The Nation Sept 02, 2012

•Obi

•Okorocha

2015 Jonathan divides South-East leaders –Page 2

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.06, No. 2236

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

N200.00

IMPEACHMENT THREAT

Presidency in race to beat Reps deadline Attains 50 percent release of capital votes NASS may compromise over budget targets Bauchi to –Page 2

sack half its civil servants –Page 4

•Yuguda

•Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi (right) acknowledging cheers from members of the State House of Assembly at the final burial ceremony of his mother in Ibadan yesterday.

Yobe crash: Death toll now 31 –Page 4 –Page ?

SUSPECT HIDES 2.6KG OF COCAINE IN ROASTED CHICKEN –Page 4

INSIDE Interview

‘In Delta State, kidnapping has become something political to embarrass government’ —Pgs 24 -25

Miscellany

Malaria: The struggle continues —Pg 53

Life

NEWS THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

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HE Federal Government is leaving nothing to chance following the threat by the House of Representatives to commence impeachment proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan if the 2012 budget fails to achieve 100 per cent implementation by the end of this month.

As at the weekend, government had released more than 50 per cent of the capital vote, which is almost 20 per cent over the 30per cent that triggered the budget row between the government and the Reps.

Specifically, government has released N704billion out of the N1.3trillion earmarked for capital projects.

A breakdown of the figure is as follows: N304b (first quarter); N100b(second quarter); and N300b(third quarter).

The House is currently on recess and is due to resume in

Impeachment threat: Fed Govt in race to beat Reps deadline •Attains 50 percent release of capital votes •NASS may compromise over budget targets FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

three weeks.

It was gathered last night in Abuja that government is working round the clock to avoid a fresh confrontation with the Reps on the issue of budget once they resume before the end of this month.

A high ranking government official said the executive has stepped up efforts to meet the September 30 deadline given by the Reps to improve

on the implementation of the 2012 budget.

Although the House demanded 100 per cent budget implementation, especially the release of capital votes, it was learnt that government might not be able to meet the target.

An influential leader of the National Assembly, speaking on the development last night, said: “We may soft-pedal if the implementation of the budget is appreciable.”

A Federal Ministry of Finance source said: “Of the N1.3

trillion for capital projects, we have released about N704billion. This means, we have done more than 50 per cent. That is the percentage of cash-backed resources that has been released.

“Of this N704billion that is available for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Works and security agencies have performed more than 90 per cent.”

Asked why other ministries have not fully accessed

'My life as a lesbian’ Pg 56

—Pg 27

Insight

On-shore, off-shore battle: The never-ending story —Pp 23 & 26

•President Goodluck Jonathan laying wreath for the Late Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi at the Grand Palace Addis Ababa yesterday

2015: Jonathan divides Igbo leaders

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Pp 36, 37, 38

The Arts

Beauty in tatters

—Pg 51

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FFORTS by President Goodluck Jonathan’s underground campaign team to mobilise Igbo support for his 2015 presidential ambition have split Igbo leaders, leading to sharp disagreements in the region.

Investigation by The Nation on Sunday shows that the campaign, coordinated by a South-East serving governor, is the cause of the current crisis in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Some leaders of Ohanaeze Ndigbo are also worried that the foot soldiers of the campaign have penetrated the apex Igbo sociocultural organisation polarising opinion of its leaders on the chances of an Igbo president in 2015.

Ohaneze elders who have spoken on the matter are Dr. Dozie Ikedife, the immediate past President General, who reportedly said Ndigbo will contest only if Jonathan is not seeking re-election; Col Joe Achuzie, who said Igbo presi-

By Sam Egburonu and Nwanosike Onu

dency in 2015 is not negotiable; and Chief Arthur Eze. An insider said since Ikedife’s pronouncement on the issue all has not been well with the younger elements in Ohaneze insisting that the elders are out to mislead Ndigbo again.

In his own stead, former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju has thrown his weight behind the president. According to him, “The president has done well for Ndigbo. Every good turn deserves another. He has done for us what we never got before. We will repeat what we did in 2011 for him in 2015 by giving him the votes all things being equal.”

In a telephone interview however, Ikedife said his position on the matter is very clear. “I have made my position on this matter very clear.

We, Ndigbo supported Jonathan during the last elec-

tion. If the constitution allows him to contest again and he decides to run, I do not see why we must withdraw our support if he performs. So, I am saying that if he fulfills the promises he made and excels, we may support him, but if he does not fulfill his promises, it will be difficult to support his re-election.”

A source, close to APGA leadership said the disagreement between Chief Victor Umeh, the National Chairman of the party and Governor Peter Obi’s loyalists would have been resolved if not for their alleged differences on the issue of Jonathan’s 2015 presidential bid.

“That is the core area of disagreement between the APGA leaders. While Umeh wants the party to produce a candidate in 2015, Obi and some others want Ndigbo to support the president again so that he would have ample time to complete the vital projects he promised the zone,” the

source said.

Although Obi has repeatedly expressed the party’s readiness to present a presidential candidate in 2015, his opponents in the party, mainly from Anambra State, say he is the problem of the party, alleging that he is the stumbling block to their planned expansion of the party.

A top official of APGA in Anambra, who would not want to be mentioned, alleged that the disagreement between Obi and Umeh has affected the relationship between Obi and Governor Rochas Okorocha, who, according to him, share the view that APGA should have its own presidential candidate to slug it out with Jonathan.

But Okorocha who told The Nation that there was no disagreement between him and Obi, however, urged Ndigbo to change their tactics if they want to produce the president.

their share of the N704billion, the source explained: “We are particular about the process, we want to make sure that they comply with the guidelines for accessing funds. The situation is much more better now.”

On the National Assembly’s demand of 100 per cent capital budget implementation, the source said: “ I know that we have tremendously improved budget implementation.

“The truth is that 100 per cent implementation of the budget is not realistic. It is like asking your children to score 100 per cent in all their examinations.

“We are trying our best to meet the target but we may end up with about 70 per cent implementation of the capital votes.

“We are hopeful that the National Assembly will show some understanding in view of what we have done so far.

“We do not foresee further crisis over 2012 budget. We hope things will work out by the time they are back from recess.”

The source, however, ruled out the extension of the lifespan of the 2012 budget till March 2013,stressing: “We will not extend 2012 budget beyond December 31. We are trying to stabilize our budgeting system. We want to return to the era of January to December pattern.

“We are after fiscal discipline and unless we have a predictable budget system, we cannot get it right.”

Responding to a question on the 2013 budget, the source said: “The Federal Executive Council has approved the Fiscal Strategy Paper(the Framework) which has been sent to the National Assembly for consideration when they resume.

“This framework includes budget indicators like the crude oil benchmark and how many barrels we may sell in 2013 and other indices.”

Contacted, a principal officer in the National Assembly said: “We may soft-pedal if the implementation of the budget is appreciable.

“We are eager to get feedback on budget implementation as soon as we are back. If the figures are reasonable, we may review our ultimatum.

We are not after conflict with the Executive, we want the best for Nigerians.

“Unfortunately, those in government did not want us to ask questions on how the budget is being implemented.

We saw it as an affront and resisted it. We are ready to ensure proper things are done.

“I am aware that the Executive has consulted widely with the leadership of the National Assembly since the recess started and we have made our position known that we are not at war.

“Let us hope that the Executive has got it right or done the right thing. We want the economy to run a normal course for the benefit of all.”

Column

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

The crisis of Federalism in Nigeria A NYBODY who believes that the debate on federalism will go away very soon must be living in a fool’s paradise. This is because the debate goes to the very core of the constituting units of colonial nationhood. At the heart of the debate lies the intimidating and fundamental paradox of federalism in post-colonial Africa: The fact that unlike the classical instances of federalism, the federating units in Nigeria were brought together by colonial fiat and force.

As it were then, the notion of federalism in Nigeria, despite all the conferences, remains a political mirage put together by internal and external colonialists for the entertainment of the natives. The crisis of federalism in Nigeria stems from the fact that there has never been federalism in Nigeria except for brief periods of default when the masters went to sleep only to wake up to resume the unitarist and harshly centralised template with more vigour.

Anybody wishing to restructure Nigeria in its present awkward and ungainly contraption must look at the offensive monstrosity squarely in the face. There is no point in seeking to return to an El Dorado which never existed in the first instance.

This is where nostalgia becomes a form of psychiatric disorder. As Terry Eagleton famously observed, one sure thing about the organic society is that it is always gone. It is just a stick to beat the recalcitrant reality of the present In a sense then, all the cries for a return to “true federalism” are mistaken and misbegotten. They are nothing but plaintive pleas for help by one hundred and sixty million people trapped in the concrete post-colonial hell of an underequipped state superintending an under-achieving nation.

Let us keep our eyes focused on the ball. You cannot return to what never really existed in the first instance. In its 98 years of existence, Nigeria has practised something close to federalism for only a brief period of about 10 years, that is between 1952 and 1962. Even then it was obvious that this strange kind of federalism without any mooring in the psyche of the people or the emergent political class was on a short leash from its puppeteers.

In 1962 with the federal-instigated crisis in the old West, the federating abomination came into direct conflict with the dominant empire-building tendency in the nation. Before then, the departing colonial masters had made sure of the outcome of the confrontation by rigging the census, the political architecture of the new nation and the pattern of recruitment into the military in favour of the favoured master-nationality. In January 1966, the faltering and stuttering charade succumbed to a military with a colonial mindset rooted in the harsh suppression and brutal subjugation of the natives. It was the beginning of fifty years of solitude.

In a sense, then, the crisis of a phantom federalism in Nigeria is the crisis of a phantom post-colonial state rooted in primitive and predative extraction. At least in Guinea Bissau, the Portuguese did not pretend that they were founding a colony. They knew they were founding an overseas plantation.

They did not waste their time building any institutions. Force is, and has continued to be, the organising principle even after the departure of the Iberian masters. Nigeria, on the other hand, is a colonial plantation brought up to believe it is a nation.

This delusionary foundation of the nation has led to momentous

•Gen. Akinrinade

blood shedding and population culling on an industrial scale which goes on till this very moment. The sheer oceanic plenitude of people is both a boon and a disaster. Famously, Major Chukwumah Kaduna Nzeogwu warned that he was ready to cull just one percent of the populace if that is what it will take to put Nigeria on the path of rectitude and righteousness. The ensuing civil war probably did just that but 40 years after, there is still no righteousness and rectitude in the land.

This is why the debate about “federalism” just won’t go away.

They are a sub-text or shorthand for the debate about the post-colonial state in Nigeria. What is the best form of governance for an ethnically plural, culturally diverse and religiously riven nation? What is the best structural arrangement for this combustible conurbation that will liberate the energies of its diversely talented people and canalise the mutually antagonistic predilection of its errant political elite for productive purposes?

Since this is a debate about the soul of a tormented and traumatised nation, it simply won’t go away. All the noise about state po-

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HE human mind is truly the factory of the future. Sometime last week, the Apple Company overtook Bill Gates’ Microsoft as the most valuable and prosperous human conglomeration in history. This remarkable feat of human enterprise was not achieved by the deployment of tanks and infantry men. Neither was it due to a new kind of Fordism or the optimal utilisation and strategic deployment of factory hands.

It was a triumph of the human mind and its visionary conceptual capability. There will be no factories as we know them in the future but the phenomenal facilities of the human imagination. In the ceaseless struggle for supremacy, the human mind is ever driven to the ultimate frontiers and limits of paradigmatic thinking—the zone normally reserved for the uber-genius.

lice, fiscal federalism, proportional representation and the need to return to the old parliamentary system are part of this debate about the nature of the state and the notion of the nation itself. The Boko Haram insurgency is nothing but an armed critique of the state and the nation. Poor Goodluck Jonathan is beginning to show signs of fatigue and world-historic weariness. Every step of his is subjected to withering and blistering critique.

Even more devastatingly, he is accused of not bringing any superior cultural values and intellectual mettle to bear on the governance of a very difficult nation. Jonathan might have been promoted beyond his competence. This is what happens with the rise of counterhegemonic knowledge in a restive society brimming with unhappy consciousness, when the aggregate of oppositional wisdom trumps the disaggregate of inept leadership.

Jonathan’s crime seems to be his fundamental inability to properly read and situate political turbulence and an approaching hurricane. Yet the poor formerly shoeless fellow from Otueke is not the cause of Nigeria’s fundamental problem. He

S

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu is merely a symptom and symbol of its alarming degeneracy.

This is why the debate about federalism continues to fascinate in its political concussions and contradictory pull. It appears that some prominent sections of the Nigerian political elite want to eat their cake and have it, rooting for the structural reconfiguration of Nigeria where it is a mere intellectual fad and plumping for a continuation of the unitarist fiasco when the status quo is actually threatened. It simply will not wash.

Last Thursday in Ibadan, the politically sophisticated and intellectually accomplished sentry unit of the Yoruba race weighed in on the debate at the Oyo State House of Assembly complex. It was presided over by the equally iconic and much revered General Alani Akinrinade. It was not a gathering of the tribe as such. Some notable traditional rulers were noticeably missing and so were the great progressive grandees of yore. The silence was stunning from the old hegemonic Yoruba power centre.

But the meeting had all the trappings of power and authority, having been blessed and sanctioned by the new Yoruba powers that be. It was a powerful expression of the mood of the current dominant progressive faction of the Yoruba political establishment. But what is significant is that apart from minor details reflecting political piques and current fixation, the outcome was not different from the major conclusions of other recent meetings of the Yoruba dominant political tendency. In other words, the meeting itself showcased the formidable strengths and weaknesses of the most forward looking faction of the Nigerian political elite.

Snooper was unavoidably absent, being engaged in another theatre of political warfare. But there can be no doubt that our spirit and mind was at the meeting. In fact snooper monitored proceedings, first from a New Jersey airfield at 3 am Eastern American time and 8am Nigerian time when the aircraft conveying Chief Bisi Akande left Jos and later that same evening from a Lagos-bound Arik aircraft in Heathrow when a call was put through to Dr Amos Arogundade Akingba who enthused with characteristic vigour about the successful outcome of the gathering,

The Sons of Sam The cultural and technological enrichment of the entire human society in the process is better imagined. So are the stupendous wealth and riches accruing to the originators and their backers.

Smiling to the bank is a wry understatement of humility. Imagine how many I-pod have found their way into the Nigerian market in the last one year alone. Technologically speaking, we have never been more vulnerable. We remain consumers rather than producers.

In the relentless battle for global political ascendancy, armies of the mind take up position every minute. In the global ferment, infirmity of the mind is the greatest political and physiological ailment. Since no nation is an island unto itself, every human society is subject to maximum buffet-

3

ing by the tumultuous wind of change and innovation. The repercussions of innocence are as swift as the rewards of technological excellence.

But some nations do have them indeed. While the explosion of technological advancement and human ingenuity proceeds, some children of Satan are using the same advances to cause social mayhem in their own country. Taking advantage of the advances in social media and technology of inter-face communication which has abolished the constraints of space , time and class, some Nigerian youths have perfected the act of entrapping and murdering their fellow youth in a chilling execution reminiscent of the worst depredation of the Son Of Sam. Now, you see why the state must not collapse in Nigeria.

There can be no doubt that at this point in Nigeria’s history, the dominant political tendency in Yorubaland should count itself lucky to have a non-professional political rallying point of Akinrinade’s sterling character, honour and integrity to serve as a rallying symbol.

A civil war hero, Akinrinade subsequently endured exile, humiliation, loss of fortune and personal tragedy by standing up to Nigeria’s military-feudal complex after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. That a man could risk certain death and disaster by walking away so casually from all that had made and defined him is not the stuff of ordinary heroics. Akinrinade deserves a place in the pantheon of Yoruba patriots and Nigerian nationalists.

But there is plenty of work to be done. The general has his work cut out for him. It is all well and good to demand for state police and regional autonomy. But it is also useful to note that the notion of federalism in Nigeria is not a template for political sainthood. Federalism in Nigeria is hobbled by four major empire building and centralising tendencies. namely(1) The Northern power establishment and its feudal accretions.

(2) The military which thrives on central authority and the command chain. {3) Wahabbist strain of Islamic religion which has now mutated into the Boko Haram insurgency. (4) Yoruba empire builders who are unimpressed by the laggard state of the Nigerian and who would want to substitute this with Yoruba values disguised as humane and humanitarian values.

It was this last tendency which led to Obafemi Awolowo’s open and blistering critique of feudalism in the north of the nation and his attempts to capture power at the centre. It was a noble but quixotic political venture which provoked the feudal wrath of the descendants of Dan Fodiyo who saw it as affront and political contumely.

This is the order of battle, now overt, now covert, which has defined modern Nigeria and the struggle for feudalism. But while the battle rages at both the intellectual and political fronts, we cannot ignore the persistence of the other main tendency among the Yoruba, that is the persistence of a tendency for heroic pragmatism as opposed to seemingly unpragmatic heroism.

This is a stretch that leads from Chief S L. Akintola right through to General Obasanjo. The argument is that no matter the complexion of the sky, what the bird eats is what the bird flies with. To put it in a more heroic template, while the battle for federalism and the soul of the nation continues, politics as the allocation of resources and the determination of who gets what and at what time must continue. Whether one likes him or not, Obasanjo is the past master of that game, albeit in a failing state. Exactly 50 years after the Action Group debacle and almost twenty years after the June 12 fiasco, the same battle line is drawn between arguably the two most illustrious Yoruba warriors that the Nigerian army has thrown up..

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Dana crash: Mark adopts victim’s children From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

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HE three children of LtColonel Owoicho Jumbo Ochigbo have been adopted by the Senate President David Mark.

Lt-Col Ochigbo was one of the 153 passengers who died in the June 3, 2012 Dana plane crash which crashed in Lagos. The late military officer held his last duty post as the Commanding Officer, 6 Battalion, Nigerian Army, Abak , Akwa Ibom State.

He was laid to rest at the weekend in his hometown, Oturkpo, Benue State.

Mark, a retired Brig-G, announced the gesture at the burial where, in a tribute, he described the deceased as an officer and a gentleman.

His words: “Lt. Col Jumbo Ochigbo was clearly an officer and a gentleman in every sense of the word. He was passionate about the development of the Nigerian Army. He was an intelligent young man with a very bright future who conducted himself in an exemplary manner.”

He counselled the bereaved family and the Nigerian Army to take solace in the fact that the deceased lived an exemplary life worthy of emulation.

He pledged to train the children to university level.

In his tribute, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika, said the late Ochigbo would be greatly remembered for his gallantry, good sense of purpose and selfless service to the country.

In the tribute read on his behalf, Ihejirika said: “He was a worthy son of Nigeria, an officer and a gentleman. His calling is beyond man’s ability and imagination.”

Minister of Interior Abba Morro said Ochigbo lived a short but eventful life and impacted positively on the society.

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State who had earlier paid a condolence visit to the bereaved family in Otukpo, described the late Ochigbo as a very committed officer who would be missed.

Boko Haram: JTF kills five in Maiduguri Joseph Abiodun, Maiduguri

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

News

HE Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno State said yesterday that five members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, in Maiduguri were killed in an encounter at the weekend.

Members of the sect were said to have first launched a bomb attack on a patrol team of the JTF. A response from the soldiers soon followed resulting in the death of the insurgents, according to spokesman for the JTF, Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir Musa, He said: “There was an IED attack targeted at JTF patrol team at Ruwan Zafi, Dikwa-Gamboru Road in Maiduguri by suspected Boko Haram terrorists. Fuel Propelled IED was used by the terrorists during the attack, which resulted in fire outbreak that burnt some adjoining shops.’’

In the encounter, two soldiers and a teenager were wounded.

He denied that any soldier died. The wounded are now receiving treatment in an unnamed hospital.

Massive sack looms in Bauchi civil service

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BOUT 50 per cent of the work force of the Bauchi State civil service are at the risk of losing their jobs under a planned retrenchment by the State government, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state has alleged.

The congress has consequently commenced talks with government to shelve the plan, according to its chairman, Comrade Hasimu Gital.

There is no official statement yet on the issue and no government official is willing to talk on it, but it was gathered that top government functionaries at several meetings with labour leaders have hinted of plan to down size its

•Don’t dare it, NLC warns

From Austine Tsenzughul Bauchi

work force.

Comrade Gital in a telephone interview said: “That’s what they told us, but we will not support or allow the state government to sack any worker.

“We are still talking with the government but I can’t preempt our talks, but by the grace of God when we wind up our meetings you will know the outcome.”

The chairman, Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS) Bauchi State

chapter, Comrade Abdullahi M.Tanko Ningi also yesterday advised the state government to resist the temptation of retrenching civil servants over alleged lack of funds to pay salaries and allowances. Retrenchment of civil servants, he said, will only create more insecurity, sufferings, chaos and other atrocities for the society.

Ningi, speaking to journalists in Bauchi said instead of sacking civil servants, government should “seriously downsize its political appointments, reduce cost of his constant trips and share his allow-

ances with the electorate.”

Ningi said since Governor Isa Yuguda has re-absorbed retired civil servants on contract basis and has an over bloated political cabinet, he should lay off those ones and allow civil servants who have put in many years to complete their service.

He said: “We are warning Gov. Isa Yuguda not to contemplate retrenching teachers, as this will be counter-productive to the quality and quantity of education in the state’’.

Ningi who has being having a running battle with the state government over the

deplorable plight of teachers in the state added: ‘’Besides cutting the salaries of political appointees ,permanent secretaries earning between N450.000 and N500,000 per month and their directors earning between N150,000 and N200,000 should have their salaries slashed by one-third.”

The Secretary of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Sulisma Lemuel said: “We are meeting with the government. For now we are talking but because government made its offer based on current economic crisis and has a proposal to sack some workers as it may affect the September salary.

“On the part of labour unions there have been several suggested options even as we boldly insisted we would not allow government sack any worker.”

Contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Chief Michael Adeyemi denied knowledge of the proposed downsizing of the state civil servants.

He said:” I am not aware of that but you can contact the State Head Of Civil Service.”

The Head of service, Mr. Abdon Dala Gin did not pick his calls neither did he respond to a text message sent to him.

Yobe auto crash: Death toll rises to 31 From Duku Joel, Damaturu

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•Remains of Ilasamaja pedestrian bridge demolished in Lagos yesterday. Photo; NAN

Drug suspect hides 2.6kg of cocaine in roasted chicken

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OFFICIALS of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an auto technician found to have hidden 2.655kg of cocaine in roasted chicken. The seizure was made at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos during the inward clearance of passengers on a Turkish Airline flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The street value of the seized drug is about N24 million. The NDLEA Airport Commander, Mr. Hamza Umar who gave the name of the suspect as Vincent Chegini Chinweuwa described the seizure as remarkable.

The suspect is said to have given investigators useful information.

“We discovered 2.655kg of cocaine hidden inside roasted chicken. It is a remarkable seizure because no one would have imagined cocaine worth several millions inside roasted chicken” Hamza said. The suspect was quoted as having told his interrogators that: “It took

•Value put at N24m

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

me three days to pack the cocaine inside the roasted chicken. I was confident that the drug would not be detected. I have been living in Brazil since 2006.

“Life has been stressful because I could not even visit my

wife in Nigeria due to lack of money. I wanted some money to start any business of my choice back home. Unfortunately, I was disappointed upon arrival in Lagos”.

The NDLEA Chairman/ Chief Executive, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade said spectacular seizures like this will help

to discourage others from the criminal drug trade.

“The suspect thought his mode of drug concealment was perfect but we proved him wrong. Several drugs cleverly hidden by drug barons have been discovered and we shall continue to detect drugs regardless of the mode of concealment,” Giade said.

The suspect is expected to be charged to court soon.

HE death toll of the auto crash in Yobe State yesterday rose to 31. Two more victims died at the Potiskum General Hospital while receiving treatment, hospital sources have confirmed.

A breast-feeding mother and her baby were among the 29 persons that died on Friday on the spot.

It was a bloody Friday as two commercial 18- seater buses- Borno Express bus with registration number XB 2627 MAD and a Toyota Hiace with registration Number XZ 910 KWL – collided at Dazigau village on the Potiskum-Azare highway.

After the collision the two buses burst into flames.

Nine of the 29 passengers were burnt beyond recognition, while 15 people sustained various degrees of injuries.

A six year old boy came out unhurt from the crash, according to Federal Road Safety Corps officials.

The state sector commander of FRSC Shehu Usman Umar Masari told our correspondent that “ there were 36 male and eight female passengers in the two buses and the dead passengers have been given mass burial since Friday”

Flood washes away two brothers in Minna

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WO brothers on their way back home from a religious outing were washed away by flood yesterday in Minna, Niger State.

The victims’ two brothers who were with them on the walk narrowly escaped also being washed away by the flood, the second in one week.

It had rained for only one hour before much of the town became water logged.

The four brothers were walking back home in the rain from a Quranic school

Jide Orintunsin, Minna

graduation, Wolimat, when Mustapha (10) and Bashir Kudu (12) slipped inside a drainage, a few metres from home. They were instantly washed away.

One of their relations who declined to give his name said the deceased and their two brothers had left home after the 2pm prayers to the attend ‘’ Wolimat’’ only for the rain to start falling.

But as all four were rushing back two of them slipped

into the drainage.

The surviving brothers rushed back home to inform their parents and a search and rescue party was immediately raised.

However, Bashir and Mustapha died before help could reach them.

Their lifeless bodies were found under some debris close to Bahago plaza in Tunga area of the town.

An eye witness said: ‘’It was a passer-by that sighted the body of the older brother under the debris in the drainage and on pulling

it out the search party found the body of the younger one under him. Maybe they held on to each other when they slipped into the drainage.’’

Their father, Malam Mohammed Kudu, a staff of Federal University of Technology, Minna, said the four boys prayed with him before they went for the ‘’Wolimat’’. ‘’We all prayed here and I leant they went for Wolimat, only for the two survivors to rush home in the rain to alert us of the havoc. I have taken the incident as the wish of Allah.’’

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Yakassai, Agbaje ask Jonathan to perform or quit Segun Ajiboye, Kolade Adeyemi, Kaduna

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OCIAL critic and lawyer, Chief Fred Agbaje, has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to stop lamenting about the obstacles he is facing and instead concentrate on delivering his electoral promises to Nigerians.

Agbaje, who was reacting to the president's recent statement that he is the most criticised in the world, said the lamentation is an admission of his administration's failure to tackle the problems of security, corruption and unemployment bedevilling the country.

"It is an indication of the fallout of his ineptitude. The inability of his administration to curb the ever rising ills of the society, particularly on the issue of corruption, insecurity and the high rate of unemployment, in law, such admission of failure," he said.

"The president knew the ills of the society. He knew that the roads had become death traps, he knew that the hospitals had become mere consulting rooms, but he went ahead to contest. Is it therefore not late in the day to begin to lament? It is defeatist for a president to say that, and I would have expected him to throw in the towel.

"Above all, for him to say that he will surprise us all next year, like Obasanjo, I dey laugh.

Where I come from, we say that the morning decides the day.

We have seen Jonathan in the morning, we have seen him in the afternoon, I am sure there is nothing left for him in the night that we will be surprised about.

"The only surprise that I expect from him next year is to tell us that he is not contesting. Nigerians are tired of lamentations of Sodom and Gomorrah. President Jonathan should stop lamenting. He should start working because that is the only reason we elected him."

Also, veteran politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai does not share the president's view that he is the most criticised in the world. He said: "All I know is that he was criticised for not keeping faith with the policy of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, on zoning and rotation; but I do not think that incident made him the most vilified person.

"Then if President Jonathan is planning to leave office as the most celebrated, I, too, pray that by the time he leaves office, he will be the most celebrated.

"However, the only way that President Jonathan will become the most celebrated President is by the number of achievements he records during his tenure. The more achievements he records, the better for the nation and I hope that he would always be guided by this consideration.

"Again, if he wants to be the most celebrated President, I candidly urge him to go back to the seven-point Agenda of his predecessor, the late President Umar Musa Yar'Adua. I advise President Jonathan to take this option because that agenda which aimed at putting Nigeria among the 20 most developed economies in the world is the most cherished policy ever articulated by any President in Nigeria.�

News

Boko Haram: Kumuyi urges prayers for divine solution T

HE General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Kumuyi, yesterday urged Nigerians to pray for divine solution to the country's security challenges.

Kumuyi at a press conference in Abuja said the entire country should seek God's intervention in the situation which the country currently finds itself.

The pastor lamented in particular the high rate of criminality, mind-boggling corrup-

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

tion, extra-judicial killings, violence and counter violence in the land.

Kumuyi spoke ahead of a miracle revival crusade scheduled for Tuesday at the church's headquarters in Abuja.

He assured Nigerians that the country will recover from its losses and come out of the present predicament stronger and better with a miracle that will amaze the world but only if the

people have hope and trust in God. He said: "God can move the country forward, and something definite and positive will happen to the glory of God. "God can do in a day what we have lost in five or even 10 years. Once we have our faith in God and hope in our life, it brings a kind of forward look.

"With that, we know that something definite and positive will happen. And I believe that our country will be great again.

"What we need is to seek

solution from the only Source (God) that can provide lasting remedy to our predicament. If there is any time we can pay heed to this admonition its now.�

Speaking on the Abuja programme, Kumuyi said: "the Lord is bringing something good to the people of Abuja this time. We will be able to handle those challenges, lift up their faith, encourage them and then have some impartation, pray for them for God to do something wonderful according to their expectations."

• Nigeria-Cuba Cultural Exchange in Jalingo, PHOTO; NAN

North raises hall of fame for education

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HE North yesterday set up an education hall of fame to honour and recognise teachers and others who have made useful contribution to the educational advancement of the region.

Renowned educationist and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Prof.

Adamu Baike, shedding light on the project in Kaduna, said no nation in pursuit of development can afford to relegate its teachers and that if the delivery of education is to improve, the nation must accord teachers their rightful place as facilitators and engineers of human development.

Named Garkuwa Education Hall, it is said to be the first of its kind in Africa and will be launched in Kaduna in the next few weeks.

Prof. Baike said the hall of fame will recognize and honour deserving personalities annually.

The three-time University administrator lamented that the last two decades have witnessed a devastating decline in the quality of learning in the nation's schools while learning achievement in numeracy and literacy have remained very low.

He said: "the performance of our children in external examinations such as NECO and WAEC has been on decline. At the tertiary level, the quality of graduates, from our universities and Polytechnics is giving cause for concern.

FROM TONY AKOWE, KADUNA

"In a knowledge-based world, we cannot just watch helplessly this deteriorating situation which is capable of undermining our development as a nation.

Education is the pivot which all forms of human development revolve. We believe that Nigeria's greatness is anchored on the quality of education we provide our children.

"It is in this regard that we, as a group of professionals have decided to make our modest contribution by establishing the Garkuwa Education Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame is committed to drawing public attention to the very important role of teachers, education planners and administrators, researchers and innovators who have made outstanding contribution, in education worthy of recognition either in their life time or even if they had passed on.

"Essentially, it is our belief that in recognising and honouring past and present teachers, we shall be doing justice to a group of unsung heroes without whose labour many of us would not be what we are today.

"We believe also that by

identifying and publicizing the achievement of such teachers, we shall be stimulating interest in the teaching profession and thus, attract those who are genuinely interested in teaching".

When fully operational, the hall of fame he said will facilitate the collection of memorabilia on education from all parts of the north and the nation in general and will also serve as a resource base with the primary aim of preserving and providing access to information on education for scholars, educators, policy makers, researchers, students, Journalists and the general public.

Ajimobi buries mum with pomp

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BADAN, the Oyo State capital was agog for Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, yesterday as dignitaries trooped into the city to grace the 40th Fidau and final burial of his mother, Madam Dhikrat Abeje Ajiobi.

The big event came two days after the historic Yoruba Assembly attracted Yoruba leaders and other dignitaries to the city to produce a position paper that will serve as the agenda for the Yoruba nation in Nigeria.

Not only governors, top politicians and captains of industry stood to be counted at the ceremony that was held at the Ibadan Recreation Centre. Traditional rulers and the masses were also in attendance.

The National Chairman of

the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande graced the occasion with two governors and four deputy governors.

The governors are Senator Ibikunle Amosun and his wife Serifat and Rauf Aregbesola of Ogun and Osun states respectively, and Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State. The four deputy governors at the event were Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire (Lagos), Alhaji Alli Olanusi (Ondo), Mrs Funmi Olayinka (Ekiti) and Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori (Osun).

Others include two former governor of Oyo State Alhaji Lam Adesina and Senator Rashidi Ladaoja. Former governor of Ekiti State Adeniyi Adebayo; former Senate Leader

Teslim Folarin; Senator Oluremi Tinubu and former Deputy Governor of Lagos State Adebisi Sarah Sosan. Others were Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, the Are Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Azeez Arisekola Alao and industrialist Chief Kola Daisi.

The Alafin of Oyo ,Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111was top among traditional rulers at the event. The Olubadan of Ibadanland was also represented by the Osi Olubadan ,Chief Lekan Balogun. The Iyalode of Ibadanland ,Chief Aminat Abiodun, Oloye Lekan Alabi ;the President, Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) Chief Bayo Oyero and Ambassador Olu Saanu graced the occasion.

5

10,000 displaced as Cameroun's dam floods Adamawa From: Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

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O fewer than 10,000 Nigerians in Adamawa State have been displaced from their homes and farmlands in the aftermath of severe flooding caused by the release of excess water from Cameroun's Lagdo Dam. The flood, according to the Director General National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Mohommed Sani Sidi, now threatens human lives and is disrupting socio-economic activities in the affected communities.

Speaking at an emergency meeting to review the situation, Sidi said: "The release of the water has also threatened human lives, disrupted socio-economic activities, led to environmental degradation and large scale ecological dislocation.

"Report from the High Commission of the Republic of Cameroun received on the 23rd August 2012 indicated that if the trend of heavy rainfall experienced this year continues in the next few weeks, more water will be released from the reservoir till October this year.

"As soon as the report was received from the Camerounian Embassy in Nigeria, NEMA contacted all the Governors of the frontline states of Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue and their respective State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) to warn them about the impending floods.

"We requested them to alert their communities at risk through relevant c o m m u n i c a t i o n procedures especially the local media on the urgent need to avoid socioeconomic activities along flood plains and relocate to safer grounds where necessary.

"The zonal coordinators for the North East and North Central zonal offices of NEMA have also been directed to liaise with relevant stakeholders and the state SEMAs to sustain public sensitization on the danger of the floods and the need to take necessary proactive measures to avoid the risk of human lives and the loss of properties.

"North East Zonal Office of the agency is right now on ground, working assiduously with the respective SEMAs to compile assessment reports, establish internally displaced persons camps, and provide necessary relief materials and first aid in collaboration with our local humanitarian partners."

6

News

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Cross River warns workers on Facebook

‘People will go for health insurance if well informed’

From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

F

By Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

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KITI State Commissioner for Health, Professor Sola Fasubaa, yesterday said only adequate and appropriate publicity and sensitisation could cause people to enlist for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

He spoke at a one-day sensitisation workshop organised by the scheme in Ado-Ekiti for officers and men of the uniformed services in the state.

Fasubaa, who was represented by the Director of Medical Services in the Ministry, Dr. Kola Adu, disclosed that the state had begun the process of enrolling the workforce for the Scheme.

The South West Coordinator of the Scheme, Mr. Taye Adeleye, called on workers to embrace the scheme to reduce incidences of avoidable deaths.

He further noted that artisans and other informal sector operators should participate in the scheme, as it would enable them and family members access health at a much cheaper rate.

Minister commissions incinerator

By Isah Idris, Katsina

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HE Minister of Environment, Hajiya Hadiza Mailafia, yesterday commissioned a multimillion modern incinerator for disposal of wastes at the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina.

She said the N85 million worth modern incinerator is already being constructed in nine other states for effective management of waste.

The Minister, who was in Katsina for a 2-day stakeholders zonal Ecofair, appealed to Nigerians to always obey environmental laws.

She stated that flooding and erosion disasters devastating some states are global natural occurrences worldwide.

According to her,“We have no business pouring trashes in drainages or creating layouts without Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

“No citizen has the right to build houses on flood plain or erosion- prone places and when disaster comes, you call on government to come and do some things about it.”

Book for presentation

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OVERNORS of Osun, Oyo and Ekiti States are to grace the public presentation of “ A servant to his colleagues” written by former Chairman, League of Veteran Journalists, Oyo State, Mr. Tunde Akingbade.

The presentation holds on September 4 at the NUT Press Centre, Iyanaganku, Ibadan by 11am.

Governors Aregbesola and Fayemi, as well as winner of National Award for Excellence in Science and Technology, Prof. Olu Odeyemi, will be the guest speakers.

• L-R: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Assembly Affairs Cameroon, Amadou Ali; Chairman, Cameroun-Nigeria Mixed Commission, Mr Said Djinni and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Nigeria, Mr Mohammed Adoke at the 29th session of Cameroon-Nigeria mixed Commission in Yaounde, Cameroun ... yesterday

Dana crash: Imo community bids FCMB AGM tearful farewell T HE sleepy community of Umuokomoche Nekede in Owerri West Council Area of Imo State was thrown into mourning over the weekend as the remains of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Assistant General Manager, Mr. Chukwuemeka Reginald Okere, were committed to mother earth.

Okere was buried two months after he died in the illfated Dana plane that crashed in Iju-Ishaga Lagos.

The burial drew tears and encomiums from relatives, friends and associates of the late banker.

Security men had a difficult time controlling the surging crowd as the brown casket conveying the corpse rode in a motorcade around 9am from Aladima Hospital to his home town, Umuokomoche.

Indigenes wept profusely,

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

holding the motorcade for several minutes before it finally entered the compound.

The late Emeka, as he was popularly called, was the seventh of the eight children of Mr. and Mrs. Boniface Okere.He graduated with a Second Class Upper from the University of Nigeria, Nssuka.

He retired from Diamond Bank in 2011 where he rose to the position of Assistant General Manager before joining FCMB. His 81-year-old mother, Madam Dorothy, was deeply devastated.

She wailed: “Nnaa, you are such a good man that I just cannot make any sense out of all this, except that Jehovah has good purpose for allowing it to happen.”His eldest sister, Mrs. Ada Agbasimalo,

lamented: “Reggy, you were very close to me.

“Your death has shown me that anything can happen to anybody anytime, anywhere, anyhow.”She described the deceased as a good and accomplished man.”I am so happy I immortalised your name in Chapter 19 of my new book, The Forest Dames,”she stated tearfully. His eldest brother, Mike Okere, couldn’t hold back tears.Chidinma, Emeka’s elder sister living in Texas, was inconsolable.She cried: “How can Emeka vanish like that without a word to his loved ones? It is unbelievable and truly a devastating blow to me.”

I have called his phone several times without response. This is just not right.

It’s still like a mirage to me that I will not see him again in this world. What would I say to his young kids Kamsi and

Duma who loved and adored him so much? Oh God!” Ujunwa, Emeka’s immediate younger brother, could not hold back tears when the casket was lowered.The tears climaxed when the deceased’s wife, Chinyere, accompanied by her two daughters, moved to the graveside.The widow said: “I will cherish my last words with you before that fateful incident. You were a treasure to last with us till we meet you again.”

The Officiating Minister, Apostle Victor Igboanusi, called on those in positions of authority to remember the day of reckoning.Death, according to him, is inevitable.”We will one day answer this call like Emeka and then the reality will dawn on us to account for the opportunities granted to us by God while on earth,” he stressed.

Kano sponsors 501 for postgraduate degrees

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O fewer than 501 Kano indigenes have been awarded scholarship for Masters Degree at different universities of their choice abroad.

The measure, according to Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, is to bridge the yawning education gap between the North and the South.

He spoke during the distribution of admission letters of the beneficiaries at Government House, Kano yesterday.

The Governor said Kano has been experiencing dearth of qualified manpower for some time now.

He said if something urgent is not done, the state will continue to depend on others for its manpower requirement.

The beneficiaries, he assured, will take over the realms of leadership of the state at various human endeavours.

Kwankwaso also disclosed that the state will sponsor 100 brilliant secondary school students to study medicine, while another batch of 100 will undergo training course in piloting.

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

The sponsorship, Kwankwaso explained, would be a continuous process whereby students with first and second class degrees would be sponsored abroad to

further their education. ”The secret behind this is to sow the seed for good leaders of tomorrow and have enough manpower to manage our educational institutions, as well as to tackle the issue of employment and other social

problems, which remained a great challenge of the past leaders,” he stressed.

He called on the beneficiaries to be good ambassadors by exhibiting good conduct and dedication to their studies.

Man commits suicide after getting N20 million

A

34-year-old man, Tari, took his life few hours after securing a N20 million contract over the weekend.

He died last Friday in Yenogoa, the Bayelsa State capital, after drinking a mixture of sniper and liquid bleach.Tari had few hours earlier secured the contract for construction of the Egbedi road in Kolokuma/Opokuma area of the state.

The indigene of Trofani Community in Kolokuma/ Opokuma area was a graduate of the University of Port Harcourt.

He was found writhing in pain by close relations after taking the mixtures.

It was further learnt that Tari was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) for treatment and later taken to a

By Isaac Ombe, Yenogoa

Church after his condition deteriorated.

The incident occurred at the home of the deceased located within the Civil Servants LowCost Estate, Yenagoa.

Shocked family members, however, blamed business ri-

vals for his death.

They claimed Tari had been receiving threat phone calls over undisclosed business deals. ”How can a young man take his life? It’s not possible.

Somebody somewhere must have done something funny,” a family source stated.

OLLOWING the death of Cynthia Osokogu who was reportedly murdered by friends she met on Facebook, the Special Adviser on Projects and Programmes Monitoring and Evaluation to Cross River Governor, Mr. EjaDons Esege, has warned staff of his department against engaging in unnecessary social networking activities during office hours.

Esege stated that the computers were not provided for them to engage in Facebook activities, which he said is social media trend that has been grossly abused.

He said the government provided the facility to build their capacities in information technology for enhanced jobperformance and productivity.

The Governor’s aide urged the staff to draw lessons from the sad incident of Cynthia Osokogu’s death and be more serious-minded.

Esege reasoned that if staff avoids all forms of idleness and churn out laudable strategies, the department will help bring development closer to the grassroots.

Council boss presents vehicle to monarch

By Tunde Busari

T

HE Executive Secretary of Obokun Local Government Council in Osun State, Dr Olugbenga Ogunleye, has presented a patrol vehicle to the Olademure of Ibokun, Oba Festus Awogboro.

Ogunleye, who made the presentation at the palace of the traditional ruler last week, reiterated the commitment of his administration to the improvement of welfare of traditional rulers whom he described as the custodians of customs and traditions.

According to him: “This presentation is in line with the policy of the government to give honour to whom honour is due. There are other benefits to be extended to them because they don’t deserve less for their exalted positions.”

The elated monarch said the vehicle is a surprise package.

Awogboro, who received the Nissan Frontier in the presence of other traditional rulers from Obokun and Oriade local councils, expressed gratitude to the secretary.

The monarch, who was inaugurated as the president of the Ijesha North Traditional Council, promised to use his tenure to bring all traditional rulers together.

Lagos Assembly re-affirms support for trado-medicine

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HE Lagos State House of Assembly has re-affirmed support for Traditional Medicine Practitioners in the area of Primary Health care delivery in the state.

Chairman, House Committee on Health Services, Hon. Suru Avoseh, gave this assurance when the Association of Traditional Medicine Practitioners of Lagos State held an awareness rally at the Assembly yesterday.

According to the lawmaker, the

By Oziegbe Okoeki

state government is aware of the enormous contributions of trado-medicine to the health care system in the society.

Avoseh said: “If you have a proposed bill on how you can improve on your traditional practice, please don’t hesitate to forward such to the House for deliberation and eventual passage into Law.” Chairman of the Association, Mr. Wahab Oshodi, solic-

ited for special annual budget for the promotion of Traditional Medicine among other incentives like appointment of capable Traditional Medicine Practitioner from their Association as Chairman of Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board.

He also urged government to consider appointing some of their members to form board members on IBILE zone as well as provide vehicle for the association to enhance research work.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2 , 2012

Desist from provocative comments, group From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo tells Nigerians From Chris Oji, Enugu

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NON-partisan and political advocacy organisation, the Rebuild Nigeria Initiative (RNI), has appealed to Nigerians to desist from provocative comments and actions capable of igniting further crises in the country.

The call followed what seems to be a lull by those behind the bombings and killings in some parts of the country.

The organisation said there was an urgent need to tackle insecurity problems and restore peaceful co-existence among Nigerians.

At the close of a 2-day meeting of members and stakeholders in Enugu, the National Coordinator of RNI, Mr. Hope Lawson, also told reporters that all plans by individuals and groups to restore unity and peaceful co-existence in the country will fail “if traditional institutions who are actual owners of the land are not involved in the peace process.”

He said the organisation would restore the unity and conviviality that made Nigerians one people and rekindle the harmonious relationship that “ruled the interactions between the faiths and religious persuasions in our country.”

He also said a national conference of traditional rulers has been scheduled for September 25 at Asaba, the capital of Delta State, to involve traditional rulers in the process of resolving the current security problems confronting the nation.

First Bank to support economic development in Osun

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HE Executive Director, Public Sector of First Bank PLC, Mr. U. K. Eke, has expressed the bank’s readiness to support and assist economic development drive of Osun State. He stated this at the state house in Osogbo during a courtesy visit to the Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, yesterday.

Eke, who commended the good work the Governor is doing, said the First Bank is ready to collaborate with the government in the areas of agriculture, education, mining and small and medium scale industries.

He said: “First Bank will always be at the forefront of economic development in the State of 0sun. We are beginning to see improvement in scale economies.

“We have restated our commitment to small and medium scale enterprises.

We intend to assist in other areas we can.”

He added that First Bank has established itself in the state a long time now and so has been involved in its development.

He further stated that First Bank is happy and proud of what the administration of Aregbesola has achieved within a short period of time.

News

Historic Bauchi wall collapses •Kills two, injures four S OME parts of the historic Bauchi wall constructed around 1804 collapsed yesterday afternoon, killing two people and injuring four others.

The deceased were identified as Abdullahi Aliyu, a 50-year-old father of five and his neighbour’s wife, Bilkisu Yayaya, who was 38.Two of Aliyu’s children, 17-year-old Asamau and 15year-old Hafsat, said their father was sleeping in his room when the wall fell on their

From Austine Tsenzughul, Bauchi

house.The two sisters were pulled out of the rubble with two others.

Asamau, whose body was covered with red dust from the collapsed building, said: “We were sitting inside the parlour with my sister when the house started falling. My father was inside his room sleeping when the building

collapsed on him.”

Another survivor, Jamila Salihu, said she was preparing food for the wedding of a neighbour with Bilkisu in Abdullahi’s compound when the incident occurred. According to her: “I was in the kitchen when I heard the wall collapsing. Before we knew, it fell and there was dust everywhere. I was rescued.”

The Chairman of Bauchi

Local Government Area, Sagir Baba Maji, who was represented by the Education and Social Development Officer, Aminu Yaya, described the incident as unfortunate and sad. Maji condoled with family of the deceased and advised residents to build at least 20 metres from the old frail wall to avoid another disaster.

The deceased were being prepared for burial as at the time of filing this report, while the injured have been rushed to the hospital.

•Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, with the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar, at the waiting lounge of the Ibom International Airport during their recent visit to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

AU raises alarm over land degradation

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HE African Union Commission on behalf of the Great Green Wall Programme (GGW) member- nations have commenced deliberations with the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), World Bank and other international development agencies to partner in addressing land degradation on the continent.The Federal Government has also commenced talks with the European Union EU to support its effort in achieving sustainable livelihood.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mr. Taiye Haruna, disclosed these in Abuja while inaugurating a committee tasked to support implementation of the GGW in the country.

Haruna said: “As at now, the African Union Commission, on behalf of the GGW member nations, is discussing the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), World Bank, as well as other international development agencies to support the green wall programme.

“At home, government is discussing with the European Union to mobilize support for the programme in the areas of afforestration and sustainable livelihoods.”The GGW is an African partnership programme supported by the international community to check and reverse land degradation in the

From Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

African regions through inter-related and coordinated set of interventions.

According to Haruna, the project is aimed at fighting land degradation in the region’s dry lands through the plantation of trees of more than 7100 km long and 15 km wide expected to run from Dakar to Djbouti.He stated that the programme will commence from Kano starting from 1st October to Zamfara, Borno and Yobe States.

On expectations from the committee, Haruna stated that it will be responsible to provide technical

support to the National Council on Afforestration and Shelterbelt, Ministry and other stakeholders to ensure implementation of the GGW in the country.”This GGW will pass through the following countries; Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritera and Djibouti,” he added.

The Founder of Fight Against Desert Encroachment, Dr. Newton Jibunoh, stated that the programme is vital to managing water level, migration, as well as food supply. He noted that the programme will involve 11 states in the country,

stressing that member-nations already commenced their implementation processes.Prof. Emmanuel Oladapo from the Department of Geography, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, tasked the Federal Government to quit talking but move into implementation.

Oladapo, who is the Regional Coordinator, Integrated Ecosystem Management Project in the transboundary areas between Nigeria and Niger, said the project is costly and should be implemented in practical terms to the benefit of Nigerians living in the affected areas.

PDP warns of anarchy in Imo

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MO chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised the alarm over what it called the undemocratic and intolerable attitude of the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state.

The party said the recent refusal of the state government to swear in the PDP House of Assembly member -elect, Chief Eugene Dibiagwu, after he was issued a Certificate of Return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was “despicable and reckless.”

Imo PDP Secretary, Sir George Egu, told reporters that “it is criminal to refuse to consummate the people’s collective will, freely expressed through a free and fair elec-

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

tion.”

He added that the action of the Imo State House of Assembly is a threat to the nation’s nascent democracy and rule of law.

Egu alleged, “the state government is still determined not to swear-in the member elect, thereby denying Oguta Constituency the elusive representation at the State House of Assembly after the 16th month, this is despicable.”

Counsel to the party, Cyprain Akaolisa, explained that the purported Court Order restraining the House of Assembly from swearing the member elect was null and void.

He argued that conven-

tional court does not have jurisdiction to issue such order since the issue is a post- election matter that can only be heard by an election petition tribunal.

The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chinedu Ofor, however, absolved the state government of any complicity in the on-going impasse at the House of Assembly.

Ofor noted that it is not the duty of the state government to swear-in the memberelect but that of the leadership of the House.

He maintained that the House of Assembly is law abiding and cannot go ahead with the swearing-in in contempt of an existing Court Order.

7

Mimiko’s declaration rally: ACN sweeps off LP in Owo From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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ESIDENTS of Owo yesterday trooped out in thousands to join the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to sweep away the pollution of the ancient town by members of the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

The exercise, led by the chairman of ACN in Ondo State, Chief Olorunshola Adesoji, Mr. Ade Adetimehin, Hon. Olu Awodeyi; Chief Olu Adegboro, Chief Wumi Adegbomire and Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, started from where Mimiko and his supporters staged the rally to various streets across the city.

According to Adesoji ,ACN carried out the exercise as a mark of symbol to sweep out the evil, misery, bad luck which he claimed the LP brought to Owo and Ondo State at large in the last three and half years.

His words: “What has Mimiko done in Owo in the last three and half years? Nothing!

The dualisation project of less than 10 kilometre road is pending. There is no single project to be commissioned in Owo.” He came here three years ago to promise heaven and earth but today there is nothing on ground in Owo.”This time, he came to Owo with rented crowd to dance for fifteen minutes, insult opposition for 15 and spent another 15 minutes to rant away.”

Owo, according to the ACN chairman, will not vote for LP as Mimiko’s government has failed them.

He added: “Mimiko should explain to the people of Ondo State what happened to N65 billion OSOPADEC grant.”

“Why has he abandoned Owo-Akure, Ondo-Akure, Arakale Roads, the doom-dome, Ile-Oluji township Stadium and Arigidi Tomato paste industry?”

With the sweeping exercise, he said, “we conducted the burial of LP in Ondo State.

Never again will the people of Ondo State allow Mimiko to deceive them.”

Rivers community sues for peace, as NGO trains 180

By Innocent Duru

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FTER years of conflicts, youths and elders of Kpor community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State have embraced peace.

A chieftaincy tussle and youth restivessness have torn the oilrich community apart for years.Last week, a town hall meeting was held in the community to resolve the age-long differences.

Over 180 youths of the community also benefitted from a training on conflict resolution funded by the European Union Instrument for Stability in Niger Delta in collaboration with Search for Common Ground (SFCG), Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (ECHRD).

The Secretary, Kpor Council of Chiefs, Chief Friday Kpaabel, flayed a recent survey conducted to unravel the causes of conflicts in the area.

He identified unemployment as a major reason for the conflict, stressing that people no longer have access to natural means of livelihood such as farming and fishing, owing to oil exploration.

8

News

Police kill two robbery suspects in Delta From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

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HE Delta State Police Command on Thursday killed two of armed robbery suspects that specialised on robbery of vehicles along the Ohoror– Bomadi road of the Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

It was learnt that a combined team of Special Anti Robbery Squad (SAS) and the Uwheru Local vigilance team acted on information, which led to a gun battle between the crack police team and the robbers in their hideout at Odja Uwheru, where two of the robbery suspects were killed and one, identified as Udeze, arrested.

The Delta Central Police Area Commander, Mr. Bassey Essien, who confirmed the incident, said two members of the armed robbery gang that are in police custody gave the police clues on the whereabouts of their gang members.

Youths charged on selfless service

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ELTA State Commissioner of Directorate of Youth Development, Mr. Ebifa Ijomah, has charged newly elected executive of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) not to allow personal interest override union interests in the discharge of their duties.

Ijomah gave the charge while swearing in the new executive of the Delta State Chapter of the council at the Nigeria Labour Congress Secretariat’s House, Asaba.

The commissioner, who was represented by the Director of Youth Development of the Ministry, Mr. Agbogu Joseph, charged the executive to always strive harder in order to leave a lasting legacy for generation yet unborn.

On his part, the Chairman of Delta State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Williams Akporeha, urged the youth to always be a shining example to others wherever they found themselves, even as he pledged the support of the NLC to their activities.

Earlier, the newly reelected Chairman of the council, Comrade Hope George, pledged his support and that of his executives to take youth council in the state to the next level.

Those elected to pilot the affairs of the council include; Comrade Hope George-Chairman, Agarivbie Francis Igho– Deputy Chairman, Comrade Okorie Kenneth–Vice Chairman North, Agbagoro Landlord-Vice Chairman Central, Ogidi Napoleon Tseke-Vice Chairman South, Oseji G.O.C-Secretary General, Kori-Siakpere Efeturi-Asst Secretary, Toritsereju Eyitemi Hope-Treasurer.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

How to deal with corrupt leaders, by Falana, Fasuan

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HERE will be an end to Nigeria’s corrupt leadership when the banking system is made sufficiently effective to curtail unscrupulous transactions.

Structures will also have to be in place for Nigerians to identify and shame the leaders who compromise standards.

Speaking with The Nation on

By Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

phone during the week, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) recalled that last year, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spent N1.7 trillion on subsidy without any supplementary appropriation or statutory warrant while only N245 billion was actually budgeted.

Falana said it is urgent for citizens to mobilise and “ensure that appropriation laws are implemented to the letter.

“Last year only, N245 billion was budgeted for subsidy but a whole N1.7 trillion was eventually appropriated. How the ministry of finance came about that scandalous figure continues to challenge our feelings,” the law-

• President of the Senate, Sen. David Mark and Wife, Helen, widow of Late Lt. Col. Jumbo Ochigbo, a victim of ill-fated Dana air crash, Mrs. Bridget and sons, Adakole and Akondu when the GOC, 82 Div, Major General Olayinka Oshinowo was presenting the deceased official ceremonial kits to the first son during the funeral rite in Otukpo, Benue State yesterday.

CBN records $10b forex inflow in Q2

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has recorded foreign exchange inflow worth $10.02 Billion in the second quarter of 2012. In the CBN Economic Report for the second quarter, released at the weekend, the apex bank said the figure represents a decline of 17.3 per cent below the level in the preceding quarter, but an increase of 13.2 per cent above the level in the corresponding quarter of 2011.

Outflow amounted to $9.61 billion, showing a decline of 1.5 and 12.4 per cent below the levels in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2011 respectively. This resulted in a net inflow of $0.41 billion, compared with a net inflow of $2.36 in the preceding quarter.

However, it contrasts with a

By Bukola Afolabi

net outflow of US$2.12 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2011.

The fall in inflow relative to the preceding quarter was attributed to the decline in crude oil sales and non-oil receipts, while the fall in outflow was attributed to the decline in the Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS) Forward Contract and NNPC/ JVC Cash.

Available data on aggregate foreign exchange flows through the economy indicated that total inflow amounted to $27.43 billion, representing a decline of 3.0 per cent below the level in the preceding quarter, but an increase of 19.5 per cent above the level in the corresponding quarter of 2011.

Oil sector receipts, which

accounted for 35.2 per cent of the total, stood at US$9.66 billion, compared with the US$11.63 billion and US$8.47 billion achieved in the preceding quarter and corresponding quarter of 201 respectively.

Non-oil public sector inflows, which accounted for 1.3 per cent of the total foreign exchange flows, declined by 26.6 per cent below the preceding quarter’s level, while autonomous inflow, which accounted for 63.5 per cent, rose by 7.8 per cent above the preceding quarter’s level.

At $10.14 billion, aggregate foreign exchange outflow from the economy increased marginally by 0.5 per cent above the level in the preceding quarter, but reduced by 11.7 per cent from the level in the corresponding quarter of 2011.

‘We won’t allow agents of destabilisation in Delta ACN’

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ENATOR ADEGO Eferakeya has warned non members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to stop parading themselves as members with the aim of destabilising Delta ACN. Eferakeya gave this warning while reacting to a publication that he (Prof Eferakeya), Dr. (Mrs.) Veronica Ogbuagu, excommissioner for education, Hon. Harvest Igben and Chief Philip Eyagumore, who are parading themselves as ACN members, are truly supporters of the PDP. He said, “I represented Delta Central in the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and l cannot remember having come across this name, Comrade Clement Anior, not to talk of being a stalwart in a party where l am a leader. I believe he is one of those apostles sent to destabilise the ACN party but we won’t allow that to happen.”

Reacting to Comrade Clement Anior’s alleged claim that he

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri is the National Chairman of Urhobo Political Agenda, Eferakeya said he has never heard that such an association fought for the ACN during the 2011 general elections, adding that Anior should identify himself by producing his membership card to show he is a cardcarrying member of the party.

He pointed out that, “The party flag of ACN was given to two persons in the state and that was my person and Chief Ovie

Omo-Agege, former governorship aspirant of the party, and as l talk with you, nothing has changed my view about the party and l am still confident that come 2015, ACN will win the state at all levels, but I am calling on all those planted to destabilise the party that they will soon be flushed out. They are in the party to destabilise the ACN.” Anior had called on the leadership of the party to set up a disciplinary committee to investigate the anti-party activities of some members.

Niger Delta youths kick against N5000 notes HE Amagamation of Niger Delta Youth for Peace Initiative expressed disappointment at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s initiative to introduce N5000 notes.

The National Vice President of the association, Engr. Ogbu Rapheal, disclosed this during a press briefing on the change of date in respect of the annual achievement award 2012 earlier scheduled to hold on 30th Au-

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gust but shifted to 26th September 2012 in Transcorp Hilton Abuja.

He said, “Other countries are reducing their currency power to boost economy, the CBN Governor is busy creating N5000 notes. The N40billion he wants to sink into the making of these currencies should be channeled into agriculture and other sectors of the economy.

yer said.

He noted further that “our traditional institutions, universities and national honours committee should equally discontinue a trend of awarding questionable honours to corrupt leaders.”

According to him, such institutions themselves will equally have to be exposed and shamed.

Falana said: “Recall that Ekiti State University (EKSU), early in the year honoured three distinguished sons of Africa: then Vice President but now President of Ghana, John Dramani Bahama; Emeritus professor of history, Prof. Tekena Tamuno; and UNIDO’s Director-General, Dr. Kandey K. Yumkella. “Who would question the awards to these most distinguished and eminent sons of the continent,” he asked.

Meanwhile, in his comments, Chief Deji Fasuan, retired permanent secretary and redoubtable social critic, said: “Corruption is so frustrating and pervading. Nigeria is the 2nd most corrupt country in the world. No aspect of our national life is spared.”

Eschew violence, Edo journalists advised From, Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

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HE Elders Advisory Council of Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ), Edo State, has called on warring members to eschew violence over the aborted election into the state council.

In a statement signed by the chairman of the council, Comrade J. O. Obadigie, the elders urged journalists in the state to realize that the union is more important than any individual or post, adding that while election and position are for a certain time, the union remains permanent.

He further stated that, members have observed with dismay the wrangling over certificates or qualifications into the council which have taken a violent dimension.

He also advised members to realise that their role as the fourth estate of the realm was to educate and entertain the public in a proper way in order to make progress in the community and nation!

Lagos lawmakers hail Nnaji over resignation

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AWMAKERS at the Lagos State House of Assembly have hailed the resignation of former Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, saying it was the proper thing for him to do to protect his integrity.

Deputy Chief Whip, Hon. Rotimi Abiru, Hon. Hodewu Avoseh Suru from Badagry 2 constituency and Hon. Olumuyiwa Jimoh from Apapa 2 constituency reacted to the issue on Friday in a chat with journalists at the Assembly complex, saying that the resignation is a lesson to all.

The lawmakers said Nnaji is a man of honour, who had to do what he did, adding that it was very rare for public officers to resign from positions of authority in Nigeria While praising Nnaji for improving the power situation in the country, Abiru said he must have a good reason for resigning and he also does not believe that Nnaji may have been frustrated by the powers that be to resign. Abiru, however, prays that President Jonathan will find somebody as competent as Nnaji to continue what he was doing to better the power situation in the country.

Avoseh said, “His resignation might not be unconnected with the privatisation process in the country and the allegation that two companies belonging to him are interested in the contract. If he had done it to protect his integrity, he has done the right thing; “adding that what he did was the best thing to do even if his resignation was linked to corruption.

Avoseh stressed further that Nnaji cut the picture of somebody that could bail the country out of the epilepsy in the power sector, and that it was shocking to hear that Nnaji resigned because he was taking

By Oziegbe Okoeki

us out of the wood in the power sector.

Jimoh said that the professor has done the right thing since he was alleged that he overtly or covertly had interest in two of the companies that bidded for the contract in the privatisation process.

“It takes a man of courage to do what he did. As a professor, I think the man has integrity, that is why he resigned from an appointive position.

After governance, the man can go back to his job as a lecturer,” he stated.

UniCem to expand production capacity

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HE United Cement Company of Nigeria (UniCem) in Cross River State is set to expand its current production capacity in 2013.

Director Corporate Affairs of the company, Mr Ayi Ita Ayi, who made this known to The Nation in Calabar, said the decision to launch a project to increase the production capacity was taken at the company’s July 2012 board meeting, where the UniCem Board of Directors analysed feedback from preliminary studies.

He said as the third largest cement manufacturer in Nigeria, UniCem currently operates a state-of-the-art 2.5 million ton per annum cement manufacturing facility at its Mfamosing site.

The proposed expan-

NEWS REVIEW

9

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

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ESPITE the efforts of Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, and the security agencies in the state to stem crime in the "light of the nation� state, kidnapping is yet to abate.

Before now, Obi had parted with over 200 security vehicles and other gadgets to the security operatives in the state to rid Anambra of these hoodlums.

In spite of all these efforts, kidnapping seems to be rising each day in the state without any answer to the puzzle and it has actually become the crime of the moment.

A kidnapper, according to section 365 of the criminal code, Cap 77 Law of the Federation of Nigeria 1990, is "any person who unlawfully confines or detains another in any place against his will, or otherwise unlawfully deprives another of his personal liberty".

The Anambra State criminal code Cap 36 Vol. 1 Revised Laws of Anambra State 1991, section 315 (a) (b) recognises the crime of kidnapping and provides for its penalty.

A majority of the citizens of Anambra State are of the view that kidnapping cases began as a result of undue militarisation of the state over a period of 20 years.

This, according to them, provided the impetus for the poor, the impoverished, the jobless, school drop outs, and even undergraduates and graduates to swell the ranks of kidnappers and, indeed, undesirable societal elements.

Other factors are the devastating effects of the Nigerian Civil War, the operations of quasi military outfits like Onitsha Traders Association (OTA) and Anambra Vigilance Service (AVS), the use of thugs by political parties since the emergence of politics, and cultist groups, among others.

Despite the arrests and, perhaps, jungle justice being meted out to some of the kidnappers, a kidnapping resurgence has appeared in the state in the past one year.

Few years back, the traditional ruler of Abagana in Njikoka Local government Area, Igwe Patrick Mbamalu Okeke, was kidnapped and thrown into the trunk of a car by a five-man gang in his compound.

Also, a former member representing Anaocha I Constituency in the State House of Assembly, Hon Joseph Dimobi, was equally abducted by unknown gun men, when he was preparing for the burial of his late father in Aguluzigbo at 10.30pm and a ransom of N30 million was demanded.

Another high profiled kidnapping in the state some years back was when the vice president of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the South East, Chief Godwin Ibekwe, was abducted in his country home in Ogbunike, in Oyi Local Council Area.

The list is endless, but some cases that shook the entire state were those of the traditional rulers of Adazi Nnukwu, Igwe Lawrence Oragwu, and his counterpart from Ihembosi in Ekwusigo Council Area, Igwe Jerome Okoli.

For over a year, nobody has seen or heard from them.

Their communities had before now organised prayer sessions in their domains, among other things, all to no avail. The security agencies had equally, without success, done everything within their power.

Again, just few weeks back, precisely on July 29th, the younger brother of an oil magnate, Prince Arthur Eze, was kidnapped at Ukpo in Dunukofia Local Council Area.

The victim, Igwe (Dr) Robert Eze, is the traditional ruler of the

•Obi

Kidnapping: King of crimes in Anambra Kidnapping has been turned into a nefarious industry in the South East. NWANOSIKE ONU writes on how Anambra State government is moving to fight the menace. community. The incident happened at his palace immediately he came back from church service at Saint Mary's Anglican Church, Ukpo.

His abductors demanded a whooping sum of N100 million, and insisted that it must be paid in American dollars.

But, after staying eight days in the lion's den, the monarch was eventually released on the 9th of August, 2012 at 12.15am.

Before then, the chairman of G.U.O group of companies, Chief Godwin Okeke, had been kidnapped also. He vowed to apprehend those behind it, which he did.

When the alleged suspects were apprehended and detained, it was alleged that a certain former commissioner in the state effected their release, which has made the matter today a subject of litigation.

Apart from all these, there had been many other kidnapping cases in the state, including the abduction of a former

commissioner for women affairs in the state, Dr. Mrs. Ego Cordelia Uzoezie, and her son.

According to a report by Campaign for Democracy (CD) which carried out a research on kidnapping cases in the South East geo-political zone recently, Anambra State alone has more than 230 kidnap cases in three years.

Following the many cases of kidnapping in the state, a former Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the state, Chris Ezike, said many factors are responsible for the increase in the incidence of kidnapping.

These, according to Ezike, who is currently the Deputy Commissioner of Police, are poverty, unemployment and idleness, corruption, unstable homes and apathy on the part of parents in being painstaking in the affairs of their children.

Other factors listed by Ezike are, proliferation of arms in the society, cultism in Nigeria universities and

modern technology, among others.

However, the state Police Command is not resting on its oars in combating the menace, following an upsurge. The state Police Command recently apprehended 13 alleged kidnappers, whose cases are being handled by men of the State Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), led by James Nwafor. The suspects confessed their nefarious activities and why they joined different kidnapping groups to The Nation on Sunday.

One of them from Abatete in Idemili North Council Area, Omaliko Ugochukwu, said that his motive was to take care of his numerous relations and girl friends.

The kidnappers got their guns from a man identified as Onyema Odoh who had also been arrested. Onyema, a native of Nsukka in Enugu State, resided in Benin Republic, where he was selling motor parts.

The Anambra State police public relations officer, Rapheal Uzoigwe, told

The Nation on Sunday that the war with the kidnappers has just started.

He said, "We cannot fold our hands and allow these hoodlums to take over this state, which at a point became the safest state in the country."

The state police commissioner, Bala Nasarawa, told The Nation on Sunday that since the bird had learnt how to perch, the hunter too has learnt how to shoot.

On its side, the Anambra State government is not resting either. The state governor said since the kidnappers want to make his government restless, those caught will face the music.

Obi recently identified some areas as the hide outs of the kidnappers, which include Arthur Gardens Hotels in Nkpor in Idemili North Local Government Area, Uruoji and Obeagu, both in Agukwu Nri in Anaocha Council Area and had sealed them off.

Obi said that reports confirmed that the hotel and the two buildings in Agukwu Nri were linked to heinous crime of kidnappings in the state.

He announced that the buildings including the hotel will remain sealed off in line with the policy of the state on kidnapping.

Obi further said that the state government would now determine the owners of the buildings, their sources of livelihood and degree of involvement in crime.

Furthermore, he made it clear that at the end of investigation, government would either demolish them or put them to government use, if found guilty.

The governor, therefore, enjoined property owners to take full ownership of their buildings and remain security conscious to ensure that their facilities are not compromised.

Just last Sunday again, the proprietress of Promise International School, Fegge in the commercial city of Onitsha, Mrs. Ngozi Udeh, was kidnapped at number 8 Akokwa street.

According to eye witnesses, the woman was kidnapped at a prayer session, in a commando action and whisked away in a Mercedes Benz wagon car by a four-man gang.

Though the police and the family of the victim are claiming ignorance of amount being demanded as ransom, The Nation on Sunday gathered that her abductors have demanded for N50million.

The kidnapped 46-year-old lady is the wife of the former President of Electronic Dealers Association Onitsha (EDAO), Chief Joseph Udeh.

Her kidnapping may not be unconnected with the crisis in the Electronics Market in Onitsha where the husband held sway, which trumped up another opposition group.

Following the renewed kidnappings in Anambra State, some residents, especially of the commercial city of Onitsha, are now relocating to neighbouring Delta State.

Some of them, who spoke on under anonymity, said it is better to live in a high profile area with their lives intact than live in Onitsha with their hearts in their mouths.

According to a 57-year-old business man, "my brother, we are targets of these people, if I continue staying in Anambra State with my family, who knows the next target. I know Delta is not 100 percent safe but right now, it is far better than our own Anambra."

Penultimate week, the vigilance group in the area arrested two alleged kidnappers and rescued two of their victims who were handed over to the police.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

News Review

A controversial note and e I'll surprise critics, says Jonathan

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan vowed on Monday to surprise his critics with massive achievements by the time he leaves office. The President, speaking at the opening of the 52nd Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, said though he is the most vilified leader in the world, he would leave office as the most celebrated. He said he remains focused and committed to the Transformation Agenda of his administration regardless of the criticism, and sometimes, personal abuses.

NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL Dancers take part in the Notting Hill Carnival, the London’s annual celebration of Caribbean culture last week.

Buhari, IBB in war of words over decay in oil sector

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war of words erupted on Monday between former military rulers - Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida - after Buhari accused his immediate successor, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, and President Jonathan of destroying the nation's oil industry. General Buhari, presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in last year's election, told his supporters in Kaduna that the high level of corruption and the destruction of the petroleum industry began during the Babangida administration and continued under Obasanjo and Jonathan.

Babangida, in a swift reaction through his media aide, Prince Kassim Afegbua, deplored Buhari's 'holier-than-thou attitude'. He threatened to expose Buhari's 'record of performance' as minister of petroleum and Chairman, Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).

$400b oil money mismanaged by govt., says Ezekwesili

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BOUT $400billion accruing to the country from oil sales since 1960 is believed to have been mismanaged or stolen, former World Bank vice president for Africa, Dr.Oby Ezekwesili, said on Tuesday. Speaking on "Corruption, National Development, The Bar and The Judiciary' at the 52nd Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, Dr. Ezekwesili lamented that over 80 per cent of the nation's oil money ends up in the hands of only one per cent of the population. Results, she said, revealed that 'as much as 20 per cent of the entire capital expenditure will end up in private pockets annually.'

Cynthia: Four suspects remanded in prison

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OUR men who were arraigned at a Yaba Magistrate Court, Lagos on Monday for the murder of Cynthia Osokogu Udoka, were ordered to be remanded in prison custody. Remanded are: Okwumo Echezona Nwabufo (33), Ejike Ilechukwu Olisaeloka (23), Orji Osita (32) and Maduakor Chukwunonso (25).They were slammed with an eight-count charge by the police. No plea was taken, but Magistrate P.A.Adekomaiya adjourned the matter till October 3 for mention.

Stop N5000 banknote, Senate tells CBN

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HE Senate on Monday waded into the controversy surrounding the planned introduction of N5,000 banknote by the Central Bank and asked for a stay of action. In handing down the order, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Currency and other Financial Institutions, Mr. Bassey Out, said the CBN's action is not good for the economy.

CONFUSION Bomb and hijack scares shut Amsterdam airport

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HE runways at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport were closed and reopened, after reports of a hijacking proved untrue, shortly after a World War II bomb on site was removed.

Two fighter planes were sent to intercept a Vueling passenger plane with about 180 passengers on board after the plane, which had flown from Malaga in Spain, lost radio contact with air traffic control, prompting fears it had been hijacked.

It landed safely at Schiphol on Wednesday where it was surrounded by security forces on the tarmac until the military police established that the aircraft had not been hijacked.

A few hours earlier, authorities had closed parts of the airport after an unexploded German bomb was discovered buried underground near Terminal C, which handles flights to most major European destinations.

A handful of European flights were cancelled, while several dozen were delayed.

The 500kg explosive, uncovered during construction work, was later removed so it could be disarmed safely, a spokeswoman for the airport said.

Power Minister Nnaji forced out

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HE tenure of Professor Barth Nnaji as minister of Power came to an abrupt end on Tuesday after President Goodluck Jonathan asked him to resign over alleged conflict of interest. A company in which the former minister has interest, Geometric Power, was said to have put in a bid for the privatisation of Afam Generation Company Limited and Enugu Distribution Company Limited. The conflict of interest was seen by the Presidency as a breach of the Performance Contract Agreement which the ministers signed recently and the Oath of Office which they swore to at inauguration.

CHOLERA

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LHAJI Mahey Rasheed has been named as the chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NISA) which was constituted on Tuesday. Rasheed is a member of the board of First Bank. Others on the NISA board are: Mr.Arnold Ekpe, Mr.Jide Zeitlien, Mrs Bili Awosika, Bisi Soyebo (SAN), Alhaji Hassan Usman and Mrs Stella Ojekwe-Onyejeli who

RIOTING

Cholera outbreak worsens Fear simmers in Mombasa after assassination in Sierra Leone T least 217

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people have died in the worst cholera outbreak to have hit Sierra Leone, according to humanitarian officials.

Oxfam, British-based charity organisation, said on Thursday that the disease had reached almost double emergency thresholds with over 12,000 reported cases.

It said the number of people affected is "likely to increase significantly in the next month".

Increasing overcrowding and early rains in cities such as capital city, Freetown, have pushed the number of reported cases spiraling from the previous record of 10,000 in 1994.

Aid groups say there has been a spike in reported cholera cases since mid-July and the onset of the rainy season.

Some 82 deaths have been reported in neighbouring Guinea, while other cases have been seen in Mali and Niger.

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AYS of rioting in Kenya followed the killing of controversial preacher, as local residents complain of police abuses.

A gang of Muslim youth brainwashed by a firebrand preacher, and enraged by his murder took to the streets in an apparently senseless outburst of vandalism and looting.

The rioting erupted quickly on Monday, as news of the death of the controversial cleric Aboud R o g o Mohammed spread through Kenya's main port city.

Earlier in the week rioters stoned cars, set up barricades of burning tyres, and attacked churches.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

News Review

ex-leaders at war $1.49b Lagos-Ibadan rail project takes off

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HINA Civil Engineering C o n s t r u c t i o n Corporation (CCECC) Nigeria Limited is to handle the $1.49billion Lagos-Ibadan standard rail project after the Federal Government and the company signed a contract to that effect.

The Standard Gauge rail

Double Track on double formation will cover 156.65 kilometres, totalling 313.30kilometres double track, and is expected to be completed in 36 months. It will be partly financed by the Chinese Government through a concessionary loan from the China EXIM Bank.

Fed up with rodent infestation, New York man hangs 'Rat Crossing' signs

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T'S a common sight in New York: rats scurrying across subway tracks, onto dimly-lit streets, and into sewers. And while New Yorkers aren't happy about sharing their city with rodents, it's something that, with experience, they learn to shrug off.

One Manhattan resident, however, is fed up with it.

Joseph Bolanos, president of the West 76th Street Block Association, decided to call attention to the problem by installing eye-catching signs on Wednesday: fake traffic-crossing signs just for the rats.

The diamond-shaped plastic signs prominently feature the words "RAT XING" with a big black rat at the centre. Bolanos reportedly hung the signs with double-sided tape

throughout his Upper West Side neighbourhood.

The move may be a bit flippant, but Bolanos said he thinks the signs could bring attention to the issue plaguing his streets.

"Now it's getting to the point where people walk at night, and you'll hear screams and shrieks because they get startled by the amounts of rats that are running across the street," Bolanos said.

The rat problem, residents said, stems from a construction site where workers have reportedly been leaving trash from their lunch out, underneath a tarp overnight, NBCNewYork.com reported.

"You're putting a buffet out for them for 12 hours," Bolanos said.

Ohio man puts up 'Please Hire My Wife' billboard

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FG constitutes SWF board doubles as Chief Risk Officer.

Mr.Uche Orji, a former JPMorgan head, was named managing director of the organisation which is taking off with a $1billion capital.

OLLY Stuard's husband just put her resume in front of thousands of fresh faces. The Ohio man rented billboard space reading "Please Hire My Wife" to help the former Toledo University employee get back to work.

"Over the last five or six months, she's had a few opportunities come along that we thought looked really positive and unfortunately they just didn't work out," Brandon Stuard told local Fox affiliate Toledo News Now. "I felt a sense of, she was getting a little frustrated, but not losing hope. But I wanted to do something, maybe help lift her spirits if nothing else."

Stuard says the billboard space has cost him $700 but that he and his wife will consider it a bargain if he helps her restart her career.

The sign highlights some of

RESCUE Australia ends hunt for asylum seekers USTRALIAN officials have given up hope of finding survivors after nearly 100 asylum seekers vanished in choppy seas off Indonesia when their overcrowded vessel sank en route to Australia.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said on Friday it was pulling out of the rescue operation after determining there was no "realistic prospect of survivability" for 44 people.

By Friday afternoon, 55 survivors had been pulled from the water and one body had been recovered, Australian and Indonesian officials said.

Six were in critical condition, Sunarbowo

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THE WEEK IN QUOTES "I will continue to watch events from a distance. I don't want to dabble in what is happening because I want to live long. " —Mr.Dimeji Bankole, former House of Reps Speaker, on his silence since leaving office in 2011.

"I had to voluntarily resign the office of minister to retain my integrity which has, in recent days, come under scurrilous attacks by powerful, vested interests that were hell-bent on besmirching the integrity and reputation that I have painstakingly built over the years."

—Professor Barth Nnaji on why he resigned as Minister of Power.

"It is not easy; we don't have the magic wand, except the miracle worker that with the wave of the hand, probably will help to throw all these challenges away and prosperity will appear. But in pure governance issues, it takes time."

—President Goodluck Jonathan on criticism of non-performance against him.

"What Nigerians expect from their leader are uplifting words, words of inspiration that can bring out the hidden potentials of its citizens, words that'll galvanise Nigerians to positive action and imbue them with self-esteem and not the kind of lamentations of President Jonathan that has served only to confirm that the ship of state has no helmsman and everyone is at peril" —Alhaji Lai Mohammed, ACN National Publicity Secretary, reacting to President Jonathan's statement above.

Nnaji

Bankole

BOYCOTT

Archbishop Tutu refuses platform with Blair

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Sandi, an Indonesian search and rescue official, said.

The asylum seekers were travelling on a wooden fishing boat that sank off the main Indonesian island of Java two days ago.

Stuard's qualifications, including an MBA and experience in both business and academic sectors. She said she would like to work in development with a company, focusing on maximizing productivity and growth in human capital. The billboard also offers a contact email for potential employers to contact Stuard directly: hiremywife@yahoo.com.

Stuard admits he purchased the billboard without first telling his wife, but so far she has appreciated the gesture.

"I think I definitely would have said no," Holly Stuard told the station.

"I would have thought it would have been too embarrassing to have my face up on a billboard but, now I'm having fun with it and hopefully a good opportunity will come out of it."

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RCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu has said he will boycott an event in protest at sharing a stage with Tony Blair, former British prime minister, over his "morally indefensible" support of the US-led Iraq invasion.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate decided to withdraw as a speaker on Tuesday at a one-day leadership summit in Johannesburg on Thursday after "wrestling with his conscience and taking counsel", his office told organisers.

"Ultimately, the archbishop is of the view that Mr Blair's decision to support the United States' military invasion of Iraq, on the basis of unproven allegations of the existence in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, was morally indefensible," Tutu's office wrote to organisers.

Blair's office said he was "sorry" the Archbishop had decided to pull out.

Lai Mohammed

EXECUTION

Rights group criticises Gambia executions

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AMBIA has executed nine death row prisoners, after President Yahya Jammeh vowed to carry out all death sentences by midSeptember, rights group Amnesty International says. " A m n e s t y International has received credible reports that nine persons were executed on Thursday night in Gambia and that more persons are under threat of imminent executions on Friday and in the coming days," the rights body said in a statement .

A Gambian security source told the AFP news agency that all 47 death row prisoners had on Thursday night been "transferred to one place" but he and other sources could not confirm the executions.

"The man is determined to execute the prisoners and he will do so," the security source told AFP, referring to President Jammeh.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

News Review

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Conflicting reports on Edo jail break During the week, it was reported that some prisoners attempted to break jail in Oko, Edo State. A few days later the comptroller general of prisons said it was untrue. Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia probes into what exactly happened.

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HE 608-bed Medium Security Prison Complex, Oko, Benin City, was constructed between 1982 and 1983. It was commissioned by the then Col. John Shagaya, who was Minister of Internal Affairs on March 2nd, 1983.

Since then the prison had played host to many criminals, including kidnappers, armed robbers and others. It came into national limelight again on Sunday, 19 August when residents around Oko community were woken up by heavy shooting and explosions.

This was as early as 1.03am forcing many families to abandon their homes.

According to Comptroller General, Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), Mr. Ibrahim Zakari, a group of heavily armed gunmen had invaded the prison ostensibly to set free some highprofile criminals and other awaiting trial inmates.

He added that they blasted through prison walls and the back perimeter fence in quick succession to set free about 12 inmates. However, four escapees were later re-arrested, while eight others are still on the run.

Later, the Edo State Police Commissioner, Olayinka Balogun, debunked the jailbreak report, describing the incident as misleading and untrue.

The commissioner who said he personally went to the prison premises at the break of the news said there were neither bomb explosions nor invasion of the prison by external forces He noted that the inmates only succeeded in drilling three holes through the prison wall, adding that the only two persons who were making attempt to escape were re-arrested.

One jail, many stories But in what appears to be a conflicting position, the State Comptroller of Prisons Service, Mr Jimoh Ewulo, disclosed that twelve inmates made attempt to escape while four were rearrested when unknown gun

•Edo jai lbreak

men invaded the prison On Wednesday officials of the Nigeria Prisons Services (NPS) continued their in-depth investigations into the remote cause of the prison break.

There have been conflicting reports on the number of escapees as a result of the jail break. The figure by the Edo State Prisons Comptroller, Mr. Jimoh Ewelu and that of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olayinka Balogun don't tally.

The media have been reporting what now seems to be conflicting reports based on

briefings by both the prisons and police authorities in the state.

Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) Nuhu Zuru, Director in charge of Operations stated that he was in the state to ascertain what actually happened in their facility.

Not wanting to be drawn into what now appears to be disparity in information that has been made public about the attack on the prisons he said, "Until I am done with the tour of facilities, I may not be able to speak to you.

The Minister was here, the CG was here and I am here to make

NEWS

Obi seeks Igbo Unity

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NAMBRA state Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, has called for

unity among Igbos to get their dues in the nation.

He spoke yesterday in Orlando, Florida during the 18th Annual Convention of Igbos in the USA organised by World Igbo Congress.

Obi described a situation where Igbos are internally fragmented as dangerous, insisting that Igbos must first of all see their own people as brothers and sisters and avoid pulling people down because of selfish interests that failed to materialise.

Obi called on Igbo people in the USA to emulate Indians that contributed to the growth of India through investing materials and/or ideas in their home country.

According to him: "I am here today, some people will come to me to tell me the prospect of buying beautiful houses in Orlando rather than tell me the ideas they have on how Igbo land would develop for

the good of our people".

Obi, who traced the problem in Igboland to misplacement of values, called for return to core values of

excellence and dignity of labour.

The Governor expressed happiness that the World Igbo Congress has re-united again after many years of disunity and called on Igbos in other parts to unite as a prelude for meaningful development and impact.

•Obi with the President General of Ohaneze, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue, at the event

on the spot assessment of the situation and to make further investigation in order to unravel whatever actually happened."

He added, "We are still on the investigations and as a matter of fact, I had to cut short my meetings because you are here and the respect I have for the press, one has to be empirically sure before you make a categorical statement on any issue. I am here in order to ascertain issues and what happened and it is when I am through that I will now sit down and analyse and that will now

put me in a better position to address the issue," he added The federal government is probing the circumstances surrounding the attack. This is even as threat of possible sack hangs, like a sword of Damocles, on officials found culpable in the jailbreak.

Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, after paying an assessment visit to the prison last week, chided the state Comptroller and officers, for allowing hoodlums to invade the prisons without putting up a counter-attack.

He accused the Comptroller of negligence and breach of public trust, he was, however, silent on the nature of punishment to be meted out to the officials.

He promised that there would be no cover -ups. "Nobody wants to die and I do not want you to die, but I think you should be patriotic enough to die if your death will save this country because, in any case, if this country is not there and you are alive, then your life has no meaning.

"On each of the occasions that I have visited our formations, it has been very unpalatable stories ranging from the decayed infrastructure to very poor conditions of our prisons, some of which, I must confess, is a result of some level of negligence and ineptitude on the part of the leadership of the prisons."

The minister expressed regret that incidences of jail breaks have rattled prison officials in Edo State and even at the national level, and said: "What happened in Oko Prison on Sunday has challenged all of us and by now I think we should know whether we are capable of securing our prisons or not."

On his part, the prisons boss in a statement by a deputy Comptroller and public relations officer, Mr. Kayode Odeyemi, said the unfortunate incident, which posed so much threat to national security, was being investigated.

Bayelsa gets new cabs, phases out Okadas TRANSPORT scheme commenced in Yenogoa, the capital of Bayelsa state, over the weekend with the launch of 200 taxi cabs, including triwheels code-named restoration cabs.

The launch of the cabs formally ended the use of commercial motorcycles within the capital.

Governor Seriake Dickson said the cabs were procured for the initial take- off of the scheme.

Commuters were seen yesterday afternoon eagerly waiting to board the new cabs.

Many of them praised the initiative, describing it as a major feat. Dickson said: "it was imperative to provide world class transport system alongside the proposed deep sea ports and airports".

Describing the new transport system as a pilot scheme, he disclosed that government spent over N600 million to procure the cabs, including insurance.

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He warned beneficiaries not to convert the vehicles for private use.

Dickson announced that buses would soon be procured to add to the fleet of the scheme.

He appealed to commuters to exercise patience considering the fact that they may experience some inconvenience as the new transport system comes on board.

Commissioner for Transport, Mrs. Marie Ebikake, explained that government has procured 100 triwheel vehicles and 200 airconditioned vehicles for the first phase of the scheme.

She noted that the cabs have been allocated to well- train drivers in line with the guidelines of the ministry whose identities were guaranteed by credible politicians, civil servants and traditional rulers.

She said government was negotiating with reputable companies for the purchase of buses to further ease road transportation in the state.

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COMMENT and ANALYSIS THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Festus Eriye efestus2003@yahoo.com 08052135878 (SMS only)

What do legislators earn?

The lamentations of Goodluck Jonathan T

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OR anyone who is discerning there is a clear mood shift in the Presidency.

A hitherto laidback president who had previously forsworn the aggressive ways of Pharaohs and generals, has apparently become fed up with being the butt of unrelenting criticism and ridicule.

He has come to the conclusion that the only way to fight fire is the incendiary route.

His rage - undisguised and undiluted – is evident in some of his recent public utterances. On the day he told a gathering of lawyers in Abuja that he had become “the world’s most criticised president” he declared, in a tone that told his critics to go to hell: “Sometimes, I ask, were there roads in this country and Jonathan brought flood to destroy the roads? Was there power and Jonathan brought hurricane to wipe it out?

If Boko Haram is that of poverty in the North, were there farms and Jonathan brought tsunami and drought to destroy them?

Within two years – is that possible? What I can tell Nigerians is, ‘let those talking keep talking, time will tell.’”

A few days earlier, it was the turn of the media to get a tongue-lashing from our newly-minted swashbuckling president.

At the event where he signed the so-called Performance Contract Agreement with ministers, he denounced the press as not only politicised but unreliable.

He told his men: “You will not depend on what the newspapers will want to write because the media today is highly politicised. The media used to be the voice of the ordinary people but now, the media is the voice of those who own the media houses and those who own the media have private jets and those who have private jets are not ordinary people.”

If you want further proof of a tactical shift in the way the Jonathan presidency now wishes to engage with critical sections of the public like opposition political parties and the media, look no further than the appointment of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s erstwhile spokesman, Dr. Doyin Okupe, on a ‘Public Affairs’ brief.

Although, he tried to deny that he had been assigned the role of attack dog, he has since shown that even 60-year old canines can both bark and bite. Never mind that he may yet rue his decision to jump into the fray given that political adversaries have decided, regarding his messy contractual affairs in Benue and Imo, not to let sleeping dogs lie.

So where Jonathan’s spokesman, Reuben Abati, had tried to be reasonable and measured with the administration’s critics, Okupe has lunged in with all studs showing. He may have bruised one or two persons, but I suspect that after the initial glee what the presidency has achieved is a pyrrhic victory.

Today, Jonathan’s achievements are not any clearer, neither is he more loved.

Instead, the headlines are all about the mazy wheeling and dealing of the latest controversial executive appointee.

If Jonathan really wants to make a success of his tenure he needs to look

•Jonathan

inwards. Rather than feeling sorry for himself, and lashing out angrily at everyone in sight, he needs to analyse why the goodwill that blew away General Muhammadu Buhari’s strong challenge last April, has evaporated so swiftly.

If the president can honestly review the last two and a half years, he will admit that he was not always so reviled. So what went wrong?

It is convenient for him to speak so disparagingly of the media today. It was the same press, or sections of it, that fought his corner in the days of late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s sickness – when powerful interests were determined to frustrate his rise to the Acting Presidency.

It was this same “politicised” and “unreliable” media that defended his right to run for president, when a powerful tendency within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) insisted that he respect the party’s zoning agreement and sit out the 2011 contest.

Jonathan keeps going on about how Nigeria’s problems didn’t begin with him.

That is totally irrelevant. Even if all heads of state since Independence didn’t build a single road or bridge, Nigerians didn’t elect him to continue business as usual. His mandate, based on promises offered to the electorate, was to come and change things.

Nigerians didn’t elect Jonathan as a National Historian – regaling us with the failings of past leaders. He was elected to sort out the mess. If people are carping so loudly, it is because the smell of the stench has become overpowering under his watch.

As for the media, it is would be unwise to dismiss everything in the press as the partisan regurgitations of the billionaire, private-jet cruising owners. Even when it’s on ‘its worst behavior’, the press is still a mirror of discontent in the larger society.

“Nigerians didn’t elect Jonathan as a National Historian – regaling us with the failings of past leaders. He was elected to sort out the mess. If people are carping so loudly, it is because the smell of the stench has become overpowering under his watch”

What is roiling underneath soon than later will receive full vent on different platforms.

Savvy politicians will not shut their eyes and swear off the product because it makes for difficult reading.

Jonathan has invited his ministers to ignore whatever is written about them in the media because the press is “politicised.” How sad and naïve.

The truth is that all over the world the media is politicised. In saying this, our president has not made any great scientific discovery.

In the United States, the press is polarised between conservative cable networks like Fox News, right wing talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and others supporting the Republicans, and more liberal establishments like MSNBC backing President Barack Obama and the Democrats.

That has not stopped Obama from engaging the likes of Fox News.

In the United Kingdom, The Sun, Telegraph and Times have been unabashedly supportive of the Tories, while the likes of The Guardian have been proLabour. During the Tony Blair years, the hitherto conservative-leaning Sun backed him because of his centrist social and hawkish defence policies.

Here in Nigeria the press has been unapologetically political. In the First and Second Republics, the Tribune was identified with the political views of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his political family. To challenge their hegemony in the South-West the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola who was then in the defunct National Party of Nigeria (Nigeria), set up the National Concord as an effective counterpoise.

Nowhere has the so-called politicisation which Jonathan now moans about been worse than at federal level. Up till today, governments at the center have abused the facilities of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) for propaganda purposes. Indeed, it was such abuse that destroyed the credibility of mighty media properties like the Daily Times and New Nigerian. That’s why it’s a bit rich hearing the president’s criticisms: a clear case of the pot calling the kettle names.

If Jonathan does not like the way the media carries on, let him and his supporters set up their own newspapers, radios and television stations, to praise-sing him 24 hours every day, and see how far that gets him.

Truth be told; he has, as usual, made the wrong diagnosis about his problem, and drawn the wrong conclusions about who his friends and foes are.

If Jonathan’s rule has dramatically impacted the lives of Nigerians, the arrows of a thousand pen-pushers won’t matter. He is the one who ran for president; we didn’t.

Now, a people desperate for relief are demanding results. Let him respond to them in ways that are presidential, and not turn on the messengers in moments of unpresidential public tantrums.

From Obo Effanga

HE National Assembly is reportedly taking steps to reverse the recent order of the Federal High Court for it to disclose the earnings of its members.

The report says the National Assembly (NASS), acting through its Clerk (the highest ranking civil servant and administrator of the federal legislature), Mr. Salisu Maikasuwa, is by a motion on notice dated June 29, asking for stay of execution of the judgment on the grounds that he has filed a “valid notice of appeal” challenging it.

Recall that on June 25 2012, Justice Balkisu Aliyu had delivered judgment in a suit filed by a civil society organisation, Legal Defence and Assistant Project (LEDAP), ordering the Clerk of the National Assembly “to give detailed information of salary, emolument and allowances paid” to all the federal lawmakers from June 2007 to May 2011.

That judgment was well received and celebrated by citizens. Among other things, it would help put paid to controversies surrounding the actual, official and legitimate earnings of our legislators and thus help in our quest for accountability.

The salaries and allowances of these state officials after all are paid from the common wealth of Nigerians and we deserve to know what it costs us to maintain our public officers.

What is more, it is a practical application of the intendment of the Freedom of Information Act earlier passed by the same National Assembly, whom Mr. Maikasuwa is attempting to shield from scrutiny.

The questions to ask include: “whose interest is Mr Maikasuwa attempting to protect anyway?” What injury does he or the (former) members of the National Assembly stand to suffer if this information as to their salaries and allowances are made public?”

While we are aware that the law recognises the right of any party in a legal proceeding to appeal any decision, we are also aware that public officers, whose offices and activities are paid for by public resources should at all times act in the best interest of the public. Spending public resources in appealing this judgment and resisting the quest for the disclosure of public information cannot by any stretch of imagination be said to accord to that standard.

Our country cannot progress with the attitude of public officers as represented by the clerk of the National Assembly who continue to regard the salaries and emoluments of public officers as private and secret information.

One view reportedly canvassed by the NASS Clerk is that the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 and any other law did not have retrospective effect. This apparently suggests that because the Act was passed in 2011, it cannot be used as basis for demanding information that existed prior to that time.

That certainly cannot be a proper interpretation of the law. Section 1(1) of the Act refers to “information, whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the custody or possession of any public official, agency or institution...” Thus, we believe that information about the salaries, allowances and emoluments paid to members of the National Assembly of Nigeria from 1999 to date, being within the custody of the NASS Clerk, clearly full within the above provision.

Our position therefore is for the Clerk and indeed the leadership of the National Assembly to discontinue forthwith this appeal in the best interest of Nigeria and to speedily release the requested information as ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Obo Effanga Governance Manager ActionAid [Nigeria] Lekan Otufodunrin will be back next week

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Ogochukwu Ikeje ohgeeoh@gmail.com 08084235961 (SMS only)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Comment & Analysis

HERE is a cheery piece of news from Lagos State. The administration of Babatunde Fashola is stepping up its plan to clean up the mega-city, make it friendlier and more liveable and, in the process, create jobs for its teeming youth population.

It was just as well. When this uplifting development was reported recently, Lagos residents had not quite come to terms with a couple of unflattering issues affecting their city. One of those issues was the distressing ocean surge. The other was the report by The Economist Intelligence Unit which ranked Lagos as the third worst city to live. According to the report, the city posted a mere 39.0 per cent out of a possible 100 percentage points based on liveability factors.

The ocean surge swept off about 15 precious souls, leaving not just friends and family of the deceased in mourning, but also the entire state and its residents.

The Economist intelligence ranking left a good many yawning. Not because it was so wide off the mark but rather because the verdict of the assessors came when things were getting much better. All the things that exasperate the city residents have not disappeared, of course, but things are not as bad as they once were.

The assessors, I understand, looked, for instance, at healthcare indices, educational facilities, culture and environment.

They judged the city infrastructure. In culture and environment, they even looked at what we eat and drink and offer to visitors. They also rated the weather, determining that it was not cool enough for foreign, especially Western, visitors. Truth

Good tidings from Lagos It is cool to clean up the city and create jobs in the process be told, Lagosians and their administrators can do nothing about some of the issues the assessors raised. But, clearly, something is being done about the ones within human and administrative purview. There is more order in the city now. Certain parts of town are, for the right reasons, unrecognisably different.

For several reasons, the clean-up plan brought a balmy effect upon the city and its people. Driven by LAWMA, the state’s waste management authority, the project seeks to mop up the city waste, 10,000 tons of which generated daily by its over nine million residents. The greatness of the project does not lie merely in the fact that it is making Lagos healthier. Nor is it in the fact that so many women, several not indigenous, have been absorbed into the clean-up programme as drivers. The big thrill, for me, lies in the recycling aspect of it. Cleaning up a city is wonderful but what

you do with the waste picked up determines your creativity and effectiveness.

Recycling is a productive and sustainable way of keeping a city neat and growing it.

It bears quoting Mr Ola Oresanya, LAWMA Director-General.

“Sorting of waste makes available raw materials for production of new products, saves energy, conserves natural resources, reduces pollution and ultimately generates employment,” he said. ”Waste is not waste unless we waste it. Waste, if not properly managed, may outlive us as nylon takes up to one million years to decompose; aluminum cans and baby diapers take up to 500 years while batteries take up to 100 years and paper one to five months. But if these new materials are recovered, the quantity of energy to make new materials will be conserved.”

Yet, there is a greater impact of this

“The clean-up plan brought a balmy effect upon Lagos and its people. Driven by LAWMA, the state’s waste management authority, the project seeks to mop up the city waste, 10,000 tons of which generated daily by its over nine million residents. The greatness of the project does not lie merely in the fact that it is making Lagos healthier. Nor is it in the fact that so many women, several not indigenous, have been absorbed into the clean-up programme as drivers. The big thrill, for me, lies in recycling the waste”

project: job creation. Lagos teems with unemployed youths, many of who not only unhelpful to themselves but actually a source of threat to other residents. I have had occasion to register my concerns in this space about the dangers of idle youths in a society. If there is no comprehensive effort to equip and inspire them through education and training, they sure will come back to haunt that society. I liken it to sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. Leaving youths to their devices leaves the society with a whirlwind on its hands.

Once on a Lagos road, one of these neglected youths unleashed his venom on hapless motorists. For no clear offence, he peeled off his clothing, revealing a pitiably shrunken manhood and threatening to reduce a commercial bus driver to rubble for daring to drive too close to the motorcycle on which he was riding. Needless to say the scene created a traffic snarl. No entreaties tempered him until I managed to move on. On another day and in another place, two unfriendly youths startled a car owner about to pull out of a public facility. Showing up at the driver’s window, one ordered the man to “find something for us”. The other youth replied at the passenger’s window: “Or I will put this thing for ya eye,” revealing a screwdriver.

The LAWMA waste collection and recycling plan is great because it mops up youth idleness by getting them to channel their energies into productive venture. Tasting the joys of positive labour, not to speak of its financial dividends, there is no doubt that many engaged youths will find little to love in crime. And in time, even The Economist Intelligence Unit will be impressed.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Comment & Analysis

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Ministers' performance bond The president's contract with his cabinet would have been comical if it was not serious

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan preceded the last Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting with a novel act of governance: the administering of Performance Contract bond on all ministers.

The President himself reportedly signed the performance document that he assured was an assessment bond aimed at providing the missing link between planning and budgetary allocation to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). We further gleaned from the President’s thought that this executive contractual document will provide a foundation for individual ministerial performance geared towards enhancing transparency and accountability in governance.

President Jonathan minced no words regarding his ‘self believed’ sincerity of purpose for coming up with the document, thinking Nigerians would agree that it was done in their interest. He allayed the fears of his cabinet members that the process was designed to be a spiteful instrument as he declared: “It is to remind all of us, from President to directors-general, to advisers and other aides that we are representatives of the Nigerian people, and we are accountable to them at all times. I had stated clearly during the inauguration of the Federal Executive Council that ministers are expected to be accountable, productive, and transparent and focused,” The Performance Contract System, an invention of the Ministry of National Planning, will, according to him, be reviewed every six months. However, although the document is still wrapped in secrecy, we watch to see how this will help in achieving the government’s mandate to the citizens as well as bring to fruition the President’s highly touted Transformation Agenda. Indeed, there is no sign as yet of transformation in the weather-beaten condition of Nigerians who are craving for a focused leadership.

In principle, the philosophy behind a performance contract bond is good. We still recollect that at the inception of this administration, the President referred to the idea but it subsequently fizzled out for lack of the will power to pursue it. It took about 18 months after his election, about halfway to the end of his term,

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UGUST 29, 2011 ended my joy for a season, replacing it with the pain of the murder of my brother Simon Oladayo Sunday, who was snatched away by the crisis sparked off by an age long fracas between two major opposing religious adherents in the “peaceful” city of Jos. His death left me religiously numb for a few months as I questioned the truths in the claims of my religious creed. This misfortune gave me the courage to begin a

before he flipped out the document of commitment.

Its revival at the FEC meeting seems more of an afterthought because it came at a time the Federal Government has been under severe public criticism, for not living up to the expectations of Nigerians. Any dispassionate mind, with even feeble acquaintance with the country, needs no special tutorial session to know that the government so far has shirked its responsibility of providing what is officially termed ‘service delivery’ to Nigerians.

The government, for want of something to engage a national discourse, came up with this idea to distract Nigerians from the more germane issues of insecurity and inept leadership style that suddenly have become the signpost of President Jonathan’s administration. For instance, the President sarcastically wants the public to believe that he too will be appraised under the performance agreement scheme, but we ask: by whom? It is true that as the person that appoints members of his cabinet, he wields the power to hire and fire, but that is not the case in his own situation.

The President is only accountable to Nigerians that TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye •Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile •Associate Editors Taiwo Ogundipe Sam Egburonu

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi

LETTERS

Don’t fight for God, He’s not weak search for what ‘the truth’ was and where it lies, this was done without fear or sentiment both of which I had lost.

The historical timeline presented on the pages of the Scriptures (Bible) contains clear information as it relates to God’s original idea for the creation of the entire human race. This idea

I found after researching was tragically opposed to the claims and practices we find today sadly in my own ‘faction’ of faith.

This idea is about God extending his rulership to the earthly domain with man (Male-man and Male-woman) acting as his co-regent. The

mandate given to man was to exercise Dominion (rulership, control, management and mastery) over “fishes, fowls, cattle, the earth (Natural resources) and over every creeping things on earth” (see Genesis 1:26). But with the schemes of Satan, man now controls, manipulates and even kills his own kind in a bid

Challenges before Kogi at 21 T

HE people of Kogi State would be remembering the state at 21 when since it was created. It has played its role in the comity of other component of the federation called Nigeria.

The state has passed through different turmoil since it was created by the regime of former military President Ibrahim Babangida. It looked promising at its initial creation due to abundant human and natural resources to make it one the best state in the country.

Many factors have contributed to the present state of under development that has come to be associated with it which needs to be addressed if the state is to move at par with some states that have progressed.

The people of the state should regard the state as an

have overwhelmingly condemned his lack of political sagacity in the running of the country’s affairs.

The truth that must be told the President is that most Nigerians are already expressing their lack of confidence in his ability and that of his administration, to steer the ship of state out of troubled waters.

Nigerians want to see and feel the presence of the Federal Government in terms of good governance.

That this is not happening has created a weary public that, were there to be a referendum today on whether or not the President should continue in office, the answer would have been an emphatic and an overwhelming No! The performance contract bond, coming at this point, is just an admission of guilt for not providing the expected dividends of democracy to Nigerians. So far, the administration has performed woefully.

We are waiting to see what comes out of this contractual rigmarole. President Jonathan should however not let it be the usual circus show. Real governance should not be treated as a joke or garbed in theatrical homily.

What the President ought to do now, apart from trying to be more assertive, is to come up with empirical things that could uplift the general welfare and security of the people which ab initio, should be his primary responsibility.

The idea of a contract should flow viscerally from a clear and decisive vison from the leader. Secondly, it should enjoy the force of personal leadership, the integrity of example.

The President has not articulated to either the Nigerian intelligentsia or the general public the pith, substance and method of his vision. It is therefore problematic for us to make any sense of what he would accept as pass mark.

On the part of the general public, what is good performance should be obvious when the standard of living improves among our citizens and the cost of living dips.

That is where the ordinary Nigerian will look at while the Jonathan administration conceals the documents from the public eye.

opportunity to ensure that generation unborn would be proud to be called sons and daughters of the state, by focusing on the need to forget any parochial interest and to place the interest of the state first.

Kogi State should be playing significant role in the

entire country today due to its uniqueness and other human resources. We must look back and ponder whether all the hype about the creation of the state had been justified.

The various problems confronting the state at present include corruption, greed, favoritism and lack of

commitment to move the state forward, thus it one the most backward in the country in term of infrastructural development.

It is imperative to make the state viable in term of dedication to duties, patriotism and giving the best to develop it. Kogi State is blessed with lots of mineral resources that could

to promote his private ambition and publish his religion as the true and only way to God! God saw this problem and sent Jesus to restore Man’s authority to dominate earth once again. Jesus came to restore and reclaim his Kingdom on earth but never came to establish a religious organization. His be harnessed to generate internal revenue for its development without waiting for the much talked about federation allocation which does not allow for development of its needs.

I hope as the state move into another year it could be ranked like states which have been sources of pride to their people.

Bala Nayashi Lokoja

major challenge was with the religious leaders as their lifestyles contradict their teachings.

On sighting my brother’s dead body whatr came to my mind on that day was that “this misunderstanding about God’s original plan for humanity must be corrected”. Once my assignment on earth is completed, I am sure to meet him again. His sons David (5), Samuel (4) and Justine (1+) were robbed of his love, care and discipline but I vow never to see them being robbed of the truth about Christianity, so they would not be tempted to fight for God, He is not that weak.

Remain with the King Simon Oladayo!!!

By Daniel Sunday Olushola Jos, Plateau State.

Why encourage plea bargaining in Nigeria?

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EPITE efforts by various existing bodies such as the EFCC and ICPC that were established to check pervasive corruption in our society, the recent pronouncement and support for ‘plea bargaining’ in our judiciary, as widely reported in some newspapers,- will no doubt make patriotic Nigerians both at

home and in the Diaspora lose sleep.

To a layman on the street, plea bargaining in the Nigerian context is a system in which room is provided to unfettered looting of public treasury at all levels of governance. This is done in such a way that billions of public money is stolen, and some paltry millions are

returned to the coffers of the government, while a large chunk of the looted public funds at the end of the day is left for the looter and his/ her unborn generations to savour.

There is no doubt, stealing of public funds will be on the increase with the acceptance of ‘plea bargaining’ in our judiciary

system. The excuse given by the former EFCC chairman, that she saw nothing wrong in application of plea bargaining by our law courts, on the ground that it is widely accepted in advanced countries like the US and Britain will make absolute nonsense of the fight against corruption in our country.

Agreed, our world is a

global village, but today, our nation is battling with pervasive greed, as exemplified by fixing of jumbo pay by lawmakers for themselves, coupled with many unresolved financial scams in the House of Representatives.

Odunayo Joseph, Mopa, Kogi State

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16

Ropo Sekoni ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

A

FOREMOST French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, once made a clear distinction between what he termed the Right and Left Hands of the State in his book Acts of Resistance against the New Myths of our Time. Today’s piece borrows partially its title from Bourdieu’s distinction between the use of ideas to establish and sustain a state and the employment of violence through the army, police, or militia to accomplish the same objective. The supra-partisan Yoruba Assembly at the Oyo State House of Assembly three days ago has come to draw special attention to a new approach to the spirit of self-determination in our polity.

At a time that violence at the hands of Boko Haram is defining the struggle for self-determination in parts of the North and in the process causing insecurity in the polity and society, the Yoruba at the instance of General Alani Akinrinade shows their determination to keep Nigeria intact and secure by formalising the struggle for cultural democracy and self-determination at an assembly of representatives of various political parties and delegates from various Yoruba sub-ethnic groups. The Yoruba Assembly promises to provide a new approach to the process of restoring regional autonomy that the three original re-

Femi Orebe femi.orebe @thenationonlineng.net 08056504626 (sms only)

‘I

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Comment & Analysis

F you see a man evocatively singing the songs of one Nigeria as it is presently constituted, effusive about its indivisibility, eloquently advocating a tortuous UNITY IN DIVERSITY, exuding unguarded PATRIOTISM about it, emotively feeding you on hope while you crave to extricate yourself from grinding poverty, agonising want, debilitating need, incapacitating insecurity and inability to SELF-DETERMINE your own destiny, movingly asking you to persevere in this unending miasma as he forcefully gives unfounded assurances about the future of Nigeria, check him out very well. He is either an active participant or a sentry of those angling to perpetually exploit, dominate and enslave other nationalities at all costs and by all means.’

The above views expressed by Remi Oyeyemi, a U.S-based, Yoruba patriot eloquently epitomise the feeling at the recent PAN-YORUBA CONFERENCE , as the convener, General Alani Akinrinade, a former Chief of Army Staff, reeled out in detail, how Nigeria’s shallow federalism has become a limiting factor to the economic, technological, cultural and overall development of the YORUBA NATION. Let us quote him at some length: ‘Despite its oil resources, Nigeria today remains one of the poorest countries in the world; it ranks almost highest in corruption, world-wide, being only a shade better than Bangladesh and Togo, has the least developed transportation system for any country of its size that possesses her quantum of natural resources.

Its railway system is anachronistic while its roads are abysmally decrepit. On account of its crippling lack of electricity/ power, factories have turned to worship places just as some multinational companies have had to migrate out of the country taking with them, thousands of jobs, Insecurity, he said, has nose-dived

Yoruba Assembly: The left hand of self-determination at work?

Delegates agree that the practice of identity politics in the country should no longer be seen as derogating from national unity gions of Nigeria had at independence and until the advent of military rule.

Of noticeable significance is the bi-partisan or supra-partisan character of the conference. Yoruba leaders put aside their party differences to agree to assemble in what used to be the Region’s House of Laws in Ibadan, to discuss the past, present, and future of the Yoruba region within one multi-ethnic Nigerian State. The unanimous view of the delegates is that the situation of the Yoruba region in the past is better than it has been since the imposition of a unitary constitution authored by military dictators in 1999.

Another remarkable feature of the Assembly is the profile of the convener. General Akinrinade is an unmistakable Nigerian hero. He had invested as much as any other patriot in the unity of Nigeria as one country, first by fighting gallantly during the civil war and later by serving as one of the leaders of the NADECO struggle for demilitarisation of the polity and restoration of democracy after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by MKO

Abiola. Delegates from opposing political parties did not fail to acknowledge the importance of Akinrinade’s commitment to Nigerian unity and multiethnic democracy as inspiration for them to attend the conference.

Nothing new was said at the conference. Several organisations and personalities at the Assembly had called at different forums in the past for a new Nigeria that is driven by democracy and federalism in all its ramifications; fiscal, political, and cultural. What is new about the deliberations at the conference is the agreement by leaders in opposing political parties to acknowledge the centrality of federalism to national development, particularly the role of cultural values in building and sustaining national development in a country with palpable diversity.

Another new feature in the call for re-structuring is the consensus to set up Southwest Constitutional Commission to develop a constitutional framework that reflects the diversity within the Yoruba or Southwest Region that includes Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, as well as Yoruba people in present Kogi, Kwara, and Delta

States. Delegates from the Yoruba part of Kwara and Kogi States and from Itshekiri land in Delta made their commitment to cultural democracy clear at the Assembly. The delegates agreed to respect intraregional diversity within the Southwest as much as inter-regional diversity within Nigeria.

Is the Yoruba Assembly interested in undoing the amalgamation of 1914? No, it only resolves to reinvent the united Nigeria created by Frederick Lugard in 1914. It resolves to move away from the demobilisation of the country by the 1999 Constitution that valorizes over concentration of powers and resources at the centre at the expense of the federating units. It wants a new fiscal system that recognises the principle of derivation, not only with respect to oil and gas producing states, but also to states that generate VAT or houses ports that generate revenue for the nation.

The Assembly also wants establishment of state police to sustain public order and enforce the laws passed by state assemblies.

In addition, the Assembly calls for a federation in which attention is given to language and culture as de-

The Yoruba resurgence No political leader of worth, if any at all, attended from the conservative wing of the region’s political spectrum even beyond the Biafran war years, especially since the emergence, and upsurge in the activities of Boko Haram, a rampaging urban terrorism group that has completely enveloped the NorthEastern part of the country, slaughtering or incinerating, by suicide bombing, countless hundreds of our compatriots. Most agonising, he said, is the paralysing kind of federalism imposed on the country by a military and ethnic fiat which, in turn, daily traumatises, impoverishes and completely degrades our people. The YORUBA NATION, he said, ‘can no longer look askance, as a skewed political structure and constitution, continue to rubbish our freedom to develop at our own pace.’

The conference, dubbed ‘Family Assembly’, he informed, was convened to enable the Yoruba Nation think together on how to ensure that ‘our children do not remain unfed, that our roads are safe for our people, that our streets are safe for citizens and residents and that the region does not continue to experience this developmental anomie.’

He, therefore, urged the Assembly to collectively interrogate the country’s political structure, and the extant constitution, and make recommendations as to how to facilitate the overall economic development of the country and the Southwest, in particular.

The PAN-YORUBA conference, which held at the historic Oyo State House of Assembly, Ibadan, on Thursday, 30 August, 2012, had in attendance the cream of the Yoruba Nation.

Although the Ashiwaju Yoruba, Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo, was unavoidably absent, the YORUBA COUNCIL OF ELDERS (YCE) was ably represented by its Deputy Leader, Chief Dejo Raimi, who took the conference down memory lane with his thoughtprovoking ex tempore address delivered with exhilarating wisecracks. Also present were two state governors:

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, governor of Osun State and the conference’s Chief Host, Governor Abiola Ajimobi whilst the other state governors were ably represented. Also in attendance were Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Segun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, all of them former governors; distinguished serving and former members of the National Assembly as well as those from the various states’ Houses of Assembly .

Impressive representations came from all the states of the geo-political zone with an equally outstanding turnout by our highly revered traditional rulers. The Itsekiris were represented by two long serving Yoruba patriots, Chief Isaac Jemide and the irrepressible, Chief (Mrs) Rita Lori.

Ably represented were our kith and kin from Kwara and Kogi – the OKUN PEOPLE – which was represented by its National President, Elder Ben Ayo Abereoran, who made a powerful plea, requesting the Yoruba people to give them all the needed support in bringing to fruition, its request to have a state created for that large swathe of our compatriots which will then function as a Southwest state. The Yoruba Self Determination Groups were there in full force and also delivered a paper.

Other groups that made presentations at the conference were Yoruba Groups in the U.K and the U.S and Ekitipanupo, an Ekiti intellectual roundtable whose recommendations, some of which were adopted by the Assembly, were very well interrogated, and articulated by its over 1000 members spread across the globe and operating via the Ekiti Panupo web portal.

Several individuals made rousing speeches touching on the challenges facing the Yoruba Nation in the unequal yoking that has become its lot in a structurally punishing Nigeria with the Centre holding the other parts in a suffocating embrace.

It is apposite to mention, for history, that though the conference was politically non-aligned, and its convener, General Alani Akinrinade, consulted widely across the board intimating political leaders and others of the apolitical nature of the conference, no political leader of worth, if any at all, attended from the conservative wing of the region’s political spectrum.

This, it must be said, did not detract from the huge success of the impressively attended conference. One feels certain that under the lead of the convener, the SOUTHWEST CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION (SCC), approved by the conference to drive the entire process and on which each state will be represented by 3 members, will continue to push ahead, to make these distinguished individuals, who love the YORUBA NATION no less, realise that it is only in unity that the Yoruba can attain its rightful place in the comity of nations –Agbajo owo la fi nso aya, as the general, indeed, had concluded his welcome address. The conference subsequently adopted the following resolutions as contained in its COMMUNIQUE: 1. The convocation of a Sovereign National Conference for the purpose of fundamentally restructuring the country.

2. The adoption of the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy.

3. Adoption of a single legislative list which will be the Exclusive Legislative List consisting only those functions ceded to the centre.

4. Adoption of a Regional and State Police structure.

5. The establishment of a Constitutional Court with jurisdiction over inter-governmental cases and petitions from elections to the National Assembly.

6. The removal of the immunity clause so that public officers will be

terminants of identity in a multiethnic state and in a shrinking global political and economic order. It asks for a Nigeria in which time-honoured Yoruba passion for religious and cultural tolerance is given prominence in organising and sustaining public order and enhancing intercultural understanding and national unity. Delegates across the ideological spectrum agree to persuade the federal government and other regions that the best way to keep Nigeria together is to allow the various nationalities to develop at the pace dictated by the core values of each region. Delegates agree that the practice of identity politics in the country should no longer be seen as derogating from national unity, as was the case during the era of military dictatorship.

On the contrary, the country’s multiple cultural systems need to be encouraged to serve as battery for development in a context of competitive federalism, such as Nigeria had until 1966.

Congratulations to General Akinrinade for the courage and wisdom to bring people of divergent political ideologies to think together on how to ensure that Yoruba civilisation, like that of the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, Kanuri, Ijaw, Edo, and others does not die and to show that ideas are more potent and less expensive than violence in the struggle for cultural democracy in our own dear native land. amenable to court processes on charges bordering on commission of crimes.

7. That an informal role for traditional rulers in the political structure be recognised.

8. The adoption of Open-Secret ballot system for voting at elections.

9. Total condemnation of Boko Haram’s violence and indiscriminate killing of people including Yoruba in the North.

10. The setting up, by Southwest states, of vigilante groups to protect them against a resurgence of crimes and violence arising from nomadic tendencies or motivated by faith, or otherwise and that the region’s various Houses of Assembly should pass appropriate laws in this regard.

11. It was agreed, and adopted that the Yoruba, as an ethnic group, should design and produce a common flag and anthem, both being of no prejudice to each state’s anthem and flag.

Finally, the conference adopted the new YORUBA AGENDA. The product of an all-embracing, ramifying PanYoruba effort which saw all segments of the Yoruba Nation involved in its making back then some ten years ago, the YORUBA AGENDA was put together to help the Yoruba arrive at decisions on what to do to enhance the unity and overall development of Nigeria in general, and Yoruba land, in particular.

The Yoruba people fully subscribe to certain universal values which influence and govern the behaviour of peoples throughout the modern world.

These are fundamental principles leading to peace, stability and progress of a people as in the recognition of the sovereign will of a people, equal political, economic and social opportunities for all; respect for human rights, equity, justice and fair play. It also contains recommendations for the establishment of true federalism as well as the structures that should be in place in a restructured Nigeria.

Without a doubt, this new Yoruba beginning - its resurgence -under the lead of an outstanding Yoruba son, who has over the years given of his best to the Yoruba Nation, an officer and a gentleman of impeccable character and integrity, stands a very good chance of succeeding where other efforts have failed abysmally, to cohere the Yoruba.

Comment & Analysis

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Tunji

Adegboyega tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

P

OWER Holding Company of Nigeria’s (PHCN) workers must have nearly danced themselves lame on Wednesday when the resignation of Prof Barth Nnaji, former Minister of Power, dominated newspapers’ headlines. And this should be expected, given that the former minister and the workers’ unions were at loggerheads for the better part of the minister’s tenure.

Some people have said that Prof Nnaji did nothing spectacular despite the phenomenal increase in the quantum of electricity supply in the country now put at more than 4,700 Mega Watts. I think this is unfair to the former minister. The fact is that this is the first time the country would get this far. The highest, if I am not mistaken, was about 3, 000MW attained in the Obasanjo era. Even then, electricity was never as stable as it has been this time around. What we were inundated with for the better part of the Obasanjo years were the megawatts generated and not necessarily a sustained improvement in electricity supply. But,as the generation capacity increased, we were also noticing some improvement in power supply, no matter how marginal. And the thing was sustained by and large until Nnaji’sexit.

The argument of many of those who did not believe we should shower Nnaji with encomiums is that almost everything had been provided before his assumption of office as minister. To a large extent, we can give that to them. The turbines had

Postscript, Unlimited!

By

Oyinkan Medubi 08187172799 (SMS only) puchuckles7@gmail.com

M

EDUBI, I doff my hat for your piece on PHCN and its occupying forces. For the three weeks they were on strike in July, we had 24/7 power supply in Ebute Metta. Then the day they called it off and resumed duty they switched us off at 7 pm until midnight, and this has continued since then with the switch-off time varying between 5pm and 7pm. Fishy and deplorable! Remember the Power Minister said it clearly a few weeks ago that PHCN staff are agents of fuel and generator importers. ... Now what I find very disturbing is the complicity of the private media. No meaningful campaign to support Minister Nnaji's efforts. As for the NLC Nigerians are waiting in battle array for their threatened action ... Lagos. 2348038592224 Medubi, thanks for (last week's) piece. All classes of Nigerians are today better off without NITEL. And certainly will be a lot better off without phcn. Note how I spelt their name in small letters. Pls hide my number.

We pay for metres, we repair our transformers, we pay them to work on it, all the periods without the supply, outrageous bills were

17

Nnaji, villain or saint?

With Nnaji out, what happens to the sacred cows in govt? been procured in the Obasanjo era, even the power reform (2005) as well as the roadmap had also been adumbrated. But the point this school of thought forgot is that no production process is complete until whatever is produced gets to the consumer. It is true the Obasanjo administration started the process of whatever we are witnessing today in the power sector; but it did not go far because Nigerians did not feel the impact of whatever the former president did, in spite of the billions of dollars that he sank into various power projects.

Obasanjo’s government brought in the turbines quite alright, but it did not remember to provide for gas that will power them. There were some other flaws that the government would have tackled to achieve result at that time but which it failed to address, and rather began to plot for a third term which is an aberration, at least as far as the 1999 Constitution that we are operating is concerned.

Chief Obasanjo wasted so much time and resources chasing this shadow to the country’s overall detriment.

Not much happened in the power sector in the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua years for obvious reasons, the late president was bogged down by a terminal illness that he spent the better part of his short-lived tenure treating.

President Jonathan became substan-

tive president on May 6, 2?010, and later in the year appointed Nnaji as special adviser on power and head of the Presidential Task Force on Power established by the President on June 21.The task force was charged with developing and driving an action plan for the attainment of steady power supply in the country. It was President Jonathan who presented the power sector roadmap on August 26, 2010, as a follow up to Obasanjo’s power reform act.

When Prof Nnaji became power minister in July 2011, he met 2,800mega Watts delivered to the national grid. His dream was to increase this to 5,400MW by the end of this year. That dream has been truncated with his exit from the power ministry on August 28 and whether whoever succeeds him would be able to attain this or surpass it remains for now in the wombs of time.

Even his enemies should give it to him that Nnaji knew his onions; and that he was serious about leaving a legacy in the sector. The truth is that even if everything needed is available and there is no one to harness what is on ground, we can never have results. This is where those who believe that any fool could have done what Nnaji did, given what was already on ground as at the time he became minister, missed the point. They

“It is sad that this sort of an inglorious exit happened to about the only minister whose performance had been glorious and visible in the Jonathan cabinet. If the President could prove the indispensability of Prof Nnaji by being pleased to see his back over his (Nnaji’s) interests in the privatisation process of the power sector, it is a valid point that was well made. But the fact of the sacred cows and goats in the cabinet is one that will linger for long”

forget that this is Nigeria where ministers have come and gone, often leaving no trace, like the snake on the rock.

Yet, they had left celebrated and sometimes with national honours, to boot!

If Prof Nnaji had to go because he had interests in the privatisation process, what of ministers and other public officials who kept approving money for and paying oil marketers for fuel they never supplied? The sad aspect of it is that Nigerians would have kept paying for some people to keep stealing if they had not forced the government to apply the brakes on the fuel subsidy racket in January.

Now, the government is acting tough against the marketers; at least so it seems; we have no independent means of confirming whether this is genuine or a ruse, given the widely held believe that government was a major beneficiary of the monumental fraud that happened in a year of general elections.

It is germane to ask what the government has done to its officials involved in the scam because, as they say, ‘it takes two to tango’. Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola gave us a local equivalent of this idiom when he said that no one can clap with one hand. No matter how devious the marketers are, they could not have succeeded without the connivance of the public officials. Without necessarily arguing for the retention of Prof Nnaji as power minister given the conflict of interest, it is good to remind ourselves that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. We can only hope that President Jonathan’s waking up to punish corruption as signposted with Prof Nnaji’s resignation would not be a

Man, you got my vote Prof. Nnaji demonstrated for us all that those good ol' days are not only possible for PHCN but are indeed close by still printed and sent without any of the people in charge telling them dat no bill should be sent for d dark days of more than 90 days.

This is absurd, the NLC wt there battered image since the Fuel subsidy removal protest should never endeavour to try their popularity again this time around bcos ... since phcn staff has been out of station, the blinds even testify to the presence of light all over now. 2348188598812 Dubbie, Nice one on PHCN. Another fact, you buy poles 2 connect ur house with electricity nd d poles becomes PHCN property - JUSTICE? I have long lost not only hope but sense of patriotism. Imagine a govt. parastatal owed me a million naira for 5yrs ... NEPA, a govt. agency cut me off for a N1, 500 bill.

Oh! No! They have snuffed patriotism out of me. D country is on blind auto-pilot. PATRIOTISM LIVES IN THE DICTIONARY. 2348036004439 Bravo, madam ... Let the soldiers stay put as we now hv power 12hrs/day instead of 1hr/ 7days b4. 2348060585958 Thank you all kindly for agreeing with me. My favourite fictional character has a habit of deprecating those who agree with him. He roundly shouts 'Agree?

Agree? You have no right to agree

with me. I came to my own conclusions by thinking, sweating and pacing up and down. Go find your own conclusions!' But I like it that you agree with me on this issue. I can feel that we also see eye to eye that PHCN symbolises that 'systemic failure' we have so glibly adopted as a description of that dark, dark place which rules the Nigerian's heart. Many believe however that we should really ask the politicians what went wrong with PHCN. Listen to these.

How much did they pay u 2 write against PHCN & d staff. U are a disgrace 2 to journalism. Go back and get facts, b4 u write lies 4 Nigerians 2 read.

2348170655810 U talk of histry u ve no true knwldge of $16 billion naira (at once?) vted into power was shard by politicians yet ur chronicles of records ve no say to dat. U write a-miss, pls brace up.

2348036803899 Sir, I saw your write-up ... about ur total support of occupation of military in PHCN facilities and ur reasons being dat the action has translated in improvement of supply. Well, I can only excuse ur ignorant mind. I am not a PHCN staff but only a concerned Nigerian. Am surprised because ur presentation (was) very selfish bias and devoid of objectivism.

How come just u are speaking f

us all over the masses hatred of PHCN staff and u a saint.

Remember the biblical injunction of casting a stone. ... Do you reaalise u run democracy and too dat PHCN staff are not armed as Boko Haram to warrant military occupation of their facilities. Do u also know that its their Abuja hgts that was occupied. Try and find out reasons before you rush t press. Are u not in Nigeria. I know that these problems are not peculiar t PHCN dat cuts across all organisations in the country including yours cannot be spared.

PHCN ineptitude is blown out of proportion bcos of the nature of their service ... Do u know that unwanted and useless PHCN materials worth trillions of Naira are lying wasted in various PHCN power stations and these are contracts awarded by govt to their political associates f one favour or d other ... Take a trip to the power station t see f yourself before ur layman publication. Do u know that a one time defunct three ministers of power sponsored themselves to become govnos of their states from the loots of crook contract awards ...

Have you taken the pains t know (that) d Elumelu committee's report did not see the light of day Its bcos most of the govt men and some governors in particular were indicted in dat report. PHCN in its present comatos is the handiwork of govt...

flash in the pan. We hope he would be able to find the courage to do same to ministers and other federal public officials who had done more grievous harm to the country. Here, I am talking especially about some of his ministers who are merely consuming unproductively in the cabinet.

It should be noted that Nnaji’s battle was not with the labour unions in the power sector alone, but also against some of the ‘powers and principalities’ involved in generator imports in the country. If Nigeria is one of the biggest importers of generators in the world, it follows that any attempt to bring about stable electricity supply in the country would not be welcome by people involved in generator importation. The rate at which they keep importing the items, from the “I better pass my neighbour’ to the biggest sizes, shows they do not believe in the workability of the country’s power sector, reform or no reform. We cannot blame them because the government itself does not seem to believe the sector can work, given the billions it keeps allocating to buy or refurbish and fuel generators in the seat of power and other government agencies annually.

It is sad that this sort of an inglorious exit happened to about the only minister whose performance had been glorious and visible in the Jonathan cabinet. If the President could prove the indispensability of Prof Nnaji by being pleased to see his back over his (Nnaji’s) interests in the privatisation process of the power sector, it is a valid point that was well made. But the fact of the sacred cows and goats in the cabinet is one that will linger for long. One can only hope that President Jonathan pondered all these before Prof Nnaji’s exit because the buck stops at his desk.

2348033149692 Phew! I am fine, thanks for asking. We will not address the contradictions in these submissions nor the absurd arguments to the person rather than to the points, but clearly, there is a great deal of pain on both sides of the divide and the only ones not crying right now are the government people. Seriously though, any child born in Nigeria knows by age one that there is his mama, his dada and someone called NEPA! (I believe PHCN was coined to make it more difficult for children to call out when there is a power cut).

Anyway, most people, including me, may not know two ends of a magnet from the other but they do know when they have electricity (and who is responsible), and when they don't (and who is responsible). I do agree though that systemic failure cuts across the entire board in Nigeria; this is why it becomes immediately noticeable when something goes right. It is so surprising that you cannot help breaking out in song or praise or both: in songs of praise.

It is important for us all to hold out hope though, for I believe that the good ol' days are coming.

Before he resigned, Prof. Nnaji demonstrated for us all that those good ol' days are not only possible for PHCN but are indeed close by. I certainly doff my own hat to the much he has been able to do in his time at the power ministry, but much more for his sense of integrity and selfdignity. He is not your ordinary Nigerian who identifies his convictions and tells them to go to hell. He embraced his and so he is teaching us now. Man, you got my vote.

18

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Comment & Analysis

Levi Ajuonuma: Once upon a time I

N his Armagedonian imprints, “The Way I Would Like To Die” published in the West African Verses, R.E.G Armattoe prayed for a death inside a crashed burning plane. In that frightening death wish the Poet willed “To perish in a great air crash.With a silver plane burning bright. Like a flashing star in the night, While the huge wreckage all ablaze I would like to see the flames consume Each nerve, bone, hair and nail” The last time, I talked with Levi Ajuonuma, he was outside the country. He had assured we meet on his return from his overseas assignment. Few days after that conversation, I was shattered by the Breaking News of the Dana Crash. My agony was not abated to behold, on the same black manifest, Levi’s name and those of my own. Christopher Okocha, the Ojugbanas, Jennifer Ibe and her mother, Nancy! The Ibes were family and Attorney Ibe, Jennifer’s daddy belonged to the Washington Think Tank of Nigeria Professionals. As I say my twinkle goodbye to little star Jennifer, we mourn with the people of Imo on the loss of Nancy Ibe. A woman of no tendril intellect, a potential Rooseveltan First Lady of unmatchable ability.

As Mark Anthony would say of Caesar, Levi Ajuonuma was my friend. Before his ascension, we had cultivated him and presented him with the roles of some foreign National Oil Companies in the modernization of their economies.

He was hand over those confidential papers to his top management and invite the G M D to face our Rocket Scientists, Medical doctors, Lawyers, Professors and Economists in the Washington group. In summary, the NNPC

By Emma Okocha

was to bridge the organized return of batches of Nigeria Professionals who have like the Asians had impacted in the development of the US and had gone home to modernize their economies.

On behalf of the Washington Think Tank, I had traveled extensively to South America and especially the Caribbean’s to report my findings. Most of those reports on the Caribbean tours were posted to my Vanguard Column, “LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON”. Levi was astonished with the astounding performance of the National Oil Company of Venezuela. Venezuela had built the biggest Refinery in that continent, the Amuay plant in Falcon.

With a production capacity of over 645,000 barrel of day, this refinery which is part of the Paraguana Refinery Complex including the Cardon refinery, supplies the Country’s energy needs and as quoted in the Petrocaribe agreement feeds almost the Caribbean countries, except Trinidad which has its own oil. Apart from the refinery, the Oil Company of Venezuela built in Caracas the most sophisticated Heart Hospital in the universe. Elsewhere in Africa, I remember on a football trip to Algiers 1986, the Oil Company of Algeria. Never engaging any contractors or so called “Subsidy Parasites” to import their fuel, the Algerian National Oil Company is rather organized to

fulfill the social needs of the people. The oil company every month would build a condominium, establish Estates across the desert provinces, construct roads by direct labor, supervised by young graduates just out of Universities or Polytechnics. That is why the Arab Spring stopped on the Libyan boarders. The Algerian citizen is guaranteed free housing and free education.

Again, the Russian earnings from Oil opened up the dreaded Siberian archipelago. Directly, that Nation Oil Company builds the infrastructure, hospitals, banks, sports Stadia etc from the proceeds of the oil from Siberia.

It was not easy moving Levi to join our crusade of redefining the NNPC. From the days of Ogbuefi Nwokedi, that office was constructed essentially as a Government Relations Servicing Department. Once the Government of the day, especially its principals; the Presidency, Ministers, Legislators, Governors, First Ladies, Emirs, Police and Army Commanders are serviced the PAD of the NNPC is conceived to have succeeded. Ogbuefi’s earlier appointment as the Press Secretary to the President no doubt influenced this perspective but what can we say of the bohemian Edem Duke? The same, and look how comfortable he is today with his flock. Enter Gestapo Ndu Ughamadu. Lacking in blue blood gentility, he was ironically the most successful. His tenure

promoted the Petroleum Trust Fund of the Abacha Presidency, the only apologetic, engagement of the NNPC ever programmed for the peoples’ benefits.

A born again Christian, Levi like his sect, loved his job and believed that prosperity is only reserved for those who praise Jesus but detest his mother Mary. He was slow to joining our risky crusade. We had to procure; J. Sheen, The New Theology Of Missions, and Populorum Progressio, (See Paul VI: n.81) submitting that “Christians should realize that Social Justice is part of our faith…

Marxism grows because Christians remain socially inactive.

Atheism is the denial of God but if the love of God and neighbor are one commandment, does it not follow that to deny neighbor is also to deny God?” The rich should use his “mammon of iniquity” as the Gospel calls it to buy himself not plots and shares and fat bank accounts, but friends who will receive him into everlasting dwellings after his death.” (Luke Chapter 16:9).

It does not matter anymore how Levi elected to die. Though a Prayer Warrior he was not like my own, the type who would denounce his God given gifts of cool enquiry and warm deliberations to prostrate before the arid Pastor of the mundane circus. As if he knew his time was short, he eventually bought into our drive to reconstitute the Nigerian Oil behemoth to perform like its

“Never engaging any contractors or so called “Subsidy Parasites” to import their fuel, the Algerian National Oil Company is rather organized to fulfill the social needs of the people. The oil company every month would build a condominium, establish Estates across the desert provinces”

counter parts all over the world.

In the Spring of 2008, Levi delivered A. Yar-Adua, the GMD, to meet with our Group in Texas.

We published for our American partners the vision of the NNPC under the GMD after the world NOC conference in London. Preparing to move to Nigeria the Group was stopped by the firing of the GMD. Levi’s predecessors may not have foot-printed on any measurable legacies. Our handsome Pepple, who took over is yet to propound his bearing.

Whatever happens, the loss of the NNPC, Public Affairs impresario is a calamity to a nation that have lost its compass. In Indonesia, Angola, Algeria etc, nations known for their serious handling of their oil economics, Subsidy Parasites would be shot at sight.

These type of robbers are more dangerous than the Columbian drug merchants.

Indeed, that earthquake of the skies, the burning fumes from that ill fated plane would forever haunt the group who have burnt their boats to come home on your advice. On a personal note, I wake up most of the night to call your 08037850xxx, eager for you to hear out my side, of my own living tragedy. You will never again hear from me or judge on my case. But you kept the Covenant, gave me a chance to say my story. I shall cherish your friendship and testify that your soul is safe with the angels. A rich man who wanted a new life for the Nigerian under class is your most enduring epitaph. Your numbers are undeletable. The flash to heaven is for eternity.

Your death, is a memory of the Times. Thank you for the memories, Levi Ajuonuwa, Once Upon A Time.

Tam David-West and Bayelsa coat of arms F

OR Prof. Tam David West, a respected learned professor, to condemn the Bayelsa State government legalisation of the Bayelsa Coat of Arms, flag and State Anthem as treason and sedition and even described the action as “worse than what Odumegwu-Ojukwu did for Biafra” is enough reason for his admirers to feel misdirected.

In the first instance Prof. Tam David-West was expected to quote the constitutional clause such legalisation contravened.

In which case he has to explain why his Rivers State government from the creation of the State in 1976 adopted the two crocodile arms outstretched as the Coat of Arms of the State government and he (Prof. Tam David-West was a Commissioner of Education in that State. Prof. Tam David-West has to explain how the Rivers State taxis are painted bluewhite-blue if those colours were not the colours of the flag of Rivers State. Even military formations in our country have their own coat of arms and flags, not to talk of the national anthem of even an organization like the National Council of Women’s Societies.

By Osaki Asobari

It is pertinent at this juncture to quote the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, why the state composed its anthem and made a coat of arms. The Governor said “Bayelsa State is a federating unit in Nigeria, that it was created and recognised in the constitution with rights, powers and obligations. All the structures, organs and officials of the State operate under the Constitution, and his administration’s decision to have the symbol and song was because of “our belief in true federalism as a cardinal cornerstone of Nigerian Nationhood and it is in exercise of our inalienable right as a federating unit”. That is a lawyer and a responsive governor.

Professor Tam David-West should not slant history why Odumegwu Ojukwu declared Biafra. The so-called grievances of Igbos over injustice of several years was an injustice all Nigerians, North, West, East and South South suffered from the political class. Chukwuma Nzogu who contrived the coup of 1966 wanted to eliminate all

the political class irrespective of where they came from and hence he involved all the military men from all parts of the country to be part of the coup. However, when the Coup was executed, the Igbo officers assigned to eliminate the Igbo political leaders cleverly avoided eliminating their tribesmen while all the politicians of Northern, Western and Mid-Western regions were eliminated. The ordinary Igbos started to taunt the Northerners, drawing cartoons of their Northern leaders who were killed in the Coup and this was the cause of the Northern uprising against the Igbos and other Southern military men. It was not long before it was realised that the lack of knowing the difference between the Igbos and the other Southern military men was responsible for the killing of the South South Military Officers. So if the Professor of Virology wants to talk about the “Northern Igbo pogrom” he should not inject virus into the truth. This was the reason Odumegwu Ojukwu declared his secession.

If Professor Tam David-West feels the inauguration of the State

Coat of Arms and the State Anthem is similar to Odumegwu Ojukwu’s declaration of Biafra, David-West should instigate the Armed Forces of Nigeria to mobilize and quell his imaginary “rebellion in Bayelsa State”.

What does Prof. Tam DavidWest think would be the incentive for the Government of Bayelsa State or the Ijaw people for that matter to declare Secession when their own is the President of the Country?

In the event that the legitimate action of the governor of Bayelsa State was deliberately regarded as a declaration of secession by Prof. Tam David-West, what is the offence of the President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to publicly condemn the action of the Governor or resign? What does Prof. Tam David-West mean by this very insolent call?

Prof. Tam David-West should know that even though he is known as an Ijawman from the kalabari clan Rivers State, his derogatory remarks against President Jonathan in all cases where the enemies have tried to drag the name of the President to the mud is noted by all the Ijaws.

He should also know that he is a cause for embarrassment of his Kalabari people because the rest of the Ijaw people are made to feel that because he is a prominent Kalabari figure his stand against President Jonathan is the stand of the Kalabaris against President Jonathan. I know this feeling is wrong. Prof. David-West is on his own. By Professor Tam David-West’s insistence that Dickson got to office as a governor on the influence of the President is a direct insult to all the Ijaw people of Bayelsa State. All the Ijaws in Bayelsa State voted Dickson to power. Dickson was not an imposition on the people of the State by the President. The other tribes have never insulted their presidents the way Tam David-West has been doing and he should know that he will never be allowed to hide under the cover of a human right activist. The Ijaws worldwide cannot accept or tolerate this type of insult on the President and the Ijaw Nation, and this writer would advise him to please disguise his hatred for Mr. President and his fellow Ijaw people. A word is enough for the wise!

POLITICS

19

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Demands of Yoruba nation

•Akinrinade

•Bankole

•Akande

•Fasehun

Yoruba nation and the Nigerian project Last Thursday, Ibadan, the political capital of the Yoruba, received unusual visitors in a historic meeting. Bisi Oladele examines the agenda of the ethnic nationality towards re-inventing a new political, economic and cultural framework for Nigeria as a nation

T

HE venue was historic. So was the meeting as well as the coalescence of the progressives, interestingly across party lines for the pan-Yoruba summit. The convener, Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade (Rtd), carefully chose the floor of the Oyo State House of Assembly, where the motion for Nigerian independence was moved in 1956 by the late elder statesman, Chief Anthony Enahoro. The venue was also the floor where the first Premier of Western Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, got approval for his legendary policies that stood him out as a great leader of his time. It was at the same venue Yoruba converged again last Thursday, 27 years after Awolowo’s death, to voice their concern for what they described as the quasi-unitary constitution and declared their determination to pursue self-determination through regional government.

The one-day summit was tagged: “Yoruba Assembly.”

True to its name, the meeting witnessed assemblage of governors, political leaders, traditional rulers, leaders of thought, distinguished professionals and representatives of Yoruba in Kwara and Kogi States as well as Yorubas in the Diaspora.

Though it was dominated by Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leaders, some Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) leaders also graced the occasion and were given good voice,

signalling that Yoruba are willing to work together to revive the glory of the Yoruba nation. Former Speaker, House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and Dr Dejo Raimi were among the two top PDP leaders that addressed the gathering.

General expression of bitterness and accommodation of dissenting voices at the meeting conveyed the fact that the Yoruba are unanimous in condemning the present lopsided structure of federalism in Nigeria. They also unanimously rejected fiscal federalism as is currently practiced and gave the verdict that the current system of government in Nigeria is unitary in disguise. The Yoruba leaders also agreed that the Yoruba nation has almost fully lost her capacity to mobilise her resources to develop the region and the people as obtained before and shortly after independence.

In the Yoruba agenda, endorsed by stakeholders on Thursday, the nationality is seeking a self-governing, autonomous Yoruba region. It demands the right of Yoruba in the current South-west states to live under a regional government within the Nigerian federation with right to negotiate with other nationalities along the laid down principles of federalism, justice and equity.

It stated further that the region shall have its own constitution that shall not be inconsistent with the constitution of a

THE General Assembly is pushing 15 proposals: •A new Nigeria consisting of a federal government and six geo-political zones operating federal and regional constitutions respectively’ •A single legislative list which will be the Exclusive Legislative List consisting of only thirty items’ •The Westminster model of parliamentary government.’

•Value Added Tax, Sales Tax, Stamp Duties and other taxes – except Customs and Excise Duties, Petroleum Profit Tax and other levies associated with mineral resourcesshould be levied, collected and retained by the regions and an agreed percentage remitted to the central government on the basis of responsibilities. Petroleum Tax should be levied and collected by the Federal Government while 25 percent of oil revenue receipt by the Federal Government should be remitted to oil producing regions.’

•A regional and state police force structure’ •The establishment of a constitutional court with jurisdiction over inter-governmental cases and petition from elections to the National Assembly’ •That all public officers who currently enjoy absolute immunity be made amendable to court processes on charges bordering on commission of crimes’ •An informal role for traditional rulers in the political structure’ •The removal of the registration requirement for political parties. In addition, prior to elections, political parties must maintain self-financing status’ •The adoption of the open-secret ballot system for voting in elections’ •All election petitions must be expeditiously disposed of before the swearing-in of the declared winners’ •The abrogation of the Land Use Decree’ •Constitutional Affirmative Action provisions for the inclusion of women in public affairs, i.e as members of the Executive, National Assembly, Judiciary, civil service, etc’ •An awareness of the role and significance of civil society organisations in the polity as the core of national civic education at all levels. true Nigerian federation and that the region shall run its internal affairs except in areas which all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria “at a properly constituted constitutional conference, agree should be under the aegis of the federal government. “The demands also include the freedom for all Yoruba, outside the current South-west, to join the current South-west by choice. It also calls for creation of state for the Yoruba in Kwara and Kogi States as they currently occupy 14 local governments.

The agenda also affirms the right of other nationalities to form their own regions and all nationalities, including foreigners to live and work in the Yoruba region.

Asides the above, the Yoruba are pushing for fiscal federalism, effective anti-corruption crusade and revival of the core Yoruba values, particularly the concept of ‘Omoluabi.

To achieve these and many more, the Yoruba are pushing for regional integration among the current Southwest states, setting up of a regional anti-corruption agency, promotion of the Yoruba language, promotion of merit system in the affairs of the country and creation of state police. In all, the Yoruba nation is asking for self determination through regional autonomy. In all, the general assembly is pushing 15 proposals.

The debate and agreements Aa all-encompassing and progressive as the proposals look, it is normal to expect criticism of parts of the whole agenda as exemplified by Dimeji Bankole’s disagreement with creation of state police. The assembly was also unable to address the challenge of choosing and supporting a particular individual as the new leader of the Yoruba as in the days of Awolowo. But the fact that was obvious at the meeting was that Yoruba, in spite of political differences, are unanimous in rejecting the current operation of federalism in Nigeria. They also strongly believe that the current system inhibits the ability of the Yoruba to tap their capacity to grow beyond the current level and that there is an urgent need to renegotiate the co-existence of the various ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria.

With the new move by the ethnic nationality, the world is obviously waiting for the reaction of other nationalities that make up the country as well as that of the Federal Government of Nigeria which is holding power in trust for all Nigerians.

Considering similar voices coming from the Southeast, South-south and the North, it may be safe to conclude that Nigeria is closer to a national conference where these issues will be discussed for continued co-existence.

20

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Politics

Crossfire over INEC’s top appointments Alleged lopsided appointments in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is presently generating ripples in the Presidency and among other key political stakeholders, reports Remi Adelowo

I

N spite of the public posturing and pronouncements of key political figures that talks about the next general elections in 2015 is premature and, at best uncalled for, The Nation can reveal that preparations for the post-2015 political dispensation may have begun in earnest.

While President Goodluck Jonathan has severally parried questions over his speculated interest in the next presidential race, statements credited to some of his key aides and associates point to the fact that the president may throw his hat into the ring once again for a second term in office.

However, die-hard supporters of the president are also aware that he is likely to face the stiffest opposition to his second term ambition from politicians from the core north, who are clamouring for a power shift to the region. This likely scenario, revealed sources, is being treated with all the seriousness it deserves by apostles of the Jonathan 2015 project.

Against the backdrop that the recent appointments of northerners into some key portfolios in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is an alleged ploy by certain powerful interests to scuttle Jonathan’s alleged second term bid, The Nation gathered that there is disquiet within the president’s kitchen cabinet that their principal may have been programmed to lose long before the race for the next elections is flagged off.

Presently, questions are being asked why INEC, which is the primary institution responsible for the conduct of elections in the country, is allegedly dominated by the northerners. One of such posers is whether the principle of federal character, which stipulates that appointments into federal positions and distribution of socio-eco-

nomic amenities must ensure fairness and equity among the six geopolitical zones in the country, has been strictly adhered to.

In the view of some stakeholders, the current structural imbalance in INEC may have been deliberately skewed in favour of the north to ensure that the region regains the control of the country’s political reins come 2015.

“Many Nigerians may see this (North’s alleged dominance of INEC) as just a happenstance, but the reality is that it’s all about political calculations for 2015,” said a politician from the South-South who prefer to remain anonymous.

A breakdown of the INEC management team and their geo-political zones will suffice: The National Chairman, Professor Attairu Jega hails from the North-West, ditto the Secretary, Alhaji .A. Kaugama. The electoral body also has 15 directors, 13 of whom are from the North; two from the South-South, while only one comes from the South-East.

These directors include, U.F Usman, the Director of Logistics from the North-West; M. Kuta, Internal Auditor (North-Central); A. Muhktar, Director of Human Resources (North-West); A. A Uregi, Director of Finance (North-Central); Alhaji .I. Biu, Director of Voter Education (North-East); Mr. I.K Bawa, Deputy Director, Legal (North-Central); Mr. A.A Adamu, Head of Commission Secretariat (North-Central), to name but a few.

Investigations also revealed that most of the INEC national commissioners who preside over committees overseeing key departments are northerners. They are Col. Hamanga, Chairman, Logistics Committee, who is from Adamawa State; Dr. Nuru Yakubu, who heads the Operations Committee and hails from Yobe State; Hajia Amina Zakari of

Political

ripples Will Isa Yuguda contest 2015 presidency?

J

UST a few weeks ago, speculations about the presidential ambition of Alhaji Sule Lamido, the Governor of Jigawa State, was the topic of discussion in the media and within political circles.

While Lamidi is yet to confirm or deny his interest in the 2015 race, there are strong indications that a few northern governors may also join the race. One of such is the Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yududa; who sources disclosed, is banking on several factors to put himself in a good stead for the coveted seat. One of these factors include his marriage to a Yoruba woman, from Abeokuta, Ogun State, Biodun (nee Shasanya) It would also be recalled that the governor, early this year, was

•Yuguda

honoured by the prestigious Island Club of Lagos. All these, it was gathered, was a strategic move to endear him to other geo-political zones outside his North-east territory.

•Jega the Political Monitoring Committee; Ambassador Wali, head of the Procurement Committee and Professor Jega, the National Chairman.

That is not all. A newly-constituted INEC’s 9-man Strategic Planning Committee is also dominated by the North. The members are M.S Mohammed, Mustafa Kuta, Nuru Yakubu, Istianus Dalwang,Torgbo Nyitse Emanuel Akeem, all from the North. Two other members of the committeeOkechukwu Nduche and Mike Igini are from the South.

While some politicians from the South are said to be raising eyebrows over this alleged lopsided appointments, and pointing accusing fingers at Jega for the anomaly, sources in INEC said the chairman is not in any way responsible for postings in the commission.

According to a source, “These northerners in INEC are career civil

servants, whose postings are handled by the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. Besides, most of these officers have been in INEC long before Jega came on board.”

Those opposed to this line of argument are, however, pondering why postings to INEC is not put under the purview of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), headed by a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Abdulrahman Oba, which main responsibility is to ensure that all federal institutions conform to the dictates of the principles of federal character.

But speaking to The Nation on the telephone, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC boss, Mr. Kayode Idowu, described the allegation as “absolutely false and baseless,” adding, “there is nothing like that (north’s dominance of INEC) at all.”

Expatiating further, Idowu said, “Professor Jega got into office six months to the 2011 elections and his priority then was to conduct a credible election. To achieve this, he needed to make use of the experienced hands he met on ground. Yes, there is a restructuring going on in INEC, but I can tell you authoritatively that the only posting that has been done since he came on board is in the ICT department, which is headed by a man from the South-East.”

Giving a breakdown of the management structure of INEC, Idowu disclosed, “apart from the chairman, there are 12 national commissioners, comprising of two people from each of the six geopolitical zones. Then, we have 67 directors and 29 heads of directorates department and units.

“Of these 29, Benue has six; Anambra, four; Imo, three; Abia, three; Niger, two; Sokoto, one; Kebbi, one; Plateau, one; Delta, one; Enugu, one; Bayelsa, one; Ekiti, one and Kogi, one; Yobe, one; Taraba, one, and Adamawa, one.

“The breakdown of the 67 directors, according to Idowu, is as follows: Benue has nine; Anambra, nine; Imo, four; Delta, three; Cross River, three; Plateau, three; Akwa Ibom, three; Abia, three; Kebbi, three; Edo, three; Niger, two; Kaduna, two; Zamfara, two; Bayelsa, two; Lagos, two Bauchi, two and Borno, two. Others are Sokoto, one; Enugu, one; Kano, one; Kogi, one; Katsina, one; Osun, one; Gombe, one; Ogun one and Jigawa State, one. So, the question is, does this statistics show any so-called domination by the North,” he asked?

Absolving his boss of any wrong doing in these postings, Idowu said, “the statistics being bandied around are half cooked; again, these top officials are career civil servants and all of them have been in INEC before the chairman (Jega) came on board. And as far as INEC is concerned, no committee is more strategic than the other.

Tell me which committee is more important than the ICT and Operations committees, which are headed by two men from the SouthEast?”

Mbazuruike Amaechi and Owerri known soldier

C

HIEF Mbazuruike Amaechi, the fashionable politician and orator, who the late Owelle of Onitsha and Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, used to call “the boy is good,” rekindled the firebrand oratory of the First Republic politics, in Owerri, Imo State, on Thursday, August 23, 2012, during the inauguration of the board of directors of Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu Centre, when he unveiled the latest theory of the known soldier.

Recalling when, in the past,

he refused government’s invitation to lay a wreath on the statue of the Unknown Soldier in Owerri, he said in an emotion laden voice, “while I found it difficult to come here and lay a wreath on the unknown soldier who committed genocide against my people, I am proud today to honour a known soldier, who indeed, fought for us.” Electrifying standing ovation followed, as the elder statesman casually dropped the microphone and walked back to his seat.

F

Akala losing it all ?

ORMER Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao Akala, is just a little over a year out of office, but the reality of his fast waning political relevance is giving the man from Ogbomoso a cause for concern. Just a few months after he was voted out of office, Akala’s SSG, Olayiwola Olakojo jumped ship to pitch tent with Akala’s political foe and former boss, Rashidi

•Mbazuruike

Ladoja.

The big shocker was to come a few days ago when Dotun Oyelade, once dyedin-the wool associate and spokesman of Akala, announced his intention to defect to Ladoja’s Accord Party.

This development, sources say, has left Akala reeling in shock.

•Akala

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Politics

Mimiko’s Doom-Dome

Political Politics turf

W

HEN William Bryant wrote in his soul-stirring book, The Battlefield that, “Truth, crushed to earth shall rise again, the eternal years of God are hers,” he could not have had Ondo State, Nigeria, of the 21st century in mind. Nor, could he have fathomed that a time would come when a certain medical doctor-turned- politician, called Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, would be opportune to steer its political affairs for four tortuous years. Interestingly, Bryant also noted that no matter how long it takes, falsehood eventually consumes its worshippers. So be it.

As a stakeholder in the acclaimed Sunshine State, I am writing this to let the whole world know that on several instances incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko has taken millions of his people on a fool’s bumpy ride. Devoid of base sentiments, political persuasion and for the sake of posterity, which will judge us all someday, one must face the truth in its face and tell it as it is, no matter whose ox is gored. That precisely underscores the whole gamut of the controversial, doomed Dome Project, Akure, which Mimiko fantasized about and eventually made public in March,2010.

At the grandiose kickoff ceremony back then, he gleefully told the world that the 25,000 capacity hall, much-touted to be Africa’s biggest events centre, was conceived to reposition Ondo State as a tourist haven and destination of choice. Situated on a sprawling expanse of 34 hectares of land, along Igbatoro Road, Akure at a whopping cost of N1.5 billion, it was to have other complementary facilities such as a five-star hotel, a well laid out spacious car park, added to a head room of five feet tall. He even boasted that the project would be completed within five months! However, only few people, including his coterie of friends and himself knew, right from inception, that their intention was surreptitiously to hoodwink, otherwise intelligent and politically sophisticated people of the state.

Now, more than two years later, what he has to show the world is a fictional ‘paradise’ peopled by all manner of rodents and reptiles, tractors and bulldozers rusted in ruins.

Trust the ever vigilant Nigerian media. By August of that year, a month after the promised five months, questions as to the sincerity of purpose and significance of the project had started agitating their minds. Was it, in truth and honesty, one of the priority needs of Ondo people?

Was it awarded to the right construction company with the requisite pedigree and relevant skills, man-

21

with Bolade Omonijo boladeomonijo@yahoo.com

Revisiting oil subsidy saga

M

•Mimiko

By Idowu Ajanaku

power and materials to handle it? Was the award itself in tandem with the nationally accepted due process? Was the mindboggling cost itself justifiable? Would the citizens and the state get value for money? The answers to these troubling queries did not take long in coming.

Firstly, it was discovered to the chagrin of Ondo people that Messrs Dream Media Networks that got the project is owned by one Mr. Adetokunbo Modupe, a BSc holder in Sociology with experience in public relations, publishing and events planning! The company had not as much as laid cement blocks for any construction activity in its years of existence. Why would a state governor give out such an expensive project to an incompetent company if not for fraudulent reasons? It was one expensive joke taken too fara handshake that had gone beyond the elbow.

But when a man’s moving mantra is steeped in self delusion and deception he has to tell more lies to cover past ones. Taken to task by the press in August 2010 over the undue delay in executing the Dome, Alhaji Sikiru Basaru, the Commissioner for Land and Housing, on behalf of Mimiko’s administration, lied again that the delay was due to various processes involved and the need to ensure structural stability. Furthermore, that the contractor had to carry out topography survey, cart away sand and refuse and cut the ground to the required size! What balderdash. It would have been better telling thrilling tales by moonlight to some over excited naïve children. But we are adults with our heads rightly screwed on our necks, aren’t we?

Yet, there were more lies to tell. Basaru disclosed that Mimiko and a few delegates were in Warsaw, Poland, where such a dome exists to see for themselves and avoid mistakes. There,

they discovered that vermex fabric, which the governor had claimed was the best in the world, has only 40 years warranty, compared to glass of 100 years warranty. Pronto, there and then, Mimiko and company reverted the plan in favour of glass. Talk about taking an action before thinking about it. That decision taken in the absence of members of the state executive only highlighted the dictatorial tendency of the man in whose hands Ondo people had vested their political destiny.

In a manner of crass betrayal of trust, Mimiko, who claimed that the Dome would take the place of Akure stadium used to host rallies, church crusades and concerts due to lack of space, and who went ahead to halt the contract for banquet hall originally awarded by the previous administration has failed and woefully too to fulfill his litany of promises. In the absence of any extractive industry in the state to reduce the astronomical costs of such white-elephant project or create jobs for the people, Mimiko’s deliberate tomfoolery is unbecoming of a political leader who deludes himself with questionable awards, all in the blind bid to be seen as one of the best governors ever.

But Ondo people cannot be fooled. According to Mr. Bayo Adekanle, the former National President of the National Association of Ondo State Students,” Mimiko is a confused person. He dips his hands into many things at the same time. These are contracts that he knows he cannot complete; contracts that will never see the light of day. Yet, he promises heaven and earth when he knows the truth. Adekanle has therefore, asked the EFCC to investigate the failed project and bring the culprits to speedy justice.

In a similar vein, a human rights activist, Mr. Morakinyo Ogele, stated that: “There is no doubt that Governor Mimko is a

confused person. He has slaughtered the hope of the people. He has abandoned virtually all the road projects in Akure and even Ondo his home town. I pity him because in a bid to impress the people with projects, he is now attracting criticisms from the same people.”

While most citizens of Ondo realise the fact that it was for the need to create more space for events that the Olusegun Agagau’s administration embarked on a banquet hall adjacent to the government house, at a modest cost of N75 million, the very idea of a Dome expected to be built at a whopping cost of N1.5billion and stalled at the site clearing stage years after, is absurd, criminal and outrageously scandalous.

Yet, this is just one out of the many failed projects Mimko has embarked upon. In governance, conventional wisdom dictates that a political leader should be a visionary, a prudent spender and a team leader. By starting what has turned out the doomed Dome, Mimiko has shown clearly that he lacks the managerial acumen of a worthy leader. A man whose word is not his honour and whose actions are inimical to the most pressing needs of his people is not fit to lead.

Yes, as the governor, he may have succeeded in fooling a few people all the time, or many people some of the time but he cannot fool all the people all the time. The veil is finally torn.

All the truths he tried to crush to the ground have risen again. The most honourable decision he should take is to leave now.

To continue gallivanting about, canvassing for votes for a second time is a direct slap on the face of Ondo people. As for me I will not take it any longer. What about you?

•Ajanaku is the Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy, Akeredolu Campaign Organisation.

ANY of my compatriots jumped up and expressed satisfaction when some of those indicted by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Panel were dragged before justice Habeeb Abiru in Lagos on July 26. That was only two days after the Panel submitted its report to the Federal Government. What caught the attention of Nigerians were the names of Abdullahi Alao, son of the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland and a major financier of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mamman Nasir Alli, son of a former National Chairman of the party, Dr. Ahmadu Alli, and Mahmud Tukur who is a prominent son of the incumbent National Chairman of the party. All I could hear around me that day were people saying, “God don catch dem”.

Although I had expressed my skepticism at the news, preferring to watch first before coming to the conclusion that President Jonathan and his officials could deviate from a path that they had trod for so long, it appeared I was pleasantly losing the argument when the Finance Minister followed with a well advertised position on Thursday August 16 that all those implicated in the scam would have their day in court. Aunty Ngozi appeared to have struck a familiar chord Her position was very popular. Many of us had attacked the Attorney General of the Federation Mohammed Adoke Bello for pushing the view that the reports of the House of Representatives Probe Panel and the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Fuel Subsidy Payments would have to be further subjected to forensic scrutiny by another panel in the Justice ministry in a bid to ensure that only those against whom prima facie cases had been established are prosecuted.

Since we watched on the national television proceedings of the House Probe, and listened to the shocking revelations, we did not see why any other committee should examine the submissions. Nigerians were incensed as public officials tried to pass the buck and could not even agree on figures. Up till date, no one knows how much was actually spent last year on importing petroleum products and what was expended consequently spent on subsidy. Does any government official or agency know exactly how many barrels of crude oil were supplied to local refineries and at what cost? Figures supplied to the Farouk Lawan Committee by the Finance Ministry were different from those given by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.

Taking suspects, except those who have admitted guilt, to court in the circumstances could tantamount to inviting caustic remarks from irritated judges. What Nigerians should do now is prevail on the Justice Ministry to quickly assess the cases and decide those against whom strong cases could be established and get them prosecuted. It is gratifying to note that money has been recovered from some, but others from whom the wealth of the nation could be recouped must not be allowed to escape. As much as the guilty must be punished severely, the innocent, when identified, should not be guillotined for doing legitimate business. In any case, why is the government overlooking the case of the public officials who aided and abetted the fraud?

It is not out of place to examine the roles played by the Ministers of Finance and petroleum Resouces and the management of the Nigerian National Ptroleum Corporation as well as the PPMC in the saga. Some of them were either guilty of conspiracy or negligence. They should not be spared the rod. Above all, this is not a matter to be swept under the carpet like other cases of corruption. Till date, beyond pushing out prince Vicent Ogbulafor from office, nothing else has been heard about the allegations and the case in court. Another of his worthy and illustrious successors, Dr. Mohammed Bello who went ahead to serve as Minister of Defence until recently has been mentioned in connection with the Siemens scandal.

Former governors including Ayo Fayose (Ekiti); Joshua Dariye (Plateau); Saminu Turaki (Jigawa); Orji Kalu (Abia); Jolly Nyame (Taraba); Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu ); Michael Botmang (Plateau); Boni Haruna (Adamawa) and Rashidi Ladoja have had cases pending against their names in various divisions of the Federal High Court for about six years. None has been convicted and, in some cases, the substantive matters have not even been mentioned. Some have since served in the Senate and others are in the Senate.

Two have contested the presidency and some became rallying points for new political parties. This is not how to fight the corruption war.

In all cases, we have blamed the Ministry of Justice for shoddy preparation and poor investigation. This must not go the same way that those EFCC cases have gone. Between 2008 and 2012, only six of the 49 high profile cases, have been successfully prosecuted. In all the cases, the prosecution has been found wanting in investigations and diligent prosecution. The pressure on the AGF must be sustained to ensure that justice is done.

22

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Politics

Nobody can donate Presidency to any tribe -Rochas Okorocha Governor Rochas Okorocha’s name has featured prominently in South-east’s quest to produce Nigeria’s president in 2015 and the current crisis in his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The Imo State governor spoke on these and other issues in this interview with some senior journalists, including Sam Egburonu

Y

OU just commissioned the Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Centre and inaugurated the board of directors. You seem so excited about the centre. Why? It has always been my dream to have a centre for the Igbo. The Ikemba Ojukwu Centre provides a place for our people to look into our past, our present and our future. So, the centre is basically to look into the Igbo past, Igbo present and Igbo future. There is no other person to be so honoured with such a centre than the late Ikemba Ojukwu, who actually stands for the Igbo, Igbo land and the Igbo man. Having inaugurated the centre with the calibre of people such as Ambassador George Obiozor and other notable personalities, it shows it has become a rallying point for Igbo renaissance, culture, history, technology and I believe very strongly that the Igbo have a lot to offer this country, if given the opportunity.

So, who was Ojukwu to you that you used such a centre to honour him?

Ojukwu to me represented an ideal leader, a selfless leader, a man who never thought of himself but others; a man who was only powerful outside but very weak inside, a true leader. He is an icon who became poor for the sake of the people. He abandoned wealth. So, Ojukwu to me is a great man, greater in death.

Since you joined APGA, there have been calls for regeneration in the party. What are the plans really to make the party one that can rise to the level of presenting and winning the presidential election?

APGA is a political party that is just making its mark now. So, you can call it one of the upcoming political parties. For the first time, it has governors, senators, House of Representatives members and state assemblies too. So, you can call it an upcoming party, whose roots is the strongest in the South-east. So, it is our intention that in 2015, APGA will take over the entire South-east. That would be the first step and probably some few states elsewhere.

APGA is still a party that is trying to find its feet. When parties grow in that way, it becomes stronger when it gets to the apex than parties that just woke up and became large. Their downfall is just that fast too. So, APGA is growing gradually.

That means you have backtracked from the initial position of restructuring the party in a letter you wrote to the National Chairman with the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi? No. I believe there is need for restructuring. Like in Imo State, we have restructured the party.

There is always the argument of 'we have been in this party before you came and how can you do this?' So, restructuring is an on-going thing. It is not an automatic thing. We keep restructuring and amending things gradually. It is a gradual process.

What you are saying really is that the rancour in the party is a temporary thing?

It is very, very temporary. It

•Okorocha

is normal. Where you have two persons even in a family, disagreement is inevitable. Disagreement is part of the political system but what is important is the ability to resolve them when they do occur. And I think we are on top of it. Sometimes, it could be a matter of ego; sometimes, it could be a feeling of insecurity; sometimes, it could be for recognition. What we do is that those who need their ego to be massaged are massaged, those who feel insecure, we guarantee them their security and the party moves on. So far, so good; it is a problem we shall overcome.

But it appears the crisis has divided or separated you from the Anambra State governor, your fellow APGA governor?

Not at all! In fact, if anything, I am very close with the Anambra State governor. We speak on daily basis. He is my brother; he is my friend. I accord him the respect of being in APGA before me. For me, I am just a newcomer to the party. So, I must be careful the way I handle people in the party before me. All I do is advice; can we do it this way, can we do it that way? I am not interested in crisis, neither am I interested in any kind of conflict. So, Peter Obi is not just a friend, he is a brother.

There's no quarrel at all between us.

You just talked about taking over the South-east and a few other states in 2015. Are you saying APGA will not seek to produce the president in 2015?

Definitely, every political party has a right to produce a presidential candidate. It is one thing to produce a presidential candidate and another to produce a president. They are two different issues. Nobody can deny any

party the right to present a presidential candidate but you can deny them the right to produce the president through the ballot box. I think there is nothing wrong in APGA producing a presidential candidate. In fact, any party that does not produce a presidential candidate should be de-registered. But if you are asking me how strong is APGA now to produce Nigerian president in 2015; I will tell you that the way it is structured now, it will be an uphill task for APGA to be alone and win the presidential election in 2015; unless of course the party expands within the next one year. But if APGA has to go for the presidency, then, it will have to go into an alliance with other political parties and I think that's the best way to go if APGA is to make any headway.

As we move towards 2015, the permutations have started and some are saying either Jonathan or the North. So, it seems the South-east is out of the question. It appears as if the zone is being alienated by Nigerians.

It is not Nigeria that is alienating the South-east. It is a wrong statement. Rather, it is the southeast that is alienating itself. They have not demonstrated enough courage in pursuing this course.

They are not pursuing it as business. Our people have not reached that level of politics and

politics is not our main business.

We are mainly businessmen. But gradually, the consciousness is coming.

Nobody can donate presidency to you because you are Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba. You have to struggle for it. First, you have to be a Nigerian to be a president. Where you come from is a small part of it, but who you are is more important than the tribe you come from.

You see, we must begin to repackage ourselves so that the entire nation can buy your stories. The south-east should be able to say to Nigerians, we have a candidate and this candidate is good. That's how to look at the politics of nowadays rather than going back to lick the old wounds of marginalisation.

One year, three months on in the saddle in Imo, would you say you have hit the ground running?

My dream for Imo State is very high. Despite what people think I have done for the state within one year, I still tell you that my dream for the state is very high. People clap and speak of achievements, but I feel I should do more. I stand the risk of being asked from where I am getting the money? I was talking with my Information Commissioner just yesterday and we looked at over 75 projects, countable; that

“You see, we must begin to repackage ourselves so that the entire nation can buy your stories. The south-east should be able to say to Nigerians, we have a candidate and this candidate is good”

are ongoing. When I talk of 75 projects, I mean the 305 ultra modern classrooms being constructed is one project. The 27 general hospitals is one project; the Ikemba Ojukwu Centre is one project; the Heroes Square is one project; the Government House is one project; the Odenigbo Guest House is one project; the First Lady's office is one project.

There are so many projects that if you count them by commissionable projects, it is over a thousand.

The argument against the fourth tier of government in your state is that it would create new laws at the local government levels and politicise the traditional institutions.

How? Everybody on this earth is a political animal, whether you like it or not. And there is no way you can bring development to your land without politics. So, politics and development are bed-fellows. Even before I did that, there were town unions. All I have done is to modernise town unions and call them community development centres, so that you can have a feeling of government at quick, supersonic speed. If you go to the communities today, you will see competition going on in every sector. Let me assure you that in the next 10 years, this will remain the most popular government in Africa.

What is the true position now with the local governments and their chairmen?

The true position now is that the tenure of the local governments and their chairmen has expired- two years as provided by the law. What we are trying to handle now is the aftermath of the expiration vis-a-vis some of

the funds being owed the chairmen and some councilors. There are backlog of them even with those who served before them.

We have cases like that which we are trying to address. But as for their tenure, an expired tenure remains an expired tenure.

But the opposition in the state is warming up against you and they appear to be very strong?

Do you know the truth? I don't even know if there is any opposition in this state. I can't see them and I hardly discuss it because if you are distracted, you lose focus. What I want to do in Imo State is that in the next four years, I will say look at what I have done. I promised Imo people that I am going to beat the late Sam Mbakwe's record. If I leave governance and go into politics now, then it means I am going back to square one.

What's your inspiration?

What inspires me is seeing people happy. I like looking at people's faces and seeing them thanking God for what has happened to them. I am happy when the masses are happy. I want to redefine the essence of creation, rather than power, power, power.

It is the people that inspire me. It is the people that guide my movement, action and thoughts.

There is insinuation that C21 is preparing the ground for a Rochas' presidency in 2015. How true is this?

That's a wrong assertion. C21 is an attempt to bring together all Igbo who-is-who economically. If you like, the wealthy Igbo young men, to champion the cause of the Igbo, without counting costs or returns. There are Pat Chidolue, Chelsea Hotel; Annie Okonkwo and many other members who are trying to help the land. Whoever the Igbo will support for presidency in 2015; the C-21 will lead it. I mean whoever, whether an Igbo man or a non Igbo.

We are also developing some business models on how we can work together. It is just not political.

When you came in less than two years ago, did you underestimate the problems on ground?

What have been your challenges and your rudest shock?

Let me tell you, what I imagined was what I saw. I had a clear picture of the level of deceit. I was not shocked at all. I knew where the problem was and I went for it. I am not one of those who spend four years in power studying.

But one thing that made me laugh was how people can sit down and cook stories of what does not exist. That one, I feel, the people are mad. You know those lies that have no correlation at all. I have seen a lot in the politics of Imo State. Somebody said that civil servants are to pay 10 per cent of their salaries to us. I asked how? What happened was that one day, one civil servant gave us 10 per cent of her salary and I appreciated her. I said move her to the next level of her rank so that others can follow such a good gesture. Does that mean Okorocha is collecting 10 per cent of civil servants' salaries?

23

INSIGHT THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

On-shore, off-shore battle: The never-ending story

• Jonathan

W

HENEVER the issue of revenue sharing is put on the table of national discourse in Nigeria, tempers usually rise to high heavens and participants, in order to emphasise their anger, take little care to avoid the matter from degenerating to name calling. Such has been the case of the onshore, off-shore dichotomy debate.

Way back in 2002, when the matter topped debate at the National Assembly, it generated so much passion until it gained the force of law in February 2004. With the renewed call from some northern leaders for reversion of the onshore, offshore dichotomy, verbal arsenals are currently being thrown from leaders of various stakeholders.

Leading the northern leaders is the Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who raised the debate recently, when he granted an interview to a national daily and described the dichotomy law as unfair.

Alleging that this policy has enriched the Niger Delta States at the expense of the rest of the states in the federation, Kwankwaso threatened that “northern states will push for the revival of the dichotomy in the next phase of constitution review, such that the littoral states of the Niger Delta will receive derivation funds only on crude oil found within their land borders.”

As he put it in that interview, “You see if you have gold in your land and you are claiming certain percentage to be paid to you, one can understand that. But if you have oil wells 200 nautical miles away from your land and you are claiming that that well is your own, I don’t think that is correct.”

As would be expected, the reactions from southern and Niger Delta activists have been equally combative.

For example, the administrator of The Ogoni Civil Society Platform (OSCP), Bari-Ara Kpalap, did not mince words, when he fired back: “The Niger Delta will never accept the reversion of the onshore/offshore dichotomy.

In the 60s, the North enjoyed 50 per cent derivation, now it’s the turn of the South, they are making irrational demand for resources that

• Obasanjo

As the call for reversion of onshore-offshore dichotomy law gathers momentum, Sam Egburonu, Remi Adelowo and Sunday Oguntola trace the genesis of the controversy and examine issues in the current crossfire. do not belong to them,” he said.

The former spokesperson of the Movement of the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), told The Nation that what is needed is total control of oil resources by the South-South region from which taxes would be remitted to the Federal Government.

He posited, “Niger Delta deserves more than it is currently getting. We want total control. Let the north harness its own resources to engender development. We (Niger Delta) will never accept the reversion of the onshore/offshore dichotomy. The north should stop being lazy and feeding fat on the resources of others.”

Another civil rights activist from the south, Fred Ubame, in a telephone interview over the week, told The Nation that those agitating for re-

version of the law are rather insensitive to the plight of the oil producing states. He therefore advised northern leaders to look inwards first by regenerating the strongholds of the region’s wealth.

“They should develop agriculture and the various solid minerals in their zone, rather than hurting over allocations and making vexatious allegations and claims,” he said.

The Presidency, aware of the dangers of this exchange of words, has expressed concern over renewed calls for onshore, off-shore dichotomy, describing it as a deliberate attempt to heat up the polity.

“Some of the pronouncements are disruptive, out-rightly mischievous, and aimed at causing disaffection,” the Presidency said in a state-

ment by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati. “The Presidency strongly advises such politicians to desist from playing up sectional and ethnic sentiments, over a matter that was addressed eight years ago to the benefit of all parties concerned.”

The statement added; “Those who are issuing threats and counter-threats over every issue, are obviously not just re-inventing a controversy, they seem determined to fuel acrimony and needless conflict.”

It would be recalled that the onshore-offshore dichotomy was abrogated in 2004; two years after the Supreme Court, in 2002, ruled that the federal government has powers of control over oil derived offshore. The law states

•Continued on Page 26

ALLOCATION OF REVENUE (ABOLITION OF DICHOTOMY IN THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF DERIVATION) SECTION 1. Abrogation of the Onshore and Offshore Dichotomy.

2. Short title.

[Commencement.]

[16th February, 2004] 1. Abrogation of the Onshore and Offshore Dichotomy (1) As from a commencement of this Act, the two hundred meter water depth Isobaths contiguous to a State of the Federation shall be deemed to be a part of that State for the purposes of computing the revenue accruing to the Federation Account from the State pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 or any other enactment.

[L.F.N. 2004 Cap. C23.]

(2) Accordingly, for the purposes of the application of the Principle of Derivation, it shall be immaterial whether the revenue accruing to the Federation Account from a State is derived from natural resources located onshore or offshore.

2. Short title This Act maybe cited as the Allocation of Revenue (Abolition of Dichotomy in the Application of the Principle of Derivation) Act, 2004.

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION No Subsidiary Legislation Copyright © 2011, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre.

All Rights Reserved.

24

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

THE SUNDAY INTERVIEW

‘In Delta State, kidnapping has become something political to embarrass government’

fice?

Before you take up an assignment, naturally you want to look at the challenges ahead of you, and how to deal with them. In the course of looking at the challenges ahead in 2006 so many issues were thrown up; they were very many – maybe up to a hundred. It is not easy to tackle a hundred issues; we now had to merge a lot of them and narrow them down. That’s how we merged them to three key areas. We believe that under this three-point agenda we can deal with anything in governance. What are these three? Being a state in the Delta region at that time, one of the key issues was that of security. This was at the peak of the Niger-Delta crisis. You had had three major ethnic groups - Itsekiri, Ijaw, Urhobo - warring against each other, and then you had the militancy. So we had that as one agenda – peace and security. The next thing was the infrastructure problem. One of the reasons why those guys were agitating was that there was no adequate development in the Niger Delta – and that has to do with infrastructure. Third is the issue of human capacity development. Whatever problem or challenges you needed to deal with would fall under any of these three categories. What is life about? It’s about those three issues.

That was how we started our Three-point Agenda. But in terms of strategizing to deal with the overall challenge of economic growth with translates to job creation, we came up with the idea that … yes, we are in an oil-producing area and that means an oil economy in which about 90 to 95 percent of the revenue will come from oil. How do we use that oil money to develop other areas of the economy? That was how we came up with the slogan, initially, “Delta Without Oil,” but people said no – we are not praying that there will be no oil. It now became “Delta Beyond Oil.” Without peace and security it is not possible to develop the area in terms of infrastructure; you cannot go into the creeks and start to construct roads when there is no peace and security.

Without peace and security, without infrastructure, and human capital development… so you have these three agenda interwoven; you require one to do the other. Strategically that is how we have planned the state, and I would say that the planning is not just planning for four or eight years: it is a plan for 60 years. We are just starting it and hopefully any other person can come in and take it up.

Let’s look at one of those items: security – particularly the issue of kidnapping. Recently there has been an upsurge of incidents. Your own uncle was kidnapped. With such high-profile victims, the kidnappers are making a very strong statement. What are you doing to deal with the problem?

How did the kidnappings develop? The Niger-Delta crisis itself created a lot of new criminal activities. It created illegal bunkering and now has also created kidnapping.

We had armed robbery before the Niger-Delta crisis but the crisis itself, again, created more armed robbery. The

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•Continued on Page 25

• Uduaghan

“

Let me put it on record that as a governor I have conducted one local government election in my first tenure. So I am not afraid to conduct one – at the end we will have winners and losers and we will manage the two sides.

“

E

VERY administration has some catchy slogan that attempts to capture its vision. Yours speaks of a “Three-point Agenda”. Beyond sloganeering, what has this translated to in real terms on the ground in your time in of-

Niger-Delta crisis also created election thuggery. What now happened was that during elections people had more arms. So we now had what I would call new categories of crime: some had been there but heightened following the Niger-Delta crisis which brought more arms into the area. The first case of kidnapping in the Niger-Delta involved white men … I was Secretary to the State Government then, and the current President was Governor of Bayelsa; it happened in Bayelsa then.

Former President Obasanjo set up a committee to go and rescue the people; I represented Delta State on the committee. President Jonathan was chairman of the committee. The guys kidnapped those white men asking for ransom and all that. After that they now found out that kidnapping – especially white men - was fetching them more. When the Niger-Delta crisis started cooling down, people from outside the area – especially the East – now found that it was easier to do kidnapping than armed robbery; the returns were even more. From there it started spreading round the country; it is virtually a national problem now. In Delta State what has happened is that because we have so many borders with some neighbouring states where kidnappers are very active, sometimes as they are being driven from these states they try to come to Delta to operate. That is one It has become factor. The other factor is that something the rate of armed robbery is going down: armed robbers political to now find it cheaper, easier embarrass and more rewarding to do government. If kidnapping. Thirdly, and I mention this because of your you notice, reference to my relation, is virtually every the political angle to it. It has top government become something political embarrass government. If official has had to you notice, virtually every one person or the top government official has other kidnapped had one person or the other in recent times: in recent times: kidnapped the Secretary to the State the Secretary to Government, the Speaker – virtually everybody. Now it the State is targeting government ofGovernment, the ficials – which I think is more of a political issue. The other Speaker – challenge is that in trying to virtually deal with it, the structures that everybody. Now are put up become part of the problem. But having said all it is targeting these, we need to deal with government it. We have put up a lot of officials – which strategies – working with the Army, SSS and all the I think is more of Police, other security agencies. But a political issue. much more important is intelligence gathering. So I have been going round holding consultations and dialogue with traditional rulers, religious leaders, community leaders and human rights bodies and all that –letting all of us know that we have to be involved in letting the agencies know - because these people live amongst us. I was just telling them how it happens… the key kidnappers might not be in the state. They might be somewhere else; they have rackets but somebody in the state is used as a contact.

Sometimes, from what we have found - mainly drivers, stewards, cooks and all that. They are the people who give all the necessary information. It’s a big racket.

So we are intensifying our intelligence gathering mechanisms by sensitizing various categories of our people to give us information. Of course, we have also gone into acquiring some things that one would not like to mention to help us in tracking these things.

But the House of Assembly wanted to help you out with a tough new legislation providing for the death penalty for kidnappers and you’ve refused to sign the bill?

They’ve not passed the bill – let me first of all correct that. It is still in the making. They held a public presentation and I sent my AG; that is not unusual. On the issue of death sentence, I don’t believe in the death sentence: it has never solved any crime. We’ve had public firing squads for armed robbers – where the

“

Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, is the mild-mannered sort. But that has not shielded him from being embroiled in all manner of controversies – from the manner of his succession to former Governor James Ibori’s seat, to running media battles with Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, as well as questions over his stewardship so far.

Recently, he sat down with Festus Eriye and Mobolaji Sanusi in Asaba to address everything from the rising wave of kidnappings to the rationale behind the new Asaba International Airport.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

public are told to come and watch – it never solved anything. Anini’s case is typical in Benin. He was publicly executed but it never reduced armed robbery. Public execution or death sentence has never reduced any crime. What is your goal in punishment?

Your goal is to be able to reduce that crime. There are states that have signed it and it has not reduced criminality in such states. It has not also reduced kidnapping in those states. They have not even killed one person. I don’t want us to make death sentence an issue as if it is something that can solve the problem.

So why are bothering our heads over something that will not help us? There are so many things I told my AG, which we’ve articulated and submitted, that can reduce kidnapping.

Kidnappings, abductions and other such activities have led to growing calls for state police. Where do you stand on the matter?

I have said it privately and publicly for everybody to hear, that I am a strong advocate of state police. The police as it is now are doing their best under the circumstances and various constraints in which they find themselves. But the world over – every federation - to be able to reduce issues have resorted to community policing which is called state police. They are the same thing. The principle is that it is easier for somebody who knows the area and who also knows the people, to be able to bust a crime – than for a stranger to come and do it. And if you are from that area and a crime occurs, if you don’t handle it properly, your relations are there, your family is there also. What has happened to the other person’s family can happen to you. So because you don’t want it to touch you, you will be more thorough, more objective in investigating and try to deal with it. So I believe very strongly in community or state policing and I believe it will reduce the level of crime now.

There have been a lot of arguments that it will be abused. Of course, we also know that the federal police are abused. A governor has been kidnapped or harassed by them before. Anybody can abuse whatever outfit, but I believe that under the circumstances we have now it will be easier to manage with state police. Yes, some people can abuse it, but what also happens is that as people abuse a system or an action

and people talk more about it, the abuse reduces. We’ve just had a young girl – Cynthia – who died because of the use of social media. Will you say because of that people should not use Facebook? We all have Facebook pages – it is just that we’ll be more cautious because we have seen some negative aspects of the social media. That is the same thing that will happen with the state police.

Let me also say this, many of the governors – at least 15 governors - are on their second tenures; they are on their way out. So by the time you even actualize this thing you are talking about they are already gone, so you cannot be saying because of one governor or the other…

Can you walk us through what really happened in the Governors Forum regarding the state police issue which appears to have split the body in two. Your Northern colleagues are firmly against the idea whose main advocates are from the South. What is going on?

The disagreement is not as fierce as is being portrayed now. Yes, people have their positions… Democracy is looking at what is on the table if you can take one position or the other. But I also believe that what has worsened it in the last few months or so is the state of the finances. I think that some of my colleagues are worried about how they will finance the state police. If you look at the arguments, they are saying give the governors more control; let the Commissioner of Police come from my state, let most of those being recruited into the police come from my state – which almost like state police. The difference is ‘let the federal government will fund it’. So if you look at the arguments they are putting up I think it is more of a funding issue. All of us agree in principle that something has to be done about the police. All of us agree that the governors have to take more control of the police than they are doing now. Police commissioners don’t have to clear from the federal before taking an action if the state governor says do this. All of us are saying the same thing but I think it’s just the different ways of tackling it. It may also be because of the current state of funding because in the last 24 months funding coming to the states has really dropped drastically. You can states even struggling to pay salaries.

The Northerners are really angry over the quantum of money going to the Niger-Delta states. They say states such as yours receive federal funds from as many six streams. Aside 13% derivation, Ecological Fund, you have Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, NDDC etc. Most Northern can only count on two streams. Is this fair? Are you not taking too much out of our collective purse to the

“

There have been a lot of arguments that it will be abused. Of course, we also know that the federal police are abused. A governor has been kidnapped or harassed by them before. Anybody can abuse whatever outfit, but I believe that under the circumstances we have now it will be easier to manage with state police. Yes, some people can abuse it, but what also happens is that as people abuse a system or an action and people talk more about it, the abuse reduces.

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•Continued from Page 24

THE SUNDAY INTERVIEW

25

detriment of others?

There are so many federal ministries that are doing nothing in Delta if they want to count ministries. There’s no federal road being constructed in Delta. None! Not one kilometer and they are constructing roads. If you want to start counting on that basis you will count and count. Whatever the federal government is spending…the Federal Medical Center that they have they are not funding. I am the one funding most of the federal agencies in Delta State. They are looking for houses, I rent. They are looking for vehicles, I buy vehicles for them. NESREA said if I don’t open an office for them, if I don’t buy vehicles, if I don’t buy this or that they won’t have an office in Delta – a Niger-Delta state that has a lot of environmental problems. And I said I won’t! If we go into that kind of debate I don’t think they can withstand that debate. I quite sympathise with the situation in those states, but even those oil producing states that they are talking about, they don’t think of the ecological and environmental damage and the difficulty in the terrain. I wish it was possible for people to get to the southern part of Delta State and see some of the roads we are constructing: a road where you have to sand-fill first to almost four or five feet before you even start constructing. The cost of sand-filling alone, the cost of constructing a kilometer of road in some of those places can construct 20 kilometers of road in some other places.

They don’t take those things into consideration when they are making those arguments. Sometimes the cost of putting up a foundation of a particular school building is much more than the cost of the other part of the building itself. So you have those challenges. Of course, when there’s a wage increase our states say we should pay what the federal government is paying. So the commitment of states in this area is much higher. Every state has its challenges. No state has enough – let me just put it like that. I try not to compare one state to other because every state has its own challenges. I came as governor of Delta State without an airport in the state capital, without a Government House – we just had to construct one - but there are some states which have been in existence for years and have well established Government Houses, they airports, everything. But as you come in you identify your priorities. You cannot imagine the challenges of producing this oil that is giving them the money – the

•Continued on Page 50

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

INSIGHT •Continued from Page 23

that the 13 per cent derivation in revenues allocated to the littoral states will be taken from oil extracted offshore.

Since the passage of that law, during the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, there have been claims that the litoral states are getting too much from the commonwealth.

Aside the statutory allocation from the federation account, such states enjoy 13 percent derivation, added to the benefits that would naturally accrue from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the activities of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), among others.

On-shore, off-shore controversy

The genesis/intrigues of the agitation:

Kwankwaso has been quoted as blaming the passage of the onshore-offshore bill on members of the National Assembly from the North who served between 1999 and 2003, saying they sold out even after they were forewarned on the consequences.

“I remember...of course Obasanjo refused to sign the (initial) bill because it was not fair and it was taken back to the National Assembly for two-thirds (to override the veto),” Kwankwaso said.

After Obasanjo’s refusal to sign the bill passed in late 2002, the House of Representatives passed it by a two-thirds majority in March 2003 but did not get concurrence from the Senate up to the end of the Assembly’s tenure in June 2003.

Giving insight to the intrigues that surrounded the dichotomy bill and law, Kwakwanso said, “The night before (the veto override) there was nothing I did not do to my members in Kano, especially…, In fact, the night before, Senator Gemade, then national chairman of the PDP, called me, and also called all the governors in the North to beg us to talk to all our members, seeing that our members were going to give two thirds to the bill.

“I called all our members but to my dismay they went and supported onshore-offshore (abrogation) and sold out. That is the most unfortunate thing that happened to the North in this political dispensation from 1999 to date,” he regretted.

He blamed the law for the alleged poverty in the northern part of the country, pointing out constitutional review must address the matter.

Though the Senate and the House of Representatives, in October 2002, at separate sessions, passed the first bill abrogating the dichotomy, a controversy arising from some technical definitions led to political horse-trading, forcing Obasanjo to withhold assent temporarily.

Reports said the original bill Obasanjo sent to the lawmakers “sought to limit application of the offshore revenue to 24 nautical miles spanned by the ‘contiguous zones adjoining the coastal state’, which implied a distance of 45 kilometers.”

This was not generally accepted, so it became a subject of intense lobby, a development that favoured application to 200 nautical miles which it termed the ‘continental shelf and exclusive economic zone contiguous to a littoral state.’

So, the bill was on November 12, 2002 passed by the House of Representatives, during the tenure of Hon. Ghali Na’Abba as speaker.

Obasanjo wrote a letter to the House dated November 26, 2002, saying he would not assent to the bill because it was far-reaching and was a potential source of conflict between Nigeria and its neighbours. The letter was read on the floor of the House on December 12, 2002.

After that, Obasanjo accepted to grant 24 nautical miles from the coast to the littoral states because any more distance into the sea might, according to him, violate other countries’ claim to the international waters. There was a kind of impasse as the House passed the law by twothirds majority on March 10, 2003. At the end of the session in June that year however, the senate was yet to give the concurrent assent.

This was later resolved during the next National Assembly session as the bill was passed by the House on January 21, 2004 under Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, and also by the Senate under Senator Adolphus Wabara. So, Obasanjo finally signed the bill into law on February 16, 2004.

It would be recalled that the government opted for political solution on the onshore-offshore dichotomy controversy following Supreme Court ruling of April 5, 2002.

But in his reaction to the ongoing controversy, Mr. Iniruo Wills, a human rights lawyer and environmental activist, said it amounts to setting logic on its head by putting what he described as “illogical reasoning” of northerners concerning the offshore/onshore issue.

Noting that it was wrong for anybody from any part of the country to argue that proceeds from oil revenue should be shared equally, he added that issues concerning revenue genera-

•Justice Aloma Mukhtar, CJN

•Senate President David Mark

tion and sharing should not be debated as states should control their resources.

A politician from the South-South, who would not want to be quoted, did not also find the call funny. “For me, these calls for reversal of the widelysupported abrogation of onshore/offshore dichotomy are nothing but a grand plot against the

South-South region by some myopic and wicked elements masquerading as leaders.”

A Port Harcourt-based lawyer, Mr. Kingsley Osuji was more scathing in his condemnation of the Northern governors. His words: “the governors should roll up their sleeves and develop the resources in their states. Because of the oil revenue,

none of them is thinking of how they can harness the limitless natural resources in their areas.

“They are used to making easy money; did the late Ahmadu Bello build the Ahmadu Bello University and the other legacies he left behind from oil revenue? The answer is no! In fact, I would suggest that the 13 percent derivation to the Niger Delta should be increased to at least 50 per cent.”

Is the Niger Delta over funded?

In a space of just two years, allocation of resources to the oil-producing region has more than tripled, a development many believe amounts to overindulgence, reports Sunday Oguntola

A

•Gov. Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom

•Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Kano

RE South-South states over funded?

Yes, nearly all Northerners believe.

The oil-producing states, according to them, get too much from the nation’s earnings. Former Yobe State Governor, Senator Bukar Ibrahim, is one of the Northern leaders irked by the alleged overfunding of oil-producing states.

The Senate Chairman of Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development believes the current revenue allocation formula gives oil-producing states undue advantages over others. According to him: “Imagine a country where you have 36 states and you have 9 states privileged group in a so-called oil producing states that are getting money than they can manage or need. We also have the other group of states which have only one source of revenue and that are the monthly allocation from the federal government.”

He pointed to the many other sources of incomes available to South- South states.

“They (oil-producing states) have the federation take home, 13 percent derivation, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs with hundreds of billions of naira for projects in the region, the NDDC with billions of naira, the oil companies doing a lot and finally the Federal Government gives very handsome grants to oil-producing states under all sorts of guises. You also have the Amnesty Programme, all in the same region.”

The South-South also draws from the Ecological Fund, a special initiative of the Federal Government to support states affected by ecological problems. This is beside the $40 million paid yearly to some ex-militants to guard pipelines in the region.

Northerners are furious the volume of government revenues going to the Niger Delta is not only unprecedented but also overblown. To them, this lopsided policy is because President Goodluck Jonathan hails from the region. They alleged that this accounts for the underdevelopment of the North and other parts of the nation.

In December 2011, for example, all the South-South states, except Edo and Cross Rivers, were in the first six that received the

largest monthly allocations from the federal government. Northerners believe this is unfair and unjustifiable.

But indigenes of the Niger Delta believe whatever they get is more than well-deserved and even insufficient considering the massive environmental degradation the region has been suffering for years. The administrator of The Ogoni Civil Society Platform (OSCP), Bari-Ara Kpalap, said: “Niger Delta deserves more than it is getting. We insist that we want such autonomy that will enable us to control all the resources in our land. We want total control. Let the North harness their own resources for their development.

“The Niger Delta will never accept the reversion of the onshore/offshore dichotomy. In the 60s, the North enjoyed 50 per cent derivation, now it’s the turn of the South; they are making irrational demand for resources that do not belong to them.”

He added: “The Niger Delta is sufficiently aggrieved that it has been disposed of its resources by the rest of Nigeria. We will not accept further dispossession. We have been feeding this country for too long. The North should please allow the sleeping dog to lie.

They should mine their own resources, while we control ours. They should stop being lazy and feeding fat on the resources of others”.

National President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), Miabiye Kuromiema and nine others in a communiqué in Port- Harcourt accused the North of insensitivity to the plights of the Niger Delta region.

According to them: “We are alarmed the governors of the Middle Belt could join in this show of shame in their failing to break from the traditional manipulative hold over them by these far North politicians.’’

The council frowned at the failure of northern governors and elites to develop economic potentials in their region, stating that over-dependence on oil revenues has made the North beggarly.

Indigenes of South-South do not deny getting more from the federal government but believes whatever accrues to them is more than justified and redresses years of injustice meted out to them.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Nigerian beauty

pageants still

evolving -Elohor Aisien

Page 43

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Glamour

Kehinde Falode Tel: 08023689894 (sms)

E-mail: kehinde.falode@thenationonlineng.net

•Net gelee

In vogue with net gele

•Atinuke Solanke

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Glamour

Flirty flats

By Wumi Oguntuase

•Evelyn Okeke

Tips •Tonye Faloughi

•Model

29

30

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Glamour

•Mo Abudu

Still graceful

•Nkiru Anumudu

after 40

•Nike Oshinowo

•Aisha Babangida

How does one achieve this?

32

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Glamour

1

Joan Edward-Oghoyemwen is a fashion designer who runs a clothing line, fashion school and modelling outfit. She is currently the Niger-Delta fashion designer of the year. She shares her top ten favourite things with Wumi Oguntuase.

Favourite footwear designer Nine West and Clarks

2

Favourite perfume designer J'dore by Christian Dior

3

Favourite sunglasses designer Roberto Cavalli

4

Favourite skin products Makari and Beauty Fair

5

Favourite clothes designer JOAN EDE Collection

6

Favourite drink & food ‘Cocktails’ and cabbage and garden egg sauce with yam

7

Favourite hangout spot My Bedroom (am an indoor girl).

8 Favourite make-up designer

Joan’s

p o t

0 1

Black Opal and Giny

9

Favourite fashion quote The only one rule in fashion is that there are no rules...

10

Favourite pet(s) Cats and English rabbits

THEATRE

t

BIGSCREEN

With VICTOR AKANDE

I

N her bid to further preach against the dangers of Vesico Vaginal Fistula, which is very common among women in the northern part of Nigeria, Stephanie Okereke Idahosa is presently on location shooting her new movie titled, Dry. According to her, "This is a cause I am very passionate about.

I have been to the north and to other parts of the country, and I have seen first-hand how this health issue defies normal living for girls and women of different ages.

"I have decided to share their stories through Dry. It journeys into the heart-wrenching details of a culture not too many films dare to explore. The issue might seem controversial, but if the movie sets one girl free and open the minds of the people, and also instructs different bodies and individuals to take action, then the movie would have served its purpose."

VVF is caused by leakages of urine and feaces through the vagina. It is rampant in the north due to forced marriage girls at the age of 11 are made to go through.

This causes a cut in their vagina during labour as a result of their small pelvic.

Stephanie Okereke fights VVF

E-mail:

GISTS

PAGE

33

plus

victor_akande@yahoo.com

Maltina Dance All 6 set to hit TV screens

T

•Stephanie Okereke

Tuface goes classical in The Evening

W

•Tuface

SOUND TRACK

ITH his rebranded annual ball tagged The Evening scheduled to hold November 25 at the Muson Centre, comedy merchant, Opa Williams, has announced that the event is held in association with the Nigerian Society for the Blind.

Describing it as the “perfect Xmas gift” anyone can give to loved ones, Opa said that the event will turn out to be the biggest and most unique charity ball in 2012 as three tables have been reserved for members of Nigerian Society for the Blind. Over 30 percent of proceeds, he said, will be set aside for the procurement of Brail machines as well as other visual support materials for the visually impaired.

Opa explained that the event is more than a concert. “The Evening is a different platform that is unique and a perfect gift you can give your loved ones, business partners and friends,” he added.

The high profile event, Williams said, offers a platform where people of similar interests meet and network while they savour unique entertainment with a superstar Afro hip hop artiste, Tuface, performing all his songs backed by the 50-man Marina Choir Orchestra.

HE much awaited Maltina Dance All Family reality TV show will hit major TV stations across the country and beyond today, Sunday September 2, 2012. This is coming after exciting regional auditions and it will continue on a daily basis until the grand finale which will be held on September 22, 2012.

The show, which is in its sixth season, has over the years attracted a cult following among Nigeria's youths and families because of its ability to bring family members together. The show will be beamed on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) 5.30pm, Africa Independent Television (AIT) 9.00pm, Silverbird TV (STV) 8.00pm and Africa Magic (DSTV) 8.00pm.

The sum of N6 million and a brand new car is the star prize for

F

Fans agog for Wyclef, Sound Sultan’s Collabo

the winner of this year's edition. The First and Second Runners Up will also get N1million and N500, 000 respectively. The show, according to Mrs Ngozi Nkwoji, senior brand manager, Maltina is renowned for promoting togetherness with friends and loved ones.

According to Mrs Nkwoji, Maltina Dance All was introduced in 2007.

“The family TV show has no doubt remained Nigeria's first and only family dance TV show featuring families from various regions across the country. From the 2007 edition which produced the Onye family as winners, Maltina Dance All has gone through five successful seasons. In 2008, it was the Opuwari family that carted away the star prize; in 2009, the Ibiams were voted the nation's best dance family. The Adejoh's were champions in 2010, while in 2011 the Ekubo's were crowned the best dance family with the unforgettable swinging moves of Ebi Ekubo and his little sister.”

OR the fourth time, Nigeria's Hip Hop sensation, Sound Sultan is collaborating with award-winning Haitian American singer, Wyclef Jean.

Tagged 'People Bad', the work, which is said to be another massive hit, is exclusively available on Spinlet.

Produced by Jaysleek, the fusion, according to Mark Redguard, Chief Marketing Officer of Spinlet, “provides another opportunity for Nigeria to showcase her incredible talent and is sure to be a favourite amongst their devoted fans.”

In the words of Sound Sultan, “I had a blast on this recent song with Wyclef. He is an incredible, talented and supportive artiste and I'm really looking forward to other opportunitie s to work again with him and other international artistes.”

34

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Entertainment

39

I may never get married, if... —Bimbo Akintola Rising Star: Sym 19

Sport&Style THE NATION

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

RED

HOT

Ronaldo's gal suffers wardrobe malfunction, shows off in underwear photo shoot

PAGE 35

AMBROSE EFE How my wife

Charmed

me

PUCKER-UP

Roger Federer kisses wife on the street of New York

BROWN IDEYE OPENS UP

My rough, tough life at Ajegunle

By Taiwo Alimi

B

ROWN Ideye, Nigeria's Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine top scorer, has not forgotten about his tough and rough upbringing in Ajegunle-a downtown district in the bowel of Lagos, Nigeria.

Widely regarded as ghetto, Ajegunle has produced some of the crème of Nigerian sports and entertainment stars and Ideye is proud of his humble background, saying he won't be where he is today but for the rough and ride lifestyle he grew up with.

“Ajegunle is the home of talented people,” Ideye stated. “I was one of the street boys in Ajegunle and you know how they describe Ajegunle boys as rough guys.

“I had rough life on the streets of Ajegunle where I started my football

career but I have no regret coming from that town. I am a proud footballer from Ajegunle. It is very hard for a young player growing up in Ajegunle, very hard but we give God the glory today that I'm one of the stars to have come out of such background.”

Ideye proudly recalls growing up in Ajegunle as very difficult yet interesting. He did not mince words referring to himself as a proud ghetto boy: “I have always believed that I would become a great footballer in my career. Charity begins at home, mixing up with Ajegunle boys then did not make me lose my focus even though it was a rough life but I was focused on my dreams.

“Ajegunle boys are ambitious and that is what most people do not know about the Contd. On page 36

36

37

NATION SPORT & STYLE SUNDAY, September 2, 2012

NATION SPORT & STYLE

NATION SPORT & STYLE

RED HOT

Ronaldo's gal suffers wardrobe malfunction, shows off in underwear photo shoot

Real reason Shaquille

O'Neal dumped long-time fiancée

HOME ALONE Basketball Wives star endures lonely day on beach

‘How my wife charmed me!’ Abbey Crouch wows From page 38

PUCKER-UP

in an acid wash bikini

Sport&Style SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

PAGE 38

PAGE 38

‘My rough, tough life at Ajegunle’

From page 35 place. I was always praying to God then to take my game to the highest level and I am very proud of what I have achieved today,” Ideye further revealed.

Excerpts...

You have always been on top of your game right from your playing days in Switzerland, what exactly is the secret of your scoring ability?

My wife, my kid always make me happy and they inspire me to do my best. I always like to score at every game to make them happy as well, but aside that, I never doubted my ability. I always see myself as a young player who has a lot to give in this game and that propels me to go all out.

What is your target this season?

To score more goals and help my club win more trophies.

Let's go personal, how do you relax off the pitch?

I love staying with my wife and kids and we love seeing new places around the town or outside. Sometimes, we travel out of the country to see nice places.

We also go to beach to catch fun.

You socialise a lot on Facebook, how do you cope with demands from fans?

Yes, I have a Facebook account but unfortunately am too busy to be online all the time; I'm hardly online, though I stay longer on Skype. But anytime I open my Facebook, I relate well with people, even people I don't know but I'm not addicted to Facebook. I do upload my pictures and that of my family, make comment and post on my wall when necessary. I also share my story with friends and the public as time permits.

How do you cope with female fans?

I don't give room for girls because I have a beautiful wife. Of course I have female friends and fans and I relate with them as friends and my wife knows everybody I know.

How would you describe your wife?

She is a very contented person.

She is beautiful, easy going and always a charming lady. She is my Number 1 supporter and I am happy to have her as my wife.

What do you admire about

EFE AMBROSE

How my wife

charmed me! “ Do you know the difference between a beautiful woman and a charming one?” Adlai Stevenson, American dear-departed politician, asked rhetorically. “A beauty is a woman you notice, a charmer is one who notices you.”

Indeed, we don't have to look further than the romantic side of Efe Ambrose and his adorable wife, Adenike, to reason along

By Morakinyo Abodunrin & Tunde Liadi

with Stevenson following the Super Eagle’s disclosure that he's passionately linked with his wife like the Olympics rings!

“Adenike has been succour to me since the demise of my parents and I love her so much,” revealed Ambrose, when they tied the knot at the Barnawa Baptist Church,

Kaduna last year. “Adenike is the joy of my life, she likes football a lot and she loves the game more since she knew that I am professional football player.”

The Ambroses will mark their wedding anniversary on September 29th and the F.C. Ashdod's Super Eagles' defender has sensationally told The Nation Sport & Style how his food technology-trained wife found a road to his heart.

“Of course, my ideal woman is my wife and that is why I married her,” Ambrose stated, alluding to Connie Brockway's sentiment in The Bridal Season that 'charm is getting people to say "yes" without ever having to ask them a question!' “Adenike is exemplary and a God-fearing woman. It was her personality that charmed me and I love everything about her.

“Her life style is so appealing to me. She is an easy going lady, very humble and I think it is her Christian background that influences her. These are some of the qualities that attracted me to her.

“Marriage has been good to us and me particularly. It has brought a lot of goodies to me. It has made the blessing of God shower on me more than before. It has

Contd. On page 37

your wife?

It is her decency and intelligence.

She has always been there for me both morally and spiritually. I understand the fact that there are lots of woman in this world but it takes the grace of God to choose the right one.

You posted your wife and kid pictures on Facebook, but why is your kid sporting the same haircut as yours? Are you grooming him to become a footballer too?

By the grace of God, I want to give him a good life. But he will determine what he wants to be in his life. I will not choose for him. On the haircut, I want him to feel my swagger! There is absolutely nothing bad in that and his mother loves it.

You wife delivered a baby boy recently, what are your plans for these boys?

My children would decide on what they want to be while I would be ready to deliver in terms of support. I'm so thrilled that when we had another boy recently. I was really excited about it.

His arrival would spur me to success this season. I would try and win a trophy for my new baby boy this season.

You have some tattoos on your body, which one do you like best?

The one I wrote my wife's name and my kid's birthday. My wife is my life and my kid is the future we are building, so they are special.

Who is your role model?

Ronaldo de Limar of Brazil While staying in Ajegunle, how difficult was it for you to choose football ahead of education?

I had series of battles with my family before I could take football as my profession. Everybody in my family did not want me to play football. In fact, they didn’t want my lifestyle as a footballer but I thank God that I was able to prove to them that footballer could make brilliant career. They wanted me to go to school, not to be a footballer. I always quarrelled with my dad and mum including my elderly ones whenever I was going for a match in the street.

In fact I was beaten for playing football. But all has become history today.

What should Nigerians expect following your recall to the Super Eagles?

I have not done much in the team because of limited opportunities and I think I can do better if given the time. Nigerians should always expect that I would give more than 100 percent when playing for the Super Eagles.

40

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

I am not broke —Faze Ex-Plantaishun Boiz member, Chibuzor Orji, otherwise called Faze, has done credibly well in his career as a solo artiste. One of the biggest selling artistes of this generation, being the first artiste to ever have his first three albums going platinum, Faze is set to release his fourth album titled Refazed. The quiet and easy-going R&B crooner opened up on a number of issues in this interview with AHMED BOULOR

Femi Kuti, KSB laud GBOB initiative

W

ITH the aim of taking musicmaking back to the basics, the Global Battle of the Bands (GBOB), on Thursday, August 23 was officially launched at the Silverbird Galleria. At the unveiling of the strictly-forbands reality show, Raycharles Ogolo explained that the competition seeks to empower talented youths and aspiring artistes in Nigeria and its environs while aiding them in actualising their dreams of becoming music superstars. A GBOB, he said, is known to be the world's largest music competition for bands and it has finally extended its operations to Nigeria.

Ogolo revealed that the competition is open to all bands of all ages, music genres and professional standing, whether signed or unsigned. The bands, he said, are to play their own songs composed by themselves.

“It will be live on stage. There will be no pre-recorded karaoke cover, no miming of any known song of an artiste living or dead.

It is all about originality, fairness and uniqueness to become state, national or world champion,” Ogolo added.

Present at the event where Keke Ogungbe, Femi Kuti and Kenny St. Best, who all threw their weight behind the competition. According to Femi Kuti, a competition like GBOB should be encouraged as it seeks to bring out originality in artistes.

As revealed by Ogolo, GBOB West Africa will feature a three-step competition. There will be local qualifying heats leading to the national final. The winner will travel abroad to compete with the remaining winners in 48 countries at GBOB World Final later this year.

•Femi Kuti

Pikolo celebrates birthday in grand style From, Osemwengie Ogbemudia, Benin

I

I took off my dreadlock because I am in a process of re-fazing my career; besides, I am not getting any younger…

T was a gathering of who-is-who in the entertainment industry when Edo born comedian and entertainer, Daniel Eromosele, aka Pikolo, added another year at the weekend with an unforgettable shindig at his G.R.A residence.

The party which began in the evening until the early hours was full of the usual glamour and glitz that is always associated when celebrities like Pikolo decide to roll out the drums to celebrate.

With music flowing from the DJ, Pikolo and his friends in the entertainment industry took to the dance floor in style, with ace comedian cum musician, Malake, showing the guests why he is one of the most sought-after entertainers in the industry today.

Some of the entertainers who thronged the event included Maleke Franchize, Sleezy E, Efex, Youngest Landlord, Miyaki, Saint Patrick, JB Niro MC Allanmano, Smokey Jay, Neavy T, Lyn Jay. Lil Brown, Shak Ranky and other entertainers from across the country.

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

41

ch C • GUS 8 contestants, bat

s

•Past contestant

Usaka lures Gulder for

‘Ultimate search’ •GUS 8 winner, Chris topher Okagbue

•Mr. Edem Vindah, Media and Public Affairs Manager(fourth from left, front row) and Mr. Tony Agenmonmen, Marketing Manager-Lager (fifth from left, front row), both of Nigerian Breweries Plc. posing with past contestants of Gulder Ultimate Search

42

Entertainment

BIG

PICTURE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

CINEMA GUIDE LAGOS

Supported by: SILVERBIRD CINEMAS

In The Cupboard:

The rich also cry

ABUJA

PORT HARCOURT

The Watch: Boys’ time out

43

Glamour

y t u a e b n a i r e Nig

g n i v l o v e l l i pageants st n e i s i A r o h o l -E

Elohor Elizabeth Aisien is a model and one-time Miss Nigeria UK. The current Creative Director, Miss Nigeria and CEO, Beth Modelling Agency, organisers of Elite Model Look. She shared with Adetutu Audu her vision for the Miss Nigeria project and issues affecting the Nigerian modelling industry

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Glamour

44

Social

ADETUTU AUDU (E-mail: crownkool@yahoo.com, Tel: 08023849036)

Goddy Anabor goes bankrupt?

L

Nena Kal Hunter, the mystery hand behind Alex Oti's Morning Side Suite

AGOS socialite and billionaire businessman, Goddy Anabor, is in the news again. Information has it that the Edo State-born billionaire is battling hard times and in fact homeless.

As the story goes, Anabor, who was the toast of musicians many years ago when his praise was usually sung to high heavens, has sold all his choice properties in Lagos. Not only this, the Fugar, Edo State-born socialite also owes some hotels in Lagos where he used to hide huge amounts of money, and sources say the hotels are not willing to accommodate him any more.

With this development, sources claim, Anabor's remaining SUV has now turned to his second home as he sleeps inside the car.

As a socialite, Anabor still manages to stay in Goddy public consciousness and would not want to believe that he is broke. The publisher of the defunct Hearts Magazine once said that all the negative stories about him were just to smear his image.

He once claimed that his house worth N400, 000.000.00 (four hundred million naira) and a hotel worth about N600, 000.000.00 (six hundred million naira) in Lagos, are among his properties in Auchi, Fugar and in the United States. According to him, until the American Government sends a ARELY one year after signal that he is bankrupt, he is still a billionaire. the demise of popular Two years ago, the socialite stepped out with a white lady, Don Bocar, alternative medicine whom he claimed was his new wife. But sources say the relationship has practitioner, His Royal Majpacked up. esty, Professor Paul Ojeih of Iris Foundation, the family he left behind, are battling hard times.

Informed sources say not only are they fac•Late Ojeih ing financial challenges, they are also struggling to pay debt that the late Ojeih incurred HINGS are looking up for Otis Ojeikhoa in his life time. There are indications that some of the property of the late businessman as he plots a soiree to celebrate his 40th may be put up for sale. birthday. Life they say begins at 40, but it The late Delta State-born ardent preacher of may not really be so in the case of Ojeikhoa. natural medicine died last December When the resourceful CEO and some aged 62 after a protracted illness brainy elements established Brand Footwhich kept him bedridden for prints Communications in 2007, little months. Until his death, he was did they know that the brand activation a man of means and brought and experiential agency would have finesse to alternative medimuch to celebrate five years later. cine with his organisation, Today, the company, an affiliate of the Iris Foundation, within and outside the country.

Trinergy Brand Connectors [PTY] Ltd,

One year after, reality bites for Ojeih's family

B

T

HAT Morning Side Suite unveiled

by Diamond Bank chief, Alex Oti, last month has been making waves is no longer news. But we can reveal the mystery hand behind the hotel décor.

Nena Kalu Ogba, a couture milliner and an interior decorator who specialises in homes and hospitality décor, is the one behind the fascinating interior décor. She worked on the new wing and all public areas.

Nena studied Fashion and Textiles design at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, and she is known for designing and producing beautifullymade-to-order ladies’ hats, handbags, lingerie and other fashion accessories before she ventured into interior decor .

The graceful lady is also a fascinator. We gathered she made all the aso-ebi fascinators worn by family and friends to Rap sensation, Naeto C's wedding last month.

Otis Ojeikhoa in double celebration

T

South Africa, has worked for top telecommunication service providers, fast moving consumer goods companies, food and beverage manufacturing companies, among others.

And for this reason, Ojeikhoa, a graduate of the Edo State University, Ekpoma, and also member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, is rolling out the drums to celebrate his 40th birthday and the agency's fifth anniversary celebration.

•Kal

Maje Ayida dumps Toke Makinwa?

L-

Otis

AGOS big boy and CEO of Eden Lifestyle Health and Fitness Centre, Maje Ayida, has broken up with his long time girlfriend and On-Air Personality, Toke Makinwa, if the news making the rounds is anything to believe.

Though the news of their engagement broke two months ago, and friends, well-wishers and family were happy for them. So when the news of their break-up hit town, many found it difficult to believe. sources say the break up was on the ground of incompatibility.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Glamour

Hajia Mairo

45

Paddy Adenuga not in a hurry O

Habib hibernates

ne of Mike Adenuga's sons and executive director at Glo, Paddy Adenuga doesn't go anywhere without armed guards.

That Paddy is one of Nigeria's eligible bachelors is not debatable, but there are debates over whom among the many ladies hovering around him will have the honour of being walked down the aisle, like the ceremony of his sister, Bella’s weddingreplicate to the class and grandeur.

But if information available is anything to go by, Paddy Adenuga may not be getting married soon.

In one of his tweets, he tweeted that marriage has to wait a little.

“Everyone is having babies here & there & getting married... Yeah... I'm just going to postpone any of that happening to me anytime soon,” the handsome d u d e tweeted

U

NTIL 2002 when she joined the political fray as the running mate of the flamboyant pastor of the Household of God, Pastor Chris Okotie, not many Nigerians knew much about Hajia Mairo Habib.

Though the desire of the pastor-cum-politician did not materialise, nothing has been heard from this delectable woman from Kaduna Sate. She has gone into both social and political oblivion.

A close source said her disappearance is not unconnected with her failing health, while there are speculations that her husband is not comfortable with the murky waters of Nigerian politics.

Untold story of Obi Asika, Olisa Adibua break-up

T

HESE are definitely not the best of times for Obi Asika, CEO Storm 360 and OnAir Personality, Olisa Adibua, as the duo have ended their long-standing business relationship.

Suave Olisa is a cousin to bulky Obi and also a non-executive director of his organisation before the parties decided to go their separate ways.

Obodoechina Ukpabi Asika is, known to many simply as Obi Asika. His most famous investment may be found in Storm 360, a total concept entertainment company which he founded in 1991. In 2004, Asika, a legal and investment analyst, with constructive pressure from Eldee Tha Don, joined forces with Olisa Adibua to re-launch Storm Records, jbringing about a revolution in the Nigerian music industry. The rebound led to the signing up of artistes such as Jazzman Olofin, whose debut solo album, 'Boiling Point', was released in the same year. Others artistes such as Dare Art Alade, 2Shots, Ikechukwu, Sasha, Naeto C, DJ Jimmy Jat, Guitar Man, among others also came on board.

With the break-up of the two partners, tongues have been wagging on the future of Storm 360.

Obi

Mairo Adenuga

Rep becomes grandfather, jets out T HREE-time House of Representative member representing Y e w a South/Ipokia, H o n .

Abiodun Akinlade , is a happy man as he joins the roll of grandpare nts.His Akinlade beautiful daughter, Morenikeji Olayode, put to bed last Friday at the Federal Staff Hospital Abuja, barely a year after the lawmaker gave out her hand in marriage to h e r h u s b a n d , Abdulrasaq Olayode.

The society wedding which took place in November 2011 a t t h e prestigious S e n t o s a Recreation P a r k i n A b u j a

attracted important personalities from all walks of life. Morenikeji Olayode holds a M a s t e r ' s Degree in Human Resour c e s Manag ement from the Universi t y o f Bedfords h i r e , London, and presently works with National S p a c e Development Research Agency.

Adenike Lamai's heart of gold

S

HE is not the regular face in social circles, but Adenike Lamai, who runs the Hadassah Healing Foundation, is touching lives with her NGO. It is a known fact that a lot of women have different issues ranging from violation, abuse to drug addiction that they are struggling with. Having held healing conferences around the world, Adenike is clearly a woman with great focus on wounded souls.

C o m e September, Adenike will be holding another healing conference, tagged 'I will Lamai Arise’, to give hope to many women who had thought life would give them nothing. hope.

46

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Glamour

&

OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL (08033572821) raphseg2003@yahoo.com

Commodore Ofik celebrates Mum at 75

le) •Commodore Emmanuel Ofik (middIjeoma with Mr Uzo Nwakwo and his wife,

By OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL enultimate weekend, it was a celebration of life when Madam Rachel Erebo Thomson, mother of Commodore Emmanuel Ofik, marked her 75th birthday. The event, which held at the Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island in Lagos, had in attendance the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ameen Ikioda, and other naval top brass including Rear Admiral Isaac Arinola and Rear Admiral Joel Amaino and his wife.

P

•R-L Naval Officer, Western Command, Rear Arinola Admiral Ameen Ikioda and Rear Admiral Isaac

•L-R; Mrs Bishop Okonkwo and Mrs Nnoye Nbaegbu

• Ugochukwu Onocjie & Ayegbatonye Doris Ekezie •Rear Admira, Joel Amaino and his wife, Mercy

•The celebrant, Madam Rachael Thomson

•Commodore Emmanuel Ofik and his wife

NISEV crowns new queen in London

T

• Former Miss Nigeria chaperon, Yomi Onanuga crowning Miss NISEV London 2012, Tolu Olaosebikan

HE event was the Nigeria Sport Entertainment Village (NISEV) Pageant 2012 and the venue was the Enabling Centre, London. The occasion was a celebration of Nigeria's positive virtues any•L-R ; CEO Heartlink, Kemi Otegbade, Nigeria's Deputy High Commissioner where a sports festival is being held to U.K, Ambassador Toyin Lawal and Yetunde Oduwole within or outside the Nigeria.

This year's edition was declared open by Nigeria's Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Toyin Lawal. The main sponsor of the event, the Lagos State Government, was showcased to sensitise the world on the forthcoming National Sports Festival to be hosted by the state tagged Eko 2012.

The event, packaged by events company, Heartlink, was anchored by comedian, Gbenga Adeyinka, while disk jockey, Jimmy Jatt, entertained the guests with music. The highpoint of the day was the crown•Comedian, Gbenga Adeyinka ing of Miss NISEV 2012, Toluwalola and Jimmy Jatt Olaosebikan.

• Nollywood actresses-Folake Eletu, Peju Ashaye and Biola Eyinoka

The many choices of Multichoice/DStv

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

47

VOL 1 NO. 037

The many choices of Multichoice/DStv I

think it rather deliberate, though, but not much is contained in the website for MultiChoice/DStv. One would have expected much more on a brand person of a status as big as this somewhat icon in pay television. However, it contains some interesting information.

One of such interesting information is that to date, MultiChoice/DStv has about 1,649,000 subscribers (!)

By the way, MultiChoices's multi-channel satellite TV service in Africa, was launched in 1995. We got this information from the web page of MultiChoice.

To date, MC&A Digest has written about three articles on this brand. Perhaps we should mention at this point that we do not have any personal issues with this brand, and that the only concern is the relevance of some of its activities that help in our quest towards professionalism for purposes of enlightening and educating our readers, across the various groups of readership that spare the time to read our articles every Sunday.

Add to the above, is our commitment to contribute our little quota towards protecting the consumer, by drawing attention to those issues at the market place, that will help our otherwise not too informed consumers, towards discernment. Perhaps, some day, we shall assume the role of ombudsman for the consumers in Nigeria, or go the full hug to operate as a non-governmental consumer protection agencies (in the true sense of it).

For now, we shall keep with our commitment to generating contents based on our core professional calling and competence, for purposes of enlightenment, teaching, informing and reminding some of us, of the grand rules – that should not be changed!

Let us work with the figures posted as the subscribers to this brand, for sake of analysis; I am sure any brand that can post such figure representative of steady patronage will be too glad to say so in so many ways. One of such ways would expectedly be in terms of customer service or customer relationship management. Further to that, would be trade practice that should adopt a strategy focused on loyalty reward.

I remember the experience with the then Universal Trust Bank of old, when I started this long journey of brands management and marketing communication, way back 1990. The task of engaging traders in Nkpor, Onitsha in Anambra State, then challenged all concerned from the client and Agency's sides, like it was the entire brand needed to succeed. The marketing objective, then, was to consolidate the brand's hold on the traders in that defined market, for reason of increased deposit base, and to recruit them into our then newly introduced Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). The total size of that

market (our targeted customers) was not up to 600 prospective depositors. For that strategic reason, however, we dined and drank with the trader at the open market. I remember the enthusiasm demonstrated right from the office of the then Managing Director (Mr. Philippi); every effort was put to task.

The reason one could doubt the figures thrown up by MultiChoice is that in Lagos alone, is likely to post 2,000,000 homes subscribing to the DStv channels, by reason of its cosmopolitan, in fact, mega city

status. Apart from the high profile families residing in Lagos, Nigerians are given to uncommon aspiration when it comes to consumption of luxury and entertainment. Ostentation sells fast and cheaply, with Nigerians. So, even among the not-too affluent, many families will strive to subscribe to the premium bouquet at the expense of other more pressing necessity.

However, if you add the figures attracted to the brand's new line extension called GOtv, which is targeted at the lower segment of the pay-tv market, the figure should rise much more. For purpose of this consideration, let us say Lagos alone will post a subscriber figure of well over 2,500,000 (we are open to correction). From end-September we hear the subscription fee will rise by about 15%, but let us work with the present Premium bouquet (not the dual view O!) of N10,000 per subscription, for about 40% of the projection of subscribers …. One then begin to see the choices open to this lucky brand. Brand success brings about one of two things: diligence or recklessness. That again, captures the characteristic feature common with humans and a brand; success can lead to one of the two character traits mentioned above, as a matter of course. As in humans, also it

takes a deliberate effort to stay on the right course.

How else would one describe the attitude of MultiChoice/DStv towards its subscribers in the market? This brand is a South African, but we know it will not dare try the things it does in this marke, in South Africa. For television, the most critical issues are (1) content development and broadcast- 65% (2) equipment and technological sophistication 30%. The balance is captured in the obvious resources of physical structure and personnel. In other words, broadcast or entertainment is nothing without contents.

And from the marketing point of view, that is the value touch-point for every single DStv subscriber – and they know it! Yet, they do not care what the broadcast into the subscribers' homes – because the choice they have made from among the many options open to them is disrespect the critical mass of their market (because they do not have a choice –anyway).

I mean, how dare DStv go on repeating programs with such a degree of recklessness, that I, for instance, can now relay so many of the films/movies I have gotten so familiar with on some MultiChoice channels, just by hearing their titles. Even on the news channels, a bulletin is repeated round 24hrs. The insult is even more manifest with these so-called Nollywood movies.

MultiChoice got us very cheap there. It is a case of “celebrate your rubbish” – they pay peanuts for these comparatively cheap productions and fill the Africa Magic channels with them, repeating same movies in quick succession. So each day you expose yourself to these assault, you keep watching Pete Edochie, Usofia… ahhh!

Where are our standard watchers and broadcast quality monitors, for crying out loud?! What MultiChoice/DStv is doing in this market amounts to consumer abuse. They have assumed the status of a monopoly brand for reasons of under development of this environment and they are turning it into insult and rubbing it in. the funny one is that they now throw some of their female staff at their customer service desk to call up select-subscribers, asking those annoying questions bothering on the obvious. The last time one called me and I told her the meaning of what she was doing to me, she pleaded for my understanding, to the effect that she was only doing her job, and that the establishment is not willing to improve on their content quality.

We shall keep talking, until something happens one day. MultiChoice/DStv has so many choices open to her, for good judgment to prevail.

48

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012 “

I

F you want to be addressed with a million names, that is fine. But if for example, a woman is bearing OluTutu for her surname and her daughter wants to get married to a Funsho-Braimoh and keep her maiden name, will she now start answering ' Olu-Tutu-FunshoBraimoh'?”

Asks Jude Eghosa as he tries to wrap his mind around why a woman would want to adopt a compound and sometimes hard to pronounce, multisyllabic name.

Like Jude, many are yet to understand the need for a double-barrelled name.

Proffering some answers, Bidemi Mark-Mordi, publisher and communications executive, shares why she is address with three names instead of the standard two like other women: ‘Mordi is a very common name where we come from in Delta State.

“When we first got married, I used to have people confuse me with other families bearing the same. Every time I introduced myself as Bidemi Mordi, a series of questions would follow and I got tired of answering them, so I decided to put my husband's first name in front of his surname, “ she finished.

While Bidemi had a fair say in choosing her surname, the same cannot be said for Jane Obuh-Imafiodon who would rather swap her tongue-twister for a much simpler one.

Jane states that living with a compound name was the sole choice of her husband. A choice she was forced to accept.

Narrating how she was saddled with the compound tag, Jane says, “As a family, we were all known as the Imafiodon's, until some family issues came up a few years ago and my husband who is from a polygamous family wanted to dissociate us from his brother who wronged him in a major way due to some land dispute.

“Initially, he was going to pick an entirely new name, but after we considered the cost of changing a n a m e , o u r p r e v i o u s certificates and work documents, he decided to stick with his name, while our children and I bear both of his names as our surname.

“I tell you it is pretty exhausting keeping a straig h t

•Bidemi Mark-Mordi

•Stephanie Okereke-Idahosa

a n i s ' t a h W ? e m a n s ' man

•Olufemi-Kayode

When a woman decides to fuse her maiden name or her husband's first name with her surname, there is often an array of issues to consider. Rita Ohai writes. face every time people want to call you name in public,” s h e finished,

One woman who was determined to have a say in the way she would be identified and addressed is Dr. Princess Olufemi-Kayode, a journalist and women’s right activist.

But just like Jane, she husband’s rule had to reign supreme.

Giving her rather rather interesting reason, Princess says, “Mine was a very funny story. Initially, I wanted to keep my father's name, which meant that I would be called Mrs. Ayuk-Kayode. But that did not sound very nice.

“My husband who is a serious traditional Ondo man put his foot d o w n a n d insisted that my father's name must go. That is how I ended up

•Iwalola Akin-Jimoh

with Olufemi-Kayode, which is a combination of my husband's first and last name.”

In contrast with standard traditions, more women are beginning to find ingenious ways of preserving their maiden family names especially when married to an understanding man.

Some credit for the transition can be given to education, exposure and the rights movements, Chinwe Amadi-Obi, a bank executive and the only child of her parents, tied the knot in March of 2010 but was determined to keep her maiden name. She says, “When I got married, I made it pretty clear that my parents' name would remain a part of my life and my husband being the confident man he is did not see anything wrong in it.

So, on our wedding day, while he wrote Chris Obi on the certificate, I added Amadi to mine.”

As tradition calls for women to change their last names and take on their husbands' after the dotted lines of the marriage certificates are signed, there is a growing trend where wives, for a wide array of reasons women would give a limb to keep their maiden names while entering marital unions, Chinwe shares, “I think it has to do with wanting to sustain some level of connection with their past achievements. Many of the ladies who have made a lot of impact or have attained a certain level of prominence will not want to lose the brand they have worked hard to build.

“On the other hand, it can be a status symbol if they come from a really wealthy family. That way whenever they mention their name, they receive some level of recognition and might be treated as special, especially in a country like ours where names and money open doors.”

For Mayowa Moyo-Haastrup, a makeup artist, it is simply an ego issue.

"My identity does not come from a man!

The whole thing portrays women as individuals who do not believe in themselves, as if they feel incomplete without the man. A woman should be able to bear any name she likes without receiving some bad flap for it.”

Although there are obvious advantages and emotional gratification a woman with a compound surname has, the Executive Director of the Ovie Brume Foundation, Iwalola Akin-Jimoh, says this is not something her husband is entirely pleased about.

“My husband as a matter of fact, would have preferred it if mine and the kids' surnames were just Jimoh because there are some times where we fill documents and I need to write my husband's name and he points out how different our surnames are.”

In spite of the need for some ladies to identify themselves with names that are not their spouses', there are some misconceptions and conflicts over the legal rights of a woman with a double-barreled name.

Addressing this, Barrister Ojiugo Nwalozie, a lawyer based in Port Harcourt, argues that there is no law that compels a woman to take on her husband's name after marriage. “Legally, a woman has the right to her husband's property, even if they do not have the same surname. The most important thing is that they are married under the Marriage Act which is the ultimate deciding factor. Names just help to differentiate people who are married.

“Whether they bear compound names because they are from large families, they want to keep their former names or for other personal reasons, as long as the couple involved agrees on it and they sign a written document that is recognised by the laws of the land, then they should be able to use that name without problems.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2 , 2012

New WOMAN

Planning a family budget

I

F you're a spender and your partner's a saver, or vice versa, drawing up and sticking to a budget can save you both from anguish, resentment or financial disaster. No one budget fits all, so you'll have to track your income and expenses to find the budget that works best for you both.

Planning a family budget can seem like an impossibility. It is more important than ever to ensure your family's financial security and having a family budget is a key component in that process.

A family budget is simply a guideline that shows what income is coming into the home and what expenses are exiting the home. It is a great tool to see where your money is going and how you can trim your budget to create a larger savings By cutting spending in some areas, your family will have "extra" money to pay down debt or to save for future expenses.

It may seem intimidating to create and maintain a family budget but if you do so, your household will have a greater sense of peace about financial matters and you will show your children by example how to manage money wisely.

Here are a few steps suggested by financial experts: Step 1 Track your spending for one or two months.

U s e y o u r chequebook register and cash receipts to make sure you know where your money goes. This has to be a joint effort between you and your partner to get an accurate idea of how much you spend each month.

Step 2 List all of your

monthly expenses, beginning with household items. Your rent or mortgage, insurance, utilities, TV service, maintenance and other household expenses fall under this category. Transportation includes car payments, auto insurance, gas, maintenance and public transportation fees. Other set expenses might include credit card payments, loan payments and medical expenses.

Step 3 Keep an account for emergencies, as well as extras, such as holiday gifts and vacations. Having a savings plan is very important.

Have you begun saving for your child's future education needs? Do you have a rainy day fund if something should happen to the primary wage earner in the home?

Do you have a backup plan for when the car needs repair or the washer breaks? If the answer is no, it is time to start one.

A great place to start is by creating an education fund and placing 2-

with

49

YETUNDE OLADEINDE

molaralife@yahoo.com

Jumping off love treadmill

L

3% of your income in it each month.

A rainy day fund should hold about 5% of your income, and a household savings account another 5%. This totals about 12-13% of your income that should be put into savings each month.

Step 4 Set aside a portion of your income for discretionary spending, such as a night out at the movies or monthly pedicures. You and your partner should both have a specified amount of money you can each spend on whatever you want.

This gives you both a sense of control and financial freedom.

Step 5 Allocate a percentage of your income for each of the main categories once you know how much you typically spend in those areas. If your expenses are more than your income, trim your expenses as necessary.

Step 6 Track your income and expenses for the first couple of months to see if you need to adjust your budget. Revisit your budget and habits at least once a year to make any necessary adjustments or changes.

Here is where savings can really happen. This category includes areas like dining out, entertainment, shopping, and other unnecessary expenses. If your budget is tight, try starting here to gain extra room for other areas. You can always find an alternative.

For example instead of that hair salon visit twice a month, try only going once a month.

Now that you have all your expenditures and your income, you can see where your family's financial status really is. If there is more income than expenses, great, otherwise take a look at some areas where you can cut back. If there is additional income left over, consider placing that in savings for future use.

Source: Google

OVE at first sight? Well, this can never happen if you are not fit or attractive. You may want to hang on to the beauty in the eyes of the beholder, tale. You would be surprise because there are so many tempting 'sights' for the beholder to select from in the 21st century love game.

Fitness is essential for the human body. The same rule applies to our relationships; we need to constantly make efforts to make it as interesting as possible and device our unique ways to achieve this.

The treadmill, a device for walking while staying in the same place, readily comes to mind when we talk about keeping fit.

Distance covered, calories burned and heart beats can be tracked in the process.

Interestingly, it was introduced before the development of powered machines, to harness the power of animals and humans to do work.

It was a type of mill operated by a person or animal treading steps of a tread wheel to grind grains. Later it was used as punishment devices for people sentenced to hard labour in prison. But now it is used as exercise machines for running and walking in one place.

When you are determined to give so much, you may just have to deny yourself of so many other luxuries that you would have loved to indulge in. What calories do you need to shed off on the 'lovemill'and how fast do you need to make this move? Your time, resources and affection are the calories of love. From the common love wealth, you have to distribute properly and touch the life of the one you cherish.

It also connotes speed and you certainly need the right love IQ to catch up with the affection pace. If you succeed in meeting your set emotional objectives, then you can be sure to get a 'retainership' in this affair.

If you don’t, then frustration may just set in and you would be so angry that you aren't catching up with the desired love speed.

Here, you are left with the option of doubling up your effort or come to the realisation that it's just not working .How can you be sweating, panting gasping for breath not get results? It gets complicated when you are hungry and thirsty at this point. Yes, but you just can't take water. The love game can be exhilarating, yet so exhausting.

Try, try and try again. If it isn't working, then it becomes a punishment of some sort. Panting and sweating for affection and not getting results can be devastating. It’s energy sapping to know that the one that is giving you sleepless nights is just not budging.

At this point, it is better to get off the love treadmill. Getting off may suggest that you are coming back again. The crux of the matter, however, is that when you are really fed up, what you want to do is to jump off and not just get down. It is only natural for friends who are in this treadmill business to encourage you not to give up when the love process gets really sour.

If you eventually decide to get back, they would applaud your love sense and decision. The truth, however, is that they aren't going to jump back into the race with you, You do it alone, it's your treadmill, it's your love life, and you are the only person who can determine the pace, fix a duration as well as push on to the end.

So what can make a stakeholder take off without looking back again? There are so many reasons and it actually varies from one relationship to the other. Sometimes, infidelity may just be the pain that you just cannot find a painkiller for. It brings anguish to the other love party. Really? Well, the new school of thought thinks it doesn't really matter these days. But for old school lovebirds, it matters a lot. Yes, those who are clamouring for 'freedom of expression' in love circles would strongly disagree.

But again, the question on the lips of the love faithful is to what extent should your freedom impinge on the freedom of the person whose heart has been enslaved, the one whose thinking faculty has been held totally captive for love?

Arguing further, they claim that, what you do not see, won't hurt. Well, to an extent! That you do not see them today doesn't mean that you are not likely to see them tomorrow or next.

Catching your partner indulging in cheating, renting out your emotional space to other desperate tenants when you have 'paid' (cash and in kind) for this space can be devastating.

A love saboteur definitely has a bad intention, to spill your love beans, something you have guarded jealously over the years. How would you feel if you kept all you love eggs in one tattered basket? You try to lift your love basket and everything breaks. Naturally, you would feel intense distress, feelings of guilt and anger.

It's actually a race against love's time and every part of your body and emotions must comply with this task. It's tiring and as you wipe away the sweat, new set comes up again .So it is with relationships and each time you are drenched in your sweat, some energy goes out. You work hard to prove your undying love and it costs you more energy. The words 'Unconditional love' sums it all up. Conversely, if you find that the loving arena has too many conditions like the IMF (Intention Monitored Fund), then you may just have to jump off the love treadmill.

50

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

THE SUNDAY INTERVIEW

Continued from page 25

security challenges, the environmental challenges. You will see water – sea - but the people cannot drink the water. You cannot even dig a borehole because the water that comes out is salty. So you use all kinds of methods – reverse osmosis and all that. So the challenge of even getting drinking water in the Niger-Delta is even worse than in their areas.

On on-going horse-trading over amendment of the 1999 constitution.

Democracy is give and take. I have thrown a lot of things on the table, just as others have also thrown things on the table. What is going on is we are looking at various issues. What side can we forgo, what side can I market, and what do they also have that I can market to my people? It is give and take, and there is a lot of horse-trading going on concerning the issue of constitutional amendment. If you notice, there is no way the current National Assembly can make all the changes in the constitutional amendments. They even narrowed their key areas to 16. If they can get eight out of the 16 through for this particular exercise they would done well.

One of the things we are advocating is consideration of the Revenue Allocation Formula.

Right now the federal government gets 52% but we are saying federal government you have 52% on one side, on the other side you are also doing things you should not do. What is the business of the federal government with primary schools? What is their business with primary healthcare centers? So shed some weight: release some of those things you are doing and let the states do them. If there’s a road passing through my state, and you say this is federal and this is state road, it causes problems. For example, the Asaba-Ughelli road that we are dualising is basically a federal government road but I am happy to do it because it is my people that need that road. So we are saying shed some of these load you are carrying at the federal level and allow the states to pick up these responsibilities. In this wise let’s look at the Revenue Allocation Formula and let the states and local governments have more money. As they take more responsibilities they should also take more money. Sometimes we say nothing is happening at local government level, but if you looking at the allocation going to local governments – about 65% to 70% - is for the payment primary school teachers salaries. By the time you have used 70% for paying primary school teachers salaries what is left? Thirty percent. They have to pay their workers and that will take another 25%. What will the 5% left do? What do you get at the end of the day? So we are saying let us look at the Revenue Allocation Formula on one side. At the state level too, let us see how we can improve on our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) – so governors are strategizing on improving revenue generation. But again as I said these last three months the revenue to the states has dropped both from the federal and even the IGR. The benchmark basis for allocation dropped and all the IGR dropped. There’s a new tax law that ensures that workers pay less tax. Of course, when workers pay less tax – not just government workers – less money goes to the state because most of the states’ IGR comes from payment of tax.

When will local government elections be conducted in Delta State?

Let me put it on record that as a governor I have conducted one local government election in my first tenure. So I am not afraid to conduct one – at the end we will have winners and losers and we will manage the two sides. Unfortunately at the time tenure of the last one was finishing, the tenure of the State Independent Electoral Commission was also finishing. But there’s also the agitation in the state that the composition of the commission makes it impossible to have equal representation from the three senatorial districts. So I had to amend the law which I gave to the assembly. I have signed it. As soon as they come I will give them the list of the new members of the Independent Electoral Commission with a mandate to conduct the local government election. The date will now be fixed by them; my own is to put the team together.

What is the extent of the programme of school rehabilitation that is evident in different parts of the state capital?

The one you saw at St. Patrick’s is also going on in other parts of the state. I think we have done about four initially – some are nearly completed. The renovation of schools is also going on – on the whole we have over 100 schools now that are being renovated. What I have tried to do is put up a strategy of ensuring that we rehabilitate our schools so that they last long with a conducive environment for our children

‘We’ll recover all Delta State money’

• Uduaghan

to learn. We are not just limiting it to Asaba – virtually every local government has one form of renovation going on or new schools being built.

What is your ICT initiative with the NCC all about?

What we did in the area of ICT is to put a team of experts together from various companies, and they gave us a blueprint on how to do it i.e. infrastructure, equipment, training – everything about ICT. Fortunately, at that time NCC was looking at states in which they also wanted to deploy. They keyed into our programme and started. Eventually we are hoping that by the time we finish the programme Delta State will be one of the number one states in terms of ICT. The whole world is going ICT; there’s no development that occurs now that does not involve ICT. So apart from getting our people educated in ICT from primary school to university, we also building ICT infrastructure.

The new Asaba International Airport is impressive no doubt. But is that the most pressing thing you could have spent money on given that there are already airports in Warri, Benin, Owerri, Uyo etc. Must every state capital have an airport? People are also criticizing you over abandoned projects littering the state. How do you respond?

I have been in government since 1999 and so I was in the previous government. Some of these projects you are talking about are projects that were awarded before I came in. Some of them actually had contractual problems. It is not that they are abandoned; they may be slow because of some contractual challenges with them. The Ughelli-Asaba dualisation which I awarded as one of my primary projects is not abandoned. What we tried to do because it is a long road – about 165 kilometers – is to do it in three sections. Fortunately there is one contractor in the middle who is very active and is moving faster. Unfortunately, we have two

contractors… the worst one is on the Ughelli side. The delay on the one on this side is more from us than the contractor. At the time of award there was a problem with the contract and the guy complained... you know some of these administrative bottlenecks. For two years his letter was there and nobody was attending to it, and he complained and actually wrote to us that if he continued his certificate would be at the old rate. By the time I realized it… but they have corrected it now and we are hoping he can move faster. But the one for the Ughelli side, the contractor was slow and we have terminated it. We are going to re-award it.

On the issue of the airport, it is part of our infrastructure strategy to attract investors.

Whatever we are doing has a reason. Remember I talked about infrastructure as part of the Three-point Agenda. On the infrastructure side we have two strategies for infrastructure: we have the infrastructure to attract investors and social infrastructure i.e. schools, hospitals, water etc. The infrastructure to attract investors starts with power which is the most pressing infrastructure now for anything anybody is doing. In the area of power we have invested heavily with the federal government to complete the National Independent Power Plant.

Fortunately, there’s one in Delta: the Sapele plant which is almost completed now. We have four turbines – two are completed. We are also in the process of constructing our own independent power plant to start with 120 megawatts. We already have our turbines and the infrastructure work is already being done.

Apart from the generation aspect, we have also strengthened our distribution lines – including transformers. We’ve just received about 270 transformers of various sizes. So we are investing in power strategically as an infrastructure that will attract investors. We are also investing in the area of transportation – the roads, the airport, the seaports and the railway is com-

“We are going to look for any money that was collected as alleged money gotten from the Delta State government by anybody – not just Chief Ibori, but the wife, sister and mistress. Any money that has been taken by anybody from the funds of Delta State … we are going to look for them because at the end of the day – legally – its money belonging to the state.”

ing. For any road we’re constructing – especially the highways – there has to be an economic reason for constructing it. I refuse to construct roads to the village homes of some political leaders where they will be drying cassava and groundnut on it. The roads that are being constructed are roads that have economic importance – whether roads that will open up agricultural communities or roads that lead to one industry or the other. So we have that strategic plan for our roads. The other area of transportation is the sea ports. In 2007, Warri port was virtually down because of the crisis. We have worked with NPA and the communities: today it is one of the very busy ports. Of course, Koko and the other ports we are trying to see how we can improve them. The next thing is the airport. In Delta, as part of our strategy we have two economic hubs: you have Warri – taking advantage of the oil and gas businesses in the Warri area. We have the Asaba hub taking advantage of the Onitsha market, which is a very big… How do we maximize the gains of the Onitsha market? Many of the traders there bring in their goods through Lagos or Port Harcourt – either by sea or air. So we discussed with the traders association – OMATA – and asked them ‘why are you bringing in your goods from all those places?’ If you are bringing in your goods from Lagos it takes you two days – thank God that Ore road is better now, then it used to take three or four days. But instead of going to Lagos or Port Harcourt, we have a cargo airport here. They can just fly in their things directly here. If go round the town now you’ll notice that a lot of warehouses are springing up because of the presence of the airport. And because of the airport also, we have a lot more need for bigger hotels now because Asaba is becoming a commercial center. Hilton is building here, Protea is building and Southern Sun will soon start. Radisson will also soon start. Of course, with our event center a lot more seminars are holding here. So you find that the airport is very necessary for our economic development. Most of the people from the East, instead of flying through Benin or Enugu, now use the Asaba airport. There’s nothing we do in this state that is not tied to one thing or the other; we don’t just get up and start doing things.

Let’s address local politics a little. Recently, you have come under considerable fire for the speech you gave at Abraka, hometown of your leading political rival, the DPP gubernatorial candidate at the last election, Chief Great Ogboru. You are quoted as saying as governor ‘you had the power to kill.’ What was the point of that speech, and don’t you think it was unnecessarily provocative to have gone to make that statement in Abraka given the history between Ogboru and yourself?

Sorry, as governor of Delta State I can make a speech in any part of the state. Unfortunately, his supporters personalized the speech to him and they took only one part of the speech. What I said in the church service was that people should be careful in how they use power. You as a media man you have your power – you should be careful on how you use your power. I am the governor… So I used myself as example…. I have a lot of powers. The governor has the power to sign a death sentence; that was what I was saying. The governor has the power to acquire this building in the interest of government, pull the building down and tomorrow start something here, and sign it. So I was telling them that people should be careful…But I would not utilize those powers just because I have them. I was saying we should pray to God to grant us the wisdom to be able to use our power for the benefit of the people. The uploaded the YouTube of my full speech, and people that saw it were amazed at how people just cut part of it and started running with it.

How far are you planning to go on the recovery of the alleged $15 million bribe money allegedly given to former EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu, by your predecessor, James Ibori?

On the $15 million, it is already a court case and we have put in our papers; the lawyers will battle them in court. We are going to look for any money that was collected as alleged money gotten from the Delta State government by anybody – not just Chief Ibori, but the wife, sister and mistress. Any money that has been taken by anybody from the funds of Delta State … we are going to look for them because at the end of the day – legally – its money belonging to the state.

We have the case of Plateau State and Bayelsa; so if the British government has collected money on behalf of the Delta State government, we will thank them and ask them for our money.

51

THE ARTS THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

L

IKE the playwright, Odia Ofeimun, rightly pointed out in one of the statements he presented on the dance-drama, Nigeria The Beatiful, it is sassy. “It is a deliberate reversal of received opinion which is loaded with paradoxes, but much truism.” Indeed, Nigeria The Beautiful offers a distance from the common view about Nigeria as home to a discordance of not only tongues that differ and cultures that are distinct from one another, but where nothing works or anything goes. And so the drama epitomises beauty in squalor.

As the dance-drama mounted the stage at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, last weekend, the audience was taken back and forth into the chequered history of Nigeria. The drama opened with a colourful dance presentation from Ibibio land. It was so colourful that the hall was immediately put in the right frame of mind to welcome the show. It was the dance that reminded the people that this is a country full of ironies of life, for almost soon after the dancers left the stage, a colonialist appeared to read out the dos and don’ts for the colonised. Thus began many stages of pensive moods.

As each stage opened, Lord Lugard was hell-bent on instilling fear and discipline into the psyche of the people. He promised to give hell to the ‘rabble-rousers’ from Ilorin, Abeokuta and Lagos who did not want to fully cooperate with His Majesty to fulfill its mandate in Nigeria.”

He, however, commended northern leaders for their slow and steady response to the dictates of the masters.

“We will make the north the centre of our colonial rule,” Lord Lugard boasted as he even came harder on the other nationalists who dared to be vocal, forceful and bold against the intransigent policies of His Majesty.

“We will uproot the oppressor’s flag and hoist ours. We will make this land hot and ungovernable for those who do not respect us and what we stand for,” were the thunderous voices of the local leaders in the persons of Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe of Africa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Ikenna Nzimiro, Mokwugo Okoye, Mbonu Ojike and others, some of whom were imprisoned in the process.

The more the people gathered steam to agitate and fight for what was right, the more the colonialists unleashed harsh policies to punish them. Thus began the history of a nation where the south was ready for independence while the north in the persons of Ahmadu Bello and others openly told the British overlords to tarry on for a while.

“What’s independence, when we are not yet ripe for it?” He asked openly, as soon as it was obvious a plebiscite was about to be taken to that effect.

It was the ability of the director of the play in condensing all these into stage drama and dance that made it a must watch for all Nigerians. As the play was on, many nodded their acclaim and followed the sequences of events as if they all happened yesterday. The voices of reason and powerful sense of argument presented by Nigerian leaders, reverberated and resonated in the hall. It was a moment to reflect and have a re-think about the project called Nigeria.

Odia summed it up this way: “This is the story of Nigeria from Lord Frederick Lugard, the first co-

Beauty in tatters T

Poem

The Agent

Once again, Odia Ofeimun’s Nigeria The Beautiful mounted the stage last weekend to stir people’s mind about Nigeria’s chequered social-political history. Edozie Udeze reports

•Ibibio dance maidens

lonial Governor-General to President Goodluck Jonathan. In historical sweep, it matches our two preceding dance-dramas, which tell the story of Africa from the beginning of time to the era of the liberation struggles in the 20th century. And then of course, the story of South Africa from Dingiswayo and Shaka the Zulu, through Apartheid to the Rainbow Coalition that brought Nelson Mandela to power after 29 years of imprisonment.”

In incorporating all aspects of the people’s cultural patterns on stage to demonstrate these stages of political development, Felix Okolo, who directed the drama, was able to prove himself. He has been the best so far to put together such ideas into a stage pattern. Each dance-drama brought out the cultures and protest patterns of the ethnic group it represented. It was more in the costumes that Okolo showed how masterfully connected he has come to terms with this kind of stage drama in Nigeria.

There was a total feeling of patriotism and zeal in the audience as they saw how the struggles by their former leaders have been wasted away. No one could fathom why the military invaded Nigerian politics and then deliberately weakened the regions in order to have a powerful centre that has since left the nation more confused, more distressed and more disorganised.

The lesson in Nigeria The Beautiful is that it has come to assemble the people and their beliefs in a most potent dramatic form. It is a product that can stand the test of time if it can get the necessary attention to propel it on. In the mould of Umoja from South Africa, this dance drama is so colourful and dramatic that it truly gives big hope

•Odia Ofeimun

to those who often doubted if the people can ever get it right.

So, here is a perfect pitch to open new vistas of theatrical outings for Nigeria. The message is clear: It is a country that has been rummaging in the throes of rigmarole from time

immemorial. Not even the fine and well-crafted arguments of past and present leaders have shifted the nation from one good level to the next.

Now, let the leaders watch this drama and make their own deductions

HE little bastard bawled and howled, Screeching, and as churlish as the night owl bird.

With teeth as ugly as the little monkey’s Face like the whiskers of a drunk Devilish in all her snide frail smiles, Always serious, but little effort at friendliness.

Now, she came that she should learn the good things of life.

So that she’d know peace, move forward And embrace education.

But alas, in embracing her, giving her room, We courted trouble, headache, agony and Backwardness was all we got.

Ngozi, the little agent epitomized evil Serenading down our necks like the beak Of an owl bird, howling from within her cocoon, howling non-stop.

Thirsting for blood while she ground her teeth quizzically Everyday, with renewed vigour Venom cascaded in multiple facets With her face harsh like a chisel In a carpenter’s grip.

Day in day out, she, only six in years, bulked and puckered in phases And with her face crowned with effrontery.

But come night, she, like the neon Light would suck, and strike, bestriding the darkness.

Ah! Flying to places, seeking souls to devour, blood to suck.

On her sleeping mat, she’d fret Foam and toss, with her voice echoing In strange cleverness… In obscene parenthesis And in midnight, the night urchins would Crowd around the vicinity …. parading Ngozi was their rallying point as their midnight Trappings was due in earnest: As the Agents of his majesty, the awful one, We meet in the deep recesses Of the ocean depths, she confesses And we gyrate to the moving Rhythm of orchestra, oozing from The maiden’s pellet Even as we dance and giggle We munch biscuits and sip our Orange drinks, mocking the world.

The weakest in spirit are our targets We creep in where there is warmth We scatter where there is peace Sowing seeds of discord and disaffection Yes, all in the silence of the night.

For, to us, life is but a squabble!

By Edozie Udeze

52

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Arts/Reviews

Books

Steeped in deceit

A

•The artists ready to take-off

Invisible Borders: road trip to building Africa F OLLOWING a successful trip in 2011, the Invisible Borders team has embarked on a journey from Lagos in Nigeria to Congo’s Lubumbashi for the 2012 edition. A full-fledged photography experience, this year’s trip features ten artists from different countries in Africa travelling over 13,000 km within 48 days, through mostly rough terrains.

According to Emeka Okereke, participant and convener of the Invisible Borders project, the idea is to draw from the experience of the previous edition to enrich this year’s road trip.

“Giving that we will be travelling through countries of mostly francophone and a Spanish speaking African country, the challenge that stems from difference in language will be ever more apparent for everyone involved. But again, we believe that willingness to work around the limitations of language barrier is crucial to building a Trans-African relation,” he said.

To that effect, he added, Invisible Borders 2012 will have participants from different countries in Africa such as Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroun, Congo, South Africa and Nigeria.

Okereke said that the works created from this road trip will be a manifestation of the interactions between the artists while

By Ovwe Medeme

reflecting on the experiences encountered while on the move.

“The artists will be mainly photographers but also writers and at least, a filmmaker. This year’s selection includes an architect who will reflect on the trend of Reconstructing Africa by looking at the various infrastructural projects infesting many countries on the continent.”

He revealed that the group will make stops of about five to seven days in the capital and important cities of Nigeria, Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Congo (Kinshasa and Brazzaville) to create artistic works in collaboration with the indigenous artists in the cities, while networking within the art community.

The trip which kicked off on Thursday, August 23, is expected to last till October 9, a total of 48 days. During these days, he said, there would be workshops and tutorials with photographers in the different cities stopped at. The estimated distance of the journey is approximately 13,000km.

Participants for the travel experience include Ray Daniels Okeugo (Photographer), Jumoke Sanwo (Photographer), Emeka Okereke (Photographer, Writer, Filmmaker), Christain Nyampeta (Video Artist, Writer, Scholar), Mario Macilau (Photographer), Jide Odukoya (Photographer), Lesedi Mogoatlhe (Filmmaker) and Falade Adebola Rayo (Writer).

LL the articles are fierce and biting.

They dwell effusively on the person of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) (RTD) who ruled Nigeria with iron fist between 1985 and 1993. A self-styled military president of Nigeria, IBB fondly and incongruously nicknamed himself the Evil Genius. Perhaps it is a name well-meant and purposely rooted in the charade called IBB. For while he held sway in the corridors of power, no one mattered; no one had the temerity to oppose or challenge him and go scot free. IBB was everything a dictator; a junta chieftain whose belief lingered, most often, between life and death, freedom and imprisonment and all other nebulous and nefarious tendencies to make the citizenry cower before him.

This book, a collection of Diatribes on The Evil Genius, says it all. It is a collection of bitter pills for the man many said began the process of impoverishing the nation and who still had the audacity to come out to contest for the presidency in 2007. When IBB declared his intention for the highest office in the land after selling the nation’s currency to the IMF, many concerned Nigerian came out to fire diatribes at him. Most of the articles tear the man apart and that is why they came out in different titles with biting headlines and thematic issues.

For those who followed IBB’s inglorious days at the Dodan Barracks and later at Aso Rock, he does not deserve one single vote from this clime. Owei Lakemfa, one of those ceaseless vociferous voices against tyranny, in his own article entitled, IBB: we cannot forget the past, queried why anyone could even imagine IBB on the podium asking for votes. “This is a man whose regime elevated corruption to a major state policy.

But my main objection is based on his natural tendency to be deceptive,” he wrote. So is he fit to be our leader again?

And for one to really know the IBB era and what he stood for, this collection serves as the best bait. The fury in the articles dig deeper than mere expressions of anger and disappointments against a man who made the Naira to fall from grace to

By Edozie Udeze grass. He equally made 419 almost a state legacy and policy.

On page 61, Kanmi Ademiluyi writes on what he entitled Agaracha Returns. Here, the title betrays a leader deeply steeped in political deceit. “IBB is the architect as well as midwife-in-chief of Nigeria’s Republic of Money…” He is found in the mould of Napoleon Bonaparte of France whose second return to power in France met his Waterloo.

But is IBB that incorrigible? Is he that immune to the moods of the people? These and more are the issues the Diatribes raise and proffer answers to in order to make the book a collector’s item. It is a history of an era.

Even though there are plenty of editing errors because the book was obviously done in a hurry, that does not remove the shine from this effort by Rodsimeon Idaewor, who packaged the book. It is hoped that the lesson in the book will discourage leaders from being too selfish in their service to the people. Here in this book, the people have spoken.

A tale like no other

By Leah Nash

An artist’s many shadows

By Edozie Udeze

•Nwosu

U

HECHUKWU Nwosu’s story as an artist whose life has gone through many trials is no longer new in arts circle in Nigeria. What is new, perhaps, is that in spite of his predicament, Uche has risen beyond the confines of his condition to continue to maintain his style and grip on his professional calling. And this, indeed, serves as a lesson to other professionals who may be in the same condition but are yet to say no to their problems.

Uche was struck by stroke about six years ago. He had just concluded an art exhibition at the National Arts Theatre, Lagos, which he curated for other fellow artists. For many years, Uche practically lost the use of the right side of his whole body. Movement was not only difficult, he could hardly exercise his limbs and muscles. He was often aided by people around him to get one or two things done.

Today, Uche is still at pains to fully exercise

his muscles. However, the beauty of it is that he was able to prepare and assemble some art works together in an exhibition that stunned almost all the people who have been following his career in the last 15 years. He decided to transfer his artistic ‘aggression’ overnight to his left hand.

How he came to that perfection is still a puzzle to many people.

In a statement, Uche, a graduate of Fine and Applied Arts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said: “I love talking with a passion. I think that I turned out to be an artist because the arts excite discussions more than any other occupation under the sun. Just see how my love of life is married to my art. I am able to keep engendering discussions where they’re lacking or reviving them where their embers are growing cold. What more can I aspire to?”

In the course of my work, I often come to cross-roads when it comes to decision-making.

Do I just take a sound swipe at the passing fancies or trap the fleeting essences and pin them down on time? The answer to this surreal question determines the materials and techniques I employ to explore varied these. But the truth in me sticks out. I can’t hide it no matter how I mask it; my faith in tomorrow, love of atmosphere and search for the Ultimate Truth drive me to themes surreal.

Irrespective of whether I use acrylic to express how together we are in our separateness or oil to smear the canvass of the forces of re-colonisation, it bears hearing that mercy and pity on the orphan, widow and vulnerable children can’t be drowned by form. What other themes can excite discussin more than these? Okay, perhaps, environmental issues, flawed urban renewal schemes, and lopsided globalisation may.”

T

ODD RUTHERFORD was 7 years old when he first understood the nature of supply and demand.

He was with a bunch of other boys, one of whom showed off a copy of Playboy to giggles and intense interest. Todd bought the magazine for $5, tore out the racy pictures and resold them to his chums for a buck apiece. He made $20 before his father shut him down a few hours later.

A few years ago, Mr. Rutherford, then in his mid30s, had another flash of illumination about how scarcity opens the door to opportunity.

He was part of the marketing department of a company that provided services to self-published writers — services that included persuading traditional media and blogs to review the books. It was uphill work. He could churn out press releases all day long, trying to be noticed, but there is only so much space for the umpteenth vampire novel or yet another self-improvement manifesto or one more homespun recollection of times gone by. There were not enough reviewers to go around.

Suddenly it hit him. Instead of trying to cajole others to review a client’s work, why not cut out the middleman and write the review himself? Then it would say exactly what the client wanted — that it was a terrific book. A shattering novel. A classic memoir. Will change your life. Lyrical and gripping, Stunning and compelling. Or words to that effect.

In the fall of 2010, Mr. Rutherford started a Web site, GettingBookReviews.com. At first, he advertised that he would review a book for $99. But some clients wanted a chorus proclaiming their excellence. So, for $499, Mr. Rutherford would do 20 online reviews. A few people needed a whole orchestra. For $999, he would do 50.

There were immediate complaints in online forums that the service was violating the sacred arm’s-length relationship between reviewer and author. But there

were also orders, a lot of them. Before he knew it, he was taking in $28,000 a month.

A polite fellow with a rakish goatee and an entrepreneurial bent, Mr. Rutherford has been on the edges of publishing for most of his career.

Before working for the self-publishing house, he owned a distributor of inspirational books. Before that, he was sales manager for a religious publishing house. Nothing ever quite worked out as well as he hoped. With the reviews business, though, “it was like I hit the mother lode.”

Reviews by ordinary people have become an essential mechanism for selling almost anything online; they are used for resorts, dermatologists, neighborhood restaurants, high-fashion boutiques, churches, parks, astrologers and healers — not to mention products like garbage pails, tweezers, spa slippers and cases for tablet computers. In many situations, these reviews are supplanting the marketing department, the press agent, advertisements, word of mouth and the professional critique.

But not just any kind of review will do. They have to be somewhere between enthusiastic and ecstatic.

“The wheels of online commerce run on positive reviews,” said Bing Liu, a data-mining expert at the University of Illinois, Chicago, whose 2008 research showed that 60 percent of the millions of product reviews on Amazon are five stars and an additional 20 percent are four stars. “But almost no one wants to write fivestar reviews, so many of them have to be created.”

Consumer reviews are powerful because, unlike old-style advertising and marketing, they offer the illusion of truth. They purport to be testimonials of real people, even though some are bought and sold just like everything else on the commercial Internet.

53

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Malaria: The struggle continues : A woman in Kuje, Nigeria was fortunate to receive an insecticide treated bed net during a net distribution while she was pregnant. Though supplies were limited at that time, a next distribution was planned through a program receiving Global Fund grant funding.

Photo credit: The Global Fund/ John Rae

E

ven with huge funds from within and outside Nigeria, malaria has continued to be a huge public health problem in the country with high risk of the infection taking its toll on children, pregnant women and the aged.

It is estimated that over seventy percent of the Nigerian population experience at least one bout of malaria attack yearly.

The consequences of these attacks on the nation include disruptions in production, absenteeism from school and work, economic waste and loss of human lives estimated at 225,000 deaths with most of them under five years of age.

To assist in eradication the disease in Nigeria, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Global Fund and other international agencies in their programmes to fight HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria were estimated to be spending over $20 billion yearly in the procurement of drugs for the three diseases alone.

Specifically, Global Fund' grants in Nigeria for the fight against HIV and AIDS, TB and Malaria have hit $ 980 million since its first grant in the year 2004.

The major recipients of these grants included Christian Health Association of Nigeria, Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Civil Society for HIV and AIDS in Nigeria, Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) and Society for Family Health (SFH).

In 2009, Global Fund provided $285 million to Nigeria to facilitate distribution of 30 million anti malarial bed nets and provision of medicine for 56 million malaria treatments.

The Round 2 grant was signed on October 22nd, 2004 amounting to $20.9 million to support 12 states including Yobe, Taraba, Plateau, Kwara, Zamfara, Kaduna, Ekiti, Lagos, Ebonyi, Imo, Cross River and Delta States and to strengthen programme management at federal level.

Some of the objectives of the Round 2 grant was procuring and distributing 3 million ITNs to 2 million under five children and 1 million pregnant women within 2 years and, procuring and distributing 4

Several interventions to fight malaria have flowed into Nigeria in the past years and yet many cases of the deadly disease are still being recorded. Augustine Ehikioya takes a look at some of the challenges facing the eradication of the diseases in Nigeria million doses of Artemisinin Based Combination Therapy (ACTs) to under five children for treatment of malaria within 2 years, providing 1 million doses of IPT to 500,000 pregnant women through public and private sectors.

It also involved training of 2,220 health care workers (Tertiary, Secondary, Primary and Private Sector) in all the selected states on correct ITNs use and Re-treatment, Intermittent Preventive Treatment and training of 444 store officers on correct drug management.

The Round 4 Grant was signed on December 3, 2004 amounting to $20.47 million aiming to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality in children under five years of age through improving case management of malaria in 6 states including Bayelsa, Borno, Enugu, FCT, Oyo and Sokoto.

The Phase 2 of the Round 4 Malaria grant from Global Fund in 2007 totalling $61.67 million was for scaling up malaria control in 18 states in Nigeria. The Principal Recipients of the grant were Yakubu Gowon Centre (YGC) - $31.03 million and SFH - $30.64 million.

The objectives of the grant included provision of 26,881,101 treatment courses of ACT, distributing 4,182,116 long lasting insecticide nets to children under five and pregnant women and improving intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy with 4,210,907 treatment courses over the 5 year life time of the project.

One of the greatest factors which had made malaria disease to flourish in Nigeria is her large population percentage living in extreme poverty in rural areas with the environment providing conducive area for mosquitoes to breed.

Other challenges and obstacles encountered by the interventions to eradicate malaria in Nigeria over the years included use of population projections and morbidity data for quantification without taking cognisance of health seeking

behaviour, lack of data due to nonexperience with ACTs resulted in the initial push of the medicines down the supply chain based on population projections and estimates i.e inaccurate forecasts.

There were also challenges in data collection and transmission especially from the health facilities to the LGAs, States and National offices, incomplete and delayed reporting from the states.

Also due to delayed procurement process, emphasis was placed on the one-off delivery with little emphasis placed on development of systems of delivery, non use of existing reordering forms and poor outlining of inventory procedures.

While there was weak behavioural change communication strategy, there were also some cases of diversion of the drugs and other materials for selfish gains. This was supported by the frequent poorly defined commodity inventory processes.

The allocations to the health sector by the three-tier of governments over the years have been considered to be too insignificant, while the treatment and control of malaria is increasingly becoming problematic as vectors acquire resistance to insecticides.

Cases of drugs' resistance by parasites have been on the rise even as new lines of medication are poorly applied with obvious danger of loss of efficacy.

But confident that the latest grant of $225 million grant from Global Fund last week will go a long way, the Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu said: “So in addressing the Malaria challenge, we are by that tackling the challenge of achieving the core health related MDGs; i.e. MDGs 4, 5 and 6.”

“The innovations in the grant included the provision of free as well as subsidized malaria treatments to the population at risk of malaria, mass distribution of long lasting insecticidal nets as part of a planned catchup phase, introduction of prompt malaria diagnosis using rapid diagnostic test kits and several cross cutting interventions such

as behaviour change communications, health system strengthening and community systems strengthening activities." He added diagnosis using rapid diagnostic test kits and several cross cutting interventions such as behaviour change communications, health system strengthening and community systems strengthening activities," he added.

At the occasion, the Chairman of Friends Africa, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede maintained that Global Fund has been extremely effective in mobilising billions of dollars towards the fight against the three pandemics of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in Nigeria.

He said: "As we know, almost a billion dollar has actually been mobilized towards Africa, and Nigeria in particular since the Global Fund commenced its activities and with additional over 200 hundred million dollars, we are saying we have crossed the 1billion dollar funding request for Nigeria. I think this is a phenomenal achievement and I think the role of the Friends Africa, an advocate for African countries who benefit from the fund, must be well recorded.”

On transparency in the use of the fund, he said: "You know, as a finance man myself, I know that when a significant sum of money is applied for any purpose, there is always a possibility of leakage. From the statistics therefore, those are the fractions of the fraction of the total amount, we don't want it because anything money should be judiciously applied and 100% accounted for."

To succeed in the fight against malaria in Nigeria, it is important for the governments at all levels to show more commitments to the fight against the disease.

It is also pertinent to scale up vaccine researches, the use of insecticide spraying on breeding sites and education and training programmes in malaria prevention in the country.

The use of indigenous natural mosquito repellent plant should also be explored in order to determine which species are effective in the Nigerian communities.

Concrete steps should also be put in place to ensure judicious use of the drugs, mosquito nets and other supports coming in from outside the country. Diversions and racketeering in the distribution processes should be punished as deterrence.

54

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Miscellany

Neglecting the nation's gifted talents I

N 1983, the Federal Government set up the national committee on “Operation catch the genius” with the sole intention of identifying young, gifted and talented children, and making educational provision for them.

Unfortunately, that committee got lost in the endless recesses of bureaucracy. Going through copies of the National Policy on Education, and Child Rights Acts, there is no coherent policy statement, let alone provision for the education of the exceptionally gifted children, especially the indigent ones.

Interestingly, gifted and exceptional children show some characteristics that define them academically and behaviorally in the classroom. Exceptional memory, unusual memory capacity are some of the characteristics often attributed to exceptionally gifted children.Giftedness in children, therefore, implies advanced ability to construct meaning, think abstractly, and to expand emotionally to abstract concepts used to interpret experiential phenomena.

Today's exceptionally gifted children integrate knowledge of astronomy, astrophysics and science fiction with equal enthusiasm.

Hundreds of these exceptional children who are indigent across the country, but need special attention to enhance their abilities are not catered for, neglected and abandoned to their fate, while their parents are helpless in providing the needed assistance for the pupils to actualise or realise their gifted skills.

A case in study is Miss Kikelomo Makinde, an old student of Best Legacy International Secondary Schools, located at Awe town, in the Afijio Local Government area of Oyo State .

Kikelomo, whose father was a subsistence farmer and mother a cook in her former alma mater, won first position in the 2008 Mathematics and Science Olympiad competition in the state. She also took second position in Cowbell Mathematics competition both in the state and the south-west zone, same year.

Kikelomo was later selected among few other pupils across the country, to represent Nigeria at the International Mathematics competition, same year in Thailand .

She was the only junior secondary pupil among those to represent Nigeria at the global competition.

In all, 68 pupils represented Africa at the International Olympia . The competition was in mathematics and further mathematics.

While other representatives from

The school Proprietress (Middle) in group photograph with the immediate past prefects

Giftedness is a development potential which requires the will power, intelligence, quest for victory, as well as optimal support and assistance to reach their learning heights. But is there any hope for the exceptionally gifted pupils, especially the indigent ones, in a country where there is no provision for the potential future superstars? BODE DUROJAIYE reports.

Nigeria mostly from public schools, had a sizeable number of officials that accompanied them and ensured their upkeep, Kikelomo was the only one in foreign land.At the end of the keen competition, Kikelomo emerged second best with bronze in Africa .

Expectedly, the victory should be a source of pride to the Federal, State and even the Local Governments, in order to boost the morale of the gifted pupil.

Incredibly, Kikelomo returned back to Nigeria quietly without any motivation from any of the three tiers of government till today, despite the much-publicised excellent performance.

At the end of senior secondary education last year, Kikelomo passed out with about five distinctions in her West African School Certificate result, adjudged one of the best in Oyo zone.

Impressed by the excellent result, the proprietress of the school, Dr. (Mrs).

Olufunke Giwa, assured Kikelomo's parents who have already lost hope of sending their gifted daughter to the University, that the sky is the limit for her in pursuance of her learning heights.

She was among the outstanding students in the 2011 Senior School Certificate result.

Kikelomo enrolled for the Universal Matriculation Tertiary Education (UMTE) and came out with flying colours. She was later admitted at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State , where Kikelomo is currently studying Accounting, courtesy of the proprietress of her former alma mater. Best Legacy International Secondary Schools is popularly adjudged as an academy of exceptionally gifted children in Oyo State , going by its public examination results, and performances at local, state, zonal and national competitions.

For instance, in the last few years, the school has continually recorded a hundred percent passes in both English and

Mathematics, with at least six other core subjects by the students in both WAEC and NECO. Narrating her experience at the International Olympiad competition, Kikelomo said that, “I was left alone in an hotel room while other contestants from Nigeria formed themselves into groups with their officials preparing for the Olympiad competition. They looked down on me as one who was very inferior to them because they were i n s e n i o r seconda r y cla

Kikelomo, sse s , an old student while I was in the junior class. But I did not let that discourage me, but kept on praying to my God and at the same time put-up efforts in my practices, as there was no one to guide me. It wasn't easy, but I give all thanks to the Lord who stood beside me, provided the knowledge and wisdom. I also appreciated my former secondary school and the calibre of teachers who

provided the platform, in terms of quality type of teaching.”

She stated further that were it not for divine intervention, and the passion exhibited by the proprietor of her former alma mater, she would by now be selling, hawking or doing any other menial jobs to assist her parents, thus burying her talents .

“That I found myself in the university is marvelous and great wonder in my life.

Who will bear the responsibility? No motivation from any of the governments, and my parents are downtrodden. I am indeed grateful to my one and only passionate and caring mama Olufunke Giwa, the proprietress of my old school, for rekindling my hope and illuminating my future.”

Also commenting, Head of the Department of Education for the Gifted and Talented, Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, Mr. Gafar Olaide Salaudeen, said “if the country is to be lifted up technologically and economically, it is these gifted children that will lift us up.

They have the potentials to find solutions to our myriad problems.

We can make it work through prominence, right from primary schools.”

Mr. Saludeen pointed out that the environment is not conducive to grow any gifted children, because of the neglect and harsh climate for the special class of pupils in the country.

“There is no practicable provision for them, and the special teachers that will give special attention for the identified gifted ones are not motivated, let alone be provided with the wherewithal to perform optimally.”

He added that in 1985 during former President Ibrahim Babangida's administration, there was a School for the Gifted, located in Suleja , Niger State, but has now become moribund, saying that the school was meant to serve the whole country.

Said he, “since then no succeeding governments in the country has thought it wise to focus on the programme, let alone resuscitate it. Besides, the school could not have survived the test of time because as large as the country is, it is unthinkable to establish a school to cater for gifted pupils from all over the federation.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

55

Death on wheels —PAGE 56

'My life as a lesbian'

It started when she was eight. For the next 28 years, Miss Funmi Ayotade lived as a lesbian. It was a journey that took her to the high and mighty. It also left her with permanent scars.

In this interview with Sunday Oguntola, Ayotade shares her heart-rending escapades in the world of lesbianism.

PHOTOS : OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

•Ayotade

H

OW did the journey into lesbianism start for you?

I can remember faintly that when I was four, I started noticing a strange feeling for fellow girls like me. We were in Blackburn, United Kingdom then where I was born. I knew something was just wrong with me. I wasn’t acting like my playmates.

I can remember I was always scared of so many things. I was nervous of toys and very afraid whenever they tried to take my picture. I snapped at every little thing. I was even afraid of flash of lights. Those were elements of lesbianism that they didn’t notice. I never loved boys. I related with them but I was more passionate when dealing with same-sex friends. I was sharing my stuffs with girls more readily.

I never liked making my hair; I always preferred to be on low-cuts. I liked biking and masculine chores. In most of my pictures, I will raise my legs and my father will snap away.

When we came to Nigeria in 1981, I found myself in another preserved environment. Marital violence was the order of the day. My parents were staying in my father’s family house and that was a terrible experience for me. My father had to serve in Zaria when we came back and my mother got a job with First Bank, Apapa in Lagos. I remember one incident; we had just come back from Pedro in Bariga one Sunday where we spent the weekend with my maternal family. My mother remembered she had not washed my uniform and needed

to get ready for work on Monday. She backed my younger sister, Bukky, who was very sickly as a child. I just remember that an uncle of mine, a distant relation, just bounced on her as she washed my cloth, not minding she was backing a baby. I was just shouting ‘leave my mummy alone’. He threw the baby to the pavement and I ran out. I was told that I would have been run down by an approaching vehicle. As I speak with you, that incident is still a pain to me.

Also, my uncles came with different girls and maltreated them. I saw all of these and started forming an opinion about the opposite sex. Even my father, as enlightened as he was, was also part of the attitude. He was always beating my mother. When we came to Shasha in the 80s, it was the late Baale Oguntade that talked to him to stop the battery.

So, you can imagine a child growing in that environment. All the abuses meted to my mother made me form an aversion for the opposite sex.

So, all of these were there within me. I never had an opportunity to express it until we came to Shasha and hired a house help. She came from Saki in Oyo State when she was 16. I was around eight. She never liked watching TV and was a recluse. She developed a special likeness for me, being the eldest of the three children. At a point, she started calling me ‘my husband’. She would even give me a peck, so I was wondering where she learnt all of that since she was not a media freak. So, it started with kissing and pecking. We lived in a three-bedroom

apartment. We had a room to ourselves and we were made to sleep on the mat because we were still bedwetting. But she always asked me to come to the bed besides her. One night, she started moving my hands to sensitive parts of her body. I began to think ‘could it be this lady is feeling the same way I have been feeling?’

When she came to do those things, I felt welcome into her life and developed a special interest in her. Anytime she fought with my mother, I always felt for her. I would apologise on behalf of my mother and even pecked her. My father was working with Nigeria Textile Mills (NTM) and running shifts.

Mummy was always coming home late. She worked on the Island (in Lagos) and we lived in Shasha. So, the maid locked me in, naked herself and asked me to suck her breast. I did because I already had erotic feeling for her.

Then, she began to tell me how she used to do it while in Saki with different partners. She told me how she always had an affair with her madam in her former place of work. She told me all the ladies in our neighbourhood did it. I remember seeing letters she wrote to a particular girl in Saki. Those letters were so romantic though they were written in Yoruba. It was through her I knew she had lured other ladies around us to the act. I got closer to those aunties, wanting to explore. So, she became jealous.

All of these at eight?

Yes, at eight. I became curious and started relating with them. When she

“When I was transferred to St. Mary Covent School on Campos Street, Lagos, it continued. I found that homosexuality was the inthing there despite the high moral disciplines. It was a day school yet there were many lesbians there.” saw me with them, she became jealous.

So, we started having problems. Fortunately, she had to leave at that time because my parents had a fight. When I was in Shasha Primary School, I noticed there was a girl always dotting over me. I was only playing with girls, though it was a mixed school. When I was in primary four, she became my

sitting mate. She told me about her family’s troubles. How her parents had separated and how only her dad was talking care of them alone. Whenever she wanted to talk, she would lean on my shoulder. I was a succour sort of and I shared my stuffs with her. One day, she said she wanted me to marry her and I said I would. I started taking her to our house at Oguntade during break times because I had the keys to the house, being the eldest child. We did the acts many times. When I was transferred to St. Mary Convent School on Campos Street, Lagos, it continued. I found that homosexuality was the in-thing there despite the high moral disciplines. It was a day school, yet there were many lesbians there.

We wrote love letters to each other and always played the roles of a man. I always bought things for my sitting partner. Our teachers encouraged us to exchange gifts during Valentine and we saw it as a further proof to continue. The teachers never winked at it despite the fact that we spoon-fed each other and exchanged amorous looks. We all felt good about it all.

In 1989 during the Ibrahim Babangida-must-go riot, I remember I was stuck in school. My mother was on leave. I always followed her staff bus to school. Because of the riot, I could not go back home. We had a Reverend Sister teaching Moral In•Continued on Page 57

56

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Life

M

RS Adewumi Florence’s heart usually bleeds at the sight of a truck carrying a big container whenever she is on the Lagos highway. It is worse when the truck approaches her Toyota Camry car or she is stuck in a traffic gridlock.

Although she has never had any bruise with such a truck in her over 10 years behind the wheels on Lagos roads, the memory of how a container fell off the truck and crashed on the car of her husband instantly killing him and her holidaying younger brother, has become a nightmare of sorts for her, hence her phobia for container-carrier trucks.

“It is a bad loss to me and my family because the driver of the truck escaped and we still had to spend money to keep the corpse in the mortuary among other expenses. And this kind of murder can only occur in a country like this where government pretends to be ignorant of such bad trend,” the ex-banker widow said.

Only mother luck saved eighteen passengers on board of a Lagos intra-city commercial bus on Tuesday August 14 when a truck, in an attempt by the driver to dodge a pothole at Mile 2, nearly threw the container on the bus. It could have been another major accident, but one of the irons that hooked the container to the truck saved the day.

“You needed to see how the passengers were struggling to get out of the bus. They did not even mind that they were on the expressway. But thank God the accident was averted, but we also have to thank the driver of the truck. He did as much as he could to prevent it even though the container had already bent towards the bus,” Ade who was at the scene said.

Over the years the sad story has been the same of the danger the trucks have constituted to other road users, especially at sea port cities like Lagos, Warri, Port-Harcourt and Calabar.

These cities are where trucks make good businesses in hauling heavy containers of industrial machines, vehicles, newsprint and other items imported across the Atlantic.

Opinions vary on the causes of regular accident of containers falling on other vehicles in transit. While the poor state of roads characterised by potholes is considered in some quarters as the major cause, the odd attitude of drivers of the trailers is seen as another factor.

According to Akin Joseph, a trailer driver with over 15 years experience, government more than any other body deserves the blame for the accidents. Joseph who claimed to have on several occasions come close to be involved in such accidents, attributed the accident to the dilapidation of the road, leading to traffic gridlock.

Bad roads “If our government decides to fix the bad road today, you will see that accidents would be reduced. Most of the trailers involved were just victims of the bad road. While their drivers are trying to avoid potholes, the weight of the container may just be too much to control and before he could manoeuvre, the container is already on its way down, falling on the vehicle near it,” Joseph noted.

He recalled his experience in 2005 when his attempt to swerve

Death on wheels Container -carrying trailers often constitute a menance on the roads Tunde Busari reports from a pothole at a spot near Cele bus stop almost tainted his accident-free profile. The brake and shock absorber of the trailer, he said, came to his rescue on that fateful evening.

“It was the first day I understood the excuse always given by those drivers involved in such accidents. In fact, I thought the container would fall because it was so sudden.

But when I realised it did not fall, I parked and checked the hook on which the container was placed to know whether the bolts were still there or not. I was only fortunate on that day,” he said.

Although Kayode Oladele also agrees the state of the poor roads as a cause, attitude of the trailer drivers who are allegedly fond of carrying containers without considering safety standard, is no less an important factor. He contends that contrary to the practice abroad, drivers here only concerned themselves with hauling containers and making money regardless of the danger they constitute.

“They don’t care about the safety of other road users. Take for instance the accident that occurred sometime in June near Ibafo where a woman who was waiting for a commercial bus was crushed by a container which suddenly fell on her.

What was later observed was that the container was not properly tied to the trailer. That is just a recent example as we have so many of such accidents in the past. There must be monitoring unit that will ensure that containers are properly tied to the trailer before they leave the port,” Oladele said.

Besides, THE NATION

gathered some of the trailers are weather-beaten that they lack the strength to carry heavy duty such as containers.

This reporter conducted a subtle search on one of the trailers incidentally carrying a container at the front of the Ojodu office of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) last week, the trailers roadworthiness was nothing but a subject of debate among the passers-by who took a brisk walk past the vehicle.

One of them was overheard complaining to his partner and condemning the FRSC for allowing the trailer to be parked at the spot.

“How can the FRSC allow this trailer at the side of a busy road? Don’t they know the havoc the container carrier trailers cause innocent road users? We don’t even know whether the government is afraid of the drivers of those trailers to allow them commit murders without checking them,” the angry man said.

The new Lagos Traffic Law recently signed by Governor Babatunde Fashola seems to be the answer to the question raised by the angry commentator. The law has imposed a restriction on the movement of heavy duty vehicles to late in the night when the traffic on the roads would have subsided.

According to Section 2 subsection1 and 2, “save as may be prescribed by the Commissioner by regulation, no trailer other than petrol tankers and long vehicles used in conveying passengers, shall enter into or travel within the metropolis of Lagos between the hours of 6am - 9pm.

“Also any driver who is found contravening the provisions of this Section shall have his vehicle impounded by a duly authorised officer of the Authority and shall upon conviction be liable to a fine of N50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira) or a term of imprisonment for six months or both.”

This, according to Fashola, is to restore sanity to the road which is usually characterised by, chaotic atmosphere. He stated that the concern of his government is not about making arrests but changing attitude by the strength of advocacy for the values of compliance.

“And that is what we want to focus on in the short term. In the medium term, some increased enforcement and in the long term, total, uncompromising zerotolerance. By that time, we would have more people voluntarily complying,” he said.

Chairman of Association of Maritime Truck Owners, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, however, sees the law differently, describing it as a bait to nail drivers.

Speaking on a breakfast show on television last Saturday, he argued that the government did not consider the danger in night travel which the law has forced on them.

He further said that the law would cripple port operations, arguing it is not the best the state can get because it will have a negative economic implication on the nation owing to the fact that the port is the second largest income earner for the nation.

“Everybody knows that our drivers are facing the problem

of hijackers in night journey.

That has made us to encourage day journey. But now with the restrictions, it is sending them back to the den of these criminals. That is the situation.

Government should have provided terminals where the trailers will park to prevent parking on the side of highways before coming out with this law.

But see how they did it? It is obnoxious,” he said.

Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Nseobong Akpabio, sees the law as a positive development as well as a complementary legal instrument to sanitise the road.

He lauded the Lagos State government for taking the bull by the horns in order to reduce avoidable auto-crashes on the road.

Regarding the container carrier trailers, he said FRSC has been meeting with the stakeholders in haulage business with a view to finding solution to the incessant accidents caused by their vehicles on the road.

“Because we cannot continue to watch things degenerating, that is why we are improving on our campaign to seek understanding of the stakeholders. And with the new traffic law, we will achieve results faster than expected. Our advice meanwhile is that other road users should not drive too close to trailers carrying containers. They should at least give two seconds gap between their vehicle and the trailer,” he said.

Time will tell whether the new traffic law will make a desired impact in keeping container carrier trailers away from the road or not.

Life

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012 •Continued on Page 55

structions who saw me and said I should follow her to the mission house. I ended up sleeping there since my mother could not reach me. I slept off and late in the night, the sister started caressing me. She had the act with me. Since then, I always wanted to be in her class. I was closely related to her and started fantasising with her.

So, you were actively lesbian by the time you left primary school?

Yes, I was.

What happened during your secondary school years?

That was at Girls High School, Agege. It was another world. It is an all-girls’ school. So, we were only with fellow girls. We shared our troubles together and related sexually. It was very prominent there too. Only those with strong sexuality survived. When I was in JSS3, one of the teachers showed interest in me. She would always call me and send me to her house.

One day, she said I had to go to one Hajia around Danjuma area. When I got there, the woman took me to her house and said I should suck her breast. I was scared. She then said ‘that was why your teacher sent you’. So, I did and we had the act. She gave me a note to my teacher. My teacher now said many ladies did it and if I wanted to be okay, I had better continue to do it. I remember she bought me my first set of brassier from the first outing. So, it became a tradition. We call it ‘hot jobs’, anyway. After school hours and during break times, she would give up. We went to several big women around Agege and Agbotikuyo for the acts. We formed a clique among the students. The school authorities didn’t know about it but many teachers were behind it. We made money that they shared with us. But we couldn’t flaunt the money anyway. We must finish everything in school. They were peanuts that appeared big to us then. Our teachers got contracts and businesses from the rich women in exchange for our illicit affairs. This went on for about three sessions or so.

I remember getting home late one day to meet my father. I couldn’t convince him where I was coming from, so he beat me so mercilessly. He thought I was following guys, not knowing I was doing much worse. The next day, he followed me to school and the teacher denied she sent me out. I was penalised again and couldn’t take it any longer.

I found somewhere behind the class and attempted suicide.

The whole school was in uproar when they found me. I hung my neck with my school’s belt. It took them much effort to disengage me. They concluded it was a spiritual attack after they called my parents. But that experience toughened and hardened me.

By the time I left secondary school, I had gone so deep in it. I started meeting with female clerics.

I graduated into meeting pastors’ wives across denominational divide. I was a member of Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Ayo Ni O Movement.

It happened there too, but it was a background lifestyle though we knew one another.

When I was in SS2, I met a pentecostal pastor’s wife who said she wanted to be my godmother. I started going out with her to meet several women.

I realised there was a fellowship of homosexuals then. They call it True Christian Fellowship for Nigerian Gay and Lesbians. It was co-founded by an American Bishop and two Nigerian preachers.

One was orthodox, the other pentecostal. It was for ministers who were lesbians and homosexuals. By the time I finished secondary school, I had all the time in the world because I was awaiting results. My parents were busy with work and I was trying to make up my O’Level results. I would follow her and I would return later in the day.

There we had a bi-monthly retreat that I could not attend. But at a time, she came to ask my parents for permission to attend the fellowship. Since they didn’t know what she was doing to me, they accepted.

That marked my first time at the retreat. I met big and prominent people and was shocked. They were celebrities and people from the arts and entertainment industry. I met old musicians and that was when I knew the weight of the fellowship.

They had something they call the Gay Bible and talk about your rights as homosexuals. When I started meeting those important Nigerians, I felt I wanted to be like them. I told her about that goal and she used her influence to get me registered though I was not a minister. One of the registration requirements is that you must be gay or homosexual affirmed. They call their initiation baptismal initiation and you will be taken through the gay culture.

When was all this?

That was in 1996-98.

Before homosexuality became a big issue?

Yes, you see it has always been with us. But it was in the background. Homosexuality has always been a large community. It is a world on its own. These people wanted to help me get admission but my father insisted I must make up for my deficiency in Mathematics. In 2001, I gained admission into Yaba College of Technology to study Accounting. I then had all the freedom in this world

'My life as a lesbian'

•Ayotade

and was a living act. I was around 22, 23 years then and people started noticing I had no boyfriend.

One guy even approached me that he suspected I was lesbian. I told my godmother and she said, ‘you too should look for somebody to marry so that they will not suspect you’. So, I followed her counsel. I asked her what if I don’t have feelings for that man? She said, ‘it does not matter because it is the man that should love’.

So, I started hunting for guys. So, from those of them that came around me I picked one. I met him in LASU Epe where he was a student when I went to write my GCE exams. He said he liked me when we met because I was a tomboy. He said, ‘I will marry you’ and I asked him why. So, that guy appealed to me. He kept checking me when I finished the exams and showed commitment. Even when my father was not welcoming him, he never cared. So, I told my godmother about him, she approved of him. They met and she liked him.

She encouraged me to go ahead and said since he was cool-headed, he could help me to get out of it. At that time, I was fed up with being a lesbian. I wanted to live normal life like other ladies.

So, we started discussing marriage and by 2002, we had the introduction. After then, that was the first time I had sex with a man. It was so horrible and the experience was disgusting. I then reasoned I would get along with time. Each time, we wanted to relate sexually, I had to visualise the picture of one of my female partners to enjoy it. I was also pretending I was enjoying the act when it was not so.

After we married, I realised his eldest sister was also a lesbian. That became very tough for me. She was doting on me and supported me all the way against the family. I liked her and made out time to be with her. I stayed with her many nights to have the acts. She was the pillow queen, the submissive, the feminine. She was also a deaconess in the church, very sanctimonious. My husband and I were at Raji Razak Estate but she started influencing me to tell him to get an accommodation in Aboru so that we could be closer.

After much pressure and pleadings, I yielded.

But I had other lesbian partners and she became jealous. She was like how could I be bringing women into her brother’s house? She said I was exposing my brother to dangers. I was livid and felt she could not control my life. So, we started having troubles. I then said I was going to quit the marriage if she kept pestering me.

One day, I called the mother and told her I was not interested in the marriage again. I opened up that her daughter was lesbian. To my surprise, she said there was no big deal. That didn’t I know that her daughter loved me so much and would

always fight my cause? She was like was that how I would repay her? I just walked out on her.

I became pregnant and felt sick but they didn’t bother to look after me. They didn’t show up even when I was hospitalised. It was my second pregnancy. So, my father was angry and said I must not return to them again. When the guy came around begging, I said I needed to round off my HND programme and everything just crashed. It degenerated into a war.

You had two babies for him?

Yes, but I lost them. The first one died in 2008 and the second died in March 2004 immediately I had him. He couldn’t survive it he immediately came out. So, I was living with my parents and resumed my full lesbianism. I was working and had all the time. I lost my dad in 2005 and became completely free. I even moved out of the house and started living with female partners. There was even a pastor’s wife that rented a four-bedroom apartment for me in Orelope, Egbeda. I was all to myself whenever she could not come because she was married. In her absence, I brought other ladies in.

So, at what point did you turn a new leaf?

I will say it all started in 2008. Before then, I ventured into a heterogeneous illicit affair with a guy. I told him I was lesbian yet he said he was going to marry me. He is a lecturer at Yaba Tech now. He said he wouldn’t mind marrying me. He said I could even be living my lesbian life and be married to him. So, I realised he was encouraging me to go online to get lesbian partners that we made money off. This was despite the fact that he was an instrumentalist in the church. I felt repulsed with what he was using me for and decided I was not going to marry him. I told him so one day and he became mad. He even slapped me. I said that was it. I was pregnant for him then but said it was not for him. I packed his belongings one day and gave all of them out to Mallam for free. That made him know I meant business. He gave up on me completely.

How did you lose your daughter?

She was sick for just a week and I lost her on May 25th, 2008. But I believe it was a blessing in disguise. I never breastfed her but when she was three, I noticed she started touching and sucking my breast. My mother told me to allow her but I thought it was not normal. If she didn’t accept breast as a baby, why coming for it at three? I had my suspicion until the passover night of 2008. We all met in church for the service. Then, one person caught her kissing a fellow lady. I saw it myself.

That got me alarmed that my daughter was also in the act. I was alarmed. I started praying to God to save my daughter from that life. So, I embarked on fasting and vigil. I was praying God should

57

take away anything that will stop me from making heaven. On the 18th of May, I was told the sickness started. She died on a Sunday in my hands.

What came to my mind was that God answered my prayers. After that incident, I was more remorseful. I was staying in a friend’s house in Abesan Estate. She was the one I had the longest affair with as a lesbian. She was married and based in Katsina but came to Lagos when she heard I was in her apartment. So I gave birth to the third pregnancy and lost it too. At that point, I was fed up. I just wanted to die.

So, what was the turning point?

My mother and my sister in the United Kingdom sent messages that I was going to die. They said God was angry and I might die if I didn’t change. Each time I made the decision, I kept falling back. By October, I developed drowsiness and was placed on medications. Nothing worked for me. I was almost dead; I saw my spirit leaving my body. I was battling with death. I had to rush to the hospital the next day. I was practically dead for three days. I only came around the fourth day, after the doctors had given up on me. So, I started looking for a church for deliverance. I attended a church on Lagos-Ibadan expressway for the session. Unfortunately, I stayed in a room at the camp with a lady who happened to be a lesbian. I had to run out of the place again.

In 2009, I met a female wrestler called Chinonye. She stayed in Abesan Estate and was more into lesbian prostitution. When I met her, I insisted she must stop smoking and drinking.

She did and her mother was happy to have me move in. She was also married and lost a child like me. Her family never knew she or I was a lesbian. I started staying with them in February 2009. We had a room to ourselves and were deep into the act again.

I slept one night and had a dream. I saw myself in a narrow way on a street with a bungalow building. The gate was dented but the fence was not too high. I went into the building and realised someone invited me to look in. I saw pierced hands when a beam of light appeared. A man was dancing and singing. He was singing if I would be ready when the Lord comes. When I woke up, I was drenched in sweat. She wanted me to sleep with her again and I said no.

She was busy caressing me but I insisted I must pray. I told her I was done with the act.

When she tempted me for seven days and I didn’t budge, she knew I was damn serious. I had to leave her house after many weeks. I underwent many deliverance and rehabilitation sessions in different churches.

What signals should one look for to recognise homosexuals?

They are very simple. It doesn’t take up to one minute to know. One, they cannot look straight into the eyes of the same-sex because they are very shy and the issue of attraction. Two, they are never interested in issues of heterogeneous relationships. Thirdly, they are too busy with religious, academic and professional issues.

They don’t give out time for leisure. These are the simple signals to look out for. They are extremely shy towards same-sex. They can look at opposite sex without issues. But homosexuals cannot look straight into members of the samesex. They isolate themselves and feel odd most times.

Are government’s legislations against samesex helpful?

They are not the solutions but they are measures to check the insanity in the society. We are in a situation where it is now alarming. People no longer hide it; they are brazen. You see guys wearing carrot trousers. Because of western voice sounding higher, we need legislations to checkmate it. There are deviants that the legislation will help. But there are many homosexuals that are not happy with it. These legislations do not address them. So, how do homosexuals under threat get help? But government needs to do much more. We have to really go into the roots of family life in this country. The family is where to fight this battle. If families are well-founded and traditional roles are emphasised, it will help a lot. Mothers should assume the roles of trainers and not try to be breadwinners, taking the place of the fathers. They should not seek to equate themselves with men. So, we need something to regenerate traditional family values.

Would you still want to remarry?

Yes, I do. I am beginning to appreciate males and respecting them now. I now long for marriage and I can say I am mature to handle a marital relationship.

Do you believe homosexuality is never a western culture?

It is never. We have recorded history in the Bible. There was a Sodom and Gomorrah. The tribe of Benjamites was heavily into it. In the New Testament, Apostle Paul spoke against it. So, sexual disorder is an age-long thing. It has been with us in Africa but we only pretend about it. Some cultures permit it in Africa. In the northern parts of Nigeria, it is believed that wealth is in the anus. It is not an alien culture but a problem associated with man irrespective of tribes and racial divides.

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Your HEALTH THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

8 Natural tips to help prevent flu

R esis ting the Flu

T

HERE are no known cures for colds and flu, so cold and flu prevention should be your goal. A proactive approach to ward off colds and flu is apt to make your whole life healthier. The strategies that can be employed to help prevent colds and the flu naturally are; 1 Wash your hands Most cold and flu viruses are spread by direct contact. Someone who has the flu sneezes onto his or her hand and then touches the telephone, the keyboard, a kitchen glass. The germs can live for hours only to be picked up by the next person who touches the same object. So wash your hands often. If you can't get to a sink, rub an alcohol-based hand sanitizer onto your hands.

2 Don't cover your sneezes and coughs with your hands Because germs and viruses cling to your bare hands, muffling coughs and sneezes with your hands often results in passing along your germs to others. When you feel a sneeze or cough coming, use a tissue, then throw it away immediately. If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into the inside of your elbow.

With the cold season comes a wide array of ailments and at the top of that list is the Flu. Rita Ohai writes on the misconceptions, the symptoms and ways to prevent this disease.

I

F a person walks around with a runny nose, cough, a fever and constant exhaustion bugging down the muscles, they most likely have caught the flu.

In spite of the frequency with which most people in our part of Africa fall to this illness, very little is known about it.

Often, it is tagged a symptom of other diseases such as typhoid or malaria.

Explaining the nature of the disease, Dr. Charity Onabolu says, “Flu is an acute infection of the airway tract in the nose and throat that can sometimes spread down into the lungs. It is actually the most frequent cause of acute respiratory illness and it occurs every year mainly during the rainy or cold season.

“This is primarily because we tend to stay indoors more and thus have closer contact with each other due to the cold weather and this makes it easier for the virus to spread,” she said.

Many people incorrectly confuse influenza (the flu) with the common cold.

Differentiating a cold from the flu by symptoms alone can sometimes be difficult, but generally, people with the flu get ill suddenly, look much sicker, and feel much weaker than when they are hit with the ailment of a common cold.

According to Dr. Charity, “Symptoms of the flu tend to start quickly and can include fever, chills, dry cough, and sore throat.

Even though people often mix-up common cold symptoms with those of the flu, the key method of separating the two is that regular cold symptoms are usually milder and don't last as long as flu symptoms.

“Fever (usually high), headache, extreme tiredness, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle aches,

nausea, vomiting, diarrhea may occur.

Typically, the fever will begin to decline on the second or third day of the illness, but that same patient can spread the virus to other people before their symptoms start and for another 3 to 4 days after their symptoms appear,” she finished.

Due to the impact the infection of the flu-causing virus has on the immune system, complications usually appear as the patient starts to feel better. After a brief period of improvement, they may suddenly develop a bacterial infection, which can cause pneumonia in already weakened lungs. Other health issues include high fever, shaking chills, chest pain with each breath, coughing that produces thick, yellow-green mucus.

Can your diet really reduce your risk of catching a cold or influenza? Nutrition experts certainly think so.

According to Victor Shonibare, a nutritional expert, food and healthy lifestyle choices boost your immune system, and that can prevent individuals from coming down with colds and flu.

He explains how diet and other smart lifestyle choices will help avoid the sniffles, stuffy nose and aches of the cold, as well as the outright misery of influenza: “Natural food is better than dietary supplements for the prevention of colds and flu because you get the whole nutritional package.

“Drinking homemade juice from fruits like oranges and vegetables high in vitamin C will help to keep your immune system strong and healthy during cold and flu season.”

Stating further, he explains that protein sources such as lean meats,

3 Don't touch your face Cold and flu viruses enter your body through the eyes, nose, or mouth. Touching dairy, eggs and legumes are especially their faces is the major way children catch important because they supply the amino colds and a key way they pass colds on to acids that the body needs to build the their parents.

components of your immune system.

Avoiding junk foods is important too especially the ones that contain excess sugar and unhealthy fats.

Sharing simple procedures infected patients can do to help heal faster, Dr. Onabolu states, “Steam inhalations may be useful in opening up a blocked nose which will in turn make breathing easier.

When the person is able to take in more oxygen, they will feel stronger and the body can fight the infection better.”

To create steam, boil water on the stove, remove the pot from the stove, then sit with a towel over your head, above the pot or bowl containing the hot water and inhale the steam.

Another simple method is steaming up the bathroom by letting the shower run with hot water only. Inhaling the moisture in a steamy room can serve a similar purpose.

Be careful, however, not to sit directly under the shower in order to avoid getting burned.

4 Drink plenty of fluids Water should never be the sole or main liquid consumed because it does not contain adequate electrolytes (sodium and potassium, for example) that the body requires. Adults need to add fruit juices, and clear soups like fish and chicken soup to their diet. For children, ORS (oral rehydration solution) packets are another good way to replenish the body. A similar rehydrating solution can be made at home using salt, sugar, and plain or rice water.

Adding some orange juice and mashed bananas enhances the taste and also provides a good source of potassium. Such a solution can be used by anyone, regardless of age.

5 Do aerobic exercise regularly Aerobic exercise speeds up the heart to pump larger quantities of blood; makes you breathe faster to help transfer oxygen from your lungs to your blood; and makes you sweat once your body heats up. These exercises help increase the body's natural virus-killing cells.

6 Don't smoke Statistics show that heavy smokers get more severe colds and more frequent ones. Even being around smoke profoundly zaps the immune system.

Smoke dries out your nasal passages and paralyzes cilia, these are the delicate hairs in the nose and lungs that sweep cold and flu viruses out of the nasal passages.

7 Cut alcohol consumption Heavy alcohol use suppresses the immune system in a variety of ways.

Heavier drinkers are more prone to initial infections as well as secondary complications. Alcohol also dehydrates the body .It actually causes more fluid loss from your system than it puts in.

8 Relax If you can teach yourself to relax, you may be able to rev up your immune system. Keep in mind, relaxation is a learnable skill.

BUSINESS

59

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

T

HE Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS) one of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) interventions in the real sector of the economy may be scrapped in October, The Nation can authoritatively report. The Nation’s findings showed that the scheme may be collapsed as the apex bank plans to launch the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Fund in October.

Further findings showed that the scheme has so far guaranteed the sum of N55.99 billion for 763, 514 borrowers while a total of N34.11 billion was recovered from 562,224 borrowers.

The CBN, it was learnt, is equally considering an intensive performance rating for all commercial banks to determine their effectiveness of lending to agriculture. To achieve this, the apex bank has set aside, N1.5 billion, out of the N75 allocated for the full implementation of the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) project.

A statement credited to the CBN Director,

CBN: Agric credit scheme may go in October

By Bukola Afolabi

Development Finance Department, Paul Eluhaiwe, said rating of the banks is one of the strategic measures being taken by the apex bank to stimulate lending to the sector.

According to him, the NIRSAL objective is to derisk agriculture finance value chain, build long term capacity and instituionalise incentives for agricultural lending.

He explained that potential lenders include traditional banks, microfinance institutions, trade finance providers, asset managers, and private equity funds. Credit to the sector could also come as a loan portfolio, a loan, a bond or in some cases, a specific commitment letter.

He said that NIRSAL Credit Risk Guarantee range from 30 per cent to 75

per cent and could be loan principal, or loan principal and interest payments.

The funds are targeted at farmer groups, large corporate farmers, processing companies, agricultural service providers, logistic companies, wholesale distributors among others.

It can also be targeted at whole agribusiness value chain covered across all crops and livestock activities.

He said that NIRSAL was a public/private initiative designed by the apex bank and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in 2011 to disburse such grants to financial institutions for easy access by farmers nationwide.

He explained that N45 billion had been earmarked from the N75 billion as loans to the farmers, while the balance

•From left: Ebi Atawodi (Head, High Value Events and Sponsorship) , Nneka Okekearu, Peter Bankole (Director, Entreprise Development Center), Alero A. Ladipo. (Marketing Manager Personal & Business Banking at Stanbic IBTC Bank) and Wale Anifowoshe at the Global Entrepreneurship Week Partners Forum organised by the Enterprise Development Center of PHOTO: RITA OHAI the Lagos Business School which held on Monday.

would be used to train the farmers and insure them.

The CBN Director said that the funds will be driven by five pillars, in which N45 billion will be channeled into risk sharing facility. There is equally a N4.5 billion insurance facility that links insurance products to loans provided by banks to borrowers. He

reaffirmed that NIRSAL’s target is to de-risk agriculture finance value chain, build long term capacity and institutionalise incentives for agricultural lending.

According to him, additional technical assistance facility of N9 billion will be used in building capacity of banks,

microfinance institutions, agricultural value chain actors and expanding financial inclusion. A bank incentive mechanism of N15 billion was also allocated to target incentives that will move banks to long term, strategic position and increase their commitment to agricultural lending.

GOtv offers affordable premium TV

I

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For lovers of African entertainment, GOtv offers five AfricaMagic channels.

These are: AfricaMagic, AfricaMagic Hausa, AfricaMagic Movies, AfricaMagic World and AfricaMagic Yoruba. These are specially-packaged channels with strong African content of deep value.

•From left: FirstBank Customer and Winner of a 32" LCD Television - Mr. Nosakhare Kingsley Omorodion; FirstBank Branch Manager, Benin-Sapele Road - Mr. Kinglsey Edo-Obanor, National Lotto Official - Mrs. Maureen Apata and Head, Consumer Banking FirstBank

INSIDE BUSINESS

Matters arising over Nnaji’s resignation -- Pages 60-61

‘NIPOST to operate as mobile money platforms’ -- Page 62

60

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Business News

BARTH NNAJI CONTROVERSY

Matters arising over Nnaji’s resignation B

LIND trust and corporate governance. These two phrases took the front burner of public discussion following the resignation of Professor Barth Nnaji as the Minister of Power last Wednesday, with many questioning the theory and practice of these precepts in modern day Nigeria.

Crux of the matter Nnaji, had on Tuesday, resigned his appointment from the cabinet.

The resignation, which was with immediate effect, was not unconnected with the conflict of interest that was said to have arisen during the privatisation process of companies under the PHCN. The President, in a terse statement issued by Reuben Abati, presidential spokesman thanked Professor Nnaji for his services to the nation under the present administration and wished him well in his future endeavours.

Investigations, however, showed that the minister lost his job to a combination of factors, including his alleged interest in the N6bn Afam Power Plant contract. He was also said to have stepped on toes of some powerful government officials and industrialists over the same project.

It was further learnt that while the minister disclosed his interest to the National Council of Privatisation under the Chairmanship of the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, other government officials involved in the privatisation process had been silent even though they were equally keen on taking over the plant through their own companies.

Also, Nnaji was said to have got onto the wrong side of Jonathan following an unsuccessful bid to influence the Federal Executive Council to approve the fund for the Afam project.

Members of FEC reportedly rejected Nnaji’s request amidst growing insinuations then that the minister had interest in a consortium that participated in the bid for the plant.

The President and his men were said to be unhappy that the minister attempted to persuade the Federal Government to refurbish the plant with N6bn when he knew he had interest in it.

The ex-minister was summoned to the Presidential Villa midway into • ?????? the meeting between the Federal Government and leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress and was asked to leave the cabinet.

Nnaji troubles were also said to be traceable to the bidding process for the Transmission Company of Nigeria which was won by a Canadian Firm, Manitoba.

It was learnt that the offer of the management of TCN to Manitoba had ignited bad blood among the top government officials in the National Council for Privatisation and their business allies.

The feud generated by the Manitoba offer was such that moves were made to void the bidding process.

Nnaji’s defence Barely 24 hours after his sudden exit from President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, Nnaji, on Wednesday said he resigned because some “powerful vested interests” were bent on tarnishing his image, adding that he left the cabinet in order to save the Jonathan administration from the “spill-over” of the attacks by the “powerful vested interests.”

In his reaction which was contained in a statement by his spokesman, Ogbuagu Anikwe, Nnaji said: “I had to voluntarily resign the office of minister to retain my integrity which has in recent days come under scurrilous attacks by powerful vested interests that were hell bent on be-

The unceremonious exit of Professor Barth Nnaji as the Minister of Power last Tuesday over issues bordering on credibility crisis has further raised doubts concerning the propriety or otherwise of blind trusts, writes Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf. Additional reports by Bukola Afolabi and Gbenga Oyebanji

•Nnaji

INSIDE BUSINESS smirching the integrity and reputation that I painstakingly built over the years.

“This resignation is also to ensure that there is no spill-over of these attacks to the President who is working very hard to transform the nation.

“I feel particularly proud of the fact that my exit comes at a time that the administration has been able to generate and supply an unprecedented quantum of steady, reliable electric power in the history of our nation.

“I am confident enough to allow history and the Nigerian people to judge my performance on the task that I accepted from the President.”

He denied having conflict of interest in his handling of the power sector reform.

According to him, he resigned his directorship of all companies in which he had interest and put his shares in those companies in a blind trust.

He said, “I would like to reiterate that before I accepted to serve as minister, I resigned my directorship of all companies that I had interest in and put my shares in those companies in a Blind Trust; this means that I was not privy to the day-to-day business decisions of those who ran this trust.

“In addition, I publicly declared the participation in the privatisation process of a foreign company that did business with a company that I had interest in. This fact came to my knowledge only during the course of evaluating the consortia that were bidding for PHCN successor companies. Consequently, I also voluntarily excused myself from participating in the selection process. These actions, I should

think, are in line with the finest traditions of transparency and accountability in governance.”

Nnaji said his resignation had given him the opportunity to go back to his integrated power projects “which have been designed to accelerate the development of the nation.”

What’s a blind trust?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a blind trust as “A financial arrangement in which a person, such as a high-ranking elected official, avoids possible conflict of interest by relegating his or her financial affairs to a fiduciary who has sole discretion as to their management. The person choosing the trust also gives up the right to information regarding the status of the assets.”

Blind trusts are generally used when a settlor (sometimes called a trustor or donor) wishes to keep the beneficiary unaware of the specific assets in the trust, such as to avoid conflict of interest between the beneficiary and the investments. Politicians or others in sensitive positions often place their personal assets (including investment income) into blind trusts, to avoid public scrutiny and accusations of conflicts of interest.

Best practice abroad In UK, the issue of blind trust and conflict of interest caused so much problems in the parliament between 1992-1997 while the Labour Party was in opposition, its front bench received funding from blind trusts.

The Niel’s committee was set up to check this practice and a report was brought out that found it “inconsistent with principle of openness and

“What are you trying to prove to the world? What about those who committed the pension fraud, who are stealing money that is supposed to be used to pay people who are retired, what has happen to them?” accountability,” and recommended that such trusts be “prohibited as mechanism for funding political parties, party leaders or their offices, member of parliament or parliamentary candidates.”

In America the first elected official to use a blind trust was President Lyndon Johnson who set up this trust so that he and his wife Lady Bird could hold on to their Texas television station and yet not be subjected to inevitable conflict of interest that would result from holding an asset so heavily regulated by the Federal Government.

As Todd S. Purdum argued in his article in Vanity Fair last month, “as a freshman Senator, Barack Obama— whose wealth comes almost entirely from his book royalties—set up a blind trust but later that same year sold all of his stocks and closed the trust because he decided that even such an arrangement could not protect him from the appearance of a conflict.

Most of his wealth is now invested in U.S. Treasury bonds and diversified funds—about the most transparent option available. What’s good for

the country is good for Obama, and vice versa, to coin a phrase.”

How a blind trust operates in the US The story of U.S Senator Bill Frist is a good example. Senator Frist inherited a company HCA Inc from his late father and was a major shareholder before he became a Senator. In keeping with existing U.S regulations by virtue of the Ethics in Government Act 1978 (as amended) the Senator created a blind trust and duly informed the Senate Ethics Committee and filed all the necessary forms included a trust deed drafted in accordance with the laid down regulations. Under the statute Senator’s Frists’ trust agreement is not recognised as creating a blind trust for whatever purpose unless it has been approved by the Senate Committee on Ethics prior to execution. The standard trust agreement contains clauses to the effect that the tenure of the trust shall be for the period that the Senator (or other public officer) continues in public office.

It also lays down rules on interested parties which are defined as “the grantor, spouses, any minor or dependent child, and their representatives”.

Additionally, the Senator had to furnish information to relevant agencies on the proposed Trustee and Investment Adviser for their consideration by the Senate Committee to ensure that these persons are truly independent.

By the statute the trustee has a long list of obligations which include reporting to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Office of Public Records and the Secretary of the Senate whenever “a particular asset transferred to the trust by an interested party have been completely disposed of or when the value of the asset becomes less than $1000” and on and on goes the laid down procedures.

The Senator supposedly complied with all these provisions as laid down by statute. So, what do the accusers of the distinguished Senator have to say?

Senator Frist was asked during an interview whether he would not have a conflict of interest in voting for or against health care legislation despite his ownership of stock in HCA, a hospital chain which his family founded and asked whether he would sell his shares, to which he responded: “I really think viewers should know that I put this into a blind trust. So far as I know, I own no HCA stock. I have no control. It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts assets. So I have no idea?

It was later found out that Senator Frist actually received regular updates of transfer of assets to his blind trusts and sales of stocks.

He also was able to initiate a stock sale of HCA with perfect timing because shortly after he sold the stock price dived.

Apart from the issue of having knowledge of the affairs of the blind trust, the US Attorney-General’s office and the Securities and Exchange Commission began to investigate whether the Senator sold his stock based on insider information about earnings report.

The level of ‘blindness’ expected of a grantor of a blind trust in public office in the US is total impaired vision not partial impaired vision.

He is expected to take his hands and eyes off the asset entirely, leaving it to the Trustee for the tenure of the Trust.

Past public officials guilty who breached public trust It would be recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was accused of the ownership of 200,000,000

Continued on page 61

Business

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

61

BARTH NNAJI CONTROVERSY

Resignation, a decoy

by FG, says Sagay Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), professor of constitutional law, holds the view and very strongly too that the resignation of Prof. Barth Nnaji over alleged conflict of interest was in bad fate by Bukola Afolabi

S

TEPS in corporate governance As a member of national executive that is taking a decision and has an interest in a contract, he should allow the board to know beforehand. And once the board gets to know, they will take measures to ensure impartiality and independence of the process.

For example, by excluding any of his surrogates from participation in that particular process where his own interest is concerned.

So it is not illegal at all, that an operative has an interest in a contract which is being considered by a country which that operative belongs. Prior information and institution from the de-

• Sagay

What is a blind trust?

Blind trusts are often used by politicians because they can avoid a conflict of interest with public duties.

If the grantor dies while the assets are still held by the blind trust, the person managing the assets must oversee the distribution of those assets to beneficiaries.

When is a blind trust fund payable?

A “blind trust” is payable whenever the terms of the trust say it is payable. A “blind trust” has no features that are different than any other trust except for the fact that the beneficiaries are not allowed to see where the trust assets are invested or influence how they should be invested.

How to terminate blind trusts A blind trust gives all control of the assets in the trust to the trustee; the grantor is allowed no knowledge of what hap-

ABC of Blind Trust pens with the assets while the trust is in place. Usually the trust is revocable by the grantor, making it easy to end when the need for asset management comes. Though the assets in the trust are managed by the people indicated by the trust, the actions taken are supposed to be in the best interest of the trust grantor. End your blind trust when you’re ready to take back control of your financial assets.

1. Read the original trust documents.

The trust should outline the procedures for termination. The procedure usually involves signing a revocation of trust document and taking the document, along with any person signatory to the document, to a notary. Have the notary sign the form and

cision making process, where that decision is being considered.

So if you therefore look at it, I don’t know at what stage he told them whether it was after they had discovered it, I really don’t know. So it is not that they did anything criminal or unethical, he did not tell them at all, that is the point. But political point is more profound.

Nnaji’s resignation not enough The truth is that Nigeria is trying to promote a false image of integrity, parity, and lack of corruption. False image means if a man is asked to resign simply because it is true that at a certain stage that he has a company

validate the agreement. Append a copy of the revocation of trust document to any copy of the trust, including those held by you, the trustee and any lawyers involved.

2. Contact the people handling the assets of the trust. Alert them that the trust is set to be dissolved.

3. Learn what the people handling the assets have been doing with the items in the trust. Blind trusts operate without the grantor knowing exactly what is happening with her assets. Know how your assets have been handled so you can continue or change the strategy the person handling your assets was using.

4. Contact the lawyer who handled the trust. Follow the steps outlined in the trust document to dissolve the trust.

which has been soliciting for business rather than he is being told that either your company will not be reconsidered or the thing concerning your company will be re -advertised so that you can start afresh instead of that the outright sack or forceful resignation. What are you trying to prove to the world? What about those who committed the pension fraud, who are stealing money that is supposed to be used to pay people who are retired, what has happen to them? What is happening now is that those involved in real stealing, including even these subsidy stealing, those involved in the real stealing of billions are left alone.

For me, am not impressed.

‘Nnaji did the most honorable thing’

M

R. Bamidele Aturu, human rights activist and lawyer arguers that the resignation of Prof. Barth Nnaji was a right step in the right direction.

“I have not even read the federal government position. My own position is that at what point did he resign from this company; this is very crucial and even if he resign from these companies at what point did he resign, is it before he took the appointment or during this reform. In my own opinion, he did not follow the due process and that is why he has to go. The way he left is better. He has breached the law of blind trust and I think what the government did is the right thing. To me I think he has done the right thing by resigning that is the most honorable thing that he has done.”

How trustworthy is a blind trust?

Continued from page 60 shares in Transcorp, the conglomerate known to have bought over many national assets.

“Transcorp: Obasanjo’s Shares in Blind Trust.” The gist of it was that “The 200 million shares owned by President Olusegun Obasanjo in Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp) were said to have being held in a blind trust on behalf of the President by Obasanjo Holdings.

In December 2004, and again in September 2005, Governor Orji Uzo Kalu of Abia State, in one of his many verbal and written combats with the president over his impounded Slok Airlines and other matters, indicated that he once sat with the president while he (president Obasanjo) was signing Obasanjo Farm checks of First Bank, Plc, among several accusations.

The statement was never controverted.

More importantly, the nation was once told earlier in November 2004 by then presidential aide Remi FaniKayode and former Minister of Culture and Tourism) that since Obasanjo’s farm and other business concerns earn approximately N30 million per month, the president was not inclined to steal government money, meaning that the president

was benefitting from such proceeds.

There was also the ethical dilemma which Obasanjo entangled himself with - the multi-billion- naira donations by Corporate Nigeria both to his 2003 Campaign and to the Presidential Library Fund; the establishment of a private University at Bells Technological University in the midst of the declining fortunes public universities.

Position of the Nigerian Constitution In the view of Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Maxi Funds Investment Plc, the major portion of laws that deal with conduct of public officers is as contained in Schedule 5 of the Nigerian Constitution.

According to him, Section 1 - “A public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities?

Section 6 (1) A public officer shall not ask for or accept property or benefits of any kind for himself or any other person on account of anything done or omitted to be done by him in the discharge of his duties.

Section 7 (b) The President or Vice-President, Governor or Deputy Governor, Minister of the Government of the Federation or Commis-

• Unegbu

sioner of the Government of a State, or any other public officer who holds the office of a Permanent Secretary or head of any public corporation, university, or other parastatal organisation shall not accept any benefit of whatever nature from any company, contractor, or businessman, or the nominee or agent of such person.

Section 8 - No persons shall offer a public officer any property, gift or benefit of any kind as an inducement or bribe for the granting of any favour or the discharge in his favour of the public officer’s duties. Section 9 A public officer shall not do or direct to be done, in abuse of his office, any

arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of any other person knowing that such act is unlawful or contrary to any government policy.

Section 11 (1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every public officer shall within three months after the coming into force of this Code of Conduct or immediately after taking office and thereafter (a) at the end of every four years; and (b) at the end of his term of office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of all his properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his unmarried children under the age of eighteen years.

Section 11 (2) Any statement in such declaration that is found to be false by any authority or person authorised in that behalf to verify it shall be deemed to be a breach of this Code.

Section 11 (3) Any property or assets acquired by a public officer after any declaration required under this Constitution and which is not fairly attributable to income, gift, or loan approved by this Code shall be deemed to have been acquired in breach of this Code unless the contrary is proved.

Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) project Among the donors and the re-

sources they pooled include Chief Mike Adenuga (N250 million); Alhaji Aliko Dangote, N211.6 million, Chief Sunny Odogwu, N200 million, Chief Arisekola Alao N100 million , Obasanjo Holdings, N100 million Olorogun Michael Ibru, N50 million, PDP N25 million, Chief Sam Nwake, N20 million Dapo Abiodun, N10 million, Ooni of Ife , Oba Okunde Sijuwade, N10 million, Dr Bayo Kuku N5 million, Ogun State monarchs, N5 million Political aides of the President, N2 million, Chief Ernest Sonekan, N1 million, Nigerian Ports Authority ~N130 million ($1 million), 36 State governors N360 million, private sector, N622 million, oil firm majors, N2.6 billion ($20 million) leaving the total at N4.7 billion.

Other miscellaneous other donors who gave different amounts unknown left the grand total reportedly collected as N6 billion out of a target of N7 billion.

According to analyst, Nnaji may not have been accused of any wrongdoing and may have actually acted above board in all his dealings as Nigeria’s power and energy minister, but he may have been used as a sacrificial lamb.

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Business

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

‘NIPOST to operate as mobile money platform’ C

AN you tell us what your ministry is doing to make sure that ICT meaningfully impacts Nigeria’s development?

More recently, studies on socio-economic development are showing that ICT not only has an impact on development but is actually a necessary and required ingredient for development. The Ministry is working aggressively to enable Nigeria leverage ICT for inclusive national socio-economic development. Adoption of ICTs lead to development in social, health, education and business sectors. At the Ministry, we are presenting the general policy direction, policy intervention and creating the enabling environment for inclusive development in Nigeria. We are working on a number of initiatives that will ultimately enable Nigeria’s overall development.

For example, we are facilitating the buildout of a robust, ubiquitous and cost effective broadband network aimed at increasing broadband penetration within the country from 6 percent to about 20 - 25 percent by 2015. Broadband or fast access to the internet is a key success factor for national socio-economic development.

We are setting up incubation centres geared at facilitating an enabling environment to promote software development. Before the end of the year, two incubation centres, one in Abuja and the other in Tinapa, Calabar will be on stream to increase the skills and capabilities of software developers and the commercial viability and quality of software developed in Nigeria. The centres will unleash the creativity of our young people in both software and hardware.

The Ministry is also in the process of developing a national internet based portal that will facilitate easy access to government information through publish and inform websites and by December 2014, every single Federal Government Ministry and Departmental Agencies, will have a functioning publish and inform websites domiciled on the portal. We are working on local content guidelines that will be issued in Q4 of 2012, that will result in an increase in domestic value added to the ICT industry.

Also to promote e-governance, the Ministry by the end of the first quarter of 2013 will set up a 250-seat contact centre that will foster government to citizen engagement. These are primarily call centres that citizens can call to obtain information about government services. For citizens that have access to the internet,accurate and up-to-date information will also be available on websites as well as some of the forms that are required to procure government services. We will pilot one centre before the end of the year or early 2013.

The success of these initiatives will mean that regardless of where you live in Nigeria, how much you earn, how educated you are, you will have access to similar levels of basic government serv-

Minister of Communications, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, in this interview with Bukola Afolabi, gives a scorecard of her ministry one year after

•Johnson

INTERVIEW ices.

What has been your achievement so far in the ICT sector in the last one year?

The Ministry of ICT is a new Ministry created just a year ago. In the last one year, we have articulated the first national ICT policy, after a harmonisation and finalisation process that is about to be concluded. This policy is very important because that is what will give the direction of where the ICT sector is headed. In the past, we have had various policies covering the IT and the communications industry but the convergence of technologies and the industry have dictated the need for an integrated policy document that will drive the development of the ICT sector.

In government’s strategic intent for ICT, we have identified seven key result areas that we are prioritising between now and 2015. These includes: cost reduction and transparency in governance; a ubiquitous and cost effective national ICT infrastructure; a multi-faceted strategy that enables equitable access to the infrastructure; citizen engagement and convenient delivery of government information and strong support for the development of education, health, agriculture and financial services on the ICT infrastructure. We are promoting skills development initiatives to sustain the industry and ICT entrepreneurship and innovation have been identified as a core requirement for the development of a strong and vibrant ICT industry.

A number of other things

have been done. First of all, we have identified the fact that that the domestic value creation and local content in the ICT particularly in the IT is not sufficient. ( people focus more on telecoms and almost forget IT). That is why we have commenced the development of local content guidelines in other to enable more Nigerians to participate on the development of the economy.

There are many components of IT industries, like chip cards, base stations, PCs, notebooks, tablets, mobile phones and others that we are currently importing, but that can actually be assembled in the country to create value in the country. We are working on the local content guidelines that will accelerate domestic value added in the country. We are working on what I call the next revolution -software and data. Software in the sense that we have 90 million subscribers who need applications. We have problems that are peculiar to Nigeria that can be solved with locally developed software. We are now working on how to create these software entrepreneurs in this country. We are establishing two ICT incubation centers to faciliate the development of successful software enterpreneurs.

Internally within government, in the last one year, we have been working to leverage technology better to reduce the cost of governance and increase the transparency of governance.

Thus, 250 citizen call centre will be up and running by the end of the year to facilitate the provision of government services to the people. We have commenced the process of reengineering a number of proc-

esses in a few key ministries before they are put online.

These initiatves should serve to reduce the cost of and ensure the effectiveness of governance.

We are in the process of doubling broadband penetration from its current level so that the number of Nigerians with access to the internet will be more than doubled by 2015.

Currently, 45 million Nigerians or approximately 28 percent of our population have access to the internet. We are working to ensure that Nigeria’s broadband infrastructure is delivered through a heterogonous network of fiber optic cable , mobile broadband and satellite bandwidth. We are deploying these heterogonous networks to enable us deliver on our internal and external targets and increase broadband penetration in the country In the last one year, we have been working on reforming NIPOST to transform it into a an enabler of financial and digital inclusion. The old NIPOST as we know it that provides just universal postal services will give way to a new NIPOST that through its existing and planned diverse infrastructure will become Nigeria’s digital and financial inclusion platform.

Are you doing anything to revamp NIPOST? Like I earlier said, we are continuing the reform process in NIPOST to transform NIPOST into an agency that will not only provide universal postal services but will, through its existing and planned diverse infrastructure, be central to Nigeria’s financial and digital inclusion agenda and aspirations.

If you look at the NIPOST infrastructure, what has happened in the past is that postal service has been declining with the advent of e-mail, among others, but NIPOST has infrastructure which are useful for many other things.

Number one: they have the biggest infrastructure than any other institutions, and we will use that for two things and they are also available everywhere in the country. We are working with the CBN to utilise NIPOST’s extensive infrastructure to deliver finanical services to many more Nigerians. When you look at the fact that we have 90 million mobile phones and 3,000 post offices and postal agencies, you begin to understand the oppportunity of NIPOST as a financial inclusion platform that leverages mobile telephony.

Nigerians in the rural areas don’t have computers or individual access to the internet. We will use NIPOST as a tool of enabling access by setting up IT centres in these postal offices. So NIPOST is going beyond postal services because we are using the infrastructure for financial inclusion and digital inclusion. NIPOST, for me, is an important platform that will help us in bringing more Nigerians into the digital economy.

Beyond Talent

By Adetayo Okusanya Email: adetayookusanya@hotmail.com

A body at rest

“I

T’S time for you to leave your team.” These are the words that my mentor CT kept saying to me over a two year period; and for two years I listened and did absolutely nothing. For two years, CT, with his vast experience in the corporate world as a C-Suite executive, listened to me as I shared my work experiences and team dynamics (the good, the bad, the ugly), and felt a growing concern that it was time for me to say goodbye to the people I had worked with for three years. Being my number one cheerleader, he believed that I had outgrown the team and it was time for me to spread my wings and fly to another role that would give me the right professional development, career trajectory and leadership support.

It was not that I disagreed with CT. I knew he was right...but I had stayed in the role for too long and had become too comfortable. The thought of having to go through the song and dance of interviewing with hiring managers and building credibility from scratch with a new team was very unattractive to me. The truth is… it secretly terrified me. This was a team I was familiar with and I was recognized as a model team member. I was on very good terms with many of the more senior leaders, having cultivated their trust and confidence over the years. So I stayed. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months and months into years. I did nothing to explore opportunities outside my team. After all, it would not cost me much to maintain status quo. Or so I thought. At the end of two years the case for change became a matter of survival, and then only did I feel compelled to apply for jobs outside my team. CT, to his credit, never once said I told you so.

Newton’s first law of motion states that a body at rest will stay at rest, or a body in motion will maintain a constant velocity, until a net unbalanced force acts upon it. In other words, an object will continue to maintain its current speed and direction until it is compelled/forced/pressured to change by a net external force. Newton’s law embodies the principle of inertia, which is the tendency of an object to resist a change in motion. The origin of the word “inertia” can be traced to the Latin word for “inactivity” or “sluggishness”. The dictionary defines it as the resistance or disinclination to motion, action or change. Inertia had silently crept into my career and like a lamb being led to the slaughter house, I was unaware.

Inertia, when applied in the context of career development, is simply the inner resistance to making desired changes in one’s career because of self doubt or the fear of change, failure, disapproval or the unfamiliar. Inertia has set in when you find yourself maintaining a course of action because of sunk costs, rather than return on investment. For example, you are unhappy in your role and it has been five years since your last promotion. You choose to remain in your role based on the belief that your five years count towards your next promotion.

You are also in a state of inertia when you have found a strategy that works for you and are reluctant to change it because it guarantees you a desired minimum return without much risk. For example, you love your manager and have been with him for the past ten years. He has changed jobs five times and each time you have accompanied him to his new team. You are the pro at what makes him happy and excel in avoiding the things that annoy him. Why fix something that is not broken?

When was the last time you experienced a change in direction or speed in your career? Have you become “a tad too comfortable” where you are? Have you been delaying a much needed change in your life because it is easier to “just go-withthe-flow”? Inertia, by definition, hinders change and, in my opinion, has the potential to impede the process of career development and career transformation. It will keep you from changing your job, manager, department, employer, industry, career, location or educational qualifications, even when such changes have the potential to be catalysts of your success.

Career Inertia is the perfect case of living life by DEFAULT, rather than by DESIGN. The right question to ask is not, “will change happen to me?” Change is inevitable. Rather, ask yourself, “When change happens to me, will I be ready for it, and would I have sufficiently influenced it to favor me?” You can overcome inertia by TAKING ACTION. This way, you are in a better position to MANAGE the change process and will not find yourself at the receiving end of FORCED change.

• Okusanya is CEO of ReadinessEdge

63

WORLD NEWS THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

S

YRIAN rebels launched deadly attacks on the military yesterday, in a campaign increasingly targeting its air power, as President Bashar al-Assad’s ally Russia said it was “naive” to expect him not to fight back.

Rebels captured the main air defence building in Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding “preliminary reports” suggested they seized ground-to-air missiles.

The assault late Friday came hot on the heels of a rebel attack on the Abu Zohur air base in Idlib province in the

Syria rebels target regime air power northwest, where the Free Syrian Army said it downed a MiG warplane this week.

With the insurgency intensifying, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Western and Arab calls for Assad to unilaterally withdraw his troops amounted to a demand for “capitulation” that they had no right to make.

In their assault in Albu Kamal, rebels also captured 16 air defence personnel and attacked nearby Hamdan air

base, the Observatory said.

The seizure was a “major coup” for the rebels, the Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, adding it sparked retaliatory shelling in the town of some 60,000 that killed at least five civilians.

They were among 125 people killed in nationwide violence on Friday, including 74 civilians, 29 soldiers and 22 rebels, said the Britain-based Observatory, making August the deadliest month of the conflict so far with nearly 5,000

dead.

The rebels claim to have destroyed a dozen aircraft on the ground in their attacks on air bases over the past week as they seek to counter the government’s use of MIG warplanes and helicopter gunships.

In Idlib province, a major battleground on the Turkish border, rebels attacked an army roadblock in Harem district early Saturday, killing or wounding nine soldiers.

State media reported a “ter-

rorist” group had killed five members of a family in the central Marjeh district of Syria’s second city Aleppo, a key battleground in the more than 17-month-long conflict.

In the central province of Hama, rebels killed at least four soldiers in a roadblock attack, the Observatory said.

It also said 18 unidentified bodies were found in the Damascus area on Saturday, most with their hands tied and some bearing signs of torture.

In talks with Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi in Tehran on Friday, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Assad’s regime must stop using its heavy weapons.

But Russia’s top diplomat said such calls were “completely unrealistic.”

“When our partners say that the government must stop first and withdraw all its soldiers and weapons from cities — and only then call on the opposition to do the same — well, this is a completely unworkable scheme,” said Lavrov.

“Either people are naive or it is some sort of provocation,” he added.

Did Mitt Romney gain ground?

M

•Vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan (L) and Presidential nominee Mitt Romney (second left) are joined by their wives Ann Romney (second right) and Janna Ryan during the final day of the 2012 Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum last week in Tampa, Florida. Romney accepted the Republican nomination to run as the party's 2012 presidential candidate against US President Barack Obama. Photo: AFP

ITT ROMNEY had to accomplish three goals in his speech Thursday night: He had to introduce himself to the nation, he needed to explain why he is a better alternative than President Obama and he needed to outline his vision for the nation in the next four years.

Through a solid, though not an exceptional, speech, Romney made progress on all fronts. He opened up by sharing more about his religion as well as his family. His speech showed that Romney is more than a ruthless capitalist, offering an alternative narrative of Romney as a problem solver.

Until tonight, all of the speakers, including Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, spoke about the need to make tough choices. The speech, and the biographical film, presented Romney as the person who could take up this challenge.

Romney also took a more

aggressive stance toward President Obama by depicting him as a leader who had made big promises but who failed to deliver on what Americans need most, namely creating jobs and healing the divisions in politics.

Comparing Obama to President Carter, he completed the picture that Republicans have painted of the White House during the convention: a depiction of the president as someone who refuses to make tough decisions and who lacks any viable plan for strengthening the country.

The biggest weakness of the speech came with the final challenge, as Romney offered only a vague picture of what he would do in four years that would revitalize the state of the nation. He promised to have a plan, but the substance of the plan remains unclear. In the coming months, this is the big challenge for the Republican candidate if he wants to win the White House.

Romney’s likeability rating improves

Obama vows to support veterans, steers back to foreign policy M P RESIDENT Barack Obama returned on Friday to the site where he announced the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq two years ago, highlighting his foreign policy record and pledging to take better care of veterans of America’s wars.

Obama visited Fort Bliss, Texas, where on August 31, 2010, he said he would make good on one of the signature promises from his 2008 run for the presidency: withdrawing American forces from Iraq.

“We’re winding down a decade of war, we’re destroying terrorists’ networks that attacked us,

and we’ve restored American leadership,” Obama told some 5,000 soldiers at Fort Bliss. “As president, I will insist that America serves you and your families as well as you’ve served us.”

The president, in reaching out to the military community ahead of the November 6 election, touted his decision to end the war in Iraq as well as combat operations in Afghanistan. He has promised to support those returning from war with health services and resources to find jobs.

“Just as we give you the best equipment and

technology on the battlefield, we need to give you the best Before heading to North Carolina next week to accept the Democratic nomination for a second term, Obama is also attempting to turn voters’ attention back to foreign policy, considered

by many to be his strong suit in comparison with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Speaking after a meeting with military families, Obama reiterated his goal of winding down the war in Afghanistan, where the United States

has been fighting for more than a decade, by the end of 2014.

“Today every American can be proud that the United States is safer, the United States is stronger, and the United States is more respected in the world,” he said.

Romney tests Tampa momentum; Democrats hope to blunt it in Charlotte

M

ITT ROMNEY departed Tampa, Florida, on Friday hoping to ride any momentum he had built up over the past week as he makes the final turn into the November election.

Romney’s acceptance address won’t go down as often quoted but it got the job done.

He introduced his version of himself to America after months of his persona being defined by President Barack Obama’s campaign and allies. He and running mate, Paul Ryan, tried to plant a seed of doubt about the next four years of an Obama administration. They didn’t offer much in the way of specif-

ics about how a Romney administration would shift the sluggish economy into a higher gear but had plenty of reasons why Obama’s administration hasn’t.

Even Romney’s advisers weren’t predicting a slingshot out of the convention, but they didn’t sound as if they were expecting one.

ITT Romney emerged from the Republican Convention with an overall improvement in his image among voters but no significant change in the number who say they will vote for him, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday.

Republicans nominated Romney on Thursday after three days of testimonials from friends, relatives and supporters, many aimed at showing the candidate in a more informal light. Romney has struggled to shake off perceptions of being stiff and aloof.

The four-day rolling poll has Democratic President, Barack Obama, still leading Romney in general favourability, 52 percent to 50 percent.

64

E

World News

VERY four years, America stops to watch as a group of seemingly rational public officials and successful private sector players gather to do a most ludicrous thing: they exchange fables about a past that never existed. This quadrennial escapade is known as the national convention of the Republican Party. Ostensibly, last week’s convention was to nominate Mitt Romney as the party’s presidential nominee. However, through their speeches and other actions, conventioneers accomplished this goal and much less.

The convention lacked the vitality and spontaneity usually associated with an election year. It exuded all of the warmth and gaiety of an assemblage of retired morticians.

Though attendees tried hard, something was missing. Watching the convention, one got the sense of patrons still lingering at a concert venue while knowing fully well the star artists had already wired their regrets for missing the event. Having invested so much time and resources in to the effort, the attendees decided to pretend stars had appeared and all was well. While commended for their grit in not collapsing to disappointment, the Republicans must be chastised for their elaborate pretense. The stars missing from this convention were logic and truth. This week proved a political party can conduct a convention minus this duo.

Yet, history warns that such a party has become an instrumentality so insensitive to the limits of reality that entrusting the nation to its hands would be an act of brinksmanship.

The party would force the nation to abandon the truths of both its achievements and its problems so that the leaders of the political party could lose themselves in the maze of political fantasy they have created.

This would be as if American democracy met Alice’s Wonderland in the field of battle and Wonderland emerged victorious.

The convention veered toward the ridiculous from the onset. Even before the convention was formally opened, the party platform committee busied itself writing policy planks for gathering. Out of the intellectual rubble that described the committee’s proceedings, came the recommendation to explore reintroduction of the gold standard. If done in jocularity, the recommendation would have been a timely if too subtle a jest. Because it was attempted seriousness, the recommendation was derisive.

Those who propound such a thing have little concern about the burden they seek to impose on the people. Because the future looks uncertain, these selfish leaders seek solace in the past. Nostalgia is never the basis for sound policy. Moreover, it beclouds their judgment.

Gold standard proponents claim gold is inherently more utile as money than is paper. They claim gold is “sound money” and its use would end financial crises. This is hogwash poured into wine casks. History exposes the gold standard as an unreliable deterrent to crisis. The gold standard did not prevent the Great Depression or other historic depressions. It exacerbated them.

When the Great Depression came, what did wise nations do to help escape the deflationary collapse? They abandoned the standard in order to deploy paper currency and floating exchange rates to stimulate their economies, thus preventing utter ruin. That there has been no major depression since the gold standard was abandoned reveals the disutility of the standard. The lesson of history is not that the gold standard promotes broad prosperity. It deflates economies in a manner that chokes the poor and working classes only to further enable those who would tend to possess the gold — the rich and their large financial houses.

Conceptually, gold standard proponents misunderstand the core function of money. An object does not

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Republican party convention: A covenant with fantasy

•It is always easier to exalt ignorance than to cure it.

•Members of the Texas delegation hold their cowboy hats on their chests during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida

By Brian Browne need to have high intrinsic value to properly serve as money. The true function of money is not to be valuable in itself; the true function of money is to assign agreed value to all other aspects of economic life, from labor to the price of gold. Thus, money is not so much a thing as an idea – a social convention. Money is but an agreement among people that they will use a particular item to represent economic value and exchanges between them. The existence and strength of the social agreement is more important than the nature of the item used. Those who espouse the gold standard confuse gold’s value as a commodity with its utility as the lifeblood— the liquidity — of an economy. These people see in tradition the answer to all things but do so without understanding the rationale underlying the custom. Such people know little and understand less. They are worse than those who operate on blind faith. Instead, these people operate with utmost faith in their blindness.

The wealthy know the gold standard will benefit them. That it will further impoverish the poor means nothing to them. This class of people believes the poor are as they are because they want to be. Consequently, whatever happens to the poor and unfortunate is by the design of their own hand. The unfortunate write their own misfortune so to speak.

This callous policy is but the rationalization of personal greed over the general welfare. In this selfish drive, gold standard advocates seek to delude the general public that the standard will benefit them by making money more “valuable.” They neglect to inform people that implementation of the standard means abolition of all but the barest social programs. The social safety net will weaken to the extant that will not break a person’s economic fall but merely add insult to it. For the average person, return to the gold standard would be worse than placing the cart before the horse. It would be placing the horse in the cart then asking you to pull the heavy contraption. It would be the beginning of a peonage that has no place in a modern economy and 21st century democracy.

The folly concerning the gold standard was just the beginning of fast roll downward. The Republicans tried to show theirs as a party of diversity. They presented a few Blacks

and Latinos on stage as featured speakers to demonstrate the party’s inclusiveness. These attempts were the worst of cynical lies because the public knew them to be untrue. Yet, the party proceeded with the falsity.

An objective view of the attendees revealed a convention that was too homogenous, too white, too middleaged male and too intolerant of education and knowledge to be much good for anything other than the blunt pursuit of the narrow self interests of the participants. Their prime unstated but well understood objective is to thwart the political and economic implications inherent in the changing demographics of America. The more Black and minority populations grow, the more these Republicans want to recede into a yesterday where the wrongs of White men were right and the rights of others lay somewhere outside the law.

Consequently, Mitt Romney’s wife spoke to the convention about “taking the nation back” as if it had been stolen by some nimble thief under cover of darkness. For all of her attractiveness, her statement was tinged with malice and perhaps something worse. A large segment of America has refused to reconcile itself to the existence of a Black president. For them, President Obama is not so much the resident of the White House as he is a resident nightmare.

He is a purloiner who placed his unworthy hands on the mantle of their birthright which they want back.

This is the connotation of Ann Romney’s message. Shorn of her distaff affectations and saccharine comments about her spouse, all it contained was a racist’s electoral call to arms.

That former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice spoke from the same stage shows how she values position and money over honesty.

Every Black person does not have to support President Obama. I have been a harsh, often caustic critic of the man. Yet, I did so not because I felt a Black man was unworthy to be president but because I believed the first Black president needed to be more of a statesman than the calculating politician Obama has become.

Yet, Ms. Rice took pride in mounting the same rostrum from which racist implication had just aired. She made no mention about the racism in the room and seemed to breathe it in with little difficulty. Instead, she launched an attack on President Obama masterful in its sophistry. At

one point, she claimed America’s global leadership over the years had been required because the world had become an increasingly dangerous place. Everyone applauded because the postulate lent excuse to indiscriminate military excursion around the globe. A close examination of this assumption shows that it indicts militarism as much as celebrate it. For the world to be increasingly dangerous means America’s prolonged muscle flexing has been ineffectual.

Overreliance on military policy only begets a more risky world. Yet, the muscular approach is what Rice relishes.

Her premise was that President Obama had been weak on foreign policy, thus endangering America.

However, the facts defy her. If anything, President Obama has too readily unleashed the attack. His reliance on the military has been breathtaking. Under him, terrorist kill lists were established through which he has approved the improper extra-judicial homicide of American citizens. He helped bomb Libya into submission, expanded military deployment in Afghanistan, instituted an unprecedented drone bombing campaign and increased America’s military deployment in Africa.

American troops are stationed in more nations than not. President Obama has already done too dramatic an imitation of Rambo, yet Rice paints him as a derelict weakling. She wants more testosterone in American foreign policy although there is no room for another drop. Curiously, she refused to say what specifically she would do differently. The lingering impression is that she would like him to attack Iran and, since it is in the neighborhood, bomb Syrian for ample measure. Yet to say it clearly would be too coarse a thing for the former diplomat. In her heart, she knows she would be advocating regional war that could spark a world war. Thus, she sought to avoid placing such a responsibility squarely on her own shoulders by implying war yet demurring in blowing the actual trumpet.

As bad as Rice was, other speakers were worse. Senator Rand Paul proclaimed that America must return to when it was truly a meritocracy. He was taking a swipe at the rise of minorities in modern America. This is babbling hypocrisy coming from a man who would not have risen to the position of local food inspector but for the advantages of birth. His father is Ron Paul, the congressman and former candidate for

the party’s presidential nomination.

Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan claimed support for small government, then lambasted President Obama for potential cuts in defense spending. The Defense Department is the largest single department in American government and America’s defense budget exceeds the aggregate of the rest of the world. So much for small government! Ryan does not want small government. He wants big imperialistic government with small domestic social programs.

The Republicans try to portray themselves and Ryan as examples of public virtue and conservative honesty. However, their brand of honesty permits for blatant fabrication.

During his acceptance speech, Ryan accused President Obama of reneging on a campaign promise to prevent the closure of car factory near Ryan’s hometown. Ryan failed to mention the plant closed July 2008.

Obama was not inaugurated until January 2009. He was not in office when the plant closed and could do nothing for it. If Ryan were truthful, he should have placed the blame where it belonged: at the foot of fellow Republican George Bush.

In his acceptance speech capping the convention, Mitt Romney spoke lies. He claimed President Obama increased taxes on the middle class.

If anything, Obama has lowered taxes. He asserted America was economically worse now than when Obama took office. This was patently false. By the sound of their nervous applause, even his drooling audience knew it to be false. Romney could not even hold fast to the lie. In another part of the speech, he criticized the economic recovery was weak.

This statement was true. However, a weak recovery means some improvement. By definition, there cannot be a recovery that leaves the economy worse than before the recuperation.

So sure of the righteousness of his crusade against the Black president, Romney feels no need to be constrained by facts. He sees himself in a political holy war to defend the American faith against the secular infidel. In a matter of such high stakes, facts mean very little to the player convinced that his mission has been ordained by the providential hand. Sadly, most often such a crusader has confused the stirrings of his own ambitions for the workings of the Divine.

In the end, there was little divine about the Republican convention.

They tried to paint President Obama as a radical, atheistic socialist bent on brining the nation to ruin. Obama is nothing of the kind. If anything, Obama has followed Republican prescriptions in both domestic and foreign policies more than he has the traditional principles of his own party. Republicans are angrier at him than they have a right to be.

Their anger cannot be sated because it is not directed at what he has done but who he is. The most telling part of the convention came when veteran Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood took the stage to conduct a mock interview of President Obama, represented by an empty chair. The scene was worse than disrespectful. The skit was mean-spirited, nonfactual and somewhat eerie because it was so off-base. The effort seemed fueled by a disdain totally inappropriate for any wrongs that the president might have committed against the Republican’s creed. At that moment, all could see what ails the Republican Party. It is too old, too white and too out of touch. It is a group propelled more by resentment at a perceived loss of a privileged status that never should have existed in the first instance than fueled by ideas for creating an innovative and prosperous America for the 21st century. As such, Republican convention gave us a sour taste of a fading past. Let’s hope the Democrats’ convention gives America and the world a taste of a better future.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

EBERE WABARA

65

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

Pitfall of Nigerian Leadership in Odu-Ifa Code 192

ewabara@yahoo.com

Lip-service, not ‘eye-service’!

D

O you know that most Bibles in Ephesians chapter six verse six used ‘eye-service’ instead of ‘lip-service’—even New King James Version? I hope I will not be accused of blasphemy! I recollect Ndaeyo Uko questioning the correctness of ‘The wages of sin is death’ in the heyday of our Daily Times of Nigeria.

DAILY SUN of August 29 welcomes us this week with headline blunders: “Jonathan gives advisers marching order” Voice of The Nation: marching orders.

“Bishop, Monarch (sic) commend Jonathan over (for) commitment to police reform” Is it not when somebody does something extraordinary that we commend the person? Not performance of statutory functions!

“Igbo hunted (haunted) by spirits of those who died during the war” “Mimiko flags off campaign in Owo Thursday” When will most Nigerian journalists stop using ‘flag off’—a phrasal verb that does not exist?

Lastly from DAILY SUN: “Rest in the bossom (bosom) of the Lord….” (Full-page advertorial by schoolmates (UNN) & friends of….)

THE GUARDIAN of August 28 laboured in vain on six occasions beginning from its Editorial: “It should not become another white elephant project….”

Military industry and national economy: yank off ‘project’ because of its redundancy!

“But projects like this are not always favoured by the industrial giants….” Either projects like these or a project like this—no mix-up.

“Mix (Mixed) reactions trail NUT’s call for review of teachers’ retirement age” “I appeal to PHCN workers to settle the present crisis through dialogue instead of resorting to strike action and disruption of the system.” Delete ‘action’ or alternatively: industrial action/work stoppage/service withdrawal….

“In as much as I refrain from….” Not my own opinion: Inasmuch as I refrain from….

Finally from THE

GUARDIAN: “… whom they value between $15-$19 million.”

Premiership: between $15 and $19 million.

Last week’s edition of this medium circulated four Comment and general school-boy howlers: “…the continuing quest for a restoration of normalcy in (to) the country.”

“Olympics (Olympic) gold medalist, UdoObong (another comma) speaks out” “…his interests include, but not limited to, financial advisory, investment advisory, marketing, among others.” ‘Include’, ‘but not limited to’ and ‘among others’ cannot all function in this environment—just one of them will suffice. This is what I call lexical superfluity (redundancy/verbosity/padding)!

National Mirror of August 23 did not show any commitment to the English language on many occasions: “The state government is not a charity organization that will commit millions of naira on (to) a project with a view to….”

“Are the motorcycle riders (why not motorcyclists?) aware of and sufficiently sensitized (sic) about (to) the new law?” (Editorial!)

“Tunisia journalists protest against Islamist govt” World news: Tunisian journalists…

“31 killed in Syrian forces onslaughts in Damascus” Get it right: forces’ onslaughts “Turkish-Cypriot’s tycoon convicted after 17 years on run” This way: on the run “I remember once when he came to Port Harcourt we worked on a case till 5 p.m. in the evening.” Not allowed!

Consult dictionaries/ reference books on p.m. “…in the meantime, there has been series (a series) of systems collapse....”

“It was sometimes (sometime) in 1993 while I was still in Abuja….”

“For a NAFDAC that has in almost two years been performing creditably towards ensuring that food and drugs need of Nigerians are (is) given standard manufacturing preparation….” “…his predecessors who were on (in) seat for years without actually doing the work for which they were paid.”

“It is also on record that the same government shot itself at (in) the foot

by dismissing the audit report as a junk.” This way: audit report as junk.

The last word in the extract is non-count.

Let us welcome thisdaylive.com to this column for the first time: “Omolememen said the Federal Government has terminated a contract for the reconstruction of the Ikorodu-Sagamu road it awarded to Impresit Bakolori for non-performance.”

Reported speech: the FG had (not has)….

“More grease (power) to their elbow” (AIT Sports, August 10) “The highest number universities can accomodate is 150,000 students.” Spell-check: accommodate.

“Whose actions or inactions rubs (rub) off negatively almost all the time on the image of the industry?”

“This is the time for them to prove what they have learnt from the sordid events of yesteryears.” ‘Yesteryear’ is an uncountable entry. “…unless our real politicians put their acts together and learn from the ugly events of yesteryear, we may be in for yet another serious trouble in the land.” Fixed expression: put their act (not acts) together.

“Out of almost 43 years of Nigeria’s independence, the military held the reins of power for a period of 29 years” Standard phrase: reins of government.

Wrong: on the saddle; right: in the saddle “Coalition of parties protest election results in….” Not yet proximity: coalition of parties protests.

“Time for warring artistes to sheath sword” Get it right: sheathe.

“UNIBEN alumni holds award night” Either alumni association holds or alumni hold.

“The music impressario makes a final bow” The music impresario (note the spelling) takes (not makes) a bow. “…the main stumbling block to the restoration of lasting peace in (to) the nation’s universities.”

“The threatened strike by ASUU can be averted if only government should tow (toe) the path of honour.”

“The University of Ibadan recently compiled list of hundreds of students who had no entry qualification but had gained admission into the institution” Either: a list or lists of students, depending on the desired context.

I

N symbolic cultural expressions particularly found in religious myths, the concept of human pitfall is a primary point that presents the crossroad of human degeneration. The pitfall in focus in this writeup is the human ‘mental pitfall’. As a matter of ethics evolving from metaphysics of religious literature, ‘mental pitfall’ is a central cause of deplorable conditions of human existence from which lessons can be learnt and directions gained towards self improvement and better paths of earthly being. With particular reference to Nigeria, this write-up attempts to affirm a particular Odu-Ifa myth as a metaphor of Nigeria’s present and dreadful socio-political and economic reality.

The origin of causal and esoteric symbolisms of Ifa literature is ascribed to Orunmila, Olodumare’s (Almighty God’s) spirit of wisdom and spirit of knowledge. Odu-Ifa Code 192 is based on an interpretation of ancient Yoruba mystical/ metaphysical art which represents a unity of the symbolic fractions of all 16 major Odus of Ifa at a complete evolution from Eji Ogbe to Ofun-meji at the earth’s solid fusion with the seas at creation. It evolved from the recreations of Orunmila’s primordial spider feet impressions after being drawn into the sea by Olokun—the sea-god and symbol of Olodumare’s divinely flavored knowledge and unfathomable understanding. The Odu-Ifa code 192 embodies the manifestation of a cycle and age in humanity when all independent societies form a unit on the earth. This came to manifestation at the evolution of the United Nations General Assembly from 185 member States by the1990’s to 192 member states at the turn of the 21st century.

Within the said Ifa code of human existence and its’ mutable destiny in the 21st century lies the principal and foundational mental pitfall characterizing leadership and the consequent effect on the Nigerian socio-economic condition. The mental pitfall derives from an interpretation of the legend of Ode-aye and Ode-orun (Earth and Heaven) in the Ifa literary corpus. In the English language, details of the Odu read: Ekitipete! This divination is cast for Ode-aye and Ode-

By Olumide Okunmakinde

orun. They were advised to sacrifice in order to succeed in their expedition in a natural course of the universe. Odeorun heeded but Ode-aye refused to sacrifice. One day, during the expedition, Odeorun bumped into five massive eggs under some leaves and picked them. On reaching the main junction of nature, he called on his colleague, Ode-aye, and said: “I have left some eggs I gamed for you here, come quickly to take them, and he (Ode-orun) returned to his hut.

Ode-aye was delighted. He picked up the eggs with joy and hopped away. As soon as he got home, he boiled and ate them. On the other side, Ode-orun preserved his three eggs in a safe place. On the following day he examined those eggs and found that they had produced a string of 20,000 cowries each. In a state of great surprise, he packed the money. The next day and day after, the same development occurred. After the third experience, he ran to Ode-aye and enthusiastically asked, “what did you do with the eggs I gave you? Ode-aye answered, “I ate them”. Ode-orun asked, “how did it taste in your mouth?” Ode-aye replied, “O ma dun la dun ju o”…i.e, ‘Ohh, it was extremely delicious!’.

In silence, Ode-orun shook his head in pity and told Ode-aye that he was dead, and would never know prosperity! Odeaye in return said that ‘however long a man remains in the world, his prosperity is in heaven; and today we say Orunmila, which (in this scenario) means: ‘Only God owns prosperity and could give to whom he likes!’

With due respect to the leaders (political and religious), the general mental pitfall of Nigeria’s leadership is ‘thoughtlessness’ as an act or omission. Thoughtlessness makes wisdom impossible.

Without wisdom in the course of human leadership, nothing can be rightly done and socio-political/ economic justice will be impossible. Evolving from thoughtlessness is a massive void where there are no possible grounds for understanding to exist. The only active vibration from the void is extreme mental bankruptcy. Hence; it is expected that from history, experience and observation, nothing positively progressive can be learnt by

Nigeria’s leadership.

Ode-aye’s thoughtless act in the stated legend is perfectly replicated in Nigerian reality in many ways, one of which is the act of inane embezzlement of funds originally marked for social service delivery. This consequently leaves the society undeveloped, underdeveloped and impoverished. In Nigeria’s history, the mismanagement of ‘all resources’ from human to non-human natural resources (including time) is replicated by Ode-aye’s wastefulness. Nigeria is blessed with a lot of natural resources (e.g., crude oil) from which is derived an enormous influx of money into the treasury of government; yet, like the proverbial thirsty fool in the abundance of water, there is a gross lack of basic amenities of life in the experience of majority.

Nigeria, though wealthy in potential, is adjudged to be one of the poorest countries in the world. In its general economy, by reference to Ode aye’s tragic flaw, it is interpretable that there is bound to be an impossibility of generative output or productivity. As for such an economic order, irrespective of the enormity of financial potentials available, only the material needs of service is bound to be met by overtures of public administration.

Therefore, aside from monies that will be avariciously guzzled up by maladministration, the major bulk of capital will service recurrent expenditure. Real economic progress will thus be impossible.

Ode-aye’s inability to see any potential in the eggs beyond the ephemeral chopchop utility relates with the reality characteristic of Nigerian leadership’s corruption, greed, and the apparent lack of regenerative vision, abuse of positional privilege, lack of positive purpose, lack of good planning and preparedness, faithlessness, unseriousmindedness, lack of positive ideas, emptiness of a sense of natural preservation and environmental conservatism, and colossal disinterest in original knowledge. This disinterest is expected to lead to a lack of cultivation and the non-intellectualization of indigenous cultures/ knowledge. The leadership is blind to the beauties in their natural forms and cultures. In •Continued on Page 67

66 CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

UDOMA

AKEREJOLA

BANKOLE

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CHANGE OF NAME

EGBIKUADJE

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012 CHANGE OF NAME CHANGE OF NAME ODUCHE

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General public take note.

ONUOBIA

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. ONUOBIA ONYEKA ALEXANDRA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. OKOLI ONYEKA ALEXANDRA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

UNEGBU I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. UNEGBU SCHOLASTICA ONYINYE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. DIESERU SCHOLASTICA ONYINYE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, MR. DANNY OBINNA JOHN and OBINNA OJIKENYI ANAZOBI and OBINNA LIVINUS ANASOBI are one and the same person, now wish to be known and addressed as MR. DANNY OBINNA JOHN. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, IMOH EMMANSON JAMES and IMAH EMMANSON JAMES are one and the same person, now wish to be known and addressed as IMOH EMMANSON JAMES. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, MR. MANKOR FRANK WOKE and MR. ABADI FRANK WOKE are one and the same person, now wish to be known and addressed as MR. MANKOR FRANK WOKE. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

JATTO I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Jatto Cecilia Nkoyen, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Odion-Oligie Cecilia Nkoyen.

All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

ONIFADE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Onifade Suliat Olaitan, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olanrewaju Suliat Olaitan.

All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OREGBEMI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oregbemi Adejoke Temitope, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olushola Adejoke Temitope. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

MGBEKE

I, formerly known and address as Miss Oluchi Ikechi Mgbeke, now wishe to be address as Mrs Oluchi Samuel Nwankwo. All former documents remain valid.General public take note.

DADA

I, formerly known and address as Miss dada Atinuke Oluwatoyosi, now wishe to be address as Mrs Olowe Atinuke Oluwatoyosi. All former documents remain valid.General public take note.

AWONIYI

I,formerly known at various times as Awosope Oluwole Awoniyi and Joseph Oluniyi Awosope now wish to be known as Joseph Oluwole Oluniyi. All documents bearing the former names remain valid. members of the public please note.

IYAN

I, formerly known and address as Muhammed Yisa Iyan, now wishe to be address as Muhammed Yisa Ishola. All former documents remain valid.General public take note.

OPASINA

I, formerly known and address as Miss Opasina Gbemisola Omolayo, now wishe to be address as Mrs Adedokun Gbemisola Omolayo. All former documents remain valid.General public take note.

UGWUOKE

I, formerly known and address as Miss Ugwuoke Gift Uzoamaka, now wishe to be address as Mrs Ajibo Gift Uzoamaka. All former documents remain valid.General public take note.

AZUWUOGU

I,formerly known and addressed as Azuwuogu Stella Uchechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Igbokwe Stella Uchechi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

AKAMO

I, formerly known and address as Miss Akamo Aina Aminat, now wishe to be address as Mrs Olanrewaju Aminat Eniola. All former documents remain valid.General public take note.

DADA

I, formerly known and address as Miss Dada Olatoun Catherine, now wishe to be address as Mrs Sofoluwe Olatoun Catherine. All former documents remain valid.General public take note.

OKOOBOH

I, formerly known and address as Miss Okooboh Rita, now wishe to be address as Mrs Kamson Rita. All former documents remain valid.General public take note.

ZANNU

I, formerly known and address as Miss Zannu Modupe Grace, now wishe to be address as Mrs Jimoh Modupe Grace. All former documents remain valid.General public take note.

OGUNDIPE

I, formerly known and address as Miss Ogundipe adeola Basirat, now wishe to be address as Mrs LawalOgundipe adeola Basirat. All former documents remain valid.

NYSC and general public take note.

OGUNDIPE

I, formerly known and address as Miss Umeh Martha Chiugo, now wishe to be address as Mrs HenryAjaero Martha. All former documents remain valid. Access Bank Plc. and general public take note.

IYIOLA

I, formerly known and address as Miss Iyiola Alimat Abike, now wishe to be address as Mrs Sulaiman -Iyiola Alimat. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

NSIMAH

I, formerly known and address as Mrs Nsimah Loveth Jackson, now wishe to be address as Mrs Towolawi Loveth Jackson. All former documents remain valid.

LAPO Micro Finance Bank and general public take note.

JOHNSON

I, formerly known and address as Miss Johnson Nkechi Elizabeth, now wishe to be address as Mrs Bielonwu Nkechi Elizabeth. All former documents remain valid.

PHCN and general public take note.

OSUOLALE

I, formerly known and address as Miss Osuolale Zainab Temitope, now wishe to be address as Miss Olanloye Temitope Ajoke. All former documents remain valid.

Lagos State Ministry of Education and general public take note.

OWOSILE

I, formerly known and address as Miss Owosile Muibat Atinuke, now wishe to be address as Mrs Badmus Muibat Atinuke. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

YINUSA

I, formerly known and address as Miss Amidat Alarape Yinusa, now wishe to be address as Mrs Amidat Alarape Olabode. All former documents remain valid. Yaba College of Technology, NYSC, First Bank Plc., Enugu of State govt.and general public take note.

OBIOSAH

We, formerly known and address as Mrs. Oluwatosin Mopelola Obiosah, Master Samuel Chinedu Obiosah, Miss Abigail Adah Obiosah and Miss Victoria Ijeoma Obiosah now wishe to be address as Mrs Oluwatosin Mopelola Peter, Master Samuel Chinedu Peter, Miss Abigail Adah Peter and Miss Victoria Ijeoma Peter. All former documents remain valid.

RCCG, FCF, Jerica, Ibadan and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to inform the general public that I, Olugbode Olasunkanmi Kayode Kabir, are the same person known and addressed as Olugbode Kayode Kabir. Any documents with either of the above names refers to same person. GT Bank Plc. and general public take note.

JOSEPH

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. NENGIMOTE JOSEPH, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. NENGIMOTE BEREGHA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just (N4,500. NEW RATE effective from 20th March) The payment can be made through FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number 2017220392 Account Name VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to -gbengaodejide@yahoo.com or thenation_advert@yahoo.com For enquiry please contact: Gbenga on 08052720421, 08161675390, Email- gbengaodejide @yahoo.com or our offices nationwide.

Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays, all materials should reach us two days before publication.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Ekiti promotes 2,100 council workers

E

KITI State Government has cleared the backlog of promotion of over 2,100 local government workers and confirmed the appointment of 2,500 others inherited from the previous administration.

The Chairman of Ekiti Local Government Service Commission, Chief Aderemi Ajayi, made this known in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital.

He said that the promotion and confirmation were for 2009 and 2010.

Ajayi, who urged other local government workers due for 2011 promotion to prepare for and write the examination scheduled to

hold in October, stated that the Dr. Kayode Fayemi-led administration is not only workers-friendly but also interested in ensuring they get their dues.

He explained that the aim of the examination is to ensure professional competence and improve the performance of its workforce.

The Chairman also disclosed that the possession of professional qualifications from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) or Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) would be a prerequisite for the next promotion and appointment of Accountants in the State.

News

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Cleric opposes proposed N5, 000 notes

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HE Presiding Bishop of Rhema Christian Church, Ota Ogun State, Dr Taiwo Akinola, has kicked against the proposed introduction of N5, 000 notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The proposal, he said, is a policy somersault, which is uncalled for at this time.

He warned that the new note will worsen infla-

By Sunday Oguntola

tion and corruption in the nation.

Akinola said the CBN should rather strengthen existing coins and notes for stronger and robust economic growth instead of introducing a higher denomination.

The cleric spoke last Friday with reporters ahead of the church’s world convention from

November 4-11.

He appealed to the Federal Government to take decisive actions on the numerous challenges facing the nation.

He said the insecurity challenge in the nation requires radical approach.

According to him: “Government should be more decisive, show more strength and take appropriate actions at nipping it before it spirals beyond

control”.

He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to create new agencies to re-orientate Nigerians on the ideals of projecting the country favourably rather than condemning every process of nation- building.

Nigerians, he said, should be mindful of their utterances towards the nation because “thoughts are things and words are spirits.”

CAN gets new secretary

R

EV. Dr Musa Asaka has been appointed the new General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Asake was the General Secretary of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Jos from 1999-2005.

He started his pastoral career as an Assistant and Senior Pastor at the

•Asaka

ECWA Church, Unguwar Rimi, Bajju, his hometown in Zangon Kataf Local Government of Kaduna State in 1976.

In 1996, he became the Pastor-in-Charge of ECWA Headquarters Church in Jos on completion of his Doctor of Philosophy, PhD at the Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas, USA with specialisation in Bible Exposition.

Between 1976 and 2012, he pastored three different churches and lectured on part-time basis at Jos Theological Seminary (JETS).

A member of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) between 1999 and 2005, Asake served as Chairman and member of several Christian Boards and Governing Councils.

He was Chairman of the Plateau State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board from 2003 to 2005.

LR: Bishop Mike Okonkwo, his wife, Peace and Bishop Walter Mbamara, during the Mike Okonkwo Education and Youth Initiative in Lagos at the weekend. PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

OOTH’s director loses dad

A

COMMUNITY leader, Pa Samuel Fagorola, is dead.

He was 82.

A statement by the family said burial rites begin on Wednesday, September

19 with a service of songs by the Young Christian Men and Women of St Barnabas’ Anglican Church at his residence, 16 Market Street, Ilisan Remo Ogun State.

The wake follows on

Thursday at his residence by 5pm.

Funeral service comes up on Friday, September 20 at St Barnabas’ Anglican Church, IIisan Remo, Ogun State by 10 am.

He was survived by wife and children, among them the Director of Administration Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital Sagamu, Adedayo Adebawo.

Pitfall of Nigerian Leadership in Odu-Ifa Code 192 Continued from page 65 the Ifa myth being interpreted, one of Ode-orun’s principal ways of preserving the eggs could be interpretatively referred to as research and development through the utility of derivable knowledge. Odeorun acknowledged the existing natural phenomenon, embarked on an observation of the eggs, kept a record of empirical findings, and affirmed knowledge through consistent studies. In the process, ‘money’ accrued to Ode-orun. With Odeorun’s progressive frame of mind, it is presumed that the approach towards the utility of money gained would also be progressive.

In Odu-Ifa Iwori Otura, it is taught that “eni ti oba ri ohun ewa ti ko woo, a di otoshi, i.e., “he who sees a thing of beauty and does not pay attention to it will become wretched”. Further on in this Ifa divinatory literature, the Caucasian (White man) who is referred to as Oyibo is applauded for understanding the right path to appreciation of beauty which results into prosperity; hence, it is written ‘Oyibo mo ara, Oyibo mo eye’. Ode-aye did not pay attention to the beauty of potentials in the eggs, and as a result brought upon itself poverty.

Beauty here refers to many

things, but the principal universal meaning of beauty is embedded in the human intellect, its inherent intelligence and ‘illumination’ made manifest through ‘right-thinking’. This is the perspective where the principal human talent is interpreted to mean mental ability. The mental body of man is in the second plane of human consciousness in Western arcane science.

That is where the regenerative appreciation of beauty is possible, being a mental axis of the living intellect corresponding with a sound mind and illumined consciousness.

The mental problem exhibited by Ode-aye, here-in this write-up used as a metaphor for Nigerian leadership psychology, does not exclude religious and spiritual leadership. Most dishearteningly, many whom God endowed with paranormal abilities are very destructive in the astral plane ethers of human consciousness through degenerative witchcraft and sorceries, thus wasting away human potentials like ode-aye wasted the eggs of opportunity.

The lack of attention paid to the eggs by ode-aye reflects the way in which Nigerian leadership neglects intellectual potentials of indigenous cultures.

Their view on culture is apparently limited to the tangibles, e.g., dancing, arts & craft, music, masquerades’ display etc. They are apparently not inclined towards the intellectual potentials and achievements. The amount of investment on cultural festivals in Nigeria within the past four decades would surely run into a few trillions of Naira; yet, there are no reported sustained economic profits or tangible contribution to the improvement of society and knowledge.

It is also quite rare to find wealthy individuals’ or government sponsorship of intellectually inclined cultural research in Nigeria like it is done in the enlightened First World Orders in the class of Ode-orun.

In Nigeria’s diplomatic and economic history, has she ever shown any tangible social and infrastructural profit from foreign aid received in the past?

There have been allegations of diversion of foreign financial aid by leaders for personal use, thus negating the effect of foreign charity. In this perspective, is there not a perfect replication of Ode aye’s wastage of aid (in the form of eggs) received from Odeorun? Nigerian leadership’s dependency is so limitless that there is apparently nothing ra-

tional it reciprocally offers First World Order—be it by idea, theory, or practice. They have lost the capacity (eggs) to generate prosperous ideas. In their acts and omissions, no matter how ignoble, unreasonable and atrocious these appear, the Nigerian leadership will always refer to external models in defense and justification of misdeeds—practically by always quoting foreign countries, but always without their peculiar experiences.

Of the will to education, economic and political power in Nigeria, both individuals and institutions are apparently driven (more than any other reasons) by rabid greed and appetite, thus foundationally abandoning goodwill and developmental humanistic agenda of the aims of education, political authority, and potential ‘humanistic capitalism’. This misdirected will is a foundational cause of the inability to cultivate that which is good; and in the follyspiritedness of Ode-aye, there is bound to be a lack of maintenance culture.

From the referred mental pitfall, there are many disheartening socio-political and socioeconomic scenarios that relate to Nigeria’s present condition.

However, I shall conclude this piece with a reference to a nega-

tive-religious-attitude of Nigerian leadership. After Ode-aye was condemned and God forsaken for thoughtless action, it declared: ‘however long a man remains in the world, his prosperity is in heaven!’. It is thus declared in the said Ifa myth that ‘today we say Orunmila, which (in this scenario), means ‘only God owns prosperity and could give to whom He likes’.

This indicates the pathetic pessimism and psychological defeatism inherent in Nigerian leadership’s consciousness which, instead of seeking to regain mental balance as a foundation of social and economic development and regeneration, would be soliciting for prayers and actually praying for economic recovery. To borrow from Christian ethics, it is stated that ‘faith without works is dead’.

Worse still, in relation to the psychological condition of Nigerian leadership, such pessimism of Ode-aye indicates a potential ‘incapacity to learn from history or errors in history’ on the one hand, and the ‘inactivity of memory’ in another. Notably, these two mental phenomena are hallmarks of crassness and thick unintelligence.

As long as the head, hand and feet of Nigerian leadership remain stuck in the said mental

pitfall indicated by the Ifa mythic experience of Ode-aye, the bedeviled and disorganised society of the Niger River Area (Nigeria) will remain a leading inane CCQ economy, i.e., Chop-Chop and Quench consumer economy like Ode-aye and one of the world’s most ridiculous, pathetic, shameless and stinking economic dustbins! Worst of all, the leadership may see no disease in their piteous mental condition because, in the spirit of Ode-aye’s pessimistic submission to fate, they are mentally vanquished on the second (mental) body of human consciousness and ruled by the third-astral vibrations which leaves them trapped in the frame and culture of lower animal instincts. Aside from being subjected to states of mental bankruptcy and global ignominy, the condition of their consciousness causes them to be governed by appetite and not reason. Consequently, they are enormously empty of sympathy for positive human socio-political and economic values but full of sympathy for excruciatingly irrational directions of religion, politics and malevolent economics.

Okunmakinde Legal Practitioner and Researcher on Yoruba Culture and World Religions

68

WORSHIP THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

‘Churches run as family businesses will fail’ T

HE call The church started 18 years ago. My mother was a deaconess while my father was an elder in The Apostolic Church (TAC). So, I grew up in a Christian family. I became born again many years before I answered the call of God to go into full time ministry. The Lord released me to go and form The Faithfuls Church Worldwide. The church started under a tree at Adekoya Square, Anthony Village, Lagos. On the first day, we were 150.

Career I worked at the Nigeria Airways for about 18 years. I left it to set up my fisheries business. The name of my company was Big Fish Foods Limited. It was based at Ijeshatedo Lagos. It was a lucrative business in the 1980s.

After some time, I was sick to the point of death. I had bad experiences with so many pastors and church leaders and they made me to know that it is only God who can save and He is the only one that we should look up to.

On prosperity preaching That is for those who

The Senior Pastor of Faithful Church, Pastor Israel Ibironke, spoke with Joseph Eshanokpe on the nation and the church. Excerpts: opened churches to make money. In life, there are bad and good people. If you seek the goodness of God, you will get it. Those who seek evil will also get it.

If you buy a jet, you park it at the airport and pay for parking fees and other charges. I have flown on a jet and I know about it. It is the way of the devil to do what is above you.

You do not receive the call of God to be a millionaire. That is where the problem is. When you want to follow the world, you will go with it. But when you follow Jesus, it will be well with you. Today, people are not looking for Jesus. It is all about miracles. Don’t you see how people, including pastors, die without fulfilling their destinies? I believe in divine power where you wait for your time. There is no hurry in life. You have to cook rice before you eat it.

We must follow due process.

If you want to copy people, copy good people of

INTERVIEW God. There are many good pastors in the country and elsewhere.

On succession crisis in churches It doesn’t mean that if God calls the father, He must call the wife and children. But they must be useful to the Lord. It is not compulsory that because you are a bishop, then your wife must be one.

It is not biblical. Look at Elijah. His wife was not a prophetess. But it is good for a couple to be one and they must work for the Lord.

Another thing is that they don’t train successors.

Some churches have been turned into a family business. So, they hand over to their wife and children even if they are empty spiritually.

Eventually, such a church may die after a few years after the founder’s demise.

You don’t run a church like a limited liability company where your wife and chil-

dren are directors. You don’t run a church like that. This practice should be stopped.

Aviation safety If you are an expert, you will understand the industry.

But if you are not, you can’t.

If you make non-professionals to work there, there will be problem. How can a politician head a sensitive position in the aviation sector? It is not good.

In our time, the crew and other staff were sent on courses every six months.

Even the drivers and loaders went for training. Do they still do that? But when the national carrier died, business men came in. Their aim is to make money.

Then, if the aircraft was not cleared or certified for flight, the pilot will not fly.

Nigeria had the best pilots then. That was the time of Captain Tahir as the General Manager of the Airways, Moses Gowon etc. These people are still alive and they can still assist if called upon.

•Ibironke

NEWS

Why the church is weak, by retiring cleric

A

FTER 46 years in fulltime ministry, retiring Rev. Samuel Oshodipe has bemoaned what he described as commercialisation of the gospel.

The Assemblies of God preacher said prosperity and wealth have replaced salvation of souls among many churches.

He spoke last week ahead of his retirement next month.

Assessing Christianity now and then, Oshidipe said: “Back then, people were more serious in their worship and dealings with God. Then, we were mocked and there was no money to marry.

“There is a big shift and gap

By Nneka Nwaneri

with what is applicable today.

Now younger ones are after prosperity and wealth.

“Then, our goal was to please God and expand the church. Our primary call was to win souls. Then, the ministry was divine.”

He said the church will remain weak until Christians genuinely return to God. Reflecting on his early Christian life, he said: “My parents abandoned me. While courting my wife, I wore same dress when I was going to visit her.

“I wedded in January1972 and she died January 1975. I

wasn’t bothered and remarried 18months after because her death was revealed to me.

“I was not taken by surprise. I had no reason to question God because he prepared me for it. My major challenge is to please God.” Oshidipe, who was also childless for 26 years, said his faith in God remained unshaken.

According to him: “Before the baby came, there was a revelation to that effect about 14 to16 years.

“I was 53 years but I never allowed any problem control my life. I just cast everything to God and went to rest.”

‘Magnify ministry of choristers’

C

HURCHES should elevate the ministry of choristers to effectively reach souls, a senior music lecturer at the University of Lagos, Dr Albert Oikelome, has declared.

He spoke last week at a 3day retreat organised for the combined choir of the Christ Crusaders Ministry, Akute, Ogun State.

Oikelome said the ministry of choristers must be magnified for churches to operate more effectively.

Describing music as a universal language, he said many will better understand the gospel through the ministry of choristers.

By Sunday Oguntola

The music trainer said churches must devise a means of keeping musicians in their folds, lamenting that most secular musicians started out from churches.

He appealed to choristers to be Spirit-filled.

According to him: “Anybody can sing but not everybody can sing in the choir.

“It takes a spiritual person to sing about God and this accounted for why many started well with the choir but later opted out for secular music.”

A good choir, he explained, must sing with one voice.

He said individual talents

must never encroach on collective voice.

Oikelome stressed: “Discipline is a good core of a good choir. Three principles are necessary to develop a good choir and each member of the group must be ready to adhere strictly to them.

“The principles come under the acronyms FAT- Faithful, Available and Teachable.”

The National Coordinator of the Mass Choir, Pastor Yemi Adebisi, recalled that the ministry started around 14 years ago with just a handful of members under two rented canopies.

He expressed delight that it has grown with branches and thousands of members.

‘Divine intervention will save Nigeria’ Stories by Sunday Oguntola

T

•Atilade commissioning the Chapel of Great Commission during the session

How to move forward, by Atilade

T

HE President, Gospel Baptist Conference of Nigeria and Overseas (GBCN), Archbishop Magnus Atilade, has identified godliness and righteousness as the key catalysts of progress in life.

He said to truly move forward, every Nigerian must embrace God and walk in holiness.

Atilade spoke recently at the 40th annual conference session of the church in Awe Oyo state.

The theme of the session that attracted thousands from across the globe was “go forward”.

He noted many Nigerians desire progress, but lamented they seek it wrongly.

According to him:

“Many people believe in connection, manipulation, corruption and deceit to move ahead in life.

“They think they can help themselves but only God can truly give a man progress without regrets and troubles.”

He assured that those who believe in God and embrace righteousness will thrive, even if it takes time.

“God rewards holiness. It might take time but a righteous man will prosper at the end of the day.

“He will overtake those who have fraudulently gone ahead for years.

“Righteousness pays and holiness will take any man to the top,” he stated.

HE General Overseer of Turn To God Nationwide Christ Rescue Church, Lagos, Rev. Michael Okanlawon, has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a day of fasting and prayer.

The exercise, he said, will enable Nigerians seek divine intervention over the endemic corruption and insecurity battling for the nation’s soul.

Okanlawon, who addressed reporters last week, said: “God has special interests in Nigeria. He will visit this nation in a powerful, mighty way if we seek His face.”

He attributed the nation’s drift to deviation from the path of righteousness, stating that there are too many oppressed people in the country.

Lamenting the ceaseless bloodbath across the nation, he said Nigerians, especially political leaders, must embark on fasting and prayer to cleanse the nation.

He urged Jonathan to declare a day of fasting and prayer where Nigerians can gather in churches and mosques to seek divine atonement.

The cleric assured God will visit the nation and free it from the myriad of social and political challenges facing it.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

69

Worship

Your help is in His sanctuary

Power to set free (1) Pastor Amanda Ogunro

TOTAL FREEDOM

F

REEDOM is God’s desire for you. Don’t settle for defeat. Luke 1:71 “That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us.”

Revelational knowledge is all it takes to be free. Last month, I taught on Overcoming the Strongman. I explained that deliverance is for all and you don’t have to be possessed to need deliverance because the enemy in charge of this wickedness is the strongman which must be overcome. This month, I will be teaching on Power to Set Free. I will base this teaching on the following 1. What is deliverance?

2. Who needs deliverance?

3. Who can deliver?

4. How does God execute deliverance?

5. What should you do to be absolutely delivered?

What is deliverance?

Deliverance means to be saved from your enemies so that you can fulfill God’s plan in your life. In short, whatsoever restricts your freedom is bondage. This is what Jesus came for and died for. 1 John 3:8. Don’t be taught out of it. Jesus believes in deliverance as seen in Acts10:38. Deliverance was one of the signs Jesus talked about in Mark 16:1718.

Who needs deliverance?

Everybody needs deliverance from one challenge or another. It could be physical or spiritual problems such as anger, gossiping, fornication, lying, sickness, sleeplessness, satanic attacks, etc. Some body that has at least six troubles, in other words, is being faced with trouble from all directions, needs deliverance. Job 5:19. The only place where you can’t find trouble is when you look up. Psalm 121

Prophet Daniel was not possessed. He was thrown into a den of hungry lions.

Daniel 6:16. He was helpless and there was nothing he could do. The following morning the king who fasted without sleep throughout the night came to the lion’s den.

Daniel 6:18-20. What was the king’s comment? “O Daniel servant of the Living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually able to DELIVER thee from the lions?” In other words the king said, without the intervention of God’s deliverance, it was totally impossible for Daniel to have been alive.

Daniel’s reply was that he had received total freedom and deliverance from above.

Daniel 6:22.

You may say my case is different from that of Daniel.

Your case might be depression. Depression is a spirit of oppression and heaviness, which must be cast out in order to regain freedom. Isaiah 61:3b. Depression is one of the symptoms of insanity.

You may say my problem is eating and sexual intercourse in the dream. This is a serious satanic covenant which needs deliverance. Being born again does not automatically destroy inherited covenants and curses. For example, if before a man gave his life to Christ he had a sexually transmitted disease such as syphilis, after the salvation experience does this disease disappear? No! You can only be healed either through medical treatment or miraculous healing from the Lord, if the individual cries unto the Lord for healing. You may say my case is my brother who desires to kill me, I need deliverance. Remember Jacob, when he heard that Esau was coming to meet him armed with four hundred men, Jacob went to God for deliverance from Esau. Genesis 32:11 People who need deliverance: 1. Those who know that they have troubles all around 2. Those who know there is an enemy already coming to fight and have no weapon or possible means of victory A very good example of those who need deliverance is found in Exodus 3:78. Dear readers, your total

freedom is now as you read this message to know the truth. John 8:36.

Pray this prayer with me. Every Esau in my life, whether physical or spiritual, Lord deliver me from their hands. Thank you Lord. I receive my deliverance in Jesus name, Amen.

Mark 11:23-24.

I will continue this message next month so be on the lookout for Power to Set Free (2).

Be connected to Christ.

You get connected by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour.

John3:3. Salvation is the greatest miracle on earth. If you are not yet born again, pray this prayer of salvation.

Dear Jesus, I am a sinner. I come to you. Forgive my sins. Wash me with your blood. Deliver me from sin and satan. I accept you as my Lord and personal saviour. Thank you Jesus for saving me, write my name in the Lamb’s book of life.

Now I know that I am born again.

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at Rivers of Living Water Ministries, 540 Ikorodu Road, Maryland. Our midweek services holds on Wednesdays between 6.00pm and 8.00pm. We have two services on Sundays. The first holds between 8.00am – 10:30am; the second between 10:30am and 12.00pm. Every Tuesday by 8.00am, we have counseling and on the same day by 5.00pm, Deliverance service. For further reading please get my books- True Deliverance, Understanding The Secret of Satanic Activities and The Reality of Dreams. Listen to Eko FM 89.75 on radio by 6:30pm, watch Kingdom Africa by 6:30pm on DSTV Channel 345 and Hosanna Hour on MYTV by 6.00pm, all on Sundays.

I know you have been blessed by this teaching.

Write and share your testimony with Pastor Amanda Ogunro. Rivers of Living Water Ministries, P.M.B 2854 Surulere, Lagos or call 018401701, or e-mailinfo@rlwm.org . Visit our website on www.rlwm.org

Bishop Wale-Oke

DIVINE MESSAGE

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HE Bible is very clear that the help of the Lord is found in His sanctuary. David has been cited as a man God helped.

Hear what He said. “Lord I have loved the habitation of your house, and the place where your glory dwells” (Psalms 26:8). The glory of God dwells in the house of God. David again said the following: I have seen thee in the sanctuary (Psalm 63:2b). God is in His sanctuary. It is in His sanctuary that God can easily be seen. He loves to meet with His people in the place where His mercy seat has been established (Exodus 25:22). It is in God’s sanctuary that you discover the way of the Lord (Psalms 77:13).

When you find God’s way, your own way becomes clearer, you enjoy great speed, you find your way to success, prosperity, destiny fulfilment and supernatural assistance.

Your way in life is embedded in His ways. If you want to enjoy the strength, the honour, the majesty, and the beauty of the Lord, go to His sanctuary. This is made plain in the scriptures (Psalm 96:6).

No wonder David loved the sanctuary of the

Lord. He was not going to give sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found a place for the habitation of the Lord (Psalm 132). He was always glad whenever it was time to go to the house of the Lord (Psalm 122). No wonder he was such a mighty man of valour. If you too will do the same, with a clear understanding of what you are doing, you will experience the strength, honour, beauty and the majesty of the Lord in your life.

Throughout His life, our Lord Jesus was a constant dweller in the house of the Lord. Right from His teenage years until His last days on earth, He was constantly in the house of His Father (Luke 2:46-49). His apostles followed in tow.

They would first go to the temple of the Lord to worship and minister, until they began to plant churches, raising God’s altars and establishing His sanctuaries. And they left us a commandment not to forsake the assembly of the saints, as some people love to do, missing out on the blessing and the glory of the Lord (Hebrews 10:25).

In these days and age, several believers are trying to subtitute going to the house of God with “participating in worship services by television, the internet, the ipod” and other modern day devices. These are good as substitutes when you are not able to physically go to the house of the Lord. Yes, faith comes

when you hear the word of the Lord preached through these devices. However, it must be clearly emphasised that all modern day devices combined can never take the place of you being physically present in the house of the Lord your God, to enjoy His presence, His glory, His beauty, His strength, His majesty.

Make good use of these modern devices when you have to, but let nothing hinder you from going to the house of the Lord your God (Psalm 122:1).

I want to urge you, child of God: never play with the sanctuary of our God. Never forsake it. Go there with excitement and joy. Go there with faith and great expectation. There, the Lord, in the fullness of His glory and power is waiting to help you. He is ready to hear you in the day of your trouble, to defend you by His almighty name and to send you help from His sanctuary (Psalm 20:1-5).

He has promised to send “the rod of thy strength out of Zion” so that you may rule and reign in the midst of your enemies (Psalm 110:2). Always learn to go to the sanctuary of the Lord. His sure help is waiting for you there.

For further information, counseling and prayer, please contact me on telephone number: +234 816 308 7780, +234 816 363 6364 or send an email to bishopwaleoke@sotsm.com.

You may also write to P.M.B 60, Agodi Post Office, Ibadan.

WHAT AND WHERE?

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HE Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Dr. Mike Okonkwo, will be 67 on Thursday.

The 13th annual Mike Okonkwo lecture will hold next Wednesday with the theme: “Dependence of the

Okonkwo is 67 Nigerian Economy on crude oil: Any alternatives?”

The lecture, which is part of activities commemorating the birthday, takes place at Muson Centre, Onikan Lagos.

Winners of Mike Okonkwo annual essay competition will also receive their prizes at the occasion.

It will be chaired by Chief Philip Asiodu (CON).

NEWS Turn to God, cleric urges Nigerians

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HERE will be divine intervention in the nation’s affairs when Nigerians genuinely turn to God, the General Overseer of Dominion of Faith International Church, Lagos, Rev. David Olatona, has assured.

Stating that only God can tackle the socio-political challenges facing the nation, Olatona urged Nigerians to turn to Him for a turn-around.

By Tayo Adeyemo

He spoke at the Nite of Bliss service held in the church last week.

According to him: “God will remember us if only we can change our ways. He will always respond when we turn to Him.” The cleric called on President Goodluck Jonathan to rely on God to surmount the challenges confronting the nation.

“He is ready to listen to

us if only we can repent and believe in Him. What we are having today can be put right by God,” he stressed.

The church also commenced a free vocational training for residents of Ipaja.

The training, which holds every week for free, covers decoration and event management, catering, textile, bead and hat- making, computer studies, adult literacy and soap -making.

•L-R: Prince Kolade Robert; Archdeacon G. Adeyeye; Bishop J.B Adeyemi and Vicar of St. James Anglican Church, Rev. O. Familori at the foundation laying ceremony of the church in Amuwo-Odofin Lagos... recently

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THE NATION SPORT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

SPORT EXTRA

Orelesi signs new deal in Albania

Man City mark Mancini milestone with QPR win

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EIGNING champions Manchester City celebrated manager Roberto Mancini's 100th Premier League match in charge with a 31 victory at home to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.

Yaya Toure gave City a 16th minute lead at Eastlands when he scored from close range following a corner.

But Italian boss Mancini would have been fuming when QPR, managed by his City predecessor Mark Hughes, equalised against the run of play in the 59th minute.

England goalkeeper Joe Hart could only parry a fierce drive from Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora headed into an empty net.

But parity lasted just two minutes with Edin Dzeko heading in an excellent Carlos Tevez cross.

Argentina striker Tevez put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time when he deflected in Dzeko's wayward shot.

"I think we played well in first half but we have one problem at the moment and that's that when we have a chance to score we don't," Mancini said.

"I said it is important that we improve because we can't concede a goal in every game."

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REAM Team V left full back Nurudeen Orelesi had in recent past been linked with the likes of FC Twente, Malaga and Nice, but has instead committed himself to his Albania club, Skenderbeu for one more season.

However, the highly rated defender in Albania refuse to commit his long career to the club despite tempting him with mouth-watering deal that could made him the highest earning star in the league but agreed to play for the club for one more season before deciding on his next move, probably Holland.

Orelesi who was part of Dream Team star led by Austin Eguavon revealed his decision to extend his stay in the superliga for one more season, and belief that the club can challenge on all fronts.

Balotelli blow for Man City

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ANCHESTER City striker Mario Balotelli will be sidelined for a month after eye surgery.

An allergy stopped Balotelli wearing contact lenses and he will now have laser treatment in Brescia next week to cure his short sightedness.

It means manager Roberto Mancini will be without the 22-yearold forward for Premier League clashes against Stoke, Arsenal, Fulham and Sunderland.

Balotelli will also miss Champions League games against Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

Mancini is quoted in The Sun saying: 'Mario can't bear to wear contact lenses any more. The operation can't be put off any longer.'

Results Premier League West Ham U. 3 - 0 Swansea C. 2-2 Tottenham H. 1 - 1 West Bromwich A. Wigan Athletic 2 - 2 Manchester C. 3 - 1 Bundesliga Leverkusen Hoffenheim Nurnberg Schalke Bremen Dusseldorf

2-0 0-4 1-1 3-1 2-0 0-0

Italy Serie A Torino

3-0

Manchester City's Carlos Tevez (right) attempts to take on QPR's Anton Ferdinand

Osasuna Malaga

FIXTURES Premier League Liverpool v Arsenal Newcastle U. v Aston Villa Southampton v Manchester U. Italy Serie A Udinese v Juventus Cagliari v Atalanta Catania v Genoa Inter Milan v AS Roma Lazio v Palermo Napoli v Fiorentina Parma v Chievo Sampdoria v Siena Spain La Liga Rayo Vallecano v Athletic Bilbao v Levante v Real Madrid v Barcelona v

Sevilla Valladolid Espanyol Granada Valencia

Germany Bundesliga Wolfsburg v

Hannover

W ANFIELD WAR

Liverpool, Arsenal chase first win of season

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IVERPOOL and Arsenal on Sunday lunchtime meet at Anfield when both clubs will be looking for their first Premier League wins of the season and Nuri Sahin could make his debut.

Fulham Neither side have yet to collect a Sunderland three-point haul in the wake of Norwich C. eventful summers, which have set 2 - 0Everton both clubs into new eras.

Stoke C. Liverpool were unlucky not to Queens Park R. defeat Manchester City last Sunday but against Arsenal today it would be another huge challenge.

Freiburg After a patchy display in a 3-0 Eintracht Dortmund defeat to West Brom on the opening weekend, Brendan Rodgers' Augsburg Hamburger Liverpool appeared to take giant strides last week in a much more M’bach fluid display against City, despite conceding a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw.

Pescara

Spain La Liga Celta de Vigo 2 - 0 Zaragoza 0-1

Odemwingie inspires West Brom to win over Everton

The Reds twice surrendered the lead due to defensive errors but Rodgers will have taken plenty from the match to build upon.

Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, meanwhile, are also without a win, or a goal, in their opening two matches.

If Arsenal fans were to be reminded of departed striker Robin Van Persie's importance, they did not have to wait long in the form of rare consecutive goalless results.

Ten-million-pound signing Olivier Giroud has not yet hit the same heights for Arsenal after his move from French side Montpellier, while Lukas Podolski (Cologne) and Santi Cazorla have impressed despite neither getting on the score sheet and should prove valuable acquisitions.

On the other hand, the Gunners' defence looks more solid with Per Mertesacker back available after missing much of last season with an ankle injury, while Abou Diaby is also back and has provided an avenue in the holding midfield role.

Midfielder Nuri Sahin could line up for the Reds after snubbing Arsenal for his loan services from Real Madrid, while Theo Walcott is expected to be in the squad after Wenger confirmed the winger had verbally committed his future to the club despite turning down a contract.

Arsenal have a terrific recent record at Anfield with an unbeaten streak stretching back to March 2007 and both sides will be intent on collected their first win of the season.

EST Bromwich Albion continued their fine start to the Premier League season with an impressive 2-0 victory over Everton at The Hawthorns.

The Baggies have now claimed seven points from their opening three games, registering their best ever start to a Premier League campaign.

The win owed much to the tactics of their burgeoning boss Steve Clarke. The Baggies manager set his team up to stifle Everton's free-flowing attacking football and it worked.

The Scot also had the nous to bring on Peter Odemwingie when his team were struggling to penetrate in the final third and the Nigerian made a telling impact.

Odemwingie entered the fray in the 58th minute and within seven minutes of his arrival he had laid on the opening goal for Shane Long.

Buoyed by the opener WBA pushed on and Gareth McAuley beat Tim Howard to Chris Brunt's corner to nod in the second and secure all the three points.

Carroll injured in impressive winning debut

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NDY Carroll enjoyed an impressive debut for West Ham as they beat Fulham 3-0 at Upton Park before being forced off injured in the second half. The on-loan Liverpool striker did not score but caused Fulham huge problems and helped Kevin Nolan fire West Ham in front after just 53 seconds.

Goals from Winston Reid and Matty Taylor before half-time had West Ham well in control against a poor Fulham side, and the introduction of the Cottagers' big transfer window signing, Dimitar Berbatov, could not change the pattern of the match.

However, the victory for West Ham was somewhat soured when Carroll had to go off injured, holding his hamstring, midway through the second half after falling awkwardly.

James Collins and Guy Demel were also forced off after the break making it a potentially costly

afternoon for Sam Allardyce's men despite the impressive performance and result.

West Ham said Carroll was taken off as a precaution and will welcome the international break to give their players time to recover but his presence in the England squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine has to be in doubt now.

Nevertheless, the 67 minutes of action West Ham fans saw with Carroll on the pitch will leave them optimistic about just how much damage he can do in Allardyce's system.

Carroll's impact in the claret and blue was almost instantaneous as he was involved in the opener which came inside a minute.

The big striker was targeted with a long ball and he headed it on to Ricardo Vaz Te who was rushing in from the right Vaz Te then cleverly fed Nolan and the Hammers captain buried his half-volley expertly

across the goal and into the corner of the net.

Fulham were trying to play intricate passes in midfield but West Ham were buzzing around them and making life difficult.

Caroll

However, it was at set-plays that Fulham were really struggling and the second goal came directly from a corner with Reid heading home a bullet after a beautiful, whipped ball from Taylor on the half hour.

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THE NATION SPORT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

SPORT EXTRA

Green, Manu warn Golden Eaglets

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ARRISTER Chris Green, the Technical Committee's Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has warned the National Under-17 team not to be carried away by the string of impressive results under their belt including the 5-0 defeat of Junior Wasps of Rwanda in an international friendly match.

The Golden Eaglets had previously won 10 and drew one out of their 11 practice matches against supposedly weaker teams from academies and amateur clubs but they responded with aplomb by thrashing their counterparts from East Africa.

Nigeria had failed to qualify for the last two editions of the African Youth Championship and Green has told the players that it is about time things change for the better, “It is easy for you to think that you are the best with good results you have recorded so far but we don't want you to get carried away,” Green told the players. “Nigerians and the NFF are happy with you, so you can't afford to fail the country. We have failed to qualify for the last two editions of the African Under-17 Championship as such, we are expecting so much from you.”

He further assured the team every levels of support towards ensuring qualification for both the 2013 CAF Under-17 Championship in Morocco and the 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, assuring the players good welfare packages.

“Just do your best by winning your matches and leave every other thing for the NFF. President Aminu Maigari is so happy about your results here and he has asked me to tell you 'not to shift your eyes from the goal of qualification for the forthcoming tournaments,” added Green.

Speaking in the same vein, head coach, Manu Garba (MFR) has told the team categorically to forget about the results of previous matches since they would count for nothing if anything untoward happens.

“Everybody loves a winner and the reality is that you are as good as your last result,”Garba told the players in the locker room. “We have won nothing and we don't want you to think that you have arrived. We should not forget where we are going, so just forget about all these impressive results over the last months and be focussed on our next match.”

Tardy tips Eaglets for victory

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ICHARD Tardy, the FrenchRwanda's Under-17 National Team coach, has said the Golden Eaglets have the quality and strength in depth to qualify for the next African Championship, even as he promised to give the Nigerian team a tough time on Sunday.

Speaking after his team's ill-fated 50 defeat in Friday's international friendly match at the U.J Esuene Sports Stadium, Tardy said he was impressed with the way the Nigerian team played throughout the match hence would be ready for a fight when they meet yet again on Sunday.

“The Nigerian team is good a team and we can see that their players are tactically aware and without any doubt, we lost to a good team,” said Tardy who clocked 62 on August 29.

“Playing against a team like Nigeria at this stage of our preparation is a real challenge (for our players) because this is the first real match since we started our program about one month ago.

“Today, we were beaten 5-0 by Nigeria and that shows that there is more work for us to be done before we play Malawi or Botswana next month but I'm hopeful about our chances of qualifying for the next African championship in Morocco. We will play better when we meet on Sunday.

These matches will help us before we play Malawi or Botswana in October. I wish Nigeria well in their game against Niger next week.”

London Paralympics

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EAM Nigeria has won gold number four at the on-going London Paralympic games through power lifter Esther Oyema, who lifted 135kg to set a new world record in the women's 48kg powerlifting category.

At the last count before going to press last night, Nigeria has jumped to seventh place on the medals table with China leading the pace with 15 gold medals.

Nigeria now has four gold and three silver medals in its kitty.

Oyema's feat means Nigeria now has four gold, three silver medals to sustain its position among the top ten on the overall medal table.

Lafina Olesya of Russia picked silver medal while Shi Shanshan of China settled for bronze.

Nigeria had progressed to 10th place on the medals table at the end of proceedings on Friday with two gold and two silver medals.

After winning a gold medal on the first day of competition on Thursday through Yakubu Adesokan who also set a new world and Paralympic record, Nigeria added three medals a day later.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ivory Nwokorie won a gold medal in women's -44 kg powerlifting, while Ikechukwu Obichukwu won the silver in men's -52 kg powerlifting.

China still led the table with 45 medals, made up of 15 gold 19 silver and 19 bronze, with Great Britain in second place with nine gold 15 silver and 11bronze medals.

Australia is in the third place with nine gold five silver 11 bronze medals, while the U.S are sixth with four gold four silver and eight bronze medals.

Egypt is the next African team closest to the top of the standings, in the 18th place with one gold and two bronze medals while South Africa are joint 19th with three

Nigeria claims 4th gold, moves to 7th place on medals table Esther Oyema kisses 48kg powerlifting gold medal

Mikel insists 'shamed' Chelsea will bounce back

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IKEL expects a big Chelsea fight back Mikel Obi has admitted Chelsea shame from a 4-1 battering by Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup, but assured they will fight back.

Mikel assured the European champions will bounce back after a pathetic showing in Monaco on Friday to do well in both the English Premier League as well as the Champions League.

“The result was embarrassing but we will bounce back as this result and display won't have any negative effect on us in the league,” the Nigeria midfielder

told MTNFootball.com “It was a disappointing game, we wanted to win and approached it with seriousness but we conceded two quick goals.

“We will keep doing well in the league and extend that to the Champions League when it begins. We will definitely return

PARALYMPICS MEDAL TABLE

Copa Lagos Beach Soccer FCMB sponsorship excites organisers

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RGANISERS of the forthcoming Copa Lagos Beach Soccer tournament are gushing in joy following the renewal of sponsorship between First City Monument Bank Plc (FCMB) has and Kinetic Sports.

Copa Lagos Beach Soccer tournament was first hosted in Lagos, Nigeria in December 2011 with four teams Brazil, England, South Africa and Nigeria competing. The Nigerian national team, Sand Eagles, emerged tournament winners over world champions Brazil. Though the teams participating in this year's tournament are yet to be unveiled, Kinetic Sports are enthusiastic that it would be eventful.

“We are proud to be renewing our partnership with Kinetic Sports as the official sponsor in the banking category for the Copa Lagos Beach Soccer tournament which is holding for the second year running in Nigeria,” said Mr.

Kenny Aliu, FCMB's Group Head, and Corporate Communications.

“Sponsoring and aligning our brand with this prestigious event is a continuation of FCMB's support for Soccer and Sports as a whole. We have a tradition of supporting and sponsoring FIFA World Cup tournaments locally and our continued sponsorship of Copa Lagos Beach Soccer tournament once again is a reaffirmation of our policy to support sports and youth development.”

Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Samson Adamu, Chief Executive Officer of Kinetic Sports stated: “Kinetic Sports is fully committed to ensuring the 2012 Copa Lagos tournament is bigger. We are fully committed to offering value to our esteemed sponsors. FCMB was a great partner to have last year and we aim at surpassing expectations this year.”

PARTNERSHIP: Samson Adamu (l)of Kinetic Sports getting the contarct paper from FCMB's Kenny Aliu.

to winning ways when we play our next league game.”

Mikel further commented on his club's defence of the Champions League, where they are drawn against Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus and FC Nordsjælland in Group E. “It is a relatively good group, even though I will not underrate any team. All our opponents are champions of their leagues I learnt, so it means they are no easy teams, but we will do our best right from the first game,” he said.

“Retaining the trophy is what I am thinking about, the memory of last season is still fresh in my mind and I would love to have a repeat immediately.”

Chelsea next EPL game will be against fellow Londoners Queens Park Rangers on September 15.

Emenike relishes derby clash with Nsofor

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PARTAK Moscow goal poacher Emmanuel Emenike is hoping to put his club loyalty card credentials on the line today as Spartak Moscow travel to play Locomotive Moscow in the Russian league derby clash.

All eyes will be on Emenike who scored his first Russian League hattrick against Locomotive Moscow last season where he also won the best player award.

Locomotive Moscow which paraded Obinna Nsofor has yet to win any of their last five matches against Spartak and they will be looking towards a victory at home.

“I was an unknown player in the league last season, but now, the defenders know me very well and

By Taiwo Alimi would do anything to stop me.

The derby will be tough because we have defeated them home and away so they would be ready for us.”

“Of course, I scored hat-trick against them last season and that is will be the reason why the game will be tough. But we will give it all as well.”

Speaking further on Nsofor, he said: “He's my best friend, we are five and six and he helped me on my arrival and that is why the game will be much interested and tough.

Obiefule hits brace for Mosta

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OSTA of Malta goal machine Obinna Obiefule has continued to add to his goal tally as he scored twice over the weekend.

The pressure was on big spenders Mosta to deliver after they were still chasing an elusive first win of the campaign. And the Blues' new prosperity was in abundant evidence as they punctured Sliema's invincible aura to bag the first three points of the campaign.

The lanky striker registered his name on the scorer's sheet in the 12th minutes when Daniel Bogdanovic drove infield from the right before sending in a cross for Obiefule to dive in and poke the ball home.

Mosta wrapped up their win a minute from time as Obiefule advanced unchallenged before hammering a shot past Bonello.

“It was an exciting moment for

By Taiwo Alimi

me because lots are really expected from me from the fans, they keep giving me the necessary support until I scored the first goal,” said Obiefule.

QUOTABLE “What we are saying is that if we have done the same thing for 50 years and it has not worked, don’t you think it is time to make a paradigm shift?... Anyone that loves this country and wants this country to blossom and continue as one entity with very minimal crime where visitors can come in and feel at home must know that there is need for us to secure this country.”

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 7, NO. 2236

—Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godwill Akpabio reiterating calls for the establishment of state police

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F my children’s somewhat carefree attitude to the renaming of Unilag was initially reprehensible, it is not nearly as depressing as their equivocation on the political exigencies of the day. I grew up in a home that was evidently progressive, with my dad being more fanatically progressive than the average dad of his time. Even though he mellowed his progressivism a few years before he died, he had sufficiently lit a fire in my belly for both an excessively liberal coexistence with people of other faiths and political persuasions – thank God for this – and an even more combustible fire for progressive thinking – certainly more vigorous than his. I make this comparison because of the nature of his mellowness, which saw him tolerating, even excusing, and, surprise of all surprises, whooping for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s reactionary politics in those early years of the Fourth Republic when the former president had begun to show his true colours. But whether my dad’s support for Obasanjo had to do with age –he was well past 70 when the latter assumed office – or ethnic background, I could not tell.

But if my progressivism, by my estimation, surpassed my dad’s, you can understand my frustration seeing my children developing a fair moral compass without the undergirding influence of an ideology. I have not given up, of course, and I think no parent should. Indeed, we must at all times be able to say with precision where on the ideological, social and moral spectra our children belong. More, we should be determined to do something about it if we suspect a shortfall. From all the interviews I have read on the Cynthia affair, it does appear the mother rightly felt uncomfortable with certain aspects of her daughter’s progress, and perhaps tried to influence changes in her worldview. It is easy to be wise after the fact. But perhaps Cynthia would not have died so cheaply in the hands of moral monsters had her modest success and seeming surefootedness in life led her to far deeper appreciation of the uncanniness of men.

I recall telling my children the story of the Spartan boy and the live fox, the rigour involved in the upbringing of the Spartan child, and how he was expected to be inured to pain. There are some parts of the story that are inappropriate, but I use it as an

The Cynthia paradox (2)

• Abubakar

• Cynthia Osokogu

illustration to help them imbibe the culture of courage in all circumstances. It is important to warn children, especially the female child, of the dangers of accepting gifts. They must be taught to be wary of both the gift and the giver, as well as be generally indifferent to any gift, especially expensive ones.

While I was in courtship, I reminded my children, I seldom gave gifts to girls other than tokens – gifts that were in any case few and far between, lest the recipient thought I was trying to buy her conscience, and lest I myself began to think I had earned her affections by means other than noble. In my bachelorhood days, I confessed to them, I sometimes gave substantial gifts to a few girls, lured as I was by peer pressure from a few friends who could give an eye and an

arm to berth at the feet of a siren. But whenever I did, I knew I was being untrue to myself, even though I despaired to realise that I seemed prepared to also give an arm had I been called upon to do so in order to snuggle in the arms of far more alluring sirens. In fact the more expensive the gift, the more I felt diminished, and the more my sense of moral loss troubled my conscience.

But much more than Cynthia’s naivety and indiscretion, the most troubling thing about her death are the homes her killers come from. What kind of background do the two alleged killers have? What virtues, if any, were inculcated in them? From both police investigations and conclusions, and the manner in which Cynthia was tortured and strangled to death, it is hard to imagine the

Southwest’s demand for regional autonomy

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AST week, the Yoruba convened a General Assembly in Ibadan to deliberate on the future of their race.

The meeting came at a time of almost total relegation of the Yoruba by a federal government that is either doing it on purpose or has simply taken the region for granted.

Not only is the race sparsely represented in key appointive positions, there is also little federal presence in the region in terms of important ongoing projects. To cap it all, according to the meeting, even the resources of the region, like value added tax, are being deliberately and constitutionally depleted in favour of other regions. In consequence, it is as if the region had already become fiscally and politically, but perversely, autonomous.

Given this obvious situation, therefore, the meeting concluded, it was better to formalise that autonomy constitutionally.

Three weeks ago, a newspaper published a disturbing list of federal appointments showing very clearly how completely shut out of the decision-making process the region is. The federal government has not responded, probably because the facts speak eloquently for themselves. The result is that the region is now no longer even interested in palliative appointments; it wants autonomy, its major request, in addition to a few other demands such as state police. To the Yoruba, the country has become an unbearable burden stifling its ingenuity, retarding its growth and development, and weakening and diluting the quantum and quality of its civilisation. So far, the Yoruba have limited their demand to autonomy

within the context of a federal Nigeria. I think they are unlikely to rest until they achieve that goal. It is hoped the federal government will not mismanage the problem.

President Goodluck Jonathan continues to argue that most of the inequalities in the country were not caused by his two years in the presidency. He is partially right. But two years should be more than enough to begin the task of restoration, of redressing grave wrongs, and of showing exemplary leadership that inspires confidence in his ability and in the fairness of the federal structure. He may not have initiated the inequalities, but he has worsened it, and in some instances, even carelessly attempted to instigate other ethnic groups against the Yoruba, as was evident in his campaign in Lagos during the last polls.

I do not know whether we have crossed the Rubicon, but I do know that there is much anger and frustration in the Southwest. The views expressed in the Yoruba General Assembly last week indicate a near total loss of confidence in the presidency and in the federation. To be fair to this government, that tendency was already building up during the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo years. But now it has become a shrill cry that may likely build up to a crescendo.

Two immediate possibilities are likely.

One is that the Jonathan presidency could either deftly respond to this ostracism of the Yoruba or it could ignore the portents. My private suspicion is that the president does not appear to have the ingenuity or the fair-

mindedness to respond adequately to the crisis building up in the Southwest. The second possibility, and a beneficial one at that, is the fact that this alarming ostracism is likely to compel the Yoruba to cobble together a common platform, amorphous though it may be, against the perceived enemy. Their history underscores this. To this end, they are likely to bring Ondo State into the mainstream Yoruba column in order not to dissipate the region’s common front. Governor Olusegun Mimiko has made the independence and isolation of Ondo from the Yoruba mainstream his campaign focus. It is either he is not Yoruba, and therefore cannot understand the psyche of the race and their penchant to bury private differences in the face of a common threat, or he underestimates the intelligence, resolve, and Yorubaness of the people he governs. Ondo people know they cannot walk alone; nor is it even desirable.

Jonathan’s minders have said we do not know him, and that we are judging him wrongly. I think it is his minders who do not know him. Leadership is not just about building roads or bridges or schools. It is more importantly about anticipating the future, preventing conflicts, and envisioning where a country should be in decades to come. As a student of history and political science, I can say confidently that neither Jonathan nor his two predecessors, Umaru Yar’Adua and Obasanjo, knew the country they governed in such slipshod manner. If they did, we would not have Boko Haram, or now, the Yoruba anger.

killers had anyone to help them develop a moral compass. These were not just two greedy young people perhaps involved in the maddening race to make it, as they say in Nigerian parlance; they were in fact men completely drained of all human feelings. It is unlikely they developed such a monstrous perception of life overnight; it probably came to them incrementally. Knowing that the average young male is obsessed with the female anatomy, parents have a responsibility to educate their children on how to moderate such obsession, weaken it at will, and when indulged, how it should be done healthily in ways that do not injure society.

This is a huge task parents often miscarry.

But the best way, I think, is to inculcate a high degree of self-esteem in a child, imbue him with a mission in life, and help him develop a sense of balance that keeps him focused on greater things than gratifying the desires of the body. Once the individual is not properly anchored, he moves from one indulgence to another, from one woman to two, and thence on to uncountable; and from one form of coital preference to another harder, even masochistic form in the senseless craving for experimentation and pleasure; and then, finally, from a noncriminal indulgence to criminal indulgence such as rape and murder. Cynthia’s killers did not become murderers and rapists overnight; they graduated into it, perhaps from a seemingly innocuous harassment of the neighbourhood girl or catcalls directed against girls decidedly their superior.

There is no amount of regulation of the social media space that will prevent a reoccurrence of the sort of crime Cynthia fell victim to. The problem is not the Internet; the problem is the individual: what he has become, his lack of values, and his abjuration of the virtues that ennoble human society.

We must let our children know it is not everyone that wears fine clothes, walks apparently normally on the streets, gets even a first class in school, and gets a brilliant job that is normal. A child must have the intuitive ability to discern the mind of his or her partner or friend, no matter how complex that mind may be. But to do that, he must first develop himself into a person with high self-esteem before seeking a soul mate. He must know the predator next to him in school and workplace, and recognise the onerous task of identifying and avoiding moral monsters trying to insinuate themselves into his confidence.

That self-esteem, and that dignity, will not come without burying one’s head in biographies of great men and women, and finding out the ambitions and values that drove them to greatness. It is argued that no leader could achieve any form of greatness without much reading, as history has shown us. I add that no person can discover himself and become a responsible citizen with a balanced mind without much studying. Fine attributes don’t come out of the blue. We need to know the disastrous ends that came upon moral monsters in order to avoid their mistakes; and we must also appreciate the unquantifiable self-actualisation enjoyed by people who lived well so that we can emulate them.

In a macabre way, both Cynthia and her killers were victims of incomplete education and difficult assimilation of life’s lessons.

The former lost her life because of her inability to judge the minds of others and read the signs of the times; and the latter were ruined by their total denial of the values that set humans apart from animals. Parents must start early to mould their children. They must time and balance the desire to give their children freedom with the need to protect them from danger. Schools play only a small part in this; religious groups struggle to do something modicum; and workplaces do even much less. It is both what we teach our children and what they see us do that shape their behaviour and influence their future. It is parental influence that often determines how well a child responds to external influences and challenges, and whether he lives or dies in the process.

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Concluded