September 22, 2015

Newspaper of the Year

•54 residents dead in Borno’s multiple explosions •Ambode submits 37-man exco list to Assembly •20 Nigerian pilgrims die in Makkah, says commission •Ajimobi: govt will pay arrears of salaries this week •Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 10, NO. 3344 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

P5 P48 P49 P48

HID adopted my wife Page 54 and me, says Danjuma

•www.thenationonlineng.net

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

Falae’s abductors demand N100m

I

th

T was a bad 77 birthday yesterday for onetime Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Chief Olu Falae.

He was abducted on his farm by yet unknown men.

Falae is the traditional ruler (Olu) of Ilu Abo, a village in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State.

His farm in Ilado village, also in Akure North, is about 15 kilometres from his home on Oba Ile Road in Akure,

•Chief Falae

Continued on page 8

N150.00

No TSA for BoI, NNPC, Transcorp Hilton , 10 others From Nduka Chiejina, Abuja

From Damisi Ojo and Leke Akeredolu, Akure

the Ondo State capital.

His abductors, who attacked the over 200 workers on his farm, contacted his wife, Rachael, demanding N100million “within the next 24 hours”.

The police said the 1999 presidential candidate of the All Peoples Party (APP) had been having a running battle with Fulani herdsmen on his farm before yesterday’s incident.

It was learnt that Falae, an economist and technocrat, received a call that herdsmen had again invaded his farm.

He reportedly rushed to the farm where he was attacked and whisked away.

Reporters were barred from speaking with his wife.

Ondo police spokesman Wole Ogodo said the police had deployed 50 riot policemen, led by the Deputy Com-

NEWS

T

•African Export Import Bank President-elect Dr Benedict Okey Oramah (left) and Heirs Holdings Chairman Tony Elumelu entering the hall for Dr. Oramah’s investiture in Cairo, Egypt...yesterday.

HIRTEEN agencies have been exempted from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) —the Federal Government’s antidote to pilfering of revenue that is threatening to kill the system.

A circular exempting the agencies was sent to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).

The exempted agencies are “profit oriented government business entities that pay dividends to the Federal Government.”

The circular addressed to the Director, Banking and Payments System Department of the CBN is dated September 14.

It is signed by M. K. Dikwa, for the AccountantGeneral of the Federation.

•DETAILS ON PAGE 11

•INSIDE: AIB: CAUSE OF BRISTOW HELICOPTER CRASH NOT DETERMINED YET P7

Saraki surrenders Courts refuse bid to stop trial Senate President: I’ll be at tribunal

‘

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

S

ENATE President Bukola Saraki’s battle to prevent his appearance before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) collapsed yesterday.

His lawyers, Joseph Daudu (SAN) and Adebayo Adelodun (SAN), argued passionately against his appearance at the CCT where he is charged with alleged false declaration of assets, but the tribunal restated its order that the Inspector General of Police and other security agencies should arrest Saraki and produce him before the tribunal at 10am today.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja before which Adelodun argued an ex-parte application for an order setting aside the warrant of arrest issued on FriWILL THE day against SaCHIBOK raki refused GIRLS EVER the applica-

?

RETURN?

Cont. on page 8

•Dr. Saraki

I think with the ruling of the Appeal Court, I think that based on legal advice, they have exercised their right and being a law abiding citizen too and the decision of CCT saying that one should be there tomorrow (today), I will be there. I have nothing to hide. The CCT was exercising its own right both at the Federal High Court and at Court of Appeal; so we will be there

’

•THURSDAY, FRIDAY ARE PUBLIC HOLIDAYS P7 ECOWAS SUMMIT ON BURKINA FASO P7

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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NEWS

Tariff hike: NLC, C

•Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode (second left); Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary of Japan to Nigeria, Mr. Sadanobu Kusaoke (left); Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology, Mr. Olufemi AbdulAhmed Mustapha and his counterpart in the Office of Overseas Affairs & Investment (Lagos Global) when the envoy visited the governor at the Lagos House, Ikeja...yesterday.

•From left: Ekiti State ex-Governor Segun Oni; The Elegushi of Ikateland, Eti-Osa Lagos, Oba Saheed Elegushi, All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Muiz Banire; his wife, Funmilayo and Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola after the confirmation of Banire as a SAN at the 2014/2015 Legal Year at the Supreme Court in Abuja...yesterday.

The plans to review electricity tariff has provoked customers of the distribution companies. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) and others are angry. The consumers warn against a price hike in the face of a metering deficit, low investments in infrastructure and lingering insufficient supply. JOHN OFIKHENUA, reports.

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HOULD the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Presidency approve the new tariffs being proposed by the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOS) and Generation Companies (GENCOS), two options will be opened to customers – to pay and depend on the firms for the utility or, find alternative power source.

If the plans are anything to go by, customers of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) will record 25 per increase, Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) will have to contend with 21 per cent hike, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IEDC) have a marginal 1.76 per cent increase to cope with. The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) have 19.25per cent rise to bear. The commission’s Principal Manager, Market Competition and Rates, Aisha Mahmud, dropped the hint at a presentation to stakeholders in the sector, including the generating and distribution companies, of the Consumer Forum and others last Tuesday at Abuja. There was no information yet on what customers of Port Harcourt, Ikeja, Eko and other companies will paying at the frozen point to allow a comparative analysis of their new tariffs.

The upward review in tariff is coming with some contrasts that could confuse analysts to simply admit that NERC is doing electricity consumers the favour of reducing the tariff. Truly, the commission had last year frozen the tariff at a period that the customers were expected to pay more for electricity following its bi-annual minor review. The Federal Government suspended the implementation of the said tariff increases that would have been effective from July, barely two months into President Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency.

NERC tinkers with tariff From left: Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank, Mr. Roberts Orya; Third President, African Export-Import (AFREXIM); Dr. Okey Oramah and Director, Trade &Exchange, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olakanmi Gbadamosi, at the investiture of Oramah as AFREXIM Bank in Cairo, Egypt...yesterday.

•From left: Corps Marshal/Chief Executive, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Boboye Oyeyemi; Head, Media Relations & Strategy, Bisi Kazeem and Deputy Corps Marshal, Motor Vehicle Administration, Charles Theophillus, at the inauguration of FRSC Post-Service Scheme Board in Abuja.

But, today, NERC is reviewing the tariff in accordance with its order.

The baseline for the new review is April 30, when power supply achieved marginal increase over the output recorded in the last review that was not implemented.

Following the surge in power supply in the period under review, the average cost of electricity fell, necessitating customers to pay less. Although the tariff will be lower than the one that was not implemented, it is still higher than what it was when it was frozen last year - the price that is still effective. That the new tariff will be effective retroactively from July this year shows that the customers would pay arrears from July.

In his opening remarks at the stakeholders’ consultation forum, NERC chairman Sam Amadi noted that the public hearing was for a minor review of the few indicators that the electricity market had to track.

Dr. Amadi exonerated the commission from the outcome of the review

which he attributed to economic fundamentals.

He said: “Our job is to track them; we don’t manufacture them; we don’t create them, but we track them to ensure that they are actually reflected in the modem. We retrieve them from the official sources that are authorised by law. So, whatever you see here know that we traced the macroeconomic data as they develop over the months and feed them into our formula so that the outcome will be clear to all. The chairman urged the consumers on active participation since the burden will always fall on them. Amadi asked the advocacy network to help mobilise consumers for participation in the public hearing.

Taking the stakeholders through the procedures and variables the NERC adopted for the review, Mahmud insisted that Section 76(8) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act conferred the powers for adoption of a tariff methodology, the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO).

The MYTO, according to her, provides a 15-year tariff path for the electricity industry, with minor reviews bi-annually in the light of changes in a limited number of parameters (such as inflation, exchange rate, gas prices, and generation capacity) and major reviews every five years, when all the inputs are reviewed with the stakeholders.

But, for this ongoing bi-annual review, Mahmud stressed that NERC obtained the data on the official rate of inflation and exchange rate for the period ending April 30, 2015, from the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It also requested information on generation capacity as at April 30 from the System Operator (SO) of the Transition Company of Nigeria (TCN) and also studied the daily generation report of the SO. The commission requested for information from the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) on tested capacity for all generators.

The inflation rate that NERC received from the CBN, said Mahmud, shows a figure of 8.3 per cent as at April 30, but MYTO2 had an assumption of 13 per cent inflation rate. Subsequently, after the 2014 minor review, the inflation rate was reviewed down to 7.8 per cent.

On exchange rate, she said that the data from the apex bank website shows an exchange rate of N197 to $1 as at April 30. MYTO-2 was benchmarked at the N178 to $1, noting that MYTO-2 also allows a charge of one per cent above the CBN rate to cover Letter of Credit and other bank charges. She said that the adopted exchange rate for the review was therefore CBN’s exchange rate +1 per cent which equals 198.97.

Mahmud explained that gas prices had been regulated since the adoption of the MYTO in 2008 and the regulated prices were applied in the 2012-2016 price regime. She added that the Federal Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Power, the CBN and NERC reached an understanding in August last year on a gas price

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

3

NEWS

C, CNPP, consumers plot against NERC, operators

•Mahmud

•Electricity transformers

of $2.50/mmbtu and transport cost of $0.80/mmbtu. There was a decision that the gas transportation cost of $0.30 should remain until the GENCOS prove otherwise like the Geregu Power Plc., which stated in its gas transportation agreement with $.75.

In terms of generation capacity, she noted that the system operator’s daily report was used to derive the data which the commission adopted for the minor review. She said that the average peak capacity is 3,832MW while average power sent out capacity is 3,404MW. On the whole, a summary of the result of the minor review shows that inflation was 7.8 per cent when it was last amended in 2014. But, it hit 8.9 per cent in April 2015. Exchange rate that was N166.18 when it was last amended last year, soared to N198.97 in April. Gas price/mmbtu which was $2.80 during the last review in 2014 rose to $2.80 in April this year. Energy sent out from transmission stations that were 28,038Giga Watts/Hour (GW/h last year, increased to 32,921GWh in April 2014. The revenue requirement which was N572 billion during the last review surged to N619 billion April this year. Average retail tariff that was N26.2 in the last review dipped to N23.8 this April.

Consequent upon the following parameters, NERC proposed that customers of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company will pay N18.41 as against the N14.70 they paying prior to the review. Had the commission implemented the tariff last year, they would have paid N19.96.

Enugu Electricity Distribution Company that froze R2 N16.44 will pay N19.61 in the new tariff but it ought to have paid N20.89 had NERC implemented the last tariff.

Benin Electricity Distribution Company that its R2 customers were paying N14.82 when the tariff was frozen will now pay N17.94 instead of N18.46.

Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company that its R2 customers were paying N16.44 before it was frozen will now pay N16.73 instead of N18.00.

The presentation was, however, silent on what other distribution companies such as Jos, Yola, Port Hacourt, Eko, Ikeja and others were paying before their tariffs were frozen to allow a comparative analysis.

NERC is now taking advantage of the differences between what customers would have paid last year had it implemented the last tariff and the proposed tariff which is relatively low to announce that it has reduced tariff. The same NERC

Why comsumers kick

E

LECTRICITY consumers are unhappy that the NERC has created a pseudo-monopoly market in the production of meters by locally.

They said the inability of the firms to manufacture enough meters for consumers was encouraging crazy billing by the DISCOS’.

A consumer, who identified himself as Mr. Joe Ajudo complained that the NERC has created a pseudo-monopoly for local meter manufacturers in terms of revenue generation. This negligence of the commission, according to him, has culminated in the inability of the firms to meter accurately and the reluctance of customers to pay. He urged NERC to address the issue of metering alongside tariff hike.

A power consumer, who is also the Publicity Secretary, Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said that there is no basis for tariff hike in the sector since the present power supply is only marginal.

He submitted that it is obvious that the investors in distribution and generation companies are the ones compelling the commission to increase the tariff. According to him, since investment in power companies is for a long time, the operators should not be in a hurry to recoup their investment in a while. Okechukwu advised the companies to suspend price hike until power supply increases significantly.

Any arbitrary tariff hike is tantamount to double taxation, he said, stressing that the government must shield consumers from double taxation.

Okechukwu said: “We don’t want the customers to pay double taxation. Any increase that is arbitrary is double taxation. Investors should bear in mind that

what they invested in is like a marathon investment. It is not a day matter. With privatisation we have given it to them and let them not be in a hurry to recover their money. From all indications they are the ones pushing NERC. Power investment in generation and distribution is not a one-day thing.”

The General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Dr. Peter Ozon-Eson, said the organised labour was yet to get the details of the tariff review. He reiterated that the congress has always held that tariffs from the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) are already exorbitant.

He noted that the labour leaders have always warned the commission not to approve any tariff increase with a corresponding improvement in power supply in such a way that consumers no longer need alternatives to power from the distribution firms.

Ozon-Eson, who is also the chief economist of the NLC, said: “I don’t have the facts with me now. But, generally our argument has been that the tariffs are already very high, and the consumers should not be subjected to further hikes. This is particularly in view of the fact that electricity supply has not stabilised as people still have to make alternative arrangements -provision for standby generators and all that. To now increase tariff is to make the total bearing of energy provision to become too burdensome on the consumers.

That has been our general position.”

From the angst of the consumers, it is clear that they are poised for a showdown on the issue of tariff hike.

Although, they remain at the mercy of the commission and presidency, only time will tell who will bow first to pressure.

The NERC’s position

‘

Now that we have some stability we need to move to the next stage. And so, we have now shown what that should be.

This is a formula. It has not yet translated to anybody’s tariff. What the DISCOS will now do is to take this short-fall Company

Current trariff

‘

Proposed trariff

AEDC

N14.70

N18.41

EEDC

N16.44

N19.61

BEDC

N14.82

N17.94

IEDC

N16.75

N16.73

EKEDC

N13.21

Undecided

IKEDC

N13.21

Undecided

seems to be reticent on the fact that the customers will now not only pay

higher, but also pay the arrears of the increase with effect from July.

Rising from the meeting, reporters asked Amadi to justify the increase and the chairman said: “You made a good point, it was frozen. What that means is that we did the analysis the other time, but going by the low level of metering, going by the power supply, the DISCOS could forebear. We told them that they are entitled to this tariff, but we are asking you not to collect it at this stage until you improve.”

Many DISCOS, according to him, did not take the intervention in good fate even as it was clear that it was the global practice that regulators could freeze the market in view of some socio-economic factors.

Amadi stressed that it would have been completely irresponsible of the commission to approve a tariff hike when a new adminstration was just assuming office in June this year. But now, the stage is set for increase because the electricity market is stable and needs to move on.

He said: “Now, the order said six months. It will be unfrozen in June.

June came and I told you why it wasn’t done: because a new government just took over on the 1st of June and that will be totally irresponsible to unlock tariff at that stage. Now that we have some stability we need to move to the next stage. And so, we have now

• Dr. Amadi

shown what that should be. This is a formula. It has not yet translated to anybody’s tariff. What the DISCOS will now do is to take this short-fall. I will show you the new tariff, to see the short-fall. They will put it into their modem and control it for 10 years.”

Unlike the combative usual representatives of the distribution and generation companies at previous NERC public hearings for tariff review, the meeting penultimate Tuesday was very cordial. It was like an adoption of minutes of a previously held meeting because the review serves the interest of the operators.

Speaking, the Executive Director, Regulation, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) , Abimbola Odubiyi, drew attention to the fact that “NBET has already activated the PPA for Olurunsogo and Omotosho, which they are giving us currently . And that is not reflected in the tariff.”

He overlooked the hike as it has favoured his company.

Representative of the Geregu Power Plc., Adebiyi Adenuga, urged the commission to consider the fact that all their commitments are in naira which the exchange rate has affected adversely. He asked the NERC to allow the tariff to address the firm’s loses in the past for the period of arrears the retroactivity of the tariff will cover.

However, some of the consumers at the meeting complained that the distribution companies take advantage of the metering deficit in the market to charge them even when there is little or no power supply.

Speaking, the Mr. Oboma Ekoh of Nigeria Electricity Consumer Advocacy Network (NECAN), noted: “Abuja Electricity Distribution Company is shortchanging consumers particularly in the rural areas. For instance, your tariff before this time was N14.70. And you go to the rural areas in place of R2 you give them C1, you give them A1. I am so sorry I will present you with bills because we have been conducting a research on this. I have collected samples of bills and there is a particular location in Abuja for which I have about 12 bills. In the R2 you collected N248 kilowatts per hour per month. And you billed at N14.70. You go back to people who have not had electricity for an upward of eight months since January and you billed them N4, 000 and you gave them 415kilo watts per hour. The next month you billed them 475 kilo watts per hour. The next month 466, the next month 415. And these billings, within this period there was no light. There was no distribution transformer in those areas. Now, listen to what you people do in the field. They give you a bill of N30, 000 and ask you how much you are going to pay. You tell them instead of N30,000 you have to pay N10,000. What are the parameters?

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

NEWS H.I.D. AWOLOWO (1915-2015)

•Former Defence Minister General Theophilus Danjuma (right), his wife, Daisy and renowed poet Odia Ofeimun at the Ikenne home of the Awolowos...yesterday

•From left: Daughter of the late Mrs Awolowo, Mrs Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, Lagos State Deputy Governor Mrs Oluranti Adebule, wife of the governor Mrs Bolanle Ambode; another daughter of the deceased Mrs Tola Oyediran and Iyaloja-General Folasade Tinubu-Ojo ...yesterday

•Pupils of Awolowo Nursery and Primary School, Ikenne...yesterday

•Mrs Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu greeting a cleric from the Remo Central Methodist Church of Nigeria. With them is Bishop Job Osuolale Gboyega.

•Members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who visited the Awolowos’ residence...yesterday

•Trumpeters at the late Chief Awolowo’s house...yesterday PHOTOS:JOHN EBHOTA AND MUYIWAHASSAN

IBB: her death a personal loss

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ORMER Military President Gen Ibrahim Babangida has condoled with the Awolowo family on the death of their matriarch, Mrs. Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo.

In a statement yesterday, Babangida said: “ Her death comes to me as a personal loss and strikes a sense of nostalgia in me.

“The Awolowos- the late sage and his soulmate-both lived exemplary and selfless life, promoting the common good for the human society.

“I have enjoyed a personal and warm relationship with the Awolowos, especially from my days in office at Dodan Barracks, when she accompanied her husband to visit me when I returned from a medical trip abroad.

“It was the first time any government was enjoying such kind of honour of a visit that was more personal than official.

It is not an accident of history that she is being celebrated today as she joined her ancestors. This

•Senator Tinubu shocked unique celebration is in recognition of the unassailable fact that she lived a fulfilled life tempered by love for mankind, respect for constituted authority, and peaceful co-existence amongst all the different tongues and tribes in the country.

The senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, in her condolence message, said: "I received the news of the death of Mama HID Awolowo with great shock and sadness. The passing of the matriarch at 99 was still unexpected.

“We all had gotten use to having her around and her unexpected departure has left us empty. Her demise will deny us of her vast knowledge on morals, political values and strength of character.

"I personally will miss mama whose life and commitment had a great

effect on me. I knew her to be a woman of substance. Her commitment to the ideals of a just and equitable society was without doubt. Her consistency and firm believe in God remains an inspiration for me. Her death is indeed a great loss not only to the family.

“Mama Awolowo advocated for women emancipation and youth development. She was also a lover of peace and invested her time in preaching for oneness. She brought a personal and family touch to politics . She remains an asset to our long political history.

“Mama Awolowo will for long be remembered for sustaining the Awolowo political legacy and for promoting the values of tolerance, good society and religious and political harmony.

“I pray God to comfort her family, relatives and all those whose lives she touched dearly.”

•Former Minister of External Affairs Prof Bolaji Akinyemi signing the condolence register...yesterday.

•Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora (left) and former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola ...yesterday

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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NEWS ‘Ojude Oba Festival’ll be unique’

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IGERIAN Breweries Plc has pledged that it will ensure this year’s Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu-Ode is unique.

The company announced two of its leading brands, Goldberg Lager Beer and Maltina, as major sponsors of the festival.

Speaking at a news conference on the festival in Ijebu-Ode, the Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Kufre Ekanem, saidGoldberg would fete consumers at the festival. He said the brand would set up a beer village at the Dipo Dina stadium, Ijebu-Ode where locals and tourists would enjoy Goldberg Lager Beer amid fun fare.

The Corporate Affairs Adviser, who was represented by the Public Affairs Manager West/Mid-West, Mr. Tayo Adelaja, also said Maltina would be available to share happiness with the people at the festival.

The Chairman of the 2015 Ojude Oba Festival Committee, Wahab Osinusi, hailed Goldberg and Maltina for lending support to the festival.

He said: “Maltina has been supporting the festival for several years. Goldberg lager beer is making its second appearance as a sponsor of the Ojude Oba festival. Wetrustthat our partnership will be enduring and mutually beneficial. We have been authoritatively informed that the company will be putting together a Goldberg beervillage in Ijebu Ode from next week until the end of the festival, in addition to a music carnival.”

•From left: Assistant Brand Manager, Maltina, Phoebe Larry-Izamoje; Brand Manager, Goldberg, Mr. Mfon Bassey; Vice Chairman, Ojude Oba Organising Committee, Chief Olu Oluboyejo; Chairman Ojude Oba organising committee, Otunba Wahab Osinusi and Corporate Affairs Manager, West, Mr. Tayo Adelaja at a news conference on Ojude Oba Festival in Ijebu Ode.

‘PDP peddling falsehood about Akwa Ibom tribunal, DSS’

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LL Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday flayed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over an alleged orchestrated campaign against the Akwa Ibom Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Department of Security Services (DSS) to misinform the public.

The party alleged that the PDP has embarked on the campaign of calumny to distort facts, denigrate the security services and paint its flag bearer, Mr. Umana Umana, in bad light.

APC National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed told reporters in Lagos that PDP Acting Chairman Uche Secondus, National Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh, the Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State PDP, Mr Paul Ekpo, and Akwa Ibom State AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice Mr Uwemedimo Nwoko have unjustly accused

By Emmanuel Oladesu

the APC of collaborating with the DSS to upturn the result of the election.

The Publicity Secretary said the DSS moved to Akwa Ibom State, following hints that the electoral commission was attempting to destroy evidence relating to the election petitions.

He said: “The INEC disobeyed three valid orders of the tribunal authorising the petitioner to conduct forensic examination.

After discovering that we had taken photographs of ballot papers from Itu, Ibesikpo, Ika and Uruan that showed the twisted and mangled state of the election material, they stopped us from scanning the remaining local government areas.

“On the few days that INEC allowed the forensic examination, their staff turned up several hours late. In fact, we lost the first seven days of the 14-day period because INEC said the

officer with the key to the store where the ballot papers were kept in Abuja was still in Uyo. “We make bold to say that civil servants would not carry on with this level of criminal impunity, if they have not come under some influence that is contrary to the good of society. As a matter of fact, it is a reflection of the impunity that was mindlessly perpetrated under the PDP that the former ruling party would misrepresent legitimate investigation into crimes as harassment.

“We would like the PDP to tell Nigerians which country that operates by the rule of law would tolerate the willful, deliberate destruction of evidence in a matter that is before a court of law.”

Mohammed said the PDP’s allegation is meant to divert attention from its collusion with compromised INEC officers to institutionalise criminal impunity in the electoral process.

He rejected the accusation of misusing security agencies by the APC for political advantage, recalling that the security agents subpoenaed by the party were the ones deployed for election purposes by the PDP government, urging them when necessary to tell the Tribunals what they saw.

Mohammed clarified that the APC was not privy to the reasons for the DSS’ search of the Akwa Ibom Government House, adding that the security agency acted within its area of competence and authority.

He stressed: “We do not see any connection between the search by the DSS and our candidate’s petition before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. We therefore reject any attempt by the desperate and paranoid PDP to cite the DSS action as another instance of the APC-led Federal Government supposed plan to influence the work of the Tribunal. “

54 killed, 95 injured in Maiduguri explosions

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HE Police in Borno State have confirmed that 54 people were killed and over 95 injured in the multiple explosions that hit Maiduguri, the state capital on Sunday night.

Police Public Relations Officer Victor Isuku said the attacks bore the hallmark of suspected Boko Haram insurgents. No group has however claimed responsibility for the action.

Isuku said the suspected Boko Haram terrorists simultaneously detonated four separate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at a mosque and a viewing center in Ajilari T-junction of Maiduguri metropolis.

There are conflicting reports on the figures as eyewitnesses put the figure of the death toll at over 60 with more than 95 injuries.

Some hospital sources corroborated the fatality of over 60.

Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said: “We would like to state that the Nigerian military would not be deterred in its determined efforts of defeating Boko Haram terrorists in the shortest possible time.

“We would like to assure the public also that the terrorists have shown their ugly presence in such areas, there is need for more vigilance, security consciousness and prompt reporting of suspicious persons or group of persons in their midst.

Boko Haram: Army promotes 5,000 soldiers

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HE Army has approved the promotion of 5,000 soldiers fighting insurgents in the Northeast and others involved in other operations, as part of steps to boost their morale.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, made the announcement yesterday in Abuja at the opening of the 2015 Chief of Army

From Jide Babalola, Abuja

Staff third quarter conference held at the Army Headquarters conference hall.

He said the approval of the promotion of the soldiers was one of the many measures introduced by the Army under his command to boost troops’ morale and reposition its operations.

•’This will be among Boko Haram’s last bombings’ •Army chief: Chibok girls’ return our top priority From Duku Joel, Maiduguri

This would enable the security against take appropriate measures against them.”

Chief of Army Staff Lt. General Tukur Buratai yesterday dismissed as mere noise making the claims in a purported audio released on Sunday by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

Gen. Buratai described the audio as “another desperate move by the group to find relevance.”

“I think the new Boko Haram leader, in the latest audio is just trying to sound relevant; but as far as I am concerned, he is irrelevant in the scheme of things, he is irrelevant to me.

“Have you seen any of them coming out apart from the suicide bombings? You can see the number of terrorists that are escaping from their camps; he is just making noise to remain rel-

evant,” he said.

He urged Maiduguri residents to remain calm as measures were being taken to forestall recurrence.

He said the bomb attack had provided clues of the remaining areas the insurgents were operating from in the state.

“Sunday’s bomb blast will be among those that will be the last, you can be counting them; it has opened up another window where we can now focus where these attacks are coming from.

“It will not be possible for them to penetrate other areas; for now we have knocked them off areas along from Yobe and some parts of Borno.”

On the Chibok girls, he said: “The issue of the Chibok girls is very crucial; we are making every effort to see that we clear the terrorists and rescue the girls in peace.

“Despite the progress that is

occurring in the theatre of operation, we know that the girls are somewhere; we are suspecting that they are somewhere but we are not yet sure where they are.

“As soon as this is concluded, we will attempt to see what we can do to bring them back in peace. We will continue to work with the mandate of the President to end the insurgency.

“If we don't see them, then, we can refocus more seriously in order areas. We still believe that the girls will be somewhere within the general area of the forest. We believe that we must find a solution to it.

“It is not just an Army issue, the Air Force is involved and the DSS are also working on it.

The media is also involved in it, everybody is involved.

Generally there is progress in the operation."

Soludo, Fayemi visit Aso Villa From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

F

ORMER governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo and the former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi were separately sighted at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Soludo, who wore a cream-colored kaftan, signed the visitors’ book and went to the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Alhaji Abba Kyari around 5:30pm.

Although it could not be established if he met with President Muhammadu Buhari, but his visit came at a time the President was concluding work on the list of ministerial nominees he would be sending to the National Assembly this month.

Soludo had been quite critical of the financial management of the economy by the Jonathan administration, accusing it of supervising the leakage of 30 trillion naira from the system.

He was also engaged in a war of words with former minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala who expressed reservations over Soludo’s criticism of the last administration.

Fayemi, who wore a dark-coloured kaftan with a cap also entered the Chief of Staff’s office about 30 minutes after Soludo.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

6

AN OPEN LETTER AND A WARNING SIGN AL TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU B UHARI SIGNAL BUHARI ON THE PEOPLE SURR OUNDING HIM AND HIS WIFE. SURROUNDING

Y

our Excellency, I write this open letter to you with due sense of humility and responsibility and with full awareness that you will give this write up a thorough and diligent consideration. I owe you this responsibility as one of the Nigerians that voted for you during the election and I want you to succeed by all means.

As a lecturer with huge international exposure, I had visited several countries and I have read how small nations were transformed into economic giants overnight by their leaders and their productive young men and women – indigenous entrepreneurs. The ASIAN TIGERS is still fresh in our memory. The Four Asian Tigers or Four Asian Dragons is a term used in reference to the highly free-market and developed economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan turned around overnight by young men and women playing in highly free market and level playing field, creating economic prosperity for themselves and for their nations. By the 21st century, all the four nations had developed and metamorphosed into advanced and high-income economies, specializing in areas of competitive advantage. For example, Hong Kong and Singapore have become world-leading international financial centers, whereas South Korea and Taiwan are world leaders in manufacturing information technology.

Their economic success stories have served as role models for many developing countries on how young men and women with good intention and good leadership could turn a desert to a land filled with milk and honey.

But the question is what led these economies to their success? The reason behind their astonishing growth is that they have good leaders and found their comparative advantage using education, individual talents and energy/ entrepreneurship - personal resources of their productive young men and women with strong entrepreneurial capabilities to transform their economies. All of these nations in one way or another became some of the leading exporters to the U.S. and they definitely export more than they import. The key growth factor is that their young men and women that are entrepreneurs created true value, had their people at heart, created entrepreneurial activities in a sincere way with level playing field provided by the government. These are true entrepreneurs that don’t lean on the octopus leader or government to jump up, the queue of success, taking undue advantage to the misery of their people.

Unfortunately, Nigeria as a nation is not blessed with too many sincere and kind hearted young entrepreneurs that love their people and that can fight for their national economy. The so called Nigerian economic tigers or financial gurus are at best, mere opportunists, adding no value to the nation in the truest sense of it as Asian Tigers did to transform their economies. The Tigers we have here are wild animals, devourers , cornering and ravaging common wealth and resources to themselves, sucking the nation dry, by running around every leader that comes to power , using all means possible.

They are in the major and key sectors – Banking and Financial services, Oil and Gas and Construction industries. These are our own economic tigers are economic devourers and no wonder our economy has not progressed when the anchor of the

economy is entrusted to the likes of them by unsuspecting Presidents and Political leaders.

They corrupt even the political leaders to have their way.

For those in the banking industry, they are the owners of the banks,(forget the appendage of Plc.). They take money from their banks at will, to fund their private ventures, building skyscrapers all over town, like Babylonian empire. Some set up PROJECTS for personal aggrandizement and image laundering saying they can feed everyone in the continent when many of their siblings and people in their villages are looking for money / seed capital for petty trading and small scale businesses.

Charity begins at home they say.!.

It is an axiomatic fact that 80% of bad loans in their banks are traceable to them. The loans they write off, as soon as they are booked.

They employ innocent and trusting young ladies and turn them to corporate prostitutes with skimpy dresses all over town, looking for deposits even from the herbalists to shore up deposit position and create more money for them to devour. CBN has not been able to track this ugly end because they keep more than five books for different agencies - CBN, Tax, NDIC, Management, Shareholders. One day CBN will take a bold step to ensure that all banks core banking applications are the same and run by an independent team managed and controlled by the CBN and data cannot be manipulated again. That will be the day that their empire will collapse.

The second set of wild Tigers are in Oil and Gas. They are worse than the former. They are the ones that will bribe their way into the President to get all forms of NNPC allocation – PMS/ Gasoline, DPK/ Kerosene, PMS, Gas, Nafta, even crude oil. (crude swap) They corner all these resources having sold a dummy to the President to approve such huge allocation for their companies. The strategy is that they tell the President that they have very efficient platforms and can get all these products and start selling them at below what NNPC is doing. They can even say they will sell PMS at N30 per litre and Kerosene at N15/ litre. Once they get the nod to go ahead and corner all these resources, they will sell two trucks at these agreed prices and invite all the Press men to broadcast this for several months , the other several millions of litres will be backloaded overnight to the neighboring countries.

They are the kings of subsidy fraud (EFCC will tell you this) and huge volume of PPMC liquid products kept with them at their storage tanks were never accounted for till date. The real wild Tigers!.

These wild Tigers took loans from banks and never paid back. The loans were taken to AMCON and in no time we heard they had paid back. How?. They ended up on the magazines first pages as TURN AROUND EXPERTS. Who is fooling who?. These are people that nearly collapsed the banking sector. Huge and worthless assets including moribund tank farms taken from them were returned to them saying they had paid back. How?. How much did AMCON sell those assets to cover trillion of cash pumped with the state money.?. If the assets were that valuable, why didn’t they sell on their own and pay back the banks before the banks declared them as serial debtors and passed them to AMCON. ?. Your Excellency, you will weep if you know the huge fraud these people committed against the Nation in AMCON. The new Board of AMCON should check the value of cash used to bail out banks

from bad loans and how much AMCON sold these assets and what has been recovered from these people todate. Some assets were sold as peanuts to friends and cronies in Oil and Gas sector. Lest I forget, this , class of Tigers lives larger than the former group and unnecessarily flamboyant too. They keep permanent suites at Hilton/Transcorp, pack idle yachts and private jets everywhere. This is because many in this group are halfilliterate people (money miss road people) unlike smart ones in the banking sector.

These are the type of Tigers we have in Nigeria. Devourers .!.. How can the economy grow under their watch and yet they want their platforms to be used to distribute common goods to people.

The third categories are in the construction sector. They are not worse but not better either. They are into unfair trade practices to survive inform of waivers, tax rebates, assessing FX official window at a subsidized rates and taking at least 60% of total FX sales every week or whenever CBN sells and round trip the currencies instead of buying materials or equipment for manufacturing. They became monstrous Monopolists over time.

How can a national economy survive in this atmosphere of unfair trade practices.?. They abhor competition and can fight dirty to end up other people businesses. This is not the way those countries stated above became Asian tigers. If they are confident of their skills and business wizardry, why not setting up a plant in Western Europe and South Africa ? and let us see the outcome. They ravage weak African countries that are even worse than us with malpractices and having a field day. I recall a Nigerian company that set up a branch In South Africa thinking all these malpractices here are over there. It was shut down in no time.!

COMMON TRAITS OF NIGERIAN TIGERS. Our wild Tigers have common traits that our PRESIDENT must know.

1.

They run around the wives of Mr. PRESIDENT or his close associates to have an audience with the unsuspecting President.

They start by funding the first ladies pet projects , presenting false images as saints, to become close, just to have an audience with the unsuspecting President in order to present proposals, however , with bobby traps , flavored in a way as if they are thinking of common people and they want to help the government to achieve its social goal of improving the lives of our people. They will tell the President , they have the platforms to do this better than the Institutions set up such as NNPC , PPMC to play the role. This is common amongst Oil and Gas Tigers. They will say that PMS can be sold at N30/litre .

Infact, Kerosene and Diesel will be free and yafun yafun at their depots under them if their companies alone handle the business project.

It is a trick. Only a few litres will be sold at the agreed price, the rest will be back-loaded and taken to the neighboring countries to earn dollars to the misery of our people. Your Excellency, tell Her Excellency to watch out for devourers and you too should be vigilant like a strong soldier you are. I advise you rather strengthen institutions and agencies we have and get credible Nigerians to run them instead of allocating common resources to one or two people that will further impoverish us. The past leaders know better now.

2.

They have a common goal. To corner

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 common wealth resources and create un - level playing field so that they are always ahead. They abhor competition and they play dirty to kill other people businesses. The only victim is the national economy and the people. They want to get all the national licenses to themselves using all the dirty tricks in the whole world. The focus is their empire and not the larger economy as Asian Tigers did. They amass so much wealth to themselves that they have become untouchable. All the regulatory agencies are in their pockets. A few months ago , one of them stole the Petroleum product kept in his storage facility and the victim ran to the Police Station, the poor man was told to go back and beg him. So sad he cannot be arrested. !.

No wonder they go in a convoy of arms and ammunitions as if they are going for Boko Haram war.

3.

They like to take photographs with world class leaders and established people to launder their images. They also pay for awards we all see they display in the national dailies. They fight to pay for these awards and the organizers play to their egos. They behave like small children in the villages during festivals running around photographers. They position themselves to sit close to the world leaders at functions and employ photographers to be watching them and take photo shots once they are with the world leaders and get it, the second day , it appears on the front pages of the Nigerian National dailies as if the world leader had come to visit them. They gate crashed into some international events just to take photo-shots.

The world leaders cannot be deceived as they built their nations and expect our African Tigers to do like wise. You cannot be respected in as much as the economy under which you claim you a titan is failing by the day. The cross of this poor economy is not on the politicians alone . It rubs on the people that claim to be African economic Tigers. That is why a few foreigners come to Africa to take part of the ill gotten wealth from them under organizing or helping them to run their projects or foundation.

4.

They simultaneously fund two opposing parties , so that irrespective of the one that comes to power they can penetrate. Many of these wild animals - Tigers funded PDP heavily and voted for PDP to thwart the aspiration of Nigerians, even to the extent of being chief campaigners and now PDP had lost power, they have started hob-nobing Mr President and his wife now. I am sure the man of Otuoke , Mr Jonathan had learnt his lessons from these evil men that had plundered our nation to economic mess. How I wished other leaders could learn from this.

5.

They sponsor articles, events and publications to swerve government to take decisions or enact policies that will favor their businesses and care less if such policies will send many to foreign land as refugees. Only God knows how much they had spent to pronounce devaluation as the only solution to our current economic problem so that they can continue to get FX from CBN and round trip them to acquire more wealth. They have forgotten that Word business leaders don’t engage in such malpractices . They earned it. This only happens in the dark continent of Africa.

CONCLUSION Mr President. You came on merit and with the support of the Almighty Allah. You cannot have this chance anymore if you throw it away. It will be a sad commentary on our Nation as you are the only hope of the masses. Please do not build your economic programmes and policies among people with the dark and blemished past. How can people that ran their businesses aground, took loans and never paid back and only AMCON saved the banks they borrowed money from , will now present platforms to you on which we want to build our national economy on?. That will be disastrous. We advise you rather strengthen the national institutions and appoint credible people to manage them. They are better evil.

We also advise that your searchlight should be on AMCON as the fraud perpetrated by these wild tigers with the connivance of the past Board will beat NNPC hands down if they are taking awards of ignominy for fraud. AMCON must account for every penny CBN gave to them and how far they had either prosecuted or recovered the bad loans they took from banks. Let the audit team check each asset sold by AMCON and the true value of those assets. The fraud level is mindboggling.

We pray that God continues to guide you and keep you from evil Tigers masquerading as business leaders. Tell them to go and face their businesses and leave you alone.

Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria.!

Written by Ola Aroluke, a lecturer, Social Crusader and Public commentator.

7

NEWS

AIB: cause of Bristow helicopter crash not determined yet

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HE Accident Investigation Bureau ( AIB) said yesterday that it is yet to determine the cause of crash of one the Sikorsky 76 chopper operated by Bristow Helicopter which went down into the Lagos Lagoon killing six passengers on board on August 12, 2015.

At a news conference yesterday , the commissioner of the accident bureau , Dr Felix Abali, said investigations were ongoing but preliminary findings by accident investigators reveal that the “ push rod assembly of the chopper became disjointed and could not hold together “.

He said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash.

Abali said the Abuja laboratory of the AIB could not download the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

The preliminary report by AIB reads :” The cause of the accident has not been fully determined, as the investigation is still ongoing. Meanwhile, interim safety actions have been taken by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Sikorsky by the issuing of Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) and Alert Service Bulletin (ASB) respectively on the Main and Tail Rotor Servo Input Rod assembly. This is to

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

ensure the continued airworthiness and security of the assemblies. Bristow Helicopters Nigeria . Ltd. had earlier issued two Technical Directives as a safety action.

“During the preliminary investigation AIB discovered that the Forward Main Servo Input Control Pushrod Assembly had failed.

“The Control Pushrod tube separated from Control rod end with the bearing and the Jamnut. The Jamnut was loose and was not seating against the Control Rod. “National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Laboratory preliminary metallurgical examination of the Forward Main Rotor Servo Input Control Pushrod revealed that the separation was a pre-impact condition .

“The flight crew were certified and qualified to conduct the flight in accordance with applicable Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs).

The Captain and Co-pilot had 1077:45 and 570 hours on the aircraft type respectively.

“The crew and passengers life vests were not activated. The crew did not declare an emergency, according to FDR data the upset lasted for 12 seconds.

“There were twelve souls on onboard including two crewmembers at the time of the accident.

“The aircraft crashed into the Lagos Lagoon at the Oworonshoki area of Lagos.

“There was no evidence of fire outbreak before and after the crash.

“The life rafts on the helicopter were observed deflated and floating in the Lagoon but were not deployed.

“The wreckage of the helicopter was confined in a small area around the crash site in the Lagoon.

“The main wreckage was submerged in the Lagoon. The two raft inflation bottles under the crew seats were still fully charged.

“The helicopter was manufactured in 2003 with total Airframe Hours of 10,258:09 13.

The helicopter was maintained in accordance with approved Maintenance schedule. 14. No records of any deferred defects in the tech log.

“The Control Pushrod tube separated from Control rod end with the bearing and the Jamnut. The Jamnut was loose and was not seating against the Control Rod. 16. The flight departed from the SEDCO Express Rig and was uneventful until the crash.”

Buhari to host Special ECOWAS Summit on Burkina Faso crisis

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will today host an Extraordinary Summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government in Abuja.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the main item on the agenda of the summit is the political situation in Burkina Faso.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the Heads of States and Government of ECOWAS to ensure that the democratic process in Burkina Faso is protected.

In a statement in Abuja yesterday by the President of Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the NLC said: “The coup last Wednesday that saw the arrest and detention of the Interim President and Prime Minister of Burkina Faso by a group of Military officers is a challenge to democracy not just for that country, but the African

•NLC condemns coup From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

Continent, and merits strong condemnation by all wellmeaning people throughout the world.

“At the last count, the Junta has killed about 10 persons and injured over 100 in the p heightened anti coup protests in the country.

“More worrisome, and an indicator to scuttling the democrat-

ic process in Burkina Faso, is the insistence by the Coupists that its installed Head of state, General Gilbert Diendere, a longtime associate of ousted President Blaise Campaore, should head the Interim government.

“This is against the recommendation of the Mediators on the crisis, the President of Senegal and Benin, that the Interim President lead the country to the polls come the new date of November 20 this year.”

Fed Govt declares Thursday, Friday public holidays From Gbenga Omokhunu and Grace Obike, Abuja

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HE Federal Government has declared Thursday and Friday as public holidays to mark this year’s Id-elKabir celebration.

Ministry of Interior’s Permanent Secretary Abubakar Magaji, in a statement yesterday, urged muslim faithful and Nigerians to extend love, peace, empathy and tolerance for the overall development of the nation.

Ondo APC elders spank Mimiko

T

HE Ondo North Senatorial Elders Assembly, a group within the All Progressives Congress (APC), has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari “on his laudable achievements in the last 100 days in office”.

The elders, in a communique after their meeting, decried Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s running of the state.

The communiqué reads: “ The Assembly observed with dismay and utter disappointment, the state of infrastructural decay all over the state inspite of the huge amount of resources available to the state government “It is unacceptable for Ondo State workers and pensioners to be owed salaries and allow-

•Mimiko

ances for over three to six months in view of the bailout funds received by Ondo State from the Federal Government.

“The Assembly noted the pronouncement of Governor

Olusegun Mimiko on the conduct of Local Government elections and observed that ODIEC (Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission) is yet to come up with appropriate guidelines and formal pronouncements. The Assembly therefore viewed the governor’s announcement with reservations.

“ODIEC is hereby urged to come up with necessary notifications and guidelines on the proposed local government elections in the state.

“The Assembly notes the numerous number of governorship aspirants from the zone and resolved that whoever emerges from the senatorial district should be supported by all.”

8

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

NEWS Falae’s abductors demand N100 million Continued from page 1

missioner (Operations), Mr. Ishola Abdulahi, to Falae’s farm.

He said: “For now, I cannot conclusively say whether it is kidnapping or not. But what we learnt from his Chief Security Officer (CSO) is that the Fulani herdsmen came to attack them on the farm.

“But before now, they have been having a running battle over the grazing on his farm.

There was a time he reported them and two of them were arrested and brought to the Police Command where they made an undertaking.

“So they came today and launched an attack. Two of the workers were injured. Others fled into the bush and we were told that “baba” was whisked away.

“Immediately we were alerted, 50 policemen were deployed,” he said.

The state government described the abduction as “unfortunate”, saying the security of the country had deteriorated to the level of abducting a personality of Falae’s status.

Commissioner for Information Kayode Akinmade, said an

urgent security meeting had been summoned.

He assured the family members that the government will do everything possible to ensure Falae is rescued alive.

The Asamo of Akure, High Chief Rotimi Olusanya, said: “We are surprised. I don’t really know what the old man has done?

“He does not have money. He is an old man. We are shocked.

The Deji of Akure, Oba Aladesulu Aladetoyinbo, has made efforts to contact the state government. We appeal to the security agencies to do something about it urgently.

“I am hearing that Chief Falae has issues with the Fulani herdsmen for the first time.

Anyway, we’ve not received details of the kidnapping. But if that is the case, it is just unfortunate.”

The Director of Administration and Publicity of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Yemi Olayiwola, described the incident as “unfortunate”. Falae is the national chairman of the party.

Another SDP chieftain in Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde, called for Falae’s unconditional release.

He described the septuagenarian as a statesman who has dedicated his life to ensuring good life and social justice of all Nigerians.

In October 2013, Falae’s son, Deji, a commissioner in the Olusegun Mimiko administration died in a plane crash while on a delegation taking the body of the late Governor Olusegun Agagu from Lagos to Akure.

The state has recently witnessed a series of kidnappings.

In July, the Regent of Akungba-Akoko, Mrs. Toyin Omosowon, was kidnapped on her way to Akungba after attending a programme at Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA).

She spent two weeks in the kidnappers’ den before being rescued by security agents.

In August, Mrs. Omogbene Adeborile, the mother-in-law of the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom in Ilaje Local Government Area, Oba Frederick Akinruntan was abducted at Igbotako in Okitipupa Local Government Area.

She was released after one week in captivity.

The former chairman, Ondo State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Ibrahim Jimoh, was also abducted.

•President Muhammadu Buhari (right) receiving the Dein of Agbor Kingdom, HRM Benjamin Ikechuku Keagborekuzi I at the President Villa, Abuja...on Sunday night.

I’ll appear before CCT today, says Senate President

S

ENATE President Bukola Saraki will appear before Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) today to answer charges of alleged false declaration of assets.

Saraki told reporters at the National Assembly that he believes in the judicial system.

The Court of Appeal yesterday turned down Saraki’s appeal for a stay of execution of the ruling of the CCT, which ordered the Inspector General of Police to arrest and produce him at the tribunal yesterday.

Saraki told reporters that based on legal advice and as a law abiding citizen, he will make himself available at the CCT. The Senate President insisted that he had nothing to hide to prevent him from appear-

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Abuja

ing before the CCT. He said: “Well, I think with the ruling of the Appeal Court, I think that based on legal advice, they have exercised their right and being a law, abiding citizen too and the decision of CCT saying that one should be there tomorrow (today) I will be there. “ I have nothing to hide. The CCT was exercising its own right both at the Federal High Court and at the Court of Appeal so we will be there.

“The most important thing is that I believe in the process and I will ensure that I will be there in the morning.”

Also a statement by the Special Adviser (Media) to the Senate President, Yusuph Olaniyonu, entitled “Saraki: I

will be at the Tribunal Tomorrow”, noted that Saraki will appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal today.

It added: “While the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had stated and maintained that he is ready to submit himself to due process of the law on any issue concerning him, he also believes that he has an inalienable right to resort to the same judiciary for protection when he feels his fundamental rights are about to be infringed upon.

“The Senate President is a law abiding citizen and his absence from the tribunal was based on legal advice he received from his counsel that it is not necessary for him to appear before the tribunal at this stage since the jurisdiction of the tribunal and the process of

initiating the matter are being challenged before the Federal High Court Abuja.

“Following the adjournment for the determination of the motion on notice and the substantive suit before the Federal High Court to 30th of September and the appeal pending before the Court of Appeal adjourned to the 29th of September 2015, the Senate President has decided, as a law abiding citizen, to appear before the Tribunal in the interim.

“Dr. Saraki has taken the decision to attend the Tribunal sitting to demonstrate his respect for the rule of law in spite of his personal reservation on the process of his trial and the purpose it may be intended to serve.

“Dr. Saraki wishes to assure

Nigerians of his absolute belief in the judicial process and is therefore confident that the course of justice would be served at the end of this matter.”

Some Senators yesterday visited Saraki’s office in solidiarity with him.

They included Deputy Senate President Ike Ekwermadu and Deputy Senate Leader Bala Ibn Na’Allah.

Others are: Senators Mohammed Ohiare (Kogi Central), Binta Masi Garba (Adamawa North, Olaka Nwogu (Rivers South East) Mao Ohuabunwa (Abia North), Theodore Orji (Abia Central), Hope Uzodinma (Imo West), Abubakar Abdulrahman (Kogi East), Kabiru Gaya ( Kano Central), Sunny Ogbuoji (Ebonyi South) and Obinna Ogba (Ebonyi Central).

CORRECTIONS •In our stories on Olu of Warri, published in last Sunday’s edition, we erroneously referred to Alfred Rewane as the Ologbotsere of Warri. Chief Ogbeyiwa Newe Rewane and not Alfred Rewane was the Ologbotsere.

•The Regent of Warri Kingdom is Prince Eroro Emiko and not Dr Ayu. The former is the head (Oloriebi) of the Ruling Emiko House while the latter is the head of the Ejo family.

Saraki surrenders as courts refuse to stop trial by tribunal Continued from page 1

tion. It ordered Saraki to put the respondents on notice and fixed September 29 for the hearing of his substantive appeal.

At the Federal High Court, Abuja where Adelodun equally argued another motion on behalf of Saraki, for an order restraining the CCT and the Ministry of Justice from proceeding with the Senate President’s trial, Justice Ahmed Mohammed refused to grant the order. He adjourned till September 30 for the hearing of Saraki’s pending substantive suit and the objection filed against it by the respondents.

At the resumption of proceedings yesterday before the tribunal, prosecution lawyer Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) on noticing that Saraki was absent, urged the tribunal to inquire from his lawyer, Joseph Daudu (SAN), why his client was absent despite the undertaking he gave on Friday to produce Saraki in court today.

Jacobs said he prevailed on his client not to execute the bench warrant on account of the undertaking by Daudu. He said he was taken aback that Daudu failed to fulfill his promise.

When asked by the tribunal Chairman Justice Danladi Umar why his client was absent

despite his (Daudu’s) promise to produce him, Daudu said he was not sure the tribunal actually expected him to produce his client.

He said his client would not appear before the tribunal because he was challenging the tribunal’s jurisdiction to hear the charge and that the tribunal was not properly constituted in view of the absence of one of the three judges.

Daudu argued that since the Code of Conduct Bureau/Tribunal Act (CCB/TA) provided that the tribunal must comprise three judges, including a Chairman, it was illegal for it to sit with just a member and a Chairman.

“Whatever is being done here is illegal. I will not want my client to be part of this illegality.

You are sitting illegally. Let us put a stop to this,” Daudu said.

Daudu also urged the tribunal to stay proceedings and await the outcome of an appeal his client filed against the tribunal’s ruling of Friday in which it ordered Saraki’s arrest for not attending proceedings.

He also argued that the Administartion of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, which makes it compulsory for every accused person to first submit himself or herself before a court and take plea before raising an objection

to a charge, was not applicable to the tribunal.

Jacobs faulted Daudu’s argument, insisting that the tribunal was properly constituted. He argued that the CCB/TA only provided for the constitution of the tribunal, but that Section 28 of the Interpretation Act, which has the force of law by virtue of the provision of Section 318 of the Constitution, provides that two members of the tribunal form a quorum.

Jacobs argued that the tribunal could not stop its business just because Saraki filed an appeal. “The Supreme Court has held that where you feel the proceedings are wrong, you do not sit in your house to challenge the propriety or not. You should come before the court,” Jacobs said.

Ruling, Justice Umar said the tribunal disagreed with Daudu’s submissions.

“A cursory look at the 3rd Schedule of the Code of Conduct Tribunal Procedure SubSection C17 provides that the Criminal procedure Code (CPC) and the Criminal procedure Act (CPA), are the laws applicable to the tribunal.

“It therefore follows that by the introduction of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, the tribunal is duty-bound to apply the new

•Daudu...yesterday

ACJA as a law, because it says that the CPC and CPA are no longer valid by the introduction of the ACJA. “The defence counsel has prayed this tribunal to dispense with the appearance of the accused person and the application of the ACJA on the premise that it is not applicable to the tribunal.

“We have decided to take the position that in the interest of the administration of justice, that the accused person is to be made or compelled to appear before this tribunal consequently. That is the generally acceptable norm - that matters involving criminal element, the ac-

cused person must attend court.

“In view of the provision of Section 305(1) of the ACJA and Section 306 of the same Act, the application to stay proceedings in this matter due mainly to the filing of an appeal at the Registry of the Court of Appeal is hereby refused.

“Appropriately, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and other security agencies, as this tribunal ordered earlier, are still, by the order, to arrest and produce the accused person tomorrow, the 22nd of September 2015 at 10 am prompt, to answer to the charges against him.

That is the order of this tribunal,” the judge said.

The tribunal consequently adjourned till 10am today.

After listening to Adelodun move the ex-parte application, the Court of Appeal declined Saraki’s prayer for an order staying the execution of the bench warrant issued against him by the CCT. The appellate court, in a ruling read by Justice Moore Adumein, held that it was not in its character to entertain ex-parte applications, and to interfere with proceedings in the lower court. It ordered that the respondents be put on notice and for parties to return on September 29 for hearing of the motion on notice.

The Court of Appeal won-

dered why Saraki was reluctant to appear before the CCT, noting that “to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal is not a death sentence.” The appellate court said by its rule, it does not grant interim injunction, but that every motion before it must be on notice.

At the Federal High Court, Justice Ahmed Mohammed entertained arguments from lawyers to Saraki, the CCT, the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Federal Ministry of Justice on the motion by Saraki seeking an interim injunction against the CCT, CCB and the Ministry of Justice, restraining them from proceeding with his (Saraki’s) trial before the CCT. Justice Mohamed noted that since the respondents had responded to all the processes filed, filed a preliminary objection, and the parties joined issues, he would prefer not to waste time, considering interlocutory applications.

The judge said in view of the constitutional and radical issues raised by the respondents in their objection, it was better to hear the substantive suit with the objection, he adjourned till September 30.

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Presidency exempts NNPC, PHCN, BoI, 10 others from TSA

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HE Federal Govern ment has exempted 13 government agencies from the current Treasury Single Account (TSA) arrangement related to electronic or e-collection and mop up exercise of government funds from commercial banks.

A circular exempting the agencies was communicated to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).

The exempted agencies of government are “profit oriented government business entities that pay dividends to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

The circular addressed to the Director, Banking and P a y m e n t s System Department of the CBN, with FD/LP2015/C/ ADC/20/1/ /DF as reference number was dated September 14 this year. It was signed

by M K Dikwa, for the Accountant-General of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Finance, Funds Department, Abuja, FCT. The exempted agencies are:

From Nduka Chiejina (Asst. Editor)

Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Bank of Industry (BoI), Nigeria Railway Corporation, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Agriculture, Niger Delta Power Holding Company/National Integrated Power Project, National Communication Satellite Limited, Galaxy Backbone Ltd and Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd. Others are Urban Development Bank, Nigerian Export – Import Bank and Transcorp Hilton Hotel.

The circular titled: Approval to Exempt Some MDAs in Line with the e-Collection Mop Up Exercise , read: “Approval is hereby granted to your bank (CBN) to exempt the Accounts of 13 MDAs (category six) as listed below the mop-up in line with the eCollection Circular No. HCFSF/428/S.1/120 dated 7th August 2015 as these are profit-oriented government business entities

that are to pay their dividends into the Treasury Single Accounts whenever they are declared.”

The circular urged the CBN to “note that in line with the Presidential approval, the following as it relates to NNPC as listed above (S/No.9) under Category 4 should also apply: “That National Petroleum Invetsment Management Services (NAPIMS) remains classified as an MDA that is funded from the Federation Account under Category 4 of the Circular, being the NNPC business unit responsible for the management of the Federal Government’s investment in upstream activities and funded from direct proceeds of oil and gas revenue.

“That NNPC will continue to preserve the status with respect to NAPIMS Operations Account as well as Escrow Account for Third Party Financing in view of the Joint Venture (JV) cash funding currently being experienced; and that all other NNPC’s commercial/business entities

as re-classified as ‘Profit Oriented Public Corporations/Business Enterprises’ under Category 6 of the Circular which requires that only dividends from these entities be paid into the TSA.” When contacted Mr Ohi Alegbe spokesman for the NNPC said the NNPC will continue, as it has always done, to remit its accruals into the Federation Account but that the JV cashcall obligations with its partners will use commercial banks and not the CBN. Chinedu Moghalu of NEXIM confirmed that NEXIM has been exempted from the TSA sheme while Shola Adeyemo of Transcorp Hilton Hotel said the firm is “aware of such a directive.”

An official of BoI who pleaded not to be named said as a developmental institution, BoI does not fall into that category.

He noted that BoI manages intervention funds on behalf of the CBN as a result, the BoI will have to be exempted from the TSA arrangement.

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Kwara grows micro credit scheme to N1.2b

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HE Kwara State gov ernment yesterday said its Micro Credit Intervention Scheme (MCIS), launched in 2012 with a sum of N250 million has reached a cumulative of N1.2billion.

The government added that no fewer than 50,000 small business owners have benefited from the scheme.

Technical Adviser to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed on MCIS Olusegun Soewu told reporters in Ilorin, the state capital assuring that more artisans would benefit from the revolving micro-credit scheme of the state government.

Mr. Soewu added that the state government has set up a new entrepreneurial scheme tagged “Kwara’s Next Entrepreneur” entrepreneurship and competitiveness in the state’s informal sector. The scheme allows existing and new medium scale enterprises to bid for funds to establish or expand existing businesses in the state.

To this end, a sum of N150million has been earmarked and deposited at the Bank of Industry (BoI) for the scheme.

He said that a crop of suc-

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

cessful businessmen had been engaged as managers and captains to scrutinise business plans of interested individuals.

The technical adviser said “the panel of captains include, Mr. Kunle Oyinloye, Managing Director, Infrastructure Bank, The Olofa of Offa, Oba Mufutau Esuwoye II, successful businessman and agro entrepreneur, Mr. Shuaib Ottan, accomplished banker, Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan (rtd): former Chief of Naval Staff and successful agro-Entrepreneur, Mallam Yusuf Olaolu Alli, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Lanre Sagaya, an engineering consultant.

Others are Mr. Waheed Olagunju, Executive Director, Bank of Industry, Chief Tajudeen Owoyemi, Chairman, Avalon Hotel, Offa, and Mr. Gabriel Adewumi, consummate businessman.”

On the duration of the scheme, Soewu said the competition will be held twice a year to ensure that as a many qualifying small businesses as possible benefit from the scheme.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

12

BUSINESS NEWS World Bank to support Lagos farmers

By Daniel Essiet

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HE World Bank is to help Lagos farmers in crease agricultural productivity and enhance market access.

The State Project Coordinator, Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP), Mr Kehinde Ogunyinka who spoke yesterday in Lagos before the award of certificates to participants at its women and youth empowerment training, said 55 persons will be sponsored by theWorld Bank to start their businesses in areas such as rice cultivation, poultry farming and others.

He said 55 persons, which include women and youths were chosen from 125 persons who interested in participating in the training programme.

The Bank, according to him, will support the farmers in three value chains to create agro-business ventures that will be better managed as a step toward boosting livelihoods.

According to him, the World Bank through CADP has helped to lay the groundwork for vitalisation, offering technical expertise, bringing international best practices and engaging stakeholders on building a shared vision to renew agro business development.

To achieve this, he said bank and the state government are determined to improve every element of the value chain, from cultivation, harvesting, to packaging and logistics, to marketing.

Okonjo-Iweala gets int’l appointments From Nduka Chiejina (Asst. Editor)

F

ORMER Minister of Fi nance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala has been appointed into two key international positions.

She is to serve as Chair of the 28-member Board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), an international Public-Private Partnership, which is committed to saving the lives of children and protecting people’s health by improving access to immunisation in developing countries, including Nigeria.

A statement from her Media Adviser, Paul C Nwabuikwu explained that she was elected to the position after a competitive international search process.

“GAVI is a $12 billion multilateral partnership which disburses grants of upwards of $1.8 billion annually to developing countries for immunisation programmes,” the statement added.

GAVI brings together developing countries and donor governments, the World Health Organisation, (WHO) United Nations Education Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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Why Cybercrime Act cannot work Page 42

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Nigeria down in global innovation index Nigeria has slipped in the global innovation rankings for this year.

The country is ranked 128 among the 141 in the latest edition of Global Innovations Index (GII) report. LUCAS AJANAKU writes that policy makers in the nation’s Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector should borrow a leaf from what other countries did to be at the right rungs of the ladder.

Glo allays security breach fears in mobile money Page 42

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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e-Business

Nigeria down in global innovation index N

IGERIA has slipped down the rungs of the ladder in this year’s Global Innovations Index (GII) by Johnson Cornell University and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) while smaller countries in the West African sub-region such as Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, and Senegal—stand out for having made important progress.

According to the report, of the total countries covered by the report, Nigeria scored 128 in ranking while in other parameters such as innovation input, innovation output and innovation efficiency, it scored 13, 109 and 28 respectively.

The 2015 index covers 141 economies around the world and uses 81 indicators across a range of themes – focusing on two sub-indices which track innovation input and innovation output.

Innovation input looks at factors including institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, and business sophistication – while innovation output measures both knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.

Of the 141 countries, South Africa ranked as the 60th most innovative country in the world, with an index score of 37.45. This was down from 53rd in 2014.

South Africa was ranked as the second most innovative country in sub-Saharan Africa – below Mauritius, which was ranked 49th.

“In addition to South Africa, some African countries – in particular Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, and Senegal – stand out for having made important progress,” the report said.

The report which covered 32 countries in sub-Saharan Africa noted that in recent years, three sub-Saharan African countries have reached positions in the upper half of the GII rankings: Mauritius has been in the top half since 2011 and is 49th in 2015 (although down from 40th in 2014); South Africa, which has been in the top half of the rankings in all previous editions of the GII, is 60th in 2015 (down from 53rd in 2014); and Seychelles, which was in the top half of the rankings (51st) in 2014, is down to 65th in 2015.

In addition, six other countries from this region are ranked among the top 100: Senegal (84th), Botswana (90th), Kenya (92nd), Rwanda (94th), Mozambique (95th), and Malawi (98th). However, with 31 missing values, Seychelles ranks first in the list of economies with the highest number of missing values. If one removes Seychelles from the top list for this reason, the top regional performers are Mauritius, South Africa, and Senegal, the report added.

The remaining 23 countries in this region, Nigeria included, can be found at the bottom of the rankings (100 or lower); 10 of them have improved since last year.

Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Rwanda, Kenya, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Uganda—also an innovation outperformer—are among the innovation achievers this year, while Burundi, Niger, Namibia, Angola, Swaziland, Guinea, Togo, Seychelles, Botswana, and Sudan have below-par performances.Countries from this region with the biggest improvement in GII rankings are Malawi and Angola (improving 15 places each), Senegal and Mali (14 each), Mozambique (12), Rwanda (eight), Burkina Faso (seven), and the United Republic of Tanzania (six).

Nearly 50 per cent of the countries with the highest number of missing values (20 or more) are from this region. Because the GII

Some African Countries Captured in the GII Report Indicator

Mauritius

South Africa

Burkina Faso

Kenya

Malawi

Rwanda

Overall

49

60

102

92

98

94

Innovation input

44

54

109

113

111

66

Innovation output

60

61

100

78

89

128

Innovation Efficiency

96

94

85

30

53

134

Indicator

Senegal

Nigeria

Morocco

Muzambique

Egypt

Mali

Namibia

Ghana

Overall

84

128

102

104

83

14

126

79

Innovation input Innovation output Innovation Efficiency

110 72 24

135 109 28

79 84 64

93 97 0.63

108 96 0.68

125 81 0.87

91 119 0.51

116 102 0.69

does not impute values for missing data, including missing values can have a positive impact on some economies’ overall rankings. If only those countries with data coverage of 75 per cent or higher were assessed, Seychelles would lose its second place ranking (it ties for the highest number of missing values), as would Rwanda (95th, data coverage of 72 per cent) and Malawi (98th, data coverage of 71 per cent), which now rank ninth and ninth in the region, respectively.

This would make Senegal number three in the region, and bring in Namibia as 8th, Ghana as 9th, and Uganda as 10th. Conversely, two countries from this region should be commended for having over 90 per cent data coverage: South Africa and Kenya.

According to an article titled: ‘The Global Innovation Index 2015: Effective Innovation Policies for Development’, co-authored by Soumitra Dutta, Rafael Escalona Reynoso, and Alexandra L. Bernard from Cornell University; Bruno Lanvin from INSEAD; and Sacha Wunsch-Vincent from WIPO, noted that the idea that innovation-driven growth is no longer the prerogative of high-income countries alone, while providing tangible examples of effective innovation policies undertaken by developing countries with corresponding positive results in the GII rankings. Furthermore, this chapter discusses the results of this year’s rankings.

According to the authors, Switzerland, the United Kingdom (UK), Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United States of America (USA) are the world’s five mostinnovative nations; at the same time, China, Malaysia, VietNam, India, Jordan, Kenya, Uganda, and a group of other countries are outpacing their economic peers this year.

They said GII leaders have created well-linked innovation ecosystems where investments in human capital, combined with strong innovation infrastructures, contribute to high levels of creativity. “In particular, the top 25 countries in the GII consistently score well in most indicators and have strengths in areas such as information communication technologies and business sophistication, which includes knowledge workers, innovation linkages, and knowledge absorption; they also create high levels of measurable outputs including creative goods and services.

“But innovation is not only about volume: Quality counts, too. In terms of innovation qual-

ity—as measured by university performance, the reach of scholarly articles, and the international dimension of patent applications—the USA holds the top place within the high-income group, followed by the UK, Japan, Germany, and Switzerland,” the authors said.

Top- scoring middle-income economies are narrowing the gap on innovation quality: China leads this group, followed by Brazil and India, fuelled by an improvement in the quality of higher-education institutions.

The GII 2015 confirms the persistence of global innovation divides. Among the top 10 and top 25, rankings have changed but the set of economies remains unaltered (the only exceptions being the Czech Republic, which has made its way into the top 25, and Malta, which has dropped from this list).

For the purposes of this report, economies that perform at least 10 per cent better than their peers for their level of gross domestic product (GDP) are called ‘innovation achievers’.

The 14 middle-income countries outperforming others in their income group—in order of performance—are the Republic of Moldova, China, Viet Nam, Armenia, Senegal, Mongolia, Malaysia, Montenegro, Ukraine, India, Bulgaria, Thailand, Morocco, and Jordan. The eight low-income countries outperforming others in their income group are Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Kenya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, and Uganda.

These innovation achievers demonstrate rising levels of innovation input and output results because of improvements made to institutional frameworks, a skilled labour force with expanded tertiary education, better innovation infrastructures, a deeper integration with global credit investment and trade markets, and a sophisticated business community—even if progress on these dimensions is not uniform across their economies.

According to the authors, on average, the technology gap between developing and developed countries is narrowing. One explanation for this phenomenon is that more and more developing countries outperform in innovation inputs and outputs relative to their level of development.

The GII 2015 studied these ‘outperformers’—namely Armenia, China, Georgia, India, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, the Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Uganda, and Viet Nam—analysing them in

more detail and establishing links between performance and good business practices or innovation policies. They and other countries have realised that technology adoption alone is no longer sufficient to maintain a high-growth scenario; rather, investment in innovation is now crucial to spur further catch-up. As a result, national innovation policy programmes and the corresponding institutional arrangements have flourished in low- and middle-income countries.

The top three economies in the GII rankings for each region are in sub-Saharan Africa, the top three are Mauritius, South Africa, and Senegal; in Central and Southern Asia—India, Kazakhstan, and Sri Lanka; in Latin America and the Caribbean—Chile, Costa Rica, and Mexico; in Northern Africa and Western Asia—Israel, Cyprus, and Saudi Arabia; in Southeast Asia and Oceania, are Singapore, Hong Kong (China), and the Republic of Korea; in Europe, these are Switzerland, the UK, and Sweden; in Northern America, there are only two—the USA and Canada.

The report noted that encouraging signs continue to emerge in sub- Saharan Africa. Following the trend identified in the GII last year, driven by selected countries, the sub-Saharan Africa region has caught up significantly. In addition to South Africa, some African countries—in particular, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, and Senegal—stand out for having made important progress.

Although Latin America and the Caribbean region’s GII rankings have been slow to improve, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico stand out as economies performing above the region’s average GII score. The consistent over-performance of Chile, Costa Rica, and Colombia—in both regional terms and as compared to their peers of similar economic development—is also noteworthy, as is the emergent role of Peru and Uruguay.

Contributing on Benchmarking Innovation Outperformance at the Global and County Levels, Rafael Escalona Reynoso and Alexandra L. Bernard from Cornell University; Michaela Saisana from the Joint Research Centre at the European Commission; Martin Schaaper from UNESCO Institute for Statistics; and Sacha WunschVincent and Francesca Guadagno from WIPO, assessed the list of innovation achievers and pillar outperformers over the period 2011–2014 and identified a select group of 11 innovation

‘In particular, the top 25 countries in the GII consistently score well in most indicators and have strengths in areas such as information communication technologies and business sophistication, which includes knowledge workers’

outperformer economies. They stressed that, at the country level— especially in developing countries—the emphasis on fostering innovation has increased and national innovation policies and programmes are flourishing.

“Although tracking absolute levels of innovation over time is difficult, measuring such progress has become a priority for policy makers who are seeking ways to assess the effectiveness of their innovation policies and innovation systems. This interest has also been permeated by high-level international development-related discussions.

“By tracking global progress in innovation and focusing on those developing countries that out- perform in innovation compared to countries at similar levels of development, the GII can be used to monitor progress in innovation and identify areas of strengths and weaknesses in innovation efforts.

“The analysis within the chapter finds a growing percentage of countries with above-par performance (those that outperform their peers with a similar level of economic development). The number of these innovation achievers continues to increase through the period under study here, namely 2011–14,” the authors said.

Eight economies (China, India, Jordan, Kenya, the Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Malaysia, and Viet Nam) can be signalled as innovation achievers, outperforming their peers on the over all GII score during 2011–14.

Fifteen economies (China, Costa Rica, Georgia, Ghana, Hungary, India, Kenya, the Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Malaysia, Rwanda, Serbia, Thailand, Ukraine, and Viet Nam) outperformed their peers in at least four innovation input or output pillars during 2011–14.

Eleven developing countries (Armenia, China, Georgia, India, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, the Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Uganda, and Viet Nam) are labelled ‘innovation outperformers’ because they conform to the following two more stringent rules: their GII score relative to their GDP is significantly higher than it is for other economies (they attain ‘innovation achiever’ status) for two or more recent years (including at least 2013 and 2014); and they outperform their incomegroup peers in a minimum of four innovation input or output pillars (they are designated ‘pillar outperformers’) for two or more years (including at least 2013 and 2014).

Innovation achievers seem to perform the strongest in market sophistication and knowledge and technology outputs. At low income levels, countries that outperform their peers focus on removing structural obstacles to innovation, such as poor access to finance and poor linkages within the innovation systems.

At higher income levels, efforts concentrate on increasing investments, spurring growth in innovation outputs, and improving human capital.

Although the innovation system literature puts great emphasis on the role of human capital and institutions for innovation and development, these innovation input factors seem to be the most difficult of all inputs in which to achieve good scores, both in general and for lowincome countries in particular.

These results do not necessarily imply a lack of policy interest in these areas, but they might suggest that it is easier to outperform peers in certain inputs, either because efforts to improve these inputs bring more immediate benefits or because peer countries perform particularly poorly in these areas.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

15

COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

LETTER

With parents like these ...

• The Omorieves, and other parents, are no longer moral guides for their children

R

ECENT reports that a man and his wife were apprehended in the act of writing papers for two of their children in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) are sad reminders of the moral quagmire Nigeria finds itself in.

The cheating couple, Frederick and Evelyn Omorieve, were arrested while writing papers in a so-called “miracle centre” in Delta State. Their decision to embark on this adventure in mercenary parenting apparently came from the repeated failures of the children in previous examinations; and the fact that several friends and neighbours had gotten away with similar strategies in the past.

This is the epitome of dysfunctional parenting: the Omorieves were not only unable to keep their children on the right path, they actively steered them down the highway of moral turpitude — and eventual damnation.

In this regard, they are similar to parents who pay others to write examinations for their children and those who bribe invigilators to look the other way while their offspring engage in atrocious acts of blatant cheating.

In addition to exemplifying depraved parenting, the Omorieves have also committed a crime, for which they must be punished. Apart from examination malpractice, they should be charged with conspiracy, impersonation and fraud, at the very least, and must answer for these offences.

The police must ensure that they get

their day in court; perhaps if these crimes are treated with the seriousness that they deserve, Nigerians will be less inclined to dismiss them as “minor” issues, in comparison to kidnapping and armed robbery.

It is difficult to overestimate the extent to which this case reveals the ethical desert that Nigeria has become. This is now a country where a 66-year old retired federal civil servant and his wife feel no shame in perpetrating examination malpractices on behalf of their children, and in fact consider it a worthy act of selflessness on their part.

If what the Omorieves did was morally reprehensible, more troubling is the fact that existing social attitudes and institutions conspired to make it easier for them to commit their crimes. They were not the first to do it: others had also written examinations for relations with resounding success.

The country is riddled with a profusion of miracle centres, compromised supervisors and corruptible invigliators who routinely allow the grossest abuses of the examination process to go ahead in return for money. There are the widespread amoral social attitudes which contend that nothing is really bad or unethical if it results in financial and other benefits.

Fortunately, there are signs that Nigeria has begun to understand the danger of the situation it finds itself in. The most prominent of these signs is the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as president. Campaigning on an anti-corruption

platform and bolstered by unimpeachable personal integrity, Buhari has brought more positive perspectives to the way the country is run. In less than four months, he has shown the citizenry that unethical behaviour will no longer be permitted in public office.

This promising start must be built upon by the Nigerian people. It must be no longer considered acceptable to adopt morally flexible attitudes simply because there is some benefit or advantage to be gained. Ethnic, religious and other primordial interests should no longer determine responses to patently criminal acts.

It is also time that existing legal sanctions against examination malpractices are properly enforced. Even though there is the Examination Malpractices Act of 1999, as well as the amended WAEC Act, culprits rarely go to jail; few are even put on trial.

If these laws are fully utilised, cheating in examinations will be seen as a criminal offence that it is, as opposed to an act of parental love that many misguided citizens consider it to be.

‘If what the Omorieves did was morally reprehensible, more troubling is the fact that existing social attitudes and institutions conspired to make it easier for them to commit their crimes’

No, to capital punishment •But treasury looters deserve stiff and long jail terms, after a swift but fair trial

T

HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), led by its President, Ayuba Wabba and Trade Union Congress (TUC), under its President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama, have thrown their weight behind President Buhari’s fight against corruption.

At a rally both Labour movements held on September 10 in Abuja, not only did they advocate jail terms for looters, they also called for capital punishment for corrupt officials, as obtained in China and India.

Mr. Wabba noted that corruption had badly damaged the core of Nigeria’s national existence, which called for a decisive action to prevent the nation from the brink of disaster.

On the NLC’s support of capital punishment for corrupt Nigerians, Mr. Wabba said, “if such capital punishment can happen in China, India and South Africa, it can also happen in Nigeria; whatever measure that will address the issue of this mind-boggling corruption in the country, NLC will support it”.

Mr. Wabba was particularly sad because he felt that massive corruption in the polity had deprived Nigerians good standard of living, and therefore supports the establishment of anti-corruption courts to try cases of corruption in the country. He then asked the Federal Government “to ensure that all the funds il-

‘We are philosophically opposed to death penalty — not for corruption alone but for any offence’

legally looted from the treasury are traced and the looters brought to book”.

TUC’s Mr. Kaigama, on his part, was especially worried about the inability of governors to pay workers for months on end, while pointing out that Nigeria had not experienced such long bouts of salary non-payments in the last 20 years.

He said that state governments had to rely on federal bailouts, before they could pay monthly salaries, was very bad, sad and scary.

Comrade Kaigame declared: This sad scenario “is due to massive corruption in the country”. He therefore supports the enactment of laws for fighting corruption, and also that all public officers must declare their assets henceforth. Calling for special anti-corruption courts, Mr. Kaigama called for the abolition of joint accounts for states and local governments, adding that such accounts are often abused by state governments.

Organised Labour’s rather grim view on corruption is understandable. The high level of corruption in Nigeria today is abhorrent. Its spread and scope are alarming and threatening.

Given the danger corruption poses to our survival as a people, and how it has promoted poverty and underdevelopment, we quite sympathize with Labour’s stand, canvassing death penalty for those found guilty of corruption.

Still, we are philosophically opposed to death penalty — not for corruption alone but for any offence.

First, we believe death penalty is not the solution, although it would appear to send out dire signals to would-be looters.

So, instead of killing the corrupt — and

given the epidemic, the number of the doomed will add up to a tidy sum — they should be jailed after conviction, and their loots recovered.

So, nobody found guilty of looting should be allowed to go scot free to enjoy his/her loot. But this can only be effective if the trial system is fast and swift, without losing the rigour of prosecution, and fairness of trial. That way, the acused, the immediate victims of his sleaze and the general society will get justice. The moment looters of the public till know they face long years in jail, with its attendant shame and disgrace, we will start getting positive change.

Still, even with a fair, fast and credible judicial process, prevention is still better than cure. So, we advise iron-clad preventive measures, that makes it almost impossible to steal public funds, not to talk of escaping with the loot.

It is good and appropriate that the NLC, as a pressure group that should at all time keep government on its toes in a democracy, is back to its crusading turf. But while we appreciate the effort of the NLC in its support of the fight against corruption by the Buhari administration, we advise that Organised Labour should sustain its regained crusading zest.

In order to be credible and convincing and therefore effective, we believe that charity must begin at home. That means the NLC must put its house in order, doing some soul-searching and self-cleansing, so as to rid its own rank of corruption.

Anything short of this would surely weaken the credibility of the NLC and the TUC in their welcome support for President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade.

Curbing police brutality

S

IR: The spate at which our policemen are taking the lives of innocent Nigerians is very disheartening and embarrassing.

Just last week Thursday, it was reported that a corporal, Aremu Musiliu attached to the Isheri Osun Police Station and his team during an illegal stop and search operation opened fire on a tricycle conveying a tricyclist, Godwin Ekpo, his wife Ekaette and their four children leaving the wife dead instantly while the husband is currently receiving treatment at the hospital.This reportedly happened as result of Ekpo’s mistakenly brushing the policemen van in an attempt to avoid the extortion of the men in uniform.

Putting up levy on citizens especially on commercial motorists by the police has been on for ages. The question that comes to mind is whether the purpose of joining the police is to extort money from motorists at gunpoint. Some have a modernized way of extorting these motorists they make use of touts to get this money; failure to grease their palms might end up disastrous.

This is the only country in the world where you will see innocent citizens get scared at the sight of the black or sky blue uniform; this is as a result of their forceful extortion, unwarranted assaults, and oppression among others.

In other parts of the world, the use of firearms on citizens is prohibited except in a shootout with armed robbers. We should take a leave from civilized countries where there are monitoring units, keeping a close tab on those handling fire arms, because it is believed that when guns are given to individuals without strict supervision the tendency of abuse is high. Not to talk of our police whom you get to perceive alcohol in their mouth when they talk to you.

The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase must act fast on this and save the nation from more tragedy and embarrassment caused by his men, as human life is God’s most precious gift and must be treated with uttermost respect. If they can’t help protect it, they should not take it.

• Solomon Odeniyi, Ondo.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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CARTOON & LETTERS

S

IR: Eze Goes to School by Onuora Nzekwu and Micheal Crowther is a popular recommended text for elementary schools in the seventies. The juvenile literature on the school-life of Eze chronicles the young chap’s determination to go to school despite obvious difficulties. Like Eze, Chief Peter Obi, ex-governor of Anambra has gone back to school according to his spokesman, Val Obienyem who announced during the final days of former President Goodluck Jonathan that his boss was embarking a sponsored programme at Oxford University.

However, recent events point to the fact that Peter Obi may not be taking his studies seriously. He spends more time in Anambra exorcising the ghosts from his eight years in office and inciting proxies against his successor at the expense of his studies.

Again Peter as he is fondly called unlike the waif Eze, is a wealthy man by all standards but one thing about the man Peter, is that he does not take responsibility, especially when it concerns spending money. Many who know the man closely will confide that he likes using proxies in all his undertakings. Peter is a closet Capone ýwho likes to keep distance from the hit for others to take the fall. Peter Obi by nature likes to be the last man standing.

Such is the man’s penchant for subterfuge that when he pays money for anything good and expensiveý, he distances himself.

The story is told about how he would deny ownership of a good cloth in order not to be seen to have money to spare. Even as governor, whenever Mr. Obi flies a private jet, he attributes it to a favour from a rich friend.

Peter Obi has caught the bug of emergency philanthropist, and has been going round schools in

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Peter Obi should read his books Anambra State telling the management what he did for them and demanding photo-Ops with the students. The drill according to insiders is that his aides convinced him that he has to remain relevant through public philanthropy hence the birth of the N1-2 Million Cheque presentation to select schools.

Peter suddenly realized that having tasted power, he could not afford a minute away from the lime-

light. Hence he goes round schools in Anambra like an emergency philanthropist, to inspect projects and take pictures, under the watch of a substantive governor. Many would recall that Mr. Peter Obi cried and shouted over the same shenanigans allegedly carried out

by Senator Chris Ngige who was said to have inspected roads in the early days of Peter’s tenure.

Apart from his school tours, Mr. Obi has upped the ante with his al-

most 2-year old story of a phantom ‘N75bn cashý’ he allegedly left in the coffers of Anambra. Peter never talked about liabilities, the multiple projects he awarded till last day, six thousand teachers recruited without posting and the Local government election he remembered after eight years, all few day to handover. That’s the proxy warrior in Peter.

Another question is can Peter sustain his new found love for

school tours and false philanthropy, not to mention the new PDP dance drama in Anambra? But haven been bitten by the political bug, Peter is beginning to display some desperation for control like never before; having failed to maximize the opportunity to build a pan-Igbo platform and galvanize people in his home state by choosing the part of the minimalist, Peter now has a lot of time on his hands to distract others who dare.

Unfortunately, he is watching another person excelling where he once played court and appears uncomfortable. However it is late in the day because he can’t be governor again. That is the burden of Mr. Peter Obi. • Ejimonu Udenka, Orumba, Anambra State.

Re: Kogi 2015: Wada versus Audu

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IR: Idowu Akinlotun’s back page in The Nation, Sunday, September 20, with the title Kogi 2015: Wada versus Audu refers.

In it, the columnist merely attempted to stand logic on its head.

For the avoidance of doubt, the people of Kogi, having tested Prince Abubakar Audu with his drawbacks and liabilities as confirmed by Akinlotan are waiting for November to prove that they have moved on with their lives in more positive ways; they wouldn’t want to go back to the dark days when salaries were owed workers and the state turned into a fiefdom.

The writer confirmed that Kogi State owes only a month in salaries to its workers. By the way, Audu left the state with several months of unpaid salaries to workers for the incoming Ibrahim Idris administration to settle. On the issue of the bailout fund from the

federal government, while it is true that the state only needs about N4.5billion of the bailout money, it needs the balance of N45.9billion for the payment of workers at the local government level and to teachers.

For the record, the Audu administration didn’t pay pension and gratuity while in office. He actually described these categories of citizens as dead-woods. Part of the bailout money expected is for paying the backlog of gratuity even though Capt Idris Wada has cleared the outstanding of pension of workers from when the state was created. He has also paid gratuity of retired workers from 1991 till 2000.

Contrary to the expectation of Mr Akinlotan, let it be stated that the November governorship election will neither be close nor its outcome uncertain. The PDP would

win convincingly, because the state is a PDP state, and most especially because Audu is generally seen as arrogant and insufferable. Just last week he allegedly walked out visiting journalists who were in the state to cover the APC governorship primary for daring to eat on his dinning table! So nothing has changed about him.

The Buhari victory in the Presidential elections in Kogi State was one of a kind and would not determine the next Kogi Governorship election. It is laughable to describe an administration that has built 58 roads and many others ongoing, completed the payment for Greater Lokoja water project, built 34 water schemes across the state, and is building a university teaching hospital, a world class diagnostic and imaging centre, educational and other institutions, as clueless. Even Prince Audu, at the ground break-

ing ceremony for Kogi House, and at the 40-day Fidau prayers for the Pa Ejiga Wada said of the incumbent governor: “Wada has done what I couldn’t do in my term and amidst scarce resources; he is what the state needs at this time”.

In 2011, Audu won only in Ofu in the nine local government areas of the East. Similarly, the Okun people were at the forefront in rejecting Prince Audu in 2003 and in subsequent elections he contested.

The APC victory for President Buhari was anchored on his integrity and anti corruption posture.

Can that be said of the APC Governorship candidate who still has charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds involving N11billion over his head?

• Abu Micheal, Lokoja, Kogi State

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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COMMENTS To be sure, Saraki’s and opORES, on the Russian Bolshevik ponents’ intra-APC quibbling revolution of October 1917, ooze over party position, supremacy with revolution and counter-revoand allied claims are equal-oplution elements, resulting in massive portunity assertions, neither revolutionary purges. here nor there. Really, at that What would chroniclers write about period, with different factions Nigeria’s current era of change — from of the APC amalgam trying to Twitter: @Lordbeek1 a Conservative (centre-right) to a Proannex the soul of the new rulgressive (centre-left) ruling elite — a lore ing party, how would you deof change and counter-change agents, Olakunle fine the “party”? And if you with its inevitable intra-elite power lordbeek1@gmail.com, 08054504169 (Sms only, please) Abimbola could not, in all good conpurge? science, how would you honThat should agitate the mind of power estly come up with “party suscholars, particularly with the unfolding premacy”? Which party — and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) high which supremacy? drama, involving Senate President, But Saraki’s despicable sellBukola Saraki.

On one-on-one comparison, but attachout of his party, crassly trading off the senate deputy presi2015) or, if you count from 2003 (considering allegations of dency to the opposition PDP, was the limit of perfidy, which ing absolutely no values, moral or ideological, Saraki may anticipatory assets declaration), 12 years old (2003-2015)! Now, would always come back to haunt him, even if he weathers well pass for the Trotsky of this era. see the uncanny similarity between Saraki and Trotsky? this present storm. His blunt refusal to compromise with his Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was the communist theorist and So, is somebody, somewhere in the change movement, as intra-party opponents, in the filling of other principal posipurist, who at different times, famously fell out with both the Stalin troika did of Trotsky, trying to undo Saraki? Maybe. tions, unlike Speaker Yakubu Dogara who wisely did that, Lenin and Stalin, Soviet communist icons, because of his rather Maybe not. only worsened matters. liberal mind.

But even if that were the case, it is only valid on the emoThe rather rotten method of Saraki’s win has burrowed a big Now, you won’t, by any stretch of imagination, compare tional front. On the legal lane, the case is not statute-barred; so chink in his moral armour, even as his supporters go now on Trotsky with Saraki on ideological purity or liberalness of the length of years would appear immaterial. an emotive binge, claiming their principal is being “persemind or even perceived championship of the common good.

Still, Olisa Metuh, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokescuted”.

Yet, their odysseys appear uncannily similar. person, has gone on overdrive, in what Prof. Olatunji Dare, The Emotion is sweet. But it hardly changes the grim and objecIn 1913, Trotsky who, before declaring himself non-aligned, Nation columnist, would call “hysterical screeds”, alleging the tive situation — what lawyers would call “notorious facts”. had joined and dumped the Menshevik (minority) and BolsheMuhammadu Buhari presidency’s descent into dictatorship and The notorious fact is that a case is before a tribunal; and the vik (majority) factions of the emergent Russian Communist fascism.

Senate president is obliged to avail himself of doughty deParty, had written a rather strong letter to Nickolay Chikheidze, But how so — and what is PDP’s especial interest in a Senate fence. Motives, no matter how dodgy or suspicious, hardly a Menshevik leader, protesting the Bolsheviks’ appropriation president that doesn’t even belong to its fold? To protect its turn prosecution to persecution, so long as the alleged offence of Pravda, the name of Trotsky’s rested newspaper, for their deputy senate presidential “loot”? was committed; and the accused had his or her fair day in new workers-oriented newspaper in St. Petersburg, the then Lai Mohammed, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) court! capital. Though he harshly criticised Lenin’s role in the matter spokesperson, has riposted in no less vigorous drama, disSaraki’s messy win was a corruption of the parliamentary (Lenin was Bolshevik), he soon forgot all about it. missing the PDP shrill as ignoble campaign against President process. A corruption of political conventions. A corruption But unfortunately for him, the secret police got a copy of the Buhari’s war against sleaze; and extending the PDP man an of public decency. A corruption of basic morality. letter and filed it away. When Lenin died in 1924 — Lenin that umpteenth invitation to come learn how to do “proper” oppoThat was a brazen legislative counterpoise to presidential would rather Trotsky, his No. 2, succeed him — the letter sursition criticism! puritanism, on which the 2015 election was won and lost. For faced from nowhere: as “evidence” of Trotsky’s hatred for Lenin!

Senator Saraki’s supporters too have been all tears and all the scion of Baba Oloye, it may well prove costly, if not outright The letter, 11 years after, was of course, the handiwork of Stalin growl, gruffly bellowing queries over the prosecution’s timpolitically fatal. and his scheming power troika: Stalin, with Zinoviev and Lev ing — why now? they snap — and figured (rather triumphantly, But don’t count out Saraki — a political cat with nine lives!

Kamenev. even in depression) that the CCT drama is all about the senate Besides, these are just allegations, allegations that amount to Stalin would not rest until the exiled Trotsky was state-aspresidency; which they insist Saraki won fair and square. nothing until rigorous prosecution, scrupulous defence and a sassinated in 1940, in his Mexico home. His crime? He was a Saraki’s opposers, nevertheless, counter he corralled that offair and transparent verdict: whether of shameful conviction counter-revolutionary! fice in the vilest and most crooked of manners. or triumphal acquittal.

Saraki left office, as Kwara governor, in 2011. The allegaSo, how does Saraki himself come across in this whole saga?

For the APC, however, this must be a sober moment. The tions of irregularities in assets declaration, for which Saraki Hardly more sinned against than sinned! party would appear in a flux; and its ability to deliver on its has been dragged before CCT, are at least four years old (2011At best, he cuts the picture of the Yoruba quip: doomed to a electoral promises of positive change, and even its future infiery end, yet merrily frolics with fuel! If he goes down with tegrity, appears on its ability to resolve the furious war bethis, it would be hubris yet again taking its costly pound of “Saraki’s messy win was a brazen flesh — hubris, that implacable enemy, posing as friend, to tween change and anti-change agents among its own ranks; after its rainbow coalition, of moral and ideological neuters, of means! legislative counterpoise to presi- (wo)men has coasted to federal power.

Truth to tell: Saraki’s senate presidency win was desperait resolves its internal contradictions may well decide dential puritanism, on which the tion-fired perfidy classically unveiled — and maybe, in his itsHow future; and Nigeria’s wellbeing — after a failed military quiet moments, beyond the din of subversive whoop of suprule; and PDP’s callous frittering of hope in the first 16 years of 2015 election was won and lost’ port, he would perhaps wish things had panned out differthis democratic republic. ently.

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epublican ipples

Of change and counter-change

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ITH most states of the federation presently surviving on the financial lifeline packaged by Abuja, and with majority practically living only for the present, we must put it to the nature of the times that our attitudes to crisis have neither reflected the gravity of the situation we currently face, nor has it elicited the kind of radical measures that would ordinarily be expected in the circumstance.

By itself, the extraordinary measure of shelling out N338 billion to bailout some nearly one score insolvent states ought to ominous enough. However, merely by the emerging attitude both at the level of governments and the labour unions, there is almost the temptation to see the emerging development as nothing unusual; and that just because the nation has been through this route before, that it would somehow manage to pull through. That probably explains the demands on the governors of the affected states to simply get on with the business of sharing the windfall.

Now, no matter how one looks at the bailout package itself, it must be admitted that the intervention, in the circumstance, makes eminent sense. It is after all, elementary economics that massive injection of cash would give fillip to the economies of the states, shore up demand for good and services and generally boost economic activities. Beyond that, short of practically shutting down the states’ bureaucracies and hence the states’ infrastructure of governance and hence risk possible destabilisation of the polity, the options available to the federal government would appear limited.

So – here we are with 19 out of the 36 states collecting the huge sums with no strings attached, on terms that ordinarily qualify as extremely generous and as some have argued, tended to reward fiscal indiscipline and profligacy. I must say that the latter point is not without some merits. This is to the extent that no questions are asked about how the individual states got into the mess; their plan get out of the hole; and as far as anyone can see, no verifiable premise on the basis of which the lending authorities can make informed judgment about the abilities of the state to pay what they have collected. Here, the assumption appears to be that there is no limit to the extent to which sovereign debts can be pushed down the road since there would always be something in the distributive pool to share. So, as always, life goes on.

The trouble here is that our nightmares have only just begun.

To start with, in the unlikelihood of imminent recovery in crude prices whether in the short, medium or long term, the federal government has merely helped to postpone the evil day. If the call by some governors on their workers to understand that there will still be governments to run after the settlement of the arrears of wages; or that the bailout is

Policy Sanya Oni sanyaoni@yahoo.co.uk 08051101841

Nearer to moment of truth nothing more than a temporary balm; and that those outside of the public service are just as entitled to their share of the bailout via improved service delivery; if these and many such calls have been heard at all, the message does not appear to have sunk in. In the event of the failure of the state governments to re-order their priorities, hearken to the call to realign their bloated bureaucracies, cut down on wastes while boosting their internally generated revenues, that message would certainly dawn much sooner than later.

Those sufficiently knowledgeable about the events of the eighties which eventuated in the unwelcome intervention by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the painful adjustments visited on the economy ought to be able to recognise the tell-tale signs of a looming financial Armageddon. Much as we pretend that we are nowhere there yet, the same old symptoms of insolvency, trade and currency imbalances are such that we can ignore them to our peril. It seems to me only a matter of time before something gives.

And what can we do? I must confess that there is not much we can do as far as the price of our main export product is concerned. However, the much that can be said of the Buhari administration in the last few months is its resolve to confront the multiple demons of corruption headlong and to get behemoth institutions like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to play strictly by the rules by remitting their revenues appropriately to the federation account. Now, with all the hues and cries about the operation of the Treasury

Single Account (TSA) as having the potential to hobble the operations of some agencies, overall, it is somewhat accepted that the measure has become necessary to stop further bleeding of the national treasury.

Of course, there is still the question of what to do with fuel subsidy which currently gulps billions but which the Buhari administration thinks is the least of our problems.

However, good as some of the measures already in place are, it must be said that they are not nearly sufficient given the magnitude of the problem. For even if we block all the avenues of waste, bring corruption to the barest minimum, there is little indication that what would be available would still suffice to go round, let alone to service the needs of the bureaucracy or fund the yawning infrastructure gaps.

Beyond all of these is the more problematic issue of what to do with our current distributive federalism with its premium on sharing which in my view, is our number one problem.

This is where my sympathy goes to the governors. It is their tough luck that that they have found themselves in a mess they didn’t create. To the extent that it is how things have always been, they are merely the victims of a distorted fiscal practice that have persisted for so long.

My problem is the whining and moaning currently going on in most Government Houses. If one expected fresh thinking on the crisis, yours truly has found absolutely none. Save the wild embrace of the Buhari palliative across the land. As with all things easy and cheap, the bitter reality awaits sooner than later. That will be the ultimate moment of truth – for everyone.

‘My problem is the whining and moaning currently going on in most Government Houses. If one expected fresh thinking on the crisis, yours truly has found absolutely none. Save the wild embrace of the Buhari palliative across the land. As with all things easy and cheap, the bitter reality awaits sooner than later. That will be the ultimate moment of truth – for everyone’

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

COMMENTS

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HEN then candidate Muhammadu Buhari made his now famous statement “if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria” in the course of his campaign for the presidency earlier this year, not a few Nigerians agreed and silently wished that the former Head of State triumph at the April 14 presidential election.

And when it came to pass that the candidate of the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) party was the victor in the election, the whole nation, save a few, heaved a sigh of relief that the 16 years of unbridled corruption under the “largest political party in Africa” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has finally been terminated. And to a great and better future for Nigeria they looked when Mr Muhammadu Buhari mounted the saddle on May 29, this year, taking over from Dr Goodluck Jonathan as President and Commander-In-Chief.

A President Buhari at the helm is seen not by a few as signaling not only the beginning of the end for corruption and impunity in the country but also a rebirth for a giant of a nation that has been on all fours since inception.

The fight against corruption Nigerians expect would now be given a sharp teeth with the two main anti-corruption agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in vigorous pursuit of corrupt elements in our society. And the two agencies have seemingly been up to the task, pursuing their assignments without fear or favour. The government, meaning the presidency, we are made to believe, has also been working behind the scene with core operatives of the immediate past regime to secretly refund public funds they have stolen from our common purse, to prevent prosecution and punishment. Good. But we should also be told who these people are, if only to shame them.

All these are gladdening to hear and Nigerians are beginning to not only hope for the best, but also feeling the best. The bad boys are being dealt with, we all seem to agree.

Kudos to EFCC and ICPC. But what of the Code of Conduct Bureau and its twin agency, the Code of Conduct Tribunal, what are they up to? Have they been sleeping? Not really.

Last week, the CCB and CCT entered the fray and all hell has been let loose since then. I hope you know what I am talking about. In

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HE recent statement by the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) rejecting the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s policy that stipulates different cut-off marks for students seeking admission into the nation’s universities, polytechnics and colleges of education could not have come at a more auspicious time than now.

Although NUT explained that the policy is targeted “at demeaning and lowering the professional status of teachers with its concomitant negative effect on the attainment of quality education in the country”, we in addition see it as spiting the quality of polytechnic education in Nigeria. In reality up till now, the cut off mark for entry into key disciplines like Accounting, Business, Engineering, Mass Communication in many Nigerian Polytechnics remains 180 and above. It is therefore misleading and spiteful of JAMB to give the public the impression that the blanket cut off mark into all disciplines in the Polytechnic is 150.

Writing further on the selective and discriminatory tendencies of the federal government and its agencies against polytechnic education in Nigeria, we hasten to declare that August 1, presidential announcement that removed the governing councils of universities from boards dissolution list without including the Polytechnic Councils is another seriously spiteful and regrettable action against the standing of polytechnic education. We gather that whereas the governing councils of both federal universities and polytechnics have specified tenure of office backed by Acts of the National Assembly and therefore part of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, the federal government upheld the law when it rescinded the dissolution of the universities’ governing councils but the government is yet to do so for the polytechnics.

Although the very terse August 1, presidential announcement had promised to provide details of perhaps why the governing councils of universities got an exemption, no such details have since emerged and this has therefore thrown up all manners of speculation.In particular, this is almost a month after the reversal on universities councils was made and there has not been further statement or clarification from the presidency with regard to the fate of the polytechnics, thus reinforcing (in some quarters) the suspected discriminatory tendencies against polytechnics by the federal government.

However, one thing has been very clear. While we appreciate the fact that the universities have men of “timber and calibre” ready to champion their cause and that might explain the prompt action taken by the federal government to re-instate the dissolved councils of federal universities, regrettably the polytechnics do not have such “respected” personalities

The war on corruption case you are still in the dark, recall that a little over a week ago, the Bureau dragged Senate President, Bukola Saraki before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on a 13-count charge bordering on false declaration of asset. The president of the National Assembly and third in line to Nigeria’s presidency narrowly escaped being docked as his lawyers cleverly approached a Federal High Court to challenge the CCT. Though the Tribunal is also fighting back, issuing a bench warrant for the arrest of the SP, the matter clearly presents the sternest test to date to the Buhari administration fight against corruption.

Senator Saraki is the first big fish to be entangled in this anti corruption web and it remains to be seen how the matter would be treated. The allegations are no doubt weighty, but mere allegations they remain until the man is proven guilty. For now he is innocent of all the charges.

But while the matter is best left for the judiciary to handle, the political fallout from Saraki’s arraignment is as interesting as the matter itself. Expectedly, Nigerians, not the least, members of the ruling All Progressives Congress are sharply divided on the matter.

While some see it as a move in the right direction to cleanse the stable of corruption, sympathizers of the Senate President are seeing it as a political vendetta against Saraki as punishment for defying his party to contest the presidency of the Senate and also getting a member of the opposition on board as his deputy.

Considering the frosty relationship between President Buhari and Senator Saraki since the Senate presidency election and the division it generated within the leadership of the APC, it

is very difficult not to believe the Saraki supporters, while at the same time their assertion is very difficult to prove. And now that the presidency has distanced itself from the travail of Saraki in the hands of the CCB and CCT, it becomes more difficult to pin the matter on President Buhari. But this is politics, anything is possible. Did I hear you say CHANGE? While the APC people are bickering over the matter, the PDP is expectedly licking its lips over the development, accusing the president and his party of political witch hunt in its anti corruption war, conveniently ignoring the fact that the monumental corruption that we are talking of in Nigeria today took place under PDP’s watch. Let’s put that aside for now.

While the politicians from both sides could be excused for holding different views on the matter, what is perhaps surprising is the position of the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on the matter. Over the weekend in Abuja, NANS president Tijani Sheu teamed up with the Director General of a political association called Heritage Group and threatened to protest Saraki’s arraignment and trial at foreign embassies in the federal capital. Ironically, the same Sheu had on September 2 led a group of Nigerian students to the presidential villa in Abuja to pledge support for Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign. So what is he up to or rather, in what direction is he leading Nigerian students?

I don’t want to read too much into this but suffice to say that the Nigerian youth, especially student leaders should exercise restrain when commenting on issues outside their knowledge lest they fall victim to cheap political opportunism. They are better advised

to think before they speak and to always keep quiet when they have nothing to say.

How would protesting at foreign embassies help the cause of fighting corruption which NANS told Buhari on September 2 that it supports, or stop the CCB from going ahead with its case with Saraki if indeed it has a case against the Senate President? What I think the students should concern themselves with is the integrity of the process. If the CCB thinks it has any case against Saraki, it should proceed at the tribunal as stipulated by law. And if the Senate President thinks otherwise, he should go and fight it out at the tribunal and clear his name. And if he can get the Appeal court to stop the tribunal, fine.

Let the right things be done. Imputing political motive to the CCB’s action would not change the fact that the matter at hand is a legal matter and should be so treated. I can see this matter getting to the Supreme Court, whichever side loses, and this will ultimately be good for the system. Once the matter is decided one way or the other by the courts, Nigerians would do well to forget about it and forge ahead. But then, the war should not stop with Saraki. There are many others public officers with similar stories, it is when the CCB pursues their case with the same vigor as Saraki’s that the doubters of the anti corruption war would be put to shame.

Goodnight Mama H.I.D Awolowo Just as the Awolowo family of Ikenne , Ogun State was getting set for the centenary birthday celebration of their Matriarch, Mama Hannah Idowu Dideolu, slated for later this year, death came calling last Saturday and took away the ‘Jewel of Inestimable Value’ of their father, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Chief Mrs HID Awolowo, the Yeye Oba of Ife died at the age of 99. She would have been 100 years old on November 25, 2015.

Coming 28years after the death of her husband, Mama lived a life worthy of emulation by all women, especially wives of our politicians and other public office holders. She stood by her husband through out his political life and remained steadfast to his political ideology even after his death. She doggedly kept the Awolowo flag flying all these years after her husband’s death. May her soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.

Halting selective actions against polytechnics

By Mike Biachi & Sesan Olagoke speaking for them.

We have taken a careful note of how well-placed and respected Nigerians like Chief Afe Babalola, Prof. Assisi Asobie, Brigadier-General D.O.I. Ikponmwen and others took it upon themselves to speak for the universities before the August 1, reversal. We believe that their actions stoked some re-awakening in the presidency which ultimately led to the reversal. We wonder why such Nigerians could not pursue the same argument for polytechnics which have similar mandate and tenured governing councils like the universities.

For instance, in his piece titled “Government Interference: Premature Dissolution of Governing Councils” published in four series in the Nigerian Tribune, Chief Afe Babalola, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and proprietor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti devoted the first two series of the writeup to discuss extensively the education sector in Nigeria and how certain conducts of government over the years, such as the constant premature dissolution of governing councils by successive governments have contributed to the instability in the education sector and therefore contributed to the decline in standard.

An anonymous writer who did not buy Babalola’s position had supported the dissolution of the universities governing councils but the legal luminary was quick to counter it in the third phase of his long article by stating thus: “I am aware of the provisions in Section 2 of the Universities Miscellaneous Provision Amendment Act 2003. It reinforces my submission that it is not possible to have blanket dissolution of all councils the way the president did. The critically relevant clause is “where a council is found to be incompetent and corrupt.”

“The requirement of our constitution and the well-known “rule of natural justice” is that the alleged act of incompetence and corruption must be brought to the knowledge of the particular university council which will be given the opportunity to defend itself. Thereafter, there must be a finding of incompetence and corruption.

Babalola continued: “You will agree that under the said section, it is a condition precedent that the council cannot be dissolved unless it has been FOUND to be incompetent and corrupt. In the present case, there was no allegation much less of finding of incompetence and corruption against any of the universities councils. It is a classic example of illegal dissolution,” he argued.

A one-time Chairman of the Academic Staff Union

of Universities (ASUU) Prof. Assisi Asobie in July 22, The Guardian interview among other things, spoke on the dissolution of universities and said, “I want to believe that the president acted in error.”

He cautioned against dissolution of governing councils of universities saying: “Most people in the universities do not know there is an agreement with the ASUU in 1992 that governing councils would be allowed to run their course and should not be subjected to this kind of mass dissolution. Government will reverse itself in this very important aspect of our national lives,” he said.

Retired Brigadier-General Ikponmwen in his own article entitled “The tenure of political appointees in the Nigerian presidential system” similarly argued that grouping councils of federal universities under the federal executive bodies would undermine the independence and autonomy of universities which stakeholders have vehemently argued for, in recent times.

It is unarguable that the positions of these three Nigerians canvassing on behalf of the federal universities governing councils may have helped to cause a re-think at the presidency which in turn resulted in the decision to reverse the earlier dissolution of universities councils.

We are dismayed that while the average Nigerian would want to speak in favour of the universities governing councils like Babalola, Asobie, Ikponmwen had done, others would discriminatorily dismiss the case of federal polytechnics as if they are not aware that both universities and polytechnics are governed by councils that have statutory mandate and stipulated term of office.

While the tenure of a federal university’s governing council is four years, federal polytechnic councils have three year term with possible renewal for another term. Like the case of universities councils, the dissolution of a polytechnic council is on the ground of misconduct or inability to perform in office. Therefore, incompetence and corrupt practice remain common conditions for termination of office in both cases of governing councils of federal universities and polytechnics.

If that is the case, why should the issue of polytechnics be left unattended to? Why has the federal government not acted swiftly by reversing the dissolution order like the case of federal universities?

It all boils down to the speculation that while the universities have people to speak for them, the polytechnics have nobody to defend their cause. This is naked discrimination!

Those of us who are graduates of Nigeria’s polytechnics are increasingly becoming disenchanted with a system that promotes and believes in discriminatory philosophy at a time there is so much to show for our competence like our university counterparts.

It has become hugely worrisome that in spite of our possession of the same relevant entry qualification into the polytechnics like our university colleagues and spending four years for the Higher National Diploma (B.Sc equivalent) in addition to a one-year compulsory industrial work experience in between the National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes, the government still finds it convenient to promote “divide and rule tactics” aimed at discriminating against the polytechnic graduate vis-à-vis his university counterpart.

Whereas we are fully grateful to enlightened employers of labour who call for B.Sc or HND holders to fill graduate employment openings in their organisations, we strongly condemn those other employers who have leveraged on the wrong universities/polytechnics dichotomy signals from the federal government and similarly mistreat polytechnic graduates same way. Often times, competence is ignored at the altar of preference for the university product. This discriminatory practice is fast widening the gap between products of the two systems of tertiary education. We submit that this is absolutely not going to create a healthy society that needs urgent scientific and technological development.

Any show of dichotomy in the treatment of universities vis-à-vis polytechnics at any level is bound to hurt the psyche, confidence and competitive spirit of the past, current and future students of Nigerian polytechnics. We do not expect our dear PMB to be part of this discriminatory attitude towards the polytechnics especially as he has proclaimed that he is for every body and for nobody and his administration is set to correct many things gone wrong in our society.

We, on our part, are therefore praying the Muhammadu Buhari administration to start the process of harmonizing the university and polytechnic systems in a manner that is devoid of any discriminatory tendencies and begin by reversing the dissolution of federal polytechnics governing councils the same way those of the universities were done.

• Biachi and Olagoke are graduates of Nigerian polytechnics and live in Port Harcourt and Lagos respectively.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

19

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

21 In his first 100 days plus, it is generally ’believed that PMB’s presidency has been able to restrain the haemorrhaging of our common patrimony. That is an achievement

E-mail:- law@thenationonlineng.net

’

See page 35

Since President Muhammadu Buhari spoke about his administration’s talks with Boko Haram, many Nigerians have been wondering how the dialogue will end. They recall that the Jonathan administration burnt its fingers negotiating with the sect. But lawyers endorse the talks since, according to them, they are all about getting back the Chibok girls. PRECIOUS IGBONWELUNDU reports.

P

INSIDE:

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari said the Federal Government was talking with Boko Haram on the release of the over 200 girls abducted at the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on April 14, last year.

He was responding to questions from members ofNigerians In Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), France. The President told his audience that the sect was demanding the release of its Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) strategist in exchange for the girls.

The kidnap of the girls from on their school remains a big blow to the nation, especially because the insurgents, dressed in military camouflage, were said to have conveyed them in seven lorries. Their school was razed.

Unable to withstand the emotional and psychological trauma of having their children with the group, which alleged that it had married them off, some of the parents died. Others are yet to recover from strange illness.

Despite efforts by the multinational joint security team and experts from other parts of the world, the girls have not been rescued.

The military has combed every area, including the Sambisa Forest where it is believed the girls are being held.

There is a clamour for the girls’ return, which President Buhari noted during his France trip.

Buhari said: ‘‘The issue of Chibok girls has occupied our minds and because of the international attention it drew and the sympathy throughout the country and the world, the government is negotiating with some of the Boko Haram leadership. ‘‘They wanted us to release one of their leaders, who is a strategic person in developing and making IEDs that is causing a lot of havoc in the country by blowing people in Churches, Mosques, market places, motor parks and others. But it is very important that if we are going to talk to anybody, we have to know how much he is worth.

“Let them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate. I will allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absolved in the community. We have to be very careful, the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one only imagine if they got a daughter there between 14 and 18 and for more than one year and a half year, a lot of the parents, who have died would rather see the graves of their daughters than the condition they imagine they are in.

“This has drawn a lot of sympathy throughout the world, that is why this government is getting very hard in negotiating and getting the balance of those who are alive.’’

Although Buhari’s disclosure was to reassure the people of government’s commitment to rescuing the girls as promised, critics have described the negotiation as an acknowledgment of weakness by the Federal Government.

They condemned the government’s move on the grounds that the sect has killed over 20 thousand people in very gruesome ways since 2009; kidnapped hundreds, including women and children, some of whom have been used as suicide bombers; razed public and private property; made millions fugitives as well as taking up arms against the state.

According to them, the terrorists should

CJN queries judge over 2011 pre-election case -Page 24

?

grli

Should govt negotiate with Boko Haram? have been flushed out by the military, which is already winning the battle, or arrested alive and prosecuted for treason and war crimes.

The critics believe that the negotiation will not yield any positive outcome, especially because the previous administration tried negotiating with the sect without success.

To them, it will be impossible to negotiate with a sect whose purpose for fighting is to islamise the country, and which has various factions, is faceless and has pledged loyalty to the Islamic State (IS).

However, many Nigerians, including the Centre for Crisis Communication, see nothing wrong in exploring and exploiting every opportunity that will lead to freeing all Boko

‘How to win corruption battle’ -Page 24

Haram captives and ending terrorism.

But they argue that the issue must be thoroughly debated to ensure a practical and enduring end to the menace if the government was considering amnesty for the insurgents.

To this group, dialogue should be open for genuine leaders of the sect who are committed to keeping their side of the bargain, with the interest of humanity at heart, just as they noted that every conflict or crisis usually ends on the negotiation table.

They insisted that the government must ensure it negotiates from a point of strength by ensuring that the terrorists surrender their arms and promise never to engage in such activities again. It must also ensure that they

are rehabilitated before being absorbed into society.

The supporters argued that the terrorists were feeling the heat of the seriousness of the current government to nib terrorism in the bud, and have as such, reached out for negotiations in order to embrace peace, which the government should consider.

Lawyers, who shared their view on the issue, said there was nothing wrong with negotiating with the terrorists, as long as the government got the girls back and put an end to the menace. They advised the government to ensure a comprehensive list of the abducted girls is available, before starting the negotiations, to avoid being fooled by the insurgents.

Those, who spoke on the issue include professor of law, Itse Sagay (SAN); constitutional lawyers, Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN), Dele Belgore (SAN), Dr. Fred Agbaje and former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja Branch Chairman, Monday Ubani.

Sagay said the government is right to negotiate because of the girls, whose situation has left a void in the heart of the country and the world.

“Each side has to give something. I thought the terrorists will seek to surrender without grievous consequences since many of them have committed treason and war crimes. But with their demand that their bomb maker be released, it is left for the government to consider the consequences of releasing the suspect.

“If the government can ensure that they can no longer assemble these explosives to continue killing people. It will be a bitter pill to swallow if that should happen. If that is taken care of, there is nothing wrong with the swap.

“Government will be given a list of the number of persons in the terrorists’ net that they are willing to release. I think the action that will be taken at the end will be based on the number of people available, alive and whom the terrorists are willing to release.’’

Akintola said it was a great idea and practised globally.

“There is nothing wrong with negotiation as long as the government is not blackmailed. There is nowhere in the world where crisis does not end on the negotiation table. I do not see anything wrong with it, but government must negotiate from a point of strength, so that new groups are not motivated to pick up arms against the state.

Belgore criticised the fact that the planned negotiation was publicised.

“The classical view in this kind of engagement is that you don’t negotiate with terrorists, but we all know that even countries who proclaim this view do negotiate through the backdoor where the situation demands.

“We live in an imperfect world and ideological or policy positions frequently have to give way to practicalities.

“Bringing back our girls would in itself be a victory in the war against Boko Haram, even if it’s a negotiated release. What I don’t understand is why it has to be announced before hand,” Belgore said.

Similarly, Agbaje supported the moves on grounds that the insurgents must release all the girls, including pregnant ones, if there

Buhari and the burden of democracy -Page 35

•Continued on page 22

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

22

LAW COVER CONT’D

Should govt negotiate with Boko Haram?

• Continued from page 21

are any.

He said: ‘‘Initially, I was adamant about negotiation with terrorists, but now, in view of the fact that the girls have suffered alot, as well as their parents, I do not think any sacrifice is too much.

“But the terrorists must release all the girls whether pregnant or not, in exchange for the bomb maker; they must assure Nigerians that the truce will be the end of Boko Haram, or any other terrorist group, any of their members might want to start.’’

To Ubani, the government should be cautious in negotiating and swapping the suspect for the girls if their intentions are genuine.

“I think that negotiation with caution should be advised in the situation. The government is advised to discuss with genuine and credible leaders of the terrorists. If the terms include an honest swap with our stolen girls, I will support such negotiation that will lead to the release of our girls without any harm.

“Should their leaders be swapped?

Yes, if they will honestly release all our girls complete and intact! Should they be exonerated? Very serious question that requires wise and careful answer. If they will stop the killings, repent of their evil ways and undertake never to disturb the peace of the country, then we can take a look at them with some level of forgiveness.

“Remember I said with some level of forgiveness, they must not be for-

T

HE Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, has adjourned to Oc tober 27 a suit by Mr Mustapher Hanga over alleged medical negligence, which led to the death of his son, Nabil.

He sued the Royal Cross Medical Centre Limited and St. Nicholas Hospital.

Hanga and the Estate of Nabil Hanga joined De Flight Medics Nigeria Limited and its co-owners and directors – Olamide Orekunrin, Oyedele Jibayo and Olukunle Orekunrin – as third to sixth defendants.

The claimants, represented by Bruce Ighalo of the Patriots Practice, had expressed displeasure at the slow pace of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process, which the judge had referred the parties to.

But the defendants said they were willing to continue with the ADR process.

The court said since the parties have only had one meaningful session, the process should be given another

• Sagay

• Akintola

given totally. However, the government must, as of necessity, pay heavy compensation to families that lost lives and properties as a result of the madness of these fellows, who took up arms against their country and against their fellow citizens.

“The country must, in addition, institute a strong panel to unravel the genesis of this madness, what precipitated it, the quantum of loss of lives and properties and what should

be done to ensure that never again should we as a nation pass through this inglorious road of shedding of blood and wanton destruction of properties of the country and that of fellow citizens by any group whatsoever.

“The country must be sincere to itself by agreeing to ask all the ethnic groups in Nigeria whether we want to stay together as one indivisible na-

• Belgore

tion? If the answer is in the affirmative, the terms and conditions of staying together should be well spelt out in a constitution drawn and affirmed to by the people of Nigeria.

“If the answer is resounding “NO”, then the process for separation should be worked out peacefully to enable the separation take place without loss of lives or properties. Unity is not forced, it is earned, we must

• Agbaje

not continue to endure this forced marriage if it is not working out.

“If it must work out, the ingredients of justice and equity must be brought in generously to ensure the happiness of all ethnic groups in the union. The present leadership at the centre possess all it takes to bring in these ingredients to make Nigeria work and live in peace again; yes they can.’’ he said.

Court adjourns N1.1b suit against hospitals

By Joseph Jibueze

chance.

The claimants are demanding N1.1billion damages from the defendants “jointly and severally” because they allegedly failed to provide the medical treatments that Nabil sought.

They alleged that St. Nicholas failed to treat Nabil from 10am when he arrived at their hospital till 5pm on May 11, 2012 but “watched him cry in pain throughout his stay at their facility.”

According to them, the hospital failed to “intubate” (insert a breathing tube into) Nabil which delayed attempts by the third to sixth defendants transport him to a proper medical facility abroad for treatment.

They added that the hospital “was negligent and reckless to rule out lasser fever because the victim did not travel to known lasser states.”

The claimants alleged that St.

Nicholas recommended De Flight Medics to them to provide air ambulance from Nigeria to the United Kingdom when the company is allegedly not registered by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for such operations.

They claimed the third to sixth defendants “conspired and extorted US$135,000.00 (about N26,871,000)” from them in alleged violation of Sections 516 and 518 (6) of the Criminal Code Act. The firm, said the claimants, “do not have or own an ambulance and are not authorised to operate air ambulance in and out of Nigeria,” but “lease private passenger planes not designed as air ambulance through which they defrauded the claimants.”

Besides, the claimants said the defendants refused to release any medical records belonging to Nabil despite various letters.

“The defendants deviated from acceptable standards of practice when they failed to carry out the necessary tests, obtain the necessary medical investigations and reports, (and) engage the services of a proper air medical ambulance to transport Nabil…”

According to them, the failure to provide a duty of care by the defendants “is directly responsible for the death of Nabil Hanga and the damages suffered by the claimants.”

The father said he borrowed money to travel to the United Kingdom expecting to meet his son and accompany him to a hospital only to learn that Nabil had been taken to Kano instead.

The claimants are, therefore, urging the court to compel the defendants to pay them N500million as general damages for the loss of income and costs incurred in Nabil’s treat-

ment; N300million for emotional distress and social distability they suffered; N200 million as aggravated damages; N100 million as cost of initiating and prosecuting the action; a refund of the air ambulance and medical fees paid to the defendants; and 10 per cent interest on the judgment sum until final liquidation.

Royal Cross Medical Centre, in its statement of defence, denied every allegation contained in the statement of claim, saying the suit ought to be dismissed because it discloses no cause of action against it.

“The first defendant shall contend that the pleadings of the claimants do not disclose any untoward act of negligence on its part hence no cause of action arises against it,” it said, adding that no allusions of medical malfeasance were made against it.

Royal Cross urged the court to dismiss the claim with substantial cost.

• From left: Public Relations Officer, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Lagos State, Abiola Laseinde; Gertrude Onyewadu, Ndueghe Iwatt, Vice-Chair Ngozi Ogbolu, Chairperson Eliana Martins, Ex-Officio Ifeyinwa Awogu, Assistant Secretary Phil Nneji, Secretary Marian Jones and Programme Officer Cynthia Ibe at a training programme for paralegal service providers on access to justice organised by FIDA Lagos

23

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 22, 2015

LAW & SOCIETY

All eyes on Akwa Ibom Elections Tribunal F

OR more than 140 days since the legal brickbats started in the ongoing trial for the determination of the authenticity or otherwise of the April 11, 2015 governorship elections in Akwa Ibom state, Nigerians, and more specifically Akwa Ibomites have waited , with baited breath, for the likely outcome. And, by the time hearing ended abruptly Thursday, September, 17, 2015, many of these agitated Nigerians who have been following proceedings from the Room 8, of the Abuja High court, venue of the relocated Tribunal sitting, would have formed their opinion on what would be the likely outcome of the debilitating exercise, in terms of the tide of judgement.

This is so because, from the volume of Exhibits presented at the Tribunal, the quality of witnesses, the weight and damning evidences on the credibility or otherwise of the election, it is almost certain to discerning minds, like this writer, that it would only take a miracle for the Akwa Ibom governorship election of April 11, 2015 to be upheld by the Tribunal. The Petitioners, who specifically asked for re-run would certainly be granted the relief.

How do I mean? For some of us who participated in the elections and had firsthand experience of what happened on the election day, it is not strange or surprising that everything went wrong with the Akwa Ibom governorship elections. In fact, prior to the election itself, the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) had shouted itself hoarse, through press releases and media conferences, trying to draw the attention of Nigerians to the schemes and underhand play of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the likely culpability of the umpire, INEC, in the conduct of the governorship and state assembly elections in the state. Virtually all the guidelines required for a major election of that magnitude were not adhered to.

They were no display of voters register for people to verify their eligibility to vote, threat of violence and intimidations of the other candidates, lock-out of opposing parties from campaign venues as well as the state-owned media, among many other undemocratic attitudes by the ruling party in the state.

The state APC equally drawn attention to the security breaches that were brewing in the state. For instance, attention were drawn to the purchase of about four hundred hilux vehicles and the sowing of military fatigue uniform for the PDP goons, in the state, but nobody paid any attention. And, when those ‘arsenals’ were unleashed on the hapless citizens of the state, most people were

By Uwem-Obong Ankak

not surprised. Perhaps, that probably accounted for why the APC adopted a more painstaking approach in recording proceeding at the elections, compiled verifiable facts and were more circumspective in their presentations at the trial.

It is equally clear that the Akwa Ibom PDP were not ready to go for the trial ab initio, judging from what has transpired so far. First, they couldn’t readily accept the fact that ‘change’ was here. Their usual shenanigans in bulldozing their way in previous elections, through the allocation of figures and getting away with it had become obsolete by the Attahiru Jega’s introduction of the innovative card readers machines and a court system that had woken up from the slumber. First, it was the deployment of intimidation at the Tribunal sitting that failed. Even their attempt to stop its relocation to Abuja for the safety of the judges and litigants equally hit the rocks. From their bag of tricks came the use of technicalities to knock off the trial which also met a brick wall. And, when it dawn on them that the trial was real, everybody could smell panic from their camp.

And, so it was when, the petitioners, APC and its flag bearer, Umana Okon Umana called its witnesses to the dock, and the damning testimonies came forth, pouring like torrents, that Nigerians began to appreciate the inhuman nature of our brand of politics. I mean how can anyone explain that a hapless Youth Corp member, was beaten to stupor, stripped naked and almost killed.

Her crime? She stopped thugs from carrying away ballot box in the polling booth she superintended in Uyo metropolis as Adhoc staff of INEC. Somebody had to remove his jacket to cover her nakedness. This scene was replicated across the state. Or, what could be more damning and humiliating to know that a former governor of the state, Obong Victor Attah was not humoured by allowing him to even vote. His polling booth in Asutan Ekpe had no election materials supplied to it. He had to call media people to bear him witness. And, he was personally at the Tribunal to tell his story. Same goes for Chief Don Etiebet, a former presidential candidate in this country and a BOT member of the PDP. Even the governorship candidate of the APC, Umana Umana couldn’t vote in his own ward in Nsit Ubium. The big question is, if these known faces couldn’t vote, who else did?

The answer is that, the election you saw in Akwa Ibom, on television, was just for the camera. The 1,158,624

• Emmanuel

• Umana

votes declared in the state for the governorship were just cooked figures. People sat somewhere and wrote it in connivance with the INEC in the state. And this clearly showed when the few witnesses called by

counsels to Governor Udom Emmanuel, The PDP and Akwa Ibom INEC all gave contradictory account of what happened during the election. In fact, Defence Witnesses (DWs)26 and 27 by names Austin Nwana and Dominic Okenna, Electoral Officers for Nsit Ubium and Onna Local Government Areas of the state respectively, told disparaging tales on how the pools went. While the latter denied any knowledge of the directive signed by the INEC director of Legal Services, Mrs Augusta C. Ogakwu, making the use of card readers mandatory for the gubernatorial pools, and that in event of any malfunctioning, the pools should be extended to the following day, the former, on the prodding of Mr Solomon Umoh (SAN), one of the Counsels to the petitioners, admitted that he was aware of the directive and that the circular was even pasted in INEC notice board in Uyo. This was just a classic example of the cacophony of disparate voices that trailed the testimonies of the DWs in their attempt to manufacture a semblance of evidence to hoodwink the people that election took place in Akwa Ibom on the April 11, 2015 governorship polls.

That may also be the plausible reasons why the bulk of those who were listed to testify for the defence either feigned sickness or denied ever accepting to be witnesses. An example could be seen in the refusal of Emmanuel Enoidem, a serving official of the state government (then and now) who was listed as the state collation officer for the PDP who had to beat a hasty retreat when he, probably, was told that as a serving official in the state, he had no constitutional approval to collate electoral result for that administration. It went further to show why out of the more than 400 witnesses listed by Udom Emmanuel, and an application for another 9,000 witnesses ( granted by the tribunal), only 19 witnesses were willing to show up. For the PDP, only four witnesses came forth out of the long list they advertised while another four appeared for INEC out of 94 witnesses while the Petitioners presented 56 witnesses and wanted more days to bring more?. Can anybody then be in doubt why the defence lawyers closed their cases before the expiration of their allotted days, and were in the habit of giving frivolous excuses for not bringing forth their witnesses?

To say that the defence collapsed like a pack of card before the Tribunal is stating the obvious. Their effort to play up the unreliability of the card readers machines fell flat while their resort to the use of inci-

dent forms could not fly either. In fact, the incident forms which they so much trumpeted and even caused the Tribunal to issue a subpoena to bring them from Uyo was not even presented as Exhibit for the simple fact that it was not going to help their case, having realised belatedly that those cards were not signed by the Adhoc staff, mostly Youth Service personnel who could not be traced to do the hatchet job. This really infuriated the Tribunal Chairman, Sadiq Umar who ordered the seven bags to be removed from the Tribunal’s store.

By now, it is clear to the defence counsels comprising Mr Paul Usoro (SAN) for Udom Emmanuel, Tayo Adetibo (SAN) for PDP and Alex Ejesieme of INEC that the battle is as good as lost. It was also clear from the proceedings that the concocted figure of 1,158,624 could not be reconciled with the figures which the PDP and INEC allocated 996,071 to Udom Emmanuel and 89,313 to Umana Okon Umana of APC. The clincher, the card readers in the central pool of INEC in Abuja, recorded only 437, 128 as the accredited voters for the state. The INEC head of ICT collaborated this when he testified for the petitioners. This was further worsened by the distortions in the filling of form EC8A, EC8B and EC8C which are meant for results of votes collated from Units, Wards and local government areas of the state .

And as the first and crucial round of the Akwa Ibom Governorship Election ended, and the final addresses by both the petitioner and defence counsels awaited, it is left to be seen what issues would be canvassed to bring the whole melodrama to a close. As the Tribunal Chairman, Justice Sadiq Umar noted in his remarks before adjoining the case to October 8, 2015 for the adoption of written addresses, parties to the dispute were strongly advised to adhere strictly to the schedule in order to meet the constitutional provisions for determining the case.

Ultimately, every right thinking democrat is very satisfied with the turn of our electoral fortunes. I can bet that with the introduction of card readers and the unbiased handling of electoral cases so far, our democracy is beginning to take root. Nigerians , who believed that elections can only be won by the garrison approach, I am sure are beginning to have a rethink. It is obvious that impunity, the biggest bane of our democratic experience is gradually taking the back seat.

Ankak, a journalist and public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos

Judicial commission seeks clarification on N60m payment

T

HE Justice Elizabeth Kpojime Judicial Commission of Inquiry has ordered the Benue State Ministry of Finance to provide clarification on the N60 million given to the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs on February 20, 2013 under the caption ‘Handling Charges. It also directed the Ministry and office of the Attorney-General as well as Head of Service of the state to ensure that all documents contained in the summons issued to them are submitted to the Commission at its next sitting.

Chairman of the Judicial Commission, Justice Kpojime gave the directives at last Friday’s sitting following the verbal application for additional time by the permanent secretary, ministry of finance Mrs Ruth Ijir and the permanent secretary, office of the head of service, Mr Joseph Oko, who appeared before the Commission.

Justice Kpojime also ordered the affected witnesses to provide evidence of directives for the disbursement of funds as contained in the documents they had submitted. She said it was

By John Austin Unachukwu

necessary that every witness to the Commission tenders all documents listed in the summons demanding the appearance of the witness.

Presenting some of the requested documents, two of the witnesses, the permanent secretary, ministry of finance, Mrs Ruth Ijir and Mr Gabriel Ameh, an assistant director, office of the accountant general of the state who were led in evidence by the lead counsel to the Commission, Mike Agber, made varying submissions on the appropriation of funds in the period under review.

Mrs Ijir tendered documents, which were the statement of Zenith Bank account operated by the state government between the first of June, 2007 and 30th June, 2015. Other documents submitted by the permanent secretary were details of withdrawals from the sale of Benue State government shares in Zenith Bank amounting to N5.3 billion; details of the payment

for the contract of biometric registration of workers; details of beneficiaries of the state taxi scheme, as well as the N1 billion Central Bank loan to Benue state on agriculture credit scheme.

Mrs Ijir, however, said details of those who bought bank shares in Zenith Bank could be obtained from the Benue State Investment and Property Company, BIPC. Similarly, Mrs Ijir said details of bonds taken by the state government could be obtained from the office of the attorney-general of the state.

Another issue on which the Commission sought clarification was the expenditure on foreign and local trips by the immediate past Governor.

Responding, Mrs Ijir promised to submit during the sitting of the commission, details of the expenditure on foreign trips undertaken by the former Governor as disbursed by the ministry of finance.

Earlier in his witness, the assistant director, office of accountant general,

Mr Gabriel Ameh had submitted documents on the dispatch register for the disbursement of funds to ministries, departments and agencies of the state.

He also tendered documents on approvals for the N13 billion loan obtained by the state government during the previous administration.

Other documents he submitted were on SURE-P funds, the N1 billion CBN agric loan, N500 million emergency funds for flood management in the state as well as approval for the sale of state shares and remittances.

When the lead counsel to the Commission raised the point that the memo sent to it by the accountant general’s office indicated that the indebtedness of the state as at May 2015 stood at N120 billion, Mr Ameh however said he could not confirm the figures until he was given more time to go through the financial records once again.

Members of the Commission demanded further clarification on the disparity in the figures contained in

the documents tendered by the ministry of finance and the office of the attorney-general which in according to the records of the finance ministry, showed that total receipts of the state government in 2012 were N4.4 billion while records from the accountant-general’s office indicated that total receipts for the same year stood at N9 billion. Disparity was also observed in year 2013 which showed total receipts as N3 billion according to finance ministry’s records while evidence from the accountant-general’s office put total receipts for the same year at N6.6 billion.

The last witness to appear before the Commission for the day was the Head of Service, Adaikwu Inwata whose presentation was brief giving way for the permanent secretary administration, office of the Head of Service, Mr Joseph Oko who promised to furnish the Commission with details of SURE-P funds in its next sitting. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry adjourned its sitting to the 28th of September this year.

24

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

FROM THE COURT

Court resolves land dispute in Ojora family’s favour

CJN queries judge over 2011 pre-election case

By Opeyemi Samuel

A

LAGOS High Court has declared that the Ojora Ruling House has the Statutory Right of Occupancy over a vast parcel of land that has been the subject of litigation since 2012.

The ruling is an addendum to an earlier one that gave the Ojora Royal Family the legal right to take possession of the entire Iganmu community, with effect from July 31, 2007.

The property includes a substantial part of the land hosting 7up Bottling Company in Ijora.

Justice Kazeem Alogba handed down the verdict in a 16-page judgment with Suit No. LD/443/2002: Oba Fatai Oyegbemi Aromire (Ojora of Lagos) and two others versus Chief Ogunyemi and thirty (30) other respondents.

Following the delivery of the judgement last Wednesday, September 16, the Ojora ruling family swung into action in the early hours of Thursday, September 17, taking legal possession of the land.

The family in company of policemen and High Court Deputy Sheriffs pasted notices, informing occupants of Badia, of the ruling of the High Court.

The notice reads: “The claimant are persons entitled to possession of the parcel of land in Ijora - Badia between Orile - Iganmu, Ijora Express Road and container terminal to Ebute – Iganmu Ijora more particularly delineated and edged red on the survey plan”.

The notice further declared the occupants as illegal trespassers and threatened to deal with them if they refuse to vacate the area according to the confines of the law.

“Any person who remains in illegal possession or is found on the land covered by the judgement will henceforth be treated as trespassers and will be dealt with according to law,” the notice continued.

In 2002, the paramount ruler of the Ijora kingdom, Oba Fatai Aremu Aromire Ojora, prayed the court for, among others, a declaration that his ruling house is entitled to the Statutory Right Of Occupancy of the disputed land, stating categorically that the defendants are trespassers on the land and prayed the court to issue an injunction restraining them from further trespassing on the land.

Speaking with The Nation on the implication of the judgement, the elated Oba expressed fulfilment and gratitude to God for allowing the recovery of the land during his reign.

“I am happy that this judgement has come during my reign and I thank God for helping the Ojora family to recover this stolen land. This land dispute has been in court since 2002 and after much controversy and court sessions, the judgment was delivered, returning our land to us.

“Both the land and structures now belong to the Ojora family,” he said.

The Oba insisted that there will not be any form of negotiation with the occupants, noting that they are squatters who never even purchased the landed property they are presently occupying.

“They are migrants who were pursued when the National Theatre was to be built. They came to Ijora Badia and the Ojora of that time accommodated them.

They started building and expanding so much that they claimed the land. It was not as if they bought the land. So, there won’t be any negotiation,” he said.

Also speaking with our reporter, Barrister Kunle Jimoh of Segun and Segun Legal Practitioners, who handled the case from inception for the Ojora family, revealed that the legal battle for the land lasted 12 years until Justice K.O. Alogba delivered judgment in favour of the Ojora family last Thursday.

He said that many justices had sat over the case within the 12-year period of litigation until Justice Alogba finally gave judgement.

Jimoh added that although the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) tried to delay the judgement from being passed, Justice Alogba, against all odds, delivered the judgement.

When The Nation sought the views of the occupants of the community – house owners and tenants – on the new development, they were reluctant to speak. At Bimade Diagnostic Services in Ijora, owned by Mr. John Adeyemi, who also owns a set of shops in the community, the receptionist said the doctor was busy and referred The Nation to Mr Adeyemi’s lawyer.

•Oba of Ojora Fatai Aromire

Estate agent docked for alleged fraud

By Robert Egbe

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42-YEAR-old real estate agent, Ramoni Azeez, has been arraigned in a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ikorodu, Lagos State, for allegedly obtain ing N301,000 to secure the same apartment for five persons.

Azeez, who is facing a five-count charge bothering on stealing, was alleged to have separately obtained the money from five persons at different times and dates with a promise to secure each of them the same one-room apartment at the Odonla Area of Ikorodu.

The prosecutor, Corporal Kemi Adeniran, told the court that Azeez committed the offence in the months of February, May, and August this year in Ikorodu.

“On August 27 at Odonla area of Ikorodu, the accused collected the sum of N120,000 from one Edward Aladenusi under the pretext of securing a one-room self-contained apartment from him, which he failed to do,” the prosecutor said.

She added: “Earlier in May 2015, the accused obtained N45,000 and N30,000 respectively from two other persons; Abel Yakubu and Morgan Moses, under the pretext of securing them a one-room apartment.

“Before that time he had collected another N70,000 and N30,000 from one Ronke Jolomi and Olufemi Joshua in February, 2015, but failed to secure the one-room apartment for them.”

The fifth count on the charge sheet states: “That you, Ramoni Azeez, on different dates and times, did steal a total of N301,000 only, property of Edward Aladenusi, Abel Yakubu, Morgan Moses, Ronke Jolomi and Olufemi Joshua.”

The prosecutor told the court that the offences contravened Sections 312 and 285 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011.

However, Azeez denied the charges and was granted bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in the like sum.

The Magistrate, Mrs. A. Oshodi-Makanju, adjourned the case till October 29.

By Adebisi Onanuga

•Justice Mohammed THE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has asked a judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos, Justice Rita OfiliAjumogobia, to explain why judgment was not delievered in a 2011 pre-election suit after judgment was fixed twice within the last three years.

It was learnt that the CJN’s correspondence to the judge, with Reference number NJC/F.3/FHC.26/1/ 232 dated February 17, was sequel to a petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC) by Mrs. Victoria Ayeni, the plaintiff in the 2011 preelection suit brought against Olusola Sonuga and two others.

The CJN’s missive, which served as a reminder, was titled: “Re: Petition against Honourable Justice R.N. Ofili-Ajumogobia, sitting at the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court of Nigeria”. It was copied to the court’s Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Auta.

It reads: “I refer to my predecessor’s letter No. NJC/F.3/FHC.26/ 1/212 dated 14th August, 2014 on the above subject matter, which you are yet to forward your response.

“I forward herewith a reminder petition dated 31st January, 2014 (sic) by the petitioner, Mrs. Victoria A.A. Ayeni.

“You are, therefore, requested to explain why judgment cannot be delievered in the matter. Your response should be forwarded to my Chambers through your Chief Judge within two weeks from the date of your receipt of this letter, please.” It was signed by the CJN and in his capacity as the Chairman of the NJC. Judgment in the suit No. FHC/ AB/CS/31/2011, which was reportedly argued by parties on May 22, 2012 in Abeokuta, was first fixed for judgment on July 10, 2012.

It was argued de-novo (afresh) in Lagos following a directive by the Chief Judge that the matter be concluded by the trial judge, who had then been transferred to Lagos. Judgment was fixed for June 14, 2014. But judgment is yet to be delivered in the matter till date.

In her petition, Ayeni, an aspirant for the Ogun State House of Assembly on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had accused the judge of having a “compromising posture” in the suit numbered FHC/AB/CS/31/2011. The PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are the other defendants.

The petitioner, who alleged that the trial judge was using judicial powers against her since 2011, is asking for a panel of investigation to be set up to determine whether or not the trial judge “has not compromised her position” as a judge in the suit.

Ayeni alleged that hearing in the

suit, which was filed on June 2, 2011 through an Originating Summons, did not commence until May 22, 2013, after seven adjournments.

The petitioner said it was in the course of waiting for the judgment that the judge was transferred to the Lagos Judicial Division, adding that it took several months before the Chief Judge directed that the matter be concluded.

She claimed she paid several visits to the court in Lagos without getting a hearing date.

Consequent, her lawyer, Dele Ajasa, wrote a letter dated May 30, 2013, requesting for a date for hearing which was later fixed for November 25, 2013.

Though her counsel and that of the first defendant argued their case on the resumption date, she claimed that the trial judge ordered that a fresh hearing date be served on the second and third defendants and adjourned the matter till December 3, 2013.

The matter, she claimed, went through six adjournments before a fresh hearing was finally held on April 3, 2014 and judgment fixed for June 16, 2014.

The petitioner added that case suffered several adjournments between June 16 and July 16, 2014.

According to Ayeni, she lost her patience when it became obvious that the judgment may never be delivered.

Although fixed for July 16, 2014, the judgment was again not delivered that day despite the fact that her counsel and that of the second defendant were in court.

Spokesperson of the NJC, Mr. Soji Oye, said given the date of the CJN’s correspondence, the judge would have replied the CJN. Oye said if she can defend her action and her reply appears satisfactory, there would be no problem and they would write the petitioner appropriately.

“But if he is not, he can then set up a committee to investigate the allegation of the petitioner and the committee would recommend to the NJC. I believe that committee would have sat by now and taken its decision and made a recommendation to the CJN,” he said.

Asked if that could be the reason why the judge has not given a date for judgment in the matter, he said it all depended on what the committee recommended to the CJN. In the originating summons, Ayeni, aside from listing four issues for determination, had prayed the court for an injunction restraining the third defendant from recognising and, or accepting the first defendant as the candidate of the PDP for Ikenne constituency in the April

26, 2011 election into Ogun State House of Assembly.

She sought an order nullifying the certificate of return issued by the third defendant to the first defendant; an order deeming the plaintiff as the candidate of the PDP for Ikenne constituency that won the April 26, 2011 elections into the Ogun State House of Assembly, among the nine reliefs sought from the court.

But the first defendant, in his 24point counter affidavit, contended that he won the primary election of the party and was duly announced as winner.

He averred that the plaintiff voluntarily withdrew her candidacy for the April 2011 general election and that it was on that strength, which was also communicated to the second and third defendants, that the final list was released by the party, showing candidates for the election.

He contended that the plaintiff having validly withdrawn her candidacy two months before the election could not turn around to challenge her substitution with himself.

The second defendant, who was the secretary of the party and had good knowledge of the event, averred that it was the party that persuaded the plaintiff to withdraw her candidacy in order to increase the party’s chances of winning the election.

He contended that the plaintiff willingly withdrew her candidature to enable the first defendant fly the party’s flag at the election since the first defendant is from Ikenne, adding, “the state chairman of our party, Chief Dayo Soremi therefore wrote a letter dated February 10, 2011 in which the party gave notice of the change of the party’s candidate from the plaintiff to the first defendant and forwarded the INEC Form CF 004-Notice of Change of Candidate duly signed by the plaintiff to the third defendant”.

In its own counter affidavit, the third defendant admitted paragraphs 1 to four and denied all other averments of the plaintiff in her affidavit deposed to in support of the originating summons and contended that before the final list of candidates for the general election was released in Ogun State by the third defendant, the second defendant through a letter dated February 10, 2011 notified the commission that Mrs. Atinuke Ajoke (Ayeni) had voluntarily withdrawn as the party’s candidate by signing form CF.004.

It contended that between the date the plaintiff voluntarily withdrew her candidacy and the date of election, the third defendant never received any counter letter with respect to the voluntary withdrawal of the plaintiff.

Expectant mother arraigned for alleged burglary

A

25-YEAR-old pregnant woman, Wunmi Malik, has been arraigned before an Ogba Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Ikeja, for allegedly breaking into a house.

Malik, who was accused of unlawfully entering the residence of one Mrs. Florence Adeto Olatosi and carting away jewellery worth N30,000, is facing a two-count charge bordering on burglary and stealing.

The prosecutor, Inspector Uche Simon, told the court that the accused, who lives in Ogun State, had no rela-

By Vivian Anaba

tionship with the complainant and committed the offence on September 14, 2015, at 12:45pm at No. 4, Olagoke Street, Oke-Oba, Agege, Lagos.

He added that the offence was contrary to and punishable under Sections 305(a) and 285 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

The accused pleaded not guilty to both charges and trial magistrate, Chief Mrs Y.R. Pinero granted her bail in the sum of N20,000 and one responsible surety in the like sum.

The matter was adjourned to October 12.

Newspaper of the Year

AN 8-PAGE PULLOUT ON NORTHERN STATES

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

Hitting the insurgents from the air and outgunning them on the ground are just fine, but in Gombe State, the Directorate of State Services (DSS) is involving everyone, including council chiefs and residents, in strategies to keep the terrorists at bay. VINCENT OHONBAMU reports

PAGE 25

INSIDE Trauma healers trained in Jos

PAGE 26

A lawmaker’s largesse in Kaduna

PAGE 27 •The chairmen and the DSS at the meeting

Gombe: New ways to fight T Boko Haram

HIS is not Boko Haram’s finest hour. A rejuvenated military offensive is posting good results against its fighters, hitting them so hard that many of them are laying down their arms in surrender. Still, the authorities in Gombe State are not sitting back and waiting for the latest success story from the federal troops. They are constantly initiating their own anti-Boko Haram strategies.

For instance, the state government is building better protected markets and parks to make it harder for violent criminals to strike as they did months back, killing scores. Now, the Department of State Services (DSS) is driving a fresh campaign with everyone playing a part. One point stressed at a workshop with caretaker council chairmen in Gombe, the state capital, was how to ensure that the bloodthirsty insurgents do not cash in on the state’s open vast land to enter its communities unnoticed.

The characteristic short trees, shrubs and parched sandy plains of the Sahel Savannah of the Northeast make it easy to stand at one point and see as far as the eyes could travel, save for the abundant rocky ranges that adorn the terrain. The sparse vegetation

‘Close circuit cameras are being installed to make kidnapping more difficult. Also, there are emergency numbers for residents to call. And when you speak in public, be careful in whose company you are and what you say’ made possible by the thin rainfall of the vegetative belt makes it possible to crisscross the terrain with or without established roads or pathways. The rocky or undulating nature of the zone’s topography also makes for good hideouts because of the obstacles to smooth movement.

The DSS told the council chiefs to take the vigilance message to their areas and ensure that their people at the grassroots imbibe it. On noticing anything suspicious, they should quickly pass the information to the appropriate authorities.

That way it would be easier to contain the schemes of the bad guys.

That was not all. Close circuit cameras are being installed to make kidnapping more difficult. Also, there are emergency numbers for residents to call. And when you speak in public, be careful in whose company you are and what you say.

Do you feel like giving out cash to people? Good idea, but just be careful what information is passed on to characters who might use it against you or your loved ones.

Located in the expansive savannah belt, Gombe shares common boundaries with all five states in the northeast: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Taraba and Yobe, all interconnected through bush paths. The

Udawa herdsmen who in the past created so much trouble and concerns for farmers, government and people of the state had no other routes but these bush paths.

Aware of this vulnerability, the new State Director of Security (SDS) in the state DSS command, Mr. Reuben Amao convened a two-day workshop to enlighten the newly constituted caretaker chairmen of the 11 local government areas of the state on security tips and how to deal with security situations that may occur in their domains.

The SDS said the workshop was informed by a thorough analysis of trends and manifestations of security threats which indicated that Boko Haram insurgents and other criminals usually enter the states through bush paths in rural areas.

“The idea of convening the workshop by this command was informed after a thorough and meticulous timeline analysis of the trends and manifestations of security threats, particularly those of insurgency being orchestrated by Boko Haram group, which indicated that the insurgents and other members of criminal gangs usually accessed the state through bush paths along villages at the rural areas.

Continued on page 30

Nine-year-old’s prize for coming to the city

PAGE 39

Wither the Sovereign Wealth Fund?

PAGE 32

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

THE NORTH REPORT Continued on page 30 “To effectively checkmate movements of these elements into the state, there is the need to alert and re-awaken the consciousness of the newly appointed Caretaker Committee Chairmen, who are the Chief Security Officers of their respective local government areas”, said Amao who was bringing to the fore his experience, having been

New ways to fight Boko Haram the Director of the state command.

Objectives of the workshop according to him, included: “To equip the newly appointed Caretaker Committee Chairmen with requisite security tips to aid in the discharge of their responsibilities.

“To sensitise them on security threats prevailing in their areas and proffer practical solutions; to adopt security strategies

collaboratively to achieve security goals and to critically examine security lapses at the LGAs with a view to nipping them proactively.”

The Chairmen were also given tips on personal security, security of home/office environments and security of documents as well as the need to properly use the security apparatus (operatives) at their disposal so that others do not hijack

Trauma healers trained in Jos Survivors of violence need more than drugs and sympathy. An agency of the European Union has trained counsellors to heal unseen wounds of trauma victims in Plateau State, reports YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU

T

with people in order to get the best of their cooperation, especially in the area of security tips.

Reverend Timothy Burak, the Caretaker of Shongom Local Government Area who responded on their part described the workshop as exhaustive and that they had definitely learnt a lot, while promised bring the lessons to bare in the discharge of their responsibilities at their respective localities.

‘The meeting is to equip the newly appointed caretaker committee chairmen with requisite security tips to aid them in the discharge of their responsibilities, and to sensitise them on security threats prevailing in their areas and proffer practical solutions; to adopt security strategies collaboratively to achieve security goals and to critically examine security lapses at the councils with a view to nipping security threats in the bud’

•The open lands of Gombe

HE European Union (EU) has started the second phase of its peace building and rehabilitation project in Plateau State, organising training programmes on trauma healing and skill acquisition for victims of Jos crisis. The EU made an initial commitment of •4.5 million in the phase, which is being implemented through its agency, Apurimac Onlus, a faith-based non-governmental organisation in Jos, the state capital.

Country Director of Apurimac Onlus, Mr. Godwin Okoko said, “The NGO has been operating in Jos since 2008 in the areas of peace building, human development and social justice. We have so far established four vocational skill training centres, one in each senatorial zone as well as the state capital. We also established trauma healing centres in Jos North Local Government Area where victims of violence and bomb blasts received free medical treatment and trauma counseling.”

While declaring the five-day training open for trauma counsellors in Jos last week, Mr. Okoko said, “In this particular programme, we are implementing the EU peace building project using our facilities for skill training and trauma healing for identified victims. Trauma healing because, the experience to victims are really traumatic, the heavy sound of bomb alone can affect somebody’s mental balance, especially being the first experience. And we’ve had several cases of bomb blasts in Jos city. Apart from the sound of the blast, the sight of charred human bodies, if you realise the impact of the bombs on human body alone can traumatise anyone that experienced it.

“In the course of working with victims of bomb blast, we realised that victims who managed to survive bomb blast takes days for

the apparatus and turn them against the council bosses.

The Deputy Governor of Gombe State, Mr. Charles Iliya who declared the workshop pen on behalf of his boss reminded the Chairmen that much was expected from them in every respect. He urged them to put the lessons into practice, adding that the workshop was the first of its kind in the state.

He told them to be careful, patient, tactful and logical in dealing

them to recover from the shock and disbelief, the psychological effect is massive on many people. Relations of victims who on realizing he lost loved ones through bomb blast and attacks by gunmen can go man, they are capable of contemplating revenge, especially orphans who will grow up to discovered how he lost his parents. So, in a conflict areas like Plateau state there are several reasons for residence to be traumatic.”

Mr. Okoko said, “We identified such traumatic victims from hospitals, IDPs camps and from relations.

We currently have 55,000 of them.

Most of them after being discharged from hospital as a result of bomb blast will go back home with their trauma as they may not have the fund to remain in hospital for counseling. We locate them and offer them free trauma healing. We locate most of them from IDPs camp, where you will meet a woman or children who saw how their loved ones were shot or killed by machete.

Some who managed to escape out of their house returned the next day after the attack to see the burnt bodies of family members. What a traumatic experience is that, there are several of them in Barkin Ladi, Riyom and Wase LGAs.” Due to the large number of victims that requires the trauma healing, the implementing agent, APURIMAN ONLUS will never have enough space to bring all of them together, hence the decision to train some community counsellors, who will then go back to their communities to train the victims.

These community counsellors are selected medical workers, sociologists, psychologists, nurses and religious evangelists.

Mr. Okoko said, “We selected nine of these professionals from each local government for a fiveday training and after that we deploy them to the various IDPs camps to counsel these traumatic

•Okoko

victims. We need to fine-tune their minds away from violence, we talk to them to divert their attention from what happened in the past; we have to take their memories away from the horrible things they may have passed through in the course

•The trauma counsellors

of the violence. We have to do these so that we can turn them to peace ambassadors rather than allowing them to think of vengeance. We also use religious preachers to talk to them on the ways of God.” The NGO has identified three local governments with severe cases of trauma, they are Barkin Ladi, Riyom and Wase local government areas of the state. “The trauma healing has become necessary so as to forestall further conflict in the various communities, that is the center of the entire peace building because it is through that psychological headings that you can be able to achieve sustainable peace.

The NGO organised its open day last week as a day set aside for the inspection of ongoing trainees in its training facilities in the state by the director general of Apurimac Onlus from Italy, Mr Vila Vittorio, as well as state government representative.

The tour took the team to inspect the trauma healing center in Katako areas of Jos North LGA where it successfully trained 2,000 trauma victims in 2014.

Mr Okoko said, “Apart from the trauma healing, we trained youths to acquire skills to enable them have means of livelihood that will take them away from been used in violence. We want to prevent idleness of the youths, hence, we have so far trained 14,000 youths in various skills like computer training, hair

dressing, tailoring, knitting, leather works, aluminum works, wielding and fabrication, catering and event decoration. The training takes six months.

“We have also trained over 5,000 educational actors in peace education and peace building, all these training are geared towards sustainable peace building and positive engagement of youths to make them productive, attain economic independence and make them useful to the society” Mr. Okoko restated the commitments of the EU and APURIMAC on the Plateau towards building social integration using various peace mechanism, and urged government, other stakeholders in the state to join hands in achieving sustainable peace in the state.

At the end of the facility tour, the Chief of Staff to Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, Mr. John Dafan expressed government readiness to partner with any organisation to help in conflict prevention and peace building in the state. The government official said, “Government appreciates the efforts of Apurimac Onlus and other organisations working towards having a lasting peace in the state and government will not hesitate to assist the NGO and the European Union to make their peace building project a huge success.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

27

THE NORTH REPORT

A lawmaker’s largesse in Kaduna With a project dedicated to the poor and some entrepreneurship tools for his people, Senator Shehu Sani is making an impact in his constituency just months after joining the National Assembly, reports TONY AKOWE

I

T is a turning point for residents of Kaduna Central Senatorial district. They are starting to savour the joy of quality representation. Senator Shehu Sani who represents them has given back to them even before receiving his constituency vote. He launched a pet project known as Talakawa Grassroots Revolutionary Development Programme which is expected to cover areas such as education, political enlightenment, health care delivery, women and youth empowerment, sports and recreation as well as skill acquisition and capacity building.

Some of the beneficiaries were

physically challenged. Some got tricycles, wheelchairs, vulcanising machines and sewing machines, among others.

Sani said the platform is a product of “our collective struggle, our resistance to the dark, reactionary forces that prey on our people’s ignorance, scavenge on their fears and uncertainties and profit from their misery. Our platform is a resounding no to the impunities of the past and the stranglehold of narrow special interests on the destiny of our communities. Our resolve is firm and unflinching for we owe no loyalty except to the common bonds of faith in our people’s abilities, our

shared ideals of struggle, and our history of staunch opposition to exploitation, social and economic deprivation and the mass imbecilisation of our humanity. The political, social and cultural battles we have fought and are still currently engaged in is a testament to our indomitable will and spirit, and our untiring efforts to retrieve and remobilise our energies for the existential challenges we continuously confront.

Our constituency programme is your collective project, a platform dedicated to the realisation of your dreams and expectations. Its key principles and strategic trajectories are undergirded by your vision, your will and your values. The choice of the projects to execute will be based on your conception and your material and spiritual needs. Our revolutionary method of mass empowerment aims to banish the logic of topbottom approach to human development and emplace as its essence a development and human transformation paradigm that evolves out of your living experiences”.

Sani is not unmindful of the fact that politicians use such programmes to perpetuate themselves and hold the people to ransom while failing to fulfill their promises to the people. He is also not unmindful of the fact that elected representatives of the people collect huge sums of money as constituency projects and smile to the bank while

the people suffer abject poverty, only to return with hand outs few months to election.

In response to such attitude of politicians, he promised, saying, “Our method will radically differ from the approach of such political leaders who are already disconnected and divorced from the people, who hold them in contempt, who refuse to seek out their opinions and viewpoints, and who inflict on them pains and sufferings in the name of a bogus programme of deceit that have no bearing to their daily struggles”.

Describing his effort as a new revolutionary paradigm of change, Sani, a civil rights activist before his election believe that the time has come to effect a change in the ways things are done in the country. He said “change has come to Nigeria, and to Kaduna Central, but do not be deceived for change has two logical faces. The vehicle of change- our political party- is composed of two sets of individuals and Caucuses: the Caucus of the rich and powerful who exploited its advantages to advance their reactionary political career, and the caucus of the people who are making history by taking their destiny in their hands. Our caucus is of the latter part for we see the promise of change in the eagerness of our people to better their living standard, to improve their human development index, to engage in sustainable means of livelihood, edu-

cate their children, have access to better health care delivery system, reduce maternal and infant mortality, empower the youth with new skills, capacities and job opportunities, and live in affordable houses in clean and decent neighborhoods.

We have no part in the political tendency that will destroy our people’s means of livelihood, shut down their social and economic spaces, destroy the dwellings the toiled to build and run a government that alienates them. We have no part in the paradigm of change that emasculates the people, is impoverishing and demeaning them, that has outsourced their jobs for political ambitions of the future and that has prioritised arrogance and impunity as sellable mantras. The change we worked for, we gave our all is a people-driven agenda; change that will improve their lives, accommodate their interests and needs, is inclusive and compassionate. Change is not meant to cannibalise our people and feed their flesh to the gods of avarice, unconscionable ambition and disdain for all that is egalitarian and fraternal in nature.

However, Sani told The Nation that his “philosophy of change is built on the belief that our political platform must be converted into a mass movement of the people and should to serve, without delay, as an ideological weapon for mass mobilization, mass conscientisation and mass empowerment. It is a veContinued on page 30

•Senator Sani (left) with his constituents at the launch of his jobs scheme

•Participants at a trauma-healing trainining exercise in Jos

‘The platform is our collective struggle, our resistance to the dark, reactionary forces that prey on our people’s ignorance, scavenge on their fears and uncertainties and profit from their misery.

It is a resounding no to the impunities of the past and the stranglehold of narrow special interests on the destiny of our communities’

•Traffic jam on the outer Northern Expressway at Gwarimpa, Abuja

28

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

THE NORTH REPORT

F

OR over one and a half decades, the North has had little to cheer. Its economy has tanked, development hard to see and the region torn apart by war and ethnic strife.

The good part, though, is that when the region’s governors met in Kaduna, they sought action, not lamentation.

The residents would be happy because they want the governors to bring back the glorious days of the region.

With about 14 governors and two deputies in attendance, the meeting of the Northern Governors Forum under the chairmanship of Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima expressed concern about the economy of the region which has lagged behind in recent years. Addressing his colleagues, Governor Shettima said, “Things have become so bad, so much so that we can say without fear of contradiction that in Nigeria today poverty glaringly wears a bold northern face. We have turned our region into a laughingstock, derided by friends and foes alike, and, not without justification, as having dragged the rest of the country down with us. Regrettably today, our region has become a thriving nest for war, terrorism, deep seated social divisions, senseless violence, mind-boggling intolerance, injustice, destitution, joblessness, and all manners of other social vices, the height of which is the madness called Boko Haram.”

He warned that lamentation, which has become the order of the day in the north, will not solve the problems if necessary action is not taking, adding that it is time for all hands to be on deck and move into actions that will address the challenges.

He said, “No amount of lamentation will, of course, solve our many problems. We need to act, and fast too. This generation of Northern leaders, led by us the governors, have both a moral and constitutional responsibility as well as a historic opportunity to reverse the negative fortunes of our people. We must do everything in our power to restore and entrench the lofty values of unity, understanding, tolerance, mutual respect, empathy, justice and mutual coexistence in the minds of our people and region. We must firmly and decisively commit ourselves to fighting poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, terrorism and other forms violent crimes in the North. I dare say that there is no better time to do that than now, when a sequence of events over the last few months is showing that a silver lining is beginning to appear in the dark clouds that have hovered over the North for so long. I urge us to take full advantage of this development and dedicate ourselves to, beginning from this meeting and within the shortest possible time, developing a comprehensive blueprint that will take our region and its long suffering people out of the woods. I solemnly enjoin all of Continued from page ?? hicle that must be expropriated from the hands of the few and brought back into the domain of the people”.

He said further that “the Talakawa Grassroots Revolutionary Development Programme is the organic transformation of our notion of the new paradigm of change into praxis. It is conceived as a sustainable, self-reinforcing community of activists, workers, women, youth and children designed to effect a qualitative change in our mode of thinking and acting with regard to our political institutions, cultural platforms, economic system and spiritual mode of existence. It is an integrated, collectively owned and action-driven agenda that will make a clear and powerful statement in the areas of utilitarian and

•Governors Shettima (right), el-Rufai and others at the meeting

Governors urge action against regional decay From Tony Akowe

us to put our heads down, get to work and come up with an agenda for the speedy transformation of Northern Nigeria from its current travails into a well modern, well developed, prosperous, progressive, just and united polity for the good of its people and the entire Nigeria”.

Shettima recognised the efforts of the government in trying to reposition the country for good governance which he believes will give the region a new lease of life.

He said “For the first time since the early 1980s, the political leadership of the Northern states seem poised to reverse the negative trends that had so readily sown the destructive seed of mutual suspicion, distrust and animosity among the teeming people that occupy the vast lands of of our states. I can see the signs of sincere effort and genuine optimism to draw strength in our diversity and change the narrative of our troubled history in the interest of our region’s history, and indeed,the rest of Nigeria. As leaders of our people at this crucial epoch of our history, and democratically elected ones at that, we are left with no choice but to rise up to the occasion and live up to people’s perfectly understandable expectations.

We must seize this moment, for history is beckoning at us. The first generation of Northern leaders May God Almighty bless them – bequeathed to us a polity, though vast in land mass and complex in its diversity, that showed enormous promise, and was indeed beginning

‘Things have become so bad, so much so that we can say without fear of contradiction that in Nigeria today poverty glaringly wears a bold northern face. We have turned our region into a laughingstock, derided by friends and foes alike, and, not without justification. Our region has become a thriving nest for war, terrorism, deep-seated social divisions, senseless violence, mind-boggling intolerance, injustice, destitution, joblessness, and all manners of other social vices, the height of which is the madness called Boko Haram’ to live to that promise: A polity where the social mantra was unity in diversity, where justice, fairness and equity reigned, where exemplary peaceful coexistence was the order of the day. Not only did succeeding generations of leaders including – sadly – our own, fail to sustain the benchmark handed over by our heroes, they let things to progressively and rapidly deteriorate, in the process exhibiting base irresponsibility of the worst kind. Thus, from those dizzying heights of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s when the North was the cynosure, if not the envy, of all eyes, we plunged to the nadir of the social ladder.”

The Forum however identified unemployment amongst youths, high illiteracy level, arms and drugs proliferation, poverty, inactive preaching, Almajiri phenomenon, lack of recreational facilities and sporting events, inadequate use of traditional institutions and lack of cottage industries to engage the unemployed as major causes of insecurity in the region. It commended the Buhari government for taking proactive measures to end the insecurity especially in he north and for prioritising the fight against Boko Haram and for initiating of the joint Multinational task force and security agencies for the con-

A lawmaker’s largesse in Kaduna functional education, political enlightenment essential for political and social liberation, affordable healthcare delivery system, environmental renewal and improved living spaces, women and youth empowerment under an equitable and egalitarian order and framework, job creation that will be facilitated by skills acquisition and capacity-building, and sports, recreation and general individual wellbeing. I have my thinking and ideas about the direction to go, about the key projects that will work well for our people in this regard, but my thoughts and ideas are insufficient to unfold the totality of this revolutionary agenda. To do so will be to hand down to you my thoughts alone. Because we own this project collectively, the inputs all of all critical stakeholders are required

in fleshing out the ideas my team and I have been working on for quite some time”.

Speaking in the likely success of the programme, Sani said “I see the immense revolutionary potentials of our platform as a mass movement, as a weapon of liberation and human transformation. Together we are already making history, by this very beginning, this historic start.

The launch of this project today signals the commencement of a revolutionary pro-people change in our constituency Kaduna central. And it is a revolution that no one, no matter how powerful, can stop, can halt, can dislodge or contaminate. The reason for this is simple: the mass of our people voted for change, a change that would make meaning in their life, a change that would

free them from exploitation and plunder, a change that would free them from master-servant relationship, a change that would recognize and uphold their human dignity, a change that would end their suffering, a change that would advance their collective socio-economic interest; this is my interpretation of change and the pillar upon which the new order and the new spirit in the country can only be sustained”.

One of those who benefited from the programme who identified himself simply as Alhaji Mohammed told The Nation that for the first time in his life, he was feeling the touch of governance. He said “I have been voting since the second republic. But I have never seen anything like this. We use to hear that government gives out

tinued onslaught on insurgents and terrorist in the north east. On their part, they agreed to constitute a committee of Attorney Generals of the Northern States to look into criminal justice system taking into cognisance the current security challenges so as to proffer strict punishments to crimes such as cattle rustling, kidnapping, terrorism, rape and domestic violence.

The governors are also concerned about the state of industries in the north especially companies where they have joint investment such as the New Nigeria a Development Company, Kaduna Textile and the New Nigeria Newspapers. They spoke of the need to recapitalize the New Nigerian Development Company (NNDC) and build it into a profit oriented industry and a breeding ground for youth of Northern extraction to be professional in all facets of human endeavour. They also agree to resuscitate the Kaduna Textiles Limited to operate in line with international best practices and agreed to have bilateral and multilateral cooperation with organizations and international institutions in order to explore the opportunity of reviving textiles industries in the region. They also acknowledged that the challenges facing the New Nigerian Newspapers (NNN) limited is beyond mere injection of working capital and directed Secretaries to the northern state Governments to carry out an indepth study of the company and present a report for consideration at the forums next meeting.

poverty alleviation item to people, but many of us here today have never benefited. Infact, normally don’t see these people until when it is time for election or when election is near before they come to give us rice and some few money.

But this time, Senator Sani, who has just been elected has decided to put a smile on our faces early enough.

I am particularly very grateful to him. He has promised t do more and I know that he will do more”.

Muhammad Kabir Abdullahi, one of his aide said the Senator decided to use his personal money for the project, adding that the programme will be expanded once constituency money is released, adding that whoever knows Shehu Sani knows him as a giver especially to the poor or the needy.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

Website: http://www.thenationonlineng.com

Page 29

Ifeanyi Chiazor hoped for the good life leaving Delta State for Abuja. On arrival, he was asked to mind a shop owned by his aunt, who would allegedly batter and slash him with a blade. VINCENT IKUOMOLA and FAITH YAHAYA report

•Ifeanyi

Nine-year-old’s prize for coming to the city

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OT all the boy’s dreams crashed. Nine-year-old Ifeanyi Chiazor dreamt to see the big city, its huge buildings and sleek cars cruising on paved roads. He achieved that because he was taken to the Federal Capital City (FCT) to live with an aunt who promises matched his ideas.

So he did see the glitzy nation’s capital, though he headed straight to the suburbs of Dape, Gwagwa where his relative lived with her family.

It was the second arm of his dream, which was to continue his primary school and one day become a successful man that misfired terribly.

What Ifeanyi got was assault and battery.

At the time when the entire world was uniting against child

abuse and violence, somewhere in the rusty settlement of Dape in Abuja Municipal Centre, her aunt was reportedly busy perpetrating crime against her defenseless nephew, inflicting cuts on him.

For an offence whose gravity could not be ascertained yet, Ifeanyi’s aunt beat him severely, using a razor blade to cut him in several parts of his body.

One account said the boy spilled palm oil. Ifeanyi’s version was that it was the aunt’s son who actually poured out the oil, while Ifeanyi got the beating for spanking the aunt’s two-year-old son who spilled the oil.

What he thought was a correctional measure for his aunt son resulted to injury that is sure to leave a scar that will probably last a lifetime.

‘My aunt inflicted this wound on me because her son spilled oil and I spanked him. She used belt to beat me but in the process the belt cut, and she then used a wooden kitchen stool to hit me and when that one broke, she carried a lamp and after that, she took me to the room, locked the door and started using razor blade to cut my body’ Ifeanyi spoke to our cur correspondents at Our Lady Clinic and Maternity Home in Gwagwa where he was rushed to.

He said, “My name is Ifeanyi Chiazor, and I am nine years old.

My aunt (name withheld) inflicted this wound on me because her son spilled oil and I spanked him and then packed the oil and then the son reported me to my aunt and that was how she started beating me.

Continuing, he said: “She used belt to beat me but in the process the belt cut, and she then used wooden kitchen stool to hit me and when that one broke, she carried lamp and after that, she took me to the room, she locked the door and started using razor blade to cut my body.”

Asked how neither her aunt’s husband nor the neighbours heard him shout and came to his rescue, the boy said: “If neighbours come, she will pick up a fight with them.

Her husband was around but he could not help me. All he did while my aunt beat and cut me with the blade was to cry.

He continued: “After cutting me, she went to look for vehicle that will bring me to the hospital but Continued on page 34

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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ABUJA REVIEW Continued on page 30 the [driver] charged her N1500, but she said she could only afford N100.

So, she looked for a tricycle (Keke NAPEP) to bring me here.”

Ifeanyi also disclosed to our reporters that contrary to the promise his aunt made to his parents before he came to Abuja, that he will be registered in school, all he has been doing ever since was to assist his aunt in selling in her shop instead of going to school.

The boy who could not communicate properly because of the pain he was going through, said: “I used to be in school in the village but my education stopped when I came to Abuja. I was in Primary 3 in Agbogidi Primary School in Ogboani, Delta State and my aunt promised my parents that she would enrol me in school immediately I got to Abuja but when I came to Abuja, I was not enrolled; rather, I was helping her sell provision in her shop.”

When asked if he would still want to stay with his aunt, Ifeanyi said, “I will like to go back to the village because the suffering here is too much. I came to Abuja from Ogboani in Delta State. My father is an okada rider and my mother makes and sells garri,” he said.

The owner of the clinic and nurse who attended to Ifeanyi, Mrs Virginia Ugwu described his situation as very bad.

She said, “The situation of the boy when he was brought in was very bad. She cut him in several places like the abdomen, the buttocks down to his back thigh, lower abdomen, and because of the condition, we started treating him without even demanding for anything.

“When the police officers in Gwagwa came, they said I was supposed to report the incident before I begin treatment but I began the treatment because the boy was in a bad shape and he had lost so much blood.

“The stitches are over 30. The cut was so deep, the cut at the lower abdomen got to his tissue and after the stitches, it was difficult for Ifeanyi to urinate; I had to take him to another doctor who helped in draining the urine before he started urinating normally”.

Also speaking, the son to the owner of the clinic, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwu said: “I was here when the boy was brought in; the woman

Nine-year-old’s prize for coming to the city

•Some of the stitches

brought him on the third of September; she came in crying because the boy was in a pool of his own blood.

“She told the clinic that he is her son and that she inflicted the injury on him but she blamed the whole act on the handiwork of the devil.

According to her, the boy is a stubborn type and that he does not listen to her instruction [which angered her] but she also said it was not intentional and that it was the work of the devil.

“She actually deceived us because she claimed that the boy was her son and that made people to desert the boy because they saw it as a family matter but it was when the aunt left that she was going to bring him food and clothing that the boy spoke up because it was obvious that the boy is really afraid of her.

Continuing, Mr. Ugwu said: The woman left and never wanted to

come back. We later got in touch with the Mai Ungwa in Dape who helped in getting in touch with her. The Mai Ungwa called her and when she picked, she asked if the boy was dead? ”After waiting for several hours for her without seeing her, we went to report to the police station because she brought the boy around 3pm, and she didn’t come back until 1am. She was arrested thereafter but she was released the next day.

Our correspondents discovered that Ifeanyi’s case has not only attracted the attention of the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), the agency has rescued the boy while it has also commenced investigation which according to gathering might lead to prosecution of the boy’s aunt. The Head, Press and Public Relations of the agency, Mr. Josiah Emerole who confirmed the incident, told our corre-

spondents that the boy was already with them and that investigation on the matter was on.

Mr. Emerole also revealed that the woman has been granted administrative bail because she is currently nursing a three month old baby. But he said she has been asked to be reporting to the agency. He also confirmed that the woman will be prosecuted at the end of the investigation.

Ifeanyi has also pleaded not to return to his aunt’s house because of the ill-treatment he gets.

Speaking on how NAPTIP got to know about the boy, he explained that the boy’s aunt wanted the boy discharged and that was when the clinic called NAPTIP and they have since taken over the case.

In section 351 of the Criminal Code Act of Nigeria, any person who unlawfully assaults another is guilty of an offence and may be liable to im-

‘The situation of the boy when he was brought in was very bad. She cut him in several places like the abdomen, the buttocks down to his back thigh, lower abdomen, and because of the condition, we started treating him without even demanding for anything. He had lost so much blood. The stitches are over 30.

The cut was so deep; the one at the lower abdomen got to his tissue and after the stitches, it was difficult for Ifeanyi to urinate; I had to take him to another doctor who helped in draining the urine before he started urinating normally’ prisonment for one year but it has been observed that cases of assault has continued to thrive despite the spelt out punishment.

For this act to be curbed, there is need for enforcement of the law which will serve as a example for those who indulge in this act. On the part of parents, they should also be careful of who they give their children to no matter the promise made.

Town planners to residents: honour master-plan

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ESIDENTS of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been asked to respect the Abuja master-plan in order to prevent flooding in the capital city.

Garba Kwamkur, chairman of the FCT chapter of Nigeria Institute of Town Planers (NITP) who made this known at the FCT 2015 Town Planners Week, said that residents tend to forget that Abuja is the only city in the country that was carved out, planned and built under the law.

Kwamkur said residents of the FCT are expected to have a change of heart, so that they can build an Abuja of their dream that is comparable to any city in the world.

“Abuja residents have to respect the master plan because it is something everyone can see online, or you go to AGIS to enquire the purpose of a particular land to know if it is a green area, residential or business area. Abuja is a different city, unlike Lagos and other cities, that is why we must all stick to the details of the master plan. With that we can avoid any flood in the city and people will live happily.

“We expect residents, both in the urban and rural area to key into the project of change by abiding with the rules and regulations of the masterplan. You have to seek the planning approval, start drawing before you

‘Abuja residents have to respect the master plan because it is something everyone can see online, or you go to AGIS to enquire the purpose of a particular land to know if it is a green area, residential or business area. Abuja is a different city, unlike Lagos and other cities; that is why we must all stick to the details of the master plan. With that we can avoid any flood in the city and people will live happily’

By Gbenga Omokhunu

start building your house, instead of doing what some people do, having offer-letters or even going to the Gbagyi chiefs to buy land and build.

•Ram sellers waiting for buyers at Madalla Market in Niger State ahead of Eid el-Kabir celebrations. PHOTO: NAN

“So that we can have something like all these mass transit, the rail system and bus system. Everybody does not have to drive a car to the city. There are other ways and during this event, we are trying to put it on the table, so that the government will now know about this modern innovation and try to put them in place,” he said.

The Chairman, Organising Committee, Mukhtar Galadima, also

expressed the need to involve the stakeholders in all their activities during the planning process, from the conception, surveys, decisions and implementation, saying that this could be done through workshops, charades and seminars to get the Peoples view.

“Then, when that is done, you carry on with your surveys on the people again, make your findings about their needs and desires. Then

you draw up your plans and bring it to the people again to know if they are okay with it and they will give you their opinion.

“If you carry the people along in everything you are planning with them, it will make your planning very successful, because they are part of the process. As a professional, you should not assume that you know everything,” he said.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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ABUJA REVIEW

A

RCCG donates classrooms to community school

S part of its corporate social responsibility, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Province 8 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has donated a block of classrooms, a staff office, desks and benches to natives of Gnami community along Bwari-Kaduna expressway.

The rural community which has no functional school buildings was agog with excitement when pastorate of the church, led by the Pastor in the charge of the province, Pastor Olusegun Olujimi alongside members of the church visited the community to commission the amenities for immediate use.

The occasion drew a mammoth crowd to the reserved village which has little or no federal presence in terms of infrastructure.

In his speech, Pastor Olusegun Olujimi said that the gesture was all about fulfilling the scripture to do good and to add value to the lives of the people, adding that the donation was also in line with the mandate given to the church by its General Oversea, Pastor Enoch Adeboye to commence corporate responsibility activities in various communities.

Pastor Olujimi said the aim is to alleviate the sufferings brought upon the masses by absence of basic infrastructure,saying that the church has a responsibility to build society and make it habitable for all.

He noted that the gesture was equally part of activities to mark the second year anniversary of the province, thereby explained that the donation was done after due diligence had been carried out by a committee headed by retired Major General Chris Olukolade on expediency of the project.

‘The church said that the gesture was all about fulfilling the scripture to do good and to add value to the lives of the people, adding that the donation was also in line with the mandate given to the church by its General Oversea, Pastor Enoch Adeboye to start corporate responsibility activities in various communities’

By Gbenga Omokhunu

The clergyman noted that the Gnami community was chosen because of the urgent need for a school to facilitate learning by children of school age in the area. The cleric stressed that much of the problem of insurgency are as a result of lack of education,saying that sound education is paramount for stability of the country.

Village Head of Gnuma community, Alhaji Ibrahim Yeri and the Head Master of the LEA Primary School, Gnami, Yakubu Adamu, expressed gratitude to the church for the gesture, saying it is the first time the community would receive such a gift from a church.

•From left, Manager, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Gambo Aboki; Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Saleh Dunoma; Regional General Manager, MAKIA, Zakari Mamuda; and the Hajj/Cargo Terminal Manager, Hajia Altine Hamza, during the Managing Director's visit to inspect the airlifting of pilgrims to Mecca

Community clears refuse, bemoans lack of infrastructure ‘Apart from the area of proper environmental sanitation, we have not seen any adequate infrastructures on ground, especially good roads. The truth is that we have not felt the impact of this administration since it took over from the last administration, and we wonder what he is doing with the allocation that he is getting from the federal government’

I

N line with the seven-day ultimatum given by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Mr. John Chukwu to all area councils chairmen to evacuate refuse in their domains, Kuje is wearing a new look after the exercise.

Some residents of the council who spoke with journalists during the evacuation exercise, praised the council’s environmental department for its continuous efforts in sanitising the area despite the challenges of infrastructures faced by the people.

One of the residents, Mr. Godwin Jacob, also commended the Permanent Secretary for the clean-up directive, saying that despite the previous effort from the environmental department to clean up the area, there were some areas that lacked proper cleaning. But that has been taken care of by the department during the clean-up exercise.

By Gbenga Omokhunu

Jacob, who said that environmental sanitation has become a tradition in the area, because of the effort been put in by the present head of department to ensure a clean and healthy environment, lamented that almost all the major feeder roads in the council have gone bad, without the effort of the present administration to rehabilitate them.

“However, apart from the area of proper environmental sanitation, we have not seen any adequate infrastructures on ground, especially good roads. The truth is that we have not felt the impact of this administration since it took over from the last administration, and we wonder what he is doing with the allocation that he is getting from the federal government, “ he said.

The Head of Environmental department in the council, Mr. Abdulrazak Abdulkarim who spoke with journalists attributed the problem of irregular sanitation exercise by the council to funding, saying that the leadership of the council is always committed to ensuring a clean and healthy environment for the people of Kuje to live in.

Abdulkarim further called on the people of Kuje to imbibe the habit of proper waste disposal, in order for it to be easy for evacuation when the environmental department wants to evacuate them to their permanent dump sites, saying that when wastes are dumped indiscriminately, they end up making the environment look unkempt and unhealthy.

He further cautioned scavengers against spreading refuse on the roads when they are properly disposed, explaining that most times when waste are properly disposed at designated dump sites, scavengers are the ones that spread the refuse to the roads and make them constitute nuisance to residents.

•People appreciating an exhibition of porcelain sculptures and art works at the ongoing 2015 of China Ceramic Culture and Art Exchange Activities in Abuja

‘2000 children had measles in 2000’

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HE Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board (PHCDB) has revealed that about 2000 children were infected with measles in the territory last year, adding that 16 of them died of the disease.

The Executive Secretary of PHCDB, Dr. Rilwan Mohammed made this know to journalists at the Integrated Measles Campaign (IMC) stakeholders meeting in Abuja in respect to the forthcoming measles Campaign which is bid to commence in November 7 to 12, 2015.

According to Dr. Mohammed, despite the immunisation is been done at nine months, there have been a lot of outbreak of measles in the FCT, because the highest outbreak of measles in the world is in Nigeria as a result of the numbers of people infected in the states which are not reported.

“In the FCT last year, we had almost 2000 people who were infected with measles and about 16 died from our statistic. We did not know of those that were not reported. This year, we have had so many outbreak of measles from across the FCT in all the area councils.

“The federal government has

By Gbenga Omokhunu

said that since there are so many outbreak because the measles campaign was not done properly, we should bring the stakeholders together early and discuss with them, because it is a facility based intervention.

“Because unlike the polio immunisation we do not go to house to house to give injection, the stakeholders should come in and buy in and tell us where we can go in and improve in this campaign, because the government does not have a lot of money and we need to achieve what we want to achieve,” he said.

According to the Executive Secretary, for now they are going to be immunizing from nine months to five years old, because they do not have enough money those

beyond five years, saying that if they have the money they would have immunised up to 12 years old.

“Since it is not house to house immunisation, people have to come to the facilities to get immunised and most of the ages that are infected are between 9 and 12 years, because they were not immunised at the age of nine months.

“This infection affects the eyes, ears, chest, skin will be with rashes and even the intestine and the child can die. So, we are trying to bring together the stakeholders early in order to make this year’s campaign a success, because there are two area councils the we did not do well and they are Gwagwalada and Bwari area councils and we are going to improve on that,” he said.

‘Since it is not house to house immunisation, people have to come to the facilities to get immunised and most of the ages that are infected are between 9 and 12 years, because they were not immunised at the age of nine months’

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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HAT is the true position of the $1 billion Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) deposit being managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA)?

Is the $1 billion deposit still intact and generating profits or depleted to a balance of $300 million?

The Sovereign Wealth Fund, which was set up by the NSIA Act, came into force in October 2012 and was created to receive surplus income generated from Nigeria's excess oil reserves.

It is intended to invest the savings gained on the difference between the budgeted and actual market prices for oil to earn returns that would benefit future generations of Nigerians.

But conflicting reports indicating that all was not well with the fund came to the fore again last Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

While the Managing Director of NSIA, Uche Orji claimed that the $1billion initial sovereign fund contributed by the government was intact and generated N15.7 billion profit last year, the Chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC)'s Ad-Hoc Committee on the management of the Excess Crude Account and related Federation Account issues and Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole disagreed with the claim.

Oshiomhole maintained that he has evidence to prove that the $1 billion deposit has not only been depleted to $300 million, but that there were false claims that the fund was invested on other projects already funded from other sources.

Speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa on the 9th of this month, Orji said: "The government gave us $1billion which is the only contribution we have received and we made N15.7 billion profit last year from the contribution.

"We haven't gotten additional fund from the govt but the fund is structured in a way that it can go through hard time.

"We all know that the oil price is volatile, it comes up and goes down but the fund is structured in such a way that it can remain continuously profitable.

"The funds remains the fund from the government and the profit made." He added Orji's position was deflated barely a week after by Oshiomhole last Thursday.

Oshiomhole said: "I reported to the media that the Sovereign Wealth people in their report to us, which I have in black and white, showed clearly that they have only $300 million left in the Sovereign Wealth Fund account.

"We have it in black and white and I can publish it if anybody

Wither the Sovereign Wealth Fund? wants to deny that because it was not submitted to me secretly. It was submitted at plenary of the committee.

"And then we asked, because I knew that the fund was $1 billion, what was done with $700 million.

And they said they have made some investments.

"We asked them what they invested in and they said the second Niger bridge and partially in Kaduna-Abuja rail. That is what they said and I was not alone there.

"We were about five governors and it was a full plenary. But we know that the Kaduna-Abuja rail was funded with Chinese loan, which even Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala spoke about, when they said the loan from China was not used for Lagos, she said it was for Kaduna-Abuja rail.

"You media need to develop your own library and have your record so

From the Villa

By Augustine Ehikioya

that when people speak from both sides of their mouths, you can replay back. Because sometimes it hurts me when political leaders and technocrats say one thing in the morning and they change the language the

following day." He said Urgently beaming the anti-corruption searchlight of the present administration in that direction may be needed to unravel the true position on the matter. Its time to act now.

Time to fix institutional paralysis

A

GAIN, a call has gone out to Nigerians and the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to give President Muhammadu Buhari time to fix and revive Nigeria from institutional paralysis inflicted on her by past administrations.

The mess is on a large and unimaginable magnitude that it was said that no meaningful progress

or reforms can take place unless they are first cleared.

But the same PDP, which was claimed to have caused the mess and inflicted institutional paralysis on the nation in the past 16 years, is at the forefront of push for positive growth and results from the young administration which recently clock 100 days in office.

The National Leader of the All

Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, on a visit to the seat of power, a fortnight ago, ruled out possibility of quick fix for the problems left behind by the past administrations.

Speaking with State House correspondents, he said: “There is pitfall in rushing, quick fix, depending upon the depth of the rot. And that rush can cascade into mistakes

of unimaginable magnitude.

“There is equally glory and recovery in slowness, when you have a slow fix of a bad foundation.

“So to me, I would rather take the one that will last the country and endure for a longer period of time than the rush hour shopping.” He said.

He went on: “And the institutional paralysis had occurred in the country. It is very important for a steady man like the President to really help the nation recover from the paralysis and that is what he is doing so I don’t see what is dictatorial about that.”

Asking the PDP to keep silent if it has nothing meaningful to say, he said: “If they don’t have anything to say, they rather be quiet. They created what is wrong here today and we can’t sweep that under the carpet. There must be rule of law.”

Also disturbed by the magnitude of the PDP mess, the former interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande declared: “President Buhari inherited piles of rot in the Villa and I say let me see him, talk to him and report to my party with a view to knowing how to encourage him to change the rot to good. It is the rot, piles of rot upon rot.”

Herdsmen told not to graze cattle in Abuja

By Gbenga Omokhunu and Grace Obike

T

HE Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration has warned herdsmen grazing cattle in and around Abuja to desist forthwith or be prosecuted.

FCT Permanent Secretary, John Chukwu gave the warning, explaining that improper grazing of cattle in the city centre and environs constitutes public nuisance and is hazardous to road users.

He said that this practice has adverse effects on the environment and must not be allowed to continue, stressing that Abuja is the capital of Nigeria and the window in which the world sees the country.

According to a statement issued by Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, Chukwu said that all hands must be on deck to ensure the adequate maintenance of the Abuja environment in accordance with the change mantra of the Federal Government.

The Permanent Secretary directed the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) to ensure full compliance; noting that Abuja city is not meant for cattle grazing because there are designated areas for such activities in the Abuja Master Plan.

Meanwhile, the FCT Administration has frowned at the practice by some residents of the Federal Capital Territory hawking animals particularly rams on major streets of Gwarinpa II District, Abuja.

Chukwu warned that the practice is also unacceptable because there are designated markets and areas for such activities.

He instructed the AEPB to also ensure the immediate stoppage of such unwholesome practices by arresting and prosecuting defaulters in line with the Law.

•Representative of GOC, 3 Div, Nigerian Army, Brig.-Gen. Benson Akinroluyo with a baby ophan and officials of Plateau State Orphanage Home after he presented food items and other gifts to the orphanage in Jos

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

33

LAW & SOCIETY A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Dr Babatunde Ajibade recommends how to take the fight against corruption to the next level

‘How to win corruption battle’ T

HE majority of Nigerians who voted for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 general elections did so because they were fed up with the sickening levels of corruption that pervade Nigerian society.

It is a generally accepted fact that corruption in Nigeria has reached endemic proportions and people have had enough of it; at least people other than those who are direct or indirect beneficiaries of this corruption.

A former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, when he signed the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission Bill into law on 13th June 2000 stated thus: “with corruption, there can be no sustainable development no political stability. By breeding and feeding on inefficiency, corruption invariably strangles the system of social organization. In fact, corruption is literally the antithesis of development and progress.”

Although there is considerable skepticism as to whether Chief Obasanjo himself practiced what he preached whilst he was in office, it is to his credit that it was under his administration that corruption was first identified as a substantial problem in Nigeria with specific legislative steps taken to combat the scourge.

President Buhari’s battle against corruption has commenced.

However, as has often been found in Nigeria, when you fight corruption, corruption fights back and given the sums reportedly generated by corrupt practices, those involved have more than enough resources to fight with.

It is for this reason that we think the government needs to take the fight against corruption to another level if it’s going to stand any chance of reducing it significantly even if it cannot eliminate it completely.

Drastic problems require drastic solutions and we propose some solutions that may be considered drastic but which we feel are justified by the enormity of the problem corruption constitutes in Nigeria.

Information obtainable from the website of Transparency International accessed at http:// www.transparency.org/news/feature/ nigerias_corruption_challenge, quoting Global Financial Integrity, asserts that Nigeria has lost an estimated $157 billion to corruption.

We get a proper perspective of the enormity of the problem when we think of it in terms of the infrastructure, housing, health care facilities amongst other that could be enjoyed

by Nigerians if these sums were saved and applied towards these ends.

Entrapment Entrapment is the process by which law enforcement authorities and personnel proactively create situations and scenarios in which a person commits a crime, with a view to apprehending the person and securing his or her conviction for the crime.

In a paper published in the Nigerian Institute

of Advance Legal Studies Journal on Criminal Law and Justice in 2011, Akinola Akintayo of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos examined the various types of entrapment, drawing distinctions between “fair” and “unfair” entrapment.

According to him, fair entrapment occurs where the law enforcement authorities merely provide an opportunity for the accused person to commit the offence or facilitate the commission of the offence; whilst unfair entrapment occurs where the law enforcement authorities actively induce the accused person to commit the offence.

Mr. Akintayo acknowledges that the distinction between the two types of entrapment is often difficult to draw and that the determination whether a particular instance of entrapment is fair or unfair will depend on the facts of the particular case.

Whilst entrapment is not specifically recognised as a defence to criminal liability under Nigerian law, Mr. Akintayo argues that “unfair entrapment” implicates the breach of various constitutional rights protected under Part IV of the 1999 Constitution as amended, whilst “fair entrapment” could be justified pursuant to the provision of section 45 of the same Constitution, which empowers the government to pass laws that derogate from these constitutional rights where such laws are reasonably justifiable in a democratic society in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health.

In our view, the endemic proportion that corruption has attained in Nigeria makes it eminently justifiable that government deploy all means at its disposal to discourage corrupt practices and will justify the express legislative adoption of entrapment as a tool for discouraging corruption.

As Mr. Akintayo notes in his paper, one of the strongest arguments proffered for the practice of entrapment is the deterrent effect that it has on wrongdoers and their natural reluctance to participate in wrongdoing once they are uncertain whether their co- participants are law enforcement agents (full time or part time) merely luring them into a trap.

One of the greatest facilitators of corruption in Nigeria has been the impunity with which it is perpetrated and the general belief that there is no sanction for corrupt practices.

A review of our laws and the specific encouragement of entrapment as a policy has the potential to change this dynamic immediately.

Once there are a few examples of persons successfully entrapped engaging in corrupt acts, this will serve as a strong deterrent, as persons will be wary of demanding, offering, accepting or receiving bribes or other corrupt inducements when they don’t know whether the demand or offer is a trap that could lead to prosecution and jail.

Of course, the process by which entrapment can be implemented as a specific policy aimed at fighting the scourge of corruption has to be

carefully thought through and necessary safeguards have to be put in place to ensure that it achieves the desired result and is not used as a means of arbitrary persecution.

President Buhari has recently inaugurated a Presidential Advisory Committee on Anticorruption headed by Professor Itse Sagay, SAN. We recommend that the Committee should advise the government to push for specific legislation authorizing the use of entrapment as a legitimate means of apprehending persons engaged in corrupt practices.

We also recommend that government should be advised to set up or re- energize task forces such as the National Anti-Corruption Volunteer Force set up by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission.

These task forces should be constituted in various spheres and sectors of society and of the economy and should enlist willing Nigerians to participate in this crusade to rid our country of corruption and entrapment should be a legitimate tool to be utilised in the fight.

Make anti- corruption lucrative The motivation for all corrupt acts is financial reward.

Thus, if the corrupt realise that rather than bringing them financial reward, engaging in corrupt acts could cause them financial loss, that is likely to be a strong deterrent to engaging in corruption. There are many sides to this.

The first side is by the imposition of stiffer financial penalties for corrupt acts. Such penalties could be flat or graduated rates or could be calculated based on multiples of the illicit reward that the corrupt gained or hoped to gain.

The imposition of such financial penalties could be in addition to or in lieu of jail terms and is likely to be a more effective deterrent to corruption.

The Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act both make some provision for the imposition of financial penalties, but these penalties are not stiff enough in our opinion and the emphasis thus far has been more on sending offenders to jail.

Given the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria, the emphasis on jail terms will require a considerable investment in the construction of many more prisons, if the enforcement of anti- corruption is to be taken seriously.

Moreover, a jail term is not too much of a deterrent where the perpetrator of the crime can serve his or her sentence and then come back into society to enjoy the ill- gotten gains.

Such jail terms will seem less of a holiday where the perpetrators of corrupt acts suffer financial ruin in addition and this may even suffice in lieu of jail terms.

Another side to this is that effective pursuit and prosecution of corruption could prove very lucrative for the Nigerian government.

Information obtainable from the website of the United States Securities & Exchange Com-

•Ajibade mission accessed at http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/fcpa/fcpa- cases.shtml indicates that between 1997 and 2015, the Department of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission generated sums in excess of 4 Billion Dollars in fines and penalties through active and aggressive prosecution of companies and individuals found to have run foul of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). This is a model that Nigeria would do well to follow.

Aside from stemming corruption, it might also help to shore up government’s finances!

The third side to this is that government should actively promote and reward whistleblowing and entrapment of corrupt persons.

One of the reasons why corruption has thrived is because, aside from attaining a moral high ground or standing on principle, there has been no incentive for people who are not corrupt to actively participate in reporting and prosecuting those who are.

One way of signaling government’s seriousness about stamping out corruption is to reverse this dynamic. Government should promote legislation that would provide healthy rewards for persons who report corrupt practices and cooperate and participate in the successful prosecution of the corrupt. This will turn the tables on corruption and make anti- corruption attractive and lucrative.

Indeed, in appropriate cases, the level of reward could also be linked to the amount by which the public purse has been protected from depletion by the courage of those who take it upon themselves to report and expose corruption in the public sector.

Legislative amendment Implementation of these proposals will require legislative action either by way of fresh legislation or amendment to current legislation.

The willingness or otherwise of the legislature to endorse and support such legislation will be a barometer of whether and to what extent the legislature is part of the problem of corruption in Nigeria.

Solanke, Ali, Akeredolu, others honoured

F

IRST female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Folake Solanke has been honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the ESQ Nigerian Legal Awards.

A former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and eminent lawyer Yusuf Ali (SAN) were also honoured with the Outstanding Achievement award.

The law firm of Aluko and Oyebode won the Banking and Finance Team of the Year; while Capital Market Team of the Year went to Templars.

Royal Heritage won two awards – the Dispute Resolution Team of the Year and Labour Relations Team of the Year. It beat two firms to the dispute resolution award.

Other winners were in Corporate Restructuring (Templars); Energy(Banwo & Ighodalo); Intellectual Property (Aluko & Oyebode), Mergers And Acquisition (Banwo & Ighodalo); Oil And Gas (Sefton Fross); Private Equity (Jackson Etti & Edu),

By Joseph Jibueze

Project Finance (Templars ); Real Estate (Sterling Partnership), and Telecommunications( G. Elias & Co).

Oando won the Corporate Counsel award for Oil and Gas; Mansard Insurance won the Insurance category, while MTN In-House counsel won the Telecoms Sector Team of the Year.

Templars was named Law Firm of the Year, while its Managing Partner Olu Apata, won the General Counsel of the Year.

The award’s organiser, Lere Fashola, said it was designed to celebrate integrity, professionalism and achievement in the legal profession, adding that the panel of judges selected the winners after a thorough assessment process that was based on merit.

“The ESQ Legal Awards is not an award for the highest bidder or one for sale, but based on distinction, merit and excellence. In order to decide who and who will win the award, we have pitched the lawyers and the clients

• An industrialist, Prince Samuel Adedoyin, Prince Adekile and Mr. Jide Omole at the event

against themselves but not in a usual battle as you find on the wrestling ring.

“For the General Counsel Category award, we appointed some of the most distinguished managing partners, senior partners as well as CEOs and external consultants, both locally and internationally, to appraise the whole nominations. This is based on the idea that these are the people who work with these in-house counsel.

“Similarly, in appeasing the Law Firm Category, we appointed seasoned General Counsel, international consultants, and CEOs. Each judge evaluates from their various locations and there is s score sheet on which they provided their various answers and evaluations,” Fashola said.

Managing Partner of Royal Heritage, Prince Aderemi Adekile, said his firm was privileged to be recognised.

“As we begin to take the next bold

steps toward greatness, we firmly believe that collectively our proud history and numerous accolades will serve as a strong foundation and guiding light for the successes that lie ahead.

And today as Royal Heritage positions itself toward national and international prominence; it is our time to continue writing our firm’s history and defining our firm’s legacy. It is indeed our time for future building,” he said in his acceptance speech.

34

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

LAW & SOCIETY Lagos lawyer and law teacher Wahab Shittu examines the powers of the Code of Conduct Tribunal

How powerful is Code of Conduct Tribunal?

I

NDEED, these are interesting times. Recent events in our country including public declaration of assets by the President and VicePresident and the controversy surrounding the proposed arraignment of the Senate President before the Code of Conduct Tribunal may have forced a closer examination and appraisal of the relevant stipulations on the Code of Conduct for public officers, if for no other reason than the quest for public information and enlightenment.

However, as a law officer, I will warn myself not to comment on the merits or otherwise of any of the pending cases in court. This approach is in line with ethics and demands of professionalism.

The preliminary point to be made is that the Code of Conduct Tribunal is statutory being a creation of the constitution. The seriousness of the provisions on Code of Conduct for public officers is underscored by the fact that it is incorporated into the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) under the 5th Schedule Part I. there is also a special legislation enacted for this by virtue of Chapter C15 Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, No. 1 of 1989 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 with commencement date of 1st January 1991 which is an act to provide for the establishment of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal to deal with complaints of corruption by public servants for the breaches of its provisions.

The Vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), GCON, in a paper titled: “Strengthening the Code of Conduct Bureau”, argued as follows:“The Code of Conduct for Public Officers is a component of the Nigerian anti-corruption and transparency framework. It is perhaps the first formal legislation creating offences and sanctions for official corruption and other acts in breach of the prescribed ethics for public officers.

Of considerable significance is the fact that the entire code of conduct regime under Nigerian Law is provided for in the Constitution.

The Constitution provides for the Code of Conduct itself, the categories of public officers who are subject to its provisions, the Code of Conduct Bureau, which is to enforce compliance with the Code of Conduct, and the Code of Conduct Tribunal-which is to try cases of infraction of the Code of Conduct. This is both its strength and its weakness. The entrenchment in the Constitution means that it cannot be altered at all as might an Act of the National Assembly .

This also means that amendments to the provisions establishing the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal is not possible by an Act of the National Assembly without an amendment to the Constitution itself. It is in fact unconstitutional to repeat constitutional provisions verbatim in another Law of the Legislature. [A.G Abia State V. A.G Federation (2002) 6 NWLR (Pt. 763) 264 SC.] However Section 15 (4) of Part 1 of the 5th Schedule of the Constitution to the effect that National Assembly may confer on the Code of Conduct Tribunal such additional power s as may appear necessary to enable it more effectively discharge the functions conferred on it by the Schedule.

It is also noteworthy that some of the provisions in several other anti-corruption legislation overlap the Code of Conduct provisions of the Constitution.“

Analysis

Against this background, this analysis will focus on the salient provisions of the Code, namely: “conflict of interest with duty; restrictions on specified officers; prohibition of foreign accounts; retired public officer; certain retired public officers; gifts or benefits in kind; restriction on loans, gifts or benefits to certain public officers; bribery of public officers; abuse of powers; membership of societies; declaration of assets; allegation of breach of code; agents and nominees; exemptions; code of conduct tribunal; staff; tenure of office of chairman and members; powers; interpretation.”

The searchlight shall also cover salient provisions of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act and the powers and operational modalities of the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Restrictions on Public Officers Every public officer is obliged to forestall conflict of interest with his duties including not to “(a) receive or be paid the emoluments of any public office at the same time as he receives or is paid the emoluments of any other public officer…” the only exception is where the public officer “… is not employed on full time basis,

Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Jurisdiction

The Code of Conduct Tribunal has jurisdiction to adjudicate upon complaints brought before it by the Code of Conduct Tribunal arising from breaches of the provisions of the Code of Conduct for public officers stipulated under the 5th Schedule Part I of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and breaches arising from the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act No. 1 of 1989 with commencement date of 1st Januray 1991.

Prosecutions for all offences are instituted in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the Attorney-General of the Federation or such officers in the Federal Ministry of Justice with authority to institute such proceedings by the Attorney-General of the Federation. It is however not clear whether anyone can challenge such delegated powers by the Attorney-General of the Federation.

Scope of powers

•Shittu

engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade but nothing in this sub-paragraph shall prevent a public officer from engaging in farming.”

There are also restrictions on public officers to maintain or operate a bank account in any country outside Nigeria including restrictions against acceptance of gifts or benefits in kind.

Restrictions on loan, gift or benefit also apply to certain public officers who could not draw facilities except from government or its agencies, a building society mortgage institution or other financial institution recognised by law.

Further restrictions include prohibitions against bribery of public officers, abuse of powers and membership of societies incompatible with the functions on dignity of his office. More importantly, every public officers shall declare assets at end of every four years and at the end of his term of office and submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of such properties, assets and those of his unmarried children under the age of 18 years, subject to verification by the appropriate authorities. Of course, there are consequences for the breach of any provisions of the Code of Conduct, with complaints on such breaches referable to the Code of Conduct Bureau, the actions of the agents and nominees of such public officers are also attributable to the public officer concerned.

The Code of Conduct Bureau

The Code of Conduct Bureau is established pursuant to the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act with aims and objectives which include ensuring “…a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.” The functions of the Bureau shall be to “receive assets declarations by public officers in accordance with the provisions of this Act; examine the assets declarations and ensure that they comply with the requirements of this Act and of any law for the time being in force; take and retain custody of such assets declarations; and receive complaints about non-compliance with or breach of this Act and where the Bureau considers it necessary to do so, refer such complaints to the Code of Conduct Tribunal established by section 20 of this Act in accordance with the provisions of sections 20 to 25 of this Act; provided that where the person concerned makes a written admission of such breach or non-compliance, no reference to the Tribunal shall be necessary.”

The Code of Conduct Tribunal

The Code of Conduct Tribunal is established under the 5th Schedule Part I to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and pursuant to the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act referred to above.

There are far-reaching provisions detailing “establishment, staff, tenure, powers to impose punishment, rules of procedure and institution of proceedings, power to issue search warrants including interpretation” of the words used under Part 3 of the Code of Bureau and Tribunal Act. In all of these provisions, it is important to examine the jurisdiction, scope of powers of the Tribunal to impose punishment, reference of cases to the tribunal and court to which proceedings on appeal lies for the decisions of the

Section 23(2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act provides: “The punishment which the Tribunal may impose shall include any of the following: Vacation of office or any elective or nominated office, as the case may be; Disqualification from holding any public office (whether elective or not) for a period not exceeding ten years; and Seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.”

The tribunal also has power to issue search warrants by virtue of section 25 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

Reference of cases to the Tribunal

Section 3 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act assigns the responsibility of receiving complaints for breach of the code to the Code of Conduct Bureau and reference of such complaints to the Tribunal is also vested in the Code of Conduct Bureau, where any party makes a written admission of such breach or non-compliance, it will not be necessary for the Code of Conduct Bureau to make any reference of such complaints to the Tribunal.

“Prosecution of offences shall be instituted in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the Attorney-General of the Federation or such officers in the Federal Ministry of Justice as the Attorney-General of the Federation may authorize to do so.”

Private legal practitioners may also obtain a fiat of the Attorney-General to undertake such prosecutions. There is however a caveat to the effect that: “…the question whether any authority has been given in pursuance of this subsection shall not be inquired into by any person.”

Appeals from the Code of Conduct Tribunal

With regard to appeals from the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the provision of section 246(1a) of the 1999 Constitution is important as it provides: “.An appeal to the Court of Appeal shall lie as of right from decisions of the Code of Conduct Tribunal established in the fifth schedule to this Constitution”.

It follows from the above that only the Court of Appeal has appellate and supervisory jurisdictions over the proceedings of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and not any other court.

The Constitution Vs the Act

The Constitutional provisions for Code of Conduct of public officers is very elaborate (see: Part 1, 5th Schedule CFRN 1999) Various sections of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act are in conflict with the Constitutional provisions on the subject matter e.g: ‘The nonliability and indemnity clause enuring for the benefit of the Chairman and Members of the Bureau in any action or litigation against them for liabilities incurred in the course of the discharge of their offices is not recognised by the Constitution (see Section 19 of the Act) unlike the Act, the Constitution obliges the Bureau to make declaration of assets of public officers available for inspection of any Citizen of Nigeria on terms to be determined by an Act of the National Assembly (Compare Para 3 (c) Part 1, 3rd Schedule CFRN and Section 3 (c) of the Act. While under the Act, the Bureau’s powers is limited to receiving complaints about non-compliance with the Code of Conduct and referring same to the Tribunal, the Bureau has powers to investigate such complaints, ensure and enforce compliance with the Code under the CFRN 1999.

(Compare Para 3 (d) & (e) of the CFRN and Sec 3 (d) of the Act).

The proviso to Section 3 (d) of the Act in respect of waiver of reference on admission is not recognised under the Constitution.

While the National Assembly is mandated to make laws for the discipline of staff of the Bureau in the Constitution, the Act mandates the Presidents to make rules in that respect (Compare Section 4 of the Act and para 3 (f) Part 1 Schedule 5 of the Constitution) Under the Constitution, the public officers prohibited from owning foreign bank accounts are restricted to political office holders and do not include members of the judiciary while the Act makes a sweeping generalisation in that respect. (Compare par 3 Schedule 5 of the Constitution with Section 7 of the Act).

The age of the declarant’s children whose properties must also be declared vary. Under the Constitution, the age limit is 18 years while the Act peg the age at 21 years. (compare par 11 Schedule 5 of the Constitution with Section 15 of the Act).

There is no provision in the constitution in respect of declaration of asset by a serving officer similar to Section 15 (c) of the Act. Under the Act, the Tribunal’s power to impose the penalty of vacation of office is in respect of all public offices whereas the penalty can only be meted in respect of legislative offices (Compare par 18 (2) (a) & (b) of the Constitution with Section 23 of the Act. The power of the Tribunal to issue search warrants under Section 25 of the Act is not stipulated for under the Constitution.

These and other provisions of the Act are void for being inconsistent with and duplicating the provisions of the Constitution.

Lacunae in Constitutional Code of Conduct Provisions No provision for enforcement of compliance mechanism in respect of powers granted the Bureau in paragraph 3 (d) Part 1 Schedule 3 of the Constitution.

Providing for a “without prejudice” prosecution contrary to the “double jeopardy” prohibition provision Section 36 (9) of the Constitution. (see par 18 (6) Schedule 5 of the Constitution).

Non-inclusion of coercive powers of the Code of Conduct Tribunal as contained in the Section 25 of the Act. Disregarding the immunity clause in its power-of-prosecution provisions (see Attorney General of the Federation V. Atiku Abubakar (2007) 8 NWLR (Pt 1035) 117.

Limiting the penalty of vacation of seats only to Legislative Houses members.

Excluding judicial officers from the prohibition from maintaining foreign accounts. The Code of Conduct provision has since then maintained a permanence of some sort, in the 5th schedule of all constitutions following thereafter; 1989, 1993, 1995 and the current 1999 constitution.

Board membership

The CCB comprises the following: A Chairman, and nine other members, each of whom at the time of appointment, shall not be less than fifty years of age and subject to the provisions of section 157 of the constitution, shall vacate his office on attaining the age of seventy years.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is no doubt that our current legislations on Code of Conduct may need to be strengthened. The focus of any Prospective Legislation on Code of Conduct in the words of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN should address the following areas: “Conditions for inspection of assets declaration forms of public officers by any Nigerian Citizen Legal Regime for the appointment, promotion, dismissal and general disciplinary control of staff of the Bureau Additional functions of the Bureau in addition to those conferred by the Constitution.

Expansion of the list of public officers prohibited from maintaining foreign accounts Exemption of any cadre of public officers from the provisions of paragraphs 4 & 11 of the Code of Conduct.

Conferring wider powers on the Tribunal to enable it carry out its functions more efficiently Expanding the scope of punishments to be meted by the Tribunal for infraction of the Code of Conduct Enacting rules for the Practice and Procedure of the Tribunal.”

Finally, the jurisprudence in this area is most likely to be enhanced by the judicial pronouncements and outcomes of the ongoing cases in the land now that activities in this area is currently on the rise.

THE

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

35

LEGAL OPINION

SAN, others seek end insurgency

A

SENIOR Advocate of Nigeria, Oladipo Okpeseyi, has said the fight against terrorism can not be left to the government alone.

Speaking at the Public Interest Symposium organised by the Island Club in Lagos, he said the government needs more backing from the international community.

Okpeseyi, who is the club’s president, said part of its objective is to assist government in conceptualising people oriented policies.

He said through the symposium series, the club is contributing it’s quota to intellectual discourse and issues of governance.

The guest lecturer, Maj. Gen Adewunmi Ajibade (rtd), said insurgents must be defeated for there to be meaningful development.

According to him, if the fight against terror is to be won, there must be full implementation of anti-terror laws.

He said there should be an Office of

By Joseph Jibueze

National Security Strategy which will be tasked with designing and modifying strategies to combat insurgency.

“We must continue to define our strategies,” Ajibade, who served as Commander, Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps, said.

Besides, he said the government must deepen democracy and end corruption so as to stop looting which leads to poverty.

He said if the country’s wealth is well distributed, the poverty rate will reduce and will make it more difficult to manipulate the poor for evil ends.

Ajibade said the Strategic Counter Terrorism (CT) Policy must also be fully implemented and reviewed perodically.

He added: “The fight against terrorism must be carried out through a multi-dimensional approach using all instruments of the state, power diplomacy, economic action, law enforce-

ment, financial action, intelligence action, psychological operations and military action, where and when necessary.

“Cooperation among the military and other security forces must be enforced, while competition among the security forces must be reduced to the barest minimum.

“Actions of the security forces must be steadfast and determined; it must obey rules of engagements, rules of war and the Geneva conventions.

“Actions and measures taken by security forces must be humane to win the hearts and minds of the people, and be able to guarantee their full support and provide the forces with the needed information voluntarily.

“Nigeria must explore to the fullest the exploitation of psychological operations/warfare, as part of the propaganda/counter propaganda war against terrorists organisations,” he said.

• From left: Chairman of the roundtable, Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Peter Nnanna C. Umeadi, former Commonwealth Lawyers boss, Boma Ozobia standing and Keynote Speaker, Mr. Tim Daniel at a round table on “Curbing Impunity, Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Tracing and Creating an Enabling Environment for Funding Entertainment: the Role of Law”, held at Wheatbaker Hotel, Lagos.

Court to hear suit over estate Sept 28

T

HE Abia State High Court, Umuahia will on September 28 hear a suit filed by a former chairman of defunct Citizens International Bank, Lady Joyce Udensi Ifegwu.

She sued the court’s probate registrar and six others, seeking to halt the issuance of letters of administration to the second defendant, Okafor Dike Udensi.

Okafor is the son of the late Lord Chief Dike Udensi Ifegwu from his first wife while the other defendants are his siblings.

The deceased’s children had applied to the probate for a letter of administration for their late father’s estate.

The late Ifegwu allegedly died intestate.

Other plaintiffs in the suit are Nkechinyere Dike Udensi, Emmanuel Dike Udensi and Margaret Mmannu Dike Udensi.

Urum Udensi Ifegwu, Okorie Udensi Ifegwu, Mrs Iheanacho Kalu Aru (nee Udensi Ifegwu), Kalu Udensi Ifegwu, Eze Osogho Udensi Ifegwu and Agwu Udensi Ifegwu are the other defendants.

Lady Ifegwu claimed that she mar-

By Joseph Jibueze

ried the deceased under the Marriage Act, therefore, she was entitled to be issued with the letter of administration.

She prayed for order mandating the second defendant to produce details of rent proceeds and property sales from the estate.

In her statement of claim, Lady Ifegwu said the deceased died intestate. She said there were married for 35 years.

But in their statement of defence, the defendants, who are the deceased’s siblings, claimed that Lady Ifegwu was never married to their late brother.

The defendants said they did not accompany their brother to perform any traditional marriage rites according to the tradition of her place in Delta. They argued that the marriage certificate she is presenting was not genuine.

“Lord Chief Dike Udensi Ifegwu, late, was never married to the First Claimant either as alleged or at all, a position which until recently the defendants had thought to be otherwise.

“Rather on January 7, 1977, the deceased wedded his lawful wife, Eunice Dike Udensi Ifegwu. The said marriage of January 7, 1977 was perfomed in accordance with the customary rites of marriage in Abiriba,” the defendants said.

According to them, some of those rites included the payment of bride price, delivery of customary drinks among others.

“The deceased and his said wife had this relationship until the demise of the former and there was no divorce in acccordance with customary law or under any other law,” they said.

The defendants claimed that their brother was never married to the claimant.

Besides, they said since there was already an existing lawful marriage under the customary law in 1978 when Lady Ifegwu claimed she got married, her marriage to their brother was null and void.

The said it was invalid to contract such marriage under the Marriage Act, adding that there cannot be two lawful marriages, one under the custom and the other under statute between the deceased and two women.

‘Soldiers must obey constitution’

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EN and officers of the Nigerian Army, 15 Field Engineering Regiment, Topo, Badagry, Lagos, have been urged to focus on their constitutional duties.

Major Gen. Edmond Obi said soldiers must be non-partisan and must be committed to defending the country against any form of aggression.

By Precious Igbonwelundu

He said any soldier who deviated from their duties will be disciplined.

Obi spoke during a familiarisation visit to Topo Barracks.

He warned the soldiers against overzealousness, warning that acts of indiscipline will not be tolerated.

Speaking with newsmen, Obi’s

visit was to interact with officers under his command, encourage them and to carry out first hand assessment of their challenges to advice the military authorities.

According to him, the security situation in the country requires total commitment of every soldier for the war against insurgence to be won because the government is committed to their welfare.

LAW AND PUBLIC POWER

with gabriel AMALU email:gabrielamalu1@yahoo.com For comments: 08033054939 (sms only)

Buhari and the burden of democracy

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O doubt, President Muhammadu Buhari has had a challenging learning curve, since he was sworn in as president, over a 100 days ago, on May 29;particularly whenever he speaks to the press. As a former military dictator, PMB is indeed finding it difficult, to appreciate some of the incandescent nuances of democracy. But in fairness to the President, while some of his words has given his opponents something to sneer at, he has so far, acted within the confines of his executive powers. His recent statement, on France24 channel, that,”the Ministers are there, I think, to make a lot of noise”; falls within such challenge. Brutally frank, PMB is yet to appreciate that as a politician, certain things are better left unsaid.

With that statement, Nigerians now have an insight, as to why the President has been taking as much time as he can, before naming his ministers.PMB, obviously considers the Ministers, as possessing strong nuisance value.

While many Nigerians, disappointed by the poor performance of previous governments, despite the huge number of Ministers, with impressive credentials, may sympathise with the President; our constitutional democracy, grantsintrinsic responsibilities, to the council of Ministers. So, while PMB and hisvice president, may have worn the presidency, they are under compulsion, to appoint ministers, to complement the President’s executive powers.

So, PMB was not right, when in that interview, while accepting that he will name his ministersbefore the end of September, as earlier promised, however said, “I think the question of Ministers is political”. Indeed, the question of ministers, is constitutional. While Section 5 of the 1999 constitution, which provides that the executive powers of the federation, “shall be vested in the President and may, subject as aforesaid and to the provisions of any law made by the National Assembly, be, exercised by him either directly or through the vice president and ministers of the government of the federation or officers in the public service of the federation”, (emphasis mine) may appear tenuous, there are other unambiguous provisions, in the constitution, that compelsthe president to constitute a cabinet.

Speaking generally, the President has discretion, in determining thecomposition and nature of his executive council; but he must constitute one, assection 147(1) provides: “There shall be such offices of Ministers of Government as may be established by the President” (emphasis mine).

The section further provides in sub-section (3) that “Any appointment of ministers, under subsection (2) of this section by the President, shall be in conformity with the provisions of section 14(3) of this constitution: provided that in giving effect to the provisions aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one minister from each state, who shall be an indigene of such state”.

Another constitutional provision that compels the President to inaugurate the body of ministers, is section 148(2), which provides that, “The President shall hold regular meetings with the vice president and all ministers of government of the federation for the purposes of: (a) determining the general direction of domestic and foreign policies of the government of the federation;(b) co-ordinating the activities of the President, the vice president and the ministers of the government of the federation in the discharge of their executive responsibilities; and (c) advising the president generally in the discharge of his executive functions other than those functions with respect to which he is required by this constitution to seek the advice or act on the recommendation of any other person or body”.

Again section 150(1) of the constitution provides: “There shall be an Attorney Generalof the federation who shall be the Chief Law officer of the federation and a minister of the government”. Another compelling provision for a federal executive council is section 144(1)(a), albeit an ominous one, for an incapacitated president, which provides: “The president or vice president shall cease to hold office, if – by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all members of the executive council of the federation it is declared that the president or vice president is incapable of discharging the functions of this office”; subject however to a medical examination, as provided in the constitution.

In the face of these provision, the constitution of the body of ministers or executive council, is a constitutional imperative, and not merely a political decision. PMB is however politically correct, when in that interview, he posited that “People from different constituencies want to see their people directly in government, and see what they can get out of it”. That is the purport of section 14(3) which provides that “The composition of the Government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or any of its agencies”.

In his first 100 days plus, it is generally believed that PMB’S presidency has been able to restrain the haemorrhaging of our common patrimony.

That is an achievement. But as the President learns the intricate and divergent pull of democracy, I commend to him, the words of Justice Louis D. Brandeis of the United States Supreme Court, in Whitney v California, to wit: “In government the deliberative forces shouldprevail over the arbitrary; that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of the political truth, that without free speech and assembly, discussion would be futile….”

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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LAW REPORT Civil rights lawyer and author of the book: Assets Declaration Model Aigbokhan President recommends new model for assets declaration by public officers.

Wanted: Open assets declaration model I

N providing a framework for guiding public officers to carry out proper public behaviour, means are used. Value falls under the means as they are to encourage public officer to the ideals of the public service and irreproachable behaviour. The code of conduct for public officers outlines desirable values and spells out the consequences of not complying.

One of these values is an assets declaration exercise contained in both theConstitution of Nigeria 1999 and Code of Conduct Bureau Tribunal Act of 1990. There is Freedom of Information Act 2011, which pushes the Code of Conduct Bureau under a legal obligation to make public the assets declared by a public officer. These laws require public officers to declare both their assets and liabilities on assumption of office and every four years after the initial declaration.

Assets declaration is a globally trusted standard, which not only lifts the ban on public trust, but decreases the incidence of corruption.

It also restores hope and confidence of the public towards their servants because a public officer is a public delegate and a trustee of the commonwealth of the people. With assets declaration, it is relatively easy to identify corrupt public officers, making a comparative analysis of assets declared on assumption of office and on exit, so as to observe or detect ostentatious accumulation. This cannot be identified where the public officer declares an asset that is unidentifiable like an unidentified or missing land.

Assets declaration is a traditional exercise in public service and the page we are now in our democratic experiment is assets publication.

The Freedom of Information Act 2011 (FOIA) compels the disclosure of records in the custody of the Bureau to any interested party. The FOIA creates a duty on the part of the Bureau to maintain public register of assets disclosures of public officers to enable public access on application.

The content of a declaration with the bureau is a public document and should be accessible to members of the public on payment of reasonable fees. Assets publication is part of stewardship to the public for the authority held on their behalf. It might be the most difficult case under a privacy exemption, since there is not only a strong right of privacy involved, but sturdy public need to know what material possession is owned by public officers before commencement of duty and some moment thereafter. Privacy of personal information of public officers in all commanding heights of leadership yawns at globally acclaimed open public administration sustained by Nigeria public law. Assets declaration devoid of publication has no relevance for the citizens and declaration without verification on the part of the bureau is a constitutional breach.

The omnibus privity in the declaration and litigation process encourages the bureau to bureaucratize the process of investigation cum publication by effectively frustratingthird party intervention. Good enough, where applicants can establish public interest in their request, by the provision of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, access may be allowed to assets declared.

The refusal of public officers to publish assets is far more injustice than privacy invasion. An effective assets declaration must be reduced to periodic publication. In a ubiquitous search for good leadership, the government must guarantee freedom to examine the record of officials, encourage investigation and make public a report or comments. On the part of the governed, they must ensure that they complement the government in verification of assets declared and also ensure that trustee lives within a genuine means of livelihood as required by law so as to enhance the overall development of the state.

For assets declaration to be accessed easily it must be codified in digital form. This means that information can be accessed not just on manual record but also on digital or electronic templatewith unique identifying number.

Officers of iniquity are ahead of the analogue assets declaration mechanism.

By section 2 of Freedom of Information Act 2011, public institutions are to maintain information about public officials working with them. Files are sometimes lost in the registry of the code of conduct bureau and staff may find it cumbersome to sort out files in their custody for verification. The reporting system is the starting point for a case of breach of the

•President code and the procedure needs to be simplified.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is required to regulate assets declaration for easy publication. Electronic declaration of assets will effortlessly aid request.

This will enable the assets of public officers to be posted on the Bureau’s website. Critics may suggest that applicants can handle files without even knowing the address or visiting the bureau, meaning assets publication may compromise confidentiality of information.

There may also be the threat of creating phony e-declarations. ICT goes with its attendant benefits in time and money alongside the threat of manipulation. The threats can be overpowered, after all, a record of accounts and payroll for various public officers are managed on the computer. Electronic declaration of assets may be the best highlight for assets publication because it will assist complainant reporting system which is the starting point for a case of breach of the code.

The bureau is under a constitutional duty to release contents of assets declaration formsof public officers’ including the one of the new sheriff in town without a prior authourisation of the declarant. In the year 2011, the constitutional Tribunal of Peru expanded public access to the assets declaration of government officials. The court stated that upon request by the public, assets declaration should be disclosed.

The court added that any person in a public office has lost his right to privacy in transit.

Similarly, the timing of disclosure is immediately the declaration is made and when the bureau or the public officer deems fit. In the United States for instance, public gets access to the document of declaration within 30 days of receipt of the declaration.

In Latvia, all information about high ranking officials including the chief judge, speaker is published in the official gazette without request. Taking a cue from other countries where public access to assets declaration is allowed on fulfilling some conditions like paying a reasonable fee in processing or a reproduction of the report or for mailing it.

Assets declaration should be published voluntarily in national dailies, especially as regards the assets of senior members of the executive, legislative and the Judiciary.

The overriding allegation of corruption should pacify the definition of public interest.

There should be an official mandate to invade privacy of an official tainted with corruption.

Public officers must give account to the people.

The peoples’ assessment is on service above self. The nexus is adopting an ethical process in an official decision-making circle of governance.

A private individual that has a service or representative contract with the government has a moral and legal duty to publish his asset profile for the benefit of the public. No public officer is paid to act of his/her personal agenda.

The court as a public institution must assist public interest to outweigh mere courtesy.

The Code of Conduct Tribunal should be

renamed Anti-Corruption Court and upgraded to the status of a superior court of record with the responsibility of handling only corruption cases from the proposed merger of investigative bodies like EFCC, ICPC and the Code of Conduct Bureau. There is a need for a special court to try all forms of financial crimes.

The remedy for fiscal sanity is in the bowel of a specialized court and procedure. This will promote knowledge, timeousness, training and coherence.

The case of a special court to expedite proceedings and attain the ends of justice is unassailable. The challenge before the proposed special court would be to define the boundaries of corruption related offences to be brought before it. Corruption is too specialized to be handled by an unspecialized court or tribunal.

An effort to foist a distinct judicial arm to pronounce on the plethora of anti -graft legislations will produce overt patriotic fervor.

Special court can fortify the moral conscience of majority of public officers. Venality can be lost on every public officer if the court is deciphered along the sentiment of jurisdictional gerrymandering.

Much effort has been made by the Governments to make laws aimed at regulating the people, rather than involving the people during the making of the laws. For the fight against corruption to be won, the government must embrace the wishes and desire of the people in formulating policies. The culture of corruption is so established that existing provisions of the law need not only be enforced, but also demand constant decision of creative means of reshaping people to confirm to collective means and morals. The pleas that have made progress in assets disclosure models have done so because the checks and balances of social contracts are operated to the hilt.

Assets declaration is only worthwhile were Code of Conduct Bureau is empowered to probe peoples’ claim diligently. The bureau is a consequence of decades of deliberate weakening to enable acts of corruption to proceed unhindered.It will surprise everyone that the only court that can address breach of the code is the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the complainant can only be made by the bureau.

So when the bureau is mute the breach continues and this accounts for the towering rate of venality, conflict of interest, cultism, private business in public service.

In this new administration, the bureau must be all out to check this unwholesome act of ambulatory declaration by energizing the verification department of the organization. Assets Marshalls should be deployed to investigate declarations made before it is approved. National Orientation Agency should lead the sensitization unit of the proposed open assets declaration model.

The standards under which disclosure will be granted is made clear in Freedom of Information Act 2011. The bureau must stop loose criteria in the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act and disclose voluntarily when requested to so do.

This inadvertently will reduce expensive law suits to secure disclosure.

The code partially prohibits public officers from engaging in private business or trade.

There is a window of opportunity in farming and it is unequivocally allowed in the code.

Farming by a public officer should be encouraged as a way of augmenting the officers’ wages and should attract compulsory agricultural loan for public officers. Public officers that excel in farming should also be awarded.

It is surprising that many low rank public officers collect pittance monthly and yet have enormous properties that cannot be justified.

The result is the drain of public fund by public officers and the only way the state can tame it is by a genuine declaration, publication and verification of assets. Assets publication will reduce the incidence of corruption and this will in turn prevent the citizens from the neighborhood noise of generators that absence of the good supply of electricity forces us to endure.

Continual publication of assets will undoubtedly strengthen the defence against domestic corruption and meltdown conflict of interest as secrecy of public officers diminishes dividend accrue to the public and also creates an impression that something is wrong. Assets publication is material for accurate public scrutiny of any public officer. This is the only available avenue to place remuneration side by side with properties acquired or inherited to review the credibility of public officers It takes more than a surgery to separate public officers from corruption. The media can complement the NOA in sensitising the public of the expected level of responsibility and accountability. But first, the media must itself have a good grasp of the code of media practice and the implication of each item to the conduct of government business. The guiding framework for conduct in public office is only the starting point of influencing the behavior of public officers.

Community based organisations (CBO) should come up with an annual evaluation of compliance with the code of conduct in the country, but first must enrich public understanding of how assets publication will tame graft and develop new policy ideas and advocacy strategy to building a new public service. A new sense of public service that speaks about how public officers should conduct themselves and contribute to the making of a good society, a new public service where value and honesty is spelt out as a guidepost to service and performance. A new public service that remains green even when the officers are gone.

The CBO’s must stimulate probing conversations in various communities on ethical goals and clear focus on public officers’ ethics. This should be embedded into peoples’ orientation strategy for the fight against venality since many corruption perception studies persistently show a high degree of mistrust by the public of their government.

Adoption ofopen assets declaration model explains leadership that saw his trust sliding into the grave of self- annihilation on the account of corruption and tried to do something about it.

LEGAL DIARY

NBA holds Symposium

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HE Human Rights Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association ( NBA), Ikeja Branch, will on September 29, hold a one-day symposium.

It had the theme: The Constitution, law enforcement agents and you.

It will hold at the Bar Centre, Old Secretariat, Ikeja.

A statement from the Chairman Mr. Yinka Faronbi said the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Funmilayo Atilade and NBA President, Mr. Augustine Alegeh (SAN) will be guests of honour.

Immediate past Chairman of National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu and Director of Research, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) Prof. Lanre Fagbohun will be the guest speakers.

Lawyers to hold conference

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HE Pan-African Lawyers Union (PALU) has begun its Annual Conference with the theme: Combating Corruption: The Role of the Legal Profession in Africa.

The conference will end on Thursday at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja. PALU Council Meeting involving Presidents/ Chairpersons of Bar Associations and Law Societies from all over Africa (five regions and 55 States) will hold today.

The Code of Ethics on Anti-Corruption and Professional Compliance Standards will be adopted at the conference.

An interactive website and blog on lawyers-led anti-corruption initiatives on the African continent will be launched.

PALU Members’ (Practice) Committees will also be launched.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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12TH KANO STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING 16th SEPTEMBER, 2015 (2ND ZHUL HIJJA, 1436AH) PREPARED BY THE COUNCIL AFFAIRS DIRECTORATE, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT HOUSE, KANO.

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here is no doubt that for Kano State to maintain its enviable position as a commercial nerve centre in the West African sub-region, with a growing population mostly composed of young able-bodied that have high expectations for government at all levels to deliver which requires purposeful, focused and far-sighted leadership.

2013-2015 plan with central focus on real sector development, human capital development, development of infrastructures, economic empowerment and social inclusion which requires validation by participants drawn from ministries, departments and agencies and other stakeholders and the sum of N2,020,000:00 is the cost implication of the workshops to be expended on the review of the document, workshop materials, honourarium to the consultant, logistics, among others and the Council readily approved the release of the amount to the Ministry for the successful conduct of the workshops in view of their immense significance to the development of the State.

In its resolve toward ensuring quality life for the citizenry, the Kano State Executive Council met for the 12th time on 16th September, 2015 corresponding to 2nd Zhul Hijjah, 1436AH under the distinguished chairmanship of His Excellency, the Executive Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, OFR to deliberated on, consider and approve the many memoranda presented before the highest decision-making body in the most populous State in the federation.

The Chairman, after welcoming members to the 12th meeting of the State ExecutiveCouncil, registered appreciation over the spirit of team work exhibited by the members of the Council and other top Government functionaries saddled with the responsibility of organizing the 100 days celebrations. The successes recorded attested to the capacity of the Council members to deliver even beyond the expectations of the people of the State more especially considering public expressed joy over the laudable achievements recorded by the Government within the period under review, adding that the administration will continue to focus attention on the execution of capital projects and human development through youth and women empowerment programmes for a productive society. The Governor also assured of the administration’s resolve to complete all inherited projects that have direct bearing on the lives of the people in addition to initiating new ones in both urban and rural areas like the recently awarded Sheikh Ja’afarSharada-Madobi-Panshekara Road junction underpass costing over N1 billion.

The Governor then pointed out that from time to time, some completed projects will be named after some prominent sons and daughters of the State, saying that the completed ‘YantayaKofar Dawanau Road has been named after Alhaji Nasiru Aliko Koki, a political heavy weight and one-time Chairman of old Kano Municipal Local Government Area and other defunct political parties in the State. The Chairman then congratulated Alhaji (Dr.) Yusuf Maitama Sule, Dan Masanin Kano on his conferment of an Honourary Doctorate Degree of Letters by the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna.

During the sitting, the following memoranda were presented before the Council by Ministries, Department and Agencies for consideration and approvals for the release of the total sum of N125.033,018.89as follows:

His Excellency, Governor Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, OFR a) Request for Counterpart Funds to Undertake Some Expenditures in Arrangement with the Fistula Foundation for VVF Patients in the State The request is from the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development to provide adequate shelter to the additional VVF patients under a proposed counterpart arrangement with the Fistula Foundation Nigeria, a non-governmental organization for the conduct of empowerment and training programmes for the patients which include free treatment, counseling, skills acquisition and rehabilitation for their ultimate reintegration into the society. The Council was notified that already 32 VVF patients had been treated by the Ministry accommodated at the VVF Hostel, Kwalli and what remains is the provision of empowerment package to them. Based on the foregoing, the Ministry has concluded arrangements to shoulder the treatment of and provision of empowerment package to 100 VVF patients in addition to empowering 32 others already treated free of charge at the cost of N3,354,000:00 and the Council approved the amount in its characteristic humanitarian disposition. b) Request for Funds for the Conduct of Stakeholders Validation Workshops Aimed at Reviewing Kano State Development Plan (KSDP) The request is for the release of the sum of N2.020,000:00 drawing the attention of the esteemed members to the desirability for the conduct of the validation workshops on the review of the Kano State Development Plan with a 10-year framework designed to chart a path for the sustainable development of the State to be implemented under a 3 to 4-year medium term plans. The framework is due for review under the

c) Request for Funds to Improve the Quality of Food Served Students of Boarding Secondary Schools in the State The request is from the State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board (KSSSSMB) routed through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for the upward review of the cost of feeding of 45,258 students of boarding secondary schools across the State following agitation by the Association of Foodstuffs Suppliers due to inflationary trend, introduction of some nutritious items which include egusi, chicken, milk and eggs in the menu to improve the quality of the meals, increase in the quantities of the foodstuffs supplied to the schools as well as the fact that there has not been any upward increase in the rate for many years. The Board recommended either 45%, 50% or 60% upward review but the Ministry settled on 50% increase in the rate in view of the prevailing economic situation in the country translating to N47,520,900:00 per week i.e. N150 per student daily and N1,050 per student per week x 45,258 students. Accordingly, Council considered and approved the improvement of the quality of the meals served boarding secondary students through the introduction of new nutritious items, increase of the quantities of the foodstuffs supplied to the schools and the upward review of the cost of feeding of boarding students numbering 45,258 in the State from N31,680,600:00 to N47,520,900:00 per week. d) Request for Funds to Facilitate the Validation of Projects by KARMA The request is from the Kano State Roads Maintenance Agency (KARMA) through the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport following a directive given to the agency by the immediate past administration in the state to construct some roads and rehabilitate others through de-silting and provision of conduitring drainages across the state. In compliance with the directives, the Agency prepared a provisional Bill of Engineering and Evaluation (BEME) for the execution of seven (7) projects at the cost of N102,655,596:69 and submitted a memorandum to the Council which granted approval for the execution of the projects. Out

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 of the amount, the Government released the sum of N17,000,000:00 and the sum of N85,655,596:69 is the amount being requested for the completion of the projects which the Council graciously approved. e) Memorandum on the Activities of Government Health Office (GHO), Occupational Health Services Unit (OHSU), Occupational Health Laboratory and Request for Running Cost The memorandum is from the Ministry of Health intimating the Council about the essential services the three units render as public health watch dogs to safeguard public health, ensure the safety of food, protect health of workers, monitor industrial hazards, conduct pre-employment medical screening and generate revenue for the Government. In view of the vital roles they play, the esteemed Council was re quested to review the existing Kano State Public Health Edict No. 14 of 1985 to reflect the present socio-economic realities in the State and to provide operational vehicles to enable them to generate revenue as 70% of it is lost every year due to lack of transportation, working materials and logistics in addition to the provision of running cost to the units. The Council, having considered the requests, approved the provision of two Toyota Hilux trucks and N1,852,195.20 as running costs to cover fueling/servicing of vehicles, logistics and publicity as well as the review of the edict. f) Request for Funds for the Renovation of the Council Affairs Directorate Offices The request is for the renovation of the offices of the directorate and provision of essential working materials with a view to providing conducive working environment to the staff.

Most of the structures are in a dilapidated state which hampers efficient service delivery and the Council was requested to approve the sum of N2,559,800:00 for the commitments approval of which was granted. h) Request for Funds for the Purchase of Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR)Materials The request is from the Kano State Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation Agency for the sum of N9,965,000:00 for the procurement of Emergency Preparedness and Response materials predicated upon the Policy Standard of Emergency as enshrined in the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the United Nations guidelines which stipulate for the procurement of the materials by each emergency management agency for prompt intervention in case of emergency of whatever nature. These materials include roofing sheets, cement, rice, maize, clothing, blankets, mattresses, mats, etc. The Council approved the sum of N7,375,000:00 for the procurement of the materials by SERERA. i) Request for Funds for the Printing of Quarterly Audit Inspection Reports for the 44 Local Government Areas and Other Undertakings The request is for the sum of N6,112,500:00 from the Office of the Auditor-General for Local Governments to facilitate the printing of quarterly audit inspection reports for the 44 Local Government Areas of the State, transport and logistics for the validation of annual accounts across the 44 Local Government Councils for the year 2014 and printing and production of verified annual accounts in line with the statutory mandate of the Office as required by Section 74 of the Kano State Local Government Law 2006 of submitting the audited accounts and reports of the 44 LGAs to the Kano State House of Assembly. Having considered the foregoing, the Council approved the sum of N3,307,749:00 to the Office of the Auditor-General for Local Governments to

39 conduct the exercise. j) Request for Funds for the Conduct of Agriculture Production Survey (APS) by KNARDA The request is from the Kano State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KNARDA) for the sum of N855,500:00 to facilitate the conduct of the Agriculture Production Survey (APS) across the 44 Local Government Areas of the State. The survey is seasonally conducted by all Agricultural Development Projects Authorities nation-wide to assess crops, livestock, fisheries and agro-forestry production and the findings are presented for deliberations during the National Conference of Agricultural Production. The Council approved the release of the amount to KNARDA in view of the relevance and significance of the survey. k) Request for Funds for the Maintenance of Vehicles, Generator and Payment of Internet Services Subscription Fee in Respect of the Ministry of Justice The ministry requested for the sum of N3,000,000:00 to cater for the maintenance of the vehicles, power generating sets and payment of internet subscription fee. The Council, after due consideration, approved the release of the sum of N2,000,000:00 for the commitments in view of their relevance and the need to provide convenient and befitting atmosphere for efficient and effective service delivery. l) Request for Funds for the Conduct of Sensitization Workshops for Youth, Imams and their Deputies, Mu’adhins and other Ulama The request is from the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties for the conduct of the workshops with the themes: Gina Kai Shi ne Sanin Darajar Rayuwa and Sanin Makamar Aiki da Tafiya Tare da Zamani. The 2day workshops will draw 500 participants from both sides aimed at checking social malaise especially among the youth who are most often used as cannon fodder to perpetrate violence and the cost implication of the workshops is N7,878,800:00 which the Council approved. m) Request for Funds for the Replacement of Transformer and Execution of Electrification Projects in some Communities The request is from the Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development for the sum of N3,415,625:00 for the replacement of burnt transformer at Yaryasa in Tudun Wada Local Government Area and another sum of N1,758,753:00 for electricity rehabilitation and connection projects at Walawa and Tudun Magaji in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area. The lack of electricity has plunged these communities in total darkness thereby causing them untold sufferings as their socio-economic activities are seriously affected. The Council, therefore, readily approved both the sums to facilitate the execution of the projects for the benefits of the affected communities.

UPDATE ON ACTIVITIES OF THE 12TH EXCO SITTING COMMISSIONING OF THE BUSINESS INVESTMENT CLIMATE BY DFID/EU FUNDED AGENCIES GEMS 3 IN THE STATE Council noted the successful commissioning ceremony of the programme on 14th September, 2015 as well as the graduation of 174no. trainee field officers who were commissioned to continue with Land Titling and Registration, under the SLTR (Systematic Land Titling and Registration).

Similarly, the Team leaders of the DFID/EU programme in respect of Williams Benthel, Dr. Alhassan and Juan Casla commended the present administration and assure of other donor commitments in the State.

DISTRIBUTION OF MOSQUITO/VECTOR CONTROL CHEMICALS TO 8 METROPOLITAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS IN THE STATE Council noted with delight the distribution of the mosquito/ vector control chemicals to the 8no. Metropolitan Local Government Area Councils by His Excellency the Executive Governor ably represented by the Hon. Commissioner for Environment who urged the respective officers to judiciously use the chemicals in their respective Local Government Areas and a Committee was inaugurated under the chairmanship of the Director, Sanitation to monitor the exercise and report to the Ministry.

COMMISSIONING OF THE GARUN MALAM TOWN WATER SUPPLY SCHEME IN THE STATE Council noted the successful commissioning of a 2 million liter per day water supply scheme at Garun Malam Local Government Area which was initiated by His Excellency in 2003 but abandoned by the succeeding Government.

The project was re-launched by the immediate past Administration at a total cost of N137million. The water plant will supply water to Garun Malam and neighboring villages.

DESTRUCTION OF FAKE , COUNTERFEIT AND ILLICIT DRUGS AND UNWHOLESOME PRODUCTS IN THE STATE Council noted the destruction of fake, counterfeit and illicit drugs worth more than N88 million on 9th September, 2015 by His Excellency the Deputy Governor which was confiscated by the State Task Force Committee on Illicit Drugs and Unwholesome Products the State NDLEA office.

DONATION OF DATA CAPTURING TOOLS BY HEALTH STRATEGY AND DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION Council noted the kind gesture from the Nongovernmental organization of donating data capturing tools valued at about N16 million and directed the State Ministry of Health to distribute them to various Health facilities across the 44 Local Government Areas.

FIRST WOMEN CONSULTATIVE FORUM IN THE STATE Council noted with appreciation the conduct of the first women development and strategic empowerment forum under the leadership of His Excellency, the Executive Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, OFR on Tuesday 15th September, 2015 at the Government House.

COURTESY CALL TO THE GOVERNOR 1.

Council noted with delight the courtesy call to the Governor on Wednesday 16th September, 2015 by officials from the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2.

Council also noted the courtesy call paid by the Committee on the establishment of leather cluster in the State.

USEFUL PHONE NUMBERS ON ANY EMERGENCY The council has endorsed these useful phone numbers provided by the security agencies in case of any emergency. Accordingly, members of the general public may contact KAROTA for breakdown of vehicle(s), traffic congestion, accident or illegal/wrong parking on 08091626747, the State Police Command on 08032419754 or 08123821575 and the State Fire Service on 07051246833 or 08191778888.

SIGNED: Honorable Commissioner of Information, Youth, Sports and Culture, Kano State

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

THE NATION TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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can cooperate with the president, ‘heIfisNigerians going to be a wonderful leader ’

POLITICS Remi Bamisile is a veteran journalist. In this interview with DAMISI OJO, she gives reasons why President Mohammadu Buhari could not afford to fail Nigerians. She also speaks on other national issues.

‘Buhari should choose credible people as ministers’

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OW do you think, President Muhammadu Buhari can run this country successfully without hitches, considering the problems facing it?

I have no doubt in my mind that President Buhari will run this country successfully if Nigerians can cooperate with him. Nigerians are the problem of themselves, nobody want to work, even those they gave work to do, they will never do it and everybody want to become politician so that they can become billionaire overnight, this mentality has ruined this country. If Nigerians can cooperate with the president, he is going to be a wonderful leader. It is a fact that anybody can succeed as a president or as governor or as any leader in this country if the rest of the people are ready to cooperate with such person. I know for sure that President Buhari will perform because I am very sure, he cannot afford to fail because Nigerians are anxiously waiting for positive change.

Monitisation Politics is the order of the day. Is there any way this could be curtailed?

If you speak of politicians, just ask what they know in politics, they don’t know what the duty of a politician is, we only have few people who are real politicians in Nigeria. Many of them don’t know what should be their role, I am priviledged to be in London, that is where I did my Mass communication and Journalism, the politics they practice in other country is not like what we are practising in Nigeria. In advanced countries people go there to serve the people that voted for them, but in Nigeria, most,if not all of them, go there to fill their pockets.

How do you think this menace could be tackled headlong, especially because of the future generation?

This problem can be solved if all politicians are informed of their roles.They should know that performances are now the yardstick to measure them. And again their salaries and other emoluments should be reduced, if the salary can be at par with that of the civil servants,they will sit up.

If their salaries are slashed, would that not hinder their performance?

If they are paying politicians equal salary with the civil servants, they will perform. Are they going there to amass wealth or to serve the electorate? I believe they are elected or appointed to serve the people.

Honestly,I am not happy with the way our politicians are doing. They have turned politics to money making venture. These people will come

•Jigawa State Governor Muhammad Badaru (right), presenting an award to the host, Dutse Royal Golf Course and Emir of Dutse Alhaji Nuhu Sanusi, who participated in a golf competition to mark the governor's 100 days in office, in Dutse on Monday.

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My advice to Nigerians is that we should go and find something doing. Education is for knowledge; being a graduate does not prevent you from becoming an artisan to you seeking for your votes, they can even sit on the floor with you when they need your votes and after voting for them, they will be vehicles, someone that is representing you will pass by you, you will not see his face not to talk of recognizing him or her. Politics is not just take N10,000 and vote for me, no, as a good politician, you suppose to do something in your constituency that will benefit everybody, not what all these people are doing. Some will go and buy cars for the Traditional rulers, how many people are going to be riding with the Kings. If the traditional rulers are going out with the car, how many villagers can he offers a ride. Instead of buying car for traditional rulers, why not provide bore holes, street light or something that will benefit the community as a whole, not that people should run after them to collect tokens. Some will say my in-law is sick, or my wife is being operated, or they have sent my children out of the school, no,politicians must be accountable for what they have done in their respective offices.

President Buhari is yet to appoint his minister. What is your take on this?

It is better for the man, I mean our President to take his time to select people of integrity who will be useful to him and the nation. Who will have the interest of the people and fear of God, not those people that will go there to enrich their pockets, he should not rush things for now because when you rush things, you make mistakes but if you take your time, you will never make mistakes, that is the basic truth. You know people are going round now lobbying him, the man want to take his time so that at the end of the day, his government will be one of the best in this country. Surely, we have some good Presidents before now.

The crisis in the National Assembly, most especially in the Senate is still raging. Don’t you think this can hinder Mr. President from performing to the people expectation?

I know President Buhari has the fear of the God and he is a very plain somebody. I did not believe that the crisis will hinder him from perform-

’

•Bamisile ing because Nigerians are praying that whoever wants to send this country backward, God will silence them to allow the man to do a good job. I said earlier that we have good Presidents before him, like General Gowon (retired). I lost my father in 1972 during all Nigerian festival of Arts in Kaduna. My father’s group came first and on their way coming back from Kaduna in 1972, they involved in an accident in December 17, 1972,and my father died. Ondo state was under Western Region then, General Yakubu Gowon gave all the Kaduna disaster’s children Scholarship from primary school up to university level and then, I was in the secondary scho then, I was at Ekamarun Grammar School, Ifon in Ondo state but in 1973 I moved to St. Catherine Girl Grammar School, Owo to finish my school which is girl only, what the man did then, nobody has done it since then. It was 18 persons that lost their lives, five people from my town in Ipele, Ondo state which my father led and 13 from Ibadan, they gave them mass burial at Liberty Stadium. If not for General Gowon, I may not finish my secondary school and if I did not finish, how do you think I will be where I am

today. And after my secondary school, I was sent to London and when I met General Gowon during the 40 years of my father’s remembrance, I thanked him for what he did for us. I said please sir, Daddy, people love you, if you want to come back to rule this country, people will vote for you but he said he could not rule this country again, but he will supporting this country with prayers.

Whenever, he calls me, I always kneel down on the phone, I know that Buhari will perform better. Not that Iam praising him because he is the incumbent President, others have done their best. Jonathan was not the only one that ran his administration; you will see that, after tracing fraudulent people in his government, the man, Jonathan may be spared of embezzlement. It is those people that surrounded him.

And it is not possible for him alone to run a government. Baba Obasanjo try his best, he is a good President too, if not, he would not have administered this country for three times .But I am only appealing to Nigerians, they should allow General Buhari to transform this country.

Coming to Ondo state, a lot of politicians are coming out now to contest for governorship. What is your own view on this?

The advice I have for them is to go and pray to Almighty God and they should go and think if they are really coming to serve the people, of the state, if yes, God will answer their prayers. Not that they should be going up and down saying that they want to become governor of the state without any genuine mission, Psalms 75 v 6, 7 says, promotion did not come east or west or from the south, but

from Almighty God. It is God that elevate people. On the election, they should go and think and let the people know what they have for us, by birth. Iam from Ondo state by marriage, I am from Ekiti state. We want to know what they have in stock for us before the poor people will go and line up in the scorchy sun.

Do you believe in the efficacy of prayers for our leaders in government?

Yes,religious leaders should be praying for this country. Because prayer is the key to all success and those people that are destroying the country, the hardened criminals with their bad minds, if our religious leaders are praying, God will touch their hearts. Look at Saul now Paul, he was going to Damascus to persecute some people, but the Almighty God, on his way going, touched his heart and he became a wonderful preacher. Religious leaders have herculean task to support our country and its leaders with prayers.

What advice do you have for Nigerians?

My advice to Nigerians is that we should go and find something doing. Education is for knowledge, being a graduate does not prevent you from becoming an artisan. If you are a graduate and you learn how to become a bricklayer, after building any house, the finishing touches will be wonderful. I have never seen any country like Nigeria that said their citizens are government workers, Being a graduate does not prevent you from becoming artisan but in Nigeria everybody wants to be civil servants. You can become rich if you are an artisan. Look at it now, the richest person in the world is not a civil servant even in Nigeria, they are not civil servant and as a business person or as an artisan what you can spend and gain within a week, none of your colleagues in the ministry can do it within six months once you are faithful in whatever you are doing, you will definitely succeed.

Faithfulness is the key to success.

Kebbi govt to maintain open door policy

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EBBI State Deputy Governor Samaila Yombe has said that Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu will maintain an open door policy to allow people to contribute their quota governance.

Speaking with reporters in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, he said, in democracy, the views of the people should be considered before making decisions.

Yombe assured that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration would foster even development and promote equity.

The deputy governor also said that the administration will tolerate constructive criticisms.

He disclosed that the governor has been fulfilling his campaign promises, including the overhauling of electric lines and the installations of new transformers.

He said the towns and villages will savour the dividends of democracy.

Yombe lamented that the administration inherited an empty treasury from the past administration, which he accused of recklessness and lack of accountability in the management of public funds.

•Abubakar Yombe said the governments has embarked on the verification of it workforce, especially council workers.

He said a lot of illegalities have been perpetrated at the local council, adding that the falsification has led to a huge wage illegal expenditures.

He enjoined council managers to maintain probity, warning that fraud will not be tolerated.

Yombe added: “In the past, millions of naira were detected to have been syphoned by the financial managers in those areas, but now, we bring sanity in that regard and government will be saving money as a result.”

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e-Business

•From left: Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Francesco Angelone and Executive Director, Business Development, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Service Plc (NIBSS), Chritabel Onyejekwe, during the press conference to announce the partnership between NIBSS and telecommunications service providers on USSD-BVN Query service in Lagos.

Airtel pushes for law against social media abuse A

IRTEL Nigeria has made a case for a law to regulate the use of social media platforms.The mobile giant’s point is the country, arguing that such a regulation will not only deter the invasion of people’s privacy but deter people from making spurious allegations and posting such on the internet.

The telco is seeking amendment to the relevant laws regarding libel, arguing that regulations will help prevent activities of perverts and other groups with ill intentions across the digital sphere.

Its Chief Executive Officer/ Managing Director, Segun Ogunsanya, however, advised business leaders to be innovative and deliberate in their use of technology, e-commerce and social media, stressing that an

By Lucas Ajanaku

innovative approach in leveraging technology will help create real value for critical stakeholders of organisations and others along the value chain.

Ogunsanya, who spoke at the 45th Annual Accountants’ Conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Abuja, said Airtel has pioneered this approach with the roll-out of its Catapult-a-Start-up programme, a unique initiative designed to empower exceptional and innovative application developers in Nigeria.

He noted that the programme has provided a good example of how a company can combine innovation with monetisaation, adding that, under the initiative, the telco

has empowered and transformed many lives with groundbreaking mobile application services.

According to Ogunsanya, these innovative digital platforms are helping to resolve many issues around diesel delivery, boosting students’ performance at important examinations, empowering job seekers, aiding e-commerce and cementing relationships, among others.

Specifically, he listed mobile application services such as Yuzah, a real time delivery platform that allows the ordering of diesel in minutes; PassNG, an educational service that enables students prepare for important examinations and PushCV, a service equipped to prepare job seekers for opportunities.

Other apps developed under the Airtel Catapult-a-Start-Up include advertising app, a mobile application that converts mobile phones to a highly efficient and effective advertising platform; MatchUp, a home grown social network that connects people, with strong focus on locality and users’ preferences; Alarm App, an app that alerts users in case of danger and Airtel insurance, a programme that offers middle and low-income earners the opportunity and access to life and hospital insurance.

Ogunsanya, who spoke on Innovative business models: Leveraging technology, e-Commerce and social Media, however, urged circumspection in the use of social media.

Why smartphone repair is challenging

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OR many smartphone users, it is a big challenge to repair phones when they develop faults, The Nation has learnt.

A Samsung Galaxy S3, user, Samuel Adebola, who bought his phone for N120,000, told The Nation that when it was damaged, with a fault in charging, the panel and screen broken, an engineer told him that the cost of fixing the phone is N51,200.

He said fixing the phone was expensive, adding that this forced him to use a small feature phone for some time before he later bought a Blackberry phone for N41,000. Today, Adebola is still yet to repair the phone.

According to a Maintenance Engineer at Raya Care, Ikeja, Kenny Israel, phone users find

By Olatunde Odebiyi

it challenging to get their phone repaired because some devices have after sales services while others do not have.

He noted that devices, such as Nokia and Samsung, have a guaranteed after sales services, adding that some people are neither aware of their after sales services right nor where they can take their devices to get it fixed.

Adebola noted that some people were aware of the provision of after sales services, but will not patronise professionals to fix their device because of the money attached to it.

“Some people rather go to road side repairers where they can pay less, not knowing they are causing more harm to their devices because the road side re-

pairs are not professionally inclined; what they do is to manipulate their way out to get the device fixed, leaving the device user to complain about the device.”

He said the company gets services from those that are selling the devices and all its repair is done online.

“We charge at no cost once the device is in warranty, but if it not in warranties we charge to fix and give warranty on the fixing.”

He urged phone users, who do not know where to get the right after sales for their device to ask from where they bought the phone, where they can get the guaranteed after sales services to fix the device instead of leaving it to the hands of non-professionals to

destroy the device.

He identified the challenge in fixing device to include impatience on the path of customers, shipping of the devices, the timing and clearing.

He said Apple is one of the devices that have no after service sales in the country.

“You have to take the phone abroad to fix it, if you take it to computer village, they can’t get it fixed properly because Apple have no after sales service in Nigeria; they will only do harm on it because they do not know better.”

He said to repair phone from professionals is expensive because of cases, such as, placing an order, clearing and shipping of the after sales services into the country.

‘Unified communications ‘ll drive SMEs’ growth’

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ODACOM Business Nigeria has said one of the most important benefits of unified communication for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) is that customers can access the network from multiple devices at the same time.

Speaking in Lagos during the NigeriaCom, CIO Forum, Wale Odeyemi, Vodacom’s Executive

Head of Products and Services, it is easy to manage contacts, send and receive voice over internet protocol (VoIP) calls and carry out multiple communications at the same time.

This, according to him, enables video conferencing to take place on a laptop while a voice call takes place on a worker’s mobile phone, adding that it allows enterprises to adapt to

market changes, increase productivity, and improve competitive advantage.

Odeyemi said 75 per cent of small business employees say that flexible working has made them more productive.

According to Odeyemi, productivity gains are one of the many reasons for SMEs to take advantage of unified communications.

Other gains include cost reduction, increased customer service and improved competitive advantage.

He explained that from instant messaging features to using the internet for voice calls unified communications improves profit margins by boosting overall operational efficiency; this is especially true for businesses that have mobile employees.

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e-Business

Why Cybercrime Act can’t work, by ex-NITDA chief

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HE Cybercrime Act cannot work, the former DirectorGeneral, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Prof Officer Cleopas Angaye, has said.

Angaye, who championed the development of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) project under his regime, said the law cannot work without the completion of the project.

Speaking on the sideline of the investiture of the new President of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) in Lagos at the weekend, he told The Nation that fighting cybercrooks would amount to wild goose chase without the KPI because it is going to guarantee He said: "The PKI provides a digital signature and this digital signature is just like a drivers licence which when you carry it digitally, whatever crime you make, whatever crime you have it will now bring you out.

"Therefore, PKI is a driver to any infrastructure you can implement in the cyber space, so without proper implementation of this PKI the cyber crime law itself cannot actually work properly, money market cannot work

Stories by Lucas Ajanaku

properly so those are also criteria for those things to work."

The Cybercrime Act prescribes punishment for vandalism of critical infrastructure, other offences, among others.

It states that any crime or injury on critical national information infrastructure, sale of pre-registered subscriber identity module (SIM) cards, unlawful access to computer systems, cyber-terrorism, among others are punishable under the Act. These are parts of the highlights of the Cybercrimes Prohibition, Prevention Act assented to by former President Goodluck Jonathan on May 15, this year.

The bill, which went through the rigorous process of Sixth National Assembly before it was passed into law listed offences, such as unlawful access to computers, unlawful operation of cybercafes, system interference, intercepting electronic messages, emails, emoney transfer, tampering with critical infrastructure, computer-related forgery.

Theft of electronic devices, electronic signature, child pornography and re-

lated offences, racism and xenophobic offences are punishable under the Act. According to the law, its objectives are to provide an effective and unified legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection prosecution and punishment of cybercrimes in Nigeria: ensure the protection of critical national information infrastructure and promote cyber security and the protection of computer systems, networks electronic communications, data and computer programmes intellectual property and privacy rights.

The law states that the President may, on the recommendation of the National Security Adviser, by Order published in the Federal Gazette, designate certain computer systems or networks, whether physical or virtual, the computer programmes, computer data or traffic data vital to this country that incapacity or destruction of or interference with such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national or economic security, national public health and safety or any combination of those matters as constituting Critical National Information Infrastructure.

•From left: Publicity Secretary, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Dr. Bayero Agabi; Vice President, Mr. Temitope Fashedemi; President, Ms. Oyeronke M. Oyetunde; Treasurer, Mr. Dapo Adejokun; Executive Secretary, Mr. Fidelis Orji and member, Board of Trustees (BoT), Prof Caleb Adeniyi Osuntogun, after the group's Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos.

Glo allays security breach fears in mobile money

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LO said customers who carry out mobile money transactions through its Glo Xchange mobile money Super Agent network have no fear for the safety of their transaction as top rated security features have been put in place to secure customer funds and identity.

Its Head, Mobile Money Financial Business, Mr. Esaie Diei, who spoke during the commercial roll out of Glo Xchange Agents in Lagos, said it is a secure and encrypted platform, where even those working on the platform "cannot see customers' transactions".

Explaining the operations of mobile money on the Glo network, Diei said the possibility of a customer falling into the hands of fraudsters has been taken care of by the dedicated tollfree agent-care short number 33003.

Diei assured that customers can send an SMS with the phone number of an agent to the short code to confirm if the particular agent is genuine or not, adding that the same short code will provide the customer with the location of the nearest Glo Xchange agent and also answer other enquiries, free of charge.

"A dedicated USSD short code, *800#

By Tolulope Lawani

that will allow Glo Xchange agents access the mobile money services of any partner mobile money operator (MMO) has also been provided," he said.

About 1,000 market-ready agents have been engaged for the mobile money service which is Nigeria's first mobile money super-agent network sequel to the successful training programme for thousands of potential agents last year, in over 30 states in the country.

Its Gloworld Coordinator, Mr. Ebenezer Kolawole, said 10,000 welltrained and proficient agents will be added to the network in the next 12 months to deliver the expected mobile money revolution in Nigeria.

According to him, the agents will operate from designated mobile money outlets such as kiosks, shops, pharmacies, supermarkets and mega stores in strategic locations across the country.

Kolawole said these outlets will complement the over 160 Gloworld and Glozone shops, which are already offering Glo Xchange services to customers along with branches of all

Globacom's mobile money partners such as FirstBank, Ecobank, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Zenith Bank.

"Glo Xchange was introduced to speed up financial inclusion in the country as well as take cashless transactions and e-payments to the grassroots in order to enable mobile phone users to make payments, do transfers, buy airtime, pay utility bills such as, Dstv, GoTV, and PHCN among others; pay expressway tolls and conduct any such financial transactions without cash exchange, but through the mobile phone", he said adding that all businesses which would join the network will get the reward of being the pioneer for the mobile money revolution in Nigeria.

Country Head, Ecobank Mobile, Mr. Yinka Shorungbe, said the mobile money initiative would bridge the gap in the financial sector just as Chioma Okoye, Stanbic IBTC's Network Manager and Nnenna Igbani of FirstBank's Agent Management and Mobile Financial Services Department, pledged continuous support of their organisations to the Glo Xchange mobile money project.

S

Samsung eyes SMEs with smart signage solution

AMSUNG Electronics has launched a Smart Signage TV, designed to provide small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with all that they require to get up and running with digital signage.

Director of Samsung Electronics West Africa's Enterprise Business Division, Mr. Charles Ojei, said the new smart signage solution is specifically targeted at SMEs to improve productivity as well as lower operational cost.

"At Samsung, we understand the unique challenges that small business owners face when it comes to selecting and implementing technology, and we built this product to address the market need for a cost-effective, easy-to-manage, professional-grade solution that is better suited for these environments.

With Samsung Smart Signage TV, we're giving SMEs the power to enhance their customer communications and enable them to create more personalised content to drive conversations that extend

long after a customer leaves the store to keep them coming back. The solution helps to Turn on Your Business," he said.

Speaking further on the solution, its Head of Enterprise Display Unit, Mr. Anu-Rotimi Agboola, said: "It is available in 40-inch and 48-inch models, Samsung's smart signage TV provides a complete platform for displaying digital content on promotions, sharing educational information about products and services, and broadcasting live TV for customer entertainment. Business owners can wirelessly connect to the TV from their laptop, tablet or mobile device to instantly publish and update content, or load new content using a USB drive. The solution boasts over 200 free templates for creating personalised signage designs and split-screen content. It is ideal for use in restaurants, bars/lounge, supermarkets, salons, gyms, drycleaners, hospitals and more," he said.

Tsaboin Traffic Talk tackles metropolitan traffic TSABOIN Traffic Talk, a traffic report app and Nigeria’s biggest traffic monitoring site, has restated its commitment towards easing the challenge of traffic gridlock experienced by road users in Lagos State.

Its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dele Odufuye, said the traffic monitoring firm is in the forefront of providing traffic through free live feeds from cameras installed in strategic locations around the state.

Odufuye said 17 cameras are operational across locations around the state while plans are ongoing to increase the number of cameras in Lagos and other states.

He said Tsaboin camera views had crossed 1.2 million views with 65 pervcent of the views originating from mobile devices. He said further said the app is data friendly especially for mobile smartphone users.

He said: “Tsaboin is optimised for both SMS, desktop and mobile phone users. For users who prefer viewing our cameras on their phones, they don’t have to worry about data usage because our video feeds are optimized for data use and are less than 120kb and can be encoded to fit smartphones.”

According to Odufuye, Tsaboin currently has 1,100 bus stops geo-tagged on the platform that users can subscribe to. He also added that the platform pres-

ently boasts over 20,000 subscribers with over 12,000 apps download from Google Playstore, iPad/iPhone, BlackBerry world and Windows store.

According to him, the firm is currently in partnership with two leading telecommunication firms, MTN Nigeria and Etisalat to further enhance its services to its users.

“We are pleased to announce the support of two telecoms giants, MTN and Etisalat who are partnering with us. We have a special arrangement with MTN to provide special data package for MTN subscribers who use the service while Etisalat has successfully created a USSD code for Tsaboin users. This is good news for Tsaboin Traffic Talk users on the two networks because it will enhance the quality of our services for them,” Odufuye added.

Odufuye also listed some new features that would be added to the platform to include The Tsaboin Places which would allow owners of businesses place adverts using the nearest bus stops or other places of interest, Direction Routes feature which will provide users with estimated time of arrival and navigation routes information for in-dash devices as well as the Lagos Smart City feature which will provide Video Data storage to enable undertake security and vehicular car control.

Mellanox, CONSOL partner MELLANOX Technologies Limited is partnering Contact Solutions Limited (CONSOL) to launch various interconnect solutions globally.

The move, according to the firms, is geared towards offering worldclass solutions and data centre to private and public sector companies across the globe.

The Managing Director, CONSOL, Abiodun Adeoye, said the partnership will provide value added services, adding that Mellanox is an organisation that delivers some of the best cutting edge technology in the world.

He said the partnership will create more value by providing premium contact centre/call centre services with the aim of improving customer satisfaction, reduce costs and promote increased profitability in organisations through world-class inbound and outbound contact centre business processes.

“This will help us to deliver to our customers and other organisations that would need our services,” he said.

Adeoye said Mellanox provides leading technology in data space, managing big data, providing applications and technology to deliver better quality of service.

He said CONSOL is an information communication technology (ICT) outfit that specialices in providing services, including contact centre services, enterprise solution services and consulting services.

With over 20 years experience in ICT sector in Europe and Africa,

By Olatunde Odebiyi

Adeoye, said CONSOL has connected several Nigerian and West African companies to their customers in order to get feedback from them to verify their quality of service delivery and level of customer satisfaction, he said.

He added that COONSOL has the largest deployment of outsourced call centre agents in Nigeria and has the largest single-site contact complex in West Africa.

“We have provided Mall for Africa with a Cloud Contact Center which will enable them serve their clients from all their branches across Nigeria, by relying on our 24/7 ICT (Call centre management) platform.

CONSOL has just-concluded arrangements to activate Suburban’s outsourced Contact Center/ Network Management Centre for 24/7 customer service delivery to their subscribers,” he said.

According to the Head of Sales, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Mellanox, Ronen Bass, the partnership is aimed at producing value added services with organisations that deliver some cutting edge technology in the world.

“We are regarded as the Fedex of the IT world. In terms of moving data, we are that bridge that knows how to build a super highway to move data and we are predominantly focused on the mature, well developed countries but that was our comfort zone,’’ he said.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 08158604763

Fire at Revenue Service office

Lagos gridlock will ease in 48 hours, say truck owners

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HE traffic gridlock in some parts of Lagos will ease in 48 hours, truck owners promised yesterday.

Association of Maritime Truck Owners National President Mr Remi Ogungbemi, said stakeholders and men of the Nigerian Customs Service had been working to clear backlog of trucks at the ports to allow vehicles to manoeuvre.

“Since the Lagos State Government relaxed the restriction of trucks to start moving in the day, accessing the ports had been difficult, due to trucks trapped by the law.

“Trucks in the ports have to go out for incoming ones, the Nigeria Customs Service have to clear the ones in the ports, hence the backlogs that locked down Lagos.

“I hope it will get better within 48 hours as stakeholders are working tirelessly to ensure free flow of traffic and we are sorry for the inconveniences,” he said.

Mr Hyginus Omeje, Lagos Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), told NAN that the gridlock was a deliberate action by truck and trailer owners.

“The whole trucks and trailers that were supposed to go

into the ports are lined up on the road in Apapa and other roads in the state.

“We have positioned our men in strategic places so that they do not take over the whole part of the road; they are lined up on one part of the road,” Omeje said.

A senior officer of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), who pleaded anonymity, also told NAN that LASTMA was disappointed over the gridlock.

“We have held several meetings with them on their operations not affecting other road users but they would not comply, the stakeholders should help talk to their people.

“Our men have been positioned at strategic places to work with other traffic agents to put the situation under control before the end of the day,” the LASTMA officer said.

A driver of one of the articulated vehicles, Mr Akeem Olaosebikan, said that the gridlock was as a result of the law restricting the movement of the vehicles. “ We have been on this queue since Saturday trying to get inside the port. I think the situation is because some trucks inside the port are unable to come out due to the time.

“Since the State Government has relaxed their order,

By Oziegbe Okoeki

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•Traffic gridlock caused by articulated vehicles at Apapa... yesterday PHOTO: NAN

I think some trucks will be finding their way out so that the gridlock will reduce,’’ Olaosebikan said.

Another truck driver, Mr Teslim Adekunle, urged government to rehabilitate alternative roads leading to the port to reduce congestion on the Apapa-Orile road.

“There are other roads lead-

ing to the Wharf but due to the bad state of the roads most trucks drivers concentrate on the Apapa-Orile axis.

“If government can repair Mile 2-Tin Can road, I think it will be better because it will reduce traffic on the Apapa route,’’ Teslim said.

But a commuter, Mr James Oduteliwo, appealed to the

Lagos State Government to intervene quickly to end the gridlock, noting that transport fares had sky-rocketed, due to the gridlock.

“I spent close to three hours on the road before getting to the office, government should do something about this current situation,’’ Oduteliwo said.

IRE yesterday gutted the office of the Director of Finance of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

Sources said the fire began from the director’s office on the second floor of the Good Shepherd Building housing LIRS around 8.30am. It is believed that the fire was caused by power surge.

The fire destroyed some documents in the office and was put out before it spread.

Workers, who scampered to safety, have since returned to their offices following the quelling of the fire.

A statement by Ministry of Information and Strategy Permanent Secretary Fola Adeyemi thanked the Lagos State Fire Services for their prompt response.

Adeyemi said the fire was caused by a default in the capacitor of an air conditioner.

According to him, the immediate response of the fire fighters contained the fire to a room without loss of any vital document.

“Similarly the quick response of the fire services and fire drills training put in place by the state government led to quick evacuation of staff.

The only affected area was the newly renovated office which has not been allocated to any staff; the total span affected by the fire was not more than two metres in the entire office,” he said.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

NEWS

Assembly gets Ambode’s commissioner-nominees •Six ex-exco members, three ex-lawmakers make list

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AGOS State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday presented the list of would-be executive council members to the House of Assembly for screening.

The governor’s list, made up of top technocrats, politicians and strategists, was read at plenary yesterday by the Clerk of the House, Ganiyu Abiru.

There were 36 names, made up of 23 commissioners and 13 special advisers.

Included are six former executive council members from the Babatunde Fashola administration and three lawmakers in the Seventh Assembly.

Some of the nominees include Ganiyu Okanlomo Sanni, Lola Akande, Dr.

By Oziegbe Okoeki Babatunde Adejare, Adebimpe Akinsola, Agboola Dabiri and Mrs. Yetunde Onabule.

Others are Kehinde Joseph, Femi Onanuga, Dr. Mustapha Akinkunmi, Ganiyu Johnson and Gbolahan Lawal.

Also nominated were Steve Ayorinde, Dr. Jide Idris, Dayo Mobereola, Seye Oladejo, Kehinde Bamigbetan and Babatunde Humpe.

We also have Wasiu Anifowoshe, Benson Akinlola, Femi Odebiyi, Femi Onanuga, Fela BankOlemo and Benjamin Labinjo.

The governor also proposed Tunde Durosinmi-Etti, Toyin Suarat and Abdulateef Abdulakeem.

The six former executive

council members are former commissioner for Agriculture, Gbolahan Lawal, former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, former Special Adviser, Central Business District, Folarin Coker, former Special Adviser Commerce and Industry, Seye Oladejo, former Special Adviser Works and Infrastructure, Ganiyu Johnson and former Special Adviser Rural Development, Babatunde Hunpe.

The governor named a relatively young exco with the likes of Mrs. Yetunde Onabolu, Fela Bank-Olemoh, Akinyemi Ashade, a partner in KPMG, former Managing Director, National Mirror, Steve Ayorinde, Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, a pharmacist, Kehinde Joseph and Prof.

Ademola Abass, a professor

Fasehun seeks national cemetery for heroes

By Musa Odoshimokhe

•Fasehun

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ODUA Peoples Congress (OPC) founder Dr. Frederick Fasehun has urged the Federal Government to build a national cemetery for its fallen heroes.

He spoke yesterday at a thanksgiving ceremony to mark his 80th birthday at the St. Peter’s Church, Lagos.

Fasehun deplored the lack of national monuments for the nation’s fallen heroes.

“Our country does not encourage us to remember our icons. I suggest that the government build a national cemetery.

“A country that lacks heroes, icons and role models is heading nowhere. It would have been a great pleasure to

visit a single cemetery that will contain the tombs of great Nigerians, like Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Enahoro and others.”

The OPC founder said vilifying former public servants should be avoided, noting that probing public servants should be avoided, if necessary.

Fasehun said: “I call on the Federal Government to see Nigerians as partners in progress. Vilifying former public servants should be avoided.

“Probe, if and when necessary, should be tacitly and comprehensively carried out or else it wears the toga of witch hunt.”

Fasehun added that security operatives and agencies must be counselled to do their work humanely, “always remembering that no position is permanent”.

He maintained that life has become so cheap that people are unnecessarily killed be-

cause of security lapses.

“This should be a major concern for everyone in this country. Government should be the custodian and dispenser of security for every citizen.

Therefore, the environment and infrastructure must be conducive for good living.

“It should be the prerogative of government to guarantee right to life by all means necessary. Security of life and property must be emphasised.”

The OPC leader said: “Those who feel offended at my little contribution to our country’s history should realise that I could not have done otherwise because the peace, social justice and democracy of this nation are always uppermost in my heart.

“The journey to democracy is usually not easy because human nature is more conditioned toward selfish autocracy and egotistical dictatorship. That is why agitators for democracy in any land have a lot to confront to persuade the powers that be,” he said.

Stray animal causes accident in Ibadan

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MIDDLE-AGED nursing mother died yesterday in an accident on the Ibadan-Abeokuta Expressway. Her eight-month old baby survived the incident.

It was gathered that a Toyota Sienna, with registration number Lagos BFG 113 DE, was travelling from Abuja to Abeokuta, Ogun State, when it landed in a ditch.

The deceased was among the seven passengers on board when the accident occurred at Eleso village at 12.15am yesterday.

A stray goat allegedly caused the accident.

The victim, identified as Mrs Jumoke Sodiq, was travelling for the Sallah celebration.

A police officer from the Traffic Section of the Apata Police Station, Ben Onoja, said the vehicle loaded its passengers from Abuja and was headed for Abeokuta, Ogun State.

According to some of the sur-

•Nursing mum killed, baby survives From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

vivors, the driver was speeding when a goat suddenly crossed the road.

“In an attempt to avoid hitting the goat, the driver swerved and skipped off the road.

“The vehicle somersaulted several times before it ended in a ditch. We were shouting, unable to open the doors, until a Good Samaritan broke the windscreen. Many other people joined later to rescue us,” a survivor, Mrs Sadiat said.

An eyewitness, Lanre Amoo, narrated how the baby and her mother were discovered an hour after other passengers were rescued.

He said: “Many of us thought all the passengers have been rescued.

“It was more than one hour later when one of the passen-

gers raised the alarm that there was still one more passenger in the car.

“So, immediately we rushed back into the bush and saw the woman’s leg trapped. We started lifting her out.

“But, we were surprised when her baby suddenly fell from her hand. We took the baby and brought the woman out. She was in a coma when we brought her out.

“There was no one at that hour to take her to the hospital, which is far away. We called the Apata Police Station for help, but the officer, Mr Sunday, said there was no fuel in their vehicle .

“We later discovered that the woman had died. The baby is still with us here; we are making effort to reach her relatives.”

The woman’s remains have been taken to the Adeoyo State Hospital. The baby is still with the police.

of Law, whose ages range between 39 and 47 years.

Others include Akintola Benson, former Special Adviser Political and Legislative Powers Bureau, AbdulHakeem Abdul-Lateef, Mohammed Akinkunmi, former member, House of Representatives, Babatunde Adejare, Femi Onanuga, Dayo Mobereola, Ade Akinsanya, Wasiu Anifowoshe, former member of the House of Assembly, Mrs. Lola Akande, Agboola Dabiri, Ganiu Okanlomo Sanni, Anofi Elegushi, Rotimi Ogunleye, Mrs. Adebimpe Akinsola, Femi Odubiyi, Musiliu Folami, Adeniji Kazeem, Adeyemi Labinjo, Toyin Suarau, Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, Deji Tinubu, Mrs. Mudirat Giwanson and former Chairman, Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Kehinde Bamigbetan and Wale Oluwo.

The screening is expected to begin after the Sallah holidays.

Ambode also submitted the names of Kabir Ahmed Abdullah as the Executive Secretary of the Water Regulatory Commission and Fuad Alade Oki as the directorgeneral and chief executive officer of the State Safety Commission for confirmation.

Timetable for Ekiti council poll out

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HE Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC) has released the time table for the local government elections on December 19.

A statement by its Chairman, Justice Kayode Bamisile said campaign begins on September 28.

Parties are expected to hold ward congresses to elect their councillorship and chairmanship candidates on October 3 and 10.

The statement added that collection of nomination forms, EKSCF 001 and 002 would begin on October 13. The forms are to be submitted on or before October 19.

It added that checking and verification of particulars of candidates would start from October 26 through to October 31.

The results of the screening will be out on November 2 with the parties given a day’s grace for substitution of any unqualified candidate.

Other highlights of the time table include submission of nomination forms on November 10; publication of list of candidates by EKSIEC on November 17.

Opportunity to withdraw nomination has been slated for Thursday November 19 and names of polling agents are to be submitted to SIEC on November 25.

Ajimobi: arrears’ll be paid

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YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has said all outstanding workers’ salaries will be paid this week.

Ajimobi spoke when he made an unscheduled visit to some ministries and departments at the Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.

He said banks had confirmed receiving the bail out fund from the Central Bank, adding that the payment would be effected this week.

The governor told civil servants that his administration would not reduce workers but would effect a re-alignment and reposting of workers for effective performances.

At the Ministry of Education where the directors and deputy directors were holding the weekly management meet-

ings, Ajimobi urged them to improve on the standard of education.

The governor was conducted round the offices by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Aderonke Makanjuola, who assured him of the ministry’s readiness to do everything possible to improve on the standard of education.

The governor also inspected the Office of the Surveyor General where he told the workers to redouble their effort on their productivity and improve on the internally generated revenue.

At the Ministry of Lands and Survey Governor Ajimobi urged the officials on duty to define their roles and responsibility and suggest ways to improve revenue.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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NEWS

20 Nigerian pilgrims die in Makkah

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HE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) yesterday confirmed the death of 20 Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

The commission Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Mukhtar, who spoke at a pre-Arafat stakeholders’ meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said 14 pilgrims died following cardiac arrest and other ailments, and six lost their lives in the September 11 crane crash.

He said three Nigerians were injured in the crash, as against six earlier reported by the media.

The chairman said the pilgrims, who submitted valid documents to the commission for visa, were transported to Saudi Arabia.

He said the security situation in the country was tight and advised the pilgrims to be orderly and stay in Makkah.

Mukhtar urged the pilgrims to drink more water

because of the harsh weather, saying they should only expose themselves to the sun when necessary.

According to him, female pilgrims should move in groups and avoid construction sites within the Grand Mosque and outside.

On Arafat, the chairman said the pilgrims would start moving to Mina on Monday at midnight and advised them against climbing the roof of buses conveying them.

He said: “We have resolved at a meeting with clerics to abide by the time given to us by the Saudi authority to start moving to Mina.”

Mukhtar warned clerics against inciting pilgrims against the resolution, saying anyone found doing so would be sanctioned.

His words: “Anyone who violates the decision of the Ulama will be sanctioned. The commission has the power to sanction anyone found wanting.”

•Guest Lecturer, Prof. Adefunke Oyemade flanked by Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. 'Modele Osunkiyesi (left) and ex-Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof.

Akin Osibogun at the Annual Faculty Day Lecture of the Faculty of Public Health, National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Ijanikin, Lagos

Tribunal upholds Ortom’s election •Dismisses Tarzoor’s petition From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

•Governor Ortom

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HE Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Makurdi yesterday upheld the election of the All Pro-

gressives Congress (APC) candidate, Governor Samuel Ortom.

It dismissed the petition by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) standard-bearer, Terhemen Tarzoor, for lacking in merit.

Justice Elizabeth Karatu, who read the three-hour judgment, said the petitioner failed to prove that Governor Ortom was not qualified to stand election.

She said the respondent had proved that he was an APC member by tendering his membership card and his letter of waiver at the tribunal.

Ortom urged Tarzoor to join him in building a new Benue, which everyone would be proud of.

Addressing reporters after the judgment, he said his election was God’s will, adding that he nursed the ambition to rule the state for more than 20 years.

There was jubilation in

Makurdi and other parts of the state. APC supporters took to the streets, dancing.

An APC chieftain, Chief John Akperashi, who led supporters in a motorcade through Judges Quarters, Gboko Road, Northbank, Wadadta and Highlevel in Makurdi, told The Nation that the governor had come to stay, “as he will now work without distraction.”

The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mike Gusah, described the judgment as sound.

He advised the opposition to support Ortom and move Benue forward.

Calls for Saraki’s resignation unfair, says Kwara APC

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State has described calls by some people for the resignation of Senate President Bukola Saraki as unfair and unnecessary.

It alleged threat to his life.

A statement by the party’s spokesman, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, said the calls were sponsored by those opposed to Saraki’s emergence as the Senate president.

The statement said: “We wish to condemn, reject and dismiss the calls for the resignation of Senate President Bukola Saraki by sponsored, face-

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

less groups and bought souls.

The calls were politically-sponsored.

“Nigerians should make no mistake about it. The call for the resignation of the Senate president by agents of certain politicians is an ill-fated agenda that cannot serve our country any good. It is designed to suit the selfish interests of some desperate politicians.

“We wish to express concern about threats to the life of the Senate president. We are not unaware of the desperation

of some politicians to pull him down at all costs and we are concerned that they may resort to assassination.

This constitutes a threat to the Senate president’s life.

“The calls for Saraki’s resignation by sponsored, faceless groups confirm that the case against the Senate president is not an anti-corruption driven matter and cannot be part of the moves aimed at fighting corruption. It is simply a malicious and a politically- motivated prosecution aimed at undermining the person and the office of the Senate president.

“With the collective resolve of Nigerians for a peaceful and a prosperous country with regard for the principles of separation of powers and the independence of the legislature, and the uprightness of the judicial system, this devilish plot against the Senate president is doomed to fail.

“We urge the good people of Kwara State, friends and supporters of the Senate president to remain calm and embrace tranquility, as we believe the judiciary is alive to protect the Senate president from the trap orchestrated by desperate politicians.”

VIO chief hails Ambode over trucks restriction order

By Olalekan Ayeni

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HE National Chairman of the Conference of Directors/Chief Vehicles Inspection Officers (VIOs) of the Federation, Mr Bayo Otuyemi, has hailed Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for the state’s restriction order on trucks.

Otuyemi spoke during the inspection of a special patrol, organised by his men in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

The order stipulates that any vehicle with more than one real axle or six tyres should be banned from moving between 6am and 9pm daily. This followed the increase in crashes involving heavyduty vehicles in Lagos State and other parts of Nigeria.

Otuyemi, who is also the Ogun State Chief VIO, described the order as one of the best measures to protect life and property.

The law, the VIO chief said, had been existing in Ogun State since 2012.

He solicited the cooperation of Lagos residents to make the order work.

Otuyemi pledged the agency’s support for the enforcement of the law and the steps taken by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and state governments to ensure that the roads become crash-free.

The VIO chief said the agency had mandated commercial vehicles to visit the agency’s offices every six months for proper inspection of their vehicles’ components to ensure that they work well before they are issued road worthiness certificates or have them renewed.

He said the agency was committed to ensuring that drivers were tested and certified before they would be issued driver’s licences.

Police parade suspected admission racketeer

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HE Kwara State Police Command yesterday paraded a suspected admission racketeer, who claimed to be a lecturer at the University of Ilorin.

Also paraded were four suspected members of the Eiye confraternity, who were said to have been arrested while initiating three pupils of a secondary school at an abandoned poultry in Ilorin.

Police Commissioner Esosa Amadasu gave the name of the suspected racketeer as Ibrahim Oladele.

He said the suspect specialised in obtaining N450,000 and above

T

From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Makkah

ing the time for the Islamic rite to include the period of Zawal (sunrise) was necessary to protect the pilgrims.

He said: “On many occasions, pilgrims were killed at the stoning site, following a stampede.”

The monarch recalled that 266 pilgrims died in 1994 and

98 were injured at the stoning site that year. He said in 2004, 251 pilgrims died and in 2006, 346 lost their lives.

According to him, “these incidents happened at the Jamarat. The frequency and enormity necessitated the arrangement by the concerned authority, to ensure the protection of lives.”

Emir Sanusi II said grouping the pilgrims to do the

throwing of stones at different times of the day, including before Zawal, would eliminate deaths.

Addressing reporters in Makkah, the overseer of the Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Malam Habib Mahmood, said the temperature was expected to rise to about 50 degrees Celsius throughout the five-day period of the final hajj rites.

from people seeking admission into universities and other tertiary institutions.

The police boss, who said the suspect confessed to the crime, added that he would be arraigned as soon as investigation was concluded.

He confirmed that there was a plan to pelt government functionaries with sachet water (pure water) at the praying ground in Ilorin during the Eid-el-Kabir.

Amadasu said the command was not taking the plan with levity.

Enhanced IGR ‘ll solve salary crisis, says Ahmed

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WARA State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has said the only panacea for resolving salary crisis was to increase the volume of the state’s Internally- Generated Revenue (IGR).

Ahmed, who spoke at a meeting with the officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), said yesterday in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant (SSA), Media, Dr. Muideen Akorede, that increased IGR was the only way the state could survive its economic challenges.

He urged the people to support the state Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) to meet its revenue targets so that salary arrears would become a thing of the past.

Ahmed assured the workers that the N5 billion bailout for the payment of salary and pension arrears for the local governments would be released soon by the

Emir of Kano advises pilgrims on devil stoning HE head of the country’s delegation to this year’s hajj, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, has urged pilgrims to accept the arrangement put in place by the Saudi authorities concerning the stoning of the devil at Jamrat.

Amirul Hajj Sanusi said performing the stoning of the devil in batches and spread-

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

•Emir Sanusi II

Mahmood, who advised pilgrims to hydrate themselves, said female pilgrims would first be conveyed to Muna at midnight on Monday before the rest pilgrims and officials.

•Governor Ahmed

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He expressed concern about the hardship council workers and pensioners were facing, following the arrears, which was caused by a drop in monthly federal allocation.

The governor hailed the workers and pensioners for their patience and pledged to ensure that the funds were released.

According to him, the bailout, when received, would clear the arrears in the 16 local governments.

Ahmed said the government received N4.3 billion bailout promised by the Federal Government to clear the two months’ arrears owed civil servants.

He also told the union leaders that the Federal Government had restructured the state government’s N15 billion debt into a low-interest 20-year bond.

The governor said the expected savings would enhance the government’s capacity to meet its salary obligations and other responsibilities.

He said the government was putting together a special package to turn around Radio Kwara, The Herald and Kwara Television to enable them generate revenue to cover their overheads and contribute to the IGR.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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NEWS

CJN, NBA President disagree on corruption in Judiciary T

HERE was a disagreement yesterday between Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Mahmud Mohammed and Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Augustine Alegeh(SAN), on who is responsible for corruption in the Judiciary.

The CJN described the allegation that judges were taking bribes as “an unfortunate and unguarded comments”. But, Alegeh alleged that judges delivered judgments for a fee.

The duo spoke in Abuja yesterday at the special session of the Supreme Court to mark the commencement of the 20152016 Legal Year and the swearing-in of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs).

The CJN said the allegation by prominent lawyers that some judges were corrupt was unfortunate.

He said: “I regard as unfortunate the unguarded comments of some prominent members of the Bar that the Judiciary is corrupt. Such comments, coming from members of the Bar, mean that they know the identity of the cor-

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

rupt judges and as such they should fish them out to be dealt with by the National Judicial Council (NJC).”

The CJN noted that the Bench was a product of the Bar and that unless they ensured that only fit and proper persons remained in the Bar, it would be impossible to expect a different Bench.

Justice Mohammed urged the new SANs to display utmost integrity and humility in helping the court to dispense justice.

He said: “I advise you to display undoubted integrity and humility in the performance of your professional calling. I, therefore, call upon you to act commendably, remembering that your privilege is one of high regard and leadership.”

On the call for the abolition of the SAN rank, the CJN described the conferment of the rank as a privilege, conferred in accordance with Section 5 (1) of the Legal Practitioners’ Act

by the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee and a statutorily recognised privilege.

The CJN urged the new members of the inner Bar to properly groom their juniors in chambers.

He said the quality of lawyers and judges was dependent on the calibre of young lawyers.

Alegeh expressed worry that certain judicial officers still engaged in rendering judgments for a fee.

He said: “Instances abound where judicial officers have resorted to standing the law on its head and making pronouncements which are at variance with the provisions of the law.

“A few others have formed the bad habit of ignoring judicial precedents, even when such authorities are brought to their attention by counsel.

This trend is quite injurious and erodes the confidence reposed in the Judiciary by the society.

“The appointment of judicial officers, a process which was hitherto shrouded in secrecy, has been made more transparent under the present leadership of the Bench.”

The NBA president, who commented on the refusal of Senate President Bukola Saraki to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), said: “The current face-off between the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Federal High Court is an unnecessary distraction at this time. The constitutional hierarchy of our courts is well settled and we urge all to respect it. Let wise counsel prevail.”

Speaking for the new SANs, Edward Kunav Shiekaa, said the new members of the Inner Bar valued their elevation.

He pledged that the new SANs would not toy with the privilege.

“It is our responsibility to provide good and quality leadership at the Bar, particularly to the young lawyers,” Shiekaa said.

D-Day for Bayelsa APC as party elects flag bearer

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AYELSA State All Progressives Congress (APC) will today elect its standard bearer for the December 5 governorship election.

Whoever emerges the party’s candidate will contest against Governor Seriake Dickson, the consensus candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday led a seven-man electoral committee of the APC to Yenagoa, the state capital.

Oshiomhole said the party had no preferred aspirant, adding that whoever wins would fly the party’s flag.

The governor and his committee met with the 19 aspirants in Yenagoa, promising to follow the party’s rules for the primary.

He said any international passport issued to any delegate after the party released its guidelines for the poll would not be used for accreditation.

Oshiomhole said accreditation of delegates would begin at 8am and end at 12pm.

The Edo governor said late comers would not be allowed accreditation and voting.

•We have no preferred aspirant, says Oshiomhole From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

Answering the aspirants’ questions, Oshiomhole said the rules on the primary would not be compromised for any reason.

The governor said 1,508 delegates were expected at the primary, adding that the most potent instrument of identification was the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

He said the primary should be viewed as a family affair while the rules were not different from those used in the Kogi and presidential primaries of the party.

According to him, two members of APC’s Board of Trustee (BoT), former Governor Timipre Sylva and the party’s Deputy Publicity Secretary Timi Frank, were eligible to vote.

As a delegate, Frank was automatically excluded from the Zonal Election Monitoring Team, led by the National ViceChairman (Southsouth) Hilliard Ettah.

Oshiomole also named Samson Siasia Sports Complex

as the venue of the primary, adding that an open ballot system would be used for voting.

The governor warned aspirants against cloning identification cards.

He said APC would deploy card readers to authenticate delegates’ PVCs. Oshiomhole said: “If anyone is involved in criminal acts, we will ensure they are arrested.

Cloning of cards is a criminal offence. The sponsor of such act and those caught with the cloned cards would be arrested.”

Addressing the aspirants, he said: “The election is a family activity. The family is meeting to deliberate on who can be entrusted with the party’s flag to contest the December 5 election. Already, the fact that we can sit together in Bayelsa is a good sign.

“The election is not between enemies; it is not between opponents. The language in this primary is not to win and defeat and it is not to kill. The language must not be violent. At the end of the day, there will be no loser. Whoever emerges

cannot govern the state as a military administrator.

“Out of 19, only one will emerge as our party’s flag bearer. I know I have visited the state on different matters and I enjoyed myself. But I know I won’t be able to enjoy myself like before. But I know I will come back when our party is in government.”

The aspirants were seen going to the office of the Department of State Security (DSS) for a meeting with its director.

The contest is believed to be between Alaibe and Sylva.

Other aspirants are: ex-Chief of Staff, Chief Dikivie Ikioghaba; two-time former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Warman Ogoriba and Dr. Imoro Kubor.

Others are: the Prince of Odi Kingdom and former senatorial aspirant, Preye Aganaba; Ambassador Felix Oboro, Ambassador Felix Otiotio, Powell Godknows, Kpolovie Obhoo, Christopher Enai, Romeo Bekeyai, Tonye Apirila, Ebitimi Amgbare, Fred Ekiegha, Senator Clever Ikisikpo, Mrs. Charity Vedalago and Ebitei Francis Williams.

•From left: Director, Information Technology and Mobile, Samsung Electronics, West Africa, Mr. Emmanuel Remvatas; Managing Director, Smile Communications Limited, Mr. Michiel Buitelaar; Managing Director, Samsung Electronic, West Africa, Mr. Brovo Kim and Chief Marketing Officer, Smile Communications Limited, Mrs. Alero Ladipo, at a media launch of Voice Over LTE by Smile Communications Nigeria Limited in partnership with Samsung Electronics at Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Rivers community protests plot to take its land From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

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ESIDENTS of Koko Ama community in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State have protested an alleged plan by some people to forcefully take over their land.

The protesters blocked a section of the Eastern Bypass to Marine Base Road yesterday to show their dissatisfaction with the action of the suspected “owner” of the land, Mr. Bola Afolabi, in tandem with some officials of the Rivers State Ministry of Lands as well as the police.

The Koko Ama community Chairman, Elder Ateke Obianime, who addressed the protesters, said his people would resist attempts to take over their land.

The reason, Obianime said, was that the land was marked for school and markets.

He recalled that the crisis started in 2014, when some tenants from the community were served with a quit notice by a Port Harcourt law firm without disclosing the identity of its clients.

Obianime noted that while the community was on the verge of replying to the quit notice through its lawyers, another letter was received from the Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Rukpokwu, inviting some residents to a meeting.

The community leader alleged that while the community was preparing for the meeting, SARS invaded the community with bulldozers and destroyed property worth millions of naira.

He added: “Men of SARS, on December 31, 2014, came to the community in company of Mr. Bola Afolabi with bulldozers and workers. They started demolishing the property on the community’s land earmarked for a school and a market.”

Obianime also said as the residents were trying to get over the demolition of their property, they received a report from the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Chief Dee Amiofori, saying the land belonged to Mr. Oroko Kinika.

The crown prince of Koko Ama community, Prince Frank Hezekiah Koko, corroborated Obianime’s story.

He said the land belonged to Koko Ama, which paid relevant fees and obtained a government’s cash receipt number 744300.

According to him, a government’s White Paper, dated December 23, 1999, granted the community title over the piece of land.

Koko urged Afolabi and officials of the Ministry of Lands to leave the land alone to the community to avoid a breakdown of law and order.

The prince urged the governor to investigate the activities of the ministry’s officials.

Afolabi described those claiming ownership of the land as criminals.

He said nobody could take what does not belong to him in an era of integrity.

Police spokesman Ahmed Mohammed, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the command was not aware of the matter.

Amiofori could not be reached last night for comments.

NURTW leader shot

By Precious Igbonwelundu and Wale Ajetunmobi

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NATIONAL Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) leader, Ademola Taiwo, has been shot by unknown people in Ilupeju, Lagos.

Taiwo popularly known as “Siro” or the “Emir of Ilupeju”, was shot around Ilupeju junction early on Sunday, while he was returning from a party.

The Nation gathered that Taiwo, who is contesting for chairman in the forthcoming NURTW election, was accosted by the gunmen who ordered him out of his car.

Taiwo, it was learnt, alighted and demanded to know who the armed men were to intimidate him in his territory.

He was said to have been rushed to a nearby hospital by security operatives who came to his rescue following a tip off.

The police were said to have engaged in a gun duel with the gunmen, who escaped through Vono road.

A source, who spoke in confidence, told The Nation that the police took Taiwo to another hospital for security reasons, adding that no one know the hospital’s name.

The source said: “It is true that he was shot. The armed men stopped him while he was driving home and wanted to collect his car.

“He came down from his Honda car and asked who they were and why they dared oppress him in his territory.

They demanded that he should give them the key to his Sport Utility Vehicle but he refused and struggled with them.

“The men shot him on his side stomach and before they could shoot again, he punched one of them and fled.

“They rained several bullets in his car, which he left behind and damaged it severely before they escaped through the railway and passed Vono road.

“Many people believe it was an assassination attack because he is contesting as chairman of NURTW in the state.”

His loyalists have taken to social media to pray for his quick recovery.

At the time of filing this report, it was learnt that he is in a stable condition.

52

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

53

FOREIGN NEWS Burkina Faso army 'marches' on capital

• From left: The Permanent Secretary Lagos State Ministry of Environment Mr Oluwatoyin Onisarotu, Director Public Affairs. The Enviroment of Lagos State Mr Yinka BankoleBaig, and Acting Consul General U.S. Consulate, Lagos Mrs Dehab Ghebreb during the 2015 United State Mission waterway cleanup event in commemoration of 30th Anniversary Day held in Lagos over the weekend

B

URKINA Faso's military chiefs have demanded that the leaders of last week's coup disarm, saying the army is marching on the capital Ouagadougou.

"All the national armed forces are converging on Ouagadougou with the sole aim of disarming the presidential guard without any bloodshed," they said.

The coup was carried out by allies of President Blaise Compaore, who was ousted by street protests last year.

Transitional President Michel Kafando was forced from office last Thursday.

In their statement, the army chiefs asked the coup supporters to hand in their weapons to barracks in exchange for safety guarantees.

"They and their families will be protected," it said.

Witnesses later said that soldiers had left bases in several towns, with one column reaching within 100km (60 miles) of the capital, Reuters reports.

BBC reporters in Ouagadougou say so far there are no signs of the army marching on the capital.

Gen Diendere, who was the chief of staff to Blaise Compaore, led last week's coup - a month before elections had been due in the landlocked former French colony.

At least 10 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in clashes since then.

There have been protests in the capital against the coup leaders, with demonstrators burning tyres.

The coup has been condemned by the US and France, and the African Union has suspended the country.

A delegation of regional mediators said over the weekend there had been a breakthrough and hinted that the transitional government could return.

However, a proposed deal was later rejected by the speaker for Burkina Faso's transitional parliament.

PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA

Greece election: Tsipras hails ‘victory of the people’

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REECE's Alexis Tsipras has said his left-wing Syriza party has a "clear mandate" after winning a second general election in less than nine months.

But he said Greeks faced a difficult road and recovery from financial crisis would only come through hard work.

Syriza won just over 35%, slightly down on its previous result and still short of an overall majority.

But it will renew its coalition with the nationalist Independent Greeks.

Opposition New Democracy gained 28%.

Far-right Golden Dawn came in third with 7%, slightly up on January's poll.

Syriza was first elected in January on an anti-austerity mandate, but was forced to accept tough conditions for Greece's third international bailout.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Tsipras (L) will team up with the nationalist Independent Greeks Sunday's snap election was called after Mr Tsipras lost his majority in August.

Some of his MPs who had opposed the new bailout conditions split to form a new party, but it has failed to get into parliament. Turnout was low.

It has been raining heavily in Athens, a drenching downpour that left

one Greek observer looking at the skies, and wryly suggesting that the gods were angry at Sunday's election result.

And it is hard to avoid the suggested symbolism, not of heavenly wrath but of a country where the summer seems to have ended abruptly, and where the celebrations of Syriza supporters last night have now given way to the harsh reality their re-elected government must face.

It has agreed to tough austerity measures insisted on by the IMF and European Union, and now these must be implemented - cuts to pensions, rises in taxes and an end to some of the regulation and financial allowances that have kept many pro-

fessions protected.

Farmers have already been readying their tractors for road blockades; some of the unemployed are contemplating their own protests. The new government's honeymoon will be a short one.

"I feel vindicated because the Greek people have a clear mandate to carry on fighting inside and outside our country to uphold the pride of our people," Mr Tsipras told supporters in Athens.

"In Europe today, Greece and the Greek people are synonymous with resistance and dignity.

Mr Tsipras was joined at the celebrations by Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos.

TRIBUTE Media Assistant to Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Maxwell Adegbenro, in this piece, extols the virtues of the Senator representing Lagos Central District, who clocked 55 yesterday.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu at 55: Relishing the journey of grace “PEOPLE don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” These are the words of John C. Maxwell, an internationally recognised leadership expert.

Now 55 years into her journey of grace, Senator Oluremi Tinubu has indeed ?achieved laudable feats and demonstrated that service to humanity is the best work of life. ?In this part of the world, most public officers do not enjoy people’s confidence. To say that many politicians now elicit distrust from the public is to state the obvious. Nigerians feel this way towards them as a result of the inability of political leaders, over the years, to give good account of themselves faithfully in accordance with the essentials of democratic principles. We often hear that politicians are thieves or that they are all out for their own interests.

But it must be said that there a few good politicians around, who have great ideals of leadership; accountable, transparent and accessible to the people.

The word ‘accountable’ recently became one of my favourites. Those who study accounting as a course would better understand the word ‘accountability’.

Accountability is closely the obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner. It also includes the responsibility for money or other entrusted property. The lack of it has eroded public respect for business and political leaders.

Accountability is the one of the hallmarks upon which Senator Oluremi

Tinubu’s personality is built. That makes her one of the rarest breeds in the country’s political clime. I can testify that few individuals in Nigeria’s politics are as driven by the ideals of public service as she is. This is perhaps the first thing that struck me about her. For Oluremi Tinubu, politics is much more than a career track; it is a calling to serve the people and to touch lives positively by meeting people’s needs.

As a woman of faith, she sees public service as an avenue to fulfil an apostolic mandate to bring order, justice and fairness to bear in the affairs of men – that the will of God may be done on earth, as it is in heaven. She knows that to achieve this feat requires sacrifice and discipline, and she’s taking no prisoners in her pursuit of this laudable goal.

Leaning forward, striving gloriously requires some essential virtues. She is not alien to those virtues as she has demonstrated since she rose to prominence in 1999. Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who currently represents Lagos Central Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was the First lady of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 with a philanthropic instinct.

Oluremi Tinubu believes in two things – service and justice. She believes life is worthless without service – service to mankind. On justice, Senator Tinubu is a firm believer in that timeless Latin legal phrase: Fiat justitia ruat caelum (Let justice be done though the heavens fall). She does things extraordinary in a way people would hardly fault. Fault anyway; criticism grows her wings and make her resolve wax stronger. She is a shining example of excellence. Of course,

she is never afraid of mistakes. She always says, whatever things your hands find doing, do it well.

At 55, her interest in service has not been infected by the vices that usurp the laid-down democratic principles. She essentially feels for CHILDREN doing menial jobs while their peers are in school. She has spent her life advocating for gender balance, girl-child education and rights of every child. She founded the New Era Foundation, dedicated to educating the girl-child, youth development, women empowerment and inspiring young people to excellence.

To her, service to humanity continues for as long as one still breathes. She always maximizes every opportunity to contribute her quota to impact someone’s life positively. That is Senator Oluremi Tinubu, OON that I know.

Her journey in life has been one of grace, designed for the people. When she noticed a fall in educational standards in the country, Mrs. Tinubu started an annual spelling bee competition to give young ladies who dropped out of school due to early pregnancy the life they so desire. The initiative has continued to support many parents in ensuring that their children have the basic legacy to survive the hurdles of life.

She became a senator, not minding the walls of perverse interests; she sailed through campaign throes and removed the barricade placed on women in the Nigerian political space. Since then, ?she seemed to fit the mould of the fabled idealist in politics who soon realizes that her high-minded values are incompatible with her socio-political environment.

In Nigeria, such idealists have been folk-

•Senator Tinubu loric figures, objects of cautionary tales about how formerly principled stalwarts have been corrupted by power and access to filthy lucre. This has fed the widespread notion that politics is a dirty game reserved exclusively for those without scruples. But Oluremi Tinubu has been able to distinguish herself.

For Oluremi Tinubu, values are the quintessence of every public appointment. As a legislator, she believes that the provision of social services, education, empowerment, and public goods constitutes the primary purpose of leadership. But beyond this, political leaders also have a duty to situate their policies and programmes within a matrix of identifiable values and ideals. Mrs. Tinubu’s prime obsession is getting people to understand the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’ of leadership. As she tirelessly preaches and practises, public service is precisely about serving the public.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu is a stickler for decency and conversational courtesy. In a community where public debate is often marred by ad hominem diatribe and character assassinations, she insists on issues-oriented discourse. It is simply not her style to trade insults even with political adversaries; this I have learnt in a short while from her. One of the rules she laid down for members of her communications team is that wheth-

er in making statements for the constituents or for her personality, you must always be guided by the biblical words: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” We must lead with wisdom, not of man, but of God. She has demonstrated that it is possible to argue robustly about one’s convictions against an implacable opponent without lapsing into crudity or indecency. This she preaches, not out of fear, but as a principle.

She represents humility of purpose.

She is tall in the tide of history. Mentoring 20 young girls for future leadership is another certainty of bright hope for the future.

No doubt, her constituency will always remain grateful to her for her giant strides in the senatorial zone. Her programme has helped many regardless of political party, religious and ethnic affiliations.

She could not hide her displeasure at the way young people abuse drugs and become nuisance to the society, so she started many youth-oriented programmes to aid their development, making them even valuable to the society.

These people-inclined programmes have earned her many awards and accolades both locally and internationally.

Some of which are the National award of the Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON. As Senator Tinubu clocks 55 years of divine accomplishments, she is waxing stronger.

In the words of Jim Trinka and Les Wallace she finds resolve and strength to do more. “Feedback is a gift. Ideas are the currency of our next success. Let people see you value both feedback and ideas.” That may have triggered another initiative in her graceful journey, called “Patience Home”, conceived to show kindness to the widows in our society.

She has gracefully in the journey of grace combined being a wife and mother with being a lawmaker of depth and mentor of special attributes.

I join other well-meaning Nigerians to congratulate my own mother, mentor, teacher and leader per excellence and wish her a glorious 55th Birthday celebrations and greater years ahead.

54 THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

NEWS HID adopted my wife and I, says Danjuma

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ORMER Defence Minister Gen. Theophilus Danjuma declared yesterday in Ikenne that the late Chief HID Awolowo was his and his wife Daisy’s adopted mother.

According tom him, the consolation he got from her death is that she departed with dignity.

“My wife Daisy and I were adopted by Mama some 10 years ago. We still miss her loving maternal guidance.

“Severally mama was a remarkable woman who refined her faculty to the very end of her long life. She departed with dignity and majesty. May mama’s soul rest in perfect peace,” he told reporters at the Awolowos’ residence after paying a condolence visit.

Eminent Nigerians continued to pour into the house to condole with the family over last Saturday’s death of the Yeye Oodua.

The dignitaries include Deputy Speaker House of Representatives, Lasun Yussuf, ex – Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola and former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi.

There were also Mrs Bola Obasanjo, Senator Mamora Olorunnimbe, Lagos state Deputy Governor, Idiat Adebule, Head of Administration, Amorc (Nigeria), Dr Kenneth Idiodi and an Egba High Chief and Physician,

•More Nigerians condole with family From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

Dr. Femi Majekodunmi.

There was a brief church service at the Efunyela Hall family chapel with Dr Tokunbo Awolowo in attendance.

Rev. Moses Famosunwa of the Remo Anglican Church enjoined people to live a life pleasing to God and service to other for which the late HID Awolowo was known.

“The world, not only Nigeria is celebrating the demise of mama, her life was a perfect example of how human being should be,” Famosunwa said.

The Deputy Speaker said the late Papa Awolowo and his wife left legacies in the Southwest and Nigeria which every generation after them should strive to sustain.

Oyinlola said: “The only tribute that we can say to retain the memory of mama is for us to honor her by ensuring the actualisation of her dream, particularly to see all Yorubas united under the same umbrella I think it will be a worthwhile testimony to her memory if we can achieve that.”

Similarly, Senator Mamora described as Mama one who was supportive of her late husband, caring and loving

not only of her biological children but also everyone around her who also considered himself or herself as a child of mama.

According to Mamora, “Mama was a rallying point for the entire Yoruba race, particularly after the demise of the Sage himself, Papa Awolowo.”

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Idiat Adebule, who said she and her entourage were around on behalf of women of Lagos, condoled with the Awolowos, saying their beloved mother was an icon and a great supporter of her husband.

“And for those of us who are younger, who were very young when Papa was still alive and we read that God gave him the enablement to lead the progressives, based on this we continue to pray for the family,” Mrs Adebule said.

Chief Majekodunmi wrote in the condolence register:” The all time greatness of the Awolowos has been exemplified and personified by Mama since the demise of Awo. Our prayer is that those left behind will continue to raise the banner high. May Mama gentle soul rest in peace.”

Rotary marks literacy month

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HE Rotary Club of Lagos has begun its 2015 Basic Education and Literacy month with a visit to the Randle Avenue Primary School, Surulere, Lagos. The campaign is aimed at improving the academic performances of young school children.

The Rotary team, led by its president and former Corporate Affairs Director at Nigerian Breweries Plc Larry Agose, included a former president Dr. Akeem Akinlade, among others.

Agose, who taught the pupils writing methods and skills, said the Club has set aside every September as the beginning of its annual Literacy Campaign, which ends next March. He praised the headmistress Anthonia Ojeogwu and the teachers for doing a great job.

“I am impressed with what

By Joseph Jibueze

I saw in the school since I came,” Agose said. “I must commend the head teacher and the teachers for doing a great job. We are happy to be here and we picked this school for this project because of the need to develop our public schools more. I am also impressed with the pupils. I think they are wonderful children.”

He said they were carrying out the Hand-writing Intervention Programme as it was one of the most critical aspects of basic education because the way a pupil writes affects the way he or she thinks.

“If you write confidently, you will grow up a confident child. If you don’t write well, you cannot pass your examinations,” the Rotarian said, adding teachers will be trained on how to teach young school

children basic hand-writing skills.

A Rotarian, Bridget Ukoh took the pupils through paper cutting and drawing to test their handwriting skills and fine motor capabilities.

She said since the programme runs till March next year, the team will visit the school again to see the progress being made by the pupils in the area of writing and fine motor skills.

Speaking after the exercise, the school head-teacher, Ojeogwu, expressed satisfaction that her school was picked by the Rotary Club of Lagos for the exercise.

“I am humbled that they picked my school and I am praying God to empower them to be able to help the school as we need so many infrastructures to make our job more easier,” she said.

PDP chief hails Ikpeazu for re-absorbing PEOPLES Democratic non-indigenes Party (PDP) chieftain,

A

Ben Onyechere, has praised Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for re-absorbing non-indigenes into the civil service. They were removed during last administration.

He said neigbouring states who sacked Abia indigenes should emulate the governor.

According to him, it was bewildering that rather than appreciate the governor, those he described as unscrupulous politicians in Abia have disguised as spokespersons for the affected civil servants to attempt a mindless blackmail.

In a statement, the former Special Adviser to ex-VicePresident Alex Ekwueme said the critics’ admission that Governor Ikpeazu had begun the re-absorption process makes nonsense of their claim that the government was politicising the indigenisation policy.

“The Ikpeazu administration is under no obligation if

By Joseph Jibueze

not for his policy to make Abia a home for everybody.

What is needed is patience so that the re-absorption process being done in phases can attain completion in due course.

“The manipulation of information by the scanty opposi-

tion to cause disaffection in the polity is uncharitable but cannot deter nor distract the governor from fulfilling his election promises. He understands the situation at hand because he is not a diaspora politician like his imaginary opponents,” Onyechere said.

GGDM holds women’s revival

T

HE 2015 women’s fire revival prayer of the Glorious Gospel and Deliverance Ministries (GGDM) began yesterday. Tagged: ‘Fire Crusade’, it will hold by 5pm daily and end on Saturday.

There will be medical screening and counselling, themed: ‘The Threshing Floor’ at No. 3, John Adeghedalu Close, off Afisuru Street, by Shobiye Bus Stop, Ajuwon Road, Alagbole-Akute, Ogun State.

The host, Prophetess Amaka Comfort Nwabueze said God gave her the revelation to gather women from all sectors as sessions will cover marital issues, Nigeria, destiny, vision.

She said attendees should not be carried away with their positions, but be at their threshing floor just as Esther did.

Guest ministers include Patience Ewuro (WIIF), Prophetess Shekina Igho Paul while Denikeys, Malvina and Glogadem Family choir will minister in songs.

THE NATION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

55

TODAY IN THE NATION

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.10 NO. 3345

‘My problem is the whining and moaning currently going on in most Government Houses. If one expected fresh thinking on the crisis, yours truly has found absolutely none. Save the wild embrace of the Buhari palliative across the land. As with all things easy and cheap, the bitter reality awaits sooner than later. That will be the ultimate moment of truth – for everyone’ SANYA ONI

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

W

HEN you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

This is the time-tested piece of advice I would have passed on to the beleaguered Senate President Bukola Saraki if he was not too far gone in his self- absorption, his overweening sense of entitlement, his predilection for cutting corners, and his Raskolnikov Complex, the delusion named for the central character in Dostoyevsky great novel, Crime and Punishment, that the rules do not apply to him.

Summoned to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal(CCT) in the investigation of some baffling inconsistencies in his declaration of assets, he spurns the order, dismisses the charges as false and frivolous, awards himself an acquittal, and seeks a court to block the Tribunal’sproceedings.

In response to this contumacy, the CCT issued a Bench warrant for his arrest. Saraki petitioned another court in a bid to void the warrant. Based on that petition, he again failed to show up before the CCT. The CCT, Saraki charged, was being used to fight political opponents “to achieve through the back door what some people cannot get through democratic process.”

It is almost as if it was through the front door, and in a process emblematic of the best democratic practice, that he had emerged Senate president. I use the word “emerged” deliberately. By his own account, he had been in hiding until it was safe to join his fellow plotters on the floor of the National Assembly where he was canonised in a proceeding that seemed like the parliamentary equivalent of a street mugging.

His spokesperson warns that “we should not destroy our political institutions and heat up the polity for selfish reasons” in a desperate bid to settle political scores and nail imaginary enemies, adding gravely: “Let us all learn from history.”

Again, it is almost as if the process through which Saraki became Senate president was the quintessence of altruism and selflessness, and that it had, withal, brought down the nation’s political temperature from dangerously high to super normal.

The Tribunal’s summons, his spokesperson further said, amounted to an abuse of the rule of law which portends danger to the judicial system. Saraki affects the language of democracy but readily employs the tactics of a backroom fixer. He is ever so ready to remind everyone that he ranks third in the nation’s constitutional order.

Yet his conduct is sometimes almost indistinguishable from that of a political tout.

Where is the noblesse oblige that should

OLATUNJI DARE

AT HOME ABROAD olatunji.dare@thenationonlineng.net

Saraki: Time to step down

•Dr. Saraki

always inform the conduct of the holder of his exalted office?

Within hours of the CCT’s order enjoining Saraki to appear before it, a shadowy organisation calling itself Nigerians of Conscience Against Impunity rushed a full-page advertisement to the major newspapers, demanding that officials of the Code of Conduct Bureau resign immediately and face prosecution for “gross violations” of their office.

It was all so reminiscent of the shabby tactics Saraki’s surrogates in the Senate employed when his wife was invited for questioning by the EFCC in connection with some mysterious lodgments in her banking transactions. In what was clearly an act of petulant vindictiveness, they announced that the National Assembly was set to launch an investigation into reports that EFCC officials had corruptly enriched themselves with

RIPPLES

Catholic Bishops: LOOTERS MUST FACE JUSTICE

Yes, LIFE JAIL, plus 12 STROKES of the CANE, EVERYDAY

funds recovered from fraudsters.

In the wake of all this drama, another – or perhaps the same set — set of Saraki’s surrogates recruited a huge delegation to travel from Ilorin to Abuja for the express purpose of conferring on him a traditional title of dubious worth. The real purpose of the visitation, I suspect, was to create for the embattled Senate president the illusion of mass popularity and acceptability.

One of his proxies even has it that Saraki is being pursued because of his zero tolerance for corruption, in keeping with the notorious fact that if you fight corruption, corruption will fight you back.

No comment.

Thus has Saraki continued to dig and dig with increasing fury since finding himself in a hole last June, in the hope that he can spend or bluff or bully or lawyer his way out of it. He deepened that hole yesterday when he failed to appear before the CCT which had issued a Bench warrant for his arrest.

One of his former comrades in the old PDP and one-time Minister of Works, Adeseye Ogunlewe, has warned that a situation in which the Senate president keeps making trips to the courts would not only “put Nigeria in bad light” but slow down activities in the National Assembly, which would in turn affect the nation.

Ogunlewe said if Saraki appeared before the Tribunal and was found guilty, Saraki would appeal the verdict to the High Court (sic). If his guilt was affirmed there, Saraki would take his case to the Court of Appeal.

And if found guilty there, Saraki would head to the Supreme Court.

Prosecuting Saraki was therefore not a good move, according to Ogunlewe.”Imagine the amount of time that

HARDBALL

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IP Van Winkle, you probably know.

He was the fictional American bloke that snoozed for 20 years; only to wake up and find everything around him changed.

But Morgan Van Winkle? Though American too, it’s a new one — particularly in the sphere of foreign banks, financial institutions and rating agencies, as they relate with the Nigerian economy. Hitherto, under the reign of Her Imperial Majesty, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, all-mighty minister of Finance and the even mightier coordinating minister for the Economy, these foreign money clubs wielded the virtual power of life and death, over the Nigerian economy, and its neo-liberal local crusaders.

J.P. Morgan, that American investment bank, listed among those global monetary titans.

So, how did J.P. Morgan morph into Morgan Van Winkle? Good question!

Whereas the original Rip slept for 20 good years before jerking awake, J.P. Morgan would appear to have snored for only 20 days — or perhaps it still snoozes? — and would appear reluctant to wake up to the grim reality that for the last 100 days at least, the fetishisation of its ratings and allied bean-counting is getting out of vogue. That makes it Morgan Van Winkle, the proud 21st corporate offspring of Rip Van Winkle.

would be wasted and the effect it will have on the legislative work within that period.

If this intervention was designed to help Saraki keep the post of Senate president, it achieved the precise opposite. It makes a powerful case for Saraki’s immediate and unconditional resignation, regardless of his guilt or innocence.

A Senate president traipsing from one court to another would be a pathetic sight indeed, even if it is to answer traffic charges. But we are dealing with investigations into allegations of serious fraud. That the president of the Senate could figure in these allegations, however tangentially, should be cause for his resignation Noblesse oblige enjoins such an official to resign at the merest intimation of sleaze, real or merely perceived, in his conduct.

In Saraki’s case, these intimations can no longer be ignored. There is the matter of the forged House Rules with which he procured the post of Senate president. There are the ongoing investigations into his wife’s finances. There is the charge that he made false entries in declaring his assets.

And there is festering matter of how hundreds of depositors lost small fortunes in the family-owned bank that he ran aground, with nary a dent on his personal fortune.

Each of these issues should move a public official in a country that sets a high store by probity to step down. Together, they make a compelling case for Saraki’s resignation.

Saraki cannot be the public face of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He does not have the gravitas to steer through the legislature the agenda on which President Muhammadu Buhari ran and won. He lacks the moral standing to preside over the hearings at which Buhari’s nominees for important positions are confirmed or rejected.

Saraki, being Saraki, will most likely hang in there and hang tough.

That might serve him well if he can pull it off. But it cannot serve the larger national interest that he now claims to be espousing. Everyday that Saraki continues to wield the gavel diminishes the office of the Senate president and the stature of the Senate.

If he will not step down voluntarily, the Senate should, even if only from a sound instinct for self –preservation, ask him to go or face impeachment.

This national nightmare cannot continue for much longer.

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

Morgan Van Winkle J.P. Morgan had it proclaimed that it would, by October ending, shove Nigeria off its Government Bond Index (GBI), a sort of guide for foreign investors flush with funds but with an eye too on the big bucks, willing to try their luck in the so-called emerging economies, after the matured marts of Europe and America.

J.P. Morgan’s grouse? Its near-insistence that Nigeria further devaluate the Naira: to make more cash from exports and discourage imports. But pray, how robust is Nigeria’s exports; and is it positioned to curb imports? The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has responded with a near-emphatic no; and that has elicited J.P. Morgan’s notice to delist.

O, those good old days! Such a threat alone would have sent HIM Okonjo-Iweala into some depression, talking down on CBN, and galvanising the Economic Management Team (EMT — does that, by any means, resonate as “empty”?) to do the needful and fast! The economic metropole has spoken and the House Negroes in the periphery must comply — or else!

Well, not any more — at least for now.

The days when foreign rating agencies strut their stuff and local viceroys swoon on their

plastic stats, and the government itself makes a fetish of cosmetic book balances and convinces itself, yeah, it’s doing real good, appears gone.

Now, growth should be in how deepened are social and physical infrastructure, the one in the long run and the other in the short; adequate electricity power to unleash the people’s productive energy; how these infrastructures trigger real economic activity; how this activity triggers more jobs and unemployment drastically declines; how this growth results in development (better standard of living, affordable better education and affordable health services); and how that development transforms into eventual prosperity, taking most off the poverty line, and driving the well-off to further create real wealth.

It’s Buharinomics, stupid!

At the end of the day, which investor can ignore the huge Nigerian market, if our government gets its acts right? Sure, we will still need J.P. Morgan and allied clubs; but as productive and sensitive partners not arrogant overlords, whose baleful sneezes make us catch terrible colds.

But that is when J.P Morgan would have shed off its Van Winkle state.

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