Sep 13, 2013

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Ribadu to Waziri: I never worked under you NEW S Page 2 NEWS

News APC plans biometric registration P3 Sports W/Cup: Eagles may draw Cameroun P41 Business Investors lose N11b in market P54 www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 8, NO. 2605 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

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Amaechi protests as police block Govt House road

•A row of police vans blocking the road....last night

New PDP Port Harcourt office shut

T

HE frosty relationship between the police and the government of Rivers State degenerated yesterday, with some officers blocking a major road that leads to the Government House.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi and a group of former Speakers were returning to the Government House after a tour of projects when they found the road barricaded with police vans.

‘

It is an act of impunity and overzealousness

’

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

The policemen claimed to be acting on the instruction of Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu, who has been at loggerheads with Amaechi.

The convoy of about seven vehicles, including two buses

in which the governor and the former speakers rode, was stuck for close to 25 minutes, The Nation learnt.

Several efforts were made to persuade the police to allow the vehicles pass through.

They refused to.

One of the policemen got angry, saying he would not be challenged by civilians, it was learnt.

Three police vans were parked across the road and all residents of the Old GRA

•Amaechi speaking at the scene...last night

street could not drive in or out of the area.

The governor, who was dressed in a white shirt and a pair of white trousers and shoes, walked up to the spot

where the three vans were parked across the road. He said: “You can see for yourself that we cannot go to the Government House through this road on the instruction of

PDP crisis talks: Governors to give Jonathan deadline

Continued on page 4

Ozekhome relives ordeal

By Precious Igbonwelundu

C T I V I S T LAWYER Mike Ozekhome yesterday said kidnapping is a coordinated business that needs urgent attention from the Federal Government.

He spoke at his Lagos residence after he was released from a three-week captivity in Edo State.

Ozekhome, who recounted how the kidnappers brought in their doctor to treat him when he had malaria and typhoid fever, said they vowed to unleash terror on the country.

A

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja and Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

P

EOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) factional Chair Kawu Baraje yesterday said the aggrieved leaders of the party and the G-7 governors would give President Goodluck Jonathan a deadline on Sunday, if he fails to meet their demands.

He said contrary to insinuations, Jonathan and the G-7 governors were not moving towards any accord.

For peace to reign in PDP, the aggrieved governors and the Baraje faction tabled five demands before Jonathan and a seven-man Peace Panel headed by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The conditions are: Continued on page 4

the President and the Commissioner of Police.”

Eventually, the convoy took another route to get into the Government

•Ozekhome carried by excited youths...yesterday

PHOTO: RAHMAN SANUSI

Contined on page 5

•SPORTS P23 •NIGER DELTA P25 •SOCIETY P29 •SHOPPING P33 •POLITICS P43

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

2

NEWS SACK OF MINISTERS

Presidency: P •Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (second left), Mrs Funmilayo Tejuosho (right), Special Adviser on Taxation Mr. Abimbola Shodipo (second right) and the Chairman, Wharf Landing Fee Collection Authority (WLFCA) Alhaji Ademola Kekere-Ekun during the Stakeholders’ Forum on Wharf Landing Fee Collection at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium of the State Secretariat, Alausa, PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES Ikeja…yesterday.

• Niger State Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu (second left), inaugurating a 400-metre road and culvert constructed by the state government at the Air Force Base, Minna...yesterday. With him are the Commander, 237 Base Service Group, Nigeria Air Force, Minna, Air Commodore Sani Abdullahi Zakari (left), the Commander, Quick Response Force, Air Commodore Ben Chiobi and Niger State Road Maintenance Agency Director-General Umar Sani.

•President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote (middle) presenting a cash award to a distributor Alhaji Umar Tanko Abdullahi (right) during the 2013 Dangote Cement Distributor Award in Lagos...yesterday. With them is Director, Dangote PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE Cement Mr. Knut Ulvmoen.

•From left: Head, Operator Channel, Nokia Middle East and Africa Scott Smith; General Manager, Nokia West Africa Chris Brown; Senior Manager, Data and Portals, Airtel Nigeria David Umoh; Head, Data Services Funmi Omotayo and Head, Smart Devices Business Portfolio, Nokia India, Middle East and Africa Stefan Gerrits during the launch of Airtel's new promo on the Nokia Lumia 520 in Lagos...yesterday.

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s sack of nine ministers on Wednesday has nothing to do with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crises, the Presidency has said.

The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, said Jonathan has the power to hire and fire his ministers.

He spoke at the inauguration of an Elders’ Council to tackle the party’s crises.

The 42-member committee include former Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu, Chief Olabode George, Gen. Patrick Aziza (rtd), former House of Representatives Speaker Mrs Patricia Etteh, Prof.

Jubril Aminu, former PDP National Chairman Solomon Lar, Prof. Jerry Gana, former Senate President Ken Nnamani, Senator Tunde Ogbeha, former Ondo State Governor Olusegun Agagu, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Senator Saidu Umar Kumo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, Rev. Yusuf Turaki and Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi.

Gulak said the responsibility of the group was to formulate a blueprint for sustainable peace in the polity. He said the unfolding events in the party and the president’s responses should not be misinterpreted.

He said: “We must all understand that it is the prerogative of Mr President to hire and fire his ministers within his constitutional power.

“So, we must not always adduce our own personal reasons to situations like this. The president must have worked on this based on facts at his disposal.

“Whatever it is, the ministers were working for Mr President towards the realisation of his goals for the country and it has nothing to do with the crises in the PDP. “To say the sack was targeted at those with the new PDP is just an imagination of those saying it. As a matter of fact, it is in this administration that ministers have stayed more than two years.

“We have seen situations where cabinets were changed almost every six months, but I believe the ministers who were relieved of their appointments have contributed their own quota”.

The Elders Council, according to Gulak, would produce a blueprint on how to sustain peace in the country.

He said: “Some people believe that power belongs to them alone and that others have no right to it. They have forgotten that it is God who gives power to anybody, irrespective of tribe or religion.

“You have been carefully selected and saddled with this responsibility believing that you are in a better position to understand the principles of the founding fathers of this country.

“We are also convinced that you can devote your time to planning for the sustenance of peace and unity of this country.”

Mantu, who responded on behalf of his colleagues, said the country’s interest would drive the group’s activities.

George said PDP’s crises were normal, adding: “In politics, there is no panic because a good political party does not panic. What is happening can be linked to what happened in the prelude to the 2003 presidential elections.

“At that time, I was at a meeting where 22 governors pointedly told Baba to his face at that time that he was not marketable and they would not stand with him. I was shocked.

“But, with the maturity of the party and the quality of the people in the party, we managed it because the cor-

• Mrs Mailafia handing over to Ishaku in Abuja... yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

•Jonathan

•Nnamani From Dele Anofi, Abuja

porate interest of Nigeria is bigger than any personal interest of any individual.

“When the founding fathers started the geo-political zone arrangement and decided that topmost offices would be zoned to each one, first, it brought a sense of belonging and commitment.

“To me, it is turn-by-turn Nigeria Limited because some day, as it rotates, it will get to your turn.

“One thing that we should understand is that once it gets to election period, the polity is heated; it is normal, especially in this teenager democracy of ours.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

3

NEWS SACK OF MINISTERS

ministers’ sack not for PDP crisis

•Ashiru (middle) handing over to Prof. Onwuliri...yesterday. With them is Dr. Nurudeen Muhammad.

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Ashiru: I never knew I’ll become minister

ORMER Minister of Foreign Affairs Olugbenga Ashiru has said he has no regrets for his actions while in office.

He spoke yesterday while handing over to his successor, Prof. Viola Onwuliri.

Ashiru described his two years at the ministry as eventful and fulfilling, especially as he never thought he would ever become a minister barely four years after retiring from the Foreign Service.

He said: “When I joined the service, our ambition was to become an ambassador. It was not our ambition to become permanent secretaries; a number of us achieved that ambition and that is why I am very happy today.

“I have no expectation to even dream that I will become a Foreign Minister throughout the years. So, I am leaving as a fulfilled man. The memories I am leaving behind are the qualities of the officers that I know can hold the Foreign Service for the future. They are professional and experienced and I leave the Foreign Service in their hands.”

He said he enjoyed the workers’ cooperation throughout his stay.

He said: “While we were in my of-

Mailafia hands over to Ishaku

E

X-Minister of Environment Mrs. Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia yesterday handed over to the Minister of State for Niger Delta, Darius Ishaku.

Ishaku is to oversee the ministry until a substantive minister is appointed.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja by Laria Daze of the Press and Public Relations Unit, the ministry under Mrs Mailafia provided leadership in terms of national policies, especially on climate change, Great Green Wall and REDD+.

Mrs. Mailafia thanked the workers for their support and urged them to support the overseeing minister.

Ishaku said the event marked a milestone in the From Vincent Ikuomola and Nike Adebowale, Abuja

fice having ministerial meeting (last Monday), one of the decisions we took, which I am now very confident that the two ministers and Permanent Secretary will fulfil, is that all officers on level 17 in their order of seniority down the line on a particular quota, their names should be submitted for approval for appointment. We also agreed that the ongoing process of appointing new ambassadors should

From Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

ministry. He said in life there were entrances and exits.

He thanked Mrs. Mailafia for her service to the nation.

He promised to do his best and thanked the staff for supporting Mailafia and urged them to support him.

The Permanent Secretary, Taiye Haruna, thanked the ex-minister for her contributions to the ministry and the nation.

He welcomed the overseeing minister, assuring him of maximum support. haruna said the minister would get the best from the staff technically, professionally and managerially.

continue.

“So, I am happy that I am leaving the service in the hands of ministers and a Permanent Secretary who believe in you. Prof Viola has highlighted all the goals we set when we came in, to use foreign policy to support the economic programme of government, to use foreign policy to support the infrastructure development of the country, to use foreign policy to create jobs and I believe we have delivered substantially all the goals but as we have said be-

fore, in the year 2012 the total inflow into the country was in the region of $8 billion but we are happy even this year we will surpass this figure. We have been able to ensure a rise in the profile of Nigeria. When we came in, we identified 24 international positions that Nigerians could get and of the 24, today we have secured for Nigeria and Nigerians 22 international positions, including for the first time, the position of commissioner in the Africa Union. My colleagues will testify that three times

we tried to get the post and three times we failed. In fact, one of them was a candidate but today we have it. Another post is that of the president of International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome, with Dr Nwaze as president. We have made changes; we have created a number of departments to be able to focus more on investment promotion because that is a high priority. We have formed strategic partnership with some countries, in terms of investment promotion to our country.

As the minister said, we will be appointing more ambassadors and this is the first time in history that we will be appointing many ambassadors, especially from career officers.”

The Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Martins Uhomoibhi, described Ashiru as one of the five career diplomats to have served as a minister at the ministry.

The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, said it was not how long but the legacy left behind. She said Ashiru could not be faulted in terms of legacy. She said the former minister used diplomacy to boost economic growth and development.

APC governors to woo aggrieved PDP colleagues • Party opts for biometric membership registration T HE All Progressives Congress (APC) has mandated its governors to woo their aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) colleagues.

Its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, spoke yesterday at the party’s Interim National Executive Council meeting in Abuja.

Mohammed said: “It is not a matter we discussed at the executive committee. But I know that what the party decided is that since our governors are also members of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and they are also meeting regularly with these other governors, we have left that assignment in the hands of our governors so that when the about seven or eight aggrieved governors of PDP are desirous of making contact with the party, they should do so with our governors.”

He said the party would begin membership registration in October.

From John Ofikhenua and Chioma Onyia

Mohammed said the party would conduct a biometric membership registration.

The APC, he said, also considered the options open to it in terms of funding the registration, noting: “A committee has been put in place to give us the final report”.

He said other highlights of the meeting were the mobilisation of members for the party, local government elections in various states, byelections in Jigawa and Delta states.

Mohammed said besides the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change ( CPC) and the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) involved in the convention, a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Democratic People Party (DPP) also

participated in the merger.

He said: “We resolved the issue that wherever that we are looking for representation in the process of harmonisation, where such parties exist in their states, they are also to be considered.”

On the crisis in Cross River State, the APC warned the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) not to frustrate the court’s decision by holding the local government election when the case was still in court.

He denied speculations that the party was enmeshed in crisis in some states.

He said: “We should not rule out the incidence of people disagreeing or not agreeing.

But the question to ask at this point is what would people disagree about? We have not

commenced registration; we have not commenced congresses; we have not elected any officers. What will be the basis of any serious disagreement? Really it never came up.”

Mohammed described Wednesday’s cabinet reshuffle by President Goodluck Jonathan as part of the contradictions and explosion in the PDP. He said the question was not whether the shake-up impressed or worried any one, but Nigerians should be bothered by the lack of vision and capacity of the administration.

Mohammed urged Nigerians to find out whether the rate of poverty, unemployment, social and economic inequalities in the country have declined .

He said if these economic indicators had not changed for good, “then the government is not performing”.

4

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

NEWS

•President Goodluck Jonathan (middle); Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson (fifth left); Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Revd. Nicholas Okoh and others after the opening ceremony of the standing committee meeting of the Church of Nigeria at St. Peter’s Church, Yenagoa…yesterday

President: we’re winning terror war

Ribadu to Waziri: I never worked under you

T

HE pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday faulted his successor, Mrs. Farida Waziri, for alleging that the agency was used for political motives.

He said the EFCC was not used to pursue the botched Third Term agenda of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He also said contrary to the claim by Mrs. Waziri, he lectured her and others, on fraud investigation and prosecution when she was newly posted to head the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU).

He alleged that Mrs. Waziri engaged in a “naked lie” that she was his boss to “seek undue relevance and validate her own appointment”.

Ribadu, who bared his mind in a personal statement in Abuja, warned Mrs. Waziri against rubbishing the work of the EFCC in a bid to settle scores with any individual.

The statement said: “My attention has been drawn to the

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja press statement issued by the immediate past chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri, in a reaction to statements credited to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“While I had tried not to comment on the activities of the EFCC or my successors in office to avoid subjectivism, I however find it expedient to clear my name of careless and mischievous references made

by Mrs. Waziri. “ I am, therefore, writing this with utmost reluctance, public debate having been polluted with deliberate tincture of amnesia, necessitating umpteenth repetition of a simple fact that should have sank once and for all. It is sad that merchants of falsehood keep recycling crooked statements to the point of cliche, in spite of attempts at clarifications.

“Firstly, it is not correct that I worked under Mrs. Waziri,

as she always claims. This is a naked lie that she keeps flaunting to seek undue relevance and validate her own appointment.

“At no time in my career did I work under the same section or unit as her. In fact, contrary to Waziri’s claim that she trained me, it was I that actually lectured her and others on fraud investigation and prosecution when she was newly posted as Head of Special Fraud Unit, even though she was my senior in rank. I was then the Head of Prosecution at the Tribunals under the leadership of Mr. Sunday Ehindero, then CP Legal.”

Ribadu insisted that EFCC under his leadership was not used to pursue the botched Third Term Agenda of exPresident Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said the EFCC halted its work on the politically-exposed persons throughout the period of the third term debacle, to insulate and protect the integrity of the Commission.

•Gunmen kill three policemen in Adamawa

T

HE President reviewed yesterday the battle against terrorism and declared that it is being won.

Dr. Jonathan spoke at the Standing Committee meeting of the Bishops Conference of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) at the Saint Peter’s Deanery, Yenagoa, capital of his home Bayelsa State.

He said his methods had improved security generally.

“Already, as a result of our ongoing action and methods, the security situation in the country is steadily improving.

Again, the effect of the state of emergency in the Northeast

•Ribadu

The statement added: “On the issue that EFCC under my leadership was used to push through the aborted third term agenda, it is evident that Mrs. Waziri, who was nowhere near EFCC at the time, is ignorant of what transpired.

“It is saddening that after all the damage inflicted on the operations and credibility of the EFCC by Mrs. Waziri, she turns back to abuse the young men and women who had put in all their energy in cleaning up our country, especially Continued on page 58

From Mike Odimegwu, Yenagoa

has been tremendous and felt by all.

“From a society that was coping with uncertainty, we are now beginning to see a gradual return to normalcy in most part of the North and other parts of the country with different levels of certainty and predictability in our daily lives.

“I believe and I can say with all humility and gratitude to God that we are winning the war against terrorism. And by Continued on page 58

Governors to give Jonathan deadline Continued from page 1

•the sack of National Chairman Bamanga Tukur, •return of party structure to governors in Adamawa, Rivers, Kano, and other states, •sticking to one term tenure by the President by foregoing re-election in 2015, •resolution of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Rivers State crises, including the lifting of Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s suspension;

and •stopping “harassment” of governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).

Of the five demands, Jonathan met only one on Monday night. He conceded to party’s structure in the G-7 states and restoration of the structures to governors in Adamawa and Kano.

There was deadlock on the Continued on page 58

Police seal off New PDP secretariat in Port Harcourt

T

HE Police yesterday sealed off the secretariat of the New Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, shortly after its inauguration.

The Chief of Staff to Governor Chibuike Amaechi, Chief Tony Okocha, inaugurated the secretariat and hoisted the party’s flags. He was supported by top Rivers government officials and politicians.

Amaechi is one of the seven PDP governors who formed the Kawu Baraje-led New PDP on August 31.

The secretariat, directly opposite the old GRA Police Station, was the headquarters of Amaechi Campaign Organisation in 2011.

The policemen who sealed off the secretariat were led by Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigations Department (DC, CID), Sam Oghaora.

They pulled down the six poles flying the PDP’s flags and two national flags. Party members in the expansive premises were chased out and the secretariat sealed off.

No fewer than 16 police pa-

Amaechi protests as police block Govt House road Continued from page 1 waite Memorial Specialist Hospital, ernment House.

House.

Earlier yesterday, Amaechi had received President Goodluck Jonathan at the International Airport and planned to meet with him later in the day.

The President was visiting nearby Bayelsa State.

There were 102 former Speakers in the convoy. Among them was former Lagos Speaker Olorunnibe Mamora, who was shocked by the police action.

Mamora said: “It is quite unfortunate; it is an act of impunity and overzealousness on the part of the police.”

The barricaded road leads to BraithFrom Bisi Olaniyi and Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

trol vans were in front of the sealed secretariat as at press time. Two of the vehicles were used to barricade the main entrance. The policemen did not allow access to the premises.

Amaechi, who has been at loggerheads with the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, described the police action as “barbaric”, saying it will be challenged in court.

Amaechi spoke on the tele-

which doubles as the General Hospital.

The police denied blocking the Government House’s entrance.

Spokesperson Angela Agabe, a DSP, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt: “I am aware that the commissioner of police did not give such an order to block the entrance leading to the governor’s residence.

“He did not do it and did not instruct our officers to do such a thing.’’

But, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, the Commissioner for Information and Communication, insisted that Amaechi and no fewer than 70 visitors were denied access to his private residence in the Gov-

phone through Okocha. He described Mbu as a politician, saying he took sides in the political crisis.

Mbu said leaders of the new PDP did not clear with him before inaugurating the party’s secretariat.

Amaechi said: “The action of the police is very barbaric. The police in Rivers State are now partisan. Mbu said we should have first cleared with him, before hoisting the party’s flags and inaugurating the secretariat.

“The governor was coming back with his visitors, former speakers of Houses of Assembly; he was blocked on his way into the Government House, leading to his private entrance.

“The police blocked the road, the governor came down and identified himself, but they told him they had orders from the commissioner of police.

“Governor Amaechi, therefore, had to go through a longer route to get to the Government House,’’ Semenitari said.

Semenitari described the action of the police as illegal, unconstitutional, and an insult to the office of the governor.

“How could we have gone to clear with Rivers Commissioner of Police, when we were not protesting? Nonetheless, we have achieved our aim, which is opening of the secretariat.

“Mbu’s policemen came shortly after the inauguration, pulled down the poles with PDP’s and national flags and sealed off the secretariat.

“We will not take the law into our own hands. We are not going to fight them. We will go to court.

“The responsibility of Mbu’s

policemen in Rivers State is no longer the protection of lives and property. The commissioner of police is now a politician. We will not allow the impunity.”

Oghaora said: “We will not allow anybody to take the law into his hands. We will go all out to ensure that we maintain law and order in Rivers State.

Anybody that takes the law into his hands will be dealt with accordingly. That is exactly what we have done here.

“We do not have any secre-

•Mbu

tariat here and anybody who has come here to hoist any flag will be dealt with. That is what we have done and nothing Continued on page 58

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THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

5

NEWS OZEKHOME‘S RELEASE

Kidnapping, a coordinated business, says Ozekhome

NBA: Govt must fulfill security obligations to citizens

T

•Lawyer relives ordeal •Why security agents can’t track kidnappers •continued from page 1

At his Igando home, there was jubilation as residents painted themselves with white chalk.

Ozekhome, who entered his compound at 11:30am, was decorated with the chalk, which according to his relations, is a mark of thanksgiving to the Supreme God. Dressed in a blue fez cap,a blue and red t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, Ozekhome joined his well wishers to dance before he went upstairs for a shower.

There was a white cooling van, stocked with drinks for guests.

His family members were all smiles as they thanked God for the safe return of “Mike of the people”.

Tears of joy ran down Ozekhome’s cheeks as he joined his people to dance round his compound.

When Ozekhome resurfaced hours later with his wife, he looked cleaner and was carried by jubilant youths round his compound.

Filled with emotions, the lawyer prostrated and prayed to God as he addressed reporters.

He said the kidnappers told him that security agents could never track them because they do not make calls around the areas where their victims are kept.

Ozekhome said: “It is a well-organised business. We ate once a day most of the time. They will bring eba and egusi or ogbono, rice be it jollof or white. There were 13 of us.

We were locked up in a room.

“The day the windows were opened on a few occasions, a colony of mosquitoes invaded and feasted on us. “ I took ill on two occasions. The first time, they brought their doctor who was hooded and he gave me some malaria drugs.

“Then, penultimate Thursday, when I was shaking because of the threats of death and the horror, another victim, Maka Omoregbe, started fanning me and pouring water on me.

“The kidnappers called their doctor and said I should speak to him and they brought drugs for me. He came and gave me injections and to assure me, he brought out the syringe and showed me and said, SAN, look at it, we are not going to poison you.

“So, they gave me two injections, one on each side of my buttocks and they pierced my artery to give me an intravenous fluid. They treated me for malaria and typhoid fever and the next day I became better.”

He urged the Federal Government to establish a foundation to carter for the welfare of the four slain officers’ children.

Ozekhome said they had 24-hour guard in the building where they were held,

•From left: Oba of Igando, Rasheed Gbadamosi, Ozekhome, his •Ezerioha ... yesterday. wife Josphine, his son Ilugbekhai and well wishers ... yesterday PHOTO: PRECIOUS PHOTO: SANUSI RAHMAN

IGBONWELUNDU

How his sons were kidnapped

F

REED lawyer Mike Ezekhome told yesterday of how his son, Ilugbekhai Ozekhome and his adopted son, Dominic Ezerioha, were abducted last Friday by the same gang and kept with him till 7am yesterday when they were freed.

He said: “This is my son, Ilugbekhai and a junior lawyer in my Abuja chamber, Dominick, whom I also call my son because he is dear to my heart. Having given their numbers with my friend’s Benson Igbanoi, who was the chief negotiator, to the kidnappers, they said that they needed to negotiate with my children.

“They said they were the only people they want to negotiate with, that they are the people they can trust. They called Benson and I told him to tell them and when he gave them the phone I told them I cannot deceive them that the kidnappers have said they want to negotiate with them and that I can only be Stories by Precious Igbonwelundu

adding that even women and little children were victims.

He decried the state of insecurity in the country, calling on the government to offer amnesty to all kidnappers and declare a state of emergency on security and youth unemployment.

The lawyer said his abductors did not know him, as they only questioned him when he had been kidnapped.

He said: “My ordeal began on Friday August 23. I want Nigerians to know the danger we are in. I was not travelling in the night nor wee hours of the morning. I left Benin 2pm for my home town, having lost the wheel drummer of the Ozekhome family, Alhaji Yakubu Ozekhome.

“I ran into the kidnappers some minutes past 3pm.

“So, I told my driver to stay put. They dragged us out of the car and shot the tyres.

Chinedu was locked in the booth and was on the ground. They said we should remain like that.

“I heard a rain of bullets; it

released when they talk with them.

“As soon as the two of them came, they were also kidnapped and kept with me till this morning (Thursday morning).

“All of us in the camp were released and I believe they may disband the camp haven.”

Ilugbekhai also narrated how they were abducted by four men, who he initially thought were policemen because they had bulletproof vests on.

He said the kidnappers had told him and Ezerioha to come to a particular place after they had asked them to drive through various routes within Benin City.

“They called us and asked us to stop there, somewhere around the bypass and less than three minutes after we stopped, four men wearing bulletproofs came to us and searched us to be sure we had no chips on. We drove through different routes for about four hours with our faces down before we got to where my dad was.”

was like a war as they were firing continuously.

“The good news is that we have been delivered safe and unhurt. The bad news is that I was not profiled. We were never profiled or targeted, meaning that they merely operated randomly. It could have been any other person.

“They searched my pocket, took out my complimentary card and other things. They then asked again what my full names were and I told them.

“They said ‘so, you are a lawyer’, I said ‘yes sir’. They asked how long I had practised, I said 32 years.

“We were driven through rough roads, through highways because we could feel it. We were on the road for about four and a half hours.

We were taken far away from civilisation.

“I am not talking of toy carrying kidnappers. They told me that they had cell units across Nigeria and reminded me about the kidnap of a footballer’s father, among others.

They said they were everywhere.

“So, I asked them, with my face down, how they knew me. They said they did not

know me, that they just operated and caught me.

“They advised me not to blame God but to glorify him because the things they had read of me are good things.

Of course, they are always masked but even when they are talking; you dare not look up or in their direction.

“Death sentence was also hanged on us. The experience was horrific. We were psychologically and mentally tortured. We were traumatised and it was spiritually unnerving and physically debilitating. It was the nearest thing to hell.”

The lawyer added: “Let’s not deceive ourselves that we are dealing with a little phenomenon.”

Ozekhome described his abductors as educated people who spoke good English and could speak on philosophy.

He said while masked, the kidnappers discussed with him national issues, including problems of the country and what they are fighting against.

To Ozekhome, the government should as a matter of urgency, grant amnesty to kidnappers.

HE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) yesterday said governments at all levels must do more to fulfill their constitutional obligation to provide security to all citizens.

It praised security agencies for their role in securing the release of Mike Ozekhome (SAN), saying his kidnap brought to the fore the country’s security challenges.

NBA, in a statement by its President, Okey Wali (SAN), condemned the kidnap of the Archbishop of the Niger Delta Province (Anglican Communion) Rev Ignatius Kattey.

It described his abduction as “the height of sacrilege” and urged security agencies to ensure his safe release.

The association condoled with the police for the death of their men during Ozekhome’s abduction.

The statement reads: “The NBA hereby expresses its happiness with the release of one of its members, Mike Ozekhome, who was kidnapped on August 23.

“The NBA commends all rel-

H

that he made several offers to the kidnappers up to the tune of N30 million.

He said: “Yes; I was in touch with them, I offered them N10million, N20 million and even N30 million but they did not accept my offers. My duty was to negotiate and it was the family’s responsibility to carry on so, at a point, I stopped. I was still in touch with them but they neither accepted nor rejected my offer.

“Surprisingly, I was called this morning to pick up my friend by

7am in Benin, which I gladly did.

So, I cannot tell you for sure what was paid or not paid. We are just happy they are free now. We did not arrive at anything, I kept making offers. The strategy they adopted was such that they never got to a point of accepting or rejecting; so we kept negotiating.

As the chief negotiator, I stopped at a particular point. It was exclusively the Ozekhome affair if a ransom was paid.

However, The Nation gathered from a source within the family

evant persons and authorities, who worked to ensure his release.

“Our profuse appreciation goes to the police and other security agencies, members of the Nigerian Bar Association, particularly NBA branches in Edo State, the government and good people of Edo State.

“The NBA hereby commiserates again, with the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed D. Abubakar, over the police officers who lost their lives in the process of trying to secure the release of Mike Ozekhome (SAN).

“This brings to the fore, the issue of security challenges that are being faced in Nigeria. We hereby call on the Federal Government to intensify efforts in providing solutions to security challenges in Nigeria.

“The NBA also hereby calls on the kidnappers of the Arch-Bishop of the Niger Delta Province, and Bishop of the Niger Delta North Diocese (Anglican Communion), Rev Ignatius Kattey to please release him to his family in good health and safety.”

Atiku, Obi praise God

F

ORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has expressed joy at the release.

In a statement by his media office in Abuja, the former Vice President said he was joyful that the kidnap saga has ended.

Atiku also congratulated the family and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).

Also, Anambra State Governor Peter Obi expressed joy on the release. The governor told Ozekhome’s abductors that by their conduct, they are doing violence to themselves and the country.

Describing Ozekhome as a good man, who is concerned about the progress and development of the country, the governor advised him not to lose hope and confidence in Nigeria.

“I have seen those who became hostile to the society on account of societal ills that visited them. In the case of Ozekhome, it is my wish that he sees the entire tragedy as a challenge to him to even work harder for the restoration of sanity to our society, which is buffeted by lawless people,” he said.

Akeredolu, Agbaje, others happy

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OME prominent lawyers and human rights activists yesterday hailed the release of Mike Ozekhome (SAN. They also urged the government to intensify efforts in addressing security challenges.

Ozekhome was abducted on August 23 at Ehor, near Benin City, in Edo State.

Former Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) President Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, in a statement, said: “I am happy that regardless of the circumstances leading to his eventual regain of personal liberty, he has joined his family, though psychologically bruised, apparently physically unhurt.

“This unfortunate incident also, with greater intensity, wells up an emotion of extreme anger in the minds of those who feel genuinely concerned about our precarious state as citizens of this country as regards security.

“It appears that kidnappers are now emboldened to grab anyone at anytime. They demand ransom, which confirms pure economic consideration as being responsible for the spread of this nefarious venture.

The array of victims also indicates that nobody is immune

How much was paid to lawyer’s captors?

OW much was paid for the release of frontline lawyer Mike Ozekhome.

The question remained unanswered yesterday.

Ozekhome said his family was in contact with the kidnappers and he did not know the amount that was given.

He quickly remarked that a hunter does not narrate details of his encounters during his odyssey in the forest.

His best friend and chief negotiator, Igbanoi,told The Nation

By Joseph Jibueze

that N15 million was paid to secure Ozekhome’s release.

The source said: “Just like the Benin based activist who was kidnapped the same day with Ozekhome, N15 million was paid for each of them to be released.

“Yes, the family had offered N10 million but they turned it down. By Friday, N15 million was given but was rejected for Ozekhome while the activist was released. So, it is a good thing that they have finally set them free.”

from this current scourge.

“This is the time when all Nigerians, professional associations, trade unions, market women and students must act collectively with a view to confronting this menace.

“I recollect that the NBA under my leadership was vociferous in condemning this menace. We were never tired of reminding the government that the welfare of the people should be the primary reason for governance. That approach which earned us respect.

We must actively engage this gover.nment to take the issue of security more seriously.

Taiwo Taiwo, NBA Chairman, Lagos branch, told NAN that the release was a huge relief for the legal profession.

“We are happy about the release, but we should not lose sight of the fact that there is so much insecurity in the nation.

“The government must double its efforts to arrest the incessant kidnapping of Nigerians,” Taiwo said.

A lawyer and human rights activist, Fred Agbaje, said he was disappointed with the time it took to secure Ozekhome’s release.

Agbaje said: “We are happy that he has been released, but we are disappointed with the efforts of our security operatives.”

He urged government at all levels to take urgent steps to address the issue of the welfare of Nigerians.

Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, Executive Director, Socioeconomic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a human rights group, also expressed a similar view.

Mumuni said: “The point that should be made, in spite of the release of Ozekhome and others who had been kidnapped in the past, is that we need to improve our security apparatus.

“This is the only way to attract foreign investments into the country, because nobody would want to invest in an unsafe environment.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

6

NEWS al-Mustapha, Fasehun, others seek Nigeria’s unity From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri and Chris Orji, Enugu

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•Mr Peter Eshikena, Managing Director, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria (standing in the middle in the back row) when he hosted members of the Supervisory Board PHOTO: DAYO AKINWUNMI of the Royal FrieslandCampina, The Netherlands, at a historic breakfast reception in Lagos...yesterday.

Jonathan, NSA neglected warnings on Ombatse, says Nasarawa T

HE Nasarawa State government yesterday accused President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Security Adviser (NSA) of neglecting the warnings about the activities of the Ombatse militant group.

The government regretted that the killing of 63 policemen and 10 State Security Service (SSS) operatives in Lakyo village in the state, on May 7, occurred over a year after the last of the three letters written to the President and the NSA on the matter.

The state also blamed security agencies for the escalation of the various crises in the state.

The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Innocent Lagi, made the allegations when he presented the government’s memorandum to the Judicial Commission of Enquiry probing the incident in Lafia, the state capital.

The government was represented at the panel by La-

•‘Cripple leads Ombatse, Baba Lakyo administers concoction’ From Sanni Onogu, Lafia

gos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN). He was with a counsel, Sambo Vongjen.

Lagi, who signed the memorandum, also testified before the panel.

The lawyer submitted that the state government took steps to sanction and proscribe the Ombatse militia group to check its excesses.

He said: “The fateful Alakyo incident happened on May 7. Prior to it, there had been series of security concerns, based on reports and concerted efforts from Nasarawa State Government and security agencies to abate them and their attendant consequences.

“The state, in its constitutional role in protecting lives and property, articulated

several reports on the security threats posed by the militia cult group, which is now called Ombatse, to the higher authorities, to seek collaboration to curb the imminent threats to the safety of lives of the people and the nation.

“As the events unfolded and in view of several security challenges and reports inundating the government, the Nasarawa State government wrote the office of the NSA on April 9, 2012, and copied all service chiefs of all the security agencies, intimating them with the impending threats posed by the activities of the group occasioned by ethnocommunal clashes in some parts of the state.

“The state report, dated April 9, 2012, is herewith annexed as ‘Exhibit A’. It is clas-

sified for ease of reference.”

The commissioner said on May 30, last year, there was an ethno-communal clash between Eggon and Alago residents.

He said a commission of enquiry was setup to investigate the causes of the crisis and a white paper in November of that year and that of November 21, 2012 mayhem in Agyaragu.

Lagi added that the SSS issued a report on November 20, last year, on the activities of Ombatse and its Eggon meaning: “The time has come.”

He said: “The group, therefore, is made up of largely Eggon youths and other adherents drawn from almost all the local government areas and other places. This group is a loose collection of Eggon

Ekweremadu seeks more powers for ECOWAS parliament

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HE Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Parliament has sought more powers to enable it serve the sub-region better.

It said the additional powers would also enable the parliament perform as its peers across the world.

The ECOWAS parliament explained that in line with global best practices, regional parliaments around the world have transformed into full leg-

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor, Abuja

islative bodies.

The Speaker of the parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, spoke on the need for an enhanced performance of the parliament in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, at the opening of a meeting of ECOWAS Attorneys-General and Ministers for Justice.

The meeting is considering the Draft Supplementary Act

on the Enhancement of the Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament.

In a statement in Abuja by Uche Anichukwu, the Special Adviser (Media) to Ekweremadu, the ECOWAS Parliament Speaker said: “The enhancement of the powers the community’s parliament is certainly not aimed at competing with the national parliaments of member-states or sister-organisations and organs within the ECOWAS family, but sim-

I’ll step on toes to overhaul education sector, says Wike From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

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•Ekweremadu

ply the powers to enable the parliament to serve the community better, deeper and more meaningfully.”

2015: Cleric warns against external agents of disintegration

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HE Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and Archbishop Metropolitan, Rev. Nicholas Okoh, yesterday warned politicians against actions that can cause Nigeria’s disintegration.

The cleric noted that Nigerian politicians need to avoid actions that tend to support foreigners who expect the country to fall apart.

Rev. Okoh spoke at the Standing Committee meeting of the Bishops’ Conference of the Church holding in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

The cleric also called for the disbanding of the national body of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

He said the methods the union adopted to press for its demands was immoral.

Rev. Okoh accused ASUU of enriching itself.

The cleric cautioned politicians against working for external detractors who he said predicted the disintegration of Nigeria in 2015.

He urged the Independent National Electoral Commis-

sion (INEC) to ensure honesty and transparency in its responsibility.

Rev. Okoh said: “INEC should rise above regional, ethnic, religious partisanship and deliver to Nigerians the truth, the whole truth and nothing short of that.”

The cleric insisted that despite the ongoing power play, leaders must maintain the unity of the country.

He urged the youths to avoid thuggery and other vices whenever they participate in politics ahead of 2015.

Rev. Okoh said: “We make

militants under a spiritual medicine man herbalist called Baba Alakyo.

“It is widely believed, among the adherents of Ombatse, that the purported spiritual head has the ability to prepare concoctions with which to initiate its people, which is capable of fortifying and shielding them from sophisticated guns and making them invisible.”

The commissioner said Ombatse had snatched guns, ammunition and operational vehicles from security operatives during an earlier attempt to check the group’s activities.

He said there was a discreet fund-raiser and procurement of weapons in black markets on the Benue and Taraba states’ axis, adding that this had been going prior to the May 7 incident.

FORMER Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, Major Hamza al-Mustapha; the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo; the founder of the Odua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Fredrick Fasehun; son of the late Head of State, Mohammed Abacha and the President of Arewa Youths, Yerima Shetima, yesterday met with the leader of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

But the motive of the meeting, which attracted a large turnout of Igbo leaders and members of MASSOB, could not be ascertained last night.

Reporters were prevented from getting close to the personalities.

But Asari-Dokubo told our reporter that they were in Owerri to deliberate on the nation’s sundry challenges and to proffer solutions to them, ahead of the 2015 general elections.

At the palace of Eze Obidiegwu Onyesoh, the Eze Nri in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, al-Mustapha, who led the delegation, said: “We understand at this point in the journey of our democracy that there is need to build a bridge, which will create passages for our younger generation to crisscross Nigeria in peace, unity and harmony.

“For us to understand how to prosper through the spirit of brotherhood and build a bridge of peace across our country, we must equally understand the modalities for greater interactions, unity and understanding.

“We are leaders of youths in the Northwest, the North-Central, the Northeast and the South-South. A delegation from the Southwest is led by Fasehun...”

a sincere appeal to politicians as they plan, disagree, challenge one another and engage in high political manoeuvring, to ensure that the entity called Nigeria is spared from harm.

“We should not walk into the traps of our external detractors who have already predicted a break-up of the country in 2015.

“We appeal to our youths to take part in politics but steer clear of political thuggery. You should not allow yourselves to be used for assassination, arson, kidnapping, maiming, looting, intimidation of opponents.”

HE Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike, yesterday said he will step on toes to transform the ministry.

Wike was speaking, following the sudden sack of Education Minister, Prof Ruqqayatu Rufa’I, and his take over of the ministry.

He directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to enforce the use of standardised textbooks in primary and secondary schools.

Wike spoke in Abuja when the Governing Board of the vouncil visited him in his office.

He urged the council to assert its authority as the agency of government for approving the textbooks used in schools.

The minister decried a situation where worthless books are recommended for use in schools because of perceived relationship with the authors.

Wike said: “NERDC is responsible for developing the curriculum and should be in the best position to recommend appropriate books. But this is not the case. You must assert your authority and reclaim your mandate.”

In the face of dwindling budgetary provision, Wike advised the council to generate additional funds internally and to prioritise its programmes in line with available resources and objectives.

He stressed that resources can hardly be sufficient any time, adding that several agencies spend the bulk of their resources on conferences and workshops.

Wike promised to support the council to achieve its objectives, but urged the NERDC borad to avoid anything that would lead to in-fighting in its management.

NERDC Board Chairman Dr Stephen Dike said paucity of fund was affecting the council in discharging its mandate, He urged the minister to mobilise the private sector and donor agencies to contribute to reposition the agency’s research efforts.

“We have done well in curriculum development, but not so well with research and development, because it requires a lot of funding,” Dr Dike said.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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NEWS Nine FRSC officials released

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BONYI State Police Command yesterday released the nine officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) arrested by the police for allegedly assaulting the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Istahifanus Shettima in Abakaliki.

The officials were rounded up on Wednesday at Presco roundabout on the EnuguAbakaliki expressway. They were also accused of obstructing traffic without adhering to the ethics of their profession.

Those arrested are: Agwatu Ifeanyi, Chime Charles, Eugene Ozoamusi, Otu Onyinyechukwu, Chidi Anthony Ude, Okoye Daniel Chidozie, Egede Sunday, Ochiabuto Joseph and Collins Anidiobi.

The incident, which led to the seizure of three vehicles

From Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

with registration numbers AR 609 FKJ Lagos, AA 905 NKE Ebonyi and AO 419 RS (a patrol vehicle belonging to the corps), attracted a team of policemen, who rescued the DCP and allowed easy flow of traffic.

The command spokesman DSP Sylvester Igbo said but for the latest incident, both agencies were not at loggerheads.

He said an accident between a tricycle operator and a motorcyclist with registration numbers AKL 041 GD and QB 764 SM led to the conflict.

The new Sector Commandant of FRSC, Ebonyi State, Taiwo Eseyin, said the matter has been resolved, adding that both agencies are working for the interest of Nigerians.

•From left: College Registrar, National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Prof. Oluwole Atoyebi; President, Prof.

Victor Wakwe; and Vice-President, Prof. Rasheed Arogundade, during the 31st pre-convocation and news conference, held on the college premises... yesterday. PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA

PDM begins online registration

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HE newly- registered Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) will on Monday launch its online membership registration.

A statement by the Media Adviser to the National Chairman of the party, Alaba Yusuf, said PDM is set to blaze the trail as the first party to do online registration of members.

The launch, billed for the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, will be led by the National Chairman Malam Bashir Yusuf.

Other stakeholders are also expected to be registered.

Alaba said the exercise is to show that online registration is possible.

The statement reads: “In

By Augustine Avwode

line with its avowed commitment to openness, fair and free democratic practice, the Peoples Democratic Movement is to launch, for the first time in Nigeria, its online membership registration in Abuja on September 16.

“Also at the event, the National Chairman Mallam Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim and some stakeholders will be registered officially – to demonstrate that online registration is possible, achievable and good. Online membership registration creates a level playing field for Nigerians of voting age in and outside the country to participate in governance through authentic party membership.”

Hospital to discount IVF treatment

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HE Chief Medical Director of St. Ives Medical Fertility Hospital, Dr. Tunde Okewale, has said the hospital would reduce the cost of Intro-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment for infertile couples by 50 per cent.

He said the initiative was to assist childless couples, who could not afford the cost of the treatment.

Okewale, who spoke in Lagos, said the offer would start next month.

He said although IVF is effective in treating infertility, its cost has discouraged couples.

Okewale said: “The issue of cost has been a major challenge to those, who need the service. A cycle of IVF costs between N800,000 and N1 million. How many Nigerians can afford that?”

IGP Abubakar weds tomorrow

I

NSPECTOR-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar will tomorrow be joined in holy matrimony with his heartthrob, Zahra Fatima Bunu.

The Nikkah is billed to hold at the Central Mosque, Abuja by 10:30am. Thereafter, guests will move to the Dome, Central Area District, Abuja for the reception.

Abubakar, 55, lost his first wife to cancer shortly after his

From Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja

appointment as the IGP in January last year. His would-be bride is 35-year-old Zahra, daughter of former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Ibrahim Bunu.

Top government officials, security chiefs, the business community and members of the diplomatic corps are expected to attend the event.

•Abubakar and his would-be bride, Zahra

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ASUU: Ex-lawmaker threatens to mobilise students, parents

HE Executive Secretary, Anti-Corruption Network and former lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Mr. Dino Melaye, yesterday threatened to mobilise students and parents to protest against the lingering Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

He said he would do this if the Federal Government fails to call off the strike in the next one week.

In a statement in Abuja, the ex-legislator warned the government to resolve the crisis or face the consequences.

Said he: “We are giving the Federal Government one week ultimatum concerning the ASUU strike. By next Friday if the government refuses to resolve the ASUU crisis, we will mobilise parents and students across the country and protest to the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja where we will register our protest against an insensitive government.”

•Gives Fed Govt one week ultimatum From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

Melaye described the industrial action as a reflection of bad governance.

According to him, UNESCO and the United Nations have recommended that 24 per cent of the budget of every country should be for education.

He said what the country has budgeted for education is less than three per cent “and N92 billion is what the Federal Government cannot provide for ASUU.” Melaye went on: “The same government budgeted N245 billion for subsidy and ended up spending N2.3 trillion, over N2 trillion above the budget.”

The former lawmaker said when it is convenient for the Federal Government, it borrows money. He added that if it could secure a loan of $1.1

billion from the US, why is it difficult for the Federal Government to raise N92 billion to solve the problem of education.

The statement reads: “Education is the bedrock of every development, it is the bedrock of any nation. It is shameful that the Federal Government is showing this lackadaisical posture towards the next generation.

“If the Federal Government is serious, there is something in the parliament called the virement. There are lots of contracts that have been budgeted for in this dispensation that they have not even started.

“What the Federal Government needs to do is for the President to write the National Assembly and seek a virement or even take a loan. They can spend money on frivolities, they can spend money on

many unreasonable things.

But the Federal Government cannot source N92 billion. It shows that it is not a responsible government.

“The Federal Government as far back as 2009 went into an agreement with ASUU. Why would you agree to what you don’t intend to do?

A gentleman will go into an agreement and then carry out the agreement to the letter.

The agreement was made in 2009; why was there no budgetary provision for the agreement in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013?

“Why would the Federal Government enter into an agreement they don’t intend to implement? We are giving them one week of grace. If by next Friday, the Federal Government does not resolve its crisis with ASUU, we will mobilise students and parents to the streets to protest against this government.”

Polio eradication: Nigeria needs N40b

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IGERIA needs N40 billion ($250) for its 20132015 polio eradication programme.

The country’s fight to eradicate polio received a boost yesterday as KFW, a German bank, announced a support of •32 million to the country for the implementation of the polio programme and another •5 million for security.

The country is also eyeing additional •40 million from Germany’s •100 million additional support for 2014 2017 through the same bank.

German Embassy’s Charge de Affairs Klemens Moemkes, announced the financial assistance shortly before the signing of the phase V financing and project agreement between Nigeria and Germany at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja.

The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado Mohammad and the Programme Manager, KFW bank, Germany, Dr. Weth Wolfgang, witnessed the signing.

The ceremony was coordinated by the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri.

Moemkes said the assistance was part of his country’s efforts to support Nigeria’s

•Signs agreement with Germany From Vincent Ikuomola and Nike Adebowale, Abuja

programme to eradicate polio.

Said he: “We are making available for this phase of the programme, 37 million pounds and around 32 million pounds for the implementation programme and five million pounds for security programme.

“The target is children under five years.”

Prof. Onwuliri said the

agreement is expected to facilitate the release of •35.5milion by KFW of Germany to assist Nigeria combat the scourge and transmission of polio “as well as bridge the resource gap in our fight against polio.”

She said in 2012, the country also signed a similar agreement to the tune of •17.5million with the same bank to finance three immunisation programmes.

The total assistance by Germany through the KFW

would exceed •88 million.

She told her guests that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration is appreciative of the contribution of the Germans.

Prof. Onwuliri attributed the incidence of polio to ignorance and poverty.

She, however, said government is doing everything to eradicate the scourge as it did with Guinea worm.

Nigeria, she said, would receive a certificate of clean health bill in Guinea worm from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in December.

EU launches peace stability programme

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HE European Union (EU), in collaboration with civil society groups, has launched a programme aimed at stabilising the peace process in Plateau State.

The EU peace building project, known as the “European Union instrument for stability support of peace building and conflict prevention in Plateau State”, is to be implemented by civil society groups, such as the APURIMAC ONLUS, GIZ and SFCG. EU representative, Alan Munday, said yesterday during the launch of the pro-

From YUSUFU Aminu Idegu, Jos,

gramme at Crest Hotel, Jos: “The programme is EU’s contribution to the ongoing peace process in Plateau State.

“Plateau is already overcoming its security challenges and EU feels it is high time it provided support to government and the indigenes to consolidate on the peace achieved so far.”

He went on: “The programme will be directed at solving the causes of conflicts and their consequences, including tackling poverty, job

creation, income generation and capacity building.

“EU is exploiting the experience of the three civil society organisations, who have been involved in peace-building programmes.”

Governor Jonah Jang, who was represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs Olivia Dazyem said: “At last, the state is about to enjoy peace after 13 years of conflicts.”

Governor Jang, who hailed EU for the peace project, expressed the determination of his administration to make Plateau a model of peace.

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THE NATION FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

NEWS ‘Stop parading yourself as Arigidi monarch’ From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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HE Ondo State government has told the Zaki of Arigidi-Akoko in Akoko Northwest Local Government Area, Oba Yisa Olanipekun, to stop parading himself as the monarch of the town, pending the determination of a suit before the Supreme Court.

In two letters issued by the ministries of Justice and Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, the government said Olanipekin’s entitlements should be stopped with immediate effect.

The government’s directive followed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Akure Division, which set aside the embattled monarch’s approval by the government.

On June 19, the appellate court asked him to stop parading himself as the traditional ruler of the town.

It said the approval was done in disobedience to a court order.

Traffic on Benin/Ore/ Ijebu-Ode road

•Fayemi presenting a certificate to a volunteer, Mr. Aladewu Cosmas...yesterday. With them are Prof. Adelabu (left); Aluko (second right) and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Productivity and Human Capital Development, Mrs. Funmilayo Ajayi.

Ekiti empowers 5,000 youths with N150m

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T

Ajimobi gives woman N1m for honesty

APC: Ladoja is known for pedestrian politics

HERE is a heavy traffic jam on the Benin/Ore/ Ijebu-Ode/Sagamu.

A commercial driver, simply identified as Mr. Johnson, said the gridlock was caused by bad portions of the road between Ore and Ijebu-Ode. He said he left Benin at 6:30am and was still in Ondo State at 7:30pm.

Johnson urged relevant agencies to act quickly.

O

YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday gave N1 million to a pilgrim for her honesty.

Alhaja Muinatu Agboluaje, who went on last year’s Hajj, found N5 million and returned it to officials of the State Pilgrims Welfare Board.

The governor said he would sponsor two winners of a Quranic competition, Mr. Ismail Ibrahim and Miss Zainab Abdul-Razaq, to Mecca.

He spoke at the Olodo Hajj Camp in Ibadan, the state capital, while addressing intending pilgrims to Mecca.

The governor said he was impressed with the competitors’ mastery of the Quran.

He said the first set of pilgrims would travel from Ibadan.

Ajimobu urged them to be good ambassadors of the state.

He advised politicians to desist from the politics of “falsehood and character assassination” and urged the people to continue to support his administration.

Chairman of the State Pilgrims Welfare Board Alhaji Taofeek Akewugbagold said 1,227 pilgrims would perform this year’s Hajj. He said 700 pilgrims would leave for Saudi Arabia between Monday and next Tuesday.

The Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Arisekola-Alao, and an Islamic scholar, Sheikh Muideen Bello, hailed Ajimobi for transforming the state and urged the people to support him.

HE Ekiti State government yesterday empowered 5,000 youths with N150 million.

The beneficiaries are members of batches A and B of the Ekiti Project Volunteers (EPV) Corps.

They were engaged by the government in July, 2011, and collect N10,000 allowance monthly.

The N150 million would be shared among the youths, who had been trained in various skills, to help them succeed in their chosen fields.

At a special parade by the corps at Christ’s School in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Governor Kayode Fayemi said the number of registered unemployed youths in the state was over 5,000.

He said his administration established the Job

T

HE Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Party (APC) has condemned the “verbal attacks” on Governor Abiola Ajimobi by former Governor Rashidi Ladoja and the Accord.

It said Oyo needs to be rescued from Ladoja’s “petty politics”.

From Sulaimon Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

Creation and Employment Agency (JCEA) to engage, at least, 20,000 youths by October, 2014.

Fayemi said the Civil Service Commission, Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and others had been mandated to give 20 per cent of their vacancies to the volunteers.

He described the creation of the Ekiti Volunteers Scheme as “one of the quick-win strategies” to create jobs.

JCEA Director-General Folorunso Aluko said 12,606 youths had been taken off the streets and posi-

In a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, APC said: “The Accord and its leader are still in a deep slumber. They do not realise that Oyo has since left the era of cheap blackmail and petty, pedestrian politics.

“This is a reflection of what we had been telling our people about the low-level

politics we inherited. We built a first-class overhead bridge and Ladoja said it was sub-standard. We beautified Ibadan and he said it was not necessary. Now, he is harping on an intangible issue that does not in any way shape our people’s lives.

“Ladoja is an authority in divisive politics. Oyo and

tively engaged by the Fayemi administration.

Aside the 5,000 selected for the volunteer corps, Aluko said 300 had been employed by the Ekiti State Traffic Management Agency (EKSTMA); 1,500 by the Youth Commercial Agriculture Development (YCAD); 166 by the State Fire Service; 1,500 by the Waste Management Agency and 3,500 were engaged in vocational programmes.

The event was attended by the Deputy Governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu; Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Dr. Ganiyu Owolabi; commissioners and traditional rulers.

The youths called for Fayemi’s reelection, saying it would benefit more youths.

Ibadan people have been living as brothers, but Ladoja is not happy with that amity.

His goal is to cause disunity among them.”

APC challenged Ladoja to react to the allegation that he “sent thugs to demolish” the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s statue during his tenure as governor.

•A cross section of the protesters...yesterday.

Retirees protest non-payment of gratuity

H

UNDREDS of Federal Government workers retrenched in 2007 yesterday protested the anomalies in the payment of their gratuity in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The protesters were from the 23 research institutes and River Basin Development Authorities across the country, including the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN),

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

Forestry Research Institute (FRIN), National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI) and National Stored Product Research Institute (NSPR), among others.

They alleged that the three centres designated by the Federal Government for the payment of their severance ben-

efits were involved in all sorts of malpractices.

The protest was led by Comrade Bari Oyeladun, the National Coordinator of the affected workers.

Oyeladun said: “Some of us were paid little; some were not paid at all; some were shortchanged. “.

He said most hit by the “fraud” was Mrs. Bolajoko Odunmorayo, who worked

with CRIN for 26 years, but records provided by those saddled with paying her benefits showed that she worked for only six years.

Oyeladun said Mr. Odeyemi Mathew, who served the government for 33 years, was paid N1,406,601.52 instead of over N3 million.

The protesters urged the Federal Government to intervene.

‘Upgrade polytechnics, colleges’

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HE President of the Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu and Executive Chairman of the Polytechnic, Ile-Ife, Dr. Ramon Adedoyin, has urged the Federal Government to upgrade polytechnics and colleges of education to degree-awarding institutions as obtained in most developed nations.

He urged the government to give education the attention it deserves.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, Adedoyin said: “Britain, after whom our educational system is tailored, jettisoned the idea of National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) decades ago for full degrees.”

He said polytechnics should be allowed to award degrees in technology while colleges of education and universities award education and academic degrees.

On the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, Adedoyin urged the union and the Federal Government to reach a compromise in the interest of the students.

He advised the government to always study proposals by unions before agreeing to them.

Adedoyin called for the introduction of vocational studies in tertiary institutions and information technology in elementary schools.

On his vision for the Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, the educationist said the institution was being positioned to be a reference point in tertiary education in the world.

9

THE NATION FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

NEWS

Fayemi urged to intervene in Efon crisis E

•Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola (left) and the Chairman of the occasion, Hon. Wale Oshun, who represented former Governor Bisi Akande at the public presentation of a book, titled: Work In Progress, at the National Centre for Technology Management at the Obafemi Awolowo University (O.A.U.), Ile-Ife, Osun State...yesterday.

Amosun decries delay in federal allocation •Ogun promotes 3,272 teachers

O

GUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has berated the Federal Government on the “continuous delay” in the release of states’ allocation from the Federation Account.

He said the delay could cause untold hardship for Nigerians.

The governor spoke at the inauguration of the men’s wing of the Mission to Rebuild Ogun State (MITROS) at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, the state capital.

He said the allocation meant for states and local governments were not fully released to them.

Amosun said: “The situation became critical last month. As I speak, we are yet to collect anything from Abuja. Salaries have not been paid in several states

because many states rely on federal allocation to pay their workers. You will agree with me that this is causing untold hardship for Nigerians.”

Explaining that Ogun workers had been paid last month’s salary, he said: “I must attribute this feat to the cooperation of the good people of Ogun, who paid their taxes promptly. We are one of the few states that have paid August salary. I thank every one of you that has been paying your tax and levies promptly. I enjoin individuals and companies that are not yet paying their taxes to fulfil this patriotic duty.

“We will use the money judiciously. You are already seeing what we are doing with your money. We are building roads, bridges and providing free education

and security.”

Amosun praised his wife, Olufunso, for initiating the MITROS project, adding that the group was not funded by the government.

Mrs. Amosun thanked local government coordinators of MITROS for making the day possible.

Also yesterday, the governor approved the promotion of 3,272 teaching and non-teaching workers in public secondary schools.

They were successful in last year’s promotion examination and interview conducted by the State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM).

TESCOM Chairman Ms Olubukunola Onabanjo, in a statement, said of the 3,272 promoted, 743 are on Grade Levels 12–17, 1,604 on Grade Levels 07–10 and 926 in the junior cadre.

Fed Govt sites Brigade headquarters in Ekiti

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HE Federal Government has approved the establishment of a Brigade headquarters of the Nigerian Army in Aaye-Ekiti, Ido-Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

According to a letter by the Ministry of Defence and addressed to Governor Kayode Fayemi, the Brigade Headquarters would be

sited on a property previously vested in the Nigerian Army since 1969.

The Defence Ministry said the community had made available 50.94 hectares of land for the army unit.

The ministry said military presence would boost economic development and security.

Cleric warns PDP against rigging ROPHET Theophilus Olabayo of the Evangelical Church of Yahweh has warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to steer clear of the Southwest in 2015 to avoid dire consequence.

He said any attempt to rig the 2015 election in the region would boomerang.

Prophet Olabayo said the region was an exclusive of the progressives and should be left in their custody.

He said: “If PDP tries to take over the Southwest, there will be crisis because it will boomerang. G o d revealed to me that the crisis will be very high and I am warning them not to attempt it.”

Bemoaning Nigeria’s woes under the PDP’s lead-

P

By Musa Odoshimokhe

ership, the cleric said: “This country has never witnessed the present level of corruption before. If I were President Goodluck Jonathan, I will stick to one term. I will toe Mandela’s path, rather than that of the late General Sani Abacha, who wanted to perpetuate himself in office.

“An extension of his tenure will be counter-productive. God loves him so much and he should not bring the country into danger. He should drop the idea of contesting the 2015 election.”

On the PPD crisis, he said: “PDP officials are very corrupt. Jonathan should seek genuine reconciliation with stakeholders and seek the face of the Lord. The only

way crisis can be avoided in the country is for our leaders to listen to the voice of God and do the right thing.

They should not allow what happened in the 1960s to happen again. The opposition is not better.”

On the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, Prophet Olabayo said the government was not doing enough to end the strike.

He said: “Our students have been roaming the streets and some of them have become armed robbers.”

The cleric said many governors had forgotten those who voted for them and have become demi-gods. He urged leaders to be accountable and sensitive to the needs of the masses.

KITI indigenes in Lagos have urged Governor Kayode Fayemi to intervene in the crisis rocking Efon Kingdom, so that peace can return to the community.

Members of community associations, including the Hercules Club, Paramount Club, Crony Club, Efon Study Group and Federation of Efon Students Unions, expressed concern over the rift between the paramount ruler, Oba Adesanya Aladejare, and the six kingmaker/heads of quarters in the town.

Hercules Club Secretary Caleb Ayegbusi, who spoke on their behalf, said: “I believe the governor should wade into the rift so that peace will not elude the peace-loving people of Efon-Alaaye. This is the time for our illustrious sons and daughters to return home for a meeting to resolve the crisis.”

The six kingmakers Obanla John Fakorede (Aaye Quarters), Obaloja Pariola (Obalu), Oisajigan (Ejigan), Peteeko Ojo (Isaja), Alaayo Folayan (Emo) and Ojubu Olowookere (Ikagbe)- have been shunning the daily meeting of the Oba-inCouncil presided over by the Alaaye of Efonland.

They accused the monarch of not “protecting

By Emmanuel Oladesu

their interests” before the state government. According to the high chiefs, Efon is a confederation coordinated by the paramount ruler and the quarters have their distinct identities.

Other chiefs accused the monarch of being overbearing, indiscriminate dethronement of chief, hijacking land belonging to some families and monopolisation of the five per cent of the Efon Council’s monthly allocation for traditional rulers and chiefs.

Yesterday, commercial activities were paralysed in the ancient town. Shops closed abruptly and commercial vehicles and motorcycles were off the street, following hints that residents were planning a protest in solidarity with the high chiefs.

The yearly Ogun festival was nearly put on hold, as the traditional Ojabalu market was closed.

The dispute between the traditional ruler and the chiefs began after the governor distributed vehicles to traditional rulers and chiefs.

Some local governments got 10 cars, but only one car was sent to Efon Council, “based on the

monarch’s request”.

The chiefs complained that they were excluded from the benefits because the Alaaye did not fight for their interests.

However, a chief from one of the quarters urged caution, saying the Alaaye may have been grossly misunderstood.

He said: “Our royal father is a modern king and a dynamic ruler. I urge eminent indigenes to wade into the crisis and restore peace.”

A community leader, Chief Joseph Alake, the Erungbua of Obalu Quarters, urged the chiefs to return to the palace and dialogue with the Alaaye, saying the crisis can retard the community’s growth.

He added: “We want peace in Efon. I believe we can settle whatever problem we have amicably. I urge our royal father and his chiefs to close ranks in the interest of our community.”

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Akin SmartOyeyemi, urged prominent indigenes to intervene, saying: “If the crisis escalates, it will assume many dimensions. That is why I am calling on our elders to wade into the logjam.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

10

CITYBEATS Firm condemns invasion of Why importers must pay its production plant Wharf landing fee, by Fashola A G

CITYBEATS LINE: 08023247888

O V E R N O R Babatunde Fashola yesterday restated the need for importers to pay Wharf landing fee on all cargoes entering Lagos state.

Addressing over 3,000 maritime operators at a stakeholders' forum, he said every importer would pay N1,000 on each 40-foot container, N500 for 20-foot and N300 on every vehicle imported through the ports.

He decried a situation where the Federal Government makes billions of naira monthly from Lagos ports without corresponding impact on infrastructural development in the state.

By Mirian Ekene-Okoro and Oluwakemi Dauda

The state, Fashola said, had spent over N50billion to repair most of the 117 federal roads in its domain, adding that the money was yet to be paid back by the Federal Government.

The governor said the Wharf landing fee was introduced to repair the damages done by heavy trucks to the 3,028 state and 6,415 local government roads in the state.

The fee, he said, had been harmonised by the state to facilitate trade and eliminate arbitrary charges by the local government authorities.

The Chairman of the Wharf Landing Fee Authority, Alhaji

M. A. Kekere-Ekun, said Section 4 of the Law on Wharf Landing empowered the agents to stop any vehicle to determine whether the goods being conveyed fell under those to pay the fee, and upon inspection, are empowered to collect the fee to ensure compliance with the laws.

In a paper titled: 'The Evolution and Legality of the Wharf Landing Fee Collection,' Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye, said failure to pay the fee would attract N500,000 fine for corporate bodies in addition to paying the Wharf charges and the cost of litigation.

Individuals will pay

N100,000 fine, with the Wharf landing fee and the cost of litigation.

Speaking for trucks operators under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Mr Oloye Remi Ogungbemi, praised Fashola for his efforts to reduce the man hour lost on the roads before he took over the responsibility of repairing most of the federal roads in the state.

A representative of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Chimezie Anyafolo, said stakeholders were ready to support the government on hitch-free collection of the fee.

Exhibition at Ikeja City Mall

By Tonia 'Diyan

TODAY, the Ikeja City Mall will come alive as Nigeria's top models Adedamola-Cruz Adebowale, Lola Lawal and others participate in runway exhibitions at the second edition of its fashion and music show.

The event will also host internationally renowned models, like Ken Okoli (Mr Nigeria 2010), Victor Kwen, Francis Chinko, Kelvin Godson, Michelle Udoka (Miss Global Nigeria 2013) and Micus Pius (Mr Universe Nigeria 2013).

It will feature guest designers like YOMI CASUAL, MON-AMI, SIGNATURE by ANIFERAZ and J-REASON. Apart from prolific Sound City presenter, S.DOT, young musical talents like Ayoola, winner of Project Fame 2012; T-songz, Korede Bello, I-Rap, Mykey O, Karate Kid, and ElPhlex among others, will rock the show.

Clothing stores like US Polo, ADIDAS, Daviva, Woolworths, Funchini, Markham, Levis, NIKE, United Colour of Benetton and Twice As Nice will showcase their outfits.

Besides side attractions and musical performances, it will also feature comedy, dance, raffle draws, special sales/ auctions and celebrity guest appearances.

HE Midwestern Oil and Gas has deplored an attack on its production site in Umusadege in Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State, by some youths.

In a statement last night, the Company Secretary, Chris Omoru, said the youths shut down the plant after overpowering the guards.

They also allegedly molested some wokers.

The statement reads: "The immediate reason for the attack is not known. However, two weeks before they struck, a certain group under the aegis of Umusadege Youth Forum had written two letters to the management of Midwestern Oil and Gas alleging "no regard to the constituted authority of our land", claiming also that the "primary benefits" accruable to the community are ignored.

"The letter further threatened that if the company did not respond to the issues raised, it will be compelled to "take any action that will disrupt the smooth operation of your organisation. The allegations were as strange as they were unfounded, given the fact that the company has been very active in the discharge of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which has been through scholarship awards to the youths of the

community, skill acquisition, renovation of classrooms, building of roads, provision of water scheme, etc.

"The truth is that the company has been utmostly responsible in its dealings with the legitimate representatives of the community in line with the corporate governance structure and as enshrined in the executed memorandum of understanding (MoU). The said Umusadege Youth Forum is unknown to the relationship between the company and the community.

"Indeed, not only has the community condemned the assailants, it has reiterated its commendation for the beneficial relationship that exists between them and Midwestern Oil and Gas. "The Community Liaison Officer of Midwestern Oil and Gas relates well with the leadership of the community.

And there has never been cause for the scale of violence perpetrated by the assailants.

“We therefore condemn the unwarranted attack on our personnel and facilities and call for the arrest and prosecution of those behind the attack.

“While we promise to deal with the legitimate representatives of the community, we urge the residents to resolve whatever internal differences that exist among them.”

Startimes rewards customers

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• Civil Defence men loading the product before handing it over to the NNPC

Civil Defence returns recovered PMS to NNPC

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HE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Lagos State Command, has handed over 25,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The petroleum product, The Nation learnt, was recovered from oil vandals and thieves across the Lagos metropolis in recent times.

The Commandant, Lagos State Command of the Corps, Mr Clement Dayo Adesuyi,

By Uyoatta Eshiet

urged residents of the state and other well-meaning Nigerians to assist his men with useful information concerning the illegal activities going on around them.

"In as much as the vandals and oil thieves are not ready to do away with their criminal habits, we in the NSCDC are more than committed to giving them tough times until they look for something legal to do as a means of livelihood.

This is a clear signal to the criminals that their illicit trade is over because our men are ready for them," he said.

He stressed the need for collaboration among other security agencies in ensuring the safety of the lives and property of the citizenry in the country.

The Corps' spokesman, Mefor Chibuzo, assured the public that all the information made available to the Corps by the people would be treated with utmost secrecy.

leading satellite television provider, Startimes, has rewarded its customers with cash prizes and products worth about N14 million.

It was at its Third Anniversary Splash, where it also announced the launch of six more channels.

While three customers won N1million naira cash prize each, 16 others got N100,000 each for their patronage in the 16 states covered in the year.

Many won other prizes in the draws.

Chief Executive Officer, NTA Star TV Network Limited, Joshua Wang, who announced the outfit's new channels, said they would satisfy the yearnings of its over 1.5million subscribers.

He said Startimes had been

launched in 16 states across the country, while there are plans to cover 15 more states before the end of the year.

Being the biggest paid TV in Nigeria, Wang said the organisation would switch to digital from analog by January 1, 2015.

The Public Relations Manager, Rete Anetor, said the new channels would give subscribers affordable pay TV, adding: "Startimes will ensure that every home in Nigeria enjoys affordable digital entertainment backed by the collaboration with NTA, a strategic partnership that will help Nigeria actualise its 2015 transition deadline. The new stations include GET TV, OH Africa, Fine Living and Jim Jam, and the NBA TV"

Honour for people's servants A COMMUNITY newspaper, Inside Ajeromi News, will tomorrow honour 12 people for their contributions to the development of AjeromiIfelodun Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The event will hold at the Nigeria Army Officers Mess, Arakan Barracks, Apapa, Lagos.

The Chairman, Eyegate Media Limited, publishers of the newspaper, Ndukwe Edward, said the "Development Pillars Award," is to recognise those that who have used their resources for the indigent, as well as participated in the development of the area."

He said the award was instituted seven years ago to celebrate role models like: May Uzor, a broadcaster with WAZOBIA F.M; a musician, Pastor Dolly; Francis Amos, Chief Okoye Mbanefo, and Opadeji Opeyemi Olumide.

•Deputy Director, Transport Safety, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Jide Oduyoye; Corps Marshal and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Osita Chidoka, and Commissioner for Transport, Lagos State, Kayode Opeifa, at the second stakeholders’ forum on speed limit device enforcement in Nigeria.

PHOTO: ADEJO DAVID

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

11

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Dangote sets tone for Africa’s industrial bloc

By Akinola Ajibade

A

FRICA’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has set the tone for a stronger and highly competitive industrial bloc in Africa, Harvard Business School (HBS), said in a report.

In the report, entitled: ‘ Nigeria’s Big Gamble on One Indigenous Entrepreneur,’ and carried out by two of its Professors, Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu, it said Dangote has the potentials to rivaling Samsung, a conglomerate which has become a driving force in Korean’s economy.

The report said: “Samsung started off as a trading company, evolved to textiles and food processing, and then on to high-value added manufacturing. Today their business spans electronics, shipbuilding, construction and aerospace, among many other industries.

Samsung’s story is a microcosm of the Korean growth miracle. Similarly Dangote’s business, which has already transformed from a trading company to a manufacturer of cement and flour, could now be moving into a new phase of higher value-added products. This step into more complex “jobs”, may also draw other African conglomerates into the mix, and create a platform for rapid industrialization.

It said Dangote, being an insider with political connections at the highest level, is better positioned to directly fill the market’s voids and deal with the political risks which many foreign companies with interest in Nigeria cannot do.

According to the report, Chinese investors’ success in countries such as Angola and Sudan cannot be translated to Nigeria because they do not understand the complex mix of political dynamism in Nigeria.

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$117.4/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,396.9/troy Sugar -$163/lb MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE -N11.4 trillion JSE -Z5.112trillion NYSE -$10.84 trillion LSE -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -8.7% Treasury Bills -10.58%(91d) Maximum lending -30% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -1% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $46.8b FOREX CFA -0.2958 EUR -206.9 £ -242.1 $ -156 ¥ -1.9179 SDR -238 RIYAL -40.472

Risk management could entail avoiding the risk completely, reducing the negative impact of the risk through risk mitigation actions, transfering or sharing the risks with other parties and retaining the risk; ie, accepting some or all the consequences of the risk and budgeting for it.

- Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CBN Governor

BPE generates N251.5b from 122 privatised firms T HE Bureau of Public En terprises (BPE) gener ated N251.5billion from 122 privatised firms handled from 1999 -2012, the Director-General, Benjamin Ezra Dikki, has disclosed.

Dikki, who spoke while receiving a team from the Standard & Poors’ and Fitch Rating Agencies on a visit to the Bureau on Wednesday, said out of the amount, N147billion was remitted to the Privatisation Proceeds Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He told the team led by Richard Fox that was at the Bureau in continuation of this year’s Nigeria Sovereign Rating exercise, that out of the privatised enterprises, 66 per cent

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

were doing well, while 34 per cent have issues to be sorted out.

The BPE helmsman maintained that the government is creating an enabling environment for private sector investments in infrastructure through the institution of sound policies, liberalisation and delineation of the roles of the parties, appropriate legal and regulatory framework, mitigation of risks and introduction of independent economic regulators limiting

government to policy formulation, planning and technical regulation, among others.

He said the BPE has championed cross-cutting reforms in the nation’s economy, including; the Pension Reform Act 2004 which led to the establishment of the National Pension Commission, and the entrenchment of a stable pension policy in Nigeria, as well as the emergence of several Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs); Cross debt resolution, leading to the establishment of Debt Management Office (DMO) and Ports and Harbour

Authorities Bill which proposes to repeal the Nigerian Ports Authority Act No. 38, 1999.

Dikki, whose presentation was contained in a statement

by BPE spokesman, Chigbo Anichebe, was represented by the Head, Strategic Planning, Osauzo Obaro.

He said the Bureau is working to commercialise the country’s 12 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs), the seven national parks, the three Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)-Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOI), the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FNBN), as well as the Federal Housing Authority.

• From left: Manager, Public Relations, Brass LNG, Mr Lawrence Cobham; representative of the Managing Director, OILDATANIC, Mr Debo Fagbemi and General Manager, Addax Petroleum, Mr Chike Nwosu, at the 1st Youth Oil and Gas Retreat in Lagos...yesterday.

$10b investments exist in oil, gas sector yearly

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VER $10billion worth of investments oppor tunities exist for young professionals in the midstream Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, the General Manager, Public Affairs, Brass Liquefied Natural Gas BLNG), Lawrence Cobham, has said.

Speaking during the first Oil and Gas Retreat in Lagos with the theme: ‘Opportunities for Indigenous Youth Entrepreneur in the Oil Sector,’ Cobham stressed the need for Nigerian youths to think towards benefiting from the $10 billion, which according to him, is currently being generated from the country’s

By Ambrose Nnaji

oil and gas services sector.

“This industry is very high capital intensive, and any investor should be ready to take risk. There is opportunity in domestic manufacturing of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder. There is also opportunity in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), and it is cheaper than Premium Motor Spirit and diesels.”

He said most of the cars that come into this country have capacity for use of CNG, adding that young people should begin to look for ways to make themselves

relevant in the oil and gas sector.

There is a lack of skills in the oil and gas sector, he said, noting that many oil and gas professionals may reach retirement age in the next 10 years and there will be need for more professionals, regretting that there is no adequate succession plan in the oil and gas industry.

He said the NNPC has been in the forefront of promoting CNG and it is willing to partner with any investor who may be interested in investing in it.

Stakeholders at the forum agreed that there are numer-

ous opportunities in the services sector of the oil and gas industry, which the new comers could explore.

They were of the view that Nigerian youths could explore the range of opportunities available in the country’s service industry, which they said currently generate $10 billion yearly The General Manager, Development and Asset Management, Addax Petroleum, Chikezie Nwosu, stressed the need for more indigenous participation in the oil and gas deepwater zone, which according to him, is presently dominated by international companies.

Govt inaugurates subsidy payment committee

By Ambrose Nnaji

T

HE Federal Government has constituted a sevenmember Pan-industry Committee to explore ways of resolving the lingering dispute between the Ministry of Finance and petroleum products marketing and trading companies over delays in payment of subsidy reimbursements.

The Committee which represents different players in the downstream petroleum industry, is to be chaired by the Executive-Secretary of the Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Thomas Olawore, and be assisted by Mr. E. Kanawa of MRS Oil and Gas Limited.

Others are Representives of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources Mr. G.O Komolafe and the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a unit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and Mr. O.O Agbaje of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), who would serve as the Secretary of the committee.

Also named is Mr. Chris Igwe of Mainland Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Collins Ogbu of Northwest Petroleum and Mr. Richard Eze of Dee Jones Petroleum.

While the first four members representing the major marketers and government agencies, the others are representing independent marketers and depot operators in the market.

The Committee is expected to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Finance on how to fast track payment of subsidy reimbursements on imported products in order to cut the financial risk exposures associated with the delays in subsidy payments.

However, a spokesman in the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, had explained that the Ministry and CBN were exhausting efforts to weed out fake marketers that still explored loopholes in the system, adding that some of the claims presented by some marketers were placed under investigation. According to the ministry, detailed scrutiny of the claims would inevitably take some time and entail delays in payment of claims.

With the constitution of the Olawore committee, it is expected that all parties in the subsidy arrangement would evolve a workable processes of fast tracking claims verification and payment of reimbursements to marketers within the agreed time frame.

Lagos imposes wharf landing fees on containers

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HE Lagos State Gov ernment has imposed charges on containers, the Governor, BabatundeFashola (SAN) has indicated.

He said every importer would pay N1,000 on 40ft container, N500 on every 20ft container and N300 on every vehicle imported through the ports, adding a situation whereby the Federal Government makes billions of naira every months from the

By Oluwakemi Dauda

Lagos ports without taking cognisance of the negative impacts of the activities on infrastructural development in the state, is not equitable.

Fashola disclosed that Lagos State government has spent over N15billion to repair most of the 117 Federal roads in the state, saying the money was yet to be paid back to it.

The Governor, who spoke

while addressing over 3,000 maritime operators at a stakeholders’ forum yesterday, said the port landing fee was introduced to repair the damages done by the heavy trucks to 3,028 state and 6,415 local government roads in the state.

He explained that the wharf landing fees have been harmonised by the state to facilitate trade and eliminate arbitrary charges by each of the local government authorities in the

state.

The Chairman of the wharf Landing Fee Authority, Alhaji M A Kekere-Ekun, explained that Section four of the law on Wharf Landing, empowers the agents to stop any vehicle for the purpose of determining whether the goods being conveyed fall under those that should pay the fee, saying upon inspection, they are empowered to collect the fees for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the laws.

• Fashola

12

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

NEWS Flight Schedule

Customs re- opens NAHCO, SAHCOL warehouses

MONDAY - FRIDAY LAGOS – ABUJA Departure Arrival 1. Aero 06.50 08.10 2. Associated 07.00 09.30 3. Air Nigeria 07.00 08.20 4. IRS 07.00 08.20 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.

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

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

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

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

LAGOS – PORT HARCOURT (CIVIL) 1. Aero 07.15 08.35 2. Arik 07.15 08.35 3. Arik 09.00 10.20 4. 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.

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

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

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LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

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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

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

LAGOS – UYO 10.35

11.35

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

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

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• From left: Directorate Head, Far North Bank, UBA Plc, Abubakar Bello; Chief Medical Director, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) Professor Aminu Zakari Mohammed; Managing Director/CEO, UBA Foundation, Ijeoma Aso and Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, AKTH, Dr. Mohammed Sani Mijinyawa, during the presentation of Incubators to the Hospital by UBA Foundation, in Kano ...on Tuesday.

NIMET targets N20b revenue from weather forecast service

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HE Numeric Weather Predic tion (NWP) designed by the Directorate of Weather Forecast, Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) is capable of generating about N20 billion annually, Director-General, NIMET, Dr. Anthony Anuoforom, has said.

Anuoforom, said the initiative embraced by specialised weather forecasting centres across the globe is made of sophisticated, knowledge-based weather technique, capable of enhancing safety in the nation’s aviation sector.

The NIMET boss, who spoke during a briefing at the National Weather and Climate Forecasting Centre, yesterday in Abuja, said the British Meteorological Office is able to generate about N50 billion annually through weather forecast technology.

He explained that the UK Met Office, commercialised the service by providing weather forecast information to the marine sector, agriculture, military, construction,

• Warns Bauchi, 3 other States on heavy rainfall From OlugbengaAdanikin, Abuja

among others.

Anuforom said the agency will also commercialise usage of the equipment for maintenance purpose, stressing that with the technology, the agency can detect precise weather information in local locations that are seven kilometers apart, saying that if the relevant sectors in the country could take advantage of the service, the agency is capable of generating the lump sum.

“We are going to have a sheet in realising our goals by commercialising the NWP for revenue generation. It will do a lot for us in achieving this goal. It will assist in promoting safety in the aviation sector.”

He said if UK Met can make about N50 billion per annum in 2012 for rendering weather forecast serv-

ices, NIMET, through the NWP should be able to make at least N20 billion, he however lamented that except for operators in the aviation sector, no other sector, or corporate body patronises the agency in terms of weather forecast service.

He explained that the NIMETCOSMOS-Model is a non-hydrostatic limited area atmospheric prediction model adapted from the COSMO-DWD, saying it has been designed for both operational NWP and various scientific applications.

“The system is running in NIMET on the T3600 Dell Precision Workstation at 7km spatial resolution which captures localised weather events such as rain over central area,” he added.

The initiative is expected to provide for the aviation sector; surface wind and spot winds at the different flight levels, surface air temperature and temperature at different flight levels, surface pressure and pressure at different levels.

‘Nigeria’s international trade is 92% import, firms made Nigeria IGERIA’s international 8% export’ manufacturing their production hub for the West trade has remained unbal

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anced as the volume of export within the last six months hit 92 per cent , while imports, is eight per cent, the Head of Central West Africa Cluster and Managing Director, Maersk Nigeria Limited (MNL), Mr Jan Thorhauge, has said.

Thorhauge, said most products coming from the Middle East are industrial raw materials, chemicals, electronics, iron and steel and tyres, while industrial raw materials, frozen fish and cars are the goods that come mainly from Europe.

He said the dominant items imported into the country include cars, electronics, construction materials, food items, chemicals, electrical fittings, machinery and pa-

By Toba Agboola

per, among other goods covering industrial as well as private needs.

He said charcoal and agricultural produce, including cocoa, sesame, cashew nuts and cotton, were the commodities mostly exported out of the country in the first half of the year.

He said charcoal export rose by 76 per cent when compared to the same period in 2012. This increase in volume is attributed to the longer winter season experienced in Europe, saying on the other hand, finished products exported out of the country within the period experienced 39 per cent growth because major

African region.

Thorhauge, said Nigeria’s export ratio can be improved upon if government improves on infrastructure, such as power supply, road network and rail services, adding that most of the country’s laden containers come from the Far East, mostly China, while the export commodities have been going into Europe.

There is an increase in sourcing pattern, which is attributed to better pricing from these regions, increase in the age limits of imported automobiles from five to 10 years, increased construction, as well as growing demands for finished products by Nigerian populace, he said.

Automobile clusters coming for Lagos, Nnewi, Kano

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HE Federal Government has concluded plans to create three new automobile clusters and training centres in Lagos, Anambra and Kano states, as part of the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) and Industrial Skills Development Programme.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, disclosed this during the on-going Industrial Training Fund 19th Biennial Training Conference on Skills Acquisition and Job Creation.

He said President Goodluck

By Toba Agboola

Jonathan’s administration is committed to tackling unemployment through the implementation of an integrated, industrial skills and manpower development programme.

He said government has no plan to create a new agency for industrialisation as was being speculated, but was considering transforming an existing agency under the supervision of the Ministry to drive the implementation of its industrialisation policies, in line with an agreement reached at a

stakeholders’ meeting on the NIRP about two months ago.

The Minister said: “As part of our National Industrial Skills Development Programme and the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, the Industrial Training Fund is collaborating with Brazil to develop three automobile training centres and clusters across the country that will meet international standards. They are: Lagos (Ibadan Zone), Nnewi (Aba Zone) and Kano, Kaduna zone automobile clusters. The automobile training centres will train Nigerians in auto maintenance and spare parts production.

INE days after its closure for improper documentation of cargo, the Murtala Muhammed Airport Command of Nigeria Customs Service yesterday opened the warehouses belonging to Nigeria Aviation Handling Company ( NAHCO) Plc and Skyways Aviation Handling Company Limited ( SAHCOL).

The reopening came on the heels of series of meetings held between the firms, clearing agents , airlines and other stakeholders.

Confirming the development, the Public Relations Officer of Customs at the airport , Mrs Thelma Williams, said the warehouses were reopened after the affected parties agreed to the terms of reference for all operations at the cargo terminal Mrs. Williams explained that the firms and other stakeholders have endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding and undertaken to comply with the new standard operations procedure for cargo documentation and release.

Head of Corporate Communications , SAHCOL, Basil Agboarumi , said all differences have been reconciled, and business has resumed again at the import section of the warehouse. The outcome of this will provide better services to all importers and exporters using the SAHCOL gateway, he said.

Also the NAHCO’s spokesman, Mr Adesanya Onayoade, also confirmed the reopening of its warehouse for business.

ARMTI boss urges NASS, CBN on agriculture development From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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NACTMENT of legislation conducive for agricultural players and provision of adequate funds to parastatals and agencies of government will enhance agricultural development in Nigeria, Acting Executive Director, Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Samuel Afolayan has said.

Mr. Afolayan spoke this yesterday in Fufu, headquarters of Ilorin South local government council of Kwara state at the flag-off of ARMTI’s Village Alive Development Initiative (VADI).

ARMTI’s chief executive said that the institute was giving out one million Naira seed money to the farmers which would subsequently be paid back as loan.

He said that “the two major ways NASS can assist agricultural development in Nigeria include putting in place necessary acts that will make the environment conductive for players (farmers, investors and other stakeholder) and provision of appropriate fund to governmental organizations for optimal performance.”

Afolayan said that “we have about 16 groups and each of the group is about 12. We want to give out N1m seed money which will be used by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) as a guarantee and they will now apply for loans based on their needs.”

Said he: “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) can assist to by making more money available to the stakeholders and introduce more attractive products that will encourage people to go into farming.

“Under the CBN programme there are many products which the people can benefit from, that is why we have chosen the agricultural credit guarantee scheme and we also going for the one they call interest drawback.”

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THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

NATION SPORT

Lagos to honour Federation Cup legends THE 2013 Federations Cup final will get underway in Lagos on Sunday. As part of activities to make the occasion a grand one, organisers have included awards for former players that have made the competition glamorous in the past. Below is a compilation of such players and commentator that made a mark during their active days participating in Nigeria’s most glamorous cup competition.

•JOE ERICO

AMUSA SHITTU Amusa Shittu was one of Nigerian footballers that was groomed in Jos, Plateau State. Others were Peter Anieke, Tony Igwe, Sam Garba Okoye, Ismaila Mabo, the Atuegbu Brothers. His rich talent was spotted by Ibadan Lions of the West, who had won the prestigious Challenge Cup in 1959 against the Police, lost to ECN in the final of 1960 and defeated UAC in the 1961 edition with Amusa Shittu scoring the only goal of the epic final. His famous nickname was The Bulldozer. Lagos has always been the Mecca of sports and magnet for stars, hence Amusa Shittu moved from Ibadan to Lagos and teamed up with the darling club of Lagos, the Stationery Stores where he helped the club win the 1975 Mulford Cup, scoring four out of the five goals.

Thereafter, ECN, Stores greatest rivals, grabbed Amusa Shittu and he became a legend and folk hero after leading them to the 1970 Challenge Cup final against Jos, scoring the winning goal.

JOE ERICO Jogo Bonito. He was born Eric Joseph but football fans all over the country preferred to call the amiable, ever smiling goalkeeper Joe Erico, the exponent of the Brazilian creation, Jogo Bonito – ball juggling. Erico is one of the few Nigerians who made a successful transition from active goalkeeping to coaching and with a flair for television football analysis. Joe Erico’s name was synonymous with the great ECN (NEPA) club of Lagos, who were a strong force in Nigerian football of the 1960s and 1970s. At the 1976 Africa Cup of Nations in Ethiopia, Joe Erico distinguished himself and helped Nigeria to our first medal, a bronze. Later he turned to coaching and was equally successful with Julius Berger with which he exhibited the Jogo Bonito principles.

SEBASTIAN BRODERICK- IMASUEN No Nigerian footballer can boast of a number of firsts as Sebastian BroderickImasuen. He was the first to score with a banana kick at the 1972 Challenge Cup final between his club, Bendel Insurance of Benin and the Mighty Jets of Jos, in the first ever final played outside of Lagos, at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. He was among the first set of Nigerian Olympic footballers who played in the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games.

Sebastian Broderick-Imasuen was the first coach in the world that won the maiden FIFA Under 16 World Cup in China 1985.

Earlier he had become the first coach to win the gold medal for junior category at the first National; sports Festival Lagos in 1973.

DOMINIC IORFA Like a bolt from the blue Dominic Iorfa shot onto the Nigerian football scene and immediately captured the admiration of all.

Where did he get his speed from, fans kept asking when he made his Challenge Cup debut at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos in 1985? He led the BCC Lions of Gboko, Benue State in their first Challenge Cup final but lost to Abiola Babes of Abeokuta five four on penalties after full time ended one all. Speedster Dominic Iorfa made the Nigerian team that qualified for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea and was one of the few Nigerian professionals that featured in the English Premiership playing for Queens Park

•SEBASTIAN IMASUEN

BRODERICK-

•DOMINIC IORFA •PAUL HAMILTON

• W A L T E R OYATOGUN

•TOYIN AYINLA

•STANLEY EGUMA •MUDA LAWAL

Rangers (QPR) just as Teslim Balogun had done in the 1960s. Dominic Iorfa is one of the fast rising football administrators who transited from the playing field to the boardroom seamlessly. He is an astute football administrator calling the shot in his state, Benue and on the national scene.

Presently he is one of the pillars of Lobi Stars, and abroad he is looking forward to the day one of his sons will play in the English Premiership.

WALTER OYATOGUN Walter belongs to the very enterprising second generation of Nigerian sports broadcasters that raised its standard to international level. Born in Ghana and fired by the pan Africanism extolled by the great President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Walter took to sports early in life and acquired professional skill as a Physical Education graduate in France after which he taught in various schools in Lagos. He was also an international amateur

heavyweight boxer. He was also one of the pioneers of jogging and keep fit exercise in Lagos. Inevitably, Walter Oyatogun found his way into the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and his golden voice and enthusiasm thrilled television viewers for many years. His contemporaries included the late Yinka Craig, Charles Ojugbana, Waheed Olagunju, Hameed Adio, Tunde Orebiyi, Rotimi Bisiriyu, Mamman Jimoh and under the leadership of Fabio Lanipekun, they elevated television sports broadcast to the highest level in Africa.

Interestingly, Walter Oyatogun has two children who are making headway in broadcasting.

PAUL HAMILTON “WONDERBOY” Paul Hamilton, also known as Wonder Boy secured a bronze medal for Nigeria when he was Coach of our Under 20 team to the Soviet Union in 1985 a few weeks after our Under 16 team won the World Cup in China.

Paul Hamilton was a product of the Ikpeazu

Redoutables, one of the earliest privately owned football clubs, based in Onitsha.

From there he joined big spending ECN of Lagos in 1962 and three years later he became a Challenge Cup winner. When Nigeria qualified for the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games, Paul Hamilton made the team along with eight other players from the Stationery Stores of Lagos. Altogether he had 24 international caps and after his active playing days, he took to coaching, He attended high level coaching courses in Brazil and Germany.

MUDA LAWAL Among Nigerian football experts whose knowledge goes far back to the early 1940s Muda Lawal was the most gifted midfielder Nigeria has ever produced. In 2004 Muda Lawal was post-humously awarded the CAF Order of Merit in Silver. Up till that time he was the most capped Nigerian International, with 87 appearances which no one up till now except Joseph Yobo had met. The greatest midfielder started local football in Lagos, moved to Ibadan, played for the Housing Corporation before the IICC Shooting Stars snapped him up. He assisted them to win the 1976 African Cup Winners Cup, Nigeria’s first, and guided Nigeria to the 1980 African Cup of Nations.

This was after he had held the midfield for Nigeria in five consecutive African Cup of Nations, 1976, 78, 80, 82,84, the first African player to do so.

TOYIN AYINLA If there is any player that deserves the accolades, Mr. Nigerian Federation Cup, he is Toyin Ayinla, who has won the Federation Cup five times with three different clubs in the west, east and northern part of the country. He stared his football with Kwara Water Corporation and ended with Kwara United 1999 and in between won the Federation Cup first with the Abiola Babes of Abeokuta in 1985 and 1987, then with Iwuanyanwu Nationale of Owerri in 1988, then with BCC Lions of Gboko in 1989 and finally with the same BCC Lions in 1995. Toyin Ayinla was a left footed midfielder who was equally at home attacking or defending. His football career took him across the country and with five Federation Cup trophies in his kitty he is truly a Federation Cup hero.

JOSIAH DOMBRAYE Josiah Dombraye is another Federation Cup veteran. He started his football at the famous Hussey College,Warri which has produced many great schoolboy footballers who matured into big internationals.

Inevitably the students ended up with the Warri Wolves, the rampaging club in the Midwest of Old. Dombraye made his mark among students and in 1968 was invited to the national camp. He was a regular invitee along with G 3 from Jos – Peter Anieke, Tony Igwe and Sam Garba Okoye. Later Dombraye was upgraded to the national senior team and played along side Yakubu Mambo of the Stationary Stores who scored the first goal at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos in December 1972 in a friendly match with Mali.

Before Dombraye moved to the Sharks football club of Port Harcourt, he featured prominently for the Benin wipers, who later metamorphosed to the all conquering Bendel Insurance of Benin. Dombraye had featured prominently in several Federation Cup Competitions, but like the Mighty jets of Jos, the trophy eluded him, but no Nigerians who saw him play in those days will forget the tremendous talents he brought into the game.

STANLEY EGUMA Stanley Eguma belongs to the current generation of up and coming football coaches, and highly successful too. He played top grade football for NPA Port Harcourt from 1980 – 83, IBWA Lagos 1986 – 87 and won soccer gold medal Nigerian University Games NUGA in 1988. Other Awards included the Federation Cup Gold medal with Dolphins F.C. of Port Harcourt in 2001, CAF Champions League Gold Medal 2004 with Enyimba International of Aba, Nigeria Premier League Champions gold medal with Dolphins in 2011.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

OTHER SPORTS

NATION SPORT

Nadal’s lost years, Djokovic’s lost opportunities

WHEN an emotional Rafael Nadal collapsed to the blue cement surface of Arthur Ashe Stadium after securing a 13th Grand Slam crown, he could have been sobbing for his lost years.

On the other side of the net, vanquished opponent Novak Djokovic was facing the harsher reality of lost opportunities.

Nadal’s second US Open title took him to within four of Roger Federer’s record of 17 Grand Slam crowns and just one shy of Pete Sampras’s 14.

60 CAREER TITLES The Spaniard, with 60 career titles under his belt and more than $60 million giving his country’s recession-hit banking system a steady drip of financial confidence, took his record in Grand Slam finals to 13 wins against five losses.

World number one Djokovic has celebrated six Grand Slam final successes but also tasted six defeats.

For Nadal, the lost years meant tournaments missed when his brittle knees conspired against him and his career.

The 27-year-old has been forced to skip five majors — Wimbledon 2004, the 2006 Australian Open, Wimbledon again in 2009, the 2012 US Open as well as this year’s Australian Open.

The short two-week gap between the French Open, which he has won a record eight times, and Wimbledon has also been a factor in his stop-start assault on the majors.

Defeats in the first round in London this year and the second round in 2012 would most likely have been avoided had the turnaround from Paris to the All England Club not been so tight.

But he still retains a healthy credit column.

He has 13 majors at the age of 27, just like Federer, who is now 32, had achieved.

“I never thought something like this could happen, so excited to be back on tour trying to be competitive. I never thought about competing for all what I competed for this year,” said Nadal, who returned to the tour after a seven-month injury absence.

Djokovic, who will turn 27 next year, remains stuck on six majors, four of which have come in Australia.

“Thirteen Grand Slams for a guy who is 27 years old is incredible,” said Djokovic in praise of Nadal.

“What he achieved so far in his career is something that everybody should respect, no question about it. He’s definitely one of the best players ever.”

Nadal completed a career Grand Slam when he captured

the 2010 US Open title — he was only 24 at the time.

In the recent era, Andre Agassi was 29 when he claimed a career sweep while Sampras never solved the riddles of Paris’ red brick dust.

Federer completed his career Grand Slam in 2009 at the French Open but that took him until he was 28; it was also the year that Nadal suffered his one and only

career defeat at Roland Garros.

Djokovic, meanwhile, has suffered nothing but frustration in Paris.

By the time the French Open rolled around in 2011, he was on a 41-match winning streak which was ended in the semifinals by Federer.

That defeat shattered what would have been a rare calendar Grand Slam, something only two players have ever achieved — Donald Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969).

GREATEST PLAYER “Nadal is to me the greatest player that ever lived,” said John McEnroe.

“If you look at his record against Murray, Federer and Djokovic, it’s way better than that. He won the Olympics. He’s got Davis Cups, which Roger doesn’t have.

“I have always said Roger Federer to me was the greatest player that ever lived, certainly the most beautiful player. But I’m going to tell you right here and now there’s a definite argument, I’m starting to lean toward Rafa.”

WINNING RECORD Nadal has a winning record against all of his rivals.

He is 21-10 against Federer, 2215 when facing Djokovic and 135 against world number three Andy Murray.

In Grand Slam play, he has lost just 23 times, while Djokovic has shipped 30 defeats and Federer 40, although the 32-year-old Swiss has played many more times.

If Nadal’s knees remain sturdy, it looks likely that McEnroe’s confidence in the Spaniard’s place in the sport’s history will be fully justified.

ELECTION

HEALTH

Community women choose leaders

Uyo specialist hospital to boost tourism

Abia

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Akwa Ibom

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

SECURITY

Communities, police parley on crime prevention Lagos

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Page 17

Email: news_extra@yahoo.com

‘Help find my kidnapped son’

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•Master Emmanuel Okenwa

F there is anything on Mr Daniel Okenwa’s mind now, it is to find his four-year-old son, Emmanuel.

The boy was taken to May Blossom Nursery and Primary School, Uwani, Enugu State on July 2, just as the kids were about going for the long vacation. Since then, he has not been seen. Daniel and his wife will love to see Emma again, but who will help them find him?

The word is that the boy was kidnapped.

Daniel is crying foul, accusing the headmistress of the school, Mrs. Chioma Nwisugbe and the class teacher, Mrs. Francisca

From Chris Oji, Enugu

Mgbemene of colluding with the abductors of his son.

Okenwa works as a driver with the Arab Construction Company in the state.

The headmistress and the class teacher were arrested by police, then released and later re-arrested and detained at the Anti-kidnap Squad of the Enugu Police Command.

Narrating his ordeal to Newsextra, Okenwa said: “On July 2, 2013, while I was at work with Arab Construction Company at Nsukka, I received a phone call

from my wife, Mrs. Chinasa Okenwa. She informed me that our son was missing from school, and that I should rush back home because when she went to bring him from school, that is, May Blossom Nursery School of No. 9 Igbariam Street, Achara Layout, Enugu, she was told by the school’s headmistress and class teacher Mrs. Nwisugbe Chioma and Mrs. Mgbaemene Francisca that one unknown lady came for my son and they allowed the lady to take my son away. My son’s name is Master Emmanuel Ifeanyichukwu Okenwa. He is four years and two months old.

“How could the headmistress and the class teacher allow an unknown lady to take my son away without any identification card which the school authority issued to all parents and guardians for permission before taking any kid or ward away from school?

“My son was taken away from his school around 9:00 a.m. without our notice and confirmation.

The headmistress and the class teacher did not see it proper to call the child’s parents to confirm whether it was the parents that sent an unknown lady without any ID card.

“The school authority was furnished with all kids and wards’ parents’ phone numbers.

•Continued on Page 45

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OMETHING great has happened to widows and poor women in an Anambra State community, Oraifite. Several youths are also in a cheerful mood, thanks to the philanthropy of Sir Emeka Offor Foundation.

The organisation distributed rice to the widows and indigent women in the community, every woman going home with a bag.

Youths who were trained in skills were also given substantial cash to set up their businesses.

Tears of joy flowed down their cheeks. The widows sang their benefactor’s praises, describing him as the pillar of the community.

The venue was the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation hall, Oraifite, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the state.

Over 5,000 bags of rice were distributed.

Offor announced a N1m financial support for each of their cooperatives already formed for them to earn a living aside financial and food grants by the foundation.

Mrs Marble Enukorah , leader of Ofuobi Cooperative Society and Mrs Ogechi Izuka, leader of Irefi, Cooperative Society eulogized Offor’s philanthropy to the widows describing him as the Solomon of their time.

The widows prayed and danced with Offor.

Enukorah said: “You are Godsent and without you widows in this community would have seen hell. You are the Solomon of our era. You will not die young. We are liberating you from all bondages of the evil one.”

Izuka said: “We are so happy for this gesture and may God continue to bless you and your family as you have continued to bless us. Your purse will never run dry. Whatever the widows, even other women

•Sir Emeka Offor with the widows and indigent women at the event

Philanthropy excites widows, youths Foundation feeds needy women in Anambra From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

request from Offor , he does and he has never said no to our requests.”

Over 200 youths trained in skills by the foundation were empowered with over N30m to start off business.

Presenting cheques of N100,000 each to the beneficiaries at the multi-purpose hall of the foundation, Offor urged the youths

to be dedicated and committed to enable them succeed with the grant given them.

Offor pledged the continued support of his foundation to those who judiciously utilise the fund, warning them of the dangers of laxity and indolence.

Offor said: “We have decided with our group to provide a total of N21m for the project. We are also providing N9.3m for the recipients, each would go home

200 trained youths get N30m

with N100,000.

“But also I am sure that every year when their results are out, the first 10 are to be getting 10 per cent of whatever is the principle of the main money you are given now.

And by next month when the second batch is out, we are going to repeat the same again provided Oraifite youths will benefit fully in the programme.

“We are not competing with anybody and I must thank

everyone who supported this gesture especially the Oraifite Improvement Union and our Archdeacon.

Offor declared war on enemies of Oraifite. He warned people who only specialise in pulling other people down to grow up and start respecting others, pointing out that he was never known anywhere in the world as a criminal but as a rich •Continued on Page 45

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTERMBER 13, 2013

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Ebonyi community empowers youths N line with its efforts to empower the youth, Ihietutu Community in Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, has donated 21 motorcycles to 21 youths in the community.

The Chairman, Ihietutu Community Development Union, Mr Paulinus Okoro, who presented the motorcycles to the beneficiaries, said it was part of its human develop-

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•Governor Elechi

Church embarks on N100m project HE Saints Joachim and Anne Catholic Church, Ijegun in Igando/Ikotun Local Council Development Area of Lagos State has made a clarion call to public-spirited Nigerians and corporate organisations to help it raise N100 million for the building of a befitting shelter for God Almighty.

Addressing newsmen at the Anthony Cardinal Okogie Multi-purpose Hall at the church’s premises on the efforts being made by the church council to develop the church community, the Parish Priest Rev. Fr Gasper Olanrewaju said that “apart from our church’s less befitting look, the worshipping community is growing by the day, and the church building is becoming less spacious for the large crowd which makes our yearning for a new building even more necessary and urgent.”

In the circumstances therefore, he invites individuals and corporate organisations to answer the church’s clarion call on Saturday, October 26, for special luncheon/N100 million fund raising “for our ultra-modern church building,” even as he said: “Over the years,

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even right from ancient times, people who know and love God, have always been committed to any course that has to do with Him. The blessings of God can, as well, be the lot of every man and woman who joins us in this spiritual exercise of building for the Lord. The required amount may seem scary and very huge, but with your effort, my effort and the efforts of our other brothers and sisters, we will get it done in good time.”

On the events details of the day, Mr Michael Oluwatoyin Adetunji and Mr John Chukwudi Olisah; chairman and secretary organising committee respectively disclosed that the occasion would be chaired by Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, the Asoju Oba of Lagos while wife of Lagos State Governor Dame Abimbola Fashola would be the Special Guest of Honour.

They also said that Father and Mother of the Day would be one-time governor of Lagos State Sir and Lady Michael Otedola while one-time presidential aspirant Prof Patrick Utomi would be the Pre-launch Speaker.

ment programme.

Okoro said the gesture was aimed at empowering youths economically to enable them contribute meaningfully to the social and economic development of the community. He said that economic empowerment of the youth was critical in human development of any society.

He said youth empowerment programme was part of a series of programmes lined up by the union under its human development initiative.

“Our human development initiative is an aspect of the administration’s community social responsibility programme.

“More youths would be considered in our next phase of the programme by middle of 2014,’’ he said. The community leader noted that criminal activities and other anti-social acts associated with the youth would reduce if they were meaningfully engaged.

He appealed to youths to respect constituted authorities and shun all forms of indecent behaviour.

“We have programmes that would impact positively on the lives of every member of the community.

“I appeal to my people, especially the youth, to respect constituted authorities and support the leadership to succeed in its programmes,’’ he said.

Some prominent indigenes of the community, who spoke during the occasion, lauded the chairman for embarking on the youth development programme.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr Chidi Okoro, a graduate of philosophy, thanked the leadership of the community for the youth empowerment initiative.

Foundation inaugurates T N84m project

•Governor Uduaghan

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On the third day, there will be an in-house business development training on September 19 at LCCI Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos from 9am till 1pm. This will be a business development training for all APPOEMN members and will be facilitated by keynote speakers with the aim of making event planners outstanding in the industry. Speakers will be; Niyi Adesanya, Mr Lawal Fabunmi, Lolu Mogaji, and Yewand Zaccheaus Dinner and Recognition night will come up on the fourth day, September 22 at Dideolu Street, off Ligali Ayorinde, Victoria Island, Lagos starting with Red Carpet. The time is 5pm till 8pm. “This will be a gala night where we shall celebrate ourselves; vendors and clients by having fun together.

We shall also recognise people that have made the industry proud in the past year,”the statement said.

APPOEMN is a non-governmental organisation with the mission to educate, advance and promote the event industry and its network of professionals along with related industries. It also aims at giving security and peace of mind to the client that event planners are certified, monitored and accredited by the association in providing excellent service.

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HE Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Health, Dr Emem Bassey, has said that the specialist hospital being constructed in Uyo would provide medical tourism in the state when completed.

Bassey told journalists in Uyo, that the state government was committed to making the hospital, called “20th Anniversary Hospital”, a referral centre of international repute.

He said that Governor Godswill Akpabio had made huge investment in the health sector and was currently building additional three general hospitals in the three senatorial

Akwa Ibom districts of the state.

He said that at the completion of the 20th anniversary hospital, Nigerians and other African countries would seek medical care in Uyo, instead of India and other western countries.

The commissioner said that the state government was looking out for international investors in the health sector who would manage and sustain the projects for 15 years.

According to him, no fewer than three top Indian hospitals had indicated interest in managing the hospitals.

He said that at the expiration of the concession period, indigenes of the state would have been trained to take over the running of the hospitals.

“We accept the fact that we, at the moment, have some manpower shortage and that if we decide to run it ourselves, we probably will not be able to offer the kind of services inherent in a referral centre.

“We are looking at being able to provide quality medical care, the kind of service you will find in hospitals in Europe, U.S. and India.

Delta From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

completed projects in your community by maintaining and ensuring that are adequately utilised.

“Our source of funding is Chevron Nigeria Limited/NNPC joint venture, as such, we want to plead with the Federal, state, local government and interventionist agencies to collaborate with our esteemed foundation in the great task of developing our bearing communities that sustain the economy of the Nigeria nation. I want to tell you that the two teachers’ quarters cost N19, 780,655.00 each while the 10-Room Guest House cost N44, 471970.71.”

In his remark,the General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr. Deji Haastrup, praised the EGCDF for the progress made so far since the GMoU was signed in 2005, adding that the projects commissioning was another lucid expression of EGCDF’s determination to bring better life to the people of the communities.

•From left: Elder Fasanu Gabriel, Mrs Adebawojo Bolanle, Dr Mrs Olufumilayo Janet Ola, Elder Adetayo Tomothy Adesoji, and Mrs Uchedu C.T.C. during Babcock University Schools’ Management Board inauguration at Babcock University High School, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State.

PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAM

NGO empowers youths

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T was all joy at Ijegun and six other neighbouring communities under the Alimosho Local Government when Bestspring Children and Youth Development Foundation, a non-governmental organisation committed to holistic development of children and youth empowerment

Church holds programme

•Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Assistant Pastor in-charge of Lagos Province 23 Pastor Sola Agunbiade (middle) assisted by host Pastor Gbenga Oyebode (right) and Pastor Ajibola Alakija to present a hair dryer machine to Miss Fisayo Awodele, one of the beneficiaries of RCCG Lagos Province 23 Community Social Responsibility (CSR) service at Itire, Surulere, Lagos.

NAFDAC warns against fake drugs

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IRECTOR General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control, NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, has advised Nigerians not to buy drugs, especially anti-malaria and antibiotics, that do not carry the Mobile Authentication System (MAS) code.

Dr. Orhii gave this advice at the launch of the MAS-encoded Postinor 2, an emergency contraceptive product of the Society for Family Health, SFH, at Ibis Hotel, Ikeja – Lagos, recently. The NAFDAC boss lamented that “Nigeria’s health system is compromised by fake medicines and medical products,” hence the need to sanitise the situation.

He disclosed that less than 20 percent of

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HE Alor Development union(ADU) in Idemili South Local Government Area,Anambra State Lagos chapter has congratulated Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige on his emergence as the governorship candidate All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State.

In a congratulatory letter jointly signed by Chief Emmanuel Ojukwu and Mr Anayo Udodinma, chairman and publicity/social secretary respectively, the community said Ngige’s victory was a clear indica-

THE Redeemed Christian Church of God, The King’s Royal Fortress Int’l Ministries in collaboration with RCCG Miracle Centre are holding a 20-hour Horeb Prayer and Praise Service. The programme, which has Total Deliverance as theme, takes place today at 6:00am.

Ministering are host ministers Pastor and Pastor (Mrs) Abiodun D. Doherty. Others include, Rev and Pst. (Mrs) Stanley O.Smutt Coveners, Pastor Alfred B. Dagold, Pastor Chris K. Oyeleye, among others.

Another one day programme tagged: Jacob Service will hold on Wednesday, September 25, at the Miracle Centre of RCCG just as the perfected Praise Team and Zonal Mass Choir take centre stage of Praise and worship session at 6pm.

It is billed for 19, Bello Folawiyo Crescent, Off Ikosi Road, near Mr. Biggs in Ikosi/Isheri Local Council of Lagos State.

By Fredrick Adegboye

drugs needed in the country is manufactured locally, even as “former drug barons have now turned counterfeiters of medicines.”

The Managing Director of SFH, Bright Ekweremadu, said the organisation “wants to be a company that will be trusted with all its products,” therefore its adoption of the MAS code for Postinor 2. He suggested that “if you must use an emergency contraceptive, use Postinor2, especially one with the MAS code.”

Postinor 2, a product launched in 2001 and the only emergency contraceptive drug in the Nigerian market until 2005, assists women to prevent unwanted pregnancies while it also reduces maternal mortality rate.

Community congratulates Ngige

•Executive members of APPOEMN at a briefing

HE EGBEMA/Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation has commissioned 10-bedroom guest house and two teachers’ quarters’ worth over N84 million at Ogbinbiri community, Egbema Kingdom in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State.

Speaking at the event, the chairman of the foundation, Chief Michael Johnny, said the inauguration was in fulfillment of the foundation’s commitment to develop the communities.

He said: “I commend my predecessors who worked diligently to embark on these projects and many others for the good of our people inspite of our limited resources.

I promise to build on the good foundation that they have laid. I want to urge you to take responsibility and ownership of all

‘Uyo specialist hospital ‘ll boost tourism’

Association marks first anniversary HE Association of Prossional Party Organisers and Events Managers of Nigeria (APPOEMN) is marking its one year in operation.The group is planning a weeklong programme for the event, from September 16 to September 22. with the theme: Excellence in Service Delivery.

The week long programme will kick off with a community service responsibility on September 16. Members will be involved in traffic control with LASTMA at different locations .

This will include Maryland junction, Ikeja, Ozumba Mbadiwe junction Victoria Island, Allen Roundabout Ikeja and Alfred Rewane by Golden Gate, Ikoyi.

There will be lectures and exhibition on the second day,September 18. The venue is Yard 158 and time, 9am till 4pm.

There will be paper presentation by three Lagos State commissioners. They are: Commissioner for Transport, Mr Kayode Opeifa, Commissioner for Environment Mr Tunji Bello and Commissioner for Tourism Relations/Art and Culture, Mr Oladisu Holloway.

Government parastatals and general public are are expected to participate fully. After the presentation there will be an exhibition section where interested vendors and APPOEMN members will exhibit their products to the public.

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tion of his popularity ,humility and political sagacity .They stated that by his victory, Anambra State was to about to witness another a re-enactment of history, pointing out that by God’s grace Ngige would win November 16 governorship election “By this victory, the people of Anambra State through their delegates to the APC congress have spoken with one voice and the voice of God’’the statement said.

•Archbishop of Lagos Methodist Church Nigeria Dr Joseph Sunday Ajayi (left) presenting a birthday present to Senator Anthony Adefuye on his 69th birthday at his Lekki phase 1 residence in Lagos.

‘Take your education serious’

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HE Chairman of Mushin Local Government Area in Lagos State has advised youths to accord priority to their studies. He said this while inspecting activities at free coaching centres he organised at designated places within the council area to prepare candidates for G .C.E. examination According to him, “This is one of the ways

Community gets new monarch

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ESIDENTS of Owevwe Kingdom in Ughelli North Local Government of Delta State will soon are expecting a new monarch.The kingdom is in full preparation for the installation of a new Ovie.

The last Ovie, His Royal Highness Asakpakeregha, Onoriji 11, joined his ancestors in 2004. After a period of interregnum, the Ekru- Ivie Edion, unanimously selected his heir apparent, Prince Osegbe Joseph Arhiakpore as the Ovie-Elect. The Ovie-elect would be the 14 Ovie since the institution of the Ovieship began in the Kingdom.

Speaking to Newsextra on preparations by the people for the installation of the new Ovie, legal practitioner and Chairman of the Installation Committee, Olorogun Benedict Asaboro said the the people are in a festive mood. He said all the years that the people had been without an Ovie had been very traumatic, considering the fact that all other kingdoms around lived under the guidance of their Ovies. “ We are very happy that at the end of a rather long interregnum, our Ovie will soon be installed. Everywhere you go to, the atmosphere is electric, the people are happy, and grateful to God. Honestly, we cannot wait

the youths can draw from the dividends of democracy. With the coaching programme going on at these centres, you can pass your examinations without tears. We have assembled qualified teachers from various core subject areas, all you need to do is to be attentive. The burden of paying for the teachers will be borne by the local government.

This is meant to reduce the financial stress on your parents, most importantly avail

By Adeola Ogunlade

visited the area.

The programme, tagged ‘Project C-YED, which is an acronym for Community Youth Empowerment and Development, came as an intervention outreach meant to empower the disadvantaged youth in the community and its environs.

The programme which was held at the Ijegun Town Hall had in attendance traditional chiefs, residents of the area, community youth organisations and the youths in attendance.

The President of the NGO, Mrs. Aramide Oikelome, said that the organisation was deeply concerned at the alarming spate of youth dropouts from school and teenage pregnancy as well as the level of poverty and idleness prevalent among the youth in the community.

Among other things, she said Bestspring was out to educate the youths in “the communities on reproductive health, sexually transmitted infectious and HIV/AIDS, even as it empowers them educationally and through skill acquisition initiatives” She said, “We are in Ijegun to launch our Project C-YED. The project is an intervention outreach to indigent youths in Ijegun and six other neighbouring communities of Okeorube, Ijeododo, Isheri-Osun, Ijeagemo, Kudeibu and Fagbile under Alimosho Local Government. These communities are largely underdeveloped, flood-prone and povertystricken. yourselves of doing your further studies at our newly inaugurated hybrid library.

The centres were at St. Jude’s Primary School, Odu Abore Memorial Primary School and Itire-Primary.

Over 1000 candidates/students are benefitting from this programme.One of the beneficiaries, Chrioma Veronica, thanked the chairman for initiating the policy. She called on the council authorities to continue with the policy as it has the tendency to reduce the rate of failure.

By Augustine AVWODE

for too long. It has been our earnest wish because if you look at other kingdoms around, they are all living under the guidance and direction of their Ovies. We want a similar thing here and God has been good to us”, he said.

On the possible date for the installation, Asaboro said it is still being kept under wraps but suffice to say that all the seven communities have been visited and dully informed.

‘The reception at each and every community was rousing, you could see joy and happiness radiating all over. It is almost like a stigma to say you don’t have an Ovie. But we thank God that era is about to end”.

Prodded to reveal the royal title the new Ovie would bear or answer, Asaboro said it was not yet time to unveil it. “When the staff of office is given, it would be unveiled at that moment. Some of these things must be done and handled carefully because of their sensitive nature. Ours is to fully mobilise our people, which we have done, from Otokutu to Opherin, from Owevwe to Gana, from Esaniko to Agbaide and the rest communities, we are ready, happy and grateful”, he said.

• Hon. Adepitan addressing beneficiaries at St. Jude’s Primary School.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

COMMENTARY FROM OTHER LANDS

EDITORIALS

Police and motor registration •This is an unnecessary digression; let them concentrate on their basic responsibility

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HE decision by the Nigeria Police to introduce biometric central motor registration system, at a cost of N3,500.00, per vehicle, is yet another opportunity to unlawfully tax the already overburdened Nigerians. Moreover, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), another agency of the Federal Government is already engaged in issuance of new ‘secured’ number plates and biometric drivers’ license at enormous cost to the applicants. Also, vehicle owners pay to register their vehicles with state agencies; pay insurance, road worthiness and now an amorphous central motor registration with the police.

Probably because the FRSC got away with its questionable taxation of Nigerians, on the easy sell that it will help solve the security challenges facing the country and even act against car theft; the police are also selling a similar story in order to unilaterally create an enhanced revenue base, directly under its care. According to Frank Mba, the Force Public Relations Officer, the new registration process, “is against the backdrop of contemporary security challenges bordering on terrorism, high incidence of car theft, kidnapping and other crimes”.

If truly Nigerians will soon again be forced to queue before the police for another biometrics after the on-going excruciating pains to get the new drivers license and number plate from the FRSC, ordinarily an arm of the police; then it must be said for the umpteenth time that decisions like this make us wonder whether there is any rigour in the decisionmaking process of government and its

establishments. Except of course, there is no coordination among the federal agencies or that the Federal Government derives pleasure from the harrowing poverty it is spreading in the name of governance in the past decade plus.

In case the police authorities have grown weary, and are seeking for action, then let us remind them that their primary responsibility is to protect lives and properties; and if they will be honest, they have performed below par in this area. So, our advice to the police is to concentrate on their responsibility, and if they need the data of vehicle owners, they should get that from the vehicle registration authorities, or the FRSC; instead of surreptitiously creating a new bureaucracy for their corrupt officials to enrich themselves at our common expense.

Indeed, the police should get busy on how to fine-tune their capacity to prevent and fight crime in some other ways, than seeking ways to cream off Nigerians. The police should, as a matter of utmost urgency, concentrate on the glaring inadequate manpower and the procurement of modern equipment for crime detection. On manpower, the police need a substantial increase in their number, as the current figure of about 500,000 serving a huge population of 160 million across Nigeria’s expansive land mass is grossly inadequate. There is also the need for the police to properly train their personnel, as most of our policemen lack civility and capacity to investigate basic crimes.

Also, the police need capacity in forensic analysis, and that involves serious

manpower training and procurement of laboratory equipment. Under the nose of the police there are long lists of unresolved crimes, and most of those crimes have nothing to do with the data of vehicle owners. Indeed, it is common for criminals to use cars snatched from their rightful owners to commit crimes.

Even the high rate of kidnapping has little to do with cars, and if the police are overwhelmed by kidnappers, it will be fraudulent to blame the lack of biometric data of vehicle owners as the cause.

Instead of chasing shadows and causing Nigerians more financial distress, the police should ask for modern equipment and trained manpower to face squarely their statutory responsibilities.

‘The decision by the Nigeria Police to introduce biometric central motor registration system, at a cost of N3,500.00, per vehicle, is yet another opportunity to unlawfully tax the already overburdened Nigerians.

Moreover, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), another agency of the Federal Government is already engaged in issuance of new ‘secured’ number plates and biometric drivers’ license at enormous cost to the applicants’

Royal rashness •But now that the Olu has recanted on his controversial decree, the Itsekiri should let go and move on

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F there was ever an example of royal rashness, the decree by the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II, abolishing the Itsekiri royal title, as well as scrapping traditional rites in the 533year monarchy, was it. Not surprisingly, the reaction was electric: protests in Warri and other parts of Iwere land.

Thank God, however: good sense has prevailed; the monarch has rescinded the decree which obviously riled a cross section of the kingdom. It is time to move on, forgive and forget. The right lessons have been learned: no matter how attractive or fervent personal faith is, a monarch will rise or fall by the culture of

‘Still, now that the Olu has withdrawn the decree, Chief Ayomike and his lobby should soften their reported insistence that the monarch should still abdicate, just because an Olu is not supposed to eat his words.

He showed true nobility by bowing to his people’s wishes.

But the Olu himself should resist the temptation to clamp down on “rebel” chiefs that joined the protests. Iwere kingdom should embrace a golden compromise that secures the past, sanitises the present and assures a future where the rich Itsekiri culture is under no threat – not even from royal quarters’

his people.

On the score of peace regained, Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, himself an Itsekiri, the Itsekiri Traditional Council of Chiefs, the Itsekiri Legacy Rebirth, the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, the protesting youth and other stakeholders, not leaving out the Olu who has magnanimously reversed himself, deserve praise for the astute management of the crisis. If the crisis had degenerated into a breakdown of law and order, everyone would have lost.

The crisis, which climaxed with a stark choice for the Olu to retract the testy decree or abdicate started on September 4, when the monarch released the “New Order of Iwere Kingdom”, which purported to have abolished the royal title, Ogiame, for alleged link with Umalokun, the sea goddess, reportedly in conflict with the king’s faith as a born-again Christian; the Itsekiri anthem, with its refrain, “Ogiame suooooo”, which the king and his advisers interpreted as idolatry, since it purportedly worshipped the sitting monarch, when God, by Christian tenet, is the only one worthy of worship; and also “all sacrifice of wine, blood, food, water, kola nut and other items (known and unknown) offered in Iwere land”: Itsekiri traditional practices, now dubbed as fetish.

The near-unanimous rebellion that followed, across classes and faiths in the kingdom, just showed the supremacy of a people’s culture; and the tenacity a people would show to stave off any perceived assault on it.

But a more profound message for the

crisis-prone political class and their penchant for hubris and impunity is this: though the Itsekiri adore their Olu, even to the point of mistaken idolatry, the crisis has shown the Olu cannot afford to embark on any royal hubris without devastating consequences.

Without the Itsekiri and their rich culture, there can be no Olu. But the panoply of Itsekiri civilisation is incomplete without the Olu. So, the Olu is primate; but only when subjected to the dictates of the culture that created the stool, just as every political office holder cannot purport to be above the law that created his or her office.

Indeed, Chief JOS Ayomike, of the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, clinched the matter so beautifully at the height of the crisis: “If the Ogiame is abolished, the monarchy would have been extinguished; and if Atuwatse II ceases to be Ogiame, his reign as the Warri monarch would have expired.”

Still, now that the Olu has withdrawn the decree, Chief Ayomike and his lobby should soften their reported insistence that the monarch should still abdicate, just because an Olu is not supposed to eat his words. He showed true nobility by bowing to his people’s wishes. But the Olu himself should resist the temptation to clamp down on “rebel” chiefs that joined the protests.

Iwere kingdom should embrace a golden compromise that secures the past, sanitises the present and assures a future where the rich Itsekiri culture is under no threat – not even from royal quarters.

Russia’s plan for Syria needs testing • A tough UN resolution on chemical weapons is now needed

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USSIA’S declaration that it wants the Assad regime to place its chemical weapons under international control is the latest unexpected twist in the Syrian diplomatic saga. Up until the moment on Monday when Russia unveiled its plan, all eyes had been fixed on the US Congress, where Barack Obama was seeking approval for a punitive missile strike against the Syrian regime. Suddenly, the drama is moving from Congress to the UN in New York.

There, the US will seek a Security Council resolution that transforms Russia’s initiative into an action plan to destroy the Assads’ chemical and biological weapons stockpile.

Mr Obama grasped Russia’s proposal with alacrity on Monday. For the past week, the president has been struggling to get his plan for military strikes approved by Congress. Presidential humiliation loomed. Thanks to Russia’s move, the debate on Capitol Hill can now be suspended while a diplomatic solution is explored. Mr Obama thereby averts what would probably have been political impalement by Congress.

Beyond cynical delaying tactics, the motives for Vladimir Putin’s initiative are hard to grasp. The Russian leader is not inclined to do Mr Obama favours. He may have reckoned that Mr Obama would either win his battle in Congress or attack Syria even if he lost. If so, Mr Putin can argue that this is a diplomatic coup, one that averts the missile strike Moscow fiercely opposed.

That said, Russia may be giving some ground.

It is putting heat on Bashar al-Assad, an unusual, if not unique, development in this crisis.

The text of Russia’s initiative implies that Syria has chemical weapons (something the Assads deny). It asks Syria to meet the demands of the international community and relinquish those weapons (something the Assads do not want to do).

Russia’s intentions must now be further tested.

The US will rightly demand that a UN resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons is passed quickly. It will want the UN to create a credible international body that secures those weapons. It will demand firm deadlines by which they must be destroyed.

Meanwhile, to concentrate Russian and Syrian minds on the need for concessions, the US president should keep his plan for a missile strike on the table. After all, this threat has squeezed what could be a constructive diplomatic initiative from Moscow – even if US articulation of its military plan has been bumbling at best.

As the UN convenes, there is ample cause to be sceptical of success. Securing Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile is a huge task. It is located in dozens of sites that will be hard to reach in a civil war. The Assads are masters of lies, who have obstructed all UN missions so far.

But the hope must be that the US and Russia overcome their divisions and agree a Security Council resolution on Syria. That would be unprecedented in this conflict. The prospect of a credible US-Russian deal would certainly make Mr Assad start to sweat.

– Financial Times

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

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

•Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon

•Advert Manager Robinson Osirike

•Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina

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

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

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: Dr Jonathan’s presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace and there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of Africa’s presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether GEJ as fondly called will be remembered as the very worst president in all of Nigerian history.

Many Nigerian youths who bought the President’s candidacy based on his exaggerated ‘l had no shoe’ campaign mantra have now realised it was a deceit. It has become clear to them that the president sold them a dummy when he portrayed himself as a disadvantaged child who shared similar background with a typical Nigerian child. At present, his obstinate refusal to honour agreement the government entered into with ASUU is a clear indication of his disdain for

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

Jonathan and burden of leadership the progress of Nigerian youths. So unfortunate that the president has allowed too many people within the political class to be rewarded for impoverishing the Nigerian youths than turning their fortunes around for better. Needless to say that the President is pursuing a destructive educational agenda that will continue to profit his cronies who run private universities on one hand and perpetually keep the students in the public universities at home.

GEJ has divided the nation, governed mischievously and may in

2015 likely leave the nation worse off. Disastrous domestic policies, foreign-policy blunders, security setbacks, executive misconduct, unpresidential utterances, crises of credibility and lack of public trust are the contributing factors to the failure of his presidency. He has to a large extent become one of the rarities in presidential history: He has not only stumbled badly in every one of these key areas, he has also displayed a weakness common among the greatest presidential failures — an unswerving adherence to

a simplistic ideology that abjures deviation from dogma as heresy, thus preventing any pragmatic adjustment to changing realities. Repeatedly, GEJ has undone himself, a failing revealed in each major area of presidential performance.

No previous president appears to have squandered the public’s trust more than GEJ has. In the last two years, nothing better and humane has happened to the citizens of this country. Food is expensive. Several families have died of hunger and malnutrition. Education has col-

Why ASUU should not call off its strike

IR: I recently listened to a callin program on radio in which the topic of discussion was the strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU. The forum soon turned into a platform for apportioning blame. But while few persons looked in the direction of government, majority went after ASUU. Some appealed to the lecturers to consider the interest of the students and call off the strike. Some others admonished them to be reasonable and accept what the government has offered and return to work immediately. Still some others lambasted them for being self-centered and unpatriotic.

The issue at hand is not really complex as some people are wont to make it appear. ASUU declared the strike action after the federal government failed to implement the 2009 agreement the two parties signed. Among other things, the agreement sought to put a stop to the embarrassing collapse of our education system. Now who is to blame here?

After negotiation, government had offered to release N30 billion- a shift from its initial posture that there was no money. Meeting ASUU’s demand, it said, can shut down the country. Interesting! Experience has shown that there is enough resource to meet the unquantifiable greed of

those in power but not for the basic needs of the country.

The body language of government since the start of the strike action could largely be described as lukewarm. It has never really shown real seriousness or urgency to resolve the issue. Well, can one blame the officials; who among them is his/her children affected? It is the children of unfortunate Nigerians who bear the consequences of their irresponsibility.

There’s no money to develop our education sector but there is for government officials to send their children to schools abroad. There’s

money to buy and service the many jets in the presidential fleet (of a country that does not manufacture a single aircraft part), there’s money to service the outrageous pay and allowances of officials, there’s enough money to sacrifice to subsidy thieves, there’s enough money to burn at the altar of corruption. Who is fooling who? The gullibility and docility of Nigerians are their undoing. Where really is the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS? What then is the essence of its existence?

How many of those berating ASUU have demanded transparency from government? How many bother

about the incredible cost of governance, how many bated an eyelid when the Economist magazine released a report that placed our legislators as the highest paid in the world? How many question why we should have battalion of ministers?

People should leave ASUU alone.

If we cannot demand justice and good governance then we should endure (and even learn to enjoy) the suffering we deserve. ASUU should not call off the strike until the agreement is fully honoured; government should curb its own waste.

• Nnoli Chidiebere Aba, Abia State.

lapsed such that the affluent among us prefer Ghanaian education to ours that is destabilized by government’s unpopular and selfish agenda. More children roam the streets and sleep under bridges. No health care services. Many have died of simplest form of illness that ordinarily should not kill even a fowl if the government was responsible.

Lives and property are so unsecured that many have lengthened their hours of prayers at night to ward off the bandits. Electricity is as epileptic as the ruling party. It has never been so bad in our national history.

Water is as expensive as petroleum products. Apart from Abuja, there is no any other community that can boast of water supply much less of its regularity. Nigerian roads are deadlier than ever before. Everything seems to be upside down in the country with no foreseeable hope for common men. These are political tragedies for President Jonathan and his team.

Upon all these the presidency prides itself, scores itself high and dances about as if everything was fine. Out of the blues, kidnapping has become a lucrative business where millions, despite denials, are handsomely paid for ransom. We now live in fear and sleep in fear of known and unknown. We have been managing to cope with criminality as a result of inept leadership with no relief in sight. The verdict remains clear and loud: the president has indeed failed to discharge his duties to the good of humanity.

• Tola Osunnuga, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State

Life is difficult in Nigeria

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IR: Generally, life is difficult everywhere. Speak to an average American, and he or she will tell you the hell that President Barrack Obama is facing from the Republican Party that has the majority in the legislature, to the detriment of ordinary Americans who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of Obama’s pro-people policies. But still he is making some headway, and very many Americans understood the terrain on which he is operating, and so they voted him for a second term.

There is a saying that too much

damage would have been done before a wicked person dies or is killed.

That is a wakeup call to Nigerians to strategise against impoverisation and the rich-poor gap that is the bane of development and progress in our country. 1999-2013 is not a total loss, but too much more could have been done without political turmoil, corruption and deception. Standard of living for the overwhelming majority is just too miserable.

Civil servants, and not just the Academic Staff Union of Universities, can imagine how better their lives would be without electric gen-

erator and fuel expenditure, and if the government were equitable in salaries and allowances. Imagine all the promises the former President Olusegun Obasanjo made in 1999 to provide electricity in six months.

After he spent eight years without success, his successor, Umar Musa Yar’Adua, deceived us that he would declare a state of emergency on electricity if elected. Yar’Adua and VicePresident (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) failed, 2007-2011. Then Jonathan brought-in some people from Asian countries just to fool us about immediate electricity in 2011. This is

2013, and electricity is still a far cry, to the detriment of our lives and industries.

I am convinced that generator producers and marketers put too much money into the campaigns of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), even if the only evidence that I have is the loss of political will to stabilize Nigeria’s electricity. Perpetually voting for corrupt and deceptive people will perpetually yield the same result; political indifference does not help either.

• Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D, University of Ilorin.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013 16

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COMMENTS

Big Brother’s guinea fowls (1)

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HERE is nothing to distinguish the Big Brother Africa (BBA) house from a henhouse except that the inmates seem human and at once endowed with the intelligence quotient (IQ) of the guinea fowl – if I may insult the poor animal by comparing it with them.

However, despite the guinea fowl’s predilection to brutishness, it is not so completely enslaved and brazen like the BBA house ‘inmate.’

Big brother, while showing them up as disposable lab rats, treats BBA contestants as ‘housemates’ but reality instructs that every participant in the Big Brother ‘experiment’ is captive to inordinate greed, poverty of the intellect and soul, lust for unearned riches and acclaim, and the ever domineering, voyeuristic and faceless “big brother.”

Participants in the BBA show like their counterparts world over, elevate narcissism and absurdity to unimaginable degrees. Inmates take their bath naked knowing videos and images of their bath are being broadcasted to the world via digital satellite television. They indulge in unprotected and presumably consequence-free sex, disgraceful bickering, rivalry, and frittering away of precious time.

This further emphasizes the kin-

dred spirit they share with the guinea fowl although the latter seem surprisingly elevated in character than the average BBA inmate.

Guinea fowls hardly bicker because they are known to evolve and adhere religiously to a pecking order.

The guinea fowl is a proud creature; unlike the BBA inmate, it rarely mates in the open. You will seldom, if ever, see it breed. When it does, it’s super-quick and can be easily mistaken for a swift little scuffle.

Wonder what the guinea fowl would think of BBA inmates. Take Beverly Osu for instance, the character who claimed to have done Nigeria proud at the recently concluded BBA’s “The Chase” sloth-fest; Beverly in a recent interview claims thus: “I made Nigeria proud.”

Beverly generated buzz by her actions in the BBA house. In 91 days, she managed to treat the world to her best kept secrets, and of course, a steamy and controversial sexual encounter she had with Angelo Collins, a South African inmate.

Steamy pictures and videos of the two smooching in a bathtub are still been viewed and downloaded on the world wide web as you read.

Although she claims she never had sex with the South African, Beverly maintains that she has no regrets for her conduct in the house.

‘Big brother blurs the line that distinguishes the average human from an animal. Thus we become real to ourselves by obsessing about and wishing on the unreal’

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OR the answer as to why Nigeria is where it is today and what presently troubles it, we need not look any further. How can they claim to run a successful country when they cannot even run a political party successfully?

The party in power wants to teach Nigerians lessons about leadership, yet they have failed the elementary test of leadership. Saddled with a shoeless presidency, we are now burdened by a clueless ruling party, PDP. This is the cross Nigerians have to bear unfortunately. A political party ridden by political vindictiveness, petty squabbles and inordinate power grab can only implode. It can’t run a country. It has since been predicted that the implosion of any party glued together by avarice, greed and inordinate ambition is only a matter of time. Today, we are seeing the manifestation of such.

President Jonathan has recorded many firsts. He will go down in the books perhaps as the first President under whose leadership the party he leads has exploded. The party monks, the rabid Jonathan supporters, the scavengers in the corridor of power and the bootlickers who all form the Jonathan Choir may shout for all I care. But the truth remains that the present crisis rocking the ruling party is a ringing indictment of President Jonathan’s leadership ability. More depressing is the validation of our fears that this was a weakling of a President whose recourse to the abusive use of power and brutal tactics at times of crisis or disagreement simply to have is way is reminiscent of the days of military jackboots and guns.

With due respect, no leader can earn respect from the people he leads if his capacity for crisis management is suspect, if he resorts to the crude mentality of wielding the power stick he holds to beat perceived opponents into line, and if he succumbs very easily to the advice of the ethnic irredentists that surround him who tell him at every turn that an attack on him is an attack on the people from his region. This is not the way of a strong leader. It is the way of a no-leader. The actions, the body language, the words that ooze out are so unbefitting of a Presidency seeking to offer national leadership. It is the way of a provincial one. There are too many taskmasters around Jonathan. Too many “small minded minipresidents” who speak as if they were ever elected to decide for us.

The PDP crisis we now see in the open did not start with the Jonathan Presidency. It started with Obasanjo. The seed for the crisis now manifest was sown and watered in the days of Obasanjo. A party given to power bravado, brigandage and sometimes unpardonable violation of the rights of its members is a house of dishonour. Jonathan unfortunately inherited a patch, patch party. And in an attempt to invent his own rule book, over-plagiarized Obasanjo’s rule book in dealing with party matters. Jonathan wasted no time in kicking any chairman of the party who disobeys him in the butt. Ditto for elected governors who must be taught a lesson or two each time they go against the President’s inter-

She quips, “All of us take our baths naked. So I shouldn’t be different because I went for a reality show. I shouldn’t be different from every other person, because I didn’t bring out my videos, Big Brother did so I should not be judged, and I represented Nigeria well.”

You could be forgiven for thinking the argument was made by an obtuse person, for the digestion and understanding of equally dimwitted folk. Beverly’s argument reveals among other things, how the mind and intellect of many a contemporary youth works. The contemporary Nigerian youth represents an abnegation of late Italian poet, Dante Alighieri’s caution: “Consider your origins: you were not made to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.

True, only brutes (animals) enjoy the exclusive preserve of ignorance and shamelessness in matters pertaining to sexual instincts, violence and other base impulses that relegate the brute to the bottom of nature and creation’s pecking order.

However, current realities reveal an increasing permissiveness and blurring of lines between the human and the animal, the virtuous and debauched.

While it’s disconcerting that her mother sees nothing wrong with her conduct, it would be amusing to know how Beverly would justify the morality and benefits of going nude and engaging in a sexual act before the camera and millions of viewers across the world, to her children and grand children, when eventually they get to see the video.

Notoriety is the tool that Beverly, like her predecessors from Nigeria, sought to exploit in a desperate bid to win the much coveted $300, 000 BBA winner-takes-all prize. Notoriety is the resource by which she

sought to attain wealth and acclaim. And even though she failed, Beverly predictably emerges from the show as a celebrity of sort.

No sooner than she was booted out than Nigerian newspapers swooped on her, splashing syndicated interviews of the BBA evictee across one or two pages, each story struggling to garner for her, unquestionable acclaim and soft-landing. She reportedly hopes to exploit the situation to her advantage: “Before I left, I had a show called ‘Beverly Says’ and I’m back to push it. If you guys watched Big Brother, you would be very sure that I can act, so I’d go into movies, but then, I have to finish school because I’m in my 200 level,” she was quoted in a recent interview.

Beverly’s statement, particularly her reference to her acting ability, no doubt reveals that BBA, contrary to its claims of being a social experiment that thrives on truth and mirroring reality, is actually a scripted TV show in which every participant puts up an act before the camera, as conditioned by the contest provisions and their frenzied lust for the outrageous prize money.

Beverly like many contemporary celebrity hopefuls seeks to float upon “hype,” which is really the ubiquitous journalist turned publicist’s gas – and which is maniacally deployed oftentimes, to set afloat an image and personality that doesn’t quite exist. Hype, like Epstein aptly notes, is what gives us a new class or hierarchical categorization of celebrities.

Beverly, despite the widespread condemnations trailing her conduct in the BBA house, helps perpetuate the myth that accidental celebrity or fame junkies are glaring indicators that there are always acceptable shortcuts to riches and the

fulfillment of our wildest fantasies.

And this relative reality is propelled by the public’s morbid fascination with celebrity worship.

Where the object of interest excites inadequate controversies and passion for adulation, the public has learnt to recreate the object of their fascination into the ideal celebrity icon or superstar of their dreams.

This no doubt substantiates Dostoevsky’ s wisdom: “So long as man remains free,” Dostoyevsky writes in The Brothers Karamazov, “he strives for nothing so incessantly and painfully as to find someone to worship.”

Is a character like Beverly really worthy of the good and bad press she currently enjoys? Is she even worthy of being the subject of discourse on this page? If so, this is bad news.

The camera has created a culture of celebrity and the internet is establishing a culture of connectivity.

The convergence of both technologies perpetuates contemporary man’s insatiable lusts for unearned acclaim and affluence. These facilities are effectively deployed by Endemol, the brain behind the BB concept, in desensitizing millions of viewers and participants towards perverse sex in its social re-conditioning and re-validation exercise.

Big brother blurs the line that distinguishes the average human from an animal. Thus we become real to ourselves by obsessing about and wishing on the unreal. The great social abnormality and terror today, is anonymity. If Lionel Trilling was right; if the property that grounded the self in romanticism was sincerity, and in modernism was authenticity, then in postmodernism it is visibility. But what manner of visibility would drive a Nigerian youth like Beverly to the brink of impropriety?

His place let another take

By Sunday Dare ests.

The same way he runs the party is the same way he has been running the country. Where is the country today? Nowhere, but lost at sea. Contrary to the beautiful sermons being preached about our economy and politics, the evidence on ground is to the contrary. Just as the New PDP has emerged, let us pray that a new Nigeria will not soon emerge that will seek to separate itself from the delusionary country of the Jonathans, Anenihs, Clarks, Tukurs, Metuhs and their likes. The developments within the PDP are the vengeance of the Nigerian people against a party that has failed woefully to improve their lives.

But there is a strong lesson to be learnt. Leadership must be about the people and not about personal ambition. The mentality of seeking to grab power at all costs can only result in more confusion, political suspicion and total distraction from governance. In the face of the bad leadership Nigeria is currently experiencing, the leadership of the APC must offer themselves as the alternative. They must practice power with responsibility. They must lay no claim to sainthood. They possess no miracle wand, so they should pretend not to. The claim they have and which no one can fault is their love for Nigeria and a professed allegiance to its indivisibility and commitment to champion change. Having seen the ways of the ruling party they must pledge to Nigerians not to thread that path.

The argument holds that the same similar elements and tendencies that have led PDP to Golgotha exist in the new APC coalition. What APC has going for it now however is the historic opportunity to right the wrong of the PDP years and learn from the mistakes made? As evident as the mistakes are, they are not easy to overcome for any party. Corruption, greed, ethnicity, lack of focus and capacity, politics devoid of principles, abuse of the rule of law and a vindictiveness that seeks to obliterate political opponents. Nigeria is left comatose because of clueless people holding key positions. PDP was held together all this while by the glue money generates and its ability to dispense favour and cash because it controls power. Well, time is running out. The clock is ticking and we need not search for any sign because the disintegration of the party signpost the coming defeat of PDP at the polls.

But all of these will amount to nothing unless, other parties, Nigerians and the pro-democracy groups seize this opportunity to generate awareness and galvanize the people to action. It will be merely shuffling the feet without any

movement if the APC fails to strategize towards positioning itself for the battle of all political battles.

Before APC can lay claim to being different, it must start to distinguish itself now from the ruling PDP. All it needs do is to steer clear of the many foibles of the PDP. The Nigerian people know what they want or are looking for in a party. They know the kind of leadership they need to change things for the better. They are in search of a formidable platform that can deliver for them. APC is the vehicle. It has a greater historical responsibility to change the face of our politics.

The imminence of radical change has never come this close to our doors. The vision for a new country has never being clearer. Victory on behalf of millions of Nigerians has never been more within reach. Hope for a better country has never been brighter than now. Nigeria is salvageable, but only if we act and work together. That should be the battle cry of the All Progressives Congress. Leaders of the APC must be willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary, climb any mountain, trudge any valley, surmount every rugged terrain and brave any storm that may come their way on this journey to salvage Nigeria.

After 14 years of PDP misrule, Nigeria deserves a change for the better. APC is in a position to offer that alternative option. An alternative of power with responsibility and vision. Nigerians call on all APC leaders to ensure that what they have begun is not aborted. To put nation above self and not disappoint millions of Nigerians who have come to pin their hopes on them. APC must leave its doors open because it is on a national rescue mission. To salvage Nigeria is a collective task and APC has built a platform that can help launch that salvage mission. The road towards 2015 is short, but long. The processes, the decisions, the campaigns will test the resolve of APC- its leadership and followers. But APC must not buckle.

Not in 2014 or 2015, but now is when we should start to work earnestly for the change we so much desire. APC must campaign vigorously, create awareness, educate, mobilise, organise and join the ranks of the army for change. Nigeria is currently in the vice grip of people who wield power simply for its sake and have turned it into a personal and regional property. However, the change we demand must begin with One, One vote. The adoption of full biometric system for free and fair elections must top the agenda of the system overhaul that we seek.

• Dare is Special Adviser on Media to former Lagos Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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COMMENTS

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OOD riddance! Be gone and fare thee well. This is what we all must say to the ministers fired from President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet on Wednesday. We hear some of them burst into tears, while they actually ought to jubilate and be grateful that they were relieved of a burden that was obviously breaking their weak backs. Many Nigerians had long expected this sack but Jonathan doodled apparently not quite understanding the essence of a cabinet.

Many expected a near clean sweep; or something like 19, or even 39, for left to this column, only about three to half a dozen of the lot have shown that they can think through their responsibilities and deliver any result.

SELF-SERVING PRESIDENCY But by this cabinet change (if we must call it that), Jonathan has shown how pitiably mixed up he is in his bid to run a government and how he is not ‘working’ and his administration will continue to flounder even if he stayed a 100 years in office. Now he has sacked these fellows by the tag of ministers not because they were not up to speed on the job but because they will not serve his political purpose in the coming months. The pack of Ruqayyat Rufai, Okon Ewa-Bassey, Olugbenga Ashiru, Ama Pepple, Shamsudeen Usman, Hadiza Mailafia, Olusola Obada, Bukar Tijani and Zainab Kuchi have been marinated in the rich trappings of Jonathan’s presidential powers that often becomes Nigeria’s public office holders, in the past two or more years.

But what we call a cabinet here is a glorified royal court where the king’s men

‘But what we call a cabinet here is a glorified royal court where the king’s men didn’t have to work or exert their minds; all they need do is to be ever present at the royal court, smile broadly at the king’s lame jokes to be acceptable in the king’s presence’

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HEN the Lagos Sate government concessioned the construction and repairs of Lekki/ Epe Expressway to the Lekki Construction Company (LCC) in an agreement whereby citizens would be tolled for making use of the road, I was nonplussed. I wondered why toll would be collected on a road which wasn’t even new. Not surprisingly, this situation created a cause of concern for Lagosians who found the arrangement harsh on them. The concessionaire, LCC, was to build, and maintain the road for 30 years before it was to be reverted to the state. A major benefit of the road was touted to be a decrease in the traffic congestion along the Lekki axis of Lagos.

Other accruable benefits included modern signposts such as breakdown and recovery assistance, ambulance service, and customer call centre. But, despite the laudable intentions of the project which was initiated to upgrade and create new roads, some citizens watched with wariness. Of course, there was reason for that.

The Lekki/Epe axis is the latest posh area of the state, poised to become a strategic location for commerce. While it strategically pays the state to repair the road, especially for the future plans, it was a road which had only immediate benefits for people living in that axis – mostly the nouveau-rich. But, I felt that as Lagosians, we are the most taxed Nigerians. I mean, it is very difficult as a working adult to dodge a form of major tax or the other, be it in the formal or informal sector. Lagos does not joke with its tax, and with a huge population rushing to the state, the state made sure it took its dues, earning Lagos the title of the state with the most internally generated revenue (IGR) in the country.

With this fact in mind, a lot of people, including myself, saw paying another road tax again as exploitative. And led by human rights lawyer, Ebun Olu-

EXPRESSO STEVE OSUJI

SMS 08111526725, email:steve.osuji@yahoo.com

Nine ministers axed: should have been 39 didn’t have to work or exert their minds; all they need do is to be ever present at the royal court, smile broadly at the king’s lame jokes to be acceptable in the king’s presence. Now this horde has become an irritant to the king and they are hereby thrown out like litter. This is the way our executive cabinets have worked at all levels since the British left these shores; members of the executive largely serve the boss and not the people. Now they have been sacked not because they have not performed in their duty posts but because they are deemed no longer useful to the boss man.

NO GRAND VISION President Jonathan fell deep into the same hole like all his predecessors. He picked underlings, party wags, personal aides, in-laws and mistresses of party big men to form a cabinet. Some had never held down a serious job in their lives and many who can never run a store were saddled with an entire ministry and accompanying agencies. Because neither the boss nor the messengers have any strategic vision for the job or the country, they end up destabilizing the system instead of adding or bringing any value to bear on it.

The result is that after four or even 20 years, the country would not be much different from how they met it. Our education for instance, would be in the doldrums and ASUU would continue to bicker; we will keep having a ministry of planning that cannot see beyond today and ministry in charge of housing that cannot man-

age to build a row of sheds in four years.

Therefore, naught upon naught is naught; there is no grand vision, no overriding national interest being pursued and no strategic perspective brought to the job.

In this light it would be asking too much if we begin to question or interrogate the performances of these so-called ministers in the last two years. Safe to Gbenga Ashiru who managed to project some respectability in Nigeria’s foreign policy, most of the others (including those still on their seats) cannot be remembered for any positive contribution while they warmed their various seats. Prof. Rufai in the education ministry will be remembered for protracted ASUU strike and education policy that changed every session.

She seemed always out of her depths while her upstart junior minister was rather illiterate for such most important job. Both the president and his appointees can’t seem to fathom the import and majesty of education in this age.

Mama Ama(l) Pepple, a retired civil servant, one would wager she doses half the time in office having segued from a lifetime of wearisome Nigerian bureaucracy into heading a ministry. One cannot remember that she delivered anything, not in housing, not in urban development in two years. Mrs. Obada was noticed cutting tapes here and there and that was all. Prof. Ewa-Bassey was neither seen nor heard anywhere and it would not have mattered if we did not have a ministry in charge of science and technology. Mrs.

Lekki/Epe road toll-reversal

By Adekunle Akinmosa Adegboruwa, a protest was held around the toll site. Authorities confronted the protesters and dispersed them. But when the actual toll collection started, pay the road users did. It was not a question of liking it or not. In my own case I didn’t’ have much reason to use that route often as I lived and did most of transactions on the mainland.

But, I felt for those who had to use the road on a daily basis. Few times I passed that route and had to pay, I too felt the pinch.

But, when I considered that in other parts of the world, sometimes, the people there had to pay to be able to enjoy certain infrastructures too. Hence, I reasoned that if it meant paying toll on that road for it to be good, then so be it. But, it was still with a sense of relief that I heard the recent news that the state government decided to buy back the concession agreement from LCC. That in plain terms means that the Lagos State government is going to bear the cost of the road construction. Why this news is great is that the state government has shown that it has a listening ear. That it takes the pain of its citizens seriously enough to respond differently. And Lagosians using the Lekki expressway can now enjoy the roads without paying toll.

This is a miracle because from my experience, I’ve come to realise that government loves to ride roughshod over its citizens.

And in most cases, where they can get on with it, they hardly give a hoot. Hence, it is a pleasant surprise that the Lagos State government decided to reverse the concession agreement, consequently making tollpayments a thing of the past. And I find the move a sympathetic because, obviously having realised that Lagosians groaned

under the toll-regime, the government reversed its policy, alleviating the sufferings of the people. This is was what responsible governments should be doing.

I know there is need to invest in road construction and the state government has been doing much of that. Around Ikeja, Simibiat Abiola Road which was recently improved is now smooth and makes for easy driving and walking.

Then, currently, the stretch of Kodesoh Street is being overhauled too. In Agege, Egbado Street, linking Oyatoki Street is being repaired, to be tarred. This would ensure an alternate smooth passage between Oko-Oba road and Abule-Egba. There is also the street linking Alexander Estate to Oko-Oba road. Residents in this axis now have alternate routes to avoid what has become a daily gridlock.

Concerning the Lekki road, initially Epe Expressway, initially, Lagosians never wanted to pay toll. And many people even lambasted Governor Babatunde Fashola and continue to blast him, wondering why he ever agreed to a concessional agreement in the first place. I know road

Mailafia manned one of the most important ministries in modern times but bet she did not realize just how critical issues of environment are in today’s world. She never lifted off the ground. Mrs Kuchi, the junior minister for power could not be expected to have put in any work if her senior counterpart was de-fenestrated and thrown out by the scruff of the neck; all one has for her is sympathy.

The same emotion I extend to Mr. Tijani, the junior for agriculture who must have been dazed by the bamboozling and bombastic razzmatazz of his senior man, Akinwunmi Adesina. Shamsudeen Usman who was in-charge of National Planning was particularly pathetic. He has been around as cabinet minister for nearly two decades under various governments and manning different ministries.

All these years, one hardly remembers him for any performance on the job or freshness of thought; he is remembered as a time-server and bench warmer. This last outing however, completely unraveled the former bank chief. As the man in charge of National Planning, not one day did he give the nation nary a thread of insight about our condition yesterday, today or tomorrow. Worse, the vision 20-20-20 which was on his corridor died a natural death right their in his hands. In fact he carried on as if he was doing the rest of us a favour serving us in the executive council.

Beyond the sacked ones, most of the rest really ought to be chucked out if it was really all about service. Just a few instances: what on earth is Ms Omobola Johnson (Communications) doing there; what can we point to if she leaves today?

Same for Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu (Health), one cannot see any imprint or monument. Labaran Maku has not brought anything to his office apart from the odium of a ministerial visit (we remember him for something at least); Goodsday Orubebe (Niger Delta ministry) has nothing to offer, same for Onolememen (Works). Akinwunmi Adesina is all fancy foot works with neither depth nor results and ditto for Olusegun Aganga who has lived a fantasy world of phantom investors.

Apart from one or two, this cabinet and its leadership have been a debacle, to say it straight. Let’s be rid of them! construction entails huge resources and with the numerous constructions going on, this must have huge financial implication on the state. And this informed the decision of the government to go for the concession agreement in the first place.

Lagosians must realise good things do not come cheap. And citizens must know they have their own quota to pay in this arrangement. Apart from road construction, it must also be understood that other things such as healthcare, housing, education, and environmental challenges also confront the state. To this wise, residents of Lagos must assist the state government in whatever way in order to realise its goals.

Ideally, government should be about serving the people, who pay for running the governent. To this end, residents must know that monies are used to construct infrastructures such as roads. While the reasons that the Lagos State government first initiated the concession agreement were to cushion its cost burden on the state, on the part of the citizens, these would alleviate the people’s suffering. I am relieved at the reversal of the concession.

And I say kudos to the state government.

It is better late than never to revert any decision that is harsh on Lagos residents.

•Akinmosa wrote from Agege, Lagos.

‘government should be about serving the people, who pay for running the governent. To this end, residents must know that monies are used to construct infrastructures such as roads. While the reasons that the Lagos State government first initiated the concession agreement were to cushion its cost burden on the state, on the part of the citizens, these would alleviate the people’s suffering’

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THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

AGRO-BUSINESS

How to stop N356b annual spent on rice importation

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XPANDING irrigation infrastructure to harvest and manage rainwater for rice cultivation, are some of the ways the N356 billion spent annually on rice importation,could be stopped, the consultant to Lagos State on rice project, Dr Rotimi Fashola, has said.

Fashola said promoting the cultivation of rice by guaranteeing the availability of water will reduce overreliance on rainfall.

He told The Nation that many irrigation dams did not meet the standard and as a result, they easily get bridged.

Rice imports, Fashola added, would reduce if effort is made to rehabilitate damaged irrigation systems across the country.

Fashola said the government was aware of the negative impact of importion,adding that it does not only constitute a massive drain on the public purse,but it also puts the country in an extremely vulnerable

Stories by Daniel Essiet

position if global rice prices increase.

He said the government has put a lot of emphasis on trying to change the situation.

A Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Ilorin, Ayodele Ogunlela said rice production depends on the capacity of irrigated areas.

He said the productive capacity of the local rice environments was being threatened by increasing water scarcity caused by droughts, salinity, uncontrolled flooding,and climate change.

Overall distribution of rainfall, he said remains uncertain, and so could affect rice production.

In environments prone to drought, salinity, and floods, he said a combination of improved varieties and specific management packages has the potential to increase on-farm yields, provided that investment in research and extension is intensified.

To boost production ,Ogunlela said there should be investments to support the adoption of water-saving technologies and improvement of irrigation supply systems, while sustaining the resource base of the rice fields.

Ogunlela stressed the need to manage water and make it available for farming activities.

To address the challenge, the World Bank said it is providing $400 million (about N64 billion) to support the development of irrigation systems.

The fund is part of the bank’s efforts to support development projects in the country. The money would be used to boost irrigation and other water management projects, adding that studies were already being carried out on what is expected to be covered by the fund. The project would target existing irrigation schemes that have not been functioning optimally, particularly those located in the northwest region of the country.

‘ICT can boost agric’

I

BM West Africa Limited has urged farmers to explore the benefits of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to boost their productivity.

The External Relations Officer of the company, Mr Charles Moyela who gave the advice in an interview, said that technology contributed seven per cent to Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“This is because in Africa, mobile phones give people access to services that are available in traditional forms in the developed world, such as financial services, newspapers, games and entertainment.

“So, the value of a mobile phone is higher in Africa than elsewhere; this advantage can tremendously transform the agricultural landscape, if purposefully exploited.”

Moyela said lack of transparent information was one of the challenges faced by African farmers, adding that mobile communication technology could address the problem.

“Mobile communication technology can address the information asymmetry that exists where farmers are frequently disadvantaged price-takers, often selling at a loss,” he said.

Moyela said mobile communications technology also aided African farmers in the area of agricultural insurance which, he explained, could allow farmers to be better equipped against unforeseen

hazard.

“Crop insurance has long been used in developed countries to address uncertain weather conditions; agricultural insurance has, however, traditionally not been available to most farmers in Africa.

“One example of how ICT is being used to provide better access to crop insurance for farmers is the KilimoSalama project in Kenya.

“Mobile communications technology plays a central role in agricultural insurance because it is used for registration of new policies.”

He said that ICT could also be used to improve irrigation efficiency and crop traceability.

“Using good irrigation techniques can increase the efficiency and profitability of crop production as much as hundredfold, the use of ICT could have a positive effect on irrigation efficiency,” he said.

Moyela said two projects from Egypt had been highlighted as examples of successful use of ICT to improve irrigation.

“The first one, is the governmentbacked integrated water resource management action plan, which is being implemented on more than 2,000 kilometres of the Nile.

“The second example is the Magrabi Farms area that has been developed from actual desert to the 8,500 acres that are now fully irrigated.”

Ebonyi targets 2,600 youths for volunteer programme

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•From left: General and Sales Manager, Central and Southern Africa, G E Healthcare, Mr. Alex Canfor-Dumas; Account Manager, Mr. YinkaElujoba and Managing Director/CEO, CG Biostadt Company, Prince Emma Ajayi, at an event in Lagos.

‘Infrastructure vital to agribusiness’ growth’

A

GRIBUSINESS need functional infrastructure to grow, the Country Managing Director, Accenture boss, Niyi Yusuf has said.

“Agriculture on its own cannot be self-sustaining if there is no infrastructure to support the sector” Yusuf said this at the just concluded Nigeria Economic Summit held in Abuja recently.”

According to him, agro business cannot thrive if there are no infrastructures to “move the goods from farm to the city; if there is no technology to provide information on the price, supply and demand; if there are no banks to provides fund and credit facilities; if we don’to have

By Adeola Ogunlade

insurance to provide the covers for the risk; if we don’t have the media to publicized role models and who have done successfully, if we don’t have educational system that aligned with its curriculum to aid the agribusiness, so we need to do all these holistically to connect the dots that have talked about.”

The Accenture boss said there is the need to also involve the private sectors as obtainable in the banking, telecom and media.

“If we can get the agribusiness liberalised, what we witnessed in the telecom sector will be small to what we will get compare to agribusiness.

“We need to make agribusiness more attractive by getting all the different players- the government, legislature, judiciary as well as private sector to be involved. If we do this the chances are there that we will be able to make something better out of it.”

Yusuf said his company is partnering with Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to explore opportunities in agric sector.

“We are also working closely with Ministry of Technology, we recently designed a project called Techlaunchpad, where we have young technology entrepreneur to design a solution useful to a particular sectors.”

Agro export future looks promising

A

GRICULTURAL exports are real impact on the economy and supporting creation of

jobs.

Speaking with The Nation, the Chief Executive, Obiora Madu said cocoa, cashew and other commodities are expected to find growth opportunities To this end, he said the government need to strengthen agriculture and help put the nation on solid footing to maintain strong exports in the years to come.

According to him, there are no barriers to agro commodities

while there are moves toward new agreements to expand exports.

He said the global market offers a good opportunity for agro exports.

Robust export growth, he stressed underpinned economic expansion and that opportunity to reduce poverty lies in agriculture.

The global markets, Madu said offer attractive opportunities for producers. For him, many of the opportunities are yet to be captured. According to him, agricultural products are becoming big export items. Much of the growth

in exports, he noted concerns cocoa, cashew nuts and others. He said Nigeria stands its strong agricultural export orientation.

Madu called on agric producers to seek opportunities provided by agriculture and food industries.

He said the food producers are on the doorstep of exciting new opportunities. With the rise of markets in Europe and the rest of the world, Madu said there was enormous potential for suppliers of high quality food commodities.

HE Ebonyi government is targeting more than 2,600 youths to participate in its agriculture volunteer scheme.The youths are expected to be trained and empowered to engage in various agricultural ventures which include farming, poultry and piggery.

The programme is to be coordinated by the state ministry of agriculture and the directorate of attitudinal change which will be responsible for its sensitisation aspect.

The directorate’s Director of Public Enlightenment, Mr Kelechi Mbam, said during an enlightenment campaign at Ikwo Local Government Area that unemployed graduates and school certificate

holders would form the core of the participants.

“On completion of their training, which will commence soon, the volunteers will be equipped with facilities, including seedlings and funds to start their own ventures.

“We have to wage a war against unemployment by enlightening the youths not to wait on the government to offer them employment but embrace agriculture to earn a living,” he said.

According to the director, the state has a high level of comparative advantage in agriculture, so no youth should be unemployed when there is abundance of farmlands to cultivate.

Farmers get 2,000 bags of seeds

M

EANWHILE, the Plateau chapter of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), said it has received 2,000 bags of improved rice seeds from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The Chairman, Mr Joshua Bitrus, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Shendam Local Government Area.

Bitrus said the gesture would not only boost rice production but also improve the economic status of individual farmers.

The chairman, who shared the rice seeds to farmers in Plateau southern zone, lauded the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr AkinwunmiAdesina, for transforming the agriculture sector. He said the 2,000 bags were meant for the five major rice farmers in the state, who were selected by the ministry. ‘’The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has designed a special programme where five major rice farmers in each state are given 400 bags of improved rice seeds, each totalling 2,000 per state. ‘’Five of us from Plateau benefitted from this gesture. But instead of taking all the 400 bags for ourselves, I spoke with the other beneficiaries and they accepted that other farmers should get the seeds as well. Therefore,

the major farmers who are the actual beneficiaries only took 100 to 150 bags, and relinquished the rest to be shared among the 16 registered rice groups under RIFAN in Plateau,‘’ Bitrus said.

He stated that each of the groups got 30 to 40 bags based on their numerical strength, to be distributed to the registered members in those groups. He said the quantity of seeds the association received from the Ministry in 2012 and 2013 had improved. ‘’Last year, we only got 100 bags, but this year, we received 2,000 bags under the special programme. We are hoping that other groups of farmers will get some seeds and other inputs before the end of the year.

He said although the seeds were coming late, we are going to keep them for the next planting season,’’ he added.

The Plateau RIFAN chairman warned benefitting farmers against selling or diverting the seeds to another uses, saying that such behaviour would be counterproductive. ‘’We are farmers and we need the improved seeds to boost productivity which would invariably boost our economic status for a longer period of time. ‘’But if you sell the seeds, it is like you are eating the capital of your business and you can only get a short term reward,’’ he added.

24

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

AGRO-BUSINESS

Buyers partner cocoa farmers on quality, output I N T E R N A T I O N A L organisations are assisting the nation’s cocoa farmers to increase production to 500,000 tonnes per annum in the next five years.

They also want farmers to key into certification schemes to improve the country’s foreign exchange forex earnings by capitalising on her reputation as one of the producers of fine, or flavoured cocoa.

The organisations, which include, United States based Hershey Company, German International Cooperation (GIZ), IDH (The Sustainable Trade Initiative) Oxfam Novib, Continaf, Ferrero, Petra Foods Limited and Farmers’ Development Union (FADU) are also training farmers to meet the certification standards.

Hershey said it plans to start using certified cocoa from Nigeria, which is produced according to certain social, economic and environmental standards, adding that independent auditors will verify the certified cocoa is produced by the highest labour, and in accordance with environmental and good farming practices. It said that it hopes to double the output from its cocoa suppliers in Nigeria as it extends its Learn to Grow programme in the country.

The Country Programme Manager, Solidaridad, Mr Alex Akinbo, said international processors of cocoa and manufacturers of cocoa products are concerned about falling quality and yields. This has led to introduction of certification of cocoa produce. He said certification was constituting a barrier to cocoa export, as a re-

Stories by Daniel Essiet

sult, his organisation is working to enable local farmers meet the requirement.

The Programme Coordinator, Farmers’ Development Union (FADU), Mr Victor Olowe, said his organisation has been working with a number of companies to meet the challenge of the export market through the Cocoa Productivity and Quality Programme, explaining that the Cocoa Productivity and Quality Programme is a public private partnership between Farmers’ Development Union (FADU), IDH, Oxfam Novib, Continaf, Ferrero and Petra Foods Limited.

He said the aim is to create the foundation for a modern, viable cocoa industry that will flourish and attract new investors, enhance rural livelihoods and encourage self-employment, and maximise the country’s opportunity to receive a premium price for the product in the world market, adding that a lot of farmers are participating in the programme in Ile Ife, Osun State.

Olowe said: “The project came up as a result of poor handling of cocoa production in Nigeria which used to be the leading producer of cocoa in the world but now takes the fourth position.

Whereas Cote d’Voire produced 1.5 metric tonnes and Ghana produced 800 metric tonnes in 2011, Nigeria produced less than 250,000 metric tonnes. This development, he added, informed the reason the organisations are com-

Benue predicts bumper harvest

B

ENUE State would record bumper harvest in the 2013 farming season, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Donald Gbough, has predicted.

Gbough made the prediction in Makurdi when the Zone C Province of Judges Quarters, Makurdi, paid him a visit.

He said his prediction was based

on the early distribution of fertiliser and other farm inputs to farmers through the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) of the Federal Government.

He commended the Federal Government for initiating the GES, saying that the scheme was timely, and if well explored, would be of immense benefit to farmers.

Zamfara govt to secure farmlands for flood victims

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HE Zamfara Government has earmarked N18.5 million to acquire farmlands for use by the people of Gutsura village who were recently displaced by flood.

The Executive Secretary of the State’s Emergency Management Agency (ZEMA), Alhaji Atiku Maradun, made this known to newsmen at the temporary camp of the victims in Gyalange.

Maradun said farming was the mainstay of the people, hence the state government decided to pro-

vide them with alternative farmlands to enable them continue with their farming activities.

He said the state government has spent hundreds of millions of naira to provide foodstuff, medical care and other basic facilities to the victims at the Gyalange temporary camp.

He said, so far, six women had successfully been delivered of their babies with the assistance of health personnel provided by the state government at the camp.

ing together to encourage cocoa farmers to produce good quality beans.

He said a total of 1788 farmers were mobilised, registered and trained in 2012, and that 2000 were targeted for this year. With this, he said it would be easy to achieve the 7500 farmers targeted at the end of the project in 2015, he said.

In addition, he said the project tar-

T

had been stocked in the state for over one month.

On the viability of the cuttings, he said that the stems would still be viable, if well preserved, but expressed fears that they might dry up and become useless, if left unused for too long.

According to Kachukwu, the farmers gathered at the state Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) office, Ibusa, on Sept. 6 for the roll-out, but went home disappointed.

“I want to believe that the rollout will be done this week and the stems can be planted any time of the year in Delta as long as we have rainfall‘’, he said

She said it started in seven local government areas in Osun State.

These include Ayedaade, Isokan, Atakumosa West, Atakumosa East, Ife East, Ife North and Irewole. This year, she said the project has expanded to Ife South, Ori-Ade, Obokun and Ifedore in Ondo State.

She said the project has deliver on its promise on giving out premium at the end of this season.

•From left: Associate Country Director, Oxfam Nigeria, Evelyn Mae; Country Director, Dr Chichi Okye; Managing Director FUTA Business Development Company, Akure, Dr Ade Oguntade and Olowe at a cocoa empowerment event in Osun State.

Poultry producers face uncertain future as feed costs soar

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ECORD high feed costs is making poultry business more difficult and precarious, according to industry operators.

Speaking with The Nation, the Vice President, Association of Small Business Owners, Mr Stephen Oladipupo, said prices of feeds have been increasing due to the rising cost of corn.

He said feed costs are a key element to the profitability of a poultry unit, stating that poultry farmers are now engaged in the production of feeds for their chicks to reduce the cost of running the business, he added.

Stephen said although this option appears cost-effective, it was difficult for farmers to source good ingredients to replace imported wheat and soya beans.

Rising prices ofgrain and its impact on feed continues to be

Group frets over distribution of cassava cuttings HE Chairman, Nigeria Cassava Growers Association in Delta, Mr Justus Kachukwu, has expressed worry over the delay in the distribution of cassava cuttings in the state.

Kachukwu said in Asaba that the exercise was under the Federal Government Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES).

He said the GES roll-out for the year was scheduled to have taken place before now, but was postponed. The spokesman for the farmers said they were not happy about the postponement and have been waiting for the distribution of the cassava cuttings.

Kachukwu said the cassava stems

gets a minimum of 30 percent women participation.

The Project Manager of the Cocoa Productivity and Quality Programme (CPQP), Fabunmi Mopelola, said the Kokodola project was established to create a sustainable and efficient value chain for certified cocoa to improve the lives of cocoa farmers in Osun and Ondo states.

Kachukwu called on the farmers to be patient, adding that all arrangements for the distribution of the cassava cuttings would soon be concluded.

He said that each of the beneficiaries of the programme would receive at least 12 bundles of cassava stems for planting.

Kachukwu also advised the government not to restrict the distribution to only registered farmers but extend it to all interested farmers.

“Some of us have already planted enough in our farms and may not need additional stems, so, the cuttings should be given to any farmer who needs it,’’ he said.

the greatest concern for the industry, he said, thus forcing animal feed manufacturers to divert to other businesses, while others are operating at half installed capacity and struggling to cover cost.

He said farmers are currently running their farms at a loss and as a result, many have already started to reduce numbers, especially in poultry. Oladipupo urged the government to address the issue to ensure continued viability. He urged the government to give farmers more control on the sourcing of protein by providing alternative home-grown solutions.

The Director, Africa Region, Cassava Adding Value to Africa, Dr Kola Adebayo, said feed costs was critical in the industry since it represents approximately 70 per cent of the variable production cost. For this reason, feed manufacturers are switching to low cost substitutes such as palm-kernel cake, groundnut cake, fish meal, and by-products of agro-processing.

Chairman, Lagos Chapter, Poultry Association of Nigeria, Mr Adedotun Agbojo, said the industry is facing uncertainty and is on the verge of collapse because of high cost of feeds, which he argued, has reduced returns on investment.

Because of the shortage of grains, by-products, oil cakes, prices of animal feeds have been on the rise necessitating an increase in the cost of animal feeds to a point where most farmers are not able to sustain their products.

He said farmers are managing their chickens at a loss and as a result, many have already started to reduce numbers, especially in

poultry. Poultry feeds by their quality and price, he said, are some of the major factors in determining the cost of poultry products such as eggs, broilers and profitability of the poultry farm.

He added that the prices of major raw materials used to make the feed have gone up tremendously. Farmers, he noted, have had to absorb the increases without being able to increase the price of a crate of eggs or chicken.

He warned that if the trend persists most if not all poultry farms would have to reduce their operations or close shop.

Poultry feeds produced by commercial feed mills, he said, are handicapped on account of raw materials, which are transported from the north. He added that the increase in diesel cost by about 70 per cent has added to the problem.

Given the increased demand for Soya beans by China and other producing countries, there are indications that the trend may lead to a significant change in buying patterns and cause a tight supply problem for local poultry producers.

He lamented that that the increase in the cost of production due to high feed prices has not led to the rise in egg prices.

With egg prices ruling below the production cost, he said the sector suffered heavy loss.

Poultry farmers are now engaged in the production of feeds for their chicks to reduce the cost of running the business. A bag of feed cost N2,400 in the open market. More poultry farmers opt to mill their feeds rather than buy from the market to get something cheaper than the market price.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

I N S I D E

Controversy trails Delta’s support for jatropha growers

Attack on Delta commissioner heightens fear of dirty politics

•PAGE 28 •Uduaghan

Pages 25

Website: http://www.thenationonlineng.com

I have no personal quarrel with Amaechi, says Omehia •PAGE 38

•PAGE 40 •Muoboghare

• Omehia

When Itsekiri turned against their monarch

Illegal bunkering …the military connection T

•A crude theft vessel on fire

Southsouth Regional Editor SHOLA O’NEIL examines how the huge revenue accruing from criminals is funding a parallel government and corrupting traditional leadership in Niger Delta communities.

He traces the involvement of security agents in the crime.

S

TANDING in an ankle-deep puddle of crude oil deep in the treacherous mangroves of the delta, a partially clad gleaming young man in a pair of boxers wielded a shotgun menacingly towards an Au-

gusta Westland (AW) helicopter on overfly of oil facilities in the area. The motion of the gunmen dared the copter to fly lower.

The armed crude oil thief was working in a vast open clearing on

the swamp with dozens of cauldrons boiling and cooking crude oil stolen from one of the numerous pipelines that crisscross the swamps and creeks when he heard the familiar sound of the chopper. But he was unmoved.

Sludge from the crude refined oil covered every space. His co-workers would intermittently pour drum-full of unwanted dreg from the huge tanks into the open river.

Continued on page 26

From Shola O’Neil

HE Itsekiri are a unique, compact and highly intelligent tribe, living mostly in islands in the Edo/Delta axis of the delta as well as Warri, Sapele and other metropolis of the states. They pride themselves as a civilised groups and one of the earliest to have contact with the white man. They are a people under the overlordship of their monarchs (Olus).

The Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II, is popularly called ‘Baba’ or owene (our father). Before his people take decisions affecting the tribe, they usually ask themselves if they have heard from Baba. He is the centripetal force that binds them and Baba gin (Baba says...) is the final word in most argument When the Olu speaks, it is assumed to be a decree. He is the afo ma sin - a king who never recants. The Olu’s aura of a superhuman among his people is symbolised in the Itsekiri anthem (Ara olorire), a sonorous, rhythmic and inspiring piece that is sung before most events and ceremonies. It usually elicits chorus of ‘Ogiame, Suoooooooo’.

For the first time in memorable history, the people, who respect and worship their monarch, turned against him last Saturday. For four days - Saturday till Tuesday - hundreds of Itsekiri men, women and children laid siege to the monarch’s palace (Aghofen) on Ugbori and Ajamimogha area of the oil city.

The Foursquare Gospel Church in the palace was not open for service on Sunday, ostensibly because of fear that the angry protesters might turn against the church, whose leaders, some believed, were instrumental to the declaration.

The dances, songs, chant and singing of the anthem was not friendly.

The people were angry with their monarch. The chorus of Ogiame Suoooo was done, not in worship of the monarch, but in rebellion.

The turning point in the relationship between father and his children was a controversial edict, tagged “The New Order of Iwere Kingdom’, which the monarch signed into law on September 4.

The edict proscribed the title ‘Ogiame’, (King of the River). He said the renouncement of the 533-year-old title was because of its perceived link with deities, rituals and ungodly connotation to Umalokun (god of the river), which is against his position as “a royal priest in the Order of Melchizedek”.

The edict reads: “I also repent for the name and title of “Ogiame” that my ancestors and I have borne, as it connotes our allegiance to Umalokun (god of the river) and other deities of the sea, all of which are false gods.

Continued on page 37

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THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

26

NIGER DELTA REPORT

Illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta…

Continued from page 25 Oil industry experts say, because of the limitation of the technology of illegal refinery, only a fraction - less than 30 per cent - of broth is saivaged as diesel while the others are treated as waste that goes into the environment.

On another day, a different location, a maritime tanker vessel went up in flames near the Nembe Creek Pipeline (NCP), which conveys 150,000 barrels of crude oil daily from facilities of Anglo Dutch Shell in Bayelsa and Delta states to the Bonny Export Terminal in Rivers State.

The vegetation around the area had been completely ravaged by the inferno. The crewmembers and their sponsors abandoned it.

The tanker is one of hundreds - possible thousands - of criminal vessels that steal crude oil from pipelines in the delta. The owners of these vessels own multibillion naira mansions in Port Harcourt, Warri, Yenagoa and other major towns in the region as well as Abuja and Lagos. They drive around in long convoys of flashy cars and roll with top politicians and crème de la crème of the society.

The owner of the burning vessel was too anxious to wait for barges and Cotonou boats to fill them up as is usual. He brazenly moved the vessel to a point on the NCP and pump directly from the ‘source’.

These events highlight the growing rise in illegal bunkering activities in the region, the increasing audacity of the criminals and the deadly impacts of their activities on, not only the economy, but on the environment and ecosystem of the area.

A top official of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), citing the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoni land, said the devastation wreaked by criminals in the area may take up to half a century to cleanup.

In the past, crude oil thieves merely restricted their activities to small out-of-the-way pipelines where they steal a handful of barrels that are loaded into Cotonou boats - huge wooden canoes that have increased in size as the criminals are emboldened.

Explaining how the syndicates operate, Shell’s General Manager, Communication, Mr. Philip Mshelbila, said the criminals usually puncture one or several portions of their target pipeline.

He said: “When we shut down to do repair, as we are doing the repair, they make their connections. They connect pipes and hoses of 3”, 6" and even 10" and they go to sleep.

“When we restart (operation), they are getting crude oil without the pressure dropping. Sometimes they bury their hoses under the ground and these go as far as to several kilometres.

“In the past, they fill just jerry cans and canoes, but they now fill Cotonous boats, massive GP tanks. When they fill up, they sail away to locations where the barges offload to bigger vessels and carring to the high sea and pump into ocean going vessels.”

He said the volume of crude stolen by the criminals is sometimes so high that it trig-

•Thick oil slick near a damaged crude oil line.

•An illegal crude oil refining site along a major pipeline gers collapse of the system when pressure drops to a dangerously low level.

The Number of illegal refineries have increased in recent times from just a handful years ago to the level of an operation that rivals the nation’s epileptic refineries in recent times.

An industry operation said: “In the past they stole and refined just one or two barrels at a time, but when you see the present operations, they refine sometimes over 500 barrels (about one million) at a go.”

It is learnt that just a fraction (about 20 per cent) of the loot end up in illegal refineries. The balance is usually bought by conniving western businessmen who pay cash or barter with arms and ammunition.

The spokesperson of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta, Lt. Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, told our reporter: “In 2012, 1,945 suspects were arrested while 4,349

illegal refineries were destroyed. Also destroyed are 133 barges, 1,215 Cotonou (open) boats, 187 tanker trucks, 178 illegal fuel dumps as well as 5,574 surface tanks. In addition, 36,504 drums of illegally refined products, 638 pumping machines and 326 out board engines were seized and scuttled. An outstanding success of the Task Force in 2012 is the arrest of 18 vessels.

“In the first four months of 2013, 498 suspects were arrested and a total of 18 vessels, 26 barges, 545 assorted boats, and 748 illegal crude oil distillation camps were scuttled.”

Unfortunately, the successes of the JTF have failed to dampen the appetites of the operators. There is no facility that is out of the reach of the criminals, as the NCP tanker fire indicates.

The actual volume of crude stolen daily is contentious. A statement that about 400,000

barrels of crude oil lost daily to the illicit oil deals in the delta led to controversy, which pitted Nigerians against the oil companies and government officials. The international oil companies (IOCs) were accused of being economical with the truth and partakers in crime.

Mshelbila, who addressed reporters in Warri, lamented the controversy generated by the report. He said the debate deflects attention from the menace and dangers of illegal bunkering.

He said the illegal bunkering activities are increasing in the western zone of its operation, ostensibly because of military operations in the east. Likening it to trying to squeeze a balloon, he said the criminals move from areas where they are pressured to more receptive area.

Mshelbila’s Shell is the biggest player in the nation’s oil

and gas industry and its capacity and assets are about the total of the other major players.

He said those accusing oil firms of complicity in the dirty deals do not understand how the industry works. He explained that the ‘loss’ is actually the total of oil stolen and what oil firms cannot produce due to closure of the affected facilities.

Breaking it down further, Mshelbila explained that the 150,000 crude produced from the Nembe Creek Pipeline would be shut in if activities of vandals forced the company to close it either for repairs or prevent crude leakage and pollution of the environment.

“What they refer to in terms of loss is the total shut down and theft. That allegation that oil companies are involved is complete misunderstanding of what is going on in the industry,” he stated.

Shell’s Asset Manager,

Swamp West, Mr. Mesch Maichibi, explained that there are meters for in let of crude and what foolproof methods for checking what goes in and leaves the export terminals, maintaining, “DPR (Department of Petroleum Resources) has the key and the password.

“It is impossible to do anything because as you are pumping it is recording and there is no way anybody can falsify account. As far as I am concerned, the problem is between the trunk line and terminal,” he added.

Maichibi explained that theft occurs between the wellheads, through the flow lines to the station and from the station to the trunk line through which extracted crude is taken to the terminal.

Multibillion naira daily industry With over 6,000 kilometers of pipelines all over the region, Shell usually suffers most with

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

27

NIGER DELTA REPORT

the military connection

• Leaders of the maritime unions at the prayer session in Koko

• Suspects, including a woman who offered to bribe JTF Commander

NPA unions to God: let our managers give us minimum wage W

ORRIED by the nonimplementation of the minimum wages, promotion related issues affecting their members, workers in Nigeria Ports Authority in Delta Ports, Delta State have taken their demands to God. The joint union of the Delta Ports zone of the Senior Staff Association and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Delta Ports District, held a prayer session to force a reversal of their “total neglect” by the ports management.

The prayer session was held at the NPA premises in Koko, Warri North Local Government Area.

The prayer points of the supplicants include prayer for management to expedite action on non-implementation of minimum wage, non-promotion of staff, employing of new hands to supersede old hands and action on bal-

A vessel used in the theft of crude oil on fire. loss reaching 100,000bpd during the crisis in 2007 - 2009 period. Company sources said the figure now fluctuates between 30,000 to 60,000bpd.

The figure translates to about $6 million (nearly N1bn) daily for operators of the ring.

And that is from Shell’s facilities alone. There are other operators, such as Chevron Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Agip Oil Company and other indigenous players.

Investigations revealed that the economy may not be the biggest loser as a result of the crime. Easy illicit funds have helped illegal bunkerers to usurp the traditional structure and political leadership of their communities.

Sheriff Mulade of the Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ) told our reporter that funds in the hands of the criminal gangs mean that illegal bunkering is harder to contain.

“The rich have seized control of their local communities and environments across the region. You can imagine a situation where criminals are in position to choose who becomes leader in communities. Uncooperative traditional rulers are deposed or ostracised by these powerful subjects,” he lamented.

Mulade, who hails from Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State, said the affluence of the criminal sends wrong message to the youths that they would ‘hammer’ (become wealthy) without the trouble of getting education.

Security agencies complicity Apart from the control of communities, the criminals have also used their wealth to corrupt security operatives, some of whom are active participants and beneficiaries in the illicit deals. Although the JTF and its counterparts in the Navy have consistently denied the in-

volvement of security operatives, our investigation revealed that soldiers actively aid and partake in the illicit deals.

The Commander of Sector 1 of the JTF, Lt. Col Ifeanyi Otu, was stunned when some women involved in the deal tried to bribe him during one of his numerous raids on illegal bunkerers.

A source told Niger Delta Report: “Apparently unaware that Otu is a top officer and not one of their partners, one of the women said to him: ‘Officer, why you de do like this na? You nor know as we de do am (Why are you behaving like this?

Don’t you know how we do it?

I have your money here.”

The woman then unfurled a parcel and brought out money to bribe the team. She was arrested along with others.

But it is not every day that high ranking officers like Otu go into the creeks to catch crude oil thieves.

A

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

ance of accrued pension.

Their prayers were also directed at the management to expedite action on upgrading, implementation of long service award to accommodate those who had served for15 years and above as well as prayers for the 2006 and 2008 retirees to receive their terminal benefits.

Speakers at the event included Chairman and Secretary, Senior Staff Association, Maritime branch, Delta Ports, NPA Warri, Emmanuel Ofomar and Mrs Mary Adewole and the Chairman, Maritime Workers Union, Monday Ahamba.

They said there were requests they made to the management at the national level but that management was not yielding.

“Our money comes in

dollars but it does not reflect in us and we know that without port authority, there is no Nigeria. It was the national body at the headquarters that summoned all the zonal executives for a meeting where we were instructed to go to our respective branches to organise prayer sessions over these demands.

“We are holding this prayer session because there was an agreement the management reached with the workers, which the management has failed to implement.

“In January this year a committee was set up to look into the implementation of the minimum wage and that committee also submitted its report to the Managing Director but there is no response. We have tried our best and no solution that is why we have taken our petition to God almighty to intervene .”

I’m not opposed to Jonathan, says ex-Sylva aide Braboke

FORMER Special Adviser to exgovernor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State and a stalwart of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Braboke Stanley, has said he is not against President Goodluck Jonathan.

Braboke denies any link with the Alhaji Abubakar Baraje-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He urged the leadership of the various factions to reconcile their differences in the interest of peace and unity of the country.

He said: “I am not in support of division in the PDP because we all know that a house divide against itself cannot stand. But there is need for justice and fair play in the party.

“I also want to make it explicitly clear that I am not opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan as the publications linking me to the factional PDP tend to portray both in Bayelsa and across the country.

“The President is a human being like me

From Shola O’Neil, Warri

and I know that he is facing a lot of challenges as the leader of this our great nation. There are the security challenges, particularly the Boko Haram onslaught in the northern parts of the country.

“I think he needs to be allowed to focus on the task before him and his plan to transform the country rather than being distracted by these internal wranglings within his own party,” he stated.

Braboke, who was SA to Sylva on Science and Technology, urged the Bamanga Tukurled PDP to look inward to reconcile the various factions, particularly those who are genuinely aggrieved.

“I am not in the politics of backbiting because as a Christian, it is against my faith and belief. I believe that what is right is right and politicians must learn to do the right thing and achieve the dreams of the founding fathers of this great country.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

28

NIGER DELTA REPORT

A bishop’s celebration of the ‘freedoms of captives’ W HEN the General Overseer of Bible Pattern Evangelical Mission (BPEM), Bishop Benjamin Beinmote Solomon turned 49 recently, he chose to celebrate the event with friends and his congregations in a ceremony tagged “celebration of the freedoms of the captives.”

At the special service to mark the event at the church’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, the bishop said he was also dedicating the celebration to God’s glory, praise and the purpose of God in his life.

He said it was time to tell people what God has done in his life and what He was still doing, especially in his family and ministry.

“We are not here to eat and dance we are here to praise God and to celebrate the release of anointing, the setting of captives free, the souls that have come back to Christ, the miracles and testimonies.

“This is the best time to celebrate and the house of God is the best place to assemble. I am indeed very happy today but I know that at my 50th birthday next year God is going to do marvellous and wonderful things in my ministry.”

He said as a man of God, his life should be a mirror as a role model to many, adding that his duty is to live to bring people to Christ.

Reflecting on his ministry, Bishop Solomon said the road had not always been rosy, adding that it was tough with a lot of temptations.

“Yesterday was full of temptation of different kinds, but here I am today, it is by the grace of God. As far as I am concerned, this ministry has gone beyond Africa. We have entered Europe to spread the gospel of Christ. I am calling on every member of my church to be determined and persistent in the ministry because that was my winning goal that brought me to where I am today.”

Speaking on his philanthropy, he

From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

said assisting the poor and the helpless is part of his ministry.

“I will advice everybody to learn how to sow seeds in the life of the needy and helpless among us. We should touch and change life; those who need our assistance are everywhere; in the office, church, the environment, in the community.

“Until we realise that somebody needs our assistance and we take a bold step to put smiles on their faces, many blessings will continue to pass us by. God provided for us because he wants us to give to others. So we must at all time learn to give and even encourage others to give.”

On the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crisis in Rivers State and at the national level, Bishop Solomon said he was not happy over the attitude of politicians, who play politics with bitterness.

He called on politicians to invest their energy by providing better life for members of their constituencies.

“I think politicians should desist from playing politics of bitterness and concentrate on how to attract development and economic stability in their various states and constituencies. The people are suffering in the midst of plenty, because of lack of dividends of democracy.”

He called on Nigerians to support President Goodluck Jonathan, especially his Transformation Agenda.

“We must be patient with the President. He is not bad as most of people are criticising him. If he is bad, most of the media houses today would have been closed.

“The only thing is that most of people working close to him are not honest and do not know God. This is time to seek the face of God; we must accept God as a country and as individuals, if we want the country to move forward.”

•Bishop Solomon and his wife cutting the birthday cake

Controversy trails Delta’s support for jatropha growers T Jatropha‘plantaHE Delta State government has promised to support Jatropha Growers, Processors and Exporters Association of Nigeria (JAGPEAN) in ensuring that Jatropha is planted in every part of the state.

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan made the pledge at the Soghai Delta Farms in Sapele Local Government Area during the inauguration of the Southsouth and state executives of the association.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Misan Ukubeyinje, who was represented by the Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Solomon Sadjere, said Jatropha crop was a texture that cannot be swept under the carpet because of its usefulness.

Those inaugurated were Dr. Akpofure Rim-Rukeh, National Vice Chairman (Delta); Ezekiel Osiomwan, Secretary (Edo); Rev Doctor Queen, Treasurer (Cross River); Prince S. A. Idanichika, Financial Secretary (Rivers); Sunday Emiowa, Youth leader (Rivers); Cornelius Idiau, Auditor, (Bayelsa) and E. Akwaowo, Legal Adviser and others.

Others are state chairmen:

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

Roman Otite (Delta State) ; Dr. Epih Opia (Edo); Prince A. Ibanchuka (River); Uewana Abiom (Cross River); Ernest Dudei (Bayelsa) and Akwaowo E (Akwa Ibom).

Sadjere said jatropha crop is a peculiar type of crop.

He said some other crops that have elements of oil like sugarcane and others needs to be processed but on jatropha, the crude oil is extracted as it is harvested.

The national and the Delta State chairmen, Maj.-Gen. Joshua Omoshebi (rtd) and Roman Otite , said the essence of the Southsouth meeting in Delta was to promote jatropha, the wonder plant that produces seeds with oil content of 42 per cent.

He said it is an economically important plant that could reduce poverty.

But, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has cautioned the government against going ahead with plans to promote jatropha cultivation across the state, warning that the move would engender hunger and not economic prosperity as touted by jatropha

tions take more water than most crops, vulnerable to common pests and diseases and are not pro-poor because they deprive local communities of their land, employment opportunities and food for consumption

‘

promoters.

ERA/FoEN, in a statement in Lagos, warned that the conclusions of the government were based on either “misinformation or hyped assumptions”, urging it to learn from the examples of countries that have burnt their fin-

•Uduaghan

gers in the jatropha hoax.

“While we appreciate the efforts of the Delta state government in exploring alternatives to fossil fuel which pollutes the environment, it must however be noted that Jatropha fuel is a false solution and not pro-poor,” said

ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Godwin Ojo. Ojo said: “Investment in jatropha is a disaster for the environment and for the people the plantations displace. The Delta state government must avail itself a recent study by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, ActionAid and Nature Kenya, titled Jatropha Biofuel Project: Emissions Up to Six Times Greater Than Fossil Fuels.

The study showed that jatropha, promoted as a “wonder fuel,” must be grown under optimal conditions, usually requiring expensive inputs, without which yields and the result profits can be very low” According to the ERA/ FoEN boss, the study analysed whether biofuels made from jatropha grown at a proposed plantation in the Dakatcha Woodlands in Kenya would save emissions when compared to fossil fuels. The study found that jatropha would emit between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases, depending on how the land was used before the jatropha was planted.

He explained that, much of the biofuel produced in Dakatcha is destined for Eu-

rope because of new European Union (EU) targets under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) which requires 10 per cent of transport fuel to be from renewable sources by 2020. Ironically, most member states plan to meet this almost entirely through agrofuels plantations in Africa and elsewhere.

ActionAid, RSPB and Nature Kenya are calling for the proposed Dakatcha plantation to be scrapped as well as the scrapping of all subsidies and targets for biofuels in developed countries.

He added that evidence has shown that “Jatropha plantations take more water than most crops, vulnerable to common pests and diseases and are not pro-poor because they deprive local communities of their land, employment opportunities and food for consumption. Rather than expend money on expensive pesticides the state government should channel resources to other crops grown for consumption to fight hunger and food deficits in the state.”

It urged the government to reconsider “this misadventure and go for environmentfriendly options. Anything short of this is not tenable.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

29

PEOPLE THE NATION

A FIVE-PAGE SECTION ON SOCIETY

Last Saturday, Deputy Managing Director of The Sun and Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) President Femi Adesina and his siblings held a commendation service for their mother, Madam Ruphina Olajumoke Adesina, in Lagos. NNEKA NWANERI reports.

•From left: Mr Adesina; Prof. Tam David West; Gen Buhari and other guests

‘She was a good woman’

•NGE president pays tribute to mum

M

OTHERS are special. So, they are treated with reverence and love, especially when they become old.

When they die, their children find it difficult to accept mother is gone. When reality dawns on them, they cry their eyes out. The Adesina family of Ipetumodu in Osun State was hit hard when its matriarch, Mama Ruphina Olajumoke Adesina, died on August 5. She died on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, where she was receiving treatment. She was 75. She was buried on August 9. Last Saturday, the family held a commendation for her in Ikeja, Lagos.

Her children described her as a "blessed” woman. Some of them sobbed; others smiled as they described her as their "Matriach" and "heroine".

Among her children is Femi Adesina, Deputy Managing Director of The Sun and president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE).

The Regency Hall, Ikeja, Lagos venue of the event was thick with people.

The National Secretary of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Rev Ikechukwu Ugbaja, officiated at the service. He was assisted by the District Overseer and Senior Pastor of Foursquare Gospel Church in Omole, Ikeja, Dayo Adewunmi. They prayed for the family and for the repose of Mrs Adesina’s soul.

In the vote of thanks, the eldest son, Prof Olutayo Adesina, described his mother in su-

perlative terms.

After the service, the hall was rearranged for the reception. The tables were draped with golden cloth.

The Police Band mounted the podium, thrilling guests with music. Since there was no particular uniform for the occasion, people turned out as colourful, stylish and fashionable as they could.

Guests laughed and laughed to the rib cracking jokes of the comedian.

Femi Adesina, who is the fourth child, spoke of how his mother carried the burden of the family for 18 years after her husband’s death.

Adesina said: “Though she was my mother and without being immodest, a good woman and I can say it anywhere since those who knew her can bear testimony to that. She stood out by playing the role of a mother in the archetypal manner. Everything a mother should be, she was. Even as a widow, she remained loyal and faithful to her late husband. She didn’t even move in with us but stayed in her husband’s house in Ipetumodu till her death. She was really faithful to our father till death. She passed on in Ibadan where she was receiving medical treatment.”

In attendance were former Military Head of States Gen Muhammadu Buhari; Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and his predecessor Otunba Gbenga Daniel; former Inspector- General of Police Tafa Balogun; Vanguard publisher Sir Sam Amuka-Pemu; National Legal Adviser,

•Governor Amosun (right) and Hon Kayode Akinmade

•Mrs Adesina •Alhaji Ibrahim Yaro represented Sultan of Sokoto

All Progressive Congress (APC) Dr Muiz Banire; Lagos State Commissioner for Information Lateef Ibirogba and his Delta and Ogun states counterparts Chike Ogeah and Yusuph Olaniyonu; former Information Minister, Chief Alex Akinyele; Managing Director, Guardian Mr Emeka Izeze;

SAVED ON SOCIETY FOLDER MACHINE 44 PEOPLE FRIDAY 13-9-13

former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chair Mrs Farida Waziri; former military governor of Ogun State Rear Admiral Abiodun Okukoya and the Sarkin Hausawan of Lagos Alhaji Aminu Idris Yaro.

•More pictures on page 30

30

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

S OCIETY ‘SHE WAS A GOOD WOMAN’

•Chief Akinyele and Mrs Waziri

•The celebrator Oba Gbadebo (sitting) with (from right) Olorogun Kuku; Erelu Dosunmu; Olofa of Offa Oba Mu

The Grand House Reception (GHR) at the Niteshift Coliseum in Ikeja, Lagos, always attracts the cream of society. So, it was last Saturday when the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Michael Adedotun Gbadebo, appeared on the A-list programme. NNEKA NWANERI writes.

• Dele Ogunsakin (left) and Hon Ibirogba

Grand event, grand monarch

I

•Mr Akpandem James (left) and Mr Gbenga Adefaye

•Sir Amuka-Pemu

•Mrs Comfort Obi

•Mr Balogun (right) and Salman Yusuf, who represented Gen Ibrahim Babangida PHOTOS: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE

T was a seven-star event. The Grand House Reception of the Niteshift Coliseum has since 1992 till date hosted many dignitaries at its Grand House Reception (GHR) . They are not ordinary Nigerians, but those who have distinguished themselves in their fields.

Men and women such as President Goodluck Jonathan; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings; former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Coordinating Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola; the late M.K.O.Abiola; the late warlord Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and former Senate Presidents Adolphus Wabara and Anyim Pius Anyim have been hosted.

The GHR went off for sometime but returned with a bang at the Guv’nor Ken-Caleb Olumese-owned Niteshift Coliseum in Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos, last Saturday. The special guest on the occasion was the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Michael Adedotun Gbadebo, who has joined the septuagenarian club.

A long line of chauffeur-driven exotic vehicles came down the hilly road and dropped guests at the gate where a red carpet ran from the courtyard of the arena where guests were having the pre-event cocktail. They chatted, as they tapped their feet to the slow music played in the background.

Others lookd at the pictures of those honoured in the past, the Oba's picture taking its place in the hall of fame.

Flash light from cameras dazzled as photograhers took shots of dignitaries. Many Nollywood actors and comedians were also there.

From a far off, the coming of the traditional ruler was heralded by trumpets. The residents of Salvation Avenue, Opebi, Ikeja, where the Coliseum is rushed out to watch the show of royalty. Many tried to catch a glimpse of the monarch as he stepped out of his SUV. He was accompanied by his wife, Olori Tokunbo.

They were ushered into the arena by Olumese.

He headed to where the cocktail was holding, to shake hands with people. His subjects prostrated for him .

The glamour and grandeur of the event came with fireworks, a replica of the traditional gunshot salutes; it was a beauty to behold as guests looked up in the sky marvelling at the colourful display of lights.

The monarch led guests into the chilled hall. Where people sat, they could see the low stage and the VIP section, where the Oba

and other notable guests were seated. As people greeted the monarch, his praise singer responded: Oba nki O (the Oba is greeting you). The Oba exuded royalty. His white agbada sparkled with the shiny white crown on his head.

The monarch didn't come alone. Some of his chiefs accompanied him.

After the National Anthem, former Ogun State Governor Aremu Olusegun Osoba led all to recite the Ogun anthem. It seemed the hall was packed full with indigenes as they sang heartily. Even the monarch joined them with pride.

The event was anchored by TV show guru Bisi Olatilo.

Olumese welcomed the guests. He thanked them for honouring his invitation as it was the first time the club will host a monarch.

He promised his guests more fun, saying the evening will be nothing short of glitz, glamour and razzmatazz.

"I am proud to be associated with Oba Gbadebo on this birthday occasion. The celebrator is ageing gracefully and he doesn't look anything like a 70 year old."

Reggae artiste Ras Kimono performed two songs. The first was one of his oldies and the other, a special birthday song for the Oba. After the clearing of the stage, Taiwo Obileye invited the monarch to take his seat on a prototype throne. Aesthetically, he was elevated above other guests and his citation was read. What struck many was that even as a monarch, he is a devout Catholic married to one wife, Tokunbo. He is the 30th Alake and 10th to reign in Egbaland.

As the throne was lowered, a cake was wheeled before him. It was a simple two layer cake with a crown on it.

The birthday 'boy' was presented with a plaque to commemorate his visit to the Coliseum after which he signed the celebrity register.

There was an interactive session where guests asked the monarch questions. There were 10 questions and the monarch answered them all.

Ace musician Victor Olaiya did a special number. As Ras Kimono joined him in the song, guests left their seats to danced.

In attendance were: Bishop of Lagos West Rt Rev James Odedeji who said the opening prayer; Ovation magazine publisher Bashorun Dele Momodu; former foreign Minister Prof Bolaji Akinyemi; Senators Bode Olajumoke and Olorunimbe Mamora; Erelu Abiola Dosunmu; Dr Sunny Kuku; Senator Yisa Braimoh; Chairman of Island Club Prince Demola Dada among others.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

31

S OCIETY

ba Mufutau Gbadamosi; Aremo Osoba; Chief Momodu; a guest; Senator Mamora; another guest and Dr Ese Ayodele Aneziokoro

•Olori Gbadebo

•Mrs Tina Olumese

•Olumese (left) and Otunba Mike Ajayi

•Prof Pat Utomi and his wife Ifeoma

•Prof Akinyemi

•From left: Mrs Taiwo Adelaja; Dr Funmi Akintoye and Mrs Sola Lewis

•Ras Kimono (left) and Sir Victor Olaiya

•Dr Folarin Williams

PHOTOS: SOLOMON ADEOLA

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 2013

32

COMMENTARY

“T

HOSE who devour usury will not stand except like a person whom Satan has driven to madness by his touch....” Q. 2: 275 It is no longer news that Nigerians are being placed under a very stringent siege by two vicious uniformed government agencies. One of them is the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). The other is Nigerian Police Force (NPF). These two agencies are in a fierce competition to tear the poor Nigerian masses into shreds in a bid to satisfy their common employer which is the federal government. The consequence of their actions on the populace and the implications of such consequence on the security of the country do not seem to be their concern. What matters to them in this case is the revenue they are eager to generate for the federal government and the likely peripheral opportunity that may accrue to their officials individually from the exercise.

FEMI ABBAS ON femabbas756@gmail.com 08115708536

Under their siege

Axiomatic quotes Sages are the pillars of history. Their words of wisdom are like the tonic of all eras that keeps generations of man going. Such sages can be compared to plants of benefit which grow in all lands and are found useful at all times. They are axiomatically quotable across generations.

The greatest of them all is Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who, in a famous Hadith, once said that: “When an issue of (great) significance is entrusted to untrustable hands expect the end of time”.

And in a tacit corroboration of the above axiom, a popular English philosopher, John Locke (1632-1704), once observed a situation in his time which was similar to that of today’s Nigeria and concluded as follows in his treatise on Civil Government: “...freedom of men under a government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to everyone in that society...and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of another man”.

Judging Locke’s observation and juxtaposing it with the prophetic admonition quoted above, one may tend to believe that true history is not what is chronicled on the pages of any book by the cronies of a tyrant. Rather, it is what the masses endure, how they resist tyranny and how they struggle for survival that forms the body of true history. And since history is a combination of body and heart, it is the attainment of genuine human liberty through such process of struggle that forms the heart of history.

Colours of terrorism Terrorism, especially in Nigeria, is grossly misconceived to mean only the killing of innocent people by some aggrieved and disgruntled elements in a society. No! Far beyond that level, terrorism is like a constant hue with many colours and shapes. It can come from the sphere of politics or economy or ethnicity or religion or marital life or social service or environment or even sports.

There is no aspect of human life without tendency for terrorism depending on the administrative competence and experience of the person who occupies the topmost helm of affairs and his or her disposition to the well being of the citizenry.

One typical example of terrorism in Nigeria today is the imposition of a new vehicle number plate by the officials of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in connivance with the Federal Government for the purpose of generating revenue. That insensitively obnoxious policy will soon be heartlessly enforced in the country even to the detriment of the same economy which the conniving duo is pretending to safeguard.

The trouble ahead In about two weeks time, over 90% of Nigerian vehicles, except those of the governments, will be forcefully grounded. This, according to the warning now being repeatedly issued, through the mass media, is going to commence precisely on October 1, 2013, when the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), will start impounding those vehicles for plying the roads without wearing the new imposed number plates.

consideration......The verdict of history supports the thesis that no revolution, be it social, economic, religious or political, could crystallise without the support of the masses. (In a democratic setting) the people hold the mandate of man’s existence as a social animal and no person can successfully claim to be a patriot who overlooks this important factor. Those intellectuals who think that they, alone, are gifted to change the destinies of their fellow men and women, are living in a fool’s paradise, like Louise xiv (of France) and others who thought of the people as mere tools of the elite. History shows that they lived to sign their own death warrants”.

Almost 80 years after that thoughtful and electrifying speech by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria doesn’t seem to have moved ahead positively by one inch. The colonial heritage in this country is like a recurrent decimal incessantly reminding us of our seeming perpetual bondage clandestinely weaved into the vestiges of our colonial past. Thus, the theoretical independence of 1960 is just a matter of nomenclature which does not necessarily confer any practical freedom on Nigerians.

What we ignorantly call independence in this country is a substitution of white man’s enslavement for that of the black man. And that is a technical return to the pre-colonial slave trade of the yore.

Personal experience

•FRSC boss Osita Chidoka

While talking to some journalists recently about the ‘project’, the boss of the FRSC, Corps Marshal Osita Chidoka, said the cost of the new driver’s licence is N6,000 while that of motorcycle operators is N3,000. The Standard Motor Vehicle number plate, according to him, costs N15,000; Articulated Vehicles is N20,000; Out of Series vehicle is N40,000; Fancy is N15000; and Dealer is N30,000. However, licensing officials of the FRSC and the VIO, according to some applicants, are charging far above the quoted official rate. For instance, the new number plate which officially costs N15,000 is said to be issued at N35,000 unofficially while replacement which is supposed to be N10,000 is being allegedly issued at N25,000 through the backdoor. And since the plates are not available, the only alternative for any vehicle owner is to park his or her vehicle until a time when the plates will be made available at the official rate. That is Nigeria for you. Head or tail, the masses who will eventually bear the brunt of all these are the final losers.

The current number plates in use which is now being changed was introduced some years ago by the same FRSC. But rather than admit its own error and embark on a gradual enforcement of the new one, this agency, banking on the solid support of the Federal Government, has decided to force the poor masses to pay the cost of its own mistake. What a country, what a government! Is democracy for enslavement?

In any civilised country, old number plates are allowed to wither away with old vehicles if there is any cause for redesigning them at all while new ones are subjected to new law with human face and human heart. And the cost is surely made affordable for motorists. This is not the case in Nigeria where only money is the issue and government agencies become hardworking only when the job will bring unofficial personal largess. Here is a country where the policemen, the traffic wardens and the road marshals are absent at their duty posts when it is raining and at night except where and when personal largess is accruable to them.

Added agony And, now, in the competition for such largess, a game of wit is taking the front burner. To beat the FRSC in that game, the Nigerian Police have come up with a sudden new devise that can give them an upper hand in the competition. Just last Monday, an announcement was made through the media stating that all vehicle owners must henceforth obtain a permit for biometric number plate (whatever that means) and the fee for obtaining such permission is N3, 500 per vehicle. And that order takes ‘immediate effect (and auto-

•Inspector-General Mohammed Abubakar

matic alacrity) from Monday, September 16, 2013. In other words, every vehicle owner will now have to shuttle between the offices of the FRSC where he can always be told to come back tomorrow and that of the Police where, as usual, no one will be available to attend to him. Hmmm!

Nigerians are in bondage.

It is, therefore, not enough to purchase a N10,000 worth of number plate for N25,000 through the backdoor, you must also top it up with at least N3, 500 in the name of biometric permit. That is if the N3, 500 biometric permit, too, does not acquire a backdoor through which you can obtain it to avoid delay.

In this period of unbearable hardship, when working class men and women can hardly afford N1,000 to fuel their vehicles once in a week, and parents are running up helter-skelter to find a means of paying the school fees of their wards, people are being compelled to pay about N28, 500 just to change their old number plates with special permit to use such numbers or park their vehicles.

Between FRSC and VIO What is most amazing in all these is the cat and mouse game going on between the FRSC and the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) in the issuance of the relevant documents. While the FRSC that introduced and is now imposing the new number plate is said to be responsible for its production, the VIO is charged with the task of distribution. And the Police Force, on the other hand, corners the responsibility of authenticating the number plate through the socalled biometric permit. Thus, Nigerians are wholly entangled in a conspiratorial web of official oppression. What else is called slavery? And if you ask for the opinions of the officials of these agencies, they will be quick in rationalizing the exercise through the alibi of national security and even accuse Nigerian press of bias and incitement. It will not be a surprise if they tag this type of writing a crime for which the writer should be prosecuted. They have forgotten that the same pen with which new births are announced is used in announcing the obituaries of new deaths.

In the colonial days In the terrible old days of the struggle for independence in Nigeria when the British colonialists still held sway , a foremost nationalist and versatile journalist, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who later became the country’s first President, once publicly observed (in 1934) as follows: “....I have always maintained that no social reform is possible without taking the masses into

By the way, if we may ask, where is the new driver’s license introduced and imposed on the people in 2011? Is it available today? Yours sincerely paid for one in February this year but has not been issued any till date. Instead, I was issued a bale of papers with a promise to produce the real licence later while I was asked to keep coming for it three times in a week (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday) as if I had no job other than going for driver’s licence.

Eventually, I had to stop reporting at the Jericho office of the Road Corps in Ibadan after four months when it became clear that the exercise was an apparent rip-off.

Today, eight months after paying, I am still going about with that bale of papers in case of any Police check. Given this dubiously messy situation, the relevant question now is this: why did we change the old paper licence that we were carrying about in the 1970s into a plastic one?

Genesis of FRSC When the idea of a new agency to be called ‘Federal Road Safety Corps’ (FRSC) was first muted in 1988, the entire Nigerian populace heaved a great sigh of relief. The general thought then was that a better option was being introduced to the traffic system in Nigeria especially when those first recruited for the new outfit were University graduates. By that time most Nigerians were already tired of the ‘wetin you carry’ syndrome of Nigerian Police.

And, in fairness to the pioneer recruits of the FRSC, an element of civility was displayed to the great delight of the citizenry.

Yours sincerely was one of the front-line Nigerian journalists who fought vehemently for the independence of the FRSC when the Police wanted to emasculate that agency by all means in the 1990s. The likes of one Mr. Abayomi Omiyale an official of FRSC, in Lagos State, at that time, created such a marvellous impression on the populace by their patriotic activities that some of us in the pen profession stood firmly for the independence of FRSC from the claw of Nigerian Police Force. But today, see what that same agency has become. The endemic virus called ‘Nigerian factor’ has held it by the jugular and the wheat has now become an admixture of the chaff. The only exception in the stable of that agency now is the crop of highly responsible gentlemen and women who volunteer to serve without remuneration and are designated Special Marshals.

Besides, there is no distinction between the Police and the FRSC today in terms of the cited Nigerian factor above. And, as a matter of fact, the latter seems to be by far worse than the former given its supposed educational background. If anything, the behaviour of most FRSC officials on Nigerian roads is not only a disappointment but also a confirmation that what is called education in Nigeria today has nothing tangible to contribute to the development of the country. In a nutshell, this country is hopeless.

SHOPPING

33

THE NATION

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

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

e-mail: toniaitose@yahoo.com

07035302326 Shopping@thenationonlineng.net

Last-minute shopping for back-to-school items With schools billed to resume next week after the long holiday, parents are just waking up to the need to shop for their children’s supplies. They may have to pay more, TONIA ‘DIYAN writes.

•Parents and their ward Shopping for school supplies

S

HOPPERS in major markets in Lagos buying backto-school items for their wards are in for a shock: They are buying the items twice higher than their original prices. It is the price they have to pay for waiting this long. Some of them said they found it hard to believe that schools will be back in session next week - and that the long holiday has come to an end. So said some retailers, too.

Of course, parents and guardians are not just on their toes for no reason; their wards expect them to provide their needs ahead of their resumption. This, they believe, will enable them make the right choices and save their parents/guardians the inherent stress and money.

Perhaps Mrs Mariam Ligali, the proprietress of Ernal International School, Lagos, said it all. She said: “It is not wise to buy school supplies when school is already in session; it will only result in parents spending more money within a limited period.”

Regardless of the number of

children a person has, according to Mrs Modupe Shopeju of Delightsome Gifts Concept, Lagos, when one starts buying early, there will be that opportunity to find plenty of deals.

“Preparation for going back to school occurs all-year-long, the only way to avoid being potentially hit with an enormous back to school bill is to buy them early, preferably, one month to resumption,” she added.

Mrs Sindy Isiaka said she suddenly realised that time was no longer on her side as she entered the last week of the long holidays. “I don’t have enough time to look for cheap items.

If only I started shopping earlier, I would have had enough time to visit different places and find cheap bargains. Now I will have to go out of

my budget,” she said.

Talking about not spending beyond her budget when buying school supplies, Mrs Aina Adeyemo, a teacher with Gladys Nursery and Primary School, Ikorodu, Lagos, said because the lists of school supplies that her children brought home seemed to get longer every year, she developed a few tricks for saving money.

“We all know that when shopping on a budget, we have a tendency to go over-budget. Even though it can be frustrating, we sometimes find ourselves doing it for one reason or the other. For instance, if you are just buying your wards back-to-school supplies, you probably will go beyond your budget.

Why? You want to get all your

child’s needs within a limited time.

And you know the society we are in, retailers of these items will take advantage of the limited time,” she said.

She also noted that parents should find out what school supplies their wards need by contacting the school or the teacher at the end of each session/term to ask if there is a list of required or recommended items. There may be supplies from last year that can be reused, their shoes and jackets might still go another year, or even a few more months. These are some of the things that need to be figured out.”

However, findings around the metropolis have it that book sellers are on top of the game, as they endeavour to stock virtually every school

‘Preparation for going back to school occurs all-yearlong, the only way to avoid being potentially hit with an enormous back to school bill is to buy them early, preferably, one month to resumption’

book customers may ask for.

From all indications, they are adequately prepared to ensure that students get their desired backto- school supplies.

Mushin is one area in Lagos that has many book sellers crowded with shoppers because of the season. Same with CMS book shop on Broad Street on Lagos Island. Shoprite has tagged the season ‘back-to-school specials’, promising to give ample discounts on all school items bought.

On the other hand, analysts have argued that best bargains for school items are found when school has resumed.

They say stores drastically mark down all those back-toschool items that didn’t sell, thereby, making shelf space for upcoming designs. One can get some amazing bargains with a little bit of patience. They also say, waiting allows children the time to see what everyone else has and then make a different choice.

They however contend that the only downside is lack of selection.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 2013

34

SHOPPING

Members of the Auto Spare Parts & Machinery Dealer Association (ASPMDA) are groaning under hard times. They attribute the bad times to the Boko Haram menace and the just-concluded Ramadan fast, among other factors.TAIBAT IDOWU visited the market.

• ASPMDA market

Boko Haram threat causes low sales at ASPMDA I T was mid-day and the traders at the Auto Spare Parts &Machinery Dealer Association (ASPMDA) market on Mile2/ Badagry Road, Lagos, sat in front of their stores waiting for customers. Many others referred to as hustlers selling motor spare parts from wheelbarrows pushed their wares along the complex roads, intermittently calling out their wares with the hope of attracting buyers.

But apart from the noise by human and vehicular traffic, the market was quiet, the itinerant traders moved in circles and those in the stores waited but the buyers simply refused to show up.

For several weeks, commercial activities at the market have been on a downward spin. For most of the traders, business at the ultra modern market has not been as usual, as the horde of customers who used to patronise the market which was relocated from its Idumota base has dried up.

Many of the traders attributed the poor sales to the activities of Boko Haram sect in the North. According to them, most of their customers are from the northern part of Nigeria where insecurity has

D

made it impossible for them to continue their business.

One of those who recently lost his goods to the crisis in the North is Obinna Eke, a dealer in Japanese motor spare-parts who said he lost over N850, 000 to the insurgency.

“I sold goods worth N850, 000 to my customer from Kaduna, but before he could return to his store, it was already burnt down by Boko Haram. Now, I have lost that investment and it is badly affecting my business,” Eke said.

Many other traders said they have lost many of their customers to the insurgency. According to investigations, most of the northern traders are afraid to leave their bases to buy spare parts in Lagos. Many others have lost their businesses and income.

Other traders complained about the recently concluded Ramadan fast which they claimed had caused a glut in sales. One of such traders is Joseph Okeke who said since the end of the fast trading has gone down.

“We are suffering in this market, there are no sales, and nobody is coming. You know since the Ramadan natural brought low sales, we are yet to recover from that, it is like the people just stopped coming since Ramadan.

We pray things improve soon.”

Other traders who spoke to The Nation Shopping spoke of their increasing frustration as a result of the glut in the sales. They said the poor economic situation has put pressure on their family and everyday living has become difficult.

The president of the market, Chief Anthony Ughagwu said the problems of the market transcends glut in sales saying the bad state of infrastructure in the market is another contributor to the economic hardship being experienced. “All we want in this market is for the government to put in place necessary infrastructures that will be fit the status of this market. By that we can attract more customers to this place. This is an international market where every kind of auto and bicycle spare parts is majorly sold. We need to make it attractive and ensure infrastructures work,” he said.

Good times for furniture sellers

ESPITE that some businesses on Ikorodu Road have collapsed as a result of the ongoing construction, traders who make and sell furniture along the road still enjoy high patronage. They use the slab provided for construction to showcase furniture.

According to the carpenters, people can see their furniture displayed on construction slabs on the road. As

• Some furniture on display

By Olajumoke Azzan

if they haven’t existed before now, customers won’t stop checking out furniture as they drive and walk past.

Mr Magnus Nwaokoro is one of the furniture sellers at Ajegunle Ikorodu Road, he said there used to be a major challenge of flooding and a very

narrow road. But since the road construction started, his dying business has picked “I get many customers daily; more people now patronise us here. They now have a clearer view of what we sell. Before, we could hardly find space to display our furniture. But now, we do not only have enough space, we have slabs that will help lift the furniture very high for people to see.”

Chinese shoppers set to become world leaders online

C

HINA’s e-commerce market is expected to leapfrog that of the United States this year to become the world’s largest by total customer spending, management consultancy firm Bain & Company says, and could account for half of all Chinese retail spending within a decade.

The change in shopping habits comes as almost half of the country’s 1.3 billion population now have direct access to the Internet, and of that number nearly 80 percent own smart phones or tablets.

China’s e-commerce market has grown at an average rate of 71 percent from 2009 to 2012, versus 13 percent in America, and its total size is expected to reach 3.3 trillion yuan ($539.07 billion) by 2015, Bain & Company said in a report released on Wednesday.

Total spending by Chinese consumers on online shopping reached $212.4 billion in 2012, compared to $228.7 billion in the U.S., the report said.

Chinese companies with retail outlets have had to realign their sales strategies to compete with online rivals who threaten to undercut them in an increasingly competitive market long dominated by ecommerce company Alibaba Group, and others like 360Buy Jingdong.

“It’s a massive change. It just means you need to be on the web, whether you like it or not,” said Serge Hoffmann, a partner at Bain and co-author of the report.

“Whether you’re an online player or an offline player, you need to have a meaningful, credible presence on the web.”

While still a small portion of total revenues, the growth of online sales is far outpacing offline sales growth.

Haier Electronics Group, which operates an online stall on Alibaba’s business-to-consumer site Tmall.com, a Nigerian website saw its e-commerce revenue jump almost 500 percent to 633 million yuan, or two per cent of its total rev-

enue, in the first half of 2013, from 106 million yuan in the same period last year. Its total revenue grew 10.2 percent.

Suning Commerce Group saw its e-commerce business rise to 10.6 billion yuan in the first half of 2013, an increase of 101 percent on the same period last year.

Soon retail companies may have to take a leap of faith, shutting their bricks and mortar outlets to reduce overhead costs and hope that customers will turn to their online stores, said Nicholas StudholmeWilson, a senior analyst at Sun Hung Kai Financial in Hong Kong.

Alibaba, whose Taobao customerto-customer website is the world’s 10th most visited according to web monitor Alexa, predicts e-commerce will account for half of all Chinese retail spending in 10 years, from 6 percent now.

“Proliferation of smart devices mean everybody is connected at all times, that’s one of the key drivers for this,” said Studholme-Wilson.

“Another problem you’ve got in China is that retail is so damn expensive. Land costs and labor costs are all really hurting margins.

Whereas it’s actually very easy to set up a shop on Tmall and your costs are massively reduced,” he said.

Logistics, however, pose a major obstacle to e-commerce development, and Alibaba is now working with Chinese logistics firms to improve nationwide infrastructure and delivery networks, said Shih.

Gome Electrical Appliances, whose online revenue now accounts for 5-6 per cent of its total earnings of 27 billion yuan, is changing its retail strategy to accommodate the new wave of online customers.

The firm closed a total of 35 stores in the first half of this year, said Helen Song, a spokeswoman for Gome.

Now the company plans to continue moving away from its physical business to better supply China’s rapidly changing consumer habits.

LAST QUARTER PROMO PRICES FOR THE YEAR ITEMS

PRICE

Whole Frozen Chicken per kg = N849.99 Honeywell Noodles Assorted 70g = N24.99 Funtana Mixed Eggs = N529.99 Golden Morn Choco Maize Cereal 450g = N399.99 Oldenburger Milk Powder 400g = N649.99 Chicken Twin Pack per kg = N759.99 Bulk Chicken Thighs per kg = N1099.99 Hamburger Patties per kg = N1199.99 Beef Stewing Steak per kg = N1299.99 Pork Leg Chops per kg = N899.99 Pies Assorted each = N149.99 Chicken Fried Rice per kg = N799.99 Seafood Paella per kg = N1099.99 Whole Grilled Chicken per kg = N1799.99 Pork Chops per kg = N1399.99 Plain Doughnuts 70g each = N99.99 Muffins Assorted 80g each = N109.99 Wholewheat Brown Bread 700g = N199.99 Maxi Croissant each = N229.99 Plain Madeira cake 350g = N399.99 Red Globe Grapes per kg = N999.99 Import Oranges per kg = N699.99 Plums per kg = N999.99 Grapefruit per kg = N659.99 Nectarines per kg = N1129.99 JC Le Roux Sparkling Wine Assorted 750ml each = N1099.99 American Honey Liqueur = N2249.99 Douglas Green Sprizzo Rose = N999.99 Castillo Dry White/Red/Rose Wine Assorted 750ml each = N629.99 Just Red Merlot 750ml = N849.99 Four Cousins Assorted Wines 750ml each = N999.99 King Robert II Blended Scotch whisky 750ml = N1099.99 Campari Liqueur 1l = N2399.99 Bacardi Rum 1l each = N2799.99 Straight Amsterdam Gin 750ml = N1399.99 Skyy Vodka Fusion Assorted 1l each = N1849.99 Amarula Cream Liqueur 750ml = N1669.99 Gulder Extra Matured 330ml can = N109.99 John Kepplers apple Cider 500ml = N229.99 Malta Guiness Alcoholic beer 330ml = N94.99 McCain Oven Chips 1kg = N799.99 McCain Frozen Peas, Carrots& Corn 1kg = N1199.99 Sunola Cooking Oil 1l each = N449.99 Paysan Soft Emental Cheese 220g = N849.99 Bridel Light Whipping Cream 1l = N899.99 Pot O’ Gold Corned Beef 340g = N449.99 Gladyude Frozen fish 1kg = N1199.99

35

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

S OCIETY

Udiroko, Ado-Ekiti’s traditional ‘new year day’ was held penultimate Saturday at the Oba’s palace. SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN reports.

Celebrating a ‘new year’ in style

A

DO-EKITI, the Ekiti State capital, was agog penultimate Saturday for the celebration of Udiroko, the town’s traditional ‘New Year day.’

The event, held at the palace of the Ewi, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe, was attended by indigenes and their friends from far and wide.

Although the event began shortly after 1pm, the roads leading to the palace were barricaded from the Okesa and Post Office ends as early as 9am, forcing motorists to use alternative routes.

About the same time, the residents started flocking into the venue and booking their seats either under the tents or in the open-air raised view platforms much like an amphitheatre.

Amid intermittent booming of guns, the people sang Ekiti dialectic songs and showcased their traditional dance steps.

The intermittent booming of lone canons from the Okeyinmi and Ojumose ends of the town heralded the coming of the Elegbes (traditional warriors) led by Chief Bafon Ogunremi; the combined thundering at about 3pm of scores of such (canons) from inside the palace signalled that the Ewi was about to emerge.

Soon, Oba Adejugbe appeared, decked in a richly embroidered agbada, waving the royal horsetail. He moved round the venue in acknowledgment of the dignitaries while the chiefs, elders and others rose in difference to him.

Groups and communities rose in turns to pay obeisance by prostrating, while the monarch prayed for his subjects.

First, were chiefs and representatives from the three camps/main segments into which Ado is traditionally divided, including the Oke Ewi ( led by Chief Odogun); Odo Ado (led by Chief Aro); and Okela Chiefs (led by Chief Odunro).

Before the lesser groups, including the Omo Owas, the Ado Consultative Forum, Lagos and Ado Progressive Union paid their respects, the Iharefamefa (the traditional police/local security) and the Elegbes took their turns. They were followed by the Oloris (traditional, mostly not actual, wives of the monarch) led by Eyesorun (actual wife) Bosede Adejugbe.

A group led by, Ojo Atayese and comprising mostly women, all in white wrapper, approached the throne of the Ewi but they never bowed nor prostrated.

According to Osun Priestess Olusola Ayodele, they were the ‘Olojido devotees’ who traditionally do not pay obeisance the common way.

They only approached the stool of the monarch and prayed for him. They then turned back and returned to their seats, not bowing, prostrating or gesturing in any observable way.

But, as soon as the event reached its peak, after the monarch had read his address, the heavens opened up and marred the event. Many left when the rain did not stop in time.

Oba Adejugbe thanked his

COMMUNICATE YOUR IDEAS

Your questions

L

EARNING is a lifelong process; everyday, we learn something new. Abraham Lincoln said, "I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday". Your value is determined, not by what you know, but by what you are able to learn. What you know right now is the reason you are where you are now, and to move to the next level, you must learn some-

•Oba Adejugbe and Prof Adelabu

•Otunba Adeyemo

•Senator Ojudu

‘It marked the beginning of a new calendar year for sons and daughters of Ado-Ekiti. As you can see, it is very colourful and there is nothing fetish about it. That is why I identify fully with it. My advice to all sons and daughters to continue to support the Oba because it only when they support the leader that the town will witness more progress’ subjects and others for the success of the event, saying: “The season for Udiroko is a season for the town and its teeming indigenes to reassess collective aspiration and progress.”

He lauded the “giant revolutionary strides in Ekiti State in general and AdoEkiti in particular which have been transformed within a short time of Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration.

“We also thank God for the relative peace in the state today. We pray that the Almighty God will continue to guide Governor Fayemi and continue to support him to deliver on his promises to the people.

“Although this is not a fundraising ceremony, we have been taking the opportunity of Udiroko Festival to appeal to Ado sons and daughters to use the opportunity of the festival to go round the palace, see some of the ongoing projects and find justification for their need.

“Again, we have reached a stage in our political development in which we ought to realise that politics has to be played without acrimony or violence. We should learn to play politics of ideas, in-

telligence, maturity and exchange of ideas on national issues.”

In her address, the Deputy Governor, Prof Modupe Adelabu, called on sons and daughters of Ado-Ekiti to sustain their support for the monarch, saying this was necessary for the town to witness further development.

She said: “The unprecedented development the town has witnessed in the last one year was partly due to the support, cooperation and mutual understanding that the people have for the paramount ruler and their readiness to work together for the progress of the town.”

“The governor held the indigenes of the town in high regard as reflected in their being given many political appointments, urging the indigenes to continue to support the administration.”

Prof Adelabu, a princess of Ado, invited the indigenes, including those in the diaspora, to attend Udiroko festivals as a matter of communal duty.

On the significance of the festival, Prof Adelabu said there was nothing fetish about it, but purely cultural festival to usher-in or mark

the beginning of a new year, adding that the state government was compiling such festivals that will be developed to international standard.

Her words: “It marked the beginning of a new calendar year for sons and daughters of Ado-Ekiti. As you can see, it is very colourful and there is nothing fetish about it.

That is why I identify fully with it. My advice to all sons and daughters to continue to support the Oba because it only when they support the leader that the town will witness more progress.”

The National President, Ado Progressive Union, Agbaakin Obafemi Ojo, urged indigenes of the town to support the administration in the state, noting: “If the reality must be faced with reference to governance, administrative style and immeasurable achievements of this young governor (Fayemi), his executive members and members of the national and state assemblies, I can safely echo the views of Ado people that he (Fayemi) is a performer.

“This outstanding governor in Nigeria has been a great blessing from heaven for our generation and our children. Part of his achievements is the manner in which he celebrated the exit of the former deputy governor, Mrs funmilayo Olayinka and how he selected the current one, Prof Modupe Adelabu.”

At the event were Oyo State Deputy Governor Chief Moses Adeyemo; Senator Babafemi Ojudu; ViceChancellor, University of Jos (UNIJOS), Prof. Hayward Mafuyai; Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Prof Benjamin Ogwu; Ondo State Commissioner for Local Governments Prince Oladiran Iyantan; Prof Afolabi Ojo; Ekiti State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mrs Ronke Okusanya; Special Adviser on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mrs Bunmi Dipo-Salami; Chairaman, Ado-Local Government Tope Olanipekun (Tugere); Representative of Minister of Police Affairs Chief Bosun Osaloni; the Odoba of Ado-Ekiti Chief Alex Adegboye and Mr Jade Sola Babatola, emceed the event.

Also were the various community leaders/Chiefs of the various quarters and ethnic groups comprising the Igbiras, Igedes, Hausas and Igbos.

AMODU LANRE OLAOLU

(Ph.D) sospeak2lanre@yahoo.com.

07034737394

thing new. According to Alvin Toffler, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn".

Considering how quickly our society is changing, to gain relevance or to remain relevant, our knowledge base must evolve. The problem is not that what we learnt was wrong; the problem is that it has served its purpose. Still holding to it will amount to us fading into irrelevance, God forbid. Can you imagine someone going to a training school to learn how to operate a manual typewriter to be competitive on a global level? We have to identify our target destination and then seek the kind of information that would be required at that level. That, in my humble opinion, is the problem with most educational systems; students are trained for a job market that doesn't exist anymore, and they are taught to solve problems that had since been solved. When learning is proactive, we will start to solve problems before they arise. It is not about being pessimistic; it is about strategic problem solving.

Just as every other thing is evolving, human communication is also evolving, and so is public speaking. To be on top of our game, we must keep learning and keep sharing. I'm excited about the feedbacks I got on the Public Speaking Icon series, which we interject after every major topic we discuss.

Learning from others helps us to assess ourselves and adopt winning techniques. I am also excited to have received questions on the topics treated so far. We will answer a few of them today: Q. It is usual that fear should arise when delivering a public speech; that is why it is good to be passionate about the topic being discussed. But in a situation where the audiences are not interested in the subject, maybe for lack of believe or trust, how can we convince them? - K. Olatunji, Lagos A. First, we must remember that the speech is more for the audience than for us, so, we must always take it from their perspective. Through our audience survey, we must have identified their reservations or outright aversion for the topic, therefore, we must approach it systematically. The best way is to find something we both agree upon. As we make those points and they continue to agree, we can gradually introduce our subject. They will be less resistant since we started on an 'agreement' note. Also, we can introduce our subject by attacking it; we can present all the arguments against it, which are what the listeners are thinking of, and then refute those arguments one after the other. What we have done is to make them realize that we have taken their position into consideration, and what we have to offer is a better option for them.

Q. I read your articles whenever I stumble on them. Thanks a lot for them. But you made mention of dealing with 'posture' and whether we should look into the "eyes of the audience". Can you kindly treat these two important points in your next edition? Also, on comfort zone, what do you suggest about wearing a pair of glasses when speaking to the audience? That normally gives me some sort of comfort. - O. Odeyemi, Ibadan.

A. When you stand before your listeners for a period of time, they get the opportunity to assess you critically. You have to mind the way you compose yourself or you will send wrong signals. For instance, toying with a key holder or belt, resting on the podium, etc, may suggest that you are nervous. You must be bold and precise in your movement and not shuffle forward and backwards. Different people have their opinion about meeting the eyes of your audience, but I strongly recommend it. It shows a high level of connectivity and makes individuals in the crowd think that you are talking to them. As for wearing glasses, you may begin with them since they represent your comfort zone; but at some point, take them off and speak directly to your audience, then wear them again. That way, your audience won't feel that you are hiding behind your glasses.

Q. Your article is amazing. If while entertaining your audience, a joke offends them, how do you correct yourself - K. Olatunji, Lagos A. Whenever you are entertaining people, or delivering any speech at all, watch them closely to observe their pleasure or displeasure. If they are pleased, reinforce the point you are making, but if they are displeased, don't even bother completing the joke. It is better to detect audience displeasure before it becomes apparent or a smart change of subject may be difficult. If, however, you have completed the joke, you better use your best joke to divert their attention. In an extreme case where all these are not applicable, simply apologize to those who may be offended and give a ridiculous excuse for telling the joke. That should douse the tension. Have a blessed weekend.

Dr. Amodu teaches at the Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ogun State.

36

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

SOCIETY The funeral service for Mrs. Adenike Kikelomo Ogunade, wife of retired Justice Babasola Ogunade, was held at Christ Church Anglican, Agege in the Diocese of Lagos West (Anglican Communion), last Friday. UYOATTA ESHIET reports.

‘A mother in a billion’ T HE casket bearing the remains of Mrs. Adenike Kikelomo Ogunade, carried by six pallbearers, was received by officials of the Diocese of Lagos West (Anglican Communion), last Friday.

The well attended church service saw the newly remodeled church filled to the brim with dignitaries from all parts of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). In attendance was a former Dean of the Church of Nigeria, The Most Revd. Ephraim Ademowo who received the remains at the main entrance of the church.

Also at the service was Archbishop Adebayo Akinde, a Professor who presides over the Lagos Ecclesiastical Province. Bishop Peter Adebiyi who presided over affairs in the diocese before the change of baton in March was also at hand.

The Chief Host was the incumbent Bishop, The Rt. Revd. James Odedeji who preached at the solemn service.

He was assisted by 16 other bishops.

Lady Ogunade was the wife of the retired Justice Babasola Ogunade, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Lagos West and leader of all the laity in the Church of Nigeria. It was therefore no surprise to see many chancellors and registrars of various dioceses turn up to identify with their colleague and leader who was paying his last respect to his wife. Some are serving and retired Justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. Others are High Court Justices and Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Lady Ogunade bowed out of the earthly stage on July 30 at the age of 66 years.

The church was beautifully deco-

•The widower Justice Ogunade (middle) with (from left) ; Prof Ishmael Ogboru; Dr Ogboru; Tokunbo and Tunde Ogunade

rated. Large canopies placed round the premises were filled to capacity.

Traffic operatives had a hectic time providing security and directing traffic around the church.

Inside the church, various women’s groups were dressed in different uniforms and everybody was eager to play a part in the service for the one they all loved and respected. Lady Ogunade was a member of the Young Women Christian Association while the husband was, for many years, president of the Young Men Christian Association Several hymns were rendered by the choir to the glory of God, both in the church and at the burial ground in Ikoyi.

In a sermon titled “Prepare to meet thy God,” Bishop James Odedeji admonished the gathering to be prepared at all times to meet God as death can come at anytime. He said death means many things to many people.

“To some, death is a necessary end; to some a termination of existence and nothing to others. To Christians, death is the beginning of eternity with God, that is why believers do not die, but sleep; they pass on to eternity and not pass away,” the Bishop said.

He saw no reason to grief when a Christian is translated as “death is a glorious exit from the world of troubles and a glorious entry into eternal life.”

Bishop Odedeji likened those who are not prepared to meet God at any time to the five foolish virgins talked

•Bishop of Idoani Rt Rev Ezekiel Dahunsi

•Rt Rev Odedeji

about in the Bible.

He said, “the foolish in church today are those who pretend to be born again but in reality are not; still go neck-deep into the world and its affairs; who are Christians only in the church compound but outside, they behave just as the others do.”

The Bishop said God is actually taking people one after another. “He has taken Lady Ogunade and no one knows who the next on the line is. The best thing to do is to be prepared as no one knows when his time will come,” he said.

There were tributes by members of the Ogunade family, friends and wellwishers. The husband of the deceased Justice Ogunade, in his tribute, described her as a “wife, friend and counsellor.”

According to him, she was a virtuous woman whose price is far above

any amount of money.

Justice Ogunade said: “Sleep on Nike, my beloved wife, friend, mother and grandmother of your children and several others some of whom were remotely related to you or not at all, and a humane person. We love you but God loves you most. We will miss you, but we shall meet on the resurrection morning. Good night and sleep well and enter into your rest.”

Her son, Dele, said in his tribute that he was confident of seeing his late mother in London in November before death took her away.

Daughter of the deceased, Dr Tolu Ogboru, described her as a “mother in a billion,” saying, she denied herself so that others may have, which she said made many people believe she was rich while she was not.

She said the late Mrs. Ogunade was easily moved by other people’s plight.

Kolawole and Adegbemisola Osunnuyi said they will miss their late sister for so many reasons including special lunch dates of ‘amala with efo riro’ and fish and water melon.

To Christ Church, Agege, the burial of Lady Ogunade was like none other. The Local Organising Committee coordinated directly by the Vicar, Venerable Christopher Ayejoto, worked round the clock to ensure that the dignitaries who gathered lacked nothing in terms of hospitality, information and logistics for the wake-keep on Thursday, the funeral service and interment in Ikoyi.

An apparently satisfied Ayejoto told this reporter that he was well pleased with the arrangement put in place. As he beamed a broad smile, he said: “I am happy that it has all ended well. Lady Ogunade deserved it all. She was a very active member of the church in her own right. Her husband’s position made it even more compelling.

“Everybody here worked hard and we are grateful to the Lord Bishop for the support by the diocese. As I told my parishioners, Justice Ogunade insisted that no money was directly spent on his wife’s burial, but we had a duty to organise a befitting burial and host the large number of dignitaries.”

The woman died. The woman was buried. But the face of the main sanctuary of the church in Agege will never be the same again.

Members of The Breath of Life Ministry on July 29 hosted their Pastor, Samson Jedafe, to a 40th birthday party at Wheat Baker’s Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos. OLATUNDE ODEBIYI reports.

‘This is beyond my thought’ I T was a night of fun on July 29 for Pastor Samson Jedafe, the senior pastor of The Breath of Life Ministry at Wheat Bakers Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

He was treated to a surprise birthday party by some of his church members. The old, youths and children gathered to rejoice with Pastor Jedafe who clocked 40.

Jedafe, a graduate of Holding Forth Bible Institute, in the United Kingdom served under Pastor Taiwo Odukoya and the late Pastor Bimbo Odukoya of the Fountain of Life Church, Illupeju, Lagos for several years.

He is the president of Mega Praise Summit, a worship conference.

Guests looked gorgeous in their dinner attires. They waited patiently in the restaurantfor the celebrator’s arrival of the celebrator.

He came into the venue in company of his lovely wife, Opeoluwa and their two children, Ufuomaefe and Onome.

Jedafe was moved to tears on entry. Clad in a trouser suit with white shirt, he was shocked when he saw the crowd. He said he never expected such an amazing treat.

“My wife only told me that we are going for a family dinner. I am sur-

prised to see my church members here”, he said with excitement.

Guests dined on choice food, pastry, fruits and drinks. It was a buffet supplied. The hall was nicely decorated.

White chairs were stylishly set around white tables. CY, the MC, cracked interesting jokes and ensured no dull moment throughout the event.

At the cutting of the cake, Jedafe held the knife to cut his green with gold decorated cake at the resounding name of J-E-S-U-S. A session of photographs followed.

Guests joined him to take pictures.

The event continued with a toast. It was led by Temitope Odebiyi.

Opening the floodgate of good will messages, chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mrs Agnes Fagbemi, said her pastor is a man who is interested in everything about everybody.

She described him as a man who is ever ready to listen and give needed attention to all. Mrs Fagbemi said Jedafe is a prayer warrior and a good servant of God. “I like him and I respect him a lot,”she said. Mrs Titilayo Olawoyin, a lawyer, described the celebrator as caring, loving, encouraging and compassionate. She said he is a man that

ispires others to work hard and make it in life.

“I wish you well and pray for fresh anointing upon your life,” she said.

Mr Blessing Bassey, a civil servant, described the celebrator as a man who has so much love for others.

He said: “Jedafe is a man you need to study for you to understand him.

“He is simple and a complex man.”

The cheerful celebrator’s wife, Opeoluwa clad in a flowery suit with black skirt thanked all the guests for turning up to share in the joy of her beloved.

She said; “It’s been 18 years since I met my husband and it looks like yesterday. Despite the quarrels, fights and misunderstanding, we are still one. I am happy and I thank God that I am married to him, because, without him, I won’t be where I am today”.

She encouraged husbands to support their wives to the highest level saying that men must never be intimidated by their wives capacity.

She sealed her goodwill message with a deep kiss to her soul mate.

Responding, Jedafe thanked the gathering for the reception.

Thrilled by the surprise dinner, turn out of guests and the out pouring of

•The celebrator Jedafe and wife Opeoluwa cutting the cake

encomiums, Jedafe described the reception as amazing.

“I appreciate you all and I say a big

thank you. I was cleverly treated today and this was beyond my thought, I am shocked and excited,” he said.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

37

NIGER DELTA REPORT

When Itsekiri turned against their monarch Continued from page 25 “Today, I renounce our allegiance to Umalokun and other gods of the sea, land and sky. On behalf of the royal bloodline, the throne, the people of Iwere land, I publicly enter into a new covenant with God. “My ancestors worship gods, the gods of the sea, land and sky, with particularly attention to Umalokun, the chief of the gods of the sea. We have also been worshipped as gods by the people under our rule and in our domain.

“It has been well documented that during the voyage of Prince Ginuwa and his entourage to present day Iwere land, the progenitor of the Iwere monarchy made a covenant with the god of the sea.

“The covenant demand worship and annual sacrifice from the people of the kingdom he would found in exchange for assisting Prince Ginuwa and his entourage in their flight and quest to establish a new earthly kingdom in this part of the world You (God) created.

“This covenant, knowingly or unknowingly, thus serve as the cornerstone on which this throne was established.”

The ‘New Order’ made in the presence of a handful of chiefs and some of the monarch’s bloodline excluded top leaders and members of the ruling house.

But, it was reportedly leaked before the monarch signed it. It spread like a wild fire.

A prominent member of the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought said: “We were receiving calls from all over the world. Members of the Ugbajo Itsekiri USA - Itsekiri in Diaspora called to confirm, if indeed the Olu made the declaration.”

A few hours after it was leaked, the controversial edict became the most coveted document; thousands of copies were frantically made; business centres, particularly those on Ajamimogha and Ugbori enclaves of Warri, had hectic time coping with demands for copies.

The impact of the proclamation also reverberated and caused tremors within the ruling houses, the Warri Traditional Council of Chiefs and other groups, whose members disavowed the declaration.

Itsekiri woman leader and member of the council, Chief Rita LoriOgbebor, who is the Igba of Warri Kingdom, reportedly went into a fit of rage when the development was communicated to her on phone.

The Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, founded in 1974, was instrumental to the selection of the monarch (then Prince Godwin Toritseju Emiko) as the Olu of Warri in 1987. Its response was firm on the irreversibility of ‘Ogiame’.

A document by Pa Jos Ayomike, Chief Isaac Jemide and Edward Ekpoko, Chairman, Secretary and Assistant Secretary respectively, and

T

•Members of the council of chiefs

•The Olu of Warri

•Mrs Mercy Ese smiling after the monarch's recant

•Protesters dancing in front of the Olu's Palace

other members, reminded the monarch that the founder of the kingdom, Prince Ginuwa, who left Benin Kingdom came to the land as Ogiame, meaning King/Ruler of coastal/riverine area of Great Benin Kingdom and not as god of the sea as he construed it.

They said Ogiame has been the title of the Warri monarch since its creation in 1480 and Atuwatse II, the name of the reign that began in 1987, adding: “If the former is abolished, the monarch would have been extinguished and if Atuwatse II ceases to be Ogiame, his reign as Warri monarch would have expired. Neither is possible.”

At about the same time, the monarch’s siblings and members of the Emiko Ruling House came out with a position paper, disavowing the declaration and urging the monarch to recant. They said: “We consider the history/pedigree of the ‘Ogiame’ title as such that the Itsekiri people hold it dear and sacrosanct to the extent that it should not be cancelled for whatever reason(s)”.

But the greatest test for the monarch was the gathering of hundreds of youths from across the kingdom in front of his palace. Led by Itsekiri activist and youth leader, Prince Omolubi Newuwumi, the youths defied the edict and urged a return to the old order.

To show their determination, they called out the red, white and black Ipis masquerades of the kingdom.

They blocked the Ugbori gate to the palace. And they masquerades put on a show, ostensibly to sensitize the people about the implication of the monarch’s ban.

Women from all walks of life converged and erected canopies on the sidewalks. They brought out massive pots, lit big fire and cooked without stop for the duration of the protest.

Mrs Mercy Ese, said the people loved and still love their Olu, but just couldn’t afford to allow him obliterate their entire history with the edict.

But none of the condemnation was as vitriolic as the position of the Itsekiri Legacy Rebirth, led by Dr. Alex Ideh, a former Commissioner in

Delta State. The group reminded the monarch that the stool is gazetted and advised him to either rescind the edict or abdicate to avert the wrath of the people.

Prior to that ultimatum, Mrs. Ogbebor, Nelson Utienyone and others met with the Olu to extract a reversal of the edict. The chiefs later told protesters that the monarch was a victim of a cabal who wanted to create tension in the kingdom for personal profit.

It did create tension. On the last day of the protest, hundreds of Itsekiri women dressed in red, the symbol of danger , stormed the venue and it took a lot of wit and appeal from the leaders to halt them from breaking into the palace.

But at the end of the day, the monarch listened to his people.

It was a pensive Atuwatse II who emerged on Tuesday afternoon, after Lori-Ogba and Newuwumi had broken the news of a return to the old order to the protesters.

Speaking with our reporter , Mr. Amaechi Ogbonna said the events

would further cement the bond between the monarch and his subjects.

“This has shown that the Itsekiri people may have different opinion on politics, but when it comes to their monarch, history and tradition, they remain one united people under their Olu, who has been magnanimous in reversing to the old order.”

Uduaghan, who worked behind the scene with other Itsekiri leaders to resolve the impasse, praised the monarch and his subjects for the peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Uduaghan met with both parties on Sunday, after which he promised that the issue would be resolved amicably “by the grace of God”.

By Tuesday evening when our reporter returned to the scene of the four-day rampage, it was calm. The music that played was not the discordant, cacophonous chant of protest but music of celebration, as Itsekiri women and youths celebrated the return of their monarch and their kingdom.

Peace, at last. But for how long?

Rivers NEPAD donate 1 million books to schools

HE Rivers State Office of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD has begun implementation of partnership with organisations to donate one million books to primary, secondary, post-secondary schools, tertiary institutions and libraries across the state.

Special Adviser to Governor Chibuike Amaechi and State Coordinator of NEPAD Rivers State, Dr Tex Wariboko, said the move is in line with the UN declaration on Education For All, within the frame work of the African Union 2nd decade

From Shola O’Neil, Port Harcourt

of Education For Africa, the millennium Development Goals and World literacy day.

He said NEPAD is believes in the saying that education is the bedrock of any society and the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world.

The agency said the programme was conceived to enhance children’s access to books in Rivers state and to increase the accessibility of research materials by scholars, adding that NEPAD Rivers State poised to ensuring improved

academic performance and reading culture, and to provide young people the opportunity to develop their full potentials.

This project became more significant following the selection of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria as UNESCO’s World Book Capital of 2014.

NEPAD Rivers State whose priority is centred on “improving lives”, and “impacting communities” plans to acquire 24 shipment of Science, Mathematics, English, other books and notebooks to meet the target for “the One Million Books”, project.

Wariboko, who spoke at the inauguration of the One Million Books Project in collaboration with” Books For Africa, BFA, USA, in Port Harcourt, said the project was meant to improve the academic performance and reading culture of students in the state.

At the event, BFA, executive director, Patrick Plonski, said the NEPAD Rivers State one million books project is the largest in Africa.

The agency said it would ensure every young person benefits from the project.

The first phase of the project

had twelve schools from various Local Government Areas receiving free text books, notebooks and backpacks, while the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, the first tertiary institution to be visited by the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) Department of the agency, received 17 cartons of books for its library.

Vice-chancellor of IAUE, Prof Rosemund Dienye Green Osahagulu, who received the books on behalf of the institution, acknowledged the efforts of NEPAD Rivers State and promised that the books will be

put to good use.

Apart from the primary and secondary schools, the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, University Of Port Harcourt, Rivers State School Of Nursing and the State Polytechnic, Bori all received book donations.

The agency will at the beginning of the next academic session in September/October 2013, commence donation of more books and other reading materials to primary and secondary schools across the state, Wariboko added.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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NIGER DELTA REPORT

I have no personal quarrel with Amaechi, says Omehia Sir Celestine Omehia, a former governor of Rivers State, will be 54 on Sunday. He was governor from May 29 to October 2007 when he was sacked by a Supreme Court ruling, which installed his younger cousin, Rotimi Amaechi. In this exclusive interview with PRECIOUS DIKEWOHA, he speaks on his relationship with Amaechi, the crises in the state, his faith in God and his political future.

I

N two days, you will be 54; how has the journey been so far?

I am thanking God for life, His mercy, blessings and favour upon my family and the lives of my friends and wellwishers. Like I have always told people, God has not finished with me. He has showed us love and that is why we must continue to thank Him. He has given us so many experiences, political experience, life, family experience and other experiences.

We have the ten commandment and Jesus has narrowed it to two: love God as your creator , live your life for God and in an extension love your neighbour as you love yourself and do onto yourself what you want others to do onto you.

I keep telling people who care to hear that we owe God a lot. God has created me from Ubima. He has His reasons for creating me from Ubima and Rivers State; it is, therefore, my responsibility to show love and compassion for the people of Ubima community because God has the reasons. God has a purpose of creating me from Rivers State. He gave me the talents to use it for Rivers people. In this state, many people were born the same day with me. Many people were my primary school mates but God featured me not for my personal interest but for the people. If we realise God in us, we will know that God used one person to liberate others and when it is done, that is the purpose of God in you. Sometime we become egocentric and selfish and we don’t give but the truth is that if we don’t give, we will not get. The earlier we realise God’s purpose in us and why God brought us into this world, the better for us.

What are those things you can always reflect back on and said ‘God thank you’?

A lot; every inch of my life has God’s glory and blessings.

If you read my book, “The right to be wrong”, you will see that I glorified God in every bit of that book. I was brought up in Ubima Community in Ikwerre Local Government Area.

When I took the Common Entrance Examination, I was posted to three schools for interviews. I was posted to County Grammar School, Ikwerre/ Etche, St. Joseph, Umuaturu and Baptist High School. As a Catholic, I was very happy that I would go to a Catholic school, which is St. Joseph, Omuaturu. But God used my father to say “no you will go to County Grammar School” with the reason that he contributed to the building of

the school as a councillor then.

I have no regrets for attending the school. I don’t know much about the school today but then the school moulded me and those of us who attended the school.

As students, we were asked to fetch water from a far distance; we were asked to read at night with lantern; there was no electricity. Maybe, that is why I wear glasses now. If you read that my book, you will see where I talk about Ikwerre/ Etche. I was being real; I didn’t write the book for fun. Many of my class mates will tell you the positive impact that school created in us. After my A-level, I went to England where I did my first degree. At the time I was about to come home after my first degree, I saw one of my friends, Denis; his father insisted that he should do his Master’s degree. Then, I said to myself, what stopped me not to do my Master’s degree like my friend instead of rushing back to Nigeria. I listened to the voice and I applied in one of the schools in Belgium to do international Law. I also applied to University of Hull for International Law. It was the same way I met my wife. When I finished my study, I was posted to Ondo State but I said I was not going there. When I met the Assistant Registrar in Lagos, I told him to change my posting but he told me I should not worry to change my posting; that I should go to Ondo and serve.

He said there was a purpose for being posted to the state. I accepted and that was where I met my wife and I have no regrets marrying her.

How did you join politics and what is the story of your emergence and later removal as governor?

I was not allowed to pick the nomination form but eventually Rotimi Amaechi was not allowed to run. We were at Elekahia Stadium for Southsouth rally and handling over flag for candidates. Then President Olusegun Obasanjo said Rotimi Amaech would not be handed the flag because he had some questions to answer.

Actually, Amaechi had problem with EFCC and others.

While we were there walking around with my friends, my phone rang and it was former Governor Peter Odili who called. When I got there, he introduced me to the former Chairman of PDP, Ahmadu Ali and to Obasanjo. Odili said to them: “This is Celestine Omehia; he is going to be the next governor”. The message hit me like a wave because it didn’t occur to me that such

‘

Rotimi Amaechi is my younger brother; we have not had any personal quarrel. We are still each other’s keeper. I can tell you we have had our handshake of brotherly exchange of greetings. He is my younger cousin; if we had any other problem, it is political but we remain our brothers keeper

‘

message would come.

These are workings of God and by God’s providence I became the governor. People just get angry with me because they can’t understand me anymore but it is the doing of God. All I will achieve in future is in the hand of God. Do you have any political ambition in 2015?

Everybody in life has ambition, including you; your ambition is to become the editor inchief some day. Anybody that has no ambition is a dead person. My ambition has always been there for the good of Rivers people and Nigeria as a whole but as for 2015, I am not running for any election.

The North is demanding that power returns to them in 2015 while President Jonathan’s supporters say he deserves a second term; what is your take on this?

Every region in this country has the constitutional right to aspire; it is mischievous for anybody in Niger Delta to think that he will aspire in 2015 cutting Jonathan half way. Such thought is unreasonable and condemnable. My own view is that the people from the North or any part of this nation should not think of taking power from the Southsouth.

Jonathan represents the Southsouth and he is holding their right to run. And it will not be in the interest of the region for anybody to start now to think of taking power from the present administration in 2015. I am solidly behind Presi-

dent Goodluck Jonathan to run in 2015 as our candidate. So, for the North or anybody to think that power will shift from the Southsouth is disrespectful, dishonour to the people of the region. The people of the Southsouth should resist such action and oppose it.

Can we say this quest for power shift is distracting the President?

Yes. As the President of this country, he has the responsibility of managing its affairs. The demand for power shift is affecting the president because his concentration has been depleted.

It is out of mischief for anybody to say Jonathan should not contest in 2015. It would have been proper to say anybody who wants to contest in the Southsouth in 2015 should contest than to say Jonathan should not contest in 2015. It is an insult on him; it is also an insult to the people of Niger Delta and also a disgrace to the people of this region.

I keep telling people that the power Jonathan is holding is not for him but the power of the Southsouth and that power cannot be consummated until the next five years. But, I think the people of the North are playing games; they are not honestly demanding for power in 2015. What they are doing now is to make noise and distract people so that by 2019, it will go to them automatically.

I also think that the North is afraid of power shift to the Southeast in 2019; so, they want

• Omehia

to make the loudest noise so that in 2019, they will be recognised. There is no way the Southsouth can relinquish power in 2015.

If the North does not support the Southsouth or Mr. President in 2015 and the Southeast gives us their support, in 2019 we will give our support to Southeast; then we will see where the power will go to. If the North wants power in 2019, this is the time they should support us and after 2019, we will support them.

The North has had a lot of support from the Southsouth; President Shehu Shagari won the highest votes in Rivers State. All the support the North ever had are always from Southsouth and I don’t see any reason anybody will be making noise now to destroy that relationship we have had in the past.

Mind you, Southsouth lays the golden eggs and we should be allowed to have the benefit of the eggs. When you look at the environment of the Southsouth and the degradation, we have the pollution of the environment through oil operation. We have crisis emanating from the same process of oil; our farm, water have been polluted and nobody is talking about it. Yet the oil business in this part of the country is controlled by the North and nobody is talking about that.

They want to have both political and economic power at the same time. No! We are human beings; that is why in 2019, we should not give power to the North because they have the economic power. We should support the Southeast because they don’t have the economic power. All the economic powers you see in the southeast are personal but North’s are given to them by the country. So, they cannot hold two powers at the same time. How many states in this country are suffering what we are suffering?

What is you feeling on the

PDP crisis in Rivers State and the recent division in your party?

Rivers State, at a time, was the most peaceful state in the region; it is a Garden City. It was a city where visitors come for nightlife, because business was booming both in the night and daytime. People come from far as Edo State and other neighbouring states to club in Port Harcourt. But because of life connotation with or without politics has become a burden and economic woe to all of us.

So, there is need for the people of Rivers State to think twice about our current situation to see how we can restore back the peace. We need to seek the face of God. It will be good for our political gladiators, including me, to play the game the way it should be played. Democracy demands that every voice should be heard and every person has the right to be respected. Many things have happened in Rivers State since October 2007 and the crisis we are witnessing today started that time.

Many people are looking at it as PDP crisis while it is affecting the common man in the street. It is affecting the people of Rivers State; therefore, we should try our best to ensure that peace return to Rivers State. It is not enough to say it is a family quarrel but what is important is how to settle the quarrel. It does not matter who is affected, it does not matter who will bear the pain; what is important is that God’s wish will be done in the state. It may take a long time but definitely one day peace will return to Rivers State.

The issue of PDP in Nigeria, I don’t think there is a split in the party because PDP is still one. Whether new or old, it is still PDP. If the people who call themselves new PDP want to break away as they wish, they should form another party, not PDP. As much as they remain

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

39

NIGER DELTA REPORT

Calabar’s erosion of death Erosion swept away a teenage girl in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, leaving many wondering how many more will die before it is nipped in the bud, writes NICHOLAS KALU, CALABAR

•The spot the little girl fell ... last Friday.

in the PDP, they must respect the constitution of PDP. Members of the new PDP must be disciplined and punished for their mischievous behaviour.

Killing, kidnapping and all kind of criminality have taken over your community, Ubima; is there any solution to that?

The issue of insecurity is not peculiar to Ubima alone. Shooting, kidnapping and all that have become a national issue.

But, fortunately, it has not reached the level of Boko Haram. Insecurity is everywhere in Nigeria but those who live in a community should look around and know who among them are involving in this criminal activities. Mind you, the issue of insecurity is not for government alone. In every cluster, people know themselves and also know the activities of the strangers and the indigenes in that cluster.

The community ought to fight these criminals. The fact is that these of people are armed and could bring down the community. It is a joint responsibility of the government and the community to fight insecurity.

It is unfortunate that even in Rivers State, the situation is worsening every day. I also know that the quest for economic empowerment has made many people to be involved in criminality. If a child is well brought up, he will not involve himself in any act that could tarnish the image of his family. So, the parents, who are the first educator of a child, should ensure they are trained properly. If the family play a proper role, the community and government can now put hands together for a proper upbringing of children and when this happens, it will minimise criminality.

What is your relationship with Governor Rotimi Amaechi?

Rotimi Amaechi is my younger brother; we have not had any personal quarrel. We

are still each other’s keeper. I can tell you we have had our handshake of brotherly exchange of greetings. He is my younger cousin; if we had any other problem, it is political but we remain our brothers keeper.

How would you assess the Jonathan administration?

He has done well. President Olusegun Obasanjo met a very serious decay. His administration lifted us to where we were today but many things were also left undone. Jonathan inherited those decay and cannot be expected to use a tenure to achieve the dream of Nigerians.

What Jonathan has started is what many people cannot see but they can feel it. If you look at his policy in agriculture and how it is benefiting the people, he has started laying seeds of development in agriculture.

When he came to power, the railway system was nothing to write home about but today something is happening in that system. The aviation sector is also improving. Whether we like it or not, President Jonathan’s administration has laid serious foundation for improvement.

In education he has performed wonderfully. When the opposition talk, they only tell the world what they want them to hear and not what is happening. It is true they have the right to criticise but let them not mislead the people.

In the banking system, the cashless policy is going to assist us in many things, including the reduction of armed robbery. There will be no bullion van attack. Politicians who manoeuvre their way during election will find it difficult because of the re-engineering of electoral system to produce credible candidates. And these are the foundations laid by the Jonathan administration; so, he has told the world that he is focused and knows how to achieve the best for his people.

I know that history will vindicate Jonathan.

•Buildings threatned by the edge of the channel PHOTOS: NICOLAS KALU

I

T looked like a scene from an adventure movie. A young girl hung precariously on the cliff of an erosion-dug pit, her life in the balance. She was hanging by the thread waiting for a miracle and a hero to end her nightmare on that Friday afternoon.

But this was not movie and there was no Superman, Spiderman or any one of the fictional heroes that would usually surface and whisk her to safety.

The scene on Atimbo Road in Calabar Municipality that afternoon was real. The crowd watched in horror as the ground gave way and the little girl was sucked into the ground and buried alive.

The most people could do was scream and wail as they watched, helplessly. Any heroic attempt to do anything could have added to the list of fatality.

When she was removed from the bottom of the gully eventually, she was dead.

The erosion ridden spot on

Atimbo Road has been worsened by the persistent rains.

The victim, who could not be identified, was also out of curiosity like many others in the area, edging towards the brink of the widening gully when the incident occurred.

Residents of the area and the Atimbo Road users said they have made several spirited pleas to the government to do something about the place, but all to no avail.

When Niger Delta Report visited the site, it was observed that the gully was a water channel which had widened, forming a gaping chasm that threatened structures built along its edges.

The water channel itself passed under the Atimbo Road, which links Calabar to Akpabuyo and Bakassi Local Government Areas.

Already the erosion had started chewing into the road as portions close to the road have started caving in – the spot the ill-fated girl stood.

It was also observed that the road itself was at risk of

collapsing, thereby threatening to cut away the two local governments from the state.

Residents told our reporter that if nothing is done urgently about the situation, the little girl would be only the first among many who would lose their lives in the place.

Vice Chairman of Calabar Municipality, Mr David Nsemo said several attempts had been made to bring the attention of the state government to the place to address the situation when it had not even worsened to how it is now. He also feared that the Atimbo Road faced imminent collapse if there was no urgent intervention.

He also said those who were building close to the water channel had been warned to evacuate the place but they remain adamant.

“You can see the danger they have exposed themselves by living where they are now,” he said.

A resident, who simply identified himself as Michael, recalled that a similar inci-

dent had happened around Beebobsco along the highway. He said that one had been addressed by the government.

“We know this place is not the highway where anybody coming into the city has to pass through, but this road is equally important. Remember this is the road where all the trucks carrying UNICEM cement from Mfamosing pass through and if this road collapses, activities at the company would be grounded and it would not be to the best interest of the state.

“But more importantly, the lives that would definitely be lost if government does not check the situation, should prompt them to come in quick and do something. We are begging that they come in save us now.”

Checks revealed that the eroded water channel connected to the Burrow Pit Community in Atimbo, where a family of six were killed in a mudslide that buried a house last week.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

40

NIGER DELTA REPORT

Attack on Delta commissioner heightens fear of dirty politics

I

T must have been a strong feeling of déjà vu for Delta State Commissioner for Secondary and Basic Education, Prof Patrick Muoboghare on Saturday, as he lay bleeding in the pool of his blood in Uwheru community of Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

The image of his late brother, who was gunned down in cold blood in Warri in 2007 must have flashed through his mind as he pondered his fate in those fleeting minutes before help came.

He had just arrived his hometown from neighbouring Ughelli, headquarters of the local government when armed youths suspected to be members of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) lunged at him.

First they threw a plastic chair to destabilise him, then attacked him with cudgels and brutally stabbed him severally at a point close to his heart.

Six years ago, June 22, 2007, his sibling, a former chairman of Ughelli North LGA and aide to former Governor James Ibori, Sir Arido was shot dead hours after he was abducted from his home in Okubor area of Effurun, Uvwie LGA. The lifeless body of Arido was found hours later on Atie Arubi Street, Warri, where he was dumped by his killers.

The brutal attack and sever stabbing of Prof Patrick on Saturday raised the spectre of his brother’s brutal killing, particularly against the background of its timing.

“If you remember very well, the late Muoboghare (Sir Arido) was killed in the runup to the local government council election in Ughelli LGA and now with another local government election on the way, Prof has been attacked and brutally stabbed,” a politician in the area told our reporter.

Ironically, the attack took place at the venue of PDP’s inauguration of ward executives. The party is currently preparing for primaries into two key elections.

Sources said the attack on the commissioner, a former ASUU chair at the Delta State University (DELSU), was not unconnected with allegation of manipulation of the list of party executives, who were allegedly chosen without a congress.

It was gathered that a section of the party leaders fingered Muoboghare and his supporters for the manipulation.

Before the incident, the commissioner and Mr. Peter Nwaoboshi, PDP state chairman, reportedly met with PDP National Vice Chairman, South/South, Mr. Steve Oru in Ughelli.

The incident occurred in the wake of increase political activities in the state towards the local government council elections and Delta Central Senatorial election.

The state is gearing up for the election of a senator to replace Senator Pius Ewherido, who died after a brief illness in June.

Eyewitness said there were at least three high profile Delta PDP members at the venue when Muoboghare was attack on Saturday. But none, a source said, assisted or accompanied him to the Ufor Hospital in nearby Ughelli.

They also did not show up at the DELSU Teaching Hospital, Oghara, where the victim was later taken to.

Instead, some leaders of the party in the area

Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education Prof Patrick Muoboghare was attacked and fatally stabbed in his home town last Saturday. The incident, which occurred just over six years after his brother was murdered by assassins, has sent shivers down the spines of politicians. SHOLA O’NEIL reports.

•Prof Muoboghare on the hospital bed

reconvened at the scene of the violence and went ahead to conduct the inauguration of their allies into the ward exco.

The action of the party leaders heightened suspicion that the attack may not be unconnected with the scramble for political positioning ahead of the primaries for the elections in the area.

Mr Paul Odili, Communication Manager to the state governor, expressed shock at the incident, stressing that it was ‘surprising and barbaric’.

Hon Rufus Edoja Akpodiete, member representing Ughelli Constituency II in State House of Assembly, also denounced the attack.

The lawmaker, who was the only top politician at Muoboghare’s bedside in Ughelli, was quoted as saying, “You cannot run a polity with violence. No matter what the grouse was dialogue is the only permissible way of resolving issues.

“I condemn that attack in its entirety. Prof Patrick Muoboghare is an illustrious son of the LG who has served Delta State diligently and will continue to serve. We hope such violence

•Prof Muoboghare

does not reoccur in future,” he said.

Our investigation revealed that the incident has led to fear among leaders of the party and other political groups in the state.

A prominent member of the ruling, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “This kind violence is an aberration in the politics of Delta State. We argue and we disagree it is very unusual for politicians to suffer this kind of attack.”

On Tuesday, three more suspects were arrested by the police .

Earlier a suspect, who hails from OhoroUwheru, was arrested.

The Nation gathered that an ex- President General of Uwheru community, Clement Osieta, who is on the run, has been implicated in the attack.

He was reportedly implicated by one of the suspect in police detention.

Muoboghare was ambushed as he made to enter the party's secretariat and stabbed in his right arm and upper abdomen.

He is recuperating at the Delta State Teaching Hospital, Oghara, Ethiope West L.G.A.

Meanwhile, Delta government has condemned the attack on Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare.

In a signed statement from the office of the Delta Commissioner for Information, Chike Ogeah, and made available to The Nation However, the statement contradicted media reports that Prof Muoboghare was in coma.

Part of the statement reads, "We unreservedly condemn the unprovoked attack on the commissioner. Arrests have been made by the police and perpetrators of the crime will face the full wrath of the law. At a time that Delta State has emerged as one of the most peaceful states in the country, the unfortunate incident belies the perception of the youth as the successor generation among the political class that should usher an era of tolerance in politics".

It urges Deltans, especially youth to eschew violence in all their conduct as attacks on persons under any guise is a criminal act punishable under Nigerian laws.

‘Oil-wells responsible for Amaechi’s problem with Presidency’ From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

•Amaechi

R

IVERS State Commissioner for Employment Generation and Economic Empowerment Dr Ipalibo Harry has said the cause of the face-off between Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Presidency was the

payment of the proceeds the state’s oil wells to Bayelsa State.

He spoke at Degema during the inauguration of the Rivers Leadership Advancement Foundation (RIVLEAF).

RIVLEAF’s President Chief Wele Alex Wele condemned the way Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu, has piloted the affairs of the police in the state, adding that the withdrawal of the governor’s security details was in bad faith.

He said: “If you like, withdraw the entire police and the security of Amaechi, we the people of the state

will support and provide security for him.”

RIVLEAF, which mainly comprises of university graduates, is a political platform championing the cause of Amaechi’s good governance.

It has so far inaugurated 21 local government chapters remaining Okrika and Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni local governments.

While addressing the people of Akuku Toru and Degema, Wele said no amount of intimidation would deter the people of the state from identifying with Amaechi.

Wele described the reason for the withdrawal of the governor’s police escort as unreasonable, pointing out that it has portrayed the Police as be-

ing partisan in the on-going crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Wele said: “When you withdraw the Escort Commander and the Camp Commandant of the governor because they are not giving you report on the governor’s itinerary, you cannot say that you are not partisan.

“Whatever happens to Amaechi, the Rivers CP and the Inspector General of Police should be held responsible.”

He also warned the people of the two local government areas, which are Kalabari speaking, to stay away from Grassroots Democratic Initiative (GDI), a political platform of the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, if they want to pro-

duce the next governor of the state in 2015.

He reminded the people that due to the good cause which Amaechi stands for, the battle front for the PDP crisis has now been shifted to Abuja “so that they can feel what we have been suffering from.”

Speakers at the event were the Chairman of Akuku Toru, Theodore Georgewill ; his Degema counterpart, Ibigoni Pokima; Sekonte Davies of the House of Representatives, among others.

They harped on the sterling leadership style of the governor and expressed regrets that President Goodluck Jonathan does not have any strong reason for fighting Amaechi.

•DO YOU HAVE STORIES FOR US? PLEASE CONTACT US ON 07066954441 OR 08123521990

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

• Dr Jonathan

• Abdullahi

• Dr Aliyu

• Onoja

• Ebute

• Balewa

President Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters are drumming support for his second term ambition in the North to counter the Northern elders’ push for power shift in 2015. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the claims and counter-claims of the pro-zoning and anti-power shift crusaders.

2015 and PDP’s politics of zoning F

ORMER Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, started the agitation on the platform of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF). Since last year, the debate on power shift has polarised the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into pro-zoning camp and anti-power shift supporters. The zoning controversy has led to a split in the party, with the Baraje faction, which is believed to be rooting for power shift to the North, challenging to a duel President Goodluck Jonathan, who is perceived to be nursing a second term.

The agitators for power shift to the North are leaning on the party’s zoning arrangement. But the President is leaning on the 1999 Constitution, which gives him the right to seek a second term.

Besides, his supporters have pointed out that President Jonathan is still in power, based on the “natural zoning” of the slot to the Southsouth, adding that his second term ambition is still within the zoning framework.

This argument has been rejected by Abdullahi.

In his view, the next President should come from the North, based on the previous agreement on zoning in the PDP. He said the region had made a sacrifice by conceding the Presidency to the South, following the death of President Umaru Yar’ Adua, a northerner. The PDP chieftain, who served under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, said the country should not entrust Dr. Jonathan with leadership beyond 2015 because he had betrayed the process that brought him into the office.

The former Special Adviser on Food Security explained that the region expected the President to reciprocate the gesture by refraining from blocking its chance. He blamed Obasanjo for upsetting the party’s zoning formula, adding that President Jonathan’s position on zoning is a fallout of the Obasanjo legacy.

“When Obasanjo wanted an extension of tenure for a second term under the zoning arrangement, he to came to an extended caucus of the PDP. I remember how people opposed the idea. The late Abubakar Rimi was one of them and he was supported by three others that Obasanjo should not be given an extension and that the Presidency should come to the North for four years before going back to the South.

“Eventually, about 37 people out of the about 41 present, voted for the extension for Obasanjo to have a second term. Now coming to why we should not trust people who renege on promises.

Obasanjo was the first to deny that there was a zoning that brought him to power. He did that and kept doing it and it is most likely it was from him that they learnt what they are doing because he was instrumental to Jonathan becoming the Vice President,” he stressed.

Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu’s disclosure has also fueled the zoning crisis. He alleged that the President had sealed a pact with some

Northern leaders to have one term in office. But he refused to shed light on the details, the signatories to the pact and witnesses. Although he promised that he would let the cat out of the bag, he has not lived up to the threat.

The zoning argument has not only polarised the PDP, it has also divided the North. Former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Abba-Gana, faulted the Northern Elders’ Forum’s claim. He said many Northerners are rooting for the President’s second term, adding that Abdullahi’s views were personal.

The Bornu State politician described the NEF as an interest group that has limitations. He said other groups in the region have not endorsed its agitation. In fact, the former minister said that NEF was arrogating to itself the powers of a political party.

“I doubt, if Prof. Abdullahi speaks for the North because the political parties are the only recognised institutions through which one can present oneself for an election and not through non-governmental organisations like NEF or the NGF”, he explained. He said the group can pass its suggestion to the PDP or any other party for consideration.

Abba-Gana, an engineer, said that fairness demanded that Jonathan, who is from a minority ethnic group from the Southsouth, should complete his constitutional two terms. He pointed out that the North had produced more Heads of State and Governments than the South. “Allowing Jonathan another four years will not take anything away from the North. The region has produced about eight or nine former Heads of State and it did not take away poverty from the North.

We should not be talking as if the North has never had any President. We have had about eight or nine Presidents, yet poverty, illiteracy and crises are in the North. So, if the previous eight or nine leaders, who are Northerners, did not make any difference, is it the remaining years of Jonathan that will kill the North?, he queried.

In Abba-Gana’s reckoning, it is dangerous for the PDP to deny an incumbent President, who is interested in a second term, the ticket, especially when his aspiration has not violated the constitution. He said the party will enjoy the power of incumbency, if the President is allowed to run. “If the President says he will seek another term, most of us will support him, because it would be very unwise even for the PDP to bring out another person while Jonathan is still sitting in the Aso Villa. How will you force him to support the new candidate?”, he asked.

The former minister urged the Northern elders to listen to Gen Theophilus Danjuma’s admonition that the Northern elite should not chase shadows. “Our highly respected statesman has told our Northern elite that the North needs to plan very well, work very hard, relate better and talk less. If you ask me, the North needs another four years to plan, to relate better, to work hard and create a programme, so that this Boko Haram crisis, Jos crisis and so on will be settled. And we should search for and groom a leader from the North, who will unite the region and at the same time give Nigeria a very good leadership. But you can’t do this in a crash programme”, he added Former Senate President Ahmed Ebute aligned with Abba-Gana, saying that “God has zoned the Presidency to the Southsouth”, following Yar’Adua’s death. He criticised the NEF’s approach, alleging that the group was clamouring for power shift to the Northwest and not the North. He said the agitation would have received a collective endorsement, if the three zones-Northwest, Northeast and Northcentral-are entitled to vie for the Presidency, if it is zoned to the region. Dismissing the insinuation that President Jonathan is not popular in the North, he said “there are millions of other Northerners that believe in the administration of Goodluck Jonathan”. Ebute also said that the NEF is a minority interest group in the region.

“But why should the North be disenchanted?

President Shehu Shagari was the President for four years. He was elected for a second term before the military took over. Buhari spent one and half years. Babangida spent eight years. Abacha spent five years”, he added.

Another northerner, Gen. Lawrence Onoja (rtd), said the zoning controversy is unnecessary. He said the Jonathan’s Presidency has opened opportunities for national integration and boosted the confidence of the minority ethnic groups because they now have a sense of belonging. “It would be unfair and injustice to stop him from doing his second term. If he finishes his second term in 2019, then, other areas or blocs can now begin to agitate for power shift”, he added.

Onoja objected to the claim that the North has a collective interest in post-Ahmadu Bello period.

He clarified that the the interest of the Middlebelt, which is a distinct geographical entity, is now different from the interest of the core North. “The demarcation has been there all along. It is just that the leaders that we had before, had the responsibility of making sure that we worked together as

‘The zoning controversy has now led to a split in the party, with the Baraje’s faction, which is believed to be rooting for power shift to the North, challenging President Goodluck Jonathan, who is perceived to be nursing a second term, to a duel. The agitators for power shift to the North are leaning on the party’s zoning arrangement. But the President is leaning on the 1999 Constitution, which gives him the right to seek a second term’

the same North. But yesterday is not the same as today. People are educated and exposed. So, if yesterday, some group of persons were dictating to us, today, people will not accept the dictation of anybody again. We, in the Middlebelt, are strong enough to go on our own in any situation”, he stressed.

The retired General said the so-called agreement between Jonathan and some Northern elders may be a ruse. “I am not privy to any agreement. I do not know if any agreement was signed. And I don’t think Mr. President signed any agreement with anybody. This is politics”, he said.

Second Republic Senator Chris Ukpabi who hails from Abia State, also faulted the power shift struggle, saying that “the born-to-rule” slogan is outdated. The elder statesman said that the agitation is laughable. “They are merely playing out a script, which had been handed over to them by the late Sarduana of Sokoto. On the October 12, 1960, that highly respected sage said Nigeria was their own private property bequeathed to them by their great grandfather, Usman Danfodio, and that they will resist any change in power, that the minorities of the North will be manipulated and the Southerners will be regarded as conquered territory.

Unfortunately, they cannot do that”, he said.

Ukpabi wondered why a region that had produced civilian and military Heads of State, who had ruled for 38 years, is agitating for power shift, without sensitivity to the feelings of other competing zones. He said power shift should have human face, adding that the Presidency should rotate, not between the North and South, but among the six regions.”This North and South thing is an imaginary demarcation”, he fumed.

Benue State politician Senator Emmanuel Bwacha agreed with Ukpabi.He urged the minority ethnic groups to rally round Jonathan, who has broken the jinx. He said Providence has made it possible for the President to assume the reins at a time the minority groups were edged out by the large ethnic groups. “If Jonathan who is from the minority Southsouth can become the President, in the nearest future, an indigene of Taraba State can also be President”, he said.

A PDP chieftain from Bauchi State, Dr. Abdul Jhalil Balewa, lamented that the North/South dichotomy has continued to shape national politics, instead of merit, competence, capacity and track record of performance. He also said that regional outlook has displaced national outlook, stressing that it is a setback for the quest for national integration, unity and harmony. The politician, who is the son of former Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, urged Nigerians to consider the President for a second tern for two reasons. He said the President has the right to re-contest. The politician also said that, judging by the challenges that have confronted his administration, he has done his best.

“I am a northerner. But it is not true that the North has rejected the President. Many northerners will support him in 2015”, Balewa added.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

POLITICS Anambra State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Chief Nze Nwankpo spoke with AUGUSTINE AVWODE in Lagos on the division in the party, the controversial party primaries, zoning and challenges that will face the next governor.

Reconciliation possible in Anamabra PDP, says Nwankpo

D

ON’T you think that the division in the Anambra State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will spell doom for it in the November 16 governorship election?

As far as I am concerned, nothing is impossible. I want to say, with all sense of responsibility, that the people involved in the crisis are sons and daughters of Anambra State. Don’t forget that everyone of us declared our intentions to lead the state and went into the primaries with just one thing at the back of his or her mind; and that is to serve Anambra State.

We all know that only one person can be governor at a time. All we want is the best for the people and the state rather than ourselves.

I see a situation where all the protagonists will, in the interest of the people and the state, let go and a reconciliation will happen.

Are you saying that reconciliation is possible in the chapter, given the recent happenings in the party?

That is exactly what I am saying.

Reconciliation is very possible. We still have two months to that election. In politics, 24 hours is a very long time. It will be wrong for anybody to write us off and conclude thatAnambra PDP has thrown away the governorship because they could not agree. There is no where in the world where there are no frictions. Mr. A says he can do the job better, Mr. B says, no, I am the better person to do it. Is this not the bottom line of all the argument? And is that what we cannot resolve? I said reconciliation in this party is very possible before that day.

As an aspirant, are you surprised at the outcome of the PDP primaries?

The people have spoken. And don’t forget that we all pledged to abide by the outcome of the prima-

ries conducted by the party. What I think we should focus on now is the fact that the state needs all of us to grow it. God loves Anambra State, take a look at the state. We have some of the best human beings from the state and that is why we are all passionate about serving the state. What is left for us now is to join our hands together and ensure that our party comes into power. That is the platform through which we can serve the people and serve the state. Anambra is a special state. That is why it is called the “The Light of the Nation”. It is the home of numerous legends, who in their various careers, have carried bright torches across the nation and the world. The roll call is incredible and their footprints are massive. They include Nwafor Orizu, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the blessed Michael Iwene Tansi, the great Odimegwu-Ojukwu, Kenneth Dike, Sir Louis Mbanefo, Chinua Achebe, Dr. Pius Okigbo, and Dr Chike Obi. So, you can see that what the state needs is a facilitator. A man, who will facilitate development, because our people are self-driven. You don’t need to tell Anambra people ‘this is what you do to be successful’. God has endowed us in an exceptional way. Sometimes, I have wondered why God put so many talents in one location, so much wealth in one location, so much energy in one location. So, Anambra needs a quiet facilitator, someone who understands what is required and the fundamentals. Anambra is indeed one of the few States in Nigeria where conditions exist for spectacular economic growth. It has become important and urgent to overcome the several challenges presently drawing Anambra State back from realising its very tremendous potential. I aspired to be the governor of Anambra State because I understand these facts and the potential of the state. The primaries have come and gone and we must be gentle-

‘All we want is the best for the people and the state rather than ourselves. I see a situation where all the protagonists will, in the interest of the people and the state, let go and a reconciliation will happen’ • Nwankpo

men, who say something and abide by it.

What are those things the next governor in the state should focus on?

I have spoken about the type of people that are in the state – highly endowed and resourceful. Therefore, Anambra needs somebody who will provide an enabling environment for the people to be able to harness all their abilities and potential for growth and development. Without doubt, the incumbent governor has tried, but there is still a lot of room for improvement in such sectors as the security of lives and properties, infrastructure development, quality health care delivery, availability and accessibility of qualitative education. Then, there is the urgent need for socio-moral orientation.

The next governor of the state should focus on employment generation from the angle of enterprise

promotion. In Anambra State, we are business people. The idea here is to recognise that fact, work with our market and business communities and apply the leverage of government in syndicating funds for driving rapid growth of small and medium scale enterprises. Right now, our mentoring system has basically collapsed. In those good old days, young people go and sit with their masters in the markets, who trained them overtime and gave them money to do business. But desperation has destroyed that today.

We need to find a way to recover that system.

The next governor of the state must be able to look into the vast arable land that is available in the state and put it into proper use in the areas of land for investments, agriculture and agro- allied business. If any state wants to develop, the first thing is

to find the means and ways to feed its people. The next governor of the state should be able to provide an appropriate enabling environment to support the achievement of food sufficiency in Anambra State by intervening in the following specific relevant areas; agricultural mechanization, production and distribution of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and improved varieties of commercial seeds, seedlings, brood stock and fingerlings under government certification and quality control, supported with a virile and effective extension service.

The governor should be able to pay attention to the environment by aggressively tackling erosion and dealing with the issue of waste management.

What is your rection to the crisis rocking the PDP at the national level?

It is not unexpected. That there will be misunderstanding and disagreement in a party as big and large as the PDP is taken for granted. The first thing that should tell you that things will be sorted out amicably is the fact that those who revolted or stormed out in anger, up till now, as we speak, have not labbelled themselves as a different party. They claimed to be the authentic PDP, while our national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur ,has advised them to stop parading themselves as a breakaway group.

The second thing is that, since the incident happened at the Eagle Squares, Abuja, the key party leaders have been saying that the misunderstanding and disagreement must be resolved. I tell you the truth; all of us know what is involved. We all know the implication of what is going on and that is why I can tell you that nobody would do anything to jeopardise the chances of the party at the election.

Human rights activist Comrade Phrank Shuaibu spoke with EMMANUEL OLADESU on the protracted Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crises and implications for the party in 2015.

‘PDP may not recover from crisis’

• Shuaibu

W

HAT does the PDP crisis portend for the future of the party?

The PDP crisis started from Rivers State. It is believed that President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi are at loggerheads.

Now, the tension has engulfed the party and the nation. It started with the victimisation of party members.

The undemocratic and despotic practices of the party leadership paved the way for the parallel leadership in the party. Tukur-led PDP had been one-sided on many issues affecting the unity of the PDP and the emergence of the Baraje-led PDP is simply a mere expression of members’ right to protest against injustice. An oppressive system builds internal conditions necessary for its implosion. The present leaders of the party under Tukur operated the kind of governance that is oppressive to the members, thereby neglecting the principles of democracy.

Are you saying that Tukur’s leadership style triggered the explosion?

The beguiling governor-friends of the President and other political appointees of the President are also behind the division in the PDP. What they sowed in Rivers is what they are reaping bountifully.

Dr. Jonathan is the President. He has a responsibility not to be petty and to focus on the larger picture for all citizens.

One of whom is Rotimi Amaechi. The governor is actually one of the bright spots in the darkness of the People’s Democratic Party and, instead of the Tukur-led leadership to treasure him, they kept on harassing him. Though they said that the President has no hand in the crisis, we see his hands in the utterances of the Minister of State for Education and the President’s wife.

What is your advice to the President?

I don’t sympathize with President Goodluck Jonathan in all of this. The Presidency, in a bid to subdue the NGF, embarked on a campaign of calumny against the Rivers State governor and chairman of the NGF over an unfounded speculation that he was eyeing the Vice Presidency. Nigerians know that the Presidency wrote and forced down the script of the present crisis on governors to divide the forum for its self-serving interests. The President showed he was an active participant in the NGF crises through his approval of the Jonah Jang’s faction of the Forum.

The President owns the patent for the factionalisation and the support for illegality. He created a faction in the Nigeria Governors Forum and openly supported a man who scored 16 votes, instead of the winner, Amaechi. In the Rivers PDP, he created a faction through his Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike. It was so sweet when they introduced the faction in NGF against Amaechi.

Governors Akpabio and Jonah Jang opened a parallel NGF Secretariat and Jonathan and Tukur applauded them.

The moral lesson is that its easier to quarrel with your enemies and get away with it, but when you fight your close friend, he will destroy you because he knows all your secrets, strengths and weaknesses.

My advise is that President Jonathan should look at the political mirror and see if there is any reflection of a President. The surest way to re-election is achievement and success. A successful one term tenure is better than 15 years on the seat without achievements.

But the President has many PDP governors backing him...

Are they behind him? I call them household enemies. Mr President should pray against household enemies. All the people singing his praises today are his real enemies.

They are the ones deceiving him and giving him wrong perceptions. He should stop chasing shadows. Governor Rotimi Amaechi is not his problem. His problem are the appointees around him and some governors, who have been trading on fiction and lies to gain political advantage and to have the President’s ears. I doubt if those PDP governors are actually better than Amaechi and his six colleagues because, if Amaechi alone was the problem, no PDP governor would have voted for him in the NGF election after the party and the Presidency had anointed a different candidate. Although some of them are always being portrayed as loyalists, there is danger in relying on people who are quite proficient in adducing weak and feeble reasons for why the assignments failed. If we take the alleged mandate to unseat Amaechi as a working hypothesis, there are too many questions begging for answers. It is true that the party’s anointed candidate changed from time to time, making the party look confused. It is a fact also that, at a point, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State said that Governor Yuguda of Bauchi was picked to replace Governor Shema of Katsina as the President’s choice for the election against Amaechi. But that was not to

‘The moral lesson is that its easier to quarrel with your enemies and get away with it, but when you fight your close friend, he will destroy you because he knows all your secrets, strengths and weaknesses’

be as they later changed it to Jonah Jang of Plateau. Isn’t that a poor job?

And you think any serious leader should keep seeing such a handler and his team of jesters as his loyalists and trusted friends? If they were serious about the assignment to stop Amaechi, was that not the best reason they should have refused to vote? Instead, after voting, they said they didn’t vote and, when a video of the event surfaced, they said the filming was illegal.

But there is the sentiment that Amaechi should not have aspired for the Vice Presidency when the Southsouth has the chance of retaining the Presidency...

When former Governor Tinubu opposed certain undemocratic and antipeople policies of the former President Obasanjo, some gullible Nigerians said he was fighting the President because he wanted to be Vice President to Atiku. They called him traitor in the Southwest. Today, who is more relevant in the polity between Tinubu and Obasanjo? They are only giving a dog a bad name to hang it. Besides, what is wrong if the young man aspires to a higher office?

But now that PDP is in crisis at the national level, is there any respite in Rivers?

President Goodluck Jonathan has not stopped to witch-hunt the governor. After the abysmal failure of the plan to impeach the governor, with the help of only five lawmakers, they had a new agenda. There is grand design to use the judiciary to remove Governor Amaechi from office in the month of November.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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Philanthropy excites widows, youths •Continued from Page 17 responsible man.

In his remarks, the coordinator of the foundation, Sir Tony Obi said that over 1,000 families in Oraifite have been empowered by Sir Emeka Offor and reminded everyone that N10m was spent on training youths for them to learn skills at vocational institutes ranging from three months to six months with stipends to the trainees.

He said the foundation has provided succour for over 2000 widows, over 100 orphans as well as empowered the youth in Anambra beyond donating cash and other benefits. He recalled that the foundation pumped in N100m to the widows cooperative societies with which they established medium-scale enterprises. About eight of them were sent to India to learn skills.

A beneficiary of the youth empowerment scheme of Sir Emeka Offor, Miss Chizoba Edokwe said she learnt catering and thanked Sir Emeka Offor and his foundation for empowering youths in the village.

She said apart from assisting widows and youths, Offor has given scholarship to over 40 students in 2013 alone and donated containers of books worth several millions to schools and colleges, among others.

Administrative Officer, Chrome Group, Sir Innocent Anoliefo remarked that empowering over 5000 youths of Oraifite with skills •Continued from Page 17 “Before I came back from Nsukka, my younger brother had gone to Uwani Police Station and reported the matter of a missing child. Together, we came to Uwani police station where I made a statement.

“While writing my statement, I was asked some questions. I was asked whether I had any dispute with anybody between April this year and the period of the kidnap.

I informed them that in all my working places, I have had no problem or quarrel with anybody. The problem I have is with my stepbrothers and sisters.

“On April 19 this year about 2:00 a.m., about 10 police officers from

•Some bags of rice distributed to indigent women and widows and take-off grants was one of its biggest events, because according to him, they were previously providing fish for the people but now have migrated to providing the hook to fish. He said the event

would be in phases until there are no more jobless youths.

Newsextra reports that indigent students from the Southeast numbering 40 gathered before this event to share N7m for 2013

Apart from assisting widows and youths, Offor has given scholarship to over 40 students in 2013 alone and donated containers of books worth several millions to schools and colleges, among others

scholarship grants by the Offor foundation. This was not inclusive of the initial 120 candidates already in his scholarship scheme across the country.

The foundation has shared over 32 containers of books estimated to cost over 7 million Dollars to schools and colleges in Nigeria and has already ordered for more 32 containers to share to other African countries like Tanzania, Liberia and Ghana as well as Nigeria, etc. This he does in partnership with Books for Africa Foundation. Through this, many schools and institutions were given laptop computers and books ordinarily they would not have had.

No fewer than 230 Nigerian

‘Help find my kidnapped son’ Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) came to my house and arrested me without giving any reason.

“On getting to their station, I was shown a petition written by my step-brother, Mr. Isaac Okenwa. In the petition, it was alleged that I was responsible for the killing of my eldest step-brother, Mr. Emeka Okenwa, my step-mother, Mrs. Catherine Okenwa and that I am threatening to kill him (the petitioner).

“I informed the SARS that I have never killed anybody; that I know nothing about the death of my eld-

est step-brother; my step-mother and I have never threatened the petitioner.

“I further [told] the SARS to carry out a thorough investigation of the allegations. If they found out that I was involved in any killing at all, directly or indirectly in my life, the SARS should not set me free but if they found out that I have no hand in my step-brother’s and stepmother’s deaths, they should set me free. I told them that the petition is a false and malicious one and a plan to eliminate me and my family.

•A dilapidated hall at the Pyanku Campus of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, being assessed by the state Commissioner for Higher Education, Mr Philip Shekwo

“It was around 3:00 p.m. on the next day, April 20 that one of my uncles, Mr. Raymond Anene Nnamani, one lawyer and my wife came and bailed me after paying N70,000 for bail. I was told to report back on April 22, around 9:00 a.m.

“On that day, I was directed to go; that if I am needed they will reach me. Up till now, I have not been called to report to the police again. It was after the arrest and release that I reported the incident to my family meeting known as Umuchinwoko Meeting, Enugu branch.

“At Uwani police station, after our statements, on July 4, 2013, the headmistress and the class teacher were granted bail. When I asked the I. P. O. [investigation police officer] the whereabouts of the two women, I was told that they were released on bail for them to go and help in the search for my son and that they were asked to report back on 8th July, 2013. I told the I.P.O. that I was not happy the way those two women were granted bail in a rush when proper investigation had not been carried out.

“I was then informed that my case had been transferred to Antikidnapping Squad, Abakiliki Road, Enugu.

At Anti-kidnapping Squad, I made another statement and the Headmistress and the class teacher made statements. I was asked to go and bring a photograph of the kidnapped child, which I did. I submitted the photograph and particulars of the kidnapped child with also the particulars of the May Blossom Nursery School, where the incident took place.”

The distraught father said he has still not seen his son.

schools benefited including 100 primary, 100 secondary and 30 tertiary in six geo-political zones of the country.

Offor paid N6.5m to offset the bill of one Mrs Stella Eze of Obollo Afor Nsukka, Enugu State for kidney transplant in India after she had a renal failure. He is one of Africa’s largest donors to Rotary International with an endowment of 1.31m Dollars into four different causes of the Charity organisation including war against Polio, Guinea worm across the globe, maternal and child mortality rate as well as women empowerment progrmmes.

The foundation has also committed billions to charitable projects for social and economic empowerment.

“The questions begging for answers are: Was my son missing?

Was he kidnapped within the school which is under their supervision, protection and control?

How can they expect me to believe the story that an unknown lady came to take my son away around 9:am without identification card or the school authority confirming from us through our phone numbers, which were with the school authority?

The spokesman for Enugu State police command, Ebere Amaraizu told Newsextra that the police were on top of the situation.

“The school authorities definitely have a case to answer,” he assured.

Amaraizu said the case was transferred to Anti-Kidnapping Squad because of its seriousness.

He confirmed that the headmistress and the class teacher were in custody, adding that “justice must be done in the case.”

•Mr. Daniel Okenwa

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

46

A

new executive committee of the women wing of Nzuko Arochukwu in Abia State has been inaugurated after a keenly contested election held at Dragon Hall of 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu.

An Aba-based business woman, Lady Mrs. Doris Nnennaya Oji was elected as president-general of the organisation.

Lady Oji polled 119 votes to beat her US-based rival, Mrs. Chinyere Odinakachi, who scored four votes, while Mrs. Celestine Onyebuchi won the position of secretary-general with 102 votes, while her opponent Mrs. Chikezie Nneka, garnered eight votes.

The position of first vice president went to Mrs. Gift Kanu, who scored 107 votes, to beat her opponent Mrs. Peace Okike, who got three votes.

Mrs. Grace Ndubisi Offor, was elected 2nd vice president with 110 votes, while her opponent Mrs. Virginia Okoroafor, scored three votes.

Mrs. Olive Onah, was returned unopposed as the legal adviser general of the body.

Other elected officers, were Mrs. Ngozi Oti, (provost), Mrs. Esther Ikechukwu, (assistant provost), Mrs. Blessing Okoronkwo,(welfare officer,) Mrs. Ngozi Kanu (social secretary), Mrs. Nnenna Amah (publicity secretary),Lady Bright Elekwa (financial secretary), Lady Philomena Nneoma Okoro (assistant financial secretary), Mrs. Ego Oti (treasurer general), Mrs. Ifeoma P. Okoro-Orji (assistant secretary-general) In her acceptance speech, the newly elected president thanked the delegates and people of the entire Arochukwu kingdom for finding her worthy to pilot the affairs of the women wing of Nzuko Arochukwu, for the next three years.

She pledged that her administration would focus on the empowerment of children, youths, women and the elderly, adding that her executive

•The new leaders being sworn in

Community women choose leaders From Chris Oji, Enugu

would build a civic centre in the town, as well as improve on the achievements recorded by the immediate past executive led by Mrs. Nwada Igwe.

Earlier in her speech, the emeritus president general, Mrs. Nwada Igwe, enumerated the achievements of her executive to include the construction of a skill acquisition centre, and care for orphans, vulnerable children, and aged women.

She said 23 orphans and vulnerable children in the town were offered scholarship at the

primary and secondary school levels, adding that the organisation paid the WAEC and NECO examinations fees of the secondary school students.

“We not only pay their fees; we provide them with school uniform, bags, sandals, exercise books, text books, and also pay developmental levies

We not only pay school fees for orphans and other vulnerable children; we also provide them with school uniforms, bags, sandals, exercise books, textbooks, and also pay developmental levies for them

for them”, Mrs. Igwe also disclosed that the skill acquisition centre trains the intakes on various skills including hair dressing, electrical work, interior decoration, carpentry and GSM repairs. She thanked both the Abia and federal governments for assisting the organisation in equipping the skill acquisition centre.

Elder Chief Mrs. Eme Nwakanma-Okoro, one of the patrons of the organisation, thanked the delegates for their peaceful conduct during the election, adding that she and other patrons would always support every good cause that would lead to the development of Arochukwu kingdom.

Imoke’s wife urges collaboration with NGOs

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HE founder and board chair of Partnership Opportunities for Women Empowerment Realisation (POWER), Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke has called on Heads of Government in Africa to liaise with non-governmental organisations and other civil society organisations as partners in the development of their respective countries.

Presenting a keynote address at the Global Conference of International Association of African NGOs in Rockville, Maryland, USA, Mrs. Liyel-Imoke said NGOS in Africa should move from being mere conduits for western aid and advocates for policy change to taking the lead in providing practical solutions as a way of achieving sustainable development and economic growth in Africa.

Mrs. Liyel-Imoke challenged NGOs to wean themselves from total dependence on Europe and America for funding and rather look in-

wards for their resource mobilisation. That way, international donors, according to her, would not force their agenda through the throats of Africans.

She described Africa as a metaphor for everything that is good, regretting however, that the continent has been bedeviled by all kinds of challenges including poverty, hunger, wars, famine, drought and HIV/AIDS. Quoting the Vice President, World Bank Group Africa Region, Makhtar Diop, Mrs.

Liyel-Imoke said “although poverty is declining, Africa has the highest poverty rate in the world, with 47.5 percent of the population living on $1.25 a day. They account for 30 per cent of the world’s poor.”

She noted that NGOs in Africa have the onerous responsibility to reverse it as a critical part of the development process of the African continent.

Mrs. Liyel-Imoke said her husband, the Governor of Cross River State, in Nigeria,

Mrs. Liyel-Imoke challenged NGOs to wean themselves from total dependence on Europe and America for funding and rather look inwards for their resource mobilisation. That way, international donors would not force their agenda down the throats of Africans

consciously engaged NGOs and International Donor Agencies as partners in the development of the State, as a creative funding option in realisation of the limitation of oil as a major revenue earner.

In a presentation titled, “Educate A Rural Child”, the Wife of the Governor of Oyo State, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi said there is a wide gap in Rural and Urban school children output in Nigeria, particularly in Oyo State.

Mrs. Ajimobi, who is the Founder of “Access to Basic Care” and initiator of “Educate a Rural Child”, also emphasized on the importance of NGOs in providing services to the most vulnerable segment of the society.

She believes that for the overall development of any society, attention must be given to health and education matters which is a key objective of setting up the ABC Clinics in various Local Governments of Oyo State and the Educate a Ru-

•Mrs Imoke

ral Child Intervention.

The Executive Director, International Association of African NGOs, Joyce Halliday said the conference was designed to empower NGOs through awareness in the age of globalisation.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

48

Community policing has proven to be an effective instrument of bringing the police and the people closer together, building partnership, trust, cooperation, thereby addressing issues within the crime and social decay continuum

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HE Lagos State Government in conjunction with the Nigeria Police Force and c ommunity leaders in the state have held fruitful talks on how to prevent crime in the state. The event took place at the National Arts Theatre with the theme: Addressing Nigeria’s Security Challenge through Community Policing. The Police Community Relations Committees (PCRCs) were not left out in the discussion.

Speakers urged residents to report any threat to lives and properties in the neighbourhood to the Nigerian Police, adding that any act of criminality can be easily controlled if useful information is given.

According to Governor Babatunde Fashola, community policing is more than crime fighting in which the community members merely provide “certain crime information”, then the police move to buy this information, explaining further that it is this perception that has limited the scope of community policing.

He said: “Provision of crime information is less than 30 per cent of what community policing sets out to address. Community policing has proven to be an effective instrument of bringing the police and the people closer together, building partnership, trust, cooperation and problemsolving capabilities, thereby addressing issues within the crime and social decay continuum.”

Speaking further the governor represented by Special adviser on Security, Major Tunde Harold, urged that “PCRC as well as stakeholders and community should assist the Government in creating awareness and sensitizing members of the public on the various strategies that are accepted

by Government in ensuring safety of lives and properties in the state,”

•Participants at the event

Lagos, police parley on crime prevention

By Paul Oluwakoya

he said.

According to the Commissioner of Police Lagos State Command, Mr. Manko Umar “99 per cent of criminal activities that have been cracked are as a result of information given by members of the public,” noting that crime prevention would be very difficult if security agencies were left to grope in the dark looking for criminals.

He charged the committee to

work more closely with the police to reduce crime to the barest minimum and also encouraged the committee to grow their membership base but warned against all comers affairs, insisting that the members must be of impeccable character and proven integrity.

Umar also stressed the need for membership identification cards even as he cautioned against misuse while advising them to be patriotic and diligent in service to the nation as well as eschewing erratic

behaviours.

According to Umar represented

by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Femi Oyeleye, most of the people don’t have the telephone numbers of the DPOs in their areas.

“It is good to have this as it will enable them to be able to call anytime they see suspicious persons. They should have the telephone numbers of the police officers in the areas. Calls promptly put across to the police could save us all a lot of agony,” he said.

Delta spends N38b in riverside communities

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ELTA State Government has pledged to enhance the socio-economic potentials of riverside communities with various projects meant to improve the well-being of rural dwellers

From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

having reached advanced stage.

Towards enhancing the wellbeing of the people, the sum of

N38b was provided by the state government.

Over 55% of contract sums for projects including N12.2 billion of the N28 billion allocated to the multi-billion naira trans

Warri-Ode Itsekiri bridge project have been paid to contractors.

According to Delta Commissioner, Directorate of Special Infrastructure, Orezi Eseivo who spoke in Asaba, said the project involves the construction of a 24km road from Ubeji to Ode-Itsekiri in Warri South Local Government Area.

She said the project includes the construction of spurs to riverine communities such as Ubeji, Ijala, Ugbodede, Orugbo, Ajigba-Inorin-Usele and township roads at Ode-Itsekiri.

Esievo said six bridges have been completed with substructure works for four other bridges completed, adding that a five kilometer stretch of the road has also been completed.

Also, the construction of the Ogheye Floating Market

Earlier, the chairman of PCRC, Lagos Chapter, Oba Momodu Asafa who gave account of service in support of the NPF, said: “We have been able to assist in the areas of intelligence gathering, providing infrastructural development and logistics needed in the police division and improvement on the community and public support for officers of the Nigeria Police resulting in the safety of lives and properties in the state.

awarded at the cost of N3 billion has commenced.

Ogheye Floating Market, according to Esievo, will comprise 1000 stalls, three concrete step-ways, piling platforms and protective barriers.

It will have warehousing and cold storage facilities, aside banking, administrative, and berthing and fish processing facilities.

Mrs. Esievi said the market has benefits for over 36 communities.

Esievo said construction work at the Sapele-AbigborodoAruwon road has reached advanced stage.

She said the project includes an 11km road with two bridges awarded at N7.2billion.

According to Esievo, the first bridge has been completed while earthworks, piling and concrete works for the beams of the second bridge is in progress.

Over 55% of contract sums for projects, including N12.2 billion of the N28 billion allocated to the multi-billion naira trans Warri-Ode Itsekiri bridge project, have been paid to contractors • Cataract patients waiting for free surgery at Dutse General Hospital, Jigawa State

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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NATION SPORT

Webb: Doing the 2010 World Cup final was an honour

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OWARD Webb is regarded as one of the top referees in world football.

After plying his trade in the lower leagues during the mid-1990s, he made the step up to the top flight as an assistant referee in 1998, before taking charge of his first Premier League match five years later. He has been a FIFAlisted official since 2005 and in 2010 he was appointed to referee two of the biggest games in football – the Champions League final and the World Cup final. Before you read his Footballers’ Football Column, watch his video below…

MANY of the players who I will officiate this season in the Premier League and the Champions League will have one eye on the World Cup in the summer – and I am no different. Both Mark Clattenburg and myself are up for selection for the World Cup in Brazil and hopefully one of us will go.

I love being involved in tournaments and now my season is geared towards working hard to try and get that again next year by being selected for the World Cup, which would be my last involvement due to my age.

Players play for their club every weekend and their immediate focus is to win the game. But they will also have one eye on the national squad and they understand they are being watched all the time and monitored.

We are the same, how we do in Premier League or Champions League matches affect selection for the World Cup next year.

That is the ultimate aim for the season. You hope your performances are strong and you are in good form and you get selected for a tournament. The referees selected for the tournament are due to find out in February or March.

I was a referee at the Confederations Cup in the summer and that was a fantastic experience as was the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

The biggest honour of all as a referee is to be handed the World Cup final. There have only been 19 World Cup finals, so to referee one of them was a huge privilege.

It does not happen to many players and it happens to even fewer referees so when you get appointed as a World Cup final referee then you understand what a big occasion it is.

It capped off an amazing experience at the World Cup in South Africa and year in general.

It was a difficult game to referee, so much has been written about it but it was a challenging game and a very tough job on the night. But that does not take away anything from the game and I look back on

it with fond memories.

I was also the referee for the Champions League final in the same year between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich in Madrid and that went a lot more smoothly and we were able to remain anonymous for that game, which is what the aim is. If people don’t know who refereed a game then you have done your job, which is strange.

Sometimes though it is not possible to remain anonymous, even if that is your aim because of the nature of the game.

What can happen is if you try and keep a low profile in a game and not get involved then you can make a bigger problem.

When I have been close to selection for tournaments I have gone into games hoping there would be no controversies and get through the game quietly. But if a situation happens then it is up to the referee to stand up and be counted.

On a few occasions I have not done and learned along the way that you are there to do a job. If a big decision needs to be made then it needs to be made and if you don’t make it then it inadvertently end up raising your profile by not doing the job.

If you make the call correctly and it is a clear one then no one really talks about you either because you have done the right thing.

But if you don’t and try and keep your profile low then you can make a mistake.

Speaking of making mistakes, this season has seen the introduction of goalline technology in the Premier League. I think you will be hard pressed to find a referee who is anti goal line technology.

We are taking about a matter of fact and the answer as to whether the ball has crossed the line or not is definitive.

I had a bit of experience with it at the Confederations Cup, the system was not the same but it was very similar. There were not any controversial moments that needed the goalline technology, but it was reassuring to have it.

It is like having an airbag in a car, you don’t need it for 99.99 per cent of the time because

I was also the referee for the Champions League final in the same year between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich in Madrid and that went a lot more smoothly and we were able to remain anonymous for that game, which is what the aim is. If people don’t know who refereed a game then you have done your job, which is strange. you don’t crash your car too often, but you need them there for the time there is an accident and it is reassuring.

One of the biggest issues in football at the moment is trying to present the game in a positive light.

What people involved in a game have to understand is that what happens on the pitch can influence the next generation. So we need to make sure that it is positive.

Diving is an issue that promotes football in a bad way and we have to make people understand what they are doing.

It is an issue and has been for a long time, but it is difficult to deal with and cut out completely because of the nature of it, we try and be as accurate as we can by getting in the right position, but you need a level of certainty to book someone for diving because you are calling them a cheat.

From time to time we as officials will get it

wrong and then it leaves a sour taste in everyone’s mouth if a game has been won or lost on the back of a dive. Everyone involved needs to understand the damage that diving does to the game.

But only a small number of players are involved in simulation and if you look at the number of incidents that happen in a game and across thousands of games then simulation is a very small percentage.

But when it does happen it leaves a negative feeling. People can sort it out by not doing it.

When I speak at fans’ forums, people will say to me: ‘Why don’t you punish players who swear and the players who dive.’ The swearing issue, emotions are running high and players will sometimes overstep the mark with their language. But they have to understand where the line is.

With the added media exposure on the game, it is natural that referees will be scrutinised more. And there are a number of former officials working in the media and their job is to talk about referees and decisions made during games.

I think it is healthy when it is done with the intention of informing the public and bringing peoples attention the job of the referee and the processes we go through in making decisions.

When I see and read people like Graham Poll in the Daily Mail, and Dermot Gallagher on Sky Sports or talkSPORT then they are pretty supportive where they can be.

But if there is a mistake then it is only right that they flag it up, but if they can give some insight as to why that mistake might have happened, then that has to be beneficial.

Football is a sport but it is also an entertainment industry and people pay good money to go and watch and anything that can improve their experience or give them more of an insight has to be a good thing.

But if I have made a mistake then I will know that.

I do watch programmes like Match of the Day and The Football League Show to see what is going on in other games and watch other referees and learn from them.

I will also watch my own games and I do listen to the criticism – if there is any. I hear it and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if I have made mistake then I will know I have made a mistake and don’t really need someone on TV confirming it for me, I know.

It does hurt, if you make a mistake then you drive home feeling pretty dejected about it and it can be painful for a few days and while you have not lost a point or two points, it still lives with you. Your reputation is something you care about as a referee.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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Friday, September 13, 2013

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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NEWS Taraba crisis: Court adjourns Suntai’s motions till Tuesday From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo

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Taraba State High Court sitting in Jalingo, the state capital, yesterday adjourned till next Tuesday a suit filed by Governor Danbaba Suntai against House of Assembly Speaker Haruna Tsokwa and 15 other lawmakers for stopping the governor from resuming duty after returning from a 10-month medical trip in German and United States hospitals.

In the proceedings yesterday, the governor’s lead attorney, Alex Izinyon (SAN), called for a stand-down.

But Justice Ali Ibrahim Andeyangtso overruled the request when counsel to the first defendant (Tsokwa), Micah Musa, moved a motion for the adjournment.

Musa and counsel to the second defendant (the Assembly), Adebayo Oba Adelodun (SAN), said their filing of counter-affidavits just took place on Wednesday, adding that they needed time to respond to the processes brought by Suntai.

Both parties agreed to adjourn hearing till September 17.

Kano journalist Madu-West, 53, dead •Day Star Christian Academy ravaged by flood in Kaduna...on Wednesday

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

Kaduna residents count losses after floods

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ESIDENTS of Kaduna yesterday began to count their losses after the floods which ravaged the city following the downpour between Tuesday and Wednesday.

A combined team of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the Red Cross, the Ministry of Health and other government agencies went round the metropolis to access some of the damages caused by the flood.

When The Nation visited Ungwan Romi, one of the worst hit areas, the residents said a dam was opened somewhere which resulted in the

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

flood.

They also said the flood could not have been caused by a mere downpour.

At the Day Star Christian Academy and Mercy Home Orphanage and Maternity Centre, run by the Restoration Bible Church and Ministry, our reporter learnt that the area became flooded at 5pm on Wednesday.

It was also learnt that the dormitory housing the orphans and Day Star Christian Academy, located within the same premises, were submerged.

The four laboratories for the Biology, Physics, Chemis-

try and Home Economic were destroyed.

The Senior Pastor of the church and Vic President of Mercy Home Orphanage, Pastor Tina Bolanta, told The Nation that she could not immediately quantify the damage the flood had caused.

She said: “I was here in the morning (on Wednesday) and held a meeting with the workers. There was no sign of any flood, even when the rains stopped.

“I left this place at 1.30pm and went home. I was called at 3.30pm that the water level was rising. This is the result of it.

We thank God that no life was lost. But we had to evacuate the children in the home to safe-

ty.”

When our reporter called SEMA’s spokesman Abubakar Zakari Adamu, he said the team was at a meeting, previewing the information it gathered from the field.

SEMA’s Executive Secretary Isiaku Dogo Makama told The Nation on phone that the team was working out the assistance to render the victims of the flood.

Makama said: “We have visited a few areas with the local government chairman leading us. We sympathise with them for their losses. We are working with NEMA to put together some assistance to the victims before the final report is ready.”

Offa: Awo Centre’s Integrity Award for Jimoh

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HE Board of Trustees and Board of Director of the Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance has named Mr Afolabi Jimoh, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) councillorship candidate for Shawo Southwest Ward in the August 31 rerun in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, as winner of its Integrity Award.

The Offa politician rejected his purported victory in the local government rerun, saying the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates, not the PDP’s, won in all the wards, except one, in the local government.

In a statement yesterday by the chairman of the centre’s Board of Trustees, Prof. Wale Omole, through the DirectorGeneral and Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Moses Makinde, said the date of the award would soon be announced.

The statement reads: “Afolabi Jimoh is a rare man of honour, so admits the Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance. Accordingly, the Chairman of the Centre’s Board of Trustees, Prof Wale Omole, speaking through the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer and on behalf of the Centre, Board of Trustees and Board of Directors, has planned an Integrity Award for Mr. Jimoh at a time to be announced later.

“Prof. Wale Omole said: ‘Mr. Jimoh is a rare man of honour in today’s Nigerian decadent po-

litical culture. Never in the history of elections in this country have we witnessed a situation where a candidate, whose victory had been rigged for him by his party, had come out with honesty and candour to denounce his victory at the poll.

Instead of jubilating for the return certificate awaiting him, Mr. Jimoh, a young politician who ran for councillorship on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Part (PDP) in Shawo Southwest of Offa in Kwara State, simply rejected the victory awarded him by KSWASIEC as false, because it was rigged!”

Jimoh had said: “I am a bonafide indigene of Offa. We are noted for our industry and truth.

I believe that in all that we do, we should know that we are going to account for them. I am not going to be a part to getting what is not mine from anybody.

In all the eight polling units in my ward (Shawo Southwest) the PDP lost, while the APC won convincingly in all the polling units in the rerun poll on August 31, 2013. The truth is, I did not win that election, it was rigged in my favour. I am a true Muslim who will one day stand before God and give an account of my stewardship”.

Prof. Omole said: “Mr. Jimoh’s action is one that attracts the Centre’s instant attention, for

which he must be rewarded with an Integrity Award of the Centre. It will stand out as a lesson for our young and old politicians that winning election is not a do or die affair. Besides, people who are like Jimoh are already demonstrating the trait that would make them good and trustworthy persons who are fit to hold public offices in the future.”

“One of the cardinal objectives of the Awolowo Centre is to inculcate in politicians, actions like Jimoh’s, for in it we see in our younger generation the hope for honour, honesty and integrity in political behaviours and actions. We in the Centre hope to make this singular act of Mr. Jimoh an issue deserving of focus in our Integrity Education for civil servants, politicians and the general public.”

Jimoh has alleged threat to his life for denouncing the victory he did not win but awarded to him by the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWSIEC).

Addressing reporters yesterday in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, where he was taking temporary refuge, Jimoh said his relatives were also being hounded by people he could not identify.

He repeated his earlier claim that the authentic results showed that the PDP lost to the APC in the eight polling units in his ward, Shawo Southwest in the Offa rerun.

•The late Madu-West within 10 minutes, he passed on.”

Born on December 3, 1960, the late Madu-West worked with The Punch and Daily Independent, from where he joined National Mirror.

Centre for inauguration today

T

HE Purpose, Power and Lifestyle Design International (PPLD) will be inaugurated today. The centre is located at Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.

A statement by the Chief Executive Officer of centre, Mr Tunde Makun, said the event wouldbe a watershed in the human potential training industry in Nigeria.

Makun said: “This PPLD initiative is going to impact positively in the lives and fortunes of managers and business leaders both in the private and public sectors.

Baptists’ quarterly assembly

T

HE third quarterly assembly of the Itesiwaju Baptist Association holds tomorrow at Itire Baptist Church, 19/23, Isiba Street, Itire, Lagos, from 9am. It will be presided over by the Moderator, Rev. Gbenga Ojo of Araba Baptist Church, Ilasamaja, Lagos and Consultant, Rev. Femi Ajayi of Victoryland Baptist Church, Iso-

•Alleges threat to his life From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

T

HE Kano Bureau Chief of National Mirror, Mr Augustine Madu-West, is dead.

He died in his sleep at 1.30am at his Kawaji home in Kano yesterday. He was 53.

A native of Nazi, Owerri, the Imo State capital, the late Madu-West practised Journalism for over 20 years.

His wife, Patricia, said: “We were discussing. At a point, he quietly complained of a slight pain in his chest;

‘Galma Dam ‘ll boost Kaduna’s economy’

•Jimoh

The politician said he was the bona fide candidate the PDP presented for the election, adding that he was not the winner of the election.

Jimoh said his life is in danger for saying the truth about the rerun poll.

The politician said he rejected his purported victory because of the fear of God and to preserve his good name.

He said: “How can I reap where I have not sowed? If I take what does not belong to me, it means I lied to my community, in the first instance, that I wanted to serve them. I was into the race to serve and not to grab.

“After the election - and when the returning officers counted the votes - I discovered that it was the APC that won. To avoid taking what does not belong to me, I yelled out to the public to know the truth.

“APC won in the local government and that means the people have chosen the party they wanted. So, for me, to now stand against the winner means I am going against the will of the people. This will not augur well for the community’s members.”

lo, Lagos.

The theme of the assembly is: “More Than Conquerors” (Romans 8:37). It will feature powerful praises, sound messages, prophetic ministrations, breakthrough prayers and a legal talk. Rev. Noah Ayanlere of the First Baptist Church, Ijeshatedo, Lagos and other clerics will minister.

From Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

T

HE Minister of Water Resources, Ms Sarah Ochekpe, has said the Galma Multipurpose Dam would improve the economic value of Kaduna State.

The minister said the dam would have a special focus on irrigation farming, water supply and hydropower generation.

Ms Ochekpe said the completion of the multipurpose dam has reached 95 per cent.

In a statement in Abuja by the Deputy Director (Press), Boade Akinola, the minister noted that the dam would irrigate between 1,500 to 2,000 hectares of land for the farmers, aid water transfer from Galma Dam to the Zaria Dam to support the Zaria Regional Water Project, funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Community leader greets Alake at 70

T

HE traditional ruler of Lisa village in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, Chief Nojeem Odugbemi, has congratulated the Alake of Egba land, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, on his 70th birthday.

In a statement by his media aide, the community leader noted that Alake’s leadership virtues and fatherly role in the state’s traditional council have shown him to be a man of wisdom.

The statement reads: “I write with great pleasure, on behalf of my family and the good people of Lisa village, to felicitate with you on the anniversary of your 70th birthday. Your life has been very eventful in diverse ways because God has given you the grace to be of service to the development of Egba land and Ogun State.

My family and I are indeed proud to associate with your majesty as you celebrate your 70th birthday. We pray God to continue to use you for more service to your people and humanity.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

54

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 12-09-13

T

Investors lose N11bn in bearish trading

RADING in equities closed on bearish note on the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, as some speculative investors sold their holdings to take profits.

Specifically, the All Share index declined by 0.1 per cent to close at 36,224.45 points, as against the increase of 0.41 per cent recorded the preceding day to close at 36,259.66 points.

Market capitalisation shed N11.2bn to close at N11.53trn, in contrast to the rise of N46.7bn gain recorded the preceding day to close at N11.5trn.

On the sectorial indices, the Banking index shed 0.94 per cent to close at 385.45 points, followed by the NSE 30- index with 0.21 per cent to close at 1,688.95 points.

By Taofik Salako

The Consumer Goods index decreased by 0.003 per cent to close at 1,011.50 points, while the Alternative Securities Market index remained unchanged.

On the other hand, the Oil and Gas index rose by 0.02 per cent to close at 188.88 points, while the Industrial Goods index increased by 0.41 per cent to close at 2,177.86 points.

The Lotus Islamic index gained 0.89 per cent to close at 2,547.61 points, while the Insurance index appreciated by 1.42 per cent to close at 138.05 points.

IHS Plc led the gainers’ table with 33 kobo or 10 per cent to close at N3.63 per share, followed by Wapic Insurance Plc with nine

kobo or 10 per cent to close at 99 kobo per share.

Portland Paints Plc gained 45 kobo or 9.98 per cent to close at N4.96 per share, while Jos Breweries Plc increased by 62 kobo or 9.97 per cent to close at N6.84 per share.

Courtville Plc rose by six kobo or 9.09 per cent to close at 72 kobo per share.

On the flip side, Nigeria Police Microfinance Bank Plc declined by N2.84 or 9.97 per cent to close at N25.65 per share, while Multitrex Plc fell by six kobo or 9.52 per cent to close at 57 kobo per share.

International Energy Insurance Plc dipped by seven kobo or 9.46 per cent to close at 67 kobo per share, while IPWA Plc decreased by seven kobo or 7.78 per cent to close at 83 kobo per share.

UAC-Property Plc lost N1.18 or 7.29 per cent to close at N15.00 per share.

A total 323.7 million shares valued at N2.87bn were exchanged in 5,024 deals.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 12--09-13

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

55

MONEY LINK Fed Govt revenues hit N1tr in July, says CBN

G

ROSS federal revenues col lected in July stood at N1.05 trillion, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Economic Report for July released yesterday said.

The report explained that the figure exceeded the provisional monthly budget estimate and the receipt in the preceding month by 11.1 and 33.7 per cent, respectively.

The earnings also rose by 8.3 per cent when compared with revenues in the corresponding period of 2012. The increase was attributed largely to the 34.6 per cent rise in non-oil revenue during the review period.

The report also showed that total receipts by state governments, including the share of Value Added Tax (VAT) and the Federation Account stood at N277.05 billion. This was lower than the level in the preceding month by 0.6 per cent, but higher than the level in the corresponding period of 2012 by 39.5 per cent.

Total receipts by the local governments from the Federation and VAT Pool Accounts was N158 billion. This amount exceeded the levels in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2012 by 2.1 and 38.0 per cent, respectively.

Of this amount, receipts from the Federation Account were N140.80 billion, while the VAT Pool Ac-

Diamond Bank gives N2b to promo winners in six years

•Allocations to states drop to N277b

D

IAMOND Bank gives N2b to promo winners in six yearsDiamond Bank has given out over N2 billion to 3,000 of its customers that won different cash prizes in its SavingsXtra promo during the last six years, the bank’s Product Manager, Savings Account, Mr. David Otukpe has said.

In a statement, he said the reward scheme which started in 2008, is aimed at encouraging savings culture and also to rewarding customers for their loyalty.

Otukpe said the bank’s SavingsXtra account is the most rewarding way to save, describing the SavingsXtra account as a unique account for individuals wishing to build up their savings.

According to him, “It is an interest-yielding savings account which allows the deposit of both cash and other banks’ cheques. In addition, SavingsXtra account holders get a debit card and a cheque book, which can be used to withdraw

By Collins Nweze

count accounted for N17.19 billion.

The report also put Federal Government’s gross oil receipts at N645.65 billion, which constituted 61.5 per cent of the total revenue, which was 15.4 per cent above the level in the preceding month. The rise was linked to the increase in receipts from royalties and domestic crude oil and gas sales.

Non-oil receipts were at N404.53 billion, higher than both the monthly budget estimate and the level in the preceding month by 34.6 and 79.1 per cent, respectively.

It said the increase in non-oil revenue relative to the monthly budget estimate, reflected, largely, the increased receipts from Corporate Tax, Customs and Excise duties and Custom Special Levies.

It disclosed that of the gross federally-collected revenue, N610.39 billion was transferred to the Federation Account for distribution among the three tiers of government and the 13 per cent Derivation Fund.

The Federal Government received N294.04 billion, while the states and local governments received N149.14 billion and N114.98 billion, respectively. The balance

• CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido

of N52.23 billion was credited to the 13 per cent Derivation Fund for distribution to the oil-producing states. From the VAT Pool Account, the Federal Government received N7.37 billion, while the state and local governments received N24.56 billion and N17.19 billion, respectively.

StanChart sees Africa retail prospects on growth

S

TANDARD Chartered Plc (StanChart), expects to open 100 new branches in Africa by 2016 to benefit from the continent’s $1 trillion of annual retail spending, Bloomberg has said.

The lender opened 27 new outlets last year and will also “invest heavily” in digital technology over the next four years, Raheel Ahmed, Dubai-based head of consumer banking for the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan, said. The bank will focus on small and medium-sized companies and private banking, he said.

“There is so much growth potential, particularly where economies are growing rapidly,” Ahmed said.

“In Nigeria, only 14 or 15 percent of

Unity Bank holds national draws for 3-in-1 savings

U

NITY Bank in a bid to reward its loyal customers will se lect winners at the national draws of the bank’s on-going Savings Promo tagged the 3-in-1 Savings Advantage.

A statement from the bank said the draws which will hold in Katsina and Port-Harcourt simultaneously on Saturday, September 14, 2013, “is a con-

From Nduka Chiejina, (Asst. Editor)

tinuation of the first national draw which began in Bauchi on September 7, 2013.”

The draws the statement added are part of the climax of the promo and will also take place in two other cities/zones where the bank will be rewarding customer loyalty and drive

its retail business closer to the people in their localities so as to encourage a savings culture among its teeming customers nationwide.

The Divisional Head, Retail Banking Mr. UsmanAbaji, was said to have confirmed that “all customers who participated in the promo are welcome to the venues to witness the draws for there are lots of fabulous prizes to be won.”

FGN BONDS Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 350m 150m 350m 138m 350m 113m

MANAGED FUNDS

NIDF NESF

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

GAINERS AS AT 12-09-13

SYMBOL IHS WAPIC PORTPAINT JOSBREW COURTVILLE VONO UTC UNILEVER JBERGER CUSTODYINS

O/PRICE 3.30 0.90 4.51 6.22 0.66 1.67 0.63 56.00 74.00 1.30

C/PRICE 3.63 0.99 4.96 6.84 0.72 1.81 0.67 58.75 76.95 1.35

CHANGE 0.33 0.09 0.45 0.62 0.06 0.14 0.04 2.75 2.95 0.05

O/PRICE 28.49 0.63 0.74 0.90 16.18 4.01 4.23 2.13 0.52 15.80

C/PRICE 25.65 0.57 0.67 0.83 15.00 3.74 4.00 2.04 0.50 15.20

CHANGE 2.84 0.06 0.07 0.07 1.18 0.27 0.23 0.09 0.02 0.60

Exchange Rate (N) 155.2 155.8 155.7

Date 2-7-12 27-6-12 22-6-12

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change (S/N) Parallel Market

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

153.0000

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 11.8%

July ’12

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

NSE CAP Index

10-09-13 N11,498.42 N36,259.65

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Movement

11-09-13 N11,545.08 N36,113.12

% Change % %

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

LOSERS AS AT 12-09-13

SYMBOL NNFM MULTITREX INTENEGINS IPWA UAC-PROP VITAFOAM REDSTAREX PAINTCOM UNITYBNK FBNH

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m 113m

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

OBB Rate Call Rate

the people have bank accounts,” he said.

StanChart’s operating revenue at its Africa consumer banking unit rose 9.4 per cent in the first half to $257 million. Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa will accelerate to 5.1 per cent this year and 5.9 per cent next year from 4.9 per cent in 2012, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The bank posted a 24 per cent drop in first-half profit to $2.18 billion after a $1 billion write-down of its Korean business. Revenue rose 6.6 per cent as growth in Hong Kong and India helped offset declines in Korea, Singapore and China.

DATA BANK

Tenor

Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

from their accounts at any Diamond branch. It is a simple and straightforward savings account that comes with a low minimum opening and operating amount of N5, 000 with free access to all electronic banking channels.”

Otukpe spoke at the season five promo held in Lagos during which Adolphus Ishmael, emerged winner of Salary-4-Life star prize. The Salary-4-Life is a unique benefit of the SavingsXtra Reward Scheme in which Diamond Bank Plc pays the sum of N100, 000 into the winning customer’s account every month for the next 20 years.

The monthly draw was conducted through an electronic process as approved and witnessed by the National Lottery & Regulatory Commission and KPMG. Also Aniagor Vincent won N2 million while Leonard Nweke , Chioma Juliet Nkwocha, Ebe Samuel among others won N1 million each.

Offer Price

Bid Price

ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH 9.17 9.08 KAKAWA GUARANTEED 1.00 1.00 STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE INVE 141.19 140.70 AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 153.72 153.19 LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL 0.80 0.78 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.16 1.16 BGL NUBIAN FUND 1.18 1.16 FBN MONEY MARKET FUND 100.00 100.00 FBN FIXED INCOME FUND 1,000.00 1,000.00 NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. 1,820.49 1,816.36 PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND 13.64 12.97 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 1.33 CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST 1.87 1.80 STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY 11,004.94 10,680.29 • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUNDARM AGGRESSIVE • OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

56

NEWS Farmers protest

Edo monarch abducted

M

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

THE Iyasere (Prime Minister) of Udo community in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State, Patrick Igbinudu, has been abducted.

Igbinudu is the first community head to be abducted in Benin Kingdom.

He was said to have been abducted at 7:30pm at his palace by four armed men, who came in an Audi car.

Sources said he was playing a game of draught with some chiefs when the kidnappers struck.

One of them was said to have identified him as the Iyasere of Udo. The source said he was taken away in a speed boat through the river.

‘Cross River, a model for democracy’ NATIONAL Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Bamanga Tukur has described Cross River as a model state.

He spoke to reporters after inspecting projects at the new development area in Calabar.

Tukur noted that “unlike most states, Cross River has been conducting local government elections since 1999, it has not set up a caretaker committee, and the succession programme is smooth, which is a reflection of true democracy”.

Tukur described the multi-billion naira Convention Centre as a well thought-out facility that would draw patrons from neighbouring countries.

“Calabar is a neighbour to Cameroun, Chad and even ECOWAS and when things will blow up, people will move in to boost the economy of the state,” he stated.

According to him, Europe and America are looking for where things are happening under a conducive environment for them to move in and expand their business.

Auchi monarch loses sister SISTER of the monarch of Auchi kingdom, Aliru Momoh, Princess Asana Momoh Braimoh, is dead.

She was 81.

A statement by the spokesman of the Auchi royal family, Usman Abudah, said the remains had been buried according to Islamic rites.

The statement said the late princess was survived by the Otaru of Auchi, brothers, sisters and children.

•Governor Liyel Imoke (second left), Tukur (second right), PDP State Chairman Ntufam John Okon (left) listening to the Special Adviser Governor’s OfficeNzan Ogbe at the site of the Calabar International Convention Centre...yesterday.

Attacked corps member to be flown to Italian hospital T

HE Bayelsa State government yesterday promised to send 26-year-old Miss Folakemi Akinbode, the youth corps member, whose hand was allegedly chopped off by hoodlums, to an Italian hospital.

She has been recuperating at the intensive care unit of the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri.

The Batch A corps member and graduate of Nursing from the Madonna University, Elele, Rivers State, was attacked in Au-

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

gust close to the hospital while returning to the Corpers’ Lodge in the area.

Two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are in police custody.

The government said it had concluded arrangements to fly the victim to a Specialist Hospital in Montsa city, Italy.

The Secretary to the State

Government (SSG), Prof.

Edmond Allison-Oguru, who visited the victim at Okolobiri, said the trip had been arranged for next week.

Allison-Oguru, who is also the Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), said the government condemned the incident.

He said the government would continue to support

the injured corps member.

The SSG said: “The government has concluded arrangement to ensure she receives further treatment in Italy to avoid any form of deformity and guarantee complete healing.

“We want to assure all residents, particularly corps members, of their safety as the state security apparatus is being enhanced with modern gadgets to reduce crime.”

We invested in ICT to check fraud, says Oshiomhole

E

DO State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said his administration’s massive investment in Information and Communication Technology was to check fraud and enhance transparency in governance.

Oshiomhole, who spoke during the launch of the State Open Data Portal yesterday, said ICT was the only way to deal with wastage, fraud and ghost workers’ syndrome in government.

The governor said his administration has reaped ‘enormously’ from the investment in ICT as the mess in the running of govern-

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

ment businesses had been cleaned.

He said the launching of the data portal was to enable him run an efficient and accountable government.

Oshiomhole said the capacity of the people to interrogate those in authority over the management of scarce resources could not be exercised in the absence of information communication technology.

“I have always wondered how in the 21st Century, government after government buffet us with stories about ghost workers; it must sound strange

to our development partners when local governments, state governments and Federal Government talk about ghost workers”.

“The truth is that we were dealing with monumental fraud in our salary administration such that clerks, junior service officers whose names are not printable take advantage of our bulky documentary process using analogue tactics to deal with digital solutions and such is the huge fraud that has characterised our wage administration.

“I believe we just have no way but to continue to deepen technology, deepen ICT, which is why last year we

•Oshiomhole

enacted an act to concretise the existence of Information Technology Agency to be run outside the framework of the civil service.”

Minister for Communications Technology Mrs. Omobola Johnson praised the government for sustaining the Edo Technology Day.

Contractors to NDDC: we’re losing property to banks

R

EGISTERED contractors of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), under the aegis of Contractors Association of Delta Development Commission (CANDDC), have called on the Presidency to intervene in the over three years withheld payments.

Members of the group said they are losing prop-

From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

erty to banks and creditors.

The National President, Joe Adia, stated this yesterday during an emergency meeting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

He said the association was formed basically to rescue contractors from untimely death and mental disarray, which he said

have affected many contractors due to long-sssstanding debt.

Adia said: “Our mandate is to get in touch with the Presidency for the contractors payments. Many of us have not been paid for more than three years and as I am talking to you some are seriously suffering from hypertension and stroke.

“This is because of the

bank threat; some of us have lost our property to banks and creditors. We are suffering because NDDC authorities have chosen to ignore paying legitimate invoices.

“We are calling on the Acting Managing Director to pay deserving contractors to go back to sites, especially those jobs that were abandoned for lack of payment.”

AJORITY of farmers in Edo State are complaining that fertiliser allocation to farmers far away from their locality is intended to deprive them of the commodity.

Farmers from Iru-Egbede in Orhionmwon Local Government Area are very bitter that instead of Abudu, which was their collection point in the last two allocation exercises, they have been moved to Ugo to collect fertilisers.

They complained that Ugo is about 100 kilometres away from Iru-Egbede and would cost about N1,000 to collect two bags of fertilisers; whereas it would have cost only N100, if they were to collect their allocation from Abudu.

According to their spokesman, Alfred Irubor, the implication of this is that most farmers from Iru-Egbede and indeed Edo State may not be able to source their allocations, thereby abandoning them to distributors to the detriment of the farmers.

“This has to be checked and resisted by well meaning Nigerians if the good intentions of the Federal Government are not to be hijacked.

Delta Central: Keyamo emerges APC’s consensus candidate •Claim mischievous, divisive, says Emerhor

By Augustine Avwode

T

HE Festus Keyamo Campaign Group yesterday announced the emergence of the frontline lawyer as the consensus candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Delta Central Senatorial rerun.

In a statement by Prince Sam Kohwo, the campaign group said the three legacy parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), which came together to form the APC have adopted him as their consensus candidate.

“The chairmen, elected officers and leaders of the legacy parties from the eight local governments that makes up the Delta Central made this known in a communiqué released after several hours of meeting in Effurun on Wednesday.

Kohwo said: “Olorogun Festus Keyamo thanked the officials and leaders of the legacy parties for the confidence reposed in him and promised to lead the party to a resounding victory at the polls.

He called on all other aspirants to join hands with him, the leaders and elders to move the party forward.

But another APC aspirant , Olorogun Otega Emerhor, dismissed the claim as mischievous and divisive.

He told The Nation yesterday that the claim by the Keyamo Campaign Group is capable of dividing the party and creating factions within it.

He promised to address a press conference today to respond to the claim.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

57

NEWS Anambra PDP crisis: Court orders PDP, INEC to recognise Uba

NDLEA records first arrest at Enugu Airport

J

•Varsity student held with cocaine

D

AYS after the commencement of international flights at the newly upgraded Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has made its first arrest and drug seizure.

Chizoba Anselem Nwabuwa (32), a 400-Level Fine and Applied Arts student, was arrested during the inward screening of passengers on an Ethiopian flight from Brazil enroute AddisAbaba.

He was found to have ingested liquid cocaine packed inside male condoms.

The NDLEA head at the airport, Mr Nsikak-Abasi

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

Udoh, said the suspect excreted 25 wraps of liquid cocaine.

“The suspect excreted 25 wraps of liquid substance.

“When tested with the United Nations (UN) drug testing kit, it tested positive for cocaine weighing 1.250kg.

“This first arrest and seizure is exciting to us because we ‘ve just commenced operations,” Nsikak-Abasi said.

The suspect said: “I am a 400 level student of Fine & Applied Arts of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.

“I wanted to use the half a million naira (N500,000) they

•Nwabuwa with the drugs

promised to pay me in developing my art gallery.

“They assured me in Brazil that authorities will not be able to detect liquid co-

caine, so I was confident. Unfortunately, things have turned out the other way. I regret my involvement in drug trafficking.”

•Traders evacuating their goods after the Old Park Segment of Ogbete Main Market, Enugu, was demolished...yesterday

Abortion law: Women groups fault Okorocha, church W

OMEN organisations yesterday faulted the demand of the Church and the directive of Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha to abrogate the controversial abortion law, which was passed by the House of Assembly.

They urged the lawmakers to ignore the governor’s directive.

The Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA) and other women groups, including the National Council or Women Societies (NCWS), praised the House for passing the Violence Against Persons Prohibitions (VAPP) Law, otherwise known as abortion law.

The law, which had sparked criticisms from the church, was revoked by the governor.

The National President of FIDA, Mrs. Hauwa Shekarau, who led the group during a

•Praise lawmakers

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

visit to the Speaker, Benjamin Uwajumogu, described the law as a beautiful piece of legislation and one of the best laws passed by the Assembly.

She said the law not only protects women’s rights but men and children as well from violence and other infringements on human rights.

Mrs. Shekarau said those agitating for its abrogation were doing so out of ignorance, misunderstanding and to misinterpretation of the law.

The FIDA boss insisted that Okorocha’s call for the amendment of the law was not right, noting that wom-

en should be allowed to exercise their reproductive rights.

The state Chairman of the group, Lady Ethel Echebima, called for more effort towards educating the public on the benefits of the law, rather than amending it.

She argued that the provisions of the said “Abortion” law were very clear and should be allowed.

The NCWS President, Mrs. Lois Osueke, said the law should be left as it was passed, adding that the only problem with the law is the interpretation.

The Speaker said the lawmakers would always stand by any law they make, no matter how it was received.

He, however, said the House would not fail to recognise the importance of religious views but warned that “these views can only be accommodated to a certain extent”.

Uwajumogu said: “It would be stupid of us, if we fail to recognise the position of religious leaders in our society. We will accommodate their views but only to a certain extent.

“The Catholic Church, for instance, is still very much against the use of condoms as a means of protection from diseases because it is also a contraceptive but that is very unrealistic.”

He said the law would be published for the public to be better educated on its provisions, noting that there would be a public hearing before any amendments would be made to the law.

Enugu APC threatens court action

T

HE All Progressives Congress(APC) in Enugu State has said it will consider a legal action against the State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) on the imposition of ” outrageous fee” to be paid by aspiring chairmen and councillors in the November local government

From Chris Oji, Enugu

election.

ENSEIC Chairman Boniface Eneh pegged the chairmanship fee at a non refundable N250,000. Those contesting for councillor are expected to pay N50,000.

Speaking with reporters yesterday in Enugu at the

end of a one-day sensitisation meeting for APC members in Enugu East, the convener, Dr. Ben Nwoye, declared that such a levy was unconstitutional.

Nwoye insisted that the fee was totally unacceptable to the opposition party.

“We are making some efforts through a legal team to

challenge its imposition by ENSIEC. The APC chieftain argued that since such a levy was not part of the constitutional requirement for anybody to vie for the positions, the party would definitely challenge it, “because as far as we are concerned, it is not proper, it is pure exploitation”.

USTICE H.A. Nganjiwa of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital yesterday, ordered the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to recognise the Ejike Oguebego-led faction of the PDP in Anambra State.

Justice Nganjiwa also ordered PDP and INEC to accept the result of the ward and state congresses conducted by Oguebego and recognise the candidate it produced. Senator Andy Uba won the primary.

The order followed an interlocutory injunction filed by the Oguebego-led faction.

Two primary elections were held in Anambra by two factional party chairmen, Oguebego and Ken Emeakayi.

Uba emerged winner of that conducted by Oguebego, Tony Nwoye emerged the from Emeakayi’s exercise.

The National PDP leadership accepted Emekanyi’s election and recorganised the candidate it produced.

The Oguebego-led faction went to the vacation court in Port Harcourt to ask the court to restrain the party and INEC from accepting the election result presented by Emeakayi and not to recognise Nwoye. It alleged that Nwoye was a product of an ousted chairman and illegal elections.

The judge granted an interim order to PDP and INEC to recorganise Uba. He later vacated after hearing arguments of parties in the motion to set aside the order (interim), by the defence (PDP, INEC and another), last week on the grounds of

From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

emerging facts.

Uba filed an interlocutory injunction to urge the court to restrain PDP and INEC from recorganising the Emeakayi –led faction as the authentic state executives, claiming that Emeakayi was expelled from the party.

In his ruling yesterday, the judge ordered that “parties should maintain the status quo pending the determination of the substantive suit.

“Parties should comply with the May 3 Federal High court Awka ruling on the matter.

“The first and second respondents (PDP and INEC), in the suit should recorganise and deal with the plaintiffs pending the determination of the main suit.”

Uba’s counsel Jude Nnodum said Emeakayi was suspended from the party and lacks the power to conduct the primary election which produced Nwoye.

Justice Nganjiwa announced that he was washing his hands off the matter.

He said his decision was due to a petition he received from Ekem Ekem Law firm yesterday, adding that he would inform the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and await his directive.

“I will not hear this matter again, until I see my chief judge,” Nganjiwa said.

PDP’s counsel Mmecha Kanu said the judge should continue with the matter, having made the orders and described it as “far reaching”.

Nganjiwa, however, adjourned the case till September 19.

Anglicans fast and pray for bishop

T

HE Anglican faithful in Anambra State yesterday declared a 12hour prayer and fasting for the release of the kidnapped Archbishop of the Niger Delta North Diocese, Rev Ignatius Kattey.

The Society for Equity, Justice and Peace (SEJUP) (Anglican Communion) declared the fast yesterday at Onitsha after its sub-board meeting.

The General Manager of SEJUP, Emma Ezenwaji, said: “All Christians, especially Anglicans, should fast and pray for the bishop’s release. This is a trying moment for the Anglican Communion.

“SEJUP decries the unfortunate kidnap of our father in the Lord.

“We are calling on the abductors to bow to God’s command in Psalm 105: 15 in which he warned, ‘touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm’.

“Anything contrary to this warning will surely spell doom for the offenders.

“Our father in the Lord is a man of God and as such will be protected wherever he is.

We call on the Rivers State government to intensify action toward his release.

“We appeal to the police

•Alumni join in From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Onitsha and Sunny Nwankwo, Aba

to expedite action and ensure Kattey is released unhurt.”

In Aba, Abia State, pupils and alumni of Ibo National High School held a special prayer session for Kattey’s release. Kattey is an alumnus of the school.

The President-General of the Old Boys Association, Azubuko Udah, said the prayers became necessary because the bishop was a 1966 pupil of the school.

Udah, who spoke through the Aba branch chairman of the association, Johnson Ogbonna Emejiak, said this was the first time in the history of the school that an ex-pupil was kidnapped.

He called on security agencies to intensify their efforts in securing his release.

The headteacher, Boniface Ezemaloba, said: “When I assumed office, I was told of the bishop’s efforts in the school.

“If Bishop Kattey is not released between now and tomorrow, for those who can cope with it, we are going to fast for one or two hours in continuation of our demand for God’s intervention.”

58

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

NEWS Governors to give Jonathan deadline Continued on page 4

•Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio presenting a souvenir to Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins, Consul General, United States in Lagos during a visit to the Governor’s office, Uyo…on Wednesday

NGF row because Amaechi rejected the proposal to step down as NGF chairman.

Apart from being evasive on the Rivers crisis, Jonathan also agreed with the governors to shift talks on 2015 poll and the fate of Tukur to Sunday.

Ahead of the resumption of talks on Sunday, Baraje spoke exclusively with our correspondent yesterday in Abuja.

He said: “We are not inching towards any accord with Jonathan on the PDP crisis.

There is nothing like settlement.

“I can tell you that we are only discussing, but the main thing is not being discussed yet.

“So, as far as we are concerned, the struggle still continues; no retreat, no surren-

President: we’re winning terror war Continued on page 4

His grace, we will surely overcome terrorism and insecurity in our land,” the President told the clerics, who are praying for the release from captivity of Archbishop Ignatius Kattey of the Niger Delta Province. He was abducted last week.

The President assured them that the ArchBishop would soon be released.

Dr. Jonathn said: “More than winning the war, we are also winning space for peace and stability – the daily routine of worship, businesses, farming, schooling, social networking.

“We are a society of peace.

No religion or culture preaches violence and mindless killing. The sorrow, blood and tears you have seen lately are not hallmarks of our country

or any civilised society.

“We will continue to do our very best to ensure that all Nigerians will be able to live in peace in one strong, united and indivisible nation.”

The President also inaugurated the Anglican Church cable Network Nigeria (ACNN) at the meeting.

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson urged the Church to pray for the leaders and the nation.

He, particularly, urged them to pray for the President, saying that Jonathan had remained steadfast in his resolve to transform the country, despite many challenges.

“At a time when brothers have turned against brothers, the leaders of this country need prayers. Mr. President needs prayers. Continue to pray for

the peace and stability of this country.

“We are living in trying times and one man in the midst of all these distractions, Mr. President is doing his best to give the country profound leadership”, he said.

Dickson praised the church for organising the event in the state, which he said was a testimony that peace and security had returned to Bayelsa.

He said his administration would continue to invest in protection of lives and property.

No fewer than 20 gunmen carrying sophisticated equipment including rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices, overpowered policemen on duty as they invaded a police station on Wednesday in Yola, Ad-

amawa State.

Three policemen were killed and two others were wounded after the attack.

The attackers burnt down the police station. A police van was also burnt in another attack in Lale, in Gombi Local Government Area of the state.

Adamawa state police spokesperson Mohammed Ibrahim said yesterday that the no civilian casualties were reported.

Eyewitness said the attackers started shooting to scare people as they engaged the policemen on duty.

The Police said the gunmen escaped. Boko Haram has not accepted responsibility for the attack but the sect is strongly suspected to have carried out the attack.

der. Our demands are clear and we will not give up, until our demands are met.”

Responding to a question, Baraje said: “We will go back; we will partake in the talk on Sunday because we have been part of it all along.

“However, it is at the Sunday meeting that we are going to give them a deadline within which they should tell us their responses to our demands.

“Our struggle is for Nigerians and in the interest of Nigeria; it is a liberation struggle for Nigeria’s democracy.

“I want to assure our members that we will not give up on this struggle; we are not a let-down or a stooge for anybody.”

Senator Bukola Saraki yesterday dismissed insinuations that the political battle between members of the new PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan is due to a “personal grouse” by members of the factional group. He said the action is an effort to save Nigeria.

Speaking in Ilorin, he said: “it is wrong for people to say or think that what we are doing is a personal grouse and it is because the president is weak unlike former president Olusegun Obasanjo. No, even if it were Obasanjo today, things would be different because the environment is different.”

On his invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Saraki said that he might still be brought under more scrutiny by security agencies as long as the PDP crisis continues.

The former governor was recently quizzed by the anti

Police seal off New PDP secretariat in Port Harcourt Continued on page 4

more than that.”

While the policemen were ordering politicians and journalists out of the secretariat, some of the overzealous security personnel attacked some reporters and broke the camera of The Sun’s photojournalist, Obed Mpiegbula.

Inaugurating the secretariat, Okocha said: “In strict obedience to the directive of the national leadership of the new PDP, I hereby open the office of the Rivers State chapter.

“As I open this new secretariat of our great party, the PDP, I hope that this will usher in fresh air and democratic renewal in our state and nation.

“The new PDP is a national response to the impunity, recklessness and dictatorial tendencies typical of the former leadership of our party.

“I, therefore, urge the party executive in the state to immediately commence the mobilisation of party men and women to deliver the party from the stranglehold of tyrants.

“On Abubakar Kawu-Baraje led national Leadership of the PDP we stand.”

The state’s chairman of the PDP, Chief Felix Obuah, described the inauguration of the secretariat as “provocative”, an “affront”, to cause chaos and breakdown of law and order.

Obuah, who spoke in Port Harcourt, said it would be

criminal to open another PDP secretariat, besides the one used by the party led by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Obuah said: “We warn that any such move not only amounts to an outright disregard for the rule of law, but is also aimed at truncating the nation’s democracy.

“There is a subsisting Federal High Court order, barring any attempt to impersonate and, or float any other political party in the name of the PDP, which must not be abused, as a law-abiding party.

“It is imperative, in the light of the apparent danger this criminal plan portends, to alert the security operatives in the state to be aware.

“This is another in the series of plots to create disharmony in the state, so as to have enough reasons to accuse the law enforcement agencies of reneging on their responsibility to ensure safety of lives and property in the state. We will not let this be.

“There is need to sensitise the entire Rivers people to be alert to such plot. Governor Amaechi strategically chose to hatch the plot same time and day President Goodluck Jonathan made a stopover in Port Harcourt, enroute Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

graft agency over how he used the N17 billion bond obtained by his administration in 2010.

He said he had given sufficient answers to all issues raised by EFCC on the bond issue.

He added that he would however not be surprised, given the current scenario in the national polity if another agency “wakes up tomorrow” to say it had discovered some other issues he must answer for.

He gave details of how his administration utilized the bond and praised the EFCC team that interrogated him for being “professional.”

He added, “yes I was with EFCC on Monday and Tuesday to answer queries on the bond issue. I made it clear that bond is not money available to any government just like that; that to access it you must go through a rigorous process; that we had to submit ourselves to international evaluation before we could be given. I gave them details of how we spent the bond because if any government wants to be reckless it won’t be with a bond that has stringent conditions before you can access it. I listed the projects we used the money for and they are all verifiable.

“It is unfortunate that we all know what is happening today in Nigeria so I won’t be surprised if another agency wakes up tomorrow to say they have a new thing about me.”

“The projects include Aviation College, Irrigation project, Ilorin water reticulation, Township stadium, Rural electrification, KWASU, loan refunding and Kwara Mall.”

Ribadu to Waziri: I never worked under you Continued on page 4

during that critical time, by dismissing their work and sacrifice.

“As I had cause to state in a recent article on my stewardship of the EFCC, we almost deliberately avoided going after governors and public servants from the opposition to avoid the charges of bias or doing the bidding of the government.

“Moreover, we halted our works on the politically exposed persons throughout the period of the third term debacle, to insulate and protect the integrity of the Commission.”

Ribadu warned Waziri against rubbishing the hardearned integrity of the commission and its operatives He said: “EFCC was not about Nuhu Ribadu. Rubbishing its work, therefore, is like insulting all the thousands of its operatives across the country who put their lives in the line to make Nigeria a better country.

“If Mrs. Waziri has a personal score to settle with anybody, she should direct her attack at the person but not the organisation.”

LOSS OF DOCUMENT I, Gabriel Olumide of Block 1C Femi Okunnu Estate Phase II Lekki Lagos hereby notify the general public that letter of allocation & other documents issued to me by LSDPC on Block 1C, Femi Okunnu Housing Estate, Lekki II Lagos got lost on transit and all efforts to locate it proved abortive.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

59

FOREIGN NEWS Two militants ‘killed’ in Somalia

Kerry set to test Russia on Syria weapons

U

NITED STATES Secretary of State John Kerry and his team open two days of meetings with their Russian counterparts yesterday, hoping to emerge with the outlines of a plan for the complex task of safely securing and destroying vast stockpiles of Syrian chemical weapons in the midst of a brutal and unpredictable conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held out the effort as "a new opportunity to avoid military action" by the U.S. against Syria.

"The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government's willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction," Putin wrote in an opinion piece pub-

lished in the New York Times.

Kerry will be testing the seriousness of the Russian proposal, and looking for rapid agreement on principles for how to proceed with the Russians, including a demand for a speedy Syrian accounting of their stockpiles, according to officials with the secretary of state.

One official said the U.S. hopes to know in a relatively short time if the Russians are trying to stall. Another described the ideas that the Russians have presented so far as an opening position that needs a lot of work and input from technical experts.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the focus as largely on "technical issues," avoiding any expression of suspicion about U.S. intention.

Lavrov added that he and

Kerry should also discuss issues related to organizing a peace conference, the so-called Geneva-2. He added that specific preparations for the conference could start now if the West works to persuade the Syrian opposition to join them.

The hastily arranged meetings in Geneva came as word surfaced that the CIA has been delivering light machine guns and other small arms to Syrian rebels for several weeks, following President Barack Obama's statement in June that he would provide lethal aid to the rebels.

The CIA also has arranged for the Syrian opposition to receive anti-tank weaponry such as rocket-propelled grenades through a third party, presumably one of the Gulf countries that has been arming the rebels, a senior U.S. intelligence official and two former

intelligence officials said Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the classified program publicly. The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal first reported the lethal aid.

National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said the administration could not "detail every single type of support that we are providing to the opposition or discuss timelines for delivery, but it's important to note that both the political and the military opposition are and will be receiving this assistance."

The officials said the aid has been arriving for more than a month, much of it delivered through a third party.

Kerry, accompanied by American chemical weapons

E

at least 2,000 Brotherhood members and other Islamists have been arrested in the past month, all of them facing prosecution.

At the same time, extremist attacks on police stations, government offices and churches have grown more brazen in south Egypt, the restive Sinai and closer to the capital.

A day earlier, a pair of suicide bombers rammed their explosives-laden cars into military targets in the volatile Sinai Peninsula, killing nine soldiers. Last week, a suicide car bombing in Cairo targeted the convoy of Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the police. Ibrahim escaped unharmed but a civilian was killed, in the first such political assassination attempt since Morsi’s July 3 ouster.

In an interview with the daily Al-Masry AlYoum Wednesday, interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said the government was recommending the state of emergency be extended for a month or two because of “an increasingly tense situation.” He called it an “exceptional” measure that should be used minimally.

•Kerry

experts, was to meet with Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.Arab League envoy for Syria, before sitting down with Lavrov. Russian technical experts were joining Lavrov in the meetings.

The U.S. team includes officials who worked on inspection and removal of unconventional weapons from Libya after 2003 and in Iraq after the first Gulf War.

North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor ‘nearing operation’

Egypt extends emergency laws GYPT’S interim president yesterday extended a nationwide state of emergency by two months, citing security conditions.

The nearly month-old state of emergency, which gives security forces greater powers of arrest, had been due to expire within days. It was first declared in mid-August after authorities cleared two protest encampments held by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, unleashing violence that claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 in subsequent days.

Ever since, a nighttime curfew has also been in effect in much of the country. The government will decide separately on whether to continue the curfew.

The extension had been widely expected, and the decree cited continued security concerns.

Scattered protests by Morsi supporters continue nearly daily, and the government says it faces an organized violent campaign to destabilize the country. Authorities have been carrying out a crackdown on supporters of Morsi, including leading members of his Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists, accusing them of inciting violence. Security officials say

T

S

TEAM has been seen rising from North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility, suggesting that the reactor has been restarted, a US institute says.

The colour and volume of the steam indicated that the reactor was in or nearing operation, the institute said.

Pyongyang vowed to restart facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex in April, amid high regional tensions.

The reactor can produce plutonium, which North Korea could use to make nuclear weapons.

Analysts believe North Korea already possesses between four and 10 nuclear weapons, based on plutonium produced at the Yongbyon reactor prior to mid-2007, when the facility was closed

down.

The report, which was published on the 38 North website on Wednesday, was written by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

The institute uses satellite imagery to monitor developments in North Korea.

The reactor uses steam turbines to generate electricity, and the steam seen in satellite imagery from 31 August indicated that the electrical system was about to come online, the report said.

“They really are putting themselves in a position to increase the amount of material they have for nuclear weapons, which I think gives them a little bit of leverage in negotiations, and adds a sense of urgency on our part,” he added.

Syria: A plea for caution from Russia

•Putin

R

ELATIONS between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and

major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations.

This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.

Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria?

After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.

From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue

enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law.

We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not.

Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council.

Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”

But force has proved inef-

fective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.

The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.

A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as

an alternative to military action.

I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria.

We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.

If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday.

And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Courtesy: New York Times •Putin is Russia’s president

WO top Islamist militants, from the US and UK, have been killed in Somalia after falling out with al-Shabab, witnesses have told the BBC. Omar Hammami, known as al-Amriki, and Osama alBritani, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, are said to have died in an early-morning attack in a village south-west of the capital, Mogadishu.

They had been hiding from al-Shabab since leaving the group this year.

There have been several previous reports of al-Amriki’s death.

In March, the US State Department offered a $5m (£3.1m) reward for any information leading to the capture or conviction of al-Amriki.

One of al-Amriki’s fighters told the BBC that they had been overpowered by the al-Shabab attack in a village near the town of Dinsor.

Somali officials have a religious duty to protect the Somali people from al-Shabab’s atrocities - as do the public to help them in their security operations against the group.

Fatwa issued against alShabab

Prince William ends military career

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RINCE William has finished his tour of duty as a Royal Air Force search-and-rescue helicopter pilot and has left operational service with the British military to focus on royal duties and charity work, royal officials said Thursday.

William’s Kensington Palace office said that the second in line to the British throne completed his final shift earlier this week.

It said he will now focus on royal duties and is “considering a number of options for public service.”

The palace said William, 31, would “expand his work in the field of conservation, particularly in respect of endangered species” and would work on charities that help children and veterans.

William has spent more than seven years in the military, first in the army and then as a Royal Air Force pilot, stationed on the quiet island of Anglesey in north Wales.

He was able to blend in with residents and fellow military personnel, enjoying a degree of privacy despite his royal status.

In July his wife Kate gave birth to the couple’s first child, Prince George. Now that William’s active military career is finished, the family will move into refurbished quarters at Kensington Palace in London. They had been living in a rented home in Anglesey.

William started as an officer cadet at Sandhurst military academy in 2006. He started search and rescue helicopter training three years later.

•Prince William

60

THE NATION FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

NEWS

Fed Govt denies importing iPhones

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HE Federal Government has denied reports that it plans to import 53 gold-plated iPhones for the 53rd Independence Anniversary.

Debunking the story, the Federal Government, in a statement signed by the Press Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Joseph Metuh, said neither it nor any of its agencies is contemplating such an idea.

It said there was no iota of truth in the report.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Federal Ministry of Information has been drawn to a story in the traditional and social media, alleging that the Nigerian government purportedly ordered 53 gold-plated iPhones for the

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

country’s 53rd Independence Anniversary.

“The story is false in its entirety. It is nothing but a figment of the warped imagination of the authors.

“Neither the Federal Government nor any of its agencies contemplated the idea or placed any order for goldplated iPhones for the nation’s 53rd Independence Anniversary, or any anniversary for that matter. We, therefore, advise Nigerians and the international community to disregard the story.

“The blatant falsehood in the news is one of those mischievous attempts to tarnish the image of the Federal Government.

“Nigerians are urged to watch out for those intent on blackmailing the government for political reasons. “For individuals, who are extravagant enough to contemplate the importation of luxury items, such as gold-plated iPhones, we would like to use this opportunity to appeal to them to invest their wealth in the economy, to create jobs and generate more wealth for the nation, rather than waste such money in pursuit of expensive tastes.

“They should copy the examples of Aliko Dangote, Innocent Chukwuma (Innoson Motors) and others, who are using their talents and wealth to invest in the economy to create jobs for Nigerians.”

Minister urges Nigerians to embrace peace

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HE Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, has urged Nigerians to embrace the virtues of cultural heritage in promoting understanding and peaceful co-existence.

He said there was no alternative to peace “if we must achieve the strategic plan of transforming and developing the country in the light of the expectations of the founding fathers.”

Duke spoke in Abuja during the preparation for the 27th edition of the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) 2013 holding in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, from September 14 to 22.

He said the theme: “Culture, Peace and National Transformation”, was designed to address the present challenges by dedicating the festival to the

By Ozolua Uhakheme Assistant Editor (Arts)

promotion of peace and national unity.

Chief Duke said the cultural sector had the inherent and abundant resources to turn the nation’s economy into a productive one for youth empowerment and job creation.

The minister said given the antecedents of Bayelsa State in hosting national and international events, such as the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) and the Most Beauti-

T

ful Girl Pageant, this year’s festival would be a success. “I have no doubt in assuring you that the government and people are prepared to host the nation,” he added.

Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw National Affairs Dr. Felix Tuodolor said the state is ready to host the festival as facilities have been put in place for a successful event.

“Governor Seriake Dickson is a lover of arts and culture.

Although, he was on leave, he will be at the festival,” he added.

Police warn vehicle owners

HE Ogun State Police Command has warned owners of accidented and abandoned vehicles parked at Sagamu Area Command to remove them or lose them to the public through auction after 14 days of this publication.

They are Ford bus marked XX693MUS; Opel Omega car DW709AAA; Toyota Corolla unregistered; Toyota Starlet BR946MUS; Daewoo Laganza DS829LSR; Santana car CA817LND and seven motorcycles.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

PREMIERSHIP

NATION SPORT

Drogba wanted me to join Chelsea, says Yaya Toure

Welbeck: Man Utd still hungry for success DANNY Welbeck says Manchester United can’t afford to dwell on past successes and must create some more history under David Moyes.

The Red Devils manager replaced club legend Sir Alex Ferguson earlier this summer after the 71-yearold Scot led the Red Devils to their 13th Premier League

PHIL Jagielka has challenged Romelu Lukaku to transform Everton FC’s goal-scoring fortunes in the same exciting style as he did for West Brom last season.

The on-loan Belgium international’s 17 goal-haul last term helped Steve Clarke’s side to their highest ever Premier League finish in eighth spot.

And Toffees captain Jagielka hopes the 20-year-old forward, who signed for Everton late on transfer deadline day, can maintain that prolific form during his latest stint away from Chelsea.

He said: “If he can repeat that sort of form for us it will be magnificent. I’ve played against him and he’s a big strong striker. He’s got pace, he’s got power and more often than not he finds the target.”

Lukaku was the top-flight’s sixth highest scoring striker last season, and England international Jagielka insists his capture further bolsters Everton’s impressive

attacking options.

“Last season he scored 17 goals for West Brom,” he said. “If we can get him firing on all cylinders we’ll have a real threat.

“We’ve got Jela and Arouna (Kone) already so we’ll have three strikers who can hopefully put each other under pressure and do the business.”

•Lukaku

Villas-Boas: Arsenal defeat was difficult to take ANDRÉ Villas-Boas admits he found Tottenham’s defeat

by Arsenal in the north London derby difficult to swallow but is confident his side will bounce back against Norwich City.

Spurs were beaten 1-0 by their north London rivals at Emirates Stadium earlier this month as Olivier Giroud’s first-half goal handed Arsenal all three

•Villas-Boas

MANCHESTER City Yaya Toure striker admittedly says Chelsea made a bid for him in 2005. It has been widely speculated that Toure is not in good terms with the Ivorian captain Didier Drogba but the player says he doesn’t know where those speculations are coming from because he has no problem with Drogba.

“I have never had quarrels with Didier, contrary to what some claimed,” Toure told a national paper. Yaya Toure revealed Didier Drogba tried to encourage him to join Chelsea but it couldn’t succeed beacause of one or two issues Yaya Toure has been a driving force behind City’s recent success. “Didier has been my long-time friend and will forever be my friend.

He did everything possible

title.

Welbeck, who has won the top-flight crown and the League Cup at Old Trafford, has already scored two goals in three league games for the Red Devils this season.

“Everyone just always wants to win, as Tom says,” Welbeck told United’s website.

“No matter what situation or what game we’re playing, whether it be a match or a five-a-side in training or even a possession exercise, you always want to win.

“It’s always been like that here and always will be.

“It was a great achievement for everyone last season, but that’s in the past.

“Now it’s down to the players, the manager and everyone at the club to knuckle down and try to create some more history.

“You can’t dwell on the past, you’ve always got to move on and try to win more trophies.”

Lukaku can transform Everton, says Jags

points.

But Lilywhites boss VillasBoas feels that a home clash against the Canaries on Saturday is a good opportunity to return to winning ways after securing victories in their opening two games.

“I’m happy with the start we have made, but losing to Arsenal is never easy for any Spurs fan so now we have to make sure we bounce back,” Villas-Boas said.

“Whatever result we had against Arsenal that would not effect how we approach our next game against Norwich. We have to concentrate on winning that one.

“It was good international break for us – we have not had any injuries so we are looking forward to getting back into action this weekend.”

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for me to join Chelsea in 2005 and we have been close since then. Would your enemy ever want you to work with him in the same place?”

Toure then joined Monaco before enjoying a three-year spell with Barcelona.

•Yaya Toure

Hart puts off Caballero targets

Mourinho’s son on trial with Fulham

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OSE Mourinho’s teenage son is currently on trial at Fulham but only after a personal intervention from his famous father.

Mourinho approached the academy of Chelsea’s west London rivals earlier this summer about giving an opportunity to his 13-yearold son Jose junior.

Sources say Mourinho chose Fulham because he wanted his son close to the family home in London while avoiding accusations of nepotism had he joined the youth set-up at Chelsea.

Mourinho’s son had previously been playing for Real Madrid’s Canillas team while his father was manager at the Bernabeu.

Goal understands that Fulham has been so impressed by the teenage goalkeeper that they have

decided to offer him student terms when his five-week trial imminently expires, which will entail three training sessions during the week and a weekend match.

However, the Craven Cottage club must wait for international clearance from FIFA before signing up the Portuguese schoolboy.

Under FIFA rules, clubs must provide evidence to the world governing body that a youngster from overseas is recruited for ‘non footballing reasons’.

Sources say Fulham are confident of clearing this red-tape hurdle as Jose junior has moved to England solely because of his famous father’s job.

But it is likely to be months before the youngster is formally given the green light by Fifa due to bureaucratic reasons.

Harper: ‘Ashley is killing Newcastle!’

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ORMER Newcastle United goalkeeper Steve Harper has said the club’s owner, Mike Ashley, has ruined the bond between the team and supporters.

Harper spent 20 years with Newcastle prior to a summer move to Hull and with a Milan XI due to take on a Newcastle XI in Harper’s testimonial game, at Newcastle’s St. James’ Park, the veteran has spoken out on the current state of affairs on Tyneside.

And Harper is concerned that the fervent support of the club by the people of Newcastle is not valued by the current owner, Ashley.

Steve Harper: “If the club was a body, the fans are the heart.

“They are its heartbeat, but the link between the brain

and the heart is no longer there.

“Newcastle are bleeding. If that isn’t addressed, if the wound is not allowed to heal, whatever is special about the club is in danger of dying.

•Ashley

MALAGA goalkeeper Willy Caballero claims he snubbed the chance to join Manchester City in the summer because of Joe Hart’s presence.

The 31-year-old Argentine shot-stopper had been linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium when his former boss at La Rosaleda, Manuel Pellegrini, departed to take over from the sacked Roberto Mancini at the 2012

•Caballero

Premier League champions.

The Chilean tactician is a big fan of Caballero after he played a key role in the club’s qualification for the Champions League in 2012 and then their subsequent march to the quarter-finals of the tournament last term.

And, with reports circulating that Pellegrini is not fully convinced of Hart’s capabilities following some shaky performances last season which earned him some criticism from former boss Mancini, it was thought he would draft in some serious competition this summer.

It appears Caballero was the man he identified as a possible new number one, but the player declined the chance to join City because he wanted guaranteed first-team football and didn’t believe he would get that. He said: “I talked to Manuel Pellegrini before he left Malaga. “I know of his intention to take me with him to Manchester City.

“But I was unsure whether he would stick with the same goalkeepers he had already or play me.”

I’ll play anywhere —Bacuna SUMMER signing Leandro Bacuna has revealed that he would happily play in any position for Aston Villa ‘as long as I’m playing’.

The 22-year-old Dutchman, who joined from FC Groningen on a threeyear deal in June, has already been played in midfield and at right-back

by Villa boss Paul Lambert this term.

However, Bacuna claims that he has no preference with regards to a position in the team and feels it is a positive that he can operate in several outfield roles.

“My whole career I have played every position - I’ve never really had one position”, Bacuna told the club’s official site. “For me it is not a problem but I will see how it is going to go.

Originally I was a midfielder but I can play right-back or further forward. “It doesn’t matter to me as long as I’m playing.

“I came here to get some minutes and to show myself

and to be part of the team”, he added. “When you are a new lad you have to come in and prove yourself. “But I think I’ve done a good job so far. I work hard every day and I hope I will carry on getting my chances.”

•Bacuna

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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SPORT EXTRA U-17 FEMALE WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

Ajilore to join Midtjylland next month D

ANISH side FC Midtjylland were hoping to get Oluwafemi Ajilore back to the club, but it may not take place this month.

Good enough Femi has no contract now, but EU rules mean that he can get a visa at the end of October. “ We have tried what we could, but there is nothing to

FIFA unhappy with African countries over withdrawal •Omagbemi pushes for support for women football

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do, so we must arm ourselves with patience. “ We are obviously annoyed by it, but it is even more unfortunate for Femi, who just wants to play football, ” bold.dk citing the official website of FCM quoted CEO Claus Steinlein as saying.

Femi played 98 matches for FCM before he was sold in 2008 to Groningen.

3SC to drag Sunshine Stars before LMC

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HE management of Glo Premier League side, 3SC has said they will appeal against the verdict of the League Management Company (LMC) in the inconclusive Matchday 30 encounter against Sunshine Stars on Sunday in Akure.

The Akure Gunners were up by 2-1 against the Oluyole Warriors at half time when the Ibadan-based side refused to continue with the game on alleged attack on themselves by unidentified supporters of the home side.

However, the league body on Wednesday ordered 3SC to pay N3 million as fine as well as the forfeiture of three points and three goals to their opponents, Sunshine Stars.

But an official of 3SC, Jubril Arowolo said the club management has already forwarded their ground of appeal to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Organising and Disciplinary Committee for their consideration and necessary action.

“The management is already working on an appeal to the

NFF Organising and Disciplinary Committee where we hope to lay bare all the facts and evidences at our disposal to the committee and we believe we’ll get fair hearing.

“We won’t begrudge LMC for interpreting the incident the way they did and returning guilty verdict, we’re relieved to know the LMC decision could be appealed, so we’re taking the option of appeal and we’re optimistic the NFF O&D Committee will surely upturn the verdict in our favour.

“We’ve asked why didn’t the LMC interpret the law same way they did in the botched game involving Akwa United and Warri Wolves in Uyo. “We’ve done our home work on the appeal and just expecting the NFF O&D Committee to communicate us with the date our appeal will be heard.

“We strongly believe that the facts of the case we hope to table before the committee will surely guide them in taking an appropriate decision.

•Ajilore

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL WORLD CUP QUALIFIER

NBWF opens camp Sept. 16

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E National W h e e l c h a i r basketball team has been charged to pick the sole World Cup ticket for the country .

The team will participate at the forthcoming African qualifier for the World Cup in Angola scheduled to hold from 24th October -3rd November, 2013.

Charging the team to ensure the qualification for the World Cup was the grand patron of the federation Rt Honourable Victor Ochei, the Speaker,

•Team charged to pick Africa’s sole ticket

By Akeem Lawal Delta State House of Assembly, who having promised the team total support for the Angola trip said it will be a great honour for the country’s flag to be hoisted at the World Cup to be hosted in South Korea next year.

And to achieve this, the Nigeria Wheelchair Basketball Federation has invited 20 players to open camp which open Monday at the National Stadium Surulere out of which 12 players would be selected for closed camping ahead of the qualifier.

Bukola Olopade, President, NWBF disclosed this in Lagos Thursday after the board meeting saying that the players will undergo serious training and that selections would be made on merits, just as he expressed appreciation to the Speaker Delta state house of assembly for his continued support for the players saying ‘we will not disappoint at the qualifier’, he said.

ORLD Football governing body FIFA is not happy following frequent withdrawal by African countries from the qualifying rounds of 2014 U-17 female World Cup to be hosted by Costa Rica.

The first round of African qualifiers for the championship was characterized by many withdrawals, leaving only Zambia and South Sudan in the race, after others pulled out at dying minutes due to financial constrain. The situation is not going down well with FIFA. The second round will see the winners of the first round matches (Zambia and South Sudan) going into a draw with Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. The teams will be paired to play home and away matches between November 1-3 and November 22-24 to determine the three countries that will fly Africa’s flag in Costa Rica.

At a recent meeting in Zurich, members of the organizing committee of 2014 FIFA U-17 female World Cup expressed worry over the

By Stella Bamawo inability of some African countries to honour the qualifying games.

However, former Super Falcons’ team captain, USbased Florence Omagbemi who is a member of the organizing body, told her fellow committee members that all was not well with the game of women football in Africa at the moment.

She said: “Women football in Africa is not in a good state right now. We have a lot of talented young girls with great passion for the game, but have no support from their federations. The football administrators are not doing much to help improve women’s football. Countries like Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Cameron that have been in this game since 1991 cannot even boast of a reliable female football league in their country and it is sad.”

Omagbemi, who was part of FIFA Organising Committee for Azerbaijan 2012 U-17 World Cup pleaded with FIFA to work closely with some top African countries like Nigeria to develop the game.

Startimes unveils new sports channels

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S part of its efforts to give subscribers variety, Startimes yesterday added two new sports channels to its stable.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer, NTA Star TV Network Limited, Joshua Wang said it is imperative for the organisation to satisfy the yearnings of its over 1.5million subscribers, adding that the new sports channels as well as others were created to expand the channels in its stable.

The NBA TV, Wang said is exclusive to Startimes and it is a dedicated channel that shows the best of live basketball matches.

“The NBA TV is exclusive to only Startimes as basketball lovers can enjoy over 200 matches from the 2013/2014 season, while WNBA is also not excluded from what NBA TV has to offer,” he said.

Wang added: “Setanta action is another addition from the sentata family. You can enjoy live and delayed events featuring extreme sports, kick boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts and boxing, while others are action series and

magazine shows.”

He however, said Startimes has been launched in 16 states across the country, while there are plans to move to 15 states before the end of the year.

Being the biggest paid TV in Nigeria, Wang said the organization would switch to digital from analogy by January 1, 2015.

In his remarks, the Public Relations Manager, Rete Anetor said that launching of the new channels is part of the company’s responsibilities to give its subscribers affordable pay TV. Aside the launching of the new channels, Startimes also rewarded its customers in its three year anniversary promo with three customers carting home N1million each as well as other prizes.

Anetor said: “Startimes mission is to ensure every home in Nigeria enjoys affordable digital entertainment backed by the collaboration with NTA, a strategic partnership that will help Nigeria in actualizing its 2015 transition deadline. The new stations include GET TV, OH Africa, Fine Living and Jim Jam.”

Amori plans reception for Okagbare, others

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OR bringing honour to Urhobo land, Delta State and Nigeria through their performances in sports, Chief Oghoyota Amori has concluded plans to stage a red carpet reception for Moscow 2013 World Championship medallist, Blessing Okagbare and some junior athletes who were part of Team Nigeria’s success at the just concluded Africa Championship in Mauritius. Under Amori’s tenure as Education Commissioner under the James Ibori administration, school sports activities flourished, paving the way for the state’s victory at Bauchi 2000 National Sports Festival,Abuja 2004 and Gateway 2006.

Speaking yesterday, Amori said that the fate recorded by Okagbare in Moscow and the

By Stella Bamawo junior athletes in Mauritius must not go unnoticed, adding: “They have made entire Urhobos, Deltans and Nigerians proud.”

While Okagbare’s two medals in Moscow ended Nigeria’s 14year wait for medals in the IAAF World Championship, two junior athletes from the same Delta Central Senatorial zone, long jumper Ese Brume and sprinter Divine Oduduru played a key role in Nigeria’s victory at the 11th Africa Junior Championship in Mauritius.

Brume captured two gold in the long jump and 4x100m relay and silver in the triple jump, just as Oduduru’s 200m gold on last day of the competition sealed victory for Team Nigeria ahead of South Africa and Ethiopia.

Amori who is the Political Adviser to Governor

Emmanuel Uduaghan said that he would personally host the athletes soon, adding that part of his agenda, if elected in the bye-election, is to lay the platform for youths in the senatorial zone to reach the pinnacle of their sporting career.

“What Okagbare, Brume and Oduduru has just demonstrated to Nigerians is that Delta Central Senatorial District has a lot to offer the country in sports, if the youths are well guarded and supported. I am happy the governor (Uduaghan) has laid the platform by putting in place good sporting facilities in Oghara, Sapele, Ughelli, Otu Jeremi and other notable towns in the zone. What the youth needs is a leader in the senate who will complement the efforts of the governor from time to time.

THE NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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SPORT EXTRA

Enyimba abandoned match, claim Pillars

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ANO PILLARS have said Enyimba a b a n d o n e d Wednesday’s Week 31 match after Gambo Mohammed’s late goal in Kano.

Pillars media officer Idris Malikawa told MTNFootball.com Enyimba refused to play the remaining three minutes of the game after the fans who encroached to the field to celebrate Gambo’s goal were controlled back the stands.

“What really happened was that our fans encroached on the pitch to celebrate with our players after Gambo Mohammed scored with three minutes to end the game,” he began.

“The security personnel at the stadium dispatched them back to the stadium under five minutes and the centre referee put the ball at the centre, called Enyimba to restart the game but they refused. The referee then waited for the remaining three minutes of the game and sounded the final whistle.”

Enyimba’s version of the story was that they were beaten up by fans and so refused to continue the match for fear of their safety.

They said they were first forced out of the pitch because of violence and then returned, but after the invasion of the pitch they refused to come back and continue play.

Meanwhile, Enyimba coach Imama Amapakabo has countered claims by Kano Pillars that his team were not manhandled in a week 31 game in Kano.

Pillars maintained that Enyimba refused to play the remaining three minutes of Wednesday’s match even after the fans were brought under control.

Imama said the fans encroached on to the pitch more than once and went on to beat the opposing players and match officials which made the match to be inconclusive.

“They(Pillars)had an indirect free kick, Rabiu Ali played the free kick against referee’s instruction not to play before the whistle, he played the free kick while the referee was arranging the wall, he gave him yellow card. The game restarted and our players called his attention that he had earlier given Rabiu a yellow card, he stopped the game and checked his record, then gave him a red card,” he narrated.

“Fans then entered the pitch to attack the referee for taking that decision, they chased everybody, Pillars officials and security waded in to settle that for like seven minutes.

“Referee brought back the ball to the spot to re-take it, they missed it and fans encroached on to the pitch again. He asked for a re-take Gambo just kicked the ball into the net for the goal.

Amapakabo continued:

•Naze Millionaires dispute claims

“They kept attacking the assistant referee 1 who rushed into the pitch, they beat our players and this went on for like over 20 minutes. This was after they beat our cameraman in the first half.

AIRTEL U-17 AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Arsenal legend, Pires storms Lagos

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RSENAL legend and former France international, Robert Emmanuel Pires, will lead a team of Arsenal technical and business staff to the African Championship of the Airtel Rising Stars which kicks off on Monday, September 16 in Lagos.

The World Cup winner with France is expected to jet into the country on Saturday, September 21, 2013 to participate in the activities marking the finals of the championship.

Pires’ visit comes under the partnership between Arsenal Football Club of England and the Airtel Africa Group.

The Legend was a key member of “The Invincibles”; the all-conquering Arsenal team that went 49 games without a loss in the 2003/ 2004. Legendary Nigerian international, Kanu Nwankwo was also a member of “The Invincibles.”

He had an illustrious Arsenal career and was voted the 6th

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greatest player in the history of Arsenal FC during which he won three FA cups and two Premier League titles. He also won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000 with the French national team with which he was capped 79 times.

While in the country, the exArsenal mid-fielder is expected to enliven the atmosphere at the finals of the Airtel Under-17 Championship and stand as an inspiration to the youngsters vying for laurels in the final games.

He is also billed to visit Oremeji Primary School 2, one of Airtel’s adopted schools in Lagos as part of its CSR initiative, Adopt-A-School programme which primarily aims to provide access to quality foundational education in remote locations of the country where standard educational facilities and quality faculties are not easily available.

The coming competition which is the season 2 of the ARS

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AKWA UNITED coach, Justin Tenger has described as disappointing his side’s barren draw against Heartland in Wednesday’s Glo Premier League Matchday 31 encounter at the Uyo Township Stadium.

The gaffer of the Uyo-based side had boasted prior to the game that the Uyo Township Stadium is a slaughter ground for visiting teams but his wards could only manage a 0-0 draw against the Naze Millionaires to take their points haul to 42 from a possible 93.

Tenger said Heartland adopted a frustrating style of play that made it practically difficult for his side to play their normal game.

“It was a totally disappointing game for us as we had looked forward to grabbing the maximum points.

“I think the disenchantment among the players over the disbursement of the government financial largesse contributed immensely to the poor result we produced in the game.

“Majority of the players is not happy with the sharing formula and they appeared to

African Championship initiative involving over 18,000 boys and girls representing 16 African countries including hosts Nigeria. It will run for a period of seven days beginning with an opening ceremony on Monday, September 16 at the Ikeja Township Stadium, Agege, Lagos.

Each participating country’s team emerged after a rigorous championship that took them through the regions to national contests coordinated by seasoned soccer coaches and the football federation of the various countries.

Airtel Rising Stars Africa Football Championship is Africa’s biggest Under-17 grassroots tournament and the only one with strong consideration for gender equality with the inclusion of the Female Category.

The eventual winners in both the male and female categories will receive the grand prize of USD 10,000 each.

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adorned in new kits when they step out for the final of the Federation Cup on Sunday against Enyimba of Aba, a top official has told NationSport.

This is Wolves’ first appearance in the Federation Cup final and the management of the club under the direction of the Delta State Sports Commission, Chief Amaju Pinnick as new kits have already been ordered and received.

Wolves’ Media Officer, Moses Etu told NationSport:” new set of kits have been

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The west African state “intends to create the conditions to host the continental competition by improving the supply of infrastructure,” read the text.

The country last hosted the African showcase in 1984 but their bid to host the 2006 event, while the country was in political turmoil, was overlooked as the tournament was awarded to Egypt.

great addition to the squad.

Eto’o joined the Blues on a one-year deal during the summer transfer window, following Jose Mourinho’s unsuccessful pursuit of Wayne Rooney.

And Terry, who has played against the Cameroonian on several occasions, feels Eto’o can be a huge threat as he leads the Chelsea line.

‘He’s looked really sharp in training so far, and so has Willian,’ Terry told Chelsea TV. ‘You speak to them and they talk about how the intensity of their training (in Russia) is a lot different to how it is here, so for sure it will take them a few weeks to get their full fitness, but once they do

they’ll both look very good.

‘I said to him (Eto’o) thank god you’re here because I’ve had so many battles against him. He’s such a threat, he’s obviously a few years older but he still looks very sharp and hungry. He’s got an eye for goal and I think he’ll be a good addition, he was welcomed straight into the squad.’

Eto’o could make his Chelsea debut when the Blues travel to Everton on Saturday, while the Toffees will be without summer arrival Romelu Lukaku in attack, with the Belgian – on loan from Mourinho’s side – ineligible to play against his parent club.

From Tunde Liadi, Owerri ordered and received by the club.

We are doing everything possible to ensure that we have a good day on Sunday.

“The players have already arrived Lagos yesterday and they have put the loss against Dolphins behind them. We are gunning for a win against Enyimba. Nothing can stop us.”

Enyimba have won the trophy twice in 2005 and 2009 while Warri Wolves are just in their first final.

Agbonlahor not worried about England snub

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STON VILLA manager Paul Lambert has said that Gabby Agbonlahor will not be disheartened by his failure to earn an England recall.

The striker has assisted four goals in as many games so far this season, impressing in Villa’s counter-attacking set-up that secured an opening-day win at Arsenal, while also troubling Chelsea and Liverpool in narrow defeats.

Agbonlahor has three caps

Eto’o hungry for success at Chelsea, says Terry HELSEA captain John Terry says he is delighted to have Samuel Eto’o as a team-mate at Stamford Bridge and believes the striker can be a

take their anger and frustration onto the pitch.

“Beyond that I think Heartland made life difficult for us in the game by practically taking over the middle despite all the changes I made to counter their plan.

“I think the point they picked at our own expense is well deserved and for us a disappointing result.

“We’re excellent in the second half as we subjected them to incessant pressure but were unable to the convert few chances that came on our ways.

“We’ll return to the drawing board to work on our deficiencies before the next game,” said the former Gombe United coach to supersport.com.

Tenger is however passionately appealing to the side’s supporters not to desert the team at their trying period.

“There is disaffection among the players right now and by extension the side’s supporters. I appeal to them not to abandon Akwa United but to continually pray for the team. I know things will soon straighten up once again for the team,” said the former Niger Tornadoes coach.

Warri Wolves get new kits for ARRI WOLVES Fed Cup final players will be

•David

Ivory Coast to bid for 2019, 2021 AFCON HE Ivory Coast will bid to host the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 or 2021, the government said on Thursday.

The government gave the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) the green light to submit the country’s candidacy in a communication adopted by the council of ministers.

“The referee asked us to come in and finish the match to calm them down, but there was pandemonium.

The match commissioner witnessed all.

“What happened in Kano

was a shame to Nigerian football.

“If they are claiming that the game went on well and nothing happened, why did it take so long before we were able to leave the stadium and under very heavy security?”

Tenger unhappy with draw

•Eto’o

for England, but has not featured for almost four years, his last outing at international level coming against Belarus in October 2009.

Rickie Lambert has featured in both of Roy Hodgson’s England squads so far this season, scoring twice in three games.

But the Villa manager has moved to dampen suggestions that Agbonlahor should have been called up ahead of the Southampton man.

“I’m not going to tell Roy Hodgson how to do his job, the Scot told newsmen on Thursday.

“That’s his prerogative, to pick the national team. It’s hard enough to pick any team.

“From my own point of view he’s been playing fantastically for me, he really has.

“In the last three games he’s been excellent. He’s been at the top of his game against the best teams in the land in Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.

“To be fair to Gabby he hasn’t let it bother him; he’s just got on with it. You can’t influence somebody to pick somebody. But for me and this football club, he’s playing really well.

Agbonlahor, who is of Edo stock, had the chance to play for the Super Eagles, but opted for England.

WHO SAID WHAT

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

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TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

E live in a republic defined by its self-governing status and the constitutional principles by which it conducts its affairs. Those constitutional principles respect, among others, the fundamental rights of human beings to live their lives with minimum interference from government or any other authority. That is one difference between a monarchy and a republic.

Republicanism is predicated on the principle that individuals have rights and those rights must be protected against the whims and caprices of any groups or individuals.

One system by which a republic proceeds to respect the principle of respect for human rights is the democratic system of governance according to which citizens directly or indirectly participate in the formulation and implementation of policies. In either case, the majority principle has the edge in the practice of democracies. This has led to the denigration of democracies in contrast to republicanism.

But while much has been made of the virtues of republicanism and while the tradition has been to applaud republican virtues over democracy, it seems to me that the bifurcation can be misleading because there can be no republican virtue without adequate attention to democratic virtues.

In truth, democracy is the rule of the people by the people and for the people. Here the people can rule themselves directly or indirectly through their elected representatives. Either way, it is the majority voice that is heard and respected. From which it follows that the minority will always lose out. Talk about internal democracy in group and political party procedures cannot lose sight of this crucial aspect (defect?) of democracy. Yet, it cannot be overlooked that as flawed as it is, democracy is still an indispensable instrument of governance in a republic, a reason why we are quick to cast aspersion on non-democratic (self-governing) republics.

The most important instrument of democratic governance in modern democracies is the political party. For democracy to function properly and thrive, political parties must function properly. But there is no guarantee that political parties will function properly. From which it follows that there is no guarantee that democracies will thrive.

Two questions follow naturally. How must political parties function? What is the criterion for proper functioning? And why is there no guarantee that they will?

Before we look at the possible answers to these questions, it is perhaps helpful to look at an alternative to a system of political parties in a democracy. A clear-headed argu-

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

SEGUN GBADEGESIN gbadegesin@thenationonlineng.net

The war within

•PDP logo

ment was once made by the Ghanaian philosopher, Kwasi Wiredu, for “a no-party consensual democracy” in Africa, based on what he considers the prospects of such a system in forging harmony and protection for minority interests. Wiredu’s position is not too far-off from the position of those early nationalists who argued for one-party democracies on ground of harmony and consensus, though he differed from them in the sense that they “murdered” competing political parties in order to make their case, while he doesn’t assume the prior existence of any parties.

I am not persuaded by the argument for a no-party system because it is unworkable in our modern complex societies with not just one but numerous groups—ethnic, religious, linguistic—with competing interests. The modern political party is clearly indispensable to the governance of modern democra-

RIPPLES PHCN WILL CEASE TO EXIST IN FEW WEEKS–Nebo

Everybody, shout a BIG HALLELUYAH

"It is a well-organised business. We ate once a day most of the time. They will bring eba and egusi or ogbono, rice be it jollof or white. There were 13 of us. We were MIKE OZEKHOME VOL.8 NO.2,605 locked up in a room.

A

H, the bed, the bed, God bless the inventor of the bed! (Now that is not from Shakespeare, it’s a Hardball original, thank you very much.) A bed, much under-rated, much trampled upon if not debased, is probably the best thing that happened to man after God devised covering for fallen man in the Garden of Eden. Imagine that proper beds as we know them today were never formulated and we have to depend on mats, bamboo stalls and the fire-side red earth tombs? Many would simply crash and fall on their face out of fatigue. And how about we men bearing tell-tale permanently scraped, scarred and damaged knee caps, the result of attending to our conjugal obligations? Did you ever wonder how it was for our forebears who did not have the luxury of deluxe mattresses? In a manner of speaking, they were probably always caught up between their devils and a hard place hmmn?

Let us milk the bed metaphor a little further. Someone once said that a woman is like a bed: as you have laid it out, so shall it be.

This is, of course, close to the common saying that as you lay your bed, so will you sleep on it. In other words, if you choose to turn your bed into a football arena or a war zone, you are condemned to return to the chaos and surely, with the nightmares that it will bring forth. Well to cut to the chase, Hardball is on

cies.

But what is expected of political parties and how must they function. The assumption is that a political party brings together people of like minds, with similar interests and ideological persuasions about the place of government in the lives of citizens. The party competes for political power along with others by selling its programs and policies to the electorate. If the electorate buys its programs and policies, and there is a free and fair election, it wins the support of citizens and assumes power.

This is where the practice of majority rule becomes a problem for critics of democracy and efforts have been made by theorists of democracy to suggest corrective measures that promote minority interests. I will not go into this here. Suffice it to say that the system is not that obnoxious.

Now, the norm is what has been spelled out briefly in the last paragraph. However, the practice has not often conformed to the norm. The interest that brings people together has not always been that which they can sell with honesty to the citizens and the virtue of the political party, to articulate the foremost interests and aspirations of citizens, has not always been the motivating factor for a good number of contemporary political parties. The political party has been turned into a business organisation where the pecuniary interests of the leadership are dominant; but they are able to access political power and keep it because of their ability to manipulate the citizenry.

In a system that is rigged against the majority of its members because of the conditions of their existence—poverty, ignorance, disease—such manipulative practices succeed and a political party in power gets to impose itself on the nation with impunity even when it doesn’t discharge the responsibilities of governance to the satisfaction of the citizens.

Recall however that the satisfaction of the citizens is not a category that is high on the list of the party’s priorities in the first place.

This is the reason that there can be no guarantee that the party will function adequately or that democracy will thrive. For in the last resort, when citizens are tired of manipulation, no matter the nature of the force levelled against them, there will be mass revolt, and it cannot be guaranteed that democracy will survive such a revolt. But even before such a time, there is bound to be war within the structure of the party itself.

The personal interests that bring its members together cannot be reconciled through consensus because human nature is egoistic and acquisitive as Hobbes told us long ago and we still don’t believe him.

If nothing else has demonstrated the veracity of Hobbes’ theory, the war within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) seems to me to a veritable example of a party, whose members are governed by the principle of personal egoism. Recall an unfortunate exchange between the late Chief Afolabi and the late Chief Bola Ige when the former accursed the latter of ingratitude to the leadership of the PDP who out of their generosity extended an invitation to Chief Ige to “come and eat.” The expression was that raw.

Consider now the grounds of the complaints of the members of the “New PDP” against the party leadership. Every bit of the complaint has to do with personal interest. Jonathan must forget contesting in 2015. Tukur must go. Amaechi must be restored as NGF Chair, etc. How does resolving any of these disputes or acceding to any of these conditions impact the fundamental interests of Nigerians? The New PDP faction has not made any case that focuses on issues of party accountability to the people.

It has not faulted a governance style that has emboldened terrorists and sentenced innocent citizens to a life of perpetual insecurity. Indeed, the New PDP has not worried itself about the conditions of existence of the poorest of our fellow citizens.

The war within, no matter how it is resolved, whether in favor of the old or the new PDP, does not seem to have any prospect of benefitting the average suffering Nigerian. Indeed, what is most likely is that a consensus will be reached by the warring parties in the crisis. Attention would be paid to the original interests that brought them together and the personal interests at stake and the settlement will have no bearing on what a party in power owes to democracy or to the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of a democratic republic’s system of government.

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HARDBALL

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

AS-UU make your bed…

For over two decades, you couldn’t find a proper water system in hostels at the University of Lagos, one of the better rated ones.

And the hostels in their entirety are not good enough for keeping horses in U.K. or U.S. Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka over a decade ago was so exasperated about the dire conditions of Nigeria’s universities that he suggested that they be shut for a while pending a total rethink of the entire concept.

Of course, that was not done and indeed nothing has been done for a long while; not a thought has been spared by any leader on this crucial issue. Nigerian universities that used to be among the best anywhere in the world are no longer fit to be called by such a name. For 30 years, we have been at these same issues and nobody has bothered to think them through. If the same problems beset us for 30 years it simply means we have not had the benefit of any leadership for so long a time. Even as you read this, we still do not have the kind of leadership that can think through the fundaments of this problem. Today, we have a somnolent education minister and a junior minister who ought to be an artisanal printer (remember he supposedly distributes books to schools, ha, ha, ha!). The President has thrown N130 billion into the rot and lecturers are to return to the dungeon, ha, ha, ha! Is there nobody out there who is fit to rethink our entire education system?

about the two and a half months old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU and not about bedding and its appurtenances. We need no experts to know that Nigeria has prepared a bed of thorns and scorpions for herself with the lax manner successive governments have toyed with education in Nigeria, especially at the tertiary level.

For three decades on, governments in power have been blind to the fact that Nigeria’s educational system has crashed and as each day passes, the situation gets even more irretrievable. Starting from the mid-80s, from the administrations of Ibrahim Babangida, through Sani Abacha, Olusegun Obasanjo to Goodluck Jonathan, university lecturers under the aegis of ASUU have routinely gone on strike to demand improvements in their conditions of service but more important, to call attention to the inexorable death of Nigeria’s apex cadre of learning.

In a world that is almost solely knowledgebased today, Nigeria’s educational system is diminishing and the concept of the university gets moribund by the day in these climes.

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Editor Daily:01-8962807, Marketing: 01-8155547 . Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja. Tel: 07028105302. Port Harcourt Office: 12/14, Njemanze Street, Mile 1, Diobu, PH. 08023595790. WEBSITE: www.thenationonlineng.net E-mail: info@thenationonlineng.net Editor: GBENGA OMOTOSO