September 15, 2015

Newspaper of the Year

•’Ooni to be picked next month from Giesi family’ P7 P52 •Sultanate Council declares Sept. 24 Sallah day •UNILAG panel begins probe of student's death P6 •FIRS bars consultants from collecting tax for Fed Govt P11 •Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 10, NO. 3338 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

The Sun DMD’s wife abducted NEWS

Page 6

•www.thenationonlineng.net

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

France to back fight against Boko Haram

•Zenith Bank Plc Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Peter Amangbo (second left) congratulating Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick at the signing of a mega sponsorship deal between the bank and NFF at the bank’s head office in Lagos...yesterday.

With them are Ebenezer Onyeagwu and Olusola Oladipo, both Executive Directors of the bank

•130m euros for Nigerian projects

By Augustine Ehikioya

F

RENCH President François Hollande has promised his administration's support for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) with equipment and intelligence gathering in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria and Africa.

The MJTF is the almost 9,000-strong force constituted by Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Benin to fight the Boko Haram sect.

The French President spoke at a joint news conference at the Elsee Palace, with visiting President Muhammadu Buhari who is on a three-day trip to Paris.

The French President also said the fight Continued on page 6

P111 •INSIDE: AMBODE’S INVESTMENT DRIVE YIELDS N14B GERMAN FIRM’S FACTORY P1

Immigration jobs tragedy: EFCC grills ex-NIS boss Parradang quizzed about N650m fees Ex-Minister Moro may face panel

‘Give Iheanacho a chance’

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ELECHI Ihenacho should get an instant invitation to the Super Eagles because he is the sort of player the team needs at the moment, according to Nigeria U-20 coach Manu Garba.

The 18year-old scored his first goal...

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

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OR about eight hours yesterday, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives quizzed a former Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. David Parradang.

He was grilled about alleged N650million fees collected from job seekers last year.

The EFCC invited Parradang to explain how much was collected and the whereabouts of the funds.

About 6.5million applied for 5,000 spaces. The conduct of the test in March, 2014 led to the death of 15 applicants. Scores were injured in stampede in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Minna Each applicant paid N1,000.

Although the immediate past Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, blamed the former Comptroller-General for the incidents, those loyal to Parradang had earlier traced the tragedy to Moro and those they called his business partners.

The EFCC has stepped WILL THE into the scandal to ascerCHIBOK GIRLS EVER tain the whereabouts of RETURN?

Sport Page 16

Tumbull is Australia’s PM

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?

Continued on page 6

•President Muhammadu Buhari (left) being welcomed by President Francoise Hollande at the Elysee Palace in PHOTO: NAN Paris…yesterday.

USTRALIA’S ruling conservatives ousted beleaguered Prime Minister Tony Abott as party leader yesterday evening in a change that could signal a different Australian response to climate change and allow for a more moderate...

Foreign Page 54

•AVIATIONP12•E-BUSINESS P13 •SPORTS P16 •POLITICS P39 •MARITIME P45 •FOREIGN P54

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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NEWS

Why there are delays Federal retirees and kinsmen to deceased employees are at the receiving end whenever there are delays in the funding of the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund by the Federal Government, National Pension Commission (PenCom) Director-General CHINELO ANOHU-AMAZU says in her presentation to President Muhammadu Buhari on the pension reforms since 2004. The presentation also reveals that despite the availability of N3.95 trillion for infrastructure financing, only N156.3 billion has been accessed, leaving N3.77 trillion untapped.

•Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode (right) discussing with the Ambassador of the Republic of Germany to Nigeria, Mr. Michael Zenner (second left), Consul General, Lagos, Mr. Ingo Herbert (left) and the Group Management Committee, Knauf Region, Southern Europe/Middle East/Africa, Mrs. Isabel Knauf when the envoy and some investors visited the governor, at the Lagos House, Ikeja...yesterday.

PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES

•From left: Permanent Secretary, Zambian Ministry of Labour & Social Security, Trevor Kaunda; Zambian Minister for Labour & Social Security, Fackson Shamenda; President/Chief Executive, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and Executive Director, Dangote Cement Plc, Olakunle Alake, when the Zambian officials visited Dangote Industries Head Office in Lagos...yesterday.

Bauchi State Governor Muhammed Abubakar (left), being welcomed

by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Ilelah, at the Bauchi International Airport...yesterday.

•From left: Chairman, Association of Private Practising Surveyors of Nigeria, Lagos State chapter, Olufemi Odetunmibi; Chairman of the occasion, Michael Adio; special guest of honour, Prof. Francis Fajemirokun and Acting Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Gbenga Alara, at the Annual Professional Development Workshop at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES

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ENSION and related issues had received significant attention over the recent past with the aim of solving the myriad of challenges bedevilling the retirement benefit system in Nigeria. The public sector scheme became unsustainable due to lack of adequate and timely budgetary provisions and increases in salaries and pensions. There were demographic shifts due to rising life expectancies, which was a phenomenon that affected the family support ratio. In addition, Pension Administration had been largely weak, inefficient, less transparent and cumbersome. The private sector schemes, which were largely akin to the Provident Fund Schemes, had been characterised by very low coverage and compliance ratio due to lack of effective regulation and supervision. This resulted in complete paradigm shift from the Defined Benefits Schemes as operated by both the public and private sectors to the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The key objective of the pension reform is to introduce a pension system that is sustainable and has the capacity to achieve the ultimate goal of providing a stable, predictable and adequate source of retirement income for each worker in Nigeria. The reform also seeks to establish a uniform set of rules and regulations for the administration and payment of retirement benefits in both the public and private sectors; stem the growth of outstanding pension liabilities; reduce fiscal cost of pension to government; stimulate domestic savings; and generate pool of long-term funds for financing developmental projects and increase private investments.

Accordingly, the Federal Government enacted the Pension Reform Act 2004, which established the Contributory Pension Scheme and the National Pension Commission. The Commission has been empowered by the Pension Reform Act 2004 to superintend on all pension matters. This includes supervision and regulation of the Contributory Pension Scheme and the Defined Benefits Scheme as well as the administrative structures established pursuant to the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2004.

After 10 years of implementation of the Pension Reform Act 2004, the Pension Reform Act 2014 was enacted on July 1, 2014. The major thrusts of the 2014 Act are the enhancement of the powers of the Commission in its regulatory and enforcement activities, enhancement of the protection of pension fund assets, provision of greater opportunity for investment of pension funds in infrastructure and housing development, review of the sanctions regime to reflect current realities, provisions that would facilitate the participation of the informal sector and provide the framework for the adoption of the Contributory Pension Scheme by states and local governments. The 2014 Act also repositioned the Pension Transition Arrangement Directorates (PTADs) for greater efficiency and accountability in the administration and payment of pensions under the Defined Benefits Scheme.

The Commission, as regulator of all pension matters, had established institutional and legal frameworks to facilitate the successful implementation of the provisions of the Pension Re-

form Act 2014. In this regard, 26 Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), 57 Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs) and seven Closed Pension Fund Administrators (CPFAs) were licensed. However, due to the consolidation of the pension industry following the recapitalisation conducted in 2012, there are currently 21 PFAs and four PFCs while the number of CPFAs remains seven.

The Commission operates under a Board of Directors that reports directly to Mr. President by virtue of Section 9 of the 1st Schedule to Pension Reform Act 2014. The Board is headed by a part-time chairman with a directorgeneral as the chief executive officer.

Other members of the board include four full-time commissioners and representatives of the following ten agencies and institutions. They are: Head of Civil Service of the Federation; Federal Ministry of Finance; Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC); Trade Union Congress (TUC); Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP); Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA); Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and National Insurance Commission (NIC).

The chairman, the director-general and the four full-time commissioners each represent one of the six geo-political zones. The day–to–day running of the commission is handled by an executive committee that comprises the director-general and the four fulltime commissioners. The Senate and the House of Representatives both have oversight functions on the Commission through the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service and the House Committee on Pensions respectively.

There is no doubt that CPS has gained public confidence and acceptability as a result of which 6.63 million employees from both the public and private sectors had opened Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) as at June 30. The scheme had accumulated approximately N5 trillion worth of pension assets over the same period with a monthly inflow of about N30 billion and an average of 30 per cent annual growth rate. The inflow consists of contributions by employers and employees of both the public (including states and local governments) and private sectors. Initially, the rate of contribution was 7.5 per cent each by employers and employees. However, as provided in the Pension Reform Act 2014, the contribution rate has been reviewed upwards to 10 per cent and eight per cent by employer and employee respectively.

The Federal Government contributions are deducted at source by the Accountant-General of the Federation and remitted into a Contribution Account in the CBN. However, for the Federal Government, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS), the Accountant-General of the Federation makes direct remittance of the monthly pension contributions of their employees. In addition, the Federal Government has acknowledged the pension liability for the past services rendered by its employees prior to the enactment of the Pension Reform Act

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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NEWS

ys in paying federal retirees, others, by PenCom Challenges of the pension scheme

•President Buhari

•Anohu-Amazu

2004. This liability is being funded by the government through a revolving Fund for which an account, the Retirement Bond Redemption Fund Account, was opened and is being managed by the CBN. The Act provides that the Federal Government remits at least five per cent of its monthly wage bill into this account for the payment of the accrued pension rights.

The Pension Reform Act 2014 has stipulated the allowable instruments for investment of pension funds and assets. The instruments must be structured and traded on the platform of a Stock Exchange licensed or recognised by the SEC; and Money Market Platform approved by the CBN. Exercising its regulatory responsibility, the commission had issued egulation on

Investment of Pension Fund Assets to further guide how the pension contributions should be invested. The pension assets have been largely invested in Federal Government Securities, Equities, Money Market Instruments and Corporate Debt. The Commission has been making efforts to stimulate growth in the economy by introducing new assets classes into the portfolio of the pension funds provided they are allowed by the Pension Reform Act 2014. In this regard, infrastructure funds and bonds were introduced to bridge the gap in the financing of infrastructure and housing. However, despite the availability of N3.95 trillion for infrastructure financing, only N156.3 billion has been taken, leaving N3.77 trillion un-

• Inadequate funding of retirement benefits • Delays in releasing funds to pay the accrued benefits • Federal Government is yet to implement the 15% and 33% pension increase for its pensioners as approved in 2007 and 2014 • Substantial amounts are owed to Federal Government retirees under the DB Scheme • Non-Implementation of new rate of pension contributions for federal employees from the old rate of 7.5% by both employer and employee to the new rates of 10% by employer and 8% by employee as stipulated in Section 4(1) of the PRA 2014.

• Review of Accrued Pension Rights and Entitlements as provided by Section 15(4) of the PRA 2014 pursuant to Section 173(3) of the 1999 Constitution • Paucity of assets that qualify for Pension Fund Investments.

• Provisions of Section 6(2) of the PRA 2014 on the payment of any shortfall in the retirement Benefits of Professors and category of Political Appointees entitled to retire with full benefits is yet to be implemented.

• Lack of accurate personnel information for prompt remittance of monthly pension contributions of FGN employees of MDAs that are yet to be captured under the IPPIS platform.

• Absence of a Nigerian Mortality Table to facilitate the accurate computation of benefits under the CPS, which necessitated the Commission to adopt the A(55) and A49/52 Mortality Tables published by the Institute of Actuaries of the United Kingdom (UK) and being used by Actuarial firms in Nigeria. tapped.

The payment of retirement benefits under the CPS to retirees as well as death claims to beneficiaries of deceased employees is regular and timely except for the delays being experienced in the settlement of accrued benefits of the Federal Government retirees and deceased employees whenever there are delays in the funding of the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund by the government as is the case in 2012, 2014 and 2015. About N483.33 billion has been released into the Retirement Benefits Bonds Redemption Fund Account, which was invested by the CBN and yielded N7.71 billion between 2006 and March 2015. Consequently, N490.09 million was paid as accrued pension rights to 81,764 retirees

and 15,244 deceased employees from inception to March 2015.

It is worthy of note that the Federal Government is yet to release monthly mandates for the payment of accrued rights for September to December 2014 and April to August amounting to N35.30 billion. Meanwhile, the accrued benefits of 8,193 retirees and death benefits of 4,847 deceased employees amounting to N48.39 billion were processed for February to August, but were yet to be settled by the Federal Government. This clearly shows that even if the total outstanding monthly mandates were released, there will still be a shortfall of N13.09 billion. In addition, the total mandate for September to December will be N20.08 billion from the total accruable benefits of N23.12 bil-

lion, leaving a shortfall of N3.04 billion.

Thus, even if all the mandates for the period of September 2014 to August this year were released, there will still be underfunding to the tune of N16.13 billion.

Ten states yet to adopt CPS Already, 26 states of the federation had adopted the Contributory Pension Scheme and are at various levels of implementation. The Scheme had facilitated increased transparency and accountability in determining budgetary estimates for payments of pensions by the Federal Government and all the state governments that adopted it.

Similarly, about 200,000 private sector employers had implemented the scheme.

ABC of newspapering…and more Mike Awoyinfa and the late Dimgba Igwe have written a book that reveals the nitty-gritty of journalism.

Editor GBENGA OMOTOSO reviews the book and concludes that it is indeed a collector’s item. It will be presented today at 10am at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos.

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HAT is news?

This is the question that all editors battle to answer everyday as they practise their trade. Little wonder when two of the leading lights of Nigerian journalism went to talk to 50 editors, the central theme of their discussions was news.

But Mike Awoyinfa’s and the late Dimgba Igwe’s book, “50 World Editors. Conversations with Journalism Masters on Trends and Best Practices”, is not just about news. Neither is it a collection of esoteric theories meant to obfuscate the basic ingredients of news, especially as it relates to the reader who may not necessarily be a journalist.

Awoyinfa, an experienced journalist and columnist, is a director at The Sun. So was the late Igwe, the co-author.

One point is clear – not many books do appeal to working journalists, students and the ordinary reader who is interested in knowing the workings of the newsroom and how the paper that lands on his breakfast table everyday is produced the way this will. Besides the technicalities of day-to-day running of the newsroom, the book is a mini-biography of each of the editors featured.

Editors do not usually become sources of stories. They are usually not seen as they remain in the background. So, when they are made to tell their stories in their own words, we find a unique work that answers many questions about journalism. There are stories of triumphs and tribulations, of courage in the face of grave danger and vision amid crises.

When New York Newsday former Editor Tony Marro was asked what advice he had for journalists, he replied: “Remember that your words have impact. They can hurt and embarrass people as well as please them.” He recalled a movie , Absence of malice , in which a City Editor was trying to console a young reporter who had written a story that caused the subject to commit suicide. “He said: “I know how

• The book to tell a true story. And I know how not to hurt people. But sometimes I can’t do both at the same time.”

Marro believes reporting is not an emotional enterprise. Reporters, he says, do not have to avoid writing stories because they will anger or embarrass people. But he stresses the principle of fairness, saying “the more a story is likely to anger or embarrass someone, the more reason there is to make sure it is fair and accurate and balanced as it can be”.

This is a point we usually miss nowadays, sometimes not because we want to but because officials will refuse to cooperate with reporters.

Everything is either “Confidential” or “Strictly

Confidential” The 628-page book is divided into three sections – The Americas, Europe and Africa/Asia.

The subjects of the interviews are drawn from some of the world’s great newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Times, Herald Tribune, Hindustan Times, Daily Mirror and Chicago Tribune.

The reader gets an insight into the tabloid war involving Daily News, New York Post and Newsday. Besides, the editors are made to define what a tabloid is as opposed to a broadsheet.

In the Africa/Asia section, the doyen of Nigerian journalism, the late Alhaji Babatunde Jose, has a prominent space. He ran the Daily Times empire that used to be Africa’s biggest media outfit, wielding so much influence. We learn that he was driven by the passion to be like the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik of Africa), the nationalist who owned a chain of newspapers.

For many who have been wondering how Channels came to become the success it is today, the story is told by no less a personality than Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Momoh. He talks about the television station’s ownership, its humble beginning, its turbulent days and its future.

Momoh, like many of the subjects, was driven by his passion for news and sheer determination to succeed. Some loved sports, but because they could not make their teams, they started reporting the game.

The book answers many questions, besides what is news? Who is a journalist? How do we write the lead of a story? What are the qualities of a good journalist? All the editors stress the importance of reporting, an art which seems to be troubled here. Not many reporters are as enterprising as those of the old days. Some just want to become editors; others want to become columnists – unlike Ray Long of Chicago Tribune who would like to remain a reporter.

It is exciting to read the impression of Nigerian Pulitzer Prize winner Dele Olojede’s Newsday editors of him. He is seen as a damn good reporter and fantastic writer. Besides, Olojede tells his own story. Many still wonder why despite his talents and the array of stars he gathered his newspaper NEXT failed. The Nigerian factor? Media researchers have their job cut out for them here.

May Chidiac’s story is touching. The Lebanese television journalist grabbed the world’s attention in 2005 when she survived a bomb planted under her car seat. She lost an arm and a leg.

But enemies of free speech have since grown wilder. In January, masked gunmen stormed the office of a Paris newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people, including the editor.

There have been many deaths here in Nigeria, including that of Newswatch Editor-inChief Dele Giwa, who was killed by parcel bomb in 1986. Godwin Agbroko, Bagauda Kaltho, Edo Ugbagwu and others died in mysterious circumstances.

As “50 World Editors” is presented to the public today in Lagos, one personality who will be missing is the late Igwe, the co-author was killed by a hit-and-run driver on a Lagos street while he was jogging.

The work is written in a racy, everyday language, simple and easy to read. There are minor errors – some of them on page 89 where “shrink” is used instead of “shirk”, page 79 where the word “impact” should have been used without the “s” and page 133 on which the word “entail” should not have had an “s”.

The printing is clear and inviting, with the questions set in bold letters and the introductions to the various chapters set in italics for clarity. The cover is well illustrated with the logos of some of the publications featured.

There is a two-word label at the bottom of the cover: “Collector’s Item.” That is damn true – going by the contents of the book.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

NEWS Military retirees advised to access health scheme

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EFENCE Health Maintenance Limited (DHML), the Health Maintenance Organisation, for the Armed Forces, has said health insurance for retired military personnel registered under the scheme is free.

The Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Commodore Ahmed Abdullahi (retd), spoke with reporters at a military pension stakeholders’ forum in Abuja yesterday.

According to Abdullahi, the Federal Government pays the premium of the health insurance to hospitals every year.

He said the organisation was established by the Federal Government to administer health insurance to members of the Armed Forces and ex- servicemen.

“In 2012, the Federal Executive Council brought the Armed Forces retirees under the scheme and made provisions for their healthcare.

“This department takes care of a substantial part of the burden of healthcare for retirees and it is not based on deductions from their pensions; the government pays for it 100 per cent.

“We have about 300 hospitals under our scheme across the

country, which take care of the registered retirees and their spouses,’’ he said.

Abdullahi said the scheme was also designed to cater for widowers and widows as well as retirees’ four biological children under the age of 18.

He called on those who had yet to register with the scheme to avail themselves of the opportunity provided by the Federal Government through the scheme.

Abdullahi said the challenge was that of understanding because the National Health Insurance Scheme “is a novel idea in this country and the problem is comprehension.

“Sometimes it is being misunderstood, some are still footdragging to come on board.

“We have been doing jingles and meeting them at different fora but there has been this misunderstanding that it is being deducted from their pay, which is not.

“We monitor and evaluate the hospitals before we link them; they know they earn a substantial amount from us.

“We are calling on retirees to come on board and take advantage of what government has provided for them,” Abdullahi said.

Onobrakpeya makes case for Chibok girls

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I D E L Y - A C CLAIMED artist Prof Bruce Onobrakpeya has called for release of the secondary school girls abducted last year in Chibok, Borno State.

He urged the government to take more proactive steps to end the suffering of the girls who have already spent over 510 days in the kidnappers’ den.

He said: “The governments know more than everyone about the situation. They should double whatever efforts they are making to release those girls from suffering.

Those girls have been there for over 510 days, imagine if they were not kidnapped, some would have furthered their education or learn a trade.

“They would have moved on in life like their peers. The government should please release them so that they can continue to live their lives from where it has stopped. They should be given the opportunity to progress in life just like any other Nigerian.”

Onobrakepeya, who spoke at the opening of an art exhibition at the GreenHouse Art Empowerment Centre (GHAE) in Ogun State, said he was pained by the plight of the Chibok girls. As one who was also kidnapped as a boy, he stated that he shared solidarity with the girls and their parents. Moved by their plight, Onobrakpeya dedicated an artwork to the Chibok girls at the GHAE group exhibition, tagged: Nigerian Visual Artists and Politics.

“I have not grown over the trauma. I was luckier than the Chibok girls because I was miraculously rescued before being taken into the forest when I was kidnapped during the Ekene festival as a child. Even though I was rescued, I am in constant ache whenever I think of the agony that I and my mother would have faced if the kidnappers had succeeded.

“That pain has increased be-

•Onobrakpeya

By Evelyn Osagie

cause I am always pondering over the untold suffering that the Chibok girls are passing through in the hands of their kidnappers. I want to let them know that they are not alone: that as grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, friends, citizens of Nigeria and the world, we share their pains. We daily work and pray for their release from the forbidden forest,” he said.

Onobrakepeya added that the public can view the handwritten letter and his work at the GHAE exhibition at Olambe, Ogun State. The art display, which will run till November, also featured works of other notable artists, like Sam Ovraiti, Ato Arinze, Princess Theresa Iyase-Odozi, Dr Mabel Oluremi Awogbade, Stella Awoh, Kolawole Kosoko Olojo, Juliet Ezenwa Pearce, Bolaji Ogunwo, Stella Ubigho, Oke Ibem Oke and Evelyn Osagie.

•Former National Chairman, Labour Party Dan Nwanyawu (left), Leader, House of Representatives and Guest of Honour Femi Gbajabiamila, House of Representatives members, Nnana Raphael Igbokwe and Hon Nanah Opiah at the New Yam Festival of Mbiase people in Abuja...yesterday.

PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

Wike, Peterside know fate Oct

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ETITIONERS at the Rivers State governorship election petition tribunal are now placed in a precarious situation as the tribunal yesterday compressed the time within which they must present their case.

With the development, the petitioners are now left with two days within which to call about 150 of its scheduled 200 witnesses having called about 50 within eight days of its earlier allotted 14 days as at last Saturday.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate at the last governorship election, Dakuku Peterside, are challenging the outcome of the election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Nyesom Wike are listed as respondents before the tribunal.

Yesterday, the tribunal announced its intention to amend its earlier schedule of proceedings where petitioners were allocated 14 days to present their case, and the defendants given 10 days each.

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

Tribunal Chairman Justice Mohammed Ambrosa told parties at the resumption of proceedings yesterday that the tribunal was running out of time and needed to alter its earlier schedule, as contained in the report of its pre-hearing session dated 28, 2015.

By the schedule, the petitioners were allocated 14 days to conduct their case, while the respondents – INEC, Wike and PDP – were allocated 10 days each.

Yesterday, Justice Ambrosa noted that the tribunal would be left with 36 days from yesterday, after the deduction of Sallah holiday and other work-free days, with just a day to deliver its judgment, should it stick with its earlier schedule. He observed that, since he resumed after the redeployment of his predecessor, on September 3, he had consistently insisted that the tribunal was out of time.

Justice Ambrosa reduced the petitioners’ days from 14

to 10 while each respondent’s earlier allocated 10 days were reduced to six.

Respondents lawyers: Onyechi Ikpeazu (for INEC), Okey Wali (for Wike) and Chris Uche (for PDP) opposed the request by petitioners’ lawyer, Akin Olujinmi (SAN) to allow parties two additional days in view of the number of witnesses and documentary evidence yet to be presented by the petitioners.

Ikpeazu, Wali and Uche urged the tribunal not to change its mind having elected to reduce the number of days earlier allocated to parties by four days each. In the alternative, they requested the deduction of one day as against the two days suggested by the respondents’ lawyer.

Justice Ambrosa insited on the tribunal’s earlier directive, but suggested that the tribunal’s closing time would be elastic.

He adjourned the commencement of the new schedule to today at 10 am.

The petitioners had as at last Saturday called 47 witnesses,

including an INEC official, four Army captains, two senior officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) and a member of the Action Alliance (AA) party.

The DSS officials, Benson Chukwuma and Godwin Mbah, who said they each led a team of DSS officials to monitor and provide security at the election, said although things began well at the inception of accreditation on April 11 , the electoral process was disrupted by hired hoodlums midway, thereby preventing proper voting and compilation of results.

Kamuzu Omiete Blankson, who said he acted as the Collation agent for his party (the AA), said the election was marred by violent sporadic shooting, burning of election materials and intimidation.

Chukwuma, who testified as the petitioners’ 43rd witness and monitored in Ogu-Bolu LG, said the election was disrupted at a point following attack on election officials by hoodlums.

Lawyer files contempt charge against NERC chief

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CTIVIST-LAWYER Toluwani Adebiyi has initiated contempt proceedings against Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Chairman Dr Sam Amadi on his claim that judges were frustrating reforms in the electricity sector.

The NERC chair made the claim in an August 7 letter to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim

Mecca crane collapse: Buhari condoles with families of Nigerian victims From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

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•Tribunal: we’ve 36 days to conclude case

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari yesterday extended condolence to the families, relations and friends of the Nigerian victims of the crane accident in Mecca on Friday.

The crash had claimed many lives.

In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, President Buhari also commiserated with the Governments and people of Kaduna, Katsina and Gombe states, where pilgrims who lost their lives hailed from.

He urged all Nigerians to join him in praying for the quick and full recovery of their compatriots who were injured in the unfortunate incident.

The President also prayed that Almighty Allah will accept the souls of the departed Nigerians who died a glorious death in the service of God.

By Joseph Jibueze

Auta.

Amadi, who noted that the judges were ignorant of the sector, accused them of handing out improper injunctions, which could discourage investments.

The Federal High Court in Lagos had restrained NERC from increasing tariff, following an ex-parte application by Adebiyi, who sought an injunction to stop NERC from raising power consumption bills without steady power for 18 hours a day.

Adebiyi filed the Form 48 yesterday, which requires Amadi to appear in court to justify his statement or risk a jail term.

The application is entitled: “Notice of consequence of derogatory, unlawful, misguided accusations of Federal High Court Judge, same which is contemptous of the integrity of the court as contained in contemnor’s letter to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and published on page

12 of The Nation newspapers of 18th august 2015.”

It reads: “Take notice, that unless you can substantiate and justify your accusation as contained in your letter to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court dated 7th August, 2015, published in The Nation Newspaper of 18th August, 2015, of which you contemptuously in a very insulting and derogatory manner accused the court, casting aspersions in a way so prejudising, in a matter pending before the court, you will be guilty of contempt of Court and will be liable to be committed to prison.”

Amadi had stated that such injunctive reliefs against legitimate business operations of licensed electricity companies were not well considered.

“MY Lord, permit me to bring to your notice a subtle threat that can undermine the success of the power sector reforms. This threat is in the form of an increasing spate of seemingly reckless and inconsiderate interim injunctions that have been issued against the

•Amadi

commission and electricity distribution companies at the instance of consumers, who have not made out clear case meriting such intervention by the court,” Amadi wrote.

But Adebiyi believes that the accusation that judges were granting “reckless and inconsiderate injunctions” was contemptuous.

To him, the NERC chair has derogatorily directed the judges to always exercise restraint and defer to his commission in the exercise of their judicial power, an act that cannot be separated from an intention to subjugate, undermine and intervene with the Judges’ lawful responsibility.

Amadi is expected to appear before Justice Mohammed Idris, who gave one of the restraining orders, on September 23.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

5

NEWS

•Zakari (fourth right); leader of the delegation, Col. Ifeanyi Okoro (fourth left) and other members of the Defence Intelligence from Nigeria, France, Cameroon and other countries, when the visited INEC Headquarters in Abuja...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

INEC pushes for Electoral Act review

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HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will be working closely with the National Assembly to improve the electoral process in the country.

The acting Chairman of INEC, Hajia Amina Zakari, spoke yesterday when she received some Foreign Defence Attaches with the Defence Intelligence Agency at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

The attaches are from different countries, including United States of America, France, Sudan Angola, United She noted that there was need for the review of some of the country’s Electoral Act for improved electoral system.

Zakari explained that INEC had noticed some lacuna in the electoral act clauses which according to her needed some legal review.

INEC boss who revealed that the Commission had recommended certain reviews to the National Assembly, also urged the current lawmakers on the need to review those clauses to improve the electoral processes.

“We will continuously try to improve the electoral process through legal reviews.

“Election laws are not static, they are dynamic. You have to keep on improving on them especially when something

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

comes up, like the issue of diaspora voting, the issue of electronic voting.

“These are issues that require review and we will keep on recommending to the national assembly for these reviews,” Zakari said.

Zakari listed other challenges confronting the commission in carrying out its functions to include election violence, lack of internal democracy among political parties and difficulties in monitoring their election finances.

The acting chairman said INEC was already working on necessary measures to mitigate the challenges by introducing modern technologies, including the Permanent Voters Cards to the electoral process.

“We have already achieved some success in those regards but we are looking forward for more.

“On electoral violence, we have been able to mitigate that with the deployment of our Election Risk Management Tool and with our collaboration with the Inter-Agency Committee on Election Security (IACES),” Zakari said.

Chief of Defence Intelligent Agency, AVM Monday Morgan said the foreign attachés were at the commission in recognition of its roles in national development, especially the promotion of democracy.

Electricity firm to install 186 meters

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HE Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED) Plc has completed an arrangement to receive and install over 186 smart meters free of charge.

Speaking at a customer consultative forum for tariff review in Makurdi, the Executive Director, Marketing and Investment, Mr. Verr Jirbo, said the company had taken steps to improve its services.

He decried a situation where customers formed the habit of bypassing due process to patronise quacks in getting electricity.

Consumers, including the ex-Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Prof. Daniel Uzah, said JED Plc was controlled by the political class, adding that the fixed deposit

By Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

imposed on costumers was not correct.

He advocated a reversal of the trend.

An economist, Dr. Tyokever, said only improved services by JED would ensure profit, as consumers would be willing to pay bills.

He noted that the haste with which profit was expected without power supply would worsen the situation.

A consumer, Chief Major Mayange, said some areas were permanently placed on load shedding by JED, which was one of the reasons the affected consumers hesitated to pay for the estimated bills.

He urged the company to ensure quick arrival of the prepaid meters.

PDP’s strategy is to distract Buhari’s administration, says APC •Opposition party: let President focus on economy

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) statement on the nation's economy as part of the opposition's ploy to distract the Buhari Administration from its onerous task of putting the nation on a sound footing.

In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party described the PDP's statement as a litany of delusional self praise, rather than a genuine concern about the nation's well being.

“The question the PDP should ask itself is that if it had laid a solid foundation for the economy in its 16 years in charge, could such a foundation have given way in just three months of a new Administration?

“If the PDP had been as fantastic as its statement had portrayed, it would still be the ruling, rather than the opposition party that it is now.

“It is therefore important for the PDP to concentrate its attention on remaking its tattered image rather than continuing to act as a desperate attention-seeking opposition,” it said.

The PDP has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to pay attention to the management of the nation’s economy.

The party said it was worried that the economy had remained on rapid fall since the last four

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

months, apparently due to the absence of a clear-cut fiscal policy direction and an economic team to deal with the domestic and global challenges associated with a developing economy.

A statement yesterday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the PDP was in full support of the President’s efforts in tackling corruption and insurgency.

The PDP said it was dutybound, beyond politics, to draw the President’s attention to the fact that under the prevailing circumstances, the nation is evidently heading to economic doldrums.

The statement said: “Mr. President, this is no longer about politics and partisanship. It is about the economy of our dear nation and the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens.

“Recall that we have severally in the past, drawn attention to official reports showing that the unemployment situation in the country as well as the inflation rate are growing at frightening dimensions, not to talk of the continued decline in domestic and direct foreign investments, all due to uncertainty created by the lack of economic direction of the APC-led administration.

“The situation has become even of utmost concern following the failure of this administration to articulate any interventionist policy at this critical moment, when credible global economic monitors have continued to predict that oil price may fall as low as $20 per barrel.

“It is worrisome that while other countries are taking deliberate steps to enhance their investment profiles and hedge their economies at this time, the APC-led Federal Government has done nothing in that direction, but has centred on partisan politics and witch-hunt of perceived opponents, while the economy remains vulnerable and unattended to.”

“We caution strongly that this approach to governance is not healthy for our nation. Indeed, the time has come for Mr. President to end the apparent lethargy in his administration and take urgent step to set up a crack economic team of experts to immediately swing into action and salvage the situation by opening up all economic outlets, which have been stagnated in the last four months.

“In managing this economy at this time, we urge Mr. President, as the father of the nation, to look beyond partisan politics and ensure that the policy frameworks and populist economic projects laid by the PDP

administration, especially in the non-oil sectors are not allowed to rot, but adequately utilized for the good of all.

“In this regard therefore, we wish to draw attention to various agricultural projects and programmes established by the PDP, especially in the northern states, such as various dams and irrigation projects, the e-wallet financial empowerment system to farmers, associated to the over two million direct farm jobs, as well as the Green Belt project under Presidential Initiative on Afforestation in Kano and 10 other northern states, all in line with PDP’s agenda to return the region as the food basket of the nation.

“The PDP believes that in the interest of millions of Nigerians citizens who look up to the political class for direction, it is now imperative on the APC-led federal government to pay deserving attention to the economy and continue the policy of the past administration of opening the space for harnessing indigenous potentials.

“Finally, we wish to reassure that the PDP, as a responsible party, will remain committed to providing credible and robust alternatives and views to government policies and programmes, in the general interest and wellbeing of the Nigerian people”.

DHQ: End of Boko Haram imminent

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HE Defence Headquarters has announced the imminent end of the Boko Haram insurgency, saying the reign of the sect would soon be a thing of the past.

Acting Director, Defence Information, Colonel Rabe Abubakar was quoted to have given the assurance when a group of journalists visited him in his office yesterday.

A statement by Lieutenant Commander Olabisi Way, restated a renewed commitment of the leadership of the Armed Forces and determination on the part of the troops in the counter insurgency opera-

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

tions.

The DHQ eulogised what it described as the heart-warming success of the brilliant coordination between the air elements of the Air Force and the ground troops in the ongoing campaign.

“Troops have uprooted the Boko Haram insurgents from their strongholds, including their several camps in the Sambisa forest”, it added.

Colonel Abubakar was also quoted to have described the arm struggle by any citizen as

an unpatriotic act.

He called on unrepentant members of the terrorist group to have a rethink, lay down their arms and abandon their strange and uncivilised ideology for the betterment of mankind.

The Defence spokesman was also said to have used the occasion to commend the troops for their ever-ready posture to tackle head-on all forms of criminality being perpetrated by the terrorists.

He attributed the feat recorded so far to motivation and injection of right arsenal in the prosecution of the battle

against insurgency.

Col. Abubakar was said to have assured members of the public that the military authorities were re-strategizing operations, with the view to halting suicide bombings by the insurgents.

According to him, a suicide bomber was recently arrested in Bauchi while attempting to blow up the popular Yankari Motor Park in the ancient city.

He appealed to the citizenry to be on the alert and conscious of crowded and populated public places, including markets and places of worship.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

NEWS Hollande to Buhari: France ‘ll back Boko Haram battle Continued from page 1

•Acting Chairman, Joint Tax Board (JTB), Mr Tunde Fowler (left), with the secretary of the board, Mr Muhammad Abubakar, at a meeting of JTB on improving revenue collection through enhanced collaboration of tax authorities, in Abuja…yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

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The Sun DMD Nwosu’s wife abducted

HE wife of The Sun Deputy Managing Director Steve Nwosu, Toyin, has been kidnapped.

An armed gang, numbering about seven, stormed Nwosu’s Ago Palace Way, Okota home, entering the house through a window.

They took advantage of the absence of electricity supply, the transformer stationed in front of the building before scaling the fence.

They were said to have broken the bulb at the corridor, entered the house and turned off the lights. They headed straight to the rooms.

The armed men bundled Nwosu’s kids who were sleeping in the parlour and

By Precious Igbonwelundu

locked them inside a toilet ransacked the house for money and other valuables, after which they ordered his wife to dress up. They whisked her away in a speedboat through the canal opposite the house.

It was learnt that the criminals blindfolded Nwosu and wanted to abduct him but changed their minds and told his wife to dress up. They took her instead.

The gang also attacked another house on the street. The owner, who was said to have jumped into the next compound upon sighting them was injured.

The residents are vulnerable to attacks because of the porous canal that serves as boundary between Amuwo Odofin and Okota.

Nwosu told The Nation that the armed men entered his house around 1:50am.

“They did not knock. They opened the window, pushed down the burglary proof and two people came and pointed a gun at me.

The third one stood on the other side.

“My wife had jumped out ahead of me but then, they bypassed her and pointed the gun at me, demanding money.

“They searched everywhere and I told them that I

am a journalist and wondered how much they think a journalist has.

“But I guess they did not believe me and were still demanding ‘where is the money’.

“Sincerely, there was really no money. The last N20, 000 I had at the weekend, I had gone to a wedding on Saturday, and feeling like a big boy, I had sprayed the money there.

“My wife and I were even arguing that there was no money at home and I told her to be patient, that on Monday we would see what we could scavenge from the account.

Continued on page 8

UNILAG panel probes student’s death

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FOUR-MAN panel has started probing the death of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) student, Oluchi Anekwe, who was electrocuted on the campus last week.

The panel, according to the spokesman of the institution, Mr. Goke Oke, is headed by Professor Mustapha Danesi a professor of medicine.

The spokesman also denied the claims by the deceased family that she died in the institution’s medical centre due to workers’ negligence.

He said: “I know our medical employees are profes-

•Buhari condoles with family

By Oluwatoyin Adeleye

sionals and experts and I believe they acted according to professional standards.

However, the panel will investigate the matter.”

Oke, who appealed for calm and understanding during the investigation, said he empathised with the family of the deceased and did not seek to engage them in brickbats He also said Oluchi’s parents had not been contacted in respect of compensation and that the institution was

in contact with the electricity company to remove the cable from its premises.

“The university, being a community in itself, is located within the Akoka/Onike community and it cannot dissociate itself from its environment. The power station is just behind the school and we cannot be hostile to them,” he said.

Miss Anekwe, a 300 level student of the department of Accounting, died when an electric cable that runs over a hall of residence, New Hall, snapped and hit her.

The institution is still investigating the alleged rape of a post/UTME candidate by one Dr Akin Baruwa, who claimed to be a part-time lecturer of the institution.

President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with the late Oluchi’s family, describing the incident as unfortunate. The president’s condolence message was sent through the Federal Government delegation to the victim’s family.

The delegation, which comprises top government officials, was led by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education.

against Boko Haram and Islamic State jihadists is the same battle.

He warned that Boko Haram had expanded "after declaring its loyalty to IS".

He said the jihadists' alliance, announced in March, had given Boko Haram "a source of material resources.”

"We know Boko Haram is linked to Daesh and so receives help, support from this group," Hollande said, using the Arabic acronym for the IS group.

"To fight Boko Haram is to fight Daesh, and we can no longer single out terrorism according to regions. It is the same terrorism, inspired by the same ideology of death," the French leader added.

The French President said his government was concerned about the increasing spate of insecurity in Nigeria and West Africa and is ready to render support in tackling extremism.

He said he discussed with President Buhari new strategies of partnership that would enable Nigeria and its neighboring countries - Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic - through the joint action of the MJTF to fight the insurgency and restore the peace.

As an intervention approach to assist in the fight, he recalled that France last year hosted a Regional Summit on Security in Paris which brought together the neighboring countries to chart the way forward.

He said: "We provide all of the support to the countries in the region which are affected by this cult and in Nigeria; we want to provide support and solidarity."

Thanking President Buhari for his recent actions towards defeating terror, he said France had concluded arrangements to invest 130 million eoros in the development of infrastructure in Nigeria for rebuilding of roads, provision of electricity and water supply.

Despite the fall in the price of crude oil in the internation-

al market which has affected Nigerian expected revenue, he noted that the country's economy still remained strong.

"The Nigerian economy remains strong so, France wants to be doing business in the country." He said President Buhari thanked the French government for its interest in assisting Nigeria and expressed readiness of his administration to partner with France.

With the commitment from France, he said Nigeria's next shopping list regarding support will move to other members of the G7.

"We have to depend on France and the other G7 countries for support to fight piracy.

"Our next shopping list is going to G7 in terms of intelligence and training. Another problem is the problem in the Gulf of Guinea, from Senegal to Angola, that area is endowed with resources like petroleum and other minerals but surrounded by piracy and theft.

"We are going to depend on France and the G7 countries to flush these criminals out of the region.

"On Nigeria's problems, more than 67 per cent of our youths and most of them under their youthful age are unemployed. We are finding best way in Agriculture and mining to address this before sophisticated infrastructure and security, are provided.

"We want to make sure we feed ourselves and provide security before other things are also tackled," he added Nigeria and France, last year, signed bilateral agreements which enables the French government to provide $1.170 Million soft loan through the French development agency AFD for the construction of high voltage power lines and substations that will connect Abuja with electrical distribution network.

The President will today continue his visit and hold talks with the business community in France.

Wada picks Kogi PDP ticket

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OVERNOR Idris Wada last night won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket to contest the November governorship election.

Wada defeated his close rival Alhaji Jibrin Isah

(Echocho) with 709 votes to 139 votes in the poll conducted at the Lokoja Stadium.

Wada will now face his arch rivel ex-Governor Abubakar idris who picked the All progressives Congress ticket.

N650m recruitment scam: EFCC grills ex-Immigration chief A tragedy that shook the nation

Continued from page 1

the N650million.

The probe is coming barely three weeks after Parradang’s removal by President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly recruiting over 1,000 officers in May, allegedly without due process.

A highly-placed source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The ex-ComptrollerGeneral came to the EFCC headquarters at about 10am and as at 6pm, he was yet to leave.

“Upon arrival, he was ushered into an office to meet with a team of investigators, who insisted on a written statement.

“Parradang was invited by the EFCC to explain the circumstances behind the fees charged, the law backing it, the account where the mon-

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T least 18 job seekers were on March 16, 2014 confirmed dead nationwide during a rowdy recruitment test conducted by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

In Abuja, the 60,000 capacity National Stadium was filled up with job applicants desperate to write the recruitment test.

The examination was believed to have been contracted to a private firm by the NIS, citing the need for transparency and accountability.

But it turned to tragedy as the NIS could not manage the millions of applicants desperately seeking employment.

In Abuja, seven applicants (two men and five women) were confirmed dead

ey was paid into, what the cash was used for and the balance.

“This is just the first step in the ongoing probe of the jobs

ANALYSIS

By Seun Akioye

in a stampede where many others were injured.

The body count rose in other states where the same tragedy unfolded. In Niger state, a stampede occurred, leading to the death of three of the job seekers as security agencies fired tear gas at applicants.

About 11,000 candidates had converged on Women Day Secondary School in Minna, when the tragedy occurred.

At the Port Harcourt Liberation stadium, a pregnant woman was among the five people who died. The pregnant

scandal. We are going to invite officials of the Ministry of Interior and the Prison and Immigration Board and the company engaged for the re-

woman was among the 35,000 applicants that thronged the stadium, she was said to have died while attempting to scale a fence. She fell down on her stomach and died on the way to the hospital In Osun, Lagos, Gombe, Oyo and Plateau states, thousands of applicants fainted due to exhaustion caused by the large number of people.

NIS officials said they “were overwhelmed” by the sheer number of applicants who turned up for the recruitment exercise.

The number of the dead provoked national outrage with many calling for the sack and prosecution of the then Minister for Internal Affairs, Comrade Abba

cruitment. “ A verification of the company is already done at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Continued on page 8

“We may also interact with Abba Moro if it becomes expedient to do so. But at present, we are grilling Parradang.”

The source added: “We did not receive any petition from any person or group. This commission went into the case on merit.We have been on it for a while.”

The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed that Parradang appeared before a team following the ongoing investigation into last year’s immigration recruitment scandal .

About two weeks ago, Moro said Parradang should be held responsible for the job tragedy.

He said Parradang abandoned the important recruitment for birthday parties in Jos.

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7

NEWS Osun to pay salaries with bailout cash

Ooni of Ife to emerge in 40 days •Kingmakers: Giesi house to produce monarch

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HE 16 Ife kingmakers yesterday named Giesi as the only ruling house qualified to present candidate (s) for the vacant Ooni stool.

They said the new Ooni would emerge in the next 40 days.

Addressing reporters at the Ooni’s palace, the Obalufe, Oba Folorunso Omisakin, said the 1980 Ife chieftaincy declaration will be used in selecting the next Ooni.

He said: “We, the kingmakers, hereby unanimously declare, affirm and confirm that the 1980 Ife chieftaincy declaration is the one in existence now and we affirm as follows: “Section 19 (3) states that it is the turn of the Giesi ruling house to present a candidate/ candidates for the vacant stool of the Ooni of Ife. The three other ruling housesOsinkola, Ogboru and

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

Lafogido- should wait for their turn.

“No ruling house should be restricted to a particular quarters or area of the town because members of the ruling houses live in different parts of the town.

“Finally, we hereby enjoin members of the four ruling houses, residents, religious bodies, men and women to please maintain the peace.

“By doing this, the kingmakers will be able to select the best candidate.”

According to the Obalufe, whoever emerges must be upright, not poor, of good character, enjoy popular support of the kingmakers and must be able to lead the ancient town.

He assured that Ife tradition and custom would be applied.

The Secretary of Ife East Lo-

cal Government, Tajudeen Lawal, said the provision of the 1980 Ife chieftaincy declaration was clear and straightforward on which house would produce the next Ooni.

He said the local government would write the Giesi ruling house to present candidates to the kingmakers, assuring that the process would be rancour-free because “the government would allow transparency”.

His counterpart from Ife Central, Dr. Taiwo Olaiya, faulted the claim that the1980 declaration had never been used, saying it was used to pick the late Oba Okunade Sijuwade.

He said the 1957 Ife chieftaincy declaration had been cancelled and the 1980 declaration used to pick the new Ooni.

The kingmakers at the briefing include Obajio of Moore Quarters in Ife, Oba Yaya

Elugbaju, Obaloran of Ilode Quarters in Ife, Oba Sakariya Olawusi, the Lowa Adimula of Ife, Oba Joseph Ijaodola, the Jaran of Ife, Oba Adekola Adeyeye and Arode of Ife, Oba J.A. Awe. But the Lafogido ruling house has said it would challenge the kingmakers’ decision in court.

According to the ruling house, Giesi lost its chance to produce the Ooni in 1980 when it conceded to the late Oba Sijuwade, who hailed from Ogboru ruling house.

Consequently, Lafogido argued that Giesi must wait until the rotation comes to it again.

A source said: "Giesi cannot enjoy the chance to produce the Ooni twice. In the principle of rotation, each participant enjoys the opportunity to produce the leader once. Giesi had its chance in 1980. This is Lafogido's turn.”

also told me that God, who put them there, will definitely take care of them.

“When I got home after the scan, I told my husband about it and he kept preaching to me that I should trust God that He will surely send a helper.

“The children are in the neonatal ward of the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta. We are having challenges in paying our bills. We need help,” Mrs Taiwo said.

Mr Taiwo appealed to Governor Ibikunle Amosun to assist the family.

The wife of the governor, Mrs Olufunso Amosun, has donated some materials and cash to the family.

Mrs Amosun, who was represented by the Director, Government House and General Services, Mrs Lydia Fajombo, visited the family.

The grandmother, Mrs Alice Odogiyan, thanked Mrs. Amosun for her gesture.

She said: ‘’When God gave us this blessing, I couldn’t question him, but my major concern is how to take care of these blessings,” she added.

She appealed to religious/ political leaders and wellmeaning individuals to come to their rescue.

Donations can be made through Matthew Taiwo, Sterling Bank account 0023689700.

We need help, says quadruplets’ mum

•The quadruplets INSET Mrs Taiwo

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HILDREN are gifts from God and their arrival usually brings smiles to the faces of their parents and well-wishers but for Mr& Mrs Yemi Taiwo, the birth of their quadruplets on September 2 has brought “hardship” to their family.

Mrs Taiwo gave birth to the four children at a private hospital in Sango, a suburb of Ogun State before she was transferred to the Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, the state capital.

The 28-year-old mother, a petty trader, lives with her 32year-old husband, a tipper driver, at 7, Okedara Street, Sango. The couple have a two-

By Olalekan Ayeni

and a -half year-old daughter.

She said since the birth of the babies, her husband has been supportive but it has been difficult for the family.

“I’m happy because I’m a woman who can give birth to children. My desire was to have a male child since we have a daughter but God gave us four more daughters.

“When I became pregnant, the scan showed that there were three babies in my womb. I was afraid and started crying. ‘“But the doctor, who did the ultrasound, encouraged me to pray to God for assistance. He

Osun lecturers protest

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HE Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun StateOwned Tertiary Institutions (CASUOSTI) yesterday protested the nonpayment of nine months’ salary.

The lecturers, comprising members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Staff Union, stormed the House of Assembly, Osogbo, singing solidarity songs.

They carried placards with various inscriptions, such as “Change for prosperity and not for poverty”; “Pay us our salaries”and “Save our lives”.

CASUOSTI Chairman Lasisi Jimoh said it was painful that lecturers had not been paid in the last nine months.

He accused the government of not remitting loan deduction from their salaries to banks, adding that the government had not also remitted their contributory pension since September 2013.

In an 11-page letter entitled: “Save Our Soul”, delivered to the House, Jimoh sought the intervention of the legislature in resolving the crisis.

CASUOSTI Secretary Olusegun Lana told the lawmakers that the only condition for lecturers to return to classrooms was for government to pay their salaries.

Responding on behalf of the Speaker, the Chief Whip, Folorunsho Bamisayemi, assured the striking lecturers that the House would look into the issue.

Motorcycle ban lifted

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From Damisi Ojo, Akure

NDO State Governor Olusegun Mimiko yesterday lifted the suspension placed on motorcycles operators.

Mimiko made the announcement at a stakeholders meeting in Akure, the state capital.

The governor said it was the right of the motorcycle operators to protest but destroying government’s property was against the law.

He warned them to refrain from such dastardly act that could disrupt the peace, adding that henceforth government and transport unions would collaborate to structure ticketing activities.

Mimiko said from October 1, the government would implement full registration and enforcement of special jackets to ensure more adequate security of life and property.

Pensioners’ forum in Osogbo From Sikiru Akinola, Ibadan

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PENSION fund administrator, Oak Pensions Limited, is organising a special interactive session with its account holders in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

A statement by the company’s Southwest zonal head, Kayode Labade, said the interface would hold tomorrow at the NUT House, Iwo Road.

Labade said: “All issues relating to easy access to individual retirement saving accounts, expert advice on wise investment would be addressed at the meeting. We enjoin all account holders to participate in this parley.”

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SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola and President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Ayuba Wabba have said the government will use the N34.98 billion bailout loan to pay outstanding workers’ salaries.

Wabba spoke to reporters in Osogbo after a meeting with the governor on the crisis brewing between the workers and the government.

Wabba said: “We agreed that the bailout will be deployed to pay outstanding salaries and pensions.

“It was agreed that the salaries will be paid in the next few days.”

A statement by the governor’s media director, Semiu Okanlawon, said: “We are using the opportunity to assure workers that all arrears will be paid from the bailout funds .

“This is why the government has ensured that the verification is concluded and the actual figure of workers is determined.

“It is therefore important for workers to ensure effective conclusion of this process to ensure that they reap the fruits of their labour.

“We must agree that civil service reforms are absolutely critical at this stage.

“There is a need for the engagement of all critical segments of leadership of government and labour for the necessary actions that will make the workforce effective and efficient.

“If our state, and by all

means, the Southwest, will become financially and materially viable, a wholesome review of what works and what does not must be carried out and implemented.”

Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, protested in Osogbo, asking the Federal Government to reduce school fees and for the state to pay workers.

Led by the Student Union President Omotayo Akande, the students said despite the increased fees, facilities were in a deplorable condition.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

NEWS The Sun DMD’s wife abducted Continued from page 6

“Everybody understands the economy of today, but somehow, the men did not seem to believe me.

“Initially, they blindfolded me and wanted to take me with them. Although I was blindfolded, I know they brought me outside the house.

“But they suddenly changed their mind and took me back, demanded that I laid on the floor and then I heard them telling my wife ‘dress up, dress up’.

“She had just her nightie on when they came. So, I don’t even know what she eventually wore when they left.

“The next thing I heard was Ole! Ole! (thief! Thief!) outside, which I knew nothing about. Later I started hearing gunshots and by the time I stood up, some neighbours

had come and said there were some others (gunmen) outside, who joined the three that entered my compound and that one was carrying AK47 while the other one had a pistol.

“That the other one also was carrying a gun and that they shot to disperse the neighbours who had gathered, before they entered their motorboat and left.

“God knows if I had money I would have given them.

Robbers have been here once, last December. Luckily, it happened a few hours after my wife’s birthday. So, all the little gifts people gave her were still in the house and so, then, the robbers saw money.

“So, if I had I would have given them but there was nothing,” he said.

Asked if the robbers had contacted him, Nwosu re-

plied that they were making “all kinds of demands, both monetary and otherwise.”

He said: “They have made their demands. All kinds of demands. Not only monetary. I won’t go into details of what they are demanding.

“I did not take the case to the police, I guess they heard the gunshots and came. They asked me and I gave them my statement that’s the much I know.

“As I am standing, I have not done an inventory but I know they took two phones with a small one that my little girl uses.

“I set it as alarm to wake her up because they resumed school today. My kids were sleeping in the parlour when the armed men came.

“They don’t like sleeping in their room most times, so, they were in the parlour and

the men just rounded all of them into one toilet and locked them there.

“So, at the moment, I know they took the phones and two IPADs, some perfumes, hot drinks. I don’t know what else they took because they turned the entire place upside down, everything in my wardrobe was placed on the bed and my mattress turned over.”

Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni, said efforts were on to secure Mrs. Nwosu’s release.

He said the police were going to collaborate with local vigilante groups to secure the waterways.

Owoseni, who said the incident was painful to him because Nwosu is his personal friend, ruled out a possible attack on the journalist.

He said that three other buildings were attacked same night, describing the incident as a case of armed robbery.

“Looking at how wide the sea is, it takes a whole lot to patrol the waterways but what we do now is to partner with members of the community like forming joint patrol teams with their vigilante groups,” he said.

At Nwosu’s home was the Managing Director of The Sun, Eric Osagie, who urged the kidnappers to release the woman unharmed.

With him were the newspaper’s editorial board chairman, Mrs. Wale Sokunbi; its General Manager, Operations, Daramola Lajumoke and Editor on Sunday, Abdulfatah Oladeinde.

A tragedy that shook the nation Continued from page 6

Moro. But the Minister, who accepted responsibility for the tragedy was also quick to blame the victims for being impatient and refusing to follow orders given to them.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan commiserated with the families of the victims and promised them automatic employment in the NIS for a member of each of the family.

He said a fresh recruitment would be conducted.

Buhari to inaugurate Cross River super highway

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RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will on Monday inaugurate the 260 kilometres Super Highway in Cross River State.

The project is one of the two key ones being embarked upon by Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade, according to the governor’s spokesman Christian Ita. Major Geo-technical studies have been carried out on the other signature project the Bakassi Deep Seaport.

Upon completion, the Super Highway will serve as the evacuation route for the Seaport.

A statement quoted Chief of Staff to the President Abba Kyari, as conveying the president’s acceptance to perform the ceremony in a letter to the governor.

‘Critics unfair to President’

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RITICS of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration after only 100 days have been unfair to the government, National Chairman of the Directors of Works and Physical Planning of Nigerian Universities, Mr Muhamad Sambo has said.

According to him, the president has successful waged war on corruption, stabilised the naira and recorded improvement in power supply, within the period.

He added that the planned recruitment into the police, the ongoing turn around maintenance and issuance of licence to build more refineries in the country, are part of the achievements of the government within this short period.

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Sambo described the critics as people who are bewildered and are in a state of shock over the huge achievements the president has recorded within the period.

He said it will be difficult for any discerning Nigerian to compare the style of administration and achievements of President Buhari wth that of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s.

“The peace and freedom of movement that is prevalent in the north and which was absent during President Jonathan’s administration is one huge achievement that northerners and their friends in the south consider as a big development that no one can contest and which we are all proud of and happy with the President,” he added.

Nigerians pilgrims held in Saudi

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OME officials of the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) are being held in Saudi Arabia trespass.

A NAHCON official Suleiman Usman said yesterday that they were arrested and taken to prison by the Saudi authorities.

Mr. Usman spoke while paying a condolence visit on Sunday night to three Nigerian states that

APC:no preferred candidate in Bayelsa LL Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has assured aspirants in this weekend’s governorship primary in Bayela State that the party does not have a preferred candidate.

In a statement last night by APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Timi Frank, the party chairman said the party was only interest in conducting a free, fair and transparent primary.

He dismissed rumours that the list of delegates for the primary was being tampered with.

According to him, the delegates’ list for the primary is intact and in his custody at APC headquarters.

Odigie-Oyegun said the party had lifted the suspension purportedly placed on some members to ensure a conducive atmosphere for the primary.

He said: “Following reports of threats and intimidation of members of our great party in Bayelsa State in view of the party’s governorship primary

“I write to inform you that President Muhammadu Buhari, has acceded to your request. Mr. President, will perform the Ground Breaking of the 240kmSuper Highway Dual Carriage Road from Calabar to Northern Nigeria,” Kyari’s letter said.

When completed, the road will reduce travel time from six hours to two hours from Calabar to Obudu Ranch Resort.

Ayade urged the people to turn out en masse to give the President a rousing welcome.

“The President has once again demonstrated that he is indeed, the President for all.

He is a statesman, who has broken all records as he strives to bring development to every part of the country irrespective of political leanings, “the statement quoted the governor.

From Tony Akowe, Abuja

scheduled for September 19 and a meeting by the national leadership of the party with the 19 aspirants under the platform of the party in Abuja today (yesterday), after carefully listening to their complaints against the state executive, the National Working Committee (NWC) has decided to affirm the existing delegates’ list to be used for the primary.”

Odigie-Oyegun said the NWC had annulled any suspension placed on any party member in the state.

The chairman directed the party’s executive at all levels to maintain neutrality before, during and after the primary.

He advised the governorship aspirants and delegates to come out en mass for the primary.

Odigie-Oyegun urged them to accept the outcome of the primary by supporting any candidate elected at the primary.

He warned that APC’s national leadership would not tolerate aspirants or their supporters who harass and intimidate other members.

lost six pilgrims in the Mecca crane accident.

Six Nigerian pilgrims including one male from Kaduna State, four females from Gombe State and one male from Katsina, died in the tragedy on Friday.

The coordinator said the affected officials were medical personnel arrested for embarking on a trip outside Mecca without official permit.

“We are trying to secure the release of our medical team, who were arrested and taken to prison

by Saudi security, while travelling from Jeddah in an ambulance,” the coordinator said.

Mr. Usman, who did not disclose how many officials were affected, and the states they represent, appealed to pilgrims to desist from traveling outside Mecca without official permit, at least until after Arafat.

“Pilgrims should not leave Mecca at least until after Hajj and with official permit. They should also ensure adherence to the laid down rules and regulation of the Saudi authorities,” he said.

Commenting on the Friday tragedy, Mr. Usman said rescue officials were able to identify Adamu Kargi from Kubau Local Government Area of Kaduna State from his uniform as he was not carrying his identification cards.

“We were able to identify the deceased from Kaduna State by his uniform because at the time of the accident, he was not bearing identity card and the hand identification band. But, we commend our pilgrims for wearing their uniforms all the time,” he said.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

NEWS Ondo to partner EU ONDO State Governor Olusegun Mimiko has said his administration will strengthen its relationship with the European Union (EU) to provide international market for the commodities produced in the state.

He added that the government would synergise with the EU in the area of investment and technical know-how.

Mimiko spoke when the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Michel Arrion, visited him.

He praised the EU for its previous poverty alleviation programmes through MPP3, MPP6 and MPP9 in the country, stressing that his administration had embarked on over 600 micro projects across the state to impact on the masses.

He said: “Our administration in the last six years embarked on over 600 transformational micro projects aimed at alleviating poverty, youth empowerment and income generation among others.”

Arrion said he was in the state for the Niger Delta Support Programme- 4 (NDSP-4), which is an EU initiative.

Ekiti won’t pay retirees from N9.6b bailout loan E KITI retirees may have to wait longer before getting their gratuities as the state will not pay them from the N9.6 billion Federal Government “bailout funds”.

The Head of Service, Gbenga Faseluka, broke the news in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday at a briefing on the Civil Service Week.

Faseluka said payment of gratuities would not be from the N9.6 billion “bailout funds”.

He said the government would use the bailout funds

•Govt to clear arrears of salaries, bonuses

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado Ekiti

to clear arrears of August and September 2014 salaries, 2014 and 2015 leave bonuses and pensions.

Faseluka said: “All arrears of salaries, pensions and leave bonuses will be attended to as soon as we receive the funds. Gratuities may not be attended to immediately.

“Approvals for the funds have been secured from the State Executive Council and legislative backing received from the House of Assembly to access the funds.”

He added that the last time retirees received their gratuities was in September 2012, noting that since then, the arrears had accumulated as more officers retired.

Restating government’s

commitment to workers’ welfare, Faseluka said over N200 million was disbursed as car loans to 677 workers while over N192 million was disbursed to 464 workers as housing loans.

Speaking on lateness to work, Faseluka described it as “unacceptable and not in the interest of the state” warning them to desist from such.

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GUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has left for France as part of a Federal Government delegation, led

by President Muhamadu Buhari.

The governor will meet some foreign investors and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Lafarge Africa on the redevelopment of Aworo Forest Reserves and Imeko Games Reserves in Yewa North and Imeko-Afon local government areas.

He will on Thursday, depart for Saudi Arabia to perform the hajj.

Amosun has, however, in a letter to the House of Assembly, authorised Deputy Governor Yetunde Onanuga to act in his absence.

‘Comply with resumption date’

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Ambode to hold quarterly meeting LAGOS State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is to begin a quarterly rendering of account of stewardship.

The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna, said the quarterly rendering of account, which will take the form of town hall meetings, will take the government round the state.

He said the town hall meetings would afford his administration the opportunity to render its account and feel the pulse of the people and get firsthand knowledge of their needs and concerns.

“The maiden edition of our quarterly report will be rendered in the first week of October and will continue in that tradition every three months going forward.

“At the end of each quarter, our government will report to the people on the journey so far and the task ahead,” he said.

Ambode said his administration’s efforts in the last three months had been geared towards making sure that public institutions work in the interest of the people.

“We are committed to making the various public institutions work for the benefit of the people. That, in my view, is why we were elected.

“So, our government will use the town hall meetings to get feelers from the populace on how government affects them and what they want from government.

“The populace will also have the opportunity to know what we have been doing and what we intend to do to make the state safer, cleaner and more prosperous for all,” he said.

Amosun off to France

•A section of the Ojoo-Moniya Road washed away by erosion in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital,…yesterday

PHOTO: NAN

Prostrate enlargement caused by old age, says don PROFESSOR of Surgery in the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Ibadan (UI), Prof Linus Okeke, has said Benign Prostrate Enlargement (BPH) is caused by old age and not increased sexual activities.

He added that BPH was not a death sentence as it could be treated satisfactorily.

Okeke was delivering his inaugural lecture, entitled: “Lord, That I May Urinate” at the Trenchard Hall, UI,

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From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

Ibadan.

The don said: “BPH occurs in the ageing male. It is purely caused by ageing because there is imbalance between the blood levels of androgen and estrogen and this imbalance is responsible for this enlargement.

“The more prevalence is put at two out of 10 men less than 50 years and rises to nine out of 10 in patients over 80 years.

“However, the enlargement affects different individuals to varying degrees.

“But unpublished data shows that the society at large believes that prostrate enlargement is due to too much sexual intercourse, especially with multiple partners.”

On how to prevent the prostrate gland from enlarging, Okeke said there are two ways: “If a boy is castrated before puberty as is said to be practised in some kingdoms and if a boy dies be-

fore reaching adulthood”.

He said nobody is too old to have prostrate operation, adding that in experienced hands, age is not a restriction to operating on patients with enlarged prostrate.

Okeke said:”Although not all patients with BPH will require an operation, when operation is needed, it can be done as a day case in most patients without any wound on the body and they can return to normal activities the same day.”

HE Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs. Olabisi Ariyo, has called on parents to ensure that their children resume for the new academic session.

She gave this advice in Lagos yesterday during inspection of schools to assess the level of resumption.

Mrs. Ariyo, who was accompanied by the Director General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo and other officials, said schools had fully resumed in Lagos State and pupils are expected to be in school.

“There is no point extending the holiday as there won’t be enough time to cover the syllabus,” the permanent secretary said.

She advised the teachers to be proactive in using the schools facilities judiciously.

“Let us stop the idea of creating dichotomy in the use of government property for the benefit of the students.”

The permanent secretary observed that the low turnout of pupils was due to the announcement by the Federal Government on school resumption, which conflicted with that of Lagos State.

Among the schools visited are District Junior Secondary School, Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School, Sango Junior Secondary School (Inclusive) Agege, Agidingbi Junior and Senior Secondary Schools, Ikeja.

APC slams Fayose on ‘tax burden’

•Fayose

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has slammed Governor Ayo Fayose for allegedly using the last education summit to impose taxes on parents ahead of the resumption of schools yesterday.

The party described the

summit as a “fraud”, maintaining that three hours was too short to acheive anything meaningful by those gathered by the governor to produce a blueprint for the turnaround of the sector.

It said the summit was a ploy to rubber-stamp the governor’s premeditated imposition of school fees and taxes on the people.

Dismissing the summit as a fraud with a pre-determined agenda, the party alleged that Fayose goaded the unsuspecting participants into endorsing his agenda to foist school fees and ridiculous taxes on the people.

In a statement, the party’s Publicity Secretary Taiwo Olatunbosun said the threehour summit achieved three

•’Education summit a fraud’ From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

things- imposition of fees in primary and secondary schools, imposition of unreasonable taxes on the people and taxes on landlords.

Describing Fayose’s attitude as the height of insensitivity and wickedness, the party’s spokesman lamented that the governor do not care a hoot if parents went into slavery to source money to pay school fees.

“Fayose is making life difficult for Ekiti pupils and their parents while his own children study abroad on the bill of the government. He keeps drawing his own

monthly security vote of N250 million.

“In a deliberate attempt to further dehumanise the people financially after he had terrorised them serially with thugs, he has again refused to explore other revenue generating assets to lift the burdens off Ekiti people.

“The multi-billion naira Ikogosi Warm Spring and Resort Centre, which is supposed to be generating revenue for the state, has been abandoned by Fayose. “The Ire Burnt Bricks Company, recently resuscitated by the Fayemi administration, has been abandoned. Also, the Ekitiparapo Pavilion, which has been left unuti-

lised.

“To add salt to injury, he has decided to impose all sorts of ridiculous taxes on the already over-impoverished Ekiti people which amounts to double jeopardy.

We have been asking Fayose what he has done with almost N40 billion he received apart from the monthly allocation of average of N3 billion in the last 10 months, but he has no answer to this.

“We implore Ekiti people to keep praying for divine intervention in the affairs of the state to enable our people breathe the air of freedom and be saved from political, economic and spiritual bondage to which they have been sentenced.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Infrastructure Bank makes N973m pre-tax profit

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HE Infrastructure Bank Plc (TIB) has an nounced N973 million as profit before tax for its 2014 financial year.

Its Chairman, Alhaji Lamis Dikko, stated this in his Annual Report at the bank’s Annual General Meeting at Transcorp Hotels, Calabar.

He said the figure showed a marginal improvement over its 2013 profit of N875 million.

He said a strong set of results posted by TIB last year fostered what he called a trend of positive performance by the bank.

Dikko said the performance of the economy last year also determined the bank’s profit in the financial year.

He said: “In 2014 the Nigerian economy faced several challenges some of which were heightened by the fall in oil prices.

“Conversely our pipelines of opportunities increased, a function of the bank’s increasing stature in the market and the significant latent demand for infrastructure assets development nationwide.”

He said the recapitalisation programme had further strengthened the bank, adding that TIB would continue a programme of raising additional capital to fund the growth plan targets.

In his remarks, its Managing Director, Mr Adekunle Oyinloye, said in line with bank’s objectives to attract co-investors and third party fund investors the bank had recently established a $500 millin “Nigeria-focused Infrastructure Fund’’.

He said the fund was established in collaboration with the United Kingdom-based fund manager, Gemfonds Plc and Spain-based Sigrun Partners SL. Oyinloye also said the fund provides a unique opportunity for local and international investors with an appetite for creating exposure to our pipeline of commercially attractive and valueadding infrastructure projects.

He expressed confidence that the bank’s balance sheet for this year would be further strengthened with fresh capital to meet strategic objectives and regulatory requirements.

“TIB brand continues to grow in stature by dint of the commitment and hard work of everyone involved with the bank,’’ he said.

In her report, the Bank’s Acting Company Secretary, Mrs Ezinwanyi Ken-Ahia, that the bank gives consideration to employment of disabled persons with due regards to their abilities and aptitudes.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bank was first established in 1992 as Urban Development Bank and revert to The Infrastructure Bank in 2011.

Dikko also said in an interview that the bank’s management was in Calabar to partner the State Government on infrastructure development.

“The governors owe Nigerians explanations why they could not pay their workers because they collect money from Abuja every month. So, what did they do with all the money? Some of them were launching ambitious projects that were unrealistic such as building airports.”

-Managing Director, Neo Media & Marketing, Mr Ehi Braimah

Fed Govt bars consultants from T tax collection

AX consultants have been barred from as sessing and collecting tax revenue on behalf of the Federal Government.

This clarification was given yesterday by the new Acting Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr. Babatunde Fowler in Abuja when he met with members of the Joint Tax Board (JTB).

Fowler admitted that consultants will be engaged by the FIRS to gather data only. He said the FIRS has under 1,000 staff in audit function. “So, you can imagine 1,000 staff trying to review or audit the books of 450,000 companies, it just won’t work, to improve the levels of transparency and accountability these consultants will only gather data, the law does not allow them to do assessment or collect revenue on behalf of government they’re just to assist our staff to collect data,’’ he said.

The FIRS he said will do the assessment with the States Board of Internal Revenues (SBIRs) and issue the demand

From Nduka Chiejina (Asst. Editor)

notices for the tax due.

Some state members of the JTB had complained that many consultants come to make huge claims so that they can get huge commissions, but they don’t have the capacity to actually collect the huge revenue they claim to have collected in some states.”

On recent calls for an upward review of the Value Added Tax (VAT) collected by the federal government, Fowler noted that “it is the responsibility of the federal government and the federal ministry of finance to decide wether that (VAT) will change.

Fowler agreed that five per cent VAT charge was low when other countries that charge VAT both in West Africa and in Europe but those other countries have reached

the maximum level when it comes to paying taxes or public tax. “Those countries have 99 per cent tax compliance so I think we should first of all get there before we consider increasing VAT, when everyone is paying their taxes then we can look else where,” he said.

In order to build on the achievements of his predecessors, Fowler said he would reach out to SBIRs for collaboration stressing that “there are many stones left unturned as far as our current tax administration processes are concerned. For example, it is common knowledge that administration of VAT is greatly hindered by many factors, ranging from inadequate coverage of vatable persons to non-remittances of VAT deductions, tax revenue loss in this aspect can only be imagined.”

Speaking to reporters on how the FIRS will operate un-

der his watch, Fowler said his strategy is going to change a bit.

He said: “Our objective is to have 99.9 per cent level of compliance meaning that everyone and corporate entities that are taxable are captured in the tax net and pay the appropriate tax. “ FIRS will exchange information with states boards of internal revenue so that we have all the information on their own data base, we’ve given them ours already meaning that if there is any company that they don’t have in their data base they can capture such company so immediately we will have a growth in the number of tax payers at both the federal and state levels within one week.”

The FIRS Chairman said the agency has identified and located taxpayers through sharing and exchange of information as much as possible, addng that it will conduct joint audit exercises by FIRS and SBIRs; carry out joint tax enlightenment and enforcement exercises.

• From left: Entertainer, Falz, TheBahdGuy; Chief Editor, TW Magazine, Adesuwa Onyenokwe; Chief Executive Officer, WAKANOW, Obinna Okezie; Chief Executive Officer, Blue Camel Energy Limited, Suleiman Yusuf and Group Head, Strategy and Communications, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Shina Atilola, at the bank’s ‘Get Ready For Work’ programme in Lagos.

PenCom seeks Buhari’s intervention on N114b retirees’ pension arrears

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HE National Pension C o m m i s s i o n (PenCom), has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to make available N114billion to settle accrued benefits and pension increases of about 12,000 Federal Government retirees If this is not accomplished, more than 8,193 retirees and death benefits of 4,847 deceased employees of the federal government would be denied their benefits.

PenCom Director-General, Mrs. Chinelo AnohuAmazu who made this known in a report titled, “Introductory Notes to the President” made available yesterday, detailed the challenges encountered in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS). She said the payment of retirement benefits under the Scheme to retirees, as well as death

• Over 12,000 retirees may be affected

By Omobola Tolu-kusimo

claims to beneficiaries of deceased employees, were regular and timely except for the delays being experienced in the settlement of accrued benefits of FGN retirees and deceased employees, whenever there are delays in the funding of the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund by the FGN as is the case in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

She said N483.33 billion has been released into the Retirement Benefits Bonds Redemption Fund Account by the FGN, which was invested by the Central Bank of Nigeria and yielded N7.71 billion between 2006 and March 2015.

Consequently, N490.09 was

paid as accrued pension rights to 81,764 retirees and 15,244 deceased employees from inception to March 2015.

She however noted that the Federal Government is yet to release monthly mandates for the payment of accrued rights for September to December 2014, and April to August 2015 amounting to N35.30 billion.

Meanwhile, sha said the accrued benefits of 8,193 retirees and death benefits of 4,847 deceased employees amounting to N48.39 billion were processed for the period, February to August 2015, but were yet to be settled by the FGN. She stated that this clearly shows that even if the total outstanding monthly mandates were release there would

still be a shortfall of N13.09 billion.

In addition, the total mandate for September to December 2015 was N20.08 billion while the total accrued benefits for the period was N23.12 billion, which left a shortfall of N3.04 billion. Thus, even if all the mandates for the period September 2014 to August 2015 were released, there will still be underfunded to the tune of N16.13 billion, she said.

To this end, the PenCom DG called for immediate settlement in order to avert crisis in the industry.

She said: “In this regard, therefore, Mr. President is hereby respectfully invited to note the need for immediate settlement of N35.3 billion arrears by the Federal Government on accrued benefits for the months of September to December 2014 and April to August 2015.

Ambode’s investment drive receives major boost •German firm to build N14b factory in Lagos

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HE investment drive of Lagos State Govern ment received a major boost on yesterday when the representative of the Knauf Group International, Mrs Isabel Knauf expressed her company’s readiness to commence work on a N14billion manufacturing firm in the state.

This came to fore when the German Ambassador, His Excellency Michael Zenner, led a group of German diplomats and investors on a courtesy visit to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at the Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja.

Zenner, while canvassing for an increased presence of German businesses in Lagos, also sought for improved bilateral trade relations with the state government.

“We are here to introduce and express our interest in business and economic cooperation, especially on food processing and building materials. A lot of allied companies in Germany also wish to join hands in the investment drive of the governor”, the ambassador said.

In his remarks, Governor Ambode who expressed his administration’s readiness to receive German investors, described Lagos as the economic hub of Nigeria and fifth largest economy in Africa, thereby making it investors’ first choice of destination in Nigeria.

“As the economic hub of the country, we pride ourselves as the largest of the nation’s economy with the GDP of $131billion. For any German company that wants to do business in Nigeria, Lagos is your best bet. We are committed to the rule of law and we assure you of a safer and secured environment,” he said.

The governor, who described the visit by the German envoy as the first by an ambassador to actually visit and commit to commence immediate foreign direct investment, lauded their confidence in the Lagos economy.

He assured the delegation of his administration’s commitment to doing everything possible to ensure smooth take off of the project and sought to activate a state sister relationship with the city of Hamburg to further boost cooperation.

“I also want to let you know that you are the first ambassador to come out openly that you want to come and start business immediately. With your coming, investors are beginning to have confidence in our quest to build an investor-friendly environment. I want to say openly that we are committed to give everything required by this group to start work immediately,” Ambode said.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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THE NATION

BUSINESS MARITIME

e-mail: maritime@thenationonlineng.net

Govt probes N88b NIMASA contracts for varsity, shipyard

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HAT is the state of the N88 billion ship building yard and Maritime University contracts awarded by Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) under former President Goodluck Jonathan?

This is the question being asked by maritime watchers because of the purported non execution of the jobs.

Federal Ministry of Transport (FMoT) officials, it was learnt, are not happy over the poor state of the projects. A committee has been constituted to visit the site.

The projects were commissioned on May 10, last year, by Jonathan.

A senior official of the ministry told The Nation that the company, which won the civil and infrastructure work contract, has not done enough to justify the millions of dollars paid to it by NIMASA. The official is urging President Muhammadu Buhari to show interest in the investigation ordered by FMoT. Members of the panel, it was learnt, have swung into action.

The source alleged that the level of work at the site is worrisome because of the huge amount paid to the contractors.

NIMASA spokesperson Hajia Lami Tumaka told The Nation that the panel members are from the FMoT, Federal Ministry of Works and the General Services Unit of NIMASA. The committee, according to her, is expected to evaluate all projects being executed by NIMASA to ascertain their level of completion in relation to funds released for them.

“NIMASA needs to set its priorities right as far as project ex-

Stories by Oluwakemi Dauda Maritime Correspondent

ecution is concerned by strategically executing projects even in a phased manner so as to avoid a situation where projects that should have been very beneficial to the development of the maritime industry are abandoned due to poor planning,” she said.

Investigation conducted by The Nation revealed that, although, NIMASA claimed to have spent several billions of naira on the Nigerian Maritime University, there is nothing on site to show for the money spent.

The university’s temporary site at Kurutie in Warri Southeast Local Government Area of Delta State is at the back of the creek. There is no security gate at the entrance of the compound and no name was inscribed anywhere to show that it is a Federal Government owned university.

Most of the buildings at the site were uncompleted and its structure looks like the personal estate of the community’s monarch.

The FMoT official wondered how a university could be sited in that area, saying: “The promoters of the university must be invited by the government to tell Nigerians the real reason why it was located in that place because no sane parent will send his or her child to such a place because of security challenges facing the area. It is like sending your children to go and learn where Boko Haram people are training their members.

Apart from the fact that it is the den of the former Niger Delta militants, there is no light in

• The university‘s site

•President Buhari

•Acting DG NIMASA Haruna Baba Jauro

that village and the two means of getting to the university is by air and sea,” he said.

Officials of the university, he

said, have not visited the university, ship building yard and dockyard facilities in Kurutie and Okerenkoko because they are territories of former militants.

A Maitama, Abuja company, it was learnt, was awarded a $219.85 million contract for the electro-mechanical work and facilities for 36 months.

Ex-Minister urges Buhari to reposition maritime P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has been urged by the former Minister of Interior, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho to take the maritime sector seriously in order to add the value to the economy.

The transport sector, he said, is key to everything being done as a nation, urging the President Buhari to reposition the sector to boost maritime trade.

When appointing his ministers and other officials, Iheanacho said President Buhari should lay emphasis on matching the individuals with the job they are going to do and ignore what he called “it is my turn syndrome”.

Speaking with The Nation, he said President Buhari needs to appoint professionals, who will help to manage the sensitive areas of the nation’s economy. The professionals, according to him, will help in formulating an all-encompassing policy that will recognise the place of maritime in the scheme of national development and provide strategies for the country to enter various segments of the maritime market.

He identified poor policy formulation and implementation as the bane of the maritime industry.

He condemned the poor implementation of the Cabotage law enacted in 2004 to boost indigenous participation in the nation’s mari-

• Iheanacho

time sector and urged the government to review the law.

The Cabotage law, according to him, was enacted with the purpose of restricting trade along Nigeria’s coastal waters to indigenous operators. But 12 years after, the former Minister said the law predicated on four pillars, which are that Cabotage vessels must be whollyowned by Nigerians; must be registered in Nigeria; must be crewed

by Nigerians and that Nigerian shipyards must build and repair

PHOTO: OLUWAKEMI DAUDA

them. According to him, the law was doomed to fail from the beginning because the previous administrations failed to put all the necessary machineries in place for it to attain its laudable objectives.

The law, he said, needs to be reviewed and implemented to favour Nigerians unlike the current situation where only foreigners are benefitting from the nation’s vast maritime potential.

He pointed out that the inclusion of a waiver clause, which allows foreign shipping companies to step in where local ones do not have the required capacity to do the job, was the greatest undoing of the law.

Investigation revealed that benefits of proper implementation of the cabotage law includes establishment of ship building and repair yards (dry docking); establishment of dredging services for the clearing and maintenance of inland waterways under the jurisdiction of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and maintenance dredging of the channel. There are others water front activities such as port operations; stevedoring; freight forwarding; Customs’ agent; survey and navigation; marine environmental management including waste disposal; haulage and supply service industries involving movement of equipment and fabricated machineries, among others.

Another company won the civil and infrastructure work for $316.85 million and was paid $100.83 million as mobilisation fee by NIMASA. The official said Nigerians must know how much has been spent on the project, adding: “It is not on record that the former Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and other top officials of our ministry visited the site of the Maritime University, the ship building and dockyard facilities in Kurutie and Okerenkoko after the ground breaking ceremony by the former President Goodluck Jonathan, despite the huge amount of money the management of NIMASA claimed to have committed to the projects.

“Some of us that would have loved to go there were afraid because of the fear of the Niger Delta militants,” he said.

Investigation by The Nation showed that not much work has been done at the ship building and dockyard facilities.

It was also discovered that no single structure has been put in place at the ship/dockyard site in Okerenkoko.

SIFAX partners Djibouti

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HE Group Vice-Chairman of SIFAX Shipping Company Limited and the Consul-General to Djibouti Consulate in Nigeria, Dr Taiwo Afolabi has urged stakeholders in the maritime industry to tap into the bilateral relations between Djibouti and Nigeria.

Djibouti is in East Africa, located at the Horn of Africa and shares boundary with Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Speaking at a business forum organised in Lagos, Afolabi said the country is strategically located near the world’s busiest shipping lanes, controlling access to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean “It serves as a key refueling and trans-shipment centre and it is the principal maritime port for imports and export to and from neighbouring Ethiopia. It is actually a burgeoning commercial hub.

“From the positive response that we have had so far in the uptake of this forum, we shall be going on a trade mission to Djibouti in October.

“The trade mission will provide a platform for interested parties to explore and interact effectively with a view to making an informed decision on available opportunities and partnerships of mutual interest

and benefits,” Afolabi said in his address. The Chairman of Air Djibouti & Djibouti Ports Authority, Mr Aboubaker Omar Hadi said, since its independence in 1977, the Republic of Djibouti has chosen a liberal economic regime. This approach, he said, has developed and nurtured a corporate and entrepreneurial spirit resulting in a probusiness environment and concrete policies to support them.

“When it comes to sea port services we have been very successful in putting Djibouti on the world map and it is evident to all that we are making rapid advances in this sector by building four brand new ports and port related infrastructure such as our planned ship repair yards.

“We are building one of the biggest free trade zone, spanning 4350 hectares and working to bring Djibouti to its past success of being a major bunkering centre with our recently launched Red Sea Bunkering Services. Our plan to transform our country to a successful servicebased economy means we must consider aviation as cornerstone of the success of our programmes,” he said.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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e-Business THE NATION

STORY ON PAGE 14

Tel: 08023335695/08111813065/08099400179

lukajanaku02@gmail.com

Accelerating Nigeria’s data future ‘Develop tech solutions to fight graft’

Page 43

Huawei spends $30b on research, development Page 44

‘Telcos lose revenue, subscribers’

Page 44

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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e-Business Among telcos in the country, data services is gaining traction as revenues from voice calls attain plateaux. The revenue decline is accentuated by the increase in the number of Over the Top Services (OTT), such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP) instant messaging (IM) and others that constrains revenues from text messages. LUCAS AJANAKU explores ways governments and regulators could create the right conditions to help internet protocol (IP) data reduce costs and produce some of the cheapest data delivery in the world

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IGERIA and indeed, Africa have a unique opportunity to make the transition to IP data more quickly than other continents. Using IP data will help reduce costs and could produce some of the cheapest data delivery in the world.

With the rise of the internet of things (IoT), one day, everything will be data and voice will not exist as a separate business category, needing different technology. The transition in developed countries has been relatively slow. However, at the international level, large amounts of calls now move through IP and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-based networks.

At the level of the consumer, consumer software such as Whatsapp, Skype and Viber are used by larger number of people every year. Blackberry, Facebook and WhatsApp are used to convey the kinds of messages they used to send over short message service (SMS) via instant messaging (IM) application.

The transition is slow because the industry making it 'difficult. The industry is caught between irresistible forces and an old business model.

They don't want to become a dumb pipe but all the underlying business logics point to the next big stage being about large 'dumb pipe' companies.

According to Balancing Act, in terms of this transition, the position in Africa is much worse. The mobile companies know that they have to make a transition to data revenues but (with certain notable exceptions) haven't really embraced the change.

The situation has improved in Nigeria as telcos invest heavily in infrastructure.

Gone are the days when they see the internet and data as a capital-intensive business for which they don't really have the networks. The returns on data are not anything like those for voice and this troubles those who lived through the 'gold-rush' returns of the last decade.

Data is all about content and African users have already voted in large numbers for things such as Facebook, not for content products produced by mobile operators. The content deal offered to Africa's content producers is still skewed so heavily in favour of the operators that it is impeding development of a local content ecosystem.

This should be a concern to the regulator and operators because while voice and SMS were the first wave of the communications revolution, these cannot be used to deliver lengthier or more complicated communications. Internet-enabled devices are needed to be able to make companies more efficient and public sector services like health and education more effective.

The internet has grown enormously in terms of user numbers in the last decade. There is now a 'critical mass' of users in the more competitive countries but in the smaller, less wealthy countries, Internet is a relatively expensive privilege used by the few rather than the many.

For too many countries, Internet is still seen as second fiddle to voice in terms of government and regulatory thinking. There needs to be a focus on three things: getting Internet costs down for end-users; increasing the reliability of the Internet; and pushing out access to a much wider number of people.

These objectives need to inform the roll-out of more fibre networks and the next generation of mobile Internet, LTE. It is no longer good enough to talk about 256 kbps as broadband as video will be what users want as next generation services arrive.

According to Balancing Act below

operator on network, they should be encouraged to form wholesale network consortia.

Reduce spectrum cost Regulators tend to see spectrum sales as a revenue raising activity without making a vital connection. If high costs are added to an operator's operating costs, it will pass these on to its customers.

The cost of the new LTE spectrum must not be sold in such a way that it condemns use of these new services only to high-end business users in the central business district (CBD) and at the airport. Licence conditions can be used that place a premium on wider roll-out and lower prices: a simple conditional, if you do this on price and roll-out, we will cut your spectrum prices.

For rural areas, LTE is significantly more efficient for delivering spectrum over distance and the regulator could reserve certain geographic areas where they would offer those willing to invest, free LTE spectrum beyond a nominal administrative charge.

Service quality

•Undersea cable

Accelerating Nigeria’s data future is a sketch of the kind of things government could do to accelerate the pace of change:

Lower prices to increase uptake The focus needs to be on getting Internet access costs for African endusers down. The targets adopted by the Alliance for Affordable Internet are a useful starting point. The rapid growth of African Internet users over the last five years has been in large part because prices have come down.

Information is a powerful tool in this battle. Only a handful of regulators publish Internet subscriber numbers and rates charged by operators. Regulators need not only to collect Internet user numbers from operators but to publish them. They also need to publish quarterly Internet access cost data, cross-compared to help consumers choose the best deals.

Regulators need to make annual Internet access cost price comparisons and get operators to agree to bring prices down to more affordable levels. The skeptics may rightly protest at this point: how will this occur?

The new incumbents are the mobile operators and they have become accustomed to living a certain kind of lifestyle. To produce cheaper Internet services, they either have to cut costs or the regulator can licence others who can achieve this.

Democratise internet coverage In the best of African countries, there is a critical mass in urban areas

but it is barely available in rural areas. There has been a lot of rather warming rhetoric about spreading services to rural areas (including voice) but the sad truth is that relatively little has happened relative to the scale of the task.

Mobile operators have more or less reached the edge of what they consider are addressable markets and on this basis, they should not be allowed to stand in the way of progress. The attitude from regulators needs to be: either get in there and develop services or stand out of the way and let others get on with task. They need to be made to offer fair and transparent interconnection rates for those who tackle geographic areas they won't move into.

Technical innovation needs to be a cornerstone to work of this kind. The newer generation of low cost base stations and the TV White Spaces pilots offer interesting ways to reduce delivery costs.

For example, in Nigeria, in spite of the over 100 per cent teledensity and over 14omillion subscribers, over 200 rural communities are still not connected to telephony services.

The Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) being managed by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) should be properly deployed to useful purposes. President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Lanre Ajayi, said when the big operators are being given licences, there should be provision for them to expand into the rural communities.

Accelerate competition Even in the more competitive coun-

tries, mobile operators with large fibre wholesale networks are hanging on to 'rent-seeking' wholesale pricing. In less competitive countries, the discussion about this kind of market blockage has barely started: state monopolies in places like Angola, Cameroon and Togo still rule with high prices and poor quality.

Regulators need to open up competition to utilities that have fibre assets and allow them to make their capacity available competitively in the market. They need to encourage 'carriers' carriers' to roll out and offer competitive wholesale fibre networks from the private sector.

At the local level, they need to ensure that there is fair and open access for those wanting to roll out local access networks so that they can use wholesale capacity to deliver competitive prices. Insurgent challengers offering household fibre to the home and LTE should be actively encouraged through the licensing process.

These new data licences should not just focus on delivering Internet but allow this new breed of operators to get access to some part of the voice markets. MVNOs should be encouraged that operate voice services over data. Mobile operators will be shrill in opposition but the response should be: why are you not already doing this?

Where revenues make competition hard (like rural areas), network consortia should be considered. Where the smaller mobile operators are finding it hard to compete with a dominant mobile

‘Regulators should start to carry out service quality tests on data services and be prepared to issue fines against those failing to meet agreed standards. The regulator should listen to the industry and help get to grips with network blockages that are slowing everyone's service delivery down’

Over the past years, the Nigerian regulatory environment has been a mixture of soft and hard. The former Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Eugene Juwah, fined the operators over poor service quality. The new EVC, Prof Umar Danbatta has set up a committee charged with the sole responsibility of addressing the issue of poor service quality in the country.

Operators have consistently blamed dearth of infrastructure, especially power, right of way issues, multiple taxation/regulation, vandalism and other factors for the low service quality offered customers.

Regulators should start to carry out service quality tests on data services and be prepared to issue fines against those failing to meet agreed standards. The regulator should listen to the industry and help get to grips with network blockages that are slowing everyone's service delivery down.

Vandalism remains a huge problem: it comes both from over-enthusiastic employees (the cuts are too strategic to be otherwise) and thieves looking for copper. Regulators need to carry out education campaigns about how fibre is worthless and get operators to replace of much of it as quickly as possible. Government needs to pass a law that place draconian penalties on those who cut networks.

On the question of electricity supply, mobile operators and regulators need to lobby government to provide electricity supply: diesel is expensive and polluting.

New power distribution licences should be issued to allow private operators to provide power supply to all operators.

Nigeria cannot afford to wait for the future to arrive at its doorsteps. The World Bank points to the relationship between an increase in broadband penetration and increases in gross domestic product (GDP).

This is true but what is required to get this increase in broadband penetration is decisive action by government and regulators to allow investors to get on with the job. The National Broadband Plan launched by the Federal Government should be implemented to its letters. Only this way could the nation tap into the immense opportunities of broadband.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

LETTER

Living in denial • Former President Jonathan ran a cabinet of technically sound men with woeful performance

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T is indisputable that Dr Adewunmi Adesina, the new President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Ms Arunmah Oteh, just appointed VicePresident of the World Bank, are two first class Nigerian professionals eminently qualified to play the critical roles assigned to them in these international organisations. Every Nigerian is justified to be proud of their accomplishments; not least former President Goodluck Jonathan in whose administration Dr Adesina served as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development while Ms Oteh was the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The former president is perfectly in order, congratulating his two former appointees on their new responsibilities. The content of his widely publicised congratulatory letters to the duo, however, suggests that Dr Jonathan was either being deliberately mischievous or is still living in denial over three months after the Nigerian electorate showed him the way from the Presidential Villa in Abuja, back to his native Otuoke in Bayelsa State.

As far as Dr Jonathan is concerned, the international recognition accorded the two professionals “attests to the fact that my administration had a good team that managed the affairs of the country”. In his letter to Adesina, Jonathan enthused that “You were not only a critical voice in my economic team, you also walked the talk and earned the praise of our countrymen and women by ensuring that Nigeria’s quest for self-sufficiency in food produc-

tion became an achievable dream”.

As for Ms Oteh, Jonathan wrote: “I am delighted that you are going to your new job fresh from the experience of having led the recovery and growth initiatives of the Nigerian Bourse in the wake of the decline, occasioned by recent global economic recession and financial crisis”. If these exaggerated claims were true, Jonathan and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would still be firmly in power rather than being emphatically rejected at the polls.

We reaffirm that both Adesina and Oteh are outstanding intellects. They both came to their positions in the Jonathan administration with track records of wide experience and excellent performance in various reputable international organisations. Another such member of the administration in Jonathan’s government was Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister for the Economy. But the truth is that the elevation of Adesina and Oteh to their international positions is more due to the duo’s individual abilities and accomplishments than an acknowledgement of some imaginary collective achievements of the Jonathan administration in which they served.

Yes, some commendable reforms were achieved in the agricultural sector under Adesina but the sector continues to function far below its potential. That is why the country remains a mono-cultural economy so perilously dependent on petroleum revenues. In spite of her exper-

tise and experience, Oteh did not leave Nigeria’s Capital Market necessarily better than she met it. They were both members of the Economic Management Team of the Jonathan administration that has bequeathed to its successor a depressed economy brought to its knees by the current drastic fall in oil price and corruption. And this is despite several years of booming oil sales during Jonathan’s tenure.

The fault of course is not that of accomplished Nigerian professionals who perform brilliantly on international assignments but poorly at home. Rather, the problem is with the kind of inept and permissive leadership best exemplified

by Dr Jonathan under whose leadership corruption and impunity rose to unprecedented proportions in Nigeria. The mediocrity of Dr Jonathan and the majority of his team made it impossible for the few outstanding professionals among them to perform to their full potential and make a positive impact on governance.

‘The mediocrity of Dr Jonathan and the majority of his team made it impossible for the few outstanding professionals among them to perform to their full potential and make a positive impact on governance’

Fear of MERS

•Like Ebola, Nigeria’s public health officials must be wary of this fast-spreading respiratory disease, first reported in Saudi Arabia

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IGERIAN pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj cannot be too careful, following the news of an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-CoV, which has claimed about 513 lives so far. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health said the country has recorded 1, 205 cases, out of which 614 have recovered, 65 are active and 13 are quarantined at home.

A viral respiratory illness new to humans, MERS was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread to other countries, including the United States, Jordan, Republic of Korea, Philippines, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. It is a cause for worry that symptoms of the sickness are ambiguous at the early stage, making its detection complicated and constituting a challenge to healing.

The World Health Organisation

‘With 66,000 Nigerian pilgrims expected to be flown to the holy land ahead of the closure of Jedda Airport on September 17, and scheduled to return to Nigeria in batches in an operation that will be concluded by October 27, it is obvious that viral infection is a possibility’

(WHO), whose emergency committee sounded the alarm ahead of the September 22 commencement of the Hajj, said: “It is not always possible to identify patients with MERS-CoV early because, like other respiratory infections, the early symptoms are non-specific.” In other words, the illness is accompanied by, but not defined by, fever, cough and shortness of breath.

The outbreak so close to the Hajj, according to the WHO, raises the threat of pilgrims returning to their respective countries with the virus. The organisation said: “The recent outbreak in the Republic of Korea demonstrated that when the MERS virus appears in a new setting, there is a great potential for widespread transmission and severe disruption to the health system and to society” With 66,000 Nigerian pilgrims expected to be flown to the holy land ahead of the closure of Jedda Airport on September 17, and scheduled to return to Nigeria in batches in an operation that will be concluded by October 27, it is obvious that viral infection is a possibility.

It is commendable that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has adopted measures to protect the country’s pilgrims. The body’s Commissioner-in-charge of Health, Dr. Ibrahim Kuta, reportedly publicised its preventive measures, which include making the pilgrims aware of the danger of eating camel meat in the holy land as such consumption has been implicated, setting up a surveillance unit and screening all returning pilgrims at the departure point in the

holy land in order to check possible export of the virus to Nigeria. Also, any Nigerian pilgrim that develops symptoms of the illness is expected to report promptly to the official medical team that accompanied the country’s pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

It is noteworthy that the WHO said: “Infection prevention and control measures are critical to prevent the possible spread of MERS-CoV in health care facilities.” It is hoped that the Nigerian health officials would be guided by the insight of the global health body.

Against the backdrop of public anxiety about MERS, the September 8 news of the deaths of five Nigerian pilgrims in the holy land, four in Madinah and one in Mecca, is a cause for concern, especially because the causes of their deaths were undisclosed. The development is a further reason for proactive alertness on the part of the relevant health officials.

The September 11 crane collapse at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, resulting in the loss of 87 lives (including a reported six Nigerians, according to Saidu Adamu, Kaduna State Task Force on Hajj spokesperson), provides an additional reason to be prepared to deal with emergencies that may involve Nigerian pilgrims.

There is no doubt that, in the circumstances, it would be a tough challenge to ensure that the country’s pilgrims return safe and sound. However, with proper preparation, readiness and vigilance, the medical and welfare-support workers should be able to prevent disasters that can be avoided.

The Sheriff and the new economy

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IR: “If we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us” was one of the reverberating quotes of President Muhammadu Buhari that gained traction with the Nigerian people during the electioneering period.

It’s been three months since the new Sheriff took over and he has begun, slowly but steady to walk the talk on corruption. And the talk which has become subject of contemptuous criticism is that the new Sheriff is killing our economy with his snail-speed.

I agree that the Sheriff, a man known for his pathological disdain for corruption, is killing Nigeria’s corruption-driven economy for a proper economy to take place.

Gone are the days when buying and selling of choice apartments and lands were next to oil in terms of demand, even when they were unrealistic, inflated and over priced and I kept asking how many of those buyers, including top civil servants, could afford to pay such exorbitant fees on their legitimate income?

Such ventures are no longer lucrative as it were during the days of the past permissive prodigal administration – fear of confiscation has made top civil servants to put up theirs for sale.

Who would buy those over-rated properties they sell for hundreds of millions in choice locations across the country especially now that a reputed and renowned Sheriff is in power and no more free money to spare?

Those among the day light looters of public funds that have free money to spare are afraid of the uncertainty and have been making efforts to launder theirs in hard currency abroad but many of their surrogates have been caught on our highways, airports and borders, on their way to such missions.

The Sheriff has ran into chorus of cynics in his commitment to eradicating corruption and like vultures, the political mischief-makers and irreverent critics have been hacking into the carcasses of the Sheriff’s anti-corruption stance in an attempt to denigrate him.

The Sheriff is unperturbed, his body language alone is giving corruption a bloody nose and a red eye and our once shapeless economy is now taking a nice shape because some of those loop-holes and leakages are that are sabotaging our economy are being blocked by the day.

The time to cut our clothes according to our sizes is now, that is the only way our corruption-driven economy will give way for a real economy and new opportunities to emerge.

• Joe Onwukeme, unjoeratedjoe@gmail.com

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

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: The judicial system in Nigeria needs a closer look. We inherited a judicial system that stands out as one of the best in the world. Both the British Bench and Bar are classic institutions that have stood and will probably stand for centuries. Among many judicial pontiffs of past and present generations, Lord Denning remains an oracle to our legal practitioners of both sides of the judicial system.

Lord Denning must be quoted from time to time as an authority.

The English judiciary in my layman’s view, does justice quickly, efficiently, with no favour or malice. Its operators do not bend the rule nor are they overshadowed or overwhelmed by the importance or size or the ego of contestants before them. Before the English judiciary the Prime Minister who is the highest political office holder in the land is equal to the street-sweeper. English judges do not slap the back of the palm of a crook by imposing a ridiculously low punishment (fine or jail term) on guilty renegades of society. There, the law is the law.

That was why two former Nigerian governors were convicted. The hearings, submissions, postponements, amendments and all that humbug were concluded within reasonable time.

Here, in Nigeria, the major issue is usually abandoned for years, while technicalities and irrelevances are rigorously pursued. In the end, big time crooks buy big senior advocates to manipulate a judicial process that is so clear and unambiguous to laymen.

The pension scandal in Abuja was a dramatic and record setting case in recent years. Public servants who allegedly stole billions of naira of senior citizens’ terminal benefits were let go with fines less than one tenth of their loots. If these were not a travesty of justice, I don’t know what it is. Recently a newspaper carried the story of some kidnappers who were paid three million naira as ransom and the lower

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These times require a new judiciary Bench was alleged to have granted the kidnappers bail on one million naira each while adjourning the case till later in the month. Now, what enemy of the society can be worse than kidnappers that you have to allow them to continue their operations freely when indeed they may not report back to the court? What kind of judicial system is that?

More recently the judicial authorities were shopping for judges (about 100 of them) that were completely reliable and transparent to handle election petitions cases arising from our perennial clumsy na-

tional elections. To me the implication here is that it is presumed some judicial officers fall short of requirements for such high office.

This is dandifying indeed.

Some alleged looters of the national treasury have been in and out of court for almost a decade and will probably fizzle out “for lack of diligent prosecution.” Is this not a conspiracy of law enforcement agents and judicial officers against our country? The judge is presumed to decide cases based on facts presented to court. Today, the weight of evidence may take a second place, while the personality in-

volved and the mood of the society take the front burner. And this is not right. Some years back, some flamboyant bank chiefs, male and female, were able to avoid jail house by employing all kinds subterfuge to go free – and free they went.

These are bad commentaries on our judicial system. There is a need to fast-track proceedings without undermining due process and fair hearing.

True we have had some judges who claimed that their hands were tied in some high profile political cases, but we also have been fortu-

nate to have brilliant and fearless judges who judgment and pronouncement can stand the test of all time. Can one say this about some of our new generation judicial officers who are cowed down by some shouting and bully-bully senior lawyers whose only claim is the age of their silk?

The present situation in Nigeria demands that if there is structural impediment that would not make justice move quickly, these negative forces should attract the attention of Nigeria’s Attorney General and the National Assembly. These impediments should be removed.

Many Nigerians are grumbling privately, they are either unwilling or unable to talk straight. This nation must be saved at all cost and judiciary officers are being urged to be stalwarts in the fight.

• Deji Fasuan, MON, JP, Ado-Ekiti.

Was the West right on Saddam and Gaddafi?

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IR: I am snowed under these days with the gory pictures of refugees on cable television fleeing Syria, Iraq, desperately begging for the chance to be admitted into Western and Eastern Europe and it makes my skin crawl with revulsion. And while a Western European state like Germany is generous enough to accept refugees, even asking others to do same, some in Eastern European states have mounted serious opposition to migrants coming into their countries.

Those against these refugees coming into their countries speculate that they might pursue deepseated religious causes upon settling down in these countries.

Again- but for the war brought about by bad leaders in the Middle East, would these refugees have bothered to leave their countries

for another?

I wonder - if the West was right about Saddam and Gaddafi. As dictatorial as they might have been, Iraq and Libya were stable under their leadership, and the reign of terror in these countries today couldn’t have been imagined while they lived.

The west does not seem to figure out the Arab. They are always quick to back one idea—”overthrow the dictator”— and every time they seem to get an even worse situation. They keep trying to overthrow Syria’s despot by backing the rebels without learning from Iraq that democracy does not work well there, and from Libya that deposition of a dictator brings about anarchy, the rise of insurgency and many splinter extremists groups. * I wish people clamouring for war and secession in Nigeria will

be open-minded enough to be rational, and cringe at the horrendous havoc of war witnessed in the Middle East, South Sudan and many countries around the world.

The Nigerian state does not have a policy of discrimination, against any particular ethnic group. The resources of state have not been harnessed to make any region become a source of strength, over other regions.

Our diversity instead of being a liability must be ‘centripetal’ (apologies President Obama Barack); it cannot be if citizens engage in sleep-walking complacency.

I wish that Nigerians seeing the cases of hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking refuge in Europe will stop feeding fat on braggadocio - going wild discussing the atrocities of an inglorious war

(Nigerian civil war) which must not be relieved.

We must guard the unity of Nigeria jealously. Ask the Russians and the Yugoslavians and they will likely to tell you the disadvantages of disintegration.

The kinds of leaders, elders, and grandees Nigeria needs are those who can steer her paths effectively for development - not the types that love to canalise their efforts for regional sentimentalities instead of directing efforts ubiquitously for nationalism.

The rabble rousers clamouring for war in Nigeria must know that unlike in Europe, no African nation has the capacity to accept our refugees in case of an outbreak of war.

•Simon Abah, Port Harcourt.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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COMMENTS tendance, would also boost inFTER a stream of cheery develvestment in agriculture, cateropmental news, the Osun oping and allied lines. position, with both hands, On September 9 in Osogbo, grabbed the demon of unpaid salaries as the Universal Basic Educa— and hard, it nailed the Osun governtion Commission (UBEC) ment. kicked off its nationwide disIt thoroughly demonised Governor tribution of plastic chairs to Twitter: @Lordbeek1 Rauf Aregbesola and his ambitious soschools, a Federal Government cial and physical infrastructure official confirmed Osun’s leadprogrammes, donning the Ogbeni in an Olakunle ership in this schools welfare unflattering garb — a grand hypocrite lordbeek1@gmail.com, 08054504169 (Sms only, please) Abimbola programme. in the progressive space, that should be “The home-grown school condemned by all! feeding programme, the Which lover of the masses, they ask O’Meal,” said UBEC’s Dr. in triumph, cheeks bathed in subverYakubu Gambo, “is one sive tears, would sit pretty and watch programme that has endeared his people go hungry, months on end, the governor to us because he is the only governor doing it without salaries? tion! When, after all, comes from the gods, another potent despite the capital intensive nature of the programme.”

It was all emotive blackmail, of course. On the salary blackmail weapon, ala unpaid salaries, to torture a clear and Governor Aregbesola, present at the occasion, weighed in: issue, the governor was not unfazed any more than he crepresent nemesis?

“We are building state-of-the-art 100 elementary schools, 50 ated the failure, though his finances were rather tight, with So, enter a fresh controversy: the reported verification, in middle schools and 20 high schools. This is a big project by virtually every kobo over-leveraged, on ambitious — overthe build-up to clearing the salary arrears. any standard,” he gushed, “which has injected life into the ambitious, many insist — capital projects, such that any shock, The Osun opposition insists it is yet another example of the construction industry; and has provided jobs for artisans and no matter how slight, was catastrophic. government’s coldness to the plight of the Osun workers — professionals.”

The real culprit was, however, former President Goodluck for why is the verification bobbing up “now”, on the virtual Prince Felix Awofisayo, the Osun SUBEB chief, was not left Jonathan — his recklessness with the national till. This point eve of settling what was owed? Some especially creative out of the developmental whoop: “Let me reiterate that the Ripples made in “Osun’s politics of the belly” (July 7), when it minds even posit, swearing by all they hold dear, that the provision of functional education for the citizenry,” he deargued that since the Jonathan Presidency caused the probgovernment had “fixed” the salary money to earn some “quick clared, “as the administration is anchored on the implemenlem, the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency should fix it, ininterest”, while workers continued starving! tation of a cohesive and an all-encompassing six-point intestead of the media roasting of victim governors, which solved To be sure, the government has not exactly done itself much gral plan.” no problems. The president did just that. favour by the verification’s timing, with its high blackmail So much developmental news in a day — a far cry from But the blackmail grandly resonated. Those unconvinced value: its opponents’ penchant for eternal spinning; and a rumbling tummies, plotting adversaries and scapegoating by its logic were easily swept by its pathos; with not a few jaded workers’ near-zero resistance to emotional manipulamedia, just as it was at the beginning, before the salary desuccumbing fast to plaintive kith-and-kin, going hungry and tion, masquerading as hot sympathy. mon! clearly angry, for not earning salary, for no less than six Still, the government insists that since Osun would conIt is the final triumph, then? Hardly! months. tinue re-paying the loan far into the future, it was an excellent And the battle next time would not be solely from the Osun Well, all is fair in war — and the Osun government, in the time to vet the salary bill, lest the money ends in some ghost opposition, even if its bad-tempered buzz would always viclouds most times, plummeted back to earth! pockets. That makes a lot of sense, though not a few would be brate; but more dangerously from inside Aregbesola’s own Now, with a Federal Government-secured loan to clear the too angry to see reason with it. camp, which may well, not unfairly, declare itself starved of salary backlog, is the demonization set to end? Not a chance!

It could also well be that a few ghosts and their ambassadors legitimate pork.

For one, play on emotions is the exclusive preserve of those are the most trenchant in the protest racket — for the more Thank God, the salary odyssey is coming to an end. The who cannot build clinical arguments; or the mischievous, raucous the racket, the more the confusion; and the more the Ogbeni should draw a closure as swiftly as he can, and bring who have nary a case. confusion, the better chances the ghosts continue to get paid! smiles back to the cheeks of Osun workers. He should also For another, the Osun opposition is not about dismantling Whatever is happening, the Ogbeni owes the Osun people seek funds to complete his grand capital projects, among them its egbirin ote — what the Yoruba would call a complex web of clear explanations and full disclosure. At the end, the govcrucial roads. It is nice developmental news, from Osun, is intrigues — for in Aregbesola’s failure lies their own salvaernment would do what it must do to protect public money hitting the wires again, after the horror tales of the past months. and its own integrity.

But the come-back would not be complete without the govwith the opposition always buzzing with mischief, of ‘Governor Aregbesola needs a cabi- theSo,most ernor constituting a cabinet. Nearing the end of the first year fantastic hue, it may be morning yet on Osun’s day in a four-year second term, it is time to bring in as many net now to finish as strongly as he of eternal intrigue! bright and committed minds as possible — for it is a chalStill, the Osun government must be gratified it continues to started, before the salary catastrophe. point the way, for the rest of the country, to the welfare state; lenging juncture, demanding a brilliant and committed colIt could make the difference between success and If he delays, he risks facing a crisis despite its lean resources. Two policy news appear to rein- lective. failure. force this point.

— an internal crisis — much more Governor Aregbesola needs a cabinet now to finish as Two weeks ago, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo announced strongly as he started, before the interregnum of the salary lethal than the hell-raising Osun op- the Federal Government was set to implement the All catastrophe.

If he delays, he risks facing a crisis — an internal Progressives Congress (APC) campaign promise of a schools crisis — much more lethal than the hell-raising Osun opposiposition can ever muster’ feeding programme, which, apart from boosting school attion can ever muster.

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epublican ipples

Osun, after the salary demon

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OME nine months after serving notice of possible ejection, J.P Morgan, the American lender finally made good its threat to kick Nigeria out of its Government Bond Index for Emerging Markets (GBI-EM).

Tuesday last week, the bank announced that Nigeria would be phased out of its index by the end of September citing reasons of ‘lack of liquidity and transparency in the nation’s foreign exchange market’. In the view of the bank, the cup of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s meddlesomeness in the foreign exchange market has now run over. The cup was full in January hence the note it despatched to its clients putting Nigeria on Index Watch.

That was sequel to the apex bank’s introduction of ‘administrative measures’ to prevent bets against the naira in the wake of the oil price collapse.

A week on, our local players in the exclusive club of high-finance have done little else than parrot what their principals in global finance capitals have sold as the gospel on what is packaged as a sentence of death on the local economy. Today, foreigners – even if they are no more than currency speculators and traders – have become the authorities whose views must be treated as received gospel. If we are not daily harangued with the claim that the so-called diversified index is the most frequently used local emerging market debt gauge (as if that means anything to the struggling manufacturer struggling to survive the nation’s inclement operating environment), we are told that kicking Nigeria out of its indices could have a severe impact on Nigerian government funding at a time when many international investors are already wary of lending to the country. And who says an economy the size of Nigeria can be ignored for any length of time?

We have also heard that Nigeria cannot do without a slice of the so-called $217bn investor money benchmarked against the GBI-EM suite of indices. I ask: when are going to be tired of the club of portfolio investors known to hit the road at the very sign of trouble in the local economy?

Again, we have also heard that Standard & Poor and Fitch Ratings would follow suit in the coming weeks. Isn’t it supposed to be a free world? For sure, we will hear more of these and other doomsday predictions as the weeks roll by.

Of course we know where all these are coming from.

Our economy is in trouble and the vultures are merely hovering to see whether the elephant will go down. Oil prices are going down, and Nigeria is – supposedly – in

Policy Sanya Oni sanyaoni@yahoo.co.uk 08051101841

Divorce made in heaven

no position to do anything about it. Foreign exchange – the gods on whose altar the traders and speculators worship – are in short supply. While the supply of forex continues to be in dire short supply, the demand for same unfortunately continues to grow in leaps and bounds – and now to such an extent that could not be explained by the volume of economic activities going on. Yet the vultures would rather have the monetary authorities throw their hands in the air and do nothing – so that naira could find its value even if in the end this value is indeterminate!

Lest we forget, Nigeria was only listed on the index after the CBN removed a restriction for foreign investors to hold government bonds for a minimum of one year before they could exit. That was in October 2012. In other words, JP Morgan and their ilk would still have the CBN behave as if the conditions which existed then are the same today!

The difference this time is that the CBN believes that with good tending, the situation could somehow be mitigated if not entirely redeemed. This thinking obviously informs the measures which it rolled out recently and which it considered as absolutely necessary at this time to halt the betting on the national currency.

The idea being that if you cannot do anything about the supply end, you can at least put in some measures to ensure that frivolous demands and those bordering on speculation are kept out. That was CBN and Nigeria’s unforgivable sin for which JP Morgan and company would have the nation roast in noon-day sun – so bad

that one analyst, Kevin Daly, a money manager at Aberdeen, Scotland, as reported by Bloomberg dared to describe the loss of the index status as “a classic own goal”.

Of course, the analyst also let out a slip which he claimed forced JP Morgan’s hand as “squeezing the FX market and not allowing any locals to trade it, they just pushed investors to the sidelines”. (My emphasis). In other words, the CBN stands accused of not allowing further betting at the risk of putting the national treasury in jeopardy!

Now, we can debate the measures by the CBN as to its effectiveness in the long run. I would certainly agree that some of the measures would require some fine-tuning.

Overall, the measures would appear to bode far well for the economy at this point in time than the alternative being promoted by JP Morgan and its allies. The CBN has in my view, acted wisely to avoid the calamitous consequences of an un-moderated demand for forex.

That takes me to the fetish that has come to be made of foreign investment. In an environment where the local business remains endangered, it is quite ironic that governments at various levels do very little else than pander to the whims of some foreign salesmen even when they have shown that they are mere soldiers of fortune. It seems to me a measure of how pretty little the nation has learnt of the lessons of the global credit meltdown of 2008 when the exit of the same portfolio investors sounded the death knell of our capital market.

If there is any lesson in all of this, it is that the nation’s interest should come first; which is why it is hard to fault the CBN.

‘If you cannot do anything about the supply end, you can at least ensure that frivolous demands and those bordering on speculation are kept out. That was CBN and Nigeria’s unforgivable sin for which JP Morgan and company would have the nation roast in noon-day sun ’

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

COMMENTS

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EARLY four months into his four-year presidency (in the first instance I guess), President Muhammadu Buhari has still not picked his team of Ministers to help bring about the change he promised Nigerians in the run up to the April election that ushered in this presidency.

And as you are aware, the man has promised to unveil the wise men and women with which he intends to take Nigeria to the next level not later than the end of this September. And expectedly, Nigerians are eager for this all important list of Ministers-to-be.

Following their failure to accurately predict the composition of President Buhari’s kitchen cabinet (Chief of Staff et al) named a couple of weeks or so ago, political pundits have learnt to keep their predictions to themselves this time, keeping their fingers crossed like the rest of us.

In truth and in fairness to them, that is the best course of action to take since our president is an unpredictable man. Hmmmmmm.

His picks as members of his inner caucus, though impeccable, have raised questions about whether he is a narrow-minded/parochial leader as some like Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and his co-travelers in the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would want to paint him, or a patriot, interested only in what is good for Nigeria, if majority of Nigerians who still see in him the Messiah that we need, are to be believed.

While the jury is still out on what kind of a leader President Muhammadu Buhari would be in comparison to General Muhammadu Buhari as he then was when he held sway as Head of State between January 1984 and August 1985, the composition of his cabinet should tell what the man thinks of the rest of us outside his narrow ethnic enclave. More importantly, his choice of Ministers should clearly show the direction he intends to take us as a nation.

If truly he chose members of his kitchen cabinet because of the strength of their character, integrity, incorruptibility and unalloyed loyalty to the Federal Republic of Nigeria ( known only to him) then we expect nothing less from the gentlemen and women whose names he will soon send to the Senate for screening as Ministers. Did I hear you say “trust Buhari not to compromise in matters like this?” But even at that it needs restating that those he intends to bring on board must be of proven integrity. But are there people like that still left in this country? Cynical

F

ORGET about the lies and hateful propaganda against the person of President Muhammadu Buhari from some noisy, frustrated, hypocritical and angry persons and groups from southeast Nigeria.

They churn out all manner of lies that Buhari “hates the Igbos” and that’s why he has not considered, or does not consider them for appointments into plum positions in his government.

But is it true that President Buhari hates the Igbos? I have seen statements and lamentations like “Why does Buhari hate Igbos?” coming from groups like the Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo, the Aka Ikenga group and other Igbo socio-cultural groups, and I have often wondered whether that question and lamentation should not be the other way round. I sincerely believe the right question should be, “Why do the Igbos hate Buhari?”

Don’t get it twisted; I know quite a large number of Igbos that are fanatical supporters and promoters of the Buhari Project, and I have an inner knowing that even if you put a knife on the throats of these people to denounce Buhari, they will proudly refuse to denounce him. Unfortunately, these Igbos that are staunch lovers of Buhari are regarded as outcasts in Igbo land and are therefore treated as scum.

The first time Buhari took a shot at contesting the presidential election was in 2003, and who did he pick as his running mate?

A notable and credible Igbo man called Senator Chuba Wilberforce Okadigbo, a former President of the Nigerian Senate. And where did the Igbo votes go to in that presidential election? The second time Buhari took a shot at contesting a presidential election was in 2007, and, again, who did he pick as his running mate? Another notable Igbo man called Rt. Hon. Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, a former Speaker of the House of Reps. And where did the Igbo votes go to in that presidential election?

Twice the Igbos rejected him, in spite of picking some of their prominent men as running mates.

For the next two presidential contests Buhari took part in, he moved towards the Yorubas for a running mate. Once in 2011, the Yorubas rejected him in spite of the man having one of them as running mate, but in 2015, they accepted him. But in all the four presidential contests Buhari participated in, he was massively and resoundingly rejected by the

Waiting for the President’s men as this may sound, it will be an uphill task for the president to fish out such people to join him in the Executive Council of the Federation.

Not that there are no good Nigerians out there any more but getting them to accept to serve is the problem. In a society where selfless service is considered a foolish act, anyone going into public office is deemed corrupt from the outset and is expected, even by members of his own family, to line his pockets with public funds. To do otherwise, then he must be a fool.

You get elected or appointed into a public office and the next thing is your phone begins to ring more than usual and the incoming traffic in your mailbox increases as well. And virtually everyone is asking for one favour or another, not minding whether you are in a position to do it or not. You explain to them what you can and cannot do or advise them to follow the normal process, then you are labelled a bad person. Tell me, how is the society expected to make progress with this kind of mindset. And it is from this sort of society that President Buhari is expected to bring out the angels to join him in this change crusade that we embarked on with his election last April. I don’t envy him.

Unofficial reports have it that nearly everyone on his initial list of aides/ministerial hopefuls was tainted somehow by one form of corruption or another, hence the list has had to be redrawn and updated again and again. So, where is that clean person who would be able to look at corruption straight in the eyes and give it a dirty slap? Who is that Nigerian without sin that will throw the first stone at Mr Corruption?

This is the challenge before Mr President as he begins the composition of his cabinet any moment from now and the challenge is also for us

all to accept his nominees. Not without thorough scrutiny though. But since the beautiful ones are not yet born so to speak, let us accept the most beautiful among the ugly ones available and get the job done. The most important thing is to get our First Eleven into the cabinet and ensure that they not only follow and obey the new rules of the game but also get all the spectators/followers to do the same, after all the new team captain is a no nonsense man.

While we await the introduction of the new team, a look at what the captain has been doing since his appointment a little over a hundred days ago should give us an insight into what to expect from the team. While some have said that Buhari’s first hundred days in office were nothing to write home about, and by inference we should expect nothing tangible in the course of the life of his administration, it would amount to self denial to pretend as if nothing good has happened to the nation since the Buhari presidency.

During the Alhaji Shehu Shagari years in the Second Republic, I used to write the president off each time he mentioned peace and security as the biggest achievement of his presidency, but the Boko Haram insurgency, especially under former President Goodluck Jonathan has brought the importance of peace and security sharply into our national consciousness. I bet I am not the only one just realizing this now or rather appreciating it better.

If all goes as planned, the battle against Boko Haram should be over on or before the end of the year, while the war against terror continues.

It is not a mere coincidence that terror is being defeated under Buhari, it was the result of a focused leadership that knew what to do and is

doing it. But then we should not read too much into this until we are reunited as a nation with the Chibok girls still in the hands of the terrorists.

But if Buhari is winning the battle against terror at least in the north east, insecurity is building up in the south in the form of increasing armed kidnappings of innocent people. As I write this, the wife of the deputy Managing Director/ Editor-In-Chief of the Sun Publishing company, Mrs Toyin Nwosu was kidnapped at their home early morning on Monday. Her kidnap came two days after the release of Ms Donu Kogbara, the celebrated columnist with Vanguard Newspaper who was snatched at gun point at home in Port Harcourt by criminal elements about two weeks before.

It is hoped that these two incidences are not related or symptomatic of the emerging trend of making journalists targets of kidnap. No Nigerian, let alone a journalist should be subjected to this kind of experience and it is hoped that the security agencies will up their game to curb these crimes. For Nigeria to be truly secure and safe for all Nigerians, the president and his security chiefs must not lose sight of the fact that the challenge of insecurity faced by country is not from Boko Haram alone, kidnappers are on the prowl too, and it is a multi million naira business that must be smashed the same way as the Haram insurgency.

While I was away Its almost three months since I last appeared on this page and between then and now a lot of water has passed under the bridge so to speak. I took time off to try my luck at the presidency of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the umbrella body for all practicing journalists in the country. Thank God I made it at the first attempt, although it came after three previous, albeit failed attempts to become the deputy national president of the Union.

While thanking those who put their trust in me by electing me the NUJ President on July 25, I wish to state clearly hereTHAT THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY ME ON THIS PAGE ARE MINE AND NOT IN ANY WAY REPRESENTING THE POSITION OF THE NUJ. Whatever you read here is from me in my capacity as a journalist/ columnist and I wish to be so understood.

Nice to be back.

Why do the Igbos hate Buhari?

By Sharon Faliya Cham Igbos, which, again, asserts that the right question should be, “Why do the Igbos hate Buhari?”

In all fairness, is it not outright mischief and shamelessness to expect plum positions in the government of a man you have perpetually rejected and insulted with all manner of derogatory words? And even while they are making hypocritical noises about appointments, they keep saying that they are proud of the way they voted in 2015, and that if given the chance again they will repeat voting for an absolutely corrupt regime that was resoundingly rejected by Nigerians and the global community, and yet they want to be incorporated into Buhari’s kitchen cabinet?

To promote the values they cherished in Jonathan’s sordid regime for which he was overwhelmingly rejected?

You want to be part of running a government of CHANGE after deriding the CHANGE MOVEMENT right from inception up to election day?

They want to be military service chiefs in Buhari’s government but yet they don’t want any “Boko Haram” prisoner in any federal prison built in any of their towns? They want power without responsibility or even a shred of shared responsibility? A case of looking for “juicy appointments” without sprucing the fruit trees in the garden, or a case of seeking to enjoy omelettes without the simple hassle of breaking the eggs shells, or a case of seeking to enjoy federal power without being federalist, or a case of being Biafrans while being Nigerians at the same time, right?

Also, they want to be either Senate President or Deputy Senate President but deliberately hooked themselves to a notoriously corrupt and dying political party and thereby walked themselves out of the Hurricane of Change that blew across the country, and had to rely on subterfuge and alleged forgery to “kidnap” the position of Deputy Senate President, and yet they want more other top positions?

Does Federal Character mean an Igbo man succeeding an Igbo man as SGF even after an Igbo man spent about five years in that position? Or does Federal Character mean the

other 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria should not be appointed into positions which they label as “juicy”? Or don’t they know and understand that they are just one of the 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria?

Without doubt, the Jonathan regime was an Igbo regime, for the man truly put them in many strategic and “juicy” positions, especially in almost all the nation’s finance institutions.

But how has this Igbo domination of the Jonathan regime helped the Igbos or the southeast in general apart from the hefty bank accounts of those Igbos Jonathan “empowered” with those “juicy” appointments? The famous East-West road and the Second Niger Bridge were merely turned into cash cows for the Jonathan gang. So what is the rationale for their loving such a hopelessly corrupt regime that did not even serve any part of the country with services except the deliberate promotion of ethnoreligious sentiments, which, in itself, was a ploy to perpetuate that same distasteful regime through national disunity?

What should serve as a metaphoric description of the contradiction in the “love story” between the Igbos and Jonathan’s government is a heart-rending piece titled ‘The Road to Arochukwu’ written by ace writer and Editor of THIS DAY newspaper, Segun Adeniyi, on the back page of the paper on Thursday, July 23, in which the writer lamented the deliberately neglected Arochukwu road in Abia State. According to him, he and other travellers who had cause to use that road for a condolence trip spent about two hours on a journey of just 34 kilometres, which ordinarily should last for about 15 to 20 minutes. This was because the road was in complete ruins despite being a federal road, and the government of Jonathan that was so loved by the Igbos and had a lot of Igbos nicely tucked in in very “juicy” federal positions, yet they could not deploy their “juicy” positions to influence the fixing of that road and, perhaps, many other such roads in their region!

In a follow-up piece on the same road by Segun Adeniyi on Thursday, July 30, he exposed how the contract for the reconstruction of the road was awarded in 2012 by the Jonathan regime to a firm called Beks Kimse

(Nigeria) Limited owned by Professor Kimse Okoko from Bayelsa State at the cost of a little over 4.7 billion naira. The company was promptly paid around 2.5 billion naira as mobilisation to commence work, and the flag off of the project was done on March 29, 2013 in the presence of the Abia State Governor at that time, Chief T.A. Orji, and the late Senator Uche Chukwumerije, and other prominent politicians and businessmen from the area.

Well, since the flag off was done, the contractor did just less than one kilometre and abandoned the project after! Since the work was abandoned, no one has ever heard the Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo or any other noisy Igbo group demand to know why the project was abandoned by the contractor and the Jonathan government. Rather, they were all busy endorsing and promoting the Jonathan 2015 presidential project!

So, what is the nature of the “mutually beneficial” relationship between the Jonathan regime and the Igbo elite on the one hand, and between the Jonathan regime and the Igbo downtrodden on the other in the light of the fact that the Arochukwu road project seemed to be a cash cow for a Bayelsa contractor and some highly placed Igbo politicians? And, was the alliance of Bayelsa politicians and contractors with their Igbo counterparts just an elaborate financial benefit scheme for their elite class at the expense of the manipulated downtrodden Igbo peasants and small time traders? And was the massive propaganda of lies and hate that emanated from that region against Buhari prior to the presidential elections another elaborate scheme to chain down the downtrodden Igbo in perpetual slavery to the whims and financial benefits of their corrupt elite?

President Buhari should not allow his administration to be blackmailed and intimidated by angry and frustrated “Federal Character” chanters who never even believed in it nor in its practice in their six years of looting, rape and plunder of the country’s wealth. Buhari should just focus and concentrate in building and empowering our national institutions, and providing good governance irrespective of whoever he uses.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

21 The war against corruption should start ’with the civil servants. When they’re making this clamour, they’re making it against themselves

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See page 22

E-mail:- law@thenationonlineng.net

Labour is pushing for death penalty for treasury looters.

But lawyers think otherwise. To them, there are better ways the Buhari administration can fight corruption other than capital punishment. ROBERT EGBE writes.

Lawyers reject death penalty for looters T

INSIDE:

HE hangman’s noose? A firing squad? Stoning? Have your pick.

You steal public funds, you die.

This is the penalty the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) want for looters.

Their demand, made last Thursday at a joint press conference in Abuja by NLC President Ayuba Wabba and TUC President Bobboi Kaigama - as radical as it seems – was not arrived at lightly.

Only 39 of the world’s 175 countries were more corrupt than Nigeria last year, according to the Transparency International global corruption index.

In a paper titled: “Corruption, national development, the Bar and The Judiciary” presented at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in 2012, former Vice President of the World Bank for Africa and former Minister of Education Dr. Oby Ezekwesili said $400 billion of Nigeria’s oil revenue has been stolen or misused since independence in 1960.

The severity of the problem was acknowledged by President Muhammadu Buhari during his trip to the United States, when he declared: “If we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.”

The president has since set up a sevenman Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption headed by eminent lawyer Prof Itse Sagay (SAN). The committee will advise the government on the prosecution of the war against corruption and the implementation of the required reforms in the criminal justice system.

All Ministries, Departments and Agencies are to maintain a Treasury Single Account (TSA); the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have stepped up their investigation of corruption cases.

But, labour is not satisfied. It feels that a harsher penalty is needed to combat what it sees as problems of weak laws, especially the granting of perpetual injunctions stopping corruption cases. To labour, the way out is to make corruption a capital crime.

Crimes, such as armed robbery, murder, treason, conspiracy to treason or instigating invasion of Nigeria, are already subject to the death penalty. But the use of death penalty usually generates mixed opinions and for seven years

Legal challenges of outdoor advertising -Page 23

between 2006 and 2013, there were no executions in Nigeria. Things changed in 2013 when four condemned robbers were executed.

Lawyers disagree with labour Lawyers do not seem to share labour’s enthusiasm for capital punishment.

Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Augustine Alegeh (SAN) said death penalty is against global trends and won’t help efforts to recover stolen funds.

He suggests the encouragement of proactive steps that will prevent looting or make it difficult, if not impossible.

Alegeh said: “With respect to labour’s views, what we think we need to put in place are more measures that will ensure that stealing is made impossible or very difficult for people to pillage treasuries; that way, we secure ourselves so that money is not taken away.

“Current efforts by this government are in line with modern practices. If we kill them and we don’t get the money, what have we gained as a country?

“Even in capital offences, there is an increasing trend against the death penalty, so, I don’t think we should be in the opposite direction at this time of our national history.’’

He added that NBA encourages the strengthening of institutions and systems in the fight against corruption.

“Our position at NBA is that there should be more measures to strengthen the system, and ensure that pillaging of the system is reduced to the barest minimum, and we see that the steps the government is taking are along the same lines; single treasury, single account, etc.

“These measures will significantly take care of the loopholes through which looting could occur. These are proactive measures that saves the country from the cost of litigation, cost of prosecution, loss of revenue, the time lapse between when the money gets into the wrong account and when it is recovered.”

According to a former chairman, NBA, Ikeja Branch, Onyekachi Ubani, death penalty by itself is not the solution to the problem of corruption.

He said though capital punishment for looters appears to be having the desired effect in China, Nigeria’s problem is not the absence of penalties for offenders.

“If you take into cognisance what corruption has done to the nation’s growth,

Is debtors’ list publication legal?

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• A hangman’s noose

you’ll tend to agree with anyone that is calling for the death penalty for offenders,” Ubani said, adding: “but I tell you that the death penalty alone cannot deter corruption in Nigeria.

“Our problem is actually the willpower to implement the laws even as enacted.

Enforcement is difficult and as long as we don’t enforce our laws, even if we make death the penalty for corruption, you’ll find out that the institutions will not even apply it.”

For Adetokunbo Mumuni, director of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), death penalty is a complete no-go area. Mumuni is an advocate for the cancellation of the death penalty for all capital offences, let alone corruption. He also feels killing people for stealing public funds would be tantamount to allowing them to escape.

He said: “Once someone is killed for

looting, you have more or less allowed him to go without experiencing the shame that is associated with what he has done. I would prefer that the person be given life imprisonment.

“What he has made from the corrupt practices should be recovered, including even what he has legitimately acquired.

That will ensure absolute deterrent and that person will now live a life of penury.

Unlike when you kill the person and the family will begin to benefit from his loot.”

Although NBA Ikorodu Branch Chairman, Adedotun Adetunji, feels labour’s call for death penalty is in order, he believes the National Assembly would be reluctant to pass such a law.

“This country is so complex that I don’t see the legislature agreeing to enact such

Ogun gets new magistrates -Page 34

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

22

LAW COVER CONT’D

Lawyers reject death penalty for looters •Continued from page 21

law,” he said. “I think such law would actually be the best, because it would serve as a serious deterrent.

“When one or two people are caught and executed for corruption, all of these incidents of people storing huge amounts of stolen dollars in rooms and the craze for illegally amassing wealth will stop.”

Activist-lawyer Ebun Olu Adegboruwa also feels that resorting to death penalty is retrogression.

“I think it will be retrogressive for us as a nation, because of the frustration of corruption, to be moving backwards, to be activating what others are doing away with,” he said.

Adegboruwa also says some members of the unions are guiltier of the corruption they accuse politicians of. He suggests that the cleansing must start from within labour itself, especially its civil service arm, otherwise labour would have no moral grounds to condemn anyone.

He said: “Globally, the death penalty is becoming an anathema, whether it’s for corruption, drug trafficking, murder, or any other offence. The United Nations is making a campaign to abolish the death penalty.

“Secondly, I do not think that labour leaders, civil servants are in a good position to advocate for any penalty for corruption.

“Those who carry files, directors, permanent secretaries, they are the problems of this nation, beyond politicians who are just figures, who are expected today and leave office tomorrow.

“So, they don’t have the locus, it amounts to sheer hypocrisy; the unions have to clear the whole house first. To be pointing fingers at people for corruption is to be pointing it at themselves. Until that lesson is done, I think the blame in this game should go back to the civil servants.

He gave what happened with former Minister of Health, Mrs Alonge Gray, as an example.

“No politician can embezzle money without the connivance of civil servants. You remember the experience of Mrs. Gray Longe, the

• Alegeh

former Minister of Health that former President Olusegun Obasanjo disgraced?

“It was civil servants that told her ‘Mama, there is excess money, don’t return the money.’ And they were the ones that shared it; they gave her a formula for sharing.

“So, civil servants are the ones who put politicians’ hands in corruption. The war against corruption should start with the civil servants, when they’re making this clamour, they’re making it against themselves.”

Perpetual injunctions The unions also kicked against the grant of perpetual injunctions in unjustifiable situations. On this issue, they find common ground

• Ubani

with lawyers.

“It’s quite a challenge for us as lawyers,” said Adegboruwa, “we cannot out of blind patriotism cover up the rot in the judiciary, whether at the Bar or Bench.

“It is still painful to me today that the court gave a perpetual injunction in favour of the former governor of Rivers State, Peter Odilli, to the extent that up till today no one can take anything done by that administration. It’s painful for us at the judiciary.

“The EFCC refused to appeal against that, for whatever reason. If at all there should be such an order, it should be a temporary thing, when their positions are laid bare, and there is no persecution, no witch-hunting, the person should go and clear himself in the court.

• Adegboruwa

“By giving such an injunction, the court is indirectly working against itself. I think the NBA will have a lot to do in this regard, in terms of the attempts to restrain courts and the police from investigating people.”

Mumuni agrees. He feels such injunctions ought to be challenged.

“You can’t give an injunction against somebody who has a legal duty to carry out,” he said. “So those kinds of orders are manufactured in mischief, conceived in mischief and delivered in mischief.

“What the EFCC would have done would be to challenge that type of terrible order before a higher court, and I believe that the higher court would not have agreed with that particular judge.

Declaration of assets Labour’s call for office holders to declare their assets thrice; before swearing-in, while in office, and upon leaving office is already covered in a similar constitutional provision.

Section 11 (1) of the fifth schedule of the 1999 Constitution mandates public officials to declare their assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau at least twice; before and immediately after leaving office.

The declaration, which must be in writing, shall include all of the office holder’s properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his/ her unmarried children who are under 18.

Activists fault NJC’s new petition guidelines

By Joseph Jibueze

• Otteh

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RIGHTS group, the Access to Justice (A2J), has faulted the revised Judicial Discipline Regulations of the National Judicial Council (NJC).

According to A2J, the rules will

hamper the fight against corruption in the judiciary.

The revised rules are aimed at curtailing frivolous petitions against judges and also ensure that they are not distracted by vexatious and baseless allegations.

The group, in a statement by its Director Joseph Otteh, said though it welcomes reforms to strengthen the judiciary and protect its independence, the rules will do more harm than good.

On the contrary, the rules will hurt the fight against corruption and other misconduct in the administration of justice, A2J said.

It urged the NJC to revisit the rules and remove provisions which fetter citizens ability to make bona fide representations to the Council.

On the six-month time limit for petitions, the group said: “In many instances, cases of misconduct, particularly those concerning corruption occurring in the course of a judicial adjudication are only known after the fact, and there is usually no timeline for coming to this knowledge.

“In most cases, the corrupt conduct

‘If aggrieved people make credible complaints against judges and these complaints are peremptorily discountenanced because they have not complied with a stated procedure or because they lack some formality, the judiciary deprives itself of fair and early warning that a person of questionable integrity may be in its midst’ of a judicial officer may only become public knowledge following a careless slip or from the irrepressible work of investigative reporters.

Whenever the facts become known, let due process follow! There should be no statute of limitations applicable to judicial corruption or misconduct. Our fight against corruption in the administration of justice ought to run a free course.”

On requirement of a verifying affi-

davit, A2J said: “A verifying affidavit, in our opinion, stretches the responsibility for credibility a little too far and technicalises what ought to be simple, accessible and straightforward procedure or action for two major reasons: first, many otherwise valid complaints may be made by people who lack information of the technical requirements now being imposed by the Council.

“If aggrieved people make credible complaints against judges and these complaints are peremptorily discountenanced because they have not complied with a stated procedure or because they lack some formality, the judiciary deprives itself of fair and early warning that a person of questionable integrity may be in its midst.

“This will not do justice to the complainant, to the cause of justice, nor, too, to the Judiciary and society. Insisting that whistle-blowers or informants must verify the ‘truth of the facts alleged’ can act as a strong disincentive to whistle-blowers or informants (who already run risks for leaking relevant information) to come forward with that disclosure.

Effective complaint systems encourage, and not stifle feedbacks or complaints even when offered anony-

mously.”

The statement added: “In fairness, the NJC must concede that the rule is also possible to misconstrue even by people with reasonable literacy levels. In any event, it should be said that the duty to investigate, verify and substantiate a complaint in relation to a crime is the responsibility of the police, in the same way it is the responsibility of a disciplinary body like the NJC and not the complainant to investigate and substantiate a complaint. There is no legal justification for pushing that duty to the complainant.

“We understand that the NJC, by these guidelines, wants to safeguard against unnecessary petitions but that objective can be achieved without encumbering the accessibility of the NJC’s complaint process with unnecessary legalisms.

“While A2Justice will support efforts to reduce inordinate pressures on time and concentration of judges, we urge that judicial integrity should not be sacrificed for technicalities of form and time. The primary concern should be seeking ways to eradicate corruption within the judiciary and not limiting the channels of exposing it.”

23

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 15, 2015

LAW & SOCIETY

Court to hear suit on Ikoyi properties Oct 6

Being the text of a paper presented by the President, Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, (OAAN), Mr. Tunde Adedoyin, at the Lawyers in the Media Session at the justconcluded 55th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association ( NBA) in Abuja

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Legal challenges of outdoor advertising

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T is indeed with excitement that I take advantage of this privilege to share with you certain issues that are of serious concern to members of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, (OAAN).We really cherish this opportunity as it will enable us share some of the burden of our practice in our industry with this gathering with the expectation that this platform would be able to proffer solutions to some of the issues.

Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria Brief introduction The Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria is a body of all firms that have been duly licensed to engage in the practice of Outdoor Advertising (or out-of- Home Media asit is popularly known) by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). APCON as you all know is a creation of law, as it was established by Act No. 55 of 1988, as amended by Act No. 93 of 1992 and Act No. 116 of 1993 and is charged with the primary responsibilities of: ·• Determining who are qualified advertising practitioners; • Setting the standard of knowledge and skills required of such practitioners; • Compiling, maintaining, and keeping the register of practitioners; • Regulating and controlling the practice of advertising in Nigeria; • Conducting qualifying examinations in the profession; ·• Performing all such other functions as are incidental or conducive to the aboveresponsibilities or any of them.

Where these responsibilities affect the practice of outdoor advertising, the Council has vested such powers in the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN).

Thus OAAN has been duly recognised in law to regulate and control the practice of Outdoor Advertising in Nigeria.It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the Outdoor Advertising Media industry is an important sub-sector of the economy as it is a major employer; and the members pay substantial part of their income as taxes to all the tiers of government.

It is also reasonable to conclude that this very important sector of our economy should be given all the necessary assistance and encouragement to flourish.The reality however is that operators,especially members of my Association, are groaning under the burden of practice, most of which are unnecessary yokes placed on us by the powers that be.

It is a well-known fact that the place of outdoor advertising to the success of all forms of marketing communications efforts cannot beover emphasised. As a matter of fact, its influence has continued to be on the increase.This is largely because of the dynamic nature of the platform .It is one that can always easily adapt to prevailing trends. It has consistently been influenced by and has benefited tremendously from prevailing technological advancements. Furthermore, outdoor advertising has also helped to light up and beautify our environment.It makes the skyline of our cities more beautiful.

Above all, outdoor advertising is the most viewer- friendly platform when compared with other media platforms.It is the only platform from which the viewers get valuable information at no cost to them.

As a group of highly responsible pro-

fessionals, our association is committed to the highest ethical standards.

We are also committed to making the practicebetter and to accommodate the desires and expectations of the advertisers to the extent that we continue to help in the actualization of their visual communications objectives – there by further elevating their high level exposure in the market place. We are also committed to making our environment a great beneficiary of the beauty of outdoor advertising.

There are within this gathering ladies and gentlemen that can attest to it that we are investing more than ever before in the business, and in the environment.

Some of the challenges I am mindful of the fact that this opportunity you have given me may not allow me to present and discuss all the nagging issues in details, I crave your indulgence, however, to present and briefly discuss some of them here.

Prominent among the industry’s headache arethe twin yokes of unrestricted government regulations and multiple taxations. Lack of appropriate and inadequate infrastructure (electricity) and influx of illegal operators are also issues that are of serious concern to us and a potential threat to the survival of the sector.

There is also the issue of huge indebtedness, especially by the clients.Permit me distinguish ladies and gentlemen to briefly discuss some of this issues.

Unrestricted govt regulation It is a common knowledge that a section of the laws of the land recognises the local government for the purposes of controlling and deriving revenue from Outdoor Advertising, by way of permit fees. Lately, however, a number of states have hijacked such powers from the local governments and have now warehoused, so to speak, the powers in a new creation (perhaps not known to the laws of the land) called Signage and Advertisement Agencies. In the Federal Capital Territory, it is known as the Department of Outdoor Advertisement and Signage, DOAS. And there is the issue of federal highwayshere both the respective states and the Department of Federal Highways have separate controls that the Outdoor operators have to cope with. There is so much Confusion; so much headache.

Multiple Taxation Closely related to the issue of multi

‘Lack of appropriate and inadequate infrastructure (electricity) and influx of illegal operators are also issues that are of serious concern to us and a potential threat to the survival of the sector. There is also the issue of huge indebtedness, especially by the clients’

•Adedoyin – level regulation is that of multiple taxation. Each level of government now arbitrarily fixes rates on the basis of which are largely – unknown.

As it is, most states have identified Outdoor Advertising as a surer source of revenue after oil and gas.The effect of this on our business is that it has grossly discouraged our clients, who ultimately pick the bills from patronising us. Unfortunately they have other alternatives that they go to, to the detriment of our sector. The multipliers effect is the loss of business to us; the loss of employment to our staff; and the loss of lives in some cases.

Lack of Appropriate infrastructure The dynamic nature of our media platform demands the availability of the relevant infrastructure, especially unhindered supply of power. It is a well-known fact even at this gathering that this has not been the experience in a long while now. Thus, it has become fashionable for operators to invest in alternative sources of energy.This has also added to the cost of doing the business.

Influx of Illegal operators The relevant laws, especially the APCON Acts, forbid anyone who has not been approved and licensed by that body to practice advertising in any aspect for gain in the country. And for a firm to practice Outdoor Advertising, it must have been duly registered as a member of OAAN, or must have obtained the APCON’s license to practice without being a member of the Association. The experience however is that a number of individuals and firms are operating in the industry and they are neither legally registered by APCON to do so; nor are they registered with OAAN. This has been made possible by the Signage and Advertisement Agencies who allows anyone with the financial means to practice in their states, even when such violates the laws of the land.

We need your help The list of our challenges is endless.

But we, sincerely, believe the problems are not insurmountable. And that is why we are delighted at this opportunity to make this presentation.

Our expectation is that you will help with the interpretation of the relevant laws and, beyond that, assist us in communicating it to the right places that the laws must be obeyed and respected and that illegal structures created by government (aka Signage Agencies ) should be dismantled anddouble taxation stopped forthwith. We do, honestly, think that the signage and advertisement agencies are an aberration, and unknown to the laws of the land. They are illegal structures that must be dismantled.

But we need you to help us in this regards.

USTICE Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos will on October 6, 2015 hear a preliminary objection filed by Onikoyi of Ikoyi/Moba land, Oba Patrick Ibikunle Fafunwa challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear a suit filed against him by members of the Onikoyi Descendants’Family.

The Onikoyi Descendants’Family had in the suit No: FHC/L/CS/ 451/15 filed against the Federal Government and the monarch, asked the court for an order directing the government to include them in future transfer of land and meeting pertaining to the return of properties to the Onikoyi Royal Family.

Joined as defendants alongside Oba Fafunwa are the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation (second defendant), the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (third defendant), the Implementation Committee of the White Paper on the Commission of Enquiry into the Alienation of Federal Government Property (fourth defendant) and Unknown Persons (fifth defendant).

The plaintiffs include Fatai Ogunlana Onikoyi Chief Muritala Adedoyin Elegushi, Alhaji Waliu Dimeji Sulaiman, Onikoyi Animashaun Abdulfatai Kolawole, Mufutau Adeshegun Onikoyi, Oyebode Shadeko, Halim Akinyemi Eshinlokun, Adja Ganiat Onikoyi Carew, Alhaja Taibat Jenmi-Owo and Idris Owoyele.

Others are Alhaji Bilikis Bombata, Lookman Adeshina, Alhaji Tinko Aderemi, Ganiyu Onikoyi, Bolanle Doherty, Alhaja Suliat Shodiya and Fatai Onikoyi Shina for themselves and on behalf of Fafunwa, Ojubiari, Kunayije, Ilumo, Idewu, Kugbamola, Aluko Ajose, Dosumu, Ajiwe and Adelo branches of Onikoyi Royal Family.

Specifically, the plaintiffs asked the court for an order of injunction restraining Oba Fafunwa from usurping the rights of the ten branches of the Onikoyi Family, including sale of land and usage as his personal property.

In addition, the plaintiffs asked the court for an order partitioning the 4.324 hectares of land, the subject matter of suit No: LD/769/12 into ten portions for the ten branches that make up the Onikoyi Royal Family.

The plaintiffs, in their statement of claim averred that the Onikoyi Royal Family in 1977 had an executive committee comprising of the late Professor A. B. Fafunwa, Chief C. B. Onikoyi, Alhaji A.G Onikoyi, Alhaji A.F. Onikoyi, Alhaji L. Kehinde Onikoyi and Prince R. Olatunji Onikoyi who were to handle the income of the family but due to their failure, a suit was instituted against them in suit No: LD/697/97 on sharing formulae and judgment on the matter was delivered by Justice A. Adeniyi on September 25, 2001.

The plaintiffs also averred that the family instituted another suit No: LD/1172/93 against the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation, NITEL, NIJA ROSE Properties Development Company Limited, Executive Government of Lagos State and Attorney General of Lagos State over a 43.143 hectares of land, the judgment of which was delivered by Justice Adetula Alabi in 2003 in favour of the family.

They alleged that despite that the judgement was in favour of the family, the land was sold by the executive committee in connivance with the Oba who was crowned in 2007.

Furthermore, the plaintiffs claimed that in 2007, a 4.342 hectares of land covered by water was allocated to the family by the Lagos State Government but that it was seized

By Adebisi Onanuga

by the Federal Government and later settled out of court in suit No: LD/769/12 between the Federal Government and the Oba alone.

However, because the family representatives were not involved in the out-of-court settlement, the Federal Government refused to release the land to any single individual adding that this made the Oba to file a suit, No: LD/8690/14, against the Federal Government and which is pending at the Lagos High Court.

They further averred that two high chiefs, on behalf of Onikoyi Chieftaincy Family, Chief Adedotun Adeseye and Chief Abayomi Fafunwa, equally dragged Oba Onikoyi before a Lagos High Court in suit No:LD/7438/14, asking the court to declare that with the death of Prof Babatunde Fafunwa and the removal of Otunba A.G. Onikoyi, as signatories and accredited representatives of the Onikoyi Chieftaincy Family, Oba Onikoyi cannot validly and competently act as a sole signatory to the account and other land transfer documentations of the Onikoyi Royal Family without the reconstitution of the executive committee of the family.

However, Oba Onikoyi in his statement of defence denied the Plaintiffs statement of claim, emphasising that the present action as constituted is incompetent, vexatious, scandalous and totally bereft of any jurisdictional power and authority.

The monarch contended that the plaintiffs in this action (FHC/L/CS/ 451/15) who are not parties to the case in suit No: LD/769/12 and who are not also parties to the terms of settlement entered in the said suit, cannot competently seek a declarative relief of the court to enforce the terms of the consent judgment entered into between known and identifiable parties.

In their statement of defence, both the Minister of Lands Housing and Urban Development and the Implementation Committee of the White Paper on the Commission of Enquiry into the Alienation of Federal Government Property in their statement of defense stated that the terms of settlement was filed and adopted by parties in the court in suit No: LD/769/12 on February 18, 2014 in which the court presided over by Justice Kazeem Alogba entered as the consent judgment because the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants did not accept the validity of the certificate of occupancy dated January 31, 2007 and registered as No 20 at page 20 in volume 2007B of the Register of Deeds, Lands Registry, Lagos issued by the Lagos State Government over Federal Government Land at Ikoyi.

Both defendants alleged the Oba has deliberately refused to demarcate the 4.342 hectares which was the subject matter of the term of settlement in suit No: LD/769/12 as the Oba has trespassed on far more hectares than was covered by the term of settlement in suit No: LD/769/12.

Furthermore, the duo stated that while Onikoyi Chieftaincy Family was represented by the Oba, the terms of settlement signed singly by him did not reflect the interest of the Onikoyi Chieftaincy Family as he has refused any other signatories on behalf of Onikoyi Chieftaincy Family, the term of settlement, neither has the Oba presented a juristic entity to whom title can be given.

The third and fourth defendants said the Federal Government is willing and prepared to issue title and give possession to the Onikoyi Chieftaincy Family provided the Oba brings a legal entity or juristic person on which title will be vested.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

LAW & SOCIETY Lagos lawyer Akinpelu Ayokunle examines the legality of publishing the list of bank debtors

Is debtors’ list publication legal?

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria is empowered by the various provisions of the CBN Act to regulate and supervise the activities of commercial banks in Nigeria. Section 44 (a) CBN Act 2007 provides that there shall be a Committee for the co-ordination and supervision of financial institutions in Nigeria. This provision has placed the direct supervision of banks and other financial institutions under the purview of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The supervision of the banks is to promote and maintain adequate and reasonable financial service for the public; as well as ensure high standards of conduct and management throughout the banking system. The powers of the Central Bank of Nigeria in regulating and supervising commercial banks seems unfettered as the Act provides an incidental clause to enable the Central Bank of Nigeria discharge its functions as prescribed according to law. Section 32 (1) CBN Act provides that “the Bank may, subject as is expressly provided in this Act generally conduct business as a bank, and do all such things as are incidental to or consequential upon the exercise of its power or the discharge of its duties under this Act” . It would therefore be right for the Central Bank of Nigeria to make regulations and guidelines that would ensure that the objectives of the Act are fully accomplished. This directive must be obeyed by all financial institutions and any financial institution which fails to comply with such directive is at risk of sanctions from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In ensuring that the Central Bank of Nigeria is properly backed up through the instrumentality of law, the federal legislature has passed the Banks and Other Financial Institution Act (BOFI Act).

The various provsion of the BOFI Act gives wide powers to the Central Bank of Nigeria to regulate the activities of banks and financial instutions in Nigeria. The power includes but not limited to issuance and revocation of licenses should there be a breach of the law or any regulation by any bank or financial instution, section 3 & 8 BOFI Act. Section 57 BOFI Act empowers the Governor to make regulations to give full effect to the objects and objectives of the Act, it provides as follows, (1) The Governor may make regulations, published in the Gazette, to give full effect to the objects and objectives of this Act. (2) Without prejudice to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the Governor may make rules and regulations for the operation and control of all institutions under the supervision of the Bank.

In light of the above provisions, the Central Bank of Nigeria is solely responsible for the supervision of banks and financial instutions in Nigeria, subject to the overall supervision of the supervising minister. The incidental power of the Central Bank of Nigeria is sufficient for legal protection as regards its directive to all banks to publish the names of debtors. It would therefore be right on the face value for the banks to obey the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

However, since the CBN Act and BOFI Act are not the only legislation governing conducts of citizens and institutions in Nigeria, it would be pertinent that other laws should read in consonance with the CBN Act and the BOFI Act. The Nigerian legal system is anchored on the doctrines of English Common Law and legal tradition as a result of colonisation and of reception

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HE Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) has urged lawyers to help end corruption in Africa.

PALU said corruption thrives in the continent partly because, most lawyers, who represent parties to majority of business transactions lack knowledge of the nature and threats of corruption, making them vulnerable to, and complicit in acts of corruption.

The group, in a statement in Abuja by its Vice President, Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN), said since every business transaction has a legal angle, requiring lawyers to act as intermediaries for either governments, private companies or citizens, they (lawyers) are well placed to prevent corruption, and could play a lead role in entrenching cleaner business transactions in the continent.

Kayode, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), said the need to equip lawyers with the requisite knowledge of the nature and threats of corruption will partly drive the PALU yearly conference scheduled for Abuja between September 22 and 24, which will

of English law through the legal transplant. The doctrines of common law form a substantial part of the received English Law in Nigeria and this received English Law are part of our legal and judicial system. Received English Law comprises of Doctrines of Common Law, Doctrines of Equity, and Statutes of General Application. Section 45(1) Interpretation Act provides that, “the common law of England and the doctrines of equity and the statues of general application which were in force in England on 1st January, 1900 are applicable in Nigeria, only in so far as local jurisdiction and circumstances shall permit” It would be right from the interpretation of Sec. 45 Interpretation Act to state that the doctrines of common law as part of our laws would impose a duty of confidentiality upon a banker to its customers. The duty of confidentiality was first brought to fore in the case of Tournier v National Provincial and Union Bank of England [1924] 1 KB 461 where a bank disclosed to its customer’s employer that one of the customer’s unpaid cheques was drawn in favour of a bookmaker’s account. As a result of this disclosure, the customer’s employer did not renew his contract with the customer. In arriving at a decision, the English Court of Appeal held that confidentiality was an implied term in the customer’s contract and that any breach could give rise to liability in damages if loss results. This duty is not however exclusive and without qualification, the dutyof confidentiality can be dispensed with when required by law, public duty, bank’s interest or in circumstances where the client has consented even if impliedly to such disclosure.

The provision of exemptions from this duty cannot be a basis to act in an unrestricted manner, as the exemptions are not to be used vaguely but in regards to facts. In interpretating situations where the exemptions can be applied it would best serve the interest of the justice to apply the purposive approach rule of interpretation. The purposive approach rule considers not only the letters of the legislation vis-a-vis their true or extended meaning but it further considers the reasonings behind such legislations by looking at the history of the proceedings and the purpose the law was to achieve. In NURTW v.

RTEAN (2012) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1307) 170 S.C at Page 196 paragraph A, the court stated par Fabiyi JSC “It is basic that one of the vital canons of interpretation of statutes is that a court of record should be minded to make broad interpretation or what is sometimes referred to as giving liberal approach... A court should give a holistic interpretation to a statute as required by law... A court should aim at giving a statute purposeful interpretation; I dare say”. Therefore, in establishing the occurrence of breach of this duty, it would best serve the interest of justice to scruntize the exemptions created by English Court of Appeal.

A banker is allowed to breach the duty of disclosure when such disclosure is required by law.

In arriving at definition of the term “law” the Interpretation Act LFN 2004 defines “law” in Section 18 (1) Interpretation Act as “law means any law enacted or having effect as if enacted by the legislature of a state and includes any instrument having the force of law which is made under a law.” It would then be that the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria by facial value would be sufficient to breach this duty since it was made by an instrument having

• Ayokunle the force of law. However, since the duty of confidentiality has been imposed by doctrines of common law and accepted by the Act of the Parliament, there would appear to be a conflict between the two positions. In resolving the conflict, the court has always used the hierarchial status of laws to determine which law supercedes the other in cases of legislative conflict. It cannot therefore be that a principle which has been enacted by a federal legislation would be subjugated and over-riden by a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria made pursuant to an Act. The Court having enunicated the hierarchy of laws in Labiyi v. Anretiola (1992) 8 NWLR (pt.258) 139 would not be willing to topple the express provisions of an Act with a directive made pursuant to an Act. The English Court of Appeal further conceded that the duty of confidentiality can be circumvented at instance of public duty.

Public duty must not be defined vaguely but in relation to the circumstances of fact and the law.

In the case of Dododo v. EFCC (2013) 1 NWLR (Pt. 1336) 468 C.A, the Court of Appeal defined the term public as “the people of a nation or community as a whole” while the Black Law Dictionary has defined duty as a “moral obligation”. The exception would therefore be applicable in circumstances where non-disclosure would cause public hurt or injury, particulary, instances of criminal liability. In regards to all available facts, the CBN has not stated that the debtors accrued the debt through illegality, neither has it been controverted that a banker-customer relationship existed, especially as a legal transaction is strictly a private and civil affair. The exception of disclosure by reason of public duty can barely avail the Central Bank’s directive in light of the afore-mentioned. With regards to disclosure occassioned by bank’s interest, the balance of con-

venience would rest solely on the bank as the law is cleaar that he would assert must proof, section 135 Evidence Act. Since, the bank’s interest is dependent of the facts of each case; the legality would be hinged on the reasonable man’s test.

In futherance of the rights of the debtors to have their loan transaction carried out under strictly confidentiality, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has ensured the codification of rights to privacy. Section 37 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 3rd Alteration provides; “the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversation and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and protected”. This provision in the constitution supercedes whatever law or directive that mandates the disclosure of personal corresspondence of a person’s account into the public space. This provision having been provided for by the constitution is of a special status as it can only be contravened under the circumstances permitted by the constitution itself and not by any directive or even an act of the parliament. Section 1(1) (3) of the constitution of Nigeria gives an overlording preference to section 37 of the constitution, section 1 (1) (3) provides “(1) This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria; (3) If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this constituion, this constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void.” However, the constitution has also stated instances that the provisions of Section 37 CFRN 1999 3rd amendment can be exclusively overridden. Section 45 CFRN 1999 3rd amendment permits the vioation of the provision of Section 37 CFRN 1999 3rd amendment in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health or for the purpose of rights and freedom of other persons.

Succintly, the provisions of section 37 can be circumvented for public policy and for the purpose of ensuring the rights and freedom of other persons. Public policy has been described as actions taken to stop the obliteration of public interest or to protect public interest. Public policy is based on the test of a reasonable man as well.

The combined reading of Section 18(1), 45(1) Interpretation Act, Section 42(a), Section 23(1) CBN Act, Section 57 BOFI Act and Section 37, Section 1(1) (3) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, would be that though the Central Bank of Nigeria has the powers to give directives for the overall goverance of banking business in Nigeria, such directive must not contradict any express provision of the law.

The Court has consistently risen to the defence of the law, especially the constitution. It has even gone further to declare any contradictory act against the law to be null and void and of no effect. The position of the Court has been that that no action or directive would be allowed override the express provision of the law no matter the brilliance or good intent of such actions or directives. The publication of debtors would therefore be more of a moral exercise that cannot be hinged on any legal provision.

Group to lawyers: Join anti-corruption fight From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

feature a two-day conference as theme: Combating corruption: The role of the legal profession in Africa.

He said the conference, among others, aims to strengthen the role of African lawyers in the fight against corruption on the continent. He added that members will, at the conference, “officially adopt and sign the Code of Ethics on anti-corruption and professional compliance standards, and officially launch the interactive website and blog on lawyers-led anti-corruption initiatives on the African continent.”

Kayode, who is also Chairman of the conference’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), said President Muhammadu Buhari, the Legal Counsel of the African Union Commission (AUC), the General Counsel of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Chairperson of the African Union’s Advisory Board against Corruption (AU-ABC) are among dignitaries expected at the event.

“Africa is one of the fastest growing

economies in the world with significant multinational business transactions such as in mining, energy (oil and gas) and large infrastructure projects. The continent has however lost billions of dollars in these business transactions to corruption. This is money that could be used in socio-economic development on the continent.

“PALU has identified good economic governance as an essential pre-requisite for promoting economic growth and reducing pov-

erty in Africa. Our 2014-2019 Strategic Plan has placed importance on building the capacity of our members to help in preventing and combating corruption in Africa.

“To that end, PALU is implementing a project titled: “African lawyers initiative on compliance in business relations”. The project aims at creating awareness on the legal and other anti-corruption instruments that exist, and the methods of ensuring compliance.

“It also aims at shifting part of the

responsibility of fighting corruption in business from government agencies to the legal profession upon whom business transactions rely. “These aims will be achieved through a series of activities that aspire to share information with, train and assist lawyers, to adopt and implement anti-corruption and compliance standards. A key output of the project is the development of a Code of Ethics on anticorruption and professional compliance standards,” Kayode said.

Obiano, Umeadi, Alegeh for Anaocha Bar Week

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NAMBRA State Governor Willie Obiano, the Chief Judge Justice Peter Umeadi and Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president Augustine Alegeh (SAN) will be special guests at the maiden edition of the NBA Anaocha branch law week.

The event, to be held on October

2, will be chaired by Justice Umeadi, while Chief Obiano. A former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Iguh and Vice-President (West Africa) Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) Emeka Obegolu are also expected.

The event with theme: Nigeria’s self inflicted judicial wounds: the ca-

lamitous consequences of legal practice, will hold at White Castle Hotel Neni, Anambra State.

A statement from the branch Chairman, Chief Chris Ogom Adimorah reads in part: “ This will be followed by a Dinner and Awards party on Saturday, October 3 at the same venue under the chairmanship of Alegeh.”

Newspaper of the Year

AN 8-PAGE PULLOUT ON NORTHERN STATES

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

PAGE 25

INSIDE

‘Blame neglect of history for nation’s stunted growth’ PAGE 27

A case for IDPs

•The advancing desert and unfriendly climate have adversely affected the environment.

Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal and Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad, among other leaders, have launched a campaign to stop the advance of the desert and save their environment. ADAMU SULEIMAN reports

•Tambuwal

I

T was a demonstration of will not to allow the encroaching desert, perhaps the North’s worst and urgent threat, to take over the region. That was why Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, Sultan of the Caliphate Muhammad Abubakar Sa’ad stepped out to halt the menace in its tracks.

The governor and the monarch are not the only ones fighting the encroachment, though. Members of the state House of Assembly and All Progressives Congress (APC) chiefs are part of the campaign, as are senior officials of the state government.

It is not difficult to see why. The advancing desert has sacked many communities in the region and overrun farmlands and scarce water sources. This is not just the handiwork of the Sahel; climate change, resulting in intense heat, is also to blame. The effect is devastating, with the ecosystem in danger, flora and fauna in as much

Coalition against desertification trouble as humans.

Sokoto and other states fringing the desert are under immediate threat.

Is there any solution? Yes, tree planting, in what has been termed the Great Green Wall Project.

That is what leaders in the Caliphate are doing: planting trees to counter the advancing desert and inject life into the atmosphere.

The campaign is for everyone to sustain, including organisations,

local governments, but those who must embrace it more than anyone else are all-season farmers.

The advance of the desert has been accelerated by unrelenting felling of trees without planting more to replace those cut down. That is why the state government has also mounted a campaign to encourage even individuals who must cut down trees to plant as many as, if not more than, they chop down.

What type of tree is ideal for this

‘The advancing desert has sacked many communities in the region and overrun farmlands and scarce water sources. This is not just the handiwork of the Sahel; climate change, resulting in intense heat, is also to blame. The effect is devastating, with the ecosystem in danger, flora and fauna in as much trouble as humans’

PAGE 29

•Sultan Sa’ad

fight? The Neem will do nicely, because it is tough and can resist harsh rough weather. This is the reason you find rows of this medicinal, bitter tree at the seat of the caliphate, sometimes in clusters or in rows in open spaces.

Moreover, this tree also adds beauty to the city and communities nurturing them.

Governor Tambuwal is also providing date palm seedlings for distribution free to farmers across the 23 local governments of the state.

Tambuwal flagged off this year’s tree planting campaign in Kawadata village in Goronyo Local Government Area, warning residents and households to desist from indiscriminate tree felling. Embrace tree planting, he stressed.

He said the ban on tree felling for use as firewood in homes by households is now effective.

He said, to mitigate the effect of the new policy on especially the rural dwellers, the state government Continued on page 26

Indigenes urge Buhari to set up committee on Centenary City PAGE 31

Daring the President

PAGE 32

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

THE NORTH REPORT

•Animals are dying in the desert.

•Neem trees will help.

Coalition against desertification Continued from page 25 will provide stoves, while advising them to explore other sources of energy like coal.

The governor’s demonstration of commitment to curb desertification in the state keys into the 2015 Tree Planting Campaign theme tagged,’’ Sustainable Ecosystem Restoration.”

Tambuwal said at the flag-off that date palm trees would be planted across the state under the Great Green-Wall Project.

He said the gesture of the state government was part of renewed and sustained efforts to curb the menace of desertification.

The governor also called on individuals and organisations

‘This is necessary if not to roll back the process of desertification, at least to cancel some of its gains through a sustained effort in planting trees. All stakeholders should have a change of attitude by ensuring that the exercise is given all the seriousness it deserves’ across the state to take interest in the cultivation of tree crops such as date palm and gum Arabic, noting that such would enhance the preservation of environment.

He pointed out that tree planting is not only an environmental imperative but also a spiritual obligation.

He said, “Islam encourages tree

T

A

•Tobi Adebisi From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos

my interest in my academic practice. I like a lot of research; it enables me to know what I never knew. I learnt a lot by watching many videos online about computer science and app designing.

Then I make use of people and resources around me to grow my skills.

“My future ambition is not just

tainable methods of farming.

“Having economic trees on your farms actually improves the yield of your harvests and agro-forestry is now the more acceptable form of modern and sustainable farming.

“I would like to appeal to our royal and religious leaders to continue to give their maximum support in order to ensure the success of this exercise.”

The Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Environment, Garba Muhammad Sarkin-Kudu, said a 2km shelter-belt will be established in each of the three senatorial zones of the state as part of this year’s campaign.

He added: “Government House to house campaign has been carried out in the 400-unit housing estates to provide shelter and windbreak.”

‘Nigeria loses N250b on medical tourism yearly’

College hosts American varsity’s brightest graduate RECEPTION has been held in Plateau State for 20-yearold, Tobi Adebisi, who graduated at the top of his class at University of Michigan, United States.

The ceremony held at the Nigerian College of Accountancy, Kwall, near Jos, the state capital.

Tobi, son of the Director-General of the college, Prof Joseph Femi Adebisi, was the best student in Computer Science and also overall best at the University of Michigan, Flint.

On May 3, the younger Adebisi was among 750 graduates of the university. His academic performance earned him applause from the institution, which recognised his dedication to class work, work ethics and professionalism.

He graduated with a GPA of 4.0.

His major area of specialisation is App Designing.

His parents flew to US to witness his graduation. One of his lecturers said: “Tobi did not just want to receive knowledge, but wanted to explore and experiment and it has got him far.”

He served as the President of the Association of Computing Machinery, and as Vice President of African Students Association and member of UM -Flint Student Government and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.

The high-flyer was not just glued to school work; he mixed quite well.

Tobi said: “I love people. I like building relationships. I enjoy relationships with others close to me. But that will not clash with

planting for the benefit of humanity in communities. This should be done as a measure to alleviate poverty and unemployment, and reap from the abundant benefits of planting trees.”

He added that everyone must take it seriously and embrace the tree planting exercise by emulating him and launching the campaign in their environments.

Tambuwal said further: “This is necessary if not to roll back the process of desertification, at least to cancel some of its gains through a sustained effort in planting trees.

“All stakeholders should have a change of attitude by ensuring that the exercise is given all the seriousness it deserves.’’

The governor also called on farmers to adopt more modern and sus-

to limit myself to app designing, I want to come up with an idea that will help the growth and development of my country, Nigeria. I want to initiate a technology that (will move) the whole world.

I want to build a name like Bill Gates in the computer world, I want to own my own technology with which I will not only make a living but change the world of computer.”

HE Nigerian medical Association (NMA) has raised the alarm, saying that Nigeria loses N250 billion yearly to medical tourism.

The association said the solution to such capital flight lies with the upgrading of the country’s tertiary institutions and replacing obsolete equipment with modern ones.

In a communiqué at the end of its national executive council (NEC) meeting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, NMA said it was opposed to giving girls out in marriage before the age of 18.

The communiqué was signed by NMA President and Secretary-General, Dr Kayode Obembe and Dr Adewunmi Alayaki.

NMA urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a medical doctor as the minister of health, adding that “doctors who take care of the sick must be accorded priority in the scheme of things”.

Part of the communiqué reads: “NMA has been clamouring for the post of Surgeon General which is paramount in our health system.

Examples we can point to are: Attorney General of the Federation, Accountant-General of the Federation and Surveyor-General and Auditor General.

“The NMA is opposed to giving out our girls in marriage before the age of 18 years because before that age, the bony system has not fully developed. Scientifically, this practice should be condemned, the birth canal will be very narrow for the head of the baby to pass through during labour, which can lead to the condition called Vesico Virginal Fistula (VVF). We appeal

‘The NMA is opposed to giving out our girls in marriage before the age of 18 because before that age, the bony system has not fully developed. Scientifically, this practice should be condemned; the birth canal will be very narrow for the head of the baby to pass through during labour which can lead to the condition called Vesico Virginal Fistula (VVF)’ From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

to all men of good will to impress on our Government and policy makers to rescue our female children from this miserable life and ultimate disaster.

“We know that President Mohammadu Buhari has respect for human lives, hence doctors who take care of the sick must be accorded priority in the scheme of things. We hereby implore the Continued on page 28

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

27

THE NORTH REPORT

•From left: Programme Manager, Conflict Prevention And Peace Building, Nigeria, Mr Mattews Alao; Director-General, Institute For Peace And Conflict Resolution, Prof. Oshita Oshita; and Peace and Development Advisor, Mr Takwa Suifon, during a news conference to mark this year’s International Peace Day, in Abuja ...on Thursday.

PHOTO: NAN

•A medical personnel, Dr Otodire Erheka (left) checking the blood pressure of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry Of Health, Mr Linus Awute, during the presentation on "Fight the good fight against Hypertension", By the Ministry and Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc, in Abuja .... on Thursday.

PHOTO: NAN

‘Blame neglect of history for nation’s stunted growth’

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HE Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) has attributed Nigeria’s developmental challenges to the relegation of the country’s history to the background.

To reverse the trend, the society has resolved to engage all tiers of government to restore history to the curriculum of both primary and secondary schools.

HSN’s President Prof Christopher Ogbogbo told reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, saying that without the knowledge of history, “you will be struggling to reinvent the wheel.

“That is why we are taking our society’s 60th anniversary to Abuja next month.”

Prof Ogbogbo, who is also the head of department, University of Ibadan (UI), said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s 100 days in office have been impactful.

“If you distort history the product you will get will be negative, which can’t help your circumstances,” he said. “So if the diagnosis is wrong, the solution will be wrong.

“Look at Nigeria where they

‘If you distort history the product you will get will be negative, which can’t help your circumstances. So if the diagnosis is wrong, the solution will be wrong. Look at Nigeria where they are not teaching history’ From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

are not teaching history. I go to America every year to teach African history for three months. You cannot graduate from any American university without reading the country’s history. In fact, the condition for you to become an American citizen is that you must demonstrate the knowledge of American history.”

On President Buhari, the professor of history said: “So far, the stature President Muhammadu Buhari as a person is very impactful on Nigerians. But given the degree of challenges that the country has, it

would go beyond an individual. In history, we say that it is better that a revolution starts from above than from below.

“If it comes from below it will blow everybody away; when it comes to a fundamental change in attitude it must be people-driven.

“The National Orientation Agency (NAO) has to be recalibrated to reach out to the people. That change must be about us. You can’t stay in Abuja and fight corruption when it has become endemic. All you need to do is to twitch the various groups and that is where history comes in.”

Conceding that the country has daunting challenges, he added that

Nigeria had tremendously moved forward.

He said: “It is true Nigeria has quite a number of challenges, but Nigerians are the most acerbic critics of the country. We are extremely critical of our country. When we go to other countries, even the ones we are better than, we don’t criticise them as much as we criticise ourselves. Self criticism is good so long as it will propel you to become better, but as a nation we have moved forward tremendously.

“No matter how sentimental Nigerians are, our population is growing everyday; the standard of living of our people has advanced. In other words we must begin to recognise that as we move forward there is a cost for progress; we have to pay a price. What Nigerians are disenchanted with is that given the kind of enormous resources that Nigeria has it ought to have moved faster than this. Have we made some progress? Yes of course.

“As youths we saw more of military men as our leaders, but today we see civilians as our leaders. They may not be doing it quite right but a new culture, ethos is beginning to

•Some Nigerians mostly women and children sent back from Cameroun at Fufore IDPs Camp in Adamawa State ... on Thursday.

PHOTO: NAN

emerge. If you were a youth about 25years ago, there are opinions you read in the papers these days if you expressed them in the military era you would be in gallows.

“What we are saying is that we must begin to engage those challenges. I have travelled round the world Nigeria has about the best manpower you can find anywhere in the world. Part of it is that we have not learnt to utilize our own stuff. We must begin to regain some confidence for ourselves. God will not send angels from heaven to come and run Nigeria for us. God has given us the intellectual manpower to run Nigeria. That is what our historical experience is indicating to us.

Applicant wins bank’s star prize From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos

T

HE management of Fidelity Bank Plc in Jos, the Plateau State capital, has presented a cheque of N500,000 to the winner of its August Costumer Reward Prize, Ogbona Chris Anthony, an applicant.

The Jos branch Manager of the bank, Mr. Stephen Uchendu said: “The presentation of the award is part of the monthly reward the bank gives to its loyal consumers. This category of award is called Rain Support Promo; it is for tenants, who have no houses of their own, and the amount won is to help such customer pay his rent, hence we call it Rain Support Promo.

“All customers who have such account must have N20,000 in his account to qualify for the draw, the draw runs ones in each month and we use the first Monday of each month to present the award.

The winner that is claiming this cheque of N500,000 is the lucky one for the month of August raffle draw.’’

The prize winner said, “I never believed this was real; I used to be a strong critic of all these promos, but with this presentation, I’m now convinced that they are real. As an applicant, you can imagine what impact this amount will have in my life; as an Igbo man I am going to start business with this money.”

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

THE NORTH REPORT Council aspirant promises development From Gbenga Omokhunu

A

N aspirant for the chair of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Bala Iyah, has promised to make rural development a core area of his administration if he won the forthcoming poll.

Iyah was a councillor representing Garki ward in the council on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He made this known while inaugurating his campaign team.

He said: “It is my sincere desire to emulate and continue with the good works the past and present leaders of the council have been doing for us. My vision and mission is to empower the people of AMAC educationally, economically, in rural infrastructures and agriculture. I want to take development to rural communities and ensure that the poor people are given opportunities to live a better life.”

He promised not to disappoint the people of AMAC and to do his best to carry out his responsibilities of his people, when he is elected as chairman of AMAC. •Children going to farm at Giri, Abuja.

Kebbi buys grains for farmers From Khadijat Saidu, Birnin Kebbi

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HE Chairman, Wheat Farmers Association in Kebbi State, Alhaji Abdullahi Maigandu, has announced to his fellow growers that the state government has started buying tons of wheat for distribution to them.

Maigandu said this in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, where he displayed some of the grains, adding that the gesture was to encourage wheat farmers in the state to embark on large-scale production of the crop so that the state will be become number one producer of the grain in the country.

“At this level, 400 tons of wheat have been purchased at N15,000 per bag; I got the assurance of the state government to support our farmers through accessing loans and other incentives. It is our hope that farmers will utilise this opportunity to cultivate wheat on the over 600,000 hectares of fadama land in the state.”

The chairman has also allayed farmers’ fears on the sustainability of the scheme by announcing that the Federal Government has released funds to the association in that regard.

The Speaker, Kebbi State House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdulmumin Kamba represented Governor Atiku Bagudu at the event.

He assured the farmers of the government support.

•Official of NEMA receiving some Nigerian IDPs from Cameroon in Maiduguri.

Council chief advises against building on riverside

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HAIRMAN of Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Hon. Yahaya Garba, has warned residents not building their houses by the riverside in order to avoid being washed away by flood.

He made the call while declaring open a two-day sensitisation and enlightenment campaign for residents and traditional rulers in the council.

He advised the residents not to farm around riversides and should also avoid dumping refuse in drainages in order to

By Gbenga Omokhunu

allow free flow of water during the rainy season.

He said his administration will continue to empower the environmental department of the council to always evacuate and clear drainages to avoid erosion. Earlier, the head of Environment in the council, Alhaji Yusuf Simbabi also charged the residents to comply with the laid down rules, by building according to plan and to ensure that they work in line with environmental standard to safe guard our houses.

‘Nigeria loses N250b on medical tourism yearly’ Continued from page 26

President to appoint a Medical Doctor as the Minister of Health.

We also implore him to bring out the white pape r o n Y a y a l e Ahmed Report because this will promote industrial harmony in the health sector.

“NMA is very concerned with the incessant strikes that have bedeviled the health sector which is due to the fact that circulars issued by the government were not cash backed. In the interim, supplementary allocation should be made to pay for such commitments while on a long term basis, it must be clearly defined as a budget

heading in 2016 appropriation.

“NMA is worried at the rate at which the so called regulatory bodies, apart from Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), invade our hospitals.

We hereby appeal to the Police to cooperate with NMA in ensuring that no regulatory body apart from MDCN is allowed to come and interrupt Doctors while they are on their legitimate vocation of saving lives as this constitutes distraction and interruption in the hospital environment.

“NMA is in full support of the Universal health coverage, this has been the focus of the na-

tional officers’ committee (NOC) of the Association and we believe the instrument of the full implementation is through National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). We are delighted that the National Health Act made provision for getting one percent consolidated revenue fund through the NHIS while the other 50 percent goes to the primary health care.

“NMA is poised to eradicate measles from our country. We have kicked out polio and Ebola. Everybody should join hands with NMA to achieve this. Therefore, our Physicians Week in October shall focus on measles.”

Website: http://www.thenationonlineng.com

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

Page 29

Traumatised, homeless and sometimes malnourished, people displaced by the insurgency need urgent help, reports OLUGBENGA ADANIKIN

•The IDPs.

A case for IDPs A

DOCTOR, who attended to Adiza Umar, an infant at the Durumi camp of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said she would have died had she not had prompt medical attention.

Little Adiza was diagnosed with malnutrition, a condition many IDPs face at their camps in various parts of the country.

That is not the only concern. All of the displaced people nurse psychological wounds, having been forced from their homes and communities by Boko Haram fighters.

Many watched their relatives, friends and neighbours hacked down by the invaders, and count themselves lucky to escape.

But the escape has given them little comfort. They live in horrible conditions, lacking food, sleeping places and medication.

That was why a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) which visited Durumi camp in Dagba, FCT, has called for health care centres to be built at the camps.

The NGO alongside some philanthropists made the case for prompt intervention to meet medical needs of the homeless victims.

Executive Director, TZY Foundation, Mr. Dayo Akindolani who spoke on their behalf during a visit to Dagba, Durumi IDP camp in Abuja said the NGO made it a point of duty to quickly intervene in the deteriorating health condition of an infant, Umar Adiza ýat the camp.

Akindolani ýdisclosed that the case of Adiza was only one from many in several other IDP camps in the country, urging the government to rise to this responsibility.

The baby was subsequently diagnosed for malnutrition at the

‘Little Adiza was diagnosed with malnutrition, a condition many IDPs face at their camps in various parts of the country. All of the displaced people nurse psychological wounds, having been forced from their homes and communities by Boko Haram fighters’ Federal Staff Hospital, Abuja.

A medical doctor in the paediatrics department of the hospital disclosed that but for the quick intervention of the foundation, little Hadiza would have died.

The doctor said the effect of malnutrition could be synonymous to HIV as the body would have become vulnerable to accept any form of disease.

The official who spoke based on anonymity stated that due to lack of food, the entire body immune system was rendered ineffective.

“She was diagnosed of malnutrition. It is a serious disease that can be compared to HIV. It prevents immunity and paralyse the ýbody’s immunity system. That’s what malnutrition does.

“This baby would have died if you have not brought her for treatment. All the infections have started reacting,” he said.

He called for quick rehabilitation.

•Adiza and her mother.

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‘I’ll transform AMAC’

HE Secretary of the All Progressives Party (APC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Hon. Abdulahi Candido has said his experience has equipped to transform the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) if he won the council poll coming up soon.

Hon. Candido was speaking with reporters in Abuja in the run up to the election.

He said experience matters in electing a leader, adding that he has served as ward councillor for five years, and also as supervisory councillor and secretary to the council chairman.

“I have gathered enough experience in the municipality. If given

From Grace Obike

the mandate, I have a three-point agenda that I intend to use the three years to focus on. One is education, which is very essential, the second one is infrastructures and the last is security.

“We are all witnesses of what is happening in Nigeria today, the security aspect of the country, must not be left alone in the hands of the federal government. So every tier of government, mostly in the local government, needs to ensure that the people go to bed without fear of been terrorised. First amongst all the agenda is education.

“Whether you are a native of the AMAC or not, I believe that every-

one needs sound education for their kids. That is why we are going to give them, in order for them to be the future leaders of tomorrow. I have a lot of passion for education and all I need to do is haven looked at what used to happen, especially in the area of supporting students through scholarship and financial assistance.

“I believe that the little token they used to give them is nothing, simply because they concentrate on quantity, instead of quality. I am going to identify with the best hands amongst our young ones coming up, to supContinued on page 30

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

30

ABUJA REVIEW FCT gives Area Council ultimatum on refuse From Gbenga Omokhunu and Grace Obike

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•Founder, Kingdom Light Ministries (KLM), Pastor Samson Makinwa (second left) and other leaders of the church during the free medical screening/ treatment by the church for the people in Lagos.

‘I’ll transform AMAC’ Continued from page 29 port them financially, a good percentage of money would be budgeted to carter for the education of our children,” he said.

He said that for infrastructures, any government that wants to come will promise heaven on earth, without fulfilling them, saying that he will conduct a feasibility studies on how they are going to affect the lives of the people, by putting infrastructures for the people.

“It can be in terms of feeder roads, rural electrification, road networks, construction of water boreholes and even health centres. This are the areas that the government will not be hasty in taking decisions, but will find time to plan for them to be actualized. What we are going to give in the next three years, will be something the area council has never witnessed before and the people will be proud that they made the right choice,” he said

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•From left: Director, Food and Drugs, Federal Ministry of Health, Mrs Omatie Chukwumah; Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr Paul Orhii; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry Of Health, Mr Linus Awute, and Managing Director, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc, Dr Emmanuel Ekunno, during the presentation on “Fight The Good Fight Against Hypertension”, by the Ministry and Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals, in Abuja ... on Thursday.

PHOTO: NAN

N Abuja-based Non-Governmental Organisation, Roots and Origin has launched a $1billion fund for the purpose of creating jobs.

The organisation said that as part of its programmes, proceeds from the fund will be used to train unemployed youths pursuant to being self-employed.

The goal, according to the initiator, Hajia Aisha Pacegi, is to help the country build local content.

She said: “What we are doing is creating funds. This is where the $I billion challenge comes in. We hope to raise funds and create jobs at the community level through this programme.

“It’s a global initiative, a profit NGO in the sense that it is from our proceeds that we will give back to society. So whatever you buy, we take a certain percentage towards training, empowerment programmes and helping build local content in the food industry, especially among those promoting healthy lifestyles through eating right.

“Nigeria is lagging behind a bit with regard to the issue of local content. Take a look at Ghana and what they have been able to do with making their local agriculture produce of world standard. Ghana has many cooperatives, look at what

NGO to raise $1b for jobs ‘What we are doing is creating funds. This is where the $I billion challenge comes in. We hope to raise funds and create jobs at the community level through this programme’ From Vincent Ikuomola

they have done with shea butter.

So, we will be among those who will work towards Nigeria handling the local content issue.”

Pacegi further explained that the organisation is “all about giving and receiving”. It’s about us loving ourselves. Life itself is a gift that we must make proper use of.

For me, the first rule in life in giving and receiving. And when we say we want people to learn how to receive, we aren’t talking just money or material things.

“We are talking about receiving help with skill acquisition. So the minute you understand that loves from your source which is you creator, you will also know that you

can give out love too. We will not just train people, we will also make them realise that whatever you need to succeed is right in you.

Some people might say that the greatest achievement of man are things like computers or travel to space. But if we think deeply, it is actually mankind understanding the importance of the mind. Most the things we call great are ideas from the mind.”

Apart from sales of your products, she explained that the organistion intends to raise fund by “doing a lot of merchandising.

If you look at it from the perspective that we already have good products, we can merchandise them at the global level. There are seven billion people in the world,

imagine that we can use good merchandising to sell as much one billion times. We don’t have to wait for government to do this or that.

We can be the one to bring about change.”

Speaking on challenges envisage and how she intend to go around it, Hajia Pacegi said “this a process that we have started. We don’t plan to be an overnight success. We are in for the long haul and like you rightly noted, we have business plan. What we are now concerned with ensuring that our subconscious doesn’t tell us we cannot succeed on this enterprise. Talking about challenges, I know that we have a lot to do with regard to changing people’s mindsets from one of doubt to that that believes that they can succeed that we all can be part of the success story we are trying to write in our NGO. “We are not going to exporting just Nigerian goods. We will be marketing and merchandising brands so that way we will get into the global trade. We now live a global village where people trade online. Today, you can buy something online in Australia and it is sent to you here in Nigeria. Yes, I understand your

HE Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration has given the chairmen of the six Area Council one week deadline to clear all the heaps of refuse littering the area councils.

FCT Permanent Secretary, John Chukwu expressed disappointment over the huge volume of waste in all the area councils and satellite towns.

Chukwu who reminded them of the statutory responsibility of maintaining the environment, added that the ugly trend of heaps of garbage must immediately be reversed according to the change mantra of the Federal Government.

Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary FCT, Muhammad Sule said this in a press statement. He said Chukwu gave the instruction during an emergency meeting on the state of environment in the Area Councils and Satellite Towns.

He added: “Chukwu during the meeting expressed disappointment over the poor state of environment as well as the huge volume of waste in all the Area Councils.

“The Permanent Secretary reminded the Council Chairmen of their statutory responsibilities of 100 per cent maintenance of the environment; stressing that cleanliness is next to godliness.

“He reiterated that the ugly trend of heaps of garbage in all the Area Councils and Satellite Towns must immediately be reversed in line with the change mantra of the Federal Government.

“Chukwu warned that the Chairmen are elected leaders; noting that Councils’ elections are around the corner and therefore the people are going to hold them accountable.

“He insisted that enough is enough; saying that the Council Chairmen must sit up as this sorry state cannot be allowed to continue in the Territory.

“The Permanent Secretary emphasised that Abuja is one of the most important places in the country, being the abode of Mr. President, members of the National Assembly, highest ranking judicial officers in the country as well as members of the diplomatic community; and therefore the window in which the world sees Nigeria.

“All hands must be on deck to keep the environment of the entire 8,000 square kilometres of the Federal Capital Territory very clean to showcase the city to the world.”

worry about how we are going to sell. We have plans for that. What I am more concerned about is how we can get the right people to be involved.”

Explaining further on the modalities to be adopted, Pacegi said “we will be doing more of merchandising. What we will be packaging are healthy food items we eat here in Nigeria. We will be telling the world how they can eat right to remain healthy.

“We have set a one billion dollar target and we believe that we can achieve it. Growing up as kids, we read a lot of inspirational books and we developed the right mindset which has helped us achieve our dreams and we believe that it will also help us do great things with this idea. We have an idea of a bucket list which we and our partners will look at from time to time, to see if we have achieved these things. We can do a lot with marketing made in Nigeria products.

The world is returning to the natural things and we have hundreds of plants in Nigeria that is world will marvel at. We have plants that can prevent and treat diseases. There is so many things that God blessed us with. But we want to use made in America and China, rather than selling our own naturally given plants and food.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

31

ABUJA REVIEW

•From left: Project Officer, Inclusive Friends, Mrs Patricia Pam; Representative of the Director, Disability Rights Commission, Plateau, Ruth Tiptu; Project Manager, Nigeria Stability And Reconciliation Programme, Miss Priscilla Ankut; President, International Federation of Women Lawyers, Plateau Chapter, Mrs Ladi Madaki; Representative of the Permanent Secretary, State Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs Charity Dimlong, and Executive Director, Inclusive Friends, Miss Grace Jerry, at the book launch on "Research Study of What Violence Means To Us, Women with Disability Speak", in Jos ... on Thursday.

PHOTO: NAN

Indigenes urge Buhari to set up committee on Centenary City

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O resolve the problems associ ated with the compensation and resettlement of affected communities in the Abuja Centenary City Project, youths in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the auspices of Abuja Original Inhabitants Youth Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO) have called on the Federal Government to immediately set up a Committee to address the issue.

The youth said while they remain peace-loving people and believe in the sincerity and deep commitment of the present administration to protect their rights and restore their benefits, they may have no option but to engage in violence to press for their rights as guaranteed, if the right thing is not done.

President of the indigenous youth organisation, Commandant Isaac David, who spok at a briefing, said they were aware that in other parts of the country, indigenes had resorted to the use of violence and disruption of state activities to press for their rights.

David, who said the Committee would ensure a peaceful process during the execution of the Centenary City Project, suggested that the Committee members should include the Presidency, Centenary City Management, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Security Services, traditional rulers, area councils, indigenous

A

From Gbenga Omokhunu

NGOs, youth representatives and members of the National Assembly.

“We know our rights as provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and we cannot continue to watch while our rights are fragrantly abused even by individuals such as Centenary City Plc. It can be seen that the management of Centenary City Plc has been very economical with the truth.

“We demand that the Management of Centenary City give a breakdown of the expenditure of the N1.237billion and the N65million they [were allegedly] paid as compensation to the original inhabitants. This has become worrisome as the traditional rulers, the President of the Abuja Original Inhabitants Youth Empowerment Organisation and other stakeholders in the affected communities are been threatened that they connived with the Management of Centenary City to divert money meant for them.

“We need explanation on these issues and especially what happened to the land carved out of the permanent site of the University of Abuja for the resettlement of the indigenes who had infrastructure in their land. Who are the new allotees

•Former Member of Bauchi State House of Assembly, Rifkatu Danna (Standing), during her distribution of relief materials and Foodstuffs to widows of Boi and Lusa Districts of Bogoro Local Government Area in Bauchi State... on Thursday.

PHOTO: NAN

of the land? The Management of Centenary City should stop engaging in rhetoric and provide the facts so that the issues will be resolved in a transparent and accountable manner,” he said.

They further said that arising from this, they sincerely advise the Centenary City Plc to stop forthwith further activities in the affected communities located in the Kuje and Abuja Municipal Area Council

(AMAC) until the issues concerning the compensation and resettlement are fully resolved.

“We want to thank the Government for the opportunity given to us to present our perspective on the programme of the Centenary City as it affects the original inhabitants of the FCT. “On Friday, August 28, 2015, the Management of the Centenary City Plc met with the President to address the

controversies, alleged corruption, incongruities and negative media reports on the activities of the Centenary City Plc in the execution of the Centenary City Programme.

“While we acknowledge the enormous benefits the Centenary City will bring to the country, we wish to express our appreciation to the Government for expressing their concern for the recognition of the rights of the original inhabitants,” he said.

Farmers seek commodity marketing board

GROUP of farmers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has demanded the urgent set-up of a commodity marketing board.

The farmers, who spoke during a meeting with the Programme Director of African Centre for Food, Agriculture and Sustainable Development (Afri-CASD), Bolaji Akindehinde in Abuja, said the board would help regulate arbitrary pricing of farm commodities.

The farmers sought support of the Centre to further advocate necessity of the board to increase food production and promote large scale farming.

They said it was inappropriate for farmers to be at the mercy of buyers among other end users before farm harvests are sold.

A representative of the farmer, Mr. Sulieman Azeez said, “Farmers are suffering

From Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

in this country. This is a country where the buyers fix the price for our farm produce. But if there is agriculture commodity marketing board, you cannot tell me you will buy my rice for N5 when everyone knows in the country that it is being regulated for sales for N10 across the country.

“So it is bad for farmers not to have control over sales of their farm produce.”

In his remarks, Akindehinde disclosed that the erstwhile Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina showed the zeal to setup the commodity board but little was heard thereafter.

He said such agency would better lots of the farmers and boost the nation’s overall food production.

Akindehinde cited an instance of South Africa, United States and some advanced countries which regulates and guarantee markets for farmers’ yields to prevent post-harvest losses.

According to him, if the nation must be food secured, farmers who are responsible for this giant responsibility should be properly taken care of.

Speaking on the Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the previous government, the farmers urged the present administration to continue with the agenda especially on the various value-chain programmes.

He said though the administration is still young but emphasised need for the coming Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to make the issue a core agenda.

Akindehinde emphasised need to sustain the various value-chain programmes kicked by the previous administration.

“If we must get it right by properly motivating our farmers, the agric sector should be accorded same attention given to the NNPC. Imagine that the sector has a department like the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Committee (PPPRC) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) also performing a similar function in the agriculture sector farmers would do much more than expected,” he added.

Among initiatives considered laudable is the electronic wallet (e-wallet), Growth Enhancement Support scheme (GES), subsidised mechanisation supports to farmers and private sectors involvement in the sector’s transformation.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

32

ABUJA REVIEW

I

T would have been unimaginable for anyone to disobey or delay in complying with the directive of the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari, who was the Head of State in 1984.

His wrath will even be more for any Ministry, Department and Agency (MDA) that flout such directive then.

But today because of the democratic environment of President Buhari’s administration, some MDAs have hesitated in complying with a dully issued directive of the government.

To block corrupt loopholes exploited by some politicians and civil servants to beat the system, President Buhari in a circular dated August 7, 2015 directed the payment of all Federal Government revenue into a Treasury Single Account (TSA).

But either for their dubious reasons to continue to siphon government revenue to private pockets or just stalling to see if the government will relax the directive as time goes on, some MDAs refused to obey the circular one month after it was issued.

President Buhari, who was irked by the refusal of the MDAs to comply with the directive, on last Monday, last week issued one week deadline for all the MDAs to comply with the directive.

They are all expected to comply with the directive latest by today or face sanctions from the government.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, reads: “President Muhammadu Buhari has set a deadline of Tuesday, September 15, 2015 for full compliance with his directive that all revenue due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies must be paid into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) or designated accounts maintained and operated in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), except otherwise expressly approved.

“A circular issued to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, urged the MDAs to ensure strict compliance with the deadline to avoid sanctions.

“The circular – HCSF/428/S.1/ 125 of September 4, 2015 - noted that a number of MDAs were yet to comply with Circular Ref. No. HCSF/428/S.1/120 of August 7, 2015 which conveyed President Buhari’s original directive on the payment of all Federal Government revenue into a Treasury Single Account.

“In this regard, His Excellency,

Daring the President Mr. President has directed that all MDAs are to comply with the instructions on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) unfailingly by Tuesday, September 15, 2015.

“Heads of MDAs and other arms of Government are enjoined to give this Circular the widest circulation and ensure strict compliance to avoid sanctions,” it stated.

This is just a wake-up call for all Nigerians, especially in the civil service, to queue behind the anti-corruption drive of the President as Nigeria, in the long-run, will be better for it.

From the Villa

By Augustine Ehikioya

Nigeria and UN permanent seat

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HY has it been difficult for Africa to get a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over the years? Has the continent not done enough to merit the seat? Or is there a global conspiracy against the continent?

These are some of the questions that have agitated the minds of some African leaders for some years now.

Till date, the questions, among others, have continued to demand for answers from the international community.

The United Nations (UN), which marks its 70th Anniversary this year and has 193-member nations, was set up at the end of the second world war in 1945 to maintain international peace

and security, promote sustainable development, protect human rights, uphold international law and deliver humanitarian aid.

The Security Council, which is one of the six main bodies of the UN, is directly saddled with maintaining international peace and security.

Apart from determining threat to peace or act of aggression any where in the world, it pushes for peaceful settlement of disputes, imposes sanctions and authorises use of force to maintain or restore international peace, where necessary.

It also has the duty to recommend to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General of the UN and admission of new members to the UN.

The UN Security Council, together with the General Assembly, also elects the judges of the International Court of Justice.

At present, the Security Council has 15 members, including 5 permanent members with veto power and 10 nonpermanent members who are elected by the General Assembly for a twoyear term.

The five permanent members include China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States.

While the African continent, hosting the black race, is conspicuously left out in the United Nations Security Council permanent seat representation, one continent has two representation.

Coalition, NOA promote national unity

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COALITION of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in partnership with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has started a campaign for national unity.

The partnership aims at discouraging hate speeches and division of the country based on ethnicity, political ideologies, religion believes among others.

National Coordinator, Social Welfare Network Initiative, Emmanuel Osemeka during a courtesy visit to The Nation Newspaper, Abuja Bureau emphasised that the unity of the nation cannot be compromised.

He said it is important for every individual, corporate organisations, religious leaders among others to support in the campaign in order to restore the nations togetherness.

•Odunuga (third right) with the NOA and NGO team.

From Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

“At present, about two villages in Benue State are completely sacked as

a result of conflict between farmers and cattle rustlers. Boko Haram insurgency is still a major issue to battle while our country is splitting on po-

litical differences, religion and so on.

So, we want to create this consciousness to stop the hate speeches and promote oneness, unity for all.”

Many African countries, no doubt, have been playing their role and contribution to the peace and stability of the world.

Among the leading African nations in this regard is Nigeria.

The Nigeria Vice President, Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo could no longer hold back as he added his voice last Wednesday to the call for Africa, indeed Nigeria, to be given a permanent seat in the UNSC. Speaking at the Africa launch of the Global Commission Report, Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance in Abuja, he said: “‘’Nigeria fully shares the views expressed in the Report, that the UN’s Security Council should be expanded, including the call in the Report for restraint on the use of veto by the five permanent members of the Council.

“In addition, we take the position based on our peacekeeping role in the United Nations, the size of our economy, and the fact that we have the largest population in the continent to say that Nigeria deserves a permanent status in the Security Council.’’ he added As the 70th regular session of the UNs General Assembly (UNGA) opens in the United States of America today, which will lead to the debate of UNGA starting from September 28, it is hoped that the issue will find its way to the front burner towards giving Africa its respect and rightful place in global affair.

Among other partners in the project include Executive Director, Poverty and Associated Maladies Alleviation Initiatives (PAMAI), President, Mandate Health Empowerment Initiative (MHEI), Ameh Abba, Executive Director, Speakers’ Corner trust Nigeria, Ms. Marilyn Ogbebor and the Assistant Director, NOA, Mrs. Chinwe Ikaraocha.

Osemeka added that the stop the hate campaign would re-orientate Nigerians and foster new attitudinal change to oneness. In her remarks, Ikaraocha disclosed that the frequent hate speeches have further affected unity of the country.

She said the more hate speeches, the further the nation splits. However, she called for a change in attitude. The Deputy Editor, Nation’s Capital, Yomi Odunuga disclosed his readiness to partner in raising more awareness campaign.

He urged them to be proactive in their approaches and remain focus.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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LAW & SOCIETY In this article, Yisa Eneyiramoh argues that corruption in the Judiciary cannot be cleared until all hands are on deck.

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Judicial corruption: Why judges pay the price alone

ERHAPS, overwhelmed by deluge of accu sations leveled against the Judicial Officers in the country, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed had on June 24, 2015 decided to use the opportunity offered by a seminar that was organised by the anti-corruption commission of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to ‘’fire back’’ at some unintended targets.

He said contrary to the much-talked about corruption in the Nigerian judiciary, only 64 out of the whole lots of 1,020 judges serving in the superior courts have so far been punished by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for various offences, especially on corruption between 2009 and 2014.

Besides, the Bench cannot be clean if the Bar that gives birth to it is filthy. “Unless we work in synergy to ensure that only fit and proper persons remain in our midst, it will be impossible to expect a different Bench when its origin remains the same. I hereby call on the leadership of the Bar to expunge from its ranks such persons whose conduct may be unfit, improper, dishonest or unethical’’, the CJN thundered out.

The CJN went further to say that it is rather curious that none of the beneficiaries of those involved in compromising standard of justice or buying and selling of judgements have ever been tried and punished by those in charge of criminal justice administration in the country.

“It is, however, sad to note that the public officials and persons who benefit from corrupting Judicial Officers are never investigated, apprehended or even prosecuted, even though the Judiciary disciplines its own. The basic question, my lords, ladies and gentlemen is, how can we stop corruption when the scale is seemingly tilted in favour of the beneficiaries,’’ Justice Mohammed asked.

The last quiver of the CJN’s arrows would remind the legal system historians of the premodern Europe when crime was viewed as a private matter in Ancient Greece and Rome.

Even with offences as serious as murder, justice was the prerogative of the victim’s family and private war or vendetta the means of protection against criminality. Corruption in the judiciary cannot abate unless and until the Federal Government stops regarding such criminality as the family affair or private matter for the judiciary.

According to the former CJN, Justice Mariam Aloma Mukthar, the judiciary doesn’t have a garrison of army to fight its cause or enforce its orders and decisions. NJC, for instance, can only recommend disciplinary actions against erring judicial officers for approval and enforcement by the President. It cannot go further to levy charges against the judge for his or her criminal acts; neither could NJC prosecute the persons that bribed the judge for instance to balkanise cause of justice. The commission doesn’t have criminal investigation unit or ‘’Fraud Detective Squad’’ to detect and investigate criminal involvement of any judicial officer. It can only put the judge on trial if there is a petition filed against him or her, again, the trials are based mostly on documentary evidence which is hard to get.

This is what put Justice Mahmud Mohammed’s 64 over 1020 percentage of corrupt judges in the judiciary to disrepute. Though this is not the focus of this discourse, but the fact remains that the CJN’s hypothesis on numerical strength of corrupt judges is not proportional to casu-

•CJN Mohammed alty figure of those that had suffered from rampart bad judgements, judiciary rot or indignity in Nigeria within the same period of time. This is not to disparage this revered jurist, but to deal with the obvious.

Back to the thrust of this discussion, it is the duties of the state to detect, investigate, prosecute and apply appropriate punishment to serve as deterrent for criminal acts in any clime.

None of those 64 judges sacked by the NJC was ever prosecuted; yet, the pronouncement of some of them led to blood shed or mini civil war in the country, especially those who were sacked for their pronouncements which led to the ignominious June 12, 1993 Presidential Election annulment by the then Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. None of those that conspired with any of the 64 judges sacked by the commission for compromising the standard of justice was prosecuted and punished by the state in the country.

Let us take a look at what obtains elsewhere.

In 2008, two American judges, President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan, were accused of taking more than $2 million cash bribes from Robert Mericle, a private prison owner to hand young offenders’ maximum sentences in return for kickbacks amounting to millions of dollars. The scandal which was later dubbed as ‘’kids for cash’’ was revealed during disciplinary hearings over the conduct of another former Luzerne County judge, Anne H. Lokuta. Lokuta was brought before the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsyl-

vania (similar to NJC) in November 2006 to answer charges of using court workers to do her personal bidding, openly displaying bias against some attorneys arguing before her, and publicly berating staff to cause mental distress.

The board ruled against Lokuta in November 2008 and she was removed from the bench.

During the course of the disciplinary hearings, Lokuta accused then Judge Michael Conahan of bullying behavior and charged that he was behind a conspiracy to have her removed.

Lokuta aided the federal investigation into the “kids for cash” scheme prior to the determination of the disciplinary board, and a stay order was issued in March 2009 by the state Supreme Court in light of the ongoing corruption investigations, halting Lokuta’s removal and the election that was to be held in May to replace her.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service also investigated the two judges while probing practices in Luzerne County. The two judges were subsequently charged before the court. A federal grand jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania returned a 48count indictment against Ciavarella and Conahan including racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations on September 9, 2009. By August 11, 2011, Mark Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years of imprisonment and ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution after he was found to be a ‘’figure head’’ in the conspiracy that saw thousands of children unjustly punished in the name of profit in the case that became known as ‘’kids for cash’’. He is currently being held at the Federal Correctional Institution, Pekin, a federal prison in Illinois which holds minimum and medium security inmates. He is scheduled for release in 2035, when he will be 85 years old.

On September 23, 2011, Senior Judge Michael Conahan was sentenced to 17 and one-half years in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy. He is currently being held at a minimum security facility at the Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman in Florida. He is scheduled for release in 2026, when he will be 74 years old.

Robert Mericle, the prominent real estate developer who built the two juvenile facilities, pleaded guilty on September 3, 2009, to failing to disclose a felony, for not revealing to a grand jury that he had paid $2.1 million to Ciavarella and Conahan as a finder’s fee. As part of his plea, Mericle agreed to pay $2.15 million to fund local children’s health and welfare programs. Mericle faced up to three years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. On April 25, 2014, Robert Mericle was sentenced to serve one year in Federal Prison.

On November 4, 2011, Powell was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to failing to report a felony and being an accessory to tax conspiracy. He was incarcerated at the Federal Prison Camp, Pensacola, a minimum security facility in Florida, and was released from a halfway house on April 16, 2013.

Just as it is the fate of the judiciary in Nigeria

presently, the systemic corruption led to the formation of the Operation Greylord, an investigation conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Chicago Police Internal Affairs Division and the Illinois State Police into corruption in the judiciary of Cook County, Illinois (the Chicago jurisdiction). The FBI named the investigation “Operation Greylord” after the grey curly wigs of British judges.

The three-and-half-year undercover operation took place in the 1980s. The first listening device ever placed in a judge’s chambers occurred in the undercover phase, when the narcotics court chambers of Judge Wayne Olson were bugged. To acquire evidence of corruption, agents obtained U.S. Department of Justice authorisation to present false court cases for the undercover agents/lawyers to fix in front of the corrupt judges A total of 92 people were indicted, including 17 judges, 48 lawyers, 10 deputy sheriffs, eight policemen, eight court officials, and state legislator James DeLeo. Of the 17 judges indicted in the trials, 15 were convicted.

In 1994, a panel of enquiry, headed by respected late jurist, Justice Kayode Eso, found startling evidence of corruption among judicial officers. It recommended that 47 errant judges be sacked, among other far-reaching reforms. A review panel in 2002 under Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin was confronted with the mysterious disappearance of vital documents attached to the Eso panel report. Only six of the 47 indicted judges were eventually sacked.

Irked by persistent reports of corruption, the NJC has tried in the past to act. It sacked a former chief judge of Plateau State and suspended a former CJ of Anambra State. Two other judges, Okechukwu Opene and D.A. Adeniji, were sacked for taking bribe on the matter of the senatorial election in Anambra State. Stanley Nnaji, an Enugu High Court judge, was penalised for assuming jurisdiction in a matter outside his state, as was Wilson Egbo-Egbo, who had allegedly been compromised during the Chris Ngige and Chris Uba imbroglio in Anambra State. A total of nine judges were retired in 2004 for granting suspicious ex parte motions. Five others were implicated in the 2003 Election Petition Tribunal in Akwa Ibom State.

They adjudicated on the petition against the re-election of ex-Governor Victor Attah by Ime Umanah, former candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, at the election. By the time the NJC concluded its job, Justices Matilda Adamu, Christopher P. N. Senlong and Chief Magistrate James Isede had earned themselves dismissal from the judiciary; while two others, Justice D. T. Ahura and A. M. Elelegwu of the Customary Court of Appeal were recommended for suspension.

The Federal Government, after approving the verdict of the council on the higher officers in February 2004, sent their case files to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for trial. Nothing has been heard about them at the ICPC end since then. Neither the judicial officers sanctioned by the NJC nor the beneficiaries of their felony have ever been convicted. Only the judges involved even get partially punished.

•Chief Judge of Lagos Justice Olufunmilatyo Atilade (middle); Executive Secretary, Lagos State Judiciary Service Commisssion, Mrs Ayodele Odugbesan (third left); new Customary Court president, Ronke Sanni (from left); Deputy Chief Registrar Busola Okunuga; Chief Registrar, Emmanuel Ogundare; Deputy Chief Registrar Taiwo Olatokun and Omolara Abiola, also a Customary Court president. Standing behind them are some of the 103 new Presidents and Customary Court Judges during their swearing-in in Lagos.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

LAW & SOCIETY Lagos lawyer and University don Wahab Shittu writes on the altercation between the Senate and the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC) Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde.

Ogun gets new magistrates

T Senate, EFCC and rule of law T

HE invitation extended to Mallam Ibrahim Lamorde the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chair by the Senate committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions and the drama that played out on the first day of the sitting of the Senate Committee on the matter, understandably have generated controversy.

The invitation followed a petition against Mallam Ibrahim Lamorde the EFCC Chairman received by Senator representing Delta North Senatorial District, alleging that the EFCC chair allegedly diverted over N1 trillion of funds recovered from officials convicted of corrupt enrichment between 2003 and 2007. The petition was submitted by Judge Uboh to Senator Peter Uwaoboshi who in turn drew the attention of the Senate President to same.

The Senate being on recess the President of the Senate reportedly directed the Senate Committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions to investigate the matter. The committee invited the EFCC chairman for questioning on the subject matter of the petition.The EFCC chair wrote the committee asking for more time to appear and furnish documents on the matter and also sent representatives to the committee emphasising the same point. The committee reportedly went ahead requesting the petitioner to adopt his petition and make further clarifications even in the absence of the EFCC chair who had asked for a postponement of the proceedings. The representatives of the EFCC chair led by the commission’s Director of legal services, Mr. Chile Okoroma reportedly raised a point of order wondering why the committee proceeded to entertain the petitioner without the presence of the other party in line with the fair hearing principle. The objection was overruled and the EFCC representatives requested by the committee to be excused from the proceedings.

The above is a brief summary of the matter and the basis for the present intervention in this analysis.

However, before proceeding further let me disclose my interest. I admit that I am one of the private prosecutors retained by the EFCC since inception even if I am not in any way connected with the subject matter of the petition since the cases forming the subject matter of the recoveries being investigated were not cases assigned to me neither was I involved in any of the recoveries under consideration. I also admit that I have had cause to handle matters for the National Assembly in the past some of which are also pending. Nonetheless, I am making the intervention under my other platform as a public affairs commentator discussing issues of national interest as a citizen of the country.

Fundamentally, let me also admit some preliminary points.

First, I agree that the EFCC being an institution created by law is certainly not above the law and therefore its activities should be open to public scrutiny particularly having been set up as an anti-graft agency to fight the economic and financial crimes and by extension corruption in Nigeria. Secondly, I also admit that the EFCC law demands that the commission sent a comprehensive annual report to the national assembly not later than September 30 every year and this being a statutory provision, it is obligatory on the EFCC to com-

•Shittu

ply. Thirdly, I also admit that the EFCC chair representing the EFCC, an agency of the federal government is under the oversight responsibilities of the National Assembly including the senate. It is also not in dispute that it is not in consonance with the rule of law for proceedings to take place in the absence of any of the parties interested. These are elementary matters that do not call for any controversy.

I am, however, not unmindful of the fact that we are under a democracy with implications including respect for constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, transparency and accountability, zero-tolerance for corruption and respect for the rights and freedom of citizens amongst other obligations. These are elements of the democratic culture and the fundamentals of the democratic tradition. Again, on this score, there is no controversy.

The other point that does not require any debate is that actors under a democracy must be prepared to be democrats. If there is no argument on this, I will then prefer to proceed on whether the actions of the senate and the EFCC in this matter conform to the rule of law and due process – since we operate a democracy founded on the rule of law.

There is no disputing the fact that the senate has oversight responsibilities on agencies of governance among its core mandate, outside law making and representation.

However, the responsibility for referring petitions to oversight committees belongs to the senate as a body. The procedure stipulated in the committee webpage of the senate is unambiguous on this point.

Due process in this case will require a petition to be forwarded to a senator who will in turn draw the attention of the senate as a body to same at a plenary. The senate body at a plenary will now determine the issue of referral following which the petition may then be referred to the appropriate committee for investigation by the senate at plenary. The implication of this is that the decision whether or not to investigate is that of the Senate at a plenary and not one vested in the senate president as one senator who is first among equals. This fundamental rule of procedure appears to have been breached in this case since the senate been on recess could not have sat at plenary to resolve the issue of referral.

This may be a clear breach of rule of law in the handling of this particular petition. The senate may want to revisit its own rules in addressing the merits or otherwise

of this petition that is of urgent national importance.

The other issue that can be raised is the effect or likely outcome of investigation by the Senate Committee on ethics in respect of the subject matter. The committee has a responsibility of considering “the subject matter of all petitions referred to it by the Senate and shall report from time to time to the senate, its opinion of the action to be taken thereon together with such other observations on petition and the signatures attached thereof, as the committee may think fit”Segun Gbadegesin, a columnist in The Nation had argued thus “what can this committee accomplish with respect to the subject matter of a petition that alleges criminal action against the EFCC chair? It will only render an opinion on what action to take. So why didn’t Senate just refer the petition to the Police or ICPC both of which are also anti-corruption agencies with power to investigate and prosecute?”

The implication of the foregoing is that the outcome of the committee’s investigation is to make recommendations which may include requesting that persons found culpable be advised to be prosecuted.

This implies that the senate must act as a body in adopting the resolutions of the committee before the referral for prosecution can be effective.

Given this scenario in the senate as a body on the same page on the procedure adopted on referral of this particular petition?

On the part of the EFCC being an anti-graft agency, accountability and transparency in the conduct of its operations is fundamental and very key if it is to be taken seriously by the populace. The EFCC has a duty under the law to account in respect of the subject matter of the petition and this it must do conscientiously by releasing detailed information to the National Assembly and Nigerian public on how funds recovered from public officials have been managed so far.

I dare say that on this particular issue EFCC is on trial and the issue of motive is of no consequence as this border on transparency and accountability and for an anti-graft agency the onus is on it to raise the bar on probity.

Therefore, on the part of the EFCC, what is the state of the account? The public is waiting.

Again, on the part of the EFCC, do we have regular and comprehensive annual reportof the activities of the EFCC to the National Assembly as prescribed by law?

This is also a matter of rule of law for which the EFCC is also obliged to comply.

Finally, I am not concerned about motives and motivations for this face-off between the Senate and the EFCC. Whether the Senate is acting in good faith or in bad faith is a matter of speculation and conjecture which is not the basis of criminal responsibility and, therefore ,not the business of this analysis. But compliance with the rule of law by the Senate is a responsibility because the Senate itself is a creation of the rule of law.

The duty to also file returns on its activities to the National Assembly by the EFCC is also a rule of law and EFCC being a creation of the rule of law is also obliged to comply with the supremacy of the rule of law.

Finally, the answer to the present controversy between the Senate and EFCC is Rule of law! Rule of law!! Rule of law!!!

HE Chief Judge of Ogun State, Justice Olatokunbo Olopade has sworn in three new Magistrates to ensure the smooth administration of justice in the state.

The new Magistrates, who were sworn in last week, are Sotayo Sotunde Seni, Orekoya Ibukun-Oluwa and Olusanya Oluseyi.

Speaking at the ceremony held in her office, Justice Olopade said the appointment of the magistrates was aimed at reinforcing the magistracy and to bring quick and fair justice closer to the people in the state.

Justice Olopade noted that the appointments were made as a result of painstaking exercise of recruiting new magistrates to complement the efforts of a formidable team of Magistrates and Jurists in the state in accordance with the high standard for which the Ogun state Judiciary was known for.

She noted that the judiciary under her close supervision frowns at actions that could bring disrepute to the sector and the state in general.

She emphasised that she would not condone any acts of misconduct such as negligence of duty, truancy and favouritism.

She charged the appointees to uphold the ethics of the profession in the course of discharging their statutory responsibilities to the society and make self-discipline their watchword.

“I enjoin you all to always uphold the ethics of the legal profession, always and should make self-discipline your watchword. Moreover, I want you to join this administration in making Ogun State Judiciary a Cathedral of Justice, truly independent, transparent, committed to upholding the rule of law, equity and restoring hope to all manner of men”, Justice

By Adebisi Onanuga

Olopade said.

She enjoined the appointees to engage in thorough research before writing judgments, exhibit respect to the Bar and litigants, as well as caution and control their temper when provoked.

The CJ said the new Magistrate would be attached to Chief Magistrates for one month’s tutelage, while they are expected to start court sitting on October 12, this year.

Presenting the new Magistrates, the Chief Registrar, Mr. Olusola Oloyede, described the occasion as unique as the state Judicial Service Commission (JSC) found the lawyers worthy of the appointment both in learning and character.

Responding on behalf of other appointees, Mr. Sotayo Sotunde Seni said it was a rare privilege accorded them, promising that they would discharged their duties without fear or favour.

•CJ Olopade

Lawyer backs special court for corruption

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AGOS lawyer, Babatunde Fashanu (SAN), has thrown his weight behind the move by the Federal Government to establish special courts in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to try corruption cases.

Reacting to the development, Fashanu told journalists last week in Lagos that the move was welcome, addingthat it would help President Muhammadu Buhari in his anti-corruption fight.

He, however, advised that the government should select judges who are fearless and well associated with the judicial system by virtue of long law practice, noting that the following criteria be added to the screening process if not already.

He said: “It is heart-warming to learn that the anti corruption panel is planning with President Muhammadu Buhari to set up special anti corruption courts throughout the Federation and are screening judges for the courts.

“It is not surprising, however, to learn that many judges are failing the test. I humbly suggest as someone well associated with the judicial system by virtue of my long law practice that the following criteria be added to the screening process if not already: “Judge must not be living beyond his means which can easily be checked against his salaries and entitlements and lifelong earnings, legacies benefits and investments along with that of his immediate family; avoid lazy Judges who find it difficult to sit in court promptly and are late in delivering judgments and rulings; Judge must be bold and fearless in his conduct of cases and delivery of judgments no matter whose ox is gored, however, not one sided and overbearing having regard to protective provisions as to fair hearing for the accused in the Nigerian Constitution and that a Judge should have some experience of handling criminal cases either on the bench or as counsel (for prosecution or defence) to ensure that

By Adebisi Onanuga

he doesn’t have to start learning the practical aspects of criminal law and procedures in the special court which will open him to bamboozling by well oiled SANs or smart defence counsel”, he stated.

Fashanu also canvassed extra security arrangements for judges who will sit over such corruption cases.

“Having said that, extra arrangements should be made for the security of the judges and their families in terms of their safety and monetary convenience having regard to the potential danger and temptation they face trying very rich and powerful people.

“Arrangements must also be made to ensure that they are thoroughly independent of the executive arm of government by including provisions as to their safety, emoluments and security of tenure in the law setting up the courts, to draw their funds directly from a consolidated source”, Fashanu said.

He urged the anti-corruption committee to work on how to keep the judges in check without stepping on their space of independence adding: “it might be a tough one but I’m sure the committee is equal to the task having regard to its composition.”

• Fashanu

THE

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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LEGAL OPINION

Alleged forgery: Ex-bank chair sues police

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FORMER chairman of defunct Citizen Bank Limited, Lady Joyce Udensi Ifegwu, has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to determine whether the police can investigate an allegation of marriage certificate forgery against her twice.

She wants the court to determine whether the Police is still entitled to investigate her, after men of the Zone Two Command headquarters, Onikan had concluded investigation on the the subject.

Inspector-General of Police, Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi and Inspector Justus Ogar are the respondents Ifegwu’s daughter, Mrs Nnenna Enweliku, had petitioned the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone Two last January 27, alleging that her mother was not legally married to her father and that the marriage certificate she presented to obtain a letter of administration for her late father’s estate, the late Chief Dike Udensi Ifegwu, was forged.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation, she wrote a second petition to the Deputy InspectorGeneral of Police, Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja.

As a result, the police initiated fresh investigation of the allegation, following which the applicant filed the suit seeking to halt her possible arraignment over the allegation.

Lady Ifegwu is praying the court to declare that the defendants lack the

By Joseph Jibueze

power to investigate allegation of forgery of marriage certificate against her for a second time. She said a suit pending in High Court of Abia between her and three others against the probate registrar and seven others dwells on the issue.

Her suit is supported by 37paragraph affidavit where she swore that she was lawfully married under the Marriage Act, Native Law and Customs to the late Udensi Ifegwu until his death on July 18, 2012. She averred that they had eight children, including the petitioner who is her first child.

“After my husband’s death, one of my children namely Mrs Nenna Enweliku (nee Dike Udensi) petitioned the Nigerian Police at Zone 2 Command alleging that I was not lawfully married to her father and that I forged the marriage certificate evidencing my marriage to my deceased husband. On the strength of the petition, I was by a letter dated July 7, 2014 summoned to the Zone Two Command headquartes Onikan, Lagos,” she stated.

She added that she made statements on how her late husband misplaced the original marriage certificate obtained at Aba Local Government marriage registry in 1978.

She said they could not get a certified true copy of their marriage certificate in 1992 because a registrar whose name she could not

remember informed them that tthe register containing their marriage certificate was lost in the process of moving documents from the marriage registry in Aba Local government to Aba South Local government.

“On account of loss of the registry copy of my 1978 marriage certificate, the then registrar counselled my husband and I to register our marriage through the issuance of another marriage certificate duly signed by both of us in 1992 and also signed by the then marriage registrar.

“In the course of being interrogated by the third defendant, I was informed by him that another petition was written to the second defendant to by daughter on the same subject of allegation of forgery which had earlier been investigated by officers of Zone Two and which is also a live issue in the suit pending at the High Court of Abia State.

“On August 18, 2015, I was summoned by the third defendant to his Milverton Road, Ikoyi office.

During the meeting, the third defendant informed me that he has established that my marriage certificate was forged and that unless I withdraw suit No. HU/159/2013, which I instituted at the Abia State High Court, he will make sure that I face trial for forgery with maximum publicity given to my arraignment and trial,” she swore.

• Gov. Lalong and his wife, Regina at the event.

Lalong: Plateau’ll be a safe haven

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LATEAU State Governor Simon Bako Lalong has expressed hope that the military task force, Operation Safe Heaven, will help improve the state’s security.

He spoke during a service at the Church of Christ in the Nations (COCIN) headquarters in Jos to mark his 100 days in the office. According to him, insecurity will be a thing of the past.

He said: “Soonest, Plateau State will become a haven for people to live in.”

On his first 100 days in office, he said: “We are not celebrating 100 days in office; we are only reminding the people of Plateau of the contract we have with them and with that contract, people will like to know the steps we are taking to fulfil our obligations to them.

“Many people do not last for 100 days, but God in His infinite mercies has kept all of us and given us the grace to be here today.”

Plateau, he said, has paid workers despite not receiving the bailout fund yet.

“We have paid salary arrears up to five months without receiving bailout funds. We have not received our own

By John Austin Unachukwu

bailout funds and as soon as we receive the funds, we will not allow unpaid salaries any room in the state.

Government is a continuum; we are addressing the unfinished projects we inherited from the past administration because the projects are projects for Plateau people. The contractor at the airport road will be mobilised this week to go back to site, likewise the bridge contractors. “ We are restructuring the civil service for the overall interest of the people. On security, we are doing a lot of things with the Presidency and Operation Safe Heaven, very soon insecurity will be a thin of the past, we must protect the lives of the people of Plateau State” He thanked the people for their prayers, saying: “With God on our side, in the next three months, we will be here to give you periodic report of what we are doing for the State, in the next 100 days, we will be here with our report,” Lalong said.

Earlier in his sermon, the church’s President Rev. Dachollom Dachiri, urged leaders to hold unto God so that

they can serve the people better.

He said: “Hold unto the Lord well. If you hold Him tight, the changes you will bring will be good and permanent, the Plateau project is the project of all of us.

“There is no crises on the Plateau, what we have in hand is that Plateau is being massacred every day. God will give you the grace, the wisdom and the power to address all the problems of the State, we are behind you in prayers, the Plateau project is our project” Rev Dachiri, who took his readings from First Samuel chapters 13 and 15, praised Gov. Lalong for starting very well but cautioned: “In our Christian walk, we must start well and end well unlike Saul who started well and ended up badly.

“Saul started out very well, on a very good footing which promised of a great reign and great legacy, but his subsequent disobedience to God’s instructions derailed what was called to do. A repentant Christian is a growing Christian because each time he sins, he repents and grows from strength to strength, that is King David was a man after God’s hearth,” Dachiri said.

LAW AND PUBLIC POWER

with gabriel AMALU email:gabrielamalu1@yahoo.com For comments: 08033054939 (sms only)

As workers march against corruption

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HE recent self-serving leadership crisis that rocked the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) appears to have been reined-in by the realisation that there is a more sinister threat to the existence of our country, under which canopy, the workers engage in labour. For without the sanctity of a nation, in its true sense, there can be no labour, talk less of a labour congress. Well, unless one will be willing to refer to acts of combat, in a failed state, like Syria, as a form of labour. Or even more tragically, the catering for the refugees, and the heart-rending human suffering, arising from the crisis.

It is therefore hoped that this labour of love for country, exhibited by thousands of marchers across the 36 states of the federation, last week, Thursday, is not a transient publicity stunt, orchestrated by labour leaders. After all, the leadership of the congress may just have employed the match as an image stunt, to burnish their tattered image, after the NLC’S election fiasco, which showed the labour leaders as no different from other political power mongers, who have corruptly held our country down, for decades.

But regardless of the motive of their leaders, members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and NLC, must realise that unless the civil society takes up the gauntlet, the war against corruption, may peter out even before it starts. As has been rightly observed, when you fight corruption, corruption fights back. And the corruptors will likely use all means, including the recruitment of labour leaders, to stall the recovery of the humongous loot in their possession. So, to help in the fight against corruption, the labour unions must first, put their houses in order, by eschewing similar malevolent corrupt practices within their ranks. They must develop the capacity to meaningfully engage the government, so that they are not lured into unnecessary strike actions that would aid those that prefer unstable governments, which can be manipulated.

In fighting corruption, the Buhari administration should also seek ways to resolve the wage disputes and unfair labour practices, which also cause, many of the strike actions in Nigeria. Even a Buhari sympathiser, must accept and sympathise with the labour unions, considering the unfair wage paid to the average worker, which is particularly nauseating, when juxtaposed with the criminal enrichment by political office holders, in the name of legitimate income. So, I earnestly hope that part of the change agenda of President Buhari’s government, of course, with the concurrence of the majority of the state governments, would be to help set up a realistic wage structure, across the country.

For me, it is a national folly that the legitimate income of any political office holder, would in many states be 500 per cent more than the income of a graduate teacher, who had reached the end of his career and is at the top of the salary scale. To understand the absurdity and incongruity of this malaise, juxtapose the salary of a school principal, or supervisor of education, who earn less than one hundred and N50,000 a month, with that of a senator who earn about N9million monthly, under various dubious headings. Well, if the senator should be considered a super politician, compare the salary of the school principal, or head teacher, with the councillor at the local government.

So, the labour unions and its affiliate always have a worthy reason to go on strike. And perennial strikes become inevitable, when in addition to humongous income dubiously earned by the politicians, the system allows them to also freely engage in monumental corrupt enrichment. That is why the fight against corruption, is at the root of solving so many other challenges, facing our backward country. Indeed, if corruption is reigned in, inflation will drastically reduce, and the paltry wage of the Nigerian worker would have an improved weight, and enhanced purchasing power.

Part of the process of resolving this national wage quagmire, as has been argued some time ago, on this page, is to federalise wages and income.

But such a move will be counterproductive, unless corruption is reigned in, as many state governors would literary gulp the entire resources, and go ahead to pay their workers menial wages. To deal with this challenge, it is imperative that aggravated corruption is made a federal offence, with stringent penalty. This is perhaps, the import of the decision of the Supreme Court, when it held that the Act establishing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, is not unconstitutional (anti-federal).

If corruption is drastically reduced, and a comprehensive wage structure across the economic and political strata of the country is determined, and every person regardless of stature, is compelled to live on his wage, sanity would return. Of course, the wage structure of the political office holders, like the legislators, would never be, at the whims and caprices of the beneficiaries, as is tragically the situation presently, albeit unconstitutionally. Indeed, a lesser paid legislator, will be more efficient, when he realises that a healthy life for him, will really be dependent, on an efficient national infrastructure, which can only be possible, through efficient laws and quality oversight functions.

Luckily, the Trade Unions have the powers to reign in some of the excesses of our politicians. One such power, is through peaceful picketing.

For instance, the NLC and the TUC can picket the National Assembly, to compel for a fair national wage, which would involve reducing the misguided appropriations that aid corruption. Through picketing, they can compel the law enforcement agencies, to fight corrupt practices. The Trade Unions can indeed mobilise, to help Nigeria, return to the part of sanity.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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LAW REPORT

Where joint ownership of land is certain, no party has absolute control

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL IN THE IBADAN JUDICIAL DIVISION HOLDEN AT IBADAN ON WEDNESDAY, THE 5TH DAY OF AUGUST, 2015 BEFORE THEIR LORDSHIPS HARUNA SIMON TSAMMANI, J.C.A. MUDASHIRU NASIRU ONIYANGI, J.C.A. NONYEREM OKORONKWO, J.C.A. CA/I/M30/2011 (2015) LPELR-25588(CA) BETWEEN:

MR. TAORED MAJEOLOGBE ......................................…. APPELLANT AND ALHAJI I.A.D. SOLARIN ………….................…………. RESPONDENT

LEAD JUDGMENT DELIVERED BY MUDASHIRU NASIRU ONIYANGI, J.C.A.

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HE Respondent in this appeal was the Plaintiff before the Ogun State High Court, Sagamu Judicial Division while the Appellant was the Defendant.

The facts of the case leading to the foregoing conclusion of the Court is that some time in 1976, the uncle of the Plaintiff by name Mojeed Adesanya gave the land jointly to both the Plaintiff and Mrs Adenike Odusina. It was the evidence of the Plaintiff that in 1989, his sister approached him and sought for his permission to develope the land in the interest of both of them and he the Plaintiff gave consent but with the agreement that two flats on top would be for the Plaintiff and the other two on the ground floor for his sister. Based on that agreement, his sister developed the land and built a block of four flats thereon in 1994.

Without his consent, his sister Mrs Odusina sold off the structure before she fully completed it. The Plaintiff filed a suit against his sister and the purchaser who is the present Appellant in suit number HCS/87/94 and got judgment in his favour.

Aggrieved by the said judgment, an appeal was lodged on five grounds wherein two issues were distilled viz: (1) Whether the absence of Mrs. Adenike Odusina as a party in the case that led to this appeal did rob the lower Court of the jurisdiction

to entertain the case before that Court.

(2) Whether there was evidence before the lower Court of the joint ownership of the house put up on that vacant land by Mrs Odusina pursuant to which the consent of Respondent was required before the sale of the house by Mrs Odusina to the Appellant.

On issue one, the argument of the counsel for the Appellant referring to the evidence of the Respondent before the lower Court submitted that it is crystal clear that if the Respondent had any cause of action against some people in the case at the lower Court the first among such people ought to have evidently been Mrs Adenike Odusina, his sister. The pleading and evidence of the Respondent were mainly against Mrs Adenike Odusina. Further he added that the joinder of Mrs Adenike Odusina had become imperative. That the Respondent by that would be able to make out the case against her. He cited Green v.

Green (1987) 3 NWLR (Pt.61) 640; (1987) LPELR-1338(SC), Osun State Government v. Danlami Nig. Ltd. & Anor (2003) 7 NWLR (Pt.818) 72 at pg. 107 para A-B, Re Benson (2003) NWLR (802) 50 and Yusuf v. Obasanjo (2005) 18 NWLR (Pt.956) 96. He urged the Court to hold that Mrs Adenike Odusina was a necessary party to the case that led to this appeal and absence of whom invalidates the order of the lower Court.

LEGAL DIARY Imo ex-judge for burial

• The late Dureke

THE remains of Justice Charles Ifeanyi Dureke, who died on June 26 after a brief illness, will be buried on Saturday in his hometown.

He served for two terms in the old Imo State House of Assembly (1979-83), representing Nsu State Constituency (now Ehime-Mbano) where he sponsored several motions.

He joined the state judiciary in 1986, rising to Chief Registrar in 1992 before being appointed a judge. He retired in October 2010 after 15 years of meritorious service.

The late Justice Dureke, a pillar of his Nsu community, holds the traditional title of Agbowodikeizu. He is survived by six children and many grandchildren.

The Respondent in reaction argued that whether or not Mrs Adenike Odusina is made a party in the case is a matter of pleadings and evidence. This, he said, was never raised before the lower Court nor ever pleaded by the Appellant. He submitted that a point of law or fact which was not raised in the lower Court can only be raised on appeal when it is clear that no further evidence could have been on the point in the lower Court which could have affected the decision in the issue. He relied on the case of K. Akpene v. Barclays Bank of Nig. Ltd. & Anr. (1977) 1 SC at page 47; (1977) LPELR-386(SC), Shonekan v. Smith (1964) ALL NLR page 173 and Stool of Abinabina v. Chief Kojo Enyimalu (1953) AC 209 at 275.

He argued that party in a suit means not only a person named as such but also one who being cognizant of the proceedings and of the fact that party therefore is professing to act in his interest allows his battle to be fought by that party intending to take the benefit of the championship in the event of success. It therefore follows that if an individual was content to stand by while his battle was fought and concluded by another in same interest he must be and is indeed bound by the result and should not be allowed to reopen the case. He relied on the case of Omiyale v. Macaulay (2009) Vol.37 (Pt.2) NSCQR page 903 to 904 ratio H-C; (2009) LPELR-2640(SC). He urged the Court to dismiss the appeal with substantial cost.

The Court stated that issue number one as couched by the Appellant tend to challenge the competence of the action before the lower Court having regard to the absence of Mrs Adenike Odusina as a party in that she is the one who sold the land in dispute to the Appellant. The Court stated that jurisdiction is defined as the limits imposed on the power of a validly constituted Court to hear and determine issues between persons seeking to avail themselves of its process by reference to the subject matter of the issues or to the persons between whom the issues are joined or to the kind of relief sought.

That equally, it is trite that issue of jurisdiction can be raised at any time by a party even on appeal to the Supreme Court. The caveat is that it should be raised timeously by and resolved - See A.G. Lagos State v.

Dosunmu (1989) 3 NWLR (Pt.111) 552; (1989) LPELR-3154(SC), Daplanlong v.

Dariye (2007) 8 NWLR (Pt.1036) 332, Manson v. Halliburton Energy Service Ltd. (2007) 2 NWLR (Pt.1018) 211, Messrs. N.V. Scheep v., Jeric Nig. Ltd. v. UBN Plc. (2000) 12 SC (Pt.11) 13

and Nonye v. Anyichie (2005) 2 NWLR (Pt.910) 623. That the determination as to whether the Court has jurisdiction to entertain a matter would be guided by the claim of the Plaintiff. It was held that a careful look at the amended statement of claim by the Respondent before the lower Court creates no doubt that the matter before the lower Court is a land matter and of which jurisdiction is conferred on the High Court. See Gafar v. Govt Kwara State (2007) 4 NWR (Pt.1024) 375; (2007) LPELR8073(SC), Nkuma v. Odili (2006) 6 NWLR (Pt.977) 587; (2006) LPELR2047(SC).

On whether the absence of Mrs. Adenike Odusina as a party would rob the trial Court of the jurisdiction to entertain the matter. It was held that the general rule is that only proper parties can invoke the jurisdiction of the Court. Equally it is only that party that can be bound by the outcome of the proceeding.

That the facts of the case revealed that ownership of the land in issue was vested on the Respondent by virtue of a joint gift of the land in issue by their uncle. It is also the evidence of the Respondent that his sister (the co-owner) approached him and requested for permission to erect a 4 flat structure on the land and for which he agreed but on the condition that they would share the structure into two.

Surreptitiously, the Respondent noticed the presence of the Appellant on the land and upon enquiring, he realized that his sister sold the property to the Appellant. He initiated an action against both his sister and the Appellant. In the light of the foregoing, it was said to be clear that the default judgment entered against the Appellant and Mrs. Adenike Odusina is still subsisting against the said Mrs. Odusina who was the 1st Defendant in that suit. It was stated that the suit is on the same subject matter as the one leading to this appeal. Therefore in the circumstances that the default judgment against the 1st Defendant Mrs. Adenike Odusina which is on the same subject matter is still subsisting and valid, there would be no need to join her again to the suit against the Appellant. Otherwise it would constitute an abuse of process. The Court therefore held that the absence of Mrs Adenike Odusina as a party in the case that led to this appeal did not rob the lower Court of the jurisdiction to entertain the case before it. Issue A was answered against the Appellant.

On issue B, the argument by the Appellant is that the learned trial judge concluded that the property in dispute was a joint property of the

Respondent and Mrs Adenike Odusina and that Mrs Odusina had sold the same to the Appellant without the consent of the Respondent.

That since the issue is not pleaded, he submitted that the evidence of the Respondent and PW3 go to no issue.

That there is also nothing on record which would have made the Respondent, a lawyer, to demand that a younger sister should build a house for him. That the land would have been equally shared by the two of them for their individual development. He further urged the Court to hold that the house in dispute is not a joint property of the Respondent and Mrs Adenike Odusina pursuant to which Mrs Adenike Odusina, as the sole owner, had the right to sell same to the Appellant. He urged the Court to enter an order validating the sale of the property by Mrs Odusina to the Appellant. Respondent counsel argued that from the totality of the pleadings and evidence of the Plaintiff, in this suit there was never a time the Respondent gave an impression that the building construction and or any development of the land jointly owned by Mrs Adenike Odusina and the Respondent was not a jointly owned property. That Mrs Adenike Odusina is not the sole owner of the disputed property but a jointly owned landed property of the Respondent and Mrs Adenike Odusin. He relied on the case of Omiyale v. Macaulay (2009) Vol.37 (Pt.2) NSCQR page 903 to 904 ratio H-C; (2009) LPELR-2640(SC). He urged the Court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.

The Court examined the conclusions of the trial Court and stated that in the circumstance of the case at hand, there is abundant pleading and evidence pointing to no other thing than that what the Respondent have is joint ownership of the land in dispute. It was held that where joint ownership is certain as in this appeal, each party has a right of ownership in the land. That joint ownership of land presupposes ownership of such land by more than one person or by a group of persons. See the cases of Sunday Obasohan v. Thomas Omorodion & Anor. (2001) 10 SC 85; (2001) LPELR2154(SC), Osuji v.Ekeocha (2009) 6-7 SC (Pt.1)91; (2009) LPELR-2816(SC). It was held that as long as he is not the sole owner, he needed the consent of his co-owner to legally and properly sell or transfer ownership in such land to a 3rd party. See the case of Owena Bank Plc. V. Olatunji (2002) 12 NWLR (Pt.781) 159, Olagunju v. Yahaya (2004) 11 NWLR (Pt.883) 24; (2003) LPELR-10888(CA), Egbuta v. Onuma (2007) 10 NWLR (Pt.1042) 293 and Samuel Onanuju & Anr. v. Att. Gen. of Anambra State & 2 Ors. (2009) 4-5 SC (Pt.1) 163.

•Edited by LawPavilion LawPavilion Citation: (2015) LPELR-25588(CA)

Solanke, Olanipekun, others for ESQ awards FIRST female Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)Chief Folake Solanke; former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN); Prof Fidelis Odita (SAN), Skye Bank Chairman Dr. Tunde Ayeni and Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN) are among those to receive this year’s ESQ Nigerian Legal Awards. The ceremony will hold on Friday at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

The convener, Lere Fashola, said the award is aimed at recognising lawyers’ contribution to the country’s development.

He said Chief Solanke will receive the Lifetime Achievement award, adding that in-house lawyers will receive the newly-introduced Corporate Counsel Award.

NBA ex-officer buries father FORMER Assistant Financial Secretary, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Mr. Steve Onyechi Ononye will bury his father, Chief E.N. Ononye on Saturday by noon at 45 Mba Road, Ugwunobamkpa Road, Inland town, Onitsha, Anambra State.

• From left: Chief Registrar Plateau State High Court, Silas J. Bakfur; Director-General (Legal), Lalong-Tyoden Campaign Organisation, Mr.Jonathan Mawiyau,Vice-Chancellor University of Jos, Prof. Hayward Mafuyai and his wife, Kyempiya at the thanksgiving service to mark 100 days in office of Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, at the Church of Christ in the Nation’s headquarters, Jos.

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TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

POLITICS THE NATION

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BAYELSA POLITICS

How the Bayelsa State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate will emerge is a major challenge to the party. Correspondent MIKE ODIEGWU takes a look at the issues that will shape the the party’s shadow poll.

Who becomes Bayelsa APC candidate?

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) is the most beatiful bride in Bayelsa State. Politicians of note and their supporters are defecting to the party. The rate of defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaves many guessing what will become of the ruling party before and after the governorship election.

In spite of the APC’s popularity, analysts believe the only hurdle standing before it and electoral victory is the emergence of a credible and acceptable governorship candidate. They are of the view that the only way APC can scale the hurdle is to provide a level playing field for aspirants and allow them to slug it out in an open and transparent primary. According to observers, given the array of aspirants, an open primary will save the party from a post-primary crisis. The transparency of the process that produced President Muhammadu Buhari made other aspirants to concede defeat and pledge to work for his success at the poll.

It is not easy to unseat a governor. But, with strong determination and collective will of the people, the problem is surmontable. That undersores the need for unity of purpose among members of the APC; who need to go to the poll as a united fold, if the party must take over power from the PDP in the oil rich state.

A major problem threatening the unity of APC is the divisive tendency of old members trying to label the defectors as new comers.

Rather, APC should treat every member equally irrespective of when he or she joined the party.

Of the eight local governments in the state, only one has neither produced a governor, or a deputy governor. The first governor, DSP Alameiyeseigha, hails from Ijaw South Local Government of the Central Senatorial district.

His deputy, Dr Goodluck Jonathan from Ogbia Local Government of the East senatorial zone took over after Alameiyeseigha was impeached . He won the PDP ticket for re-election but was given the vice presidential ticket in 2007.

The exit of Jonathan threw up Chief Timipre Sylva, who is from Brass Local Government Area in the Senatorial District.

After Sylva came the incumbent Governor Dickson who hails from Toru-Orua in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa West Senatorial District. Some leaders of the APC are of the opinion that the party’s ticket will be contested on the basis of disparity and political inequality in local government areas.

Among the eight local government areas in the state, Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, Brass and Sagbama have produced governors in the persons of Alameiyesiegha, Jonathan, Sylva and Dickson respectively.

Though Nembe, Ekeremor and Yenagoa have produced deputy governors in the persons of Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), Chief Peremobowei Ebebi and Chief Werinipre Seibarugu respectively, the Kolokuma-Opokuma has produced neither a governor nor a deputy.

Observers believe that the quest to govern the state was the major reason behind the grand reception for the APC in Kolokuma-Opokuma.

Most political heavyweights from the area have dumped the PDP for the APC to present a common front for the party’ tickets.

But, others have faulted the moves of the people of Kolokuma-Opokuma. For instance, APC members from Yenagoa are arguing that the APC ticket should be zoned to their area. Proponents of this idea argue that Yenogoa, the state capital has not developed to the status of a state, headquarters when compared with other states’ headquarters. The reason for the under development, according to them, is that Yenegoa has not produced a governor.

Besides, they argue that having the largest voting population and highest concentration of non-indigenes, Yenagoa deserves the party’s ticket.

Apart from Yenagoa, APC members from Sagbama, are also demanding the party’s ticket.

Sylva, Alaibe, others in race

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primaries in Bayelsa State to pick the candidate for the December 5, governorship election will hold in Yenagoa, the state capital, on September 19.

Those who beat the deadline for the collection and submission of nomination forms include Chief Timpreye Sylva, Chief Timi Alaibe, Nigeria’s former Ambsaador to Japan, Emmanuel Otiotio, the former Chief of Staff to Governor Seriake Dickson, Diekivie Ikiogha and Pastor Tonye Aprael, who is the only female aspirant in the race.

Both Otiotio and Ikiogha were aides to former governor Timiprieye Silva, who is also an aspirant.

Ambassador Otiotio, who was Nigerian Ambassador to Japan between 1999 and 2003, said that the state is in dear need of people of integrity to rescue it from the backwardness.

He described himself as a born again Christian, who will do the job of governance in the state with fear of God. He dismissed insinuations that a particular aspirant bought forms for other aspirants. He said that he has not been informed that the former governor has joined the race to pick the ticket.

He said he will introduce good governance and proper management of resources.”

Chief Diekivie Ikiogha said that he was the most qualified for the job, considering his wealth of experience.

He said that Bayelsa, being one of the richest states, has nothing to show for the huge allocation it has collected from the Federations Account, adding that he has the magic touch that will transform the state into a model state.

He said as a retired Director in the civil serv-

•Sylva

•Alaibe

ice, a former adviser and former commissioner, he was not coming into government to learn, but to put into practice what he has learned in the past. He said: “I am not a pretender in the race. I am a contender and I am out to salvage the poverty in the state.

Ikiogha, who admitted being part of the PDP government he is accusing of failing the state, added: “If you know how government is runned, you will realised that there is only be governor and his followers and appointees only do what he wants them to do.

“Your own as an appointee is to carry out the orders of the governor. Some of us have disagreed with the government in the past and that is why we stayed long in the government. But we left because we felt that APC is where the positive change can take place in Bayelsa state.

Speaking on her experience since she joined the race, Mrs Appeal said: “It has not

been easy since I joined the race but with God all things are possible with little or no money but as we stepped out God has been making the provision, and it was a shocking news that we should come and get the form for free, which I did and today I have come to submit the form.

“I want to use this medium to encourage all Bayelsans to give me the ticket and I know that the sky is not even the limit for Bayelsa state that every man will see in the world that every resources that come to the state will be use judiciously.

“As a woman, meeting the delegates some of them were saying, madam without money you can not do anything but I want say that money is not everything. Let them just give people that are upright, people that has heart for the people to man the state and if they did that, especially giving it to me everybody will be affected positively in Bayelsa state.”

A major problem threatening the unity of APC is the divisive tendency of old ‘members trying to label the defectors as new comers. Rather, APC should treat every member equally irrespective of when they join the party ’

They are of the view that APC stands a clearer chance of winning the election if it shops for a candidate from Dickson’s enclave. They further posit that it will enable them complete their tenure in case the incumbent governor fails to make it. But others are of the opinion that instead of conceding the party’s ticket to Sagbama, APC should select its party’s running mate from the council to divide the votes.

Besides, the contentious issue of party membership and loyalty has cropped up in the race for the party’s ticket. The old members of APC are warming up to confront former members of the PDP who they accuse of planning to reap where they did not sow. They swore not to allow new members to outsmart and push them aside in the race.

APC members, under the aegis of the Third Force (TF), brought the argument to the fore recently. Speaking in Yenagoa, the spokesman for the group, Mr. Ebideinmo Perekeme, said only tested and trusted party loyalists should be allowed to fly the flag of the party.

Perekeme said: “We also urge the national leadership of the APC to support only steadfast and tested party loyalist, whose love for the APC predated the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“We implore the party’s national leadership to pick only candidates, who will add value to

the progressive ideal of the APC and ensure its victory in the forthcoming governorship race”.

He said it would be counter-productive to allow those he described as fair-weather politicians, who never believed in the ideals of Buhari and the ability of the APC, to take over the party.

“Such politicians are stomach infrastructure politicians who will grab power to water their selfish ambition to the detriment of the populace who are yearning for change as exhibited

by Nigerians on March 28, 2015 with the election of President Buhari.

Perekeme advised the APC to intensify grassroots mobilisation, which, according to him, is the basis for winning elections. He commended an APC chieftain and candidate for Bayelsa Central Senatorial District in the last election, Mr. Preye Aganaba, for driving grassroots support for the party.

He said Aganaba embarked on tour of 20 wards in Kolokuma-Opokuma and Yenagoa local government Areas where he called on ward committees to start working for APC’s victory.

He said: “Going forward, we call on other APC leaders in the state to emulate the efforts of Aganaba in strengthening the party’s ward structures with the aim of building a strong, united and vibrant APC that will march trium-

phantly into Creek Haven come February 2016.

But, the Chairman of APC, Mr. Tiwe Oruminighe, said all members of the party are equal, despite their membership status He said everybody is welcome to the party and will be allowed to aspire to any position of their choice.

He said the APC ticket is open to aspirants who must be willing to go through a strict primary election. He asked members of the party to disregard insinuations in some quarters that the party will settle for a consensus candidate.

The party chairman said: “On the issue of adoption of candidate and whatever the public must have heard about the APC, we want to reiterate that this party in Bayelsa State will follow strictly what the national party has demonstrated at the national level.

“Everybody in Bayelsa that wants to join the party somehow has an ambition. They want to be governor or any other elective offices. Yes, it is good to keep an ambition, but this party wants to tell the public that whoever is joining us should keep an ambition at quiet end and join the party to work so that the party can deliver.

“We will not make the mistake of saying we are adopting a candidate. There will be proper party primaries to select whoever that will fly the flag and I believe that the leadership in of this party is capable of producing a good standard bearer that will win election for Bayelsa State.

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e-Business

•From left: Former President, Sir ‘Demola Aladekomo, Prof Aderounmu and Group Managing Director, Chams Pls, Mr. femi Williams during the investiture of Prof Aderoumu as the 19 National President of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, at the weekend. PHOTO: LUCAS AJANAKU

Oyewole to NCS: develop technology to fight graft, other vices J USTICE Olubunmi Joseph Oyewole of the Court of Appeal has urged members of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) to come up with technologydriven solutions to fight graft and other crimes in the country.

The judge who gave the Investiture Lecture of Prof Sola Adewumi, the 13th national president of NCS, in Lagos at the weekend, said since President Muhammadu Buhari’s election was determined solely by integrity and ability to fight graft, he would enjoin the NCS to create a disciplinary body within the group to correct its erring members.

He said the accounting profession, legal profession have bodies that punish errant members, adding that NCS should borrow a leaf from that.

The erudite judge said since crimes are now being committed through the use of technology, he charged Prof

By Lucas Ajanaku

Aderounmu and his members to come up with solutions that will help fight crimes in the country.

He said there is also the need for the nation to acknowledge, celebrate and recognise services done by citizens to the people, adding that if emphasis is shifted to the recognition of individual’s contribution to national development, it will spur people to want to do more.

Justice Oyewole said: “We need to start respecting service; we need to start creating a new set of values and move away from crass materialism.”

He challenged the NCS members to deploy their deep intellect to grow the nation.

He said the NCS should close ranks and get bills that will enhance the prestige of the organisation passed into

law, adding that the result will be win-win for all.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Aderounmu said the welfare of members of the group is central to his adminstration, adding that the executive arm, together with stakeholders in the industry, will work together to create platforms for capacity building, job and wealth creation.

He praised President Buhari for appointing Babachir David Lawal, an engineer and member of the NCS as Secretary to the Federal Government.

“This appointment is a welcome one and a furtherance of our belief that the much awaited era of change is here. We wish to further bring it to the attention of the Mr President that the IT ministry with other

IT agencies in Nigeria, if well harnesed, is able to resolve Nigeria job crises and further create wealth for the nation similar to the IT revolution going on in India. Hence, there is urgent need for the Federal Government, under the able leadership of President Buhari to consider the appointment of seasoned IT professionals to who are registered members of the NCS and Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) to head the Ministry of Communications Technology and other IT agencies in the country similar to what is being done in the Ministries of Health and and Justice where a medical practioner and a lawyer are appointed respectively to head. We urge Mr President to give priority to the use of locally registered IT professionals and registered companies to execute IT jobs,” he said.

‘Bulk SMS veritable channel to drive sales’

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ESPITE the growth in the social media messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, BlackBerryChat, WeChat and SnapChat, experts have said bulk short message service (SMS) remains an effective channel for both big and small business enterprises to drive business sales.

According to the Managing Director, Lampro Ventures, a bulk SMS solution provider, Mr Kayode Akinyele, bulk SMS is used to communicate with people that cannot be reached physically and it can be used to drive business sales as organisations can use it to communicate with people without hindrance.

He said SMS is a communication tool that can be delivered to any mobile phone irrespective of the phone user, phone type or internet connection.

"Organisations can make use of bulk SMS to boost sales based on the fact that information sent through this platform are reliable and clear communications which the receiver can respond to, if the sender uses shortcodes or numbers for the receivers to respond to.

By Olatunde Odebiyi

He noted that the strength in bulk SMS is that it can meet receivers anywhere and at any time, adding that most phone users read their text messages almost immediately when they receive them, thus making the information to be passed to receivers at almost the same time, whereas, social media means of communication will take longer time to be read because the phone users are not likely to see the information at the same time.

Mr Akinyele noted that organisations can pass concise information across through bulk SMS, saying it is a fast way to do media marketing.

"Bulk SMS is not limited in the number of people it can reach and it cuts across all geographical location.

"There is SMS platform site which can be subscribed to, to send SMS to people. So to send bulk SMS, the number can either come from the senders or we have numbers that we can generate to people considering the geographical location and state you want the text information to be sent to," he said.

Chairman/Managing Direc-

tor, Just Solutions, a subsidiary of Just computers and Network Solutions Limited, Mr Mark Sotonye, added that bulk SMS is a major and effective way for organisations to reach their customer base, despite the growing number of strings in the digital market.

He said bulk SMS is an application that strives on the internet and can be received on any device instantly with feedback either immediately or later in the future.

He added that bulk SMS goes above almost all media of advertisement because of the instant impact it has. "For you to use the social media, you have to pay for it, go online, search and see things for yourself but, SMS comes to you wherever you are without you having to pay for it.

"Another advantage is that it is cheap and affordable, fast, it can be customised and people immediately know where it is coming from," he said.

He said bulk SMS can be used to grow one’s business, in that it is a good platform to have a target market, because numbers are available according to states, local governments and even depending on product type the message is

to be directed to.

"Here at Just Solutions, we have to know what you are selling or those people you are targeting , so we give you ideas about it, most times people have numbers but it is not always enough, the numbers they have are from families, friends, so we have numbers that we can give, so it's either you give it to us or we give you ours. We have numbers for virtually all areas and segment of business, you can pay online and you will get your credit in your account, so it is automated and there is no hazard for us and our clients," he said.

However, according to a report published by Business M a t t e r s o n www.bulksms.com, Managing Director Bulk SMS, Dr Pieter Streicher, said SMS messaging was first used in December 1992 and has since become one of the most widely used features on any mobile phone.

Also in an experienced sampling conducted by the Pew Research Centre baded at Washington DC, text messaging is the most widely used smartphone feature even amongst younger smartphone users.

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e-Business GADGET REVIEW

iPhone 6S

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S expected Apple has unveiled the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus smartphones at its media event earlier this week. Because it's an "S" year-the off year between major device overhauls-we didn't really expect monumental changes in the iPhone design and Apple didn't shock us with any. The new iPhone models are definitely incremental upgrades over the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Don't get me wrong, the new iPhones are still impressive in many ways. Here are five things about the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus that make the devices worth a closer look:

3D Touch

•From left: Head, Programme Office, Financial System Strategy (FSS) 2020, Mr. Olwatoyin Jokosenumi; Director, Banking and Payment System Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Dipo Fatokun and Chief Executive Officer and Executive Secretary, E-Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN), Mrs. Onajite Regha during a two-day E-Government Summit jointly organised by E-PPAN and FSS 2020 Office in Abuja.

SIM card revalidation: Telcos lose revenue, subscribers

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HEN he got to the revalidation centre of his mobile network operator (MNO) last Monday at about 2pm and saw the huge crowd wailing and yelling at the gate, he stood for a while and watched his fellow compatriots who had gathered at the centre, some since 8am.

The man who simply identified himself as Chukwuma came with his wife.

The couple are victims of the greed of their MNO whose unquenchable thirst for subscriber grabbing will make them to circumvent laid down procedures.

The couple looked at each other in the face and shook their heads. “What kind of country is this? Is this the way these people treat their people in other countries where they operate? Do we have a regulator? What kind of regulator do we have? This is inconceivable. My wife lost her phone three weeks ago, she came to this same office to do welcome back.

She was subjected to all manners of registration formalties. She specifically asked the lady that attended to her if she she was good to go and she was assured that her problem had been solved. Three days ago, she received an SMS threatening to deactivate her line. Mine was deactivated two days ago,” he said.

Frustrated opened his mobile phone and that of his wife, unloaded the SIM cards, broke them and threw the peices at the face of the stern-looking security man at the gate. “To hell with your empty pompousity. You came here and made so much money and started behaving like a lord. Go to hell,” Chukwuma said as he walked away.

Subscribers of Nigeria’s major carriers are dumping their service providers for rudely deactivating their subscriber identity module SIM cards just as the telcos are daily losing revenue, it has been gathered.

Worst hit are the major telcos with huge number of customers on their network.

An official of one of the telcos that spoke on condition of anonymity said the situation is taking a huge toll on the rev-

•Agents accused of extortion

By Lucas Ajanaku enue of the telcos.

“You know we make money when our customers make calls. So any development that hinders them from making calls automatically translates to our loss of revenue. Remember also that data services, especially mobile data, has become the jewel of the industry. This is because revenues from voice appear to have attained its plateaux.

“So with millions of customers shut out of the network, it is really huge losses, running into millions of naira every day.

The more subscribers you shut out of the network, the more the revenue losses.

“Short message service (SMS) is another revenue source. Though it costs only N4 currently for domestic users, when computed together, it is plenty of revenue at the end of the year to us. Those who eke their living by selling bulk SMS too are not finding it funny. Then our value added services (VAS) providers too are not left out. They make their money by using out network spread across the country as vehicle to reach their clients,” the telco chief lamented.

The National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) has decried the agonies of its members nation wide.

Its General Secretary Bayo Omotobora told The Nation that the subscribers that fail to register their SIMs deserve no pity because they are the architects of their misfortune.

He said the body has issues with the telcos that sent text messages of successful SIM registration to their customers only for their lines to be deactivated. “That is an area of worry to us.

We are looking at some of these cases with a view to taking necessary action,” he said.

Omotobora, a lawyer, said though what the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) did was right, he said the blanket deactivation order

stood logic upside down.

According to him, considering the huge number of subscribers involved estimated at over 10million, the regulator should have compelled the telcos to do it in phases or in batches. “Since the numbering were given to them in batches of say one million, subscribers affected within that first one million band would have been deactivated. This would have given a warning signal to others. If the situation had been handled this way, I am sure the current pains people are going through would have been minimised,” he said.

Meanwhile, agents of the telcos have been accused of taking advantage of the situation to extort desperate customers willing to do revalidation.

In Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, the few available centres are usually filled with irate subscribers, sources have said.

Some buses branded in the colours of the telcos allegedly drive into the rural communities to help the people do their revalidation but insist on payment of N200.

“When they first came, they collected N100 from these poor old women who use the mobile phone to call their children in Lagos, Abuja and even abroad.

“But when they came to Igbara Odo community last week, they increased it to N200. The youths protested and chased them out of the twon,” a man who identified himself as a civi servant said.

Agents are also helping the telcos to grab subscribers as they loiter around the revalidation centres to sell new SIM cards to customers. “What they do is they ask you the number of your deactivated line. They repeat the same round of improper biometric data capturing that caused the whole wahala and now pair the new number with the old one. They collect between N200 and N500 depending on your bargaining power,” Olasunkanmi Akomolafe told The Nation in Lagos.

Huawei spends $30b on research, development

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UAWEI said it has spent $30billion over the last one decade on research and development (R&D), adding that it will not rest on its oars at ensuring that its customers get the best.

The firm said it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the African Union (AU) to enhance information communications (ICT) infrastructure and literacy in Africa, including training up to 1 000 ICT professionals from AU member states.

AU's Commissioner for Infrastruc-

ture and Energy Dr Elham Ibrahim, said: "We are very grateful for Huawei's goodwill to offer ICT training for 25 employees from the AU in China in the near future. Huawei has also pledged to train up to 1 000 ICT professionals from AU member states," the African Union's said in a statement.

Commenting on the partnership, Huawei's Senior Vice President, Charles Ding said: "We believe that ICT technologies are reshaping Africa and other parts of the world, and leading the next wave of sustainable social de-

velopment."

The technology giant, which reported revenues of $46.5 billion last year and has operations in 170 countries, including Nigeria said it was "dedicated" to helping African countries that were striving for industrialisation and modernisation.

"We hope to support ICT infrastructure deployment and digital transformation practices across the continent, consequently making a greater contribution to poverty reduction and regional civilisation," Ding said.

Apple introduced its Force Touch touchpad on the new MacBook line earlier this year. It has been rebranded as 3D Touch in the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus but the concept remains the same.

The display can sense how hard you are pressing and activate different features or capabilities depending on the pressure detected.

The concept has a lot of potential to change how you interact with the device, but it requires apps designed to interact with it.

Hey Siri The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus catch up with competing Android and Windows Phone devices because now you can invoke Siri by simply saying "Hey Siri". The "Hey Siri" feature exists for the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 models as well, but only when the device is charging. If it's not plugged in you have to push the Home button to activate Siri.

With iOS 9 Siri will also now be able to learn your voice so it will only respond to "Hey Siri" commands from you specifically-and that capability spans all of the iPhones that work with Siri.

Better camera Smartphones in general-and iPhones specifically-have transformed the way we capture moments and all but put the point-and-shoot camera industry out of business. It's essential that your smartphone have superior camera

U

By Tolulope Lawani

technology. The new camera isn't revolutionary but the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus have a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The rear camera is now capable of recording 4K video, and the frontfacing camera now supports full HD video and selfie panoramas.

Live photos I'm not positive yet if this is purely a parlor trick novelty or really awesome. What I do know is that Apple's Phil Schiller made it look very impressive in the iPhone 6S unveiling. Rather than just capturing a specific instant Live Photos captures about a second and a half of images before and after the instantincluding sound. When you press down on the 3D Touch display it activates the series of images as a brief animation that looks like a short video clip. The motions and sound activate more senses and evoke a more visceral response than a still image.

More horsepower The iPhone 6 is no slouch in the performance department but the iPhone 6S should blow it out of the water. The iPhone 6S A9 processor is built on a tricore architecture that delivers 70 percent faster performance than the A8 in the iPhone 6 and it has a GPU that's 90 percent faster. The iPhone 6S also doubles the RAM from 1GB to 2GB. These are cool features and capabilities, but not truly compelling.

Anyone with an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus is probably fine waiting until the iPhone 7 next year. Even an iPhone 5S user might consider waiting for a more persuasive reason to make a switch.

When you do, though, you should kick your carrier to the curb and get your new iPhone directly from Apple through the iPhone Upgrade Program.

Courtesy techspective

Light painting feature of P8

NTIL recently, light painting was only possible using a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera, and even then, only by skilful photographers who would have taken great time and patience learning the skill.

The Huawei P8 smartphone with its revolutionary 13mp camera not only outperform all other camera phones within its class, but also came up with the light painting feature to outwit other tricks in the shade.

The Huawei P8 is a slim and stylish new phone that packs quite the punch in a very elegant body. With a 5.2inch display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, and an octa-core Kirin 930 system chip, it's got the silicon, but what it is particularly proud of is it being World's 1st 4 -colour 13megapixel RGBW, F2.0 large aperture, 8 megapixel front camera with a flashy new mode that lets you capture light in enchanting new ways.

Continuing the minimalist design of previous generations in the P series, the device embodies the ultimate in elegance, craftsmanship and durability. Highlights include: The nano-injection molding process results in an industry-leading seamless tight junction connecting a 1.5mm thin plastic bar with one of the industry's largest screens The triple-layer shark-gill design enhances the reliability and robustness of the device, while the body's sleek back cover is constructed of steel, for reinforced structural rigidity.

However, it is the P8's ultra-lowlight capable camera and its light painting skills that most captures the imagination.

The Light Painting mode leverages the Huawei P8's manual camera shutter to capture broad swaths of light. Light Painting mode can capture headlights on cars at night, showing the long streams of light in an artistic photo.

Users can also "light paint" their own freehand pictures using a small torchlight in the dark.

Another industry first low light technology is the light check and preview mode. By giving users a preview of what the shot will look like, the device makes it easier to experiment creatively with light sources in the dark.

The Huawei P8's Director Mode is the industry's first professional-level video capture function on a smartphone. It allows consumers to direct and control up to three other Android phones when shooting a video scene from four angles simultaneously, and also synchronize video clip editing.

The device introduces a powerful new Selfie mode, which allows preset image enhancement settings to capture and customise users' unique beauty, enabling even more people to get in on the process.

The Huawei P8 takes beauty to the next level, striking a flawless balance of artistry and creativity.

Based on a deep understanding of human-machine design, the Huawei P8 delivers a new level of usability for applications impacting everyday life - at work and at play. With craftsmanship that pushes the bounds of possibility and new revolutionary light painting modes, the Huawei P8 provides consumers with an inspiration for creativity," company official explained.

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THE NATION

BUSINESS AVIATION

• From left: Dunoma; Hadjia Bello and officials of the firm handing the new International Airport terminal in Kano during the tour.

‘Kano Airport terminal’ll take 10m passengers yearly’

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HE new international airport terminal under construction at the Mallam Aminu Kano Airport, Kano will accommodate over 10 million passengers yearly when completed next year, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN), Saleh Dunoma, has said.

He said the new terminal being financed alongside three terminals with the $500million loan from China Exim Bank would have four avio bridges to make it a worldclass facility.

He said there was no funding gap in the projects because the counterpart funding of $100 million provided by the government in addition to the loan from the Chinese bank was sufficient to complete the project.

Speaking during a tour of the airport with the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Aviation, Hadja Binta Bello, he said various airport remodeling projects across the country were at various stages of completion.

He said the Kano International airport terminal had attained roof-

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor and Kolade Adeyemi

ing stage preparatory for completion next year.

Saleh said delays on the projects were caused by disparities in weather and shipment of building materials.

He said: ”The new terminal buildings would be completed in the first quarter of 2016.

“We are following the progress of work, despite the hiccups here and there because of rainy season and other challenges.

“I think the contractors lost about 325-man hours the last time we visited to insect the facility. The contractors have closed it by working overtime and they have assured me they will deliver this project by April 2016.

“The contactors cannot complain of funding gap because the projects are being financed by a loan from China EXIM Bank.’’

He continued: ‘’We are working hard to achieve the completion of new airport terminals.

“However, we are working hard to meet the timelines. ‘’At the Kano airport, there will

be a new international terminal and the old international terminal will be used for Hajj operations and domestic operations.

“We are going to have four avio-bridges in the terminal and two in the old international terminal. The new international terminal will take 10 million passengers per annum.”

He went on: ”All the new terminals are at various stages of completion. If you go to Port Harcourt, they are roofing. Kano is roofing. Abuja just started roofing. Lagos is slightly behind because of the problem we had at the beginning.

“This has to do with the siting of the terminal but they are also trying to catch up. ‘’Either Enugu or Kano will be completed first.”

He said the airport authority was worried over traffic gridlock at the Abuja Airport, insisting that steps would be taken to provide enough parking space to ease the flow of vehicle movement.

Saleh said the problem with the Abuja Airport was that where

Corruption: ICPC to assess Lagos, Abuja airports

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O stamp corruption among airport workers, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission ( ICPC) has announced plans to begin corruption assessment in the Lagos and Abuja airports.

According to the Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ekpo Nta, the assessment is part of efforts to eliminate corruption among aviation personnel.

Represented by a member of the ICPC Board, Isa Salami, he said the exercise was part of efforts to drive the Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU), signed between the agency and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) last year.

He said the choice of Lagos and Abuja airports was strategic as major gateways into the country, where corrupt practices should be reduced or eliminated to foster a good image for the country .

Speaking during a courtesy visit to FAAN headquarters, the ICPC

said it is collaborating with aviation agencies and airport stakeholders to eliminate misdeeds at airports which can easily ruin the image of the country.

He said the ICPC was carrying out a study on corruption around the airports by tackling it from the roots and not the branches.

The anti-corruption drive, he said, would look at the processes, laws and procedures that encourage corruption from the grassroots.

He added that the exercise was not a witch-hunt, but meant to block loopholes in FAAN to remind its officials of the commitment it entered with the authority by sending its officials to swoop in on FAAN to see how its laws, procedures and regulations as well as documentation impacts on corrupt tendencies and how to improve it.

He said the ICPC would continue to carry out corruption assessment on the standards’procedures of FAAN to see areas of vulnerability to sharp practices.

He urged FAAN to cooperate to enable the ICPC implement an in-

there was a terminal, the governemnt is building a new one, unlike in Kano where they were separated.

“So, you must have that problem and I am appealing to the public to bear with us and I ask them to come to the airport in good time so that they will be able to process their flights without missing their flights.

“There is no concrete step FAAN can take except it has the cooperation of the public. The step we are taking is that we will provide enough parking space to allow free flow of traffic.

“There is the only thing we can do. Once there is construction in a place you have to also operate so you have to combine the two together, we know these inconveniences will come so we just appeal to the public for understanding and this may continue until we complete the project; maybe the middle of next year,” he added.

Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation, Hajia Binta Bello, has expressed satisfaction over the high technical capacity of the completed Kano Safe

Expert makes case for aircraft repair centre

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•Nta

tegrity plan.

FAAN Managing Director, Saleh Dunoma, who was represented by the Director of Administration, Ikechi Uko, assured of the agency’s cooperation to stamp out corruption from the airports.

He said FAAN was commited to the implementation of the deal it signed with ICPC to eliminate corruption.

Project at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano.

Bello also commended the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), for ensuring that the project was delivered promptly in keeping with the agreed timelines, stressing that the effort of the agency in maintaining safety of air navigation in Nigeria would be enhanced by the standard of the facility.

She said : “This is very encouraging. I am highly impressed that the facility has been delivered within the period agreed with the ministry and I am happy to say that we have achieved what we bargained for within the scheduled time .

Other project managers should emulate this one. They have delivered a good job and on time too.”

The Managing Director of NAMA, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, said Nigeria is one of the first few countries in Africa to procure and deploy the digital safe tower, which ranks among the latest technologies in global air traffic management .

HE Centre for Aviation Safety and Research (CAS-R) has called on the Federal Government to establish a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul ( MRO) centre.

CAS-R Executive Director Sheri Kyari said such centre would service aircraft.

He listed the benefits of the facility to include creation of employment.

He said: “ We are calling on President Buhari to urgently constitute another committee to look into the establishment of an independent maintenance repair and overhaul centre in Nigeria.

“The aircraft repair and overhaul centre should be conceptualised to service most of the aircraft operating in Nigeria.The repair centre should also service commercial airplanes operating in neighbouring countries.

“While we laud the new airline being proposed, we believe the project should receive a similar or even more important attention.

“The reason for greater attention, is that, a well-established MRO, beyond meeting the needs of the industry, will provide aviation the

needed foundation for aviation manufacturing, with the ultimate aim of producing our own brand of airplanes.’’

He added: “It will also provide massive employment, much more than the airline.

“Undoubtedly, Nigeria should take advantage of the absence of this facility within the West African region and establish one concomitantly with the new airline. Such huge a project will also raise the paltry contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product from the less than five per cent. “ The committee should be tasked to look at the ownership, scope, funding as well as other variables associated with the establishment of an aircraft maintenance centre.”

According to Kyari, countries, such as small as Mauritius, are optimising the benefits of such huge facilities that cater for different sizes of airplanes as well as making money for their nation.

He said: ”Nigeria should, therefore match its growing fleet of airplanes with an equal aircraft maintenance centre and stop the drift of capital to other countries.’’

46

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 14-09-15

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 14-09-15

Equities rally N234b gain as investors S the nation awaits the counters with solid fundaannouncement of the take position mentals,” Afrinvest Securi-

A

members of the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari, investors in the Nigerian stock market appeared to be taking positions in anticipation of a more productive fourth quarter.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday opened with marked increase in open market orders for quoted equities, turning the market into a buy market where buying investors use higher prices to entice other investors to sell.

With 42 gainers and 11 losers, aggregate market capitalisation of the listed equities rose by N234 billion or 2.29 per cent from N10.204 trillion to close at N10.438 trillion.

The benchmark index at the NSE, the All Share Index-a value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, gained 680.89 basis points or 2.29 per cent to cross its 30,000 psychological base to 30,396.97 points as against its opening index of 29,689.08 points.

The gains were spread across virtually all the sectors as all NSE indices appreciated with the exception of the NSE Insurance Index, which declined by

By Taofik Salako Capital Market Editor

0.93 per cent to 132.95 basis points and the NSE Alternative Securities Market Index that closed flat. The NSE MainBoard Index advanced by 2.8 per cent from 1,394.75 basis points to 1,434.43 basis points, while the NSE Premium Board Index rose by 1.29 per cent from 1,625.82 basis points to 1,646.75 basis points. Also, the NSE 30 Index was up by 2.6 per cent from 1,333.48 basis points to 1,368.25 basis points, while the NSE Banking Index jumped by 2.96 per cent from 311.54 basis points to 320.78 basis points.

Total turnover stood at 254.7 million shares valued at N3.84 billion in 3,798 deals.

“We believe recent rally observed in the market remained connected to the expectation surrounding the announcement of Cabinet members by the Buhari-led government before the end of this month. Notwithstanding the above, we maintain our view that investors should trade cautiously and stay bullish on

ties stated in post-trading review.

Guinness Nigeria, which has remained on the top gainers’ list since last week’s announcement of additional shares acquisition bid by its parent company, Diageo, rose by 10.24 per cent or N15.58 to close at N167.77 per share. It was followed

by Conoil Plc, which gained 10.20 per cent or N2.63 to close at N28.41 per share.

Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc was up by 9.84 per cent or 82 kobo to close at N9.15 per share.

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria rose by 6.96 per cent or 16 kobo to close at N2.46 per share. Nigerian Breweries gained 5.31 per cent or N6.78 to close at N134.55 per share, while Forte Oil rose by 2.53 per cent or N5.65 per share to close at N228.90 per share.

On the other hand Vanleer led the losers with a loss of 51 kobo to close at N9.86 per share. It was followed by Mansard Insurance Plc, which declined by 12 kobo to close at N2.35 per share.

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 14-09-15

THE N

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

47

MONEYLINK FirstBank unveils integrated mobile banking app

CBN orders banks to resolve ATM complaints within 72 hrs

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has mandated banks to resolve all complaints arising from the use of the ATM machines within 72 hours.

Under its draft guidelines on Automated Teller Machine (ATM) operations rules, released yesterday and signed by CBN Director, Banking and Payment System, ‘Dipo Fatokun, the apex bank said in the event of irregularities in the account of an ATM customer arising from the use of card on ATM, all cardholders’ complaints should be treated within a maximum of 72 hours from the date of receipt of the complaints.

The guidelines added that where records are falsified by any party, adequate sanctions shall apply.

It said sanctions, in the form of monetary penalties /or suspension of the acquiring/ processing service (s) or both, would be imposed on erring institutions for failure to comply with any of the provisions of the ATM standards

Stories by Collins Nweze

and guidelines or any other relevant guidelines issued by the CBN from time to time.

According to the guidelines, a bank or independent organisation that deploys an ATM for the use of the public shall ensure that the machine downtime (due to technical fault) is not more than 72 hours consecutively.

However, where this is not practicable, customers shall be duly informed by the deployer while the helpdesk contacts are adequately displayed at the ATM terminals.

He said that at the minimum, a telephone line should be dedicated for fault reporting and such telephone line shall be functional and manned at all times that the ATM is operational.

The new guidelines also said that banks should ensure that all ATM charges are fully disclosed to customers while the ATMs issue receipts, where requested by a customer, for all transactions,

except for balance enquiry, stating at a minimum the amount withdrawn, the terminal identity, date and time of the transaction; receipt prints and screen display are legible.

The banks also must ensure that the dispensing deposit and recycling component of the machine is in proper working condition while cash retraction shall be disabled on all ATMs. The new rules said there should be appropriate monitoring mechanism to determine failure to dispense cash even as there should be online monitoring mechanism to determine ATM vault cash levels. The ATM vault replenishment, it added, should also be carried out as often as possible to avoid cash-out even as ATMs should not be stocked with unfit notes.

It urged all ATM deployers/acquirers to comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS) even as the machine should dispense all

Bonds face downgrade risk over Nigeria’s removal from JPMorgan index

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IGERIA now faces the risk of its credit rating falling further into junk after JP Morgan said it will delist it from its bond index.

Standard & Poor’s, which rates Nigeria four levels below investment grade at B+ with a stable outlook, releases a review of its assessment on September 18. A week later, it’s the turn of Fitch Ratings, which has Nigeria at BB-, one level above S&P, with a negative outlook.

Bloomberg said those decisions come on the heels of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s announcement last week that Nigerian debt will be removed from its local-currency emerging-market indexes, tracked by more than $200 billion of funds.

Adding to a loss of favor among investors is a delay by President Muhammadu Buhari in naming his cabinet since taking power in May as the continent’s biggest

economy grapples to cope with oil prices below $50 a barrel and speculation that the currency will be devalued.

“There’s a very high risk of a downgrade,” Jan Dehn, head of research at Ashmore Group Plc, which sold all of its Nigerian Eurobonds and naira debt over the past year, said. “At the moment, I’m pretty far away from even considering buying anything Nigeria. It’s a deteriorating credit.”

The bond market is siding with Ashmore and Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, which also predicts a ratings cut.

Yields on Nigerian dollar bonds have been trading higher than those of Kenya — which has an economy almost a tenth of Nigeria’s size and is rated lower by Fitch — since mid-August. When that last happened in March, S&P downgraded Nigeria and Fitch followed days later by lowering its outlook from stable.

“Fitch is the one people will

be watching most closely,” Alan Cameron, an economist at Exotix Partners LLP in London, said by phone on Sept.

10. “The oil price has been low for a long time and people assume that’s at least a semipermanent state of affairs, which will have a very significant impact on fiscal and external projections. It is difficult to argue that Nigeria should not be downgraded at this point.”

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele has introduced several foreign-exchange restrictions since December to prevent dollars fleeing the economy amid an almost 60 percent drop over the past year in the price of oil, which accounts for 90 percent of exports and two-thirds of government revenue.

Emefiele resorted to the measures as the naira weakened 20 percent to a record of 206.32 per dollar in the year through February 12.

MasterCard, FAO to promote financial ASTERCARD and the and 7,000 refugee houseinclusion kilns Food and Agriculture holds with energy efficient Organi-sation of the

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United Nations (FAO) have announced a partnership that would develop inclusive payment systems to support smallscale farmers and poor families.

In a statement, Mastercard said: “Among other activities, the collaboration will explore ways to provide credit or money to households for purchases of basic needs and farming inputs on local markets, thereby supporting local economies and putting financial tools in the hands of economically marginalised communities.”

According to the statement, the effort will benefit from the complementary strengths of both organisations: MasterCard’s expertise in payments technology and FAO’s global reach and track record in combating hunger and malnutrition.

The partners’ first joint effort will be in the Kakuma refugee camp, in Turkana County, Kenya, currently home to 170,000 refugees who have fled wars and violence in neighboring countries. Camp residents will be provided with prepaid cards that will permit them to buy charcoal produced locally by the host community – charcoal that has been certified as being produced in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly way.

The scheme is designed to improve incomes of Turkana residents, reduce social tensions between those residents and the refugees, and relieve pressure on the environment.

MasterCard will provide its technology expertise, and a meaningful financial contribution, to kick-start the business chain by providing 1,240 hostcommunity households with improved charcoal making

stoves and credit to purchase 25 per cent of their annual charcoal needs.

“This partnership truly shows that the private sector is a key ally in global effort to build a world with zero hunger. FAO is extremely proud of this collaboration with MasterCard that will support small-scale farmers to become economically independent by advancing financial inclusion,” said FAO Director –General José Graziano da Silva.”

MasterCard’s Walt Macnee said: “This important agreement with FAO further builds on our commitment to establish meaningful partnerships that leverage global technology and insights to drive a more empowered, inclusive planet where people – regardless of where they live or their current economic status – are able to better build more self-determined lives.

F

•CBN Governor Emefiele

Godwin

denominations of naira.

“For deposit taking ATMs, acceptable denominations shall be displayed by the deployer. All Banks or independent ATM deployers may own ATMs; however such institutions must enter into an agreement with a card scheme or a scheme operator or their designated settlement agent for acceptance and settlement of all the transactions at the ATM,” It said.

“All ATM transactions in Nigeria shall be processed by a Nigerian company operating in Nigeria as acquirer-processor. No card or payment scheme or Card Association shall compel any issuer or acquirer to send any transaction outside Nigeria for purpose of processing, authorization or switching if the transaction is at an ATM or at any acceptance device in Nigeria and the issuer is a Nigerian bank or any other issuer licensed by the CBN”.

IRST Bank of Nigeria Limited has unveiled its integrated lifestyle mobile banking app, FirstMobile.

The mobile banking app which is easy to use is another secure platform that allows customers to execute banking transactions and access lifestyle news content on the go from their mobile phones.

The product, the bank said, allows the customer download on their mobile phone, activate and transact on the phone without having to visit a bank branch.

With the smartphone app, customers can enjoy realtime mobile banking services such as domestic funds transfer from self-owned accounts to other FirstBank accounts and other bank accounts; as well as make quick airtime purchase for self and others on all mobile networks; bills payments; cheque services including confirm cheque and stop cheque, flight booking; and quick account services such as account balance inquiry, statement view and much more.

In addition, the lifestyle banking app offers FirstBank customers unique access to the latest articles and videos across a wide variety of categories, including technology and gadgets, life and travel, the economy, local news, luxury goods, business, health, sports, entertainment, shopping and more. The application is free and available for download to customers of the bank.

Speaking on this special offering, the Head, Digital Banking for FirstBank, Mrs. Folasade Femi-Lawal said that the launch is yet another step towards leveraging evolving technologies to bring fast and convenient financial services closer to Nigerians, in line with the bank’s digital banking strategy.

Today, we are delighted that we have been able to deliver an app that supports the consumer lifestyle by providing users with an instant suite of financial options on their mobile devices in a convenient and highly secure environment” she said.

“By enabling people to use their mobile phones as a tool for carrying out financial transactions and accessing lifestyle content, FirstBank is delivering long-term benefits for both our customers and the Nigerian economy as we continue to put our customers first,” she further explained.

To set up this app on a smartphone, customers with android phones should visit Google Play store to download and install the FirstMobile app. Once installed, customers are required to open the app, tap the REGISTER button and use their FirstBank issued Naira MasterCard or Verve card to activate the app.

The App is currently available for Android phones on Google Play store and will soon be available on all other app stores.

48

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

49

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 08158604763

Police parade ‘fake soldiers, car thieves’ •‘Suspect threatened to blow up command headquarters’

••The stolen vehicles (INSET): The ‘fake’ uniform men... yesterday

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AGOS State Commissioner of Police Fatai Owoseni yesterday paraded three fake soldiers, one fake Air Force personnel and three car snatchers. The ‘fake soldiers’ are Markus Gabriel (22) from Ngwa in Abia State, Ikemefuna Ude (39) from Agwu (Enugu). Their Air Force accomplice is Dare Tijani (28) from Ikire in Osun State.

The others are Chukwuma Ikechukwu, 31 from Ohafia, Abia State, Israel Damascus, 32, a Ghanaian and Lucky Anene, 25, from Okuzu in Delta State.

Five cars and two Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) were recovered from them. One of the SUVs was marked BNS513AA. Among the cars were two Toyota Camry with number plates TGD733AA and ANA360AA. Owoseni urged Lagosians to be part of the fight against hoodlums to enhance community policing, saying: “Even if you post one million policemen here in Lagos, it will not be enough.”

Owoseni said investigation revealed that Tijani, who claimed to be a dismissed personnel from the Nigerian Air

Customs seizes N56m goods

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HE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A’ Ikeja Lagos has seized goods worth N56, 479, 200 within two weeks.

Addressing reporters in Lagos yesterday, its Area Controller, Amade Abdul, said the prohibited items were seized within the two weeks of his assumption of duty at the unit.

The seized items included 1,887 bags of parboiled rice with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N12, 256,500; 4,854 cartons of smuggled poultry products with a DPV of N26, 211,600 and two vehicles with DPV of N9,990,000.

Other items seized included new and used tyres, textile materials, vegetable oil, used hoes, fruit juice and spaghetti worth over N8million.

Abdul said the feat achieved was possible because of the cooperation of officers posted to the unit.

“The Unit from August 27 to September 11 had 59 different seizures with a DPV of N56, 479, 200. In addition, we also apprehend eight suspects in connection with the seizures,” he said.

•The suspected car thieves... yesterday

By Ebele Boniface

Force, Kaduna, was never an air force personnel.

He said that the suspect would soon be charged to court.

He said the suspect threatened to blow up the Command Headquarters because policemen at Ipaja Division refused to grant his friend bail.

In the same vein, the police in Lagos also arrested three fake soldiers at Iyana Oba area of Ojo. The raid of people selling noodles at odd hours, he said, became necessary because robbers use those spots as hideouts for their weapons before going on operation.

Drug peddlers, he said, also use those spots to sell hard drugs.

Tijani said he was into chil-

dren entertainment, adding that he got the Air Force uniform from his friend Mutiu, a soldier, to enable him poses as an officer when he goes to meet his fiancee, Shade. He said he was arrested in a bus at Iyana Ipaja.

Tijani noted that he was enlisted into the Nigerian Air Force in 2010 and served at the Air Force workshop in Kanduna.

“I came to Lagos to seek for greener pasture after his dismissal from service.On arrival, I started working as a DJ along with some of my friends.

One of friend who is also a DJ was arrested by the police at Iyana Ipaja while driving. I had gone to secure his bail dressed in Air Force uniform.

“I stormed out of the station when the police at Ipaja refused to accord me my due respect

We will not just maintain standards, but we will also ensure we improve on the standard of discipline, decision making and level of compliance to rules and regulations ...

’

By Oluwakemi Dauda

The Controller said the unit will continue to uphold standard of service and work vigorously to improve on it.

“We will not just maintain standards, but we will also ensure we improve on the standard of discipline, decision making and level of compliance to rules and regulations; we will ensure due diligence and that things are not done haphazardly, because if they are done haphazardly, it will affect the revenue generation,” he said.

He warned smugglers to desist from their illicit act or be ready to face the law.

He said smuggling hampers the progress of the economy of the nation if it is not tackle headlong.

LASTMA seeks unions’ support to stem gridlocks

•The stolen vehicle keys

as a man in military uniform and threatened to come back with some of my colleagues. I was subsequently detained and later brought to the command Headquarters. It was during interrogation that the police discovered that I was fake personnel,” he added.

Ude, who claimed to be a printer, said the other suspects came to his office at Ojo to scan and print military identity cards at N700 each. He stated that they claimed they lost their original identity cards, adding that he did not know they wanted to commit crime with the cards.

Anene said he wore the military uniform to escort cars which he did not know were snatched.

Damascus said he came to Nigeria in 2011, adding that his friend, Jerry introduced him into car stealing.

He said he had done two operations but met his waterloo in the third operation.

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By Tajudeen Adebanjo

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HE Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has sought the support of transport unions in tackling gridlocks.

Its General Manager LASTMA, Bashir Braimah, said stakeholders in the management and control of traffic must work together to reduce road users’ hardship.

Braimah said more officers have been deployed to traffic prone areas in the state for road safety.

Traffic management, he said, is a collective responsibility.

He led top officials of the authority on spot assessment along Apapa-Oshodi expressway yesterday.

The LASTMA chief lamented the nonchalant attitude of truck and commercial drivers plying the route, saying many of them are indifferent to the plight of other road users and with little or no regard for the state’s traffic law.

“At the MRS Truck Staging Area along Oshodi Apapa expressway, Tanker Trucks were indiscriminately parked on the dual carriage with the excuse of awaiting the collection of fuel loading teller. This led to the total blockage of other road users’ access to the road,” he said.

He condemned the act of ‘impunity,’ urging the Petroleum Union Drivers (PTD) to cue into the vision of the government and reciprocate the gesture of government on non enforcement policy by obeying traffic laws and personnel, who are working to ensure free flow of traffic.

In his reaction, Joseph Okpara, an executive of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) expressed displeasure on the conduct of his members, saying his union will partner LASTMA to find a lasting solution to the traffic situation associated with the axis.

Labour kicks as firm sacks 1,300 workers

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ORKERS of a beverage firm, La Casera Plc in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos protested yesterday moments after about 1,300 of their colleagues were sacked for demanding a union.

The workers arrived at the firm’s plant to meet the gate locked, with a notice of disengagement pasted at the entrance.

The September 14 notice addressed to the staff reads: “As a result of the unwarranted breaking-in and invasion of our business premises on September 11, we cannot guarantee the wellbeing of our employees from hired hoodlums and their collaborators.

“As a result of this unprovoked act of vandalism, we are unable to continue operations under this circumstance.

“Unfortunately we regret to inform all our staff of their immediate disengagement.’’

The staff were caught unawares as the firm also di-

By Toba Agboola and Ajose Sehindemi

rected them to go to their representative, Tusen Consulting, for their entitlements.

The notice was referring to last Friday’s protest on the company’s premises during which workers protested the sack of over 100 of their colleagues for initiating a union.

Their chairman, Mr Richard Jome said: “It is the company’s ploy to dehumanise the workers as nothing was touched during the protest as they all stayed back to monitor everything”.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has kicked against the workers sack, lambasting La Casera for its callous business practices.

Senior Assistant General Secretary of the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) Comrade Mike Olanrewaju said the company has been involved in the casualisation of its workers since its establishment 15 years ago.

Olarenwaju said for 12 years, the company denied workers the right to be unionised.

According to him, when an in-house union was about to be inaugurated, the firm’s management sacked the chairman, prompting NUFBTE officials to visit the company last Friday to address workers.

“We were surprised today that the company locked the gate and sacked the workers.

Meanwhile, the case between the workers and the company over unionisation is currently at the National Industrial Court,” he said.

Olarenwaju urged the government to intervene in issues of unfair labour practices being perpetrated by foreign companies.

He said the union would continue to picket the company until the workers are reabsorbed.

He said: “In 2004, when some workers agitated for a union, the company’s management sacked all the workers then, closed the company

•The protesters...yesterday

for a while, told the workers to reapply, resumed operations with new staff and sacked all the proposed union executives.

“This is their game plan that we know and they have brought ... to come and do the hatchet job for them but this time, we will not allow it. Nigerians are being maltreated by the Indian owners of the company.”

Olanrewaju went on: “We have come here today as a call to duty to be our brothers and

sisters keeper, we have come to La Casera because since it began operations over 15 years ago, it has been producing and Nigerians have been patronising them maximally, making profits from Nigerians and everybody knows that it is a fact that unionism is enshrined in our constitution, freedom to belong to a union of their choice.

Lagos State NLC Chairman Idowu Adelakun told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the act of calling labour officials

hoodlums was wrong. He vowed that labour would not allow the company to function until the matter is resolved.

The firm’s media consultant, Mr Tola Bademosi, said the invasion led to disruption of production, alleging that workers were compelled to stop work and asked to sign consent forms by the unionists.

The Human Resource Manager, Mr Edward Otemewo, said he was not aware of the crisis and promised to call back after getting details of the sack.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

50

NEWS Firm to open more forex outlets

By Abike Balogun

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LEADING foreign exchange firm, Travelex, is set to open additional outlets in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja, following the approval by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the company to undertake direct sales of the US dollars at official rates.

A statement by its management said transactions to be covered include the government-approved Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) and Business Travel Allowance (BTA).

General Manager Mr. Anthony Enwereji said the company is eager to support the ongoing CBN’s forex policy and the Nigerian economic system to ease the current challenges in the country’s foreign exchange market.

He said: “The plan for these new offices is to ensure smooth foreign exchange services to end users across. These new locations will serve as a pilot scheme while we plan to open more outlets across Nigeria.

“For those who need PTA, they will present their valid international passports, tickets and visa, while those who need BTA will present, in addition to PTA requirements, certificate of incorporation of their company and letter of request before Travelex will sell them foreign exchange at CBN’s current rate.”

Wife fakes pregnancy

Faction condemns MASSOB’s anniversary march

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FACTION of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has condemned the 16 th year anniversary celebrated by the Ralph Uwazuruike-led faction. It said Uwazurike would be probed for the death of some Igbo people.

The Ralph Uwazuruike-led faction staged an anniversary march in some states on Sunday where about 50 persons were arrested and others died.

The group alleged that Uwazuruike caused the arrests and deaths of innocent citizens in the name of MASSOB. National Director of Information Comrade Uchenna Madu, in a statement yesterday, condemned the deaths and arrests of some factional members during Sunday’s celebration.

The statement reads: “Though the celebration is a yearly ritual, but in every resolution, when a major program is introduced, there must be a tangible vision and aim to be actualised.

•To probe Uwazuruike for arrests, killings Reject Buhari’s appointments, MASSOB tells Ndigbo

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HE Ralph Uwazurike-led faction of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has called on Igbo politicians to reject any appointment that might be offered them under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

Rivers South zonal leader Sunday Kalu-Amuzie spoke after a thanksgiving service to mark the movement’s 16th year anniversary.

Amuzie said opportunities abound in the Biafran nation for any position or portfolios they might want, urging them to come back home and occupy them with ease.

“We are confident that our desire on Biafra has been realised and this informed today’s celebration.

“We are convinced that God supports our agitation and is guiding our step towards its realisation soon. This is why we call on our people to come home, because what they seek in Abuja is at home.”

“The Ndigbos who are lobbying for appointments into From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

“We condemn the stupidity and insensitivity of some factional members under Uwazuruike, who endanger their lives without considering their family’s welfare.

“Sunday’s anniversary, with no single achievement, led to the unnecessary death of Uwazuruike’s factional members while many were detained.

Where did Uwazuruike hold his own thanksgiving? Did he cel-

From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

Buhari’s cabinet should stop forthwith, as there is no need for that. The Biafran nation is already in our hands; they should reject any appointment that might be given to them and come home to help build Biafra,” he said.

Amuzie noted that God had perfected the birth of the new nation, which comprised the 11 states of the former eastern region.

Officiating minister Pastor David Achi said God told him Biafra was in his programme and that conviction informed his interactions with the group.

“The crowd that defiled the rains for this programme today is evidence that God supports MASSOB. The people are convinced of this; if I am not convinced of what I heard from God, I would not have identified with them.

“It took me several years, even after God spoke, to make up my mind to join because I didn’t want to make mistakes,” Achi said. ebrate in his house or hotel?

Why is it that Uwazuruike did not attend any church to mark the anniversary?

“The dead are still in the mortuary, many are detained, proper burials have not been given to those who died in

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‘Igbo in Mushin will be law-abiding’

By Abike Balogun

•The Pupils of Local Government Primary School 11, Ikotun, on the assembly ground after the long holiday...yesterday

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PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

MARRIED woman has been exposed in Abia State for carrying fake pregnancy.

The ‘delivery’ took place at Mben hospital on Asaga Road, Ebem Ohafia in Abia State.

The Chief Medical Director of Mben Hospital, Dr. Bernard Orji, who narrated the incident, said a woman of about 20 years, Joy, was brought in around 7pm; having severe labour pains and was immediately wheeled to the labour room.

Dr. Orji said the fake pregnancy was discovered during examination. He said Joy wrapped huge pieces of clothing around her abdomen for nine months to perfect her wicked act.

Asked if the woman was registered with his clinic, Dr. Orji said no, stressing that it was normal in the rural set up for pregnant women to stroll into a hospital for delivery without being registered.

Joy said she pretended to be pregnant and due for delivery so that her husband could complete her marital rites as she felt he was not serious about marrying her.

She insisted to have done no wrong and had no regrets for her actions.

A close neighbour, who pleaded for anonymity, said she suspected child trafficking as Joy’s game plan and suggested that the police be involved.

active service, their families have not been consoled while some bodies have not been recovered from security agents; they have been forgotten there. We shall probe Uwazuruike.”

Itsekiri kingmakers search for new ‘Olu’

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HE Warri Council in Delta State may have begun the search for a successor to the throne despite the traditional council’s denial of the Ogiame Atuwatse II’s demise.

Although details of how the 17th king of the ancient kingdom would emerge were sketchy, sources said the kingmakers might bypass Crown Prince Tsola Emiko, the first son of Atuwatse II. The Itsekiri monarchy is hereditary and palace sources said the crown prince was his father’s chosen successor.

“It is true that the Ogiame has joined his ancestors, but we cannot announce it officially until certain procedures have been made and steps taken in line with the tradition and customs of the Itsekiri people.

“I can confidently tell you that we have commenced the search for a new Olu, so that when we announce his death, we can also say, ‘Long live the new king’ and that is the stage we are right now; that is the Itsekiri tradition.

“The search for a new Olu is on and I can tell you that the son of our father, king and custodian of our rich history and tradition is no longer in the race for a number of reasons, which every legitimate Itsekiri son and daughter is aware of,” the source said.

Various sources hinted that the crown prince’ disqualification

By Bello Imam

•May bypass crown prince Tsola Emiko

might not be unconnected with his mother not being from areas earmarked to produce queen mothers.

“Only princes born by an Itsekiri or Bini queen can become Olu,” another source said.

An aged source explained that the law relating to the emergence of an Olu stipulated that he must not only be from the royal family, but must be born by either an Itsekiri or Bini mother.

The crown prince is from the Olu’s only wife – a Yoruba princess from Southwest.

“The stool of the Ogiame is one of the strongest glues that hold the Itsekiri nation together and we view it with high respect and

dignity. We cannot allow the selection to be tainted in any form in order not to generate controversy.

“The mother of an Olu must be either an Itsekiri woman or from Bini Kingdom, because of our connection. If you know the history of the Itsekiri monarchy, you will understand what I mean,” our source added.

Nevertheless, it was gathered that the traditional council was now beaming its searchlight on other members of the royal family for a successor.

It was also gathered that the move to bypass the crown prince

was already generating tension in the traditional council, as some chiefs were strongly canvassing support for Prince Tsola.

“Those canvassing Prince Tsola’s candidacy are said to be younger members of the council, even though older members are insisting on strict adherence to the gazette.

Sources also said there were debates on whether the next king should move away from the Emiko Ruling House, which produced the last two monarchs, Gbesimi Emiko (Erejuwa II) and his son Toritseju Emiko (Atuwatse II).

‘Ikpeazu not beholden to Orji’

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PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Ben Onyechere has debunked claims by the opposition that Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is beholden to his predecessor, Theodore Orji.

According to him, the insinuation that Ikpeazu is a product of Orji’s administration, and, therefore, subservient to him “is a peculiar hallucination”.

Onyechere, a former special assistant to former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, said the Ikpeazu and Orji administrations were “a generation apart.”

His words: “The belief in

By Joseph Jibueze

some obscure quarters that a peaceful intra-party transition from one governor to another has become an ‘offshoot’ is synonymous with fetching water with a basket because loyalty to party leadership is not the same as subordination.

“It is clear that their operational methods are different as much as their visions, because, every administration must have its agenda to which it must be answerable before the people.

“Not long ago, the Ikpeazu administration reversed the

policy of indigenisation of civil service by the Orji administration, which demonstrates a break from the past and as such, portrays the independence of Ikpeazu’s administration.

“The reconstruction of Abia roads, which is a cardinal objective of the Ikpeazu-led administration, is also a pointer to the fact that the priorities of the past and present governments are different.

“It is also important to note that government is a continuum and as such, structures of the former administration must be built upon without let or hitch.”

HE Eze Ndigbo of Mushin, Chief Peter Umeh, has said Igbos in the council area will remain law-abiding.

He spoke when he visited the Executive Secretary of Mushin local government area, Jide Bello.

A statement by the council’s Information Officer, Akinyemi Olusegun, quoted Bello as saying that Igbos were always welcome in Mushin.

“Mushin is a home for allthe Igbos, Hausas, Ijaws, Tivs and others tribes. We have inter-married, belong to the same political parties, same social groups, cultural groups and other connections,” Bello said.

He urged Umeh to encourage Igbos living in Mushin to be law abiding and begin to see issues objectively rather than spread rumour of tribal sentiments “Mushin council was home to Igbos even before the Western region was created. We have always lived and done our trading here peacefully from time immemorial,” the council chair said.

Umeh said Igbos, especially traders, will continue to cooperate with the council.

His words: “We are here to assure you that we the Igbos living in Mushin identify with and support your administration.

“We voted for the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the instructions of some of our elders. Having taken this risk, we deserve assurance of safety and a place in this government.

“Initially, we were apprehensive when the issue of demolition of shops at Ladipo market was raised, but on careful analysis, it became crystal clear to us that it was a decision borne out of necessity and not ethnic cleansing.

“We commend you for the wisdom to undergo extensive dialogue and consultations.

This is indeed a dividend of democracy in our land during our time.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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NEWS

Police kill three suspected kidnappers in Delta

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HE Delta State Police Command has killed three suspected kidnappers.

The gang allegedly abducted Mrs. Paaga Blessing Emabari, 48, at Okuokoko in Okpe Local Government Area.

It was gathered that the victim escaped from her abductors before squaring up with the police in gun battle.

Police spokesperson Celestina Kalu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the Orerokpe

Court orders varsity to stop work on N2.1b hostel From Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

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DELTA State High Court, sitting in Otor-Udu, Udu Local Government Area, has ordered the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE), to refrain from stopping a construction firm, Shoreline Development International Limited, from proceeding with the construction of one of its hostels until the determination of a suit on the matter.

Shoreline had sued FUPRE, asking the court to order the institution to stay away and allow it to fulfil a contractual agreement with it to build, operate and later transfer a 250-room hotel for the institution.

Justice F. N. Azinge also ordered the company to serve the notice of the court order on FUPRE. Justice Azinge said: “Consequently, the orders I make are as follows: the parties are ordered to maintain the status quo pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

The claimant/applicant is ordered to put the defendants on notice by the service of the motion on notice on them before the return date.”

Laywer to the applicant, Oghenejabor Ikimi, among other pleas, prayed the court to order FUPRE to refrain from stopping Shoreline from executing the contract and from withdrawing the 20 per cent counterpart funding it had paid, worth N416,234, 803.87, from the bank.

Narrating details of the contract to our reporter, Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Shoreline Development International Limited, Chief Kenneth Chukwuma, averred that the project got to the current state because of a N139,000,000 consultancy fee demand by the management of the institution.

An affidavit sworn to by Chukwuma said: “The Claimant/applicant came under intense pressure from the management of the first defendant/respondent and its appointed consultant, Mr. Tonye Ojoko, to pay N139,675,308.75 upfront to the first defendant/respondent’s manager and administrator/consultant.”

PUFRE’s spokesman Boniface Onyedi said the institution suspected “fraud” in the attitude of the contractors, adding that it lacked the capacity to deliver the job.

He said the university’s management had sufficient documents to show that Shoreline had not been truthful about its claims.

Our reporter was unable to get the university’s documents yesterday because of the absence of the senior officials keeping them.

From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

division’s patrol team intercepted one Toyota Corolla saloon car with registration number BWR 532 HL. The spokesperson said the occupants of the car turned in a suspicious manner on sighting the patrol team.

Their action aroused the suspicion of the patrol team, which chased the car.

According to her, with the “assistance of vigilantes, three of the hood-

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lums were fatally injured while others escaped with bullet wounds”.

She added: “The vehicle was recovered to the station. Investigation is in progress while efforts to track down the fleeing criminals are on.”

Kalu confirmed the recovery of a stolen car, a light green Toyota RAV4 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) with registration number LEH 550 AA, which was allegedly snatched from the owner at Ovwian Aladja on September 12.

According to her, information

Two killed in Ughelli ‘cult’ clash

WO suspected cultists were killed on Sunday night at Ekuigbo, on the outskirts of Ughelli, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, during a shootout between two rival cult groups.

The shootout, it was learnt, started at 9pm near Tozak Hotel, on the Ughelli-Warri Expressway in Ekuigbo.

The victims were said to have died on the spot.

Colleagues of one of the dead reportedly fled the scene while friends of their rivals carried away the re-

From Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

mains of their member.

The body of the other victim, said to be in his late 20s, was still in the middle of the road at 9:40pm on Sunday night, while the police from Ughelli ‘A’ Division and the vigilantes popularly called Bakassi, were seen near the hotel, investigating the incident.

A vigilante, who spoke in confidence, said the victim died on the spot, following the gunshot he got at close range on the back of his head.

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He said: “This guy has been on our wanted list for a while. He is a hit man, who has been the brain behind most of the recent cult-related killings in Ughelli.”

Also, a food vendor opposite the hotel gave the name of one of the victims simply as Ovigue.

She said his father operates a record store on Market Road in Ughelli.

She said: “We were standing here, attending to customers, when suddenly we heard gunshots with two persons falling to the ground.”

APC seeks peaceful primary in Bayelsa

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday told the candidates in this weekend’s governorship primary in Bayelss State to conduct themselves peacefully.

This is coming as some party members were said to be plotting the disqualification of former Governor Timipre Sylva.

The party leaders argued that giving the former governor the APC ticket might cause its defeat.

At a meeting with the aspirants at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, the party’s leadership reportedly outlined its guidelines to 19 of the 20 aspirants present.

Sylva was absent.

Also present were APC National Chairman, Chief John OdigieOyegun; Deputy National Chair-

From Tony Akowe, Abuja

man (South), Chief Olusegun Oni and National Organising Secretary, Senator Osita Izunaso, among other national executives.

Some of the aspirants, who addressed reporters after the meeting, dismissed the rumour that the party was fielding a consensus candidate.

The only female aspirant Mrs Tonye Areapa said she had not stepped down for anybody.

She said: “the party has no consensus candidate for the Bayelsa primary. We were assured of a levelplaying field. We are all going to seek delegates’ votes at the primary.

We were charged on ways to conduct ourselves during the primary: we were told not to do anything that will tarnish the image of the party.”

Another aspirant, Mr Ebitei

Francis, who was Commissioner for Works under Sylva, expressed optimism in the party’s ability to conduct a free and fair primary.

He said: “One thing the party does well is free and fair primary.

There was no petition from the Kogi State primary and we believe that will play out in the Bayelsa State primary. The issue of a consensus candidate is not something the party will practice.”

He said former President Goodluck Jonathan’s endorsement of Governor Seriake Dickson was not a threat as the APC would win in the state.

He said: “We in APC do not see the former President. That word is former. If you are a former (office holder), your activities, powers are also former. Do they still have the power they wielded before?”

•Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel (second right); his wife, Martha (right); House of Assembly Speaker Aniekon Uko (middle); his wife, Emembong and Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Kufre Ekanem, at a special thanksgiving by the governor and his family at the United Evangelical (Qua Iboe) Church, Surulere, Lagos...yesterday.

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

‘No compensation for illegal structure owners’ LLEGAL structures on the roads marked for construction in Akwa Ibom State will be demolished without compensation to the owners, Governor Udom Emmanuel has said.

There has been an increase in the number of new buildings on some roads marked for construction by the Emmanuel administration.

Emmanuel spoke at his hometown, Onna, in Onna Local Government Area, at the funeral service of the father of his Chief Press Secre-

got to the Safer Highway Patrol Team 013 at DSC Round-about in Warri.

The petrol officers reportedly spotted the snatched vehicle, which “they flagged down, but the occupants refused to stop”.

Kalu added: “...The vehicle was pursued by the team and the two occupants abandoned the SUV, escaping into the bush. Meanwhile, the vehicle has been recovered while investigation and efforts are ongoing to apprehend the fleeing suspects.”

From Uyoatta Eshiet, Uyo

tary, Elder Simeon Timothy Udoh.

The governor said he would resist any activity to destabilise his administration’s efforts at delivering democratic dividends to the people.

He said: “I have noticed new structures, particularly along the Eket-Etinan, Ikot Nkang-Awa and other roads. I want to sound it to everyone that there will be no compensation for those buildings

when they’re demolished. Structures erected from April this year, which do not conform to building regulations, will be brought down.

Let people learn to live with integrity and desist from cheating government.”

Emmanuel directed the chairmen of the affected local government areas to liaise with the town planning authorities to ensure that such buildings were marked for demolition.

Akwa Ibom tribunal orders INEC to open defence

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HE Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to open its defence in the petition challenging the election of Governor Udom Emmanuel.

The APC governorship candidate, Mr Umana Okon Umana, sued Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenging his declaration as winner of the April 11 poll.

Tribunal Chairman Justice Sadiq Umar gave the directive at yesterday’s resumed hearing as Emmanuel and PDP closed their case.

Counsel to PDP Mr Taiyo Oyetibo told reporters that the party was satisfied with the witnesses.

Oyetibo said the merit of a suit depended on the quality of witnesses the parties presented.

He said: “Actually, it is not the number of witnesses you called, but the quality of the evidence.

“And, having assessed the quality of the evidence we have laid so far, we are satisfied that we are on a solid ground to close our case.”

Lawyer to the governor Mr Effiong Effiong hailed their witnesses.

Effiong said the witnesses testified that election actually took place in Akwa Ibom State.

The petitioner’s lawyer Dayo Akinlaja said the first and second respondents called 23 witnesses.

He said: “It is too early for one to say one way or the other. But the important thing is that we are comfortable with the way the proceedings are going.”

The tribunal adjourned sitting till today for continuation of the hearing.

Delta PDP expels six From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

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HE Delta State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expelled six members in Udu Local Government Area for alleged anti-party activities.

The party also placed five councillors in Ughelli North Local Government Area’s Legislature on onemonth suspension for making “false allegation” against the Chairman, Kenneth Ibru.

The state’s PDP Chairman Edwin Uzor announced the action during stakeholders’ meetings at the party’s secretariat in Asaba, the state capital.

The expelled members in Udu are: Alex Batete, Kpator Ernest, Francis Afuevure, David Efeghere, Dane Okorhi and Emusiri Onojeghoro.

The party said they were found culpable of the alleged offences, especially working against the interest of the party in the area.

Uzor said the five councillors “falsely” accused Ibru.

He said the five councillors would remain on suspension, adding that they would pledge to be of good behaviour when they resume.

Firm to sell gas to Port Harcourt Disco From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

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NIGERIAN firm, Green Energy International Limited (GEIL), operator of the Otakikpo Marginal Field in River state, has pledged to utilise gas for power generation to its host community.

GEIL, an oil production firm, just struck its first oil in the Niger Delta.

Its Technical Director, Dr Bunu Alibe, said the company would sell its excess gas to the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), an electricity distribution company (Disco).

A statement yesterday in Abuja by its Corporate Affairs Directorate said: “The Technical Director of the indigenous company, Dr Bunu Alibe, explained ...that the strategy consists of oil production from the field while the associated gas will be processed and utilised for power generation for the communities and the excess sold to the Port Harcourt Disco, in addition to LPG extraction and bottling facility to produce and distribute domestic cooking gas.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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NEWS Bauchi APC suspends deputy chair

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi State yesterday suspended its Deputy Chairman, Alhaji Shuaibu Ismail Rahama, for alleged antiparty activities.

A letter to Rahama by the party said the decision was taken at a meeting on Sunday.

It said the suspension fol-

UNTH doctors to continue strike

From Austine Tsenzughul, Bauchi

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

lowed his alleged nocturnal visits to former Governor Isa Yuguda, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate in Bauchi South, a few days to the general election.

Efforts to get the party’s spokesman, Auwal Jalla, to comment on the development were not fruitful.

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Workers seek joint accounts probe

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OCAL government workers under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have begun the mobilisation of members for a nationwide protest against states’ and local governments’ joint accounts.

The accounts, they alleged, were used as a conduit pipe by past governors.

The NULGE National President, Ibrahim Khaleel, told reporters in Abuja that if President Muhammadu Buhari was serious about fighting corruption, he should extend his war to the grassroots, especially the councils.

He said the call became imperative, considering the huge corruption associated with the practice of states’ and local governments’ joint accounts.

Khaleel alleged that the

From Tony Akowe, Abuja

joint accounts were being used as a conduit pipe through which governors siphoned public funds, saying it was unfortunate that the President Buhari administration did not deem it necessary to turn its attention to the sector.

According to him, the governors left peanuts for the councils.

He said: “We feel we are the major stakeholders as far as the fight against corruption is concerned because local governments are at the receiving end.

“Corruption at the councils emanates from the level of the states’ and local governments’ joint accounts. The governors, because of the funds at that level, in most cases decide not to even conduct local government elections, to enable them have access to councils’ funds.

Eid-el-Kabir day is Sept. 24

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HE Sultanate Council has declared today as the first day of the Muslim month of Dhul-Hajj.

This is contained in a statement by the Jamatu Nasril Islam (JNI) Secretary-General,

Dr. Khalid Aliyu, in Kaduna.

He said September 24 will be marked as the Eid-el-Kabir and urged the Muslim Ummah to disregard an earlier statement by the JNI headquarters.

‘APC must win Kogi governorship’

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HE campaign organisation of an aspirant at the August 29 All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries for the governorship election in Kogi State, the Suleiman Baba-Ali Campaign Organisation, has resolved to work for the candidate, who emerged at the primary election to ensure that APC is victorious at the polls.

This was the resolution at a meeting of the organisation on Sunday in Lokoja to X-ray the just- concluded primaries.

A statement by the Director of Media of the organisation, Malam Bashir Abdulla-

hi, said: “As a loyal party man, our principal, Suleiman Baba Ali, pledges his unflinching support to the cause of the party. Everything must be done to see that we root out the rudderless and focus-less government of Idris Wada and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Lugard House.”

The organisation congratulated the party at the national and state levels as well as Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who was the chairman of the Electoral Committee, for a free, fair, credible and transparent primary election.

Buhari greets Tukur at 80

Emir apologises to NYSC for arrest of corps members T HE Emir of Suleja, Mallam Muhammad Ibrahim, has apologised to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for the wrongful arrest, harassment and detention of three corps members serving in Suleja, Niger State.

The monarch, who received top management of the NYSC led by its DirectorGeneral, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, in his palace, decried the incident and promised to educate his subjects on how to treat strangers.

The corps members were accused of resembling members of a gang of robbers, who attacked a market.

They were arrested, harassed and detained by a vigilance group.

The emir said: “It is not in our character to maltreat strangers, not even corps

•One still in police net •Freed corpers get N20, 000 each From Bukola Amusan, Abuja and Mojisola Clement

members. Suleja residents are peace-loving. The corps members are dear to the emirate and we will strive to protect them.

“Corps members should establish a good channel of communication with the NYSC leadership and among themselves so that they will not suffer unnecessarily.”

The director-general, who said corps members were posted round the country to contribute to the socio-economic development,

described the arrest of the three corps members as a case of mistaken identity.

Urging corps members to see any challenge they faced as a stepping stone, he advised them to respect the culture and tradition of their host communities. Besides, they should be security-conscious.

Gen. Olawumi admonished them to be serious with the skill acquisition training of the scheme to be self-reliant after the service year.

Said he: “As corps members, you have to be good ambassadors of your families and institutions anywhere

you are, as your behaviour will portray you anywhere you go.”

The Nation learnt that one of the corps members, Oscar Owolabi, was yet to be released, as at press time.

A source said last night he was still being investigated.

Jimi Sadiq and Dore Sola, who were freed last Wednesday, were said to have been compensated by the NYSC with N20,000 each.

The source noted that the information was passed across when the Niger State NYSC Coordinator, Mr. Steven Rhode Adi, visited them yesterday at the NYSC secretariat in Suleja to address them on the issue.

They were told that when Owolabi is released, he will also be given N20,000.

Death toll in Jos building collapse hits 10

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HE number of the dead in the collapsed Islamic school in Jos has risen to 10.

Some of the pupils died while receiving medical attention in hospitals across the city.

About 25 victims were

From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos

taken to hospitals after they were recovered from the rubble.

Two of the victims, who were children, died early yesterday in a hospital.

Three others died in a hospital in Bukuru.

An Islamic school, Abu Naib Islamic School, on Gero Road in Bukuru collapsed on Sunday evening when pupils, who were mostly teenagers, were receiving lectures. The

Northcentral Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Abdulsalam, announced the death of four pupils. Sources at the scene reported eight deaths.

65,000 seek 7, 800 slots in UNILORIN •UNILORIN 49 saga most challenging moment for us, says VC

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RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated an elder statesman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, as he celebrates his 80th birthday today.

The President joins Tukur’s family, friends, associates and well-wishers in rejoicing with him as he reaches a milestone in a worthy and fulfilled life.

Buhari, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, took the opportunity of the Tafidan Adamawa’s 80th birthday to reaffirm the nation’s gratitude for his contributions to the political and socio-economic development.

He hailed Tukur’s diligent and patriotic service to his community, state and country as a public servant, a political leader and a businessman of

•Divisional Manager, North, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Mr Rotimi Afolaogun; MD/CEO Tony Pharmacy, Kano, Mr Anthony Osimire and Field Sales Manager, North 2, Fidson, Mr Lucky Oriabure during the Fidson Retail Reward in Kano.

HE Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) has vowed to continue its indefinite strike until the hospital yields to their demands.

In a statement in Ibadan by its President, Dr Ugwuoke Aloy Ifedinso said after an exhaustive and careful debate by members, they unanimously resolved that the 10-week old strike will continue indefinitely until the hospital’s management makes adequate commitment towards meeting all their legitimate demands.

“The management has done nothing different from the state of things before the strike commenced.’’

•Tukur From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

international repute.

President Buhari extolled the political maturity and commitment to national peace and development displayed by the former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by being one of the first people to congratulate him after his victory in the March 28 presidential election.

He prayed Almighty Allah to bless Tukur with more years of good health.

HE Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, has said the university has vacancy for only 7, 800 candidates of the 65,000 seeking admission for the 2015/2016 academic session.

He addressed reporters yesterday in Ilorin on the preparations for the 40th anniversary of the institution.

Prof. Ambal said 65, 000 candidates wrote the post UMTE computer-based test, out of which 30, 384 candidates scored 50 per cent and above.

He said the university’s admission quota for this year was reduced, just as the institution continued to witness increased patronage from students seeking admission.

The VC said the university management had written a let-

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

ter to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), through the National Universities Commission (NUC), to increase the quota.

“The university has more facilities, more academic programmes, more good lecturers, more patronage in terms of candidates, and other needed infrastructures that can accommodate more students,” he said.

Ambali said academic stability in the university was its highest selling point, hence the scramble for admission by candidates.

He said the university was lucky to have academic workers who engaged in constructive unionism, adding that the management also complemented with openness and

transparency.

“Usually, the issue between the academic workers and the management bothers on salary, allowance, non conducive environment, lack of infrastructure, such as water, light, among others.

“As the chairman of all the chairmen in the university, everyone’s welfare is my priority.

When there’s money, we share and if there’s none, we share the moment together”, Prof. Ambali said.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Prof Abdulganiyu Ambali, has said the most turbulent period in the history of the institution was before the reinstatement of the 49 members of the Academic Staff Union of University called UNILORIN 49.

The Supreme Court reinstated the sacked lecturers in 2009, eight years after their sack.

•Prof. Ambali

Prof Ambali, who spoke yesterday in Ilorin at a special session with reporters ahead of the institution’s 40th anniversary slated for next month, said: “The most challenging moment was during the ASUU 49 saga, everybody was touched. I am glad we all went through, survived and we are better for it now. Those 44 had great experience, they are now better citizens. Quite a number of them have left the university; where they are now, I am sure they are well behaved. UNILORIN also learnt a good lesson.”

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

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FOREIGN NEWS

Party ousts Australian PM Abbott for rival, moderate Tumbull

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USTRALIA’s ruling conservatives ousted beleaguered Prime Minister Tony Abbott as party leader Monday evening in a change that could signal a different Australian response to climate change and allow for a more moderate agenda that could include recognition of gay marriage.

Liberal Party members voted 54 to 44 to replace Abbott with former party leader and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who had called for the leadership ballot just hours earlier amid flagging opinion polls for the 2-year-old conservative coalition government.

Turnbull split his coalition and lost the party leadership in 2009 over his support for a then-Labor Party government’s proposal to make industrial polluters pay for the carbon gas emissions that they produced through an emissions permit trading scheme.

A coalition government under Abbott last year repealed a 2-yearold carbon tax and replaced it with a policy of paying industrial polluters 2.55 billion Australian dollars ($1.8 billion) in taxpayer-funded incen-

tives to operate more cleanly. The policy imposes no financial penalty for polluting and critics say it won’t be enough to reduce Australia’s heavy reliance on abundant reserves of cheap coal to generate electricity.

In his first news conference since he was elected party leader, Turnbull foreshadowed no changes to climate policy.

“Policies are reviewed and adapted all the time,” he said. “But the climate policy is one that I think has been very well designed. That was a very, very good piece of work.”

Turnbull declined to discuss any other potential policy changes, emphasizing that his leadership style would be collaborative. Abbott was often accused of making rogue policy pronouncements.

Turnbull supports gay marriage and previously proposed that Parliament vote on legalizing it before elections due around September next year.

Abbott, who opposes gay marriage, proposed avoiding divisive public debate by holding a post-election direct vote that electoral au-

Syria: 20 killed in car bomb explosion in northeast

T

HE state TV said one bomb hit in the city's al-Mahatta neighborhood, killing 20 and wounding 40, while an earlier one went off in the Khasman district on Hassakeh’s northern outskirts.

The state SANA news agency later said 17 were killed and 70 were wounded, including five in the first attack and 12 in the second. The discrepancy in the casualty figures could not immediately be reconciled, but different casualty figures are common in the immediate aftermath of attacks.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists on the ground, said at least six of those killed were members of the Kurdish local police force. The Observatory put the death toll at 10.

Syrian state TV showed footage of a two-story building that collapsed from the al-Mahatta explosion, which also left a large crater in the street. A man is seen holding a victim and weeping. It later said that authorities dismantled two other car bombs in the province.

Egyptian forces mistakenly fire on desert safari, killing 12

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GYPTIAN security forces hunting for militants in a remote area of the western desert mistakenly fired on a group of tourists on safari, killing at least 12 people, including two Mexican nationals, officials said Monday.

Egyptian officials said the safari group did not have permission to be in the area, but have not offered a full account of Sunday’s incident, in which another 10 people were wounded.

Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto condemned the attack and demanded a full investigation, and his foreign minister said survivors told officials they were fired upon by helicopters and other aircraft.

The incident, among the deadliest involving tourists in Egypt, dealt an-

other blow to the government's efforts to project stability and revive the tourism industry, a key earner that was hit hard by the years of turmoil following the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt has been battling insurgents on the other side of the country, in the northern Sinai Peninsula. In recent months a powerful Islamic State affiliate based there has carried out attacks on the mainland, including the bombing of the Italian Consulate in Cairo and the kidnapping and beheading of a Croatian oil surveyor who was working in the capital.

The Mexican Foreign Ministry confirmed that at least two of the dead were Mexican nationals and said victims were still being identified.

Mecca crane collapse: India and Pakistan death toll rises

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HE number of Indians killed in the crane collapse in the Muslim holy city of Mecca has risen to 11, India’s foreign ministry has said.

Two Indians were initially counted among the more than 100 people killed in Friday's crash.

At least 11 Pakistani pilgrims have also died in the incident.

The crane crashed into the Grand Mosque, known as the Masjid alHaram, as it was full of worshippers, almost two weeks before the Hajj pilgrimage.

The Grand Mosque is the largest mosque in the world and surrounds Islam’s holiest place, the Kaaba.

Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted that “af-

ter opening of mortuary” on Sunday evening “officials working with relatives have confirmed that 9 more Indians have unfortunately died”.

He said the Indian “mission is extending all possible assistance to the families of the 11 deceased pilgrims to complete formalities”.

At least 107 people were killed and 230 injured in the incident on Friday. It is unclear how many people were hurt by the collapse or the stampede that followed it.

The victims were also said to include worshippers from Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Egypt.

Officials say strong winds and heavy rains caused the crane to fall.

Correspondents say there had previously been concerns about safety on Saudi construction sites.

thorities estimated would cost AU$158 million ($113 million).

Turnbull will become Australia’s fourth prime minister in just over two years when he is sworn in on Tuesday.

The political turbulence comes as Australia enters its record 25th year of continuous economic growth.

However a cooling mining boom that helped Australia avoid recession during the global financial crisis has slashed tax revenue and a hostile Senate has blocked key parts of the government’s financial agenda.

Turnbull’s return to the helm will also likely lead to a major cabinet reshuffle, with Treasurer Joe Hockey and Defense Minister Kevin Andrews among ministers who publicly supported Abbott.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who supported Turnbull’s bid, was reelected party deputy, defeating Andrews 70 votes to 30.

Abbott made no comment to media after the ballot.

The Liberals were elected in 2013 as a stable alternative to the thenLabor government. Labor came to power under Kevin Rudd at elections

•Abbott

• Tumbull

in 2007, only to dump him for his deputy Julia Gillard in 2010 months ahead of elections. The bitterly divided and chaotic government then dumped Gillard for Rudd just months before the 2013 election.

Before Rudd was elected in 2007, John Howard was in power for almost 12 years.

Monday night’s contest pitted a man who has been described as the most socially conservative Austra-

lian prime minister in decades against a challenger some think is not conservative enough.

“This country needs strong and stable government and that means avoiding at all costs Labor’s revolving-door prime ministership,” Abbott told reporters before the ballot.

Turnbull earlier said the government was doomed to defeat with Abbott as leader.

E.U. Ministers meet over migrant quotas

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UROPEAN Union ministers attending an emergency session were at loggerheads yesterday over a comprehensive, coordinated approach to managing the huge number of migrants crossing member countries’ southern and eastern borders.

But they did reach agreement on a limited, first step.

The home affairs ministers from member states gathered here after Germany reversed course over the weekend and imposed temporary border restrictions, cutting off rail service from Austria and instituting spot checks on cars.

The ministers did agree yesterday to steps to relocate 40,000 migrants from Greece and Italy, two front-line countries that have faced the initial burden of an influx of migrants and asylum seekers in Europe. But a lasting solution for relocating as many as 160,000 migrants to European Union countries farther north and west looked elusive as the meeting dragged into the evening.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive agency, has called for the quota system to be compulsory.

Europe, Mr. Juncker said in his State

of the Union address last week, had a moral duty and an economic interest to give migrants new homes.

Mr. Juncker’s proposal included relocating 40,000 migrants who have arrived in Greece and Italy, and who are covered by the plan given approval on Monday, and a second plan to take in a further 120,000 migrants who have arrived in those two countries as well as in Hungary.

Eastern and Central European countries like Slovakia and the Czech Republic have rejected any effort by Brussels to require that they accept asylum seekers.

Arriving at the meeting, Robert Kalinak, the Slovak interior minister, made clear his opposition to Mr. Juncker’s plan.

“This proposal is not solving the problem,” Mr. Kalinak told reporters. Rather than focusing on transit countries where migrants do not want to stay, it would be far better “to help Germany and find some solution how we help the Western countries which are at the end of the route of the refugees, the migrants,” he said.

The Swedes took the opposite approach before the meeting, underlining the deep gulf in Europe over how to respond to the crisis, with Morgan

Johansson, the Swedish minister for justice and migration, calling for binding targets.

“We really need to share this responsibility, with solidarity,” Mr. Johansson said.

“I’m not sure we’ll get all the way today,” he said, adding that he hoped ministers would at least make “a couple of steps.”

Mr. Johansson said the goal should be helping migrants by offering language training and other means “to make them part of our nations.”

He also took a swipe at Hungary’s leadership for “trying to scare people off” by using “very vivid rhetoric,” including bluntly telling migrants not to go there.

The Hungarian response, he suggested, was an inappropriate reaction to the war in Syria, which has led to the “worst humanitarian crisis in our time.”

Although countries like Germany have said they want to do as much as possible to accommodate migrants who have fled war and persecution and reached Europe, others like Hungary say that quotas only serve to encourage ever larger numbers of people to pay people-smugglers and to risk their lives on treacherous journeys.

UAE businesswoman sues Kenya over ‘rendition’

A

United Arab Emirates (UAE) woman is suing the Kenyan authorities, saying she was kidnapped by police, taken to Somalia and Ethiopia, and tortured.

Kamilya Mohammedi Tuweni says she was seized by Kenyan special police and accused of being an alQaeda agent while on trip to Kenya in 2007.

Ms Tuweni was released without charge after being detained for 72 days, and was given no reason for her detention.

The head of Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit denies the allegations.

Monday’s proceedings have now finished and the presiding Judge Isaac Lenaola has set the next hearing for 29 October.

Ms Tuweni is suing the Kenyan government for financial compensation and is demanding a formal apology for her treatment.

Documents submitted to the court stated that Ms Tuweni was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

(PTSD) after she was “mentally and physically tortured” during her detention.

The Kenyan police deny all the allegations, and “have no records” of Ms Tuweni or her colleagues being taken into custody, according to the replying affidavit from Anthony Sanguti, of Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU).

According to UK-based campaign group Redress, she was beaten throughout her time in captivity, threatened with rape and narrowly escaped being sold for drugs.

Ms Tuweni, and two of her business colleagues, were arrested in the Kenyan resort town of Malindi near Mombasa.

She says that on her arrival at the police station in Nairobi, an officer greeted her, saying: “Welcome, alQaeda”.

Her colleagues, from Oman, were released after being questioned in Nairobi but she says she was taken to Somalia, where she was kept in a cell which had been damaged by shells, along with 21 other people.

•Tuweni

“For 12 days we had no food, even for some of the women who were pregnant and the little children among us”.

After fighting escalated in Mogadishu, she says she was transferred to Ethiopia.

In Addis Ababa, she says she was interrogated by FBI agents, before eventually being freed without charge.

55

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

SPORT EXTRA PARA-ATHLETICS:

Onyegbule wins gold in 100m T11 •Olaiya claims bronze in discuss

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EAM Nigeria added to her gold medal haul on Monday, as Lovina Onyegbule came first in the 100m T11 for female event in Para-athletics final at the ongoing Brazzaville 2015.

Onyegbule ran 12.64 seconds to pick the gold medal at stake in a race applauded by crowd at the Stade Lumite in Kintele.

Gbolahan Olaiya won

bronze in discuss event for men, while Segun Rotawo qualified for 100m T11 for male in a time if 11.63 seconds.

The final holds today at the same venue.

Onyegbule will participate in the 200m today while her colleague Sulaiman Taiwo failed to advance into the next stage due to injury during heat 2 on Monday.

The Head Coach of the

From Akeem Lawal, Brazzaville para-athletics team, Soji Adekunle, praised the brilliance of his team assuring that he will still get more medals as the events continues.

Onyegbule while also speaking with NationSport attributed her victory to hard work and assured that she will pick gold in her event today.

AG: Clinch final tickets, Glo urges Dream Team, Falcons

A

S the battle for Olympic gold medal in the All African Games football tournament intensifies in Congo, National U-23 team, Dream Team VI and the Female national team, Super Falcons have been advised

by National Telecommunication Company, Globacom, to remain focused and clinch the tickets to represent the continent.

The Dream team who topped Group B ahead of Senegal will face Burkina Faso while the Super Falcons who surprisingly lost to Cote d’ Ivoire in their last group match will square up with rivals,

Banyana Banyana of South Africa who topped Group B. According to a press statement released by the company on Monday in Lagos, Globacom saluted the fighting spirit and doggedness of the Eagles which saw them trouncing Ghana in the first match by 2-0 and forcing the Senegalese to a draw in the second match, adding that victory against Burkina Faso is a-must.

On Super Falcons, the country’s biggest supporter f football said “We urge the team to remain focused on the task ahead. We believe that victory is achievable and we stand by you as

ever, believing fervently that you will do Nigeria proud.”

Globacom also advised the technical crew to use the fittest players who can withstand the pressure associated with matches of this magnitude.

“We encourage all the players and coaching crew of the Dream Team and Super Falcons to remain determined to excel throughout the 90-minute duration of the matches,” the statement concluded.

Globacom is the major partner of the Nigeria Football Federation and official telecommunications sponsor of the national teams.

AFRICAN GAMES:

Nigeria fails to win medal in 100m women’s event first time in 50 years

F

OR the first time since the inception of the All Africa Games in 1965,

Nigeria failed to make it to the podium in the 100m Women’s event as the final for this year’s race was concluded in Congo on Monday.

Ivorian sprinter, MarieJosee Talou, dethroned Nigeria’s Damola Osayomi to become the new champion of the 100m Women’s event of the All African Games.

Osayomi who won the gold last term in Maputo has since quit the scene and is absent in Congo.

That has seen the coveted gold in the blue-ribbon event now been taken by Josee Talou who also set a new Championship record with her winning time of 11.02secs on Monday.

Interestingly, Nigeria’s Mercy Nku had held the Championship record of 11.03secs for 16 years but

FIXTURES Champions League PSG VS Malmoe FF Real Madrid VS Shakhtar’D PSV VS Man U Wolfsburg VS CSKA Benfica VS FC Astana Galatasaray VS Atl. Madrid Man City VS Juventus Sevilla VS Borussia M.

the 28-year old Ivorian has now rewritten the history book to have the 100m Championship record to her name.

The shock miss by Nigeria on the podium was envisaged as youngster, Cecilia Francis was the only Nigerian athlete registered for

the 100m women’s event after last-minutes withdrawals by the likes of Blessing Okagbare and Gloria Asunmu who won Silver and Bronze Medals at the last African Games in Maputo.

However, despite running a season best time of 11.53secs from the ‘dreaded’ lane 8, Cecilia could not muster a podium finish as she came 5th in Monday’s final.

Interestingly, it was Eunice Kadogo from Kenya who claimed the silver medal in the100m Women’s event, setting a new national record of 11.47 secs while Burkina Faso’s Pon Karidjatou Traore snatched the bronze medal with her time of 11.49.

Ivory Coast pulled a double in the 100m event as they also won the men’s category when Ben Youssef Meite beat Nigeria’s Ogho Oghene Egwero in the keenly contested finals.

Youssef Meite set a new national record of 10.04secs to win gold while Egwero’s finishing time of 10.17secs could only earn him a silver medal.

Another Ivorian, Koffy Wilfried Hua won the bronze medal while Nigeria national champion, Seye Ogunlewe, finished in a disappointing fifth position.

TODAY IN THE NATION

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.10 NO. 3338

‘Governor Aregbesola needs a cabinet now to finish as strongly as he started, before the salary catastrophe.

If he delays, he risks facing a crisis — an internal crisis — much more lethal than the hell-raising Osun opposition can ever muster’ OLAKUNLE ABIMBOLA

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

T

HESE must be uneasy times for public officials.

In Nigeria, nothing succeeds like public service. It transforms those who were only yesterday struggling with the rent or mortgage into owners of choice property in some of the nation’s swankiest neighbouhoods and in the most sought-after sections of the business district.

But now, they can no longer find refuge in the example of the one who “didn’t give a damn” about declaring his assets, acquired for the most part if not wholly through public service.

The new man gives a damn, and has vowed to ensure that everyone on his team gives a damn. If you are already inside and don’t give a damn, start packing up. But remember that you may still be summoned to explain long after you are gone.

If you are outside and looking to go in, you must belong unquestionably in the ranks of those who give a damn. Otherwise, perish the thought. You are much safer where you are, unless some past entanglements of the shady kind that you have long forgotten suddenly bobs up.

In this season of startling disclosures stemming from principle or malevolence and everything in between, propelled by so-called social media that thrive on rumour and gossip and high scandal, who can vouch that such entanglements will not be exhumed and thrust into the public arena?

Few developments are more indicative of these unsettling times than the recent raid on the hallowed premises of the Government House Complex in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, by operatives of the Department of State Security, following a tip-off by disaffected insiders. There, the officials said, they found a quantity of arms and Improvised Explosive Devices — fancy name for dirty roadside bombs.

Not quite a stockpile of munitions, to be sure. But they found something much more tantalising – bundle upon bundle upon bundle of U. S. 100 dollar bills stacked up in one awe-inspiring heap. So overawed were the DSS operatives that they could not immediately find a word for the spectacle. So, they called it a stockpile Call it whatever you will: the lesson is clear. There is nowhere to hide again. There is no place to hide anymore. No sanctuary even in the Presidential Lodge of a Government House Complex. What is the country coming to?

If you can’t put money away in the banks because of tighter regulations and can’t put stuff in the Governor’s Lodge because of all those aides who won’t mind their own business and you cannot store it in the Presidential Lodge without the intrusive DSS barging in just like that, and all this because you

RIPPLES

PEACE COMMITTEE SHOULD DISBAND NOW–Pastor Chris Okotie

Yes, GOMGOMGO...you’ve OVERSTAYED your WELCOME

OLATUNJI DARE

AT HOME ABROAD olatunji.dare@thenationonlineng.net

These disarticulated times

are a so-called public official, you have to ask, pardon the cliché, whether the game is worth the candle.

All this drama was taking place as the former lord of the manor, who has not formally handed it over to his handpicked successor, was fighting for his life in a British hospital, following injuries he suffered when his car collided with a U.S. Embassy car as he was rushing to the airport to catch a flight to visit his family in America.

Instead of wishing him a quick and complete recovery, many of those he served to the best of his ability for eight years – the same people who were forever trumpeting the “uncommon transformation”he wrought in Uyo – unlike his contemporary, former President Goodluck Jonathan, who could not effect transformation of the common kind – were taunting him. Unfeeling ingrates, all.

Why, they are asking, why did he not

R

EADER, Hardball comes to breakfast this morning with some conceptual dissonance. Who is a terrorist and who is a counter-terrorist? Is a counter-terrorist also a terrorist, since he operates the Mosaic law of an eye for an eye? Or is (s)he a better moral monster(?) simply because (s)he replies in kind — as in trouble sleep yanga go wake am, Fela-speak?

Another apologia: Iran, Israel and allied global hot spots speak of journalism’s Afghanistanism, particularly when Nigeria has more than its fair share of terror troubles. Why go shooting in Iran, Israel, when Boko Haram, in our backyard here, is quite a handful?

Well, fulsome apologies!

But this Afghanistanism portends Armageddon for today’s close-wired globalised world where a little, even playful fireworks could cause massive explosions elsewhere, if not in real combat then in great human misery. If you still doubt, witness the current Europe refugee crisis.

With Ghadaffi’s Libya state destroyed, and Syria under siege and the Islamic State (IS) in devilmay-care mass murder, Europe suddenly finds itself victim of a roaring ocean of refugees, which ferocious wave it cannot roll back.

With the latest rhetoric from Teheran and Tel Aviv, the world has something to fear: the Armageddon to come, from terrorism and counter-terrorism.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spiritual leader of Iran’s 21st century theocracy, left very little to speculations, dismissing Israel as a Zionist (read

check into the world-class hospital he said he had built in Uyo – a facility that is at par with, if not superior to, any other anywhere in the world, equipped to handle every ailment and every emergency, one designed to serve as the final destination for medical tourists in Africa and the wider world?

A chopper could have ferried him right to the helipad atop the facility in a fraction of the time and the cost of flying him to the UK, and saved him all the pain and discomfort.

They have been asking: Has he no faith in the world-class hospital that is one of his signature achievements?

Governor Godswill Akpabio deserves the benefit of the doubt on this one. Surely, he must know what works best, unlike his misguided critics.

But these are definitively times out of joint.

So far, only President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have given the public a glimpse of their assets. And if what I am hearing about the twain in this respect is anything to go by, public office just lost its allure.

Why submit yourself to it when everyone knows your net worth, when you cannot create the illusion of affluence nor feign penury, and when importuning relatives and acquaintances you’ve been fobbing off with disingenuous excuses now have proof you could be much more supportive if you were not such a skinflint?

I have with my own ears heard people ask: What is Buhari doing with 270 cows and four cars and several homes and a bank deposit close to N30 million, given his ascetic lifestyle? He doesn’t need all that stuff, especially now that he has become a ward of the Nigerian state. Why doesn’t he give it all to his

adoring talakawa?

Would they have idolised him so much if they knew that, for all practical purposes, he was not one of them, merely one who empathises with them? And now that they know his net worth, would they still hold him in high adoration?

Henceforth, Buhari can expect to be bombarded with requests for financial and material assistance from his personal abundance by supplicants who now believe with growing confidence that he will have to find an excuse other than insolvency for not meeting their requests.

If they cannot get to him directly, they will harass his relations in Daura, who will in turn harass him. If the Daura people cannot get to him directly, they will harass the First Lady, who will pass on the message and perhaps even do a little harassing of her own so as to get them off her back.

I do not envy Osinbajo, in the least. With almost a million dollars, plus close to N100 million in liquid cash, not counting homes in the UK and in the most opulent neighbourhoods in Lagos, his place is now assured, in the popular consciousness at least, in the ranks of persons of great wealth.

Nobody will be fooled by those nondescript suits of which he is so fond, a carryover perhaps from his days as a law professor, nor by the modesty that becomes him so well. He has money in the bank, and he will now be judged by how readily he is willing to share it with those who assert a claim to his estate, rightly or wrongly.

If a relation wants him to help put a marbled roof on an uncompleted bungalow, and another wants him to assume responsibility for tuition and fees for a distant cousin who has just gained admission to the University of Saskatchewan for a Master’s degree in Advanced Eskimo Studies, and yet another relation wants him to foot the bill for hip replacement surgery in Brazil, he cannot now decline without being judged positively heartless, what with all those millions.

You now know why everyone is rooting for public officials to declare their assets publicly – everyone, that is, except those who have something to declare. Those who have nothing to declare are lying in wait with sharpened knives to carve out their own piece of the action.

That is why the embattled Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has stated for the record that under no circumstance will he make a public declaration of his assets.

Can you blame him?

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above HARDBALL Iran and Israel: Of terrorism and counter-terrorism terrorist) state, which Iran could (“with the grace of God”) erase, 25 years from now. Flush with anti-Israel Teheran loathing, the Ayatollah concluded Zionism was terrorism the globe could well do without.

But a chilling counter-rhetoric has come from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, proud scion of Moses, unfazed Zionist, unrepentant Israeli nationalism hawk: Iran just bit the bullet, for the Ayatollah to dream such dangerous dreams, of liquidating Israel. Mr. Netanyahu grabbed that opportunity to contend that pariah Iran got recklessly voluble, because of the USled global rapprochement over Iran’s nuclear programmes — a programme which, left to Mr. Netanyahu and his hawkish Likud Party, should have been crushed; just to make a vicious scapegoat to other rogue states dreaming such future nuclear nightmare!

Well, what qualifies Israel to have nukes but disqualifies Iran? Perhaps the answer is in Global Real-Politik 101!

Still, these two ancient races are not new to imperialism and power play. In antiquity, Persia (modern day Iran) backed Sparta against Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), just to put Athens’ nose out of joint; and gain a foothold in intra-Greece geo-politics. If David remains

the eternal hero of Israel, it is simply because the war-like modern Israelis have not forgotten how King David gave everyone else a bloody nose in ancient Palestine, en route to securing the ancient Kingdom of Israel before the Diaspora.

Nevertheless, both Khamenei and Netanyahu crassly betray the grim lessons of history — a grave irony indeed, for both historic races. An Ayatollah, Ruholla Khomeini (1902-1989), Iran’s first supreme leader, played God by decreeing the death of writer Salman Rushdie, placing on his head a fatwa, for the temerity of authoring Satanic Verses, which the Iran mullahs decreed ridiculed Islam. But where is Khomeini today? Dead as dodo, while Rushdie, whose death his fatwa proclaimed, appears in no rush to die.

Netanyahu, by threatening to match Khamenei, quarters-for-quarters (hardly a crime, when threatened with mass elimination), forgets threats and sabre-rattling don’t solve problems. They worsen them.

Israel itself, and its modern Palestine homeland, are living and biting examples.

That is why the reasonable globe must step in before Iran and Israel level the world in their star wars of terrorism and counter-terrorism.

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Telephone: Switch Board: 08034505516. Editor Daily:08111813080, Marketing: 01-8155547 . Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja. Tel: 07028105302. Port Harcourt Office: 12/14 Njemanze Street, Mile 1, Diobu, PH. 08023595790 WEBSITE: www.thenationonlineng.net E-mail: info@thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 Editor: GBENGA OMOTOSO