria practiced parliamentary system. The President, the late Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe, exercised ceremonial powers. But, the Prime Minister, Balewa, was under the shadow of his political leader and Premier of the defunct Northern Region, the late Sir Ahmadu Bello. Then, political leaders were largely perceived as ethnic champions inclined to the defense of regional interests. The big three - Ahmadu Bello (North), Chief Obafemi Awolowo (West) and Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe (East) - coordinated the ethnic battle for relevance. What made the system to survive for the first six years was the practice of true federalism, although the hand of the centre was still heavy on the regions on few occasions. Leaders appeared to agree on some basic federal principles. In that atmosphere of federalism, the battle for federal power unleashed crisis and tension. However, it was evident that the four regions were ready to develop at their pace, and within the limit of their resources.

The coup plotters who disrupted orderly political evolution accused the political leaders of corruption, avarice, nepotism and rigging of elections, especially in the ‘wild wild’ West. Although, the ring leaders led by Major Kaduna Chukwuma Nzeogwu succeeded in killing Balewa, Premier Ladoke Akintola of the West, his Northern counterpart, Bello, Chief festus Okoti-Eboh, the Minister of Finance and other senior military rulers, they failed in their bid to capture power. The coup was hijacked by opportunistic senior officers, who failed to sustain the vision of the original plotters. But, the death of Bello and Balewa heraled a chain of events, which furthered affected national cohesion and unity. The soldiers of Northern origin sworn to avenge their blood at a later date.

Ironsi The late Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, the General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army, had no plan or programme of action when he became the Head of State in 1966. Therefore, he came to office unprepared. He pretended as if Nigeria was one. Thus, he

he told his cousin, the Commander of the Brigade of Guards, to make the coup bloodless. He was succeeded by his Minister of Communications, Gen. Murtala Mohammed.

Gowon has legacies. He embarked on massive road construction in major cities. He created 12 states and set up the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Murtala/Obasanjo

•Ekwueme

•The late Abiola

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Group Political Editor

displayed gross insensitivity when he abolished the regions, thereby stifling the doctrine of theoretical regional autonomy. His unification decree was a disaster. For the six months that he was in power, he could not set up a proper cabinet. The committee on constitution review set up by Ironsi was also moribund. The North believed that his kinsmen in the military killed Northern leaders to pave the way for the Igbo hegemony. The country was in tension when he embarked on his first nationwide tour. He was killed at Ibadan, the capital of the old Western State alongside his loyal host, Governor Adekunle Fajuyi. Historians have never alluded to any legacy of his inept administration. However, his death generated negative feelings among Ibos. It also led to succession crisis in the military.

Gowon The Army chief, Colonel (later General) Yakubu Gowon, succeeded his assassinated boss. He spent nine years in office. The first three years were hectic for him as Nigeria was plunged into an avoidable civil war by the clash of interests among top military men. The army had failed to shelve the toga of tribalism. Like Ironsi, Gowon was not prepared for the leadership responsibilities. He became the Head of State by default, as it were. It was irksome to the military governor of Eastern State, Col. Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who objected to the disruption of military seniority and succession pattern.

Ironsi’s second-in-command, the late Brig. Babafemi Ogundipe, was bypassed. Ogundipe lost confidence when he commanded a recruit who flagrantly disobeyed his command, claiming that he could not take orders from those outside his tribal and religious backgrounds. In addition, there was pogrom in the North, with many Igbos as casualties.

There was an ego war between Jack and Ojukwu, who later capitalised on the unresolved misunderstanding to declare the East as the Republic of Biafra. For 30 months, the nation was at war with itself. Gowon won the war for Nigeria. But, after the war, he derailed. His major offence was his refusal to set up a transition programme. His government was accused of corruption. In fact, only two governorsMobolaji Johnson of Lagos and Oluwole Rotimi of West - were the curious exceptions. In 1975, Gowon embarked on a trip to attend the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit Kampala, the Ugandan capital.

He knew that he would not return to power because he was aware that Col. Joseph Garba and other military boys were planning a coup. At the airport,

The late Murtala, fondly called the bulldozer by admirers and foes, was one of the heroes of the civil war. He has been described by historians as a man in a hurry. He thread the populist path by setting up a transition programme, which kept the politicians busy at the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) deliberations. He also waged an unprecedented war against corruption. In the course of fighting corruption, both corrupt officials and those who were not corrupt were sacked without proper investigation. A former Super Permanent Secretary Philip Asiodu, whose career ended with the gale of retrenchment, ob served that the measures were counter-productive. It is ironical that the measure adopted in curbing corruption further led to more corruption as civil servants, including university teachers and administrators started to cut corners for the fear of the unknown. Murtala was an impatient leader. But, it seemed that he meant well for the country. He created 19 states and initiated the relocation of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from Lagos to Abuja. On February 13, 1976, he was killed in a coup led by Col. Bukar Dimka. He was succeeded by the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who completed the transition programme and handed over to President Shagari on October 1, 1979.

Shagari After 13 years of military rule, Shagari became the President. Nigeria practiced presidential system between 1979 and 1983. But, the civilian leaders, who played prominent roles in the First Republic, did not learn from their mistakes. Politicians became more reckless, corrupt and unpatriotic in the Second Republic. When Chief Obafemi Awolowo warned President Shagari that the ship of state was about to hit the rock, he was labelled as a prophet of doom. The economy was crumbling.

But, Shagari and his economic adviser said that the economic was strong.

Service delivery was poor. Dividends of democracy were scarce. Later, reality dawned on the administration.

Shagari declared austerity measures.

The 1983 elections were rigged. There was violence in some states. On December 31, 1983, the military sacked the administration. The first four years of presidential democracy became history.

Buhari/Idiagbon Buhari and his deputy, Gen. Tunde Idiagbon, the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, were bubbling with patriotism. They wanted to clear the Augean stable. The war against corruption and indiscipline were intensified.

They waged war against graft in high places. All forms of indiscipline were not condoned. It was a government of financial accountability. On the economic front, foreign debts were paid and loopholes were bridged. But, according to analysts, the human rights record of the administration was poor.

Besides, the administration had no plan to hand over to civilians.

Babangida On August 27, 1985, the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, succeeded Buhari. He was in power as the military President for eight years. Historians have described the period as eight years of political, economic and social experimentation.

But, there was no meaningful result as IBB became a political dribbler. The President set up a transition programme. A free and fair election was

conducted nationwide. A winner, the late Chief Moshood Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), emerged. However, the result of the poll was annulled. Many people believed that the transition programme was subverted by the midwife. In August 1993, Babangida bowed when Nigerians and the international community turned the heat on him.

Shonekan After he stepped aside, Babangida was succeeded by the Head of Interim Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan.

The board room guru did not understand the political setting. He was a nominal Commander-in-Chief, tossed around by soldiers. His administration lacked legitimacy. Thus, pro-democracy forces waxed stronger in their agitation for the de-annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election results.

The interim leader was in a state of confusion. He complained that he was overwhelmed by the military politics.

Barely three months later, the Minister of Defence, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, shoved him aside and assumed the reins as the Head of State.

Abacha Abacha was the most dreadful military Head of State. Not only did he use power to the extreme, it was believed that power was actually using him. He waged war against human rights groups and members of the political class opposed to his misrule. He mounted pressure on the five political parties to endorse him when he wanted to transmute into a civilian President.

Many, also believed that his regime was grossly corrupt. He died in 1998 in a controversial manner. The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, became the Head of State, following his demise.

Abdulsalami The only thing the Head of State did was to hurriedly set up the shortest transition programme. Three parties the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Nigerians Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) - were registered. He handed over to Obasanjo in 1999.

Obasanjo In his second coming, Obasanjo ruled for eight years. He ruled like a soldier that he is, brooking no opposition. His regime stabilised the polity. Some reforms were carried out across the sectors. But, a deep hollow was created in the record of the administration. The symbol of democracy promoted certain anti-democratic ideas. Observers pointed out that court orders were worthless. But, Obasanjo tried to wage war against corruption by setting up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

According to analysts, the two antigraft bodies were later used as weapons against perceived political opponents. When he left in 2007, many of the problems he inherited remained unresolved. For example, electricity could not be fixed. The infrastructure battle was half-solved. The roads remained death traps. Refineries could not be revived. Rigging became pervasive. There was a floodgate of post-election litigations.

There were also rumours that the former President was scheming for a third term. His administration ended on a controversial note.

Yar’Adua Obasanjo was succeeded by the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, the former governor of Katsina State. He admitted riding to power on the back of a flawed elections.

•Continued on page 52

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RDINARILY, Nigerians should be rolling out the drums to mark the nation’s 55th Independent anniversary. But, rather than celebrating, the mood of the country, which got independence on October 1, 1960, is one of sober reflection. In the area of politics, the country appears to be getting back on its feet. After 16 years of uninterrupted civilian rule, the country appears to have made progress in that regard; particularly with periodic elections that are now increasingly being described as “free and fair” and the emergence of an opposition that, for the first time, dislodged a sitting party. To that extent, observers believe the country is on course politically. It has continued to be plagued by bad leadership, since the nation returned to participatory democracy 16 years ago.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope that the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari can steer the nation out of troubled waters.

Buhari, who was voted into power because Nigerians were fed up with the former ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), has the onerous responsibility of giving the country a new direction. Today, the economic outlook is bleak. The tumbling prices of crude oil at the international market, which many oil-producing countries have been grappling with since the middle of last year, appears to be taking a huge toll on the economy.

Many state governors were owing arrears of workers’ salaries until the President Buhari worked out a bailout package for the cash-strapped states.

According to experts, the economy is struggling because it is subject to fluctuations in global oil prices, because successive governments have been paying lip service to the crucial issue of diversification of the economy. Divesting from fossil fuel is the obvious direction the world is headed. Many powerful countries which dominate the world economy have been actively working on that.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

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NEWS

My wish for Nigeria at 55

by Joe Igbokwe

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The mood surrounding the celebration of the 55th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence is one of mixed feelings. Though it is clearly evident that the country has nothing to celebrate at 55, the flipside is that the country is going through the motions of a fresh rebirth under the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI x-rays the state of the nation at 55.

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Therefore, it is imperative for the Buhari administration to initiate policies to empower every Nigerian to come on board in the quest to reposition the economy.

•Obasanjo

•Jonathan

The United States (U.S.) and Europe are headed in that direction. As the technology for non-fossils are improved, this trend will become the dominant source of energy in the world. But, sadly, the ruling elite appear not to have the political will to chart a new course that would address the people’s immediate need.

At Independence, the country had the capacity for growth and development. But it sguandered the opportunity by not sustaining the development of agricultural sector with its linkage to the manufacturing sector and not thinking ahead during the oil boom. With the discovery of oil, Nigeria closed her eyes to other sectors of the economy.

Over the years, Nigeria’s economy has been growing, but this has not been translated into putting food on the tables of many Nigerians. The administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan had made some efforts to diversify the economy, to start creating jobs for Nigerians. But,

•The late Yar’Adua

his ‘Transformation Agenda’ failed to transform the economy and create jobs as desired.

Economists have identified rural and urban integration; infrastructure and family planning as the critical factors to the transformation of the economy and its emergence as one of the top 20 economies in the world.

According to the experts, the problem to be tackled is the duality between the formal and informal sectors of the economy. This, they added, is an important factor responsible for the lack of competitiveness of the non-oil sector and that it is imperative to address the challenges impeding the growth of the informal sector, which has been identified as the backbone of the economy and the highest employer of labour.

Therefore, it is imperative for the Buhari administration to initiate policies to empower every Nigerian to come on board in the quest to reposition the economy. Across the globe, knowledge economy has put nations

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in higher pedestal than natural resources endowment. The experts want President Buhari to set economic goals and targets, come out with a clear economic blueprint and formulate achievable policies and strategies to bring about a truly diversified economy.

The recent rebasing of the economy, setting Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy, while revealing the true economic position of Africa’s largest nation, simultaneously re-certified Nigeria as the nation in the top position for worst leadership in social welfare and opportunities for the people. With 70 per cent of the nation’s population living under a-dollar-a-day; economically factored, Nigeria has the poorest people of any nation in the world today.

At 55, the millions of unemployed youths have been described as a bomb waiting to explode. And until the teeming youths are gainfully enegaged, the country might be sitting on a keg of gun-powder. The spectre

AKEno mistake about it.

There is a finger of God in the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari at this critical moment in the nation’s history. After previous attempts in 2003, 2007, 2011, he eventually clinched the presidential slot on Saturday, March 28, 2015. Whoever is not deep in the knowledge of how God works, may not know the full meaning of President Buhari’s emergence at a time like this and what he is doing now. There was nothing the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its followers, with deep pockets did not do to stop him, but their efforts were not enough to stop an idea whose time has come.

Those who did not follow the campaigns fully may not have known what the wreckers, the ruiners and destroyers of Nigeria did to stop him but the grace of God and the love of God for Nigeria stopped them. Huge amount of money in various currencies were deployed, mercenaries were hired to deploy the worst form of hate campaign ever known in the history of Nigeria, the instrumentality of the full weight of the Federal Government was fully deployed, the full weight of the security forces were fully and maximally deployed to stop President Buhari but God had other plans for Nigeria . Despite these onslaughts and desperation to change the will of God for Nigeria, the will of God for Nigeria prevailed.

Since Buhari came to power, I have seen a lot of deep changes which the ordinary eye may not see. The fear of President Buhari is now the beginning of wisdom. Yes, they have stolen enough for the real owners to notice, but they have not stolen the brains and ideas of the people. With brains and ideas, Nigerians can now begin the process of rebuilding the country. Ideas, people say, are better than money and top positions.

It is historic and prophetic that new ministers will be coming into the saddle when Nigeria clock’s 55 on October 1 2015. My late father once told me that you will never get up unless you have fallen down. I have an idea of the kind of people that will make the ministers list in a Buhari-led government and I know that 70 per cent of them know that we have to build Nigeria now or never. We have the political will to recover every stolen cash and use it effectively to rebuild our dilapidated infrastructure, create job opportunities, rebuild our institutions, feed our teeming population and provide maximum security for all. This is not the time to eat but time to work and work for the good of insecurity may persist, despite the spirited efforts of the administration of President Buhari to eliminate the security threat posed by the radical terrorist group, Boko Haram. There are growing incidences of kidnappings, which used to be restricted to the Southsouth and the Southeast geo-political zones, in the Southwest and other parts of the country.

Though the country is under a democratic dispensation, the potentially-destabilising issue of the national question is still being swept under the carpet. At the moment, Nigerians are only preoccupied with Boko Haram insurgency. But, the existences of ethnic militias like the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) and the likes are manifestations of the rot in the system. Successive governments have always wielded the big stick against such groupings, but experts believe that a more holistic solution is needed because sweeping

•Igbokwe

of the commonwealth.

The incoming ministers must know that it is no longer business as usual. President Buhari has a mission and time is not on his side.

It therefore behoves on all of them to key into the man’s vision of zero tolerance on corruption and indiscipline. They have no choice.

Nigeria has gone full cycle in stupidity and selfishness and this is the time to build or we all perish.

Nigeria at 55 with Muhammadu Buhari as President provides a new window for all of us to sit up and be smart in re-ordering the way we do things. The massive flow of refugees from Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Africa into Europe should be food for thought for the leaders. Boko Haram insurgents, MASSOB and Niger Delta militants remain a big challenge to all.

We must rise above ethnic sentiments in order to confront these threats and build the Nigeria of our dream. Diversity remains our greatest assets and should we bungle it as a result of greed, selfishness, ethnic preoccupation and political irresponsibility, woe betide us.

President Buhari’s team should be our first eleven for the first time in 55 years and we demand nothing less. I pity any minister who will mess up when the need is greatest. I pity any minister who will go there to think it is still business as usual. I pity any minister who will go into public office to betray the President and the country. This is our chance to prove to the world that we did not go to school to learn how to accumulate what we do not need. This is not the time to stand and stare. This is not the time for bedtime stories and frivolities. This is the time for us to free ourselves from primitive accumulation of wealth to service delivery. This is the time to grow up.

This is my wish for Nigeria at 55.

•Igbokwe is the Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) Publicity Secretary. Lagos.

them under the carpet amounts to postponing the doomsday.

In the view of a public affairs analyst, Joe Iniodu, the arrival of Independence in 1960 held out great hope and prospect for the teeming populace, but such hopes have been dashed. He said it is unfortunate that Nigerians are no longer living as brothers, as envisaged by the founding fathers. He said at the dawn of independence that Nigerians were free to live in any part of the country without the fear of discrimination and without the risk of becoming endangered species for being a nonindigene or for belonging to another religion other than the one observed in the milieu.

Iniodu’s argument is that successive leaders failed to manage the country’s diversity and differences.

According to experts, the country’s diversity could have become an asset, if it had been properly managed.

But, that is not the case.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

6

NEWS INDEPENDENCE DAY

Okorocha, Ambode, Ikpeazu: put nation above ethnic, religious sentiments

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MO State Governor Rochas Okorocha, Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and their Abia State counterpart, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, have enjoined Nigerians to put the unity of the country above ethnic, political and religious sentiments.

The Imo governor appealed to ethnic and separatist groups to jettison all quest for sovereignty and come together to build a progressive and united nation.

Okorocha, in his goodwill massage to Nigerians by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, noted that “for Nigeria to have remained one indivisible nation for 55 years despite the challenges that have been confronting it as a multiethnic nation does not only deserves to be celebrated but also calls for thanksgiving to God Almighty”.

He said: “At 55, Nigeria as a nation and Nigerians as a people should begin to see the unity of the country as a development that has become indelible, which should also encourage the citizenry to think less about tribal and religious differences, and think more about the harmony and progress of the nation.

“Nigerians should equally begin to take the wordings of the National Anthem and the National Pledge more serious than they had never done before. The truth is that the wordings of the National Anthem and the National Pledge should stand as the creed of all Nigerians of goodwill. The Na-

Nigeria holds lots of promises, says Amosun

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GUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has said despite the failures of the past and challenges of the present, Nigeria still holds the promise of becoming the land of our dream “if we are all determined to make it happen”.

Amosun, in his Independence celebration message in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, congratulated Nigeria and Nigerians on the occasion of the country’s 55th birthday.

The governor said Nigerians have every reason to celebrate because the country is experiencing resounding changes on account of a focused leadership.

Amosun, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant (Media), Adejuwon Soyinka, said: “We may not have got to the Promised Land and there are issues which still confront us as a people, but there is no denying that as a nation we are on the right path.

“It is therefore incumbent on all of us to build on our strength- huge population, natural and human resources and the resilient Nigerian spirit- to take our country to where it should be in the comity of nations. We must all continue to make sacrifices for the good of our country.

“The Nigerian project is still work in progress and all of us, irrespective of our social, religious and ethnic background, From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri, Oziegbe Okoeki and Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

tional Anthem should not be seen and treated as an ordinary music and the National Pledge shouldn’t be seen and said as an ordinary poem. Their wordings call for sober reflections on the part of Nigerians”.

The governor also advised that “as a matter of fact, at 55 years of age, Nigerians should also grow beyond ethnic war songs. Hence, ethnic associations and groups beating ethnic war drums should put a halt to that. Even the quest for sovereignty by some zonal or ethnic bodies should also be dropped

since such tendencies have no meaningful contribution to the unity, development and prosperity of the nation.

“Nigeria has come to stay as a nation and there is nothing anybody can do about that.

What is expected is that all hands should be on deck to build a Nigeria of our collective dream where freedom, peace and unity abound, and where the labour of our heroes past, shall never be in vain.

“It is also important that Nigerians leverage on the 55th Independence Day event to pray for the leadership of the nation at the moment, and the leadership at the state levels, and pray that the lofty desire of President

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

must contribute our quota to the development of the country.

“This is the time to completely shun divisive tendencies and emphasise those issues that unite us because without unity of purpose not much can be achieved,” the statement added.

The governor also seized the occasion to call on Nigerians and particularly Ogun State workers, to renew their determination and vigour for hard work and discipline in order to contribute to the economic development of the state.

As the state that pays workers the highest wages in the federation, Governor Amosun called on the civil servants to reciprocate government’s gesture by renewing their dedication to duty and resolving more than ever before to serve the people of Ogun.

“Looking beyond oil revenue, there is the need now, more than ever before, for developing alternative sources of income and in the area of agriculture and associated industries, Ogun has comparative advantage which we are already tapping into,” the governor said.

Amosun said his faith in the Nigerian nation remains unshaken while adding that every Nigerian has every cause to be grateful to God for preserving the country in the last 55 years.

Mohammadu Buhari to rid Nigeria of corruption should produce the needed result”.

Ambode said patriotism and selfless service are two aspects that can truly reflect the essence of the country’s independence.

The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna, said the period must not be lost on anyone.

He urged Nigerians to rededicate themselves to the pride and service of the nation as exemplified by the founding fathers.

Ambode said there was need to rekindle the flame that ignited the determination of the founding fathers to fight for and obtain independence and

the pride they had in serving the country.

He called on Nigerians to support the efforts by President Muhammadu to rebuild the nation’s foundation, saying such efforts could not be left to the government alone.

The governor prayed that the Buhari administration would succeed in its quest to reduce poverty, fight corruption, change the economic fortunes and stem insecurity.

Ikpeazu commended Nigerians on the 55th independence celebration which he said was not attained on a platter of gold but through a dint of hard work and the grace of God. In a state wide broadcast, Ik-

•Okorocha

peazu said the attainment of independence was a culmination of years of struggle, agitation, intellectual arguments, selflessness and a nationalistic fervour that brought out the best in our leaders.

Ikpeazu said the sacrifices were made for the attainment of the larger goal and ambitions were subsumed to enable the dream to be actualised and urged the present-day youth to emulate the sacrificial spirit of their forefathers.

He said 55 years down the line, “Nigeria has been through many epochs; as much as we have witnessed many challenges, we have also witnessed remarkable triumphs. Indeed, as a people, we have a lot to be thankful to God for”.

The governor said: “As you all are aware, we have embarked on a voyage of consolidating on the greatness of Abia State. Our ship set sail on May 29, 2015 and we immediately commenced an epochal journey sure of our destination and unwavering in our commitment to get there.

“We have since inception initiated a number of projects and taken a number of measures aimed at sanitising the system and enthroning a culture of fiscal discipline and prudent management of available resources to meet our developmental objectives.”

Dogara sends message of hope From Dele Anofi, Abuja

•Dogara

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OUSE of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara has said despite the hard times being faced by Nigeria, the happy times will be here again.

Dogara, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, said: “Nigerians have every reason to celebrate the 55 years of independence and over 100 years of existence. I will urge our people to use this period to give thanks to God for keeping the country one despite many upheavals and prophesies of doom.

“The Speaker said that when compared with other developing countries, Nigeria is far behind and is ranked among the lowest in the human development index, but expresses hope that “happy times will be here again.

“He said, rather than grieving over the problems and challenges facing the country, Nigerians must, as a matter of necessity, move away from lamentation and hopelessness to a new era of hope and positivity about the future of the country.

“As leaders, we are not unaware of the task before us as there is so much work to do which requires sacrifice by all Nigerians.

“Thus, we will plead with our people not to lose hope in their leaders as most nations have passed through similar challenges and emerged stronger. I have strong hopes and conviction that Nigeria will also overcome these challenges.

“This too, shall pass away and happy times will be here again.

The new APC government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has left none in doubt as to its readiness to restructure and reposition the country on the path of socio-economic development.”

•Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode (third left); Managing Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Mr Yaw Nsarkoh (second left); Corporate Affairs Director of the Company, Mrs Soromidayo George (second right), and others, when the Unilever Management Team PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES visited the governor in Lagos...yesterday.

Peterside: Our country is undergoing rebirth

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HE governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has said the country is undergoing a rebirth.

He congratulated Nigeria on its 55th birthday.

Peterside, who described Nigeria as a country experiencing resounding changes on account of a focused leadership, praised the founding fathers for their sacrifice and commitment through the colonial days to the dawn of independence.

He said Nigerians have every reason to celebrate, having ex-

perienced over 16 years of uninterrupted democratic rule and survived a civil war that threatened their unity.

“Birthdays are seasons for stock-taking. As we mark our independence anniversary, we must give gratitude to God for creating and sustaining this unique edifice called Nigeria.

“We have come a long way, no doubt. But we have also surmounted huge obstacles on our tortuous path to nationhood since our independence in 1960.

“Apart from other accomplishments, the fact that we sur-

vived a civil war is a major achievement. Today, we speak of democratic values and a thriving democracy that is healthy and treading a purposeful path.

“But it could still have been better, given our endowments, both human and material. For many years, our hopes for a great nation were dashed by the challenge of leadership, particularly at the highest level. The last six years was particularly harrowing for many Nigerians, who witnessed the faltering and diminishing policies and

actions of that administration.

“Today, confidence and trust are gradually returning. I know that the generality of our people are happy again with their government at the centre. I must state here that we are also steadily reclaiming our lost glory on the international arena. There is no accident about these developments. The character of the President, obviously is significantly affecting the way we do things now.

“It is evident that President Muhammadu Buhari is pro-

viding leadership and rekindling hope and self-assurance in our abilities as a great people. As we mark this day, it is important to remember that our journey towards the full restoration of our country continues.

“Therefore, we must join hands with the Buhari-led government as it tackles corruption, impunity, incompetence, unemployment and all the vices that remind us of the sorry story of our recent history.

Surely, Nigeria is on the march again and we must all lend our support.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

7

NEWS INDEPENDENCE DAY ‘Be optimistic’

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

F

ORMER Abia State Governor Orji Kalu has appealed to Nigerians to be optimistic and keep hope alive.

A statement by his media adviser, Ebere Wabara, said: “October 1 is a significant date in the nation’s history and as such it should be dedicated to our selfless founding fathers.

“Our strength is our diversity in culture, language and ethnicity, which has been keeping Nigeria indivisible over the years.

“Let us use this period to reflect on the efforts and ideals of the founding fathers and impact the society positively.”

Aregbesola: Nigeria’ll rise again •Be focused, says Dickson •PDP govs hail perseverance

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SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has said Nigeria will arise again.

Aregbesola said the greatest challenges confronting the nation are nation-building and selfless leaders.

In a statement, Aregbesola praised Nigerians for their efforts and sacrifices towards building a democratic, just and humane society.

“We are in a critical stage in our journey for sustainable democracy.

“Therefore, we must do

everything humanly possible to protect this democratic process, the longest in our political evolution.

“Our founding fathers, with sincerity of purpose, fought for a country where there will be equal opportunities, freedom of expression and association as well as security of life and property.

“I have strong, unwavering conviction and sincere hope that this country will still stand tall and become great again.”

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson urged Nige-

rians to remain focused and supportive.

He called on them to always see the peace, security and unity of the country as a collective responsibility.

According to him, Nigeria’s diversity has proved to be one of its greatest assets.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors praised Nigerians for their perseverance and for keeping the country united.

The governors, under the aegis of PDP Governors Forum, said Independence has become one of the proudest

moments for Nigerians.

The statement said: “The significance of the day lies in the fact that it binds all Nigerians as one.

“Today, as we celebrate our nation’s 55th anniversary, please take time to remember those famous freedom fighters and leaders, who not only inspired the independence struggle but also celebrated our nation’s first anniversary.

“As we observe the day with unmatched nationalistic ardour, let us resolve to contribute our quota to the growth of our nation.”

Faleke calls for prayers

NLC accuses some states of diverting bailout loan

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T

IGERIANS have been urged to pray for the success of the new political dispensation.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) deputy governorship candidate in Kogi State, James Abiodun Faleke, said: “There is every reason to thank God. It is the first time since 1999 that we have a government truly elected by the people.

“Since Nigeria returned to civil rule more than 16 years ago, this is the first time that Nigerians have a stake and voice in who becomes their leader.

“There are signals that Nigeria is once again on track.

We are not there yet but we, definitely, are not where we were before.

“Therefore, what is expected of us is praying for sustenance of the government that we enthroned with our votes.”

‘Our future bright’ IL marketer Conoil has said the nation’s future is bright, despite its current challenges.

The firm noted that the country had made giant strides since it attained independence and shown resilience in the face of obstacles.

This determination, it said, must be celebrated.

“We celebrate every Nigerian who has gone the extra mile to make our nation great. Despite the odds, we have grown stronger as a people and as a country. And today, we dare to celebrate that true winning spirit.”

O

HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yes-

terday alleged that some governors are diverting the bailout loan into fixed deposit accounts.

Its president, Ayuba Wabba, who said this in an Independence Day message, added that the governors’ actions would be resisted.

Wabba praised the National Council of State and President Muhammadu Buhari for their interventions, but lamented that the enthusiasm and commitment shown on the matter has been lacking in some states.

He alleged that rather than pay salaries and pensions, some governors “have elected to play politics with workers’ welfare”.

“We condemn this attitude

From Tony Akowe, Abuja

and strongly warn that henceforth, any state that defaults in the regular payment of salaries and pensions will face the wrath of the workers.

“Salaries and pensions are inalienable rights of workers and retirees and not privileges.

“We also call for reforms at state and local government levels to enhance the security of pension funds and regular payments.

“We want to caution the governors who have fixed the intervention funds in banks for pecuniary benefits.

It is totally unacceptable.

“The NLC is working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) to track the fixed funds and

‘

The NLC is working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) to track the fixed funds and take appropriate action

’

take appropriate action.

“We urge the government re-think how to fix the economy through robust macro-economic, civil, accountable and people-oriented policies capable of addressing our dependency syndrome.

“We propose to government to, among other things, reduce the importation of luxury items or levy special tax on them, further eliminate corruption in the importation of refined petroleum products, ensure the country meets its consumption needs through enhanced local production.

“We propose a strategy that ensures a balance between the productive and social sectors with a focus on economic diversificationcum-quality and robust housing programmes.

“We urge the government to take other measures that could speed up the process of revitalisation, such as banning importation of finished textile products, resuscitate cotton farms, improve energy supply and give other incentives.”

A greater Nigeria possible, says Senator Tinubu

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HE senator representing Lagos Central, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, has said a greater Nigeria is possible.

In her Independence Day message, the lawmaker said: “Today marks the 55th anniversary of our country’s independence. This is also the first since we begin to relish the change mantra we embarked upon as a people, and nation.

“On occasions such as this that celebrates the 55th marriage of different beliefs, ideologies and culture, we must

remember the ‘endless possibility’ at which this fusion is sustained for the years.

“Campaign is over, we should all settle down to work and stop the blame games.

“It is a known fact that we are a country heading for recession that is if we are not there.

“This becomes necessary for us as a people; we embrace the new ideals, direction and mission presented before us by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, having

made the ballot an important instrument to building a safe place for us all.

“This is the time to be contributors to this new Nigeria of progress and prosperity, a worthy legacy we want to leave for this generation and the coming ones.

“We must, therefore, turn the burdens, challenges and expectations to ceaseless possibilities.

“We must also offer prayers and support to our leaders and families of those who lost loved ones during Hajj and to insurgency. I wish

•Senator Tinubu

you all a Happy 55th Independence anniversary.”

•Alaafin of Oyo Oba Lamidi Adeyemi (third right) and OkeOgun monarchs from right: Amunijio of Ijio Oba Samuel Adegoke; Oniro of Otu Oba Sunday Adepoju; Aseyin of Iseyin Oba Ganiyu Ajinase; Akibio of Ilora Oba Stephen Olufemi Oyeniyi; Onigboho of Igboho Oba John Bolarinwa Olubiyi and Bagijan of IlajiIle Oba Lawal Oyedepo, when they visited Oba Adeyemi in Oyo.

Let’s remember our heroes, says APC THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has felicitated with Nigerians on the nation’s 55th Independence anniversary.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said: “The anniversary provides an opportunity to remember the nation’s heroes and the sacrifices they made, and to rededicate ourselves to the ideals for which they lived.”

It said to ensure that the labour of heroes past are not in vain, it was necessary for all Nigerians, in line with the lyrics of the national anthem, to re-commit themselves to serving their fatherland with love, strength and faith.

“We have no doubt that today’s generation of Nigerians have also made, and are indeed still making, great sacrifices for the peace, unity and stability of Nigeria. “We, however, appeal to all our compatriots to continue to put the nation first, and to downplay everything that divides us and embrace that which unites us,’’ APC said.

The party said since democracy is one of the most precious gifts of the nation’s post-independence era, it is imperative for all to continue to embrace it.

‘We’ve cause to celebrate’ From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

IMO State Deputy Governor Eze Madumere yesterday said Nigerians have cause to celebrate.

Madumere, in his goodwill massage, called on Nigerians to take the Nigerian project seriously by treating every Nigerian as one, irrespective of religious or ethnic sentiments.

He maintained that “Nigeria‘s heterogeneous nature should be a blessing rather than a curse, following the united stance in the struggle for political independence and affinity”.

“Though Nigeria is faced with some critical challenges ranging from economy to security, with its massive natural and human resource, it is capable of surmounting its challenges.”

Adeola: better days ahead THE senator representing Lagos West, Solomon Adeola, has predicted a brighter future for Nigeria.

The senator said despite daunting challenges, Nigeria has survived, adding that the Muhammadu Buhari administration is poised to effect necessary changes.

He said: “Nigeria has missed many opportunities to develop its resources and potential. But I am convinced that with the present administration and its anticorruption policy, the focus on revenue generation and economic diversification, Nigeria stand a good chance of liberating its people from economic want and misery.”

8

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

NEWS CBN: banks have sufficient liquidity

T •Saraki (left) receiving the list from Kyari... yesterday.

With them is Enang.

Amaechi, Fayemi, Fashola, Onu make ministerial list Continued from page 1

6, when during the plenary sitting of the Upper legislative chamber, it will be opened and the list read to Senators.”

But sources last night said key leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), ex-senators, technocrats and ex-governors are on the list.

APC chief and former Minister Mr. Audu Ogbeh; Southeast APC leader Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and Director General of the Buhari campaign organisation and former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi are likely to be on the list.

Others presented for senators’ screening are former

Governors Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); former Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mr. Abubakar Malami.

Three women – a former Ogun State Commissioner for Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan and Mrs Amina J. Mohammed, Special Assistant to UN Secretary General on Post2015 Development Planning are also ministerial nominees.

Mrs Amina Mohammed, born 1961, was appointed to her role with the UN secretary general in June 2012.

The mother of six previous-

ly worked for six years with former President Olusegun Obasanjo as Special Adviser on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Incidentally, Mrs Adeosun’s name is also on the list of commissioner-nominees sent to the Ogun State House of Assembly yesterday by Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

Amaechi and Fayemi were on the trip to the 70th United Nations General Assembly in NewYork with President Muhammadu Buhari. The delegation returned yesterday.

Others on the list are Senator Hadi Sirika, a pilot, who represented Katsina North in the senate between 2011 and 2015. He was elected on the

ticket of Buhari’s former party, the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) and a former Anambra State Governor Chris Nwabueze Ngige.

Ngige, a medical doctor, was also a senator between 2011 and 2015.

There are also Solomon Dalong and Ibe Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), who is likely to be Minister of State for Petroleum.Buhari has announced himself as oil minister.

Osagie Ehanire, Udoma Udo-Udoma, Ahmed Isa Ibeto, Sulaiman Adamu and Ibrahim Jibril are also on the list, according to sources.

Drama in Senate over ministerial list

A

MILD drama played out yesterday on the floor of the Senate over the much-awaited ministerial nominees’ list.

The Senate gallery was unusually crowded by people who thought the ministerial list would be read by Senate President Bukola Saraki.

The drama was sparked by the outburst of the Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio.

The Senate President had hardly concluded reading a letter from the South West Senate caucus which nominated and endorsed Senator Olusola Adeyeye (Osun Central) as Senate Chief Whip when Akpabio was give the floor.

Akpabio started by thanking President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo for calling to sympathise with him over the auto crash he was involved in last month in Abuja.

He said the newspapers, television stations and other media outlets were awash with

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Abuja

the news that the ministerial list had been sent to the Senate.

He added that President Muhammadu Buhari promised that the ministerial list would be submitted to the Senate in September.

He noted that most Nigerians were also concerned that the submission of the list had been unduly delayed.

He said: “Mr. President, today is September 30. Where is the ministerial list? I am surprised that the list is not part of what was read by Mr. Senate President.”

Before Saraki could respond, Deputy Senate Leader Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC Kebbi South) stood in for Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume who was not in the chamber.

He noted that since the question Akpabio raised had to do with the All Progressives Congress (APC) government, it was his duty to respond.

Na’Allah said that it was still too early for anybody to con-

clude that the ministerial list would not be submitted yesterday.

The Deputy Senate Leader said that he was aware that the office of the Senate President remains open till midnight every day.”So, there is no cause for alarm.”

Na’Allah’s response drew wild laughter from senators Saraki said based on Na’Allah’s explanation, he ruled Akpabio out of order.

There was further laughter in the chamber.

Senator Shehu Sani, (Kaduna Central) said he went to Akwa Ibom State after hearing of Akpabio’s auto crash to sympathise with him only to be told that Akpabio had travelled to London.

Sani noted that it seemed Akpabio abandoned his First Class Hospital in Akwa Ibom to seek treatment in a London hospital.

But Senate Minority Whip Philip Aduda (FCT) promptly rose to Akpabio’s defence.

Aduda said Akpabio was on

his way to London when the accident happened.

He said the impression should not be created that Akpabio abandoned hospitals in the country to go to London.

There was further laughter in the chamber.

The Senate rose around 1.12 pm without the list being read to the consternation of those in the Senate gallery.

Speaking on the ministerial list at a briefing, Chairman, Senate ad-hoc committee on Media and publicity, Dino Melaye, said that the Senate was still waiting for the ministerial list.

The Senate, he said, will treat the ministerial list “diligently in conformity with the dictates of the constitution.”

He said, “When it comes, the Senate will treat the ministerial list diligently and in conformity with the dictates of the constitution. We will approve and clear only those nominees who met constitutional and moral requirements. The doors and office of the Senate President is wide open 24 hours.

Some of the men and women who will be Buhari’s ministers

Aisha AlHassan

She attempted to become the first female governor but failed to defeat Governor Darius Ishaku.

She was Taraba State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney general before her election into the senate in 2011.

Hajiya Al-Hassan is a Mumuye who was appointed the Chief Registrar of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on 17 December 2003.

After she retired from service she went into business

Sen. Hadi Sirika

Sen. Sirika is a former pilot and a senator (Katsina North) between 2011 and 2015. He was the Vice-Chairman of the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) Committee of the Sen-

ate.

The CPC senator was also a member of the Senate Committee on Aviation.

Chris Ngige

Ngige was born on August 8, 1952, Ngige graduated from the University of Nigeria-Nsukka in 1979. He was in the civil service, serving at the National Assembly and State House clinics at different times. He retired in 1998 as a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Health He was Anambra State governor between May 29, 2003 and March 17, 2006 Mrs Amina Mohammed Mrs Amina Mohammed, born 1961, was appointed to her role with the UN secretary general in June 2012.

The mother of six previously

worked for six years with former President Olusegun Obasanjo as Special Adviser on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

She has been working in the field of development for more than 30 years both in the public sector and the private sector.

Prior to her current appointment, she was the CEO and founder of the think tank Centre for Development Policy Solutions.

Previously, she worked as senior adviser to the President of Nigeria on Millennium Development Goals for six years. In this position, she was in charge of designing and developing government projects to reduce poverty around the country.[2] Between 2002 and 2005, she

worked in the United Nations Millennium Project as a coordinator of the Task Force on Gender and Education.

Adebayo Shittu

Adebayo Shittu, a lawyer, was the Oyo State governorship candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) in 2007 and 2011 elections. At 26, he was the youngest member of the Oyo State House of Assembly between 1979 and 1983.

He was commissioner for home affairs, tourism and culture under the short-lived Omololu Olunloyo administration in 1983.

Towards the tail-end of Rashidi Ladoja’s regime, he was appointed Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice.

HERE is liquidity in the banking system, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said yesterday.

But the apex bank is concerned that Africa’s biggest economy is slowing.

Monetary Policy Director Moses Tule, said yesterday that the bank’s decision last week to cut the cash reserve ratio to 25 per cent from 31 per cent had injected 300 billion naira ($1.51 billion) into the financial system.

Prior to the move, liquidity on the interbank market had dried up after commercial banks were ordered to move government revenue to a single account at the central bank, as part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption drive.

That exacerbated problems felt by Africa’s top oil exporter, which has been hit by a drop in crude revenues, the main source of funds for the state budget and imports of

basic food items.

JP Morgan’s decision to remove Nigeria from its influential emerging markets bond index (GBI-EM), which means investment funds tracking the index will sell Nigerian bonds, added to upward pressure on national borrowing costs.

“There’s sufficient liquidity in the Nigerian banking system to take up whatever foreign investors may dump, so we are not disturbed,” said Tule, “By cutting the cash reserve ratio we introduced back more than 300 billion naira,” he said adding, however, that the bank was “concerned that the economy is slowing”.

Growth halved in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, prompting Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele to say at last week’s monetary policy committee meeting that the economy was at risk of slipping into recession in 2016.

150 Hajj stampede victims buried

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MIR of Kano Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II,yesterday urged Saudi Authorities to publish details of victims of last Thursday’s Mina stampede on a dedicated website.

The emir, who is the leader of the Nigeria Central Coordinating Team for the Hajj, made the call at the post-Arafat meeting organised by (NAHCON) in Jeddah.

“At this age of technology, why can’t the Saudi authorities put the photos of the deceased on a website so that people can identify them easily without

having to be moved from one hospital or place to another.

“We have to demand for it,” Sanusi stressed.

The Leader, Medical Team of NAHCON, Dr Ibrahim Kana, had earlier said that 1,180 bodies had been identified so far through frontal and lateral face photographs and finger prints.

He, however, lamented that only 150 corpses had been buried so far by Saudi Authorities.

Kana said of the 1,180 bodies identified, 64 were Nigerians, adding that 71 Nigerians had sustained injuries during the incident.

‘Nigerians’ll soon begin to feel changes’ Continued from page 1

notes had not been properly studied.

The President said: "Fellow Nigerians, there have been a lot of anxiety and impatience over the apparent delay in announcement of ministers.

There is no cause to be anxious.

"Our government set out to do things methodically and properly. We received the handing over notes from the outgoing government only four days before taking over.

"Consequently, the Joda Transition Committee submitted its report on the reorganisation of Federal Government structure after studying the handover notes.

"It would have been haphazard to announce ministers when the government had not finalised the number of ministries to optimally carry the burden of governance."

President Buhari said the first set of names have been forwarded to the Senate for confirmation. Others will follow soon, he added.

"Anyway, the wait is over.

The first set of names for ministerial nominees for confirmation has been sent to the senate. Subsequent lists will be forwarded in due course.

"Impatience is not a virtue.

Order is more vital than speed.

Careful and deliberate decisions after consultations get far better results. And better results for our country is what the APC (All Progressives Congress) government for change is all about," he said.

On the Independence Day celebrations, the president said October 1 is a day for joy because it marks the day, 55 years ago, that the country liberated itself from the shackles

of colonialism and began its long march to nationhood and to greatness.

President Buhari said besides being the ninth most populated country on the planet, Nigeria is blessed with ?arable land, water, forests, oil and gas, coastline and solid minerals.

The country, he said, has all the attributes of a great nation but has not achieved greatness because the one commodity it has been unable to exploit to the fullest is unity of purpose.

This, he said, would have enabled Nigeria to achieve not only more orderly political evolution and integration but also continuity and economic progress.

"Countries far less endowed have made greater economic progress by greater coherence and unity of purpose.

"Nonetheless, that we have remained together is an achievement we should all appreciate and try to consolidate.

We have witnessed this year a sea change in our democratic development.

"The fact that an opposition party replaced an entrenched government in a free and fair election is indicative of the deeper roots of our democratic system.

"Whatever one’s views are, Nigerians must thank former President Jonathan for not digging-in in the face of defeat and thereby saving the country untold consequences," Buhari said.

The president said he was not out to witch-hunt anyone, adding that only the guilty should be afraid.

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

For so many years, Nigerians have yearned to see Nigeria establish itself as a leader in Africa in concrete terms. We have all been frustrated when the country was unable to rise up. But you will agree with me that in the last few years with the political changes and with the economic advancement of Dangote in African countries and its strong presence, any Nigerian anywhere, can stand up to be counted.

- The Special Adviser to President/Chief Executive, Dangote Group, Joseph Makoju

‘Investors confident of Ambode’s investment drive’ Unilever Group chief Mr. Yaw Nsarkoh yesterday expressed confidence in Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s investment drive, saying investors are optimistic of his administration’s quest to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

Nsarkoh spoke when he led members of the company’s top management on a courtesy visit to Ambode at the Lagos House, Ikeja.

He said since the governor assumed office, he has shown his desire to attract new investments in the state by showcasing long term investors who have been in Lagos and who have been able to succeed in their business as shining examples to attract

Power supply dips by 388.83Mw • TCN evacuates 3,619.70Mw From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

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OWER supply that was 4,008.53megawatts (Mw) last Sunday dipped to 3,619.70Mw on Tuesday, the Power Statistics of the Federal Ministry of Power has shown.

Of the 3,704.73Mw, which the Electricity Generation Companies (GENCOs ) produced, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) could not evacuate 85.03Mw, the statistics showed yesterday on the ministry’s website.

The ministry also noted that peak generation was 4,307.4Mw. The peak generation of last Sunday was 4,405.3Mw, indicating a drop of 97.9Mw. The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) had maintained an average of 4,006Mw in 10 days before the dip in supply.

Energy generated that was 4,099.72Mw on September 16 dipped negligibly to 4,098.31Mw on Sunday, indicating a relatively steady average power generation in the electricity market in 10 days.

The market however dropped from the 4,735Mw peak energy generation of September 16 to 4,405.3Mw last Sunday, resulting in a gap of 329.7Mw. In NESI, the highest power power generated is still the 4,810.7 Mw of August 25.

The Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, explained to The Nation that there was a fire at the Kainji Hydro Power Plant last week, accounting for lower power supply.

Our correspondent could not reach him on phone yesterday to confirm whether the plant had been repaired.

The chairman promised that the Calabar Power Plant would soon come on stream to raise the power generation profile of the market.

By Modupe Elegushi

new investment.

“Though the governor has only just assumed office, I can say that he is committed to creating an enabling environment for business going by the conversation he’s been having with people and investors like myself because I am not just the only leader of private sector business that he speaks to. He has shown that commitment and it’s up to all of us to now work in

collaborative ways and partnership so that we can achieve the governor’s vision,” Nsarkoh said.

Speaking to reporters on the import of the visit, Mr. Nsarkoh who was accompanied by top management team of Unilever, said it was a follow-up to an earlier discussion with Governor Ambode on how to collaborate and “champion the cause of what we call partner to win and improve the industrial base of Lagos State by

bringing in suppliers for a supply base that may not hitherto exist in Lagos.”

The Unilever chief who also handed a memento to the governor which he described as “signifying our joint commitment to sustainable development goals-a sustainable living plan which articulates the fact that business can do well by doing good things to the society.”

“So if you look at the way we develop our brands, we

always try to see how we can increase the social impact, for example we have fortified Knorr bullion cube with iron therefore contributing to the elimination of the problem of anemia in the state,” he said.

He further described the impact of a project he called gbemiga which the company intends to pilot in Lagos and some other parts of the country in which idle youths will be recruited from local communities to

help in the distribution chain. He said the programme will contribute to the overall well being of the state.

He explained that the programme will enable people who are not working but who are part of the informal economy to join the formal distributive process, adding that the company will empower them financially while they in turn, will help to improve the distribution process.

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NATURAL HEALTH

Your nail as a mirror of your health M

OTHER Nature is wonderful and kind. There is nothing which goes on inside our bodies that is not mirrored, one way or the other, by some organs outside the body. The nails of the hands and the toes do this every day without many of us, including many of our doctors, knowing it. But in Asia, the nails are about the first parts of the body that a doctors examines when a patient sits before him or her in the consulting room. The tongue, eyes, hair and skin are also evaluated. Until recently in the Western World when hair and nail analyses became popular, for detecting nutritional deficiencies or elevations, which may be the root causes of ailments, eye, skin and tongue examinations were carried out in orthodox medical clinic for a limited range of ailments. Being aware of the mirror that the nail is, I became naturally concerned for my health recently when I noticed changes in some of my otherwise healthy nails. Thank goodness, there were no white spots on any of the nails. As children, we stupidly believed that white spots on the nails were decorations by the cattle egret which flow in flocks, sometimes seasonally, sometimes around a flock of itinerant or grazing cattle. We sang, beseeching the white birds to lift us unto themselves in the sky.

Whoever found white spots on his or her fingers considered himself or herself favoured and blessed. Alas, white spots on the nails mean Zinc deficiency in the system. And Zinc deficiency implies that something may go wrong in the more than 250 processes in which the body required zinc. One of these processes is the absorption by the eye of Vitamin A for good vision. Some people may, therefore, consume an excess of Vitamin A in the search for healthy vision, especially at night, without the effort paying off because there is not enough Zinc in the body.

The same goes for smooth, supple skin. When the hair is matted at birth or later on in life, Zinc deficiency is suspected. When the immune system is weak, when sores do not heal normally and quickly, Zinc deficiency may be at work. When the growth of a child is stunted, check the Zinc level. When the breast and the penis do not grow well, the outcome of an Egyptians study shows that supplementation of zinc in the diet may help. For people of my age, and perhaps younger people, the fear of prostate gland problems is the beginning of wisdom. While a leaking colon dispatching fecal poison on the nearby prostate gland may be a root cause of prostate enlargement or prostate cancer, Zinc deficiency, too, cannot be ruled out. It is in the prostate that about 80 percent of the zinc in the body of a man is stored. This high store inhibits activities of an enzyme called 5–Alpha Reductase. This enzyme may overstimulate the cells of the prostate to overgrow when zinc deficiency occurs in the prostate gland, because an adequate zinc storage in these organ prevents these enzymes from malfunctioning. These days, when men, young and old, cannot easily take their eyes off women, frequent ejaculations drain or deplete zinc reserves in the prostate gland, exposing it to the havocs of an uninhibited 5-Alpha Reductase. To worsen matters, many sexually active men ignorantly fail to add zinc supplements to their diet.

Being a fertility mineral as well, supplementation of the diet with Zinc has helped many couples to become parents. As a matter of routine, I take 15mg of Zinc with my meals every day. That is the minimum daily allowance or requirements in many countries.

THE CHANGES Recently, I noticed on my nails vertical ridges on some fingers in both hands. There are no abnormalities in toe nails. An orthodox doctor friend of mine who incorporates nutritional medicine in his practice, suggests a new study links vertical ridging of the nails to an onset of the formation of stones in the liver, or more precisely in the gall bladder, and says the study also links these development to low blood pressure.

The liver? Respect for this organ may also be considered the beginning of health wisdom. For the liver is the central clearing house for all biochemical processes in the body.

S you would soon read, a nail “mirror”view would need to be corroborated by other checks the doctor may consider necessary to do. Often, these conventional checks corroborate what the “mirror” of the nail is telling us. In the search for an authority to lead us on an excursion into the language our bodies speak to us through our nails, I could not find some well treasured books in my library. But in ANNE PIETRANGELO I find interesting and simple explanations. Her work on this subject was reviewed by GEORGE KRUCIK, M.D., in www.healthline.com. Anne Pietrangelo says: “What are nail abnormalities? Normally, healthy nails appear smooth and have consistent colouring. As you age, you may develop vertical ridges or your nails may be a bit more brittle. This is harmless. Spots due to injury should grow out with the nail. “Abnormalities such as spots, discolouration and nail separation can result from injury to the hands and fingers, viral warts (periunguan warts), infections (onyechomycosis) and some medications, such as those used for chemotherapy.” Certain medical conditions can also change the appearance of your finger nails. However, these changes can be difficult to interpret, and your finger nails appearance alone is not enough to diagnose a specific illness. A physician will use this Information along with other symptoms and a physical exam to make a diagnosis. You should always consult your doctor if you have any questions about your nail

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problems.

Some changes in your nails are due to medical conditions that need attentions: “ONE: Discolouration (dark streaks, while streaks or changes in nail colour).

“TWO: Changes in nail shape (curling, or clubbing) “THREE: Changes in nail thickness (thickening or thinning) “FOUR: Nails that become brittle “FIVE: Nails that are pitted “SIX: Bleeding around nails “SEVEN: Swelling or redness around nails.

“EIGTH: Pain around nails “NINE: Nail separating from skin.”

Anne Pietrangelo explains what these symptoms may indicate. In her words: BEAU’S LINES Depressions that run across your finger nails are called beau’s lines. They are also known as transverse linear lesions. This can be a sign of malnourishment. Other conditions that cause beau’s lines are (1) Measles (2) Mumps (3) Peripherals Vascular diseases (4) Pneumonia (5) Scarlet fever (6) Uncontrolled diabetes (7) Zinc deficiency “CLUBBING” is when your nails thicken and curve around your fingertips, a process that generally takes years. This can be the result of low oxygen in the blood and is associated with……

(1) AIDS (2) Cardiovascular diseases (3) Inflammatory bowel disease (IBS) (4) Liver diseases (5) Pnemonary diseases.

“KOILON YCHIA” is when your finger nails have raised ridges and scoop outwards, like spoons. It is also called “spooning”, sometimes, the nail is curved enough to hold a drop of liquid. Spooning can be a sign that you have (1) heart diseases (2) hemochromatosis (a liver disorder that courses too much iron to be absorbed from food). (3) iron deficiency anaemia (4) lupus erythematosus (an auto immune disorder that causes inflammation) (5) Hypothyrodism (6) Reyriaudi’s diseases (a condition that limits blood circulation) “LEUKCONYCHIA” Non uniform white sports or lines on the nails are called leukonychia. They are usually the result of a minor trauma and are harmless”.

“MEES LINES” Mees lines are transverse white lines.

This can be a sign of arsenic poisoning. If you have this condition, your doctor will take hair or tissue samples to check for arsenic in your body.

“ONYCHOLYSIS” When the nail plate separates from the nail bed, it causes a white discoloration, this is called Onycholysis. This can be due to infection, trauma, or product used on the nails. Other causes for Onycholysis includes Psoriasis and thyroid disease.

“PITTING” Pitting refers to small depressions, or little pits in the nail. It is common in people who have psoriasis, or a skin condition that causes the skin to be dry, red, and irritated. Some systemic diseases can also cause pitting.

“TERRY’S NAILS” is when the tip of each nail has a dark band, it is called Terry’s Nails. This is often due to aging, but it can be caused by congestive heart failure, diabetes, or liver diseases.

“YELLOW NAIL SYNDROME” is when the nail grows thicker and does not grow as fast as normal. Sometimes, the nail lacks a cuticle and may even pull away from the nail bed. This can be the result of (1) Internal malignancies (2) Lymphedema (Swelling of the hands) (3) Pleural Effusions (fluid build-up between the lungs and Chest County) (4) Respiratory illnesses such as chronic bronchitis or sinusitis (5) Rheumatoid arthritis.

“These are just some of the signs of abnormal finger nails.”

HERBS FOR NAIL HEALTH When we have problems with nail health, we naturally seek a solution to them. Women in particular do not joke with finger and toe nails that is why pedicure and manicure are worldwide big business, slow growing nails may

e-mail:johnolufemikusa@yahoo.com or johnolufemikusa@gmail.com

be evidence of some nutritional deficiencies. Traditionally, Horsetail and stinging Nettle have been used for improving nail health. This is because they are high in Silica, which is immensely beneficial to the health of the hair, nail and skin and connective tissue. Today Diatom has joined the league, being between 92 and 96 percent Silica.

Silica is a hardener and needed by the connective tissue.

For people who suffer from brittle nails, Biotin may be all they need. Veterinary (animal) doctors give Biotin to horses to make their hoofs stronger. Nature makes these hoofs from Keratin from which the human nail is also made; Biotin is a vitamin, Silica, a mineral, both underscoring the importance of vitamins and minerals to nail health.

If human health discomfitures reflects on the nail “mirror” and these discomfitures can be resolved through a resolution of these deficiencies, resolving them will naturally impacts positively on the unhealthy nail. Thus, resolving nail problems through the diet may resolve the internal problems this nail problems mirror.

Brittle and flaking nail may also be indicators of essential fatty acid (EFAs) deficiency. This can be connected by eating fatty dish such as Titus or by supplementing the diet with flax seed oil. There are many other useful cals rich in EFAs. These include Coconut oil, Olive oil, wheat germ oil (rich in Vitamins A, D and E, Vitamins B, B2 B3 B6, F and EFAs, protein and minerals), Amla Oil, Vitamin E, Jojoba cal Almond oil and pumpkin seed oil. Ingrowing nails can be a nightmare. Naturally, nails grow from the back of the nailbed outwards. But, sometimes, they may reverse this direction, culling through tissue and coursing inflammation, redness, pain, and infection. Podists (foot care experts) advise against tight and pointed shoes.

According to the official consumer website of American foot and ankle surgeons: “When a toenail ingrown curved and grows into the skin usually at the nail borders (the sides of the nails), this digging in of the nail irritates the skin, often creating pain, redness, swelling, and warmth in the toe.

“If an ingrown nail causes a break in the skin, bacteria may enter and cause an infection in the area, which is often marked by drainage and a foul odour. However, even if the toe isn’t painful, red, swollen, or warm, a nail that curves downwards into the skin can progress to an infection.

Causes of ingrown toe nail include heredity. In many people, the tendency for ingrown toe nails is inherited.

Sometimes, an ingrown toe nail is the result of trauma such as stubbing your toe, having an object fall on your toe or engaging in activities that involve repeated pressure on the toes such as kicking or running. The most common cause of ingrown toe nail is cutting your nail too short.

This encourages the skin to fold over the nail. Ingrown toe nails can result from wearing socks that are tight or short.

They can also be caused by nail problems such as nail infections or losing a nail due to trauma”.

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HE college discourages home treatment where infections have occurred in such medical conditions as “diabetes, nerve damage in the foot that put the foot at risk”.

“Where these conditions do not apply, the foot may be soaked in room temperature water (adding Epsom’s salt) may be recommended by your (doctors), and gently massage the side of the nail filed to help reduce the inflammation”.

“Avoid attempting surgery or repeated culling of the nail can cause the condition to worsen over time. If your symptoms fail to improve, it’s time to see a foot and ankle surgeon”.

“To prevent ingrown toe nail, it is suggested that the nail be cut not too short but in a fairly straight line”.

“According to the website, every day roofs Nail fungus, be it on your toe nails or finger nails is an unpleasant business to leave to deal with, officially known as onychomycosis, it is most often caused by moisture trapped in warm dark place (because of shoes, that is why it so commonly affects toe nails which is the environment fungus thrives in. In some cases it can be caused by mold or yeast but is still collectively called nail fungus-nail mold or nail yeast. Tea tree oil is a natural disinfectant possessing fungicidal and antibacterial properties that make it popular in treating toe nail fungus”.

“Orange oil has also shown promising result when it comes to getting rid of fungus and can be added to the mixture as well. Always remember to dilute the essential oil before applying to the nail. You will need one teaspoon of tea tree oil half teaspoon of orange oil (optional), half teaspoon of grape seed oil or Olive oil, cotton baits”.

“As soon as you notice the tell-tales, signs of nail fungus, mix together, soak a cotton ball in the mixture and apply to affected nail, pressing it on gently but firmly so the liquid comes quietly. Let this dry naturally, then, alternatively, you can place four to five drops of tea tree oil in enough water to soak your feet in and do that for 15 to 20 minutes. Both treatments should be done faithfully morning and evening”.

Also recommended is vinegar and Baking soda soak. Coconut oil gets a good mention also. It has medium chain fatty acids which destroy the cell membrane of the fungi or mold. This destroys the fungus. This is why coconut oil has been used to destroy parasites in the intestine, especially in HIV patients who are prone to opportunistic diseases. Let us thank the Creator for the Wisdom which makes our nails and other parts of our bodies mirror to us what is going on in this bodies, and for the gifts of foods and herbs which help us to solve this problems.

Tel: 08116759749, 08034004247, 08116759749

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COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

LETTER

Saraki, resign now

Nigeria at 55

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•There are more rivers to cross

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ODAY, Nigeria marks her 55 independence anniversary amidst challenges to nationhood. The anniversary this year is particularly significant as it is at a time the country is celebrating the first time power would change hands from one party to another, with an incumbent President peacefully defeated through the ballot box. The development held out so much hope.

The election of President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is even the more significant because his party came up with the promise of fundamental changes to the economic and social structure of the country. President Buhari pledged to fight insecurity that had reduced Nigerians to the sub-human level and corruption that had threatened to sink the economy. The APC is seen as a left of the centre political party, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) it replaced is regarded as a right of centre political party. The APC victory therefore attracted the expectation of greater attention to the welfare of the people.

However, about four months into the Buhari administration, disappointment is beginning to set in. While the government has lived up to the pledge to fiercely fight the insurgents in the North Eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, other forms of insecurity have set in. Kidnapping that used to be a problem restricted to the East is now rampant in other parts of the country.

The economy is deep in the woods and Nigerians look up to the Federal Government to come up with articulate measures

to arrest the drift. Unemployment is a time bomb ticking every second as educated youth ply the roads idle and hungry. The Buhari campaign team promised to come up with dole for them to check the effect. When and how this would be is still uncertain.

The social fabric of the country must not be torn. Inter-ethnic harmony must be protected by the government that has the duty of providing for the needs of all.

The nomads deserve to have ranches and grazing reserves where they could take care of their cattle and protect their livelihood. Farmers, too, should not be exposed to avoidable losses in the hands of the herdsmen. Studies of wars and internecine conflicts have shown that the root causes are mostly economic. About 45 years after the civil war, Nigeria cannot afford another.

The anti-corruption war is believed to have been flagged off with the arraignment of Senate President Bukola Saraki before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

This is not enough. Nigerians are calling for concerted action. They want a system put in place that would check mindless looting of the treasury that has become the norm. We share the concern.

The economy is being greatly harmed by the failure to put in place an economic team more than four months after the change of baton.

While President Buhari has shown that he has the intention of promoting good relations with the country’s neighbours and fully integrating her into the international system, there can be no substitute for a foreign policy that would pro-

mote the Nigerian interest.

As Nigerians celebrate 55 years of independence, the Buhari government has a duty to assure all that the electorate acted right in voting it into power. The power sector, agriculture, housing and infrastructure deserve urgent attention.

Many scholars and nationalists have shouted that the country is at the Edge of a precipice; about to fail. The House must not fall. But, to ensure this, all- government workers, the academia, the youth, the public and private sectors must come together to raise Nigeria.

Beyond being regarded as a country of great potential, actual growth and development is required. To rouse Nigeria from her slumber, all hands must be on deck. The Nigerian nation, at 60, cannot afford to fail the African continent. It should be a giant indeed.

‘The House must not fall. But, to ensure this, all government workers, the academia, the youth, the public and private sectors must come together to raise Nigeria. Beyond being regarded as a country of great potential, actual growth and development is required. To rouse Nigeria from her slumber, all hands must be on deck. The Nigerian nation, at 60, cannot afford to fail the African continent. It should be a giant indeed’

Needless deaths in Mina •The Saudi authorities must take pilgrims’ safety seriously, as Nigerian Muslim Board failed in accounting for the whereabouts of our nationals S at the last count, on September 29, Nigerian pilgrims who died in the Mina, Saudi Arabia, stampede had risen to 64. But 244 others were still missing. That is a stupendous harvest of deaths, while performing the Hajj.

Pilgrims, to the yearly Hajj, should exit with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Yet, the land is covered with a virtual shroud of death and mourning. We therefore condole with families of the dead and sympathise with the wounded.

We pray to God to comfort and strengthen them.

For Nigeria, the list is especially grim, the flower of the nation and the Nigerian Umma: Prof. Tijjani el-Miskeen, a leading Islamic and Arabic scholar, Justices Abdulkadir Jega and Musa Hassan Alkali, both justices of the Appeal Court (Justice Jega was the presiding judge of the Abuja division of the court), Alhaji

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‘The Saudi authorities must therefore sit up. God has blessed their land, making it an obligatory destination for every Muslim worldwide, at least once in their lifetime.

That is a sacred privilege that must come with a grave sense of responsibility. They certainly can do better — and they should’

Abbas Ibrahim, the Panti Zing (Emir of Zing, in Adamawa State), the Amirul Hajj (leader of the Adamawa pilgrims) who died with two of his four wives), Alhaji Bello Gidan-Hamma, former caretaker chairman of Illela Local Government of Sokoto State, who also died with his mother, stepmother and two wives, and Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf, former editor of the defunct Citizen magazine, just to mention a few. These were deaths — avoidable deaths — too many!

With all due respect, the inviolateness of Islamic fatalism that everything that happens has Allah’s stamp, this Saudi stampede had more than its fair share of human carelessness. The Saudi authorities claimed the stampede would have been avoided, if only the pilgrims had been more orderly. That might well be.

Nigerians are not especially famous for orderliness since, even here, they seize every available space to cut corners, even if a little patience was better.

But what the Saudis have tried to keep mute about was that the confusion that triggered the stampede arose from a rather vainglorious closure of the path of the pilgrims — thousands of surging pilgrims, exiting to Mecca from Mina, after the final Hajj rite — to allow the convoy of a Saudi prince easier passage. So, the Saudi attempt to blame the stampede victims, to cover their own mistake, is obtuse, to put it mildly.

What the Saudi authorities owe each of the victims and their countries is fulsome

apology; and a guarantee of such never happening again — not some insensate rationalisation, betraying a rather cavalier attitude. Aside from the stampede, there was also the crane accident that felled many at the holy mosque in Mecca. Were the victims responsible for that too?

The Saudi authorities must therefore sit up. God has blessed their land, making it an obligatory destination for every Muslim worldwide, at least once in their lifetime. That is a sacred privilege that must come with a grave sense of responsibility. They certainly can do better — and they should.

But the Saudi aside, it is regrettable that Nigeria also betrayed the shambolic organisation at home, that has given the country a bad name. It is evidence of lack of the most elementary of organisations that, even days after the stampede, the Nigerian Muslim Pilgrims Board cannot seem to definitively account for the Nigerian casualty, dead or wounded. Everything appears to be speculation, so much so that as late as September 29, as many as 244 Nigerians are still “missing”.

A “missing” status is perhaps even more soul-searing to the families of the victims. In times of great catastrophe, Nigeria must work out a system that accounts for victims in record time. That way, victims’ families can at least enjoy short periods of closure, even as they cope with their grief.

IR: The move and the boldness of 83 senators in passing a vote of confidence on the Senate President Bukola Saraki at the red chamber’s sitting of Tuesday 29 is scandalous to the integrity of the chamber, an affront to the sensibilities of Nigerians, the rule of law and also principles of morality. This is a man standing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false assets declaration. One is bound to be ashamed that senators who should be distinguished in their actions could be seen to glorify criminality.

It is sad that many of our distinguished senators have not changed from their old ways of handling sensitive national issues such as when their presiding officer, the Senate President is involved in a trial touching on acts of dishonesty, fraudulent disclosure or non-disclosure of his assets.

If there be honour and integrity in the Senate, its president on being publicly put on trial ought to have stepped aside to await the end of his criminal trial and not to face the other way as if nothing happened. It is mischievous insisting that his travails are the handwork of the people he referred to as “powerful individuals, outside the legislature”. This is an infantile argument to distract attention and also to win the favour of his colleagues.

The call for Saraki to throw in the towel is premised on the fact that the mandate he holds is that of his constituency but the public office he holds as Senate President is that of an institution belonging to all Nigerians. The Senate as per Dino Melaye may not be distracted by the actions of some powerful individuals outside the National Assembly, but Melaye should be be reminded that by the conventions of civilized democracies from where we learnt our democracy, Saraki would have long been asked to step down and not to taint the sensitive function of making laws.

Again, to debunk Saraki’s argument that it is taking the government 13 years before bringing him to court, let it be known to him that the law does not prescribe timelines within which he could be tried.

Finally, one wonders the probative value that the public would ascribe to laws made by a Senate whose head is standing trial on grave criminal allegation. The Senate as a responsible arm of government should act now to save the institution and the Nigerian state from public disparagement. Apart from Saraki, there are other well qualified senators from other sections of the country to pilot the affairs of the Senate. After all, Senator Evan Ewerem who started the senate presidency in 1999 did not in 2003 conclude it; neither did Senator Chuba Okadigbo who took over from him within the same senate session.

• Chief Utum Eteng, Calabar.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

16

CARTOON & LETTERS

IR: Make no mistake about it, there is finger of God in the coming of president Buhari at this critical moment in the nation’s history after making attempts in 2003, 2007, 2011 and eventually clinched the ticket on Saturday March 28. If you are not deep in the knowledge of how God works, you may not know the full meaning of President Buhari’s emergence at a time like this to do what he is doing now. There was nothing PDP and its massive followers, with deep pockets did not do to stop him but their efforts were not enough to stop an idea whose time has come.

Those who did not follow the campaigns fully may not have known what the wreckers, the ruiners and destroyers of Nigeria did to stop him but the grace of God and the love of God for Nigeria stopped them. Huge amount of money in various currencies were deployed, mercenaries were hired

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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

My wish for Nigeria at 55 to deploy the worst form of hate campaign ever known in the history of Nigeria, the instrumentality of the full weight of the federal government was fully deployed, the full weight of Nigeria’s security forces were fully and maximally employed to stop President Buhari but God had other plans for Nigeria. Despite these onslaughts and desperation to change the will of God for Nigeria, the will of God for Nigeria prevailed.

Since Buhari came to power, I have seen a lot of deep changes which ordinary eyes may not see.

The 2015 election losers may not see this because they are still very angry. Inordinate ambition and hate have beclouded their senses of reasoning. But a deep look into Nigeria’s political landscape shows evidence of change to new ways of doing things. Saboteurs who have sworn that our power sector and the downstream sector will never work have distanced themselves from the vandalization gas pipelines, power plants and refineries. Looters of our common patrimony are now thinking twice because a new sheriff is in town. The fear of President Buhari

is now the beginning of wisdom.

Yes, they have stolen enough for the real owners to take notice but they have not stolen our brains and ideas. With brains and ideas, we can start now to begin the process of rebuilding Nigeria. I am told that ideas are better than money.

Last week, I took a tour to Tin Can Island and Apapa Lagos, where the federal government makes trillions every year via the seaports. You only need to see the state of the roads in these gold mines for you to know the state of minds of those who have served as Managing Di-

Hypocrisy of a confidence vote IR: The charade of passing vote of confidence on the Senate leadership in time of crises is not new in this our imperfect democratic journey. The only new thing about Tuesday’s vote of confidence passed on the Senate President by the 84 “Sinnators” as reported in all the major news outlets is the timing of the desperate act by the troubled Senate President. The aim of this dishonourable vote of confidence by the allies of Senator Saraki only confirmed the widely-held belief that the man is really afraid of facing the courts. This is why he is trying every trick to further dramatise his conviction in order to shy away from facing the court to clear his name.

If Saraki is very sure of his innocence, then why is he employing dirty tricks to politiciseda straight-forward issue of going to the court to clear his name? After all, they say the truth can and will always set you free.

The way and manner Saraki responded to the issue even from

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the onset raises some concerns.

How he started jumping from one court to the other looking for all kinds of frivolous injunctions and ex parte orders to stop his trial is a clear pointer that the man is indeed afraid of facing the court. We must not forget the fact that it is only when Saraki was finally boxed into a judicial wilderness with no hope of getting any compromised ex parte order to evade his trial that he reluctantly submitted himself to the court.

Senator Bukola Saraki needs to understand that those hide and seek drama will not take away the fact that he is an accused and will remain as one, unless he summons the courage to unconditionally face the 13-count charges at the Code Of Conduct Tribunal. He should know that all the noise and sponsored propaganda will not convince the many sceptics in the court of public opinion who are really interested to see the Senate President prove his innocence in a more civilised and decent way.

As far as the justice system is

concerned, the timing of a trial is immaterial and inconsequential because the timing won’t make the crime lesser or obsolete. Neither will it make the criminal a saint or innocent.

Additionally, hiring of jobless youths to come and barricade the entrance of the National Assembly chanting solidarity songs in support of any masquerade will only add more fuel of ethnicity to the problem. Likewise, hiring trailer loads of Senior Advocates won’t do the trick either.

There is an urgent need for our people to begin to differentiate between legal victory, political victory and moral victory which to me should be more paramount in this very particular case. Despite the fact that politicians in this part of the world don’t give a damn about morality in politics, the moral liability of their actions or in actions will forever remain indelible in the minds of the people.

What really upsets is the way that some supposedly enlightened

individuals are using the warped logic of the timing of the trial to pick holes in a purely criminal matter. If our supposedly educated elites can stoop this low just to sabotage our justice system, then one can be excused to think that any crime that was not detected for a number of years can be jettisoned by the authorities for fear of being accused of political vendetta or witch-hunt. How disingenuous can this line of thinking be?

People must be made to understand and appreciate the bigger picture which is the interest of our poor country, if we are truly serious about saving this country from the clutches of bad leadership and wanton corruption. The current vigour injected into the anticorruption war by President Muhammad Buhari must be supported by all well-meaning Nigerians in order to build a happy, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria.

• Aminu Abdu, Azare, Bauchi State

rectors of Tin Can Island, Apapa Wharf, Flour Mills, Ibru Organization, Banks, Oil companies etc.

There is no law that prevents them from building roads that lead to their premises. What stops them from doing the needful by mounting pressure on the Federal Ministry of Works to use part of the huge amount they cart away every year to fix those roads? Roads in Apapa and Tin Can Island remain not only an eyesore, but head sore, mindsore, soul-sore and heart-sore.

Nigeria at 55 with Muhammadu Buhari as President provides a new window for all of us to sit up and be smart in re-ordering the way we do things in Nigeria. The massive flow of refugees from Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Africa into Europe should serve as teachable moments for Nigerian leaders. Boko Haram insurgents, MASSOB and Niger Delta Militants remain a big challenge to all of us especially our leaders. We must rise above ethnic sentiments in order to confront these threats and build a new Nigeria of our dream. Diversity remains our greatest assets in this country and should we bungle it as a result of greed, selfishness, ethnic preoccupation and political irresponsibility, woe betide us.

President Buhari’s team should be our first eleven for the first time in 55 years and we demand nothing less. I pity any minister who will go there to mess up when the need is greatest. I pity any minister who will go there to think it is business as usual. I pity any minister who will go there to betray the President and the country. This is our chance to prove to the world that we did not go to school to learn how to accumulate what we do not need. This is not the time to stand and stare. This is not the time for bedtime stories and frivolities. This is the time for us to tear ourselves away from primitive accumulation of wealth to service delivery. This is the time to grow up. This is my wish for Nigeria at 55.

• Joe Igbokwe, Lagos.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

17

COMMENTS

Nigerian Diasporas families

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INCE 1995 I have had to visit my children abroad and in recent times and as my children got married and settled down the urge to visit them has become almost a family imperative. Everybody in their old age likes to bond with their children and grandchildren. What I am describing has become almost a common experience of people of my generation. Some of us are lucky to have their children living and working in Nigeria but others including myself are not so lucky. In the past, living abroad was seen as being most desirable or admirable and those having children living and working abroad were celebrated. Of course there are things to say for living abroad such as financial stability for those who are highly educated and who have jobs to do. Currencies do not lose value as our own. I remember the 1970s when our naira was at par with the pound sterling and was almost two dollars to a naira. The naira today is in downward spiral of 260 to a dollar. There is relative physical security abroad. The standard of life, good transportation, education and health infrastructure are much better than what we have in Nigeria.

We can also humor and cajole ourselves by saying we are in a global village where ideally there should be mobility of labour and free movement. But there are several consequences of moving from one’s native country and moving abroad. The obvious one is for a black person becoming part of a visible minority in a white, brown or yellow country. I include yellow and brown countries since our people are no longer restricted to Europe and the Americas but increasingly go to countries in Asia particularly India and China even if on a small scale. There is obvious discrimination against so-called people of colour as they say in the West. A black person would have to work harder and perhaps be more qualified than a white person to attract the same attention and consideration.

When a highly qualified African applies for a job sometimes he or she is told that he or she should not contribute to the brain drain from his or her country, thus an act of racism is couched as an act of concern for development in poor countries forgetting that everybody has one life and should be able to live that life to the fullest wherever he or she chooses to live.

Of course those who argue like this have a point in that people with highly needed skills should be encouraged to stay and foster the development of their underdeveloped countries. But what is usually forgotten is that the corrupt political leaders of our country make it impossible for people to function optimally thus leading to frustration and in some cases depression and even mental breakdown.

On a macro national level we are told Nigerians abroad send about $20 billion home every year. This is second to our earning from oil which is greatly endangered in these days of oil selling at $40 a barrel. No one can be categorical on the size of Nigeria’s diaspora. But it seems we may have about a quarter of a million in the UK and perhaps over a million in the

USA and Canada. Some have foolishly suggested we may have up to 10 million in the Sudan. I disagree with this estimate.

The so-called fellata in the Sudan were migrants from West Africa either left behind on the way to or from the hajj or those West Africans who went to work in the cotton fields of the gezira scheme. They are now Sudanese and have cut their ties with their ancestral homes and hardly send money which they obviously do not have to Nigeria.

On a micro level of individuals and particularly me, it is not very easy for me to get along with a situation where all my children are living abroad. I am sure many Nigerians will glibly say they will like to have the kind of problem that I have. I know some of our people in Edo and Delta states have had to sell their homes to send their female children into prostitution in Italy or to the Gulf states in the Middle East. I do not know why the incidence of this type of trafficking is pronounced in these two states but that is the truth and reality. Of course I sympathize with them and their parents. No one having seen these young people on the highways and city streets in Italy, will not be overwhelmed by this tragedy. Thank God my children do not belong to this category of Nigerians in diaspora. I suppose this digression is a different kettle of fish.

In my case I have to travel thousands of miles annually to see my children and their families at considerable cost to me physically and financially. I may be able to handle this but the fact that my children are all married to foreigners make my situation a bit difficult. I have no in-laws in Nigeria that I can socialize with. I have also not received the traditional gifts of yams and prostrations from the parents of my sons in law! My Igbo friends would have demanded the cost of educating their daughters from kindergarten to university from their prospective in-laws! There is also the fact that my grandchildren, sons-in-law and daughter-in-law operate on a totally different cultural level from mine. God knows of course that I have been exposed to western culture as a student and assistant professor within western educational milieu and I have had the honour to represent my country one way or the other at very high levels in the West thus bringing my living in the West cumulatively to 15 years but I remain an African essentially.

My children unfortunately now share more with people in the West than they have with Africans. My children and their spouses all work making it impossible when visiting to be catered for appropriately. My daughter- in-law does not know how to cook and does not cook at all and unless my son cooks then I will either eat bread, cereals or bland food from restaurants. I have never complained and I really have no right to do so. I am a long-suffering civilized old man. My daughters do the best they can but combining the care of a visiting old father with work is also not easy. I am not sure the situation would have been different if my children were married to Nigerians abroad. The situation would only have changed if my children were married to Nigerians living and working in Nigeria.

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N the beginning, there was no list, but we all knew that sooner than later, there will be one.

Many thought that the list will be made public shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari’s inauguration on May 29. But after the first two weeks and there was no list, they started wondering what was happening. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) especially cashed in on the non-release of the list to upbraid the government. To the party, the president is not ready for governance if he cannot release such a vital document within weeks of coming to office.

In no time, those eagerly waiting for the list tagged the president Baba go slow. Was that an appropriate name for the president at that point in time? Is there anything in the book that says that the list must be released within a specific time?

What is it about the list that makes heads turn at the mention of it? The list has always been something to look forward to at the coming of every administration because of its content. And speculations are usually rife in the media about those on the list.

So far, Buhari has managed to keep the list or better still his list, that is what it is anyway, close to his chest. The media have done all they could to scoop the list, but no organisation seems to have succeeded. Some are already being seen as prospects, but the president has refused to give anything away.

He seems to enjoy the Baba go slow

535 DAYS AFTER

STILL WAITING FOR CHIBOK GIRLS’ RESCUE

As one grows older it may become increasingly difficult for me and people like me to annually travel thousands of miles to visit our families abroad. In spite of what our children consider as unsafe Nigerian environment, they will have to be visiting their old folks at home. I hope from what I have said Jide above it will become clear that while in Osuntokun favour of global freedom of movement, it is not the best thing for families to be split by wide and long distances. I am usually aghast at Africans taking great risks to get to Europe and America and to stay anywhere but home! Foreign countries are not what they are cracked up to be. One is happier at home than abroad. The extended family network can come in as a cushion against hard times as well as support in times of difficulties. When I am abroad I always like the anonymity but hate the feeling that I am perceived as just another Black man on the road needing white sympathy. I do not know how my colleagues relate to their grandchildren in Nigeria but in my case I cannot discipline my smart alec grandchildren who are totally disconnected from my culture.

But on the whole it is still a good world but can be better if my children and their children were a telephone call away from me. I have been with my children in the last few weeks but as we have always related to each other on the basis of candour and honesty my children particularly Fola will not be surprised by my views since I have always opened up to her and my views should not be considered as a criticism of my present family reality. In fact I have been blessed by wonderful sons-in-laws namely James, Owen, Ralph and my adorable daughter-in-law Heather and my brilliant grandchildren Finn, Morenike, Abiodun and those still expected.

‘As one grows older it may become increasingly difficult for me and people like me to annually travel thousands of miles to visit our families abroad. In spite of what our children consider as unsafe Nigerian environment, they will have to be visiting their old folks at home’

The list tag because during his first visit to the United States (US), he told the Nigerian community about the appellation, saying : ‘’They are calling me Baba go slow, but I like to go slowly and steadily because slow and steady win the race’’.

Why is the list a hot item? It is hot because it contains the names of would-be ministers - the men and women who will assist the president in running his government.

Though he is constitutionally empowered to pick these ministers, he needs to play his political card well in doing so. This is the dilemma our leaders face when it comes to making oppointments. In order to satisfy some political interests, the president must carry his party and its leadership along in order not to rock the boat.

But for a government, which is championing change, the Buhari administration cannot afford to do things the way they were done by past governments. If it does, where then is the much-talked about change? This, it appears, is why Buhari has been extremely careful in releasing the list. He would not want to be associated with people without character, that is men and women with dark past. If such people should find their way into his cabinet, the list will be dead on arrival because of the way Nigerians will receive it.

They will dismiss the list out of hand and such an image will not be good for the Buhari administration.

The president knows his compatriots too well and he is doing everything to sustain their trust. The president knows that he cannot afford to betray this trust which earned him victory at the March poll. The list! the list!! the list!!! Well, the long wait for it may have been over by the time you read this piece.

The president told us that he will release the list by September 30, which was yesterday. On Tuesday night in New York, he gave an insight into what to expect. He said he would hold the Petroleum portfolio. If the presdient keeps his word, you are likely to have read about those who made the list on the front page of this paper today.

With the release of the list, the questions that may arise are: was he fair in his selection? Did he reflect federal character? Did he satisfy constitutional provision? As we await the Senate’s screening of the would-be ministers, our prayer is that may they be men and women, who will have the love of their country and compatriots at heart.

Ah! we can now take a breather with the release of the list.

Nigeria at 55

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oday Nigeria turns 55 hav ing attained Independence on October 1, 1960. As a nation, we are older than 55. Nigeria has been in existence long before it attained Independence from its British colonial masters. We may not have shot a gun to gain independence, but we have gone through a lot since 1960. Shortly after independence, we fought a civil war in which no fewer than one million people died. Thousands were maimed. Independent Nigeria has not had it good. Over 120 million of its 170 million population are living in abject poverty. Graduates are roaming the streets without job, while top government officials are going about with fat tummies. Our leaders’ lifestyle is sickening. It is a recipe for a revolution, but for the docility of the people.

This is the first Independence anniversary to be celebrated by the

Buhari administration, but the president is no stranger to the rot in our society having held office as military head of state between January 1984 and August 1985. So, President Muhammadu Buhari knows where Nigeria is hurting. Our country is haemorrhaging from the official misconduct of our leaders, who are interested more in their own pockets than in making Nigeria great.

Leadership has been our problem.

We have not been blessed with leaders with the love of the nation at heart. This is why at 55, we are still crawling. If Nigeria were to be a child, I am sorry to say, its parents would have been forced to do something terrible about it. If a child at 55 cannot walk, when will it do so?

At 60? 70? 100?

Buhari has been given a chance to turn things round and all eyes are on him to see whether he will deliver. He has so far shown that he knows that the country is in deep mess. It is good that he knows, but it will be better if he corrects things.

The people see him as a goodly and godly man, who is not corrupt, an attribute, which aided his election into office. In just three months, we have seen what can be done if a good man is in office. But Buhari needs to sustain the tempo. Will politicians allow him to sanitise the country in a way that will accelerate its growth into the club of elite nations? Many will agree that the president has started well, but it is

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

the end that matters. There should be no hiding place for those who do not mean well for the country.

At 55, we should be proud to say that things are working in our country - stable power supply, a functional real sector to drive the economy, availability of fuel allyear round, a thriving middle class, jobs for the teeming young population and wealth creation opportunities, among others. We have the resources to put all these in place, but unfortunately a few people have cornered our common wealth at the expense of millions of others. Is that how to be the giant of Africa? Look at what is happening in South Africa, a country which broke the apartheid yoke off its neck about 25 years ago, and you will weep for our country. Mr President, to make Nigeria great is a task that must be accomplished, no matter what it will cost.

‘For a government that is championing change, the Buhari administration cannot afford to do things the way they were done in the past. If it does, where then is the muchtalked about change?’

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

18

COMMENTS

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T was the humble submission of this column last week that if slavery, through which Africa was first integrated into the world economy succeeded in its set objectives of ‘controlling life, liberty and fortunes’ of conquered territories, globalization which confers legitimacy on European neo-liberals political leaders’ use of instrumentalities of multinational corporations, international economic organisations and International Financial institutions to increase the gap between the rich and poor nations of the world from 9-1 at the end of slavery in the 1870s to 60-1 today, is a worse form of slavery.

Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General not too long ago described this development as ‘an affront to our common humanity’.

Unable to fulfil his campaign promises to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor as a result of resistance by his republican neoliberal apostles of globalization, frustrated President Obama reminded his political opponents that he was sure the war of independence by American founding fathers was not fought to replace the tyranny of kings with that of a few wealthy Republicans who have cornered more than their own share of America’s resources.

Last week, Pope Francis seized the opportunity of his official visit to the US to add his moral voice to this debate by pointing out the evils of globalization. He started the crusade in the American Congress, known for serving only interest groups. There, he told the politicians that ‘the chief aim of politics is to defend and preserve the dignity of (their) fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good’. He pointed out to them the evil of ‘plundering of the natural resources of poor countries who have no legal means to fight back’. He condemned the “allpowerful elite” whose ‘selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and disadvantaged,” He carried the crusade, on behalf of the poor and the deprived, from Washington seat of power, to the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where he reminded American neo-liberals of the American founding fathers’ assertion “that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights”, and that governments exist to protect and defend those rights. He reminded temporary custodians of power in America that most Americans are immigrants who at one point or the other faced resistance from the earlier settlers.

Pope Francis’ America crusade and Nigeria While admonishing the 30million plus Latin American immigrants, ‘never to be ashamed of (their) traditions’, he reminded them of their obligations to their host community.

And finally, Pope Francis says religious freedom is ‘the right to worship God, individually and in community, as our consciences dictate.’ This according to him is a ‘fundamental right which shapes the way we interact socially and personally with our neighbours whose religious views differ from our own’.

Although Pope Francis’ Eclicical Laudate Si”, on climate change and his crusade against globalization are directed against the US, the greatest abuser of the environment and major beneficiary of the enslavement of the less developed nations through globalization, his message as the leader of a universal church has a universal appeal. For instance, it was as if his crusade during the visit was about Nigeria’s national question or our crisis of nationhood.

Let us start from the last. Nigeria political leaders, more than American leaders, need lessons in religion tolerance. Whether it was the failed attempt by some selfish Yoruba leaders to create social disharmony by exploiting religious differences during the last Osun gubernatorial election or some selfserving Igbo leaders who fraudulently claimed Buhari was going to islamise Nigeria, politicians who had nothing to offer the underprivileged who look up to them for direction, were at the background. In the north, self-serving politicians have since the death of Ahmadu Bello in 1966 exploited religious

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IGHT from his days as Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has carved the image of a no-nonsense, incorruptible and industrious public servant who knows what he wants and goes for it without delay. When he held sway at the capital city, Abuja, and he worked assiduously to restore it to its original plan. He demolished illegal structures belonging to the low, the high and the mighty, including churches and mosques. He personally supervised demolitions of houses of Senate President, PDP chairman, the Inspector General of Police and those of prominent Nigerians and dared anyone who stood on his way.

When he offered himself to run for the governorship of Kaduna State in the 2015 General Election, he promised to turn the fortunes of the state for the better. He promised the people free education and creation of over 3,000 jobs, among others. He allayed their fears that he would not use his Abuja style to run the affairs of Kaduna since they are different.

The people believed him and overwhelmingly voted him into power. And on assuming office, he did not tarry a bit.

He constituted his cabinet and hit the ground running when other governors were still basking in the euphoria of their victory at the polls.

First, he reduced the number of commissioners in the state from 23 to 13. He scrapped some ministries and merged some others. He banned all allocations of fertilizers to traditional rulers and politicians and distributed them to real farmers in the state.

El-Rufai blazed the trail in reducing his salary and that of his deputy by 50 per cent. He stopped annual Ramadan welfare packages and ordered biometric verification for civil servants in the state.

In no time, El-Rufai bagged Governors’ Performance Award from a Lagos based Centre for International and Professional Studies which conducts monthly performance review of

‘The point has to be made that while trying to develop Kaduna he should not sacrifice the very people who voted him into power. He should provide alternative means of survival for the victims of the quantum demolition, alternative markets for traders, and rehabilitation centres for the beggars’

sentiments to further impoverish the northern poor. Suddenly an area celebrated as ‘one north, one people’ degenerated into a turmoil of religious conflicts with Muslims torching churches and killing their Christians brothers in Kano, Kaduna and other parts of the north.

The current battle against Boko Haram insurgency was not totally unconnected with the ‘political sharia’ introduced by northern governors who also between 1999 and 2003 sponsored scores of northern youths to Sudan for spiritual development. Many of them became radicalized after encounter with Osama Laden who at the period had his AlQaeda headquarters in Sudan.

When Pope Pius sermonised about an ‘allpowerful elite that hoards wealth and resources’ and whose ‘selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and disadvantaged’, it was as if he had PDP leaders, dealers and wheelers that have held the nation down for 16 years in mind.

When Pope Francis reminded American lawmakers of the reasons why they are in politics, one cannot resist the temptation to assume he had Nigerian political leaders like Dr Bukola Saraki who traded off the victory of his party because he wanted to be senate president or Ekweremadu who after being a two-term deputy senate president could not resist the temptation to usurp the position that by convention belongs to the ruling party.

Of course there are many others who will benefit from Pope Francis’ counselling on politics as a noble calling. Some of such

political leaders include personalities like Lucky Igbinedion who was accused by EFCC of embezzling N19billion, Dr. Bukola Saraki who was before his current travails dragged to court for alleged embezzlement of N90billion, Orji Uzor Kalu, former Governor of Abia State, accused by EFCC of diverting N5billion state funds to his Slok Airlines, Rev Jolly Nyame accused back in 2007 of embezzling N1.3billion, Samiu Turaki, former Jigawa State Governor docked over allegation of a theft of N36billion. Others include Boni Haruna, a former Adamawa State governor accused of a theft of N16million and Gbenga Daniel, Ayo Fayose, Princess Oduah and others who still have pending cases in various courts. (Joseph Jibueze, The Nation, September 25.) . While some have been acquitted, some discharged after a pat on the wrist and some still having dates in courts, nearly all of them are however back in politics either as governors, senators or party leaders.

And finally besides Pope Francis’ sermon on the ‘pursuit of the common good’ and the evil of ‘plundering of the natural resources of the poor, Nigerians will also benefit from his sermon about the commitment of immigrants to their host communities. This is one problem that has not been properly articulated by our successive political leaders. Our crisis of nationhood is compounded when a bunch of criminals as cattle farmers engage in mindless killings of members of their host communities as we have in the Middle-belt states or the kidnapping of respected local leader and an elder statesman from his farm as experienced

by Chief Olu Falae in Ondo last week.

‘Besides Pope Francis’ sermon on the ‘pursuit of the common good’ and the evil of ‘plundering of the natural resources of the poor, Nigerians will also benefit from his sermon about the commitment of immigrants to their host communities. This is one problem that has not been properly articulated by our successive political leaders’

Between Shehu Sani And El-Rufai

By Celemarie Okafor governors in the country. The group used such criteria as readiness for office, innovation in office, ability to be in tune with the mood of the nation, security and leadership to score him first.

But one thing that has pit Governor El-Rufai and the ordinary people of the state is his decision to take beggars off the streets of Kaduna. After the bomb blast of June 11, in the midst of civil servants crowded for the biometric verification in Sabon Gari Local Government Area which left 26 dead and 35 injured, El-Rufai perhaps thought that the beggars posed a security risk, that terrorists could use them to cause mayhem and so banned begging in the state.

Since then the state has known no peace as beggars staged public demonstration and challenged the governor to a contest of will. They threatened him with legal action to force their fundamental rights of freedom of movement and association as well as spiritual attack. The people lamented that contrary to El-Rufai’s promise during campaigns to stamp out poverty, he has visited them with hardship and misery. They accuse him of threatening their livelihood, demolishing their shops, houses and their businesses in the name of making Kaduna the Dubai of Africa. They therefore swore to bring down his government unless he rescinds his decision. The physically challenged persons dared him and returned to the streets.

El-Rufai seems to have come to terms with the implications of the obnoxious policy and reversed himself by appointing a visually challenged man as Special Assistant to the Governor on Disability. The beggars returned to the streets.

Even then, the people seem not to be assuaged by that action.

And one man who has consistently challenged El-Rufai is Comrade Shehu Sani, the Senator representing Kaduna North Central in the National Assembly. Comrade, an APC Senator, is also President of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, a human rights organisation based in Kaduna.

Comrade Sani insisted that El-Rufai must understand that he is presiding over human beings that have suffered enough and must not add to their hardship. “I do not mean anything harmful or bad to him. I feel pained; in some parts of Kaduna today, you will see groups of people sitting down and saying they regretted voting for APC and even some of them came out to be praising Ramalan Yero (former governor) and other PDP people. It gives me a lot of pain...There is no way I would like to see my people saying that if they had known they

wouldn’t have voted for us because, we came in and that we were oppressing them, denying them, demolishing their houses and all that we said we were coming to do, we refused to do,” he said in an interview recently.

Some have said he is attacking Governor el-Rufai because he wants to be governor in 2019. But he said it is only ElRufai’s supporters who could say so because he knew that if he (Sani) had wanted to be governor when he came out to contest, El-Rufai could not have become governor.

Sani insisted: “Our people need socio-economic liberation.

Our people need jobs, they need medicare and education; they need to be freed from economic bondage which they have found themselves in. So if you are in government, your priority should be how to make life better for people, from the position you met them.”

He said that El-Rufai’s programmes and policies are clearly alienating the people and attracting anger and condemnation on APC and anybody associated with the party.

But whatever is the motive, the point has to be made that while trying to develop Kaduna he should not sacrifice the very people who voted him into power. He should provide alternative means of survival for the victims of the quantum demolition, alternative markets for traders, and rehabilitation centres for the beggars. He should provide shelters for handicapped, create jobs for those adversely affected by demolitions and pay compensation for those who have lost their houses of abode.

This reminds me of a story I read recently about a blind boy. The blind boy sat on the step of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which read, “I am blind, please help me.” For hours only few coins were dropped in the hat.

A man passing by noticed it; he took the sign, turned it around and wrote some words and put it back so that any passer-by could see it. Soon many people started giving money to the boy.

The man who wrote the words came around to see what was happening. The boy recognised his footsteps and asked,” Are you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?” I wrote, “Today is beautiful, but I cannot see it.” The first sign simply said the boy is blind but the second told the people that they were so lucky they were not blind.

We could have been like any of the less-privileged. Their condition is no fault of theirs. We should have pity and provide solution to their problems rather than compound them.

• Okafor writes from Lagos.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

19

COMMENTS

N

OT many know that there is a new law known as the Tobacco Control Act. Recently passed by the 7th Parliament and signed into law a few months ago, the Act seeks to bring order into the manufacture, promotion and distribution of tobacco products in Nigeria. The reason is simple: Tobacco has long been found to have dangerous public health implications. For instance, while smoking may be legal, such that an adult may choose to smoke and damn its consequences, cigarette smoke can potentially also affect nonsmokers. The government has an obligation to its citizens to protect public health, ensuring that access to potentially dangerous products like tobacco by the underaged for instance is outlawed and that innocent non-smokers are not subjected against their will to passive smoking and its after-effects, among others.

The Tobacco Act is by many accounts, now a much stronger piece of legislation than its predecessor. Stakeholders including legislators and health sector workers are unanimous in the view that it will, to a large extent control the production, promotion and distribution of tobacco products across the country and in the process help to safeguard the lives of Nigerians.

Having been passed into law, the Act is currently being gazetted into the country’s statutes by the Supreme Court.

It is shocking that while the Tobacco Control Act has attained this degree of progress, to the commendation of several anti-tobacco NGOs, a certain manufacturer of tobacco products with a manufacturing factory somewhere in Senegal, has been granted a licence to import tobacco products into Nigeria, by the Standards Organization of Nigeria. Using the platform of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme, which avails members the prerogative to export their products within the West Africa sub-region, the tobacco manufacturer will in due course import cigarettes and other finished products to Nigeria.

At face value, the issuance of this import licence may appear laudable, one aimed at promoting trade and commerce within the West African sub-region. On deeper inter-

O

NCE, in the Second Republic, while the then President Shehu Shagari was delivering an Independence Day broadcast on national television, an unplanned power outage occurred, knocking off power supply nationwide, inevitably interrupting the broadcast and its reception by the citizenry.

When power was eventually restored to an embarrassed nation and long after the president had concluded the broadcast, an explanation for the outage emerged. It was that a snake had climbed up the tower members of a transmission line and bridged one of the phases and a tower member, causing a temporary earth fault that forced the line to trip.

The Second Republic lasted from October 1, 1979 to December 31, 1983. But that incident, occurring over 30 years ago, is probably a good symbolic illustration of how long our political independence as a nation has yet to be complemented by freedom from the many natural, man-made and accidental causes of our lack of adequate and reliable power as a nation.

For while we can be said to have received our political independence from Britain, our colonial masters, it might not be wrong to describe us as a nation still being colonised by darkness – the symbolic and summary objectification of our perennially inadequate power generation and supply . And the result of this inadequacy, as we all know, continues to manifest as the chronic distress and underdevelopment of which we have only recently begun to see sustainable signs of their reduction with the relative stabilisation and improvement of power generation and supply nationwide.

It is heartening, though, that President Muhammadu Buhari appreciates the challenges posed by this situation, like Presi-

Impunity as maiden test of Tobacco Act

By Njideka Obi rogation however, it raises a number of issues, all of which further question the rationale or motive behind the action.

For instance, whereas the Tobacco Control Act clearly stipulates that a licence to import tobacco products may only be granted by the Federal Minister of Health, it would appear that perhaps taking advantage of the absence of ministers, the Standards Organization of Nigeria may have gone ahead to issue the licence itself.

If as reports indicate this is true, then SON would have acted in clear contravention of the new Act, and mortgaged the lives of Nigerians, by literally opening Nigeria’s borders to the influx of tobacco products, especially at a time when the country is still grappling with a suffusion of internally-produced tobacco products as well as smuggled ones. In fact, not long ago, SON itself advertised the presence of several nonregistered foreign brands of cigarettes that are to be found on the shelves of retailers across the country, warning that these cigarettes are dangerous.

In stipulating that “no person shall manufacture, import or distribute tobacco products except the person has obtained a license or is authorized in writing to do so by the Minister”, the Tobacco Control Act obviously seeks to put a systematic leash on the influx of tobacco products in the country, in so doing, making the availability of cigarettes far more restricted and controlled than it currently is as one way of managing the public health challenge of tobacco.

Granting a license to any importer of cigarettes in the face of this clear regulation therefore raises a number of questions, chief among which is what is the motivation of the officials of the Standards Organization of Nigeria who have granted this manufacturer a license? Is the Standards

Organization of Nigeria ignorant of the Tobacco Control Act? Has its action been predicated on a need to enhance its coffers by the massive licence fees and charges which it will obviously slam on the importer on an annual basis? Tobacco is renowned globally as big money business.

Are there mouth-watering counterpart underhand deals as an accompaniment to this hurriedly awarded licence to import cigarettes?

The licence awarded by the Standards Organization of Nigeria, if true indeed raises yet another issue; it brings to light the question of lack of congruence and disharmony in Nigeria’s policy making space.

For instance, the Central Bank of Nigeria only a few weeks ago issued regulatory guidelines that seek to conserve our foreign exchange regime through strategic restriction of the importation of spurious items. Items like toothpicks, plantain chips, wooden doors and others were placed under this systematic restriction in a manner that makes it easier for the legendary camel to pass the eye of the needle than for them to be legally imported. Why issue a licence to anyone to import cigarettes when the country is strategically restricting the importation of non-essential and spurious items, anyway? It raises the question of whether or not Nigeria’s regulatory agencies bother to talk to themselves and understand the rationale behind various government policies.

The current Standards Organization of Nigeria scenario is the reason why government policies often seem to contradict one another. While one agency may understand and have a far-sighted view of the problem and institute policies with which to manage it, another agency may have a completely different understanding if not a total misunderstanding of the same issue and act in such a way as to undermine well-thought out policy. Ultimately, in the bedlam of confusion, well-intended

policies and programs are jettisoned and the country starts from point zero all over again. This has been our lot for decades in Nigeria.

The happenings regarding this reported issuance of a license to a tobacco manufacturer to import cigarettes and other tobacco products to Nigeria in contravention of the Tobacco Control Act, should pique the interest of all Nigerians and very importantly President Muhammadu Buhari who in the last few months has embarked on a painstaking mission to return Nigeria to a culture of doing things right. Many Nigerians are positive that the era of corruption and impunity is in fast retreat to be replaced by an era of transparency and purpose in governance and public affairs. It would be a disservice to all Nigerians if Standards Organization of Nigeria were to pull the hands of the clock back in an attempt to return Nigeria to an era which it is struggling to shake off. To make matters worse, it would be an even greater disservice to Nigeria, if its platform for doing this is the importation of cigarettes and tobacco products which have been proven to be dangerous to the health of smokers and non-smokers alike and which therefore ought to be rigorously controlled.

• Ms Obi is of the Centre for the Promotion of Enterprise and Business Best Practice, Abuja.

‘The licence awarded by the Standards Organization of Nigeria, if true indeed raises yet another issue; it brings to light the question of lack of congruence and disharmony in Nigeria’s policy making space’

Power and Independence

By Ikeogu Oke dents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan before him – who, through their reformist interventions in the power sector, laid the foundation for the improvements currently being experienced in power generation and supply as a result of what some have – I think rightly – termed President Buhari’s “body language” or the Buhari effect.

To drive home the fact of the recent improvement with a combination of facts and symbolism: The peak power generation value in the country on October 1, 2013 and 2014 (our last and penultimate Independence Days before that of this year) was 3,166.6 and 3,687.9 megawatts respectively. However, from the May 29, inauguration of the present government, the country has recorded several new different peak generation values, i.e., 4,662 megawatts on July 29; 4,748 megawatts on August 25; and 4, 810.7 megawatts on August 26. Prior to this, the last peak generation value of 4,516 megawatts had been recorded three years earlier, in 2012.

If the above progressive trend is sustained – as I believe it will – then we can expect to have inched further to freedom from our symbolic colonisation by darkness by generating more power on this year’s Independence Day than we did on the previous one. This optimism is founded on our having already maintained a power generation value higher than what we had on the 2104 Independence Day for most days in September, the month that precedes the Independence Day.

However, even as President Buhari has repeatedly promised to give priority attention to power, the perennial lack of which he has described as intolerable, the real challenge, I think, is in sustaining the current improvement in power beyond this year’s Independence Day, and making it a lasting condition. This can be achieved if, beyond relying on the President’s “body language” as a stimulant for improved power, active steps are taken by his government to develop the power sector sustainably, such that the factors that make for improved power become features of the power system – factors such as quality personnel, reliable infrastructure, dependable equipment, efficient sectoral management, etc.

Indeed, as the President was quoted as saying during a recent engagement with the Ministry of Power, “The problems besetting our power sector are not difficult to identify. Therefore, priorities can be easily set in order to tackle them. The problems are more with transmission than generation, and we equally need to secure the power infrastructure round the country.”

So there is an indication that even the President understands that, to sustain the current gains in power, there is a need to reinforce his “body language” with multipronged action to develop the power sector and secure our decolonisation, as it were, from darkness (or the paucity of electricity) and the general distress and underdevelopment it continues to foist on our nation.

But as even the President would admit, what has often been lacking is not the ability to identify such problems. It is the will

– political and otherwise – to tackle them in spite of the vested interests that benefit from the dysfunction in our power sector.

And I am persuaded that, beyond developing the power sector, it would require our leaders continuously sending a message of zero-tolerance to such interests through their “body language” for any improvement in our power sector to be sustained without the possibility of reversal.

And by “body language”, I mean a psychological disposition whose impact does not necessarily depend on its being deployed consciously. For its can also be an unconscious expression and yet be no less effective as, I think, in the Buhari case and the power sector – the way a cat’s mere presence can check the harmful activities of mice, which are likely to react instinctively to the sight of the cat even without the cat being aware of it.

‘There is an indication that even the President understands that, to sustain the current gains in power, there is a need to reinforce his “body language” with multipronged action to develop the power sector and secure our decolonisation, as it were, from darkness’

21

THE NATION

EDUCATION

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

As Nigeria celebrates her 55th Independence anniversary today, some critical sectors, including education, are begging for development. Some concerned Nigerians tell the government how to go about it.

• Happy Independence Day, Nigeria.

Source: Internet.

Nigeria at 55: Whither education?

T

ODAY marks Nigeria’s 55th Independence anniversary. It is the first Independence celebration by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The anniversary is coming when the list of would-be ministers is being made public. Expectations are high as Nigerians wait for the promised change by the government.

Nigerians have divergent views on Nigeria’s achievements since becoming independent on October 1, 1960. Some, like Mr Bode Adeboye, an entrepreneur, think there is nothing to celebrate about education, which he noted is plagued by corruption - like other areas of national life.

"For me, I do not think education has really improved compared to where we are now. The issue is certainly corruption; it has eaten deep into the affairs of the country. If only Nigerians and also people at the helm of affairs could see beyond selfish interest and greed, by now,

Kofoworola Belo-Osagie, Adegunle Olugbamila, Jane Chijioke, Mojisola Clement, Nicholas Kalu (Calabar), Yusuf Aminu Idegu (Jos), and Odunayo Ogunmola (Ekiti).

we would have been celebrated as one of the developed countries in the world.

“It is not as if governments have not been doing anything. A lot of money has been invested in the sector; but it has hardly been used to achieve its purpose. We are marking 55 years of independence when, in actual fact, it calls

‘

for no celebration,” he said.

A lecturer of Lagos State University, Prof Biodun Akinpelu argues that education is in shambles.

“Today, it is no exaggeration that education has crashed beyond imagination,” he said.

Mr Abayomi Badru, who runs a tutorial cen-

It is not as if governments have not been doing anything. A lot of money has been invested in the sector; but it has hardly been used to achieve its purpose. We are marking 55 years of independence when, in actual fact, it calls for no celebration

INSIDE

Three varsities build cars for Shell Eco-marathon -Page 33

ABUAD students shine in U.S. contest -Page 34

FOUR students of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) have excelled at a competition organised by the Microsoft Corporation in the United States...

CAMPUS LIFE A varsity only in name -Page 25

’

tre in Ikorodu, Lagos, lamented that the deterioration in the education sector is evident in the increasing number of private institutions in operation while public schools are going down.

It is not all bad news, says those who submit that there are milestones in education worth celebrating. Prof Offiong E Offiong, immediate past Education Commissioner in Cross River State, said education today is better than two decades ago.

"I would not say the achievements so far have not been commendable. It has marked departure from what we saw 20 years ago - and whether people want to see it or not - all indices point to the fact that there is improvement in education. But I think it may not be as what a typical Nigerian is expecting," he said Mr. Kehinde Ojo, former Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology in Ekiti State, said the education sector has expanded •Continued on page 22

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

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

22

EDUCATION

Samsung, Redeemer’s varsity partner on digital learning

S

AMSUNG Electronics West Africa, in partnership with Redeemer's University (RUN), Ede, Osun State, has inaugurated 30 electronic boards in the school. It is a joint initiative aimed at improving students’ learning experience.

The e-boards come with easy-to-use immersive technology for the digital classroom. The new technology in the classroom, according to Samsung, is set to change dramatically how students learn and teachers pass on instructions.

Samsung launched the ‘Classroom digitisation’ in collaboration with one of its key partners, Beecit Solutions, who also worked to deliver advanced solutions for the digital classroom.

The widespread adoption of tablets, mobile applications, social networks and digital content is having a profound effect on students around the world, including Nigeria.

Director, Samsung Enterprise Busi•Continued from page 21 opportunities to many people since 1960.

Ojo said the fact that many pupils and students produced by public schools in Nigeria are making waves in different fields all over the world is an indication that Nigerian education has fared well since independence, despite the many challenges.

He said: "The goal of education at independence was to produce men and women who would take over from the colonialists and administer our country after the colonialists might have left.

"It is also aimed at producing men and women to rub shoulders with their counterparts all over the world and free education was introduced in the Western Region and Eastern Region.

"This gave every child of school age the opportunity to have access to education and many pupils were given the opportunity they wouldn't have had in the first instance.

"And this created more opportunities with the establishment of more schools like teacher training colleges, modern schools, secondary schools and primary schools which were financed by the government.

"The establishment of these schools produced leaders in states, academia, business and church and this opened opportunities to Nigerians to take over from colonialists.

"I want to say that education has fared well in Nigeria despite the challenges because the products of these schools are rubbing shoulders with the very best around the world".

Professor of Drama and Theatre at the University of Jos (UNIJOS), John Illah, agrees with Ojo. "It has been one tremendous growth in all sectors of Nigeria since independence. In the education sector in particular, great improvements have been recorded. For instance, in 1948, there was only one University College in the whole of Nigeria, but today, we are not only talking of government universities, we are also talking of private owned universities. All districts in Nigeria today have more than one secondary school; most villages have primary schools. The Nigerian education sector is meeting the country's manpower needs," he said.

However, those respondents who agreed that education has improved noted that there were many challenges that needed to be addressed.

Prof Akinpelu said the level of degeneration in education was deserving of rescue mission akin to the fight against the Boko Haram Insurgency.

"For me, it is not about President Buhari looking for where to fix it, but

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

ness, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Mr Charles Ojei, said the collaboration would meet students’ expectations for an interactive learning environment.

"We are committed to partnering with this university to ensure that you achieve your goals in terms of digitization," Ojei said.

The Samsung e-boards are in-built with powerful software that provides simplified direct access to e-books, CDs, videos, animations, images, PowerPoint presentations, learning materials and internet content.

"The e-boards will help to deliver rich content and interactivity to the classrooms. It will also provide the teachers with greater control over their classrooms and increase student engagement while ensuring a more efficient transfer of materials to students. It will aid more participation, more efficient communica-

• From left: Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof Kayode Adekeye; MD, Beecit Solutions, Mrs. Bukola Femi Ajala; Prof Adeyewa; Registrar, Mrs Bolatito Oloketuyi; and Mr Ojei at the launch.

tion and an improved classroom management and performance,” said Head, Enterprise Display Solutions, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Anu-Rotimi Agboola.

Thirty e-boards have been launched at Redeemer's University, making them the first institution in Nigeria with the largest e-board distribution.

The RUN Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebowale Adeyewa, said he expected the facilities to help the students learn better.

“Redeemer's University is committed to bringing new technology closer to our students, while shaping their destinies.

Our partnership with Samsung is yet another step in this direction. We

believe that this collaborative learning environment will improve students’ retention rates.”

Speaking for the students, President, Redeemer's University Students Association, Samuel Akinnuga, said: "We can proudly say that our future starts now. We are also proud of the management for its effort at providing qualitative education for us."

Nigeria at 55: Whither education?

‘The fact that all hands are not equal should not be used as an excuse to make the less-privileged pay for being poor. I want the government to really look into this, if you are subsidizsing education, place some value on it’ rather declaring a state of emergency in the sector. Today the federal government is making progress in its renewed aggressiveness in tackling terrorism and I advise that education should be approached in the same manner," Akinpelu added.

Challenges to be addressed To remedy the problems in the sector, educationists have advised President Buhari and the new minister he appoints for the education sector, as well as government at the state level to focus on eliminating corruption, implement policies, re-train public school teachers, improving quality assurance, curriculum among other measures.

Policy implementation Prof Offiong believes that policywise, Nigeria has the template to achieve excellence in the education sector. Rather than formulating new policies, he suggested that the government focuses on implementation.

"In my opinion, the policy and the manpower that we have in the country can successfully drive education and bring the Nigerian education system at par with what is happening in emerging developed countries. Some of these policies are well thought of and the experts we have in the country in education are people who are also making a lot of impact beyond the Nigerian shores. So we truly have what is takes, but what is lacking with due respect, is very strong political will. We must not politicize education. If we can separate education from politics, that will be able to pave way for a more enduring and relevant education system in Nigeria," he said.

Re-branding public school teachers Though Mike Johnson teaches in a private school, he wants the government to focus on improving public schools, particularly re-training their

teachers or purging bad eggs from the system.

He said: "My main focus is the public schools. The fact that it is a government school does not mean it should be taken for granted. Most of these schools do not have quality teachers. Government should not just employ anybody just to give him a job; we are talking about moulding our future. Most of these public pupils, even at SS3 level, cannot express themselves properly. Some of the teachers too are not even fit for the job. The fact that all hands are not equal should not be used as an excuse to make the less-privileged pay for being poor. I want the government to really look into this, if you are subsidizsing education, place some value on it."

Offiong also called for training at the basic and secondary levels because they are the foundation.

"At the basic level of education which is the primary level essentially, we still have a lot of teachers that need to be retrained and those who do not have what it takes to be in the system should be well advised.

The foundation is very critical, because once the child is not given adequate foundation; he or she cannot also perform better in higher levels," he said.

For a teaching workforce that would deliver, Akinpelu suggested that the government should learn from former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who employed and trained over 13,000 teachers.

"If the new government must walk its talk with its 'change' slogan, it should take a cue from former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi who, during his tenure, recruited 13,251 teachers into public schools in the state.

"I was one of those recruited from Lagos to conduct training for those new teachers and we were on ground there (Rivers) for the exercise for a whole month. That is an

example of a government committed to lifting education," he said.

Like Rivers State did, Dr Lanre Adeyuyo of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Ijanikin, urged the Federal Government and others to recruit more teachers to address the acute teacher shortage.

"At the basic level, many of the public schools suffer congested classrooms. That challenge can be addressed if government recruits more teachers. Unfortunately, teaching job which used to be the last resort, is now becoming scarce.

The situation is further compounded with government policy that once you are above 30 years, you cannot be employed for teaching," he said.

Monitor private schools Conversely, proprietor of Little Saints Montessori School, Ilupeju, Mrs Bukky Fadayomi, thinks government needs to do more about regulating poor quality private schools.

"I think that right now, the government should not permit any new school. Schools without standard should not be in operation. The ones in existence, they should see that they are on their toes. There should be a lot of inspectors going in. I have seen Lagos State government training its teachers. However, a lot of private schools are afraid to train their teachers. Private schools should wake up. The teaching profession admits any rubbish. This should stop. We have a lot of schools that government needs to say if you want to run a school, do it right; if not, close shop," she said.

Regular curriculum review The current curriculum has been lauded for its robustness and entrepreneurial bent. Ojo said the curriculum should be reviewed once in seven years to keep it relevant.

‘Development cannot just happen one day and it is not by chance. It has to do with what we do. What are we ready to do?

We talked about slogans: the youths are the leaders of the future’

"Education should be tailored towards needs, and the curriculum should constantly be reviewed every seven years so that it can be relevant in this generation.

"The planners should look into the issue of using local languages to teach pupils in their first three years in school. In China, Chinese is used to teach their pupils, in Japan, Japanese is used to teach their pupils, in Germany, German is used to teach their pupils, in France, French is used to teach their pupils while in England, English is used as the language of instruction.

"We are losing a lot by failing to use our languages to teach our children because before you know it, these languages may go into extinction."

Improve funding More funding for the education sector would go a long way to improve education, says Dr Lanre Aiyejuyo of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin.

He warned that continued poor funding would only result in poor quality education.

"In recent times, we've had proliferation of public institution; unfortunately these institutions suffer poor funding and this results in poor quality. Only a few of our public institutions are consistent and devoted.

Unfortunately too, private universities are taking the shine off public institutions. Most of those in their faculty are retirees from public institutions, who are willing to work; therefore the quality of education is high," he said.

Learn from International best practices Mr Joseph Ayeni, CEO of Simplex Business Solutions, a software development company, noted that Nigeria's education sector would develop if the government could learn what the top countries in education are getting right.

“Development cannot just happen one day and it is not by chance. It has to do with what we do. What are we ready to do? We talked about slogans: the youths are the leaders of the future. These children, are they going to be competing with their counterparts in other parts of the world, in South Korea, China, Poland, Finland, UK and others? Some of the countries I have called make up some of the top 10 countries in education globally. We should look at what they have done to be among the top 10 position in the world and do it also," she said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

23

EDUCATION

Ortom promises jobs for unemployed graduates

B

ENUE State Governor, Samuel Ortom has promised to provide jobs for all the unemployed graduates idling away in the state.

The state, he said, has a lot of young people willing to further their education, but are unfortunate not to have jobs after graduation.

He urged the executive secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof Suleiman Bogoro, to invest more in the state and promised to use the investments judiciously.

He said this in Abuja when he visited the executive secretary.

"I want to assure you that whatever you have invested in my state, we will make judicious use of them under my watch," he said.

He added that the government is training youths from primary to tertiary levels to go into agriculture to ensure that the state remains the food basket of the nation.

Ortom said: "We have a lot of young men willing to further their education. The opportunities are there; people are enthusiastic although there are no jobs. We believe that during my time, I will create jobs because my main objective is to ensure that we generate enough jobs, create wealth and opportunities for our people. All those people idling away after graduation, I believe that they will soon find jobs.

"Agriculture is one of my five pillars - just like education - that we are set to achieve within four years of

Gbenga Omokhunu and Grace Obike, Abuja

our tenure. We are looking at training and equipping our young ones and to practically move into agriculture. We want to really represent Nigeria as the food basket of the nation and our dream is not only to be the food basket of the nation but of Africa."

Responding, Bogoro urged the tertiary institutions in the state to use TETFund grants to boost agricultural development.

"The state universities and College of Agriculture should continue to compete in the aspect of research collaboration in agricultural development in the state and we will be able to legitimately put money there from TETFund," he said.

UNILORIN FILE

Herbal Research centre soon

• Ortom

• Lafarge Friends of Community, Mr. Kenneth Ohiorenoya (left), and Mrs. Bunmi Oteju, a representative of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (right) present gifts and certificates to Joseph Ageni of Ifeoluwa Primary School Agege; and Hameedah Amos of St. Agnes Primary School, winners of the Southwest regional stage of the Lafarge Ovie Brume Literacy Competition.

U.S. to back researchers

Alumni plans 40th anniversary

By Opeyemi Samuel

P

LANS to ensure a smooth 40th anniversary for Federal Government College Lagos Old Students Association (FEGOCLOSA), scheduled to hold between October 9 and 18 have reached advanced stage.

A statement signed by Mr Soji Oyawole, president of the association, listed some of the activities to mark the anniversary as: special Juma'at service, beach outing for workers, students, sporting activities and old students' family sports day, and a 40th anniversary year book launch by Mrs Bolanle Ambode, wife of the Lagos State governor.

Others are: novelty match, interschools debate and quiz, interhouse drama presentation and cocktail/dinner.

Meanwhile, the group plans to elect new leaders on Saturday.

Three candidates are seeking for chairmanship position; while 10 candidates are contesting to be the vice chairman, treasurer and Public Relations Officer.

Mr Falade Adewale, Chairman electoral committee said "we are prepared and ready to conduct the FEGOCLOSA election, it is God who elevates anyone He wishes.”

He urged the members to resist the temptation to vote for candidates who distribute money.

•From left: President, Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce, Prince Dapo Adelegan; President/Vice Chancellor, Babcock University, Prof. J.A. Kayode Makinde; Chairman World Branding Awards, Mr Richard Rowles; and Vice-President, Development & Strategy, Babcock University, Mr. Olukunle Iyanda displaying the award.

Babcock varsity wins award

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ABCOCK University, Ilishan-Remo, has won the Brand of the Year Award by the World Branding Forum.

Tagged: the 2015 World Branding Awards, the event held at Kensington Palace, London.

The university was the only brand in the Education category from Nigeria selected for the award.

Winners were judged at three levels - Brand Valuation, Consumer Market Research and Public Online

By Mojisola Clement

Voting. The 2015 awards saw a total of 65,000 voters, who nominated 1,300 brands among which only 3 per cent from 35 countries around the world were selected as winners.

Babcock University won Brand of the Year Award in the National tier category. Only Babcock University and Ecobank brands from Nigeria won awards at the event. Other winners include BBC, Coca-Cola,

Guinness, Ferrari, British Airways, Starbucks and Shell.

The award was among other national and international ones won

by Babcock University over the past five years.

They included the ones from National University Commission (NUC), National Association of Nigeria Students(NANS), Nigeria Legal Council, Nigeria Private Universities Debate and International Nursing Council among others.

AAUA pays 193 Work/Study students stipends

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O fewer than 193 students of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, Nigeria, who participated in the institution's 2014/2015 Student Work-Study Scheme (SWSS), received their stipends last week.

The SWSS, which took off in July 2010, allows willing students to work for two hours daily and earn money to support themselves financially.

Acting Director of the Scheme, Dr Iyabo Omoniyi, said about 200 par-

THE African Centre for Herbal Research, Ilorin (ACHRI), will soon take off at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN). An initiative of the U6 Consortium, the Centre will be headed by a Prof of Botany, Food Science and Phytochemical from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Cape Town, South Africa, Learnmore Kambizi.

The centre, which will be domiciled in the UNILORIN Central Research Laboratory, will conduct research on African flora; organise workshops; collate research proposals for funding; advise government on issues related to exploitation of African herbal resources and maintain the research laboratory.

Pending Kambizi’s resumption, Prof Moji Taibat Bakare-Odunola of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UNILORIN will coordinate the activities of the Centre.

Prof. Bakare-Odunola said six hectares of farmlands for six herbs have been identified, cleared, harrowed and cultivated to supply the centre with materials for initial research.

ticipants of the first batch of the 2014/2015 academic session were paid earlier.

She explained that paucity of funds caused the delay in paying the second batch of 193.

"We are paying the second batch of the University Student WorkStudy Scheme beneficiaries. They are being paid according to the number of hours spent on the job.

They are paid N250 per hour and they are allowed to work for two hours daily," she said.

Students participating in the

scheme for the second semester of the 2014/2015 session resumed penultimate week in their respective places of assignment.

Dr. Omoniyi advised them to be hard working and show appreciation to the management for the gesture.

The students were happy to be paid and said the money would be handy.

Folashade Fadimilehin a 300Level student of English Education, said: "The money I received here today will go a long way in paying

some of my domestic bills. I am sure some of us will use the money for school fees. It is a very good programme. I want to thank the Ondo State government and the university management for the programme."

Constance Chidinma, a 300-Level student of Political Science, said: "This programme is really helping me in my academic pursuit, especially now that I just lost my dad. I want to use this medium to appreciate the University Management for the wonderful programme."

THE United States of America has promised to support Nigerian scholars seeking Fulbright and other scholarships in the United States for postgraduate programmes with plan to return to the country and contribute to its development.

The Cultural Affairs Officer of the United States Embassy in Nigeria, Bob Kerr, made when he led a team from the Embassy to the university.

He advised the scholars to come up with good research proposals devoid of typographical errors.

Kerr, who commended the UNILORIN management for its impressive and peaceful atmosphere, described the campus as "a welcoming campus.”

In his response, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, restated the university's resolve to continue exchanging ideas and personnel with other institutions in order to facilitate development.

At an interactive session with lecturers and postgraduate students of the university, the Mandela Washington Fellowship Programme Officer at the Embassy, Mr. Diran Adegoke, explained that the programme is designed for outstanding students or young people between age 25 and 35 from Sub-Saharan Africa who are offering some level of leadership in their communities.

Health screening for pupils

A

S the 2015/2016 academic session gets underway, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Modele Osunkiyesi, has urged teachers to monitor their pupils against illnesses.

In a statement by the ministry, she counseled the teachers to refer those with symptoms of any illnesses to the sickbay or contact their parents to take them to the nearest medical facility for management.

With poor hygiene being a major cause of illnesses, Dr Osunkiyesi said teachers should inculcate into the pupils the habit of regular handwashing, while school administrators should provide waste bins and ensure that the school premises are kept clean.

The Permanent Secretary said the ministry would continue its school health programmes this session when the pupils would be screened for any medical/dental conditions.

She disclosed that over 4,700 pupils have been screened.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

24

EDUCATION 13 courses for accreditation TEAM from the National Universities Commission (NUC) has visited the Ibrahim Badamosi University (IBBU), Lapai, to assess facilities of 13 academic programmes due for accreditation.

A leader of the delegation, Prof Vincent Asuru, from Ignatius Aguru, University of Education Rumuohimeri, Port Harcourt, told the university management that the team had no mandate to witch-hunt any university, but to ensure that their academic programmes measure to optimum standard.

He told the Management to see the team as partners in progress as the university would benefit from the exercise.

Another team leader, Prof Adebisi AbdulRauf, who is the Director-General, Nigerian French Language Village, Lagos, after the assessment, praised the university’s effort in ensuring that all programmes were provided with facilities and required human capital that meet the Basic Minimum Standard (BMAS) of National Universities Commission (NUC).

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Muhammad Maiturare, said the university, which was established in 2005, had grown from having four faculties to six with postgraduate school.

He explained that deliberate attempts have been made by the Management to build workers’ capacity regarding quality assurance both within and outside the country; adding that scholarship has been instituted for outstanding students across the levels; while several students have won both national and international competitions.

FUNAAB mourns Mama Awolowo

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A

• From left: Human Resources Officer, Igando-Ikotun Local Development Assocation (LCDA), Mr M.A Animashaun; Intel Director of Global Girls and Women Initiative, Suzzanne Fallender; Executive Secretary, Igando-Ikotun, Hon. Wale Azeez; Intel Africa Programme Manager, Suraj Shah; and Intel 'She Will Connect' Ambassador for Nigeria, Titilope Sonuga, during a visit to the LCDA Secretariat, where young girls and women were trained on Digital Literacy by "Intel She Will Connect'.

NDDC builds school for Rivers community

T

O improve access to quality education for residents of Amalem community, Abua Central in Abua/Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has built a model primary school.

The school, which has 10 classrooms, common rooms, toilets, washrooms, and water tanks among others, would replace the old school building of Agbebi Memorial State School built in 1957.

Speaking at the inauguration, NDDC Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Dr Henry Ogiri said the model school would be rep-

From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

licated in all the nine states of the Niger Delta to address the challenge of decayed infrastructure in the education sector.

Ogiri said the overall objective is to enhance teaching and learning to make education very interesting for school children.

"The NDDC feels that education is an all-encompassing training process.

If the school is in a way that can support learning effectively, then of course, students will be motivated to go to school," he said.

In his speech, the Caretaker Com-

mittee Chairman of Abua/Odual LGA, Chief Isaac Ukwe, who inspected the school with other stakeholders, expressed delight at what he described as the beautiful edifice built for his people. Ukwe said as an oil-producing community that has contributed immensely to the economic growth of Nigeria, his council area deserved the attention.

"I want to thank the NDDC on behalf of our people. This model school is something our people will cherish for a long time. I, also pray that the NDDC will do more for us. The commission should not stop at giving us a beautiful school building. There is need to also give us a well-equipped

Expert seeks customer service education in schools

R

ENOWNED customer service expert, Shep Hyken, has advocated the inclusion of customer service subjects into secondary and tertiary education curricula to give pupils added advantage in the labour market.

He said this at a customer service conference, themed: 'The Customer Amazement Revolution Masterclass' organised last week by The Workplace Centre (TWPC), at the Lagos Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Hyken, who was the guest speaker at the occasion, said employers were more likely to consider children with customer service or hospitality-re-

By Oluwatoyin Adeleye

lated experience for internships and volunteer positions.

He said: "Here is what I know; that the kids, who work in retails, restaurants, hotels and other positions in the hospitality industry tend to be considered for jobs more than those with general experience because they are assumed to understand the hospitality-mentality, which is basically about customer service."

The customer service guru said he was disappointed to find out, through a minor survey he conducted by declaring a position vacant for fresh col-

lege graduates in his organisation, that none of the candidates considered had ever undergone a customer service training.

Hyken announced plans to donate training licenses to schools, which will allow graduating pupils to undergo eight-hour customer service training and get certificates for their efforts on completion. He said the number of licenses would match numbers bought by companies to train their workers.

He advised teachers to teach customer service in schools by treating their pupils like customers.

Hyken said: "Teachers should treat

their students as if they are customers to a certain degree, because they are children and can be wrong sometimes.

Every high school should have a course in customer service to teach kids how to manage the people experience they are going to have. Make them think, 'How can I be so good that people would depend on me and trust me?'"

The keynote address was delivered

by President, Westminster College, Missouri, United States (US), Dr Benjamin Akande, who spoke on "Making Your Customer a Walking Advertisement".

He advised participants to take note of potentials in young ones.

• ANAN delegation to Paul University, Awka with VC, Ven. Prof. Uche Isiugo-Abanihe (front row, third).

ANAN donates 300,000 Accounting books, cash to varsity

A

SSOCIATION of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) has donated 300,000 books and an undisclosed amount of money to Paul University, Awka in Anambra State ahead of the institution’s accreditation exercise this month.

The books, according to ANAN, cover all the relevant topics in ac-

HE Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), has joined individuals, groups and corporate organisations to mourn the demise of Chief Hannah Dideolu Awolowo, the Matriarch of the Awolowo family, at the ripe age of 99.

In a Condolence Letter addressed to the family of the deceased, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Olusola Oyewole, on behalf of the Governing Council, Management, staff and students of the university, said: "There is no doubt that Mama lived an exemplary life as a great mediator within the political amphitheatre in Nigeria and contributed immensely to its development as a pillar and inestimable jewel to the Late Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.”

countancy from year one to final year.

National president of the association, Tony Nzom, represented by the registrar, Dr Michael Ayeni, said the gesture was part of the association's efforts to advance the science of accountancy in Nigerian universities.

"There was need to fill the lacuna

in the dearth of literatures in the course," he said.

He added that the books would go a long way to help the institution's Accountancy Department pull through the accreditation exercise.

In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Uche Isiugo-Abanihe, said he was overwhelmed by the kind

gesture shown the university by the association.

"With this donation, there is no way the Department of Accountancy will fail the accreditation next month," he said.

He praised the Head of the Department, Levi Ezeaku, an associate professor, for playing a key role in facilitating the donation.

library to enable our children read books from different parts of the world," he said.

Headmaster of the school, Chief Thankyou Ogini, said more pupils have enrolled in the school since the completion of the project.

"Previously, we had only 210 pupils, but now we have 300 even as schools have just resumed. Obviously, the beautiful building and the surrounding environment are attracting more pupils to our school," he said.

Paramount ruler of Omalema community in Abua Central, Chief Imerari Anatho, said his domain did not have any meaningful Federal Government presence before now.

FUTA seeks alumni support From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

T

HE Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof Adebiyi Daramola, has urged former students of the university to support its development.

Daramola, who spoke at the official inauguration of the FUTA Alumni Association Building, said alumni represent a significant and vocal constituency in the university community.

He said: "The alumni play a very important role in the transformation of any university of the 21st Century. The great universities like Harvard and Cambridge could not have been what they were today if their alumni had turned their backs after graduating without giving back to the university that helped them.

"These two institutions generate billions of dollars annually from the contribution made by their Alumni Association and I believe we are capable of achieving this same feat at FUTA. "It is for this reason I charge you to hold firmly, the cord that binds the university and the alumni together."

The VC praised the present executives of FUTA Alumni led by Mr. Akin Aina, for completing the project which began 10 years ago.

Speaking, Aina lauded members of the association for not relenting in their effort to complete the building.

He particularly praised the former Chancellor of the university, the Emir of Lafia, Alhaji Isa Mustafa, whom the building was named after, for supporting the association.

Aina, however, appealed to prominent Nigerians to support the group to raise the N30million needed to fit the building with 1,000 seats.

The highlights of the occasion were the donation from the governments of Ondo, Plateau and Nasarawa States, as well as members of the Alumni Association from all over the country.

Niger Delta students’ crisis deepens

*CAMPUSES

Harnessing ICT for growth

*NEWS *PEOPLE *KUDOS& KNOCKS *GRANTS

Page 27

Page 28

THE NATION

CAMPUS LIFE 25

0805-450-3104 email: campusbeat@yahoo.com THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.net

email:- campuslife@thenationonlineng.net

•The school entrance.

A varsity only in name Eight years after it was established, the Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH) in Okitipupa Local Government Area looks anything, but a higher institution. The campus is covered by weeds and it is confronted with academic and infrastructural challenges. Members of the host community are not happy with the state of the institution, reports TAIWO ADEBULU.

A

FTER a 10-minute drive from Okitipupa on the Igbokoda Highway in Ondo South Senatorial District lies a fallow land bordering Igodan-Lisa, Igbodigo and Erinje communities in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State. The land is the permanent site of the Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH) which was founded in December, 2007.

For a people whose community has suffered neglect, the establishment of the university was seen as a sop. They rejoiced when the law setting up the school was passed by the Ondo State House of Assembly in 2008.

Eight years after, the institution is an eyesore.

The campus is hardly visible, even at close range. From the main gate, an array of uncompleted buildings welcomes visitors.

The weather-beaten structures are surrounded by thick weeds. The corroded gates are manned by under-fed security

personnel who stop and search vehicles going into the campus.

But for the rectangular signboard that bears the institution’s name, a first-time visitor could mistake the campus for a farmland.

The long stretch of road from the main entrance that leads to the heart of the campus is untarred and in bad shape.

On the left side, after the main gate, is the uncompleted Sport Complex. It can only be identified by a signpost, having been overgrown by weeds. On the right is the Students’ Union Building (SUB), which has been converted to the Centre for Entrepreneurial and Leadership Training

(CELT).

Investigation by CAMPUSLIFE showed that the CELT building has been leased out to businessmen as bakery and water factory.

Plantain chips merchants occupy a section of the building.

At a junction on the campus is the Senate Building, which has been under construction since 2008. Next to it are the Administrative Block and main library, which are also under construction. These structures have been covered by bushes.

The school has been shut since May 27, following protests by students over fee hike.

Ondo State indigenes pay N125,000; non-

‘As I speak to you, the whole campus is covered in bush, with no facilities. We won’t keep quiet while OSUSTECH is turned to a farmland’

indigenes, N175,000. Irked by the exorbitant fee, students went wild, blocking the Igbokoda Highway to draw attention to their plight.

But, the closure of the school is not the reason the campus is covered by weeds. The campus has hardly developed beyond its foundation stage because of neglect.

The only completed building is the “Faculty of Engineering”, which was converted to the Faculty of Science, because the engineering programmes are yet to be approved. The faculty building has a cafeteria, a block of classrooms, three laboratories and offices and a 500-seater lecture theatre, which also serves as the school auditorium. A few steps away from the faculty is an under-sized health care centre with scanty facilities.

Investigations revealed that the university •Continued on page 26

• Medical students educate children on hygiene •High-tension wire still at UNILAG hostel -P32

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

26

CAMPUS LIFE

The power of a good name

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HE title of this article today is not mine; it was used as an introduction to Christians to be more than a showpiece of morality because they are called to be salt and light in the world; a preserving and uplifting influence among men. In essence, they are expected to be God’s change agents in the world.

It relates this story told by Armstrong Williams an American political commentator, entrepreneur, author and host of a daily radio show. He is also the founder and CEO of the Graham Williams Group, an international marketing, advertising and media public relations consulting firm and confidant of Ben Carson, one of the presidential front runners of the Republican Party.

Williams wrote that one summer day his father sent him to buy wire and fencing for his farm in Marion County, South Carolina. He was delighted to go into town because he got to drive the pick-up by himself and at age 16 that was a wonderful thrill. However, there was a damper put on his spirits when his father told him he would have to ask for credit at the store.

Being a prideful 16 year-old it was difficult for him. He says it was 1976 and the ugly shadow of racism was still a fact of life. He had seen his friends ask for credit and then stand, head down, while a patronising store owner questioned whether they were “good for it.”

Unperturbed, he went to Davis Brothers General Store where the owner, Buck Davis stood behind the register, talking to a middle-aged farmer. “When I brought my purchases to the register, I said carefully, ‘I need to put this on credit.’” The farmer gave him an amused cynical look.

But Buck’s face didn’t change. “Sure,” he said easily. “Your daddy is always good for it.” He turned to the other man. “This here is one of James Williams’ sons.”

The farmer nodded in a neighbourly way.

“I was filled with pride as James Williams’

a t t e n t i o n .

“Ngozi,” he said, “was a very powerful force in the life of campus journalism in Nigeria and The Nation as a newspaper… when the idea of with CAMPUSLIFE was first mooted and discussed in the 08116759750 committee of edi(SMS only) tors meeting we felt it was too gran•aagboa@gmail.com diose, but we allowed it to go.” son. Those three words had opened a door He highlighted two instances of the sucto an adult’s respect and trust. That day I cess of the project when he visited his alma discovered that a good name could bestow mater (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile a capital of good will of immense value. Ife) where a sizeable proportion of the stuThe good name my father and mother had dent made mention of “Aunty Ngozi.” He earned brought our whole family the re- added that he went away with the convicspect of our neighbors.” Williams wrote. tion that “CAMPUSLIFE is more than just a That is one the powers of a good name, it publication, it is a family.” All this because can’t be bought with money. I saw that of Ngozi’s unique style of being a life coach, power reenacted once more last Saturday mentor as well as an editor all wrapped in when the Press Club of the University of one.

Lagos invited me as a special guest to the The second instance, according to him, was 4 th edition of the Ngozi Agbo Memorial when he visited the Vice-Chancellor and the Lecture. Also invited were Mr. Sam issue of the most popular paper on campus Omatseye, the chairman of the Editorial was raised. The Public Relations Officer inBoard, Mr. Lekan Otufodunrin, the Online sisted a particular paper was the most popuEditor and Wale Ajetunmobi, Editor of lar, but he disagreed. They had to visit the CAMPUSLIFE, all of The Nation. Dr. Eghosa vendors’ stand where they were unequivoImasuen of Farafina, Mr. Adeola Yusuf of cally told that The Nation was the most sought The New Telegraph and Mrs. Chichi after newspaper, especially its Thursday’s Umaseeaka, publisher of 9inteen magazine edition when CAMPUSLIFE is published. also graced the lecture.

“It is credit to the work of Ngozi at that It was quite encouraging to see students, time. She knew what she was doing had consome of whom never met Ngozi in the flesh, sequences for the wider society, so she celebrating her works and virtues. Mr. wasn’t partial. What she did for The Nation Omatseye and Mr. Otufodunrin arrived is hard to beat, she was a trailblazer. That’s early and had to wait patiently for close to why years after her death her work kept an hour for the students to get their public waxing stronger.” address system functioning. They remained It gladdens my heart to see that the Press there for over three hours that the event Club of the University of Lagos institute lasted. on their own – an annual lecture series to Why would they leave their homes on a keep the vision, ideals and dreams of this Saturday morning that they were expected great and visionary lady alive. This singuto be resting after the rigours of newspaper lar act goes to reinforce the fact that great production? They were there to honour a ideas and visions don’t die, they blossom lady whose work has continued to wax even if the visionary is no longer alive. Bestronger almost four years after her death. ing a mental picture or concept in the imagiJust like the students, there’s no doubt that nation, a vision is also the ability to anticithe late Ngozi Agbo meant a lot to them. pate the direction a worthy cause or future In his opening address as the chairman of an event will take, such is the power of vithe occasion, Mr. Omatseye said anything sion. that pertains to furthering the cause of jourIn the crafting of vision, the character of nalism and the mind will always get his the visionary is significant. One of Ngozi’s

Pushing Out Agbo Agbo

•The main library covered by weeds

•The univerity Senate Building still under construction

A varsity only in name •Continued from page 25

started with four faculties which have now declined to one. With the pioneer students still struggling to complete their programmes about seven years after their admission, students, fate is hanging in the balance. The future seems bleak for many of them because they lack practical knowledge of their discipline.

Such is the case of Olayinka Ewuyemi, a 400-Level Fisheries and Aquaculture student, who hopes to acquire modern fish farming skills. After four sessions in school, Olayinka can only boast of theoretical knowledge of the discipline.

Olayinka said: “It has not been easy studying in an institution where nothing works. We pay school fees through our nose yet we do not have value for our money. We just read; no practice. We have only had one practical class in four years. The school has a fish farm but it is run for business alone.

They would tell us there is no directive from the management to allow us use the fish farm

dreams was that Nigeria has the potentials of being a great nation. She believed these potentials lie in the hands of the youths which was why she birthed the idea that eventually gave them the platform to express their optimisms, suggestions and concerns on how to achieve these potentials.

Her vision is anchored on building the total man and looking at the core values and attributes that defines him, attributes that always emphasises the highest level of moral and ethical regeneration and the molding of sound character which she instilled in her “children.” She never failed to remind them that they are always a shining light to their generation.

There’s always something unique about “ex-CAMPUSLIFERS” that you cannot but notice. They’re always drivers of idea and not laggards; they never miss opportunities and they often go the extra mile to achieve their dreams in whatever field they find themselves. I am confidently proud of these young men and women.

The bottomline is Ngozi did not live and die in vain as they will not shy away from telling you she gave them wings to soar.

Does that mean her preoccupation was only with undergraduates? Absolutely not, Ngozi was also a student of leadership and those who were familiar with this column when she handled it know too well of her passion for leadership; from leadership in the home to religious and secular leadership.

She often drive the point home to her undergraduates to steer clear of divisive individuals who have the innate capacity of filling their minds with xenophobic ideologies that have the tendency of creating hatred, rancour and bitterness in the society. Those who knew her can attest to the fact that she was detribalized; once you’re intelligent, you’re Ngozi’s friend irrespective of where you come from.

The now rested capacity building Workshops and Award ceremonies she undertook annually with the support of CocaCola Nigeria and Nigerian Bottling Company is a pointer to the fact that apart from merely sending in articles for publication, she ensures she has one-on-one contact with her undergraduates to be certain that the venture they are undertaking is far bigger than having their stories published in the newspaper.

Her story shows that there is indeed power in a good name as the Bible states.

for practical.”

A 500-Level Zoology student, who pleaded not to be named, lamented the poor condition of the university. He said: “We are not being taught Zoology in a proper way. We have not gone for excursions because the university does not allow us. The school doesn’t have a standard zoo that can help our learning.”

To save the university from extinction, the students came together to form a pressure group known as Save OSUSTECH Forum (SOF) to champion the course of progress in the institution. The group chairman, Gbenga Akinsuyi, a 500-Level Computer Science student, said the forum was established to fight injustice and pressure the government to give attention to the institution.

He said: “As I speak to you, the whole campus is covered in bush, with no facilities.

We won’t keep quiet while OSUSTECH is turned to a farmland. We have embarked on protests to draw attention to our plight.

Things should no longer be done through

the backdoor. In May, we learnt some university officials were holding screening for candidates, who applied for Deputy Registrar and Bursar. We went there to disrupt the process, because that could only be done by the Governing Council. But, this is not in place. An higher institution shouldn’t be run that way.”

A top management official, who preferred not to be named, said the vision setting up the school died immediately it took off.

“What do you expect from a university that has no Governing Council and has been run without structure for five years? The ViceChancellor (VC), Prof Tolu Odugbemi, runs the university unilaterally. In the past five months, five lecturers have resigned because the working condition is not favourable and the leadership style is hostile.”

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the last time Prof Odugbemi was on campus was March 18.

He allegedly runs the school from its liaison office in Akure. He lives in the Vice Chancellor’s Lodge in Akure, the state capital, which is three-hour drive from Okitipupa.

A senior lecturer, who does not want to be named, said the VC administers the university

in absentia. “The VC doesn’t pick our calls.

We have been talking to him only through emails and text messages since 2010.

Sometimes, he would be incommunicado for weeks. We are all used to that administrative style,” he added.

Dr Dipo Akomolafe, a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and local chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), said there was nothing wrong in the VC’s administrative style. “It’s the era of Information Communication and Technology. It is not bad if the VC runs the university effectively wherever he is,” Dr Akomolafe said.

Yemi Fafoluyi, president of Save Ikale Youth Vanguard, expressed disappointment over the state of the institution. He said: “The situation in OSUSTECH has been a source of concern to us. I can categorically tell you that the problem the university is facing today is a script written by Governor Olusegun Mimiko; it is being acted by the VC. Go there to the campus, there has been no project for the past three years. The institution is broke.”

A community leader in Igodan-Lisa, Pastor •Continued on page 27

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

27

CAMPUS LIFE The crisis rocking the Niger Delta Students’ Union Government (NIDSUG) may have taken a new dimension, following the accusation against an official of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), who allegedly ‘financed’ the union president’s impeachment. EMMANUEL AHANONU reports.

Niger Delta students’ crisis deepens •NDDC official fingered in union rift

T

HE last may not have been heard of the Niger Delta Students’ Union Government (NIDSUG) crisis, which culminated into the purported impeachment of its president, Obada Akpomiemie. Four weeks after parliament members of the union allegedly removed Obada, what transpired behind the scene has started to emerge.

Some members of the union have alleged that the parliament’s members were induced to unseat the embattled president. A special assistant to the chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was alleged to have “financed” the impeachment.

To justify the impeachment, it was learnt that some members of the union executive and parliament were asked to write petition against Obada, following his rift with the NDDC official (name withheld) at the inauguration of NDDC Hostel at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) in Abia State.

The process was, however, described as “kangaroo panel” by state coordinators of the union, who said Obada remained the president. They said the Senate President, Chimdi Obiarandu, did not have the right to preside over the parliament sitting, because his election was declared inconclusive.

Obada said his disagreement with the NDDC official led to the crisis. He said: “The problem started when I complained about action of some people, who are preventing us from meeting the NDDC chairman, Sir Bassey Dan Abia. Each time we wrote to the NDDC boss, one of his Special Assistant would throw the letter into a trash bin. He has been feeding his boss with wrong information about our

•Members of the parliament at the sitting where Obada was purportedly impeached

•Obada

union.

“We saw a good platform at MOUAU to tell the NDDC boss of our plight. But, when the official sensed I would expose him, he altered the programme agenda and removed the item reserved for students’ opinion. So, we embarked on a protest to draw Dan Abia’s and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s attention to the alteration, which the Special Assistant saw as an affront and swore to deal with me.”

His opposition to NDDC’s inconsistencies, Obada said, led to the inducement of the parliament members to disorganise the union.

The co-ordinator of the union in Rivers State, Maxwell Othemidia, a final year Chemistry Education student of Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), said the impeachment of Obada was null and void, saying there was no sitting.

Asked if he was aware of the parliament members’ inducement, Maxwell said: “When

NIDSUG, he replied that members of the union were having a meeting and he decided to greet them,” Genesis said.

The Vice President, Bariture Mgbee, corroborated Chimdi’s position, saying Obada was invited to answer allegations against him but said the president did not show up.

Juliet Manyo, treasurer of the union, said: “I am ashamed of the ongoing crisis. Some socalled students’ leaders have been compromised by politicians to kill the union. I was offered a bribe but I declined, because I was not elected to destabilise the union. They are victimising Obada because he is fighting for the interest of all Niger Delta students.”

The union Clerk, Chinenye Aniogwu, a student of Delta State University (DELSU), also accused the NDDC official of intimidating the union leaders. “It is clear that they want to intimidate our members with their sudden wealth; we cannot be intimidated,” she said.

you see a bird dancing at the middle of road, its drummer is close-by.”

Chimdi denied any inducement, saying Obada’s impeachment followed a petition by members of the union. He said some of the parliament members were being owed their sitting allowance, adding nobody gave them money to impeach the president.

Genesis Jeremiah, the union’s pioneer president, said NIDSUG’s problem started and ended with the union’s complaint against NDDC. He said the NDDC official met with the parliament members at LandMark Hotel five days after Obada led a protest at MOUAU to contrive the president’s impeachment.

Genesis, who claimed to be at the meeting, said: “When I barged into their secret meeting, I saw the NDDC official giving members of the parliament instructions. He was surprised to see me with others. I confronted him on why he wanted to cause crisis in the

Chris Agu, the immediate past Students’ Union Government (SUG) president of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), has expressed reservations about the union under the leadership of his successor, Peter Oji. He spoke to KINGSLEY AMATANWEZE.

‘UNN SUG is a disappointment’ • Union president: criticism misplaced

T

HE crisis that rocked the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) Students’ Union Government (SUG) may have been resolved but some say the union has lost its vibrancy. One of them is its immediate past president, Chris Agu, who declared that the current leadership has no clear-cut plan for the union.

Chris said no sooner had he handed over to his successor than the union started to lose steam on its activities. He said his critical position was informed by torrents of complaints he got from students daily, saying: “I have to speak out.”

With a few months to the end of their tenure, Chris said the present crop of SUG leaders led

by Peter Oji had no meaningful programmes for the students. “They have been busy playing subordinate role to the management,” he said.

Comparing his tenure with that of his successor, Chris stressed that Peter was privileged because he got resources to run the union.

Chris said: “When I took over as the SUG president, I faced a lot of challenges. No single document was handed over to me, neither was there any readily available fund to run the union. This is not the case with the current union leaders. The atmosphere is stabilised but they have refused to work for the interest of the students.

He alleged that projects started by his administration had been neglected by his successor. He said: “Personally, I saw my achievements as not enough. I was relieved when I •Continued from page 26

Babatope Ayesanmi, expressed concern on the manner the university is being run. According to him, there is no relationship between the management and the host community.

He said: “We tried our best to partner with the university but the Vice Chancellor has been avoiding us. I even went to meet the VC to discuss the concerns of the host community but he was not ready to give me audience.”

Efforts by our correspondent to speak to

remembered that governance is a continuum.

I expected my successor to start from where I stopped. Regrettably, the reverse has been the case; the current union leaders have not been able to consolidate on the gains we recorded, let alone bringing in new ideas.”

Chris said he led a crisis-free union, adding that he drastically reduced transport fares and prices of food on campus. He said he organised a free medical programme, where over 2,000 students and workers benefitted.

“Towards the end of my tenure, the commercial cab operators hiked the fare again, because of fuel scarcity. One expected the current leadership to liaise with the commercial drivers and revert back to the approved fare. Many have expressed disappointment that the Peter Oji-led union leadership has been unable to do so,” he said.

He decried a situation where the SUG president plays double roles as leader of another high-profiled organisation on the campus, describing it as a dereliction. Peter is also the president of the Rotaract Club in the school.

He said: “When I was elected as the union president, I was still serving as the president of my cultural organisation. Because of the enormous tasks that came with my union leadership, I resigned my position in the cultural club before I took the SUG oath.

During my days in office, I could count the

•Peter

•Chris

number of classes I attended.”

Saying leadership of union and Rotaract Club came with high demands, Chris advised Peter to resign from one of the positions and focus on the other.

Chris lamented that the union had not proven itself to be independent, adding that there had not been any proactive step to address challenges facing the students. He maintained that the union stopped playing its role as pressure group against management’s anti-students’ policies.

He added: “The unionism in UNN presently

is the type, which sees itself as a subordinate to the school management. We now have a union leadership that willfully announces management’s plans and actions to students, whether or not the effect is harsh on students.

It should be the responsibility of Students’ Union leaders to convince the management on any action that is perceived to have great effect on the students. In reaching agreement, the union is expected to show some level of force until the matter is resolved in a manner that will not affect students’ welfare. But, the current leader has not been doing this. This is a big disappointment and henceforth, students must find out the pedigree of the people, who aspire to lead them.”

Peter described Chris’ criticism as misplaced, saying all projects he inherited from his predecessor had been completed. He said: “Chris never had a project. The price of food he claimed to have brought down has remained what it was during his administration. We made sure it was never altered with.”

On his membership of another club campus club, Peter said his activities as the president of Rotaract Club did not affect his function as SUG president.

A varsity only in name the outgoing VC were futile. Prof Odugbemi was said to have been unavailable by a security man at the VC’s Lodge. The university does not have Public Affairs Unit that can give information on the challenges it is facing.

Prof Odugbemi’s tenure ended last Saturday but the school has remained underdeveloped. Many believe the choice of

a new VC would go a long way in determining what the school would look like in the next few years.

But, the chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Ondo South Senatorial District, Ven. Emmanuel Akinboyo, who led a delegation to the governor, said Mimiko promised the university would be re-opened soon.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

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CAMPUS LIFE

Harnessing ICT for growth National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Community Development Service (CDS) group have organised a conference to equip youths with skills to make them self-reliant. PHILIPS OGBAJE (NYSC ABUJA) reports.

I

N the age of innovation and technology, how can graduates tap into the opportunity offered by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to achieve self-reliance and contribute to national development? This was the aim of the ICT Youth Initiative Conference held in Abuja last Tuesday.

The event was organised by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members of the ICT Community Development Service (CDS) group. It was held at the main auditorium of the National Universities Commission (NUC).

The theme was: Harnessing emerging technology to advance national growth.

At the event, the chairman on the occasion and Vice President of Abuja Graduate School, Dr Joe Ikoli, decried what he called “follow-follow attitude” of the country on technology, noting that Nigeria consumes everything in technology but produces nothing

in return.

“Whenever we talk of emerging technologies, we talk of technologies of other countries driven by their national interest and agenda. What about our homegrown technology? What technology have we developed to address specific national needs?” he queried.

He posited that the only way to reverse the trend of unproductive use of technology was for the government to rethink the nation’s technological engagement. He called on policymakers to review curriculum of higher institutions to reflect the technological needs of the country.

In his address, CDS coordinator, Mr Ikenna Ogu, hailed NUC Executive Secretary, Prof Julius Okogie, for allowing the group to hold the conference in the commission’s premises free of charge, noting that the event was being held at the right place.

He said CDS group was estab-

•A trader checking her blood pressure during the outreach.

•Participants at the conference

lished because of the need to change the operation of the NYSC secretariat from analog to digital.

According to him, the group has served as a pool from which capable and qualified hands are drawn to assist experts carrying out the operations.

He said the conference was aimed at bringing together youths and professionals in the ICT field to encourage Corps members to take interest in the “money spinning ICT market” in Nigeria.

In his lecture titled: The role of ICT in the Nigerian Customs Service operations, the Comptroller in charge of ICT department, Benjamin Aber, said the advent of technology had led to the improvement of pre- and post-clearing operations of the Customs,

noting that complete automation of the processes had increased revenue generation for the country.

Comptroller Aber said ICT had enabled the Customs to save cost and cut down human contact in the clearing of goods. He added that it had also led to increased pace of operations.

In his presentation, the Acting General Manager of New Horizon, Mr Kingsley Nzewuji, advised students and Corps members to embrace ICT, saying anyone with the knowledge would be employable.

The representative of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Mr Steve Aderemi, identified research, broadband penetration and favourable government policies as major drivers of ICT de-

velopment. He said the ministry was ready to partner with any youth with good ideas by providing fund to develop the innovation.

In an interview with CAMPUSLIFE, the CDS president, Idris Bello, appreciated the guests and members of his group for making the event successful. He also praised the NUC for the support of the initiative, saying: “With the successful hosting of this conference, I have the feeling that I have used my service year to make a great impact on my colleagues and the country.”

Isreal Amogo, a Corps member, said the conference exposed him to opportunities in ICT, thanking the organisers for the initiative.

He promised to put everything he learnt into practice.

•The Corps members giving drugs to the participants.

Traders and artisans in Buruku community in Benue State have benefited from a free medical programme organised

by National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in the state. OLUWAFEMI OGUNJOBI (NYSC JALINGO) reports.

F

OR more than five hours, the ever-bustling Buruku Market Square in Benue State was suspended for a free health mission, last Saturday. Traders and artisans left everything for the Youth Centre to attend to health issues.

As the medical team arrived at the venue, the traders filedout on a single queue to benefit from the programme, which was organised

by National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members serving in the state The outreach was organised by Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and National Emergency Management Agency Community Development Service (CDS) groups in collaboration with Buruku General Hospital. The event was tagged:

Mission to save lives Here-To-Heal Medical Clinic.

MDGs group, President Oluwafemi Ogunjobi said the outreach was informed by the need to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases prevalent in the riverine community.

He said: “Buruku is a riverine community with high prevalence of malaria, HIV and other related infections. What we have done is to identify with the people and connect them to the right source of treatment. The outreach will focus on general body checkups, diagno-

sis, administration of drugs for proper medication and health counselling.”

The NYSC Local Government Inspector (LGI) in the community, Mr Malong Sauki, praised the Corps members for the gesture, urging other CDS groups to emulate them.

The medical team for the event was led by Dr Gabriel Owoicho, a specialist at the General Hospital.

Owoicho described the programme as “life-changing”, hailing the Corps members for the gesture.

He said: “This medical mission is the first of its kind in this community. It is a laudable social enterprise

intended to meet critical health needs. We shall continue to provide needed support to expand its reach to more people in the state.”

Some of the beneficiaries were diagnosed of various ailments, including malaria and HIV. The Corps members also engaged the participants in free medical consultations, after which drugs and mosquito nets were donated to them.

Some of the materials donated were supplied by some health groups in Oyo State and the General Hospital.

Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE in Tiv, a beneficiary, Joo Terlumun, said his children battled malaria frequently

but he did not money to treat them.

“I don’t have enough money to take my family to General Hospital or to buy drugs. “I am glad that the Corps members come have come to our help,” he said.

Another beneficiary, Mr. Ter Kimbi, said: “I came all the way from Tyogbenda for to benefit from the health programme. I was disgnosed of high blood pressure but I did not know I have such life-threatening condition. I got free counselling on what I would do to prevent to be healthy.”

Chris Onyema, president of NEMA group, said he was impressed by the turnout, saying: “We are happy to come together and affect the lives of people in our host community.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

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CAMPUS LIFE

Nigeria @ 55: What about the youth?

I

T is that time of the year again when we do a recap of our achievements or otherwise as a nation. A nation that came to be not as a result of necessity and need of the people but because of the egocentric delusion of colonial masters who wanted a wider dominance and control of a vast area of land and people.

As is the norm, government at all levels have rolled out the drums to celebrate their achievements even though many of them are certain that they have failed in their mandate to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.

It is that time of the year when sycophants take to the media to sing praises of those at the corridors of power; their benefactors. These set of people, rather than allow the masses to heap praises on their bosses, are skeptical of what the people would say, hence their taking to blow their benefactors’ trumpet themselves.

Over the years, however, Nigerians have become accustomed to these empty praises that lack the necessary ingredient of believability.

The fanfare, pomp and joy that ought to greet a day like this has waned down into mere rituals that people only look forward to the work free days rather than the celebration of independence itself.

These days, people are quick to point out that there is rarely anything to celebrate. Many a citizen has given up on the Nigerian state. Many now strive for survival and care less about the emancipation of the country from the various challenges besetting it.

Sadly, successive governments have not helped to reshape the thinking of its citizens. People now look for various ways to leave the country, legitimately or illegitimately.

The situation is appalling. The Nigerian situation is indeed a startling paradox. In spite of a robust endowment in natural and human resources, the level of poverty of her people stands in sharp contrast to the country’s vast wealth. The rich continue to accumulate more wealth at the expense of the poor whom they exploit and take the little that they have.

The youth, the acclaimed leaders of tomorrow, have become pawns in the hands of the ruling elites. Even as they continue to wait for their tomorrow to come that seems to be more of a mirage than a reality, they need to survive and the political elites use them to feather their nests.

Fifty-five years after independence, there is still no place for the Nigerian youth. The only place for them currently is the streets where they continue to roam in search of definition for their lives. The most daring and less ethical of them find alternatives in acts that are at variance with the Nigeria project and constitute a nuisance and a threat to the peace of the nation.

Perhaps, the economist, Thomas Robert Malthus was referring to Nigeria when he noted that population will continue to increase at a geometric rate without a corresponding increase in economic growth if necessary precautions are not taken to control procreation. True to it, indiscriminate child birth has continued to increase the number of youths

without the necessary skills needed to subsist in a society where less attention has been paid to them.

For more than five decades, Nigeria still does not have legislation in place to control child birth. Parents give birth to children indiscriminately and allow the children to fend for themselves as they do not have any meaningful employment to take care of their large family. In most cases, the first child bears the brunt of the neglect of their younger ones.

They are left to cater for their own needs as well as that of their younger ones. The child thus becomes a bread winner without a well-paying job while the parents are busy in their task of procreation.

Thus, at 55, it is obvious that Nigeria has yet to find direction. Without an enforceable blueprint, the task of nation building with due consideration for the role of the youths and the relinquishing of power to youths and those young at heart will continue to elude Nigeria. A chronicle of the roles that the youths have played since the attainment of independence and the challenges that have plagued the country since 1960 should have made pundits to believe in the youths.

Quite a number of Nigeria military rulers were youths at the time they assumed power and some of their efforts were commendable at the time. It was Gowon who ensured that the Nigerian state still exist as it is today. The advent of the 4th republic in 1999 brought a lot of hope that reprieve had finally come the way of its citizens. Sixteen years down the line, the much desired reprieve is still elusive.

The level of youth participation in policy making and in both the economic and social issues is perhaps a better standard of comparison for the measurement of the growth of a nation. And if we apply such to Nigeria presently, it is obvious that 55 years since the attainment of independence, we are still very far from our Eldorado. Thus, the older generation is skeptical of the abilities of the present day youth.

Truth is, 55 years after independence, the youths themselves have lost hope in themselves. Quite a number of the youths now see one another as second fiddle, fit only to serve under somebody hence there is the need for value reorientation.

What the youths of today can do in the area of value reorientation is to champion the cause of changing the mindset of, first and foremost, themselves and then that of their friends, colleagues, associates, family members. This is expedient because there are quite a large number of youths who have lost hope in the Nigeria project and whose consciousness needs to be reawakened on this critical aspect.

Also, the neglect of youths has led many of them to seek greener pastures outside the shores of the country, countries, some of which, for all intent and purposes, cannot be compared to Nigeria in terms of basic amenities. Yet, our youths abound in these places.

There is the need to come back home and contribute to nation building. At 55 years, it is high time we took what belongs to us legitimately and stop the exportation of our best brains abroad to develop other coun-

By Philip Okorodudu

tries at the expense of our dear fatherland. In essence, the challenge of brain drain that is currently inherent in Nigeria can be tackled and solved by the youths themselves.

Perhaps a key issue for the youths of Nigeria at the country’s ripe age of 55 years is to take to vocations that they are skilled in. White collar jobs are rarely available and those at the corridors of power are always intent on giving the available ones to friends and relatives. Hence, it is time that youths of this dispensation took to entrepreneurship. If successive leaders have chosen to toe the path of neglecting the youths, the brain box of the future, then we must not neglect ourselves or the generation that would come after us.

At 55, it is time for us to think outside the box and proffer bold solutions to our own problems. If the older generations, who are supposed to be the hawks to catch chickens for us, have failed to do so, then we must learn to catch our own chickens. The best time is now. Happy birthday Nigeria!

•Philip is a graduate of Delta State University, Abraka

Jungle justice: A slur on our character

R

ATHER than declining, jungle justice is on the increase in our society. A piece of mine was published a few months back on this topic, but it’s rather saddening that the menace is getting recognized more and more and has become a better way to pay back a culprit.

This menace has gained a comfortable ground in the Southwest of our country, particularly Lagos State.

These days, you hardly will go by a day without coming in contact with cases of these nefarious narratives.

It’s disheartening and unspeakable to see a nation with a guided constitution engaging in this mischief. I sometimes find myself asking questions like, are our security agencies incapable? Or don’t they see to cases rightly? Or are our people just hellbent on taking justice into their own hands?

I stumbled on a post on a top leading Nigerian blog few days back, a

By Sheriffdeen Tijani

man who should be in his early thirties was caught for an offence. Of course, the man could say nothing other than “it’s the devil’s work.”

Now, is everything the devil’s work?

You don’t do anything to earn a living and you want to survive. You waste your time while others invest meaningfully into theirs and you expect to survive too. How unrealistic this is. I didn’t know what he said, but what would he have said? For all I care, I didn’t know what he stole but I could quantify the extent to which he was beaten. He was beaten mercilessly and ruthlessly. His body was painted in his own blood; his head was bleeding profusely, would his body ache? Even more, I suspected.

And for those fellows who practice jungle justice, the questions are simple: do we spare someone who

has stolen our hard earned possessions? Do we spare his miserable life after throwing us into pain and endless anguish? Do we spare them after so much sorrow they have inflicted on our psyche? The questions are endless. I said it in one of my pieces entitled “ori bibe ko ni ogun ori fifo” that, no body in is right senses would support an immoral act as stealing and other punishable offences. Though I do know of only one person who would feel normal when his possessions get stolen and it’s definitely nobody. No matter the intensity of pain caused by these scoundrels, it is wrong for anyone to play down the mechanism of justice in retaliation to a wrong. Two wrongs don’t make a right, we are often cautioned. And since there are appropriate authorities who can see into cases like this, why not approach them in the quest for justice, instead of taking the laws into one’s hands?

One of the incidences raises deeper questions that the angry mob just couldn’t decipher. While the incident lasted, I saw a young boy looking pitifully at the young man being beaten.

His look seems to have suggested throbbing questions: what has he done? Why the unending beating?

Why are people this ruthless? What do we want young minds to learn from incidents like these? That they should always take laws into their hands when anything happens? Do appropriate authorities take the right steps in seeing to justice prevail? These are crucial puzzles we must resolve ourselves. And by the way, what is the moral authority of these appropriate authorities in matters like these?

We have been deluded to realise that those whom we refer to as the appropriate authorities are antithetical to the import of that coinage. In my estimation, appropriate authorities refer to those who act in accordance to the

Of beasts and birds

By Modiu Olaguro

A

TINY creature she was. At about 8:35pm, in leaps and bounds, she replaced one leg with the other, the left hand bracing her tray and the right firmly locked onto her skirt - keeping it from succumbing to the gravitational pull of the earth. The lass of not more than six years and hardly standing beyond three feet above ground level declined the offer of a lift.

Where are you headed?

“Agelaso.” She replied, a tiny suburb of Ajara, Badagry.

I took a second look at her and the

two wraps of Agidi left in her tray kept me wondering whom to direct my silent indignation at. Is it her parents whose difficulty in sustaining the family was so extreme that their ward had to join them in the bread winning adventure, or the country whose sons and daughters have become no more than vermin whose existence is irritable to the aristocrats?

She sells each for N10 and with the size of the metal on her head, hardly would she have left home with the edible corn extract of a worth above N200.

Can you identify your house on a bike?

Yes, she said.

As the discussion went on - perhaps as a sign of warning never to converse with strangers - she leaped on with giant steps.

Wait, let me get you a bike.

No, she retorted.

I walked to catch her at the same time trying to get a bike. On getting one, I pleaded with her to ride on it, yet she refused. And that was the end

of it.

As she disappeared into the umbra of the artificial lighting from bulbs and lamps, every step took her a step toward a possible disciple of ritualism - those sick souls who see dollars in intestines and bulletproof in skulls – and every movement, a step closer to a bleak future. Now she will be beaten, not because she misplaced her school bag which children of her age are wont to do but because she lost track of time and sold till dusk.

She was supposed to be asleep - entertaining the household from the dream world with sonorous replay of live events on the playing ground - but the “drive for wealth,” which Robert Heilbroner, in The Worldly Philosophers, says “is the most worldly of all man’s activities” has pitched her against an odd world at an odd age, carrying out an odd trade at an odd hour of the day.

It was an acquaintance of this sort that a 20th century American senator made which prompted his April 1934 address titled: Every man a king.

“Is that a right of life,” wrote Huey

P. Long “when the young children of this country are being reared into a sphere which is more owned by 12 than is by 120 million people?”

He continued: “That you must not let any one man be too poor, and you must not let any one man be too rich; that the same mill that grinds out the extra rich is the mill that will grind out the extra poor, because, in order that the extra rich can become so affluent, they must necessarily take more of what ordinarily would belong to the average man.”

A nation can be forgiven for the murder of mothers but never for reducing their children to chaff. I beamed my thoughts on this tale in order that it may serve as a precursor to the foundation of the rot that has reduced a once promising nation of ours to this Hobbesian state.

They have stolen that which belong to previous men as they continue to steal those of future generations.

They inflate contracts and apply for loans, all in a bid to satiating their insatiable appetites, thereby reducing the citizenry to pigs and worms.

dictates of their jobs; those who see the security of lives and properties as a superior essence, those who follow due process in the discharge of their tasks as well as those who cannot pervert the cause of justice on the altar of bribe.

It will be interesting to know that our people are not barbaric; they are just thirsty for justice, and they wouldn’t take laws into their hands when authorities do the right thing.

That’s pretty logical. It defeats the essence of justice when a culprit is caught and handed over to the right quarter, only to be seen the next day moving freely like an innocent person. Hence, let culprits be handed over to the right quarters, and let the quarter itself act justly and swiftly. Injustice on their part is preposterous. Let each quarter do the right thing, so that we can have a conducive and habitable society for everyone. Let’s say no to jungle justice.

Ours is a b-space. In algebra, the intelligentsias’ in that arcane field of study calls it b-tuple. As one spent billions to run computer software, another allotted huge amounts to the sinking of a few boreholes. It’s a huge mess they’ve made of the country, one that although the new government is fighting to set a template of sanity, only a miracle will make the fruits blossom in this generation.

What could make a man steal so much while his neighbors die of thirst? The lanky activist, whose heroics made him a father of sensitive activism, summarized it all. “Turn to the birds and beast, and what do you find?” says Mahatma Ghandi, “They never eat merely to please the palate, they never go on eating till their inside is full to overflowing.

And yet, we regard ourselves as superior to the animal creation. Surely, those who spend their days in the worship of the belly are worse than birds and beasts.”

They stole so much that they began stealing what they did not need, making their bellies gods’ and anuses, their Satan. As Ghandi wrote, even the birds don’t do that. May sanity reign in this nation.

•Modiu Olaguro, NYSC, Jebba.

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CAMPUS LIFE

Medical students educate children on hygiene T

HE Nigerian Child Initiative (NCI) with Association of Medical Students of University of Lagos (AMSUL) has organised a health outreach for children at correctional centres in Mushin, Lagos.

Some of the places visited included Special Correction for Girls, Special Correctional Centre for Children and Children Centre. The organisers said the initiative was floated out of concern for children’s health.

Their Co-ordinator, Yusuf Shittu, a final year student, who spoke on personal hygiene, advised the children to imbibe the habit of washing their hands to prevent germs.

Clean hands, he said, are vital to living a healthy life. He said: “If you protect your hands from germs by washing them regularly, then you can safeguard your health. It will protect you from diarrhea, cholera and Ebola Virus Disease”.

He added: “Wash your hands before and after eating. You should also wash after using the toilet.

Transmission of infection diseases can be prevented by regular hand cleaning.”

Miss Oyewunmi Tamilore, while speaking on malaria prevention, urged the children to always report changes in health to their supervisors or guardians whenever they are not feeling fine. Malaria, she said, can lead to death if not treated on time.

•Principal of Children Centre, Mrs Silifat Giwa (middle), with the medical students during the event.

From Faruk Hamzat, LAGOS On how to prevent malaria, Tamilore advised the children to always keep their environment clean and avoid uncovered water.

She said: “Eat good foods to gain strength without forgetting to spray insecticide to kill mosquitoes.”

Miss Idayat Adegoke, who spoke on dental health, told the children to avoid hard texture toothbrush.

She said the recommended tooth-

brush for children was medium texture.

According to her, rinsing the mouth with water after taking sweet, chocolate and biscuit would avoid bacteria in the mouth.

She advised them to inform their

supervisor whenever they feel pain in their teeth, adding: “Dentist should be visited twice in a year for proper check-up of the teeth.”

Miss Taiwo Agbaosi told the children to always take balanced diet, saying: “It is good for the body.”

On and Off Campus By Solomon Izekor 08061522600

• The severed cable...on Monday

High-tension wire still at UNILAG hostel

T

HREE weeks after the electrocution of a 300-Level Accounting student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Oluchi Anekwe, the high-tension cable, which killed the students at the front of New Hall, is yet to be removed from the spot.

The development is generating concern among students, who queried the value the school management attached to human lives. The students said it was insensitive for the school to keep the wire at the spot.

When CAMPUSLIFE visited the spot on Monday, the perimeter fence of the hostel was barricaded with safety tape. The pole to which the high-tension wire is attached did not have restriction tape, while the wire remained on the spot.

Although the wire was said to have been de-energise, students felt

From Daniel Chukwu, UNILAG uncomfortable with the cable still left on the spot.

A 300-Level Law student, who gave her name as Bukola, said the development showed the management did not care about the safety of students. “Perhaps, they are waiting for another tragedy to occur,” she said.

Another student, Olanike Ibiyemi, said: “If the school management said the cables are not serving the school, what is the logic of leaving the severed wire on the hostel’s entrance? Do they think another tragedy cannot happen because there is no power flow in wire? The management needs to be alive with its responsibility.”

At the time of this report, the wire remained on the spot.

33

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

EDUCATION

ESUT disowns illegal Gboko campus HE Management of the Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT) has dissociated itself from a campus operating in Gboko, Benue State in the name of the university.

In a letter to the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Julius Okojie, the ESUT Vice Chancellor, Prof Luke Anike, said the institution had no campus outside the three in Enugu

T

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

State (located in Agbani, Enugu and Nsukka) in line with the commission’s directive that all satellite campuses of universities be closed down.

The VC noted that the letter was to clarify claims in a newspaper publication titled: “FG Bans 57 Universities, Sanctions Others”, which listed the university as one of those affected.

The university warned that any-

body dealing with the said “Gboko Campus,” does so at his/her own risk. It also urged relevant law enforcement agencies to arrest operators of the campus.

Part of the letter reads: “That Management of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology hereby urges the law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute any operators of the so-called Gboko Campus of ESUT as they have no

mandate to establish a campus of the university at Gboko. That any certificate awarded by the said “Gboko Campus of ESUT” is fake and does not originate from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT.” The campus was discovered by the NUC Committee on Closure of Illegal Universities and listed in the Monday Bulletin, as one of the illegal outfits.

Three varsities build cars for Shell Eco-marathon TUDENTS of three universities have built cars they will use at the Shell Eco-marathon, Africa (SEMA) in South Africa between October 2 and 4.

The students, drawn from the University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Benin (UNIBEN) and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, are being sponsored by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) Joint Venture.

They are collectively known as Team Nigeria and will join 40 teams from four countries to test the energy efficiency of their cars at the Zwartkops Raceway, near Pretoria.

The competition, which will be hosted by the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Johannesburg, challenges students from all over the world to build and race energy-efficient cars, and rewards those that travel farthest with the least amount of fuel.

In 2014, the SPDC JV provided seed funding for the three universities and sponsored them to the European edition of the competition in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. They also participated in the maiden edition of Shell

S

By Jane Chijioke

Eco-Marathon Africa which held in South Africa in 2014, where the UNIBEN team winning the Best Designed Car award. SPDC organised a test drive at the Campus Mini stadium in Lagos in March 2015 to test the readiness of the students.

Mr Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director SPDC and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, said the intervention is part of efforts to prepare students to solve problems for the society.

“The sponsorship of the students opens an exciting phase in our longstanding support for education in Nigeria. In addition to awarding scholarships, building schools and donating science equipment, we're challenging the leaders of tomorrow to begin to think about, and act on the difficult energy choices facing a rapidly increasing world population,” he said.

‘We’re challenging the leaders of tomorrow to begin to think about, and act on the difficult energy choices facing a rapidly increasing world population’

WORKERS of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, have been trained to use electronic teaching and learning platforms.

The training, which was sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), was attended by academics and some members of staff of the Information and Communication Technology Application Centre, ICTAC, of the university.

The ICTAC Director, Mr Abayomi Babalola, said the training was to help the workers transit from the conventional method of teaching and learning to the 21st century practice of using electronic platforms.

He said participants were trained to prepare instructional materials in a format compatible with the interactive LED screen; relate seamlessly in the virtual classroom environment; prepare, deploy, store, retrieve and broadcast educational resources over multiple media and devices.

He thanked the university management for supporting the exercise.

VC thanks Zenith Bank

•The car designed by UNIBEN team.

General Manager, External Relations SPDC, Igo Weli, said he was confident of the students' chances in the competition.

“The test drive was very successful and watched by cheering parents.

AAUA FILE e-teaching training for workers

The outcome of the event provided the assurance that the Nigerian students will pass the rigorous technical inspection before being allowed to race at Shell Eco-marathon in Europe or Africa. We're pleased that our support has encouraged other universities to take part in this project designed to drive the efficient use of energy,” he said.

The initiative is one of many that SPDC Joint Venture has in the education sector.

THE Vice Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, Prof Igbekele Ajibefun, has thanked Zenith Bank for donating a workstation to the university.

The portakabin was being used by the bank for skeletal services before relocating to its branch on the campus last year.

The university's Director of Physical Planning and Development, Mr Emmanuel Orimoloye, who represented the Vice Chancellor, thanked Zenith Bank for the generous donation.

He commended the bank for renovating the facility before the donation.

The bank's zonal Head in charge of Ondo, Ekiti and Kwara states, Mr. Abiodun Oshode, said the donation was a token in appreciation of the good relationship it has enjoyed with the university.

Zenith Bank has been operating on the campus since February 2008.

ITF seeks pact on training

•Prof Misra (middle) flanked by CU Vice Chancellor, Prof Charles K. Ayo, Registrar and Mandate Secretary Living Faith Church Worldwide, Pastor Yemi Nathaniel and other member of CU Senate after the lecture.

W

HY is Nigeria not considered a place for Global Software Development (GSD), like many Asian countries?

Sanjay Misra, a Professor of Computer Engineering at Covenant University (CU), Cannanland, Ota, Ogun State, said this is so because of poor ICT development as well as economic, social and political instability.

Becoming a GSD destination means being a viable platform for international companies to outsource services through software technology.

Speaking on the topic: "Global software development: Challenges and opportunities in Nigeria" at the university's 43rd Public Lecture, last Friday, Misra said he arrived at his position based on a research he conducted in Europe and Africa both representing the outsourcing and outsourced countries.

"In general, it can be deduced from this analysis that factors that affect sourcing decision in Nigeria and other African regions are significant enough to reduce the probability of competing with Asian countries.

However, there are many positive factors to be optimistic about concern-

Nigeria can become outsourcing hub, says don

By Adegunle Olugbamila

ing the future of a country like Nigeria. Its relative political stability, economic strength achieved in recent years and increased development of its workforce, make Nigeria a nation to watch in the medium and long term," said Misra.

On the outcome of his research, Misra said while respondents from Africa identified English, Nigeria's official language as well as training

‘The proposed plan to set up a technological park in Bauchi State is a welcome idea that, if fully implemented and properly managed, will set the nation on an upward trajectory technologically’

in technology discipline as the main GSD attraction, European informants also agreed with the language in addition to the same time zone. However, the Europeans expressed worry about high costs, absence of a strong software industry and legislative, fiscal as well as commercial practices.

Respondents from Africa on the other hand, express disgust at perennial corruption and lack of transparency occasioned by administrative and bureaucratic bottlenecks.

He said: "All European informants agree that corruption or the so called dash culture is a key factor that can affect the decision of foreigners. Dash practice is meant to provide a gratuity or money that these people expect to receive for a service, but the peculiarity is that the 'service' can be almost anything. It is considered an entitlement. It is culturally offensive when a foreigner does not make a small donation to these people when they really think they have earned it. It is illegal, but it is a very common practice that

the foreign employer has to take into account. Respondents also mention the bad image of Nigeria as a result of famous fraud and scams through internet.

"Other factors include: terrorism or conflict situations which often makes the environment not conducive to business, lack of work discipline among African workers, as well as status differences, among others."

To become a GSD destination, Misra advised the government to accord ICT same priority as oil and gas by "ensuring that right from kindergarten, students develop basic development skills required in the 21st century workplace among which are software development skills.”

Establishing outsourcing services in friendly zones in the country is another means.

"The proposed plan to set up a technological park in Bauchi State is a welcome idea that, if fully implemented and properly managed, will set the nation on an upward trajectory technologically," Misra concluded.

HE Ondo/Ekiti Area Manager of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mr Tayo Salami, is seeking partnership between AAUA and ITF of training.

Salami, who assumed office in May, made the request when he visited the Vice Chancellor, Prof.

Igbekele Ajibefun, last week.

He urged the VC to extend the same privilege the agency enjoyed for training of its workers during his tenure as Rector of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, RUGIPO to AAUA. "I am aware that ITF enjoyed a lot of support from you when you were the Rector of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, RUGIPO. ITF is not meant to train students only, but also the workforce. Since you have been our partner from RUGIPO, we want to appeal to you that anytime we call on you for participant drive, kindly, answer our call in this regard," he said.

Ajibefun thanked the ITF team for its commitment and promised to address the request.

“We are going to extend the kind of relationship we had with your predecessors to your team.

We are going to sustain the current areas of our collaboration and look at other areas where we can collaborate such that both of us will benefit,” he said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

34

CAMPUS LIFE SCHOLARSHIPS

EKSU FILE

Dignitaries grace VC's public lecture DIGNITARIES stormed Oodua auditorium of the Ekiti State University, (EKSU) Ado -Ekiti , for the first Professor Oladipo Aina Public Lecture to mark the International Peace Day. It was organised by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Peace Building and Human Development Centre, and the Rotary Club of Ado Ekiti.

President of the NGO and the Club, Ayo Olowoyeye, said the decision to have the lecture in honour of Aina, who is also the EKSU vice chancellor, was in recognition of his achievements in the past five years. The theme of this year’s International day of Peace was “Partnership for peace, dignity for all.”

Ekiti lawmakers visit College of Medicine MEMBERS of the Ekiti State House of Assembly Committee on Health led by the Chairman, Dr. Samuel Omotosho, have paid a working visit to the Ekiti State University College of Medicine.

The committee, who toured the facilities in the college okayed the job done at the Biochemistry, Pharmacology departments, Medical Library complex and Animal House.

Omotoso expressed satisfaction with the accreditation of the College by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

He added that the committee wants information on the admission of students into the college and other requirements for its growth.

The Provost, College of Medicine, Prof. Kehinde Oluwadiya, assured them that the College would leave no stone unturned to ensure quality and standard.

Lecture rooms for science faculty EKSU Vice Chancellor, Prof.

Patrick Aina has taken delivery of multi-million naira lecture rooms Faculty of Science.

At the handing-over, the contractor, Mr Idowu Olanrenwaju of Hydee Construction Ltd, said that the building was done to specification.

The new edifice was the second infrastructure handed within one week-following the completion of the e-exam centre five days earlier.

The Dean, Faculty of Science, Prof. Kayode Olofintoye, thanked Aina for the facility, noting that its completion will enable workers to increase productivity.

APPROACHING DEADLINE 2016 Ekwueme Research Fellowship at United Nations University, Netherlands UNITED Nations University is inviting applications for Ekwueme fellowship, starting March 2016. Fellows must be of Nigerian nationality and must be working on Governance research. The fellowship recipient receives a fellowship including coverage of the tuition fees for enrolment in the years 2, 3 and 4 (6.000 euro each, in total 18.000 euro). The application deadline is 15 October 2015.

Scholarship can be taken at: Netherlands Eligibility -Fellow is younger than 40 when applying •The fellowship recipient will

complete the application form - and fulfil all programme application requirements, before 15 October 2015.

•The fellowship recipient applies for the fellowship, starting the GPAC2 programme on 1 March 2016.

Scholarship Description: Starting March 2016 (application deadline 15 October 2015), the GPAC2 programme offers the option to apply for the Ekwueme fellowship. The fellowship is called after Nigeria’s first vice president and the founder of the political party PDP. He risked his life to stand up to the military dictatorship in Nigeria thus ending the country's military rule and commencing our present democratic government which started in 1999.

Duration of award(s): The fellowship will be offered every other year, with first fellow selected in the application round.

What does it cover?

•The fellowship recipient will pay him/herself the tuition for year one (8.000 euro), as well as tuition for all years that he/she will remain enrolled after year four.

•The fellowship recipient will pay his/her own travel expenses , visa/ permit expenses, accommodation expenses in Maastricht, fieldwork expenses, books and other expenses.

How to Apply: Please use the online application form, to apply for the programme. When filling the form you will be asked to provide the documents listed below. Please note that all documents need to be provided digitally; official documents need to be scanned: •certified copies of bachelor's and master's diplomas and grades •proof of proficiency in English - the

minimum level accepted is 600 PBT, 100 ICT or 240 CBT (TOEFL) or 7.0 (IELTS).

Native speakers and students who have received their bachelor's or master's education in English are exempted •motivation letter (400- 500 words) •two signed reference letters on original letter head (by current or former professors or employers) •letter from current employer, including a statement of support of the GPAC² fellow and an indication of ways to support the fellow (for GPAC² applicants only) •one-page PhD research proposal •curriculum vitae •copy of passport •passport size picture Read more: Ekwueme Research Fellowship for Nigerians, 2016 Scholarship Positions 2015 2016 http://scholarship-positions.com

Over 25,000 Kogi students share O fewer than 25,000 students N.26b bursary of Kogi State origin in vari-

N

ous higher institutions have begun to receive bursary payment from the state government.

The state government last week began the payment of the bursary, including the backlog to 205 students of the Nigeria Law School (NLS) and others studying in foreign institutions.

According to the Executive Secretary, Kogi State Scholarship Board Mrs. Rebecca Acheneje, the government opened a portal for the students in July this year to make access easier for those that were eligible.

The Senior Assistant (SSA) to the

From James Azania, Lokoja

Governor on Students' Matters, Precious Matifo, said while N100 million had been released to settle the backlog of Law School students' fees, N30 million was released last week as bursary for first batch of 25,000 students.

He said 60, 000 students would have gotten their bursary payment by the conclusion of the exercise.

"Each of the 205 students from the Law School will get N205,000,” he said.

Ila College of Education seeks workers’ cooperation

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HE Governing Council of the Osun State College of Education, Ila- Orangun, is seeking workers’ cooperation in its task to further develop the profile of the college.

The Chairman, Governing Council Mr. Niyi Akande, made the appeal at a meeting with extended management and the executives of the staff unions of the institution.

According to Akande, the state government and the Council are committed to the welfare of the college staff. He expressed optimism that the ongoing crisis in the institution would soon be over as government is "passionately looking into all their requests."

Akande said the focus of the Council is to ensure the repositioning of academic standard of the college and also to ensure that there is sanity in its administrative system.

Earlier, the Chairman Senior Staff Union in College of Education, Dr. Lai Oparinde, had pledged support for the Council.

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

According to him, the union would not shield any staff who is guilty of corruption.

• The Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof Adebiyi Daramola, presenting documents to Adebisi Adekunle, at a predeparture ceremony for seven students of the institution who are to complete their undergraduate programmes at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Tallahassee, USA as part of collaboration between both institutions.

ABUAD students shine in U.S. contest

F

OUR students of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) have excelled at a competition organised by the Microsoft Corporation in the United States.

The quartet-Adeyemo Oluwaseun Kayode, Raymond Obinaju, Sobola Timilehin David and Ahwin Kevinshone at Microsoft's Imagine Cup where they showcased their invention named Asthma Visor, a device for a more effective and efficient way of managing asthma among children.

Top executives of Microsoft showered encomiums on the four undergraduates who were members of “ABUAD’sTeam LifeWatch” which participated in this year’s Edition of the competition, which took place in Seattle, US, for its excellent performance at the yearly international event.

By Adegunle Olugbamila and From Odunayo Ogunmola Ado Ekiti

For achieving the feat, Mrs. Jenny Lay-Flurie, a Senior Director with Corporation, described Team LifeWatch, as “the best team in Africa in five years.”

Deputy Director of Bill and Melinda Gates, Jenine Firpo, in his own remarks, described the Team's invention as “awesome”.

Imagine Cup is a global student technology programme and competition that provides opportunities for students across all disciplines to team up and use their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology to create applications, games and integrate solutions that can change the way the world lives, works and plays.

• From left Dr Onyekaba Cornelius, Adeyemo Ololade, and Ekun Oyinkansola, ( both student leaders) a culture Activist from Brasil Maria Oliveira De Andreade r Silva, Oodua peoplesa Congress (OPC) National Coordinator Otunba Gani Adams, Akanbi Bola, Olalekan Florish, and Alordia Jesse (student leaders) and Dr Otun Rasheed.

PHOTO: ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA

Team LifeWatch, the inventor of AsthmaVisor, eventually emerged fourth out of the five teams nominated for ‘Imagine Cup Ability’ award on account of the potential impact their projects could have on the lives of people with disabilities and design principles, usability and potential in the market place.

Other criteria included how the project has been tested with people with disabilities and overall quality of the execution. Team Prognosis (with a solution for Parkinson's disease detection and intervention) from Greece won the award as their solution has already been deployed on a large scale and in use by disabled people for about a year now in Greece.

The race to the finals of this year's edition of the Imagine Cup competition among higher institutions in Nigeria commenced with ABUAD winning in Nigeria to qualify for the African Zone (semi-finals) where it defeated higher institutions in other African countries, including Burkina Faso, South Africa, Uganda, Egypt, Angola, Algeria and Morocco as well as Tunisia to qualify for the World finals.

The panel of seven judges, made up of seven reputable industry experts were so impressed about ABUAD presentation that they opted for a 10minute hands-on demonstration with ABUAD team to test its solution. The team also had the privilege of a private session with Microsoft Brand Manager, Dennis Tom. This, according to the judges, was a proof of how much they loved the project and how they “cannot wait to see it in the market.”

During the private session which lasted for 40 minutes, important issues relating to how the solution can be improved upon and how a partnership can be established with Microsoft for making the solution a reality were discussed.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

35

EDUCATION

Morally deficient education costing Nigeria fortune

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EGLECT of morals in education is costing Nigeria more than people reckon with, says Dr Mashuud Fashola, Executive Secretary, Fadhil-i-Omar Ahmadiyya Muslim Educational Foundation (FAMEF).

He linked the level of corruption in the system to the failings of the education sector to inculcate moral education in children right from the foundation at a briefing to announce the 21st anniversary of Mahmud Ahmadiyya College, Ijede, a suburb of Ikorodu, Lagos, last Tuesday.

Fashola, an economist, who taught at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said the moral gap informed the founding of the college 21 years ago to provide a smooth secondary education transition for pupils of Fadhili-Omar Nursery and Primary School, Somolu, Lagos.

“We started Fadhil-i-Omar Nursery and Primary in Somolu and when the first set of pupils was com-

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

pleting their education, public schools were in shambles. Morally, physically and academically they were nowhere. Coach Yusuf (head teacher) was worried. Will the children be sent to useless secondary schools after all they had been taught? That was why we started the college.

“We want to produce moral, academic and social indoctrination of children. It is easy to indoctrinate children. But the best way to indoctrinate them is positively. The greatest asset you can give your child is morality,” he said.

Fashola warned that failure to address the problem of immorality in the society through education could lead Nigeria to deteriorate to the level of Syria if care is not taken.

“Nigeria cannot make headway until we adopt integrity, discipline.

These problems will kill us if we don’t

kill them. We are going towards destruction. We don’t have to wake up and be like Syria,” he said.

Fashola noted that quality education must be accessible to the poor in the society. He said schools should exist to serve humanity.

“The purpose of this school is to develop humanity – those who serve God and his creatures. Many Christians and Muslims are focused on rituals but forget the substance. You

‘Nigeria cannot make headway until we adopt integrity, discipline. These problems will kill us if we don’t kill them’

cannot get the blessing of God unless you serve humanity,” he said.

Fashola acknowledged the roles played by various people who have contributed to the success of the college from inception.

Another Director of the School Management Board, Mr Lakunle Bello, said products of the college have excelled in their various endeavours, a testament to the school’s quality.

In his address, the Principal of the college, Alhaji Ibrahim Ogunmola, said at about N120,000, the school’s fees was affordable for many parents. He said indigent pupils get support from the foundation. He also noted that defaulters are not sent away but their parents given opportunity to pay up.

Ogunmola, the foundation principal, said the school also does not make profit from the foundation but ploughs back all into its develop-

ment.

“From the beginning the mandate the owners gave was to meet all our needs and plough back whatever remains to the development of the school. All the structures we’ve been able to put are from our funds and we have never taken loan,” he said.

Activities lined up for the forthcoming anniversary include a symposium holding today, which would feature two lectures titled: “Child Upbringing: Islamic Perspective” by Missionary Muhammad Qasim Oyekola; and “Beyond Mining” by Missionary Rabiu Uthman; a thanksgiving service and free medical service is scheduled for tomorrow; while luncheon and awards ceremony would hold on Saturday at the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Hall, Ikeja.

The programme would end with a Hafiz (Quran memorisation) class graduation on Sunday.

School celebrates pupils’ performance N OT less than four pupils of Stella Marris Schools from among 1,874 candidates across the country scaled through the rigorous yearly entrance test of the Federal Government Academy, Suleja, Niger State.

The pupils are: Nwike Emmanuel (Primary 5), Essien Ibok (Primary 6), as well as Obia Anozie and Michael Obinna both in Primary four.

Ibok had 83 per cent. The best two results in the rest were 85 and 83.7 per cent.

The Federal Government Academy, one of the 104 Unity Schools nationwide, was established in 1991 by the former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babaginda solely for talented and gifted children in the country. The school operates no tuition, except for Parent Teachers Association (PTA) funds.

• Mrs Martha Udom with the children of the Home.

From Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

"Four of our children who wrote that exam all passed. There are states that could not even provide any representative. If you look at the percentage of scores of the examination nationwide, our pupil here scored the third highest score," said the head teacher Mr. Raheem Alade.

He continued: "The school is a special school for those who are highly intelligent. Before you can be offered admission, you must pass an entrance examination to their satisfied grade. You must pass it beyond just excelling to secure an admission into any of the government schools.

"The students there are people that have very high IQs. That is why it is called gifted school."

Akwa Ibom governor’s wife gives school materials to orphanages

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HE wife of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Deaconess Martha Udom Emmanuel, has donated education materials, such as exercise books, text books, school bags, school boxes and toiletries to the children of the Divine Home, Atan Offuot under her 'Back to School' project which signifies the return of the children to their respective schools for the new aca-

From Uyoatta Eshiet, Uyo

demic session.

Speaking at the event, Udom noted that in as much as she had sent her children to school with everything thing they required, it was expedient she replicated same with them by providing their basic needs.

She advised the beneficiaries to study hard, be obedient to their

teachers, elders and most importantly fear God. Mrs Emmanuel also urged the children not to indulge in behaviors that could hinder their success but rather concentrate on their studies so as to have a bright future.

She also appreciated the coordinator and staff of the Home for their commitment and labour of love say-

ing that their reward abounds.

The Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Dr Glory Edet, thanked the Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, for his support towards ensuring that every Akwa Ibom child lives a better life. She commended the governor's wife for being a mother to all Akwa Ibom children.

Earlier, the Coordinator of Divine Home, Mrs. Ime Ephraim Inyang, appreciated the governor's wife for her benevolence and magnanimity towards the orphanage. She, however, intimated the wife of the governor on their needs such as a utility vehicle (bus), raising the height of the fence and the repairs of the road leading to the facility.

School donates furniture to Lagos AINTS Saviour's School, Ebute-Metta, one of the Colonial Trust Schools in Lagos State, has donated library and classroom furniture to Ijero Baptist Primary School, Ebute-Metta, one of the public schools in its host community.

The chairman of the Trust School Tom Ogboi, led other board members and management team to present the 276 unit of tables and chairs.

Head, Education District; Mainland Local Government Area, Mrs Janeth Anyanwun, represented Lagos State Universal Basic Educational Board.

Ogboi who described the gesture as part of St Savious’ Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR), added that it would go a long way in addressing the need of the beneficiary school.

He, explained the rationale behind choosing Ijero Baptist Primary School.

“We are happy that today we are presenting 80 pupils' tables, 160 pupils' chairs, seven lockers, five library shelves and 24 library chairs to the Lagos State Government for the use of Ijero Baptist Primary

S

By Paul Oluwakoya

School.

"I must say that in the process of selecting and deciding the recipient, our board visited all public schools in the locality to assess their needs before and discovered that furniture deficit is a challenge in the school.

“It is very common to see pupils’ uniform torn especially at the buttock and part of their knickers with gaping holes which shows some of the public school pupils still sit on old woody furniture with pin-fold nails that tear off their fabrics.

“It is also not arguable that pupils are not comfortable to write on dilapidated furniture commonly seen in some public schools. This cannot also be distanced away from why books are torn and why most pupils write poorly, Ogboi said.”

St Saviours Head Teacher, Mrs Ailsa Griffiths, noted that the culture and ethos of helping one another and showing love, could best be imbibed if demonstrated consistently.

"This is the second time the Saint Saviour's is meeting the infrastruc-

• Mr Ogboi (right) with him at the far back are Mrs Anyanwun (third left) and some teachers of the school at the presentation.

ture challenge of other schools in our community and as a way, our pupils are imbibing the good gesture. We strongly advocate this method for effective teaching and learning in school environment,” he said.

Meanwhile, both Ogboi and Griffiths reckoned that sincere support from successful private

organisations and individuals should not be left ignored as government cannot do it all.

“On our part, before now we had written to government to indicate our support in capacity development of teachers in Lagos State. We have the capacity to do that as part of our Cooperate Social Responsi-

bility, but we are awaiting the execution of memorandum of understanding to that effect with the government,” Ogboi said.

The presentation of the furniture was timely, according to Mrs Anyanwun, who also assured that the infrastructure would be put to good use by the pupils.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

EDUCATION EDUTALK

with

Lessons from masters

L • Students in the entrepreneurship centre.

OSUSTECH ‘ll rank among the best, says Odugbemi

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ROFESSOR of Medicine and Parasitology, Tolu Odugbemi, completed his tenure as the foundation vice chancellor of the Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH) last month with a desire that the institution would rank among the best universities of technology in the world within a decade.

Odugbemi, who was employed to salvage the institution from pre-mature death in 2010 as a result of its inability to start operation three years after being issued an operating licence by the National Universities Commission (NUC), has prepared ground for his successor to achieve this aim.

In an interview, Odugbemi said the goal was the mandate given by the Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, when he was appointed vice chancellor.

"The dream of His Excellency, the Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko is to make OSUSTECH a model and one of the best universities of technology in the world.

The management of OSUSTECH has therefore been making frantic effort to make the university truly world class and one that will compete favourably with other notable institutions across the globe.

Therefore, I desire to see OSUSTECH after five years to be ranked among the foremost universities of technology in Nigeria. I equally expect to see OSUSTECH in a decade's time to be among the best universities of technology in the world where meaningful research outputs are being turned out for sustainable growth and development of the country," he said.

In keeping with that goal, and with funding support of the government, Odugbemi said the university was able to recruit qualified workers, relocate to its permanent site in Igbokoda in record time, establish well-equipped laboratories and run the university farms, which have been crucial to the success of its entrepreneurship programme.

The university, under his watch, also encouraged research in areas relevant to local needs and enhanced its relationship with the host community, which benefits from the many products of the farms.

Odugbemi said: “OSUSTECH made history as one of the few universities in Nigeria that moved to its permanent site in a record time of two years after commencement

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

of academic programmes in January, 2011. This was made possible with the support of Mr. Governor and his Government. All the laboratories in the university are well-equipped with modern and state-of-the-art equipment. Modern university is about teaching, learning, research and community service. To this end, we encourage research in applied sciences among staff in such areas as solar energy, biogas, fertilizer production and soap and cosmetics production.

"All the academic programmes being run in OSUSTECH have been accredited by the NUC. The University played host to the NUC accreditation teams between Monday, February, 25 and Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Industrial Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geophysics, Microbiology, Zoology, Botany, Fisheries and Computer Science had full accreditation while one programme, Biochemistry, had interim accreditation.

The various laboratories, equipment and facilities at the University Libraries and Farms were adjudged adequate during the accreditation exercise. Efforts are also underway to start off the Faculties of Agriculture and Engineering. The Academic Briefs for the proposed Facilities had been prepared and made ready for submission to the NUC for approval.

The TETFund too, had started the furnishing and equipping of Engineering workshops and laboratories in the University.”

One area of success that the university currently enjoys is the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Leadership Training (CELT), which Odugbemi said provides training in 21 vocational skills for students once in a week. The centre has spawned products the university is now proud of, including its bottled fruit juice drink.

"The ultimate aim of this Centre is

‘The ultimate aim of this Centre is to inculcate practical training skills in our students order to make them job creators and positive contributors to socio-economic and political lives of the state and Nigeria at large’

• Prof Odugbemi

to inculcate practical training skills in our students order to make them job creators and positive contributors to socio-economic and political lives of the state and Nigeria at large.

At the Centre, the students are exposed to over 21 skill trainings; and every Wednesday afternoon has been made lecture-free period to enable them learn any vocational skill or trade of their choice.

"Such trainings include bakery and confectionery, beads production, tailoring and fashion designing, drummaking, tie and dye production, weaving and production of "AsoOke", sculptural works, welding, metal and fabrication, bottled and sachet water production etc. The University Farms too have been stocked with various poultry products, fish, pigs, goats and other cash crops to give practical agricultural trainings to the students."

Odugbemi's tenure was not without challenges. Earlier this year, students protested fee increment. Also a recession meant that the government owed salaries for some months. However, Odugbemi noted that the students had no reason to protest as the fees were not increased from N100,000 (indigenes) and N150,000 (non-indigenes) charged since inception.

As he departs from OSUSTECH, Odugbemi thanked all who worked with him to nurture the institution, and urged the university community to continue the pursuit of its vision. He also hoped that credible people would be appointed to run the university.

"We appreciate people of goodwill who have visited and commended the giant stride that OSUSTECH has made within the short time of its existence. To improve the university system, eminent and courageous persons with vast experience in university system should be appointed into key university positions. Such leaders should be focused, fair and firm with proven high level of integrity," he said.

Ogun to recruit workers for model schools

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HE Ogun State Civil Service Commission has conducted an examination for 3,435 candidates shortlisted for employment in model colleges spread across the state.

Chairman of the Commission, Dr Susan Folarin visited Baptist Girls College and Lisabi Grammar School in Idi-Aba Abeokuta, which served

as some of the centres for the examination to ensure that the best candidates were selected for interview.

"The examination is not only for teachers but other professionals like nurses, bursars and accountants, among others. The aim of the examination is to determine the best, so it is when we have marked the papers that the best of these categories would

be called for the next stage which is the oral interview," she said.

The Chairman assured that the schools would meet up with 2015/ 2016 academic session as machinery had been put in place to ensure this.

One of the participants at the Lisabi Grammar School, Mr. Olatunbosun Ogundare, said the exercise was challenging.

AST week, I was privileged to learn from various seasoned educationists about how we could improve our education system. One of them was Mr Rotimi Eyitayo, an educational consultant, whose views about the need for education to focus on learning, tally with mine. He Kofoworola shared a wonderful idea of how this could be promoted through Belo-Osagie specialized schools that I think Kofosagie@yahoo.com is brilliant.

08054503077 (SMS only) Eyitayo said specialized schools could become a way of raising professionals to serve in various fields of endeavour in the society. He said schools could specialize in swimming, music, dance, name it, and attract learners with inclination to such areas.

It means that from early, students who attend such schools, generally know their strengths and spassions early and are helped to develop them. He said if the Federal/state governments were to establish schools along specialized areas, private schools would follow suit.

This model is not actually new in the developed world; and we have a few in Nigeria - for example, the football academy in Kwara State. We also have some grammar schools, which in reality are not operated as grammar schools. If they did, they would only enroll the best brains from all over. There are also many government science secondary schools, especially in the north. But like the grammar schools, they have no distinctions regarding performances in sciences or innovative feats that distinguish them from other secondary schools. The only schools (at secondary level) that are really treated as specialised institutions are the technical colleges.

But for long, technical and vocational education was not appreciated. The story only recently started changing - and that because the Federal some state governments began to realise the importance of science and technology to development.

It is a good idea for learning to be enhanced through specialized schools. However, the drive for learning and personal development should be at the heart of all school activities - irrespective of school type. When learning takes place, our certificates would have greater value. They would be better reflections of the abilities of the bearers.

We do not need a prophet to tell us that graduates of a school system that emphasizes learning would be more productive, innovative, and creative in the labour market.

Another scholar I learnt from in the past week was Dr Mashuud Fashola, the Executive Secretary of the Fadhil-i-Omar Ahmadiyya Muslim Educational Foundation (FAMEF), which owns the Mahmud Ahmadiyya College, Ijede, in Ikorodu, Lagos. He called for an emphasis on moral education in schools. He argued that such emphasis would ensure that we do not only focus on academics but groom students who would not defraud people. He said that Nigerian leaders (and Nigerians generally) are fraudulent today because of an education lacking in moral content.

One of his points that struck me most was the need for our schools to teach members of the society to be more humane. He said this humanity transcended religion, tribe or other ties. If the Nigerian society becomes more humane, he said the less privileged would be better taken care of. However, he warned that if we continue to promote the 'survival of the fittest' mode of 'success', we may be headed down the same road as Syria. He also noted that in times of crisis, success, and the earlier mentioned ties may not be relevant.

Because once the social structure breaks down, things that would have worked in favour of the influential, such as money in the bank or connection in high places, collapse.

A third lesson from last week came through Mr Joseph Ayeni, a consultant who trains school owners under the aegis of the Association for Formidable Education Development (AFED). He said education is supposed to solve problems plaguing the society, but this is not happening in our own country. He said our focus should be how education could bring about solutions. He advocated for a result-oriented learning process in our schools.

These lessons are worth giving deeper thought. Like former Cross River State Commissioner for Education, Prof Offiong E. Offiong rightly noted, Nigeria does not lack skilled manpower who can proffer solutions to her problems. But are we using them?

‘It is a good idea for learning to be enhanced through specialized schools. However, the drive for learning and personal development should be at the heart of all school activities irrespective of school type. When learning takes place, our certificates would have greater value. They would be better reflections of the abilities of the bearers. We do not need a prophet to tell us that graduates of a school system that emphasizes learning would be more productive, innovative, and creative in the labour market’

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THE NATION

* The Environment * Mortgage * Apartments * Security * Homes * Real Estate

BUSINESS PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT The deficit in housing requirement is growing at an alarming rate. It stands at 5.8 per cent per year, with its attendant effects on major cities, such as Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt. This has given rise to slum population estimated at about 70 per cent. While some experts and stakeholders say a “Housing Act” will solve the problem, others say funding is the solution. However, the middle point is that the vicious cycle may continue unabated if drastic measures are not taken, write MUYIWA LUCAS and JANE CHIJIOKE

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T was not an unusual gathering, considering that it held in the precints of a citadel of learning. It was the inaugural lecture of Prof. Timothy Nubi, a lecturer in the Housing and Urban Regeneration Department of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

The theme: “Beyond bricks and mortar”, naturally, would elicit interest, especially considering the 17 million estimated deficit being experienced in housing. And when the figures were reeled out, not many agreed less on the urgency of the state of housing in the country.

“In Nigeria, the slum population is put at 70 per cent with a higher annual growth rate of 4.55 per cent. The widespread development of slums in our towns and cities is a physical manifestation of poverty in its entire ramification. As stagnant water is to mosquitoes, so are slums to criminal activities. Our lack of understanding in this regard has led to government frustration and wrong policy shift to private sector driven provision for basic social needs even when people cannot pay for these services,” began Nubi.

According to him, in developing countries, the emphasis on private ownership of houses has reduced the importance of government participation even as needs escalate and private sector participation yielding lesser impact than expected. This situation has made access to adequate and affordable housing remain a huge challenge to both dwellers in urban and rural areas.

Now, to tackle this malaise, the University don said there is a need for the creation of a workable mortgage system to tackle the difficulty of housing provision in the country. This plan, he said, should engage the public sector as against the current system that has left housing in the hands of the private sectors. Besides, government, he explained, should make consistent housing policies based on elements drawn from the developed countries, whose policies have produced massive, positive outcomes, since the early 1930s when such countries have put in place effective mortgage plans.

“About 60 per cent of the present population of over 167 million lack adequate housing in Nigeria. Current housing deficit is about 16million units. Housing inadequacy is felt more by the less privileged groups (low income earners, the displaced, youth, elderly, physically challenged), even the middle class have started to feel the pain of the acute housing shortage. The current deficiency, in addition to pro-

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.com 08114495369

property@thenationonlineng.net muyiwalucas2002@yahoo.com

•Jakande Estate, Lagos...a typical mass housing project

Wanted: A Housing Act jected demography trends, points to the need for several million housing units to be built across the country in the coming years,” he said.

Nubi, who reiterated that it is a necessity for government to ensure that every Nigerian is sheltered, believed that a Housing Act should also be passed to make this mandatory. According to him, when this is done, it then becomes compulsory for government to be alive to this responsibility.

The Act, he canvassed, should specify the age at which a Nigerian can get his own house and the quality of housing. “We have a building code, which should be an important part of the Act; the building code has not become law, but it should be made an important component of the Act,” he canvassed.

Similarly, the Principal Partner, Kola Akomolede & Co., a firm of estate surveying and valuation, Chief Kola Akomolede, agreed that if enacted, the Housing Act would strengthen the housing sector. This, he argued, is because any government that fails to obey the Act can now be prosecuted.

This position may be right given that the provisions of the National Housing Fund (NHF), has been flouted many times simply because it is not an Act. The NHF policy, which makes provision for the local and state governments to contribute a certain amount into the housing fund scheme and make workers pay a certain percentage of their salaries into the fund, has not been very effective since it was not passed as an Act like that of taxation.

“The housing policy is very robust and is so large for every government to execute; if the housing policies and the building

code are put together and we are able to back them as a law, when there is violation, it will be addressed in court.

And the court will force the government to implement the law; it is a stage in any national development. There must be a law before it can be enforced,” he explained.

But a former Federal Controller, Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Olayinka Onaeko, saw it differently. He insisted that the country needed more funding than laws to bridge the housing gap.

“As far as I am concerned, we don’t have problems of laws or statutory problems. The problem with housing is funding and not relevant laws; we have more than enough laws, Acts and policies in the housing sector that are relative to housing provision,” he argued, insisting that the Land Use Act and National Building Code, among others, were all statutory laws for housing.

Putting another law in place, he argued, is tantamont to duplication, which may not necessarily improve the number of housing units or reduce the deficit in the sector. The major problem for the sector, according to him, is funding, which he said can be resolved by repositioning the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and other primary mortgage institutions (PMI).

In planning laws, construction standards, housing finance vehicles, availability of legal, fiscal and physical infrastructure among others, the professor opined that the private sector is heavily dependent on the existence of a public sector for efficient operations, as privatisation might not work if housing funds are left in the hands of profit driven private sectors.

“The crucial question seems to be ‘can the private sector operate in all housing submarkets?’ Does policy transfer recognise that private sector participation is taken for granted in some submarkets and carefully avoided in

others? Is it recognised that policy transfer in housing sub markets fails where the policy allots market function to actors that are neither suitable nor willing to operate in that sub market?”he asked.

Nubi, while proffering solution to the seeming increase in shortfall in housing, argued that a mass housing provision should be made available. He contended that such step would account for a significant portion of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as it is capable of triggering the creation of micro and small scale businesses in such low income neighborhoods. He added that the desire for home ownership motivates savings, investment and means for generating extra income from rentals.

Already, the private sector has since begun to key into the provision of mass housing. For instance, a frontline manufacturer of polyurethane prefabricated buildings in Nigeria, Vitapur Nigeria Limited, is seeking partnership with the Federal and state governments to bridge the country’s estimated 17 million units of housing deficit in the country, by constructing mass houses at low cost and high speed.

“With the enabling environment in place, we are ready to assist in reducing building shortfall in Nigeria. Such an enabling environment will include available policy on land, housing, finance, affordable building materials, appropriate institutional framework and sustainable construction workforce. Government should create a platform for long and short term fund for real estate and establish infrastructure development bank,” Vitapur’s Acting Managing Director, Mr. Akin Oladiran, assured.

‘In Nigeria, the slum population is put at 70 per cent with a higher annual growth rate of 4.55 per cent. The widespread development of slums in our towns and cities is a physical manifestation of poverty in its entire ramification. As stagnant water is to mosquitoes, so are slums to criminal activities’

Also a private firm, B. A. M. Projects & Properties has promised to build and deliver 500 assorted affordable housing units in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This is part of the Federal Government’s sustained efforts at bridging the huge housing gap in the country. The project located at BELHAM Estate in Karsana District near Gwarimpa Housing Estate, is being developed on a 45-hectare of land. The units are: two-bedroom apartments, three-bedroom town houses, three-bedroom luxurious apartments, four-bedroom detached bungalows and five-bedroom villas.

Similarly, some states in the country are leaving no stone unturned.

For instance, the Ogun State government has unveiled its housing plan that would enable residents, irrespective of their state of origin, to own personal home seamlessly within a short time.

The Managing Director, Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC), the business arm of the state government, Babajide Odusolu, said the scheme is targetted at “career persons in paid employment.”

The scheme, christened “OPIC Advantage Home Purchase Plan” will make housing not only affordable, but make subscribers move into the home of their choice upon payment of initial 30 per cent of the total cost of the house. This is a “quasi - rent - own house” arrangement where subscriber would be required to pay monthly, quarterly or yearly rent while living inside, but with a mandate to liquidate the full cost of the house in three years.

OPIC, in its 25 years of existence, has built 100 housing units.

Also, to make home ownership less problematic, the mortgage system is becoming more robust. And to make the process easier, especially for people in the informal sector, or those not captured under the National Housing Fund (NHF), the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), through its social and co-operative housing programme, is opening up more windows of opportunities for the people.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

How to achieve industrialisation, by expert F

OR the country to be fully industrialised, it must start from machine tools production and migrate to agricultural tools, such as tractors, trailers, Chairman, O.T. Otis Engineering Limited, Otis Anyaeji, has said.

He spoke at the induction of the Third Construction Industry Hall of Fame organised by Century 21 Communications, publishers of Construction and Engineering Digest (CED) magazine in Lagos.

Anyaeji, who was the guest speaker, spoke on ‘’Engineering and Economic Prosperity of Nations.”

•18 inducted into Hall of Fame

By Muyiwa Lucas

He explained that rather than depending imported goods, there are a lot of resources in the country that could be harnessed that will lead to economic prosperity and create jobs for the unemployed youth.

“If Nigeria harnesses what it has in the agricultural sector through engineering, it will yield more income than oil,” he said, adding that there is a need to get the govern-

ment to be interested in the innovation process if this is to be achieved. He reiterated that the Nigeria infrastructure master plan estimatd that about N2.9 trillion will be needed to provide for the infrastructural need.

Chairman of the occasion, Ibikunle Ogunbayo, who said without a viable construction industry, the economy of any nation will not develop, noted that infrastructural provision is also very important to national devel-

opment.

“We are here to open a window to those who are not yet a member of the Construction Industry Hall of Fame. We are here to celebrate those members of the construction industry whose despite all odds, still perform excellently well,” he added.

An inductee Ambassador Jerry Ugbokwe noted that two major problems confronting the country are indiscipline and corruption. He said Nigerians must imbibe discipline and eradicate corruption.

“It’s important for professionals to emphasise the need to put square pegs in square holes. We must be the change we want to see,” he stressed.

Publisher of CED, Mr. Kenneth Odusola-Stevenson, noted that if technology and knowledge form the basis for meaningful economic development, given that globalisation is radically accelerating the pace of change and raising the long-term stakes, it is clear that success in knowledge-based economies depends largely on the capabilities of people who are credible in meaningful and consistent ways.

He said many experts in the industry, including the inductees, have pulled resources, their intellectual and professional capabilities, to build infrastructure across the country from road, housing, oil and gas, aviation and maritime to space technology, among others.

“Above all, they have all made remarkable contribution to nation building by developing and building enterprises that are given opportunities and space to young professionals to engage their talent,” he said.

Eighteen professionals were inducted. Among them were Dr Joseph Folayan, Olumuyiwa Ajibola, Kashim Ali, Chrales Akindayomi, Alabo Dagogo Fabur, Ayo Akindeinde, Jerry Ugokwe, George Okoroma and Joseph Agbenla.

Others are Dr Bosun Ayinde, John Okodi-Iyah, Anietie Umana, Nurudeen Rafindadi, Abdullahi Sani, Sampson Ivovi and Okokon Essien.

In the corporate category are O. T. Otis Engineering and Advanced Concrete Technologies Limited.

‘It’s important for professionals to emphasise the need to put square pegs in square holes.

We must be the change we want to see’

Ozone layer depletion worries HE Federal Government has Fed Govt expressed worries over the

•From left: Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Architects (Lagos Chapter), Ladipo Lewis; Chairman, Nigeria Institute of Building, Lagos State Chapter, Asimiyu Bashir; Managing Director, Nigerite Limited, Mr. Frank Le Bris, and Head of Dry Construction, Nigerite Limited, Wale Ogungbe, at the inauguration of the newly constructed Kalsi Experience Centre in Nigerite premises, Ikeja. Inset: The building.

Ogun to repair roads, fence in Nyangoa military barracks T

HE Ogun State government has assured the Nigeria Army that it will repair access roads and fence in the 81 Base Ammunition Depot, Nyangoa Barracks in Lanfewa, Abeokuta.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Kayode Ademolake, gave the assurance when the Commanding Officer of the barracks, Lt. Col. Ernest Christopher Ineme, visited him.

Ademolake, in a statement signed by the ministry’s spokesman, Mr. Ayokunle Ewuoso, said the governor had already given approval for the commencement of the fencing of the barracks, add-

ing that officials of his ministry would soon visit the barracks to assess the state of its bad roads.

“I was planning to come to Lanfewa along with the officials of the ministry to assess the state of the road within your barracks with a view of rehabilitating it. But since you have come here and made this request, it has further underscored the importance and urgency to get the place restored. The ministry is ready to assist you in that direction,” Ademolake said.

Lt-Col. Ineme said the aim of the visit was to inform the govern-

•Adamolake (left) receiving a plaque from Lt.-Col. Ineme during his visit.

ment of some of the challenges in the Nyangoa Barracks, and asked for its assistance.

He said within the short period of his stay in Abeokuta, the assistance of the ministry has been commendable, especially considering the volume of construction going on.

“I’m here to identify with the good works the state government is doing in the area of infrastructural developments across the state and tell you some of our challenges in the barracks.

Without telling me within the short period I have stayed in Abeokuta, I have seen the relevance of your ministry.

“In the course of my stay, I have seen a lot of work going on and my major concern is the Lanfewa and the barracks roads. Please I want the ministry to assist us by rehabilitating it,” he added.

‘I’m here to identify with the good works the state government is doing in the area of infrastructural developments across the state and tell you some of our challenges in the barracks. Without telling me within the short period I have stayed in Abeokuta, I have seen the relevance of your ministry’

T

rate at which human industrialisation is fast destroying earth’s protective layer - the ozone layer.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mrs. Fatima Mede, spoke during this year’s international day for the preservation of the Ozone layer and the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Convention on the protection of the ozone layer in Abuja.

The theme of this year’s celebration was: “Thirty years of healing the ozone together.”

According to Mrs. Mede, the theme demonstrated the efforts of parties to the Montreal Protocol and Vienna Convention in protecting the Ozone layer over the past three decades.

She said the objectives for both the Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol were for the parties to promote cooperation through systematic observation, research and information exchange on the effect of human activities on the ozone layer and adopt measures that would help to phase out the use of Ozone depleting substances(ODS).

The Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol, she said, had in the last three decades galvanised 198 nations, who worked in phasing out Ozone-Depleting Substances (ODS) to protect the ozone for this generation and future generations, thus significantly con-

From Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

tributing to global efforts to address climate change.

“Over 98 per cent of ozone depleting substances has been reduced by the Montreal Protocol and by scientific evidence. The ozone layer is healing itself and expected to recover by the middle of this century. This has been achieved primarily by the prevention of large increases in ultraviolet in most parts of the globe,” she explained, adding that over 100 million cases of skin cancer will be avoided with the implementation of this protocol and many millions of extra cases of cataracts will be prevented by 2100 as well as positive improvements in agriculture and agro-allied products.

She added that the collaboration, which has yielded success in ODS consumption data reporting and its import, have kept Nigeria within compliance of the protocol’s ODS phase out schedule.

Mede commended the performances of world bodies, such as UNDP and UNIDO as the implementing agencies of the Montreal Protocol in Nigeria.

She called for the cooperation from the bodies, saying it is the key for the country to remain in compliance with the Montreal Protocol provisions.

AUHF plans housing finance confab

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HE African Union for Housing Finance (AUHF) is set to hold its conference and annual general meeting at the Safari Hotel & Conference Centre, Windhoek, Namibia.

AUHF is grounded in developing the institutional capacity of its members to enable them to ef-

fectively participate in addressing housing finance challenges on the continent; engaging with governments through member institutions; and developing partnerships with other regional and continental bodies on the African continent.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 09091178827

33 suspected vandals held with 330,000 litres of fuel

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HE Police have arrested 33 suspected vandals and recovered 330,000 litres of fuel from them.

The fuel, loaded in 10 trucks, was siphoned from National Petroleum Corporation (NNDC) pipelines.

Commander of the Inspector-General of Police Special Task Force on pipeline vandalism, Valentine Olumese, a Chief Superintendent (CSP), while handing over the products to NNPC officials, said the arrest and recoveries were made in the last two months in different parts of the country.

Olumese said the task force would adopt advance and effective techniques in stopping pipeline vandalism without attendant loss of life.

He said: “This strategy is paying off immensely and it

By Ebele Boniface

is aimed at discouraging the vandals. The number of arrest and recoveries made so far, with no bloody confrontation with the vandals has shown that we are winning the war. I want to assure members of the public that we are not going to relent in our efforts, and we will also ensure that those arrested are prosecuted. As I speak, all the suspects have been arraigned in court and they have been remanded in prison custody. “ Pipeline and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) Public Relations Officer Imodagde Nasir, who confirmed receipt of the products, said returning of such products was an ongoing process between NNPC and the security agencies.

Nasir said the recovered

products would be returned to the system for decanting, adding that they have received over 80,000 litres and “we are expecting more”.

“This is not the first time we are receiving stolen petroleum products from security agencies. A few months ago, the Nigerian Navy made huge recoveries from Majidun in Ikorodu and they handed over the products to us and we had them returned into the system for decanting. We all have a collective role to play in the fight against pipeline vandalism. The act of vandalism has an enormous ecological effect on our society.

Every Nigerian must see it as a duty to protect his environment by assisting the security agents in fighting pipeline vandalism,” he said.

‘We will no longer tolerate street trading’

By Duro Babayemi

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•Some of the suspects

Participate more in govt, Adebule tells women

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AGOS State Deputy Governor Dr Idiat Adebule yesterday urged women to participate in government to promote the ideals of sustainable democratic practices and values.

Dr Adebule spoke at the opening of ‘’Women in Government’’ conference organised by the Department for International Development (DFID), SouthWest Region.

The conference was put together in collaboration with the Office of the Deputy Governor.

She said such participation was the prerequisite for achieving political, social, economic, cultural and environmental security in Nigeria.

Dr Adebule said: “The 35 per cent slot for women participation in government is something that we as women must all strive to ensure that we meet up with.

“Majority of women is looking for appointments but we should work toward getting elective positions because it is only there that there is opportunity to advocate the course of women and the girl-child. The attitude of shying away from taking up elective positions cannot take us anywhere.

Women should be bold, educated, and supportive and have the confidence and add values to them.

“It is when we do all these that the men folk will begin to take us serious and give us the chance to showcase our potential.”

•Dr Adebule flanked by Senator Tinubu and Dr Fagbenro at the event... yesterday

In a keynote address entitled Empowering Women for Political Participation, Senator Oluremi Tinubu decried the under representation of women in politics and governance.

Tinubu said the society had yet to create an energetic and stereotype-free political space for women to enable them to participate actively in politics.

She urged women to work together to achieve a collective empowerment in the face of a male-dominated society.

Tinubu said: “We need increased participation that

represents our population in politics, to enable us feel more relevant as productive members of the society.

“If we want to make the 21 century the woman’s century, we cannot wait to be called ‘leaders’, we must naturally embrace that role”.

Mrs Bisi Fayemi, wife of the former governor of Ekiti State, urged women in leadership positions to develop an agenda for change by making a positive difference.

Mrs Fayemi also canvassed a constitution with affirmative action and

quota for women to stipulate their positions, needs and concerns.

“If you are incapable of serving and supporting other women and unable to leave an identifiable legacy behind when your time is done, you have wasted that space and it will be more difficult for another woman to be considered, ‘’ she said.

Dr Adesina Fagbenro, Regional Coordinator of DFID in the South-West, said that democracy without the full participation of women was a contradiction.

Fagbenro said that women’s participation in

civil society and government decision making was fundamental to inclusive governance without which good governance was possible.

“No country can progress or prosper if half of its citizens are left behind or treated as mere subject of the realm.

“Progress for women and progress for democracy go hand-in-hand toward sustainable development.

“If government is to meet the needs of both men and women, it must build on the experiences of both genders,” he said.

Dockers suspend work over colleague’s death

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OCKWORKERS at the Five Star Logistics Terminal at TinCan Island Port in Lagos suspended work yesterday following the death of their colleague, Mr Paul Ifah.

Two dockworkers have died at the terminal in less than two weeks.

Ifah was crushed to death by stacked heavy-duty pipes which rolled off a crane.

On September 19, Samson Oheha died in another accident.

The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) on Monday gave a 21-day ultimatum to terminal operators to comply with safety rules or face picketing.

Mr Adewale Adeyanju, President of the Dockworkers’ Branch of MWUN, confirmed Oheha’s and Ifah’s death to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Adeyanju alleged that the terminal management failed

to adopt safety measures while the operations were on.

“The incident which happened at about 1a.m. was an eyesore and a very unprofessional way to operate. The management of the terminal failed to comply with safety standards for this kind of operation, which caused the pipes to roll off and kill the man. It is very sad because it is the same terminal where a dockworker died on September 19 - and has yet to be

buried,’’ he said.

Adeyanju said though the police report showed it was an accident, the case would not have resulted to death if standard safety measures were adopted.

He said the union had written to all terminal operators and stevedoring companies on the need for safety.

According to him, only a few of the operators complied with safety requirements for dockworkers.

When a NAN correspon-

dent visited the terminal, a worker, said the stacked pipes gave way and fell on the late Ifah.

“The wooden wedges used to hold the heavy pipes could not stop them as they slide down. Ifah could not escape immediately because he was controlling the rope,’’ he said.

The terminal’s General Manager, Captain John John, told NAN he was not in a position to speak with the press on the incident.

KORODU Local Government Executive Secretary, Wasiu Adesina has warned traders to stay off the streets.

Adesina said the council would no longer tolerate street trading and illegal parking of vehicles.

He spoke while inaugurating a 10-man Task Force on street trading and illegal parking in the secretariat, Ikorodu.

The council chief said no meaningful development would take place in a society of lawlessness, chaos and disorderliness.

“It is only with orderliness, sanity and decorum that any society can move forward economically and socially,” he said.

He said it is the duty of the government to protect citizens.

The members of the committee include Neighbourhood Watch Lagos State Coordinator, Alhaji Kola Sanni as chairman, Divisional Police Officer Igbogbo Police Station, Mr Remi Adesoye, the Coordinator, Onyabo Security Organisation, Chief Kamorudeen Bombata and the IyalojaGeneral, Ikorodu local government, Alhaja Taofeekat Allyson.

Others are the SerikinHausa in Ikorodu, the Eze Ndi-Ngbo of Ikorodu, Mr Tunji Owolabi, a journalist with Radio Lagos, among others.

Alhaji Saani said there would not be any form of nepotism, favouritism or undue preference for anubody, stating that “the law is no respecter of any individual”.

He urged members to maintain their dignity and integrity which the society has always known them for.

Representing the new Ayangburen of Ikorodu, the Lisa of Ikorodu, Chief Zacheus Odusoga thanked the council chief for the initiative.

NCC seizes N7.9b pirated works

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HE Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) yesterday said it seized pirated works worth N7.9 billion in the last four years across the country.

Mr Afam Ezekude, the Director-General of the commission said this at the opening of a copyright workshop on Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights.

Ezekude said the seizures were nationwide and where piracy activities were more prevalent.

“The commission in the last four years has made a seizures of pirated works valued at N7.9 billion across the country.

“In the last four years, the commission has carried out 210 strategic anti piracy operations in endemic locations across the country.

“The anti-piracy operations led to the arrest of 459 suspected pirates and seizures of over seven million quantities of pirated copyright materials,’’ Ezekude said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

48

NEWS Ondo workers begin strike •Govt condemns action From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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DMINISTRATIVE activities were paralysed yesterday at government offices in Ondo State, following a twoday warning strike by workers.

On Tuesday, the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) had given the government a 24-hour ultimatum to pay workers.

The decision was taken after a joint meeting of leaders of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the JNC. All offices at the government secretariat, Alagbaka, Akure, were locked.

Primary and secondary schools teachers stayed away from their classrooms in compliance with the order.

But the government described the strike as an embarrassment as “workers have been receiving July salary on Tuesday evening”.

Commissioner for Information Kayode Akinmade said workers had been receiving their salaries.

To ensure compliance, labour leaders converged on the entrance of the state secretariat at 7am and blocked all entries.

The JNC Chairman, Sunday Adeleye, said the government tried to divide the workers by paying net salary for July to core civil servants and secondary school teachers.

According to Adeleye, government had not paid local government workers and primary school teachers.

He said the government breached the agreement it reached with labour leaders at a meeting where it was agreed that gross salaries of July and August and deductions for May and June would be paid.

The JNC chairman said the government, besides not paying local government workers and primary school teachers, was withholding deductions for July.

The Head of Service, Toyin Akinkuotu, said the labour leaders were unfair to the government because they agreed during the meeting that things would be sorted out amicably.

He said the strike was uncalled for since the workers knew that two-month salaries could not be paid at once with the new system of payment.

Oyo tribunal adopts written addresses

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HE Oyo State governorship election petition tribunal in Ibadan, the state capital, yesterday adopted written addresses of parties.

Senator Rashidi Ladoja of Accord challenged the victory of Governor Abiola Ajimobi of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The petitioner joined APC, Resident Electoral Commissioner Rufus Akeju and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as co-respondents.

Richard Ogunwole represented the first and second petitioners, Wole Olanipekun and Oluwarotimi Akeredolu were counsel to the first and second respondents.

Yusuf Ali led a team of at-

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

torneys for the third and fourth respondents.

Delivering his final address, Olanipekun urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition because it lacked substantial evidence.

He said: “This petition is dead on arrival. This is the first and only petition where the petitioner did not have a witness statement.

“We have also taken objection to it by citing the Court of Appeal decision on the signature of the petitioner that there was no petition signed by the petitioner and it ought to have been struck out on this basis.”

He noted that the petitioner did not present any evidence of rigging, manipulation of

•Adjourns for judgment result and violence as sought for by the petitioner.

Olanipekun described the petition as an abuse of court process and a waste of the tribunal’s time.

Similarly, Akeredolu said the petition’s imprecise and vague nature showed the petitioner’s nonchalance.

“The petition has no paragraphs and it is baseless. The petition had election results of local governments won by Labour Party attached to it.

“Even the petitioner is not his party’s duly elected candidate, hence he has no right to contest the outcome of the election.”

Ali said the allegations in the petition were baseless, and urged the court to dis-

miss it.

But Ogunwole argued that preliminary objections should not be attached to the respondents’ final addresses.

He challenged the respondents to give evidence that the petitioner did not go through primary election process before emerging Accord candidate.

The tribunal Chairman, Justice Muhammad Mayaki, adopted the written addresses of the parties and directed respondents to make available copies of authorities cited in their final addresses by tomorrow.

He said the judgment day would be communicated to the parties later.

Tribunal dismisses petitions

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HE Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, has dismissed two petitions challenging the victory of the senator representing Ekiti Central, Mrs. Fatimat Rasaki.

Mrs. Rasaki, a former House of Representatives member, was declared winner of the March 28 poll.

Her victory was challenged by the Peoples Democratic Congress (PDC) candidate, Olutunde Lawal and the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer, Gbenga Olofin.

Lawal, in his petition, claimed that he was wrongfully excluded from the ballot.

He prayed the court to order a fresh poll.

Olofin’s petition alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), harassment of voters and alleged malpractices.

In the judgment delivered

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado Ekiti

by Justice Patricia Obayi, the panel held that evidence from INEC proved that the PDC did not properly nominate its candidate.

The three-man panel held that the PDC failed to submit form CF002, which contained the list of candidates submitted by parties as well as the signatures of the party’s chairman and secretary.

The tribunal further ruled that the failure of the PDC to submit the form led to its candidate being disenfranchised by INEC. Justice Obayi ruled that the panel was left with no option than to dismiss the PDC’s flag bearer’s petition for lacking merit.

The tribunal upheld the election of two PDP members of the House of AssemblySamuel Omotoso (Oye 1) and Musa Arogundade (Ado 1).

Walk today

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HIS year marks the 25th International Day of Older Persons. The Compassionate for Senior Citizens, a Non-Governmental Organisation ( NGO), is to mark the day today with a charity walk by elderly people.

The senior citizens will take off from Tinubu Square and end the walk at Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu Multipurpose Complex, Adeniji Adele, Isale-Eko, Lagos.

A Lecture, “Sustainability and age inclusiveness in the Urban Environment, will hold at the same venue.

The event is sponsored by Lagos Island Local Government, under the leadership of the Executive Secretary, Prince Toyose Olusi.

30,000 witnesses for convention

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VER 30,000 delegates from Oyo, Ogun and Osun states will converge on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for this year’s annual convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

A statement by the convention’s spokesman, Sunday Oladele, said the first of the nine series of three-day conventions to be held in Ibadan would begin on October 9.

Oladele said the convention,

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

with the theme “Imitate Jesus” would examine Jesus’ life as outlined in the bible.

The highlight of the convention programme, he said, would be the keynote address on Friday morning, entitled: “Concealed in Him Are All the Treasures of Wisdom”.

According to him, the nine conventions in Ibadan are among the 267 conventions to be held in Nigeria, in 18 languages in 31 cities.

•From left: Primate, Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Emeka Kalu Uche, the deceased’s daughter, Dr Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, her sister, Mrs. Tola Oyediran andArchbishop of Riye Egba Yewa, Rev Luke Odubanjo, when the clerics visited the Awolowo family to condole with them on the death of Mrs. Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo at Ikenne, Ogun State... yesterday PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA

Synagogue: New judge to hear indicted engineers’ suit

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HIEF Judge of the Federal High Court Justice Ibrahim Auta has reassigned to Justice Ibrahim Buba, a suit by two structural engineers indicted in the six-storey Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) building collapse.

The engineers prayed the court to quash a District Coroner’s verdict, which found them culpable after an inquest.

Justice Buba, last year, adjudicated a suit which sought to stop the inquest.

A Lagos lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, who filed the suit on the church’s behalf, contended that the inquest had a pre-determined objective since it was constituted by the Lagos State government, whose agents made indicting statements against SCOAN and its founder, T.B. Joshua, prior to the inquest.

But Justice Buba, in a judgment delivered last November 17, held that the Coroner was a fact-finding body rather than a court.

According to him, it was in the public’s interest to know the circumstances surrounding the death of several worshippers in the mishap.

After the Coroner indicted Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, the duo filed two suits against the

By Joseph Jibueze

Lagos Commissioner of Police, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the AttorneyGeneral and the District Coroner, Oyetade Komolafe.

The cases were filed during the court’s annual long vacation and were first heard by Justice Mohammed Idris, who sat during the break.

The government had filed a preliminary objection to the suit while it was before Justice Idris.

The engineers challenged the July 8 verdict on the death of 116 persons in the building collapse.

Ogundeji and Fatiregun

were accused of criminal negligence regarding the building’s construction. The Coroner recommended them for criminal prosecution.

Justice Idris adjourned till yesterday for further hearing, but the case instead came up before Justice Buba.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, said COREN had served them with counter-affidavit to the suit.

He, however, said his client’s reply was filed out of time, and that he would pay the required penalty.

“I ask for a very short adjournment or a stand-down to enable us process payment of the penalty,” he said.

However, Justice Buba said he would rather adjourn the case for hearing of all pending applications.

At the last hearing before Justice Idris on August 3, Lagos Solicitor-General Lawal Pedro said his preliminary objection was filed on behalf of the police, Attorney-General and Komolafe.

The objection is on the grounds that the applicants’ main complaint is not for enforcement of their rights but to challenge the Coroner’s verdict.

Ojo urged the court to protect the engineers, saying the police have been after them since the verdict was delivered.

Justice Buba adjourned till October 19.

‘Don’t recognise Fayose’s candidates’

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HE factional crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State is threatening the local government election of December 19.

The Tunde Olatunde-led faction, which has 14 State Working Committee (SWC) members, warned the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) against recognising council poll candidates nominated by the faction loyal to Governor Ayo Fayose.

The pro-Fayose faction, led by embattled chairman Idowu Faleye, has been sued by the Olatunde faction.

The Olatunde faction has forwarded a peti-

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado Ekiti

tion to SIEC, warning the electoral body on the consequences of recognising the candidates put forward by the Faleye faction.

It threatened a legal action against SIEC, if it went ahead to recognise the candidates.

The September 21 petition, addressed to the SIEC Chairman, Justice Kayode Bamisile, was signed by its lawyer, Oluwatobi Fatoki, Olatunde and exco members loyal to him.

It maintained that “Faleye and his loyalists are impostors and that SIEC should stop dealing with them on electoral issues”.

49

THE NATION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

NEWS Tariff increment’ll be contemptuous, lawyer warns HE Nigerian Electricity still not learn their lessons NERC, DISCOs can Regulatory Commission and respect an existing order

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•From left: Pastor Atebe; Kingstripe Care Foundation, Dr. Funmi Shokunbi; her husband Otunba Kunle Shokunbi; Mrs. Emily Atebe; and Chairman Organising Committee, Mr. Ashaju Babatope during anniversary in Lagos.

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Church marks fifth anniversary

S part of activities marking its fifth year, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, “The Father’s Place Parish” last weekend, partnered a non-profit organisation to provide free medical services to residents of its host community, Onike/ Iwaya, Yaba.

The church conducted free health examination, distributed free eye-glasses and drugs to residents.

Resident Pastor Ben Atebe said the gesture was to give a

practical essence and meaning to the biblical injunction of loving and caring for your neighbor as thyself.

“We decided to reach out to the people in this community as part of activities marking our fifth anniversary. We are also doing this to cater for those who are in need.”

Atebe described the people’s response as exciting, and appreciative of the gesture.

Leader of the medical team, Dr. Funmi Shokunbi said the Church’s initiative came at the

right time as many of the residents, hitherto, took their health status for granted.

Dr. Shokunbi enjoined faithbased organisations and institutions to emulate the RCCG gesture, saying it was the best way to give meaning to biblical teachings.

A community leader and a beneficiary, Chief Josiah Omolewa, hailed the church for its efforts, stressing that he would have remained ignorant of his hypertensive status if not for the health check.

Dance With Peter finalists get winning clues from judges

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S glo-powered Dance with Peter reaches a crescendo, finalists from the regional auditions have gotten clues on how to win the dance reality TV show.

Peter Okoye of the P-Square fame said the uniqueness of the contestants will distinquish them in the grand finale. “I am looking for the X- Factor. I need someone that can give me a distinct performance and wow me. The contestants should realise that with great power and opportunity comes great responsibility. So they have to Bring it on!!! They should give it their best and hopefully, they can make it to the end.”

Dance choreographer, Don Flexx who is also a judge, said: “I’m looking out for creativity, originality, someone who is smart and can think out of the box in delivering tasks. So far for me, the quality of contestants has been impressive and they can be groomed to quality standard as we progress in the show.

“My advice to the dancers, therefore, is to stay humble, hungry and most especially, be disciplined to prevail at the end of the show. These qualities will help them learn a lot as they progress in the competition”.

Dance queen, Kaffy, said: “I

am looking for originality. The dancers should be comfortable and bring out the dance from their souls. I would be looking forward to seeing dancers take advantage of the mentorship to metamorphose from what they were when they entered and blossom to a better version of themselves.”

“My advice is that those being chosen for the finals means there’s a lot expected from them. We are not going to take it easy on them, so they should remain humble, open to creative ideas and be wise with constructive criticism as this show was created to build and not to destroy anyone”.

(NERC) will be in contempt of court if it increases electricity tariff this month, activist-lawyer Toluwani Adebiyi warned yesterday.

He said the Federal High Court order restraining the commission from raising power consumption bills is still pending and has not been discharged.

NERC Chairman Dr Sam Amadi said on Monday that the commission was targeting 100 per cent revenue collection when the new tariff is effected in October.

But Adebiyi, whose suit against NERC is still pending before Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos, said any increment in spite of the order would be contemptuous.

Justice Idris on May 28, restrained NERC from increasing electricity tariff. He renewed

By Joseph Jibueze

the order on July 23.

Adebiyi said if Amadi’s statement is true, it shows that NERC intends to dare the court. Doing so, the lawyer said, will not be without consequences.

The lawyer had initiated contempt proceedings against Amadi following his allegation that judges were frustrating reforms in the power sector by granting frivolous injunctions. The Form 48 was withdrawn following Justice Idris’ intervention.

Adebiyi, in a statement yesterday, said: “The Form 48 for contempt of court was later withdrawn after a reasonable appeal by the court in the interest of the nation, as the polity had been heated up lately about orders of arrest.

“Despite that unusual mercy and pardon, these people

of the court. It is quite unfortunate. But the law will always have its way. Enough is enough!

“Our system must be sanitised; the honour of the court must be sustained; our court must be treated with honour; its integrity must not be trampled upon.

“Nigerians are not stupid.

We have been exploited for long despite government’s investment in the power sector with no improvement. We cannot be further exploited by those feeding fat on consumers’ money.

“If NERC chairman and the DISCOS’ CEOs will not purge themselves of attitude detrimental to the honour of the court, then they shall not escape the consequences of dishonouring the court; they are on their way to prison.

Falae: ARG lambasts security agencies

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HE Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) has condemned the kidnap of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae.

It said the incident revealed the helplessness of the police and other security agencies.

A statement by its National Chairman, Olawale Oshun, said it was unbelievable that a personality like Falae could be kidnapped in his own state.

The statement reads: “ARG is aware that the Department of State Security (DSS) is located in all local government areas. But rather than face the arduous task of covert operations, its agents are all over the place, hobnobbing with politicians and grandstanding in the media.

“ARG deems it unimaginable and an insult on the Yoruba that such kidnap can take place within the ambit of Ondo State where Chief Falae is not only a well known personality but also one of the prominent

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

leaders – it is immaterial whether it took place on a farm or not.

“ARG also observes that many high profile kidnappings in the Southwest were perpetrated by non-Yoruba.

“ARG urges President Muhammadu Buhari to give internal security the same priority as corruption and economy. We hope that he will do all he can to solve this oner-

ous problem.

“However, as development stakeholders in the Nigerian project, Yoruba have always stood for the need to decentralise the national security framework according to the dictate of true federalism.

“ARG calls on Yoruba traditional leaders, monarchs, village heads, and regents to live up to their traditionally accepted role of securing their subjects and domains.”

Amosun submits exco list to Assembly

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GUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has submitted his commissioner – nominees list to the House of Assembly.

Speaker Suraj Adekunbi, who read the letter, told his colleagues that the governor was seeking their support and confirmation of the nominees.

The governor nominated six former commissioners – Mrs. Kemi Adeosun (finance), Mrs. Ronke Sofekun (agriculture), Bashorun Muyiwa Oladipo

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

(local government), Bimbo Ashiru (commerce), Yewande Amusan (tourism) and Olamilekan Adegbite (works).

Also on the list were Segun Abiodun, Jide Ojuko, Sunday Segun Bamiwola, Babatunde Ipaye, Bolaji Oyeleye, Leke Adewolu, Folabi Afuape, Gbenga Adeosun, Kolawole Wasiu Lawal and Olumide Ayeni.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

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NEWS

Sylva wins Bayelsa APC governorship ticket

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ORMER Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva yesterday won the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary to become the party’s governorship candidate in the December 5 election.

Sylva polled 981 votes to defeat his rival, Mr. Godknows Powell, who got 39 votes in a peaceful primary conducted at the state secretariat of the party in Yenagoa by a seven-member electoral panel, led by BrigGen. Mansur Dan Ali (retd).

A former two-time member of the House of Representatives, Warman Ogoriba, scored 28 votes; Diekivie Ikiogha, 22; Ebite Williams, nine; Charity Valdego seven; Preye Aganaba, eight and Febo Austin, got seven.

Others are: Romeo Dekeye, 10 votes; Ebitimi Amgbare, three; Ambassador Otiotio, one; Felix Oboro, one and Christopher Enai, two.

Of the 1,147 votes cast at the poll, the chairman of the panel declared 1,120 valid and invalidated 27 others.

The primary was devoid of rancour and violence, which characterised the September 22 primary at the Samson Siasia Stadium.

Delegates were orderly, waiting from 11pm on Tuesday till Wednesday afternoon,

Alaibe withdraws for party’s unity FORMER Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe, yesterday withdrew from the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa State for “party’s interest”.

Alaibe formerly declared his decision to pull out of the rescheduled governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in a statement he issued at 3am, entitled: For the sake of our party, I withdraw from the APC governorship primary.

Describing the decision as a self-sacrifice, the former NDDC chief said it was taken out of his desire to give APC the peace and unity it needed ahead of the election.

There was jubilation in Yenagoa, the state capital, when the news of his withdrawal filtered into the state secretariat of the party at 3:30am.

Delegates had gathered in large numbers and

A

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

when they cast their votes after accreditation.

But there was a brief protest at the venue when Ikiogha led some aggrieved aspirants to accuse the panel of shutting them out of the exercise.

For about an hour, the aspirant, Prof. Tarila Tebepah, Pastor Apirila Tonye and Austin Ogiohwon kept the panel chairman busy with their complaints.

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

waited for the primary to end.

Alaibe said: “It is with all nostalgia that I recall the zeal, enthusiasm and hope with which thousands of Bayelsans made a statement in the direction of change in August 2015. I can also vividly recall a mental replay of the occasion wherein a qualitative representation of the leadership of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) ushered in respected leaders and members from their then party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“That singular event has been phenomenal just as its true meaning and direction have all exuded confidence, unity of purpose, cohesion, collectivism and courage. That day undoubtedly marked the beginning of a people’s journey from hopelessness and squandry as enunciated by the accidental PDP-led government in Bayelsa state to that of quality leadership that an APC government will represent.”

Ikiogha said the panel arrived in the state without first intimating them on the modalities for the primary.

The aspirant accused the committee of planning to stop them from participating in the exercise.

He said: “This election is worse than the previous exercise that was cancelled. We are aware that a new list of delegates was compiled the previous night for the purpose of the election. This is not the

change we advocated for. We are appealing for the cancellation of the election.”

But the committee chairman insisted that the process was transparent.

He urged the aggrieved aspirants to maintain the peace.

After lodging their complaints, the aspirants walked out of the venue. They refused to return till the end of the primary.

Shortly after he was declared winner, Sylva said the victory

meant that APC members should work together to win the December 5 election.

He congratulated the former Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe, for withdrawing from the race.

The former governor sought Alaibe’s support and the cooperation of other aspirants ahead of the election.

The APC candidate hailed security agents for staying awake to maintain the peace throughout the exercise.

He said: “I am very happy today to accept this victory that you have given to me for the second time. I will like today that this is only the beginning of the journey. Today, I have seen that we politicians have a lot to learn from the military.

“What a great and serving governor of a great state of this country was incapable of doing, just a few days ago, has been achieved by a retired general and his team. This tells me that we have a lot to learn from the military.

“I also use this opportunity to thank the security agencies who have been present since yesterday (Tuesday) night till now, maintaining law and order and making sure that this primary is rancour free...”

Wike’s witnesses insist election was peaceful

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IVERS State Governor Nyesom Wike opened his case yesterday before the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

His seven witnesses insisted that the April 11 election was peaceful.

The witnesses, who were voters in the election and from three local government areas Andoni, Khana and Tai - were led in evidence by Wike’s lawyer, Okey Wali (SAN).

The first witness, Monday Buruberi Nkodaa, a civil servant from Koroko in Tai Local Government Area, adopted his written statement.

He said the election was peaceful in his Ward II, Unit IV. Elder Gbonone Gibson, the second witness, who said he voted at Unit IV, Ward I at Boten, Tai Local Government Area, adopted his address.

Akpah Amos, a retired civil servant, who voted at Unit V, Ward I (Tai Local Government Area); Betch Barisua, a trader, who said he voted at Unit I, Ward I (Khana Local Government Area) and Godwin Gbarapie, of Talbaa village, Khana Local Government Area, all adopted their written statements.

They denied the petitioners’ claim that the election was marred by violence and intimidation.

Chief Adamgbo Samson, of Tagbo village in Khana Local Government Area and Adsigwung Isaiah Duab, from Amaotueum in Andoni Local Government Area, also adopted their written addresses.

The witnesses insisted that election held in their polling units, adding that voting was peaceful.

They claimed to have been accredited manually because the card reader machine malfunctioned.

Duab said the electoral officers resorted to manual accreditation in his case because the machine failed to recognise his fingerprints.

•Tribunal chair cautions lawyers against whispering From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

The witnesses stunned the tribunal when they refused to read any document with which they were confronted, including the statements they had accepted as theirs.

Some of them claimed they could not see properly without their reading glasses (which they claimed they left at home); others declined to

read any of the documents with which they were confronted by the petitioners’ lawyer, Akin Olujinmi (SAN).

The tribunal blocked an attempt by counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ifedayo Adedipe, to shield one of the witnesses from being confronted with an earlier admitted document by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

It overruled Adedipe’s objection on the grounds that it was premature.

Tribunal Chairman Justice Suleiman Ambrosa, held that such an objection should be reserved till the final address.

Justice Ambrosa was, at a point, compelled to caution the respondents’ lawyers from whispering to witnesses.

He said: “We (lawyers) should be careful. We (tribunal

members) are not here to destroy anybody. Why carry other people’s case on your head? If you are not careful, you will have stroke in few days.”

The petitioners - All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the election, Dr Dakuku Peterside - are challenging the outcome of the election.

INEC, Wike and the PDP are the respondents.

Further hearing continues today.

•Dr. Michael Omolayole (left) condoling Gamaliel Onosode’s widow, Susan, at her home in Lagos...yesterday PHOTO: ADEJO DAVID

Boko Haram: 1,600 civilians killed in four months, says AI

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O fewer than 1,600 civilians have been killed by terrorist sect Boko Haram in the last four months.

This claim was made by human rights body, Amnesty International (AI) in its latest report released yesterday.

The extremist sect, according to AI has killed over 3,500 civilians this year alone, adding that the group remains a deadly threat in the region despite military advances.

By Precious Igbonwelundu

AI accused the Federal Government of not investigating the allegations of extra judicial killings committed by the military four months after it raised the issues.

It also said that about 400 civilians and dozens of security personnel have been killed by the insurgents since last year in neighbouring Cameroon.

“Despite advances by the

military, attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger have claimed the lives of at least 1,600 people since the start of June, bringing the death toll to at least 3,500 civilians in 2015 alone.

“The number of people killed so far this year is truly shocking with more than 3,500 civilian fatalities in less than 300 days,” said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Africa Direc-

tor for Research and Advocacy.

“Governments in affected countries must take all necessary legal measures to ensure the security of civilians in affected areas.”

“Today, as the UNHRC discusses violations and abuses committed in the context of the conflict, Amnesty International is renewing its call for adequate protection of civilians from Boko Haram attacks.”

Delta tribunal: INEC closes case without calling witnesses •Tribunal adjourns till Oct 13 for adoption of written addresses From Bolaji Ogundele, Warri and Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

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HERE was a mild drama yesterday at the Delta State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Asaba, the state capital.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) closed its defence without calling any witness to substantiate its claims that the April 11 governorship poll was free and fair.

APC’s governorship candidate, O’tega Emerhor, challenged the declaration of PDP’s candidate in the April 11 election, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as winner of the poll.

At the resumed hearing, counsel to INEC, Mr D. D. Dodo (SAN), who was represented by Mr Onyinye Anumonye, tendered from the Bar the card reader accreditation status’ unitby-unit report, as uploaded as at April 16.

The machine had been tendered by Okowa but was rejected by the tribunal for improper certification.

Without a witness to depose to the INEC document, the tribunal was at a loss about its purpose.

The report was uploaded five days after the April 11 election with a 67.7 per cent upload status.

The tribunal had admitted the full upload report as at August 13.

Emerhor’s and APC’s lawyer Thompson Okpoko (SAN) objected to the admissibility of the documents.

He relied on a Supreme Court ruling, which stipulates that a document once tendered and rejected during a tribunal’s proceeding stays rejected since its defects could not be cured during the trial.

Tribunal Chairman Justice Nasir Gumi adjourned hearing till October 13 for the adoption of written addresses by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Anumonye tendered documents, which were admitted in evidence by the three-man tribunal, headed by Justice Nasir Gumi.

The documents, which were marked “exhibits”, include smart card reader data upload for accreditation as at April 16 (Exhibit R30); polling units without accreditation figures as at April 16 (Exhibit R30a); receipt of payment dated September 17 (Exhibit R31) and certificate of compliance for exhibits R30 and R30a (Exhibit R32).

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

51

NEWS

Taraba tribunal sacks senator

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HE Taraba State Election Petition Tribunal in Jalingo yesterday sacked Senator Bashir Marafa representing Taraba Central.

It declared the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, winner of the election.

Delivering judgment on the petition by Yusuf, the three-man panel unanimously agreed that Marafa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was not the winner of the poll held on March 28.

The tribunal Chairman, Justice Samson Angor, ruled

•Declares APC candidate winner From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo

that the petitioner proved that the first respondent (Marafa) was not elected by the majority of the electorate.

The tribunal observed that the dispute in the case was on the way and manner the results were collated and not on the conduct of the election.

It said the votes in the election were swapped in favour of the PDP candidate, adding that the APC standard-bearer would have won had the collation of results properly

done.

The tribunal gave the final result of the Taraba Central poll as: APC-66,097 votes; LP-455; PDP-64,356 and SDP33,489 votes.

It ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a Certificate of Return to Yusuf and retrieve the one given to Marafa.

“The petitioner polled the highest number of votes as against those of the first respondent (PDP’s candidate).

“The evidence presented by the petitioner’s lawyer showed that votes were

swapped and the results were not entered appropriately.

“The earlier declaration

by INEC in favour of the first respondent should be set aside,” said Ibrahim Yusuf, another member of the tribunal.

Counsel to the sacked senator, Yusufu Akirikwen, said his client would appeal the ruling.

APC Chairman Jika Hassan Ardo hailed the judgment.

He said: “Justice delayed is not justice denied. Justice has been done. The judiciary has once again demonstrated that it is the last hope of the common man.”

Maku loses to Al-Makura at tribunal

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HE Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in High Court 4, Lafia, yesterday dismissed the petition by the former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, challenging the re-election of Governor Tanko AlMakura.

It was dismissed for lacking in merit.

Maku contested on the All Progressives Grand Alliance’s (APGA’s) platform.

The tribunal, headed by Justice Halima Shammaki, held that the petitioner could not prove his allegation of electoral malpractices beyond reasonable doubt.

He added: “The petitioner failed to provide credible evidence where he alleged that the election was marred by violence in some places, unlawful declaration of votes, inflation of figures, mutilation and over-voting.

“The petitioner could not prove beyond reasonable doubt where he alleged that card readers were not used in some polling units. He failed to sort out ballot papers tendered before the tribunal. It is not the business of the tribunal to sort them out.”

Speaking after the judgment, Maku’s running mate, Alhaji Ibrahim Abu, said the petitioner was not satisfied with the judgment, claiming the party was robbed.

Audu to indigenes: make change happen From James Azania, Lokoja

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•Front row: Managing Director/CEO, UBA Foundation, Ms Ijeoma Aso (third left); Deputy CEO, UBA Africa, Mr. Emeke Iweriebor; Director, Marketing and Corporate Relations, UBA Africa, Mrs Bola Atta, with students of secondary schools, during the launch of the 2015 edition of National Essay Competition for Senior Secondary School students in Nigeria, organised by UBA Foundation, held at UBA House in Lagos...yesterday

Court orders Zamfara to pay Ecobank N3.1b

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HE Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday ordered the Zam-

fara State government to pay Ecobank Nigeria Ltd N3.1billion.

Justice Okon Abang directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Ministry of Finance and AccountantGeneral of the Federation to deduct the amount from the money accruable to the state from the Federation Account and remit it to the bank.

The state is also to pay interest on the amount at 30 per cent per annum from March 1, 2013 when the suit was filed, until yesterday (when judgment was delivered).

In addition, the state must pay 10 per cent interest on the judgment sum until it is finally liquidated.

•CBN, others to remit money to bank

By Joseph Jibueze

The judge awarded N50,000 to the bank as cost of prosecuting the suit.

He directed the AttorneyGeneral of Zamfara, its Finance Ministry, Minister of Finance, Accountant-General, Attorney-General of the Federation and CBN “to ensure the full and effectual compliance with the judgment.”

Justice Abang held that N3,159,017,740.71 was the outstanding indebtedness on a facility of N1.5billion extended to Zamfara State by Oceanic Bank Plc, which was consolidated with Ecobank.

Ecobank, in its claims, said the state’s Executive Council passed a resolution

Eight arraigned for Sallah Day disturbance

authorising its Finance Ministry to accept the loan on Zamfara’s behalf.

It said the major security for the disbursement of the loan facility was a conditional Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) from the state’s Value Added Tax (VAT) account domiciled with First Bank, Gusau branch.

Ecobank said the facility suffered a setback when First Bank “stopped the warehousing of state Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and consequently declined further remittance for the payment of the indebtedness that arose from the subject facility.”

An agreement was subsequently reached to restructure the debt in November 2010,

Nigerians urged to support Buhari

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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IGHT persons were yesterday arraigned in an Ilorin Magistrates’ Court in connection with the disturbance at the Muslim prayer ground on September 24.

The accused are Aliyu Immam, 24; Sheu Ibrahim, 23; AbdulKadri Sharafadeen, 25; Yusuf Olayinka, 26; Mohammed Abiola, 27; Ayo Giwa, 65; Zakariyau Abubakar, 50, and Kareem Ajape, 35.

They are facing a charge of disturbing a religious assembly, contrary to Section 212 of the Penal Code Law. The prosecutor, Insp. Nasiru Yusuf, told the court that the accused threw stones at personalities, which led to the disturbance of the religious assembly.

He said investigation into the case was on and urged the court to remand the suspects in prison custody pending the outcome of the investigation.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.

The Magistrate, Mercy Adebola, granted each of the accused bail for N100,000 with two sureties each and adjourned the case till October 12.

after which the state “honoured rentals for a few months”.

“However, the rentals to date were not being paid by the Zamfara State government despite that same having fallen due,” the bank said.

The plaintiff added that despite complaint letters to the state, it “failed and neglected to liquidate the indebtedness, leaving a huge sum outstanding.”

Ecobank said the state’s refusal to pay the debt was injurious to its business as a custodian of third party funds.

Zamfara had filed a preliminary objection to the suit, saying the court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate on it.

By Tokunbo Ogunsami

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HE Southwest Women Leader of the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO), Mrs. Yetunde Babajide, has urged Nigerians to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his efforts to make life comfortable.

She said people should shun corruption, ethnicity and religious discrimination, and support the President in his anti-corruption crusade.

Mrs. Babajide, who spoke on the activities lined up for her 50th birthday holding in Lagos today, said President Buhari was embarking on laying a good foundation for the country and should be supported.

She admonished people to shun tribal and religious sentiments that could affect the nation’s growth, saying: “No matter who the President appoints as a minister, once the person is competent and honest, he is okay, irrespective of whether he is from the North or South.”

Mrs. Babajide said President Buhari was ready to work for the progress of the nation as witnessed in the security and power sectors, as well as in his anti-corruption crusade.

HE governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu, has urged the electorate to effect change during the poll, to ensure transformation in all spheres of life.

Addressing a crowd yesterday at Anyigba in Dekina Local Government at the launch of the party’s campaign, he said the state’s future lay in the hands of the voters, who had the ability to effect positive change.

Audu said 12 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration had moved the state backward, adding that the infrastructure provided during his tenure had been allowed to decay.

Said he: “The power is in your hands, you can effect the change mantra of the APC in Kogi State and see instant development and advancement of the state for the future of your children and those yet unborn.

“I have done it before and I can also do it even better if you give me the mandate. If I can establish Kogi State University, Confluence Beach Hotel, build a befitting Government House, provide electricity and water in rural areas, among others, when the federal allocation to the state was below N400 million per month, I will do better now that the allocation is several billions of naira per month.”

The APC standard-bearer said 12 years of PDP administration could not translate into the well-being of the people. He assured the people that within one year, if given the mandate, he would use his connection and exposure to breathe life into the infrastructure that had been allowed to decay.

Audu noted: “Posterity will judge all of us if we allow the only state we can call ours to be dragged into the mud by inexperienced leaders, who do not have the interest of the state at heart.

“I have discussed with members of the international community in London, France and America. They are ready to help us through massive investment that will lead to job creation and improvement in the living standard of the people.”

He promised to declare all parts of the state as disaster areas, to attend to their needs.

Ex-Kano State Governor Kabiru Gaya said Prince Audu was not a hidden talent in the business of transformation, adding that his achievements when he was the governor was a testimony that if given another mandate, he would take Kogi to the promised land.

He told the people not to allow the opportunity slip off their hands, enjoining them to vote for Audu, to effect the desired transformation.

Kwara records four deaths in stampede

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OUR of Kwara State pilgrims were said to have died in the Muna stampede. Ten are still missing.

People cried on Tuesday at the Ilorin International Airport when the first batch of the pilgrims returned.

Some of the pilgrims shed tears while narrating their experience to their relations.

An official of the National Hajj Commission, who craved anonymity, said four indigenes were confirmed dead during the stampede and a few were missing.

The source said the first batch arrived with 580 and 413 main and hand luggage.

Ex-Head of Service Mohammed Dabarako, who was among the first batch of 499 pilgrims, said some pilgrims from the state died in the stampede.

Said he: “A man staying very close to me, I couldn’t see him again. Maybe he died or got missing. But I learnt three people from Kwara State died. Two of them were reportedly ill and old before going for the Hajj.

“I don’t know which local government or part of the state

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

these people were from. It is the state Welfare Board that can identify them. We learnt that 10 Kwarans were missing before we left. Nobody knows whether they are alive or dead.

“I was lucky because I went with the Amirul-Hajj very early in the morning. When the stampede happened, we were surprised, because the security officials directed us.”

Dabarako noted that the Saudi Arabia security could not be blamed completely for the incident because some of the pilgrims were stubborn, as they did not obey instructions.

He urged intending pilgrims to be orderly, as it was an energy-consuming exercise, saying anybody very old should not be allowed to perform the Hajj.

Secretary to the State Government Isiaka Gold said it was unfortunate that some people died, adding that full information about the Hajj would be known when the officials of the Welfare Board arrived.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

52

NEWS

Our stand on seized assets from ex-IGP, by EFCC

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CONOMIC and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chair Ibrahim Lamorde yesterday said there was no diversion of either cash or assets seized from a former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun and ex- Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

The commission said Balogun forfeited N2, 258,100,516.87 in 11 accounts including accruing interest.

It also said N3, 128, 230, 294.83 realised from the assets of Alamieyeseigha was remitted to the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Finance in favour of Bayelsa State.

The EFCC made the clarifications last night by its Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren against the backdrop of allegations by a whistle-blower, George Uboh against the Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde.

Uboh, had in a petition to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition claimed that Lamorde and EFCC could not account for over N1trillion.

But the EFCC said the cash and assets seized from the two were intact.

The statement said: “A total of 15 Spring Bank accounts were forfeited

by Mr. Tafa Balogun. Of this number, four (4) accounts had NIL (zero) balance. The total balance in the remaining 11accounts as of January 2005 was N1, 226,518,163.09.

“In addition to this, seven (7) treasury bills/commercial papers in the same bank had a total balance of N1, 017, 178, 719.42. The two added together came up to N2, 243,696,882.51.

With the addition of the accrued in-

•’Tafa Balogun forfeited N2.2b in 11 accounts to Fed Govt Alamieyeseigha’s assets fetch N3.1b FROM Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

terest of N14, 403,634.36, the figure came to N2, 258,100,516.87.

“This sum was what was paid to the Commission by Spring Bank and eventually remitted to the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Finance, as against the N3, 037,255,521.60 claimed by the petitioner.

“It is pertinent to note that, of the four (4) accounts with Nil balance, account no. 01C11201191, erroneously appeared on the court order as a Dollar account. It was a Naira account with no balance. Similarly, on the court order, there was a duplication of the Treasury Bills account of Yeboa Investment Limited (Nos. 01X0520147400 and 01X520147500) These accounts which are Bankers Acceptance ought not to have been captured as current accounts. Both accounts were erroneously listed as having a balance of N254, 279,679.86.”

On Uboh’s allegation that the EFCC under-remitted proceeds from Tafa Balogun’s forfeitures, the EFCC said the ex-IGP’s properties were yet to be disposed of.

It added: “The Commission wrote two letters to the Minister of Finance dated 22nd July 2009 and 29th November 2010, respectively, wherein it noted that funds remitted were part proceeds of Tafa Balogun recoveries.

Mr. Uboh’S confirmation that in March 2013, the Commission disclosed that it was in custody of some balance shows that there was no secrecy about the balance.

“However, it is necessary to state that as at March 2011, there were legal issues on some of the properties recovered from Tafa Balogun. Other claimants emerged, with claims to the properties.

“The cases include the property at Plot 2220 Suez Crescent, Zone 4, Abuja, which the Commission eventually won in 2013, while the other involved a property at Plot 1488, Fugar Street, Asokoro which case the Commission lost in 2014.

“Apart from the Fugar Street Asokoro property that is now a subject of appeal by the EFCC, three (3) other properties forfeited by Tafa Balogun are yet to be disposed of. One of the properties is located at Plot 110, Tunis Street, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.

“The remaining two properties which appeared on the forfeiture order as Plot 75, Asokoro and Plot 2262B Maitama A6 District, Abuja are also subject of legal disputes.”

The EFCC defended the placement of some forfeited cash by accused or convicted persons(including Balogun’s) in interest yielding accounts.

It said it sought and obtained approval to operate a dedicated interest income account.

It said: “The placement of forfeited

monies in interest yielding accounts is not an entirely new idea. The court in various rulings ordered some funds to be placed in interest yielding accounts. “Rather than warehousing forfeited funds in current accounts for a long period, the Commission lodged such funds, including those of Tafa Balogun, in interest yielding accounts.

“The interest element is always in line with CBN Cash Reserve Ratio and not fixed. Not a single kobo is taken out by the Commission under this initiative.

“It is interesting to note that under this initiative, as at March 2015, the sum of N696,590,765.36 was generated as interest on recovered funds with Access Bank Plc. “Another sum of N522,807,543.83 presently stands as interest generated from recovered funds with Ecobank Plc, while the subsidy recoveries with Enterprise Bank Plc has yielded the sum of N736,609,666.62.

“All these monies are intact and are held on behalf of the Federal Government until all encumbrances to their release are cleared.

“For purposes of transparency and accountability, the Commission sought and obtained approval to operate a dedicated interest income account vides a letter from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation Ref. No AGF/TRY/RB/441/ VOL.I/128 dated 3rd December, 2012. The facts of the balance of Tafa Balogun’s recovered assets are not

Bird flu spreads to 85 councils in 21 states •Fed Govt to pay N1.1b compensation to farmers NEW outbreak of Avian Influenza (bird flu) has been reported in 85 local governments in 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Federal Government said yesterday.

Cases of bird flu were first reported in January by the government in over 11 states.

The government said that the new outbreak which has been reported in Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Oyo, Enugu, Abia and the FCT, occurred between July and last month.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal.

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sonny Echono, who spoke at a meeting with stakeholders in the poultry industry, said that 491 farmers have been affected by the disease.

Echono said that 1, 597, 191 birds have been depopulated so far.

The permanent secretary said that government had begun the decontamination of affected farms and birds

A

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The resurgence of Avian Influenza at at today has spread to 85 Local Government Area in 21 states and the FCT affecting 491 farms.

From Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

to curtail the spread of the disease.

He said: “As you are probably aware, the resurgence of Avian Influenza at at today has spread to 85 Local Government Area in 21 states and the FCT affecting 491 farms.

“The disease has continued to spread mainly in the southern states and the latest outbreaks reported between July and September, 2015 in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Enugu, Abia, Rivers, and FCT. “These new outbreaks have been attributed to non-compliance to Biosecurity in farms, limited aware-

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ness creation on disease among poultry farmers, disregard to public policy on sitting of poultry farms and other enforcement protocols which are expected to be implemented by the state.”

Echono said that government has agreed to pay N1.1 billion as compensation to 138 affected farmers.

He added that the payment of the remaining 258 farmers was being worked on.

“As stated earlier, 491 farmers are affected by the disease resulting in the depopulation of 1, 597,191 birds and a compensation totaling N1, 11, 193, 658.00 to 138 farmers/farm sand one zoological garden for 498, 464 depopu-

lated birds and 43, 303 eggs destroyed while N263 million is being paid to 108 farmers.

“A sum of over N380 million had been paid as compensation to 138 farmers nationwide and additional N263 million has been verified by the technical consultants appointed by the World Bank for the purpose,” he said.

Echono urged poultry farmers to embrace insurance, adding that the Federal Government would not be responsible for further compensation alone.

“Let me state here that we are putting in place modalities to ensure that in future compensation would not only be the responsibility of the Federal Government but the state, local government, PAN and the farmer are also to bear part of the cost of the claims.

“However, poultry farmers are being encouraged to embrace insurance to safeguard their businesses in case of disease outbreaks in line with the federal government’s stand that agriculture should as a business,” he added.

hidden, neither are issues of the interest which accrued thereof.”

On the assets seized from Alamieyeseigha, the EFCC said the proceed had been remitted to the Federal Government in favour of Bayelsa State.

It said: “DSP Alamieyeseigha was convicted in July, 2007. The process of the disposal of his forfeited asset also commenced same year following his conviction as it could not have been possible to dispose his assets in 2006 before conviction in July 2007 (as alleged by George Uboh)!

“The first part of the money realized from the disposal was remitted to the Commission’s account by Real Estate Derivatives Limited on 24th July,2008 while the last payment from the sale of his assets in Nigeria was received in March, 2009.

“On 9th July, 2009, the total sum of N3, 128, 230, 294.83 realized from the assets was remitted to the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Finance in favour of Bayelsa State.

Summary of the assets recovered from DSP Alamieyeseigha are as follows: i.

Sales of 5 real estate N 1,982,915,352.22 ii.

Recovery from Bond Bank N 1,000,000,000.00 iii. Legacy Bond Bank recoveries N 105,314,942.61 iv. Proceeds from Chelsea mgt. N 40,000,000.00 v. Proceeds from rent collection N 60,000,000.00 vi. Pesal Nig. Ltd bank account N 97,708,387.64 Other recoveries are: vii. USA Treasury cheques $ 215,000.00 viii. Chelsea Hotel Management $ 226,000.00 ix. Chelsea Hotel Management • 7,000.00 x. Chelsea Hotel Management £ 2,000.00 xi. Two properties were returned directly to Bayelsa State i.e. Chelsea Hotel and No.2 Marscibit Street, Ishaku Rabiu Estate, Wuse II Abuja Apart from the proceeds from rent collection and Pesal Nigeria Limited bank account, all other monies listed above have been remitted by the Commission to the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance in favour of Bayelsa State.

“The balance of N157,708,387.64, with the Commission comprise of the sum of N97,708.387.64 forfeited by Pesal Nig Ltd, which was remitted to the Commission by Diamond bank on 12th June, 2015, and the sum of N60m discovered through routine account reconciliation in 2014.

“This balance will be remitted at the end of the ongoing audit of the Commission’s exhibits and recoveries by a reputable international audit firm.

“Regarding the offshore assets of DSP Alamieyeseigha, the repatriation of the forfeited foreign assets was handled by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, not EFCC.”

A nation’s thirst for good leadership •Continued from page 4 He, therefore, set up the electoral reform committee headed by former Chief Justice Mohammed Uwais. Yar’Adua was slowed down by illhealth. He died before the expiration of his tenure. He was succeeded by his deputy, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. First, he acted as the President. Then, the doctrine of necessity was invoked to enable him assume the reins.

Jonathan Dr. Jonathan rode to power on a popular goodwill. He became the first President of the Southsouth origin. But, according to observers, he could not live to the billing of leadership. Despite his high academic qualifications, he could not make much difference. This was attributed to his lack of preparation for the huge task. Fate had catapulted him to the front burner. In quick succession, he achieved accelerated political pro-

motions. For an uninterrupted 16 years, he was in power. The Bayelsa State-born politician was deputy governor under former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. He became the governor, following the impeachment of his boss.

His stint as governor was brief. In 2007, he became Yar’Adua’s running mate. When Yar’Adua was incapacitated by illness, he stepped into his shoes.

In 2011, Dr Jonathan contested his first election. He enjoyed the sympathy and support of Nigerians, based on the sentiment that he is from a minority ethnic group. He described himself as a shoeless boy from Otuoke, assuring that he will serve the masses. Although he defeated Buhari at the poll, there was a huge gap between expectation and reality afterwards. Gradually, public perception of his administration changed.

Under him, the PDP was in crisis. The former President could not foster cohesion. In fact, he became a divisive factor. The Nigerian Gover-

nors’ Forum was in crisis. When the forum split into two factions, he pitched tent with the wrong camp. For months, tertiary institutions were on their knees, owing to strikes. Infrastructure battle stopped. During campaigns, the President’s men went to rallies with generators. That underscored the colossal effect of power outage. Corruption grew in leaps and bounds. Dr. Jonathan did not help matters. He said that stealing was different from corruption. Irked by his style of leadership, two politicians - Chief Bisi Akande and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar - berated him for a shortfall in competence. Akande described him as a kindergarten President. Abubakar said he was clueless.

Buhari The burden of waking up the giant of Africa from slumber now rests on Buhari. For almost four months, the administration has not finally taken off. The Federal Executive Council (FEC)

has not been constituted. But, the anti-corruption war is being waged with vigour. Buhari has facilitated the bailout for the distressed states. He has hinted that he will reduce the cost of governance. Nigerians appear impatient. Therefore, they have described him as a “go-slow” leader. Buhari, who acknowledged that characterisation, has said that he will be slow and steady. So far, the minor appointments made by him suggested that he meant business.

But in his Independence Day broadcast today, the President told Nigerians that the list containing the first batch of ministerial nominees was fowraded to the Senate yesterday for screening and approval.

Indeed, eyes are on the General from Daura, Katsina State. Will the President resolve the national question? Will Buhari maintain a clean break from the past? Will he reposition the country for excellence?

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THE NATION THURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

NEWS

‘We must change ourselves’ Text of an adress by President Muhammadu Buhari to mark Nigeria’s 55th Independence anniversary

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CTOBER 1ST is a day for joy and celebrations for us Nigerians whatever the circumstances we find ourselves in because it is the day, 55 years ago; we liberated ourselves from the shackles of colonialism and began our long march to nationhood and to greatness.

No temporary problems or passing challenges should stop us from honoring this day. Let us remind ourselves of the gifts God has given us.

Our Creator has bequeathed to us Numbers – Nigeria is the ninth most populated country on the planet. We have in addition: •Arable land •Water •Forests •Oil and gas •Coastline •Solid minerals We have all the attributes of a great nation.

We are not there yet because the one commodity we have been unable to exploit to the fullest is unity of purpose. This would have enabled us to achieve not only more orderly political evolution and integration but also continuity and economic progress.

Countries far less endowed have made greater economic progress by greater coherence and unity of purpose.

Nonetheless, that we have remained together is an achievement we should all appreciate and try to consolidate. We have witnessed this year a sea change in our democratic development.

The fact that an opposition party replaced an entrenched government in a free and fair election is indicative of the deeper roots of our democratic system. Whatever one’s views are, Nigerians must thank former President Jonathan for not digging-in in the face of defeat and thereby saving the country untold consequences.

As I said in my inaugural speech, I bear no ill will against anyone on past events. Nobody should fear anything from me. We are not after anyone. People should only fear the consequences of their actions. I hereby invite everyone, whatever his or her political view to join me in working for the nation.

My countrymen and women, every new government inherits problems. Ours was no differ-

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We have seen in the last few years how huge resources were mismanaged, squandered and wasted. The new APC government is embarking on a clean up, introducing prudence and probity in public financing

ent. But what Nigerians want are solutions, quick solutions not a recitation of problems inherited. Accordingly, after consultations with the Vice President, senior party leaders and other senior stakeholders, I quickly got down to work on the immediate, medium-term and long-term problems which we must solve if we are to maintain the confidence which Nigerians so generously bestowed on us in the March elections and since then.

As you know, I toured the neighboring countries, marshal a coalition of armed forces of the five nations to confront and defeat Boko Haram.

I met also the G7 leaders and other friendly presidents in an effort to build an international coalition against Boko Haram. Our gallant armed forces under new leadership have taken the battle to the insurgents, and severely weakened their logistical and infrastructural capabilities. Boko Haram are being scattered and are on the run. That they are resorting to shameless attacks on soft targets such as I.D.P. camps is indicative of their cowardice and desperation. I have instructed security and local authorities to tighten vigilance in vulnerable places.

On power, government officials have held a series of long sessions over several weeks about the best way to improve the nation’s power supply in the safest and most cost effective way.

In the meantime, improvement in the power supply is moderately encouraging. By the same token, supply of petrol and kerosene to the public has improved throughout the country. All the early signs are that within months the whole country would begin to feel a change for the better.

Preliminary steps have been taken to sanitize NNPC and improve its operations so that the inefficiency and corruption could be reduced

’

to a minimum. Those of our refineries which can be serviced and brought back into partial production would be enabled to resume operations so that the whole sordid business of exporting crude and importing finished products in dubious transactions could be stopped.

In addition to NNPC, I have ordered for a complete audit of our other revenue generating agencies mainly CBN, FIRS, Customs, NCC, for better service delivery to the nation. Prudent housekeeping is needed now more than ever in view of the sharp decline in world market oil prices. It is a challenge we have to face squarely. But what counts is not so much what accrues but how we manage our resources that is important.

We have seen in the last few years how huge resources were mismanaged, squandered and wasted. The new APC government is embarking on a clean up, introducing prudence and probity in public financing.

At an early stage, the Federal Government addressed the issue of salary arrears in many states, a situation capable of degenerating into social unrest. The APC government stepped in to provide short-term support to the owing states and enabled them to pay off the backlog and restore the livelihood of millions of Nigerians.

Fellow Nigerians, there have been a lot of anxiety and impatience over the apparent delay in announcement of ministers. There is no cause to be anxious. Our government set out to do things methodically and properly. We received the handing over notes from the outgoing government only four days before taking over. Consequently, the Joda Transition Committee submitted its Report on the reorganization of Federal Government structure after studying the hand over notes. It would have

•President Buhari

been haphazard to announce ministers when the government had not finalized the number of ministries to optimally carry the burden of governance.

Anyway, the wait is over. The first set of names for ministerial nominees for confirmation has been sent to the senate. Subsequent lists will be forwarded in due course. Impatience is not a virtue. Order is more vital than speed. Careful and deliberate decisions after consultations get far better results. And better results for our country is what the APC government for CHANGE is all about.

I would like to end my address this morning on our agenda for CHANGE. Change does not just happen. You and I and all of us must appreciate that we all have our part to play if we want to bring CHANGE about. We must change our lawless habits, our attitude to public office and public trust. We must change our unruly behavior in schools, hospitals, market places, motor parks, on the roads, in homes and offices. To bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law-abiding citizens.

HappyIndependence Celebrations. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Nigeria at 55: Ekiti State at 19 – the scorecard Ekiti State senior citizen Deji Fasuan, in this piece, reminisces on the creation of the state as it clocks 19.

B

Y calculated coincidence, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and one of its components, Ekiti share the same birthday. Nigeria’s birthday October 1, 1960 was the ultimate decision arrived at after several conferences and exchange of memoranda between the colonial masters and the quasi self governing politicians of Nigeria. It was an inescapable decision because apart from neighbouring Ghana, which got its independence in 1956, clearly four years ahead Nigeria, it was becoming increasingly dawn on Whitehall and number 10, Downing Street that the game was up and the looming disaster of continuing colonization should be avoided. With political developments made regularly available by Sir James Robertson their chief agent in Nigeria, there was no viable option. Let us forget for now that over 250 nationalities speaking about 200 different languages were forcibly put in a political unit, still it was a great and realist decision.

Barely three years after independence, Nigeria abruptly (and now, with the benefit of hindsight, in an unfortunate decision), opted for the Republican system of government. This decision has led us to where we are – a thorough corrupted actors operating otherwise well tested institutions, tested that is in other countries.

The economy was reasonably buoyant and self sustaining with agricultural products – Cocoa in the South West, Palm produce and Rubber in the Mid West, Rubber, Cassava and cocoa in some parts of Eastern parts of Eastern Nigeria; the largest foreign exchange earner after cocoa was Groundnut which was grown in a very conducive agricultural landscape in Northern Nigeria. Yes there was corruption in government which by today’s calculation was insignificant.

Then the heavy investments in oil prospecting. Shell, Mobil, British Petroleum and some other Europeans corporations embarked on a new colonization. It must be admitted however that Nigeria benefited immensely from the Oil and Gas industry. Nigeria’s crude compares favorably with the North Sea oil where the British are in command. Various capital projects were embarked on, roads, airports, educational institutions, health facilities were springing up like tropical mushroom. Soon the boom burst into doom due largely to corruption, inefficiency and lack of maintenance culture.

In the intervening period we embarked on a fruitless but costly civil war which scars are still

By Deji Fasuan

noticeable not only in physical form but also in relationship among many nationalities in Nigeria. Somehow, Nigeria escaped as a united country but suspicion continues One is tempted to categorize the Nigerian experience these last 55years in specific areas as follows.

Nigeria is a country of many nationalities in perpetual suspicion of each other.The political space reveals that the major nationalities are different one from the other. Could Lord Lugard have made a mistake? It was a gamble worth it, as it turns out. With a population of all the thirteen or so countries that make up the West Africans Subregion. Overall, the country is better of as a Federation than if it were split into minor political principalities.

The Nigerian Federation changed from the Whitehall Parliamentary system to the Presidential system.

It was an unfortunate change having regard to our current plethora of problems and challenges most of which are self inflicted. The cost of running our innocuous federation with its multiple legislative houses and limitless political posts are a constant reminder of our wrong decision. Corruption is deep rooted in the entire fabric of the Nigerian nation state. We are at the lowest level of the transparency scale. Will Nigeria break up? This is very unlikely as we have all learnt to cling together, albeit gregariously.

In Nigeria, elections are held, won or lost at the brink of civil war. Few nations are as combustible as Nigeria when it comes to elective offices. Unfortunately foreign countries especially the super powers are well aware of this and have a field day manipulating our foreign policy directives. The fault probably lies with the different ethnic nationalities with different ethos, cultural background and, we must say it, exposure. The hope of many observers is that the gig-saw movement towards nationhood and unity will endure.

The country revels on the fact that it is the biggest economy on the continent but observers do not forget that Nigeria parades the highest number of unemployed youths estimated at about 70% of the population; the unemployed youths in addition to being restless have acquired new technology in human traf-

ficking, kidnapping, Drug carriers, armed robbery and all related societal ills. The refineries and other public economic institutions are not working; power supply was virtually grounding to a halt until the present administration took over when Nigerians can now boast of 4, 000 – 5, 000mw power supply per day. This still compares very poorly with South Africa with less than half of Nigerian population being 40, 000mw.

The new Buhari administration which came as a pleasant surprise to Nigerians is on the threshold of ushering a new era into Nigeria body polity. Resolute, unbending and well focused, he has a mission, and nobody will dissuade him from prosecuting his missions. No friends, No foes; he entered Nigeria political space with a bang even his political adversaries will ignore him at their peril. Is it too early to judge the new evangelist? Not exactly, for, as the saying goes, morning shows the day.

Now Ekiti State. Another momentous year has rolled by and as usual every anniversary since October 1, 1996 is being observed with the festivity and all that goes along with it. For some however, it is always a time to look back, assess the present and forecast the future. This is how it should be since Ekiti State, part of the Nigerian Federation, brings out historic and momentous events from time to time.

First, the political scene. Ekiti, as combustible as ever, has continued to live by its reputation. Political parties continue to experience changes in their level of acceptance and support necessitating changing of guards who focus on different necessities of the citizenry. Heavy investments on projects that do not give direct, immediate and tangible result for the popular versus populist adventures that tend to take care of the immediate necessities of life. Cultivating grassroots supports as against laying long term and gestation period for benefits to show up; involving the peasantry and the so called lower orders of the society in the process of governance versus identifying and picking up the star performing technocrats many of whom are unknown to their origins; emphasizing as in education, such ridiculous and non mundane things as dress code for teachers who are believe to constitute an influential voting force; generally ‘plebian’ and’ pedestal’ approach to governance versus ‘enlightened’ and ‘dignified’ approach.

We have now experienced both conceptions these

last 19years. I must confess that opinion is divided in Ekiti about which sets of ideas has been most beneficial to the people. One believes that career advancement in the public service should be the result of a formal examination while the other opts for seniority as a yard stick for advancement. One has to admit however, the populace has drawn sufficient lessons from both approaches. They have in fact adopted part of both conceptions as a necessary hybrid in their match to achieve good governance and the so called dividends of democracy.

Judgment differs however depending upon your station in the social order. While Ekiti indigenes ordinarily gravitate to populist ideas, the elite, plus majority of Ekiti indigenes in Diaspora favor the so called enlightened, dignifying governance. Generally one is tempted to apply the Akintola Judgment; one is right while the other is not wrong. No, this is not an escapist stand. It is my observation these many remarkable years.

As expected we have made progress in the economic and social areas of our lives state creation. For example, the Ado-Ekiti Metropolis has multiplied almost four times since October 1, 1996. Commercial enterprises are being established on regular basis although we have not built any new factory or create giant commercial enterprises; the state roads are not as bad as they were although federal roads networks in Ekiti have degenerated almost beyond repair.

Like most Nigerians, worship places spring up at every street corner although this does not seem to reduce the crime rate, rather many of these individual creations are business centers where the priests and the pastors acquire their opulence.

Educational institutions especially privately owned ones are all over the place, turning out half-baked materials.

With all our setbacks, frustrations and unrealized dreams, Ekiti State is a political and administrative fact in Nigeria. Goodness knows what would have befallen our people have we remained part of ondo state. Minding our own business for good and for ill, certainly gives more satisfaction and confidence to Ekiti indigenes than being perpetually living with our neighbours who despite close affinity gave scant regard to our needs and aspirations. Today we are friends and shoulder to shoulder with our kin and kith in Ondo State. This is a far cry from the mutual suspicion of pre-1996.

54 THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

FOREIGN NEWS

Palestinian flag raised at UN

T

HE Palestinian flag has been raised for the first time at the United Nations later in what the Palestinian leader says will be “a most emotional and proud day.”

Earlier this month, the UN General Assembly passed a motion to raise the Palestinian and Vatican flags.

Israel criticised the move and voted against it, along with the United States and six other countries.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders will speak before the UN this week.

“The sense of pride among the Palestinian people was overwhelming the day the world voted in favour of this landmark initiative,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wrote in the Huffington Post on Tuesday.

“I am certain that the day our flag rises among the flags of the community of nations

will also be a most emotional and proud day.”

He also called for a multilateral solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, adding: “The UN must give my people more than hope.”

The motion was passed by 119 votes, but 45 countries abstained from the vote.

At the time, Israel's permanent representative to the UN, Ron Prosor, said the move was a “blatant attempt to hijack the UN.” He insisted that the only way Palestinians could achieve statehood was through direct negotiations.

In 2012, the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of a “non-member observer state” the same position that the Vatican holds.

It followed a failed bid to join the international body as a full member state in 2011 because of a lack of support in the UN Security Council.

Mr Abbas addressed the General Assembly in New Yorkyesterday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking today.

He is expected to call on Palestinians to end “incitement to violence.”

• Abbas UNGA...yesterday

Russia conducts first airstrike in Syria

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USSIA has conducted its first airstrike in Syria, near the city of Homs, a senior U.S. official said yesterday .

The Russians told the United States that it should not fly U.S. warplanes in Syria, but gave no geographical information about where Russia planned to strike. The senior official said U.S. missions are continuing as normal.

A State Department spokesman confirmed that the Russians had given the U.S. warning yesterday morning that their airstrikes

would begin soon.

“A Russian official in Baghdad this morning informed U.S. Embassy personnel that Russian military aircraft would begin flying anti-ISIL missions today over Syria,” said John Kirby, using another acronym for ISIS. “He further requested that U.S. aircraft avoid Syrian airspace during these missions. We’ve seen media reporting that has suggested Russian missions have begun.”

Kirby said the U.S. led coalition would continue to fly anti-ISIS missions over Iraq

and Syria as planned.

Earlier yesterday, the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin approval to use the air force in Syria, according to state media.

“The Federation Council unanimously supported the President’s request 162 votes in favor of granting permission,” Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergey Ivanov said, according to ITAR-Tass.

The vote came after a request by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for military assistance in fighting ISIS, Ivanov said.

Burkina Faso army retakes coup guard barracks

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URKINA Faso’s interim government says the army has retaken the barracks of the presidential guard that staged a coup earlier this month.

Coup leader Gen Gilbert Diendere, whose whereabouts are still unknown, had called on the elite force to surrender “to avoid a bloodbath”.

He told the AFP news agency that he feared there had been “many deaths” as the barracks were seized, as there had been families inside a building and a clinic inside the barracks.

Troops are now searching the neighbourhood for members of the elite unit who were believed to be in hiding, a soldier told AFP.

The army had surrounded the barracks all day on Tuesday and army spokesman Capt Guy Herve Ye said artillery was fired at the complex before soldiers moved in and took control.

The presidential guard, who number between 1,000 and 3,000 people, are said to be the most well-trained troops in the West African state.

Army sources say that before the assault nearly 300 of them had surrendered, the BBC’s Anais Hotin reports from Ouagadougou.

Amid the standoff at the barracks, the airport was shut and residents told to stay indoors as the area was surrounded by armoured cars and military pickup trucks,

our reporter says.

The presidential guard ceded power a week ago after the army opposed the coup staged the previous week.

The reinstated government says it has dissolved their elite unit, which is loyal to former President Blaise Compaore and Gen Diendere.

Mr Compaore was ousted in a popular uprising last year after attempting to change the constitution to extend his 27year rule.

Djibril Bassole, who served as Mr Compaore’s foreign minister, has been detained over allegations that he supported the coup, security sources said.

He has denied the allegation.

U.S.: Georgia executes first woman in decades.

A

woman in the US state of Georgia has been executed despite a number of last-ditch appeals, including one by the Pope, to try to block her execution.

Kelly Gissendaner, 47, was the first woman put to death in the southern US state in 70 years.

Lawyers filed at least three appeals with the US Supreme Court to try to delay the sentence hours before she died.

Gissendaner planned but did not carry out her husband’s murder in 1997.

Her former lover, Gregory Owen, who killed Douglas Gissendaner, was given life in prison as part of a plea bar-

gain.

Pope Francis, who was recently on a US tour, urged the review board to reconsider.

But on Tuesday afternoon, the board announced it was not granting clemency.

Hours later, the US Supreme Court said it had rejected three applications for a stay of execution.

Witnesses to the execution told local media that she sang Amazing Grace before being given a lethal injection.

“Bless you all,” she was quoted as saying by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Tell the Gissendaners I am so, so sorry that an amazing man lost his life because of me. If I could take it all back,

I would”.

The Pope’s appeal for Gissendaner’s life was made in a letter written by his diplomatic representative in the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, on Tuesday.

The archbishop wrote that, while not wishing to minimise the gravity of the crime, he implored the board “to commute the sentence to one that would better express both justice and mercy.”

Gissendaner’s lawyers told the board she had undergone a transformation in prison, offering support to troubled inmates and showing remorse for her own crime.

THE NATION THURSDAY, OCTOBER, 1, 2015

55

NATION SPORT

Robben frustrated with injury setbacks

A

RJEN Robben has voiced his frustration with his ongoing injury problems as he was confident his fitness issues were a thing of the past.

The Bayern Munich man has spent a large chunk of his career on the sidelines due to injury, but he seemed to have shaken off his problems for good in recent years.

Nevertheless, three separate injuries have kept him out of action for the majority of the calendar year, much to his own frustration.

Beckhams’ fortune revealed

A

"My situation is improving, but I am still not at 100 per cent yet," Robben told Radio 538.

"It is ridiculous really.

"The most frustrating thing is that I do everything within my powers to be in the best shape possible.

"Things were going really well for me. I had not been injured for two years or so.

And now all of a sudden I sustain three injuries in a row again."

Robben has made just 17 appearances in all competitions for Bayern in 2015, scoring nine goals in the process.

•Robben

Ronaldinho released by Fluminense - after just two months

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ONALDINHO has parted company with Fluminense by mutual consent - just two months after arriving at the Maracana.

The World Cup winner joined the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A side on July 11, with the attacker penning an 18-month contract with the Rio-based outfit.

However, Ronaldinho made just nine appearances for Fluminense and, on Monday, he formally asked to be released - a request that was promptly accepted by the club.

"Fluminense hereby announces the termination of the contract with the athlete Ronaldinho Gaucho, amicably and by mutual agreement," a statement read.

It had been reported that Ronaldinho had repeatedly turned up for training in poor physical condition, allegedly due to his party lifestyle, but Fluminense insisted that the former Ballon d'Or winner had behaved impeccably during his short stay.

"From the first contact with the directors, the athlete and his representative addressed the club with professionalism and respect," the statement continued. "The same positive attitude was demonstrated in routine activities.

"Fluminense and Ronaldinho will maintain their ties and plan to work on other projects in the future.

"It should be noted that the deal met marketing

expectations, increasing ticket sales, the number of shirts sold and commercial partners.

"The Ronaldinho deal also showed that Fluminense can arouse the interest of the

greatest players in world football.

"Fluminense thanks Ronaldinho and wishes him good luck in the next stage of his journey."

Lukaku can achieve anything, says Martinez

E

VERTON manager Roberto Martinez has taken the time to praise Romelu Lukaku in the wake of the Belgian striker's match-winning performance against West Brom on Monday.

Lukaku scored twice and set up one more to help Everton to a 3-2 win after they fell two goals behind and Martinez believes the 22-year-old is destined for greatness.

"Romelu can achieve anything he wants," Martinez told reporters.

"He's got that unique strength of being the man the man that the team needs. He has got an elite brain.

"In the second half, he has got two goals, an assist and he made a real difference."

Gerard Deulofeu provided the assist for both of Lukaku's strikes and Martinez had words of encouragement for his compatriot, too.

"He is always measured by

FTER creating a brand that has become one of Britain’s biggest cultural exports, it is no surprise the Beckham’s are now worth half a billion.

According to experts at the London School of Marketing who analysed the family’s lucrative marketing machine, David, Victoria and their children Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper are richer than Queen Elizabeth II, with a £508m ($770m) fortune .

Maintaining a successful empire is no mean feat. The Beckham brand makes between £30m and £40m a year thanks to their multiple ventures, which include Victoria’s growing fashion label, endorsement deals and Footworks, the company under which David’s football-related revenues are collated.

Speaking about the findings, chief marketing officer at the London School of Marketing Anton Dominique commented: “The Beckham brand has been used to advertise everything from designer clothes to satellite television and even whisky.

“What is also interesting is that the family name is almost as influential as any individual family member.

The Beckham name has the Midas touch.

•Brooklyn and dad David

Mancini: Juventus crisis worse than expected

I •Lukaku

•Ronaldinho

"For instance, Romeo Beckham won a very lucrative marketing contract with the fashion house Burberry.

"Additionally the Beckham name has the Midas touch when it comes to advertising, even the mere mention of their name associated with a brand is a small news event in itself.

"But it’s not just in the headlines that the Beckham name is making money. Both the opening of Victoria’s flagship clothing store in London last year and the positive response to her New York Fashion Week show prove how Victoria has shifted from 90s pop star to established fashion designer.”

Interestingly, researchers found that the Beckham label earning power has increased significantly since David, 40, gave up his professional football career.

As a result of the family’s success – both at home and across the pond – they have now surpassed her royal highness, who according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2015 has an estimated fortune of £340m. “After the royals, the Beckhams are Britain’s most recognisable family with a global pulling power that’s almost second to none,” Dominique adds.

what he doesn't do for the team, but we all know the quality he has. What I thought was that he showed he has the maturity to understand adversity.

"He never lost concentration, he never lost focus and he had two fantastic assists. But on top of that he wanted to stay on the pitch. Any other footballer of his type, once he's done his job and assisted

the winner, would be quite happy to get off and put his feet up. He's an incredible boy now.

"He has that understanding of what the team needs. He wanted to work hard and to stay there and be part of the winning team finishing the game. He has earned his starting position and I was pleased in the manner he played in the second half."

NTER coach Roberto Mancini has admitted that Juventus' underwhelming start to the season has caught him by surprise, even though he did expect them to endure some difficulties after losing a number of key players.

Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo and Carlos Tevez all left Juventus Stadium ahead of the 2015-16 campaign after playing key roles in their success last term and the Turin giants have struggled to cope with their departure.

The reigning Serie A champions have collected just five points from their opening six fixtures and currently sit 15th in the Serie A table, trailing leaders Fiorentina and Inter by 10 points.

"I did not expect Juventus to have such a bad start," Mancini told Il Messaggero.

"Of course, it was to be expected that they would have a difficult start after losing key men such as Pirlo, Tevez and Vidal. You know

that would have its effect, but I did not expect this.

"But Juventus remain Scudetto contenders for me once they get back on track, together with Roma and Napoli.

"Our goal remains to finish in the top three and return to the Champions League.

"The Scudetto? We cannot rule anything out..."

•Mancini

TODAY IN THE NATION

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

W

HEN the news of Chief Oluyemisi Falae’s abduction broke, a feeling of incredulity pervaded the land.

But it took no time for the reality to hit us all as his abductors demanded N100m ransom, which his family could not raise – for obvious reasons.

As they dragged the elder statesman through bushes and creeks, threatening to kill him if the ransom would not be paid, the family regretted that they could raise only N2m. Then the abductors, in a strange exhibition of magnanimity, reduced the ransom to N90m.

President Muhammadu Buhari, just before he flew out to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, ordered the police to rescue Falae. As if that was all that was needed, from the blues, the old man showed up on the Owo-Ifon Road, got picked up by the police and hussled off to the Government House in Akure to be presented, like a big trophy, to Governor Segun Mimiko. Excited police chief Solomon Arase, his face wreathed in smiles, announced with hysterical glee, that his men had wrested the chief from his tormentors.

No ransom was paid, we were told.

The former Finance minister and presidential candidate has spoken of his ordeal.

“We all slept on leaves. Unfortunately, it rained in the night and I was drenched. One of them brought a small umbrella to cover my head, but the rest of my body was not,” Falae said.

He went on: “They offered me bread but I told them I could not eat it. I demanded for a bottle of Coke, which was what I drank everyday to have energy and to continue with the march because we were always moving.”

To Falae,77 – he was actually snatched away on his birthday - the ordeal he underwent should not be allowed to go on. “It is not because of me. I am a very humble person, but by virtue of what God has made me and the status He has given me, it is an insult to our race that a man like me could be abducted by a bunch of hoodlums,” he said.

But the abductors did not let go until they fired a warning. One of them told the old man: “Baba, if you leave us, you talk nonsense, I will come and catch you again.”

Falae was said to have been abducted by Fulani herdsmen who had been troubling him on his farm. When did Fulani herdsmen become abductors? Is that part of cattle rearing for which they are famous? Are these criminals truly Fulani herdsmen? Will they ever be arrested? Can the police see the security implication of this incident, which could turn innocent people into targets of hate actions? Will the Fulani community come up to clear their name?

If the victim said his family paid ransom, why are the police arguing that they rescued Falae without anybody shelling out some cash? Why couldn’t somebody just be honest and consistent? Now the police are going to investigate how the ransom was paid – through the bank? By hand? Who paid?

RIPPLES PAR TY LEADERS MO VE TO PARTY MOVE REVIVE PDP– N ews News

#BRING BACK OUR LOOTED FUNDS FIRST

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL. 10, NO. 3353

‘As one grows older it may become increasingly difficult for me and people like me to annually travel thousands of miles to visit our families abroad. In spite of what our children consider as unsafe Nigerian environment, they will have to be visiting their old folks at home’ JIDE OSUNTOKUN

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

GBENGA OMOTOSO

EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK

gbenga.omotoso@thenationonlineng.net

•Editor of the Year (DAME)

Falae, Saudi stampede and UNILAG bedbugs

‘

Is a bedbug bite strong enough to send a sleeping adult screaming?

•Chief Falae

’

Funny.

This is not the first time abductors, who are never caught, have got cash to free their captives. The victims and their families would keep quiet, perhaps because they have lost confidence in the ability of the police to protect them and are scared the abductors could return to grab them again. This fear is the oil that keeps the wheel of this odious crime turning. Why are abductors not usually caught and taught the lesson of their lives?

Before the Falae abduction shock could subside, the news of the Saudi Arabia calamity hit the airwaves, tearing through our hearts.

No fewer than 244 Nigerians have been declared missing in the stampede in which 64 are said to have died, trampled on by desperate fellow pilgrims struggling to stay alive or got suffocated. The Nigerian toll is part of the global 1,100. This is not the first time pilgrims have died at the hajj, but this year’s figure is the highest since the 1990 disaster that took 1,426 lives.

The Saudi authorities have launched a probe into the incident, the second in Mecca in less than two weeks. A crane collapsed on September 11 – what a date – killing 111 people and injuring 394. Nigeria lost some of its

prominent citizens, including Justice of the Court of Appeal, Abdulkadir Jega, renowned Islamic scholar Prof Tijani Abubakar El- Miskin, foremost journalist Hajiya Bilikisu Yusuf, a traditional ruler, Alhaji Abbass Ibrahim (Panti Zing) and his two wives.

Niger State Accountant – General Alhaji Shehu Kontagora and a member of the state’s Assembly, Mr Faisal Musa, also died in the stampede.

The incident occurred as the pilgrims were performing the ritual of stoning the devil.

This provoked some morbid jokes back home in Nigeria. One goes thus: “If Buhari would not release money for hajj, Nigerians should not worry. There are many devils waiting to be stoned here at home. Don’t ask me who they are. Barka de Sallah.”

Another tells of a man calling a member of his family who was on pilgrimage after learning that the Saudi authorities would pay the family of each victim N70m. When the pilgrim pick his call, he hissed and said: “So you are not dead? Yeye man; we have just lost N70m.”

It is worrisome that the Saudi authorities are yet to evolve a foolproof crowd control system. Iran, which is said to have the highest number of pilgrims, is angry. It insists that the Saudi authorities should take responsibility for the bloody show. An eyewitness spoke of people dying of thirst. Why was water not enough? Were the emergency services actually prepared? What measures were taken immediately to stop the disaster?

Could there have been some laxity all because it is a privilege to die and be buried in the holy land?

As we mourned these compatriots of ours who died on their journey of faith, my mind went to Boko Haram, the evil sect that has been killing and maiming in the name of Islam, a religion it obviously abuses – to the consternation of the truly knowledgeable.

A new Boko Haram video has hit the so-

cial media. It shows a huge crowd of people worshipping on Sallah day and interviews of supposed leaders of the terrorist sect, glittering AK-47 rifles in their hands, boasting about their grip on the Sambisa Forest. Could that be real? Will such a huge crowd of insurgents gather anywhere within Nigeria and be safe? Were the Chibok girls part of the worshipping crowd? Are the military authorities aware of the video? Are they studying it?

These terrible events were enough to make us all sober. We were, in fact, hobbled and humbled by them. But, as they say, different strokes for different folks. As we nursed our wounds, a strange kind of protest broke out at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) where students were up in arms against the authorities on Monday. Reason: there are bedbugs – yes, bedbugs - in the hostels. As from 3am, they shut the gates, stormed the homes of some principal officers and laid their mattresses on the road leading to the campus. And what a spectacle.

One of the students had been bitten by a bedbug while he was asleep. He screamed, as the story goes, and his colleagues felt they could no longer take that after they had reportedly complained to the authorities that their hostels needed to be fumigated. The bedbugs, said the students, had developed resistance to their commonly used insecticide, Sniper.

The students demanded that all their mattresses be replaced, the fittings removed and the hostels fumigated. All in seven days. But Deputy Registrar Olagoke Oke absolved the management from any blame, saying: “Are we supposed to be telling university students to wash their clothes and clean their rooms?

The students need to take care of themselves, otherwise, no amount of fumigation would eradicate the bedbugs.”

This bedbug protest raised many questions. Is a bedbug bite strong enough to send a sleeping adult screaming? Is it more painful than a mosquito bite? If Sniper can’t keep the pesky pests in check, which insecticide can do the job? How about that for a research?

Will UNILAG fund an academic giant’s intellectual probe of these matters of bedbugs, mosquitoes and old mattresses as their breeding grounds? Wouldn’t that be some groundbreaking exertion for a foremost centre of learning?

To many social scientists, the big bedbugs tearing away at the heart of our nation are security and economic challenges. As a corollary of these are unemployment, decaying infrastructure and corruption, which have made Nigeria, the black man’s hope, a mystifying paradox of a country.

We, however, have not lost it all. No. So, it is fitting and proper to wish ourselves a happy 55 th independence anniversary.

Cheers!

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080

•Hardball is not the opinion

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of the columnist featured above HARDBALL Chasing shadows

ERSONAL safety comes before professional policy. This logic of preservation probably explains why Chief Olu Falae’s family chose to pay a ransom to his abductors. But the police are not impressed.

The 77-year-old who was kidnapped on his birthday on September 21 reportedly said: “I was let go the day after ransom was collected.” The kidnappers initially demanded N100 million, which they later reduced to N90 million. It is unclear how much the family eventually paid to get Falae freed. But it is clear that money changed hands, to go by Falae’s comments to reporters at his home in Akure, Ondo State, after his release. By his account, it was a harrowing four days in captivity for the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) who was seized at his farm at Ilado in Akure.

The intervention by the police and the official involvement of the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, prompted by the presidency, may have

made a difference in the kidnap drama. But money may have made the ultimate difference.

The police said in a statement: “As professionals, it is our conviction that the unprecedented and massive deployment of police resources and men to support search and rescue operations put pressure on the criminals to release the elder statesman.” In trying to take the credit for Falae’s release, the police perhaps underrated the power of money.

On the payment of ransom, the police said: “As a law enforcement agency guided by rule of law and professional ethics, we do not under any circumstances encourage the payment of ransom to kidnappers or other criminals.” It is convenient to speak theoretically. It should be appreciated that Falae’s life was probably in danger.

According to him, “there were six of them with three or four guns, and every half hour or so they will say, ‘Baba, we are going to

kill you. If you don’t give us money, we are going to kill you.” These may not have been impotent threats.

The police also said: “Whatever the family did as regards payment of ransom was outside the knowledge and consent of the police and at this point, we wish to advise that in future, families who fall victims of such acts should rather work closely with the police component of the rescue initiative so that we can achieve the primary purpose of rescuing the victim alive.”

Again, this sounds like theoretical talk.

The practical considerations that come up in a kidnapping, especially concerning the safety of the victim, must not be downplayed.

More practically, the police should concentrate on apprehending Falae’s kidnappers and bringing them to justice, rather than this unproductive effort to teach the families of kidnap victims how to respond to abductors. It looks like the police are busy chasing shadows.

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