The Nation October 25, 2011

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

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ACN sweeps Lagos local govt council elections P10 Mikel confesses QPR match was difficult for Chelsea P24 Baba Suwe urges court to free him from NDLEA P3 www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 7, NO. 1924 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

Opposition stands firm against subsidy removal E

FFORTS to break Labour’s ranks in its opposition to the planned fuel subsidy removal may have failed, it was learnt yesterday.

One of the trade unions which attended the meeting summoned by Labour Minister Emega Wogu said it was tricked into the talks.

Besides, opponents of subsidy removal, who insist that it will further impoverish the poor, are not giving up. They protested in Lagos yesterday.

But a key government official, Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has joined the campaign for the removal of subsidy through which it plans to save N1.2 trillion. The cash, the government says, will go into rebuilding collapsed infrastructure.

Protest in Lagos Sanusi endorses govt’s plan RATTAWU is not supporting removal of fuel subsidy. The Labour Minister’s clear departure from the agenda he told us about shocked us.

We were surprised.

– Union

By Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu, Miriam Ndikanwu and Khadijat Saidu

Radio, Television and Theatre-Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU) National President Yemisi Bamgbose said the union was to discuss media salary structure with Information Minister Labaran Maku when Labour Minister Emeka Wogu invited RATTAWU. He said Wogu was to see President

Goodluck Jonathan alongside Maku on the media salary structure. RATTAWU was invited to a meeting later that day on the issue.

Bamgbose said: “The meeting agenda was different from what they told us.

RATTAWU is not supporting removal of fuel subsidy. The Labour Minister’s clear departure from the agenda he told us about shocked us. We were surprised. I did not at-

If the country continues to subsidise fuel, the country will be broke in no distant future ... the country cannot afford to disburse such huge funds annually – Sanusi tend in person; the Deputy President attended on behalf of the union because the General Secretary and I were not in town. We stand by NLC’s position. RATTAWU is an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).”

“It was wrong for the Government to say we are in support of deregulation; no, we are not in support of it.”

The NLC and its counterpart, the Trade Union Con-

gress (TUC), pressurised invited Labour leaders to boycott the meeting, but the Minister later said he was not under obligation to take permission from NLC or TUC before inviting trade unions for meetings since they are registered with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity.

In Lagos, anti-subsidy removal protesters stormed the state government’s Alausa

secretariat.

They included some civil society organisations and human rights groups. They barricaded the entrance to the office of Governor Babatunde Fashola.

Protesting under the aegis of “Let there be light in Nigeria Project”, the protesters brandished placards with various inscriptions, such as: “Jonathan give Nigeria light”; “Fuel subsidy removal, Jonathan is playing with fire” and “Nigerians stand up for light; fuel subsidy removal is anti people”.

Security personnel shut the Governor’s Office gate.

The protesters barricaded the entrance, singing solidarity songs. They insisted that the governor, who was Continued on page 4

Excess crude account

Governors urge Supreme Court to block withdrawals From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

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OVERNORS have asked the Supreme Court to restrain the Federal Government from making any withdrawals from the “Excess Crude Account” (or any account replacing same by any name howsoever) pending the hearing and determination of a suit they filed in 2008.

They are bitter that the Federal Government, despite the suit, has continued to withdraw from the account, nearly depleted about N5.51 trillion balance on the account as at 2008 when the case was instituted.

To check further withdrawal, the governors through their lead counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), urged the apex court to order that all sums standing to the credit of the contentious “Excess Crude Account” be paid into court or be otherwise secured as the court may deem fit.

In the application, Awomolo said the Federal Government had announced its intention to withdraw, disburse and utilise another $1billion from the credit balance.

Continued on page 4

•The protesters in front of Lagos State governor’s office in Alausa, Ikeja ... yesterday

•ENERGY P15 •SPORT P24 •PROPERTY P25 •POLITICS P37 •AVIATION P49

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

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NEWS

Drug smuggling: Young

At home and abroad, Nigerians are regularly arrested for drug peddling. A recent report by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) shows that drug traffickers are getting more daring by smuggling drugs to countries with capital punishment for the crime. Over 200 suspects have been arrested in one year. And with an NDLEA slowed down by challenges, such as shortage of operational vehicles, inadequate funding and absence others, the battle becomes more difficult, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

I

N far away Hyderabad, India, two Nigerian drug peddlers were arrested on Sunday.

Eight grammes of cocaine were recovered from them. The two suspects; Sakiru Akinsalo and Okechukwu Ohazurike, were arrested near the main gate of Durgam Cheruvu at Jubilee Hills, where the police laid a trap for them.

Akinsalo, 53, hails from Lagos.

Thirty-year-old Ohazurike is from Owerri, the Imo State in Nigeria.

Hyderabad’s West Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Stephen Ravindra said: “Sakiru supplies spare parts to Nigeria and is a regular consumer of cocaine and buys the banned substance from Jackson, who hails from Uganda. Sakiru used to supply drugs to consumers in the city and customers of Ohazurike for which the latter was paid commission. We are yet to get their passports and other documents to ascertain whether they are staying here legally.’’

India is not the only Asian country where Nigerians engage in the business of hard drugs.

Malaysia, with a death sentence on drug trafficking, is a major market for Nigerian peddlers and barons.

Reports indicate that other countries that also have severe penalties for drug trafficking also attract peddlers from Nigeria.

In the last one month, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested about 10 peddlers who were headed for Malaysia and other countries known for their unfriendliness to drug barons and peddlers.

QUICK TAKES Some traffickers hide the drugs in the metal handles of their bags Drugs have been discovered in false bottom or side compartments Other items used include clothes, garden shears, hand trowels They also use bronze castings, car shock absolvers, bags and foodstuffs Female traffickers have used their hair and their private member Clothes have been soaked in cocaine The age of the suspects also cuts across the young, middle age and the aged Drugs smuggled include cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and amphetamine

Last month, four Nigerians tafficking drugs to Malaysia escaped death when they were apprehended at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos. They would have faced the death penalty if they had been caught in Malaysia. A total of 5.715kg of suspected substance that tested positive to Methamphetamine was seized from the suspects.

One of them, Emmanuel Innocent, wanted to travel with a Gambian passport, with the name Gaye Jerry. He was to board an Ethiopian Airways flight, with 600 grammes of Methamphetamine in the metal handle of his luggage. Another suspect, Innocent Chukwuemeka Udeh , 36, hid two kilogrammes of the same drug in a false compartment of his bag and was caught during the screening of Qatar Airways flight.

Twenty-six-year-old Olisah Kelvin Chukwuka was caught during the screening of passengers on an Egypt Air flight. He ingested 1.300kg. The fourth suspect, Mgbeajuo Alex Chigozie, 31, who attempted to board an Emir-

ate Airline, swallowed 1.815kg of methamphetamine.

The four suspects were heading for Malaysia where the punishment for drug trafficking is death.

Udeh said: “I got involved in drug trafficking because I need money. I am a student studying English language in Malaysia.

After my primary school at Central School, Nnobi, I was admitted at Madonna Commercial School at Nnobi but I stopped in class two due to lack of fund. I also worked as a commercial motorcyclist and taxi driver in Abia State before I travelled to Malaysia in search of greener pastures.

I regret my involvement.”

On October 11, two Nigerians were arrested at the MMIA with hard drugs. The suspects are: Oliver Nnodi and Amoo Durowoju.

Nnodi, despite the possibility of death staring him in the face, was about to board an Emirate flight to Malaysia when he was arrested. Durowoju was travelling to Dublin when the bubble burst. Nnodi has since excreted 75 wraps of methamphetamine.

Durowoju has excreted 60 wraps of cocaine.

A day after, a popular Nollywood comedian, Babatunde Omidina, aka Baba Suwe, was arrested after the scanning machine allegedly showed he had drugs in his system.

Last Friday, Justice Okechukwu Okeke of the Federal High Court, Lagos, acceded to a request by the NDLEA to further detain him for 15 more days.

NDLEA, in an ex-parte application filed by its lawyer, Theresa Asuquo, which was supported by a 29-paragraph affidavit deposed to by an NDLEA intelligence officer, Femi Johnson Osifuye, and a CT scan result issued by a consultant radiologist with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Dr Subhash Vijayvargiya, argued that the actor has large amounts of narcotic drugs in his body.

He was arrested on October 12 while attempting to board an Air France plane to Paris when the scanning machine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport indicated that he had ingested substances suspected to be narcotics.

Osifuye said the actor has refused to eat regularly claiming that he eats once in three days, thus stalling the process of digesting the suspected drugs. He said the CT scan confirmed large amounts of drugs in his body, arguing that the agency needed more time to get him to excrete the drugs.

Osifuye added that it was in the interest of the suspect to ex-

crete the ingested substances to prevent them from bursting in his abdomen and leading to his death.

In the early hours of Thursday, September 15, three suspected drug traffickers, arrested at the MMIA Lagos, excreted drugs from their system. One of the suspects was also, surprisingly, on his way to Malaysia, while two were going to Madrid, Spain.

They are: Udeh Donatus Chukwuka, Ukeachu Oliver Aham and Onyeze Izunna Lawrence. Chukwuka, 35, ingested 35 wraps of cocaine weighing 815 grammes and 26 wraps of heroin weighing 560 grammes. Aham, 45, ingested 70 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.540kg while Lawrence, 31, ingested 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.300kg.

A 56-year-old man, Chiafor Emmanuel Ndubuisi, was arrested, early last month, after testing positive to drug ingestion. Ndubuisi, who sold five plots of his family land in exchange for illicit drugs, is counting his losses. He ingested 97 wraps of substances that tested positive to cocaine and was arrested during the screening of British Airways passengers to London.

Also in September, the NDLEA nabbed a suspected trafficker, Anthony Judd Thomas (carrying a British passport), who claims to have carried drugs because he was HIV positive.

In August, an automobile importer was nabbed by NDLEA for alleged exportation of narcotics.

The suspect, Ofodili Ifeanyichuk-

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

3

NEWS

traffickers defy death penalty •From left: NDLEA sniffer dogs at work at the MMIA; Odelibe displaying his luggage in which he hid drugs; NDLEA chief Giade; Onyeze; Chukw u k a ; Ukeachu; a luggage in which drugs were found; and Mrs Jimoh, who padded her buttoocks with drugs.

PHOTOS: NDLEA website

Baba Suwe urges court to vacate order on detention

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•Baba Suwe

wu Victor, 47, said he invested five million naira on the illicit drug business. He was expecting to make N25 million to increase his capital base. Victor tested positive to drug ingestion at the MMIA. He was apprehended during the screening of passengers on British Airways flight to London Heathrow Airport. On Friday, August 19, he excreted 70 capsules of powdery substances, which tested positive to cocaine, weighing 1.300kg.

The enormity of the drug challenge makes more sense given the revelation by the NDLEA that it has seized drugs worth N6.1 billion ($4.06 million) from 291 suspected drug traffickers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos between January, last year and this September. The NDLEA said the drugs weighed a total of 612.68 kilogrammes, which is the weight of seven men of at least 85kg each.

The agency said it was surprised that drug traffickers were getting more daring by smug-

ETAINED actor, Babatunde Omidina a.k.a Baba Suwe has urged a Federal High Court in Lagos to vacate an order approving a request by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to further keep him in custody for 15 more days.

In the motion filed yesterday by his lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, the actor accused the NDLEA of concealing some vital material facts before securing the order.

The court presided over by Justice Okechukwu Okeke had, last Friday made the order following an ex-parte application filed and argued by NDLEA’s lawyer, Theresa Asuquo.

gling drugs to countries with capital punishment for such a crime.

NDLEA’s Lagos Airport Commander Alhaji Hamza Umar said: “In 2010, the command arrested 200 drug suspects, including 172 males and 28 females, with 399.431kg of drugs consisting of 237.5kg of cocaine, 44.907kg of heroin, 42.050kg of cannabis, 74.755kg of methamphetamine/ amphetamine and 0.240 grammes of other psychotropic substances.

“Similarly, between January and September, a total of 91 drug suspects, comprising 81 males and 10 females, were apprehended for trafficking 213.249kg of narcotics, comprising 79.696kg cocaine, 21.705kg heroin, 57.705kg cannabis, 44.723kg methamphetamine/amphetamine and 9.400kg of other psychotropic substances.

He said: “The pattern of drug seizures here at the airport since inception is that little quantity of drugs is smuggled at a time unlike at the seaports where our entire annual seizure can be made in one fell swoop. The 14,200kg of cocaine made at the Tin Can Port in 2006,

•Court to hear application tomorrow

The actor, in his application, insisted that the NDLEA concealed material facts relating to the health and circumstances of Baba Suwe’s arrest and detention, and that the agency’s application contained contradictory facts.

He argued in the motion that the application, upon which the detention order was based, was grossly irregular and constituted an incurable abuse of court process.

He stressed that by the detention order, NDLEA had wantonly

violated Baba Suwe’s fundamental rights, because the application was contrary to public policy on treatment of a suspect.

The motion, which is to be heard on Wednesday, was supported by a 12-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Baba Suwe’s first son, Adesola Omidina.

Adesola, in the affidavit, stressed that he read in the papers that NDLEA had secured a court order to further keep his father in detention based on a purported scan report issued by one Dr. Subhash Vijayvargiya.

He added that it was unthinkable that NDLEA failed to disclose to the court while applying for the detention order that his father had defecated three times without any illegal narcotic substance in his faeces.

Adesola pointed out that the agency also failed to inform the court that his father is a diabetic patient, who may die if kept in custody for a long time.

He also wondered why the NDLEA claimed at one breath that Baba Suwe eat only once in three days, yet he had defecated twice.

the 450.400kg of cocaine also intercepted at the Lagos sea port and others are pointers to the fact that while we do our best here at the airport, our colleagues at the seaports will also continue with the good work aimed at dismantling drug barons.”

The report added: “The little quantities of narcotics smuggled by suspects at the airport could empower drug cartels because eventually when added together they become substantial.

“Some of the success strategies of the command include good working relations with international partners, such as the United States, Britain, Germany, France, South Africa and many others. The security agencies, airline operators and airport staff have also contributed to the successful operations of the Agency.”

Umar said most of the suspects ingested the hard drugs. “Some traffickers hide the drugs in their luggage using various ways. The drugs could be hidden in the metal handles of the bag, in false bottom or side compartments. Other

items used include clothes, garden shears, hand trowels, car shock absolvers, bronze castings, bags and foodstuffs, to mention a few.

Still we are able to uncover the drugs.

“Female traffickers have used their hair and even inserted drugs into their private parts. The age of the suspects also cuts across the young, middle age and the aged.”

Umar said the tricks of drug barons appeared endless. The Agency recently discovered clothes soaked in cocaine from a woman who arrived from Brazil.

He said: “The Agency is also worried about the level of desperation of some drug traffickers. We find it worrisome that young traffickers smuggle drugs to Malaysia and other countries where drug trafficking attracts capital punishment.

“Many have been prevented from such suicide missions and we keep apprehending more people on these routes. Unfortunately, we have also recorded deaths from drug ingestion. When there is a leakage in the wraps of in-

gested drugs, the courier can barely last the next one hour. This is the reality of the obnoxious trade in narcotics.”

With the Christmas season around the corner, NDLEA fears there will be more incidence of drug trafficking. The agency‘s Chairman/Chief Executive, Ahmadu Giade, has urged his men to adopt proactive measures. He spoke while parading a suspect, Charles Chiagozie Oledibe, a 37year-old, who was caught at the MMIA travelling from Brazil with 5.850kg of cocaine concealed in his luggage.

Giade said: “We are prepared to counter the plans of drug trafficking syndicates this season.

Our strategies are already in place at the airports, sea ports and land borders to frustrate the inimical moves of drug barons. We shall arrest drug barons, seize their drugs and prosecute them.”

But how far its challenges, such as shortage of operational vehicles, inadequate funding and absence of other tools, allow it to go remains to be seen.

By Eric Ikhilae

4

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

NEWS Continued from page 1

•President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife Patience being received on arrival in Perth, Australia for CHOGM 2011 ... yesterday.

PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

53 Gaddafi men’s bodies found

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ODIES of 53 men believed to be Muammah Gaddafi’s supporters have been discovered in a hotel in Sirte.

Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) has ordered an investigation into the death of Muammar Gaddafi, after international pressure to examine the circumstances surrounding his death.

A commission of inquiry is being put in place to investigate the killing of Gaddafi, who was captured by NTC fighters outside Sirte on Thursday and shot shortly afterwards, apparently while being transported to Misrata.

“In response to international calls, we have started to put in place a commission tasked with investigating the circumstances of Muammar Gaddafi’s death in the clash with his circle as he was being captured,” Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the NTC, said at a news conference

Falana calls for probe of death From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

L

AGOS lawyer Femi Falana has described the role of United States President Barack Obama in the killing of Muammar Gaddafi as shameful.

Falana said: “All men and women of goodwill owe it a duty to condemn the depravity exhibited in Libya which has diminished our common humanity”.

In his view, it is disappointing that President Obama could, join leaders of other western countries to endorse such assassination.

Falana urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to probe what he described as “extra judicial murder of Gaddafi and his children by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and National Transition Council (NTC) forces”.

Continued on page 7

in Bengazi yesterday.

Abdel Jalil also announced that the process of forming a new interim government was already under way, and would be completed “within two weeks”.

He said all Libyans “wanted to try [Gaddafi] for what he has done to them. From executions, to imprisonment, to throwing away the Libyan wealth ... or using that wealth

against the Libyan people”.

The NTC chairman also said Gaddafi may have been killed by his own loyalists in order to escape being implicated by him in any trial.

“Some people may have wanted him to have been tried to extend their feeling of relief at his downfall,” said Abdel Jalil.

Continued on page 7

In what they feared was “executive lawlessness” and “impunity”, the governors said unless the injunction was granted, the Federal Government would continue to disregard, disrespect and ignore the pending suits.

They said: “The conduct of the Government of the Federation and her officials is a violation of the principle of the Rule of Law and breach of the Independence of the Judiciary and constitutes a violation of the principle of Rule of Law handed down by the Supreme Court in the case of Governor of Lagos State V Odumegwu Ojukwu (1986) pt 1 NSCC 304 and Rotimi Chibuke Amaechi V INEC (2008) 5 NWLR (PT 1080) 277.”

The plaintiffs believe that the proposed disbursement of $1billion by the Federal Government, her Minister of Finance and other officials would create a state of fait accompli and helplessness, if not stopped immediately.

It is in the interest of justice, preservation of integrity of the Supreme Court and the Rule of Law that this application be granted, they said.

In an-18 paragraph affidavit attached to the application, deposed to by Mr. Ephraim Ajijola, a lawyer in Awomolo’s chamber, the governors said: At a news conference held on 18th October 2011 and reported same day on the “Network News” broadcast by the Nigerian Television Authority, the Government of the Federation, through the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, announced its intention to withdraw US$1 billion from the ‘Excess Crude Account’ to start off a National Sovereign Wealth Fund.

“That the said sum of US$1 billion sought to be withdrawn by the Government of the Federation from the ‘Ex-

Governors ask Supreme Court to restrain Fed Govt cess Crude Account’ to fund the National Sovereign Wealth Fund forms part of the subject matter of the substantive suit.”

The governors reminded the court that one of the main issues in dispute between the parties in the substantive suit was whether the payment of revenue which accrued to the Government of the Federation from the proceeds of crude oil sales, petroleum profits tax and oil royalties into any account other than the Federation Account by the Government of the Federation was illegal and unconstitutional, notwithstanding that the proceeds from the aforesaid sources were in excess of the Government of the Federation’s estimate of the revenue that would accrue from the said sources.

The governors had gone to court to, among others, seek an order compelling the Government of the Federation to pay into the Federation Account N5.51 trillion being the balance of the sum which accrued to the Government of the Federation during the period 2004 and 2007 from the proceeds of crude oil sales, petroleum profits tax and oil royalties, which the Government of the Federation classified as “excess crude proceeds” and “excess PPT and Royalties” and paid into an account which was styled “Excess Crude Account”.

They also urged the court to order the Federal Government to transfer to the Federation Account all sums standing to the credit of the “Excess Crude Account”.

The governors went to court to challenge the action, conduct and activities of the Federal Government with respect to the management and

operation of the Federation Account.

The parties in this suit then exploited avenues of out of court settlement for over one year and indeed agreed on a settlement but the settlement so reached could not be implemented and was also not entered as the judgment of the court.

Consequently, the case was set down for trial and parties were directed to exchange briefs.

However, the court did not sit on the days scheduled and the case remained unscheduled.

Urging the court to grant their application, the governors said they had satisfied all the requirements of law to entitle them to the injunctive relief sought.

According to them, there is a substantial issue of law bordering on the constitutionality of the Federal Government’s power to create separate account as against the spirit and letter of the Constitution in so far as it related to the revenue of the nation in the substantive suit.

•Governors Forum chair Amaechi

Opposition stands firm against subsidy removal Why I back government plan, by Sanusi

Continued from page 1

attending an Executive Council meeting, should address them.

They declined to listen to Commissioner for Information and Strategy Mr. Remi Ibirogba and his Mineral Resources counterpart, Taofik Tijani, who attempted to receive them on behalf of the governor.

In a protest letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, jointly signed by group coordinator Malachy Ugwummadu, Legal Adviser Bamidele Aturu and convener Doyin Olagbegi, the protesters described the planned removal of fuel subsidy as an invitation to crises.

They described themselves as Nigerians with no political affiliations but with legitimate concerns about the continuing socio-political and economic decline in the country.

Ugwummadu, who led the protesters, said the proposed removal of subsidy is not in the interest of the masses but a few contractors who colluded with the government and its officials to the detriment of the people.

“The position really is that you cannot afford to blackmail the Nigerian people by insisting on removal of fuel subsidy. You can as well fix

C

ENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has thrown his weight behind the removal of fuel subsidy. He said yesterday that the subsidy has never benefited the common man.

Sanusi spoke yesterday during an interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture.

He said if the country continues to subsidise fuel, the country will be broke in no distant future.

Sanusi said the country cannot afford to disburse such huge funds annually especially because it imports the bulk of its petroleum products. It said good use can be made of the funds being frittered on the subsidy if there is sincere and genuine application of the funds to the infrastructural need of the country by the Federal government.

Sanusi also described the subsidy on fertilizer as “a fraud.”

Making a presentation titled: “Transforming Nigeria’s Agricultural Landscape through NIRSAL,” he said Nigeria spends $4.2 billion (N638.4bn) on Agricultural Imports annually.

“Large imports food products include wheat (NGN165bn), Fish (NGN 105 bn), Rice (NGN75), and Sugar (NGN 60 bn).” the refineries and fish out the cartel. If you do these things, then the Nigerian people will enjoy, but the implication of removing oil subsidy is that the price of every other thing will increase drastically,” he

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

According to him, this cranks up a “total food import bill of USD 4.2 billion (638.4 billion) annually.”

He described the agriculture sector as central to the country’s economy accounting for 40 per cent of GDP and 60 per cent of employment.

Sanusi said Nigeria spends only three per cent of its annual budget on agriculture but spends $1billion dollars annually on importation of rice.

On fertilizer subsidy, Sanusi said the N22 billion worth of subsidy on fertilizer by government is a fraud and a major drain on the economy.

He told the Committee members that only 11 per cent of subsidised fertilizer by government gets to the farmers.

He said the procurement and distribution of fertilizer should be handed over to the private sector, adding that “government should only concern itself with the provision of quality regulatory framework that will promote local manufacturing.”

The CBN boss while identifying poor quality of fertilizer, adulteration and absence of regulatory and quality control system as the bane of the fertilizer

said.

The protesters lamented the collapse in virtually every sector of the economy, saying that this decay continues to pose danger to Nigeria’s stability.

regime in the country, called for the overhaul of the Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) to stimulate private sector involvement.

Sanusi called for a closer working relationship between the Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing for Agriculture Lending (NIRSAL) and theMinistries Department and Agencies (MDAs) in order to resolve issues related to Agricultural inputs.

He said: “NIRSAL will provide technical assistance to help organise farmers into cooperative groups that can act as recipients of working capital for crop production.”

He called for the deregulation of the agricultural insurance sector industry by amending part three, section 13 of the NAIC Decree 37 of 1993 to allow for private insurance companies to participate.

Chairman of the Committee Mohammed Mongonu (ANPP-Borno), said the interactive session was intended at exchanging ideas in order to proffer solutions to the problems confronting the sector.

He suggested the need for the National Assembly and the Executive to collaborate to improve on the development of the sector.

The letter, said: “Indeed, no other sector is this failure made more manifest than in the energy sector as the country continues to grope in near darkness. The deplorable conditions, associated with

undependable availability of electricity in Nigeria continue to hamper the socio-economic development of our country.

“We do not fail to recognise the fact that so much rheto-

ric, energy and resources have been expended by government in the past 12 years of unbroken democracy to provide uninterrupted electricity to the deserving citizens of Nigeria.

“The outcome has been one of deep failure and shame and questions the ability, commitment, priority and competence of government and government functionaries to discharge their responsibilities to the Nigerian people.”

The National Secretary of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Petroleum Tanker Driver’s Branch Dayyabu Jajarr, urged the Federal Government to fix bad roads, water and electricity before removing oil subsidy. He spoke at the Zonal council meeting in Birnin Kebbi.

To him, the removal of oil subsidy will be a welcome idea if the federal government follows the procedure and be sincere with Nigerians. They should consider the plight of the masses by providing them with the social needs in term of repair of the roads, provision of drinking water, supply of electricity and creation of jobs for the youths.

Alhaji Jajarr urged the federal government to consider fixing the refineries.

ADVERT HOTLINES: 01-280668, 08070591302, 08052592524 NEWSROOM: LAGOS – 01-8962807, ABUJA – 07028105302 COMPLAINTS: 01-8930678

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25 2011

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NEWS

•RAGE OF W AT E R Top from left: A boy swimming his way home at Ajegunle, a community on Ikorodu road; people helping themeselves home with the aid of canoes after flood cut them off; and a traffic gridlock caused by the flood PHOTOS: MOSES OMOSEHIN

Flood disrupts traffic flow on Ikorodu road

The flood, which has submerged houses in coastal communities situated on Ikorodu Road, Lagos, has also made vehicular traffic on some portions of the ever-busy road a nightmare, reports TOLUWANI ENIOLA

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ESIDENTS of riverine communities on Ikorodu road and commuters from that axis of Lagos yesterday spent several hours in traffic; no thanks to the floods from Ogun River that had almost cut them off.

Many, who could not endure the gridlock had to reroute their trips either through Ajah-Lekki or the Sagamu/Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The traffic elicited emotions from residents of the affected communities, which include: Owode-Onirin, Owode-Elede, Agiliti, Ajegunle, Isheri-North and other coastal communities at Mile 12.

The Nation learnt that residents of the affected communities had a sleepless night because of the fear of being wiped away by flood. Sources told this reporter that some residents in Ajegunle slept in abandoned vehicles on the roads to save their lives.

Some rose as early as 5 am to beat the anticipated traffic but were still trapped on the road.

Many commuters waded through the flooded road with trousers rolled up above their knees. The flood became a blessing for commercial motorcyclists,

who got free water to wash their motorbikes.

Traffic was held up for several hours. Many could not make it to their offices as the long queues of vehicles stretched from Mile 12 to Zion Street in Ikorodu.

Officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) had a hectic time maintaining order as impatient drivers drove against traffic. Some vehicles parked indiscriminately on either side of the dual-carriage way were submerged in the flood.

A newspaper vendor, Mr Nurudeen Abdulsemiu, who witnessed the traffic snarl, described it as a terrible one.

Abdulsemiu said: “It was very terrible. For like three hours, the roads were completely blocked. At the Odo-Ogun Bus stop, the flood took over the roads. Many motorists flouted traffic regulations. The LASTMA officials over-worked themselves to restore order.

Also affected were secondary school pupils in the area, who had to take a boat out of their streets to get to the main road. For instance, Ifelodun Street in Ajegunle was completely overtaken by flood. Residents were at the mercy of the few boat riders who capitalised on the disaster to make money. The Na-

‘

Please, help us appeal to the government to find a lasting solution to this problem. I have been in this community for 25 years. I have lived a significant part of my life here. I have four children who also grew up here tion gathered that residents of the street pay N20 to get to their homes on wooden canoes. The situation was the same at Odo-Ogun where unemployed youths became emergency paddlers.

One of them, identified as Peter John, who was asked to take reporters through Ifelodun street to assess the situation, demaded N500.

Residents stood helplessly in their flooded homes watching the canoes go by.

Dogs and other pets lay sedentary on piles of refuse to avoid being swept away by the flood. Evening services could not hold at Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) and First Baptist Church on Ifelodun Street.

One of the affected house owners, Mrs Omirinde Olufunmilayo, appealed to

‘

the government for assistance. She said she has nowhere to go.

Mrs Olufunmilayo, who stood in a pool of water reaching up to her windows, cried : “Please, help us appeal to the government to find a lasting solution to this problem. I have been in this community for 25 years. I have lived a significant part of my life here. I have four children who also grew up here. The situation has been like this for many years but it was not as worse as this.

Our representatives in government should be our voice but nothing significant has been done to end our woes.The N700 million released by the Federal Government for these communities should be utilised to find a lasting solution.

“There is no where we would relocate to, knowing full well that the problems of accommodation is serious in Lagos. I have observed that the canals recently built by the government need to be opened to allow the water to pass. As you can see, to go in and out of this street, you have to use the canoe.

Remember this street has a tarred road. This is sad.”

At Waterside, the gateway to Agiliti, the roads were also heavily flooded. Some pupils returning from schools were assisted by the elderly to get home.

The people suddenly became hostile to reporters, as they were rebuffed by angry residents. The people took them for government officials. At Owode-Elede, vehicles that conveyed some TV camera men were attacked by angry youths.

“If you come here and take pictures again, we will kill you,” they threatened.

When this reporter met the Baale of Odo-Ogun community, the old man declined to speak, saying it was a waste of time. “Don’t come and ask me questions again. It is every year that you come here, yet the situation is like this. What has the government done to improve this condition?

As at 2pm yesterday, the traffic gridlock reduced because the flood subsided.

But residents fear the worst may not be over.

Speaking with The Nation, the Head of Operation, LASTMA, Ikorodu, Mr Oladunni Shakira, who confirmed the incident, said the situation was under control. He said: “Flood is a natural disaster.

We will continue to do our best to maintain order.

A source from the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment who prefers anonymity, said the state government was doing its best to attain a flood-free environment. He urged residents to assist the government by vacating the waterpath.

Commissioner for the Environment Tunji Bello, duringa visit to the area on Sunday, said: “We have been working endlessly to mitigate the effects of flooding.In the last one week, we have been on air trying to alert Lagosians that those who live along the flood plains of Ogun River, such as Isheri North, up to Ajegunle and Owode area face imminent disaster if they fail to relocate... If the rain stops, there is no cause for alarm. But if we should have continuous rain for the next two or three days, there is likelihood of a total wipe out.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

6

NEWS

One vehicle burnt, six vandalised in Sokoto clash

No Boko Haram in Yobe, says police chief

Y

OBE State Police Commissioner Suleimon Lawal has said there is no Boko Haram sect in the state.

The police chief was reacting to the killing, at the weekend, of a Police Constable, Adamu Ali, in Damaturu, the state capital, by unknown gunmen.

He said: “…We are not fighting Boko Haram in Damaturu. We are fighting hardened criminals. You don’t hear me talk of Boko Haram be-

Gaidam’s wife buried in Abuja THE wife of Yobe State Governor, Hajiya Zainab Ibrahim Gaidam, who died yesterday at the National Hospital, Abuja, has been buried according to Islamic rites.

Hajiya Zainab, 32, is Governor Gaidam’s third wife. She died after an undisclosed illness. She left behind two children.

Funeral prayers, led by the Deputy Chief Imam of Abuja Central Mosque, Ustaz Mohammed Kabir, were said for the deceased at the Abuja Central Mosque.

From Duku Joel, Damaturu

cause I don’t think I have Boko Haram here. What I have here is that if anybody commits any heinous crime, it is armed robbery. By my own definition, Boko Haram has no definition in our law; that is why I stick to that. You can’t hear me talk about Boko Haram. I don’t have Boko Haram in Damaturu.

Rather, if any serious crime is committed it is by armed robbers.”

The police chief said the command had begun investigation into the killing of the policeman, adding that preliminary investigation indicated that he was killed by assassins.

Lawal said: “The boy was a driver, and in all the raids that we carried out, he did not participate. It must have been a long story that happened between the late policeman and some people, who masterminded this. But I cannot unfold our theory now. We must unravel, by the grace of God, who masterminded this. It is true we have recorded a death like that because it looked like the work of hired assassins and not Boko Haram.”

He said an AK47 with 25 live ammunitions were recovered from a gang of robbers who attempted to rob at the commercial city of Potiskum yesterday.

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•Police arrest 11 suspects •Aspirant denies suspension From Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto •Wamakko

O

NE vehicle was burnt and six others were vandalised when supporters of two governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clashed at Gawon Nama area of Sokoto on Sunday.

The police command said it has arrested 11 suspected thugs over the clash, which

reportedly occurred among supporters of Governor Aliyu Wamakko and Senator Abubakar Umar Gada.

It was learnt that Gada’s supporters and those of Wamakko clashed during Gada’s campaign in the city.

Some youths, who were allegedly brandishing dangerous weapons, were said to have blocked the path of the campaign team, resulting in a confrontation.

Parading the suspects yes-

terday, police spokesman AlMustapha Sani, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), told reporters that the suspects were arrested with dangerous weapons.

He accused a frontline politician of instigating the confrontation.

Sani said investigations into the matter were ongoing and that anyone found culpable would be prosecuted.

Gada yesterday dismissed the alleged claim by some elders and executives of the

party from Gada Local Government Area that he has been suspended from the party.

The aspirant told reporters in Sokoto that the PDP constitution has no provision for the suspension of any member without due process.

He said: “Our party is based on democratic setting and not one existing and guided by the rule of the thumb.

“It has shown that I enjoy the support of many members of the PDP in the state in view of the large crowd that received me at the airport.”

Gada said he was not disturbed by the power of incumbency enjoyed by the governor, adding that it is God who gives power to whom He wishes.

Niger accesses over N6b UBEC fund

T

HE Niger State Government has accessed over N6billion as intervention fund from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Education Commissioner Peter Sale Sarki has said.

He said the fund has assisted the state to provide a conducive learning environment, which has impacted positively on the standard of education.

Sarki, who spoke yesterday in Minna, the state capital,

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

noted that the government paid 50 per cent of the money as counterpart fund while UBEC paid the other half.

The commissioner said the funds were used to build 1,928 classrooms, 80,897 sets of furniture and 422 VIP toilets as well as drill a borehole in primary and secondary schools.

He said Niger State got N1.1 billion in 2006; N1.3 billion in 2007; N1.5 billion in 2008; N1 billion in 2009; and another

N1.2 billion recently received from the Universal Basic Education (UBE) for last year.

Sarki said N340million was given to the state by the Education Trust Fund (ETF) as a special grant for almajiri education, adding that the fund is being used to build two schools in Kontagora and Minna.

He added that the school projects are 70 per cent completed.

The commissioner said more schools would be built in Mokwa, Agaie and Bida

with the next fund being expected from the ETF. Sarki said the state would decentralise alimajiri schools to ensure that begging among youngsters is stopped.

He said: “We are still expecting more funds from ETF to build more schools for them (almajiris). We will scatter them across the state. This way, we can easily take these young boys off the streets. Once this is done, there will no more begging on the streets because the boys will have no reason to roam about.”

Tribunal upholds Lamido’s election

T

HE Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, yesterday struck out the petition by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar, challenging the election of Governor Sule Lamido of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April poll.

The tribunal said the petitioners, Abubakar and the ACN, could not prove allegations of election malpractices against Lamido.

It, therefore, struck out the petition for lacking in merit.

Tribunal Chairman Justice Joyce Akphanbanum noted that the petitioners could not prove that the respondents carried out multiple thumb-printing, chased away ACN sup-

From Eunice Bosua, Dutse

porters from polling units or denied ACN members the right to cast their votes.

She averred that the petitioners could also not prove allegation of illegal withdrawal of N4billion from the state and local government account for the conduct of the April poll.

Justice Akphanbanum noted that the petitioners failed to produce any government official caught buying votes to testify before the tribunal, saying the allegation of altering result sheets was a mere hearsay.

The tribunal chairman said the evidence tendered by the plaintiff on how the fund was allegedly withdrawn was inadmissible in law.

She maintained that the claim by the petitioners that

their supporters and officials were chased away from polling units could not be ascertained since Abubakar admitted that he was duly accredited and allowed to vote.

Justice Akphanbanum noted that since the petitioners could not present any witness to testify at the tribunal, it meant that the case lacked merit.

She said: “Since the petitioner could not prove that the respondent personally committed the offences, I therefore, dismiss the petition for lack of evidence and merit.”

The assistant lead counsel to the petitioner, Adamu Abubakar said: “We are not satisfied with the judgment. The result was that the petition was dismissed on the

•Lamido

grounds that we did not prove the allegation of qualification and non-compliance to the Electoral Act 2010.”

He said the ACN would file an appeal within 21 days.

Its Vice-Chairman, Alhaji Auwalu Bayero also said the party would appeal the judgment to ensure that justice is done.

Kwara ACN to appeal tribunal’s verdict

T

HE Kwara State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday expressed dismay at the action of the National/House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Ilorin, which disallowed the party from tendering documents.

ACN and its Kwara South senatorial candidate, Anu Ibiwoye, have vowed to challenge the tribunal’s ruling at the Appeal Court.

The tribunal yesterday threw out ACN’s petition challenging the victory of Senator Simeon Ajibola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the senatorial district.

A statement in Ilorin, the state capital, by the Chairman, Kayode Olawepo, said the party was not satisfied with the tribunal’s verdict.

The statement reads: “We disagree with the decision of

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

the panel and we will exercise our right of appeal.”

Ibiwoye noted that he was not too surprised by the judgment, in view of what transpired during the trial.

He said: “Anybody who has

followed the trial/proceedings, would know it would end this way. It is a biased judgment. If you listened to the judgment, you would have discovered that a lot of our pleadings, which were supported by authorities, were ignored. Also, docu-

ments that were already pleaded and which would have allowed us to prove our case, were not admitted by the tribunal. We have already appealed some rulings earlier given by the tribunal and we will also appeal this one.”

‘Let’s work for permanent peace in Plateau’

T

HE Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, has urged Plateau State residents to sustain the peace in the state.

The cleric spoke at a thanksgiving service at St Theresa Catholic Church in Jos, the state capital, for the family of Sir Michael Obi. Sir Michael Obi, father of the Super Eagles and Chelsea of England soccer star, John Mikel Obi, was kidnapped in Jos on August 12 and rescued in Kano State 12 days later by the security agencies.

Kaigama said: “God is interested in the peace of the state. All we need to do as a people is to pray constantly to God for peace. We are currently enjoying some peace and prayers and

From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos

show of love are all we need to make the peace permanent.

“Let the peace come from our mouths and our hearts. Permanent peace cannot come from the police and soldiers on the streets of Jos. The desired peace can only come from our hearts.

“It was prayers that rescued Pa Michael Obi from the hands of the kidnappers; it was not by his own power or that of the security agencies.

God rather used the police to rescue him, based on his faith in God.” The cleric urged Christians to pray without end, advising Pa Obi to show love to his kidnappers.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

7

NEWS Security is our priority, says Sambo

Fuel subsidy removal provocative, V says Opadokun C OORDINATOR of the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER) Ayo Opadokun yesterday described the proposed removal of oil subsidy as a provocative idea.

He urged the Federal Government to shelve it to avoid the wrath of Nigerians.

The former Afenifere and National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) Secretary said: “It is worrisome that Nigeria, which is the eighth largest producer of oil in the world, builds its domestic fuel consuption policy on the importation of refined petroleum, which they call PPMS.” Opadokun told reporters in Lagos that government has deliberately hoarded information on the real reason behind the planned oil subsidy removal. He chided the Federal Government for running a government

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor

of falsehood.

He emphasised that highscale corruption has underlined the refusal of successive administrations to shun the patriotic challenge of building refineries at home.

Opadokun said: “The first Nigerian petroleum refinery (Port Harcourt) was built in 1965; Warri in 1978; Kaduna in 1981; the second Port Harcourt refinery was built between 1978 and 1981. Almost all crude oil exportation countries have enough refineries to serve their domestic consumption. Their citizens are spared the agony of having their local demand subject to the constant price changes at the interna-

tional market.

“Except for criminal neglect of duty, those in government in succession, must be ashamed of themselves that our country has not built any other refinery since 1981 despite the astronomical rise in demand for local consumption as a result of expansion in economic activities.

“The functioning refineries are not at their maximum capacities. From IBBled government to Obasanjo’s, huge Nigerian resources have been wasted. on ‘turn-aroundmaintenance’ up to four times now. Yet, the refineries have not performed. Why have the contractors not been compelled to refund or perform?

“The fact that Nigeria, an oil exporting nation, has to depend on importation for

her local use exposes the underbelly of pervasive corruption of the sitting government in succession.”

The CODER Coordinator examined the reasons adduced for the removal of oil subsidy since 1976 to now, dismissing them as baseless.

He added: “They say fuel is cheaper in Nigeria than soft drinks like Coca Cola and Fanta, etc; that the cheap price of fuel in Nigeria is an incentive and invitation to shrewd marketers to sell fuel across the border at higher prices.

“They also say subsidy is benefiting just few businessmen. Some government officials even claim that just about 50 people are beneficiaries of the subsidy; that subsidy withdrawn is to be used to cater for other necessary services, including infrastructure. They say the removal of subsidy would encourage private investors to build private refineries.”

ICE-PRESIDENT Namadi Sambo yesterday reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to tackle insecurity in the country.

He spoke when the VicePresident of Motorola Incorporated, Mr. Shimon Dick, visited him in his office at the State House, Abuja.

In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) Umar Sani, the Vice-President said the government was determined to address infrastructural deficits in Nigeria.

He said: “The area of concern this administration is eager to address is that of security.”

According to him, the police, which are saddled with maintaining law and order and the protection of life and property, would tackle the nation’s security challenges.

He queried the rationale

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

behind the buying of the N75,000 units of mobile communications equipment from Motorola by the Nigerian Police without corresponding infrastructural support for the equipment.

Sambo assured the company that its proposal for a national network communication system and CCTV for the police was receiving attention.

Dick congratulated President Goodluck Jonathan and Sambo for their success at the last April poll.

He noted that as the Chairman of the Police Reform Committee, Sambo was in a good position to appreciate their security communications equipment proposal for addressing the security challenges facing the country.

Boko Haram leader handed to Police alive, witness tells court

A

FEDERAL High Court, Abuja, heard yesterday that the late leader of the Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Yusuf, was alive when he was handed over to the police by the Nigerian Army.

Commander of the task force that arrested Yusuf from his hideout on July 30, 2009, Col. Benjamin Ahanotu, testified before the court yesterday.

He was giving evidence before the Justice Donatus Okorowo-led court in the Federal Government’s case against five police officers, who are on trial over the alleged murder of Yusuf.

The accused are: Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) J.B. Abang, Akeera and Mada Buba; Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Mohammed Ahmadu; and Sgt.

From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

Adamu Gado.

The officers are facing a two-count charge of conspiracy to commit an offence to wit: a terrorist act contrary to Sections 315 and 516 of the Criminal Code and punishable under Section 15 (1) (2) of the EFCC Act, 2004.

Ahanotu said the original copy of the handover note was with the police in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

He said Yusuf was arrested by his men following an intelligence report that he was hiding in an enclave.

The Colonel said Yusuf was arrested as his men fled in disarray from the enclave, adding that he was first taken to the Brigade Headquarters where he was interrogated before he was moved to the police headquarters.

NUJ decries journalist’s killing From Sanni Onogu, Abuja •From left: Otunba Isola Adebanjo; popular lawyer, Mr Bamidele Aturu; and chairman of the occasion, Dr Abayomi Ferreira, at the fourth annual Law and Social Development Lecture, organised by Bamidele Aturu & Co. at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja...yesterday PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAM

53 Gaddafi men’s bodies found •Continued from page 4 “Free Libyans wanted Gaddafi to spend as much time in prison as possible and feel humiliation as much as possible.”

The NTC has insisted that Gaddafi was killed in “crossfire” between NTC fighters and pro-Gaddafi loyalists after his capture from a drainage pipe outside his hometown of Sirte.

Some members of the NTC, as well as of the international community, have expressed doubt over this version of events.

The US, Britain and international rights groups have all called for an investigation into how Gaddafi was killed in what appeared to be one of the final acts of Libya’s eight-month civil war.

Critics have also said that the fact that Gaddafi’s body, along with that of his son Mutassim, was on display in a Misrata freezer raises questions about the NTC’c commitment to the rule of law.

Abdel Jalil said the NTC’s commission would be gov-

Falana calls for probe of death Calling for a probe into other violations of human rights of unarmed peoples, including black Africans during the war in Libya, the lawyer said “the war is over and the NTC should move speedily to set up an all-inclusive government which will prepare a Constitution and conduct elections in Libya within the next 12 months”.

He said: “No doubt, Gaddafi was a tragic hero. Unlike other oil producing countries in Africa, Libya under him witnessed tremendous improvement in the welfare of citizens, infrastructural development and investments.

“Gaddafi aided the liberation movements in Africa in the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. At the same time, he supported African dictators like Idi Amin of Uganda and Sani Abacha of Nigeria.

“He and his children personalised the State and imposed a reign of terror on Libyans. As a populist, Gaddafi did not promote himself like other military rulers in Africa. He drove himself in military vehicles and lived in tents. But he was alleged to have engaged in primitive accumulation of wealth.

“The close collaboration between the security agencies of western countries and Libya in the violation of the human rights of hapless Libyans has been established.” erned by a religious edict issued by the head of the Islamic Fatwa society.

Yesterday, New Yorkbased rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned of a “trend of kill-

ings, looting and other abuses” by those who had fought against Gaddafi.

HRW said it had found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gaddafi loyalists, in Sirte, and that there were

indications they may have been executed by revolutionary forces.

The bodies were found on the lawn of the abandoned Mahari hotel, and some had their hands bound.

Peter Bouckaert, a researcher for HRW, said the hotel had been under the control of NTC fighters from Misrata before the killings took place.

The condition of the bodies suggested that the men had been killed between October 15 and 19, HRW said.

Bloodstains on the grass and spent cartridges indicated that some were shot and killed at the spot they were discovered.

“This latest massacre seems part of a trend of killings, looting, and other abuses committed by armed anti-Gaddafi fighters who consider themselves above the law,” Bouckaert said in a statement.

“It is imperative that the transitional authorities take action to rein in these groups.”

T

HE Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) yesterday raised the alarm over the security of journalists and the rising wave of insecurity in the country.

Its National President, Mallam Mohammed Garba, who made the union’s position known in Abuja, lamented the gruesome killing of a reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Zakariyya Isa, in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, by unknown gunmen.

Garba noted that the killing has exposed the level of insecurity in Nigeria and brought to question Federal Government’s efforts at tackling insecurity, not only in Borno State but also across the country.

“The NUJ is very worried about the state of insecurity in the country. The killing of our colleague, Zakariyya Isa, by gunmen who are yet to be identified, is worrisome given that journalists speak for the people. How do you expect any journalist to operate successfully in an atmosphere of fear and insecurity?” he said.

The union leader regretted that since 1986, when journalists have become objects of murder, the government has done very little in apprehending those behind the killings.

He said it was high time the government addressed the killing of journalists and other murders.

Judge’s absence stalls hearing

H

EARING in a suit filed by some sacked workers of Diamond Bank Plc against the bank was stalled yesterday as the judge, Justice Eni Esan, could not sit.

He was said to be on vacation.

Seven former bank workers sued the bank last year, seeking the court’s declaration that their sack is null and void.

They are also asking for N210million damages.

Each of the sacked work-

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

ers is seeking N30million damages.

They are: Utieyin Obioru, Gbolahan Ladoja, Adesoji Adekunle, Chukwuma Kalu, Tokunbo Osayemi, Alabi Oloruntobi and Adio Oluwasegun.

Though they voluntarily resigned their appointments on January 22, the bank dismissed them in October 2009 on the allegation of stealing N70million in connivance with a customer at its Lebanon Street, Ibadan branch.

8

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

NEWS 17th Economic Summit slated for Nov

T

HE 17th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) will begin on November 10 at the Transcorp Hilton, Lagos.

President Goodluck Jonathan, governors, business men, captains of industries, public office holders, foreign investors, corporate organisations and other stakeholders are expected at the summit.

It will begin with a Presidential Policy Dialogue between the President and global chief executives.

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola is also expected to market investment opportunities in Lagos state to both local and global investors.

Ondo LP gets new members HIEFTAINS of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Igbara-oke, Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State, and their supporters have joined the Labour Party (LP).

They were led by Otunba Akin Asimolowo. The other defectors include Mr. Gabriel Olorunororo, Mr. Alaba Akereja, Mr. Olubunmi Alonge, Mr. Isaac Adu, Mr. Taye Adejuwon, Mr. Ibukun Akanle and Mr. Ganiyu Busari, among others.

They were received by Governor Olusegun Mimiko, Acting LP Chairman Chief

C

Dele Akinyele and other party officials.

Mimiko assured them of equal opportunities in the party, saying: “You are all entitled to the same privileges and opportunities in LP. You all have responsibilities to the party and your defection is an indication that you believe in the vision and mission of the LP. “This is a call to members of other parties to join LP and by the grace of God, we shall not bring disgrace to you.”

Asimolowo said they would work towards the party’s victory at next year’s election.

Fed Govt, EU to tackle unemployment From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

T

HE European Union (EU) has said it would partner the Federal Government on job creation.

Head of the EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. David Macrae, spoke yesterday during a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, in Abuja.

Macrae said the EU is willing to assist Nigeria to eradicate unemployment. He said: “I think it is right to say that among issues of the highest importance to Nigerians is the quest for employment, which government alone cannot do.”

Macrae hailed the planned removal of oil subsidy by President Goodluck Jonathan, explaining that it would enable the government channel its resources towards projects that would create jobs.

He urged Nigerians to support subsidy removal, arguing that its benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Wogu thanked the EU for its willingness to partner Nigeria on job creation.

He said: “As you rightly said, government alone cannot provide employment. The private sector and our bilateral friends should be part of it.”

Wogu said fuel subsidy removal would improve the economy and create employment.

He said: “Government has planned accompanying intervention schemes in the key sectors, such as transportation, education, health and establishment of indigenous refineries, among other safety nets.”

AU body gets new chair

By John Austin Unachukwu

A

NIGERIAN, Mrs. Catherine Dupe Atoki, was yesterday elected chairperson of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR).

She was elected in Gambia.

Mrs. Atoki was elected chairperson of the continental body at the ongoing 50th Ordinary Session and 30th year anniversary of the Commission, holding at the Sheraton Hotel in Banjul, the capital of Gambia.

Mrs. Atoki is the first Nigerian woman to head an organ of the African Union (AU).

Agency partners SSS, FIRS, NCC

T

HE National Identity Management Service (NIMS) has produced

fibre links with various agencies, such as the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), State Security Service (SSS), NPC, NCC, among others, to harmonise and integrate the existing identification schemes in Nigeria.

In a statement by its Head of Corporate Communication, Mr. Anthony Okwudiafor, and DirectorGeneral Chris Onyemenam,

From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

NIMS said: “The following benefits will accrue from this partnership: a central managed identity database for the country, improved security and data backup, disaster recovery methodology for central locations of storage, harmonisation of existing identity schemes, development of the consumer credit system as well as other application for the financial sector and the development of e-government in Nigeria.”

•From left: Wife of the Secretary to the Ekiti State Government, Alhaja Modupe Owolabi; Deputy Governor Mrs. Funmi Olayinka; and wife of the Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, at a Jumat Service marking the one year anniversary of the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led administration... at the weekend.

Firm demands N200m damages from OAU for alleged breach of contract HE Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, will, next Tuesday, hear a suit filed by a civil engineering firm, Progress Contracts Limited, seeking N200 million damages from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, for alleged breach of contract.

The petitioner is accusing the university of breaching a subsisting contract signed on April 26, 1982, by both

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From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

parties for the building of a Mathematics and First Year Laboratory Complex in the institution.

It accused OAU of reawarding the project to another company, Messrs Gilda Nigeria Limited.

The petition reads: “Work on the project progressed steadily until a time when the university suffered financial setback and subse-

quently approached the plaintiff to split the project into three components marked Phases A, B, C, under which Phases B and C, comprising laboratories, were successfully completed through self financing by the contractor, who resorted to bank loans, while Phase A was also executed to the 2nd Floor level.”

The petitioner said when the university eventually received development grants from the Federal Government and donor agencies, it

awarded the completion of the Phase A project to Messrs Gilda Nigeria Limited without terminating the subsisting contract.

The plaintiff is praying the court to declare that its contract with OAU subsists, and void the university’s contract with Messrs Gilda Nigeria Limited. It prayed the court to restrain the school from awarding the project to another contractor.

The firm is also asking OAU for N200 million as damages.

Oyo to pay teachers 25th of every month YO State Commissioner for Finance Mr. Zacheus Adelabu has said teachers’ salaries would now be paid into their individual accounts on the 25th of every month.

Adelabu spoke with reporters in Ibadan, the state capital, yesterday.

He said: “Governor Abiola Ajimobi has ordered that there must be no delay in salary payment, especially to teachers. We have gone through the purification process and perfected payment modalities.”

The commissioner said even though teachers had

O

•ACN seeks support for govt policies been notified of the e-payment system for a while now, only 5,000 of the estimated 26,000 teachers had registered their bank account numbers with the government.

He warned that no teacher would be paid by hand beginning from this month.

Adelabu said government has liaised with banks to enable teachers open bank accounts within 24 hours without depositing any money.

He said teachers who do not get their October salaries today due to their failure to open bank accounts

would be paid as soon as they provide their bank account information.

Also yesterday, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has urged residents to support government policies, so as to achieve the restoration agenda of the governor.

In a statement, the party’s Chairman, Chief Akin Oke, appealed to people whose houses were demolished at Ibadan toll gate to be patient.

Oke said government would resettle them soon.

He urged the people to express their grievances through democratic means

and not allow themselves to be used by desperate and disgruntled politicians.

Oke reiterated the determination of the ACN government to develop the state and make life easier for the people.

He said: “The government is not unaware of the challenges the people are facing.

No government can succeed while ignoring the welfare of its people. The government is willing to confront these challenges to achieve its transformation agenda.

“To transform and resolve the crisis around us calls for courageous commitment and sacrifices by all and sundry.”

Experts blame insecurity on failed public policies

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CHOLARS and legal experts yesterday blamed the worsening insecurity in the country on government’s inability to unite public policies with public welfare.

They attributed this failure to pervasive corruption in the land, fuelled by greedy and morally bankrupt elite.

Constitutional Law expert Professor Itse Sagay; another lawyer, Professor Sariyu Adesanya; renowned poet Odia Ofeimun; Dr. Dele Seteolu of the Lagos State University (LASU); rights activists Dr. Abayomi Ferreira; Fred Agbaje; and Bamidele Aturu agreed with Professor Yomi Akinyeye of the Uni-

By Eric Ikhilae

versity of Lagos (UNILAG) on the urgent need for government to reorder its priority.

They all spoke in Lagos at the Fourth Annual Law and Social Development Lecture with the theme, “Security and welfare of the people: The historical disconnect in Nigeria.” The lecture was organised by the law firm of Bamidele Aturu and Co. The lead speaker, Prof.

Akinyeye, who traced the socio-economic history of the country, said insecurity and crime crept into the nation’s life shortly after the civil war.

He said the situation has been worsened by succeed-

ing governments, whose policies had consistently been at variance with public welfare.

The historian said the growing rate of unemployment, coupled with the shrinking revenue of states, which are mostly misapplied, have contributed to the growing level of insecurity.

Describing security as the primary responsibility of every government, the professor said any state that fails to guarantee the security of its citizens is a failed state.

He blamed government’s failure to provide the basic necessities of life for the peo-

ple on corruption and called for a change in attitude and policy direction by leaders.

Seteolu observed that government’s past economic policies, including privatisation, de-subsidisation, among others, worked to further erode public access to welfare. He cautioned the government against the planned removal of fuel subsidy, saying it would lead to an increase in the prices of commodities.

Aturu queried the government’s commitment to the anti-corruption crusade and wondered why anti-corruption agencies appear helpless in the face of pervasive corruption.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

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NEWS Jonathan arrives in Perth PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday arrived in Perth, Australia, for the 22nd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHOGM-2011.

He was received on arrival by Minister of Foreign Affairs Olugbenga Ashiru, Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Australia, Ambassador Ayo Olukanni alongside other government functionaries and CHOGM officials.

His plane touched down at Perth International airport at about 2.00 o clock Nigerian time. The President was accompanied by his wife Patience.

While in Australia, Jonathan is expected to hold bilateral talks with (Ms) Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, attend a dinner with top Australian businessmen and also attend a dinner with the GovernorGeneral, (Ms) Quentin Bryce AC. The CHOGM-2011 opening ceremony is on Friday. It will be followed by an Executive Session, while Queen Elizabeth II will host a dinner for all participating Commonwealth leaders and their spouses in the evening of the same day.

Ambassador Akanni, who spoke on the gains of CHOGM, said it would afford the country to cement relationship with the Australian mining sector which has already sunk about N150billion into the economy.

CHOGM: Australia deploys $600m spy plane to protect Queen, Jonathan, 53 others A S PART of plans to guard against terror attack at the Commonwealth Meeting in Perth, the Australian Government has deployed a $600 million Boeing Wedge tail spy plane and six other specialised security aircraft to protect Queen Elizabeth II of England, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, President Goodluck Jonathan and 52 other Heads of Government.

Some of the leaders have been championing anti-terrorism crusade and aided NATO military campaign which led to the ouster of killed Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.

Also, the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, arrived in Perth yesterday and opened Commonwealth Youths Forum which officially signalled the beginning of CHOGM 2011 Investigation revealed that although there were no fears of reprisals from any terrorist organization, the Australian Government was said to have taken pre-emptive steps to protect the leaders.

The Australian authorities decided to beef-up security following alleged leakage of the itinerary of Queen Elizabeth II of England, who arrived in Canberra (Australian capital) on Saturday.

The details of the aircraft and schedule of the Queen, which were allegedly posted on an aviation website, caused some anxiety among water-tight security agencies in Australia.

The government had kept the flying schedule of each Head of Government secret.

As of press time, it was learnt that the government was looking into the motive behind the leakage.

But besides the Queen is-

We’re deploying six special aircraft to counter-terrorists, says government

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HE Australian Government yesterday said it is deploying six F/A- 18 Hornets aircraft to check terrorists who might want to disrupt the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which has just started.

It asked the people not to panic over the deployment of specialised aircraft which can ward off security threats either on air or ground within 100kilometres.

The Australian Government made the disclosure in a late Defence Alert against apprehension over the intense security beefup in the host city, Perth.

The statement said in preparation for the deployment, the aircraft were already undergoing familiarisation training which began yesterday and would end today.

The statement said: “The F/A-18 Hornets will be flying as pairs and will travel along the coast between the Alkimo wreck and Fremantle, then up the Swan River and over the

sue, a heavy security has been mounted in Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and the venue of CHOGM, which is Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre(PCEC).

A source said: “The security arrangement is in line with Australian hospitality. Apart from deployment of crack intelligence officers, anti-bomb units screened the CHOGM venue on Sunday night.

“Movement to some parts of Perth leading to CHOGM venue has also been restrict-

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•Prof. Adebayo Williams, representative of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, speaking at the launch of the Economy Review Magazine in Accra, Ghana. Asiwaju Tinubu was honoured with an award for Excellent Leadership in Africa on the occasion.

Perth CBD. “The F/A-18 Hornets will fly coastal not below 500 feet and up the Swan River and over the Perth CBD not below 1000 feet.

“The aircraft will be travelling at relatively low speed to minimise any noise impacts.

The F/A-18 Hornets are in Perth in support of the Australian Government’s contribution to the security of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2011.

“The F/A-18 Hornet aircraft training activities in and around the Perth area will enhance the Australian Defence Force’s capability in the conduct of domestic counter terrorist and security operations. This is an important component of the Australian Government’s security arrangements for CHOGM 2011.

“Familiarisation with the local area is essential for pilots and crews.

“This is a great opportunity for the public to see and hear the aircraft close up as they prepare for their supporting role during CHOGM.”

ed. Even journalists have designated entry and exit points to the conference venue.

“As you can see, the Ausatralian Government places priority on security. A $600million Boeign Wedge tail and six F/A-18 hornets belonging to the Royal Australian Air Force have been deployed to protect the Convention Centre and all the visiting Heads of Government.

“The Wedgetail can detect any air aggression or danger within 400km and ground se-

curity challenges within about 100km radius.

“In short, it is like saying that the entire Perth is under surveillance for a hitch-free CHOGM.” The Secretary-General of The Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma, yesterday expressed satisfaction with the level of readiness for CHOGM 2011.

According to the Commonwealth Secretariat, Sharma spoke when he visited the Convention Centre and the Task Force for CHOGM 2011.

Sharma said: “I would like to express my deep appreciation to the CHOGM 2011 Taskforce led by Terry Crane, who have put in a magnificent effort to make the setting for this summit meeting of Commonwealth

leaders both convenient and impressive.

“I am confident that the gathering of Heads of Government in Perth will put us well on course to deliver yet more innovative and sustainable solutions to the contemporary challenges faced by the people of our member countries - and these Commonwealth solutions are, by their very nature, templates for global action.

“The theme ‘Building National Resilience, Building Global Resilience’ encapsulates the important role of our member countries in collectively advancing national and international development by building on the Commonwealth’s fundamental values of democracy, human rights, rule of law, good governance, tolerance and respect for diversity “Each of these factors contributes towards building peace, stability and security, which are goals we share for our common future.”

The CHOGM 2011 finally kicked off yesterday with an address by the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard to the Commonwealth Youth Forum(CYF) in Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle.

She said: “The Commonwealth appreciates that the future belongs to you, it will do everything to encourage you to succeed.”

Also, the Australian Minister of Youth, Peter Garret said: “We take the youths and challenges facing them seriously. We recognise that they are the emerging force for change. You are expected to provide a positive example and leadership for global community.

Our generation is failing, says Australian PM

HE Prime Minister of Australia and the incoming Chairperson of The Commonwealth, Mrs. Julia Gillard yesterday admitted that the present generation of leaders in the world is failing.

She said although the youths have cause to be impatient, they should also work harder to let their voice be heard.

Gillard, in an address to the Commonwealth Youth Forum at Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle, asked the youths to be idealistic to save the future of the world.

She said: “We are not succeeding as we should in meeting the great challenges of our time: Global warming. Food security. Financial stability. Poverty alleviation. Women’s rights.

Progress is too slow on all these things. And young people have every right to feel a sense of urgency. So be active.

Let your voice be heard.

“And be informed by the values we hold dear as a Commonwealth. Those defining values of fairness, democracy, equality and opportunity for all.

We call these Commonwealth values. But in truth, they are human values.

“Values that draw from us dreams of a better future; that draw us together in idealism.

At age 50, I am more idealistic than at any point in my life.

“Yes, more realistic about the means to get there and the

•Claims era of old school generation gone

Amosun for CHOGM

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OVERNOR Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State yesterday left with members of the state’s trade and investment promotion team for Perth, Australia, to participate in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

The Ogun State team would use the opportunity to seek investment and source for international support to make the state the next investment destination in Africa.

Trade delegation from 54 countries are expected to participate in the Round-table, according to a statement by Funmi Wakama, Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Communication. constraints along the way.

But no less idealistic about the brighter future that is within our grasp. So be idealists.

Speak with passion and commitment.

“The future of our world as well as the future of the Commonwealth will be shaped by you.

Looking around this room today, there is great cause for optimism about that future.

I see that optimism in your faces.

“Young people are demanding their freedoms. They are refusing to accept old excuses and old limitations.

“And they are determined to make a difference in their own lives and their own communities.

Because our world needs a difference to be made. Because you represent the future, and the success of that future depends on you.

Thank you all for making the journey to Perth. Let us make this a week of achievement and hope together.

“I think of the life journeys that have brought you here from over 40 countries.

You’ve come from so many backgrounds and circumstances, many involving adversity.

And I know how passionate for change each of you have become in your own lives.

There are delegates here involved in peace building, climate change networks, social enterprises, peer education, health work. Each of you has a remarkable story to tell.

The Prime Minister said since half of the population of The Commonwealth is under 25 years, the youths must rise up to the challenges facing their countries.

She also gave inspiring examples of some youths in The Commonwealth who should

be emulated.

She added: “I welcome you all to Australia, to Western Australia, and to the magnificent city of Fremantle.

I acknowledge the young people in the working group who organised this forum.

Your efforts are very much appreciated. Appreciated and timely. Because young people are our source of hope and inspiration for the challenges of tomorrow.

“Like John Loughton from Scotland, who grew up in a community where crime and youth exclusion was high. He had first hand experience of being bullied, drug abuse taking hold of the family, and growing up in a home where no-one had ever worked.

But instead of giving in, John used his difficult beginnings to create positive change.

He became an anti-poverty campaigner at the age of 10 yes 10. And he’s here today because he believes in a Commonwealth where your life chances are defined by your ambitions and abilities, not by your background.

“Al-Karim Khimji tells another extraordinary story. He grew up in Canada and received vital skills and motivation from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. From there he took a very non-traditional path to work in micro-finance and development funding in Afghanistan and Egypt.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

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NEWS Govt extends YouWiN age limit

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HE Federal Government entrepreneurship and jobs creation initiative Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWiN) has extended the age limit for candidates to 40. The reason, according to Dr. Olasupo Olusi, Special Assistant to the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and YouWiN! Project Coordinator, is to ensure that more young Nigerians can participate and thereby access the funds that will take their businesses higher.

Olusi said YouWin! Secretariat was besieged by calls and emails from young Nigerians who wanted the 35-year age limit raised. ‘So, seeing as we actually have more “on-theground” business men in that age bracket, the government has decided to lift the bar to allow the entry of 40 year olds and under,” he said.

He added: “Government believes that the wealth of experience that the under 40s have will help make the competition even keener”. He said age will not be a factor in deciding who gets the prizes eventually. “This is a competition of ideas. Our job is to see that at the end of the day, the best and most innovative ideas come tops, and for us to help support those ideas and their backers so that they can make good success in Nigeria’s business terrain”.

The Project Coordinator said going by the submissions received so far, it is obvious that Nigeria is brimming with business talents who, if encouraged and given adequate support can help propel Nigeria’s economy to much greater heights through value creation and the opening of opportunities to other young Nigerians.

Visafone crashes call rate to N6

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ISAFONE has crashed international call rate on its network to as low as N6 per minute.

The telecommunication firm has also won the award as the leading Code Division and Multiple Access (CDMA) network in the country.

Insiders magazine gave the award to mark its 10th anniversary.

Chief Operating Officer (COO) Srinivasa K.V said the awards the network has been receiving this year are a strong statement buttressing the leadership role the company is taking in providing voice clarity and data.

Visafone at the weekend unveiled two new packages tagged: Visa World Connect and Visa IDD (International Direct Dial) bundled minutes for both new and existing customers.

The package ensures that new customers who purchase Visa World Connect package will enjoy a bundled package of 500 minutes and a free handset with a year’s warranty to make international calls to their favorite destinations like United States, Canada, India, China, UK Fixed and 25 other fixed destinations upon activation.

In the same vein, existing customers can also subscribe to Visa IDD Bundled Minutes by dialing the appropriate short code for packs of 100 minutes, 300 minutes or 500

minutes to call these destinations at the same rate.

A statement issued by Head, Corporate Communications Joseph Ushigiale, said the introduction of these exciting packages underscores the company’s commitment to offering reduced international tariffs to its customers.

Managing Director of Visafone, Sailesh Iyer said: “We are mindful of the increasing need to keep in touch with friends, families, loved ones and business partners in key countries and have therefore created a truly affordable package that can address this need.”

The statement explained: “To enjoy the IDD Bundled minutes customers are required to dial an access code with the bundled preference. e.g. *450*1000# for Visa IDD bundle of 100 minutes, *450*2400 for Visa IDD bundle of 300 minutes or *450*3000# for Visa IDD bundle of 500 minutes.”

It pointed out that Visa world connect which also enables new customers to make local calls for as low as N12 per minute, comes with a SIM, bundled with a free ZTE S100 handset at the costs of N4, 499, adding that existing customers can also recharge with N3, 000 and activate the bundle by sending a stipulated short code to receive 500 minutes for international calls at N6/ min.

Lagos ACN to PDP leaders: you’re a •Parties trade blackmailer words over results

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HE Lagos State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders as blackmailers itching to secure power at the grassroots through the back door.

But PDP said the ACN deliberately rigged the elections in the disputed wards and local governments to maintain what it described as false superiority.

ACN Chairman Otunba Oladele Ajomale and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Joe Igbokwe, said in a statement in Lagos that PDP was still nursing the pains of its defeat in the Southwest in the last general elections, adding that its desire to bounce back during the council polls was resisted

by Lagosians.

He said PDP was bitter because it received feelers from its polling agents that it had again kissed the dust.

Igbokwe said: “We have noted the desperate scam arts of the members of Lagos PDP, a party that does not maintain any real presence in Lagos, in its effort to blackmail the electoral commission to issue it with unmerited favours in last Saturday’s election.

“We want to assure Lagosians that a desperate group like Lagos PDP, fully aware of the level of rejection it commands in Lagos, cannot do anything to change the legitimate will of the people.

“We want to make Lagosians aware of the antics of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who was on a desperate and dangerous mission to force down the electoral wish of his son as the chairman of Obalende/Ikoyi Local Council Development Area. “ We note that throughout the election, Obanikoro was actively involved in several acts of security breach in his desperate mission to enforce this selfish mandate.

“For this, he was moving around, with armed thugs, scaring people who were on their legitimate missions, and heating up the polity in Lagos and to generally foment trouble for this selfish mission. He was moving around in a tinted vehicle, bearing diplomatic numbers and was

ACN wins 57 chairmanship seats •PDP: 18 councillors •CPC: two

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor

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HEAction Congress of Nigeria (ACN) won the 20 Local Government and the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) chairmanship seats in Saturday’s council election. The results were declared yesterday by the Lagos State Independent National Electoral Commission (LASIEC).

The party also won 355 councillorship seats out of 377 leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 18 seats and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) two.

The commission declared inconclusive the councillorship poll in Ward H, Mushin Local Government. It did not give reasons.

The PDP made inroads in Agbado Oke Odo, Apapa Iganmu, Badagry and Badagry West, Lagos Mainland, Shomolu, Ikeja, Olorunda, Oriade, Oshodi-Isolo, Oto-Awori and Yaba councils. CPC won two seats in Agege.

According to LASIEC, 28 political parties participated in the polls, 250 chairmanship candidates and 1,145 councillorship candidates contested.

LASIEC chairman Justice Abdulfatai Adeyinka advised aggrieved candidates to take their protests to the tribunal.

By Emmanuel Oladesu Deputy Political Editor

actively involved in the bid to organise demonstrations when it was obvious from returns from the polling booths that his son has woefully lost the election. We note that in extreme desperation, Obanikoro and his thugs have invaded the Ikoyi/Obalende LCDA and we see such illegal act as an exercise in futility”.

Igbokwe said PDP was just erecting lies on its false foundation in Lagos, recalling that the party once posted fake election results on the internet to confuse Lagosians.

He stressed: “Lagosians will not forget in a hurry how the PDP unleashed war on Lagos for creating additional local governments and 37 LCDAs, to the extent that local council funds in Lagos were withheld for several years with the intents of paralysing Lagos and punishing its workers.

“That the party is now laying claims to winning these LCDAs is ridiculous for Lagosians know all the facts and will happily repay PDP with their open rejection, as they have consistently shown. So, what should surprise any observer of Lagos politics is the claim

by PDP that it won these councils it unleashed war on for

more than 10 years.

“Lagosians know the antics of the PDP, which went as far as posting fake and fabricated results on the internet in April 2003, which claimed that it won the governorship in Lagos, when the collated results show that it lost woefully. They know that the PDP made similar claims in 2007 and 2011 general elections and is repeating same again in election into local councils it has devoted all its time fighting against.

The Publicity Secretary urged Lagosians to be calm and await the official announcement of the results by LASIEC. Ajomale said: “We strongly condemn the PDP supporters who have decided to take the laws into their own hands by mischievously spreading falsehood that their candidate, Ibrahim Obanikoro, won the Chairmanship contest, even before the result was announced by LASIEC. “It is on record that, hours before the close of voting at the election on Saturday, this PDP candidate himself went on Twitter and Facebook to announce that he had won the election and been elected the council chairman, de-

spite that voting was still in progress.

“These unruly PDP supporters invaded the secretariat of the council and drove away its employees. They also descended on the Ikoyi/Obalende office of Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), as the Commission was collating the results of the election, forcing the LASIEC officials to relocate to a safer place from where they announced the result of the election, which was won by our party, the Action Congress of Nigeria.

“We are astonished at the brazen act of lawlessness exhibited by the rampaging PDP supporters, and strongly condemn them as barbarians who have chosen to take the law into their own hands.

“It is an irony that those who chose to engage in sheer thuggery over the outcome of a largely peaceful election are from the PDP, the same party that has accused the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) of being behind the post-election riots witnessed in the North after the Presidential elections of April 2011.

“Had the ACN not restrained its supporters, they could have confronted these barbarians, thus triggering off a clash that could have led to a breakdown of law and order similar to what the PDP had accused the CPC of masterminding earlier.

“The ACN had, before, contested and lost elections in states under the control of the PDP, but not once did our supporters resort to self help.

“The law is clear that whoever feels aggrieved at the outcome of an election should seek restitution in court, just as our party has done times without number, because we believe in the rule of law”.

“We therefore, call on the police to swiftly act to restore law and order at the Ikoyi/ Obalende Council Secretariat without delay, by dislodging the thugs who may still be occupying the secretariat or milling around the premises” However, PDP Chairman, Hon. Setonji Koshoedo, told reporters in Lagos that the delay in releasing the results of the elections was suspicious, maintaining that ACN planned to upturn the victory of his party in the disputed councils and wards.

Melaye, others float anti-corruption NGO From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

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HE last may not have been heard of some former members of the group called “The Progressives” in the 6th House of Representatives. Their leader, Dino Melaye said yesterday that they were set to float an anti-graft NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO)- Anti-Corruption League.

Melaye briefed reporters at the National Assembly alongside another member, Independence Ogunnewe.

He listed West Idahosa, Abba Annas and Solomon Ahwinawi as members of the NGO. According to him, the organisation will partner other antigraft agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

Melaye also said the organisation will partner with international groups like Ford Foundation, Macpherson Foundation, Transparency International and all relevant organisations.

In a matter of weeks, we will be launching the organisation, we have procured vehicles and we now have our office in Wuse 2,” he said.

On the removal of subsidy, Melaye, who described it as a “satanic agenda”, noted that it was not in the interest of the ordinary man, adding that he would mobilise the youths in the country to resist the removal. He advised President Goodluck Jonathan to shelve the plan.

According to him, the President was carrying out a Western agenda.

•BIR THD AY GIRL: Mrs Remi Agbowu (third left) being assisted by her children – Temitope (left); Jolomi; Babine; Mrs Toju •BIRTHD THDA Cole - and her husband Jolly to cut her 60 th birthday cake at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos…yesterday.

PHOTO: ADEJO DAVID

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Naira weakens

Fed Govt gives airlines 36 months to settle N8.5b debts

•CBN fails to meet demand

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HE naira weakened after the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) failed to meet demand from banks at a foreign-currency auction.

The apex bank sold $350 million at an auction yesterday, compared with $421.3 million demanded by lenders. The marginal rate, which is also used as the prevailing exchange rate, depreciated 0.05 per cent to N150.01 per dollar, compared with N149.94 at the previous auction on October 19, the CBN said in e-mailed statement.

“The exchange rate at the auction reflects the amount of dollars available to traders,” Usman Onoja, chief executive of Lagos-based Lovonus Teust and Investment Ltd., which trades currencies, told Bloomberg News by phone. “We hope that recent measures announced by the Central Bank will balance demand and supply and strengthen naira.”

“With the increase in net open position, which became effective today (yesterday), many banks were buying up dollars to cover their position, putting pressure on the market,” another dealer said.

Traders said the naira could depreciate further in the week unless the central bank injects more dollars into the market or dollar inflows from month-end sales by energy companies come in.

Mounting demand for dollars pushed the naira outside a three percentagepoint band above N150 per dollar targeted by the CBN, with the rate hitting a record-low N166.6 per dollar on October 10. The banking watchdog outpaced demand for the first time since June 29 on October 17 as it offered $400 million compared with $296 million demanded.

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$112/barrel Cocoa -$2,856/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,161/troy ounce Rubber -¢146.37pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N6.747 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -9.3% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending-22.42% Prime lending -15.82% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -10.23% Time Deposit -7% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $30.8b FOREX CFA EUR £ $ ¥ SDR RIYAL

-

0.281 213.2 245.00 156.91 1.5652 245.8 40.57

We will continue to cooperate with honest and viable businesses that approach us in good faith and show firm commitment to repay their debts.

-Mr mustapha Chike-Obi, MD, AMCON

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HE Federal Government yesterday gave airlines 36 months to pay their debts to the various aviation agencies or face the music.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nnamdi Udoh, who stated this in Lagos while addressing airspace managers, said the government is concerned about the huge debt profile.

He added that NAMA would be able to provide quality service if the airlines cleared their debts.

The Nation gathered that six of the airlines, comprising Arik Air, Aero Contractors, IRS Airlines, Dana Air,

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

Air Nigeria and Chanchangi, are owing both NAMA and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) about N8.5 billion for three years.

Out of the cumulative figure, they are owing NCAA N4.66 billion and NAMA N3.57 billion. However, a seventh airline, now moribund, has a debt overhang of N317.65 million and N87.43 million in favour of NAMA and NCAA. Udoh said whenever there is a change in any organisation, people react to it either positively or negatively, adding that his focus is to ensure that he works

with everybody to achieve set goals.

“When there is a change, people react positively or negatively, but also don’t forget that there is a percentage that makes the louder noise and that is the small percentage, the larger group are busy working and realigning. ”We will stretch our hands to work with everybody. We will woo them. We will try to use every possible human resource process available to carry everybody along,” he stressed.

He said the task ahead requires understanding the workforce and re-orientating their mind with the current change in the agency.

“You don’t change the people except you renew their mind and that is what transformation is.”

Udoh said he would continue from where his predecessor left off. “It is a continuation of where my predecessor stopped. I have been part of management, and this represents a new drive in the transformation agenda of Mr President. ‘’Everybody knows what we have been doing and we will just intensify our efforts. There will be innovations and upgrades in line with ICAO terminology, adding we are moving from where we are to a more sophisticated, reliable and more effective technology.”

WAMCO sacks 56

T

O focus on its core dairy business,

Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria has sacked 56 workers whose jobs will be out-sourced.

In a statement by its Corporate Affairs Manager, Mrs. Ore Famurewa, the rightsizing was done after negotiations with the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees as well as the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association.

She said they will be given redundancy packages. “With more modern automated lines and upgraded facilities, there is the need for the company to optimise skills in operations. Management has decided to outsource some of its non-core functions hitherto handled internally to specialists. ‘’This would enable the company to focus on its core business of dairy manufacturing.

“FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC will continue to play a leading role in the production, processing, packaging, marketing and distribution of various milk products in Nigeria. We are deeply committed to improving the lives and welfare of its consumers and communities across the country,” said Famurewa.

Transcorp gets new CEO, directors

T • From left: Senior Banker, Royal Bank of Canada, Mr Richard Gorab; First Vice-President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Mr Segun Aina; Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Jean Gauthier and GMD/CEO, UBA, Mr Phillips Oduoza at the Institute’s Annual Lecture, in Lagos.

Court vacates order freezing Arisekola’s assets

F

RONTLINE businessman Abdul-Azeez Arisekola-Alao and his company yesterday got a reprieve from the Federal High Court, which ordered the defreezing of his assets.

The court had on July 27, upon an ex-parte application

by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), banker to Arisekola-Alao and his company, Lister Flour Mills Limited, made the order of mareva injunction, freezing their identified assets, including accounts held by his company in some known banks.

Justice Okechukwu Okeke upheld Arisekola-Alao’s argument that the court was misled by GTBank into granting the order.

Justice Okeke particularly chided the bank, represented by the law firm of Olisa Agbakoba and Associate, for hiding material facts from the court.

The court observed that

• Court lashes GTBank for hiding facts

By Eric Ikhilae

GTBank, in its counter affidavit to Arisekola-Alao’s application seeking to set aside the said order, acknowledged that it started bankruptcy proceedings against the businessman.

The court,1 which also noted the existence of another suit between both parties at the Federal High Court, Ibadan, on the same subject matter, queried the basis for the bankruptcy proceedings.

“One had expected the plaintiff to show in its counter affidavit the distinction between the suit before my brother, Justice Shakarho, in Ibadan and the account on which basis it initiated the bankruptcy proceedings.

“The plaintiff did not disclose this to the court; that

the bankruptcy proceedings arose from either the same account or a different account or transaction.

“The counter affidavit of the plaintiff has failed to establish a distinction between the suit before the court in Ibadan and that before this court.

“These are material facts not made known to the court. If they had been made known, the court may not have granted such far reaching order.

“The plaintiff having failed to disclose the material facts, the court has no option than to discharge the mareva injunction granted against the first, second and third defendants on July 27,” the court held.

GTBank had sued the businessman and his company over a purported N6.9 billion debt. The bank consequently

obtained the said mareva injunction, pending the hearing of the suit, with the intention of preventing the defendant from dissipating his assets before the determination of the case.

Dissatisfied, the businessman applied that the said order be lifted, accusing the bank of misleading the court into making the said order.

Arisekola-Alao’s lawyer, Lasun Sanusi (SAN), prayed the court to vacate the injunction on the ground that the bank hid material facts, which would have afforded the court a clear understanding of the dispute.

The bank has said it will appeal the ruling. Its lawyer, Norrison Quakers (SAN), said: “We will definitely appeal.”

Further hearing has been adjourned till November 29.

RANSNATIONAL Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) yesterday announced three new appointments with Obinna Ufudo as President / Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp.

Also appointed a director was Chibundu Edozie while Dupe Kupoluyi Olusola will direct the resources of the firm.

The appointments, according to a statement, have been approved by the Board of Directors of the company.

Until his new appointment, Ufudo, who has over 16 years experience in finance industry, was the Chief Operating Officer at Heirs Holdings Group where he focused on establishing and running operations across the Group including HH Capital and Tenoil Petroleum & Energy Services.

In addition to his new position, Edozie, who has 18 experience in the finance industry is the Group Deputy Managing Director of BGL Plc. Olusola’s expertise is in private equity, business development and financial advisory services in emerging markets.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

12

BUSINESS NEWS LAWMA to generate power from refuse

Flight Schedule MONDAY - FRIDAY

By Okwy Iroegbu, Asst. Editor

T

HE Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) is set to generate electricity from its dump-site at Olusosun, Ikeja by December.

The Nation gathered that the pilot scheme was put in place to encourage the private sector to invest in the energy sector. Already, 10 wells have been sunk at the site to tap methane - a toxic substance, which will be used to generate light, said the General Manager of the Waste Management company, Alhaji Jelili Olubori.

He said with a daily 9,000 kilogramme of waste generated, the state is poised to deliver on green energy, which prototype will be handed down to the interested private sector to have a robust energy sector.

On the possibility of contamination of the water anear the site, which is a primary product in power generation, he said the agency does a quarterly random check on water samples and have not discovered any contamination.

Besides, he noted that the site can only be prone to danger if it seeps to 18 meters where drinking water is found. He said the laterite nature of the soil will not allow such contamination.

He revealed that the state is not unaware of the impact of climate change and possible mitigation methods, which led them to institute a ‘pure water sachet’ buy-back programme, where the public is encouraged to pick and sell used sachets to the agency at N30 per kilogramme, which is serving the recycling plant. With this arrangement flooding is checked to a great extent as the manholes are no longer blocked with nylon bags he added.

NERC to float fund for the poor From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

T

O assist the poor to have access to power, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday partnered with experts from the United States of America for the establishment of the Consumer Power Fund.

Chairman, NERC, Prof. Sam Amadi, said the commission would soon engage the experts sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on how to put in place a framework for the establishment of the fund to subsidise electricity tariff for the poor whenever there is an increase tariff in the country.

Amadi, who spoke with journalists in Abuja, said the team of experts are from the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) under the umbrella of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).

He explained that as a young regulator seeking to benefit from over a century of experience, NERC has to partner NARUC, which has been in existence since 1909.

His words: “The idea is very useful because the commission (NARUC) is over 100 years (old).

They regulate over 100, 000 megawatts. And so they have experience.

Now, we are discussing how to develop a framework for poor people to have access to power and this people have been doing this thing for long.They know what works and what doesn’t work.

They can tell us how to identify those who are poor.

“The idea is that instead of spending money sending people to go and study in big universities of the world where there are no specific training on case studies, why don’t we partner with a regulatory agency that have got the practical approach to problem solving.”

• From left: Mr Ekpe, Executive Director, AMCON, Mofoluke Dosumu; John Aboh and Executive Director, Risk AMCON, Hewett Benson, at the official signing and take-over of Oceanic Bank by Ecobank, at Southen Sun Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

PHOTOS: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Ecobank completes takeover E of Oceanic Bank

COBANK Nigeria Plc yesterday finally acquired one of the rescued lenders - Oceanic Bank International Plc. A new Board of Directors has been reconstituted with Arnold Ekpe, Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Group appointed chairman. John Aboh, Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, retained his job.

Oceanic Bank was among the eight leaders bailed out in 2009 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a N620billion rescue package.

At the official signing ceremony in Lagos, where all change control processes on the acquisition were completed, certificates of acquisition were presented to Ecobank Transnational Incorporation (ETI), the parent company of Ecobank Nigeria and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) by the management of Oceanic Bank .

Ekpe described the transactions as a “a win-win situation” for both banks.

“Today is a very important occasion for the two institutions. We have worked together for several months with the advisers and I think we have put together a transaction that is very positive for the shareholders, the customers and the employees of both institutions. The transaction is such that ETI, which is the parent company of our group, which is the largest bank in Africa by geographical

• Appoints management

By Ayodele Aminu, Group Business Editor

presence, will acquire 100 per cent of Oceanic Bank Group. Subsequent to that,Oceanic Bank would be merged with Ecobank Nigeria Plc, to create one of the top tier banks in Nigeria in terms of assets, branches, revenue and profit.

“We believe that this is a winwin situation for both institutions.

It has been a transaction in many ways among friends because we know each other too well. I would like to say it had been a very pleasant process working with the management of Oceanic Bank. So, today is a historic moment and we are creating a transformed institution. We believe that the pricing and structure is to the benefit of both institutions and we look forward to integrating the institutions and bringing them together as one,” he said.

The shareholders of Oceanic bank had late last month at court ordered extra-ordinary meeting agreed with terms and condition of Ecobank Nigeria as a strategic investor. They also resolved that 714,400,000 ordinary shares of 50

kobo each be allotted to ETI and authorised the directors of the bank to issue 885,600,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to AMCON for the injection of N290.153 billion to raise Oceanic Bank’s capital from negative to zero.

ETI as part of the process got the nod of its shareholders recently to inject $3 billion in different strategic investments in West Africa; this translates to about N465 billion in equity.

The ETI chief said the expectation is that before the end of the year, Oceanic Bank would be merged with Ecobank Nigeria.“In terms of customers account, we expect that within the next three months, they should have access to their account in any Oceanic Bank or Ecobank Nigeria branch.

In terms of whether customers’ account number would change, I make no guarantee on that. We would do the best we can so that it doesn’t change. But the intention of the combination of the two institutions is to make life easier for the customers and not to make it difficult for them,” he said.

On when the identity of Oceanic Bank will be changed, he said it will not be immediate.

Foreign investors target health care sector

G

LOBAL pharmaceutical companies are scouting for possible acquisitions as a quick-win entry strategy into the health care sector, The Nation has learnt.

Reliable sources close to those working in the health care industry hinted that there have been many enquiries from global health care companies on possible acquisitions in Nigeria.

According to the sources, there were already various discussions between some multinational pharmaceutical companies and Nigerian targets, although the details of the deals are still not clear.

While many health care companies have indicated interest in franchise arrangement that makes the franchisee the sole local source of globally renowned drugs and health care products, the foreign investors want to acquire significant equity stakes that will give them control of the business while benefiting the indigeneous shareholders.

The health care industry consists

By Taofik Salako

of a handful of major companies and several small and medium companies.Quoted health care companies pool market capitalisation of about N38 billion with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria (GSK), a subsidiary of global healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline, accounting for 68 per cent of sectoral capitalisation.

Sources said the foreign investors were talking to both quoted and private health care companies, although they were more disposed to acquiring quoted companies.

The renewed interests of foreign investors in large-stake participation in the health care industry mark a turnaround from the divestments that saw the exit of many foreign companies. Pfizer’s divestment had led to the emergence of Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals as an indigeneous company.

Market analysts said the acquisition bids might not be unconnected with the huge potential of the

health care industry and relative stability of the economy. In spite of global economic contraction, nearly all forecasts envisaged strong yearly growth for the economy ranging from conservative six per cent to ambitious double-digit forecasts.

With population of more than 150 million people, the country’s growing population and huge gap between health care needs and actual provisions present huge opportunities for multinationals with extensive capacity for research and capital for Health care industry has witnessed many landmark changes in recent years including a law that mandates compulsory health scheme for employees and a step-up in the anticounterfeit and substandard campaign.

These have seen massive investments by health care companies with GSK and May and Baker Nigeria investing a whopping N15 billion in additional capacity and new world-class manufacturing complex.

LAGOS – ABUJA Departure Arrival 1. Aero 06.50 08.10 2. Associated 07.00 09.30 3. Air Nigeria 07.00 08.20 4. IRS 07.00 08.20 5. Dana 07.02 08.22 6. Arik 07.15 08.15 7. Chanchangi 07.15 8. Air Nigeria 08.15 09.35 9. Dana 08.10 09.20 10. Aero 08.45 10.05 11. Arik 09.15 10.15 12. Chanchangi 10.00 11.00 13. IRS 11.15 12.35 14. Dana 12.06 12.26 15. Aero 12.20 13.30 16. Air Nigeria 13.25 14.45 17. Chanchangi 13.30 14.30 18. Arik 13.45 14.45 19. IRS 14.00 15.20 20. Aero 14.10 15.30 21. Air Nigeria 14.50 16.10 22. Dana 15.30 16.50 23. Chanchangi 15.30 16.30 24. Arik 15.50 16.50 25. Aero 16.00 17.20 26. IRS 16.30 17.50 27. Arik 16.50 17.50 28. Dana 17.10 18.30 29. Chanchangi 17.30 18.30 30. Air Nigeria 17.35 18.55 31. Air Nigeria (T/TH) 18.30 19.50 32. Arik 18.45 19.45 33. Aero 19.20 20.40 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

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

1.

2.

3.

4.

Arik Aero Arik Aero

1. Arik 2. Aero 1.

2.

3.

4.

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

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

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

LAGOS – PORT HARCOURT (CIVIL) 1. Aero 07.15 08.35 2. Arik 07.15 08.35 3. Arik 09.00 10.20 4. Dana 09.27 10.40 5. Aero 10.50 12.30 6. Arik 11.40 13.00 7. Air Nigeria 12.00 13.10 8. IRS 13.30 15.00 9. Arik 14.00 15.20 10. Dana 15.03 16.20 11. Air Nigeria 16.00 17.10 12. Arik 16.10 17.30 13. Aero 16.15 17.30 14. Arik 17.10 18.30 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

1.

2.

3.

4.

Arik Aero Arik Aero

LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

09.1 12.50 12.55 15.55

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

LAGOS – KANO Air Nigeria 07.10 IRS 08.00 Dana 08.10 Arik 12.20 IRS 14.00 IRS 18.15

08.50 09.45 09.40 14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

LAGOS – UYO 10.35

11.35

1. Arik 2. Arik 3. Arik 1. Dana

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

08.00 18.00

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

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

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14

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

15

ENERGY THE NATION

E-mail:- energy@thenationonlineng.net

PHCN decries fatalities from poor safety awareness

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HE Power Holding Com pany of Nigeria (PHCN) has condemned the level of fatalities recorded as a result of poor safety awareness on the part of the public who built houses and stores near and under the utility company’s facilities.

At a forum organised by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company in Lagos, the PHCN listed some incidents, which claimed lives. It also disclosed how the public would prevent falling victims to such incidents.

In a paper presented by the Business Manager, Islands District, Mr Damien Okorie, entitled Safety awareness on PHCN equipment in the environment of communities, the PHCN said a couple of accidents had occurred due to public disregard for safety regulations.

He noted that in February last year, for instance, wire snapped at an illegal bus-stop in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and Killed 16 persons while in April of the same year, a wire fell in an area at Ikeja also killed two persons trading under the high tension line.

In May 2010, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company also reported the death of three persons as a result of wire snap in an area in Ibadan while electrocution of a girl occurred at Asaba near an electric fence. In October of the same year, electrocution of a man occurred near National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos due to illegal tampering of 11KV underground cable.

In November, there was another electrocution of a man on Aba Road, Owerri, due to illegal tampering with electrical installations.

The number of incidents, he cited, led to the death of 23 persons.

Within this year, two people have been killed through electrocution.

According to Okorie, in June 2011, a man was electrocuted at Effurun, Delta State due to illegal work on the Benin Electricity Distribution Company’s network while another

Stories by Emeka Ugwuanyi

was electrocuted along airport road in Abuja due to illegal tampering with electrical installations.

Okorie said to prevent such occurrences PHCN and their employees should encourage reporting safety events, continually enlighten the public on safety issues, stop providing service to property that encroaches on their right of way, maintain and replace equipment as at when due and continually train employees on health and safety issue.

He noted that members of the public must obey relevant laws guiding electricity usage in the

country and stop violating such laws by encroaching on the right of way of electrical installations.

“For example, people should stop building under high tension overhead lines, stop trading under high tension overhead lines, stop parking under overhead lines, stop dumping refuse inside and around substations, stop illegal occupation of electrical facilities and report to PHCN safety concerns that may endanger the public, he said.”

He also said members of the public should embrace safety enlightenment campaigns embarked upon by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) or PHCN.

Some of the safety rules he offered include working on low and high voltage installations.

“Working on these kinds of installations, outage request should not be by telephone (GSM). Any outage request by radio due to emergency shall be formalised in writing before physical job is carried out on an equipment or line including underground cable, he said.”

He said that electrical operator or Distribution Substation Operator (DSO) would issue to the competent person, a station guarantee and show him the guaranteed items before the competent person leaves the transmission station or injection substation.Switching off and dis-

connecting and opening of isolators as well as re-connecting must be done by the operator in the presence of the permit holder and it must be verified that the installation is dead with operating rod or voltage detector.

The earthing and short circuiting must be done by the competent person/permit holder before commencement of the job.

To reenergise after the end of the job, notification should be given to the person in charge of operation (DSO) that the job has been completed, that all temporary earths had been removed and he can reenergise the installation, this must also be done in writing.

• Transmission lines

Akwa Ibom youths want Mobil to reinstate sacked workers

Y

OUTHS in Ibeno, Akwa Ibom, have called on Mobil Producing Nigeria, to reinstate the 94 workers sacked recently or risk disruption of its operations. The youths described the workers’ sack as unwarranted and said it was unacceptable.

A source from Mobil Producing, however, said the sacked workers were not members of staff of Mobil, but contract workers of outsourced jobs and those jobs have been completed.

Ibeno Local Government Council is the host to Mobil’s operations in Southern Akwa Ibom. Mr Edem Ebong, the Chairman of the Ibeno Youth Council, told the News

Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Eket that the youths’ decision to resist the termination of appointments of the workers was reached after consultations with other sections of the community.

Ebong said: “After an exhaustive deliberation by the youth leaders and community representatives, the joint congress resolved that unwarranted disengagement of our youths at the Mobil oil fields is unacceptable.

“We are of the opinion that rather than reciprocate our peaceful disposition as the host community by accommodating our interests, the oil company is dissociating itself from its social obligations to us. “`To us, there is no justification for

the downsizing exercise, because even the Federal Government has directed oil firms to suspend any action that will throw workers into unemployment market pending the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.’’

The youth leader, according to NAN, maintained that the group and the community were prepared to protest the sack of the workers within the limits permissible by law. He stated that more than 100 people might have lost their jobs in the exercise but regretted that they could not protest, because the company forced them not to belong to unions.

“What we discovered is that far more than the 94 workers were affected in the retrenchment exercise.

Eni discovers gas offshore in Mozambique

E

NI a global oil giant has an nounced the discovery of a giant natural gas at the Mamba South 1 prospect, in the Area 4 Offshore Mozambique.

The well encountered a total of 212 meters of continuous gas pay in high-quality Oligocene sands.

The Mamba South 1 discovery well is located in water depths of 1585 meters approximately 40 km off Cabo Delgado coast, in the Northern offshore of Mozambique. This is the first

exploration well in Area 4. Results exceed pre-drill expectations and confirm the Rovuma Basin as a world-class natural gas province.

The well will be drilled to reach an expected total depth of around 5000 meters. After completion of drilling and testing activities, the rig will move to drill the second commitment well, Mamba North 1.

Eni considers that this impressive discovery can lead to at least 15 tcf of gas in place in

the Mamba South Area where the potential of the Tertiary Play that exists in Area 4 will be further assessed under the present drilling.

The outstanding volume of natural gas discovered will lead to a large scale gas development with a combination of both export to regional and international markets through LNG and supply to the domestic market. This will support the industrial and economic growth of the country.

And to our dismay, we discovered that so many categories of workers were not permitted to belong to labour unions, contrary to our Labour laws. “`The fate of these non-union workers hangs in the air as they have no platform to seek for the enforcement of their rights since they were locked out of the Qua Iboe terminal building,’’ Ebong added.

But contrary to the report, Mobil workers are allowed to unionise and Mobil Producing Nigeria has chapters of the two oil unions – the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the source said.

Govt rakes in $3.42m from power bidders

T

HE Federal Government has earned $3.42 million from investors who bid for the various section of the power sector billed for privatisation in the ongoing reform in the sector.

The National Council on Privatisation (NCP), according to industry sources, shortlisted potential bidders after receiving 331 expression of interests (EoIs). According to data, 105 bidders made 171 payments of $20,000 each, which totaled $3,420,000.

The Minister of Power, Prof.

Barth Nnaji, confirmed the development when he said at a forum, where he delivered a paper that the reform process is progressing impressively and many foreign companies have shown interest in investing in the sector.

He said: “40 firms have been shortlisted to bid for the concessioning of the hydro stations, 87 shortlisted for the thermal stations and 80 for the electricity distribution companies, bringing the total number to 207. It is interesting that, in spite of the global economic crisis and the reported decline in Foreign Direct Investment, there has been a remarkable growth in international investor confidence in Nigeria’s power sector in the last one year.

A Brazilian company, for instance, has offered to buy the Federal Government’s stake in the 17 PHCN successor companies for $100 billion. And with the inauguration of the Electricity Bulk Trading Company, the investor confidence has been bolstered further.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

16

ENERGY

OPEC marks down economic forecasts on uncertainties

T

HE Organisation of Petro leum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has cut down its forecasts on economic growth for 2011 and 2012 as a result of global economic uncertainties including the ineffectiveness of the United States’ stimulus packages.

The Organisation in its latest publication – OPEC Bulletin, cited the global economic uncertainties as the reason for the downward review of its economic growth forecasts for this year and next year.

The publication quoted the OPEC Secretary-General, Abdalla Salem El-Badri as expressing his concerns about the economic uncertainties including the United States unemployment, the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and China’s disturbing growth.

El-Badri, according to the publication, said OPEC is watching China closely, where growth continues at a rapid pace, despite attempts by the country’s government to apply the brakes.

These economic uncertainties, ElBadri told delegates at the Gulf Intelligence Energy Forum, which held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), last month, were the reason OPEC’s Secretariat in Vienna had revised down its latest forecasts on economic growth for both 2011 and 2012.

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

He also warned that stimulus packages, particularly in the US, are simply not working. “There are no new industries that can absorb unemployment. Something must be done to introduce new manufacturing and new activities,” he advised.

El-Badri said that when OPEC made its forecast for both the third quarter and fourth quarter — we were looking at some growth in demand; also, some growth in prices. We were indeed thinking the market may need between one million barrels to 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in extra production. At that time we were seeing much higher GDP and stronger oil demand, especially in China and in India. In the US, expectations were also higher for gasoline demand.

“During the June meeting, we told our ministers that there was an elephant in the room. That yes, there were some positive signs, but also we were seeing some negative signs. That is why there was a debate in the conference between those who saw that there was a need for an increase and others who said that because of the various negative signals we were seeing, we had to wait. I personally take responsibility for the suggestion

that we needed to increase output at that time. Contrary to what some suggested, it was not Saudi Arabia who initiated this proposal, but the Secretariat. However, there were and still are today a lot of precautions.

“The US economic recovery is not as expected and there is also the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

Unemployment in the US is also not improving and is a big problem. And what we are saying is those negative elements are coming into the market. In OPEC’s September Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR), we reduced our expectations for global economic growth for 2011 from 3.7 percent to 3.6 per cent and for 2012 from 4.0 per cent to 3.9 per cent. How that slowdown materializes further down the road, we do not know yet.”

El-Badri insisted that money managers continue to create volatility in the oil market. He told the delegates that oil prices had, over recent months, seen a risk premium of between $16 and $20/barrel.

He also expressed confidence that Libya’s crude oil production could soon be up and running again, especially from fields in the Far East and far west of the country, which had suffered minimum damage during the recent conflict.

But he said it is imperative that Libya’s National Oil Company works together with the international oil companies (IOCs) to quickly mobilize their workforces.

“In Libya, we have excellent technicians, petroleum engineers and geologists,” El-Badri said.

The OPEC scribe said the organization would like to have a similar

level of dialogue and cooperation with the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) that it enjoys with the European Union (EU) and the Paris based International Energy Agency (IEA). “OPEC would like to have some more communication with them, some more data coming from them. It is good for us - it is good for them.”

Oil demand will not drop next year, says IEA

T

HE Organisation of Petro leum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will need to maintain or increase its oil production to meet global demand next year, despite concerns about the state of the world economy, the International Energy Agency said.

According to AFP report “There is an ample market for OPEC production at or above current levels” of 30.1 million barrels per day, said David Fyfe, director of the IEA’s market and oil divisions.

“We don’t think there is a market in which producers should be looking to scale back supply,” Fyfe said at a ministerial meeting in Paris.

The IEA, the energy branch of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and which represents the rich, oil consuming countries, calls regularly on OPEC to keep oil flowing and avoid putting the brakes on

growth.

The IEA had lowered its forecasts for global growth in 2011 and 2012 and for oil demand, and based its projections on a slowdown in developed countries but not on a new, double dip recession, Fyfe said.

The market currently remains tightened with the loss of a large portion of production from Libya and owing to lower than forecast production in non-OPEC countries, the expert said.

The Libyan conflict has already lost the market 328 million barrels and normal production is not expected to resume before 2013.

The IEA forecasts that oil demand will rise by 1.3 million barrels to 90.5 million barrels a day in 2012, according to its lastest monthly report.

OPEC production should ideally be in the order of 30.6 million barrels a day, Fyfe said.

Energy centre advocates use of LEDs

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• From right: Oyedepo, presents a plaque of Fellowship Award to Hussain Sulaiman Tahir, General Manager,NAPIMS, at the National Engineering Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. With him is Seun Faluyi, Managing Director, Global Oceon Engineering Limited.

Shell wins CSR award

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HE Shell Petroleum Develop ment Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) was voted “Best Company in most Innovative CSR” in 2011 at the Nigeria CSR awards, known as The Social Enterprise Report and Awards (The SERAs).

A statement by SPDC’s Corporate Media Relations Manager, Tony Okonedo, said SPDC fought off a challenge from three other companies to clinch the prized trophy at a ceremony, which held at the Muson Centre in Lagos at the weekend.

A key consideration for the award was SPDC’s Health-in-Motion programme, which has impacted positively on its host communities in the Niger Delta. Corporate Awards were given in 15 categories in which SPDC was shortlisted in two.

Shell’s Vice-President Gas, SubSaharan Africa, Osten Olorunsola, who received the trophy, said: “We’ve done a lot to try to improve the lot of the communities in which we operate, and we’re happy at this recognition.”

Shell’s Vice-President HSE and

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

Corporate Affairs Tony Atta, said: “The award is a strong acknowledgement of the work we’re doing in the Niger Delta, positively touching lives and helping to develop communities. And we are encouraged to do more.”

SPDC, according to the statement, commenced the Health-in-Motion programme three years ago, taking comprehensive health care services to the doorsteps of the people.

“We take the doctor to the people, rather than the other way round,” explained Regional Community Health Manager, Babatunde Fakunle. A typical visitation enables a team of SPDC doctors and nurses to provide wide-ranging medical support, including screening and counseling for HIV/AIDs, diabetes, hypertension and malaria as well as eye care, deworming, general hygiene and ante-natal services. More than 130,000 people benefitted from these services last year. SPDC also currently supports 27 health facilities in the Niger Delta, with more than 800government employed community

health workers in them.

In a short documentary shown before the awards were handed out, SPDC’s Afam V1 power project and LiveWIRE programme were highlighted for their roles in increasing power generation and helping young people to start businesses. The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio and his Edo State counterpart, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole were both recipients of the 2011 SERA recognition awards for outstanding milestones achieved in their respective states.

The SERAs began five years ago with the idea to “promote corporate social responsibility and sustainability in Nigeria.” The process starts with “submission of entries by participating organisations, field trips to cited CSR projects, voting by the general public and deliberations by a team of nine-judges who make the final decisions about the winners.” Last year, SPDC took the awards for promotion of Maternal and Child Health and Poverty Reduction.

O save energy, the National Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conservation (NCEEC) has advocated the use of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) to replace incandescent bulbs and Compact Flourescent Lamps (CFLs) for lighting in both commercial and residential buildings.

In a statement made available to The Nation, the centre noted that lighting drive socio-economic growth and promote security, and has been a source of energy waste since the early days of human existence owing to the crude method that was deployed.

It stated that it was for this reason that various technologies were developed to reduce this wastage. The most recent, which is the LEDs, are capable of saving 80 percent of energy.

The statement said: “In the early days of human existence, wood were burned for lighting at night.

But with the passage of time technologies have been developed to replace this crude method of lighting; though each of these technologies has come with its own challenges, however the challenges have been manageable.”

These technologies brought out different types of lighting like incandescent bulbs, compact fluorescent lamp. But right now, what have become more efficient than the above mentioned technologies are the LEDs. The statement said as part of its mandate the centre has carried out a market survey to ascertain the different lighting products, their manufacturers as well as predominant brands in the Nigerian market with the findings that LEDs are gradually being introduced into the market.

On the specifications and features of the LEDs available in the market, the statement said the LEDs are solid state bulbs which are highly energy-efficient and very reliable. When it was first developed, LEDs were limited to single bulb use in applications such as instrument panels, electronics, pen lights and, more recently, strings of indoor and outdoor Christmas light.

By Bidemi Bakare

But now, the centre said manufacturers have expanded the application of LEDs by clustering several small bulbs. “We now have LEDs in clustered form. In fact, the first clustered LEDs were used for battery powered items such as flashlights and headlamps. Today, LED bulbs are made using as many as 180 LEDs per cluster, and encased in diffuser lenses which spread the light in wider beams,” the statement said.

Although Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFLs) has been in the forefront, in the drive towards energy efficiency and conservation particularly in lighting applications with derivable benefits noticeable in residential and commercial buildings, the statement noted that more savings can be achieved when LEDs are used to replace incandescent bulbs.

The statement, however, noted that there are challenges associated with the LED lamp technology which includes ascertaining the claims of the performance and the operating condition by the manufacturers coupled with the fact that the majority of the LEDs in the market are devoid of proper ratings.

These shortcomings are being addressed by the centre so that the consumers can get the best from the products, the statement noted.

“Because of the various challenges that may arise, the NCEEC is prepared to conduct a performance test on the various LED lamps that are available, so as to confirm the authenticity of the manufacturers claim and further enlighten the public on what to look out for when purchasing LED lamps.

“We believed that when armed with the right information, consumers will be able to make informed decisions, to help them decide on what to look out for when buying appliances off the shelf.

“We advise the public to watch out for products with proper power rating and label, luminance rating and country of manufacture for now, while the centre continues with its research. The research outcome will be made known to the public as soon as it is completed, the statement concluded,” the statement added.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

ENERGY

Fed Govt urged to provide alternative fuel before subsidy removal

By Bidemi Bakare

• Yakubu

B

EFORE the proposed plan on petrol subsidy removal is fi nally implemented,the Federal government would have to put in place conditions that would enhance the workability of the plan.

One of such conditions according to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, BannerGas Limited, Nuhu Yakubu, is to provide an enabling environment for alter-

native fuels such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to thrive and be popularised among consumers.

Speaking during an interview with The Nation, Yakubu said as much as he supports the removal of the subsidy on petrol, the government would have to complement such effort by welcoming other fuel options, such as LPG that consumers can rely on.

Yakubu hinged his argument on the many ways for which LPG can be put to use in place of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol.

He said: “Despite being in firm support of subsidy removal on petrol, I believe for the plan to be feasible, there must be an alternative fuel that consumers can rely on. And that alternative can be found in LPG. This is because LPG can serve much more than what PMS can serve. For instance, it may interest you to know that LPG can be used to power the generator just like the petrol. Our company, BannerGas being a trailblazer in the LPG business is already introducing LPG generators into the market.

“Aside its use in generators, LPG

PIND awards $50,000 grants for research in Niger Delta

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HE Foundation for Partner ship Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), a non-profit foundation established by Chevron Corporation to provide support for socio-economic development programmes in the Niger Delta region, has announced the award of small research grants worth $25,000 each to Aries Concept Nigeria Limited and the Southsouth Office of the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM).

According to statement from the group, the organisations will use the grants to conduct research in the region, which will inform and influence policy and practice and promote a culture of research and learning in accelerated technologybased socio-economic development and the role of traditional gender norms in equitable socioeconomic development.

The grants will also strengthen research capacities and create opportunities for analysis, reflection and debate among development stakeholders and networks in the Niger Delta.

Various literatures on ameliorating the socioeconomic crises in the Niger Delta point to the fact that considerable effort is needed to link how research can best impact on sustainable and equitable development in the Niger Delta. Despite this, past development planning efforts have for many years failed to recognise this strategic role research plays in driving the socioeconomic needs, growth and development in the region.

The Small Research Grants Programme aims to address these challenges and reduce the gaps in connecting research to effective programs development in the Niger Delta region, the organisation said.

Speaking at the signing of the grants agreement, PIND’s Deputy Project Director, Sam Ogbemi Daibo, noted that the Small Research Grant Programme would engage with policymakers, civil society, think-tanks, researchers, academia and students to promote the use of these supported researches and publications.

He said: “It is envisaged that these group of stakeholders will be transformed into advocacy and research networks for jointly addressing socio-economic needs in the Niger Delta.”

Applauding PIND for the initia-

can also serve as fuel for cars. Right now, there are auto conversion kits that are being brought into the country for this purpose. One advantage of these kits is that it serves a dual fuel purpose. The car can be made to run on either petrol or LPG. “Interestingly too, LPG can be used for cooling. The gas can be used in refrigerators and other cooling devices. This is an additional advantage it offers ahead of the petrol. These are just some of the many functions which LPG can equally perform as the petrol.”

He urged the government to remove all the impediments on the way of LPG growth even as it goes ahead with the removal of subsidy on petrol.

He decried the condition particularly at the entry point where many barriers are placed on the importation of LPG equipment and facilities.

“If the government is removing the subsidy on PMS, it should also provide the enabling environment for LPG to thrive. For example, when we started, duty on LPG was at five per cent even though the duty was supposed to be free. But at the point of entry, we were told that the grace has not been gazetted and so we have to pay five per

cent on duty, VAT and other charges.”

He added that such stifling charges at the point of entry make the cost of doing business high.

The company’s Head of Operations, Ade Makinde, said he expects the country to take a cue from Ghana that has been doing a lot to improve its gas sector.

Relieving his experience from the Africa Energy Week in Ghana, Makinde said the Ghanaian government as part of its effort to enhance LPG has enacted a legislation that in the next five years, 100 per cent of their cars would be running on LPG. Although he agreed that the LPG market in Ghana is still at the growing state due to the primitive technology being deployed in sale and marketing, Makinde said if the commitment and enthusiasm shown by the government and its people is anything to go by, it won’t be long before the market starts witnessing growth.

He said: “Unlike Nigeria, Ghana does not have the technology for the sale and marketing of LPG. So, when we went to Ghana and showcased the technology with some of our equipments, they were amazed. ‘’What we have in Ghana is a situ-

ation whereby a weigh balance is used to measure the quantity of the product. But when we displayed the technology with our module, they were able to know that an operator can sell whatever amount any individual wants to buy. ‘’They were happy with the awareness that there is a technology that can help as storage facilities. This is because when you don’t have where to put the gas, how do you sell the gas? But with the BannerGas equipment, we will be able to deploy it for retail in Ghana and gas would be readily available in the market.

“We are going into partnership with one or two companies in Ghana. For example, we met with the former speaker of the parliament in Ghana, who wants to partner us. There is also Ghana Oil (Goil) that has three filling stations and is ready to do business with us. We are ready to deploy our banner gas equipment to those stations as we have done in Lagos and Kaduna. So, we will install the equipment so that they can help solve the problem of LPG scarcity in Ghana. We are also partnering two other companies too. These are major oil companies in Ghana that we intend to partner to deploy our equipment.”

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

tive, Bankole Ebisemiju, Managing Director of Aries Concept Nigeria Limited, noted that the programme would give their organisation the opportunity to generate evidence –based research information that could be used to improve the quality of development planning in the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole while Ini Ekanem, Director of NACETEM Southsouth Office commended the transparent manner in which the selection was done stating that his organization applied for the grant following newspaper advertisement.

The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) is a non-profit foundation established by Chevron Corporation to provide support for socioeconomic development programs in the Niger Delta region.

• Sam Daibo, PIND’s Deputy Project Director (left) and Ini Ekanem, Director, NACETEM Southsouth Office at the signing of the grant award

Why we cut our meetings, by OPEC

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

• Abdullah Salem Al-Badri, OPEC Sec. Gen

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HE Organisation of Petro leum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has explained that it cut the number of meetings it holds and the timing to check the volatility of oil price in the international market and review the market outlook from a better perspective.

At least, in the past one year, the organisation has reduced its quarterly meetings to just two yearly.

This year, it even skipped its extraordinary meeting usually held in September.

The organisation in its last month’s bulletin, said it discovered that its meetings also contribute to undue speculations in the global

market. Besides, it said the reduction in number of meetings affords the organisation time to review the market outlook from a better annual perspective.

OPEC said: “September 2011 has been different to every other September so far this century. There has been no OPEC conference. This comes as no surprise following our decision late last year to revert to our former practice of holding ordinary meetings of our conference in June and December, rather than in March and September which had been the case since 1999. Among other things, this enables us to review the market outlook from the more usual and convenient annual perspective.

“However, the lack of even an extraordinary meeting in September highlights our recognition of the fact that the summoning of the supreme authority of our organisation must be done only when this is absolutely essential, outside of the ordinary meetings.

“Our experience over many years has taught us two things. First, there is the oft-repeated phenomenon that the build-up to an OPEC conference can itself be a destabilising factor in the market, as speculators try repeatedly to second-guess the outcome, which only adds to any volatility that

may be around at the time.The same is true during the meeting itself and in its aftermath. So, why rock the boat in a period of relative calm by holding extra meetings of the conference when they are not absolutely necessary? It is best to keep things as simple and as steady as possible.”

OPEC said there is no need for more meetings, especially for the fact that the markets are well supplied with crude for the foreseeable future and with the organisation having sufficient excess capacity to make up for any unexpected shortfalls. There is little the organisation can do to affect the situation at times when prices are influenced so heavily by the actions of the financial sector, the bulletin said.

It noted that OPEC’s practice of choosing with utmost care when it holds its conferences ties in fully with its time-honoured commitment to market order and stability. We are constantly monitoring market developments and we are ready and able to act in a constructive and positive manner whenever we consider this to be necessary — as we did with much success in December 2008, when oil prices were spiralling downwards below levels considered healthy for the future welfare of the industry and for the ongoing interests of producers and consumers alike, OPEC said.

The organisation said that other parties have a key role to play in

stabilising oil prices — both within the oil industry and in such outlying areas as the financial sector, which has been responsible for much of the price volatility seen over the past decade.

OPEC said while it welcomes measures that are already being taken in some advanced consumer economies to tackle this, they do not seem to go far enough, judging from the amount of price volatility still apparent in the market. This position was also confirmed in OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR), which said: “The high volatility could be explained by the large uncertainty surrounding market sentiment.

“The fluctuation in crude oil prices was in tandem with the movement in financial markets, in particular equities, suggesting that investors focused on broader macroeconomic risks and concerns of stagnating global economic growth.”

OPEC said as it looks ahead to the end of the year, its perception is that the market tightness and worries of supply shortages in the fourth quarter are easing, as is also pointed out by the MOMR, together with the reasons for this, which reduces even further the need for its conference to meet in the remaining part of September, or at any time between now and its ordinary meeting in Vienna on December 14.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

19

EDITORIAL/OPINION COMMENT

EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND

Where is public interest?

OL. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya died as he lived — violently. We sympathize with the Libyans who suffered for so long at the hands of the ruthless dictator and are glad he can no longer hurt them. But a gruesome video broadcast on Al Jazeera — apparently showing him being dragged, beaten and then, perhaps, shot to death by armed men — is deeply troubling, if it is real.

Colonel Qaddafi could have chosen a different ending. After the Arab Spring reached Libya in February and rebel forces — backed by NATO air power — moved against him, European and African leaders tried to negotiate his exit but were rejected.

When his government was toppled two months ago, he refused to give in. He fled to his hometown of Surt and rallied his supporters to keep fighting — even when it was clear that all that would happen would be more death and destruction. The rebels finally took full control of the city on Thursday.

Leaders of the Transitional National Council, the interim government, have promised to build a democracy in a country that has never had one. There is an enormous amount of work to be done and no time to waste.

Mahmoud Jibril, the interim prime minister, should make clear that the worst of Qaddafi’s henchmen will either be turned over to the Hague — Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, one of the colonel’s sons who is under indictment there, is said to have been captured — or given a fair trial in Libya. Those who have not committed grievous crimes should be encouraged to join in building a new Libya.

The government must move quickly to create a civilian-led army and police force to provide order and security. It must persuade powerful regional militias to disband or come under central government control and secure thousands of weapons — including shoulderlaunched missiles — that have gone missing.

Mr. Jibril has said that with Colonel Qaddafi’s death the country can start preparing for its first real elections, for a national council, within eight months. The process of registering candidates and voters must be transparent.

Earlier this week, on a visit to Tripoli, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States will provide $40 million immediately to help Libya secure weapons.

Britain and France have also promised help.

More than money — thanks to oil, Libya is wealthy — Libya will need sustained technical advice and full-time engagement.

This was always the Libyan people’s fight.

But the United States and Europe were also victims of Qaddafi’s terrorism and can feel relief and satisfaction in the supporting role they played in ending his horror. Now they have to help and goad Libyans into building a stable and peaceful democracy.

Colonel Qaddafi’s end

NGF’s position on subsidy, SWF appear based only on money that they would get

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HE overnight marriage of convenience between the states and the Federal Government on the vexed question of fuel subsidy seems to have been torn asunder by the “unilateral” deduction of N250 billion by the Federal Government at the Federation Account Allocation Committee last week.

Finance commissioners from the 36 states had converged at the September meeting of the committee only to be told that a total of N250 billion – N150 billion to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and N100 billion to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) – had been deducted from the federation account pool to fund oil subsidy. Miffed by what they considered the unilateral action by the Federal

‘Posturing or not, nothing seems to have changed in terms of substance in the position of the governors. Bottom-line is: the governors want more money. Subsidy can go as far as they are concerned; as for the operations of the SWF Act– the governors would rather have it abrogated or at least put in abeyance. Both mean more money into state coffers. In tying the two dissimilar issues together, the governors are being disingenuous’

Government, the commissioners stormed out of the meeting.

But more was coming; 24 hours after the botched meeting, it emerged that the governors that had earlier endorsed the planned subsidy removal at the National Economic Council meeting of October 6 had changed tack: not only did they empanel a six-man body headed by the chair of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi to take another look at the issues of the subsidy and Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), they equally resolved that any decisions on both would have to wait for the report of the panel.

Nothing could be said to be wrong with the governors making a U-turn on the issue or any issue for that matter based either on principles or on a new set of information available to them. Given what is evidently the weighty constitutional issues raised by the operations of the SWF Act, the quest by the governors for a more thorough consideration of the issue would ordinarily appear unassailable. It is after all, not simply a question of what their Excellencies want but a matter of law and constitutionality. Unfortunately, we cannot vouch that the position of their Excellencies was based on those lofty premises.

Reconciling their earlier elaborate justification of the removal of the subsidy – when the going was good with the Federal Government – with what now appears as an afterthought may seem hard enough, but that would hardly suffice to deny them their prerogative. Nonethe-

less, we consider it strange – if not entirely grave – that the governors would attempt to lump two dissimilar issues to force the hand of the Federal Government.

Posturing or not, nothing seems to have changed in terms of substance in the position of the governors. Bottom-line is: the governors want more money. Subsidy can go as far as they are concerned; as for the operations of the SWF Act– the governors would rather have it abrogated or at least put in abeyance. Both mean more money into state coffers.

In tying the two dissimilar issues together, the governors are being disingenuous – it comes off as a clever attempt to strengthen their negotiating hands with the Federal Government. This is where we cannot but smell mischief.

Do they care that one is law – the other economics? Will negotiation cure a bad law? In our view, the proper place to test the SWF Act is the law court. That is why we cannot agree more with Governor Babatunde Fashola in a recent interview with this newspaper that you cannot have an agreement to break the law.

We can only hope that wise judgement prevails. At this time, we can only urge the governors to look at the bigger picture, which is the economy. As it is, removing the fuel subsidy isn’t just bad for individuals, it is particularly so for business. It is hard to marry the prescription which can only further shrink the economy with the stated desire to grow the economy. Both do not add up. We urge them to be guided by public interest.

Damning verdict •US travel alert on Nigeria should be a wake-up call for the security agencies HE travel alert issued by the United States Department of State on October 13, warning its citizens of the dangers of travelling to Nigeria, constitutes a damning verdict on the prevalent fragile security of lives and property across the country. The latest travel advice by the United States replaces a similar one issued on October 19 last year and indicates that the spectre of insecurity has indeed worsened in Nigeria during the period.

Advising United States’ citizens to avoid all but the most essential travel to Nigeria, the warning specifically cites Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Abia, Edo, Imo, Jos in Plateau State, Bauchi and Borno states as some of the areas vulnerable to kidnapping, armed robbery and other forms of violent crimes.

To buttress its point, the travel advice gave a detailed list of scores of violent acts in different parts of the country within the period under consideration.

Prominent among these were the suicide bomb attacks on the headquarters, respectively, of the Nigeria Police Force and the United Nations, both in Abuja in June and August. The advisory notes that 140 foreign nationals, including five US citizens, have been kidnapped in Nigeria since November 2010.

In its telling words, the advisory states: “Violent crimes committed by individuals and gangs as well as by some persons wearing police and military uniform is an on-going problem throughout the country, especially at night. US citizens, visitors and residents have experienced armed muggings, assaults, burglary, carjacking, rape,

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kidnappings and extortions – often involving violence”.

Even more embarrassing is the revelation by the travel advisory that rather than enhance safety of lives and property, security agencies in the country are part of the problem. “Law enforcement authorities respond slowly or not at all, and provide little or no investigative support to victims. US citizens, Nigerians and expatriates have experienced harassment and shakedowns during encounters with Nigerian law enforcement officials.

Travelling outside of major cities after dark is not recommended due to both crime and road safety concerns…” the advisory reports.

It is certainly difficult to accuse the US Department of State of exaggerating the grim security situation across Nigeria.

Frightening acts of violence continue to occur in different parts of the country daily. Two weeks ago, for instance, a Member of Parliament, Mallam Modu Bintube, was shot dead in his home in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. At about the same period, an army barracks in Gombe State was bombed and an ensuing gun battle resulted in the death of a police sergeant and three suspected militants. Last weekend, unknown gun men stormed the Maiduguri home of Zakari Isa, a journalist with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and killed him in the presence of his family.

Gruesome incidents like this happen daily. Nigerians today live in a stifling atmosphere of fear. People have been known to scamper for safety at public gatherings whether threats were real or

imagined. Unscrupulous elements exploit the situation to send alarmist text messages or baseless rumours to further compound public apprehension and insecurity. The latest US travel advisory on Nigeria demonstrates that in today’s shrunken world, we cannot conceal the true situation of our affairs from the global eye. We hope that this damning verdict will spur President Goodluck Jonathan to impress it on his security chiefs that the current scenario is unacceptable. They must either more effectively live up to their responsibilities or give way for more competent hands.

No transformation agenda can be achieved in the context of pervasive insecurity that discourages foreign investment.

‘The latest US travel advisory on Nigeria demonstrates that in today’s shrunken world, we cannot conceal the true situation of our affairs from the global eye. We hope that this damning verdict will spur President Goodluck Jonathan to impress it on his security chiefs that the current scenario is unacceptable. They must either more effectively live up to their responsibilities or give way for more competent hands’

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New York Times

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh • Editor Gbenga Omotoso •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

•General Editor Kunle Fagbemi

• Gen. Manager (Training and Development) Soji Omotunde

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•Managing Editor Waheed Odusile •Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina •Group Political Editor Bolade Omonijo

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• Manager (Admin) Folake Adeoye

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2011

20

EDITORIAL/OPINION

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ir: The government has again indicated plans to remove ‘subsidy’ from petroleum products. The issue of subsidy removal has been a recurrent decimal since Babangida administration in the 1980s when the price of petrol went up from 40 kobo per litre to 60 kobo per litre.

Then, Nigerians did not take it lightly.

President Jonathan rode to power on the back of a proposed “transformation agenda” and since he ascended power, he has not stopped talking about transformation. But an agenda that should transform is not supposed to rely on same old tactics.

Transformation implies a radical change from status quo; a movement from stagnation to development; from economic woes to economic growth. For ordinary Nigerians, transformation can only mean an improvement in quality of life.

Transformation can be achieved if reformers in government are stronger than the conservatives.

Sincere reformers have the opportunity to make life more worthy for the common man, they have to be tenacious and sincere about their intentions. Increasing the pump price of petrol is definitely not the common man’s idea of transformation.

Nigeria is a mono-product economy and successive leaders have not been able to change that.

A transformational leader is expected to take the challenge to effect visible changes in this status quo. Every country is supposed to export more than it imports to check balance of payment deficit.

A policy which encourages distribution of resources as against

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This recurring fuel subsidy issue creation of wealth cannot engender growth.

For the avoidance of doubt, the deregulation of the downstream oil sector is not the same as removal of subsidy or increase in price. If government wants to deregulate, it should do so and allow private companies free hand to refine or import refined petrol while the market forces of demand and supply determine prices.

The excuse that a tiny cartel benefits from the prevailing situation is too watery to sell. In

other climes, government will rather tackle the cartel than subject the common man to increased hardship. In any case, was it not members of the same cartel that were recently invited to the Presidential Villa for a two day retreat with the President and his economic team under the euphemism of ‘Organised Private Sector’ where they unanimously endorsed removal of the said subsidy?

Who is deceiving who? Now, the familiar scenario is playing out

again – series of press releases by faceless groups and individuals in support of subsidy removal which will later lead to artificial scarcity of the product.

The act of governance is challenging and individuals who are not physically, intellectually and psychologically prepared for leadership will just not perform.

Always taking the easy way out, with the masses at the death grip of government policy decision is not the way out. Docility or resilience of a people can give way

On the state of insecurity

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ir: Bombings, flood, killings, crises; the list is endless. Headlines are replete with such words that describe a state of pandemonium and chaos.

Perhaps, a state of emergency should be declared in Nigeria.

With the spate of disasters lined one after the other in succession, it is clear mere lip service is being paid to the urgent need for heightened security in the country.

It is expected that a level of sophistication should have attached to efforts to tighten security in the country. Rather, it appears as if military personnel, the law enforcement and other security agencies in have been lulled to

sleep. The way in which security officials went about the task of foiling the attempt to bomb one of the tertiary institutions in Lagos is laughable. In this age of technology, it is unimaginable that security men would resort to the use of mere hands and eyes to detect explosives.

What if the would-be criminal were to hide the bomb where it can’t easily be seen?

In the midst of all this, perpetrators of violence now routinely issue press releases to announce their terrorist agenda.

After over 28 attacks that has led to the loss of lives, the Boko Haram sect tenaciously dictates the

conditions under which it would dialogue with the government.

This does not seem to be the treatment expected to be meted to transgressors of the law. Doesn’t the law say that whoever kills must also be killed?

It seems as if anyone who has a legitimate reason to protest to the government can do so by snuffing out the lives of other people. As it is now, the government has to take decisions that would benefit everyone. A lot of political analysts have opposed the dialogue option but the federal government seems to be in for it. Dialogue may not be so outrageous if the horrendous activities of the sect can be stopped.

The aftermath of Gaddafi

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ir: “I always find it fascinating; why don’t leaders know when it is the right time to leave, when they’re on the descent? He (Muammar Gaddafi) was considered a liberating, brave leader at one point”.

The above prologue is credited to the former Chief International Correspondent of Cable News Network (CNN), Christiane Amanpour, shortly after Muammar Gaddafi’s speech at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in September, 2009, during which he tore and threw away the UN Charter.

Exactly two years after

Amanpour’s submission; the eccentric megalomania’s revolutionary “Green book” now lies in tatters, his sprawling empires in ruins. The dastard and summary execution of Gaddafi as displayed in shocking and hard-tobelieve blood soaked body of the once revered dictator on TV screens around the globe may have symbolically closed a painful episode of four decades of reign of fear and terror in Libya.

Unfortunately with the immediate triumphant euphoria that followed the killing of Gaddafi comes the dawn of a new set of realities and possibilities; both politically and economically, not only for Libya,

but for Africa, the Middle East, and the rest of the universe at large.

The most important and possibly most difficult challenge which the death of Gaddafi poses for Libyans, especially the National Transactional Council (NTC) is the stabilization of the polity particularly with ammunitions effectively still in the hands of untrained young and tensed Libyans.

Many African leaders may be forced to take a cue from the unpalatable end of once-a-fellow comrade, and possibly consider an honourable exit from power and political relevance, sooner than

later. The same is expected of longserving autocratic regimes in the Middle East. The callous execution of Gaddafi will most likely reenergise the revolutionary spirit and determination of protesters in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and other places in the region. The Arab spring has eternally changed political postulations in the volatile region.

In all, the death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi will definitely go down in history as the anticlimax in the series of happenings which pervaded Libya over the last nine months.

Funmilola Ajala, Ibadan, Oyo State

if pushed to its limit.

Before talking about subsidy removal, it is only sensible for government to endeavour to fix existing refineries and even build more to enable Nigeria refine petrol for its domestic needs. A transformational government should feel uncomfortable that a country like Nigeria cannot refine its own petrol. Government should learn to pay for its failure, and maintaining fuel subsidy is part of the price. Politics should be about service and alternatives, and not about control of resources, which dominates Nigerian politics.

Nigerians are almost certain that proceeds from the so called removed subsidy will again be frittered away by a tiny cartel.

Kadiri Abdulrahman Plot 72, Giddin Dutse layout, Kubwa Abuja However, the conditions that the sect has given the government for dialogue to be considered look dubious.

For instance, the Boko Haram group wants the killers of its leader Mohammed Yusuf to be punished.

How Yusuf died remains unclear because it was reported that he died while he was in custody of the police. So to punish those who killed its leader may be a ploy to actually unravel the mystery behind his death. The second demand is the rebuilding of destroyed places of worship while the third is the immediate release of its detained members.

Could this be a means to strengthen the strained relationship between its members so as to fuel more attacks on the nation? The group also demands the compensation for destroyed properties. Perhaps this is also a trick to refurbish its store of illegal and arms and ammunition. All these as precondition for peace talks?

The federal government cannot afford to trust these miscreants because their very activities show that they are of a different stock.

They have no regard for the sanctity of human life, so it would not raise eyebrows if they cannot comprehend integrity and honour.

The federal government must look well before it leaps since there is no guarantee that the group will honour any agreement entered with government.

Olubusayo Abiola, University of Lagos, Akoka-Lagos.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

EDITORIAL/OPINION

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HE Muammar Ghaddaffi case was akin to the classical tragedy: a strong character gets consumed by his own hubris.

Classical literature imbues such characters with “greatness”; and that investiture is supported by the pathos that drives those highly emotive plays which, despite the power and the glory, shows the tender – many insist, abject or lordbeek@yahoo.com, 08054504169 (Sms only, please) helpless – side of the most powerful of men, in the hands of nature.

The eternal Col. Ghaddaffi got his desert. He lived by the sword. He died by the sword.

He called the rebels that wanted to take apart his 42year old regime “rats” that deserved nothing but

epublican ipples

Olakunle Abimbola

Beyond Ghaddaffi’s bloody end

death. At the end, these same rebels caught him as a rat and despatched him as they would do a hated rat. Case dismissed?

Not quite!

Plebeian thinking would feast on the tragic end of Ghaddaffi, on the blood and on the gore, with glee proclaiming the days of every dictator numbered, if he did not die on his throne of bayonets: no matter how long he ruled with iron fist; no matter how long he drank his people’s blood like some power-fired vampire.

Indeed, Ghaddaffi’s hubris turned as grisly and as sickening as his blood, as it spilled on that fateful Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Sirte, his birth area. As the first round of uprising flared in Benghazi, Ghaddaffi’s conceit took the better part of him. He could not imagine anyone contending with him on the Libyan plane.

Driving himself into a destructive frenzy, he ordered his own Air Force to strafe his own people, using fighter jets bought with Libyan money. That was a new gambit even with powercrazed dictators; and it marked the beginning of his end.

That strafing only gifted the Western parasites the subversive excuse to gang up, under the guise of “liberating” Libya, to testrun their latest band-together-bully-and-subdue weaker nations, under phoney mandates forged by them and them

‘So, the tragedy of Libya is not Ghaddaffi’s tragic death. It is rather the tragic dearth of state institutions.

Between King Idris and Col. Ghaddaffi, and 42 years and a stream of blood after, Libya had moved from the personal estate of King Idris to the personal fiefdom of Col. Ghaddaffi.’

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OR a man who labelled his citizens “rats” only a short while ago, it seemed a most unlikely way to die. It is hard reconciling the gory images shown in the media since last week with the image of the fire-eating revolutionary cum ideologue who swore to bring the “rats” that dared to challenge his millennial reign to his brand of justice.

For the Bedouin maverick, it was an ignominious anti-climax of sorts. After his capital Tripoli was taken, he never emerged on horseback to issue any final orders in any last ditch rally to end the fight his way. The superman on whose altar every Libyan worshipped couldn’t even find courage to end things in any grand style. The one and only Colonel Muammar Gaddafi who disappeared from Tripoli under the cover of darkness when the lethal sorties of NATO came too close for comfort, and who swore to teach the invaders a lesson of their lives was found – in the most unlikely of places – holed up in a storm drain!

To cap it all, the beaten, fearful man couldn’t even dare to look death in the face when it came. Like the mouthy Iraq’s Saddam Hussein before him who was picked up from a rat hole, he was said to have sang like a bird after being hurled out of his murky hiding place. The martyrdom he promised never materialised; instead, it was a most painful, tearful ending – for a leader once reputed to possess awesome mystique. One account reported him pleading with his captors to show mercy before being shot in the head; his remains would later be dragged along the streets to put a final seal on his era.

To state that Libya will never be the same after Gaddafi is to state the obvious. From a curious brand of martyrdom to impunity, the wheel seems to have turned full cycle for the Libyans. I have always held that a bunch of loose militias, composed of disparate tribesmen, banded together to chase a common

‘In a world of moral relativity, many are wont to ask: what’s wrong with a dictator being served straight from the pot of his own brew? Why should someone who denied others justice and due process be entitled to one?

alone. That is the sum-total of the so-called North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) air campaigns, without which the Libyan tyrant would probably still be in power, as his Syrian counterpart, now busy mowing down his own people to retain sterile power.

Still, despite the suspect motive of the NATO allies, Muammar Ghaddaffi sure had it coming. As much as his supporters and puritans in sovereign rights under international law would gripe, the Ghaddaffi denouement was a case of one bully crushing another.

That might not strike a blow for a Libya driven by the rule of law. But it makes for emotive satisfaction of ridding yet another dictator, even if it could only be a matter of time before another takes his place. Ghaddaffi in 1969, after all, overthrew King Idris by a “revolution”, albeit bloodless; only in 2011 for himself to be eliminated by a bloody “rats’ revolution”!

Still, even the bitterest of Ghaddaffi’s enemies would concede he left Libya economically far better than he met it. In 1951, Libya was certified the poorest country in the world. When Col. Ghaddaffi pushed off King Idris in 1969, Libya was a desert country wallowing in debt. But at his death in 2011, Libya ranked 53 out of 182 countries, listed by human development index.

Compare that to the 158th position of noise-making Nigeria, and you probably would see the gulf between the two countries, though Nigeria is some 150 million and Libya some five million in population.

But these may even be averages that reveal very little in real terms. As novelist Kole Omotoso said in To Borrow a Wandering Leaf, the average is tantamount to putting your head in the freezer and your feet in raging fire but decide that, on the average, you are pretty cool!

On specifics, therefore, Ghaddaffi acquitted himself even more: every month, every Libyan gets credited with US $500 as direct payout from the oil revenue. Libyan newlyweds get US $ 60, 000 from the Ghaddaffi state to start off life. Even as the guns

Policy Sanya Oni sanyaoni@yahoo.co.uk 08051101841

Fake martyrdom versus impunity enemy doesn’t exactly fit my idea of a liberation army.

How right I have been proved. This was no disciplined force; the NATO armed tag team may have been possessed of superior fire-power, it’s hard to say much of their observance of universal rules of engagement in battle. To describe the militia as a body of fighting men or even a disciplined army is to give the respectable profession of soldiering a bad name. Everything seemed fair game to the rag tag assembly sworn to find and kill Gaddafi. Fellow non-Arab Africans were hunted down and killed in the guise of hunting Gaddafi sympathisers. Of course, with each successive outpost of the former regime taken by the militia came the manifest display of rank indiscipline in the form of exuberant jubilations with Hollywood-style stunts.

One hopes that something will be done – and fast too – by the authorities to rein in the militia.

The tragic denouement in Libya, however, goes beyond merely chipping away at the castles of tinpot tyrants and dictators around the globe or even the continent. The festering fever of the Arab spring has certainly done pretty well to usher in the fearsome tide of agitations for freedom, which the forces of the tyrants are proving to be no match. The message seems poignant enough: no longer is there a hiding place for tyranny anywhere in the world. The era of divine rule of Presidents and Prime Ministers belong in the past. Africa’s club of tyrants are clearly marking time. The Yoweri Musevenis of this world,

boomed in Sirte amid mass destruction, television footages still showed gleaming street lights. Nigeria is in no state of war, but its streets at night, even in elite cities, are a study in pit darkness! That is a testimony to Ghaddaffi’s infrastructure heights.

So, how did Ghaddaffi go wrong? Some say his was a brutal regime that took no prisoners, with opponents and dissidents. Others say having grown used to routine comfort from the grinding poverty of the pre-1969 era, Libyans yearned for political selfactualisation, if Maslow’s pyramid of need could serve as a political parallel. Both counts could be right.

But the basic reason would appear the Ghaddaffi state’s lack of a systemic platform, on which the Ghaddaffi-era Libya was built.

That led to the Libya state slipping down as the personal estate of Ghaddaffi, his family and their cronies. So, no matter how much oil wealth Gaddaffi reportedly shoved the way of the ordinary Libyans, he must have shoved insanely much more to himself and his cronies, since there were no systemic checks and balances in running the state. That had miffed his opponents over the years, and that has accounted for the October 20 fatal comeuppance.

So, the tragedy of Libya is not Ghaddaffi’s tragic death. It is rather the tragic dearth of state institutions. Between King Idris and Col. Ghaddaffi, and 42 years and a stream of blood after, Libya had moved from the personal estate of King Idris to the personal fiefdom of Col. Ghaddaffi.

It is from this dearth of state institutions that other African countries must learn. In neighbouring Togo, the state is basically an Eyadema entity, so much so that two siblings, Faure Gnassingbe (the president) and Kpacha Gnassingbe (his nonuterine brother and former defence minister) are locked in some battle for state spoils, though officially Kpacha is alleged to have plotted to overthrow his brother. Even in Nigeria, institutions are at best on slippery grounds. The Sani Abacha tragedy of privatising Nigeria’s wealth through petty thievery and insane grabs are too well known. So are Ibrahim Babangida’s crafty but doomed moves to make over the country in his own personal symbolism, before taking over as eternal leader. Of course, Olusegun Obasanjo’s futile bid for an imperial presidency, complete with a failed term extension bid, is all too fresh.

And if there is any doubt, the former president’s bid to use the police to muscle this newspaper is disturbing reminder that the “Ghaddaffisation” of the Nigerian state is never far off the subconscious. But the patent danger: if Ghaddaffi for 42 years managed prosperity and yet fell flat on his face, how long would the Nigerian order continue to mismanage adversity before something gives?

Let Nigerian leaders therefore learn from the Ghaddaffi tragedy. Solid state institutions are as much protection of the common wealth as they are a protection of each government.

Those who have ears let them hear!

the Robert Mugabes sworn to life Presidency had better beware.

However, just as there is a sense in which the disrobing of yesterday’s tyrants in the public square would serve the cause of liberty and participatory democracy, there is also a reason to worry about the manner in which leaders of the movements appeared to have surrendered to the mob in meting summary justice.

Even then in a world of moral relativity, many are wont to ask: what’s wrong with a dictator being served straight from the pot of his own brew? Why should someone who denied others justice and due process be entitled to one? Why should tyrants not be entitled to the full dose of their prescriptions?

We might even go to the specifics; what’s wrong bringing for instance a Hosni Mubarak to court in a cage? What makes him special anyway? Is he not standing trial for the murder of innocent citizens?

What about Gaddafi; given the crimes alleged to have been committed in his name, why should he deserve mercy?

The issue goes to the heart of justice. One way to look at the issue is to ask whether baying for blood means the same thing as seeking for justice. The former speaks to vengeance, the other to the requirements for due process and the law. Whatever anyone may say of the execution of Saddam Hussein in December 2006, what cannot be denied is that he had the benefit of a reasonably fair trial. Putting an 80-something year old in a cage for the sheer pleasure of satisfying a mob who want him hung and fried in the open sun cannot be justice. The respect for the dignity of the individual must be regarded by all as an integral part of the quest for justice. Those who put the 80-year old Mubarak in a cage obviously have other motives other than justice. It seems to me that his arraignment in court ought to suffice as signal that anyone, no matter his stature, could be brought to justice for crimes committed in office.

As for the murderers of Gaddafi, I hope the new authorities in Libya would cause an investigation into his gruesome murder. It is to say the least, indefensible. The new Libya certainly have more to gain in his trial by the International Criminal Court than his summary execution. As it is, the new authorities have a yeoman’s job of integrating the militias into a national army worthy of its name. Calling the killers of Gaddafi to account would seem the natural starting point for a new beginning.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

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EDITORIAL/OPINION HEN the chilling news of the murder of Mallam Zakari Isa, a reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Maiduguri, last Saturday by gunmen suspected to be members of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorist organization broke over the weekend, the wide held fear among most Nigerian journalists was finally confirmed.

Few days after the 25th anniversary of the yet to be resolved murder via parcel bomb of celebrated writer and columnist Mr. Dele Giwa, some cowards in our midst have again shown their distaste for the truth by the killing of Isa. Though it is still early days to say conclusively why the gunmen shot dead Isa, the long history of unresolved murders in Nigeria and the failure so far of the Nigeria Police Force to convince the rest of us that they are indeed capable of doing anything about the increasing tempo of killings, assassinations and now suicide bombings in the country leaves one with no other conclusion than that Isa was killed because he was a journalist.

Remember Dele Giwa was allegedly killed by a parcel bomb which on receipt of it in his living room at Talabi Street, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja that Sunday morning, he remarked ‘this must be from the president’.

Ibrahim Babangida was the military president of Nigeria then, though nothing has been proved against him even 25 years after. In spite of spirited efforts of Giwa’s lawyer and friend, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi to pin the murder on the former Head of State and his security chiefs nothing came out of it and we are back to square one to the same question asked on October 19, 1986; who killed Dele Giwa.

I remember that Sunday morning 25 years ago along the corridor to National Concord newsroom. The deputy Editor then Mallam Ismaila Mohammed now an emir somewhere in Nasarawa state called me as I was about going in and said something about Dele Giwa being killed. Although he didn’t believe it, he said I should go to the house to find out. I was assigned a car and a driver and accompanied by a photojournalist. That was then. How time flies. How many newsrooms in Nigeria today, especially print newsroom, have pool cars for the reportorial corps? And we are complaining about failing

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standards in journalism. No more investigative reporting; no earth shaking stories any longer. I am not about going into the problem with us journalists in Nigeria but whatever is our problem, the society is largely responsible.

After Dele Giwa there have been so many journalists killed in suspicious circumstances not unrelated to their official callings, yet no one has been resolved successfully and the killer(s) found or punished. We were told that the late Newswatch co-founder and founding Editor-In-Chief was murdered because of a story on drug dealing in high places which the magazine was investigating and about to publish. He was killed, nobody has been punished and the society had since moved on as if nothing happened, and yet we clamour for investigative journalism.

A lot of Nigerian journalists have been killed simply because they were on the verge of revealing the hidden truth about certain happenings in our society. Their deaths, though seem to be in vain as the society appears unappreciative, these have not deterred their colleagues from the pursuit of truth in the interest of this same society. But then the journalist is also a human being and subject to the same pressure like every one else.

Take for instance a crack reporter working on a big story and determined to pursue it to its logical end. One night his wife wakes him up and say; ‘darling, you are working very hard and I like your courage and determination to cleanse our society, but remember you can’t do it alone. You have done your bit please leave the rest for other’.

He tries to explain to her but she would not

listen. When she saw that he was not ready to listen to her counsel, she drops the bombshell; ‘I am a young woman and I don’t want to be a widow yet. Please consider our children, they are still young and I can’t and don’t want to take care of them alone’.

Imagine this situation continuing every night, what do you thing the reporter would do?

This is not to say that journalists would necessarily chicken out but when he thinks of what has been the lot of the spouses and other family members of slain journalists he would take a deep breath before deciding whether to go ahead or not. And now with the likes of Boko Haram targeting journalists, the breath would be deeper now.

To Boko Haram and the likes, killing journalists would not solve or achieve whatever they aim to. Journalists are just purveyors of information. The media is a marketplace of ideas for everybody. All shades of opinion are welcome provided they are in public interest. We don’t manufacture events, we report them. If nothing happens nothing would be reported. If not for the media how would Boko Haram, MEND, al Qaeda et al get their views across to the public especially their target audience?

I think Boko Haram has chosen the wrong enemy by the killing of Isa. If this becomes a trend then truth would be in danger and journalists who by their calling are perpetually in search of and defense of the truth and freedom would become endangered species.

It is about time the society rises up against this type of killings and every other ones that have taken place in the country and which our police have not found the perpetrators. It

‘To Boko Haram and the likes, killing journalists would not solve or achieve whatever they aim to.

Journalists are just purveyors of information.

The media is a marketplace of ideas for everybody. All shades of opinion are welcome provided they are in public interest. We don’t manufacture events, we report them. If nothing happens nothing would be reported. If not for the media how would Boko Haram, MEND, al Qaeda et al get their views across to the public especially their target audience?’

The elephant man of Bayelsa

HOSE whom the gods have cracked their kernels and are today carrying the elephant on their heads, it would seem, will stop at nothing to stoop to pick up the snails that litter the groves of Bayelsa State.

By a twist of fate and completely against the grain of Nigerian politics, the shoeless boy from Otueke has risen to the pinnacle of power in Nigeria. But fate will not govern for you just because your name is Goodluck.

Faith will only expose your true character, for good or ill. This regrettably seems to be what is happening between the President of the republic and his state, Bayelsa.

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) has been invested with power. He now believes himself to be sovereign. Or how else does one explain the apparent determination of Aso Rock to rock the boat of a largely peaceful state just to make sure that the sovereign chooses who will be the next governor of the state?

The writing is on the wall. We may bury our heads in the sands as Nigerians are wont to do and to say that the current appeal by INEC, following the reaffirmation of the judgement of the Federal High Court by the Court of Appeal extending the tenure of five governors is the act of an independent body

‘But they are not God and should never try to play the Almighty in whose hands power and everything resides. They should respect their party structure in Bayelsa and allow the party to conduct a peaceful primary if need be.’

You can’t silence the truth

is about time we all, not just the Nigeria Union of Journalists, should demand of our police to produce the killers of these gentlemen of the press as well as other slain Nigerians. The society should also not neglect the families left behind by these heroes. They should be assisted to move on in life, mere tokenism would not do. And as suggested by speakers at the Dele Giwa anniversary lecture organized by Lagos state council of NUJ last week, October 19 every year should be set aside to remember, not mourn, all Nigerian journalists killed in the course of duty, off course not forgetting their families. It should also be an opportunity to reflect on the state of the media, including the journalists in the country.

To Boko Haram and the likes; you can’t silence the truth. You can’t kill the Nigeria press. You can’t kill the voice of the people.

By Enoch Ebowei (they are not called the Independent National Electoral Commission for nothing) without the nudging from above. But we all know this is mere wishful thinking. We know the drum of appeal to the Supreme Court is coming from Aso Rock. Anyone who knows the mindset of the average Nigerian leader can paint the rest of the picture from here.

And our dear amiable, innocent, conscientious, God-fearing and law-abiding GEJ is regrettably, as average as they come.

This son of Bayelsa knows more than anyone else that his state has enjoyed substantial peace for a couple of years now following the peace overtures initiated by Governor Timipre Sylva with the militants which eventually culminated in the amnesty programme introduced by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua (may his soul rest in peace).

He should also know, if he gets his correct briefings from his security chiefs, that the crime rate in Bayelsa State over the last one year must rank among the lowest in the nation, including Abuja, the seat of power.

In all of this, the reader might rightly ask, what really is the state of affairs in Bayelsa?

Is the current governor performing and if not, could his under-performance be the reason why GEJ wants him out at all costs? This writer cannot hold brief for the governor of Bayelsa State. But as a concerned son of the soil I can say the following: there has been substantial peace in the state since the governor took office, especially over the last two and half years following his introduction of the peace initiatives with the militants. Also, in spite of its bad terrain and the never-ending rainfall, Yenagoa, the state capital can boast of very good and well-maintained road network and unlike many a state capital and Abuja, traffic congestion is not a major issue.

A great many Bayelsans are today studying at home and abroad, with hundreds acquiring basic skills courtesy of the state’s scholarship scheme. We must remember that whilst physical infrastructure is important, the development of human capital is the most

vital if we have to become a developed nation. Farmers and fishermen in the state have witnessed significant improvements in their lives since this governor came into office with his people-oriented policies.

The State’s gas turbines maintained by this government supplies more electricity to its citizens than any other state in Nigeria except Abuja. And this is largely for free. Finally, substantial investments have been made by the government in giving pipe borne water to its residents across the state. No doubt, a lot more can be done in this regard and the government seems to be working in that direction.

Of course it is not all positive for the Sylva administration in Bayelsa. Unemployment remains unacceptably high. Even though people in government might say that this is not common to the state or in deed to Nigeria as many world economies are currently under the same spell. It is not an excuse, especially considering that there is so much to be done to transform the state from the rural, agrarian status to an industrialising state. This will not happen overnight.

Again the state needs to do a lot more in attracting investment, especially of the foreign type, to generate employment, alleviate poverty and raise taxable revenue for the state.

But it is also true that for this to happen, peace must be in the land for a sustained period. No foreign investor wants to put his money where peace is not assured or where people in high office play politics with the lives and wellbeing of their people. This is one more reason why the Presidency should concentrate its attention on the myriad problems facing the nation today: think Boko Haram, think high unemployment, think the nation’s near-total dependence on oil, the restructuring of the federation, over-bloated National Assembly overheads, and a federal bureaucracy all of which suck life out of the suffering of the people of the Niger Delta whose God-given gift sustains the bazaar. All of these should be enough to worry and engage a committed President over the next four years.

One may legitimately ask at this stage, what is the President’s game plan for Bayelsa State?

What really can a President do to install his acolyte? Let us start with the second question.

In Nigeria, the President can do just about anything he wishes to get his yes men into office. As former President Olusegun Obasanjo eloquently demonstrated over his eight years in power, our politics is the politics of the big man. What the big man says or what you think the big man wants to say often becomes law. If the President has shown his hand that he does not want a sitting governor from his party to get the ticket, his enforcers will do just about anything to make the big man happy. The name of the game is sycophancy.

From all indications the President’s game plans is to get the Supreme Court to, within the next 45 days, (the later the better) upturn the concurrent decision of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal that extended the timeline of the five governors. The speakers in the various states will then take over in acting capacity. The governors automatically lose their immunity and the anti corruption contraptions of EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau are called to duty to hound the ex-governors with real and imagined corruption charges. Even if the governor manages to get bail, the PDP can then comfortably say that a man with so much criminal charges over his head cannot represent it in the upcoming election.

What then follows is that the President’s loyal lapdog is installed as governor while the case dies.

But they are not God and should never try to play the Almighty in whose hands power and everything resides. They should respect their party structure in Bayelsa and allow the party to conduct a peaceful primary if need be. They must stop beating the drum of appeal for INEC. Indeed, they should dissuade INEC from continuing with its current appeal. Even if there was merit in the appeal (and I don’t see any merit) it will suffice to say that it has been overtaken by time and will achieve nothing but heat up the fragile Nigerian polity. r. Ebowei writes from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

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NATION SPORT

2012 AFCON draws hold this week

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HE Confederation of African Football, CAF will this week end hold the draws for the Nations Cup holding next year in Gabon and Equitorial Guinea. Sadly and expectedly, Nigeria will not be in any of the bowls.

According to the Equatorial Guinea media head of the Local Organising Committee, the programmes which starts with the arrival of the CAF secretariat on Thursday October 27, will witness the dry run of the draw ceremony.

On Friday, October 28, representatives of the qualified teams and the 36 member CAF delegation will arrive Malabo to participate in series of meetings and seminars aimed at acquainting the teams and designated General Coordinators with Nations Cup procedures and expectations.

By 15.00 hrs local time, CAF President Isa Hayatou will address a world Press Conference.

The next day will witness the draw proper by 7pm local time to be conducted by the Secretary General of CAF, the Morocan Hicham El Amrani.

On Sunday, the CAF delegation, teams representatives and General Coordinators will take a familiarisation visit to the venues in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

CALL FOR TW O-YEAR BREAK TWO-YEAR

Falode blasts Jegede

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OREMOST Sportscaster and CAF Media Committee member, Aisha Falode, has come hard on calls by former NFA board member Princess Hannah Bola Jegede, that the NFF should suspend Women’s football for two years, following the failure of the national team to make it to the London 2012 Olympics.

Falode said: “Where are we supposed to take the girls to or does she want them to become jobless across Nigerian cities?”

She alleged that for almost eight years that Jegede held sway in Women’s football on the board of NFA, the league never got a sponsor.

“Nigerian Women’s football remains the best in Africa and we vehemently oppose any plan or design to stop it. Like everything in life, ups and downs will happen and that is what we’re witnessing and soon, we will bounce back to the zenith once again.”

She praised the huge support and motivation offered the Super Falcons by the President Aminu Maigari-led board of the NFF, noting that but for hard luck and the poor playing conditions in Yaounde, Nigeria, should have taken out the Lionesses of Cameroon easily.

“Qualifiers for major competitions in Women’s Football start in two months time including the African Women Championship, so how can any true lover of the game call for a two years break?” Falode wondered.

• Falode

NATION SPORT

Mikel confesses: QPR’s match was difficult

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IGERIA defender Mikel Obi has revealed that the match against Queens Parak Rangers

(QPR) was a difficult one for Chelsea on Sunday.

Mikel, one of the nine Chelsea players on the pitch at the end of the 1-0 defeat at QPR, spoke afterwards about taking the game to the home side in the second half in the quest for a turnaround despite depleted numbers.

"We played with four at the back, three in midfield and one up front, which is very difficult, but we gave it a go (in the) second half and we should have won the game in the second half.

"The first half, I did not think we played that well but the second half we played well and created chances where we should have won the game," Mikel said.

Arsenal to loan out Aneke

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RSENAL are to loan out several of their promising starlets including Nigerian, Chuks

Aneke.

Manager Arsene Wenger plans to ship out Aneke along with Ignasi Miquel, Sanchez Watt, Oguzhan Ozyakup, and Daniel Boateng to lower league clubs after today’s Carling Cup tie against Bolton.

Attacking midfielder Aneke, 18, has yet to make his Arsenal debut. He has represented England at various agegroup categories even though Nigeria tram selectors are reported to have courted him.

The London Gunners chief wants the youngsters to pick up some first-team experience this season.

The French boss has delayed loaning out his younger talent until after the fourth round of the League Cup, but plans to field a stronger side for the later stages of the competition The five players will be loaned out to Championship and League One clubs and will be added to the 11 Arsenal players out on loan at various clubs in England, Scotland, Spain, France and Brazil.

Although loans are prohibited between Premier League clubs outside of the winter and summer windows, Football League clubs are eligible to register players on loan in the first half of the season until Thursday, November 24.

O

Ike Uche faces Barca’s wrath ITH only a goal to his name, Nigeria international Ikechukwu Uche could face the wrath of Barcelona as he leads Granada’s onslaught against the European champions tonight at the Nou Camp in the Spanish La Liga.

Uche, who has only scored a goal for Granada since arriving from Valencia, is eyeing an upset against the La Liga Champions.

Barcelona were held to a 0-0 draw

Ameobi ruled out for six weeks

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EWCASTLE United will be without striker Shola Ameobi for at least a month after he sustained a hamstring injury against Wigan on Sunday.

The Nigeria-born Englishman felt for his hamstring just a few minutes after coming on as a 68th-minute substitute in the side's 1-0 win over the Latics in the English Premier League.

Ameobi has played more times than any other player currently at the club and manager Alan Pardew said his experience and presence would be missed in the coming weeks.

"Unfortunately we lost Shola on

at home to Sevilla on Saturday after Argentine forward Lionel Messi had a stoppage time penalty saved.

Newly-promoted Granada are struggling to cope with the demands of the Spanish top flight, although the good news is that they are, nonetheless, just one point adrift of safety.

Heavy summer recruitment has not produced expected results as some of the new players are still trying to adapt to the new

E

surroundings, with the team taking just two points from last five games.

While losing all four away games, Granada are unbeaten in the last three at home, although the run is likely to come to an end very soon.

Barcelona enter this match looking to make amends for the slip up against Sevilla, and it is a good thing that the next game is coming so quickly as the players won’t have a lot of time to think about the underpar performance against los Rojiblancos.

UCHARIA Uche may not continue as head coach of Nigeria's Super Falcons, SuperSport.com has been informed.

This development comes against the backdrop of the Super Falcons' failure to qualify for the 2012 Olympics soccer event for women.

The Super Falcons lost on penalties to their Cameroonian counterparts in Yaounde on Sunday.

It has been learnt that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will likely not extend the contract of Uche.

Uche's contract first expired after the FIFA Women's World Cup before the football federation renewed it by another eight weeks.

At present, the Super Falcons' coach is out of contract and SuperSport.com has been informed that the NFF will not renew her deal following the team's ouster from the Olympics.

"Eucharia Uche's case is not a matter of being sacked. She's out of contract and having failed to lead the Super Falcons to the Olympics, the NFF won't be renewing her deal at the moment," a top

Saturday so he's going to be out now, we think, four to six weeks," Pardew said.

"That's a blow to us. He pulled a hamstring after about three minutes of coming on, and still played on which just goes to show you what sort of character he is.

"He's going to be a loss to us and I think our fans will see that now, how important he is when he's not there."

Ameobi has scored once for the Magpies this term from seven appearances with Newcastle unbeaten in the league and surprising many to occupy the fourth Champions League position after nine matches.

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AF Confederations Cup campaigner Sunshine Stars of Nigeria has moved to an undisclosed location in Lagos as the club seeks to overturn a 0-1 goal deficit against Tunisian club, Club Africian in the second leg of the semi final match billed for the weekend in Tunis.

The Nigeria Premier League (NPL) current pacesetter couldn’t make home advantage count when the

'I am happy that we will be having a world class cast storm Obudu to compete for the title and cash on offer.This is a confirmation that the organisation of the race has been world class',he said.

Archibong's sentiments was echoed by Patrick Ugbe,the Cross River State Honourable Commissioner for Information who believes the interest shown and support given by the Governor has been the driving force behind the successes recorded over the years by the LOC. 'Without doubt the tremendous backing we have received from His Execellency has galvanised us into organising what the president of world mountain running association, Bruno Gozzelino has called a perfect race so far. We can only get better and want to assure Nigerians that we shall continue to project Nigeria in positive light to the rest of the world through a perfect organisation of the annual Obudu international mountain race. This is a perfect image laundering tool for Nigeria and His Excellency is delighted to be at the vanguard of getting the outside world to know there are far better good things coming out of Nigeria than the negative reports in the international media', he said.

official of the football federation, who wants to remain anonymous said.

Uche led the Super Falcons to win the African title but failed to guide the team past the first round of the last edition of the World Cup.

By Innocent Amomoh SSISTANT Coach of Rivers State outfit Dolphins Football Club, Ken Chuku has charged the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) to shift concentration to the last matches in the elite division to guide against any possible foul play.

In a chat with NationSport yesterday, the former Sharks of Port-Harcourt tactician said so far, the NPL has done a good job this season by ensuring sanity in all aspects of the league, but hopes that it will continue till the final day.

“The match in Ijebu –Ode against Sunshine was good. Though we lost the encounter, we are satisfied with the standard of officiating. The players played well, according to instructions but luck was just not on our side.

“We scored first but Sunshine came from behind to win the match 3-2. I only hope it will continue till the end of the season with just three matches to go,” he said.

The Germany-trained coach however assured that Dolphins FC is still in contention despite the loss, adding that they will be returning home to make the necessary adjustment ahead of the next home match against 3SC. Dophins are in the second spot on the log with 64 points behind Sunshine Stars staying atop with 67 points.

A

From Tunde Liadi, Owerri initial leg was played at the Dipo Dina International Stadium, Ijebu Ode as it succumbed to a second half lone strike, but the Executive Director of the Ondo State Football Development Agency (ODSFA), Mike Idoko has affirmed that the Mimiko Boys would go for broke in Tunis and hopes to secure the result that would land Sunshine in the final.

“We realised that for us to have confidence to go into the second leg match (against Club Africain) we just had to beat Dolphins and that was what we did and that has given them morale boost. The players and club officials are going to Tunisia with full confidence.

“They are moving into camp tonight (Sunday) in Lagos because the field is not a synthetic pitch it is on grass surface so we are moving to Lagos so as to get a grass pitch to play on and also for total concentration. “ Speaking on the hard-earned win over Dolphins on Sunday, Idoko enthused that the vital win over the Garden City team answered many questions and went a long way to shame critics of the club who were alleging that the club used dubious means to get results on the domestic front.

“That the match was shown live has proved to the world that Sunshine Stars’ occupation of the first position is not a fluke. Dolphins are a strong side and have everything going for them but we were able to win. It was a tough match and the whole world saw it. There was no penalty and the three goals were confirmed attempts from the players.”

Sunshine Stars players and officials will arrive in Tunisia on Thursday morning as they have concluded flight arrangements with Air Marocc for the trip.

• Eucharia

Chuku charges NPL on last three matches

• To hit Tunisia Thursday morning

•Nigeria’s Nonso Madueke returning a backhand stroke at the on-going Governor’s Cup. PHOTO: John Ebhota

PRESIDENT WORLD PEACE CUP:

US-based Nigerian tag-team signs up

U

NPL FINAL LAP

Sunshine moves camp to Lagos

Obudu LOC: We are ready to host the world again RGANISERS of the annual Obudu international mountain race has re-affirmed their determination to host another successful event come Monday 28th of November when the 7th edition of the championship holds at the Obudu Ranch Resort in Obanliku, Cross River State.

William Archibong, chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the race said in Calabar that all the logistics for a hitch-free competition have been put in place and that the State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke is pulling all the stops to make this year's edition the best ever.

'Every logistics has been taken care of by the LOC for the race.His Excellency, Governor Imoke is happy with the progress we have made both in the technical organisation of the race and the travel and accommodation of all participants. The experience we have garnered since the inaugural edition was held seven years ago has come in handy', said a delighted Archibong who has been the head of the LOC since 2005.

Archibong is also delighted that the race this year has attracted the best mountain runners in the world and proves the organisers have scored high marks in the technical organisation of the event.

NOU CAMP CLASH

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• Mikel

Eucharia may stand down as Falcons coach

SA-based Nigeria’s most dangerous tag-team in the world of professional wrestling, Maifu and Saifu have signed for the maiden edition of the President World Peace Cup 2011 scheduled to hold from December 11 to 22 across nine cities in the country.

The cities are Aba, Lagos, Osogbo, Asaba, Ilorin, Calabar, Makurdi, Port Harcourt with the grand finale billed for Abuja. The wrestling extravaganza will showcase known pro-wrestling warlords around the world.

The tag-team also known as the Nightmares are one of the most feared tag teams in wrestling today, as they have been leaving a trail of broken bones and beaten bodies all over the pro-wrestling world.

Describing the duo in a statement, Power Uti Worldwide Wrestling Promotion, Manager Sports, Leo Akunasha Onyekwere, said, "the duo combines a unique blend of size, power, savagery and agility that has had opponents scratching their heads trying to figure out how to defeat these two behemoths.

"Before you even get a chance to get over the eerie ring entrance of the Nightmares, they are right on top of their opponents, tearing them apart.

The most amazing thing about these warlords is the agility they possess for their sizes. Whether it is a spinning leg lariat, a slingshot leg drop into the ring from the outside apron or a big splash off the top rope, their opponents are usually caught off guard by their unlikely skills," he said.

Onyenkwere continues, "If the Nightmares have any weakness, it would be that they don’t seem to grasp the concept of win and lose. They just want to hurt people," adding that they have been undefeated in the National Wrestling Superstars (NWS) promotion for the last several years.

• Power Uti

OL YMPIC Q U ALIFIER FALLOUT OLYMPIC QU

Super Falcons were paranoid— Cameroon coach

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AMEROON'S coach Enow Ngatchou’s was right when he told SuperSport.com in his prematch declaration that the match between the Lionesses and the Super Falcons was merely a psychological battle.

This was manifest in the apprehensive attitude the Nigerian delegation accompanying the Super Falcons displayed during their stay in Cameroon.

The delegation came from Nigeria with everything. The team and players could be seen with water and soft drinks from Nigeria, from the trade mark on the bottles.

The bus hired by the Cameroon football federation for the team was abandoned to other members of the delegation while the players got into the bus hired by the Nigerian High Commission in Yaoundé.

When approached for an interview with players, the Team Press Officer, Gracious Akujobi said they were not allowed to speak before the match.

Though the head of the delegation allowed the coach and the captain Precious Dede to speak to the press, Dede answered in terse sentences and mono syllabic words.

The coach, Uche Eucheria who had earlier promised to speak after the game,

went dumb following the defeat at the persistent questions from the press.

She, however, muttered as she debunked allegations that the performance of the Super Falcons is dwindling, in these words, “we are not going down.”

It became glaring that Coach Enow was right in his predictions that the match was psychological when Nigerians started praying as central referee Moroccan El Harkaouin Incaf signalled the beginning of penalty shoot outs.

The Nigerian fans started prayers with their famous victory song “This mountain shall be removed, this mountain shall be removed, this mountain shall be removed, by my spirit says the Lord.”

While the chanting accompanied by the band was going on, the coach, players and other members of the delegation, arms on each other’s’ shoulders prayed fervently.

The coach could be heard praying “blood of Jesus” severally. The other players sang in Ibo, one of the local languages in Nigeria in what could be translated in “Father come and honour your name today. The God of Soccer, God of Soccer.”

No amount of prayer could however stop the 4-3 win of the Lionesses over their arch-rivals, thus clinching the remaining spot for London 2012.

GOVERNOR'S CUP:

US teen, Sachia begins 2nd leg on bright note

A

MERICAN teenager, Vickery Sachia fought her way to the second round of the second leg of the ongoing Governor's Cup Lagos Tennis Championship with an easy victory over Margarita Lazareva of Russia.

The 16-year-old Sachia, who came to Lagos with her mother, beat the Russian in straight sets of 6-1, 6-2 in the Etisalat/FCMB sponsored championship at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan yesterday.

She will however face a stern test against number 4 seed, Conny Perrin of Switzerland in the second round.

Perrin beat Tamara Curovic of Serbia in 6-2, 7-6(8) game.

Nigerian boy, Onyeka Mbanu

By Stella Bamawo surprised Russian Alexei Filenkov in a tight game that ended 7-6(5), 4-6, 62.

Most of the Nigerian girls who played in the first round yesterday were not so lucky as they bowed to the firepower of their foreign counterparts. Christy Agugbom was defeated in 6-2, 6-0 match, Blessing Anuna was stopped by South African Natasha Fourouclas in 6-0, 6-1 tie.

Sarah Adegoke was beaten 6-0, 6-0

by Romania's Agnes Szatmari.

Other results in the women's singles saw Poojashree Venkatesha

of India losing to compatriot, Nldhi Chilumula in 2-6, 1-6. Ksenia Lykina of Russia beat Anna Floris of Italy 7-5, 6-7-6-3. Tamaryn Hendler of Belgium defeated Karolina Nowak of Germany 6-2,6-4.

In the Men's Singles, tournament number 1, Slovakian Kamil Capkovic beat compatriot Marko Danis in straight sets of 6-0, 6-0. Terence Nugent of Ivory Coast defeated Nigerian Nonso Madueke in 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Croatia's Ante Pavic beat Greece's Paris Gemouchidis 6-2, 6-1. Senegalese Daouda Ndiaye beat Steffen Solomon.

4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Indian Vijayant Malik defeated Kaza Vinayak Sharma who is also from India 6-2, 6-2 . Japanese Yusuke Watanuki beat Zimbabwe's Maek Fynn 6-3, 6-3.

25

PROPERTY

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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

* The Environment * Mortgage * Apartments * Security * Homes *Real Estate

email:- property@thenationonlineng.net

•Street trading in Lagos

Ahead of the forthcoming climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, the Lagos State Government has stepped up efforts to check the antics of the informal sector on the environment. Artisans, who make up mainly the informal sector, have been accused of adding to climate change prob•Experts advocate concept stable lems.rent-to-ownership An apparently worried government hasfor raised thepolity alarm on the need to preserve the environment, OKWY IROEGBU reports.

How artisans compound climate problems

•CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

•NIS, firm sign agency agreement

- PAGE 26

•Works minister gets knocks on road

- PAGE 39

• Multi-billion dollar climate change fund hits barrier - PAGE 40

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

26

PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

NIS, firm sign agency agreement

T

HE Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) has ap pointed M.I. Okoro & Associates a firm of Corporate Estate Agents and Consultants as agent / manager of the Surveyors Building, a seven-storey office complex., owned by the institution on Victoria Island, Lagos.

At the signing ceremony witnessed by some Board of Trustees, members of the institution and partners in M.I. Okoro & Associates, the principal partner of the practice Dr. Meckson Okoro commended the institute for choosing a professional firm to manage their property.

He called on the government to take a cue from it by appointing professionals into positions and ministries that they are best suited.

He said: “In almost my 20 years of practice as an estate surveyor and valuer, this is the first time I am seeing any professional body in Nigeria that thought it wise to appoint a practising firm of estate managers to manage their property.”

Okoro said what was common in the past is one professional body fighting one another over supremacy in securing government’s jobs or briefs.That makes mockery of professional institutions when they fight each other to dominate sister professional body in acquiring briefs.

He recalled that last year, the West African Aluminum Products

By Okwy Iroegbu, Asst Editor

Plc, the new owner of NECOM HOUSE, a 37-storey building in Marina, formerly owned by NITEL Trust Fund Limited, appointed his firm as the agent.

Okoro called on professional bodies in the country to emulate NIS to grow the profession.

He criticised a situation where select professionals are appointed into various positions in the government and leaving others in the cold.

He argued that there is no sufficient reason NIS would not be assigned with mapping out both

‘In almost my 20 years of practice as an estate surveyor and valuer, this is the first time I am seeing any professional body in Nigeria that thought it wise to appoint a practising firm of estate managers to manage their property’

•From left: Chukwu, Mikano, Okoro and Uke at the signing ceremony

aerial and ground boundaries of the country.

He encouraged the policing of the country’s borders to check the encroachment by neigbbours as exemplified by the ceding of Bakassi Town to the Camerounian government, noting that land and boundaries created by the Almighty is fixed in supply.

“We must jealously guard our national boundary so that we do not unnecessarily decrease our physical supply of land while the human

population meant to utilise this land for various purposes in increase per second.

He attributed the nation’s poor development to the neglect of professionals, especially in the built industry and over dependency on expatriates, which he said, are not better than the indigenous professionals by any standards, he said.

On the way out for the nation’s bad roads, he recommended that the Federal Government assigns the management of federal roads to the

Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Ministry of Works.

Where the NSE cannot handle these road rehabilitation assignments, they should engage foreign experts.

By so doing, the government would have absolved itself of any blame, assuming our indigeneous engineers fail to perform.

He also advised state governments to use professionals to develop their infrastructure.

How artisans compound climate problems

•Continued from Page 25

T

HE Lagos State Government has continued to attached im portance to environmental issues because of the belief that the environment is the superstructure on which other sectors rest.

In pursuance of the above stand, the state encouraged the planting of over three million trees. But the gains of this may be lost if the activities of the informal sector are not monitored and checked.

The state and, indeed, most African countries are the worse hit by the effects of climate change though they contribute less to the devastating scourge of the menace because they have, in most cases, not responded by checking the informal sector, which practitiones abuse the environment daily in their activities.

The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, said because there will be more rains which translates to more flooding in the metropolis, the drainages need to be free of filth. He regretted that some artisans dump their waste in drains, making it impossible for storm water to discharge freely.

He said: “Several markets are dirty and they are not good for the environment and when we shut any of them down, which we will likely do for sanitation reasons, it remains shut for a minimum of three months. Markets, such as Ijesha, Cele, Ladipo, Mile 12, Mushin will not escape the hammer except they do something fast.”

He said when people urinate and defecate in un-authorised places and dump waste in un-approved places due to street trading, they contaminate the water body, which raises a lot of health questions. A combination of these negative activities raises climate change and global warming concerns he warned.

Bello said: “It is time to act as fast as possible while synergising efforts by identifying and tackling climate change issues that are germane and peculiar to us.” He promised that the government will always engage the informal sector to preserve the environment and check the effects of climate change.

Secretary of Nigerian Association

•R-L: Mr Seyi Oladejo, Dr. Taoeek Folami, wife of Lagos State governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola, Mr Bello, and Mr Muyideen Akinsanya at the event.

PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES

of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Practitioners (NARAP), Mr Tope Balogun, said over 80 million people are in this sector and that his people also face the challenges of unregulated and unprotected condition.

He said though they government may blame this set of people for some excesses they can also be engaged through public education.

He said: “Planting of trees, especially fruit crops that will help not only to sustain the environment, but also provide the much-needed micro nutrient should be encouraged.

Our organisation and others alike can be partnered by the government in the provision of equipment, such as recovery machine, recycling ma-

chine, reclaiming machine that can be used in preventing emission of ozone depleting substance should be encouraged.”

Balogun argued that it is one thing to be aware of issues pertaining to environmental sustainability and another to be empowered to actually cultivate environmentally-friendly practices among the informal sectors.

President, Hair Dressers Association of Nigeria, Mrs Sess Tom, said contrary to the belief that they pollute the environment and block the drains leading to flooding, her members actually complement the efforts of the government in beautifying the environment by making people look good.

She said her members were aware

of the need to dispose of their waste hygienically and also patronise PSP operators in waste management to maintain the environment.

She asked the government to help her members to deliver their services at their optimum. A motor mechanic, Mr Tajudeen Ibiragbo, urged the government to provide more mechanic villages if they are serious about controlling their activities.

He said: “ Since we must survive, my members, who cannot get a space

in the few mechanic villages, have no choice, but to become road side mechanics, where our oil and grease waste are emptied into the drain and on the road. We know the implication to the environment, but we can’t help it because we must survive. ‘’The government is not doing anything for us to encourage us in this climate change and global warming talk, but our survival comes first that is the truth.”

‘Planting of trees, especially fruit crops that will help not only to sustain the environment, but also provide the much-needed micro nutrient, should be encouraged’

27

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

E-mail:- law@thenationonlineng.net

How committed is the present administration to the protection of human rights? This is the question agitating the minds of many in the wake of the recent arrest and detention of some journalists. Lawyers are worried by the state of human rights as the Senate is set to confirm a new Board of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). They list their expectations. JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU and JOSEPH JIBUEZE write.

What hope for citizens’ rights?

•Lawyers set agenda for Rights Commission

H

OW has the Goodluck Jonathan administration fared in the protection of human rights? Many think there is still a lot to do. They point to abridgement of citizens’ right to change their government; politically motivated and extrajudicial killings by security forces, including summary executions; torture and rape.

They also see as signs of bad times the increasing inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners, detainees, and criminal suspects; harsh and life-threatening condition of prison and detention centres; arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial detention; denial of fair trial; executive influence in the judiciary and corruption.

Added to these are infringement of citizens’ privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, and movement; official corruption and impunity; violence and discrimination against women; ethnic, regional, and religious discrimination and violence.

Even the right to life seems to no longer have meaning in Nigeria. And in most cases, the police appear helpless. Till date, no high profile case has been resolved.

Instead, uniformed security forces have been accused of participating in killings during ethnic violence.

According to an Amnesty International (AI) report, security services executed detainees in custody, suspected armed robbers under arrest, persons who refused to pay bribes, and persons stopped during road checks.

Police are generally not held accountable for the use of excessive or deadly force or for the deaths of persons in custody. The force generally operates with impunity in the illegal apprehension, detention, and sometimes execution of criminal suspects.

Prison and detention conditions remain harsh and life-threatening. Most of the country’s 227 overcrowded prisons are 70 to 80 years old and lack basic facilities. Lack of potable water, inadequate sewage facilities, and severe overcrowding result in dangerous and unsanitary conditions.

The Federal Government operates all the country’s prisons, but maintain few pretrial jail facilities. Of the total prison population, 73 per cent is not yet convicted. There is no regular outside monitors of the prisons, no statistics on mistreatment of prisoners, or on the availability of food or medical care.

Prison illnesses included HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Inmates with these illnesses live with the regular population.

Although authorities makee an effort to isolate persons with communicable diseases, the facilities often lacked the space to do so.

No reliable statistics exist on prison deaths.

Lengthy pretrial detention remain a serious problem, and human rights groups report that detainees awaiting trial constitute 73 per cent of the prison population, with some awaiting trial more than 10 years. Serious trial backlogs, endemic corruption, and undue political influence continued to ham-

per the judicial system.

Multiple adjournments in some cases result in serious delays. Many detainees are denied trials because police lacked vehicles to transport them to court on their trial dates.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), set up to address human rights concerns, once said some detainees were held because authorities had lost their case files.

Although detainees have the right to submit complaints to the NHRC, the commission has no power to respond.

Corruption is massive, widespread, and pervasive at all levels of government and throughout the security forces. There is a widespread perception that judges are easily bribed and that litigants could not rely on the courts to render impartial judgments.

Police corruption remains rampant, particularly at highway checkpoints. Police routinely stop drivers, who have committed no traffic infractions, refusing to allow them to continue until they paid bribes.

Citizens could report incidents of police corruption to the NHRC; however, before the recent amendments to the Act establishing it, it had no power to act on such complaints, and no other mechanism was available to investigate security force abuse.

The NHRC, which the government tasked with monitoring and protecting human rights, maintains zonal affiliates in the country’s six political regions. Since its inception, the NHRC’s operations have been limited by insufficient funding.

Lawyers expect the NHRC to enforce all the powers granted it in the new amendment of the law, and the nation awaits the confirmation of Dr. Anselm Chidi Odinkalu as NHRC chairman, as well as other board members, they have set agenda for the Commission which they believe, will enhance the protection of human, civil, economic and socio- political rights of the average Nigerian.

A former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) said the appointment of the new board of the NHRC is timely.

“We need a strong human rights institution that will constantly intervene on behalf of Nigerians on many issues of concern across the country. There are so many, a lot of human rights issues across the country affecting ordinary Nigerians: workers strikes, fuel subsidy removal, national minimum wage issues, appropriate pricing of the naira against the dollar and so on.

“So, we need a very strong human rights commission as an intervention agency to advise the Federal Government on the best way out of some of these problems, so that the generality of Nigerians do not suffer unnecessarily.

“We hope that the National Assembly members will do their best to see that the new NHRC board is in place soon so that they will hit the ground running. We have no time to waste because there is a lot to

•Judicial integrity at stake over investigation

•Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke (SAN)

do.”

Human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana, said praised the National Assembly for the amend-

ments that have been done to the National Human Rights Commission Act. •Continued on page 31

•’Why we need research professional chair’ - P.30 •How to sustain human rights - P.31

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

28

LAW REPORT

Taking preliminary objection with main suit amounts to overruling before argument IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA On Friday, the 24th day of June, 2011 Suit No: SC.3/2011 BEFORE THEIR LORDSHIPS DAHIRU MUSDAPHER ....... Justice of the Supreme Court CHRISTOPHER MITCHELL CHUKWUMA-ENEH ....... Justice of the Supreme Court OLUFUNLOLA OYELOLA ADEKEYE ....... Justice of the Supreme Court SULEIMAN GALADIMA ....... Justice of the Supreme Court BODE RHODES-VIVOUR ....... Justice of the Supreme Court

BETWEEN 1. HON. ZAKAWANU I. GARUBA 2. HON. LEVIS A. AIGBOGUN 3. HON. FRANCIS O. OKIYE 4. HON. BLESSING AGBEBAKU 5. HON. CHRISTOPHER I. ADESOTU 6. HON. SUNDAY EBOSELE EREGHAN 7. HON. EMMA OKODUWA

HON. ZAKAWANU I. GARUBA & ORS V. HON. EHI BRIGHT OMOKHODION & ORS CITATION: (2011) LPELR-SC.3/2011 •Cont’d from last two weeks

HE purported amendment of the record of appeal/proceeding as claimed by the appellants has no sanction of the court either by granting or refusing the amendment and so it is a nonstarter. Meaning that the mere filing of an affidavit challenging the instant record/ proceeding of 26/4/2010 without more cannot by that fact alone (i.e. without more) effectively and effectually amend the record of appeal. And I so hold.

What are the consequences for so holding as per the foregoing? They are far reaching. I have already set out the grounds of appeal and the four issues particularly issues 1 and 2 raised therefrom for determination in this matter as above. The appellants have made no bones as to the common basis of the said four issues and even the 10 grounds of appeal in this matter. The four issues so also grounds 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10 of the grounds of appeal by the nature of the questions they have raised respectively have to stand or fall based on whether or not the record of appeal/proceeding of 26/4/2010 has been duly amended by the affidavit filed by the appellants challenging the record. These issues and the grounds as argued by the appellants have been premised on the unfounded basis that the record/proceeding of 26/4/2010 has been so amended hence the complaint as per issue one that the lower court has subtracted or read out of the record, “what is there” and on issue two of not having taken judicial notice of the judgments of this court cited in ground one. That the appellants have laboured under a misconception and misapprehension as to the amendment of the record of appeal/proceeding of 26/4/2010 is borne out from their submission as per paragraph 4.05 page 13 of their brief and I quote: “The lower court... was in grave error when it stated that no case was cited or referred to in the record of appeal. The court did not advert its mind to the affidavit challenging the record of court dated 26/4/2010 on the omission of the cited authorities... we submit that the conclusion of the Court of Appeal ... that the cases were not cited or referred to in the proceedings of the trial Court for 26/4/2010 is not borne out of the record of appeal at pages 250, 251, 252, 253, 257, 258, 259 260 -263A of the Record of Appeal ... The conclusion of the Court of Appeal ... that no case was cited or referred to is not borne out of the record...”

Their misconception with respect is profound. It is settled law that courts, the parties and their counsel are bound by the record of appeal. And so no court has the jurisdiction to go outside the record to draw conclusions which are not supported by the record. I find that the four issues and grounds 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10 also have been

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raised on the basis that the said record of appeal/proceeding of 26/4/2010 has been duly amended by the affidavit challenging the record of appeal to include the proceedings of 26/4/2010. This is not so as per my findings above.

In the result having pulled the rug as it were from underneath the appellants submissions as to the competency with regard to the four issues raised for resolution here and the said grounds above mentioned they become baseless and utterly without foundation and therefore incompetent and should be struck out. It is trite that you cannot stand something on nothing and expect it to stand and in the same way issues for determination must spring from grounds of appeal which in turn must have arisen from the court’s decision.

Finally, it has been argued in this matter that this appeal has been struck out by the lower court for failing to seek and obtain leave of court before filing the appeal as prescribed by Section 242 of the 1999 Constitution as amended having raised grounds of mixed law and facts therein. It is also common ground that the trial Court’s directive to deal first with the preliminary objections amounts to an interlocutory order based on the exercise of its discretion. It is trite law that an appeal against an interlocutory decision other than on grounds of law requires leave of court. The provisions of Sections 241(1) and 242 (supra) have clearly set out when appeals will be presented as of right or

with leave respectively of the Federal High Court or State High Court or the Court of Appeal as the case may be. And so it is settled law that right to appeal is statutory. Whether the instant exercise by the appellants of their right to appeal is properly founded in law has been challenged by the respondents based on the nature of the instant 3 grounds raised against the trial Court’s decision in this matter. This has formed the basis of grounds 1, 2 and 5 to this court.

The question to be resolved in this respect is whether or not the 3 (three) grounds of appeal raised before the lower court require leave of court to be competent having been raised against the trial Court’s decision in exercise of its discretionary power. This depends on whether or not the grounds raised are questions of law. The point therefore must be made that the distinction between a ground of law and a ground of fact or mixed law and facts though very thin, is fundamental to resolving the instant question, which is difficult and blurred to define and apply. See: Ugboaja v. Akinloye Somemimo (2008) 16 NWLR (pt.1113) 278 at 293-294. See Nwadike v. Ibekwe (1987) 4 NWLR (pt.67) 718. To determine whether a ground of appeal is one of law or fact requires examining the main ground in the context of its particulars so as to determine the nature of the question the ground has raised or complaining about The appropriate approach to determining the issue put simply in the circumstances is whether the 3 grounds irrespective of how couched have challenged i.e. questioned the discretionary exercise of the power of the trial Court to hear the preliminary objections of the 3 sets of defendants/respondents first before dealing with substantive matter on the merits or to deal with the originating summons and the preliminary objections together. See Nwadike v. Ibekwe (1987) 4 NWLR (pt.67) 718, Obi v.

Owolabi (1990) 5 NWLR (pt.153) 702, Olaosebikan v. Williams (1996) 5 NWLR (pt.449) 437 at 442. The trial Court opted to hear the preliminary objections first in exercise of its discretionary power. It is beyond argument that the appellants have questioned the trial Court’s discretion in making the interlocutory order in other words, thus questioning the evaluation of the facts. See State v. Bassey (1994) 9 NWLR (Pt.367) 130 at 13D. I find that by examining the said 3 grounds of appeal will lead to further examining of the facts and circumstances on which the trial Court’s exercise of its discretion in the matter of the directive it has given is premised and I have no doubt that the 3 grounds are a product of exercise of discretion and so a composite of mixed law and facts.

Again, even then reading the main grounds of the 3 grounds of appeal alongside their particulars shows that they are complaining of the trial Court’s exercise of its discretionary power. And I so find. This question has been settled by the pronounce-

ment of this court in F.B.N. Ltd. v. Abraham (2008) 18 NWLR (Pt.1118) 172 at 189A-B wherein it held that and I quote: “A ground of appeal questioning the exercise of discretion by a lower court is not a ground of law but a ground of mixed law and facts.”

From my reasoning above I am in entire agreement with the finding in the above cited case. So that the 3 grounds of appeal in this matter having raised a question of mixed law and facts require leave of court; the appellants have filed this appeal without first having obtained leave of court and they will take the consequences. It is trite that without leave of court having been first sought and obtained before filing the appeal, the appeal will be incompetent and liable to be struck out pursuant to Section 233(3) of the 1999 Constitution and I so hold.

Having so concluded I see no justification examining any other issues raised here as this finding goes to the root of the appeal vis-a-vis the notice of appeal not having any competent ground on which to sustain it and the appeal therefore being incompetent it is hereby struck out.

For all the reasons I have given above, I find no merit in this appeal and it stands dismissed in its entirety. I hereby affirm the decision of the local court. I make no order as to costs.

Cross Appeal The respondents/cross-appellants in the cross appeal are the 12th - 14th respondents in the main appeal. They have filed a Notice of Appeal dated 3/2/2011 and have filed their brief of argument in the cross appeal and from it has distilled a sole issue for determination, viz: “...whether the Ruling by way of a directive of the learned trial judge on the 26th April 2010 amounted to a decision for which the appellants can appeal.”

Arguing the sole issue raised in this matter they have submitted that the directive of 26/4/2010 as per the interlocutory order made by the trial Court on 26/4/2010 has done no more than to have considered the priority of the pending applications before it and so not a decision within the meaning as contemplated in Sections 241, 242, 243 and 318 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. As a guide to the court to resolving this matter they have cited United Ventures Ltd. V. F.C.M.B. Ltd. (1998) 4 NWLR (Pt.547) 596 at 555 paragraphs B-F and 564 per Musdapher JCA (as he then was), Okeke v. Uzo Chukwuma Motors (2001) 3 NWLR (Pt.700) 338 at 345 - 355 C/A, 11 NWLR (Pt.724) 341 at 348 paragraphs G-H, Chidozie v.

Mosowan (1999) 1 NWLR (Pt.556) at 328 paragraphs C-D, F-H. The court is urged to resolve this issue in favour of the respondents/cross appellants.

•To be continued

•From left: Justice Omolara Kayode-Ogunmekan, Justice Yetunde Idowu and Deborah Oluwayemi at Lagos State Judiciary's new legal year service

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

29

LAW COVER CONT’D

What hope for citizens’ rights?

•Continued from page 29

He said: “Under the present human rights legal regime, human rights are no longer the exclusive preserve of the political elite, or a tiny minority of privileged citizens.

“Every indigent person can now access or have their human rights enforced either in courts or through administrative means by forwarding a petition to the NHRC. “For me, the most impressive amendment that has been done is the one that has elevated the recommendations of the panel to the level of the Judgment a court, which can be registered by a court, just like a foreign judgment.

“Once it is registered as the judgment of a court, it can be enforced. For me, this is very commendable. He stated “side by side with the Human Rights Commission, is the legal aids council which law has also just been amended.

“Whereas, Legal Aid could only be provided for a limited number of citizens in the area of those who had committed certain criminal offences, like capital offences and the like, now S.5.46 (4) of the Constitution has been taken into cognizance.

“I had petitioned the National Assembly to ensure that part of the provision which states that the National Assembly shall make financial provision to assist any indigent person, indigent citizens to enforce their human rights.

“That provision has been accommodated in the Legal Aid Amendment Act, to the extent now, that any indigent person in Nigeria whose fundamental rights are violated can, at the expense of the state, the country or the government, have a field day in court.

“For me, these are welfare laws to be promoted by the media so that Nigerians can know that some success have been recorded and for those who want to talk about the dividends of democracy, there are these intangible aspects of it.

“One of this is the human rights, freedom and liberty, so if the right of Nigerians which have been guaranteed by the constitution can now be enforced, I think we all must commend the National Assembly and then see what we can do so that these laws do not just gather in the shelf.

“I do hope that the NHRC team will be confirmed because most of those who have been nominated have had experience in human rights more in the country. I, therefore, expect that once they are allowed to take off, the sky should be the limit of Nigerians with respect to the protection of our human rights.

“They should take a very, very aggressive approach in a way that extra judicial killing, illegal arrest and detention would be seriously addressed. I am also going to charge them with the enforcement or the socio-economic right of Nigerians, because unless the majority of our people can be economically empowered, these rights, like the late Dr. Akinola Aguda always said will just be a tantalising reality for the majority of out people.”

Former Abia State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Solomon Akuma (SAN) said: “I would like to urge the Senate to expedite action on the confirmation of the candidacy of Dr. Chidi Odinkalu as NHRC Chairman. I believe that as a square peg in a square hole, he will do that job very well.

“Because of the powers of the Commission in the new Act just signed by the president, I would urge them to act by the powers provided for them under the Act. This is a great opportunity for them to seriously look into the issue of prison decongestion which is a major act of infringement of human rights.

“They should see how those who have been clamped into prison as awaiting trial are helped and their matters determined as quickly as possible. They should also work hand in hand with the Legal Aid Council where if possible, they could assist the legal Aid Council to assign lawyers who represent the awaiting trial inmates Council to

•Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim

•Odinkalu

•Agbakoba

•Falana

defend them.

“There have been a lot of abuses of human rights. Infact under the new dispensation, they have a lot to do. I want them to ensure that they determine any application that comes to them as fast and as quickly as possible.”

Professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School, Obiora Chinedu Okafor said: “I expect them to make the best effort to deepen both their conceptual and physical connectedness to the ‘voices of suffering’, the poorest or bottom 70 per cent of Nigerians, and give vigorous voice to their very grave and abiding human rights concerns.

“They can do so by taking poverty and economic/social rights much more seriously than is usually the case, and establishing offices and other forms of physical presence/ outreach more widely in the rural areas and urban slums of this country, where the vast majority of our people live, work and toil.”

Former Ikorodu Branch Chairman of the NBA, Mr Nurudeen Ogbara, said he looks

forward to changes in the way human rights issues are handled.

“I look forward to a lot of changes - programmatic and methodological - in the ways and manner the activities and other engagements of the NHRC henceforth because a lot of deep ideological orientations, patriotism, humanism, pro-people disposition and rights-based approaches are going to be employed and deployed under the new, young, versatile, dynamic and energetic leadership that is being positioned for the next few years.

“More specifically, the mandate of the NHRC is going to be re-viewed and revitalised in such a way that they will proactively popularise it and vibrantly pursued it on many fronts to the benefit of the Nigerian people in particular and humanity at large.

“Secondly, knowing Dr. Chidi Anselem Odinkalu, I can see him vigorously and rigorously giving soul and body to the amended Act of the NHRC and making the august body more relevant to the needs and necessities of

‘We are confident that Odinkalu will bring his wealth of knowledge and experience to bear on the NHRC to provide the much needed leadership and direction to the Commission. A critical issue that requires urgent attention of the NHRC is that of endemic insecurity in the country’

the Nigerian citizenry in a way never before.

“Thirdly, I can also see a lot of reform in the relations of NGOs and the NHRC on one hand, the NHRC and the Judiciary, the NHRC and the National Assembly, especially the key or relevant committees of the NA, the NHRC and the Police, especially in the area of welfare conditions of the police officers and men, extra-judicial killings, pre-trial detentions, police prosecution etc.

“Similarly, there is going to be a salutary development in the area of pro bono work and public interest litigation. The Judiciary is likely going to be one of the most important areas the impact of the NHRC will now be felt because I can see greater partnership horizontally and vertically.

“The NBA is going to be a major co-traveller with the new NHRC leadership in the historic and patriotic mission of rediscovering the mission of social justice, rule of law, due process, and constitutionalism in our clime.

“I can equally see the new captain driving constitutional reforms to bury or otherwise do away with obsolete legal maxims such as locus standi, pre-action notices, public officers protection law and other archaic legal impediments to citizens’ realisation of social and legal justice and full exploration of the judicial processes and procedures.

“Regional, continental and global mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights are certainly going to be positively impacted upon because this is actually the immediate love of the new leadership. In fact, the new chairman’s doctoral dissertation is on integration of human rights instruments and of course by the necessary implication, their mechanisms.

“I know as a matter of certainty that legal aid facilities, including human rights education, research and enforcement, will be enhanced and the legal framework will be strengthened.

“One critical area of our political and constitutional development which has been totally abandoned, ignored and neglected with ease and almost a sense of irresponsibility on the part of successive federal governments is the fundamental issue of expanding the frontiers of human rights provisions in our constitution in such a way that social economic rights particularly the rights to a clean and satisfactory environment, to shelter, to employment, to health, to education etc become enforceable as the other rights in Chapter Four of our Constitution is yet another significant agendum I can see the new leadership pursuing and actualising.

“However, the new leadership needs the support of one and all to be able to achieve all these gargantuan targets and by the Grace of God they will have the Solomonic wisdom to be able to carry other key stakeholders particularly the government along so as to be able to engender the desired sustainable landmarks in our human rights jurisprudence and put the country at the forefront of the international community.”

A lawyer, Mr Francis Moneke said Odinkalu’s appointment is cheery news to the human rights community in Nigeria, especially those who know him personally and are conversant with his works.

“Odinkalu is without doubt a phenomenal veteran in human rights law and practice; his expertise in this area is evident from the numerous international positions he has held and his plethora of scholarly publications. In the course of my studies for an LLM in International Human Rights at the University of London I marvelled at the profusion of Odinkalu’s works as lavishly quoted by my professors.

“We are confident that Odinkalu will bring his wealth of knowledge and experience to bear on the NHRC to provide the much needed leadership and direction to the Commission. A critical issue that requires urgent attention of the NHRC is that of endemic insecurity in the country, especially in the Northern part of the country where there has been recurrent incidents of bombings and arbitrary killings of innocent citizens.

“The Commission needs to take proactive measures against these violations of the rights to life and dignity of the human person, for instance by conducting investigations into the past killings and recommending prosecution to the AG where appropriate.

“Also, pursuant to its now expanded mandate, the Commission should endeavour to ensure that the victims of those orgies of carnage are adequately compensated by the government. A take off point may well be for the Commission to intervene in the cases filed by SERAP and HREP at the ECOWAS Court and Federal High Court, Lagos respectively seeking compensation for the victims of the killings in the North.”

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THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER25, 2011

LEGAL OPINION Text of a speech by the Director–General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) at the Third Inaugural Lecture of the institute in Abuja.

‘Why we need research professorial chair‘

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AM, indeed, delighted to welcome all of you to this Third Inaugural Lecture of Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. Let me quickly mention that this is the first time the institute is organizsing an Inaugural lecture in Abuja. The reason being that we are still facing the challenge of developing our permanent site in Abuja.

Even at that, we are still under obligation to show that we maintain a presence in Abuja (how be it in squatting capacity) and that there is visible indication of robust intellectual activity in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

We are here today to fulfill the dreams of our founding fathers.

When His Excellency, Judge Taslim Elias of blessed memory pioneered the establishment of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, he had a vision of an institute that will become the melting point of legal scholarship in Africa.

It was to operate above universities, provide leadership for all Law faculties and serve as the engine room of legal research. Since 1979, the institute has pursued its mandate with missionary zeal and has never floundered.

The law setting up the institute has proved to be benchmark for assessing the achievement or otherwise of management and staff of the Institute.

As the legal think-tank of the country, the institute places a lot of premium on the Rule of Law and is quick to submit that in the hierarchy of laws, the statute or legislation ranks in priority to conventions or customary usages or practices even at the International domain.

Consequently, it is flawed reasoning to imagine that absence of such customary practices can subordinate a mandate that has the imprimatur of statutory enactment of the National Assembly.

Let me, however, seize this opportunity to thank and appreciate all those within and outside the profession who have continued to applaud and commend the institute for its renewed dedication to its mandate and legal scholarship.

In appreciating these commendations, let me humbly acknowledge the support of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) under the leadership of Mr J.B. Daudu (SAN) the Governing Council of the institute, the commanding height of the ju-

diciary, the academia and more significantly, the Federal Ministry of Justice under the leadership of Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice What is abundantly clear is that today, the institute is ranked globally as world class and this is measured as follows: almost all students with first class and second class upper division at both university and law schools (from Nigeria and abroad) consider the Institute their next destination.

Secondly, many universities in US, UK, and Canada are eager to partner with the institute because of the robust, vibrant and pragmatic scholarship we demonstrate.

It is little wonder that we have visiting professors from leading law faculties all over the world and many applications still being processed. We have inducted Hon. Justice Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India into our Hall of Fame and have internationalised our fellowship conferment.

Thirdly, our inaugural lectures have been adjudged groundbreaking. Indeed, the two inaugural lectures delivered in the last one year automatically changed the policy thrust of government on the subject.

That for us, is the basis of scholarship. That is the true value of an Inaugural Lecture. At a time when delay in administration of justice has paved way for the ascendancy of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), we are proud that the institute has raised the bar in blending theory and practice in ADR. In Prof Paul Idornigie, we have an accomplished expert whose doctoral dissertation on the subject continues to resonate among his peers all over the world. His topic Investment treaty is not only germane, but relevant in a country desperate to attract foreign investors.

It is, therefore, obvious that even in this emerging aspect of arbitration, the Institute can boast of a scholar of international repute ready to compete with the best anywhere in the world.

Expectedly, I imagine that his inaugural today will open up a floodgate of invitation from those who are well informed of the knowledge at his disposal.

Finally, let me say that it is the wish of the institute that all Nigerian scholars should excel wherever they are. Our hearts sing with joy and pride on the spectacular achievement of doctors at University of Benin Teaching Hospi-

with gabriel AMALU email:gabrielamalu1@yahoo.com

Lessons from Gaddafi’s ignominous end

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•Azinge

tal.

We also applaud Dr Udo Igwe (a Nigerian) of Bolton University for winning the UK’s award for developing advanced helmet technology. There are still many other achievements by Nigerians all over the world.

We believe that it is the responsibility of the regulatory commission to promote these achievements. More significantly, it is our view that the time has come for us to set up the “Nigeria Research Professorial Chair” to be contested for annually.

The Research Chair should cut across all disciplines and the best application should be adjudged to be the winner. The chair should be funded by the Federal Government and money appropriated for.

Let this be a motivational inspiration for Nigerian scholars both at home and in Diaspora to use their intellect to serve their fatherland.

I want to assure you that the Institute will continue to generate ideas for policy formulation in this country. Today’s inaugural lecture will not be an exception. Please sit back and digest Prof Idornigie’s well researched paper.

Firm gets new partner

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•Kuti

HE law firm, Perchstone and Graeys, has announced the elevation of Mr Folabi Kuti to its management team as its new Partner.

Folabi holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) from the University of Lagos; Bachelor of Laws (Second Class Upper) Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and BL, Nigerian Law School.

A statement by the firm and signed by Segun Talabi, described Kuti as a seasoned litigator, who has significant experience litigating on a wide range of commercial disputes.

He has handled contractual disputes, banking litigation and secured credit transactions, professional liability, shareholder litigation, partnership disputes, intellectual property disputes and enforce-

LAW AND PUBLIC POWER

By Eric Ikhilae

ment, corporate recovery and insolvency practice.

He has equally represented and advised diverse client base in every sector, ranging from private companies, multinational corporations and major financial institutions through to oil and gas companies, overseas law firms and high-profile individuals.

Talabi further described Kuti as a prolific writer, with published articles on diverse and far-flung subjects as commercial litigation, civil procedure, literary criticism etc.

He serves as a co-editor of the Nigerian Commercial Law Reports.

ADDAFI’S pitiable end explains why many are sold on clairvoyance. The need to foresee tomorrow, especially for men who pretend to be gods, must be pulsating. If Colonel Muammar Gaddafi over the years had any pip into the October 20, 2011; to see himself pleading for his life from his rambunctious and dejected country men that he had called and treated as rats for the later part of his 42 years reign; he would have had a rethink. But until few months ago, Gaddafi was carrying himself as the truly eternal leader of the Islamic Republic of Libya. He even called himself the King of Kings.

But alas his last words: “don’t shot, don’t shot” was more like a tale by an idiot told to the marines. Many years of delusion had apparently made Gaddafi mad, so he could not appreciate when the market closed; as he and his thugs pretended that the sales were still going on. So, instead of prostrating and pleading for his life, he tried to bluff his way through; pretending to still be the commander-in-chief.

Unfortunately, those who caught up with him had long grown weary of his commands, and as the new commanders, they had zero tolerance for the erstwhile commander who has been away without official leave (AWOL).

Unfortunately, they gave Gaddafi the Gaddafi treatment; they unceremoniously dispatched the AWOL commander-in-chief to his untimely death. They butchered the butcher of Benghazi. Interestingly the United Nations and the international community that he treated with scorn have asked for an investigation as to how he died. As a member of the civilised world, I support the investigation, which should be thorough. A friend said, at least Libyans will know who should be entitled to claim the prize earlier put on the commanderin-chief’s head while he was on AWOL. After all, the civilised world is entitled to its share of humour, at the expense of this erstwhile tormentor-in-chief.

Talking about markets, Nigeria is a huge one, and they are those licensed to deal mainly after hours. The House of Representatives is one of them and they are already out on a shopping spree, preparing to spend well in advance the windfall that would be reaped from the removal of oil subsidy. They want 360 new official cars for every one of them even though they are also paid huge sums for private cars under the so called monetisation policy. Who says that in Nigeria, you cannot eat your cake and have it still cooling off in the fridge?

Never mind the pretence that the National Assembly members are against the removal of oil subsidy. As one of the novels of James Hardly chase says: ‘If you believe this, you can believe anything.’

The political actors who will share in the expected trillions of naira from the removal of the fuel subsidy are all sharpening their huge appetite. They will do battle to keep the market open beyond normal hours. The worst that can happen is that after their time in office, they would do few days in custody. If in doubt, ask former governors Gbenga Daniel and Danjuma Goje, who are among the last class of governors. They have quickly gone through the associated ritual over allegations of misappropriating billions of naira. It is usually of small consequence. To suffer few days of inconvenience is nothing compared to the pleasure of years of executive lawlessness. More so there will be solidarity visits by misguided well wishers and tribal elders.

Members of the earlier class of governors who were accused of taking home what they have not purchased during the regular market hours have since shrugged off the initial public odium. It now seems so far back in time that they were made to pass through the ritual. All the resources that were not seized from them have been fully reintegrated as their legitimate earning; and except for the sparse appearances in court, life has fully returned to normal.

Now it will be fair for the major political actors to say, they are not Gaddafi, and they would be right to a large extent. They would be right to say that they have not engaged in mindless killings of those who dare to oppose them. They would be correct to say that they are also not eccentric like Gaddafi. Furthermore, that they have not claimed to be gods or revolutionaries, and also that they are not ruling with the force of arms; but merely as politicians. They have not repeatedly claimed that they are loved by the people, as Gaddafi used to boast. But they have one of the dead commander-in-chief’s trait or past time; which is to threat state resources as a personal barn. Our leaders love to appropriate as much of the available public resources as they fancy for their well keep. They have an itchy hand. They take what do not belong to them, though they seek to fumigate it with the laws.

But it would be nice to see our leaders shade this Gaddafi toga peacefully, and become accountable to those who elected them. It would be exciting for Nigerians to know exactly what every public official from the President to the councilor at the local government takes home. It would also be proper to bring back service to public life, instead of a licence to loot. Many Nigerians would want to see those of them who have shown serial incompetency resign from their positions honourably.

They would love to see responsibility in the exercise of public power.

Nigerians would love the authorities to give time lines for the various promises made during the elections; and more actions and less pontification.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

LEGAL OPINION

How to sustain human rights in Africa The adoption of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights by some countries in the continent about 30 years ago upped the expectation that African leaders were willing to respect the rights of their people. In this piece, KOLAWOLE OLANIYAN X-rayed the success recorded so far and suggests ways of improvement

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WENTY-FIVE years ago, on October 21, 1986, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Charter) came into force. The Charter, adopted five years earlier on June 27, 1981 by the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and now the African Union (AU) introduced striking innovations by the normal canons of international human rights law—it entrenches the concept of ‘peoples’ rights, in addition to civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights—all in one single document. Like any other human rights treaty, the Charter imposes an obligation on states’ parties to take specific legal and other measures to give effect to the rights and freedoms it guarantees, and to provide effective remedies in case of violations.

However, the adoption of the Charter 30 years ago was not initially considered to be a significant development. At birth, the charter was derided, and one of its many critics even claimed: “We cannot and should not continue to delude ourselves that we have a human rights system. What we have is a facade, a yoke that African leaders have put around our Africans’necks.”

Perhaps, the charter itself provides some strong grounds for scepticism as to its true value to the development and protection of human rights in Africa. Among the failings readily imputable to it are the vagueness of the drafting and its so-called ‘clawback clauses’, (i.e. contained in provisions of articles 4 on the right to life; 6 on the right to liberty and security of the person; 8 on freedoms of conscience, profession and religion; 10 on association; 11 on assembly; 12 on freedom of movement and residence; and 13 on the right to participate in government), which critics claim allow for too much discretion, and give rights by the right hand, and take them back with the left.

There were also some questions as to the sincerity of a group of mostly oppressive African governments to discharge their good faith and voluntary obligations under the Charter.

Nonetheless, despite its rocky start, the charter, through the work of its main implementing institution—the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights—and constant civil society engagement and vigilance, would seem to have exceeded all expectations, suggesting that many of the criticisms levied against it may have been overstated or mistaken.

The charter has also remained an important source of inspiration for African human rights defenders and civil society activists, and provided a common normative currency that is invoked not only by civil society, but also inter-governmental institutions.

The Charter is an embedded part of Africa’s human rights architecture. Since its adoption 30 years ago, the charter has also inspired a whole cluster of treaties, protocols and declarations, such as the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa; the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption; the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa; Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Africa; Principles and Guidelines on Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa, and the Principles and Guidelines on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to build on and clarify the charter’s provisions.

All members of the AU are now parties to the charter, with the exception of the newly independent South Sudan.

Furthermore, the system of protection established under the charter has been sig-

•African Union Chair, Teodoro Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea

nificantly expanded, with the adoption in June 1998 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and its entry into force in January 2004.

The African Commission continues to strive, especially through its complaint procedure, to address the numerous human rights problems confronting Africa.

Despite the financial and political hindrances the Commission has had to grapple with in the past years, its jurisprudence and case-law, especially on civil and political rights shows that the prospects for the future are great.

The two main implementing institutions—the Commission and the Court— have harmonised their rules of procedure to include issues such as transfer and referral of cases between the two institutions; and collaboration where there is a request for interpretation of the charter or request for advisory opinions.

The Ccharter also has had some cumulative impact on the respect for human rights in some countries in the course of the last 30 years. For example, without the Charter and the timely intervention of the African Commission, the death sentences passed, following a seriously flawed trial, on General Zamani Lekwot and other leaders of his Kataf ethnic group in Nigeria, would not have been commuted to a five-year jail term, and they would not have been eventually released.

Arguably, the most important contribution of the Charter was to assert the universality of human rights: human rights are not alien or new to Africa. It provides the inspirational foundation for human rights in the region.

Nonetheless, the charter has not been fully endorsed internally, and it is rare to find national courts referring to the treaty.

Moreover, the record of compliance of states parties with recommendations or decisions by the African Commission under the communication procedure is to say the least, poor. However, the non-binding nature of the recommendations may explain why they are frequently ignored by states parties.

Although the Charter articulates the vision of a legal order based on the universality and indivisibility of all human rights, economic, social and cultural rights continue to receive less attention and legal recognition when compared to civil and political rights. Yet, classification of human rights has been shown not to be

‘While the establishment of the African Human Rights Court with the authority to hand down binding decisions was applauded by many commentators as a significant improvement in the human rights architecture in Africa, over a decade later the court remains an infant that does not yet walk’ entirely accurate or practical. It is paradoxical that the affirmation that all ‘human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated’ is now, thirty years after the adoption of the Charter, still largely an abstract concept.

Similarly, it is dismaying that 30 years after the adoption of the charter, many African governments continue to disregard the legal obligations that they embraced so long ago. Human rights are still not effectively assured in practice in most countries. Persistent violations of the Charter’s provisions and extreme abuses of human rights are illustrated by cases of arbitrary arrest and detention; the use of torture; poverty, underdevelopment and economic inequality; and the unjustified appropriation of natural wealth and resources or despoiling of the environment as it is the case in the Niger Delta in Nigeria.

As Africans and their friends and partners prepare to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Charter, African governments must do more than just congratulate themselves on the marginal achievements that have so far been recorded.

Perhaps the biggest problem of an enduring nature is the lack of political will by several governments to embrace and support the African Human Rights Court, established following decades of arduous negotiations, and protracted conferences, to enhance the protection and enforcement of the Charter’s provisions. The court, based in Arusha Tanzania, has now been fully constituted and its judges elected.

Nonetheless, while the establishment of the African Human Rights Court with the authority to hand down binding decisions was applauded by many commentators as a significant improvement in the human rights architecture in Africa, over a decade later the court remains an infant that does not yet walk. Many of the AU member states seem to have given up on the idea of the court as they have failed or refused to embrace and ratify the protocol establishing the court, and those that have ratified the protocol continue to drag their feet on making a declaration that would allow individuals and human rights nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) direct access to the court.

Since the adoption of the protocol establishing the African Human Rights Court in 1998, only 26 of the 54 member states of the AU have ratified it; while just five of them—Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mali and Tanzania—-have made the dec-

laration under Article 34(6) of the protocol allowing individuals and NGOs direct access to the Court.

Yet, as a competent judicial body, the court has the capacity to address the many human rights instruments promulgated in Africa without identified judicial mechanisms. It will offer individual victims of human rights violations a regional forum for the adjudication of their claims, and the right to an effective remedy.

If fully endorsed and supported by African governments, the African Human Rights Court is capable of transforming the culture of impunity into that of respect for human rights, and restoring confidence in the regional human rights system.

At the domestic level, the court can, through its advisory and contentious jurisdictions, contribute to the establishment of democracy, the rule of law, transparency, and respect for human rights, which in turn will bring prosperity and development to the world’s most impoverished region.

But the court’s contribution to protection of human rights across Africa will continue to be limited unless all the 54 member states of the AU embrace and ratify the protocol establishing the court, and, simultaneously, accept the competence of the court by making the required declaration.

Otherwise, the court will remain a paper tiger, and this will be very unfair to numerous victims of human rights violations across Africa who continue to be denied access to justice.

As Justice Sophia A. B. Akuffo, Vice President of the African Human Rights Court has rightly said: “Universal ratification will give the Court, the legitimacy it needs to effectively discharge its mandate. It will also demonstrate the commitment of States Parties to the protection of human rights and bring renewed hope to the people of Africa that, perhaps, the protection of human rights is no longer a half-hearted business as usual. Anything short of 100 per cent ratification will limit the jurisdiction of the African Court and the legitimacy of the protection system, as some citizens of Member States would not benefit from the ‘insurance cover’ the Court is established to provide where the remedies available from the Commission are inadequate.”.

Another interesting development of note regarding the African Human Rights Court is that following a proposal by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, the AU decided in 2005 to merge the Court of Justice established under its Constitutive Act with the African Human Rights Court, the two courts becoming the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. This court, with two chambers—-one for general legal matters and the other for human rights—will replace the African Human Rights Court once the merger protocol adopted in July 2008 enters into force. However, the protocol establishing the court is still being ratified, and currently has received only three ratifications: Burkina Faso, Libya and Mali.

If the African Charter is to remain relevant for another 30 years, then African leaders must take their obligations and commitments to establish an effective and accessible African Human Rights Court very seriously. Civil society, who has for thirty years promoted the human rights norms articulated in the Charter, and raised the concerns of unheard voices, has a greater role to play in the efforts to ensure that the court is fully accepted and endorsed by governments for the sake of African victims of human rights violations.

Only then can the charter become a reality for millions of disempowered and disadvantaged Africans, and its overall role in the regional and national enforcement of human rights the last thirty years consolidated; and greater level of success recorded in the next thirty.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

32

LEGAL OPINION

Gaddafi, narcissism and echoes A of Lockerbie CCORDING to British philosopher and mathematician, Bertrand Russell, “the megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history” Was Gaddafi a narcissist, a megalomaniac or a bit of both? Was he a lunatic (deserving extra-judicial execution) as the western hemisphere would have us believe or a great man or a bit of both?

The word ‘narcissism’ takes its roots from Narcissus in Greek mythology, a handsome youth and the son of the river god Cephissus.

Because of his great beauty many women fell in love with him, but he repulsed their advances. Among the lovelorn maidens was the nymph Echo, who had incurred the displeasure of Hera and had been condemned by the goddess never to speak again except to repeat what was said to her. Echo was therefore unable to tell Narcissus of her love, but one day, as Narcissus was walking in the woods with his companions, he became separated from them and whenever he shouted, “Is anyone here?,” Echo joyfully answered, “Here, here.” Unable to see her hidden among the trees, Narcissus cried “Come!” Back came the answer, “Come, come,” as Echo stepped forth from the woods with outstretched arms. Narcissus cruelly refused to accept Echo’s love causing her such grave humiliation that she hid in a cave and wasted away until nothing was left of her but her voice. To punish Narcissus, the avenging goddess Nemesis made Narcissus fall hopelessly in love with his own beautiful face as he saw it reflected in a pool. As he gazed in fascination, unable to remove himself from his image, he gradually pined away. At the place where his body had lain grew a beautiful flower, honoring the name and memory of Narcissus.

I doubt if any wreaths will be laid for Gaddafi but the comparison between him and Narcissus is unmistakable. For 42 years, Gaddafi gazed at himself in fascination as the best thing to happen to Libya, nay Africa, nay the world and called himself the ‘King of kings’ (remember Idi Amin?).

Whatever he was and he was bad news, footage shown on cable television show clearly that he was executed extra-judicially and all believers in the ‘Rule of Law’ ought to be concerned at the resort to jungle justice by the Libyan rebels, now revolutionaries. We saw this summary execution and jungle justice meted out on blacks in Libya wherever they were found, all persons of colour, Nigerians inclusive, being automatically suspected to be ‘Gaddafi’s mercenaries.’

The more famous of the footage is the one CNN misinforms that Gaddafi was already dead and his body was being carried into a truck amidst shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar’ by hysterical rebels. A close look would show you that he was alive, but badly injured.

His head was not hanging as you would expect a dead man’s and in fact his mouth was open, apparently speaking!

Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi arguing with National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters (AFP/Al-Sumud TV/HO) CNN would later observe at about midnight that day that they were not certain whether he was dead at that stage or not, while US Republican Senator Mark Kirk, on

By Ikeazor Akaraiwe

CNN said it didn’t matter whether Gaddafi was executed extra-judicially or not! These are the same Republicans who raised the possibility of impeaching President Obama because an American citizen, Al Awlaki, was killed in a targeted attack by American drones! Apparently, one law for Americans, and another for the rest of the world.

The British appear more honest in this regard. In a statement titled ‘UK opposes extrajudicial killings but won’t mourn Kadhafi’ published by AFP after video emerged of the Libyan leader alive after his capture, Foreign Secretary William Hague said it was wrong to speculate about exactly what happened after television stations showed video of a bloodied Kadhafi alive and walking as he was being manhandled by Libyan fighters shortly before his death was announced.

“We would have liked him to face justice for his crimes in a court, in an international or Libyan court, and we don’t approve of extrajudicial killing,” he added. “But we are not going to mourn him. There are so many thousands who have died in this conflict, and the end of the battle in Sirte and the death of Kadhafi does mark that big opportunity now for the Libyans to move on.”

Regardless of what anyone thought of Gaddafi, the Rule of Law and civilization made it imperative for him to face a legitimate trial and not be summarily executed by the National Transitional Council. The story about a cross-fire hitting the truck in which he was being conveyed after his arrest is an afterthought in my respectful opinion. If he was caught in a cross-fire, why was there just one neat, well-aimed bullet to his head? Surely, a cross-fire might have entailed more than one bullet.

I suggest that Gaddafi had to be killed and was, in fact, killed immediately without trial (by the tacit but unspoken support of NATO), for a number of reasons. Firstly, because of his larger than life persona. This would have kept both the NATO countries and National Transitional Council (NTC) looking over their shoulders for fear of his counter-attack if he stayed alive. The fear that he would come back to recover his country from the ‘rape by the west’ would have endured, not that he wasn’t guilty of raping his country himself.

Secondly, to bring the war to an end. His supporters may have continued to fight with

him alive.

However unpopular Gaddafi became in the end, failure to subject him to trial before executing him is an act of impunity whose consequence will reverberate like the echo for years to come. It damns the NATO countries and shows them up as no better than the third world. The Rule of Law is the ugly victim and Nigeria and indeed, the African Union must make it a point of duty to investigate the circumstances of his death to make a clear statement against impunity.

Indeed, civil society organisations in Nigeria are enjoined to take the lead and carry this objectionable impunity to the ongoing sitting of the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights in Dakar, Senegal.

Clearly, his vision got misplaced along the way, the result no doubt of what my father, an educator, used to describe as “initiative but no finish-iative”. Gaddafi like many African leaders, had no ‘finish-iative.’

They do not know when to leave power.

That is the tragedy of Africa, what with the Yaya Jammehs, Nguema Mbasogos and the like.

His 42 years were not entirely brutish and nasty. He started out well and gave his people free education and free health care as well as good roads, electricity and watersupply all of which were mirages during King Idris’ rule. He fought against imperialism and colonialism and supported the anti-apartheid battle in South Africa, financing the ANC at a time ‘democracy loving’ NATO stood against democracy and for apartheid in South-Africa. He did not always discern properly and financed unjustifiable wars and terrorism around the globe like Charles Taylor (of Liberia) and Foday Sankoh (the butcher of Sierra Leone). I fail to understand his arming the Irish Republican Army (IRA), or his agents blowing up the Pan-Am jet now known as the Lockerbie disaster or snipers from the Libyan London embassy shooting dead a London police woman Yvonne Fletcher right on the streets of London! He also made life hard for known and perceived enemies for it was standard fare for his opponents already on exile in Europe to be shot dead right on the streets of European capitals! Libya under him however occupied a higher position than Nigeria at all material times in the Mo Ibrahim good governance index.

In summary, Gaddafi was both villain and victim, and like Saddam Hussein, victim of his big mouth and tall ambitions. He was clearly victim of high-wire international oil politics and the global economic melt-down and had to be removed and killed immedi-

‘I suggest that Gaddafi had to be killed and was, in fact, killed immediately without trial (by the tacit but unspoken support of NATO), for a number of reasons. Firstly, because of his larger than life persona. This would have kept both the NATO countries and National Transitional Council (NTC) looking over their shoulders for fear of his counter-attack if he stayed alive’

•Gadaffi

ately without trial for the following additional reasons. Gaddafi’s Libya has assets of over $160 billion in the European and American financial system, $32 billion in the United States alone. Libya has the highest reserves of light, sweet crude in the world described as best for American refineries (same as Nigeria’s Bonny Light) more than Saudi Arabia! With a population of about six million, it also has the highest reserves of oil in Africa, with Nigeria and its population of 140 million coming second. The western hemisphere needed access to his oil and gas seeing that he had nationalised the oil industry, but more than that they needed to inject his money reserves into their ailing economies. I wouldn’t be surprised if the National Transitional Council of Libya cut a deal with the Western Hemisphere to get Gaddafi out at a fee that would oil their economies.

One of the legends from the Nigerian civil war was that a certain western nation sought to cut a deal with rebel leader OdumegwuOjukwu that would entail mortgaging the oil in the Niger Delta (then arguably part of Biafra) to them for a certain number of years in exchange for logistics support during the war, but Odumegwu-Ojukwu refused!

The straw that broke the camel’s back; that saw Gaddafi fall into the well-laid trap was the echos of Lockerbie; the release of AlMegrahi, the suspect in the Lockerbie bombing, a release which was prompted by economic considerations –an oil contract deal between the UK and Libya. Well, Al Megrahi was released, but did not die within the three-month time-span allotted him by Scottish doctors to die of cancer, a time-span which was probably part of the deal. And this is where Gaddafi missed it. Al-Megrahi was given a heroes welcome as he returned to Libya, red carpet, garlands, flowers and all prompting outrage and investigations in western capitals.

•Akaraiwe was Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) First Vice-President and former Chair of its Human Rights Institute

Family plans foundation for Ogunlesi-Adio

T

•Justice Ogulesi-Adio

HE family of the late Justice Busola Atinuke Ogunlesi-Adio is set to inaugurate a Foundation in her honour and memory.

The launch of the foundation – The Honourable Justice Busola Atinuke Ogunlesi-Adio Foundation - is slated for November 5 at Sagamu, Ogun State. It will be preceded by a memorial church service to be held on the same day at the Cathedral Church of St Paul, Sagamu, in commemoration of her transition 10 years ago.

The foundation, which intends to promote the growth of legal education and ecumenical choir, two areas about which she was passionate while alive, plans to award three scholarship in these fields annually.

One scholarship will go to a female law student and an indigene of Ogun State for

By Eric Ikhilae

the furtherance of her professional aspirations, while two choral scholarships will be awarded - one to a junior member and the other to an adult member of the choir of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul.

A highly religious personality, Justice Ogunlesi-Adio was called to the English Bar at the Gray’s Inn of Court in 1964 and the Nigerian Bar in 1965. She had been a member of St. Paul’s Church, Sagamu since her youth and belonged to several societies in the church, and in what later became the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Anglican Communion, Remo Diocese.

The late Justice Ogunlesi-Adio was married to the former Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Mashood Olayiwola Adio. She was

first, Registrar, and later, Chancellor of Remo Diocese, Anglican Communion, from April 1990 until her death on July 29, 2001.

She was for many years the Chief Legal Officer at the Lagos State Property and Development Corporation (LSDPC). She also served as Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ijebu Branch, from July 1988 to October 1990 and was Chairman of the Local Government Election Tribunal in IjebuOde from December 1990 to May 1991.

She was elevated to the higher bench in 1991, served as the Presiding Judge in Otta Judicial Division and, subsequently, also in the Ijebu-Ode and Shagamu Judicial Divisions of the Ogun State Judiciary. She is survived by the retired Chief Judge, Justice M.O. Adio, children and grandchildren.

33

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

LAW & SOCIETY AT THE MAIDEN PROFESSOR JADESOLA AKANDE ANNUAL MEMORIAL LECTURE ORGANISED BY THE NIGERIAN INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED LEGAL STUDIES (NIALS) AT ITS AKOKA LAGOS CAMPUS

•Chairperson of the events Justice Doris Okuobi and Director-General (NIAL) Prof Epiphany Azinge (SAN)

•Justice H.E Abiru

•Justice Oyefeso Efunkumbi

•Justice Adenike Coker

•Dr Desalu Aderemi Rep. of Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN)

•Prof Adedokun Adeyemi and guest lecturer, Prof Ayo Atsenuwa

•Pioneer Chairm an, NBA Section on Busines Law, (SBL) George Etomi and Dr Franscan Nlerum

•Justice O.A. Ipaye and Justice Adefope Okojie

•Dean Faculty of Law UNILAG, Prof Oyelowo Oyewo and Titilola Akinlawon (SAN)

•Hadia Rabi Musa and Justice Oyekan Abdullai

•Mrs Margaret Olaide Asegbon and Mrs Efe Etomi

•Mrs Idowu Alakija and Mrs Laide Eboda

PHOTOS: DAVID ADEJO

34

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

LAW & SOCIETY AT THE CELEBRATION OF 25 YEARS OF CALL TO NIGERIAN BAR BY AUGUSTIN ALEGEH (SAN) AT LAGOS SHERATON HOTEL

•From left: Chief Augustin Alageh (SAN) his wife fensaht and Ochuwa Alegeh

•Dele Adesina (SAN) and his wife Bola

•M azi O.C.K. Unegbu and Simeon Obi

•Mr Sylva Ogwemoh and his wife Priscilla

•Chief Richard Oma Ahonaruogho and his wife Mojisola

•Hajia Alaba Yesufu and Hajia Zainab Mamodu

BURIAL OF CHIEF EMEKA NGIGE (SAN)’S IN-LAW, JOSEPHAT ANICHEBE ON OCTOBER 14, 2011 AT IDE VILLAGE, ALOR, IDEMILI SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ANAMBRA STATE.

•Chief Emeka (SAN) and wife Ogoo

•Chief Uzoma Igbonwa (left) and Mr Tony Oneweek Muonagor

•From left Anambra Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Chairman Chief Amechi Obidike and his deputy Chief Angus Aniegbonam

•Former member Anambra State House of Assembly, Bona Orakwe

•Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Idemili Chairman, Chike Nnoyelu

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

35

NATIONAL BAR

More condemnation trail arrest of The Nation editors

A

GROUP, Lawyers in the Media (LIM), has condemned the recent arrest and detention of four editors of The Nation newspaper.

A statement by its chairman, Charles Odenigbo, said: “LIM views with trepidation the actions of the Nigerian Police Force who invaded the premises of Vintage Press Limited (publishers of The Nation newspaper), and arrested without warrant four editors and others, including a member of the forum, John Unachukwu, as a flagrant abuse of their rights under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

“The newspaper was reporting facts backed by concrete evidence, and the government should have listened to, rather than try to silence them through force.

“A government that cannot tolerate fact and truth, is not a fit and proper one to lead a nation like Nigeria in this generation.

“LIM condemns in unequivocal terms the gradual descent of Nigeria into a Gestapo state, of which countries that practised it in the past are still regretting and trying to recover from.

“We call upon the government to retrace its steps of abuse of the rule of law upon which democracy stands.”

Also, a former Abia State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Solomon Akuma (SAN) said: “When I heard over the radio about the invasion of the premises of Vintage Press Limited, the subsequent arrest and detention of some of the editors of the organisation, I was very, very sad because I had thought we had passed that stage in Nigeria.

“From what I gathered, the invasion was as a result of a complaint, on the issue of a letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan.

“If the former president felt that by the way that matter was published he has been maligned one way or the other, the most reasonable thing he ought to have done was to take out a law suit against the publishers of The Nation newspaper.

“If he feels like joining any of the editors in the suit, that will be alright.

“Let’s assume that there is any criminal offence committed by the publishers of that newspaper, the proper thing to do is to invite the management of the newspaper to come and respond to the allegation against them.

“It is only when they fail to come that the Police can adopt other strenuous measures to compel them to come to the police station to react to whatever compliant lodged against them.

“I want to advise that the Nigerian Police should discard this military mentality of using force against any citizen of this country.

The editors are citizens of this country; the company publishing that newspaper is a corporate citizen of this country.

“Let us not by this method instil fear in the people we expect to come and invest in this country.

“This is the crudest way I have seen things done in this country, I stand to condemn it and I ask the Inspector General of Police (IG) to apologise to those that have been detained in this incident.”

Mr Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN) said: “I read about it in the newspapers and I was alarmed because it is the most dangerous thing to do.

It is indeed a very bad signal to our democracy.

“The press was in the forefront of our struggle for independence, the battle for Nigerian independence was fought and won by Nigerian press, now, I don’t know why any organisation should go or try to muzzle the press. It is in-

•Odenigbo

•Akuma

deed an error of unimaginable proportion.

“We have enough laws in our statute books to give anybody the opportunity to seek redress for any offence committed against him or her. Any such person can go to court and get remedies.

“We have the Freedom of Information Act, so the press can publish anything subject to the laws of libel. This incident is indeed a very big setback for our democracy and I thank the National Assembly for their prompt intervention

in the matter.

“To attempt to muzzle the press is an unprofitable venture. I really sympathise with the gentlemen of the press and urge them to see it as their contribution to the course of nation building.

“Our police authorities should understand that police hostility to the citizens was part of the colonial administration. So, if the press publishes anything wrong, you go to court and not invade media houses, I really condemn this act.”

NBA Section holds conference

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HE Section on Legal Practice (SLP) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) will hold its Fifth Annual General Conference at the Rockview Hotel, Abuja from November 15 to 17.

The theme for this year’s conference is Legal Practice in Nigeria: Venturing Beyond Usual Borders.

The conference will seek to explore the widening scope of legal practice, the expanding jurisdiction limits of our courts and the increasing overlaps of the jurisdiction of international courts over domestic challenges. key note address will be presented

by Prof Penny Cooper, Associate Dean, The City Law School & Chair of Senate Research Ethics Committee, City University, London.

She will bring a global perspective to the emerging relevance of international courts to domestic challenges of nations of the world and the extra-territorial relevance of legal services in emerging markets to the legal profession.

The SLP conference will also take participants beyond usual borders to explore the practice at the International Tribu-

nals and Courts, the procedure for litigating at the ECOWAS Court; access, opportunities and challenges as well as the procedure at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).

In the last few months, Nigeria has witnessed a sudden surge in domestic violence, sometimes involving persons of repute in society. This raises the inevitable question: Is there a cause of action for victims of such barbaric experiences?

The session on Litigating Domestic Violence in Nigeria will be focusing on this discourse of public interest with respect to our role as legal practitioners in addressing this escalating scourge.

The committee on medicine and the law will be making its maiden outing at this year’s conference with a session on Medical negligence, product liability and professional malpractices: charting a course for the Nigerian lawyer.

The session on “the Will or the Trust; which way for the modern practitioner” is equally a must attend for all lawyers especially against the background of the technicalities that now surround the propounding of “Wills” in our courts.

A joint session is also being planned with the Young Lawyers Forum, targeted at building a mentorship structure for young lawyers and sharpening their legal practice skills. Recently, the Section on Legal Practice through its Law Firm Management Committee launched a mentoring scheme for young lawyers and its practical opportunities will be addressed at this forum.

At the breakfast session of the Law office Management Committee, participants will also be enlightened on how to benefit from out sourced legal services.

SLP Abuja 2011 promises all the trappings of a world class lawyers’ conference with a mix of social events to spice up the week. Registration is highly subsidised rates.

Members of the Section On Legal Practice will register at a reduced rate while members of the Young Lawyers Forum will enjoy a concessional registration rate.

Further details and registration forms can be obtained from www.nbaslp.org or any of the branch secretariats of the NBA.

•NBA President Joseph Daudu

Man, wife plead not guilty as trial begins Nov. 29

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HE trial of a couple, Innocent and Bernadine Eloka and their aide, Francis Okocha, accused of alleged N258million fraud, will begin on November 29 at the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja.

Justice Habib Abiru granted them bail for N40million each after pleading not guilty to the charge brought against them by the Economic and financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The bail conditions include two sureties in like sum. One of them must have a property in Lagos.

Also, the sureties must show evidence of source of income supported by a sworn affidavit.

The judge ordered that the address of the sureties should be verified by either a police officer not below the level of a sergeant or an EFCC operative.

By Joseph Jibueze

Counsel to the defendants, Mr Etigwe Uwa (SAN), told the court that they had filed a summons for bail dated October 6, 2011.

He said the administrative bail EFCC granted the defendants was never flouted, and that they would not interfere with witnesses.

The defendants’ lawyer accused EFCC of taking some action that could interfere with the course of justice, but the judge said such issue should be raised at trial.

The EFCC had earlier argued that the bail should be dismissed and that the court should order an accelerated hearing.

Ruling, Justice Abiru said EFCC did not show that the defendants would jump bail.

•Norrison Quakers (SAN) and wife Bade at a dinner to mark his admission to the Inner Bar

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

36

LAW & SOCIETY SWEARING-IN OF MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTION TRIBUNALS AND APPEAL TRIBUNAL BY CHIEF JUDGE OF LAGOS, JUSTICE INUMIDUN AKANDE

•From right: Justice Akande, Chairman of Local Government Appeal Tribunal, Justice Opeyemi Oke and member Justice Mojisola Dada

•From right: Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye; Justice Habeeb Abiru and Justice Samuel Candide-Johnson, both members of the Appeal Tribunal

•From left: Election Tribunal members Mr Wasiu Animasaun, Senior Magistrate Rasaq Davies, Chief Magistrate S. O. Solebo and Chief Magistrate Eniola Fabamiwo taking their oaths

•Deputy Chief Registrar, Legal, Magistrate Ariyike Ipaye- Nwanchukwu (left) and Head of Library Unit, Mrs Nike Akinyemi

•Lagos Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice Mr Lawal Pedro (SAN) and Justice Olatunde Oshodi (right)

•Deputy Chief Registrar, Mrs O Okunuga

•Retired Judge of the Lagos State High Court, Justice Francis Owobiyi taking his oaths

LAWYER OF THE WEEK

O

•Idornigie

Idornigie: an academic of many parts

UR Lawyer of the week, Prof Paul Idornigie, was born on February 24, 1951 at Ayogwiri-Uzairue, Etsako West, Edo State, Nigeria. Last week in Abuja, Idornigie delivered the Third Inaugural Lecture of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.

Idornigie attended the Anglia Ruskin University (formerly Chelmer Institute of Higher Education), Chelmsford, Essex, UK (1983-86); University of Jos (1987-92); Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos (1992/93); returned to the University of Jos (1994-96 and 1997 to 2002) and was at the Keble College, Oxford University in 2005.

He obtained a Diploma in Administration, Chelmsford, UK (1984); Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators Qualifying Certificate (London) (1986); was elected an Associate Member, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, London, (ACIS) (1987); and got his LL.B (Hons), Second Class, Upper Division in 1992.

He became a Barrister-at-Law in 1993, got an LL.M in 1996 and was elected Fellow, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, London (FCIS) in 1998. In 2002, he obtained a Ph.D in International Commercial Arbitration, and was admitted as an Associate Member, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) in 2003, followed by membership of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) in 2004

He is a member of three distinguished and honourable professions – Nigerian Bar Association, Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, London (Fellow) and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK).

He is a Consultant to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)/ West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), and Member of the Panel of Neutrals at the Abuja/Lagos Multi Door Courthouses and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

He has also specialised in law reform, (he was involved in the reform of the transport and powers sectors in Nigeria), sector reform prior to privatization and policy change and advocacy. He is research oriented.

Idornigie seeks continued challenges in academics in the area of corporate law and practice (especially oil and gas law, transnational commercial law, international economic law, law of investment treaty, transport and power laws), legislative drafting, legal advisory services, public/private international law, structuring/drafting/negotiating commercial transactions generally (especially concession agreements and other forms of public/private partnership – Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)and ancillary PPP contracts), ADR processes (including investment treaty arbitration and the development of a Diploma Programme in Ar-

bitration/Mediation) and developing the legal and institutional framework for PPPs in Nigeria.

When the Oil and Gas Implementation Committee (OGIC) set up by the National Council on Privatization (NCP) produced the first draft of the Oil and Gas Policy and the Petroleum Industry Bill, he reviewed it and wrote a legal opinion on it before the Policy and Bill were presented to the National Council on Privatization in 2005.

Prof Idornigie reviewed the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Arbitration Proceedings between Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Company Ltd and Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in respect of OPL 245. Idornigie also reviewed the cases filed by Zebra Energy Ltd and Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited in respect of OPLs 248 and 249 respectively. From April 1995 to October, 1997, he was the Personal Assistant to the Honourable Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing..

Currently he is interested in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes – Arbitration, Mediation/Conciliation and Negotiation in resolving commercial disputes specifically and other disputes generally. He is also interested in Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) and arbitrating under the ICSID Convention. As a practitioner of these processes, he sees himself as a proponent and vendor of the processes but when appropriate, he resorts to litigation.

37

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Six weeks to the governorship election in Kogi State, fever has gripped the major political parties and their candidates. Two major camps have emerged – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Group Political Editor BOLADE OMONIJO and Correspondent MOHAMMED BASHIR present factors that will determine who wears the crown.

T

HE two parties are hopeful.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is the ruling party. It therefore enjoys some advantages.

It controls the levers of power and has enough foot soldiers at the local government, House of Assembly Constituencies, Federal Constituencies and Senatorial district levels.

Unlike the other five states where governorship elections will be held between now and July next year, Governor Ibrahim Idris is no longer eligible to contest. In his place, Captain Idris Wada, erstwhile Chief Executive Officer of EAS Airline, is bearing the party’s flag. Wada is a son-in-law of the incumbent governor. He is an Igala like the previous governors.

He is paired on the ticket by Mr

• Idris

• Echocho

• Awoniyi

• Audu

Governorship race: Who wears the crown in Kogi?

Yomi Awoniyi, an architect and businessman. A Yoruba from Kogi West, Awoniyi is a scion of one of the founding fathers of the party, the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi.

The emergence of Wada was shrouded in controversy. At the primary held on January 9 ahead of the April poll that was stopped in Kogi, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Sokoto, Cross River and Edo states, Ajhaji Isa Echocho was declared winner. Echocho’s aspiration was halted by the court decision that re-affirmed an earlier Supreme Court decision that a governor’s tenure takes effect from the day he takes the oath of office.

As soon as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published the notice of poll for Kogi State, the battle began

again. Eventually, major aspirants including Alhaji Kutepa, a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), Prince Olusola Akanmode, Alhaji Yakubu Mohammed and Chief Abiodun Ojo have thrown their weight behind the candidate.

Rumpus in the ruling party could be its undoing as Echocho has refused to be pacified. He insists that there was no basis for the September 22 “rerun” of the primary that he had won on January 9. However, Wada has reconciled with Kutepa whose support might not be unconnected with the agreement that he be allowed to produce the deputy governorship candidate. Awoniyi was Kutepa’s Campaign Director for the January primary.

There are also people who be-

lieve that the Idris administration has performed below par. The Kogi West people claim that they have not been treated decently in the state’s political equation. The governor is said to have earlier promised transfer of power to the zone, only to back down at the nick of time. However, Speaker of the House of Assembly Clarence Olafemi who would have benefited from the arrangement has publicly endorsed the Wada/Awoniyi ticket.

Action Congress of Nigeria

Defection of veteran All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate and ex-governor Alhaji Abubakar Audu to the ACN has opened a new vista in the race.

While Audu lost to Governor Idris

I am commited to PDP ideals, says Wada

in 2003 and 2007, joining forces with the ACN has rekindled hope that he could defeat PDP. However, many original members of the ACN have expressed disappointment that he picked another member of the ANPP as his deputy.

Audu, like Idris and Wada, is an Igala. Again, like Wada, he picked his partner from Isanlu in the West.

This has left open to debate the position of the Ebira in the Central.

The Nation learnt that, while they are disappointed that neither party picked one of them as candidate, they may have chosen to vote against the incumbent and his party.

The battle is on. The dynamics keep changing. December 3 will return the verdict.

Captain Idris Ichala Wada is the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) in Kogi State. There has been a raging controversy over his membership of the PDP and qualification to participate in the governorship primary. In an interview with Correspondent MOHAMMED BASHIR in Lokoja, he responded to all allegations related to the December 3 governorship primary in the confluence state.

W

HAT motivated your aspiration to become Kogi State governor?

My interest to serve the people of Kogi State is motivated by the experiences of both public and private sectors which I have garnered over the last 27 years. I feel that at this point in my life, I need an opportunity to serve the larger society In those days, we had provinces which are like the states we have now, so I felt that the way out of poverty is to work hard, acquire proper education, and have an opportunity to improve the lives of my immediate family. And having done that in the last six/seven years, I became convinced that I should come home and contribute to the transformation of Kogi State; that is what has motivated me.

How would you react to the allegation that you rigged your name into the PDP register?

Let me state very clearly that I am an authentic member of PDP, I joined the party in 2005 with members of my family. I didn’t join alone, if you look at the register, my name is there, my brother’s name is there, my wife’s name is there, my sister’s name is there, my sister was a councilor in my local government, Dekina local government area, we

joined the same day, nobody questioned our membership then. It is because of the level I have decided to come out publicly in the party that there is now mudslinging. The register was seized by force by the former Chairman of Dekina local government council, he collected the register of the 12 wards in Dekina, not only Odu1 where I come from; this was in their misguided belief that I am not a member of the PDP and they thought that by seizing the register and photocopying it and throwing in some manipulation they could deceive the public. I am a loyal and committed member of PDP, it is the level of the waves which my candidacy has generated that has led some of these detractors to make such fabrication and mudslinging and at the appropriate time, I will seek legal redress to clear my name.

Let me say one thing, the original register through the work of the security agencies has now been retrieved and is with the leadership of PDP in our state. When I presented myself for screening in Lafia ahead of the last primary election, they checked my card, the two cards I have, the old and the updated cards, the screening panel was satisfied that I was an authentic member of PDP; they would never have cleared

me if they discovered I am not qualified.

Do you have evidence to support your assertion? In what ways have you participated in the activities of the party?

There are several instances at which my membership of PDP has been demonstrated; after the 2007 election, I was one of those whose names were forwarded by our State, for federal appointment, thanks to the late President Yar’Adua, he approved my appointment as the Chairman of the Governing Council of Federal College of Education, Technical, Potiskum in Yobe State. I have been chairman of that council from 2008 to the September 12 this year when I resigned voluntarily because I want to contest the governorship election. The PDP guidelines states very clearly that seven days to the primary you must resign whatever appointment you hold and I obeyed that and resigned. I showed them my resignation letter at Lafia during the screening, that I am no longer on that board, I got that appointment because I am a member of PDP, authentic member for that matter, then when Jonathan/Sambo campaign team was established in Kogi State, I was one of the 10 elders who were appointed to run it; I was

even the treasurer of the Kogi State Jonathan/Sambo Campaign team.

At that time, nobody questioned my membership. I have been in the party long before some of these detractors dreamt of joining the party, So, anything you hear about my legitimacy in PDP, that I am not a member, is just a blatant lie. Let them insult us, let them castigate us but we must remain focused and determined to contribute our quota to transformation of our country starting from our own community and state.

The EAS airline that you managed collapsed. You are also alleged to have mismanaged it; yet you aspire to run a more complex Kogi State…

Whether I can manage an airline or not, it is a matter of opinion, but let me tell you, I brought EAS from a company that started in 1986. I was the initiator, the promoter and I raised the company from zero airplane to a company that ran up to six planes in Nigeria on domestic schedules. There are many challenges in the Nigeria Aviation, if I could survive the challenges for 20 years, without borrowing much, the first money I borrowed for EAS, was in the year 2000, the company started in 1986 for someone with a humble beginning like myself, we trained hundreds of pilots in this country using the resources of EAS, if you say I

• Wada

succeeded or failed, it is a matter of opinion. Let me tell you what happened. In 2006, when Chief Femi Fani-Kayode was the Minister of Aviation, by June he said by September 2006 if you did not capitalize up to a minimum of N500 million for domestic, one billion for regional and two billion for international routes, you should get out of the airline business it was an arbitrary government policy, there was no consultation with the industry, to the best of my knowledge.

For me, we had capitalized up to N250 million, we were doing well and a good management programme was going well, but when this policy came, I looked at what we had achieved and the challenges ahead, I felt that at my age, I was not going to take a loan of N1 billion and put into airline industry where • Continued on page 38

38

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

POLITICS

I am a commited to PDP ideals, says Wada • Continued from page 37

a Minister can come and make arbitrary regulations that disorganises our business plans.

So I took a voluntary decision not to go and borrow money to that level to move the company beyond where we were. Then, NICON Insurance came to us that they were starting aviation business and they will like to partner us to acquire 60 per cent of our shares, leave us to run the company because of our professional expertise and inject capital for us to get more modern planes.

The other thing that came along with the policy of Fani-Kayode was that you must acquire two brand new or fairly new modern generation aircraft, the minimum cost of such plane is ten million dollars, so you have to have two of them and then pay up a capital of minimum of N500 million before you can operate domestic routes. I don’t believe in self-delusion I am a realist, we now decided and said look, if NICON has the capital and they are ready to inject into our company, we will take minority share let them take 60 per cent and we take 40, myself and other shareholders of the company voluntarily agreed we negotiated with them and changed our name from EAS airline to NICON Airways. So, EAS did not fail to the best of my knowledge and ability, we transformed into NICON Airways and we ran for about a year and unfortunately the capital injection we expected having fulfilled our own side of the contractual obligation, did not materialise from the other side.

I am sure you also aware of the internal crises rocking your party…

You know that the contest for the gubernatorial position is one of the most competitive in recent memory.

At the initial stage of the January 9th primary, there were about 38 aspirants. But during the rescheduled primary in September, we were eight of which seven showed up. When you prune from 38 to seven and down to one, there is bound to be hurt feelings. My own direction along with Yomi (Awoniyi) has been that of reconciliation In fact the governor Alhaji Ibrahim Idris has encouraged us to go round every aggrieved person and bring them back into the fold. This is to accord them the opportunity for an all-inclusive party and together face the election. Personally, I have called almost everyone who was involved in the primary; I have visited some in their houses. Yomi has done the same. We are making overtures to try and bring everybody back into the mainstream of the party. Some

Saraki, Oloriegbe: Who wins at tribunal?

U • Ojo

people heal fast, for others it takes more time. But the PDP is a family.

We will continue to talk, and engage each other over a reasonable period.

Soon, we are going to put our house in order. Yomi is the closest friend to my runner up, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Isah Kutepa, who is a good friend of mine too. Apart from the personal quality of Yomi as a respected and committee citizen of Kogi State, the fact that he is one of the right hand men of Kutepa, facilitated some reconciliation and his being my running mate, has gone a long way to heal so many wounds. Some of the aspirants, like Alhaji Yakubu Mohammed, refused to collect the party nomination form and offered to support me. Other aspirants like Senator Nicholas Ugbane, Dr. Alex Kadiri, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), Prince Olusola Akanmode, and many more have also confirmed their willingness to work for the success of the PDP come December 3.

If given the mandate, what is your programme for the people of the state?

They are numerous, but I will touch on a few of them. The first one is agriculture. We have very large expanse of arable land and fresh body of water in the State. Most of our farmers are subsistence farmers. They are just farming for their own consumption and the needs of their immediate family. Very little value is added to their lives; so they remain poor. My intention along with my colleague, Yomi Awoniyi, who is my running mate, is to bring our experience to bear in transforming the agriculture potentials of our state, into a commercial reality in terms of bringing in appropriate technology. This will entail mechanised farming of small and medium scale, for our people to transit from old farming techniques to modern farming techniques.

Group endorses Mustapha as PDP chair

A

GROUP, Nigerian Youth Coalition for National Stability (NYCON), has endorsed Dr Shettima Mustapha as the next national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The group made the declaration during their maiden convention in Abuja. The convention which was attended by 34 coordinators, six zonal coordinators and 15 national officers featured discussion on the national convention of the PDP scheduled for February next year.

The youth observed that democracy can only take root in Nigeria when the is fully instituted in the major political parties.

The group also resolved to engage in nationwide media sensitization for Mustapha, say-

The National Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal will give its judgment tomorrow in the case involving Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Bukola Saraki and Ibrahim Oloriegbe of the Action Congress of Nigeria. Deputy Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the claims and counter-claims of the petitioners and respondents.

ing he has genuine intention to move the party forward.

In a communique signed by its National Co-ordinator, Rev. Dominic Alancha, the Coalition urged delegates at the PDP convention tobe committed to electing credible and experienced leaders who have what it takes to turn the PDP into a party of the peoples.

The communique reads in part: “We also wish to call on Nigerian youths to support Dr Shettima Mustapha as he is the most qualified candidate for the PDP chairmanship.”

At least six candidates have shown interest in the national chairmanship already zoned to the Northeast. The candidates include Prof. Rufai Alkali, Alhaji Hassan Adamu and Alhaji Adamu Muazu.

NLIKE other states of the federation, elections in Kwara State were hardly competitive until April 2011. The lull was usually blamed on the patrimonial approach to politicking in the state. The man who called the shots was Senator Olusola Saraki.

For over 40 years, the fear of the Turaki of Ilorin was the beginning of wisdom.

In the political history of the state, elections have been nullified only twice; during the botched Abacha period in the 1998 – which was based on certificate forgery, and in 2003 when ANPP’s Senator Suleiman Ajadi was sacked from the Senate after the tribunal found that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Simon Ajibola, got more lawful votes than Ajadi.

What has changed the tide is the challenge by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The court cases instituted by the party has made the April general elections inconclusive in the state.

On Thursday, October 20, the House of Assembly Tribunal nullified the election of Segilola Abdulkadir of the PDP, who contested in Ilorin West Central Constituency. The tribunal ordered the INEC to hold fresh poll in the constituency within 90 days.

In a unanimous ruling read by its chairman, Justice Bitrus Sanga, the tribunal held that there were ample evidences showing that the result of the poll was either written well before the ballot was held or that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not conduct any credible one.

ACN’s Rasaq Saadu had petitioned the tribunal alleging widespread irregularities . He tendered several INEC documents to substantiate his claims that the election was inconclusive, that the whole election did not adhere to the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), and that the balance was tilted in favour of Abdulkadir. The tribunal held that the exhibits tendered by the petitioner showed beyond doubt that there were three different final results as regard the election.

The House of Assembly/National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal headed by Sanga is expected to give more judgments in the coming days on the petitions before it. Perhaps, the most celebrated case involves Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe of the ACN and Senator Bukola Saraki of the ruling PDP. Oloriegbe has maintained that Saraki got to the senate through the back door. The former governor has fired back, insisting that he was endorsed at the senatorial poll by voters.

Both parties have since adopted their final addresses, and judgment is due on the matter on Wednesday.

In the address filed by the first, second and third respondents (Saraki, PDP and INEC respectively), they denied the allegations of widespread rigging, falsification of results, inflation of results in favour of Saraki, misuse of ballot papers, intimidation, writing election results before the election day, stuffing the ballot papers, impersonation, rigging and cash inducements.

The petitioners also alleged widespread irregularities that were purely civil in nature and only require proof based on balance of probability that election did not “substantially” comply with the law. These include “multiple voting, non-counting of votes, non-announcement of result, wrong entries in form EC8A (result sheets for polling units), EC8B (ward result sheet), EC8C (result sheet for local government) and EC8D (result sheet for

• Saraki

the entire senatorial constituency), discrepancies in the number of valid votes, rejected votes, unused ballot papers, ballot papers issued, non-signing of result by the INEC Officers, anomalies in the forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C and EC8D, failure to comply with the requirement of the election manual, lack of accreditation, number of votes exceeding the numbers of accredited persons, failure to display the result and the fact that the 1st Respondent was not elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election etc.” The petitioner also alleged nonaccreditation of voters in many of the areas being challenged.

In their attempt to substantiate these claims, the petitioners tendered a legion of INEC documents which showed these irregularities. For instance, the petitioners also tendered the voters’ register for the areas where they claimed accreditation did not take place, and cited the decision of the Appeal Court in INEC vs Oshiomhole in which the court held that accreditation is so key to the electoral process that failure to accredit in any election renders it null.

Again, in Asa, one of the local government areas constituting Kwara Central and which is being challenged, the petitioners brought before the tribunal the result sheet (Exhibit O) for the local government which was allegedly collated by the Returning Officer (RO) (for the senatorial district), instead of the Local Government Collation Officer as required by the law.

According to the petitioner, the usurpation by the RO of the CO’s duty confirms their allegation of non-collation of votes and result at the said local government. The petition urged the tribunal to hold that such violation amounts to non-compliance with the electoral law.

They cited the case of Onochie vs Odogwu (2006), adding: “Further-

‘Oloriegbe has maintained that Saraki got to the Senate through the back door. The former governor has fired back, insisting that he was endorsed at the senatorial poll by voters. Both parties have since adopted their final addresses, and judgment is due on the matter on tomorrow’

•Oloriegbe

more, one of the grounds why the Court of Appeal nullified the election in Ogun State in Buhari v Obasanjo (supra) was that the Electoral Officers (EO) performed the function of the Local Government Area Collation Officer.”

The petitioner said whilst the Supreme Court upturned the Appeal Court’s nullification of Obasanjo’s votes in Ogun State, the decision of the lower court stands: that it was illegal for EO to have done the work of CO. The petitioners also produced many Form EC8 series which contained contradictions and irregularities such as non-signing of result and outright inflation of results. In paragraph 27(iii) of the petition, the 1st petitioner (Oloriegbe) deposed to the fact that the score of the 1st Respondent in Balogun Alanamu Ward (of Ilorin West LG) was increased from 4,456 to 5,133 votes in the EC8B. The said EC8B for Balogun Alanamu Ward was tendered and marked as Exhibit N4. The EC8As for Balogun Alanamu Ward was tendered and marked Exhibit J4. The addition of all the votes in Exhibit J4 amounted to 4,456, confirming that Saraki’s votes were indeed inflated by 677 votes in that ward alone. In Wara/Osin Egbejila ward of the same local council, there was incident of under representation of the petitioner’s votes on EC8B for the ward.

However, Saraki’s counsel maintained that the former governor won the senatorial election with a clear margin. They accused ACN candidate, Oloriegbe, of cooking up false figures to wipe sentiment and attract unearned sympathy.

The counsel averred that the senatorial polls conformed substantially with the provisions of the Electoral Act, as amended and other relevant laws governing the exercise. They maintained that the results announced

by INEC were valid.

ACN address read in part: “The 1st petitioner who testified as PW 11 tendered the original of the EC8B for Wara /Osin Egbejila ward given to his ward agent. This was marked as Exhibit E1 and E2. Exhibit E2 shows that the petitioners scored 1997 while the 1st respondent scored 1955, a difference of 42 votes in favour of the petitioners. The 1st petitioners thereafter tendered the Certified True copy of the EC8B for the same ward obtained from the 3rd respondent (INEC). This was marked as exhibit N11. In Exhibit N11, the 3rd respondent awarded 1962 votes to the petitioners while the figure of the 1st respondent remains 1955. In the EC8C for Ilorin West LGA the petitioners was awarded 1862 while the 1st respondent’s figure remains 1955. See exhibit O3.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

39

PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

Works minister gets knocks on road

T

HE Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, has been berated for the deplorable condition of the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway in Lagos.

Some Nigerians blamed him for his inability to fix the bad spots in all the roads in the country.

For example, the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway remains in a very bad condition with craters and dangerous pot-holes on the way to the nation’s seaport at Apapa and Tincan Island.

Lagosians say it is a daily occurrence for commuters, who groan under the weight of broken down vehicles and threat to lives by armed robbers. There is also the problem of maintaining their vehicles.

A driver with a packaging company in Apapa, Mr Ike Anusiobi, asked that the road be declared a disaster zone, saying it has been devoid of government’s attention for years. He recalled how he lost his colleague on the road as his truck tumbled after hitting another vehicle due to its dilapidated nature.

A Marketing Manager, Isijola Kemi, with food and beverage company in Apapa, also wondered how this year’s trade fair will take place with such a road as it will discourage exhibitors and visitors to the fair.

He asked the government to compare what the nation will lose from the trade with the cost of fixing the road, the lives that are lost

and the cost of repairing vehicles.

He said: “One wonders if the Federal Government is mindful of what is going in Lagos, especially as it relates to this important road. People spend hours on the road and there is no end in sight. It is doubtful if this year’s Lagos international trade fair will witness any meaningful business as a large percentage of the people will be discouraged from visiting or even participating because of the parlous nature of the road.

A danfo driver Muftau Idris said he can’t believe that the government has left this road in such bad condition for many years.

He said: “The bus is not mine as I drive it for my Oga and receive a percentage, but the bad road has reduced my daily intake and that of other drivers and conductors. The bus owners don’t care if you spend the whole day at the mechanic workshop repairing it because of the condition of the road, the agreement is that you must deliver a stipulated amount and if you default over a period the bus will be taken from you and given to another person”.

He complained that several times, he had gone home with very little cash because of traffic jams which could last for hours thereby wasting his time.

He called on the government to help the masses by fixing the roads so that they will be gainfully engaged thereby shunning crime due to unemployment.

‘One wonders if the Federal Government is mindful of what is going in Lagos, especially as it relates to this important road’

•Artist impression of the estate

Journalists name village after Oshiomhole’s wife

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HE LAGOS/Ibadan Expressway is hosting a new estate at Mowe, Ogun State.

It is being sponsored by a group of journalists. The estate is named Clara Oshiomhole Village in honour of the wife of the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who died last year.

According to the Secretary of the group, Kayode Atofolaki, the residential village will, among other state-

By Okwy Iroegbu Asst. Editor

of-the-art infrastructure, hosts a Cancer Awareness Centre.

On house types, he explained that subscribers are not limited to build a prototype design, but are at liberty to build designs of their choice in consonance with development permit from the relevant government agencies in the host state guiding the scheme.

It will be recalled that the formers

Edo State first lady, Mrs. Clara Oshiomhole, died December I, last year of cancer in Abuja.

The Nation gathered that the 12- acre size land is already oversubscribed as many want to identify with what the late first lady stood for in addition to raising cancer awareness among the people.

Oshiomhole has promised to conduct the ground breaking ceremony on December 1.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

40

PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

LAWMA to generate green electricity by December

T

•NIS building, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Multi-billion dollar climate change fund hits barrier

P

LANS for a multi-billion dollar fund to help developing countries deal with climate change has hit a brickwall as countries could not agree on the design of the fund.

The decision came last week at a meeting of an international committee tasked with designing the fund in time for governments to approve the design at next month’s UN climate change conference in Durban, South Africa.

Last year, negotiators from 194 nations agreed to create the “Green Climate Fund” to channel up to $100 billion a year by 2020 to developing countries.

Developing countries have warned that control of the fund by the donor nations – and the burden of bureaucracy that entails — would limit their ability to make good use of it.

The Least Developed Countries - 48 of the poorest nations in Africa and Asia that are particularly vulnerable to Climate Change – were represented on the committee by Bangladesh and Zambia, whose negotiators have called from the outset for a radically new approach.

By Okwy Iroegbu with agency reports They argued that national Climate Change trust funds in developing nations should be able to access the Green Climate Fund directly, rather than going through a third party such as the World Bank – which entails long delays and excessive paperwork.

“Direct access would empower the recipients of support to take their destiny into their own hands, without having to have their plans and projects approved by external entities,”says Dr Saleemul Huq of the International Institute for Environment and Development, which has provided technical support to the Least Developed Countries for several years.

Pa Ousman Jarju, chair of the Least Developed Countries, negotiating block at the UN climate change talks, says: “Direct access would allow more devolved decision-making to reflect local and national concerns and it would enable countries to integrate the funding into their national plans and strategies for dealing with climate change.

“Without direct access,

‘Direct access would empower the recipients of support to take their destiny into their own hands, without having to have their plans and projects approved by external entities’ poor countries will struggle to adapt to climate change as they would face immense delays to access the funding and would not have the freedom to decide how and when to spend the money.”

After six months of tense negotiations, the Least Developed Countries seem to have succeeded in their demand for provisions for direct access to be included in the final text.

But the committee at its meeting last week, saw the United States and Saudi Arabia withdrawing their support for the design supported by other countries because of concerns about other aspects of the text.

T

By Okwy Iroegbu, Asst Editor

He said the seminar is mandatory for heads of professional firms, fellows and senior estate surveyors and valuers, heads of government parastatals, surveyors in the academia while for the insurance companies, highest levels of leadership attendance including heads of department of property matters and head of legal departments, among others, are expected to participate in the event.

Mr Victor Alonge, Chairman of Seminar Organising Committee said Mr Fola Daniel, Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission, Abuja; Elder William Odudu and

•Adediji

past president of NIESV and Chief Executive, NIESV Learning Centre and Mr Olusola Ladipo- Ajayi, managing director/chief executive, LASACO Assurance Plc and President, Nigeria Insurance Association (NIA) are expected to present papers at the event.

By Okwy Iroegbu Asst. Editor

site from the heaps of refuse, a primary product in power generation, he said the agency does a quarterly random check on water samples and have not discovered any contamination.

Besides, he noted that it can only be dangerous if it seeps to 18 meters where drinking water is found. However, he insisted that the laterite nature of the soil will not allow such contamination.

He revealed that the state is not unaware of the impact of climate change and possible mitigation methods, problems which led them to institute a ‘sachet’ buy-back programme, where the public is encouraged to pick and sell used sachets to the agency at N30 per kilogramme to serve the recycling plant.

By this programme, flooding is checked to an extent as the manholes are no longer blocked with nylon

•Oresanya

bags, he added.

Buttressing this point, Managing Director of the agency, Mr Ola Oresanya said LAWMA has achieved 90 per cent energy cost reduction and is poised to achieve more with the huge refuse generated in the metropolis.

He projected that by 2015, the state will earn 30 per cent in carbon credit in pursuance of climate change mitigation.

Kwara spends N2billion on new Ilorin GRA

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HE Kwara State government has expended N2billion on the provision of infrastructure at its new Budo Oso Government Reserved Area (GRA) in Ilorin.

The state intends to sink a whopping N25billion in providing facilities, the Director-General Bureau of Lands, Mr Tope Daramola, has said.

He stated this during the disbursement of N100 million as compensation to 710 land owners.

Daramola said the compensation followed the approval granted by GovernorAlhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed.

Daramola, who described the event as a great moment for both the government and the people of the state, praised the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Bukola Saraki, for his foresight, which he said had culminated in the creation of

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

new GRAs in Ilorin.

He added: “The immediate past administration in the state under the able leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki conceptualised the idea of new GRAs for Ilorin because of its belief that Ilorin as an expanding city needs modern and urban environment.”

Daramola, who alongside the state Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Bode Olayemi, distributed the cheques to some of the beneficiaries, said the government had satisfied the provision of Land Use Act of 1978, in acquiring the lands for the new GRAs and the compensation of landowners.

He said the Budo Oso GRA is aimed at enhancing the

beauty of the state capital and made available plots of land at affordable prices to the people of the state.

He assured the people of the state that the administration of Governor Ahmed was committed to making plots of land available to them, irrespective of class, adding that the “Kwara State government is operating an open and transparent administration.

Therefore, it is poised to give equity to all Kwarans in land acquisition in the scheme.”

‘He said the Budo Oso GRA is aimed at enhancing the beauty of the state capital and made available plots of land at affordable prices to the people of the state’

NEMA to execute framework on hyogo education

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Surveyors to hold seminar Thursday HE Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) is holding a seminar on Compulsory insurance of public buildings and mandatory asset valuation under the financial Reporting Act 2011 on Thursday at the Miccom Golf Hotel and Resort, Ada, Osun State.

According to its President, Mr Bode Adediji, it will assist in creating awareness for estate surveyors and valuers.

Adediji disclosed that the seminar will examine some issues on group insurance on properties under the management of an estate firm; modality of linking rent collection with insurance premium payment, and the determination of appropriate premium under various property cost and values.

HE L agos State Waste Management Author ity (LAWMA) has completed arrangements to generate electricity from its dump-site at Olusosun by next month.

The Nation gathered that the pilot scheme is put in place to encourage the private sector to invest in the energy sector.

Already, 10 wells have been sunk at the site to tap methane a toxic substance, which will be used to generate light, said the General Manager of the Waste Management company, Alhaji Jelili Olubori.

He said with a daily 9,000 kilo gramme of waste, the state is poised to deliver on green energy, which prototype will be handed down to the interested private sector to have a robust energy sector.

Responding to a question on possible contamination of the water bodies around the

HE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is making efforts to implement the Hyogo framework for action, especially as it affects education and youths.

Its Director-General, Mohammed Sani Sidi, disclosed this during the International Disaster Reduction Day celebration in Abuja. He stated that NEMA has implemented the third item of the framework by encouraging the use of knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilence at all levels.

He said: “The agency has established centres for disaster risk management in six federal universities where postgraduate degrees in disaster risk management are awarded. ‘’We are supporting these centres financially and will continue to support them until they become centres of excellence.

“NEMA is also partnering

From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

with the national educational research and curriculum development council to mainstream disaster risk reduction into basic and post basic curricula in Nigeria.

“Key risk reduction measures and knowledge will be infused into various subjects.

In addition, we have encouraged the establishment of disaster risk reduction clubs in schools. I will send my professional staff to visit such clubs in the near future to empower and support them as agents of social inclusion and safety.

“A key section of the young people in Nigeria, the National Youth Service Corps ( N Y S C ) members have been recognised in helping the society to build safer and more resilient communities. NEMA has,therefore, systematically included NYSC members as

partners in the process for building disaster resilient societies,” he stressed.

The NEMA chief said the greatest challenge is on how to make people at the local levels of government make disaster risk reduction a priority.

“Disasters have continued to increase as a result of climate change, but they are aggravated by unplanned and unregulated land use, weak environmental control, poor enforcement of building standards, urbanisation and other development linked factors that increased the vulnerability of people, property and infrastructure.

“This problem can be best tackled at the states and local government levels. It is in the recognition of this that NEMA engaged the states and LGAs in discussion through the stakeholders meeting and workshops on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction,” he said.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

43

HEALTH THE NATION

E-mail:- health@thenationonlineng.net

How to check wrong diagnosis, by expert W

HAT will you do if you are diagnosed of ‘malaria’ only to discover very late through an experienced laboratory professional that it is a renal failure?

Mrs Toyin Odugbesan had a similar experience.

As an undergraduate, she was diagnosed of Rhesus factor - presence of genetically transmitted protein or toxins in the blood which may cause haemolytic reaction, but she forgot to take precaution. She lost three babies to bad obstetric history.

After two stillbirths and the death of another baby, she consulted a doctor.

The doctor explained to her that some people have genetic make-ups, which make it difficult for them to have babies. He gave her anti-D injection at 32 weeks of pregnancy. He repeated the injection and she was negative. She has since been delivered of a baby girl.

An individual could have or not have the Rhesus factor on the surface of his red blood cell. In her case, she had reactions because her husband’s blood is RH negaitive. She was given Rhogam – an injection to fight off anti-bodies by attacking the external cells. Her husband was Rh negative while she was positive. So, there was stimulation of anti-bodies because of her rhesus factor. Mrs Odugbesan’s blood was incompatible with that of her husband.

To underscore the importance of laboratory testing, Chairman Pathcare, a medical laboratory, Prof Ibironke Akinsete who spoke at a workshop in Lagos, with the theme: Medical laboratory testing and its significance in modern medical practice, said an unreliable test would lead to wrong treatment and the death of a patient.

She said tests must be accurate, precise and reliable, without which the patient, which is the centre of any medical laboratory, would be affected.

Another example of problems resulting from misdiagnosis was that of Miss Stella Emmanuel.

• ‘Laboratory test vital to health care delivery’

• From left: Prof Ogunsola, Dr Oyekan, Prof Akinsete, Dr Jackson-Ajayi and Dr Soriyan

By Wale Adepoju

She had been wrongly diagnosed twice when she took ill. The result of the first test showed she had fever; the second result indicated typhoid fever.

But none could provide succour to her failing health. However, a revelation after another laboratory test in India resolved her problem. She was diagnosed as having last stage renal failure. She had to get new kidneys through a transplant. She opted for the option and now she is hale and hearty.

Another patient, Mrs Peju Ayoolu (not real names), was also diagnosed at a hospital for malaria. She received treatment for malaria for a period.

Rather than improve, her condition grew worse. She was taken to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, (LASUTH), Ikeja, where she had another test. The result was shocking.

She has contracted HIV. With her pregnancy at an advanced stage, the doctor attending to her advised she come with her husband. It was during her next ante-natal appointment that the doctor informed her husband. He urged him to provide adequate care for mother and the unborn child. He too was tested along with the unborn baby, but both were negative.

Seven years have gone by, yet Mrs Ayoolo’s health has not failed her. She confessed that she only took Septrin any time she was sick. Doctors have been checking her CD 4 count also. When she had rashes, over a year ago, she was treated at Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba, Lagos. They administered drugs on her and the rashes cleared off.

The story of Mrs Funmi David, mother of three, is not different from the others who were also wrongly diagnosed. She had been diagnosed of malaria at a mushroom laboratory in Lagos. But

another diagnosis showed she had tested positive to HIV. That was in 2006 at LASUTH. Her husband had tested positive.

Mrs David was placed on AntiRetroviral Drugs (ARD) since 2007 and has been healthy. She only needs to check her viral load, and does her CD 4 count.

Managing Director, Pathcare, Dr Pamela Jackson-Ajayi said people should take care of their health.

Jackson-Ajayi said: “A medical test is a procedure performed to detect, diagnose and monitor diseases and as such should be done in an accredited centre.”

According to her, Pathcare is the only ISO accredited medical laboratory in Nigeria. Its ISO is 15189 and has the capacity to perform over 300 complex tests.

“The results of the tests done in our laboratory are acceptable in

hospitals abroad because of the accreditation”, she added She assured of quality testing with the state-of-the-art equipment in the laboratory, adding that it provides promptly with excellent referral system.

To buttress the importance of laboratory testing, a Clinical Microbiologist at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos` (CMUL), Prof Sade Ogunsola, said people go to hospitals as last result and at the point of death, instead of having a test carried out on them, to determine what they are sick of before treatment, they will be too much in a haste to get, and will obstruct testing which is the appropriate thing to do.

She said many of people also engage in self-medication that often results in the treatment of symptoms and not the disease.

Quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO), Prof Ogunsola said: “Only 25 per cent of those who think they have malaria actually have it.”

She berated the country’s over-reliance on clinical diagnosis, adding that medical experts need to do more to ensure patient safety.

On common mistakes by patients, Consultant Chemical Pathologist, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr Soriyan advised them to have their medical tests done at recognised and accredited laboratories where there is a pathologist to supervise the tests, to prevent misdiagnosis.

He said pathologists study and diagnose diseases because they were trained to do that. “The strength of pathology in any country determines its medical structure. That is why a pathologist is regarded as a doctors’ doctor. He serves as a consultant to them.”

Soriyan said pathologists are the heads of laboratory and medical laboratory technologists under then because they take responsibilities for the team and, indeed, the laboratory.

Go for breast cancer screening, women urged

T • The new Amenity ward

Teaching hospital gets amenity ward

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MODERN amenity ward has been built by the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC).

The ward located in Phase IV of the institution (close to the SubSurgical Specialty Building) is made up of eight well-furnished rooms and two mini-suites.

According to the management, the ward will be semi-autonomous under an administrator.

The Chief Medical Director of the

Stories by Oyeyemi GbengaMustapha

hospital, Prof Olusanya Adejuyigbe, praised the Osun State government for helping Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and OAUTHC in solving the problem of flooding in the two communities.

He spoke at a ceremony to inaugurate the dredging of a river.

Adejuyigbe called for more collaboration between the state government and the two institu-

tions, especially, in waste management. The Representative of the Osun State government, Bola Ilori called on the Federal Government to intervene in the reconstruction of the three bridges to support the effort of the state government in providing lasting solution to the flooding in the area. The Vice-Chancellor, OAU, Prof Wale Omole, also expressed his gratitude to the state government for responding to their call.

O checkmate breast cancer among women, the Corporate Services Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr Akinwale Goodluck, has advised them to make use of the mammography centres donated by the MTN Foundation in key public hospitals nationwide.

Goodluck, represented by Chineze Gbenga-Oluwatoye, Manager, Corporate Communications, gave the advice at a forum organised by WoW Divas to celebrate the World Breast Cancer Awareness Day in Lagos.

According to him, MTN, through its corporate social responsibility vehicle, the MTN Foundation, has provided state-of-the-art mammography centres for select federal medical institutions through an initiative called Medical Support Project (MSP).

Goodluck said the aim of the Foundation is to provide affordable breast cancer screening centres for women in the six geo-political zones of the country. He listed beneficiary hospitals to include the General Hospital, Marina, Lagos; Specialist Teaching

Hospital, Irrua, Edo State; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Enugu State; Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto State; Federal Medical Centre, Nguru, Yobe State; and Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Kogi State.

“The statistics of women dying as a result of breast cancer is on the increase and this should not be so. The MTN Foundation has provided the facilities as our contribution to the national efforts to halt the adverse trend. We are working with competent partners to ensure that our women have world-class services at these centres,” he said.

The Foundation has provided in each centre a mammography machine, a compression paddle, exposure control box, face shield and manuals. There are also standard accessory options such as radiation shield, bucky, cytoguide, stereotactic biopsy system, consumables, electrical works/fittings, 6.20KVA generating set one per site, 7.2Hp air conditioner, installation and application training/retraining and civil works.

44

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

HEALTH

‘Convulsion not contagious’ Convulsion is a medical condition in which a patient shakes uncontrollably. A person with seizures may experience tremors. The Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, in conjunction with Sanofi-Aventis, was at the Oshodi market, Lagos to educate Nigerians on the misconceptions surrounding the disease and how to manage it. OYEYEMI GBENGAMUSTAPHA was there.

W .

ATCHING a person seized by convulsion is often scary and unpleasant. But medical expert has debunked the myth that the disease is contagious. It is neither contagious nor caused by witches or wizards as it is believed in some circles, they said.

These were some of the facts established during an outreach at the Mosafejo market, Oshodi, Lagos.

The event was organised by the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital (FNH), Yaba, with Sanofi-Aventis, to set the records straight on the common beliefs about convulsion.

For instance, experts said it is not uncommon for children who suffer from epileptic fits of convulsions to be hidden away from the public by their parents, put hand or fingers in the person’s mouth or even spoon and other objects, just as some will go to the extreme by putting the sufferer’s legs in fire.

A Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Oluyemisi Ogun of the FNH, Yaba, Lagos, said these are very wrong ways of caring for a sufferer and observed the urgent need for public education and enlightenment to shed light on the disease.

“We came to create awareness in the community about seizures and

epilepsy. We realise that many of our patients suffer from seizures and epilepsy, especially the children. Actually over a quarter of patients attended to at the FNH, Yaba, especially children, experience bouts of convulsion.

“By the time they come to the hospital, it is usually too late and they do not really benefit from medical expertise that is available there. So, we thought the best thing is to spread the awareness to the people in the hope that when they are properly educated, they would bring patients to the hospital more promptly.”

She highlights what ought to be done: “There is the need to seek medical advice and counselling in the event of an episode of convulsion. When a person experiences convulsion, he or she may suddenly fall or experience uncontrollable muscle spasms. The person may begin to drool or froth (foam) from the mouth, start snorting and grunting, and stop breathing for a period of time. The person may also act in an unusual manner, such as laughing for no reason, suddenly becoming angry, or picking at his or her clothes.

“When a person experiences convulsions, those around him or her should clear the area in order

•A cross section of participants at the orientation. to prevent injury from occurring.

It is best for the person to lie in a safe area, with the head cushioned.

Any tight clothing, particularly clothing around the neck, should be loosened. The person should lie one side to prevent inhaling of any vomit into the lungs. The convulsions should cease on their own. If they do not stop after five to 10 minutes, call for help.”

Dr Ogun said the causes of convulsion or epilepsy are several.

“There are several potential causes of convulsions. Repeated convulsions signify epilepsy. Children under five years may also experience convulsions as a result of a fever that quickly rises in temperature. Children who have convulsions due to fever do not experience long term brain difficulties or any other side effects from the convulsions.

“Although convulsions can be quite traumatic to witness, they are usually harmless to the person experi-

encing them. In most cases, convulsions last anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes, though much longer convulsions may also occur. If convulsions last for a long period, generally defined as 15 minutes or more, they may be considered a medical emergency. The same is true if a person has several episodes of convulsions and does not appear to awaken between these episodes.

According to the spokesperson, Sanofi Aventis, Jerome Ebonwe, the partnership with Sanofi Aventis as sponsor is the dissemination of appropriate and adequate information into the nooks and crannies of Lagos.

“As long as society is aware of these facts, there would be less stigmatisation and misunderstanding of the condition,” he noted.

Harping on the need to seek medical advice and counselling in the event of a convulsion, he said: “The idea is to sensitise the peo-

PHOTO: OYEYEMI GBENGA MUSTAPHA

•Dr Ogun ple such that when they see certain symptoms that could be convulsion, they would visit the hospital promptly for proper coun-

Bauchi reiterates commitment to health care

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•Quality Co-ordinator, Pacific Medical Centres, Christopher Ashton flanked by Dr Abiodun Fatade (left) and Dr Abayomi Ajayi, Managing Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, at a workshop on hysteroscopy.

PHOTO: OYEYEMI GBENGA MUSTAPHA

AUCHI State government will provide qualitative and affordable health care for the people, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Sani Malami, has said.

He spoke at the Bauchi State Insurance Scheme (BASIS) stakeholders’ meeting.

Malami said the meeting was to reposition the scheme despite challenges facing it, adding that since the programme started in three years ago, the government has been paying for its 69,000 enrollees.

He said the government has attached much importance to the scheme and urged civil servants to return the gesture by rededicating themselves to their responsibilities.

He assured that the ministry would receive N74.35 million in three categories of N64 million as total capitation; N1 mil-

lion for services rendered to the enrollees while N7. 266 million would be paid to Health Medical officers in the state.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Hajiya Amina Abubakar praised the practitioners for their understanding while their capitation fee was being processed.

She described the relationship between health providers and the ministry as cordial and hoped it would continue.

The Proprietor, Phalycon Medical Clinic, also Bauchi State chair , Nigeria Guild of Doctors, Dr Hassan Alhassan, commended the state government for being the first to introduce the scheme in the country, promising that the guild would co-operate with the government to ensure the success of the scheme.

Adopt good eye practice, commissioner urges Nigerians

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AGOS State Commissioner for Health Dr Jide Idris has urged Nigerians to observe proper eye practices to reduce incidences of eye diseases in the country.

Idris spoke at World Sight Day Celebration, in Lagos.

He identified daily bath, washing of the face with clean water, washing of the hands with soap and water frequently as healthy eye practices.

Others are restraining children from playing with sharp objects, such as forks, knives, pencil and broom sticks among others, avoid rubbing the eyes with dirty hands and dirty clothes and self-medication and reading in dim light.

He urged artisans, welders and industrial workers to cultivate the

habit of wearing protective eye goggle to prevent foreign bodies from entering the eyes, adding that people need to desist from applying harmful substances, such as sugar water, breast milk, battery water, urine and other solution into the eyes.

He said: “I want to urge the people to always make use of the 177 primary and eight secondary eye units in the state as they are accessible.

Similarly, people should consult an eye specialist immediately they have any eye complain, they should wear their glasses if they have been recommended as it is not a sigma to do so, and they should not run away from undergoing an eye surgery as may be advised by their ophthalmologist.”

By Wale Adepoju

Idris said the free eye screening for market women would take place at Ogba Retail Market as part of activities to mark the celebration, adding that till date, government has reached out to 361,933 people in various communities in the state, out of which 130,266 benefitted from free eye glasses and 25,958 people have had free eye surgery done to restore their eye sight through the Community Outreach Programmes alone.

Quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO), he said, an estimated 284 million people are visually impaired, out of which 45 million are blind worldwide with 80 per cent above 50 years from developing

countries, adding that women and girls make-up of two-third and above of the blind population.

He said out of these, a survey carried out by the Nigeria National Blindness Visual Impairment Study Group shows that 3.1million people who are 40years and above have visual impairment, out of which 1.13 million individuals are blind, saying 80 per cent of the world’s blindness is avoidable.

“Avoidable blindness can be defined as that which could either be treated or prevented. Cataract, Refractive error, Childhood blindness diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, trachoma, and Onchocerciasis are the major causes of avoidable blindness in Ni-

geria. Early presentation to the eye specialist, early detection, prompt intervention, good drug compliance and follow up will substantially reduce blindness,” Idris added.

He urged the people, particularly those above 40 years to cultivate the habit of carrying out eye check-ups as part of their yearly check-ups, saying that by so doing, it would help in early detection and treatment of eye disease.

“The World Sight Day is a global event celebrated annually on the second Thursday of October, focusing on blindness, visual impairment and vision related issues that are plaguing the world. It is a day dedicated to perfect vision for every individual on earth,” Idris said.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

45

DISCOURSE

Education and post-colonial subject: towards the epistemology of transformation Conclusion of the keynote address delivered by Prof Adebayo Williams at the 29th Annual Conference of Philosophy of Education Association of Nigeria (PEAN) at the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State.

•Continued from yesterday

I

NDEED the extant ideological apparatuses of the pre-colonial African states still retain an efficacy and power of compliance long after their political and material basis and rationale have been subverted by the colonial irruption. It was not for nothing that Peter Morton described the Yoruba Ogboni confraternity as “mystery-mongering greybeards.”

Yet much as we wish, we can never return to that old world. It is gone forever. No human society can wish away 600 years of its history.

But we must now turn the adversities of alienation into great advantages as famously echoed in Abiola Irele’s inaugural lecture. But while enjoying the paradoxical bounties of creative alienation we must also warily patrol the field in order not to turn out as metropolitan mimicmen or hybridized trapeze artists permanently walking a cultural tight rope just for the sake of grudging applause from our former masters.

If colonialism represents a radical rupture with the African pre-colonial past, only a radical rupture with the foundational principles of colonialism can begin to make a dent on Africa’s serious developmental challenges. In this respect, the post-colonial condition is not this radical rupture or revolutionary departure from but only the continuation of colonisation after the cessation of empire and the epoch of physical colonisation. What is needed to bring

about the rupture is a philosophy of transformation powered by a radical epistemology of deliberate difference. This is what Althusser, following the cue of Gaston Bachelard, his former teacher, has called coupure epistemologique, that is an epistemological rupture with the past. The very notion of rupture suggests a new birth with all the accompanying violence and blood.

A new philosophy of education with Africa as its centre piece and cornerstone is the first imperative of a transformative epistemology.

We do not need to reinvent the wheel as we have suggested. But like an adult encountering a second childhood, African knowledge producers must go through a reverse process of what Jean Piaget, the great Swiss epistemologist and psychologist, has described as “assimilation, accommodation and equilibration”. In this particular instance, “disequilbration”, that is unscrambling and unbundling what has been wrongly learnt and assumed to be the gospel truth, or disrupting the equilibrium of dangerous complacency, must proceed first, followed by accommodation which is discriminated absorption of knowledge and assimilation which is the process of internalising what has been learnt.

If we see further in the field today, it is because there have been early African and Third World exemplars on whose back we are climbing.

We must single out the Trinidadian Eric Eustace Williams and his path-breaking work

on the political economy of the slave trade, the Nigerian Adeoye Lambo in the field of psychiatry, Chinua Achebe and Soyinka in Literature, Ayodele Awojobi in the field of Mechanical Engineering, Leopold Senghor in culture, Dike and the Ibadan school in history, Samir Amin in Economics and perhaps the avatar of them all, Cheikh Anta Diop. Diop is arguably the father of African intellectual resistance having been subjected to excruciating pains of rejection in a landmark attempt to convince his metropolitan tormentors that the roots of modernity lay in the old Egyptian civilisation.

Through arduous discipline and strenuous discrimination, these avatars managed to evade the discursive formation of colonial epistemology even while being thoroughly immersed in its annihilating rituals. But their groundbreaking insights on imperial conditioning remain scattered and isolated and spread through diverse disciplines. These insights should now be systemised and deployed as the building block for a radical epistemology of transformation.

Transformation is not a tea party. In a knowledge-driven world, it begins and ends with a fierce struggle for knowledge. As it has been so simply and devastatingly proposed, knowledge is power. This is because the power of knowledge leads to the knowledge of power.

This is why the search for true transformative knowledge is often a perilous quest. According to Althusser, western intellectual tradition

•Prof. Williams

makes the orphan to pay a terrible price. It is a price ranging from exclusion, alienation to madness and death itself.

Yet no human society can achieve genuine transformative progress without such a heavy price. If western intellectual tradition demands such a price from its own intellectual orphans, the fate of the true African exemplar in its hand can be better imagined. But after nearly six hundred years of physical and mental slavery, let us no matter the cost begin to roll back the heavy boulder of ignorance and servitude with the liberating power of transformative knowledge. I thank you all.

From Lapdog to Laptop: digital communications and youths

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HEN I was a student in this university in the 1980s, if anyone uttered the word laptop, it would have come across as a slur of speech. Somehow the tongue was in the wrong place and the lips made an awkward twitch in the architecture of the face. The result was the inevitable phonetic stumble. A perceptive student in those days of typewriters and rotary phones would have guessed right that what the person meant to say was lapdog.

Yet even in those days in Nigeria, dogs were not of the luxurious variety as in the Western countries. People who had dogs here did not lap them. They had them for security, and they were often of the Alsatian mould. So, the word lapdog was used as a metaphor of the pejorative sort, a description of that breed of humanity who make masters of other people no better than themselves.

But today, laptop is a common word and it is as much an emblem of the age as any other device.

The laptop is a craving of every student today.

When I was a student we prized ourselves on the quality of our notebooks. Mind you, laptops are also called notebooks. We also brandished the rarity of our pens.

But such things are anachronisms in today’s world. In the vocabulary of those days, the word communication between student and lecturer meant the student had to be present in the office for any sort of conversation. Now, we have cell phones with which they can either place voice calls or send text messages or any other form of what is called MMS, or multimedia messaging.

Recently, riots erupted in major cities of Britain, and it was triggered by the police killing of a black man. English youth made bonfires of ancient treasures and other marquee buildings in the country. But an inquest into the rage of a generation has listed a new culprit: digital communication. They have established that youths communicated through Facebook, Blackberry and Twitter, three inventions of North America, and which were not even contemplated half a decade ago. Except Blackberry, which has however been around in the past decade. It was the exclusive of the Wall Street type, an elite and smug gizmo.

But in the past few years it has become an obsession of the young. All young boys and girls want to have a blackberry or BB as they call it.

Now the British authorities are contemplating restricting the use of all of these devices. This is a narrative of freedom assailing technology and technology assailing freedom. This is the West where the concept of freedom is sacrosanct. Everyone is expected to express their opinions as freely as they want. Freedom cannot flourish in a democracy if it is atrophied.

Yet the mention of restriction tells one of the burgeoning power of digital communication in today’s world. It also tells us how even the state is

Text of the keynote address delivered by The Nation Editorial Board Chairman Sam Omatseye to the Icons Organisation (Campus journalists) of the Obafemi Awolowo University on the launch of their electronic bill board.

•Omatseye

trying to come to grips with the thrust and intrusiveness of the media.

I cannot but make reference to a time in the 1980s when riots broke out in the University of Ife then and the military set up an inquest. A certain justice Belgore had a different sort of grief in his recommendation. He called for the university authorities to raise the age limit for admitting students in Ife. It was because the boys were too young that they had the effluence of raw energy and temerity of subversion to organize a riot.

While today, they are not complaining about age, they are unhappy about technology.

Belgore’s panel had no technology to worry about. After all what we thought was great technology then was the television which did not have many live coverages. There was no instant society. This is an instant society, and this is the scare of many people, especially those charged to run this democracy, not only here in

Nigeria but around the world.

The beauty of technology is that it does not wait for anyone to be ready. Technologists call grounding breaking inventions subversive.

They do that for a good reason. When a major technology happens, it subverts our lifestyles. It is an earthquake to relationships: government and the people, parents and children, brother and sister, teacher and student, buyer and seller, criminal and law enforcement agencies, God and mammon, sinner and priest.

This change to digital world as we know it is taking a breakneck speed. The world is changing at a faster pace than any time in the history of civilization. The world, to quote Shakespeare, is our oyster. There seems to be no limit to invention. People are moving to and fro because knowledge has increased. It has increased from the improvement of chip or semiconductor technology, to the evolution of air-interface technology from GSM to Wideband CDMA to the flowering of fiber-optics. We have seen the evolution of the internet and the World Wide Web. Gradually others emerged: amazon.com, Skype, Facebook, blogosphere, twitter, YouTube, Yelp, etc. As the ingenuity of man generates more solutions, we see our world shrink. We now have communities where we do not see each other, but everyone sees us, knows us, knows what we ate for breakfast, what we wear, where we shop and holiday, who we love and hate, when we said hello to daddy, how ugly our teacher is, who made passes at us, what music we dance to and who we slept with last night. It is the increasing occlusion of privacy.

What this means is that a young man can communicate an idea, right or wrong, and he can expect it to catch fire in seconds. That was what happened in the London riots.

Here in Nigeria, we already know the power is catching on. When any earth-shaking event happens in Nigeria, it is easy to see the young and vibrant take the matter to the cyberspace, and the world of mobile communications. Text messaging, blogging, tweeting, email, Facebook take over the matter.

Everyone has an opinion and very opinion is important. People can dedicate websites to an issue of temporary significance and it can take an issue of sombre value and make light of it.

Already a few studies are being made about

the youth of Nigeria and what they want to make of this new wave of technology. What is clear is that, in spite of the enthusiasm, there is an impediment: Not enough young people have access to the use of the internet. It is the fairly rich or the so-called middle-class who can do this. I have no statistics about this, but I wonder if up to 10 percent of the young have access. Many of those who do go to the internet cafes and they have to possess disposable income to do this.

How many have disposable income? Here again, the material poverty of the society is catching up with us. This has given birth to what is called the digital divide.

So in spite of what seems to be a rush of internet activity among the young, they do not have enough money to spend for the time they want online.

Hence the craze for BB or Blackberry. In one mobile device, they can tweet, blog, email, send pictures and jokes, convey Facebook messages, massage egos and bruise same. Yet in all these, some commentators have argued that our youth have not focused on the higher matters of law, democracy, liberty, economic empowerment.

Rather in the early days, our youths became notorious for transforming the medium for fraud, to hoodwink and swindle innocent people abroad out of their hard-earned resources. They have also been used to pursue prurient orgies and gossip.

Yet we can say that some have important interests. They have used it to rally interests in government. For instance, in Bayelsa State, Governor Timipre Sylva met with his Facebook friends and it offered an opportunity to interact with people with whom he would not ordinarily have met. President Jonathan also met with his Facebook friends ahead of his presidential election.

But the challenge is what the youth will make of this new media. Philosopher Karl Popper once opined that the reason we cannot predict the future is that we cannot predict technology. The future will continue to surprise us in this regard, and that is why we need two things to respond.

One, education. The little resources and attention focused on education mean that we have inadequate wherewithal to tackle the new devices and portals. We would remain outsiders in the bubbly world of communication. Two, we need to address the issue of digital divide by creating centres of communications. It is only in that context that we can realize what Marshall McLuhan called the global village. Here is what he said: “The medium, or process, of our time – electric technology –is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our lives.” Let us not be left out of this beautiful whirlpool.

46

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

MOTORING

V

Firm donates repair kits to vulcanisers IRAMSUN Nigeria Limited, sole distributors of GT

Radial brand of tyres in the country, has donated modern vulcanising kits to the Lagos State Vulcanisers Association.

It also gave to the group tyres and a cheque.

The equipment, which were distributed to members of the association at a workshop in Apapa, Lagos. He said they would enable the vulcanisers to deliver quality service at shorter time and at competitive price.

Delivering the device put in a carry-on pouch, General Manager, Viramsun Nigeria Limited, Mr Pankaj Arora, urged the 110 beneficiaries to maximise the equipment for the enhancement of jobs.

He said: “Nigerian vulcanisers cannot be isolated in a world driven by technology and that is why we have decided to equip you with modern vulcanising kits to prepare you for future challenges.

“The time has come to jettison antiquated ways of vulcanisation.

The devices couldn’t have come at better time as the population of discerning motorists who needed quality service is increasing by the day,” he said.

Arora added that the equipment is the first phase of similar trade

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

empowerment programmes the company would extend to other members of the association in various local governments of the state.

The company’s National Sales Manager, Mr Anil Anandani, described the gesture as tradition in the tyre marketing and servicing company, which he said, finds solace in empowering artisans and adding value to their services.

He said the company has in its 10 years of operation contributed immensely to the society where it operates such that in 2006, “we donated tyres and thread depth gauge to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Lagos Command.

Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Chairman of the association Mr Matthew Ogundaini, reassured the company of their allegiance and promised the beneficiaries would use the equipment to raise the standard of their occupation to enhance the value of GT Radial tyres.

The association’s General Secretary, Mr Salaudeen Taiwo, said the gadgets would further enhance the safety of lives by reducing carnage on the motorways

while raising the consciousness of motorists on quality tyres.

Taiwo urged vulcanisers to inform their customers of the dangers of fitting used tyres, stating : “The cure for ignorance is knowledge, education and enlightenment, which GT Radial and Viramsun has come to impact in us through this workshop on technical information

and donation of invaluable tools.”

In his remark, Managing Director, Kingsman & Kingsmams Group, marketers of GT Radial Tyres, Prince Chris Ifebi, hailed youths for adopting the trade, noting that his company is working out modalities with Viramsun Nigeria and GT Radial China to design handy ma-

chines for fitting and dismantling tyres.

“We would have succeeded in putting behind the medieval technique of vulcanising tyres in our country. However, these kits you have now have inducted you in the league of countries using modern technique of vulcanising,” Ifebi said.

Lagos trains pupils on traffic safety

T

HE Lagos State government through the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has engaged in the training of the primary and secondary school pupils on traffic safety management.

According to the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Transport Education, Dr Mariam Masha, the state government would construct additional traffic safety laboratory in the state for pupils in the primary and secondary schools to further improve their awareness on traffic rules and regulations.

She stated this at the final stage of the state’s Road User’s friendly game in Lagos.

Dr Masha said the laboratory would help the pupils to be acquit-

By Amidu Arije

ted to the ways roads are used for safety and would also help to reduce the work load of the LASTMA. “The laboratory would help to reduce the work load of the LASTMA in terms of apprehending violators of traffic rules and regulations. The laboratory will also serves as a means for the pupils who will be the future road users to be acquainted with how to manage traffic in the state,” she said.

She stated further that the purpose of the game was to educate the pupils on how to be cautious and make them familiar with the use of roads.

“To make pupils more familiar with traffic management the state

government has designed the annual road user’s friendly game to test the knowledge of the pupils on traffic rules and regulations,” she said.

In the final stage of the game, Alumona Nancy of St Mary Anglican Primary School, Abubakar Adijat Local Government Primary School and Tayo Adepesin of Saint Gregory emerged as winners in the primary school category, while Amusa Afeez Estate Senior Secondary School, David Ruth of Estate Senior Secondary School and Abraham Ogundayo of Government Senior Secondary School also won.

The winners were given different traffic management materials that will further inculcate in them traffic culture.

Mimiko praises road transporters for peaceful conduct

T

•Chairman, Mosan-Okunola Local Council Development Area of Lagos, Hon Abiodun Mafe presenting a motor cycle key to one of the beneficiaries of the empowerment programme.

HE Ondo State government has hailed members of the state National Union of Road and Transport Workers (NURTW) for promoting peace in their work.

Mimiko, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Labour and Productivity, Mr Taye Akinyele, specifically, commended the union for conducting their election peacefully.

“I am highly impressed that the election could be conducted in a peaceful atmosphere unlike in the past when we witnessed crisis during its elections,” he said.

He reiterated his commitment to continue to support the state branch of the NURTW through the provision of more vehicles and conducive working environment.

The governor noted that the 100 buses subsidised for them by the state government had been used judiciously. He stressed that arrangements were in the pipeline to provide taxi cabs for drivers in the state.

He equally enjoined members of the union to work in harmony and shun any act capable of disrupting the existing peace in the state. He described driving as very crucial to the socio-economic transformation

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

of the nation.

The newly elected officers, who emerged unopposed, included Mr Oladutele Obayoriade as Chairman; Deputy Chairman, Apostle Ajishafe Omobomi; Vice-Chairman, Samuel Ade Obilewa and Secretary, J.A. Kolawole.

National President of the union, Alhaji Najeem Usman, advised the new officers to offer exemplary leadership.

Usman, who was represented by Aro of Ofa, Alhaji Azeez Kolawole, said the union would not condone any action that could lead to violence and loss of lives and properties as was recorded in some areas in the state.

He, however, commended the state NURTW for conducting a peaceful election, saying: “It is, therefore, with a deep sense of responsibility that I seek your support and your continued guidance so that together, we can set the foundation for moving the Union forward. I am of the firm belief that if we can maintain the patriotism and diligence exhibited by the majority among us; we can have an election that may be widely acclaimed.”

DRIVING TIPS

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ELINQUISHING road construction to the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will go a long way to remove the problems associated with the federal and state road controversies.

If this suggestion is accepted, then the revenue allocation to each state will be increased proportionally to the length and conditions of the federal roads in each state and FCT. This goes to say that the funds allotted to the Federal Government will be reduce by the additional amount made available to the state governments and FCT for road construction.

This action will also result to a drastic cut in the expenses of the Federal Government through the scrapping of the

The Fed Govt’s road, fund agency (2) Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the Federal Ministry of works (State). There is also no need for the newly proposed Road Agency.

Funds saved from the scrapping of this ministry and agency will be added to the funds allotted to the state governments and FCT for road construction and maintenance.

The Federal Ministry of Works will be left to play only supervisory role in addition to other constitutional duties.

The state governments should also be drawing from the proposed road fund (suggested as road and safety fund).

There should be no sentiment

as to this suggestion because the safety of irreparable lives and valuable properties is of more value than personal interests.

•Security agencies should also be benefiting from the road and safety fund for the purchase of operational vehicles and gadgets to enhance security and safety on our roads both in the day and night.

•The road and safety fund when established should have representatives of every group of stakeholders as members in addition to the representatives of the Federal Government.

The board members should include representatives of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Transport,

Federal Ministry of Works, Federal Road Safety Commission, Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Driving School, Automobile Industry and representatives of other groups of stakeholders.

•The use of the road safety fund must be effectively monitored and regulated to ensure total accomplishment of the objectives laid down in the policy documents.

•The Federal Government must not delay the establishment of the road and safety fund because it is long overdue in the country. No doubt, it will help to effectively curtail the rising rate of road crashes and fatalities on the roads.

Jide Owatunmise

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

47

MARITIME Optimise endowment

By Oluwakemi Dauda, Maritime Correspondent

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HE Executive Director, Maritime Monitoring Group (MMG), Mr Solomon Philips, has urged the Federal Government to optimise the nation’s ocean endowments by placing priority on the maritime industry.

Philips wants attention to be given to shipping; stressing that only countries that are able to do this become great.

Philips made the plea while speaking with The Nation. He said the maritime sector is as important as aviation and should not be underrated, if the nation has genuine intention of attaining its Vision 20:2020.

“The Federal Government must accord equal recognition to the maritime and aviation sector. The duo are very essential. Both are important to the development of the economy. What one lacks the other has.

Though aviation has the advantage of fast delivery, no one should compare what the ship can carry with that of the plane.

Govt urged to prosecute pirates • Lagos port

Operators task Jonathan on technical regulator P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has been urged to appoint a technical regulator for the seaports to make Nigeria the maritime hub in the sub-region.

The former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, operators said, embarked on a port reform in 2006, which introduced private operators to cargo handling in the seaports, while the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), was made the landlord, after being stripped of its operational functions.

But the failure of a successive governments to appoint a commercial regulator since the ports reform started, operators further said, is depriving the port of the intended gains of the reform and urged President Jonathan to address the issue.

Speaking at a seminar organised by the Agenda for Good Governance (AGOG), a non-governmental organisation in Lagos last Friday, majority of the operators and stakeholders agreed that the ports concessioning is the best thing that has happened to the port system after the nation’s independence in 1960, while few others believe otherwise.

Also speaking on the occasion, the Managing Director, Folas Ventures, Mr Folagbade Ayeni, stated in his paper entitled: Absence of a technical regulator and the gains of ports reform, that the failure of the past administrations to create a technical regulator in a landlord port model six years after the ports were concessioned, has created problems and challenges for the industry.

The lawyer noted that the absence of a regulator has precluded effective regulation of the concessionaires since they took over the nation’s seaports in 2006.

He also observed that the terminal operators have failed to comply with the terms of agreement

Stories by Oluwakemi Dauda, Maritime Correspondent

they signed with the Federal Government through the management of the NPA and the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) and urged President Jonathan to give the responsibility of a regulator to NPA, which he said has the technical know-how and the manpower to regulate the industry.

The President, National Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Alhaji Olayiwola Shittu, argued that creating another agency to assume the regulatory functions would make government spend more money, which he said is an unnecessary waste of public funds.

He said: ‘‘This is because budgetary approvals would have to be made for the new agency to enable it to establish offices in all the port locations where NPA has its officers on ground.’’

Port industry operators, who also spoke at the forum on the performance of the nation’s seaport, said the seaports are still faced with great challenges caused by the absence of a regulator and urged President Jonathan to appoint NPA to take charge.

Executive Director of AGOG, Mr Rotimi Onakoya, said the imposition of illegal dues, levies and charges by shipping companies and terminal operators make the need for technical and commercial regulators imperative.

These illegal charges, Onakoya said, include service charge, bank charge, concessionaires’ service charge, tally clerk charge, commission on turnover, port administrative charges and sorting charge.

Onakoya blamed the existence of these charges on the absence of a regulator.

“In the port reform programme, the terminal operators were mandated to oversee cargo operations,

port labour, investment in equipment; terminal maintenance, and insurance of concessioned assets.

The NPA was to carry out port planning, licensing and control, port development, marine services and channel management.

“Before he was redeployed to the Sport ministry, the former minister, Yusuf Suleiman, said port concessioning was premised on improved efficiency. He said this would lead to reduced costs to users, government for the support of a viable port sector, enhanced economic activity and accelerated growth in the sector.

“But it baffles us that six years after the ports were concessioned, which saw to the emergence of 26 concessionaires operating at the nation’s seaports for various lease periods ranging from 15 to 25 years, no technicalregulator has emerged.

“For example, the cost of doing business is still higher than what is obtainable in neighbouring seaports and nobody has been able to tell us the real amount of money that was actually brought into our country by these terminal opearators in the last 10 years.

The absence of a technical regulator in our ports is like the absence of a referee in a football match where everybody does what it likes.

“Although the current performance indices of the ports show that the port concession was successful, its greatest undoing is the lack of a regulator,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director, NPA, Omar Suleiman, said the organisation is more than ever committed to the achievement of a hub seaport status for the West and Central African region and would continue to attract more vessels, develop new port facilities, expand the existing port facilities and develop the necessary infrastructure that would make the nation’s seaports a hub for the region.

Lawyers fault shipping policy

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AWYERS in the maritime in dustry have faulted the Fed eral Government’s policy on ship repairs.

Speaking at a workshop organised by the Maritime Lawyers in Ibadan last week, the operators said the government has not offered special incentives for the sector to promote and enhance efficiency in shipping-related services and make the country a hub.

One of the lawyers, Mr Kareem Bakre, said ship building is capital intensive and urged the Federal Government to make special pro-

visions for capacity building in ship building.

He said local ship owners face difficulties in raising funds for capital expenditure to facilitate improved business prospects.

Badmus said the facilities at the existing shipyards were highly inadequate when compared to what is required at international level.

He said ship repairs business is highly competitive and should be supported by national policies and subsidies, adding that without government’s support, the growth of the industry would be difficult.

Badmus also expressed concern over the inability of the government to support coastal trade with incentives while other countries do, adding that for the sector to grow, there should be incentives in the form of lower taxes to offset the costs.

Another lawyer, Mr Rotimi Williams, said efficient ship repair yards facilitate seaborne trade, driving up commerce, employment and income.

Williams said nothing has been done to support the indigenous shipyard industry by the government.

T

HE Federal Government has been urged to deal with pirates found on the nation’s territorial waters. To do that, they said, a legisla tion must be formulated to handle the problem.

Speaking with The Nation in Lagos, a member of the group, Mr Efong Johnson, said the Federal Government has a responsibility to do that.

Problems with prosecution, he said, were compounded when some ship masters, who had been victims of hijacking, refused to testify.

Johnson claimed ransom payouts offered the best hope of resolution in hijack situations, rather than attempts to arm crew as a defensive measure.

He also said ship masters were not happy that the government was yet to take the advantage of the maritime industry to create employment for the jobless youths.

He urged President Jonathan to encourage the private sector to establish maritime training institutions, saying the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron in Akwa Ibom State, cannot cater for all maritime training.

“Asians take advantage of manning to create jobs for its people, but Nigeria has not taken the advantage to create employment for its people.

The government is not regulating many things,” he said.

Johnson noted that maritime institutions are goldmines, adding that if the country can invest in it, apart from churning out qualified professionals, he said, there is a lot of money to be made through the effort.

Terminal introduces e-invoicing

A

PM Terminals Limited is set to do away with much paper work on cargo release from its terminals. This is in a bid to stop the repeated calls to the release office.

Mr Koen De Backker, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer, said the introduction of the electronic platforms, e-invoicing and e-payment systems, will make interaction in the release process faster.

This innovation will also enable those involved to conduct release transactions from home or office, via the Internet.

Also, as part of its commitment to provide a befitting business environment for its numerous customers, especially licensed Customs agents, APM Terminals has provided five luxury customers’ waiting rooms at its City Office at

By Uyoatta Eshiet

the Polysonic Mall, Apapa, Lagos.

The five customers’ waiting rooms, which are fully air-conditioned, each has the capacity to sit 40 persons, adding up to 200 customers at a time.

Speaking at the opening of the rooms, De Backker said the waiting rooms were provided for providing a more comfortable place for customers while waiting to carry out their transactions at the City Office.

He said the provision of the facilities is in response to demands by the various freight forwarding associations whose members are dealing with the company.

De Backker disclosed that before the end of the year, the company would provide similar facilities at its offices at the Lagos Port Complex (LPC), Apapa, Lagos.

Fed Govt to upgrade maritime academy

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HE Federal Government is still determined to turn the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron in Akwa Ibom State into a maritime university.

The school’s Acting Rector, Mr Joshua Okpo, disclosed this while unfolding his plans for the Academy. The “Federal Government is poised to turn the academy into a university soon,” he said.

Okpo, who spoke in Oron, said as part of his efforts to work with the host community, he has held a town hall meeting with stakeholders of the institution to sensitise them on the high premium the Federal Government pays to the establishment and to assure them of the protection of their collective interest since no development can take place in an atmosphere of acrimony.

According to him, “The Federal Government and the Minister of Transport are quite interested in the on-going upgrading of the Academy and are ready to do all that is required to fast-track the upgrading.

Okpo also restated that he was given the mandate to lay the groundwork for the take-off of the

By Uyoatta Eshiet

By Uyoatta Eshiet

academy as the first maritime University in Nigeria.

Until his appointment a the Acting Rector of the institution, Okpo was a director in the Ministry of Transport.

He pledged to ensure that as a good corporate entity, the academy would strengthen the relationship with stakeholders including the Palace of the Ahta Oro V, Edidem Etim Ati Okpo.

He said he was ready to work with the Oron Union and other youth groups of Oron as can be seen by his inauguration of the committee on community relations, the first of its kind.

While commending the efforts of the immediate past Rector, Mr Nseyen Ebong, Okpo regretted that the academy, a specialised institution is still being graded with civil service salary structure. He said this has made it impossible to attract qualified personnel to the institution.

He also observed that many of its courses are not offered because lack of academic staff. “Lecturers are not willing to come because of the salary structure,” he said.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

48

MARITIME Maritime Watch NPA anti-corruption unit

NAFDAC quits ports T

HE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has moved out of the port in line with the Federal Government’s directive.

It is the first to do so among the agencies sent packing from the ports by the government.

It has directed all its officials to quit the ports and redeployed them.

Investigation conducted by The Nation revealed that the redeployment started last Friday.

Confirming the report in an exclusive chat with The Nation in Lagos, a senior official of NAFDAC, who does not want his name in print, said many officers have been directed to leave the port so that they would not be accused of flouting the presidential directive.

The management of the agency, he said, was not

By Oluwakemi Dauda, Maritime Correspondent

happy because of the negative image some of the officers gave the organisation.

However, investigation conducted by The Nation revealed that the government’s directive is causing ripples among the agencies some of which are scrambling to remain at the port. They are said to be looking for many excuses to remain at port.

For instance, a few days ago, the Standard Oganisation of Nigeria (SON), raised the alarm that 60 per cent of containers enter the country without inspection.

The allegation was made,

by SON Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu during an interactive forum with the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Speaking, Odumodu al-

leged that the containers are brought without statutory checks under the guise of the fast track system employed at the port to clear goods in order to meet the 48-hour cargo clearance deadline.

But when contacted by The Nation last Saturday, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi debunked the allegation and termed it as an incitment of Nigerians by SON against the Federal Government.

He faulted the figure given

by Odumodu and insisted that only about 10 per cent of containers coming into the country are not inspected at the port because of certain reasons.

He challenged SON to come out with its facts and figures to justify its claims if it is not a delibrate attempt to rubish the good-will of

By Oluwakemi Dauda, Maritime Correspondent

• NAFDAC boss Paul Orhii

President Jonathan.

Dikko, who spoke with The Nation through his media officer, Mr Wale Adeniyi, explained that the containers that are allowed to go out of the port without inspection are divided into two categories and routed through the Green and Blue line at each of the terminals.

THE Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Alhaji Abdullahi Bako, has inaugurated the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Anti-Corruption and Transparency Monitoring Unit (ACTU).

The NPA ACTU has Mr Nasir Anas Mohammed, NPA’s Assistant General Manager Human Resources as Chairman, while other members include Mrs. O. A. Laoye, E. E. Nduonofit, N. T. Odunsi, A. M. Aliyu and J. N. Anih, who is serving as Secretary.

The ICPC boss, who was represented by the Acting Head of ICPC Lagos Office, Mr Sampson Iroka, charged members of the new NPA ACTU to be unbiased and live above board in the discharge of their duties.

While encouraging the NPA staff to direct relevant petitions to the ACTU, Bako charged the ACTU members to treat petitions so received dispassionately.

He also warned NPA workers against writing frivolous petitions, even as he assured the ACTU members that they have the full legal backing and authority of the ICPC in the discharge of their duties. Managing Director of NPA, Omar Suleiman, represented by the General Manager Public Affairs, Michael Ajayi, assured the ACTU members of the full backing and support of his office.

Shipbrokers condemn domination PRESIDENT, Association of Shipbrokers and Consultants, Mr Lucky Idehenre, has condemned the domination of the maritime industry by quacks, saying this has led to the under development of the industry in the last few years. It said they are ready to curb the trend by embracing the best practices.

He called on practitioners to join the association in its efforts to promote and foster ideals, standards, professionalism and best practices in the maritime industry.

Speaking at a seminar organised by the association in Lagos, Idehenre said the association intends to bridge the gap between ship owners, operators, government agencies, charterers and brokers.

Other objectives of the group, he said, include promoting local content in the marine industry by supporting legislations and advocacies, fostering the welfare of shipbrokers and operators collaborating with various institutions and agencies on training, development and capacity through seminars and workshops

ISAN challenges members

• Cargo ship

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Chamber partners US agency to boost indigenous vessels

HE Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS) is partnering with the America Bureau of Shipping (ABS), on how to improve the classification standard of indigenous vessels.

Speaking at a two-day workshop organised by the NCS in collaboration with ABS in Lagos last week, the Director-General of NCS, Mrs. Ify Anazonwu-Akerele, said the workshop, apart from boosting the participation of Nigerians in the sector,

is also geared towards promoting safer shipping operations.

The theme of the workshop is: Towards Safer Quality Shipping Classification and Statutory Survey.

Mrs Anazonwu-Akerele said NCS had to invite ABS to help Nigerians improve upon the class of their vessels to attract more businesses, adding that the in-

vitation of ABS is due to the bureau’s track record of being one of the foremost classification organisations across the world.

“We want to raise the quality of safer shipping in Nigeria, through the buying of vessels and putting the vessels to use and part of the reason while Nigeria is lagging behind is that we are not professional in ensuring

that our vessels are safe, which is an important aspect of shipping.

“We have to learn how to classify our vessels properly just like the way you have a motor test for a car. We need our vessels to be useable through the process of classification, so that our vessels can operate anywhere in the world.

“It is all about improving the standard of our vessels to ensure that they are in class,” Anazonwu-Akerele said.

‘Invest CTN proceeds in infrastructure development’

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TAKEHOLDERS in the nation’s maritime in dustry have called on the Federal Government to prevail on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to account for the money it made from the operations of the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) for the period the program lasted.

National President of the umbrella body of freight forwarders, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Mr Eugene Nweke said the association’s

By Uyoatta Eshiet

is calling on the Federal Government to openly account for all the money it made during the operations of the scheme.

The association also wants the government to invest the money in ports infrastructural development This call came on the heels of the order from the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, stopping further collection of the charges from importers.

This, according to her, is part of the Federal Government transformation agenda

aimed at making the nation’s ports free from extortions corruption and arbitrary charges that had stifled ports operations and cargo clearance.

CTN was introduced in January 2010 despite opposition from the maritime community against it.

National president of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu while speaking with The Nation, said the scheme was a fraud right from the beginning.

He said NPA used the scheme to defraud Nigerians and the government. Shittu said the government had taken the right step in its effort to sanitise the sector and place the nation as the hub of maritime activities in West and Central Africa.

On how NPA used the scheme to defraud Nigerians, Shittu revealed that for every 20-foot container that was loaded to come to Nigeria, the importer was forced to pay $400 and almost $800 for every 40 foot container to obtain the CTN.

THE indigenous Shipowners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) has asked its members not to hire out their vessels to lift cargoes whose origin are not confirmed to avoid being used for illicit trade.

ISAN Acting Director General, Mr Adedayo Adetona, said the advice to the ship owners was as a result of increasing spate of attacks on vessels.

According to Adetona, “despite our meeting with the Naval High Command on July 18 and the proactive efforts of NIMASA, the incidents and attacks on vessels off-shore Lagos have increased. Members are advised not to hire out their vessels to lift, trans-ship or move any cargo whose origin is not confirmed or cannot be authenticated”.

$57b of container ships booked to 2015 WHILE Nigerian Shippers are still crying for lack of ships to enable them participate appropriately in even the domestic maritime trade because of lack of money, Ocean carriers and charter ship-owners have placed orders worth $57 billion for new container vessels over the next four years, with about half of the value of orders made as the industry emerged from a slump in 2009, said Alphaliner.

The carriers’ and shipowners’ ordering spree of $27 billion for new container vessels prior to the collapse of Lehman Bros added to $30 billion of contracts already in the pipeline, the container market analyst said. Of the orders for new ships through 2015, ocean carriers account for $35 billion and charter owners $22 billion.

“The carriers’ first action after emerging from the worst recession in container shipping history ever, was to order even more capacity,” Alphaliner said. “New orders were placed in an already over-supplied market.”

Lekki deep sea port WATCHERS are delighted with the decision of the promoters of Lekki deep sea port to locate the world-class project.

The Port@Lekki project is developed inside the Lagos Free Trade Zone, which eventually will cover over 1,500 hectares of land.

The zone has a unique and ambitious initiative to set up a world-class, modern integrated port with dedicated terminals for containers, dry bulk and liquid cargoes.

It will attract the largest deep sea vessels and improve the efficiency of the freight distribution, creating thousands of jobs, future growth and economic prosperity. The development will generate at least 5,000 jobs, including jobs in logistics and construction that will be created in the short term.

The concern is that the project has been delayed from taking off. It was originally scheduled to begin next year. We were told, construction works will be completed in 2013.

The port is one of the main economic drivers that will regenerate a large part of the hinterland covering Epe and adjacent areas.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

49

AVIATION ‘Professionalism criterion for appointments in aviation’ PROFESSIONALISM and experience were major criteria used by the Federal Government in making the recent appointments in the aviation industry, the Chairman, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje has said.

“What the Federal Government is trying to do now is to look inward by appointing professionals and dedicated management staff with experience at the helm of affairs,” he said.

Baraje, addressing Union leaders at the Lagos headquarters of NAMA on the changes in management that brought in Mr Mazi Nnamdi Udoh as the Managing Director, stated that appointment of such a person should engender stability and promotion of industrial harmony in a sensitive agency like NAMA. He enjoined the union leaders to work in harmony and co-operate with the new management to move the agency forward in the provision of high quality air traffic services, just as he charged them to shelve confrontational attitudes in trade union matters.

Emirates for Akwaaba Travel Market

• Mrs. Oduah-Ogiemwonyi; Mr Balami; Capt. George and Obaro during the tour.

PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE.

Aviation can boost Federation Account, says Minister

M

INISTER of Aviation Mrs Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi has pledged to reposition the sector to enable it contribute over 50 per cent into the Federation Account from next year.

Mrs Oduah-Ogiemwonyi, during a presentation to the Senate Committee on Aviation in Abuja, said since government alone could not fund the infrastructure deficit in the sector, efforts are being intensified to improve the revenue generation capacities of all the agencies under the ministry.

The projection, according to her, is that from next year, the ministry should be able to contribute about 30 per cent of all its internally generated revenue (IGR) to the Federation Account, stressing that revenue enhancement is at the heart of the reform and transformation of the sector.

“As part of our revenue enhancement strategy, we have identified all areas where we are not generating enough revenue. We have also put in place modalities to turn them into major revenue generation centres from where we should be able to contribute our quota to the federal purse. Come 2012, 30 per cent of all revenue generated will go to the national grid, which means the aviation industry will begin to contribute to our GDP and thereafter we will increase it to 50 per cent and so on.”

She said the era where the Ministry was solely dependent on government subvention is no longer

Stories by Kelvin Osa-Okunbor Aviation Correspondent

sustainable, stressing that rather than get from the federal purse, her vision is to turn the sector to a major contributor to the treasury and catalyst of economic growth.

The Minister restated her resolve to turn Nigeria’s aviation sector into a Regional and continental hub, saying facilities and infrastructure at the various airport are being renovated under the special Airport Renovation/Remodelling Projects (ARP) 2011.

On Capacity and Manpower development, she said the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) is being repositioned to deliver on the expected manpower needs for the sector as well as for export. She emphasised the point that aviation is a global business hence there is only one standard internationally which Nigeria must meet by churning out qualified technical experts at NCAT. She disclosed that the College will go into Joint Ventures and Collaborative Partnerships with reputable Training Institutes and Colleges internationally to be able to deliver the expected results at minimal cost to government.

The Minister said the focus of all the reforms and restructuring in the sector is safety and passenger comfort, stressing that the infrastructure to deliver these outcomes cannot be compromised. She lamented the obsolete facilities at the

airports and vowed to give Nigerians facilities and services comparable to what they get from other developed part of the world.

Earlier, the commitee Chairman, Senator Hope Uzodinma, said the interactive session was to rub minds with the Ministry’s major players to fashion out modalities of cooperation and collaboration to restore the sector’s glory.

He said the Ministry and the Senate must work together to face the challenges in the industry and deliver to Nigerians internationally applicable standards and services.

In another development, Mrs. Oduah-Ogiemwonyi has urged the management of Aero Contractors to assist in job creation to boost the economy. She spoke during a tour of the airline in Lagos.

She was taken on tour of Avionics Shop and Bonded store where aircraft electronics and parts for aircraft maintenance are kept.

Mrs Oduah-Ogiemwonyi thanked Aero for its contribution to the growth in the industry. She praised Aero for the acquisition of the AMO certification in boosting the growth of the industry.

“I applaud Aero for earning the Aircraft Maintenance Organisation (AMO) certificate from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). This is part of the efforts to build local capacity for indigenous airlines in the area of maintenance and I will say that this is a very important recognition for Aero.

NIMET cautions airlines on poor visibility

T

HE Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has urged airlines to exercise caution because of poor visability as the rainy season nears its end in some parts of the country.

It said, poor visibility may arise from dust particles in the atmosphere.

NIMET Director-General Dr Anthony Anuforum, while giving an update on the weather condition, said airlines must exercise utmost caution to avoid any development that may threaten air safety.

He said: “The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) is closely monitoring the receding rainy season and the gradual setting in of

the dry season from the northern part of the country.

“It is important to state here that the dry season is usually characterised by the presence of increased concentration of dust particles due to their transportation into the country. In this regard, the public will be promptly informed of any lifting of dust particles at the source regions, trajectory of such dust particles and the likely impacts in the country.

The aviation industry should, however, take note of the possible impacts associated with the end of the rainy season which includes very strong surface winds, thunderstorms and fog. The dust

haze, which comes in the dry season, normally impairs horizontal visibility and is hazardous to safe flight operations. Road users are also advised to exercise caution under such weather conditions.

The general public is, hereby, reminded that day time temperatures will go up between the end of the rainy season and the onset of the harmattan season and night/early mornings will be cold during the harmattan period.

Those who are allergic to cold or increased dusty environment should ensure limited exposure to these unfavourable weather conditions.”

EMIRATES, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, is poised once again to take part in the Seventh Akwaaba African Travel Market with an exciting stand designed to showcase its outstanding products and provide a conducive setting for trade meetings.

The Akwaaba African Travel Market, a key event in the international travel trade, will be held at the New Expo Centre, Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos from October 19 to 21. Over 5,000 travel industry professionals from 20 countries are expected to attend, along with Africa’ top aviation players.

“Emirates Airline is a longstanding supporter of the Akwaaba African Travel Market, one of the industry’s leading travel and tourism exhibitions.

Emirates is extremely committed to Nigeria and to Africa and we look forward to taking part in the meetings, seminars, networking and relationship building that this exhibition is well known for,” said Paulos Legesse, Emirates Country Manager, Nigeria.

SAA begins operations to Zambia SOUTH African Airways (SAA) will launch three new routes to Cotonou, Benin Republic, Bujumbura, Burundi and Kigali, Rwanda from October 31.

General Manager Commercial, Theunis Potgieter, said the new destinations at the launch of the airline’s operations to Ndola, Zambia, which he described as the first step in the airline’s plans for Africa.

The introduction of the route was aligned to the airline’s growth strategy, which was to support the national carrier’s goal to strengthen its African network and enhance business travel to feasible destinations, effectively nurturing economic growth on the African continent, Potgieter said.

Qatar Airways bags award QATAR Airways has won the Best Airline in the Middle East and Africa accolade at the 2011 Business Traveller Asia Pacific Awards.

Voted by readers of the prestigious monthly magazine targeting frequent travellers, Qatar Airways beat stiff competition to pick up the coveted award for the second year running at a ceremony in Hong Kong attended by leading figures from across the hospitality industry.

Recently named Airline of the Year by industry audit Skytrax, Qatar Airways won the Business Traveller award for the first time last year.

The award further recognises Qatar Airways’ strong commitment towards travel excellence as voted by the very people who regularly ply the skies on business travel trips – frequent flyers.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said retaining the award reflected the company’s high standards of service and commitment to the travelling public.

Air Berlin to cut fleet, routes AIR Berlin is to implement a wide-range cost reduction plan that will see it cut eight aircraft from its fleet, cancel some routes and withdraw from regional airports, to boost its profitability.

This will lead to a slash of more than one million seats in the second half of 2012. Air Berlin could not immediately be reached to comment on which type of aircraft will be included in the reduction.

Under the ‘Shape and Size’ programme, Air Berlin will axe flights from Frankfurt to Hamburg and Naples, from Stuttgart to St Petersburg, from Munich to Cairo and from Dusseldorf to Paris.

It is also dramatically cutting services from regional airports, which it said, have become a “casualty” of the new German aviation tax.

Flights from Munster/Osnabruck to London Stansted, Vienna and Sylt will be scrapped, as will flights from Cologne-Bonn to Valencia and various Moroccan destinations. Cologne to Innsbruck, Naples and Palermo will no longer be available in the winter months, nor will Hanover-London.

IATA deplores inefficiency THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that states are falling behind in their commitments to improve Europe’s notoriously inefficient air traffic management.

According to the latest independent Performance Review Body (PRB) report and the draft recommendations from the European Commission, states are falling behind in their commitments to improvements in operational, financial and environmental efficiency.

“Everybody agrees that high costs, delays, environmental waste and circuitous routings are not acceptable. But the problems are not going to fix themselves. Airlines have invested in aircraft and technology to operate at the highest levels of efficiency – often times ahead of what Air Navigation Service Providers are capable of. And we are ready to help drive efficiencies further. But it is the responsibility of states to ensure that their air navigation service providers are delivering what is needed,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General.

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MONEY LINK

AMCON: Debtors urged to seek dialogue in loan repayment

T

HE Asset Management Cor poration of Nigeria (AMCON) has advised borrowers whose loans were bought by the corporation to seek dialogue and negotiation, rather than wait for litigations.

AMCON’s Chief Executive Officer, Mustapha Chike-Obi, said he has restructured and recovered over 10 per cent of non-performing loans it acquired from the banks. In the process, the corporation has tried to balance maximum recovery with minimum disruption of viable businesses, keeping in mind that employment of Nigerians is paramount to government.

Speaking during a media briefing in Lagos, the AMCON boss said the corporation has supported genuine businesses in critical sectors, like manufacturing, aviation oil and ,among others. He said AMCON will continue to cooperate with honest and viable businesses that approach it in good faith and show firm commitment to repay their debts.

Magadaline Dike, a debt recovery agent with Anoka & Associates, said part of the briefs given to them, aside recovering of nonperforming loans, include taking non-compliant borrowers to court.

He said the firm has recovered over N3 billion in the last one year for banks and AMCON, especially in the oil and gas, manufacturing, capital market and import finance facilities, adding that negotiation, mediation and peaceful resolution remain the best approach of recovering non-performing loans.

She said, it is only debtors that are not well informed about the law establishing AMCON that would prefer litigation to peaceful resolution, stating that negotiation remains the best approach to recovering loans, because there is no bad blood between the borrower

By Collins Nweze

and recovery agents.

“The biggest recovery has been through negotiation and amicable resolution. AMCON can enter into negotiation on terms of repayment that favours the customer and protect his business. That is working more than going through litigation,” she said.

For her, AMCON has modalities on how to recover the loans and would do so, no matter how long it takes. “AMCON has its own process of recovering the bad loans. It can take 10 years, or 15 years, but definitely the debtors will pay,” she said.

However, she implored AMCON

60 per cent.

“Most banks insist that the loans have been paid for by AMCON, adding that the customer is not indebted to them, but AMCON. So, the passion for recovering the loans by the banks is no longer there, and even when the agent requests for the presence of the account officer as witness in court, they always give excuses,” she added.

She said the people that understand the purpose the corporation was set up, always go to AMCON for negotiation. The challenge is that many of the borrowers think that it is usual government set up where nothing is done with seriousness but they do not know that

to work more closely with recovery agents to speed up the recovery process.

“AMCON should bridge the gap between it, recovery agents and banks. There is a gap now because the loans sold out are given to the recovery agents on behalf of AMCON. It is the banks that still give letters to the recovery agents on behalf of AMCON and we are not seeing enough commitment on the part of the banks, since they have already sold the loans to AMCON,” she said.

She said even though we are trying to recover loans for AMCON, we are only dealing with the corporation 40 per cent and the banks

CBN, MICR re- accredit Tripple Gee as cheque printer

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with the Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) Technical Implementation Committee, yesterday approved the re-accreditation of Tripple Gee Company Plc as cheque printers.

A circular from the CBN to banks and discount houses, signed by Acting Director, Banking and Payment System Department, G.I Emokpae, said the accreditation

came under the Nigerian Cheque Printers Accreditation Scheme (NICPAS) for the year 2011. This approval brings the number of approved cheque printers to 14.

The other firms approved earlier are Nigeria Security Printing & Minting Plc, Kalamzoo Secure Solutions Limited, Security Print Solution, CFH Total Document Management Limited and Smith & Ouzman Limited. Others are Tall Security Print Limited, A1 Trade

Print Services, Camelot Ghana Limited, Superflux International Limited and De-La Rue. Shave and Gibson Group, Papi Printing Coy Limited, Corrinum Continous Limited, DLRS Group and Euphoria Comm. Limited also made the list.

All the firms have already secured their accreditation numbers from the CBN. The CBN in June, limited daily cash withdrawal and lodgments in

T

HE management of Interconti nental Bank Plc has assured its depositors of safety of their funds in the bank due to its acquisition by Access Bank.

The bank also pleaded with its customers to exercise patience as the merger process would not totally take away the brand name and tradition of the bank.

The assurance was made by the

of the traditions of Intercontinental Bank .

They had pleaded with the new buyer of the bank, Access Bank to retain the name, Intercontinental Bank Plc after the merger process expected to end in December .

Etuokwu allayed the fears of the customers saying it is too long to know the surviving name of the bank after the merger in about nine to ten months.

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan.

Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Victor Etuokwu during the zonal draw of I-save I-win promo and customers’ forum organised by the bank in Ibadan .

Customers of the bank had expressed concern over the merger process which they feared may erode most

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount

Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-10-2011 “ 14-10-2011

GAINERS AS AT 24-14-11 SYMBOL ROADS DIAMONDBNK NCR IKEJAHOTEL AIRSERVICE NEIMETH ETERNAOIL PRESCO PZ RTBRISCOE

O/PRICE 5.63 3.06 5.75 2.16 1.95 1.52 4.59 7.69 30.45 1.70

C/PRICE 5.91 3.21 6.03 2.26 2.04 1.59 4.78 8.00 31.00 1.73

CHANGE 0.28 0.15 0.28 0.10 0.09 0.07 0.19 0.31 0.55 0.03

LOSER AS AT 24-10-11 SYMBOL AVONCROWN PRESTIGE BAGCO AIICO HONYFLOUR MAYBAKER DANGSUGAR CONTINSURE CILEASING TRANSCORP

O/PRICE 6.25 1.43 1.84 0.62 2.75 2.58 6.50 1.10 0.90 0.70

C/PRICE 5.94 1.36 1.75 0.59 2.62 2.46 6.20 1.05 0.86 0.67

Amount

Offered ($) Demanded ($)

MANAGED FUNDS

Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Assuring them of better service delivery, he said the integration process would give preference to customers.

He said: “Ultimately, we see this as a great opportunity to bring together two organisations that can complement each other and create a leading African bank. The combination will give us a network of 460 branches and lift us to being number five bank in this market.”

DATA BANK

Tenor

OBB Rate Call Rate

a bank to N150,000 by individuals and N1 million by a companies, effective June 1, 2012. The apex bank took this step to curb dominance of cash in the economy with its implication for cost of cash management to the banking industry, security and money laundering.

Analysts said the accreditation is in line with the CBN plan to discourage a cash-based economy and prepare for increased cheque usage that will follow the policy.

Acquisition: Intercontinental assures customers on deposits

FGN BONDS

NIDF NESF

AMCON is a public enterprise run like private entity.

Chike Obi earlier said that people who borrowed money to buy jets and because they did not want to pay back, offered bank directors 10 per cent of the loan, should not be treated in the same way those who borrowed money for good reasons should be treated. He advised debt collectors to follow processes that will make it easier for the borrower to keep their businesses running while trying to repay their loans. “Debt recovery agents should deal with debtors with consideration in order not to kill their businesses. We are here to build the economy and not kill businesses,” he said.

Amount

Exchange

Sold ($)

Rate (N)

Date

250m

266m

250m

150.8

19-10-11

400m

296m

296m

150.8

17-10-11

400m

591m

591m

150.7

12-10-11

EXHANGE RATE 26-08-11 CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Currency

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD

147.6000

149.7100

149.95

-2.11

NGN GBP

239.4810

244.0123

238.00

-2.57

NGN EUR

212.4997

207.9023

207.24

-1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

Bureau de Change 162.0000 (S/N)

153.0000

160.5000

-2.30

Parallel Market

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

NSE CAP Index

NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N)

13-09-11 N6.7026tr 21,018.52

14-09-11 N6.760tr 21,199.16

% Change -0.87% -0.86%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

(S/N)

153.0000

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

Oct ’11

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 3.00% 10.3%

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 118.31 100.28 0.77 1.02 0.91 1,639.36 8.24 1.39 1.87 7,230,13 193.00

9.08 1.00 117.14 99.71 0.74 1.02 0.90 1,634.12 7.84 1.33 1.80 7,028.67 191.08

ARM AGGRESSIVE KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND THE LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY THE DISCOVERY FUND • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED

CHANGE 0.31 0.07 0.09 0.03 0.13 0.12 0.30 1.05 0.04 0.03

• STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

Rate (Previous) 24 Aug, 2011 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 26, Aug, 2011 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK Previous

Current

04 July, 2011

07, Aug, 2011

Bank

8.5000

9.5000

P/Court

8.0833

9.0833

Movement

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57

NEWS FROM THE TRIBUNALS

Ward deniesAlaibe entry into PDP

PDP senator sacked in Rivers

A

•Accuses him of anti-party activities

T

HE ambition of former Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Managing Director, Timi Alaibe, to occupy the Creek Haven Government House in Bayelsa State may have suffered a setback The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the ward level reportedly denied him registration.

Alaibe, a former member of the PDP, joined the Labour Party (LP) to contest the last aborted governorship elections.

The recent efforts to scuttle Alaibe’s ambition came from the PDP leadership in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government where he hails from.

The PDP ward Chairman in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government, Ebifegh Ibetei,

From Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa

said the ward has not officially readmitted Alaibe.

He wondered how he could be granted a waiver to contest the party’s primaries on the party’s platform.

The PDP Chairman in Kolokuma/Opokuma, Zikitimi Ogoriba, Secretary Tari Richard and Ward 7 chairman Ebi-fegha Ibetei have denied knowledge of Alaibe’s return to the party.

PDP’s legal adviser in the local government Adam Francis Gbaranma said President Goodluck Jonathan has made it clear to all who hop from one party to another that such actions would no longer be tolerated.

He noted that Alaibe’s antiparty activities had caused the party so much pain, leading to the destruction of life

•Alaibe

and property in the state, particularly in Kolokuma/Opokuma, where the party secretariat was allegedly razed by Alaibe’s supporters.

President Jonathan had warned against party defection.

He said: “The PDP will no longer welcome the situation where somebody will lose a primary and run to another party and when they get elected, they will run back to the PDP, it is immoral to do so.

“If you leave, you leave and stay there, and help build that party that gave you a platform, hence forth, we will not longer encourage that attitude.”

11 die in Edo road accident

E

LEVEN persons died yesterday in an accident on the BeninSagamu road.

The accident, which involved a luxury bus and an 18-seater Hiace commercial bus, was said to have occurred at about 10am at a portion of the road, which was recently rehabilitated by the Federal Ministry of

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

Works.

Eye witnesses said the luxury bus, with registration number XU 824 BDG, collided with the Hiace bus with registration number XZ 176 JJJ. The witnesses said the luxury bus was attempting to overtake some vehicles when the accident occurred.

A passenger in the bus, Felix Nwado, said they took off from Maza-Maza, Lagos State, and were headed for Onitsha and Enugu.

Among the dead were a woman and her baby.

Federal Road Safety Corps officials were said to have removed the remains of the victims from the wrecked bus.

Uduaghan assures firm on free zone

D

ELTA State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has assured Saudi Energy Company, Xenel Group, that President Goodluck Jonathan is committed to the development of the Koko Free Zone.

Uduaghan, who was hosted to a private reception by the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Sheikh Khaled Alireza, urged the company to partner the state in preparation for employment opportunities in the plant.

Alireza told the governor that the company would establish a 1.3MTA of polyeth-

•Uduaghan and Alizera in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

ylene and 400,000MTA of polypropylene plant in Koko, Delta State.

He requested the federal

and state governments to ensure that steps are taken to fast track activities for smooth entrance of Xenel in the free trade.

PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) senator in Rivers State has been sacked by the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Port Harcourt.

The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Veronica Umeh, unanimously nullified the election of George Thompson Sekibo.

The court ordered a rerun in 90 days.

Leslie Chizi Michaels-Atata of the Action Alliance (AA) had challenged his exclusion by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the April 9 election, despite the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The court, on April 7, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to include MichaelsAtata’s name and his party’s logo on the ballot papers, but INEC disobeyed the order.

The petitioner said he was validly nominated, but unlawfully excluded from the poll and described the election as invalid, by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended.

Michaels-Atata and AA also described the election as

A

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

Operation Thunderstorm responded to a distress call, which resulted in a shoot-out and the death of the suspect.

Ejiroro said an AK47 rifle, hand-bag, handsets and other personal effects were recovered from the scene.

The spokesman said the

police have listed the road as one of the black spots around the state capital.

He warned robbers and their accomplices to repent or face the full weight of the law.

Ejiroro appealed to hospitals and herbal medical practitioners to report any person with fresh bullet wounds.

Delta speaker urges transparency

S

PEAKER of the Delta State House of Assembly Victor Ochei has urged members of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASSAN) to be transparent.

He spoke when the national executive of PASSAN visited him ahead of the association’s seventh annual deliberations in Asaba.

Ochei said the NEC meeting would provide an avenue through which members would contribute their quota to Nigeria’s development.

Ochei urged the body to evolve ways of

harnessing the manpower development programmes designed to improve the competence level of parliamentary workers.

He pledged to assist PASSAN in its quest for enhanced manpower development through regular training.

National President of PASSAN Fatai Jimoh hailed the innovative administrative steps Ochei has introduced.

He said since Ochei’s assumption, staff of the assembly have been adequately motivated.

Federal High Court, Abuja, gave the petitioners (Michaels-Atata and AA) the locus standi.

“The wrong must be remedied. The conduct of the officials of INEC in this matter leaves little to be desired.

“INEC was duty bound to obey the court order and to postpone the election or appeal the judgment and get the order vacated, which the electoral commission did not do. Excluding a candidate is very sensitive and volatile and can lead to a breach of the peace.

“The petitioner has proved his valid nomination by his party and unlawful exclusion by INEC. “The return of the sixth respondent (Sekibo) as the duly-elected candidate for the Rivers East senatorial district on April 9 is hereby nullified, in the interest of justice and a rerun election is hereby ordered.

“INEC is hereby ordered to include in the rerun election, the names, symbol and logo of the petitioners (Michaels-Atata and AA) respectively.”

Tribunal upholds Edo lawmakers’ elections

T

HE National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Benin City yesterday upheld the elections of two members of the House of Representatives, Friday Itulah and Rasaq Belo-Osagie.

Itulah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) represents Esan North East/ Esan South East and BeloOsagie of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) represents Oredo.

Delivering judgment in the petition filed by Ogbeide Ihama of the PDP challenging the election of BeloOsagie, the three-man tribunal said there was no merit in the petition.

Ihama alleged that invalid votes were added to BeloOsagie’s votes.

He urged the tribunal to nullify the election and declare him winner.

The judgment read by Jus-

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

tice Dije Abdul-Aboki held that the petitioner failed to prove that non-compliance with the Electoral Act affected the results of the election.

The tribunal held that the petitioner did not prove that invalid votes were counted and added to Belo-Osagie’s, adding that the nullification of the election could not be granted because it was not sought by the petitioner.

It said the non-sorting of 22 of the 300 units could not have changed the election results as Belo-Osagie won with a wide margin of 31,031 to the petitioner’s 9, 263 votes.

According to the tribunal, “There is no merit in the petition and we affirm the election of Rasaq Belo-Osagie as the duly elected representative for Oredo Federal Constituency.”

On the petition filed by Chris Ebare of the ACN

Women protest hike in electricity tariff

Robbery suspect killed in Edo ROBBERY suspect, whose gang attempted to rob motorists on the Benin bye-pass, has been killed by men of the Edo State Police Command.

Other members of the gang escaped with bullet wounds.

Police spokesman Ejiroro Awhara said operatives of

•Court orders rerun in 90 days unlawful, null and void, for being in violation of the order of the FHC, Abuja, made on April 7 and duly served on April 8, and that Sekibo was not duly elected and not duly returned.

Justice Umeh said: “Ignoring the April 7 order of the Federal High Court by INEC, is an abuse of court process. Nothing can be more devastating than to exclude a candidate, duly nominated by his party, from an election.

“The petitioner has cause to complain of unlawful exclusion from the April 9 election. The order of the Federal High Court, Abuja was served on INEC on April 8.

“There is no evidence of appeal. So, the order is yet to be vacated. INEC is under obligation to comply with the order.

“This is a case of barbaric conduct and glaring disrespect of court order. This must be condemned, if we are not to say goodbye to the rule of law. Ignoring orders of courts with ignominy is condemnable.

“The disobedience by INEC, of the order of the

A

CTIVITIES were grounded yesterday at the Ughelli Business District of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in Ughelli North Local Government of Delta State.

Five thousand women from Agbarha-Otor community stormed the premises to protest the increase in electricity tariff.

The protesters, who came in commercial buses and motorcycles at about 9am, disrupted traffic and forced PHCN officials in the community to flee their offices.

Their leader, Mrs. Ovomarayini Omirhobo, said the people condemned the increase in the electricity bills, which she alleged was hiked from N1000 and

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Ughelli

N1500 to N8000 to N10,000 per building.

According to her, the increase in the electricity tariff was unjustifiable, “because what we have continued to witness in our community is epileptic power supply and complete darkness.”

She said the residents of the community were farmers and petty traders who could not afford such high tariff.

She called on the management of PHCN to revert to the old tariff and direct its focus on how to attain stability in electricity supply in the country.

challenging the election of Itulah, Tribunal Chairman Justice Paul Elechi said election cases are not determined on addresses but on evidence.

Justice Bianmila Olayinka, who read the two-hour judgment, held that the petitioner failed to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt.

The tribunal upheld that the petitioner also failed to prove alleged ballot box stuffing and harassment during the election.

According to the tribunal, “non compliance must satisfy the tribunal that it did affect majority of votes cast.

“The petitioner failed in all the rules for the tribunal to upturn the election. The petition is dismissed.

“Respective parties will bear their own cost.”

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IMT, NYSC and the general public take note.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

58

NEWS

Disengaged Ebonyi indigenes protest

A

BOUT 50 indigenes of Ebonyi State recently disengaged by the Abia State Government yesterday protested at the Government House in Abakaliki, the state capital.

The protesters carried placards with inscriptions: ‘There is nothing like home’, we have confidence in our governor to reabsorb us’, ‘Abia State government treated us badly’, ‘Chief Elechi please come to our rescue’, ‘we have come home for a sense of belonging’, ‘Ebonyi State we embrace you’, ‘it is inhuman for Abia State Government to disengage us’ ‘Ebonyi disengaged indigenes are crying for help’, among others.

In a letter to the governor, leader of the protesters Okoro Chibuike said they have contributed to the development of Abia State.

“Abia State Government treated us as if we have no home. We have our trust in the Almighty God and have accepted to return to our father land in good faith.

“We have our roots in Ebonyi State and are indigenes here, we only travelled in search of greener pastures, our family programmes have been truncated and we are almost stranded. We plead with Governor Martin Elechi to reabsorb us in the state public service,” he said.

Okoro said the Abia State government disengaged them to enable it pay the N18, 000 national minimum wage to its workers.

Another protester, Mrs. Grace Uche, also decried their disengagement and urged Elechi to reabsorb them.

The Association of Abia State Town Unions has endorsed the decision of Governor Theodore Orji to transfer non-indigenes in the state civil service to their home states.

The unions urged the governor to implement the policy despite criticisms in some quarters.

Making their resolution known in a meeting with the Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Kalu Eke Kalu in Umuahia, the unions said the decision of the state government is in the interest of the state.

President – General of Ohafia and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Utilities,

•Govt justifies transfer of non-indigenes •Groups back Orji From Ogbonnaya Obinna, Abakaliki, Ugochukwu Eke, Umuahia

Jonathan Kalu pledged the support of Ohafia people to the policy.

Kalu advised the implementing agencies to ensure the actualisation of the objectives of the policy and urged the governor not to rescind the policy.

Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs said there was nothing unusual with the state government’s decision to transfer non- indigenes to their home states. He said some disgruntled elements are capitalising on the decision to portray the state in bad light.

Eke Kalu said other states had sent home Abia indigenes in their employment and wondered why Abia’s

own is raising dust.He said no amount of intimidation or media hype would make the government to change its position.

He said the state government took the decision to accommodate its unemployed youths and enable it pay the N18,000 national minimum wage to its workers.The Special Adviser said the engagement of youths would reduce crime in the state.

The governor’s aide said the transfer of non-indigenes in the state’s public service did not affect those in the tertiary institutions.

Orji’s Special Adviser on Commerce and Industry Chuzzy Iboko warned against politicisation of the issue.

Permanent Secretary, Government House, Nkwachukwu Agomoh, also hailed the policy.

Abia State Government yes-

terday justified the transfer of non-indigenes in its civil service to their state of origin.

Special Assistant to Abia State Governor on Public Relations James Okpara said it was in the best interest of Abians whom he said voted for the governor to serve their interests.

Addressing reporters in Lagos yesterday, Okpara said it was a mere transfer of non-indigenes, not disengagement.

“The use of the word sack is wrong. Abia only transferred back non- indigenes of the state in the civil service. The government is duty bound to protect, at all times, the interests of its citizens. That is exactly what the government has done. The reason is simple, it is for the economic, human and infrastructural development of Abia State. There is need to meet the needs of thousands of Abians who were recently displaced in the North. All of them are in Abia State and any responsible government would solve their problems”, he said.

Tribunal upholds Ebonyi Chief Whip’s election

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HE National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, yesterday upheld the election of the House of Assembly Chief Whip and member representing Afikpo-North West Constituency Kingsley Ikoro.

The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) candidate for Afikpo-North West State Constituency in the April election Chukwu Oko-Ogeri had challenged the election of the Chief Whip over alleged electoral irregularities.

Oko-Ogeri prayed the tribunal to nullify Ikoro’s election over alleged multiple thumpprinting, intimidation of voters and snatching of ballot papers by supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).

He also prayed the tribunal to declare the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) null and void.

From Ogbonnaya Obinna, Abakaliki

Chairman of the tribunal Justice Henry Olusiyi, said the allegation of corrupt practices and other irregularities was not enough to cancel the election. He upheld the election of the Chief Whip.Ikoro hailed the judgement, saying it reflected the true position of the case.

He said the judgment would enable him to deliver democracy dividends to the people.

The ANPP candidate condemned the judgment. He said it did not reflect the true result of votes cast. He urged his supporters to remain calm and assured that the wishes of the people would prevail.

PDP Chairman in the state Ugoji Amaoti described the ruling as a victory for democracy and the Rule of Law. He said the party would reclaim its remaining mandate at the tribunal.

Southeast lawyers demand more Appeal Court judges

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HE Southeast Bar Forum has called on the Appeal Court President to appoint more Appeal Court Judges in the zone to expedite hearing of appeals.

The Forum is an amalgamation of Bar Associations from the nine states of the former old Eastern region.

In a communiqué issued yesterday at the end of the meeting of the Eastern Bar Forum at Nnewi, the Forum said posting more Justices to the Courts of Appeal in Port Harcourt, Owerri, Enugu and Calabar would expedite the hearing of the appeals.

The communiqué was signed by the Chairman of the Forum, Kemasodu Wodu.

“The Eastern Bar Forum urged the National Assembly to spped action on the passage of the Bill for the amendment of the Court of Appeal Act, to make for more Justices of the Court of Appeal,” he said.

The Forum urged the Federal Government to create a Court of Appeal in Anambra.

Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association, Nnewi Branch, Emmanuel Egbunonu, said 80 per cent of cases at the Court of Appeal in Enugu were from Anambra.

He decried the daily movement of lawyers from Anambra to Enugu, saying it slows down the judicial process.

N502m for Enugu Council poll

E •Managing Director, Urban Development Bank, Mr Adekunle Oyinloye (left), welcoming Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State to a meeting on Enugu Monorail Project Financing in Abuja…yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

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‘Militants need counselling’

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor

A

UNIVERSITY of Lagos lecturer, Prof. Mopelola Ayoka Olusakin, has advised the Federal Government to employ professional counsellors for militant groups threatening the peace and security of the country.

She said counselling psychologists would employ the appropriate skills to find out their problems and find appropriate solutions.

The scholar also spoke on “Counselling for effective time management”,saying Nigerians are not good time managers.

Olusakin, Head of Foundations Department, delivered her inaugural lecture titled: “Guidance and Counselling Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” at the institution’s main Auditorium. The lecture was chaired by the Vice -Chancellor, Prof.

Babatunde Sofoluwe.

The Counselling Psychologist called for “Peace Counselling” in a troubled world. “The whole world is in need of peace, hence, the need for us to focus on peace counselling.

The university teacher acknowledged the threat posed to national security by militant groups, suggesting that counselling psychologists should be employed to offer professional help.

He said: “The government should employ professional counsellors to counsel the different militant groups threatening the peace of Nigeria, with a view to finding solution to their problems. “ Olusakin urged government to adequately fund guidance and counselling programmes in schools, adding that the professional counsellors should function on full time basis.

NUGU State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC)has said it has budgeted N502 million for the December 10 Local Government Election in the state.

Chairman of the commission Dr. Boniface Eneh addressed reporters yesterday.

He assured of a level playing field, saying: “We are going to conduct a free, fair, and credible election on December 10”.

Eneh said the exercise would not be manipulated by the electoral body in favour of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said: “I want to assure you that the present ENSIEC, under my leadership, is going to conduct the most credible local government election in Enugu State come December 10”.

The chairman warned

From Chris Oji, Enugu

against unruly conduct during the election.

Eneh said nine parties have indicated their interest to participate in the council polls, adding that “as a commission, we are fully prepared for the election. I want to assure you that you will not notice any hitches in the conduct of the election”.

He said the insensitive materials for the election are already in the custody of the commission, adding that the sensitive ones would soon be ready.

He hailed Governor Sullivan Chime assistance to the commission, saying ENSIEC would be alive to its responsibilities.

He urged the electorate not to leave the pooling booths until their votes are counted.

‘Court didn’t withhold file’

By Musa Odoshimokhe

C

HIEF Registrar of the High Court of Justice, Umuahia, Abia State, Mrs U. Ononogbo, has said the Acting Chief Judge of the Court, Justice O.A.K. Igwe, never refused to release the case file between Nwanchukwu and Reginald Friday Akanuo.

“The Acting Chief Judge never refused to release any file.

The truth is that the file in question is in High Court 2, Umuahia Judicial Division. It is presided over by Justice O.A.K Igwe,” she said.

The Umuahia Ridge Club had petitioned the Chairman of the National Judicial Commission (NJC) in Abuja over the alleged refusal of the Acting Chief Judge to release the case file of the court proceeding, last October.

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

59

FOREIGN NEWS

Jacob Zuma sacks top ministers

U

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has fired two government ministers implicated in corruption scandals.

Mr Zuma sacked Co-operative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka - accused of unauthorised spending - and Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde.

The president also suspended police chief Bheki Cele, who - along with Ms Mahlangu-Nkabinde - was implicated in alleged unlawful property deals.

All three have denied doing anything illegal.

South Africa’s ombudsman, appointed to investigate complaints against government officials, had called on Mr Zuma to act against them.

Thuli Madonsela - the ombudsman known in South Af-

rica as the public prosecutor found that Mr Shiceka had spent more than $68,000 (£42,000) of government money on unauthorised luxury travel and hotel bills.

This included visits to a girlfriend jailed in Switzerland for drug smuggling.

Police chief Gen Bheki Cele is a powerful ally of President Jacob Zuma In a report released last month, Ms Madonsela said Mr Shiceka’s actions were “unlawful and constituted maladministration [and] dishonesty in respect of public money”.

She also accused him of travelling to neighbouring Lesotho while on sick leave at taxpayers’ expense under a fake name.

“Shiceka ... required of the department to make a fraudulent misrepresentation to a

Libya safe from Gaddafi forces, says NATO

N •Zuma

hotel in a foreign country,” she said.

At the time, Mr Shiceka rejected her findings as “baseless” and vowed to clear his name in court.

He justified some of his hotel bills by saying his ministerial home had been infected with mosquitoes.

In a separate investigation, Ms Madonsela ruled that Ms Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Gen Cele - a powerful ally of Mr Zuma - had authorised multimillion dollar property deals that saw police buildings being leased from a company at inflated prices.

ATO sees virtually no risk of forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi mounting a successful attack to regain power and is likely to formally decide this week to end its military mission in Libya, NATO officials said on yesterday.

NATO’s commander of Libya operations, Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, said any Gaddafi backers still in Libya had no capacity to organise since the fall of Sirte, the deposed leader’s last stronghold, and his death last week.

“The threat of organised attack from Gaddafi regime remnants is essentially gone. At this time there are no remaining command and control capabilities that would lead to the return of the regime,” Bouchard told a news conference in Naples, Italy.

NATO took a preliminary decision last week to end its seven-month air and sea

Tunisian election: Islamist party in early lead

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HE moderate Islamist party An-Nahda is tipped for a historic victory in Tunisia’s first free elections, the first vote of the Arab spring.

Nine months after a people’s revolution ousted the despot Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab spring, Tunisians turned out in record numbers to vote for an assembly which they hope will mark an end to the vestiges of the old regime: corruption, continuing torture, a crooked legal system and crippling unemployment.

An-Nahda, which was banned for 10 years and bru-

tally repressed under Ben Ali with activists exiled, tortured and imprisoned, said it had taken the biggest share of the vote based on early predictions before the official results on Tuesday. The party has run a campaign promising an antidote to the western notion of a clash of civilisations with a moderate, pro-democracy stance that sought to allay secularist fears by vowing to respect Tunisia’s unique status as a civil society with a strong secular tradition and the most advanced women’s rights in the Arab world.

It compares itself to Turkey’s Islamist-rooted ruling Justice

and Development party (AKP) – liberal and socially conservative.

Said Ferjani of An-Nahda’s political bureau said: “We have to be careful about figures until the official results, but there’s a consensus that we’re around the 40% mark. It’s something that frankly we were expecting.”

“We already have our ideas about the government. We are not dogmatic, we are highly pragmatic. It will be a broad national unity government for sure. The new reality is that we have to do what we do for the Tunisian people, we go beyond old lines of argument or

Jonathan appoints delegation for burial RESIDENT Goodluck of Saudi crown prince Ebele Jonathan has ap-

P

pointed a 4-member Federal Government delegation to attend the burial of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz AlSaud, who died last Friday.

The burial is scheduled for 1600 (Saudi Time) tomorrow, October 25, 2011.

The delegation to be led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Saad Abubakar III will depart from the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi

US recalls Syrian Ambassador Robert Ford

U

NITED States has pulled out its ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, because of concerns for his safety, officials say.

Mr Ford angered Syrian authorities by showing solidarity with activists involved in an uprising against President Bashar alAssad’s rule.

A US spokesman said Mr Ford had left Damascus at the weekend after “credible threats against his personal safety”.

In response, Syria said it had recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations.

Ambassador Imad Moustapha left Washington yesterday, an embassy spokeswoman told the Associated Press.

Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at midnight today, October 24, 2011.

Other members of the delegation are the Minister of

Defence, Alhaji Haliru Bello Mohammed, the Minister of State II, Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nuruddeen Mohammed and Prof. Daoud Naibi.

disagreement.”

The new 217-seat assembly has the specific role to rewrite the constitution and set the date for parliamentary elections in one year’s time. It will also form a caretaker government. A complex proportional representation system meant regardless of the number of votes, no one party could take an overall majority. An-Nahda will form an alliance with centrist secularists in government.

campaign in Libya on Oct. 31. Alliance envoys are expected to make that formal on Wednesday.

The alliance had been involved in the Libya campaign under a United Nations mandate to protect the population during the upris-

ing against Gaddafi's four-decade authoritarian rule.

Since March 31, it has conducted air strikes, enforced a no-fly zone and an arms embargo via naval patrols.

But such steps are no longer necessary, Bouchard said.

60

THE NATION TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011

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www.thenationonlineng.net

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

TOMORROW IN THE NATION

VOL. 7

NO.1,924

‘Who audits NNPC’s round-tripping of oil to fuel. What is the amount paid by the refineries abroad to NNPC and by NNPC to the Nigerian government for the sale of 30-odd petrochemical by-products of the barrels refining abroad for re-importing into Nigeria?’

TONY MARINHO

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

T

HERE they go again, the morbidly and incurably envious whom we shall always have among us, unfortunately — there they go again, doing what they do best: denigrating the honourable men and women of the House of Representatives.

Instead of lauding the legislators for their patriotic parsimony in settling for ordinary Toyota Camry motor cars for carrying out their arduous oversight duties, these envycrazed persons have been lampooning them in the coarsest terms.

Some of them have even gone so far as to say that the frenzy with which deprived children suddenly loosed on a toy shop grab every object within their reach is positively ennobling compared to the consummate rapacity with which the legislators acquire motor cars at the public expense.

That is provocation enough, but the calumniators are not done yet.

They are saying that, at a time when state governments cannot pay the federally-decreed minimum monthly wage of N18,000 because Abuja continues to hog an inordinate chunk of national revenue, at a time the government is set to impose a hefty consumption tax on gasoline under the pretext of “removing” a phantom subsidy, at a time the ranks of the jobless are swelling with each passing day—they are saying that it is flagrantly indecent for the legislators to embark on another car-purchasing binge at a time like this.

They are asking, stridently: Can’t the legislators perform oversight duties with the very cars they drive to and from the House whenever they are bored, and to all those owambe parties that claim most of their time?

Why can’t they commandeer vehicles from the huge fleet in the National Assembly’s pool to carry out oversight functions?

They are even denigrating the very concept of oversight functions, seizing on the example of the legislator who, when found cosseted with officials confecting the returns from Ido-Osi in the Ekiti re-run election poll said he was performing oversight duties in his capacity as chair of the House Committee on Elections.

One of these days, they add with a snicker, a legislator caught tinkering with the locks to the vaults of the Central Bank would insist that he or she is performing oversight duties, as most certainly would a legislator cornered in a compromising act in the innermost recesses of the Mint.

There is no end to the calumny.

It is a tribute to the equanimity of the National Assembly and its commitment to democracy and the rule of law that, unlike the prickly Executive Branch, it has not dispatched the combined forces of the Federal Road Safety Corps and the National Assembly Security Garrison to invade the media houses that had the temerity to publish such

OLATUNJI DARE

AT HOME ABROAD olatunji.dare@thenationonlineng.net

With gratitude to our legislators

‘

•Speaker Aminu Tambuwal

contumacious drivel, seize the principal officers and arraign them before the full House sitting as a court.

The ignorance of the calumniators is simply astounding. What do they know about oversight functions, let alone how best to perform them?

Ingrates, all.

What would they have done if the House of Representatives had not elected to make this great sacrifice but had, instead of spending six full days discussing the options exhaustively decided from the outset to equip its members with far more suitable – and much more substantial– assets for performing their oversight functions?

These self-appointed custodians of the public interest know — or ought to know — that nothing but patriotism and an overarching sense of frugality prevented the House from

Nigerians should count it a great fortune indeed that honourable members of the House of Representatives are willing to put up with all the craters and the gullies and the bumps and the blind corners and the rickety bridges that dot the tracks we call highways, plus all the attendant risks, demanding only a Toyota Camry for each gallant volunteer

‘

determining that members of the House Committee on Inland Waterways should get a yacht each to carry out their oversight functions effectively. Yet, the House settled for a mere Toyota Camry.

And what do the honourable members get in return? Not high praise, but denigration of the coarsest kind.

With Boko Haram setting off bombs not merely at distant police outposts but on the national headquarters of the Police Force, in Abuja, performing oversight duties on the police has got to be one of the most dangerous assignments in Nigeria.

Effective oversight requires nothing less than a bomb-proof battle tank for each honorable member of the Committee, plus body armour that can deflect or absorb the most lethal piece of ordnance, plus helicopter gunships to provide air cover, just in case.

That is the kind of protection they should have demanded. But in their patriotic solicitude, and mindful as ever of the hard times the average Nigerian is going through, they decided to settle for the Toyota Camry. And instead of applauding their parsimony, the calumniators are calling their thoughtful choice “unconscionable”.

Consider also the discomfort and inconvenience that members of the House Committee on Railways will suffer when they embark on their oversight duties – the snail speed of travel on narrow-gauge, ill-maintained tracks, the grimy coaches, the decrepit shacks that now stand where elegant railway stations that pulsated with life and commerce once stood.

Members of the House Committee who are going to suffer this cruel and unusual punishment could quite properly have demanded that a bullet proof train be provided for their exclusive use before they would even consider embarking on oversight duties.

They asked only for a Toyota Camry, and see how everyone is vilifying them.

It is notorious that bunkerers and other desperate elements are trafficking unchallenged in stolen crude and refined petroleum products all over the Delta and in our territorial waters.

These elements are dangerous. To carry out oversight functions in that kind of setting will require nothing less than a battleship, if not a nuclear submarine.

For demanding only a Toyota Camry for this dangerous and unfathomably complex task, they deserve nothing but high praise.

Finally, consider the daunting task that awaits the House Committee on Road Transportation. On what roads, pray, are they going to drive to perform oversight? Those cratered tracks that look as if they were carved from the moon and transplanted on the soil of Nigeria?

Nothing less than a Hovercraft would be equal to the task.

Nigerians should count it a great fortune indeed that honourable members of the House of Representatives are willing to put up with all the craters and the gullies and the bumps and the blind corners and the rickety bridges that dot the tracks we call highways, plus all the attendant risks, demanding only a Toyota Camry for each gallant volunteer.

This is the stuff of heroism.

It is one thing to be envious. It is another thing to be ungrateful. In my book, ingratitude is even more vehemently to be condemned than envy.

For their patriotic sacrifices, and for their passionate concern for the common man and woman, our legislators deserve our unstinting gratitude.

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RIPPLES

HARDBALL

NIGERIANS URGED TO HELP POLICE WITH INFORMATION –News

Boko Haram, slain journalist and Kaduna killings

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INFORMATION?...and become a SUSPECT

HE murder of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) reporter, Zakariyya Isa, in Maiduguri is bound to elicit more than a passing interest from Nigerian media professionals. Though the weekend killing was first thought to be accidental, the Boko Haram Islamic terrorist group has claimed responsibility and announced that the murder was “carefully planned and executed.”

According to the group’s spokesman, Abu Qaqa, “We have ample evidence beyond reasonable doubt that (Isa) was giving vital information to security agencies on our modus operandi…We investigated thoroughly before we killed him.” Pressed for more details, according to some reports, the Boko Haram spokesman said: “He gave information to security agents that led to the arrest of many of our members…We sent him a text and told him we would visit him. We killed him not because he was a journalist, but because of his personal misconduct.”

If anyone had illusion why there is a conspiracy of silence in Maiduguri, the hotbed of Boko Haram, the murder of Isa should

disabuse such a mind. Boko Haram is not perturbed about the status of their victims, nor whether killing them would turn out a public relations disaster or not, nor still whether anyone would frown at the group arrogating to itself the multiple roles of accuser, judge and executioner. Boko Haram is apparently prepared for the long haul. Its leaders know their aims cannot be achieved in a matter of months, or even few years.

They have sensed their own importance, and they are encouraged that their intimidatory tactics are yielding results. Indeed, without the group saying so, Isa’s killing has appeared to widen the war and probably ensure that the sect’s activities will not be relegated to the inside pages. We should expect them to go for a few more high-profile targets to retain public attention, inspire awe and attract front page treatment.

Gradually, the sect’s activities are spreading beyond Maiduguri, Bauchi and Gombe. By hitting Saminaka, deep into the bowels of Kaduna State, Boko Haram has given mighty indication of its freewheeling tactics. It can deploy force and terror without fear of

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

boundary or state response. We should expect more of such attacks, particularly when the group needs cash to run its widening operations. It’s readiness to absorb punishment is also not in doubt. So, whether more of its men are arrested or not, the group seems able to weather the storm with beguiling indifference. Its ability to recruit new members is evidently good, probably fed by the northern states’ socio-economic conditions, as the Ambassador Usman Galtimari panel that investigated the Boko Haram crisis suggested a few weeks ago.

So far, very little has been done to rein in Boko Haram beyond the deployment of force. As the crisis gradually widens, we must hope that the Federal Government has more initiatives up its sleeves beyond the white paper it has asked another panel to put together on the Galtimari report. When a group decides to pass sentence on anyone it accuses of squealing, and then carries out the punishment with disdain for the law or for public morality, then obviously the omens are not good at all for this large and teetering country.

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