The Nation September 03, 2014

‘APC better without Ikimi’ NEWS

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•Heads of state and government of African Union (AU) at the AU Peace and Security Council Summit in Nairobi, Kenya…yesterday. President Goodluck Jonathan is fourth left

PHOTO: NAN

Boko Haram seizes Borno’s second biggest town Bama Aerial battle to reclaim captured town begins

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IGHTER jets were pounding Bama, Borno State’s second biggest town last night - in a desperate bid to save it from Boko Haram insurgents.

The vicious Islamist group that is fighting to create a Caliphate in the Northeast captured the city on Monday night, hoisting its flag there.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) ordered the Air Force to flush them out.

A top military source, who spoke at 7:18pm, said: “Based on the order of the DHQ, many fighter jets have been deployed in Bama to sack the insurgents from their temporary occupation of the area.

“The jets are to pound the insurgents into submission. So, aerial battle is in progress now in Bama because the insurgents have blocked access to the town.”

Asked how long the air strikes would last, the high-ranking

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WHEN WILL THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15 BE FREED?

B

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

source added: “Till the insurgents surrender and vacate Bama. We hope to reclaim the town within 24 to 48 hours because we are dealing with an unorganised group.”

There were fears last night that the insurgents might use Bama as a base to attack Maiduguri, the state capital, which is less than 70 kilometres away.

But a top military source, who described the capture of Bama as a “temporary setback”, said the “devastated insurgents” regrouped Monday night and descended heavily on Bama.

“The troops tried to repel the insurgents but they were just too many. I think they had a base in some villages nearby from where they launched their reprisals,” said the source, who added: “From intelligence reports, the insurgents had seen heavy casu-

APC to Jonathan: Sheriff, Ihejirika should face trial •ACF seeks probe From Yusuf Alli, Tony Akowe and Halima Farouk, Abuja

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ORMER Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, former Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika and others should face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) – if the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has its way.

APC advised President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday to hand over the duo and others for alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram, the fiendish sect that is waging a war to establish an Islamic Caliphate in some parts of the North.

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 4

Battered Bama

AMA is the headquarters of Bama Local Government Area.

It has an area of 4,997 kilometres and a population of 269,986, according to the 2006 census.

Located “about 60 kilometres” from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, Bama is one of the 16 local Continued on page 4

•Gen. Ihejirika •Sheriff

•LIFE P13 •SPORTS P23 •MONEY P26 •INVESTORS P28 •POLITICS P45 •FOREIGN P58

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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U.S: we must T

•Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Muhammed cutting the tape to commission the N7.5 billion 60 units of five-bedroom fully fitted block of duplexes at ASO Grove Estate, Maitama, Abuja. He is assisted from left by Permanent Secretary, FCT, John Chukwu Obinna; former FCTMinister Alhaji Aliu Modibo; member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Amina Khadi; Chairman, ASO Savings & Loans Plc, Mr. Olatunde Ayeni, and ASO Savings Managing Director Mr. Hassan Musa Usman.

•From Left: Project Director, Montgomery West Africa, Mr Mark Anderson; Managing Director, Tori Abiola and Sales Agent (West Africa), Mr Joju Adekanbi at the inauguration of Propak West Africa Trade Exhibition in Lagos ...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

•Group Managing Director/CEO, SCOA Nigeria Plc, Mr. Henry Agbamu speaking at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Abuja . With him are (from left): Hon. Magus Onyibe, Director; Mr. A. Shrivastava, Deputy CEO; Dr. Massad F. Boulos, Chairman; Michael A. Adeyemi, Company Secretary; Alhaji Gambo Lawan, Director and Prince B. Nwabuko, Director.

Former Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Chairman Mrs Ifueko Omoigui-Okaura discusiing with Acting FIRS Chairman Kabir Mashi at the FIRS Stakeholders Engagement Forum in Abuja...yesterday. With them is the representative of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Salawu Zubairu.

HE Ebola outbreak is threatening the stability of affected and neighbouring countries in West Africa and swift action is needed to scale up the "massive" response that will be required to tamp it down, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday.

The director of the U.S. health agency, Dr Thomas Frieden, who had just returned from a tour of West Africa, said he expected the number of Ebola cases to accelerate in the next two weeks and urged governments to respond.

He said the outbreak now affecting Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria is "threatening the stability" of affected and neighboring countries.

"The challenge isn't knowing what to do. The challenge is doing it now," Frieden said in a conference call with reporters.

"We've seen outbreaks of Ebola before. This is the first epidemic spreading widely through many countries, and it is spiraling out of control," said Frieden, who recently returned from a trip to the region. "It's bad now, much worse than the numbers show. It's going to get even worse in the very near future."

Making it worse, Frieden said, is that other countries are turning their backs on those coming from countries where the outbreak is strongest, even if they don't realise it.

Measures to restrict flights and border crossings into the countries facing the outbreak were designed to contain the spread, but are having a paradoxical effect, he explained.

"This is making it really hard to get help in and to respond effectively to the outbreak," he said on CNN's "New Day." "What we're seeing is a spiraling of cases, a hugely fast increase in cases, that's harder and harder to manage," he said. "The more we can get in there and tamp that down, the fewer cases we'll have in the weeks and months to come."

Frieden sounded the same alarm last week during a visit to Liberia. The sooner the world unites to help West Africa, the safer the world will be, he said.

The CDC director said it was upsetting during his visit to see the shortage of hospital beds and the lack of a rapid response needed to prevent a single cluster of Ebola from becoming a large outbreak.

There is widespread transmission in Liberia and strong signs it will happen in Sierra Leone in the near future, he said.

Frieden said more resources, expertise and a unified response are needed.

"The number of cases is increasing so quickly that for every day's delay it becomes that much harder to stop it."

The challenge, particularly in Liberia and Sierra Leone, is getting the health-care system up and running again to deal not only with the Ebola virus, but other illnesses that are adding to the burden, Frieden said.

The CDC director said the bulk of the response will come from the affected countries themselves, assisted by medical experts from elsewhere who can provide training.

"This is not just a problem for Africa," Frieden said. "This is a problem for the world, and the world needs to respond."

Failing to control the virus makes it more likely that Ebola will expand to additional countries, and that Ebola could mutate in ways that make it easier to spread, Frieden said. While the risk of such mutations is low, "it's probably not zero."

Doctors Without Borders, one of the leading humanitarian agencies fighting the epidemic in West Africa, said Tuesday that "the world is losing the

•Frieden

battle" to contain Ebola.

"Leaders are failing to come to grips with this transnational threat," said Joanne Liu, president of Doctors Without Borders, in a statement. "States have essentially joined a global coalition of inaction."

The group called on countries with the capacity to handle biological disasters - such as pandemics or bioterrorist attacks - to send more boots on the ground, in the form of trained civilian or military medical teams.

"Funding announcements and the deployment of a few experts do not suffice," Liu said. "The clock is ticking and Ebola is winning. The time for meetings and planning is over. It is now time to act. Every day of inaction means more deaths and the slow collapse of societies."

Doctors Without Borders estimates that its hospital in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, needs another 800 beds.

The hospital now has 160 beds.

"Every day, we have to turn sick people away," said Stefan Liljegren, a Doctors Without Borders coordinator in Liberia, in a statement. "I have had to tell ambulance drivers to call me before they arrive with patients, no matter how unwell they are, since we are often unable to admit them."

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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t help Nigeria, others battle Ebola

•Rivers Commissioner for Health Dr Samson Parker speaking at a news conference on Ebola in Port Harcourt...yesterday.With him are World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative, Dr Rui Vaz (left) andWHO Disease Prevention and Control Adviser, Nigeria Office, Dr Emmanuel Musa.

PHOTO: NAN

• National President Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, Dr. Ayuba Wabba (left)and Chief Consultant Epidemiologist Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Akin Oyemakin discussing at the Training of Trainers Workshop on the Ebola Virus in Abuja... yesterday. With them is and Director of Community Health Service National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Emmanuel Odu .

PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN

Ebola Virus Disease and Nigeria's response

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HE United States of America has been proud to work closely with the Federal Government of Nigeria and the governments of the affected states to fight the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Nigeria must sustain this coordinated response, and we pledge to continue our support, along with other international partners and global health organisations, until the disease is defeated.

Our thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones and all those who have been affected. Health professionals are often at the front lines when infectious diseases erupt, and Nigeria has suffered losses - courageous doctors and nurses who lost their lives in the line of duty.

They helped prevent a catastrophic pandemic, and we honor them for their dedication and professionalism, along with the many health care professionals who continue to put their personal safety second in service to their fellow man.

I recently visited the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the Central Public Health Laboratory in Yaba and was greatly impressed by the response team led by the incident manager, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, and personnel of the Federal Ministry of Health, the Lagos State Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and my colleagues from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They have done, and continue to do, remarkable work. Their combined efforts led to increased awareness of EVD by the general public, well equipped health faFrieden, who visited the Ebola wards himself, said wearing multiple layers of "personal protective equipment" - or moon suits - is "roasting hot" in the tropical climates of West Africa.

"Sweat pours down into your goggles and eyes," Frieden says. Doctors wearing two sets of gloves have trouble even drawing blood, he said.

"As bad as the situation is now, everything I've seen suggests that it will get worse," Frieden says.

The World Health Organization last week announced that the Ebola outbreak could grow to 20,000 cases and take another six to nine months to contain.

"In some ways, the most upsetting thing I saw was what I didn't see," Frieden said of his trip to West Africa.

"I didn't see enough beds for treatment.

One facility with 36 beds, that just opened, had 63 patients. Some were laying on the ground. ... I didn't see data coming in from large parts of the country. I didn't see the rapid response that is needed to keep a single cluster from becoming a large outbreak."

By James Entwistle cilities that provide good care, and thorough contact tracing - all elements that remain critical to containing and wiping out EVD and other infectious diseases.

Unfortunately, there are no tested and approved drugs or vaccines to mitigate the virus.

Strict protocols must be observed when new treatments are being explored. Any use of an experimental drug must be approved by the World Health Organization and administered under a patient-physician agreement. It has been widely reported that small experimental doses of a drug called ZMapp were made available to a few EVD patients-two Americans, one Spanish citizen, and three Liberians-some of whom were first-line health care workers fighting the Ebola outbreak. Some of these patients have recovered and been released from care, but two of them lost their lives despite the experimental treatment. As medical experts have made clear to us, there is no way to immediately connect the patients' respective outcomes to the drug; far more data is needed before we know whether the drug had any efficacy whatsoever. What we do know is that access to quality care and treatment makes the difference as to whether or not a patient survives.

While there has been unimaginable loss of life in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, early testing and treatment has produced good results in Nigeria and must be continued. Seven

A separate Ebola outbreak is occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa. Tests on the viruses in circulation there show that the outbreak is a "distinct and independent event, with no relationship to the outbreak in West Africa," the World Health Organization said yesterday.

FAO says Ebola endangers food security The world's worst Ebola epidemic has endangered harvests and sent food prices soaring in West Africa, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Tuesday, warning the problem would intensify in coming months.

The FAO issued a special alert for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three countries most affected by the outbreak, which has killed at least 1,550 people since the virus was detected in the remote jungles of southeastern Guinea in March.

Restrictions on people's movements and the establishment of quarantine zones to contain the spread of the hemorrhagic fever have led to panic buy-

EVD patients who received care have recovered, which underscores the importance of timely action. Health professionals are providing full-time care to help patients fight the virus. This is why it is important to continue monitoring individuals who have been in contact with infected patients and offer them immediate care if they have developed any EVD symptoms. Rapid response is critical to contain infections and help save lives. The system in place for Lagos works, and was quickly redeployed to Port Harcourt when a case was reported there.

Even after this immediate threat of Ebola has passed, we must remain vigilant to maintain and strengthen the structure put in place to combat it, so that we will be better prepared to deal with any similar outbreak that may occur in the future.

The U.S. Government takes the Ebola threat very seriously, and we are fully dedicated to working with our governmental and nongovernmental allies to respond to this crisis and prevent its spread. We have been engaged in fighting this outbreak since March when the cases were first reported. We have expanded our efforts and increased our number of expert personnel in the region over the last several weeks in response to the growing severity of the outbreak. We encourage all individuals who think they are or even might be affected by the Ebola virus to seek immediate professional medical help. This is critical to

ing, food shortages and price hikes in countries ill-prepared to absorb the shock.

"In the three countries severely affected by Ebola, the agriculture and food security situation is really deteriorating," said Vincent Martin, head of an FAO unit in Dakar that is coordinating the agency's response.

"People either cannot afford to buy food or it is not accessible anymore," he said in an interview, adding that the food crisis could hinder containment of the disease, which is typically spread via the bodily fluids of the sick.

Rice and maize production will be scaled back during the fast-approaching main harvest season as migration and movement restrictions cause labour shortages on farms, the FAO said.

Cash crops like palm oil, cocoa and rubber will be seriously affected, squeezing the purchasing power of many families, who will also lose income and nutrition due to the ban on bush meat.

The price of cassava at a market in

•Entwistle

helping all of us save lives-including our own and those of the people we love.

We can and will defeat Ebola, but we must all work together to succeed.

•Entwistle is American Ambassador to Nigeria

the Liberian capital Monrovia rose 150 percent in the first weeks of August, the FAO said, adding that currency depreciation in Sierra Leone and Liberia was likely to force prices up further.

Border crossing closures and the reduction of trade through seaports have tightened food supplies in the three countries, which are all net cereal importers, and propelled prices upwards, exacerbated by higher transport costs.

The U.N. World Food Programme and the FAO have approved an emergency programme to deliver 65,000 tonnes of food to 1.3 million people affected by Ebola over a three-month period.

Food is to be shipped to Ebola patients, suspected cases living in isolation and to communities within the badly-affected border zone of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone that has been surrounded by a "cordon sanitaire" to prevent the further spread of the disease.

In a sign of the lack of provisions

within treatment centres, a man escaped from an Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia this week and walked through a market in search of food.

"Sometimes you have an area right next to a quarantined area where there is food but you can't get it there," Martin said.

Liberia, where cases are increasing fastest, said in August that it has only enough rice stocks to last for about a month.

The WFP says it needs to raise $70 million to pay for its emergency programme. In addition to this sum, the FAO is seeking to raise $20 million to help isolated populations grow their own crops and support themselves, Martin said.

"Delivering food directly to the population is not sufficient. What the FAO is proposing is to see how we can help restore their livelihoods and help them cope by providing tools to produce good and nutritious food," he said, and raising chickens or shortcycle crops could form part of the solution.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

Adamawa poll: Two aspirants step down for Fintiri

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•Chief Odigie-Oyegun (left), National Publicity Secretary, Alh Lai Mohammed, Organising Secretary,Senator Osita Izunazo and National Treasurer, Alh. Bala Gwagwarwa...yesterday PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

APC to Jonathan: Sheriff, Ihejirika should face trial Continued from page 1

Sheriff and Gen. Ihejirika have denied the charge, which was pronounced by an Australian negotiator, Dr. Steven Davis.

The party said Davis’ confessions showed that the sponsors of Boko Haram are not only within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), they are closer to the Presidency.

It said the PDP is behind Boko Haram for the sole purpose of winning next year’s presidential election.

The party also said Boko Haram had been politicised and used as a trump card for President Jonathan to win another term.

The APC, which made the claims at a briefing in Abuja by its National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said the Department of State Security Service (DSS) and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) could not pretend that they do not have any information on these men.

At the crowded briefing were members of the APC Ex-

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ACF seeks probe of allegations

HE Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday urged the Federal Government to investigate the allegations by Australian Dr. Stephen Davies against Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika and ex-Governor Ali Modu-Sheriff. He named them as Boko Haram sponsors.

A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the forum, Mohammed Ibrahim, at the end of its Board of Trustees meeting in Kaduna, said: “The meeting discussed extensively the increasing spate of insecurity in the North, especially in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where large Nigerian territories have been seized by the Boko Haram insurgents despite the emergency rule imposed by the Federal Government. ecutive.

Odigie-Oyegun, who preceded his briefing with Arise Television’s Davis’ interview on a big slide, asked Jonathan to be courageous to bring those behind Boko Haram to book.

He said: “The truth is finally out. We have been vindicated.

We have no hand in the Boko Haram insurgency. The raison d’etre of our party is the wellbeing and security of Nigerians.

From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

“It also discussed the allegations made by Dr. Stephen Davis, an Australian hostage negotiator who spent some time in Nigeria on the invitation of the Nigerian Government to try to secure the release of the Chibok girls that were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on the 14th April 2014.

“His allegations were contained in an interview he granted the media recently. Dr. Davies alleged the involvement of some prominent politicians, military officers and Government officials among the top sponsors of Boko Haram insurgency.

“The sponsors of Boko Haram are within the PDP and the Presidency. They are known friends of President Jonathan. He knows them and they know him.

“The man who exposed these Boko Haram sponsors is a Jonathan-appointed negotiator. He has no axe to grind, neither does he have any motive to shield the APC or portray the PDP/Presidency in bad light. In fact, if he had any

Continued on page 57

sympathy at all, it is for the man who hired him, President Jonathan.

“Then their drum exploded!

Dr. Stephen Davis, a man hired by the President Jonathan-led Federal Government to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the Chibok girls decided to speak out, believing the best way to tackle the insurgency is to expose the sponsors.

Continued on page 57

WO of the aspirants gunning for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket to run in the October 11 governorship by-election yesterday stepped down for Acting Governor Umaru Fintiri.

Fintiri, who got his disqualification from the race by the screening panel upturned on Sunday, said his ambition is an Adamawa project.

A former Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, James Barka and Alhaji Sabo Mohammed Jimeta, yesterday announced their withdrawal from the race.

Barka, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Tunisia, told reporters that with Fintiri in the race, he saw no reason why he should contest saying they shared similar ideas on how to develop the state.

“When I heard that Fintiri was disqualified, I was sad and felt I could give him my clearance to run on behalf of all well-meaning citizens of Adamawa State. “ But when the appeal committee cleared him, I was overwhelmed with joy and decided that since Fintiri is in the race, I should put my weight behind him by withdrawing in his favour”, Barka said.

Barka hinted that other aspirants might soon withdraw to

From Barnabas Manyam, Yola

support Fintiri.

Jimeta defended his decision to back Fintiri, saying: “The recent changes have increasingly impressed the good people of Adamawa State. Fintiri is a young man, vibrant and a patriotic leader with an enviable record of service. He is ready to take the state out of its current woes to a new level that will adequately cater for the well being of her citizens.”

Fintiri told reporters in Yola that his clearance was an act of God. “The reaction of the people when I was initially disqualified showed that the people of Adamawa are with me; therefore, my ambition is an Adamawa project to make a new state from the old one. “ I feel happy and have cause to thank God that the Appeal Committee cleared me to contest. I want to assure the people of Adamawa who trooped out to welcome me back from Abuja that we must all team up and work for the total liberation of the state”, he said.

The acting governor urged all the PDP aspirants to join hands with him and make him an unopposed candidate. He added that plans were afoot to present a consensus PDP candidate.

Adamawa PDP ward congress holds

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HE People Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State yesterday conducted the ward congresses to elect delegates for the party’s governorship primary billed for Saturday. A total of 226 delegates from the 21 local government councils

By Okorie Uguru

were expected to be elected.

The result was still being collated last night.

One of the aspirants and former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Idi Aliyu Continued on page 57

British envoy dies at Lagos Airport

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HE Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Peter Carter, slumped yesterday and died at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos.

Carter, who flew into the county aboard Delta Airlines, sources said, took ill aboard the plane which arrived from Atlanta Georgia, the United States around 4pm.

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

An eyewitness said the diplomat held to his chest, screaming as he slumped A source close to the airport confirmed that the medical personnel attached to the terminal tried unsuccessfully to revive him.

The High Commission had not issued a statement as at 10.30 pm.

Boko Haram seizes Borno’s second biggest town Bama Continued from page 1

alties in their camp in their first encounter with troops at dawn on Monday. They had also put in place a Plan B with which they used to attack Bama afresh at night.

“Our concern is that the insurgents might harm the residents of Bama and destroy military, police and security formations.

“For now, reports have indicated that the situation in the town is tense. The insurgents have established a firm control of the town. They are also prepared to declare an Islamic Caliphate in the area.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “There were casualties on both sides but we cannot take stock now because the insurgents have occupied the place.

“You will recall that early on Monday, troops killed more than 40 insurgents. The reprisals led to fierce encounters with casualties on both sides.”

Military chiefs were locked in a meeting last night on how to reclaim Bama from the insurgents.

Security has been tightened around Maiduguri following the fall of Bama.

Another source said: “The

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Borno govt, Civilian JTF: it’s not true

HE Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) yesterday faulted the claim that Boko Haram had taken Bama.

Borno state Deputy Governor Zannah Umar Mustapha also said Bama had not fallen into the hands of the sect, saying the military was in full control of the security in the town.

Speaking at a news conference, he said the attempted attack on Bama has left over 2, 000 as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri who had been resettled at National Youths Service (NYSC) orientation camp and Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), the state capital.

“The attack on Bama town yesterday (Monday) was very unfortunate, but I want reassure our people that government is on top of the situation. Already, those

fall of Bama poses danger to Maiduguri because under one or two hours, the insurgents can launch fierce attacks on the state capital.

“This is why there is a heavy security ring in and around Maiduguri.”

The DHQ said a dust-todawn curfew had been imposed on Maiduguri to prevent the insurgents from entering the city.

The DHQ said: “The curfew in Maiduguri is from 7pm6am, aimed at preventing in-

in the camp are being taken care of and our security forces are engaging the insurgents in a fierce battle which is worthy of commendation,” Mustapha said.

He also appealed to the people to desist from spreading false information or creating unnecessary tension among themselves and society.

Legal Adviser of the Civilian JTF in Borno State Jubrin Gunda and a security agent, Mallam Mohammed Adamu, expressed dismay over the statement credited Senator Ahmed Zanna, who claimed on BBC that Boko Haram terrorists had overrun Bama.

Gunda told a news conference in Maiduguri that “it is very unfortunate that a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Zanna who had spent more than nine months without visiting Borno

filtration into Maiduguri metropolis by insurgents who suffered heavy casualties.”

One security source said up to 5,000 people had fled Bama.

Defence spokesman Gen Chris Olukolade had not spoken on Bama at press time last night.

In a “bungled” air strike, several troops were killed at the Bama armoury by a fighter jet targeting the insurgents, according to a soldier on the ground.

The Boko Haram fighters

to identify with his people over the agony they are going through will sit down in Abuja and grant an interview to some foreign media that Boko Haram has overrun and hoisted their flag in Bama, which is totally misleading and capable of instilling fear on the minds of citizens of the state and residents of Maiduguri in particular”.

“As I am speaking to you now, Bama is still intact; our gallant Nigerian soldiers are fully on ground, no military barracks that was attacked or bombed as insinuated. People are going about their normal businesses.

Mallam Mohammed Adamu, who said he came from Bama town, said the town had not been taken over by Boko Haram as widely insinuated.

captured the remote hilly town of Gwoza, along the Cameroon border, last month.

Sect leader Abubakar Shekau declared Gwoza an Islamic Caliphate.

Troops are still battling to regain control of Gwoza.

“When we started hearing gunshots, everybody was confused. There was firing from different directions. We just ran to the outskirts of town,” Bukar Auwalu, a trader who fled with his wife, three children and brother, said. “There

Continued on page 57

were military helicopters and a fighter jet. We slept in the bush on the outskirts of town.”

A soldier involved in the Bama clashes, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the insurgents had targeted the armoury with heavy weapons, including tanks.

As troops tried to repel the attack, they called in air reinforcements. But by the time the fighter jet arrived, they had mostly lost the battle for this location. The jet then

bombed the area but accidentally killed everyone there – both Nigerian troops and insurgents – the soldier said.

“The situation is bad. We lost so many of our men,” he added.

A local farmer, Ibrahim Malu, said hundreds of residents had fled the town. He said he had visited his farm before morning prayers when gunfire and explosions erupted. He ran home, but by the time he got there his wife and children had fled. “I still don’t know where they could be,” he said. “Two soldiers fled with me. One of them didn’t even have shoes.”

Battered Bama Continued from page 1

government areas that constitute the Dikwa Emirate, a traditional council in the state The city, which is clode to the border with Cameroon, has been consistently under Boko Haram attacks. It was attacked in May 2013 and in February.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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NEWS

APC better without Ikimi, says Tinubu T

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) is better without Chief Tom Ikimi, who defected from the party to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last week, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu said yesterday.

Tinubu, a national leader of the APC, spoke in a statement by his media office, simply titled: “Reply to Chief Tom Ikimi”.

Ikimi, in a treatise entitled, ‘My Reflections’, gave reasons why he left the APC, which he mainly blamed on Tinubu’s “domineering attitude”. According to him, Tinubu wanted to foist a weak leader on the party at its first national convention.

He also faulted what he described as the APC’s inclination towards a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, which he said arose from Tinubu’s perception that the Northwest and Southwest could, through their population, win the 2015 presidential election. He said that inclination had helped to move people away from the party.

Ikimi also accused Tinubu of doctoring the party’s constitution to extend the tenure of the interim national executive, adding: “I was always told that the man was the overwhelming financier of the party.”

“Those of us who had worked so hard towards the successful merger and creation of the APC were manipulated out of the scheme of things. In the bizarre struggle to seize control of the party, we were even openly accused by the self-proclaimed owners of the party, of wanting to steal ‘their’ party.

“Many of us in the party as well as keen observers outside, frowned at the skewed leadership image of the party that was being paraded,” he said.

Tinubu accused Ikimi of perfidy and infidelity to the progressive cause when he was a member of the APC. He said: “I ordinarily would not have responded to Tom Ikimi’s lengthy chronicle of falsehoods, cheap blackmail and abuse. My only reason for this response is that I know Tom Ikimi’s style. He subscribes to the view that no matter how unbelievable a lie may sound if you brazenly assert it and repeat it often enough, you may persuade many that

•Tinubu

•Ikimi

it is in fact, true. I have seen Ikimi perpetrate this deviousness in his years in public life.

“Regarding Ikimi’s bid for the chairmanship of the party; it was clear to practically everyone who had the interest of the party at heart that we simply could not have a man of Tom Ikimi’s antecedents as the chairman of the party. As the chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), one of the two parties in the country under the military transition programme, Tom Ikimi not only connived with the then military regime to annul the elections, terminate the democratic process and sell off his party, he became Abacha’s foreign minister, convincing the world that heinous state murders as the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa, were just acts!

“If Ikimi were the chair of APC, the party would have to sleep with both eyes open lest its chairman sells off the party before day breaks.

“No matter what anyone may say about me, it is unlikely that I can be accused of supporting incompetent or morally light-weight individuals for important political positions.

My philosophy is to put the best forward, men and women of competence and integrity, who can stand up to us politicians to challenge us and say no when necessary.

“Such people are not noisy or able to gain attention by being loud. I believe my role is to do all I can to project them. Who in their right mind would compare the highly-principled Chief Bisi Akande, or Chief John Odigie-Oyegun with a Tom Ikimi? Either of these two men is known for their no-non-

sense styles, not once in their careers would you hear that they betrayed a cause or were anybody’s stooge.

“Ikimi also concocts a story of a meeting he claims I had with Diezani Alison-Madueke on the Oando/ ConocoPhillips transaction on the eve of the APC convention.

“Only a Tom Ikimi can come up with the absurd falsehood that on the eve of the APC convention when I was in crucial meetings practically round the clock, I was meeting with the Minister of Petroleum! What exactly would have been the point of such a meeting especially on the eve of the convention? Was it to prevent Tom Ikimi from emerging as the chairman of APC? To what end? Of what value would it be to anyone except Ikimi himself?

Besides, if this was so, why is he back to the party that purportedly planned his downfall?

“What is the Oando/ConocoPhillips transaction anyway? For those who do not know, this is a private sale of the assets of ConocoPhillips to Oando. It was not patronage of any kind from the Federal Government. The Federal Government’s involvement was merely to formally consent to the sale. I was not involved and I have never been involved in any of Oando’s transactions.

“Typically, he plays on the fact that Wale Tinubu of Oando is my nephew.

“Oando has been thoroughly investigated

by South African and British authorities in the past five years as part of the process of listing the company on the stock exchanges of those countries.

“Those rigorous and comprehensive inves-

Jonathan urges collaboration against Boko Haram, others

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday urged African leaders to take “action-oriented approach” against terrorists, to end killings.

He spoke at the 455th African Union Peace and Security Council meeting, at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), Nairobi, Kenya.

Stressing that AU has what it takes in terms of legal, political and normative instruments to combat terrorists, the President said the task ahead was to ensure the use of the instruments.

He regretted the increasing wave of violence perpetrated

by Boko Haram, El-Shabba and Lord Resistance Army (LRA).

President Jonathan, who read the AU Chairman Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz’s speech, enjoined African countries to fulfil their commitments with respect to legal measures, border control and exchange of intelligence.

He said: “While memberstates and the commission deserve to be praised for their commitments and efforts, much remains to be done. The atrocities by the terrorist groups active in the Sahelo-

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

Saharan region, Boko Haram, the LRA, Al- Shabaab and other terrorist groups bear testimony to the long road ahead of us.

“The first (solution) relates to the need for enhanced cooperation among member-states and between the continent and the rest of the international community.

“The problem we are confronting is global in nature.

Terrorists and organised crime syndicates operate in a network that can only be defeated through action and cooperation.

“The AU and its instruments and mechanisms provide the framework within which we should combine our efforts and pull together our scarce resources.

“The second point pertains to the need for an action-oriented approach. We are wellequipped in terms of legal, political and normative instruments. The task ahead us is to ensure their implementation.

“The countries concerned should take the steps required to become parties to the relevant African and international instruments. We should as

member-states fulfil our commitments and obligations, particularly with respect to legal measures, border control, exchange of intelligence and other related measures.”

The President urged leaders to address social issues, such as poverty and unemployment, to discourage the breeding of terrorists.

The Chairperson of the council, Idriss Debby of Chad, said it would fight terror.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta enjoined African leaders to provide the funds needed to fight terrorism, to complement support from outside the continent.

The summit is expected to adopt the recommendations of the AU Commission on extremism and terrorism.

•Dr. Jonathan

‘The challenge for policy makers is to take into account the multiple aspects, roles and benefits of water. It is essential to have a long-term sustainability perspective’

tigations conducted by the governments and risk control investigators are to discover the actual ownership of shares in the company.

“Politically-exposed persons like myself are prime targets for those investigations.

“All these investigations have shown that I have no investments in Oando.

“My public position on the entire transaction is that if an indigenous Nigerian oil and gas entity run by young serious-minded Nigerians raise money transparently in the international capital markets to purchase private assets of a multi-national, the Federal Government ought to give its consent. That it took so long is shameful. The Conoco/ Phillips transaction was a $1.7 billion investment in Nigeria that would create more jobs,witness the establishment of allied industries and make the Nigerian economy more attractive. I would have been extremely proud to have made such a transaction possible.

“Regarding the nonsense about selling out on Ribadu, I think common sense should dictate that if ever such a deal were reached, we would have had to inform our members in all the states. How could that have been done secretly? How do you tell hundreds of thousands of people not to vote for your own party without it becoming public knowledge?

“At the formation of the APC, a crucial debate ensued about what to do about persons like Ikimi, who had done awful things in the past, but who were now minded to align with the progressive tendency in Nigerian politics. Should we forever blacklist them? This would have been the easiest route, but it would have kept rancour alive. It would have made us slaves to the bleakest chapters of our past.

“Instead, we opted to extend the hand of brotherhood, reconcile and put the past behind us. This would enable a broader political consensus, while also giving the likes of Ikimi an opportunity to atone for their grievous wrongs against the people and be rehabilitated.

“We recognised that many leading Nigerians had committed acts of shame. Some for private profit, others who were otherwise decent people who had become prisoners to a terrible system.

“Not surprisingly, Ikimi- acting true to type, abused that magnanimity. He was never sincerely committed to the party. He was always playing out a PDP script. He only wanted the chairmanship of the party as a bargaining chip for negotiations with his benefactors. His defection purportedly on account of the loss of the chairmanship of the party is a mere subterfuge, once his ploy failed he had no other objective within the party, I knew he would go back to his sponsors. He is back in the company he deserves.

And APC is better for it.”

‘How world leaders can avert crisis’ From Seun Akioye, Stockholm Sweden

“The challenge for policy makers is to take into account the multiple aspects, roles and benefits of water. It is essential to have a long-term sustainability perspective,” Ms. Engstrom said.

The Executive Director, SIWI, Mr. Torgny Holmgren, said the challenges were imLOBAL leaders yesterday in mense, with the global demand for water Stockholm urged governments to projected to grow by 55 per cent between start coordinating water and energy 2000 and 2050 and electricity demand exsectors to avert the global crisis likely to pected to increase by 50 percent in the next emanate from increasing demand for wa- two decades.

He added that there was need for a relater and energy.

This position was made known at the tionship between the energy and water communities, if the opening plenary of the 24th annual World Water Week, hosted by the Stockholm In- world was to provide solution for people to prosper. ternational Water Institute (SIWI).

Liberia President Helen Johnson-Sirleaf The leaders said the increase in demand for energy and electricity would put pres- said water access and energy should top the coming 2015 sustainable desure on the limited water resources, leadvelopment agenda to replace the Millening to increased water scarcity.

This, according to them, would create nium Development Goals.

The United Nations World Water Report problems for competition among water usshows that the rate of groundwater abstracers and in the environment.

“We know that the demand for energy tion is increasing by 1 per cent to 2 per cent and water will increase in the coming de- per year, adding to water stress in areas and compromising the availability cades and the added demands will present challenges in all regions, especially in de- of groundwater to serve as a buffer against droughts and local supply veloping economies,” Ms. Hillevi Engstrom, Swedish Minister of Interna- shortages.

More than 1.3 billion people worldwide tional Development, said.

She said the United Nations (UN) ex- lack access to electricity, with more than 95 per cent of them located pected global water demand to increase by in Sub-Saharan Africa and 55 per cent developing Asia, and roughly 2.6 billion in 2050, making more than 40 per cent of the world’s population to live in areas of people rely on the traditional use of biomass for cooking. severe water stress.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

NEWS THE EBOLA VIRUS

Ebola scare at ABU Zaria rom Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

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300-LEVEL Law student at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State, has been admitted in hospital at the teaching hospital for showing symptoms similar to those of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The Nation learnt that doctors and nurses deserted the Ebola Isolation Centre on the premises of the hospital.

Although the hospital spokesman Bilyaminu Umar told our correspondent that he was out of town, he earlier confirmed to an online media that the student showed symptoms associated with EVD. He was quoted to have said: “Yes, there was a case of a suspected Ebola patient. He is in the Faculty of Law, ABU, Zaria and will be placed on isolation. I am out of town, but I will confirm details when I return.”

Other sources in the hospital told The Nation that officials of the World Health Organisation (WHO) took the patient’s sample to Lagos for a test.

A senior worker in the hospital, who preferred anonymity, said: “Yes, there is a patient in the hospital with symptoms similar to Ebola, but we are not sure yet.

Our fear is that the patient just returned from Guinea. So, there is a possibility that it is the Ebola Virus.

“The symptoms the boy is showing are not only peculiar to Ebola. It could be Lassa Fever, but the fact that Ebola is the epidemic around now and that the student just came back from Guinea is what worries people. In fact, a colleague just entered and he washed his hands. When we asked him what happened, he said they just took blood sample of the patient.”

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Thot Dogo, said at an event in Kaduna that the Zaria case had not been ascertained.

He confirmed that his ministry got the information, adding that a team was despatched to Zaria and the blood sample of the suspected patient was taken to Lagos.

According to him, “this is not the first suspected case.

We had one in Jaji when an Army Major, just back from Sierra-Leone, became ill and was said to be showing traits of Ebola. The same process was followed and the result was negative.

“We also have a woman in Kagoro, who was said to be showing traits of the Ebola virus. The Ebola committee has sent her blood sample to Lagos and we are expecting the result.”

‘Schools not most vulnerable to spread’ From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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LTHOUGH owners of private schools in Kwara State said they will comply with the Federal Government’s extension of resumption date in schools, they decried implementing the decision in states without the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The Federal Government postponed the resumption of primary and secondary schools from this month to October 13, following the outbreak of EVD. Kwara State President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) Rahaman Lateef addressed reporters yesterday in Ilorin after an emergency meeting.

He said he wondered why the Federal Government would single out primary and secondary schools as the most vulnerable to the spread of EVD “when places where people gather to contract the virus are left open.”

Lateef described the compliance as a call to duty, noting that school ownership should not be for business, but also for social service.

He hailed NAPPS members for their courage, saying the association’s cooperative society would cushion the effect of resumption extension by giving them food items.

The NAPPS president urged concerned authorities and government to ensure early resumption because of the economic effect on his

By Jeremiah Oke members.

HE National Vice President of the Hoteliers Association of Nigeria (HAN), Mr. Abiodun Odunsanwo and the President, Lagos State Hoteliers Association (LHA), Aare Tola Odunuga, yesterday in Lagos assured Nigerians of protection against the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in hotels.

They said they were collaborating with the Federal Government to prevent the spread of the deadly disease, urging people to disregard the rumoured cases of Ebola in hotels.

The duo spoke at a workshop to train hotel operators on the outbreak of the Ebola virus and insecurity, tagged: “Improving Security, Increasing Efficiency and Profitability”.

Hotel operators assure customers

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NMA raises fresh alarm on Ebola

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HE Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has cried out on the illpreparedness of states to prevent the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

It said the essential structures and framework to contain the disease on a national scale were yet to be in place, particularly at the state and local government levels.

NMA urged the Federal Government to ensure the creation of functional EVD control committees.

The association, at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Awka, the Anambra State capital, enjoined the Federal Government to police the borders and ports to avert a further spread of the disease.

A communiqué at the end of the meeting reads: “EVD was imported into the country by the late Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, who travelled by air from Liberia to Lagos on July 20. He was admitted to a Lagos hospital on arrival and died five days later. Since then, there has been local transmission (including cases in health care workers),

•Urges policing of borders, ports From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

and to date, Nigeria has recorded 15 confirmed cases of EVD, out of which four have died (with a case fatality of 27 per cent), while eight are under treatment.

“The importation of EVD to Nigeria shows that we are prone and more at a risk as a nation open to diplomatic and international travels. Efforts are required from everybody to contain this epidemic and save the over 170 million Nigerians from the risk of being exposed to this deadly disease.

“NEC stresses the need for all to be on the alert following the danger posed by Ebola and advises the Federal Government to police the borders and ports to avert further spread of the disease.

“NEC hails the efforts of the federal and Lagos State governments in containing the spread of EVD, and attempts at establishing isola-

tion centres in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). However, it was observed that the structures and framework for containing the outbreak on a national scale are yet to be in place, particularly at the state and local government levels. NEC, therefore, calls on the Federal Government to ensure the creation of functional EVD control committees at all levels.

“NMA remains committed to the health of Nigerians, and is ready to work with governments and its agencies with the aim of joining forces and developing strategic actions to prevent the introduction and/or spread of EVD in other parts of the country. NMA has put in place a National EVD Response Committee headed by a renowned Public Health Physician, Prof. Michael Asuzu, and similar committees at the state level. The NMA has mandated these committees to liaise with their government counterparts to synergise

Ebola: UN deplores travel restriction

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HE United Nations regional team based in Dakar, Senegal, has deplored the travel restrictions on countries with the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The team supported efforts to eradicate Ebola and urged regional and international solidarity with the affected countries and people in West Africa.

At a meeting yesterday attended by its heads of regional offices, a statement by the National Information Officer, United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Mr. Oluseyi Soremekun, “deplored the socio-economic consequences of the spread of the virus, including the isolation of the affected countries with a risk of stigmatising the population.

“The meeting observed that the solution is not in travel restrictions but in ensuring that effective preventive and curative health measures are put in place. In this context, the participants warned against possible impact on food security, free-

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

dom of movement and the provision of services, which can also undermine efforts by the governments in the region.”

The special representatives and the regional directors reiterated their support for a joint, coherent and orchestrated response led by the national authorities.

The UN is scaling up its humanitarian presence and operations in the affected countries and encouraging preparedness in other countries of the region.

The participants enjoined

further engagement of the international community to support regional efforts against the spread of the virus, particularly through resource mobilisation.

The meeting also welcomed the appointment by the Secretary-General of Dr. David Nabarro as the senior UN system coordinator for the Ebola Virus Disease, who concluded his tour of the region on August 28.

They praised efforts by the governments of the affected countries to tackle the spread of the virus, with the support of the UN and other international partners.

Nurses, midwives protest From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

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HE National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) protested yesterday in Abuja against the Nursing Midwifery Council of Nigeria.

NANNM members marched on the secretariat of the nursing council, carrying placards.

They accused the council of discrimination against members, a situation they alleged had been on for over 30 years.

The nurses, who said they had taken the issue to the Federal Government, vowed to take unpleasant decision should the government failed to resolve the alleged discrimination and neglect.

their responses for the containment and treatment of any outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country.

“NMA enjoins Nigerians, especially those in the “atrisk” states and in other states not to panic but rather keep safe by seeking best practices, collaboration and advocacy about what constitutes the risks and sources of contracting EVD. NMA is developing useful educational documents to inform and guide healthcare workers and the public regarding EVD. These will be made available to the public as soon as they are ready.

“NEC praises President Goodluck Jonathan for the Federal Government’s N1.9 billion Ebola intervention plan, and Aliko Dangote, for the donation of N152, 956, 250.00 for the establishment of a National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at Yaba, Lagos, in an effort to control and halt the spread of the deadly contagious EVD.”

Vono unveils brand identity VONO Products Plc has unveiled a new brand identity with a view to repositioning the company for effective performance.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr. Tunji Anjorin, in his address during the unveiling in Lagos, said: “Vono is now seeking a redefined presence and identity to validate its existence and promote the company’s unique products to a national audience in order to refresh the memory of its audience and endear the public to it.

“We have re-invigorated a new-breed, refreshing and captivating brand identity. While retaining the basic components of the logo, we have, however, subtly infused two bright primary colours (crimson red + golden yellow) and with a more exciting pay off (love life…love comfort) to further brighten and enrich the presence everywhere it goes.”

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (fifth left), in a group photograph with the Lagos State Publicity Secretary, All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Joe Igbokwe (middle) and his counterparts from other parts of the country, during their visit to the governor, as part of their Summit activities with the theme: “Repositioning for Change”, at the Lagos House, Ikeja...yesterday.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

NEWS

Man in prison for attacking Amosun on Facebook From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

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MAGISTRATE’S Court 1 sitting in Sagamu yesterday heard the case of Mr. Wasiu Ogunnoiki (31), who was arraigned for engaging in acts capable of denting the image of Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun on the Facebook.

Ogunnoiki was accused of engaging in acts that contravened Section 249 (d) of the Criminal Code, Volume II Laws of Ogun State 2006 by publishing on his Facebook account that Amosun demolished houses without compensating the affected property owners and in manners that could incite the citizens against the governor.

He was also accused of publishing photographs of All Progressives Chairman (APC) in Sagamu Local Government on his social media, claiming that the man, in conjunction with members of the Labour Party (LP), have concluded plans to sack Amosun from office before and in 2015 general elections.

Ogunnoiki, who is believed to be a commercial motorcycle rider, however, pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge brought against him.

Chief Magistrate O.O Ojo granted the accused bail bond of N400, 000 with two sureties in like sum and who must also reside within the court’s jurisdiction in addition to holding a landed property in the state.

The matter was adjourned till December 5th.

But he was remanded in prison custody pending when he meets the bail conditions attached to his application.

Agagu’s remembrance to hold Sept 13

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HE former President of Botswana, Festus Gontebanye Mogae, will at 12noon on September 13th, deliver a keynote address at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, as part of events designed to mark the first anniversary of the death of the former Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, Mogae, who is a former recipient of the prestigious Mo Ibrahim Governance Award, will speak on Good Governance in Africa.

Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, will be the chairman at the event.

Other panelists will include the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal; the Minister of Communications and Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson; an industrialist, Mr. Oba Otudeko and former Cross River State Governor, Mr. Donald Duke.

The son of the late former Governor, Mr. Feyi Agagu, who made the announcement in Lagos, said that there will be a Thanksgiving Service at the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan at 10a.m.

He expressed the hope that all his late father’s colleagues, friends and associates will be present at the event.

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‘Why there was violence during Alao-Akala’s tenure’

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GROUP, Team Akala 2015 Project, has blamed the opposition for the violence that characterised the administration of former Oyo State Governor Adebayo AlaoAkala.

Its Board of Trustees’ Chairman, Dr. Kola Balogun, spoke to reporters yesterday in Ibadan, as Alao-Akala prepares to declare his intention to re-contest the seat tomorrow.

He said with what happened in Oojo area of Ibadan last week, where supporters of two members of the state House of Assembly from the same political party engaged in violence, showed that violence was induced

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

during his tenure.

The former Commissioner for Commerce said Alao-Akala was the first governor that purchased Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) for the state police command and the military.

He noted that those responsible for violence during the period were now in their home where they belonged, adding that the opposition used and dumped them.

Balogun assured of zerotolerance for violence and any form of thuggery and brigandage when the

Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) aspirant returns as governor.

He urged the people to make a critical choice in 2015.

On the division within the fold of the state’s PDP, he said what was happening was just an expression of interest on the part of members, saying it happens in other parties.

The group’s Coordinator, Prince Niran Adeyoju, said the clamour for AlaoAkala’s return was being spearheaded by the people.

He said: “The professionals, youth, students and women in Oyo State are coming together under this umbrella, speaking in one voice, calling on the citizens of Oyo State to make a criti-

cal choice in 2015.

“The market women, students, civil servants and other people from the 33 local government areas have tested and trusted the former governor and they want him to come back in 2015.

“The most critical commentators and discerning public have agreed that Otunba Alao-Akala is an acknowledged benevolent leader, a distinguished Nigerian, whose distinction as former governor of the state readily presents him as a man we need to lead us out of the woods. Having enough to eat, a place to sleep and a good school for our kids were never a

problem for the indigenes of Oyo State between 2007 and 2011.”

The group’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Oludare Ogunlana, called on volunteers to join the team.

He said the former governor has sacrificed for his people both in public and private services, saying: “He struggled for the emancipation of the people of Oyo State during his first term.

He was number one servant leader not a dealer. He never saw governance as business.”

Osemawe to chair Ondo monarch’s council From Damisi Ojo, Akure

•Action Congress of Nigeria (APC) supporters during an inaugural grassroot-meeting at the APC Secretariat Mushin, PHOTO: NNEKA NWANERI Lagos...last weekend

Fashola asks APC spokesmen to connect with people

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AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has urged the publicity secretaries of All Progressives Congress (APC) to connect the people with the party’s ideology.

He made the call yesterday when the publicity secretaries visited his office at Ikeja House.

The governor said: “It will be your duty to clearly articulate the issues in your states, where we have governments. You must bring debate on the developmental work going on.

“You must commend them on developmental work and how government has stood up for the people across the board in spite of the daily human challenge.

Work will never finish, but you must continue to connect our party with the government of the day and con-

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By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

nect policy of government with the party.”

He said APC has shown developmental capacity, adding that if given the same capacity and resources like the government at the centre, it would do better.

“You must learn your skills now to tie up national issues because people cannot connect poverty with electricity. If there is no power, factory cannot run and if factory don’t work, there will be no job. If you don’t have job, you will be poor. You must help make this connection.”

He added that the party did not control price of fuel nor control exchange and interest rates.

“Those are rates that affect what the company produce and how much and how effective they can produce.

Our party is not responsible for managing income from oil. So, why is it disappearing? If the party in control cannot do it, let us show them how to do it,” he said.

He praised the initiative of the publicity secretaries coming together to synergise on the way forward.

“You are making history for coming together and this is definitive for the kind of politics we play going forward. Because clearly, the APC has changed the game and people expected us to do normal things, but they are seeing APC organising public lecture and doing things differ-

NUT hails Ajimobi’s education policy

HE National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr. Michael AlogbaOlukoya, has praised the Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi for the innovations he has brought to the state’s education sector.

The NUT chief hailed the raising of the bar of primary school teachers, who are university graduates from Grade Level 14 to Grade Level 15.

He the move had addressed the long years of the teachers’ stagnation.

Alogba-Olukoya, who spoke at the inauguration of a model school built by the state wing of NUT at Apata, Ibadan, also acknowledged the increase in the salaries of workers recently announced by the governor.

“When I was invited to this occasion, I enquired from the state NUT officials whether

they had any issue with the governor or whether they had any problem with the state government. They said that all their demands had been granted by the governor.

“I even tried to pull their legs, but they stood their ground and insisted that as far as Governor Ajimobi was concerned, he had been a good father to Oyo State teachers,” he said.

ently.

“We are going to hold every other party with issues; that is what drives politics and we are going to discuss those issues totally,” he said.

The state APC Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, who led the group, said they were converging in the state to synergise.

“We have been talking since morning. We feel that by 2015, there is no way APC will not take over.

Hence, we need to prepare ourselves for the change, because we must deliver,” Igbokwe said.

ONDO State government has named the Osemawe of Ondo Kingdom, Oba Victor Kiladejo as the new Chairman of the state Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs.

Oba Kiladejo, whose appointment takes immediate effect, replaces the Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adegboye Adesida, who joined his ancestors in 2013.

The government announced the appointment through a statement by the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade.

The statement indicated that the state Executive Council approved the appointment of Oba Kiladejo after a deliberation at its meeting held last Monday.

The last time an Osemawe occupied the position was in 1994 and his tenure ended in 1995.

At the inception of the state in 1996 after the creation of Ekiti State, the Olubaka of Ibaka emerged as the chairman of the council and he was succeeded by the Abodi of Ikale.

It was gathered that the Jegun of Ile-Oluji, Olugbo of Ugbo, Amapetu of Mahin and the Olowo of Owo later occupied the position before the late Deji of Akure took over in February 2012.

The position became vacant following the demise of the Deji in December 2013.

30-year-old woman arraigned for stealing

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From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

THIRTY-year-old woman, Taye Rasaq, was yesterday arraigned before an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court for alleged burglary.

Taye was accused of breaking into the house of one Ramat Kolade and stealing property worth N105,000.

The accused person, according to the charge sheet, allegedly committed the offence on August 26, 2014 at Ofatedo area, Osogbo.

The police prosecutor, Mr. Fagboyinbo Abiodun, told the court that Taye “stole Ramat’s leather box containing clothes.”

Abiodun alleged that the offences allegedly committed were against the provision of Sections 411 and 412 of the Criminal code, Cap 34, Vol 11, Laws of Osun State, 2003.

Sources in court said the accused person was arraigned on a similar offence sometimes in November last year.

The accused person, however, pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge of house breaking and stealing preferred against her.

Counsel to the accused person, Raji Abiodun, urged the court to grant her client bail in liberal terms.

The magistrate, Mohammed Lasisi, granted the accused person bail in the sum of N50,000 with one surety in like sum.

He adjourned the case till October 21, 2014 for hearing.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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NEWS Oyo council chief accuses PDP aspirant of plotting crisis •It’s not true, says politician

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HE Caretaker Committee Chairman of Ibadan South West Local Government, Oyo State, Alhaji Taoreed Adeleke, has accused a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant, Seyin Makinde, of plotting to cause chaos.

He alleged that the aspirant was inciting traders at Aleshinloye Market against the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led state government.

Makinde was also accused of sponsoring false and malicious statement in the media, to disparage the Senator Abiola Ajimobi-led administration over the fire that gutted a section of the market.

About 500 shops were said to have been affected and goods worth over N100 million lost in the inferno.

Adeleke noted that the actions of Makinde were aimed at inciting the people.

He said a media report that he led a team of suspected hoodlums to the market to destroy a borehole dug by Makinde was “a blatant lie.”

The council chief, who spoke with reporters in his

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

office yesterday on the borehole saga, said the policemen in the market stopped the contractors from digging the borehole after he had gone there to lodge a complaint.

“We are not going to allow it because we are peace lovers and the people are enjoying the peaceful atmosphere in the state since the government of Ajimobi came into power”.

The Chairman of the traders Association, Alhaji Abudulfatai Amubikan, its Youth Leader, Alhaji Basiru Aikore and the Chairman of the Fancy Section of the market, Mr. Ramon Olabamiji, said they were not informed by the PDP aspirant of his intention to donate a borehole.

Makinde denied the allegation, saying that the council chief only misconstrued his philanthropy to the traders who needed assistance.

A media aide to the PDP aspirant, Alhaji Afeez Akeem, said what Makinde did was in fulfillment of his promise to the traders when he visited them after the fire.

Seminary students create Boko Haram scare in Ogun T

HE sight of bearded Catholic priests in white robes created suspicion and scare yesterday in Akute, Ogun State, as people mistook them for Boko Haram sect members.

The clerics were confronted by residents and taken to a Police Divisional Office where their identities were confirmed.

The police doused the panic, explaining that no member of the sect was arrested. They advised residents to ignore the rumours in circulation.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said: “The attention of the Ogun State Police Command has been

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

drawn to a rumour being widely circulated that the command has arrested some members of Boko Haram sect in Akute area of Ogun State.

“The command wishes to debunk the rumour and set the records straight that those seen and challenged by members of the public at Akute area were actually students of Franciscal Friars of the Emaculate Seminary School, Sagamu, Ogun State, who came on a visit to a

friend at Kayode Afolabi Close, Mubarak Estate, Akute, before a distress call was put across to the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ajuwon Division.

“The intending Catholic priests were in their normal white robes with beards, which gingered up the suspicion of some people, who thus took them for Boko Haram sect members. They were taken to the police divisional office for interrogation, where their identities were confirmed.

“The leaders and repre-

Special Adviser on Media to the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Hakeem Bello after his investiture as Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors at the 10th All Nigerian Editors Conference (ANEC) in Katsina...last weekend.

Support for Buhari’s candidacy

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GROUP, the Buhari Youth Organisation (BYO), Ondo State Chapter, has expressed support for the candidacy of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, decrying what it termed as the nation’s “precarious situation,” which has put the masses in penury.

BYO, at a meeting of its 18 local government coordinators in Akure, noted with dismay that those who worked against the enthronement of democracy and good governance had hijacked the hard-earned struggle of patriots.

A communiqué by the group’s Coordinator, Fisayo Falarungbon, decried high level of corruption by those scheming to launch themselves into political offices.

The group said Nigeria did not need to carry out weapons to achieve peaceful revolution as manifested in the August 9 governorship

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

election in Osun State won by Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

It said: “That is what bloodless revolution is all about and we have inspiration, commitment and integrity of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and other leaders in the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“The situation on ground goes beyond parochial sentiment; it is an issue that should catch the fancy of all patriots.”

BYO said Buhari’s achievements in public office speak volume of discipline and principle as a leader, who did not place personal aggrandisement over national well being.

It hoped that APC would win with Buhari’s emergence as its presidential candidate , noting that he has the capacity and electoral value to win the election in 2015 and give Nigeria a well-defined leadership.

‘Appoint police chief for Lagos’

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LAGOS-based group has called on the Acting Inspector-General of Police Suleiman Abba to appoint a Police Commissioner for the state, owing to the country’s security situation.

The group, Concerned People of Lagos State, in a statement yesterday by its National President, Prince Olusegun Ologbese, said to leave the state without a police head “is a fundamental mistake that must be corrected immediately.”

Ologbese said any police commissioner to be deployed “must be equal to the security task, active, experienced and knowledgeable about the state’s security situation.”

It decried the method of appointing IGs in the past whereby junior officers

were always picked, necessitating the sudden retirements of their seniors who could have been useful one way or another to the nation.

The group observed that such early or compulsory retirements were detrimental to the affected police officers and a big loss to the nation, considering the colossal money and materials used in training them.

It cautioned the government against tribalising or politicising the appointments of Inspector-Generals, Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs.

“Their appointments must always be based on merit, loyalty and seniority, to secure the absolute confidence and trust of senior military and security officers.

sentatives of the said seminary school in Sagamu and the Catholic priest in Akute as well as the host of the students came to the Police Division to identify them as their Catholic members, who are actually on training in the school.

“The information being peddled around is not true and the command therefore appeals to the general public to always clarify issues before spreading wrong and unconfirmed information via all available means, particularly sensitive issues on security.”

T

Ondo to recruit 2,000 teachers

HE Ondo State government has directed the recruitment of 2,000 teachers.

Commissioner for Information Mr. Kayode Akinmade announced the directive yesterday at a briefing with reporters.

The Teaching Service Commission is to begin the recruitment immediately.

The exercise, according to the commissioner, is part of government’s efforts to create employment and improve the state’s standard of education.

Akinmade said 1,300 university graduates with teaching qualification would be employed.

He added that 200 National Certificate of Education (NCE) graduates and 500 non-teaching workers would benefit from the exercise.

The commissioner said application forms are to be obtained online for free.

An applicant must be of

T

Ondo State origin.

Akinmade added that quality control system would be adopted in the employment process.

He said this will include computer based test (CBT), with general paper, core subjects and Use of English as parameters.

The commissioner disclosed that qualified candidates would be interviewed

by TESCOM, which has also been saddled with the responsibility of final selection to be followed by one week induction course for successful candidates.

He noted that the recruitment drive was designed to strengthen the educational sector at the secondary school level.

Akinmade said though the state government had since 2009 carried out teaching employment on the basis of consequential vacancies, it embarked on this new recruitment to mop up youths from the unemployment market.

Police warn vehicle owners

HE Ogun State Police Command have warned own ers of abandoned and accident vehicles parked at Eleweran Division to come and remove them or lose them to members of the public through auction two weeks after this publication.

The vehicles are: Mitsubishi Bus XS 732 MUS, Nissan Sunny car DH 834 LSR, Mazda car SNK 814CD, Nissan Blue Bird AV 175 AA, Honda Accord car SMK 102 BR and nineteen (19) motorcycles.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Education has described the state’s strides in education as deserving of emulation by others.

The Chairman of the committee, Aminu Suleiman, made the assertion yesterday when he led members of the committee on a visit to Mimiko.

Suleiman, who said members of the committee were in the state for the 2014 oversight functions to all federal institutions, were thrilled with the level of development not only in education, but other sectors.

He praised the governor for ensuring that a Federal Polytechnic is sited at IleOluji, the headquarters of Ile Oluji/ Oke Igbo Local Government Area , assuring him that the House would

facilitate the effective take off of the institution.

Mimiko, who thanked the committee for the visit, said it was a deliberate effort by his administration to invest so much in education, with a view to meeting global best practices.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

9

NEWS Anambra Assembly approves N13.8b Supplementary Budget

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HE Anambra State House of Assembly passed a supplementary budget of N13.8 billion yesterday.

The government said it was meant to boost services across the state.

The motion to pass the supplementary budget was moved by the Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Ms Nikky Ugochukwu (Orumba South) on August 29.

She said the supplementary budget became necessary because the Executive needed to ensure that its programmes are not interrupted.

Ugochukwu urged her colleagues to approve the budget as part of their responsi-

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

bility to the people.

Minority Leader Tony One Week Muonagor (APC, Idemili North) said there was need for the supplementary budget.

According to him, it would enable the government to provide basic facilities the people needed urgently.

Muonagor noted that any approval from the chambers to improve the lives of the people should not be politicised.

Dr Emeka Anabonam (APC, Onitsha South 1), said the supplementary budget was timely because there were several things the state needed to do with the money.

Funeral for bishop October 7

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HE Catholic Church in Anambra State has fixed October 7 for the funeral of its former Bishop of Awka, Simon Okafor, who died on August 29. He was 80.

The church has declared a month of prayers in honour of the late cleric, who was in charge of Awka Diocese from 1994 to 2009.

Addressing reporters yesterday in Awka, the state capital, at the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, the Catholic Bishop of Awka, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor said the prayer session had been fixed because the late cleric always told them to continue praying for him.

The funeral would be presided over by Francis Cardinal Arinze with over 10 other bishops around him, according to Ezeokafor.

The late Okafor, who bat-

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

tled diabetics and malaria for a long time, hailed from Ifite Dunu in Njikoka Local Government Area.

Ezeokafor said: “We believe his good works will follow him and we know that God will grant him eternal rest. We will not stop praying for him as he wished, even on his sick bed.”

Okafor, the cleric said, finished his launch on that fateful day and was in steady.

But he suddenly fell into a coma, Ezeokafor said.

According to him, the bishop died when he was being rushed to the hospital in Awka.

“He carried his cross, like Jesus Christ did. He really suffered like Christ. We will continue to pray for him,” Ezeokafor said.

Group threatens to petition ICJ over members’ detention

Robbers kill one in Enugu market attack

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OBBERS have killed a salesgirl during an attack at the Building Materials Market at New GRA, Abakpa, in Enugu East Local Government Area.

Several others sustained gunshot wounds.

The robbers attacked the market at 1pm and raided several shops.

They stole goods and about N1 million cash.

An eyewitness, who spoke in confidence, said the ban-

T

From Chris Oji, Enugu

O

NE of the groups clamouring for the recognition of a Biafran nation, the Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM), has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to order the release of its leader, Benjamin Onwuka, and other members who have been in detention for two months.

The group attacked the Enugu State Government House in March and invaded the Enugu Radio House in June.

It threatened to sue the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), if he failed to free its members.

The BZF members were arrested after they attempted to enter the Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) to make a live broadcast.

During the invasion, a police officer was reportedly killed and another injured.

The group lost one of its members.

The Biafran agitators were paraded before reporters in Enugu and moved to the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

In a statement yesterday in Enugu, BZM’s National Publicity Secretary Chiemeria Chibundu said the detention of its members without trial was against provisions of the 1999 Constitution and several international treaties.

The statement said the police should have prosecuted Onwuka and other members of the group, if they were

•Senator 'Gbenga Ashafa (in black French suit) donating materials to beneficiaries of the Mega Empowerment Programme of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Somolu Local Government/Bariga Local Council Development Area (LCDA) at the Somolu secretariat...yesterday. With him are Senator Anthony Adefuye, the beneficiaries and other party members.

•Onwuka

guilty of any wrongdoing.

The group regretted that the police clamped down on its members when terrorists were holding Nigerians to ransom in the Northeast.

It decried the parade of BZM members without clothes when some suspected Boko Haram members, who were arrested in Imo State, were shielded from the public by the police.

The statement said: “We condemn this situation where our members were tortured, humiliated, stripped naked, handcuffed and paraded before the public by the Commissioner of Police in Enugu State.

“They were later bundled to the police headquarters in Abuja and abandoned in underground cells without trial, care; neither has anyone been allowed to see nor visit them.

“The situation is totally unacceptable to us and we are calling on President Jonathan to prevail on the police to free these non-violent freedom fighters.

•Several others injured From Chris Oji, Enugu

dits operated at the market, located on the NOWAS– Nike Lake Hotel Road, for about an hour without any challenge.

Traffic on the road was halted as the robbers blocked both ends of the road. They forced motorists to take other routes while those caught in the holdup

were forced to lie face down.

The salesgirl, who was in her employer’s shop during the invasion, reportedly refused to surrender the day’s proceeds to the robbers.

The bandits shot her dead instantly.

Another trader was shot in the leg and rushed to a hospital at Trans-Ekulu. A woman in a cement shop,

who reportedly hid the proceeds for the day under bags of cement, was hit in the head with a gun butt. She bled from the mouth.

The woman was rushed to a nearby hospital.

It was learnt that the bandits snatched a car from a woman and fled the scene.

Police spokesman, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed the incident.

He said the police were working “assiduously to unmask the perpetrators”.

APC condemns Onyebuchi’s redeployment

HE Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC has urged Governor Sullivan Chime to stop his impunity against perceived foes.

The party said this was evident in the redeployment of his former deputy, Sunday Onyebuchi, who left service as Permanent Secretary, now as a Deputy Director in the Civil Service.

The former deputy governor was, on Monday, redeployed to the civil service as an Assistant Chief Administration Officer. Onyebuchi, in 2006, was promoted to the Permanent Secretary by former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani.

In a statement yesterday in Enugu, APC Southeast spokesman Osita Okechukwu said the civil service should not accommodate such a theatre of the absurd “where Chime, who owns a poultry farm with Chief Onyebuchi in the Government

•PDP: Opposition’s criticism hasty From Chris Oji, Enugu

House and is equally culpable, will now wash his hands like Pontius Pilate”.

He added: “Otherwise, the day before Governor Chime railroaded Enugu State House of Assembly, like a rubberstamp, to impeach former Deputy Governor Sunday Onyebuchi on flimsy allegations and yesterday (Monday) he redeployed the same man to the civil service as a Deputy Director. What a huge joke!

“We had thought, as a lawyer and former AttorneyGeneral of Enugu State, that Governor Chime is knowledgeable enough to appreciate its trite law that impeachment in other words is conviction. Therefore, he cannot approbate and probate, hence arrogating himself the powers to clear Chief Onyebuchi from the undue conviction by this caricature appointment.

“May we remind Governor Chime, lest he forgot, that the simple and honest path is for him to swallow his pride and apologise to Chief Onyebuchi, his co-beneficiary ex-governor, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani’s benevolence, who handpicked both of them and imposed them on the people of Enugu State.

“Governor Chime should stop the culture of impunity with Enugu State politics in his new road to dictatorship, especially on the eve of the crucial 2015 general elections.”

But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described APC’s reaction to Onyebuchi’s redeployment as “typically and characteristically uninformed and full of mischief”.

In a statement by its Secretary Dr. Okey Eze, the PDP said APC appeared not to know the difference between

“appointment” and “redeployment”.

It said: “In its usual haste to misinform the people, the party chose to forget or was ignorant of the fact that Mr Onyebuchi was a civil servant before his appointment to political offices and subsequent election as deputy governor.

“If it (APC) had done its homework well, it would have known that Mr Onyebuchi never formally resigned from the civil service and that his appointment was not terminated while he occupied political offices. Having been relieved of his political office, is it not proper that he should return to his original service?

“His redeployment should actually be seen as a great act of magnanimity by the state government.

“It is strange that the party (APC) acted in such an indecent haste that it could not even wait to hear the views of Mr Onyebuchi on his redeployment before dabbling into it.”

2015: ‘Only Obiano, Umeh can deliver Anambra to Jonathan’

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NON-governmental organisation (NGO), the Join Jonathan Journey (JJJ), has said only Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano, the All Progressives Grand alliance (APGA) National Chairman Victor Umeh and the group can deliver Anambra State to President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 general elections.

But the group denied the rumour that former Governor Peter Obi had been appointed the President’s campaign coordinator for the

•’Obi’s not JJJ Southeast coordinator’ From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

Southeast.

The group’s Chairman Ben Obi addressed reporters yesterday at the JJJ office in Amawbia.

He said that some people had been boasting that they would deliver for the President Jonathan in Anambra and other Southeast states.

But Obi said only Obiano had the capacity to ensure the President’s victory in the state.

He explained that altough the President inaugurated an evaluation and screening committee, Obi’s supposed appointment as the region’s campaign coordinator was unfounded.

Ben Obi said: “APGA is not just a political party but a movement in Anambra and indeed, Southeast. Soon, we are going to launch JJJ in Imo, Abia and other states in the zone.

“We have been getting calls

from other parts of the country, such as Borno, Sokoto and Zamfara to launch the group, after its successful inauguration in Awka, the Anambra State capital, last Saturday.”

The group also said Jonathan had done well for Ndigbo, adding that he should be supported for another term.

It listed the major projects the President had given the Southeast as the Second Niger Bridge and Enugu International Airport, among others.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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NEWS

Amaechi, WHO partner against Ebola •Governor hailed for containing spread R IVERS State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Country Representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Mr Rui Vaz have rpomised to work together in the battle against the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

Amaechi and Vaz spoke yesterday at a meeting in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

The governor assured the WHO chief that his administration would contain the disease with the cooperation of the global body.

He said the state had released over N300 million in the fight against the dreaded disease.

Amaechi said: "Whatever it takes for us to overcome Ebola, please, I will do it because it costs more if Ebola is on the loose than if it is contained. So, we are happy that the WHO is here to assist the Rivers State. We are happy that the WHO appreciates the dangers of Ebola to our communities.

"We need to contain Ebola. If there is no cure, then there is containment, so that more persons don't contract it. The Rivers State Government is prepared to take all the responsibility. The citizens are ours."

The governor cautioned politicians against politicising the Ebola outbreak.

He said: "They cannot be talking about politics in the midst of Ebola.

We are talking about lives. For me, I am the governor of Rivers State. I am elected to protect the lives of Rivers people and ensure that they are alive. That is my responsibility to the people of the state."

Amaechi said his administration would concentrate on how to contain the spread of the disease.

The governor thanked the WHO

From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

for partnering the state and promised to participate in the collaboration.

He said: "I am impressed with the performance of the Commissioner for Health, Dr Sampson Parker, on the level of work he is doing and the support we have being getting from everybody.

"Everybody is in now. The 60 persons we were looking for voluntarily surrendered themselves to the government. We want everybody to know that it is not everybody who will break down with Ebola. They are under surveillance for 21 days. If nothing happens, they are free.

"You are aware that of the three persons who were primary contacts to the late Dr. Enemuo, two have been confirmed negative while one is positive. I am not a doctor to tell you how the medical examination works. But that is the position now."

Amaechi urged religious leaders to join in the fight against the spread of the disease.

He said: "I have told the Commissioner for Health to call a meeting with religious leaders so that they do not lay hands on their followers when they pray. They can pray from outside the church. I am a miraculous child who came to power through the divine intervention of God. But, for now, let us control the outbreak of Ebola. Let the religious leaders distance themselves from Ebola crisis and allow the government to handle it. While you believe in your pastor, please, make contact with us to assist you to defeat the

virus.

"It is either you defeat Ebola in 21 days or Ebola defeats you. What the government does is to help you defeat the Ebola virus. But how does the government help you? The government takes you in, feeds you well and gives you adequate treatment.

There are professional doctors who are at the temporary quarantine centre at Oduoha in Emohua Local Government Area to take care of all the patients."

Vaz told the governor that the global body would render technical support to the state to fight the disease.

He said the WHO would also provide expertise, logistics, media, case management and surveillance, among others.

Vaz said: "Our main role is to provide technical support in terms of our experts who are in Lagos and in Port Harcourt, in surveillance, laboratory capacity, case management, how to deal with the case that we have, logistics, personal protection equipment and reagents for medicine.

"Also, they will render support in the areas of media and training people to know the key message to inform the community, which is a critical matter.

"It is clear that we can contain the epidemic in Port Harcourt and we have no doubt that the structures are in place, people have been trained hough there are still some prevailing challenges.

"This is why I have the honour and privilege to meet the governor to discuss those issues. The key mes-

sage I am taking is that we have a very strong leadership and ownership by the government of Rivers State. Everything is going to be done through His Excellency and the officials to interrupt the chain of transmission as soon as possible."

He urged the media not to create panic among the people in their reports but to give definite messages on how the people could prevent the disease.

Vaz added that fund disbursement from the WHO would not be delayed to avoid hampering the operations in affected places.

The WHO chief said discussions were being held across the world on drug dispensation for Ebola.

The WHO hailed Amaechi for containing the EVD in the state.

Vaz addressed reporters yesterday after a tour of the Emergency Ebola Treatment Centre in Oduoha, Emuoha Local Government Area.

News of the disease broke when Dr Ikechukwu Sam Enemuo died in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

Enemuo contracted the virus when he treated a worker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Oluibukun Koye, who had primary contact with the index case, the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer.

Vaz said the Rivers State Government had the right structures to fight the disease.

The WHO chief assured that with the support and collaboration of the residents, the disease would be defeated fast, especially when suspected cases were diagnosed and treated

•Amaechi

on time.

According to him, efforts must be made to ensure that the virus does not spread outside Port Harcourt so it does not get to other states and neighbouring countries.

Vaz was optimistic that the government, WHO and other volunteers organisations would contain the spread of the disease.

The WHO representative assured that the virus could be stopped but appealed for the support of all, including the rural dwellers and the media.

Health Commissioner Parker said over 90 per cent of Enemuo's contacts had been reached.

He said: "Ebola can be contained and that we are going to contain it here is not in doubt. But everything depends on all of us. It is not the responsibility of Ministry of Health only; it is an inter-sectoral response that requires attention.

"It is import to highlight that there is a strong commitment by the governor, the commissioner and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Ebola: Accident victim left to die in hospital

Board shortlists 2,634 applicants for 619 slots in Police Academy

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

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From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

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HE Recruitment Board of the Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, Kano, has shortlisted 2,634 applicants for 619 available slots for the Second Regular Course of the Academy’s degree programme.

The shortlisted applicants were those successful in the entrance examination held on June 7.

A statement yesterday by the Assistant Director (Press and Public Relations) of the Police Service Commission, Mr. Ferdinand Ekpe, however, did not state the total number of candidates, who applied for admission.

Ekpe quoted a member of the board, Yakubu Mohammad, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, to have promised an improvement over the 2013 edition of the exercise.

The statement recalled a tragedy, which occurred in the 2013 edition when one of the applicants died during the physical exercise segment.

Quoting the Coordinator of the Academy, Prof. Munzali Jibril, the statement said this year’s physical exercise segment would come after the mandatory medical screening of the applicants.

The board is made up of officials of the Police Service Commission, Federal Character Commission, Ministry of Police Affairs, the Coordinator and Commandant of the Academy, as well as the DIG (Training) of the Nigeria Police Force.

“During the two-week exercise, candidates will be expected to go through the verification of their certificates, confirmation of their identities, psychological assessment test and medical screening.”

•Greneda High Commissioner in the United Kingdom (UK), Joslyn Whiteman (right), presenting The Outstanding Governor on Infrastructural Development Award by Ben TV, London, to Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio. With them is Osile of Oke-Ona, Ogun State, Oba Adedapo Tejuosho.

‘PDP wants to manipulate PVC in Edo’

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GROUP of Bini traditional rulers and prominent politicians, under the aegis of the Benin Leaders of Thought (BLT), has alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) plans to manipulate the permanent voter registration in Edo State.

BLT alleged that the party was planning to ensure that majority of Benin eligible voters are unable to obtain the permanent voters' cards (PVCs).

The group, led by the Enogie of Obazuwa and younger brother to the Benin monarch, Prince Edun Akenzua, traced the non-presence of a Benin man in the Goodluck Jonathan administration to the activities of some leaders of the PDP in the state, whom it called "anti-Benin".

The group said the PDP's desperation to take over the leadership of the state was targeted at the Benin and not Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

BLT said: "The PDP leadership is desperate to 'capture'

From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

Edo State and install a governor from Edo Central.

"They would have done it through the declaration of a state of emergency, but found out that imposing a state of emergency on a state whose government is doing well and who has a governor loved by the traditional institutions, market women and other people would lead to what no one could conjecture.

"While their wards perform these theatrics here in Benin,

the master-fixers are busy in Abuja, planning the strategy with which their party will upstage Edo South voters.

"One way they plan to do this is to ensure that most Benin voters are unable to obtain the permanent voters cards. On Election Day, anyone who does not have the permanent voters card will not be allowed to vote. We are told that was how it happened in Ekiti, where they said more than 200,000 voters were disenfranchised.

"The imbroglio is directed

against the Edos (Benin). It is a well laid out plot to make Benin irrelevant in the scheme of things. It is not by accident that there is no Benin person in President Jonathan's cabinet. Powerful enemies of Benin made sure of that. Yet, the Benin are in the majority in the population in the state.

"When the PDP was establishing its structure in Edo State, Benin leaders in the party fell into the trap set by the enemies of Benin. The trap was to split the rank of the Benin.

Clinic ‘detains’ triplets over unpaid bills

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PRIVATE hospital in Delta State has “detained” a set of triplets because of the inability of their father to pay over N723,000 hospital bill.

The triplets were delivered eight weeks ago through caesarean section.

Father of the babies, Mr Godswill Echenim, told reporter in Asaba, the state capital, that he took his wife to the private clinic because of the nationwide strike of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) members in public hospitals at the time.

Echenim said the bill was too much for his

From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

family. He urged the government and wealthy Nigerians to help him out.

He said: “Since seven weeks the babies were delivered, we have been at this hospital. I registered my wife for ante-natal at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Asaba but because of the doctors’strike, I brought her here to be delivered of the babies.

“The babies were delivered through the caesarean section and taken to the incubator for over a month. The bill has piled up to N723,100 and still running because we are still here.”

WOMAN the authorities of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, called a “victim of a hit-and-run driver” died yesterday in the hospital.

She was reportedly abandoned for the fear that she might have the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

It was learnt that doctors and nurses discarded her when she was rushed to hospital on the suspicion that she was infected by the virus.

She was said to have died at 11am.

Her death fuelled rumours in Yenagoa that four persons had died at the EVD isolated centres.

A senior worker at the hospital, who spoke in confidence, said the refusal of the doctors to treat the woman caused her death.

He said: “The woman was brought into the casualty ward by two people. She was reported to have been knocked down by a hit-andrun driver on the Sanni Abacha Expressway in Yenagoa.

“Instead of treating the bruises and cuts in her body, the doctors refused. They claimed they might be signs of Ebola. They refused to attend to her, even when the people who brought her showed pictures from the scene of the accident.

“The woman was brought into the casualty section at 2pm on Monday. She was abandoned and later died at 11am on Tuesday.

“Even when the mortuary attendants were asked to take the body to the morgue by Dr. Ogiriki and Dr. Okubo, they still refused.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

11

NEWS

Seven killed in Taraba ethno-religious crisis •Police: casualty figure unknown O

VER seven people were yesterday killed in a resurgence of ethno-religious violence in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State.

The violence started around 5am and lasted for several hours.

Many were injured. Some of the injured were taken to hospitals in the neighbouring Benue State by members of the Red Cross and security agents.

It was learnt that policemen chased some people in a

From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo

red Toyota car to a house near the Wukari Central Mosque.

Sources said occupants of the house engaged the police in a gun battle and three persons were killed.

They said gunmen set ablaze the brewery behind the palace of the Wukari Jukun, the Aku Uka, Dr. Shekarau Angyu, resulting in a fight between Christian Jukuns and Hausa-Fulani Muslims.

A source said: “After setting the brewery ablaze, the gunmen started shooting sporadically, leading to the death of many people.”

President of the Youths of Vision, Wukari, Tsa-Asen Luka Agbu said: “At about 5am, gunmen stormed the town and burnt down the brewery behind the palace of the Aku-Uka. They also started shooting all over the town, a situation that sparked off

the crisis.”

The situation was brought under control by security agents.

Agbu said: “This is sad. I believe some top politicians have a hand in this.”

He alleged that some people were benefiting from an increased security vote in the state. Agnes Bako, a student of the Federal University, Wukari, said the institution could not operate be-

cause of incessant crisis.

The member representing Wukari II in the House of Assembly, Daniel Ishaya Gani, said there were not enough security men to contain the insurgents.

On the casualty figure, he said: “I heard that the military shot many stubborn boys who refused to leave the crisis area.”

State Red Cross Secretary Lucky Naboki Agema said he

did not know the casualty figure or who ignited the crisis, adding: “We were woken up by gun shots in the early hours. The casualty figure is high, but we cannot say the exact figure.”

Police spokesman Joseph Kwaji said the command was on top of the situation, adding: “I have not gotten the casualty figure yet.”

Motorists on the Yola/ Wukari/Zaki-Biam Road sought alternative routes.

Some returned to Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.

Kwankwaso to join presidential race From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

K

ANO State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso may soon declare his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Kwankwaso is to declare his intention before month end.

A source at the Government House said the governor went on a nation-wide tour and consulted with stakeholders.

Posters of the governor have been pasted at strategic locations in some states .

Some political observers said Kwankwaso must be ready to slug it out with General Muhammadu Buhari for the APC’s presidential ticket at the primary election scheduled to hold soon.

APC National Women Caucus underway From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor

T •Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wamakko planting a tree at Gundunga, Kware Local Government Area... yesterday.

PDP doesn’t believe in fair polls, says Waku

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ENATOR Joseph Waku has urged the Professor Attahiru Jega-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct credible elections next year.

Waku urged the commission to ban masked security officials from elections, adding that Nigerians would hold Jega responsible, if INEC failed to live up to its promises.

He likened the use of masked security men for the Ekiti and Osun elections to developments in the war-ridden Gaza Strip.

Speaking with The Nation

From Blessing Olaifa, Assistant Editor, Abuja

in Abuja, Waku said he was confident that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would take over governance in Benue State next year, if the polls were credible.

He urged President Goodluck Jonathan and Jega to resist the pressure to rig the elections.

Recalling his ordeal in the hands of officers of the Department of State Security (DSS) after his interview in a national newspaper, Waku urged the institution to be politically neutral.

He said: “Our fear is

whether the elections would be free and fair. There won’t be free and fair elections, if Jonathan runs in 2015. I am saying this because Jonathan is a major stakeholder in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the PDP does not believe in free and fair election.

“It is not Jonathan per see; he would have been a different person, but for the pressure on him. Some people will say ‘do this Mr President, nothing will happen’. I emphasise that something will happen. If you knock me off 20 times a day and the right thing is not done, the right

thing will not happen. If you do the wrong thing, the wrong thing will happen.”

Waku described the concluded National Conference as “a jamboree for the expanded PDP caucus”, saying nothing would come out of it.

He said the call by the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) on the President to rescue the kidnapped Chibok girls before October or forget about 2015 was meant to ginger Jonathan into action “since the only thing that gets the President’s attention is his second term bid”.

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) is to establish a National Women Caucus (NAWOCA), the National Woman Leader, Hajiya Ramatu Aliyu, has said.

This is part of efforts to strengthen the participation of women in the party’s decision making process.

In a statement in Abuja, Hajiya Aliyu said the caucus would enable APC women leaders to “come together and discuss issues of common interest as members of one family”.

She said: “We need to accommodate our differences, so that we can accommodate the differences of other Nigerian women who believe in what we believe. It would enable us to share our worries and passions, sharpen our convictions and strengthen our common beliefs, so that the change we offer Nigerian women will not be in vain.”

‘Research on environment’

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FORMER Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ibadan (U.I.), Prof Akin Mabogunje, has urged geographers to research more into how to sustain the environment.

He said researches in environmental sustainability were fraught with uncertainties and challenges.

Mabogunje, who chairs the Foundation for Development and Environmental Initiatives (FDI) in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, spoke yesterday at a national colloquium organised by U.I.’s Department of Geogra-

Women endorse Ahmed for second term

W

OMEN in Kwara State, under the aegis of the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), have endorsed Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for a second term.

During a visit to the governor in Ilorin, the state capital, NCWS President Hajia Barakat Atunse said: “Without being rhetorical, your shared prosperity project is having a positive effect on Kwarans. It is trickling down to the doorsteps of all Kwarans, regardless of political colouration or inclination. The project touches on employment, education, health, socio-economic transformation, water, energy, road, etc.”

Hajia Atunse said the governor’s wife, Omolewa, had, through her LEAH Charity Foundation, touched “lives unimaginably, particularly women and children”.

Ahmed said his administration would continue to protect and empower women.

•Ahmed presenting the keys to a 14-seater bus to Hajia Atunse on behalf of the NCWS at the Government House, Ilorin... yesterday. With them are Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajia Ramata Abaya (left) and others.

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

phy. The theme was: Frontiers in Environmental Research and Sustainable Environment in the 21st Century.

The event was held at the university’s conference centre in honour of two erudite scholars, Emeritus Prof Adetoye Faniran and Prof Olusegun Areola.

Mabogunje said: “To be valuable in the context of sustainable environment, it has to go beyond simply understanding the physical processes involved to identifying and evaluating the role of various actors and drivers of the particular process. Clearly, the research frontier will need to be populated by scholars from other disciplines, hopefully in a multi-disciplinary or interdisciplinary alliance, offering their special insight into the underlying causes impairing environmental sustainability in particular areas or regions of the country.”

He said there were prospects of Nigeria becoming the host to several transnational and national corporations, whose activities are bound to impact significantly on the environment.

He said: “The frontier must be such that it can capture and be explicit about the impact of various actors on environmental process.

“It is, of course true that in recent years these corporations all claim to subscribe to a social movement known as Corporate Social Responsibility.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

12

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 08078425391

Widow, three others arrested for robbery

Woman pushes husband to death

A

WOMAN has allegedly pushed her Inspector husband down from their two-storey home in Ije Barracks at Obalende, Lagos.

The Inspector, who allegedly landed with his head, was said to have died instantly.

It was gathered that the couple, who are known for their constant quarrels, were said to have fallen out over some undisclosed domestic issues, last weekend.

Sources said the woman, who was fond of beating her husband, allegedly pushed him down in anger.

“She did not know that the man would fall, but now she has ended up killing him,” a source said.

The source said after the incident, the wife became apprehensive, screaming for help to save her husband.

“While she was running down, she fell and sustained a fracture in the leg. She was rushed to an hospital. The sad thing was that before residents could arrange for a vehicle to take the Inspector to hospital, he gave up the ghost.”

The police, it was learnt, ordered the arrest of adult neighbours in the barracks for failing to stop the fight.

WIDOW is in police net for allegedly supplying guns to armed robbers.

She was arrested with members of a gang that specialised in robbing motorists in traffic.

Sera Emmanuel (31) Ismaila Morufu (30), Musaalobi Abdullahi (29) and Opeyemi Akinyemi (30), were arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos State Police Command, during a raid.

They allegedly confessed to have been operating daily at some bad spots around Mile 2/Badagry Expressway, Mile 2/Apapa Expressway, A g e g e / O s h o d i , Oworonsoki, Alapere, Bariga, Ikeja and Onipanu.

Emmanuel is the armourer and also supplies the gang

By Jude Isiguzo

A

By Ebele Boniface

and others within Southwest weapons.

Sera said: “I was born in 1983 and I am from Abeokuta. I buy guns for the gang and it was Ismaila that gave me money to buy guns for the gang. I went to Idiroko and bought two guns at N15, 000 each for the gang.

They gave me only N25, 000 and N6, 000 for transport. I will not buy for them again”.

Sources said they were arrested on August 27 on Sango-Ifo road, by Iyana Iyesi in Ogun State.

Morufu said: “I was arrested at Iyana Iyesi for snatching a handset at Mile 2, Lagos. It was Muri that led police to my house to arrest me”.

Abdulliah, who claims to be a panel beater, said: “I

•The suspects ... yesterday

participated in Oyingbo Ebute Meta robbery operation. We collected phones, money from victims at go-slow. This is my 15th armed robbery operation. I used to get between N25,000 and N30,000 in each operation but prostitutes, smoking and drinking made it impossible for me to save”.

Akinyemi, an okada rider, claimed that he was forced to become a member by one Apo he met in Mushin, where he had gone to eat, adding: “I have operated five times but it was only once they gave me N30,000. They have been cheating me. I went to Cotonou with N300, 000 to buy Mazda but it had accident. It was because I

needed to get money for the repair of my car that I followed them for the operation. I got N150,000. I have built house from armed robbery. It was Muri that brought police to arrest me”.

Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Lelma Kolle an Assistant Superintendent (ASP), confirmed the arrest.

Lagos govt did not ban Okada, says party chair

T

HE Lagos State Road Traffic Law 2012 did not ban commercial motorcycle operations, the All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday.

The law only restricted their operations, APC chairman Otunba Oladele Ajomale told reporters in his office.

With him were the Vice Chairman (West District), Chief Funso Ologunde, the Secretary, Prince Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, the Publicity Secretary, Comrade Joe Igbokwe, his deputy, Abiodun Salami, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly. Hon. Bola Badmus-Olujobi, the Legal Adviser, Mr. Demola Sodiq and the women leader, Mrs. Kemi Nelson.

Unlike the ban on their activities in eight states controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lagos only restricted their activities on some roads, following public complaints, he said, adding: “Nobody has banned Okada operators. The government has only restricted the use of Okada in less than 25 per cent of the roads. Lagos has not banned the use of Okada. It has only restricted

•PDP is politicising restriction order

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Group Political Editor

the use of okada in 475 out of 10,000 roads. The PDP has only turned it into a political issue without considering the life and wellbeing of the people”.

Ajomale reiterated the party’s support for the law, which has restored relative sanity on the roads, saying the APC cannot be aloof to the carnage and threats to life.

Lamenting the twisting of facts surrounding the law by PDP, Ajomale said the APC had set up a committee headed by Ologunde to study the law and its implementation. He said many Lagosians heaved a sigh of relief when the law came into being.

Ajomale noted that 80 percent of the riders were foreigners and illiterates who lacked knowledge of Lagos and cannot recognise traffic signs.

Ologunde said the law became necessary because the commercial use of motorcycles for public transportation was associated with high accident rate. He said many riders and

passengers sustained injuries, permanent disabilities and, in some cases, death.

Ologunde said: Besides avoidable deaths, there were insecurity accentuated by armed robbery, assassinations and robbery of innocent citizens, especially

ladies who were on lawful pursuit of their daily bread.

Prior to the signing of the law in August 2012, we used to have in state hospitals alone an average of 16 okada-related deaths monthly and 646 okada accident-related injuries.”

The law, he said, had reduced the havoc, adding that, since March, the state has only recorded less than two deaths monthly and less than 100 injuries. He said the roads where commercial cyclists’ operations were restricted were mostly dual carriage others and roads with adequate public transportation.

Man, 21, needs N2.3m to live

Environment lecture

T

Apapa residents bemoan bad roads

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TAKEHOLDERS in Apapa Local Government Area of Lagos State, have urged government to fix their roads.

At a meeting with Apapa Residents Association, the council chairman, Ayodeji Joseph, represented by Secretary, Mr. Owolabi Adele, said bad roads which belong to the Federal Government are affecting socio-economic life.

He explained that some stakeholders that indicated interests in fixing the roads were rebuffed by the Federal Government.

Adele said: “We now experience unbearable traffic gridlock within Apapa. The main causes of the bad situation are the trucks, tankers that ply the roads. To solve part of the problem, these heavy duty vehicles should maintain

one lane, while the other lane should be for cars.

“The people who visit Apapa for business purpose find it difficult to move their vehicles through. The mere mention of Apapa is gradually turning to a nightmare,’’ he said.

Members of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), who were present, sought the cooperation of road users to enable them do their job.

Joseph said no fewer than 1000 trucks load 500 containers daily from the Apapa port, adding that some of the trucks line up at Tin-can area waiting to be hired.

According to him, broken down vehicles should be removed from the vicinity.

“The vehicles constitute security risk, they need to be evacuated from these places to make the council safe for its residents.”

•Olowu

H

E is 21, but for 14 years he has been ill. Oyekolapo Olowu has a hole in his heart and needs N2,214,000 for a corrective surgery.

His father, Samuel Olowu, in tears, said: “I can’t watch my confidant die. Since his birth, we have been through thick and thin. We are best friends. My tears are uncontrollable each time I see my brilliant child in pains. He looks lifeless on his sickbed.”

The 85-year-old man, who can barely see, cannot afford the amount. He is relying on the public to save his son.

According to the father, Oyekolapo has been nursing the ailment, which has prevented his growth for 14 years.

The bedridden Olowu said: “I treated myself for malaria because my temperature assumed an unusual dimension. But when it persisted, I visited a hospital. After several tests were carried out on me, it was then discovered that I had a hole in my heart”.

He was referred to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, where another chest x-ray revealed he has

By Basirat Braimah

Chronic Congestive Heart Failure.

Olowu, who was almost inaudible, added: “I had visited several hospitals for 10 years until I got a referral from the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) last year. My health is in poor state. Each time I have muscle cramp, my legs bleed.

The pain is too much for me.”

Dr. O.B Familoni, a Consultant Cardiologist at OOUTH, in a report, said Olowu needs surgery to correct his defect.

But the facilities are not available in Nigeria. The report said the surgery would be done in India.

The father said, he is growing leaner because he lives only on liquid.

The family is appealing to individuals, government and non-governmental organisations for assistance.

It has opened an account at FCMB with No: 2066658019 under his name: OLOWU OYEKOLAPO EZEKIAH with his phone numbers: 07082217174,08106347579.

HE 5th Annual Public Lecture/ Environmental Awards of The Environment Outreach Magazine will hold tomorrow at the Gabriel Okara Cultural Centre, Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

The lecture with the theme: “Climate Change and its effect on the coastal communities in Nigeria”, will be chaired by Prof.

Oladapo Afolabi, former Head of Service of the Federation; SurveyorGeneral of the Federation, Prof. Peter Chidozie Nwilo is the guest lecturer.

In a statement in Lagos yesterday, the Publisher/ CEO of the magazine, Chief Noble Akenge, said the event would feature the presentation of special environmental awards to deserving individuals and institutions.

Akenge said Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson would be the Special Guest of Honour; the Guest of Honour is the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Laurentia Laraba Mallam. King Godwin G. Igodo, the Ebenibe of Atissa kingdom and Chairman, Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers is the Royal Father of the Day.

Life

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

13

The Midweek Magazine E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

Text only: 08023058761

Music from Diaspora at MUSON – Page 49

Role of literature in democracy, good governance – Page 50

•Sir Gabriel Ajayi

‘I got fulfilment in art award’ – Page 51

‘My mother and mentor went to school at 80’ – SEE STORY ON PAGE 14

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

14

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

‘My mother and mentor went to school at 80’ Sir Gabriel Oladipo Ajayi is a man of many parts. He is an artist, an architect, a builder, writer and a businessman. A believer in the adage: hard work pays, Sir Gabriel, founder, Spatial Design Consults, says success is not determined by one’s background, but by one’s commitment to hard work. He cherishes his parents, Pa Joseph and Madam Victoria Ibilola Ajayi, especially his mother who he cites as his mentor. He shares his thoughts on life and his passion with EVELYN OSAGIE. 30 years as an architecture

I

T has been interesting and fulfilling. Architecture is me. I dream, sleep and eat architecture. Architecture is music! Architecture has rhythm! Architecture is a way of life! I could have gone into politics, but as for me, architecture is love… architecture is romantic and architecture is music.

Although it is a very demanding profession, I tell people that there is nothing you won’t have time for once you organise and prioritise your programmes. I don’t have any regret studying and going into the profession.

Humble beginning

I began my professional career in 1984 with the Lagos State Development Property Corporation as a Senior Architect. As the years went by, through years of hard-work, dedication and excellence, I became a Principal Architect.

After a brief stint with the Lagos State Development Property Corporation, I established an architectural design and construction company, Spatial Design Consults in 1987. Today, through dint of hard work, we have become a household name and some of our works are scattered all over the place.

Philosophy of life

Love your neighbour as yourself but don’t love your neighbour more than yourself. I mean there shouldn’t be selfneglect. I have learnt a lot from my life’s trajectory that: no matter the situation one finds oneself, embrace God, endure every situation and know that every situation in life is temporary. You can get over it.

Inspiring upbringing

I was born into the family of Pa Joseph and Madam Victoria Ibilola Ajayi in Ilupeju-Ekiti in 1954. My growing up was very tough as an Ekiti man because Ekiti people lack financial strength. And although we are highly knowledgeable, we still don’t know how to sell our knowledge to the world.

I faced a lot of challenges.

I come from a polygamous home and my father was a soldier and had five wives. You know in a polygamous setting it is “man-for-himself” – a situation where the women had to take care of their children.

My mother happened to be an intelligent trader and a hardworking businesswoman, who trained her four children and passed a lot of virtues into us through her principles of hardwork, diligence and versatility. It was she, who passed values, discipline and the fear of God to me. She conditioned me with her priceless values early in life and that has left a lasting impact on me till today.

I studied a lot of her character, which helped me in my endeavours. She is still very active at 98. She started going to school at 80 (adult education). She believes strongly that education is the only liberator from the shackles of poverty.

And that is why I have also encouraged my children too to embrace education. By the grace of God they are responding to training. My first son is an architect. I have another one who is a chartered accountant and others are still aspiring to study law and medicine.

Although it was very tough surviving in a polygamous setting, it made me very clever. We were many, but I concentrated on my studies and God helped me to come out with Grade One at the West African Examination Council.

Secret behind making Grade One

I have always believed one’s background should not put one’s back on the ground. One’s pedigree shouldn’t be an impediment to greatness. Yes, there were challenges but I said to myself that I should always aim for the best in life.

As I said earlier, I have a mentor in my mother who is very active and strong; and I learnt a lot from her. She is an illiterate but still learnt how to sew in those days. She would wake up very early and do things right. So if you learn to do things very well success is yours when you have God.

Surviving university education till Master’s level

I survived my higher education through trading and teaching in secondary schools. I am also grateful to gov-

•Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi (left) and Sir Gabriel

INTERVIEW ernment because they gave us bursary and loans in those days. I combined this with what my parents could raise and was able to survive for seven years. The University of Ife is a good environment to learn architecture. And we were the tested hand. I graduated with Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Architecture in 1982 and 1984.

Architectural dream for the future

At age 60, I feel fulfilled and I pray that God will still continue to grant me good health, strength and resources to help others. This is a time to a leave a legacy behind because I want to be seen as someone who passed through this world and left something behind for humanity.

That is why we are now trying to ensure that we influence the lives of the next generation by collaborating with Nigerian universities to provide hostels such as residence

for some students. I intend to leave a name behind in my profession and contribute positively to the lives of the coming generation of architects.

Lesson for youth

Young people of today are very lazy and impatient. They should see patience as a virtue. Whatever your hands find doing, do it with your entire mind. I believe that as a man, you must know God first, believe in yourself and endure any situation in life. Nigeria is a green area and very rich in resources. If we can manage our resources very well, I am confident that it will be better than the so-called ‘developed world’.

Someone approached me once and said he doesn’t want to be a politician because he doesn’t like politics. I advised him not to limit himself; if you don’t participate in it some morons will do it. So, if you love politics, do it; if you love architecture, do it well.

‘I have a mentor in my mother... I studied a lot of her character, which helped me in my endeavours. She is still very active at 98. She started going to school at 80 (adult education). She believes strongly that education is the only liberator from the shackles of poverty’

THE NATION WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

15

NEWS

FRSC urges motorists to adopt defensive driving

More work ahead for APC, says Mohammed

A

•34 state publicity secretaries meet in Lagos

LL Progressives Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed yesterday urged publicity secretaries across the 36 states to intensify the projection of the party as a viable alternative to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said the PDP has failed in the last 15 years, advising them to bring its shortcomings to the front burner, ahead of next year’s elections.

Describing next year’s poll as a critical event, he said the APC cannot afford to disappoint Nigerians because the country is yearning for a change.

Mohammed spoke in Lagos at the maiden meeting of 36 APC publicity secretaries, hosted by the Lagos State APC Publicity Secretary, Comrade Joe Igbokwe. He was represented by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Lateef Raji. The opening ceremony was witnessed by Lagos APC Chairman Otunba Oladele Ajomale and secretary, Prince Wasiu EshinlokunSanni.

Mohammed said: “There are more challenges for the APC, as the country prepares for elections, particularly in those states controlled by the PDP. What is required is courage and determination. Nigerians are yearning for a change and they see the APC as the alternative. So, we cannot afford to disappoint the country.”

Ajomale hailed the contributions of the publicity secretaries to the building of the party’s image, urging them to sustain the tempo ahead of next year elections. He observed that the task of opposition spokesmen would be more challenging in PDP-controlled states, advising the

FERMA warns auto dealers in Lagos

T

T

HE Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) threatened yesterday that it would sanction auto dealers, who spill water on the Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway.

FERMA’s engineer for Lagos West Kehinde Afolabi, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said the activities of some auto dealers were damaging the road and causing logjam in the area.

Afolabi, also acting chair Southwest 2, Federal Roads Committee on Surveillance and Action against Road Abuse, said the dealers had frustrated efforts to rehabilitate the road.

“Do you notice they sell cars at ‘U’ Turn, Ile Zik? They sell cars there and we have warned them to reduce the spillage of water on the road. That has been the problem we are having.”

We intend to serve them notice now to close that place.

“Several times we would go there to amend the problem; we carried out palliative works last week.

“FERMA has put boulders, stone base and we compact that place, but if they continue washing vehicles there, we will continue to have problem.’’

By Emmanuel Oladesu Group Political Editor

secvretaries to gird their loins.

Ajomade added: “What I can say is that you should emulate Lai Mohammed. I salute the courage of everyone, especially those in the PDP-controlled states. In Lagos State, I salute Joe Igbokwe. Across the federation, I urge you to get ready. You should be ready to make sacrifices.

“From 1999 till date, Nigeria has not been moving forward. It has been moving backward. They lied that the economy was improving. The

economy of advanced countries is going down, but despite that they say the Nigerian economy is booming. I urge you to expose their atrocities across the states. I urge you to continue to defend the APC. Next year is the year of change and that change is inevitable.

You must make the change happen.”

Igbokwe urged his colleagues to expose the evil of bad governance, saying the PDP is the symbol of decadence. He said the PDP is using the misappropriated wealth of Nigeria to build a culture of stomach infrastructure.

•Mohammed

He added: “The PDP is a corrupt government. The task ahead is to continue to expose its evil by building a synergy among ourselves and ensure there is legitimate power shift next year.”

HE Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) urged motorists yesterday to embrace defensive driving in order to avoid errors that could cause road accidents during the ‘ember‘ months.

FRSC Sector Commander in Anambra Mr Sunday Ajayi gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Onitsha, Anambra after a stakeholders’ meeting.

The meeting was organised by the commission to enable stakeholders work out ways to tackle traffic congestion and wrong parking on major roads.

“For the ‘ember‘ months, I want to draw attention to the fact that Onitsha is strategic to us because of its activities and the strategic route as well.

“I would want to let people know that ‘ember‘ months is just like any other month; the only difference is that people tend to do more business to make more money and enjoy their holidays during the Yuletide.

“And because of this, there is a lot of indiscipline that comes with it; if road users obey instruction and not jump lanes; if road users don’t overload; if they use their seat belts; if they don’t over speed; if they maintain their vehicles and don’t drink alcohol while driving, there will be no problem.

“So, what we are saying is that we want people to begin to have that culture of safety; road safety is not a chance (accidental development), it is something you have to consistently work for.“

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

17

LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON THE TRIBUNAL OF INQUIRY INTO THE ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT AND SUBSEQUENT ARSON AND VANDALIZATION OF BUS RAPID TRANSIT (BRT) BUSES AT PALM-GROVE ALONG IKORODU ROAD ON 4TH JULY 2014.

CALL FOR MEMORANDA AND PARTICIPATION Pursuant to the order of His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) the Governor of Lagos State to investigate the cause of the road traffic accident and subsequent arson and vandalization of Bus Rapid Transit(BRT) buses at Palm-grove along Ikorodu road, Lagos State on 4th July 2014, Notice is hereby given that the Lagos State Government has set up a Tribunal of Inquiry to look into the remote and immediate cause of the incident, with a view to proffering solutions and recommendations that would prevent recurrence of such incident in the future and the Tribunal shall soon commence the conduct of Public Hearings on the issue.

VENUE:

CONFERENCE ROOM, T BLOCK, MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND CHIEFTAINCY AFFAIRS, SECRETARIAT, ALAUSA, IKEJA, LAGOS STATE

INAUGURAL SITTING

:

MONDAY 15th SEPTEMBER 2014

PUBLIC HEARING

:

TUESDAY 16th SEPTEMBER FRIDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 2014

TIME

:

10.00AM TO 3.00PM DAILY

2.

Consequently, the Tribunal is by this notice inviting the General Public, Individuals, Professional Bodies, Community leaders and other interested parties to submit Memoranda/or participate at the Public Hearings.

3.

The Memoranda should provide detailed information and suggest recommendations on the issues listed here under and any other relevant information that may assist the Tribunal in proffering lasting solutions and the prevention of similar occurrences in future.

TERMS OF REFERENCE ·

enquire into the road traffic accident involving a Soldier/motorcyclist and a Bus Rapid Transit(BRT) bus as well as the subsequent events at Maryland, Ikorodu road on Friday 4th July, 2014;

·

ascertain the cause and actual location of the accident, whether on or off the BRT lane and the type and condition of vehicles involved;

·

determine whether the late soldier or bus driver were in breach of the law;

·

determine the extent of vandalisation, arson, looting and harassment of innocent citizens that followed and identify the persons responsible or involved;

·

make appropriate recommendations to prevent future occurrence of incidents of this nature;

·

present any other observations and recommendations to the State Government as it may consider appropriate.

4.

The Memoranda should be type-written in double line spacing and submitted to the Secretariat of the Tribunal @ The Conference Room, T Block, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos State within fourteen (14) days from the date of this publication from 9.00am to 4.00pm daily.(Weekdays only). LATE SUBMISSONS WOULD NOT BE ENTERTAINED

5.

The Memoranda MUST be submitted in both hard and soft copies or by email to brtaccidenttribunal@gmail.com. Please include names, signatures, contact addresses, emails and telephone numbers.

6.

More information is available on our website: www.brttribunal.org.ng and face-book page: BRT Tribunal.

SIGNED MS. OLUDAMILOLA KESINGTON SECRETARY TO THE TRIBUNAL 09095610715, 08036636077

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

18

UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR CALABAR

ADMISSION INTO GRADUATE PROGRAMMES 2014/2015 Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for admission into graduate programmes in the 2014/2015 academic year leading to the award of Post Graduate Diploma, Masters, MPhil and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees of the University of Calabar.

their previous institutions to the Academic Secretary, Graduate School, University of Calabar, P.M.B. 1115, Calabar, Cross River State, on or before deadline indicated below.

F.

ADMISSION SCREENING EXERCISE All candidates are also expected to take part in the admission screening exercise which will take place on SATURDAY, November 29, 2014 as follows: Part A – Written (Use of English Language, Logic, Mathematics, ICT and General Knowledge); Part B – Oral Interview in the respective departments (based on subject area).

G.

DEADLINE The website for admission application will shut down on MONDAY, November17, 2014.

H.

Note: Filling of forms – Surname First, First Name next, Middle Name last. All PGD programmes are run on full time basis. There will be no changes made after submission of application forms online. Therefore candidate must think through before submission as any change will attract a fee. This is to prevent multiple applications. The titles Mr, Miss or Mrs may be used but not Rev (Dr), Chief, etc.

Programmes applied for should be M.A, M.Ed, M.Sc.Ed, M.Sc, MPH, LL.M, Ph.D, MPhil/Ph.D, PGDE, PGDEE, PGDPA, PGDM, PGD, etc.

AVAILABLE GRADUATE PROGRAMMES Programmes leading to the award of Postgraduate Diploma, Masters, MPhil/ Ph.D and Ph.D degrees are available in the underlisted Departments. For details of each programme and specific requirements, log on to http://www.unicalonline.edu.ng.

1.

Faculty of Agriculture Agricultural Economics and Extension; Animal Science; Crop Science; Soil Science; Forestry and Wildlife Resources Management.

B. SPECIAL INFORMATION FOR MPhil/Ph.D CANDIDATES The MPhil/Ph.D option is available for all programmes. Candidates may be admitted into the MPhil/Ph.Dprogramme in exceptional circumstances where the CGPA in the Masters degree is lower than the minimum required B (60%) average or 4.00 on a 5-point scale. This should however not fall below 55% average or 3.5 on a 5 point scale. The MPhil/Ph.D option will also be available to candidates interested in pursuing Ph.Dprogrammes in fields different from, but relevant to that in which they obtained their Masters degree. A terminal MPhil degree will be awarded if the candidate fails to make the minimum required to transit to the Ph.Dprogramme.

2.

Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences Public Health; Medical Laboratory Science (Medical Microbiology/ Parasitology Unit, Chemical Pathology Unit and Haematology Unit), Radiography & Radiological Sciences.

3.

Faculty of Arts English and Literary Studies; History & International Studies; Linguistics and Communication Studies; Religious and Cultural Studies; Philosophy; Theatre and Media Studies; Modern Languages and Translation Studies.

4.

Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences Anatomy; Biochemistry; Pharmacology.

5.

Faculty of Clinical Sciences Community Medicine (M.Sc Clinical Epidemiology and disease Control)

6.

Faculty of Education Adult and Continuing Education; Educational Administration and Planning; Educational Foundations, Guidance and Counselling; Vocational and Special Education; Library and Information Science.

7.

Faculty of Law: LL.M and Ph.D

8.

Faculty of Management Sciences Banking and Finance; Business Management; Marketing

9.

Faculty of Social Sciences Economics; Geography and Environmental Science; Political Science; Sociology; Public Administration.

10.

Faculty of Science Botany; Genetics and Biotechnology; Geology; Maths/Statistics & Computer Science; Microbiology; Physics; Pure and Applied Chemistry; Zoology and Environmental Biology.

11.

Institute of Oceanography Fisheries and Aquaculture (PGD only); Coastal Zone Management (PGD only)

12.

Institute of Education PGD Education; PGD Environmental Education

13.

Institute of Public Policy and Administration Public Administration (PGDPA only)

A. GENERAL REGULATIONS Courses may be offered full-time or part-time. All programmes begin with coursework and end with a project for Graduate Diploma, MBA, MPA and MPAS or thesis for Masters and Ph.D degrees. For full-time studies in most programmes, the Post Graduate Diploma lasts for one calendar year, the Masters degrees last for 2 years and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) programmes extend over a minimum of 3 years.

Part-time programmes take a much longer time. Candidates with Masters degree from recognized universities may credit the relevant courses towards the Ph.Dprogramme, provided the quality of the grade is acceptable to the Graduate School. Candidates are required to have a minimum CGPA of 3.00 on a 5-point scale and 2.75 on a 4-point scale for Masters programmes and 4.00 on a 5-point scale and 3.00 on a 4-point scale for Ph.Dprogrammes.

C. MODE OF APPLICATION Interested candidates are to first log on to our website http:// www.unicalonline.edu.ng to access the prospectus for the complete description of available courses. Thereafter, candidates are required to pay a non-refundable fee of N15,000.00 at any branch of the under-listed banks nationwide. A printout with a unique pin will be issued at the bank. Candidates would then enter their unique pin and their mobile phone numbers on the website to access the form. Follow the steps by providing your data as prompted and ensure that your form is submitted.

YOU ARE TO PRINT OUT A COPY OF YOUR FORM AND CONCEPT NOTE,

BY CLICKING ON PRINT button after submission. Please bring a copy of the printed form to the venue on the day of the screening.

Process flow of E-Scratch Card for UNICAL Post Graduate Application 1.

Walk into any bank across the federation and make payment on E-Transact platform to purchase Graduate School application form for 2014/2015 academic session 2.

Walk into any Enterprise Bank across the federation and make payment on Calpay platform to purchase Graduate School application form for 2014/ 2015 academic session 3.

Walk into any Zenith Bank across the federation and make payment on Xpath platform to purchase Graduate School form for 2014/2015 academic session 4.

Make a payment of N15,000.00 and obtain the payment slip 5.

Go online to www.unicalpg.org 6.

Log on with the generated pin on the payment slip to fill the Post Graduate form D. CONCEPT NOTE As part of the application, candidates are expected to submit a CONCEPT NOTE of 3 pages maximum for Ph.Dprogrammes and a-one-and-a-half (1 ½) page maximum for Masters’ programme. The concept note will be typed online in a space provided in the form and printed out for submission to the department. The concept note is a MINI SUMMARY OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL highlighting what candidates intend to research on when admitted. It has to cover the following: Statement of the problem Relevance of study to self and society Aim(s) of the study Justification Methodology Brief Theoretical Background E.

TRANSCRIPTS Candidates are to ensure that their academic transcripts are forwarded by

ADMISSION / AVAILABLE PROGRAMMES:08033380315, 08064355991, 08098768836, 08033929339 ISSUES WITH ONLINE FORMS: 07056693127, 08035191335, 07056693126 , 08098957263, 08054165689

Signed Dr. (Mrs.) Julia D. Omang Registrar

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

19

COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

LETTER

INEC’s new polling units •To forestall bickering, the electoral umpire must partner with and enlist the electorate

T

HE ripple generated by the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to create additional 30,000 polling units is rather unfortunate.

Based on distrust of the electoral setting and previous experiences that predispose public officials to act against the general interest, some politicians and non-governmental organisations have alleged that the commission had an undisclosed agenda in allocating more than 21,000 new polling units in the North and 8,000 in the South.

We agree with those who have called for caution in accepting or rejecting the new units. The commission last week explained in advertorials published by major

‘The era of forcing issues on the people is gone. If INEC is to succeed in the task of sanitising the political landscape by conducting credible elections, it must learn to partner with the people, step up public education and realise that previous experiences dispose the people to be suspicious of new moves’

newspapers that the decision was taken in the overall best interest of managing the electoral process. It also attempted to explain the criteria for the exercise, pointing out that it was based on the need to improve access control and security at the polling units.

However, INEC’s explanation that all it had tried to do was break down the existing polling units in such a way that no voter in the urban area would travel more than one kilometre to exercise his or her civic right, or two kilometres in the rural area, as well as prune the number of voters to about 300 per unit has not allayed fears expressed by politicians and political activists, especially in the South.

We are not surprised by the apprehension so generated. Nigeria had, especially in the recent past, been split on all major issues along ethnic, religious and communal lines.

The opponents of the scheme are right to query why the exercise is just being conducted when the 2015 general election is at hand. Again, the commission owes the country a duty to carry critical stakeholders as well as the public along.

It is curious that, in the many engagements of the commission with the civil society before and after the recent elections, no attempt was made to sell the proposal. The era of forcing issues on the people is gone.

If INEC is to succeed in the task of sanitising the political landscape by conducting credible elections, it must learn to partner with the people, step up public education and realise that previous experiences dispose the people to be suspicious of new moves.

The division in the country is so deep that even the ruling party at the federal level could not speak with one voice on the matter. The chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum, Chief Theodore Orji, has queried the motive, just as the party’s national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, who is from Anambra State in the South. They do not see the justification for the move.

Other chieftains of the party in the South West and South East have equally called to question the judgment of INEC in allocating about the same number of the additional polling units to the North West as in the entire South.

The INEC timing could be queried as anything at this point would attract critical comments. We hasten, however, to point out that what should matter to all now is the credibility of the next set of elections. We need to take more active interest in the credibility of the electoral register, training of polling officials, conquest of the logistics nightmare and generally building up the confidence of the voting public in the commission and the electoral process.

Suspicious pension • While justifying the idea of paying ex-Biafrans, we call for transparency HE news by the Military Pensions Board that Nigerian soldiers, who defected and fought on the side of the rebellious Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970, have been enlisted on the military pension payroll for their monthly pension is commendable.

Chairman of the board, Air Commodore Mohammed Dabo, who confirmed the development during the visit of the Minister of State for Defence, Musliu Obanikoro, to the board, said it was sequel to the state pardon granted the soldiers by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000. The chairman claimed that, so far, 160 of the ex-Biafran soldiers have been enlisted, and noted that more names are being released on the Federal Government gazette.

We hope however that the information is not a political gimmick by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration which has shown no scruples in its determination to curry the favour of as many geo-political zones as possible towards a successful re-election. Our apprehension is based on the fact that the administration chooses the twilight of its current tenure to implement a decision reached by the Federal Government since 2000. So, we hope it is not one of such unrealisable promises that the Jonathan government has made to the Igbos, in the regime’s quest to gain their confidence and votes, as the 2015 general elections approach.

T

It is also important that relevant agencies engage in proper scrutiny of the list of 160 soldiers that the government has reportedly released to the board. Our worry is based on the fact that the Nigerian Civil War ended 44 years ago, and it is possible that those on the list may never have participated in the unfortunate war. We note that the military has over the years had difficulty to determine the proper identification of its pensioners, who retired in more recent years, because of the tardiness in record keeping. So, if it is difficult for it to keep more recent records, we are doubtful that those on the list are actually exBiafran soldiers whose records of service to Nigeria before the war may be difficult to trace.

We are also worried that the list may include ghost ex-soldiers, considering that every now and then, the Federal Government agencies regale us with the information that ghost workers have been discovered in one ministry or another. So, if we are confronted by ghost names from Federal Government agencies and institutions that are currently there for all to see, we shudder at the possibility that all manner of names could be put on that gazette, while the so called ex-Biafran pensions are paid for the benefit of those in charge of the process. Accordingly, it is important that the names of the soldiers and their particulars be published in national dailies, in the hope that the civil society would help

to ascertain the authenticity of the entire exercise.

From recent experience, we note that nothing is beyond those who are hell bent on ensuring the success of President Jonathan in the 2015 elections.

We therefore worry whether the process is not one of such ways to raise slush funds for the re-election campaign of the administration. If, as the chairman of the board claims, more names are being thrown up in the federal gazette, it is just possible that even the board may not have control over the supply side of this new venture.

It is therefore important that federal legislators should oversight the names that are released, and proper checks put in place to avoid, those in charge, using the opportunity to rip the federal purse, in the name of healing our scarred nation.

‘From recent experience, we note that nothing is beyond those who are hell bent on ensuring the success of President Jonathan in the 2015 elections. We therefore worry whether the process is not one of such ways to raise slush funds for the reelection campaign of the administration’

Fayemi: Renewed vigour in defeat

I

F anyone had not been convinced that Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has devoted all his time to offering sincere service to Ekiti people, watching him serve with relentless zeal after the result of the June 21, governorship election in the state would cause such a person to have a rethink, if he is fair-minded.

Whatever was the nature of the victory of his opponent in that election, his defeat was supposed to be shocking and devastating ordinarily, given the efforts that Fayemi had put into the business of governance and because the implication of a loss of election to him was that he was rejected by the same people he had served most conscientiously.

The immediate effect of that defeat on him or anybody else should have been to feel discouraged, disillusioned, angry and carefree about developmental issues, but rather than that, the governor has been doubling his efforts at seeing his government’s on-going projects completed for commissioning before he leaves office, so much so that one is bound to take note.

A recurring puzzle that one had battled to resolve in recent time is whether the governor was actually, naturally, hit by his defeat but had strangely chosen to express the shock by hastening to congratulate the proclaimed winner of the election so as to settle down to putting finishing touches to his achievements for posterity.

A correlation to this puzzle is the fact that it had taken his political party, the APC, to challenge the election that had ostensibly ousted him, even though he hasn’t backed out of the action.

He has been up and doing, all over the place, since then, to see on-going road projects completed, to see renovation of hospitals completed. Ditto the neighbourhood markets, the Ire Bricks Factory which he reportedly wants to commission in September.

Sensitization drive against the Ebola disease has been going on with all the zeal required.

The creation of Local Council Development Areas (LCDAS) in the state which has been much criticized by the opposition but has been pursued actively is one other area of the new phenomenon of renewed vigour in defeat in Ekiti State as the LCDAs have been telling a new story about the governor that is worthy of note. The enthusiasm with which LCDAs were embraced in Ekiti State leaves political watchers to marvel and wonder about where popularity really resides or who controls rural politics in the state.

The never-say-die attitude to work being displayed by Fayemi is worthy of being recommended to all who aspire to serve the people in political offices. Such services ought to be for the sake of services and not for mere love of power or self-aggrandizement; after all, being elected governor is a privilege, whether it is for a term or two terms.

It is only the mark that a governor makes that leaves after him.

• Jide Oguntoye, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State Editor’s note: For reasons beyond our control, this column, which features editorials from other climes, is being suspended until further notice.

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

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

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

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

20

CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, a group spearheading the second term campaign for President Goodluck Jonathan held its South-west rally in Ibadan on Saturday August 23, and appealed to the people to give President Jonathan their support in the 2015 election in order to continue his transformation agenda in the country.

While I see nothing wrong for a group to canvass for any candidate and equally agree that second term ambition of President Jonathan is within the ambience of his fundamental human rights, what I detest is the false impression about non-existent transformation in the Southwest, which was the kernel of the campaign by TAN. Until the appointments of some PDP stalwarts of Yoruba stock into key positions in the government of President Jonathan, the cry of marginalization of the region was deafening. The socio cultural group, Afenifere had to show its displeasure about the issue by sending a delegation to the president to protest the anomaly.

The obvious marginalization was presumed to be the result of the poor showing of the PDP in the 2011 elections in the Southwest. However, it will be the height of deceit to now say, as the stalwarts of the ruling party did at the rally, that President Jonathan has transformed the South-west and should be allowed to continue the agenda by voting en masse for him next year.

As a matter of fact, it was an act of omission on the part of the President to marginalise the South-west be-

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Whither Transformation Agenda in South-west? cause the people, except in Osun State, voted overwhelmingly for him in the presidential election. The rejection of the party at other elections showed how unacceptable its candidates were. With the support given to the President then, one expected the president to give South-west its dues in terms of appointments into strategic positions, and in his transformation agenda. However, the reverse was the case.

As should be expected, none of the stalwarts of the PDP, save the minis-

ter of state for Federal Capital Territory, Jumoke Akinjide was able to spell out President Jonathan’s transformation feats in the South-west, which include rehabilitation of Lagos/Ibadan, Sagamu/Ore expressways and fixing the dilapidated railways to standard gauge.

No new means of transportation was embarked upon by the federal government but rehabilitation of the existing means. Even, the most vital road linking the South with the North that is, Ibadan/Ilorin expressway,

S

???????????????????

No to ‘stomach infrastructure’

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IR: One addition to our national political lexicon that arose from the conduct of the Ekiti governorship election is ‘stomach infrastructure’ by which it is meant that people would rather have national or state resources shared into their private pockets than have them put to use in the provision of infrastructure in road construction, building of school blocks, provision of healthcare infrastructure, water and electricity.

Nothing exemplifies this new trend in Nigerian politics than the recent movements by notable personages like former Foreign Af-

fairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi and the former boss of the anti-corruption agency, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. It is quite regrettable that the pursuit of self-interest has become the prime motivating factor for our political leaders and office holders. It is on record that Ikimi, as a national leader in the defunct ACN, played a leading role in the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He remained a leading light for the new party until he failed to secure the position of national chairman at the party’s National Convention.

Ebola: African scientists must wake up IR: We have been told that the federal government requested for the experimental drugs being developed by the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention for the treatment of Ebola victims in Nigeria.

But the Americans rejected giving the country drugs for now on the grounds that it is only an experimental drug. Whenever the United States decides to accede to Nigeria’s request, the Centre for Disease Control should demand from American

began in 2001 has been abandoned.

One even expects that with the rapport between the Ondo State government and the federal government, the work on Ibadan/Akure expressway stopped at Osun State end of the road would have been contracted out.

Again, the reverse is the case. Of the seven point programmes in the Transformation Agenda which include employment, power generation, roads, economic prosperity, education etc, in what area can we say the agenda has impacted on the

South-west?

Obviously, there are imperfections in the projects embarked upon by the South-west governments under the opposition APC and the Labour Party; the fact of the matter is that they are the architects of any transformation being witnessed in the zone, and these are impactful. The day is still young for the president to demonstrate that he needs the support of South-west by releasing fund for the completion of Oyo/Ogbomoso section of Ibadan/Ilorin expressway, the 132 KVA project in Ogbomoso, and other various projects that require federal government intervention that dot the region etc. This is the only way to win the hearts of the Southwest people and not through deceptive means which TAN and Southwest PDP now use.

• Adewuyi Adegbite Apake, Ogbomoso.

virologists the transparency of their work because US often uses its aids to attain its own interests.

Now, US has dismissed claims that Nano–silver has the capacity to prevent the deadly Ebola virus shortly after the minister of Health, Prof.

Onyebuchi Chukwu, announced that patients in Lagos would be treated with the experimental drug.

African scientists should directly participate in researches about Ebola prevention and cure in order to checkmate any evil schemes of for-

eign scientists. The current Ebola outbreak has killed over 1000 people and portends bad omen for Africa. Officially there is no vaccine to prevent it yet. But it is known that the Pentagon actively works in this sphere, and some international experts doubt that if the US finds the vaccine against Ebola, it would readily help African countries with it without any strings attached.

• Steve Mohammed Sapele, Delta State

That fact of his inability to realise his political ambition made him dump the APC for PDP. No doubt, Chief Ikimi has, by his decision to decamp from the APC, left room for Nigerians to question his credentials as a leader and democrat. What manner of man is a leader who would leave the party he co-founded because he failed to gain a party office?

Is it that the pursuit of one’s belle overrides the pursuit of the general good of the people? Is it not evident that some Nigerian politicians, who have often been characterised as selfish, self-centred and corrupt, are living out this tag?

Nuhu Ribadu on his part decamped to the PDP to seek nomination to contest the Adamawa governorship election scheduled for November this year. All Nigerians know that Ribadu contested the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the ACN. What will Ribadu do if he fails to secure the PDP ticket to the contest the Adamawa state governorship election? If he gets the ticket but fails to win the governorship, will he next seek the chairmanship of his local government council? True

and committed democrats are not known to jump from one party to the other at the slighted rumbling in their belle.

The old order during which public funds were routinely siphoned into private pockets to the detriment of the people is over. Physical infrastructural development in roads, healthcare delivery, education, water and light, transportation, agriculture, employment and human capital development must now take centre stage in governance and the management of public funds. This is as it should be.

As the elections of 2015 approach, the basis for the choice of office holders cannot be the ability to distribute rice, beans and cash. It must be based on the credibility of those seeking to hold office on our behalf. Those who decamp to other parties simply because they fail to secure tickets to contest should be denied the privilege by their new parties especially if they had held political offices in the past. The fact of their inability to secure tickets casts a slur on their integrity and should be asked to stay home.

• Nasamu Jacobson, Benin City, Edo State.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

21

COMMENTS

‘Our Girls’; Tale of two Drs; Federal ‘Might is not Right’: Jonathanian Presidential Agenda ‘

O

Tony Marinho

UR Girls’ are tragically still missing since April 15. No word, no comfort for the suffering families. Imagine if your child or sister was missing for this long.

May God grant our government the wisdom

to take the correct actions.

A tale of two doctors contrasts the meritorious and selfsacrificing efforts by the late great and gracious Dr Ameyo Adadevoh and dedicated nursing colleagues which prevented further spread of Ebola in Lagos, on the one hand, while another doctor in Port Harcourt, for finance or friendship, takes on an Ebola patient ‘privately’ and treats him successfully even though the doctor, not the patient, died.

The country-destroying immoral and morale-crushing huge, unrealistic and extortionist, ‘Salary and Perks’ SAP, of political people are very relevant to the recent demand by certain elements of that particularly odoriferous breed for the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to ‘apologise’ to the

‘No nation can grow or cope with modern life if there is a permanent or partial fight between state and federal or indeed state and LGAs. In contrast to today’s federal negative events, the late President YarAdua ‘did it’ positively with the Lekki Bridge approvals including removal of obstructing federal houses on the water’s edge and Jonathan can ‘do it’ positively by holding off his goons in ‘Ministerial Uniforms’’

W

HEN the whole drama started, it looked more like one of those beer parlour jokes. Expectedly, people, especially the media, quickly dubbed it, rather derisively, “Chicken Impeachment”. That underscores the degree of scorn and bewilderment with which the entire comedy of the absurd was held. But those who were hell-bent on turning logic on its head were not prepared to blink at all. After all, there was a supreme agenda that must be executed at all cost without paying the least attention to whatever the ‘uninitiated’ might think about. The uninitiated, this time, are the majority of Nigerians who are still astonished by the tragi-comedy that played out in Enugu State, a place regarded as the political capital of South-east Nigeria. Remember, Enugu was the capital of the old Eastern Region from whence all other states in the South-east zone of the country today, were born.

Anyway, the agenda was simply just to lynch a political foe of an imperial governor, using the instrumentality of the impeachment clause as enshrined in Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

That section lays down procedures for the appointment and removal of governors of every state in the country. This provision of the constitution is sacrosanct and provides the only acceptable procedures for removal, or more commonly termed “impeachment”, of a sitting governor or in some instances, the deputy governor, as we have witnessed in the country. Section 188 lays down procedure for possible removal on grounds of “Gross Misconduct”.

The truth is that, on Tuesday, August 26, Sunday Onyebuchi, the deputy governor of Enugu State, was impeached by the Enugu State House of Assembly. This latest de-

nation for the recent strike. It bears repeating that most of the demands of the NMA are for better circumstances of service which were glaringly absent at the beginning of the Ebola epidemic; better and more modern equipment, regular painting of stinking casualty and waiting and operating rooms, making cancer investigation equipment and cancer radiation therapy and chemotherapy available in 100 instead of just five hospitals or at least one in every state, introduction of an international yardstick for measuring hospitals and not just the dreaded official disease called the ‘Nigerian factor’ as an excuse for every deviation from the norm or every aberration.

These dirty and disgraceful failures of the system are why senators and representatives, let us leave aside the dubious distinction or horrendous honour, are in office. Setting those goals aside for the ‘selfish goals of’ ‘better ‘conditions of service’ is unfair. Indeed let all Nigerians remind themselves of the ‘spoils of political war’ from ‘winning’ or ‘rigging’ the elections that enriched politicians so much above their station that they can now spit at and even vomit over us as a nation.

Is it not amazing that that we are still struggling to see their stupendous salaries? Mr NASS MAN AND WOMAN, BEFORE YOU ABUSE DOCTORS and equate them with other professionals with less qualifications and a shorter and easier learning curve, WHAT DO YOU TAKE HOME as SAP? Where is the equity? Who knows the multimillion naira and dollar salaries and perks paid to each of the Senators, Reps, Special Advisers, Assembly members, LGA members?

I do not. They get, but rarely earn and even more rarely deserve, so much of that which forces them to remain silent when asked ‘how much exactly is your often unearned ‘take home pay’?

Using the current media advertorial parlance, Obasanjo ‘did’ it and now Jonathan is, ‘doing it’, screwing Lagos State as of federal right by interfering in its internal affairs through ministers gone berserk. Obasanjo withheld N10 billion for years, the same amount Sanusi as CBN Governor dashed to the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Jonathan’s government while ‘partnering’ on Ebola is very negative on devolution of powers in waterways management as it has sealed off,

with soldiers, an MTN building site at the Falomo Bridgehead for several months. The overriding evil in wielding the fist of federal might that has destroyed development for 40 years can never justify taking away a state’s right to develop.

The federal fist must be stopped, corrected and defeated in politics and in court. Instead of the needed friendly federalstate big brother- little brother relationship dedicated to every form of accelerated development Nigerians are confronted with and seem helpless, we have a jealousy thing going here and all the jealousy is on the federal side. Are we at war, Federal vs State? As soon as the state want to ease the suffering of its people on federal roads long abandoned to potholes, or along waterways ignored for 49 years, the federal evil knows no bounds in its efforts to curtail, prevent and decimate the efforts of the state and the needless suffering continues as development is stagnated and mediocrity perpetuated.

No nation can grow or cope with modern life if there is a permanent or partial fight between state and federal or indeed state and LGAs. In contrast to today’s federal negative events, the late President YarAdua ‘did it’ positively with the Lekki Bridge approvals including removal of obstructing federal houses on the water’s edge and Jonathan can ‘do it’ positively by holding off his goons in ‘Ministerial Uniforms’. I believe that the paradox in cooperation with some and not with others between federal government ministries and state is a sickening sign of petty politics gone dangerously wrong where common good is thrown away to punish citizens for not belonging to the federal party. Does Yar’Adua deserve state recognition for his heroic stance in the Lekki Bridge saga? Jonathan can also become a Jonathan ‘did it’ by taking seriously the points raised by the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola about the neglect of the Apapa Railway terminal which should be carrying heavy goods and containers to other parts of Nigeria.

Jonathan’s men may be more preoccupied with ‘partisan politics. However Jonathan is President of all Nigeria and should align his ‘Presidential Agenda’ with commitment to the development agendas of the states of which he is President.

Even agriculture has often been sectionalised in favour of some states. How much of the new N50 billion tractor and farm equipment fund will get nationwide distribution?

Lynching by impeachment velopment orchestrated by the members of the assembly, who merely pandered to the whim and caprice of the governor, presented a new plot in the recent wave of impeachments and “attempted impeachments” in the country. This ‘novel’ case of impeachment, as the deputy governor himself would later attest, was unique because of the puerile charges on which it was anchored. Controversial as it was, with obvious legal issues raised, the episode has now been safely etched into the dark recesses of our history books. Whatever anybody might say now falls in the realm of conjectures as the deed has been done.

Now, let us examine the legal points of this impeachment. Section 188 (1) – (11) of the 1999 Constitution stipulates the provisions which we must assume were followed by the Enugu House of Assembly in carrying out the impeachment of Onyebuchi. According to sub-section (2) (b) of that section, the process is begun as in this case when the Speaker of the House of Assembly is presented with charges “stating that the holder of such office is guilty of gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office, detailed particulars of which shall be specified”.

The charges drawn up against Onyebuchi include his continuous operation of a poultry farm within his official quarters even though “by a resolution of the Enugu State House of Assembly at its plenary on Tuesday, February 12, 2013, the House of Assembly prohibited the maintenance and operation of commercial livestock and poultry farms within residential neighbourhoods in Enugu metropolis in promotion

‘What the Enugu State legislators have done is tantamount to lynching a man at the market square on mere suspicion that he may have committed an offence’

of public health standards; which resolution was further accepted by the government for implementation”. Added to the charge was his refusal to perform state duties assigned to him by the governor pursuant to section 193 (1) of the Constitution which gives the governor authority to do so.

In the somewhat comical episode, the only real legal issue is whether the conduct of the deputy governor, as alleged in the charges, constitutes “gross misconduct” envisaged by the Constitution in section 188 (2) (b). This question could have simply been addressed by the provisions of section 188 (11), which defined the meaning of “gross misconduct” in that section as “a grave violation or breach of the provisions of this Constitution or a misconduct of such nature as amounts in the opinion in the House of Assembly to gross misconduct”. That particular provision has been widely held to be ambiguous, but the fact that cannot be denied is that the provision has left the determination of what constitutes “gross misconduct” under that section largely in the hands of a House of Assembly.

This means simply that “gross misconduct” in that section is what the state legislators in their discretion say it is. That is where the problem is, both for the constitution in this regard and in Onyebuchi’s case presently.

On the poultry-rearing charge, the Enugu State House of Assembly stated that it was continued even after a resolution of the House against it, “which was further accepted by the government for implementation”. If the intendment of those who drafted the charges was to prove that the deputy governor broke a law, then from an objective point of view, the attempt has failed.

Section 100 (1) of the Constitution states that the power of a State House of Assembly to make laws shall be exercised by bills passed by the House of Assembly, which may then

be passed into law by assent by the governor or two-thirds majority of the House. A mere resolution of the House, as indicated in the charges against Onyebuchi, is not law and does not have the legal force that the legislators suggest it has. This weakens the case of “gross misconduct” against Onyebuchi to a large extent.

For argument sake, and this is a genuine argument, one can say that Onyebuchi’s refusal to perform state functions as directed by the governor, if it can be proved, is in violation of section 193 (1) of the constitution. Whether it constitutes a “grave violation” is another matter entirely, which brings back the issues of ambiguity. The legislators may also have included this in the charge to boost the weight of the charges and create an increased notion of legality. Whether it succeeds in pushing the scales is left to anyone’s imagination as, according to that section, the legislators have the final say.

While we may continue to debate the legal issues from the impeachment and highlight the ambiguity of the constitutional provisions, one should also remember that the contemplation of the drafters of the constitution and the very spirit of the constitution in this matter, hinges on the expectation that elected legislators will be objective and upright members of the society capable of making sound and fair judgments. The constitution cannot be expected to contain or envisage all possible scenarios or definitions known to man, but the human mind, which is responsible for its propagation and implementation, also needs to be trusted to do so diligently without fear or favour and in line with the spirit of the law contained in the constitution.

It is perhaps no news to the Enugu people and others beyond the borders of Enugu that the relationship between the governor and his

Dele Agekameh deputy was declining before the impeachment saga. The way it played out also left little doubt that the governor’s loyalists, yes-men or surrogates, who form the bulk of the House of Assembly, including the Chief Judge of the state, whose appointment is largely based on the governor’s discretion, have played out a well-written script to get rid of the errant deputy. We can blame the constitution, its draftsmen or the legislators. The blame in a democracy must, however, always falls back on the people who elect their representatives. This is because our choice of leaders is always a reflection of our character as a people.

What the Enugu State legislators have done is tantamount to lynching a man at the market square on mere suspicion that he may have committed an offence. Well, Onyebuchi has resolved to head to the courts. But one thing is that the courts cannot directly contravene the constitution. If the constitution says the House of Assembly has the discretion to determine what constitutes “gross misconduct”, then the courts cannot fetter this discretion except the legislators’ interpretation is so biased, and against logic and common sense, that it will be clear to a common man that it is absurd and against the spirit of the constitution.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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COMMENTS ‘Whoever said the President has the interest of Nigerians at heart should by now have a rethink. The whole country is on fire due to his inability to get things right and the hawks around him called TAN are touring the country without minding the consequence. The President should know that Nigerians deserve to be protected because that was what he swore to do. Any President who cannot protect his people does not deserve to be called that name.

From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos’

•Babangida For Segun Gbadegesin Thank you, for the write up. I wish, as a people we could hear you. Jimmy Carter, an American president lost an election because he could not free some Americans who were held hostage in Iran. Can the same happen here? Anonymous Re-Politics, Peoples and Principles. All the Political parties and majority members in those parties are guilty in Nigeria of Politics without principles. Their actions portend ‘self-interests’.

Those that even tag themselves as ‘PROGRESSIVES’ are more guilty of ‘command’ rather than internal democracy. While the ruling party, PDP is guilty of less performance, others can not lay claim to credit of ‘pure performance’, where Internal democracy is lacking! Let all of them go and haved open minds. From Lanre Oseni.

Do you have principles yourself? Check your publications & views on issues and individuals when they were on oneside of the political divide, especially the PDP and when they turn or decamp to the other, Particularly ; AD, AC, ACN & later, the APC? Hear you, “but the most daring culprit has always been the party that controls the centre. we don’t have to quibble because the evidence is copious from the begining of the republic” right indeed?

Anonymous Sir, your write up on politics peoples and principles is most apt one is that there no basis and in all parameters between first republic politicians and those of the present day too.

President Jonathan PDP and their Cohorts are holding Nigeria and Nigerians by the jugular and with heartless and ruthless impunity. It is only Gods intervention that can deliver Nigeria especially with the indifference lack of patriotism and politics of greed and stomach infrastructre endemic in Nigeria. From Comrade Solomon Egwuenu,Agbor, Delta State For Olatunji Dare Sir, It is surprising that Babangida at 73 is yet to climb down from his high horse of living a

O

NE vital attribute every leader must possess in good measure is courage.

Courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement. What lies at the heart of every courageous leader is not the absence of fear, but the conviction that the action he is about to take, or taking, is the appropriate one. Many leaders sometimes lack the courage to take critical decisions because of the fear of public perception. This, according to Confucius, is the worst kind of cowardice.

The recent reversal of the Lagos State University (LASU) fee from N350,000 to the old rate of N25,000 across board by the State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, at the 19th convocation ceremony of the University in Lagos, has been described by many as a courageous decision. In a country where political leaders often rule in imperial fashion, the governor’s decision to resort to the old fee regime is seen as breath of fresh air. With the reduction, it is expected that the university could now run an uninterrupted academic calendar. An elated LASU Student Union President, Nurudeen Yusuf, commended Fashola for his kind gesture.”Today marks a significant day in the history of Lagos, with this development, we are optimistic that the future of Lagos is great,” he said.

With this development, Governor Fashola had proved that he is a listening leader by wiping out the tears of the LASU students with the total reversal. The beauty of it all is that the gesture is a surprise package. It was unexpected because what the students proposed to the state government was N46,000 but the governor surprised them by reversing the fee back to N25,000.

The governor and the students must be

lie. Agreed that he is the greatest mischief strategist of our time, what about the unceasing relay of third grade rulers after him? We need to address is the causative factors of the country’s leadership problems. Two of the problems are, rigid adherence to skewed federalism and a subtle preference for a particular religion as reflected in the constitution. From Adegoke, O. O, Ikhin, Edo State.

I read your article and was highly moved.

Well, let wait and see what becomes Babangida’s end, am sure he will never go unpunished. More of it and remain blessed.

Anonymous Now that IBB is close to departure lodge he should appeal to Nigerians for forgiveness for all the havoc he did while in power or he should get an acidic book on him titled collected diatribes on the evil genius by Idaewor Rodsimeon. From Akhilomhe Arevhamhe The way Abiola and people like you talks justifies IBB actions, so we should blame Abiola and his likes who use words carelessly, you can not tell me that you will kill me, and expect me to go and sleep without taking any action.

Anonymous Thanks for your piece IBB@73 the disembler at work. Babangida represents political tragedy!

Of a man who could have been great and had every opportunity to be but preferred the perfidious path! Of one who spurned light and embraced darkness. Now full of regret and sorrow.Aware of the sure verdict of history that he bequeathed self aggradizement rather than the greatest good for the greatest number!IBB who may exhibit braggadacio now is sure to enter his grave privately broken and sorry chewing gravel, sand and remorse for what he did to Nigeria! From Boye Leyimu Prof Dare, I have a great respect for you as a good journalist in the country but now is like you have forgotten that, Nigeria of today is at cross road that need our attention. We should not allow old wound to resurface again because it will not do us good. Annulment of June 12 have gone for good in the history of this country which should not be issue at all at this present time. IBB is a human being like us and he has accepted the responsillty of all that transpired during his time. Let us learn how to forget and forgive for the progress of the country. From Hamza Ozi Momoh Apapa Lagos.

I am an avid reader of your column, even from your days at The Guardian. Please where

and how do I get your book ‘Debacle of a Transition’.? God bless u @ 70. Anonymous This is one article that is like a cap that fits appropriately the head of our former maradonic leader who wasted many generations of Nigerians. Thanks. From Banigo.

IBB did well as president,but annullation of free and fair June l2 elections was mistake he made.we wish him happy more years to his age. From Gordon Chika Nnorom.

My brother IBB is a green snake in a green grass, slow poison, a silent killer, a man that is ready to show you a smiling face but inside him he has finish you. God will pay all of us in our own coins.Anonymous Prof Dare how are you today? I read your column of Tue Aug 26 2014 and observed that there were incidents that happened during the Abacha regime that you ascribed to the IBB’s.

The murder of the following: Kudirat Abiola, Pa Alfred Rewane and the jailing of Generals Obasanjo and Shehu M Yar’adua. Please you need to revisit your article in order to put the record straight for posterity. Thanks and God bless. Amen. Anonymous June 12, I think, shuold be better rememberd as part of the nation’s history, if only that succesive governments can learn from that to avoid the repeat of such tragic event in our polity. After the pogrom of 1966 against the Igbos and then the Biafran War, Ojukwu, the symbol of that struggle, came back to reunite with the then NPN of the North, if only to forget that bitter past and forge ahead with a new united Nigeria. Such patriotic concern,one should be right to conclude must have equally inspired the formation of a party like APC peopled largely by the Northerners and their Western counterparts presently. Recapturing the ugly incident of the June 12 so vividly always and in a manner that reopens the wound fresh in our hearts, especially at a time we are all striving so hard to move the nation forward on a common platform in the intrest of all, could create disaffection among the rank and file. Let posterity and history be the better judge of IBB –From Emmanuel Egwu IBB @73- IBB out of power is like a fish out of water. June 12 will sort him out one day. God qualified him but inordinate ambition disqualified him. From O. Abolade

•MKO Abiola For Tunji Adegboyega Whoever said the President has the interest of Nigerians at heart should by now have a rethink.

The whole country is on fire due to his inability to get things right and the hawks around him called TAN are touring the country without minding the consequence. The President should know that Nigerians deserve to be protected because that was what he swore to do. Any President who cannot protect his people does not deserve to be called that name. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos.

What Nigerians should ask INEC is if the ban on campaign has been lifted. Is TAN not violating INEC law? It is very unfortunate and unhealthy; in spite of the situation in the country over Ebola virus and insecurity, the so-called TAN has taken Nigerians for granted and started campaigning without looking inward to consider the situation of things. INEC should ask political parties and other such groups to suspend all political activities till the time the ban is lifted on political campaign, in the interest of Nigerians. TAN should consider the issues on ground, so as not to spread Ebola in the country. Let us be conscious of things we do, after all, Ebola has no known cure yet. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

With over 200 girls snatched from their dormitory beds in the dead of the night yet to be rescued, with Boko Haram successfully capturing a portion of the country and hoisting their flag, with oil thieves firmly established and having a field day in the Niger Delta, with our military making ‘tactical manoeuvering’ when confronted by a rag-tag blood-thirsty bunch, with the country being raped to death on the bed of corruption, with every institution now thoroughly desecrated on the altar of politics, the country has indeed undergone transformation under President Goodluck Jonathan. From Simon Oladapo, Ogbomoso.

Re: From Boko Haram to Ebola, all this Yoruba propaganda will not work. Goodluck is working; The Nation and TVC cannot remove him.

Anonymous.

Fashola’s reversal of LASU fees

By Tayo Ogunbiyi commended for resorting to consultations in seeking the final resolution of the crisis. It is, indeed, heartwarming to note that the students have also shown that they can choose the path of conflict resolution by reaching out to the state government. This is what is expected of leaders of tomorrow. It is particularly pleasing that the governor, in his words, was compelled to revert to the old fees as a result of the current economic situation of the country. This is a reflection of the humane side of the governor and his government.

This is a further evidence of the Lagos State government stance to reposition education in the state. Governor Fashola recently called on stakeholders to fashion out means to reinvent the nation’s higher education to tackle its development challenges. The governor who made this charge at the 64th Foundation Day anniversary of the University of Ibadan, entitled, ‘Framework for reinventing higher education for Nigeria’s national development’, declared that in order to overcome the current challenges confronting the country there is an urgent need to restructure education at all levels.

According to the governor: “In the 21st century, education will remain the most valuable currency that every nation will desire but which no central bank can print. Every nation must decide for herself how much of this currency she requires and set about how to acquire it. In order to agree on a Nigerian

approach, I think we must agree on the purpose of education. For me, it is simply to refine and develop the quality of our human capital, which, is our most valuable resource”. According to him, if the nation defines its roles correctly and identifies its problems properly, it will not be difficult to develop an education framework that will take it to a place of pride.

Being a man that practices what he preaches, the Lagos State government under his leadership is quietly but steadily working hard to improve the quality of education in the state. With particular reference to ongoing development strides at the state owned Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, Lagos, it is quite clear that genuine efforts are on to re-invent tertiary education in the state. Very soon, Lagosians would realise the LASU of our collective dream and aspiration as the government has embarked on a process that would attract the finest intellectual brains in the country to the school as lecturers . Similarly, the state government has renewed efforts to ensure that courses on offer at the institution are accredited by the National University Commission, (NUC). Today, 85% of courses at the school have been accredited by the NUC. Indeed, the LASU School of Transportation , first of its kind in Nigeria, which is a response to contemporary necessity, has been fully accredited by the NUC. Equally, there is a massive infrastructural renewal project on-going at the school. Presently, the Students Arcade, Senate Building, Central Li-

brary, School of Transportation, Faculty of Law Auditorium, School of Management Sciences, LASU International School, among others are at various stages of completion.

Now that the LASU fees issue has been finally resolved, the state government must now concentrate on consolidating on infrastructure upliftment in the institution. Equally, the state government must ensure that no child who seeks education is left behind in the state. It is equally hoped that the management, staff and students of the institution will reciprocate the love and gesture of the state government by ensuring that academic activities run smoothly in the institution.

If indeed, democracy is about the people, this is the time for our leaders to uphold the right concept of power for the good of the society. This is also the time for the followers to ask questions of their leaders. Government does not exercise power, rather, it is the concept of government, upheld by law, which exercises power. Democracy will be endangered, when political power actors assume that they wield power, and not, that power wields them.

According to Mao Tse-tung , the founder of the People’s Republic of China: “Our duty (as leaders of the people) is to hold ourselves responsible to the people. Every word, every act and every policy must conform to the people’s interests, and if mistakes occur, they must be corrected - that is what being responsible to the people means”.

• Ogunbiyi is of features unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net Stories by Taofik Salako

How SMEs can grow, by MTN

By Alvin Afadama

E

NTREPRENEURS over the weekend in Lagos gave tips to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) on how to succeed in business at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island Lagos during the MTN Link Forum.

Speakers were Mr. Olakunle Soriyan, the Principal Transformation Strategist, Olakunle Soriyan Company; Mr. Adetayo Eniibukun, CEO, CleanAce Daycleaness; Maret Zmyslowski, Managing Director, Jovago.com and Mr. Ayo Olashoju, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Tavia Nigeria.

On innovation as a tool for entrepreneurship success, Zmyslowski, who co-founded two online businesses and currently manages Nigeria's biggest online hotel-booking firm, Jovago.com, reiterated the importance of innovation in promoting small and medium scale businesses in Nigeria. He urged budding entrepreneurs to focus on legitimate online business because the internet held an immense power to change the world.

According to him, it is easier to do business in a fresh growing online market, such as Nigeria's, adding that all one needed to do was to look for an idea that has been successful elsewhere and replicate same in here in the country.

"In addition, we need to realise that just having a business idea doesn't give you mush advantage. What matter is the ability to execute the business and build best products," he warned.

Drawing lessons from his business experience, Soriyan, a product development expert, reiterated the importance of knowledge in business. He urged participants to seek knowledge and read relevant materials on the kind of business they run.

NLNG is one of the biggest success stories in our country. From what I am told, the company has invested $13 billion so far since inception, and has become a pacesetter in terms of revenue generation for the government.

-Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga

MTI, Unic, others file for restructuring

A

FTER repeated losses and inability to meet reporting requirements and other post-listing requirements, five quoted firms have opted to restructure their operations and corporate governance structures.

A latest report by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on the status indicated that Mass Telecommunication Innovation (MTI) Plc, Unic Insurance Plc, Beco Petroleum Products Plc, Nigerian German Chemicals and Aluminium Manufacturing Company of Nigeria have filed for restructuring, a general reference to major corporate changes.

The firms struggled with declines in sales and profits and had been variously tagged by the NSE for many corporate governance issues.

The report, obtained by The Nation, indicated that the NSE has already approved the requests for restructuring by the companies.

A source in the know said the approval of the restructuring exercise by the NSE implies that the Exchange would not take further regulatory sanctions on the companies while undergoing the restructuring.

According to the source, the NSE may also consider other incentives and concessions including reduction in the indebtedness of the companies to the Exchange as part of gen-

•To change operating, governance processes

By Taofik Salako

eral debt restructuring measure.

The restructuring exercise excludes the five companies from the list of failing companies already earmarked for compulsory delisting by the Exchange.

According to the procedures at the NSE, restructuring is the last stage before delisting. Ailing companies that fail to provide convincing restructuring plans would be tagged for compulsory delisting by the NSE. Compulsory delisting is a weeding out process usually initiated and undertaken by management of a stock exchange to remove companies adjudged to be irredeemably deficient in corporate governance from its trading platform.

Compulsory delisting is usually the final step in a long process of engagement including demand for compliance reports, issuance of warnings, imposition of fines and sanctions and issuance of notice of delisting. Where a company fails to restructure and adjust its operations to enable it meet post-listing requirements, then the Exchange may indicate delisting process.

The NSE had in late June issued a three-month notice of compulsory delisting to some 18 companies for various corporate governance and post-

listing failures, especially nonrelease of financial reports and accounts for several years. The three-month notice expires this month.

MTI has been embroiled in allegations of financial mismanagement. It recently secured a new lifeline when a new core investor indicated plan to acquire controlling equity stake.

Tingo Mobile, a mobile phone manufacturer, had recently indicated that it had agreed to buy a majority stake in MTI for about N4 billion to develop rural broadband in the country.

Chief Executive Officer, Tingo Mobile, Dozy Mmobuozi, said Tingo would acquire 51 per cent of MTI. According to him, MTI will be rebranded and remain listed on the NSE. "We're using the acquisition to reach out to the mass market," Mmobuozi said. Lagosbased MTI's "assets from base stations to license and goodwill and other things, will help penetrate rural Nigeria."

A January-2014 petition to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by some investors had alleged massive financial and securities fraud at the telecommunication infrastructure company. The petitioners had alleged that former directors of the telecommunication

infrastructure company engaged in fraudulent practices and mismanaged the finances of the company.

The petition, submitted on behalf of the aggrieved shareholders by the law firm of Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors was titled: "Petition Against Five Former Directors of Mass Telecommunication Innovation Plc (MTI Plc) Unlawful Distribution and Utilisation of the Company's Funds Raised from the Capital Market".

According to the petitioners, five former directors of the firm misappropriated funds raised through the private placement and made erroneous and misleading statements to hoodwink the public.

The petition stated that MTI, incorporated in December 2001, had between March and April 2008, after obtaining the consent of the SEC, undertook a private placement to raise funds to implement its business development and expansion programme, improvement in information technology infrastructure, staff development and working capital as stated in the offer document.

According to the petitioners, N5.2 billion was raised through private placement and the firm was converted to a public limited liability company and its shares were listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) after a private placement.

However, the aggrieved in-

FOREX CFA EUR £ $ ¥ SDR RIYAL

-0.2958 -206.9 -242.1 -156 -1.9179 -238 -40.472

vestors alleged that as soon as the funds were released to the board and management, they paid themselves what they tagged "severance pay."

They alleged that each of the five directors took N55 million. However, the directors, including their non-executive colleagues, still remained on the board afterwards.

They alleged that one year after the proceeds of the private placement were received, the firm could not pay salaries and its contracts.

"All the directors continued to collect salaries and allowances.

Non-executive directors were not entitled to salaries. Payment of the severance pay was illegal as it ran contrary to the provisions of the law and the procedure stipulated," the petitioners stated.

They also alleged that the directors might have fraudulently misdirected the investing public through overstatements and understatements of the financial conditions of the company during the issue period.

SON hosts manufacturers, moulders

By Chikodi Okereocha

T

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$117.4/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,396.9/troy Sugar -$163/lb MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE -N11.4 trillion JSE -Z5.112trillion NYSE -$10.84 trillion LSE -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -8% Treasury Bills -10.58%(91d) Maximum lending -30% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -1% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $45b

•CEO,NSE, Oscar Onyema

•Globacom's Chief Commercial Director, Mr. Prabhat Aggarwal (Second left) greeting the Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali when principal officers of the university paid a courtesy call to Globacom's corporate headquarters in Lagos. With them are Globacom's Head of Public Sector, Mr. Tunde Amunikoro (left) and the University of Ilorin's Director Consultancy Services, Prof. Olugbenga Mokuolu.

‘Nigeria needs 7.2b cubic feet of gas for 40,000Mw’

N

IGERIA's power sector's demand for gas needs to move from its present 1.8 billion cubit feet of gas per day (scvf/d) to 7.2 billion scvf/d if the nation intends to achieve 40,000 megawatts of electricity target, the Chief Executive Officer, Seven Energy Limited, Philip Iheanacho has said. Speaking to The Nation, Iheanacho said the development became neces-

Banks, strategise ahead of N1 tr AMCON bonds timeline - P 26

By Akinola Ajibade

sary in view of the fact that the country relies heavily on turbines for its electricity needs.

He said: "However, with key power sector reforms now in place designed to incentivise investment in power generation capacity from the existing 4,000 mega watts to 40,000Mw, demand for gas is expected to grow

from 1.8bcfpd to 7.2bcfpd in 2025."

He said the country's inability to maximise its gas potentials was as a result of infrastructure, adding that the development is affecting companies that use gas for production. With 182 trillion proven gas reserves and 600trillion unproven gas reserves, there is no doubt that the country is one of the largest producers of natural gas

CCNN begins $300m cement plant expansion - P33

in the world.

"However, regulatory, infrastructure and financial constraints prevent the usage of gas optimally," he said, adding that gas is a feedstock used mostly by power generation companies. Arguing that the firms would be idle if they are unable to access the product, he said a stronger and well coordinated public/private partnership scheme would help in developing the potentials in the sector.

HE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is to host a national workshop in Abuja.

Tagged ‘National Stakeholders Forum for Blocks and Allied Products,’ the workshop holds at the National Centre for Women Development, Garki, Abuja. A follow-up to similar event in Ikeja, Lagos last November, the summit will train block molders/related players and provide them operational guides.

Participants are expected from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs.

According to a statement, the workshops are preparatory to SON’s certification process geared to develop informed makers of quality cement products that end-users can depend on.

According to Director Special Duty, SON and chairman of the Organising Committee, Mr. George Okere, the workshop is prelude to certifying block molders nationwide.

“Block is critical input in building. Block molding is not something people jump into without training or guidelines. The fact that one can buy cement, block molds and have some space to play with is not enough. Molders need training, products specifications and codes.

How a blind entrepreneur walked the path to success - P38

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

26

THE NATION

BUSINESS MONEY

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EPOSIT Money Banks (DMBs) are strtegising to reduce the impact of the N1 trillion Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) bonds on their operations.

The bonds, maturing next month, are expected to raise the liquidity level in the market and based on analysts’ assessment, it will impact on interbank rates.

Already, increased government spending ahead of next year’s general elections is taking liquidity pressure on the economy to new heights.

Head of Research, Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan, said the liquidity surge, which set in last month, was foreseen by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, hence, the interest rate was left unchanged at 12 per cent.

“The decision at the last MPC meeting was largely as expected – with all rates kept on hold. While mention was made of the upward

e-mail: money@thenationonlineng.net

Banks strategise ahead of N1tr AMCON bonds’ timeline Stories by Collins Nweze

pressure on inflation, with the CBN stating that it would be monitoring liquidity levels, the committee nonetheless restated the Governor’s goal of lower interest rates in the long-term,” she said.

She said the committee’s position raises key questions around how the CBN might react when liquidity pressures are even more pronounced than they are now.

“An additional AMCON maturity of just less than N1 trillion is expected in October. The political season and pre-election spending are

likely to build-in intensity from September on,” she said, adding that for now, the foreign exchange rate is stable - reflecting continued inflows into Nigeria.

Khan said the macro-prudential measures announced by the CBN, the increased capital requirement for Bureau De Change (BDCs) should help at the margin. But global factors will also be keys – with much pointing to a confluence of greater pressures in the fourth quarter of 2014.

She said while the long-term goal may be lower rates to boost private sector credit, and achieve some

level of policy accommodation in order to ‘support’ the real economy, the way in which the CBN chooses to navigate upcoming challenges will be carefully monitored.

“Maintaining faith in the stability of the foreign exchange rate, even in the face of these challenges, in an environment of low Treasury Bills yields, will be key,” she said.

The MPC met on July 21 and 22 against the backdrop of continuing quantitative tapering by the US Federal Reserve, which has resulted in the slowing of inflows to emerging markets and frontier economies.

The committee noted that the re-

P

• From left: Acting Registrar, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Mr. Seye Awojobi; Managing Director, First Registrars Limited, Mr. Bayo Olugbemi; CIBN President, Mrs. Debola Osibogun; Group Managing Director FirstBank of Nigeria Plc, Bisi Onasanya and Second Vice President, CIBN, Uche Olowu during the institute’s courtesy visit to FirstBank’s Corporate Head Office in Lagos.

Anti-skimming devices on ATMs: CBN monitors banks’ compliance

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is monitoring the im plementation of its direc-tive that banks install anti-skimming devices on their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

Its Director, Banking & Payment System, Dipo Fatokun, said although the compliance level among banks is high, the long-term plan is to achieve total conformity among lenders.

Fatoku, who spoke at CBN meeting in Lagos, said the few lenders that are yet to comply with the directive have sought more time which the CBN is considering because it involves technology upgrade.

“The banks have also seen the need to comply. The few exceptions have told us when they will comply because it is a technology issue, which is beyond the scope of their operators. They are doing it in phases, and for those with large number of ATMs are doing it gradually. The confidence in the use of ATMs is very high at present,” he said.

Fatokun said although the adoption of ATMs by Nigerians as one of the channels of e-payment is laudable, the transactions through the channels needed to be protected.

He said all banks are to comply with the provisions of Section 3.2 ‘ATM Operations’ and 3.4 ‘ATM Security’ of the standards and guidelines of ATM Operations in Nigeria and also install risk mitigating devices on their ATM terminals on or before June 1, 2014.

He said the CBN is committed to ensuring that the deployment and management of ATMs are in line with global best practices. “We have observed with dismay, an upward up-ward increase in ATMs-related fraud in the banking system. The development, he said, does not portend good for the industry and requires urgent steps to curb the abuse,” he said.

The CBN had earlier set up a fiveyear Information Technology (IT) Standards for banks. The CBN said the exercises would help banks identify and adopt global IT Standards that address industry problems. It said banks are expected to implement the plan on continuous basis and in accordance with set timelines with compliance audits billed to begin at the end of first quarter.

Fatokun said the introduction of chip and pin payment cards have led to drastic drop in ATM card fraud. He said the Central Bank and other relevant institutions have been able to reduce card frauds considerably by instituting ATM Fraud Prevention Group and the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF).

The groups are to enable banks to collaboratively share data on fraud attempts and proactively tackle them to reduce losses.

According to him, the CBN instructed banks to set and implement mandatory daily limits for ATM cash withdrawal, while other related transactions, including POS and Web pur-

chases should be subjected to stringent limit as agreed and documented between the banks and customers. He said it is the responsibility of the banks to ensure that a trigger is automatically initiated when limits are exceeded.

According to him, the use of second level authentication for internet transactions was compulsory for all payment cards, stressing that it was the responsibility of the issuer to ensure that transactions emanating from its web merchants are properly scrutinised and operations are permitted only after the second level verification.

bound in global economic activity strengthened in the first half of 2014; although at levels lower than previously projected.

The tapered growth arose mainly from the emerging and developing economies owing to the rising real interest rates and geo-political crisis.

On the whole, the effects of the global financial crisis have continued to wane even as rising income inequality, unemployment and poverty appear to be gaining prominence; engaging the attention of the monetary authorities.

Nigeria, others need $300b for universal access to power

RESIDENT/CEO, African Finance Corporation (AFC), Andrew Alli, has said sub-Saharan Africa would need more than $300 billion in investment to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030.

The governments of Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia and Tanzania are named the “Power Africa Countries” where the investments are expected.

In a statement obtained from the lender’s website, the AFC chief said the bank will provide additional investments in energy projects annually, far in excess of its commitment to the Power Africa initiative.

“AFC aims to provide Power Africa Countries not only access to financial, deal structuring and sector technical expertise, but also advisory services, project development capacity, funding to bridge the power infrastructure investment and access deficit, seen as a critical pillar for economic growth across Africa.”

The AFC, recently participated in the US Presidential Power Africa Initiative meant to accelerate investment in Africa’s power sector over the next five years.

The key goal of the Power Africa Initiative is to increase access to clean, geothermal, hydro, wind and solar energy. It will help African countries develop newly-discovered resources responsibly, build out power generation and transmission, and expand the reach of mini-grid and off-grid solutions, by providing the capacity and resources to generate an additional 10,000MW of power.

The President Obama Power Africa Initiative, coordinated by USAID, is a multi-stakeholder partnership between the United States Government, the US Agency for Interna-

tional Development (USAID); Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC); the US. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im); The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC); US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA); US – Africa Clean Energy Finance Initiative (US-ACEF); The US African Development Foundation (USADF), and the Governments of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania (“Power Africa Countries”) and the private sector.

AFC, a multilateral finance institution, was established in 2007 with an initial capital base of $1.0 billion, to be a catalyst for private sector infrastructure investment across Africa. It was established to help fill a critical void in providing project structuring expertise and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs, and is increasingly being seen as the benchmark institution for private sector investment in the core infrastructure sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications.

The lender said it would invest over $250 million in the power sectors of Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, whilst catalysing a further $1 billion in additional investments in sub-Saharan Africa energy projects.

The AFC USAID partnership under the Presidential Power Africa Initiative will mobilise the resources, tools and combined commitment of the US Government, the six partner governments, and the private sector in a coordinated regional effort to assist governments and investors by accelerating the financial close of power transactions, stimulate new investment, and help build the regulatory, economic and policy foundation to meet Africa’s increasing demand for electricity.

Bank customers urge regulators on financial objectives in order to be able to exHE Bank Customers Associaliteracy tend its services to the nooks and tion of Nigeria (BCAN) has

T

urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to facilitate the realisation of CBN’s financial literacy/inclusion objective, as well as inculcating appropriate banking habits and culture among the populace.

A statement from the group stressed its commitment to rallying customers and consumers for the promotion and protection of their interest in the face of daunting challenges against them.

The body said banking should be conducted based on acceptable values and best practices, adding that it would intensify efforts at foster-

ing mutual understanding, trust and confidence between banks and their customers through education, so as to strengthen and ensure the realisation of CBN’s financial literacy/inclusion and other programmes.

“The BCAN should also organise awareness programmes in the areas of Guide to Bank Charges, Financial Literacy and Inclusion as well as Banking Policies, Regulations, Products/Services for the benefit of consumers in particular and stakeholders in general. The group should also collaborate and partner with organisations and individuals who share its vision and

crannies of Nigeria, for positive multiplier effect,” it said.

Continuing, the group said that henceforth, it would create sustainable platform for the provision of advisory and counseling services in banking and finance to its members and the interested public in order to deepen their knowledge and ability to make the right financial decisions and choices.

The group would also work closely with the regulatory and supervisory authorities to ensure that banks are held accountable for any unethical, unprofessional and risky products, services and practices they introduce into the financial system and to customers/consumers.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

MONEY Banks which adhere to transparent and efficient reporting standards and improve risk management structure, will be rewarded with higher returns on investment. COLLINS NWEZE writes on steps taken by banks to achieve enhanced and sustainable reporting standards amid declining earnings.

How reporting standards can enhance I banks’ profitability

N recent times, banks’ profits have come under intense pressure due, mainly, to tight regulatory policies. But there is reprieve around the corner. The solution, many analysts said, lies in their ability to adopt improved reporting standards.

The practice, the proponents said, remains a condition for them to achieve higher profitability, and ensure responsible as well as sustainable business practices.

Such acts are expected to enhance banks’ overall risk management, reduce cost of operations, create more avenues for fresh capital inflows and ability to attract and retain talents.

Although the lenders are facing tougher regulatory environment based on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commitment to corporate governance and accountability, the easiest way to meet regulatory expectations remains, largely, adopting and implementing sound reporting standards. Some of the lenders’ second quarter results showed that the regulatory headwind is impacting negatively on their profitability.

For instance, the half-year ended June 30 result of Skye Bank indicated that its Profit Before Tax (PBT) dropped to N7.266 billion as against N10.545 billion during the corresponding period in 2013.

Profit After Tax (PAT) also decreased to N5.786 billion as against N8.428 billion the previous year.

For Fidelity Bank Plc, the PBT dropped by 16 per cent from N11.2 billion to N9.43 billion. Total customer deposits also declined by five per cent to N766 billion.

GTBank recorded a 6.92 per cent drop in PBT to N53.40 billion, compared with N57.36 billion last year June, while PAT stood at N44.01 billion, lower than N49.01 billion in June 2013.

Although UBA Plc got 8.7 per cent increase in gross earnings from N127.25 billion in 2013 to N138.32 billion this year, its profit before tax dropped by 13.1 per cent to N28.89 billion, compared with N33.25 billion in 2013.

FirstBank of Nigeria’s result showed that PBT dropped by 12 per cent to N48.25 billion against N54.81 billion recorded in same period of last year. Likewise, PAT declined by 19.4 per cent to N37.18 billion from N46.1 billion in 2013.

Speaking at the G4 Sustainability Reporting Guideline Training Workshop recently held in Lagos, Access Bank Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe said for a business to be truly sustainable, it must maintain not only the necessary environmental resources, but also its social resources, including employees, customers (the community), sound reporting standards and its reputation.

He said Access Bank has been collaborating with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Focal Point South Africa, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, (SIDA) and Thistle Praxis on sustainability capacity building workshop in the country.

He said the workshop was designed to provide participants with requisite knowledge of sustainability reporting, help them manage the reporting process and benefit from the transparency of adopting such standards.

“Additionally, the programme provides a strategic opportunity for advancing the shared mission of mainstreaming sustainability reporting into business practices Nigeria and Africa as well as enhancing the presence of the Global Reporting Initiative in Nigeria at the national and regional levels,” he said.

Wigwe who was represented by the bank’s Chief Risk Officer, Gregory Jobome, said sustainability and responsible business practices are important to the bank and consistent with its vision, in championing and supporting such initiatives across Africa.

Access Bank had in the past, organised several workshops and conferences, notable amongst which are the Nigerian Sustainability Banking Principles (NSBP) Steering Committee Meeting in partnership with IFC and Access Conference 2013 where global leaders deliberated on the theme “Embracing Sustainable Leadership.

“These corporate actions are a testimony to the bank’s sustained efforts at nation building and support for the Nigerian financial services sector in achieving a seamless integration of sustainable business practices into the core of its business operations,” Wigwe said.

Head, GRI Focal Point South Africa, Doug-

to foster a holistic implementation of the NSBP by encouraging knowledge and experience sharing amongst industry players and other international organisations like the IFC and Sustainable Finance Limited.”

He explained that the bank’s objective as the Chair of the NSBP Steering Committee, and Co-host of the event was to encourage practices that would aid the actualisation of the objective of the committee in ensuring the successful implementation of the Nigeria Sustainable Banking Principles across Nigeria’s financial institutions.

Jobome added that the NSBP was developed by and for the banking sector in Nigeria to signal the industry’s commitment to economic growth that is environmentally responsible and socially relevant, noting that the bank has successfully embedded sustainability into the core of its operations by initiating capacity development of its employees. This, he said would ensure that all staff understand what sustainability means.

Regulatory backing • UBA CEO Phillips Oduoza

• Skye Bank CEO Timothy Oguntayo

The CBN and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) have provided regulatory support and framework for the sustainable banking practice in the country.

The CBN and NDIC want banks to shift focus from profitability alone and consider also other issues around sustainability, before lending.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), through its UNEP Financial Initiative on the Environment and Sustainable Development at the Earth Summit in 1992, placed it as pertinent concern for financial systems across the world.

It said sustainable banking in Nigeria, therefore, is focused on energising the influence of the banking sector (being financier of economic and social activities) towards transforming the longer term interest of environmental preservation and societal balancing into key parameters for allocation of capital.

Oil sector funding • GTB CEO Segun Agbaje

• Fidelity Bank CEO Nnamdi Okonkwo

las Kativu, encouraged Nigeria banks and government agencies to improve on the standard, in the practice of sustainability reporting, given the size and relevance of the country to global economy.

These have prompted campaigns that the global community should consistently review business decisions and their environmental impact to make the earth truly sustainable in the long term.

Chief Executive Officer, Thistle Praxis Consulting, Ms. Ini Onuk, said the workshop was able to improve participants’ capacity to present sustainability reports in a manner that demonstrates linkages between strategies and commitment to sustainable global economy.

This, she said, would help organisations measure, understand and communicate their economic, environmental, social and governance performance accurately, the world will become more accountable.

in the SADC region.

It is also committed to building and strengthening sustainability performance and reporting capacity as well as shaping the reporting environment by influencing public policy and market initiatives.

Also, the SIDA is a government organisation under the Swedish Foreign Ministry that administers almost half of Sweden’s budget for development aid while the ThistlePraxis Consulting is a Strategy and Assessment Management Consulting firm that assists organisations of all sizes and in all sectors through the delivery of innovative solutions from effective strategies.

Stakeholders’ roles The GRI Focal Point South Africa, works to promote the importance of transparency for markets and better knowledge of sustainability reporting (SR) in key target markets on the African continent, as well as

IFC partnership Access Bank Plc, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other signatories of the NSBP last year advocated a holistic implementation of the policy in order to contribute to the development of the economy.

The stakeholders noted the need to encourage knowledge and experience sharing among industry players and other international organisations if the objective of the NSBP would be achieved.

According to the Chairman of the committee, Jobome “the conference was convened

‘Although the lenders are facing tougher regulatory environment based on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) commitment to corporate governance and accountability, the easiest way to meet regulatory expectations remains, largely, adopting and implementing sound reporting standards. Some of the lenders’ second quarter results showed that the regulatory headwind is impacting negatively on their profitability’

The CBN said if the oil companies that degrade the environment and their cohorts in other sectors are starved of funds from both local and international banks, they will have no choice than to comply.

It called for an urgent need for a policy ensuring that people who do not carry on their businesses in environmentally unfriendly manner and get away with it. It said the agenda would be presented to the Bankers’ Committee to agree on the way it can be realised. The reason is that as an industry, banks cannot continue to take savings and deposits from Nigerians and then, lend to companies that are destroying the environment.

“Why must Nigeria bring multinational oil companies to destroy our environment? How do we feel about it? They can get the funds and still use it in a responsible manner. I want to see more banks coming to identify with issues of sustainability and protection of the environment,” it said.

It said banks should not just look at profitability of lending decisions, but should also consider contributions of the borrower to the environment.

The apex bank however, admitted that such might be an uphill task in a highly competitive banking sector ‘where dog eats dog’. “How can banks do that when they are competing for accounts? Banks should stop looking at size of balance sheet but on how to build sustainable finance,” it said.

For the regulator, competition in the sector has drastically risen, compared with what was obtainable in the 80s. It therefore admitted that the policy may be stalled by banks not wanting to lose businesses to competitors that care less about the environment, where a borrower has not adhered to set standards.

Besides, the global environmental impact of businesses, which are largely financed by the banking industry, suggests that the sector has not given adequate attention to environmental impact of their funding activities. It said the tendency to view banking as an environment friendly business is commonplace as it seemed, on the surface, not to be harming the environment and society directly.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

THE NATION INVESTORS

‘Equities may decline further as investors weigh options’

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IGERIAN equities may decline further this month to wrap up the losing streak in the third quarter as investors weigh options between attractive and stable returns from fixed income securities and the bargain deals created by low prices in the equities’ market.

Against the backdrop of the mounting losses in the past two months, market pundits said they expected the market to remain largely negative, though low prices may excite investors’ appetite and stimulate subtle rallies.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had lost N186 billion in capital gains in August, N58 billion more than N128 billion lost in July. Average loss in August stood at 1.34 per cent compared with average loss of 0.91 per cent recorded in July.

Market analysts said they expected the

Stories by Taofik Salako

market performance to be further tempered by the increasingly anxious political climate, low corporate earnings and investors’ need for cash to meet periodic expenditures, especially school fees.

Head, research and investment advisory, Sterling Capital Markets Limited, Mr. Sewa Wusu, said the market would likely witness another reversal this month.

According to him, a major limiting factor which may induce a tepid market mood will be the political climate as preparations for the 2015 general elections commence in earnest. This will most likely increase the political risk rating of the country with potential caution on the part of foreign portfolio investors in their quest for equity investments.

Deposit insurers plan new guidelines

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HE International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) is preparing new guidelines on deposit insurance as it launches public consultation for its “Revised Core Principles for Effective Deposit Insurance Systems”, which will be known as core principles.

The revised core principles are expected to be finalized by the end of 2014.

In 2013, IADI established an internal Steering Committee to review and update the core principles and develop a set of proposed revisions. As part of its review mandate, the committee took into account the experience gained in using the core principles for jurisdiction self-assessments and significant developments in the regulatory landscape such as the development of the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

It also considered key attributes of effective resolution regimes; and enhanced guidance developed by IADI to address recommendations resulting from the FSB Thematic Review on Deposit Insurance.

The IADI Steering Committee had presented its proposal to a Joint Working Group (JWG) comprised of IADI’s international partners including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Forum of Deposit Insurers, Financial Stability Board, European Commission, and Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The JWG used that proposal as a starting point to develop the final revised core principles.

President, International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI), Jerzy Pruski, who doubles as president of the management board, Bank Guarantee Fund of Poland

noted that the revised version is a product of outstanding collaboration among our international partners and seeks to achieve the right balance between raising the bar for more effective deposit insurance systems and retaining the core principles as a flexible, internationally applicable standard.

The global financial crisis of 200709 brought to light significant policy lessons for deposit insurance systems. These lessons have important implications for the Core Principles, originally released in 2009, and have provided the context for revisions.

He, however, noted that the sustained downtrend in recent months had created attractive opportunities for investors to build up their portfolios ahead of expected rallies in the next cycle.

“Risk tolerant investors will most likely begin to take strategic positions for the new month, given the current low and attractive market valuations. We think a buyers’ market exist for such investors with long-term horizon. Technically, the overall market index is currently within the oversold region, while most equities are trading at their lows,” Wusu said.

Group head, research, Lead Capital Plc, Mr. Sadiq Waziri, said the returns in the fixed-income market would continue to motivate flight to money market and debt instruments.

According to him, with the creeping inflation experienced in the past four months, it is unlikely that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would reduce the benchmark interest rates before the 2015 general elections.

“Outlook for the secondary market in the third quarter appears mixed. Returns in the fixed income market would continue to attract institutional investors.

However, good corporate results for the third quarter may likely excite the market and attract investors that may be exiting,” Waziri said.

In a sector-by-sector review for the month, Waziri noted that the performance of the banking sector would remain low as banks’ corporate earnings are expected to fall below expectations.

According to him, notwithstanding the reintroduction of withdrawal charges at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs),

banks’ third quarter earnings would remain tepid due to regulatory headwinds.

He added that investors would be beaming their searchlights on Oando and Seplat Petroleum Development Company to see future growth prospects.

Waziri noted that the consumer goods companies traditionally have always performed stronger in the second half of the year as their cost of sales are usually lower as inputs that is locally produced raw material becomes cheaper as a result of harvesting season.

“Performance would most likely remain flat. Individual companies that are able to tackle cost of production, particularly power would likely show signs of improvement,” Waziri said on the prospects for the industrial goods sector.

He pointed out that the insurance sector would likely remain on the downside as there are no new drivers to stimulate concerted rallies in the sector.

Many analysts expected the market to make marginal full-year return of a single digit in 2014. For the second consecutive month, Nigerian equities had continued on the downtrend in August as investors further readjusted their portfolios on the heels of lower-than-expected earnings and increased macroeconomic risks.

Aggregate market value of all quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed August at N13.714 trillion as against the month’s opening value of N13.900 trillion. The composite index for the stock market, the All Share Index (ASI), which also doubles as Nigeria’s country index, declined from the month’s opening index of 42,097.46 points to close weekend at 41,532.31 points.

The continuing downtrend reduced the average year-to-date gain of investors so far this year to N488 billion by the end of August compared with N674 billion in July and N802 billion in June. Indexed, average year-to-date return dwindled to 0.49 per cent, down from 1.86 per cent and 2.79 per cent in July and June respectively.

Sectoral analysis of the pricing trend showed that the negative overall market situation in August was driven by widespread declines in share prices. With the exception of the oil and gas sector, all the group indices of the NSE declined during the period. The NSE 30 Index, which tracks the 30 most capitalised stocks at the stock market, declined by 1.61 per cent in August. The NSE Banking Index recorded average monthon-month return of -1.10 per cent while NSE Insurance Index underlined average loss of 2.18 per cent during the period. The NSE Consumer Goods Index depreciated by 2.85 per cent while NSE Industrial Goods Index indicated average return of -1.25 per cent. Meanwhile, the NSE Oil and Gas Index played the contrarian game with average gain of 2.27 per cent.

The same scenario almost described the performance of the indices over the eight-month period. The NSE 30 Index showed eight-month return of -0.87 per cent while banking, insurance and consumer goods lost 4.28 per cent, 5.44 per cent and 6.58 per cent respectively. The oil and gas sector retained a mouthwatering gain of 41.37 per cent while industrial goods stocks recorded modest gain of 5.21 per cent over the eight-month period.

•From left: Portfolio Executive, Broll Property Services Limited, Mr. Yinka Omotosho; Managing Director, Propertygate Development & Investment Plc, Mr. Adetokunbo Ajayi; and Managing Partner Ayo Adejumo and Co, Mr. Ayo Adejumo, during Propertygate's 2nd bi-annual breakfast meeting in Lagos

Transcorp Hotels plans N8b IPO, eyes listing

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RANSCORP Hotels Plc, the owners of the prestigious Transcorp Hiltons Hotel, Abuja, plans to float an initial public offering of N8 billion and subsequently list its shares as a separate entity on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), according to sources in the know of the plan.

Transcorp Hotels Plc is a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) Plc, a quoted conglomerate with interests in agriculture, hotel and tourism, oil and gas and power. Transcorp's share price rose by 5.41 per cent on Monday at the NSE to close at N6.43 per share.

According to the plan, Transcorp Hotels would issue 800 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at a price of N10 per share, pricing its IPO higher than the market value of its parent company.

Transcorp holds 88 per cent majority equity stake in Transcorp Hotels through Capital Leisure and Hospitality Limited. The remain-

ing 12 per cent is owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The net proceeds of the IPO, according to sources, would be used to finance the expansion plan of the hotel and tourism company as well as support its balance sheet.

Transcorp had recently signed a new deal with Hilton Worldwide to build a new premier hotel in the up-market suburb of Ikoyi, Lagos.

The proposed Transcorp Hilton Lagos, a full service, 350-room hotel on Glover Road, Ikoyi, will be the Hilton Group's second hotel in Nigeria by Transcorp, following the award-winning Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja, which is one of the leaders in Hilton's global network. The new hotel will be jointly owned by Transnational Hotels and Tourism Services Ltd, a hospitality subsidiary of Transcorp and Tony Elumelu's Heirs Holdings.

Heirs Holdings holds the majority stake in Transcorp.

Speaking at the official signing of

the management contract at Heirs Holdings' office in Lagos, Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu said the agreement marked another milestone in the long-standing partnership with Hilton Worldwide.

According to him, the Ikoyi development, along with the extensive refurbishment and upgrade of the group's existing hotels in Calabar and Abuja, demonstrates Heirs Holdings' commitment to driving growth in real estate and hospitality, a strategic sector for Nigeria's economic development.

"The new Transcorp Hilton Lagos will not only present an additional world-class venue for the increasing numbers of investors, businessmen and tourists to Nigeria, but is creating much-needed jobs for our citizens, enabling their social and economic development," Elumelu said.

Transcorp plans to draw on the growing profiles of its subsidiaries to consolidate its improving fun-

damentals. Interim report and accounts of Transcorp for the sixmonth period ended June 30, 2014 had shown that turnover rose by 177 per cent while group operating profit and pre-tax profit jumped by 145 per cent and 122 per cent respectively.

The report showed that turnover doubled to N21.2 billion in June 2014 as against N7.67 billion recorded in comparable period of 2013. Gross profit rose from N5.99 billion in first half 2013 to N14.96 billion in first half 2014. Operating profit for half year 2014 was N9.75 billion as against N3.99 billion in comparable period of 2013. Group profit before tax doubled to N8.02 billion in 2014 compared with N3.61 billion in corresponding period of 2013. After taxes, net profit rose from N2.48 billion in 2013 to N6.89 billion in 2014.

The improved bottom-line underlined stronger returns with earnings per share rising from 5.53 kobo to 11.30 kobo. Transcorp paid

a dividend per share of 5.0 kobo for the 2013 business year, its first dividend since inception.

Elumelu had noted that the principal cause of asset growth for the group and company was its acquisition of the Ugheli Power Plant, Nigeria's largest generating facility and where its influence has already seen a doubling of capacity.

"I believe that we will build on the solid foundation laid over the last couple of years to begin an era of steady and increasing dividend payment to our shareholders," Elumelu said.

He noted that following Transcorp's takeover of the Ugheli power plant, power output has more than doubled at the plant from 160 megawatts on handover date to 360 megawatts currently pointing out that the goal of the new board is to increase output at the plant to 700 megawatts by December 2014 by embarking on an extensive rehabilitation programme.

Newspaper of the Year

INSIDE

AN EIGHT-PAGE PULLOUT ON THE SOUTHWEST STATES

How police sergeant, colleagues ‘robbed’ this man of N.28m PAGE 31

500 benefits from 2nd phase of Ogun empowerment programme PAGES 34

Inside Sadela’s A Gospel Apostolic Church

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

PAGE 29

How power surge rendered families homeless in Ekiti PAGE 36

He was reputed to be the oldest gospel preacher in the world, with a career lasting 82 years. When he died on August 24,, on the eve of his 114th birthday, Reverend Akinbode Sadela, founder of the Gospel Apostolic Church, was said to be the oldest living Nigerian.

When The Nation visited the church 48 hours after he passed on, it was business as usual. SEUN AKIOYE writes on why Sadela’s death was kept away from the congregation and profiles the rise of the man of God from a houseboy and tax collector to one of the greatest preachers of the gospel.

T 5:30pm on August 26, a special revival began with a prayer session at the Gospel Apostolic Church, Sholuyi Gbadaga in Lagos. An elder, who led the session, seemed well tuned with his duty as he urged the congregation in spo-

radic prayers for blessings during the revival.

The church, founded by Reverend Akinbode Sadela, is a conservative Christian group, not given to the pomp and extravagance of modern pentecostalism. The building itself

•How a houseboy became world’s oldest gospel preacher

•The late Rev Sadela

was designed to accommodate the separate sitting of the male and female congregation. An altar looked directly over the congregation with a large sitting area behind it. The elders and the choir shared this •Continued on page 30

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

30

SOUTHWEST REPORT

Inside Sadela’s Gospel Apostolic Church “Baba was a very loyal follower of Jesus who had a passion for soul winning which is the core of his ministry. He told us to go into the city and win souls for Jesus,” Pastor Adebola Onadeko, the head of Legal department at the GAC told The Nation.

Over eight decades of his minis-

try, Sadela’s message did not change, it remained: “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” This was evident in the way his ministry has evolved over the years in spite of the

,

Continued from page 29

space.

It was the beginning of a three-day revival to mark the anniversary of the 82nd year of the ministry of the founder. Rev. Sadela was a remarkable man of God who had been instrumental to almost all the Christian revivals witnessed in the country. Born in 1900, he qualified as Nigeria’s oldest living person at the age of 113 years. Out of this, he had put an amazing 82 years into the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As the service progressed, prayers were said for his life and ministry, speakers drew lessons from his long life and more songs and prayers followed. But Rev. Sadela himself was conspicuously absent at the service. On the altar, three distinguished looking chairs occupied the centre stage, two elders had taken the seats to the right and left but the center chair belonging to Sadela was unoccupied.

Unknown to many members of the church who attended that evening service, their revered pastor and founder had died about 48 hours before at a private ward in Sacred Heart Hospital, Abeokuta. It was a secret well kept by the family and church leadership from the public and media. It was a covert operation which ensured all leaks were blocked and information secured.

The one they called Aboyinbode In pre-colonial Nigeria it was unusual for dates of birth to be recorded unless such coincided with a major event. That was the case for Sadela who was recorded to have been born on the last Saturday in •S ad ela an d wi fe August in 1900 at Ifon, Ondo state. His father, Chief Olomonehin Sadela was of the Imoru clan and a staunch idol worshipper.

His mother, a princess, was from the Amougba Ruling House in Ifon.

Sadela’s birth coincided with the arrival of the British District Officer in Ifon, so was fondly referred to as “A ba Oyinbo de” or simply “Abooyinbo de” (The one who came with the white man). But despite his pagan ancestry, it seemed Sadela was destined for a higher calling in the vineyard of God. According to the man himself, he began to read the Bible as a toddler, being taught to read by the angels of God. Being the last of 12 children, he was greatly pampered and his parents were not willing to send him to school. Desirous of education, he took the next possible step. “My parents didn’t want to send me to school but I decided to run away,” he said.

Sadela finally got his wish and began his •H is m od es t primary education at the St. Paul’s Anglican living room Primary School Ifon but the lure for gold prompted him to abandon his education for Sapele in the present Delta state where he became a houseboy to Captain Pullen, the British District Officer. He also served Captain Balmour and Gavin as house help. But in 1918, he went back to home and finally completed his primary education in 1920. Many years later in 1946, he passed the Senior Cambridge and later London University Matriculation in 1949. He studied Law at the Woolshall College London by correspondence and was heading to Law School before his educational pursuit was ironically cut short by the call of God. A lifelong Ministry Inside the modest compound which housed the headquarters of the Gospel Apostolic Church in Gbagada, activities began to pick up five days after the death of Rev. Sadela. A condolence register had been opened since Monday and many church members had expressed their gratitude to a man who had been their pastor, most of their lives.

In the small bookshop, a gospel hymn blared out given sonorous yet soulful tunes, although unintended, the hymn captured an atmosphere of grief which indicated the departure of a beloved one. More than four hundred sympathizers had registered their condolences with words of appreciation and thanksgiving more than words of grief and sorrow.

Sadela’s encounter with God began in 1928 as a tax collector. It was a time of great revival in Nigeria with men of God like Moses Orimolade, the founder of Cherubim and Seraphim church. It was also the time of the great evangelist Apostle Ayo Babalola with a reputation for the performance of unbelievable miracles. Sadela like Matthew the tax collector met Orimolade in 1928, who prayed for him and predicted he would become a great man of God. In 1931, he met Babalola at Oke-Oye Ilesa. Babalola would later prove to become his leader and mentor. He was baptized by immersion the same year; he had answered the call of God. Between 1932 and 1937, he served faithfully as a part-time pastor with the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) founded by Babalola and helped to plant many of the church branches. In 1937, he was ordained as a full time pastor.

Being a close associate of the renowned evangelist, Sadela traveled most part of South West Nigeria with Babalola. He lived with him and partook of his travails also fasting 40 days and night together. It would be correct to say he helped plant the CAC in Nigeria.

Two weeks before the death of Babalola in 1959, he reportedly instructed Sadela to establish a church which will have the word “Apostolic” in the middle. In 1972, that instruction was carried out with the establishment of the Gospel Apostolic Church (GAC) which now has about 180 branches in Nigeria and overseas.

The Gospel according to Sadela Many gospel pundits believe that Sadela inherited the mantle of Ayo Babalola. His GAC was fashioned after the doctrine dominant in the CAC. Also like his mentor, he was a conservative who frowned at excessive emphasis on wealth and materialism at the expense of the gospel.

Baba said God has not called him to acquire properties but to preach the gospel; he stayed true to his calling. He did not own a single house anywhere.

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threat of Pentecostalism. It is also evident in the way he has lived his creed.

One may be forgiven to imagine that a ministry that long and prosper-

ous would automatically confer on the founder a lifestyle of luxury. Far from Sadela, he lived simple in a humble flat. “Baba said God has not called him to acquire properties but to preach the gospel, he stayed true to his calling. He did not own a single house anywhere,” a pastor in the church volunteered.

For many years, where Sadela called home is a tiny flat inside the modest compound of the GAC. The building was called the mission house which is available for anyone who is the leader of the ministry. The flat has a living room and an ante room; the two are relatively small and cannot contain more than 10 people at a time. But it was well furnished with comfortable chairs for Sadela and his visitors. In his ante room, many of his awards hung on the wall and his living room boasts of framed pictures which tell the story of his life.

A troubled marriage For a man committed to the work of God for so long, one would think he would be immune from the travails and problems of ordinary mortals. But Sadela has experienced one of the most bitter marriages ever known to man. At the age of 34 years, he got married to his first wife.

The marriage lasted 21 unhappy years as the seven children from that marriage all died at infancy.

“When the seventh child was sick, I was crying to God for 22 days. Eventually, the child died and I wanted to know why not one of the children survived,” Sadela said during his 107th birthday anniversary.

He consulted with his mentor, Ayo Babalola and it was revealed through prayers that his wife was killing her own children through witchcraft. “She later ran away and confessed to the killing of her children through witchcraft, she died after the confession,” Sadela said.

For the next ten years, the preacher avoided women, he was too bruised and hurt to attempt another shot at marriage. This has also raised questions about his credentials as a man of God who did not know his wife was a witch. “My answer is very simple, no man is omniscient. God always reveal only what He wanted to reveal to His servants, that is why He is God.” Sadela’s resolve of abstinence lasted till 1965 when he married Madam Juliana Ajisomo Sadela. The marriage had four children with two surviving and in leadership positions in GAC. Juliana died in 2001 after a brief illness. The stage was then set for one of the most outstanding marriages in Nigeria.

In 2007, Sadela married Christiana, a lady of 31 years who had never been married before. This was an extraordinary event which drew the flanks of some Christian leaders. Sadela would have none of it, claiming that it was a direct order from God. “After a brief search, she met the description revealed

by God. The dowry was paid and following the directives of the Holy Spirit, the joining was done like the marriage in the Garden of Eden.”

Sadela believed it was a reenactment of the Bible days: “ If Seth the son of Adam married at the age of 105 and in this our own time a marriage is consummated between a 107 year old man and a young woman of 31 years, then the Bible days are indeed here again,” he said.

The signs of death In a press release to the media, the spokesperson of the church, Pastor Daisi Olisa said the church was not taken by surprise by the death of whom they called “ our oracle of God” therefore they would not mourn but celebrate the death of Sadela.

Many members of the church confessed that the late preacher had given warning signs to them before his eventual departure early on that Sunday morning, August 24, 2014. A parishioner remembered that penultimate Sunday, Sadela had done something unusual. “Baba was about to end the service when he suddenly told us to start praying for whatever we need. We didn’t understand it then that he was saying goodbye to us.”

Onadeko has a more pointed example. “Baba had warned us before now, he had prepared out minds. He said if you are a man of God, you will see Jesus before you go. So we are not mourning, but celebrating because he had told us before now,” he said.

The incidence that led to the death of Sadela was not slow in coming. He had taken ill-which is expected at his age- and had gone for his medical checkup at the Sacred Heart Hospital, Lantoro Abeokuta. “On Sunday morning, at 4:30 am, he had taken his bath and dressed up. He then said he wanted to rest and he put his head on one of the church leaders and he died,” an insider told The Nation.

But why did the church keep his death a secret for two days. One of the leaders replied: “It was a Sunday morning and if we had announced on that day it would have disrupted a lot of things. Also the revival was due to start the next day. Baba had also said we should never allow our grief to overshadow the work of God. Even when his wife died on a Sunday morning, he still preached in the church that day, that was why we didn’t announce it.”

Throughout the service of August 26, no reference was made to the fact of Sadela’s death. A condolence register which was opened during the service was closed. As the congregation danced and sang the information of his death possessed only by a few was kept away from them. But at the end of the service, the announcement was made. It generated emotions initially, then a resignation which collapsed into gratitude. Onadeko was right, Sadela’s congregation were thankful and not mournful.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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SOUTHWEST REPORT

How police sergeant, colleagues ‘robbed’ this man of N.28m Like a scene out of a gangster movie, a man Dr Babatunde Oloyede has been ‘robbed’ of the sum of N280,000 by a team of policemen led by a sergeant, who had arrested him under the flyover bridge at Ojuelegba, Lagos on allegation of committing crime. Asst. Editor, SINA FADARE reports.

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•Oloyede

ARCH 18, 2014 is a day Dr Babatunde Oloyede a Nigerian work- frustrate me and my life will be ing as an expatriate in Costa Rica will remember for the rest of wasted because this is the business his life. It was the day a team from the Nigeria Police accosted they are doing for a living.” he said him under the flyover bridge at Ojuelegba in Lagos and ‘robbed’ him at Oloyede trauma did not end gunpoint of the sum of N280,000. there; he later reported the case It was a day that began on a promising note but ended to a non Governmental badly when he was rough handled by a man who he Organisation, ‘Citizen initially thought was a hoodlum but later identified Right Empoweras Sergeant Eshue Augustine with police no 247516. ment Initiative’ Oloyede who had just returned from Costa who advised Rica where he was residing with his family and him to contact was going to the church on this faithful day a lawyer and was shocked that he could be accused of bethen report ing a criminal by Augustine in broad day the case to light even when nothing incriminating was police aufound on him. Sergeant Augustine later thority. dragged him to his other colleagues seatT h r e e ed in a yellow painted commercial bus days after parked somewhere under the bridge. the inciAccording to Oloyede in a petition to dent he the police and a human rights advocacy reported group, ‘Citizen Right Empowerment Inthe case itiative’, alleged that Augustine with his to the IG other colleagues Stg. Mohammed Yamonitorhaya with police no 356567, not only ing team threatened to send him to Kirikiri prisat Kam ons, but said they are ready to set him free Salem, if he could part away with N500,000.

House, “I thought l was in the hand of armed Obalende robbers because Augustine who first accostwhere Sued me was in mufti, until l was dragged to perintendthe Danfo bus where a driver was permanentent Gbenga ly on the wheel and was asked to drive me to attended to Kirikiri if l did not cooperate with them. I was him.

•Suleiman scared with the way they were cocking their guns Gbenga eventuAbba, Acting as another police officer who put on a pull over to ally caught AugusIGP cover his identity also came over to tell me that the best tine and his cohorts in way for me was to cooperate because l may not get to Kithe act at Ojuelegba when rikiri before my life would be terminated. This forced me to they wanted to ‘rob’ another vicagree to play ball. tim, a manager with Nigeria Foot“At this point my wallet was thoroughly searched by Augustine who ball Federation, NFF; Gbenga infound nothing inside apart from my Bible, cheque book and documents tervened and took all of them to relating to my family. When he saw these documents he was enraged, Obalende. He later confirmed that shouting that they are forged documents and that if the I.G monitoring they are not armed robbers as he team should see me, l may spend 24 years behind bars and that there initially envisaged. It was at Obalis no lawyer that can bail me out of this crisis unless l cooperated with ende that the case was officially rehim,” he lamented ported to the Provost Marshall.

At this point, Oloyede’s two phones had been confiscated and he was ‘After interrogation and Augusled to the nearest ATM to collect the said amount but he resisted, insist- tine who initially denied ever seeing that he cannot give them the half a million being demanded for ing me before now confessed that because the money in his account was intended to be used for his ticket he actually searched me but vehemently denied that he collected any back to his base in Costa Rica. money from me. Later after we left their office he charged at me that Augustine was more enraged and he later introduced Yahaya as a since he had warned me not to report the case and I was proving too police commissioner who can determine his case and fate and that the stubborn, he will tell me that nothing will come out of the investigation ealier he cooperated with him the better it would be. and l am going to be the loser because he will terminate my life, no “At this point l told them that l can only withdraw N280, 000 from my matter the involvement of any lawyer and that if l like l should engage account and that this could only be done across the counter. They forced the service of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN)” me into the Danfo vehicle and the driver who must have been working As predicted by Stg. Augustine, nothing came out of the Provost Marfor them did not utter a word, he was told to drive to the nearest Guar- shal’s office as all of them decided to frustrate Oloyede by blaming him antee Trust Bank, GTB at Bode Thomas, Oba Akran way Surulere. why for not raising an alarm when the officers were dealing with him.

“At the bank, Stg. Augustine followed me inside and warned that l “Despite the fact that the police authority went to the bank to collect should not discuss with anybody while the two others and the driver of the CCTV camera and said Augustine was identified inside the banking the Danfo bus were outside the bank. Immediately l withdrew N280, hall that day by one Inspector Garuba Mohammed, they still blamed me 000, we both went out and he said l should follow him to a corner where for not shouting while inside the bank, even if Augustine was ready to he collected the money. When he did, I then asked for my phones which shoot me as l claimed” had been seized and they were given to me with a warning that l should When The Nation went to Ojuelegba to verifying the veracity of not receive any call or call anybody till they will drop me off.

Oloyede’s claim, it was discovered that Augustine and his colleagues, “Later they took me round for a while before we got to (Lagos) Island Yahaya are so popular among the drivers and hawkers under the bridge under the bridge by the lake side, they said l should get out of the bus, to the extent that Yahaya was being referred to as a police commissioner. when l complained that after all, l had settled them and l don’t know Speaking to The Nation on condition of anonymity, a driver who is an anywhere around this place, Augustine then got out of the bus and Ya- executive member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, haya assured me that he will drop me off at Ojuelegba with a warning NURTW in Lagos State said Augustine and his colleagues have constitutthat if l make any attempt to report the case anywhere, they will deny it, ed themselves into a powerful clique to the extent that anybody who

At this point my wallet was thoroughly searched

by Augustine who found nothing inside apart from my Bible, cheque book and documents relating to my family.

When he saw these documents he was enraged, shouting that they were forged and that if the I.G monitoring team should see me, l may spend 24 years behind bars and that there is no lawyer that can bail me out of this crisis unless l cooperated with him,”

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reports them could be killed.

“As you know they cannot be operating under this bridge in the last two years without having a godfather in their office. At times some of their victims thought they were armed robbers because most of the time they were in mufti. Can you believe that they paid some of the Danfo drivers that they are using on a full booking everyday” he lamented At the office of the Lagos State Police Public Relation Officer, PPRO, the Deputy PPRO, Assistant Superintendent Lelma Kolle told The Nation he had once been a victim of such assault under Ojuelegba bridge when he was working at Apapa.

According to him the man who accosted him was dressed in mufti and he concluded he was one of those hoodlums who operate under police cover to perpetrate evil. “when the guy demanded to know what was inside my bag, l gave it to him and he asked me to open it, when l did, he saw my uniform and said so you are an officer, why didn’t you identify yourself earlier, in annoyance and because l was getting late l just left the scene.”

At Kam Salem House in Obalende, The Nation met a brick wall as our correspondent was not allowed to see the Provost Marshal who was in charge of Oloyede’s case. However a police Inspector said “the more you look, the less you see when you are talking about disciplining police officers who took bribe here, because a lot of intrigues and deceits are involved.”

He confessed that a lot of people have been victims of Augustine and his colleagues who also make a lot of returns to some top officers. That is why they are always confident that any case you brought against them will be thrown into the trash bin. But as l used to tell them, God is watching” It is obvious that Dr Oloyede who is a PhD holder has been frustrated and he could not travel to his family in Costa Rica, neither can he sleep with all eye closed as Augustine has promised to waste his life. “l am a frustrated man now because my family has been sent away from Costa Rica because l was supposed to be there to renew my contract, but this is not possible and to make matters worse l cannot send money to them due to my account that is in red. I cannot believe that this is what Nigeria that l left almost twenty years ago has turned to,” he lamented.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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SOUTHWEST REPORT

•Egberongbe cutting tape to commission the toilet

Relief comes to Apapa general hospital

Egberongbe handing over some of the donated equipment to the Medical Director, Oduwole

•Lawmaker opens public toilet It was a day of joy for the management, staff and patients at the Apapa General Hospital when a block of six toilets was commissioned for their use. OZIEGBE OKOEKI was there.

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OR the Management of Apapa General Hospital it was relief at last when a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Apapa 1 constituency, Hon. Mufutau Egberongbe renovated and commissioned the public toilet in the hospital penultimate Wednesday. Before then the hospital had been battling with the problem of lack of toilet facility for general use.

According to the chairman of Randle Community Development Association (CDA) in Apapa, Engr.

Bolaji Ayinla, the public toilet at the hospital had been “in a terrible state” for some time until Egberongbe came to the rescue when he accepted the community’s plea for assistance towards renovating the facility.

Speaking at the commissioning, Ayinla who disclosed that the community has always benefited from

•Local Government chairman, Joseph unveiling the plague of the commissioning

the poverty alleviation programmes of Egberongbe said the issue of the toilet was brought to the notice of the lawmaker because of its terrible state and because it was constituting health hazard to the community. “When we presented the case to Egberongbe, he promised to renovate the toilet and today we can see that he has delivered on the promise.

Egberongbe also made donations of some hospital equipment at the event ranging from hospital beds for adults and babies, industrial fans, fridge, satellite dish as well as DSTV decoder.

The lawmaker who disclosed that before he was elected into the Assembly, he was an executive member of Kofo Abayomi CDA as well

as the Community Development Committee (CDC) in Apapa, said he undertook the renovation of the toilet as part of his resolve to “continue to serve my people in my own little way, service is the watchword, a cause I have been so well identified with”.

He stressed that “inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease worldwide and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on health both in households and across communities.

The absence of toilet facilities wherever they are needed has major consequences on human existence. Today I have reason to thank God and you all for making this dream a reality and with this toilet we now have a well structured general hospital”, Egberongbe said.

He also promised to assist the hospital in tackling another major challenge confronting it which is provision of electricity generator. He said, “I am reaching out to companies around Apapa as regards the issue of generator and I am using this medium to call on them to continue to live up to their corporate social responsibility; although some of them have been trying including some individuals”.

While thanking Egberongbe for renovating the hospital toilet, Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. (Mrs.) Olanike Oduwole said the hospital is known for excellence and has been given several awards; we have dedicated members of staff and we foresee a future as a world class hospital”.

Commending the lawmaker, a director in the state Ministry of Rural Development who represented the commissioner, Mr. E. O. Awoderu called on other residents to assist in developing the community like Egberongbe. “As big as America is, the country still believes in assistance from well meaning people”, he said, adding that the government is aware of the challenges facing the hospital “but it cannot do everything once, that is why the privileged are always encouraged to assist”.

The representative of the Commissioner for Health, Dr. O. O. Enigbokan thanked Egberongbe for his contributions to the success of the local government. “We should realise that government cannot do it alone, synergy is important, we all need to contribute our effort. The renovation and donation of equipment will further strengthen healthcare services in Apapa and help humanity”, Enigbokan said.

The Commissioner for Home Affairs, Tunde Balogun said, “it is heartwarming that a member of our party is doing this, Egberongbe has always been helping our community.

He has always taken issues concerning Apapa seriously and I hope others will emulate him”. And the Apapa local governemnt chairman, Hon. Ayodeji Joseph said, “Egberongbe has served us very well, he has done very well with this project; a project like this in this Ebola ravaged season is well appreciated”, he said.

While Senator Muniru Muse who was chairman of the occasion thanked Egberongbe for his effort “and for coming to the aid of the hospital, reminded all present that “this hospital requires help from all of us and the companies should make donations to improve the hospital.

Let us emulate Egberongbe to improve the standard of the hospital; let us contribute our widow’s mite to improve the hospital”. He also commended the medical director who he said has contributed a lot to the hospital.

And a community leader, Alhaji Moshood Tijanni said he as well as the community is proud of Egberongbe, “he has set a record, we are happy that we produced him here. Let other elected representatives emulate him, he has shown good example and inspired many”, he said.

The CDA chairman, Ayinla appealed to the hospital management and staff to take good care and make proper use of the toilet.

Equipping Lagos women to be self-reliant Scores of women from different age groups recently gathered at the various skill acquisition centres set up by the Lagos State government across the state to participate in a free training programme designed to empower women and tackle poverty in the state. MIRIAM EKENE-OKORO reports.

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OR the women that took part in the recently concluded free skill acquisition programme organized by the Lagos State government as part of its effort to reduce poverty among the populace, it was a fulfillment of a life time ambition.

The women, mostly from poor background, had looked forward to learning a trade or acquiring a skill and set up a business of their own afterwards, but they lacked the financial resources to follow through their dreams. But that has now changed, thanks to the Lagos State government; and the women are happy to tell their story.

Funmi Obanla, after completing her secondary school education had wanted to proceed further to acquire higher education but the poor socio-economic status of her family has dashed all her hopes in that regard. Moved by her family situation, Obanla like many other youths in Lagos roamed the street aimlessly for years in search of employment.

Things however turned around for good for her recently when a family friend informed her about a free skill training programme where she can learn any vocation of her choice. She quickly took advantage of the opportunity and registered at the Akowonjo centre of the Lagos State skill acquisition programme for training in soap making, since the programme does not attract any charge. Besides being trained, she was also exposed to other opportunities that would enable her to develop a viable business plan in the future.

“I have been undergoing this training since July and the programme did not cost me anything. During this period, I have gained a lot of things. We have been taught how to make kitchen soaps, toilet cleansers and washing soaps generally”. She told The Nation at the centre.

Continuing she said: “Already, I have people who are willing to patronise me when I start production. I can’t wait to start this business. This programme should continue because it will help a lot of women that do not have any work to do. We don’t have to start big, we can start from our house, and with time, one can expand to any size”.

Like Obanla, 18 year old Balikis Abdulrahman, said she deliberately chose to participate in the programme not just because it was free, but because it will help her develop her skill in hairdressing.

“I have been here for three weeks and I have gained a lot. I have learnt enough. I have learnt how to make different hairstyles including ‘Bob Marley’, fixing and weaving among others. I am very happy”.

Another beneficiary, Mrs. Kehinde Nigbakunle, said the management of the centre did not discriminate regarding the local government or ethnic background of the participants before they could be accepted into any of the programmes.

“It is not difficult to enroll in this programme. One can come from Agbado, Oke-Odo, Alimosho and any part of the state. There is no discrimination at all, and the programme is free for the participants. We did not pay anything to get the application form. We did not pay anything for enrolment. We want the programme to continue so that we can learn more and gain more. The sustenance is critical to enable the participants establish their businesses and outfits” Mrs Titilayo Philips, a full-time house wife, thanked the government for the programme, which she said had provided her an opportunity to learn a skill which she hopes will afford her an opportunity to make more money to support her husband and family.

She enjoined other full-time housewives not to remain idle but also seize the opportunity that the programme offers to acquire a skill, adding that most of the skills being taught at the centres, offers a window of financial independence.

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefilure, who flagged off the training said, it was in continuation of the effort of the government to provide opportunity for women to become self reliant. She explained that women would be exposed to training in different vocational skills which includes cake and snack production, soap making, beads, hairdressing, make-up and headgear, textile designs, event and decoration, amongst others.

She enjoined participants to make good use of the opportunity and learn a skill, noting that the State government through the programme is determined not only to eradicate poverty in the state but also provide a window of opportunity for idle and vulnerable residents of the state to be empowered and make a better living for themselves.

The deputy governor added that the short-term training programme was the government response to the yearnings of the people who are unable to attend the regular programmes, which currently runs at the 17 Skill Acquisition Centres, for whatever reasons but still desires to acquire a skill to be able to improve their living condition.

“The short-term training programme is equally rich in content like the regular classes as the Ministry has deployed qualified instructors and materials to assist the beneficiaries in learning efficiently and effectively within the short period, while assuring that other local government and local council development areas not yet covered will enjoy similar opportunity soon.”

Since 2007, thousands of Lagos residents have benefited from the skill acquisition programme, mostly in the areas of fashion design, textile design, hair dressing, welding and fabrication, aluminum fabrication, mat weaving, catering and hotel management, tie and dye, bead making and printing

•Some of the women at the training programme

technology.

The government has been fighting poverty through regular organisation of short-term and long-term skill acquisition programmes in different parts of the state to enable people acquire the required skills for self reliance.

The regular skill acquisition programme also includes a three-week entrepreneurial training to empower participants with basic knowledge of management required for the smooth operation of their businesses whenever they are set for take-off. Besides that, the state government also organizes various short-term vocational training programmes for both men and women.

According to a report published by the state government last year, more than 35, 000 women received training under the state’s various short-term programmes between 2007 and 2008. In 2009, the figure was put at over 60, 000, comprising women and men who were tutored in different vocations.

And to ensure that funding isn’t an issue for the graduates, the state government established the Lagos State Microfinance Institution (LASMI) to coordinate and disburse loans to budding entrepreneurs through the approved microfinance banks to enable them kick start their business plan.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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SOUTHWEST REPORT

500 benefits from 2nd phase of Ogun empowerment programme N

O fewer than 500 less privileged people in Ijebu North and Ijebu East Local Government areas of Ogun State including traders, community leaders, artisans, religious bodies, farmers, widows and others have benefited from the second phase of the State Community Empowerment Programme 2014.

The programme, which was initiated by the wife of the State Governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, was aimed at creating opportunities for the less privileged to participate in the economy and improve their earning potentials in order to assist their families fight their way out of poverty.

Speaking while distributing the small scale business items at the Oke Sopen secretariat of Ijebu North Local Government, Ijebu Igbo, Mrs. Amosun explained that the programme was aimed at maximising growth oppor-

From Ernest Nwokolo

tunities among the less privileged in the state and give them the enablement to reach their full potentials.

She said the programme was part of efforts of her Uplift Development Foundation Projects to complement the numerous existing empowerment opportunities provided under the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration to uplift the lives of people at the grassroots.

Also, speaking at the Primary Healthcare Centre, Ojowo in Ijebu East Local Government, the wife of the governor noted that the Community Empowerment Programme was borne out of the needs assessment carried out before embarking on the programme where various community leaders and associations were consulted to ensure that the needs of these communities

were met to enable them to be self-employed and self-sufficient.

Mrs Amosun assured the people that the state government would continue to embark on more people-oriented projects that would boost their economic power by providing empowerment items and cash that would enable them start up their businesses.

According to her, “this initiative is part of effort put in place by the Senator Amosun administration to increase small and medium scale enterprises among rural dwellers, thus improving the quality of lives of the citizenry through capacity building. It is when our people are gainfully employed that they would be able to put food on their table and become self-sufficient.”

In his remarks, the Onitasin of Itasin, Oba Felix Adegbesan lauded Mrs. Amosun for complementing the efforts and good work of that state govern-

ment, particularly in areas of empowerment, noting that her kind gesture and love for the people would strengthen their support for the government in the mission to rebuild the state.

He encouraged her to sustain the programme and even do more for the people of Ijebuland and other parts of the state and charged the people to use the empowerment items for the purpose it was given to them in order to better their lots and that of their family members.

A Hunter, Mr. Olugbesan Taoreed from Ijebu Olowo thanked the state government for the opportunity to benefit from the empowerment programme, saying he had been trusting God for cash to start up a business to complement his hunting job which had not been forth coming.

Also speaking on behalf of the

Council boss many headaches

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IS victory during the local governments’ election did not go unchallenged by the opposition party at the election tribunal. On swearing-in, Dr Augustine Arogundade, the chairman of Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area in Lagos, met a debt of N97.9m from his predecessor.

He also discovered that the roads in the council are in deplorable state.

These and many more were the challenges Arogundade faced as council boss.

Not deterred by the herculean task before him, the medical-practitioner turned politician did confront the challenges headlong.

Today, Arogundade’s administration has repaired and tarred no fewer than 10 roads in the council.

The council boss has also been

By Amidu Arije

able to impact positively in the lives of the people of the council through people-oriented programmes.

With some of the roads in good shape, Arogundade has make business transactions and movement easy for the people.

“This administration is the first in Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA to construct roads, tar them, build schools, health centres, vocational training centres, construct market and provide for all other needs of the people, so if you go round, you will see so many roads that have been constructed with our resources and assistance by the state government,” he said.

Dr Arogundade spoke at a recent meeting with party leaders and youths to acquit them of his administration’s performance and give account of his

stewardship.

“We faced some undaunted challenges such as the one and half years litigation to reclaim our mandate and the continuous criminal case against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contestant. Today, we have not only weathered the storm, our policies have fetched us series of awards.

Arogundade said: “We have won award for social/rural infrastructure development, we have also won award on peace and security as the most peaceful and secured council in West Africa,” he said.

He said his administration will carry out a robust and all involving empowerment programme for the people of the council.

“We will do empowerment programme for the aged, youth and women in our community, we will empower the

youths and provide them with jobs.”

The council boss said though he might not be able to do all, but said he would build on what he has done and provide more dividends of democracy to the people in each of the wards that make up the council.

“I agree that it may not have been equally spread, but I use this medium to assure all that more dividends of democracy will be extended to all wards,” he said.

One of the party leaders, Mr Adekunle Fayoyin, Ward G Agbado Oke-Odo and coordinator of the forum of ward chairmen in the council, said the council boss has performed more than his predecessors in office.

“He has performed quite well, he is the first chairman to tar our roads and builds schools for our children,” he said.

Fed varsity Oye VC honoured

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N Abuja-based international non-governmental organization, Centre for Ethics and Self-Value Orientation, (CESVO), has conferred on the Vice Chancellor Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Professor Isaac Uzoma Asuzu, its prestigious award of Ambassador of Ethics and Conscience .

By this development, the organisation according to its Executive Director, Prince Salih Musa Yakubu, has recognized the Professor Asuzu as one of the most ethically responsible vice chancellors in Nigeria. The Centre also recognized FUOYE as the most ethically responsible federal university in the South-West geo-political zone and the sixth most highly ethical university in the country.

The presentation of the Certificate of Credence to the university at Oye Ekiti coincided with the induction, Professor Asuzu, into the Hall of Fame as Ambassador of Ethics and Conscience. According to Yakubu, the award came as a result of a covert and independent research in which the organisation visited FUOYE three times in February, May and July 2014.

The organisation scored the Vice Chancellor high on basic administrative principles, service delivery, project implementation, due process as well as mediation and conflict management and prevention.

Prince Yakubu said the investiture was” purely a product of painstaking research that did not involve the Vice Chancellor or any member of the university’s management team”.

The NGO’s spokesperson, while presenting Professor Asuzu with the

gold medal of honour, described him as a “Solomon in wisdom” and one of the outstanding Nigerians worthy of emulation. He canvassed that award of honours in Nigeria must be given in recognition of the recipient’s ethical rectitude. The Acting Registrar, FUOYE, Mr. Daniel Adeyemo also received a Certificate of Merit in recognition of his supportive role in the development of the institution.

In his acceptance speech, an elated Asuzu, said he had wanted to dismiss the communication of the NGO’s award thinking it was one of the sev-

eral others that had earlier approached him. He however revealed that “the organisation has proved to be different from the others as they attached no financial obligations in their correspondence” to him. The Vice Chancellor said he had no doubt the NGO’s research team truly visited FUOYE as they mentioned. He appreciated the organisation’s work and expressed joy at FUOYE being recognised among many older universities.

The Vice Chancellor then pledged

the “preparedness of the university to continue to work harder in order to sustain the much cherished ethical values for more results in future”.

Responding to the honour given to the university the Ag. Registrar, Mr. Daniel Adeyemo, said the young institution was overwhelmed by the award and pledged the institution’s continued contribution towards building a better Nigeria. Mr Adeyemo also reassured the NGO of the resolve of the university not to renege on the laudable ethics it has been identified with.

•Mrs. Amosun youths, Mr Olakunle Onamade said the programme was one of its kind as no past administration had ever extended such kind gesture to youths in Ijebu East Local Government, noting that the initiative would further help in reducing poverty in the state and Nigeria by extension.

Ondo to prosecute erring traditional birth attendants From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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NY traditional birth attendant and mission house operator who record deaths of pregnant women during child delivery will henceforth be prosecuted by the Ondo State government.

They are therefore advised to refer all pregnant women that came to them to give birth to government hospitals.

This was part of the resolutions reached at a health seminar tagged “The Role of Traditional Birth Attendants in Maternal Health and Child Survival” organized by Hala Nigeria.

Participants were drawn from the health sector for one common goal of redefining the roles of traditional birth attendants and mission houses.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dayo Adeyanju who believes in the efficacy of prayers, however said the lives of the pregnant women should not be put in the hands of operators of mission houses.He warned operators of such centers to desist or face the full wrath of the law.

In order not to render them useless, the Commissioner mandated them to refer pregnant women to government hospitals.

Wife files for divorce over missing husband From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

civil servant based in Saki, Felicia Olubola has appeared before the Grade C Customary court sitting in Agodi area of Ibadan over alleged disappearance of her husband, Amos Olabiyi.

She prayed the court to cut the nuptial knot between them tied years ago, because she hasn’t seen him since 2012.

Olubola filed the suit on August 13, 2014 in the hope of seeing her estranged husband.

“I feel filing this suit will make him return. I want him to show up for the sake of the children.

“We have four children of which two are in the university”. Olubola lamented The presiding court president, Chief Amusa Makinde after observation, said it will be unlawful to pass judgment on a one sided account of the defendant (Mrs. Olubola).

He however, adjourned the case till September 16 for her husband, Mr. Olabiyi to show up.

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•Professor Isaac Uzoma Asusu receiving the Certificate of Merit from the Executive Director of Centre for Ethics, Prince Salih Musa Yakubu in his office at Oye.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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SOUTHWEST REPORT

When Fafowora joined Fellows of Letters Seasoned diplomat and scholar, Oladapo Olusola Fafowora joined the prestigious Nigerian Academy of Letters in a ceremony that also threw questions on the Ethical Dimensions of Citizenship.

SEUN AKIOYE reports.

•Fafowora (second left), Oba Gbadebo (right) and others at the ceremony.

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•Other fellows of the Academy of Letters at the event.

publications, books and journal articles. He is currently the Director, University of Ibadan Distance Learning Centre.

Egbokhare began his intellectual discuss in a most unusual way choosing to take the subject through the lens of historical perspectives while at the same time juxtaposing it with the relevant perspectives of modern realities.

“Mr. President Sir,” Egbokhare began. “ I have been asked to address the theme:” Ethical Dimensions of Citizenship,” in the context of Nigeria’s history, this is the best of times to do that, in terms of the prevailing national environment, it is the worst of times.”

Drawing inspiration of history, Egbokhare submitted that the problems of Nigeria as erroneously canvassed by many is not ethnicity -as the different ethnic nationalities have been living together and found a way to cohabit peacefully- but the elites who though educated have abandoned scholarship and successfully captured the political stage thereby limiting resources for the masses.

He therefore averred that the indigene and settlers question should not arise. “ Historically, we are all settlers in Nigeria and many of the ruling houses that serves as rallying point for indigenes/settlers clause are all settlers themselves,” he said. He also lampooned the tradition even in the academic where certain quotas are reserved for indigenes or where non indigenes cannot rise to a particular position in the academic environment.

The solution according to Egbokhare is education where history plays a big part. “Education is key, nationalism is enhanced when the citizens are familiar with their own history because history is the center of self discovery,” he said. The erudite scholar also had harsh words for the decision to stop the teaching of History in Nigerian schools describing it as “foolish” and a “ celebration of congenital ignorance.”

The President of NAL, Prof.

,

HEN it was first suggested to Oladapo Olusola Fafowora, a seasoned diplomat, erudite scholar and newspaper columnist that he was being considered for a fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), he felt a deep sense of pride. The first thing he did thereafter was to call his grandchildren in England to break the good news.

Naturally his grandchildren were elated but they also felt a sense of sadness. “So you will be writing letters now, you have never written any letters to us before,” they queried Fafowora.

The Diplomat who was a former Nigerian ambassador to Turkey and Iran was justified to feel privileged to be nominated a fellow of the NAL; the academy is not one of those runoff-the –mill organizations designed mainly for pecuniary purposes. The NAL also has nothing to do with writing letters as Fafowora’s grandchildren erroneously believed. It is one of the most prestigious academies in the country, comprising some of the most erudite thinkers who have excelled in scholarships and academic endeavors. Founded at the University of Ibadan on 14 November, 1991, it was designed as an apex organization of Nigerian academics and scholars in the Humanities to promote, maintain and encourage excellence in all branches of humanistic studies.

There are the Emeritus professors, the philosophers and social thinkers, the NAL is so prestigious and so conservative, its membership at any point is usually lower than 100 fellows. It is this rare and privileged egg heads that Fafowora and six others were asked to join on Thursday 14th August 2014 at the main auditorium of the University of Lagos.

The Question of citizenship The 16th convocation and the investiture of the new fellows of the NAL was also a rallying point to address or as some would say “tackle” the dominant socio political and cultural issues confronting the Nigerian state. And it was the turn of Prof.

Francis Egbokhare, to address the issues of “Ethical Dimensions of Citizenship.”

Egbokhare, himself a fellow of the NAL is a Professor of Linguistics, poet, critic, and human rights activist. He is author of several scholarly

He therefore averred that the indigene and settlers question should not arise. “ Historically, we are all settlers in Nigeria and many of the ruling houses that serves as rallying point for indigenes/ settlers clause are all settlers themselves

,

Munzali Jibril also threw his weight into the current insecurity in the country urging President Goodluck Jonathan to empower the Service Chiefs with the tools to end the Boko Haram insurgency.

Putting the blame on the Federal Government, Jibril said the Nigerian people are tired of the excuses made by government as it is its responsibility to make Nigeria work. He also averred that the intervention of the NAL at the National Conference made a difference in the outcome of its final dialogue but regretted the subject of good governance was not given adequate prominence. “It is the most important thing we should have tackled,” he regretted.

The ritual of investiture The NAL has a conservative but interesting ritual in the conduct of investiture of its new fellows and this occasion was no different. The Public Orator, Prof. Olu Obafemi and the Master of Ceremonies Prof. Dele Layiwola played prominent roles in it.

The new fellows were called to the podium one after another and the public orator read out a citation which also served as justification for the award of the fellowship. The new fellows are giants in the field of humanities and the Arts where they have maintained dominance of scholarship.

The new Fellows are: Prof. Agboola Adesanoye, described as a focused scholar and one of the earliest to carry out researches on varieties of English language. He is also a UNESCO expert on book publishing. Also admitted was Prof. Philip Ogundeji, a professor of Yoruba studies at the University of Ibadan who specialized in Yoruba drama.

There was Prof. Olabiyi Yai, who earned his place as an Overseas Fellow. He is of Republic of Benin origin and was dressed in a Danshiki, he became a Prof. of African Languages in 1983. He was described as a man of universal academic exposure having studied and taught all over the world in Brazil, Benin, USA, Nigeria and others. He is also a polyglot speaking, Portuguese, Fon, Spanish, French, English and Yoruba. The orator said Yai is a great pride to Africa, a global intellectual and bridge builder. Yai is also a humble man; he bowed to everyone way too often.

There were the Honorary Fellows.

Those who though not in the academic but had contributed in no small measure to the spirit of scholarship and intellectualism in every way conceivable. There was Amb. Oladapo Fafowora. He was described as a seasoned diplomat, public servant and consistent newspaper columnist which “make him a prime candidate for the NAL.” Fafowora had his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1964 followed by a Distinction in Master of Art in London. He had his Doctorate at Oxford in 1972. Fafowora was Nigeria’s ambassador to Turkey and Iran in 1985, he was a veritable think tank for the foreign service. He was Nigeria’s deputy permanent repre-

sentative to the United Nations and had numerous high profile public appointments. He has also published many important books and journals.

The audience appreciated notable landmarks in the citation with an applause which stopped the reading momentarily. At the end of it all, the Orator presented the distinguished diplomat to the President of NAL and craved his permission that he be admitted into the fellowship as a honorary fellow.

Olori Olatokunbo Gbadebo, the wife of the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo 111, was also admitted as an honorary fellow.

She was recorded to have an “impressive record of achievements”.

She had a first class honors in French, did her Masters in French in Paris and a Doctorate still in French in 1978 at the University of Ibadan.

She had served in various capacities as a teacher, organizer and public intellectual. Being a royal, a trumpet accompanied her graceful climb to the podium while a court servant sat at the back of the hall yelling at precise intervals “ Oba nki o,” (The Kings extends his greetings.) Her husband, the Alake of Egbaland, sat in the front rows lapping in the proud moments.

The investiture was more than mere reading of citation; it was a slow and deliberate ritual. Nothing is taken for granted and the President was “called upon,” many times to allow the presentation of the justification of a new fellow. Ambassador Fafowora responded on behalf of the new fellows, thanking the President and others for thinking them worthy of the honor. He pledged the fellow’s commitment to the ideals and ethics of the academy.

The programme ended at exactly the time it was scheduled to end.

Everything had been done to time and every frame of the programme fitted perfectly. So much for the meticulousness of the distinguished intellectuals.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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SOUTHWEST REPORT

How power surge rendered families homeless in Ekiti

The recent increase in fire outbreaks caused by power surge has left some families homeless and helpless in Ekiti State, raising questions about who cares for the victims of disaster in our society. SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN reports.

•Makinde

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HE family of Mr. Agbesusi Gbenga, a staff of the Federal Information Office in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, had lived together for over four years in a two bedroom apartment at No. 50 Oke Oniyo street, in the capital until about two month ago when a supposed surge in electricity supply from an electricity distribution company reduced their apartment to rubble.

Safe the few items which the fivemember family went out with in the morning of the fateful day, including the family car, the dresses they had on and few other items, all valuables in their apartment including electronics, books belonging both to the parents and the children, academic and professional certificates, and many others went with an inferno which reportedly started about 1 pm but which had ruined the habitation before thick, black smoke oozed from the rooftops (of the apartment) to alert neighbours around 4pm.

There were also reports of the intervention of the state fire department, but this came only too late. A visit to the scene by The Nation third day after the incident revealed charred debris of several burnt objects in an apartment the rooftops of which had also burnt sufficiently to make the skies viewable from most spots within.

“My children’s text books were all burnt. See them; see our clothes; see the Plasma TV”. He kept pointing at objects as sympathies mounted.

The grieving Agbesusi took The Nation round the scene of loss, pointing to charred heaps of assorted garbage lying here and there about the place. “My entire accomplishments in life, my certificates and that of my wife, everything, were burnt, everything”. He lamented Does he consider outside supports desirable? Yes, he does. He explained he had written letters to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and other similar agencies both at the state and local governments, but has not received responses from any as at the time of writing this report.

But Agbesusi, being a public servant, has a steady source of livelihood which makes his story far better than that of Mama Austin, a single mother who nearly three years ago also had her habitation gutted.

Mama Austin, as she is popularly called, now hawks boiled groundnuts about town, the proceeds of which

•Abiodun

• Mrs. Bolanle

had continued to offer her five-member family what they consider a livelihood.

“My children eat twice in a day now”, she said, adding “Things were not like this when I was doing well in my (fresh fish) business. Now, there are times they will eat and nothing will be left for me to eat. I used to be well to do. Ask anyone around Okesa about me they will tell you. I had money and the business was moving well.

The fire came and my comfort ended with it. I was not the only one affected that time. We were many. The entire building burnt that time”, Mama Austin said.

She disclosed she also wrote several letters and visited many government offices, dishing out photographs of the burnt building to no avail.

“I kept moving from one office to another. When you get here, they ask for pictures, when you get there, it is the same pictures. But all the efforts I made brought nothing”, she said.

Speaking further, she said “After some efforts, I decided to stay with my God. He knows why what has happened has happened. Since then I have remained with nothing. I sell boiled groundnut to feed my children now”.

Prevalence of electrical surges and yet no palliatives?

Power/electrical surges are however more common in Ado-Ekiti than the experiences of the two victims.

From Okeyinmi to Adebayo down to Basiri on Ado-Iyin road, victims recall their experiences and their loses regarding the inconsistencies of electrical supplies by the distribution companies, a situation which seemed to have become accepted as normal and consequently tolerated.

“Last year”, recalled Tunde Babatunde, “surges occurred around Ajilosun, Bangboye, Ureje, and other areas along Ikere road, for one whole week, destroying electrical appliances of many residents”.

The surge which he said occurred in the early morning of one Saturday ruptured appliances including freezers, fridges, TV sets, radio and video systems, electrical bulbs, standing and ceiling fans, air conditioners, among whole lot others.

Tunde said: The surges lasted a whole week: I mean everyday of the week. It started on a Saturday and many of us were around. Thick smoke came from so many houses at the same time that we thought a bang would follow. The surge destroyed every electrical appliance we all had at the time.

•Olaniyan

Those who were not around the day it started were caught on other days.

Many things running into millions of naira were consumed. We approached the NEPA (PHCN) people at the time but no help came. They pretended they did not even understand us”.

The factor of illegal connections The Public Relations Officer, Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) covering Ondo and Ekiti states, Mr. Ilori Kayode-Brown, who attributed the surges to too many illegal wiring and connections in the communities, clarified that “as yet, the Company has no structure or plan to offer victims any form of assistance. It may be possible tomorrow.

But today, there is nothing like palliatives for supposed victims of power surges.”

Ilori explained that residents across the communities were in the habit of illegally increasing the number of phases they obtained. “They would apply for and obtain a single phase (power source) but would increase same to two or three using unlicensed artisans and substandard products”, he said.

His words: “So many of our consumers have been discovered to increase the phases they obtained officially through crooked means. They would apply and obtain one phase and after such has been fixed by our office, they go behind and increase it by themselves to three. The end of it most times is always devastating”.

According to him, potential customers were often advised to contact licensed contractors to certify the wiring of their houses to ensure things were done properly, adding that “wiring houses is not the responsibility of the electricity distribution company”.

His words: “Experience has shown however that because the customers want to cut corners, they seek unlicensed but cheaper contractors. When things go wrong and fire occurs, they blame things on us.

“Mistakes done by unlicensed wiring contractors caused upsurges most times. When people increase the phases through which they get supply, problem can occur and they still blame things on us. Our brief is to supply electricity, not to wire or electrify houses”, Brown said.

But Mr. Ayoade Abiodun, electrical installation specialist in Ado Ekiti however maintained it was wrong to attribute all surges to illegal connections by so-called unprofessional wiring practitioners.

Accordoing to him, “All power

surges have their source from the transformers which are owned by the distribution companies. Electrical supplies from the source are first received by the transformers before people can receive it in their houses. If a transformer has any fault, it will show it by supplying low current, high current or fluctuating current. Other times it may bring no current. Who should rectify faults in the transformers when they develop faults? All the three situations except when there is no light at all can cause damages”, he said.

He admitted that some of the contractors desirous of cutting corners, use sub-standard products often for unsuspecting customers which do aid faults in connections, adding “But it will be wrong to say that the surges owe always to illegal connections”.

Ayoade maintained there were times when officials of the company disconnect electrical sources to homesteads but do it in such a hurry and shoddy manner that some of the cables would fall on other cables which do cause problems for residents as well”.

Disaster responses by agencies But disasters, according to officials of agencies responsible for their management could be controlled or curtailed and victims offered palliatives, even up to 50 per cent of their destroyed valuables.

The Agencies, specifically National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) have always existed and do make claims of instituting palliatives for the needful across the state.

Findings have however shown that many haven’t, as yet, felt their impact and/or relevance and those who do have recounted experiences of failed bids to secure succor from them when needed.

In an interaction, the General Manager, SEMA, Mr. Femi Osasono, speaking through Mrs. Adebanjo Adebanke, clarified that the Agency may not restore valuables burnt or consumed in disaster situations wholesale but provide materials and supports as assessed necessary to keep victims going to cope minimally with life without suffering or experiencing neglect.

His words: “We don’t build houses for people if such gets burnt, but there are what we call palliative measures.

We visit the places with specialists from other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and make assessments.

“In a situation in which you have

entire habitation destroyed either by fire or flood or any other thing, we have makeshift areas for victims’ immediate resettlement. This is to allow them cope with life minimally. Materials including mattresses, clothing materials, food stuffs and some cash assistance are supplied them.

“That is if the victim happens to be a tenant. If it is the house owner, we give him cement, cash assistance, nails, and roofing sheets, even planks up to 50 per cent of valued cost of repairs.

In cases of agricultural loses, Osasono added that the Agency partners agric departments who would visit the farms and make assessments. “It is an inter-ministry agency. We don’t work alone. So we network, depending on the situation, Agriculture, health, environment, even State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) in cases of cholera outbreak”, he said.

Also, according to Mrs Ojo Bolanle, Assistant Head, Ekiti Operations Office of NEMA, covering Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states, disaster management is more effective in communities and situations where the first responder (the first to notice the occurrence) acted promptly and usefully to alert others and institute help moves.

She noted residents in the communities are always encouraged to be alert to occurrences around them to be helpful during outbreaks.

Her words: “If my kitchen caught fire in my absence, if my neighbour responds promptly, we may not need other secondary responder which we as an Agency are. But rather than wait and allow situations to get worse, people are always encouraged to dial 122 and a response will come promptly’, Ojo said.

Are sensitisation programmes yielding enough?

Findings by The Nation across communities reveal many were yet to know of the presence of Agencies involved in instituting palliatives for the needy lot in situations, despite the claims by both SEMA and NEMA of “a lot of sensitisation and enlightenment programmes’. ”We go out often to warn people about disasters”, Osasono said, adding “We also do jingles on radio and TV to raise awareness in communities, most especially on fire and flood outbreaks. In this regard, the current administration has been very supportive and forthcoming in its responses to requests from our Agency”.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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THE NATION INVESTORS

CCNN begins $300m cement plant expansion C EMENT Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) Plc has launched a $300 million expansion project to modernise and increase the capacity of its 30-year old cement plant.

The expansion project, estimated at about N48 billion, would increase the company's installed capacity by 200 per cent to 1.5 million metric tonnes.

The take-off fund for the expansion was provided by BUA International Limited, which holds 50.72 per cent equity stake in CCNN through its wholly-owned subsidiary-Damnaz Cement Company.

The expansion is part of the ongoing modernisation and cost optimisation programme aimed at reducing average cost and enhancing productive capacity with a view to ensuring that CCNN remained competitive in the cement industry.

There are indications that the company may subsequently float supplementary equity issue to refinance its capital structure and provide longterm funds necessary for such longterm expansion project.

President, BUA International Limited and chairman, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, confirmed the commencement of the expansion

project, said the core investor sourced the funds for the expansion for CCNN. According to him, after considering all the options, the core investors decided to jumpstart the expansion plan given its strategic importance to competitiveness of the cement company.

It should be recalled that CCNN had earlier secured shareholders' approval to raise new funds of about N45 billion but it was unable to float equity issue due to the lingering investors' apathy at the primary issue market.

Rabiu said expansion was the highpoint of the competitive strategy of the cement company, noting that in spite of the high quality of its cement, bigger cement companies pose threats to CCNN's market share.

In a chat with The Nation, managing director, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Mr. Alf Karlsen, said the increase in installed capacity would enable the company to maintain its current market share and expand into new markets.

He noted that CCNN is currently the major supplier of cement in the Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara axis adding that the high quality of its cement brand has enabled the company to maintain the lead within its niche

market.

He assured shareholders that CCNN would remain competitive and make good returns to investors as it implements various initiatives to boost capacity and reduce cost.

CCNN last month distributed N880 million as cash dividends to shareholders, implying a dividend per share of 70 kobo. The dividend payment came on the heels of sustained improvements in the company's fundamentals.

Audited and emerging earnings reports of CCNN had indicated significant improvements in actual and underlying returns of the cement-manufacturing company. Audited report and accounts of CCNN for the year ended December 31, 2013 had shown that a more efficient cost management and appreciable growth in sales underpinned substantial growth in profit and returns to shareholders.

Gross and pre-tax profit margins improved from 28.1 per cent and 10.9 per cent in 2012 to 31.8 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively in 2013.

While sales had grown by 4.4 per cent, declines in cost of sales and finance expenses as well as containment of the operating expenses impacted positively on the bottom-line. Besides, the report also showed considerable

improvements in financing structure and liquidity, providing a positive balance sheet support that enabled top-line performance to trickle down into substantial earnings to shareholders. The company halved its gearing ratio and further increased equity funding just as liquidity improved to a new high.

The profit outlook of the company improved appreciably during the year with both actual and underlying profitability ratios showing corresponding performance. Underlying profitability indices showed a generally positive outlook. Gross profit margin improved from 28.1 per cent in 2012 to 31.8 per cent in 2013. Average pre-tax profit per every unit of sales increased from about 10.9 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Return on total assets improved from 11.6 per cent to 13.1 per cent. Return on equity was steady at 15.7 per cent.

The underlying performance reflected the improvements in the operations and productivity of the company as well as increase in its cost management. Total sales reached a new high at N15.8 billion in 2013 compared with N15 billion in 2012. Cost of sales meanwhile slipped marginally from N10.88 billion to N10.77 billion. Gross profit thus rose by 18

per cent from N4.24 billion to N5.02 billion. Operating expense was curtailed at N3.64 billion in 2013 as against N3.40 billion in 2012. While non-core business income dropped by 22 per cent from N958 million to N743 million, the reduction in interest expenses counterbalanced the negative effect. Finance expenses dropped to N147 million as against N152.

With all these, profit before tax rose by 19.2 per cent to N1.97 billion in 2013 as against N1.65 billion in 2012.

Profit after tax also grew by 19.1 per cent to N1.42 billion compared with N1.20 billion in the previous year., Basic earnings per share thus improved from 95 kobo to N1.13.

Also, emerging earnings reports for the current business year have shown a stronger upward growth trajectory. Interim report and accounts of CCNN for the six-month period ended June 30, 2014 showed that sales rose by seven per cent in first half 2014 to N9.39 billion as against N8.81 billion recorded in corresponding period of 2013. Profit before tax almost doubled from N1.22 billion to N2.34 billion. Profit after tax showed similar performance, rising from N832.1 million in first half 2013 to N1.59 billion in first half 2014.

SEC lists BGL, Stanbic, others as 10 most expensive fund managers Ten mutual funds spent more than one per cent of their net asset value as expenses, according to a report on expenses of mutual funds by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The report on expenses ratio for the second quarter ended June 30, this year showed that only 10 mutual funds expended more than one per cent of their net assets as running costs. The report covered 51 mutual funds registered with SEC. The report however generally showed that the expenses of all mutual funds remained well below the 5.0 per cent ceiling set by SEC as fund managers continued to look for ways to further reduce expenses.

According to the report, BGL Nubian Funds, managed by BGL Asset Management, has the highest expense-to-net asset ratio of 3.22 per cent. BGL Nubian Funds is an equity-based fund. Kakawa Guaranteed Income Fund, under the management of Kakawa Investment Management Limited, has the second highest ratio of 2.97 per cent.

Anchor Fund, an equity-based fund being managed by FBN Capital Asset Management Limited, has the third highest expenses of 2.68 per cent while Lotus Halal Investment Fund, a Shari'ah-compliant ethical fund being managed by Lotus Capital, placed fourth with 1.81 per cent. Lotus Halal Investment Fund has been trading below its offer price and it has not made return to investors since the fund was floated six years ago.

Other funds within the highest category included Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund, with 1.63 per cent; Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund, 1.56 per cent; FBN Capital Asset Management's Bedrock Fund, 1.55 per cent; FSDH Asset Management Limited's Coral Growth Fund, 1.12 per cent; and UBA Money Market Fund and Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund, which recorded 1.10 per cent each.

Meanwhile, Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund, a Shari'ah-related ethical mutual fund being managed by Stanbic IBTC Asset Management, was the least expensive fund during the period with expense to net asset ratio of 0.15 per cent while

UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (UPDC Reits), being managed by FSDH Asset Management Limited, followed with 0.17 per cent.

The report highlighted concerted efforts by fund managers to reduce expenses with a view to enhancing the attractions and returns of mutual funds. Most fund managers considerably reduced their expenses in the second quarter compared with expenses recorded in the first quarter.

For instance, Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund's expenses totalled 2.61 per cent of its net assets in the first quarter while Frontier Fund, being managed by Sterling Capital Markets Limited, reduced expense ratio from 1.21 per cent in the first quarter to 0.71 per cent in the second quarter.

Total net asset value of all mutual funds stood at N185.39 billion by the close of trading on August 22, 2014. Money market fund was the largest segment with net asset value of N60.45 billion. Equity funds and real estate funds followed with N43.97 billion and N42.2 billion respectively.

On fund-by-fund basis, UPDC Reits, a real estate fund, was the largest mutual fund with net asset value of N28.49 billion. Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund placed second with N27.78 billion while FBN Money Market Fund was the third largest fund with N27.43 billion.

Mutual funds, otherwise known as collective investment schemes (CIS), are joint investment vehicles through which investors can pool funds and invest in chosen basket of securities under a professional management with a view to optimise returns and reduce risks.

Net asset value is determined by subtracting total liabilities of a fund from its total assets. The net asset value can further be divided by the total number of units of the fund to determine the unit price.

A mutual fund is usually categorised by the class of assets that forms the primary focus of its investments. Thus, there are equity funds, money market funds, bond funds, real estate funds, ethical funds and balanced funds, among others.

SEC has said it would review the

•From left: Chief Technical Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Stephane Beuvelet; Legendary Nigerian artiste, Mike Okri; Director, Strategy, Etisalat Nigeria, Temi Ogunbambi; and Nigerian female R&B/Pop artiste, Niyiola during the Etisalat Cloudnine session in Abuja. cost structure and expenses of mutual funds with a view to ensuring that more returns accrue to investors.

Director, Collective Investment Scheme (CIS), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mrs Louisa Eni-Umukoro, said the commission was concerned about the expenses and costs relative to fund management.

According to her, SEC is considering introducing a multi-fee class structure for the mutual funds alongside other measures to reduce costs.

"We are looking at introducing a multi-fee class structure whereby the more you subscribed, the less you pay. It's something we are going to work out with the fund managers," Eni-Umukoro said.

She said the commission has noticed a high expense ratio on the part of some fund managers.

She said SEC might review downward the expense ratio ceiling of five per cent to discourage frivolous expenses by some managers.

Eni-Umukoro said the apex capital market regulator had amended its rules to cut expenses in relation to to fund management.

Stock Exchange to sanction stockbrokers over HE Nigerian Stock Exchange ing members. According to the di(NSE) will impose sanctions reporting failure rective, stockbrokers and dealers on on stockbroking firms that the NSE will now run the normal

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fail to submit their stockbroking transaction report for the just concluded month ended August 31, 2014 by the close of business on Wednesday September 10.

In a circular to stockbroking firms, obtained by The Nation, the exchange indicated that it would impose regulatory sanctions including financial penalties on stockbroking firms that fail to meet the September 10 deadline. The sanctions will be imposed with effect from Thursday September 11.

The NSE uses the transaction report to track inflow and outflow of foreign transactions, major deals in the market and to monitor the market to ensure suspicious sources are not using the stock market to launder illgotten funds or finance terrorism.

The circular was signed by head; broker dealer regulation, Nigerian

Stock Exchange, Mr. Olufemi Shobanjo.

According to the circular, the submission of transaction report is in line with Article 14 of the rules and regulations governing dealing member firms of the Exchange which requires every dealing member to keep proper records and books of account in respect of all stockbroking transactions.

“The council shall prescribe the forms in which such records and books are to be kept by dealing members and be entitled to empower the compliance department of the Exchange to inspect the records of dealing members from time to time and report thereon to the council,” the rule stated.

It should be recalled that the NSE had earlier this year introduced uniform accounting year for all its deal-

Gregorian calendar year as their uniform business year, with every company expected to close its accounts

by December 31.

The new directive, which will take effect not later than December 31, brings stockbrokers and dealers to the same standards as banks, which also run the Gregorian calendar year as industry-wide accounting year.

According to the NSE, the uniform accounting year was in order to ensure consistency and more effective regulatory oversight.

“Consequently, all affected dealing members should as a first step, pass board resolutions to the effect that their accounting year end will be December 31 and, thereafter, inform the Exchange and other relevant agencies accordingly,” NSE stated.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP Upright Wonders is the Minister and Proprietress of Eastern Star Care Foundation, Lagos. Although she is blind, the entrepreneur has found a way to become a success and is working to help others do the same. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

How a blind entrepreneur walked the E path to success VANGELIST Upright Wonders, a visually challenged Minister and Proprietress of Eastern Star Care Foundation, Lagos, wasn't born blind. She went to primary, secondary and high schools, with her sight intact. She lost her sight at a time she was preparing to proceed to the university to further her studies.

She was then working with the then Cross River State Television, now known as Channel 45 Uyo. She had worked with them for two years and was about going into the university when the problem started. She lost her sight in mysterious circumstances that defied medical explanation.

In her words: “After all the diagnosis, the doctors were not really able to point at anything as the cause of the challenge. When the challenge came, I had to leave the media industry and enrolled in a school for the blind because I didn't just want to live my life as a beggar.”

She worked to change things around, but she eventually became totally blind. And it was a terrifying time for her. She began to contemplate what she could do. Constant engagement with the divine being helped her pondered over life's burning questions and finding answers to them.

During the agonising period, she had a divine inspiration to go into production of home care products.

How would she go about it? There was no money. She eventually got about N10,000 from her fellowship at Winners' Chapel in 2010 to start her first production but four years on the business has grown to over N100,000. She said that as her business started to grow, she decided to take it seriously and put herself into it, which she noted was not an easy task. She specialised in the production of personal care items such as liquid wash but she has now expanded the business to include, insecticides, germicides and other cleaning products.

Initially, she was finding it hard to break into the market.

This is because , people didn't believe something good can come out of the hands of a physically challenged person, she added.

Many of her relatives and friends started using the products and the feedback was quite positive and the patronage continued to expand.

From her own assessment based on the results she received, she knew that the products are tre-

mendously getting acceptance, and with some modifications and highquality packaging, she was sure they would be big sellers. She has two employees, and presently exploring the procedure for securing National Agency for Food ,Drug Administration and Control( NAFDAC )registration for her products.

“The market is not wide yet because we don't have NAFDAC registration number and as a result, we cannot push it into the larger market. This is where we need NAFDAC to assist us by reducing the registration fee for us. I have not really got the official registration fee, but someone told me that it is between N120, 000 and N150, 000. The day I went to NAFDAC office at Oshodi, the gateman did not allow me to enter. He said I should go to their office at Yaba.

When I went to Yaba, they asked me to go back to Oshodi. After a fruitless effort to get the official registration fee, I gave up and went back to my house. They frustrated my efforts," she said.

She told The Nation she cannot afford the cost of registration, describing it as too high for startups to afford.

Notwithstanding, she has a story to tell that has an impact on people. As a believer in God, she believes it was God's blessings through her church that brought her thus far.

Right now, she has created a group coaching session for physically challenged persons who want to learn small business production skills. She created the platform to help them overcome joblessness and not live by begging.

"We train the physically challenged ones in adire, beads making, and also have the products section where we train them on how to make home care products like liquid wash , izal and perfume.

What we want to do is to discourage each and everyone of them from begging and get them to be gainfully employed because they are not challenged mentally. The gifts of God are still in their mind; as long as their minds are still functional. They can still do something with their lives," she said.

Looking back at the number of lives she has touched, she said: “There are so many of the people

that we have trained that are doing quite well today. I have one that is producing izal and dettol.

She has customers in the hospitals and has been supplying them these products. I have so many of them that are doing well and we thank God for that.

“Some of them have not been doing as much as they are supposed to because of funds and this is where the need for support from individuals and corporate bodies comes in. These trainings are quite expensive because the cost of the materials we use in doing them continues to go up everyday and we don't collect money to train them. We do train them free of charge.

“After the training, we try as much as we can to empower them, rent shops for them and help them in marketing their products because so many people take the products from them to sell without giving them the money. We are trying to make sure that they are not exploited by dubious people.

We have set up a team that would be monitoring such sales, and we devote a good part of our time to this and do it professionally.

“Apart from the challenge of funds, our people also have the problem of marketing their goods as it should be because the products are not registered with NAFDAC. I can't do it alone. I need the support of kind-hearted Nigerians, especially now that we want to establish a skill acquisition and talent centre with a bible school and music school attached to it. " Speaking on how she acquired the skill she has been imparting into others, she said: "I acquired the skill on how to make these products by going for training. It was after I completed my training that I started making the products to sell. The money I get from the ones that I market for the foundation is what I use for training those under the foundation.

After many ups and downs, she has many people to thank, including the Lord for helping her overcome the trials and tribulations of her life. She mentioned the President of Winner Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo and Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria(AMEN).

The experience has made her able

•From left: Director, Development Finance Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN),Paul Eluhaiwe ( Managing Director, Citibank, Mr. Omar Hafeez, the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Founder, Growing Businesses Foundation, Center, Dr. Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien and other awardees at the CBN Annual MSME Conference and Awards held at the Sheraton Hotel, FCT, Abuja.

to communicate with other people and help others figure out how to live out their dreams despite any struggle. Her story is an amazing one of triumph of human over a disability. Notwithstanding her feat, she is not impressed that the national programme on selfemployment is not helping the visually challenged to be gainfully self-employed and lead a purposeful, fulfilling and economically independent life.

According to her , the government is taking its responsibility seriously enough and go out of their way to employ the visually challenged in large numbers and make enabling provisions or facilities for them to contribute, using their strengths and ignoring their disability.

She was recently invited to Akwa Ibom State to train 100 physically challenged persons and to deliver a talk on entrepreneurship. She slowly unravels to the stunned audience the freak accident that she landed herself in, her fight for sight, and her burning desire to see the world again.

She incubates new ideas and needs God 's support to translate them into products.

Today, her vision and her unwavering sprit continue to bring more and more physically challenged person to achieve successful life in their own term. Also, her accomplishments in people management left the indelible mark in the business world.

She felt her achievement has not been rewarded just because she is physically challenged.

She was able to see much of her inner self rather than the exterior world that helped her soar to heights she wouldn't have imagined.

Among the entrepreneurial traits, she embodies perseverance and grit, and looking at life positively despite an acquired disability that was testing her ability even to see again. Today, she has redefined herself.

•Evangelist Wonders

She is a person with no sight but unlimited vision. She walks tall with her ideas having been turned into successful products.

She said the lack of positive support for successful disabled entrepreneurs was ironic given the “humungous” level of unemployed disabled people and that they are "very naturally entrepreneurial about their lives, very good pragmatists and so make natural business people". She had the option of depending on others for her living, but she chose not to do that.

Her choice has paid off today as many people, both able-bodied and physically challenged, now look up to her to make meaning out of life.

She is consumed by the passion of liberating other physically challenged in the society from the world of abandonment, despair and poverty; a feat which even the privileged able-bodied people shy away from. She carries on with her activities without any sign of having problem with her sight.

As the proprietress of the foundation, she trains the physically challenged apprentices in her care on how to make handcrafts and home use products, thus empowering them to be self-employed instead of resorting to begging to earn a living.

Group empowers Niger Delta youths

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GROUP as Niger Delta Legacy Engagement (NDLE) in collaboration with the United States Government is empowering the youths of Niger Delta through film production and business.

At a press briefing on the project held at the residence of the US consular-general in Lagos, the group said it is seeking sustainable peace and environment in the region through constructive engagements as against violence, militancy and kidnapping, among other.

A popular Nollywood film producer, Jeta Amata, who trained the youths, spoke to The Nation. He said: “When the Americans looked at what we were doing, they said we want to work with Nigerians that can give their own initiative.

“The concept is to use our own initiative to solve our problem and the Americans invited a few of us and say why don't we use the media, Nollywood, which is one of the biggest film industry and the followership is good because people sit down to watch what is done. Why don't we send these messages out through Nollywood, televisions and films and that is why we came up with the idea.

“21 people have been trained, seven each from Nembe, Ozoro and Erema in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States respectively. This is just the first season

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

and we can only afford to commit a particular amount at a time. We also don't want to have many people at a time because we need to concentrate on the people we trained, follow them up and make sure they make their own films properly, professionally and to international standards.

“Our target for change is now; our people need to get the message now because elections are coming up next year and there is always a reason for people to want to get violent. I brought in four sets of professional equipments and start up money for them to make films. They have made the films already. They make music videos, documentaries for people.

“The films are not yet on sale because we want the televisions to run the episodes, give the films publicity, so that when the films go on sale, they (trained militants) will make money. We expect to begin the next season by January next year. Between September and October this year, we will go back to new communities in selected Niger Delta states for selection.

“There are people who have ideas like this and capacity to do it but don't have the funding to actualize them but we have the backing from the United States Government, the board of trustees of NDLE to be able to do this.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL

Eurozone manufacturing at 13-month low

ANUFACTURING growth in the eurozone slowed to a 13-month low last month, according to a closelywatched survey.

The final Markit’s Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dipped to 50.7 last month, down from 51.8 in July. A figure above 50 indicates expansion.

New orders dwindled and factories suffered amid rising tensions between the EU and Russia over Ukraine.

The figures came ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting last week.

Markets will be looking for a clear

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plan from the bank to deal with a stalled eurozone recovery, as well as the threat of deflation with inflation standing at just 0.3 per cent.

There is speculation that ECB boss Mario Draghi could offer further indications later this week that he is considering a quantitative easing scheme for the eurozone, similar to those taken by the UK and US during the financial crisis.

“Although some growth is better than no growth at all, the braking effect of rising economic and geopolitical uncertainties on manufacturers is becoming more visible,” said Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit.

The factory PMI for Germany, Russia’s biggest trade partner in the EU, fell to an 11-month low of 51.4.

Meanwhile, in the bloc’s secondlargest economy, France, the PMI fell to 46.9.

“France remains a real concern, as does Italy’s descent from solid expansion to stagnation. Signs that growth impetus waned in the key industrial engine of Germany, and in Spain and the Netherlands too, is also less than reassuring,” Mr Dobson said.

“The slowdown in industry is likely to add further fuel to the fire for analysts expecting additional monetary or fiscal stimulus to be

implemented.”

One positive note was from the Republic of Ireland, which saw its PMI grow to 57.3, its highest level since the end of 1999.

Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “The best that can be said for the August eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers’ survey is that it indicates that the sector is still growing.”

He added: “Eurozone manufacturers are clearly finding life very difficult at the moment as current heightened geopolitical tensions particularly related to Russia/ Ukraine - add uncertainty to still challenging conditions in many

countries.

“This heightened uncertainty has clearly hit business - especially, and consumer confidence, and it is likely causing some orders to be delayed or even cancelled, particularly big-ticket orders.”

He said it was looking “ever more likely” that the ECB would ultimately have to undertake some form of QE, “although we suspect that it will be limited”.

Etailers get new shipping and tracking platform from Royal Mail Royal Mail has launched a new parcel shipping and tracking application for its business account customers.

BA to reward travel consultants

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RITISH Airways (BA) and its sister Airline Iberia plan to give its Travel Consultants in Nigeria a special Yuletide with bumper rewards of elite shopping experience.

The firm will be rewarding travel consultants at their travel agencies across Nigeria with gifts up to N1 million from next month to December.

According to the airline, it is giving the offer in partnership with Shoprite to encourage and say a big thank you to the highly valued travel consultants because they are the ones that actually book customers in various travel agencies.

British Airways Regional General Manager, West Africa, Mr Kola Olayinka, said the travel consultants were encouraged to book

Russia, China launch gas pipeline

•Ndulue (left) and Kazim at the signing of the MoU in Dubai.

Emirates, Arik Air sign deal

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MIRATES Airlines and Arik Air have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost their commercial relationship.

The deal was signed by Adnan Kazim, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Planning, Aeropolitical and Industry Affairs, and Chris Ndlulue, Arik Air’s Managing Director, at Emirates Group Headquarters in Dubai.

Emirates and Arik Air have a one-way interline agreement, whereby Emirates passengers are connected throughout Nigeria and West Africa via Arik Air’s current domestic and regional net-

work.

“Both Emirates and Arik Air have expressed interest in exploring ways to expand on our existing commercial relationship and to look at different areas in which we can cooperate that will be mutually beneficial to both airlines, including seamless connectivity for our customers on our respective networks.

We also intend to explore the potential of code share arrangements as passenger traffic flows mature between both parties’ networks,” said Kazim.

“Arik Air is delighted to partner with Emirates. Both airlines share

a similar vision of convenience and safety for our customers.

“While Arik Air is happy to open its network in Nigeria and West Africa to Emirates passengers, we are excited at the vast worldwide network of Emirates being made available to Arik Air’s passengers.

The invaluable cooperation between the two airlines offers a lot of synergy to both airlines in achieving their objectives,” added Mr Ndlulue.

Emirates and Arik Air will also explore other areas of cooperation for the future, including frequent flier programmes, passenger and cargo handling.

China manufacturing misses forecasts

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HINA’S manufacturing activity missed expectations in August, indicating that the country’s economy may be losing momentum and require more stimulus.

The official purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 51.1 for the first time in seven months from 51.7 in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The PMI is a key gauge of the sector’s health and any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

The data measures activity in

China’s bigger factories, many of which are government-backed businesses.

The weaker-than-expected numbers may pressure the Chinese government into increasing easing measures in order to meet its annual growth target of 7.5 per cent.

Julian Evans-Pritchard, China Economist at Capital Economics, said the data shows “economic conditions have softened” and that a gradual slowdown is expected in the coming months.

“Broadly speaking, today’s PMI

reading suggests that downwards pressure on the economy, as a result of slowing investment in sectors with overcapacity, particularly property, is no longer being fully offset by policy support measures.”

Meanwhile, a closely-watched private survey by banking group HSBC also showed a fall in factory activity.

Its final PMI reading for August slipped to 50.2 from 51.7 in July, marking its lowest level in three months.

Etihad to begin A380 operations in December

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TIHAD Airways has reaffirmed its commitment to start Airbus A380 and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner operations in December.

The airline said additional flights are on sale this week for both aircraft and an extensive pilot training program now underway.

A total of 149 pilots are undergoing a combination of simulator and classroom training, in addition to flying the aircraft with other airlines that already operate the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The training program will be enhanced following the recent arrival of an Airbus A380 Full Flight Simulator and Airbus Pilot Transition Trainer at Etihad Training Academy in Abu Dhabi. The equipment, supplied by Canadian manufacturer CAE, is now being commissioned by Etihad Airways and CAE, and is expected to become operational in mid-September.

CAE will deliver Etihad Airways’ first Boeing 787 Simulator and Integrated Procedure Trainer next month, followed by an additional

British Airways and win the shopping vouchers which are available in three major cities, namely Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

According to Olayinka, “This offer is our way of saying thank you to our partners. We thought of a better way to show our appreciation to these valuable consultants, so we went into a strong partnership with one of the national biggest outlets, Shoprite who have outlets all over Nigeria and stock a good range of household items. With this, we are giving our partners the opportunity of early preparations for the yuletide season.”

To enjoy the offer, BA partners would book BA and Iberia Airlines tickets for their customers and win the shopping vouchers as they do.

trainer and two simulators between 2017 and 2019.

James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, said: “Our initial Airbus A380 and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flights have been on sale for almost four months and demand has exceeded our expectations, showing that the public share our passion for comfort, service, hospitality and style.

“The Airbus A380 and Boeing 7879 will play a fundamental role in the development of Etihad Airways’ network.”

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USSIA and China have begun the construction of a new gas pipeline linking the countries, with a ceremony in the Siberian city of Yakutsk.

China’s CNPC has agreed to buy $400bn (£240billion) of gas from Russia’s Gazprom.

Russia will ship 38 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas yearly over 30 years.

The deal will lessen Russia’s dependence on European buyers, who have imposed economic sanctions because of the crisis in Ukraine.

The construction ceremony was attended by Russian President Vladmir Putin and Chinese VicePremier Zhang Gaoli.

China will start work on the construction of its side of the pipeline in the first half of next year, Mr Zhang said.

The first gas will be pumped from Siberia to north-east China in early 2019.

Over the past 10 years, China has used other gas suppliers.

Turkmenistan is now China’s largest foreign gas supplier. Last year, it started importing piped natural gas from Myanmar.

China is Russia’s largest single trading partner, with bilateral trade flows of $90billion (£53billion) in 2013.

The two neighbours aim to double the volume to $200billion in 10 years.

Woodford sells HSBC shares NE of the United Kingdom’s most high-profile fund managers, has said he has decided to sell his holding in HSBC, because he is worried about “fine inflation”.

Neil Woodford said the size of fines in the banking sector seemed to be rising. “Fines are increasingly being sized on a bank’s ability to pay, rather than on the extent of the transgression,” he said.

HSBC was fined £1.14billion by US authorities in 2012, for failing to prevent money laundering.

There have been a number of siz-

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able settlements between banks and US regulators. Last month, Bank of America agreed to pay a record $16.7billion (£10billion) to US authorities for its role in selling toxic mortgages in the run-up to the financial crisis.

But Neil Woodford said he was particularly worried about potential fines that HSBC could face.

“I am worried that the ongoing investigation into the historic manipulation of Libor and foreign exchange markets could expose HSBC to significant financial penalties,” he said in a blog on his company website.

NCAA praises Dutse Airport facility

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HE Director Aerodrome and Airspace Matters, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Joyce Nkemakolon, has expressed satisfaction with the equipment at the new Dutse International Airport, in Jigawa State.

He lauded the state government on the level of expansion at the airport, assuring that the pilgrims for this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia would be airlifted from the airport.

He spoke during an inspection of Dutse Airport.

During a visit to Governor Sule Lamido, Nkemakolam expressed delight with the state of the airport facilities.

According to him, “we are highly impressed with facility and standard of the airport, and we would forward our findings and recommendations to National Hajj Commission of Nigeria and other authority for their scrutiny and approval to airlift pilgrims from the airport.”

Nkemakolon continued: ”In deed, I am congratulating the people of Jigawa state on having a standard international airport.”

He praised the fire fighting equipment at the airport, adding: “The fire fighting materials is very good, but the airlifting would not be allowed until there are qualified people to operate the equipment.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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Taxation Taxation of contracts and direct labour procurement of MDAs (3)

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PADIRAN (1987) defined Direct Labour Procurement as a process by which a project is executed by the workers of an organisation instead of the project being contracted out. It can simply be described as a ‘do it yourself’ approach to project procurement.

Direct Labour could also be defined as a method of procurement whereby a client otherwise known as “the owner” uses his or her own in-house resources for the design and execution of a project. The inhouse resources here will include both supervisory staff, skilled and unskilled labour force besides equipment. Worthy of note in this system is the elimination of the contractor, which makes the direct labour method distinct from other procurement methods.

According to Iyagba and Idoro (1995), Direct Labour method of procurement can take various forms among which are; Fully in-house direct labour Here the organisation has the human resources in place for all the phases of the project. The organisation pays the monthly wages or otherwise of the human resources.

Partially in-house direct labour Here the design and production information could be prepared by practicing consultants, while construction is handled by permanent personnel.

Hire-labour direct labour Here the project owners do hire oflabour, machinery, purchase material and coordinate the construction work, possibly engaging a qualified professional for the management of the construction process.

Self-help type of direct labour Self-help construction where the inhabitants of a community are organised and mobilised with the direct labour establishments of a ministry.

Others are: - The developer provides the necessary recources, buys the necessary materials, hires the men and the machinery required, and mobilises the resources on his own.

- Communal construction with the use of voluntary labour drawn from family members and friends.

- A self-help construction whereby the inhabitants of a community organise and mobilise themselves to execute a project.

These arrangements were seen to originally represent the true context of direct labour construction.

Based on the definition, the following comments are made on the different forms of Direct Labour presented above: Forms contract implication Fully in-house direct labour.

No contract Partially In-house Direct Labour Design and production of information by third parties are contracts.

Hire-Labour Direct Labour Hire of

‘Why are the MDAs interested in direct labour procurement method? Could it be for better quality delivery, availability of more competent In-house staff, cost saving, non availability of competent contractors or Tax planning etc? Whatever the reasons, their actions should be guided by relevant Laws’

labour,machinery, qualified professionals and contract purchase of materials will not qualify as direct labour. Cash purchase of materials may qualify.

Self-help type of Direct Labour Direct Labour of the Direct Labour Establishment of the Ministry.

Others may qualify as direct labour when executed through cash advance to a staff of the MDA within approval limit. They may not qualify when managed by a third party.

Contract can be inferred from the basis for payment by the project owner. a. Cash advance to staff to be retired after the procurement: No contract b. Payments for staff invoices: Contract (staff should not invoice his/her employer) c. Payment to staff for third party invoices: Contract d. Payment based on certificate of job completed: Contract Any Direct Labour Procurement must possess these characteristics to qualify as non contract procurement. a. Ownership of procurement facilities: The ministries, Department and agencies of government must use only the in-house resources for the design and execution of the project. b. Absence of contractual relationship with both staff and non staff, in the procurement. c. Payment should be through cash advance to staff.

The cash advance must be retired at the end of the procurement and within approved limit.

Direct labour procurement and the nigerian tax laws The schedule to the Companies Income Tax {Rate, etc of Tax deducted at source (Withholding Tax)} Regulations 1995 exempts those transactions which are, and indeed constitute “Outright sale or purchase of goods and property” and which take place “in the ordinary course of that particular kind of business”, from Tax deduction at source. Where a sale or purchase transaction becomes repetitive or habitual, it will not qualify for exemption. The sale of goods on a once-for – all basis will qualify for the exemption in so far as it meets the second condition.

A sale takes place in the ordinary course of business when it takes place in the course of that particular business. Where, for instance, a trader sells goods directly to third parties, he will be seen as acting in the ordinary course of his business, that is, trading.

However, where the trader enters into contract for the sale of the goods, he is no longer acting within his ordinary course of business, that is, trading, but has made an adventure into another business, that is, contracts. Further, a manufacturer who makes contractual sale or purchase is no longer acting within his ordinary course of business that is manufacturing, but has gone into another business, that is, contract. Although the manufacturer may use the items purchased or sold in his manufacturing business, the contractual arrangement for the sale or purchase will be subject to five per cent withholding tax.

Conclusion It is the Public Procurement Bureau’s Policy that procuring entities outsource those services that are either not part of their core business activity or for which there is a fluctuation requirement in the terms of specialist skills or equipment , or where the open market provides a more efficient and commercial alternative. It is also its policy that services, materials and equipment shall be acquired by procuring entities at the most favourable terms compatible with the desired quality and delivery requirements, taking account of total life cycle costs and in a manner that safeguards and preserves the reputation of the procuring entity; and to support the development of an indigenous contractor base in Nigeria and particularly in the area in which the various procuring entities operate. Despite these comprehensive provisions in the Procurement Act and the Financial Regulations, many Government Agencies deliberately set aside contract award procedures in favour of direct labour procurement option.

The pertinent questions would be: why are the MDAs interested in direct labour procurement method? Could it be for better quality delivery, availability of more competent In-house staff, cost sav-

• Acting Executive Chairman, FIRS, Alhaji Kabir Mohammed Mashi

ing, non availability of competent contractors or Tax planning etc? Whatever the reasons, their actions should be guided by relevant Laws. They should be sure and ready to prove a case for direct labour in the Public Procurement Act, that they have ascertained:- that a schedule of rates, cost – plus or target contract would not be feasible, as quantities of work to be carried out cannot be defined in advance; that works are small and scattered or in remote locations with no local contractors and demobilization costs for outside contractors would be too high; that works must be carried out without disrupting existing operations; that the risk of unavailable work interruptions is better borne by procuring entity than by a contractor; that no contractor is interested in conducting the work at a reasonable price; that it has been demonstrated that Force Account (Direct Labour) is the only practical method for constructing and maintaining works under special circumstances; or that national security would be compromised if any method was used. Any tax planning that violates the provisions of the tax laws is illegal.

Some government accounting officers are quick to argue that the reason for Direct Labour Procurement option is the absence of budgetary provision for the payment of VAT which are invoiced to them by the contractors. It is advisable that Accounting Officers of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government should include the VAT payable in the budget estimate for approval instead of violating the provisions of the relevant laws. From the content of the Financial Regulations and the Accountant-General Circular of 2009, it is instructive to note that any payment for public procurement above N200,000 may not be accepted as a payment for Direct Labour, and could be deemed as Taxable Government Expenditure.

‘Some government accounting officers are quick to argue that the reason for Direct Labour Procurement option is the absence of budgetary provision for the payment of VAT which are invoiced to them by the contractors’

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

43

NEWS (SHOWBIZ)

Baba Suwe reveals plans to remarry

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T last, popular Yoruba comic actor, B a b a t u n d e Omidina, aka Baba Suwe, has revealed plans to give marriage another shot, five years after he lost his wife, Monsurat Omidina, aka Omoladun, who reportedly died of hypertension.

In a recent interview, the top Nollywood actor was quoted as saying that “It has not been easy, but life must go on. I believe whatever happens has been pre-ordained. The

•Five years after Omoladun’s death

By Mercy Michael

death of Omoladun was a great loss that I cannot get over in this lifetime.”

Though he did not disclose the identity of the woman who has literally stolen his heart, the Ikorodu, Lagos-State born actor said he would never marry an actress again. “She is not an actress because I can’t marry an actress again.”

His resolve not to marry an actress again might not be unconnected with the dust raised in some quarters after Omoladun, who was also an actress, passed on in 2009.

It will be recalled that the controversy surrounding the death of Omoladun had put the dark-complexioned actor in the eye of storm for a long time.

If the plans to remarry pull off, this may be another in-

teresting chapter in the life of the popular actor, who has been maintaining a low profile, following his arrest by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and subsequent trial for allegedly involving in drug trafficking in 2011.

Since he was left off the hook, he seems to have become a rarity in the movie industry, as he once alleged that Yoruba movie producers are not so keen on featuring him in their films.

NAFCA takes show to Hollywood •To honour Ooni of Ife, Alakija, others

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OR the first time, an Africa-centered movie award show will take place in Hollywood, California, a celebrated movie hub in the world.

The show, Nollywood and African Film Critics’ Awards (NAFCA), according to its founder, Dr. Victor Olatoye, will hold at the legendary Saban Theater, Beverly Hills, California, USA, on Saturday September 13.

Olatoye who described the show as a glorious dawn, said: “This year’s awards in Hollywood is the biggest to date with dignitaries from around the world gracing the historic event, including Alist Hollywood and Nollywood stars, music stars, diplomats, political figures and over 1500 movie buffs.”

Speaking highly of the new venue, Olatoye said it will be double celebration in Hollywood, as NAFCA’s event will coincide with the 83rd anniversary of the theater.

“Our guest will witness

T

By Dupe AyinlaOlasunkanmi

the honouring of noble men and women of Africa as we present them with the coveted golden NAFCA trophies. The Saban Theatre accommodates about 1900 people and we are just as excited and honoured to be part of the history of this iconic Beverly Hills landmark, as we join in the celebration of its 83rd anniversary on September 13.”

He said the choice of the venue is a reflection of the vision of t h e award scheme for the African cinema.

“Looking back at the maiden edition which held at a hotel ballroom in 2011, Carolina Theater in 2012, Warner Theatre in 2013, and now going into the heart of Beverly Hills; it is fair to say we are moving the African cinema forward.”

Meanwhile, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade has been picked as the first African king to step into the movie city, where

he will be honoured with the special NAFCA Legend Award. The award, according to Olatoye, is the highest honour to be bestowed on an individual by NAFCA. “Ooni’s historical visit has been attracting a lot of positive interests to this year’s NAFCA Awards. Apart from an African-American cultural group that would welcome the monarch at the airport, the cast of Hollywood’s blockbuster, Coming To America, will equally be on hand to receive him. Also, television stations are booking in advance to have an audience with the highly respected monarch,” Olatoye revealed.

Also, president of Rose of Sharon Foundation, Chief (Mrs.) Folorunsho Alakija, will be given the NAFCA Humanitarian Award.

Entries open for Lagos song competition

HE move to create a theme song that celebrates the ideals of Lagos State has been scheduled through a music competition.

Put together by Spirit of Lagos (SOL), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the group is inviting residents of the state to participate in the competition.

The initiative is said to be part of the state’s effort, aimed at changing the mindset of residents towards their environment, public infrastructure and neighbours.

Speaking at a press conference on the project, Niyi Omotoso, project director of the organisation said the competition will also create an opportunity for musical talents to thrive in Lagos, while generating thoughts around the values of SOL. According to Omotoso, the competition which began on September 1, will run until September 26, and it is opened to residents of Lagos, irrespective of their

By Dupe AyinlaOlasunkanmi

states of origin, ethnicity, religion, class and gender.

“The best theme song must, amongst other things, be new and never have been played in any of the media platforms or performed anywhere prior to the competition. It must promote the unique attributes that make Lagos a centre of excellence.

It must also inspire social justice, civic responsibility, citizenship and neighbouliness, and must not exceed three minutes,” said Omotoso.

The theme song, which stems from the ‘Change Your Thinking’ campaign for Lagos State, according to the group, is expected to restore those unique values that made Lagos a safe, just, prosperous and neighbourly place to live in the past.

The winner of the contest has been promised a cash prize of N500, 000 in addition to a recording contract and a chance to perform the song alongside some no-

table Nigerian artistes at the Lagos State Governor’s Ball, scheduled for the third quarter of this year.

The competition is not a winner-takes-all, as the first and second runners-up will also get N200, 000 and N100, 000 respectively, while the song with the highest vote also gets N50, 000 cash reward.

“The selection of the winning song will be presided over by a panel of judges consisting of performing artistes and record label owners. Each song will be judged on creativity, originality, message content, balance and blend, and overall acceptability,” Omotoso said.

Interested participants are advised to compose and record audio or video song of between two and three minutes, and upload to www.facebook.com/ spiritoflagos or send CD/ DVD entries to locations such as, PlayHouse, 2 Abieyuwa Amadasun Street, Off Oduduwa Way, Ikeja

GRA; C&F Porter Novelli, 26A Babatope Bejide Street, Lekki 1or TBWA, Harold Shodipo Crescent, Ikeja, Lagos.

M-Net suspends Big Brother show, as fire guts property

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WING to what was described as a devastating fire in the property used for the popular Big Brother Africa (BBA) show, M-Net and Endemol, South African producers of the programme, announced yesterday the suspension of this year’s edition of the reality show.

The event, which enters its ninth season this year and has been tagged Hotshots edition, was initially scheduled to begin airing this Sunday, when participants from different African countries, including Nigeria, could have been unveiled.

The Public Relations Manager, DStv, Caroline Oghuma, had, on Monday, offered subscribers the option of opting out of viewing the programme at any time during its duration.

The show, which usually airs for 91 days, is known to have the tendency for nudity,

alcoholism and strong language.

It stakes a prize of USD 300 000 on would-be winner.

The organisers said investigation would commence on the cause of the fire, while trying to secure another venue, “At this stage, M-Net and Endemol are urgently looking for an alternative Big Brother house in which to film the production. However, as this production entails state-of-the-art infrastructure, camera and edit requirements, an alternative is not immediately available.

Every effort will be made to find a solution as quickly as possible to ensure that the Africa’s biggest reality show will continue,” said the organisers.

The BBA House is situated at the Sesani Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to information, no one was injured during the fire outbreak.

Honour for Shina Peters

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OR ace Juju artiste, Sir Shina Peters (SSP), Sunday, August 31, will go down as most memorable in his professional life, as he was honoured with the Media Friendly Personality of the Year award at the eighth Nigeria Media NiteOut Awards held at the Time Square Event Centre, Ikeja, Lagos.

The colourful event witnessed the presentation of awards to deserving media personalities and conferment of awards on wellmeaning Nigerians who have succeeded in their various endeavours.

In his acceptance speech, the Afro-Juju creator, who expressed his joy for being celebrated alongside with media professionals, said:

By Ovwe Medeme

“Juju music has come to stay and I intend to continually use it to better the society.

So far, I am the only artiste in the universe who has played music to support women. You will recall that in 1991, I sang a song that preaches the need to give women a chance to talk and even rule. I think, more than ever before, we should give women a chance to rule.”

Interestingly, the awardwinning act thrilled the gathering with some of his evergreen hits, including Give our Women a Chance.

The theme of this year’s event was: The Role of Journalism in the Promotion of Democracy, Individual Rights and Civil Liberty in Nigeria.

eLDee goes into laundry business

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By Mercy Michael

OPULAR rapper and honcho of Trybe Records, Lanre Dabiri, alias eLDee the Don, has now ventured into laundry business. eLDeee, who has been absent from the music scene for some time, is said to be in-troducing Washist, which he claimed to be N i g e r i a ’ sfirst on-demand laundry services, specialising in p i c k -up, wash, press and delivery of clothes.

While speaking on his latest venture, elDeee, an architect turned music producer and recording artiste, said: “It’s an interesting concept, a pretty obvious one. Washist is by far the simplest of the services we are building; yet, it has a mega potential.

We have all our ducks in a row at the moment. I stress to my partners that we will start small and scale with caution, knowing that many have failed before us. It will end up being more of a logistics nightmare, if not properly planned- which is typical in Nigeria for obvious reasons.”

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Ahead of next year’s elections, members of the Lagos State Executive Council are nursing ambitions for elective offices.

Correspondent MIRIAN EKENE-OKORO examines how far they can go.

Fashola’s men and their 2015 ambition O

NE thing that cannot be taken away from the Lagos State Executive Council headed by Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) is the team spirit.

The decision to work as a team has obviously paid-off in the last seven and half years. It has led to effective administration. According to observers, the Fashola Admninistration has built on the foundation laid by its predecessor, the Tinubu Administration.

Fashola is a trail blazer. The number of developmental projects embarked upon by him attests to his vision and determination to catapult the state to the horizon of progress.

The achievements of the administration has elicited applause from home and abroad. This credit is shared by him and the egg heads in his cabinet. However, on May 29, next year, the governor will pass the baton to his successor.

There are some members of the executive council itching to suc• Gbeleyi • Jeje • Hamzat ceed the governor. Their support- • Orelope-Adefulire ers believe that they have what it takes to serve Lagosians as the number one citizen.

Top on the list is the Works Commissioner, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat.

He is the son of the eminent politician and monarch, the Olu of Afowora Sogaade, Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Olatunji Hamzat. He is the brother of Hon. Ganiyu Hamzat, who had been in the House of Representatives since 1999. His mother is from Epe, Lagos East District.

Between 2005 and 2011, he was Commissioner for Science and Technology. In 2011, he became the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure under Fashola.

Hamzat is a brilliant technocrat.

He holds a doctorate degree. As Science and Technology Commissioner, he introduced the Oracle Technology to boost data and record keeping by the government.

The move led to the elimination of ghost workers in the state’s civil service.

• Opeifa Four years before he resumed at • Kuye • Lawal • Raji the Ministry of Works and Infrapolice officer was the former aidestructure, the ministry was under member of the Action Congress de-camp to former Governor Bola the supervision of a Special Ad- early leaders of the Campaign for (USA) and Action Congress, Lagos Tinubu. viser, Hon. Ganiyu Johnson. He has Democracy in Lagos. Opeifa was State.

There are other members of the sustained the tempo of the infra- a lecturer at the Lagos State UniThe Commissioner for Finance, executive council who are eyeing structure battle. Under him, Lagos versity (LASU), Ojo, before he travMr. Ayo Gbeleyi, a Fellow of the other elective positions. has become a huge construction elled abroad for further studies.

Chartered Accountants of Nigeria Opeifa was appointed as the SpeThe deputy governor, Mrs site. The governor has tremendous (FCA), former Director-General Tawakalitu Adejoke Oreloperespect for Hamzat. In fact, in the cial Adviser on Transportation in and Special Adviser on Public PriAdefulire, is said to be eyeing the cabinet, he is perceived as the 2007. He was a House of Reprevate Partnership (PPP) Scheme, is House of Representatives seat in sentatives aspirant in Agege Condefacto deputy governor because eyeing the governorship. He is Alimoso Constituency. The lawof the responsibilities delegated to stituency. When the ticket for the popular in the financial sector. He maker from the constituency, Hon. him by Fashola. This has led to a legislative seat eluded him, he did is a first class technocrat. But, he Olamilekan Adeola, is returning not betray the party. He supported sort of rivalry in the cabinet. has little political experience. to Ogun State to vie for the senaThe billboards and posters of the candidate, Hon. Samuel His supporters have said that his torial slot in the Yewa/Awori DisAdejare at the poll.

Hamzat are visible in the metropotrict. late entry into politics will not be The human rights activist has lis. He has a solid support base.

Orelope-Adefulire was born into a barrier. They recalled that Fasola His father’s colleagues in the old also served the state as a member active politics. Her father, Pa did not have any party card, until Justice Forum are rooting for him. of the Lagos State Scholarship Karimu Laka Orelope, is an he became an aspirant in 2007.

But, prominent Lagosians have ob- Board, Bursary Awards Screening Awoist and one of the pillars of Gbeleyi’s counterpart in the Committee, 1992-1997, and Lagos jected to his ambition on the the progressive bloc in Alimoso.

Ministry of Agriculture and CoState Forum.

He was a member the ground that he hails from Ogun In the Third Republic, she was a operatives, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal, Alliance for Democracy, United State. Few months ago, the Olowomember of the House of Assemis another aspirant. The former Eko of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, States Chapter, and founding said that community elders and ‘The billboards and posters of Hamzat are visible in the metropolis. He chiefs will not support the ambihas a solid support base. His father’s colleagues in the old Justice Forum tion of the Ewekoro prince. Despite this, Hamzat appears to be a forare rooting for him. But, prominent Lagosians have objected to his ambimidable aspirant. tion on the ground that he hails from Ogun State. Few months ago, the Another contender is the Commissioner for Transport, Comrade Olowo-Eko of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, said that community elders and Kayode Opeifa.He is the son of the chiefs will not support the ambition of the Ewekoro prince. Despite this, Asiwaju of Aworiland, Pa Opeifa of Orile-Agege. He was one of the Hamzat appears to be a formidable aspirant’

bly. He was the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation under the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC). Between 2003 and 2011, she was a commissioner under Tinubu and Fashola.

Orelope-Adefulire was not a dormant commissioner. She introduced skills acquisition training programmes for unemployed youths. Her passion for youth development led to the establishment of 17 Skill Acquisition Training Centres. About 9, 000 beneficiaries have graduated annually from the centres.

As an advocate of child survival, protection and development, she co-sponsored the passage of the Child Rights Law in 2007. She has worked hard to ensure that every child is given equal opportunity to education and medical care, irrespective of status, gender and background.

Another cabinet member nursing ambition is the political scientist and journalist, Mr. Tunji Bello, who is a two-time Commissioner for Environment. He has been described as a‘round peg in a round hole’. So far, he has lived up to expectation. Flooding has reduced in Lagos, owing to his campaign against indiscriminate dumping of refuse on drainage channels and canals, the clearing of drainage channels and the construction of new channels.

The Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Bosun Jeje, is warming up for the House of Representatives election in Kosofe Constituency. Many believe that he was the choice of the constituency at the shadow poll in 2011. Before he ventured into politics, he was a successful banker and private investor. Jeje is also a lawyer.

Former Special Adviser on Central Business District (CBD) Mrs. Derele Disu, who resigned few weeks ago, is said to be eyeing the deputy governorship. But, family members have disputed this, pointing out that her husband, Kunle Disu, is a governorship aspirant.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Ademorin Kuye, has been drafted into the senatorial race in Lagos East by party elders.

Their argument is that no senator has come from Somolu/Bariga axis of the district.

Kuye is a loyal party man. The lawyer is a former Chairman of Somolu Local Government. However, his supporters said that the contest is not a do or die affair for him.

Also, the Commissioner for Rural Development, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, is eyeing the House of Representatives seat in Ojo Constituency. He is a former council chairman and federal legislator. During the primaries in 2011, he was persuaded to jettison his second term ambition. The ticket was given to Hon. Toyin Suarau, the son of the political leader, the late Pa Suarau.

The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Hon. Lateef Raji, is an aspirant for the House of Representatives in Osodi/Isolo Constituency. The historian is the former secretary of Alliance for Democracy (AD). He contested for the seat in 2011. But, the ticket was given to Hon. Moruf AkinderuFatai, who was elected into the House in 2007.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

POLITICS Hon. Yele Omogunwa, a priest and chieftain of the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo State, reflected on his failed senatorial ambition, the Mimiko Administration and other partisan issues. KAYODE ALFRED met him in Lagos.

‘Mimiko should thread softly’

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HAT is your assessment of the political situation in Ondo State?

There are three political parties of note in the state-the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP),which is the biggest for now. The APC is just coming on board. The APC basically occupies the position the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) used to occupy. The only difference is the change of name. It is still the same set of people. I don’t know if they have gotten new converts, but there is no convert of note that I have learnt of.

We know every individual from various communities who work magic. If none of these people have joined the party, who will want to listen to you?

Though it is too early to really say, but I don’t see it as a strong opposition party, as far as Ondo State is concerned.

As the polity prepares for 2015, what is your ambition?

My political ambition is to remain a politician. In what capacity I’m likely to function? I don’t know because I’m not God. I lost my 2011 senatorial ambition because I had no godfather; I did not have the support of the governor. I mapped out a fantastic campaign strategy. I was going about campaigning.

But, you know in our political setting, just the body language of the governor would tell the people where the pendulum would swing. Even my own people would say, he is the governor, we dare not criticise him, as if the governor is God. I did not have a godfather then, but it is a different ballgame today. I have been out of government for the past three and a half years; and there is a sitting senator waiting to take another shot at the contest. There are also others in government who have what it takes to contest elections. But ,I have God. So, at the right time, God will show me the next step. Yes, governorship could come to the South or the North, but it will depend on some variables. Nobody knows the mind of Mr. Governor. If I were him, I will work towards getting a suitable successor, who can keep the flag flying. But note that there are other parties too, even though the Labour Party is the darling party in power now. If things are not done well, you know human beings.

The pendulum could swing in another direction. I pray things are done well, particularly by putting the right people in right places. When we get to the bridge, we shall cross it.

You are a pastor and politician.

Where is the meeting point between religion and politics, especially when one considers the fact that Nigerian politics thrives on mudslinging?

You can combine the two because

• Omogunwa

you cannot be a successful politician, if God is not behind you. What God does not give, you cannot take. Let me clarify that I am not a pastor of the tie and coat who undergo long period of training in school of theology. My own calling as a pastor was forced on me. I am a pastor of a white garment church, the Christ Church of Cherubim and Seraphim (C & S), where you can be a pastor without training. If I had wanted to be a deputy bishop in the church, I would have been. But, my being in that church is not because of titles. I went to thank God in my church after my victory at the local government election when I was voted as the Chairman of Irele Local Government. The late Bishop Oloketuyi asked me to kneel down for prayers; I knelt down. Then, the man brought in something like ointment and poured it on my head and said ‘from today, you become pastor.’ So, that was how I became a pastor. Because of the anointing, I saw the hand of God in it.

So, I accepted it and have been doing my best. It does not disturb my political activities. At C & S, if one really wants to be committed to pastoral duties, it is 24 hours commitment.

They know I am a politician. So, I excuse myself when occasions demand.

I must say that it is the prayer in the church that has been seeing through. I face a lot of difficulties. A lot of people wanted me dead, but here I am. Even though I am not in government, two of my children are abroad. Yet, I did not have a viable business. I never thought of business, until about three months ago.

What do you think is the way out of

this continued killing by Boko Haram?

I pity Mr. President on the issue. The problem of Boko Haram predates his administration, but there was no interest in the matter until it became a full-blown crisis. Some highly placed Nigerians must be behind the insurgency. When a thief or armed robber comes to a community, definitely they have somebody in the community that is an accomplice. Dialogue should not be ruled out. I understand that Mr. President set up a committee to dialogue with them. Dialogue is important; whatever it will take to save the lives of Nigerians caught in the crossfire, particularly children is welcome.

If dialogue fails, we have no other choice, but to pursue the military option to its logical conclusion.

What is your honest assessment of the Mimiko Administration?

Mimiko is doing his best. There could be imperfections, but as a human being, you cannot please everybody. Even Jesus Christ could not please everybody; if He had pleased everybody, He would not have been nailed to the cross and murdered like a common criminal. The governor has been doing his best for the people. Let me take just one of his achievements, the Abiye project. That project is world class. Maternal mortality rate in Ondo State has been reduced drastically through the programme. He has also done some other things in other sectors. Having said that, he has been given the opportunity of another term in office and he must have gotten his own blue print. If things are not that very good now, I think things will get better as the day goes by. He is a man of the people. He used to be a grassroots person and I think he should understand people and what they need.

What words do you have for the youths of this country?

Youth should keep hope alive. They should desist from engaging themselves in nefarious activities. Yes, unemployment is rampant in our society, but that should not be allowed to derail them. You look at kidnappers seen on televisions; they are within the age range of 25 to 35. Yes, it might be their own making because they are unemployed and they would have to survive. I was one of the first set of victims when my daughter who just came back from Cairo, Egypt, where she was schooling, was kidnapped three days after she arrived in Nigeria.

I coughed out N3 million to faceless people after she had spent four days in their den. Arriving from there, I told her she could not stay here; she is abroad now. It has happened to many people. That is why we have to continue calling for the right education.

• From left: Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Mr Auwal Rafsanjani; Co-convener, Mr Jaye Gaskiya, and Senior Programme Officer, Youth Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Advancement, Mr Segun Emmanuel, at a news conference on the state of the nation in Abuja yesterday...

Edo lawmakers unfold ambition for House of Reps, Senate No fewer than 24 members of the Edo State House of Assembly have unfolded their ambition to vie for the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Correspondent OSAGIE OTABOR takes a look at their partisan moves.

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OLITICS is in the air in Edo State. Although the governorship election will not hold next year, politicians are warming up for the parliamentary elections.

In the House of Assembly, no fewer than 15 legislators are warming up for the House of Representatives and the Senate. Fifteen of them are from the ruling the All Progressive Congress (APC) and nine are from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Of the nine PDP lawmakers, six are under suspension.

The seat of Hon. Abdulrazaq Momoh, who represents Estako West 11 Constituency, was declared vacant. The suspended lawmakers, sources said, may not return to lthe House before the next year’s elections.

The lawmakers, who are eyeing the National Assembly, are the Speaker, Hon. Uyi Igbe (Oredo West), Hon. Patrick Aisowieren (Orhionmwon North), Hon. Johnson Oghuma (Estako Central), Hon. Jude Ise-Idehen (Ikpoba-Okha), Hon. Philip Shaibu (Estako West), Hon. Paul Ohonbamu (Egor), and Hon. Patrick Osayimwen(Oredo East).

In the National Assembly, lawmakers who want to move to the Senate are Hon. Jim Adun (Ikpoba-Okha/Egor), Hon. Samson Osagie (Orhiomwon/ Uhunmwode) and Abubarkar Momoh (Estako).

Igbe and Hon. Patrick Osayimwen are competing for the House of Representatives ticket in Oredo Constituency. The incumbent legislator is Hon Razaq Bello-Osagie, who succeeded Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon in 2011.

Bello-Osagie has alread begun his re-election campaigns.

Party sources disclosed that the party leadership is favourably disposed to the ambition of the Spraker. During the House of Assembly crisis, he di not betray the APC. He was a pillar of support for the governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. “Igbe may not want a return to the House of Assembly to be an ordinary member because the next Speaker would be picked from either Edo Central or Edo North because the governor would emerge from Edo South”, said a source.

Osayimwen, who recently defected to the PDP, will slug it out with other aspirants, including Victor Enoghama, the Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion’s in-law. A PDP source said that Enoghama has been penciled down for the ticket because the Esama, who is a party financier, is his godfather.

However, Bello-Osagie is a formidable contender. Many constituents said that it may be difficult to edge him out or defeat him at the primaries and general elections, owing to his pedigree, and achievements as a legislator.

Aisowieren is scheming to displace Hon. Samson Osagie in the House of Representative. He was a member of the House of Assembly for eight years. When his colleagues defected to the PDP, he rejected the overtures from the PDP to defect. He is the only APC aspirant who has indicated interest in his constituency.

In Estako Federal Constituency, the battle is between Hon. Johnson Oghuma and Hon. Philip Shaibu, the Majority Leader. Shaibu is perceived as the defacto speaker. In fact, many believe that he is the anointed candidate.

But, Johnson’s supporters have been campaigning with vigour. Their message is that no politician from Edo Central where he hails from has occupied the seat. Those who had represented the constituency include Hon. Abubarkar Momoh and Hon. Abbas Braimah. They hail from Estako East and Estako West respectively.

Hon. Jude Ise-Idehen defected to the PDP because his hopes of getting Ikpoba-Okha/Egor ticket was slim. Partly leaders were not ready to endorse him. Other aspirants are Hon. Osazuwa Ehiorobo and Hon. Paul Ohonbamu.

During the recent crisis, PDP leaders alleged that APC lawmakers who defected were not promised automatic tickets.

The posters and banners of Jim Adun and Samson Osagie draw attention to their senatorial ambition in Edo South, especially Benin City. Both are in the House of Representatives. Osagie has spent 16 years in the parliament; eight years in the House of Assembly and another eight years in the House of Representatives. But, the question is: can they defeat Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon at the primaries?

Abubarkar Momoh defected to the PDP after his senatorial ambition in the APC was thwarted by Senator Domingo Obende and Prof. Julius Ihonvbere. At the APC congress, Momoh won in only two wards. In the PDP, he will face Pascal Ugbome and Bobby Ikazaboh at the primaries.

• Adamawa State Acting Governor Ahmadu Fintiri acknowledging cheers from supporters on his arrival from Abuja where he was cleared for the proposed bye-election in Yola yesterday...

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

POLITICS Former National Secretary of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Chief George Moghalu is the National Auditor of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, he speaks about the party’s preparations for next year’s elections. TONY AKOWE met him in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Moghalu: APC ‘ll not impose candidates C

OULD you shed light on the proposed composition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Board of Trustees (BoT)?

The formation of the BOT is a constitutional matter. It is the responsibility of the BOT to choose its chairman, its secretary and its leadership. It is not for the party to do, but for members of the BOT to decide who will lead them. It is their internal affair and they have to vote among themselves to chose their leaders. We cannot influence them from outside or sit in the national secretariat and say that the Chairman must come from this place or that place. If you have an opinion, you can canvass it through the national chairman who is also a member of the BOT. It is not all of us in the NWC that are members of the BOT because there are people who are statutorily members of the BOT as provided for by our constitution. Issues of the BOT is strictly the affairs of the BOT. What is the position of the party on the zoning of elective positions?

One thing I know for certain, which I can tell you, is that we are going to provide the enabling environment for everybody to express him or herself.

As a party, we have agreed that there will not be any imposition. We want a situation where the best candidate will emerge. But when you are looking at zoning, you must not also lose sight of the fact that in our constitution, there is provision for federal character, there is provision for balance and for you to achieve this, you must out of political exigency be compelled to bring in zoning. So, the essence of it is that one thing we will do ,which I can tell you we will do is that the leadership of the party believes in fairness, equity and justice. We are going to create an enabling environment for anybody who desires to aspire to any office to go ahead, right from the counsellorship up to the president. We are not going to impose anybody because we want the best to emerge. We want the best for the country. We want whatever we do, let the people be the reason. Let the Nigerian people count first before anything. That is certainly going to guide us.

What is your reaction to the defection of APC chieftains to the PDP?

One thing about an individual politician is principally the consequence of the person’s feeling of what he want and what he intends to achieve. What you cannot do about people is that you cannot question their ambition or desire because politics is something that has to do with an individual and its all about expectations, ambition and what you want to achieve at the end of the day. So, I wouldn’t be surprise when we have issues that have to do with movement, because as some people are leaving the APC, others are moving into the APC. Some are also going to other parties, it has to do with the individual and how he or she expects to achieve his personal ambition. Now coming to the issue of Malam Nuhu Ribadu; yes Ribadu is a friend and was a leader in our party. When he decided to go over to the PDP, he made his case very clear. He talked about his ambition, he talked about ones assessment of himself and what he intends to achieve at the end of the day. So, his movement, I want to believe is a consequence of his desire to contest the election on the platform of PDP and so, you can’t stop him. I don’t think there is any other reason. From what I can read and understand, I believe that his decision is a consequence of his ambition which he is entitled to. For somebody like Chief Tom Ikimi, I feel sad no doubt about it having known him for quite a while and the fact that he played a very key role in the course of the merger of APC. He was like the coordinating chairman of the chairmen of the three parties that came together to form APC and all the meetings we had about the formation were incidentally held in his house. So for me, it is a sad commentary. However, we will still not lose sight of the fact that he has his decisions to make. He is the person involved and knows his expectations and what he considers as his challenges.

He knows where he feels injured. But if I had the privilege of being consulted by him, I would have advised that he should be a little patient and see how

• Moghalu

things unfold because some of us believe that whatever maybe the disagreement, there will still be room for reconciliation What is the implication of the defection for the party?

I don’t think so. Why some of us feel sad that you lose people you have already built some level of affinity with, some other people are also coming in. its about individuals, its about ambition, its about expectation. If you are not realizing your ambition, if you are not getting what you expect, that is enough reason for you to take a decision as to where, what to move at, but I don’t think there’s going to be any advance, I don’t agree with you.

People are saying that there is no difference between the pDP and the APC. What is your position on the agitation for ideological politics?

There is quite a word of difference between the PDP and APC. The APC is a progressive party and we look at progressivism from the stand-

point of Nigerians. But, I will agree with you that probably, I don’t know whether it’s a case of im,maturity of our democratic process. But it’s a gradual process and I we are going to get to the point where the dividing line will be so clear that you can easily identify who is who and who is where at any given time. If you take our states for example, the states under the APC government, you will see a visible clear difference. Our approach to the issue of corruption, approach to the issue of poverty alleviation, approach to issue of education and health is entirely different from what we have in the system. And that will tell that there is a world of difference between us and them. You must also understand why we in this situation. One, because of the weakness of the private sector, government appears to be the only business. We are at the point where there is not much of party discipline because this anomaly of the executive being the leader of the party. I have never subscribed to it because once the party structure is weak, people who selected this positions now see the party as vehicles for the actualization of their political power. But with the proposals being made for some levels of legislation that will curtail such movements, I think a little bit of discipline will come into it.

How did your party resolve its postconvention crisis?

I don’t think there is much. One thing you must understand is that we are talking about human being; we are talking about people’s ambition; we are talking about people’s expectations. So, there is no way you will finish it and not expect that some persons will be injured or some people may not actualize or get what they want at the end of the day. Then, there is the need for you to consult and talk to such people and make sure everybody is carried along. So, the reactions after every congress or every convention is expected. But our position is

‘We are going to create an enabling environment for anybody who desires to aspire to any office to go ahead, right from the counsellorship up to the president. We are not going to impose anybody because we want the best to emerge’

that there must be justice in every given situation, because once there is no justice, the tendency for you to make peace is not there. Once there is justice, the route to making peace becomes wider and easier. When somebody is convinced through empirical evidence that this route you are following is not right, the tendency is there for the person to change route. But when the person has not seen a reason for him or her to change route, it is always very difficult. So I agree with you that the few issues that came up where expected because we are dealing with human beings. But most of them have been resolved Is there plan by the APC to enlarge its coast, ahead of next year’s polls?

Winning people to the party is a continuous process and we don’t intend to stop and we want you to join us too. So, anything we would do to get you to our side will be done. The important thing is that we have created a mega political platform that we have made available to Nigerians to express themselves. We have brought something that is different from the past, something that has never happened before. You know there have never been a successful merger in the history of Nigerian politics, talkless of a situation where parties with government at various levels collapsed their identities to come together. It is all because of the love for this nation and the desire that Nigeria has come to a point in our history where it is only the best that is good enough. We must create the enabling environment for the people to drive in and not until we do that, we have a problem and that is what makes the APC different from the other parties. First and foremost, you must have a pattern that others can build on by the time we finish our tenure.

Does the likelihood exist that the APC presidential candidate can come from the Southeast?

Yes. The possibility is there. There is no street in the Southeast that cannot generate a federal cabinet. I want to be challenged. Every street in the Southeast can generate a complete federal cabinet. We have presidential materials and so, you cannot shut out

Hon. Charles Obioha Ogbonnaya is the Deputy Chief of Staff to Abia State Governor Theodore Orji. He spoke with Correspondent UGOCHUKWU UGOJI-EKE in Umuahia, the state capital, on the controversy over the zoning of the governorship and other issues.

‘Abia ‘ll not compromise zoning’

• Ogbonnaya

W

HAT informed the Abia State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s decison to zone the governorship to the South senatorial zone?

SomeAbians have been condemning the decision by the PDP stakeholders’ meeting.

There are reasons for the zoning.

But, some people have argued that the seat should be open while others are of the opinion that it should be zoned to Ukwa/Ngwa area, which is made up of both the Abia Central which has Isiala Ngwa North and

South local governmentsand Osisioma local government area, which are all of Ngwa extraction and in Abia south.

Others even quoted the Abia Charter of Equity which according to them said that the governorship seat should be zoned to old Bende and Old Aba divisions. The charter of equity is an unsigned document that cannot be tendered anywhere and is written by elders when the state had part of Ebony state in the state. That document is untenable anywhere as it is full of controversies, contradictions and confusing.

Is the party going to discard the agreement?

Political office distribution are shared according to senatorial zones and I am aware that in 2006 at a meeting held at Okpara auditorium when Chief Uzodinma Okpara was the chairman of the PDP in the state, this contentious issue of zoning of the governorship seat arose and in that meeting a motion was moved by one Chief Ginger Onwusoibe of Isiala Ngwa north local government area asking that the governorship seat having been

occupied by the then governor Dr Orji Uzor Kalu from the north, that the next governor should come from the Central which was carried which made the party to zone the seat to Abia central zone.

It does not matter whether people from other zones criticised it or not.

But, the electorate adhered strictly to it which was the reason when PPA emerged, it zoned the governorship seat to the central including PDP and at the end Chief Theodore Orji won the governorship seat from the central zone of the state.

Therefore, it is wrong for anyone to start castigating the Abia PDP for zoning the governorship seat to the people of Abia south. I think it is the wisest thing to be done for peace to reign in the state. We must all understand that the weak must be protected. At no time will an Ngwa man be a governor of the state if the seat is made open to all to contest. It has happened before and because the party wants peace, equity and justice, the zoning of that office must be appreciated by all men of good

will.

The zoning of the governorship seat to the south does not in any way stop other aspirants from other zones from running, after all every candidate must emerge through the party primaries, so it is now left for the south to appreciate what the party has done and produce the governor in 2015 or sell the position to either Abia north or central in the next election.

Is the governor and the party sincere about zoning?

The governor from time stated early enoughs that he will hand over to an Ngwa man, in one of the ceremonies where he was received by Ngwa people at Abia Poly in Aba, the governor said, “As a person I will definitely hand over to a person from Ngwa”, but the party has said that the position is not handed over but zoned to a particular area of the state.

What the governor said was his personal opinion and he is not the party, but this time the party has spoken in fact re-echoed what the governor had said earlier. Therefore if a man from

that zone fails to win at the primaries, then it will be nobody’s fault, as it will be their fault. It behoves on them to put their house in order, “As a delegate during the primaries I will vote for a man from the south”.

PDP believes in zoning right from the ward level up to the presidency, so a party like PPA should stop meddling in the affairs of the PDP and if they think that they have the muscle to produce a governor outside what the PDP has done, they should zone it to another area and see if they will win the seat in 2015.

This noise about zoning is a way to distract the governor from engaging on the good works he is doing in the state. As far as Abians are concerned, the governor is doing well.

He has done well by fulfilling all his electoral promises and is putting finishing touches to enable him handover to a governor from the southern part of the state. The governor is a busy man preparing all the legacy projects for the presidential commissioning and there will be no abandoned projects in the state.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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The Midweek Magazine

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E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

HE smiles on their faces said it all. They had a nice time at the concert tagged: Nigerian Musicians in the Diaspora held at MUSON Centre, Onikan,

Lagos.

It was an evening well spent, many said. Agatha Ibeazor, a soprano, and Joseph Oparamanuike, a tenor, ignited the hall with their alluring classic Opera music to the pleasure of audience in the Agip Recital Hall. The concert was organised by the Music Society of Nigeria (MUSON).

Ibeazor graced the stage with her elegant silver sequence, one armed dress like Cinderella as the show started at 6pm. Ibeazor sang a long strings of catchy, warm music, such as Gracious Eva Dell’aqua’s Villanelle and Giacomo Puccini’s Quando Men vo.

On Oparamanuike’s part, he stepped on the stage in his gray suit, in a total concentrated state and entertained the audience with Francesco Paolo Tosti’s Ideale (perfection), Gioachino Rossini’s La Danza (the dance), and Robert Schumann’s Widmung (dedication), which he dedicated to his wife who was in the audience.

The quality of the sound was remarkably defined by the display of classical mastery by two pianists, award-winning Babatunde Sosan and Tosin Ajayi, whose play complemented the soul lifting music.

After the first phase of the show, the audience knew they were in the presence of Pros who left Nigeria to perfect their music skill abroad. The audience was completely riveted after 10 minutes interval, as the second phase of the show kicked-off with Gaetano Donizetti’s Una Furtiva Lagrima (a furtive tear) performed by Oparamanuike.

The audience were fascinated and manipulated, especially when he performed Omi (water), composed by Solomon Oretimehin, while Ibeazor came back to the stage in a white, armless, elegant dress, to dazzle her listeners on the colourfully decorated stage.

Beyond the arresting sound, they delighted the audience with their undeniably powerful vocals, dishing out hit after hit, including Chiedi All’ Lusinghiera (ask the flattering breeze) composed by Gaetano Donizetti, and Son Geloso Del Zefiro (I am jealous of the breeze) composed by Vincenzo Bellini, which they performed together dramatically to wrap up the show.

Those who were lucky enough to enjoy the impressive performance will understand these individuals’ love for music. “Music is my life,” Ibeazor said

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Centre to publish Ojeikere’s works

By Esther Chibueze HE Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Lagos, is set to publish the works of the late ace photographer Johnson Donatus Aihumekeokhai Ojeikere popularly known as J. D. Okhai Ojeikere.

Through its new publishing initiative Art-iculate, the group said it is producing an “ambitious” monograph on Ojeikere (1930-2014), which will feature a selection of more than 200 photographs from the artist’s extensive archive.

The publication would be exploring themes ranging from architectural studies, portraiture and fashion-related work to musical, theatrical and dance performances and his acclaimed hairstyles project.

It would also feature a stunning collection of high-quality black-and-white photographs that bear witness to the critical role that photography has played in the history of Nigeria and throughout Africa.

“After nearly five years of research and planning, the book is currently in its final stages of editing. Your support is needed as we enter the design and printing stages of production. Your contribution will go towards the cost of design, image and preprinting production (necessary for the high quality printing) as well as the final printing and binding of the publication.

“We are engaging with Kickstarter’s global audience in order to be complete this project and also to develop alternative avenues for publishing in and from Africa that aren’t dependent on the major international art publishers and distributors,” according to CCA. The book is scheduled for launch at the 1:54 African Art Fair in London between October 16 and 19.

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•Ibeazor(left) and Oparamanuike performing at the event.

Music from Diaspora at MUSON

By Udemma Chukwuma

MUSIC excitedly after the show, “I am excited. I want to keep singing, making people happy and make them see the emotions in singing,” she added. If you were at the concert you will be amazed by their mastering of Italian language and other European languages.

To show how pleased they were with the performance, the audience cheered and applauded to the 27 songs rendered in Italy, Yoruba, Igbo, French and English language. It was not difficult to explain the height of emotions brought

forth by this concert as performed at such high level of energy by the geniuses, who had their music origin from MUSON. They graduated from MUSON were they started their music career. They returned to Nigeria to give back to their country that had given them so much. This was why they performed for free, even though tickets were sold to non-members of MUSON. Oparamanuike went to the Alexander Gibson Opera School (AGOS), Royal Conservatore of Scotland (RCS) to acquire more knowledge about music, while Agatha Ibeazor left Nigeria two years ago for United States of America to acquire a master degree in music.

•Ojeikere

‘Nigeria can reap from huge cultural market’

IGERIA will make a lot of money from culture if its potential is exploited, experts have said.

The tourism and the broadcast industry, they observed, could be used to showcase Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage.

They spoke at the fifth yearly public and convocation lecture of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos.

The keynote lecture was delivered by Prof Effiong Johnson of the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

The theme was: Re-positioning Nigeria’s cultural industries for economic empowerment and social security.

Johnson said: “Indeed, tourism could be developed to be one of the highest foreign exchange earners in our vast and potential-capacitated nation; but unserious approach or calculated reluctance or overdependence on oil or misplaced priorities, and so on, clad the engagements of governments against the utilisation of tourism potential.”

According to him, countries, such as Dubai, Kenya, Ghana and Tunisia, are generating revenue from tourism.

By Udemma Chukwuma and Esther Chibueze

CULTURE “In 1992, Morocco earned $1,052million, Tunisia, $685 million, Kenya, $424million, Senegal, $160 million, Ghana, $118million, Tanzania, $70 million, while Nigeria earned only $15million,” he said.

He said insecurity is affecting the progress of tourism in the country, noting: “Redemption only lies in two-agenda counter attack strategy, specifically sanitising the environment of terrorism and associate crime and the evils, than taking economic agenda as a prioritised foreign exchange rescue alternative”.

He highlighted the importance of the National Theatre and Councils for Arts and Culture (NCAC) both at the state and federal levels, urging the government not to neglect the “praxis for economic empowerment and social security applies”.While urged the management of the National Theatre, “not to just stand there as a structural monument”, but to begin to do what it was meant for. He said it was supposed to be the carrier of “people’s consciousness” and should present production that carry the mind of the people and project the image of Nigeria to the

audience.

The Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, represented by the Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Mr. Martin Adaji, said the topic of the lecture “is relevant because it aligns with our thinking on the Transformation Agenda of the current administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, which intends to explore, harness, utilise and maximise the cultural and development of our great country.

In the words of the minister: “There is no gainsaying the fact that the recent rebasing of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) clearly shows that the cultural industries have the potentials for growth and the capacity to create employment, create wealth and eradicate poverty, if they are properly repositioned.”

He added that the ministry would work hard to bring out the best in Nigerians through growth of the cultural industries and also sustain cultural awareness in the society in order to achieve a sustainable national development.

Similarly, the Director-General, Culture for Management Development (CMD), Lagos, Dr Kabir Usman, who chaired the occasion, said: “I have no doubt that repositioning Nigeria’s cultural industries

will serve as a catalyst for the rapid socioeconomic development of the country, in line with the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan. There is no gainsaying the fact that, a vibrant cultural industry will go a long way in mitigating youth unemployment and the security challenges.”

During the convocation at the National Theatre, Lagos, NICO awarded certificates to 73 graduates of Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma(PGD) in Cultural Administration.

The minister, in a speech delivered on his behalf by Adaji, commended the institute’s management for creating an authentic platform to enlighten, educate and demonstrate, to the public, the critical role of culture in national development.

He said: “I am, particularly, delighted that today, through the NICA Training School platform, a crop of well-trained cultural officers are being sent out as cultural ambassadors to contribute their quota to the on-going socio-economic transformation of our nation.”

The Executive Secretary, NICO, Dr Barclays Ayakoroma, described the occasion as a milestone in tandem with the institute’s mandate of building capacity of workers in the cultural sector for meaningful national

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

The Midweek Magazine

•Soyinka

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

•Osundare

•Ofeimun

•Osofisan

Role of literature in democracy, good governance

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HE interplay between Literature and Politics is as old as man since creative writers in Africa have over the years played very important roles in the process of governance both in Africa and glo-

bally.

Regarding Politics and Literature, it has been established that decolonisation of Political culture preceded decolonisation of Literary Culture. In this regard, the pioneering roles of Azikiwe, Adelabu, Mbadiwe, Aminu Kano, Osadebay, Enahoro, Rewane and Awolowo either as poets or journalists should be appreciated. In addition, the seminal essay of Obi Wali’s The death of African Literature? presented in Kampala in 1963 in particular, set the stage for the full decolonisation of Literature. That was when African writers and by extension Nigerian writers took on the role of social critic or the conscience of the continent and the nation.

This is not unusual since creative writers in every society tend to take on some form of political engagement as social critics with or without colonisation. For example, the English writer Charles Dickens “protested the abuse of children and the corruption of individual feelings in his highly acclaimed book, Oliver Twist. His portrayal of the destruction of society’s institution and values is more insistent and strident in his later novels”.

In the same vein, Nigeria’s Literature is replete with the works of writers whose major forte was social criticism. In his 2012 lecture delivered in Minna , Niger State entitled Nigerian Literature, Conflict and National Unity, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka posed the question on the duty of a writer. According to Soyinka, “The primary duty of a writer is to write or else to pursue a different undertaking; his or her material is words which are the basic unit of the edifice of language”. In addition Soyinka observes that “another duty is to deploy, manipulate, organise, refurbish and, where necessary, even displace the normal meanings of words in order to transmit interesting mood, experience to engage the nominal, to interrogate ideas usually through characters which are created or adopted for that very purpose”.

However beyond the arduous job of using words to build vocabularies and “interrogate ideas” the writer has also wittingly or unwittingly taken up other extra duties depending on the circumstances of the time and his/her temper. These additional duties could be that of a social critic, a propagandist, a fund raiser for a cause or even a soldier. At the same 2012 lecture in Minna, the irrepressible Odia Ofeimun had this to say, “When I started writing poetry at the age of 17, the war had just started, Wole Soyinka was in detention, Chinua Achebe was helping to raise money for Biafra and Cyprian Ekwensi was doing propaganda for Biafra while Christopher Okigbo was fighting as a Biafran soldier. Che Quevera and Frank Fanon like Okigbo are not satisfied with fighting with words, also decided to take their literary war to the battle field by fighting in …”

All these go to show that in his/her ambition to change the world through literature, the writer could also take on several other roles apart from that of being a social critic or the conscience of the nation and the world. In addition, creative writers in every society tend to take on some form of political engagement as social critics. The English writer Charles Dickens for instance “protested the abuse of children and the corruption of individual feelings. His portrayal of the destruction of society’s institution and values is more insistent and strident in his later novel”.

Equally worth mentioning is the remark by the late French Prime Minister Francois Mitterrand who as a consummate poet of his time believed that poetry is superior to politics. To Mitterrand, while Poli-

By Wale Okediran

LITERATURE tics often frustrates, Literature is mind refreshing.

His observation seemed to tally with that of Bola Ige who during his lifetime, used to organise literary readings in his house in Bodija, Ibadan as a form of retreat from his usually busy and chockfull political activities.

Another society where Literature played an important role in political liberation was the Soviet Union of the 1950’s when writers who spoke against the Kremlin’s world view did so at the risk to their lives. Thus, in the former Soviet dictatorship, it was easy to be an engaging poet. All you had to do was say the words that nobody else could say. The very sound of those forbidden syllables would stir the people to the quick. And of course, it could also lead you to Siberia. Again, it is obvious that writers are not just people who write. They also function as a conscience of the society as they did in Central Europe during the last two centuries until the fall of the Berlin wall.

Here in Nigeria, we have a deluge of writers, who over the years continue to send strident political messages through their works. Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare, Festus Iyayi, Seffi Attah are just some of the large group of Nigerian writers who are never tired of criticising the powers that be. Contrary to the general impression that political leaders largely ignore these literary vituperations, a lot of them do. For example, during the burial ceremony of Chinua Achebe in 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan made reference to Achebe’s books, The Trouble with Nigeria (1983) and the last one, There was a Country, saying they were a clarion call on Nigerians to shun corruption and other vices that the country could move forward.

As the President put it, “So as we are burying Achebe, who wrote There was a Country today, it is for us and our future leaders to work very hard to make sure that probably when Achebe Junior is writing another book on Nigeria it will be titled There is a Country. That means that we that are politicians, business moguls, religious leaders and traditional leaders, all of us must work hard to change this country.” Some Nigerian writers such as Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ben Tomolojo, Okediran and very lately, Ogaga Ifowodo, to mention just a few, have also at one time or the other took that extra step of going into partisan politics. For example, Soyinka was a card carrying member of Aminu Kano’s faction of the PRP before, according to him, the high rate of political violence made him do away with partisan politics.

Doctor/writers, such as Anezi Okoro, Tony Marinho, Femi Olugbile, have also been at the forefront of using literature to reform their society. Politics is a very strong theme in the poetry of Marinho and the novels of Olugbile, among other writers especially poets. These writers have the advantage of using the literary medium of expression that has a wider audience than politics. Whereas, no amount of political statement lasts more than a week (like a storm in a tea cup or as transient as a froth) Literature allows you a wider audience than politics provided the books are well written and read.

Achebe’s three earlier texts locate their stories clearly within Nigeria’s cities, villages, and ethnic groups; the fourth novel inhabits imaginary cities and refuses specific ethnic or cultural identification.

The political and social problems that regulate the plot—bribery, kickbacks, incompetence at high government levels, greed, and social apathy—represent not just Nigeria’s maladjustment to independence but that of many African nations. How differ-

ent is A Man of the People from the Ghanaian novel The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1969), or the Senegalese novel The Last of the Empire (1983). In fact all three serve to exemplify, or rather prove, Fanon’s theories of disastrous neo-colonialism when power falls into the hands of the greedy elite. Despite the similarity to actual historical events to Nigeria in 1963, the riots, turbulent election campaigns, the political corruption, Achebe refuses to limit his story only to Nigeria. Just as Armah named his workingclass protagonist “the man,” Achebe makes use of the general to enlarge its representational possibilities. It becomes not the story of Nigeria but the story of any West African nation, an elaborate parable of the pitfalls of neo-colonialism.

Chinua Achebe’s texts have long been considered the quintessential Nigerian novels, despite their Igbo specific village settings, or the use of imaginary or vague signifiers that allow both A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah (1987) to be seen as parables for the postcolonial African nation in peril.

Just like the above mentioned writers, politics and social issues have been the strong and persistent themes of my literary works. For example, the problem of the Ogunpa flood disaster which occurred in Ibadan many years ago, formed the kernel of my novel, After The Flood (Longman Plc, 2003), while smuggling and cross border violence featured prominently in The Boys At The Border (Spectrum Books,1991). On the other hand, corruption among Law Enforcement Agents and the problem of drug trafficking were examined respectively in Strange Encounters (Heinemann [Heineman] 2004) and Dreams Die at Twilight (Malthouse, 2002), while my latest work, Tenants of The House (Nelson Publishers 2010) critically examined our current democratic experience.

As pointed out above, the political and social problems that regulate the plot in Achebe’s A Man of The People are bribery, kickbacks, incompetence at high government levels, greed, and social apathy. Sadly, these are the same issues that dominate subsequent novels with the same theme published several decades after A Man of The People. They are also the same issues that drive the plot of Tenants of The House.

What may be different between the two books are the style and language of politics which have slightly changed since colonial times. Thus, when Hon Lizzy in Tenants of The House while explaining how she came about the gun in her handbag blurted out to Hon Sam Bakura that “Hear this and hear it well. To kill is a crime, to kill at the right time is politics’ she was just highlighting the pervading culture of violence that is now rampant in politics”.

It was the same Lizzy who advised Sam on how to win future elections by admonishing him to make as much money as needed while in government for in her words, “Huge loads of fertiliser is what you need. Money, money, money is the fertiliser of politics”. Not done, she encouraged Sam to do all he could to remain in the Parliament. As she put it, “How many Reps make it back? Only two out of ten. Sam, Sam, Sam, how many times did I call you?

You want to make it back? Take the money, make the money, from anywhere, everywhere. Prepare for the rainy day. Politics can be good for you. In this Nigeria, life outside parliament is hard, hard, hard,”.

This statement will therefore explain the reason why many of our elected officials will do everything possible to stay in power much against the advice of that famous British MP Enoch Powell that “all political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and human affairs”.

Interestingly, the Nigeria’s political history is replete with many politicians who left office in tears and sometimes in disgrace because they failed to

determine the “happy juncture” at which to cut off their political lives. Interestingly too, this phenomenon is not limited to Nigeria. The former British Prime Minister, Iron lady Margaret Thatcher also left office in tears after eight wonderful years in office.

Another very popular habit among politicians the world over, especially in Nigeria, is that of inconsistency in ideas and political positions. And so when Hon Lizzy and her friends in TENANTS decided to impeach Speaker Yaya who is their very good friend, an exasperated Hon Bakura remarked: “Lizzy, ah ah! Why? The Speaker is your friend. Why do you want him out? I don’t get it”.

Lizzy in her usually combative style replied: “Yes, Speaker Yaya is my friend. But in this matter he is not. You know the saying, ‘There are no permanent friends in politics, only permanent interests”.

Again, this assertion by Lizzy explains the reason why some Nigerian politicians change political parties at will. Today, we have so many highly placed politicians in the country who have made a complete round of all the major political parties in the country. I am sometimes amused whenever I am asked by my party leaders to attend a reception to welcome some new decampees from another party to our party. My amusement stems from the fact that these same decampees were a few weeks ago referred to in all sorts of terrible nomenclatures such as “conservatives”, “thieves”, “dictators” and the rest. However once they join our party, they are showered with praises and hailed as “progressives”, “savant leaders” and “true democrats”. Of course, such new party members are quick to denounce their former parties as “visionless”, “corrupt” among other harsh words.

My question at such moments was, “why it took the fellows such a long time to make such a huge U turn in their political careers?”

As I pointed out earlier, “crossing the carpet” as this political habit is termed in western countries is not limited to Nigeria. It is on record that even the great Winston Churchill ‘crossed the carpet three times in his historic and glorious political career.

Again, when the House Leader in TENANTS advised Speaker Yaya to spruce up his information-gathering techniques in order to avoid getting impeached, the Chief Whip countered the Leader’s suggestion: “espionage? James Bond Stuff. Not on your life. This is politics, not war”.

To this, the Deputy Leader replied: “It is war my friend. According to the Great War theorist, Karl Von Clausewitz, politics is war carried out by other means”. Judging from the way and manner politics is played in Nigeria, to many Nigerian politicians, Clausewitz is right on the mark!

Finally, I am often asked the reason for the Hausa exclamations in TENANTS? Some critics have postulated that by giving the Hausa translation of every emotional outburst in the book, I was indirectly implying that Hausa is the language of politics in Nigeria. To such questions, my explanation is that out of all the ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Hausa/Fulanis take politics more seriously than other ethnic groups. Having realised how important political power is, the Hausa/Fulani are well organised when it comes to political aspirations. If this then means that Hausa is the language of politics in Nigeria, so be it.

•Dr Okediran is former House of Representatives member and a past President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).

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E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

‘I got fulfilment in art award’

HE 2009 winner of the Nigerian Breweries Plc and African Artists Foundation organised National Art Competition Olayinka Olatoye has described the prize as a milestone in his career.

He spoke in Lagos at the unveiling of the 12 finalist for this year’s prize.

Olatoye said being a living testimony of the competition is a thing to treasure because of the fulfilment he got from the venture.

He said it was his career’s “turning point” because he won it when he was just leaving the university for the labour market.

Until 2009, Olatoye never wanted to be identified as a photographer but got encouraged when he again won the third place at the 2011 edition of the competition. For him, the competition has provided him with platform as well as good patronage for his art works.

“I dared the competition as a fresher and my artwork was judged as the best among the entries that year. I was encouraged to do more conceptual photography and ever since I find pleasure and fulfilment in it,” he said.

Stories by Ozolua Uhakheme, Assistant Editor (Arts)

COMPETITION Former Ondo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism and pioneer winner of the competition, Chief Tola Wewe, who said the competition impacted on his art, urged the contestants to use the next four months to explore and showcase the rich cultural heritage and reflect on the trying period the nation is passing through now. He also commended the organisers of the competition noting: “I can see the event growing to international scale that will attract foreign participants in the future”.

Nigerian Breweries’ Corporate Social Responsibility/Sustainability Manager, Mr Emete Tonukari, said the competition aims to promote the conceptual development of contemporary art in Nigeria with the mission of raising awareness on relevant social issues through the use of creative artistic expression.

With Interventions as this year’s theme, he said, it explores how contemporary art serves as a catalyst for positive social

•Chief Wewe (left) and Olatoye

change, engaging artists to think about their relationship to the social political and cultural framework of the society they live in.

According to the organisers, first place

winner will go home with N12million, a solo art exhibition and a trip to Dubai. Winners of the outstanding concept and outstanding production will get N1million each at a grand finale in November.

‘Include culture, tourism in schools’ curriculum’

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IGERIA Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Director-General Sally Mbanefo is advocating the inclusion of culture/tourism in schools’ curriculum to enable children learn about their heritage.

To this end, she has included Osun Children’s Cultural Fiesta as a major component of the yearly Osun Osogbo Festival in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

Mbanefo said: “The children’s cultural fiesta has come to be part of NTDC’s promotion of the cultural festival. We are reaching out to schools and discussing how to make tourism part of their curriculum. Let the children grow with the culture and be proud to speak their languages anywhere in the world. If you are fluent in English and unable to speak your mother tongue, you seem lost.”

She spoke at this year’s Osun Children Cultural Fiesta held at the Ataoja’s palace. She praised the rich Yoruba culture, saying the corporation is determined to ensure that all the cultural festivals in Nigeria would be promoted and marketed to the outside world as part of Federal Government’s effort to make tourism a major revenue spinner for the economy.

At the festival, NTDC organised competitions to encourage the children. They came in four categories: drumming, dancing, cultural fashion parade and Yoruba spelling;whileN200,000 was expended as prize money for the winners of the various competitions.

Mbanefo described the festival as a veritable platform for cultural exchange, noting that the festival witnessed a ground breaking collaboration between NTDC and Osun Government, adding that the partnership necessitated re-

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•Mrs Mbanefo flanked by children and others in Osogbo.

searchers from NTDC to collect data on tourists both local and foreigners that attended this year’s festival.

“It is a channel at which culture is being exhibited and exchanged to the world.Southwest culture is one of the richest as civilisation came early and was properly documented and handed down to generations. Osogbo Festival is unique to the corporation and included in our calendar of cultural events. It is very unique to NTDC because it is one of the numerous festivals of international recognition enlisted as the World Heritage Site by UNESCO, in-

cluding Sango Festival that has been exported to over forty countries of the world.

“This is done because the corporation must ascertain how popular the festival is to the world and get records of the tourists that attended the festival. The idea is for the federal government to determine its commitment to continue to support for the festival,” she said.

The yearly festival ismarkin Augustfor 12 days with various activities events that led to the founding of Oshogbo town and the renewal of ancestral bonds between the Osun goddess and the people of Osogbo.

Managing Director, INFOGEM Ltd and Marketing Consultant of the Festival, Mr Ayo Olumoko, praised the efforts of NTDC in promoting the Osun Cultural Festival with the inclusion of the Children Cultural Fiesta. According to him, the synergy among other stakeholders and NTDC has become necessary in view of the fact that government alone cannot drive domestic tourism.”Dr Mbanefo has set a pace, the State of Osun and the organising committee of the event appreciate her efforts,” he said.

Alaafin lauds NTDC boss on culture, tourism promotion

HE Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, has praised the Director-General of the Nigeria Tourism Development Commission (NTDC), Dr Sally Mbanefo for promoting culture and tourism.

He spoke during this year’s World Sango Festival in Oyo town. The monarch said: “I have keenly observed your activities since you assumed office as NTDC director-general over a year ago, and I can say, unequivocally, that you have done so well. Having followed your strides and acts as NTDC boss, I realised that you are a passionate lady who is determined to achieve where your predecessors had failed.

You are on the right frame.

“It is very commendable that Mbanefo matches her words with deeds. She envisioned domestic tourism and here she is, attending Sango Festival. She was in Ile-Ife for Olokun Festival and in Idanre for Mare Festival. Thus, so far, she has displayed a robust sense of responsibility at her duty post. I commend you, Sally Mbanefo, on behalf of the Oyo Mesi and the entire people of Oyo.” The monarch, who assured the NTDC boss of his support, said Oyo would like to partner with the NTDC to market the numerous traditional festivals in the ancient town, most importantly, Sango Festivals, to attract both local and foreign tourists and cre-

ate wealth for the people in the state and the country at large.

The NTDC boss, who noted that Sango Festival had been exported to over 47 countries, praised the Alaafin and the people of Oyo for keeping the festival alive against all odds, urging them to keep the flag of the Sango Festival flying.

While expressing her joy for being part of this year’s World Sango Festival, Mbanefo commendedthe monarch and his people for their warm reception, assuring him of her continuous support in ensuring the success of the festival and other cultural events in the town.

She observed that the landscape of the

TOURISM

state is dotted with a good number of tourism potentials.

She said: “Oyo State has so much to offer in terms of tourism. The state has so many historical sites and monuments. I must say that there are so many tourist attractions in Ibadan, Oyo town, Ogbomoso and Ibarapa, just to mention a few. Festivals bring back our past history and celebrate our culture and tradition, boosts our knowledge in history, while creating wealth and employment for the people. Therefore, it is high time Nigerians woke up and appreciate our tourist potentials, culture and traditions, and explore them, to enable us benefit from the goodies of tourism like many other nations of the world.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

THE FEAR OF EBOLA IS...

Some youths during an awareness campaign by Hon. Moruf Akinderu– Fatai on prevention of the Ebola Virus disease in Oshodi, Lagos. Inset: A trader reading the pamphlet.

•PHOTO: TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO

MAN holds workshop on entertainment T

HE Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) House has held the first entertainment sensitisation workshop on the Growth and Employment Project (GEM).

It was organised by MAN’s Project Implementation Unit (PIU).

The Project Coordinator, Mr Y. S. Labaran, told stakeholders that the workshops were designed to e n s u r e t h a t t h e s e c t o r was i n f o r m e d a b o u t t h e project’s aims and had a chance to feed into the

Y

WORKSHOP intervention plans from the outset.

He said the timelines and cluster mapping would commence this month, while an industry cluster group would be convened in December with funding coming in next year.

The World Bank representative at the event Mr Andrew Gartside, said the initiative was focused on the private sector, saying the intervention will

Foundation calls for entries

OUNG writers of children’s literature living in the country have been invited to send in entries to this year’s Splendid Literature Series.

In a statement by the Splendid Foundation, the series is open to prose writers alone.

According to the organisers, the competition will select 12 unpublished stories in the junior and senior categories.

For the junior category, entries should cater for children between eight and 12 and should not exceed 5, 000 words, while entries in the senior category should be written for young adults between 13 and 17 and should not exceed 10, 000 words.

To participate, the foundation say, entrants must be between 11 and 21, adding that the entries should be original unpublished prose works in English that is entertaining, enlightening and having a strong Nigerian/African content. Also, entrants are not expected to illustrate their stories.

“All entries should also be mindful of appropriate language and subject matter according to readers’ experience and interest. Entries will be assessed on the basis on depth, originality, quality of writing, and appeal. And the best

By Esther Chibueze

LITERATURE six stories in each category will be selected by the foundation’s Panel of Judges for publication in an anthology.

Every story published by the foundation will get royalty according to publication terms, while the author retains copyright. ‘’Interested authors should send four copies of their manuscript to Splendid Literature & Culture Foundation in Lagos or P.O. Box 7328, GPO, Lagos.

Online submissions can also be sent to entries@splendidfoundation.com.

“The manuscript should be typewritten or legibly written and should include name, address, phone number and e-mail address on the title page of the manuscript. Only one entry per author is allowed and entries should be submitted with real names. Submissions should be accompanied by evidence of Nigerian citizenship (photocopied/scanned copy of birth certificate, Nigerian passport or Nigerian ID Card).”

The closing date for submission of entries is September 15.

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be driven by the needs and aspirations of the sector.

According to him, the project will provide inputs through funding of various cluster activities, including issues such as training and provision of information sharing and collaboration platforms.

“Firms will also be funded to commercialise new products and develop innovative ideas. More events were held in Kano, Jos and Awka throughout last month,” it said.

HE fourth edition of the Miss Heritage Nigeria and the National Heritage Awards will hold on October 5 in Lagos.

The winner of the pageant will go home with a brand new car and cash prize.

The events are being organised by Caires Grooming Agency Ltd. According organisers, the agency has engaged the services of consulting teams - EDZ Entertainment Ltd and Golden Alpha Networks Nigeria to ensure the success of the events.

In a statement, the founder/Chief Executive Officer, Caires Grooming Agency, Miss Chinor Emeka said: “Miss Heritage Nigeria is a unique event that seeks to display our traditional heritage, harnessing the essence of the real beauty of our young women from within, while promoting our rich cultural diversity. At the event, the National Heritage Awards would be used as a platform to confer awards to people of outstanding reputation in alignment with preserving and promoting our national heritage.

“This year’s award will go to distinguished corporations and

Miss Heritage Nigeria holds in October

By Esther Chibueze

PAGEANTRY individuals in recognition for their contributions and value added services towards nation building.

Our past events, which started in 2011 and now in its fourth edition, have attracted dignitaries, among who are: Dr Harbhajan Batth, wife of former Vice President, Mrs Titi Atiku Abubakar, Chika Ike, Oge Okoye, Frank Oshodi, Baba Kumar Farouk and Tuface Idibia.”

Its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Kenneth Okonjo, said: “Miss Heritage Nigeria exists as a way to celebrate and empower young women who exemplify intelligence, talent and total beauty of the Nigerian woman.”

He added that the event was also designed to promote the nation’s hospitality, creativity, culture and tourism.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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BUSINESS EXTRA

Half-year remittances by Nigerians in Diaspora hit $10.4b

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N the first half of this year, $10.40 billion was remitted to the country by Nigerians abroad. These huge money include contributions through remittances to their families, friends, communities, medical missions and provision of scholarships, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said.

According to a statement endorsed by her Special Adviser, Paul Nwabuikwu, this emereged during meeting with Nigerians in Diaspora by a high level ExecutiveLegislative team.

“Nigerians in the Diaspora have been seeking ways and means to contribute more to the country’s development. This interest is backed by substantial capacity: the value

From Nduka Chiejina (Asst. Editor)

of remittances from Nigerians abroad in 2013 was $20.77 billion; for the first half of 2014, it is $10.40 billion. This includes contributions through remittances to their families, friends and communities, medical missions and provision of scholarships,” the statement explained.

As a result of these huge remittances he said team is currently holding a series of interactive sessions with Nigerians in Europe and the United States (U.S.). The sessions were organised by the Debt Management Office (DMO), led by its Director-General, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo.

The delegation he said is headed by the Coordinating Minister for the

Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and includes key members of relevant committees in the National Assembly. The members of the National Assembly are: Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Sen E. Uzamere, Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Sen Ahmed Makarfi; Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Sen Ita Enang, Chairman, House Committee on Aid, Loans and Debt Management,Honourable Adeyinka Ajayi, House Committee on Diaspora, Hon Famurewa Ajibola Israel, House Committee on Finance, Honourable Abdulrahman Terab, and Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Hon Emmanuel David Ombugadu.

“The experience of countries such

as Israel and India shows that the Diaspora are a force to be reckoned with in the growth and development of any country through the funding of critical development projects, among other means. The current effort is directed at providing the Nigerian Diaspora similar opportunities,” the statement read.

The meetings which started two days ago in London, “will continue in New York, Washington DC and Houston between September 2-4, 2014. The London meeting hosted by the Nigerian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Dr. Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, was attended by over 140 invited Nigerian professionals.”

The meeting Nwabuikwu explained “provided an avenue for the CME and the other members of the team to update Nigerians in the

Diaspora on the developments in the economy, the major achievements of the Transformation Agenda under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and the opportunities available in Nigeria for Diaspora Nigerians.”

Nigerians in Diaspora were also reassured of the developments in the country with respect to the Ebola Virus Disease and government’s management of the situation.

“Participants expressed concern about the security situation and urged the government to do more particularly with respect to the return of the Chibok girls and also showed a lot of interest in contributing to development with investments in infrastructure, SMEs and in the housing sector,” the statement added.

Nigeria achieves 39.5mt capacity in cement production

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• Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Usman Jubrin (left), presenting a souvenir to the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Joseph Dawh, during the GMD’s visit to the Chief...yesterday

Fed Govt laments mass ignorance about FIRS roles

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HE Federal Government has lamented the ignorance of a large number of Nigerian tax payers about proper understanding of the role the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) plays in national development.

The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Mr. Jonah Otunla raised this issue yesterday in Abuja at the FIRS Stakeholder Engagement Forum.

Otunla noted that it was the obligation of tax payers to support the FIRS in the effective discharge of its mandate of collecting and accounting for all tax revenues.

He said: “As the largest economy in Africa, we must

From Nduka Chiejina (Asst.

Editor)

leverage our areas of strength to prop up those areas, where we are still lagging behind. To improve revenue collection, we will all need to do more than we are currently doing at the moment.”

The recent rebasing of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) he said, “shows that our GDP to tax ratio is about 12 per cent, which is below the average of 20 per cent for other emerging economies. It is therefore necessary for the FIRS to engage with all relevant stakeholders to find more effective ways of growing the non-oil tax revenues.”

The AGF also stated that the Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System (GIFMIS) will now manage the expenditure transactions, including payments of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and that of the FIRS. As a result, he urged the FIRS to utilise the interface with financial systems of MDAs on this platform to enhance revenue collection.

In his address, the the Ag. Executive Chairman of FIRS Alhaji Kabir Mashi said “with the assistance of McKinsey, the FIRS has identified eight key initiatives as a platform for achieving our goals. These initiatives are in the areas of audits, arrears and debt en-

forcement, review of tax exemptions, evasion of rental taxes, taxation of high net worth transactions, registration, filing and communication as a means of enhancing compliance.”

He said the FIRS has started “to implement these initiatives and we are already seeing results spread across the eight initiatives.”

The Forum he said “provides an opportunity to solicit the continued cooperation of our stakeholders to ensure that we are able to fulfil our core mandate of revenue generation in a manner that is sustainable and carries everyone along.”

Rivers lawmakers authorise Amaechi to access N50b bond

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IVERS lawmakers yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, gave nod to the State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi to access N50 billion first tranche, which was half of the N100 billion bond it approved on January 29, this year.

The lawmakers also resolved that the governor should borrow the sum of N2 billion from the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) to fund micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) in the state.

This is even as the lawmakers have summoned the state

• Summons Health Commissioner over Ebola From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, to brief them on the Ebola disease outbreak in the state.

The approval for the N50 billion bond was given in response to Governor Amaechi’s letter to the lawmakers asking for their authorisation to access the money to enable his administration fund infrastructure projects in the state.

On the proposed N2 billion

loan from CBN, Amaechi in the letter, requested for a ‘resolution’ to borrow the amount to fund MSMEs. The governor stated that if approved, the loan would create job opportunities and empower citizens of the state as well as boost economic activities in the state.

The lawmakers unanimously approved the two requests of the governor, as they are meant for the development of the state.

Following the out break of Ebola virus in the state,

the House of Assembly had summoned Dr. Parker to appear before it on Friday to brief the House on the situation of the virus in the state.

The invitation was on the heels of the commissioner’s failure to appear before the lawmakers yesterday, though he sent a letter of apology explaining reasons for his inability.

Speaker of the House, Otelemaba Dan-Amachree, who read his letter to the lawmakers, frowned at Dr. Parker’s absence, warning that no excuse would be entertained again.

HE Federal Government yesterday said the country has now reached an installed capacity of 39.9 million metric tonnes of cement production.

President Goodluck Jonathan who spoke during the Line II Ground-Breaking ceremony of UNICEM Cement Factory, Mfamosing, Calabar, Cross River State, said the feat was achieved as a result of the backward integration policy of the Federal Government.

The president was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo on the occasion.

President Jonathan, according to a statement endorsed by the Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the Vice President, Umar Sani said the Backward Integration Policy in the cement industry was initiated by the Federal Government in 2002 to ensure self sufficiency in cement production.

He said: “From a paltry 2 million metric tonnes of cement hitherto produced locally per annum, by 2013 we have achieved 39.5 million metric tonnes of installed capacity.”

Describing the manufacturing industry as the backbone of the country's growth, he said government would continue to formulate policies that would galvanise the industry.

He said the 550mgawatt (Mw) Calabar Power plant would soon be commissioned in Cross River State in order to tackle the challenges being faced by industries.

He also said construction work would soon commence on the rail line lead-

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

ing to Calabar up to Obudu Ranch, while the dredging of the Calabar River and the construction of a deep sea port at Ibaka among other infrastructural development are in the pipeline.

President Jonathan therefore sought cooperation among all stakeholders to ensure progress, saying “Government will continue to cooperate with the relevant agencies, both public and private, to champion meaningful projects and ensure steady progress in our communities.”

Commending the management of UNICEM for keying into the Transformation Agenda, he harped on the need to carry along the communities in the area of its operations.

He said: “Improving the lives of the people in these communities remains your greatest business asset.”

The President also urged the community to cooperate with the company, saying: "This is the only way the new project could be realised in record time, by 2016, and the surrounding communities will derive the full benefits of the project."

Speaking on the occasion, the Governor of Cross River State, represented by his Deputy, Barrister Efiok Cobham, said the state government would continue to provide the enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

He commended the president for his people-friendly policies that had made the state a hub of industrialisation.

NERC to take responsibility for regulations outcome

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HE Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr Sam Amadi yesterday said although the commission considered the inputs of stakeholders for the draft Nigerian Electricity Supply and Installation Standards (NESIS) regulations, the commission would take responsibility for the outcomes of the regulations.

In his opening remarks at the public hearing on the draft NESIS at Abuja, he said: “As always, we take responsibility for the final outcome. But we depend on

From John Ofikhenua and Abimbola Alo, Abuja

your contributions to make sure that the regulation is such that it will achieve its purpose.”

He promised stakeholders that all their contributions would be incorporated into the final draft of the commission’s regulation.

According to him, the public hearing was a fulfillment of NERC’s mandate in ensuring effective, technical regulation for reliability and safety in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 02-09-14

25-07-14 DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 02-09-14

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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EQUITIES

Investors stake N6.5b in down market T HE Nigerian equities market yesterday suffered its second consecutive decline in the early days of September as increasingly nervous investors staked about N6.5 billion on mostly discounted transactions.

Against the background of sustained month-on-month decline since July, the last month of the third quarter looks less cheery.

With nearly two out of every three price changes on the negative, the bearishness was evident across the sectors, though highly capitalised stocks dominated the slackers’ list.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dropped by N45 billion from N13.670 trillion to close at N13.625 trillion. The market had lost similar amount when it opened on Monday.

Stories by Taofik Salako Capital Market Editor

The All Share Index (ASI), the value-based index that tracks changes in prices of all quoted equities, also slipped from 41,398.05 points to 41,264.65 points, indicating average decline of 0.32 per cent, the same value lost in the previous day.

The sustained downtrend depressed the average year-to-date returns at the stock market to -0.16 per cent, eroding the modest capital gain that the market had retained in August.

Nestle Nigeria led the 33-stock losers’ list with a loss of N25.09 to close at N1,054.90. Forte Oil followed with a loss of N2.99 to close at N227. Lafarge Africa placed third with a loss of N1.25. Ashaka Ce-

ment dwindled by N1.05 to close at N32.42. Oando lost 75 kobo to close at N26. UAC of Nigeria dropped by 50 kobo to close at N58.50. Access Bank slipped by 48 kobo to close at N9.29. Nigerian Breweries lost 41 kobo to close at N175.64.

Okomu Oil Palm declined by 40 kobo to N34.10 while Dangote Flour Mills lost 35 kobo to close at N6.65 per share.

Investors pushed more transactions through at discounted prices as bargain-hunters took advantage of the relatively lower prices to build up positions. Total turnover was around average with the exchange of 296.1 million shares valued at N6.49 billion in 6,037 deals.

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) Plc, the parent company of Transcorp Hotels Plc, which has indicated plan for a N8

billion initial public offering (IPO), was the most active stock with a turnover of N91.44 million shares valued at N613.09 million in 872 deals. Skye Bank placed a distant second with a turnover of 25.37 million shares worth N73.50 million in 112 deals. Sterling Bank recorded a turnover of 19.87 million shares valued at N44.16 million in 609 deals.

On the upside, Zenith Bank led 19 other stocks on the gainers’ list with addition of 59 kobo to close at N24.60. Guinness Nigeria rallied 50 kobo to close at N180.50. Eterna and International Breweries rose by 38 kobo each to close at N4.47 and N28.38 respectively. Dangote Cement gained 34 kobo to close at N225.50 while Premier Breweries chalked up 21 kobo to close at N2.39 per share.

SEC warns investors on dealing with illegal operator

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ECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) has alerted the investing public about the activities of a company, which has been engaging in illegal capital market activities.

In a widely circulated circular obtained yesterday, SEC stated that it has uncovered that a certain Liberty Assets Management Limited has been operating illegally as a capital market operator in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom.

According to the apex regulator, Liberty Assets Management is not a registered capital market opera-

tor and its activities are illegal and inimical to the interests of the general investing public.

“Members of the public are therefore warned to desist from carrying out any capital market transactions with Liberty Assets Management Limited,” SEC stated.

SEC had in an earlier circular cautioned the general public “that one Dr. David Torty and TMA Consulting Group are not registered by the Commission to carry out any capital market activity.”

According to SEC, the illegal operator, which operates from

Owerri, Imo State, has been carrying on capital market activities illegally, through TMA Consulting Group.

“The general public is by this notice advised not to transact any capital market business with the said David Torty,” SEC had warned.

It urged investors wishing to invest in the capital market to transact through bona fide operators registered with the capital market regulators noting that information on registered operators is available on the regulators’ website.

It should be recalled that SEC had earlier sealed up the offices of a number of illegal fund managers in Jos, Port Harcourt, Sokoto and Lagos. The apex regulator of the capital market has also sanctioned some operators in the capital market in line with the zero tolerance policy for improper behavior in the Nigerian capital market. The closed illegal operators included Women-In-Oil, an illegal fund manager and Ponzi Scheme, Green Planet Association International, Bukuru and Wiscom Ventures, Jos North.

SEC reviews fraud charges against Shalom Investment S

ECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) has invited the general investing public to submit any pending complaints against Shalom Investment and Financial Services, a stockbroking firm that was suspended over fraudulent practices.

In a notice obtained by The Nation, the apex capital market regulator stated that investors with any capital-market related complaints against Shalom Investment should submit such complaints to the Commission within two weeks.

According to the Commission, the request for information is to aid the Commission in determining whether or not there are capital market complaints currently pending against the stockbroker or its directors as SEC reviews the suspension of the firm.

SEC had suspended Shalom Investment over sundry fraudulent practices and failure to take remedial measures to redress the complaints.

SEC suspended Shalom Investment and all its sponsored individuals from all capital market ac-

•Withdraws Gosord Securities’ licence

tivities with effect from May 20, 2014.

The suspension, according to SEC, was as a result of Shalom Investment’s refusal and failure to comply with the Commission’s directive to completely purchase some shares that had been paid for since 2008.

The stockbroking firm also failed to resolve other complaints against it while it was also unable to pay the penalty imposed on the firm by the Commission.

In another related development, SEC yesterday issued a general notice to the investing public informing investors of the withdrawal of the registration of Gosord Securities Limited, one of the stockbroking firms that had been investigated for unauthorised sales of investors’ shares.

The decision by the executive management committee of the Securities and Exchange Commission

implied that Gosord Securities Limited cannot engage in any capital market activity.

The Nation had recently exclusively reported that the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had investigated and indicted 29 stockbroking firms and four stockbrokers for alleged unauthorised sale of their clients’ shares.

A report on shares fraud, also known as unauthorised sales of investors’ shares, indicated that several stockbroking firms surreptitiously sold their clients’ shares and diverted the proceeds. The report by the NSE covered the 30-month period between January 2012 and June 2014.

The report showed that nearly half of the shares frauds have been completed and the indicted stockbroking firms made to restitute the investors, a general reference to order to buy back the shares or pay

•Arunma Oteh

the investor the value of the shares and all his entitlements.

According to the report, 16 cases are still pending, although the NSE has taken preemptive measure of suspending the stockbroking firms and stockbrokers. The pending cases have been referred to the disciplinary committee of the council of the NSE.

Caverton wins contract to supply drilling vessels to SEPCOL

C

AVERTON-RK , a member of the Caverton Offshore Support Group (COSG) has been awarded a contract to supply two drilling vessels to Shebah Exploration and Production Company Limited (SEPCOL).

COSG’s share price remained unchanged yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The contract will run for an initial period of three months and provides for Caverton-RK to supply two vessels in support of Rig Trident VIII SEPCOL’s offshore drilling operations.

Caverton-RK is a joint venture between RKOffshore of Singapore and Caverton Marine Limited-one of the two subsidiaries of COSG. The joint venture was formed in 2012 to take advantage of growing opportunities in the offshore support vessel sector. On its part, SEPCOL is an indigenous exploration and production company and operator of the Ukpokiti offshore field, which it acquired from ConocoPhillips in 2004.

Chief executive officer, Caverton Offshore Support Group (COSG), Mr. Olabode Makanjuola, said the contracts would boost the marine business of the group.

According to him, while the aviation business accounts for a large portion of Caverton revenue base presently, the company plans to increase marine business contribution over the next two years.

“We are aggressively pursuing opportunities in the marine industry and are well positioned as the leading logistics provider to take full advantage of the benefits of current local content laws and initiatives,” Makanjuola said.

He noted that Caverton’s strength lies in building local capacity and assets as attested by its aviation business adding that RKOffshore brings vast experience to the joint venture and recognises Caverton’s commitment to local capacity development.

“We are delighted to be providing marine logistics services to a wholly indigenous exploration and production company in Nigeria. Today, we not only provide logistics services in support of oil and gas exploration and production activities by multinational companies, but also provide services for indigenous Companies. This demonstrates our deep knowledge and experience in the Nigerian offshore support services industry,” Makanjuola said.

He outlined that Caverton has been creating jobs and enhancing domestic capacity pointing out that some members of the crew onboard the vessels are Nigerians and plans are underway to further increase local participation.

According to him, Caverton Marine has vast experience in ownership and operation of LPG and Petroleum Product tankers prior to venturing into the oil service sector.

In addition to its listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on May 20 this year, Caverton recently announced its financial results for the period ended June 30 2014 which showed 21% increase in revenue to N12.5 Billion combined with improving operating performance.

56

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

MONEYLINK

CBN to review money transfer limits for banks

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plans to harmonise fund transfer services for banks.

Speaking at a banking forum in Lagos, CBN Director, Banking & Payment System, ‘Dipo Fatokun said the practice, where banks have set up internal limits for funds transfer will have to be reviewed.

“We noticed that the platform, as good as it is, some banks are using it for unintended consequences. And so, each bank has put in place money transfer standards that are applicable within their banks. So, the CBN in consultation with the Bankers’ Committee has decided that it will be good to have an industry standard,” he said.

Fatokun said the proposed review will ensure that a bank does not set a limit of N500, 000, another will set a limit of N1 million and another N5

Diamond partners DHL

D

Stories by Collins Nweze

million.

He said such practice creates confusion in the minds of the banking populace. “You know that could create confusion in the minds of the banking populace. And that was why we issued a circular calling for standardisation , so that not only the amount that will be transferred, but also on the security level in each of the banks will be uniform,” he said.

He said the circular remains a policy document, adding that by December this year, all banks in the country must be at the highest level of security for instant payment to ensure that there is no any avenue for fraudsters to carry out their acts.

The CBN had in 2012 received and investigated four complaints against the commercial banks even as the

•CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele

issues were promptly reported to law enforcement agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigation.

Globally, estimated credit card fraud stood at $11 billion in 2012, making it one of the most significant criminal developments in modern times.

IAMOND Bank Plc has entered into partnership with DHL Global Forwarding to ease financial and logistics importation burden faced by manufacturers and businesses.

The product, Diamond Logistics Service, would allow business managers and owners, particularly in the manufacturing sector, to concentrate on their key business operations without being distracted by the demands of the supply chain. The new solutions would involve both payments and logistics benefits.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Lagos, Deputy Managing Director, Diamond Bank Uzoma Dozie, said the new service would provide convenient payment and delivery services to customers in need of logistics.

How to tackle bank frauds, by bank chief

M

ANAGING Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Bank Limited, Mallam Ahmed Kuru, has called on banks to establish anti-fraud departments as a way of curbing the menace.

Speaking at the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) meeting in Lagos, Kuru who was represented by the bank’s Head, Strategy & Corporate Transformation, Chuks Ekpunobi said also the time has come for banks to collaborate to eradicate e-Fraud, which he also described as a “common enemy.”

He said statistics provided by the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) was frightening because it showed that electronic fraud has been in

an upward trend since 2010. He said this is worrisome because the increase is both in terms of number, volume and sophistication that are driven by high powered technology.

Unfortunately, however, he argued that bankers, auditors and internal control officials of financial institutions may not be as knowledgeable as the fraudsters themselves. Therefore if we are to make progress in this direction, banks need to as a matter of urgency, establish antifraud departments with staff that would always be ahead of the fraudsters in every sense of the word.

He said the establishment of anti-fraud units will provide

continuous improvement initiatives in fraud control and present a platform for the implementation of viable fraud management solution to highlight deviations of fraudulent transactions from normal transactions; ensure compliance to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS) initiatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as well as guarantee the implementation of other Fraud Control measures and Security initiatives both on the network, and applications of the bank. It will also ensure the implementation of a Database Access Monitory (DAM) and Account Access Monitory (AAM) solutions among others.

Okonjo-Iweala, Emefiele, Aganga to attend CIBN confab Coordinating Minster for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga are among stakeholders that will be speaking at the forthcoming Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) eight Banking and Finance conference.

The event, slated for September 23 to 24, in Abuja, is aimed at moving Nigeria’s payments systems into global reckoning.

Also to attend are Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson who will present the government perspectives.

DATA BANK

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

Offer Price

AFRINVEST W. A. EQUITY FUND ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH BGL NUBIAN FUND BGL SAPPHIRE FUND CANARY GROWTH FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CORAL INCOME FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND FBN HERITAGE FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND

168.45 9.17 1.12 1.19 0.69 1.39 1,676.09 1,118.84 121.30 121.16 1,117.51 1.2522 1.2926 0.8969 1.0756

• UBA BALANCED FUND • UBA BOND FUND • UBA EQUITY FUND • UBA MONEY MARKET FUND

Bid Price 167.01 9.08 1.12 1.19 0.69 1.33 1,676.09 1,118.03 120.45 120.30 1,116.70 1.2435 1.2926 0.8795 1.0756

SYMBOL

CHANGE

Foreign Reserves Oil Price (Bonny Light/b)

2.18

2.39

0.21

ETERNA

4.09

4.47

0.38

IKEJAHOTEL

0.80

0.84

0.04

MAYBAKER

1.45

1.52

RTBRISCOE

0.90

ABCTRANS

0.71

LEARNAFRCA ZENITHBANK

Amount Offered in ($) 350m 400m 350m

Amount Sold in ($) 346.43m 398.77m 349.67m

CBN EXCHANGE RATES September 2, 2014

12.0%

PREMBREW

Currency

Buying (N)

Selling (N)

$39.6b

US Dollar

154.73

155.73

$110.44

Pounds Sterling

256.465

258.1225

Money Supply (M2)

N15.9 trillion.

Euro

204.1662

205.4857

0.07

Credit to private Sector (CPS)

N17.2 trillion

Swiss Franc

168.8455

169.9367

0.94

0.04

Primary Lending Rate (PLR)

Yen

1.4876

1.4975

0.74

0.03

CFA

0.294

0.314

1.58

1.62

0.04

24.01

24.60

0.59

234.7445

236.2616

3.20

3.25

0.05

Yuan/Renminbi

25.1466

25.31

28.00

28.38

0.38

LOSERS AS AT 02-09-14

SYMBOL

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Monetary Policy Rate

C/PRICE

INTBREW

Transaction Dates 27/08/2014 25/08/2014 20/08/2014

8.3%

O/PRICE

LIVESTOCK

RETAIL DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM (RDAS)

Inflation: July

GAINERS AS AT 02-09-14

Dozie said: “Diamond Bank Plc is interested in creating the convenience for our customers for their importation activities. We discover that most businesses dissipate needless energy, time and resources on their freight forwarding activities to the detriment of their core business concerns. They experience challenges in payment, cargo clearing and movement to locations. These are issues that this new service will tackle.

“Diamond Bank would handle the payment for all importation transactions while DHL handles the logistics involved. The security of the goods imported would also be guaranteed.

Customers will have time to focus on their core deliverables and be more competitive in their own field.”

Head, Trade Products, Diamond Bank Plc, Sylvester Idoko Onoja, said: “Diamond Bank is doing this to ensure that customers are not distracted from their core business objectives. The logistics hassles would be taken off their “To-Do” list. The supply chain process is cumbersome for customers. The Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises must be encouraged to grow sufficiently; this product will takethe burden of importation off their shoulders.”

Chief Financial Officer, DHL Global Forwarding West Africa, Sukhvinder Kaur, said the new service would engender a revolution in the manufacturing industry in the country, adding that the pedigree of both Diamond Bank and DHL would make the Diamond Logistics Service the toast of customers.

O/PRICE

C/PRICE

CHANGE

DANGFLOUR

7.00

6.65

-0.35

NPFMCRFBK

1.00

0.95

-0.05

ACCESS

9.77

9.29

-0.48

VONO

1.05

1.00

-0.05

16.5%

NIGERIAN INTER-BANK OFFERED RATES (NIBOR)

Tenor

WAUA

Rate (%)

Rate (%)

Overnight (O/N)

10.500

10.500

Riyal

41.2558

41.5225

1M

12.175

12.101

SDR

235.0039

236.5227

3M

13.328

13.225

6M

14.296

14.-85

FOREX RATES

EVANSMED

1.95

1.86

-0.09

AGLEVENT

1.54

1.47

-0.07

R-DAS ($/N)

157.29

157.29

WAPIC

0.76

0.73

-0.03

Interbank ($/N)

162.75

162.75

COURTVILLE

0.57

0.55

-0.02

ASHAKACEM

33.47

32.42

-1.05

Parallel ($/N)

167.50

167.50

STERLNBANK

2.26

2.19

-0.07

GOVT. SECURITIES YIELD – SECONDARY MARKET

Tenor

Rates

T-bills - 91

10.00

T-bills - 182

10.07

T-bills - 364

10.22

Bond - 3yrs

11.37

Bond - 5yrs

11.41

Bond - 7yrs

11.86

57

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

NEWS ACF seeks probe of allegations Continued from page 4

•Members of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives during a protest in Abuja...yesterday.

PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN

APC to Jonathan: Sheriff, Ihejirika should face trial Continued from page 4

“And who are they? On international television last Thursday, and as you have just seen and heard, he named former Borno Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and a former Army Chief, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, as the sponsors of Boko Haram.

“Prodded by Sahara Reporters in a subsequent interview on whether Gen. Buhari and Malam Nasir el-Rufai were sponsors, he said the Boko Haram commanders who gave him the names of their sponsors did not mention their names.

“The die is cast. The truth is finally out! Boko Haram sponsors have been exposed. They are within the ruling PDP. They are friends of President Jonathan. He cannot pretend not to know who they are and what they have done and are still doing. His myriad of intelligence agencies, including the DSS and the DMI, cannot pretend they do not have any information on these men.”

Odigie-Oyegun insisted that the suspected sponsors must be handed over to ICC for investigation and prosecution.

He said: “Now that the cat has been let out of the bag and the real sponsors of Boko Haram have been exposed, we hope President Jonathan will summon the courage to do the right thing: hand over the identified Boko Haram sponsors to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and prosecution. “ There is no doubt that Boko Haram has committed crimes against humanity in its scorched-earth campaign against unharmed citizens, and the most appropriate body to investigate and try the sect’s sponsors is the ICC. “According to Article 17 of the Rome Statute that set up the ICC, and to which Nigeria is signatory, the ICC is a court of last resort, expected to exercise its jurisdiction only if states themselves are unwilling or unable genuinely to investigate and prosecute international crimes.

“In view of the fact that the alleged Boko Haram sponsors are either members of the ruling party or friends of the President, it is clear that the PDPled Federal Government is unwilling and unable to try them, hence our call.

“Nigerians can be rest as-

sured that the APC will not allow this issue to be swept under the carpet.

“Now that it is clear that the PDP is behind Boko Haram for the sole purpose of winning next year’s presidential election, Nigerians must prevail on the PDP and the Presidency to urgently end this insurgency and the daily killing and maiming of innocent Nigerians!

“The President must remember that he is the Commanderin-Chief! The buck stops on his desk. He must now do all it takes to stop the growing mess in our nation’s Northeast. Nigerians expect no less.”

The APC chairman said the party had always suspected Sheriff as a mole in its midst to hijack its structure.

He said: “It is true that Ali Modu Sheriff was, until recently, a member of our Party. But the Party always suspected that he was a mole, planted to hijack or at best weaken the new Party for the PDP. He is not new to that role. He helped to decimate his former party, the ANPP, to an extent that the number of states under its control fell from seven in 2003 to three by the time he left as governor.

“We know for sure that Ali Modu Sheriff was planted in the APC to help decimate our party. We confronted him openly during the merger negotiation but he denied vigorously. His surrogate for the post of the Chairman of the APC, Chief Tom Ikimi, together with whom they planned to hijack the party for the Presidency was firmly rejected. Realising they have failed, they fled our party and returned to where they came from, and were duly embraced by their controllers.”

The APC queried why Sheriff was being given preferential treatment by the government and security agencies, including the reopening of the shut Maiduguri International Airport for the former governor because he joined the PDP. Odigie-Oyegun added: “President Jonathan cannot pretend not to know the alleged role that Ali Modu Sheriff has played in the establishment and growth of Boko Haram, yet he never allowed the man to even be questioned by any of the security agencies under his control.

“All through his time with our party, every time they ac-

cused us of sponsoring Boko Haram, on the basis of his presence, we challenged them if they had evidence to arrest any of our members who is suspected to be a sponsor, they never did. They dared not, because Sheriff was their agent. Even if he had remained in the APC after we democratically encouraged him to go, they would still not have arrested him.

“Recall, gentlemen, that immediately Sheriff went back to the PDP, the Maiduguri Airport that had been closed to even the pilgrims from the state on grounds of security, was reopened specially for him. What more evidence does anyone need that Sheriff was and remains President Jonathan’s Man Friday?”

He expressed regrets that Boko Haram had been politicised as part of a plot to secure second term ticket for President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said: “We have said it all along. Boko Haram was politicised purely for one reason, and one reason only: To be used as a trump card for President Jonathan to win another term. For that strategy to work, the APC, which they see as the only stumbling block to the PDP’s victory in 2015, must be maligned and labelled. Gullible, duplicitous and self-serving politicians like Femi FaniKayode swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker, and started parroting the glaring lies.

PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh, an obvious pawn on the chess board, followed suit, labelling a party that comprises Nigerians of all ethnic and religious hue a Janjaweed and Islamic party. Now he is stewing in his own juice.

“In the process of this dangerous politics, the Nigerian military which was globally acclaimed for its impressive showings at various peacekeeping missions around the world, simply suffered collateral damage.

“Apparently, fifth columnists in the military have sold the force out, first by denying it of the necessary fighting tools and then weakening it to such an extent that even the little it had was being taken away daily by insurgents.

When the patriotic Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno tried to raise the issue of the poorly-equipped troops and their low morale, he was roundly pilloried. Now the world knows why.”

“It is in consideration of this serious situation that the meeting resolved that, ACF condemns in strong terms the seizure of some local government areas in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states and the continuous capturing of more territorial areas of Nigeria by the insurgents.

“ACF expresses its disappointment with the inept attitude and leadership of the military in combating this menace that has resulted into mass killing of innocent souls, destruction of property and displacement of persons. It equally appeals to the military and other security agencies to review their strategy, share intelligence and cooperate with neighboring countries, use modern weaponry and tactics to reclaim Nigerian territories under the control of insurgents.

“ACF calls upon the Federal Government to urgently institute an investigation into

the weighty allegations made

by Dr. Stephen Davies against the persons named in his interview with the international media in funding and sustaining the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast. Persons found to have been involved in such crime against the state should be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.

“ACF urges Nigerians to rise up and unite for good governance and peaceful coexistence irrespective of political, religious and other inclinations.

“ACF calls upon the government at all levels to provide adequate rehabilitation materials to displaced persons located in various rehabilitation centres in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. It also commends the hospitality of the neighbouring countries like Republics of Niger, Chad and Cameroon that provide relief materials and accommodation to our people who fled to their countries.

Borno govt, Civilian Adamawa PDP ward congress hold Continued from page 4 conduct of the primaries and JTF: it’s not true Continued from page 4

He added that troops displayed their gallantry by killing about 200 Boko Haram fighters, who launched a failed attack on Bama town, and that the report that a military barracks in the town had been bombed, is untrue.

“I am just from Bama town.

We slept well without fear, as the troops on ground were able to repel the attacks by the insurgents. I am surprised when I heard Senator Zanna on BBC that Boko Haram had taken over Bama,” Adamu said.

Hong, last night expressed satisfaction with the congress. He said: “The congress was conducted by the national committee for the congress in collaboration with the local organising committee. It started on Monday when the local organising committee sent out party officials to different local governments outside their local government areas to conduct the primaries. Before then, they committee had called all the aspirants to explain the logistics and procedure for the

we all agreed with it. So far, it has been free, fair and transparent. As a former secretary of PDP in the state and an aspirant, I am very satisfied with the conduct of the ward congresses. The results are being collated, and from the reports we are receiving, about 90 per cent of the results has so far come in.”

Asked why the result took so long to collate, Hong explained that the council areas were far apart and the committee had to wait for the party officials to return to Yola.

58

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

FOREIGN NEWS

Cameron announces new anti-terror measures

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AVID Cameron and his team walking to parliament from Downing Street ahead of his statement on anti-terror measures yesterday. Photograph: PHOTO:Getty Images Clearly most people would be revolted at the idea of British nationals who have been over to Syria or Iraq to fight coming back to this country, but if they are British nationals, and the Queen’s subjects, there is nothing to prevent them doing so. They may well have committed serious criminal offences; they should be arrested at the airport and put on trial. But if the government is trying to change what is a very basic principle of our common law, quite apart from international law, I

S

think it is going to have a very considerable problem doing it.

The government has made clear it doesn’t want to deprive these individuals of citizenship. It can’t do so, because they would be stateless, and we have got to adhere to our international legal obligations.

If they are going to, then, simply introduce a measure that says that an unconvicted individual, who happens to be abroad, but who is believed to be a terrorist, but is a British national, can’t come back to this country, then once you start asking that question, I think it very quickly becomes clear it is going to be a very difficult thing to do, and probably impossible.

More than 30 teens escape from Tennessee prison

EVENTEEN teenagers are still being sought after more than 30 held at a juvenile detention centre in Tennessee escaped by crawling through a fence.

They escaped late Monday evening from the Woodland Hills Youth Development Center in Nashville.

Two were caught immediately. Local police and the Tennessee Highway Patrol were searching for the rest on Tuesday.

The centre holds juvenile

prisoners, many of whom have committed at least three felonies, a state spokesman said.

The teenagers who escaped ranged in ages from 14 to 19, said Rob Johnson of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.

The escape occurred when a large group of teenagers went outside all at once after a guard shift change, Mr Johnson said.

Officials did not know if it was planned or spontaneous.

Pakistan:Protesters step up assault

P

RIME Minister Nawaz Sharif was clinging to power Monday as protesters stepped up their assault on government buildings while the capital was gripped with fear and confusion about whether the country’s powerful military will step in to defuse the tension.

As the demonstrations calling for the prime minister’s resignation enter their third week, Sharif is trying to navigate Pakistan’s worst political crisis in more than a decade. With the violence increasing, what started as a routine demonstration has morphed into concerns that the government of a nuclear-armed country could collapse.

Former cricket star Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri, a firebrand preacher and scholar, allege that Sharif was elected last year in fraudulent balloting and hasn’t done enough to fix the country’s ailing economy.

Khan and Qadri, who are considered moderates, have mobilized tens of thousands of followers onto the streets.

Many are armed with sticks, clubs and slingshots.

Over the weekend, the demonstration took an ominous turn as three people were killed and 400 wounded when police used tear gas and rubber bullets to prevent protesters from reaching Sharif’s residence in Islamabad. On Monday, the protesters stormed the state television station and knocked it off the air for more than an hour.

Army and paramilitary officers regained control of the building, which had

been ransacked by demonstrators. But some protesters and police continued to beat each other with sticks in the heart of the capital, about a mile from the U.S. Embassy.

The protests spread to other major Pakistani cities over the weekend, and there is rampant speculation in Pakistan that military leaders could intervene and force Sharif to resign.

Sharif met with Army Chief Raheel Sharif on Monday afternoon, the third such face-to-face encounter between the two men since late last week. But Sharif, who is not related to the army chief, issued a statement late in the day saying he will not voluntarily resign.

“I will not resign under any pressure and I will not go on leave,” Sharif said.

“There shall be no precedent in Pakistan that only a few people take as hostage the mandate of millions by resorting to force.”

But Sharif’s government appears increasingly vulnerable, which is alarming Western officials and many analysts. Last year, Sharif’s election marked the first successful transfer of power from one democratically elected government to another in Pakistan. It was a proud, historic moment in a country that has experienced three successful military coups since its founding in 1947.

Now, there is widespread concern that the country of 180 million people is entering a new period of uncertainty.

•David Cameron and his team

Terror suspects held in Saudi Arabia

S

AUDI Arabia has arrested 88 people accused of plotting attacks inside and outside the country, officials say.

The interior ministry said the men had been monitored for several months before their arrest and “were on the verge of carrying out operations”.

Police say three of the men are from Yemen, one is still being identified and the rest are Saudis.

Correspondents say Saudi Arabia has stepped up its security amid Islamic State’s offensive in Iraq and Syria.

Interior ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki did

F

not give any details about the plots but said 59 of the men had previously served prison sentences for similar offences.

He told reporters the arrests were made over the past few days, and said it showed that Saudi forces were “serious in tracking down” anyone who joined extremist groups.

“It is unfortunate that some of those who had completed their sentences and were released by court orders returned to their previous ways,” he added.

Those arrested support “misguided ideology and glorify terrorist acts,” the

spokesman added, saying several of them were in contact with “members of terrorist organisations” outside the country.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia made it illegal for its citizens to fight for groups overseas amid growing concerns that those citizens would eventually threaten the kingdom’s stability.

‘Europe and US at threat’ The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Saudi Arabia is a member, said on Saturday that it was ready to act “against terrorist threats that face the region and the world”.

Saudi King Abdullah said

groups like Islamic State posed a danger that could “affect several countries outside the Middle East”.

“If we ignore them, I am sure they will reach Europe in a month and America in another month,” he warned.

Saudi Arabia has faced a growing threat from extremist fighters across its southern border with Yemen and has voiced concern about Islamic State’s rise to its north, in Iraq and Syria.

Security in the Saudi kingdom will come under the spotlight over the next few weeks as millions of Muslim pilgrims make their way to the country to take part in the Hajj in October.

Afghan militants ‘may join Islamic State’

IGHTERS from a militant Islamic group in Afghanistan, allied to the Taliban, have told the BBC they are considering joining forces with Islamic State (IS).

Their commander also said they would still fight the Afghan government, even after Nato forces left in 2014.

Commander Mirwais said that if IS, which he called by its Arabic acronym Daish, proved a true Islamic caliphate, they would link up with it.

The news comes amid an ongoing row over Afghanistan’s presidential poll.

The June election remains disputed, with no declared winner, while an audit of votes is taking place.

“We know Daish and we have links with some Daish

members. We are waiting to see if they meet the requirements for an Islamic caliphate,” Commander Mirwais said.

Islamic State has gained a reputation for brutal rule in the areas that it controls The threat is a disturbing one. If the Taliban do link up with IS, it would add an entirely new dimension to the struggle.

One of them is around Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan. It is less than 200km (120 miles) from Kabul, but it takes seven hours to drive there, across the mountains and through the Salang Pass.

The roads are often atrocious thanks to the web of local corruption, despite the huge amounts of Western

money that have been lavished on them.

Through an intermediary, we had made contact with Commander Mirais, whose group is fighting on the outskirts of Pul-e-Khumri.

Much of Baghlan province is mountainous and remote, making travel to Pul-eKhumri a time-consuming task Commander Mirwais has moved from group to group in the past, but now he belongs to Hezb-e-Islami, a group with a good deal of blood on its hands.

Over the years, Hezb-eIslami has become famous for its ferocity, which has sometimes alienated even the Taliban themselves.

In the end our Afghan cameraman had to go and see Commander Mirwais on

his own.

A leading politician and intelligence expert in Kabul, Amrullah Saleh, dismisses the idea that the Taliban and their extremist allies could take power in Afghanistan.

He maintains that politics and society there have changed too greatly for that to be possible.

Yet there is no doubt that the Taliban do present a serious challenge to the Kabul government. Especially if they link up with the ultraIslamists of IS in Iraq and Syria.

Afghanistan, surrounded by its mountains and deserts, has always been deeply cut off from the outside world.

Now, for the first time, its insurgents are considering making common cause with groups far from their borders.

U.S. targets al-Shabab leader

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HE US military has carried out air strikes in Somalia, reportedly targeting a convoy carrying the leader of militant group al-Shabab.

It is not clear if Ahmed Abdi Godane was hit in the strikes some 240km (150 miles) south of the capital, Mogadishu.

An al-Shabab source told the BBC at least nine people were killed. The al-Qaedalinked group has not commented officially on the attack.

US officials say they will release further details later.

The US has carried out sev-

eral air strikes in recent years in Somalia where al-Shabab controls many central and southern areas.

African leaders are meeting in Kenya other Islamist militant groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria.

“We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information as and when appropriate,” Pentagon spokesman John F Kirby said in a statement.

Abdikadir Mohamed Nur, governor of Lower Shabelle Region, who is with the advancing forces, told the BBC

that the attack was successful.

“US drones managed to hit the representative of alQaeda in Somalia, who is also the leader of al-Shabab, Ahmed Godane,” he told the BBC Somali service.

“We can tell that a senior figure from the group was killed due to the way they reacted after the attack, as they have started committing atrocities in the area, they have beheaded some of the people who had mobile phones and arrested many others [accused of spying].”

He said it is unlikely that Godane was hit as he avoided

the coast region and never travelled in a convoy - precautionary measures he took a long time ago.

Residents of Hawai village, roughly half-way between Mogadishu and Kismayo, say they heard three loud explosions and then saw thick black smoke rising.

A 22,000-strong African Union (AU) force says it has taken some towns from alShabab in recent days.

Al-Shabab militants on Sunday unsuccessfully tried to free other extremists held in a Mogadishu detention centre

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

59

FOREIGN NEWS

Steven journalist, Sotloff, American American beheadedjournalist,

by ISIS •Outrage over ‘no strategy’ beheaded

by ISIS comment yet by Obama

Russia to alter military strategy towards Nato

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•British captive also threatened

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HE ISIS terror group has published a video titled “A second message to America,” showing the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff.

The video also threatens the life of British captive David Haines.

Sotloff speaks to the camera before he is killed, saying he is “paying the price” for U.S. intervention. Considering he was a captive, it’s possible that his words were scripted for him.

The masked ISIS figure in the video speaks to U.S. President Barack Obama, telling him, “Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.”

Who is ISIS? The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has thrived and mutated during the civil war in Syria and in the security vacuum that followed the departure of the last American forces from Iraq. The aim of ISIS is to create an Islamic state across Sunni areas of Iraq and in Syria. The group has taken up large swaths of land in Iraq and has said it wants to go into Baghdad. ast week, Sotloff’s mother, Shirley Sotloff, released a video pleading with ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi not to kill her son.

“Steven is a journalist who travelled to the Middle East to cover the suffering of Muslims at the hands of tyrants.

Steven is a loyal and generous son, brother and grandson,” she said. “He is an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak.”

Steven Sotloff appeared last month in an ISIS video

Ebola response lethally inadequate, says MSF

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GLOBAL military intervention is needed to curb the largest ever Ebola outbreak, according to the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.

In a damning criticism of world leaders, it says the global response has so far been “lethally inadequate”.

The charity said countries were turning their back on West Africa and merely reducing the risk of Ebola arriving on their shores.

More than 1,550 people have died in the outbreak which started in Guinea.

At least 3,000 people have been infected with the virus, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that more than 20,000 people are likely to be infected.

In a speech to the United Nations, the international president of MSF, Dr Joanne Liu, said repeated calls for help had been ignored.

She said: “Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it.

“Leaders are failing to come to grips with this transnational threat.

•Steven Sotloff, far left, speaks with rebels in Misrata, Libya, in June 2011.

showing the decapitation of another American journalist, James Foley. The militant in the video warned that Sotloff’s fate depended on what Obama did next in Iraq.

Sotloff disappeared while reporting from Syria in August 2013, but his family kept the news secret, fearing harm to him if they went public. Out of public view, the family and government agencies had been trying to gain his release for the past year.

Speaking on CNN moments after word of the Sotloff’s murder, CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said that the method of killing — beheading — has a specific purpose for ISIS. A video like the one showing Sotloff’s killing “really energizes” supporters of ISIS, and beheading is employed for “maximum propaganda” to “terrify” ISIS’ enemies, Cruickshank said.

Who was Sotloff?

Sotloff, 31, grew up in South Florida with his mother, father and younger sister. He majored in journalism at the University of Central Florida. His personal Facebook page lists

musicians like the Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Miles Davis and movies like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Big Lebowski” as favorites. On his Twitter page, he playfully identifies himself as a “stand-up philosopher from Miami.”

In 2004, he left UCF and moved back to the Miami area.

He graduated from another college, began taking Arabic classes and subsequently picked up freelance writing work for a number of publications, including Time, Foreign Policy, World Affairs and The Christian Science Monitor. His travels took him to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey — among other countries — and eventually Syria.

On Friday, Obama said it was too soon to discuss what steps the U.S. would take against the militant group inside Syria. On how to deal with the group in Syria — where it was born and has a haven, mostly in the city of Raqqa — the President said: “We don’t have a strategy yet.”

Obama said Friday that he had asked America’s top defence officials to prepare “a range of options.”

•Sotloff before he was beheaded

Yesterday, White House spokesman John Earnest spoke to reporters just after word came about Sotloff’s killing.

“This is something that the administration has obviously been watching very carefully since this threat against Mr. Sotloff’s

life was originally made a few weeks ago,” Earnest said. “Our thoughts and prayers first and foremost are with Mr. Sotloff and Mr. Sotloff’s family and those who worked with him.”

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed to this report.

Ukraine crisis: UN says millions have fled

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ORE than a million people have left their homes because of the escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine, a UN official says.

In the past three weeks alone, the number of people displaced inside Ukraine itself has doubled to at least 260,000, according to the UN’s Vincent Cochetel in Geneva.

Another 814,000 people have crossed the border into Russia this year, he says.

Pro-Russian rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces since April.

Separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

Since the violence erupted,

some 2,600 people have been killed and thousands more wounded.

The city of Luhansk has been under siege by government forces for the past month and is without proper supplies of food and water.

But the Ukrainian army has been forced to retreat as proRussian rebels gain ground, and said they had withdrawn from the city’s airport after coming under attack from “Russian tanks”.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said sappers had blown up the airport’s runway so that it could not be used by rebel forces.

Rebels have also advanced in Donetsk region, around the city of Donetsk and further

south near the port of Mariupol.

Many of those who have fled the violence have not registered with the Ukrainian authorities: doing so does not guarantee they will receive any aid, and some young men apparently fear they will be recruited into the Ukrainian army if they declare themselves.

At the same time more than 800,000 Ukrainians, mainly ethnic Russians, have crossed the border into Russia. Others are fleeing to Poland, Belarus, or the Baltic states.

The UN has figures from one Baltic country, though it will not say which one, indicating that at least 20,000 Ukrainians have recently arrived.

EU proposes tougher sanctions on Moscow

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UROPEAN officials proposed sweeping new sanctions yesterday to starve Russia’s companies of capital and technology as punishment for Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine, where Kiev officials said Russia was bolstering an “invasion” force.

Western countries accuse Moscow of sending armoured columns of troops into Ukraine, where the momentum in a five-month war shifted last week decisively in favour of pro-Russian rebels, who are now advancing on a major port.

Mali landmine kills four UN peacekeepers

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OUR UN peacekeepers have been killed and 15 injured by a landmine in northern Mali.

The UN mission took over responsibility for security in northern Mali last year after French troops forced Islamists from key towns.

Minusma said that the landmine detonated on Tuesday between 11:00 and 12:00 local time (11:00-12:00

GMT), about 30km (19 miles) from the town of Kidal, on the road to Aguelhok.

The latest attack is one of several on UN forces in recent weeks.

On Monday the UN’s base in Aguelhok came under mortar fire and in a separate attack, four civilian contractors for the UN were injured when their vehicle drove over a landmine.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the most recent attacks on the UN, reports the BBC’s Alex Duval Smith in Bamako.

But on Sunday, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said it had been behind a series of attacks in July and August in the Timbuktu region, our correspondent adds.

France intervened militarily in Mali last year

in a bid to drive out Islamists who had taken advantage of an uprising by Tuareg rebels in the north of the country.

The latest attack comes as peace talks resume in Algeria between Tuareg rebels and Mali’s government.

However, the talks do not include groups demanding Islamic rule.

USSIA is to alter its military strategy as a result of the Ukraine crisis and Nato’s presence in eastern Europe, a top Russian official says.

Mikhail Popov, a Kremlin adviser, said that deteriorating relations with the US and Nato would be reflected in the updated strategy.

Nato said on Monday it would boost its presence in eastern Europe to protect its members.

Ukrainian troops are battling pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine.

About 2,600 people have died since fighting began in April.

Ukraine’s defence minister on Monday accused Russia of launching a “great war” that could claim tens of thousands of lives - claims dismissed by Russia, which denies actively supporting the rebels.

Mr Popov, deputy secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, told Russia’s RIA news agency that “the military infrastructure of Nato member states” was “getting closer to [Russian] borders, including via enlargement”.

Nato’s actions were one of the key “external threats” to Russia, he said.

“Nato’s planned action... is evidence of the desire of US and Nato leaders to continue their policy of aggravating tensions with Russia”, Mr Popov said.

There were no details on how the doctrine might change.

Russia has indicated it will respond to Nato’s increasing presence in eastern Europe There are growing questions now as to just how far the Kremlin is prepared to go in seeking to influence the Ukraine fighting on the ground.

Egyptian policemen killed in bomb attack

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T least 11 policemen have been killed in a bomb attack on a convoy in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, officials say.

Two others when injured when a device exploded as they travelled through the village of Wefaq, near the Gaza border.

Security forces have been carrying out an offensive in northern Sinai, killing and capturing dozens of suspected members of jihadist militant groups.

Militants have stepped up attacks on soldiers and police since the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi last year.

An al-Qaeda-linked group, Ansar Beit alMaqdis, has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and shootings.

It says it is avenging the hundreds of Islamists killed and thousands detained in a crackdown on Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.

On Sunday, six militants were killed in a raid by troops in Wefaq and a leading member of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis died in clashes in el-Arish, the capital of North Sinai province.

60

THE NATION WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

POLITICS EXTRA A member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Olusegun Olaleye, organised a victory party in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, following the reelection of Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola . Correspondent JEREMIAH OKE, who attended the event, reports.

‘Ekiti APC has bright future’ Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Mr. Olusegun Osinkolu spoke with SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN on the Ekiti and Osun State elections.

He advised party chieftains to put the Ekiti poll behind them and focus on future elections.

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• Supporters at the rally.

Lessons from Aregbesola’s victory

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T was meant to be a celebration of the recent victory of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State. The Ibadan North Local Government Area secretariat , the venue of the sensitization rally in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was flooded with loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the nooks and crannies of Oyo State and beyond.

The convener and a member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Olusegun Olaleye, charged the people not to to be intimidated by the presence of security agencies during elections. He noted that their permanent voters’ card is their power and they should avoid trading it with the future of their children.

“The victory in the state of Osun is an inspiration for us in Oyo State because we share the same maternal relationship with the State of Osun. History has shown that whatever happens in Osun eventually re-echoes in Oyo State.

That is why we are sensitizing our people towards the agenda of re-electing our leader, Governor Abiola Ajimobi in 2015.”

He said Aregbesola’s victory is an indication that the APC is fully on ground and that anybody who contests under the platform of the APC in 2015 is going to win.

One of the delegates from Osun State and the Commissioner for Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Muyiwa Ige described the victory as the true wish of the masses.

The son of the late Bola Ige revealed that despite the militarisation of the state by the Federal Government to intimidate the opposition party, the people of the state refused to be intimidated.

He added: “Despite that the people of Osun stood behind him. We therefore urge our people in Oyo to borrow a leaf from them in the coming election in 2015. They will try to lure you with money, rice, and kerosene; but please don’t accept it because they don’t have any agenda for your future. They did it in Osun, but they failed. With what happened in Osun, the chain of victory is going on in the west and it will continue throughout the country.

A member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Oyeleke Ogunsola likened the recent election in Osun State to the epic battle between David and Goliath depicted in the Bible. He said the APC was David and that God assisted it to defeat the modern day Goliath of Nigerian politics.

Ogunsola said: “We did not allow the militarisation to affect us. The first thing you need to do is to ensure there is unity among the party members. There are mischievous politicians who will try to lure you in one form or the other, with things like purported job offer. It is a fake; you should resist it. They will also attempt to lure you with N5, 000, rice and kerosene. Don’t mind them; it is a scam. They will also adopt houseto-house campaign, but all these are gimmicks to steal your mandate. They

were able to rob us in Ekiti and we will not allow that in other states, including Oyo.” Reacting to the PDP’s bid to challenge Aregbesola’s victory in court; the lawmaker said the ruling party at the centre was only trying to prevent its members from defecting to other parties. He added that the bid is a charade because Omisore knows that he does not have any evidence that can stand in court.

The chairman of the Ibadan North Local Government, Hon. Idris Lapade said the celebration was to show that the party is working in harmony. He urged people who are yet to get their permanent voters card to be calm, saying they will get it soon.

He noted that there is an arrangement with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure everybody in the state get cards.

His words: “I want to assure our people that they will all receive their voters’ card, regardless of some obstacle they encountered during the exercise.

“Arrangements are in top gear to ensure we all receive our cards and I want to urge our people to support good governance and re-elect Senator Ajimobi for the development of our darling state. Our people should also note that if they want to vote, they should use their index finger, so that their ballot paper will not be voided.”

HE Ekiti governorship election has come and gone. What lessons should be learnt?

We should stop passing blames. Let us assess and re-assess ourselves.

You gain either of two things in war, which is just like an election. It is either you win or you lose. Let us bring the party together again. Those who left the party in annoyance for whatever reason should be brought back. More than anything now, the APC needs to prove that it is still a party to beat. People still love and accept the party. We must make Nigerians realise this. The loss of the election of June 21 should not be the end of life.

How do you mean?

I mean we APC members should accept the outcome of the election in good faith and forge ahead.

How will you explain the loss?

The APC’s loss is very unfortunate. The outside world needs to understand however, that it is not that the party is bad or that there are no good people in the APC. It was merely a protest by the people against the government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi and this has been said over and over again; just a protest by the people specifically against the government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi. Please, get me right here. It is not that his administration has not done well. He has actually done tremendously well. The roads, schools, hospitals, Ikogosi, Ire Burnt Bricks, and the rest of them, you can continue to name them. These are visible accomplishments and no politician can credibly deny them. But, I think there was a disconnect somewhere between Dr. Fayemi and the populace. Fayemi’s good intention for Ekiti is not in doubt at all. I can take anyone up on this. The quality of the works he has delivered so far in the state reflects the credibility of his intention and the vision with which he pursued the dreams of a greater Ekiti. I can only say the disconnect between him and the grassroots caused his loss. I knew somehow we were going to lose, but that it would be this much beats anyone’s imagination, including me. I belong in the grassroots. I saw it coming and had even gone to them, I mean the leadership of the APC, to raise the alarms.

How do you see the Osun election?

I knew the APC would win and it won. Omisore could not have defeated Aregbesola. What happened in Ekiti was what we knew and reasons for our loss are understandable. Osun is a different state with different realities.

Aregbesola has the entire party structure in his grips. No one has left the party in annoyance for whatever reason. Again, all those who matter in Osun politics today are behind him and these are real community people. Aregbesola won, given all these reasons and more. See Osun, see Ekiti, go to Oyo, Lagos and Ogun states. You know these people have worked. Only APC understands what development means and it is also ready to do the needful. If Nigeria will be great, the APC will be responsible.

Why did you say the APC will be responsible for Nigeria’s greatness?

I am sorry I have to go back to Tinubu again. I don’t know how Tinubu has been able to do it, but see the kind of opposition Athe PC has become. It is a viable one, no doubt. Some people would say they don’t see the difference between the APC and the PDP. I don’t agree. Ideologically, can anyone doubt there is a world of difference between the APC and the PDP? Consider the progress in the APC states now and juxtapose such with what you see in the PDP-controlled states. There is one whole world of difference in both states.

APC governors are united in the pattern of instituting renewals in infrastructure in their states. This may be a regional effort. Whatever anyone calls that.

Despite the billions and trillions it is controlling, federal government is not coming up with any formidable project comparable with those of APC governors.

To me, I think APC is the party to beat in next year’s general election. I think Tinubu is gifted. A lot of developments currently taking place in the southwest could not have been happening without the dream he (Tinubu) had in Lagos during his regime. Tinubu is a pioneer in every new thing that is happening in this country today. See how he is forging a unity and cooperation between the Nigerian divides. And there is nothing he would say that I would not consider and reconsider.

• Osinkolu

‘PDP has failed Nigerians’ From Vincent Ohonbamu, Gombe

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• Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun (right) presenting the state plaque to the South West member, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Olu Aina, when Aina led the ICPC’s delegation on a courtesy visit to the governor in his Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta office yesterday.

GROUP, THE ‘Buhari Friends Organisation, has described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Federal Government as a failure, saying that it has failed to tackle insecurity.

Its Secretary, Mohammed Audi, said in a statement in Gombe, Gombe State capital, that only power shift can salvage the country.

He said: “If government as an institution cannot protect the lives of citizens, it means the government has failed. The security challenge is so enormous. The PDP has failed. People have realised that change is now desirable.”

Audi said Nigerians are anxious about the future because insecurity seemes to have defile solution under the PDP government.

He said: “The PDP has been in government for 15 years and this security challenge has now on for about four years. That means that the government has failed in its primary duty of protecting life and property. It is only fair for the country to be liberated from this predicament by another government.”

Audi described 2015 as the terminal year for the PDP in Aso Villa, adding that the APC government will halt the tension in the land and give qualitative leadership.

Urging the APC to gird its loin, he said the party has an opportunity to choose a good presidential candidate for the poll. Audi said former Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari is ready for the task.

He stressed: “He has the wealth of experience as the former Head of State. He is tested and trusted. He also understands the security challenge and how to tackle it.

There is nothing better than peace. The alternative to peace itself is peace. When there is peace, there will be progress and good governance. If there is no peace, you cannot govern.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

61

SPORT EXTRA

Osaze requires knee surgery

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ETER Osaze Odemwingie has confirmed he will require surgery on the cruciate knee ligament injury that has de-railed his season.

The 33-year-old was making a significant contribution to Stoke's 1-0 win at Manchester City on Saturday when he hit the ground in agony.

He was stretchered off the pitch, but it was initially hoped the damage was not too significant and he was able to limp unaided onto the team coach.

But an assessment of the damage has revealed he could be out for the rest of the campaign.

The popular forward has vowed

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SUPER EAGLES VS RED DEVILS

We’ll make Nigerians glad, says Nwofor

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EERENVEEN SC of Holland striker Uchenna Nwofor has stated his resolve to make Nigerians smile on Saturday during the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against the Red Devils of Congo at the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

Nwofor was one of the first five Super Eagles’ players to arrive at the Transcorp Hotel camp of the team in Calabar and told NationSport that the Congolese won’t be allowed breathing space in their attempt to scoop all points and start the race to AFCON 2015 on a good note.

to be back before then, however, and hopefully in time to join his teammates on a run to a cup final.

He wrote on Twitter yesterday afternoon: "It's confirmed now surgery is required.

"Really gutted I will miss many games of the season. Will work hard to be back as early as possible.

"We have a strong squad that will do great in the league and I will be back well in time for the Wembley finals!"

Odemwingie's injury forced Stoke to be active on the last day of the transfer window, bringing in Ossie Assaidi on loan from Liverpool.

Oduamadi, Emenike hit Eagles’ camp

C Crotone of Italy attacking midfielder Nnamdi Oduamadi and Fenerbahce of Turkey's Emmanuel Emenike arrived in the Super Eagles’ camp to swell the number of players to 20 as at a few minutes past 7pm yesterday.

They were, however, too late for the team’s practice sessions yesterday but should be ready for the third training session today at the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

Oduamadi said he was thrilled to reunite with his team mates after his omission from the 2014 World Cup squad and expressed readiness to hit the ground running right from his first training session today.

“I am happy to be back,” Oduamadi told NationSport.

“The trip was fine. I can’t wait for tomorrow (today) when I will be privileged to train with my team mates.”

From Tunde Liadi, Calabar At the time of this report, three players, David Obiazor, Joel Obi and Chinedu Obasi were being expected.

Obiazor, the first choice goalkeeper for El Kanemi Warriors, is a last-minute replacement for Eagles’ captain, Vincent Enyeama and he is scheduled to hit Calabar today from Maiduguri.

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•Peter Osaze Odemwingie

Keshi thrilled with players’ fitness

UPER Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has expressed satisfaction at his players’ performance during training yesterday at the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

Nine players participated in the first training session yesterday morning while eighteen took part in the evening session.

Keshi, who was fully involved, used the sessions to

From Taofeek Babalola, Calabar work on the players’ sharpness.

The team also worked on setpieces.

Afterwards, the Big Boss told NationSport that the technical crew and players will give their best for Nigeria.

“This is our second training and I can say most of the play-

ers are ready to give their best,” he said.

“We will continue our training and continue to improve training after training.

“Right now we have 18 players in training and hopefully other players will join us. The ones that I saw are sharp and full of concentration. We will do what we have to do to make Nigerians proud.”

FOOTBALL CRISIS:

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From Tunde Liadi, Calabar “We will make Nigerians glad on Saturday. It is our resolve to ensure that we win well. We want to begin the AFCON qualifiers on a good note so that it will be very smooth for us to pick a ticket to Morocco and successfully defend the crown we won in South Africa,” Nwofor told NationSport.

The former VVV Venlo player also expressed happiness at his first World Cup participation adding that he would ensure that he remains relevant even beyond the next one in Russia in 2018.

Danagogo agrees to another NFF election

PORTS minister and chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Dr. Tammy Danagogo will not object to another round of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) election, if FIFA so decides.

During last week’s NFF Congress in Abuja, Chris Giwa was declared the federation’s new president after a controversial election. However, most of the Congress’ delegates have since declared the elections as illegal and fixed an Elective Congress of the federation for Thursday.

Danagogo also expressed hope that the world’s football-

•Says he doesn’t expect FIFA to ban Nigeria governing body will not ban Nigeria after urging it to wade into the ‘internal wrangling’ in the NFF. He stated this on a breakfast television programme, ‘Good morning Nigeria’ on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) in Abuja, yesterday.

The minister argued that FIFA should know that what is happening in the NFF is an internal wrangling among football stakeholders who are angling to take over control of the football house.

“I am aware that FIFA does

not ban countries over internal wrangling among stakeholders. What I expect FIFA to do is to listen to both sides in the dispute and fashion out a peaceful resolution of the crisis,” Danagogo said.

According to him, “It is also not fair for FIFA to ban a country over the actions of individuals. If they feel that an individual has gone against their statutes, such individual should be singled out and sanctioned and not the entire country.”

He added that he was also aware that FIFA or football fed-

erations ban some of their members for offences against the football statutes and expects that the same thing should apply in the present case of the NFF. “I don’t expect FIFA to ban Nigeria because we are in contact with them and have explained the position of things as they affect the current crisis.

We expect that they would carefully look into the matter after listening to both sides and seek a peaceful resolution. If they say the way out is for another election to be held, we would ensure that it is done for peace to return to our football.”

NIGERIA VS CONGO:

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•Liyel Imoke

•Uchenna Nwofor

‘Power’ Kayode to knock out Ortiz

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NDEFEATED Nigerian boxer Lateef ‘Power” Kayode will battle fellow unbeaten Luis Ortiz for the vacant interim World Boxing Association (WBA) World Heavyweight title on Thursday, September 11.

Kayode, 31, who took his heavyweight bow last December in a second round Technical Knockout (TKO) win over American journeyman Travis Fulton, has quickly set his focus on the interim title evacuated by Russia’s Aleksander Povetkin on October 5, 2013.

The winner of the fight could in theory move a step closer to a showdown with World Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

In his recent fight, Kayode stopped America’s Jonte Willis in the sixth round of action on January 10, 2014, while Ortiz beat veteran Monte Barrett back in March.

The WBA Championships Committee has as well passed a resolution to allow Cuba’s number 2-rated Ortiz, 35, offi-

Imoke sure of Eagles’ victory

ROSS River State governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, says he believes that the Super Eagles will come out tops against Congo, despite the short time the team had to prepare for the Morocco 2015 African Nations Cup (AFCON) qualifier in Calabar, the state capital.

Imoke spoke through Youth and Sports Commissioner, Hon. Patrick Ugbe, who also promised that the fans in Calabar will turn out en masse on Saturday to cheer the na-

tional team to victory. Ugbe added that he was happy with the quick response of the players to the national call and was sure the team will excel.

Earlier, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Director of Technical, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, who has been pulling the strings to ensure the comfort of the national team, said he was impressed by the showing of the players in the morning training session. Dr Ikpeme, who defied the early morning downpour in

Calabar to join them in the training session, said he will ensure that all that the team needs for a victory against Congo are provided, in conjunction with the Cross River State Government.

“I am a son of the soil and we have had a very cordial working relationship with the government and people of Cross River State. That should ensure that we come out tops on Saturday because all of us in the team and government are on the same page,” Ikpeme said.

•Lateef ‘Power” Kayode

cially contend for the title, which in the past had been won by Mohammed Ali, Wladimir Klitschko, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

Kayode is currently ranked fifth in the WBA ratings with a fight record of 20-0; 16 KOs, while Ortiz maintains 21-0; 18 KOs record.

Trained by the legendary Freddie Roach, Power, currently holds the WBO, NABO and NABF Cruiserweight Championship belts and will look to add the WBA heavyweight belt when both fighters meet at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas next month.

“I’ve waited a long time for a fight like this and I feel that this is finally my chance to shine,” said the number five-ranked Kayode.

“Before Mayweather and Maidana fight on Saturday, I will set the stage for them with a big win and a championship that will have the world talking.”

The fight will take place in Las Vegas, USA on the 11th of September.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

62

SPORT EEXTRA

S

TRIKERS can be the difference between Champions League qualification or twiddling your thumbs for the next season and, as the transfer window closes, clubs now know what they have at their disposal.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and the two Manchester giants have chosen their deadliest finishers, but how do each of the big five shape up just three games into the new campaign?

Here, Sportsmail examine and rate the three key strikers of the top five Premier League clubs.

Manchester City (rated 24.5 out of 30) AGUERO LEAGUE RECORD Born: Argentina, June 2 1988 (age 26) Premier League record: 90 apps (54 gls) Sergio Aguero (9/10) A name synonymous with that unforgettable piece of commentary as Aguero's 95th-minute winner against QPR saw City crowned Premier League champions of 201112. Deadly, composed, and there when he's relied upon.

DZEKO LEAGUE RECORD Born: Yugoslavia, March 17 1986 (age 28) Premier League record: 108 apps (46 gls) Edin Dzeko (8/10) The towering Bosnia striker's impressive goal record somewhat creeps up on you. The under-rated centre forward, while not always first choice, can be world-class on his day at the age of 28.

He's gr-eight: Edin Dzeko is an under-rated striker with a record to prove worthy of the Premier League giants

Premiership’s deadliest Finishers

JOVETIC LEAGUE RECORD Born: Yugoslavia, Nov 2 1989 (age 24) Premier League record: 13 apps (5 gls) Stevan Jovetic (7.5/10) Jovetic gave a glimpse of what he can do with a brace against Liverpool.

Must put his injuryplagued debut season last year behind him and compete to be in the starting XI. Not a bad problem for Manuel Pellegrini to have.

COSTA LEAGUE RECORD Born: Brazil, October 7 1988 (age 25) Premier League record: 3 apps (4 gls) Chelsea (24 out of 30) Diego Costa (9/10) Costa got life in the Premier League off to a better start than Aguero, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Fernando Torres and more.

Already looks the answer to Jose Mourinho's prayers, and never a dull moment with the La Liga winner on the pitch.

REMY LEAGUE RECORD Born: France, January 2 1987 (age 27) Premier League record: 41 apps (20 gls) Loic Remy (7.5/10) A proven goalscorer in the Premier League with QPR and Newcastle, and nominated to fill Fernando Torres's barely-worn shoes. Could be considered a steal at £8million, should Mourinho make use of his new forward.

DROGBA LEAGUE RECORD Born: Ivory Coast, March 11 1978 (age 36) Chelsea record: 229 apps (100 gls)

Didier Drogba (7.5/10) A Chelsea hero for his exploits against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final of 2012.

Those at Stamford Bridge need not fret if the strong striker is occasionally relied upon, even at the age of 36.

ROONEY LEAGUE RECORD Born: England, October 24 1985 (age 28) Premier League record: 375 apps (174 gls) Manchester United (26 out of 30) Wayne Rooney (8.5/10) The England and United captain looks very much part of Louis van Gaal's plans for the reconstruction period at Old Trafford. Ten years since signing, on £300,000a-week and at the age of 28, Rooney must repay the faith.

VAN PERSIE LEAGUE RECORD Born: Holland, Aug 6 1983 (age 31) Premier League record: 272 apps (144 gls) Robin van Persie (8.5/10) It was United's new utility player Daley Blind who assisted that iconic diving header from Van Persie at the World Cup in Brazil. Can prove clinical for Van Gaal - if fitness persists - and is knowingly feared by opposition defenders.

FALCAO LEAGUE RECORD Born: Colombia, February 10 1986 (age 28) La Liga record: 68 apps (52 gls) Radamel Falcao (9/10) Not the signing United, nor the footballing world, expected. Yet Van Gaal couldn't resist. The Premier League debutant is a classic modern-day

striker - big, fast-paced, quick-footed and strong, big. With United's seemingly weak defence, a frighteningly-good front line may be necessary.

STURRIDGE LEAGUE RECORD Born: England, September 1 1989 (age 25) Premier League record: 142 apps (58 gls) Liverpool (24.5 out of 30) Daniel Sturridge (9/10) Shouldered the responsibility at Anfield following Luis Suarez's departure, and doesn't look deterred. The England striker, packed with talent, knows how to influence a game. Forever a threat with Sturridge on the pitch.

BALOTELLI LEAGUE RECORD Born: Italy, August 12 1990 (age 24) Premier League record: 55 apps (20 gls) Mario Balotelli (8.5/10) A bad boy, a liability, an unpredictable character, what else? Call him what you will, but Balotelli will excel if Brendan Rodgers can curb the striker's

behaviour that earned him his infamous reputation.

Easy to forget he's still 24.

LAMBERT LEAGUE RECORD Born: England, February 16 1982 (age 32) Premier League record: 77 apps (28 gls) Rickie Lambert (7/10) Yet to get off the mark for his boyhood club - both in pre-season and the Premier League - but more often than not in the right place at the right time for Southampton. The goal should come, if the minutes follow under Rodgers.

GIROUD LEAGUE RECORD Born: France, September 30 1986 (age 27) Premier League record: 72 apps (28 gls) Arsenal (20.5 out of 30) Olivier Giroud (7.5/10) Injury aside, Giroud knows how to outwit a defence. The striker, out for four months after having surgery on a broken leg, will be key to Arsene Wenger's push for a coveted top-four spot.

Pressure to hit the ground running.

SANOGO LEAGUE RECORD Born: France, January 27 1993 (age 21) Premier League record: 10 apps (0 gls) Yaya Sanogo (5/10) Wenger hoped Sanogo would be a worthy replacement for Giroud.

Sadly, he looks anything but. The former France Under 21 striker doesn't look Premier League material as of yet. Still just 21, though, but has competition up front now.

WELBECK LEAGUE RECORD Born: England, November 23 1990 (age 23) Premier League record: 116 apps (26 gls) Danny Welbeck (8/10) A Marmite character.

You either love him or hate him, but Wenger files himself in the former category after splashing £16m on the forward.

Given a run in the Arsenal first team, though, and we may see a more noticeable Welbeck.

ARGENTINA VS GERMANY TONIGHT:

Germany name Schweinsteiger captain

B

ASTIAN Schweinsteiger has been named as Germany's new captain, assuming the role vacated

by Philipp Lahm following his retirement after the World Cup final.

Germany coach Joachim Low announced the Bayern Munich midfielder as his captain "for the next two years" at a press conference in Dusseldorf yesterday, although the 30-year-old will not feature in today's repeat of the World Cup final against Argentina due to injury.

"I know I can always rely on him," Low said. "Just look at the World Cup final and how important he was.

He has an immense level of experience and a high degree of acceptance within

the team and from the coaches. He's a great communicator and that's important for the players.

"I know he's injured now, but it's not so bad that he'll be out for months. I trust him unreservedly. He has the big aim of winning Euro 2016 and I felt that he is still very ambitious."

Low shares that ambition, saying he already has his sights set on glory in France.

"Our next big aim after winning the World Cup has got to be the final in Paris and the journey there starts on Sunday with the game against Scotland," he said.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

63

With ekpoita :funtreatsvilla@yahoo.com / 08077706130

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ACROSS 1. Finalised (9) 7. Employ (3) 8. Tear (3) 9. Succeeded (3) 10. Consumed (3) 12. per Unit (4) 13. Bird (4) 14. Beer (3) 16. Imitate (3) 18. Bed (3) 19. Resort (3) 21. Justly (9)

DOWN

1. Correspond (9) 2. Pinch (3) 3. Sexual Desire (4) 4. Ourselves (2) 5. Moisture (3) 6. Discourage (4) 10. Expression of Surprise (3) 11. Get with Difficulty (3) 15. Enumerate (4) 17. Bird (3) 18. Taxi (4) 20. Father (2)

MISSING LETTERS

All the words in the columns below have lost their first letters as indicated by the blank spaces above them. You are required to find and affix them. When done, all the first letters will form a 9-letter, sexually offensive word or action. Happy Puzzling!‘

Sands of Time

In 1970, inspired by escalating violence and political unrest over the Vietnam War, Gaye wrote the landmark song “What’s Going On.” Despite clashes with Motown over the Marvin Gaye “War is not the answer, because only love can conquer song’s creative direction, the single was released in 1971 and became an instant smash. Its success prompted Gaye to hate.” – Marvin Gaye take even more risks, both musically and politically.

In 1972, Gaye moved to Los Angeles and soon met Janis Hunter, who would later become his second wife. Inspired in part by his newfound independence, Gaye recorded one of the most revered love anthems of all time, “Let’s Get It On.” The song became his second number one Billboard hit, cementing his crossover appeal once and for all.

After two decades at Motown, Gaye signed with CBS’s Columbia Records in 1982 and began to work on his last album, Midnight Love. The lead single from that album, “Sexual Healing,” became a huge comeback hit for the R&B star and earned him his first two Grammy Awards and an American Music Award for Favorite Soul Single.

Marvin Gaye was born on April 2, 1939, in Washington, D.C. Also known as the “Prince of Soul,” he was born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. (he added the “e” to his last name later in life) in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 1939. Gaye was raised under the strict control of his father, Reverend Marvin Gay Sr., the minister at a local church, against a bleak backdrop of widespread violence in his neighborhood.

Throughout his childhood, Marvin Gaye often found peace in music, mastering the piano and drums at a young age.

Until high school, his singing experience was limited to church revivals, but soon he developed a love for R&B and doo-wop that would set the foundation for his career. In the late 1950s, Gaye joined a vocal group called The New Moonglows.

The talented singer had a phenomenal range that spanned three vocal styles and he soon impressed the group’s founder, Harvey Fuqua. It wasn’t long before Gaye and Fuqua both came to the attention of Detroit music impresario Berry Gordy and were signed to Gordy’s legendary Motown Records.

Pep Talk

HUMOUR True Believers The two thousand member Baptist church was filled to overflowing capacity one Sunday morning. The preacher was ready to start the sermon when two men, dressed in long black coats and black hats entered thru the rear of the church.

In 1975, Gaye’s wife Anna Gordy — Barry Gordy’s daughter — filed for divorce, and two years later Gaye married Hunter, who had by then given birth to their daughter, Nona (born September 4, 1974) and their son Frankie (born November 16, 1975). Gaye also had an adopted son (Marvin Pentz Gaye III) from his previous marriage. The singer’s marriage to Hunter proved short lived and tumultuous, ending in divorce in 1981.

One of the two men walked to the middle of the church while the other stayed at the back of the church. They both then reached under their coats and withdrew automatic weapons. The one in the middle announced, “Everyone willing to take a bullet for Jesus stay in your seats!”

Naturally, the pews emptied, followed by the choir. The deacons ran out the door, followed by the choir director and the assistant pastor.

Despite his successful comeback in the early 1980s, Gaye struggled badly with the substance abuse and bouts of depression that had plagued him for most of his life. After his last tour, he moved into his parents’ house. There he and his father fell into a pattern of violent fights and quarrels that recalled conflicts that had haunted the family for decades. On April 1, 1984, Marvin Gaye Sr. shot and killed his son after a physical altercation; the father claimed he acted in self-defense but would later be convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Three years after his death, Marvin Gaye Jr. was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Creating beautiful art from a troubled life, Gaye again and again brought his vision, range, and artistry to the world stage. At the end of his career, he admitted he no longer made music for pleasure; instead, he said, “I record so that I can feed people what they need, what they feel. Hopefully, I record so that I can help someone overcome a bad time.”

After a few moments, there were about twenty people left sitting in the church. The preacher was holding steady in the pulpit. The men put their weapons away and said, gently, to the preacher, “All right, pastor, the hypocrites are gone now. You may begin the service.”

Getting Into Fights A young couple drove several miles down a country road, not saying a word.

An earlier discussion had led to an argument, and neither wanted to concede their position.

As they passed a barnyard of mules and pigs, the husband sarcastically asked, “Are they relatives of yours?”

“Yes,” his wife replied. “I married into the family.”

Our ideas like orange plants, spread out in proportion to the size of the box which imprisons the roots.

– Edward Bulwer Lytton

TODAY IN THE NATION

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.9 NO.2,958

‘No nation can grow or cope with modern life if there is a permanent or partial fight between state and federal or indeed state and LGAs. In contrast to today’s federal negative events, the late President YarAdua ‘did it’ positively with the Lekki Bridge...’

TONY MARINHO

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

T

HE reader will recall we parted company last week on the note that today I will examine the merit of Professor G. G. Darah’s position on the issues he raised in his version of the outcome of the just concluded national conference. The 3,293-word report, as I pointed out, was published in the August 25 edition of The Pointer, the newspaper of the Delta State.

The professor discussed basically two issues, namely, the imperative for replacing the current three-tier federal system with two by abrogating local governments at the bottom, and the battle for “resource control”.

Coming from a professor of mass communication – indeed coming from a professor of anything for that matter – his report was more sound and fury than factual and logical. Out of the 3,293 words it contained, he devoted barely half to the two subjects. Even then, these were more of a diatribe against a section of the country than an attempt to persuade with facts and logic. The remaining roughly 1,500 words were a propagandistic defence of President Goodluck Jonathan that should embarrass even the most incompetent public relations officer, never mind a professor of mass communication.

Take, for example, his total disregard for facts in his attempt to malign a section of this country and blame it for all the country’s woes.

“The population of Taraba,” he said in his attempt to justify the conference’s decision to abrogate local governments, “is less than one million. ..Ughelli North is bigger. Uvwie is bigger than Taraba population. It’s one local government, yet Taraba has 25.”

If the professor had bothered to do his homework and had not allowed blind prejudice to take control of his mind, he would have discovered that nothing was farther from the truth than the statistics he conjured in his head. First, Taraba’s population by the last 2006 headcount was not less than one million, as he claimed. It was 2,330,736. Second, the populations of both Ughelli North and Uvwie which he claimed were bigger than that of Taraba, were 321,028 and 191,472 respectively. Third, Taraba has 16 local governments not 25.

This makes the average size of the local governments in Taraba 143,796 as against the average in Delta of 163,936; a difference no fairminded person can criticise as unreasonable, especially as there is a local government in Delta, Patani, which had a population of 67,707.

I am sure our dear professor will agree with me that playing as fast and loose with facts as he did with the populations of the local governments in Delta and Taraba just to make his point does no credit to even a primary school pupil, never mind the university professor he is and a veteran columnist that he was.

Sadly, his report of the conference is riddled with many such ridiculous claims. Take for another example, his attempt to blame his much-hated North for hitches in the payment of allowances to the delegates.

“We,” he said, “had spent six weeks no allowance. Somebody in the Ministry where Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is sitting on the voucher.

And is doing it for purely sinister purpose. He does not want the conference to succeed.” That “someone” for Darah was obviously from the

People and Politics By MOHAMMED H ARUNA ndajika@yahoo.com

A professor’s lies with statistics

•Darah

North.

“The first two weeks,” he said, “the northerners wanted the conference to break down. So that they can accuse President Jonathan: ‘ah you can’t run a conference. How can you run Nigeria again’. It’s fafafa (with a large chorus of fowl from the audience).”

Clearly our professor did not want to allow the inconvenient fact that the responsibility for paying the delegates allowances was jointly that of the finance minister and the secretary of the Federal Government - both of them Darah’s fellow southerners - get in the way of his wish to blame each and every failure of the authorities on the North.

Not only that, he proceeded to accuse the region of being behind the current state of insecurity in the land without any shred of evidence, never mind one that the scholarship he should stand as a professor for demands.

The region’s plan to embarrass the president by sabotaging the conference, he said, failed and so will its other plans. “It failed,” he said, “The next plan will also fail. The next plan is to embarrass him to a point by bombing many towns, simultaneously, causing havoc, disenchantment and abuse so that he cannot go for second tenure under PDP. This is the plan; it’s not hidden, it’s played out in the open.”

Last week I agreed with the professor that in a true federation, local and municipal govern-

ments cannot exist as a third tier of government even though his position was obviously full of malicious intent. In his argument, he cited America, Germany, Canada and India as true federations where local governments were creatures of the constituent states and not those of the centre as has been the case in Nigeria.

However, when it came to the issue of revenue allocation, the professor conveniently forgot that in all those countries, as in all true federations, all off-shore natural resources belonged to the countries as a whole and not to only the states abutting the oceans. This was clearly a classic case of one rule for “us” and another for “them.”

The professor’s bare-faced lies with statistics and his double standards were not the only worrisome aspects of his diatribe against a section of the country. Equally worrisome were his strident call on the country’s media, which as he pointed out, were dominated by owners from the Delta region, to ignore the ethics of journalism and descend into the crudest form of propaganda by defending the president, right or wrong, simply because he is from the region.

What the professor of mass communication said in this respect is worth quoting at length, if only because of the danger his words portend for the practice of journalism in the country. “I end up,” he said, “by challenging Delta people: We have not done enough in coming out to stand by Mr. President. We have not. Because the weapon being used at this point is verbal, intellectual weapon.

It’s propaganda. And Delta State is the owner of those arsenals. The most important newspaper in the country in terms of integrity is The Guardian. It’s owned by Ibru, from AgbarhaOtor, Urhobo. The next one in terms of popularity is the Vanguard. It’s owned by Sam Amuka, Itsekiri/Urhobo. The next one is THISDAY, it’s owned by Nduka Obaigbena of Ika. He is also in the conference. Those three newspapers determine the mind of Nigerians.

We need a programme that can join those forces and stand by Mr. President. (Clap of approval from the audience).

“Go to the electronic media, the most respected is either Channels or AIT. Channels is owned by John Momoh from Edo State; AIT by Dr. Alogho Dokpesi from Agenebode, Edo State. Then there is ITV, owned by the Igbinedions. They are the most powerful. People don’t tune to NTA, they tune to those ones if

HARDBALL

I

SN’T it a shame and a wonder that the world still lives under the same roof (or is it stratosphere now) with avowed tyrants? With popular rule and with the chants of freedom and liberty having rented the air in most corners of the world hundreds of years ago, is it not uncanny that the world of 21st century still does not only harbor brutish dictators but it also allows them to rule over the human race, to savage it and to brutalise it at will?

Almost 300 years after America fought and won her independence, who would have thought that in 2013 in a country that is supposedly in Europe, a dynasty of tyrants would hold sway for about 40 years? And when the people rose to say enough was enough, the army would be called out to mow them down.

When that failed, they were gassed and put to deathly sleep as if they were mere mosquitoes.

Of course Hardball is discussing Syria, a country that could have been European even

they cannot tune to CNN. Get what I am saying now, we need a movement that conjoin those institutions and then stand by Mr. President.”

What the president has done in three years, he said, as if firing the first shot of the crude propaganda war he is advocating, “are more than what Tafawa Balewa plus Shagari, plus Buhari, plus IBB, plus Abacha did in 30 years.

Jonathan has done more than all of them.”

“Finally, finally,” he concluded, “You no say person we de chop yoke of egg, when you want to take the egg from him, whatever weapon he has he will use it against you. What we have understood now is that because this northern segment has enjoyed the booty of the oil for 30 years they cannot even contemplate not having it. This is where we are now; it’s a ‘civil war’.”

With professors like Darah doing their utmost to pitch one section of the country against the other, is it any wonder the future prospect of this country looks so bleak?

The alert reader would have noticed I have not discussed the merit or otherwise of the major resolutions of the conference as I promised last week. This is due to space constraint. It will form the subject matter for another day in a not too distant future, God willing.

Re: Again, the return of Chinweizu and all that Sir, Your write-up on “Again, the return of Chinweizu and all that” made some chilling revelations. Though one may not always agree with you but one will agree that facts are facts.

This is your strong point.

I have watched these men, Professor G.G. Darah and Mr. Yinka Odumakin on the Channels -TV. The presentations of the two men give an impression of the play-out of a written script.

Painfully, people from Delta led by the old grand Papa (Edwin Clark) have been behaving as if the President is for the South–South only.

I hope that the prediction of the break-up of this country by 2015 will not come to fulfillment.

Sir Biyi Adesanya, Ibadan.

Sir, (Your piece last week contained) very interesting yet disturbing dimensions in contemporary discourses of Nigerian politics on behalf of the so-called “Greater/New South vs.

Shariyaland Geopolitical Divide”. But for now I simply wish to correct the misplacement of retired Col. Tony Nyiam as of Delta State origin like Professor G.G. Darah. Tony Nyiam is an indigene of Cross River State.

I hope that the articulators and diviners of this Nigerian Geopolitical Divide are conscious of the present Nigerian open society for which they may unwittingly be coveting its enemies for upcoming generations of Nigeria, that is, if there is still Nigeria!

Professor Sam Oyovbaire Benin.

I stand corrected by my professor who taught me the importance of rigour in Political Science at Ahmadu Bello University in the early seventies.

•For comments, send SMS to 08059100107

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

Syria: let’s ship all tyrants to another planet though its closest boundary to the West is Turkey. Since 2011, Syria has been going to pieces. Caught in the wave of the Arab Spring, Syrians had seized the moment to demand for a change in the way they were herded like cattle by their leader, Bashar al-Assad. They wanted the long dynastic rule of the al-Assad family to be subjected to popular debate, if not popular rule; they wanted to vote and be voted for; they wanted power to flow from the people and not from the palace.

This is not too much to ask in a world in which elections are not just the norm in many countries but an emerging universal culture.

The Syrians only asked to join the rest of humanity in the continuous re-enactment of the humankind. But the ruling gods won’t hear of it. Of course if they had ruled from generation to generation then it stands to reason if they conclude that they are born to rule. When

the protests started, Bashar would have chuckled and said to himself: my father got this mantle from his father, he did not hand it to me to hand over to a stupid mob of the hoi-polloi, no way; that is not going to happen. Only weaklings like Saddam Hussein and Moumar Ghadafi would allow that.

He quickly labeled the protesters rebels and enemy of State and called out the military to clear the streets of the ‘litter’. But he missed the point this time and for two years, the ‘war’ has been raging with over 100,000 killed and more than a million displaced. A new twist was brought to the feud about a month ago, when it was discovered that a chemical weapon of mass destruction may have been applied in the warfare by the al-Assad government which killed more than 1,000 Syrians in a most horrific manner, including about 300 children.

Yes, Hardball understands full well that the world is a crazily complicated place but all the

same, nothing explains why the world still allows mini-gods to prowl this planet.

Shouldn’t the world sign a convention that would make Bashar and all his kind who still live in the utopia that they are bigger than their human communities and entities to be rounded up and made extinct like dinosaurs?

If Bashar had placed humanity above his miserable self, if he had not considered himself indispensable and Syrians thrash, he would have provided leadership even to his protesting compatriots and guided them to a sunny new frontier, instead of callously confronting them with tanks and APCs. Now he gasses them as if they were vermin. And if perchance it happens that he did it not, he no doubt precipitated it. In conclusion, Bashar surely is not a citizen here anymore, he really should take a trip to the climes where all brutes converge, quickly!

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