September 15, 2012

Onshore/offshore dichotomy

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Adoke under attack

Ibori's $15m bribe cash:

EFCC arrests claimant, begins fresh probe More suspects to be nabbed

You have no right to stop debate, Northern elders tell Attorney-General PAGE

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Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL.07 N0. 2249

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012 N150.00

Anti-Islam film

US flag burnt as soldiers open fire to disperse protesters PAGES

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Tight security in Kaduna, Kano, Borno, Yobe Seven killed as protests spread to Tunisia, Sudan, Malaysia US embassy, facilities in Nigeria close hurriedly I was invited to US Democratic PAGE Party's 5 convention, says Tinubu Tells PDP to face governance

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Reinstate Salami

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (left) fielding questions yesterday from reporters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on arrival from the United States of America. With him is the former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Dele Alake.

PHOTO: Isaac Jimoh AYODELE

Court rejects plea to stop Jonathan's impeachment

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

•Suspected memebers of a baby-selling syndicate smashed by Special Task Force in Minna, Niger State... yesterday.

•Some of the syndicate’s victims and their babies.

Court rejects plea to stop Jonathan's impeachment

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FEDERAL High Court, Abuja yesterday refused to stop the House of Representatives from initiating impeachment moves against President Goodluck Jonathan over poor budget implementation.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole declined the ex parte application by the National Chairman of African Liberation Party (ALP), Dr. Emmanuel Osita Okere, who asked the court to stop the House.

Emphasising the need for caution, the court said it must have been established that the impeachment proceedings had begun before it could hear the suit in order not to interfere with the functions of the House.

By the proviso of Section 143 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, the court held that no single arm of the National Assembly can unilaterally

Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja impeach the President, adding that it requires a joint resolution of the House and the Senate before the President could be removed.

By not joining the Senate as a party to the suit, the court said, the ex parte motion could not succeed.

"This may not be the proper occasion for this court to grant ex parte order against the 2nd and 3rd defendants, as the reliefs sought by the plaintiff largely benefits the President," the court said.

Justice Kolawole accordingly refused the ex parte order and adjourned the matter indefinitely for the Chief Judge to re-assign the case.

Moving the ex parte application, the Applicant's counsel, Alex Williams, had prayed the court to grant an

interim order restraining the House, saying it was capable of distracting the President from discharging his duties.

The defendants are Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, the House of Representatives, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and President Goodluck Jonathan.

In his affidavit in support of the originating summons, the plaintiff stated that the move to impeach the President is heating up the polity, describing it as a disguise to cause political turmoil.

The plaintiff asked the court to determine whether *Upon proper reading and interpretation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, whether any provision of the Constitution made 100 per cent implementation of the federal

budget of Nigeria for each fiscal year as appropriated

by National Assembly mandatory. *Upon proper reading and interpretation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, whether the National Assembly are empowered to impeach the President from office for failure to implement the budget by 100 per cent for any given fiscal year? * Whether the constitution prescribed any time frame or date in each fiscal year within which to declare the budget as non-implemented?

If the above questions are answered in his favour, he is seeking the following reliefs: *A declaration that the move by the National Assembly to impeach the President from office for non-implementation of 100 per cent

of the 2012 budget is premature, abuse of legislative powers, malevolent, unconditional, null and void. *An order of perpetual injunction restraining the leadership of the National Assembly from impeaching the President for non-implementation of 100 per cent of the budget as appropriated *An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from harassing or further harassing the President with threats of impeachment or commencing any process of impeachment of the President for non-implementation of 100 per cent of the budget. *An order prohibiting the President or the executive arm of government from hurriedly executing any part of the budget when/ where the circumstances at hand does not permit prudent execution of such.

Onshore/Offshore dichotomy: Northern elders slam Adoke

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ORTHERN elders are angry with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, for declaring the debate on the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy as closed.

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) yesterday said the Attorney General has no right whatsoever to say Nigerians cannot debate any issue of interest to them.

“Who is he to say that the debate on onshore/offshore dichotomy is closed? Who is he to say that the debate on onshore/offshore dichotomy is closed? By who?” spokesman for the NEF, Prof. Ango Abdullahi fumed yesterday in Abuja in a reaction to the minister’s statement.

Speaking at the valedictory session in honour of retiring Justice Francis Tabai of the Supreme Court on Thursday, Adoke had warned the public to avoid overheating the polity through re-opening the debate on the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy in the allocation of revenue.

But speaking to reporters on the sideline of the inaugural session of the Constitution Review Committee set up by the NEF in Abuja, Prof. Abdullahi lashed out at the minister: “Is he saying

Sanni ONOGU, Abuja

that Nigerians have no right to speak on issues which onshore/offshore dichotomy is, for him to say that the debate is closed? On what grounds?

“It sounds stupid to me. It is a matter of continuous discussion and debate. He has no right to say that the matter is closed.”

On the forum’s Constitution Review and Political Committees, the former Presidential Adviser on Agriculture said the North is looking primarily at resource control, sovereign national conference and onshore/offshore dichotomy.

He said: “Primarily, the issues the North is looking at are resource control, sovereign national conference as advocated and then onshore/offshore dichotomy.

These are on the front burner of the constitution review. And the legal think tank here would review those positions and know how the North would approach it.”

On the 2015 presidential election, he said: “For us here, primarily we are involved first in securing the unity of our people. If our people are not safe and are not secured, 2015 will not make any meaning to us in this group because we be-

lieve that a united North will now be able to talk politics with sense.

“We are already bedevilled by a lot of crises, security challenges, unemployment and poverty. So with all these ones, I don’t think we have the luxury to be discussing 2015 for now at this level. We believe that if we are organised and united, we may be able to know where the balance stands in 2015.

“The question is that the issue of politics as we understand it, particularly when it comes to elections, there are rules for elections and the elections will be contested on the basis of rules. So, let it be. And that is what it will be in 2015.

He noted that the political committee set up by the NEF “is supposed to look at the politics of Nigeria and see how the North will fit into it or how Nigeria will fit into it in 2015.”

On agitation for state police, he said: “The agitation for state police already has gathered momentum and it is clear that there are certain past leaders of this country that already are championing it. Most of the southern governors are pro-state police and majority of our governors here are not disposed to state police.

“For us in the committee here, we are going to weigh

the propriety of that vis-avis national interest. In fact, at the inaugural speech here, the chairman insisted that the North must not do anything that will be unjust to anybody living in Nigeria.

We believe in the unity of this country.”

He added: “To me personally again, the issue of zoning should be thrown away.

Contest should be open, and so be it. The question of allocation of positions based on certain region should be thrown away and let people be free to contest.”

He described the practice of the presidential system in Nigeria as expensive, but he did not say whether the NEF would be calling for a change of the system during the on-going constitution review process.

“As a group, we feel that we have embarked on a change that has brought disaster to Nigeria. The presidential system of government is a major disaster to Nigerians,” he said, adding: ”I have never seen governance as expensive as what we have on ground today, and even if we are copying the presidential system from the United States, we are bad copiers of the system that operates in the United States today.

“For example, a senator in Nigeria earns $1.5 million

while the President of the United States earns $400,000 a year. So, something must be wrong in the manner in which we understand the presidential system of government, especially if we are copying from the United States.

“But talking about cost of governance from the little project I am trying to undertake now, I have reached a stage where I can pronounce that the cost of governance under the presidential system that we have is three to four times more than the parliamentary system which we threw away in 1979.”

Those who attended the meeting included the Convener, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule; Chairman of the session, Paul Unongo; Ustaz Yunus Usman, SAN; Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu; Senator John Wash Pam; Air Marshal Alamin Daggash; Alhaji Lawal Yusufari; Barr. Ibrahim Umar; Barr. Salmanu Rilwanu; Barr. Abdulfatah Bello and Barr. Solomon Dalong.

Others were Barr.

Mustapha Bashir Wali; Barr.

Simon Orkuma; Gen. Paul Tarfa (rtd); Alhaji Sanni Zango Daura; Barr. R.O. Yusuf; Barr Usman Abashiya; Barr Muhammed Sani Katu; Barr. Moses Tagifek; Kalli Gazali; Capt. Paul Thaha’al and Barr Muslim Maigari.

FG committed to the completion of all basic education projects -Wike MINISTER of State of Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has declared that the Federal Government is committed to the timely completion of all projects in the basic education sub-sector to increase schools enrollment.

The Minister informed that the Federal Government will not abandon projects in the basic education sector.

The minister, who spoke at the weekend during a meeting with officials of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and contractors executing Almajiri Schools projects and libraries in Federal Unity Colleges, noted that any official or contractor who impedes the progress of work will be sanctioned.

He said: “I have signed a performance contract with the President and it is my responsibility to ensure that the right thing is done and all contracts executed according to specification and that no single project is abandoned.

We are working to ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page to deliver on the promise of the President to Nigerians”.

The minister noted that the interactive session was aimed at promoting transparency in the execution of contracts at the basic education level to enhance the chances of attaining Education for All (EFA) goals by 2015.

“Our overall objective is to create the right atmosphere for the nation to attain the EFA goals by 2015. We intend to achieve this by ensuring that no project in this sector is abandoned for any reason”, he said.

Wike said that judging from the percentage level of completion of projects in parts of the country, the performance level for the execution of almajiri schools projects is well above average.

He urged states that are yet to allocate plots of land for the construction of the second phase of Almajiri schools projects to do so or risk the re-allocation of those slots to other states.

The Minister challenged officials of UBEC and the contractors to work closely together to deliver on all the projects.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Tukur begs defectors to return to PDP

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Gbade OGUNWALE, Assistant Editor, Abuja ATIONAL Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has appealed to aggrieved members of the party who defected to other political parties to

return.

Tukur promised prospective returnees a special arrangement by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP that will assign special roles to them in the party’s reform agenda.

He said: “For us to be one indivisible and indissoluble party ruling Nigeria since 1999, it may be necessary for me to beg our members who are aggrieved and who left the party for different strange camps to come back home. It is time to re-build Nigeria and all hands are needed to do so.

“The umbrella is big enough to accommodate all of us. So, our members who left us should please come back into the party so we can resolve our differences and begin to move on as one people for one nation.”

The party chairman said he accepted to lead the party not to acquire fame or fortune, but to give back to Nigeria much of what the country had offered him.

Tukur. who spoke at his Abuja residence on the occasion of his 77th birthday, called on party members and the Nigerian people to support the transformation agenda of the Jonathan administration.

He said the PDP would soon engage its founding fathers, elders and other stakeholders in the task of rebuilding the party through reconciliation, based on equity and justice.

The PDP chair ruled out automatic tickets for members in the 2015 general elections, insisting that merit, record of performance and credibility of political office seekers would be the yardstick for deter- •Some Special Task Force men on patrol in Jos... yesterday mining access to power at all levels.

Tax Tribunal upholds Halliburton’s appeal against FIRS T HE Tax Appeals Tribunal sitting in Lagos yesterday upheld an appeal

by Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Ltd against the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over $167,700,000 tax assessment.

FIRS, in a notice of assessment dated February 24, 2009, had demanded 30 per cent of $559 million being fine payable to United States authorities in lieu of “bribes” allegedly given to Nigerian officials for operations in the country within the Halliburton group.

“Since the entire bribe would have formed part of the expenses that was charged in the tax returns of FIRS, an amount of $559 million is hereby disallowed for tax purposes.

“The relevant assessment notice for the tax arising

Joseph JIBUEZE therefrom amounting to $167,700,000 is herewith forwarded for your prompt payment,” FIRS had said in a covering letter dated February 25, 2009.

Delivering judgment yesterday, the tribunal, chaired by Kayode Sofola, SAN, who led other commissioners including Catherine Ajayi, Mustapaha Ibrahim, D. Gapsiso and Chinua Asuzu, set aside the assessment of FIRS. It said the terms of settlement and a non-prosecution agreement between the parties exempted Halliburton from the imposition of the assessment numbered PDBA 20.

“The said assessment is defective as being speculative, a contradiction and inconsistent with the relevant tax laws.

“While foreign companies may be liable to the imposition of tax in Nigeria, in appropriate cases, Halliburton Inc USA is not chargeable to tax in Nigeria with regard to the fine it paid to the American government in the circumstances of the case,” the tribunal held.

The tribunal said for the tax to be imposed on the sum in question, the law must unambiguously impose the tax on the party sought to be charged with it.

It added: “The evidence shows that the fine was im-

posed for the bribery of Nigerian officials. What the quantum of the bribe was is not in evidence.

“The respondent (FIRS) speculates that the fine of $559 million or the ‘entire bribe would have formed part of the expenses that was charged in the tax returns to FIRS’. The basis for this is not clear.

“If a fine is imposed, it would be unthinkable for such fine to be claimed as an expense to be deducted in the tax returns. The purpose of the sanction, a criminal penalty, surely is a loss imposed on the party unless there is evidence to the contrary, which there is not.

“We find that the fine is not profit and to the contrary, is a

loss. Thus, the case the respondent has presented before us is untenable.”

Halliburton had appealed the assessment on the grounds that it was not involved in the payment of any bribes, adding that it has never claimed any related revenue expenses or deductions in any of its tax returns to the FIRS. The appellant said the amount of the expenses the FIRS proposed to disallow by its assessment was higher than the combined revenue from its operations in Nigeria for “the last four years.”

“The sum of $559,000,000.00 said to have been paid to the US authorities by Halliburton Inc (USA) was not representative of the amount of any alleged bribe payment,” Halliburton said, among others.

Ibori’s $15m bribe sum: EFCC arrests businessman, begins fresh probe

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HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arrested a businessman, Mr. Chibuike Achigbu, in connection with a $15 million bribe allegedly offered a former chairman of the commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, by exGovernor James Ibori.

Following the conviction of Ibori by a UK Court, the Delta State Government had gone to a Federal High Court to apply for the return of the bribe sum which is being kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN).

But Achigbu initially filed an application on August 29 before a Federal High Court claiming that the money belongs to him.

He said he gave the money to a former presidential aide, Dr. Andy Uba, to finance the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2007 elections.

Barely 72 hours after filing an application for the return of $15 million bribe sum to him, he made a U-turn by withdrawing the matter.

The withdrawal made the EFCC to launch a full-scale investigation into how the bribe sum came about and the sponsors of the botched suit.

According to a reliable source in the commission, the embattled businessman was arrested in Lagos on Thursday and flown to Abuja for interrogation.

•More suspects to be nabbed Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation The source said: “The suspect, who was interrogated for many hours, has made a useful statement to our investigators, which could lead to how the $15 millon bribe was offered.

“It is obvious that some forces were using Achigbu as a shield over the bribe sum.

We hope to effect more arrests on the curious suit.

“If you look at the affidavit sworn to by the businessman, it contained many revelations which require in-depth probe.”

As at press time, it was gathered that although the businessman had been granted bail, he was yet to meet the terms.

The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the arrest and grilling of Achigbu.

“We have started investigation on issues that we feel he should clarify,” he said.

Following the withdrawal of the case, the Congress for Progressive Change had insisted on a fresh probe of the $15 million donation.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of

the party. Eng. Rotimi Fashakin, the CPC asked the EFCC to probe alleged donation of the $15 million to the PDP. “The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) is appalled by the controversy generated by the alleged $15 million bribe money (currently in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria) offered to the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu in 2007 by the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori.

“With the formal conviction and subsequent incarceration of Chief James Ibori (for money laundering offences) by a British Court, the need for proper disposal of the money became a front-burner issue.

“Understandably, the Delta State Government showed up as the rightful owner since the money was purloined from it

by Chief James Ibori, in his capacity as the then substantive governor.

“Whilst the matter was pending in court, a Nigerian business man, Mr. Chibuike Achigbu, stepped forward as the authentic owner. In a deposition, filed by a team of ten

lawyers (including three Senior Advocates of Nigeria), Achigbu averred, inter-alia, that he raised the money for the purpose of donating to the electioneering campaigns of the PDP in the 2007 general elections.

“Furthermore, the money was allegedly given to Dr. Andy Uba, the then Senior Special Assistant on domestic Affairs in a PDP Presidency and now a PDP Senator, for the purpose of authenticating (with the EFCC) its suitability for donation.

“Uba was alleged to have passed the money to Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, the then Director of Operations of EFCC and now the substantive Executive Chairman.

“As a party, we view the portent of this latest twist to the bribe money saga as foreboding for the fight against institutionalised corruption in the Nigerian polity.

“Section 7(1)b of the EFCC Act 2004 states: ‘The Commission has power to cause investigation to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the Commission that the person’s lifestyle and extent of the properties are not justified by the source of income.’

“ This twist to the saga has thrown up some questions: • Does the EFCC Act empower the Commission to authenticate the suitability of a donation to a political party?

• Does the EFCC not have sufficient powers to investigate Mr. Chibuike Achigbu with a view to ascertaining the source of his income vis-à-vis justification for making such huge donation?

• Should the EFCC not investigate Senator Andy Uba as the locus in the latest controversy of the alleged bribe money?

• With the EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde’s name mentioned in the deposition, should he not tell the Nigerian people all he knows about this case?

• Has this deposition by an acolyte of a serving PDP Senator not exposed the ruling party as mostly responsible for the festering corruption in the Nigerian state?

“The unexplained illegal jerking up of the expenditure for the 2011 fuel subsidy from N240 billion to N2.67 trillion is part of the continuing story of PDP’s unsuitability for the electoral trust of the Nigerian people.

“As a Party, we owe it a sacred duty to the Nigerian people to expose the infra-dig in the polity for the purpose of ensuring its sustainable growth.”

Pfizer drug victims receive N119m compensation Kolade ADEYEMI, Kano

ANOTHER batch of five victims of the Trovan clinical trials conducted by Pfizer in Kano in 1996 yesterday went home with a total of N119 million in compensation.

Each of them got cheques for amounts ranging between $140000 and $175000.

The latest beneficiaries are the fifth batch.

Chairman of the Healthcare Meningitis Trust Fund (HMTF), Justice Abubakar Bashir Wali (rtd), speaking at the cheque presentation in Kano, explained that the size of the compensation is determined by the degree of disability suffered by the victims.

"This amount belongs to you, the victim, and you are not supposed to give any amount of it to anybody. But if you have another arrangement with anybody, it is not our business. So, it is based on your personal arrangement," he told the beneficiaries.

"It is most gratifying and heart warming that the five Trovan Victims Forum (TVF) claimants heeded my appeal and decided to honour the Board's invitation, and after full medical examination and other protocols, they are being compensated today."

He appealed to other claimants to be patient as the board sorts out the various cases.

"The board is also looking into the cases of those who were not DNA-positive but, using other evidence, may qualify for some compensation. Other steps for compensating such participants are currently been looked into," he said.

NEWS 5

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

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OLDIERS opened fire in Jos yesterday to disperse youths who had gathered to protest a film critical of the Prophet Muhammed.

Protesters in Sokoto, the Islamic spiritual headquarters in Nigeria, burnt a US flag, but Kano, Kaduna, Maiduguri and Damaturu, which have been flash points of religious violence in the country, were generally calm.

The short-lived demonstrations in Jos, where hundreds have been killed in religious and ethnic violence, began after the jumat prayers.

The youths, some wearing white shirts that read “To Hell With America, To Hell With Israel,” chanted slogans and called for the arrest of the makers of the film that has sparked protests across the Middle East and North Africa.

Satisfied that they had a sufficient number to commence a protest, the youths approached a police officer to inform him that they were ready for a peaceful rally around the Central Mosque. They promised to make it peaceful.

They were still discussing when a patrol van filled with Special Task Force (STF) soldiers arrived the scene.

The soldiers quickly disembarked and asked the youths to disperse.

The protesters were apparently too slow in leaving the scene or angry at the soldiers’ position and within seconds gunshots rang out. So ended the protest.

There were no reports of injury to anyone on account of the gunshots or the melee.

Many residents kept indoors following rumour of a likely protest after the jumat while those who went to work had to return home by 1 pm when the jumat would have been over.

Motorists also avoided roads leading to or out of Masalanchin Juma’at and other worship centres as well as Muslim-dominated areas, causing massive traffic jam.

Spokesman for the STF, Captain Salisu Mustapha, said: “Even as I am talking to you now, I am among the troops surveying Zololo area and Bauchi Road. Our men are fully on ground and we are on top of the situation.

“We have since restored peace and we will not fold our arms to allow any protester sabotage all the peace we have laboured to build so far.

“The survellance will continue in the city even after today.”

It was a different situation in Sokoto where protesters burnt a US flag.

“Time has come when the

Anti-Islam film: US flag burnt as soldiers open fire to disperse protesters •Tight security in Kaduna, Kano, Borno, Yobe

Yusufu Aminu IDEGU, Jos, Tony AKOWE Kaduna, Kolade ADEYEMI, Kano, Joseph ABIODUN, Maiduguri, Joel DUKU, Damaturu world should respect Islam as religion, because Muslims respect other people’s religion,” protester Abubakar Ahmed Rijia said.

Another protester, Nai’u Muhammed, said he believed people were deliberately trying to instigate Muslims into violence through criticising the Prophet Muhammad.

“Islam is a religion of peace, but we cannot tolerate somebody abusing it,” Muhammed said.

In Maiduguri, the spiritual home of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, the streets were generally quiet yesterday.

Abubakar Mustapha, an imam, asked Muslims to be restrained in their actions, no matter how angry they may feel over the film.

“How can we earn the respect of others when we as Muslims kill ourselves, when we do

things that smear the name of our religion?” Mustapha asked while preaching yesterday.

“We have to go back to the basic and hold firm unto our religion with love and true devotion so that others will respect our religion and our prophet.”

Security remained tight across the city before, during and after the prayers with the Joint Task Force (JTF) saying it has “taken pro-active security measures, increased surveillance and 24-hour patrol in and around Maiduguri.”

Kano was peaceful with residents moving about their businesses. Security was also tight.

Armoured vehicles were deployed in the streets.

Chief Chris Osuji, PresidentGeneral of the Imo Community Association in Kano, was happy at the development.

“It is indeed a welcome development and a different scenario from the experience we used to have before in Kano.

God has really intervened and we are now living in peace and harmony with our Muslim brothers,” he said.

The state Commissioner of

Police, Ibrahim Idris, said the police and religious leaders were liaising to ensure continued peace.

“I want to tell you that there is no cause for alarm. One of our major strategies is to adopt preventive measures, and that is what we are using to control the situation. We are meeting with leaders of all the Islamic sects and they have assured us of their full cooperation to ensure that peace continues to reign in the state.

Kaduna was similarly calm despite the circulation, the previous day, of a text message by some Muslim groups calling for protest.

The foremost Islamic group in the North, Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), appealled for caution, saying Nigeria could not afford any form of unrest at this point in time.

In a statement in Kaduna, Secretary General of the organisation, Dr. Khalid Aliyu Abubakar said: ”Jama’atu Nasril Islam, under the leadership of His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, Sultan of Sokoto and

President-General, JNI, expressed its shock and consternation on the film released on You-tube, aimed at belittling our noble Prophet (peace be upon him) in a derogatory manner and smearing his dignity.

“It is disrespectful to Muslims, intended to cause their anger, and therefore unacceptable not only to Muslims but to all right thinking people. It is, however, condemned in the strongest terms.

“However, Muslims are enjoined to pertinently persevere for the sake of the Almighty Allah, the way our revered Prophet used to whenever his personality was attacked by his foes.

“He was called all sorts of derogatory names and persecuted, but he never revenged and forwarded his complaint to Allah the Almighty for relief.

“It is rather unfortunate at this time when all efforts should be geared towards peace and calm, some elements want to create tension by insinuating that nonMuslim interest will be attacked.

“We cannot afford any up-

heaval in this trying moment of insecurity our country is passing through.

Therefore, all Muslims are called for restraint and perseverance.

May Allah the Exalted console all.”

Civil Rights activist, Mallam Shehu Sani, described the movie as an unprovoked attack against Muslims and the peace loving people of the world.

“The producers and actors of such a movie are anarchists and men of evil attempting to incinerate the world. ”The movie threatens world peace and stability. This movie and the culture of inciting attack on Muslims and Islam as prevalent in some western countries must be halted by all means in the interest of peace and mutual respect,” he said.

He said while Muslims have the right to object and peacefully protest, ”retaliatory attacks against innocent persons or institutions are detrimental and unacceptable. There is no justification for any violence against Americans or any westerner resulting from this.”

•Senator Oluremi Tinubu with some beneficiaries of Lagos Central Senatorial District Post-Secondary School Scholarship Scheme (PSSS) initated by her in 2011 to support the youth in tertiary institutions in the distrct.

I was invited to Democratic Party’s convention, says Tinubu

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ORMER Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu returned to Lagos yesterday from the United States of America (USA) and said he was properly invited to the just concluded convention of the Democratic Party where President Barack Obama was nominated for the November election.

He deplored the “unwarranted” criticism of his attendance at the convention, espec ially by the PDP. The ruling party, he insisted, lacks the moral right to query the mode of his invitation to the convention, having failed to address the issues of electricity and inability to put food on the table of the average Nigerian.

The Action Congress of Nigeria ( ACN) leader said he

Kelvin OSA OKUNBOR seized the opportunity of the convention to discuss with great minds ideas that are central to the development and sustenance of democratic institutions.

Tinubu said: ”It is unfortunate that we have not been able to distinguish between public contact and a proper democratic convention. There is a great exhibition of Nigerian ignorance and those scavenging power in its corridors.

“They do not even appreciate the fact that we fought for democracy.

During the struggle for this democracy, there was a lot of precedence and people outside this country are still watching us. “ I was at the convention. I was invited properly.Who are

•Tells PDP to face governance the people asking me to prove anything?

“Is it about the high rate of unemployment in this country? Is it about the inability of the ruling party to provide food on the table for hungry Nigerians? Is it about the state of electricity in the country that they cannot privatise properly without blackmailing the former minister of power, who the government forced to resign because they have an agenda of turning everything into a family affair?

“The ruling party should busy itself with the infrastructure that is lacking in this country. There is need for our leaders to share knowledge with others to know what we need and how to move the nation forward.”

The ACN leader hailed the robustness of the American democracy, which he said is based on ideas and the resolve of its leaders to create a platform for promoting values and vision.

On the lessons Nigeria could draw from US leaders, Asiwaju Tinubu said: “Our airport, is it a friendly one that is inviting business and tourism we should take Nigeria and its governance more seriously?

“I represented my party, ACN, the progressives at the convention with Hon. Dele Alake, Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji. Whatever they insinuate does not bother me. I am glad I represented my party.”

On the chances of the ACN

in next month’s governorship election in Ondo State, TInubu said: “We are working hard for the October gubernatorial election in Ondo state. Our candidate is working hard and the party is working very hard.

All our structures are in place and as long as the election is well monitored and controlled, we are very sure of victory.”

Commenting on the killing of the US ambassador in LIbya, TInubu said: “We need to pay more attention and not lip service to the question of security. The world is getting smaller because of technology and the wild rumours that have no credibility can cause problems of security.

“It has become a serious

problem all over the country and we have to pay special attention to security effectively and not just react but be very proactive.

“Look at the case of Oshiomhole‘s PA that was murdered. The case is disjointed, uncoordinated between the police and the SSS, parading different suspects; they are not communicating, not sharing information for the good of Nigerians.“ He described the planned introduction of N5000 bank note by the Central Bank (CBN) as a clear invitation to devalue the naira.

He said: “N5000 is a clear indication of depreciation, a clear devaluation. They failed economically in this country. The ruling party should pack their load and go. Nigerians should be wiser.”

6 NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

•Demonstrators protest outside the US embassy , unseen, in Tunis, yesterday as police responded to protestors throwing stones with tear gas.

A Sudanese man shouts slogans after protesters have set fire at the German embassy in Khartoum, Sudan...yesterday

Threat of violence:US embassy, facilities cut work hours

T

HE U.S. Embassy in Abuja and all associated facilities in the country shut down as early as 11:30 a.m. yesterday as a precautionary measure following outrage in many parts of the world over a film said to have insulted Prophet Mohammed.

Its Consulate General in Lagos was closed at 11:00 a.m.

The Embassy in a statement said : “ Protests against a controversial film may occur in Jos, Kano, and other parts of

Nigeria. U.S. citizens may wish to limit their travels beyond their residential compounds during the afternoon of September 14.

“The Embassy continues to work closely with Nigerian Police and security agencies, which continue to take proactive security measures to ensure public safety. U.S. Citizens in Nigeria should consider their personal security and to keep personal safety in the forefront of their plan-

ning.

“This year, extremists have attacked many locations in Nigeria, killing and injuring hundreds of people. They have threatened churches, mosques, media houses, police stations, immigration and customs offices, financial institutions, large hotels, shopping malls and markets, state government offices, communications centers, beer gardens, and nightclubs. Attackers have also burned and de-

stroyed several public and private schools in Borno, and targeted several educational institutions in Kano and churches in Plateau, Bauchi, Kaduna, Niger, and Borno states. Additionally, extremists continue to target westerners for abduction. As such, the situation in the country remains fluid and unpredictable.

“All U.S. citizens should use caution and discretion when deciding to attend large func-

tions or visit establishments identified as potential targets, and respond appropriately if they detect suspicious activities. Because of ongoing security concerns within the Federal Capital Territory, U.S. citizens should continue to expect heavy traffic congestion, road blocks, and significant police/ security force deployments.

All U.S. citizens should remain vigilant, pay attention to their surroundings, limit exposure to large crowds, and keep their

cellular telephones in close proximity for use in cases of emergency.

“U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in Nigeria are strongly advised to enroll in the Department of State’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). U.S. citizens without Internet access may enroll directly with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.

By enrolling, you make it easier for the U.S. Mission in Nigeria to contact you in case of emergency.”

Seven killed as protests against film spread in Mideast

A

T least seven people died yesterday as an gry demonstrations against an anti-Islam film spread to their widest extent yet around the Middle East and other Muslim countries.

Protesters smashed into the German Embassy in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and set part of it on fire and climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, waving an Islamist banner.

Tunisia’s official news agency said two people died and 29 others injured in protests outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunis.

Three deaths were recorded in Sudan and one each in Egypt and Lebanon bringing the toll to seven at press time.

The Tunisia State news agency-TAP- said both people killed were demonstrators, while the injured include protestors and police.

Pope Benedict XVI appealed for peace and reconciliation among religions same day as the violence spilled over into Lebanon within hours of his arrival in the tumultuous region.

The pope flew into Lebanon for a three-day visit despite the recent unrest — including civil war in Syria, a mob attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya, and a string of violent protests across the Middle East stemming from the film, produced in the United States, which insults Islam.

“I have come to Lebanon as a pilgrim of peace,” the 85year-old pope said upon arrival in Beirut, speaking under a canopy at the airport on a sultry afternoon. “As a friend of God and as a friend of men.”

•Pope in Lebanon calls for peace US secretary condemn anti-Islam film The speech: “We are closely watching what is happening in Yemen and elsewhere, and we certainly hope and expect that there will be steps taken to avoid violence and prevent the escalation of protests into violence.

“I also want to take a moment to address the video circulating on the internet that has led to these protests in a number of countries. Let me state very clearly – and I hope it is obvious – that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message.

America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. And as you know, we are home to people of all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims. And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.

He denounced religious fundamentalism, calling it “a falsification of religion.”

The crowd at the pope’s arrival was small as security kept most people away from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, which is named after a former prime minister who was assassinated in a 2005 bombing that some blame on the regime in Syria.

The pontiff was welcomed by top leaders, including the

“To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage. But as I said yesterday, there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. We condemn the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and we greatly appreciate that many Muslims in the United States and around the world have spoken out on this issue.

“Violence, we believe, has no place in religion and is no way to honor religion. Islam, like other religions, respects the fundamental dignity of human beings, and it is a vio-

lation of that fundamental dignity to wage attacks on innocents. As long as there are those who are willing to shed blood and take innocent life in the name of religion, the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace. It is especially wrong for violence to be directed against diplomatic missions.

These are places whose very purpose is peaceful: to promote better understanding across countries and cultures.

All governments have a responsibility to protect those spaces and people, because to attack an embassy is to attack the idea that we can work together to build understanding and a better future.

“Now, I know it is hard for some people to understand why the United States cannot or does not just prevent these kinds of reprehensible videos from ever seeing the light of day. Now, I would note that in today’s world with today’s technologies, that is impossible. But even if it were possible, our country does have a long tradition of free expression which is enshrined in our Constitution and our law, and we do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views no matter how distasteful they may be.

“There are, of course, different views around the world about the outer limits of free speech and free expression, but there should be no debate about the simple proposition that violence in response to speech is not acceptable. We all – whether we are leaders in government, leaders in civil society or religious leaders – must draw the line at violence.

And any responsible leader should be standing up now and drawing that line.”

Lebanese president, prime minister and parliament speaker, as well as Christian and Muslim religious leaders. Cannons fired a 21-shots salute for the pope.

“Let me assure you that I pray especially for the many people who suffer in this region,” he said.

But just hours after the pope arrived, violence erupted in northern Lebanon over the film “Innocence of Muslims.”

es the Prophet Muhammad, portraying him as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester.

According to Lebanese security officials, a crowd angry over the film set fire to a KFC and a Hardee’s restaurant in the port city of Tripoli, 85 kilometers north of Beirut, sparking clashes with police. Police then opened fire, killing one of the attackers, the officials said.

At least 25 people were

wounded in the melee, including 18 police who were hit with stones and glass. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Earlier Friday, speaking to reporters aboard his plane, the pope said he never considered canceling the trip for security reasons, adding that “no one ever advised (me) to renounce this trip and personally, I have never consid-

The US Secretary of State,Hillary Clinton,on Thursday denounced the anti-Islam film as disgusting and reprehensible. “It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage ,”she said at a meeting in Washington D.C. with Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister .

ered this.”

Protests were held in cities from Tunisia to Pakistan after the Jumat prayers, where many clerics in their mosque sermons called on congregations to defend their faith, denouncing obscure movie produced in the United States that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad.

The spread of protests comes after attacks earlier this week on the U.S. Embassies in Cairo and the Yemeni capital Sanaa and on a U.S. consulate in Libya, where the ambassador and three other Americans were killed.

After standing aside earlier this week in the face of protesters, security forces in Yemen and Egypt fired tear gas and clashed with protesters yesterday to keep them away from U.S. embassies.

Egypt president, Mohammed Morsi, went on state TV and urged Muslims to protect foreign diplomatic missions — his first direct public move to contain protests.

“It is required by our religion to protect our guests and their homes and places of work,” he said. He also condemned the killing of the American ambassador in Libya, saying it was unacceptable in Islam. “To God, attacking a person is bigger than an attack on the Kaaba,” he said, referring to Islam’s holiest site in Mecca.

His speech was an apparent attempt to repair strained relations with the United States, which was angered by his slow response to Tuesday night’s assault on the embassy in Cairo. Police did nothing to stop protesters from climbing over the embassy walls, and Morsi Continued on Page 63

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

7

8 COMMENTARY

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Kidnap…money making menace K

IDNAPPING can most accurately described as the crime of unlawfully seizing and carrying away a person by force of fraud, or seizing and detaining a person against his or her will with an intent to carry that person away at a later time. The law of kidnapping can be complex to define with precision because it can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Most of State and Federal kidnapping statutes define the term ‘kidnapping’ vaguely all over the world, and usually its left for the courts to clearly define it in detail.

The number of kidnapping cases in Nigeria has risen to a staggering level. Most of the kidnapping cases are attributed to ransom demands while others are linked to terrorist activities.

The high risk potential victims of kidnapping were usually prominent members of the society from our artists and their family members but recently it was noticed that there has been a shift from that trend. In the past, kidnappings were fundamentally politically based and foreign workers within the Internal oil companies were the prime targets. Oil rebels in order to stress and highlight on their political stances and campaigns would seize unsuspecting foreigners in a bid to extort money.

So far the main motive for most of these kidnaps has been for financial gain, and a majority of security analysts attribute the rise in kidnapping cases to the severe poverty levels in some communities especially the problem in the rise of unemployment. The most alarming fact is that if the economy in the country gets worse; we would unfortunately witness the rise in killings in kidnap cases as the kidnappers become more dangerous, daring and desperate. The root cause of kidnapping would be unemployment. Youths should be engaged in numerous employment opportunities and be encouraged to enrol in vocational programs. It saddens me that the security situation in Nigeria today is unpredictable for there is an alarming risk of terrorism, inter- communal clashes, crime, armed robbery attacks, banditry and now a spate of kidnappings. Formerly, kidnappings were a particular threat within the Niger Delta Region but now kidnappings are synonymous all over Nigeria.

The statistics of kidnapping in Nigeria is simply appalling. On May 31st, 2012, an Italian citizen was kidnapped in Kwara State.

On January 26th, 2012, a German citizen was kidnapped in Kano and then tragically killed on May 31st, 2012. A British citizen and an Italian citizen were kidnapped in Kebbi on May 12th , 2011, and brutally murdered by their captors on March 8th, 2012.

Red24, the AIM-listed international security advice and management company, has named the world’s ten countries in which it says the threat of being kidnapped for ransom is the greatest.

Their findings would alarm most Nigerians. They are: 1. Afghanistan 2. Somalia 3. Iraq 4. Nigeria 5. Pakistan 6. Yemen 7.

Venezuela 8. Mexico 9. Haiti 10. Columbia.

Nigeria records a staggering 1,000 kidnappings for ransom cases annually. Many experts though believe that due to differ-

ent incident classifications between countries and the reluctance of relatives to report incidents, for fear of retaliation by the kidnappers or because of concerns about police corruption and ineptitude; data on kidnappings can be complex to compile.

However, Red24 stated that using official data in respect of Nigeria, Venezuela, Mexico and Columbia as well as piracy incidents off the Somali coast and non-governmental organization staff kidnappings in Afghanistan have discovered there was a 9% rise in kidnapping cases in 2011 compared with the previous year. Their chief executive, Maldwyn Worseley- Tonks remarked that kidnapping is a “growing, global threat.”

The Academic Staff Union of Universities had cause to accuse the federal government of its failure to properly curb the spate of insecurity and the high rate of crime in the country. On 13th August, 2012, on a meeting with reporters at the end of its National Executive Council meeting at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, ASUU’s National President, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge, said that, “The spate of insecurity in the country has continued unabated. On daily basis, the newsstands are awash with reports of bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, armed robberies, arson, and related acts of violence perpetuated against the Nigerian people and foreigners alike. There are also reports of spiral inflation and phenomenal increase in commodity prices leading to food insecurity and reduction in standard of living across the country. Joblessness, homelessness, and decreasing access to education and other indices of underdevelopment now characterize our national life.”

The fact that crime is on the increase in Nigeria is not breaking news these days, but the most challenging hurdle to cross would be that of the severe unemployment plaguing our nation. Various independent and authentic studies have revealed that unemployment is responsible for the largest portion of kidnappings in Nigeria today. It is a vicious chain of unfortunate events where poverty resulting from unemployment and a badly managed economy, increases criminal activities in Nigeria. The economic growth in this country has been severely stunted by decades of corruption and mismanagement of public funds. The depress-

ing economic climate has taken its toll on Nigerians and the social effects of unemployment in Nigeria has increased the rate of kidnappings. Our youths are being lured by criminal gangs, warlords, illegal activities and terrorists. Amidst the extreme economic deprivation, the enticement of making fast money by snatching someone’s loved one seems just too tempting to resist.

The crimes in general are becoming alarming more violent as well. The horrendous use of human beings or their body parts for money making rituals has become common news. It used to be that in the 1980’s, sporadically reported acts of crime were of burglars silently and stealthily entering a house while all were soundly sleeping and going away with the family Betamax video. The robbers were too “polite” to even wake, talk less of confront any member of the family. Nowadays, poor wages, detrimental living conditions and lack of proper social morals have made money making ventures such as kidnapping the popular stock in trade for misguided youths. So the million dollar question remains, how safe exactly are any of us?

Apparently, no one is safe. We are all potential victims. The security in Nigeria can best be described as a prison of fear and uncertainty guarded by invisible walls. Even in traffic, robberies are common. People are snatched in broad daylight by kidnappers and witnesses are either too scared or cynical to try to help much less assist security agencies to apprehend the perpetrators. With kidnapping, these criminals involved resort to the cruelest, degrading and most inhumane treatment of another human being. How can this abominable trend be reversed?

Employment can be generated by means of restructuring our educational system, a conducive economic environment devoid of staggering inflation, and rebranding our agricultural sector would almost certainly go a long way to discouraging youths from engaging in criminal activities. All good citizens of this country should take responsibility to an extent for the state of lawlessness in the country today; for it would be selfish and irresponsible to blame the federal government alone. These misguided youths were once our children before they grew up to be criminals, and until we all understand that we have a high stake in Nigeria’s future, we can only show chagrin and contempt for a worsening situation. The primary focus of the federal government and indeed all Nigerians is to empower our youths through sound educational and vocational programs; let us as parents is to give them hope for a brighter and more solid and secure future. These fundamental advantages I believe have already been laid by the great founding fathers of Nigeria.

In the meantime, all Nigerians and foreigners within the country should exercise grave caution and vigilance at all times. The next breaking news about the latest kidnap victim can be anyone of us and that’s the sad reality of Nigeria today.

NEWS

Police set to release Cynthia’s body Jude ISIGUZO

N

•Late Cynthia Osokogu

INE days after the burial rites of late Cynthia Osokugo were performed in her Bebe, Ovia Agbor hometown in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State,without her corpse, the police in Lagos say her family can now come and collect her remains for burial.

The Area Commander in charge of Area ‘E’, FESTAC Town, Mr Dan Okoro, said last night that Cynyhia’s corpse has been transferred to

the mortuary from pathologist theatre following the completion of the autopsy on it.

Okoro,an assistant commissioner of police, said Cynthia’s family was being contacted to go to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital mortuary to collect her remains.

Okoro had said on Wednesday that the family would not be able to collect the corpse until the police were in possession of the autopsy report.

He did not however say yesterday if the police had received the autopsy report. He

only said the pathologist was through with the corpse.

A casket suspected to be Cynthia’s was seen at Lekan Ogunshola Memorial Mortuary.

Cynthia, daughter of MajorGen Frank Osokogu(rtd), was murdered in Cosmilla Hotel.

Lake View Estate, AmuwoOdofin, Lagos on July 22 allegedly by her Facebook friends, Okomu Nwabufor and Eike Odera.

The suspects and two others have already been charged to court in connection with her murder.

We've kept our promises to workers, says Amosun

G

OVERNOR Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State says his administration has kept his promises to workers by implementing the National Minimum Wage, paying their salaries as and when due ,and creating a workfriendly environment for them.

Swearing-in two PrincipalsGeneral in Abeokuta,Gov.Amosun explained that it was a deliberate policy of government not to owe workers' salaries. "This informed our decision from the very first month in office to augment the monthly federal allocation of the local councils with about N500 million," he said.

He reiterated that his administration would not borrow for the purpose of clearing the salary arrears accumulated by the previous admin-

istration.

"Government can borrow to execute capital projects but not recurrent expenditure; we will not default in meeting our own obligation to workers," he said.

Besides the piecemeal payment of salary arrears owed by the last government, he said government has approved the promotion of teachers which should have been done in 2009 and 2010, pointing out that promotion of workers as and when due would boost their morale and increase their productivity.

He deplored the decay in the education sector in the country and said government would pursue its free and qualitative education policy with single-minded commitment.

He explained that the reno-

vation of dilapidated school buildings would continue while writing and instructional materials for the new session would be made available to pupils of public primary and secondary schools.

He said the construction of 26 world class model schools is going on as planned.

The governor charged the newly sworn-in PrincipalsGeneral, Mr. Funso Ogun and Alhaja Hafsat Ayinde, to work hard to uplift the standard of education in the state and restore the values once cherished by parents to the school system.

And receiving a delegation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), led by its National President, Mr Adedoyin Idowu Owolabi, Governor Amosun said the nation was

in dire need of more professionals in the public sector, especially chartered accountants.

Government,through transparency and prudent financial management,he said, had raised the monthly Internally Generated Revenue of the state from about N700 million to over N2 billion.

While expressing total support for the Whistleblower's Protection Bill initiative of the Institute, he promised to engage more accountants in the public service of the state.

In his remarks, the National President of ICAN, Mr Adedoyin Idowu Owolabi, lauded the exemplary leadership style of Senator Amosun, especially his commitment to honesty, transparency and accountability, which he said "are the ideals of the accounting profession."

Felix Okoye memorial lecture

T

HE Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) will hold the 2012 edition of the Dr. Felix Okoye memorial lecture on Tuesday, September 18, 2012.Venue is the Ayo Ajomo Auditorium, University of Lagos.

The lecture, with the theme, ‘Judicialism and electoral process in Nigeria: What the Supreme Court did, what the Supreme Court may do’, will be delivered by Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) will be the special guest of honour at the event, which will kick off by 4pm.

‘Fafunwa Educational Foundation promotes academic excellence’

T

HE Fafunwa Educational Foundation was established to promote academic excellence and raise the standard of edu cation in the country,Chairperson of the Local Organising Committee of the foundation, Dr. (Mrs.)Pat Akumabor, has said.

Briefing reporters in Lagos ahead of the 16th edition of the foundation’s lecture and indigenous languages awards,Dr.Akumabor said the late Prof. Babs Fafunwa, a former Minister of Education, had a passion for educational development and contributed a lot to the advancement of education in Nigeria.

“Prof. Fafunwa was the architect of the 6-3-3-4 educational system. He believed that it is ideal that at the primary school level, mother tongue should be used to teach pupils, to make learning easy.

“We don’t want the legacy he bequeathed to us to die. We want his dream of academic excellence in Nigeria to be realised.

That was why the foundation was established.

“For the past 15 years, we have been organising lectures yearly on education and giving indigenous languages awards to the three best PhD students selected from the University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Lagos State University, Ojo,” Dr. Akumabor said.

The Secretary of the foundation, Mr. Muyiwa Obiyomi, said the topic of this year’s lecture is, “Entrepreneurship Education: Repositioning Nigerian Education for National Transformation”.

The event is scheduled for September 25 at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos with Prof. Pat Utomi of the Lagos Business School as the guest of honour, Dr. Okey Anueyiagu, an Economist as chairman and Education Minister, Prof. Ruquayyat Ahmed Rufai, as the Special guest of nohour. The winner of the indigenous awards will go home with N500,000.

9

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

T

HE killing of the US Am bassador in Benghazi, Libya this week over the alleged blasphemy on Islam in the film Desert Warriors – said to be about life 2000 years ago, bring to the fore the good, the bad and ugly side of the internet as a fast and speedy generator of information and ideas. The presence of objectionable scenes on the Holy Prophet and Islam sparked off murderous protests in the Middle East with protesters looking for Americans to kill maim or skin alive. In Cairo the situation was similar to that in Benghazi . Just as in Senaa the Yemeni capital where protesters besieged the US embassy and tried to enter it.

The US has reacted in a tough way and has sent war ships to the area but it has to respect and use diplomacy first and has asked that the governments of Egypt and Libya cooperate with it in securing the lives and property of diplomatic staff. Libya on its own has apologized to the US government for the killing of the US ambassador and four other Americans in the embassy. In a tribute to the fallen ambassador who reportedly died of suffocation the wife of the US president said it was particularly painful because the Ambassador was one of those who saved Benghazi during the uprising against the Muammar Gaddafi regime.

Which shows clearly that the use of information in the internet age can be particularly dangerous especially with the speed with which bad or good news spreads without giving time for clarifications, authentication or verification.

Today, we discuss the dangerous use and misuse of information generally especially with regard to the younger generation and the use of information technology in securing our environment as well as its potential for doing just the opposite. We do this without any pretences whatever and acknowledge that Nigeria is in the same boat as any of the North African or Middle East nations- involved in street revolutions - but are now biting the finger that fed them in staging successful revolutions against dictatorship - which is information technology and the internet featuring social networks like facebook and twitter.

This is because the Boko Haram strategy of attacks in Nigeria have been to use home made bombs and we have been shown armories of the sect and the implements used in making bombs from knowledge and skills acquired from the internet to bomb churches and other targets in Nigeria. Yet, the internet was created to germinate and spread information and knowledge in a form of democratization that breaks the monopoly or hoarding of information and brings data and hitherto protected information within reach of the masses in terms of spontaineous availability and accessibility.

Given the horror and the speed of the killing of the US ambassador and the rising profile of Boko Haram bombings in Nigeria, one is tempted to ask if there has not been a mistake somewhere on the expected use of information on an unfettered internet and totally free social networks and on - line information sharing systems.

Again, we stress that the essence of information is in its sharing and usage to promote causes and events. As events this week show this can be a double edged sword. This is because just as a phone call or information on facebook can lead a suya seller to make bumper sales by moving his wares to a different location based

Technology, politics and global security

on information received, the same telephone can tell a bomber the location to detonate his bomb for maximum effect.

In Tahrir Square in Egypt, the demonstrators that gathered to oust Housni Mubarak were aided

by IT gadgets which were seized and were to be tendrered as evidence against them by Mubaraks agents and they would have been sentenced by the Egyptian authorities still pro Mubarak then.

But the US government intervened and the IT gadgets were released and some of the trials stopped.

Now Egypt has an elected President who was elected by a revolution that rode on the back of mass mobilisation through IT but the US embassy was under siege this week in Cairo and American lives were on the line because of information from the internet on a blasphemy on Islam in a film.

The same can be said of Libya and Yemen where the same people the US supported against their oppressors turned their anger on the same US. Which really shows in violently pragmatic ways that it is not only in diplomacy that we say that there are no permanent friends but permanent interests. In social networking too

whilst the essence of sharing information is to galvanise interest in causes and events there are no permanent friends in the subsequent flow and direction of information. That is the bitter truth the death of the US Ambassador has revealed in Benghazi, Libya this week.

This throws up again the issue of Wiki Leaks and its founder now holed up in the embassy of Ecuador in London whilst the British government struggles not to break international law - especially the sanctity and sovereignty of resident embassies, in seeking to arrest and send him to Sweden to face sexual assault charges. I have never been an admirer of the Wiki Leak founder because I think he violated privacy and security bounds and laws in revealing information on governments and diplomacy online just because a frustrated and wayward US soldier was willing to get paid for such information. Yet the Wiki Leak founder was made a Man of the Year by a leading Nigerian newspaper sometime ago - which I found repugnant. Just as I feel bad that some people have revealed information in Nigeria on leading SSS officials on line thus

blowing their cover and jeorpadising their security.

This to me is like giving jailed convicts unfettered access to the judges that jailed them. The result is predictable – sheer murder and mayhem fuelled by a mad urge for retaliation and vengeance against public officials who have just done their legitimate functions and duties. Which certainly is most unfair.

This brings to mind again the optimism of the CEO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg at the beginning of this year in an article in the publication - The World In 2012 - from The Economist stable. In the article titled –Sharing the Power of 2012 – the Facebook boss, a lady noted that after the earthquake in New Zealand in 2011 which destroyed property worth over $10bn in Christchurch - social media connected people to the resources they needed to begin rebuilding their lives. On Egypt she wrote that in 2011 the Egyptian people confronted a government that was not listening to them and used social technologies to amplify their voices.

Technology she said gives ‘a name and a face - a true identity – to those who were previously invisible and it turns up the volume on voices that may have otherwise been too soft to hear’. She ended gleefully that in 2012 greater sharing of information around the world is inevitable and that deeper and richer caring will be profound. Definitely the Facebook boss never thought of the sort of Information backlash that turned technologies that created freedom into weapons of destruction this week in the Middle East. Which also brings to mind bitter memo-

ries of the beautiful daughter - of a Nigerian general -who made friends on the internet who lured her to her death in Lagos from Abuja on the fraudulent pretext of being business experts.

In essence then and quite ominously the Americans must prepare for events like the murder in Benghazi this week and the reason is not far fetched. Technology - spawned democracies are prone to religious backlashes simply because they are not immune to religious sentiments and the Middle East is a hotbed of religion and Islam is the major religion.

In addition whilst the nations and citizens of the Middle East may thank the US for aiding the advent of democracy they hate the Americans with the same vigor with which they hated the dictators that the US has helped them to depose. Indeed in deposing the dictators the masses of the Middle East have not forgotten that it was US foreign policy that kept the deposed tyrants in power for so long in the first instance.

So they reason that if the US can abandon its friends so easily it is better not to be too cosy with a nation that really has no permanent friends in their region but only permanent interests this time woven around technology. More importantly, technology and its usefulness and power capabilities aside, there is no way the people of the Middle East can be true friends of the US as long as the support for the state of Israel remains the corner stone of the US Middle East Foreign Policy . That really is the true import of the deadly information backlash that claimed the ambassador’s life in Benghazi, Libya this week.

10 COMMENTARY

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

A case for one man, one gun vincentakanmode@yahoo.com

I

would start by declaring that I am quite aware of the sensitive nature of the issue I have chosen to write about. I am also not oblivious of the criticism it may attract from many of our countrymen who believe that since Nigeria remains a baby at 52, its citizens must necessarily be infants endowed more with infantile emotions and temperament than discretion and sound judgment.

I am talking about the need to grant responsible and emotionally mature Nigerians access to arms to defend themselves and family members in the face of increasing inability of government to live up to its basic responsibility of protecting the lives and property of its citizens.

While British philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, might not have had Nigeria in mind when he propounded his theory of state of nature in the 19th Century, no honest observer would dispute the fact that Nigeria today is a replica of the picture he painted of the human society before the advent of government. Life in that primitive society, he said, was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.

To be sure, the debate on whether private arms should be legalised is not new. But at no time was the issue as germane as it has been in the past one year or thereabout, considering the numerous sources of violent attacks on innocent Nigerians. The attacks had come mainly from armed robbery and hired assassination. Now, the people are contending with insurgent groups like the Boko Haram. In many of the northern states, for instance, churches have become desolate as Christians in those states fear that they could be attacked during service as has been experienced in states like

Borno, Yobe, Plateau, Niger, Kaduna, Adamawa and Kano.

The foregoing is besides the menace constituted by thugs who are in the habit of unleashing terror on workers and owners of new building sites.

The Yoruba call them omo onile. Armed with all manner of dangerous weapons, they move from one building site to another, brandishing guns and other dangerous weapons as they make illegal and unreasonable demands from the owners of such projects. There is also the menace of kidnappers; a trend that has virtually brought the states in the South East to their knees. Ten days ago, it took a combined squad of the InspectorGeneral of Police and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Anambra State Police Command to unveil an intimidating armoury of a kidnapping gang that had terrorised the zone for years. So massive was the armoury that the Commissioner of Police in the state said the kidnappers were capable of defeating a small army.

Early in the week, dare-devil robbers laid siege to Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the nation, killing no fewer than 10 people as they embarked on a shooting spree around the city after attacking a bureau de change, carting away about N150 million away. The robbers, who were said to number about eight, including two women, drove round in two SUVs. They shot at five policemen inside their patrol vehicle, killing two of them instantly while the third died in the hospital. A stray bullet was said to have hit a six-yearold girl in the eye while her grandmother was hit in the forehead as they watched television in their home.

The Lagos incident occurred at a time that residents were beginning to think that the police in the state had finally found the winning formula against the men of the underworld. With a lot of support from the state government, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the state’s police command had taken the battle to robbers and incidents of robbery reduced remarkably. The sudden burst of robbers to the scene last Sunday, therefore, came as a shock to many. It pointed to the fact that the police are overwhelmed by the crime rate in the nation, not necessarily because

‘

Patriotic Nigerians need as many guns as they can muster to neutralise the ferocity of bloodthirsty criminals that hold the nation by the jugular. The alternative is to continue to live at their mercy because the security agencies in whose hands we have entrusted our lives and property have proved time and time again that they are incapable of standing up to them

‘

they are incompetent but partly because they lack the necessary equipment. With the nation’s population standing at more than 150 million, the less than half a million policemen available in the country is a far cry from the United Nations’ recommended police strength of 222 per 100,000 people.

The foregoing scenario has triggered the agitation for a state police in some quarters, but the fundamental question remains how states that are barely viable enough to pay their workers’ salaries would muster the funds needed to equip and maintain its own police? The only viable option we are left with, is to allow individual Nigerians to take their destiny in their own hands by making

it possible for them to own their own guns and stop living at the mercy of heartless robbers, kidnappers and hired assassins.

The fear that is often raised against this proposal is that it could lead to needless killings as temperamental individuals could open fire on their compatriots at the slightest provocation.

But this line of reasoning is flawed because it presupposes that such trigger-happy fellows will get away scot-free, whereas we have laws that stipulate death sentence or life imprisonment for such an act. The average Nigerian is a passionate lover of life and would do anything to avoid an act that would lead him or her to incarceration, not to talk of being executed. The current setting in which millions of Nigerians acquire arms illegally is more dangerous because it leaves the law abiding citizens at their mercy. And because the guns in circulation are not registered, it is easier for their owners to kill and get away with it.

The principle of one man, one gun sets up a scenario of mutually assured destruction. It inhibits the reckless use of gun, knowing full well that the man you set out to kill, his friends or neighbours could also be armed. Armed robbers operate with the brazen boldness they do because they know that the likelihood that they will be challenged during an operation is remote. An armed robber will think twice before invading another man’s house if he knows or suspects that his would-be-victim could be armed.

Patriotic Nigerians need as many guns as they can muster to neutralise the ferocity of bloodthirsty criminals that hold the nation by the jugular. The alternative is to continue to live at their mercy because the security agencies in whose hands we have entrusted our lives and property have proved time and time again that they are incapable of standing up to them. Imagine how many lives could have been saved in Jos, Maiduguri, Adamawa, Yobe, Kaduna and Kano if ours were a country of one man, one gun. It may not provide the answer to bombs, but it is capable of inhibiting other forms of reckless killings.

Did Sanusi actually say that? Knucklehead

I

T is manifestly clear that the only crested badge that adorns the collar of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is wreathed in arrogance.

Gosh! Does this man wear it with such riotous pride! We may not doubt the fact Sanusi is a well-rounded economist and probably the right man to handle the tempestuous volatility that has bedevilled the Nigerian currency, the Naira, for some time now. What is in doubt is his capacity to, in simple language, pass on the logic in his fiscal policies without needlessly overstepping the bounds of decency that is expected of such a high office. If anything, his interface with the public on economic matters has been nothing but a monumental disappointment, ironically, at a point when he should be receiving plaudits for his ability to rein in some big crooks in the banking sector. It is to his credit that our banking system has not gone bust regardless of what some of his critics may feel. However, to say the least, it is unfortunate that such a sound mind is adept at complicating issues that he should ordinarily simplify for the general populace. In modern day Nigeria, hardly can one get a public officer that barks and bites like Sanusi does. And that is sad!

As the nation’s money manager, Sanusi reserves the right to formulate and implement monetary policies that he deems fit, to strengthen the economy. Yet, with his varied experience in fiscal matters, he must appreciate the fact that such policies would not only be subject of intense debates but would also be put under the strictest scrutiny by various stakeholders including the common man. This is because whatever decision is taken has significant impact on the people. He should also understand that the growing outrage over the CBN’s plan to print N5,000 notes and redenominate some lower currencies into coins is to open up the discourse.

This is definitely not the time to keep quiet or swallow hook, line and sinker CBN’s spurious, one-sided broken lyric. We need to melt the ice and break things down. True, some of the arguments against the printing of a higher denomination of the Naira may sound trite, mundane or spurious to the apex bank’s chief pontificator, but that does not give him the liberty to throw caution to the winds and spew forth inanities - all in a bid to forcing the policy down the throat of Nigerians.

That Sanusi was able to convince other highly privileged elites, including President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his economic team on the need to rush to the mint with a N40 billion bill for the production of new, N5, 000 notes does not confer on him the right to shout down those opposed to the policy. Rather than rev up the CBN’s public enlightenment unit to engage the populace, Sanusi would rather throw tantrums and abuse our collective sensibilities. That was exactly what he did when he, in his usual style, threw darts at former President Olusegun Obasanjo for arguing that introducing N5000 note at this inauspicious time would not only aggravate the inflationary trend but also impair an already wobbly production sector. Obasanjo, it must be said, was merely adding his voice to that of many others who have expressed the fears that, no matter the seeming sound eco-

nomic logic behind the proposal, the common man remains the collateral damage of every monetary policy. Somehow, the rich always get themselves sorted out!

If Sanusi is finding the drumbeats of opposition against the N5, 000 note frustrating and discomfiting, then he had better enlist for a crash course in leadership considering his lifetime ambition of becoming a high-ranked chief in his home state, Kano. Yes, Obasanjo’s brashness may be legendary but, on this matter, Sanusi completely missed the point by dismissing him as a successful farmer who is bereft of any economic idea. Coming from a well-bred technocrat with the noblest of upbringing, that was harsh and, I dare say, irresponsible.

Listen to him: “”This is an interesting country because my uncle or my father, who is our former Head of State, Gen. Obasanjo, you know he is a very successful farmer, but he is a very bad economist. He stands up and says that this higher denomination (N5,000 note) will cause inflation and improve hardship. Gen. Obasanjo did N20, he did N100, N200, N500 and N1,000.

He introduced higher denominations in Nigeria than any other head of state. He did a N100 note in 1999, he did N200 in 2000, he did N500 two years later and in that period, inflation was coming down because it was accompanied by prudent fiscal and monetary policy.

“For somebody (Obasanjo) who had done this to stand up and say introducing a higher denomination will cause inflation must be an empirical, most important determinant of inflation in our country given the number of notes he had printed. We all know that we cannot have inflation by printing higher bills if you don’t increase money supply and this is simple economics.”

Truth is: today’s Nigeria does not need the services of an economist, not the least, one that attends to the very exclusive and insensitive taste of the rapacious elite, to forecast the inglorious direction the latest menu about to be served by Sanusi CBN may likely lead us to. If all that is required for rapid economic growth is the expertise of an economist, most western countries including the United States of America will not be swimming in recession waters today. Unfortunately, they are in deep mess because the economic theories that the CBN chief is making a song and dance of are not sacrosanct. There are other variables and the X factor lurking in the corner. And so, economic theories are mere projections that could fail at any time.

That is why the populace, including several members of the elite like Obasanjo, are a bit nervous about Sanusi’s prognosis that all it takes is the application of “simple economics.” How simplistic? That Obasanjo did it with lower denominations and was able to back it up with prudent fiscal and monetary policy does not mean that it can be done under the present arrangement where the President has farmed out issues concerning the economy to a team of technocrats, capitalists and friends of power.

In any case, Obasanjo did not print higher denominations solely to satisfy the demands of heavy cash users as the CBN plans to do. The Ota farmer, it must also be stressed, did not print the higher denominations in era when the CBN was planning to go cash-less.

It is obvious that it was not only Obasanjo, the successful farmer

With

Yomi Odunuga E-mail:yomi.odunuga @thenationonlineng.net SMS only: 07028006913 but ‘bad economist,’ that has questioned the rationale behind the N5,000 note. Prominent Nigerians and professional bodies have also raised intelligent questions and given reasons why the printing of the notes would impact negatively on the economy and further impoverish about 70 per cent of Nigerian citizens whom Sanusi’s CBN and the Federal Government have consistently failed to extricate from the malevolent grips of dreadful poverty.

As I write this, the CBN and its publicity unit are yet to win the argument; rather, they are boasting that the matter is a fait accompli since the President’s approval has been secured. Not that fast sir! That is where they miss the point. Sanusi and his league of voodoo economists need to tread softly before they push this country down the ladder with their streak of untamed arrogance.

At the base of this argument is the plight of over 160 million Nigerians, majority of who have no opportunity to lend their voices to the debate. Still, some questions need to be answered.

Will Sanusi’s textbook economic theories address our peculiar case of a total disdain for coins? Will a pack of sachet water still sell for N20 when the smallest denomination note is N50? What is Sanusi’s response to Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s opinion that the new policy would enable manufacturers to increase the prices of goods minimally? When commercial bus drivers hike fares simply because they do not want to be bugged down with bearing heavy coins, is that not a basis for inflation? Why should these heavy cash spenders require a higher denomination in a supposedly cash-less regime? By labelling those opposed to the new policy as ignorant people, is Sanusi claiming to be wiser than every other person on this matter?

Pride, the sage says, comes before a fall. Sanusi has to be careful with the reckless manner he has been casting stones from the 11-storey glasshouse called the CBN Headquarters in Abuja. I am yet to fathom the logic of his subtle but rabid affront against the opinion of millions of Nigerians, including former President Obasanjo. A successful farmer but bad economist! Did Sanusi actually say that of a man he called an uncle and father? Well, if that is the despicable opinion he holds of a father figure, then we ought not to fret if he sees the rest of us as a bunch of ignorant whiners who should be shouted down when policies that would affect our collective existence are being discussed. So much for arrogance and government elites’ preference for top-down decision-making, that negates the spirit of participatory democracy and inclusive governance! Shweeee!

Beneath beauty and glamour, models also cry –Pages 41, 44 & 45

THE NATION, Saturday, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Robbers kill Suya seller three months to wedding

In the mean streets of Maiduguri –Pages 19-22

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THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

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BLOODY SUNDAY IN LAGOS

Music stops three months •Survivors recount ordeal •The late Bala

other places.It was after they had left that my at that point because we thought they were people brought me here for treatment. policemen. It was after they started shooting "It was a bad experience that I will never at people and forcing us into our shops to rob wish even my worst enemy to have. I us of our monies, both hard and local intermitently travelled between life and death currencies that it dawned on us that they within the period they spent in my place. were not the regular police that used to come When they eventually left, I was not sure and raid the community." whether I was dead or alive. I was not sure Asked if the incident was the first of its whether it was a dream or reality. By and kind in the area, Alhaji Yahaya replied: "This large, the pains and blood gushing out from is not the first time. This is the third time they my legs made it clear that it was real.” would come in this manner. They also shot Efforts to speak with the doctor handling our people in previous robbery operations. their treatment proved futile as she was said Two of our men lost their hands in those to have closed for the day. A nurse in the operations. They were forced to go back to hospital who spoke under anonimity told The their respective villages after the incident."

Nation that the victims were responding to Alhaji Nasiru and Alhaji Ibrahim were treatment. another set of survivors. They also narrowly Business actvities were at low ebb when escaped the shots fired at them by the our correspondent visited the victims' robbers. Holes made by the bullets dotted the business area at Oke Koto, Agege area of Lagos State.

The vivacity with which they used to go after customers was conspicously absent. They were still terribly shaken by the ugly incident which they said was the third in three years.

Their foreheads wore wrinkles as they gathered in small groups to discuss the incident in hush tones.

Before the incident, the bureau de change operators –Bureau de change easily got attracted to people who cruised to the operators’ boss area in jeeps. Then, the presence of jeeps meant good business but after the n Segun AJIBOYE n bloody attack last Sunday, the sight of jeeps has NE-YEAR OLD Taiwo Ibraheem is presently become the begining of battling for his life at the Lagos University wisdom for the foreign Teaching Hospital (LUTH). The toddler, alongside currency traders. several other innocent people, is a victim of last Large holes made by Sunday’s few hours of madness when dare-devil armed bullets fired by the robbers robbers went on the rampage around Lagos, leaving pains, were seen in several areas of tears and blood in their trail. the victims' shops.

Speaking with The Nation, Taiwo’s grandfather, Pa Lawal One of the victims who Jimoh, said, like most of his neighbours, he felt safe enough identified himself as Alhaji to take a snap in front of his home, located along Diya Sreet, Yahaya told The Nation that Gbagada, Lagos, before the unfortunate incident. the robbers came in five For the septugenerian, It was not the first time he would jeeps.He said he was lucky be taking such rest, while his grandchildren play with their to have escaped unscathed mates nearby. even though the robbers But Sunday, September 9, 2012, was different in several shot at his direction. He ways. Barely able to walk, Pa Jimoh said that he had barely claimed that he lost a total taken his seat when pandemonium broke out. “I was sum of N5million in the outside my house relaxing when the armed robbers arrived. robbery operation.

I usually rest outside my house on Sundays, so I never "I sat outside when the expected anything bad this Sunday.” robbers came in five jeeps.

But the old man soon realised how wrong he was when We mistook them for the sound of gunshots rang out from different directions, as policemen because they people scampered for safety. came in the manner that After the smoke had cleared about 30 minutes later, it police have always raided dawned on Pa Jimoh that his one-year old grandson, Taiwo, this area. was missing. A little search was all it took to find the little “When they came, one of boy writhing with pain in a pool of blood. It was later the jeeps went and parked discovered that Taiwo had been shot in the head. at the juntion, another “They (armed robbers) operated for about 30 minutes. parked at the petrol station After they left, and everything became quiet, we realised down there, the third one that Taiwo was not with us. So we ran outside to search for parked at at the entrance of him. We found the little boy gasping for breath.”

Ibido Street, just beside us Shortly before the armed robbers struck, Taiwo, his twin here. The other two parked brother, Kehinde, and other children in the neighbourhood in front of our shops. played outside.

Immediately they came out “The children were outside playing before the armed of their jeeps, they shot robbers arrived. But nobody realised what had happened to sporadically into the air just Taiwo until the armed robbers left, and we found out that like the police always did.

Most of us did not fret even

How they

F praying before death is what it takes for a religious faithful to live eternal life as taught by Christian and Islamic religions,Taju Bala, a suya seller, who was felled by the bullets of dare-devil armed robbers last Sunday should by now be resting in the bosom of his Creator.

The deceased was said to have just finished saying his prayer and getting ready to go to his business place in Agege area of Lagos when he was cruely and untimely despatched to the world beyond by the blood-thirsty robbers.

The murder, according to his brother, put paid to the deceased's plans of getting married to his fiancee of over 10 years in December.

The brother, who gave his name as Maazu Abdulkadir, recalled amidst tears how Taju was murdered. He said: "Taju was shot few minutes after he finished his prayers in the mosque. We were all getting ready to go to our respective spots of selling suya when the robbers shot him in his chest. Before then he had arranged his meat and was about leaving when he was hit by the robbers' bullet. We made efforts to take him to hospital but he died before we got a vehicle. We buried him almost immediately, according to Islamic rites.

"What pained me so much about his untimely death is the fact that he was just making plans to get married by December.

He was even planning to travel next week to see his fiancee but that cannot be possible again. They wasted my brother for me and dashed all his hopes and aspirations in life."

Two brothers, Abdullahi Gardo and Muktar Jubril, narrowly escaped being killed by the robbers. The two survivors were shot on the thighs and legs respectively after they had been robbed of of all the money in their safe. Both of them were found lying tiredly on their beds when our correspondent visited them at Mobonike Hospital where they are

I

n Innocent DURU n admitted.

Recounting his ordeal in the hands of the robbers, Abdulahi said: "I was inside the shop when I suddenly saw three armed men pounce on me. They asked me to bring all the money in the shop. I gave them everything without wasting time. After giving them the money, one of them ordered the one beside me to shoot me. By the time I heard that, I thought it would be my last day on earth and I tried to say some prayers. Before I could finish what I suppose would be my last prayer, the guy pointed his gun at me and shot me on my thighs. It was when they saw that I was writhing in pains in a pool of my own blood that they left me.

"If my people had not rushed me to this hospital, I probably would have bled to death. I also thank God for not allowing them to shoot me where I would have died instantly. If they had shot me on the head or heart region and at a close range for that matter, I would not have survived. God answered the few words of prayer that I offered within the split seconds the robber was asked to shoot me. It is a day that I will never forget in my life."

Narrating his ugly experience, Jubril said: "The whole thing was like a dream when I saw the robbers. If not for the fact that I am lying down with bullet wounds here in the hospital, I probably would still not have believed what happened that day.

"When they came in, three of them pointed their new and sophisticated guns at me and ordered me to sit on the floor. Immediately I sat down, one of them shot me on my leg and kicked me all over my body. He was almost going to shoot me again but somehow along the line got distracted by his colleagues' comments. The other two ransacked the office and made away with all the hard currencies and naira notes that were in the safe and

• I narrowly escaped robbers’ bullets

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THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

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BLOODY SUNDAY IN LAGOS

walls and floors of their shops as at the time of filing in this report.

They told The Nation that they were attending to a customer who came to sell gold chains to them when the robbers struck.

Alhaji Nasiru said: "We were attending to a customer that wanted to sell gold chains to us when the robbers came calling. We were hearing gun shots and out of curiousity I went out to see what was happening. I had hardly stepped out when two of the robbers hijacked me. When they pushed me inside, they fired a shot at my direction but luckily for me the bullet missed me narrowly and made a big hole on the wall. The second shot made this big hole on the floor (he pointed at it). " "When I heard that they were robbers, I hid myself inside deep freezer," began Alhaji Ibrahim. Contnuing, he said: "They opened it and dragged me out. They were shocked to find me in it because their expectation was that they would see money inside it. They threatened to kill me if I did not give them all

the money in my care. I gave them all the money I had. I can't really estimate the total money they took from me but I know that it was a huge sum. I am consoled by the fact that they did not shoot me after taking all the money. But I am still in deep shock. I am yet to overcome the terror that seized me during the incident."

Abibat Adesanya who was selling gold to the duo told our correspondent that the robbers gave her the beating of her life when they came into the shop.

She said: " I came to sell gold chains to my customers when the incident occurred. We were haggling about price when sounds of gun shots reverberated on the road . When the sound of the gun shots would not stop or reduce, one of my customers went out to see what was wrong. Before we knew it, three heavily armed men came in it him. One of the robbers grabbed my neck and cut off the gold necklace and ear rings that I was wearing. He collected the gold chains that I went to sell, he also collected my phone and the sum of

,

for Suya seller to wedding

When I heard that they were robbers, I hid myself inside deep freezer ...They opened it and dragged me out. They were shocked to find me in it because their expectation was that they would see money inside it. They threatened to kill me if I did not give them all the money in my care

,

N13,000 that I had on me and beat me mercilessly. I have never been beaten in that manner all my life.It was when they pounced on others that I cleverly sneaked out. I really thank God for the wisdom and opportunity to escape from the robbers' grip. They would have given me extra beating if I had not escaped. I have been taking series of medication to prevent any health problem that the bestial attack could cause for me."

17-year-old Musa Adamu said he was the first to run into the robbers.

He said he ran after their convoy of jeeps thinking they were potential customers.

"I was the first to run into the robbers.

When I saw them driving down in their jeeps, I ran towards them with the hope that they were here to do business.

"Their mission in the area was announced to me by one of them.While I was busy asking if it was Dollar or Pounds that he wanted, the guy simply told me that they were robbers. They did not cover their faces.

Immediately he said that to me, he ordered

me to sit on the floor. I sat on that spot for about 30 minutes after which he came, took me to the beginning of the other street and asked me to run as far as my legs could take me. I was seriously traumatised by the incident. It was worse than anything that I have watched in films. The guns they used were new and sophisticated."

Garuba Mukaila, a victim who sustained multiple injuries in the course of running away from the robbers, said: "I lost about N300, 000 during the incident. Most of us did not know that they were robbers. They came in the same way that police always storm the area to raid our people. The police always come here to arrest people for no good reason. After arresting our people, they would threaten them until they part with substantial amount running into tens of thousands. The government should come to our help. We need protection against the terrors being unleashed on us by police and robbers."

shot my one-year-old grandchild –Pa Lawal •Pa Lawal with Kehinde

•Taiwo on hospital bed

,

The children were outside playing before the armed robbers arrived. But nobody realised what had happened to Taiwo until the armed robbers left, and we found out that the little child was hit by a bullet

,

the little child was hit by a bullet.”

The toddler was then rushed to the Gbagada General Hospital where doctors battled to save his life. Realising the grave condition of the boy, doctors were said to have placed him on oxygen, and later referred him to LUTH, where he is being treated at the Modular Theatre.

When The Nation visited LUTH, Taiwo's family were seen sitting outside the ward with worried faces. A younger sister to Taiwo's father, simply identified as Basirat, said little Taiwo was making good progress with his recovery, but added that the family would need financial assistance to ensure the little boy survives.

Taiwo’s father, Wasiu Lawal, a tailor and his wife, a petty trader, are not financially

comfortable to foot the medical bill of their son. Speaking with The Nation, Wasiu said his family is presently at a loss as to where the money needed to keep Taiwo alive would come from.

Wasiu, however, confirmed that goodspirited Nigerians have started showing their kind gesture to the wounded Taiwo.

“I am happy to say that some ‘Good Samaritans have started showing interest in Taiwo’s treatment,” Wasiu told The Nation.

Taiwo and the other victims of the ‘black Sunday’ were unfortunate to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. That was the case with Sikiru Abiodun, who died later at the hospital following injuries he sustained when he was hit by a bullet.

According to sources, Abiodun and a friend were stopped by a police patrol team.

“The two young men wanted to buy chicken when the police patrol team arrived and started questioning them.”

Unfortunately for Abiodun and one other policeman, the armed robbers chose that time to strike. In the ensuing pandemonium, a policeman and Abiodun were hit by bullets, while the other policemen scampered into safety, leaving their colleague and the

young man to writhe in pains.

“You needed to see what happened. After the armed robbers started firing shots, the young man and a policeman were hit by bullets. But the funniest thing was that the other policemen ran away, leaving their man.”

And when the police team eventually returned, they allegedly took their man, leaving Abiodun to his own fate.

“When the police came back after the armed robbers had left, they only took their man away. It was good-spirited Nigerians who later took the young man to the Gbagada General Hospital.”

Events later revealed that the main target of the men of the underworld on this particular day were the bureau de change operators. Their chairman, Jubril Mukaila, said his members at Gbagada lost about N10 million to the armed robbers.

According to him, he was in his office doing business when the armed robbers struck. “I was inside my office when they came in. You needed to see them, young boys in their 20s. They came and demanded for dollars. Because I was seriously shaken and delayed in responding to his request, he fired a shot at me. But the bullets missed me and hit one of my boys.”

Mukaila, a father of seven, said he was lucky to have escaped death. “Imagine, what would happen to my children if I had been killed. I thank Allah for sparing my life.”

Hassan, also a bureau de change operator, said he lost N750, 000 to the armed robbers.

He told The Nation that he was taken by surprise when a man, young enough to be his son, pointed a gun at his head and demanded that he brings out his money.

“I was really sacred when this young man pointed a gun at my head. I looked at him and realised he could not be older than my son. But I had to bring out the bag containing the money. I lost about N750, 000.”

On what can be done to put an end to the spate of robbery attacks targeting bureau de change operators in Lagos, Mukaila called on the authorities to provide security for bureau de change operators around Lagos.

“Help us to tell the government that we need their protection.”

THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

14 suspect arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command has confessed that he is an ex-convict, as he was once jailed for stealing a generating set a customer had given to him for repairs.

Sunday Eze, a security guard arrested for conniving with his cleaner colleague, Obinna Uzor, to burgle their boss’ house, said unfortunately, he ended up selling the generating set to a relation of the owner.

Speaking in a chat with our correspondent at SARS’ office where he was being detained, Eze said: “I had been to prison, so I am an exconvict. I was sent to Oba Prison for stealing a generator I was given to repair. I am a generator repairer.

After repairing the generator, I took it to the owner and then I went back and stole it from his house.

“I sold it after stealing it.

Unfortunately, the person who bought it was related to the owner.

When the owner saw the generator, he asked him where he bought it and he told him that it was the generator repairer that sold it to him.

He said I had told him that it belonged to me and that I wanted to sell it because I was in need of money. I even gave him a receipt.

“When I was arrested by the police, they rushed me to court.

Before I knew it, I was sentenced to Oba Maximum Prison with hard labour. My people were not aware from the time I was charged to court to the day I was sentenced to four months imprisonment. I spent four months before I regained my freedom.

On his part, Uzor, Eze’s cosuspect, said he joined in the plot to rob his boss (name withheld) after an information he got from the internet alleging that his boss stole about N2 billion from his former place of work before he became one of the nation's prominent industrialists.

Uzor, aka Soamy, however, said it was a step he had to take in order to escape the pangs of poverty and as such should not be treated as a criminal.

Narrating his involvement in the crime for which he was arrested, Uzor, a 28-year-old indigene of Otolo Nnewi, Anambra State, said he was living in Ajah, an elite part of Lagos before he robbed his boss and had to relocate to Mowe in Ogun State to live with his co-suspect.

He said: "I was working as a cleaner on a monthly salary of N20,000. My boss had four cleaners, including myself, two security men, including Eze (second suspect), his wife and three children.

"When Eze was posted there by a security company to work as a security guard, he found that I was an Igbo man like him. From that day, we started relating like brothers. One day, he jokingly told me that nobody is an angel and that if I found out well about my boss, my eyes would be opened to what people do to become rich.

"He asked if I knew how my boss got rich and I told him that I learnt he stole about N2 billion from a company he worked with and he is today a big man seen by many as a very responsible individual. The information provoked Sunday (Eze), one of the security men in the compound, and he said we should plan and rob the man or steal some of his valuable property to make money.

“I agreed that we would do something to help ourselves and Sunday asked me the best time and day to carry out an operation in the compound. I told him that the best day would be on a Sunday when the man, his wife and children and all the other cleaners would have gone to church, leaving only the security men.

“We sat down and planned the operation, assigning roles to each other. Sunday’s role was to break the door and join me in ransacking the rooms. Later, I found the key to the room and gave it to Sunday who later drove the vehicle to his native

A

•The suspects with stolen items

I stole a generator but ended up selling it to owner’s relation –Suspect n Ebele BONIFACE n community, Osumeyi in Nnewi, and parked it there pending the time we would get a buyer for it and other items we stole from the house.

“On that day, our employer, his wife, children and the other three cleaners had gone to church and were expected to spend about two hours, which to us was enough time to carry out our operation. When we tried to open the door with wire, it could not open. Sunday asked me what we should do and I told him that we should break the door. He then used a saw to cut the key. When we got inside, we ransacked the master’s bedroom, the wife’s bedroom and the living room but we didn’t find any cash. We took two plasma television sets and other valuable items that we could easily sell.

“I later gave Sunday the key to the car to Sunday. We loaded the property we had stolen in it and he drove the vehicle to his village while I ran to Olowe Tondo village in Ogun State to await Sunday’s return.

“After the operation, Sunday told me to leave the house and go to Mowe to stay for a while. I told him I was off duty but I would not go back the following day which I was supposed to resume because I didn’t want the police to arrest me.

“Sunday also warned me not to answer any call until the dust had settled. We later sold the TV sets and

used the money to feed until the day we were caught by SARS operatives.

“I also had to sell my phone, Nokia 200, to a girl for N10,000 just to get money to feed and drink. I sold it after one month. It was for the phone I was disturbing the girl to pay me the balance of N1,000. When she came to the shop at Mowe where I was hustling, she told me not to worry, that she would go inside and bring the money. As I was waiting, SARS men appeared and arrested me.

“They asked me about the car and I told them it was in Anambra State.

I told the police that it was Sunday who took it to Anambra State.

“When I got home with policemen, we did not meet him. I called him on the phone and he said he was at Berger. I told him to come to Mowe immediately, that his girlfriend, Ngozi, was looking for him. Ngozi lives in Mowe. When he came, he was arrested.

“I plead for leniency. I did not know that Sunday was an exconvict. I am an artist by profession.

I want to start a multi-media studio.

There was a time one Kenny employed me and promised to pay me N45,000 to N50,000 monthly. But he disappointed me and paid only N20,000.”

Explaining how he was arrested, he said: “SARS operatives used Sunday’s girlfriend’s mobile phone to track me down. When I heard the voice of Sunday’s girlfriend on the

phone and where she asked me to come and meet her and collect some money, knowing that I was broke, I ran to meet her only to enter the trap set by SARS operatives, who immediately arrested me and used me to get Sunday.

“On his part, Sunday Eze said: “Obinna (Uzor) and I conspired to break the man’s house.

There were two of us guarding the man. I was posted there by the security company I worked for to relief another security man who had gone on casual leave. I waited for my partner to come because I was posted there in the night, but he did not come.

“I had already planned with Obinna that the operation would be carried out on a Sunday when our boss would have gone to church with his wife, children and other three house cleaners.

“I used a saw to break the key.

When I entered with Obinna, we started to ransack the rooms and the parlour. When we had collected all that we felt could be easily sold, Obinna went and got the key to the Range Rover and we loaded all the items we looted and drove to Anambra State. We landed in Onitsha around 11.30 and still drove straight to Nnewi and lodged in one of the good hotels there. We reached Nnewi at exactly midnight.

“When the day broke, we drove to Osumeji village and parked the Range Rover there. The following day, I came back to Lagos. We sold the plasma TV set at Mowe, Ogun State. My salary is N15,000 per month.”

Asked who his guarantor was before he was employed as a security man, he said: “It was my brother who signed as my guarantor.

When policemen started looking for him, he ran away. The only thing the company has about my brother is his passport photograph, which he gave to them when he was signing as my guarantor.

“I had only worked at the man’s

house for eight days before I was arrested for this offence.”

Asked how he was arrested, he said: “Obinna called me on the phone and asked where I was. I told him that I was at Ojodu/Berger and he told me to come home immediately because somebody who bought one of the items we stole had brought half of the money and said he would bring the balance later. He said the man also wanted to buy the handset we picked from the house. Because I was broke, I ran straight home to collect the money only to fall into the waiting hands of SARS operatives.

“I became a changed person in prison. I even learnt more about repairing all sorts of engine. I saw how some people (inmates) were suffering in prison for committing all sorts of crimes ranging from armed robbery and murder to burglary and kidnapping.

Some were there because they had no money to face their trial in court. Some did not commit the offence for which they were sentenced.

“I also saw many inmates awaiting trial for the offence they did not commit. Some entered there because they were friends with armed robbers, pick pockets and other criminals, while some were arrested for wandering around big men’s quarters.

“I decided to repent and chart a new course with a responsible means of livelihood, but hardship would not allow me to reason well. I even found it difficult to eat one good meal a day. All my friends abandoned me and there was nobody to assist me.

“So, when I heard that a private security company was recruiting, I went and enlisted. They trained me but they did not know that I was an ex-convict. I had wanted to join the police but I was afraid that the police would find out my criminal record.

“To worsen matters, I have a chest pain that makes me to cough out blood every time I cough. Yet I had no money to go for medical treatment. Even the company I was working with after I left prison was paying me N7,000 monthly, which was not enough for feeding, accommodation and medication because the cough made doctors to place me on drugs and I ate drugs like food. In fact, half of my salary was spent on drugs.

“At a point, I became tired of working for the company because cutting nails with cutting machine and washing them not only gave me excruciating pains all over my body, it made me to cough more blood. I decide to quit and opted for private security jobs. That was the job that made me a special guest of SARS today.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, said Obinna Soamy (Uzor) and Sunday Eze broke into the complainant’s house (name withheld) in Ikeja and stole a Range Rover SUV, jewellery, a laptop computer, a Nokia phone and two flat screen TV sets.

The complainant, he said, stated that all the doors were broken and the whole house was ransacked. He said the complainant put the total value of the items stolen at about N25 million.

He said the two suspects were later tracked down through their cell phones on August 30 at Mowe, Ogun State. He also said the stolen items were recovered from their receivers in Nnewi, Anambra State August 31, adding that investigation was in progress.

He warned people who employ security men to ascertain their identities and background records in order not to give criminals access to their houses.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Furore over death of 44-yearold gambling business man allegedly killed by okada riders T

•The late Adewole

HE dust raised by the death of a 44-yearold man in gambling business is yet to settle five weeks after he was allegedly killed by some okada (commercial motorcycle) operators.

Kunle Adewole a.k.a Computer, was allegedly beaten to death by okada riders in Ijaiye-Ojokoro, Lagos State.

His wife and associates insist his killers were loyalists of a chieftain of the Motorcycle Operators Association of Lagos State (MOALS), one Comrade. But comrade has in turn accused one of his colleagues, one Muraina, of being responsible for Adewole’s death.

As the story goes, Adewole, who had been conducting his business at the park of the motorcycle operators for some time, was said to have been approached on August 2 by a 16-year-old boy who ended up gambling with N8, 000. It was said that when the scale fell off the teenager’s eyes, he demanded for a refund of his money while the deceased reluctantly returned the sum of N2,000 to him.

Not satisfied with the sum returned to him, the boy approached some okada riders in the park to intervene in the matter.

The deceased was allegedly summoned by Comrade and was ordered to refund •His widow, the N8,000 he had collected Abosede from the boy. When he would not comply, he was allegedly beaten by some of the Kunle AKINRINADE okada riders on the orders of Comrade and locked up in one of We rushed him to a nearby hospital where the MOALS’ offices where he started he was again revived. vomiting uncontrollably.

“From there, he was referred to LASUTH He was also said to have collapsed where doctors said he would need to several times before he was taken to undergo surgery because he had suffered a nearby private hospital, which internal bleeding as a result of the beating referred him to the Lagos State he received in the hands of his attackers. We University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) were asked to raise the sum of N100, 000, where he died on August 3. but we were still running around to raise Adewole’s business partner, Gbenga the money when he died.

Bankole, who witnessed the incident, “The matter was reported at the Ojokoro explained that the deceased had Police Station and some of those who complied with the okada riders’ directive perpetrated the act were arrested but later and had returned the money he collected released. The question is: why should from the teenager before he was beaten Comrade order his men to beat the deceased to death. when they are not law enforcement He said: “We were together at a corner operatives? They took the law into their own of the park doing our business when a 16- hands and their action culminated in the year-old boy came to gamble with some death of my partner.” money. Unfortunately for the boy, he A source, who asked not to be named, staked the sum of N8,000 and lost. Then he described the incident as shocking, adding started begging for a refund of his money that he encouraged the deceased to honour and, out of compassion, the deceased, who the invitation by the leadership of the okada was my senior partner, gave him N2,000, riders, not knowing that it was “a death but he was not satisfied. warrant.”

“We later learnt that the boy had He said: “On that day, a teenager went to a approached the top officials of the MOALS stand where the deceased was carrying out branch at the park. A few minutes later, his gambling business and he was said to Computer (Adewole) was summoned by have staked some money and lost. He Comrade and he went to see him. After a few allegedly asked for a refund of his money hours, he returned with his clothe torn and and the deceased told me he actually looked rough. I asked him what happened refunded the sum of N2,000 to him but he and he told me that he was asked to refund was not satisfied. the boy’s money and that he was beaten “While the deceased was chatting with me, mercilessly. some members of the okada riders association “He had barely finished speaking when he at the park told him Comrade wanted to see collapsed. After we had revived him, he said him. He was initially afraid to honour the he wanted to visit the toilet. He had only invitation and even sought my advice. I taken a few steps when he fell down again. encouraged him to honour the invitation, and I left to attend to some other things.

“A few minutes later, I learnt that the deceased had been brutally beaten and that he had vomited several times before he was rushed to a private hospital. He was later transferred to Ikeja General Hospital (LASUTH) where h died the following day.

“One of the deceased’s partners called Shadrack reported the incident at the Ojokoro Police Station while he was being beaten at the park but police intervention proved insignificant.”

Speaking with our correspondent, Adewole’s widow, Abosede, said: “My husband was an employee of the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC). He was one of

He had barely finished speaking when he collapsed. After we had revived him, he said he wanted to visit the toilet. He had only taken a few steps when he fell down again.

We rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was again revived

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those temporarily relieved of their appointments recently, after which he took to private business.

“On August 2, 2012, he left home for work and when he did not return on time, I decided to call some of his partners only to be confronted with the news that he was involved in an accident. I quickly rushed to the scene when he was about to be moved to Ikeja General Hospital.

“There were a lot of people around, and I was told that he was beaten by some boys at the park. Doctors told us that he sustained internal injuries and that the sum of N100, 000 was needed to carry out a surgical operation on him. He, however, died before we could raise the money for his treatment.

“But I became suspicious when the man alleged to have ordered his beating gave us some money while my husband was on hospital bed. His family said they would not press charges against his suspected killers because they do not have the money to file a law suit. He has just been recalled from work and he was due to resume duty before he was killed. He was nicknamed Computer because he was such an intelligent person.”

Responding on the telephone, Comrade denied any complicity in the matter.

He said: “I don’t know who must have told you that I was responsible for the incident. If you must know, I was not around when the incident occurred, and I don’t have a hand in his death. I was told that some boys from an okada park under the control of one Muraina were the ones who allegedly chased the deceased to our park and ran back when some of my members rescued him.

“The same Muraina has been spreading false information about my complicity in the death of Adewole and even wrote a petition to the Zone 2 Police Command, Lagos. I know that his motive is to implicate me so that he can seize the opportunity of my absence to take over my park.

“I have just been released from detention after about five days in police cell. For your information, the matter was reported as a case of assault at the Ojokoro Police Station.”

Asked why he gave the family of the deceased money during some visits he made to him in the hospital, he declined comments. “Why would you ask me such a question? I will not answer your question and I’ll suggest you ask those who gave you the information that I had a hand in Adewole’s death. Besides, I don’t talk to journalists on the phone. I’ll rather see you in person than engage you in phone conversation,” he said.

In an interview with our correspondent, Muraina absolved himself of complicity in Adewole’s death, saying: “I don’t have anything to do with the incident at all. The story is being peddled by Comrade to implicate me because my presence and large followership unsettles him. I have stated my own side of the matter in my explanation to men of the Zone 2 Police Command.

“The deceased couldn’t have been chased to the okada park under Comrade’s control.

This is because the deceased had been operating from the park for some time and he was said to have carried out some transactions on the day he was allegedly killed by Comrade’s boys. And what actually compelled me to react was that Comrade, in a bid to exonerate himself, told family members of the deceased and other people in the community that my boys were the ones responsible for Adewole’s death.

“My park is in Ajala area of Ojokoro Local Council Development Area while comrade’s park is the one at Ijaiye where the incident occurred.”

The spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, Ms. Ngosi Braide, was yet to respond to enquiries by our correspondent at the time of filing this report.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

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Panic in Anambra community as landslide, erosion ruin 50 buildings •Residents flee in droves, send SOS to govt

• Some of the protesting members of the community

T

HE inhabitants of Oko, Orumba North Local Government Area, Anambra State, are living in fear following a continuous landslide which has been ravaging a part of the community since February 18 this year.

Already, many indigenes of the town whose houses have been ‘swallowed’ in the landslide have abandoned their ancestral homes to seek refuge elsewhere.

When our reporter visited the area on Wednesday, many of the residents were busy moving out of the area for fear of being consumed in another landslide that may occur at any time. Some of them told our reporter that they needed to leave the community because it had experienced the ugly development about five times since it first occurred in February, adding that no fewer than 50 houses had been consumed already.

The villagers, some of who embarked on a peaceful demonstration with placards bearing various inscriptions, appealed to the state and federal governments to come to their aid. One of the victims, Ezeokeke Josiah, said he lost money and property worth more than N7.5 million to landslide, calling on the authorities to come to the community’s aid.

The Chairman, Erosion Ecological Committee in the town, Mr. Barnabas Nwafor, described the situation as hopeless, saying there appeared to be no help in sight. He recalled that the first landslide which took place on February 18, 2012 had jolted everyone. He

Noriega EMMA recalled that as at that time, residents of the area believed it was a one-off incident that would not occur again. But in six months, more than 800 metres of land had been consumed by landslide.

He attributed the phenomenon to the washing away by erosion of a big water channel constructed by the Shehu Shagari administration, which resulted in heavy flooding of the gully in the area. Nwafor also blamed sand excavation around the local government for the gully erosion that has ravaged the community for a long time.

He said: “We have written the government to send a task force to stop further excavation of sand, especially from the base around Amaokpala and Awgbu communities, but nothing has been done as sand excavators still operate between 11 pm and 4 am.”

He noted that the most ravaged part of the community was his Ezioko village, which has tried to no avail to contain the menace by forming several groups whose mission was to stop further encroachment of erosion before the last landslide occurred.

He said: “Every last Saturday of the month, the group plants trees along the erosion areas. Every family has been mandated to dig catchment pits around their compounds to trap rain water (flood).

When we noticed that the water channel was being cut off by erosion, we bought about 200 bags of cement to salvage it. But our efforts yielded little or no result as the water channel was eventually cut off.

1 Since then, the landslide has been occurring.”

He lamented that apart from the now cut off water channel constructed by the Shagari/Ekwueme regime, no other government has tried to contain the erosion menace, adding that even when the first landslide occurred, there was no government presence apart from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) which brought in some relief materials like blankets, bags of rice and beans, among others.

He, therefore, appealed to the governments to come to the community’s aid.

“What we want the government to do now is just a palliative measure to stop the flood from entering the gully by channelling it elsewhere. After the first landslide, the state government came and made promises of awarding the contract. But up till now, nothing has been seen,” he said.

Nwafor recalled also that the member representing the area in the House of Representatives, Hon. Ben Nwankwo, who visited after the first landslide, expressed

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

2

3

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We have no option but to turn to the media to, at least, make our plights known to the world, especially the Federal Government and the World Bank. We feel the menace is beyond the state government, though the state can still do something to prevent further encroachment

6

• Some of the sites of the erosion and landslide sympathy and promised to take it up on February. But he said that such materials the floors of the House, but nothing had were not really needed, adding that what the community needed most was the conbeen heard from him.

“We have no option but to turn to the trol of the flood that has caused them pains.

In his own contribution, the secretary of media to, at least, make our plights known to the world, especially the Fed- the village and member of the eral Government and the World Bank. community’s Erosion Vanguard CommitWe feel the menace is beyond the state tee, Paulinus Ezenwizube, said: “I want government, though the state can still to appeal to the Federal Government via do something to prevent further en- the state government to come to our rescue. The inhabitants of this area have becroachment,” he stated.

Another leader in the village, Hon. come refugees in their ancestral homes.

Martin Ezeofor, said his prayer was for Erosion has overtaken their residence. the government to come to their aid. About 50 buildings have been consumed Ezeofor added: “As things stand, our by both erosion and landslide and many houses have been swallowed by land- more are endangered.

“Many people have come here in the past slide. We are sending a save-our-soul promising that the situation would be consignal to the government. We have been turned into refugees in our land. Some trolled in no distant time, but nothing has been done. We are appealing through this of my kids have stopped schooling.”

He commended NEMA for the relief medium for government’s intervention. We materials it gave to landslide victims in need positive action from the government.

“The village has tried on its own. Even our brothers overseas have sent in some money for more catchment pits around the area. The Federal Government should intervene. The menace is beyond the ability of the community and the state government.”

It will be recalled that the traditional ruler of Oko, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, while calling for assistance from the Federal Government and the World Bank after the first landslide in February, warned that if nothing was done before the rainy season, the problem would get worse.

He had also disclosed that the contract for the control of the erosion that probably triggered the landslide had been awarded for a long time but was abandoned for no known reasons. He decried a situation where government played politics with such an important project that affects the lives of the people directly.

He had warned that if the menace was not checked before the rainy season, many buildings would be eroded, including his ancestral home, because the abandoned drainage project that had been checking

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the erosion had been cut off by the landslide. The monarch’s palace sits only a few metres away from the site of the landslide.

In a related development, the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State, called for the intervention of the Federal Government to tackle the menace of erosion, which it said was threatening to wash away its extension site.

The Rector, Prof. Godwin Onu, who made the appeal when Hon. Ben Nwankwo, who represents the area in the House of Representatives undertook a tour of the area, said the polytechnic did not have the wherewithal to tackle the menace.

He said the menace of erosion, which was rocking the host community, was gradually ravaging the extension site of the polytechnic. He called for government’s assistance in tackling it.

Nwankwo said he would raise the issue at the House of Representatives.

He commended the Rector for the judicious use of resources and his ingenuity in turning the polytechnic around.

THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

18

With over 43 published articles, two biographies and nine creative books among which are ‘Death, Not a Redeemer’ (drama), ‘This Story Must Not be Told’ (Poetry) and ‘Emperors of Salvation’ (Prose Fiction), Professor Hope Eghagha is a thorough academic with local and international recognition and laurels to show. He is the Commissioner for Higher Education in Delta State, saddled with the responsibility of making sure seven tertiary institutions with over 50, 000 students on 10 different campuses are effectively run. In this interview, he talks with AUGUSTINE AVWODE and JOE AGBRO JR. on the strides the state government is making to fulfil Deltans’ search for tertiary education. Excerpts: What really informed the Ministry of Higher Education in Delta State?

ELL, His Excellency the governor (Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan) decided to create the Ministry of Higher Education for certain reasons. The major one is what we can link with the human capital development which is one of the items in his developmental plan.

That is because we have a university that has three campuses. We have three polytechnics, we have two colleges of education, and we have one college of physical education. That is quite handful to think that one state is running seven institutions on 10 campuses. It was the decision of government to create this ministry so that the ministry could deal with the challenges of the institutions or bring their challenges to the attention of the government. So, through the Ministry of Higher Education, policy formulation, policy implementation, intervention in terms of special projects, the challenges of universities, the challenges of polytechnics, we bring them (issues of tertiary institutions) to the attention of government. So, in essence, the ministry was created because the government thought that it had so many institutions, we need to create a ministry that can deal specifically with higher education. In fact, on the basis of my own experience here, would recommend that to the Federal Government because at the federal level, we have one minister dealing with the entire country. That is too ambitious for me.

What challenges confronted you upon assuming office?

When I came on board, there was one commissioner who oversaw the whole of the educational sector. We became two and of course, we shared assets and liabilities. I can say that because the boundary has been redefined, the boundary has been reduced owing to the creation of Higher Education (ministry), better focus is on the challenges now. I can say that one of the initial challenges we faced was the basic things which we have in the country. The fact that if we were to highlight and deal with all the challenges we have in tertiary institutions in the state today, it would gulp the entire budget. So, you then have to let your colleagues in the academia know that we have to prioritise. Yes, we have this problem, we have that challenge, but government can only do so much within the budgetary limits. And what we cannot accommodate in a year, we can take on the next year.

We also have challenges in basic and secondary. So, we find ourselves battling and some persons don’t seem to realise that the problems which we have in education date back to 20, 25 years ago and perhaps beyond that from the time when the Federal Government decided to take over the management of primary and secondary schools. The Federal Government had no business in that. The missionaries were doing a good job. With the benefit of hindsight now, that was a very wrong decision. So, some of those challenges came during the military era and the rot continued. So, now, in the last 10 years, through the intervention programmes - if you look at some of the state governments, they’re intervening in basic primary and secondary and creating tertiary education. In Delta State for instance, when I was growing up here as a boy, initially, there was no university in the region. If you wanted university education, you went to the West – you travelled to Ife (University of Ife), you travelled to Ibadan (University of Ibadan).

The Southwest strictly speaking had two universities. We didn’t have until the administration of Colonel Samuel Ogbemudia created the University of Benin around 1970. So, if we wanted university education, we still had to travel outside. And there came a time when Delta State established a university. And if you realise that across the country, when you look at WAEC (West African Examination Council)

W

People think government can do it all

support of the governor who himself is a medical doctor, the right facilities were in place for our medical schools to be accredited. Then, we have also tried to streamline the bursary scholarship process – we’ve been able to open up the process in the sense that those who make first class get automatic scholarships to study anywhere in the world, we have scholarships for the children of deceased civil servants, we have foreign scholarships, we have scholarships for the physically challenged. We have bursary that was raised from N10, 000 to N20, 000. We have also intervened by identifying some of the needs which these institutions have. For instance, where say they need laboratories, we awarded contracts for laboratories to be built in Otefe, Ogwashuku, Ozoro and Mosogar. About two of these have been completed. We’re also pushing hard for the auditoria to be completed in Ogwashuku and Otefe. We also initiated a senate building because there was no central administrative building in Abraka.

We have intervention projects in all the institutions. We have also ensured with executive approval from the governor that the new salary scale applicable to tertiary institutions is operative in our institutions.

We generate memos and take to the executive council to discuss the issues affecting tertiary education in terms of accreditation. In the latest accreditation, we scored about 95 per cent. Out of about 45 courses, 43 were accredited and two had some challenges. But in the next one month or two, we’re going to bring it to the attention of government so that we can intervene in accounting and computer where we had some challenges.

But, at the end, I always say, ‘I would like people to assess us.’

Transition from a university lecturer to a higher education commissioner – how has it been?

–Delta Education Commissioner Eghagha and JAMB (Joint Admission and Matriculation Board) exams performance, the number of students seeking admission into higher institutions, we have so many coming from Delta State. So, access was denied, access was limited. Now, we’re creating access, not only for universities but also for polytechnics in the sense that we didn’t have to travel hundreds of kilometres to go to school anymore. A bus trip could take you to your university; a bus trip could take you to your polytechnic. Indeed, you could attend a university from your home.

What are the things you consider as your achievements?

The first thing to say is through cooperation and joint effort, the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Health were able to accredit our medical school that has been on for about seven years without accreditation. So, we’ve produced two batches of medical doctors now. With the

Well, let me say I’m on a familiar turf. I went into the university system in 1978 and I never stepped out until I joined government in 2009. Education is something I’ve always been in from primary school to secondary school, until university. As an academic who was also the secretary of my branch ASUU, I was aware of all the union issues which is part of what we’re trying to do – to minimise the level of crises within the campuses.

Because of my background in unionism, I have a rapport with all the campus unions.

We believe that we can discuss issues. I open my door and we discuss issues. Having said that, when you join government as an academic, you find yourself relearning quite a lot of things. Out there, people think that government can do it all. But government can’t solve all the problems. We know that there are limited resources and the institutions themselves ought to be able to increase their IGR (internally generated revenue) – in other words, do something that can positively influence their revenues. So, moving from that of an academic strictly to an administrator, a man in government, you begin to see things from the other side. Now, I have the benefit of seeing things from both sides. And I think I’m a balanced person now.

Advice to students You see, what I would say is our students tend to concentrate on passing exams. They don’t concentrate on knowledge. We notice that some graduates can’t express themselves. So, what I want to say to students is. ‘when you are in the university, in the polytechnic, in the college of education, remember that people are not going to address you on the basis of the certificates you have. They’re going to address you on your knowledge base. On how you react to situations, how intelligent you are, how proactive you are. So, they should go beyond memorising lecture notes and pouring in exams.

Right now, there is mass complaint about the quality of graduates we produce in the country and what is the cause of this?

Sometimes, it is the quality of teaching that goes into these students. We know that some lecturers still use notes obtained years ago.

They don’t update, they don’t do enough research.

Then, the students themselves have to read the research. Some boast ‘I went to school without going to the library and I graduated with a 2.1 (Second Class Upper degree).’

There is something basically wrong with that – either with the system, the student, or the teacher because we’re supposed to give library-based practical assignment. And the time has come for us to even look at our courses and see how we can make them very relevant to the society. Teaching English for instance, just teach grammar and what chances can we say grammar gives you in the current Nigeria to make a head-way in life. Is it possible for instance to merge English and film for instance, to merge English and Nollywood studies, to merge English and creative writing, so that as you are graduating with your sound knowledge of English, you also have practical knowledge of film, or creative writing. So, it’s not just a question of churning out graduates and then pushing them into the society and there are no jobs for them. So, our students should be very conscious of that – that out there is very hard, very tough, that they must acquire knowledge, and then to be able to apply knowledge to their environment.

Efforts of the state government in ensuring its teachers are more qualitative?

Well, the tertiary institutions are virtually independent, autonomous. We can’t go to the classroom to supervise lecturers. But, in our meetings with management, we let them know that teaching educational students goes beyond just standing in front and then giving lectures. Let us be interactive. Lectures should be based on updated knowledge and we’ve also ensured that we create e-libraries.

There’s an e-library in Abraka so that students and lecturers can have access to all of these. The sale of handouts on our campuses is illegal. Any lecturer who sells handouts or books directly to students is doing something illegal. We said, put your books in the bookshop and let students go to the bookshop to buy. And for a book to be recommended in a course, it has to go through a vetting process – the academic board. But, you see, government can’t be a gateman. I can’t go a department in the university and ask ‘ask you conforming?’ So, it’s a collective thing. The administration, management itself must be carried along.

They must be persuaded that what we’re trying to do is desirable so that they can enforce the rule. And I can assure you, there’s been some disciplinary actions taken against lecturers who have contravened.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

SEE STORY ON PAGES 20-22

Saturday

THRILLER

In the mean streets of Maiduguri Sad, sorry descent of a capital city

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

20

•A trader points at the ruins of his shop in the wake of Boko Haram’s July 23 bombing and alleged arson by JTF at the Budum market

Sad, sorry descent of a capital city We, as a society, have had our fair share of instability and even wars in our chequered history, including the sacking of Birnin Ngazargamu by the jihadists in 1808, Rabih’s invasion and occupation in 1893 and the Maitatsine riots of the 1980s. In all these crises, destructive and vicious as they were, the wars did not degenerate into killing of innocent souls, targeting of public recreational centres, places of worship in a sustained and protracted manner, as we sadly witness today. – Kashim Shettima, Executive Governor, Borno State

S

HE had narrated why Budum bled, Gwaneri wept and London Chiki keeled over but Saratu Usman could not put into words why her husband and daughter are lying six feet under the ground.

She simply cried every time she tried.

Hunched by the hearth in her tiny backyard, she fans the dying embers with hands that are irredeemably wiry and gnarled. Despite the seeming lifelessness of her limbs, they hover delicately, quivering like moth wings over the grate. Her eyes are fixed on the fireplace and as it crackles back to life, it cast desultory glows that makes her eyes gleam, in an outrage of bitterness.

No one sees what she sees neither can anyone understand her buried narrative better than she does but against the firelight; a faint glimmer steals into her face, like the feral nuance of a cat, maddened by separation from its young.

Her lips purse as if she would speak but instead, a great glob of spit hangs there, glittering; before she lets it fall. The spit is what sizzles like cheese over freshly roasted yam. It articulates the widow’s pregnant silences thus giving tenor to the grief she’s been cradling since she lost her husband and only child to a gun battle between the

Olatunji OLOLADE, Assistant Editor Joint Task Force and Islamic militant group, Boko Haram.

“God will reward the one whose bullets felled my poor husband and child. Layi (her daughter) was barely three. Her father wanted to go out and collect money from a debtor but she insisted on following him. I tried to make her stay but she screamed louder…you see, her father, he was very weak with her. He told me to dress her up and took her along. He said they won’t be long but they never got back…when I went out to look for them, I found my husband and child in a bloody heap by the roadside. The money they went out to collect littered the ground about them,” said Usman.

Through her narration, Usman shed the sad tears of a widow who was orphaned at birth and childless in her twilight. “I have nowhere else to go. I used to work for my late husband until he married me. I know no family from my father and mother’s bloodline,” she said thus lamenting her inability to relocate despite the very sad memories her current neighbourhood accords her.

Unlike Usman, Bilkis Aliyu has chosen to

•Mohammed was allegedly shot on the thigh

by JTF operatives on reprisal attack relocate. “I am not going to wait here till death finds me and my children,” she said. The 28year-old single mother and resident of Kaleri has suffered the death of a loved one in her past. That loved one was a distant relative to whom she served as guardian. Her name was Sufi and she was gunned down in the postelection violence that engulfed Zonkwa, in the South of Kaduna on April 18, 2011.

That sad incident hit too close to her marrow as Sufi happened to be her only surviving relative from her mother’s bloodline. “Now I have nobody. My father died when I was young and his family didn’t treat my mother right.

When she took ill, nobody showed up to assist us with money or care and at her death, I was left alone with no money to my name or roof over my head. I was rescued from poverty and uncertainty by the widow of one of my late father’s friends. She tried to be my mother and got me married to someone she thought was a good man last year. Now she is dead and my husband has gone to live in Jebba with another woman. There is nothing for me here. I sell koko and bean cake and I can sell that anywhere. I am leaving this place. It’s not safe to live here anymore,” she said.

Like Usman and Aliyu, not a few residents of Budum, Kaleri, Gwaneri and other volatile parts of Maiduguri, Borno State, live in perpetual fear ever since the JTF and Boko Haram turned their erstwhile peaceful neighbourhoods into bloody battle fronts.

Many residents still rue the explosion that rocked the vicinity of the palace of the Shehu of Borno and Budum Market in Central Maiduguri on Saturday, July 23, 2011, when a bomb, ostensibly planted by Boko Haram, an Islamic militant group, went off. Targeted at a military patrol in the area, the bomb instantly wounded three soldiers of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) deployed to Maiduguri to fish out members of the violent group.

The explosive reportedly claimed eight lives and wounded several other civilians. Amnesty International claims 23 other people died in its wake. Although they were not victims of

the bomb explosion, they suffered a reprisal attack allegedly mounted by men of the JTF. The latter, due to frustration arising from their inability to easily identify and arrest members of Boko Haram sect, reportedly responded by shooting and killing people at random. Residents accused the JTF of using extreme force on residents of Budum community in reprisal attacks over their hurt colleagues. Following the bomb blast which occurred around 4 p.m, JTF soldiers allegedly set shops numbering over 42 ablaze and shot directly at shop owners and residents while they were fleeing the scene of the blasts.

According to eyewitness accounts, the soldiers conducted a house-to-house search, forcing men suspected to be above 18 years out of their homes before shooting them. Six cars with registration numbers AA495 JRE, AA126KDQ, AM96AMG, AA415NGL, DA314FST, and AE437 DKW were allegedly vandalised and burnt by the soldiers. Although JTF authorities vehemently denied the arson and killings, a visit to four affected families within the community revealed the interminable grief of families who allegedly lost their loved ones to the JTF’s onslaught.

Some of the casualties include the Late Mallam Goni Tijani,(55), Late Babakura Zakariya (18), Late Idris, and the woman in whose shop the improvised explosive device (IED) was planted.

Eyewitness accounts revealed that the soldiers invaded the home of Late Mallam Goni Tijani, 55, forced him out of his room and shot him to death right in front of his family members and children most of whom are below the age of six. His two shops were burnt leaving his two wives and 11 children with nothing to depend on.

The deceased’s aged father tearfully recounted how JTF soldiers dragged the deceased out of his mother’s room onto the streets. He knelt down, and pleaded with the soldiers to spare his life. He died on the spot after he was allegedly shot on the head, chest and waist by the soldiers. Severely wounded Baba Sani

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

b ated by the July 23 bom •Ruins of a shop devast

llence, operators of hau ess •In the wake of the vio sin bu in mp slu ent age trucks, giwa-giwa, lam activities

blast

hole inflicted during •Wall showing bullet risal attacks rep ged one of JTF’s alle

•Exact spot where an explosive allegedly detonated by the Boko Haram sect went off

God will reward the one whose bullets felled my poor husband and child... He told me to dress her up and took her along. He said they won’t be long but they never got back…when I went out to look for them, I found my husband and child in a bloody heap by the roadside. The money they went out to collect littered the ground about them...

‘

Mohammed, a shop owner at Budum Market, had to resort to receiving treatment in his home following a life-threatening gunshot injury said to have been inflicted on him by JTF soldiers while he was fleeing from the burning market.

According to Victoria Ohaeri, Programme Coordinator of the Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC), similar alleged executions had taken place in suburban Kaleri community near Osas Private School. “Homes close to the site of the Kaleri blasts were raided and occupants allegedly murdered in cold blood,” she said.

Ohaeri said that this has resulted in a situation whereby “the Boko Haram on one side and the JTF on the other side are now equally yoked in the gory killings and myriad of security challenges facing the state. Their clashes have left hundreds dead on both sides. The presence of the JTF in Maiduguri has also polarised the state, pitching the haves against the have-nots. While the non-Muslims, persons engaged in formal employment and those living in the formal sections of the city insist on having military presence intensified in Maiduguri and environs, the inhabitants of slum and rural settlements such as Budum, Kaleri, Gomari and London Chiki are equally as vociferous in their call for the withdrawal of soldiers from the state.”

“House-to-house searches, brutalisation, unlawful arrests, killings and disappearances have been the operating practice in Maiduguri for some months now. Unless steps are taken to ensure that security forces operate within the law and respect human rights at all times,

’

the next time Boko Haram attacks or kills a soldier, we are likely to see the same thing happen again,” said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International deputy director for Africa.

However, JTF’s field operation officer and spokesperson in Borno, Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, debunked the claims that soldiers in Maiduguri were targeting law-abiding members of the public. He described the claims as “baseless and uncalled for,” claiming that the army would never act in anyway detrimental to the peace of the state. Ebhaleme rather blamed members of the Boko Haram sect for planting explosives in residential areas, which he said were causes of the loss of lives and property of law-abiding civilians.

Ebhaleme was probably right; findings revealed that the bomb that exploded near a military checkpoint in Bulumkutu and injured at least four soldiers was said to have been dropped by a little boy. Residents confided that a boy allegedly dropped a polythene bag containing the explosive beside a huge billboard near the checkpoint but could not approach men of the JTF, apparently for fear of reprisals from members of Boko Haram.

“Nobody is safe anywhere anymore. We don’t feel safe even in our own homes,” lamented Abubakar Idris, an animal feed dealer resident in Kaleri. True; a harmless stroll across the street or quick dash to the neighbourhood grocer has often times resulted in gruesome deaths of unsuspecting adults and minors in the area. Series of coordinated attacks and sporadic gun wars between the JTF and Boko Haram has casted a very dark pall on a state that’s supposed to be Nigeria’s of “Home of

Peace and Hospitality.” If anything, the current situation in Borno places it a thousand miles from its fabled state of warmth and tranquility.

The fear of Boko Haram The group’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, meaning ‘People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.” It earned its nickname from the teachings of its founder Mohammed Yussuf in the early 2000s. In the restive northeastern city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

Yusuf argued that western education, or ‘boko,’ had brought nothing but poverty and suffering to the region and was therefore forbidden, or ‘haram,’ in Islam. He began peacefully, mostly preaching and quickly gained a following among disaffected young men in the northeast. But his anti-establishment rhetoric and hints that Boko Haram was building an arsenal of weapons also caught the attention of the authorities.

In 2009, the police clamped down on sect members who were ignoring a law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets. That sparked a furious backlash. Police stations and government offices in Borno were burned to the ground, and hundreds of the ground and hundreds of criminals released in a prison break, as the violence spread across northern Nigeria. The government and army reacted with force: Yusuf was captured and short dead in police custody. Five days of fighting left some 800 people dead.

Boko Haram leaders still cite Yusuf’s death as one of the main factors driving the insurgency. The group remains fiercely anti-government and anti-authority and resentful of the decades of corrupt, poor governance that have impoverished its home region.

The group’s headquarters and mosque were located in the city until they were left in ruins by a 2009 military assault in response to an uprising. The remains of the mosque are still there now, one of many signs of crisis in Maiduguri.

Boko Haram went dormant for about a year after the military assault, which killed some 800 people, but returned in 2010 with a series of assassinations before moving on to increasingly sophisticated bombings, including suicide attacks.

Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, is still seen as its home base, though it has extended its attacks into other cities, including the capital Abuja and Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city, Damaturu, Yobe State, among others.

At first, Boko Haram was involved mostly in perpetrating sectarian violence. Its adher-

•PHOTOS: Victoria OHAERI ents participated in simple attacks on Christians using clubs, machetes and small arms.

Boko Haram came to international attention following serious outbreaks of intercommunal violence in 2008 and 2009 that resulted in thousands of deaths. By late 2010, Boko Haram had added Molotov cocktails and simple Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to its tactical repertoire.

How violence has changed Maiduguri Islamic faithful observe the evening Maghreb prayer - and then have to go straight on to the Isha, the late evening prayer, because Maiduguri has to live under a strict 7.p.m. to 6a.m. curfew. From the mosque, residents hurry back home to their firmly padlocked houses.

Every resident lives in constant fear in the wake of a series of violent and devastating attacks including drive-by shootings and bombings in their once peaceful neighbourhoods. Very few residents have the courage to discuss the pervasive state of insecurity in the state in public.

“You don’t know who is who. That is why everybody is being very careful. Nobody discusses Boko Haram in public anymore because there have been instances whereby some people have been killed for voicing their opinions about the group’s activities,” said Halisu, a crafts dealer.

It gets even worse; the city’s economy which is basically driven by the informal sector and thus has no closing hours is perpetually on the downside as commercial transporters, vendors, shop keepers, property speculators and even beggars no longer engage in business hustle until late into the night. Most businesses close shop by 7 p.m. and property and as a result many of the residents lament of having incurred serious losses.

Babban Layi, Maiduguri’s longstanding commercial centre, which simply means “a wide street,” used to be a Mecca of sort for shoppers and dealers in textile, electronics, clothing, and household items. At the market, Lebanese and Chadian merchants jostled daily alongside low-tech con men and pickpockets all hoping to get a slice of the bulging pockets of money charily carried around by shoppers and dealers of various nationalities and walks of life.

Before the violence, overloaded trucks, known locally as giwa-giwa, transported goods from Babban Layi to neighbouring countries such as Chad and Cameroon and even to distant places like Sudan and the Central African Republic regularly. How-

•Continued on Page 22

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

22

Sad, sorry descent of a capital city •Continued from Page 21 ever, this once thriving regional trading hub is now almost empty as trading activities have declined by the incessant bomb blasts and gun wars that have become the lot of the society. For many months now, merchants, menial workers and the truck drivers among others have been struggling to make ends meet.

Fear pervades the entire city; classrooms have been burnt and reduced to shards of broken glass and pile of cement, but pupils and teachers remain, squeezing into parts of the building still standing for lessons.

Outside the school walls, residents who remain push on, worshipping at mosques or churches, including those protected by military deployments and razor wire; many more are visiting markets even as they cautiously avoid malevolent soldiers they accuse of maltreatment.

Maiduguri in retrospect Legend has it that Maiduguri evolved from a grand conquest in pursuit of peace and humaneness.

Three of the principal features of the capital were the wide roads and drainage, the magnificent shade trees, cleanliness and orderliness. The forest of neem trees makes Maiduguri today the best shaded town in Africa. In fact, until recently, Maiduguri was regarded as the cleanest and most orderly state capital in Nigeria.

Modern Maiduguri actually comprises the twin towns of Yerwa and Maiduguri. In 1907 Yerwa (whose name is derived from an Arabic expression meaning “quenching the thirst,” referring to the waters of the nearby river) was founded on the site of the hamlet of Kalwa and was named by Shehu Bukar Garbai as the new traditional capital of the Kanuri people, replacing Kukawa, 80 miles north-northeast, the former capital of the Bornu kingdom. Meanwhile, the market village of Maiduguri, just to the south, was selected by the British to replace nearby Maifoni as their military headquarters; and, in 1908, they built a residency in what then became the capital of British Bornu. The combined city, locally called Yerwa, was divided into the urban district of Yerwa and the rural district of Maiduguri in 1957; but outside Borno, both political units are now known simply as Maiduguri.

The arrival of the railway in 1964 reinforced Maiduguri’s importance as the chief commercial centre of northeastern Nigeria.

Livestock, cattle hides, goatskins and sheepskins, finished leather products, dried fish, crocodile skins (the last two brought from Lake Chad), peanuts (groundnuts), and gum arabic are the city’s chief exports; but there is also considerable local trade in sorghum, millet, corn (maize), rice, cotton, and indigo. There is a large cattle ranch at nearby Gombole, and poultry farming has been introduced in the surrounding countryside.

The Monday market at Yerwa, a tradition brought from Kukawa, is the largest in the state; most goods are transported by donkey and, likewise in centuries-old fashion, by oxen owned by the semi-nomadic Shuwa Arabs.

Though the capital’s valid name is Yerwa, the name, Maiduguri, is more common in political and commercial circles outside Borno. History is replete with anecdotes that the capital of Borno or Kanuri Empire at any point in time always has the touch or ingredients of a well planned city with Maiduguri not exception. To this a commentator writes, “……what visitor to Maiduguri whose vitality is so apparent at every turn can ever forget its charm, its grandeur, its exotic appeal? What visitor can be indifferent to the stately sweep of the Dandal; the magnificence of the Shehu’s palace, the imposing grandeur of the state secretariat; the enchanting landscape of the lake Chad Hotel, the glamour of the imposing Maiduguri International Hotel; the fascinating architecture of the celebrated Du Putron houses; the romantic Kyarimi Park, the formidable verdant personality of a clan of one million neems; Borno’s fantastic durbar fanfares, the exotic scene of Shuwa Arabs riding their oxen to the Monday market…?

The catalogue is endless!”

However, recent developments have laid waste to the beauty of peace and hospitality that the state was once noted for. According to the Kashim Shettima, the State

iduguri live •Many residents of Ma r fea of te sta in a perpetual

Governor, “The circumstances that led to the current unfortunate situation in our state and neighbouring areas arose from long years of neglect and structural violence on our people by successive governments, which had failed to address their deplorable existential conditions. The retreating state, dwindling economic resources, visionless ruling class steeped in conspicuous consumption in the midst of abundant poverty created a fertile environment for Boko Haram to thrive. The violence meted out on our people by social conditions such as poverty, exclusion, want, oppression and fear is more grievous than physical violence.

Any society experiencing these levels of deprivation, he said, cannot be said to be peaceful.

The transition from physical to structural violence is often imperceptible but predictable.

“In more specific terms, we argue that the lowlevel insurgency playing out in the streets of our towns and villages across the nation, but especially in Borno State, is a direct consequence of a combination of factors, chief among which are youth unemployment and under-employment, acute poverty, political thuggery, endemic corruption, proliferation of arms and ammunition augmented by the peculiar geo-political setting of Borno State neighbouring three countries of Chad, Cameroun and Niger, a sub-region generally known for political upheaval and insecurity, and above all religious extremism and terrorism,” said Shettima.

Dreams of a silver lining Despite this very sad situation, the authorities in Maiduguri remain hopeful that things will get better. According to Governor Shettima, “Borno was a model, a standard of what was good in the African culture, a pride of the Blackman everywhere and our history was compared to that of the Ottomans and Sa’adi Morocco, some of the oldest and most impressive dynasties in the world. Borno as a society was, and remains, a cosmopolitan, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic as well as multireligious society. This heterogeneity often referred to as a melting pot was sustained by a tolerance of dissenting views.”

He blamed the current state of insecurity on the “attempt to impose the opinion of a small group on a larger society, a situation which clearly abridges the freedom to freely hold and express one’s opinion which is fundamental and inalienable in any given society.”

In the history of our society, our leaders had responded to the challenges of their day, similar in gravity, similar to the unfortunate situation we are undergoing today, with utmost sense of restraint and without recourse to violence. The response of the Borno leadership under Sheikh Muhammad El-Kanemi to the attack in Borno and allegations of un-Islamic practices at the beginning of the nineteenth century was clear, simple and straightforward.

In his efforts to ensure peace, he carried out a

•Governor Shettima

•Victoria Ohaeri

series of theological, legal and political debates through letters with Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio, and later with his son, Muhammad Bello. “We are Muslims and Muslims do not harm innocent souls, much less fellow Muslims; any interpretation or understanding of Islam which justifies the killing of innocent people is condemnable and should be rebuked in toto”.

At the backdrop of his passionate pick-meup, the question many residents of Maiduguri want answered is: Will peace ever return to Maiduguri? This is surely one tough question for the governor to answer. Already, Governor Shettima has revealed his willingness to rekindle his people’s confidence in government claiming that he has embarked on numerous programmes of job creation, skills acquisition, poverty alleviation, empowerment and capacity building programmes.

“Specifically, government has compensated all victims of the recent crisis as submitted by the committee set up by government which collated the data…It has also purchased foodstuffs worth N2 billion and distributed same and collaborating with micro-finance banks to provide soft loans to our farmers and traders. The whole mantra is on the increase in yield and we intend to unleash the potential of our youths by investing N10 billion into the agricultural sector”.

The governor stated that his government has put in place a machinery to create 500,000 jobs to address grassroots socio-economic empowerment drive, total overhaul of the education sector, infrastructural renovation and improvements and putting in place quality assurance monitoring taskforce and enhancement of the feeding system to encourage children to attend and stay in school.

“In addition, vocational and farming skills acquisition centres are being provided and rehabilitated while all our dormant industries are receiving attention and very soon they will engage substantial number of the unemployed...The ultimate aim is to engage the pool of unemployed and redirect their energy to productive use while restoring their dignity and self-esteem. This way, some of the drivers of radicalisation will be eliminated,” he said.

Despite this glimmer of hope, the situation in Maiduguri is still pretty desperate.

Recently, gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect, commenced the burning and destruction of GSM masts and communication facilities in some areas of Maiduguri and neighbouring north eastern states.

To check the tide of violence and insecurity, gun-toting soldiers have set up numerous checkpoints and taken up positions outside telecom masts, police stations, churches and other high-profile locations that have previously been Boko Haram’s targets. The soldiers are there to protect the residents of Maiduguri even as the people seem coherent in their condemnation of the militarisation of the streets. They accuse the soldiers of torture and other human rights violations.

On the flipside, Boko Haram squads target soldiers and security agents with explosives, either in their fortified positions or in their patrol vehicles. After an attack, the soldiers storm neighbouring communities, and are said to indiscriminately molest and shoot the male occupants. The army denies this is happening – nevertheless, it is a recurring cry that is hard to ignore.

LOCATION

BACKSTAGE

SNAPSHOT

REEL NEWS

MUSIC

SCREEN

Edited by: VICTOR AKANDE

Tel: 08077408676

E-mail: victor_akande@yahoo.com

ntertainment

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

23

SEE PAGES 28-37

—Nollywood actress

I’m a born again Christian

Cynthia Agholor

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

THINK

STAND BY! h

Wit

VICTOR AKANDE E-mail: victor_akande@yahoo.com Tel: 07082384102 (SMS only)

nt part of An importa s of any the succes is its civilisation late the mu ability to e t led to the a th factors ther success of o Eric s.— civilisation rt Reine

Sustaining the NIBRA initiative

A

FTER 51 years of broadcasting in Nigeria, it is difficult to say that the level at which radio and television operate is the best that we can afford.

Yes, the freedom that was attained in 1993 following the establishment of the first private radio station may have enhanced competition, but content still remains a major challenge. This is much so because contents that address social issues and which used to provide direction to the young ones seem to have disappeared, while the seeming liberty associated to privatization has resulted in influx of foreign contents that do more than erode our culture.

All over the world, an award scheme, apart from the glamour and sense of merriment, appears to be the best form of competitiveness that could stimulate the need by practitioners to thirst for excellence. This brings to mind, the whole essence of the Nigerian Broadcasters Awards (NIBRA), an initiative of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), which is geared towards rewarding stakeholders in those areas that they have added value to the industry.

Otherwise, how do we justify the efforts of our past heroes and the supposed exposures garnered since the establishment of the BBC Empire Service in 1932? How do we justify the subsequent listening post, established by the British Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos in 1936 one which later transformed into the Radio Distribution Service (RDS)? How do we look back and say with a sense of pride that we have done well from April 1951, which marked the beginning of direct radio transmission in Nigeria with the establishment of Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBC) which became fully functional in Lagos in 1952, and from where its services were extended to Kaduna in May 1952, Enugu in September 1952 and Ibadan in April 1955, where the previous rediffusion relay stations were converted into fully operational NBS stations? Or more importantly, how can we say television has fared since 1959, when the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo established the first television station in Africa, the Western Nigerian Television (WNTV)?

Even while we raise these questions, it is pertinent to

It is pertinent to note that Nigerian broadcasting has been a source of unity for the country since the colonial era. The deregulation of broadcasting by General Ibrahim Babangida government through the Decree No. 38 of 1992, can only be said to have created better understanding between the government and the governed note that Nigerian broadcasting has been a source of unity for the country since the colonial era. The deregulation of broadcasting

by General Ibrahim Babangida government through the Decree No. 38 of 1992 can only be said to have created better understanding between the government and the governed.

But in celebrating other sectors of the economy, stakeholders in the broadcast sector have been too busy or unconcerned about the need to honour their own. Honours for practitioners in the industry can only challenge others to amend the grey areas in which they are being criticized.

It is sad, that most of these professionals like Chief Executives of Broadcast Stations, Editors, Reporters, Presenters, Producers, Engineers, Technicians, Programme Directors as well as Audio/Lighting Specialist and Cameramen have worked, retired and died unsung.

Industry watchers have fingered broadcasters to be too pre-occupied with promoting other professionals from all walks of life and building them into stardom, while they (broadcaster), are rarely noticed, let alone being

Industry watchers have fingered broadcasters to be too pre-occupied with promoting other professionals from all walks of life and building them into stardom, while they (broadcaster), are rarely noticed, let alone being featured in the list of recipients, annually honoured, with National Honours by the Federal Government

WRITE TO US!

featured in the list of recipients, annually honoured, with National Honours by the Federal Government.

This should not be so, because broadcasters have made immense contributions to the social, economic and political development of Nigeria. The broadcast medium because of its instantaneous presence, ubiquity, has more than any other medium, contributed in shaping public opinion, promoting national discourse and stability in contemporary Nigeria.

In the coverage of national issues, particularly politics and elections at all levels, the broadcast media has always been conservative, restrained, and not sensational in its coverage and reportage, knowing that any false report could lead to break down of law and order.

Thus, I share in the good initiative of BON for its attempt to honour broadcasters through the Nigerian Broadcasters Awards (NIBRA) come October 27, 2012. BON, the umbrella association of all privately and publicly owned Radio and Television stations in Nigeria, is on point with this initiative which I believe is designed to promote excellence and professionalism in all aspects of broadcasting, as well as enhance healthy competition within the industry.

It is important that BON puts enough energy in this scheme and drive it to a point where it becomes an annual festival a harvest of the best.

Perhaps then, the present challenges (poor funding, obsolete equipment, poor remuneration of staff, large turnover of Chief Executives which perhaps has adversely affected the nation's deadline for transition from analogue to digital broadcasting) confronting the industry, will find its way to the front burner, and stare decision makers in the eye, towards taking effective action.

I'm glad that the brief of NIBRA is not only to give awards, but to also embark on immense capacity building, training and re-training of broadcasters in areas of their specialization to improve all facets of the broadcasting industry. It is my hope that the governments, organized private sector, and all well meaning Nigerians will give their support for a sustainable impression.

Do you watch Nollywood movies? What do you think of the Nigerian motion picture industry? Send your review of any movie or short essay on any topic of your choice about the film industry in not more than 200 words. Send entries by e-mail to: victor_akande@yahoo.com or SMS your short comments to 07082384102

SNAPSHOTS

Uche Jombo takes a

b r eak K

NOWN for her acting skills, Uche Jombo Rodriguez is likely to be off the scene for a while. Reason; she is said to be taking a break to concentrate on her new status.

Reports also have it that, together with her husband, she is planning to live in the United States for a while.

Uche Jombo recently veered off acting and embraced movie production with her debut effort being the Damage trilogy. The production has received critical reviews and was premiered around the world.

•Uche Jombo with husband

Is Uche Iwuji rebranding?

T

HOUGH Nollywood dice, Uche Iwuji is currently on vacation in London, the actress is said, to be putting finishing touches to ensure that all is in place for her to start production on her own movie when she returns.

According to reports, Uche is said to have gone underground in order to cool off the controversies surrounding her acting career and possibly to rebrand.

A graduate of the University of Lagos, she has featured in quite a number of flicks including Passion and Pain, The Secretary, Fair Game, Heart of Bitterness among others.

Jim Iyke to host GIAMA

N

OLLYWOOD 'Bad Boy', Jim Iyke has been billed to host the upcoming Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards (GIAMA) in Houston, Texas.

Taking place on October 20, 2012, the GIAMA team will also be introducing a studio-like photo shoot sessions in a dinning environment, before the award ceremony, where the first 50 registered guests will have the opportunity to partake in the Photo Session, ask the stars questions, and enjoy a complimentary brunch with them.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

RE ELNEW S

Nigerian artistes shine in Channel O nominations

A

Winners extol Star TV Game Show

T

HERE'S always something for everyone in the Star TV Game Show. So goes the catchphrase for the popular show, whether it is the excited crowd as they cheer their teams on during the games or the antics of the audience when the millionaires finally emerge. It could even the rib cracking jokes the show anchor, Gbenga Adeyinka, never tires of dishing out during the show. Or the open show of emotions from the winners as they are unveiled to the crowd. Whichever way you look at it, one thing is clear: there's never a dull moment on the Star TV Game Show.

Take the case of Elijah Anayagher for instance. Moments after the Benue State based architect was announced as one of the new winners of N1m in the second edition of the game show, Anayagher is suddenly the toast of the crowd. Just as he made his way to his seat to await the official handing over of his prize money, Anayagher received the shock of his life: “Out of nowhere, this beautiful lady just sat on my legs and said that she had been supporting me during the round of games. The truth was that I never knew her but she kept saying that she wanted to be my friend and that I should not forget her when I start spending my money,” Anayagher stated even as he tried to suppress the burst of laughter about the incident.

Elijah Anayagher was one of the lucky few selected to participate in the second edition of the Star TV Game Show. He had gone to his favourite drinking spot to unwind with some friends when he was given tickets to partake in a raffle draw. “I didn't know about any draw. I was surprised when the stewards in the bar gave me the tickets. I wasn't actually the only one because they gave everyone that was drinking Star that evening.” Lucky Anayagher won several instant prizes from the raffle draw.

However, the icing on the cake for him was that one of the tickets won him a place to participate in the Star TV Game Show. “I couldn't believe it. I thought that it was scam but my friends convinced me

that it was real.” Two weeks after and he is now a millionaire. And the memories of the TV Game Show continue to linger for Anayagher. “I can't forget the entire experience in a hurry. I met lots of wonderful people who I didn't know before and we just became friends. I am happy that I won the money but I will also remember the excitement of Star TV Game Show for a long time to come,” he added.

As for his new found friend, Andrew intends to reward her for her 'friendship'.

“Definitely I am going to share my good fortune with her and the others. They are like friends to me and I won't forget them,” he stated.

Indeed, it's hard to forget the crowd at the Star TV Game Show. Participants in the game are picked from the audience to form three groups comprising three group members. The groups, A, B, C, go head to head in a series of games to determine which group will come out tops. The winning group gets the whooping sum of N3m to be shared equally by members of the batch. Boisterous and ever supportive, they crowd cheer their preferred groups on as they vie for the N3m cash prize. Chants of A for Action or B for Brightness or C for Champion, depending on where the pendulum of the audience's supports swing, rent the air during the games.

While the audience's support spurs some of the contestants on, for others, the tension is simply too much for them as they bungle their chances of becoming millionaires.

Anthony Okosa, a trader for Enugu, was at the third edition of the TV Game Show.

Though he wasn't picked to participate in the game, he still enjoyed himself as a member of the audience. “Everybody can't be millionaires. Unfortunately I was not chosen to participate so I had to remain in the audience. But I am still happy because being a member of the audience is also exciting. The atmosphere is that of fun and little tension but I have absolutely enjoyed myself,” he said.

Much of the liveliness of the crowd is owed to the commendable role of Gbenga Adeyinka, anchor of the show. As anchor of Star TV Game Show, Adeyinka has

certainly showed that he is more than just your average comedian. His ability to bond with the audience as well as his knack for making the game show interactive only adds to the excitement of the Star TV Game Show. For example, during the games, when a contestant fails to complete a puzzle, the audience, prompted by Gbenga Adeyinka taunt them with songs. Don't be surprised to hear songs like 'John Bull My Son, I sent you To School, you don't Know how To Spell your name” during the Star TV Game Show.

While Gbenga Adeyinka's antics along with the excited crowd make the games interesting and exciting, the winners and their stories also makes for interesting reading. Like Emeka John after he won N1m in the first edition of Star TV Game Show. The Benin based truck driver's first comment was that he would sack his employer! “I am so happy at this N1m that I have just won. I am not sure that I would have been able to save this amount of money in 10 years. Now that I have this N1m I am going to sack my employer and get my own truck and be independent,” he stated. As for Chinedu Agu, another winner of N1m during the third edition of Star TV Game Show, the first words that he uttered after he was declared a millionaire was: House rent. “People were surprised that the first thing I said is 'house rent'. I sleep in the underground of a hotel in Enugu and my wife and little son are in Owerri so you can understand why that was the first thing that occurred to me. Now that I have this money, I will be reunited with my family,” he said.

Interestingly, Chinedu Agu and the two other winners on the night of the third edition of Star TV Game Show, Abiodun Alli, Chiadika Onyeachonam, all stated that they did not have not up to N200, 000 in their accounts. But they would be ending the day N1m richer.

As at the last count, nine millionaires had emerged in the Star TV Game Show.

Twelve other lucky people will be crowned millionaires during the seven week long Star TV Game Show.

FRICA'S foremost urban music channel, Channel O, recently announced the nominees for its 9th Annual Music Video Awards. With 14 categories on the take, this year's Channel O Music Video Awards showcases African music at its best.

“We continue to recognise and acknowledge the magnitude of African music and musicians.

The nominations in this year's awards are yet another reflection of how Channel O is celebrating African musical talent, how it keeps growing from strength to strength and how we keep striving to stay Original African,” says Leslie Kasumba, Channel O Africa Manager. th Now in its 9 year, the Channel O Music Video Awards is the only public-voted annual music video awards show broadcast around the continent that exclusively features African artists.

Representing Nigeria in the tussle are Tiwa Savage with Love Me X 3 and Mo'Cheddah featuring Phenom with See Me in the Most Gifted Female Video category. In contention for the Most Gifted Duo are Nigerian superstars, P Square with their Chop My Money video which features Akon and May D. Running for Most Gifted Male category for his Oliver Twist video is none other than Nigeria's D'Banj.

Voting which opened midnight on Saturday, September 1 lasts till Thursday, November 8.

•D’banj

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Why I do Afro Electro music—2A There is a better life in Nigeria, but it is only when you get there that you will find out that you left something of value here.

I call it ignorance

Obiwon welcomes first child

•Christopher

Up and coming act

Tripp

27

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Lineo, Dammy Krane excite at Ghana Industry Nite

•Lineo •DammyKrane

Tipsy, Tillaman thrill fans at St.Remy Jam

Now Muzik promotes Star Quest winners

•Tillaman

Hip-hop has been Africanised —9etwork

•Crystals Band

28

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

ntertainment

ntertainment

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

ntertainment

ntertainment

ntertainment

‘If I can preach to you the way I'm looking, you will want to surrender to God’

ntertainment

Tension lap for MTN Project Fame contestants

37

PGC signs AY, Yvonne Nelson

•Ella and Marvellous performing

•Evictees Chinyere and Sonia

I

N what could be described as fever pitch session, the eight remaining contestants in the MTN Project Fame Academy excited the audience as they tried to outdo one another. It was an extraordinary show that obviously took the audience to ecstasy.

The sessions which held at Ultima Studios, Lekki presented duets and remixed solo songs by popular local and international songs. It was apparent that the judges were impressed considering their positive remarks.

The night started slowly, and then steadily as Ayo blended Styl-plus' 'Olufunmi' into an unlikely Afro-beat version.

Musulyn was unusually daring.

Regardless of her Liberian origin, she made a pure HipHop out of Ice-Prince's 'Oleku', while Ella was outstanding doing Rihana. The other five contestants didn't do badly either.

The performances, it could be

said, pushed behind, the outpouring of emotions at the eviction of Sonia and Chinyere the previous day, when Christian, Musulyn, Chinyere, Didi and Sonia were also put on probation. The faculty had saved Christian; the judges had saved Musulyn, while majority of the contestants not on probation voted for Didi.

With each eviction, performances appear better.

Organisers say viewers across West Africa hold the power to keep their favorite contestants in the academy. From Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, viewers can send their favorite contestants unique numbers to 306, and 1740 in Ghana all from an MTN line, usually before 6pm every Friday.

The MTN Project Fame West Africa has become a daily delight on West African screens, and much so, at weekends when the emotion becomes mixed owing to the eviction exercises.

K9 out with Kokoma Must I go about dirty because I'm born again?

I need to look good so that when someone approaches me, they will say hey you look good. I can now tell the person it's Jesus

CYNTHIA

•Yvonne

Fizikal set to make statement

•K9

Aguero may return AGAINST STOKE

THE NATION SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS QUALIFIERS...

Eagles will be in South Africa- Yobo

•Yobo

•Yobo

•Emenike vs Yobo •Yobo

THE NATION SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS •Ladipo

H

OW did you feel when Nigeria came back from the London 2012 Olympics without medals from any of the sports?

I felt bad, I have been at the olympics before, at Atlanta 96, we had gold medals and silver and bronze at the Olympics. I was also at the Sydney Olympic where we won a silver but this time around it was zero. I couldn’t have been more than sad must confess, this is the worst Olympics, I have attended for the country.

But really, what do you think is the way forward?

We should start right now.

We have to plan to start nurturing and training athletes for the Olympics that is coming up in 2016. We have to plan now we don't have to wait two or three months to the Olympics before we start preparations for the Olympics. The countries that won medals planned in earnest. I will tell you a story of a Lithuanian girl who got a gold medal in swimming. She started training at the age of seven and for seven years the government of that country was nurturing her she got scholarships day in day out she just went all out to win a medal. There is another Olympian from Thailand who has been in camp for eight years and was never allowed to go out. She also won a medal for her country.

We should train five eight seven years for the Olympics, if we intend bringing medals home.

We are expecting our

A

S one whose formative years were in the 1970’s up to the m i d - 1 9 8 0 ’ s , t h e neighbourhood and school settings made it natural that we developed academic and sports skills in tandem. We lived in neighbourhoods that had playgrounds and schooled in institutions that were planned to admit sports as a curricular. We had teachers who specialized in Physical Education and all they did for the school was to organize games, identify talented kids, groom them and perhaps prop them up for Divisional Sports Council officials to continue the development. We used to participate in tournaments called the Divisional Officer’s Cup (DO’s Cup) and at the secondary schools level, we had the Principal’s Cup. Obviously, these were not organized from a central body (I supposed at the time, Nigeria Football Association) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) was equally not involved in this natural process of the child development. At best, they may be providing policy and content guidelines that are adopted by the schools. It was a system bequeathed to us by

How I got Nigeria's only medal-Ladipo The President General of the Nigeria Supporters Club, Rafiu Ladipo won a gold medal in a dancing competition at the just concluded London 2012 Olympics. Ladipo's medal came at a time when Lithuanian beat Nigeria 72-53 in the men's basketball Group A game at the Games. This was indeed on a lighter note as the cheer leader spoke with INNOCENT AMMOMOH and STELLA BAMAWO on a world of respite after a woeful performance from Team Nigeria. Excerpts: Paralympic athletes from London, can you make a comparison with the able bodied athletes?

They cannot be compared, they are better. The Paralympic athletes have done the nation proud, they have made everyone happy and with the little money spent on them, they have done so much to win several medals for us. But the Olympians, how many medals did they bring, not even a

single gold, silver or bronze so what are you comparing?

The Paralympic athletes are better.

We noticed that the Paralympic athletes were not celebrated as they should, what do you think is responsible for this?

They will celebrate them, we are going to pick them right from the airport now we have gone to the airport to welcome them with drums

and trumpets, and we are going to celebrate them because they are worthy ambassadors of Nigeria On a lighter note you mentioned at a press parley that you won gold medal for Nigeria, please can you shed more light on that?

You mean you did not watch me, when Nigerian basketball team played against the Lithuanian basketball team in the Olympics, I went with my

•Nigeria vs Lithuanian

crew and the Lithuanians were there, the Master of Ceremony of that event brought out myself and two others from the Nigerian supporters club and three other members from the Lithuanian side to the main arena, of the basketball and we had a dance competition and Nigeria won.

So which of the medals were you given?

Gold of course (laughter) Presently the Super Eagles have not really put smiles on the faces of Nigerians. What is your take on this?

We must qualify we must be able to trounce the Liberian side in Calabar. The players that played in the first leg, p l a y e d b e l o w expectation, He(Coach Keshi) saw it himself, and he knows to, as the chief coach he also said after the match that some of them(players) disappointed them . He should go for players that are ready to do the job for us, those players that are playing in their various clubs, there should be no sacred cow.

But can you name those players that you feel are playing below expectations?

No. look at our midfield, it was porous, our defense was poor, Enyeama was not in the game, we did not deserve the two goals scored against us.

Evolving strategies for enduring sports development the colonialists whose educational model was meant for the development of a properly groomed personality. This is not to say that everyone who passed through the system emerged a proper and fit person participating in games. We ended developing multisports skills that saw us participating in different events during tournaments.

I also don’t remember the involvement of any of the conglomerates like Lever Brothers, Cadbury, Nestle, PZ etc by way of sponsorship. They were the cash cows of the era before the emergence of big banks and telecommunication companies that is now looked at as sponsorship Santa Claus. It couldn’t have been that cash was flowing in excess for government departments despite the talks of oil money, but it must

have stemmed from the fact that we had very prudent administrators in government such that the Divisional Officers (equivalent of Local Government Chairmen) provided the administrative costs required to run such competitions.

Such platforms have died because the civil servants who will draw up a budget for the tournament will pad it to accommodate their lifestyle expenses and to also level up with the neighbor next door in acquisition of cars, land and other luxuries.

The schools’ Games Masters

will pad up the cost of equipment to also give him an edge over his friends in living big and beyond their means. Even the LG Chairman will seek ways of siphoning millions for a school program that will most likely not realistically cost above a few millions.

It is this false living that h a s g r o u n d e d developmental projects in nearly every sphere of the nationhood as government officials design and maintain market costs that are different from the open market we all shop from.

You will be surprised to find

out that the cost of a football boot in government procurement process is five times the normal cost in the everyday market. It explains why we look for sponsors for even the most mundane exercise in the country today. Those they call technocrats today are busy engaging in perpetuating themselves in office, paying lip service to real developmental work and seeking to aggrandize themselves before higher authorities through all manner of bum licking.

In the Nigeria of old, Educational Inspectors collaborate with the Divisional Sports Departments to ensure compliance with set regulations on facilities, equipment and training content. This explains the synergy that resulted in the

Principal’s Cup, a competition for schools organized by local sports authorities. Our officials at the NSC ought to seek ways to re-invent the Principal’s C u p w i t h s o m e modifications to suit the present age of private schools’ ownership, but they are more concerned with creating their own competition structures, one of which was recently dissolved by the Minister.

Nigeria has suffered serious developmental draw-back in economy and politics through over centralization and it appears our officials at the NSC and their advisers don’t get this point. A national academic competition without local structures will be another super-imposed structure on weak legs.

Until officials take their mind away from who controls the budget, we will continue to lack a genuine approach to sports development because when you encounter those Sports Association Secretaries, all they are eager to discuss is budget, budget and more budgets. No technical blueprint and no policy direction to share with the states.

They and the Chairmen are always engaged in a roulette of how to outwit the other in grabbing and for the some who still retains some level of sanity, they find a way around sharing without rancor.

When we lament poor outcomes at international sports events, we tend to short-circuit the solution because the performances of our contingents are directly proportionate to the training they have received.

Preparation is different from training because training lasts a life time while preparation is targeted at short term goals.

In other words, we are no longer training our youths for a life time career in sports but preparing them for competition glory. This is where we get it absolutely wrong.

Part of the solution to the debacle is for the Sports Minister to embark on a national sports rebirth that will involve all relevant Local and State Sports Councils. The Ministry of Education and the Youth and Social Development Ministries are stakeholders that must be engaged in the process. We can continue to shout to high heavens about the dearth of sponsorship and corporate investment in sports without dividends if the right structures are not in place. Those who are promising gold medals in Brazil are merely beating about the bush as that can never sign-post the recovery of our damaged sports industry. The Sports Minister can take the bold step of announcing a moratorium of sorts for medals at the next two Olympics and lay out a development road map that will chart the route to outstanding performance in 2024. Government must also be ready to invest in facilities and human capital for these to manifest.

Zanetti: Inter will

back against

Torino

THE NATION SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

W

HAT a surprise we all had on Wednesday, 5th September, when Mr. President himself, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) stormed the practice pitch of the National Stadium Complex, Abuja to watch the training session of the Super Eagles!

I have been a football administrator for several decades and I cannot readily remember a situation where a sitting President of the nation attended the training session (not international match) of the Super Eagles, or any of the National Teams for that matter. The last I heard of such was when then military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon attended the training of then Green Eagles before the 2nd All-Africa Games that Nigeria hosted and won the football gold medal in 1973.

There has never been any doubt that Mr. President, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) is a lover of Nigeria football, nay sports. I remember very well how Mr. President had come to the aid of the National Teams to inspire, motivate and delight with kind words and gestures.

Even before becoming the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would come to the National Stadium Complex to watch important matches of the Super Eagles, as Vice President. When we hosted the Presidential Inauguration match between Super Eagles and the Mena of Niger in May 2007, to commemorate the coming of the Musa Yar’Adua/Jonathan presidency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was there.

When we hosted the Draw Ceremony of the FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja to commence the serious business of hosting that competition, Dr. Jonathan, as Vice President, was there.

When the Super Eagles qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals, President Goodluck Jonathan was at the Send Forth Dinner held for the team at the NICON Hilton Hotel, Abuja, and spoke glowingly of the team and the technical crew, urging them to

Thank You, Mr. President go to South Africa to do the country proud.

In South Africa, President Jonathan was at the Super Eagles’ hotel to inspire the players, on the eve of their first match of the FIFA World Cup against Argentina. It was a busy, gruelling Opening Ceremony day in which he had to, alongside a number of other Heads of State, watch so many events including the opening match between South Africa and Mexico, yet a fatigued but willing President Jonathan turned up at the Protea Hotel Wanderers of the Super Eagles in Sandton, outside Johannesburg, to urge the team to ‘fire’ against Argentina.

It was a momentous night.

In company of the Senate President, Distinguished Senator David Mark and a number of governors,

G

OALKEEPER Vincent Enyeama is one of the players who gets invited to the national team on past glory.

And he gets the number one jersey in the Super Eagles not on current form but on the strength of his performance at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. No wonder the Israelbased player has continued to embarrass the country in international matches, letting in cheap goals to deny the national team victory.

Eagles were cruising to a win in Blantyre early in the year and towards the end of the game, Enyeama committed a blunder that gifted Malawi a late equaliser.

The incident passed without much criticism and the goaltender continued to earn the confidence of the national team

•Keshi

ministers, senators and captains of industry, President Jonathan spoke kind words of motivation and then pledged, on behalf of Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr, the sum of $1 Million for the team if it defeated Argentina.

The Super Eagles did not beat Argentina, but every Nigerian has excellent memories of that match. Our boys gave their all, and stood up to the Argentines despite going down after only six minutes. They tried to punch above their weight and had some moments gone their way, Argentina would have fallen by the way side. I also remember how, as a listening President and a father, how President Jonathan magnanimously restored our country back to international football after that World Cup,

after listening to the cries of the youth and those who cared about the Nigeria game.

I have enumerated the above in order that Nigerians will properly situate the visit of Mr. President to the training session of the Super Eagles on Wednesday, 5th September, as well as His Excellency’s magnificent gesture to host the U-20 Women National Team, Falconets, alongside the victorious Paralympians at the State House, today.

Ordinarily, lesser thinkers would have suggested that there was nothing to celebrate in the outing of the Falconets. The Class of 2010 won the silver medal, after losing the final match to a superior German team that was hosting. The NFF had prepared the new Falconets to go to Japan and lift the trophy. But that was not to be.

Perhaps, Mr. President read

the encouraging words of Mr. Blatter (President of FIFA), who said the Falconets performed well and should be kept together to form the next set of Super Falcons.

There are Nigerians who condemned the team, but we are glad that Mr. President realized the efforts that the girls put into the competition and decided to host them to a presidential reception.

Now, to the Super Eagles.

When Mr. President came to the training session of the Super Eagles, he came with full compliments. Hardly do you see the President and Vice President at the same occasion outside the State House. But Mr. President came with Mr. Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo (GCON), who is also a football lover and was at the National Stadium when the Super Eagles famously defeated Argentina in a friendly match in June 2011.

There were also the H o n o u r a b l e Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi (an energetic, brilliant gentleman), the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed and the Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State (Chairman of the Governors’ Forum) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Super Eagles’ 2010 World Cup

Keshi should go scientific selectors.

It was plain that Enyeama was not in form having sat on the bench for his French club, Lille through out the season, but the national team handler who had earlier said that bench warmers would not have a place in the national team, kept him as number one. Stephen Keshi was not moved that there were other goalkeepers that see action with their clubs week in, week out. He continued to give the number one shirt to the former Enyimba player who had no business in the national team because of his situation.

If he keeps inviting Enyeama and handing the number one shirt over to him based on past glory, I hope it won't cost us the 2013 African Cup of Nations and World Cup tickets.

Enyeama who has just returned to Israel on loan has not justified why he should remain the number one goalie and should be told so, while a new keeper is given a chance to man the sticks. If Keshi continues to stick to Enyeama, the kind of blunder that cost Eagles victory in Monrovia last Saturday will not be far away from the national team and such howlers will not cease at crucial moments. It is apparent that Enyeama is off form because of lack of match fitness and should be allowed to remain on the sideline until he gets back his sharpness. It is different if Nigeria do not have other goalkeepers who can be trusted between the sticks. The national team places should be made more competitive and it should start with the goalkeeping area.

Other goal-tenders should be given the opportunity to play for the country and the coaches should not be fixated on a particular individual who has failed us on several occasions.

We should give other goalkeepers the opportunity to grow in confidence. Austin

Ejide is in Israel. He plays regularly for his club and he is number one in the team. He has been waiting for an opportunity to prove his mettle in the national team. On few occasions he manned the post, he proved he is capable. He can be trusted between the sticks and would not be opened to silly mistakes because he is match fit. He should be given the opportunity to play for Eagles, beginning with the last qualifier in Calabar next month. Enyeama has been between the post for Nigeria for about ten years. Complacency has crept in. He believes he is the only one and can just stroll in to get a shirt any time. It should not be so. The goalkeeping area is sensitive that an over confident player is a liability. Enyeama is gradually becoming a liability in the national team and he should be taken care of before he costs us dearly. He has reached his peak with the 2010 World Cup and has been declining with every passing year.

I expected a win in Monrovia last weekend and even wrote that the Super Eagles would win. How would they win when team selection is not top notch?

Why play Emmanuel Emenike who has scored just one goal season in Russia when Brown Ideye is in the team? Ideye who has scored six times this season in Ukraine should have been the one leading the attack on common sense and on current form not Emenike. Keshi ought to know that the Ukraine-based player is better and more likely to score in a match of that magnitude. Emenike has been

going through a bad patch since his move to Russia. He is yet to recover from the match-fixing allegation which dogged his brilliant season in Turkey and has left his scoring boots in Fenebahce. Though we scored two goals in the match in Monrovia, one of them is a penalty from Uche Ikechukwu.

Without that the forwards would have recorded no goal. Ideye sat on the bench and watched helplessly as the Eagles strikers failed to convert chances that came their way and the national team will continue to be the worse for it if Keshi's bad selection continues.

I did not watch the match because the television stations and the cable networks conspired to deny Nigerians the opportunity of watching their national team. From what I read, the Keshi-led team surrendered the initiative to the Lone Stars in the second half. The midfield was said to have collapsed.

Eagles played two men in the middle with the Liberians fielding four. Keshi played 4-2-4 while the Lone Stars adopted the 4-4-2 formation. Though formations do not play football, Eagles were outnumbered in the middle and no wonder the home team made them look ordinary.

With two midfielders and the wingers not returning to the middle, the defence will be under undue pressure. This is why the Joseph Yobo-led defence had a bad day and conceded two goals. There were no enough midfielders to shield them from the rampaging Liberians.

Qualification, was also there.

It is somewhat disappointing that despite Mr. President and other distinguished dignitaries’ presence at training session and their very kind words, the Super Eagles failed to win in Monrovia. I am not really keen to delve into what transpired in Monrovia or to apportion blames for the draw. Certainly, a win would have been much better than the draw. And at a time, I thought we had the match in hand to win.

The match ended in 2-2 draw and that has gone. The only thing we can do now is to plan, work hard and ensure that we take no prisoners in the return leg in Calabar on 13th October.

Everything that the team needs to excel and take Nigeria back to the African Cup of Nations will be provided and I have the word of Coach Stephen Keshi that his wards will not disappoint. Permit me to also congratulate the Golden Eaglets for a marvelous outing against their Nigerien counterparts in Niamey on Saturday, during which they pounded their hosts 4-1 to underscore their seriousness to take Nigeria back to the African U-17 Championship. Having missed the competition twice in a row, our country MUST qualify for the finals in Morocco next year, and I am happy the Eaglets and their crew, headed by Manu Garba (MFR) understands this.

Keshi does not have the players who can play his formation in the current squad. Victor Moses is an offensive-minded player and does not have the stamina to combine the roles of a winger and midfielder. Nzoenyi is also attack-minded and does not have the experience to launch attacks and return to the midfield quick enough to cover the defence when the ball is lost. To play the role requires players with strength and stamina who can run for 90 minutes and not get tired.

Keshi does not have the caliber of players in his fold currently and needs to change the formation to fit the players he has in the national team. He has to play to strength for victory to come or search for players who can fit his philosophy of the game.

He has to adopt the 4-4-2 formation for away games and more attacking 4-3-3 for home games. These formations are modern and they are the formations that coaches often use in the big leagues in Europe and South America. These are formations the players that he invited from abroad understand and can be easily adapted to whenever they come to the national camp.

They are professionals alright and should be able to adapt to any formation, but the Keshi's formation does not advance the modern realities. It is in the past and should give way to modern ones.

The players will not play well if he sticks to the formation and will continue to blame them for not living up to expectation. What happened in Monrovia will continue to rear its ugly head in the midfield. Coaches who can read the game very well will tear Eagles apart from the middle. The midfield is the engine room and Eagles need more men in the middle to compete favourably in future games.

38

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

HO LLYWOOD

Crane over

GHOLLY W OOD

Chris Brown’s tattoo has Rihanna’s looks

C

HRIS Brown's latest tattoo, the face of a woman sketched on his neck, has been generating comparisons to Rihanna. The woman in the artwork resembles Brown's exgirlfriend's oval-shaped face, soft cheekbones, and seductive eyes. But according to TMZ, Brown denies any connection between the "Where Have You Been" singer and his new body art.

"His tattoo is a sugar skull (associated with the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead) and a MAC cosmetics design he saw," Brown's rep said. "It is not Rihanna or an abused woman as erroneously reported."

Brown and Rihanna have mended their differences since Brown plead guilty to assaulting her in 2009. In February, they teamed up for two song remixes, Rihanna's Birthday Cake and Brown's Turn Up The Music.

Rihanna described Brown as the love of her life during an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired on OWN in August. Rihanna and Brown also shared a friendly kiss at the MTV Video Music Awards last week.

Van Vicker, Nadia Buari for BON Award

T

HE organisers of the Best of Nollywood (BON) Awards have released nominees' list for this year's edition and two Ghanaians, Van Vicker and Nadia Buari, are in it. Van Vicker with his role in The Search will be contesting for the Best Actor (English) In A Leading Role, amongst Wale Ojo (Phone Swap), Joseph Benjamin (Married But Living Single) and

Efya nominated for Afro Entertainment Award

•Chris Brown with the tatto

Clooney still kicking with Stacy Keibler

M

ULTIPLE award winning singer, Efya has been nominated in the Best

Tom Hanks eulogises Michael Duncan

•Efya

A

CTOR Tom Hanks gave a quirky eulogy at the private memorial held for fellow actor and Green Mile co-star Michael Clarke Duncan, who passed away in early September due to complications following a heart attack.

Hanks proceeded to tell a variety of colorful stories regarding the actor, joking about Duncan's "loopy and huge handwriting."

"It looks like a 12-year-old girl who loves horses wrote it," Hanks joked. The 56-year-old actor also related one story of Duncan's close call with joining a gang while growing up on the South Side of Chicago, and his strong relationship with his mother.

Hanks mimicked Duncan's deep voice, telling a laughing audience that when Duncan came home to tell his mother he was going to join a gang, she hit him in the head with a frying pan.

"If it wasn't for that mama and the frying pan with a pork chop, we would not be here today celebrating the life of Michael Clarke Duncan," Hanks rambled to the crowd.

Stacy

Nicole Richie promotes her fashion line

S

HE was in New York to promote her fashion line - so it made sense that Nicole Richie wanted to highlight as much of it as possible. And the hardworking mother-of-two managed to wear four different outfits as she made her way around the city.

The fashion designer was first seen sporting a Geisha inspired look as she left the Good Morning America

studios in New York. The 30-year-old wore a shimmering blue kimono style dress with black rose detailing which caught the light as she stepped out in the sunshine. Nicole teamed the low cut dress with a tight bun atop her head of honey coloured hair. She also lengthened her bare legs with the help of a pair of two tone pumps.

“Being in fashion is

something that I have been dreaming about my whole life.

I started out with jewellery because it was a smaller project and it's closest to my heart. And I knew that once I got into ready-to-wear that it would take up my entire life.

Once I decided that it was time, I went full force into it and I'm just slowly expanding and enjoying every minute,” the star said.

Nwachuckwu Uti (In The Cupboard).

In the category for Best Actress in a Supporting Role is Nadia Buari with her role in Holding Hope.

She is contending with Nse Etim (The Search), Tonto Dikeh (Broken Silence) and Mary Uranta (Misress).

The awards ceremonyis billed to hold at a date in the last quarter of 2012, with Nonso Diobi and Mercy Aigbe as hosts.

•Efya

Yvonne Okoro, Majid Michel win in New York

G

•Nicole Richie

Female Artist category at the upcoming Afro Entertainment Awards in Chicago. The 2011 Ghana Music Award Best Female Vocalist has over the past three years released about six singles which have been well received by the public.

The young songstress recently took to her twitter page to announce her Afro Entertainment nod: “ohh yes, so I got nominated for 2nd Annual Afro Entertainment Awards woooop. Thanks guys.

You know we gon win!” she tweeted.

HANAIAN actors Majid Michel and Yvonne Okoro were among winners at 7th Nigerian Entertainment Awards held in New York recently. Majid Michel picked the 'Pan African Actor' with the movie Somewhere in Africa, beating his compatriots Van Vicker (Paparazzi), Chris Attoh (Six Hours to Christmas) and John

Dumelo (Ties That Bind).

Also in the category were Kevin Ndege Mamboleo (Inside Story) and Edward Kagutuzi (The Mirror Boy).

In the 'Pan African Actress' category, Actress Yvonne Okoro took home the award, beating Ama K. Abebrese (Ties that Bind), and Juliet Ibrahim (Crazy Scandal) with her movie, Single Six. Both winners were unable to attend the awards.

39

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

He won’t help with my education except I get pregnant Dear ma I met a guy 4 years ago when I entered school. We promised to marry each other but in the long run I was withdrawn from school but I didn’t disclose it to my guardians and my mum, but i explained everything to this guy. He promised to sponsor me only if I can do wedding introduction with him and I did it. Since then we both live in the same house but instead of taking my education up all he wants now is pregnancy. He said that is the only way that will make him sure I will marry him. Come to think of it, my mum and my guardian already know what is going on and this has caused enmity between my mum and her people, still, my guy wants me to get pregnant at all cost. So please ma advise me on what to do now because I know that without education life worthless – I.K. Dear I.K, you have wasted a few years chasing shadows, but it is never too late to pick up your life from where you left it and start moving forward again. Your guy might have sincere intentions to marry you; nevertheless, they are very selfish intentions. I may like somebody so much that I would keep that person close to me, but if that person’s future is not paramount in my heart, then I am selfish. This guy wants you to have his children while he is pursuing his own life uninterrupted. What happens to you in the period between now and when he leaves school and he has to do his youth service, look for a job and settle down? You would have had a baby or two and with kids come serious responsibility and care. Already, he has

failed the very first promise that he would help with your education once your families are traditionally introduced to each other. Instead of you getting closer to your dream of going back to school, you are moving closer to having babies you are probably not prepared for all thanks to him.

Once you get pregnant, be sure that he would coax you into taking care of your body and the coming baby first before thinking of school. After that, you have to look after the baby and you may get pregnant with the second baby before you know what’s up and the cycle continues. Before you realize it, making it back to school may be impossible. I have aunties who ended up this way and some are grandmothers now without being able to make I back to school. Thank God they are successful businesswomen, though.

Since you didn’t complain that the guy is not treating you well and you are married to him under the Common Law, you don’t have to leave him, just put your destiny into your own hands.

I wouldn’t know why you were kicked out of school in the first place, but I know that you can remedy it. If it means retaking your papers and reapplying for admission, please do so. There’s also the Open University, which makes it easier for you to start afresh. Sit tight, plan right and be prayerful and you will make it with or without him. My best wishes.

I break up with girls after 2 years, yet I need a girlfriend now Good afternoon ma, please help me. My relationships always last for 2 years after which I break up with girls. I have no girlfriend now because I don’t want to hurt any girl and yet I need a girlfriend. I have so many females friends that I love but I can’t date because at the end I will break their hearts.

What can I do? – Sheriff.

Dear Sheriff, I honestly pray that many young girls will read your piece and agree with me on the things I tell them on this page about not going into a relationship until they are ripe. Just like you, many young guys out there only go into the so-called relationships for the fun of it while the girls are dreaming about the future. How many of your type will a good girl meet before she realizes her heart has been broken and scared too many times that she ends up becoming hardened and a player?

That you break hearts is not good enough, though, most young guys (and even some babas) take pleasure in going after girls just to have a taste. The Law of Karma awaits you whether you are doing it for the fun of it or not. The seeds you

have sown, whether good or bad would be reaped by you at the right time. Sheriff, you have said it yourself that you do not want to hurt any girl, so, don’t hurt them. Make platonic friends until

I want to be a footballer but mum says I must finish secondary first Aunty Adeola, please I need your help. I want to be a footballer but my mother is kicking against my decision that I must finish my secondary first.

Mum is right because the competition can be fierce in the world of soccer, so even if you get a team to play for, be sure you have a back-up plan while playing. Injuries occur, anything can happen and it is important that you continue to take your education seriously.

Getting a contract with a professional soccer team isn’t easy and it certainly won’t come without a whole lot of hard work and perseverance. Many

FROM THE COURTS Court detains couple over missing kids The inability of a Lagos couple to produce two children kept in their custody has landed them in trouble.

In a suit filed by one Mr. Salimon Ogunyemi at the Agege Grade ‘A’ customary court against Pastor Isaac Komolafe and his wife, Olasunkanmi , he alleged that he kept his two children, Boluwatife and Abayomi in the custody of the couple when leaving for overseas in search of the proverbial golden fleece in September 2010.

The father of the missing kids, who is a friend to the couple, alleged that

you’re truly ready for a relationship and when you’re ready, go for the one you love and who loves you. That way, you wouldn’t want to leave her for life and so, you will end the breaking of hearts episode in your life.

Stories Toyin AGBEBI

he returned to Nigeria recently only to learn that the couple had released his children to a man who claimed to be his cousin while effort to locate his children has proved abortive.

The couple could not however provide the identity or contact of the man who allegedly took the kids away from them when asked by the President of the court, Mr.Emmanuel Shokunle, hence, the judge ordered that the couple be remanded in Kirikiri Maximum Prison until the man then is found.

look for a shortcut in getting signed by a professional club, but rarely do shortcuts lead to anything. So remember to work hard, stay fit and most of all face your education.

Matchmaking Females for love •Mosun, 27, single mother of one needs a matured man btw 30 to 35 who must be fluent in English and a working class for a relationship that will lead to marriage soon.

Call: 08080966473.

•Lucy, A working class lady Christian is 32 years and is HIV Positive. She needs a Christian man, not divorcee who is also HIV for marriage.

08063401617.

Males for love •Lawal 61, Muslim resides in Lagos, self-employed needs a devoted Muslim lady for a serious relationship. She must be from Lagos or Ogun and aged betwn 48 and 50.

•Dele, 45, civil-servant based in Lagos needs a Godfearing lady between 28 and 44 for a serious relationship.

08122456866.

•A PG (M.sc) student in UNN would like to meet a God-fearing, intelligent nurse with the Nigerian Nursing Council certificate who is thin, tall and beautiful from a royal family. If possible a member of any of Deeper Life, AGC, Redemed, Mountain of Fire, Chosen or Scripture Union for marriage aged btw 25 and 26yrs. 08102590390.

•Julius, 40, single father of one, an engineer, from Ekiti needs a 33 to 38 widow, single mother from any Yoruba state for a serious relationship.

07026208794, 07060917544.

•TJ, 36, about 6ft tall, handsome, chocolate in complexion, a business man needs a single lady or single mother btw 30 and 40 whose yes is yes and no is no and businessminded or a working class for a serious relationship that will lead to marriage.

08179635812.

•Ade, 28, responsible, decent needs a responsible and decent Yoruba lady aged btw 20 and 28 for a serious relationship. 07068900001.

I’m dating a guy whom I once loved but now I’m falling in love with another guy Dear Aunty. I’m Eve, 18 years old and I’m dating a guy whom I once loved but now I’m falling in love with another guy. Please help me as I don’t know what to do.

I can bet that you do not love both guys, you’re simply infatuated. Infatuation means that you have an extreme fondness or liking of somebody and you also may have an admiration to this person as well which may change with span of time. We all spend so much time trying to get love or be loved

I’m 15 and I’m seriously hungry for sex Sorry mam for texting you like this, but I’m 15 and I’m seriously hungry for sex but I don’t have strong ejaculation and I grow weak whenever I release sperm. What do I do?

– Victor.

Victor, honestly at 15, you shouldn’t be talking about sex. It will add no value to your life and will only make you lose focus. For youths like you, I’m working on a project to take your minds away from sex. No Victor, this is not the time for you to start thinking about sex.

unfortunately, that’s not usually how life works. Loving yourself is mainly having selfrespect which is the only dependable way to create love in your own life to share with others. When you expect love from an external source, and someone or something does not fulfill your void and fantasies, then you will feel worse than before. To be able to be loved, you must love and respect yourself as much as you do others. Before you begin to experiment with love, love yourself first, Eve.

Hearts With Adeola Agoro E-mail: libranadeola@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 08023162609

I love her but she is HIV positive, should I still marry her?

Mentor, I love her but she is HIV positive. Should i still marry her? Please advise. Thanks.

I got for you the opinions of some people but you have to seek the professional advice of medical personnel before you go ahead having sex with this person.

Jax: Of course you can. It will mean more discipline and care in your sex life and domestic life, for both. Today’s medicine is effective, and increasingly affordable, but like other chronic

What do I do; my in-law has paid my wife’s Hajj fare!

Anti, my in-law has paid my wife’s Hajj fare! What do I do? - ‘Razak.

Dear Razak… let me call you Alhaji Razak to make you feel better. What you should do is to thank your in-law for not giving you problems by asking you to pay when they know you may not have the amount it takes to go for Hajj. They have kindly helped you by paying for their daughter, after all, whether she is married to you or not, she is still their daughter and they may

I am Gabriel Fasae a friend to Mr. Bayo Oduyemi a Lagelu old boy and my classmate at Survey School

have a tradition in their family to go to Hajj at a particular age if they have the money. Have you visited the Holy Land yourself?

If not, your time will come. It might be destined that your wife will go before you, so, don’t be alarmed. I first went to Israel and later Saudi Arabia for pilgrimages but my husband has not and it is not a matter for argument. God plans the journeys we all would take in life. Be thankful to your in-law and be at peace with Hajia-tobe.

From you to me •Madam Hearts, I hail o.

Ran into ur story on d 23yr old who wants 2 join d Army. D Brig Gen, whoever he is, wasn’t fair 2 dis young man or d Army. Think d upper age limit is 22yrs. If not, he doesn’t need a gen 4rm his village 2 help him! D boy must not be discouraged.

God owns d Army too!

Haba!! Rtd Col 08034447778 •Ma thanks a lot for publishing my number. I also want to thank those who took their time to call me and also those who sent me advice text I really appreciate.

But there is something else ma I want you to warn those who go around collecting people’s number, numerous of people have called me today and I really appreciate

Lost Contacts Mr. Bayo Oduyemi, Miss Funmilayo Onasanya and Blessing Reje where are you? pls link me up with former Miss Funmilayo Onasanya, a native of Ikorodu who worked with the defunct National Bank Of Nigeria around 1990. She was then living at Federal Low-Cost Housing Estate, Akinyele B/Stop, Ipaja. I am Mrs Anike Adedotun of No 6 Adisa Lane, Sango with tel no: 08022590052. I would appreciate if u publish my request.

diseases you need to maintain the regimen. The disease will be a third party in the marriage that other things will have to be organized around. Currently you can’t get children without risk to the partners or the child.

Muse: Yes you can marry a person with HIV if you love them. It’s not very sensible to have sex with them without protecting yourself a little more.

I think I’d rather be in a relationship with a woman who has HIV and lets me know; at least I know what I’m up against.

Oyo in 1968. He joined the defunct National Bank Plc. in l97O. Help to locate him. My GSM lines: 08037045047, 08053354374 Blessing Reje from Ikom, Cross River state she is the mother of my first son in life.

He’s by name Naandi Tony Danladi. We were both living in NPA Qrs at Parliamentary Village in Calabar before she moves to Lagos. I went in search of her but she had moved to another place. In case anybody knows her and were she lives , please call me on: 08165364166. I want to get in touch with her and my son Naandi whom I so much love - Tony Danladi.

those who advise me but some just flash when I call them they will begin to say all sorts of rubbish like they want to make friends with me instead.

P.S: Don’t mind those whose intentions are bad.

Out of every bad persons, one will be good.

•Dear Hearts, thanks. You enlisted me in your life- enriching column last week.

You’re working! Please why do I tend to feel so much love and too little hate for everyone when I’m not a saint? – Williams, Uyo. P.S: if you’re good, you’re good, you don’t need to be a saint to be good. Continue to love people and be positive about life.

•Adeola whao! You are doing such a great job ma; God will indeed remember you deeply. You are the best.

Keep up the good works.

Please link me with an-halfcast or black American female. I really need to get married ma. I am 29 am selfemployed doing pretty good. -08033155803.

P.S: I doubt if you will get your desire easily in Nigeria. Wait until we start our host matchmaking site soon, I’m sure you will get what you desire then.

Just Friends My name is TerryGift, I’m a keyboardist, I do rap; I need musical friends, male and female. (08098836350 08085005263).

40

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

A

S she leaned towards me, I moved a little and the intended kiss landed on my cheek. She looked at me in surprise.

“What’s the matter? Don’t you find me attractive?” she said uncertainly.

“It’s not that. I think you are a very pretty lady. But I believe we are moving too fast.”

“Too fast?” she repeated. “It’s just a kiss! I’m not asking you to sleep with me!”

“I know. But let’s take things slower a little, get to know each other better...” I explained.

“What’s there to know? You already know a lot about me.

And as for you, at least I’m aware of where you work. And as your landlady, I know where you live.”

Then she took my hand, kissed it before saying: “Look, Dave, I like you. Very much. And I feel a connection with you that I haven’t felt with any man for a long time. You might think someone in my position can get any guy I want.

But the thing is, it’s even more difficult for me to get a decent guy, one I can trust than the average lady who doesn’t come from my kind of background.

“Besides, I had made it clear to my family that I will choose my own husband and not be in an arranged marriage like some of my friends. Many of such unions end up crashing. I don’t want that. So many men want to go out with me but I know most of them are just after what they can get from me.

Like my last boyfriend. I trusted him and he ended up duping me, making away with millions of my money.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I told her.

“It’s ok. It’s all in the past now. I’m sure you are not like that sneaky bastard. I feel I can trust you because I was the one who came after you and not the other way round. It shows you are not interested in my money.”

We sat in the car, chatting for a while. Later, we fixed another date.

“Can’t wait to see you again,” she said softly, taking my face in her hands and kissing me passionately...

I saw a lot of Meera in the intervening months. She became a frequent visitor to my home and she and Nick got along well. There was only one problem. My girlfriend Elfreda. She lived at the other end of town and she often visited me especially at weekends.

There was even a day she came and met Meera and I had to introduce her as my landlady.

After Meera had gone, she began to ask me all kinds of questions.

“Are you sure there’s nothing going on between you two? She was acting too familiar with you!”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” I asked her, turning away from the TV to glare at her.

“Don’t blame me. I’ve been hearing all kinds of rumours concerning both of you. That she comes here a lot and you go out with her and you come back late and ...”

“Can you just hear yourself?

So, you don’t have any work to do anymore but go about listening to petty gossip from people who don’t have anything better to do with their time! She’s just my landlady and nothing more. I have nothing to do with her!” I stated vehemently.

Maybe she believed me for she did not pursue the matter any longer. I might have convinced Elfreda but I couldn’t fool myself that I had nothing

serious with Meera. For by this time, we had started dating fully. She had even taken me to her family home and introduced me to her mother and elder brother, Tony.

They had welcomed me warmly enough but I could feel their assessing eyes on me, perhaps wondering what I was doing with their Meera.

She had another sister who lived in the UK. Later, Meera had told me that her brother liked me and was keen on meeting up with me again.

“What about your Mum?” I asked her.

She sighed then stated: “I can’t really say what her feelings are. You see, she has become very suspicious of any guy she sees me with after what my last boyfriend did. Anyway, it’s my brother’s opinion that really matters as he is the head of the family now. Once he gives the go-ahead, we can start planning our future together!”

That was the stage I had reached with Meera so I was not being truthful when I told Elfreda that I had nothing to do with her. But how could I tell my girlfriend that I was dating my landlady and she was already thinking of marriage? She would be devastated and I wanted to spare her that agony. You see, I loved Elfreda very much. We had been together for some years and until Meera came into my life, she was the woman I was intending to settle down with. But meeting Meera had changed all that.

It was not as if I was in love with her. No. My heart was with Elfreda. But being an ambitious young man who wanted to get ahead in the world, I knew Meera was a golden opportunity that I would be foolish to let slip through my fingers. Getting hooked to her would change my life for the better and who didn’t want a better life in this hard world? It wasn’t as if I came from a poor background, though.

My father was, until his retirement, a civil servant who had risen to a reasonable level in the service. My mother worked as a hospital administrator for many years. So, though we weren’t rich, my parents ensured we didn’t lack and gave all their five children good education.

“I don’t have much property for you, my children to inherit. All I can give you is a sound education. With that, you can face the world with courage and you will know your rights,” my father used

The millionaire’s daughter (2) to tell my siblings and I. But with Meera in my life, I knew there was no limit to what I could achieve. When I had discussed the matter with Nick, my cousin, he had advised caution.

“You know, money isn’t everything. It’s Elfreda you say you love and makes you happy. Why don’t you stick with her? You might marry into money, have all the luxuries of this world at your beck and call and still be miserable.

Think deeply before you choose as your future happiness is at stake here.”

I knew that. I also realised I had reached a crossroads of sorts and soon I would be forced to make a choice. To choose between Meera and Elfreda...

The chosen one Things came to a head sooner than I had expected. I had been seeing Meera for about a year when she announced one day that she might be pregnant.

“I’m usually very regular.

Once my period is late like this, it often means one thing,” she had said.

I looked at her, confused.

“I thought you were using protection. How could this have happened?” I queried.

She shrugged.

“I don’t know. I could be wrong, anyway. I will go to the hospital tomorrow to do a test, just to be sure...”

She did the test and sure enough, it came out positive.

She seemed unflustered by it all while I became even more confused.

What were we going to do especially since she had stated that she was going to keep the baby?

“Maybe, this is a sign that it’s time to take our relationship to another level. You know, get married...”

I knew she was right but I was still unprepared for a final decision about our future.

Because that would mean breaking up with Elfreda and I couldn’t imagine my life without her. She had been a part of me for so long that the thought of severing all connection with her, was painful to contemplate.

I stood up and went outside to the balcony of Meera’s apartment. She lived in a beautiful high-rise building, a luxury block of flats in a very exclusive part of town. She was on the fifth floor and I stood gazing down at the swimming pool for the residents in the courtyard below.

Everything looked beautiful and serene. And it smelt of wealth.

“I had to move out of our family home as I couldn’t stand that bitch that calls herself my brother’s wife. At least here, I have my personal space.

And peace,” Meera had explained the first time she had taken me there.

Spread out as far as the eye could see were other high rises and mansions- in between lush greenery- belonging to the extremely rich in the society.

‘This is the life of opulence you will be living if you marry Meera,’ a voice seemed to say to me.

I stood gazing into the horizon for a while then I went inside to join Meera. I spent the night in Meera’s place and the following day, a Sunday, I formally proposed to her. She became very excited and im-

‘

But being an ambitious young man who wanted to get ahead in the world, I knew Meera was a golden opportunity that I would be foolish to let slip through my fingers. Getting hooked to her would change my life for the better and who didn’t want a better life in this hard world?

’

mediately began plans for the wedding.

She called some of her friends to break the news and later in the day, a couple of them showed up at the apartment.

Tracy was the first to come.

“I hope you’ve not given the chief bridesmaid’s position out because that’s mine!” she declared as she hugged and congratulated us.

“I was thinking of giving that role to Claire. She will...”

“What!” Tracy cut in. “No way! She’s way too fat. You will spend too much on fabric just to get an outfit that will fit her. If you make her your chief bridesmaid, I will never speak to you again,” she said in a petulant voice.

Meera laughed.

“You are so silly! I was just pulling your legs. Of course, you will be my CB...” she stated, laughing gaily at her friend. Later, Meera went downstairs to get something from the car and I made my way to the kitchen to get some drinks from the fridge.

“I don’t understand you.

Why do you want to tie yourself to one lady when there are so many out there to sample?”

I turned round to see Tracy standing by the door, her hands on her hips. She walked towards me saying: “Like me for instance. Am I not beautiful enough? I’m even prettier than Meera. Just take a good look at all this,” she said and she swivelled round and struck a seductive pose like a model on the runway.

“You know I like you. You and I could have a lot of fun together. And I know how to please a man. I will make you happy, much happier than Meera,” she said, coming to embrace me.

But I evaded her grasping arms and said sternly: “Tracy, this is wrong. I’m engaged to your friend and you shouldn’t be saying such things to me.

So, control yourself, ok?” And picking up the bottles of wine, I made for the door. I could hear her say behind me: “You are playing hard to get, isn’t it? I like that. It makes you even more attractive. But you can’t escape me no matter

how hard you try. Tracy always gets what she wants...”

‘Not this time,’ I thought to myself as l walked to the living room.

Having made Meera my choice, I had the unpleasant task of dumping Elfreda. I couldn’t face her so I wrote a letter explaining everything and asking for her forgiveness.

My friend, Dick who delivered the letter, latter told me that she almost fainted after reading it.

“It wasn’t funny at all. I felt really bad for her. Dave, I know it’s your life but was it wise dumping her? That girl loves you so much. I doubt if she can ever get over you or what happened,” he had stated.

“What could I have done?” I countered hotly. “Meera is already pregnant for me. You don’t expect me to abandon her now she needs me most?”

“I’m not saying that. I will advise you to see Elfreda. She needs all the consoling she can get now,” he stated.

I promised him I would visit her but I didn’t. I felt too ashamed to face her. I decided to put the matter behind me and face the future which was Meera. She was very busy with the wedding preparations, as she wanted us to get married before her pregnancy became obvious.

“I don’t want to be like those brides who go from the reception to the maternity ward,” she joked one day while poring over a magazine for brides.

Shortly after, she travelled abroad to get fitted for her gown and shop for other items for the wedding.

My parents came down from our hometown where my father had retired to for the wedding which was a big, society one. Meera literally glowed; she looked so lovely in her gown and veil that for a while I forgot that it should have been Elfreda I was exchanging vows with and not her.

It was a nice start to our lives together and I was grateful to God for everything. We travelled out of the country for our honeymoon which lasted for about three weeks.

When we got back, the plan was for me to resume work at Meera’s family business. But I wasn’t too keen as I had other plans. I had the idea of setting up my own company that will be into computer software development solutions.

Nick had advised me about that before the wedding.

“You need to be independent, have your own business, be your own man. That’s the only way you can get any respect from your in-laws,” he had advised.

But Meera was not initially in support when I told her my plans.

“What do you need your own business for? Our company is large enough to accommodate you. You can even be in charge of one of the subsidiaries if that’s what you want.

I’m sure Tony won’t mind,” she noted.

“I appreciate the offer but I want to do my own thing. It’s always been my dream. And as my wife, it’s your duty to support me,” I pointed out.

She looked at me sharply and said: “What’s that supposed to mean? Have I...”

To be continued Join us next Saturday for the concluding part of Dave’s story!

(Names have been changed to protect the narrator’s identity.)

Send comments/suggestions to 08023201831 or email psaduwa@yahoo.com

&

LIFE

Society Profile

THE NATION, Saturday, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

STYLE Gossip Interviews

d n a y t u a e b h t a Bene y r c o s l a s l e d o m , r glamou SEE PAGES 44 & 45

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44

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Our gains, our pains —Models

•Frank Oshodi

•Naomi Campbell

T

HE world of models is a world of beauty. To be a model, your beauty must be widely recognised and acknowledged. That means with models, beauty is not just in the eyes of the beholder.

Her general outlook must convince all about her exceptional beauty.

Welcome to the world of models; a world of beautiful faces, tender skins, straight legs, fabulous outfits, guided meals, exquisite accommodation, endless catwalks on the most fabulous stages around the world, the klieg lights and the paparazzi.

But beneath the facade of the extremely good life is the burden that comes with being a model; a burden that does not discriminate between male and female models. While the issues may vary from one individual model to another, there is but a thin line between the burdens carried by models of different class and clime.

That much is demonstrated by the words credited to world acclaimed model, Naomi Campbell, who recently lamented that the colour of her skin undermines her earnings. “As a black woman,” she said, “I am still an exception in this (modelling) business. I always have to work harder to be treated equally.

“I may be considered one of the top models in the world, but in no way do I make the same amount of money as any of them...

There is prejudice. It is a problem and I can’t go along anymore with brushing it under the carpet.

“This business is about selling, and blonde and blue-eyed girls are what sell.”

But while the journey up the ladder of modelling may be tasking, pretty young ladies still choose this path. One of such models is Jennifer Chukwurah. According to her, “As a model, I have big dreams. I wish to become an international super model one day.”

It is an ambition shared by her counterpart, Dianabasi Edo, who said “it is the dream of every model to go international.

That is my dream too. That is, to get higher every second. I want to hit every top television station screen and local and international magazine cover.”

Tall as this ambition may seem, young

Paul UKPABIO models like these don’t look back, especially if they have achieved some elements of success like Gladys John, who said “for me, the journey to modelling has been fruitful though also exhausting due to the need to participate in events and interact with people from all walks of life.

“I have worked with different kinds of professionals like fashion designers like Kiki Kamanu, Modella Couture, Feron Designs, Zhalima and so on, and appeared in several top magazines and newspapers”.

Models do not only believe in the fame they gain from their works, they also believe it is a good job which brings in the money as quickly as it can come. But first, models believe in themselves. They believe and accept their beauty and actually get ready to use it confidently.

Seun Ajayi said it all when she thumped her chest and declared: “I think my beauty is a gift from God and I am thankful to Him. Yes, I know I am beautiful, though I don’t believe that anyone is ugly because we are all created in the image and likeness of God. But I also know that being beautiful gives me some kind of power over men, women and my environment. Yes, in a way, it does.”

Still, Seun admits that modelling is a tasking job. She said: “Yes, people accept me when I tell them that I am a model, although a lot of people too find it hard to accept me as a professional model.”

Gladys John gave a better insight when she revealed another perspective of the profession.

She said: “I would say that modelling gives an advantage to my self-esteem. It is also a bonus to me wherever I go. I blend and adapt easily. However, it has never been a profession to me. It is simply an avenue to build my dreams on.

“The profession has its good and bad sides, and as a model, the challenges I face include persistent advances from the opposite sex. I also have to regularly put my diet in check.

•Agbani Darego Then every now and then, I suffer pitiful glances from people, perhaps because of the belief that we models starve or are culture rebels.

“However, like I said, it has been passion-driven for me, and I realise that it is a job that everyone involved in it should approach with wisdom and care. Otherwise, he or she won’t be living an exemplary life.”

Speaking about the pains and gains of being a model in Nigeria, designer Segun Adetunji of House of Style says: “Modelling is a frustrating business in Nigeria. It is a business in which prophets are not honoured in their own town.

Models are not appreciated here, even successful ones like Agbani Darego, who had to go abroad to be noticed. It was only designer Frank Oshodi that noticed and appreciated her here.

She didn’t even have to pay him.

“Here, a model has to struggle to survive and they are paid peanuts. The story can only change

if a model gets a lucky break. I don’t blame anybody who struggles to become a model despite the pains, because we are not all the same. There are people who believe in fame.

So, they go all out to get it. Even I am guilty of this because I was once a model.

“Modelling is a mirage. It is colourful. It offers you the moon, but you must remember that you can never hold the moon in your hands.”

Analysing the lifestyle of models, style writer, Signor Cerruti Osagie, said: “I have the most part of the life of models. I have reported models from Nigeria to South Africa and then Europe. I knew Agbani Darego before she hit fame. There is also Oluchi Onweagba and the likes of Oji who later got married to a millionaire’s son and left the country. I related closely to the organisers of Mnet Face of Africa.”

Osagie added: “I must confess, it is a tough work being a model. But when you get recognised, you make money faster because of your popularity and the new friends you acquire.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

•Gift Osarobo •Dianabasi Edo

‘

Modelling is a frustrating business in Nigeria. It is a business in which prophets are not honoured in their own town.

Models are not appreciated here, even successful ones like Agbani Darego, who had to go abroad to be noticed. It was only designer Frank Oshodi that noticed and appreciated her here. She didn’t even have to pay him

“But just as you make the money, you spend it too. Models spend money on the vanities of life: clothes, accessories, perfumes, shoes and the good life. I know a model who was paid N1.5m and she spent it within four days. The first night, we were at a night club.

We drank heavily. She changed her wardrobe and the money was gone.

“But then, the following week, she cried to one of her admirers who had given her an SUV months earlier, and he gave her another half a million naira, which also kept her going for a few more days.”

“Modeling is a mirage. The glamour life is always ahead of you and as a model, you keep going after it. The higher you go, the more of the glamour you want. It is showbiz, and showbiz is about make-believe. You keep chasing, if you find luck, then you are lucky. And if you don’t, then too bad!”

On the issue of love, relationship and marriage, some models hinted on the mindset of models with regard to these issues. To Jennifer Chukwurah, “marriage is a blessed union between a man and a woman. It is a good thing. But I just hope that I get married when

’

I find my soul mate.”

Asked if she feels scared that modelling may not allow men to desire her for marriage, her reply was simply “I do not think so.”

Miss Edo on her part had this to say: “Marriage is cool. I will model till I leave this earth.

I so much love what I do and no man can stop me in the name of marriage. When the time is right, I will say ‘I do.’

“Scared about a man not marrying me because of my profession? Hell no. I am not! If you can’t marry me because of my career, that’s good for you. Marriage is not a do-or-die affair.”

Faith, an upcoming model, however believes that modelling has made some girls rich but “it’s just that most people feel that models are wayward. That doesn’t bother me because I know I am not wayward.”

Designer Segun Adetunji did not mince words in his blunt reaction. According to him, “models live a one night stand. Most of the men they come across are rich but already married. They have their wives and probably their homes at the water fronts, and only need fanciful young ladies to share lustful passion with. And this

they find easily with models.”

With pockets of bias here and there about the profession, we asked Ubong Ekanem who runs a modelling agency if the Nigerian climate is really ripe for the profession, considering our culture, tradition and prejudice, and he said: “Models are real people. They have body, soul and spirit. They are creative people who do creative things that add value to the society; from product endorsements, TV adverts, print adverts, exhibitions and brand representation to a lot of other marketing communication solutions.

“Models ensure that economics is in the works. The world is now a global village and everyone must represent his or her self under that paradigm. The more we begin to see models as creative people, the better for our immediate society.

“My happiest moment working with models has been, when a total ‘Plain Jane’ graduates into a Cinderella. There is nothing like that moment when a girl you just found on the street is walking the ramp and making photography more picturesque. From being a green horn in the fashion plain, she gets groomed and becomes a supermodel. You see them do their thing and you say to yourself, ‘I made that happen.’ “ Although harsh the path of models may be to the top, Osagie has a piece of advice: “The most successful models in Nigeria are those that were smart, made money and used it to face their education. Modelling is for a while. You may not be able to keep the beauty forever. So, you get the money, get education, do business. That way, your reputation stays on the rise and you can be made a brand ambassador.

“Nike Oshinowo, for instance, is a brand ambassador. She was able to succeed in making a name and she invested in her image and education and then business. So, it is either you go to school or you enter into hard core business or you drift into prostitution.

“Modelling business is that of razzmatazz.

There is only one hope, and that is to go to school.

Some of them work while going to school, but after they’ve laboured to become recognised models, they suddenly finish school and let the

ambition die maybe because of the pursuit of other factors, such as emotional needs.

“Only a few models who are real professionals get married. The profession caters little for models who are married, though it is not like married ones don’t or can’t survive. It depends on the model. She has to put in more effort and work every day on her beauty and physique. Models don’t get married because most of the time, it is all about business. There is little space for true love, which is ever demanding.

“Models get to meet so many millionaires who are already married but need them to be mistresses with all the promises and benefits that money can command. Most often, in such situations, real love is on the back burner. It’s about need, desire and survival.

Though I know of top models abroad who are married to movie stars or footballers and still keep a successful marriage.

“Most models, however, have to choose between two options, that is the ‘FF option,’ which is to choose between fame or family.

And in the showbiz world which modelling belongs, fame is usually more interestingly opted for than marriage.

“In showbiz, it is either you show up yourself or you show off. One usually has to choose between the two.”

Gift Osarobo, another model, admits that there is an ugly side to the profession of modelling. “For instance, I am told to come and do a photo shoot for a magazine and I get there only to realise that it’s a sex movie that they want to shoot. If I don’t want to do it, I tell them so. And if I want to do it, I just do it. It’s a matter of choice. They won’t force you to do what you don’t want to do. So, models should be able to ask questions a lot about the job before getting involved.

“Then again, a lot of people in the industry are not truthful to the contracts they sign.

They don’t keep to the rules. They tell a model, we’ll give you this, and they end up not doing so. Most of the time, the job has already been done. Personally, the job could be stressful when moving in traffic around the city. If I’m having a late night job, I get a place there to sleep or the management provides a way to take me home.

“I know most models have a different idea of what modelling should be or do for them.

The people I work with are lovely people.

But is every management like that? No! And that could be because they face pressure.

Working with different people means that you expect different kinds of things from them. A model has to take her stance on matters!”

Ejiro on her part believes that “modelling could be frustrating because you get a call from a designer for a job and you get there and the designer says, ‘oh sorry, we actually needed somebody who is a little fair complexioned.’ That could be terrible because you wasted time, money and convenience.

Sometimes, you are paid peanuts as far as I’m concerned. But then, this is the business.”

Many models are also into night life and prostitution. But Gift Osarobo believes that “when it comes to prostitution, it is a matter of choice. But modelling is a job. They are two different things. If a model mixes up the two, it becomes a matter of choice. And it is always best for a model to be registered with a good agency. No agency will allow its model to go off with a man late at night after work. They stress professionalism.”

Cases of models going out for modelling jobs only to be declared missing are also heard in the industry.

“I’m so sorry about such a thing,” commented Gift. “But it still boils down to getting registered. Many go into modelling jobs without being registered.

“Basically, undue publicity is a pain to models. Another thing is having to avoid foods and trying to shed fat and weight. It is also time consuming shooting and going to locations. Also, being asked to wear what ordinarily you would not want to wear, being asked to go nude or topless for a job, as well as other such job hazards.

“The standard in Africa is, however, that you don’t go nude. As for me, I’ll want to be married someday, so I won’t want to do that.

There’s also sexual harassment, though it is a general thing.”

Just like Osagie, model and fashion designer Modella has a last word for models in Nigeria: “Models should have more than pretty faces. It is a business, so they must treat it so. The lifestyle of models I don’t like is that they get carried away with the glamour and glitz of show business, too many parties, too many good looking men and pretty faces, and much money! There are too many trips and no time for other things! It is a life of vanity.

“So, models must plan a life outside the job. Good enough, the job opens doors”.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Body con to shapen you up Wumi OGUNTUASE

B

ODY CON materials have been in vogue for some time now, and it does not look like they are letting up anytime soon.

Although the skirts are not made for every body’s size, if you really want a bodycon piece and you are on the big size, go for the gowns or tops.

They will help you look slimmer and shapened. Ensure you match the colours well as bandage pieces highlight any part of the body . Blend well and do not overdo your combinations so as not to look twisted.

Tips For casual wear, pair the skirt with a chiffon top preferably tucked in and wear with slingbacks or ballet flats. For more formal wear, rock the highheeled shoes; they will elongate your legs.

Pair the top with pleated or full skirts or trousers. This way, you are playing the fit and loose fashion perfectly.

Accentuate your figure well with the gown, and depending on your destination, rock with either flats or heels.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Victorian gowns: Rave of the moment O

Tonia Iyadi

NE interesting thing about fashion items is that they have a way of bouncing back. Gowns of various colours, lengths and sizes are still hot items. But among all, the Victorian gown is the rave of the moment. Victorian gowns are not new fads. They were very popular in the 60s.

There are several features that make Victorian gowns unique. But one major reason why they stand out is that they offer the wearer a freedom which no other dress can offer. They are always very comfortable to wear.Many women now grace social events, parties, wedding ceremonies, cocktails, even church services with Victorian gowns of different lengths.

“This is the season of stylish gowns, and it is going to be mostly sown with mixed fabrics. This free flowing gown is sometimes flared or it comes plain. We also design it with big and bold sash belts or bows,” said Busola Isiaka, the petite woman behind Labussy Creations.

The good thing about this gown is that it can be worn as informal or formal wear.

Elohor

Ufuoma Emerhor

Ify Eneli

Veronica EbieOdeka

Face of Peace Africa Pageant T

HE Face of Peace Africa Pageant is coming from the stable of Blu-Moon Imagination, a media and film production outfit founded by Ify Concepta, a one-time runner-up for Miss Imo and Miss Tourism.

The winner will go home with $10,000, brand new car, one year movie contract with Blu-Moon Imagination, one year beauty routine with Bold & Beautiful, a trip to Gambia. First runner-up (Blu-Moon model) will get $5,000, 42 inches Plasma TV, one year movie contract with Blu-Moon Imagination, one year beauty routine with Bold & Beautiful and a trip to Ghana.

The second runner-up (Blu-Moon Image) will get prizes worth $2,000, 27 inches Plasma TV, one year movie contract, one year beauty routine and trip to Obudu Cattle Ranch. Consolation prizes will also be available for other contestants.

Ify Concepta said “Face of Peace Africa is a means by which we wish to contribute to Africa where crisis and chaos seek to destroy our continent; it is also an avenue to promote gender equality and empowering the girl child. It seeks to promote peace in Africa especially in Nigeria by emphasizing homour and mutual respect which are qualities lacking in most beauty pageants obtainable in the country today”, Emmanuel Eyaba, co-founder and MD at Blu-Moon Imagination said.

Ngozi Princewill Utchay

THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

48 When the Blueprint newspaper made its debut in Abuja a year ago, some stakeholders gave it a little chance of survival because of the saturated media environment. But in this interview, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the newspaper, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, said the paper is stabilising. He also denied that the newspaper has a link with a terrorist group as being insinuated. He bared his mind to the Managing Editor, Northern Operations, YUSUF ALLI, SANNI ONOGU and ABAYOMI FAYESE on Wednesday. Excerpts: How has it been in the last one year because the market is saturated? Have you been able to break?

E certainly have not, but we know that we will.

Our business model is not such that we thought we will break even in one year, but we know we are going to break even very soon. But I will say that the market has been very good to us. We have had our own share of both the ups and downs in the market. But I think we have been encouraged. It has come to us easier than we thought probably because of the response we have gotten from Nigerians in that regard.

What value have you added or what difference have you made?

It is clear from the outset. We told Nigerians the kind of journalism we wanted to practice. We have seen a gap in what existed hitherto and we came in to fill that gap and that is a complete blend of reporting hard news with news that concerns the common man. That is what people generally call the soft side of humans and I think to a large extent Nigerians are very receptive to that concept. Our model is such that we don’t just report about the president or the state governor or the senator or a member of the House of Representatives, we also talk about that man or that woman that sells Masara (corn); that sells kolanut and that sells groundnut in the market.

We think that Nigeria is for all of us. Moreover, these categories of Nigerians take over 80 to 90 per cent of the population of Nigeria. So, if you focus on them, I think you are doing the right thing. That is what we set out to do in the first place and it has been very helpful.

What other plans do you have?

Our plan is to consolidate. We have been trying to consolidate the structure which we set up in the last one year. I think we have succeeded to a large extent in doing that. So, it is for us to deepen our base, to serve Nigerians better, to widen our circulation, to make every man and woman that is literate to be able to have Blueprint on his breakfast table. I think that is our plan.

Do you intend to go public?

We don’t have that plan for now but you never say never. We are still watching but it is not on the table as we speak.

You don’t have that national outlook, how true is it to assume that Blueprint is taking after its sister regional publications like Daily Trust and Leadership as a regional paper?

You see I always tell people that it depends on what you mean by being national. I keep quoting Prof. Wole Soyinka who said a long time ago that for you to be universal, you have to be truly local.

I have to serve the environment that I operate in before I can get accepted in other environments.

But I will also disagree with you that it is completely regional. Probably the growth process is such that we don’t want to cast the net so wide at the outset but you can see that the market is deepening, it is expanding and it fast becoming a paper of reckoning.

But why are the advertisers not responding as

W

•Alhaji Idris

expected if you are growing at a faster pace?

Maybe you have not seen us in the last couple of week or months. Nobody will expect that once you float a newspaper, advertisers will just come all at once and then take all pages of the newspaper. We never built our business model along that line. We also try to do it in such a way that by the time the advertisers start responding, they cannot go back because the Nigerian public whom they want to reach will continue to be with them. The response may be slow but I think it is very encouraging.

When you look at your investment in this paper and the returns, are they worth the effort?

Yes I think it is. It depends on what you think is profit. Sometimes profit is not just measured in terms of naira and kobo. Profit is also measured in terms of fulfillment and what you can also give back to the society. Mind you Nigeria has given us so much and whatever we do to also give back to Nigeria, I think it is also worthwhile. In any case, we have paid our salaries as at when due.

We have picked all our bills as at when due and we are growing.

From your experience so far, what do you think are the challenges facing the media industry in Nigeria?

I think it is not just about Nigeria. First of all I will break this into two categories. There is a global challenge that the media is facing all over the world it is not just about Nigeria. Social media and the online media are taking a chunk of what should go to the print media. Globally, newspapering is more challenging than it used to be because all those years of development, especially in technology. Globally, yes the challenge is there. Coming back to Nigeria, it is not only in newspapering, every business is having its own challenge as we speak. And a newspaperman is not operating in a different environment from other business people. We are operating from the same environment that doctors, mechanics and even market women are also operating. It is the same economy. Therefore, if there is a lull in the economy you expect that to happen to any newspaper. So to that extent, we are also facing that challenge that every other person in the industry is also facing. But what is critical is for you to now develop a model that will now enable you to navigate and remain afloat even in the face of those challenges and that is

We have terrorist what we have been doing.

From your name Blueprint, the immediate assumption is that it is an agenda setting and development-oriented newspaper. You have been stepping on toes with some of your stories.

Did you really set out to be an opposition newspaper?

No! No! We did not set out to be an opposition anything. We set out to carve a niche for ourselves as a people oriented newspaper; as a developmental newspaper so to speak. I mean, you and I know that newspapering is about stepping on toes willingly sometimes, unknowingly sometimes and sometimes even willingly because you also have a contract with the Nigerian public to report what you have seen and the way it is. If that is seen as stepping on some people’s toes, so be it. But at the same time, we know that we have a responsibility to report what is fair, what is balanced and in the best interest of the nation and that is what we have been doing. And I don’t think that our focus has changed from that perspective. It depends on what you see. You may see us as not reporting well today but the funny thing I have learnt about this job is that nobody calls you to say thank you, I have seen a good report that you have done about this. It is only when there is a report that is not so favourable that people call you and sometimes, you don’t even know that that report exists. Sometimes, I have had cause to say ‘sorry, let me also read the paper. Which page are you referring to?’ This is to tell you that this thing is a product of young men and women working and not any dictatorship from anywhere. You report things the way they are. That is the mandate I have given as Chief Executive to everybody in this company and that is what we are following.

Was there any time the paper was under pressure in one form or the other in view of your editorial focus?

At the outset, people thought that you would only set up a paper when you have to be a governor, you have to be an ex-governor or an exminister or an ex-senator or whatever. That is only when papers can be floated and sustained. But we have proved that to be wrong. We have been able to make a statement to Nigerians that people can actually start a newspaper, develop it and allow it to grow. It may be gradual, but it will certainly be steady. We have been able to develop a business

model that is not dependent on any socalled powerful group or individual and that has helped us. And it is for that I think we earn our reputation and respect as a responsible title.

Your coming on board was like a declaration of war against bad governance, was there any specific that you were under pressure in the last one year?

You see, you will always be under pressure if you want as a newspaper man. You will always be under pressure, but that is if you think that that is pressure. If anybody phones me and says ‘why did you say or report this? the next question I ask him is: ‘Is it true? Was that thing reported wrongly?’ If that is reported wrongly I will take responsibility and I will sanction whoever did that. But if it is true, the next thing I will ask is: ‘So, what are you complaining about?’ But we do that also with all sense of responsibility. We don’t do it to incite.

The Nigeria project is our project and we strongly believe that the newspaper man or the publisher or the reporter should contribute his or her quota towards the development of this nation. It has so much to offer. It is only waiting for all of us to be on board and this is a modest contribution to that.

Are you satisfied with ethical challenges facing the industry?

Yes. You get worried sometimes when you see some kind of reports that you see in other places and in fact, it is part of the reason why we came on board to see how those challenges can actually be turned into opportunities so that corrections can be made for the betterment of society.

Certainly, there are a lot of challenges editorially and otherwise. But I think, for me, we have set out. It is like an airplane, we have already taken off and there are only two ways you can end that journey. It is either you land or you crash (general laughter).

With modern technology and more access to information, how will you rate Nigerian media attitude to investigative journalism?

Honestly, I still feel that we need to do more in terms of investigative journalism in this country.

There are a few people in the industry who have taken that as a challenge and I think it is a big challenge. I don’t want to practice journalism that will only talk about things because government has said or an individual or a company has issued a press release. I think people should go beneath the press release so that the news in between can always be used for development. Generally, I am not talking about Blueprint here, I think we (the media) need to really work hard in the development of investigative journalism. We need more of that, especially when you are fighting corruption. All of us are saying government is doing this or that. Sometimes the newspaper man or the publisher or the journalist or the reporter needs to also go the extra mile to do his homework and try to stay away from that thing that he is also fighting.

THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

49

no link with any group --Blueprint publisher way training can be done, because it is expensive anywhere, is when investment has come into it and the only way investment can go into it is when you have entrepreneurs who are ready to wait for the business to develop very well. This is not the kind of business you go into today and then expect to start building a house from it tomorrow. You must be joking. It certainly will not work unless if it is not journalism that you are trying to practice.

As a businessman, why did you take that risk of going into journalism?

It is not a risk. Like I have told you, it goes beyond getting money immediately. This money is coming. What we are saying is that you have to develop it to such a level – that is why we keep investing in terms of human and material resources – so that we can take it to the standard where you can make it a huge business. There are newspapers that are making money in this country and you know it. So what is their secret?

But many newspapers and magazines have gone under too. You are so optimistic that your own will thrive and at a period that others are going under. Why do you have this confidence?

Well, we have thrived for one year (laughter).

When we met here last year, some people only gave us three months to exist. Others gave us six months. Some were even more generous to have given us one year. So I heard recently that let us give them another one year. I said okay, they will still be doubting in 20 years’ time.

Flowing from the Freedom of Information Act, you created a kind of sensation when you published the photograph of the suspect who allegedly bombed the Force Headquarters building. After that publication did you have any encounter with the security agencies because there were insinuations that the paper must have a link with a terrorist organization?

Is Blueprint really a terrorist newspaper?

No. No. No (General laughter). That is out of the way, absolutely out of the way. It is not a terrorist newspaper and we don’t have any link with any group whatsoever. I think we

just went the extra mile. Every investigative journalist should be ready to work harder. Now I told you at the beginning that this paper is about the common man and the linkage that this common man has with other people in the society. What we did was actually to go deeper than most journalists to be able to get this kind of information. We went the extra mile to get that.

As regards the second leg of your question whether we had an encounter with the security agencies, yes, some of the security agencies came around a couple of times and we told them what we knew. We told them what we knew was what we had already given out. There is nothing more to add. It is for them to do their job. We have done our job as journalists, so let them also do their job as security agencies. But the bottomline is that everybody has come to agree that what we have done was journalism at its best and that is why we tagged it world exclusive. I think that has not been challenged and we feel that people should encourage investigative journalism not just in that negative side; we should do that in other areas as well. It was just a product of investigative journalism.

Specifically, are you saying that you have no links with any terrorist group?

We have not. We have no linkage. I can tell you here that we don’t even know they exist as such.

We only know that we have these challenges and the challenges will continue to be there. We will do our part as journalists, publishers, or as media owners. We will do our part but we will also do it with all sense of responsibility. It is not just enough to say the truth; you also have to say the truth in a responsible manner in such a way that instead of creating more problems or solving problems, you create another one. We have done what we have done with all sense of responsibility.

Journalists are getting battered and NUJ is trying to resist this. What can still be done to protect these endangered professionals?

First, you have to know that NUJ has its limitations. The NUJ is an umbrella union for practising journalists.

They are not law enforcements agents. The best they can do is to protest, to sensitize and to

,

Regarding the Freedom of Information Act, Has the nation done well in implementing or keeping to this Act? Not yet, I don’t think we have done well so far.

There are just a few instances where I have seen people trying to even utilize that so-called freedom. I had thought that by the time the Freedom of Information Act is in place, we will see more reporters falling over themselves trying to get access to information. But I have not seen that radical change yet. I am not saying there are no efforts, but I have not seen that radical shift in terms of how news is being gathered as a result of the passage of that bill. I think we need to do more. But I also think that so much enlightenment needs to also go into it not just for the journalist but for all stakeholders so that people will understand what this Freedom of Information Act even means in the first place.

But for the little efforts the media have made, do you think the government has been responsive in fulfilling its own obligation?

You know, this is a new era. You actually have to push the government into accepting that. They are not used to it. They are coming from a system that information is locked away or put under lock and key and any attempt to open it would now mean that you are breaching a particular law.

Now, we have reached a point where the law is actually on your side if you try to open a drawer to get that information out. Not in terms of burglary, but in terms of your skill and the kind of questions that you ask. So I didn’t actually expect that government will be that responsive so easily but I also expect that our people in the industry will continue to task government so that the orientation that government is used to would also begin to change gradually.

What is your assessment of the standard of journalism practice in Nigeria from your experience?

I think so far so good because certain things that the journalist is not able to publish in other parts of the world we are able to publish here.

And I think to a large extent that is positive. But we need a lot of retraining. I think so much investment should go into the industry so that people can be retooled; people can be trained and retrained. The key to success is training and retraining. The banks have used it to their advantage. The Nigerian military has used it to its advantage. To some extent, the oil sector has used it to its advantage. I think with training/retraining investment in the industry, the standard can be made higher. There are people who entered a particular newsroom and may for two years not go for any course. That is bad and I don’t see how any practice can grow under that kind of condition. It is not enough for you to have a degree, you need to be able to go for training and be retrained always. Like we have done in Blueprint, we started with training and only recently, we also had a training session. I don’t believe that we can be out there if this training is not being encouraged. And the only

It is not a terrorist newspaper and we don’t have any link with any group whatsoever. I think we just went the extra mile.

Every investigative journalist should be ready to work harder.

Now, I told you at the beginning that this paper is about the common man and the linkage that this common man has with other people in the society

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advocate. It is for those whose responsibility it is now to ensure that lives of journalists are protected that we should appeal to. I think if you look at what happened recently in Lagos and you look at the response by journalists, I think there is no way journalists would have done better than what they have done. I saw journalism at its best really in that form. I think it is for them to continue to do that. To continue to tell those that should know that it was a barbaric way of handling young men and women of the pen who are out there doing their job.

I just want people to learn, especially our colleagues who are setting up newspapers, what has been your magic wand and how have you survived in the last one year?

Well, as I said, you don’t go into journalism and think that you will make money the next day. That is a mistake. Every business has its own characteristics, so to say. It has its own gestation period. It is just like starting a private school. You go and build classrooms, hostels, headmaster’s office and staff room and you think that within one year or two, that money can be made. You are not being realistic. Even in the most lucrative businesses like the oil sector; they don’t build their refinery today and start making profit by the following month. You have to allow this business to develop. How do you develop it? The investment has to be right both in terms of human and material resources and that is what we have done.

We have ensured that our reporters have the right tools to work with. We don’t owe salaries here.

Everybody gets his salary as and when due and I told people that if it reaches a day that salaries cannot be paid, I will rather close this place down.

I cannot look at the faces of staff and owe them salaries.

You have also poached the best hands.

Yes, it is not just poaching them we have actually retained them. (General laughter). That is even more critical because we have seen instances where journalists were poached and then they run away after two, three months.

What we did is that we try to tell them the truth as it is: ‘Look we are developing and everybody here knows that we are developing as a company and therefore you have to be prepared to develop with us or you don’t even join us in the first place.’ We have not lost any serious staff. Nobody has been able to poach our staff since we came on board. It is the other way round. We have been the ones going to poach. If you create the right linkage and set the right environment with your colleagues, they won’t go. It is not just the salary.

Even if you pay them fantastically well and then they don’t operate in the way they are told to operate, they may be there to earn the salary for sometime, but once they get somebody who they think share their vision they will go.

Your first magazine, The Market debuted in 2004, but it has not been much of success in the last eight years. Can you compare your experience with that of Blueprint? Was The Market as successful as the Blueprint?

I think they are two different brands. The Market was successful in its own way but I think doing newspapering is a different ball game altogether. In The Market you are not under any pressure of time because you produce maybe once a week or once in two weeks and so you have all the time. Sometimes, you call your editor, he closes by 5pm and he tells you ‘no problem sir, I will continue tomorrow’ (General laughter). You don’t have that luxury in newspaper. It is now or never. Sometimes, as a publisher, I also marvel.

There was a day my wife said to me: ‘It was just last night I heard you discussing with these people and by 7am it is already here in Kaduna.

How do you people do this?’ Somebody asked me ‘how do you do this kind of thing? You are writing something at night, maybe news broke around 10pm and you are changing your headlines and whatever and you went to press and then you are in Kano which is 400 kilometres away and the news is there by 7am?’ I said well, an aeroplane takes off and then somebody tells you that he is in Saudi Arabia, a journey that we know took our forefathers one year to complete.

So technology has solved all that.

How will you rate the circulation of the paper for the past one year?

It can be better. The circulation can actually be better. This also has to do with other things. As I said earlier on, the newspaper man is not operating in an isolated environment. He is operating in the same kind of environment that other Nigerians are operating. He plies the same road. He buys fuel from the same filling station.

So let us look at it. If for example you suddenly wake and then there is no fuel anywhere for any vehicle to move, tell me the spirit that will take

Continued on page 50

THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

50 Charles Ikemefuna Odumodu is the Director General of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON). An astute pharmacist, before his appointment as the Director General of SON, he superintended a turnaround in fortune of the May and Barker Pharmaceutical Company Nigeria. He repositioned the company and under him, the company built the biggest pharmaceutical plant in Nigeria. In this interview with OKORIE UGURU, Odumodu opened up on his life and the challenges of the office he occupies. Excerpts: Talk a little about your growing up years.

Y father was a pharmacist. I was supposed to read medicine, but the course was too long. So, I needed a short course that would get me out of the university as soon as possible. Somehow, because I was good in Chemistry, Physics and Biology, I decided to read pharmacy.

Incidentally, it was not because my father was a pharmacist. I just felt that…because everybody who was good in school had to be a medical student, but I didn’t want to be.

Or was it because you were afraid of blood?

No, I just decided to read pharmacy at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife and I did very well I must say. I served in Sokoto State and I started work in Kaduna as a medical rep. I had very rapid promotion and within two to three years, I became a manager and the first challenge I got was that some of the people I had to work with were people who were older and more experienced, but when I was made their boss, I found ways of ensuring that I got them to work because initially they ganged up and wanted to fight me. Yes, I was younger and they thought I was inexperienced but I called them together and said we have a target and it is not all about age or any other thing. All we needed to do was to ensure that we delivered on our target and if we do well, the company will recognise us. It actually turned out good.

That was my first experience in dealing with

I’m not the party type; –-SON D-G Odumodu

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Continued from page 49 the paper from here to Kano within one hour? It is impossible. Or you suddenly wake up and then they say the internet is shut down all over the country, tell me the miracle that will make you now produce that paper that will get to the newsstand at 7am. So it is not different. The infrastructure and logistics have to be there. A doctor can save life but that patient has to get to the hospital where he has access to facilities to be saved.

Are you comfortable enough to subject yourself to Audit Bureau of Circulation?

I think we are.

Or do we need it really?

That is even the question. But you see you need…

It is an issue among publishers and that is why I am asking you.

Maybe, because we are new; maybe you should ask those that have been there for over 20 years and maybe they will give you a better answer. But really, if you have any agency that rates you and analyses you, I think the data can be used by everybody for the betterment of the society. It is like saying because you have so many people in your village and the next village does not have so many people, the census man should only count your own and leave the other village out. You need information, that is statistics to be able to move forward in this country. It is not just about newspaper. Somebody alleged the other day that some of the reporters in the newspapers in Nigeria are not measuring up to other newspapers in the world. And I asked the question: How many Nigerian doctors or engineers or transporters or pilots or farmers are measuring up with their colleagues in other parts of the world? You are not operating in an isolated environment. You are operating within the kind of environment that we all have in. That is why

people and I must tell you, I did it very well. I got promotion to the assistant marketing manager. They brought some Indians into the company and I left because I did not like the fact that the vacant position was not offered to me when I knew I was committed and loyal to the company and all that. I left and joined Booths. I stayed a little while in Booths but the politics there was too much so I left and got to May and Baker. The rest is history.

May and Baker was interesting in your life

because you were the first black head and when suddenly people were expecting it to go down under you, you took it to a new height, how did you achieve that?

May and Baker was actually going through a re-engineering process, so we actually got sucked into it. I actually saw that the white people were not fully committed to Nigeria and that was when they were like that, should we go or should we stay? The Naira was being devalued and if they looked at their numbers,

even though they were making a little bit more profit, in dollar terms they were getting less.

However, I observed that there were certain positions that they were reserving for only white people-the pharmaceutical division director position was for white people and I remember they brought somebody and I was a bit on the difficult side. The reason was that this man would come in from abroad and he would tell us how this job should be done but I know the market more than him. So, when he said we

‘Nigerian journalists are not using FOI Act well’ we all have to come together. The newspaper man must do his own. The doctor will do his own; the teacher in the university must do his own, the person sitting there in Aso Rock must do his own, so that all of us can have the Nigeria we all desire.

In line with Blueprint perspective, we can go soft now. You earned your degree in English and later became a lecturer in English and Communication Skills, what attracted you to journalism?

Let me say that I was always interested in journalism right from my school days because I also participated in all these school publications and all that. But when I left my job as a lecturer, I went into Public Relations practice and I discovered that my strength was actually in publication services even within the Public Relations sub-sector and then one thing led to the other. You may not know this, this was around 1993, I started what you may call the first newsletter for local governments in Katsina in those days. None of that was existing; I was able to do that both in vernacular, Hausa language and English. And then I discovered that these people were looking forward to that kind of information so that they can read and know about their environment and that helped a lot.

And I think that gave me some kind of insight to the fact that I could go into publishing and then with time I was doing in-house publishing for many corporate organizations as a Public Relations practitioner before I veered into this world of publishing. But I still have a company out there as a subsidiary that is still handling that.

Is the company wholly owned by you or a consortium?

It is a group of young men and women that

have come together to experiment something that appears to be working very well. That is the summary of it. It is actually a model and I think people should imbibe that model.

Do you intend to expand and create more titles?

I don’t think there is any business that does not hope to expand, but before you expand, you must stabilize. If you don’t stabilize what you have, how do you start branching out?

Do you intend to own more titles and do you intend to establish your press nationwide as is now the practice?

That is something I should talk about. To me honestly, a newspaper house has no business owning a press. We have owned one but I don’t think it is really necessary. It is because of the kind of environment we are operating in. We should leave that technical side to professional printers to handle.

Won’t that be too costly?

It is costly because there is so much monopoly in it. We have a few. If we have many printers it will be a matter of demand and supply, the cost will come down. It will definitely come down. A newspaper man’s attention is being taken by the press and then you see somebody setting a press here and there. We are also following that, but I don’t think it is actually a very good thing. It distracts you. Press is somebody else’s business.

In South Africa, I know of a press that prints so many titles, but they don’t own a newspaper.

They have contact with so many newspapers.

They have scheduled all of them and that is how it should be done. If you have a very big press in Abuja for example, that press should be able to print all the papers in Abuja. They would earn money, pay their staff and then take that

headache away. Indeed, we should expand the argument. Even the business of circulation and distribution, to me, can be taken up by some other people.

It is already being done.

I see!

In Punch, The Nation we don’t distribute our papers.

Who distributes for you?

We have private distributors, commercial vehicle drivers.

That is a different thing. You still control the chain. What I want to do is that you only have a salesman that ensures that this thing goes to them and you leave them. They are now the people to ensure that the papers get to the vendors, distributors all over the world. We have also done that. When we started, we bought some vehicles, but I auctioned them after six months because I discovered that a driver will always tell you that his brake pads have failed but now we don’t hear such stories. When we were coming from Jigawa State recently, I saw a vehicle belonging to a newspaper (names withheld) that had an accident, a brand new vehicle so to speak and I said it could have been Blueprint’s. And then, if it happens to us as small as we are, how do we replace that? But I will pay you to transport my products and if you don’t come tomorrow I look for another person. The only business I will lose if you have problem is that day’s business. I have backups that I can use if you are not there for me tomorrow. What I am saying is that beyond transportation, even the concept of distribution itself should be borne by somebody. You get a company who floats a distribution system for newspapers, when you produce, they go and pick it from you. They know who to take it to. If

THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

51

in fact, I don’t like the one they call ‘red carpet’

•Alhaji Idris

we develop it and the infrastructure is right that is also another business for somebody. The only thing you are doing is sales and distribution. The beer companies and the soft drinks company are doing that. Why can’t the newspapers do it? Is it Coca-Cola that is selling Coca-Cola all over the street? Is it even Coca-Cola that is even taking the Coca-Cola to the kiosks? So, why is it not happening to newspapers? I think people have

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should go this way, I would say no, it is better to go this way because this is where the opportunities are and there were always disagreements. One thing however, was that the big bosses were always listening to me.

You know, if I work for you, I give everything that I have to that job, I don’t mince words. I thank God my wife did not leave me at the time. I was actually totally devoted to that job. I had a major disagreement with one of the new directors, he was sent away and I was appointed to that position. From the way things started going that was what brought the interest of the foreigners, but remember, the foreign partners had 40 per cent, one block. Nigerians had 60 per cent. I think in 1997, they appointed me as their own staff, like an expatriate, and made me the general manager for Nigeria. I must say I took up the responsibility and the rest is now history.

We, actually, were able to grow the company to a level that they were satisfied even though at that point the decision had been made that they were leaving and they left. I was also able to make sure that they left in harmony with other owners. Because you people that have invested in a company must sell to them and not to some foreigners. But one challenge I had as a general manager, the first Nigeria, was really: you are a Nigerian, you are an Ibo man; so the Ibos felt ‘ah, this is our own brother, we want to take over this company. The others felt that now that it was no longer a white man …it was an opportunity for me to show my leadership skills.

All you need to do is to be a father. The Ibos must realise that ‘yes, I am your brother, you must support me, but the job was not given to me because I am an Ibo man. So, one guy who was also close to me went to the warehouse and removed some products, the value was above one million. The Ibo people came to my house and said, you know, you are one of us. The next Monday I dismissed him, so the whole was like ‘hmm! This man does not tolerate misdemeanour.’ For me, it was if you are an Ibo man, you must support me and the best way to support me was to comply with the rules of the company and working conscientiously. Because I sent him away, it sent a message to the other Ibo workers that this man is not here just because he is an Ibo and as such will protect us, the other tribes also felt a sense of belonging having the understanding that this man is a broad minded person who can take the right decisions. That helped the company a lot to grow faster.

Another thing was that at a time we realised that government was just buying products from India and China. Government is the biggest

I come from a family that if you mention my family name where we come from, it brings a lot of respectability and all that. I remember when I was in the university, I ventured into smoking and then I realized that as large as my family is, none of them smokes. I kind of told me that there is an expected standard of behaviour in the family. So, I had to drop some of those bad habits

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buyer in the pharmaceutical industry. We said okay, why are you buying from India and China? And they said oh, you don’t have what the World Health Organisation (WHO) said is the best. So, I said let’s go and build a factory that will meet this kind of standard. That was what culminated in the new pharmaceutical centre that you have in Ota. We secured the land in Ota and built. As far as I am concerned, it is the number one pharmaceutical centre in Nigeria and I will also say, maybe the second or third in Africa. So, it is all about identifying opportunities and having the guts to pursue them.

Did the kind of family you come from prepare you for the job?

I come from a family that if you mention my family name where we come from, it brings a lot of respectability and all that. I remember when I was in the university, I ventured into smoking and then I realised that as large as my family is, none of them smokes. I kind of told myself that there is an expected standard of behaviour in the family. So, I had to drop some of those bad habits. Because you are a member of the family it demands a certain level of discipline from you. What ever decision I today, it is not because of religion, because of the fact I know that this or that is nor right and I expect that a level of discipline must apply wherever I

work. If it does not apply then I am not your friend.

How do you relax?

I am very weak in sports and all those things that people do. I stay indoors a lot. If you give me a card to come for a funfair, you are not likely to see me because I won’t come. I don’t like all the publicity especially the one they call red carpet. If people go for one programme, they start working on red carpet. No, that is not for people like us. I watch a lot of Nigerian movies.

You are a fan of Nollywood?

Oh yes, I watch Nigerian movies a lot. I am a very private person.

You have children?

Six only.

Your mode of dressing?

Formal dressing for office work and more of native when I am not working. These days, when I travel abroad, I like to go with my native attire because we need to promote our culture.

Nigeria is a great country.

Since February 2011 when you became the Director General of SON, how has it been?

I believe Nigeria is winning, because with the kind of feed back we are getting now, the kind of very positive testimonials, I believe that so far, so good. It is also and indication that previous efforts have not been sustained. I

not explored that. They feel that when you take up that business, everything about that business is your now problem – from distribution to sales to transportation – it should not be. We are professionals.

Why are Nigerian publishers not giving their editors and reporters equity to be part owners of the business? Do you intend to do that in your paper so that my own professional colleagues would be part owners?

Your professional colleagues are already part owners of Blueprint, maybe you are not aware. Maybe a few of them, but as we go on, we never say never, we keep studying the system and we keep modifying the system. You see, whatever you do, you should have a self-adjusting mechanism in place.

Could you be more forthcoming if Blueprint equity is extended to journalists?

Yes. Our Executive Editor, Hajia Zainab Okino is a journalist, the Editor, Alhaji Ibrahim Sheme is a journalist. The Executive Director, Operations is an administrator. All of them are equity owners in this paper.

And then we also reserve some that we feel we can give to younger ones who are also coming up. But you know you don’t just open your floodgate from the outset like that. You need to study and keep developing.

What about those who are outside, in case we want to buy equity in the company?

Please come and bid for equity. (General laughter). You see, I keep telling people that it is not about the chairman owning 70 per cent or 80

per cent. Imagine yourself having one per cent of First Bank Plc, will you be doing this work? So it is not about the number of percentage, it is what that percentage is worth. So if this company will continue to be diluted to such a level that I will own only five per cent, but that five per cent is worth more than my 70 per cent as it is now, so be it. I am just being a smart businessman and nothing more. Why will I be keeping the percentage when it is giving me nothing? All over the world, companies are merging together; stakeholders are having lower equities but the reverse is the case in Nigeria. People are becoming smaller. Everybody wants to set up his own.

Imagine if for example, you have paper ABC - I don’t want to mention names – ABCD here is just one big company and then you are able to establish only two like that. Maybe eight newspapers have sprung up and then they are able to form just two strong companies out of that eight, will they not be better off than to have a proliferation that will bring you nothing?

So you are not threatened by these big players in the industry now?

You can see that we are not threatened. We have existed for one year; we are growing stronger and you will see the array of people that would come for our public presentation and I think that is going to be a big testimonial of how people value us and how they rate us.

With this job, as a family man do you have time for your family?

Honestly, that is an interesting question. Of course, I must always have time for my family, but I must tell you that the quality of time has reduced. Newspapering is a 24-hour job. You will be woken up in the middle of the night to be told that the press has broken down (general laughter) or about 4am, they will say armed robbers have attacked your vehicle going to Kaduna and the driver had an accident or you are just here you

think that is one of the weaknesses we have in Nigeria. This time around we have sustained it, indeed what we have done is that we seem to be adding more and more. If look around all the sectors, all we are getting is positive testimonials which really shows that we are winning the battle. But we are not there yet, we are still a long way from where we want to be. In a recent forum, I made a categorical statement that in the first quarter of 2013, we will be less than 1/3 from where we started.

From about 75 per cent of substandard products when you started?

About 85 per cent actually. As at today, it is less then 60 per cent. Like I said, it is still very hard. There is no country in the world that you will get 60 per cent. We actually took a literature review of the situation in other African countries. I can tell you, we are still way back from where we should be. By the time we get to say 30 per cent, we would have achieved the same statistics that we have in let’s say Egypt, and other African countries.

Let’s look at the construction industry, we have had cases of building collapse. In most cases it is attributed to sub-standard materials. So, in this sector are you really winning the battle, if not where are the problematic areas?

The construction industry is a very vast one in size and in products, but I want to go back a bit to the President’s transformation programme. The President is working to see that the average Nigerian is provided with housing, and not just any kind of housing that befits people who live in the 21st century. If I remember correctly, there is a launch of a national housing scheme to build over one million houses for Nigerians within the next two or three years. So, clearly, it is a target area. It is also an area where the preceding governments have not done much. This government is focused on delivering on areas where others have failed. So, I have focused based on the directives I have also received from the top, that is sanitising that sector, in terms of quality and also in terms of ensuring that people get value for money.

When we started, I recall that we went with our members, the level of substandard product, was about 60 per cent, but today, I can assure you that we definitely have less than 20 per cent of sub-standard products in that particular sector.

In that sector, it is not that we are not doing something, but we have done sufficiently enough. What we are doing is a routine, every month, we take samples from the market, we check.

have two standby generators, one packed up and you feel ‘don’t worry you have another one’ and in the middle of the night you hear the other has started making some noise (general laughter).

Even before it packs up, they will start calling you that ‘sir this generator’ is bad. Or the internet with which you have spent so much money, you have backups, they say ‘it is slow, it is not running.’ The challenge can also be human beings. You have relied on somebody to start a generator, let’s assume that the generator is even alright and that nothing has happened to it. But the generator will not start itself. The person who you employed and you are paying salaries to be around suddenly discovers that he needs to attend to a few things because power supply by PHCN has been stable. He disappears and in spite of the fact that he holds the key to the generator.

Then, suddenly there is outage and you begin to look for the plant operator. You lose 30 minutes and then within those 30 minutes nobody has peace and you are being called.

I think it is a big experience really and what I have learnt is that it is also very interesting that everybody in the chain is important. If the editor finishes his work and has a good paper and the person whose responsibility it is to ensure that it goes to press delays for one hour, it affects the editor. It affects the distributor. It affects the vendor who is waiting. It affects the salesman. It affects the advertiser because he has placed an advert and he did not see you on time. So once there is a problem with one link in the chain, a problem is created.

From the day we started till today, except for the weekends that we were not yet publishing, there is no day that you will say let me take a rest today. Even when people are having public holidays, you are there. So it is a very challenging but also a very big experience and it will be ultimately rewarding, ultimately rewarding.

FAMIL Y HEAL TH AMILY HEALTH

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Understanding your uniqueness (2)

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ear Reader, I bring you God’s peace and blessings in Jesus’ name. Last week, I taught on the creation of male and female genders. I remember saying an understanding of your uniqueness will help you to be a greater blessing to others.

This week, I want to teach on Male And Female Differences!

Male and female were designed to exercise dominion over the earth. Even though both of them are equal, God created them to manifest in two different bodies and with two different natures. God made His products to fulfill their purpose. The male and female both have dominion; each has to execute its purpose in different manner.

God’s Word says: There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory (1 Corinthians 15:41).

Man and woman are both equal in the sense that they were both created in the image of God and their differences are only functional. When God made the woman and presented her to Adam, he said, “This is now… bone of my bones” In other words, Adam was saying, “This person is exactly like me in structure.” Again, he said, “This is now … flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23). That is, “She is exactly like me in all her physical qualities and in all of her emotional and psychological ability.” Adam saw two differences. “We are the same, we are equal,” he said, adding “but there are differences.”

Now, the major difference between the man and the

woman is that, the woman has a womb and can bear children. The woman is designed primarily as a receiver, and the man is designed primarily as a giver. This means that the woman is created to receive love.

Despite the fact we all know that differences between men and women exist, most people have problems with this fact because they believe that being “different” means being inferior or superior. You should not equate being different to being less. I want you to know that a woman is not less than a man because she is a woman, and a man is not less than a woman because he is a man. Their differences, I believe, are necessary because of their purposes.

The following are some of male’s mannerisms that make them different from female: Respect!

Without respect, there can be no relationship. Without respect, I dare not risk sharing my intimate self with you; you are not safe to me and the beliefs and values I hold dear. Without respect, there can be no true understanding of your uniqueness. Without respect, there can be no love. Men hold respect in high esteem and so, for the married, they want to be respected by their wives.

They want to be reverenced and respected to the best of your ability, after all, they are in the position as the head.

This is stated clearly in God’s Word, And the wife see that she reverence her husband (Ephesians 5:33).

To the wives, your husband may not be refined as you are, but to maintain peace at home, you need to respect him. Respect allows you to accept your spouse’s point of view wholeheartedly, consider and value his perspectives or suggestions. Thus, let your partner know that your respect and value for him supersedes the specific issue you are discussing.

Obedience!

Men admire obedience, and especially from their wives.

No man gets excited with an argumentative wife. It is important for you to know as a woman that your arguments can cause more trouble at home than good. You must learn to obey your husband, because he is the head of the home. Whatever you want to discuss with your

husband, wisdom demands that you communicate and not in arguments. Arguments must be avoided by all means in your home, in order to enjoy peace; rather than engaging in arguments, make use of spiritual weapons at your disposal. Never allow any issue to degenerate into arguments, which can build up anger and graduate to physical fight.

Good Food!

There is no man who does not like good food, no matter how spiritual he is. Remember, the way to a man’s heart is his stomach, and a hungry man is an angry man.

Man needs physical food to survive. As a woman, take out time to study what food your husband really likes, what is good for him, and cook it the way he likes it.

When he is satisfied, his soul blesses you. If there is any particular meal you don’t know how to cook as a woman, for instance, you should go and learn it and prepare it for him. God’s Word says: Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things (Psalms 103:5).

Cleanliness!

Cleanliness, they say, is next to godliness. Men adore cleanliness. No man appreciates a dirty environment.

Therefore, as a woman, you should learn to keep the home and the environment clean and tidy, free of any offensive odour per time. Your wardrobe and toilet need to be kept clean. Pay the price of cleanliness and you will enjoy a good atmosphere.

You need to give your life to Christ to have all it takes to have a sweet home. You can say this prayer: Dear Lord, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Now I know I am born again!

Congratulations! Till I come your way again next week, call or write, and share your testimonies with me through: E-mail: faithdavid@yahoo.com Tel. No: 234-1-77475468; 07026385437, 07094254102 For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all the Living Faith Churches, and other leading Christian bookstores: Single With A Difference, Make Life Count and Marriage Covenant.

Causes of infertility in male & female—Ayo Ajayi

A

part from infections such as,(staphylococcus, gonorrhea, syphilis), wrong lifestyle, poor Libido, Alcohols, spiritual weakness and other related factors, the following physical defects causes male infertility: INFECTION: This lead to sperm blockage. A lot of men suffer one of the infection or another. The most common of these are: STAPHYLOCOCCUS (IMMUNE DISTROYER): Infection can lead to infertility both in men and women. Experience has shown that the reason only majority of men are infertile or cannot impregnate a lady is because of one infection or another. More than 30% of modern couples from mid-40s are infertile. These infections ordinarily do not cause it until the infection is prolonged and not cured for a long time.

Oftentimes, a man thinks that once he is sexually active and can go more than two rounds of sexual intercourse in a night, he believes that nothing is wrong with him. But this is a fallacy. Because being sexually active is not an indication of being fertile. Although there are various reasons that can lead to infertility in men from his kind of lifestyle( having an unprotected sexual intercourse), his diet( the kind of food , drink he takes), the nature of his work( working around hot ovens) and any history of venereal diseases. What we are particularly concerned about now is the male infertility that is caused by venereal disease. When a man contracts venereal diseases and if not well treated or cured could lead to staphylococcus infection. Most times staphylococcus infection in man is not easily detected until it has done a lot of damage to his reproductive organ. Most of the time, such a man will be having some common symptoms like: feverish condition, fatigue, headache, quick ejaculation, internal heat, worm like moving sensation in the body, body weakness, stomach noise, yellowish urine, dryness of the hand and leg as if there is no blood in the body, serious waist pain etc.

All the above symptoms to him will seem normal until he goes to hospital for test before he can really detect that he has a big problem. On the other hand, any man who usually feels any two or more of the above symptoms should go for laboratory test for Seminal Fluid Analysis (S.F.A), to

culture and sensitivity of the semen. Any result that indicates any of the following should be of great concern to such person: AZOOSPERMIA: This is the absence of living sperm or isolated sperm in the body.

OLIGOSPERMIA: T his is called low sperm count or inadequate sperm. Related to this, are other factors like Motility (sperm swimming ability) and Morphology (structure of the sperm cell).

VISCOSITY: This is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear stress or tensile stress. It can also be called watery sperm count.

VARICOCELE: This occur when varicose vein are or grouped together in the scrotum.

ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION: This is inability of a man to perform his sexual responsibility either partial or total such as low libido, quick ejaculation, impotent etc.

FEMALE INFERTILITY: In woman a number of factors can disrupt this process at any stage. Female infertility be it Primary infertility or Secondary infertility. The most common problems are Ovulatory Disorder (a woman that is not menstruating, ovulating well as a result of Hormonal in balance. This can cause by one infection or the other in the Ovary such as staphylococcus infection, Candida Abican etc. If all these above mentioned is not well treated, it can cause a woman not to be fertile.

FIBROID: This is common being tumor in female, and typically formed during the middle and late reproductive year. Why most fibroid are asymptomatic, they can grow and cause heavy and painful menstruation, painful sexual intercourse and urinary frequency. Research has show that more and more of our generation women are now suffering from fibroid, and why these is so alarming is the fact that fibroid is so common among older women. Most of the time after they have stopped bearing children and in their menopausal stage. A couple should seek help on infertility, if the woman is younger than 35years and has not become pregnant after having unprotected intercourse while ovulating for one year. Such woman should seek health care provider so that they can direct her to go for

test such as Higher Virginal Swap Culture (H.V.S.C), blood culture, urinary culture etc.

NATURAL CURE FOR INFERTILITY: Traditional medicine is highly effective in treating the sickness mentioned above. It is time for doctors trained in the western system of healing to recognize and accept the fact that there are other equally effective methods of healing. Orthodox doctors need to be open-minded, so that they can work creatively with traditional healers. After all, most of our people now prefer traditional medicine to scientist drugs. Moreover, many of our today?s African orthodox doctors were brought up on traditional medicine, which is part of our heritage. Infertility

should be strictly continues and not cyclical from puberty till extreme old age. There is no limitation on what roots and herbs can take good care of, if only one meet the right practitioner.

For further information and consultation on any Health related issues especially on Infertility in both men and women, sexual Transmitted Disease (S.T.Ds), Erectile Dysfunction (low libido, poor libido, quick ejaculation etc), Pile (chronic pile, hemorrhoid pile etc), and Diabetes. Please call on: 08038606858, 08051291852 or visit: www.ayoherbalng.net. Email: info@ayoherbalng.net. We also deliver through courier in any part of the world if need be.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Health Matters With DR MIKE OYAKHIRE

08099885540 email: drmikeoyakhire@yahoo.com

F

OR those outside the medical profession, Close to 90% of the information about human reproductive system in terms of the Anatomy, Physiology and disorders get to them from, social media, while the remaining 10% put together comes from family members, neighbors, schools, and churches.

THE PROBLEM For young teenage girls, lower abdominal pain involving the ovary, fallopian tube or bladder may be waved off as normal pain of maturity in females, but could be a dermoid cyst; a solid type of mass in the ovary which if ignored could lead to cancer of the ovary and which by the time the patient becomes an adult would have gone beyond simple removal by surgery.

Conditions of the human reproductive system may be uncommon, but do exist. Those commonly seen in this environment may be congenital or acquired due to trauma, infections, or arise from autoimmune disorders and neoplasia (new growth including cancers).

Affected children may be abandoned, locked inside a room and left to die or visited with some extreme end. In adults abnormal internal anatomy is responsible for some cases of cancer, primary amenorrhea, problems of infertility, primary or secondary, such as low sperm count, or even no sperm cells at all, intra psychic conflicts and other forms of misfit. Cases of ambiguous genitalia where it is difficult to tell whether a child is a male or female, in majority of cases result from imbalance or disruption in the biochemistry of steroids along the hypothalamohypophysealgonadal axis which goes on to affect the hormone profile associated with the mother, the child or adult. The assignment to the wrong sex ( wrongly naming a real boy a girl on the strength of what is seen between the legs) must be avoided, and surgeons can reconstruct a new vagina or penis putting many factors into consideration ,including fact that it is easier to construct a new vagina as opposed to a new penis . A solid tumor of the ovary such as dermoid cyst may be present at birth, but silent until puberty, when it may present as right iliac fossa pain as might also occur in acute appendicitis. The potential to develop and become life threatening cancer of the ovary is high and only early detection, adequate investigations and appropriate intervention will save the child and at the same time preserve her reproductive career.

Prevalence of these conditions are difficult to ascertain because most cases are not reported because of shame and pride , characteristic features may not show up until puberty when changes that normally appear are either not seen , appear infantile or become exaggerated .

The purpose of this paper is to remind parents, guardian and care providers about some conditions of the reproductive system that are fairly common, so as to create awareness that there are consequences when medical help is not sought or medical opinion is rejected or ignored MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM Undescended testicle (Cyptorchidism);

FAMIL Y HEAL TH AMILY HEALTH

Matters of sexual health: with Prof. Dayo Oyekole Common congenital conditions of the male and Prostate enlargement female reproductive system P By about the 35th week in the womb, or at birth the testicle under normal condition should have left the abdomen and entered the scrotum in its biphasic, or triphasic migration and all the surrounding structures that assisted it’s smooth uninterrupted journey should have shrunken and disappeared. In this condition, one or the two testicle will have failed to reach and locate permanently in the scrotum , and may have been going back and forth for about a year, at which time, parents who are vigilant will have noticed.

Cause is unknown but scientists and surgeons believe it may be due to hormonal imbalance involving a number of hormones which include, insulin like peptide 3 (ISL3), calcitionin gene related peptide (CGRP), anti Mulerian hormone( AMH), etc. Because of this role of different hormones in the regulation of testicular descent, exposure of a pregnant woman to environmental chemicals can predispose to the problem of undescended testicle.

Unsupervised medication as in excessive ingestion of supplements during pregnancy may be responsible, as these chemicals and drugs are proteins, and can mimic the hormones.

It is best to remove an un descended testicle if found early enough and between the third and fifth birth day, all depending on the peadiatrician or peadiatric surgeon.

As long as it is in the abdomen, sperm production and safe storage is abnormal. The risk of developing to cancer is also higher, though it remains a problem even when it has been removed. In the operation, called orchidopexy or testicle fixation, the testicle and the vessels and nerves that supply it are brought down carefully, stitched and secured to its proper position.

Chordee The shape and form of the human penis begins around the fifth week of intrauterine life. Chordee is a condition found in males characterized by abnormal, often downward curvature of the penis which is also congenital (present at birth). It may occur alone, or in combination with other defects such as hypospadias.

The down ward bowing penis may become more pronounced during erection and become a psychosocial problem.

Hypospadia is abnormal opening of the urethra on the underside of the penis instead of the tip. It is the opposite of Epispadias where a similar opening is on top of the body of the penis.. The actual how and why of these conditions are presently the basis for extensive research, in urology and embryology. During development the urethra in both male and female fetuses are in the same location, and abnormalities arise perhaps during migration of the urethral folds over the urethral groove. These conditions are not known to seriously interfere with the abilty to archieve pregnancy, but excessive downward bowing may interfere with getting pregnanteven when coitus is successful coitus.

The last tissue to develop is the penile skin, and so when discovered the foreskin should be retained, and so circumcision should be delayed, because the skin will be used for reconstruction without the problem of hair growing out the area.

To be continued

Drugs that aid sleep

N

OT all available drugs work well for all in somniacs. A few products are available for people who prefer natural products.

Melatonin is a natural night hormone that helps us to sleep. It is produced by our bodies to control the sleepwake cycle. Artificially prepared melatonin may be useful for jet lag and for night shift workers. Ramelteon (Rozerem) is a drug that behaves like melatonin. It is used as a hypnotic or sleep inducer.

It can cause dizziness and should be avoided in people with depression because it can worsen the symptoms of depression. It was shown to cause birth defects in rats.

However, it lacks the typical side effects of all the older sleep aids. L-Tryptophan can help some insomniacs fall asleep. It is converted to the hormone serotonin within the body. Serotonin is in turn converted to melatonin and promotes sleep. Herbs that may help insomniacs are: chamomile, valerian root, St. John’s wort, passionflower, lavender, kava kava, and lemon balm. Too much valerian can cause head ache, vivid dreams, blurred vision, and affect the heart beats. St. John’s Wort interferes with the actions of some anticancer drugs, anticlotting agents, and contraceptives. Therefore one should ask the phar-

macists for advice before buying a herbal sleep aid.

Sominex Herbal® has three active ingredients: hops, valerian, and passion flower extracts.

Histamine is a chemical messenger that promotes wakefulness in the brain.

Many over-the-counter (OTC) sleeping pills contain a sedating antihistamine such as diphenhydramine (Nytol, Unisom, Sominex, Sleepinal, Compoz, Zzzquil) or doxylamine (Unisom) or promethazine (also Sominex). They may cause side effects of daytime drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness and memory problems.

OTC drugs that contain both a hypnotic antihistamine and a pain killer can also be used at bedtime to promote sleep. Such products that contain the pain killer acetaminophen plus an antihistamine are: Tylenol PM, Aspirin-Free Anacin PM, Excedrin PM, and Midol PM. Advil PM contains the pain killer ibuprofen and the hypnotic antihistamine diphenhydramine. NyQuil combines antihistamines with alcohol.

About two thirds of menstruating women lose sleep during their menstrual period. According to a poll by the National Sleep Foundation, 67% of women who

53 Coping with diseases

ROSTATE enlargement is generally a disease of eld erly men; and it is characterized by urine retention, leading to severe pains, anxiety, discomfort, and sometimes, loss of consciousness.

The full function of the prostate is not yet fully understood by scientists all over the world. However, it is known that as a gland, it produces fluid called ‘semen’ which is released by men, at the climax of sexual activity. The prostate gland will only grow and function under the influence of male hormones, the most important of which is called TESTOSTERONE, produced from the testicles.

The prostate gland surrounds the neck of the bladder and the first part of the urethra goes through it. An enlarged prostate, presses on the urethra and decreases the size of the opening through it, or it forms a dam which holds back part of the urine.

The causes of prostate enlargement are not very precise, but they are associated with hormonal imbalance; and available information indicates that most men who use drugs to improve their sexual performance tend to activate the level of their Testosterone hormone beyond the threshold, and consequently, they often end up developing prostate enlargement and related complications.

The enlargement can be a simple type called Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, or it may be cancerous, that is, Malignant Prostatic Hyperplasia. Both the benign and malignant types usually present similar symptoms of frequency in urination, hesitancy, urgency, trickling flow of urine and in advanced stages, there is acute urine retention as a result of blockage of the urinary tract.

A man suffering from enlarged prostate will first notice that he has to get up oftener than usual, to pass urine at night. The stream will be small and slow to start. A long time may be required to empty the bladder.

Many men with enlarged prostate may have no further disturbance than the “nuisance” symptoms stated earlier.

Other cases will get worse until the patient cannot empty the bladder, and must resort to a catheter for relief.

Unfortunately, after the urine has once begun to be drawn by catheter, the danger of bladder infection is great. Also, the symptoms and problems of cystitis are likely to occur.

Treatment and Control In Holistic Lifecare, it is strongly advocated that the best prospects of controlling Prostate Enlargement, is by going back to Nature. When symptoms of an enlarged prostate are noticed, it is advisable to avoid spices, condiments and alcoholic beverages; to lessen bladder irritation, which may promote infection. It is also important to avoid cold conditions or getting the feet wet, or holding the urine for too long.

Prostate Enlargement is not new in African context. In fact, ethno-medicinal research has shown that herbal remedies are very effective, without complications or side effects.

The holistic natural remedy being suggested for Prostate Enlargement is a combination of natural extracts of herbs such as Saw Palmetto, Cocos nucifera, Khaya ivorensis and Lycopersicum esculentum.

For further information and consultation on Holistic Lifecare research and services, especially on Blood Infections, Infertility, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Chronic Debilitating Conditions as well as mental and social problems, please call on: 0803-330-3897 or visit: Mosebolatan Holistic Lifecare Centre, Adeyalo Layout, Ogbere-Tioya, Off Olorunsogo Express Bridge, Ibadan. Website: www.holisticlifecare.com. Distance is no barrier, we can send remedies by courier if need be. We also have facilities for accommodation, admission and hospitalization in a serene and homely environment.

menstruate toss and turn for two or three days during every menstrual cycle. This may be because of premenstrual insomnia or because of painful menstrual cramps or other bodily discomforts during their period. Like people who are jet-lagged or depressed and women with PMS, women with premenstrual insomnia lack deep stage-sleep.

Drugs such as Midol PM taken at night time give relief of menstrual pain and sleeplessness.

Some drugs are not OTC drugs and are controlled.

Controlled substances that are used as sedative/hypnotics generally require a prescription before purchase and usage. These include zalepon (Sonata, Starnoc), zolpidem (Ambien, Ambien CR, Stilnox, and Sublinox), and eszopiclone (Lunesta).

Zalepon and zolpidem are used to induce sleep rather than maintain sleep.

Eszopiclone is used to induce and maintain sleep. Zalepon

and zolpidem are effective sleep aids, but depending on individuals, may produce side effects of morning grogginess, dizziness, headache, nausea, drug tolerance, rebound insomnia, difficulty swallowing or breathing, dangerous sleeprelated behaviours (parasomnias) such as sleepwalking and performing learned activities (such as driving) under a state of sleep or hypnosis (sleep-driving).

They may also cause new or worsening depression and suicidal thoughts or actions.

Eszopiclone has some similar and some different side effects.

Stilnox-related automatism has been well publicized. In Australia in 2007, it was reported that a man who fell to his death from a balcony may have been sleepwalking under the influence of Stilnox (zolpidem). An Australian student fell from the Sydney Harbour Bridge while under the influence of the same drug.

To be continued

54

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Lekki: The making of tourism zone

•Beachfront at Lekki town

L

AGOS State, with more than 180 kilometres of lush white sandy beachfront, myriads of islands some inhabited and others lying fallow, probably boasts of the highest tourism credential in West Africa. Hitherto, not much has been done in the area of maximally harnessing these gifts of nature and turning them into real value-for-money tourism assets that could lure tourist traffic from far and near.

One council development

area has, however, decided to take the gauntlet and use tourism as a tool for socioeconomic transformation, and, in the process, put the area on the tourism map of Africa. The place is the Lekki Local Council Development Area (LCDA). Before, to the knowledgeable, the LCDA, with its tourism asset, was just a huge waste of God’s gift.

Lekki’s foray into tourism goes back more than 100 years.The colonialist saw the potential of the zone as a tourism haven. That was why they decided to build

a chalet where they could go and unwind and generally have a qualitative leisure time. That gave birth to the place that was later made more famous as the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s detention camp in the 60s.

Aside the centre, there was no major high profile tourism project by the government until in the 90s when the then military governor of the state, Colonel Buba Marwa, developed the Eko Tourist Beach Resort, Akodo in Lekki. A private sector initiative was also put

in place by Otunba Wanle Akinboboye when he opened the luxurious La Campagne Beach Resort, Ikegun in the early 90s.

Currently, it is as if the scale has been removed and everybody can now see that this part of the state is a tourism gold mine. A free trade zone will soon be operational. There is also a 27hole golf course being built.

For the Lekki area, the future is looking bright.

One would then ask: What in the area of natural tourism asset does the Lekki area have to offer? It is mind-

bungling. It has history.

Scattered on the beachfront of the area is the slave baraccon used during the slave trade, the Refugee Island, the Freedom Flag, the Awo Detention Centre, some colonial relics at Orimedu and many others.

Of course, there is the close to 30 kilometres of white sandy beach, including the famous Eleko Beach. The council also boasts of about 16 lakes plus the lagoon areas and smaller islands.

It is in the light of this that the LCDA chair, Barrister Mukandaisi Ogidan, decided to turn the area into a tourism zone. He is the first LCDA chair in Nigeria to do so. It is history and this is also to his credit as an administrator.

Asked why the declaration of the area as a tourism zone, Ogidan said with the declaration, the council will welcome investors in the area of tourism and will be given all the necessarily cooperation to put projects in place and have returns on their investments.

On hand as the special guest of honour at the declaration ceremony was the president of the World Council of Mayors from the United States of America

‘

Currently, it is as if the scale has been removed and everybody can now see that this part of the state is a tourism gold mine.

A free trade zone will soon be operational. There is also a 27-hole golf course being built. For the Lekki area, the future is looking bright.

’

who came with his entourage, Mr. James Walls. Others were a former commissioner in Lagos State, Dr Tola Kasali; World Council of Mayors Tourism Ambassador to Nigeria, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye; traditional rulers from the council and other notable individuals.

In his speech, Ogidan said he envisaged the ceremony as a catalyst for the

•L-R: Otunba Wanle Akinboboye; hon. Razak Bamidele Kasali, Lekki LCDA Vice Chairman, Mayor James Walls, Hon. Mukandaisi Ogidan, Chairman, Lekki LCDA and Dr. Tola Kasali, former commisioner, Lagos State

Tourism News Bayelsa to turn Glory Castle to hotel HE Bayelsa State gov T ernment has decided to convert the multi-billion

naira edifice, Glory Castle, to a six-star hotel as it also expressed its wish to bring back the hitherto much criticized African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) ceremony to the state.

The idea of the castle, which is currently used as a lodge, was initiated and built by the administration of Governor D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha, but subsequent administrations, including those of Goodluck Jonathan and Chief Timipre Sylva completed the edifice which is of international standard and could accommodate many top government officials, including gover-

•Gov. Seriaki Dickson

nors and presidents at the same time.

Governor Dickson’s move to convert it to a six-star hotel is aimed at further boosting the tourism potential in the state, it was learnt.

Considering its magnificent nature, it will be the first of its kind in the country when completed.

Criticisms had trailed the birth of the multi-billion naira edifice because it has nothing to do with the common man in the state as it was seen as a waste of resources.

Governor Dickson, who dropped the hint of converting the building to a hotel when he hosted some Nollywood stars who were in the state for a symposium on the prospects of indigenous films in Nigeria to a state dinner, also mentioned of the state government’s desire to build a film village as part of government’s drive to project the state’s vast

potential to the outside world.

Governor Dickson also expressed his administration’s intention to collaborate with the AMAA to actualize the project to enable the academy hold its activities annually in the state.

It would be recalled that the award ceremony attracted a plethora of criticisms, following the huge sum of money expended on it without corresponding positive effect on the state.

I

NTERNATIONAL arrivals were up in all regions between January and June 2012.

Asia and the Pacific (+8per cent) led growth by region, boosted by the recovery of Japanese inbound and outbound tourism as well as by the continued strong performance of other major source markets throughout the region. Destinations in South Asia and SouthEast Asia (both +9 per cent) showed some of the best results worldwide.

“Although Asia was affected by the economic crisis of 20082009 due to its strong linkages with other economies, the region has bounced back quickly and is today a leader in the global economy. This is clearly reflected in its tourism figures,” said Mr. Rifai.

Europe (+4 per cent), the most visited destination in the world, consolidated its record

Africa records s

•Rifai

growth of 2011, despite continuing economic volatility in the Eurozone. Results were above the regional average in Central and Eastern Europe (+7 per cent) where many destinations saw double-digit

55

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

•Leisure activities at La Campagne Tropicana Resort, Ikegun in Lekki LCDA

transformation of the area.

His words:“We see this kind of transformation as the only way we can bring about the economic potential of this local government development area. Just like Awo said in the 60s that this place would be the best in terms of development.

“Thank God, this is coming true while we are still here and while our former leaders are still present. We have seen our brother, Mayor James Walls. Their coming here today is good.

It is also to secure the assurance that when they come here to invest, you will be prepared. We will give them every co-operation required for the transformation of the LCDA.” The President of the World Council of Mayors spoke on why he decided to be part of the history.

His words: “It is truly an honour to be here for the declaration of the Lekki Tourism Zone. Ambassador Wanle Akinboboye called me on the phone and said Mayor, I need you to be in Nigeria next week.

And I said to the ambassador, are you crazy? I am in the middle of an election, trying to re-elect our president, Barack Obama, and you want me to stop what I am doing and travel to Nigeria, and the ambassador said yes, and I replied okay.

“And before you know it,

I am here in Nigeria. I came to Nigeria because this is something very important.

Prior to becoming the president of the World Council of Mayors, I served as the vice president for tourism and asAmbassador Akinboboye told you, my first experience of the motherland was right here in Nigeria and right here in Lekki. Since 2008, I have had the opportunity to visit the motherland and here in Nigeria over 30 times.

“So, when you talk about tourism, it is very important because men and women

•Otunba Wanle Akinboboye (second from left) and Mayor James Walls( third from left) inspecting a bus stop with ‘Lekki Tourism Zone’ sing post.

ds seven per cent tourism growth growth, as well as in Western Europe (+5 per cent). By contrast, demand in Southern and Mediterranean Europe (+1 per cent) slowed down, but on top of a very strong 2011 and partly due to the recovery of destinations in North Africa and the Middle East.

The Americas (+5 per cent) grew in line with the world average, with Central America (+7 per cent) and South America (+6 per cent) recording the strongest results. In fact, South America has been one of the sub-regions with the fastest tourism growth of recent years.

Destinations in North America grew at 4 per cent, a relatively high rate

and brothers and sisters of African descent need to reconnect with the motherland. I believe it is through projects like this that will give African-Americans, Africans in Europe and others an opportunity not only to come back and reconnect but come back and reinvest in mother Africa. So, today, this tourism zone is an opportunity for Africans to come back and re-establish their ground and reinvest in our community and I will leave you with this: This

is our day, truly it is. This is our hour, and, as Africans, we shall make sure we do not miss our time.”

Dr Kasali went down the memory lane to talk of the efforts of the leaders of the area to open up the place in the past.

“When you talk about the economy of an area, you talk about commerce, industry and tourism. We thank God we now have the Lekki Free Trade Zone in this area.

At the beginning of this free trade zone, it was like a tug of war because we needed enlightenment and a lot of talking to let our people know that this is the future that we have been talking about.

“Once we have the free trade zone, we are opening the place for commerce and industry and then when we have the tourism project, then we are opening up the place for the whole world. I believe and I am so passionate about it, that we haven’t seen anything yet,”Dr Kasali said.

Otunba Akinboboye, who is also the owner of the La Campagne Beach Resort, said the status of the council is a welcomed development and promised to work with the council to develop the area.

Lekki is about an hour drive from the city of Lagos, off the Lagos-Epe Expressway on the right.

for a mature subregion, while growth in the Caribbean (+5 per cnt) remained buoyant, consolidating 2011 results.

In Africa (+7 per cent), the return of tourist flows to Tunisia is reflected in the results of North Africa (+11per cent). Likewise, the rebound of Egypt is clearly mirrored in the results of the Middle-East (+0.7 per cent). Destinations in Sub-Saharan Africa (+6 percent) continued to show strong results, following the good growth rates of this sub-region in previous years.

Adams decries neglect of Yoruba language

•Otunba Adams and other guests at the event

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HE National Co-ordinator of the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC) and Chief Promoter of Olokun Fes tival Foundation, Otunba Gani Adams, has once again decried the decline in the usage of the Yoruba language. He made this observation at the grand finale of the Osun Osogbo festival recently held in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

The OPC leader spoke at the group’s celebration ground after visiting the Osun Osogbo Grove as part of the group’s annual tradition during the festival.

He said it was acceptable to say culture holds the streams of all moral values and language is one of the values that culture holds. According to him, he was worried that as a language becomes weak and unused, the ideas, philosophy of the culture of that language disappears.

He said: “A language transmits the ideology of a culture.

Osun Osogbo, as an expression,for instance, cannot be given an exact interpretation in any other language because it is an ideology that intrinsically belongs to the Yoruba culture.”

The OPC leader also identified the problems facing the Yoruba language as the “the unfortunate influence of other foreign languages acceptable as the media of instruction in schools and of social interaction among elite. It is very hard to see a home in Yorubaland that is not encouraging speaking of foreign languages, especially English, among their children.”

He said many Yoruba parents now measure fluency in the English language as a yardstick for measuring intelligence. He said the Yoruba language and other adopted languages like English could be used side by side without damaging one for the other.

Adams said by allowing the Yoruba language to die, the values and ideologies that the Yoruba people need to nurture their existence as descendants of Oduduwa will die as well.

He said the Yoruba people should see the language as an important aspect of their lives and every thing should be done to keep it alive.

The OPC Osun Osogbo festival also witness songs and dances and other creativer cultural expressions. On the band stand was a popular Yoruba musician, St. Janet who played her hearts out to the appreciaition and admiration of the OPC members and their guests.

NCPC chair charges air carriers on service delivery T HE Chairman of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Archbishop Nicholas .D. Okoh, has charged Air Carriers for the 2012 Christian pilgrimage to ensure they deliver on their services.

The Chairman gave this charge recently in Abuja at the signing of Air Carriers Agreement by NCPC and the two selected air carriers that would airlift Nigerian pilgrims to Israel, Rome and Greece this year.

The Chairman, who described the signing of the Air Carriers Agreement as a very major process in getting this year’s pilgrimage actualized, tasked the two se-

lected air carriers on quality of aircraft. He stressed that the competence of operators should not be undermined.

The Chairman who was very passionate about the quality of the aircraft that would airlift Nigerian pilgrims this year in view of the recent untoward happenings in the Nigerian aviation sector.

“Mr President has said that you should ensure you have new aircraft. We will not like to manage an aircraft,” he said.

He further stated that the commission was also interested in the age of the aircraft they intend to use in flying Nigerian pilgrims to the holy land this year.

The NCPC Chairman, who is also the Primate, Church

•Archbishop Okoh of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, further charged the air carriers on quality of service, especially in Nigeria with their staff.

His words, “We expect courtesy. We expect that you will not have problem of route mapping”.

In his own remarks, the

Executive Secretary of NCPC, Mr John Kennedy Opara, stressed that even after the signing of the Air Carrier Agreement and any of the air carriers failed to abide by the terms and conditions of the agreement, that the commission would not hesitate to invalidate the agreement. However, he appealed to the air carriers to ensure they keep to the terms of agreement.

The NCPC scribe affirmed that the commission would provide the enabling environment for the air carriers to operate successfully without hitches, while assuring them that NCPC would also provide the pilgrims for them to airlift.

56 READER’S VIEW

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Local Content Bill and the insurance industry G

ROWING the Nigerian economy can never be through a one-off government policy, but by developing a bouquet of policies whose implementation is intricately interwoven to achieve desired economic prosperity. The manifestations of the economic growth therefrom will be in the form of increased production of goods and services, higher industrial capacity utilisation, direct and indirect employment generation, improved commercial and trading activities and ultimately, improved standard of living of the citizens and higher revenue to government from company and personal income taxes. And so the cycle of economic prosperity continues.

It is in that context that the government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan deserves commendation for signing into law in 2010 the Local Content Bill. The implementation of the law has begun to have impact on the economy in terms of human capacity development in all spheres of social and economic endeavor, especially oil and gas, generation of more employment opportunities and greater retention of capital within the economy that would have been spent as consultancy fees and salary for expatriates. Of particular interest is the current development in the insurance industry where underwriters and insurance brokers have shown greater capacity to insure and, to a reasonable extent, reinsure the high net-worth properties of government and its agencies and parastatals.

Zeroing in on the oil and gas sector, Nigeria’s economy has been the greatest beneficiary with the insurance and reinsurance of the properties and equipment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) joint venture valued in millions of dollars. Years past, it used to be Lloyd of London that handled the account and repatriated all its gains, leaving the Nigerian economy high and dry. That is now history because the Local Content Law has effectively put paid to that. Perhaps in anticipation of a time like this, insurance underwriters and insurance brokers have shown keener interests in the oil and gas sector of the national economy and have gone all out to acquire enormous experience and expertise in oil and gas insurance. A considerable number now have the technical capacity to participate in providing effective cover for dollarized assets.

The account of the NNPC joint venture is the focus here.

Quite unfortunately, some insurers and brokers see the account as an opportunity to earn a share of the national cake so they desperately seek to be one of the brokers to insure NNPC’s multi-million dollars assets. They fail, deliberately or ignorantly to appreciate that the NNPC is a business entity being managed in the best national interest by a crop of competent and skilled Nigerians. These skilled NNPC staff ensure due diligence in awarding contracts and in the appointment of consultants as is compelling on all governments, agencies and parastatals in the country.

Transparency has been the hallmark of their operations and that has translated into improved economic prosperity for the country.

The due diligence which effectively shot out some brokers in the insurance of NNPC assets did not meet well with them. National interest, they felt, should be sacrificed for their selfish interest. Instead of doing a self-appraisal to

•President Goodluck Jonathan Joy WARIKKE-BRIGGS

determine why they failed to secure the NNPC account and brace for a better presentation the next year, they are stridently trying to discredit the NNPC management which acted in the best interest of the country. They alleged that the NNPC had violated the Local Content Law by reducing the number of brokers handling its account instead of increasing the number so as to spread the risk. They just refused to realise that effective insurance is not about the number but the capacity and competence of those employed.

The kernel of the Local Content Law is the promotion of the involvement of indigenous companies and manpower and the use of locally produced goods and services in all areas of the petroleum industry. The implication is that if the NNPC finds only one company qualified and competent it can appoint only that company without any sentiments or prejudice. In so doing, NNPC would not have violated the local content law so long as the company is indigenously owned. The law does not compel NNPC to appoint any number of insurance brokers to insure its assets, only just that the broker must be an indigenous entity.

These aggrieved brokers needed to be reminded that providing cover for the assets of NNPC is not job for the boys. Rather, it is a serious business for competent insurance brokers who show character and capacity to

provide effective cover for the assets of NNPC joint venture.

It gladdens the heart that they have not been able to fault the process of selecting the preferred brokers. The NNPC duly advertised in some national newspapers for interested brokers to express interest in the insurance of their properties and the advert specified all the requirements for qualification. If the requirements were inadequate, the brokers should have, in national interest, made the point rather than wait till after they were not deemed qualified to insure NNPC properties.

The NNPC has consultants working for it in all spheres of life – health, education, communications, food and hygiene, engineering etc based on their capacity to deliver quality service and where any of them shows inability or complacency, its services are dispensed with without any row on the pages of the newspaper. So why will some insurance brokers resort to discrediting the NNPC for employing due diligence in picking fewer brokers to insure its properties?

The action of these few brokers indicates that they are desperate. They probably were passengers in the last dispensation when a consortium of 34 insurance brokers handled the account, thus earned money without offering corresponding services. That is a most dishonourable way of earning a living. For sure, if they did offer quality service, the NNPC would have gladly reconsidered them first. Gone are the days when brokers who had no credible base and expertise could wish for and get reasonable accounts like that of the NNPC without justifying why they deserve to be retained as NNPC insurer. Rather than looking for ways to improve the quality of their services and how to better package their bid in future, they are dissipating energy by impinging on the credibility of NNPC under the cover of an association. They forget that the cover for NNPC assets is not an association issue but that of the competence, credibility, capacity and expertise of the company expressing interest in the insurance of the assets.

The truth is that good corporate governance in Nigeria is taking a stronger foothold over and above the desire of a few to maintain the status quo. Both the Local Content Law and the Petroleum Industry Law require people of courage and character to get Nigeria flying to attain Vision 20:2020.

The nation has the capacity. The insurance industry can play a significant role in the attainment of this goal. Central to the role of the insurance industry in achieving this are the insurance brokers. Without a strong insurance broking sector the insurance industry cannot go far and by implication the economy will be in danger.

Therefore, brokers must be more up and doing in helping to drive the national economy positively through competent service delivery. Offering low quality service which may discredit the broking sector of the insurance industry is undesirable. Quacks and charlatans who masquerade as brokers but get plum accounts through their godfathers are a threat to the credibility of the insurance industry.

Employing unethical practices or winning accounts through godfatherism must end.

•Joy wrote in from the Delta State University, Abraka

TRIBUTE

OdunayoAdeusi: One year after

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T is difficult to figure out what was in the mind of the old sage, Job, when he said that man born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. With this quaint saying, I open the tribute to a dearly beloved friend and colleague, Ayo Adeusi, who transited this world terrestrial to the celestialon September 15, 2011.

Going by the volume and quality of tributes paid to him at the various burial programmes, it would seem that all that needed to be said had been said and all that should be written had been written. This may be true of some but not of Ayo. Men, they say, are in sizes. There are one-in-ones, two-inones, three-in-ones, four-in-ones five-in-ones and there is a ten-thousand-in-one in the order of King David. Ayo was a five-in-one, a manifestation of divine grace par excellence.

Accounting was his profession and means of livelihood, Christian music was his passion and service to God, and humanity was his life. In singing, he towered above his contemporaries; however with the organ, he had no equal. As they say, when grace is upon a man, those that compete with the man will not be able to beat him; those that can beat him will not compete with him. This was true of Ayo; a living legend, a quintessential organist almost from cradle to grave.

He tried to excel in virtually every role that life called him to play and was self-sacrificial, almost to a fault.It as a tribute to constancy of his character that he membered in the same church for about 30 years, where

he rose to become a Choir Director and Pastor before his final exit.

There are men who look it but are not it, and there are men who are it but don’t look it. Ayo looked it and was it. He had character and stature, both perfectly joined together and in measured proportions. He was enervated by challenges but never unnerved by life’s many obstacles. He rather took them in their strides when they came. He looked so

Ayo was an embodiment of a total man: mentally alert, emotionally intelligent and cognitively astute.

Above all, he knew God and served Him. He was therefore strong and did exploits especially in the music ministry. This is more to the credit of his forbears who brought him up in the way of the Lord and a family that supported his aspirations on earth.

well you think he could never be sick, and he exuded overflowing joy as if he would never be sad. Ayo was a friend to the unfriendly. Adeusi was a help to the helpless.

I met Ayo in the early 90s when I came to Lagos on an assignment and eventual transfer. Some accept you as they meet with you and some after some consideration. Ayo accepted me before he met me! I don’t know how, but in an unusual show of affection, he started calling me the pet name commonly associated with my name in my formative years.

Ayo was an embodiment of a total man: mentally alert, emotionally intelligent and cognitively astute. Above all, he knew God and served Him. He was therefore strong and did exploits especially in the music ministry. This is more to the credit of his forbears who brought him up in the way of the Lord and a family that supported his aspirations on earth. Ayo was planted in the house of the Lord and indeed flourished in His courts.

All these qualified him for what he really was: a leader of men. He was a good influence on men and allowed himself to be influenced. I recall one particular instance when I asked him why he was not writing ICAN examinations, since I felt he stood a chance of passing. We never discussed it again and I never knew he took it to mind.

My joy knew no bounds when, one day, he called me that he had indeed passed the final examinations of ICAN and was calling to thank all those who encouraged him!

When he picked me up from my hotel on the Gala Nite of Annual Accountants Conference in 2010, together with our spouses, it was our first time of extended social interaction which turned out to be the only time.

Nothing alluded more to the permanence of impermanence in the affairs of men that the 2011 Gala Nite was his wake-keep service!

Sad but true, inexplicable but inescapable.

Well, into the realm of the heavenlies I dare not enter as those who must question death must also question birth. Ayo’s demise charges us to live with strength and courage and to learn to sing through life. He did not allow the constraints of time, space and the failing of human beings to hold him back as he lived a God’s general.Indeed, the world has lost an illustrious son and heaven has gained a general.

Heaven will always honour her own generals. That explains why heaven held the clouds and rain for the period of his burial and internment, not even a whimper of rain even though it was in the peak of the wet season. Added to that, the good priests in the church will testify to the angelic atmosphere and divine order at the services.

Surely for now we miss him. We have sent him forth the best we could but we still miss him. As heaven honours His servant, so must earth send them forth the best way they can.

So till the resurrection morning, Ayo Adeusi adieu!

•KayodeAdebiyi, a chartered accountant, writes from Abuja

THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

57

Governors call for equitable distribution of nation’s wealth HREE governors ignited interest in the state of the nation in a town hall meeting Friday calling for the unbundling of the skewed federal system and equity in the distribution of resources in the country.

Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan,(Delta State) Peter Obi (Anambra State) and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom State) sat on the high table at the Federal Palace hotel in Lagos among other notable figures questioning the lopsided share the federal government holds in the budget and how it has imperiled development in the states and deepened Nigeria’s dependence on oil.

Former Commonwealth scribe, Chief Emeka Anyaoku presided at the event organised by Hallmark Business Magazine.

Also present was Christian Oboh, the managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission.

In the meeting interspersed with humour and audience participation, the governors expressed faith and cheerful doubts about the Nigeria system.

“If we have a proper federation, it will be best for this country,” said Governor Obi, who was the first to stand on the podium for questioning from Steve Sakur, the famous BBC host of HardTalk, the irreverent weekly one-hour television show.

Sakur’s question, though hard-hitting, lacked some of the intimate understanding of the Nigerian condition, so the questions often were generic, leaving the governors and other guests to proffer answers that were sometimes longwinded.

The governors fielded

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n Segun AJIBOYE n questions ranging from the failings of the economy, power, the crisis in the oil sector, environmental pollution, social dislocation such as infant mortality and the relations between the states and the federal government.

The common trait of the governors’ speeches reflected frustrations with the overarching presence of the federal power which is stifling their abilities to pwerform optimally as state chief executives.

Governor Uduaghan, who was the second to take the podium and received the toughest questions, had to contend with Sakur over his claim that Nigeria’s infant mortality was rising. But he focused on his pet project, Delta Beyond Oil, that seeks to anticipate a future where the oil wells have dried up and other resources, especially agriculture, will be the source of sustenance.

His submission still focused on federal frustration of the states’ efforts to supply power because states are allowed only to generate power but not to distribute. But he also noted that “most of our power generation depends on gas, but most oil companies prospect for oil alone.”

The states of the Niger Delta, including Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom, have repeatedly stressed the failure of the Independent Power Plants to fulfil their potential.

Uduaghan noted that the prices of gas are high and that is why they are perpetually being flared in the Niger Delta with all its implications for the environment.

He also spoke on the

difficulty of cleansing the environment, explaining that soil, air and water have suffered deep pollution and the major obstacle is getting the proper data and without data the international community cannot work with the Nigerian government to deploy the right technology for the work.

Only the UNDP has such statistics, he said, and it only covers Ogoni land. The international communities are required to intervene in this with resources but the absence of a proper statistic endangers any effort to cleanse the environment.

Governor Akpabio was the third and he spoke on federalism and used the phrase “unbundling the federal system.”Speaking with verve, he spoke of how he had transformed his state in the level of youth empowerment with education for the so-called house boys and girls, checkmated the spread of poliomyelitis and unleashed infrastructure development in the state.

Explaining the challenges of this democracy, he noted that “we are coming from a fractured system of military dictatorship where leaders did not know the difference between state and personal money.” The system, he cheered on, was now refined because of the corps of the state governors now in office.

NDDC boss Oboh said signs of the impact of his commission are beginning to show, asserting that about 50 projects have been completed since he took over the commission.

“The funds are being put at the disposal of the projects and development will get to the people.”

•From left, Governor Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, Governor Uduaghan of Delta, Steve Sakur of BBC Chief Anyaoku and Governor Obi of Anambra State, at the event...yesterday

NBA urges Jonathan to reinstate Salami n Adekunle JIMOH, Ilorin n HE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ilorin branch, Kwara State, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to reinstate the suspended Appeal Court President, Justice Issa Ayo Salami, as recommended by the National Judicial Commission (NJC).

The chairman of the branch, Rafiu Balogun, who spoke this yesterday in Ilorin, at the legal year/ valedictory court session for the retiring Chief Judge of the state, Justice Raliat Elelu-Habeeb, urged the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) to act now, adding that he would be judged by posterity.

His words: “In as much as the strong point being canvassed in some quarters to oppose his lordship’s reinstatement is that, the matter is subjudice; it is our

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humble view that the said reason is not substantial or cogent enough so as to constitute a stumbling block to his reinstatement, having at the back of our mind the fact that the case his lordship instituted was pending in court when he was suspended from the office and the NJC who is a strong contender or party in the suit retraced its step and directed his reinstatement.

“Therefore, the determination of the suit is absolutely irrelevant and the suit has become academic exercise. What the president ought to do in the circumstance is to reinstate Justice Salami as directed by the NJC, who actually called for his lordship retirement and/or suspension. We strongly believe that Justice Salami, no doubt, is one of the finest justices in our Appellate Court and must not be humiliated out of office.

Also, the doyen of senior

advocates of Nigeria (SANs) in the state, Aliu Alarape Salman, said that the NJC erred in recommending the suspension of the Appeal Court president.

He said: “It is our submission that the president should be advised to reinstate Justice Salami or he will meet the anger of the NBA,” the first SAN in Kwara State added.

In her speech, Justice EleluHabeeb urged judicial officers to adhere strictly to their oath of office to avoid shortcomings, adding that “when judges learn to stick and work in accordance with the oath of office they swore to and face their work diligently and honestly, then the judiciary will be a better place.

“We can only promote the integrity of the judiciary and the doctrine of separation of powers when we respect ourselves and we do not offer ourselves for services outside our judicial callings.”

58 NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Excess Crude Account hits $ 8.02bn •As FAAC shares N570bn among three tiers

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HE Excess Crude Account has risen to $8.027 billion.

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at its meeting yesterday transferred the sum of N124.09 billion to the excess crude account to reach the new level.

The committee also distributed the sum of N570 billion among the three tiers of government for the month of August.

N440.792 billion of this was for statutory disbursement, N60.437billion was shared as Value Added Tax (VAT) while N26.214 billion was deducted from the excess crude account to augment the shortfall in total revenue projected for the month of August.

Also shared among the three tiesr of government was the sum of N35.549 billion for the SURE P programme and the now steady monthly contribution of N7.617 billion from the refund to FAAC made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Giving the breakdown, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Jonah Otunla, said the gross revenue of N564.884 billion received for the month was lower than the N825.396 billion budgeted for August.

The decline in revenue was N260.512 billion, which he attributed to "a drop in crude oil production and lifting operations as a result of Force

Nduka CHIEJINA (Assistant Editor) Majore declared at Bonny Terminal and shutdown of Balema Gas Plant and Trans Niger Pipeline as well as decrease in production sharing contract (PSC) and Modified Carry Arrangement (MCA)."

On the refund by NNPC, the AGF said the NNPC has so far refunded about N99 billion to FAAC in 13 installments.

For the month of August,

the federal government received N206.726 billion or 52.

68 per cent of the total statutory disbursements; state governments got N104.854 billion (26.72 per cent) while the local governments were allocated N80.838 billion (20.60 per cent).

N42.608 billion was distributed as 13 per cent oil and gas mineral derivation to oil producing states.

The gross revenue from VAT increased by N6.527 billion from the N53.910 billion shared in July.

PUBLIC NOTICE DEITY FLAMES CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY NOTICE is hereby given that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja, for registration as required by Section 673 of the Companies And Allied Matters Act, 1990.

The Trustees of DEITY FLAMES CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY are: 1. Pastor Cornel Okwesilieze 2. Bro Peter Essiet 3. Bro Chukwudi kalu 4. Bro Victor Imohi 5. Bro Remigius Nwachukwu The objectives of DEITY FLAMES CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY are: 1. To preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, salvation, end time message, etc 2. To help d poor and d needy.

ANY objection should be forwarded to the Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission, Area 11, Garki Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

Sign: Sis. Peace Nnabugwu (Secretary)

PUBLIC NOTICE THE GLORY OF GOD HEALING AND DELIVERANCE CHURCH This is to inform the general public that the above named organization has applied for registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part C of Companies and Allied Matters Acts 1, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: (1.)

Mrs Theresa .D. Isibor (2.)

Louis Thunka (3.)

Abubarkar Dauda (4.)

Lucky Dauda AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ 2. To embark on healing and deliverance in the name of Jesus christ 3. To embark on evangelism Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission Plot 420, Tigirs Cresent, Garki, Abuja within 28 days of the publication.

Signed: Nkenchor Endurance (Esq) 14 Abeokuta Express way Mangoro Bus-stop, Agege, Lagos State

THE NATION, Saturday, September 15, 2012

NEWS 59

Three killed as army storm kidnappers' den in Owerri HERE was palpable tension in Owerri, the Imo State capital, yesterday morning, when soldiers stormed a suspected kidnappers' hideout killing three people.

The killing which caused heavy traffic gridlock along the ever busy Control Road, according to eyewitnesses occurred when a team of soldiers from the 32 Field Artillery Brigade stormed the place in

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...youths protest killing n Okodili NDIDI, Owerri n

response to a distress call and engaged the hoodlums in a gun duel.

The sources further disclosed that residents in the crime-prone area, were awakened by the early morning shooting that threw the

…relations flay lifting of Dana suspension

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n Osagie OTABOR, Benin n N Edo State High Court presided over

by Justice Esther Edigin, yesterday awarded N5m damages against the police over the arrest and detention of Reverend David Ugolor.

Rev. Ugolor was arrested on July 27, by the police after being named as the sponsor of the murder of private secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde.

He was later identified by one suspect, Usman Maisamari who said Ugolor gave him N200,000 for the job out of N20m agreed sum.

Ugolor filed a motion on notice at the court seeking for N500m damages and a declaration that his arrest and detntion were unlawful and a violation of his fundalmental human rights.

He also demanded an apology by the police to be published in four leading national newspapers.

Justice Edigin in her ruling yesterday, earlier threw away a motion for extention filed by the police.

She held that the reason adduced in the supporting affidavits were contradictory and therefore unreliable, adding that the affidavit proved that the respondents were served.

"I find that the respondent, in a bid to pull wool over this court’s eyes failed. It is an application unknown to law. It lacks merit and is appropriately dismissed."

Delivery judgment on the motion on notice filed by Ugolor, Justice Edigin said there was no reasonable suspicion to warrant the arrest and detention of Ugolor, adding that Ugolor ought to have been released or charged to court as stipulated in the 1999 constitution as amended.

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operatives."

When contacted, the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Vitalis Onugu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident.

He said: " As at the moment, the details are still sketchy, but we are having conflicting signal about the incident, but the command will properly investigate the incident to ascertain what actually conspired".

n Chris OJI, Enugu n HE police Enugu yesterday shot dead a suspected car snatcher and an armed robber while two others escaped with bullet wounds.

The 3-man robbery gang was confronted at a fuel station while fuelling the car by the police who were working on a tip-off.

They had snatched the car from one Ani Emeka Jonathan at gunpoint along Port Harcourt Street, Enugu.

After robbing his victim and snatching his car, a Mazda 626 with registration number, ENU 751 AA, the victim’s friend immediately alerted the police who were on a stop and search at a nearby bus stop.

The police immediately swung into action and sited the robbers at a nearby filling station refueling the car.

On sighting the security operatives, the robbers opened fire on them and the police responded with superior fire power, hitting one down while two others escaped with bullet wounds.

n Okodili NDIDI, Owerri n

Oyerinde: Court awards N5m damages against Police

hunting hoodlums, adding that several innocent youths have been gunned down in the process.

The aggrieved youths confirmed that one of the deceased was a contractor in one of the buildings around the area who was killed in error. "If we don't show our grievance, this senseless killings won't end, we can't continue to watch while innocent people are killed by trigger-happy security

Police gun down car snatcher, as two escape with bullet wounds in Enugu

Imo community bids Ajuonuma, tearful farewell

KE-AWALLA community in Isiekenese, Ideator South Council Area of Imo State, was yesterday, was in tears as the remains of former Group General Manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC), Public Affairs Division, Dr. Levi Chibuike Ajuonuma, were finally committed to mother earth.

Ajuonuma was among the victims of the last June 3rd Dana air crash in Lagos State, which claimed the lives of over 150 Nigerians.

His corpse arrived his compound in a Mercedes ambulance with plate No.TOS 7 around 2pm when sympathizers who came from far and near had almost deserted the venue of the burial after waiting for a number of hours.

In his sermon during the funeral service, Pastor Ezekiel Jimoh of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) Ministry, enjoined the people to always do things they can be remembered for while alive.

He urged the bereaved family not to cry like people without faith but to continue to put God first in every thing they do as long as they live on earth.

Speaking earlier, the elder brother to the deceased, Chief Emmanuel Ike Ajuonuma, expressed sadness over the death of his younger brother whom he said should have been alive to look after him and the entire family.

He described the lifting of the suspension of Dana air line by the Federal Government as unfair to the families of the victims of the air crash, adding that despite their protest, the suspension was lifted while some of the victims were yet to be buried.

He denied knowledge of any involvement of the Dana airline authority in burial arrangement, adding that the bereaved families are yet to receive any assistance from Dana airline authorities.

entire area into pandemonium as they scampered for safety.

However, in a different twist, youths numbering over 50 barricaded the scene of the incident to protest the killing which they claimed was extra-judicial.

One of the youths who spoke with The Nation on the condition of anonymity, noted that the soldiers were fond of raiding spots where youths converge in the pretext of

Cross River varsity students protest fee hike, alleged sexual harassment n Nicholas KALU, Calabar n TUDENTS of the Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) on Friday took to the streets of Calabar, the state capital, to protest increase in school fees, and alleged sexual harassment, extortion of money and negligence of their welfare by the state government.

Hundreds of students of the state owned university carried placards cards with inscriptions such as “Sexual •Elder sisiter to the late Livy Ajuonuma being consoled by sympathisers harassment of female students”, “female molestation”, “Extortion of money from students”, “No better CRUTECH, No better Cross River.”

President of the Students Union pro-Biafran group has “epoch occasion”.

Government, CRUTECH, Mr n Chris OJI, Enugu n advised the apex Igbo socioIt is the belief of the group that Ekong Eka, said they were cultural organization, presidency in 2015, others are the United States must fully be victimised by the school Ohanaeze Ndigbo to concentrate insisting on Jonathan for 2015. involved for Biafra to be authorities and also neglected by the state government.

“They should drop this talk actualized. on how to recover Igbo territories “We have been victimised and ceded to Rivers, Delta and Kogi about the 2015 presidency and The group’s leader, while in the by the state States rather than engage in selfish concentrate on how to reclaim our US, would liaise with United neglected brothers and sisters in Rivers, States-based Biafran groups such government, the government pursuits.

The group, Biafran Zionist Delta and Kogi States. as Biafran Foundation and Biafran does not care about us. Two “This is important now because Government in Exile (BGI) ahead months ago, some groups of Movement (BZM), described people came to us from National members of Ohanaeze as a bunch these people that were enticed into of the November 5 re-declaration. Association of Cross River State of uncoordinated Igbo politicians believing that they are not Igbo The group praised Nigerian Students (NACRISS) Worldwide, will not forgive us in future when security for the way they relate that the governor wanted to pay who cannot talk or act in unison.

The national chairman of the the chips are down,” warned with them, adding that this was bursary. They came back to extort group, Edeson Samuel told Samuel. informed by their mature N100 from the students and they The organization which has approach to their cause. reporters in Enugu that as long as said we must fill the form with the BZM was concerned, the reserved November 5 for the reSaid Samauel: “We respect the N200 and return the form with Ohanaeze members lacked the declaration of the Sovereign State laws of the land. Our approach is N200. They ended up extorting guts to pursue the interest of the of Biafra said there was no going more mature and intellectually rich N500 each from the students. back on that date.

Igbo ethnic nationality in Nigeria. that where we go, we first inform They said that Imoke sent them to Samuel hinted that their leader, the governor of the state and the come and collect the money. We According to Samuel, members of Ohanaeze could not take one Mr. Ben Onwuka who is now in police commissioner in charge. We all know that Governor Imoke is stance on 2015, regretting that the United States canvassing for have not been harassed in any not paying bursary, so why are they using Imoke’s name to lie, while some of them are for Igbo support will be back soon for the way.” and the governor is not saying anything about it?’’ Eka said. He said students on campus also need security.

HERE was wild jubilation yesterday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, following of similar victories of Governor n Kazeem IBRAHYM, Uyo n the Federal High Court verdict that Godswill Akpabio in all the affirmed the candidacy of Akwa Aniekan Umanah, said: “It is yet elections from nomination to the HE yearly New Yam Ibom Governor Godswill Akpabio another will of God for the entire primaries all the way to the final festival of Arochukwu in as the authentic candidate of the people of Akwa Ibom State. It is a election.

Abia State, will hold on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

"We can only thank God and victory over falsehood and selfSupporters of the governor deceit. dedicate this victory to the people of September 22, 2012. It will hold blocked some of the major roads in “It is a victory over blackmail and Akwa Ibom State and the Peoples at Amaikpe Square.

This year's celebration Uyo, the state capital singing lies because when a man who did Democratic Party who voted solidarity songs of hosanna that not stand for election in the first massively for Governor Godswill coincides with Eke Ekpe Day which will be marked with “God has revealed the truth.” instance runs to court thinking that Akpabio. fanfare amid performances by They marched to Government he can find justice, justice cannot be “In both primaries of the PDP, the sundry traditional dance groups House along Wellington Bassey, perfected by that man because God governor won resoundingly. I was and masquerades.

Uyo to rejoice with the governor, will always have a hand in it. wondering what gave the man in Already, the countdown has but were prevented from gaining “It is a clear case of a drowning question the impetus or confidence started with what the organisers entry by the heavy security man who was looking for what to to think that he can seek political describe as "Okpo na aza personnel at the gate. hold but discovered that the rope power through the back door.

Awada", which was observed Speaking on the court’s victory, was too high for his reach. They "So the Judiciary has confirmed on September 4.

Akpabio said it is a victory of truth should go and change their tactics the position of the Supreme Court The Guest of Honour at this over lies, falsehood and deceit. that it is an internal matter and that year's Ikeji Aro is the governor of and begin to do serious things.”

Akpabio, who spoke through his Umanah went further: “The the party conducted election and Akwa Ibom State, Obong Godswill Akpabio.

Commissioner for Information, victory confirms further the sanctity the governor won.

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Ohanaeze asked to reclaim Igbo in Rivers, Delta, Kogi

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Jubilation in Akwa Ibom over court verdict

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•Its victory of truth over deceit, says Akpabio

Ikeji Aro holds Sept 22

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

THE NATION, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

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THE NATION SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

62

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 14-9-12

Market closes with N60b gain

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T the close of business yesterday the bullish trend which returned on Wednesday after a break on Monday from the 11 days consistent appreciation of key indicators, left the market capitalisation and All-Share-Index up by another increase of 0.75 per cent each.

Market capitalisation improved by N60 billion to close at N8.066 trillion while the index appreciated by 188.70 points to close at 25,337.18 points.

The bullish sentiments held sway in the banking sector again, with top-tier and mid-tier banks on the up-tick.

Growing demand for First Bank, UBA, UBN, Skye Bank, Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank, Sterling Bank and ETI led to further gains. GTBank, Unity Bank and Wema Bank however, hovered around current levels ending the day flat on the opening figures while FCMB, Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC and Zenith Bank reduced their value.

Specifically, participants seeking to lock gains trimmed off 3.1 per cent from Access Bank; the bullish drive for UBA also eased a bit, as it

By Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

recorded a 1.5 per cent mark-up; demand for Union Bank however, remained strong leading to maximum points gain while Fidelity Bank and Diamond Bank also recorded 4.6 per cent and 4.8 per cent mark-up respectively.

Institutional purchases continued to firm up the price of NB with a clearance of available offers during the session; it subsequently recorded another 4.17 per cent to 5.0 per cent gain of Thursday. Sentiments for International Breweries also remained bullish as it picked up a further 4.94 per cent to the 4.9 per cent of the previous day. Guinness on the other hand closed flat.

For the Food and Beverages, the stocks split evenly between gainers and losers yesterday as Flour Mills, Nascon, Cadbury closed on the up-tick, Dangote Flour, Dangote Sugar and Honeywell Flour were sent south with losses ranged from 2.2 per cent to 2.6 per cent.

The Conglomerates sector

was however, up-beat; the rally on Transcorp continued yesterday, picking up 4.7 per cent while UACN closed with a 5.0 per cent mark-up. AG Leventis and PZ Cussons also recorded slim gains.

In all, investors traded 423.748 million shares worth N2.968 billion across 4,876 deals. The Financial Services sector traded 360.444 million shares worth N2.314 billion across 3,017 deals. This was followed by the Consumer Goods with 27.511 million shares worth N441.661 million.

Others with significant volume were Industrial Goods, Oil & Gas and Health care with 14.753 million shares, 9.132 million shares and 3.642 million shares.

On the price movement tables, a total of 59 equities recorded price change with 38 appreciating and the remaining 21 reducing in value.

Fidson led the gainers’ table with an increase of N0.05 to close at N1.05 followed by UAC-Property with a rise of N0.50 to close at N10.50.

Also on this table were Flourmills, UACN, Conoil, UBN, Roads, NASCON, GlaxoSmithKline and International Breweries.

On the flip side, Longman led the list with N0.11 to close at N2.11 followed by Arbico with a price gain of N0.54 to close at N10.39. Also on the list were UPL, Continental Insurance, Bagco, NPF Microfinance Bank, Red Star, Port Paint, Evans Medical and FCMB.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 14-9-12

63 THE NATION SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Seven killed as protests against film spread in Mideast Continued from Page 6

was largely silent about the breaching for days afterward.

Ahead of the expected wave of protests yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered an explicit denunciation of the anti-Muhammad video, aiming to pre-empt further turmoil at its embassies and consulates.

“The United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video,” she said before a meeting with the foreign minister of Morocco at the State Department. “We absolutely reject its content and message.”

“To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible,” Clinton said. “It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.”

Nonetheless, protests in several places attempted to move on American diplomatic missions — and other Western countries were pulled into the dispute.

Several thousand demonstrators protested outside the US embassy in Tunis and battled with security forces, throwing stones as police fired volleys of tear gas and shot in the air. Some protesters scaled the embassy wall and stood on top of it, planting a black flag with the Islamic profession of faith, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his

prophet.”

Police chased them off the wall and took the flag down.

In Sudan, a prominent sheik on state radio urged protesters to march on the German Embassy to protest alleged anti-Muslim graffiti on mosques in Berlin and then to the U.S. Embassy to protest the film.

“America has long been an enemy to Islam and to Sudan,” Sheik Mohammed Jizouly said.

Soon after, several hundred Sudanese stormed into the German Embassy, burning a car parked behind its gates and setting fire to trash cans.

Protesters danced and celebrated around the burning barrels as palls of black smoke billowed into the sky.

Part of the embassy building was also in flames, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told reporters in Berlin. “Fortunately... the employees are safe,” he said.

Police firing tear gas drove the protesters out of the compound. Some then began to demonstrate outside the neighboring British Embassy, shouting slogans, while others left, apparently heading to the American Embassy, which is outside of the capital.

In east Jerusalem, Israeli police stopped a crowd of around 400 Palestinians from marching on the U.S. consulate to protest the film. Demonstrators threw bottles and stones at police, who re-

sponded by firing stun grenades. Four protesters were arrested.

Security forces in Yemen shot live rounds in the air and fired tear gas at a crowd of around 2,000 protesters trying to march to the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Sanaa.

Though outnumbered by protesters, security forces were able to keep the crowd about a block away from the mission.

A day earlier, hundreds of protesters chanting “death to America” stormed the embassy compound in Sanaa and burned the American flag. The embassy said nobody was harmed. Yemen’s president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, quickly apologized to the United States and vowed to track down the culprits.

In Egypt, several hundred people, mainly ultraconversatives, protested in Cairo’s Tahrir Square after weekly Muslim Friday prayers and tore up an American flag, waving a black, Islamist flag.

A firebrand ultraconservative Salafi cleric blasted the film and in his sermon in Cairo’s Tahrir Square said it was upon Muslims to defend Islam and its prophet.

Many in the crowd then moved to join protesters who have been clashing for several days with police between Tahrir and the U.S. Embassy. “With our soul, our blood, we will avenge you,

MTN LAGOS STREET SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

Fashola to grace grand finale AGOS STATE Governor, Babatunde Fashola will be the special guest of honour at the grand finale of season five of the MTN Lagos Street Soccer Championship.

The event scheduled for Campos Mini Stadium in Lagos Island on Sunday September

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16, by 10am will be exciting as top male, female and corporate teams will slug it out for the mouth-watering prizes.

The governor, who is a keen promoter of grassroots sports development, has always been part of the tournament since its inception in 2008.

The chief host is the Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development, Wahid Oshodi, and he will be joined by top dignitaries including the chairmen of local councils in the state.

For fans that will be present at the finale, lots of prizes have been lined up by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) through raffle draws.

LBHF INTERNATIONAL BOXING SHOW

Lagos unleashes Shango, Fijabi, 12 others HE Lagos Amateur Sports Hall of the Lagos on Repton Indoor Boxing Association National Stadium, ‘dynamite’

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(LABA) on Friday officially released the list of 14 boxers who will fight at the third Lagos A.B.A. vs Repton International Amateur Boxing Tournament which holds on 20th and 22nd September, at the Eko Hotel and Suites Victoria Island, and the National Stadium, Lagos respectively.

Leading Lagos’ revenge mission against Repton Boxing Club, national champions, Muri Shango and Olaide Fijabi will confront Umar Sadiq and K.

Ozimkowski of Repton in the 81kg and 69kg bouts, September 20, at the Eko Hotel and Suites, while the duo of Otto Joseph and Pius Godwin will battle O. David and T. Tear in the 62kg and 64kg.

Lagos boxers, Abua Christian and Shina John will clash with Ben Falaja and Ryan Pickard of the London club in the 69kg and 73kg categories, even as prolific boxer, Oliwo Kazeem engage newcomer K. Sarpong in the 63kg.

In the reverse fixtures at the

Sikiru Fatai, Rilwan Oladosu, Saheed Lawal and Adedeji Adekunle of the Lagos team lock horns with their Repton opponents on September 22, including middle-weight boxer, Bassey Okon and rock-solid fighter, Wasiu Balogun.

Meanwhile, the Wasiu Bisiriyu (LABA head coach)-led Lagos team is psychologically inspired for victory against the visitors, having lost in previous editions 5-3, 6-1 in 2010, and 4-4, 3-2 in 2011.

FIXTURES FOR SEPTEMBER 20, AT THE EKO HOTEL S/N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

RED CORNER (LABA) OTTO JOSEPH OLIWO KAZEEM PIUS GODWIN OLAIDE FIJABI ABUA CHRISTIAN SHINA JOHN MURI SHANGO

BLUE CORNER (REPTON) O. DAVID K. SARPONG T. TEAR K. OZIMKOWSKI B. FALAJA R. PICKARD U. SADIQ

WEIGHT 62KG 63KG 64KG 69KG 69KG 73KG 81KG

FIXTURES FOR SEPTEMBER 22 AT THE NATIONAL STADIUM, LAGOS S/N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

RED CORNER (LABA) SIKIRU FATAI TAIYE OLOWU RILIWAN OLADOSU SAHEED LAWAL GANIU HAMMED BASSEY OKON WASIU BALOGUN AG. HEAD COACH (LABA) WASIU BISIRIYU

RED CORNER (REPTON) O. DAVID K. SARPONG T. TEAR K. OZIMKOWSKI B. FALAJA R. PICKARD U. SADIQ

WEIGHT 62KG 63KG 64KG 69KG 69KG 73KG 81KG

HEAD COACH (REPTON) TONY BURNS M.B.E.

our Prophet,” they chanted as police fired volleys of tear gas.

Ahead of the clashes, the president spoke for more than seven minutes on state TV, saying, “It is required by our religion to protect our guests and their homes and places of work.”

“So I call on all to consider this, consider the law, and not attack embassies, consulates, diplomatic missions or Egyptian property that is private or public, “ he said.

He denounced the killing of the American ambassador in Libya. “This is something we reject and Islam rejects.

His own Muslim Brotherhood group called for peaceful protests in Tahrir to denounce the film.

A small, peaceful demonstration was held Friday outside the U.S. Embassy in the

Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Hundreds of hardline Muslims held peaceful protests against the film throughout Pakistan, shouting slogans and carrying banners criticizing the U.S. and those involved in the film.

Police in Islamabad set up barricades and razor wire to prevent protesters from getting to the diplomatic enclave, where the U.S. Embassy and many other foreign missions are located.

Protests were also held in Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore, where protesters shouted “Down with America” and some burned the U.S. flag. About 200 policemen and barbed wire ringed the U.S. Consulate in Lahore.

About 1,500 protest in the eastern city of Jalalabad,

shouting “Death to America” and urge President Hamid Karzai to cut relations with the U.S. A prominent cleric in Indonesia urged Muslims there to remain calm despite their anger about the film. But Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, a branch of the international network that advocates a worldwide Islamic state, on its website blamed the U.S. government for allowing the film to be produced and released, calling it “an act of barbarism that cannot go unpunished.”

Meanwhile, the airport in Benghazi, the city where Tuesday’s attack on the consulate took place, was closed for several hours on Friday.

An airport official said the closure was due to security concerns, and the airport reopened in the afternoon.

Texas, North Dakota universities evacuate buildings after bomb threats The University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University in the United States of America (USA) ordered evacuations yesterday because of bomb threats, the schools said.

The University of Texas ordered the emergency evacuation after getting a phone call at about 8:35 a.m local time from a man with a Middle Eastern accent who claimed to

have placed bombs across campus, spokesman Gary Susswein said.

“He said he was associated with al Qaeda and said the bombs would go off in about 90 minutes,” he said.

The university, with about 51,000 students and 24,000 staff and faculty, posted an emergency alert on its website just before 10 a.m.

“Immediately evacuate ALL

buildings and get as far away as possible. More information to come,” it said.

Buildings at North Dakota State University in Fargo also were evacuated because of a bomb threat.

“NDSU is requiring all employees and students to leave campus by 10:15 a.m.,” it said in a statement on its website.

It was not immediately clear if the two threats were related.

Eagles: Too big to fly Continued from back page elderly one and his curse. It dawned on me that our players’ attitude is their biggest challenge, not Nigeria’s opponents. Mark my words.

Reminiscing over the game last Sunday in Abuja, a top government functionary related the experience of a Minister who saw one of our stars in a European airport, walked up to him and extended his hand to salute him.

The busy Eagles star, who was engrossed in tapping his blackberry, reluctantly shook the Minister and continued with his “Job” undaunted, the Minister, standing beside the star, announced his portfolio, apparently to engage him in a discussion on the way forward for soccer in Nigeria. Unimpressed, the Eagles eyes geared to what he was doing. He waved at the minister.

The minister moved on, not after he had pleaded with a raging Senator who watched the player’s awful conduct. Put simply, most of the Eagles stars are disrespectful. We don’t need to search for the reason why our players don’t play for big European teams. And if they don’t the Super Eagles will descend steeply into the abyss. I digress!

Back inside the aircraft in the wee hours of Sunday, September 9, I wanted to observe the two insolent stars’ conduct. In fact, Dr. Raufu Ladipo stormed the aircraft, ready for any recalcitrant player who messed up. I pleaded with Ladipo not to cause any scene. I urged him to take his case to the Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi. And he did.

Yet, those two naughty fellows and their cocky ilk hid their faces in shame all through the flight to Lagos, first to refuel before jetting out to Abuja at 5.15am on Sunday. They had been humbled by the 2-2 result against soccer minnows, Liberia at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium in Paynsville, near Monrovia.

As for the sloppy show by the Eagles, there is the urgent need to ask the coaches how they hope to dominate the midfield with two mid fielders who pass the ball to the right side?

The two- midfielder strategy is obsolete. I also didn’t understand how the coaches picked Tuwon, a third string player in Sharks, to man the left back position ahead of Elderson Echiejile. Again, Eagles coaches must learn to make tactical changes early.

Emmanuel Emenike was hopeless upfront. He couldn’t dribble past his markers. He didn’t have the initiative to free himself from his taller markers nor did he urge the midfielders to give passes on the turf. One is still wondering why he lasted the 90minutes.

Except for fixation, people couldn’t understand why the coaches refused to field Brown Ideye, given Emenike’s poor performance.

…and this about Liberia Nigerians are very adventurous. Will anyone blame them, especially with the tough times here? I was stunned to hear that some Nigerians have naturalised to be Liberians.

The reason is simple- as Liberians they can easily get entry visa into the United States (US). Don’t laugh please. It takes close to two weeks to embark on the trip.

Sadly, they feel strongly that living in Liberia is better than staying here.

Tears flooded one’s eyes as they spoke about their potential in Liberia, even when the vistages of war dog the towns which look like remote villages in Nigeria. Will you blame them? There is electricity. Food is reluctantly cheap. Shelter is affordable and the United Nations Peace Mission is working to ensure that the lives and properties of the citizens are protected. Are these (food, shelter and clothing) not some of the things that keep our nation together.

So, if you have been dreaming of heading to the United States (US), Liberia offers you the best window. My heart and mind tell me that this route could be a murderous path, given the time span (14 days) it takes to prosecute it. You want to give it a try?

Don’t say you read it here. Please remain in Nija. Nigeria will make it. And we shall all be there to celebrate a truly great nation, dear Compatriots.

TOMORROWPUNCHLINE IN THE NATION

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL.7, NO. 2249

With the kind of investment the Lagos State Government has made into providing security, the bulk of which is splashed on the federal police force, it would be interesting to know if it would require anything more substantial to run its own police force

—Tunji Adegboyega

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N acquaintance put through a distress call to me very early in the morning about three weeks ago. It happened that officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) had impounded two trucks waiting to discharge raw materials into the premises of his company at a location in Lagos. The time of the operation was about 1.30 am. Surely, the vehicles could not have constituted an obstacle on anybody’s path at that lonely hour my friend agonised. I immediately called the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, a trained scientist, passionate progressive activist and one of the brightest minds it has been my privilege to know. To my utter surprise, Opeifa said there was absolutely nothing he could do about the matter. He was cocksure if an infraction had not been committed, the vehicles would not be impounded. The Transport Commissioner advised that I call the Managing Director of LASTMA, Engineer Babatunde Edu to have a clear idea of what actually happened. I was in a quandary since I hardly knew the LASTMA MD. Would such an obviously busy man respond to the call of an unknown member of the public? I tried my luck and called Engineer Edu’s number repeatedly without success. I was about giving up in despair after about half an hour when my phone suddenly rang. It was a surprisingly polite - Engineer Edu on the line. “I see you’ve been calling my line,” he said, “Sorry I have been attending to an emergency. Is there anything I can do for you”? I introduced myself and explained my friend’s plight pleading for his consideration and kind intervention.

Again, I was in for another surprise. The LASTMA MD said he could not arbitrarily overrule his men who were actually on ground on the matter. He however promised to investigate and get back to me. Within an hour, Engineer Edu was back on the line: “I have established that it was not a case of broken down vehicles,” he said, “The vehicles were waiting on the highway for two other trucks to exit the premises before gaining entry to offload their own cargo. Even then, they still committed an offence by parking on the highway. The company should have planned its operations more efficiently by calling on the vehicles only when its premises was free for them to enter without causing any obstruction on the highway. But since it is not a case of broken down vehicles or deliberate obstruction, we will release the vehicles once they bring in a letter of request for our own records,” he said. Of course, I understood Engineer Edu’s point perfectly. After all, only a few years ago, Nigeria had lost one of her best television journalists, Mr. Lekan Asimi of Channels Television, when his car had rammed into a stationary vehicle right in the middle of the road late at night under the bridge at Maryland on his way home from work.

Now, a number of things struck me about my experience with the Lagos State transport authorities on this occasion. Firstly, is the fact that even as most of us are enjoying our sleep

Light from Lagos

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•Fashola at around 1.30 am, some traffic officials are alert at their duty posts and working hard to ensure road safety. Of course, this is not limited to the traffic sector. In a similar vein, men and vehicles of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) are ubiquitous across Lagos striving to secure lives and property day and night. Also, many of us who wake up to see our communities and highways free of refuse every morning have only the faintest idea what a yeoman’s job staff of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) in conjunction with the private sector operators in waste management do all night to keep this mega city of at least 16 million residents reasonably clean. Secondly, despite our personal relationship, it struck me that the Transport Commissioner did not arbitrarily utilise the powers of his office to order that the vehicles be released by fiat.

Thirdly, the MD of LASTMA defended the integrity of his men and only ordered the release of the vehicles after thorough investigation and following due process. Fourthly, the central preoccupation of the LASTMA MD was not revenue generation through payment of

The blaring siren, Fashola argues, is actually an indication of abnormality and a disruption of routine and order. The ambulance rushing an accident victim to hospital. The police van speeding to the scene of a crime. The fire truck trying to beat traffic to salvage a burning building. Are we then, Fashola asks, marooned in a permanent state of abnormality as a society that sirens have become a fixed feature of our collective mental furniture?

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the statutory fines but the operational efficiency of the offending firm to guarantee traffic safety and sanity. Of course, none of this is to say that LASTMA, like any other human organisation, does not have its own fair share of bad eggs and functional lapses.

On further reflection, I reasoned that the commitment to the sanctity of impersonal rules and self restraint by both the Transport Commissioner and LASTMA MD was itself a reflection of the leadership values exhibited

by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) from the top. We have here a classic example of what the great inspirational writer, John Maxwell, calls ‘Leadership as Influence’. The true leader is like a city on a hill. His innate values cannot be hidden. It is not the words of the leader that counts. Rather, his spontaneous day-to-day actions reveal who the leader truly is. Only recently, Governor Fashola apprehended two military officers driving illegally on the dedicated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

lane. What gave the Governor the audacity to take such a bold step? Simple. The power of moral example. The force of influence. As Governor, Fashola sits through the traffic himself rather than jump at the least opportunity on the BRT lane to hasten his movement. Even more, he has never once used the siren since his assumption of office. His argument for this is so simple yet so profound that it is baffling why most other public office holders in the country continue to abuse the siren as a misplaced status symbol.

The blaring siren, Fashola argues, is actually an indication of abnormality and a disruption of routine and order. The ambulance rushing an accident victim to hospital. The police van speeding to the scene of a crime.

The fire truck trying to beat traffic to salvage a burning building. Are we then, Fashola asks, marooned in a permanent state of abnormality as a society that sirens have become a fixed feature of our collective mental furniture? Are our public office holders permanent hostages of a disorienting siege mentality that they cannot move without sirens?

So much has been written about Fashola’s remarkable success in the areas of environmental renewal and radical modernisation of infrastructure. Yet, I believe that his most enduring legacy will, in the final analysis, not be the concrete projects of bricks and mortar he leaves behind. Rather, it will be his consistent and deliberate efforts to inculcate in the citizenry those critical values without which a modern civilization cannot be sustained. Yes, the artefacts of physical technology are important. But more critical are the habits, attitudes, dispositions and values that constitute the soft or cultural technology that provides the supportive frame work for material civilisation. A smooth, well paved, wide, modern road is a marvel to behold. But misused by drunken, distracted, lawless drivers or even pedestrians indifferent to traffic rules, it becomes a death trap – a veritable curse.

In a modern mega city like Lagos, the absence of strict traffic laws impartially enforced could easily mean loss of limb or life for multitudes. This no doubt informed what some perceive as the seeming draconian sanctions against traffic infractions in the newly enacted Lagos State Traffic Law. Interestingly, two of the groups most affected by the law – okada riders and the National Union of Road Transport Workers – have openly expressed support for the law. These groups intuitively grasp the great political scientist, Professor Harold Laski’s words of wisdom expressed over eight decades ago: “Liberty, therefore, is a positive thing…I shall not feel that my liberty is endangered when I am refused permission to commit murder. My creative impulses do not suffer frustration when I am bidden to drive on a given side of the road…Historic experience has evolved for us rules of convenience which promote right living. To compel obedience to them is not to make a man unfree.”

Without law and order justly enforced, a people perish. Once again, Lagos shows the light for others to find the way.

Ade Ojeikere on Saturday talk2adeojeikere@yahoo.com

Eagles: Too big to fly

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RAVELLING with the Super Eagles can be fun. They excite one with the delusion that they are doing Nigerians a big favour. They think they are super beings and consider others as leaches, who must quickly be blown out like catarrh in the nostrils. Their swagger irritates largely because they hardly can fill the immigration forms unguided.

Little wonder, the fans don’t flock around them. Elsewhere, the convergence of stars attracts lovers of the game to them. Soccer freaks cherish such moments, taking pictures, getting autographs and, possibly having some souvenirs. Not so for the Super Eagles; they treat their fans like the plague.

Going to Liberia on Friday morning threw up the best opportunity for the players to change their ways towards others. Not so for these bunch, like the folks before them.

You will expect that such early morning

movement will elicit greetings from the young men when they see elders. No way! Instead, they block their ear-drums, pretending to be listening to music, Yet will acknowledge greetings from one another. In fact, we had a good laugh watching them, their ear phones on, chatting. It is evident that this is the Eagles subtle way of shunning people.

As we boarded the chartered IRS aircraft, the players, officials, high ranking government functionaries, including Senators, House of Representatives and NFF Board members were instructed to lead the way. Others boarded after them. But it was inside the aircraft that this distasteful scenario happened.

An elderly member of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club was shocked at the way a top Eagles star refused to allow him sit beside him.

Having boarded the aircraft earlier, the star sat at the aisle, spreading his legs majestically.

Not even the friendly tap from this elderly supporter could sway the chap. As the elderly one walked towards the inner row, he mut-

tered inaudible words. My heart sank. Another supporter walked towards another Eagles star who sat alone, asking to sit beside him; he refused. I couldn’t stomach this because the airline officials had done a head count and knew the number of vacant seats. I beckoned on one of the airline officials who intervened.

Guess what? The irritant chose to sit with another mate, who sat alone in one of the twoseaters. Unwittingly, the aircraft had been fouled by bad blood. Soon, the aircraft was in the skies, flying its two hours 45 minutes course.

With 18 aeronautical miles to the Roberts International Airport in Liberia, the pilot informed us of a final descent, urging us to look towards the left to admire the Atlantic Ocean and its amazing waves.

Then the spectacle for those who have been there would be a smile. In three minutes, the aircraft roared as if it was taking a plunge into the ocean, a big sigh sprang out from the hitherto snoring aircraft of over 93people. Soon,

the aircraft found its length on the runway, spending much of 12 minutes flying low on the Atlantic.

Then the panic. AIT’s Wale spoke the mind of many panic-stricken passengers when he said in Yoruba: “Se airplane fe we ninu odo n i(Does the aircraft want to swim?) Then smiles and backslapping as the pilot put the aircraft on the runway to roll to a gradual halt on its tyres.

It was drizzling. There was some turbulence before the final descent. (We were forewarned by the pilot).

Having walked through immigration, I went straight to the elderly supporter to plead with him. Once I raised the issue, his face got winked, but my friend broke into a reluctant smile as I teased him with his favourite song.

Before then, he had said in Yoruba: Ade, ori nkan timori. Boy yen o nisorire. (Ade, did you see what I saw? That boy won’t do well), he sighed heavily.

The elderly supporter later withdrew the curse. When the game began, the irritant was one of the culprits who ruined our victory dance. As he fumbled, my mind went to the

•Continued on Page 63

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