The Nation September 08, 2011

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VOL. 7, NO. 1877 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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Salami: CJN warns NJC to stop comments on cases Court adjourns hearing till Sept. 26 The Hon CJN has directed that henceforth, recourse should be made to his office by heads of all judicial organs before any comment or information could be made public to avoid misrepresentation and/or pre-empting court decisions.

– Supreme Court Registrar

T

•Justice Musdapher

HE suspension of Court of Appeal President Justice Isa Ayo Salami returned to the front burner yesterday, with Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Dahiru Musdapher putting a gag on the National Judicial Council (NJC).

The NJC, on Monday, made critical comments on the cases instituted in court by Justice Salami, who is battling for the reversal of his suspen-

From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

sion.

Justice Musdapher took over from Justice Aloysius Katsina–Alu on August 28.

Justice Salami and Justice Katsina–Alu, who retired in a blaze of controversy, disagreed over the suspension of the Sokoto State Election Petition Tribunal as recommended by the former CJN.

My own personal investigation also showed that he is a man of impeccable integrity. A friend, who is a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, said Justice Salami reminds him of Justice Kayode Eso – a man of integrity.

– David-West

Justice Salami swore to an oath that Justice Katsina-Alu asked him to disband the Sokoto governorship dispute panel because of the allegation that the judgment had leaked. But Justice Salami declined, saying there was no evidence of the leakage.

The NJC’s recommendation of Justice Salami’s suspension, even as his case was pending before a court, was upheld by President

Goodluck Jonathan, who appointed Justice Dalhatu Adamu as acting President of the Court of Appeal (PCA).

In a statement by the Supreme Court Registrar, Mr. Sunday Olorundahunsi, yesterday, the CJN also barred all agencies of the Judiciary from commenting directly or indirectly on matters before courts.

He warned heads of the agencies to always refer to his

office before making public statements on all issues.

The statement reads: “The Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Dahiru Musdapher, CFR, has barred all organs of the Nigerian Judiciary from commenting directly or indirectly on matters pending before any Court of Law. “The Hon CJN has diContinued on page 2

Confusion over Gaddafi T

RIPOLI’S military commander Anis Sharif said yesterday that Muammar Gaddafi was cornered and the “days before he is captured or killed are numbered”.

But another senior defence official contended that Libya’s new rulers have no idea of the whereabouts of the embattled Libyan strongman.

The comments were the latest in a series of conflicting statements on the most pressing question still haunting the troubled North African nation - where is Gaddafi?

Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for nearly 42 years, has not been seen in public for months, and has released only audio messages trying to rally his supporters and lash out at his opponents.

He went underground after op-

position fighters swept into Tripoli on August 21.

Libya’s new leaders yesterday sent envoys to neighboring Niger Republic to try to prevent Muammar Gaddafi and his entourage evading justice by fleeing across a desert frontier toward friendly African states.

“The NTC has sent a delegation to Niger to discuss the possible arrival of Gaddafi,” Fathi Baja, the head of political affairs for the National Transitional Council, told Reuters in Benghazi, saying the ousted strongman may be close to Niger or Algerian borders, waiting for an opportunity to slip across.

“I think he’s near one of these borders ... and he’s looking for a chance to leave. We’re asking evContinued on page 2

•President Goodluck Jonthan displaying the certificate of Nigeria’s induction into the orbit, presented to him by the Minister of Science and Technology during the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House, Abuja ... yesterday.

PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN

•POLITICS P17 •SPORTS P23 •EDUCATION P25 •NATURAL HEALTH P47

2

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

NEWS Confusion over Gaddafi’s whereabouts Continued from page 1

•Deputy Managing Director (Designate), UBA, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka (second left) and Managing Director, UBA Foundation, Ms Ijeoma Aso (fourth left), flanked by Tijesunimi Adekanola of Baptist Academy, Lagos (extreme left), Onwudwie Sopuru of Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Lagos and Odiagbe Deborah of Queens College, Lagos, during the launch of UBA Foundation National Essay Competition for secondary schools in Nigeria, organised by UBA Foundation in Lagos … yesterday

ery country not to accept him.

We want these people for justice,” Baja said.

Reports on Gaddafi’s whereabouts remain decidedly sketchy. Another senior NTC official said Gaddafi had been tracked to an area in the empty Sahara of Libya’s South.

Gaddafi has been declared wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament any country where he is found should hand him over to be tried, remarks that were echoed by the United States (US) ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz.

With his ouster, however, have come revelations of the extent to which the U.S. and British officials were, until recently, cooperating with

Gaddafi — once a pariah in the West but rehabilitated by Washington and London in the past decade.

Papers found by Reuters in Tripoli showed a British arm of U.S.-based General Dynamics was modernising tanks and troop carriers for a feared brigade led by Gaddafi’s son Khamis, as recently as January, after “Arab Spring” protests began in neighboring Tunisia.

The firm said the equipment might have been part of a $135 million May 2008 contract with its British subsidiary, part of what it termed at the time “the United Kingdom’s initiatives to improve economic, educational and defence links with Libya”.

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director with Human Rights Watch, said: “I think the lesson is that if you are going to sell weapons to dictators, at some

Salami: CJN warns NJC to stop comments on cases Continued from page 1

rected that henceforth, recourse should be made to his office by heads of all judicial organs before any comment or information could be made public to avoid misrepresentation and/or pre-empting court decisions.”

The NJC Director of Administration, Mr. Eugene Odukwu, on Monday, spoke to reporters on Justice Salami’s case before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Odukwu said: “All the judicial officers, including Hon. Justice Salami, were sanctioned based on misconduct and not on criminal offences allegedly committed by the judicial officers.

“This may perhaps clear the minds of some members of the public on the reasons why Justice Salami was sanctioned by the Council on 9th August, 2011 when he was warned in writing by Council, which directed him to apologise to it and the former Chief Justice of Nigeria.

Council also decided in the meeting that he would be further sanctioned should he fail to apologise”.

The NJC, in a statement read by Odukwu, also described the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA’s) withdrawal from the activities of the Council as a welcome development.

It also admitted that “it has no Constitutional power to investigate any criminal offence alleged to have been committed by any Judicial Officer” as only courts can hear cases and determine cases of perjury against an individual.

The council said it was not disturbed that the NBA representatives are withdrawing since it has no power to exclude any member from its sittings.

It, however, expressed delight that the umbrella body of lawyers has decided to seek amendment of the 1999 Constitution to allow its members sit in the council “not only on matters on appointments of Judges to Superior Courts of record, but discipline, as well”.

Odukwu said: “It is necessary to inform the public that so far, 28 cases have been instituted against the Council since it held its inaugural meeting in April, 2000 by judges who had been re-

David-West, Ojudu caution on PCA’s suspension

S

ENATOR Babafemi Ojudu and former Petroleum Minister Prof.

Tam David-West yesterday spoke against the suspension of Justice Isa Ayo Salami as President of the Court of Appeal.

Ojudu, representing Ekiti Central District, in a statement in Abuja, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that “any injury which has been caused the suspended PCA be immediately reversed.”

In an interview in Ibadan, Prof.

David-West said Justice Salami has been vindicated as a man of integrity.

Ojudu said: “It has become imperative for me to lend my voice to the raging controversies over the suspension of Justice Ayo Salami from his post as the President of the Court of Appeal and the immediate appointment of another in his stead by President Goodluck Jonathan, giving the presidential excuse that he cannot permit a vacuum in the court.

“Given that whenever the law is assaulted, then anarchy looms, nobody craves for it, especially against the backdrop that it thwarts everything in its tail.

But how did we get to this sore point that a person by whatever appellation or title will be accused of an offence and then sentenced without an opportunity for explanation(s). I had thought the universal assumption that a man is presumed innocent, until otherwise proven guilty, will hold sway here.

“The issue at stake borders on the integrity and sanctity of the judiciary, regardless of the dramatis personae and, moved from office by President or Governors on the recommendations of the NJC for being guilty of misconduct.

An Abuja Federal High Court yesterday adjourned till September 26, the case filed by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, against the National Judicial Council (NJC), former Chief Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and nine others.

Other defendants are the Acting CJN and incumbent Chairman of NJC, Justice Dahiru Musdapher; members of the NJC’s Fact-Finding Committee - Justice Umaru Abdullahi; Justice Emmanuel Ayoola; Justice Dominic Edozie; Hon. Justice Michael Akpiroroh and Mrs. Rakia Sarki Ibrahim.

Also sued are members of the NJC Review Committee Justice Ibrahim Ndahi Auta; Justice Kate Abiri; and Justice Peter Umeadi.

The Court yesterday upheld the objection raised by counsel to the NJC, Mr. L.E. Nwosu

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja and Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

as such, all men and women of good conscience and goodwill should be on the alert and condemn the unfolding drama because, as it is said in law, it is better for 10 guilty persons to go scot-free than for a single innocent to be punished.

“Whenever there appears a threat to the independence of the judiciary and any form of interference, then the trust which is the bedrock of its existence will be destroyed.

“My interest is informed by my bias for an independent and fearless judiciary where nobody is punished on perceived grounds that he is an obstacle to malfeasance and a determination to see that the rule of law is king. We need the rule of law, if we want to reform and, as such, a wrong to one is an injury which we all must bear.

“I call on President Jonathan to resist the temptation to be caught in the web of deceit, misinformation and outright manipulation. This is a moment for him to demonstrate his much-touted commitment to the rule of law.

“The President must be courageous enough to look beyond mere partisanship as the issue involves the basis of our claim to a civilised nation. The judiciary as a branch of government cannot and should not be subjected to any form of attack that will erode its sanctity.

“There have been claims and counter claims as to the propriety of the NJC to suspend the PCA; equally more curious is the dispatch with which Mr President

(SAN), against the appearance of Mr. Emeka Ngige (SAN) for the Plaintiff.

Nwosu said since Ngige was not among those who initiated the case, he could only hold brief of former AttorneyGeneral of the Federation Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN) on behalf of the plaintiff, but not as a counsel in the matter.

Citing several authorities, Ngige argued that only the plaintiff could denounce him because there was a presumption of authority.

“It does not lie in the mouth of a defendant to oppose a counsel for the plaintiff. The only person that can deny is the plaintiff,” he insisted.

But Justice Donatus Okorowo, who held that parties are at liberty to change counsel, said it must be through a notice duly filed.

Alternatively, he said, the lawyer must have been introduced in the matter by the lead counsel.

In the absence of that, the Judge held that such lawyer

acted in appointing another in his stead.

This has given rise to the notion of a conspiratorial gang-up against the suspended PCA. I am therefore calling on the President and all Nigerians of good conscience to see to it that any injury which has been caused the suspended PCA be immediately reverted.”

David-West said: I am worried about the present manipulation of the election appeal tribunals. Justice Salami was removed under very questionable situation.

In fact, he is vindicated as a man of integrity. Far away in Europe and America, they are demonstrating in his support.

“My own personal investigation also showed that he is a man of impeccable integrity. A friend, who is a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, said Justice Salami reminds him of Justice Kayode Eso – a man of integrity. To me, for a retired Supreme Court Justice to compare Salami with Eso on the same platform of integrity is a great credential of integrity for Justice Salami.

“I don’t know him and I have never met him. But I am very proud of him as a Nigerian. Let this caution the nation.

If the judiciary is corrupted, Nigeria is finished because without justice, there can’t be peace.

“What is happening now at the appeal tribunals is a combination of permutations and manipulations that send very bad signals in terms of administration of justice. And I warn again that any manipulation that is unjust will set this country ablaze. It seems that the PDP and its supporters can’t even manage manipulations.”

could only hold the brief for the lead counsel.

“This representation is incoherent. It would have been a different thing if the appearance has not been challenged,” Justice Okorowo added.

Olujinmi described the ruling as “a win gives no gain and a loss does not hurt”.

They have gained nothing and we have lost nothing,” he said.

The former Minister of Justice said the Defendant had planned to frustrate the day’s sitting from the beginning by serving a process right in the open court.

In a motion brought under Order 56 Rule 1 of the Federal High Court (civil procedure) Rules, 2009 and the inherent jurisdiction of the court, Justice Salami is pleading with the court to nullify his suspension and subsequent appointment of Justice Dalhatu Adamu in acting capacity.

The Plaintiff urges the court to nullify or set aside any ac-

tion or steps taken or being taken in implementation or further implementation of the said decision.

He is also asking the court to restore the status quo ante as at the date the said decision was taken by the NJC. In the writs filed by his lawyers, Justice Salami is seeking 15 reliefs, including a perpetual injunction restraining the NJC from acting on the reports of the Justice Umaru Abdullahi Fact-Finding Committee and the Justice Ibrahim Auta Review Panel.

According to Justice Salami, the two panels have no right to determine whether he was guilty of perjury as they had imputed in their reports.

He is contending that Abdullahi and Auta committees are administrative panels that could not assume the status of a court.

Besides, Justice Salami alleged that the Auta Panel never gave him a right to fair hearing before making a pronouncement of guilt on him.

point down the line, you’re going to be deeply embarrassed.”

Niger has officially denied receiving a convoy of scores of Libyan army vehicles. Foreign Minister Mohammed Bazoum told the BBC that Col. Gaddafi had not crossed the border or asked to cross. French and Niger military sources told Reuters the convoy had arrived near the northern city of Agadez late on Monday via Algeria, which last week welcomed Gaddafi’s wife, daughter and two of his sons.

A French military source said Gaddafi might be preparing to meet up with the convoy and seek refuge in Burkina Faso, another nearby African state.

Burkina Faso denied any such plan.

Cretz said the 69-year-old fugitive Gaddafi remained a threat while at large: “A Gaddafi free in Libya could pose a continuing danger to the success of the new government to make sure its writ is spread throughout the country.”

The French military source said Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam may have planned to meet the convoy in Niger, a poor and landlocked former French colony, before heading to Burkina Faso.

Burkina President Blaise Compaore denied discussing giving Gaddafi sanctuary. “We have no information regarding the presence of Libyans on our soil since these events, and we have had no contacts with anyone in Libya about a request for political asylum,” he told reporters in the capital Ouagadougou.

Compaore has ruled for 24 years after taking power, like Gaddafi, in a military coup.

Like many other African states, Burkina Faso benefited from oil-funded Libyan aid under Gaddafi.

Niger has also tried to distance itself. Officials have confirmed that Gaddafi’s security chief Mansour Dhao has been let in, in what they called a humanitarian gesture. Its interior minister denied the arrival of hundreds of Libyan vehicles.

Government sources in Chad, another poor African neighbor, said it had asked France to send drones to monitor the border area and believed this would deter Gaddafi from trying to enter.

As with all efforts so far to find Gaddafi, two full weeks after rebels overran his Tripoli headquarters, the trail remained hazy, in a region where people are few and far between.

U.S. officials have said Gaddafi was still in Libya, but Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he was not sure: “I think he’s been taking a lot of steps to make sure that in the end he could try to get out if he had to, but as to where, when, and how that’ll take place, we just don’t know.”

•Gaddafi

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THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

3

NEWS GSM firm, businessman bicker over contract

By Joseph Jibueze

A

• The protesters … yesterday

Protest over relief materials for Ibadan P flood victims ROTEST yesterday rocked the Odo-Ona Relief Centre for victims of the Ibadan flood.

The victims were protesting alleged injustice in the sharing of the relief materials donated to them by politicians and firms.

Their protest coincided with arrival of more relief materials from politicians, firms and Non Government Organisations (NGOs) .

The Red Cross, which rose up to the challenge after the government led the pack of organisations striving to bring succor to the devastated victims. The service organisation mobilised its personnel and materials to the camps and stationed workers there for sharing among beneficiaries. It has also been administering materials donated by other

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

NGOs, groups and associations.

Leading the pack of politicians standing to be counted as a Good Samaritan is Senator Femi Lanlehin, who first told residents the naked truth of the need to cooperate with the government in bringing a permanent solution to the disaster. He said a study of flooding in the city showed that it has been occurring within the spate of 20 to 30 years.

Lanlehin stressed that unless residents allow government to address the issue, another flood disaster may be unavoidable the result of which he warned may be more devastat-

ing.

He donated several items including bags of rice, beans and garri during his visits to the flooded sites.

His counterpart in Oyo Central, Senator Ayo Adeseun, also followed suit.

Other politicians include Saheed Akinade-Fijabi, Mrs Folake Olunloyo-Osinowo, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide and Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Mrs Monsurat Sunmonu.

Other donors include: the Odu’a Investments Limited and a business mogul, Femi Babalola, who donated large quantities of materials.

While the conglomerate donated a

lorry load of mattresses, pillows, beddings, towels and cooking utensils worth over N1 million, Babalola delivered two truck loads of mattresses, pillows, blankets, towels, soaps, buckets, plastic containers, bags of rice and vegetable oils to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) for onward transfer to the victims.

Donations from others included toiletries, provisions and drugs.

When The Nation, visited the relief camps yesterday, flood victims were in high spirits.

One of the Red Cross officials looking after the victims confirmed that most of them had piled up two ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags of clothes by Tuesday night. Yet, materials were still being received as at press time yesterday.

ACN reassures Lagosians on road construction, maintenance

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FFORTS by some members of the opposition to discredit the Lagos State Government by posting bad sections of roads in the Centre of Excellence to the internet and other media networks will fail, the state chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) said yesterday.

Publicity Secretary of the ACN in the state Joe Igbokwe alleged that those who had turned such acts into a habit do so create the impression that Governor Babatunde Fashola was no keen on fixing roads in the nation’s commercial nerve centre.

In a statement by Igbokwe, the party described as deliberate falsehood by some fifth columnists to deceive the world on the efforts of

Lagos state at making commuting less stress-free for all categories of road users.

The statement reads: “It is wickedness, unrealistic, inconsequential, petty and cosmetic for anybody to descend so low as to deceive the public and the world that Fashola neglects roads in Lagos even when it is crystal clear that he has made monumental investment in road development in almost every part of the state in the past four years.

“We note that sometimes, some of these bad roads being posted on the internet just to ridicule the Lagos State Government are Federal roads and the state finds it difficult if not impossible to work on federal roads without clearance from the

federal authority.

“For instance, for close to 10 years now, the state government has been asking the federal government to hands off the Lagos Airport Road for rehabilitation and all to no avail.

Recently also, officials of the Ondo state government rehabilitating bad portions of Ore-Benin Expressway were chased away by federal officials from Federal Ministry of Works.”

Noting that the ACN-controlled government cannot fix all the roads in Lagos in one fell swoop, the party insisted that the hardworking and committed governor has been consisted in the handling of the roads.

“It may take years to build all

•Fashola

roads in Lagos, but surely we will get there”, the party said.

According to the statement, the ACN administration had not marginalised any of the five regions in the state in the distribution of social amenities since 1999.

‘50 million Nigerians hypertensive, diabetic’

N

O fewer than 50 million Nigerians are hypertensive and diabetic, a consultant cardiologist at the University of Ilorin, Prof. Ibrahim Katib has said.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital that the prevalence should be stemmed by government and concerned individuals, through prevention, rather than cure.

“About 50 million out of over 150

million of Nigeria’s population are suffering from hypertension, while about five million Nigerians are suffering from diabetes.

“Hypertension and diabetes go side by side to cause havoc on individuals”, he said, adding that the high prevalence was global.

He said that about $40 billion was spent annually on the two diseases worldwide.

“If one is hypertensive and wants the blood pressure to be reduced,

medication is not the only thing.

Once the medication has started; it becomes a life-long thing and cannot be stopped unless the medical personnel says so.

“You have to be up and doing and engaged in regular exercise for the blood pressure to be reduced as doing this will assist greatly to burn some calories within the system”, he said.

He also warned against consumption of alcohol and smoking of ciga-

rette in order to avoid the disease.

He said: “Hypertension, or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that your heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around your body.

“Diabetes mellitus is excessive glucose in a blood sample and in other words, you have too much sugar in your blood.”

LAGOS-based businessman, Mr Mark Davies, has sued Airtel Nigeria for allegedly refusing to release goods he had paid for and for “disrupting” his recharge card business.

He sued the company at the Lagos State High Court, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, for N50million.

Davies, the Managing Director of Globacell Nigeria Limited, is asking the court to determine whether a subsisting contract between his company and Airtel empowers the GSM service provider to receive payment for recharge cards without supplying them to him.

He also wants the court to determine whether the contract empowers Airtel to unilaterally cancel an Ongoing Revenue Service Commission (ORSC) agreement between them without recourse to it.

The claimant is seeking an order compelling Airtel to restore the ORSC-backed credit facility worth N3.8million, which it alleged the GSM company cancelled illegally.

He is also seeking an order compelling Airtel to pay his company N2.6 million, being daily earnings of N75,000 per day that it makes from sale of recharge cards, from May 27 till June 30, 2008, and the same amount until judgment is delivered.

He prayed the court to order the GSM company to pay him N50million as damages to cover alleged trauma, embarrassment, loss of income and business opportunities he suffered “as a result of the unilateral cancellation of the ORSC agreement by the defendant”.

But Airtel wants the court to determine whether the subsisting agreement between it and Globacell was governed by the September 14, 2006 letter or by a Distribution Agreement dated February 25, 2008.

It also wants the court to determine whether it reserves the right, under the agreement, to increase or reduce Globacell’s ORSC-backed credit facility, and whether or not the company is entitled to its claims.

Airtel denied Globacell’s claims, saying the “ORSC-backed credit facility, or any other credit facility extended to the claimant, had been fully utilised by the claimant”.

Airtel said Globacell is not entitled to its claims, and prayed the court to dismiss the suit or strike it out with substantial cost.

The GSM firm claimed that the credit facility covered by the September 14, 2006 cover letter had a 60-day tenure and had long expired before Globacell allegedly placed the order.

Hearing in the suit will resume on November 23 before Justice Mufutau Olokoba.

EFCC invites Lagos Assembly officials

By Oziegbe Okoeki

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RINCIPAL officers of the Lagos State House of Assembly have been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

They are to report at the Ikoyi, Lagos office of the anti-graft agency this morning.

Spokesman of the EFCC, Mr Femi Babafemi last night confirmed the invitation but declined to give reasons.

However, it might not be unconnected with last week’s invitation of Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji by the EFCC. Ikuforiji was questioned in Abuja and released.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

4

NEWS Gana urges focus on intelligence gathering From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

FORMER Minister of Information Prof. Jerry Gana has urged the Federal Government to focus more on intelligence gathering in its efforts to tackle the country’s security challenges.

Gana, who spoke to reporters in Kano, wondered why security operations in the country are characterised by inefficiency and lack of efficient intelligence gathering and analysing strategy.

The former minister said intelligence gathering is essential in crime prevention and control, adding that the security agencies would have been able to tackle the groups threatening the peace and wellbeing of the citizenry, if they had sufficient modern intelligence gathering methodology and equipment.

He called on the Federal Government to invest in security, particularly in intelligence gathering, to put an end to the insecurity in the country.

“I believe we need to invest a lot in security, because I think we are not investing enough.”

African Commission urged to sanction Libyan rebels for killing Nigerians

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HE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to ask Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) to “immediately instruct all its agents to stop the continuing racist killing, victimisation and persecution of Nigerians and other black Africans in Libya”.

The organisation also urged the Commission to order the NTC “to guarantee and ensure the enjoyment of the rights to life and to equality and non-discrimination and their socio-economic rights to an adequate standard of living, pending the Commission’s decision.”

In a request for provisional measures dated September 7 and signed by the Solicitor to SERAP, Mr Femi Falana, the organisation enjoined the African Commis-

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

sion to “urgently invoke Article 111 (Rule of Procedure) to prevent further risk of continuing irreversible denial of the victims’ rights, which in turn will render nugatory the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the potential decision by the Commission in this case.”

The group said: “The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights requires all state parties, including Libya, to ensure to all persons their fundamental rights without distinction of any kind, including race, language, religion, national origin, or other status.”

According to the organisation, “the NTC has a positive obligation to prevent and punish human rights abuses by its agents or pri-

vate actors. But the NTC is permitting or failing to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by the unlawful killing of Nigerians and other black Africans.

“Indeed, in the instant case, SERAP argues that the NTC has the additional duty to take all reasonable steps to unmask any racist motive and to establish whether or not ethnic hatred or prejudice may have helped play a role in the events highlighted above.

Failing to do so and treating racially induced killing and brutality on an equal footing with cases that do not have racist overtones would be to turn a blind eye to the specific nature of acts that are particularly destructive of fundamental rights.

“The continuing arbitrary and unlawful killing, victi-

misation and persecution of innocent Nigerians and other black Africans in Libya by the agents of the NTC constitute a fundamental breach of Libya’s obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in particular the right to life, and equality and –non-discrimination.”

The organisation added: “International human rights law imposes clear obligations on states to undertake effective measures to prevent racist and arbitrary killing and other human rights violations (the duty to protect), and to vigorously investigate and prosecute perpetrators (the duty to provide an effective remedy). Authorities should, in addition, publicly and unequivocally condemn such killing, in order to reiterate that the unlawful killing of innocent people is unacceptable, and express support for those at risk.”

Kudos for Akwa Ibom, Nasarawa, others AS the world marks Literacy Day, a child rights group, Stepping Stones Nigeria (SSN), has commended efforts to promote and improve literacy levels among Nigerian children.

The group cited recent initiatives, such as Read and Write Now! – a state-wide mass teacher training project, being conducted by Akwa Ibom State government in partnership with the University of Uyo. The project enjoys international support from Jolly Learning of the United Kingdom.

The governments of Cross River, Benue and Nasarawa states are also conducting pilot studies and are keen to offer their teachers the same training.

The group said this project, which trains teachers to use the synthetic phonics method for teaching children how to read and write, has improved children’s literacy levels in Akwa Ibom State.

Synthetic phonics is widely used in schools across the world and is considered by many international experts to be one of the best ways to ensure children are taught to read and write properly..

Mrs Naomi Foxcroft, Literacy Programme Officer for SSN, said: “We now call upon the Nigeria to follow the lead of these states and to review the primary school curriculum and teacher training programmes in order to centralise synthetic phonics.”

The method , which involves the systematic teaching of 42 English letter sounds through culturally relevant stories and actions, contrasts with current methods found in the Nigeran English Studies curriculum.

• From Left: Nollywood star Kate Henshaw-Nuttal, ace musician Sola Idowu (aka Weird MC), President, Women Arise, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin ) and Executive Director, Project Alert Mrs Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, during an anti-violence against women march in Lagos...yesterday.

Salami: Group, lawyer slam NJC over no-wrong claim

By Joseph Jibueze

A

RIGHTS group, the Access to Justice (AJ) and Lagos lawyer Mr Bamidele Aturu have urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to acknowledge its error in suspending President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Isa Ayo Salami instead of trying to legitimise the unfortunate action.

The NJC had issued a statement on Monday saying criticism over Salami’s suspension were flawed, and that it acted in good faith.

AJ, in a statement by its Director, Mr Joseph Otteh, said the NJC at this time should rather acknowledge “its sad errors”.

It said the body joined issues with many of its critics on a number of technical grounds, but deliberately avoided the main issue: suspension of Salami in the face of a pending court action.

“The core objection to the actions of the NJC is: Why did the Council not await the resolution of the legality of its indictment of Justice Salami – which was now in court - before proceeding to take the decision it did to suspend him?”

Aturu said: “Since the NJC news conference is assumed to have the blessings of the leaders of the NJC, including the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, I thank him profusely for this welcome practice.

Judges are not robots who have no minds of their own.

It is preposterous to suggest that they would be swayed by comments in the public on cases before them.

“If some of them are so pusillanimous as to be swayed then they are not fit to be judges in the first place. To gag the public simply on account that a case is ongoing does a greater harm to the imperative of having the citizens participate in every facet of their lives.

“From this moment, I would not like to hear the nonsense that comments on ongoing cases are contemptuous. They are not. The NJC has shown the way and I encourage all Nigerians to follow the worthy example. Viva Nigeria Judiciary, viva democracy.”

Police arrest two for attempting to defraud Jimoh Ibrahim

T

WO suspected fraudsters have been arrested by the police over alleged attempts to defraud the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Nigeria and Global Fleet Ltd, Mr Jimoh Ibrahim.

Ikenna Ojika (38) and Alexander Ogugua (31) allegedly hacked into Ibrahim’s e-mail box and used it to send messages to workers of the two companies in the account department, directing them to transfer N21.5 million into two bank accounts.

Police sources told The Nation that when Ibrahim discovered that his e-mail box had been hacked into by the suspects, he alerted the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Yakubu Alkali, who directed his deputy in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department

By Jude Isiguzo

(SCID), Panti, Yaba,Mr Abdullahi Yuguda, to investigate the matter.

It was gathered that Yuguda, an investigator with more than 15 years experience, told the CEO to play along with the suspects as that was the only way to ensure their arrest.

Yuguda also alerted the banks that were to be used for the transaction and the banks also alerted their branches nationwide.

It was learnt that some days later, N12.5 million was paid into the account of Ojika; N9 million was paid to an account given by Ogugua.

While the account number supplied by Ojika belonged to him, the one Ogugua used belonged to Nchewi Techni-

•Ikenna

•Alexander

cal Services Ltd., Nsukka , a company that is owned by his friend.

According to the police, when the owner of Nchewi Technologies received an

alert after the transfer, he wondered what kind of business the suspect, who he described as a street trader, could have done to fetch N9 million, hence he went and

reported to the bank.

He told the bank that Ogugua approached him and asked for his account number, saying he wanted to transfer some money into it.

The bank advised him to trick Ogugua to the bank so that the police could arrest him.

Police detectives trailed Ojika to Warri, Delta State.

The Police said they would also arrest two other suspected members of the syndicate.

Ojika and Ogugua have been charged to Magistrate Court II, Oyingbo, Lagos Mainland on a four-count of conspiracy to commit felony and attempt to obtain money under false pretence.

Both suspects have been remanded at Kirikiri Prison till September 26, the next date for the hearing.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

5

NEWS World Boxing Federation (WBF) 2001 Cruiserweight title winner Bashiru Ali (popularly known as Bash Ali) has taken some time off his training for the Guiness World Record (GWR) Fight boxing tournament. The break is to allow him fight another battle out of the ring and against strange opponents – “corruption, lies and injustices” in high places. His target is the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, who has dismissed the boxer’s allegation as frivolous.

Bash Ali’s fight before the world championship •Draws Orubebe Minister, world champion in text message war in battle against LI: Godsday, why did you prefer staging Ali: My brother, it is a NEW DAWN for all a music concert in the Niger Delta region Nigerians to come together and fight corruption. to the 9 FREE OF CHARGE ESTABLISHLet all of us say “NO” to corruption. Let us help corruption Jonathan to move Nigeria forward, please. Because MENT OF SPORTS ACADEMIES WITH OLYM-

A

Ali writes President

M

Y bear brother, I am not happy to write you an open letter but I have no choice because, since your February 16, 2010, reply to me in which you complimented me for all the great and wonderful things that I have done for Nigeria and promised me that my letter to you was receiving due attention, further letters to update and remind you about a courtesy visit have been blocked and purposely diverted at the Presidency by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday P.A Orubebe and his cohorts because I insist that the Guinness World Record (GWR) Fight boxing business we are doing at his ministry must be transparent. And for this, I have received over 20 derogatory and damaging text messages from the minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who took an oath of office to always do the right thing and help you move Nigeria forward.

Shame and embarrassment would not permit me the luxury of publishing all the text messages but I will publish four only just to give you an idea of how great Nigerians who want to contribute to the growth and development of Nigeria are being frustrated on a daily basis by corrupt government officials.

On why he sent me back to the NSC after the fight cost had been included in the 2010 budget of his ministry, the minister replied thus: I thought you were reasonable but had to withdraw because I realised you are not coordinated, you have a loose and porous mindset and living in the air. Sad that I met you. April 23, 2011 07:17:12 a.m.

On reminding him that he withdrew because I insisted on a transparent deal and that out of 150 million Nigerians that I am one out of about 5,000 Nigerians given a national honour, the minister replied thus: OON, a disgrace.

I will ensure that you are removed from the honours’ list. I promise you that. End of story.

April 24, 2011. 03:22:34am On reminding him that he took an oath of office to do the right thing, the minister replied thus: There will be no room for your apology and begging when we set up government without you. Big fool who could not plan his life.

April 28, 2011. 11:12:27am.

PIC SIZED SWIMMING POOL AND A SPORTS MANUFACTURING FACTORY? Why do you hate to see development in our region? Why? April 23,2011. 03:34:22am Orubebe: I think you need to examine your head and reason beyond your fake thoughts.

April 23, 2011. 06:21:14am Ali: Godsday, we included in the budget the fight and land cost for the 9 sports academies in Nigeria with 3 of your directors at the meeting.

And I have always told you that this GWR fight must be done TRANSPARENTLY because apart from the honour and glory, that it will bring to Nigeria, there is a lot of PPV fight money which we can all benefit from. Is doing a TRANSPARENT business at your ministry a fake thought that calls for the examination of my head? What happened to the money that was included in the budget? Did you divert it?

Orubebe: I thought you were reasonable but had to withdraw because I realised you are not coordinated, you have a loose and porous mind set and living in the air. Sad that I met you. April 23, 2011. 07:17:12am Ali: You withdrew and sent me back to the NSC because I insisted on a TRANSPARENT deal and now have the audacity to insult me. This is the second time you have said am living in the air for believing a TRANSPARENT deal can be done at your ministry in particular and Nigeria in general. Do you know that out of 150 million Nigerians, I am one out of less than 5,000 Nigerians that have a national honour. Do you know that I am an officer of the Order of the Niger, OON? Orubebe: OON, a disgrace. I will ensure that you are removed from the honours’ list. I promise you that. End of story. April 24, 2011. 03:22:34am Ali: That is an empty talk. I got my OON on merit, so a million Godsday can not take it away.

Why are you preventing me from doing more great things for Nigeria and getting the highest national honour possible? Why? Must corruption always win? Do you know what this GWR fight, the 9 Sports Academies and the sports manufacturing factory will do for Nigeria?

Orubebe: Fool, you will die complaining. April 28, 2011. 06:13am Ali: Did you not swear to do the right thing before you were made a minister? Do you know that you are a public servant and must at all times be respectful to the people? People like you do not deserve to be in government. I truly regret meeting you and above all feel sorry for Jonathan for appointing you Orubebe: There will be no room for your apology and begging when we set up government without you. Big fool who could not plan his life.

April 28, 2011. 11:12:27am Ali: Godsday, it is you that must apologise and beg me to forgive you for being rude and talking trash. Set up government without me? What a joke!! If I am a fool for insisting that the boxing deal must be TRANSPARENT then I don’t want to be wise and above all, I gave Jonathan my mandate, not Godsday.

Orubebe: Just saw your text and am sorry for your family that, in all their efforts they ended up having a foolish idiot as a father, brother and a child. You will be shocked, I have started the process of withdrawing your wrongly given honour.

May 4, 2011. 06:04:31am

we are from the Niger Delta, does it mean we have to always talk like militants?

Orubebe: Big fool. Why can’t you stop deceiving yourself. Am sorry for your children and family for having a stupid father, who do not understand the times. July 9, 2011. 07:01:23pm Ali: Godsday, does understanding the times mean you have to be corrupt? I was just thinking, must corruption always WIN? Why can’t we do a TRANSPARENT business where we can all come out WINNERS? Let us contribute our quota to make Nigeria great, please. Let us help our brother, Jonathan, to succeed, please.

Orubebe: Is like you are in love with Orubebe, Remove shame and come, I will forgive you and teach you to be a responsible man like me. July 10, 2011. 07:06:23am Ali: I cannot be in love with a man who has an arid vision for Nigeria. What shame? And forgive me for insisting on a TRANSPARENT business?

Does being corrupt make a man like you responsible? I feel sorry for Nigerians, Jonathan.

Orubebe: Your foolishness has made you not to know that this is the man that can bail you out of your blindness and frustration. Time is ticking.

Don’t make me change my mind again. July10, 2011. 01:47:57pm Ali: You are the foolish and blind man who wants to continue to steal from government because you are in power. I will never again deal with you unless I get instruction from Jonathan. You are right, time is ticking so very soon, I will lead a revolution that will remove corrupt people like you from government and if I die in the process, nothing can be more redemptive.

Orubebe: How can you be afraid to die when you have nothing to offer to Nigeria. July 10, 2011.

04:12:32pm Ali: I have contributed more to the betterment of Nigeria than you. I have spent millions of naira to promote sports and NEVER asked government for a kobo despite being frustrated by a corrupt man like you.

Orubebe: Come and take one very small contract to survive July 13, 2011. 12:16:14pm Ali: Give the very small contract to survive to your corrupt friends in government. A few hours ago while Jonathan was swearing in new executive council that included you, he said and I quote “Our task is to address the issues which preoccupy Nigerians. We must act quickly while at the same time, working on sustainable responses to long term changes. This is the debt we owe the electorate who turned out in large numbers in April 2011 elections to make a statement with their votes. I will therefore expect the best form of conduct in the discharge of your responsibilities” why are you doing the contrary?

Orubebe: If you are a fool at this age, am sorry for your children and family. I will tell your children to deny you. Big FOOL. July 15, 2011.

01:22:05pm Ali: From your action and text messages, you have shown Jonathan that he made a big mistake by appointing an idiot like you as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A revolution is coming and it will sweep you out of office, Mark my word, sir.

Orubebe: Is like you have no job. Would have taken you as an aide but you don’t have the brains.

Sorry, too bad. Yours is a hopeless case. July 15,

Continued on Page 52

•Ali

2011. 01:38:06pm Ali: I am a world boxing champion and a national honour holder but your corrupt government has made me jobless, frustrated and hopeless but my brain is intact for a REVOLUTION that would remove you from office. Mark my word, sir Orubebe: Some fools get small sense but your own foolishness has no measure. Big fool who do not know that Orubebe is on top. July 30, 2011. 07:24:12 pm (Sent 3 times) Ali: I don’t blame you. I blame Jonathan for bringing you into government to corrupt it. I will remove you from office if it is the last thing I do. Mark my word, sir Ali: Godsday, the GEJ Transformation Agenda will be successful without you. Mark my word.

Orubebe: I thought your head was getting normal. Oh sorry, have volunteered to take you to Uselu at my own cost to bring you to normalcy. Poor you, all these on you, foolish man, stupid man, crazy man, nuisance to society, your children and family. Waste to our generation.

Uselu is your rightful home. Sept 1, 2011: 02:56:25pm

‘Ministry of Niger Delta has nothing to do with sports’

M

•Orubebe

INISTER of Niger Delta Affairs Elder Godsday Orubebe has dismissed the allegation levelled aginst hiim by exWorld Boxing Champion Bash Ali over a proposed Guinness World Record (GWR) Fight boxing programme.

Orubebe, who spoke with The Nation on phone, said Ali’s family should take him to a psychiatric hospital in Uselu, Edo State, to examine his mindset.

He said: “That man came to me with his proposal and I said these are things that can be done by the National Sports Commission (NSC). I gave him a recommendation note to see the Minis-

From: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

ter of Sports at that time.

“Later he came to me that some people told him that the programme will be included in the budget of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

“I said if other people are lying, I will not lie. The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has nothing to do with sports, the programme could not have been part of our budget. So, it is not in our budget.

“This agitation of Ali is dated back to the tenure of ex-President Umaru Yar’Adua. At a point, he was so im-

pressed with my assistance that he wrote a letter to Yar’Adua telling him that I am the only minister who speaks the truth. I still have a copy of the letter with me.

“Sometimes this year, he sent me a text that is it because he insisted on a transparent deal that the budget for the programme was not released? I asked: What is my ministry got to do with Sports?”

Asked of his response to the petitions sent to President Goodluck Jonathan, the minister added: “Let him write thousands of petitions, I have nothing to hide.

“Bash Ali is a big fool. He is good

enough for the psychiatric hospital in Uselu. I think it is a mental case and I want to advise his family to take him there.

“Even this afternoon (Tuesday), I said he is a big fool. I am not bothered about what he is saying about me.”

On why he tolerated Ali initially, Orubebe added: “I looked at him as an ex-international boxer and I felt he should be encouraged. That was why I introduced him to the then Minister of Sports. Later, he was talking about the cost of the programme being included in the budget of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

6

NEWS Police blamed for rising cases of domestic violence

By Jude Isiguzo

HUNDREDS of people yesterday took to the streets of Ikeja and Ikoyi in Lagos protesting domestic abuse in the country and urged government not to allow victims to suffer in vain.

The march, which was tagged: ‘Domestic Violence Awareness Walk’ was organised by Project Alert on Violence Against Women, in collaboration with the Gender-based Violence Response Network.

The group attributed the rise in the cases of domestic violence to the unwillingness of the Police to act on the complaints of victims of abuse.

The Convener of the group, Dr. Josephine Chukwuma blamed the police for treating complaints about domestic violence with levity.

ASUU condemns bombing of UN building From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Abuja zone has condemned the recent bomb blast at the United Nation’(UN) House in Abuja.

The union also condoled with the families of the victims of the mayhem.

Abuja zone of ASUU comprised Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi (UAM),Benue State University(BSU),Nasarawa State University(NSU),Kogi State University(KSU),University of Abuja (UNI Abuja),Ibrahim Babangida University(IBBU) and University of Technology(FUT) Minna.

In statement at the end of a meeting in Makurdi, the union expressed displeasure over the delay in the passage of the bill for the 70-year retirement age for academics in the professorial cadre and asked the National Assembly to urgently passed the bill.

The ASUU expressed dismay at the inability of Government to implement the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement.

Akunyili: Yar’Adua feared Jonathan wanted him to die F ORMER Information and Communication Minister Prof Dora Akunyili allegedly told former United States Ambassador Robin Sanders that former President Umaru Yar’Adua feared Vice President Goodluck Jonathan wanted him dead.

Prof Akunyili also told Sanders that Yar’Adua never trusted Jonathan, nor had a good relationship with him, according to a Wikileaks cable.

She said Yar’Adua was comatose for days before his death, and that Jonathan was afraid, especially of the North.

Wikileaks said Prof Akunyili called the ambassador at 11:45 p.m on December 1, 2009 to discuss the state of President Yar’Adua’s health.

Jonathan’s worries about the President dying.

Akunyili said she called the ambassador on a non-government registered phone.

The former minister was quoted as saying. “The country is in a real mess as Yar’Adua has been in and out of a comatose state since his arrival in Saudi, only coming out briefly in the afternoon of November 30, and since then he has been in a coma.”

Akunyili said Yar’Adua was in coma “mostly in the last two days” after his return from Saudi Arabia.

She added that the Vice

By Joseph Jibueze

President was symbolically in charge, but was afraid to show any leadership because he might be “misunderstood.”

According to the Wikileaks cable, Akunyili said she doubted that the President could survive the crisis as he had in the past, noting that he was only conscious enough to talk to a few people in the afternoon of November 30.

Akunyili added that there was no clear leadership then, because Jonathan was worried, unsure of what to do, and concerned about sending signals that “could be misunderstood at this sensitive stage among Northerners.”

Ambassador Sanders then asked who was really running the day-to-day tasks of the country as in the past as it had unofficially been National Security Advisor and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

The Information Minister admitted that this remained the case, but noted that Jonathan wanted to step into the lime light more, but was afraid to do so.

Akunyili added that Yar’Adua and Jonathan never had a good relationship, that

‘

Jonathan’s dispatching emissaries around town to take a temperature check on the atmosphere surrounding what may be his, sooner rather than later, ascendancy to the Presidency further leads to the news that the President of Nigeria is in his final days.

‘

the President mistrusted him, and that there was always a suspicion from Yar’Adua that the VP was “just waiting for him to die.”

She confirmed that Jonathan was sending feelers out to key Northerners on their thoughts and hoping to get a signal that it was all right to assert his leadership.

Ambassador Sanders asked whether there was anything she thought friends of Nigeria could do at that time.

Akunyili suggested that the

ambassador send a text message to wish the President well through his Aide de Camp.

On December 1, a request came to the Mission Officer outlining a scenario of having the Ambassador deliver a letter expressing well wishes for the President, but privately signaling the need to follow the Constitution, and making the Vice-President comfortable that the US or other international partners would not oppose his taking over if it came to that.

Sanders added, according to the Wikileaks cable: “We have told our interlocutors that it was not possible to act in this manner at this time, given that the President was still alive and still the Head of State of Nigeria.

“Clearly, reports of the President in a coma and on a respirator do not bode well for any recovery. In addition, Jonathan’s dispatching emissaries around town to take a temperature check on the atmosphere surrounding what may be his, sooner rather than later, ascendancy to the Presidency further leads to the news that the President of Nigeria is in his final days.

“Regarding those who might be viewed as the strong

Youths hail College Provost THE Provost of Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo State, Dr. Oyetunde Alabi has been praised for his leadership quality and unique contributions to nation building.

Oyo State Head of the National Youth Festival of Art and Culture, a Non Governmental Organisation, Mr. Kola Oni lauded the provost for his pragmatic leadership.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Provost, Kola Oni said: “We have to appreciate the contributions of Dr. Alabi to nation building at this moment and encourage him to do more”.

“We also want to appreciate the active part Dr. Alabi contributed in youth and education development. We believe that he has touched the lives of so many youths who are now leaders in various places”.

•Pastors Oladelepo (left), Adeyemo, Olutola and Awojide... yesterday

PHOTO: TITILAYO BANJOKO

‘Why The Apostolic Church established varsity’

T

THEHE Apostolic Church Nigeria established the Samuel Adegboyega University in Ogwa, Edo State to bring the young ones closer to God, the National President of the church Dr. Gabriel Olutola, has said.

The Apostolic Church recently joined the list of private university owners in the country.

Dr. Olutola said the church had a calling in 2005 to establish a university. He said the fees charged by the institution will be affordable to the rich and the poor without lowering the standard.

Dr. Olutola spoke at the

By Titilayo Banjoko and Rita Ohai

headquarters of The Nation newspapers, Matori, Lagos yesterday during a visit.

He was accompanied by the Administrative Secretary, Pastor Gabriel Adeyemo; National Deputy Secretary Pastor Emmanuel Awojide; National Finance Secretary Pastor C.O Akinyoola; Executive Assistant Pastor L.O Oladelepo; Editor of the church’s newspaper Pastor J.S Banke; Protocol Officer Pastor I.A Oweh and Pastor Oyewale.

The delegation was received by the Managing Di-

rector/Editor in Chief of Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation, Mr. Victor Ifijeh.

Dr. Olutola described The Apostolic Church as “the early leading Pentecostal denomination in Africa,” which he said “has come of age.”

He said The Apostolic Church Nigeria will host the second African Leaders Conference at the church headquarters in Ketu, Lagos next week.

Twenty African countries will be represented. The theme of the conference is “Contending for the Christian faith that was once delivered to the Saints. “

Dr Olutola said the topic was chosen so as “to debunk the false teachings that have polluted Christianity at this end time.”

The church in 2008 hosted the first edition of the conference.

He promised that the church will be a good host.

Dr. Olutola lauded The Nation for its achievements within just five years of its existence.

“Given what the newspaper has achieved, I thought it was much older than five years,” he said.

Mr.Ifijeh promised support for the church’s activities in line with the objectives of the newspaper.

Northerners who would become Vice President, there seems to be a changing ‘short list’ that could include the Governors of Bauchi (Yuguda, also a son-in-law of Yar’Adua), Kwara (Saraki), and Sokoto (Wamako) states at the top.

“Other strong Northern and ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) personalities who will have a voice in what happens in Nigeria range from former National Security Advisor Aliyu, whom we also understand still desires the Presidency, as well as Senate President David Mark.

“Former President Ibrahim Babangida, also a strong northern voice, is out of the picture for the moment as he is in California with his wife, whom we understand may be dying of cancer. In addition, we can never discount the influence and voice of former President Obasanjo within the PDP on what to do next as a result of Yar’Adua’s passing.

“We will continue to provide spot reporting from all sources as this situation continues, particularly on the military. SANDERS.”

‘Self-medication worsens erectile dysfunction’ MEN with erectile dysfunction should not resort to self-medication, as such recourse could worsen the situation, a medical officer with the National Hospital in Abuja, Dr Abiodu Awolusi has advised.

“I don’t subscribe to people taking drugs on their own. It is better for them to go to the hospital for diagnosis; it can be psychological or physiological depending on the cause and it is better tackled in the hospital,’’ Awolusi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Erectile dysfunction, according to report is characterised by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis during sexual performance.

Awolusi observed that the general lifestyles of men with regard to consumption of food and drinks, as well as stress could contribute to erectile dysfunction.

According to the doctor, erectile dysfunction can be psychological with a failed erection or penetration due to thoughts or feelings, while problems at home can make a man to be sexually inactive.

“Common family problems can make a man to be sexually dysfunctional, that is, if you are not in good terms with your spouse, you can be sexually inactive,” he said.

He explained that hard drug intake could also affect erection, while persistent intake of medicine especially among people with hypertension could also be a cause.

“Naturally, a man is supposed to have erection about four to eight times at night. So, if somebody is not having it this number of times, then he is suffering from poor erection.”

He said that erectile dysfunction had no age limit as it could occur among young men but are mostly common in the elderly, adding that most men experienced it at age 45.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

7

NEWS Tribunal nullifies Rep’s election in Kaduna

Lawyer urges courage in fight against corruption

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

By Dada Aladelokun, Assistant Editor

A LAWYER and rights activist, Mr Bamidele Aturu, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri, to demonstrate to Nigerians that they are capable of fighting corruption.

He was reacting to Mrs Waziri’s outcry that some powerful Nigerians were frustrating the agency’s war against graft.

Aturu urged the President to sack the EFCC chairman if she cannot show the courage to confront those militating against her efforts to reduce malfeasance in the country.

He said: “If Mrs Waziri does not change her mindset on the war against corruption, I suggest, for the umpteenth time, that President Jonathan should show her the way out. Her latest admission of failure is the best evidence he needs to act, assuming he is also not one of the powerful or influential Nigerians frustrating the war against corruption.”

Noting that Mrs Waziri’s statement was not new, the lawyer said Nigerians know that the so-called most powerful Nigerians were corrupt with ill-gotten wealth.

“The EFCC Chair has not said anything new. What we expect from her is to name those powerful Nigerians and inform us on the steps she has taken to checkmate or deal with them according to law.

“There is no doubt that the law empowers her to deal with those powerful Nigerians. They are not excluded from the ambit of her statutory duties. Clearly, therefore, her statement is an admission of failure,”

Bomb factory in FCT, not Niger, says Aliyu NIGER State Governor Babangida Aliyu has said the bomb factory uncovered recently by the State Securtity Service (SSS) is located in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and not in the state.

The SSS Assistant Director, Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar, had, on Tuesday, said the agency uncovered a bomb-making factory of the Boko Haram sect where Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were assembled at Chechnya, Hayin-Uku village in Tafa Local Government Area of Niger State.

But Aliyu told reporters at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national secretariat, Abuja, that there was an agreement between the Niger State Government and the FCT on which border communities in the state were handed over to the FCT. “It (bomb factory) is not in Niger; it is right there in Abuja. Don’t you see it is right at the border? That is why… we gave Abuja more than 80 per cent of our land.

(But) instead of benefitting from the positive side of Abuja, we are taking the negative side.”

T

• Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole (middle) addressing participants at the eighth Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) National Seminar on Financial Crimes in Abuja...yesterday. With are: Emmanuel Akomaye of EFCC (left) and Comrade Isa Aremu of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

EFCC denies recovering $13.5m from T Jonathan’s wife HE Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri, yesterday said the commission did not recover $13.5million slush funds from the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

She also said the commission had not witch-hunted anyone or group in the last three years.

Mrs Waziri made the clarifications when she addressed members of the Women Empowering and Enriching Lives (WEEL) in Abuja.

The EFCC chairman said the agency was not investigating Mrs Jonathan for any financial crime.

Mrs Waziri said: “This even provides me an opportunity to respond to several enquiries I have been getting on an alleged pending case against Mrs. Jonathan. Let me state clearly that the commission will not allow itself to be used to drag innocent people’s names into crimes, cases or allegations they know nothing about.

“In this particular case, I have read my predecessor say in interviews in September, last year, that Mrs. Jonathan was not in any way involved in any case of money launder-

F

•‘We only have records of Ibori’s $15m bribe’

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

ing investigated by the EFCC under him. I have thereafter checked our records and cannot find any case of money laundering against Mrs. Jonathan or the President. So, each time I get an enquiry or read about this, I often wonder where this is coming from.

“If the person said to have investigated her for money laundering had, as far back as September, last year, disclaimed this, I wonder why people still refer to it.

“As I said, the commission does not have any account or record where $13.5 million was recovered from Mrs. Jonathan in 2006. I don’t have the details of the account where it was put and it was not documented. If there was a case against the First Lady, it should have been documented. There is no such record in the commission.

“But in the case of the controversial $15million bribe

offered the former Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, by former (Delta State) Governor James Ibori, I met the records and the money is still with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“We should learn to separate the truth from blackmail.

Our society can only thrive on justice and fair play if we uphold the right values and shun the politics of pulling innocent people down.”

Promising that the commission under her operates within the law, the EFCC chairman said: “I am equally glad to note that women in authority are reputable for maintaining high standards and playing by the rules. This is why only the mischievous would say the EFCC under my leadership witch-hunts or drags people’s names through the mud or violates rule of law in our operations.

“I am proud to say that in the last three years, we have done much more and achieved great feats without

operating outside the ambit of the law.

“For us in the EFCC, we will continue to promote the right values, focus on our mandate and abstain from tendencies that will not help the cause for a better society.

“This we cannot do alone, and that is why we continue to enlist as many patriotic citizens and groups, like yours, to join in our crusade for good governance through a vigorous and masses-driven fight against economic crimes, including corruption.”

She praised the WEEL for promoting women’s cause.

Mrs Waziri said: “I am often delighted whenever I have women’s groups visiting me like this; maybe it’s because I am a woman or because I am just sensitive to women’s rights and well-being.

“This is why I support the objective of WEEL for its commitment to empowering women towards sustainable development.

“Without sounding feminist, I am bold to say that women in positions of authority are not only achieversas instances abound around us - but their empowerment secures the future of children, families and the society as a whole.”

Why I shunned Jonathan over NCS meeting, by Buhari

ORMER Head of State and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday said as long as he is in court with President Goodluck Jonathan over the result of the April presidential election, he would not attend any meeting of the National Council of State (NCS) .

Buhari said: “Attending the meeting means accepting the results of the presidential election, which was not free and fair.”

He said no matter the pressure from any quarter, his decision would not change.

President Jonathan, on Tuesday, held a crucial NCS meeting with former Heads of State on the security challenges facing the nation.

At the meeting were: Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, and Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar.

Former Military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida; Gen. Buhari; and former Head of Interim National Govern-

•‘We can’t discuss anything together now’ From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

ment, Chief Ernest Shonekan, were absent.

Buhari, speaking through his spokesman, Yinka Odunmakin, told The Nation: “He has said it and will continue to say it that he will never attend the NCS

meeting with President Jonathan, when he is still in court with him over the result of the presidential election.

“If he attends, his purpose will be defeated. No matter the pressure, nothing changes. Nobody can force him to do what he does not want to

NANS condemns Jos killings

T

HE National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has condemned the killings in Jos, the Plateau State capital, and urged the Federal Government and security agencies to tackle security challenges confronting the nation.

NANS National President, Comrade Dauda Muhammed, told reporters that the fresh violence in Plateau, which began last week and continued on Sunday, with 11 people killed, was unwarranted and unfortunate.

He said: “Having observed the reoccurring crises in Jos and its environs in the North, NANS wishes to urgently call on the Federal Government to stop these deplorable crises. Nigeria must begin to attach great value to the life of every citizen, irrespective of where he or she lives.

“It is saddening that at a period when peace is being advocated globally, our country, on a daily basis, is becoming a subject of conflict and unwarranted violence perpetrated on such frivolous reasons like religious or ethnic differences.

do. He has also made this known to the international community.

“We are sure of victory in court, despite the antics of President Jonathan and the Judiciary. The whole world is interested in the outcome of the case and there is no going back.”

HE National and State Assemblies Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Kaduna, yesterday nullified the election of Abubakar Musa Abubakar of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) into the House of Representatives.

It directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election for Soba Federal Constituency in line with the provisions of the Electoral Acts 2010.

The tribunal, presided over

by Justice Daniel Kailo, upheld the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Khalid Ibrahim, challenging the election of Abubakar on the ground that INEC conducted the poll without his knowledge.

Khalid told the tribunal that the election, originally fixed for April 2, was rescheduled for April 9. He said it was again postponed by INEC to April 26 and later to April 28, but purportedly held on April 9 without his notice.

Khalid argued that because of the confusion, his supporters did not come out to vote on April 9, when the election was conducted.

Bomb scare at council secretariat •Blast rock Maiduguri

By Jude Isiguzo

T

HERE was bomb scare yesterday at the Ikeja Local Government secretariat, Lagos, following the discovery of an explosive on one of the air-conditioning units in the premises.

A worker, who saw it, alerted others.

The Nation gathered that the Lagos State Police Commissioner Yakubu Alkali was informed about the development and he alerted the Commissioner of Police in-charge of the Bomb Disposal Command, Mr Ambrose Asibor, who detailed some of his officers to the scene.

Anti-bomb policemen took it to their headquarters for analysis.

Two bomb blast, on Tuesday evening, rocked Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, sending the residents of Baga Road and Kalari ward scampering for safety.

No one was killed or injured.

Confirming the incident, Col. Victor Ebhaleme, the Operations Commander, the Joint Task Force (JTF), said the two bombs exploded at 8.20pm and 9.25pm without casualties.

PUBLIC NOTICE

This is to inform the general public and the Land Registry, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. That the original copy of deed of Late Madam Deaconess Maria Adejubu Oduwole of block 4, flat 1 Abule-Nla Progressive Estate Apapa Road EbuteMetta Lagos is missing.

Since all efforts to locate the said document has proved futile, we urge the general public and the Lagos State Government to take notice of this loss.

SIGNED MOSES OLUFEMI ODUWOLE FOR THE ODUWOLE FAMILY

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

8

NEWS Fayemi to convene international conference

Lagos flood victims get relief items

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado Ekiti

By Miriam Ndikanwu

THE Lagos State Government will distribute relief items to about 1,952 severely affected victims of the July 10 flood in Apata, Somolu Local Government Area; Lekki; Arogbade; Odejobi in OrileAgege; and Ifako Ijaye Local Government Area this weekend.

General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Olufemi Oke Osanyintolu said the distribution, scheduled for the Ministry of Special Duties, will be handled by a special committee comprising top officials of LASEMA; Lagos State Physical Planning Development Authority (LASPHYDA); affected local governments and ministries of Special Duties; Environment; Physical Planning & Urban Development; and Health.

He said: “Our determination as a responsible government is to ensure a shift from disaster management to risk/disaster reduction. We must learn to prevent avoidable tragedy. Those affected will be given some support to enable them start a new lease of life.”

Rotary Club to raise cash THE Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Oluranti Adebule, will on Saturday deliver the keynote address at the investiture of Rotarian Abidemi Ibigbami as the Ninth President of the Rotary Club of Ajara, Badagry.

The investiture, induction of board of directors and fund raising for the construction of a community library is scheduled for the main auditorium of the Nigerian-French Language Village, Ajara, Badagry.

The Public Relations Director and Club Secretary, Yomi Olomofe, said: “The Rotary Club of Ajara, in the spirit and tradition of service to humanity, will construct a N5 million public library to be sited at Ajara in Badagry local government.

Foreigners assured of safety From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has assured foreigners in Nigeria of their safety.

He said relevant authorities were working hard to check the activities of terrorists in the country.

Jonathan spoke yesterday when he received the outgoing Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Nigeria, Mr. Park YoungKuk, at the State House in Abuja.

He said terrorist activities were strange to Nigeria and posed challenges to the security agencies.

The President thanked South Korea for supporting Nigeria’s electoral process, among other areas of bilateral assistance and cooperation.

He wished Young-Kuk success in his future endeavours.

E

•From left: Deputy National Program Manager for the State Peer Review Committee of the Department for International Development (DFID) Mr. Joe Abah; Durector-General. Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Dr. Bayo Okauru; and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi during the NGF team’s presentation to the governor at his office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital... yesterday

Daniel gives conditions for appearing before Truth Panel F ORMER Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel yesterday said he would appear before the Truth Commission set up

by Governor Ibikunle Amosun provided he is given, at least, a week’s notice and the panel’s proceedings are broadcast live by local and national television stations.

Daniel also praised Amosun for the initiative.

The five-man panel, headed by former Supreme Court Justice Pius Aderemi,

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

is expected to unravel the truth about the killing of prominent indigenes of the state, such as Otunba Dipo Dina.

In a statement, Daniel’s media aide, Adegbenro Adebanjo, said: “As we await the Terms of Reference, Otunba Daniel wishes to confirm his full participation and his per-

sonal attendance at the hearing.

“We however believe that to do justice, he will require at least one week to give his testimony, an opportunity for multimedia presentations and live coverage of the proceedings by both local TV stations and at least a national TV station.

“It is also important that all the proceedings and tes-

timonies should be conducted openly, with all issues allowed for discussion. We believe that the commission will afford the people of Ogun State and Nigerians in general the opportunity to know the truth against the falsehood and vile propaganda that have ruled the airwave in the last few years.

“Once again, Otunba Daniel congratulates the Governor on this important move.”

Ondo repairs Owo-Benin road

A

S the Ondo State Government began the repair of bad portions on the Owo/Benin road yesterday, it called on the Federal Government to commence proper rehabilitation of the road soon.

This, it said, would prevent further accidents as the yuletide season draws near.

Thirty-two persons died in an accident on the road last week.

Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure Maintenance Gboye Adegbenro spoke yesterday while supervising the repairs.

Adegbenro said: “I was told that the contract for

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

this road has been awarded to a contractor for sometime now, but up till now, nothing has been done.

“Recently, we pleaded with the Federal Government to pay attention to the Ore-Sagamu-Benin road, when people complained about its terrible condition.

Though they called us names, they promised to fix the road. It has been an issue for sometime now.

“Look at what happened last week on another federal road. The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) should be more responsive to its duties; they should also clear the road shoulders.

“The State Government, through the Ministry of Works, decided to rehabilitate the gullies on federal roads that fall within the state to prevent unnecessary deaths.

“We are responsible holders of the people’s mandate and cannot compromise the sanctity of human lives.”

On the N12 billion owed the state by the Federal Government for road repairs, Adegbenro said: “For every road repair done by the State Government on behalf of the Federal Government, the state is supposed to be reimbursed, but this has always been a difficult issue.

•Mimiko

“When the issue of how much it owes us came up recently after the Federal Government visited Ore, Abuja sent a delegation here and we checked our records to determine the way forward. The issue is still being tackled.”

Striking Osun workers can’t repay bank loans T HE five-week-old strike embarked upon by civil servants in Osun State has made it impossible for banks to deduct monthly loan re-payments from their salary.

Consequently, the banks have resorted to charging interest on the August instalment.

Many workers are worried about this development.

Last Monday, the Head of Service, Elder Segun Akinwusi, ordered the workers to resume work, but the di-

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

rective was ignored.

The workers want the government to implement the N18,000 minimum wage across board, but the government said it does not have the resources to do so.

The government offered to pay N19,001 to workers on Grade levels 1-7; and add N7,429 to the salaries of those on levels 8-10; N6,611 to those on levels 12-14 and

N5,096 to those on levels 1517.

But the workers have insisted that they want nothing but the full implementation of the new wage across board.

Traditional rulers, religious leaders and other stakeholders have urged the workers to resume work, but they are adamant on their request.

The workers alleged that in the financial statement presented to the public, the

government excluded the money it gets monthly from Excess Crude Oil and Ecological Fund, which they said raises the state’s monthly income to over N3 billion.

But the Commissioner for Information, Sunday Akere, said government could not base workers’ salary on these two accounts because they were not regular.

Commissioner for Special Duties Ajibola Bashir said government has shifted its position four times to accommodate the request of the workers and urged them to resume work.

KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi, in conjunction with two United States (US)-based Nigerians, will on Saturday convene an international conference in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the publication of the book “Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic.”

The book is a landmark study of Nigerian politics. It was written by Professor Richard Joseph, who was Fayemi’s teacher.

Joseph, a Professor of International History and Politics at Northwestern University, USA, is the Guest of Honour.

The event will hold at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola is the Chief Host while governors of the remaining 34 states are Special Guests.

The co-conveners are Dr. Wale Adebanwi of the University of California, USA, and Dr. Ebenezer Obadare of the University of Kansas, USA.

Ondo shoreline project ‘almost completed’ From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

T

HE shoreline protection project in Ayetoro, Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State will be completed by December.

The contractor handling the project, Dredging Atlantic Company (DAC), gave the assurance yesterday at a press conference in Igbokoda.

The project was awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to curb recurrent sea incursions.

DAC spokesman Mr. Oladele Obadiah said the company was working on the 2.8km pipeline and assured stakeholders that the project would be delivered on time.

Workers urged to be civil From Damisi Ojo, Akure

T

HE Ondo State Government has urged workers to always channel their grievances through appropriate quarters.

It was reacting to the recent protest by workers of the state-owned Owena International Motels in Akure, the state capital.

The workers were protesting the delay in the payment of their seven-month salary.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Yinka Obe met with the staff and management of the hotel yesterday.

She urged them to address issues in a civilised way.

Instead of protesting at the Governor’s Office, Mrs. Obe said the workers should have channeled their grievances to her ministry, which supervises the motel.

She assured the workers that the ministry would look into their complaints.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

9

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

10

NEWS

Drama as tribunal grants Kwara ACN leave to present ballot papers

T

HERE was a mild drama at the Kwara Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Ilorin, over the admissibility of certified true copies (CTCs) of the ballot papers used during the April election, which the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) sought to tender.

The drama began when ACN counsel, having tendered Forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C and the voter’s register, sought leave of the tribunal to also present the ballot papers purportedly used

by INEC in the controversial poll.

But the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) objected to the prayers, urging the tribunal to discountenance it.

PDP’s lead counsel A.A. Ibrahim argued that it was the responsibility of INEC to

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

bring the original documents to the courtroom, rather than ACN presenting the controversial CTTs of the ballot papers.

ACN governorship candidate Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN) is challenging the declaration of Abdulfattah Ahmed as winner of the April 26 governorship election.

Belgore alleged, among other irregularities, that votes recorded for Ahmed and the PDP exceeded the number of ballot papers used and that the results declared exceeded the number of registered voters in several places.

He also alleged that multiple thumb-printing and ballot stuffing characterised the election.

The ACN candidate alleged widespread misappli-

cation of ballot papers in several polling units across the state.

Although ACN counsel had told the tribunal that the petitioners (ACN, Belgore and his deputy, Joshua Adeyinka) had, during the break, discussed with the counsel to the defendants on the modalities for presenting the documents, the defendants’ counsel said no such thing happened. He objected to the presentation of the CTTs of the ballot papers.

ACN lead counsel Ebun Sofunde (SAN) urged the tribunal not to entertain the objections because the documents the party (ACN) sought to tender are public documents already certified

by INEC. Sofunde averred that the defendants’ counsel were only trying to frustrate the petition on spurious grounds.

Lawyer urges Jonathan, EFCC to tackle corruption

A

LAWYER and rights activist, Mr Bamidele Aturu, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri, to show Nigerians that they are capable of fighting corruption.

He was reacting to Mrs Waziri’s outcry that some powerful Nigerians were frustrating the agency’s war against graft.

Aturu urged the President to sack the EFCC chairman if she cannot show the courage to confront those militating against her efforts to reduce malfeasance in the country.

He said: “If Mrs Waziri does not change her mindset on the war against corruption, I suggest, for the ump-

By Dada Aladelokun, Assistant Editor

teenth time, that President Jonathan should show her the way out. Her latest admission of failure is the best evidence he needs to act, assuming he is also not one of the powerful or influential Nigerians frustrating the war against corruption.”

Noting that Mrs Waziri’s statement was not new, the lawyer said Nigerians know that the so-called most powerful Nigerians were corrupt with ill-gotten wealth.

“The EFCC chair has not said anything new. What we expect from her is to name those powerful Nigerians and inform us on the steps she has taken to checkmate or deal with them according

•Jonathan

to law.

“There is no doubt that the law empowers her to deal with those powerful Nigerians. They are not excluded from the ambit of her statutory duties. Clearly, therefore, her statement is an admission of failure,” Aturu added.

FCTA shuts 370 illegal private schools

T

HE Education Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) yesterday sealed off 370 illegal private schools in preparation for resumption of schools next week.

The Secretary for Education, Mallam Kabir Usman, who led the exercise in Bwari Area Council, said the affected schools did not meet the required standard.

The affected schools included Joekel kiddies Academy; AB Standard School; and Noble Kids International Academy, all in Dutse area of the city.

From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

Usman said the secretariat had proper planning and enforcement measures to prevent the affected schools from reopening.

He said: “We are doing a follow up so in seven days time. If we come back and see that the schools are reopened, we will take the proprietors to court.

“It is going to be a continuous exercise, we have just started, we are not going to allow this type of thing to happen, some of these schools don’t even have toi-

lets, the environmental situation is so terrible, you saw a school where we went and we discovered like three to four classes receiving lectures in one class, they are just being separated.

“We have so many schools like that, you will find a school of three different classes with one teacher, they are not qualified and we are not going to allow this kind of thing to continue, immediately after this, other inspectors are going to other places, we will make sure that we close the over 370 schools, we have on the list, we will follow it up within the FCT.”

Police arrest 54 robbery suspects in Niger

T

HE Niger State Police Command has arrested 54 suspected armed robbers during at a raid at Black Stone, near Zuma Rock.

Six of them were reportedly arrested during a robbery operation in Barkin Sale, a suburb in Minna, the state capital, and four others apprehended for allegedly impersonating a vigilance group and robbery.

Addressing reporters yesterday at the parade of the suspects, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO),

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

Richard Oguche, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said the raid on Black Stone spot, a popular hideout for suspected criminals, took place before, during and after the Sallah celebrations.

He said the suspects had dangerous weapons and hard drugs, including Indian hemp, when the police arrested them.

Oguche said the suspects would soon be charged to court.

The police spokesman said four stolen vehicles were recovered by the police a fortnight ago.

He promised that the command would recover stolen vehicles in the state and arrest the perpetrators.

Oguche lamented that though the recovery operation was successful, a policeman was shot in the process.

He said the Police Commissioner, Ibrahim Maishanu, has adopted new strategies to curtail crimes and checkmate the excesses of criminals.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

11

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Yahoo fires CEO, CFO takes over

Y

AHOO! Inc. has fired its Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz, whose administration was marked by falling sales, lost share to rivals and a dispute with Asian partners that choked off growth in the world’s largest Web market.

Bartz said in a memo to staff that she was terminated

by Chairman Roy Bostock by telephone. The Sunnyvale, California-based company announced a strategic review aimed at helping revive growth at the most-visited US Web portal, and said Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse will be interim CEO. Yahoo’s shares rose as much as 8.4 per cent.

Under Bartz, 63, who took over as CEO in January 2009, Yahoo according to Bloomberg has frustrated investors and failed to keep Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. from siphoning off Internet users and advertising revenue. The management change and strategy overhaul show the board is listening to shareholders, said Ken Sena, an analyst at New York-based Evercore Partners.

“It shows some accountability for the dissatisfaction that investors have felt over the last few years,” Sena said.

“The turnaround efforts have not worked and trends seem to be getting worse. I see this as a positive step.”

Since Bartz took the reins from co-founder Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s stock gained 6.7 per cent in US trading, compared with a 34 per cent increase for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index through Monday. The stock rose 93 cents to $13.84 a 9:37 a.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

“I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s chairman of the board,” Bartz said in a memo sent to staff. “It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.”

Bostock, who helped recruit Bartz, declined to comment.

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$109.7/barrel Cocoa - $2,856/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢78.07.pound Gold -$1,161/troy ounce Rubber - ¢146.37/pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N7.3 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -10.2% Treasury Bills -2.64% Normal lending -24% Prime lending -18% Savings rate -3% 91-day NTB -6.99% Time Deposit - 6% MPR -8.75% Foreign Reserve -$32.3bn FOREX CFA 0.281 • 213 £ 241.00 $ 153.7 ¥ 1.5652 SDR 240.3 RIYAL 39.3

From the 122 enterprises that have been privatised so far, N146 billion has been realised from the sales. Thirty-three point six per cent of them are doing poorly while 66.3 per cent are doing well.

-Bolanle Onagoruwa, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE)

Power projects for 4,000mw 80% completed, says minister T

HE Minister of Commu nication, Labaran Maku, has said all power projects that will give the country over 4,000 mega watts electricity have reached 80 per cent completion stage.

Maku, who briefed the press after the Federal Executive Council (FEC)meeting, yesterday in Abuja, said what is left, is for the government to arrange for the supply of gas to the power stations.

The Minister, who echoed the findings of the Presidential Project Monitoring Committee in its submission to the FEC, said what is urgently needed, is for the government to work urgently on gas supply.

The leader of the Presidential Project Monitoring Committee, Ibrahim Bunu, said it has recommended that works on all uncompleted dams be completed to enable the country derive maximum benefit from the sector, adding that proper utilisation of the dams would also help in solving the power problems in the country.

The committee’s briefing, which is expected to continue next week, dominated proceed-

• Nigeria to contribute N7b to OPEC fund From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

ings at yesterday’s meeting.

Maku, stated that projects of the Ministry of Works will be discussed at the next council meeting. This, he said, was in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s insistence that there is need for Council to listen to the report, sector by sector, to derive maximum benefit from the recommendations of the PPAC. Maku said: “ The chairman and members of the committee in today’s meeting focused on the power sector projects that are going on in parts of the federation. They gave the council a rundown of their tour of the power projects, the level of progress and issues in the field.

“The report focused mainly on how government must do everything possible to ensure that power projects are delivered in good time so that the major sector in which this nation is looking upon us will give results in the lifetime of this administration.”

The committee, he said, “ recommended that one of the issues that we should take time to address, is gas supply. The NIPP projects, which will give this country over 4000MW electricity, are at about 80 per cent completion in the field.”

Another key recommendation, which the committee made, the minister said, is how to complete the various uncompleted dams, which could generate a lot of hydro electricity projects for the country.

It particular, he noted the Dadinkowa dam, in Gombe State, which has the capacity to deliver 34MW of electricity, among several other dams stretching from Gombe, Osun, Kano and Katsina states that are also simply waiting for turbines to be installed to generate electricity.

Reacting to the gas issue, Maku, said the Ministry of Power and Petroleum Resources, assured the Council that “the gas master plan is already on ground and everything is being done to ensure that it is

delivered, so that by the time power projects are completed, there will be gas to run them.”

Meanwhile, Nigeria has agreed to remit to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), $43.3million or about N7 billion counterpart funding towards the international development fund.

The fund was established to assist Third World countries that do not produce crude oil.

The amount is part of the outstanding of the $177.7million pledge made by the country to the Fund in 1976.

The payment, the Minister said, would be paid instalmentally between 2013 and 2020.

Justifying the decision to pay the money, Maku said as a prime player in the international community, Nigeria wanted to enhance its influence by meeting up with its international obligations, especially among developing nations of the world as well as stabilise the market for its crude oil.

• From left: Senior Manager, Marketing, MTN, Eromwosele Chary; General Manager, Corporate Communications, Funmi Omogbenigun; Consumer Marketing Manager, Kola Oyeyemi; MTN Face of the reward, Madam Iyabo Lawani; Manager, Master Brand, Innocent Oboh and External Communication Manager, Andrew Okeleke, at the unveiling of the N1 billion reward concept to mark MTN 10 years anniversary in Lagos.

PHOTO: JOHN EBHOTA

SON seizes eight containers in Apapa •Shuts two warehouses in Surulere

By Toba Agboola

T

HE Standards Organisation of Nige ria (SON) has seized eight containers on the Tin-Can/ApapaOshodi Expressway, Lagos, without the SON Conformity Assessment Programme (SON CAP).

They also shut two warehouses with substandard goods in Surulere, Lagos.

The Apapa operation was carried out under the auspices of SON’s Enforcement Task force led by Mr Nelson Adebiyi, who heads the agency’s Ports and Borders Department.

Any truck found without SON CAP is usually impounded while those with SON CAP are allowed to proceed. The seized substandard goods are taken to the lab for test, while those that could be tested on the spot are tested.

The Director-General of the agency, Dr Joseph Odumodu, who had reiterated that the agency would go all out for substandard products in the country, told reporters that Nigeria loses about N500 million on importation of substandard bulbs.

He said the message to importers and traders is that once the market is sanitised, they would still make more profit by selling whatever they wanted to sell. ”Right now, we are making Nigerians poorer by ensuring that there are substandards products”, he said, adding: “I can prove to you that Nigeria losses about N500 million importing sub-standard bulbs into Nigeria.”

Odumodu said the purchase of one good bulb ensures that one uses it for a longer period unlike the case with inferior or substandard ones. ”So at the end of the day, Nigeria is losing and that is why we will begin to retrace our steps. One of the challenges I think we have is that people have been in this business for long and have become comfortable with what they are doing So change for them, is a bit more difficult, but I can tell you they have to change,” he said.

‘Corruption, incompetence hindering NITEL privatisation’

C

ORRUPTION, wrong disposition and in competence of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) have been identified as factors militating against the successful privatisation of the moribund First National Operator, NITEL, The Nation has learnt.

In a chat, President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr Titi Omo-Ettu, said the disposition and attitude of those in charge of the privatisation was wrong.

He said recent probe of the process by the National Assembly showed that incompetence was also responsible for the failure of the Federal Government to privatise the ailing

By Adline Atili

Telco.

According to the ATCON boss, the BPE under former FCT Minister, Nasir el-Rufai, would have been competent to privatise NITEL if dishonesty and corruption did not set in.

He said: “The things that have been problems for the privatisation of NITEL are mainly that the forces have been changing. You cannot put your finger on only one thing.

The first is that the temperament of those who were put in charge at the initial stages was not complete; the temperament was wrong.

“Another factor is corruption.

They were trying to corner NITEL and sell it to govern-

ment officials. We didn’t know that at first. But later on, it occurred to us that corruption was involved. As a matter of fact, at a particular stage when Nasir was there, I was making attempts to report him. Later on, somebody called to ask what I wanted to report about him, saying he was only implementing the script of Obasanjo.

He told me so many things and I was surprised.

“The First National Operator licence NITEL holds is very expensive. They were to trying to reduce the cost, so that they would buy it themselves or somebody would buy it on their behalf and they would go and buy it later.”

Besides, he noted that incompetence was another factor that

stunted the growth of NITEL. “The person they put there now does not even know what she is doing. She doesn’t have any clue. She was just saying ‘I was not there.’ She didn’t even say anything to convince me that even if she was there ... and in any case, she was in the system. ‘I was not there, I was not there,’ really shows incompetence on her part from one stage to the other.

“Yes, there was no incompetence with Nasir el-Rufai, but right after him; it has been one incompetence after the other.

Bad temperament moved to corruption, corruption moved to incompetence. And once corruption is involved in an issue, it becomes very complex.”

But the Director general of the

BPE, Bolanle Onagoruwa, who spoke through the Head of Public Communication of the bureau, Mr Chuwuma Nwoko, insisted she is competent.

“Ordinarily we should ignore people like him (Titi Omo-Ettu).

The incumbent DG of the BPE, Bolanle Onagoruwa is competent. There is no question about her competency.

The government did not make any mistake in appointing her. She has been with the BPE since 2000 and left at a time and came back. So she was not at the bureau during the tenure of Dr Julius Bala.

“Many a time Omo-Ettu has given value to NITEL without necessarily ever working there.

I think we should just ignore him,” Nwoko said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

12

BUSINESS NEWS ICPC urges PHCN to carry out internal checks

Flight Schedule MONDAY - FRIDAY

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O tackle corruption, the Inde pendent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has advised PHCN to carry out internal checks on its activities.

ICPC Secretary, Mr Elvis Oglafia, made the call yesterday in Port Harcourt at an Anti-Corruption and Transparency Monitoring Unit (ACTU) retreat.

ACTU is the anti-corruption monitoring unit established by Section 6 of the ICPC Act and serves as the eye of the commission in ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government.

Oglafia, who noted that the development of every economy depended on power, said PHCN should be ready to expose corruption and punish perpetrators.

In his speech, PHCN’s Managing Director, Mr Husein Labo, said the retreat was a positive development in the fight against corruption.

He identified corrupt practices in the system to include extortion of money from customers before services were rendered, non-reading of meters and over estimation of bills.

“Our collaboration with the ICPC is aimed at tackling these practices and building as attitudinal change that will guarantee honesty and transparency in service delivery.

“We will definitely use the outcome of this retreat in policy formulation in PHCN,” he said.

‘Developing countries need N120tr energy investments’ From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

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HE Executive Secretary, Afri can Petroleum Producers Asso ciation, Dr. Babafemi Oyewole, yesterday disclosed that developing and emerging countries with oil and gas interest need to mobilise $8trillion (N120trillion) to meet the required energy investment gaps at the global level within the next 25 years.

He stated this in Abuja while announcing that the association’s Oil and Gas Africa Finance and Investment Conference slated for Abuja from November 15 to 16 this year.

Oyewole noted that the International Energy Agency report that projected the energy investments in 2009, recommended the need for a forum for all stakeholders to meet and discuss the sources of and strategies for mobilising the financial resources required for the development of the oil and gas industry in Africa.

He said over the last few decades, Africa’s hydrocarbon industry had been characterised by a renaissance with major new producing countries appearing on the global production map and several more due to come on line.

Oyewole said: “Investment, however, is still vitally needed in the upstream, midstream, downstream and ancillary projects to fully utilise Africa’s oil and gas potential and at the same time increase its share of global reserves and production.

• From left: Founder, Dream Tour Africa, Dr. Hernard A. Harris; Executive Director, Mobil Producing Nig. Unlimited, Mrs. Gloria Essien-Danner; Commissioner for Science and Technology, Lagos Sate, Mr Adebiyi Mabadeje and Senior Programme Officer, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Mr Truman T. Bell, during stakeholders’luncheon organised by Exxonmobil, at Oriental Hotel,Victoria Island, Lagos.

Inflation: CBN may raise interest rate, says Sanusi

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Lamido Sanusi said policy makers are ready to keep raising interest rates if inflation fails to remain below 10 per cent.

The banking watchdog, according to Bloomberg news, is “not celebrating yet”after inflation eased to 9.4 per cent in July, the slowest pace in more than three years. The bank is still concerned about “stubbornly high”core inflation, Sanusi said in an interview in Hong Kong yesterday.

“I would like to wait and see if the drop is sustainable or a blip,” Sanusi said. “We’ll wait to see if it’s a trend. If it isn’t a trend, we may have to continue tightening.”

Turkey, Brazil and some other central banks have cut lending rates in the past month, concerned about Europe’s debt crisis and slowing global growth. Sanusi’s comments underscore how Nigerian policy makers are committed to keeping a lid on inflation, which has averaged about 11 per cent since the start of 2007.

“We certainly are determined to

show inflation does not get out of control,” Sanusi, said.

Nigeria’s benchmark rate has been increased four times this year to 8.75 per cent to rein in inflation and support the naira. Inflation data for August, which is due to be published next week, may be little changed from July, remaining slightly below 10 per cent, Sanusi said.

The apex bank is scheduled to make its next interest rate decision on September 20.

Sanusi said the bank will probably continue to maintain its currency peg even as oil prices slide. Nigeria has been drawing down foreigncurrency reserves to keep the naira within a band of three percentage points above or below N150 per dollar. The CBN has failed to meet dollar demand at 16 consecutive currency auctions, held biweekly.

“We’ve seen a lot of demand pressure, but we think that’s temporary,” said Sanusi. “So long as we’re in the band, frankly we don’t worry. We don’t have to meet each and every demand at the official window. There is an interbank

market and there are generous funds.”

The naira fell for a third day, declining 0.2 per cent to 156.125 per dollar in interbank trading in Lagos, according to data compiled

by Bloomberg. That’s the lowest level since August 24.

Nigeria’s foreign-currency reserves have slid 11 per cent to $32.3 billion in the year to September 2, even as the country’s benchmark Bonny Light crude oil gained about 51 per cent. The oil price has fallen 10 per cent since its 2011 high on April 8.

Renaissance Capital said on September 1 there’s a 40 per cent probability that the naira could be devalued to N155 per dollar in 2012 as oil prices fall and the government increases spending on roads and railways, boosting imports.

“A central bank governor never says never, but the fundamentals don’t point to that at the moment,” Sanusi said, referring to a currency devaluation. “We haven’t reached a point where we think we can’t sustain exchange rates at the levels where they are.”

Naira loses 35k at official market

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HE naira weakened to N153.16 to the dollar on the official market (Wholesale Dutch Auction System) yesterday, down from N152.81 to the dollar at Monday’s close, representing 0.2 per cent decline.

The currency, which is exchanged at N148.18 at the beginning of this year, has lost N4.98 or 3.36 per cent when compared to its current value.

It has also depreciated by N7.80 or 5.05 per cent at the black market, where it currently trades at N162 per dollar as against N154.20 to a dollar in January.

CBN has been defending the naira with the foreign-currency reserves, which currently stood at $32.3 billion as at September 2, compared with $36 billion a year earlier, according to Central Bank of Nigeria

By Collins Nweze

(CBN) data. The apex bank said it is committed to keep the naira within a 3 per cent band + or - N150 to a dollar at its WDAS. Meanwhile, demand at the official window stood at $438.140 million, more than the $400 million that was sold by the CBN at the auction.

The regulator also sold $400 million on Monday and $600 million in the only auction held last week on August 29. “The market reacted to the supply shortage at the official window with some traders buying up dollars at the interbank to cover their positions,” one dealer said.

“Banks are demanding dollars for sale to customers and foreign exchange bureaus above what is sup-

plied by the central banks, thereby weakening naira,” Babatunde Obaniyi, currency analyst with Lagos-based Afrinvest West Africa Ltd told Bloomberg.

At the interbank market, the naira hit an 11-week low against the dollar, following strong demand from banks buying the currency for their foreign exchange change outlets.

The naira closed at N156.15 to the dollar, its weakest since June 25, compared with N155.75 to the dollar at the close of trading on Monday.

Traders said strong demand for dollars from lenders to re-sell to their exchange bureau outlets coupled with the depreciation of the naira at the CBN’s bi-weekly auction put pressure on the local currency.

Manufacturers seek fresh loans from CBN

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ANUFACTURERS are planning to secure more funds as working capital and retooling from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

They also intend to seek the intervention of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).

Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Apapa Branch, Mr John Aluya, who disclosed these, said the loans became imperative because the N200billion

By Toba Agboola

revival fund manufacturers received from the CBN was used to finance debt to the banks.

“The loan is to finance debt, which we manufacturers owe. Aluya said.

“There is no new loan or revival fund yet. We are entitled to fresh loan or revival funds to be able to revive all our industries so as to generate employment.

“A fresh loan became necessary as

the earlier intervention funding by CBN for manufacturing sector was targeted at erasing bank’s non-performing loans, which were owed by some manufacturing companies.”

He said the other N300billion revival fund from the CBN was for the energy and airline sectors and not for the manufacturers.

Aluya said as good as the CBN intention for the sector was, it has not repositioned the near comatose state of the manufacturing sector.

He said:“CBN and AMCON should come to the aid of some ailing, moribund and thriving manufacturing outfits by granting fresh loans for retooling and working capital. ”Manufacturers therefore urge the apex bank and AMCON to make funds available for manufacturing outfits that have performing loans with banks and for other manufacturers not captured in the first tier of bail out.”

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

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

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

1.

2.

3.

4.

Arik Aero Arik Aero

1. Arik 2. Aero 1.

2.

3.

4.

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

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

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

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

2.

3.

4.

5.

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

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

1.

2.

3.

4.

Arik Aero Arik Aero

LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

09.1 12.50 12.55 15.55

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

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

08.50 09.45 09.40 14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

LAGOS – UYO 10.35

11.35

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

LAGOS – MAIDUGURI 11.15 13.15 15.50 18.00

LAGOS – ILORIN 1. Overland 07.15 2. Arik (M/T/TH/F) 17.30

08.00 18.00

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

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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INDUSTRY

Fed Govt spent N991b on rice, wheat importation in 2010

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HE Federal Government spent N991 billion on the importation of rice and wheat last year, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Akinwunmi Adesina, has said.

The minister, who spoke while addressing stakeholders on Cassava Value Chain Development at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State frowned on the country’s reliance on imported food. He said it was dangerous for Nigeria to spend huge amounts importing food to meet the need of itsr citizens when it possesses massive potential to produce them.

Adesina said Nigeria, as one of the largest food importers in the world, spent N635 billion to import wheat and N356 billion to import rice last year, bringing the total bill for the importation of cereals to N991 billion

•Minister: dangerous to rely on food import for domestic need last year.

“This is not fiscally, economically or politically sustainable. Nigeria is eating beyond its means.”

“While we smile as we eat rice every day, Nigerian rice farmers cry as the imports undermine domestic production. Our farmers sow in hope, but reap in tears as cheap food imports dash their hopes of better prices or incomes,” he said.

The minister said as Nigeria imports food from the global market “all it is doing is importing inflation,” adding that low productivity of domestic production systems increases prices of non-tradable food crops, leading to rise in food price.

“With poor urban and rural household spending 70 - 80 per cent of their

income on food, life is unbearable for many,” he lamented.

The minister said food security was a matter of national security, emphasising that the country must learn from Asian countries by tapping into all the resources of its farmers across the nation to deliver a green revolution that

will make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production.

“We must turn Nigeria into a bread basket and a powerhouse for food production. To do so, we must make a fundamental paradigm shift and understand that agriculture is a business, not a development programme. It

‘This is not fiscally, economically or politically sustainable. Nigeria is eating beyond its means. While we smile as we eat rice every day, Nigerian rice farmers cry as the imports undermine domestic production. Our farmers sow in hope, but reap in tears as cheap food imports dash their hopes of better prices or incomes’

must be structured, developed, resourced and financed as a business.” he said.

He declared that the days of treating agriculture as a development programme were over, assuring that the ministry would develop and transform the sector as a business that works for small, medium and large farmers, that will unlock wealth and allow Nigeria to meet its food requirements, while also becoming a major player in global food markets.

Other initiatives the ministry has embarked upon, the minister said, included launch of a green revolution for cassava with focus on value addition to raise the income of farmers as well as efforts on sorghum value chains with planned release of hybrid sorghum.

‘We will revive sick firms’

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HE Federal Government will revive ailing industries as their re suscitation is vital to the transformation agenda of the present ad ministration.

The Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, during his visit to the Industrial Trust Fund (ITF), Abuja, said job and wealth creation and other dividends of democracy would be elusive without the revitalisation of the moribund industries.

A survey carried out by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) last year showed that 834 manufacturing companies shut down in 2009 because of their inability to cope with the challenges of the harsh operating environment.

Besides, the report classified half of the operating firms as “ailing,” a situation posing a threat to the survival of the manufacturing sector.

According to the survey, the 834 represent the cumulative aggregate of firms that shut down their operations in 2009 across the country.

But Ortom said since the manufacturing sector remained a veritable platform for the nation’s socio-economic turnaround, there was the need to pay more attention to its revival.

A statement from the ministry said the minister spoke during a visit to agencies under his ministry in Jos Plateau State.

The visit was to encourage staff of the agencies to step up their performance in efficiency and service delivery Ortom said there was a need to visit the agencies to enable him to assess their prospects and challenges.

While commending the minister for the visit, the Director-General, ITF, Mr Longmas Wapmuk, said the move to revitalise the industries would help to broaden their scope; as well as attain the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

•Representative of Chairman, Due Process Unit, Bauchi State, Mr Hassan Mohammed (left) with Chairman, Media Network Centre for Information Technology and Development, Dr. Dalhatu Yola, at a workshop on public Procurement and Fiscal Responsibility Law for Journalists in Bauchi.

Nigeria, 13 others to benefit from sweet potato initiative

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From left: Winner, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) promo from Abuja, Idika Emmanuel; National Key Account Manager, NBC, Juliet Ifebueme and winner from Abuja Daniel Danjuma, during the presentation of flight tickets to winners at the departure section of Murtala International Airport in Lagos.

IGERIA and 13 other African countries will benefit from the Sweet Potato for Profit and Health Initiative, being developed by the Inter national Potato Centre, Nairobi, Kenya.

Team leader of the initiative Mrs. Jan Low, said this in Abuja at a meeting with stakeholders.

“Nigeria’s participation in the initiative will increase the production of sweet potato and create employment for about 1.5 million farmers,’’ she said.

She said the initiative, launched in 2009, would impact on the lives of 10 million households in 14 countries by 2020, through effective and diversified use of sweet potato.

She pointed out that East Africans appreciated the value of sweet potato more than West Africans.

She expressed dismay that Nigeria, the second largest producer of sweet potato in sub-Saharan Africa, is adding little or no value to the crop, which has a short planting period.

Mrs. Low said the highly profitable crop could be grown in many parts of Nigeria.

She expressed concern that the crop was being underutilised in Nigeria, noting that its cultivation did not require much labour like yam and other crops.

She said the initiative has become imperative because West Africans, including Nigerians, had not yet recognised sweet potato as a vital ingredient in food development and security.

According to her, consumption of potato is good for the health of consumers because it is fortified with vitamins C, K and E. She explained that apart from these vitamins, potato is also fortified with potassium which is good for children’s daily need.

According to her, sweet potato did not contain glucose, adding the crop could be used as flour to bake bread, especially now that the cost of wheat flour had sky rocked across the world.

“Sweet potato is so dynamic and you can use it for so many things.

“In many countries, the increase in the price of wheat flour is affecting many bakeries and sweet potato can serve as a good and economic substitute,’’ she said.

UNIDO, BoI renew partnership on industrialisation

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HE United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Bank of Industry (BOI) have renewed their partnership on the development of the industrial sector in line with the Federal Government’s transformation agenda.

UNIDO and BOI signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop the industrial sector in 1987.

Stories by Toba Agboola

Its Country Representative in Nigeria, Mr Patrick Kormawa told newsmen after a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos that the body would partner with Nigeria on Vision 20:2020.

The UNIDO chief said power supply was crucial to the nation’s development and for its products to be competitive at the global market.

He said UNIDO had concluded plans to set up two centres of excellence in the North and Southwest to promote the garment industry.

“Today’s meeting is not only to review the MoU, but to expand areas of collaboration. This includes our activities in developing hydropower generation for industrial activities,” he said.

Kormawa said UNIDO was work-

ing on small hydro-power plants in some states willing to promote industrialisation.

He said some small hydro-power sites that could be developed for productive uses have been identified.

His words: “UNIDO was also working on the development of agro-businesses in conjunction with BOI,” adding that the partnership came up with an initiative — Africa

Agribusiness and Agro Industry — which it launched early this year.

Kormawa said UNIDO was also working with some states to produce renewable energy from rice husks to power machines in the rice processing clusters.

“This project is well advanced now.

We are in the process of procuring the machines and once they are installed, power will be available for the rice processing clusters,” he said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

15

INDUSTRY

Firm to invest $30m in ethanol production N OSAK Group is set to invest $30 million in agriculture to boost ethanol production, its Chairman/Group Managing Director, Mr Toni Ogunbor has said.

Ogunbor, who spoke in Lagos, said the initiative would encourage the production of sugarcane molasses, corn, sorghum and raw materials for the production of ethanol.

He said the company imports the raw material from Brazil, and that investment in it would create opportunities for local farmers.

He called on the government to create enabling environment for business to thrive and tackle challenges, such as infrastructure, high cost of fund and taxation, which he said, is thebane of industrial development in the country.

For the domestic economy to attract genuine investors and growth, there is the need for the Federal Government to put in place sound economic policies that would galvanise development of industries, Ogunbor said.

He said foreign and local manufacturers, who are usually prepared to help drive the growth of the economy, were often inhibited by the poor infrastructural facilities available in the economy, high cost of funds, tax incentives and export rebate, government policies and regulations, among others.

Ogunbor, who lamented the challenges facing manufacturers in the country, noted that until something urgent was done to checkmate the

By Toba Agboola and Chuks Udo Okonta

trend, most companies might be forced to relocate to other countries where government policies are investment friendly.

He noted that the development of the manufacturing sector remains the way out of unemployment, adding that the nation cannot develop through buying and selling.

He said: “Doing business in the Nigerian environment is highly challenging, but we cannot quit especially as manufacturers, for if, we all engage in buying and selling the country would not grow.”

Ogunbor noted that Nosak Distilleries, a subsidiary of the group produces 320,000 litres per day and hope to beef it up to 540,000 litres by next month.

“In line with our backward integration initiative, Nosak Distilleries plans to utilise local raw material, such as sorghum, corn and sugarcane molasses to produce our final product – extra neutral ethanol. We have observed that the raw material we import can be sourced locally.

The initiative, which would soon commence in Calabar in Cross River State would provide jobs for farmers.

“This will add to the foreign exchange gain of our economy, create

thousands of employment opportunities in the value chain.

To maintain our leadership position in the industry, the third plant is set for opening by the end of October. This will bring the daily combined production to 540,000. This capacity in addition to the capacity of other local producers will be enough to meet the local market demand and excess for the export market,” added.

He said the company exports its products to Ghana and other neighbouring African countries.

On the company’s plan to approach the stock market for listing, he said the company with a total investment value of N5 billion, 25 years in operation and with over 250 staff is reengineering its operations in preparedness to get quoted on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

He said the company’s ambition to access funds from the capital market would be after it has upgraded its production capacity to 540,000 litres by October this year just as this would further attract potential investors to the company that is 90 per cent locally owned.

Managing Director, Nosak Distilleries, Mr Edwin Ibude, noted that the company hopes to invest in a refining plant in Calabar, adding it would produce products that would serve the eastern/northern zone as well as export to other countries.

MAN holds 39th AGM

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HE 39 th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria is scheduled for today.

President Goodluck Jonathan has been invited as the Special Guest of Honour.

The theme of the 39 th AGM is Transforming the Manufacturing Sector as Agent of Economic Growth.

While the Guest Speaker is the Minister of National Planning, Dr

More winners emerge in Access Bank’s customer campaign

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NOTHER set of 30 Access Bank Plc customers, comprising 15 corporate organisations and 15 individual account holders have benefitted from the bank’s ongoing customer engagement campaign, exempting them from bank charges for life.

The campaign, according to the bank, is aimed at encouraging the bank’s customers to update their data with the bank in consonance with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Know Your Customers (KYC) directive.

In his remarks at the fourth edition of the draw in Lagos, the Team Leader, Product Management of the bank, Mr Victor Ohalete, noted that the bank was only domesticating the CBN’s directive.

Lagos urges industries to improve on safety

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HE Special Adviser to the Gov ernor of Lagos State on Com merce and Industry, Hon. Seye Oladejo, has urged industries to take the safety and welfare of their workers serious.

Oladejo, who was on a familiarisation visit to some industrial and manufacturing companies, said the government places emphasis on the environment in which workers perform their tasks.

He said: “Lagos State being the hub of all business in the federation, where you enjoy good environment and other supportive benefits that make business to thrive even under global economic hardship, you will agree with me that the state alone with a population of about 18 million is a big market.”

He said with various regulations and control measures put in place, some by government agencies, such as Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Consumer Protection Agency (CPC) and others are effectively imple-

By Musa Odoshimokhe

mented and monitored in the state, it could not afford a working environment that fails to improve.

“There is always feedback on quality of made in Nigeria goods from end users in the state. For this reason, the manufactured goods in Nigeria are comparable to anywhere in the world.”

The Special aide stated that part of the reason for visiting the companies was to note their challenges and see how it can assist to address them through collaborative efforts.

“The state has been supportive to the business community by most of

‘There is the problem of power. We want import duties reduce but we must note that the influx of imported products is really affecting the growth of local industries’

its policies, such as streamlining and harmonisation of taxes by its various organs including government, provision and maintenance of access roads. The establishment of Free Trade Zone at Lekki, Agro Allied Park at Imota and Ilara which manufacturers will avail themselves.”

While responding, one of the companies, Orange West Africa limited, Ilupeju its representative, Dr Ugochukwu Echendu thanked government for its concern for the challenges facing manufacturers and urged them as a matter of urgency to assist in tackling the power problem because it is increasing getting tougher to put their products together.

He said: “There is the problem of power. We want import duties reduce but we must note that the influx of imported products is really affecting the growth of local industries.”

Other companies he visited include Cellplas Industries, Ilupeju; Guiness Plc, Oba Akran; Eureka Metal Limited, Ikeja; African Steel Company, Ikorodu Estate and Facility Nigeria Limited, Ikorodu.

“We are exempting these companies and individuals from our bank charges because they responded to CBN’s call for account holders to update their data, in order to forestall inability to reach customers,” he argued.

Some of the companies and individuals, who emerged winners in the subsequent draws were presented with certificates.

Receiving the certificate on behalf of her company, GFK, Tessy Nko, described the campaign as imperative since it would enable the bank to properly bond with its customers.

“It will go a long way in helping us plough back to the business some of the funds saved from this exemption,” Nko said.

Bagco posts N902m profit

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•From left: Ibude and Ogunbor, at the event in Lagos.

Shamsuddeen Usman.

The Special Guest at the AGM include the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga and Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola.

Both private and public sessions will take place at Golden Tulip, Festac (formerly Durbar Hotel), Amuwo Odofin, Mile 2, Lagos at 9 a.m and 11 a.m.

HE Nigerian Bag Manu facturing Company (BAGCO) PLC has posted a profit after tax of N902 million despite the challenging economic circumstances and difficulties confronting the nation’s manufacturing sector.

Its Chairman, Mr John Coumantaros, disclosed this at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Kano.

Coumantaros said the group turnover got a 15.1 per cent boost, increasing to N18.5 billion from N16.1 billion recorded last year, while group profit before tax was up by 71.5 percent, rising from N874 million to N1.5 billion.

He disclosed that there has been a decline in consumer spending and a fall in the exchange value of the naira, pointing out that the on-going banking reforms also put pressure on liquidity and the attendant rise in interest rate.

“In spite of the challenging circumstances and difficulties facing the manufacturing sector, BAGCO Group delivered a significant improvement in per-

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

formance, and it is our intention to strengthen our relationship with customers and to continue to provide products of high quality in order to meet their needs.

“BAGCO Brand has succeeded in gaining international recognition, and this year, we commenced the export of out polymer bags to the United States of America.”

According to him, the company recorded a turnover of N11.9 billion, representing an increase of 14.4 per cent over what was realised last year.

Coumantaros further stated that the Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of N807 million at 13k per share for the approval of the company’s shareholders.

He reassured the shareholders that the future of the company remains bright and promising, adding that the management would continue to explore more opportunities and implement the company’s strategic plans to boost production capacity.

LG scratch, draw & win grand finale holds

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G Nigeria Limited has concluded its Scratch, Draw and Win promotion with the grand finale draw selecting the 10 winners for the 10 grand prizes witnessed in Lagos this week.

The LG scratch, draw and win promo which involved purchases done between May 7 and July 31, provided for instant scratch and win a gift aspect where customers who bought LG mobile phones within the period of promo get to scratch a card and win instant gifts as 26’’ LCD TV, 21’’ Flat TV, refridgerators, microwave, LGC 310 phone, LGA165 phone, LGA155 phone, travel mugs, umbrella, key ring, wristbands and pen.

According to the Assistant Marketing Manager, LG Electronics Nigeria, Mrs Bukola Arabome, “ the promo ia about fostering better customer relationships and reward them for their loyalty.”

The 10 grand prizes which were drawn from Lagos, South, and North zones had five 42’’ Plasma

TV sets which were won by Tunde Agbi ( Lagos), Samuel Afolabi Oladipupo ( South), Mrs M.A Aduku ( North), Angela (Lagos), and Nnamani Nkiruka ( North).

There were also three 50’’ Plasma TVs, which were won by Chinenyema Madubuchi ( Lagos) Ashifat Opeyemi ( South), and Adam Mohd ( North).

The side by side refrigerator was won by Loko Abdullahi (Abuja), while the grand prize of a Kia Picanto was won by Ayokunle Odunwo a 400- level student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife from the Lagos zone.

Winners, who were contacted by phone at the draw expressed gratitude, especially the grand prize winner Ayokunle, who almost coldn’t believe himself.

LG’s Arabome stressed that the promotion was about building closer relationships with their customers and ssured that LG distrbutors and staff were prohibited from participating in the promo.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

16

INDUSTRY

West African regional information system coming

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S part of its programme for building African capacity for trade, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) are to establish a trade information system for the West African region.

The system, according to ITC, would provide a platform for trade information exchange within the ECOWAS through the ECOWAS Trade and Enterprise Experts Network (ECOWAS TEN).

Senior Commodity Specialist at ITC, Micaela Maftei, who spoke during a visit to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council in Abuja, said once established, the regional trade information networks, would serve as platforms for trade information exchange, answering exporters’ information needs, increasing their knowledge about markets as well as increasing their capacity to promote regional products.

She disclosed that part of the strategy adopted by ITC Market

Stories by Toba Agboola

News Service was the establishment of a regional focused and customised news service in collaboration with ECOWAS TEN Secretariat.

She revealed that the project was starting with newsletters on Mango and Cashew to be produced a monthly to provide market information on the sectors in the areas of prices, available stocks, areas of production, etc.

“Trade information and monthly market newsletter with a particular regional focus are scheduled to be issued on Mango and Cashew nuts in 2011 and on Sesame and Palm Oil in 2012,” she said.

To facilitate the establishment of the trade information systems, she stressed that arrangements had been concluded to organise a workshop on trade information in October this year.

She also noted that she was

in Nigeria as part of a larger West African visit to set in motion the process for the take off of the newsletters. She was op-

timistic that the same co-operation would be extended by the NEPC to ensure the success of the newsletters.

‘Council is updating its product profile to provide the information needs of exporters as well as would-be exporters on available product for exports from Nigeria’

In his speech, Executive Director of NEPC, David Adulugba, said his agency would ensure that Nigeria derived the full benefits of all the projects under the programme.

“Council is updating its product profile to provide the information needs of exporters as well as would-be exporters on available product for exports from Nigeria,” he said.

‘Cartel responsible for rising price of rice’

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GROUP of traders, under the auspices of Trans Bor der Traders Association of Nigeria, has blamed the hike in the price of the rice on a cartel.

In a statement, the group claimed that the cartel had mounted pressure on the Federal Government some five months ago to ban rice importation through land borders.

The statement, which was signed by its National Coordinator, Mr Ola Okunola, said: “Before the ban, a group by name Rice Importers Millers and Distributors Association of Nigeria had made several overtures to government against those of us engaged in the business of rice importation on smaller scale through the borders.

“Our findings revealed that all the allegations against our involvement in the business were to create a monopoly for RIMDAN and cause Nigerians to pay more for the commodity.”

The group, which requested the National Assembly to investigate the matter, urged the government to break the cartel by allowing others genuinely interested in the business to come in.

It said: “When we were involved in the importation (also paying appropriate duties to the government through the Nigeria Customs Service), rice was sold between N6,300 and N6,700 per 50kg bag.

“Today, with the RIMDAN mo-

nopoly, the product is priced above N7,000 and it will be more expensive as various festivities approach.”

It also noted that the monopoly was aimed at enriching a very few persons at the expense of the Nigerians.

The traders said: “We were compelled to call for legislative attention and redress as all correspondence written by us to get clarification on the ban of rice through the borders were not responded to.

“All we hear is that there is an order from above stopping the importation of rice through the land borders. No written circular to that effect or an amendment to government fiscal policy or import prohibition list containing the change in government policy.”

The group, which also dared members of RIMDAN, charged the law makers to summon the two groups to appear before them to individually prove their cases.

‘Our findings revealed that all the allegations against our involvement in the business were to create a monopoly for RIMDAN and cause Nigerians to pay more for the commodity’

•A cross-section of participating Chief Executive Officers & Corporate Senior Managers, at the demonstration of the globally-deployed company Performance Improvement and Strategy Management Model, Compass Alligned Performance Systems (ECAPS) in Lagos.

•From left: General Manager, CBTI Mr Dave Van Rensburg; Marketing Manager, CBNL Mr Benson Abraham; Miss La Casera 2011 Nwando Ebeledike and Chief Operating Officer, CBNL Mr Prahlad Gangadharan, during the inauguration of La Casera retail outlet, at the Food Court of Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA 2), Ikeja, Lagos.

Nigeria, Poland to renew agreement on bilateral trade

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HE Polish Chamber of Commerce has expressed its will ingness to resuscitate the partnership agreement it signed with the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) in 1998.

Head of the Polish chamber, Marek Zelazko, said the agreement failed to live up to expectation, following challenges encountered by investors from both countries.

Nigeria and Poland established diplomatic ties in 1960.

Zelazko, who spoke through an interpreter, listed the shortcomings to include lack of business contacts and the zeal by investors to drive the framework, among

others.

“The agreement signed in 1998 was not fruitful to both countries.

There is need to resuscitate the agreement by way of developing people-to-people diplomacy as this is the main force that will drive the framework,” he said.

Zelazko, who is also the Adviser on Foreign Relations to the Polish President, observed that the abundant natural resources in Nigeria would be attractive to polish investors, especially in the areas of crude oil and coal.

According to him, Poland is an emerging economy, which Nigeria can also invest in to correct the imbalance in the volume of trade that is currently put at 90 per cent in favour of Poland.

While stressing the need to further promote economic cooperation between both nations, Zelazko called for a tripartite joint commission between PolandCzech and Nigeria, saying, “such regional cooperation will expand investments and open up new market opportunities.”

He also tasked the media on creating business awareness, adding that “the media has a lot to do to also promote investment opportunities between the countries.”

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Envoy to Poland, Ambassador Asalina Mamuno, on Sunday, in Warsaw, stressed the need for businessmen to liaise with the nation’s embassies and missions when embarking on international business

deals.

Mamuno, who also has a concurrent accreditation to the Czech Republic, spoke against the backdrop of the increasing high-level informal trade among businessmen, saying that it was impossible for embassies to rate the volume of trade, following increase in informal businesses.

“Most times, once people get their visa, they embark on business deals without consulting us and when it goes wrong, they start coming to the embassy for assistance,” she said.

“Economically speaking, not much success has been recorded between Poland and Nigeria in the area of trade and investment, but there are other areas we can ben-

efit especially in their technical expertise in agriculture.

“They have a good farming scheme and since agriculture is an integral part of the nation’s transformation agenda, I think we can engage the Poles,” Mamuno Said.

She listed other area Nigeria could key in to include alternative energy sources.

“About 90 per cent of their power is derived from coal, they also have a clean development mechanism- a technology that can reduce environmental pollution caused by coal,” she said.

According to her, some Polish investors have indicated interest in using Nigeria’s palm kernel for renewable energy sources, a move she described as a positive development.

THURSDAY, SEPTEM BER 8, 2011

17

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Barely five months after the general elections, the political scene in Rivers State is aglow again. The tribunals are at work, parties are reviewing their operations and candidates counting cost of their adventures, reports BISI OLANIYI.

Rivers’ politicians count cost of April polls G

OVERNOR Rotimi Amaechi of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made mincemeat of his opponents at the April 26 governorship election in Rivers State. He defeated Sir Celestine Omehia of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and his counterpart in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Dr. Abiye Sekibo.

Both Sekibo and Omehia, in conjunction with their political parties, filed petitions at the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Port Harcourt, alleging massive rigging, intimidation of voters, snatching of ballot boxes and multiple thumb-printing, among other irregularities.

Sekibo, a former Transport Minister and ex-Secretary to the Rivers State Government in Dr. Peter Odili’s administration, later withdrew his petition from the tribunal, alleging that his efforts were frustrated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and PDP. Omehia’s petition was dismissed by the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Amina Wambai from Niger State, in a unanimous decision. Other of the tribunal are Justices Abdulrasak Babatunde Abdulkareem and O. M. Anyachebelu.

The APGA’s standard bearer, who said the governorship battle, would be a fight to the finish, immediately proceeded to the appellate court, with the case yet to be disposed of.

Omehia, who became Rivers governor by default on May 29, 2007, was sacked by the Supreme Court on October 25, 2007, with his cousin, Amaechi, inaugurated the following day.

Amaechi and Omehia both hail from Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state, but Omehia sack has turned them to bitter enemies.

Omehia recently told some of his associates and supporters that the court case would be pursued to its logical conclusion and that he would never negotiate with anybody or listen to the pleas of stakeholders for withdrawal.

It was learnt that Omehia and some Rivers elders pleaded with Amaechi in 2007, to discontinue the court cases, but he ignored them until justice was done, with the sacked “governor” stressing that it would be pay back time, as he is expressing optimism of emerging victorious.

Sekibo has vowed to remain in the opposition party, in spite of pressure on him to return to the PDP, but he is still facing internal challenge in the ACN. Less than 48 hours to the April 26 governorship and House of Assembly elections, the Rivers Chairman of the ACN, Uche Okwukwu, a legal practitioner, asked his supporter to vote for Amaechi and the Rivers House of Assembly PDP’s candidate for Ikwerre constituency, Mr. Wanjoku Chikere, who eventually won the election., which angered the members of his party.

Out of the 29 political parties that participated in the governorship election in Rivers state, Amaechi polled 1,178,529 votes, Omehia had

112,528 votes, while Sekibo polled 60,241 votes.

Okwukwu was on May 4 suspended by the Rivers leadership of the ACN, over anti-party activities, which also affected the party’s state Youth Leader, Bob Aaron; Welfare Officer, Ken Dede; Ex-Officio member for Asari-Toru LGA, Ogborubu Erekosima; and the Emohua LG party Chairman, Timothy Amadi.

Okwukwu maintains that he is a man of integrity, who was never bribed by Amaechi or other politicians and remains the chairman of the ACN in Rivers State, while judgment is yet to be given in the suit he filed to the effect, at the state High Court, Port Harcourt.

Sekibo, however, said Rivers ACN has a new chairman, Chief Esuku M. Esuku, the then Deputy Chairman, while declaring that Okwukwu lacks integrity and should never be taken seriously, for betraying the party.

As if teasing the former transport minister (Sekibo), Okwukwu asked him to contest as a councillor in his Okrika Ward 4 during the 2014 local government elections in the state, thereby testing his popularity, having lost the governorship election both in his polling unit and ward, in order to redeem his image at home.

The Rivers ACN chairman said there is a fundamental difference between election and appointment, with Sekibo having been appointed, as the SSG by Dr. Peter Odili and later Transport Minister, while insisting that there is a difference between appointment and election.

Okwukwu said: “Opposition is nurtured. It is not an ad hoc thing.

We are doing too much ad hoc in the South-South and the South-East zones. Those who desire to contest elections in 2015 should start early to build structures. It is not something that is done in a hurry.

The transition from AD to ACN has taken the Yoruba 13 to 14 years planning.

“So, the opposition here is so much in a hurry. What happens is that, very close to the election, people will return and most of them will return from Abuja and other places and come and jump that they want to run an election.

“If Omehia wants to run an election, he should have stayed and be part of the people for the last four years. You do not just relocate and few months to the election, you come. If Sekibo wants to run election, he should stay. Anybody who wants to run an election should be part of the people, feel their pulse, participate in activities and then indicate to serve. You do not come and just ask people who do not know you, to vote for you.

•Amaechi addressing party enthusiasts during the campaign.

“That is the biggest problem of the opposition. It is not issue of money. It is issue of visibility.

Those who run elections in the opposition in the Niger Delta and especially in Rivers state, are not very visible.”

Sekibo, who spoke in Port Harcourt, through the Publicity Secretary of the ACN in Rivers State, Jerry Needam, however, disagreed with Okwukwu, while maintaining that he had been visible in the state, long before the April 26 election.

The former transport minister, according to Needam, remains in the main opposition ACN, as the leader and financier of the party in the state, with the likelihood of contesting the next governorship election.

A new dimension has been introduced to the 2015 governorship race in Rivers state, since Amaechi will be completing his constitutionallyallowed second term in less than four years.

The representative of Rivers Southeast Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, 46, is believed to be preferred by Amaechi to take over from him.

Abe, a lawyer from Bera, Ogoni in Gokana LGA was the Minority Leader of the House of Assembly between 1999 and 2003, while Amaechi was the Speaker, and was

resolute in retrieving the stolen mandate of the incumbent governor, in the days of the infamous K-leg.

Abe later defected to the PDP. Amaechi was Speaker between 1999 and 2007, when Odili was the governor.

Shortly after his reelection, the medical doctor-turned politician (Odili) appointed Abe as the Commissioner for Information, but his best friend and confidant later made him the SSG, immediately after his October 26, 2007 inauguration.

In an interview in 2009 in his then office at the Brick House (Government House, Port Harcourt), Abe, when confronted with the rumour then doing the round, about his intention to proceed to the Senate, he completely denied it, describing it as the handiwork of his detractors, saying he was pleased with his works as SSG. A few months later, Abe’s campaign posters were all over his senatorial district and now he is adequately representing his people.

A source in Government House, Port Harcourt, who preferred anonymity, said: “Senator Abe has been penciled-in as the next governor of Rivers State. He is very young, articulate, well educated, experienced, brilliant, adequately exposed and has good managerial ability.

“Oga (Governor Amaechi) sees him as very loyal, dependable and reliable. Senator Abe is one of the

‘Omehia recently told some of his associates and supporters that the court case would be pursued to its logical conclusion and that he would never negotiate with anybody or listen to the pleas of stakeholders for withdrawal. It was learnt that Omehia and some Rivers elders pleaded with Amaechi in 2007, to discontinue the court cases, but he ignored them until justice was done, with the sacked “governor” stressing that it would be pay back time, as he is expressing optimism of emerging victorious’

few associates and friends of Rt. Hon. Amaechi, who did not betray him, when it was very rough in the days of K-leg, when he had to relocate to Ghana with his family.

“You will still remember that governor Amaechi said many of his friends who would pray with him in his bedroom, eventually betrayed him. Such a person with nasty experiences will be very careful in choosing his associates and will not support a fair-weather friend as the next governor.”

The immediate past SSG (Abe) earlier said most of the supporters of Amaechi, in early 2007, had arranged T-shirts to be worn to the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt, where the then governorship candidate of the PDP was expected to be handed over the party’s flag, before it was given to Omehia, which was the beginning of the legal tussle, that terminated at the Supreme Court with the landmark judgment of October 25, 2007.

Abe then said it was very disappointing and painful, to confirm as they were preparing to leave for the stadium that Amaechi would not get the PDP’s flag, but noted that at the end of the day, God showed that He remains the Almighty.

Amaechi’s preference of Abe as his successor may be his way of expressing gratitude to a trusted friend, who stood by him when things were very rough and tough, with his property thrown out of his official quarters to demoralise and frustrate him, but was resolute, until he got justice.

The PDP remains a party to beat in Rivers state, but members of the opposition are also being reckoned with.

This is, perhaps, not the time to focus on 2015. There is the challenge of governance. The almost four-year period to the end of Amaechi’s tenure is enough to accommodate other factors. For now, the tribunals, at state and appellate levels, are at work, examining the legality of the April polls.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEM BER 8, 2011

POLITICS

Akpabio, Udoedehe know fate Sept 13 From Kazeem Ibrahym, Calabar

J

USTICE Jafaru Makailu of the Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, yesterday fixed September 13 for judg ment in the appeal filed by the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), its governorship candidate, Senator John Akpanudoedehe and his running mate, Chief Ime Umanah.

The Akwa Ibom tribunal headed by Justice Adam Onum had earlier dismissed applications filed by the petitioners on technical grounds.

ACN lead counsel, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), argued that the tribunal erred in law in reaching its decision. The appellants raised 10 grounds of appeal. They are seeking six reliefs, among which is an order allowing the appeal and setting aside the ruling of the tribunal of July 18 by Justice Onum.

Osinbajo in his argument before Justice Makailu said that the judgment which the tribunal used in dismissing the petitioner’s case was not duly signed.

The lead counsel to Governor Godswill Akpabio and his Deputy, Nsima Ekere, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN) countered the claims of the ACN counsel saying the judgment was duly signed and it was contained in the records of the court.

Ojo also argued that the argument about the judgment being unsigned is dead on arrival.

When Justice Makailu demanded to see the manuscript of the judgment, Ojo said it was before the court.

The counsel also argued on whether or not motion for pre-hearing notice came by way of motion ex-parte or motion on notice. Osinbajo argued that the pre-hearing notice filed by the petitioner’s was valid.

Addressing newsmen after the court proceedings, Osinbajo said: “We expect that the court will rule in the petitioner’s favour that our motion for pre-hearing was valid. There is no ruling of any court since 2007 where anybody or court has ever said you require leave in order to initiate pre-hearing.

“It has never happened. The reason is because the interpretation of the law doesn’t allow it. I told the court that if a contrary interpretation is given, it means that practically every petition which has been filed before our courts will be nullified.

“It is an absurd interpretation. In my own opinion, the law says a motion must be heard during pre-hearing, but how can you hear a motion for pre-hearing during pre-hearing? In my view, it is so simple and I don’t think the respondents should argue about it. When court rules in our favour, we would start pre-trial session.”

Osinbajo went further: “Also the judgment of the lower tribunal was not duly signed. We have not seen a signed judgment. As I stand here, the judgment which was included in the records of proceedings was not signed and we showed the court that the previous ruling of the court was signed and we included it.

“We haven’t seen a signed judgment. We haven’t seen any. In my view, we are relying on the records of the court.”

But, Ojo said: “At the appeal court here, we have also argued that the steps they (the petitioners) took at the lower court were wrong. They wrote a letter and they knew the letter was not sufficient. They filed a motion but the motion was a motion ex-parte instead of a motion on notice.

“If they know that the letter was sufficient, why did they file a motion again? So that is the point; we argued that their case is incurably bad and you cannot do anything to repair it and that the court should dismiss their case.”

The ACN had, earlier in its grounds of appeal, faulted Justice Onum for reading a /judgment that was not authenticated by any of the justices of the tribunal, stating that Section 294 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) expressly stipulates that the judgment of a court shall be duly authenticated.

They also argued that the failure of the judges of the tribunal to authenticate the ruling/judgment in the instant case occasioned substantial miscarriage of justice as provided in Section 294 (5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended); saying an alleged ruling/judgment not duly authenticated is not a valid judgment in law, saying it is void.

They contended that the tribunal misapplied the case of Okereke v.

Yar’Adua (2008) 12 NWLR (pt 1100) 95 to the petitioners’ application for an order for the issuance of the pre-hearing notice and thus holding that the leave of court was imperative to move petitioners’ application for the commencement of pre-hearing session.

“The case of Okereke v.

Yar’Adua is not an authority for the position that leave of the tribunal shall be obtained before an application for issuance of prehearing notice can be brought and ordered.

The appellants also said that the tribunal erred for granting a substantive prayer not sought by affirming Akpabio and Ekere as winners of the disputed election.

“No governorship election was held in Akwa Ibom State on April 12, 2011.

The tribunal has no jurisdiction to grant reliefs not sought by parties. The 1st and 2nd respondents did not seek relief that election of the 1st respondent be affirmed in their application.

•Udoedehe

Chief Olisa Metuh is the National Vice Chairman (South East) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In a chat with journalists in Abuja, he contended that the election of Chief Rochas Okorocha as Imo State governor on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is no threat to the PDP in the zone. SANNI ONOGU was there. Excerpts:

‘Okorocha is no threat to PDP in South-East’ T HERE is widespread belief that with his election, Governor Rochas Okorocha may eventually railroad the entire South East into the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as the Action Congress of Nigeria has done in the South West…

We have heard it. I concede that there is a big problem in the Southeast but the problem is not because of Rochas Okorocha or APGA. The problem will be whether in the southeast, we are able to get our own from the federal government. As long as the federal government continues to give us good appointments and face the issue of infrastructural development in the southeast, we will not have any problem. The problem will arise if our people perceive that for some reasons, our needs are not being catered for. I must commend the president for the way that he is tackling the southeast, most especially on the issue of Uwazurike. The fact that PDP Southeast leadership got in touch with the national leadership of the country and they made representations and they were able to listen and participated in the release of Uwazurike and the other people means that we have a listening president and it means that the president is tackling our issues.

Okorocha has his cup full. He has big battle in Imo because we are taking back Imo. The PDP in Imo is completely intact. It is very cohesive. I don’t see how he can spread to other places.

Where will we lose? PDP can never lose Enugu. We’ve done very well in Enugu, Ebonyi and Abia. By 2015, we will have five south east governors – PDP. Do you think that the PDP is in position to take back Anambra when the party is not cohesive in the state?

There are contentions but during the last election, we won two senatorial seats. We won seven out of 11 House of Representatives seats. So, if we did that when we were divided, you can see that we are very strong. The issue in Anambra is that there have been some people who are professional politicians. There are people who don’t do any other thing except feed from politics; they are the people that are trying to hold Anambra to ransom. But with the efforts of the south east leadership, the zonal working committee we will be able to return Anambra PDP to be disciplined and to be cohesive.

But as the Vice Chairman of the party in the zone, what are you doing to make sure that Anambra is cohesive again as it used to be?

Well, Anambra is a difficult state. But we hope that with the committees that we have set up, we will be able to handle Anambra. But we need the help from the national leadership of

• Okorocha

the party. The southeast zone cannot even handle it alone.

Anambra should be declared a political disaster area for the PDP. It is the most difficult state in the nation politically and there was a time they used to get injunctions on every single issue. Point of correction we don’t have 500 cases. We have only 467 PDP-related cases in Anambra. But we had 17 chairmen, so we hope that the end is near. As I speak to you, the southeast leadership has been able to put in a lot of money in Anambra now and we haven’t seen the solution manifested completely but we know what the outcome will be. But we need help because we can’t handle Anambra alone. We want the national leadership of the party to assist us because we really do need help in Anambra.

Uwazurike and 280 others were released, is that an indication that government has recognized that or by the southeast governors intervening, is that an indication they are now recognized as stakeholders?

No! There was a mistake in the whole exercise. What the security agencies did in arresting them was actually a mistake. There was an award by

‘Anambra should be declared a political disaster area for the PDP. It is the most difficult state in the nation politically and there was a time they used to get injunctions on every single issue. Point of correction we don’t have 500 cases. We have only 467 PDP-related cases in Anambra’

•Metuh

Igbo Youth Movement which has Evangelist Elliot Ukoh as the chairman. He is a very prominent Igbo man. He is a good activist. When we had the presidential election we used him for PDP. He worked for us, he worked for the president. We had several meetings with him and Ohaneze. And he is a very decent man. He is a good Nigerian; the only thing is that he is a critic and he wants the best for the country. He doesn’t believe in Biafra but he wanted to recognise some people including Odumegwu Ojukwu. So the arrest of 280 people on its own was what was wrong not the release of them. They were supposed to be released.

Would you say the Southeast has come of age politically going by the number of positions that have been conceded to the zone in the present political dispensation?

I would say that the leadership of the southeast is more disciplined now. On the issue of the leadership, they are more disciplined and more focused.

We have a situation where the governors are more focused and attend to their governance. We don’t hear any bickering in their states. Then, we have for the first time when we are going for national positions only one person comes out. It is on record that this is the first time a Deputy Senate President was going for an office and no other person ran against him. The same thing goes for the Deputy Speaker. Even when the leadership of the country, said we were going to have Secretary to the Federal Government, it was unanimous. The entire Southeast agreed on one person, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim. That was the first time it happened and we are going to replicate it in the next convention and in other positions. The Southeast will always speak as one voice. We have come of age.

We are more disciplined. We are cohesive. We are more focused.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

19

EDITORIAL/OPINION Comments

EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND

Quack laboratories

•We need to stop them before they send many more people to the graves prematurely

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OR sometime now, the issue of medical quacks manning many of the nation’s laboratories and hospitals has been in the front burner of national discourse. Prof. Anthony Emeribe, Registrar of Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) during the induction of 211 fresh graduates into the council gave startling revelations about the terrible state of some of the medical laboratories in the country.

He said ‘over 50 per cent of health laboratories in Nigeria are manned by quacks. The bulk of medical laboratory reagents and chemicals in our markets are fake or substandard. They are often stored and distributed under unsuitable conditions.’

Emeribe is in a position to know, which

‘Hope seems to be appearing on the horizon with the belated but nonetheless commendable attempt by the MLSCN to rid the society of Laboratory impostors masquerading as professionals. The council should adopt the World Health Organisation (WHO)/ AFRO laboratory assessment checklists for quality improvement and accreditation of laboratories’

is why his statement on this important subject should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand. As the operational henchman of MLSCN, he has the facts and figures regarding how laboratories are run here on his fingertips. And, to demonstrate its seriousness to stamp out the menace, the council shut down 96 of the laboratories that were operating illegally in some states across the federation.

The breakdown is as follows: Rivers 18; Abia 18; Edo 17; Imo 14; Delta 11; Akwa Ibom nine; and Lagos nine. The figures represent only seven out of 36 states in the country, excluding Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). We can only imagine what the picture would look like by the time the entire country is covered.

Many Nigerians had fallen victims of the nefarious activities of these quacks.

The late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the prominent lawyer and human rights activist died from the consequence of wrong diagnosis, among other Nigerians that suffered similar fate. Perhaps he and many others that had died through wrong diagnosis could have lived if their ailments had been correctly diagnosed at the early stages because this would have enabled them to have the right medications.

We have expressed concern about the lethargic official and stakeholders’ approach to this menace. Regrettably, we do not know how many of the offenders, including their official accomplices, had been arraigned or convicted for running

quack laboratories or sub-standard hospitals.

Hope seems to be appearing on the horizon with the belated but nonetheless commendable attempt by the MLSCN to rid the society of Laboratory impostors masquerading as professionals. The council should adopt the World Health Organisation (WHO)/ AFRO laboratory assessment checklists for quality improvement and accreditation of laboratories.

No doubt, its investigative and disciplinary organ so far has not done enough to identify and eliminate quack laboratories and those behind their establishment. It must also go after some registered and accredited laboratories with branches that fall short of prescribed standards, to save lives.

Moreover, the MLSCN should spread its dragnet to other states of the federation where the activities of illegal laboratory owners are sending people to untimely graves. The government must equally support this worthy cause as no effort must be spared in the attempt to rid the nation of quacks masquerading as medical personnel.

We can only hope that the 124 new laboratories approved by the MLSCN met the approved criteria. Quackery in medical laboratories is as bad as fake and adulterated drugs. The country would therefore be better for it if we can give it the same attention as we do to those manufacturing or importing fake and sub-standard drugs into the country.

Indomitable spirit • Hers was another example of how, all too often, life appears to be inherently unfair to many.

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EVERELY disadvantaged from birth, Jhamak Kumari Ghimire, a Nepalese girl, was born with cerebral palsy, a disability which made it impossible for her to speak or use her hands. She suffered the neglect and discrimination often experienced in society by those with diverse forms of physical or other functional disabilities, including denial of access to education and other abuses.

Indeed, it was a measure of the contempt with which those in her condition were held that a neighbour once suggested to her father, Krishna Prasad Ghimire, when she was seven, that he kill his disabled daughter by throwing her in a river. Luckily, reason prevailed and the distraught father did no such thing.

That is why today, Nepal and the entire literary world can celebrate Jhamak Kumari Ghimire, who at 30 has won her country’s most prestigious literary prize.

Ghimire’s book of autobiographical essays, “Is Life a Thorn or a Flower” has earned her the much valued Madan Puraskar award. Through sheer courage, determination and indomitability of the human will, this remarkable woman transformed what would have been a life of painful and regrettable thorns into an admirable flower of intellectual achievement.

Apparently having little faith in their daughter’s ability to surmount her challenges and making something worthwhile of her life, her family did not send Jhamak Ghimire to school.

Undaunted, she taught herself to write by listening to her sister studying.

Her first success in writing the Nepalese alphabet on the ground was an emotionally moving one for Jhamak Ghimire, and of that experience she says “I could not share that moment’s joy with anyone, but my first letter was written in the dust on the ground and in my heart I could pronounce it. I was so happy that I wrote the letter ‘Ka’ many times”. From that humble beginning, she has gone on to publish four volumes of poetry, two books of short stories and scores of newspaper columns, in addition to her prize winning essays. Attesting to the aesthetic quality of Jhamak Ghimire’s literary output, a prominent Nepalese novelist and translator, Manjushree Thapa, notes that her “expression seems to have gained elegance not despite but because of the physical challenges she has overcome”.

In one of her poems titled “A Street Child’s Question to his Father”, she adopts the voice of a child and metaphorically asks her native land “Father, why are you siring renegade children like me”? This is a question every society must reflect on as regards their treatment of people with disabilities.

As Ghimire’s inspiring story shows, their immediate societies and humanity at large are the ultimate losers if such persons are neglected and denied opportunities to fulfill their potential.

There are hundreds of cases in history where persons with disabilities turned out to be some of the greatest contributors to human progress.

The lesson for us in Nigeria is to see all of our people, including the physically challenged, as valuable assets in whom we must invest to achieve any meaningful ‘transformational agenda’.

The prevalent scenario whereby a substantial proportion of our youth are effectively disabled from adding value to society by poor education, psychological de-motivation and mass unemployment is unacceptable and must be decisively addressed.

On their part, Ghimire’s example should also inspire our youths to overcome whatever socio-economic or physical challenges they confront, and make a success of their lives. Where there is a will, a way to triumph will always be found. That is the essence of Ghimire’s story.

‘The lesson for us in Nigeria is to see all of our people, including the physically challenged, as valuable assets in whom we must invest to achieve any meaningful ‘transformational agenda’. ...On their part, Ghimire’s example should also inspire our youths to overcome whatever socio-economic or physical challenges they confront, and make a success of their lives’

Time for deal on banks’ misconduct

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T’S BEEN months since the nation learned that some of America’s biggest banks engaged in dubious practices regarding loan modifications and foreclosures, including the now notorious “robo-signing” of what were supposed to be individually vetted documents. Yet in all that time, no one has produced evidence that large numbers of homeowners who were current on their mortgages were cast out of their homes because of bank misconduct. This looks like a case of spectacular wrongdoing with hardly any victims.

How do you handle a situation like that? For the 50 state attorneys general, the answer was: Use the specter of legal liability, however vague, to extract concessions from the banks. The banks, meanwhile, would prefer to make the whole embarrassing mess go away if they can do so for less than it would cost to litigate the principle of “no harm, no foul.”

And so the attorneys general — backed by the Obama administration — have been working on a settlement that would grant the banks legal immunity in return for reforms in their mortgage business and a large amount of cash to bail out underwater homeowners. The number under discussion reportedly is $20 billion from 14 large banks.

But the deal may fall apart because of a squabble among the attorneys general over how much legal immunity to give the banks, which say they need guaranteed legal “peace.” New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman has been warning that he won’t go along with any deal that keeps him from pursuing the banks for alleged securities fraud related to rotten mortgages they packaged and sold to investors. The majority of the other attorneys general, led by Tom Miller of Iowa, have kicked Mr. Schneiderman out of the negotiations, accusing him of making excessive demands. Mr. Schneiderman protests that the banks are to blame, for trying to use the robo-signing case to get immunity they could use on the securities front. Mr. Miller and his colleagues respond that they have no intention of letting the banks off that particular hook.

And so it goes. We’re tempted to declare a pox on everyone’s house — or at least say that the banks are getting what they deserve for being sloppy, and that the attorneys general are getting what they deserve for exploiting an overblown scandal to shake down the banks.

After all, the banks will have to come up with that $20 billion somehow — perhaps through reduced lending and higher fees. That wouldn’t be a problem if the money were going to compensate victims. But it won’t, because there don’t seem to be many victims. In fact, the people who end up getting principal reductions and other relief through this settlement will be a completely different group from those who got foreclosed on during the age of robo-signing.

Still, there are benefits to a potential deal. One is reform of foreclosure processes. This is not trivial or cheap; J.P. Morgan Chase, for example, has written down the value of its mortgage servicing by $1 billion to reflect the expense.

The second is restoring stability to the banking system and housing market. Ironically, housing can’t get back on its feet unless lenders can proceed normally with unavoidable foreclosures, but that hasn’t been possible because of the legal struggle over past misconduct.

Mr. Schneiderman’s objections notwithstanding, it’s time to remove this legal cloud over the banks, and the sooner the better.

– Washington Post

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THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

20

EDITORIAL/OPINION

Yes... they have MURDERED SLEEP !

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IR: Nigeria is a country with abundant human and material resources; she has favorable climatic conditions and vast arable land conducive to agricultural activities. Nigeria has shown great promises that it would become a technological giant and global economic player. But, more than 50 years after independence, it is still incredibly stuck in the mud of underdevelopment.

Chinua Achebe, the father of African fiction, diagnosed Nigeria as having leadership problem. Save for the periods the military ruled and ruined Nigeria, the political leaders that led this country before this current political regime were helped to power by kingmakers and selfish and ethnic interests.

They’re imposed political leaders.

Those imposed political leaders include Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, who ruled between 1960 and 1966; Alhaji Shehu Shagari, a political dark horse, who tasted power for four years; Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former soldier who brought us misery and retrogression during his inglorious reign for eight years; and Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who died in power. The misrule of the soldiers and the incompetence of imposed political leaders caused Nigeria’s current economic woes and technological backwardness.

Dr Goodluck Jonathan owes his occupation of the top - most political office in Nigeria to luck and the environmental activism and militancy of the Niger-Delta people. Had they not taken up arms to protest the neglect of their region, which produces our wealth, the P.D.P. hierarchy wouldn’t have chosen Jonathan as the running mate of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in the 2007 presidential election. They won the presidential election; and, at the death of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua, Dr.Goodluck Jonathan assumed the control of the country. He won this year’s presidential election.

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IR: There is something Airtel is doing which I find unacceptable and unpleasant to its teeming subscribers. The mobile telephony provider/carrier cuts customers’ recharge accounts in their so-called millionnaires daily game without the consent of the customers.

The most annoying part of this unwholesome and unethical practice is that Airtel Nigeria

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Arresting the creeping anarchy Since his victory at the polls, the spate of bombs explosion across the country, especially in Abuja and Maiduiguri, has increased to an alarming proportion. Is there a connection between his electoral victory and the Boko Haram’s insurgency?

No day passes without the Islamic sect exploding bombs and killing people. The group penetrated the national police headquarters and UN office, both in Abuja, and killed people in those places via suicide bombings.

These acts of terrorism have the

potentials of causing war among the disparate ethnic groups that make up the country. Nigeria is dangerously racing to an anarchic condition.

What has President Jonathan done to curb this menace, which can tear our country apart? First, he meddled in the judiciary problem when the constitution and common sense dictated otherwise. He hastily implemented the NJC recommendations on Justice Isa Salami by naming his replacement hence acting in bad faith.

Recently, the Movement for the

Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) members who were attending a social function in Enugu were rounded up and clamped into detention. Unlike the Boko Haram, MASSOB abides by the Gandhi’s political philosophy of non-violence. Is their peaceful agitation for justice, equity and geographical space of their own a criminal offence?

The Goodluck Jonathan led government should confront our monumental problems frontally and headlong instead of concerning itself with inanities and non-

pressing issues such as the tenure of governors and the president.

Millions of Nigerians are living below the bread-line; and they’re not happy. So, Dr Goodluck Jonathan should not mistake the smiles on their faces for happiness and contentment. Their smiles are a facade; anger is welling up in their hearts. So, it is not unlikely that our country will explode into political turmoil, if the issues threatening our peaceful co-existence as one country are not holistically solved.

The Boko Harams’ acts of terrorism, the anger of poor Nigerians, the indignation of the dispossessed unemployed youths, and our president’s suspicious deeds are the factors that may cause the masses’ revolt or political trouble in Nigeria.

Dr Jonathan, please stop our county’s march to anarchy and revamp our ailing economy.

• Chiedu Uche Okoye, Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State.

We need a proactive polity

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IR: Once upon a time, a tiny little bird was in need of the basic necessities which he could not afford because he was broke. He then went to the lion to obtain a loan to take care of his needs. Tthe time for repayment was fixed at when the bird matures physically. After some years, the lion saw the bird and another bird walking side by side down the pathway. The lion went on to meet its debtor and inquired, “Is this bird your sister?” The bird replied, “No, she is my mother”. The lion walked away in disbelief knowing that he had been swindled because the specie of birds never grow in size, no matter how much its fed with.

Nigeria is building a political edifice that may haunt our progenies in time to come. Our fore-fathers taught us that honesty

pays. Somehow, the maxim has thinned out as most of today’s children have no idea of what the word means. Today’s parenting has been shrouded with relegating integrity from our moral values, giving way to impatience to the point that we are forever in a rush to to see our children to go through schools before the appropriate age.

In civil and public services, those who preach honesty are perceived as old-fashioned and cave dwellers.

This library of insincerity is building up as an inheritance for our innocent children.

Democracy, like selling, is a game of numbers where quantities sold determine the degree of profit. We are a people who deliberately refuse to plan in order to take advantage of the people.

The judiciary in Nigeria is trying

its best to bring stability into the polity. We are blessed with best of potentials to stand out in the comity of nations as one of the most advanced in every sense. But, where the very few good-minded grow in trickles; the syndicates of impostors grow geometrically. The strength to building and stabilising a genuine political structure lies on the electorate, the umpire INEC and the judiciary. Many of our leaders do not believe in Nigeria, therefore, they may never understand the vision of the people.

Why? You can never exercise faith in what you do not believe.

We must combat falsehood with truth, because every law founded on selfishness and falsehood is like the time bomb programmed to explode at the doorstep of the mastermind. We have been trapped

Airtel, please! collects a daily sum of N100 from a customer’s account even after the customer had notified them he is no longer interested in the lottery. As soon as a customer recharges his account, even before he makes his first call, N100 is automatically deducted from his account. If the customer recharged only N100, his disappointment and frustration is better imagined, as he would have no call credit to make any calls or

send an sms. One Airtel customer who happens to be a friend and neighbour recently lamented bitterly that the service provider habitually collects his N100 recharge, so quickly that his account read zero naira soon after recharging. He said for some time now he had neither bought nor loaded an Airtel recharge card because of the network’s exploitative practice.

While one doesn’t mean to engage in any form of media campaign against Airtel as one of Nigeria’s most reliable telephony service providers, it is instructive that Airtel allows its clients to play the so-called daily millionaire game by themselves. It should imbibe best practices with its publics so as to win public confidence in its promotions.

• P’figu Cookey-Gam Elechi Beach, Port Harcourt.

by a people who have before now had sold us a dummy to believe in their visions and in the process confiscated our simplicity to their advantage. We need proactive actions to smuggle us out of the pathway that had always make us a reactive nation. We must get it right at the planning stage rather than work to remedy the flaws generated by our failures to plan.

Our justice system has to a large extent helped resolve some degree of inter and intra party manipulations. They have also helped redefine our stability, focus and uprightness in electoral cases where people’s choices were jettisoned to accommodate personal choices. In Edo, Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states, the people’s wishes were substituted for personal wishes. However, like the football player who had no business been in the team, the coach (the judiciary) recognized the mistake and brought in that gamewinner who primarily should have started the game to save the spectators from the stress caused by the delay.

Without proper action, our clamour for true political structure remains a mirage. The inspiration we need to advance lies in accepting that things are wrong and they need to be changed.

• Smart Osagiede, Benin City.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

21

EDITORIAL/OPINION

Nigeria and the curse of elections – 1

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called “Great Reform Bill” was the home of pocket and rotten boroughs which rich people in the cities, particularly in London could buy and from which they became members of Parliament without any election. Even the Great Reform Bill of 1832 did not go far enough and universal adult suffrage including the right of women to vote did not come until the election of 1918 after the First World War and women were given the vote on the grounds that their war service deserved to be rewarded. This preamble is necessary to briefly state that universal representative democracy is relatively recent in the long political history of man.

NIGERIA AND REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY Representative Democracy for any part of Nigeria was stridently demanded for by the Western educated elite who felt marginalized and ignored during the Governor-generalship of Sir Fredrick Lugard. In one of the first salvos in favour of electoral system, one of the organs of the educated elite argued that, under representative government “….The fatuous eccentricities of the present administration….would never be. Any administration absurdly harassing the peace and destroying the good will, harmony of the community and people would soon through popularly elected council know the relationship of ruler and subject…”

Under representative government it went on to say “ ….All privileges that are due to the ruler will be swept away, social lines of demarcation between classes will be less sharply defined. Economy will replace extravagance in public departments. Sinecures and excessive salaries will no longer exist. Africa will be rid of all exotics and foreign imposters.” 1 Lugard was naturally dismissive of the educated Nigerians who were said to represent no one except themselves. Lugard in dismissing their call for representative government had said among other things that: “…There is the chronic and abiding trouble of secret sedition and disloyalty of Lagos…They are masters of secret intrigue and they have been plotting against the government ceaselessly. I could show you that Lagos has for 20 years past opposed every governor and has fomented strife and bloodshed in the hinterland….After nearly 12 years as Governor here, I am free to say that the people of Lagos are the lowest, the most seditious and disloyal, the most prompted by purely self seeking money activities of any people I have ever met.”2 The recrimination and mutual hatred or dislike can be seen when the editor of Lagos Weekly Record on the 5th of October 1918 wrote calling for a “Free Africa” That “….. will no longer be exploited by a ruling caste of European overlords…..and that the government of the people and for the people shall be the rule in Africa as in Europe, nor can self government be longer denied certain peoples upon the fantastic pretext that there are superior and inferior people.”3

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100 days of what?

OLDING of periodic elections is central to democratic governance. Universal suffrage is however relatively new in the long march of democracy from its ancient Athenian roots of direct democracy to the current global practice of representative government. Suffrage in Athenian democracy was in no way universal, it was in fact restricted to citizens and adult males since rights went with responsibility of military service in most of the Greecian states. Slaves and foreigners were of course barred from city meetings. Whatever its limitation, the Athenian model provided an example of how government should not be the dictate of one person or a group of persons no matter how prepared for it. They may of course be well prepared as Plato in his Republic had tried to argue that democracy was not the ideal form of government. Rather he preferred a system of specialised training and intellectual preparation of the ruling class or ideally, of an all knowing philosopher king.

This specialisation is however embedded in the highly professional civil service characteristic of modern states.

Europe of the age of the enlightenment tried this idea of philosopher kings when enlightened despotism prevailed in France, the German and Italian states as well as in the Hapsburg Empire centred on Vienna. The French revolution and its revolutionary ideas of the rights of man and the citizen presaged the advent of representative democracy in Europe as a whole. The story is slightly different in the Anglo-Saxon world of the British and the American who can rightly claim to be the homeland or fountain of representative democracy. Democracy as we know it today owes its development to western liberal idea of fundamental human rights which are inherent in all human beings in the sense that they are the birthright of all men. These rights are also inalienable and cannot be given up nor can people be denied them. They are also universal since they apply to all regardless of nationality, gender status or race. This liberal idea is captured in the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 which among other things said: “We take these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator, with certain inalienable rights, that amongst these are the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”

The British even as far back as the time of the Magna Carta (1215) and the Bill of Rights (1689) had struggled with their kings to demand for rule of law and respect for the rights of the individual. Some form of representation and even elections however limited, had held in England from the 17th Century. The franchise was limited and in the United States of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, the franchise was restricted to property owners, slavery was legal in spite of their revolutionary pretensions. England until 1832 soOW time flies? So soon, the Jonathan administration has crossed the 100 days mark. It seems like yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office but it is 102 days counting from May 29. The president assumed office with high hopes, bubbling with energy to serve his fatherland. Although many have their reservations about his ability to do the job, they gave him the benefit of doubt when he won the election.

Jonathan is not new to the office. He held the position for one year after the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua before his own election last May. From that one-year experience, he is expected to have learnt one or two things about power, especially at the topmost level.

This experience was expected to stand him in good stead after winning the election. But from what the people have seen so far, the president is not deploying this experience in good use. It has been over 100 days that he came to office and we are yet to see him work and act as an ’experienced’ president. Is anything the matter? What could the problem be? Did we make a mistake by electing him? These are some of the questions many are asking today?

Everything is at a standstill governance-wise. We have a president, who does not seem to know the enormity of the task before him. From the look of things, he thinks what it takes to be president is to sit in his cosy office in Aso Rock unmindful of goings-on in the country. That is not how to be president, Mr President.

The presidency is a demanding job.

It is not for the faint hearted; it is a job that demands attention every hour of the day and the occupier of the high office must be prepared to

work beyond the 24 hours in a day. Unfortunately, our president does not seem to realise this. In 100 days we have not seen in him that spark that will assure us that yes our president has what it takes to ’’transform’’ the country as he promised in his inaugural speech on May 29.

What we have seen of his leadership so far is not assuring at all; rather it calls for concern. Is this how he will run the country in the next four years? This is the fear many Nigerians are expressing in the confines of their homes. If things should continue the way they are now, nobody can say what will happen in the nearest future. But is this the best our president can offer? What happened to his vow to make us proud Nigerians through transforming the way we think, do business and relate with the outside world. It is too early in the day for the president to forget his promise. ’’Today, our unity is firm, and our purpose is strong,’’ he said on May 29. ‘’Our determination unshakeable.

Together, we will unite our nation and improve the living standards of our people whether in the North or in the South; in the East or in the West. Our decade of development has begun.

The march is on’’. Why then can’t the president walk the talk? If the march is on, is he not expected to lead it? We have only heard about the march without seeing the marchers. If the march is on, we will have seen its impact on the implementation of his programmes since coming to office over 100 days ago. Since he made that remark, instead of marching forward, it has been a march back-

‘The past 100 days have not brought cheers to the faces of Nigerians. Things seem to be getting harder and harder and the government does not have the answers to their problems.

From what we have seen so far, does the country have any hope under Jonathan? The morning, they say, shows the day’

ward because he has not provided the deserved leadership.

The same applies to the transformation he promised. ‘’The day of transformation begins today. We will not allow anyone to exploit our differences in creed or tongue, to set us one against another...it is the supreme task of this generation to give hope to the hopeless, strength to the weak and protection to tthe defenceless. Fellow citizens, the leadership we have pledged is decidedly transformative.

The trasformation will be achieved in all the critical sectors by harnessing the creative energies of our people . Nigeria is not just a land of promise. It shall be a nation where positive change will continue to take place, for the good of our people. The time for lamentation is over. This is the era of transformation. This is the time for action.

The people are still waiting to see how the president will undertake this task. He spoke of transformation when he was being sworn in, only to later buy into the idea of a six-year single tenure for the president and governors. Is that the transformation he was talking about? Since he broached the issue his ministers have not allowed us to rest as they keep grating our ears with their ministries plan to do this or that in line with the transformation agenda.

What is the transformation agenda all about? How will it be pursued? Is there a blueprint for its implementation? Nobody in government has answered these questions. They seem to believe that the country will be transformed merely by saying so. To transform a society needs serious thinking. There must be men and women charged with driving the process, with the president himself taking the driver’s seat. In this case, nobody appears to be in charge.

It seems the president does not know that leadership is not an easy task. He wants change, but he does not appear to know how to go about it. This is

Lugard was not predisposed to call for elections in Nigeria because he rightly felt that the educated Nigerians on the coast did not represent all Nigerians and furthermore, even if he were to offer them electoral representation, they would be hopelessly divided among themselves.

Jide It was no surprise Osuntokun that the more liberal Governor-General Sir Hugh Clifford who replaced Lugard was more sympathetic to educated Africans and their demand for elections into the Legislative Council in Lagos. Hugh Clifford abolished the “Nigerian Council” described by the educated elite as a mere talking shop made up of colonial officials and Oba Ladigbolu, the Alaafin of Oyo, Muhammad Abbas, Emir of Kano, and one Nana Dore, an Itshekiri chief from the Delta and Sir Kitoyi Ajasa as representatives of the people. He replaced the council with an elected Legislative Council. Even the Liberal Hugh Clifford sometimes dismissed the claims of educated Nigerians as representatives of the wider Nigerian society of uneducated peoples.

Commenting on the formation of British West African Congress after the First World War, he wrote; “There has during the last few months been a great deal of loose and gaseous talk….which has for most part emanated from a self-selected and self-appointed congregation of educated African gentlemen… It can only be described as farcical to suppose that… continental Nigeria can be represented by a handful of gentlemen drawn from a half dozen coast tribes – men born and bred in British administered towns situated on the seashore, who in the safety of British protection have peacefully pursued their studies under British teachers…..

Sir Hugh went on in his address to the Legislative Council in Lagos in 1920 with a clincher to say that the educated Nigerians were separated by a wide chasm from their unlettered folks when he declared: “I will leave Honourable members to imagine what these gentlemen’s experience would be, if instead of travelling peacefully to Liverpool in a British ship they could be deposited, unsustained by British protection among….The….cannibals of the Mama Hills…The determinedly naked warriors of the inner Ibo country, and there left to explain their claims to be recognised as the accredited representatives of these their fellow nationals”4

why in the past 100 days, nothing has been moving in the country.

No doubt, the president is surrounded by a few good men and women; men and women who mean well for their country. These are people who can hold their own in any gathering anywhere in the world. But why are we still not making progress in a government in which they have been serving in the past 100 days. The past 100 days have not brought cheers to the faces of Nigerians. Things seem to be getting harder and harder and the government does not have the answers to their problems. From what we have seen so far, does the country have any hope under Jonathan? The morning, they say, shows the day. If after 100 days of this administration, the nation is still groping in the dark, can our lot be improved under it in four years?

I am not a pessimist nor an alarmist, I am just stating the obvious so that we can collectively find a solution to our problem and help out our president, who does not seem to have an answer. It has been 100 days of inaction and inept leadership, it is now left to us to decide whether it should continue like this.

Handwriting on the wall

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USTICE Dalhatu Adamu was appointed acting president of the Court of Appeal on August 21 when the post was not vacant by our president, who likes to act where he should normally exercise restraint. What was the president’s reason for the appointment? To “avoid a vacuum” in the appeal court. There was no vacuum in that court until President Goodluck Jonathan created one. There is no doubt that the president acted on bad advice in this case. Those who purportedly suspended the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, knew what they were doing. They wanted Justice Salami out so that they can get

Lawal Ogienagbon lawal.ogienagbon@thenationonlineng.net

a pliable man into that office. Why? They knew that Justice Salami will never allow himself to be used to achieve certain interest and these people were determined to protect the president from the hands of an upright judge who cannot be swayed to do their bidding under any circumstance.

With the presidential election petition before such a judge, they knew that there was fire on the mountain.

The next thing to do was to get him out of the way. They succeeded. Now their man is in place at the appeal court and he has started executing their’ hidden agenda (is it still hidden?). Barely three weeks after his appointment, Justice Adamu has reshuffled the panel handling the petition challenging Jonathan’s election. Was there any need for such action? Is there a complaint of bias against the panel, which until he was suspended was chaired

by Justice Salami? Justice Adamu may have his reasons for disbanding the panel, but he has to convince Nigerians that they are cogent and strong enough to warrant such a drastic action, considering that there is a time limit for hearing election petitions.

The new panel has been put in a tight corner because all its actions will be viewed with suspicion no matter how genuine they may be. Didn’t our judges learn anything from the June 12 debacle?

SMS ONLY: 08056504763

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

22

EDITORIAL/OPINION

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S individuals and as a nation we should feel diminished by the reprehensible bombing of the Abuja United Nations Headquarters that resulted in the death of 23 UN workers. We had Like the UN UnderSecretary for Security, Gregory Starr, thought such mindless killings were not in our character, one reason the world “looked at Nigeria as one with low or medium security threat.” But we now know we have been living a lie.

The dastardly act has wiped off the gains, if any, from the billions of naira that the PDP government wasted on rebranding Nigeria in the last five years. Nigerians everywhere, once again have become targets of international hostility. At home, it is going to become more difficult to attract foreign investment into a nation that murder those engaged in self less service to solve our self inflicted problems.

Already, airlines are planning to boycott Abuja airport.

Boko Haram is a home grown problem that arose from our social dislocations. This is what enemies of our nation, including Libya’s Muhammad Gaddafi, had in the past tried to use in dismembering Nigeria. For Nigerians, allegations about ‘government corruption, insensitivity and deceit’ which Sheikh Azzawahiri, the spoke person for the group has used as justification for the dastardly act will be unacceptable as basis for hostility towards foreigners. That also, is not in our character. But now that ‘a preliminary forensic analysis indicated the use of “sophisticated explosives” typical of Al-Qaeda, it has become apparent that the 27-year old Abul Barra who detonated the bomb at the UN House did not act alone. The implication is that our detractors have finally succeeded in exploiting our internal group strive we had thought could be wished away or suppressed by force.

Perhaps President Goodluck Jonathan, and his advisers who insist we cannot negotiate with aggrieved groups in our society on the basis of weak intellectual argument that it is counterproductive to negotiate with terrorists, will now wake up. We can only put our house in order through dialogue among ourselves including those we arrogantly regard as devils.

As a human community, we cannot just wish away devils.

We have few options left outside dialogue.

Increasingly, we have become more vulnerable. . We cannot today identify those who are Nigerians. The ID project that would have brought a measure of sanity was

Boko Haram and the dialogue option sabotaged by PDP dealers and wheelers and those who benefit from anarchy in our nation.

Twice in the last 12 years, contracts were awarded, and funds expended. Twice the project collapsed with little to show for the amount expended.

Our state of helplessness has been further confirmed by the Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari Committee empanelled by the Federal Government to probe the causes of the campaign of violence launched by Boko Haram. It has in its interim report indicated that the Boko Haram menace was growing because many non-Nigerians, who spoke Hausa fluently, were swelling its rank. The committee identified these illegal aliens as being mainly from Niger, Somalia, Benin the Sudan and Chad. “We know that there are many of them in the northern part of the country, including Abuja, doing menial jobs like hawking water, mending shoes and riding motorcycles’ But they forgot to add that they are also in the southern cities as ‘Okada’ riders and security aides and truck pushers. We know next to nothing about them.

Yet, I think those northern elites opposed to the expulsion of these ‘non Nigerians’ are right.

Besides the difficulty in differentiating between a Nigerian, a Nigerien, Sudanese or Chadian, for these young men, Nigeria is their own Europe. They are in Nigeria to stay. We cannot also deny their contribution to the growth of our economy. Sending them away will amount to throwing away the baby and the bathwater. But with dialogue, we will hopefully be able identify ourselves, work

out the basis of or interaction and as the highly revered late Ahmadu Bello put it ‘understand our differences’ President Jonathan today has a rare privilege to do what was impossible under Babangida, Abacha and Obasanjo who are ill-trained and ill-mannered to manage society by virtue of their military socialization. In this regard, let me crave the indulgence of our readers to quote from a piece I did for the Guardian almost 20 years ago. ,.

‘Our self-proclaimed messiahs and missionaries went beyond ravaging our land and ruining our economy. General Ironsi laid the foundation for the destruction of the very basis for the Nigerian association which was the true federalism put in place by the Richard constitution of 1947and further cemented by Macpherson in 1957. Recognizing the diversity of Nigeria, the two, constitutions had strived to “ensure each area develops at its own pace without a fear of domination by other groups of individuals” The 1954 Lyttleton Constitution ensured each region had powers over law and order, education, economic development, social welfare and public information. The general state of insecurity, the destruction of our judicial system once the envy of other African nations, the paralysis in our once ‘great’ universities, the collapse of our economy in spite of oil, the loss of credibility by all the federally controlled media, all attest to the short-sightedness of the policy of centralization of institutions that had stood the test of time.

General Obasanjo was instrumental in

dismantling all the enduring social and economic institutions the various nationalities put together through the blood and sweat of their people. Today all we have to show for the military interference are mere carcasses of these proud institutions. General Babangida of course completed the evil conspiracy of some of our soldiers that behaved like army of occupation by sharing our common patrimony through dubious commercialization and privatization that only favoured the military and bureaucratic elite in our society. Our adventurous soldiers in an attempt to fashion a nation out of many nations ignored our apparent sociological imperatives.

Parading ourselves as Nigerians first, offered many advantages. It enabled General Obasanjo to rule, and boast of better accomplishments than a visionary leader like the late chief Awolowo, or a General Babangida to experiment with our lives for eight years destroying everything we hold dear, including our faith in ourselves.

It enabled the proceeds of oil wealth to be used for building bridges over land in Lagos and Abuja while Ogoni land where the oil is produced remains without functioning pipe borne water, electricity, government hospital and a community where all primary schools in 1992 closed for one year because government could not pay teachers’ salaries.’ (The Guardian, 20th October, 1993) Today, President Jonathan has an historic opportunity to address the real threat to our nation. His job has been made easier as the military, the architect of our current travails, has now publicly acknowledged through its representatives, Generals Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar that the only way forward is dialogue.

Adding its voice last week, the usually cautious independent Guardian newspaper admonished President Jonathan: ‘it would appear that the government has not given sufficient priority to assuage grievances across the land. This informs intermittent calls for national dialogue by whatever name it is called.

The president needs to give reasonable allowance for this option, while seeking the cooperation of the international community in fighting terrorism.’

A sovereign national conference or a national dialogue is a cheaper strategy for liberating an aggrieved group like Boko Haram from the tyranny of the state rather than an unwinnable war against domestic or international terrorism.

VIEW FROM THE FOREIGN PRESS

A

UGUST 27, Abia attained the adult age of two decades. Created from the existing Imo State in 1991, during the flamboyance and profligacy of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd), the state has had its own share of leadership in the usual Nigerian military acronym of sole-administrators and subsequently to civilian governors. Frank Ajobena, first military administrator drew the first blood by refusing to lay a developmental platform for the new state. He handed over to a lecturer turned politician, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who dwelt more on rhetoric’s rather than in practical. Not done with their distractive and retrogressive incursion in politics, the military struck again bullying and huskily ordering her till May, 2007 when civilians returned from political wilderness.

Like a cat with nine lives, Abia courageously resolved not to die. Founded by our pace-setting and fore-sighted fathers, mostly of blessed memory, the tripod of equity, justice and fair play became the guiding principle at the creation of Abia State.

Former governor Orji Uzor Kalu who bought into the aforementioned principles shortly after assuming the reins of office as Governor of Abia State in May 1999. Though his initial good intentions were short-lived, but while it lasted, it facilitated the injection of life into the young Abia, averting what would have resulted into stunted growth. Abia was for the first time, launched into the regime of infrastructural development though with the trappings and sleight hand of attention seeking and undue craze for popularity. Consequently, while former governor Uzor Kalu coasted home with the sobriquet ‘Action Governor of Nigeria’, roads in Aba were constructed without stone base while floods had a field day, each time it rained. His unfortunate penchant for politicizing every strategic and essential matters of state importance, denied the state of the opportunity to celebrate structural erections of note and class.

But among others we acknowledge his institution of free education and construction of the magnificent Abia House in Abuja, and the JAAC building in Umuahia which he started but was completed by T.A. Orji.

Abia State: 20 years after

By Iyke Ogbonnaya Governor T.A. Orji first inaugurated on May 29, 2007, expertly deployed skill and class to ensure a prestigious and proud identity for Abia.

His qualitative contribution to the development of Abia dates back to its creation in August 1991.

His wealth of experience in the then Imo State made him a handy and indispensable instrument in midwifing the newly created Abia State, and having meritoriously distinguished himself, former Governor Uzor Kalu brought him on board first, as Chief of Staff, and later as the governor.

Governor T.A. Orji’s infusion of life and innovation is robustly reporting in the physical appearance of Abia. Rather than toeing the unpatriotic line of selling some of our industrial heritage, the governor is bullishly fighting to ensure we retrieve them back. To that effect, Abians will in no distant time witness (as in the past) the bustling of life and activities at Golden Guinea Breweries Plc, Umuahia. It beats imagination why this un-popular and un-acceptable option of disposing an industry with the capacity to employ over 2000 workers on full time and another 5000 in the employ of suppliers contractors, distributors and other allied businesses should be contemplated ab nitio let alone being executed. At the time it was hurriedly sold off, all the company needed was the outright replacement of damaged boilers to attain installed capacity in production.

On assumption of office, Governor T.A. Orji strategically dualized the gate-way Ossah-Express tower road. That gave Umuahia the much needed air of a capital city. Today, the government of Governor T.A. Orji is boldly and qualitatively building on that to restore and improve on the master plan of Umuahia and Aba. It’s a dream that has given rise to the construction of the traffic easing Ochendo bye-pass, IkotEkpene- secretariat road bye-pass and the IsiekeOkwuta- link road.

The Governor’s record in road construction includes the Lodu-Umuana-Ndume-Orpet road; the 80% completed and widely dualized old Aba-Ubakala- express road. Aba has been spared the night-mare of driving through the hitherto impassable Aba-Owerri road through its effective and comprehensive dualization. All roads from line A – F in Ariaria International Market have been constructed, while effective repairs of dilapidated ones, will wait for the completion of the on-going structural importance of fixing drainages in Aba. Still on roads, the almost completed Nunya-Isuikwuato road and Ntigha-Mbawsi road are awaiting celebration.

The health-care delivery sector of Governor T.A. Orji has been one of victory songs. His strategic alliance with millennium development goals (MDG’s) fetched for the state 165 health centres across the length and breath of the three senatorial zones. Some of the other milestones are the two specialist hospitals and diagnostic centres, located in Umuahia and Aba. Built in synergy with Me-cure Health Services, India, it has the capacity to diagnose and treat delicate and life threatening ailments like heart, liver, kidney, eye and other allied cases.

The governor’s adoption of a “one stop shop” investment approach, has provided more revealing report on his passion and desire for our dear state. Abia will in a short while enter into the league of mass employing cement producers. El-friel of Italy is dealing with the mandate of revamping Ohambele Oil Palm located in Ukwa-East Local Government Area, while a fruit processing firm from England has just been given the green light and enabling environment to site a juice factory at Osisioma near Aba. The governor has swore that Umuahia market must be re-located to Ubani. The present development partner in that regard is parading a credible financier and the inevitable movement of that market will mark a paradigm shift

in the desire to review the master plan of Umuahia. With a new vista of facilitating the development of adjoining villages, and towns like Afugiri and Uzuakoli, it will open up those clustered areas of Umuahia.

I have always believed that Aba, the commercial rallying point of Abia State has the capacity to surpass its status of “Japan of Nigeria”. Government is evidently not toying with the physical and aesthetic importance of getting Aba rid of filth and junks. This is important in view of the fact that the city must be clean for investors and foreigners alike to brandish their wares.

The intervention of government in providing over 15 refuse compactors for the war against filth and un-cleanliness remains a joker that no other strategy can beat.

Abia State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, one of the creations of Governor T.A. Orji has proven to be a dependable burden bearer of government. Through the instrumentally of that institution, government is rapidly touching and affecting lives. The commission recently undertook to defray the remaining cost of building a nursery and primary school for Police Officers Wives Association (POWA Abia State). At their instance also massive renovations are going on at primary and secondary schools in 12 local government areas of the state with a target to complete and hand over on or before the end of September. I am enthralled by their poverty checking and soul lifting ASOPADEC artisanship scheme. With an initial take off of twenty five million naira, it is estimated that over 2000 people will monthly benefit from this laudable scheme at an average of 10 - 25 thousand naira per beneficiary.

This is aside from the five motorized boreholes, currently providing water at Owaza in Ukwa West Local Government Area.

Just within his first 100 days in office, Governor T.A. Orji is gladdening the heart of Abians with the delivery of Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs road, the rebuilding of the Aguiyi Ironsi Cenotaph, the magnificent planning commission house, distribution of 45 transformers to deserving communities and others too numerous to mention.

• Iyke Ogbonnaya wrote in from Umuahia.

FALLOUT OF NIGERIA/ARGENTINA TIE

Pg. 24

Messi too fast for Siasia blames defeat on fatigue, missing players Eagles — Echiejile

Pg. 41

Nation PAGE 23

Thursday, September 8, 2011

• Beach Eagles players in celebration mood after their victory against Tahiti

FIFA BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP

Ikpeme: Eagles gaining confidence D

IRECTOR of Technical, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Emmanuel Ikpeme has said that the Super Sand Eagles have regained their confidence following consecutive wins over Venezuela and Tahiti in Italy, as they file out today against reigning champions, Brazil at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Ravenna, Italy.

“I can tell you that the boys have bounced back in confidence and they say they are going to put everything into the match against the Brazilians.

They don’t see themselves going home

Says team is ready for Brazil today at this stage. They want to prove a point and I have a gut feeling they will achieve it.

“Brazil have been champions of the world for the past four tournaments but there is always a stop-point and the Nigerian team can do it. It will be difficult but we will see how it goes”, said Dr. Ikpeme, who has also been helping the team with psychology lessons.

Nigeria’s Coach Adamu Audu, who

led the team to win a second African title in South Africa in 2009, has a rich and gifted personnel to choose from, including veteran Isiaka Olawale, who has scored 12 goals in four World Cups.

Olawale hit two goals in the 5-3 defeat of Venezuela, after scoring once in the 84 defeat by Russia last Friday.

There is also the talented Victor Tale, who has scored five goals in this competition, and could make life difficult for the Brazilians in today’s

quarter final duel.

Nelson Nwosu, Musa Najare, Ogbonnaya Okemmiri and James Okwuosa are other names that could turn the tables against the world champions.

The Brazilians have proved to be superpowers in the beach soccer competition, they have been champions of the world in the past four editions of the competition (since 2006).

Kick off 7pm Nigeria time

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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NATION SPORT

NATION SPORT

FALLOUT OF NIGERIA/ARGENTINA TIE

Ezeugo explains gun incident

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X-INTERNATIONAL Emeka Ezeugo says he was not aware there was a loaded gun in the bag that he tried to help his friend carry it into Dhaka's Westin Hotel on Monday night.

The former Nigerian international was arrested and taken to a nearby police station where he was questioned when the hotel's metal detector picked up the firearm as the bag he was carrying passed through the metal detector.

•Ezeugo

The firearm belonged to former Bangladesh football captain Kaisar Hamid, Ezeugo's former teammate and friend.

"I didn’t know there was a gun in the bag," Ezeugo told KickOffNigeria.com. "I have known Kaisar for many years and I know he owns a licensed gun.

"But I did not know the gun was in the bag.

"We had gone out earlier and he was bringing me back to the hotel. But there was no parking space around the hotel because of all the security for the Super Eagles.

"So I helped him take his bag and dropped off in front of the hotel while he went to find parking away from the hotel.

"As I was not aware there was a gun in the bag, I innocently dropped it into the metal detector. When the alarm went off and the gun was found in the bag, I immediately called him and he said he was coming with the license.

"But before he got there, they insisted that i must go with them to the police station near the hotel. Next thing I knew, it was big news all over the world."

Both men were later released, although police officials say they could still face charges.

Ezeugo for unlawful possession of a firearm, and Hamid for handing over his licensed firearm.

Siasia blames defeat on A fatigue, missing players S

UPER Eagles coach, Samson Siasia has blamed his team’s defeat in the hands of the Argies of Argentina at an international friendly decided in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on fatigue and the absence of some key players.

The Argentines captained by World Footballer of the Year, Lionel Messi had on Tuesday inflicted a 3-1 win on the Super Eagles, in what pundits have tagged a “revenge mission” for the South Americans after they fell 1-4 to the Nigerians in Abuja months back.

“Our biggest challenge was fatigue and tiredness, and missing some of our players too.

We played a crucial game on a horrible pitch in Madagascar that took a lot out of the boys' legs. Then we flew 14 hours to Bangladesh, arrived around 4pm, trained around 7:30pm and played a game 24 hours later. That is two games

By Innocent Amomoh in three days,” he said.

In a release made available to NationSport by the media officer of the Eagles, Colin Udoh, Siasia explained that since Nigeria agreed to play the match, there’s really no excuse that will be tenable.

His words: “But all the same, we agreed to play the match, so that is not an excuse.

The boys did the best they could. They made some mistakes they shouldn’t have made, especially when they gave the ball away to Argentina. Like unforced errors. We shouldn’t be doing that stuff playing against a team like that.

That was why we got punished.”

He admitted that despite all odds, the team has learnt from the mistakes made, adding that the players are responding positively to instructions.

“Games like these will let us know how to play against big opposition, playing against top teams in the world.

•Echiejile

Samson Siasia has expressed satisfaction on the performance of the new players invited to the Eagles camp despite the 1-3 loss to Argentina on Tuesday in Bangladesh in an international friendly.

FENGOR: ‘He was awesome, outstanding. Having been bringing him to camp all these days, we knew his potential, and he actually showed us how good he is. He'll still improve, but he can only get better.

BROWN: ‘He did very well, I was surprised. he was very energetic. Kept the ball like he was supposed to, just as we discussed. He did very well, even

In spite of the loss to Argentina’s Albiceleste, Echiejile is thankful to have come up against some of the best footballers in the world and savours the opportunity.

“Messi is a very good player and was too fast against us. He is an intelligent footballer. Also, it was a really great experience playing against some of the world’s most experienced players,” the former Bendel Insurance man said.

Echiejile is also sorry that the Super Eagles could not come up with a winning result against the Argentines.

He added that the team had to endure playing through fatigue having travelled across the Indian Ocean from Antananarivo, Madagascar to Dhaka.

He also said playing two games in the space of two days took its toll on the team physically.

“It was not an easy game. We were trying to see if we could pull off something. But most of the players were not fully fit for this game after the long trip from Madagascar to Dhaka, Bangladesh. "But we are not happy we lost to Argentina but we gave our best and unfortunately we lost,” he concluded.

Echiejile is now capped 14 times in the colours of Nigeria and is yet to score his first goal for his country.

The Sporting Braga left-back since making his debut for the Super Eagles in 2009 has been an understudy to AC Milan’s Taye Taiwo.

T

and charismatic leading figure in our country, who gave so much support to the game of football in his days in the corridors of power, and also supported the game when out of power, we have joy that he, indeed, left giant footprints in the sands of time.

“Late Vice Admiral Aikhomu is credited with so many brave decisions that led to the renaissance of Nigerian football in the last 1980s and early 1990s, the products therefrom winning the 1994 African Cup of Nations and the Olympic Games gold in 1996.”

The family thanked the NFF for the gesture and prayed that efforts of the present administration to lift Nigeria football to higher heights come to fruition.

though he didnt get the opportunity to create a chance for hismelf to shoot at goal. The way he played, I was impressed. I think we have a lot of good strikers we can depend on.

SOLOMON: ‘He didn’t play a good game. I dont know why he shut down.

He was talking about how he had to fall back to help Chibuzor defend.

Sometimes in a big game like this, you have to show you and him didn’t. But it wasn't his day. He’s still a good player and this is just one game. I'm sure he'll bounce back.

OBASI: ‘He was wonderful. He’s a good player, but sometimes he has to be more purposeful in his dribbles because he does a little too much. If he cuts out the excess, he'll be even better.

But I was also very impressed with him.

EKPO: ‘He also showed in the few minutes that he was on, that we will have a problem selecting midfielders for the team. He also impressed me. I have known him since the Olympics and I know what he can do. What he needs to do now is build his confidence and understand the way we want the team to play,” he said.

Iroha absolves Eagles defenders

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Aikhomu’s family lauds NFF HE Nigeria Football Federation has been commended for remembering the good works of former Vice President Augustus Aikhomu, who died last month at the age of 71.

This commendation came at the weekend when the 1st Vice President of the NFF, Chief Mike Umeh, paid a condolence visit to the family home of late Vice President Aikhomu at Forcados, Apapa, Lagos.

Umeh, a former Team Manager of the Senior National Team, also presented a letter of condolence by the NFF, which hailed the efforts of the departed former number two citizen in the development of Nigeria football.

The NFF wrote, inter alia: “While we mourn the death of the ebullient

We welcome the game, we are not happy with the result, but we know its part of our building process,” he declared.

………. proud of new players

Messi too fast for Eagles —Echiejile L

EFT-BACK Elderson Echiejile has admitted that it was difficult keeping track of FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi when Nigeria’s Super Eagles faced their Argentine opponents on Tuesday in an international friendly.

The Nigerians lost by 1 – 3 to the Argentines at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

But Echiejile, 23, gave credit to Messi for his sheer quality during the game in which the Super Eagles struggled to cope with the pace and dribble runs of the petite forward.

It was apparent that the Sporting Braga defender was full of plaudit for the Fifa World Footballer of the Year following his solo run that led to Argentina’s second goal in which he took out the Nigerian backline.

Taiwo targets quick return

•Argentina's Lionel Messi vies for the ball with Nigeria's Ogude Fegor during a friendly soccer match in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday Sept. 6, 2011

REAM Team V assistant coach, Benedict Iroha has absolved Super Eagles back line of blame in the 3-1 win of the Albicelestes of Argentina.

Two quick first half goals by Gonzalo Higuain and Angel de Maria and a poorly gifted own goal by Efe Ambrose gave the South Americans victory on a Tuesday afternoon in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Nigeria’s lone goal was scored by substitute, Chinedu Obasi.

Instead of apportioning blames on the back line, Iroha told SuperSport.com that the same error committed by our defenders was equally committed by the Argentine.

“The shortcoming of the back line is vice verse only that the Argentine made effective use of their chances to score goals than us.

“Our back line did not fail. In fact, I am impressed by their performance.

The problem is simply that we did not use our chances as the Argentine did.”

Aside, the former Nigerian ace defender said there was no vengeance in the game. “Argentina and Nigeria are two big football nations.

“Argentina just wanted to prove a point by taking the game to a neutral ground aimed at telling the world that they can beat us.

“We defeated in Nigeria 4-1 and they beat us 3-1 in Bangladesh, that has not even the score line only the victory.

“Against us in Abuja, Nigeria they did not present their full squad and in Bangladesh the reverse is the case. We did not play with our full squad, so any talk of revenge or vengeance should not come up.”

On whether the timing of the friendly international was appropriate, the former Iwuanyanwu Nationale players opined that will not be an excuse for failure.

“These players are professionals, they are trained to play anytime and anywhere, timing of a match is not an excuse,” he told SuperSport.com.

C Milan ace Taye Taiwo has said he expects to be back in action earlier than the one month set for him to be fit after he suffered an ankle injury against Juventus.

“I have started jogging and I hope to be back sooner than earlier expected,” said Taiwo, who started light training last week.

In the summer, the Nigeria international left back signed for Italian champions as a free agent from French club Olympique Marseille.

Taiwo admitted it has been a little difficult adjusting to life and the football in Italy.

“It’s a totally different game in Italy,” revealed Taiwo.

“So, it was a little bit difficult when I first arrived, but I’m learning every day.”

The Milan ace has also congratulated the Super Eagles for beating Madagascar 2-0 in Antananarivo to get their Nations Cup qualifying campaign back on track.

Nigeria now need only to beat Guinea 1-0 next month at home to book their flight to the 2012 Nations Cup to be hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in January.

“Congratulations to the whole team for winning a very difficult game. I’m so excited

Yobo signs Fenerbahce contract at airport

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OSEPH Yobo will play for another season on loan at league champions Fenerbahce. The Nigeria skipper arrived Istanbul on Monday night and signed a contact at the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport minutes before the close of the transfer window.

The Everton player, who misses the Eagles friendly against Argentina on Tuesday, is happy the transfer saw the light of day.

Yobo said in a statement: ''I am very happy to have returned. I indicated I wanted to leave Everton. I said I wanted to return to Istanbul. In this period, the transfer negotiations sometimes take a long time. ''Andre Santos and Diego Lugano, I'm really sorry they left the team.

The club is doing the work necessary to fill the gap. That's why I'm here.

Forget what happened (match fixing allegations, Ed) and focus on the championship.''

Fenerbahce have also announced the capture of the Young Boys striker Henri Bienvenu, a direct replacement for Emmanuel Emenike, who joined Spartak Moscow in the summer market. Fener also had eyes on Rubin Kazan forward Obafemi Martins. But that did not materialize.

•Yobo

AAG: Metu resurfaces in Maputo

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ASTEST man in Nigeria, Obinna Metu is set to hit the tracks again after months of absence from sprinting. NationSport gathered from Metu that he arrived for the All Africa Games holding in Mozambique from Nigeria some days back in order to acclimatise with the East Africa weather just as he is itching to pick gold in the men's 100m race.

Metu who had tried to upstage the fastest man in Africa, Olusoji Fasuba, had suddenly gone into oblivion after he sustained injuries at the 2010 Africa Athletics Championship held in Kenya.

There had been worries from the athletics world when the Uchenna Emedolu tutored lad had not being able to take part in major competitions thus living a void in the country’s men's 100m category.

The NationSport, however, caught up with Metu at the AAG Games village in Zimpeto, Mozambique, where he shed more light on what had debarred him from active competition.

He said:" I am one of the fastest men in Nigeria. I think everybody has his major goals and scale of preference.

Although i still had my tracks I concentrated more in my education because this was my final year and I didn’t want to jeopardise my chances in School.

I concentrated more in school, to make sure I don't fail my exams. I have been to the All Africa Games which was held in Algiers in 2007.And as God may have it, I graduated last month before the All Africa Games. So I am more organised for the competition.

This time around, I will start doing

•Eyes 100m gold, with knee injury well in my respective events. Sure we have a chance because we have been in camp for a long time, there is a chance for us to get a medal here.

Hopefully I am a part of the team. I am going to give out my best and our best comes with success. We are surprising all in the 100m here because we are three representing the country

here. I am good to go back here, I will run well."

However, Metu still nurses a knee injury which he has waved off as he said: " I have a little in injury, in my knee. I am having problem with my tendon muscle. But you know track and field is all about pains. But hopefully, it will not obstruct me with what I want to do."

•Obinna Metu

Nigeria begins handball medal hunt

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IGERIA’s Handball teams begins their first ever All Africa Games gold medal hunt at the Maputo 2011 with the Women team facing … today, while the Male team engage … tomorrow at the Pavilhao Academical, Maputo.

Speaking with NationSport, the Secretary General, Nigeria Handball Federation (NHF), Olusola Luke believes both team have prepared well and are ready to do the country proud.

“On our part and the part of National Sports Commission (NSC), we have done all we can to prepare the team because we had a very long period to train and while we are here, we’ve been training and had the first match against a Mozambican team two days ago which we won clearly, the female won by 41-29 margin, while the male won 41-14, despite the fact that we didn’t play with full force, we use it as part of our training. So with those one it is an encouragement that we should expect something good to come from handball.

Though most teams have complained about the feeding arrangements made by the organizers, but Olusola said that will not deter the team from making the country proud, as the body is addressing the issue.

“On the challenges, it’s not by our own making, it’s not limited to handball alone, I think it’s a general team. This feeding arrangement where one needs to go to the dining hall, you spend more than one hour, sometimes two hours because we usually have a long que. But we are making some arrangements to be able to solve that problem, especially

during our games.

At the last edition of the All Africa Games held in Algeria, the country’s male team lost two matches and failed to go beyond the group stages after placing third in Pool B. The female team however lost out to Angola in the quarter final stage after placing second in Pool B by winning two game and a loss. Olusola believes it will be a different scenario at Maputo 2011.

“With what we have on ground, our target is the gold medal and I believe

we will be able to achieve it with God on our side. We played with the Ghana team, both male and female, and we had a very resounding success in Accra and from the zone, it is only the two teams coming for the All Africa Games. So two of the team, we’ve been able to beat them during our training session and from selected clubs in Nigeria on a weekly basis, we had test matches while we were in camp and I think the players are ready”, he said.

Nigeria athletics teams lands in Maputo •Falilat Ogunkoya waves off Daegu performnace •Hoping for medals at AAG

T

HE Nigerian Athletics team arrived Mozambique on Tuesday afternoon aboard Emirate airlines from Daegu, where they had a shoddy performance at the World Athletics Championships.

The Nigerian team which was unable to garner medals at the Athletics meet however are optimistic that the on going All African Games would be more rewarding.

In a chat with the NationSport, at Mozambique Olympian Falilat Ogunkoya-Omotayo declared that she was not writing off Team Nigeria’s performance at the World Athletics Championships as she s said: "The girls made it to the finals, if you look at it, if it was football that made it to the finals they will be rewarded. If you look at the 4x4 they are all junior athletes and if you have to give them credit because it is their first world championships.

They are all young. We just need to go back and do more work and

develop our sports. We don't have to wait for competitions before we start training or doing anything for the athletes.

We need to develop our sports, give it to people to manage it.During ,my own days we ran from our hearts but now you still have to manage them but you have to give it to them because they came 8th out of more than the two countries that participated in the world.

At the AAG, Ogunkoya-Omotayo however believes that they stand more chances as they would be facing just their counterparts from Africa and not Nigeria.

She said "The tension has gone down a little bit because we are all Africans.

I expect a lot from them here. They are not here to play but to make their country proud. I know they will surely do that.”

Track and field events starts on the 11th of this month.

25

THE NATION

EDUCATION

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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

email:- education@thenationonlineng.com

To Education Minister of State Nyesom Wike, exam cheats and their schools should be blacklisted.

He believes that is the way out of exam malpractice.

Stakeholders agree, but call for caution, KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE reports.

•Candidates writing the November/December WASSCE at the Tolu Schools Complex, Ajegunle, Lagos in 2009

How to curb exam fraud, W

by Minister, others

HAT should be the appropriate saction for examination cheats? Opinions differ on this poser. Some have advocated capital punishment. Yet others don’t think that exam cheats should be punished.

To this school of thought, adequate facilities should be provided in schools and teachers motivated to check cheating.

Examination malpractice is not a new trend. The malaise has been on for long, prompting the promulgation of several laws to tackle it. They, however, appear more like a toothless bulldog.

In 1984, the Military Government headed by General Muhammadu Buhari promulgated Decree 20 which stipulated that convicted examination cheats should serve a 21-year jail term.

It provided thus:“any person who fraudulently or with intent to cheat or secure any unfair advantage to himself or any other person or in abuse of his office, produces, sells or buys or otherwise deals with any question paper intended for the examination of persons at any examination or commits any of the offences specified in Section 3 (27)(c) of this Decree, shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction be sentenced to 21 years imprisonment.”

That decree has since been replaced by the Examination Malpractice Act 33 of 1999 which stipulates that those convicted of examination fraud should be fined between N50,000 and N100,000 and imprisoned for a term of three

•Wike advocates blacklisting of cheats, schools to four years with or without option of fine.

To date, it is not known whether anyone has served either punishment.

Currently, examining bodies, such as the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the National Examinations Council (NECO) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), withhold results of candidates or entire centres they find culpable of cheating during examinations.

In addition to withholding results, WAEC also sends the names of supervisors, examiners and invigilators who colluded in its examinations to the state Ministry of Education for further sanctions.

In the past, those caught by JAMB monitoring team during the

Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and the Monotechnics/ Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Matriculation Examination (now jointly known as the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination – UTME) were arrested. There is no record of convictions arising from such arrests.

However, if confidence is to be restored in public examinations, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, says those involved in examination fraud must be punished.

In an interview in Abuja on Monday, the Minister said blacklisting candidates and schools for some years could help stem examination fraud and encourage more candidates to toe the straight and narrow line.

“We have an Act against exami-

nation malpractice. What happened to it? Nigeria is a difficult place, so you need to take difficult decisions. Blacklist the schools involved in malpractice for 10 years, blacklist the candidate for five years. If a candidate is 22 when he his blacklisted, after five years, he will be 27. He would think twice about doing such again,” he said.

He blamed parents for making funds available to students to cheat. Such practice, according to him, is worsening the situation in the education system.

To correct the problems in the sector, Wike said all stakeholders must be involved as the solution is beyond the government.

Would such measures work?

Stakeholders who responded to the minister’s suggestion have

‘We have an Act against examination malpractice.

What happened to it? Nigeria is a difficult place, so you need to take difficult decisions. Blacklist the schools involved in malpractice for 10 years, blacklist the candidate for five years’

• Wike

mixed feelings.

While some supported the penalty, others raised concerns about its severity and the impact on the candidates, the implementation and other factors.

Former Vice-Chancellor of the Redeemers University, Ogun State, Prof Oyewale Tomori, said while blacklisting candidates and schools may work, the length of time could have adverse effects, especially on the progress of candidates. Tomori also said malpractice cases should be properly investigated so that innocent candidates and schools are not pun•Continued on Page 26

•PROVOST SEEKS VARSITY STATUS FOR COLLEGE - Page 27 • ‘PUNISH PERPETRATORS OF NEKEDE POLY CRISIS’ - Page 37

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

26

EDUCATION

Senator launches essay competition

T

HE Babafemi Ojudu for Leadership Development (iBOLD) has inaugurated a yearly essay competition for students of Ekiti State origin in various tertiary institutions.

In a statement, it said this is to enable them to make suggestions through critical, developmentbased essays on how to move Ekiti State forward.

Like other law makers from the state who have various empowerment programmes in their communities, the latest effort by Ojudu, who represents Ekiti Central Senatorial District at the Senate, is targeted only at students.

Ojudu stated that the aim was to produce a new corp of responsible leaders and worthy role models in his home state, who would make a great difference in Nigeria and the world through their essays on how to run government and society better.

It said: “This is a project dedicated passionately to help young people express their creativity, aspirations and ideas. It is an opportunity to promote literary and academic excellence and a demonstration by them of an aware-

By Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

ness of key national developmental issues.”

The essay entitled: Turning Ekiti around; a New Generation Agenda, was designed to reward creativity in youths.

According to Ojodu, the iBOLD Essay Competition project was designed to raise awareness about and encourage ethical and developmental values which lie at the core of Ojudu’s Ekiti Rebirth Organisation (ERO) ethos.

Ojudu said: “There had been ongoing empowerment programmes in Ekiti Central Senatorial District, which are designed to assist all sections of the populace from unemployed graduates to market women, farmers, traders and other sections and segments as a complementary effort to sustained poverty alleviation/ citizens’empowerment programmes of the administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi in the state.

“In fact, there is already a database of categories of the unem-

ployed in the district and I am aware this is being replicated in other districts and federal constituents of the state.

“The essay competition is meant to serve as indirect empowerment programme for bright minds in our tertiary institutions who, though very talented, may not have the material and financial support for meaningful focus on their studies.”

First place winner of the competition would get N500,000 and a new laptop; second place winner would get a new laptop and N300,000. Third and fourth places winners would walk away with N150,000 each with laptop sets. But the fifth place winner will only get a laptop.

So far, over 1,000 entries have been received while assessment and grading of the entries have started.

The competition would climax with a grand ceremony which holds later this month, adding that intending participants have been encouraged to make enquiries from the Project Manager, 33, Textile Road, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State or contact 234-8091770582.

‘This is a project dedicated passionately to help young people express their creativity, aspirations and ideas. It is an opportunity to promote literary and academic excellence and a demonstration by them of an awareness of key national developmental issues’ •Ojudu

Minister: Blacklist exam cheats •Continued from Page 25

ished.

“I believe it will assist but I think the period is too long. It is a corrective measure. If it is that long, you will ruin the life of the candidate and the school. Some schools may not condone malpractice but the candidate may collude with supervisors or mercenaries to cheat.

It would be unfair to blacklist such schools. However, if a candidate is caught and mentioned, the name of the school and circumstances of the malpractice should also be made public. If, indeed, the school is involved, parents would stop sending their children to such schools when they know that is what they do,” he said.

Despite its potential to check malpractice, Tomori said the minister’s suggestion, if adopted as law, may go the way of the current Malpractice Act, which is not being implemented.

He said: “Even if it is brought up, they (perpetrators) will blacklist the blacklister.

“The issue is not about making a law, it is about implementation.

There is a law on ground. If you are involved in examination malpractice, you should be taken to court. Why don’t we enforce that first? Why don’t we charge examination cheats to court instead of introducing another law?”

Founding Chairman of Examination Ethics International Mr Ike Onyechere also believes that blacklisting can work because it is working in Ghana. However, like Tomori, he advocates a shorter sentence.

He said the decision by WAEC Ghana, to publish names and photographs of cheats and blacklist them for two years has sent signals to the public about government’s seriousness about checking fraud and instituting integrity in its examinations.

“What the minister said is correct but it doesn’t have to be for 10 years or five years. In Ghana, they didn’t even blacklist for long.

What they did to students that got involved in examination malpractice was to publish their names and their photographs in the newspaper. That alone made an impact,

not even whether they were blacklisted or the number of years,” said.

Though Ghanaian parents protested the publications, Onyechere said the government supported the examining body on its action.

“Parents protested but the Parliament of Ghana rose up in support of WAEC fully. They addressed the press and told parents to put their wards in order so they do not cheat. They were banned for two years, but I advised the Ghanaian government to reduce it to one year. Even if they are not blacklisted, the disgrace of publishing their names and photographs in the papers is enough,” he said.

Ironically, blacklisting perpetrators of examination malpractice is not new in Nigeria. In 2007, Examination Ethics, a non-governmental organisation that advocates best practices in the conduct of examinations in Africa, working with the Federal Ministry of Education (FME), Abuja, during Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili’s tenure as Education Minister, blacklisted hundreds of officials and schools – with their names published in the dailies.

However, those punished did not complete their terms. Onyechere said because of a change in government, the punishment was not followed up.

“We blacklisted 262 supervisors, invigilators and examiners, and 342 schools in 2007. I participated in the investigations. They were meant to be blacklisted from 2007 to 2010. But they didn’t complete the term. When it was in force, it worked. The fact that they were mentioned in the papers made people careful,” he said.

For blacklisting to work in Nigeria, Onyechere said all stakeholders must agree on the penalties and stand by their implementation.

“What we need here is a collaborative effort where stakeholders – principals, teachers, parents – will gather together so that when someone is blacklisted, everybody is on one page. What we did in Ghana shows us that if we stand as one, it will work.

What I think government should do is to galvanise all stakeholders to take a decision on it,” he said.

•;Brand Manager,Indomie, Mr Karthik Ram Chandar and Chairman,Ikoyi Club Badminton Section, Mr Reginald Udeagbala, with some of the children, at the event to mark the end of the Coaching Clinic of the Club for Badminton.

Onyechere also warned that, in blacklisting people, the relevant authorities must take care not to unduly victimise candidates.

“In Nigeria, we should remember that some candidates are forced into examination malpractice by schools or supervisors. Schools that want good results make students cheat.

Also, supervisors demand money from students which they refuse to give, they threaten to write negative reports about the school. We have to look into the issue well before the students are blacklisted. The idea is not to destroy the students,” he said.

Beyond blacklisting, Dr Jonathan Akpan, proprietor of Access International Schools, Magboro, Ogun State, said government needs to ensure that facilities are in place and teachers are motivated to teach so that there is no reason for malpractice.

“If the necessary facilities are provided in schools and students are well taught, and teachers are well paid, they wont engage in examination malpractice. Who brings Keypoints? Where are the textbooks? As I speak, publishers have increased the prices of textbooks beyond the reach of the average

Nigerian. My grandfather, who was a hunter, would not have been able to afford the New General

Mathematics which now costs over N1,000 with the proceeds he made from trapping animals,” he said.

“... And 50 years for ‘vote riggers’, LIFE for ‘executive robbers’!”

27

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

EDUCATION The seventh Provost of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Mr Olalekan Wasiu Bashorun, has unveiled his plan for repositioning the school. His desire is to get the college upgraded to a university. ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA met him.

UNILORIN FILE VC condemns UN bombing THE Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has condemned the bombing of the United Nations (UN) Office in Abuja, describing it as dastardly, dangerous and against the tenets of Islam.

Prof. Oloyede, who is also the Executive Secretary and National Coordinator of the Nigeria Interreligious Council (NIREC), spoke when he hosted members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Ilorin.

Oloyede, who expressed shock at the state of insecurity, said the current situation “requires a very deep reflection by those charged with the responsibility of managing the country.”

“I believe that a very deep study would reveal the intention, the purpose and even the remedy for what is happening. It is very unfortunate that it has happened and contrary to the general belief that may be our security operatives are not up and doing. My own opinion is that it is very difficult for one to protect oneself or anybody against somebody who is ready to die.

Provost seeks varsity status for college “B Y the time I’m through, this college would have been transformed into a world-class institution of interdisciplinary education in teaching, learning, research and community development, having social, moral character and ethical fulfillment.”This is the pledge by Mr. Olalekan Wasiu Bashorun, who succeded Mr. Hakeem AjoseAdeogun as provost.

Bashorun said putting in place infrastructure its that will facilitate the upgrading of the 53-year-old college to a university of education, will be one of his top priorities.

Drawing up his plan from a 10-page work scheme for the college in the next four years, Bashorun said AOCOED deserves to move to the next level, on account of its facilities and age.

Said he: “Of all institutions in Lagos State, we are the oldest; and for a college which, over the years, has transformed from a Grade I to Grade 2 and now to NCE, I strongly believe we have what it takes to be upgraded into a university of education; and this will be one of my key objectives.”

“We shall seek Lagos State government’s approval. We shall look at the pros ands cons, the merits and demerits (of transiting). We will ask questions on our curriculum and seek ways of enriching it.

We have a standard from the National Council for Colleges of Education, which mostly hinges on skill acquisition and entrepreneurship education. We will pay more atten-

tion to those areas,” he said.

Bashorun comes across as a firm believer in continuity. He commended his predecessor whom he said put in place laudable structures, which he vowed to follow through.

“My predecessor did a lot in terms of forging partnership with local and international institutes.

He also did well in staff management, training and discipline, curbing examination malpractices and cultism among students. He was prudent in the management of our resources. These are some of his legacies which this new administration hopes to continue,” Bashorun added.

One major area of concern for Bashorun is how to jack up the college’s internally generated revenue (IGR) by 25 per cent to meet with the 75 per cent monthly subvention from the state. On this, however, Bashorun hopes to sustain the college’s linkages with national, regional and international agencies, such as University of AdoEkiti (UNAD), Havering College, UK, University of Australia, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, and University of Wisconsin, US, among others. He said the aforementioned institutions would be approached for grants and relevant exchange programmes.

He hinted of a restructuring.

Accoridng to him there will be some reorganisation which include, but is not limited to Student

Affairs division; library, and staff schools, revival of NCE evening programme. Other areas Bashorun said would be oiled for better productivity include: constant training and retraining of staff; revival of academic journal; regular and periodical seminars and conferences, improvement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), book publications, annual college profile and reference books among others.

Bashorun said a scholarship scheme is underway to reward industrious students, retain them as teachers upon graduation or better still recommend them to government and other stakeholders for employment. ”We are coming up with a scholarship scheme soon. Students with proven academic record will be motivated by giving them scholarships. A good academic grade will place such student on Provost or Deans’ list from their first year and subsequently, should they sustain such good grades. We will also ensure we recommend some of those students for employment into the service of the college, its staff or international school as well as other programmes aligned to the college.

Reacting to rumours of hike in tuition in the college, Bashorun said the tradition of “no tuition” will still persist, noting that the college would only introduce some adjustments into the college charges. ”Both parents and students have been worried about likely increase

•Mr Bashorun

in school fees. But I dare say we are not going to introduce any tuition.

What we have just arrived at is what we call “review of charges.”

“Before, new intakes only pay sundry levies ranging from laboratory, ICT, sport, medical at their point of entry and no more until they graduate. But we want to introduce some levies to be paid by some students at both 200 and 300 levels respectively. This is just another method we are bringing in to shore up our IGR.”

‘Teach major subjects in local dialects’ HAIRMAN, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chapel, Mr Jacob Edi, has advised the Federal Government to introduce local dialects as teaching aids in schools.

He said the success of some of the developed nations in the world, such as Russia, Germany

C

From Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

and Britain could be attributed to their adoption of indigenous dialects for business and learning activities.

Speaking during a public presentation organised by the Positive Consultative Forum (PCF) in Abuja, Edi said the adoption of local dialects in teaching c o u l d kick-start s o m e progress in the education sector visà-vis addressing poor acad e m i c performances of t h e tudents.

T h e event was entitled: Transforming the nation through proper information, timing and h u m a n management.

“Someone, who attended seconda r y school and made s e v e n

credits but failed English, will you say that the student is dull? No! All nations of the world that have progress have done business in their languages. Go to France, they conduct their business in French.

Israel transact in their Jewish language. In fact, if you travel to England, they do business in English.

“So, it is important we evolve a forum in Nigeria whereby we can do business in our language. Sub-

jects, such as Physics and Chemistry, which are being taught in English are taught in Russian in Russia and German in Germany. It means that if we teach these subjects in Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, definitely we are going to progress more as a nation.

“We need to begin to device a system that is local, which can attempt to our own peculiar characteristics. It will be better for us,” he added.

Centre begins conference THE second bi-ennial international conference of the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, ends tomorrow.

The keynote speaker at the conference,with the theme Democratisation and conflict in Africa was the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. A. Danbazau the special Guest of Honour was Kwara State, Governor Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed.The ViceChancellor Prof. Is-haq O. Oloyede, was the chief host.

Unilorin Alumni holds congress THE national congress of Unilorin Alumni Association holds on Saturday, at the basement of the university’s auditorium. The congress begins at 10:00a.m.

A statement by its national secretary, Dr. L. A. Yahaya, said the executive council meeting visit to Unilorin Biological Garden, Alumni Dinner, will precede the congress.

•From left: Andrew Okeleke, MTN External Communication Manager; Segun Odegbami, ex-Nigerian international; Ghandi Olaoye, CEO, PPM; Kelvin Orifa, MTN Youth Segment Manager; Fola Fowose, Havard Business School undergraduate and consultant Joe Erico, ex-Nigerian Coach, at the launch of MTN Football Scholar held at WhiteHouse, Ikeja GRA.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

28

EDUCATION Essayists dazzle at Mike Okonkwo Lecture

T

HE three winners of the Eighth Mike Okonkwo Essay Competition are all outstanding in their own right. Overall best, Fego Ahia, an SS3 pupil of Brilliant Child College, Bariga, Lagos, came second in the competition last year. First runner-up, Peace Ozioma Igwe, made a record of being the only JSS pupil among the finalists, and the third, Anjola

FEDPOFFA FILE

No fee increment THE Federal Polytechnic, Offa (FEPOFFA) is not planning to increase school, acceptance and hostel fees its management has said.

The Rector, Dr Mufutau Olatunde Olatinwo, said the same fees paid during the 2010/2011 academic session would be paid in the next session.

Olatinwo said the Management will continue to do its best for students by ensuring conducive academic and physical environment for students and other members of the Polytechnic community.

Also, the Registrar, Alhaji AbdulHamid Raji, expressed the readiness of the Governing Council and Management to make live conducive for the students.

Society, Council honour Rector THE Rector, Dr Olatinwo will be honoured with the Fellowship award of the prestigious Chemical Society of Nigeria.

The award is in recognition of Olainwo’s contribution to science and educational development of the nation and will hold in Ilorin as part of the Annual International Conference, Workshop and Exhibition of the society coming up between September 19 and 23.

Similrly, Olatinwo has also been nominated a recipient of Silver Merit Award for outstanding contributions to Offa Local Government, Kwara State.

In a statement signed by the Chairman, organising Committee of the Local Government Award Ceremony, Hon. Hassan Oyeleke, Dr. Olatinwo ,was recognised for his valuable contributions and his untiring efforts towards the educational and social well being of the council.

The award is part of activities lined up to commemorate the 20 anniversary of the creation of the Local Government.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

Oladipo of Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, Ikeja, kept the tradition of her school being among the top three yearly.

For these reasons and their brilliance in scoring over 80 per cent, the audience, which gathered at the Shell Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, for the 12th Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture cheered as the pupils, and five other consolation winners were rewarded.

The lecture and the essay competitions are organised annually to commemorate the birthday of Dr Mike Okonkwo, the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Anthony, Lagos.

To emerge winners, they submitted essays on the topic: Survival of the Nigerian state: Political and Economic implications. About 500 others also wrote the essay, following which the top 10 were invited for the second phase held to ensure they wrote the essays themselves.

During the second phase, they wrote on Ethnic and religious militancy and the future of Nigeria under examination condition.

In her report, the Chief Examiner, Prof Akachi Ezeigbo, of the Department of English, University of Lagos, said Fego’s essays were adjudged the best because of the way he treated the issues, quality of content, and his use of the English language.

She said: “Mr Fego Ahia has great potential. He distinguished himself at the first and second stages of the competition in the way he handles language and mechanics. His firm grasp of the issues he discussed is evident in his choice of words, clarity of expression and a rare capacity to be modest, neither

saying too much nor too little. Mr Fego Ahia should be given all the encouragement that would enable him hone his skills.”

Speaking on the impact of the competition, Prof Ezeigbo thanked Bishop Okonkwo, who clocked 66 on Monday, for sustaining the programme. She made particular reference to the pioneer winner of the competition, Matthew Adeiza, a Mass Communication graduate of the University of Jos who also got scholarship from the bishop for his university education. She announced that Adeiza has won a scholarship to study for his Masters at the prestigious Oxford University, United Kingdom.

“I want to thank TREM for this. You are doing something wonderful. But for the scholarship from the bishop, it would have been difficult for Matthew Adeiza to get university education. Now he has got a scholarship to study at Oxford,” she said.

In an interview with The Nation, Fego said Matthew’s success also served as an inspiration to him.

“I learnt a lot from Matthew Adeiza. I googled his name and found that he won $5,000 in an essay competition,” he said.

However, 16-year-old Fego, who aspires to become a Computer Engineer, has had the writing streak in him long before he heard of the competition.

“I used to write fiction mostly. Last year, when I entered for the competition, I saw it as an avenue to brush up my skills on non-fiction writing because it requires more research and focus. I saw it as an avenue to express myself on national issues. I didn’t just see as a means to win a prize but contribute to society,” he said.

Fego won N100,000 cash prize, plaque, trophy and a laptop for himself, and three computers and a printer for

Bayelsa lawmaker decries poor state of schools

A

BAYELSA State lawmaker has expressed worry over the dilapidation of secondary school buildings in a community in his constituency.

Hon. Obedient Emoto, a representive of Ogbia Constituency 2, in the House of Assembly, during a tour of his constituency expressed worry that classroom blocks, principal and staff quarters at the Community Secondary School, Okodi in Ogbia, are dilapitated He warned that if quick intervention measures were not adopted, the next academic session may not be

From Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa

realistic. He called on the Ministry of Education to intervene before the school resumes.

“If urgent steps are not taken to address the extent of dilapidation in the school which is deplorable it would disrupt academic work,” Emoto said.

He regretted that besides the classroom blocks, other dilapidated buildings included the principal quarter and six staff quarters of three bedrooms each. The roofs of Science and Assembly Hall blocks had been removed and the quarters and overgrown with weeds and shrub.”

Describing education as the bedrock of development, the lawmaker, the law maker commended the state government in its efforts to make education a priority.

Meanwhile, the lawmaker said his tour was in fulfillment of his electioneering campaign and promises of assuring the people of transforming the area when elected.

“I have not forgotten this constituency. This is my constituency. I just need your support,”he said.

•From left: Anjola, Bishop Okonkwo, Fego, Bishop Peace Okonkwo and Peace during the event PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAMS

his school. Peace was presented with N75,000 and a plaque while her school got two computers. Anjola got N50,000 and a set of computer for her school. The remaining five winners got N20,000 as consolation prize.

The celebrator, Bishop Okonkwo, said he was moti-

vated to continue the essay competition year after year because of the interest of pupils in participating.

“I thank the young people who take advantage of the advertisements we place in the newspapers for the competition. It gives me further motivation to keep

doing it every year,” he said.

Earlier, Chief Lugard Aimiuwu delivered a lecture on the same topic as the pupils wrote – with the subtitle: “Nigeria, a Beauty Begging to Fly” in which he carefully catalogued the factors weighing the country down.

29

Awo Hall residents play Aro with snake

Drums of the Delta on stage at NDU Page 34

Page 31

*CAMPUSES *NEWS *PEOPLE *KUDOS& KNOCKS *GRANTS

THE NATION

CAMPUS LIFE

0805-450-3104 email: ladycampus@yahoo.com

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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

email:- campuslife@thenationonlineng.net

Life as an undergraduate is supposed to be exciting. But, for many students, it is miserable. In this report, VINCENT NZEMEKE (400-Level, Mass Communication, Delta State University, DELSU) examines some challenges facing undergraduates.

•Students in a cramped lecture room.

“I

Schooling the hard way

F you can make it in this school, you can make it anywhere in the world.”

These were the words of Obakore Oghenekaro, a final year student of Mathematics at the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka. Oghenekaro is one of the undergraduates going through school the hard way.

Like most of his colleagues in various parts of the country, he is left with no choice than to accept his fate and make something out of the country’s poor education system.

When CAMPUSLIFE met him in his hostel, he was depressed. He had just returned from a class, which was called off by the lecturer without notice. He had also exhausted his foodstuff.

This made him depend on his friends to survive.

Unperturbed by these challenges, he said: “The conditions here are not very pleasant. But, what can we do? We are the ones who need the certificates, so we have to go through these harrowing experiences and, thereafter, hope that our lives will be better.”

Oghenekaro is not alone in this situation.

Across the country, testimonies abound of what students pass through in their quest for higher education. A peep into life in many higher institutions shows that education is, indeed, another kind of school.

Schooling in Nigeria, except in private institutions, leaves much to be desired. Most of the facilities built have become an eyesore, and hardly enough to cater for the number of students admitted into the institutions yearly.

Because of the dearth of facilities, such as lecture halls, learning for most students is miserable. On a typical lecture day, in most government-owned institutions, life is frustrating for any student who cannot stand the stress he will pass through. Those who get seats in the halls leave their houses at least two hours before the lecture. When the lecture finally begins, there are more students standing outside and squatting on windows than seated in the hall.

Accommodation is yet another problem. Except for some federal and privately-owned schools, many higher institutions are non-residential, which means students have to live off campus. Where hostels are available, they are barely enough to go round.

In Abia State University (ABSU), Uturu, securing a bed space in the hostels is like a camel passing through the eye of a needle. It is the same in Delta State University (DELSU) where students have to queue, virtually, the whole day, sometimes in the scorching sun, waiting •Continued on page 30

•N1 million scholarship for 10 students - Pg32 • Retreat for indigent students - Pg33

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

30

CAMPUS LIFE

Please, not Pushing police to the Out rescue

O

N MONDAY, I read about a call by a Calabar, Cross River State-based group, Greater Calabar Community (GCC), asking the Federal Government to return police services to campuses across the country.

This was part of its reaction to the August 26 violent demonstration by students of the University of Calabar (UNICAL).

The GCC’s leader, Dr. John Henry Bassey, was right on point when he regretted that coming on the same day of the bombing of United Nations (UN) building in Abuja by the Boko Haram sect, the students acted in very bad faith. “Forward looking students who would become leaders of tomorrow would have been numbed by the news and significance of the bombing of the UN building in Abuja, and would have called off any planned demonstration …, let alone embarking on the unprecedented scale of destruction witnessed at the university,” he said.

But going ahead to call for the reinstatement of police stations on campuses is where I disagree with him. He was also quoted as referring to the reason for the abolition of the stations as somewhat trifling. His words: “At one time it suited this country to abolish police stations in universities ‘simply’ because the police opened fire on students during riot”.

Arguing further, he stated that: “At that time students were not known to open fire on fellow students, to kill them, or to matchet them and drink their blood. Today killing in campus is ‘simply’ a normal exercise, not worrisome; and receives very insignificant attention by the university community”.

Thus, he called for “the return of police stations to university communities, and this should include all departments of the police adequately equipped for their constitutional duties of protecting life and property…. The universities have no diplomatic immunity that precludes the function of security operatives

owing to the indiscriminate shooting of students, often at the slightest provocation. And we know that students have a way of often taunting the men in uniform. Meanwhile, we are talking about a time when the word “trigger-happy” had not been used to describe our policemen. That was a time when irrespecwith tive of the certificate they paraded, many of the rank and file of the police could at least read and write comprehensibly.

08054503104 While the number of students killed (SMS only) by the police on campus then and those •campuslife@thenationonlineng.net felled by fellow students’ bullets could throw up worrisome figures, one can•ladycampus@yahoo.com not but be reminded that the number of ordinary Nigerians going about their legal and we cannot allow them to be used by the enemies of our country as training grounds or businesses (outside the campuses) felled by safe havens for gangsters that would network police bullets in the last five years at least is to build monstrous structures that seek to con- alarming.

At the bottom of this, really, is the sad fact sume the entire country”. that we have a student populace which largely The GCC spiced up its position with this comparison: “Looking from the myopic lens of the behaves like unruly toddlers and a police force present policy, it appears that killing or mur- with the mentality of a medieval occupation der on campus is no longer a national crime army over a conquered territory. So, the way for as long as it is carried out by students. It forward is not to match force with force, for will, however, be interesting for university that is what returning the police stations would researchers, using a given scale, to publish the mean.

This is not saying that it is wrong to have the murders on campus since the withdrawal of police, juxtaposed with the figures of students police on campus; no. On most campuses in purportedly murdered by police since inde- the United States and some other developed pendence. The figure will speak for itself and countries, there is a police unit, usually from will certainly justify the return of the police to the state department. Unlike here, America has campuses. What is incontrovertible is that there state police – controlled by each state. It is sayis now the greater and overriding need to pre- ing that we need massive and extensive reorivent students from killing themselves and to entation of students and policemen alike beprevent students from killing the society, than fore they can live as close neighbours.

I equally beg to differ with Dr. Bassey’s claim to prevent the police from killing the students that the killing of students (by fellow students) on campus”.

These are really good points and make clear does not receive “significant” attention by the the group’s wish which is to minimize, if not university communities. We have a serious eradicate, crimes on our campuses. Last week security lapse in the country. At these “hits”, as on this platform, I condemned the violence as they are now called, the university commuwell as the insecurity and killings that led up nity shudders and goes to God in prayer (seekto it. While some readers agreed with me, oth- ing divine solutions), much the same way other ers called me an “establishment” person as well Nigerians do after any violence, killing or as other unprintable names for taking that Boko Haram attack. No one takes serious the stand. I remain by that position. But we cannot “reassuring” words of President Goodluck allow emotions of the moment to make us for- Jonathan or Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim to “go about their normal businesses get the past.

Police stations on campuses were sacked as we are on top of the situation”. Same goes for the students when their vice-chancellors

Ngozi Agbo

make such promises. If the President, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces does not reassure Nigerians, how can a “common” VC do so?

I repeat: police stations on campus will be stoking the fire. For now, our policemen are not that mature, mentally. Our students are also, sadly, largely unprepared for adulthood.

This is where parents need to wake to their roles. It’s a hard task, but shirking it or matching force with force will not do.

Ciao

3rd CAMPUSLIFE Annual Awards Entries are now being received, from our correspondents, for the 3rd Coca-Cola/NBC CAMPUSLIFE Annual Awards.

Award Categories: There are eight prizes up for grabs. The first seven are: Culture Report Prize, Investigative Report Prize, Entertainment Report Prize, Campus Politics Report Prize, Campus Personality Profile Prize, Opinion Writing Prize and Campus Sports Report Prize. The last and overall, CAMPUSLIFE Reporter of the Year, will be awarded by the judges on the correspondent whose entries make the most impression on them.

Eligibility: Entries must be sent in by the particular writer who authored the article. Articles must have been published between September 2010 and August 2011.

Deadline: Nominations will be received between September 8 and 30, 2011.

Guidelines: • For each category, only ONE entry will be allowed from each nominee • A nominee can apply for all categories.

• No nomination sent after close of work on Friday, September 30, 2011, will be accepted.

• Each entry, with the title and date of publication as well as category on it, should be sent to ladycampus@yahoo.com. The email must have as title: 3rd CAMPUSLIFE Awards.

A panel of judges, made up of senior editors and journalism teachers, will decide the winners. The Awards ceremony will hold in November; the date will be announced.

Good luck to all our correspondents.

'I practised with my mum's make up' Amina Mohammed is the owner of MLA Make-Over, a facial therapy outfit. She recently graduated from Mass Communication Department, University of Jos (UNIJOS). HOPE OFOBIKE (classmate) met her.

•Amina

W

HAT is beauty to you?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as the saying goes.

Beauty makes one unique and different from others. Everyone is beautiful and what you do brings out the beauty in you.

Why the MLA Make-Over?

MLA are my initials. I used makeover because the word make-up is too common. But, when you come to MLA, what you get is different from what

others do.

What led you into the trade?

As a child, I always wanted to be a model. I could remember how I practised with my mum's make-up kit. Also, the way some women in the university environment look spurred me into creating an outfit where their looks can be improved.

What aspect of facial beauty do you specialise in?

Make-up is of different categories. It encompasses everyday makeup, costume make-up, bridal make-up, and dinner make-up.

I specialised on them. I also do eyebrow carving, skin therapy and tying of hair gear for wedding and parties, pedicure and manicure also.

In what ways would you say that this business has been of benefit to you?

For one, it has made me popular in school. I have been able to help women know what suits them. Besides, it has also helped me financially as a student.

What would you tell female students?

Do not depend on your parents at all times. Try to do something for yourself.

•Outdated books in a library on campus.

Schooling the hard way •Continued from page 29

to take their turns in a balloting to secure bed spaces.

In schools like the University of Lagos (UNILAG), the University of Ilorin (UNIILORIN) and the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, students have to part with exorbitant amounts for a bed space.

Those unable to secure accommodation on campus, provide food for shylock landlords and estate agents in the host communities and nearby towns. The tale is similar at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State where there are no hostels. Students are at the mercy of landlords and estate agents who take advantage of the situation, to charge high rent.

Tunji Omidiran, a 400-Level student of History and Diplomatic Studies, affirmed that he has spent over N250,000 on accommodation since

he was admitted five years ago.

“When I moved into the apartment, the rent was N60,000 yearly.

Today, I payN95,000 for the same facility. The landlord increases the rent anytime he feels like; I have no choice than to pay. If I decide to move out, there are several people out there who will be delighted to have the facility for twice that amount.”

Schooling gets harder when one considers the high fees charged by most institutions. In the last two years, tuition fees in some federal universities have risen by over 100 per cent. In state-owned institutions, the fees are higher.

A parent, Madam Roseline Ikewenji, who has four children in the university, said training a child in a Nigerian university is as expensive as sending him abroad.

She said: “When you calculate what we spend here, you will dis-

cover that it is almost the same with what you will spend if the children were abroad. The only difference is when they are abroad you have to pay at once, but here you pay in bits till you go bankrupt.”

In academics, research, health care, infrastructure and other facilities needed to train a student, the institutions are just not there. The curricula operated in some schools have become out-dated. Where the curriculum is up to date, the materials required for training are not available.

A graduate of Microbiology from the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, Azuka Ossai, said though he is a graduate he never participated in any practical work in school.

“It is terrible studying a science course in a Nigerian university. They will only teach you the theoretical parts and leave the practical aspects because the materials are not available. All through my years in school I never saw any of the things they taught us, the best we had were charts and diagrams which are usually not very detailed.”

Another student of Bio-chemistry, who did not want his name or that of his institution mentioned, for fear of being victimised, told CAMPUSLIFE what transpires in his school.

“Any time we have a practical class we have to go to the laboratory with our own stoves. The department has just one “bunsen burner” (the lamp used to generate heat during chemical reactions in the laboratory) which has never been used. They kept it there so we can know what it looks like. When the practical begins, there are about 12 to 15 people sharing a burette and a test-tube.”

The delay and disruption in the academic calendar are perhaps, the bane of higher education. Because incessant strikes by lecturers and other workers in the education sector, it could take five or six years for a student to complete a four-year course.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

31

CAMPUS LIFE Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, were in their element last week when they turned snakes into many things. SAMSON ADEMOLA (400-Level Biology Education) reports.

Awo Hall residents play Aro with snake

T

HE age-long tradition of Aro, students' way of mocking a funny situation on campus, was played out by male students, last week at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife. Awo Hall, a male hostel, is notorious for poking at everything.

Some residents of the hall were in their element as an unusual Aro was played. This time, it was with a snake to the surprise of many students who could not believe that residents of the hall could go to the extent of using a snake as a bandana.

It happened last Saturday morning. Most students had gone out for the weekend. Some students in Blocks 7 and 8 of the hall went to the open field around the hostel to play football. It was in the course of the game that they heard someone screaming. According to an eyewitness, it was a snake that caused the panic; before many stu-

•A student tying the snake into a bandana.

dents could get to the scene, the snake had been killed.

Immediately, a group of boys gathered around the snake to take turns in doing displaying with the reptile. The scene was turned unto an entertainment centre as students dared one another to use the dead snake in any they could.

A male student took the stage, knotting the snake like a tie round his neck. Another wore it on his head

•The snake being knotted into a “tie”.

•These two play “snake men”.

as a bandana. Some used it as belt, and the drama continued. Some others assumed the role of an instructor, saying: “Yes, put it across your neck. Yes, use your right hand to open its mouth, and then pose with it".

Speaking with CAMPUSLIFE, the student who killed the snake, Segun Ojetunde, said one of his roommates informed him that he saw a snake the previous day.

He said: "I woke up to heed his call.

But we saw that the snake had entered into a nearby Baptist Students' Fellowship (BSF) secretariat in Blocks 7, leaving only its tail outside. We called for help, but nothing could be done because there was power outage. The secretariat was locked to prevent the snake from entering other rooms, including mine. The next morning we set out to search the secretariat; and the

snake was located and killed."

The residents of the hall where the snake was found noted that the lawn has become bushed and urged the school management to ensure that the grasses were cut.

One of them said: "Snakes are bush dwellers. They only creep to places near bushes or overgrown lawns.

The hall management should ensure, from time to time, that grasses are cut.”

•The Golden Voices entertain at the concert.

It was fun-time at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO). Students, staff and visitors were treated to a music concert by the Catholic students choir, Golden Voices. CHISOM OJUKWU (400-Level Chemical Engineering) was there.

Golden voices thrills them at concert

T

HEIR melody kept the audience spellbound. It was at the annual musical concert of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri Catholic Chaplaincy Choir, the Golden Voices.

The venue was the 750-capacity Hall of Mercy, which was filled with students, members of staff and visitors, who came from far and near to witness the the third edition of the concert tagged: CANZONA 3.

The Vice-Chancellor (VC) was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC), Administration, Prof O. Onwuagba. His wife, Dr. Ihuoma Asiabaka, was the mother of the day.

The event’s anchors, Chika Ihekire and Charles Onuh, final year students, said the opening prayer and introduced the guests.

John Umejesi, president of the Golden Voices, delivered a speech after the introductions. Thanking the guests for honouring the choir’s invitation, he promised to give them “an earth-shaking experience with CANZONA 3.”

And he did. The choir began with a welcome song which notes and lyrics were assembled by the choirmasters – Jerry Okoro and Finbars Ohams. Then came the Classicals.

Dressed in sky blue customised shirts, black neck ties and scarves, and black skirts and trousers, the choristers sang five songs amidst thunderous ovation by the audience.

In an address Dr. Asiabaka stressed the need for students

to be versatile to give their talents “a chance to shine.”

After the address, the Anglican Chapel of Light (ACOL) Choir took the stage. Like the host choir, they also thrilled the audience with songs.

With the interlude over, the Golden Voices took the stage again. Dressed this time in polo shirts emblazoned with ‘MTM – More Than Music’ – atop jean skirts and trousers, they sang five contemporary and cultural pieces.

Among the songs were Angelina Kidjoe’s We Are One, Michael Jackson’s and Lionel Richie’s We Are The World, and the UEFA Champions League Anthem. At the end of the last note, more than half of the audience was on its feet, clapping.

To spice up the night, there were group and individual presentations. Vivian and Ikenna, Christy and Chibuzor, Udonna and Lilian performed duets. Solos were rendered

by Chidozie, Oluchi, and many others.

Chidozie, a final year student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, stole the hearts of many with his performance. He sang in a high-pitched soprano tone.

At the end of the renditions, Onwagba praised the singers. He admonished students to “rather than waste your youthful energy on vices like examination malpractice and cultism, invest in virtues like singing, acting and dancing to the glory of God just like what you have seen here to- •Some of the lead singers during the traditional songs rendition. day.”

32

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

CAMPUS LIFE N1 million scholarship for 10 students

N

O fewer than 10 students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) have won N100, 000 worth of scholarship.

This was awarded by Etisalat Mobile Communication Ltd. Each of the students won their faculty’s best student prize.

They are Chinedu Nwoye, Onunka Kanyidi, Harrison Onoh, all from Computer Science; Chukwuka Eze and Benita Nwosu, both from Electronic Engineering.

From Oladele Oge UNN

Ben Kalu, Augustus Ibechem, Electrical Engineering; Ifeoma Chalokwu, Francisca Nwokoye, and Chinwe Okafor, who are studying Management.

The programme, held at the New Art Theatre, Nsukka Campus, was to assist indigent but brilliant students.

Etisalat’s Distribution Manager

for the Southeast Zone, Mr. Francis Nnaike, said the firm was interested in promoting quality education and helping brilliant indigent students.

UNN’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof Egbe Kaja, who represented the VC, Prof Bath Okolo, charged the students to aim higher in their studies. He equally urged Etisalat not to stop the scholarship.

VC tours halls of residence

T

HE Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Prof Bamitale Omole, has gone round the halls of residence with other principal officers to assess their condition.

The VC was in Moremi, Alumni, Akintola, Awolowo, Fajuyi halls, among others, and inspected toilets and bathrooms.

Prof Omole noted that there were two reasons for his visit. He said: “First, we are here to see the state of things as it is. We know the state of your home and we know it is not this bad. It pains us that you are living in this condition because this was not what it was.”

The VC surprised the students by asking them to prepare food for his entourage, which included the Deputy VC, Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr. L.M. Durosinmi and the Registrar, Mr. Ayo Ogunruku.

In response, the students sang “Baba o baba o, Oluwa da baba si fun wa (meaning, may God protect our VC from evil).

Addressing some students in their room, Prof Omole: “We could sit here

From Samson Ademola and Sikiru Akinola OAU because it has just been refurbished. I have gone round to confirm how much is paid in other schools for accommodation.

The University of Ibadan (UI) students pay N14,000 and N18,000 is paid at the University of AdoEkiti (UNAD) while the University of Lagos (UNILAG) students pay N25,000. So, you have to cooperate with us. You pay N2,590 here.”

Taiwo Alebiosu, a student, said the VC’s consultation with students was a good gesture.

Olubunmi Akingbola, 200-Level Political Science, said: “This is a good starting point. If this can be sustained, the communication gap between students and management would be bridged.”

The school has resumed for second semester, according to a circular issued by the management.

•The students hold their cheque, at the end of the presentation. In the middle are Mr Nnaike and Prof Kaja.

Association elects leaders

N

IGERIAN Association of Urban and Regional Planning Students (NAURPS), Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT MINNA) chapter, has elected officers for the 2011/2012 session.

There were two political parties in the department, “Achievers” and “Epitome of Perfection”, under which all candidates ran. The two contestants for president were

From Tolulope Ajobiewe FUT MINNA

Olaide Akande of the Achievers group, and Abubakar Atiku, Epitome of Perfection group.

After the election Abubakar was returned as president with 144 votes Olaide polled 80.

Other winners included Margaret Fasasi (Vice-President), Rilwan Makka (General Secretary), Kayode

Fela (Assistant General Secretary), Jude Bosso (Financial Secretary), Badamasi Annas (Treasurer), Chris Vincent (Director of Projects and Socials), Muhammad Kolo (Director of Sports), Idris Aliyu (PRO 1) and Ibukun Phillip (PRO II).

Abubakar expressed gratitude to the students and sought the support of the defeated candidate to nurture the association.

•Prof Omole (right) discussing with a student at one of the hostels.

Fellowship holds anniversary

T

•Some students during the voting exercise.

Agric students inaugurate executive

T

HE Nigerian Association of Agriculture Students (NAAS), University of Benin (UNIBEN) chapter, has inaugurated its new executive.

The ceremony was attended by the Faculty Officer, Mr Mac Enato, who represented the Dean. Others were the Staff Adviser of the association, Dr. O. Orhue, heads of department and students.

Delivering the keynote address, Dr Orhue admonished the new leaders to revive the spirit

From Osato Edokpayi UNIBEN

of unionism in the association.

The Head of Department, Animal Science, Prof Smart Nwokoro, tasked the students to be prudent in their spending and ensure that their impact was felt by their mates.

Responding, NAAS new president, Ayodele Iluyemi, promised to lift the association to greater heights.

Other members of the excutive are: Irene Omoruyi (Vice-President), Olajobi Odimayo (Secretary-General), Francis Owubu (Assistant Secretary-General), Jonathan Nwutube (Treasurer), Garret Akpale (Financial Secretary), Osatohanmwen Edokpayi (Editor-in-Chief), Hart Iserhienrhien (Public Relations Officer), Lincoln Akhilome (Director of Socials), Theophilus Madu (Director of Sports) and Chukwuka Unah (Director of Welfare).

HE Redeemed Christian Fellowship (RCF), Adekunle Ajasin University, AkungbaAkoko (AAUA) chapter, has celebrated its 11th anniversary.

During the event, the group did a community service on the campus, and visited the state specialist hospital at Ikare-Akoko. Its President, Femi Ojo, led the community service team. Vice President Sam Adebayo led the team that visited the hospital.

Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Sam said: “We visited the paediatric and maternity wards. We prayed for the patients and presented some gift items to them.”

A re-union was held for former members of the group on the second day of the three-day event.

At a thanksgiving service, Ojo appreciated God for sustaining the fellowship through the years. He said: “The fellowship started with about 20 members in one of the lec-

From Dayo Ojerinde AAUA

ture theatres . Today, the membership has grown to over 1,200.”

He enjoined members to remain righteous and thanked his fellow executive members, fellowship workers and members for their support.

The president, Redeemed Christian Fellowship (RCF), Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Jesunibaba Uyi, spoke at the event.

Reading from Exodus 15: 1-3 and 11, he charged students to always honour God in all they do. He said: “God expects from every of His own when He does anything for you to appreciate Him and say thank you. That makes Him happy, and that is the only thing He demands from us.”

33

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

CAMPUS LIFE Dentistry students hold convention

D

ENTAL students from all parts of Nigeria gathered at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) for the annual national convention of the Nigeria Association of Dental Students (NADS).

The convention began with a symposium where lectures were delivered by a guest speaker on the theme:”Achieving Millenium Development Goals in Nigeria: The role of the dental surgeon”.

The occasion was graced by chiefs from the palace of the Oba of Benin and the Governor of Edo

From Odiawa Ijeweme UNIBEN

State, who was represented by his special assistant on student matters.

The event also featured an award ceremony, picnic, sports bonfire and community service.

A delegate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, said the convention afforded him the opportunity to leave his busy academic engagement to relax and socialise with colleagues from other schools.

•A group of the students after the event.

Retreat for indigent students

A

N Osogbo-based non-governmental organisation, Hope for Family Development Initiative (HFDI), has organised a holiday retreat for indigent secondary school and higher institutions’ students.

With the theme: “Building the lives of young people in West Africa through the holiday youths camp” the programme featured training sessions, capacity building, vocational and entrepreneurial training on interior decoration, soap making, dye and catering.

Participants also visited the Osun State House of Assembly.

Among those at the event were the Deputy Governor of Osun

From Mariam Adeyemi UNILORIN

State, Mrs. Grace Laoye-Tomori, represented by Mr Femi Ayedun; and Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, Secretary to the State Government.

In a message, Mrs Laoye-Tomori congratulated the NGO for organising the seminar. She urged the participants to be self-reliant after graduation and to live peacefully with their neighbours.

Adeoti called on governments at all levels and well meaning Nigerians to pay adequate attention to the less privileged.

He said: “Education should be directed towards the full develop-

ment of the human personality and strengthen respect for human rights.”

A participant, Julian Jerome, in 400-Level Social Work at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), said the event gave her the opportunity to learn another language from another tribe.

“It also exposed us to vocational and skill training on how to make soap and interior decorations,” she said. Mildred Agu, ND 1 student of Nasarawa State Polytechnic, Keffi, pointed out that participants learn how to live peacefully with other tribes in the country.

•A cross section of participants at the convention.

VC lists gains of ICT

A

CTING Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Prof Rosemund GreenOsahogulu, has listed the benefits of deploying Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (post-UTME) test.

Prof Osahogulu, who spoke to reporters during the post-UTME test conducted by the institution in conjunction with Cinfores Limited, a Port Harcourt-based IT company, said: “Though, we were doing it manually before, but, this time with ICT we have peace of mind. We have saved costs and also ensured a transparent examination that the candidates appre-

From Godswill Odeku RSUE

ciated”.

According to her, candidates from rural areas not exposed to the use of computers have been accommodated through a two-week training programme for candidates.

She added that stringent measures were put in place to ensure that there were no hitches.

Esther Owoloye and Kitoye Okoni, two of the candidates aspiring to study English Language and Computer Science, expressed delight in the process.

However, Isaac Owabie and Tochi Kechukwu, who hope to study Computer Science and Biology said some of the computers did not function properly.

Science students induct freshers

I

T was all smiles last Friday as the Joint Association of Science Students (JASS), Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU) chapter, inducted its new members.

Declaring the ceremony open, the JASS president, Emmanuel Okwara, welcomed the freshmen and enjoined them to be hardworking and industrious.

The Dean of Biological Science and chairman of the occasion, Prof Ify Elekwa, welcomed the freshers, and advised them to always think of how to uplift the faculty in academics .

•Mr. Gardner (left) and Prof Odunola in a handshake at the end of the tour.

Poly to award degree

T

HE Polytechnic, Ibadan, will soon begin the award of degree certificates to its graduates. This was disclosed by the Rector, Prof Olusegun Odunola.

Prof Odunola spoke in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while conducting Mr. Brink Gardner, Executive Director of Blake Hall College, an institution affiliated to the University of London, round the polytech-

From Jeremiah Oke IBADAN POLY

nic.

Blake Hall and The Poly are discussing a partnership that would see students of the latter earning degrees.

Mr. Gardner, who inspected facilities at the Computer Science, Business Administration, Accountancy, Banking and Finance,and Marketing depart-

ments, said the outcome of his tour would determine the next line of action. He said the college would start with five programmes in the first instance, adding more programme would be added in future.

Abiodun Atilola, HND II Mass Communication, commended the Rector for the affiliation programme. Another student of Mechanical Engineering, Ola Folorunso, said the development would avail students the opportunity to have additional qualification to their HND.

From Ezechukwu Eziechile ABSU

Freshmen, who spoke to CAMPUS LIFE, expressed their happiness and vowed to be of good character.

James Nwakanma, 100-Level Microbiology, said: “I thank God for making my dreams come true.

I have been writing the UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination) all to no avail. This time that I got admission, I promise my parents and my friends that I will live up to their huge expectations.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

34

CAMPUS LIFE Theatre Arts students of the Niger Delta University (NDU), Wilberforce, Bayelsa State, recently performed a play that held the university community spell-bound. VICTOR OROYI (400-Level Fine, Industrial and Theatre Arts) reports.

Drums of Delta goes on stage

G

RADUATING students of Theatre Arts in the Department of Fine, Industrial and Theatre Arts, Niger Delta University, thrilled lecturers, students and other members of the university with a stage performance under the course, Final Play Production (THA 468).

Being the last academic stage performance of the class, the students gave an electrifying performance, of Ben Binebai's Drums of the Delta.

It was a challenging play, many agreed.

Because of boys in the class, the girls played male roles. There were other technical challenges but with determination, Brother Uyevie, the director, piloted the class to success.

Through the publicity of the play, the event was well attended for the first time by dignitaries from within and outside the university. The 500-capacity Arts Theatre was filled.

Despite the challenges, the class put up a good show. Its members showed strong characterisation and interpretation of their roles to convey the playwright's social vision.

The playwright deploys the use of imagery and symbolism in the narration of the age-long Niger Delta struggle, the betrayals,

marginalisation, neglect and exploration of its natural resources by successive Nigerian governments.

Binebai is a prolific playwright, who uses his play to highlight the socio-political problems of the region.

The class members impressed many with their explicit interpretation of the play as one the experience daily. Conscious of the fact that, the External Examiner, Prof Irene Salami, from the University of Jos (UNIJOS), would have a first-hand information on the demand of Niger Delta on stage, the class took all aspects of the performance very seriously with the guidance of their lecturers, Prof Henry Bell-Gam and Dr. Ben Binebai, the playwright.

The rich blend of Ijaw native proverbs were brought to bear on the play. The intrinsic aesthetic quality of the play gave attention to high theatrical demand such as the lighting effect, sound effect, set design and construction for effective scene changes, use of costume and make-up.

Overall, it was judged a good performance by the external examiner and lecturers but with little technical hitches which the external examiner pointed out as a minus to the production. The use of costume was elaborate and it was commended by Prof Salami.

•A dance by the students.

•A scene showing Niger Delta boys kidnapping an expartriate at one of the oil wells.

•Another scene showing the Queen and Timi Philip in a verbal duel.

In the last general elections, politicians and students collaborated closely, students Union leaders endorsed some candidates to the counternation of many students. Has student unionism gone off-track considering the philosophy behind its creation? HABEEB WHYTE (400-Level Law, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) asks.

Should union leaders participate in politics?

S

TUDENT unionism dates back to 1925, with the coming of the West African Students Union (WASU).

Under the umbrella, students from West Africa fought the colonial masters and insisted on the rights of Africans to take charge of their destiny.

In 1960, there were a few universities in the country. By the ‘70s, the increase in the number of universities and other higher institutions of learning, the spread of Marxist ideology on campuses and an obsession with revolution and change inspired by the failings of the post-colonial elite, opened the students’ eye to the imperativeness of being change agents.

The symbol and rallying point of the students’ body then was Segun Okeowo, under whose leadership the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) became directly involved in national politics. When the Constituent Assembly was opened in 1977 to deliberate on a new constitution, NUNS was given a slot in the body.

During this period, Okeowo led students to battle the government on a number of key issues: the funding of education, increase in tuition and accommodation fees and the presence of soldiers in schools to enforce discipline. Negotiations broke down between the parties and the students marched on the streets nationwide in the famous “Ali must Go” protests of 1978. The Federal Military Government

reacted by proscribing NUNS, and detaining Okeowo. But the students regrouped and announced the formation of a National Organisation of Nigerian Students (NONS). In December 1979, a new national executive was elected. Both the new NONS President and Secretary were soon rusticated from the Bayero University, Kano. Students’ union leaders on other campuses received similar treatment.

In 1980, however, the civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari lifted the ban on NUNS. The students responded by changing the identity of their national body to the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). This body remains the parent to all student unions in universities till date.

However, many students have either been rusticated or died in the course of unionism. The struggle has had its heroes and martyrs.

Nonetheless, student unionism seems to have worn a different garb. Unionism in some schools is but a lame duck and a toothless bull dog. In other schools, it is nothing less than mere oppositions to school authorities. To worsen the situation, NANS has amazingly transformed into beggars and praise singers of unscrupulous individuals in the country.

This, we all know, is far from the basis of students union.

Though some students have kicked

•Group of students at a June 12 rally.

•Student leaders during a June 12 rally.

against their members’ involvement in partisan politics, others believe otherwise, hinging their arguments on the fact that they are tomorrow’s leaders.

Reacting, Abdulsalam Abdul Lateef, a 400 Level Law student at UNILORIN, said the interference in politics marked the beginning of the fall from the grace of Nigerian student unionism. This act of interferring in politics, Lateef argued, dated back to the time of former President

Obasanjo, who got the endorsement of NANS leader Kenneth Orkuma Hembe for a third term.

Hembe made the pronoun cement shortly after Obasanjo pledged a N5 million personal donation for the proposed national secretariat of the students’ association. The two events were not coincidental, and one can be bold to conclude Continued on page 36

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

35

CAMPUS LIFE

Jos crisis: For how long?

By Esther Mark markestheronyinyechi@yahoo.com

T

HERE is tension in the air.

People are running helterskelter. Screams and chants of ‘an fara’, a Hausa phrase meaning they have started, fills the air. Shop owners quickly lock their shops and people scramble for safety, running up and down with no clear picture of what is actually going on. This is not a false alarm. Other times, people

A

S a student of the Bayero University, Kano, I realised that, apart from my academic burden, which comprises core and subsidiary courses, there is also another course taken by many students on campus.

Although it is not a compulsory course, there is rarely any student who graduates from the institution without offering this course.

That course is ‘kama tasha’ which means getting connected or, hanging out with the opposite sex. The hanging out, which is sometimes called ‘Zance’ or ‘Hira’ in Hausa usually happens only in the night. To make it more interesting, some people refer to it as Ramatology: the eight-unit course.

W

EARING clothes is an age-long practice.

Hence, the saying that clothes protect our body, giving one a sense of decency. From a biblical standpoint, wearing clothes was initiated by Adam and Eve who disobeyed God and realised that they were naked.

On the other hand, historical account opines that wearing clothes resulted from the need to survive inclement weather conditions in ancient times. However, it is deeply saddening that the agelong practice, for whatever reason, is gradually drifting to outright nudity.

I took a trip down memory lane and recalled that, in the days of our forefathers, women cherished their dignity and were not ready to exchange their reputation for sexual satisfaction. Hence, they hid their natural endowments properly with their garments for those who took (or will take) them down the aisle.

But, these days, it is heart-rending that the reverse is the case. There is a total departure from the norm. One will say it is a result of modern civilisation, but it is most unfortunate.

In truth, there are just two persons who should have unhindered access to the ‘treasure’ on the chest of a woman during her lifetime – her husband and the baby who needs its milk for proper growth and development. But, regrettably, these two have been deprived of this right which, instead, is given to the public. What a show of shame! The male folk are on the receiving end of this demeaning show. They are mere mortals with blood racing up and down their veins and arteries and thus have the

run only to discover it was a false alarm. At such times, the once tensed atmosphere becomes cheerful as people begin to laugh it off, wondering when all these would stop.

But what could be happening? What could be wrong? Why is this happening, and for how long will it continue?

Welcome to Jos, Plateau State. A city that, until recently, was regarded as the home of peace and tourism. The city is now a shadow of itself and the name no longer reflects what is obtainable in the state.

It could rightly be called home of pains, chaos and tensions. Yes, it can also be called home of tourism because the state now parades burnt building and properties that can be kept in the museum as artifacts for future generations. The Various bomb blast scenes are also good tourist sites. We now boast of local tourists within the state who troop in after a crisis to see the extent of damage done. Once in a while, foreign ‘tourists’ come in for investigations and that is all we get. The state no longer generates revenue for being the ‘Nigerian London’. All it gets

are few people who just want to see the crisis ridden state. Our huge rocks and other Natural resources have all been forgotten and termed ‘stale and old fashioned’, all thanks to the continuous civil unrest. Right from 2008, when I experienced the first crisis as a student, the civil unrest has continued. No day passes without a rumour or reality of an attack or an unrest somewhere in town. Even in classes, students are tensed up and apprehensive. It is either the thought of going home safely after lectures or a possible attack on the students.

Sometimes, I sit back and reminisce about how things have gone from bad to good in this city. Those of us in UNIJOS need to be given special consideration when we go into the labour market. How can the world expect us to put in our very best in a tensed and hostile environment?

The Jos crisis has continued to capture all interests and actors in the world scene. These days, the clashes have been extended to the villages and other remote parts of the state where the inhabitants are vulnerable to attacks. The whole

state is in pains and its inhabitants daily for help.

I sometimes sit back and ask myself for how long? For how long will we continue like this? For how long would this daily closures of schools and market places continue? For how long would one continue to live in tension and fear of the unknown? For how long would innocent people be maimed and killed for crimes they knew nothing about? For how long would fathers cast their young ones at an early stage to the graves in pains and misery?

Even as I write, I’m battling with keeping the tears from flowing. I keep asking myself, when would this end? It was not long ago a student who came to write the post UME in this institution was stabbed to death. His parents are still shedding tears. Others who didn’t know the town well enough to avoid conflicting places where either stabbed or injured.

For how long would the shadows behind this sit back and watch without conscience as people’s dreams are crashed daily and labours of

years are wasted? For how long would government sit back without taking drastic measures to curtail these acts? Yet in the midst of this crisis, some parts of the state are always calm, as though nothing is going on. Places like Millionaires Quaters and Rayfield, just to mention a few, are always calm. But what happens to other areas occupied by the low and middle class of the society? Would they leave their abodes and live in these calm areas just to send the message across to the government?

I am using this medium to call on all to embrace peace. Peace is not alien to Plateau State. Hatred is an evil wind that blows no one any good. Let’s bury the hatchet and embrace peace. Let bygones be bygones. No amount of bloodshed can bring back or appease the dead. We are only adding petrol to the already burning building. It can only aggravate the situation. Let the nostalgic feelings of our once peaceful existence take over us.

Nigerians, fellow students, we need your prayers. Plateau state needs your intercession for Gods protection in the midst of these raging storms.

Esther, 300-Level Mass Comm., UNIJOS

Ramatology in BUK Ramatology is derived from Ramat, the name of the female hostel in BUK where most people hang out at night. Surely, you can predict what a friend is going to do if he makes a phone call and says “I will meet you in front of Ramat.”

Consequently, anyone found around the hostel at night is said to be a student of ‘Ramatology’.

Such students are nominees for the Students Union Government (SUG) award for the face of Ramat. At the last edition of the award, a particular guy won.

For Ramatalogy students, attendance is obligatory. They visit

their female friends every night at a stipulated time. So just like lectures, it’s more or less mandatory to come and mark your attendance daily. Some students, mostly Casanova, usually mark different attendance sheet per day i.e they see different girls on different days. Ramatology is so interesting that some lecturers also offer it. Like their students colleagues, they also come out to look for their girlfriends in front of Ramat Hostel.

The good thing about Ramatology is that it is not just the guys who enjoy it, the girls also do. In preparation for classes,

some girls take their time to cook and look nice for their visitors.

More often than not students will just pick up their books at night claiming they want to go and read. But at the end, you find them offering Ramatology. Depending on how interesting the gist is, some guys will stay up to as long as 1am-2am with their girlfriend. If things get very serious, the love birds usually go to secluded places within the school surrounding to have nice times.

Zeenat, is a student of Mass Comm., BUK

A show of utter shame

•Some of the dressing usually seen on the campuses.

By Chukwuebuka Duru chukwuebuka_duru@yahoo.com

tendency to be aroused by merely catching a glimpse of the ‘treasure’ on display. God help us!

As erecting a gargantuan building which is not easily demolished occurs in phases so also is sexual immorality committed stage by stage with the eyes initiating the process. Intentionally or unintentionally, it grabs a picture of the ‘treasure’ on display and immediately sends ‘signals’ of its image to the heart. The heart, especially one that hasn’t encountered Christ, begins to nurse the abominable desire to have the shameless owner of the ‘treasure’.

It (the heart) has been tagged ‘desperately wicked’, hence will stop at nothing to realise its ambition. It transfers the ‘signals’ to the legs which eventually moves the dude to the lady in question to consummate the process which results in fornication or adultery. God save us!

It will not be considered erroneous to say that immodest dressing is also found among those who belong to the masculine gender. But if truth be told, it is predominant among the female folk. If you decide to take a stroll to the streets a good many ladies will quickly inform you that apart from their chest-based ‘treasures’, they also have their waist in the ‘gallery’.

As we grow each passing day we experience changes in our physique and it is expected that the clothes we have outgrown be discarded or given to younger ones.

But unfortunately, this is not the case. In this world of sexual perversion, skimpy dresses are most preferred. Many ladies are now in severe competition with their younger counterparts for little revealing dresses. What a show full of shame!

The most ludicrous aspect of this madness is that these ladies who dress to kill eventually become fed up with the display and thus pull the skimpy dresses forcefully in a bid to conceal the already watched show. What an effort in futility! It is well worth laughing at for one to purchase a dress, don the dress and equally assist the dress do its job. What a satanic bondage! Ladies where is your sense of modesty, decency and morality?

I perused through the pages of a newspaper recently and in there, an actress in the make-believe industry (Nollywood) tried to justify her trademark – immoral dressing. She was asked in an interview session: ‘You are in the habit of flaunting what you’ve got on screen, what’s this about?’

Hear her: ‘Instead of choking myself up in a dress, I think flaunting what I’ve got is preferable because it makes me comfortable’. I was completely taken aback by her reply. Is it fair for a lady’s comfort to be detrimental to the life of the male folk? Ladies, bear your

By Zeenat Ibrahim blackqueen0110n@yahoo.com

mind. Well, this actress is not to be blamed because she has not encountered Christ. God help her!

Why is this trend of indecent dressing fast becoming a norm in our society? In my opinion, many women strive to imitate celebrities in the entertainment industry like the actress discussed in the preceding paragraph. They are worshipped as demigods and thus their fans are blind to their faults. A good many ladies are simply in dire need of a partner in bed to satisfy their sexual desires. Most of them crave suitors to tie the nuptial knot, while others wouldn’t want to be left out of the bandwagon and thus will follow the ugly trend.

Must we display nudity with impunity to look enchanting? Must we lose our sense of modesty, decency and morality to look delectable?

Must we perpetually merchandise our pride and self esteem to look trendy? Must we dent our reputation to look ravishingly beautiful?

Must we trade with the sanctity of womanhood to make ends meet?

These and many more are questions yearning for answers. Oh God, save this Sodom, deliver this Gomorrah!

The act of unabashedly exposing one’s ‘treasure’ stems from a heart laden with sin. When this heart has a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ, it is completely transformed and gives birth to good deeds such as dressing decently. This is, therefore, a clarion call on all folks, both male and female to embrace salvation and shun this show of shame.

Chukwuebuka, recently finished from Microbiology, UNICAL

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

36

CAMPUS LIFE Rotaract inducts new members

T

HE Rotaract Club of Nigeria, Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna chapter, has inaugurated its new executive members.

Afolabi Olaniyi was sworn in as the 20th president of the club at the event held at the main Lecture Theatre.

Afolabi said his administration would donate educational materials to select schools in Minna. It will also engage in blood donation in collaboration with the National Blood Transfusion Service; give treated mosquito nets to school clinics and hostels and renovate the borehole in Bosso community.

At the ceremony, award for service

First things first

L

EARNING how to prioritize is not as easy as it seems. On the surface it looks like one can simply arrange and put together things in a seeming order of importance. This is until various things begin to jostle for our attention at the same time.

Some things will be urgent, others important, some both urgent and important.

How do we make the choices that will help us take the necessary decisions that will make us both effective and efficient? How do we prioritize? Well here are a few tips that have helped Fidelity Bank as a Brand be a more effective and effective Team.

Consider Consequences: in choosing what to place above or beneath another in terms of tasks set before you it will be helpful to consider the consequence of the actions in their various positions. For instance if I do this task before this other task what will be the overall consequence of my decision? Considering the consequence of the decision to do a task before and considering the consequence of the decision to do the same task after another task will help you in making more effective decisions.

Fresh Eyes, Fresh Heads: As much as possible, avoid making your to do list when you are tired. Setting goals and arranging objectives and tasks to be met can be a grueling experience. It is better to tackle it when you are fresh. Your mind and eyes being fresh can help you put things in perspective and help you sort yourself out in good time. This is why we encourage Teams to set their activity list very early in the day, preferably first thing as you get to work. This helps you to have a fresh perspective on the things that need accomplishment. As a student, you ought to do this early in the day and try and follow through on it.

Deadlines: Another tip that helps us chose what to put before another is the deadline assigned to each task. This means that we must learn to put timelines to tasks and hold ourselves accountable to delivering on these tasks based on these deadlines. Leaving tasks open ended will work against us and make it difficult to prioritize some assignments. If our tasks have deadlines attached to them then it makes logical sense to place above a task any assignment that necessitates an earlier finishing time.

Time Issues: Some assignments require more time and attention to detail than others. This is a serious factor in choosing where to place this task in our scale of assignments. Some assignments are better handled earlier in the

On and Off Campus

From Faith Olaniran FUT MINNA

to humanity was given to Olamide Odumosu, the outgoing president of the Nigeria Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS).

Thirty-two new members were also inducted during the ceremony.

After taking the oath of office, the Service Director, Michael Entonu, in 300-Level Agric and Bioresources Engineering, said he would not put his personal interest above service to humanity.

The Financial Secretary, Halima Zubaru, (300-Level Biochemistry), said: “We will impact our community positively.”

By Uche Ogbonna uche.ogbonna@fidelitybankplc.com 08055061278

day than others. One must be considerate of the Time factors of the various assignments and tasks that we have. Disregarding the time factor, constraints and demands of the individual tasks causes us to have abandoned projects and spillovers that may further complicate and frustrate our efforts.

Keep It Short: as much as possible try and keep your list short.

Having too many things to do in a single day will put undue pressure on the mind and take away the edge that you will have. Schedule your day appropriately, however when the day is full simply move some tasks to the next day. Remember that there is so much that a person can do in a day. Keep at least 4 or at most 6 tasks on your programme for the day.

Task Segmentation: Here we encourage all students reading this to classify these tasks as follows. The “I must do this” tasks; the “I should do” tasks, and “I wish I can make time out to do” tasks. One does not need a degree in Rocket Science to know where in your list to put the items you have classified accordingly.

Time Blocks: Consider setting aside blocks of time, like say 7-9am and use that to sort out some very pressing issues. Do this when you may not predict how long an urgent and important task may take. Be robust and generous in the allotted time. Do well however to save time off this block. Accomplishing things quickly with this block of time will give you the extra ‘cash’ of time saved. This time can now be rescheduled to do other things.

Try out some of these tips and share your experiences with us at marketing.communication@fidelitybankplc.com or uche.ogbonna@fidelitybankplc.com.

Answers to last week lateral thinking questions are as follows.

1.

The event happened in the daytime.

2.

The surgeon is the boys biological mother.

3.

The man poisoned the drink after he drank and left.

Enjoy your day

By Solomon Izekor 08061522600

•Some of the new Rotaract members at their induction.

Department holds workshop

T

HE Department of Mass Communication, University of Jos (UNIJOS), has held its maiden workshop.

The focus was on mentoring young women in communication and media studies to project themselves as professionals, rather than as sex objects.

The Head of the department, Prof Christy Best, explained that with the ratio of women to men 70:30, there was the need to encourage female students.

She said the time had come when women should brace to occupy key positions in the media.

Mr. Taye Obateru, a lecturer and jour-

From Esther Mark and Hope Ofobike UNIJOS

nalist with Vanguard newspaper, listed the values which would guide female students to achieve success. According to him, maintaining a good relationship with people and having a God-fearing mindset are keys to exceling.

The event featured a question and answer session, as well as a comedy skit by a student, Peter Ozaveshe, popularly called Observe.

Ihuoma Nworgu, in 300-Level, said the workshop met her expectations as a girl yearning for true mentorship. Sandra Ohadike, in 200Level, said she had no regret attending the workshop.

Should union leaders participate in politics?

Continued from page 34

that, for N5 million, the former President bought the conscience of students.

Amire Oluomo, 400 Level Law, UNILORIN, also shared Lateef’s sentiments. For him, student activities today contravene the Control and Regulations Act of 1990.

He said: “What we see, today, is the reverse; a total violation of the Act and nobody is doing anything to prevent such. Our union officers forget their primary assignment the moment they are sworn into office.

All they do is to find their way to the Government House and serve their pockets. Most of us saw what happened in the last election. At least, if we did not see what happened, we heard of how student union officers were given money by politicians to share among students. Blackberry phones and Laptops were also given out to the union officers. We heard of several meetings being held behind cosed doors in big hotels, all in the name of politics. This is bad,” he said.

Surajdeen Alabede, 200 level Geography, in the same school, said the school authorities and the state, aside student unionism, should also held culpable.

“While I blame the student leaders, I must also blame the school authorities and the state in destroying the legacy of genuine student unionism either by buying

over student leaders, or by the use of force like the police a n d victimisation to deal with genuine student activists. With this, union officers and students are left with no choice than to participate in politics for gain and exter- •Lateef. nal support. If they collect money and do the right thing, it is good; but if they do otherwise it is bad.

Similarly, Muhammed Abdullah in 300L Law, advocated for change of what he called a “corrupt society.”

He said: “The youth are the pivot of reformation and with their enthusiastic and youthful spirit, they can set the train of societal transformation in motion.

Student union officers should be a collection of the most vibrant and conscious members of the university community, and thus fit for the job.”

37

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

EDUCATION

Punish perpetrators of Nekede Poly crisis, say students

P

RESIDENT of National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), Ebenezer Ezeanyika has condemned the July 27 students’ riot at Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri, in Imo State. He called on the Federal Government to set up a panel of enquiry to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the crisis so as to bring the perpetrators to book.

Ezeanyika, in a statement in Makurdi, Benue State, said the aggrieved students should have channelled their grievances through the Students Union Government (SUG) to the management instead of resorting to violence.

The cause of the crisis, according to the statement, was the alleged increase in tuition fee from N30,000 to N40,000 and acceptance fee from N10,000 to N15,000.

“Such disagreement should have been channelled to the Office of the Student Affairs Officer since he is the middleman between the students and the management of the institution instead of embarking on the violent protest that led to the destruction of properties worth millions of naira,” he said.

He condemned the destruction of the students’ secretariat and the harassment of the institution’s SUG president, which he said, were acts of rascality unbefitting of students, who are leaders of tomorrow.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Zone B comprising Southeast and Southsouth geo-political zones, has dissociated itself from the unrest which led to the closure of the institution.

•NANS dissociates self from unrest From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi and Emma Mgbeahurike, Owerri

The Coordinator, Mr Ezekiel Nwankwo, who denounced the action as barbaric, however, attributed the riot to the handiwork some evilminded elements.

The NANS leader spoke when he visited the Rector Dr Celestina Njoku.

Nwankwo wondered why the students allowed themselves to be used

by those who do not mean well for the school and the association.

He praised the rector for promptly setting up a panel of inquiry to investigate the riot and urged her to be fair in the implementation of its recommendations.

While warning the students to desist from taking the laws into their hands in future, Nwankwo pleaded for the speedy re-opening of the school.

Dr Njoku commended NANS for

the visit.

She dismissed as baseless and frivolous, the allegation that the management is high handed, saying she had always carried the SUG and Dean of Students’ Affairs along in her administration.

The rector, who showed several documents to buttress her claims, promised to ensure meticulous implementation of the recommendations of the probe.

Pre-degree exams next month THE Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, has rescheduled the qualifying examination into its Pre-degree Programme for the 2011/2012 Academic session.

A statement from its Public Relations Officer, Ajibade Olubunmi, said the sales and submission of forms would close on October 7, the examination will hold on October 13.

It added that the examination is for candidates applying for predegree in Education; Humanities; and Pre-degree Science.

It warned the candidates to refrain from any form of impersonation and cheating during the examination, adding that offenders would be arrested.

34 nabbed for exam fraud

•Hon Falilat Ajibola, Chairman, Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA, Lagos State presenting cartoons of chalks and exercise books Methodist Primary School, Ayobo-Ipaja

THIRTY- four students of the EKSU Part-time Programme were caught during the second semester examination.

Some were caught either exchanging answer sheets or copying from others during the examination. Yet, others were caught trying to smuggle in answer scripts.

Five others were arrested for forging the examination clearance forms. They were also said to have forged documents to deceive the university that they have paid their fees to participate in the examination.

Investigation has begun, the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dada Adelowo, has vowed to rid the institution of cheats.

Deadline for registration

Mixed reactions greet LASU external campus closure

RETURNING students for the second semester of the 2011/2012 session have been told to complete their registration by Friday next week.

However, only students, who have paid their development levy, service charges and other approved fees are qualified for registration.

In the meantime, all departments and faculties have been urged to generate the list of all duly registered students at the end of the exercise. The list is expected to be displayed on the notice boards to identify legitimate students.

T

HE dust is yet to settle on Lagos State Government’s abolition of the satellite campuses of its university. Affected students o f Lagos State University (LASU) are still debating the decision which they said borders on their future.

Governor Babatunde Fashola, through his Special Adviser on Education, Otunba Fatayi Olukoga, abolished the part-time programme on August 11 based on the recommendation of LASU’s Governing Council.

The institution operates 11 satellite campuses in Festac, Agege, Ikorodu, Anthony, Jibowu, Lekki, Badagry, Epe, Isolo and Surulere and has had a running battle with the National Universities Commission (NUC) over the property the programme.

Following Fashola’s directive, the programme would be gradually phased out. There will be no new admissions, henceforth, while current students will be allowed to complete their studies.

Majority of students undergoing the part-time programmes are either working or those who could not get into the full-time programmes.

An Accounting student in Isolo campus, who pleaded anonymity said he was not surprised that the programme was stopped.

“LASU has eight satellite campuses and the population alone is alarming.

The school has more students than federal universities. These part-time students can make up the population of federal universities alone,”he said.

One Marketing student (name withheld) studying at the Agege campus is worried that he might not complete his programme.

He said: “I would not be surprised if LASU wakes up tomorrow and chases

EKSU FILE

VC warns students

•Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (middle) with Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello addressing students when he visited LASU

By Paul Oluwakoya, Abike Hassan and Gloria Ikegbule

all part-time students out of the campuses, finished or not. My only fear is that my dream of becoming a degree holder will be dashed. Invariably, I have to start from square one considering the school fees I have paid.”

However, not all the students are pessimistic. Taiwo Akinlose, a 200-Level Business Administration student at the Isolo campus, said he believes the move to discontinue the programme is to standardise the system in the interest of intending students and the society. He said: “Education is not all about going to school but having quality education that is beneficial to the person and society.”

A final year student of Business Administration who will not give his name, noted the irregularities, such as missing scripts, delay in releasing result and stressful process of registration as some yardsticks that could have warranted the

discontinuity of the programme.

Unlike full-time students who pay N25,000 as school fees, part-time students pay as much as N125,000 per session.

Some courses, however, go for N70, 000 and N75, 000.

It is cheaper compared with other universities. Olabisi Olabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye part-time students pay N106, 000 ; and University of Lagos (UNILAG), N150, 000 per session.

However, LASU students still consider the fees high. Mary as she identified herself, an International Relations student, studying at the Anthony campus, is almost done. But she is concerned about the rise in fees, especially as her younger sister is just starting.

“My younger sister in 100-Level just paid N110, 400 and I know how my mum and I suffered to raise that money. Is it that they just don’t they want tertiary education in the state to be affordable or

what? “ she asked.

The fees paid by part-time students are considered the bulk of the university’s revenue in providing quality sound education and amenities to the student population. Scraping the part time studies will have an adverse effect on the fees of full time students.

Recently the university announced plans to increase the fees of full-time students after six years of increasing it from N250 to N25, 000. The proposed increment is said to shore up the internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the 28-year old university.

The Dean of Post-Graduate Studies, Prof Babatubde Elemo who spoke on behalf of the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, corrected misconceptions generated by the discontinuation of part-time programmes and increment of tuition fees.

STUDENTS of the Sandwich Programme of the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, have been warned to refrain from untoward activities, such as rape, cultism and harassment of lecturers and student.

The Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dada Adelowo, gave the warning at the 2011 contact session at the institution main auditorium.

He said: “You are mature students and family persons whom one will not expect to exhibit any anti-social activities and irresponsible behaviours, such as cultism, examination malpractices, rape, harassment of lecturers, truancy, hooliganism in the name of aluta continua, wearing indecent dresses and more.”

He, however, urged the students to strive hard to come out with flying colours in their academic pursuits.

At the ceremony, the Registrar of the university, Dr. Omojola Awosusi, administered the matriculation oath on the new students.

38

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

EDUCATION UNAAB FILE

SCHOLARSHIP

Varsity hosts Conference THE University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB) will host the 39th Weed Science Society of Nigeria (WSSN) Conference between October 30 and November 2.

The theme of the Conference is “Re-strategising weed management for the attainment of Food security and environmental sustainability”.

A statement by the Chairman, Local Organising Committee, Dr M.O. Atayese, said the Conference would bring together weed scientists and specialists to enable them exchange and disseminate knowledge in weed management and farming for the attainment of food security and environmental sustainability.

Don becomes Council member THE Dean, College of Animal Science and Livestock Production, Prof Christian Ikeobi, has been elected into the Council of the Nigeria Institute of Animal Science (NIAS).

Ikeobi was elected during the Institute’s Annual General Meeting in Enugu. He is to represent the Animal Genetics and Breeding sub-discipline on the Institute.

A statement signed by the Registar, Dr Godwin Oyediji, said Ikeobi’s election is for three years.

Also elected as members of Council is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof Israel Adu, who emerged the 1st VicePresident, while Prof Olufunmilayo Adebambo is now a Fellow of the Institute.

AAUA FILE Don chairs electoral body

APPROACHING DEADLINES Cranfield University offers Doctorate Studentship in nanotechnology, materials sciences, aerospace, mechanical or structural engineering, UK Study Subject(s):Thermo-mechanical Properties of Polyamide Nanocomposites for Automotive Applications Course Level:PhD Scholarship Provider: EPSRC and Eaton Scholarship can be taken at: UK Eligibility:-Applicants should have a First or Second Class UK Honours degree (or equivalent) or MSc in a relevant discipline such as nanotechnology, materials sciences, aerospace, mechanical or structural engineering.

Scholarship Open for International Students: Yes (EU/ UK) Scholarship Description: Cranfield University is seeking a highly motivated graduate to undertake this exciting research project, which aims to develop an automotive lightweight engine component as concept demonstrator by exploiting nano-scale complexity in materials. The key objective is to tailor, at the nanoscale, novel material systems with radically new or enhanced properties and performance based upon improved understanding of thermoplastic nanocomposite.

How to Apply: Online Scholarship Application Deadline: September 9, 2011 Procter & Gamble funded PhD Studentship for International Students in the Mechanics of Shaving at Department of Engineering,University of Cambridge, UK Study Subject(s):Mechanics of Shaving Course Level:PhD Scholarship Provider: University of Cambridge, UK Scholarship can be taken at: UK Eligibility: Applicants must have a strong first degree in a relevant discipline such as engineering (mechanical, bio-medical etc.), materials science, or physics.

The studentship will provide maintenance and covers approved College and University fees for UK/EU or overseas student for 3 years. The start date of the project is January 5, 2012.

Scholarship Open for International Students: Yes Scholarship Description: A position exists for a PhD research student to develop a fundamental understanding of the mechanics of shaving of facial hair. The project is funded by Procter & Gamble via their subsidiary Gillete. Gillette have developed instrumentation capability to characterise the mechanical response of hair during shaving. The broad aim of the research is to extend the capability through further characterisation of the mechanical aspects of shaving. Further characterisation will enhance model fidelity of predictive simulation of the shaving process. The PhD project will focus on understanding the mechanical interactions typical of wet shaving. The project will be a combination of experimental and theoretical research. Parts of the experimental work will be performed at Gillette and involve developing an in-vitro model and collecting key data that will be used to develop a constitutive model. The constitutive model will be incorporated into a commercial finite element package such as ABAQUS for use in virtual shaving stroke simulations.

How to Apply: Online Scholarship Application Deadline: September 16, 2011

Doctorate Studentship in the field of materials science, chemistry, engineering or a related field, environment at Cranfield University, UK Study Subject(s):Detection of Environmental Nanoparticles Course Level:PhD Scholarship Provider: NERC and Casella Measurement Scholarship can be taken at: UK Eligibility: -Applicants should have a First or Second Class UK Honours degree (or equivalent) or MSc in a materials science, chemistry, engineering or a related field, a strong interest in the environment and a background in materials science, chemistry, engineering or a related field.

-Working closely with industry, the candidate should also have strong communications skills and an ability to work in a multidisciplinary team as well as self motivation and project planning.

Scholarship Open for International Students: Yes (UK and EU) Scholarship Description: The project will involve synthesis and study of nanomaterials, design and construction of sensor elements, and integration of sensor elements with test equipment. The project is supported

by NERC and Casella Measurement, and provides a unique opportunity to produce world leading science with immediate industrial impact. The successful applicant will spend their time at both Casella Measurement, in Bedford and Cranfield University. Working with the Manufacturing and Material, and the Environment Doctoral Training Centres at Cranfield University will provide the student with access to peer support and dedicated training programmes for continued personal development.

How to Apply: Online Scholarship Application Deadline: September 12, 2011Research job for the applicants of EDCTP-EEIG Member States and sub-Saharan African countries funded by EDCTP in Clinical Trials of Disease HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in EDCTP- EEIG Member State.

Study Subject(s):Clinical Trials/Capacity Building/Networking Course Level:Research Scholarship Provider: EDCTP Scholarship can be taken at: EDCTP- EEIG Member State Eligibility:1. Proposals must be submitted before the deadline in pdfformat 2. Applications must be in English 3. Evidence of scientific review and where applicable, ethical review and approval by a competent authority from one of the participating EDCTP-EEIG Member States must be provided together with the application. This applies to both the proposed MSI Project(s) as well as the projects they will be coordinating 4. Participants in a proposal must be from at least two publicly funded institutions from separate EDCTP-EEIG Member States; and at least one publicly funded institution from sub-Saharan Africa 5. While participation from the private sector is encouraged, the project coordinator must be employed by a public institution and must be a resident of either an EDCTP-EEIG Member State or a sub- Saharan African country. Preference will be given to proposals where the project coordinator is a sub-Saharan African national based in Africa 6. Cofunding should be secured from at least two legal funding authorities of EDCTP-EEIG Member States 7. MSI Projects should be completed before December 31, 2013.

THE Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has appointed the Acting Dean, Faculty of Science of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko (AAUA), Dr Olugbenga Ebenezer Ige, as the Chairman of the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission.

Until his appointment, Ige was on several committees in the university including the Students Union Electoral Committee, which he chaired in 2007; Member, Committee on Presidential Visit, AAUA, 2006; and Member, PostUTME Screening Committee, 2005date.

Ige studied Botany at the University of Benin (1984) and the University of Ibadan (M.Sc. and PhD in Palynology & Palaeoecology – 1993 and 2004).

He will lead an eight-man commission comprising Chief Bisi Ogundipe, Mrs. Joke Adebusoye, Mrs. Lola Adewumi and Comrade Bayo Williams,Mr. Adeoye Omolekulo Mr. Amos Fadope and Mr Ayo Ajayi.

Lecturer appraises programme A LECTURER in the Department of Arts Education, AAUA Dr Moshood Hassan, appraised the entrepreneurship education in AAUA (2006-2010) at the 18th International Learning Conference, which held at University of Mauritius, Mauritius.

Hassan, whose paper was ENtitled, “Appraisal of Entrepreneurship Education of Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria, on the Production of Small and Medium Scale Industrialists, said it was ‘an avenue to project AAUA’s image in Nigeria.”

•From Left: Mr Saheed Akinrinade, Mr Olumide Farinloye, and Mr Wasiu Balogun presenting a plaque to Grace Adesina of Ansar-ud-deen Comprehensive Senior High School, Okota, Lagos, winner of the Academic Excellence Initiative (AEI) (Mushin Zone) Annual Quiz Competition, at the Ikeja Grammar School Hall, Oshodi, Lagos

Auchi Poly gets Registrar, Director of physical planning HE Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi in Edo State has appointed Dr Margaret Aashikpelokha as the new Registrar of the institution.

The council also appointed Mr Abubakar Alasa, an engineer, as the new Director of Physical Planning for the institution.

Dr Aashikpelokha until her appointment was the Deputy Registrar, Senior Staff Establishment Di-

T

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

vision and was the pioneer Head of Management, Information Service unit.

She holds a doctorate degree from the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma.

Alasa was until his appointment the Acting Director of Works Services and holds a Masters in Engineering from the University of Benin.

Meanwhile, the National Council

of Women Societies (NCWS) has conferred a national merit award on the Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Philipa Idogho for her leadership style.

Presenting the award, National President of NCWS, Hajia Ramatu Usman, who was represented by the Chairperson, Edo State wing of the council, Mrs Esther Ogbewele, said the polytechnic had experienced positive change since Mrs. Idogho assumed office.

Responding, Dr Idogho said the honour was a challenge to her to strive harder in uplifting the cause of womenfolk.

She remarked that her appointment as the first woman Rector and being an alumnus of the institution was a test case for women in Edo State, adding that she had a place in history and needed to play her role well so as to inspire and encourage other women.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

39

EDUCATION

Pupils visit The Nation

A

S part of their summer school programme, the pupils of Evaron nursery and Primary School, Surulere, have visited The Nation Headquarters on excursion.

Accompanied by five of their teachers, no fewer than 40 pupils toured The Nation’s premises. They went to the Advertising Department, Newsroom and Printing Press. The pupils were given insight into how the operation of a newspaper house.

Amina Maiyaki, a Basic 5 pupil, said: “I enjoyed the excursion very well today. They showed us how to print a paper and how to work inside the newsroom.”

Mrs. Nike Maiyaki, the chairperson of the parent Teacher Association (PTA), Committee, who accompanied the children, thanked The Nation and the Education desk for the tour. She encouraged the children to ensure that they attentively when they go on excursion. She also encouraged The Nation to have more pages and articles on children. She said: “… I encourage them to have more educational pages with topics that the children can relate to. It will encourage them to read. This way, if their parents will not buy the paper, the children will and if not, their

•Evaron pupils pose for a photograph at The Nation

By Mfon Paul Bassey

efforts will encourage their parents to buy it thereby creating more wealth for the organization.”

“Just like every other sector, the education sector is degenerating.

There are more private schools coming up than public schools. So, I will

encourage the government to put more funds into education, especially in the practical and technological aspects. Since those are the aspects that are pushing other nations forward…”

Kemi Runsewe, of the Education Desk, one of the facilitators, said the

visit was a sign that greater things are happening in the education sub sector. She said: “The feeling I got when the children asked questions can be likened to that of a child being

OSOPADEC to award 250 scholarship

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HE Ondo State Oil Producing Area Commission (OSOPADEC) has pledged to sponsor 250 indigent girls from oilproducing areas of the state to school.

Its Chairman, Prince Debo Ajimuda, has urged indigent and orphaned girl-children in the areas to take advantage of the street-to-school scholarship scheme.

The scheme, being done in collaboration with the Feminine Care Development Foundation, is set to send 250 girl-children back to school and also empower 150 young women with entrepreneurial skills.

Ajimuda said the commission decided to embark on the life-changing project to encourage indigenes in the oil producing areas to fulfill their educational ambition.

•Pupils of the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) Secondary School, Yaba, during their graduation held at the YABATECH Sports Centre.

CISCO trains King’s College teachers

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EACHERS and administrative workers of King’s College, Lagos, will resume for the 2011/2012 academic session raring to go with upgraded Information Communication Technology (ICT) skills.

They got intensive five-day ICT training from UNITES/CISCO Networking Academy engaged by the STEP-B department of the college.

Project Manager for UNITES/ CISCO Academy and one of the facilitators, Mr Moses Imayi, said science, technical, engineering and mathematics teachers and other cadre of administrative workers of were given ICT training to enable them better engage their pupils and carry out administrative tasks.

He said they learnt to use a combination of applications including Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint, database management, security, Onenote, Access, and Corel Draw, use of interactive boards, and social media.

He added that the training would help teachers become computer literate like many of their pupils.

“The whole essence is for them to

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

use basic ICT applications to engage students from a more innovative point of view, input data, and collate results among others.

The teachers had a learning visit to CISCO Victoria Island office which exposed them to tele-presence technology, while they go lectures on the benefits of some of the gadgets.

“We have been able to train their minds. They now appreciate the role ICT can play in education and how they can use it. We want teachers to be at par with their students,” he said.

One of the teachers, Mr Uche Harrison, who teaches Biology, said the training would enhance the

way he teaches his subject from now on.

“Considering all the packages that we covered, they have provided us with the modern technology of presentation. It will improve the learning experience for students,” he said.

The workshop was declared open

by Dr Lai Ogunbambi, Chairman, Manpower Development subcommittee of the School Based Management Committee and the Principal, Otunba Dele Olapeju.

Ogunbambi urged the teachers to embrace ICT as a means of service delivery in order to compete favourably with their colleagues globally.

‘The whole essence is for them to use basic ICT applications to engage students from a more innovative point of view, input data, and collate results among others’

promised a new toy and seeing the toy in the hands of her mother. The enthusiasm that they are showing is a good omen that the future of our country is truly bright.”

He urged the girls and women to register for the scholarship and the entrepreneurial training at the two local government councils in Ilaje and Ese Odo. The registration starts on Monday next week at Ilaje High School.

Speaking on the initiative, the Coordinator of Feminine Care Development Foundation, Miss Jumoke Awe, said: “I believe very strongly that the empowerment women must begin with the empowerment of girls through education, and gender equity in education is a critical starting point in discontinuing the traditional inequalities that make it impossible for girls and women to contribute to the fundamental changes in sustainable development in the society.”

Arrest terrorists, says cleric at school dedication

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HE Federal Government has been told to roll out its security apparatus to arrest those behind terrorism in Nigeria, particularly members of the Boko-Haram sect.

The Bishop of the Ekiti Anglican Diocese, Most Rev Samuel Ade gave the charge at the dedication of the Ebenezer Anglican Church Oke- Ila which was built on a land donated several years ago, by the Acting ViceChancellor of the Ekiti State University, Prof Dada Adelowo.

The Bishop asked Nigerians to join hands with government to expose

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those behind the heinous crimes which have crippled the nation’s social activities.

Rev Abe said genuine Christians and genuine Muslims should fervently pray to God to unmask the terrorists.

He commended Prof Adelowo for his untiring role in the development of the church. He also commended the vicar of the church for his loyalty and announced his promotion to the position of a Canon.

Canon Shittu is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Agricultural Science of the university.

Provosts elect chairman HE Provost, Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE), Omu-Ijebu, Dr Abiodun Ojo,

has been elected National Chairman, Committee of Provosts of State Colleges of Education in Nigeria.

Ojo was unanimously elected at

the 63rd meeting of the committee at the Niger State College of Education, Minna.

A statement by the Public Relations Officer of TASCE, Mrs Fisayo Olajide, said Ojo, a seasoned administrator, would be in office for two years.

OUR ERROR Prof Lanre Awosika Fapetu did not teach at the Lagos State University (LASU) as erroneously published on Page 37 of The Nation, Thursday, September 1, 2011. She lectures at the University of Wisconsin Stout, Wisconsin and the Liberty University, Virginia, both in the United States and not the Wisconsin Stout Liberty University, Virginia. We regret the error.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

40

EDUCATION EDUTALK

with

Addressing

the ‘Nigerian factor’

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•Project Consultant to Amuwo Odofin LG Mr Bilamin Fashola, Comrade Adewale, LG Vice Chairman Mrs Dada Qudirat and Council Manager, Victor Layeni presenting free uniforms to a pupil

Local govt gives schools facelift

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HE Chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, Lagos State, Comrade Ayodele Adebowale Adewale, said his adminstration has touched the 20 public primary schools in the council.

While presenting his scorecard to reporters at the council secretariat, Adewale said continuous teacher training has also been given urgent attention by his administration. He said he also distributed free school uniforms and other teaching aids to pupils.

Adewale said the council made efforts to improve the welfare of head teachers, particularly those in riverine schools. According to him, a new block of six classrooms stands at RMC, Igbologun, while another new block for head teachers was constructed at Sagbokoji Primary School.

Other primary schools that have either being renovated or refurbished include AUD Primary School (six classrooms rehabilitated), Ado-Soba Village and New Town Primary School, Festac Town (administrative block).

Central Primary School, Fifth Avenue, Festac Town (six-classroom) Festac Primary School, Festac Town (Administrative Block), among others.

He said: “Out of the 20 primary

By Adegunle Olugbamila

schools in this local government, we have touched and rehabilitated all in line with our campaign promises before the election, and rehabilitations, still continues to live up to those contemporary structures we have in private schools. We built some schools the one in the riverine, and we are still building some.

We actually trained the teachers. But on the part of the pupils in public primary schools, we recognise the fact that many of them were indigents, so we had to provide 220.000 books, 13,300 uniforms, and 6,600 maths sets.

“Hygiene became another worrisome issue. We discovered that many of the toilets were bad. We had to design a modern toilet for them and out of the 20, and we had put in 15 with treatment plant and boreholes. We also tried to remove child labour from schools. So we engaged two cleaners and one gardener per school to help with the cleaning. For us to have the efficiency, they required from the head teachers, we also have to rehabilitate their staffrooms. Now in the office of the headteachers, we have air conditioning, swivel chairs and very good furniture. We are also talking to donor agencies to come in and support us.

“In primary school also, we organised an education summit where we brought in private students and tutors, and of course a lot of ideas emanated from that summit one of which was to organise sporting competition for them. To our amazement, pupils in public schools outperformed their counterparts in private schools. We also recognised that if we did not bridge them particularly when they are growing up, we now create apathy and inferiority complex. Many of the private schools who came showed willingness to support the government and public schools via infrastructural development. The former deputy governor of Lagos State Princess Adebisi Sosan, also assisted us with pieces of furniture for the school.

“We also realise many in public secondary schools could not afford GCE forms. On two occasions, so we bought 600 each making it 1,200 forms. Then, we bought 500 JAMB forms at two instances making 1000 forms. We also recognise that JAMB is beyond speed and brilliance. So we met with one Mr Odumosu, an notable educationist who runs an education institute and he organised a seminar and tutorials for them in partnership with the NUT and it was very successful and many of them are now in their tertiary institutions.”

LSUBEB ‘is the best in Southwest’

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HE Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) is poised to work harder to provide basic education for all school-aged children irrespective of social status, its Chairman, Mrs Gbolahan Daodu, has said.

Speaking after receiving the best SUBEB in the Southwest award from the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) at the board’s secretariat in Maryland, Mrs Daodu said more needs to be done to improve education.

“We still have a long way to go.

Nobody should feel happy with the status of education at the moment. If this country will develop, it behooves of the Federal, State and Local governments to put heads together so that our priority would be to make sure that resources are allocated first to education. It behooves that those in charge should judiciously ap-

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

ply the funds, not waste it. It is our preoccupation that every child’s progress is taken care of,” she said.

Addressing the four students that represented the NANS leadership, Mrs Daodu urged them to contribute their quota to national development by airing their views on issues of national concern.

“I appeal to you to continue to encourage your members to be proactive in their response to issues. Raise your voice on any matter. I want to see more involvement of NANS; speak out on national issues,” she said.

Responding to the students’ request for assistance in getting a bus, Mrs Daodu said the board needed more funds to cover its activities but promised to assist the association in other ways.

Earlier, Dolapamo Bolanle, the

Special Adviser on Special Duties to the NANS President, Ini Ememobong , presented a plaque to Mrs Daodu as well as certificates.

The Board Secretary, Mrs Idayat Oluseye, and permanent members of the board were also presented with certificates in absentia which were received by top management staff cadre.

In a speech read by Bolanle, Ememobong gave reason for the award, saying the association “felt it expedient to appreciate the impact of some stakeholders in the education sector by critically looking into their performances and adequately rewarding them.”

He also announced that the body elected Muhammed Dauda of the University of Jos as the next NANS President during its convention in Bayelsa state.

Daudu will be inaugurated next month.

HAT is the Nigerian factor? We hear of it all the Kofoworola time. We are told that it is the reason nothing works in Belo-Osagie the most populous black nation on planet earth even when Kofosagie@yahoo.com things work in other places. We 08054503077 (SMS only) do not know if there have been attempts to combat it so that its effects on the development of the country are mitigated.

I have not found any definition of the ‘Nigerian factor’. If I am to attempt a definition, I would describe it is the inability to follow rules, or the penchant for bending rules, or seeking short cuts.

If we are to eliminate the Nigerian factor, we have to start training our young ones in schools and homes to appreciate rules for what they are – to create order and progress in the society. I do not think we have been able to quantify what our lack of reverence for laws, time, and contracts have cost us. As a result, we cannot truly appreciate the implications.

Why we like to bend laws is something I cannot understand. For instance, if somebody breaks a traffic law, it does not take time before the guilty party gets a lot of sympathisers ready to bet their lives that he should be left off the hook. Any official that insists on implementing the rule is perceived as ‘very wicked’. However, in many of the advanced countries we aim to be like, rules are rules. If you break a law, you will be punished.

A colleague told of a boss who never broke any traffic rule, even when very inconvenient. His vehicle papers were always in order so policemen who stopped him found no excuse whatsoever to detain him or ask for bribe. She said the boss in question hated to have to say ‘abeg sir’ for something he could have done right in the first instance. However, the larger percentage of Nigerians prefer to ‘abeg sir’ to get out of tight situations.

I do not know if there is still hope for the older generations of Nigerians, whether they can still be taught to live by rules. However, we should invest in our young ones so they grow up to become law abiding citizens. We should not allow them to get away with short cuts or think that favouritism, nepotism or bribery can make a way for them. Once they know that the only route is the straight and narrow, and there are consequences of not following it, majority will comply. There will always be undesired elements in the society, but when the majority does not brook nonsense, there will be faith in the system and things will work out.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to teach people, especially children, what to do and not live by example. So, even the adults have to straighten up for the positive impact we desire to trickle down to the little ones. No amount of preaching would make significant impact if it does not go with sincerity and exemplary living on the part of the preacher.

No matter how hard we try, there are no shortcuts to the Promised Land because universal principles have to be applied to embark on the journey. Instead of roaming about in the desert of poverty and backwardness because we fail to do what is right, like the biblical Israelites’ journey in the wilderness, we should settle down and learn to do things right.

From my Inbox Re: High Maintenance Students (Thursday, September 1, 2011) Madam, good morning, I just read your piece on “High maintenance students” and I just want to summarise the whole issue thus: “overprotection” (forgive me; I don’t know if such word exists). The thing is, we try to absorb our children’s fears and mishaps for them instead of allowing them to experience them. Experiencing all the thick and thin of life is part of human development. So what do we have, grown ups that are seriously ‘undeveloped’. M. Lawal, Port Harcourt.

Re: Shameful UNICAL crisis (Thursday, September 1, 2011) Ha! Kofo! So it is bonafide UNICAL students who rampaged to cause that massive damage? Don’t you believe it; not yet. So many versions of the cause of the riot are flying around. You are a journalist; please dig to find out the truth. Are there really ‘students’ who passed through that university without paying stipulated fees, but still obtained clearance and ‘graduate’ by bribing their way through the Accounts Department? Most universities now admit and register their students online.

What has prevented UNICAL from doing so? Does the university maintain a security outfit? How could such be found wanting? It is very wrong for innocent students to be made to pay for the lapses of others. 080556635—.

Re: Students and Visa palaver (Thursday, August 25, 2011) I read your piece in The Nation of August 25. You have spoken well. It is only God that can save our country from diplomatic shame. Thank you Belo-Osagie. 08068681—.

Kudos on your write-up on students visa palaver. You did not remember to talk about the non refundable visa fees these people collect despite their refusal. I see it as daylight robbery. Government must regulate these embassies not to oppress us in our land. Olowo Ayo.

SLIDING TACKLE

"The truth is that I did not know the rules from UEFA. I based myself on what I had been told, that is that I would be eligible as long as I did not play against Victoria Guimaraes. I had spoken to Atletico about not playing against Guimaraes as I knew I would be moving to Inter."

42

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Socrates hospitalised again after bleeding

US OPEN...US OPEN...US OPEN...

Federer crushes Juan Monaco JUAN Monaco discovered to his cost that Roger Federer does not like to be kept waiting as the five-time champion coasted into a record 30th consecutive grand slam quarter-final at the US Open.

The match did not start until 11.50pm after the marathon encounter between Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova, but Federer took only 18 minutes to wrap up the first set and continued in the same vein to triumph 6-1, 6-2, 6-0. He is likely to have a much tougher time in the last eight, though, with big-hitting Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - who has beaten Federer in their last two meetings -- lying in wait.

The third seed looked like he meant business straight away, firing winners off both wings and it took Argentinian Monaco until the sixth game to get on the board.

Another break at the start of the second set was not a

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X-BRAZIL captain Socrates has returned to hospital, after s u f f e r i n g m o r e gastrointestinal bleeding, it has emerged.

The former Corinthians star had only been discharged on August 27, after spending nine days at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo for the same problem, but according to relatives, the bleeding has recurred, forcing him to undergo an emergency procedure to stop the haemorrhage.

It is said Socrates needed special breathing equipment while doctors performed a number of procedures to help stem the bleeding.

Socrates' wife Katia Bagnarelli told the Brazilian press that doctors have asked for the prayers of everyone around him, while they have struggled to operate the stomach-related disorder, caused by excessive alcohol consumption, which the 57year-old freely admits.

"I've paid the price for alcohol abuse," Socrates told TV show Fantastico one day after his discharge.

"Basically [the problem was caused] by alcohol," he continued. "The whole liver is inflamed and nothing is passing through it. It's like a blood pump, and it has to blow up somewhere - in my case, in my stomach."

During the interview, the former Fiorentina man also confirmed that he would stop

Former Atletico Madrid player, Diego Forlan explaining he did not know that he would be excluded from playing in the Champions League group stages for his new club, Inter Milan.

•Socrates

I

•Forlan

•Federer

Murray facing tough schedule

drinking altogether, but his latest problems make it his second liver-based crisis.

An attacking midfielder,

Socrates was one of the most talented footballers of his generation, captaining the 1982 and 1986 Brazil

ANDY Murray faces the prospect of having to play four matches in five days if he is to achieve his dream of winning a grand slam title at the US Open after the New York weather hit the headlines again on day nine.

An earthquake and hurricane dominated the W o r l d C u p s q u a d s , build-up to the tournament culminating in his induction but yesterday it was the more into the Brazilian Football familiar sight of rain falling as

Museum Hall of Fame and the Fifa 100.

Forlan frowns on omission from CL group stage NTER striker Diego Forlan admits he was unaware he would be ineligible to play in the Champions League group stages following his move from Atletico Madrid.

After signing the Uruguayan striker from the Spanish club, the Serie A giants attempted to include him in their 25-man squad for Europe's elite competition.

However, they were forced to perform a u-turn after it emerged Forlan will be unable

surprise but Monaco, who had given Federer a good test in both their previous meetings, at least had slightly more success, although he did suffer the indignity of a complete game of aces against him. He battled to hold onto his serve in a lengthy fifth game, at one point turning to his box with his arms outstretched as he sought an answer to the Federer onslaught.

to play until after the group stage because he had already played for Atletico Madrid in their Europa League third qualifying round tie against Stromsgodset.

"The truth is that I did not know the rules from UEFA," Forlan told Radio Onda Cero.

"I based myself on what I had been told, that is that I would be eligible as long as I did not play against Victoria Guimaraes.

"I had spoken to Atletico

about not playing against Guimaraes as I knew I would be moving to Inter."

Inter travel to Palermo on Sunday for their first Serie A game of the season.

Zidane's son Enzo trains with Real Madrid stars INEDINE Zidane's

Z

son Enzo got his first taste of training alongside Real Madrid's senior players after being allowed to participate in Tuesday's session by coach Jose Mourinho.

The club's official website said Zidane junior, who plays for one of the Madrid youth teams, trained alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil and Kaka as he impressed onlookers.

His father, a former France international and now Real Madrid director of sport, was standing alongside Mourinho as they watched the action unfold at the Valdebebas training centre.

Enzo, who normally plays in midfield enjoyed the experience as he listened to orders from the former Inter coach.

Zidane senior played for Real Madrid between 2001

and 2006 and enjoyed a glittering career at the Bernabeu after moving there from Juventus.

He will, perhaps, be best remembered in Spain for his volley against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League final which they won under Vicente Del Bosque's leadership.

•Zidane

•Murray

the entire day's play was washed out. Organisers were so sure there would be no chance of conditions improving that they cancelled play at lunchtime, leaving the bottom half of the men's draw, including Murray and defending champion Rafael Nadal, at a significant disadvantage.

All other sections of the draw are already at the quarter-final stage, and six last-eight matches will be played today alongside the remaining fourth-round clashes, which will kick off a bumper schedule.

Murray's match against American hope Donald Young, which was due to be on Arthur Ashe Stadium, has been moved to the Grandstand court, with Nadal's battle against Gilles Muller taking centre stage instead.

Serena star to watch as final looms WHETHER or not she ends up holding the trophy at the end, Serena Williams has no competition at the U.S. Open this year.

She is the top personality, the woman to watch in a sport that has struggled of late to find, and hold onto, a compelling star.

Part of it is because of the basic numbers — Williams has 13 Grand Slam titles compared to the grand total of zero from the other seven women left in the field.

Part of it is the image — a mercurial and physically intimidating presence on the court, who can nonetheless charm people when she's off of it.

"There are certain people who are pretty special," said Tracy Austin, who was one of

•Serena those people back in her day, "and sometimes we don't appreciate it 'til they're gone."

Williams' run at the title is scheduled to resume Wednesday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, where she'll p l a y A n a s t a s i a Pavlyuchenkova, a 20-year-old Russian matching her deepest run in a major.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

43

e-Business Tackling challenges of e-payment Ahead of the full-scale roll out of mobile money services, stakeholders are seeking the plugging of every anticipated loophole to ensure successful implementation of the scheme, ADLINE ATILI writes

T

HE deployment of mobile payment solutions in banking, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), is to ensure the inclusion of the un-banked and underserved. It is also to introduce a cashless economy, by making e-payment channels available; riding on proliferation of mobile telecommunications providers and wide use of mobile phones.

Mobile payment or mobile money is an alternative payment method. Instead of paying with cash, cheque, credit or debit cards, a consumer can use a mobile phone to pay for a wide range of goods and services, such as subscription, books, magazines, tickets, transportation fare, vehicle fuelling and other services. The same mobile phone could also be used to send, receive money and perform other financial transactions.

Experts say while mobile payment includes transactions conducted via mobile banking systems, a distinction between mobile payments and mobile banking services should be noted.

They explain that mobile banking services are based on banks’ legacy systems and offered for the customers, while mobile payments are offered as a new payment service to a retail market, characterised by a multitude of competing providers, such as banks and telecom operators; two different and demanding groups of adopters, consumers and merchants; and challenges regarding standardisation and compatibility of different payment systems.

Mobile payment has been well-adopted in many parts of Europe and Asia. Combined market for all types of mobile payments is expected to reach more than $600 billion globally by 2013, while mobile payment market for goods and services, excluding money transfers is expected to exceed $300 billion globally by 2013.

Mobile payments are commonly expected to increase consumer convenience by reducing the need for cash in small transactions and increasing the availability of purchase possibilities.

As mobile payments represent a new system in Nigeria with the CBN’s grant of operating licences to operators, stakeholders say barriers that may impede success of the exercise must be removed.

They argue that in removing the barriers, a functional mobile money model should be created, adding that effective policies should be formulated and strictly implemented for the scheme to thrive.

Head of Financial Inclusion, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Ada Phil-Ugochukwu, noted that creating a functional mobile money model can be complicated, especially in a country like Nigeria.

According to her, it calls for collaboration from two distinct domains: telephony and banking; as well as for partnerships with a variety of players, such as agents, some unfamiliar, to manage cash collections and disbursements and promote adoption, emphasising effective collaboration between the NCC and the CBN to drive financial inclusion through mobile payment.

She said further: “Licensed mobile operators in the country, with the right technology, agent network, risk management process and customer service, will not only capture the opportunity in the market, but also have unique know-how that would be valuable in other emerging and frontiers markets, either through strategic alliances or direct investment.

Phil-Ugochukwu, however, decried the low level of penetration of the initiative in Nigeria, which she described as a very important market in terms of volume.

She noted that across African countries where it is fully operational, mobile money is bringing financial services to people without easy access to traditional banking channels, as well as people with very small deposits and loans which are unprofitable for banks using traditional delivery models.

•A basic mobile phone, such as this, can be used as an alternative to a debit card and bank account

At a forum on mobile money last week, Chief Executive Officer of ITWorld International, Mr Enyi Moses said mobile money has continued to provide millions of people around the world with access to finance and demand has continued to increase.

He said going by forecasts, over the next couple of years, the number of people with access to mobile phones but no access to traditional financial services are projected to grow from 1 billion to 1.7 billion and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are poised to earn $7.8 billion in direct and indirect revenues from more than 350 million clients.

He, however, said the system is incredibly challenged by a variety of obstacles including the number of players in the value chain; the majority of target consumers having never transacted electronically; the challenge of finding and activating an effective distribution network; issues around regulatory compliance; and the technical challenges of integration into the wider ecosystem.

According to him, there is need for stakeholders to galvanise efforts and resolve all issues and challenges that may impede mobile money revolution across the country.

To the Director-General, Koffi Annan Centre for ICT Excellence, Ghana, Mrs Doherty Gordon, a key factor that would determine success of mobile payment in Nigeria is understanding the market.

She argued that understanding the market and users of the service would spur telecom operators, on whose platform mobile payment is going to ride, into developing essential value-added services to serve all segments of the market.

She said: “Operators should look at their

value added services divisions to find out what kind of people are working in value-added service.

“You find people in Telcos looking cute and elegant, speaking good English; but how well do they understand the average citizen of the country?

“Somebody who does not speak English, does not read English, cannot read text messages because they are illiterate in every language, how is it that we are going to shape our mobile industry to address this particular need because that is where there is a lot of money to be made?

“We have to develop our country not just our urban areas but also the rural areas. I had an opportunity of looking up some donor programme in India, so I was able to study the Indian IT industry for a couple of years and I think that is where you can see real innovation because the people themselves understand their market.

“I think one big issue with mobile payment today is understanding our market and how we are going to reach that market because there are some specifics to our market outside other markets.

“This is a question of looking at your market, understanding your people and developing what they need.

“There are lots of young talents out there but the value-added service division of Telcos are not set up so as to get that innovation from these young talents yet; mobile payment is going to depend on mobile content.

“If you don’t have the content it will not augur well not just for the cash transaction with the vendors, but for other things which will be on the mobile.

‘There is need for stakeholders to galvanise efforts and resolve all issues and challenges that may impede mobile money revolution across the country ... Awareness and consumer education are important to ensure a successful implementation of the scheme’

“Today, you see people going crazy over ring tones; you see little bit of KYC and text messages as a means of marketing. There is so much potential on the content side. It is important that stakeholders do not forget the content dimension as we go with this wonderful journey of mobile payment.”

She stressed that if Nigeria gets the mobile payment system right, more linkages will be created by the telecom companies, within the economy especially in mobile payment, which will boost growth of the financial system.

She likened the telecom industry in Africa to an ‘extractive industry’ where enormous funds are repatriated because majority of the shareholders are not national.

“We must look at the telecom industry as something creating more linkages within our economy, especially the mobile payment; if we get it right, it is going to help us in creating those linkages within our economy so that if you have 1kobo being sent to your provider, there are so many other people benefiting from that money which has been created.

“Right now in many countries, telecommunications is a little bit like an extractive industry where huge amount of money is being repatriated because majority of shareholders are not national.

“Naturally in Nigeria, you have nationals as well but this is an issue that can be addressed by the strategy that Nigeria has adopted of creating that new ecosystem of companies.”

Gordon harped on regional integration, in creating a new ecosystem of companies within the economy, saying as the largest black nation, it is important Nigeria gets it right for the impact to be felt in other countries of the world.

She recommended interconnection of switching companies within the region to ensure seamless payment.

She added that a transparent and affordable pricing policy is also important to woo the unbanked.

She said: “What is the cost to the consumer for using a mobile payment system? I think the cost should be quite affordable otherwise; it would discourage potential users of the service.

“I would rather jump into a danfo bus to pay and get to where I am going to make a payment than to pay more than what the danfo is charging me for my mobile payment. It means we have to have a greater transparency in pricing policy if we are really going to reach the un-banked.”

Speaking in the same vein, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah said operators should work with the CBN to ensure mobile payment tariff is suitable and fair to consumers.

He said the commission will draw up a regulatory framework which will address pricing and other issues, adding that awareness and consumer education are important to ensure a successful implementation of the scheme.

President, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) Dr Chris Uwaje believes good policy and strategy instrument are needed to drive a successful mobile money scheme.

“We need them,” he said. “We always find ourselves running without equipment, we need to equip ourselves with what we need to run with.

“Essentially, this is a country where e-transactions are happening without e-law or elegislations; where e-transactions are happening without e-policy; e-transactions are happening without adequate protection of critical information infrastructure.

“We believe that this is very fundamental to the success of what we want to achieve. How do we build the trust for mobile money?

“People will find mobile money interesting if they know that trust has been built, if they know that their dealings have been protected and of course if they know it is sustainable.”

44

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

e-Business

Minister canvasses support for e-voting

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INISTER of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, has recommended the electronic voting technology developed by the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat), for future elections in the country.

Johnson, who was on a visit to NigComSat’s headquarters in Abuja, said government’s possible consideration of an e-voting system, would help the country to achieve transparency in electioneering process and create more credibility in the polity.

According to her, e-voting system has been found to be very robust and cost-effective. She said it would do the country good if the government could look into it and possiblys, adopt it in future.

She noted that there would be no need for the government to expend resources on expatriates to get it done, since a commission had started the process in the country.

She reasoned that such advanced technology, locally developed, needed more awareness to get to the

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heart of the government on its efficiency and capability.

She said: “I have known NigComSat for many years, and I wasn’t aware that they have all these labs here and are creating these wonderful products.

“I think it is about creating awareness, getting these brilliant engineers here to showcase what they did because these are things that are not useful in the lab, but are things that are meant for people to use.

“It might require NigComSat to have an awareness day to get the information out to the general public.”

On the creation of the Ministry of Communications Technology, Johnson said this was borne out of government’s need to boost national development.

According to her, the ministry was committed, in collaboration with all agencies under it, to using ICT for job creation, to increase knowledge and socio-economic development.

“One of the ways to achieve this is to build ICT infrastructure across the nation and that is when some of these products are going to be useful.

“First, we need to create ICT infrastructure, then work with the operators, including the private sector to build broadband infrastructure then we will actually begin to roll out some applications, the kind of thing that NigComSat is doing here.

“Second, is how do we begin to get people to create that content that will be deployed on that infrastructure? This is when you really begin to talk about job creation.

“Finally, we’ll push out government services on this broadband infrastructure, and then things would work effectively in the country.”

Managing Director of NigComSat, Dr Timansaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, said the agency was working on marketing the products through the public private partnership model.

“What we are going to do is to work with the industry partners, small and medium scale enterprises, big time ICT services providers and sell the products to them,” he said.

GADGET TREND Sony Ericsson arrives with Xperia smartphones

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ONY Ericsson has restated its commitment to developing its business operation in Nigeria by launching the new Xperia range of smartphones with cutting-edge Sony technology and an exceptional multimedia experience.

With seven new Xperia models to be introduced by the end of this year, Sony Ericsson continues to bring unique entertainment experience to the consumers, enabling them access to the world of both Android and Sony–all integrated into beautiful and easy-touse devices.

The phones come with the latest version of the Android Operating System, providing access to Google Mobile Services and over 250,000 applications available on the Android market.

According to the Head of Sales for Market Unit Africa, Sony Ericsson, Jonas Gronqwist, “Xperia smartphones add best in class entertainment on top of smartphone fundamentals such as apps, maps, email and fast Internet to create the most entertaining experience.

“Facebook inside Xperia, a feature just announced for the Xperia family, provides a unique social me-

dia integration. It integrates social connections throughout the phone. By making Facebook immediately accessible from the most used areas of the phone such as the picture gallery, music player, phonebook and calendar, Sony Ericsson is enabling people to share and comment more easily than ever before through the new range of Xperia smartphones.

“We want to be leader in Android and perform strongly in Africa.

By introducing the latest Xperia range of phones, we are offering innovative Android choices, combining state-ofthe-art Sony technology with breathtaking design to entertain and wow consumers, all on the latest Android release.”

Xperia at a glance Xperia Arc is the first in the new generation of Xperia smartphones with the stunning design language that Sony Ericsson has become known for.

Super slim and light, Xperia Arc is just 8.7mm at its thinnest part and has a 4.2" multi-touch screen. Created from premium materials and with an arc body, this smartphone is sleek, strong and designed to fit perfectly in the user’s hand.

Glo Power Box to make phones affordable

T •Abia State Governor Theodore Orji (fourth right) and his wife, Odochi, flanked by artistes and Globacom officials, at the Glo Laffta Fest in Umuahia, Abia State.

Firm rolls out mobile money service

W

ITH the issuance of a full operating licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Paga, a financial services platform, is set to offer an easy-touse and secure money transfer service.

Paga enables Nigerians to transfer money via the mobile phone or Internet-enabled device, via multiple channels-SMS, online, and application on the phone-or by visiting a retail agent in Paga’s nationwide network.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Tayo Oviosu, Paga, with strong backing of investors, such as venture capitalist, Tim Draper and Goodwell West Africa, and with strategic relationships across industry sectors in Nigeria, is committed to

fundamentally changing the way Nigerians move cash.

He said: “With Paga, you no longer need to travel with large sums, or give a bus driver money to deliver to your family in the rural area. You simply go to any Paga agent to transfer the money or do so by yourself using your phone or Internet-enabled device. You don’t need a SIM swap; you don’t need a special phone, you don’t even need to download an application.

“All you need is a handset that can send text messages. If you can send a text message, you can use Paga. The CBN framework allows for anyone providing a name and a phone number to use the basic services of Paga. This simple consideration will provide a strong

boost for financial inclusion in Nigeria.”

The simplicity of Paga and ubiquity we achieve via our agent network will deliver the convenience that people want.”

Corroborating, Director of Sales and Business Development Mr Jay Alabraba said Paga works in partnership with select banks, microfinance institutions, and all mobile network operators in Nigeria.

“We aim to have at least one Paga agent in every community and on every street corner in Nigeria, and we are making great progress in building this robust network of agents. Retailers see the value in Paga’s proposition because it enables a significant new line of business,” he added.

Information security workshop holds on Sept 14

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O address the escalating rate of cybercrime in the country, an international security firm, Ernst & Young and its Nigerian partner, Performance Frontiers, an IT solutions provider, are set to introduce a range of information security services into the market.

The two firms will hold an interactive session with the business community in Lagos next Wednesday.

Ahead of the meeting, leader of Hacktics Advanced Security Centre

in Ernst & Young, Mr Tal Mozes, said: “The fast growing market in Nigeria raises the need for global practices in information security to face the escalation of corporate cyber attacks.

“To achieve this, we believe in information sharing with our clients, providing them the ability to selfsustain their own information security practices with the most upto-date techniques, in the rapidly changing security field.”

Managing Director, Performance

Frontiers, Mrs Ify Chukwuma, said the event would serve as a platform to rub minds with the business community and help them stay ahead in information security.

“We desire to help operators in the banking, telecommunications and other relevant industries, ensure data security. Cybercrime is gaining ground in the country.

Operators must be ready to protect their businesses from unwholesome acts of hackers. This would be addressed at the meeting.”

O ensure improved access by Nigerians to its world class telephony services, Globacom, has introduced a special telephone and SIM bundle, Glo Power Box Bundle.

Glo Power Box is a special package comprising a mobile phone bundled with a free Glo SIM card and other freebies. The product is contained in a special Glo branded package called the ‘Power Box.’ Speaking on the new offer, the company’s General Manager, Prepaid Marketing, Ashutosh Tiwary, said the bundle will help ensure that low income earners have access to a good, reliable handset in addition to other benefits from Glo. He said the introduction of Glo Power Box is in line with Globacom’s commitment to providing affordable telephone ownership to Nigerians to encourage mo-

bile penetration among various unrepresented segments in the society.

He explained that while the new product will be sold at N2,000, the bundle offers the subscriber over N3,000 worth of benefits in return.

He said such benefits for subscribers include a 25k per second call rate to all networks, up to 20 per cent recharge bonus, free night calls and discounted IDD benefits on select destinations.

He added: “Subscribers also stand to benefit from the free Glo to Glo airtime and SMS worth N3,000 comprising N200 worth of airtime every month for 12 months and N600 worth of SMS comprising 10 SMS monthly for 12 months offered by the package, provided the subscriber loads a recharge of N500 or more every month on his phone.”

Panasonic unveils products

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EADING electronics company, Panasonic Corporation, has unveiled its 2011 line-up of audiovisual products, camera and camcoders in Nigeria.

At the event in Lagos, the Managing Director of the company, Mr Suraj Rupani, said Panasonic is determined to meet the growing needs of consumers hence the motivation for the new offerings.

He restated the determination of the company to bridge the gap in the electronic market.

The new products included Internet-enabled range of Vierra Infotainment television sets as well as home theatres and DVD players.

According to Rupani, “The new Viera Infotainment television series consist of 3D, LED/LCD and Plasma television sets. These Internet-enabled TV sets demonstrate the company’s commitment to providing consumers with world-class entertainment op-

tions.

“The new series of IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) models provide easy access to variety of Internet services and Web entertainment. Some of the Web-based services that would be enjoyed include Twitter, Skype, Facebook, Bloomberg and others.”

Rupani said the new models combine eco-sensibility with superior product performance for a safe environment. He added that the company was working hard to bring all the products nearest to consumers.

“Right now, we have expanded our reach with six state-of theart sales and service centres where customers can avail themselves of all Panasonic products and genuine spare parts. Our products have been manufactured in a way that makes them consume small amount of power,” he said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

45

e-Business

How to get cheap computers A

T the last count, the PC to person ratio in Nigeria was put at about one PC to over 1000 people. What this means is that most Nigerians are still outside the fringe of the digital age. In a nutshell, the likelihood that government and citizens will be largely driven by computer tools in the next 10 years is very slim. Blame the high cost of computers. And forget the razzmatazz on TV and newspapers on eNigeria, ‘ethis’ and ‘ethat.’ Most Nigerians are hungry and would rather wish to click for food than the computer mouse.

It will cost between N80,000 and N150,000 to acquire an average PC to drive office operation and if you are to extend the luxury to the home front, you will be looking at nearly N160,000 to N300,000. In a depressed economy such as we have here where nearly most Nigerians live below the poverty line and scratch a living on less than two United States dollars a day, the PC remains a luxury that only the rich and not so rich can afford.

If most Nigerians must have the PC within reach then government must intervene at two fronts. First is to address the challenge of surviving an economy in prostrate. Second is to make computers affordable and by so doing, accessible. The key word is access. How do we make the PC accessible to Nigerians without starving them of other essential needs and without relenting in the efforts to conquer crude poverty?

Government has always been

a critical factor in how the life of the citizenry is improved. Economists measure the standard of living of a people from how governance has impacted on real growth in terms of economic activities that have helped to efficiently empower more of the citizens to live an above average life. If we say the Nigerian government has failed it is because for most Nigerians, life is a sordid tale of hunger, depression, unemployment and a tragic personal economy that reflects the collapse of the national economy.

How does the desire for affordable PC fit into this? As long as people are poor and government is too mis-focused to work round addressing poverty by equipping people with affordable digital tools, joining the rest of the world in the New Economy will remain a mirage. Government clearly understands that it cannot wait to eliminate poverty entirely before it begins to kit the citizens with computer tools which informs the various computer initiatives launched at federal and state levels to get the citizens going the e-way.

But these initiatives, though well-intentioned, expose a clear lack of focus at how to make PC access affordable. They have all turned out to be frighteningly expensive, forget the issue of over invoicing and other shades of corruption. The systems, all brand-

new and all delivered as part of syndicated contracts have proven to be blight on governments’ budget and a competing error, as it were, with other far more equally important items such as roads, healthcare delivery and agriculture. If a computer resource centre with 100 systems comes to mean reducing the budget for fertiliser supply by nearly N150 million naira, how do you convince the people that computers make more sense than farming?

That is the dilemma that an organisation such as Computer Aid International (CAI) has been trying to resolve? And for CAI, only government can bring its weight to bear to bring a N15,000 and not an N80,000 computer to enter the office and home environment.

While most government establishments and educational institutions are contending with how to get the needed huge fund to get brand new PCs to drive their office operations, the CAI is creating cheap PC access in several northern and southern locations by simply supplying refurbished PCs for between N14,000 and N15,000 per PC. Since 1998, CAI has remained a major provider of refurbished computers to over 100 countries, helping to lower the cost of PC ownership.

Poverty does not necessarily mean that the citizens must remain at the fringe of the digital age.

Matters e-Rising Segun Oruame segun@segunoruame.com

Indeed, India has proven that poverty is an impetus for government to provide a new economic direction using IT as a tool for economic empowerment. You can create an economically functional IT army out of poor and restless jobless youths. India showed how it works in Bangalore and other locations by creating an environment that encourages cheap access to a greater number of the citizens.

How far can government go by spending massively on brandnew systems? What level of access can it achieve? At this stage of our development, we need access and more of it. Access can only come from cheap systems. It is imperative for government to work closely with organisations that can make cheap access possible.

If an organisation can make us have four PCs at the price of one, we are on the track of getting more of the citizens digitally-enabled without giving them the scare at becoming adventurous with the system.

For a system that will cost between N80,000 and N150,000, forget making armies out of the users. Which youth will be ambitious

‘As long as people are poor and government is too mis-focused to work round addressing poverty by equipping people with affordable digital tools, joining the rest f the world in the New Economy will remain a mirage’

at experimenting with a system that costs nearly his father’s annual salary? We want brandnew systems but we can travel the exciting road of IT with more co-travellers if government and policy makers opt for the more realistic approach. Getting eenabled should not cost us a life.

Ask the Indians how they did it.

But we don’t have to click into the New World Economy with just refurbished systems. Used systems only serve that end of the market that would remain unconnected if nothing urgently and meagerly is done to close a widening gap. Government has the duty to commit good resource to as many citizens as possible in order to kit them for the challenge of the Knowledge Economy. The choice is really between walking into a new world in blindfolds or with wideopened eyes and sharp minds.

As a new dispensation opens in our democratic journey, governments at all levels must consider investing heavily on human capacity and opening ICT resource windows within local councils and small towns. Let us begin to imagine a new future for our almajiris, militants, ‘area boys’ and the so-called social rejects woven around ICT resource centres. But this depends on whether governments can make the right commitment to investing in people for the New Economy and the right balance between fertiliser and computer.

MainOne Cable connects NGCOM

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•From left: Director, Human Capital and infrastructure Group, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Mr Tony Ojobo; Director-General, Dr Umar Bindir; Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah and Director, Public Affairs, Mr Dave Imoko, during a courtesy call on NCC by the NOTAP executives.

AINONE, a private submarine cable company, has announced the connection of NGCOM Ltd, a network solutions company, to its world class Internet Protocol-NGN (Next Generation Network).

Chief Executive Officer of the company, Funke Opeke, said: “By connecting to MainOne’s network, NGCOM has bolstered its desire to be positioned as a prominent provider of reliable Internet services to Nigerians.”

She said MainOne’s pedigree as a provider of affordable broadband service places NGCOM at a vantage point to offer fast and efficient services to its customers.

She said: “The agreement is an-

other opportunity for MainOne to empower NGCOM with affordable package tailored to meet its specific needs and demonstrate the reliability and efficiency of our network. We hope that this relationship will usher in growth for both companies and deliver value to Nigerians.”

Managing Director of NGCOM, Mr Ekeng Ekeng, said the partnership with MainOne will enable the company to offer improved services to its customers as well as grow the bottom line.

He commended the Cableco for the efficiency and reliability of its network, with recognition of the network availability on its platform since its launch.

Way out of SIM registration hitches, by MTN

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O ensure a flawless Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards registration, MTN Nigeria has advised its subscribers to ensure that they register their SIM cards with genuine MTN registration agents and confirm the data imputed in the system before leaving the agents, to ensure that their data is adequately captured and processed.

While reacting to difficulty faced by subscribers in activating their SIM cards after registration, General Manager, Corporate Communications, MTN Nigeria, Mrs Funmi Omogbenigun cited technical challenges arising from poor Internet penetration and difficulties moving data, especially in rural and semi-

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urban areas as responsible for imperfect registration of some subscribers.

She added that incorrect data capture and other omissions by registration agents could result in failed registration.

She said: “Technically, for MTN subscribers, it should take no more than 30 minutes to an hour to receive a prompt intimating them that their registration has been successful. However, there are a number of factors that may work against this timeline, in a very small percentage of cases.

“However, technical challenges arising from poor Internet penetra-

tion and difficulties moving data is a factor that may work against this timeline, in a very small percentage of cases though. This can arise particularly in rural and semi-urban areas were Internet connectivity is an issue and our agents encounter difficulties with access to the Internet.

“Under those circumstances, there is a tendency for agents to either ‘batch’ registrations before uploading them at a convenient time, and/or they are unable to successfully upload in a timely fashion due slow Internet connection.

“Human error can also be a factor.

As you are aware, we utilise the services of third party agents for the SIM registration to complement our efforts. As expected, there are a few

incidents of incorrect data capture or other omissions and this results in a failed registration process.

“We advise our subscribers to ensure that they register with genuine MTN agents and they must insist on confirming the data imputed in the system before they leave the registering agents. This is to ensure that their data is adequately captured and processed. It is also important to emphasise that SIM registration is absolutely free.”

While appealing to a few subscribers whose registration process failed, Omogbenigun said MTN is working relentlessly to ensure a smooth registration process for subscribers by using cutting-edge technology and providing necessary

manpower support to minimise failed registration and maintain advised turnround times.

“So far, we have successfully registered 24 million of our over 40 million subscribers. This is the highest number of registrations made by any Telco, so far. This achievement is not without challenges, but we are constantly working to ameliorate them by using cutting-edge technology and providing the necessary manpower support to minimise the number of failed registrations and to maintain advised turnaround times.

“We solicit the understanding of the small minority of our esteemed customers who have encountered difficulties in the process.”

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THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

47

THE NATION

NATURAL HEALTH E-mail:- health@thenationonlineng.net

Palmistry: A hand that says a lot

I

T is a super specialty hospital and there is heavy rush of people in the waiting hall. A middle-aged man is sitting with a gloomy face in the chair. He has a report in his hands and waiting to be called into the doctor’s room. After one hour, he is sent into the room. The doctor examined the report and declared that the man has cancer in advanced stage and he may not survive. After three months, the man died.

Even though, now-a-days, hospitals have latest lab equipment, the doctors are able to diagnose a disease only at its culminating stage. Can’t we know the onset of a disease well in advance, so that we can get rid of the disease at its preliminary stage itself? Palmistry helps very much in such cases. Reading the lines of the palm can provide the information about the diseases well in advance, that is even difficult to diagnose using modern lab equipment in a hospital. See what the editorial of Journal of American Medical Association writes: “The human hand is a unique organ from which an extraordinary amount of clinical information may be derived”.

Let us now try to understand how to diagnose some diseases by observing the nails of the fingers and the lines in the palm. Let us now try to understand how to diagnose some diseases by observing the nails of the fingers and the lines in the palm. The picture below will be useful to recognise certain Mounts and lines of palm.

While observing the lines, observe them in both the palms. If the above indications are found in both the hands, then the above conclusions can be confirmed. If the above indications appear in only one palm, then we can say the person is prone to that disease.

•Source: www.askastrologer.com •Mounts and lines of palm

Teeth problems: If the heart line has fine vertical lines cutting it under the middle finger, it represents the problems to gums and teeth.

Female problems: Crisscross or horizontal lines on the Mount of Moon indicate weak uterus and discharge problems for women.

Nails: (a) long nails: indicate weakness of lungs and respiratory problems. (b) short nails flat and raised up at edges: throat and bronchial troubles. (c) thin nails: headaches and body aches. (d) triangular nails: nervous disorders and paralysis. (e) circular nails with the finger tips look like knobs: weakness of heart. (f) spoon shaped nails: malnutrition and glandular diseases.

Eye troubles: If the heart line has an island formation or a circle under the ring finger, it represents eye weakness and sometimes blindness.

Venereal diseases: A star at the junction of the Head line and Health lines indicate venereal diseases.

The same thing is indicated by island on

Fatty heart: If the heart line has ridges below it and appears wide, it is an indication of accumulating fat into the heart’s valves which may be closed.

Headaches: Minute dots in head line represent tensions and headaches.

Mental ill health: Any breaks and chains in head line

Tensions: If the head line has islands, it tells

Heart aches: If the heart line has breaks, it represents heart attacks.

Intestinal Ulceration: Malformation of ridges and some thin lines parallel to the health line under the head line represents bacterial infection in intestines and if strong leads to intestinal ulcers.

Asthma: The space between the head line and heart line is narrow under the middle finger and one or two lines starting from the Mount of Venus move towards the head line - indicate asthma.

Kidney troubles: If there is a grille or cross on the lower part of the Mount of Moon, it represents kidney troubles.

Cancer: Malformation of ridges below the ring finger under the heart and head lines represent cancer virus has set into the body. In the next stage, the entire hand is filled with cob web formation of thin and crisscross lines.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

NATURAL HEALTH

Dr Clark offers electrocution cure for disease (4) There are lots of myths about parasites, which prevent people really facing the truth. The number one myth is: Myth 1. Parasites infect only dirty people and foreigners.

This is nonsense. You can pick up an infection on the slightest contact, such as water used to rinse your salad A 1978 study showed about 75 per cent of all sewage sampled in the United States urban catchments contained Ascaris ova, with rates as high as five to 100 eggs per litre.

Welcome to a fourth session with Dr Hilda Regelir Clark, Ph.D., N.D., the physician who invented a radio machine for electrocuting disease- causing parasites and restoring health balance in a matter of minutes. Last week, I didn’t have the time to amplify her thoughts that worms in the brain cause depression and autism. I became interested in her approach to the healing of these two conditions especially because, lately, I have encountered many of such cases. I found one autistic girl aged about 14 intriguing. She has all the features of an autistic person, and has been so diagnosed by her doctors.But her cognitive expression sometimes belie her condition. She literally absorbs her environment, and, unlike most autistic persons, can regurgitate it with high fidelity. But, often, it appears she is inhibited by something blocking her will to do so I promised her parents the key to the door of her brain block would be found someday. Is this what Dr Clark has brought in her book, THE CURE FOR ALL DISEASES?

So, what do you do about parasites?

M

ANY adults do not deworm.I have not, in almost 10 years .But from the small survey I carried out among my friends last week, my poor record is better than those of many people. And to ice the cake, I gladden my heart in the delusion that my diet sometimes goes with medicinal and bitter stuff which worms hate. The truth , however, is that nothing seems to get rid of worms and other parasites in the body as botanical food supplements which target them. To many people beset with parasites, I often suggest such proprietary helps as Parashield, Amazon AF and Amazon AP with good results. I know of a lawyer in the making who will smile as he reads this.His stool used to feature tiny, moving organisms. Why , in the care of my own body, have I foot dragged?

Dr Hulda Clark has educated me thoroughly in the last three column about how flukes(flat worms) ravage almost every organ in the body, in particular the liver and how, in every ease of cancer anywhere in the body, flukes are found in this organ. Her account tallies with a description in this column months ago of micro- organisms behaving like humans.

•Humans see the earth as an environment which sustains their existence •Micro- organisms and larger parasites see the human body as their sustaining environment parasites, such as flukes and other worms, see the human body as their own sustaining environment •On earth, humans chose areas where they prosper most.

New York, London ,Berlin, Lagos, Pretoria. In Lagos, some chose Ikoyi, some Shomolu, others still Ajah or Lekki.

Parasites may chose the kidney, liver, lung, stomach, the eye, even the brain.

Before we return to Dr Clark today, I’d like to introduce the views of Dr keith Scott -Mumby M.D., on this subject. If you remember, I mentioned a few months ago, in the series DOTOXIFY TODAY… DEATH BEGINS IN THE INTESTINES, that a baby tapeworm was found in the brain of a gentleman who had headaches medications didn’t stop.Dr Mumby gave that insight. I learned of him from www.parasites911.com On October 6 last year, CANCER DEFEATED issued a newsletter to its readers entitled THE BURDEN ON YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM THAT’S KEPT SECRET…. in which it said: “Keith Scott –Mumby M.D., has produced what we believe is another winning digital book, this time about parasites.Undetected parasites are one of the biggest burdens of the immune system and that’s important to cancer sufferers in particular.

“Be under no illusion: we all have parasites at sometime or other. The American’s attitude that parasites don’t affect clean countries like USA is wrong. The truth is the USA is riddled with parasites, as is every other country in the Western world.

We just don’t have the same ones as Third World countries!

But Ascrais, which is a truly shocking roundworm, is so prevalent in the USA that a 1978 study showed about 75 per cent of all sewage sludge samples sampled in United States urban catchments contained Ascaris ova, with rates as high as five to 100 eggs per litre.

•That puts everyone at risk.

•The truth is that: we ALL have one or more parasites.

That’s one or more species: the actual number of critters can run into thousands.

•Western hygiene isn’t much protection, especially in households where there are pets. Wherever humans are found, things show up which crawl into our bodies and walk around eating us. Most often there are no symptoms to warn you this is going on. Most doctors remain ignorant of the scale of the problem and how to deal with it(when was the last time your doctor suggested a parasite check and getting “wormed”, like we do with pets?)

“Prepare for some really SHOCKING images and videos on the page we are going to send to you next. You may decide this is a health hazard you need to get educated about.

•That would be a smart move. And to help you Dr. ScottMumby has prepared a comprehensive and highly readable report, to his usual high scientific standards. It tells you everything you need to know about the parasite hazards we face in all civilised countries, the best ways to get diagnosed and a whole range of treatment options, from the conventional to the highly unusual. Some of these are proven effective up to the 98 per cent mark.

•Be under no illusion: you have parasites in your tissues, right now. Click this link now and learn how to dramatically lower your immune burdern. It’s the key to a long and healthy life. “ Here’s to a good cleanse” Dr Scott – Mumby takes the floor now and asks: “ Guess who’s Eating you for Dinner”.

He answers: “Parasites… uggh!But we all have them.Worms, flukes and protozoa walk around inside our bodies as if we were just a parking lot.. and they feed off our flesh and tissue “Official statistics make it clear that almost everybody has at least one parasite(one species, that is ; maybe thousands of critters. ). Here ‘s what you need to know what you need to do best with this universal menace..

“The truth is that parasites are a universal part of daily life.

Only those with the most vibrant immune system can hold them at bay. In fact, parasites are very tricky and have ways of getting under the radar of even the most competent immune systems.

“We don’t need them but they need us (that’s the definition of a parasite.) Their egg forms lurk esverywhere and you can become infected at any time.

Most people think that if you are clean living and take precautions, like frequent hand washing, you won’t get parasites. That’s not true. You can pick up an egg or cyst anywhere.

“There is a well-known medical history of a strict, cleanliving, orthodox Jew from New York. He was admitted to hospital with what’s called a “space occupying lesion” in the skull. That usually means a tumor, starting to squeeze the brain and and producing strange symptoms.

But when operated on, the neurosurgeon found a large growing cyst from a pork tapeworm. It was an easy, if revolting, cure and the man had cause to be thankful the diagnosis was as lenient as it was. But the striking part of this story is that the man never ate pork in his life …I mean ever!

He had touched a door knob or telephone or some other object at sometime, which was infected with eggs. Probably, touched his mouth or lips later and that was it: the worm was inside him and travelled to his skull. It only takes one egg to make a cyst the seize of a baseball. This condition is called ‘cysticercosis’.

“Cysts can linger in the brain for years without symptoms.

You could have several in your skull right now. Learn all about parasites and treatments/ parasites worms , flukes, amoeba,crytoporidi…and not know it. Eventually, `when the cyst grows to a certain size, symptoms can include seizures, occasional focal neurological signs’ headaches, nausea ,vomiting, lethargy and altered mental status from increased intracranial pressure.

Fun fact (well, not so fun): brain surgeons report they often see, wriggly things running around inside the skull when they open it up.

Some parasites can kill, as well as cripple PARASITES can be very dangerous. As I said of crysticercosis,one major infestation goes by the scary name of Necator Amricanus; that means ‘’American murderer ‘’!(see the rogues gallery at the top of this page).

One fish tapeworm will drain so much of the vitamin and nutrients from your body, notably B12,that you could die of anemia and other deficiency state. This particular tapeworm is the biggest of all and can grow to over 30 feet in length(yes, you figured it out: It will hang out of your anus like a trap as you walk along) They can walk through your eye orbit and get into your eyeballs. That’s not nice and can result in pain and blurred or disturbed vision.

Drug treatment can be bad too “ANTI-PARASITE drug treatments are not nice with very nasty side –effects.

That’s apart from the result of having half dead worm, several inches long, crawling up your gullet, into your nose and wriggling out of your nostril as you speak to someone.

Yes,that actually happens, trust me. These things are shudderingly horrible.

Excuse me showing you the next picture, but you had better ‘know. This is Ascaris worms crawling out of the kid’s mouth and nose(Ascaris is endemic in the US’ meaning IT LIVES HERE, it doesn’t just come from travelers abroad)

e-mail: femi.kusa@yahoo.com or olufemikusa@yahoo.com

•You get educated: You need to know what you are up against. I have prepared a major eBook to help you learn the extent of the problem. As usual, I lay all bare for you. JAM PACKED with information. I hold nothing back. I’m not trying to sell you anything at all, no products, I don’t take patients. So, I have no financial interest in tricking you. I can be objective in what I report to you. I have laid it all bare for you.

You’ll shudder with horror- but at least you’ll be educated (you’ll know more than your doctor, most likely). I called this report “Absolutely Disguising”, to make it memorable, to make it stick. It’s “ How to •Get a diagnosis, if needed If there is any doubt, you’ll need to know what tests to call for and what each means.

Unfortunately, most hospital laboratories have very poor diagnostic standards and routinely miss serious parasite infections (young, inexperience lab technicians, who can’t grasp what they are looking at, finally, many people embark on a course of ant parasite treatment without a clear diagnosis and get a very good result. It’s like pets : don’t we “worm” our cats and dogs regularly? Humans should do the the same . In the old days that meant rhubarb and sulfur or brimstone and treacle! Almost as bad as the disease!

“Fortunately, there are far better choices today! I explain all your choices in this report.

•You take step to eliminate parasites in your body: There are literally scores of things you can do and I have rounded up all the good ones that work, from time-honoured herbal cures to remarkable electronic machine that can seek out the frequency of a critter and ‘zap’s it.

But nothing is simple with these monsters. They’ll be back in a week, if you don’t know what you are about. Diet is crucial and some dietary elements are just asking for trouble, Particularly sugar and vitiated foods (junk).

“I’ll also tell you about terrain and how to make your tissues as hostile as possible for them, instead of a luxury hotel.

Heavy metal poisoning (mercury, lead, arsenic, aluminum, etc.) is an open invitation to these brutes to step right in and set up a comfortable home inside you, snacking on your body, tissues and maybe even brain. Uuughhh!

•You do the same with your family, otherwise they will infect you right back again.

We are talking HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS critters. They just hop from person to person, or from your beloved pooch or pussycat, right into your mouth, without you even knowing it. It’s called the fecal- oral route (no, don’t even go there); but you can’t beat it. No matter how much you scrub and wash. one unguarded moment when you stroke your pet, or touch your face unthinkingly, and they are in!

“It makes sense, therefore, to be sure you are living with clean pets and family, so that you don’t keep bouncing eggs and cysts backwards and forwards.”

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Y delusion may ,in the end, be no delusion. After all, didn’t Dr Scott –Mumby say that “rhurharb, sulfur and brimstone” could help?Rhuharb I avoid because of oxalic acid which may bind to free calcium to form calcium oxalate salts, ingredient for stone formation in the kidney and gallbladder. Sulfur is in onion and garlic, which I take raw with meals or in soft gel food supplements.

Brimstone (Morinda lucida.. oruwo, Yoruba) , a must breakfast drink in my home when my children were growing up.

When he says that, “ fortunately there are far better choices today, my mind races to such safe home worm remedies as pumpkin seeds, pawpaw seeds , Alfalfa, Aloevera,Arnica, Astragalus, Burgarmot,Bilbery,Black cohosh, Burdock root and Marigold, garlic, golden seal, and wormwood, to name a few.

These days, the Amazon basin is well known worldwide for reputable anti-parasitic herbs and proprietary formulas, one of which is the Amazon AF and Amazon AF, Amazon AZ and Antican, to mention a few.

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HAT is Dr Hulda Clark saying today? I showed in terest in her views on diabetes. She links it to a common fluke parasite, Eurytrema pancreatic ,the “pancreatic fluke of cattle.” Dr Clark says this parasite would not settle and flourish in a human pancreas in which wood alcholol has not accumulated. Wood alcohol is methanol, used widely in the food industry, in particular“ processed food (including bottle water, artificial sweeteners, soda pop, baby formula and powdered drinks of all kinds , including health food varieties). She believes the pollution of food by methanol is so widespread because it is used to wash manufacturing equipment.

Diabetics always ask if their condition is reversible.

Dr Clark says: “The pancreas with its tiny islets that produce insulin recovers very quickly, even if 90 per cent of them were destroyed, requiring daily insulin shots, half or them can recover to generate so insulin is no longer necessary.”

Tel: 08034004247, 07025077303

• To be concluded

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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NEWS NBA CONFERENCE 2011

Last month’s general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, dwelt on many burning issues.

It also served as an opportunity for Governor Rotimi Amaechi to showcase his achievements before lawyers. BISI OLANIYI reports.

Port Harcourt 2011: A post script T

HE just-concluded general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was an eye opener of sorts, for most lawyers in attendance.

It was not just law,law; the conference afforded lawyers the opportunity of exploring Rivers State and the Rotimi Amaechi administration’s developmental strides.

The conference, held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, from August 21 to 26, was attended, among others, by four governors — Amaechi, Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo) and Isa Yuguda (Bauchi).

Also at the event were Nobel laureate Prof.

Wole Soyinka and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke (SAN), who stood in for President Goodluck Jonathan.

Before the conference took off, the government and other stakeholders took it upon themselves to dispel fears about insecurity in Port Harcourt.

To assure lawyers and others planning to attend the conference that the state is safe, over 2,000 lawyers from Ahoada, Isiokpo and Port Harcourt branches of the NBA, addressed a news conference on August 18. At the briefing, they assured of adequate security during the conference.

The chairman, NBA Port Harcourt branch, Mr. Worgu Boms, assured of a hitch-free conference. He said over 10,000 lawyers would attend the conference, which he described as the largest gathering of lawyers in the world.

He said: “Rivers State Government has done everything any government should do, to ensure adequate security. We are grateful to Governor Amaechi. The security agencies too have assured us that there will be no incident during the conference.

“We are appealing to the residents of Rivers State, especially Port Harcourt, to continue to be friendly and hospitable.”

On August 19, the Commissioner of Police, Suleiman Abba, also addressed reporters, promising that there would be no untoward incident during the Bar conference.

While declaring open the conference, with the theme: “Sustaining an enduring democracy in Nigeria”, Adoke’s presentation was almost marred by protest by the audience.

The audience, which comprised lawyers, magistrates, judges and other stakeholders, booed Adoke over President Jonathan’s role in the crisis between the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the suspende President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) Justice Ayo Isa Salami.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NBA, in a communiqué on August 21, directed its members to stay away from NJC’s activities, including the inauguration of 30 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) on August 26. it asked Jonathan not to retire Justice Salami, as recommended by the NJC. Activist-lawyers and thousands of others also protested the suspension of Justice Salami and appointment of Justice Dalhatu Adamu as Acting PCA. The protesters marched round Port Harcourt before the conference began.

The protesters, armed with placards bearing anti-government inscriptions, asked Jonathan not to dabble into what they called illegal and unconstitutional matters. The activist-lawyers, who called for the President’s impeachment, later came to the Civic Centre, venue of the conference.

Some of the placards read: “Nigerians say no to judicial recklessness”, “NJC’s verdict, a shame to the judiciary”, “NJC, you are biased against Salami”, “Katsina-Alu is a disgrace to the judiciary.”

Others are: “Five mad men versus Nigerian people”, “NJC, do not kill the rule of law in Nigeria,” “Auta killed Ken Saro-Wiwa and wants to kill Nigeria’s judiciary.”

They protested under the aegis of Campaign Against Corruption in the Judiciary, Lawyers

• Amaechi (right) addressing some lawyers at the Afam Gas Power project while Yuguda (second right) looks on.

of Conscience, Social Action and Civil Society Coalition.

Their spokesman, Mr. Kenneth Kobani, said judicial rascality and recklessness would never be allowed in Nigeria, asking the NJC to reverse itself on Justice Salami.

Another leader of the group, Mr. Debo Adeniran, who is the chairman of the Campaign Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), said the era of acting with impunity must end now, condemning Justice Salami’s suspension.

Adoke, who said the crisis in the judiciary should quickly be resolved, lauded Jonathan for his administration’s reform agenda. He congratulated the NBA President, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN) and other lawyers for the conference and its theme, which, he said, was timely and most appropriate.

Amaechi, who delivered a keynote address, told the lawyers: “Physician, heal thyself,” especially for working with the National Assembly and the Federal Government to draft anti-people bills, which would later be passed into law and assented to by the President.”

He asked: “Where was the Bar when Presidents were disobeying court orders?

Where were the Attorneys-General when the laws were being passed. Physician, heal thyself. Fiscal federalism is needed in Nigeria, how many lawyers will support it?

“Lawyers have not been speaking with one voice. Why is it that the NBA cannot speak for the poor? Why is the NBA not supporting the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, when only few persons are benefiting from the subsidy?

“Why are our people not gainfully employed? The key to success of this country is for the government to rise and provide the basic necessities of life,” he added.

Amaechi, who is the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), said Nigerians must rise and demand that the right of the poor must be protected.

Soyinka said democracy guarantees a level playing field, stressing that democracy stands on three legs: constitution, law and the civil will.

He said the constitution must be by the people, nobody should be above the law and that democracy would not exist without law, noting that the civil will would ensure the enforcement of human rights.

Daudu said the crisis in the judiciary should be resolved as quickly as possible, insisting that the suspension of Justice Salami was illegal and unconstitutional.

Daudu urged the Federal Government to do something about the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Lokoja-Abuja Highway, as well as other roads to end the frequent loss of lives and property. He asked for the provision of adequate security on the roads and in the country.

He urged the Federal Government to replicate Amaechi’s model primary and secondary schools in the 774 local government areas, lauding the governor for his efforts.

NBA Port Harcourt chair Boms said: “Many notable lawyers and nearly every SAN outside

Port Harcourt, have more net-worth clientele from and in Port Harcourt, than in their domicile of practice.

“Port Harcourt is playing host to the NBA conference, less than a decade after it hosted the same conference in 2006. I am not aware that any city has twice hosted this August gathering within a decade.

“Port Harcourt is a destination of choice for businesses, conferences and even for leisure.

Port Harcourt is the most peaceful place in Nigeria.”

Boms lauded Amaechi and security agencies for their collaboration in making the state safe.

On August 24, Amaechi took the lawyers round some of his projects, but they were unable to cover the 23 local government areas of the state.

The lawyers visited the model primary school and primary health centre, at Elekahia; the model secondary school in Ebubu-Eleme, Open Cycle Power Project, Afam; 300-hectare Songhai Farm at Bunu, and the model secondary schools, Saakpenwa.

Yuguda, who was part of the tour, could not hide his excitement when he saw the model secondary school in Ebubu-Eleme. He urged other governors to emulate Amaechi, to transform their states, with the people benefiting from the dividends of democracy.

He said: “If every governor emulates what Governor Amaechi is doing, we will get to the promised land. Like investment in education, this is what we need and this is what we should keep doing. I congratulate him (Amaechi) and I congratulate Rivers State.”

Yuguda added that funding is fundamental to development and its utilisation important, calling for increased funding for the governors to perform optimally.

The Rivers State Government has built over 150 fully-equipped model primary schools across the 23 councils. Twenty-four model secondary schools are under construction — one in each of the councils.

The free model secondary schools are fully residential, for teachers and students. It has Internet facility with just two students in each of the hostel’s well-furnished 500 rooms. There are only 25 students in a class.

Amaechi said each model secondary school cost N4.5 billion, saying Nasarawa State governor and others have come for the plan of the schools, to be replicated in their states.

At the site of the Open Cycle Power Project, Afam, Amaechi said the power generated at the state’s power stations (Omoku, TransAmadi, Eleme and Afam) could not be distributed because of the Federal Government’s policy.

He said the power plants generate 560 megawatts more than the 400 megawatts needed in the state. But the power could not be distributed, despite efforts to convince the present administration.

He said his administration wrote to the Federal Government for approval to distribute the generated power, but it was turned down, adding that the state could build distribution network for its generated power.

‘If every governor emulates what Governor Amaechi is doing, we will get to the promised land. Like investment in education, this is what we need and this is what we should keep doing’

Amaechi called for true federalism, which, he said, would allow states to develop as they want. He stressed that power distribution should be moved to the concurrent list, from the exclusive list, during the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

Amaechi said he was able to perform based on availability of funds, stressing that only Rivers, Lagos and Akwa Ibom states could afford to embark on such gigantic projects, on account of the funds accruing to them.

A lawyer, who was part of the tour, Mr. Eric Nwabuzor, from Minna, Niger State branch of NBA, said: “Amaechi should be celebrated to encourage other governors to perform.

Amaechi has done so well.”

At the Model Secondary School, EbubuEleme, another lawyer, Mrs. Olivia Nwachukwu, who practises in Lagos, but hails from Enugu State, said: “Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola is working in Lagos, but people should come to Rivers State and see Governor Amaechi’s wonders, in terms of development and transformation.

“The model secondary schools in Rivers State are better than many Nigerian universities. I am overjoyed with Governor Amaechi’s projects. In fact, I am overwhelmed. I never thought I could see these people-oriented and capital-intensive projects in the state.

“I never knew these wonders by Amaechi could happen in my generation. I am so excited seeing all the projects. He deserves special commendation and encouragement. If the governor of my state (Enugu, Sullivan Chime) can build just five of the model secondary schools, I will be glad.”

Another lawyer from Anambra State, who does not want his name in print, said: “Governor Amaechi has performed excellently and impressively. No university in Anambra State has the kind of structures I have seen at the model primary schools in Rivers State.”

On August 25, the NBA had its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Alfred DieteSpiff Civic Centre, where it was resolved that lawyers would continue to boycott NJC’s activities, until justice is done by reinstating Justice Salami as PCA. In the evening that day, Amaechi hosted the lawyers to dinner at the Banquet Hall of the Brick House (Government House), Port Harcourt.

Daudu thanked Amaechi for his hospitality and support.

The conference ended on August 26, with a briefing, where a 16-page communiqué was read by Daudu.

The NBA asked Jonathan to reinstate the “suspended” Justice Salami, describing the appointment of Justice Adamu as Acting PCA as a breach of due process and the rule of law.

It described the planned six-year single tenure bill by Jonathan for the President and governors as “a distraction, opportunistic and self-serving”.

The President, it said, was expected to build on the gains of the last elections, rather than political exigencies.

The NBA urged Jonathan to concentrate on economic transformation and deliverables, rather than mundane constitutional amendments. It urged him to call the NJC to order, in the council’s face-off with Justice Salami.

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

NEWS Bash Ali’s fight before the world champion Continued from Page 5

On telling him that if being corrupt like him makes a man responsible, then I feel sorry for Nigerians. The minister replied thus: Your foolishness has made you not to know that this is the man that can bail you out of your blindness and frustration.

Time is ticking. Don’t make me change my mind again. July 10, 2011. 01:47:57pm.

Sir, to the above text, I told him I will never again deal with him unless there is an instruction from you.

I don’t have to again mention here the corrupt practices, lies and the injustice that I faced at the National Sports Commission (NSC) before I teamed up with the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, because you have already promised to look into it in your February 16, 2010 reply.

Sir, am I wrong for believing in my country, Nigeria? Sir, am I wrong for believing in former President Obasanjo for telling me the GWR Fight would hold in Nigeria and then quickly inaugurated the LOC? Sir, am I wrong for believing in your February 16, 2010, letter where you told me that my letter was receiving due attention?

Sir, since you have asked all well meaning Nigerians to join hands with you to build a better and a brand new Nigeria, I am once again reminding you of the benefit of the Guinness World Record (GWR) Fight and to also inform you that a GWR Fight has never held on the soil of Africa so this would be the first and the most profitable boxing event to ever hold on the soil of Africa since 1974 when Mohammed Ali knocked out George Foreman in Zaire to reclaim the heavyweight title.

GWR Fight benefit to Nigeria: •Unprecedented level of positive publicity since this historic event would be watched live on Pay Per View (PPV) Television in 132 countries by an estimated worldwide audience of between 10 million and 12 million people.

•PPV minimum profit of $500M USD. •Free of charge establishment of nine sports academies with Olympic size swimming pool across the Niger Delta region.

•Free of Charge establishment of a Sports Manufacturing Equipment Factory in one of the Niger Delta states.

•Opportunity to groom Nigerian youths to become world athlete champions, and providing an avenue for them to exhibit their talents and in the process earning mega bucks.

•Create employment for both Nigerian youths and adults in the areas of athletes management, trainers etc.

Thereby helping to cut down on armed robbery, terrorism, kidnapping, militancy, prostitution, fraud etc.

•Opportunity for Nigeria to showcase its potentials as a world tourism destination.

•Platform for businesses to showcase their products and ideas.

Sir, on November 9, 2006, the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo inaugurated a 9 man Local Organising Committee (LOC) through the NSC to host this GWR boxing event in Nigeria and in August 2009, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs set up another LOC for the same purpose but so far, both have failed because I insist that all the principal actors involved must be TRANSPARENT. These two LOCs are the old-

est and longest running LOC in Nigeria’s sports history.

Sir, I respectfully remind you that it is now over a year that you told me that my letter to you was receiving due attention and uptill date nothing positive has happened despite bringing the NSC before the House of Representatives, including the fight cost in the 2010 budget of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, complaining to you and meeting with the following people for intervention: Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Tony Anenih, Alhaji Musa Ujah, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Gen. Oladipo Diya, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, MD, Daar Communication, Chief Tony Akiotu, Chief Yomi Tokoya, Alhaji Ganiyu Ayinde, (KOKO ZARIA) Ambassador Godknows Igali, Former Inspector General of Police(IGP) Chief Mike Okiro, current IGP Hafiz Ringim, Imo and Bauchi State governors Rochas Okorocha and Isa Yuguda, Chief Edwin K. Clark, Secretary to the Federal Government Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Odua Peoples Congress Leaders Dr Frederick Fasheun, Chief Gani Adams and Chief Raphael Ajibare, Head of Service Prof.

Afolabi Oladipo, Prof. Julius Ihonbare, Dr. Tunji BraithWaite, Lawyers Festus Keyamo and Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Akachukwu Nwankpo, among others.

The NSC told these lies to cover their criminal and corrupt ways to the following people.

Senate President, David Mark: I quote his text to me.

“The claim is that the last time you were broke they sponsored you and you lasted only a few seconds in the ring and you want to do the same again that is why you can’t find a sponsor. Thanks”. Truth: The NSC has never given me a kobo and neither has it ever sponsored my fight.

Chief Tony Anenih: That the NSC has never received any communication from the sanctioning boxing body, the International Boxing Union (IBU) so that was why it was reluctant to support the GWR Fight.

Truth: NSC has several letters on file from the IBU. House of Representatives: Legislative Compliance Committee. NSC told the House the same lie it told Chief Tony Anenih and went on to add that it checked the IBU website and the GWR Fight was not listed.

But when the House showed the NSC several copies of letters from the IBU to the NSC dated several months back, stamped and received by the NSC and the IBU website showing the listing of the GWR Fight, the NSC claimed it was seeing both the letters and the website for the first time.

Truth: The NSC had all the information before the LOC was inaugurated.

Sir, CORRUPTION, LIES and INJUSTICE cannot continue to retard the growth and development of Nigeria. We must STOP it before it is too late because right now I am almost totally hopeless while Orubebe is playing God Sir, it is obvious that whoever will fight corruption in Nigeria must have an iron will.

He must also be ready for a lonely walk. He would, to all intents and purposes, be laying down his life because there are forces that could go to the extent of eliminating him.

Since 2006, I have been walking alone and now respectfully ask you to walk with me so people like Minister Orubebe will not be able to eliminate me or tell you to exclude me

from your government because I insist on a TRANSPARENT transaction.

Sir, in the past one year, I have applauded you for the approved $200 million for the entertainment industry, approved money for soccer players, compensation for several athletes for bringing honour to Nigeria, the N40 million donated to the just concluded Sports Festival and have been wondering why a historic fight that would bring honour, glory unprecedented level of positive international publicity and money to Nigeria is left out in the cold, until I got the text messages from Orubebe.

Sir, as a drum major for a better and greater Nigeria in general and Niger Delta region in particular, I am sure you know the immense social political and economic gains Nigeria and the African region would get if you support the successful hosting of this FIRST GWR Fight spectacle in our great country, Nigeria.

Sir, is it not a shame that the United States of America gave me the opportunity to fight for and win a world boxing title, thereby providing me with the resources to contribute both morally and financially to sports development in Nigeria for the Nigerian government to award me with the highest national honour ever given to a Nigerian athlete while my own country because of corrupt and criminal government officials is preventing me from being a world hero and contribute more to a better and a more profitable Nigeria through sports because the masses and not them are going to benefit?

The New York Times in it’s article, “Never Give up: The Latest in an Age-Old phenomenon”, said “Bashiru Ali, a Nigerian who is known as Bash Ali, he won the World Boxing Federation cruiserweight title in 2001. Now he is publicly campaigning in vain, so far for a bout that would give him a shot at entering Guinness World Records as the oldest boxer to win a world title”.

Sir, what a slap in the face of the Federal Government!

Sir, there are two ways to approach any issue, peace or violence. I will never promote violence, terrorism and division in my quest to make Nigeria proud by rewriting boxing history but I will not continue to allow CORRUPTION, LIES and INJUSTICE STOP my life, continue to retard the growth and development of Nigeria, because I have a stake in this great nation.

Mr. President, enough is enough. After five years in the making and of successfully fighting off CORRUPTION, LIES and INJUSTICE and being called unprintable names by corrupt and criminal government officials, this historic boxing event now needs GOODLUCK to see the light of day.

The proposed fight date is Saturday, November 5, 2011.

The proposed venue is National Stadium, Abuja.

My immediate prayer to you is to set up a Presidential Task Force that will handle the hosting of this historic fight and report directly to you. and for Orubebe to tender to me his unreserved apology for behaving like an area boy.

The world is watching, Nigerians in particular.

God bless us.

Accept my highest respect at all times, please.

Yours truly, Building a Better and a More Profitable Nigeria through Sports.

Bash Ali, OON.

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FOREIGN NEWS Syria intensifies crackdown on city of Homs SYRIAN troops and tanks have intensified a crackdown on the restive central city of Homs, killing at least 14 people, activists say.

Homs has seen some of the largest protests of the uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

France’s Foreign Minister Alain Juppe yesterday accused Syria of carrying out “crimes against humanity”.

Speaking in Moscow, he said Syria could face further sanctions if it did not change course.

More than 2,200 people have died in five months of protest.

Activists said fresh troops backed by tanks swept into Homs at dawn with most of the killings in the old neighbourhoods of the city, Bab Dreib and Bostan Diwan.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said “military reinforcements including 20 truckloads of soldiers entered the city” leading to “intense gunfire in the market and governorate headquarters”.

SENIOR member of Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle has slipped into Niger along with three carloads of collaborators, but the toppled Libyan leader was not among them nor were any members of his immediate family.

Massoudou Hassoumi, a spokesman for the president of this landlocked African nation which shares a border with Libya, said that Gaddafi’s security chief had crossed the desert accompanied by a major Tuareg rebel.

The government of Niger dispatched a military convoy to escort Mansour Dao, the former commander of Libya’s Revolutionary Guards who is a cousin of Gaddafi as well as a member of his inner circle,

N

to the capital, Niamey.

Mr Dao is the only senior Libyan figure to have crossed into Niger, said Mr Hassoumi, who denied reports that Gaddafi or any member of his immediate family was in the convoy.

“There were three cars that crossed with one senior official from Gaddafi’s regime, whom we have placed under surveillance,” said Mr Hassoumi, the chief of staff of President Mahamadou Issoufou. “They arrived in Niamey yesterday night. They slept in Niamey. The official is Mansour Dao. He asked for refuge ... we sent a military convoy

to get him.”

The group of nine people also included several proGaddafi businessmen, as well as Agaly ag Alambo, a Tuareg rebel leader from Niger who led a failed uprising in the country’s north before crossing into Libya, where he was believed to be fighting for Gaddafi.

US State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said senior members of the Gaddafi regime were in the convoy that reached Niger.

“But we do not believe that Gaddafi was among them,” she told reporters. “We don’t have any evidence that Gadd-

E

A •Gaddafi

afi is anywhere but in Libya at the moment.”

Ms Nuland said the United States has urged Niger to detain any individuals who may be subject to prosecution in Libya, as well as to confiscate their weapons and impound any state property, such as money or jewels, that were illegally taken out of the country.

Mass escape from DR Congo prison

EARLY 1,000 prisoners have escaped from a jail in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after it was attacked by armed men, officials say.

The attackers wanted to free a militia leader, Katanga province Information Minis-

ter Dkianga Kazadi said.

Escapes and mutinies are common in DR Congo’s prisons, analysts say, with the east largely lawless as rival militias battle for power.

Nearly 200 prisoners escaped from a jail in the north-

west last year.

Mr Kazadi said masked gunmen entered the prison in Kisangani’s main city, Lubumbashi, unnoticed.

“They opened fire on the police and the military guards, killing two,” he said, accord-

Egypt’s military ruler Tantawi to testify in Mubarak’s trial GYPT’S military ruler has been summoned to testify in the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak.

Field Marshal Mohamad Tantawi, Mr Mubarak’s former defence minister,

43 killed in Russian air crash

Gaddafi’s security chief arrives in Niger capital A

now runs Egypt’s ruling military council.

Also summoned are the military chief of staff and Omar Suleiman, Mr Mubarak’s vice-president and intelligence chief.

Mr Mubarak, 83, faces

charges of ordering the shooting of protesters during the uprising that ousted him in February. He denies the charges.

There were chaotic scenes in court, the BBC’s Bethany Bell reports from Cairo, with anti-Mubarak protesters

chanting “revenge, revenge,” and calling for Field Marshal Tantawi to give evidence.

Many Egyptians argue that the testimony of senior officials will be key to determining whether Mr Mubarak ordered the use of lethal force.

ing to the AFP news agency.

The UN spokesman in DR Congo, Madnodje Mounoubai, told the BBC that a former commander of the Mai Mai militia movement, Gedeon Kyungu Mutanga, had escaped.

Mutanga was sentenced to death in 2009 for his role in the long-running conflict in eastern DR Congo.

Mr Kazadi said police had recaptured 152 of the 967 prisoners who had escaped.

Mr Mounoubai said Mutanga was still on the run.

“Gedeon is among those unaccounted for,” he said.

CHARTERED jet carrying Russia’s major league ice hockey team Lokomotiv has crashed on take-off near the central city of Yaroslavl, with 43 deaths.

Two people survived with serious injuries after the disaster, which saw the jet burst into flames shortly after leaving an airport near the city.

It appears many of the team were aboard, heading to Belarus for the season’s first match.

Russian reports suggest the jet may have struck a radio mast.

Witnesses saw it burst into flames shortly after taking off from the airport, about 250km (160 miles) north-east of Moscow. Some of the wreckage and bodies fell in the nearby River Volga.

A number of foreign citizens were killed, including the team’s Canadian coach, Brad McCrimmon, and Swedish goalie Stefan Liv. Russian player Alexander Galimov survived the crash with 80% burns along with a member of the crew. Russian media briefly reported the player had died of his injuries, but a medical source later told the Russian news website Sovetsky Sport he was still alive.

The chairman of the board of directors of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Vyacheslav Fetisov, described the air disaster as an “irreparable loss for world ice hockey”.

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MONEY LINK

Lending framework on renewable energy coming D EPOSIT Money Banks will soon establish a framework on financing renewable energy projects, otherwise called Green Financing. Although lending to the sector has been stalled by lack of policy framework, technology and expertise, the banking industry is waking up to the immense financing opportunities in it.

Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, Aigboje AigImoukhuede, disclosed this yesterday during the Nigeria Sustainable Finance Week conference tagged “Moving Frontiers in Sustainable Finance.” He said it is meant to attract funding to agriculture, assist in global carbon trading and carbon credit investments in Africa.

By Collins Nweze

He said that banks should use capital intermediation to the improve environment beyond profit making.

The Access Bank boss said, banks, insurers, asset managers and other financial institutions have the greatest potential to make a difference by investing in efficient technology, green or social mortgages, lower premiums for efficient cars or reviewing the sustainable performance of activities they lend to.

Head of Unit, United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEPF), Paul ClementsHunt, advised banks to see a future in financing renewable energy projects and others that will pro-

by her Special Assistant on Environment, Mohammed Al-Hameen, said government has fashioned out a roadmap to promote the use of renewable energy.

“Carbon economy is an essential part in poverty alleviation, mainly in Africa. This is because the Kyoto Protocol project mechanisms provide for credits from international emissions trading, including from projects under the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation, to contribute towards emission reduction commitments,” she said.

She added that climate friendly businesses and investment opportunities exist in the sectors of energy, transport, agriculture and forestry, waste management, wa-

tect natural assets, adding that by so dong, the institutions will be helping to create jobs, build infrastructure and other positive impacts to the society. He said there is need for low carbon investment and other businesses that will change the way global businesses are done.

The Minister of Environment, Mrs. Hadiza Mailafia, said government and private sector establishments should focus on renewable energy and low carbon related investment. She said there is need to deepen the reforms in the sector, build capacity of financial institutions and undertake finance-need assessment of the sectors of the economy.

Mailafia, who was represented

ter management and industry.

“The global climate challenge provides an urgent imperative to build a green economy that can deliver greater prosperity, health and security and be an engine for economic recovery,” she said.

The programme was initiated and implemented by Access Bank in conjunction with Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEPFI). Other promoters of the renewable energy financing are International Finance Corporation (IFC), Carbon Asset Development Facility (ACAD), the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Proparco and African Development Bank among others.

Finbank shareholders to hold court-ordered meeting

A

FEDERAL High Court, sitting in Lagos has ordered Finbank to convene a meeting of its shareholders. The order which was given on Thursday, September 1, 2011, is seen a major step towards the bank’s recapitalisation plan.

The meeting which is to be held in Abuja on September 29, 2011, is for the its shareholders to consider and if thought fit, approve the Scheme of Arrangement between the bank and the holders of its fully paid ordinary shares.

According to the Court Order, a meeting of the registered holders of the Issued and Fully Paid Ordinary Shares of Finbank Plc, should be convened for the purpose of considering and if thought fit, approve with or without modification a Scheme of Arrangement between the Bank and holders of its fully paid ordinary shares.

A statement from the bank, said its shareholders will be expected to pass

a special resolutions approving that the issued share capital of the bank be reduced from N8,360,599,735 (eight billion, three hundred and sixty million, five hundred and ninety nine thousand, seven hundred and thirty five naira) to 0 (zero) by the cancellation of 16,721,199,469 (sixteen billion, seven hundred and twenty one million, one hundred and ninety nine thousand, four hundred and sixty

lion, eight hundred thousand, five hundred and thirty one) ordinary shares of 50 kobo each be issued and allotted to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). This is in consideration for the injection by AMCON of such amount of bonds required to take the bank to a net asset value of zero.

“The court further ordered that the meeting should be held at Thisday

nine) issued and fully paid ordinary shares of the bank. This is in consideration of which the shareholders shall receive cash or be issued, allotted and credited as fully paid, ordinary shares in the share capital of First City Monument Bank Plc. Also for approval, is a resolution that the un-issued share capital of the bank comprising 4,278,800,531 (four billion, two hundred and seventy eight mil-

NDIC denies closing party accounts with Oceanic, Mainstreet banks

T

HE Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has denied reports in some media (not The Nation) alleging that it has closed the accounts of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Oceanic Bank and Mainstreet Bank, formerly Afribank’’.

The Corporation said in an emailed statement, that the reports are capable of misleading the pub-

their clients opened in 2010, at Mainstreet Bank Limited, UAC Building, First Bank Plc, Area 3, 2nd Branch, Garki and Oceanic Bank Plc, Maitama Branch, all in Abuja, were being operated by signatories other than their said clients and all their efforts to get the affected banks to explain their action had not been successful.

This prompted the Corporation to dispatch its examiners to inves-

lic.. The correct position, it explained, is that the Corporation received a petition from the law firm of Aliyu Marama & Co. acting as Solicitor to Senator Rufa’i Sani Hanga, Alhaji Badmos Mutalif, Abduldulwahab Adebajo Adeleke and Chief Denis Aghanya, the National Chairman, National Secretary, National Financial Secretary and National Publicity Secretary, respectively, alleging that the accounts of the CPC which

FGN BONDS Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($)

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES OBB Rate Call Rate

7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2011 “ 14-04-2011

GAINERS AS AT 7-9-11 SYMBOL INTBREW GUINNESS ASHAKACEM TRANSCORP STERLNBANK UNTL ZENITHBANK ETERNAOIL OKOMUOIL CADBURY

O/PRICE 5.61 218.00 18.79 0.76 1.36 0.58 12.51 4.90 18.00 16.55

C/PRICE 5.89 228.00 19.58 0.79 1.41 0.60 12.90 5.04 18.50 16.80

CHANGE 0.28 10.00 0.79 0.03 0.05 0.02 0.39 0.14 0.50 0.25

LOSER AS AT 7-9-11 SYMBOL DNMEYER DANGFLOUR FO BERGER AIICO UTC UNITYBNK UNILEVER PRESCO FCMB

O/PRICE 1.20 8.41 15.72 9.90 0.70 0.53 0.55 28.00 7.60 5.10

tigate the complaints with a view to determining the appropriate measures to take to resolve the matter. “The NDIC examiners visited the banks concerned on Monday, September 5, 2011 to commence investigation, saying their report is being finalized, insisting that the NDIC did not at any time close the accounts of the CPC at those banks as falsely reported,” the statement said.

DATA BANK

Tenor

NIDF NESF

Dome, Plot 702, Ahmadu Bello Way, Central Business District, Abuja and appointed “the Chairman of the Bank, Dr. Theo Chike Osanakpo (SAN) or failing him Mrs. Suzanne Iroche, The Managing Director of the Bank, or failing them both any other director appointed in their stead by the shareholders present at the meeting to act as chairman of the said meeting,” the statement said.

C/PRICE 1.14 7.99 14.94 9.41 0.67 0.51 0.53 27.00 7.33 4.92

CHANGE 0.06 0.42 0.78 0.49 0.03 0.02 0.02 1.00 0.27 0.18

Amount Sold ($)

Exchange Rate (N)

Date

450m

452.7m

450m

150.8

08-8-11

250m

313.5m

250m

150.8

03-8-11

400m

443m

400m

150.7

01-8-11

EXHANGE RATE 26-08-11 CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Currency

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD NGN GBP

147.6000 239.4810

149.7100 244.0123

150.7100 245.6422

-2.11 -2.57

NGN EUR

212.4997

207.9023

209.2910

-1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

Bureau de Change 152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

(S/N) Parallel Market

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

NSE CAP Index

NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N)

23-08-11 N7.137tr 22,313.23

24-08-11 N7.135tr 22,308.22

% Change -0.03% -0.03%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

(S/N)

153.0000

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

Aug ’11

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

8.75%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 9.4%

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 117.50 112.11 0.79 0.01 0.97 1,620.90 8.70 1.39 1.87 7,745.89 193.00

9.08 1.00 117.22 111.89 0.76 0.01 0.97 1,618.90 8.28 1.33 1.80 7,502.11 191.08

ARM AGGRESSIVE KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND THE LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY THE DISCOVERY FUND • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

Rate (Previous) 24 Aug, 2011 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 26, Aug, 2011 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK Previous

Current

04 July, 2011

07, Aug, 2011

Bank

8.5000

8.5000

P/Court

8.0833

8.0833

Movement

THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

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TOMORROW

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 7, NO. 1,877

‘The security system in the country needs complete overhaul and re-orientation because it has proved tobe incapable of rising to security sensitive situations without prodding. The numerous reactive rather than proactive approaches of security agencies to bombings in the country confirmed this reality’

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

A

S President Goodluck Jonathan continues to grapple with the intricacies of governance, the nation wallows in pains of retrogression. Nigeria moves from one tragedy to another and many are struggling to make some sense of the nonsense.

There seems to be a problem disentangling politics from governance, four clear months after the elections. As we stumble and fumble from one calamity to another, an army of emergency experts have risen to foist their doctrines on the land. Many beer parlour legal giants are here. So are experts in terrorism and counterterrorism, even as the National Security Adviser says the kind of challenges we face are new and will require patience and co-operation of all.

Motor park touts parade themselves as philosophers and law breakers are enforcing the law. Welcome to the season of transformation.

What better time to seek the views of genuine patriots whose ranks are shrinking by the day. Step forward Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, the fiery Lagos lawyer and humanist who is dead, but remains alive in the hearts of those who believe in what he stood for. It was the anniversary of the chief’s transformation last Monday. Lectures and debates were held in memory of a born advocate and defender of the weak against the mighty. Of course, many were wondering what would have been his reaction to the events of these transformational times; the bumbling and bungling; the mediocrity and mendacity in high places and the disenchantment and disillusionment from villages to towns and cities.

I can guess. Let’s consider Fawehinmi granting an interview – he never shied away from talking on any subject, no matter how sensitive. Law was his compass, always. Here we go: Reporter: Good day chief. Please sir, what is your view about the Boko Haram bombings that have shaken the land like an earthquake?

Fawehinmi: Thank you my dear. You see, the first duty of any government; sorry, I’ll take that again. The first duty of any serious government is to guarantee the citizen’s right to life. This is a fundamental and inalienable right as enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. It is also stated in Section 33, Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. What am I saying? Any government that cannot guarantee this basic right has lost the legitimacy to govern. It should surrender power or wait to be voted out. That is my opinion.

But, sir, the NSA says the Boko Haram question is new. Our security agents weren’t prepared for it and we need patience to tackle it.

NSA? Who is so called?

The National Security Adviser to the President.

You see, we don’t need to go too far to find the fathers of Boko Haram. There have been many harams before boko. Didn’t we shout that

GBENGA OMOTOSO

EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK

gbenga.omotoso@thenationonlineng.net

Fawehinmi: A memorial

•The late Fawehinmi

people were hungry? What did they do?

Didn’t we cry that jobs were not available?

Didn’t we cry for good healthcare? Didn’t we shout that many kids were dropping out of school? Thank God, it is only boko that is angry now; the other harams are yet to rise. When they do, God save us all!

Let me tell you, I have prepared a suit to be filed tomorrow, asking the Federal High Court to compel President Jonathan to reassure us of our unabridged right to life and pay heavy compensation on every life that has been lost to this nonsense. He will pay and I mean it! Nothing can stop this campaign. And I mean it!

The government says it knows the bombers; how many deaths will it take you to seize them? The other day, the Security Committee, comprising respected elders, said they had identified the ringleaders; why is the government afraid of confronting them?

The National Judicial Council (NJC) says the suspension of Appeal Court President Isa Ayo Salami is in order and …

Please, my dear, spare me the agony of commenting on this sickening and nauseating matter. I am preparing my papers already. I am going to court to challenge the illegality.

And I promise you, it won’t stand. You call it NJC decision; I call it the latest Awada kerikeri – a bazaar of jokes by jokers and for jokers – in town. And I call on all men of goodwill

RIPPLES I MAY GO BACK TO PDP, says Fayose

Go ahead...you must be ‘BROKE’ by now!

‘Obasanjo and IBB are insulting us all. They should be charged with disruption of public peace and constituting public nuisance. In fact, their national honours should be withdrawn. Where is honour in this public show of shame? They should be charged to court to account for all the misdeeds of the government under their watch.’ and conscience to join me in this battle. Tell me, how can eight members of a 24-man NJC sit in one session and sentence Justice Salami to suspension on the flimsy excuse of misconduct, that he took his matter to the media. How? First, they said the man committed perjury; they knew they couldn’t sustain the charge, then they brought misconduct. But, I can assure you, we’ll fight this in court and tell these people that they can’t drag the judiciary to their level.

The President has approved Salami’s suspension and ...

That was morally wrong and legally indefensible. (He adjusts his glasses and raises his right hand). Was the Attorney- General on vacation? Or is it sheer incompetence? The matter was in court; the President shouldn’t have dabbled in it. Salami, who is said to have been suspended at a kangaroo sitting, was sitting over a matter to which Mr President was a party. On that score alone, he should have held his fire, but, you see, a President is as good as his advisers. If he allows them to lead him astray, he will soon be in the gutter, dragging all of us along with him. There are some advisers whose evil counsel Mr Jonathan should have the courage to reject.

But, sir…the…

Please, hold on. The matter is sub judice.

HARDBALL

A

FTER a six-hour National Council of State (NCS) meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen Owoye Azazi, briefed the press on the security issues that dominated the discussions. One of the striking impressions he said the meeting left with was that the security challenges the country is facing would not go away overnight. The challenges are here to stay, he said lugubriously with a disguised hint of fatalism. The problem with the NSA’s fatalistic overtone is not that the NCS got its diagnosis wrong, or that the meeting did not show enough concern that things were going precipitously downhill. The problem, it appears, is that officials here often lack the tact to put things in the proper perspective, perhaps because English is an acquired language. Nor, all things considered, do they have the talent for soul-stirring speeches when things look so gloomy.

Hear the NSA after the meeting: “This

IN THE NATION

What really are we prepared for? morning, I was asked to brief the council (NCS) on security issues across the country.

We reviewed what we believe was the true situation. There are security issues all over; problems in the Niger Delta, crisis in Jos, kidnapping in parts of the country, but the focus was on what was considered topical at this point. Explosives everywhere, especially Police Headquarters, UN building, and although there are claims as to who was responsible, the important thing is that we as a nation should realise that we are facing challenges that are relatively new to us. The problem is that we were not as a nation prepared for this new level of terrorism.”

This is a remarkable piece of understatement.

MOBOLAJI SANUSI

Simple. The law is clear; NJC is no trial court.

It has no mandate to try alleged perjury. You see, many have forgotten the root of this matter. The former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), whose type I pray we never have the misfortune of having again, called Justice Salami and told him to arrest the Sokoto governorship verdict because, according to him, it had leaked. He showed no evidence of the leakage. Justice Salami, a man of integrity, refused. Then, they organised a petition. And the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Katsina-Alu, arrested the judgement – a violent assault on the law, a criminal interference. The ex-CJN is allowed to go free and the man who said “no” is persecuted. Is that justice? Tell me, have we no shame? I will organise a one million-man march against this attack on judicial dignity. It will not stand. And I mean it!

Now, he is telling the new man to listen to wise counsel. Wise counsel? Arresting judgment? Haba! The judiciary is in trouble.

If we allow the destruction of this edifice of justice, we are all doomed. But, I can assure you, we won’t let it happen. No way! You can quote me!

Chief, should Nigeria have recognised the anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya?

Yes. Capital yes. Here is a man who committed atrocities against his own people, killing them like chicken because they asked for their rights. He should go! And he must go! Quote me, anywhere. Apostles of noninterference don’t know that sovereignty is derived from the people. It is a corollary of good governance and respect for human rights. If Gaddafi decides to commit mass murder of his own people, he is no longer entitled to protection under the international law. No! He should be arrested and handed over to the International Criminal Court.

They know what to do.

Sir, Obasanjo and Babangida have been quarrelling, calling each other fools.

Yes! They should fight. Obasanjo and IBB are insulting us all. They should be charged with disruption of public peace and constituting public nuisance. In fact, their national honours should be withdrawn.

Where is honour in this public show of shame? They should be charged to court to account for all the misdeeds of the government under their watch. That is the only way they can pay for this unwarranted assault on the sensibility of decent Nigerians, who feel insulted – and rightly so – that they have been ruled by fools, big fools.

So, what is the way out?

Simple. We have told them several times: let us call a national conference, sovereign or whatever, to determine how we can live together in peace. There must be standards.

Anything short of this is calling for anarchy and the signs are already here. ( He puts his hand into his trousers pocket, whips out a handkerchief and cleans his face). I weep for this beautiful country of bad leaders and hopeless followers. Thank you.

Thank you sir.

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•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above How could the country not be prepared for this new level of terrorism when the signs had been with us for the past three or four years?

Implausible as the NSA sounded to the press two days ago, the problem of insecurity is not what he seems to make it. It is true we were not ready for the indiscriminate bombings. But when they came, what did we do? Why, we dithered, spoke ambivalently of negotiation, wringed feeble hands, and from the disclosures in Wikileaks, our top traditional, political and security elites began conspiring to undermine the law. What is probably truest in all this is that we are never ready for anything: not ready for terrorism, not for educational development, not for healthcare, not for roads, not for rails, indeed not for anything. We live from day to day in the engaging simplicity and innocence of childhood, alas at 50 years of age, full of paradoxes and the folly age is supposed to cure.

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